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Morgan Verdistaff writer
Would you have the courage to live your life to the fullest if every odd was stacked against you? Hunter Free, a student at USU Eastern, has done just that.
At 3, Free was diagnosed with NF1 (Neurofibromatosis type 1) a genetic gene mutation that causes thousands of problems including: deformities in the body, and tumors that grow sporadically.
In Free’s case, the tumors embedded into his bones, result-ing in multiple surgeries. Doctors told Free he wouldn’t live past 14. Shortly after his diagnosis he had his first surgery. By sixth grade,
he had already had over 12 sur-geries, one of which was putting a titanium rod in his broken femur when he was only 12.
“My left side is most affected from the tumors and, in turn, is the weakest,” Free says. “So I generally do things with my right side, including getting out of the car. But on this occasion, which happened to be Easter Sunday, I stepped out of the car with my left side first. The next thing I knew, my leg hurt. My mom thought I was lying to get out of carrying a tray of food in for family dinner.
Three weeks later, my doctor returned from his humanitarian project in Africa and my mother and I went in to see why my leg
Brooke Van Wagonerstaff writer
The consequences for a drunk-en rampage can be pretty stiff as a USU Eastern student learned on Jan. 24. This particular night began with an Eagle Experience and ended in an arrest.
During a school activity, that was also part of an Eagle Experi-ence, the student’s behavior was getting him noticed. Witnesses said he was becoming aggravated and raising his voice. His fit was causing a scene and the student was asked to leave before things could get out of hand.
Later that night, Officer Jeff Wood was dispatched to Aaron Jones Residence Hall on a property damage report. He spoke with the RA’s and they recounted the incident. A student athlete from Idaho had been involved in a heated dispute. Several of his teammates tried to calm him down with no success. He fought against their attempts to restrain him and fell to the ground, breaking through a wall in the second floor hallway. Furthermore, the student damaged a fire extinguisher and punched a hole in an adjacent dorm room. Leading up to these events, Officer Wood had dealings with the student and perceived he was intoxicated.
The RAs were instructed to gather witness reports and from there, Wood went to find the suspect.
He started his search at the student’s dorm room, but he wasn’t there. Reports then came through that the student had last been seen in AJ room 301. The officer imme-diately responded to the dispatch, yet on arrival found he had already left. As Wood was leaving the dorm complex, he encountered the suspect standing in the darkness on the east side of AJ.
When contact was made, the student said he knew they had been looking for him and that his father was an attorney so he would not be answering any questions or taking any tests. The suspect was then handcuffed and transported to the Carbon County Jail by Of-ficer Wood.
While finishing up the booking process, a phone call was received by Officer Wood from the RA on duty. She was in possession of the completed witness reports. Overhearing this conversation, the detained student athlete spoke up stating that he alone had damaged the wall and his friends had nothing to do with it.
Once the written statements were gathered it seemed obvious the suspect was solely respon-sible for the damage done to
Hailey Evansstaff writer
Many major college basket-ball programs nationwide contin-ue to battle declining student at-tendance, and smaller two-year colleges are no exception. We are a nation that loves watching sports, so why not come out and support USU Eastern athletics? On Saturday, Feb. 10, when USU Eastern played North Idaho Col-lege, the student section didn’t even seem to exist. Students are often complaining that there are not enough activities around campus, and that student life is boring, but when there is a big home game, few attend.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, student at-tendance is declining nationwide. But what is causing this decline in fan participation?
When some USU Eastern students were asked about this issue, the general response was that they didn’t know when the games were. Nick Rukavina, a freshman from Price, responded “I would go to the games, I just never know when they are. I feel like if they advertised at common places, like the BDAC, or if they had a big marquee or something that everyone would notice, more kids would be aware of when they are and more would come. Also, I think they should offer some
Volume <VOLUME> • Number <##> <Date>
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY-COLLEGE OF EASTERN UTAH • 451 E 400 N • PRICE, UT
The Voice of the Students
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY - COLLEGE OF EASTERN UTAH - 451 E 400 N - PRICE, UT 84501
VOICE OF THE STUDENTSVolume XXXVII•Number 9
Thursday TuesdaySunday MondaySaturdayFriday Wednesday52
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59 55 54 56 50
37 38 32 34 35 30
What’s Inside
UTah STaTe UNIVerSITy eaSTerN
February 13, 2014
VIeWPOINTS• a lesson in love• homecourt support• Wasssuppp?! by USU eastern Campus Police• Calendar of events •page 2
LIFeSTyLeS• “Doubt” opens at Geary Theatre• Gallery east displays “The Last Fifty” • Green Team is saving the earth• Country Swing club wants you!• Library Photo Competition •page 4-5
see Free page 3
SPOrTS• eagles finishing season strong• Baseball hits the road• a return to sportsmanship• Maddy Murphy feature• Lady eagles prepare for tournament •page 6-7
Jonathan Fox staff writer
The academic school year of 2012-13, USU Eastern adminis-tration set a goal for aggressive growth in enrollment. The goal was to have 4,000 students en-rolled by the end of four years. Just a year and a half into the four-in-four goal, enrollment is looking positive. Between fall of 2012 and fall of 2013, enrollment rose by 13 percent and between fall and spring semesters, num-bers were up another few percent.
Kristian Olsen, director of enrollment, said they are “just taking it one day at a time,” and the goal is broken up into four short-term goals.
“Every year we have to add an additional 500 students,” Olsen said. “We had 2,130 students this past fall, so that means that this coming fall we need to have 2,630 students.”
Olsen explained that the main focus is to just have more applications. More applications equals more students enrolled and attending USU Eastern.
“Last year, we had roughly 2,300 applications, and so the goal this year is to have roughly 3,000 applications,” Olsen stated. “We are about 300 applications ahead of where we were last year at this same point.”
He said that “doing better is not the right term, but we are improving over what we did last year. And that is the goal – to improve just a little bit each year.”
Olsen recognizes, however, that shear applications does not necessarily mean that there will
be more students registered.“There is always the risk that
the more you increase applica-tions, your conversion rate goes down, and that is going to hap-pen. Even though we know that is going happen, we are working to keep that conversion rate high.”
He said that the biggest thing they can do to minimize that “slip” is to communicate with the prospective students, especially over the summer. He hopes to open a few part-time positions over the summer whose sole job is to reach out to students who have applied, or shown interest, and to provide further information or aid in the registration process – whatever those students need, the idea is to help them feel that the school cares about them.
Other strategies being imple-mented to help boost recruitment include open houses throughout Utah, as well as having three part-time, traveling recruiters who visit high schools regularly.
The open houses take recruit-ment to a location that is more convenient for the student, where they can receive everything that they need including applying to the school, housing, financial aid and scholarships, as well as in-terviews for leadership positions.
Aside from that, Eastern has been receiving more exposure in high schools. The part-time recruiters work 15-20 hours a week visiting all the high schools in their assigned area. There is a recruiter in North Salt Lake, the Wasatch Front and in Southern Utah.
It will be challenging, but things are looking positive for Olsen and his team.
Chris Barneystaff writer
Come March 15, USU East-ern will be well on its way to a facial makeover. Knock on wood.
“Things are looking good, there is a level of understanding and support that is higher than it ever has been,” said Chancellor Joe Peterson, Tuesday. Signifi-cant lobbying to the Utah State Legislature has taken place on behalf of the new Central Instruction Building. Peterson, along with Stan L. Albrecht,
President of USU Logan, made several trips to Capitol Hill, vying for state funds, a figure near $21.5 million.
