Rapper headlines inaugural SUB concert in Compton Family Ice Arena, entertains energetic students
By PETER DURBIN News Writer
Atlanta rapper B.o.B entertained students at the annual suB concert Friday evening in the compton Family ice Arena.
this year’s event marked the first time the concert was held in compton. in past years, stepan center housed the concert.
“i have been to the suB concert the past two years and i definitely liked having it held in compton better than the stepan center,” junior Briana cortez said.
senior celso Diaz said compton was an exceptional venue to host the concert on an annual basis.
“it allows more students to
attend the suB concert and is a much nicer venue than stepan,”
Diaz said.
B.o.B proved to be quite the performer, as he engaged the crowd throughout his setlist.
“i thought the show was really well-done,” junior shannon Lewry said. “B.o.B is a great performer and i love how he interacted with the crowd. … i loved when he stood up on the speakers in front of the crowd. he singled out one of my friends and sang to her, so that was definitely a highlight.”
cortez agreed B.o.B’s crowd interaction was one of the concert’s highlights.
B.o.B balances on one hand Friday during his concert, put on by Student Union Board. The rapper played all of his top-hit songs and engaged the crowd throughout the show.
Dept. of Academic Affairs updates policies
By ANN MARIE JAKUBOWSKI News Editor
t he Department of Academic Affairs within student government spent the past year as a liaison between undergraduates and Notre Dame administrators, and department director maxwell Brown said a newlydeveloped mission statement has offered direction for the group’s future initiatives.
“t he Department of Academic Affairs is the official link between students and
administration through articulation of resolutions and promotion of academics in and outside of the classroom to enhance the undergraduate-student experience,” Brown said.
Brown, who is serving his second term as director of Academic Affairs, said several of last year’s major initiatives involved collaboration with the university’s Academic council, a group headed by university p resident Fr. John Jenkins. t he council oversees the Academic code, among other things,
and Brown said he attends the meetings as a full voting member with speaking rights, representing the undergraduate student interests.
As a result of one of the revisions to the Academic code this year, Brown said students will now be able to take the first course of a minor pass/fail.
“[ t his initiative] is really to allow students to be able to comfortably explore things, to encourage this intellectual exploration,” Brown said. “you can take a course pass/fail if
Cadets prepare to join ranks
By CAROLINA WILSON News Writer
When the 2013 class of Army rotc cadets graduates next month, a group that has followed a similar path at Notre Dame will disperse to all corners of the country to begin serving in the united states Army.
s enior m ichael Dompierre will head to Ft. huachuca, Arizona, in early June to begin officer intelligence training and will then proceed to his
you’re interested in it but don’t want to negatively affect your gpA, … and then you can continue [the minor] and use the first course even though you took it pass/fail.
“t hat way, you can just take the four other courses required to complete the minor instead of having to do all five, when that might not fit into your schedule if you’re a junior or senior,” he said.
Brown said the new legislature does not overly pad gpAs but instead provides students
with a chance to safely explore the academic options available in a “highly competitive research and career environment.”
Another key development was improving the advocacy for students put on academic probation, Brown said.
“We’re working to make the academic system and the Academic council as a whole more transparent [so] students know what changes are
ND grads create scouting program
By CHARITHA ISANAKA News Writer
Endorse.me, a technology startup created by two 2011 Notre Dame graduates, provides employers with confidential information about potential employees, offering an advantage to students in strengthening their candidacy and to employers in hiring the very best talent before their competitors.
James i ngallinera and trey
g riffith piloted the idea in spring 2012 and introduced approximately 2,000 students to it in its initial stages. today, Endorse.me is available on 18 college campuses, including Notre Dame.
“We are the platform for this confidential information that is invaluable for recruiters in helping them find the best candidates and for students in dramatically strengthening
MACKENZIE SAIN | The Observer
Members of Army ROTC march in front of University President Fr. John Jenkins at the annual 2012 Presidential Pass-In-Review.
Scene Desk (574) 631-4540 observer.scene1@gmail.com
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Policies
Today’s Staff
Question of the Day:
Caitlin Gruis freshman mcglinn hall
“on a scale from one to 10, eight.”
Shea Smith freshman ryan hall
“hopefully not too bad.”
Paul Amiri graduate student morrissey manor
“i only have one, grad Life.”
t he observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times.
do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. i f we have made a mistake, please contact us at (574) 631-4541 so we can correct our error.
Kaitlin Whelan freshman ryan hall “m ildly.”
Nina Jones freshman mcglinn hall
“Beyond screwed.”
Taylor Freeman sophomore ryan hall
“i’m Arts and Letters so i can’t be too screwed, right?”
he next f ive D ays: How much trouble are you in for finals week?
Monday
CSC Open House Geddes Hall
4:30 p.m.-6 p.m.
Celebrate the CSC’s 30th anniversary.
Lecture: The ABEGHH’tH Revolution
Jordan Hall of Science
7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Speaker Sylvester James Gates, Jr.
Have a question you want answered? Email obsphoto@gmail.com Want your event included here? Email
DJ duo Dzeko and Torres perform before B.o.B in Friday night’s SUB concert in Compton Family Ice Arena. B.o.B, known for songs such as “Airplanes” and “Magic,” headlined the annual concert, which was the culmination of last week’s AnTostal events.
Tuesday
MFA Candidate Gallery Talks
Snite Museum of Art
12 p.m.-12:45 p.m. MFA students speak.
Spring Concert
DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
7 p.m.-8 p.m.
Several Notre Dame Jazz Bands will perform.
Wednesday
Men’s Baseball Eck Baseball Stadium
5:35 p.m.-7:35 p.m.
The Irish take on Eastern Michigan.
Film: “Brothers on the Line”
DeBartolo Performing Arts Center
7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Documentary showing and panel discussion.
Thursday
Take Ten Festival Stepan Center
3 p.m.-5 p.m.
Local students celebrate nonviolence.
“Procrastination: Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That”
Haggar Hall
6 p.m.-8 p.m.
Mental wellness workshop.
Friday
Write First Coleman-Morse Center
8 a.m.-10 a.m.
Work on dissertations.
National Endowment for Humanities Seminar Flanner Hall
3 p.m.-4 p.m.
Lecture by Malcolm Sen, Ph.D.
WEI LIN| The Observer
SMC appoints student to Board of Trustees
By KAITLYN RABACH saint mary’s Editor
t he saint mary’s Board of trustees appointed junior malea schulte, a studio art major, as the 2013-2014 student trustee April 19.
schulte will begin her term in June.
saint mary’s is one of very few colleges to have a student on the Board of trustees, current student trustee Alyssa Vinluan said. t he student trustee is a full voting member and her opinion is weighted as much as that of every other Board
member.
“i think the fact that the college has a student trustee speaks to the mission of the college,” Vinluan, a spanish and secondary education double major, said. “t he mission strives to help women develop their talents and make a difference in the world, and the student trustee position is a perfect example of that.”
Vinluan, who served on the Board for the 2012-2013 term year, said she was on both the m ission and student Life committees. schulte said she has not yet been assigned to a
committee.
“Being on the Board gave me a different perspective of the reasoning behind every decision that the college makes,” Vinluan said. “Every decision that is made is made with the
“I think the fact that the College has a student trustee speaks to the mission of the College. The mission strives to help women develop their talents and make a difference in the world, and the student trustee position is a perfect example of that.”
Alyssa Vinluan student trustee
[ college’s] mission in mind.” college p resident carol Ann mooney said it is important for the college to have a student trustee so students’ voices can be heard.
“having a student on the Board provides the ongoing opportunity for the Board to hear student perspectives, something that is obviously key to their work,” mooney said. “But just as important is that having students on most major college committees provides an important educational opportunity for our students.”
Vinluan said her experience with the Board taught her a lot and influenced her post-graduation plans.
“What interested me the most about being on the Board was the fundraising aspect,” Vinluan said. “i was able to participate in the Faith Always, Action Now campaign, and it made me realize i have a knack for development.”
Vinluan said being on the Board enabled her to meet great people who are passionate about saint mary’s.
“t he Board members are so inspiring,” Vinluan said. “t hey include some saint mary’s and Notre Dame graduates who have done a lot for the college and are excellent role models. i was very happy to introduce [ schulte] to them at the last meeting.”
schulte participates in several activities on campus, including
Bellacapella, the i ntercultural Leadership certificate p rogram and campus m inistry. mooney said this extent of involvement
“In addition, [Schulte’s] maturity, thoughtfulness and very strong letters of nomination helped me make my decision.”
Carol Ann Mooney president Saint Mary’s College
made schulte an excellent candidate for the position of student trustee.
“[ schulte] was chosen from an unusually-strong pool of candidates for the breadth of her campus activities,” mooney said. “t his gives her knowledge of a cross-section of students and their interests and activities. i n addition, her maturity, thoughtfulness and very strong letters of nomination helped me make my decision.”
Contact Kaitlyn Rabach at krabac01@saintmarys.edu
dining halls seek to decrease waste
By WEI LIN News Writer
t he semi-annual Waste-Free Wednesdays campaign, which took place during April, aimed to decrease the food and liquid waste produced at Notre Dame. campaign co-chair Anna g orman said the project seeks to educate students about the number of Americans who struggles to put food on the table.
“one in six Americans struggle with hunger, and the statistic is even higher for children,” she said. “We waste roughly enough food in our country to provide food for all those who are hungry.”
Each Wednesday in April from 6 to 7 p.m., volunteers handed out raffle tickets to students who cleared their trays at the dining halls. t he winner of
the raffle is awarded 100 Flex points.
g orman said the campaign, which is co-sponsored by the office of sustainability, Notre Dame Food services, greeND and the hunger coalition, had a total of about 1,200 participants in the past four weeks. p rior to the start of the WasteFree Wednesdays campaign in 2008, the average student wasted about five ounces of food per meal, adding up to nearly two tons of food wasted each day. By the end of the fall 2012 semester, the waste dropped to 3.26 ounces per meal, g orman said.
t his semester, g orman said the waste is slightly higher, with an average of 3.5 ounces per student, but it has still drastically decreased compared to the 2008 statistics.
t he office of sustainability has also contributed to reducing
waste by posting educational posters in the dining halls to encourage students and faculty to only take what they can finish.
According to the office’ website, “Food scraps from the main Food service facility are used for cattle feed, totaling about 37,000 pounds per year. Leftover cooked food is donated to two local homeless shelters.”
g orman is similarly concerned about the impact of food waste to the environment.
“We are forcing our farms to produce more than we need, hurting our land. in addition, food waste produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas,” g orman said.
With the combined efforts of the co-sponsors of Waste-Free Wednesdays, g orman said the university can provide more food to the needy, answer a social responsibility and avoid
SMC honors former student
By KAITLYN RABACH
saint mary’s Editor
on sunday, the legacy of former saint mary’s student Lizzy seeberg was honored at a blessing and dedication of a memorial garden in her name.
t he ceremony was held in r iedinger garden, and students, faculty and members of seeberg’s family were in attendance.
“t hese young people are always going to have a place to remember Lizzy,” her father, tom seeberg, said. “it gives us a neat little place. to me, she is everywhere, but it is nice to have little spots where you can just sit and reflect.”
he said the family has thought about donating the bench for the past two years, but until now, the timing was never quite right.
“We think this turned out to be perfect timing,” tom seeberg said. “it allowed time for life messages of Lizzy to sink in to her classmates. it worked out well because her friends who are now seniors can enjoy the spot for a couple of weeks and then her friends that are now juniors will have the spot for another year.”
Junior carolyn Backes, who was seeberg’s roommate at the time of her death in september 2010, said this spot is symbolic of the strong commitment both the college and the family have to ensuring the legacy of her former roommate.
“i think it was a big tragedy, but both the college and this family grew out of it,” Backes said. “it did affect a lot of people and was very sad, but it also amplified the college’s commitment to mental health awareness. We want to prevent things like this from happening again, but this spot helps us remember the good things about Lizzy.
“Everyone is more aware of these real issues. remembering Lizzy makes it real for us.”
Backes said the spot is a place where those dealing with anxiety, depression or similar mental illnesses can go to reflect and “get away from all the little worries in life”.
