the arbiter 4-11-11
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The April 11th, 2011 issue of The Arbiter, Boise State's student newspaperTRANSCRIPT
w w w . a r b i t e r o n l i n e . c o m
Issue no.56Volume 23
April 112011
Rocketman
Sir Elton John made a stop in humble Boise Saturday. The general consensus is that he rocked the show.
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page 3 page 2
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The men’s golf team prepares to head down to Provo, Utah for a big tournament.
Four! Golf ready for win
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B o i S E S T A T E ’ S i n d E P E n d E n T S T U d E n T V o i c E o f B o i S E S T A T E S i n c E 1 9 3 3
B o i s e , I d a h o F i r s t i s s u e f r e e
Wheels-down zone in the Quad
Suzanne CraigAssistant News Editor
The Quad is no longer a site of close calls and near collisions between bicyclists, long-boarders, and pedestrians.
Policy 9010, Pedestrian Safety, has recently been put into effect and outlines a “pedestrian priority zone” that occupies the entirety of the Quad, with cyclist priority lanes on Brady Lane and Cesar Chavez Lane, which basically allow bicyclists to pick which end of campus to park their bikes be-fore walking to any classes they have in the more centrally located buildings.
This policy is not only for bikes though, the pedestrian priority zone makes it clear that long-boarders, roller-bladers and skateboarders also can’t go zipping through the heart of campus anymore.
The policy was effective immediately upon the installment of the new bike racks by Albertson’s Library and the removal of the old ones during Spring Break.
Anyone found in violation of this policy runs the risk of their wheels being impounded, citations be-ing issued and disciplinary action being pursued.
Preparation paid off for Talkin’ BroncosTaSha adamS
Journalist
They took home top honors at the 2011 Pi Kappa Delta tournament and the Talkin’ Bron-cos worked hard for those bragging rights. I got to chat with Brian Swafford, interim Director of Forensics for the Talkin’ Broncos Speech and De-bate Team, about the win and all the preparation that went into it.
What do the Talkin’ Broncos do?We travel throughout the region and through-
out the country doing competitive speech and debate tournaments. At most of our tournaments we do a combination of speaking events that can be interpretation of literature events, which are kind of like acting, public speaking events like persuasive speaking and informative speaking. And then we have a couple current event topics like extemporaneous (ad lib) speaking. We also do several different formats of debate that rely on students being knowledgeable on current events and geopolitics as well as argumentation and pre-sentation.
What is the Pi Kappa Delta tournament that the Talkin’ Broncos just participated in?
It is the oldest honorary society for collegiate speech and debate in the country. The organiza-tion will celebrate its’ centennial in 2013 at the national tournament in St. Louis. They have been holding a national championship tournament ev-ery other year since the 1970s and it is a festival and conference.
What is the structure of the tournaments?They have either three or four events that are
offered each day and you can be entered into two of those events. So you compete in those speech events in the morning and then in the afternoon they have multiple forms of debate. After the first day, we come back in and do new speaking events and a new round of debates. The third day we do new speaking events and then elimination rounds of debate. They also do a showcase round for each of the individual events where they take four of the top competitors to show examples of
what good performance is.Did Boise State have anyone in the
showcase round?Yes, we had four competitors that were in
showcases. That was the most representation from any one school.
How does the team practice?We started planning what we were going to do
for the national tournament when classes started back in September. We started writing and edit-ing speeches and working on delivery way back then. We have traveled to numerous tournaments throughout the season that give us not only a chance to practice our speeches but give us feedback.
The other thing that I ask them to do is that we meet as a class twice a week and during those two-hour blocks we divide up into groups of two or four and practice speeches with each other. The students then come in and work with me one-on-one during practice sessions. I help them hone delivery and give critiques.
Just to memorize a ten-minute performance takes approximately ten hours. We took 107 indi-vidual events to the national tournament, which averages just under 5 and a half events per per-son. It was just hours and hours of practicing ei-ther with each other or on their own. There were students that would record their speeches and put it on an iPod so as they were walking across campus they were delivering their speeches.
How impromptu is the impromptu speaking?Very impromptu. You are given a set of three
quotes from famous authors, poets or play-wrights and once you receive that clip, you are given seven minutes total to prepare and deliver your presentation. Most people prepare within one to two minutes and then stand up and talk for five to six minutes.
What are some of the winning speeches?One of our speeches that was named “Top Su-
perior,” which is the equivalent of the national championship speech, was in an event called Communication Analysis. You will look at some sort of communicative event, usually speech or a campaign ad or something along those lines, and
you will do an analysis of that where you will peel back the layers. So one of our seniors, Debra Gro-berg, she was named the top superior in the event and her speech was looking at a breast cancer awareness campaign in Thailand. This campaign, what they did they painted cartoonish images of things that women will often become obsessed about, things like bad hair, bad acne, how they look in jeans, ya know. And what was interest-ing is they painted these cartoonish images on a naked body. So this ad stood out because at first glance you see the cartoonish images and then at second glance you see it is a naked body then you start asking about what is going on which is why the campaign, which was called the “Are You Ob-sessed with the Right Things?” campaign was so meaningful and so impactful.
Anything else?Our results speak for themselves, I think the
kids worked really really hard and they started the year by saying they wanted to win nation-als and it is one thing to say it but it is another thing to put in the work and the time and so all the credit in the world should go to the kids for the sheer amount of hard work they put in and al the hours they spent practicing because most of them will tell you they lost sleep they had all the nervous panic attacks that come with com-petition and to be able to pull it off especially in basically our backyard was outstanding.
This year, 1,032 runners finished before Chris Petersen Saturday in the annual Beat Pete Run/Walk, an event which raises money for scholarships. Many people donned cos-tumes to encourage enthusiasm.
BeatPete
CODY FINNEY/THE ARBITER
The freshman girls of the Talkin’ Broncos have their own collection of trophies.
NIk BjuRsTROm/THE ARBITER
OpinionSportsGive your feet some air while raising awareness for a good cause!
Softball closes out a suc-cessful weekend double header with two victories.
8th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference
1 to 4 p.m.Monday, April 11
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Tweet that inspired this week’s column: foxnewspolitics After Historic Deal, Bat-tles Loom Over Debt Ceiling, 2012 Budget http://fxn.ws/hAqKrP
Friday night, in the eleventh hour, Demo-crats and Republicans informally agreed on a 2011 budget that includes $38.5 billion of spending cuts and averts government shutdown through Friday, April 15. Final agreement on FY 2011 budget is expected by mid-week.