The CIB, as it will be ab-breviated, will feature a state-of-the-art glass exterior on the south side of the building, facing 400 North. Rustic metal and limestone will make up the remaining surfaces. From an onlooker’s perspective, the CIB (soon to be the largest building on USU Eastern’s campus) will appear to have three separate and distinct buildings inside its interior, each housing various departments.
Music and theater depart-ments are to have their own sec-tions within the CIB, as well as other auxiliaries, like The Eagle newspaper, criminal justice and arts departments. The building will feature flooring homo-geneous with the pavement directly outside of the facility, allowing for an impressive tran-sition and feel as students and faculty pass through campus.
Currently the CIB is ranked seventh of 50 buildings that have been proposed to the IGG (Department of Infrastructure and General Government). After presenting with President
Albrecht, Peterson is pleased with the legislators’ reaction, “They all talked about how well the building was conceived.” Peterson believes the school will receive the necessary funding. “All signs are good, but I don’t want to jinx it, so I won’t say for sure.”
Method Studios, of Salt Lake City, designed the CIB under the direction of architect Joe Smith. “He is really a gifted guy,” said Peterson. Method also designed the fine arts buildings on the Snow College and Dixie State University campuses, both of which are “impressive.”
CIB ranked seventh of 50 buildings
One year closer to four-in-four goal
Life takes courage
Hunter Free sitting on a bench outside of the SAC.
Student arrested on campus
The small student section at CSI game last week. see Arrest page 3
see Student Section page 3
Where is our Eagle pride?
56
photo by Morgan Verdi/The Eagle
photo courtesy of Chancellor’s Office
Artist’s rendering of projected CIB which will be placed between the Geary Theatre and the Reeves Building.
Dixon Woodruffstaff writer
In a past life, I was a love advice wizard. I wrote articles that changed lives for the better. I made Dr. Phil look like a hormonal middle school girl. My articles were the best because I was the best. Since my glory days, I have let my advice skills atrophy. My heart has grown rusty but it still beats with passion. With Valentine’s Day knocking on the door, it has become apparent to me that I must shake off the shackles and get down to the nitty gritty. At least for a small moment in time, the Love Doctor has risen. Get ready for your heart to be stuffed like a cheap burrito at Taco Bell.
Love is an acronym. L.O.V.E. stands for Luck, Opportunity, Variety and Emo-tion. Each of these elements makes up an important part of having a successful love life. Each elements deserves one paragraph and each element shall get its well-deserved paragraph.
Luck is the first element because it has part in the other three elements. Without luck, your love life ends up something like this: eight years of debt, seven rotten chil-dren, six STD’s, your armpits smell like five onion rings and you can just forget about a partridge in a pear tree. Luck is the magic
glue that can keep the hardest relationships together. Love is like playing the odds at Vegas. The house always wins, but one lucky guy gets his seven’s to line up and is an in-stant millionaire. That ugly, smelly, jerk who won makes you think that it could happen to anyone. Not everyone will find true love. Most people will win a few dollars in the penny machine of their love life. Sometimes to have luck, you have to put it all on the line. You realize that your heart may very well be broken after all is said and done. If you are lucky, you too can be an “ugly, smelly, jerk” who wins the prize.
Opportunity is our next key ingredient. It is a tricky thing. It is hard to differentiate between a rare opportunity and a regular occurrence. Wal-Mart is the perfect example of this to the point where they have mastered the art of advertising. When you shop at Wally World, it is hard to know if you are getting a good deal anymore. Love is the same way. A smart shopper plans out their list before they are deceived by garbage sales. A person with a great love life chooses wisely. They aren’t looking for the cheapest product available, but know what they are looking for. When the perfect product is available for the right price, they make no delay. The key is to know who the ideal companion for you is and how much you have to pay to get them. Deals come around and so will your love. Bargain if you have to, but don’t let
your love slip away in the process. When you have the option to buy a dime for half price, you don’t hesitate. When you see the love of your life give you the time of day, you buy them a Katy Perry CD and they will know you love them.
Variety is our third key ingredient. Flavors get dull over time and love is no different. A love life must be ever changing like the color of that weird mole growing next to my belly button. Variety comes in a variety of ways. For instance, some people in this country go against the norms and enter a world of the taboo in order to keep their heart guessing what will come next. Since it is quite a controversial topic, I will not bring heterosexual, homosexual or polygaist marriages. Besides, these are far too simple to keep things dangerously interesting. Why limit your love life to humans? In Northern Guatemala it is quite common for adolescent boys to have intimate relationships with donkeys. Narcissus found that his reflection was lust-worthy. Relationships filled with love don’t have limited to two living-parties either. A woman can love a Ferris wheel enough to marry it. A soup ladle can be the apple of your eye. Who says your better half can’t be a broken watch? True love knows no boundaries. It is like the honey badger. Honey badger doesn’t give a wooden nickel.
Our last key ingredient is found in emo-tion. Love brings out the strongest emotions
such as joy, hatred, fear, pain, comfort, pleasure and devastation. The absolute worst thing about love is the reality of a broken heart. Most of us remember the first blow to the crotch of our heart. Alcohol is not a recommended anesthetic for the pain that just won’t go away. It tears the very soul in half by remembering the cornucopia of memories. Nostalgia can be a B-unit. A new found love is the only permanent cure for a lost love. Love heals what love destroys. Don’t hide from the fear of emotion, embrace it. Emotion is the spark that ignites the fire.
Love is composed of luck, opportunity, variety and emotion. A relationship lacking one of these elements lacks one card in a royal suit. In other words, it is incomplete and unless you are a master of bluffing, you have nothing. Love breaks all the rules and so can you. If you don’t have your royal suit that you are will-ing to go all in on, then keep drawing from the deck until you get your cards all lined up. For Valentine’s Day L.O.V.E. l ike you have never loved before and you prob-ably won’t regret it.
VIEWPOINTSFebruary 13, 2014
The Eagle USU Eastern 451 East 400 North Price, UT 84501•SAC Room 109 Office: 435.613.5250 Fax: 435.613.5042 http://www.usueagle.com
• About The Eagle The Eagle — The Voice of the Students is an award-winning, school-sponsored student newspaper, published bi-weekly fall and spring semesters (excluding holidays) at USU Eastern. A complete list of publication dates can be found online. • Distribution - The Eagle is distributed in all nonresidential buildings on the Price campus, as well as at the LDS Institute of Religion. • Content - Eagle editors and staff are USU Eastern students and are solely responsible for the newspaper’s content. Opinions expressed in The Eagle do not necessarily represent those of USU Eastern, its staff or students. Columns & letters are the personal opinions of the individual writer. Funding comes from advertising revenues and a dedicated student fee administered by the Eastern Student Association (ESA). Information concerning advertising rates is available by e-mail at [email protected] or in the advertising section of The Eagle Online. • Ordering The Eagle - Subscriptions must be prepaid. Forward all subscription correspondence, including change of address to the adviser, Dr. Susan Polster via e-mail to [email protected] or mail care of The Eagle. The first issue is free, others 50 cents. • Submissions - We welcome comments, complaints, suggestions and recommendations. Send letters to the editor to [email protected]. All submissions must be received in The Eagle office no later than 5 p.m. the Friday prior to publication. All submissions become property of The Eagle and cannot be returned. All letters must be signed by the author(s). Also include contact information (telephone or address). No anonymous letters will be printed.