“Lizzy obviously struggled with anxiety and things,” Backes said. “i think this new bench and spot is such a serene place. it can be one of those places someone can go to think or to not think, deal with anxiety or really just calm down. “
senior megan carey, a former friend of Lizzy’s, said this bench depicts the strong sisterhood that accompanies every saint mary’s Belle.
“At saint mary’s we always say, ‘once a Belle, Always a Belle,’” carey said. “Even though Lizzy had only been here for a little over two weeks, she really embodied being a smick chick.”
During the memorial, carey shared one of her favorite Lizzy memories.
“one of my favorite stories of Lizzy is looking back at the first week of school when she marched into the bookstore and bought herself a French cross necklace,” carey said. “she wanted to show the world how much she loved saint mary’s and how much it meant to her.”
carey said she is thankful Lizzy’s family has done so much to continue her legacy.
“i think it is wonderful that her family created something at saint mary’s to remember her,” carey said. “Even if someone didn’t know Lizzy, they could go to this spot and embrace its beauty.”
tom seeberg said Lizzy had strong feelings of affection for the college, emphasizing how important it is for the family to
putting unnecessary strains on the environment.
t he challenge is letting people know they can easily have a large impact on hunger, g orman said.
have connections to the place she once called home.
“saint mary’s has such fantastic women and we know that Lizzy knew she was in the right place,” tom seeberg said. “she loved this college.”
he said this dedicated spot is a place where her peers could stop by for a moment and reflect on their short time with Lizzy.
“it is a nice spot to just stop by for a moment,” tom seeberg said. “t his is great because it can represent the moment she was in some of these girls’ lives.”
it is important for the family to stay in touch with Lizzy’s classmates, he said.
“We enjoy staying in touch with the young women Lizzy came to call her friends,” tom seeberg said. “As a parent, the death of a child is different than coping with other deaths. you have hopes and dreams for your child and those dreams died. it is nice to see her friends go forth and pursue their dreams.”
t he college’s student g overnment Association would like to continue to work with the family and raise more awareness about issues of mental illness, sexual assault, violence and stalking, kat sullivan, 2013-2014 class president, said.
“t his fall, we want to place a metal ribbon tree in the student center for victims and their loved ones to tie ribbons on it,” sullivan said. “it will be a permanent, architectural display in the center of campus.”
carey said the college must continue to take steps to raise awareness of mental illness.
“We should feel responsible as a college community to help our fellow sisters,” carey said.
Contact Kaitlyn Rabach at krabac01@saintmarys.edu
happening,” he said. “o verall, with these changes there is a lot more attention to advocacy for students and not only streamlining language to make it more efficient and effective, but also to really support the students
“Overall, with these changes there is a lot more attention to advocacy for students and not only streamlining language to make it more efficient and effective, but also to really support the students and advance their interests .”
Maxwell Brown director of Academic Affairs student government
and advance their interests.”
t he upcoming library renovation plans were another major accomplishment for the department, Brown said, which was committed to making sure “students’ voices are being heard.”
“t he survey that went out was extremely helpful … and we had a very effective response [from students],” Brown said. “t he information really provided a
“Waste-Free Wednesdays could be more effective if we were better able to educate students,” she said.
Contact Wei Lin at wlin4@nd.edu
positive framework to move forward, and it’s really been taken under advisement not only by the librarians themselves who are organizing the renovations, but also the architects who will actually work on it.”
Brown said the survey showed student feedback on both the physical aspects of the library and the “intangible resources” available online.
“t his is one of the parts of the survey that was really interesting, [because] the students who were able to effectively use the [online] resources and meet with the research librarians found that to be overwhelmingly useful,” he said. “But then the other group of students had just never used them or not heard of them, so that’s something that’s really important for us to work on.”
i n additions to renovating the library building, Brown said the department is also planning to expand the librarian in-residence program in dorms.
“t he program brings a librarian to the dorms, someone who is available to help with research or answering questions about library databases,” he said. “We just want to help students become more familiar with and utilize the resources available them.”
Brown said his department welcomes comments and suggestions from students on all initiatives pursued by student government.
Contact Ann Marie Jakubowski at ajakubo1@nd.edu
MARIA MASSA | The Observer
to the stage as possible while he sprayed the crowd with water.
“i loved when he started singing “Beautiful girls [Nothin’ on you]” with the ladies in the crowd,” cortez said. “my friends and i were up front, so it was fun to sing along with him.”
Despite being relatively unknown, the opening act, electronic artists Dzeko and torres, succeeded in getting the crowd hyped for the energetic night.
“i had no idea who the opening DJs were, but they did a great job,” Lewry said. “their music was great, but it lasted a little too long, especially compared to B.o.B’s set.” cortez also said the set should have been shorter.
“they got the crowd kind of pumped, but i feel like it could have been better,” cortez said. “i think that their act was a little too long.”
students agreed B.o.B’s set was far too short for a headlining act, especially when the opening act’s set was the same length.
“the low point of the concert for me was when B.o.B left and allowed his friend to rap one of his own songs,” Diaz said. “Everyone in the audience seemed to stop paying attention and it took away from the energy and excitement of the crowd.”
some students also struggled with crowd-pushing and rowdiness.
“[the crowd] was a little difficult to deal with when everyone is trying to push to the front, but that is expected at a concert,” cortez said.
overall, students agreed the new venue and combination of hip-hop and electronic dance music provided for an enjoyable concert experience.
“As soon as B.o.B threw water at the crowd, i knew it was going to be a great show,” cortez said. “the energy of the show swept me up. B.o.B really engaged the crowd and proved he was a great performer.”
Contact Peter Durbin at pdurbin@nd.edu
collegiate talent.”
their candidacy, that can’t be on Linked i n,” i ngallinera, c E o of Endorse.me, said. “it’s a big market opportunity that’s been overlooked and bucks the trend of information becoming more social and open in the online professional space today.”
i ngallinera said the startup raised $300,000 in m ay 2012 from angel investors and continued to test different applications for the software to discover where the greatest demand was located.
“u ltimately, there was the most demand in the online professional space, specifically within campus recruiting, and we focused our efforts on that,” he said.
tech c runch, a media property dedicated to profiling startups, described Endorse. me as, “a secure, online platform through which [students] can share confidential information with prospective employers, and, in turn, give companies a better way to identify and hire top
first assignment with the 4th i nfantry Division, 1st Brigade based at Ft. c arson, c olorado.
Dompierre said he knew he wanted to join the Army rotc when he was a highschool student and joined as a freshman.
“When i received the scholarship, i decided it was a nobrainer,” he said. “t he Army would pay for school, and i would have the chance to serve the nation afterwards, which is something i had always wanted to do — especially after 9/11.”
Dompierre said he was surprised by the amount of leadership skills he developed after four years as a university cadet.
“Looking back on who i was freshman year, it seems hard to imagine that i am the same person today as i was then. o ur program excels at taking intelligent followers as freshmen and turning them into even more intelligent and capable leaders by senior year,” Dompierre said.
Dompierre said he is grateful to the rotc program for preparing him as a cadet and as an adult.
“t hroughout my time in Army rotc , i have been pushed and trained to successfully exert my influence as a leader and to get outside of my comfort zone,” Dompierre said. “i feel prepared, as the academic year comes to a close and my time at Notre Dame ends, to become an Army officer and lead soldiers for the purpose of accomplishing our mission, whatever the American people determine that to be.”
and finance.
Freshman Anna g ebhardt began working as the Notre Dame c ampus Liaison in mid-February.
“o nce i heard of the opportunity to work for a startup
“The goal is to have students providing the link on their résumé, during interviews, on LinkedIn and all throughout the recruiting process.”
James Ingallinera creator
where i would be able to have a real impact and say in key decisions, i was eager to apply and stand out among the other candidates,” she said.
g ebhardt said they are targeting college students at the top universities and colleges who are interested in working in today’s most competitive industries: technology
s eniors Arthur kostendt and Abigail Nichols followed a slightly different path than most cadets. t hey were not involved in the program their freshmen and sophomore years but instead attended a Leader’s training c ourse (Ltc ) in Fort k nox, kentucky, the summer between their sophomore and junior years.
t his qualified them for enrolment in the Army rotc Advanced c ourse, allowing them to commission with the four-year cadets.
kostendt said he decided to commission after graduation during the summer of his sophomore year. t he university’s Ltc program allowed him the opportunity to join the program.
“For me, joining Army rotc was a perfect storm of circumstances. Although my older brother has been involved with the marine c orps for almost eight years, military service was not really on my radar until sophomore year,” kostendt said. “i received a mass-blast email from the Army rotc unit, advertising the Ltc it seemed like a great way to entertain my new aspirations, while getting some money for college at the same time.”
kostendt said he was apprehensive about adjusting to a junior class of cadets that already had two years to bond, but he said he found that life as a cadet at Notre Dame was far less stressful than he anticipated.
“Both rotc cadre and my fellow cadets made a great effort to ensure that i was up to speed,” he said. “t he Army has high standards, and our battalion is composed of very high-quality individuals,
“We are expecting students to adopt the idea as more useful way of sharing necessary information that recruiters may not be able to access without Endorse. me,” i ngallinera said. “ t he goal is to have students providing the link on their résumé, during interviews, on Linked i n and all throughout the recruiting process.”
i n the long term, i ngallinera said the company wants to expand beyond campus recruiting to the rest of the workforce until Endorse.me is something that is used in every hiring decision for the broader job market.
“We’re especially interested in students who are currently juniors and will be entering internship programs on Wall s treet or in s ilicon Valley for this summer,” i ngallinera said.
s tudents interested in joining the Endorse.me team can contact i ngallinera at james@endorse.me
Contact Charitha Isanaka at cisanaka@nd.edu
which made adjustment a breeze.”
kostendt said pride keeps him moving forward toward becoming an armor officer in the ohio National guard.
“i experience a real sense of honor, camaraderie and fulfillment when wearing the uniform, which isn’t something i totally bought into before joining, and it’s not something i expected to motivate me once i was in,” kostendt said. “t hough adventure and scholarship money were powerful enticements to join, pride has been a tremendous reward.”
Nichols said she also decided to join Army rotc after attending the Ltc program in the summer before her junior year.
“it took a little while to adjust to a military state of mind, but after a while i developed a more intuitive sense of the Army’s very particular culture, which promotes hard work and creativity but is also extremely structured,” she said.
Nichols said the time commitment has been the most demanding aspect of being a cadet.
“What took me most by surprise was the amount of involvement rotc requires. it is not just a twice a week activity but has rather evolved into a full-time job, like it will be after we graduate,” Nichols said.
Nichols will attend the Basic o fficers c ourse for m ilitary i ntelligence this summer until she goes to her first duty post with the 201st Battlefield surveillance Brigade in Fort Lewis, Wash., in o ctober.
Contact Carolina Wilson at cwilso16@nd.edu
Armed men storm Libyan ministry
Associated Press
tripo L i , Libya — Libya’s prime minister warned of a perilous security situation s unday after armed men stormed the i nterior m inistry and a state-owned television station after blocking access to the Foreign m inistry.
two years after the country’s civil war, Libya is struggling to maintain security, build a unified army and reign in militias, which include rebels who fought to oust longtime dictator m oammar g adhafi in 2011.
About 200 armed men surrounded the Foreign m inistry building in tripoli, demanding the ministry hire former fighters who helped overthrow g adhafi. t he men allege that many supporters of the old regime are still holding senior positions in the ministry and its missions
abroad.
About 38 trucks, some with machine guns, surrounded the ministry all day. After sundown, gunmen were still blocking access to the building.
s ome in Libya are calling for a political isolation law that would ban members of the former regime from political roles. o thers counter that such a law would oust experienced technocrats, including the current prime minister, who served in government under g adhafi years ago.
i n another bold move s unday, gunmen stormed the i nterior m inistry, which oversees police, and forced employees out. t he men charge that the ministry is not paying them their salaries, according to an official in the ministry who spoke anonymously for fear of reprisal.
WEI LIN | The Observer Students cheered on B.o.B during the concert, packing as close
‘Iron Man 3’ rules world, ‘Pain & Gain’ takes U.S.