Congratulations, Congress. If by some miracle you do finalize and pass the 2011 budget, Americans can look forward to another year of the incessant, indecisive partisan bickering of their representatives in Washington as you debate the details of the 2012 budget.
The proof is in the pudding. Undoubt-edly, this last round of indecision can be blamed on the Republicans. The GOP is more than willing to sacrifice a feasible bud-get on the altar of political ideology.
Republicans attached billions of dollars worth of policy riders to the 2011 budget that include cuts to early childhood devel-opment programs, job training for unem-ployed workers and energy assistance for needy families and family planning pro-grams. At the same time, the GOP defends spending $295 billion this year on Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy and big corpora-tions.
While Republican dogma has reared its ugly head, Democrats are just as much to blame. They should have passed the budget when they held the majority in the house. Democrats feared an unfavorable outcome during the mid-term elections and stalled on the budget, hoping their indecision might give them a chance to come out on top. Their political maneuvering failed, and now Americans are paying for it.
With the 2012 presidential election looming, expect it to get worse. Republi-cans will aim to impress their constituents by proposing cuts based on divisive ideolo-gy rather than deficit reduction. Democrats will refuse to sign off on a budget contain-ing socially conservative riders, and both parties will act and react to it all with the 2012 election in mind.
President Obama’s proposed budget for 2012 has been criticized for barely scrap-ing the surface of the debt crisis. In Feb-ruary, Democratic chairman of Obama’s debt commission, Erskine Bowles, told the Washington Post that Obama’s budget goes “nowhere near where they will have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare.”
Then there’s the House Republicans’ “Path to Prosperity” 2012 budget, issued by the chairman Representative Paul D. Ryan. The measure would trim $4 trillion out of the deficit by drastically reducing entitle-ment spending while cutting taxes for the wealthy and giant corporations. Sound familiar?
It’s up to Congress to meet in the middle, somehow. That’s been their job all along. As the United States moves forward through recovery, the choices are only going to get harder. The extreme cuts proposed by the GOP for 2012 prove just that.
If our representatives don’t step back and set party-line politics aside, 2012 will be ug-lier than 2011. We could very well face emi-nent government shutdown at this same time next year.
Enough is enough.Follow Jana on Twitter and she will fol-
low you back!
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FY 2012: Expect more of the same
Armchair activism is sweeping the nation. The idea that, by post-ing certain things on your Face-book status or changing your pro-file picture, you can help further a good cause. While the intentions are honorable, this sort of ‘activ-ism’ is essentially a waste of time.
Recently, some Boise State stu-dents participated in A Day With-out Shoes, a nationwide event sponsored by TOMS Shoes de-signed to bring awareness to chil-dren in underdeveloped coun-tries that cannot afford shoes and suffer form health complications and a lesser quality lifestyle. Ac-cording to the website oneday-withoutshoes.com, participants forego wearing shoes for an entire day, which provides opportuni-ties to spark curiosity and conver-sation in non-participants. Not only will this create sympathy for the children’s plight, it will lead to action, and eventually change.
In theory, this sounds like a great idea.
In reality, it’s a waste of time and effort, not to mention a health risk. The hope that curi-osity and discussion about such a movement will actually lead to someone doing something about said problem is an incredibly idealistic one.
BSU junior and mass com-munications major Sara Barrett doesn’t see the benefit.
“To be honest I thought that it was pointless and unproductive,” Barrett said. “There are a lot of other ways to raise awareness on an issue. I didn’t even know what they were doing when I saw peo-
ple without shoes -- I just thought it was gross.”
By walking around barefoot for a day and hoping that some-one not only bothers to ask why, but then acts on some sudden burst of inspiration they get from one person’s actions is not only egocentric, but lazy. These types of movements -- walking around barefoot to promote a shoe com-pany, posting a certain bra color or purse location on your Face-book to raise breast cancer aware-ness, or changing a profile picture
to a cartoon to discourage sexual predators -- only raise ‘awareness’ at the most minimal level pos-sible. At best, someone is now aware of why people are posting cryptic statuses or not wearing shoes in the middle of campus. They’re not aware of how many women die from breast cancer, or why it’s so important to find a cure. They’re not aware of how many children get any number of diseases from walking shoeless.
Recent graduate Gina Sewell supports helping causes in a more
monetary way.“I’m all for supporting vari-
ous causes and raising awareness about different global issues, but it should be done in a way that will actually make a difference. Go out and donate some actual money to the cause, and if you can’t afford to donate yourself, then find a way to raise money if the issue is important to you. Walking around barefoot to raise awareness about potential health risks of being barefoot is like sticking yourself with a used nee-
dle to raise awareness about HIV.”If an individual is truly mo-
tivated and inspired to make a change, perhaps they should promote actually buying TOMS Shoes. The company donates a pair to a child in need for every pair bought, and reached 1 mil-lion donated pairs in September of 2010. By letting people know where they can purchase shoes, donate money or volunteer at a fundraiser, you can support an important cause in a way that actually WILL make a difference.
ArmchAir Activism
Jessica swiderAst. Online Editor
Atlas Sports Genetics has made a DNA test that pre-dicts the natural athletic abili-ties and strengths in children available to parents. From this test, parents can then steer their children into the ap-propriate sports based on the test results.
What happened to letting children play all the differ-ent sports and letting them choose for themselves? A test such as this is absurd.
“As a geneticist, you can judge people by phenotype, which is what we see, which is what everybody judges by. Now, we can do it genetically [through the genotype]; us-ing a similar type of reasoning with a different type of evi-dence,” said Greg Hampikian, a professor of biology at BSU.
Looking at a person’s gene sequence and making a judg-ment about the athletic abili-ties of that person is analo-gous with seeing a person who is 6’10” and deducing they would be good at basketball. Having the gene sequence or having the height isn’t the whole story.
“If you had Michael Jordan’s entire genome, you would not be able to predict that he would be one of the great-est basketball players,” said Hampikian.
Judging which sport a child should play based on genes fails to recognize whether or not the child enjoys said sport. Watching them play a sport they decided to try is more effective and reward-ing than relying on a test to decide what sport a child should try.
