PDF for Tuesday, February 25, 2014

‘the revolution of Human dignity’

Nanovic Institute sponsors discussion on emerging conflict in Ukraine

By ANNETTE SAYRE news writer

in light of the recent violence and turmoil in ukraine, the nanovic institute for european studies hosted a discussion monday evening in the lafortune student center.

The panel, titled “euromaidan: revolution in ukraine?,” was led by yury avvakumov, nanovic faculty fellow and assistant professor of theology.

The slideshow prepared by avvakumov began with a slide that changed the title of the discussion to say “euromaidan: revolution in ukraine!,” which he said reflected the emerging conviction that the situation in ukraine is indeed one of revolution.

“i thought that i would start with this title because when we

discussed this event and its title, three days ago, a question mark after the title was still appropriate. now you have to replace the questions mark with an exclamation mark,” avvakumov said. “The revolution in ukraine has happened. This is absolutely clear.”

avvakumov said the term “euromaidan” originated from a hash tag used on Twitter in reference to the protests. The “euro” refers to the ukrainian people’s demands for an alliance with the european union and “maidan” refers to the name of the independence square in ukraine’s capital, Kiev, where the protests have taken place.

since november of last year, ukrainians have been protesting the corruption of their

Pilot DART reform launches a lumna addresses body image

By JACK ROONEY news writer

in an email to the sophomore class last week, the student government department of academic affairs said the class of 2016 will take part in a pilot program for the darT registration process that condenses course registration into one three-hour time window this march.

“a proposal has been brought forth for an adjustment to the registration period for sophomores in march 2014,” the email said. “instead of the normal spread of

two days, all sophomores would register on a single day within a succinct three-hour period.

“additionally, the sophomore class time tickets would be scheduled from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. to minimize conflicts with classes, department exams, etc. Time tickets are spread out across the three-hour window to avoid system overload.”

Junior max brown, the director of academic affairs, said the course registration process will remain the same, aside from the

By RONI DARLING news writer

Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a five-part series exploring the events and discussions of Saint Mary’s Love Your Body Week, which aims to foster self-confidence and positive body images.

love your body week at saint mary’s kicked off monday with cotton candy in the dining hall, followed by a discussion with christina grasso, an alumna of the class of 2011, about her struggle with anorexia.

The week, initiated four years ago by saint mary’s students, aims to promote self-esteem and to educate students about maintaining healthy lifestyles.

in her talk, grasso said she started struggling with anorexia as a freshman in college, but it wasn’t until her junior year that her friends confronted her about the problem.

“The vast majority of those who struggle with eating disorders are normal weight or overweight, and i wish i would have known that then,” she said.

by her junior year at saint

mary’s, grasso had stopped eating altogether, she said.

grasso said an eating disorder can be deadly, regardless of weight, and those who deprive themselves or abuse their bodies in any way need and deserve help.

“i returned home from graduation with a plan to move to new york in mid-July,” grasso said. “instead, during a routine visit to my doctor, it was decided that i would be admitted to a hospital across the country specializing in the treatment of eating disorders, where i would spend the next few months getting help. i was heartbroken, but i knew it needed to happen.”

grasso said, at first, she was very resistant to treatment.

“i fought tooth-and-nail to keep anorexia close simply because it became something with which i could curl up and always feel safe, even if it was killing me,” she said.

now, grasso has been out of treatment for two-and-a-half years, and, despite occasional setbacks and lapses, she said she

see body PaGe 3

graduate to study as gates scholar

By KYLE WITZIGMAN news writer

adam cowden, a 2012 notre dame graduate, has received one of 40 gates cambridge scholarships to study at the university of cambridge starting oct. 1.

“a n opportunity to study at

Cowden c lass of 2012

cambridge wouldn’t have been possible without the scholarship,” cowden said. “There’s a really cool opportunity [at cambridge] to build community and collaborate to solve the world’s issues.”

cowden, a political science major and philosophy, politics and economics minor, described the intensive, thorough selection process that narrows a field of 800 to a final group of 40. according to cowden, the departments at cambridge create a shortlist of applicants of about 200. The gates committee then review and select about 100 for interviews in seattle. cowden said that the gates committee only selected 90 this year. at the interviews, cowden said the experience was friendly.

“They go out of their way to encourage you to enjoy seattle and engage with the other finalists,” he said.

“you have a panel interviewing you. mine was social sciences. [The panel] includes some professors from cambridge, past gates cambridge scholars and others,” cowden said. “They asked what i thought about policy and if i drafted a policy, what would it be and why.”

cowden said his initial

see cowden PaGe 3

Systems & Web Administrators (574) 631-8839 Policies

Question of the Day:

Tess Siver

junior le mans hall

“That

Itzxul Moreno freshman mccandless hall

“how

Clare Durent sophomore le

“how

Lauren Osmanski juunior le mans hall

“That i’m blonde.”

Katie Nickol junior le mans hall

“The challenges of a phone interview.”

Nikki Charter junior le mans hall

“l

Today’s Staff

Corrections

in the feb. 24 issue of The observer, the article “students attend immigration summit” incorrectly used the term “immigrants” as a synonym for “dreamers.” “dreamers” actually refers to undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children and have lived in the united states for 5+ years. The observer regrets this error.

Tuesday

Q&A on human rights Hesburgh Center for International Studies

4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

With ND grad Vienna Colucci.

Town hall meeting for undergraduates Washington Hall

7 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Father Jenkins speaks to students.

Wednesday

Men’s basketall

7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

The Irish take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

Journalism lecture

7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

With Justin Gillis of the New York Times.

Thursday

Women’s

Friday

Blood

9

students stand with venezuela

By CATHERINE OWERS news writer

on monday, students gathered in the dooley room of the lafortune student center to raise awareness about the ongoing venezuelan protests against president maduro that have become increasingly violent over the past weeks.

venezuelan university students began protests against the government feb. 12, sophomore and organizer of the notre dame event daniela nunez said.

feb. 12 was a national youth day, and college students started protesting against the oppressive government [that has been in place] for 15 years,” she said. “since then, some have been wounded and some have died.”

students were able to take

pictures with posters saying “i care venezuela” and “i am your voice, venezuela,” as well as with the venezuelan flag, nunez said.

“we’re going to post these pictures and create a video that can be shared, to show that, even in south bend, we care,” she said. “There have also been campaigns by venezuelans in other cities that are using the hashtags ‘sos venezuela’ and ‘pray for venezuela’ because, even if you can’t do much, you can still pray.”

nunez said students joined with the notre dame peace fellowship on friday to say a rosary for venezuela.

“it was student-led and it went well,” she said. “we started standing in front of stonehenge and processed to the grotto to finish the last decade [of the rosary].”

nunez said she and other

students are motivated to inform notre dame students about the crisis because the media censorship in venezuela makes it more difficult for the protestors’ message to reach outside audiences.

“much of the media in venezuela is controlled by the state, and most of the information is coming from social media like Twitter, facebook and instagram,” she said. “we want to raise awareness and point eyes towards the situation in venezuela. There’s no respect for human rights by the military and police force.”

nunez said she has family in venezuela, and feels strongly about supporting venezuelans.

“i grew up with a strong sense of venezuelan culture,” she said. “i am american, but i am also venezuelan.”

Junior diana gutierrez said she attended the event because she believes it is important for students to understand the unrest in venezuela.

“They are doing their best to create a better country, and the student movement has mostly been nonviolent,” she said.

freshman Jessica pedroza said she believes it is important to show support for students participating in the movemens.

“as students, we have a social obligation to support students fighting for justice,” she said. “my heart goes out to all who are suffering and all whose voices are being silenced.”

Contact Catherine Owers at cowers@nd.edu

body

con T inued from page 1

has continued to recover on an outpatient basis.

“life began to get in the way of my eating disorder, rather than vice versa,” she said. “i began checking off boxes on my bucket list and seizing opportunities [of] which i had always dreamed. i began to really live life for the first time in years.”

Junior sam moorhead, social concerns committee chair for the student government association (sga), helped to bring grasso to campus for love your body week.

moorhead said grasso is involved with a nonprofit organization, project heal, dedicated to the issue of eating disorders.

Junior mackenzie woods said project heal, which stands for help to eat, accept and live, was founded in 2008 by two new york teens who met while battling anorexia. project heal raises money for people who are unable to afford treatment and promotes healthy body image among teens and young adults.

moorhead said grasso speaks regularly about her experiences with eating disorders and body image at middle schools, high schools and colleges nationwide on behalf of project heal grasso said she was never the type of person interested in public speaking, but she presents across the country in the hopes of showing others struggling with eating disorders that recovery is possible.

“i have always been a pretty private person, so i don’t know where all of this outspokenness

Cowden

con T inued from page 1

reaction was a mix of surprise and relief.

“i didn’t think that my interview went well,” he said. “i was really surprised and happy. i studied in l ondon while at notre dame, and i’m excited to go back.”

at university of cambridge, cowden will pursue a master of philosophy in planning, growth and regeneration. he said he wants to apply his studies in the future.

“in the short term, i could be interested in going on to a ph.d r ight now, i’m living at su casa catholic workers,” he said. “i think i would like to work in public policy that regenerates economically desperate neighborhoods. or else, i could end up finding something else and being completely surprised.”

cowden thanked specific members of the notre dame community for helping him along his journey to cambridge.

“i would say that certain people as opposed to classes or a major helped me the most,” cowden said. “i took a latin a merican politics class with fr. Tim scully. i had to write a paper in that class that became the inspiration of my senior thesis.