Associated Press
L os ANg ELE s — “i ron m an 3” was the heavy-lifter at theaters with a colossal overseas debut that overshadowed a gang of mercenary bodybuilders in a sleepy pre-summer weekend at the domestic box office.
t he m arvel s tudios superhero sequel starring r obert Downey Jr. got a head-start on its domestic launch next Friday with a $195.3 million opening in 42 overseas markets, distributor Disney reported s unday.
t hat topped the $185.1 million start for m arvel’s “ t he Avengers,” which opened in 39 markets over the same weekend last year a week ahead of its record-breaking domestic
debut of $207.4 million.
“ you don’t know that you could ever repeat the kind of experience we had a year ago, and here the m arvel team brought together another incredible movie,” said Dave hollis, head of distribution for Disney. “We’ve had this as a pattern for m arvel films to kind of let momentum internationally help signal to the domestic audience that the film is coming, something big is coming.”
Director m ichael Bay’s “p ain & g ain,” a true-crime tale of bodybuilders on the make, muscled into firstplace domestically with a $20 million debut.
t he p aramount release starring m ark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson and Anthony m ackie
knocked off tom c ruise’s scifi adventure “o blivion” after a week in the No. 1 spot. universal’s “o blivion” slipped to second-place with $17.4 million, raising its domestic total to $64.7 million.
Lionsgate’s all-star nuptial comedy “ t he Big Wedding” tanked at No. 4 with just $7.5 million. t he ensemble cast includes r obert De Niro, Diane k eaton, r obin Williams, s usan s arandon and k atherine heigl, but the movie was almost universally trashed by critics and held little interest for audiences.
p aramount, which distributed the earlier “i ron m an” movies and still has a financial stake in the comic-book flicks after Disney bought m arvel, had a small-scale
rolling stones rock LA club
L os ANg ELE s — For one night only, the r olling s tones were an up-and-coming band again.
t he legendary group rocked a small club in Los Angeles on s aturday night for a miniscule crowd compared to the thousands set to see them launch their “50 and c ounting” anniversary tour a week later on m ay 3 at the s taples c enter.
t he band kicked off s aturday’s hush-hush 90-minute concert at the Echoplex in the hip Echo p ark neighborhood with “ you g ot me r ocking” before catapulting into a mix of new and old material, as well as their blusey covers of classics from o tis r edding (“ t hat’s how s trong m y Love i s”), c huck Berry (“Little Queenie”) and t he temptations (“Just m y i magination”).
“Welcome to Echo p ark, a neighborhood that’s always coming up — and i’m glad you’re here to welcome an upand-coming band,” lead singer m ick Jagger joked after the second song of the evening, “r espectable.”
Despite clocking in several decades as band, Jagger, drummer c harlie Watts and guitarists k eith r ichards and r onnie Wood showed no signs of slowing down s aturday. Jagger, who promptly ditched a black-and-white track jacket emblazoned with the band’s logo after the first few songs, worked the crowd into a sing-a-long frenzy with “m iss you,” complete with a harmonica solo from the strutting frontman.
t ickets to the Echoplex concert were sold earlier in the day for $20 each — a fraction of what tickets to the tour cost.
hundreds of fans lined up outside the El r ey t heatre
across town earlier s aturday for a chance to attend the spontaneous show. Buyers were limited to one ticket, and they were required to pay with cash, show a governmentissued i D, wear a wristband with their name on it and be photographed. t heir names were verified at the venue, which has a capacity of about 700.
c ameras and smartphones weren’t allowed inside the Echoplex, which usually plays host to hipster bands and mash-up dance parties.
t he lack of personal recording devices made the s tones’ performance feel even more exclusive and old school, freeing concertgoers’ hands of the gizmos that have become commonplace at concerts nowadays, and further bonding the crowd, many of whom
built up camaraderie during the confusing ticket lottery earlier in the day.
toward the end of s aturday’s show, the band was joined by former s tones guitarist m ick taylor for their version of r obert Johnson’s “Love in Vain,” as well as “m idnight r ambler.”
t he band, which was backed by Darryll Jones on bass, c huck Leavell on keys, Bobby k eys on sax and Bernard Fowler and Lisa Fischer as back-up singers, encored with the hits “Brown s ugar” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
“( t his is) the first show of the tour, probably the best one,” Jagger said at the end of the 90-minute set.
Bruce Willis, g wen s tefani and s krillex were among the famous faces in the sold-out crowd.
success with “p ain & g ain.”
A passion project for Bay, who has made p aramount a fortune with his “ transformers” franchise, “p ain & g ain” was shot for a modest $26 million, spare change compared to the director’s usual budgets.
t he movie has the director taking a breather from his usual sci-fi action spectacles for a story based on a kidnapping-extortion caper carried out by bodybuilders in the 1990s. yet “p ain & g ain” still has Bay’s usual visual flair, and the reviews generally were better than what he’s used to.
“With that kind of budget, to open to $20 million the first weekend is a very strong opening,” said Don h arris, p aramount’s head of
distribution. “ you see what a director really in his prime, at the top of his game, can do with a small budget, what he can make a movie look like.”
“o blivion” was down a fairly steep 53 percent from the movie’s $37.1 million domestic debut the previous weekend.
o verseas, “o blivion” took in $12.8 million to lift its international haul to $134.1 million and worldwide total to just under $200 million.
hollywood’s domestic downturn continued, with revenues totaling $90 million, off 18.5 percent from the same weekend last year, when “ t hink Like a m an” led with $17.6 million, according to box-office tracker hollywood. com.
Associated Press
Bomb suspects’ mother called deeply spiritual
Associated Press
BostoN — i n photos of her as a younger woman, Zubeidat tsarnaeva wears a low-cut blouse and has her hair teased like a 1980s rock star. After she arrived in the u s. from russia in 2002, she went to beauty school and did facials at a suburban day spa.
But in recent years, people noticed a change. she began wearing a hijab and cited conspiracy theories about 9/11 being a plot against muslims.
Now known as the angry and grieving mother of the Boston marathon bombing suspects, tsarnaeva is drawing increased attention after federal officials say russian authorities intercepted her phone calls, including one in which she vaguely discussed jihad with her elder
son. i n another, she was recorded talking to someone in southern russia who is under FBi investigation in an unrelated case, u s. officials said.
tsarnaeva insists there is no mystery. she’s no terrorist, just someone who found a deeper spirituality. she insists her sons — tamerlan, who was killed in a gunfight with police, and Dzhokhar, who was wounded and captured — are innocent.
“it’s all lies and hypocrisy,” she told t he Associated p ress in Dagestan. “i’m sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children. people know me as a regular person, and i’ve never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, especially any linked to terrorism.”
Amid the scrutiny, tsarnaeva and her ex-husband, Anzor
tsarnaev, say they have put off the idea of any trip to the u s. to reclaim their elder son’s body or try to visit Dzhokhar in jail. tsarnaev told the A p on sunday he was too ill to travel to the u s tsarnaeva faces a 2012 shoplifting charge in a Boston suburb, though it was unclear whether that was a deterrent.
At a news conference in Dagestan with Anzor last week, tsarnaeva appeared overwhelmed with grief one moment, defiant the next.
“t hey already are talking about that we are terrorists, i am terrorist,” she said. “t hey already want me, him and all of us to look (like) terrorists.”
tsarnaeva arrived in the u s in 2002, settling in a workingclass section of c ambridge, mass. With four children, Anzor and Zubeidat qualified
for food stamps and were on and off public assistance benefits for years. t he large family squeezed itself into a third-floor apartment.
Zubeidat took classes at the c atherine h inds i nstitute of Esthetics, before becoming a state-licensed aesthetician. Anzor, who had studied law, fixed cars.
By some accounts, the family was tolerant.
Bethany smith, a New yorker who befriended Zubeidat’s two daughters, said in an interview with Newsday that when she stayed with the family for a month in 2008 while she looked at colleges, she was welcomed even though she was c hristian and had tattoos.
“i had nothing but love over there. t hey accepted me for who i was,” smith told the
newspaper. “t heir mother, Zubeidat, she considered me to be a part of the family. she called me her third daughter.”
Zubeidat said she and tamerlan began to turn more deeply into their muslim faith about five years ago after being influenced by a family friend, named “m isha.” t he man, whose full name she didn’t reveal, impressed her with a religious devotion that was far greater than her own, even though he was an ethnic Armenian who converted to islam.
“i wasn’t praying until he prayed in our house, so i just got really ashamed that i am not praying, being a muslim, being born muslim. i am not praying. m isha, who converted, was praying,” she said. By then, she had left her job at the day spa and was giving facials in her apartment. one client, Alyssa k ilzer, noticed the change when tsarnaeva put on a head scarf before leaving the apartment.
“she had never worn a hijab while working at the spa previously, or inside the house, and i was really surprised,” k ilzer wrote in a post on her blog. “she started to refuse to see boys that had gone through puberty, as she had consulted a religious figure and he had told her it was sacrilegious. she was often fasting.”
k ilzer wrote that tsarnaeva was a loving and supportive mother, and she felt sympathy for her plight after the April 15 bombings. But she stopped visiting the family’s home for spa treatments in late 2011 or early 2012 when, during one session, she “started quoting a conspiracy theory, telling me that she thought 9/11 was purposefully created by the American government to make America hate muslims.”
“it’s real,” tsarnaeva said, according to k ilzer. “my son knows all about it. you can read on the i nternet.”
i n the spring of 2010, Zubeidat’s eldest son got married in a ceremony at a Boston mosque that no one in the family had previously attended. tamerlan and his wife, k atherine russell, a r hode island native and convert from c hristianity, now have a child who is about 3 years old.
Zubeidat married into a c hechen family but was an outsider. she is an Avar, from one of the dozens of ethnic groups in Dagestan. her native village is now a hotbed of an ultraconservative strain of islam known as salafism or Wahabbism. it is unclear whether religious differences fueled tension in their family. Anzor and Zubeidat divorced in 2011. About the same time, there was a brief FBi investigation into tamerlan tsarnaev, prompted by a tip from russia’s security service.
insidE ColuMn
stand with all humanity
We are all one people. t his statement was a key point of a homily i heard a priest give a few weekends back after the Boston bombings. he said we should pray for the families injured in the attacks because even though we do not know them, we are all linked through our humanity.
Earlier that day, i saw a posting on Facebook of a group of syrian men and children in front of a half destroyed building holding a sign that read, “Boston bombings represent a sorrowful scene of what happens everyday in syria. Do accept our condolences.”
standing in mass, i had this image stuck in my head. i did not disagree with the priest about his message, but the two situations seemed, in a way, to clash. if humanity really is one, if we are all called to pray and help one another, why is it those close to home receive our support while those an ocean apart do not?
t here is, of course, a loyalty we have to our own people. chances are a large number of people knew someone directly or indirectly in the Boston area who was impacted by these chain of events. We care because in some way we are linked.
our nation was traumatized by this event. Bombings are not the norm here, and a very distinct fear becomes evident whenever something like this occurs. And at the end of the day, we know our government will not tolerate this sort of action.
t here are those overseas, however, who live with this every single day. it is the norm to hear bombs go off, to walk past buildings crumpled to pieces or to lose family and friends in a life surrounded by combat.
t he government does not come to their aid. t heir leaders do not visit the families of those who have died. outcries of anger and injustice fall on deaf ears. if humanity truly is one, these are our brothers and sisters as well. i believe we should mourn the bombings in Boston, help who we can and pray often. But our prayers and aid should not end at the shores of our home and they should, at the very least, reach that far.
“Never underestimate the difference you can make in the lives of others. step forward, reach out and help. this week, reach to someone that might need a lift.” t his quote by pablo Valle presents a strong example of a way to live this life of care.
t hough we should always remember those harmed close to our own homes, we should also remember those overseas. humanity may never solve these problems of violence, but through prayer and aid we truly can make a difference.
Prayer, not just silence
o ne of my strongest memories in my six years near the Dome was the reaction of our community after the terrorist attacks on s eptember 11, 2001. t he mass on s outh Quad that afternoon was a profound spiritual experience, one that moved me then and is something i cherish deeply in my heart to this day.