Dr. Susan A. Polsterfaculty adviser [email protected]
Katelyn Tresnerweb [email protected]
Emily Manley [email protected] Christopher Barney photography [email protected]
Kate Johnson layout [email protected]
April Millerediting [email protected]
Dixon Woodruffviewpoints [email protected]
David Osborne Jr.sports [email protected]
layout staffChristopher BarneyBonni BlackburnTalore Miller
photographersMariah AndersonChristopher BarneyHunter Free
staff writersBonnie BlackburnChristopher BarneyTrahmier BurrellKandice CandelariaChase CastleberrySteven ClowardHailey EvansJonathan FoxShantel Hardy Shadayah JonesNathan ManleyJaleni Neely David Osborne Jr.Sawsha Perri Zachary Perrin Rachel Scoggins Brooke Van Wagoner Morgan VerdiJordan WeihingDixon WoodruffMadison Woodward
Page 2
Women’s basketball at Snow College @ 3 p.m.Doubt Theatre production at Geary Theatre@ 7:30 p.m.Swing dance club at JLSC 8 p.m.
Clam chowder day
Dominican Repbulic Independence celebration and election dance at JLSC multi-purpose room @ 7 p.m.
Thursday Friday Saturday SundayWednesday
Election Debate JLSC multi-purpose room @ 6:00 p.m.Intramural Basketball at BDAC @ 7-9 p.m.Wave Pool night support clubs on campus @ 7 p.m. $2
Attend Monday classes
President’s DayNo Classes
Monday
National dog biscuit day
Tuesday
Men’s basketball at Snow College @ 5 p.m.Doubt Theatre production at Geary Theatre@ 7:30 p.m.
Banana bonanza free banana splits at JLSC multi-purpose room @ 6 p.m.Doubt Theatre production at Geary Theatre@ 7:30 p.m.
17 18 19
Doubt Theatre production at Geary Theatre@ 7:30 p.m.Stop light dance at JLSC @ 9:00 p.m.TRUE EAGLE at Gibby @ 11:45 p.m.
Women’s basketball @ 3 p.m.Men’s basketball @ 5 p.m.Doubt Theatre production at Geary Theatre@ 7:30 p.m.
Valentines DayDoubt Theatre production at Geary Theatre@ 7:30 p.m.
Do a grouch a favor day
1613 14 15
Intramural Basketball at BDAC @ 7-9p.m.
M.O.P.’s service opportunity visit the SUN center for more info.
The Eagle Newspaper published Concert Choir Winter Concert at Ascension St. Matthew’s Church @ 7:30 p.m.
Wind Symphony at JLSC multi-purpose room @ 7:30 p.m.
National peanut butter and jelly day
24 25 26 227 28 1
2120 22 23
“The Other Side of Utah” art & photography exhibit @ USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum. Open through Feb 28
12
Wasssuppp?!by
USU Eastern Police DepartmentThumbs Up!
• Campus environment is welcoming • Respectable students • Residence halls have been kept locked while not occupied • Resident Advisors have been on top of their duties • Faculty and staff have been helpful and cooperative
Thumbs Down! • Alcohol and drugs in the residence halls
• Delayed reporting to police
• Students not cleaning up after themselves
• Students not using the crosswalks
• Parking in handicap, fire lanes and no
parking areas
& other holidays & activities
UsU eastern online calendar: www.eastern.UsU.edU/Price
CAMPuS EVENTS
Feb. 12 - Mar. 2
I want to know what love is, I want you to show me
Zach Perrinstaff writer
In this day and age where entertaining the masses with sports events is at an all time high, what is wrong with our student turnout at uSu Eastern basketball games? Why can’t we seem to get more than 25 students on average to our games, even when our team is good?
Our uSu Golden Eagle’s men’s basketball team started out the season 17-1 this year, one of the best starts in school history and it’s not even close. We are in one of the toughest regions in the nation, and the College of Southern Idaho is the
number-two-ranked team in the country. I try to make it to all the games, though sometimes work and family interfere, but what I saw on Thursday night against CSI, and what I saw again on Saturday night against North Idaho College, in what could have proved to be the most pivotal game for us this season, was nothing short of an atrosity.
Everyone knows that a good home crowd can have a dra-matic effect on a game’s outcome, and that has been proven by fan’s like the utah State university Aggie’s basketball team, or the Seattle Seahawks fans, both of which have made SportsCenter multiple times for their groundbreak-ing cheers and record breaking noise. Even the utah Jazz at one point were considered to have the best fans in the
NBA, and anyone on the Jazz would tell you that a large portion of all those wins can undoubtedly be credited to their awesome fanbase.
But where are our fans? Our men’s team has already beat CSI this year. We have beaten the number-two team in the nation and we can’t get more than 40 students to come watch an incredible re-match and a chance to knock off them down a peg? Not to mention a chance to just stick it to the man since CSI has the largest budget in our region by far, and they, well, let’s face it, they just aren’t supposed to lose to teams like us. But hasn’t that been the story for our guys all year? They have perservered through bad call after
Whatever happened to the Eagles’ homecourt advantage?
see Homecourt page 3
Jan 5, 2014- Intoxicated juvenile female in Sessions HallEmpty liquor bottle found in Sessions Hall
Female was taken home to parents
Jan 9, 2014- Student lost black alligator print wallet in the WIB
Jan 10, 2014- Student found in possession of marijuana and narcotic equipment in USU E residence hall
Student was arrested
Jan 21, 2014- Staff member lost iPad, not seen since Christmas break
Jan 23, 2014- Traffic incident: car was backed into with no damage
Jan 24, 2014- Intoxicated underage student damaged wall in Aaron Jones Hall and fled scene. Later booked into jail for criminal mischief
and consumption of alcohol by a minor
Jan 28, 2014- Theft of $30 reported from Aaron Jones Hall
Jan 28, 2014- Suspects admitted to stealing $30.00 from Aaron Jones Hall. He was arrested and booked into jail
Jan 29, 2014- Marijuana odor detected by R.A. in Burtenshaw Hall. Resident admitted to recent marijuana use. Marijuana was located in
the room. He was cited and released for simple possession
February 13, 2014 page 3
Helicopters Spotted on Campus
Arrest continued from page 1
Helicopters land on soccer field
Student Section continued from page 1
Student SuCcess Workshops
Workshops are FREE and open to all USU Eastern students
Mar 6 Living Well:
Physical and mental wellness11:30 a.m.
JLSC Alumni room
Feb 20 Financial aid/
scholarship options11:30 a.m.
JLSC Boardroom
Feb 27 Study Skills crash course
11:30 a.m.JSLC Boardroom
Brown Music Building namesake inducted into Utah Music Hall of
Matt Gochisguest writer
The San Rafael Swell features some of the most magnificent and beautiful scenery in the United States. From red rock formations, to plateaus, to large cliffs and deep canyons,
the terrain is one that is sought by many outdoor enthusiasts. While these formations have been around for centuries,
their natural beauty is that of which words cannot describe. Protecting these beautiful formations and lands is not only a duty of the Bureau of Land Management, but for all people to preserve these natural wonders.
In many areas like this, motorized vehicle use is prohibited, but in the Sid’s Mountain Wilderness Study Area (WSA), there is a unique opportunity. This opportunity allows motorized vehicles to travel through the WSA on a few designated routes. This provides access to these remote lands to all of the public including those who have troubles accessing these remote areas by foot. But with this opportunity comes a great responsibility and obligation to remain on those designated routes.
The routes provide spectacular views and responsibilities of Devil’s Racetrack, Eva Conover, Coal Wash and Fix It Pass. These routes are located in a large area north of I-70, west of the southwest of Swinging Bridge, and southeast of Ferron.
A great loading area, where a three-tier kiosk provides in-formation and responsibilities for the area, is located outside the WSA at Bellevue Flats. This area provides many great “loop” opportunities for an all-day adventure.