“dr. Jeff Thibert at cuse really helped me through the actual scholarship process.”

and honesty comes from [in] this area in my life, but i do know that it helps immensely to have someone who endured and survived this horrendous illness, letting other sufferers know that it’s okay, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, there’s help, there’s hope and, most importantly, it is possible to become fully recovered,” she said. “i have seen it and i believe it.

“it takes, on average, five to seven years to recover from a full-blown eating disorder, and by the standard, i am almost halfway there.”

moorhead said sga invited grasso to speak at saint mary’s because health issues relate to young women’s self-perception.

love your body week is a week that strives to emphasize the unique beauty of each individual on our campus and the importance of a healthy and positive selfimagr,” moorhead said. “eating disorders affect so many women, and we hope that [grasso’s] talk can provide hope and encouragement to those who may be strugglin..” woods said she hopes to start a chapter of project heal at saint mary’s sooe.

“i decided that this issue doesn’t get talked about enough hers,” woods said. “i believe this will keep the conversation going and reduce stigmas right here on our own campus.“we plan on hosting fundraising events, and those will contribute to the project heal national scholarship fun..” more information about project heal is available at theprojectheal.org

Contact Roni Darling at rdarlin01@saintmarys.edu

beyond the application process and classes, cowden said the community aspect of dorm life at notre dame helped him along the way.

“we had a housekeeper in sorin, senja begic. she was basically my second mom,” he said. “There was one time that i fell on god Quad and she tended to my wounds for two weeks. she

“I was really surprised and happy. I

studied in London while

at Notre Dame, and I’m excited to go back.”

Adam Cowden Class of 2012

helped us get through college.”

cowden said he would encourage other students to apply for scholarships following college.

“number one, make sure that you have a good reason for applying to the program,” he said. “second of all, if you do have those reasons in place, don’t sell yourself short. don’t think there’s no chance at getting it. i thought i had a very small chance, and it worked out for me.”

Contact Kyle Witzigman at kwitzig@nd.edu

shortened registration period.

“it’s going to be exactly the same as it was before, but the time slots [for registration] will be compacted,” brown said. “absolutely nothing is changing about the darTing process other than the time slots being closer together.”

brown said the decision to try this new system came from a close analysis of the current system and the feedback student government received regarding time conflicts with the darT system.

“we asked ourselves, ‘how can we make this system administratively more efficient and operationally more user-friendly so that students get the best possible outcome?’” brown said.

“some of the feedback we’ve gotten about the darT process was that there were conflicts with class, exams or other activities.”

brown said student government has analyzed the darT system via

student comments over the past few years.

“students clearly feel that two days for registration time tickets is outmoded,” the email said. “specifically, minimizing time tickets between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day for two days due to frequent conflicts with a variety of activities would benefit students.”

brown said a student population as large as notre dame’s will inevitably have conflicts whenever the university holds registration, but student government felt it could still improve upon the current system.

“The fact of the matter is that whenever we darT, there will be some conflicts,” brown said. “[student government] has really analyzed the system, and it’s an imperfect system, but we want to make it as fair as possible for as many students as possible.”

brown said student government chose the sophomore class for the new pilot program because second-year students have enough experience with the process, but

still have enough room in their schedules to take a wide variety of classes.

“This is probably the best group to give [student government] good feedback,” brown said.

he said new technology, specifically additional software, allowed student government to try the new registration process.

“now that we have the software, we can condense the times and not worry about overloading the system,” brown said.

The email said the registration process will remain the same for all non-sophomore students, but if the pilot program is successful, it may expand.

“if the sophomore registration in march is successful, then the office of the deans, registrar and student government shall consider expanding the concise window to other classes for fall 2014,” the email said.

Contact Jack Rooney at jrooney1@nd.edu

paid a dverT isemen T

u kraine

page 1

government, avvakumov said. mass protests began after former ukrainian president viktor yanukovych, who recently fled ukraine, abruptly rejected a landmark association agreement with the european union in november 2013, just one week before the anticipated signing of the agreement.

avvakumov said the rejection came as a direct result of russian pressure exerted on ukraine in order to prevent the nation from starting the process of integration into the european union.

although this issue has greatly angered the ukrainian people, avvakumov said, they are demonstrating against the corruption of their current government as much as they are protesting their former president’s reluctance to sign an agreement with the european union.

avvakumov said such

corruption includes everything from nepotism and bribery to disrespect of human dignity and the authoritarian style of the former president and the ruling party.

“in the eyes of millions of ukrainians, russia, in its present condition, embodies these vices

“The revolution in Ukraine has happened. This is absolutely clear.”

Yury Avvakumov Nanovic fellow

of the political system. by contrast, potential membership in the european union can help fight the new authoritarianism and promote transparency, the rule of law, independent media and respect of human dignity,” he said.

avvakumov said the protest began with young ukrainians, though it includes a broad spectrum of middle-class citizens who are students, intellectuals, artists and representatives of small and mid-sized businesses.

“These are people who perceive that the political system forcibly takes away their freedom and their professional and personal future. These are people for whom facebook, Twitter and youTube are indispensible everyday tools,” he said. “These are intelligent people with a clear sense of human dignity and civil courage. They call the revolution ‘The revolution of human dignity.’”

The euromaidan protest has swelled in number from 700,000 people in november to one million people more recently, avvakumov said. The demonstrations began peacefully, but have since turned violent.

on feb. 17 the ukrainian government called for the use of military weapons, in an attempt to put an end to the rioting. avvakumov said over 70 people have been killed and hundreds have been injured, but the protests have nevertheless continued.

“euromaidan will not go away until they are convinced that the whole thing really functions and really works, and they get real transparency with their government,” avvakumov said.

michael gekhtman, chair of the mathematics department and a ukrainian citizen, also spoke briefly about the crisis in Kiev. gekhtman said he is worried the protests will have the same result as similar protests in 2004, which occurred in response to perceived corruption in a presidential election, and is concerned for the safety of his parents.

“what i am worried about is that it’s going to revert to what happened shortly after the orange revolution because the main players are the same — same politicians,” he said. “These are very dangerous times. my parents still live in Kiev. i was there in october — no one expected this to turn out this violent this fast.”

Contact Annette Sayre at asayre@nd.edu

a senior reminisces

ollie, the cab driver

Rebecca O’Neil news writer

The night was hazy and slightly dull. my friend and i were receiving attention from all the wrong sorts at a random party. we needed to blow that popsicle stand — quick. in typical smick/domer style, my friend hit up her beloved cabbie, ollie.

“he’s teaching me french,” she said. The two of us are planning to move to paris post-graduation, so any opportunity to practice the language is too welcome. The smiling driver said he would be happy to help us out in our bilingual endeavors. in the 15 minutes back to l e mans hall, i discovered that ollie was from rwanda. h is schooling from kindergarten to high school was in french. a lthough his easygoing personality was likeable enough, he earned the position of my friend’s favorite cab driver because they had exchanged life stories. once she revealed to him that she had arthritis, ollie offered to drive her wherever she needed to go. a lthough most notre dame fans trek from one parking lot to the next on foot, my friend’s autoimmune disease has made her averse to walks of over a few blocks. she was a committed tailgater and ollie had her back.

a semester later, on my allotted biannual outing, i found myself off campus again without a ride home. i called up ollie and our chat picked up where it had left off. he had no memory of me, but i knew him and asked questions over a thumping T-pain and chris brown song. on my ride to stadium c lub, ollie revealed that he was six years old when the rwandan g enocide occurred. a lthough both of his parents and most of his extended relatives were killed, he and his younger brother managed to survive by staying with their grandmother. The rwandan g enocide, which ended after three months in august of 1994, killed 800,000 men, women and children — roughly three quarters of the Tutsi population. i n 2009, ollie left his country to get an education in the states. for those of us who are not majoring in peace studies, the genocide feels far away, and yet, i have a classmate whose parents were killed in the rwandan g enocide as well. now, 26-year-old ollie attends southwestern m ichigan college and is studying pre-pharmacy. The cab driver has a year and a half left to complete his degree, and he is considering med school.

i have a habit of making my inside columns really preachy. To continue the trend, i encourage members of the notre dame, saint mary’s and holy cross campuses to get to know the person who is getting you home safe — you might just learning a thing or two.

Contact Rebecca O’Neil at roneil01@saintmarys.edu

The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

James Vignali v iewpoint c olumnist

choosing to attend notre dame was hard for me — not because i didn’t think it was a great school — i’m just really bad at making decisions, and this one felt like life-and-death. in the end, i decided that the notre dame community really won out. at all the schools i had visited, i had been preoccupied with how people met each other, who they were friends with, where they lived, etc. i thought notre dame would be the best guarantor for a great community — it’s really all anyone seemed to talk about.

That summer, my family was on vacation when residential life emailed me to check the website for my room assignment. my brother had graduated the year before, and Keenan hall had seemed to be the focal point of his time at notre dame. i didn’t know much about the other dorms; all i knew is that i didn’t want to be in Zahm. That name just meant bad things to me. not only had i heard it used like a curse for four years, but i had witnessed public debauchery at its worst when i visited and saw some degenerates play bookstore basketball. w hen i logged online to bear witness to my eternal fate, i felt like harry potter putting on the sorting hat. “not Zahm,” i kept repeating in my head, “anywhere but Zahm.” you can guess what happened,

‘p

but don’t worry — this isn’t another story about Zahm. i’d like to say that it isn’t another story about notre dame either ⎯ those always made me cringe ⎯ but it really is. it’s a bit of my notre dame story. my first year at notre dame was rough. not academically ⎯— sadly it was my best ⎯— but i just never felt like i fit in. it wasn’t that i was really different from anyone else — in fact it seemed like a lot of us were the same. and it wasn’t that i didn’t give Zahm or notre dame my full effort. my brother had secretly convinced me that Zahm was a great dorm to be in, maybe even the best. i simply wasn’t getting that college experience that high school had always seemed to be leading to. i’m not saying that in the past four years there weren’t bright spots, but it always felt like i was on the outside looking in.