When football resumed on s eptember 23, 2001, it was a moving and emotional day, though i remember finding it odd that at the u niversity of Notre Dame, with the attention of many (including the 80,000 in the stands) all together, public prayer was not a part of events at the stadium when remembering those who died so tragically. We did, however, observe a moment of silence together.
At the time, the issue was not on my personal periphery, but the issue of prayer (or lack thereof) at Notre Dame stadium is a debate i have heard from many, especially as a part of the continuing discussion regarding Notre Dame’s c atholic identity. i t’s something that definitely was on my mind when visiting Brigham young u niversity’s c ougar stadium in 2004 and seeing their community come together for prayer before the game, with the reason being that’s what they do. i t’s something that has remained on my mind, especially when i wonder why c atholics seem so hesitant to be evangelical (the word alone makes many c atholics cringe with regard to c hristianity, myself included), or even at times embarrassed to
show their faith.
After the tragic death of Declan s ullivan two years ago, i was encouraged to see the Notre Dame community come together spiritually, including in prayer at the next football game.
Now, as a teacher at a c atholic school as well as a partner with Notre Dame’s “ p lay Like a c hampion” character education program which touts coaches as ministers, one of the accomplishments i am very proud of is when our athletic directors in s an Diego’s North c ounty p arochial League “mandated” pregame prayer. What i find ironic is, why during the annual Blue/ g old game did the u niversity opt for a “moment of silence,” a more secular practice, rather than a prayer? Was there fear a prayer from a religious university would offend the victims of the Boston m arathon bombing? t he u niversity of Notre Dame is the most visible c atholic university in the u nited s tates and perhaps in the whole world, so it is perplexing why it does not openly lead prayer at its games, especially in instances where it believes a “moment of silence” will suffice?
Steven Granados alumnus class of 2003 April 22
EdiToriAl CArToon
Carolyn Hutyra News Writer
lETTErs To ThE EdiTor
What happened to welcoming the ‘stranger?’
the front page of the April 22 issue of the observer had a headline that read, “‘provide welcome to the stranger.’” the attached article highlighted the steps being taken to create a welcoming space for undocumented immigrant students within the university. ironically, 10 pages later was a feature titled “#thirdworldsolutions to #firstworldproblems.” As an international student who is a different type of immigrant and a different type of stranger, i found this article in its entirety to be offensive. As such, i hope to highlight how features such as “#thirdworldsolutions to #firstworldproblems” fracture and divide our increasingly diverse Notre Dame community.
First and foremost, the term “third world” is highly problematic and far from ideal. this offensive term is no longer in widespread use due to its condemnation of certain nations to their own separate “world.” critics of the term have discussed how in normalizing the stark differences between “first world,” “second world” and “third world,” we erase the important historical and contemporaneous socio-economic ties between regions, hemispheres, nations, ethnicities and language groups. these phrases have been purposefully replaced by the terms “developed” and “developing” nations. But my criticisms of the article extend far deeper than word choice. more disappointing was that under the veneer of humor, the feature affirmed a mass of stereotypes and misinformation. granted, there are some who may use the excuse of humor to dispel this critique as just another complaint from another minority, but these are genuine concerns. the power of stereotypes is we hear them so often and presented in a number of creative forms to the point they become a version of the truth and our perceived realities. they may be funny, but for the subjects of these stereotypes they merely succeed in painting an
entire group as only one thing. in the case of this article, the so-called “third world” is made up of backward “others” and primitive landscapes.
“#thirdworldsolutions to #firstworldproblems” also reflects a trend widespread across this campus in which certain groups of people who are considered different are constantly stereotyped. this situation is exacerbated by the silence of those who are subjected to these uncomfortable situations on a daily basis. this silence should not be misunderstood as a sign of endorsement of such insensitivity, but should be read as a sense of widespread frustration and exhaustion. When these stereotypes are then published in a newspaper that prides itself on uncovering the truth and reporting it accurately, it creates a situation where silence is not an option. it’s an issue we need to actively address.
When you consider the university is making strides to enroll more international students, articles like this pose a barrier to the inclusive environment the university is trying to promote. the online version of the observer is accessible to prospective students from developing nations and it reflects the image of an unwelcoming environment. such articles merely shed a negative light on the inclusive nature of our campus, perpetuating the already existing bad image of Notre Dame’s approach to matters surrounding diversity.
What is especially discouraging is this feature was written by someone who actually spent some significant time in morocco, a developing nation, where she met people and hopefully established relationships with them. however, she still managed to dedicate a whole page to reducing a population of people and an entire region into seven stereotypes. i hope that is not a reflection on her person or her experience in morocco, but perhaps points
to the troubling limitations of these global immersion programs we students take part in. however, that is a problem for another day and platform. Additionally, it should be noted many of the stereotypes circulated in “#thirdworldsolutions to #firstworldproblems” could be used to disparage less-privileged communities in the highly developed nations of North America and Europe. my main aim in taking time out to share these thoughts is to encourage this newspaper to cherish the power it has in penning news. it’s a privilege that comes with responsibility. in the case of the published article, this involved creating realities for those students who may never have been exposed to moroccans or anyone from a developing nation. i am confident the observer will continue to publish features and articles about developing nations. As a citizen of one of these nations, i urge you not to forget we are people with dignity. i am confident in the future you will remember there is more to our existence than the negative stereotypes that plague us. many of the problems that impact some communities in our respective countries are tied to complex issues and histories which exist beyond the scope of anyone’s tasteless jokes. Neither do these problems define our countries, cultures and identities. my sincere hope is your newspaper will grow in terms of cultural sensitivity and respect of people who hold passports of a different color. i hope in the future, the sentiments expressed in your articles will align with the mission of this institution so Notre Dame can truly be a home for a wider range of people.
girls’ dorms deserve same atmosphere of respect
t hank you for publishing m ark s onnick’s article about the double standard in men’s and women’s dorms (“ r esolve the double standard,” April 24) t hough Notre Dame has come a very long way since accepting girls in the 1970s and many positive changes have been made, i think this issue reflects how Notre Dame still has not fully evolved to the point of treating both genders equally.
i t is not fair that it is so much harder to have a party in a women’s dorm than in a men’s dorm. i t is not fair parietals are way more strict in girls’ dorms and that only girls’ dorms have
their side doors locked on football weekends. i understand the concerns about a “safety issue,” but why does the u niversity treat girls differently than guys when it comes to safety?
i ’m definitely not advocating for guys’ dorms to have their side doors locked too, but i think the u niversity needs to change its policy to make things equal across the board. t here is much more of a culture of trust in guys’ dorms than in girls’ dorms between the students and the hall staff, and we girls deserve the same degree of trust. We are all adults here.
i f the u niversity is going to have a rule like
parietals, at least trust us to follow it instead of walking around with ear-splitting jingles at midnight when we are trying to sleep, study or hang out with friends. t he trusting and more relaxed environment in guys’ dorms creates a much more welcoming atmosphere, as m ark says in his article, and we women deserve to have as much of a welcoming home as the guys do.
Charlotte Anderson freshman p asquerilla West h all April 25
All clichés aside, go out and seize the day
studying abroad is synonymous with learning experience, both in and out of the classroom. throughout the novels of “Don Quijote de la mancha,” whose author miguel de cervantes was born in the city in which i studied, the character sancho panza transforms through a process of Quijotization — becoming more like his idealistic friend Don Quijote simply by spending a lot of time with him.
spain has done the same to me — i am undoubtedly more spanish. the changes are subtle, like the way i pronounce the language, or my new-found liking for coffee and wine. i’ve also learned, or rather reaffirmed, the idea of taking advantage of every opportunity to create memories, accompanied by countless photographs and blog posts. studying abroad is the perfect motivator for the mentality of “you only live once.” As cliche as the phrase has become, there is still a grain of truth — that when an opportunity presents
itself, you’d better go for it now or forever wish you had. Whenever a spaniard serves a meal (whether at home or in a restaurant), i invariably hear the phrase “que aproveche,” before the recipient digs in. Although used here in a manner similar to “bon appetit,” the phrase means more than just “enjoy.” the verb “aprovechar” means “to take advantage of” and became my new motto during my time in spain. my goal: to live and learn deliberately. if it weren’t for my reaffirmed carpe diem attitude, i would never have pulled an all-nighter in a London pub while waiting for a flight the day before a midterm. i would never have joined the university choir and met the prince of spain. i would never have hopped on countless planes, trains and buses with people i barely knew to travel across spain and in the process form connections with those people and those places.
one doesn’t have to travel to a far-off land in order to seize the day, although having a set time period in a place is a constant reminder that circumstances can soon change. there are different ways to “y o.L.o.” (yes, now i’ve made it a verb). my study abroad experience was a long-term, carefully
planned method of spending my time wisely. other times, “y o.L.o.-ing” is spontaneous: pushing off studying for an hour to get tapas with friends.
college provides a similar environment for taking advantage of a wealth of opportunities: joining clubs and organizations, spending time with friends, learning new skills. sometimes, “y o.L.o.” is justifiable procrastination. Although it’s important to make wise decisions and keep up with schoolwork (or at least accept any consequences of substituting life experiences for studying), it’s equally important to build relationships and create memories that will last longer than a knowledge of the krebs cycle.
Just think: never again will you be able to have the same experience at the same moment with the same group of people ever again. Every day is a new adventure. Enjoy it. Live it. Learn from it. remember it.
This column originally ran in the Apri 26 edition of Collegian, serving Colorado State University. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Geraldine Mukumbi freshman
Lewis hall
April 28
Katie Winkel
c ollegian
By ANDREW GASTELUM Editor-In-Chief
It was a simple, yet iconic scene in the tunnels of Compton Family Ice Arena. While the walls echoed the 2,000-plus chants of his name from the floor, B.o.B gathered his team in the stagnant backstage shadows for a pep talk and maybe even a quick prayer or two.
Then off he went, bolting onto the stage with a furor of vibrant energy. And he never let up.
The 24-year old Atlanta rapper kicked off the first SUB spring concert to be held in the hockey arena, which opened in 2011. And with his dynamic performance, the bar has been set higher than the rafters.
Opening with “Beast Mode” — the opening track off his 2010 mixed-tape No Genre — B.o.B set the tone for the hour-long concert with a relentless, spirited display of smash hits. He soon glided his way through the set list with hit singles “Magic” and “Strange Clouds,” which warped the crowd with its intensely violent bass line.
Having headlined tours for the past three years, one could tell B.o.B had the crowd-pleasing live performance expertise of a concert veteran.
Some of the more intimate moments showed him at his greatest. He serenaded the front rows during “Nothin’ on You,” which turned into the artist’s big break in 2010 after Atlantic Records label-mate Lupe Fiasco passed on the beat. He performed an acoustic version of “Where Are You (B.o.B vs. Bobby Ray),” an introspective look into how the artist’s persona has changed for better or for worse when the luxuries of fame are finally embraced.
Complete with a DJ, dancers and Playboy Tre, B.o.B took out all the stops to give the crowd a complete concert experience and a maybe a few memories to go with it. The only lasting regret was the lack of instrumentation and live music that makes B.o.B’s atmospheric sound so unique, rather than a DJ playing tracks off a computer. Songs like “Don’t Let Me Fall,” “Both of Us” and “Airplanes” would have flourished with live drums, guitars and pianos to accompany the booming stacks of speakers throughout the floor.
Throughout the night, he would even bridge the gap between the stage and to interact with the crowd, taking “selfie” pictures with bystanders’ phones, dancing on the rail overlooking the floor audience, and crowdsurfing toward the show’s finale. To debut a new unreleased song, “Headband” featuring 2 Chainz, B.o.B even brought students from the crowd on stage to dance to the sure-to-be hit with a catchy whistling melody in the same vein of a Tyga jam. As a whole, student’s can expect a lot from B.o.B in the future as the rapper has plans to release a collaborative mixtape “Grand Hustle” on May 7, his third studio album and a rock EP to top it all off.
Saving the biggest hits for last, B.o.B ended his set with the catchy, anthemic hit single “Airplanes” and the song of summer 2012 “So Good,” both perfect for the stadium sound acoustics of Compton Family Ice Arena.