In this area, many big horn sheep inhabit Sid’s Mountain. At times they can be difficult to spot, but they are there. With the big horn sheep population in the area, mountain lions are also present in the high cliffs and valleys, so much so that the big horn sheep population has taken a fall in recent years.
Besides the amazing wildlife, the natural beauty of the high arches and canyons in area make for a venturesome day. Because of these natural beauties, the land is extremely rugged and the trails are not for beginners.
It is always recommended to travel in groups and to carry extra water and gasoline in case any unfortunate events occur. Because these areas are difficult and remote, safety should always remain a top priority when thrill seeking.
The Sid’s Mountain WSA offers a variety of experiences that other areas may not be able to offer. The wildlife, natural arches and trail experience given to recreationists is unique providing access to remote areas.
Maintaining the “tread lightly campaign” and respecting the trails will help ensure that these areas continue to offer exciting new adventures for future generations to experience and explore.
USU Eastern bucket list - Devils Racetrack: hiking, biking, riding in San Rafael Swell
A popular loop in the San Rafael Swell, the Fix it Pass to Devil’s Racetrack offers great scenery along with challenging rock sections and great sites to visit such as Indian Pictographs and a couple arches including the massive Slipper Arch.
photo courtesy of Matt Gochis
AJ’s interior. Collectively, the wit-ness’s statements concur that the student appeared to be intoxicated and not acting in a reasonable manner.
In total, the damage caused was about $300. The student was booked into jail for the offenses of criminal mischief and illegal con-sumption of alcohol by a minor.
type of incentives for students who do go, like free drinks or something.”
Other students, including Ashley Noyes, Chase Carbonneau, and Kenzie Mantz, all from Price, say they have other obligations that they have to meet, so they are not able to make it to the games.
Samantha Nielson, a sophomore from Springville, Utah, who has attended basketball games before, said, “I feel like the games are boring because there is no student involvement and because not a lot of our students go.”
Miranda Cox, vice president of ac-tivities, said that student government has been making a conscious effort to find solutions to this issue. She says because fan attendance does not fall to a single cause, there are many little issues they are looking to improve. It is an evolving process that will take time before there is any improvement seen. This semester, they have been trying to establish a firm foundation to build upon for the upcoming years. For example, student government fueled the rivalry between USU Eastern
and Snow when approximately 30 stu-dents were bused to the away game in Ephraim, Utah, and an invitation was extended to their student body to come to USU Eastern. The Badgers responded positively, as seen at the home game on Feb. 1. The school’s mascot, Emmett, has done a great job with entertaining the crowd this year as well.
Student government wants Eastern’s athletes to feel that they’re supported by the student body, but as Cox said, “The hardest part is trying to find how to make students want to come.”
Todd Helgesen, who is playing his second year of USU Eastern basketball said, “We are a lot better team at home than we are on the road. Having fans at the games gives us an overall advantage knowing we have that support.” The stats speak for themselves. On the road, the Golden Eagles lost to CSI 103-59, when at home, they lost by two points (79-77), and back in December, USU Eastern actually defeated CSI 95-85 at home.
CSI is ranked the second best team
in the NJCAA, and USU Eastern’s Golden Eagles were nationally ranked as well, so obviously, there is some talent on the court. It is also apparent that crowd support can be a driving force to help bring teams to wins, and for those attending USU Eastern, admittance is free with a student ID. Is this not enough incentive for our students, faculty, and community to come out and watch these games?
Promotions are a big enticement for increasing college sports attendance. For example, Kansas State offers free bacon for students starting at 4:45 p.m. They say it makes the arena smell better than sweat, sneakers and soda. Word of this promo-tion spread so quickly on social media, that Kansas State had to triple its order. It’s college, and we all know that college students love free food.
Other universities have given VIP parking passes and cash incentives to entice the students to come to games.
There are ways to get students out to games, but what is it going to take for USU Eastern to build the student section?
Free continued from page 1
was still hurting. Turns out I had a bro-ken femur and was in surgery the next morning.”
From then on, Free had what he calls “minor surgeries,” but at 16, his spine was at a 90-degree curve and deteriorating, causing it to collapse.
“Doctors were not hopeful. The risks of being paralyzed or even dying were high, but I tried not to think much about it. Having all these surgeries never upset me, it was a part of life. The thing that bugged me is I watched all the kids my age dating and I never had that opportunity. Besides my family, I didn’t have someone there for me like a girlfriend.
“Between all my surgeries, I never got to be like the other kids. I couldn’t go outside and play sports or ride bikes. I was different in so many ways, and that was hard.” The surgery was an interior posterior spinal fusion. All in all, it took 24 hours, 14 hours through Free’s back and a week later he was back in the surgery room for another 10 hours through the front of his body.
Free says, “They did a full-spinal fu-sion. The bones in my back and the titanium
are all fused together, but it feels way better now than it did before.” After his spinal surgery, many more surgeries followed, including one he had just over a year ago.
“I had a tumor in my leg. It had grown to the size of a rotisserie chicken by the time they got it out. Doctors were afraid that the tumor had turned cancerous, and they had radiation sessions already set up for me.
Fortunately the tumor was benign (harmless).” Free has been through hell and back, he is now 21 and has undergone 26 surgeries, yet his positive outlook on life shows how much he’s learned along the way. “I’ve never let life stop me.
“I’ve had a job since I was 14 and I wrote my own book titled ‘Life Takes Courage.’ I started my own business when I was 16. I’ve had five different jobs; I’ve always tried to stay busy. I’ve never let my problems discourage me. In fact, I see my problems as strengths not weaknesses.
“Now I’m attending my first year of college, working on getting my Ph.D. in psychology.
“I haven’t and won’t let anything stop me, so what’s stopping you?” Life takes courage.
Twenty-eight years after her passing, Dorothy Brown was inducted into the Utah Music Educator’s Hall of Fame on Feb. 7 at the association’s conference held in St. George. The USU Eastern Brown Music Building is named after Dorothy and her husband Deane, who also directed choirs in the Carbon School District.
In the ceremony, the nominating committee and board said that Dorothy, as an educator, offered a level of music unmatched in this state, especially the rural areas.
Dorothy worked for 34-and-a-half years as a choral director and music educa-tor in the elementary, secondary and col-lege level. Stories shared by her colleagues and former students are a tribute to her life and evidence of her illustrious career.
Her choirs consistently took top awards in regional, state and multi-state competitions.
Whether at home, school or church and civic settings, she promoted a love of music throughout the community and state. An excellent piano and vocal coach, Dorothy taught piano and voice lessons in her home, in addition to preparing groups for performances.
Her influence was widespread, as she helped prepare operettas, musicals, vocal groups, solos and instrumental groups for community performances.
One of her greatest community con-tributions was the annual production of Handel’s “Messiah” for 25-consecutive years. She collaborated with other great musicians: Glen Fifield, Derral Siggard, her husband Dean and BYU professor Larry Sardoni, string leaders, community and guest musicians, invited guest soloists and a choir of more than 100-combined voices from the school and community to provide a top-rate production each year.
She has won many honors through the years including Outstanding Music Educator of Utah.
Accepting the award was her son George, an alumnus of USU Eastern (College of Eastern Utah), and Dorothy’s brother Cecil Jorgensen.
The Utah Music Educators is celebrat-ing 70 years of existence. It is Utah’s largest organization of public and private music teachers dedicated to promoting excellence in music teaching and music performance.
Campus Police RecordsJanuary 2014
The soccer field behind the BDAC became a temporary landing pad for two Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters, as members of the Utah National Guard visited the Armory.
photo by david obsorne/the eagle
(435) [email protected]
Say something special to your valentine!