Thinking back, i can come up with all kinds of reasons and excuses why things didn’t work, but that’s not what i want to focus on. This isn’t an article about what college students do wrong or how to be successful here. frankly, i have no idea. i simply want to take this page and say thank you. someone might say it’s all the struggles i went through that gave me some perspective, but, honestly, it just feels like it’s my turn to have it really good and that goodness has given me the opportunities to appreciate the best of the notre dame community.

i would like to thank all the people, in

and out of Zahm, who have made these past months a special time for me. every day, someone amazes me with their intelligence or kindness or wit or beauty, and i really do feel blessed to be here. lastly, i would like to talk to any student who feels like they’re not having the time they thought they would or should, who thinks that all the pieces are here, but somehow they’re just not fitting in. it seemed like i’d never have a taste of those great experiences and friendships i had always hoped for and heard about, but i have. i wish i could give you some advice or words of wisdom — i know i would have appreciated that — but i can’t. i also can’t promise you that things will turn out all right in the end. beyond luck or providence, i can’t explain why this time has been given to me. Just know that there’s nothing exceptionally wrong with you and enjoy the good that does come your way.

notre dame isn’t a perfect place — no place is. and these kinds of moments don’t happen at this university alone. but notre dame is a special place, and the people here are some special people, and i am grateful that i got to know that for myself by the end. Thank you.

James Vignali is an off campus senior. He can be reached at jamesvignali@gmail.com The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

ick up the phone’

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but for president obama, it is the phone that reigns mightiest of all.

it was just over a month ago that obama reiterated his willingness to bypass regular legislative channels and rely on executive action to achieve his legislative priorities.

“we’re not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we’re providing americans the kind of help they need,” obama said. “i’ve got a pen and i’ve got a phone. and i can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions that move the ball forward.”

critics and supporters alike have had much to say about that pen since obama made those remarks, but it is the latter half of his arsenal upon which the president should be focused. interacting with congress is ultimately the only way obama is going to achieve meaningful legislative victories in the remaining years of his presidency, and a phone call might just be the way to get the ball rolling.

w hile i argued two weeks ago that obama ought to approve the Keystone Xl pipeline (a move which, coincidentally, would certainly receive wide congressional backing), a minimum wage adjustment, immigration overhaul and education reform are much weightier issues that will not see action without congressional support.

critics have pounced on the president’s preference for unilateral action, saying it

disregards the spirit of the constitution. for the most part, i agree with the critics. but a more immediate consequence of obama’s go-it-alone rhetoric is that it leads to unrealistic expectations among those americans who view such consequential topics as much more than political footballs.

Take immigration reform as the latest example. The new york Times reported hundreds of youths gathered in phoenix this past weekend for an annual meeting of the network united we dream. frustrated by congress’s lack of action on the issue, the young immigrants and children of immigrants marched to press obama to use his executive power to unilaterally stop deportations.

The president admitted in november that he can’t do this when he was interrupted by a protester during a speech he gave on immigration reform in san francisco.

w hen the protester told obama he had the power to “stop deportation for all undocumented immigrants in this country,” the president responded, “actually, i don’t. and that’s why we’re here ... if, in fact, i could solve all these problems without passing the laws in congress then i would do so. but we’re also a nation of laws, that’s part of our tradition.”

i respect the president’s sense of urgency to address national issues. but each time he touts his power to act unilaterally, he reinforces an unrealistic set of expectations for what he alone can achieve. it is unfair to the low wage worker expecting a raise, or the young immigrants marching in phoenix, or the single mother eager to find a preschool for her child, to expect

their concerns to be adequately addressed in a stroke of the president’s pen. so what is the president to do? put down the pen and pick up the phone.

rather than tell the american people that you’re going to act alone, show them that you will do whatever it takes to work with congress and make real progress on these issues, rather than setting yourself up to fail by pushing ahead alone.

admittedly, 2014 is not the most conducive environment for legislative achievements. an election year might make for political theater, but for the majority of americans who are more concerned with public policy than electoral battles, it can be a miserable experience.

nonetheless, obama has a responsibility as president to take the lead in making 2014 a “year of action,” as he himself described it. don’t allow members of congress to put the business of governing on hold for their reelection campaigns. Keep the important issues relevant. promote national debates and search out allies and opponents in congress to work with in even the toughest political environments. in simple terms — be a leader. at the very least, stop telling americans that solutions to poverty, immigration and education, among other issues, can be achieved through the actions of one man.

John Sandberg lives in Fisher Hall and is a senior studying political science. He can be reached at jsandbe1@nd.edu

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

letters to tHe edItor

For the love of puns

There is a startling problem at o ur l ady’s university. it is an issue that f r. John Jenkins, c s c and his entire administration have been criminally negligent in response to: The rate of pun usage in general conversation at the university of notre d ame is far too low. r ecent studies suggest that the student body may be on its way to using fewer puns than it has in over 70 years. b ut the issue does not stop there. it isn’t just that students at notre d ame do not use enough puns, it’s that many do not even realize when they have inadvertently set up one. i myself recently walked past a couple who made not one, not two, not three, but four inadvertent puns and did not recognize a single one. This is truly a sad state of affairs for the university of notre d ame du l ac.

h as the administration done anything to address this problem? no. w hy are there no pun awareness posters on campus? w hy aren’t there “p un for f un”

groups meeting late on wednesday nights to trade chortles and swap cackles? not a single faculty member is even dedicated specifically to the promotion, research or teaching of proper pun formation and delivery. This is outrageous. b ut unfortunately this phenomenon is not unique to our bubble here in s outh b end. This trend is happening across our great country. The united s tates has fallen behind many of our peer countries in pun production and recognition in every age group. o ur standards have deteriorated to the point that we are in danger of being passed by g ermany. w ho on earth has ever heard of a good g erman pun or a good g erman sense of humor? i n 1950, we led the world, and it wasn’t even close. now, s outh Korea, a ustralia and s weden are fighting at the top, and we don’t have a shot.

notre d ame thinks of itself as a great institution and as a leader in education. i challenge our

a liberal apology

newly-elected student body president and vicepresident to make pun promotion a key part of their first 100 days in office. we have such a bright future and such potential, but it will be squandered if we do not step up to the plate and get serious about puns. i call for a c ognizance of p uns week to take place from m arch 2 to m arch 8. Tell a pun, share a pun, whether it be good or bad, humorous or awkward, annoying or invigorating, timely or untimely. i f we want to be a city upon a hill, we must be willing to accept the mantle of responsibility. we are the f ighting i rish, and we are “punny.”

i would like to congratulate m r. g ianfalla on his column “The left’s intolerant ‘tolerance’” ( feb. 18), in which he nailed the d emocratic p arty. you have thoroughly demoralized me and my fellow liberals, who are always waving our so-called tolerance in your face and not making off-hand misogynistic comments while doing so.

i simply cannot argue with m r. g ianfalla. it is quite clear that the d emocratic p arty is not tolerant of the bigoted and intolerant, and ipso facto the party is intolerant, since the meaning of tolerance is obviously accepting all views with no opposition and thereby having no real stance on anything.

That’s just fair and balanced logic. for years, we have clearly been blind to the effects of our bigoted ways of opposing those who hold prejudiced beliefs, which call for the exclusion of certain groups from the full enjoyment of their human rights. you are right, m r. g ianfalla, to show us that this vehement opposition to c onservatives has only introduced

more hate and bigotry into the world in the form of the c ivil r ights a ct of 1964, voting r ights a ct of 1965, the 19th a mendment and b rown v. b oard of e ducation.

i cannot believe liberals don’t recognize it as support for traditional marriage when someone vilifies homosexuality. f rom now on, we will not be so belligerent towards those who persecute homosexuals, who are so obviously out to sabotage conventional marriage. m y parents have often told me their so many years of traditional marriage would mean nothing if another form of marriage was permitted to coexist with traditional marriage.

i am so glad m r. g ianfalla condemned the liberals’ “war on the wealthy” because all that bloodshed has to stop. o h wait, there’s no actual violence? o r, rather the seizing of wealthy individuals’ accounts — oh wait, that’s not happening either? well, the calls for a truly progressive tax system and for addressing income inequality, which definitely merit the term “war,” must end. a nd if anyone still doesn’t

think this has become a war, then please tell me why the liberals enlisted the help of a foreign theocrat who rules from his g olden Throne in r ome to spread their un-a merican message?

m r. g ianfalla also made great points about other issues that i do not have the space to cover here. o verall, it is clear the d emocratic p arty does not “spew tolerance” in the way we often claim to spew it. i am glad our eyes are now opened to our intolerance. d emocrats should definitely return to the c onstitution and b ill of r ights, but not as much those new parts with the “tolerance” of universal suffrage and equal protection under the law because it would be intolerant of us to oppose the intolerance of our founding fathers.