With the move to Compton Family Ice Arena, organization and planning was at a fast-paced hustle and bustle. Organizers worked all night Thursday and into Friday, doing everything from prepping the three locker rooms-turned-dressing-rooms to assembling a massive screen behind the stage to complement the act with effervescent, flowing videos.
With the move, SUB organizers finally embraced student requests to leave the outdated and stuffy Stepan Center, but students hardly acted on their request. The quota for general admission floor tickets could have been expanded. There was such a great divide between the raucous floor atmosphere and the bland arena-style seating that it truly looked more like the crowd for an intramural hockey game than an animated spring concert. The fact remains students didn’t follow through on their end of the deal, which turned out to be more of their loss than SUB’s.
SUB also hit a chord with the selection of their opener, Dzeko and Torres, an exhilarating Canadian DJ duo that played remixes of hit party songs such as Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness” along with club-oriented original material. The duo’s vigor and wallshaking beats gave the crowd a much-needed jolt, keeping the stage warm and the energy on the rise leading up to the headlining act.
As a whole, the Compton experiment turned out to be a success. SUB made it the complete student experience, starting back in the fall when it sent out a survey asking students to vote on a headliner. It’s just too bad most of Notre Dame wasn’t there to appreciate the feat that it was.
Instant analysis is entertainment
Mike Monaco sports Editor
We live in a world built on speed. i f i don’t respond to a text within 10 minutes, i must be kidnapped, dead or incarcerated.
twenty-four hour news coverage gives us instant reaction and “analysis” to happenings around the world. t he same is true in the world of sports, thanks first to E spN and now the other sports networks trying to cut the pie into multiple pieces.
But we all need to slow down when it comes to instantaneous reaction in sports. i’m as guilty as anyone. i almost wrote this column on the winners and losers from this weekend’s NFL Draft. sure, it’s entertaining to grade a team’s draft performance much the same way it’s entertaining to conduct a mock draft three weeks or months before the actual draft. But that’s precisely what such instant “analysis” is: entertainment. We can’t really say whether the r ams filled their needs by drafting tavon Austin and Alec o gletree, or if the c hargers got great value in the draft by selecting manti te’o, as well as D.J. Fluker and keenan Allen. We don’t know what value is because we don’t know much about the marketplace.
t he Buffalo Bills chose E.J. manuel with the 16th overall pick of the draft in a move that was considered a reach by pundits and casual fans alike. i’m not going to pretend i know which of the 11 drafted quarterbacks — or even the undrafted quarterbacks like former tennessee signal-called tyler Bray — will turn into p ro Bowlers. t he quarterback crop was a crapshoot this season, and manuel may very well turn into the best of the bunch. i don’t fault the choice of the player and i can’t even fault the “value” of the pick. t here may not have been another team who would have selected manuel in the top 25 picks, but the Bills don’t know that and neither do we.
After the second day of the draft, Bill Belichick was asked if he could have gotten a player later in the weekend. h is response? “i don’t know what other teams, how they have their boards stacked or anything else. t here’s no way to predict that — 31 other teams. i think you have to take the players you feel like can help your team. t hat’s what we did.” What’s more
interesting than getting a slightly interesting answer from Belichick is the mindset he has. t he patriots can’t perfectly predict what the other teams will do, so is it really fair to say they reached for a player and got bad value? maybe it is.
But the process of scouting players, ranking them on an overall board and then predicting where they will be drafted is inherently inexact. s o too is the performance of players and teams when we get to the games themselves.
Accurately predicting the winners in the NBA playoffs is just as difficult and chance-driven as analyzing the NFL Draft, especially when the randomness of injuries jumbles what looked like a clear picture at the start of the postseason. russell Westbrook’s knee injury has changed the context of the playoffs, just as Derrick rose’s knee injury and r ajon rondo’s knee injury did earlier in the season.
i f at the beginning of the season you had the Lakers making a run to the Western c onference Finals, where they would square off against the t hunder in a riveting series for the right to take on LeBron in the NBA Finals, well, things look a lot different now. No kobe. No Westbrook.
s o why get caught up in the instant analysis enveloping television, twitter, blogs and newspapers when the Lakers put together what looked like a championship-caliber team? Why get sucked into a mock draft six months before t hursday’s first round, or a report card the day after saying this team blew the draft. Don’t get me wrong; it’s entertaining. But it’s purely speculative, fueled by the instantaneous nature of our mass media and our society as a whole.
Who really knows what’s on the other 31 draft boards, and who really knows what an injury will mean to a team? more importantly, who knows when such gamechangers will occur?
c hance is a variable often left unaccounted, but it drives the sporting world. And though, by definition, there’s no way to predict it, there’s always a way to be aware of it.
Contact Mike Monaco at jmonaco@nd.edu
The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Belles wrap up season
Observer Staff Report
s aint m ary’s wrapped its season up at the second and third mi AA N c AA qualifiers, finishing in third and second place, respectively, in after two well-played rounds at the m edalist g olf c lub in m arshall, m ich.
Following a team score of 360 on Friday, the Belles came out hungry on s aturday, and managed to turn in a 25-stroke improvement by shooting a 335.
Leading the way for the Belles on Friday were junior p aige p ollak and sophomore Janice h effernan, who both tied for seventh individually by shooting an 87. Not far behind was freshman c laire Boyle, who finished in ninth place with an 88. Junior Alexi Brown and senior captain Jessica k innick tied for 22nd with matching rounds of 98.
o livet extended its lead and set a course record with a team score of 319 on Friday. o n s aturday, the c omets nearly matched that score when they shot a championship-clinching 322. t he junior tandem of t heresa Damico and Adrienne p lourde dominated over the weekend, as both neared par by shooting weekendlows of 76 and 74, respectively. t he juniors turned in weekend stroke averages of 78, and p lourde’s 74 was a season-low.
s aturday was also successful for the Belles, who finished in second-place with a score of 335. p ollak and h effernan dominated again with fifth and sixth-place scores of 82 and 83, respectively, while Brown came in eighth with an 84 and Boyle came in 11th with an 86 — both of which were improvements on the previous round. k innick was close behind, too, with a 14th-place score of 90.
o verall, s aint m ary’s wrapped up the three-round
qualifier in second, narrowly edging h ope by three strokes with a combined team score of 1,048. t he total was 71 strokes behind o livet, who won the qualifier in convincing fashion with a three-round sum of just 971. t he weekend’s rounds were the last of a fairly successful spring season for the Belles, Four of the five golfers will be back in action with the Belles when they return to the links next fall.
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UNPLANNED PREGNANCY?
Don’t go it alone. Notre Dame has many resources in place to assist you. If you or someone you love needs confidential support or assistance, please call Ann Whitall at 1-0084 or Karen Kennedy at 1-5550. For more information, visit ND’s website at: http://pregnancysupport@nd.edu
“22” -Taylor Swift It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters/ And make fun of our exes, uh uh uh uh/ It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight/ To fall in love with strangers uh uh uh uh/ Yeaaaah/ We’re happy free confused and lonely at the same time/ It’s miserable and magical oh yeah/ Tonight’s the night when we forget about the deadlines, it’s time uh uh/ I don’t know about you but im feeling 22/ Everything will be alright if you keep me next to you/ You don’t know about me but I bet you want to
GRANT TOBIN | The Observer
Sophomore Janice Heffernan finishes her shot after teeing off on the first hole at Blackthorn Golf Course in South Bend on April 17.
offense silenced as Belles lose four to end year
By CASEY KARNES sports Writer
the Belles’ season came to an end this weekend after four straight losses to trine and Alma left them on the outside of the mi AA tournament looking in.
the Belles (19-17, 9-7 mi AA) opened the weekend with a doubleheader against mi AA powerhouse No. 4 trine (33-3, 16-0), and were no match for the reigning conference champs. the thunder were kept in check by junior pitcher callie selner in game one, but the Belles were unable to get their bats going against trine senior pitcher Andi gasco. gasco was one walk away from a perfect game, giving the Belles their first loss in a no-hitter since
2003. According to Belles coach Erin sullivan, saint mary’s offensive struggles this weekend was due both a poor approach at the plate and great pitching by the opposition.
“it was a combination of both really,” sullivan said. “We didn’t jump on the good strikes and the pitchers moved the ball really well and kept our hitters guessing.”
While the Belles were able to score in the second game of the doubleheader, freshman pitcher sarah Burke struggled mightily to contain the thunder offense. Behind home runs from second baseman Amy Newell and third baseman rachel harris, both sophomores, trine was able to pile up 22 runs against Burke. All the Belles were able to muster
was a home run by freshman first baseman Jillian Busfield, her team-leading 11th of the season. Even then, trine dominated the Belles, 22-2, which was ended by the mercy rule after 5 innings.
Even after the being swept by trine, the Belles still had a chance to make the tournament with wins against Alma (25-9, 13-3). But their hitting woes continued, and only collected one hit off scots senior pitcher Louise rezmer. senior captain and catcher morgan Bedan was responsible for the lone hit, a single, in what would be her and co-captain shortstop Emily sherwood’s final day in a Belles uniform. Even though the season ended without a postseason run, sullivan had nothing but praise for the veterans.
“they have been an integral part of our program and personally, a great part of my life and my coaching philosophy,” sullivan said. “they have been fantastic, given so much of themselves, been incredibly selfless, and sacrificed so much to make our team successful.”
sMC
selner was solid in the circle once again, only allowing two runs to the scots, but took the 2-0 loss due to her unproductive offense. she started the next game as well, pitching all seven innings and allowing six runs with eight strikeouts. the Belles mustered five hits in game two, but were unable to tie them together in order to start a rally. the 6-0 loss tied them with hope college for the final mi AA tournament spot, and hope advanced via tiebreaker. Despite the disappointing end to the season, sullivan does not
TEnnis | kALAmAZoo 7, smc 2
believe her players wilted under pressure. however, she does plan to use the four game skid as inspiration for next year.
“We talked about this finish being motivation to work hard during the off season,” sullivan said. “i definitely don’t think there was too much pressure for [the younger players], we just played very seasoned teams and didn’t have the offensive support we are used to.”
Contact Casey Karnes at wkarnes@nd.edu
Loss ends tournament hopes
By SAMANTHA ZUBA sports Writer
t he finale didn’t quite demand a curtain call. t he Belles fell to kalamazoo 7-2 on saturday in their final regularseason match to drop into a tie for fourth place in the conference with calvin.
t he top four squads make the conference tournament, but saint mary’s (10-8, 4-4 mi AA)
came out on the losing end of the tiebreaker with calvin and will not participate in the mi AA tournament. A win saturday would have earned saint mary’s the final tournament spot outright. t he winner of the conference tournament automatically qualifies for the Nc AA tournament. t he Belles last appeared in the mi AA tournament in 2008. calvin narrowly beat saint mary’s, 5-4, on
Wednesday to earn the head-tohead tiebreaker.
Belles coach Dale campbell praised his team’s effort against kalamazoo (12-7, 7-1 mi AA), especially since the Belles were coming off the heartbreaking loss to calvin.
“We played with heart despite the fact we had a tough loss with calvin,” campbell said.
saturday’s victories came at No. 5 singles and No. 2 doubles. sophomore Jackie kjolhede won 6-2, 6-3. sophomores shannon Elliott and Audrey k iefer supplied the 8-4 doubles victory. k iefer nearly secured a third point for saint mary’s at No. 4 singles, but ended up falling narrowly 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 10-6. campbell said doubles play was not aggressive enough for the Belles to win. campbell said he hopes saint mary’s will be able to take the lessons from the loss into next season.
“We are still not aggressive enough at net in doubles, and we don’t play with enough energy at times,” campbell said. “We will start over and try to improve.”
Despite the loss, campbell said he wanted to keep a positive perspective during his postgame comments to his team.
“i just told them they gave it all they had, and that is all you can do,” campbell said. “i think you have to look at the positives and analyze what you can do going into the next season.”
Contact Samantha Zuba at szuba@nd.edu
ALLISON D’AMBROSIA | The Observer Belles freshman pitcher Sarah Burke warms up before a 10-2 win over Defiance on March 28 at home.