Beautiful, clever, silly, and romantic cards and gifts!!
Each hand crafted and custom made for your special someone
Don’t wait until it’s too late, call Kate!
LIFESTYLESFebruary 13, 2014page 4
“Doubt” opens at the Geary Theatre
Utah Arts and Museums “The Last Fifty” on view at gallery
John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play “Doubt” opens this weekend in the USU Eastern Geary Theatre. The
play wil run two-consecutive weekends with curtain at 7:30 p.m. Theatre depart-ment chair, Corey Ewan Ph.D., will direct the play with Brent Innes designing the set.
In this brilliant and powerful drama, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students. “Doubt” was made into a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep, the late Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Viola Davis and Amy Adams, all of whom were nominated for the Academy Award.
“We have a strong cast of seasoned performers, I am looking forward to see-ing what they will bring to their respective roles,” Ewan said.
He cast two sophomores to the leading roles: Annie Zelasko from Olympus High School is playing Sister Aloysius and Josh Bone, Carbon High School graduate, is taking on the role of Father Flynn.
“We are fortunate to have two strong freshman playing the supporting roles
of Sister James and Mrs. Muller: Olivia (Libby) Petereit from Juan Diego High School and Lesly Gaona-Partida from Pine View High School.
Zelasko says “Doubt” will entice the audience with the raw emotion from all ends of the spectrum, from frustration and sorrow to joy and confusion.
Bone likes the play because of its en-tertainment value and its intensity. Gaona-Patrida quotes Father Flynn, “Doubt can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as cer-tainty.” She continues from Mrs. Muller’s lines, “You can’t hold a child responsible for what God gave him to be.” She finishes with, “whether you think he’s guilty or not, it will make you doubt yourself.”
Stage manager Josie Slade, believes people should see the play because it is an eye opening oneact play that forces us to feel and ultimately question what we believe and what we have seen.
“Doubt” runs Feb. 13, 14, and 15 and Feb. 20, 21 and 22. Seating is limited as the production and seating is on the stage of the theatre, similar to the seating for “The Real Inspector Hound.” USU Eastern students with a current activity card can get in for $1. “Such a deal,” Ewan said.
USU Eastern’s Gallery East presents The Last Fifty, an art exhibit featuring works of famous Utah artists from 1962 to the present. It will run from Feb. 10-March 27 and is sponsored by Utah Arts & Museums.
Although a chronological sequence is present, the scope of practice is wide and varied within the context of Utah artists.
Works range from more traditional natural and urban landscapes by artists such as LeConte Stewart and Richard J. Van Wagoner, contrasting with works influenced by modernist movements such as abstract expressionism, geometric abstraction and minimalism, as made evident by artists like Lee Deffebach, Ed-ward Maryon and Anna Campbell Bliss.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to bring works by Utah artists of this caliber to Gallery East,” says gallery director Noel Carmack.
“This exhibit is a tribute to some of the most significant Utah artists of the 20th century. Both students and community visitors should enjoy seeing these works in our campus venue.” The last quarter
of the 20th Century includes a range of Utah artists that address contemporary themes of place, spirituality, identity and environment.
Utah’s state-owned art collection began in 1899 under the leadership of Alice Merrill Horne, who ran for office on a platform of support for the arts. Once elected to the House of Representatives she sponsored a bill to create a state arts organization and to establish a state col-lection of artwork.
Thanks to the efforts of the Collection Acquisition Committee and generous donations from patrons and artists, the Utah State Fine Art Collection purchases and acquires new artwork by Utah artists every year.
An opening reception for the exhibit is on Friday, Feb. 21 from 6-8 p.m. in USU Eastern’s Gallery East, located on the northwest corner of the SAC Build-ing. The exhibit is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment through March 27. The gal-lery is closed on weekends and holidays. Attendance to the gallery is free and open
to the public. The gallery will be closed the week of USU Eastern’s Spring Break: March 10 – 14.Any questions about the exhibit should be directed to Noel Car-mack at 435-613-5241 or by email at [email protected].
Utah Arts & Museums and the Traveling Exhibit Program
Utah Arts & Museums’ Traveling Exhibit Program is a statewide outreach program that provides schools, museums, libraries and community galleries with the opportunity to bring curated exhibi-tions to their community. This program is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Utah Arts & Museums is a division of the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts (DHA). To enrich the quality of life for the people of Utah, DHA creates, pre-serves, and promotes Heritage and Arts. The Division provides funding, education, and technical services to individuals and organizations statewide so that all Utahns, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or economic status, can access, understand and receive the benefits of arts and culture.
One day a year, April 22, the entire world holds events to help celebrate Earth Day. This day is dedicated to support and protection of the earth. There are several different ways in which one can go green and USU Eastern has adopted one.
Once a week, members of the Serving Utah Network and students on campus meet for Green Team.
The Green Team has been at
USU Eastern off and on for about 25 years, but in 2009, Jeanne McEvoy , a Price Ciy Councilwoman, brought the tradition back and it has continued ever since.
Usually held every Thursday, members of the Green Team travel throughout campus and collect any paper and aluminum cans that have been placed in any of the green and blue containers located on campus.
When finished collecting, they travel to two different recycling trail-ers, one located in Aaron Jones park-ing lot and the other located behind the
SAC building, to drop off the paper and/or cans they collected.
These trailers are emptied when full, which is about once a week and taken to Salt Lake City to be sorted and dispersed to the different recy-cling plants.
Not only is USU Eastern a part of the service project, but so is the community. When the Green Team first started, the city donated ap-proximately $10,000 to help buy eight trailers which are spread throughout the city.
There are currently two located at
USU Eastern, two at Sutherlands, one at Carbonville Bowling Alley, two at Market Express and one on Hospital Drive. On Friday, Feb. 14, there will be a new trailer located at Creekview Elementary.
The big plans for the Green Team is to purchase more collecting trailers and place them at the s c h o o l s in Wel-l i ng t on, Price and Helper.
Green Team serves our Earth, communityShadayah Jones
staff writer [email protected]
Whether you think he’s guilty or not, it will make you doubt yourself
photo by Chris Barney/The Eagle
photo courtesy of USU Eastern Art Department
Cheyenne Smith and Catie Duncan reduce, reuse, &
recycle
bad call, and hostile crowd after hostile crowd, so shouldn’t they be able to expect in return for their incredible efforts this season, to just be able to come home and give a good old-fashioned fanbased beat down on some of our biggest competitors?
I sat on the team’s bench for the CSI game on Thursday and again on Saturday against NIC, and it was a depressing sight looking across the court to where our fanbase is supposed to be. Now don’t get me wrong, our fans who do come love the game and love our team just as much as I do, but 25-30 people in the stands from our school is simply unnaccept-able. We should be filling that gymnasium full with the season we are having and the team we have. If
you have watched these guys even once, you know how explosive and exciting they are. Their job is to win games and entertain and they do that job better than anyone I have seen in a long time. It seems like every minute of play, one of our guards is slamming home a ferocious dunk, or drilling a long three ball, or one of our bigs is sending home another block, working tirelessly to defend our painted area and our homecourt. But through all the excitement, the only people I hear actually getting excited, is the bench.
We need our students at these games. I don’t know what I have to do to get the word out, but the region tournament is coming up, and it’s at home this year. The stars are aligned for our Eagles to make a
great run this year, and it seems like the only thing missing is a fanbase with a voice. They need our cheers! They need to hear some D-d-d-de-fence! Scoreboard! Scoreboard! Lets go Eagles! Anything at all to spur our Golden Eagles on because that is what home court advantage is all about.