o ne of the best aspects of notre d ame is the community. however, instead of serving as a witty and tasteful social commentary on the notre d ame community, much of the Keenan r evue divides us. m any people argue that the r evue is meant to be all in good fun and anyone who gets upset is taking it too seriously. The fact is that the r evue deals with issues like gender, sexuality and relationships — things that are actually at the very core of many peoples’ identities. To create skits that deal with such material and to advise people to not take them seriously dismisses the groups and individuals who do, in fact, take these things seriously. i felt exactly this way during the final skit, “r evuepoint,” which presented a “typical” notre d ame girl complaining about the r evue in The o bserver. o f course, the girl was portrayed as ridiculous and over-reacting. a s i actually agreed with some of the points in this recited v iewpoint, i got the message loud and clear that i , too, am

over-reacting. b ut i don’t think i ’m over-reacting. more often than not, i think people are underreacting, laughing off matters that are in fact pretty important.

you see, i ’m not anti-r evue. i actually think it has a lot of potential. humor can be used well, especially as a way to draw attention to things that we, as a community, should be talking about. we should be making jokes about the spectacle of d omerfest, the assumptions built into dining hall dates or what it’s like to be at f inny’s and drunkenly confront “your person” that you see walking to and from class every day. m aking jokes points to the fact that much of what we do is socially constructed; humor invites us to think about the things we say and do and to consider why we say and do them. a t the very least, we can bond over shared awkwardness. b ut the majority of the r evue does not use humor in this way. The thing is, i think most of you — including those of you involved with the r evue — agree with

me. i don’t think that you truly believe that notre d ame girls aren’t beautiful, fro-yo is something to be ashamed of or that sex is meaningless. s o why do these jokes exist, year after year, skit after skit? p erpetuating these stereotypes interferes with your ability to be insightful, creative and fresh. u ltimately, i wrote this article to challenge, not to condemn. i wrote it because i love my n otre d ame community, the traditions we uphold and the messages that we send. s o i want to challenge all of us as one student body to pay attention, to think, to be creative and to question. a nd like all good and valiant knights, the men of Keenan h all can lead the way.

By MATT McMAHON

s cene writer

harold ramis, famous actor, writer, director and director, died on feb. 24 at age 69 after losing his battle with a debilitating autoimmune disease.

i was lucky enough to have parents who allowed me to watch somewhat raunchy movies at a young age. in fact, sometimes my parents would even entice my sister and me to watch these films. we were children and therefore thought anything our parents would champion for us to take part in, even — or maybe especially — pop culture-wise, should be avoided. so, against our woefully ignorant judgment, our parents had to force us to watch “ghostbusters” as a family. now, every year on their respective holidays, to this day, we have the tradition of digging out “groundhog day” and “national lampoon’s christmas vacation.”

harold ramis, director of “national lampoon’s christmas vacation”, was the center of a comedic movement, surrounded by other talented, likeminded actors, writers and directors. he was the comedic brain behind

many influential and popular films — films that have maintained their lasting power over multiple decades.

beginning with his work on second city T v and the script of critical classic “national lampoon’s a nimal house,” ramis cultivated a brand of oddball comedy that was rather zany, but still appealed to the masses. w hat other gross-out movie gag is as universally enjoyed and cited as the candy bar in the pool incident from “caddyshack”?

ramis’s movies were undeniably weird, but it was the weirdness he celebrated and found emotion in, making his work so widely accepted. he married his writing to the likes of John belushi, bill murray, chevy chase and r ick moranis. a s much as their acting elevated his material, his writing and direction helped form what became each of their signature styles.

The distinguished writer and director’s impact was so prominent that his groundbreaking work is now commonplace. harold ramis crafted his own influential class of humor from groundwork laid by predecessors such as mel brooks. he ably combined this humor with underlying depth; a style used by many filmmakers

today, especially Judd apatow and seth rogen. ramis’s influence on mainstream, commercially appealing comedy can be traced to everything from the “a merican pie” series, to adam sandler’s and the farrelly brother’s older classics, to comedy central’s most recent successes “workaholics” and “broad city.” w hile he appeared quite understated both on and off the screen, there is no doubt harold ramis’s legacy on comedies will extend far into the future.

Thankfully, my parents were as stubborn in getting me to watch ramis’s movies growing up as i was about not wanting to conform to their tastes. it speaks to the genius of the filmmaker that multiple generations can find laughter and satisfaction from the wacky aspects of his movies. This overarching blanket of recognition is hard to attain due to diverging comedic preferences, but ramis consistently found a sweet spot. i look forward to sharing his work with my own children, as i know his movies will continue to provide definite comedy common ground.

Contact Matt McMahon at mmcmaho7@nd.edu

By KEVIN NOONAN

s cene e ditor

everything is awesome in the wake of “The lego movie,” the brilliantly hilarious animated film crushing the box office over the past two weekends. The film features a variety of celebrity voice actors, a purposefully glitchy animation style and a furious pace of endless jokes, from the obvious to the subversive. w hat most people don’t realize is that the film’s creators have had prior success with another hilarious youTube series, “clone high.”

The film’s writer-director partners, chris miller and phil lord, have made a name for themselves in hollywood by adapting existing properties for the big screen, raising the quality of the origin and bringing surprisingly fresh twists on expectations in each of their films.

Their first film, “cloudy with a chance of meatballs,” in 2009 combined cartoon slapstick with insightful and quirky humor. in 2012 they followed that debut⎯ an animated children’s movie⎯ with a hard-r action comedy remake of a 1980s television show, “21 Jump street.” combining self-mocking and tongue-in-cheek humor

with outrageous physical and visual gags brought the best out of the directors and the film’s stars, Jonah hill and channing Tatum, who played the least detestable role of his career that involves no stripping.

a fter that no-holds-barred r-rated comedy, the pair put out “The lego movie,” the no. 1 movie in a merica for two straight weeks and hands down the funniest movie i’ve seen in the last year. if you haven’t seen it, at least one of your friends has told you that you just absolutely have to.

but the writer-directors’ smashing worldwide success in the past few years can be traced back to a cheap-looking and short-lived cartoon, “clone high,” that aired fully only on canada’s Teletoon network in 2001 and 2002, just eight episodes of which were broadcast on mT v in a merica in 2003.

The duo’s comedy sensibilities are on full display from the first seconds of the show, which establishes it as a sendup of over-dramatic high school shows like “dawson’s creek” and later “The o c.” The pilot, “escape to beer mountain: a rope of sand.” The show opens with a very-young-sounding will forte announcing that “this is a very special episode of ‘clone high’” followed by the show’s theme song, an emotional, 90s pop-rock anthem

that introduces the characters and central concept:

“way, way, back in the 1980s / secret government employees / dug up famous guys and ladies / a nd made amusing genetic copies / now the clones are sexy teens / They’re gonna make it if they try / l oving, learning, sharing, judging, / a time to laugh and shiver and / cry / Time to watch / clone high / energetic and engaging, / clone high / our angst is entertaining, / clone high / our lives are never boring, / w ho am i?”

The show proceeds to follow abe l incoln as the tall and awkward one, Joan of a rc as abe’s overlooked female friend, cleopatra as the girl of abe’s dreams, John f. Kennedy as the popular jock and gandhi as the hardpartying comic relief. on the surface, it’s a perfect parody of high school dramas with humor that hits hard and often, but it goes above and beyond easy parody jokes, making for a consistently funny, frequently brilliant comedy. most of the series is on youTube and can be found with a little work. it is definitely worth watching for anyone who enjoyed “The lego movie” and wants to see more like it.

Contact Kevin Noonan at knoonan2@nd.edu

By JOHN DARR s cene writer

grandpa: music t’day is just bleepities and bloopers! no notes and that hullaballoo.

dad: man, back in my day, we listened to real music with real instruments. real music is made by people using electric guitars, not by people using electric other things.

l il’ bro: e lectronic music? i don’t listen to that stuff, it’s too weird and has no vocals. i just listen to what’s on the radio. swag, yolo, peace out.

i f i were a hippo, hearing these things would make me a sad hippo. i would wallow around in my large a frican lake with some sorrowful headphones in my drooping hippo ears. but i’m not a hippo, so i’ll just go ahead and explain why these people are so thankfully, completely wrong.

To grandpa : e lectronic music today is much different than it used to be. p rogrammers and sound technicians have been working with music for over four decades now, so the bleepy-bloopy music of Kraftwerk has been left far behind. synthesizers have been crafted to create a huge variety of new sounds, including many that model acoustic instruments. so-called electronic music often lives and breathes the life and vibrancy that bleeps and bloops of the past lacked.

i f you want to check out some truly rich and lively synthesizers, you need to check out wunderkind-beatmaker slugabed. songs like “new worlds” and “sex” from his lp “Time Team” are so rich and melodic that it’s truly difficult not to be wrapped in their lush embrace. a similar artist is bonobo, who shapes synthesizers into worldly soundscapes grounded by groovy hip-hop beats. Kiara and Kong from bonobo’s “black sands” lp grant an awesome glimpse into such a world. To dad : e lectronic music today is often focused heavily on sampling, or capturing and manipulating recorded acoustic sound. This means that standard instruments like electric guitars and even brass and woodwinds appear quite often in electronic music. e lectronic music can, but certainly doesn’t have to be, simply made up of synthesizers and drum machines. There are a plethora of amazing producers who sample out the wazoo. The first that comes to mind is f lying l otus, an experimental hip-hop beatmaker with an ear for jazzy arrangements. Just check out the smexy acoustic bass lines fluttering throughout his “cosmogramma” lp i f you’re more interested in the electric guitar, you can find a million riffs scattered throughout producer baths’ “cerulean” lp i f you’re really interested in the jazzier side of things, you should check out colin stetson’s h istory of warfare releases, which combine electronic production techniques with

single-take saxophone pieces.

