the
Volume 118, Issue 15
VISTA “Our Words, Your Voice.”
vistanews1903 @thevista1903 @thevista1903 The Vista ucentralmedia.com Tuesday, February 9, 2021
Football signee finds new opportunity
INSIDE
Overwatch 2 Op-Ed
Competitive Overwatch player and president of esports at UCO gives his thoughts on Blizzard’s news. See Pg. 3
(Photo of the UCO football locker room. On Feb. 3, 34 players signed letters of intent to play for the university in the fall. All signees are from the state of Oklahoma, and the 34 players are a new high for head football coach Nick Bobeck. Provided/Broncho Sports)
Bryce McKinnis @McKinnisBryce Managing Editor
Basketball Recap
Sports Editor Tanner Johnson breaks down the Broncho’s win against Missouri Western. See Pg.4
Athletics Postponed The freezing temperatures for the forseeable future have led to some athletic events being postponed. See Pg. 3
Weather Forecast Take a look at what temperatures to expect in the coming week. See Pg. 2
Choctaw High School senior Terrill Davis penned his National Letter of Intent on Wednesday to play wide receiver at UCO. During this time last year, Davis had no aspirations to play college football, instead he was aiming for a college basketball scholarship. Davis was a stellar point guard for the YellowJackets basketball team be-
fore making the switch to football his senior year. He said that COVID-19 shutdowns prompted his decision to join the YellowJackets football team. “I was looking for something else I could do since all the gyms were shut down,” Davis said. That’s when Choctaw teammate Jordan Mukes, a highly-rated senior defensive back headed to the University of Oklahoma next year, invited Davis to join him on the gridiron. “Jordan would tell me to come to the field all the time,” Davis said, “and
me going and working with him made me fall in love with football.” Davis had last played football during his freshman year, although he said he did not take the sport seriously then. “It was just something to keep me busy,” Davis said. His senior season, however, told a different story. It did not take long for him to rethink his future after scoring a game-winning touchdown against Booker T. Washington in his first game. Continued on Pg. 4
What I learned from having COVID-19 Jacob Silva
@jdsilva_ Editor-in-Chief
I was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Dec. 21, and through that experience I found new perspectives, both good and bad. Even the good things came with their own burdens. As I spent Christmas and New Year’s Day locked up in my room, only seeing my family through my window as they dropped off food, (that I could not taste unfortunately) I became more grateful for those holidays I had spent with them. I became more grateful for frontline health workers that have dealt with this pandemic up close for nearly a year now. As for the bad perspective I gained, it
centers around the idea of the concept of public health, and playing a part in your community. Now, I don’t blame a specific person for why I became sick with COVID-19. I had been cautious, but ultimately I couldn’t avoid it after my roommate had caught it. For the last year almost every time I’ve left my house thinking, “I’m wearing this mask to protect those who are highrisk and to help this virus end.” I always assumed that if I did catch it, being 24 and healthy would keep me from the battle I’d seen high-risk individuals fight for the last year. I was wrong about that. I’ve had exercise-induced asthma since I was young, and the virus took every opportunity it could to remind me of it. It kept me in bed for near-
ly three full weeks. There were four nights where I considered calling an ambulance to take me to the hospital since I was afraid to go to sleep. Breathing had become something I had to consciously think about in order for it to keep happening. I had no energy or strength. If I forgot to do one of the five preventative measures I needed to do, such as refilling my humidifier or putting vapor rub on my chest, I’d have another night of being afraid to go to sleep because breathing became so difficult. I’ve had pneumonia before. It didn’t feel like that. It felt like there was a deep pain in my lungs — almost like there was an open wound. Continued on Pg. 2
2 | The Vista
February 9, 2021
Op-Ed/Weather Forecast
What I learned from having COVID-19
Continued from Pg. 1
It’s now early February, and I hardly feel better. The thing is life doesn’t wait. Especially when you’re a senior in college. I still expect myself to carry my backpack across campus, do all of the same work in my classes, contribute to my career in the same ways I demand myself to do each year. But my body doesn’t hold up for very long unfortunately. The dizziness, tingling fingers, lung tightness and more all come back once I do any physical activity for more than a half hour or so. One person making a decision to opt out of playing their part in public health is the reason COVID-19 entered my house in the first place, and now my doctor says to expect to give 12 weeks of my life to recover from it. I’m six or seven weeks in now. My story is one of millions at this point in the pandemic. The cost of
choosing to not take proper precautions during this pandemic is high. Half a million Americans will have died to COVID-19 by the end of February, but at my second job I see people every day who walk in without masks, throwing slurs and scoffing at the idea of wearing one. It takes away their rights, apparently. It never should have been about personal rights when your neighbors and loved ones are dying. It’s about putting the health of those around you over the perceived inconveniences brought on by doing something as simple as covering your face in indoor, public places. Bronchos return to campus this week. Cases in Oklahoma aren’t what they were during the holidays. The most high-risk of our population are being vaccinated. But the warning still remains: Play your part in public health. Take the precautions that your
Oximeters are often used with COVID-19 patients. They can be used to measure oxygen levels and can be purchased over-the-counter. (Provided/Pixabay)
neighbors and family need, not just the precautions you need. I carry my backpack around campus on a cart now. I’m waiting on lab results that will tell me if I have per-
The University of Central Oklahoma canceled all classes on Monday, Feb. 8 due to below freezing temperatures causing dangerous driving conditions. Temperatures are not projected to be above freezing in central Oklahoma until Feb. 19.
manent lung or heart damage, but I’m alive. I still have the same opportunities I had before, and I’m fortunate, given my circumstances. Think of everyone else who wasn’t so lucky.