If a child is struggling or doesn’t like a sport, then take them out of it and sign them up for a new one; if a child ap-pears to enjoy and succeed in a sport, then keep at it. People don’t need the ambiguous results of a genetic test to tell them their child will struggle or succeed in certain sports.
Some parents can, and will, test their kids to push them to a particular sport in order to gain something out of it, such as a college scholarship down the road. Having a genetic test yields yet another excuse for parents to control the lives of their kids.
“I find it worrisome because
I don’t think parents will be very clear-minded about this,” said William Morgan, an ex-pert on the philosophy of eth-ics and sport. “This just con-tributes to the madness about sports because there are some parents who will just go nuts over the results.”
Parents should never push their kids into activities that the child doesn’t take interest in. It’s ridiculous that there are parents out there who look at their child and instead of see-ing potential, they see only dollar signs. Since America focuses on competition, some parents look for any way to get their child ahead of everyone else, even an inconclusive ge-netic test. Children should be allowed to pursue their pas-sions -- even if it’s something like art or theatre instead of sports.
Athletic abilities cannot yet be predicted, said Hampikian. And why the need to? Babe Ruth, Peyton Manning and Michael Jordan never got ge-netically tested to see which sport would suit them. They found a sport they loved to play and worked at it. Genes aren’t the whole story.
“You just can’t predict. That’s the great thing about sports,” says Hampikian. “The whole reason we have con-tests is that there are a number of other factors besides simple genetics that determine who the winners are.”
Genetic tests for athletic performance inadequate
Jana HoffmanColumnist
Tony madonnaJournalist
Even genetic tests cannot determine a person’s aptitude for a sport. Some parents desire to pinpoint physical attributes prior to conceiving offspring.
According to its website, TOMS matches every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. Students around campus raised awareness by going shoeless for a day.
mct campus
The lazy way to provide aid
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The Broncos came through strong this past Saturday at Mountain Cove Softball Field during their second game of an afternoon double-header against Louisiana Tech. The team went 2-0 on the day with help from their explo-sive offense. In the second game Boise State broke through late for a victory winning 8-0. Junior Aubray Zell and La Tech’s Meghan Krieg threw no-hitters through the first three innings.
“We concentrate on each game,” head coach Erin Thorpe said. “We know that each game is going to get us to where we need to be so every time we’re focusing on just the game in front of us. We don’t want to look too far ahead. I am hoping to see us compete for a (Western Athletic Conference) title this season and make it to postsea-son though.”
In the bottom of the fourth, junior Allie Crump stepped up and ham-mered her eighth home run of the sea-son to score the game’s first run of the afternoon.
“Our challenge right now I think is just staying up every game,” Crump said. “I just try to focus, not let outside distractions effect anything. Try to stay up and if my adrenaline is going, I try to harness that in positive way.”
During the bottom of the fifth in-ning, with the bases loaded, Crump singled to right scoring junior Tazz
Weatherly from third. With one out and junior Kellie Caplan on third base, freshman Mackenzie Whyte on second base, and Crump on first base, fresh-man Devon Bridges hit a grand slam into the foothills beyond the outfield wall to bring the score to 6-0. It is Bridges’ third grand slam of the season.
She is the third player in NCAA his-tory to hit three grand slams in just one season.
“Each game is important,” Bridges said. “It can bring you and help you get to regionals but it could also break you. So it’s a lot more intense.”
With the bases loaded once more,
sophomore Georgia Behne hit a pop-fly in right to send junior Kelly Swee-ney home and finished the game. Zell threw her fourth shutout of the season which brings her record to 9-1 this season.
“I think we just came together as a team and everybody was hot at once
and we were able to have a big inning,” Zell said. “A wins a win, so once it’s done it feels good.”
The Broncos (25-13 8-1 WAC) are tied for first place with New Mexico State. BSU will travel to Utah State to play three games for the WAC match up this Friday and Saturday.
Broncos slam Lady Techsters Big hits lead to weekend victories for softball
Genevieve nuTTinGJournalist
Boise State pitcher Aubray Zell throws what seemed like BBs against a dazed Louisiana Tech team.
If there is one area the Boise State Broncos excelled in during the 2010-11 season, besides their passing game, was the hard-nosed defensive line. Only allowing 12.8 points per game, 2nd overall for the FBS rankings, and recording nearly 50 sacks, it’s safe to say that this was one of the departments the Broncos were not lacking in.
Only losing defensive end Ryan Winterswyk to graduation, leaves the forefront relatively in tact, making things a bit easier for defensive coordinator Pete Kwi-atkowski when it comes to transi-tioning into this season.
However, when it came to the first spring scrimmage of 2011 spring ball, things looked all but stable for the Bronco defense. Leaving gaps open right down the middle for running backs to take advantage of, a lackluster pass rush that junior back up quarter-back Joe Southwick only seemed vulnerable too, and a porous zone defense that left senior quarter-back Kellen Moore to have a field day with.
Granted, it’s not a walk in the park to be on the opposite side of Moore, but when new receivers, such as junior Giraldo Hiwat and sophomore Troy Ware, are having spectacular games against a veter-
an, experienced defense, it’s hard not to question the line’s tenacity.
Coach K seemed to be a little more blunt about their sub-par performance.
“I think our consistency with
our intensity needs to be better. We can be better than we’ve been, “ Kwiatkowski said. “The big-gest concern for any coach when you’ve got guys that have played a lot and had a lot of success is
those guys just sort of feeling like they can turn it on when they need to.”
The main senior leaders on the line are defensive end Shea McClellin and defensive tackle Chase Baker. Both started every game last season and now both are accountable for creating a spark amongst their fellow team-mates.
McClellin, the Bronco’s leader in sacks last season with 9.5 and 13.5 tackles for a loss, already has a decent amount of hype around him by being named to the 3rd team pre-season All-American team. Adding on to that, it’ll be McClellin to guide the ends in their pass-rushing efforts now with Winterswyk gone.
“I’ve been really working a lot on pass rush stuff this offseason. There’s always things to work on like being more instinctive,” Mc-Clellin said. “I’ve learned a lot from the coaches and (Winter-swyk) that I can help make this team better”.
For the interior defense, it’s Baker that has had the most ex-perience and who will have to elevate his game not only as a de-fensive tackle but a leader as well. Baker recorded 4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for a loss last season but recognizes he and McClel-lin need to have more of a vocal presence.
“Me and Shea are quieter so
we’ll definitely get them pumped up by the way we play as well as some hooting and hollering,” Baker said.