To lil’ bro : everyone loves vocals, even those antisocial electronic producer types. Just look at the host of producer/singer/songwriters there are today. grimes. how to dress well. James blake. Zola Jesus. l aurel halo. many of today’s up-and-coming songwriters are turning to the computer instead of the guitar, given how easy it is to get access to production software these days.

a ll of the above artists are awesome as far as solo artists go. There are, however, many electronic bands that offer fuller sounds and often more standard, approachable songs. c heck out a nimal collective’s classic record “merriweather post pavilion” or friendly fire’s lively “pala” for a great, electronic-style party.

a ll in all, most of the people who don’t like electronic music simply haven’t been listening to the right kind of electronic music. The electronic genre is huge and expansive; there’s something for everyone. i mean, if you were a hippo and electronic music a foreign place, let’s say north a merica, you might see a picture of south bend and be all like, “i’m a hippo. There’s nothing for me in north a merica for me.” a nd then you’d never see disney world or san francisco or the san diego Zoo. you’d be a sad hippo indeed.

Contact John Darr at jdarr@nd.edu

By ALLIE TOLLAKSEN

if you missed bear hands at legends this month, you missed out on a chance to hear new tracks from the upand-coming alt-rock group before their album release. but fear not — even if you didn’t catch bear hands’ new music in person, their newest lp, “distraction,” is finally out this week. a long with two singles released last year, the group’s biggest hit to date, “giants,” and new single “agora,” the new album, “distraction,” features 11 tracks from the brooklyn-based band.

“distraction” opens on a slightly disappointing note with “moment of silence,” a quiet, minimalistic song with little melody or, unfortunately, allure. The song does build up by its last third, but fails to accomplish the cathartic release it aims to reach and instead sets the album on the wrong track.

The next two songs do manage to pick up the energy, however, with “giants” followed by “agora.” strangely, despite “giants” being the band’s most successful single thus far, it feels out of place on the new album. it’s catchy and high-energy, but is reminiscent of the group’s 2010 lp “burning bush supper club” both melodically and lyrically. it feels slightly juvenile compared to the rest of the album’s darker, more introspective themes.

“agora,” is clearly the stand out track however, setting the bar for the rest of the album. on par with this are a few of the tracks in the middle of “distraction,” including “bad friend” and “The bug.” it’s on these tracks that

rau’s repetitive and deprecating lyrics work, and the group manages to incorporate interesting chord progressions and instrumentals to hold the listener’s attention.

“bad friend” starts with ringing guitar, rather than their usual heavy drum and vocal intros, but manages to work as the chorus begins and incorporates bear hands’ distinctive sound into the guitar-driven track. “The bug” also initially doesn’t sound terribly compelling until a funk-inspired bass emerges, turning it into a standout track.

but while “agora” gave “distraction” promise and the previously mentioned tracks managed to deliver, the album has its share of confusing missteps. w hile “The bug” and “bad friend” pick up by their chorus, “bone digger,” which sounds like youth lagoon with rau’s low, distorted vocals, does just the opposite, falling flat after a promising intro. similarly, “peacekeeper” and “vile iowa” don’t seem to fit into the album. Though they are drastically different songs, they both stand out on the album almost to a fault. The former is the band’s obvious turn into a more rockdriven direction, with heavy guitar and quick drums throughout that make you want to bite your bottom lip and nod your head. The latter is an experiment in slowing things down, with rau whisper-singing the ballad that isn’t dynamic enough in its lyrics or melody to pull off such a mellow sound.

The album closes out fairly strongly, however, and the more mellow sound not accomplished in “vile iowa,” is in “party hats,” a toe-tapper that sounds beck-inspired

in the best way, and “Thought wrong,” which shows bear hands’ ability to use experimental electronic instrumentals and integrate them with acoustic guitar for a sad, but nice ending to the album.

w hat bear hands definitely has down is dylan rau’s clear-as-day vocals over a catchy, uppity beat, and it’s clear from “distraction” that the group can still do that well, while also offering more. however, what i was hoping to find on “distraction” was an exploration in melody and lyricism that simply didn’t happen. instead, the album is a confusing collection of tracks that sometimes get it right and other times miss the mark completely as the band experiments with instrumentals, tempos and themes. perhaps it will just take time and another album for bear hands to get it right.

Contact Allie Tollaksen at atollaks@nd.edu

“Distraction” Bear Hands

Label: Cantora

Tracks: “Agora,” “Thought Wrong”

If you like: Grouplove, MGMT, Miniature Tigers

collins, sam not the problem

Vicky Jacobsen sports writer

b y the time you read this, it will be old news. o n s unday, forward Jason c ollins signed a 10-day contract with the b rooklyn n ets, played his first game since a pril 17, and became the first openly gay man to compete in a major a merican professional league.

i n some ways, it was an almost anti-climatic milestone. The crowd at the s taples c enter in l os a ngele. greeted c ollins with polite applause, and he grabbed two rebounds and one steal in 11 minutes of play. i f c ollins was a “distraction” to his new teammates, it certainly did not show in their 108-102 win over the l akers. o n the contrary, n ets coach Jason Kidd compared c ollins to Jackie r obinson and told the media that many members of the team wanted c ollins on the squad.

g ranted, c ollins is signed to a 10-day contract, and he is a 35-year-old veteran who has played for six nba franchises. The s tanford graduate is respected across the league, and Kidd, his new coach, was his teammate when the two both played for the n ew Jersey n ets.

a side from being the first athlete from one of the four major sports to announce he was gay before retirement, c ollins is about as far from a locker room distraction as anyone in the nba w ithin the next few months, m ichael s am, a defensive end from m issouri, will almost certainly become the first openly gay athlete to play in the nfl a lthough both c ollins and s am have received overwhelming support ( s am came out to his teammates before last season, apparently without negative effect), there are still nfl players and officials who seem to think their league “isn’t ready” for a gay player.

Take Terrell Thomas, a cornerback for the n ew york g iants, who said he worries about jokes and pranks that might offend a homosexual teammate.

“ you don’t know if you’re offending him,” Thomas said. “ it changes a lot of things, and i don’t know if the nfl is ready for that.” p olls show a wide majority of nfl players say they would be comfortable sharing a locker room with gay teammates, but many team coaches and executives

expressed concern after s am told the press he is gay. “ it’d chemically imbalance an nfl locker room and meeting room,” one team official told s ports i llustrated. it is not entirely clear why s am’s sexuality would “imbalance” an nfl locker room when the m issouri locker room remained stable in every sense of the term (after all, the Tigers did go 12-2 and beat o klahoma s tate in the c otton b owl), but i find it hard to believe that s am will be nearly as disruptive as many of his future colleagues. e ven if we look at the issue from the perspective of Terrell Thomas, who believes homosexuality is a sin, that would hardly preclude s am from joining the nfl

i n the past year, we have seen a aron h ernandez, formerly of the p atriots, implicated in multiple murders. The e agles kept wide receiver r iley c ooper on the team even after video surfaced that showed an intoxicated c ooper directing racial epithets and threats of physical violence at a concert security guard. a nd just this month, police in a tlantic c ity arrested r avens running back r ay r ice after he allegedly knocked out his fiancée with a blow to the head and then attempted to drag her out of an elevator. b oth r ice and his fiancée, Janay p almer, were charged with simple assault-domestic violence, and though the nfl could suspend r ice, r avens coach John h arbaugh has said he expects r ice to remain on the team.

we all know nfl teams are willing to make room for athletes accused of violence, substance abuse and general bad behavior, and yet the delicate locker room environment endures. e ither nfl executives vastly underestimate the ability of their players to get along with teammates who are different from them, or they truly believe a man who happens to be attracted to other men is more disruptive or morally objectionable than a man who beats his girlfriend, picks fights in bar, or tortures dogs. m aybe it is these scouts and coaches — not the players — who are not ready for a gay teammate.

Contact Vicky Jacobsen at vjacobse@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Gators latest team to claim AP no. 1 slot

Associated Press

gainesville — The florida gators are taking their turn as the newest no. 1 in what coach billy donovan calls a revolving door atop the ap college basketball poll, their first time on top of the rankings since they repeated as national champions in 2007.

The gators (25-2) moved up one place monday, replacing syracuse (25-2), which lost twice last week and dropped to fourth.

wichita state (29-0) and arizona (25-2) both moved up one place to second and third. florida, the fifth school to hold the no. 1 spot this season, received 47 firstplace votes from the 65-member national media panel. The gators were ranked no. 1 for eight weeks in 2007. wichita state was no. 1 on 14 ballots with arizona receiving the other four first-place votes.

donovan called the rankings a revolving door before his gators took over the top spot, and he said being no. 1 is an honor and compliment.

“but let’s be honest right now: The only reason we have garnered no. 1 and we would have never, ever been no. 1 if it had not been for the teams in front of us losing,” donovan said.

To donovan, a lot of teams

could be considered the nation’s best right now with undefeated wichita state having a strong argument. donovan also said he’s impressed by syracuse winning 25 straight games along with what arizona did before brandon ashley’s foot injury.

“it’s not like all of a sudden florida is no. 1 or you get a ranking and we’re the best team in the country,” donovan said. “we’ve been given a number, and that’s about the extent of it.”

These gators have won a school record 19 straight games coming off a 75-71 win at mississippi where they shut down marshall henderson in the second half. They can clinch at least a share of the southeastern conference title on Tuesday night with a win at vanderbilt before having a chance to wrap up the championship against lsu on saturday.

playing at memorial gym means dealing with the unique layout with the benches on the end lines. even though vanderbilt is playing short-handed with only seven scholarship players and even used a couple walk-ons, the gators with their new ranking will be tested quickly.

florida senior forward will yeguete thinks the gators will handle the challenge well.