Irish roll past Golden Eagles in Senior-Day surge
By BRIAN HARTNETT sports Writer
on senior Day at Arlotta stadium, it was only fitting that the bulk of No. 10 Notre Dame’s offensive production came from its fourth-year players.
senior attackers Betsy mastropieri, Jaimie morrison and Jenny granger combined to score eight goals and lead the irish to a 14-5 victory over marquette on saturday.
“you want your team to show up and have a little extra motivation to give those seven seniors that have worked so hard for four years what they want,” irish coach christine halfpenny said. “[the seniors] came here to win, and we gave them that win on senior Day.”
marquette freshman midfielder hayley Baas put the golden Eagles (2-15) on the board with a goal 48 seconds into the game. But the irish (12-4, 6-3 Big East) quickly struck back, as mastropieri scored on an assist from granger at the 28:31 mark, and sophomore midfielder caitlin gargan added a goal off a granger assist just 22 seconds later.
“i think the game got started in the right fashion with seniors putting the ball in the back of the net right of the gate, with the one-two punch from Betsy and Jenny again having a hand in the next assist to caitlin gargan,” halfpenny said.
From there, Notre Dame never looked back, as it scored the next four goals to open up a 6-1 lead. After Baas added another goal, the irish found the net twice at the end of the half to take an 8-2 lead into halftime.
Notre Dame continued its scoring streak into the second half, scoring the first three goals of the half. the irish outscored the golden Eagles, 6-3, in the second frame to earn the 14-5 victory.
halfpenny said she was proud of her team’s effort against the
golden Eagles, who are in their inaugural season at the Division i level.
“obviously, we were playing a first-year program today, and they gave us everything they had and showed up to compete, so credit to marquette that they did really show up and play hard,”
halfpenny said. “But for our team to show up and play hard for our seniors, that was a really special thing for us.”
mastropieri scored four goals on the day, while morrison had a hat trick and granger added a goal and four assists. Junior attacker Lindsay powell finished with three goals, and gargan contributed two of her own.
senior goalkeeper Ellie hilling, who has the most wins of any goalkeeper in irish program history, earned her 44th career victory.
overall, all 31 players on the irish roster, including senior midfielder mckenzie Brown, senior goalkeeper Adele Bruggeman and senior defender Emily conner, saw playing time against the golden Eagles.
halfpenny said the extra playing time also benefitted many of the team’s freshmen and sophomores.
“i think we continue to see
confidence grow [in the freshmen and sophomores],” halfpenny said. “When we see the ball hit the back of the net where most of our youth is, which is down on offense and in the midfield, they just get more belief in the system we’re running.”
As a result of No. 7 georgetown’s 9-6 victory over No. 16 connecticut on Friday night, the irish will not make the four-team Big East tournament, which begins thursday in Washington D.c. With its rpi of 10, Notre Dame will likely receive an at-large bid to the 26-team NcAA tournament, which begins may 10.
halfpenny said the irish would use the extra time off to work on improving areas of their game in preparation for postseason play.
“the first thing we’re going to do is rest and recover, and the second thing we’re going to do is get comfortable in going back to the drawing board and fine-tuning pieces of our game that we haven’t fine-tuned in the last month’s stretch,” halfpenny said. “We’re excited to go back to the drawing board and build off all the positives we’ve seen in the last nine games.”
Contact Brian Hartnett at bhartnet@nd.edu
squad excels in iowa and mich.
By COLE SCHIETINGER sports Writer
i n the final meets of the regular season before the Big East championships, the i rish finished strong with 15 top-five finishes at the Drake r elays and the h illsdale c ollege g ina r elays.
t he quartet of sophomore c hris g iesting, juniors Jarrod Buchanon and p atrick Feeney and senior Brendan Dougherty led the i rish in Des moines, iowa, at the Drake r elays. t he team came in fifth in the 4x400meter relay, an event that afforded the sprinters to compete as a team.
“ i love running with my teammates instead of competing against them,” g iesting said. “ i have to compete against my teammates at almost every meet we go to so it is great to run relays where you are competing with them.”
g iesting said the relay team is confident heading into the Big East championships, which begin Friday.
“ it gives us confidence and shows us that our training is coming together,” g iesting said. “o ur 4-by-4 just set the school record, so we are all confident heading into the Big East championship.”
Not to be outdone, the women’s 4x400-meter relay team of freshman phenom m argaret Bamgbose, sophomore Amber Lalla and juniors megan yanik and m ichelle Brown won the prelims with a time of 3:36.77 and placed second in the finals with a 3:34.39 mark. i n similar fashion, the team of freshman Danielle Aragon, juniors k elly c urran and Alexa Aragon and senior
r ebecca tracy took the win in its 4x800-meter relay, edging second-place i llinois by nearly four seconds. i n addition to its triumph in the 4x800-meter relay, the sister duo of Danielle and Alexa Aragon took fourth and sixth, respectively, in the 1,500-meter race. o ver at the h illsdale ( m ich.) c ollege g ina r elays, the 46-athlete i rish continued the strong performances as four competitors placed in the top-15 for multiple events. Freshman Lena m adison had an especially great day, with top15 finishes in the shot put, hammer throw and discus, where she placed seventh, 10th and 15th, respectively.
Junior Emily k ujawski hung tight with m adison, placing sixth and 11th in the shot put and hammer throw, respectively.
For the men, seniors ted g lasnow and Anthony t homas also turned in multiple top-15 finishes. For g lasnow, an 11th-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles and a 12th-place finish in the 100-meter sprint primed the decathlon for the conference championship, while t homas’ second and thirdplace performances stood out in the hammer throw and the discus.
t his weekend, the i rish will travel to p iscataway, N.J., for the Big East championships. i n the indoor season, the women’s team won the conference title, while the men came in second. c hampionship action gets under way Friday in New Jersey and continues through s unday.
Contact Cole Schietinger at cschieti@nd.edu
By MEREDITH KELLY sports Writer
Although Notre Dame is the third seed at the Big East championships, it sits in first place after one day of play at the reunion resort Watson course in orlando, Fla. the irish take a two-stroke lead over usF into the second round of the three-day tournament.
Notre Dame shot a total team score of 288, even score on the par72 course. Notre Dame coach Jim kubinski said each of his players had a steady performance.
“We seemed to do everything
pretty well,” kubinski said. “We had a couple guys come out with some extra adrenaline and maybe a few early nerves, but for the most part we played consistently well throughout the round.”
senior paul mcNamara shot two-under-par for a score of 70 and is tied for second place. Junior Niall platt also had a great showing, shooting a one-under 71, good for a share of sixth place.
Freshman cory sciupider also had a good day and is tied for 10th place after shooting an even-par 72. Another irish freshman, Zach toste is tied for 27th after shooting
a three-over-par score of 75. Junior Andrew Lane placed last on the team in the first round and stands in 59th place with an 11-over-par score of 83.
kubinski said the weather has aided the team’s success in the tournament.
“Weather has been great,” kubinski said. “it was windy near the end of the round, which makes it a bit trickier in terms of club selection but overall i think all the teams feel good about being in warm weather. We haven’t experienced this at a tournament since september.”
kubinski also said the team’s focus is one reason why they are currently in first place, saying the team attempts to focus only on its playing on the course, not on how other teams are playing.
“you’re playing against the golf course, and what it presents on each shot, and sometimes trying to battle your mind a bit,” kubinski said. “you can’t worry about what you cannot control, namely what your opponents are doing. We’re going to play each shot to the best of our abilities and accept the results.”
kubinski also said the team was
well-prepared for the tournament and hopes its winning streak will continue today.
“the guys understand what they need to do and did a nice job of doing so today. We’ll just show up tomorrow and play the golf course as best we can,” kubinski said. “We understand 54 holes is a long time, so we’ll just be patient with our approach and trust our game plan.”
Notre Dame will tee off again today at 8 a.m. and finish the tournament tuesday.
Contact Meredith Kelly at mkelly29@nd.edu
MEn’s Golf | 288 (EVEN); First pLAcE
GRANT TOBIN | The Observer
Irish senior attacker Jenny Granger, shown here against Georgetown on April 14, tallied five points on Senior Day on Saturday.
First-half goals power i rish in final exhibition
By BRIAN HARTNETT sports Writer
For the second time this spring season, Notre Dame earned a win against international competition, defeating the haiti national team 2-1 on Friday at Alumni stadium.
But irish coach randy Waldrum said the victory revealed more flaws than positives for his team.
“to be honest, i was really pretty disappointed in the overall performance,” he said. “i didn’t think we were nearly dangerous enough, even though we had the ball a lot, and it looked like we were in control of things. i felt like we didn’t handle [opportunities] very well, and i didn’t think we were very good in midfield or up front today.”
Notre Dame scored both of its goals in the first half. After junior forward Lauren Bohaboy’s shot hit the crossbar, sophomore forward crystal thomas gathered the rebound and knocked it past haiti goalkeeper geralda saintilus in the 19th minute to put the irish on the board.
sophomore midfielder cari
roccaro added to Notre Dame’s lead in the 44th minute when she recovered a loose ball and drove it into the empty net from eight yards out.
roccaro, who attended the united states under-20 women’s national team camp earlier this month, has continued to benefit from exposure to top competition, Waldrum said.
“i just think every time she gets called into camp, it’s one more international week and one more experience playing with top-level players, so it only makes her better when she comes back,” Waldrum said.
haiti scored the only goal of the second half in the 69th minute, as midfielder samantha Brand redirected a shot from midfielder Dina Jean-pierre past irish sophomore goalkeeper Naomi Willett.
“[it was] disappointing to give up the late goal and make a game close when it shouldn’t have been close,” Waldrum said.
Notre Dame dominated the offensive statistics, finishing with a 22-6 edge in shots and a 6-1
MEn’s soCCEr | ND 3, mExico 2
advantage in corner kicks.
the irish, however, missed key opportunities in both halves. thomas had a point-blank shot in the 34th minute, but she directed it right to saintilus. similarly, Bohaboy had a one-on-one opportunity in the 90th minute, but she couldn’t get it past saintilus and knocked the rebound wide of the net.
saintilus finished with eight saves, while Willett did not record a save in 90 minutes of action.
With the victory, the irish finish the spring season with a 3-1-2 mark that included a 4-3 victory over the mexico under-20 national team. Notre Dame’s lone loss of the spring season came to the chicago red stars of the National Women’s soccer League on April 3.
Looking forward, Waldrum said the irish need to find new ways to generate offense in their first season of Acc competition.
“We’ve got to get better offensively,” he said. “it was an area this year where we struggled to score goals regularly enough, and it’s the same thing in the spring. i’m
defender/midfielder
anxious to see if we have some new kids that will add challenges to the returning players and if not, i’ve got to do a better job of coaching them up front.”
Contact Brian Hartnett at bhartnet@nd.edu
Forwards lead ND past Mexico in second half
By ISAAC LORTON sports Writer
Alumni stadium was a sea of green, but not for the usual reasons as the irish beat the u-20 mexican National team, 3-2, in front of a sellout crowd.
While most of the green-clad supporters were actually supporting mexico, irish coach Bobby clark said the friendly match win over a team like mexico in a buzzing atmosphere will prepare the irish for any game and environment next season.
“i thought it was a really good team performance against a very good opponent,” clark said. “it’s a friendly game, but to go into a game in an environment like this, it was fantastic. And can the team handle themselves in this environment?
it was important because these games prepare you for any team we will play this year. that’s the toughest opponent we will face.” the irish struck first in the 19th minute. A through ball was played from the back to senior forward Alex priede, who ripped a shot on goal. goalkeeper richard sanchez dove to his right and punched the ball away, but sophomore midfielder patrick hodan followed up on the rebound and finished the play for the 1-0 irish lead. mexico was quick to respond, knotting the game at one-all in the 22nd minute. the ball was played down the right side of the pitch to mexico midfielder uvaldo Luna, who hit a low cross into the box. the ball pin-balled around in the box before mexico forward marco Bueno finally knocked in a shot
over senior keeper patrick Wall. Both sides had opportunities to take the lead in the remainder of the half, but none of the chances amounted to anything but loud groans or cheers from the crowd. irish senior forward harrison shipp carried the ball down the pitch on a counter and passed off to hodan, who slotted it low past sanchez, but mexico defender hedgardo marin came from behind to clear the would-be goal away. mexico had a chance of its own in extra time of the first half when a cross was served into the box and Luna found himself wide open on the right side of the sixyard box. he headed the ball to the left side of the net, but Wall came across the box and made a sprawling save to keep the game even going into half.
in the 60th minute, junior defender max Lachowecki got a throw-in on the left side of the field, just inside the offensive half. Lachowecki launched the ball to a streaking shipp; the ball bounced twice and on the peak of the second bounce shipp hit a laser volley from 25 yards out and buried it in the right side of the goal to put the irish up 2-1.