It only takes one or two calls to go our way instead of theirs, and its our job to make the referee feel so guilty for his terrible display of refereeing, that the next call goes our way and we win the game. We can beat CSI and Salt Lake Community College, and we are going to need all the help we can get from our fans, because our path likely goes through both of those teams on the road to Nationals.
Homecourt continued from page 2Eastern Student Association Elections
Debates: Feb. 19th at 6 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose room in the Student Center
Elections run from Feb. 24 at 8 a.m. through Feb. 28 at 5 p.m.
photo by Emma Rowley/The Eagle
photo by Chris Barney/The Eagle
Josh Bone portrays Father Flynn in USU Eastern’s production of “Doubt”.
Annie Zelasko and Olivia Peitereit in USU Eastern’s production of “Doubt.”
Student Body President:
Ben Bjarnson
&Miranda Cox
Executive Vice President:
Harley Earl
&Arsene Mugisha
Vice President of Activities:
Wyntre Pierce
Frank Anthony Smith’s oil on canvas titled “Red Air” and painted in 2001.
February 13, 2014 page 5
Country Swing Club becomes biggest club on campus
The biggest club on campus would have to be the newest one: Country Swing Club. It has had a successful turnout since its recent start-up this semester. The petition list to support the club quickly filled with names prior to the Christmas break and the club finally became official in January 2014.
The revival of this club has been headed by Lawrence Keith Bird who said, “There use to be one, a swing club, a few years back, but it kinda
died out and I had been meaning to start it up again.”
With the start of the new spring semester, it was a perfect opportunity to establish a Country Swing Club back at USU Eastern. Bird learned how to dance, along with many others, at Em-ery High School. They learned from the legendary Coach Daryl Gardner who is regarded as “the coolest person ever,” according to Bird.
When it comes to dancing, music is important and because the club meets at the Student Center, it is easy to get quality music through the overhead speakers. Vice president of the club is Tyler Smith. It is his responsibility to
be in charge of music and he is willing to take requests. Even though most of what is danced to is country music, if someone wants to do another kind of dance, Smith can put on a elegant waltz or a rhythmic cha cha.
It is true that Country Swing Club incorporates some ballroom dances, but Smith says, “Ballroom is all about form while swing you can teach anyone and they’ll have a blast.”
Country swing dancing is easy and anyone can do it, even though it does take bravery and some risk takers to learn some of the larger lifts. But there is so much groundwork you can learn before moving onto the lifts.
The least experienced member of the Country Swing Club presidency is Carl Gunter. He got interested in country swing a few months ago and has proved that it is never too late to get into dancing. Gunter has really learned to love dancing and does a lot for the club by coordinating publicity and the Facebook page.
Country Swing Club is a great club to join for anyone looking to be involved, make new friends, learn how to dance and simply have fun. Students and anyone interested can venture to the Student Center from 8-10 p.m. on Thursdays and learn for themselves what the club is all about.
Bonnie Blackburnstaff writer
Library hosts fourth annual photo contest Trip to England, Ireland, Wales in 2015 being organized
photos by Mariah Anderson/The Eagle
If you have ever wanted to travel to England, Ireland and Wales, an 11-day trip from May 18-28, 2015, is being organized by associate professor Betty Hassell.
She said these dates might become adjusted a day or two as they combine with other groups. This date also puts the trip before the cost increase on May 20 when hotel prices in Europe increase for tourist season.
“I know schools don’t get out until Memorial Day, so if anyone is seriously interested, but needs to wait until school is out, it could be changed, but the price would probably increase about $300 a person,” Hassel said.
This trip is 11 days and costs $3,305 for travelers under the age of 30 and $3,575 for those over 30. This trip has a 9-day and 11-day option. This price
includes the two-day London extension. It also includes a $150 discount that is only good until Feb. 28, 2014. The cost to sign up is $95 and payment schedules can be set up to meet travelor’s needs.
The cost includes round-trip flights, land and water trans-portation, hotels with private bathrooms (important to know
in Europe), light breakfast daily, five local dinners, full-time tour director, five sightseeing tours led by expert local guides in Dublin, London, Ring of Kerry, Stratford, Oxford, Stonehenge and Bath.
The entrance fees are already paid for the Bog Museum, Blar-ney Castle, Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library, St. Pat-rick’s Cathedral, Welsh Castle, Shakespeare’s birthplace, Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Stonehenge and the Roman Baths.
You can check out the tour by going to www.efcollegestu-dytours.com/1558196NJ
“I have also attached a detailed itinerary of the trip,” Hassell said.
Contact Betty Hassell if you want more information at [email protected] or 435.613.5270.
If you are interested, you
could be traveling to the United Kingdom
next spring.
It is that time of year again,
grab your camera and be pre-pared to take photos for the USU Eastern Library’s Fourth Annual Photo Contest and Snapshot Day*.
Students should document through photos the positive im-pact the library makes on USU Eastern’s campus and to the community
The contest is open to enrolled USU Eastern students with the theme “show us where, when and how you study.” Get your cameras and your textbooks and start shooting how you study.
All submissions are due no later than Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 9 p.m., with the winners announced Feb. 20.
This year the prizes are better than ever: first place is a “Date
Night” prize package which in-cludes a limo service, dinner and a movie worth over $100; second place receives a Wave Pool prize package including passes for six, pizza and ice cream totaling $50. Two Chancellor’s Choice Awards include a $20 gift certificate to the Campus Store.
*Official rules and regula-tions:
This year’s theme for the con-test is studying. Show us where, how and when you study.
Participants and subjects must be 18 years of age or older, enrolled at USU Eastern and have a valid USU Eastern ID.
This contest is open to the Price campus only.
Photos must be submitted to the library in jpeg format on either a disc or jump drive, which will be returned.
The photographer and all subjects must sign a photo release.
The release must be handed into the library at the time the photo is submitted. Both the photog-rapher and any subjects will be asked to show a USU Eastern ID. Entries without valid ID will be disqualified.
Photographs must be in good taste and adhere to USU Eastern Campus Policies. The library will reject entries we deem not in keeping with these policies.
A limit of three entries per student is allowed.
Deadline for submission is Feb. 18 at 9 p.m. in the library, although submissions will be accepted anytime from Febru-ary 10-18.
Winners will be announced Thursday, Feb. 20 in the library at 10 a.m. and posted on Face-book, Twitter and the Library’s web page.
Chancellor Peterson will pick this year’s winning photo.
Madison Woodwardstaff writer
Last year’s winner: Kailey Allen
“Swing you can teach anyone and
they’ll have a blast!”
Theme: “show us where, when and how you study”
Country Swing Club: 8-10 p.m. Thursday nights at the Student Center
“Like” the Country Swing Club page on Facebook
photo courtesy USU Eastern Library
Saturday Feb. 15, Sunday Feb. 16 and Monday Feb. 17Brunch 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.Dinner 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Golden Grille will be closed for the holiday
Reminder:Tuesday, Feb. 18 is Monday class
schedule
President’s Day Dining Room Hours Campus StoreClosedFeb. 26, 2014All day for inventory
SPORTSFebruary 13, 2014Page 6
David Osborne [email protected]
sports editor
After spending a long hard month on the road, the Utah State Univer-sity Eastern Golden Eagles finally headed home to continue through the heart of the basketball season. The last four games played at the Bunnell-Dimitrich Athletic Center were not the easiest however, as the team faced two of the toughest teams in not only the Scenic West Athletic Conference, but also the nation.
In the first game of the five-game home stand, the Golden Eagles faced off against the Salt Lake Community College Bruins, who were at the time ranked 21 in the nation. SLCC was ranked second in the SWAC followed directly by USU Eastern and the game was not one that disappointed or lacked in drama.