“our lives aren’t really changing,” yeguete said. “we’re no. 1. That’s a really good accomplishment, especially for us being no. 1. but i think coach d will use that to motivate us. we’ve been no. 2 before. we know what it is to be ranked really high. we know you just take one game at a time.” wichita state coach gregg marshall told The associated press that being ranked no. 2 means the shockers are being recognized for an outstanding season so far, and they plan to keep pushing to see how high they can go.

“florida is an outstanding team,” marshall said. “i’ve watched them, i really think they’re good, there’s a lot of good teams out there. but i just think this continues to be a carrot for our team. it continues to be a goal and it’s a very lofty goal, and it’s something to strive for.”

Kansas jumped three places to fifth and was followed by duke, louisville, villanova, creighton and saint louis. syracuse, which was no. 1 the past three weeks, lost to boston college and duke last week, the orange’s first losses of the season. north carolina, smu and new mexico all returned to the Top 25 this week replacing connecticut, ucla and gonzaga.

Vikings pursue QB in draft

Associated Press

minneapolis — The m innesota v ikings spent the weekend at the nfl scouting combine pouring over quarterbacks, as thoroughly as any other team in the league.

They’re among the frustrated few — well, there’s more than a few clubs without a quarterback solution — who badly need this draft to produce a long-term answer at the most important position. The good news for them is that this year’s class is considered a deep one.

The v ikings are also in a

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potentially awkward place with the eighth pick in the first round. none of the top three prospects, Johnny m anziel, Teddy bridgewater or blake b ortles, is likely to still be available to them unless they find a willing partner and use other selections to move up. a s evidenced by the performance of c hristian ponder, the 12th overall pick in a similarly quarterback-deep 2011 draft, there’s a risk in reaching even if the position is the biggest need on the roster.

s o the v ikings, if they determine the top three are either impossible or unsatisfying for

them, are sure to be giving the second and third tiers of 2014 quarterback prospects a hard look as well over the next 2½ months.

“o bviously, the position is a big need in this league. b ut it’s going to be fun, really. i get to look at some of the best guys and try to figure it out,” coach m ike Zimmer said. “l et’s hit on the right one, and let’s go to work.”

he added: “i have the utmost confidence in the scouts and the front office people. i feel really good about it. i f i didn’t, i’d be worried but i ’m not.”

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Circling your, circling your, circling your head, Contemplating everything

you ever said Now I see the truth, I got doubt A different motive in your eyes and now I’m out See you later I see your fantasy, you want to make it a reality paved in goldSee inside, inside of our heads (yeah)Well now that’s overI see your motives inside, decisions to hide Back off I’ll take you on Headstrong to take on anyone I know that you are wrong Headstrong we’re headstrong Back off I’ll take you on Headstrong to take on anyone

belles struggle in doubles, drop decision to aquinas

By ALEX CARSON sports writer

s aint m ary’s dropped its second consecutive match, falling to a quinas by a 6-3 decision s aturday.

f or the second straight match, the b elles (1-2) failed to pick up a victory in the three doubles matches, giving the s aints (2-0) the early advantage.

s enior co-captain m ary c atherine f aller and junior Kayle s exton dropped the n o. 1 doubles match, 8-6, while juniors s hannon e lliott and co-captain a udrey Kiefer also dropped their doubles match — at the n o. 2 flight — by a break.

“They served a bit better than us and [our opponents] are still volleying slightly

better,” b elles coach d ale c ampbell said. “ we have to be more consistent in all phases of our doubles games. [ a quinas] was strong in doubles, but with these close matches, i know we have the ability to pull them out.”

u ltimately, it was those two top doubles matches that proved to be the difference s aturday, as s aint m ary’s and a quinas would go on to split the singles matches. The b elles got their first victory of the evening at the n o. 2 singles spot when s exton dismissed her opponent, s aints freshman Tiffany Tuori, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.

“ i think [ s exton] is growing in her ability to play singles at the n o. 2 position,” c ampbell said. “ w hen she moves her feet well, she can play some

outstanding singles. s he explodes into her shots when she is moving well.”

The b elles were then able to get a victory at the n o. 6 singles spot for the second week running when sophomore a ndrea f etters dispatched her opponent, s aints sophomore Jennelle m iller, 6-2, 6-4.

“[ f etter’s consecutive wins at n o. 6 singles] just shows depth in our lineup,” c ampbell said. “a ndrea’s fight in those matches can only help to give our team confidence. i think we know you can have a battle in all positions and you never know where the victories will come from.”

The third and final win of the day for s aint m ary’s came in three sets when e lliott racked up her first victory of the spring season, defeating a quinas junior a riana Kabodian, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

“[ e lliott] battles well and took some pride in winning her match in the third set,” c ampbell said. “ h er opponent was a great runner, but s hannon controlled her and made her move all over the court. h er shot-making eventually wore down her opponent. i t was nice for her to finish the match with a win as she was the last one on the court.”

The b elles return to action m arch 9 when they travel to o rlando, f la., to kick off a five-match trip with contests against c ornell c ollege.

Contact Alex Carson at acarson1@nd.edu

Nordic ski team races “Birkie”

Special to The Observer

The notre dame nordic ski team joined over 10,300 crosscountry skiers saturday in north america’s largest ski race: the american birkebeiner, also called the “birkie.” The race takes place in western wisconsin, over a trail connecting the cities of cable and hayward. The annual event is the american version of norway’s birkebeinerrenet and began in 1973.

Ten skiers from notre dame traveled into the tundra to compete in various events over birkie weekend. races ranged from 12 to 54 kilometers in length, and the cumulative length of the team’s races totaled to over 250 miles. for most of the team’s skiers, the event was a first-time experience, but for sophomore iciar ocariz, this event is a family tradition. This year was her fourth time competing in the 27k Kortelopet race, finishing third in her age group with an impressive time of 1:59:18. senior Kevin bednar also performed well in the 54k classic, finishing his first ski-marathon as third in his wave with a time of 4:01:41.

after the race, sophomore adrienne hushcke said, “i’ve wanted to do the birkie ever since i began skiing in high school, and now that i’ve done it, i want to come back every year because it was just such an amazing experience.” every 5-7k, volunteers greeted the skiers with water and snacks to refuel because in races of this length, replenishment is critical — skiers can burn up to 1,000 calories per hour while racing. because of the proximity to the Twin cities, many of the team’s members from minnesota were able to reunite with their

families at the finish line and share the achievement with them. each year, the event brings together skiers from all over the world to tackle the most elite trail in the midwest. “w hat’s cool about the birkie is that it draws such a variety of skiers; competitors range from olympic-level athletes to novices,” said bednar. “it’s amazing that as a third-year club, we were able to bring such a great representation of the university to the event. w hen we first dreamed up this trip, we never imagined so many students would be interested in going and doing something so crazy.”

The skiers spent the weekend at the nearby cabin of alumni michael daugherty, class of 1982. senior mara stolee said, “we are so thankful for the support of the notre dame family. it was only through the generosity and assistance of this community that we were able to achieve such a lofty goal.”

Women’s u ltimate f risbee

The notre dame women’s ultimate club traveled to north carolina this weekend to compete in the asheville invite, playing against teams from many different regions. both a and b teams played in the tournament, enjoying a weekend of warm weather while seeing some new competition.

notre dame a started off the weekend very well, coming out with a 13-1 win over uncgreensboro in their first game on saturday. in their second game of the day, the team faced a tougher george washington university team. They were trailing 4-7 at halftime, but came out of half to score nine unanswered points, taking the game with a score of 137. in game 3, notre dame a faced tournament hosts unc-asheville in the showcase game, taking the lead from the outset and winning 13-3.

on day two, notre dame a enjoyed a first round bye and opened play with a semifinal game against elon university. The teams traded points for a while, and notre dame trailed 6-8 at half. elon gained momentum and took a 10-7 lead, but notre dame fought back to tie the game at 10-10. freshman Julia butterfield caught the game winning point from sophomore heather fredrickson, and notre dame a was officially in the finals. They faced long-time competitors indiana university, and once again, the teams traded points and notre dame a found itself down at the half by a score of 8-6. but the team came back, and freshman mary hermann caught a hammer from Kelsey fink to bring the game to an 11-11 tie. in the last few minutes of the game, iu took the lead, and notre dame suffered a heavy loss in the championship by a final score of 13-11.

The i rish played just one game on f riday and earned an eighth consecutive win in a wild 12-11 victory over ucd avis (5-13). The i rish ran out to a 10-3 lead behind a torrid offense. Koerner hit her third leadoff home run of the season, and w inter, junior third baseman Katie h aus and sophomore first baseman m icaela a rizmendi added two rbi each. however, the a ggies clawed their way back into the game when a three-run home run by senior catcher c aitlin voss tied the game at 11 before wester scored the game’s winning run for the second time in as many days, coming home on an errant throw from short.

o n s aturday, the i rish battled but ultimately lost to c alifornia 5-3 before earning a third shutout of the weekend against c al s tate-f ullerton, 8-0. a gainst the g olden b ears (7-6), a three-run home run courtesy of a rizmendi brought the game back within striking distance in the seventh and final frame, but a pair of popups ended the chance and the notre d ame win streak.

however, the i rish bounced back against c al s tatef ullerton (11-5). l aura w inter tossed her second shutout of the weekend, giving up just one hit and striking out seven and allowing zero walks. The victory was her 89th moving her into third place on the program’s all-time victories list.