The way the Broncos need to snap out of this funk, according to Coach K, is not “getting com-fortable and resting on their lau-rels” and not thinking they “can flip the switch when it comes to game time”. Only time will tell if the Broncos retake full form, but with the spring game on April 16 right around the corner, they will be looked at closely under the mi-croscope.
Rejuvinating the defensive frontJoHn GarreTson
Journalist
Under the microscope
Boise State’s defensive tackle Justin Jungblut runs drills prior to a spring scrimmage in Bronco Stadium on March 24, 2011.
The Blue and Orangegame
Saturday April 16 5 p.m.
Come see the Broncos prepare for the upcoming 2011 season at Bronco Stadium.
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Light refreshments will be provided during receptionFree and Open to the PublicFree parking will be available in the Liberal Arts parking lot during the reception#208.426.1242
Please join us for the dedication of Periaktos by alumni Sue Latta & celebrate the Student Union’s newest artwork.
LOCATION: Bay Window area outside the Simplot Ballroom in the Student Union Building
Stories from a young baseball season
With the NBA playoffs right around the corner, few stories have been more com-pelling this year than Der-rick Rose and his MVP-like performance.
Rose and the Bulls are sit-ting atop the Eastern Con-ference with a 59-20 record and have already locked up the first seed for the East playoffs. The windy city hasn’t had this much to be excited about since Michael Jordan retired after the 97’-98’ season.
Obviously people knew that Rose was going to be something special, being taken as the first overall pick out of the University of Memphis in the 2008 NBA draft. But few thought that the 6’3” point guard would have this effect this early in his career.
The 22 year-old, Chicago native appears to be the lead-ing MVP candidate with three games remaining in the regular season. Rose is av-eraging just under 25 points per game (seventh in the NBA), and eight assists per game (tenth in the NBA).
Rose’s fast paced and ag-gressive style of play make him a nightmare for oppos-ing guards. With unmatched speed and jumping ability in the open-court, Rose has the ability to make other players look like they’re standing still as he flies by, around, or over them. His highlight dunks and circus-like fin-ishes at the rim make him a favorite on SportsCenter and YouTube.
In his 2008 rookie season, Rose won the NBA’s rookie
of the year award and led the Bulls to the playoffs. He also competed for team USA in last summer’s FIBA world championships, and helped lead the United States to a gold medal.
If the standings don’t change over the next week, the Bulls will play the Indi-ana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs. With the first seed in the Eastern Confer-ence, the Bulls will hold home-court throughout the playoffs. Chicago has only dropped five games at home all season and will pose a massive threat to teams like Miami and Boston later in the playoffs.
The fact that Chicago is winning isn’t as important as how they’re winning. The Bulls currently have the big-gest winning differential in the league, at +7.3 points a game. They’re also 10-5 against the top six teams in the league, proving they not only have the ability to win big, but can win against the toughest competition as well.
To say that D-Rose has single-handedly resurrected a basketball team and a bas-ketball city that have been mostly irrelevant in recent years would be a stretch. But it is clear that the Bulls would not be anywhere near their current position with-out him.
Will the hometown kid who’s been unstoppable through the regular season, continue his dominance in the playoffs? That remains to be seen. But with the first-seed and a young and talent-ed team around him, Rose and the Bulls would love to have a story-book ending this year.
Rose leads Chi-town resurgence
wyaTT marTinJournalist
The 2011 Major League Baseball season is now a little more than a week old. A handful of teams are performing above the level they were thought to be at, while other teams are off to rough starts.
The Cincinnati Reds are a team who barely made the playoffs last season but are on an early surge that makes the team look like they could win the National League Central Division. Take opening day for example when the Reds hosted the Milwaukee Brewers.
Entering the ninth inning, the Brewers comfortably led 6-3. The Reds tacked on one run but still found themselves down to their final out. Ramon Hernandez, the Reds catcher came up clutch and smacked a three-run homer giving the Reds a 7-6 win. Since the exciting finish, the Reds are 5-2 entering the weekend and sit a top their division.
The hot start does not automatically put them in the playoffs but the oft-fa-vorite St. Louis Cardinals play with the huge distraction of where their super-star, Albert Pujols, will play next season. That opens the door for other teams to move up in the standings like Cincin-nati and the notoriously bad Pittsburgh Pirates, who sit in second.
The Reds success comes from a mix of three things. The first is their young talent. Players like first baseman Joey Votto, right fielder Jay Bruce and fire-ball pitcher Aroldis Chapman provide a talented, youthful energy. The second is the veterans, like pitcher Bronson Ar-royo, shortstop Edgar Renteria and third basemen Scott Rolen give the Reds ex-perience and maturity.
The third is manager Dusty Baker. Baker has had fairly successful managing campaigns in San Francisco and Chica-go. Since joining the Reds in 2007, this club has improved and is now starting to reach their full potential.
In the American League, a bit story-line are the defending A.L. champs, the Texas Rangers. The offseason for the Rangers was eventful because of the de-
parture of starting pitcher Cliff Lee. Lee led the Rangers, almost single handedly through the playoffs before losing in the World Series against the San Francisco Giants.
They still have talented pitcher C.J. Wilson and hitters Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler. Baseball analysts thought Texas wouldn’t be as able to match the results of last season. The Rangers have proved people wrong with a 6-0 record as of Friday. Those wins include a sweep of the Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners. A lot of credit belongs to the members of that team but also to their president, Nolan Ryan.
Ryan understands what it takes to win. Ryan understands that in order to win in this game, it takes some spending. He has invested the team’s money into the right guys. Players like Wilson, Kinsler, Hamilton and the young shortstop Elvis Andrus. It’s a gamble in many ways but for Ryan and the Rangers, it’s working out. In a weak American League West di-vision, the Oakland Athletics were early favorites to win the division but Texas is looking like they’ll easily repeat.
The other headline that may or may not surprise people is the retirement of Manny Ramirez. The former World Se-ries champ was notified this past week that he flunked a drug-test, the second two years. The first offense is a 50-game ban. The second offense is a 100-game ban. A third, if it comes to that, is a life-time ban.
Upon hearing the news of the test results, Manny retired from baseball. Ramirez, who will turn 39 at the end of May, was not expected to play much past this season. He would have missed most of the season for an already struggling Tamp Bay Rays team.