“We spent a fair bit of time without the ball because [mexico] possess[es] the ball well, but our transition was superb,” clark said.
“We defended well as a unit and transitioned superbly. harry shipp was fantastic tonight.”
irish junior forward Vince cicciarelli added an insurance goal in the 73rd minute. the ball was cleared from the back of the irish defense into no-mans
land, starting a footrace to the ball. cicciarelli beat out the third mexican defender, took the ball across the box to avoid the second defender, and hit a low shot into the left side of the net for the 3-1 irish lead. cicciarelli was out all of the fall season due to a torn AcL, but clark was pleased to see him making a difference on the pitch.
“it was good to get him back and get him playing,” clark said. “that was special.”
the insurance goal proved useful later on, as mexico made a late surge in the three minutes of extratime and Bueno scored his second goal of the night. shortly after, the referee blew his whistle, as the irish held off mexico for a 3-2 victory.
Contact Isaac Lorton at ilorton@nd.edu
team glides to first-place showing in Bloomington
By BRENDAN BELL sports Writer
Notre Dame had a successful weekend in Bloomington, ind., earning 118 points and placing first in the Dale England cup. the irish finished ahead of iowa, indiana and Alabama for the title. on Lake mellon — where the race was held — Notre Dame dominated the racing circuit. the irish faced each of the other
three competing schools in dual races. Notre Dame’s first varsity eight, second varsity eight, first varsity four and second varsity four boats all earned victories over the two-day event. senior kelsey murphy, a member of the first varsity four, said the Dale England invitational was a special event for the team.
“the most exciting part was that we had the opportunity to bring the whole team and everyone had a chance to race,”
murphy said. “We had big victories over Alabama, iowa and indiana who hosted the race.”
iowa finished second in the event, while indiana and Alabama finished in third and fourth respectively.
“We had some definitive victories,” murphy said. “During some races there were terrible conditions and water was coming into the boat, which made it extremely difficult to race, but we did a great job handling the situation.”
murphy emphasized the special opportunity the irish had to bring most of the team at the race.
“the most exciting part was just having everyone there,” murphy said. “We could not have done it without the entire team and all the girls.”
Now the irish will shift their attention to one of the most important races of the year, the Big East championships. murphy said the irish will work hard to fine tune
the boats and get ready.
“We hope to improve our speed a little bit,” murphy said. “Also we just want to continue to work on technique, but at this point we have done most of the work.”
Notre Dame will hope to use the momentum gained at the Dale England cup in the Big East championships, which begin may 19.
Contact Brendan Bell at bbell2@nd.edu
Irish junior
Taylor Schneider looks to settle a ball during Notre Dame’s 2-1 win over Haiti on Friday at Alumni Stadium.
Offense catches fire as squad sweeps UConn
By MARY GREEN and VICKY JACOBSEN sports Writers
the irish broke out the brooms and picked up a crucial threegame sweep of connecticut over the weekend at Frank Eck stadium.
Notre Dame (26-16, 7-8 Big East) set the tone for the weekend by besting the huskies in a big 12-2 win Friday, came back from an early deficit to claim a 4-3 victory saturday and closed out the series with sunday’s 12-5 win.
A current four-game win streak comes at the right moment for Notre Dame, who entered the weekend with a 4-8 Big East record, but closes it with three more conference victories as the season approaches its final month.
“What i talk to these guys going down the stretch is that it is playoff baseball,” irish coach mik Aoki said. “it doesn’t mean that we have to be perfect, but any margin for error that we created with the start of the season that we had in those first 20 games, we kind of used up in our next 20 games. so really as it comes down the stretch, these last 16 games are going to be critically important for us.”
With spots in both the Big East tournament and the Nc AA tournament in their sights, the irish got off to a strong start in the series’ first game.
Not even a 25-minute official delay could slow down a Notre Dame lineup that knocked out a season-high 17 hits. Although
kid that has ever played baseball and gets to this level has some kind of a delay during the course of his game — a weather delay, a lightning delay, an injury delay, a something delay. so you just kind of get used to that part of it.”
it was the two through five hitters who did most of the damage on Friday. sophomore left fielder mac hudgins, junior third baseman Eric Jagielo, junior first baseman trey mancini and sophomore right fielder ryan Bull had a combined 12 hits and eight rBis en route to a 12-2 win.
Aoki said he hoped his players would step up at the plate for the last part of the season to make a push for the postseason, especially after a rough stretch in the middle of the year in which the irish drop six straight games.
the eighth when Jagielo scored after sophomore pinch hitter conor Biggio hit a swinging bunt to connecticut first baseman Bobby melley, who dropped the ball, and the irish closed the middle game with a 4-3 comeback victory.
the weekend’s final matchup saw the two squads use a combined 11 pitchers throughout the afternoon. connecticut jumped out to a quick lead, grabbing three runs in the first two innings off junior starter sean Fitzgerald, who was relieved by freshman right-hander David hearne after 1.2 innings.
batters tagged connecticut for four runs, starting with junior first baseman trey mancini’s single to right field. the AllAmerican candidate picked up nine hits in 12 at-bats over the weekend and has racked up 15 hits in his last 18 at-bats in a weeklong span, boosting his average to .374.
Notre Dame picked up four more runs to take the finale by a score of 12-5.
mancini’s efforts reflected the overall offense of Notre Dame in the series, leaving Aoki impressed with his team.
sophomore right-hander pat connaughton struggled early on, giving up a run in each of the first two innings, his teammates put seven runs on the board before he came back for the top of the third. connaughton, who eventually earned the win to bring his record to 2-2, allowed just three more base runners before handing the ball to freshman right-hander Nick mccarty in the sixth.
the pitching change did not go smoothly, however. Although mccarty was listed on the 25man roster, he was not on the lineup card, and the game was delayed while the umpires verified that a player need only be listed on the 25-man roster to play.
“our kids responded phenomenally well to it — we tacked on another five runs and kept them right where they were,” Aoki said. “At some level or another every
“We just kind of got together and we get together with the team as a group and i basically lit them up like christmas trees, challenged them a little bit,” he said. “they responded great. And i think part of why they responded great, to be honest with you, is that i think they agreed with me. We talked about holding each other accountable and talked about being the one that throws the first punch and we talked about going out there and winning pitches rather than hoping that we were going to win pitches.”
if dominant hitting won the game for Notre Dame on Friday, on saturday the irish got some help from connecticut’s miscues in the field. senior right-hander Adam Norton gave the huskies (25-19, 8-10 Big East) a two-run lead in the first, but the irish gained back a run in the bottom of the fourth when Jagielo, who had gotten on base after being hit by connecticut starter Anthony marzi, came home from third on a balk.
the huskies scored one more run in the fifth when leadoff hitter tom Verdi hit a solo shot off Norton, but Jagielo, who had once again gotten on base after being hit by a pitch, scored again in the sixth when a sharply-hit ball from Bull skipped past the glove of senior second baseman L.J. mazzilli. the irish took the lead for good in the bottom of
A leadoff home run off the bat of senior second baseman Frank Desico put the irish on the board in the first, and the team made up the early deficit by scoring three more runs in the second inning to take a 4-3 lead. in the third inning, the huskies tied it up at four, a score that held until they crossed the plate again in the top of the fifth to reclaim the lead over the irish and junior right-hander Donnie hissa.
Notre Dame finally opened the floodgates in the bottom of the fifth inning, when eight irish
“our hitters, i think they’ve been really good,” he said. “i just felt like we were attacking. [Against] michigan state [on April 24], we attacked. this weekend, we’ve attacked. We’ve been the aggressor, we’ve been the one to throw the first punch.” With their bats finally clicking, the irish return to the diamond tuesday to face central michigan at theunissen stadium in mount pleasant, mich., at 4:05 p.m.
Contact Mary Green at mgreen8@nd.edu and Vicky Jacobsen at vjacobse@nd.edu
OE KENESEY | The Observer
Irish sophomore left fielder Mac Hudgins, left, celebrates his home run with sophomore outfielder Conor Biggio on Friday.
‘Peaking’ Irish win another league series
By KATIE HEIT sports Writer
Despite a 5-2 loss sunday, the irish claimed their seventh Big East series win of the season with two wins saturday against Depaul and remained in a tie for first place in the conference.
senior pitcher Brittany o’Donnell said despite the final loss, the caliber of play over the weekend proved how good of a team the irish (37-11, 17-2 Big East) have this year.
“We all had our moments of brilliance,” o’Donnell said. “that’s the sign of a really good team. i feel confident we are peaking at the right time.” in game one, after falling behind 1-0, a solo home run by irish junior pitcher Laura Winter tied the score
in the top of the second. sophomore outfielder Emilee koerner then blasted a two-run shot in the third inning to give the irish a 3-1 lead. the Blue Demons (28-18, 14-5) scored once more in the bottom of the third, but with the score at 3-2, irish senior catcher Amy Buntin hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh to score senior outfielder kelsey thornton and Winter hit a two-run single to give the irish a 6-2 advantage en route to the seriesopening victory. in game two, o’Donnell managed to keep the Blue Demon at bay, as the senior spun seven innings of two-run ball. Winter hit a home run in the top of the first, scoring Buntin and giving the irish an immediate 2-0 lead.
sophomore third baseman katey haus roped a two-run triple
in the fifth inning to give the irish a 4-1 advantage. sophomore catcher cassidy Whidden followed immediately with another rBi triple and the irish finished the inning leading 5-1. Depaul managed a run in the bottom of the fifth off o’Donnell, but the irish held on to secure the 5-2 victory.
in their final game of the series, o’Donnell acknowledged the irish were unable to get their offense moving.
“the last game was most difficult this weekend,” o’Donnell said. “We had the lead and didn’t get it done. We were not successful in executing when we had runners in scoring position.”
Notre Dame pulled ahead 2-0 through the first four innings, but five runs by Depaul in the fifth and sixth innings proved to be
too much. Depaul junior pitcher hannah penna blasted a three-run home run over the left-field fence to put the Blue Demons in control in the bottom of the sixth. the irish are back in action
tuesday with a 5 p.m. matchup against Eastern michigan at melissa cook stadium.
Contact Katie Heit at kheit@nd.edu
opportunities on offense and you don’t take advantage of them,” corrigan said. “We didn’t handle the ball well at all and we turned it over too much.”
the irish offense failed to score on any of its five man-up opportunities and turned the ball over 17 times. kavanagh led the irish with two goals, but for the most part, the orange defense throttled the irish.
As the postseason begins, the irish get the chance to immediately redeem themselves thursday in the first round of the Big East championship when they take on syracuse again. corrigan feels positive about his team’s ability to rebound.
“[syracuse] is going to be feeling good about themselves, putting six on us in the fourth quarter, but i’m not worried about any hangover on our part,” he said. “We’ve shown that we’re a team that isn’t too affected by either wins or losses. We’ll just go out there and play.”
As to what must change between saturday’s performance and thursday, corrigan said there are no weaknesses that stand out from the rest and the team simply has to play better.
“there’s no magic pill,” corrigan said. “We just need to play the good, consistent lacrosse we’ve been playing all year. When we play again thursday, the score is going to be 0-0 and that’s all that matters.”
the irish begin postseason play thursday against syracuse at the Big East championship at Villanova.
Contact Greg Hadley at ghadley@nd.edu
GRANT TOBIN | The Observer Irish senior catcher Amy Buntin, shown here April 14 against Rutgers, and Notre Dame took two of three from DePaul over the weekend.