“[ w inter] was strong, as she usually is,” g umpf said. “ s he is a real leader for us, and we always expect she’ll pitch well.”

The weekend’s final game came as the biggest test in the young season so far for the i rish, against no. 6 o regon (131). notre d ame fell just short of a potential statement win in a 2-0 nine-inning loss, handcuffed by d ucks’ sophomore pitcher c heridan h awkins (71), who threw 150 pitches and yielded just three hits. w inter threw eight more scoreless frames for notre d ame, but was ultimately dealt her second loss of the season (6-2). s till, g umpf said there was plenty to be taken from the heart her team showed.

“i think we have the makings of a really, really good team,” g umpf said. “There are things we have to improve on, but it’s so early in the season. we have time to practice, to get some work in and fix them. b ut we’re battling, and i like that.”

The i rish are back in action this weekend at the d iamond 9 c itrus c lassic at the espn w ide world of s ports complex in Kissimmee, f la. a ction begins f riday at 1:15 p.m. against fordham.

Contact Evan Anderson at eander11@nd.edu

nd falls in pair of acc openers

Observer Staff Report

no. 22 notre dame got a rough introduction to acc play over the weekend, dropping its first two conference games at home to no. 25 georgia Tech and away against no. 17 miami.

The irish (5-4) came heartbreakingly close to a win friday but came up short in the evening’s last three matches before falling, 4-3.

The match started poorly for the irish as georgia Tech (4-2) handily won the doubles point. The irish duo of sophomore Quinn gleason and senior britney sanders fell to the country’s top-rated doubles pairing, yellow Jackets sophomores Kendal woodard and megan Kurey, by a score of 8-5. shortly after that defeat, notre

dame’s pairing of senior Jennifer Kellner and freshman monica robinson were downed, 8-5, by yellow Jackets sophomore natasha prokhnevska and senior muriel wacker.

The irish started strong in the singles portion, winning the first sets in five of the matches. Kellner was the first to wrap up a point, as she knocked off Kurey in decisive fashion, 6-0, 6-1. The irish then took a 3-1 lead as two freshmen, mary closs and robinson, won 6-2, 6-4 and 6-1, 6-2, respectively. from there, the irish dropped three gut-wrenching three-setters. sophomore Julie vrabel was the lone notre dame competitor to drop a first set but fought back to win the second before falling to wacker, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. sanders started fast against

woodard but could not quite close it out. she fended off multiple set points in the second set before dropping the tiebreaker headed into a dramatic final set. sanders fought off two match points in the closing action, one with a sensational return winner, but still fell in the final set, 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. with the match tied at 3, all attention turned to gleason’s match. gleason failed to capitalize when she had match point opportunities and eventually dropped the last four games of the set as prokhnevsk won, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, to earn the overall victory for georgia Tech.

in coral gables, fla., on sunday, notre dame’s struggles in doubles continued as miami (6-2) jumped out to big leads and eventually won all three matches.

closs and senior Julie sabacinski lost first, falling to miami senior brittany dubins and sophomore stephanie wagner, 8-5. The hurricanes top tandem of junior monique albuquerque and sophomore clementina riobueno then knocked off sanders and gleason, 8-4, and miami senior melissa bolivar and sophomore Kelsey laurente closed out the doubles portion with a dominant 8-2 win over Kellner and robinson.

The irish got their only point of the day from robinson, who beat miami junior lina lileikite, 6-2, 6-4, but the irish fell to the hurricanes, 6-1

The irish will look to rebound as they visit top-ranked duke on friday, with matches starting at 6 p.m.

know i made the right decision to run at [ n otre d ame].”

i n the men’s 400-meter dash, junior c hris g iesting claimed first by nearly a full second with a time of 45.89 seconds. That time ranks him fifth in the nation this year heading into the conference and national championships and claimed the n otre d ame record from f eeney, a fellow a ll- a merican.

f eeney said his and g iesting’s friendly rivalry has made both runners better.

“a bout two hours after we broke his distance medley record, he took down my indoor 400-meter record,” f eeney said. “ i still believe there will be a few more record exchanges as we end this indoor season. n ot many a ll- a mericans are privileged enough to train with another a ll- a merican. i would not be running the times i do today without having him as a training partner.”

i rish coach Joe p iane said last week after the spire i nvitational that his chief goal was ensuring his men’s distance medley team qualified for the ncaa c hampionships next month.

w ith a time of 9:29.43, graduate student Jeremy r ae, f eeney, freshman Jacob d umford and graduate student n ick h appe accomplished just that s aturday, setting a school record in the process. The group finished third behind i ndiana and a rkansas, but the sub9:30 time was fast enough to qualify nationally.

f eeney said qualification in the distance medley was very important to him and his teammates.

“ m y first time ever going to nationals was my freshman year as part of the distance medley,” f eeney said. “ it’s nice to end my career the same way.”

a mong other top performers on the men’s side was graduate student J. p m alette, whose time of 4:00.17 in the mile run was first among collegiate athletes and left him just milliseconds from breaking the elusive fourminute mile.

f reshman n ate r ichartz and junior d avid s chipper finished first and second in the pole vault at 4.75 and 4.60 meters, respectively, and junior d ominick p adovano threw 18.58 meters to claim a third-place finish in the weight throw.

The i rish 4x400 relay of g iesting, f eeney, senior

paid a dverT isemen T

Jarrod b uchanon and freshman h arvey s mith finished at 3:07.58 and in third place behind acc foes f lorida s tate and n orth c arolina, setting another record mark.

The distance medley shone on the women’s side, as well. s eniors Kelly c urran, m ichelle b rown and a lexa a ragon and sophomore d anielle a ragon, each an a ll- a merican, easily claimed first place with a time of 11:05.07. That time is 10th best in the nation this year.

The i rish women earned four other first-place finishes. i n the pole vault, senior Kelly b urke earned a victory at 3.60 meters with sophomores l ibby s chichtel and a llie s ullivan finishing in a tie for second at 3.45 meters. s enior v ivien d evaney easily took first in the weight throw at 19.60 meters, freshman Taylor d riscoll came in eighth in the mile with a time of 4:51.38, and sophomore m argaret b amgbose ran the 400-meter dash in 53.40 seconds to claim a first-place finish.

The i rish are back in action Thursday and f riday when the acc c hampionships begin in c lemson, s c

Contact Evan Anderson at eander11@nd.edu

Belles drop final game to Brits

By ANDREW ROBINSON sports writer

despite a solid start and a late scoring run, saint mary’s streaky offensive efforts were not enough to overcome an emotionally charged performance by a lbion in both teams’ final game of the season saturday at Kresge gymnasium in a lbion, mich.

a lthough the game was without postseason consequences since both teams sit in the bottom half of conference standings, it was nonetheless a meaningful way for the players to wrap up their seasons, or in some cases, their careers.

it began with a touching gesture, as the belles (7-18, 5-11 miaa) allowed injured brits senior guard Taylor nugent to drive for an uncontested basket to begin her senior day matchup before being subbed out. The brits (9-16, 5-11) remained within striking distance of the belles to start, and a series of scores from saint mary’s senior guard and captain shanlynn bias made the game 16-15 in favor of a lbion midway through the half. however, the belles were unable to contain the scoring ability of senior guard brett debear, who led a lbion on successive 10-2 and 9-0 runs to help take an eventual 43-29 lead into halftime.

“a lbion was fired up and ready to go for their senior day,” belles coach Jenn henley said. “we had problems trying to contain their leader debear, who killed us in the first half especially.”

saint mary’s fought back in the second half, but another 9-0 run by the brits extended their

lead to 56-35, a lead which they maintained comfortably for the rest of the game.

“i think my team played hard,” henley said. “we made some runs in the second half, but time was against us.”

a n energized 11-0 run by the belles late in the half was not enough as the game was already out of reach, ending 77-65 in favor of the brits.

debear, who averaged 18.0 points per game, was 13-19 from the field and ended up with 29 points on the day to cap off her career as the second-highest scorer in a lbion’s history. brits sophomore forward emily dewaters helped out on the boards, snagging 17 rebounds. for the belles, bias finished out her career as a four-year contributor with a 19-point performance to finish the season at a teamhigh 14.7 points per game. The belles’ other graduating senior and captain, forward Katherine wabler, added eight points.

saint mary’s junior forward a riana paul had her third consecutive double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds. she finished the season averaging 13.9 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds per game.

despite the team’s losing record, henley said she was positive and hopeful when evaluating the season and looking to next year. “moving forward, we look to build on how much our program has grown this past season,” she said. “we should return a lot of players who gained valuable experience this season.”

Contact Andrew Robinson at arobins6@nd.edu

north carolina, virginia, florida, maryland and northwestern. but after a visit to south bend, fortunato knew where she wanted to be.

“i visited the top-10 schools for lacrosse, and it’s just different,” fortunato said. “it’s just a different place, and it’s hard to explain unless you come here. The combination of athletics and academics, and the tradition of the school, and everything about notre dame, other schools just can’t match it.” coming from the high school level, though, even the nation’s top recruit had a learning curve to deal with.

“The pace is a lot faster,” she said. “i definitely had to adjust during fall ball to the faster pace of the game and get used to the different players i’m playing with and their tendencies. but i think everything else is pretty similar, so it wasn’t too hard of an adjustment. “

but now that the season has arrived, fortunato has thrived in the elevated level of competition, which she credits to the fact that there are no easy games.