You could say this is “Manny being Manny,” but the long tenured outfielder was a great ball player. He’s a 12-time all-star, 14th all-time in homeruns and is first in homeruns and RBI’s in post-season play. The drug test failures will loom over his career.
Ramirez’s career will be remembered for four things in groups of two: two World Series championships and two failed drug tests.
Joey mccullouGHProducer
Twelve time all-star and two-time champ Manny Ramirez failed his first drug test and sat out 50 games in 2010 as a member of the Los Angeles Dodges .
Listen to Arbiter Sports Talk every Sunday and Thursday on arbiteronline.com. Hear opinions and thoughts about college and professional sports.
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Talk
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5Sports April 11, 2011
The Arbiter arbiteronline.com
After a disappointing season this fall, men’s golf will have one last chance to move up in the rankings.
The Broncos will compete in Provo, Utah April 15 and 16 at the PING Cou-gar Classic. The tournament is hosted by Brigham Young University at Riverside Country Club.
This year 18 Division I teams will compete in the two-day tournament. A total of three rounds will be played, 36 holes Friday and 18 holes Saturday.
The team hasn’t had any strong fin-ishes to date this spring.
The recent weather has given the Broncos the opportunity to practice more and prepare before heading to the fifth regular-season tournament of the year.
They are looking for a better team fin-ish. Each individual will have to card his best rounds of the season for the team to
have a chance to make it to the NCAA Regional Championships.
Head coach Kevin Burton says the team could be a sleeper.
“I’ve been telling them they have nothing to lose so don’t be afraid,” Bur-ton said.
Last year they only lost to New Mex-ico State, the best team in the WAC by 2 strokes. Burton keeps this at the fore-front of his mind, knowing the team is capable despite its struggles.
For senior Chris Byrne, the Cougar Classic and the Western Athletic Con-ference Championship will probably be his last chance to compete as a Bronco, unless they make it to the NCAA Cham-pionships.
Byrne has played Riverside Country Club before. Last year he competed in Provo, finishing at 25-over par with his best round a 75.
The Broncos finished 13th in the 18-team field tournament last year, with a three-round total of 888 (+24). Soph-more Taeksoo Kim led the team with a
one-under finish (71-70-74).Kim is excited to return to Riverside
Country Club, looking for another top-20 finish individually.
According to Burton, the team’s quali-fying scores are the lowest he has seen in a long time. Keeping their composure while playing competitively, we’ll most likely see a better finish at the end of matches.
The team has been working hard while the weather has been on their side. Practicing at Pierce Park Greens recently has been a relief after preparing indoors for much of the season.
The Broncos are currently ranked No. 184 nationally by GolfStat. This will be the Broncos’ last shot against teams ranked better nationally.
No. 42 University of Nevada, Las Ve-gas by Golfstat, No. 56 University of Cal-ifornia Davis, No. 63 University of the Pacific , No. 64 Colorado State Univer-sity and No. 66 University of Idaho are the top five teams contending this week that Boise State is preparing to defeat.
Men’s Golf to play in last tourna-ment before the WAC Championship
erika HaneyJournalist
(Above) The Boise State men’s golf team prepares for its final tournament of the season this week-end. (Top R) Taeksoo Kim. (Bottom R) Freshman Minwoo Park.
pHotos by nik bjuRstRom/tHe aRbiteR
Stand up and vote2011 electionS
Me
et
th
e
ca
nd
ida
te
S
Q: What are your goals for ASBSU president?A: I have three major goals. The first being implementation of the new constitution. This is going to be an entirely different structure than we’ve ever seen before and there’s going to be a lot of times where we approach something, it doesn’t work, we try to fix it and to need to elect someone that’s capable of handling those situations. My second big goal would be making sure this funding board works. A lot of students think ASBSU is bigger than it really is when we’re just a club and organiza-tion, that’s all we are on campus. I’m going to oversee the funding board … and make sure it runs smoothly. Probably one of my biggest goals is looking into creating elective credit for members and especially officers of clubs and organizations. Right now varsity athletes every semester get one credit worth of electives for weight lifting and study hours.
I don’t understand why our clubs and orga-nizations can’t get an elective credit because they’re planning events, working with budgets, fundraising, running meetings. I’ve learned more in the past four years being involved with Greek life and clubs and organizations than I ever probably did in the classroom.Q: How do you plan to expand student involvement?A: The goal of trying to get credit for being in-volved in clubs and organizations, I think that would really encourage a lot of students to take the time to get involved. I would also try to hone down ASBSU’s goals. A lot of times people choose to ignore ASBSU because ev-eryone says ‘what is ASBSU? What does it do for me? I don’t care’. The world would keep going if ASBSU did not exist. So we need to hone-down what we are doing and just try to work with clubs and organizations and increase some involvement.
andrew Mitzel22, senior, history, Meridian
Q: Why did you choose to run for vice president?A: Coming to campus I really want-ed to find something to get involved in. I’d spent a lot of time in the AS-BSU offices … and I just wasn’t sure where I wanted to focus my atten-tion … I began thinking, ‘Hey this is something I might be able to help, bring my goals to life’. I wanted students to care about their experi-ences here on campus, get involved and get more than just that degree.Q: How do you plan to expand student involvement at Boise State?A: The only thing from my position would be a lot of support to the stu-dent assembly. It does offer a lot of opportunities on a smaller level for the students who … want to get involved. I’ve noticed the first year students want to get involved but they have no idea (how to do it). So, I think these provide for really awe-some opportunities for students to dip their toes in the water and figure out some place where they may be able to contrib-ute or get a lot out of.
Shaila Schmidt19, sophomore, english & his-tory, Kingman, ariz.
opinion
What we want from up and coming ASBSU leaders
The
Arbi
ter
popp
ed o
n th
e Id
aho
Repo
sito
ry
web
site
an
d lo
oked
up
the
crim
i-na
l rec
ords
for
eac
h of
the
ca
ndid
ates
who
are
runn
ing
for
exec
utiv
e po
sitio
ns.
Whe
ther
or n
ot th
e in
form
a-tio
n ch
ange
s yo
ur o
pini
on
of s
omeo
ne is
up
to y
ou. W
e ju
st w
ante
d to
pro
vide
you
w
ith a
litt
le m
ore
insi
ght
into
w
ho
your
po
tent
ial
lead
ers
may
be.