SLCC hit a last second three-pointer to force overtime with the Golden Eagles, knotting the score at 69 a piece. The ensuing extra time was filled with held breath and gasps as fans and USU Eastern players were left stunned, wondering how SLCC had come back and eventually stolen the game out from underneath the Golden Eagles. The final score in overtime favored the visitors, 83-79.
The Golden Eagles were lead by sophomore power-forward Todd Helgesen who registered 19 points. Alioune Tew added six points while leading the team in rebounds netting seven total; five defensive and two offensive. The team had four players end with point totals in double-digits, Nafis Walker and Jaleni Neely both had 13 while Kendhal Amerson and Trahmier Burrell had 10.
In the end, the Eagles beat SLCC in several different categories includ-ing turnovers, 21-17 and assists 17-14. The Eagles did however let SLCC bring down 40 rebounds, including 17 offensive rebounds.
On Feb. 1, USU Eastern faced ri-val Snow College. Snow is currently the fifth place team in the SWAC and the Golden Eagles were able to play well throughout the entire game and the home crowd was certainly able to help spur the team on. At the final buzzer, the Eagles defeated Snow for the second time this season, 81-69.
The Golden Eagles were lead by Neely who scored 21 points in the contest while dishing out two assists and bringing down five rebounds. Neely also went 2-3 from behind the 3-point arc while going 9-11 from the charity stripe. The team had two other players end up in double digits; Burrell netting 20 and Amerson with 14 more. The team led in almost every category except offensive re-bounds giving up 13 while bringing down eight. The Golden Eagles led 34-27 in rebounds, 9-6 in assists and 5-1 in blocked shots.
During the third game of their home stint, Feb. 6, the Golden Eagles hosted the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles, currently ranked second in the nation, behind Indian Hills Community College.
The game was another tough fought battle for the team and after being blown out in Twin Falls, Idaho, they were looking for vengeance. At halftime the Golden Eagles were down 37-29.
During the second half, the team came out with lots of energy and shot a higher fieldgoal percentage improving from 42.3 percent in the first half to 52 percent, in the second half. The end of the game turned into a real nail-biter. After a controversial traveling call in which Neely was bumped and sent flying across the floor, CSI hit a floater with just over nine seconds left in the game to take the lead 77-75, unfortunately the Golden Eagles weren’t able to hit a shot as time expired.
Eastern was lead by Neely who recorded 21 points, dished out
three assists and brought down three rebounds. Walker added 18 points to the Golden Eagles total while Helgesen had nine points and brought down 11 rebounds, four on the offensive end and seven on the defensive end.
On Feb. 8, the Golden Eagles faced the North Idaho College Cardinals. At the time USU Eastern was ranked third in the SWAC and NIC was ranked fourth with identi-cal records in conference, 5-7. This was a pivotal game, as the winner would have the tiebreaker for the third place slot in the conference if they had identical records at the end of the regular season.
The Golden Eagles came out slow in the first half, hitting 52 percent of their shots from the field but shooting an abysmal 16.7 percent from behind the 3-point arc.
At halftime the Golden Eagles found themselves down 39-32. The second half wasn’t helpful to the teams cause as several key players sustained injuries keeping them from playing at their highest capacity. At the end of the game, the Golden Eagles found themselves down again at home, losing 78-65.
Burrell led the team with 13 points while bringing down nine rebounds; Amerson added 12 points to the team total while handing out nine assists and bringing in seven rebounds. The Golden Eagles were out rebounded 39-32 and gave up 16 offensive rebounds to NIC.
USU Eastern will play their last home game of the season against the Colorado Northwestern Com-munity College Spartans on Feb. 15. Following the final home game of the season the Golden Eagles will have two more regular season games against SLCC and Snow both on the road before heading to the conference tournament that will take place in Ephraim, Utah from Feb. 27 through March 1.
Golden Eagles look to finish strong
Baseball leaves the cold, warms up on the road
Trahmier [email protected]
sports writer
Public address announcers throughout the country frequently tell fans before games that un-sportsmanlike behavior toward athletes, coaches or officials won’t be tolerated. Then, once the ball goes up, that announcement goes out the window.
Universities and college conferences have policies to handle fans behaving badly. Administrators don’t want athletes taking matters into their own hands, yet, many players and coaches feel fans routinely cross the line with profanity-laced tirades, racial slurs and obscene gestures while those policies - typically threatening ejection - are rarely enforced.
Oklahoma State University All-American guard Marcus Smart who suspended three games for shoving a Texas Tech fan that he later apologized for his actions. The incident shows how volatile the interaction between fans and athletes is becoming, especially with the proximity between the two, being so close.
‘’When you sign up to play a sport in college, you sign away whatever freedoms you thought you had
coming to college,’’ Connecticut Huskies women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma said, ‘’When someone says something, you can’t react without thinking. All of a sudden people will say and do what they want to a college kid on the floor know-ing they have no consequences. The player has to take it. I don’t agree with that, but that’s the world. Someone pays $20 to watch a basketball game and you can be an idiot.’’ (The Hartford Courant news).
Smart’s altercation with Red Raiders fan, Jeff Orr, happened late in Saturday’s game after he tumbled out of bounds behind the basket after tying to block a shot. After being helped to his feet, Smart quickly turned to confront Orr and shoved him with two hands after it appeared Orr said something to him. Teammates pulled Smart away from Orr before a large altercation broke out.
That same night, University of Oregon coach Dana Altman expressed concerns about safety after two of his staffers said an Arizona State student spit at them during halftime of the game in Tempe, Ariz. The student had his season tickets revoked, according to school officials. In addition, Ducks guard Jason Calliste had a verbal confrontation with at least one student late in the first half. The proximity between fans and players was an issue again as Altman said it wasn’t a good situation to have visiting teams walk
past the student section on their way off the court. Arenas with 20,000 fans are often staffed by ush-
ers and security staff, while some teams post signs or make announcements asking fans to police them-selves by reporting bad fan behavior. Many athletes say it’s surprising there aren’t more ugly moments. ‘’A lot of times you just smile it off,’’ Syracuse forward C.J. Fair said. ‘’You want to say you shouldn’t lose your cool, but it’s hard when you’re in that moment.’’ (The Post-Standard Syracuse newspaper).
The NCAA launched efforts in 2009 to improve sportsmanship with its ‘’Respect’’ campaign, which encourages measures such as ejecting fans displaying unsportsmanlike behavior, using video to record bad behavior and establishing penalties for students or fans to, ‘’make fans accountable for what takes place in the stands.’’ (NCAA sportsmanship campaign).
Yet, in many cases, that is the extent of enforce-ment, leaving athletes feeling abused and vulnerable even as they’re expected not to respond to derogatory comments. ‘’I’ve always been concerned about fans because these are kids, you know,’’ Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith said. ‘’I can see it at a professional game. They’re professionals. They’re being paid to tolerate and listen to abuse.’’
Maybe, but NBA all-star Kevin Durant, who
played a season at Texas, said that’s still not a license for fans to behave any way they want. The Oklahoma City star said, ‘’I understand it’s the heat of the mo-ment for all those guys watching their teams. But at the same time, we’re all human and words do hurt, and some things should be kept to yourself.’’ (ESPN analyst Grant Long).
The behavior from coaches, players and spec-tators should be handled accordingly. Spectators should know better when using derogatory language towards athletes. Just as players and coaches have to behave in a certain manner throughout the game, so do the spectators. It is a two-way street to make an attempt to stop the abuse, but it all starts with people realizing how hurtful and offensive it is to use that sort of language. One has to take action and believe it will stop in order to overcome this struggle in col-lege athletes.