Alajowon
Bookstore
more physical medical clinic.
“they were a lot bigger than us,” mcintyre said. “they were very physical down low. We had to use our speed and get out in transition.”
Neither team gamed separation during the course of the game. holy cross’s largest lead of the night came after romeo medical clinic junior tim Fulnecky came down awkwardly on his right ankle while rebounding and had to be treated on the court for several minutes.
With Fulnecky slowed down significantly, holy cross took a 7-4 lead and looked primed to break open the game. however, romeo medical, composed of juniors Dominic romeo, tyler sonsalla, Jack gardner and tom hickey in addition to Fulnecky, rallied on the strong shooting of romeo and sonsalla to take a 11-9 lead at halftime.
“tim showed a big heart tonight,” romeo said. “he came
holy Cross
very humorous, shooting performance on at halftime. After the sophomores’ first basket, the smaller group drowned out the rest of the crowd with a triumphant roar.
With the victory, sophomores at holy cross became the first team to win back-to-back Bookstore titles since Dos g eses accomplished that feat in 1997. But sophomore Darrell mci ntyre still took more pride in another accomplishment.
“it feels really good to bring [the championship] back to holy cross,” mci ntyre said. “it means a lot, because i love my school. t hey were very supportive, and we just came out here to get the win, make them proud.”
mci ntyre and three of his teammates play for the saints
round, which then set off a string of irish players whose names were called. Former safety Jamoris slaughter was selected by the cleveland Browns with the seventh pick of the sixth round (175th overall). slaughter, who missed much of the 2012 season after tearing his Achilles against michigan sate, was denied a sixth year of eligibility by the NcAA and then elected to enter the NFL Draft.
“i was expecting to go undrafted just due to my injury and getting hurt the third game of the season,” slaughter said saturday in a conference call with reporters. “i know i did well in my senior year, but my fifth year, sitting out the entire time, i knew that it would affect me. it was a surprise to me that i did get drafted. i’m excited to be a cleveland Brown and i’m just ready to get back out there and get to work.”
back and played really well. overall, the injury didn’t affect us and it wasn’t the reason we lost.”
instead, romeo said the team was doomed by poor shooting inside and at the free throw line. holy cross encountered foul trouble early, but medical failed to take advantage, missing all of their free throws. this allowed the sophomores to rally back and take a narrow 19-17 lead.
“We laid an egg,” romeo said. “tom hickey and i had to win the game down low, but we missed too many layups. it was a tough loss.”
the game remained tight until the end, but mcintyre ultimately lifted his team to the title, leading all scorers with 10 points including several key baskets in the final possessions.
“it feels really good to bring [the championship] back to holy cross,” mcintyre said. “We had a lot of fun this year.”
Contact Greg Hadley at ghadley@nd.edu
basketball team, and their solidarity shined through. on both offense and defense they seemed to communicate seamlessly, anticipating exactly where and when their teammate would cut. mci ntyre said it was a comfort level developed in the holy cross gyms.
“We’re always around each other, so we always play basketball together,” mci ntyre said.
“it’s the same as the practice court, so we just carried it over and had fun.”
t he sophomores’ play lived up to logo on their white jerseys that read, “holy cross Basketball: We play hard.”
t hey played hard for the championship, they played hard for each other, and most importantly, they played hard for their school.
Contact Casey Karnes at wkarnes@nd.edu
to get right again. i’m just really happy for the opportunity.”
Another irish safety came off the board when the Atlanta Falcons selected Zeke motta with the 38th pick of the seventh round (244th overall). motta told AtlantaFalcons.com the weekend was “nerve-wracking.”
“i sat down and watched pretty much the whole draft from start to finish,” motta said. “i was keeping it quiet, staying with the [family]. certainly as the day wore on it was frustrating but at the same time what a relief it was
to get that call and to be asked to be an Atlanta Falcon, it was just a huge relief and this is the dream come true.”
Later on saturday, running back cierre Wood signed an undrafted free-agent deal with the texans, and offensive linemen Braxston cave and mike golic Jr. signed with the Browns and steelers, respectively. on sunday, receiver John goodman signed with the cincinnati Bengals.
Contact Mike Monaco at jmonaco@nd.edu
running back/receiver theo riddick was drafted by the Detroit Lions with the 31st pick of the sixth round (199th overall). With the very next pick, the Baltimore ravens selected defensive end kapron Lewismoore, who, like slaughter, is recovering from injury after tearing his AcL in the Bcs National championship game.
“i know the knee kind of set me back a little bit, but hey, you can control only what you can control,” Lewis-moore said in a conference call saturday. “i’m rehabbing, working my butt off
MACKENZIE SAIN | The Observer Holy Cross junior Dane Okuda passes to sophomore
Edwards during the Bookstore championship Saturday.
loWEr your ExPECTATions | LENNY rAgo & pAtrick cross
CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Jessica Alba, 32; penelope cruz, 39; Jay Leno, 63; Ann-margret, 72
Happy Birthday: originality will help you turn a skill, talent or service into a profitable endeavor. Don’t limit the possibilities, but accept that hard work, dedication and preparation will be required. taking charge of your life emotionally, physically and financially should be at the top of your list. personal and professional partnerships must not be neglected. your numbers are 8, 14, 17, 23, 31, 34, 48.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): share your thoughts. travel and communication should be high on your list. A day trip with someone you share interests with will bring you closer together. Don’t let professional pressures stand in your way. have some fun and ease your stress.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): scout for new ventures to increase your assets. A meddler will not approve of an unusual change you want to make. Be secretive until you have thought your plan through and have all the components in place.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Network functions will open up new possibilities. your lifestyle will improve through the people you meet and the partnerships you form. get the details and check out the possibilities firsthand before you make a decision. Look over your personal papers.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Do something out of the ordinary. A creative boost will help you enhance your life and your relationships. participating in a good cause or lending a helping hand will lead to good fortune. Love and romance are on the rise
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): ups and downs can be expected. refuse to let someone’s bad mood or stubbornness ruin your plans. A change of pace or location will do wonders for you mentally, physically and emotionally. An adventure will lead you in a new direction.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): pursue your dreams. the thrill of letting go and having some fun will lead to interesting people and new possibilities. Love and romance are in the stars, but the realization of the lifestyle you want may not suit your current situation.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): put your money in a safe place. Don’t lend, borrow or fall victim to a sob story. charity begins at home, and investing in your future or environment is your best bet. self-improvement projects will lead to a better you.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): partnerships will be the focus, especially if you want to follow a creative path. it’s important that you have the support of the people you care about most in order to move forward successfully. share your ideas and plans and proceed.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): think and take action. Don’t let an emotional situation cloud your vision or cause you to miss out on something you want to pursue. relocation or fixing up a space to accommodate your goals will set the stage for what’s to come.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Alter your domestic situation to suit your needs. romance and entertaining will enable you to touch base with people you want to share your future with and allow you to find out who is supportive and who is not.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Expect to face opposition. Don’t let what others think discourage you. Do what’s best for you and you’ll find your niche. An unusual idea will lead to a service, product or change that helps you out emotionally, financially or physically.
PISCES (Feb. 19- March 20): Don’t let emotions stifle your plans or keep you from making the changes. Approaching a contract, legal settlement or medical issue in a unique way will give you a better chance to reach your set goal. Love is highlighted. Birthday Baby: you are steadfast, inventive and open-minded. you are dedicated and aggressive.
Enclosed
hiGhly PunliKEly | christophEr
JuMBlE | DAViD hoyt AND JEFF kNurEk
BooKsTorE BAsKETBAll
No. 1 Sophomores at Holy Cross wins back-to-back titles
By GREG HADLEY sports Writer
in a back-and-forth battle that went all the way to the wire, No. 1 sophomores at holy cross rode the hot shooting hand of sophomore Darrell mcintyre to best No. 2 romeo medical clinic, 24-22, and claim their second Bookstore Basketball championship in a row saturday evening.
With the win, sophomores, composed of junior Dane okuda and sophomores mcintyre, george stainko, Alajowon Edwards and shawn Brown, becomes the first back-to-back champions since 1996-1997. okuda and Brown were substitutes filling in for brothers Zoe and Beau Bauer.
But the victory wasn’t easy. romeo medical pushed the sophomores to the limit and even led 21-20 at one point. But the sophomores were bolstered by mcintyre’s dominating effort and offensive rebounding, pulling off the win against the bigger,
Hoops, they did it again
top-ranked i rish fall to ‘cuse
By GREG HADLEY sports Writer
With the Big East regular season title on the line in the season’s final game, the No. 1 irish faltered in the fourth quarter against No. 7 syracuse on saturday. the irish defense gave up six unanswered goals as Notre Dame lost 10-4 to the orange at the konica minolta Big city classic at metLife stadium in East rutherford, N.J.
With the loss, the irish (10-3, 4-2 Big East) finish the season third in the Big East and will play syracuse (11-3, 5-1) again in the Big East tournament at Villanova on thursday.
up 3-1 at halftime, the irish had no answer for the orange in the second half, surrendering three goals early in the third quarter before freshman attack matt kavanagh tied the game with his second goal. in the fourth quarter, the orange broke the tie within the first minute and did not let up, ending with
their 10th goal of the night with 1:24 left to go.
“Defensively, we had a stretch of good play in the first half, but we just fell apart in the fourth quarter,” irish coach kevin corrigan said. “i wish i could tell you what happened. We just broke down completely.”
the game started off promisingly for Notre Dame as the first quarter ended with no score. the irish struck first on a goal by senior midfielder ryan Foley with 11:04 to go in the second quarter, and after the orange scored an equalizer, junior attack Westy hopkins scored to regain the lead. Notre Dame was unable to generate any offense in the second half, however, adding just one goal over the third and forth quarters.
corrigan was displeased with his offense’s effort. syracuse outshot the squad 32-24 and led 2919 in ground balls.
“it’s a problem when you have
Squad wins in front of large contingent of Holy Cross fans
By CASEY KARNES sports Writer
As soon as the winning shot rattled home, the sophomores at holy cross rushed toward midcourt to celebrate, and they didn’t do it alone.
t hey were met there by a throng of screaming fans, who circled the victorious players and began chanting. it wasn’t the players’ names they were yelling, however, but rather a jubilant chorus of “hoLy cross ! hoLy cross !” t he sophomores’ win was not just a repeat victory for more the team that won last year’s tournament under the moniker “hoops We Did it Again,” but a point of pride for their college. While a large segment of the crowd seemed to be rooting for romeo medical c linic, a sizable group of saints students and fans gathered around one of the baskets. t hey were joined by the school’s mascot, who even put on a pathetic, yet
nfl dr AfT
Five more ND players chosen
By MIKE MONACO sports Editor
After the Bengals selected tyler Eifert in the first round of the NFL Draft, five more Notre Dame players, including linebacker manti te’o, were drafted over the weekend.
te’o, the heisman runner-up and a projected first-round pick by many draft experts, fell to the sixth pick of the second round (38th overall), when the san Diego chargers traded up to select the hawaii native.
“manti te’o is a once-in-ageneration type kid,” irish coach
Brian kelly said in a press release. “i’ve not been associated with a better player, leader and man in my tenure as a college football coach. “
te’o, who said his fall out of the first round will motivate him in san Diego, expressed excitement about the chance to replace the late Junior seau, a 12-time pro Bowler who spent 13 illustrious seasons with the chargers.
“it means i’m going to do whatever it takes to carry on that tradition that guys like him
started,” te’o told chargers. com after being selected Friday. “i want to make [seau] proud. he was a dominant linebacker, and that’s what i want to be. this team has a history of great
linebackers and i want to be a part of that tradition.” the next Notre Dame selection didn’t come until the sixth see DrAFt PAGE 18
MACKENZIE SAIN | The Observer
Holy Cross sophomore Darrell McIntyre drives past junior Tyler Sonsalla during Saturday’s Bookstore Basketball title game. McIntyre’s Sophomores at Holy Cross squad repeated as champs with a 24-22 victory.
Former Irish linebacker Manti Te’o, shown here at a press conference Saturday in San Diego, was drafted by the Chargers in the second round.