Wal
kyria
Whi
tlock
2008
Jero
me
Coun
ty:
Spee
ding
, fine
d $7
5
Andr
ew M
itzel
2009
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Shai
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chm
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No r
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in
Idah
o st
ate
cour
ts, n
or in
Ariz
ona
publ
ic r
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ds,
as S
chm
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is fr
om A
rizon
a, s
he’s
in th
e cl
ear!
Eric
Sch
uler
No r
ecor
ds f
ound
, he
’s i
n th
e cl
ear!
Bran
die
VanO
rder
No r
ecor
ds f
ound
, sh
e’s
in
the
clea
r!
ca
nd
ida
te
S’
Ra
p S
he
et
S
Election season is officially in full swing. The can-didates have been established and the games have begun. Normally at this point, The Arbiter would en-dorse a candidate with reasons for why he or she should be elected. This year, we’re avoiding any en-dorsements for people and instead we want to focus on the topics. There are three main things we want from the Associate Students of Boise State Univer-sity to do next year.
Spend money!The Associated Students receive a chunk of
change from every student. This year every full time student contributed $7.80 to fund their student rep-resentatives. That figure used to be higher until the 2009 fee-hearing session rolled around and then AS-BSU president Trevor Grigg requested to have their fee reduced. We think that was a dumb move. Boise State has fought against its “commuter school” im-age for years now. The best way to change that im-age is to create a stronger campus environment and for students to be active. Those things cost money. Fortunately, with the current system, the funds to promote an active campus are available ... in theory. ASBSU acts as a kind of gate keeper between stu-dents and the money. What we want is an ASBSU with loose pockets. They need to spend that money
while it’s there which seems obvious but tell that to someone who is fiscally conservative like Grigg. A university campus is a place to gather experience and education. So, if we are already giving money to ASBSU, they should spend it on us and not save it.
Be more visible!Because ASBSU has all of our money, we need
to know what happens to it. We need to know the different ways in which we can get our hands on it and how much we can get. It’s great that they have a Facebook page and a nice wiki site, but they only work if you’re aware they exist and if you use them. It’s also great that they have a forum where students can voice their opinions directly and in person. But again, it’s only useful if you know when the forums take place and where it is. We are willing to bet that more than half of the students don’t have an answer for either. This is why we propose to next year’s ASBSU to spend more time out in the open, liter-ally. Get on the Quad and hang out. Talk to people. Set up shop on the patio behind the Student Union Building handing out coffee and food -- yes, use our money to buy us stuff, it’s OK! It would really help to make a stronger community and to allow more information to be passed directly from the students to their representatives.
Advocate for us!The are about 20,000 of us students. That’s a lot of
freaking voters, especially in Boise. Unfortunately we have too many things going on between our classes, jobs, parties and friends. So, we need ASBSU to have our backs. ASBSU President Stephen Heleker has done a great job of advocating for policies which directly influence us. That’s what we need in our up-coming student leaders. We need them to go to the Capitol and tell law makers what we need and what we want. Yes it takes time and might be a pain but it’s important. The Associated Student leaders need to occupy that role on and off campus. They should be elected to represent us not just to President Bob Kustra but to the anyone who makes decisions which have bearing on our lives.
“The way we see it” is based on the majority opin-ions of The Arbiter’s editorial board. Members of the board are Bob Beers, editor-in-chief; Kirk Bell, managing editor; Haley Robinson, opinion editor; Karey Hoke, assistant opinion editor; Andrew Ford, news editor; Suzanne Craig, assistant news editor; Rebecca De León, culture editor; Lauren Hooker, as-sistant culture editor; and Jessica Swider, assistant online editor.
IllustratIon by bree jones/tHe arbIter
Stand up and vote2011 electionS
Student voiceS
Shaila Schmidt19, sophomore, english & his-tory, Kingman, ariz.
Q: What are your goals for ASBSU president?A: I feel that we can have a smoke-free campus while still having designated smoking areas to re-spect the liberties of smokers on campus. Another goal is to improve Greek life, to bring it to a higher standard than any Greek life in the nation. Diversity is extremely important to us to bring more events and more educational tools that focus on being inclusive of the diversity around us. Most important, unequal funding … I’m going to work really hard in making sure that we have a clear plan to rally students to be concerned and to be educated about this issue.Q: How do you plan to expand student involvement at Boise State?A: I feel the assembly is a great way for that. Me and Walkyria are going to work hard to make sure that the assembly is working to the highest potential that it can work in. We (president and vice president) need to be engaging, constantly going out to events, constantly helping our clubs and organizations in conjunction with the clubs and orgs. secretary to re-ally make sure that we bring quality, huge events that students really want here.
Steven Mercado28, sophomore, communication, Boise
Q: Why did you choose to run for vice president?A: Most of the people that run for it are older people and I wanted to bring a new perspective into the ASBSU and try and get more focus onto the younger grades so that way more of them can become involved. Freshman focus.
Q: What are your goals for ASBSU?A: We want people with different opinions, different goals, differ-ent majors, have nontraditional students, traditional students … all collaborated in one group and try and get their voice out there as well because … really it’s the whole voice of the campus that needs to be heard.
Walkyria Whitlock18, sopho-more, busi-ness & biol-ogy, Filer
Q: What are your goals for ASBSU?A: To make it something that successfully fulfills the core purpose which essentially is to advocate for students and fund clubs and orga-nizations and help them to thrive. Another thing that I personally would like to see happen is to really build a relationship between Boise State and our whole com-munity. I would really like to work with whomever is the new secretary of academic affairs to make a push for students to be included in the decisions of hiring faculty because the real-ity is that it does impact students.
Q: How do you plan to ex-pand student involvement at Boise State?A: I think just really working to make sure the Student Assembly is successful will be one way that we in-crease some involvement. I think what we have to rec-ognize is that sometimes involvement means differ-ent things to different peo-ple. The most important thing I think is making the environment inclusive. AS-BSU doesn’t happen in the student involvement and leadership center, ASBSU is the entire campus.
