Baddies Be Ballin’ attracts large fan base

Kylie Rowe

Contributing Writer

Intramurals at GC have long been one of our students’ favorite ways to make the most of their college experience, and this all-women basketball team is proving that you do not even have to play to enjoy the fun.

The Baddies Be Ballin’ team was created in the spring of 2022 by team captain Bailey Parker, a sophomore English major, who said the driving force for starting the team was to make more friends. Her intention was to become closer friends with her teammates, but others started showing up to games, and soon thereafter, the stands at the GC Wellness and Recreation Center started filling up.

The team is made up of a group of close friends, most of whom have never played basketball in any other capacity, that just wanted to spend their nights on a court, having fun. They make the most of the intramural experience and go above and beyond in every aspect,and people off the court the Wellness and Recreation Instagram page.

Alyssa Baker, a two-season Baddies fan and sophomore business management major, said the Bad- when they were losing by over 60 points with five minutes left, and the fans started chanting for the referees to let the team play.

Both teams agreed, an Instagram page where they share game highlights, player profiles, satirical fan encounters and other funny content.

On top of this, some dedicated fans have start- makes James the GOAT, he has had a major impact on the game of basketball.

“He was a huge inspiration for kids that came from underprivileged areas, starting a school for kids who could not afford it while also providing them with whatever they need,” said Michael Larrusso, a sophomore business major and basketball enthusiast. “He also revolutionized the game by playing positionless basketball.” says that “the team is really all [she] could ask for, they support each other through everything, lift each other up and, most importantly, always have fun on the court.” also started to notice.

In both seasons that the Baddies have played, they have had matching jerseys made by their resident graphic design major, Grace Arnold. She has used paint and vinyl to make shirts and bows for the team so that they can always look their best during their games.

It is because of the team uniforms, their energy and their fans that the basketball Baddies will go down in intramural history.

At one of the Baddie’s recent games, they had over 50 people cheering for them. Their fans are not only great in number, but have been described as “electric” by dies fans are “always showing up and showing out” for the games.

Even when most fans would be distraught, the Baddies fans are going strong. Bailey remembers their first game, and they were allowed to finish the game. Bailey recalls this moment as a “special moment where [she] felt the love of her friends for a team that is famous for losing.”

The Baddies also have ed to live stream and commentate each game so that those that cannot make it to the game can still be involved.

Baddies coach Peyton Cusick, a sophomore computer science major,

Bailey also would like to say, “Thank you,” to all of her teammates for being awesome, the GC Wellness and Recreation Center for being good sports when the fans boo their calls, the fans for making the experience what it is and finally, “Go Bobcats! Go Baddies!”

Valentines Day

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Valentine’s Day cards had been circulating throughout the Middle Ages, but it was during the 19th century when Esther Howland became the “Mother of the American Valentine,” as reported by “TIME.” Howland crafted intricate and aesthetic cards that later bloomed into the widespread Valentines that we know and love today.

In 1913, Hallmark Cards began to mass produce their own Valentines and com- mercialize the holiday, forever altering the month of February.

When asking GC students their thoughts on, and agenda for the upcoming holiday, many had differing opinions and plans.

“I do think that it is a sweet holiday,” said Bethany Barron, senior psychology major.

“However, even though I am in a relationship, I can see how it could be one that people who are single do not like. I don’t think we should look at it as just romantic love. It could be love for friends or family as well.”

Some students said that they planned to spend the day with their Valentines or close friends. Others said they treated the holiday like just another day.

“I think it can be fun if celebrated with positivity in mind, but I think it can also be pretty dangerous,” said Josh Wilson, sophomore economics major. “It’s important to remember that it is just like any other holiday, and there is no pressure.”

Many felt the hol- iday is overrated and commercialized by big companies to get more profit out of consumers.

“Why do we have to have a special holiday for people to love each other?” said Trinity Martin, freshman marketing major. “Maybe men should stop being trash these other 364 days of the year and show love every day.”

Whether you are pouring out pennies to spoil your significant other or partaking in promoting Singles Awareness Day, keep in mind the dark history and odd traditions that led us to what we now think of as Valentine’s Day.

Cale’s cinema corner: “Saint Omer”

A courtroom drama that begs the question: Do we blame the system or the person?

Cale Strickland Managing Editor

Courtroom dramas often withhold the jury’s verdict until the film’s final minutes, allowing the first and second acts to build tension, often through an intellectual game of cat-and-mouse between the accused and the accusers. In the opening act of Alice Diop’s first feature film,

“Saint Omer,” the defendant admits to committing the crime of which she is accused. Less than 30 minutes into the film’s runtime, its core tension appears to be resolved.

Yet, Diop’s narrative gains, rather than loses, momentum in the aftermath of Laurence Coly’s confession. As the central question of her trial is answered, count- less others emerge, all of which are fueled by an unconditional longing for understanding.

The film’s final 90 minutes center on the pursuit of its protagonist, Rama, played by Kayije Kagame, to comprehend Coly’s crime. Rama is an aspiring author and literature professor who comes to Coly’s trial in search of inspiration for her next novel, a modern spin on Euripides’s “Medea.” Rama is also a stand-in for Diop, whose experiences attending the 2016 trial of Fabienne Kabou inspired the film.

On the surface, Rama and Coly’s lives parallel one another. Both are intellectuals and invested in the world of academia. Both have complicated relationships with their mothers and their heritage. Both are in interracial relationships. Both are Senegalese-French women — and the only Black women, aside from Coly’s mother, present at the trial.

Regardless of Coly’s confession, the judge presiding over the Berck-sur-Mer courtroom, played by Valérie Dréville, is not concerned with punishing the defendant for abandoning her 15-month-old daughter on the beach of Saint Omer. She is inter- ested in who she is — as a daughter, a student, a partner and a mother.

At first glance, Coly’s story is confounding. She is a PhD student. She is well-spoken. She cites René Descartes and Ludgwig Wittgenstein during her defense — which a juror confronts her about, as he assumes a Senegalese-French woman would be interested in philosophers “closer to her own culture.”

However, even after admitting to her crime, Coly’s resolve remains. She does not believe she is responsible for the murder; demons are.

Further interrogation gives context to Coly’s struggles. Out of financial desperation, she, a poor student, entered a loveless relationship with a married, middle-aged man, which led to her daughter’s birth. He left. Out of shame, she confined herself within the walls of her house, in which her daughter was born. No one was aware of her daughter’s existence.

The world was introduced to her as a washed-up corpse.

Despite the defendant’s detailed, disturbing description of her daughter’s death, Diop does not end “Saint Omer” with the verdict of Coly’s trial. We do not know if the court’s compassionate judge accepted her defense. If she was convicted, we do not know how harsh or merciful her sentence is — because, in the end, it does not matter.

Before the film fades to black, we see Rama, devastated and pregnant, holding hands with her estranged mother. She is distraught — not just because of the macabre nature of the murder, but because it could happen to her.