Weather is slowly heating up and USU East-ern’s baseball team hit the field for a win last weekend in St. George, Utah. An interview of two of Eastern’s players—Kyle Durbin, short stop, and Hadley Thorpe, third baseman, after their four-game weekend, shows their perspec-tive.
Working hard since fall ball, Thorpe thinks it will pay off this season, “Yeah, I feel like we’ve worked really hard . . . it was fun to finally get out and play this weekend. It feels good.” He looks forward to, “making friendships with guys that we just met. It will be nice to make lifelong friends throughout the season on the bus trips
and staying together in the hotels.” Discussing preparations, he says, “we have
got a long way to go to be a winning team, but we’ve come a long way so far. So, I think we are headed in the right direction . . . we can do a lot of good things as a team. I think we could always improve, but like, just base running re-ally needs improving so far, we’ll work on that at practice.”
He does not get pumped up for games, “I’m not much of a guy to get pumped up,” and would rather just stay relaxed. Thorpe’s only worries for the first games of the season is not to be swept. “We got beat two games the first day so, we were a little nervous. We wanted to make sure to get that first win this weekend.”
To stay motivated to win he said, “It just always feels a lot better to win than to lose. It’s tough to swallow when you’re losing.” Thorpe
loved the St. George weather, “Oh, it’s really nice. It’s nice to get out of the snow and the wind.”
Durbin’s perspective on Eastern’s team strengths and as an individual. “As a team, I think, our pitchers did well. They kept us in the game, gave us enough chances.” As an individual “I feel like I played defense really well. We could improve on hitting a little bit but that will come with the year.”
His confidence for this season is high, “I think that this weekend showed that we compete with a lot of teams. That’s a very good baseball team we just played. We are in every game.”
Getting back on the field, “it was great. It was good to get out of Price and play somebody else—besides our own team.” He looks forward to future games, “it’ll be good to hit the road again. It’s a long bus ride, but worth it.”
Claiming that this year is much different from
last year, “the chemistry is great. This year, it’s really special actually. All the guys get along. There’s really no arguments or anybody that hates anybody. It’s a different story this year.”
As a team and as individuals, emotions change drastically with a win or a loss, “We got a lot of guys that are pretty hard on themselves, losses are obviously a lot different than wins. As a win—we are pretty unselfish, it’s more of a good job to the other guy. Then losses we have to take upon ourselves.”
Just for fun, Durbin added his favorite “color” of Gatorade, “my favorite color of Gatorade has to be orange.”
Even though USU Eastern went 1-3 their first weekend of the season, they came out swinging. The first day losing 0-1 then 0-2 the second game. The second day they won 2-0 then lost 1-3 the second game, putting up a fight the entire time.
Fans behaving badly cannot be tolerated in sports
Trahmier Burrell going to the basket strong against North Idaho College.photo courtesy of Tyson Chappell
Shantel [email protected]
sports writer
page 7February 13, 2014
Jordan [email protected]
sports writer
The USU Eastern Lady Eagles have had some tough match-ups these past couple weeks and are looking to turn things around be-fore the region tournament. Head coach Dave Paur said, “Everyone has learned how to beat us and we can’t do what we have done the last couple games…they have adjusted to us, now we have to adjust to them.“
The losing streak began on Jan. 30 when the team faced the Salt Lake Community College Bruins. It wasn’t the first time that SLCC faced the Eagles. While Bryanna Adams did all she could to carry the Lady Eagles with 18 points, it wasn’t enough to compete with SLCC’s Cassidy Fraughton who achieved a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
The Lady Eagles couldn’t keep up with SLCC’s 39 percent impressive shooting performance. The final score was 71-56.
Later that week, Eagle fans arrived at the BDAC to watch USU Eastern take on rival Snow College. Snow seemed unaffected by the defense style and run and gun offense of Paur’s Lady Eagles. The Eagles struggled all night to keep up with the Badgers shoot-ing performance. USU Eastern’s 21 percent shooting couldn’t compete with Snow’s impressive 40 percent.
Larrisa Quintana led the Eagles in scoring with 15 points and Morganne Madsen lead in rebounds with eight. After all their efforts, the team’s poor shooting and 18 turnovers cost the Eagles the game, losing 89-59.
After a disappointing loss to their rivals, the Eagles faced off against the College of Southern Idaho on Feb. 6. Adams led
theEagles in scoring again with 17 points while Isabel Costa domi-nated the boards with 11 rebounds. However, defensively the Eagles couldn’t contain CSI allowing six players to score over 10 points. The Eagles lost the game 95-88.
After losing three games in a row the team looked to turn things around against North Idaho College. Quintanna again lead in scoring with 15 points and Maddy Murphy followed close behind with 14 and Lejla Hadzialijagie did her best to control the boards with 10 rebounds.
Again defensively the Lady Eagles failed, Allowing opposing player Panisessi Taimani to domi-nate the entire game. Taimani achieved a double-double with 25 points and 19 rebounds. NIC shut out all of USU Eastern’s hope defeating the Eagles 86-73.
Paur and the Lady Eagle’s look to learn from these past four games and change up their game plan to throw opposing teams off guard. Paur said, “Our last four games our opponents have put us into a half court game and they killed us. So we have to figure out a way to get back into to the running game.”
Now that all the teams have played against Paur’s new sys-tem, they were prepared. Paur said, “They are getting better at breaking our press and then they just pass it into their post play-ers… they have murdered us.” He is changing a few small things to make the Lady Eagles more threatening defensively.
How effective the changes are will be seen at the last home game of the season against Colorado Northwestern Community Col-lege on Feb. 15. The team hits the road to face off against Snow on Feb. 20 and SLCC on the 22 before heading to Snow for the Scenic West Athletic Conference Tour-nament Feb. 28 through March 1.
Rachel [email protected]
sports writer
Maddy Murphy is a five- four-inch fresh-man from Salt Lake City. She graduated from West High School and received an IB diploma and an honors diploma when she graduated. In high school she was a two-time basketball MVP, and played basketball, softball, soccer and participated in track. She was the point guard in basketball, goalie for soccer, short-stop and center fielder for softball, and she did the 4x100, javelin and long jump in track.
Murphy has three sisters, one is her twin and the other two are younger. She has two dogs, both are labs. She enjoys camping, hiking and biking. Mainly she likes doing anything that involves the outdoors. “My family loves going to Moab and hiking in all different national and state parks.” Her favorite food is anything she can eat, her favorite drinks are smoothies and her favorite movie is “Pitch Perfect.”
She came to USU Eastern because of the basketball program. Murphy thinks that basketball for the college is a lot different than high school because the season is longer and more intense. The game is much faster and the players are more skilled which makes for a better challenge plus it is more fun. She loves the style of basketball she learned from head coach Dave Paur because it is entertaining and fast paced. “The basketball season has been great so far.” As a team, she believes that they are all close and when the team goes to Region 18 tournament, they have a very good chance at making it to the National Tournament.
What Murphy likes about USU Eastern is having her own room in Sessions Hall. She also likes being more independent because she is far from home. A real benefit is that she has met tons of amazing people that have made the transition to college easier. She plans on returning to USU-Eastern next year to finish her second year playing ball and to graduate with her associate’s degree.
Her favorite quote is, “Smile not because everything is alright, but because everything sucks and you are doing just fine.”
MVP from SLC helps lead Eagles
Maddy Murphy breaking away for a layup against CSI in BDAC. photo courtesy of Tyson Chappell
Lady Eagles look to turn things around
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