Br
an
die
va
no
rd
er
20
, ju
nio
r, p
oli
tic
al
sc
i-e
nc
e,
el
pa
so
, t
ex
as
Q: Why did you choose to run for vice president?A: Like Brandie, I accidentally fell in love with Boise State. The thing about Boise State that’s been so great is, I’ve had great classes, and I’ve had great professors, but the best part of my educational experi-ence here has been my involve-ment outside of that. The main reason that I wanted to run for ASBSU is because clubs and organizations, they have such a significant impact on your ex-perience at this institution, be-cause your college education is about a lot more than your classes. I kind of see running for ASBSU as a chance to give back and make it easier for people to have the experi-ence that I’ve gotten to really enjoy this year. Make it easier
for clubs and organizations to function so that more people can get involved and it’s easier for them to succeed.Q: What are your goals for AS-BSU?A: One of things we’d like to see is kind of giving clubs the information when they need it. And so instead of just throw-ing a bunch of information at them all at once and hoping they remembered all of it in some incredibly herculean task. How those ideas (from the new constitution) get implemented is something we want to con-trol and we want to make it as simple as possible.
er
ic S
ch
ule
r2
1, j
un
ior,
ec
on
om
ics
an
d
ac
co
un
tan
cy
, M
er
idia
n
Are you going to vote in this year’s ASBSU elections?
The
Arbi
ter
popp
ed o
n th
e Id
aho
Repo
sito
ry
web
site
an
d lo
oked
up
the
crim
i-na
l rec
ords
for
eac
h of
the
ca
ndid
ates
who
are
runn
ing
for
exec
utiv
e po
sitio
ns.
Whe
ther
or n
ot th
e in
form
a-tio
n ch
ange
s yo
ur o
pini
on
of s
omeo
ne is
up
to y
ou. W
e ju
st w
ante
d to
pro
vide
you
w
ith a
litt
le m
ore
insi
ght
into
w
ho
your
po
tent
ial
lead
ers
may
be.
Wal
kyria
Whi
tlock
2008
Jero
me
Coun
ty:
Spee
ding
, fine
d $7
5
Andr
ew M
itzel
2009
Spee
ding
, fine
d $7
5Sp
eedi
ng a
gain
, fine
d $7
520
07Sp
eedi
ng, fi
ned
$117
2005
Spee
ding
, fine
d $7
5St
op
sign
vi
olat
ion,
fin
ed
$62
Stev
en M
erca
do
2010
Cont
rolle
d Su
bsta
nce/
Fre-
quen
ting
a pl
ace
whe
re
used
, fin
ed
$236
.50,
ja
il tim
e -
90
days
, 88
w
ere
susp
ende
d.20
09Co
ntro
lled
Subs
tanc
e Po
s-se
ssio
n an
d Po
sses
sion
of
Drug
Pa
raph
erna
lia,
fined
$4
64 -
jail
time
10 d
ays
Spee
ding
, fine
d $7
5Co
mm
erci
al
Driv
er’s
Li
-ce
nse
viol
atio
n an
d Fa
ilure
to
Mai
ntai
n In
sura
nce,
fine
d $4
25Re
sist
ing
Arre
st a
nd P
roba
-tio
n Vi
olat
ion,
fine
d $3
79.5
0 -
jail
time
95 d
ays,
88
wer
e su
spen
ded.
2008
Failu
re
to
prov
ide
insu
r-an
ce, fi
ned
$116
.50
2006
Litt
erin
g Ro
adw
ay f
rom
ve-
hicl
e, fi
ned
$100
Spee
ding
, Fai
lure
to P
rovi
de
Insu
ranc
e,
Failu
re
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Re-
regi
ster
veh
icle
, fine
d $1
1420
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a Co
unty
:Sp
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ned
$117
Seat
-bel
t vi
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fin
ed
$10
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re
to
follo
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sign
al,
fined
$53
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on C
ount
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g w
ithou
t a
valid
li-
cens
e,
failu
re
to
prov
ide
proo
f of
in
sura
nce,
fin
ed
$321
.50
2004
Ada
Coun
ty:
Failu
re
to
prov
ide
insu
r-an
ce, fi
ned
$221
.50
Cany
on C
ount
y:Sp
eedi
ng
and
failu
re
to
have
va
lid
regi
stra
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ed $
5320
03Ad
a Co
unty
:Fa
ilure
to y
ield
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t of w
ay,
fined
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on C
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vice
s Vi
olat
ion,
fin
ed $
5320
02Dr
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ithou
t va
lid
li-ce
nse,
obs
truc
ting
inte
rsec
-tio
n, fi
ned
$274
.50
2001
Ada
Coun
ty:
Driv
ing
with
out
a va
lid l
i-ce
nse,
sto
p si
gn v
iola
tion
and
failu
re to
pro
vide
insu
r-an
ce, fi
ned
$298
.50
Cany
on C
ount
y:Dr
ivin
g w
ithou
t pr
ivile
ges,
fin
ed $
271.
50 a
nd o
n pr
o-ba
tion
for o
ne y
ear
Spee
ding
, fa
ilure
to
us
e sa
fety
rest
rain
t, fin
ed $
58
Shai
la S
chm
idt
No r
ecor
ds f
ound
in
Idah
o st
ate
cour
ts, n
or in
Ariz
ona
publ
ic r
ecor
ds,
as S
chm
idt
is fr
om A
rizon
a, s
he’s
in th
e cl
ear!
Eric
Sch
uler
No r
ecor
ds f
ound
, he
’s i
n th
e cl
ear!
Bran
die
VanO
rder
No r
ecor
ds f
ound
, sh
e’s
in
the
clea
r!
BenjaMin chadWellGraduate Student Master Accounting Science
jaRed YettSophomore Business Economics
aBigail loWeFreshman Nursing
MaYuRi joRhiGraduate Kinesiology student
“No, I don’t feel I had the time to research the candidates. I’d rather leave it up to the majority who are more informed.”
“Oh yeah. It’s nice to have leadership around here and it’s nice to have the student’s voices heard.”
“Yeah, especially when people com-plain about stuff that’s going on when they didn’t do anything about it. So I’ll vote.”
“I think so. I have my own organiza-tion and I just met one of the can-didates, he told me about the elec-tions. It sounds interesting.”
pHotos by robby MIlo/tHe arbIter
8 CultureApril 11, 2011
Culture [email protected]
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RocketmanElton John’s performance blows fans away
KirK BellManaging Editer
Old-school piano rock fans were treated to a taste of his-tory at Taco Bell Arena Sat-urday night in a fashion that left people of all ages swaying and singing to beats that have spanned five decades.