“every game is a big game,” she said. “every game is exciting. in high school there were the big games, but there were the few in between that weren’t too crazy. everyone is on the same level here. everyone is here for the same

reasons and wants to put in the same effort as you to achieve the ultimate goals.”

That competition will only get better, as the irish will head to north carolina on Thursday to take on the Tar heels — the defending national champions and the nation’s unanimous no. 1. fortunato has lofty goals for her four years under the dome, but fortunato said

she isn’t looking any further than Thursday night in chapel hill.

“The number one goal is to win the national championship, but my goal for the season is to take it one game at a time, to play the best of my ability and to help this team as much as i can.”

Contact Jack Hefferon at wheffero@nd.edu

paid a dverT isemen T

partners.

“ i ’ve gone to both nights,” b oomer said. “ i wasn’t able to stay for all the fights each night, but i was able to see some friends and support them.”

b ecause of the small size of their division, all of the heavyweights have sparred against other weight classes, especially the 202-pound division, in the closest thing the fighters can come to experiencing a normal bout.

“ i actually haven’t sparred against any of the other guys in my bracket,” b oomer said.

“a ll of the guys i have fought against are in the weight class below me or had to drop out due to injury.”

This has not stopped the boxers from sparring. d aniel y i said he has sparred more this year than any other year in the program and that the freshmen are getting more time in the ring than he used to.

d espite the small size of the remaining field, b oomer said he is not overly familiar with his competition, especially the novice fighters.

“ i know d an y i well because of the past two years [that i ’ve been in the program],”

b oomer said. “ i ’ve met both of the other guys, and i know who i ’m fighting, but we don’t know each other particularly well.”

y i is the heavy favorite to win the bracket after a dominating victory over former varsity basketball player m ike b roghammer last spring for his third championship. y i dispatched b roghammer in just 17 seconds, sending him to the canvas and causing the referee to stop the bout. h e will face i srael in the first semifinal, while b oomer and Jegier will square off in the second.

The semifinal round of the 84th edition of the b engal b outs takes place tonight in the Joyce c enter fieldhouse, starting at 7 p.m. a ll proceeds benefit the h oly c ross missions in b angladesh.

Contact Greg Hadley at ghadley@nd.edu

42

Gilligan’s island home 38 Gen. follower 39 ___-la-la

maker 23 Tic ___ (breath mint)

24 In ___ (lined up)

26 Metal between osmium and platinum on the periodic table

27 Senseless 29 Alternative to Ascap

33 Kia model 34 Place to get a facial

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554. Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS. AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information. Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 2,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers:

SOLUTIONTO MONDAY’SPUZZLE

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk

Happy Birthday: Taking on too much will be what drags you down. set your priorities and convince the appropriate people to help. emotional issues and partnerships can be dealt with, but honesty must be implemented and equality your goal if you want to avoid resentment. consider what you want to keep and what you want to discard. your numbers are 5, 12, 22, 29, 31, 36, 48.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): make plans, but don’t share your ideas. act in secret and you’ll make a much larger impact when the time is right to present or promote. don’t let impulsiveness be your downfall. strategize every move you make and avoid interference and criticism.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): put greater focus on yourself and the personal improvements you can make. dedication and presenting the best possible picture will be what captures the interest of someone looking for a partner or a service you can offer.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Time and energy spent trying to accomplish the tasks you’ve been given will pay off. don’t let anyone confuse or sidetrack you with criticism or meddling. Take special care of your health. proper diet and exercise will help you stay strong.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): let communication lead the way. interaction will lead to interesting information and good connections that will be valuable to you when it comes to legal, money or health issues. ask questions and strategize to make sure you get your timing perfect.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): don’t be afraid to make changes. Taking the initiative will help you gain respect, even though you are likely to face opposition from a jealous onlooker. an unusual set of circumstances will surround a money, health or legal issue. get the facts straight and proceed.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Take pride in what you do. say what’s on your mind and enjoy socializing and being a participant. partnerships will flourish and romantic encounters will lead to a close bond with someone who supports your efforts and boosts your confidence.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Try not to get bent out of shape if someone overreacts or gives you a hard time. head in whatever direction looks promising and give your all until you get the results you desire. a new friendship or activity will be exhilarating.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): make adjustments at home that will motivate you to be more creative. Taking part in an unusual event will broaden your outlook and help you expand your friendships. an unusual lifestyle will capture your interest. love is in the stars.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Keep your emotions under control. you don’t want to give anyone the upper hand. Know what’s in your bank account and how much you can afford before you spend on something you don’t need. someone you deal with has ulterior motives.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): a partnership will turn out to be prosperous. enjoy the company of someone you’ve known for a long time. listen to what’s being said, but don’t be too quick to divulge your personal secrets.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): put more emphasis on money, contracts, legal matters and getting back on track. what you do to encourage positive change will bring good results, but that doesn’t mean you should be excessive. greater security will help build confidence.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Take part in an event that is geared toward a cause you believe in and you will form an alliance with someone who is able to help you advance. make a difference by going above and beyond what’s expected and you will reap rewards.

Birthday Baby: you are quick, insightful and dedicated. you are a competitive doer.inventive and imaginative.

i rish win four of six in california

By EVAN ANDERSON sports writer

no. 24 notre dame traveled to cathedral city, calif., this weekend for a six-game slate against west coast competition at the mary nutter collegiate classic. The irish won four of six games over four days, including three shutout wins and a 12-11 thriller over uc-davis, though the weekend culminated in a nineinning, 2-0 loss to no. 6 oregon sunday.

on Thursday, the notre dame staff tossed 14 shutout innings to earn a pair of victories over pacific (3-8) and brigham young and stretch the winning streak to seven games. in the afternoon game against pacific, the irish bats remained silent until the bottom of sixth inning, when they manufactured the game’s only run. Junior second baseman Jenna simon recorded an infield single, stole second base

and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by junior center fielder emilee Koerner. freshman left fielder Karley wester made the most of the scoring chance with a sacrifice fly to left. freshman pitcher rachel nasland, who replaced sophomore pitcher and starter a llie r hodes in the sixth inning, earned the first win of her notre dame career (1-0). in the second game, senior pitcher laura winter, fresh off her selection as one of 30 candidates for the 2014 senior class award, gave up just a pair of singles and a walk and recorded eight strikeouts against byu (6-9).

irish coach deanna gumpf said her team’s pitching is emerging as a clear strength.

“our pitching has been extremely consistent, and it has given us a chance to win every game we have played,” gumpf said. “That’s always our goal.”

traCK and fIeld | aleX wilson inviTaTional

nd Women’s laCrosse

Fortunato finds success in early-season matchups

By JACK HEFFERON sports writer

The ncaa instituted a new rule this year, stating that goalscorers must immediately drop their sticks after a goal so that officials can inspect them. and just three games into her notre dame career, cortney fortunato’s stick has already seen a lot of the turf.

The highly touted freshman attack from long island starred for the irish (2-1, 0-1 acc) this weekend, contributing four goals — including the game winner — and an assist in a tight 8-7 win over stony brook.

fortunato didn’t just score, however. she contributed all over the field, tying for the team lead in ground balls and caused turnovers, and she stepped up for a key draw control down the stretch to put the game on ice.

irish coach christine halfpenny said the game was a huge step for

Records fall at final Notre Dame home meet

By EVAN ANDERSON sports writer

Three school records fell s aturday as n otre d ame hosted nearly 50 schools from across the country for the a lex w ilson i nvitational, a final tune-up for the i rish before their first visit to the acc c hampionships in c lemson, s c ., next week.

s aturday also marked the final home meet for n otre d ame’s senior class, as the i rish do not host during the spring outdoor season. s enior and captain p atrick f eeney said his final meet at n otre d ame was bittersweet.

“ i t was a pretty sad moment once i realized that the a lex w ilson was going to be the last meet i ran at l oftus in an nd uniform,” f eeney said. “The past four years have gone by extremely fast. … a fter four years, i

the freshman, and she praised fortunato as part of a group of young players who took charge against the seawolves (2-1, 0-0 america east).

“seeing [cortney] really step in to a strong leadership role was huge for us today,” halfpenny said. adjusting to the college game has come in stride for fortunato, but that was to be expected. coming out of northport high, she was rated as the no. 1 recruit in the class nationwide. The offer letters rolled in from the elite of the college game, including duke,

benGal bouts

heavyweights to debut in semis

By GREG HADLEY s ports w riter

The 84th annual b engal b outs started f eb. 17, but for four fighters, all this meant was another week to train, watch their friends and nervously wait for their turn in the ring. Tonight, that wait will come to an end for the heavyweight division.

o nly four boxers — sophomore m att b oomer, freshman e rich Jegier, first-year law student b rian i srael and senior captain and defending champion d aniel y i — are competing in the division, eliminating the need for a preliminary or quarterfinal round. Two other boxers started out the season with the heavyweights but were forced to pull out after injury.

a s the other weight classes have narrowed down the field to the final four, the heavyweights have continued to train and prepare.

“ i ’ve been training hard

and trying to keep up the intensity,” b oomer said. “The other guys have been tapering off now that they’re fighting. i ’ve just tried to use the extra time to become a better athlete because that’s ultimately what it comes down to.”

The wait, though, has ratcheted up the nerves for some fighters.

“There is definitely a certain anxiousness [in waiting],” b oomer said. “ you want to get out there. you see your friends out there, and you want to be in the ring, too. a t the same time, i ’m not disappointed that i ’m in the semifinals already. it just brings you that much closer to the title.”

e ven though they were not fighting, most of the heavyweights still attended both the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds to cheer on their friends and training