Near the end of the show, one little girl who appeared to be around 5 years old, sat on her father’s shoulders, reached out and received an auto-graph on a copy of her chil-dren’s book “The Lion King” -- a soundtrack Sir Elton John wrote and produced in 1994. The petite fan received multi-ple envious compliments from people who had begun their listenership with John’s 1969 debut album, “Empty Sky.”
John exemplified a true en-tertainer from beginning to end, playing a three-hour set with no more than five minutes off stage to take a slight breath-er prior to his grand finale.
Fans were planted next to the roots of an artist who is already a member of the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame (1996). John en-tered the stage with a sincere sense of duty to put on a stel-
lar show, wearing a long-tailed jacket with pink flowers, a skull on the back and the dazzling sparkle of the words “Dark Diamond” -- a song from his 1999 album “Songs from the West Coast” -- stitched down the side.
John opened with a melody to remind all that he is one of the greatest pianists on the globe. It was a minor warm-up before moving into an ex-plosive, energized “Saturday” to set the scene. John grasped control of onlookers and guid-ed them down a path of up-tempo rhythms to more melod-ic songs such as “Tiny Dancer” that left most of the fans rock-ing in place by the time the song was concluded.
The concert hit a high point about an hour into the set when John and the band pulled “Rocketman” from their repertoire in a rendition that stretched 14 minutes long. It began with the standard, unblemished sound all famil-iar with the song would have enjoyed.
But he threw a tweak into the melody when he extended it with a piano solo that exem-plified his deeper talents as a
pianist. Large screens on ei-ther side of the stage displayed John’s short, stubby fingers -- strong from decades of tireless movement -- tickling the ivory and ebony keys with precision, hitting his notes on the black Yamaha grand piano.
John jammed through a couple more classics before reaching a point where he felt a need to change the pace. He played a more recent song “Hey Ahab” from his album, “The Union” (2010).
“You’ll have to bear with me,” he said. “If I didn’t play new songs, I’d go nuts.”
The beat was fast and fu-rious. John finished in true rocker fashion when he stood up and slammed the piano lid emphatically and positioned himself front stage, straight-faced followed by a glowing smile, happy with the crowd’s response to the song.
The show wrapped up with songs such as “Candle in the Wind” and “Love Song” that prompted concertgoers to raise lit cell phones in the air as lan-terns in consensus approval of the overall experience.
Fans refused to see the show end with a steady five-minute
demand for an encore, which they received, before a grateful John exited the stage left. One fan made it onto the stage and gave John a hug as he played. John was insistent with his se-curity team that the young man remain in the venue to see the show’s conclusion.
The performance was testa-ment to why Elton John has transcended generations and become a go-to artist in the industry for soundtracks and overall creative inspiration. Those in attendance left all smiles and more exhausted from an emotional experience
than the tireless performer, who appeared to be void a single bead of sweat despite his three-hour set where he out-played his backup talent.
It is something rare in the in-dustry these days. He has con-tinued to impress attendees of his performances.
Elton John rocks the Taco Bell Arena Saturday to fans of all ages. The three-hour set featured songs that spanned a five decade career, including melodies from his old-ies, some newer tunes and a 14-minute rendition of “Rocketman.”
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10 CultureApril 11, 2011
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“Five! Four! Three! Two! Ooooone!” the 2,194 runners, jog-gers and walkers chanted as they prepared to set off on their course. The eager participants gathered together Saturday morning for the 4th Annual Beat Coach Pete Schol-arship Run/Walk. All proceeds from the race benefit the Boise State General Scholarship Fund.
But that’s not all; in addition to funds raised through donations made by race participants, football coach Chris Petersen donated $5 for every racer who beat him. This year, approximately 1,032 runners beat Coach Pete; that’s roughly $5,160.
And this year, Beat Coach Pete wasn’t just celebrated in Boise; Boise soldiers in the 116th Calvary Brigade ran in conjunction with the race from Baghdad and Taji, Afghanistan.
Here in Boise, the air was brisk and chilly at 37 degrees. A sprin-kling of rain and snow flurries fell from the gray sky, but entrants re-mained determined. People of all ages and sizes waited outside the Student Recreation Center, or-ange race numbers safety pinned to their shirts. The race stretched nearly three miles from the Rec Center through the Greenbelt, then finally ending at Bronco Sta-dium. “Pete Crew” volunteers were stationed along the way to cheer participants on, waving blue and orange pompoms and shaking mo-tivational signs.
In true Bronco fan spirit, many participants took the race to the
next level and dressed up. The Boi-se State Outdoor Program dressed up in their finest rock climbing gear and bright T-shirts, tying themselves together and taking care not to clothesline other racers.
Corey Majors, a 2009 Boise State graduate, dressed up as Bat-man. But the fun didn’t stop there. His friends dressed up as the Hulk, Flash, Wolverine, Green Lantern and Superman. They ran the race as a group.
“We did it on a whim, it was last minute. Let’s just do this,” said Ma-jors, who majored in marketing. “It’s a good cause, we’re not taking it too seriously.”
Though many simply came out to do their best, others came prepared.
“I went to the gym a lot, we re-ally kicked it in gear,” said Ashley Hines, a race participant. “This is something I’ve wanted to do, get-ting into the races and stuff. We’ve been working really hard so we wanted to do something fun.”
At Bronco Stadium, racers had the glorious chance to run through the inflatable blue football helmet and high five Petersen as they crossed the finish line. Rewarded with freebies like water bottles, PowerBars, chocolate milk and bagels, athletes picked up their bright orange T-shirts. Those who beat Petersen claimed the “I BEAT PETE” shirts, while those who did not grabbed an “I’LL BEAT PETE NEXT YEAR!” shirt.
“I’ve worked it for the first two years, and now I decided it’s my chance to try and do it,” said Boise State alumnus Heather Grayson, who graduated in 2009 and ma-jored in psychology. “My favor-ite part was the finish, running through the helmet. I did it with all of my friends, so it was exciting.”
And to top it off, Bronco fans had a chance to meet their favorite Boise State football players in the Cavan Williams Complex dur-ing a special post-race autograph session.
‘Superheroes’ give Coach Pete a run for his moneyLauren Hooker
Assistant Culture Editor
Left: Football head coach Chris Petersen gives a youngster a high five as he passes the finish line. Right: A runner passes cheerleading spectators of the fun run. Pe-tersen turned around after he finished the race to high five everyone who finished.
Robby Milo/THE ARbiTER cody finnEy/THE ARbiTER