Front Pg. Teaser Photos, from top: Provided/Creative Commons Provided/Broncho Sports Provided/Broncho Sports Provided/Vista Archives
the
VISTA
Staff
Jacob Silva Cory Bryce McKinnis Tanner Johnson Lyric Peterson Ty Wallace
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Sports Editor Digital Media/Copy Editor Contributing Writer
Tanner Laws
Photographer
Cynthia Faulkner Cara Johnson
Faculty Adviser Coordinator of Student Publication
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EDITORIALS
Opinion columns, editorial cartoons, reviews and commentaries represent the views of the writer or artist and not necessarily the views of The Vista Editorial Board, the Department of Mass Communication, UCO or the Board of Regents of Oklahoma Colleges. The Vista is not an official medium of expression for the Regents or UCO.
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Esports/Postponements
February 9, 2021
The Vista | 3
Overwatch 2 delay impacts esports landscape Ty Wallace
@jHALTexe Contributing Writer
Diablo IV and Overwatch 2 will not be releasing this year, Blizzard announced Friday. Activision Blizzard held their Q4 investors’ call for the 2020 fiscal year. according to an announcement made Feb. 4 as Activision Blizzard held their Q4 investors’ call for the 2020 fiscal year. The call also brought attention to Activision Blizzard’s push for mobile, which we may see play out at Blizzcon. This may not be a massive surprise for Diablo IV, but the Overwatch 2 delay was met with uproar from fans. Geoff Keighley, who I lovingly call “the Ryan Seacrest of gaming,” as he hosts just about every gaming conference under the sun, broke the news on Twitter: “During earnings call, Activision Blizzard said it does not expect Overwatch 2 or Diablo 4 to launch in 2021.” The full quote from the investor call transcript reads: “We expect Blizzard’s net bookings to grow, given the momentum in World of Warcraft and the other growth initiatives we have in the business. Our outlook does not include Diablo IV or Overwatch 2 launching in 2021. And while Diablo Immortal is progressing well and we anticipate its launch later this year, we don’t have any material contribution from the title in our outlook presently.” Considering that Overwatch 2 was announced in November 2019, including a cinematic and several gameplay trailers and demos, this news does not go down smoothly. Overwatch is one of the top FPS esport
titles, following games like VALORANT, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Rainbow Six. In an investors press release in 2019, Blizzard announced that Overwatch had over 50 million players (specifically noted as sales and/or downloads in a footnote). This information, along with the hype of Overwatch 2, led players to think that the sequel was much closer than previously thought. Compared to VALORANT and Rainbow Six release on new characters and maps , t Overwatch has been lagging . The last character release in Overwatch, Echo, has been around for almost a year. The last new map that Overwatch added was Havana on May 7, 2019. Since then, it feels like Overwatch has done little for its players who need something to keep the spark going. Of course, COVID-19 has taken a toll on all game developers as teams have shifted to working from home. Blizzard postponed their November 2020 Blizzcon to Feb. 19 – an inter-
esting move considering they gave themselves an additional three and a half months of preparation for an all-online event. I’ve speculated that it is simply because Blizzard doesn’t have enough content to show off. With Overwatch 2 being so far away, it’s likely that the team had to scrape together a playable demo for the showfloor in 2019. What we saw was likely the only content they had. That same convention also brought the announcement of Diablo IV. With these two games not releasing this year, I think that Blizzcon will be pushing hard into mobile titles. Blizzard announced that they had mobile titles for each of their existing IPs in the works in their Q3 2020 earnings call in October. This is because of the huge success of Call of Duty Mobile. Activision Blizzard also owns King, the developers behind Candy Crush Saga and Farm Heroes Saga. Diablo Immortal, Blizzard’s mobile Diablo game announced in 2018, is
Conventions and competitions like the one pictures above often take place to showcase the best players in a given esport or to show off a new game, or new feature from an existing game in order to keep players engaged. (Provided/Creative Commons)
releasing this year, bringing Blizzard one step closer to the mobile empire it’s looking for. With all of this information, I’m expecting to see an Overwatch mobile game. I’m not sure if it would be a port of the existing console and PC game to mobile, or entirely its own thing (or even both), but that seems to be something that Blizzard can hand over to Overwatch fans without disappointing them even more. Jeff Kaplan, Overwatch’s game director, revealed in an interview with IGN Nordic that content might get a little dry with the wait for Overwatch 2. “We don’t know yet when Overwatch 2 will release, but since Echo will be the last hero for the base Overwatch game, we don’t expect it will take years until the game sees the light of day.” The game’s newest deathmatch map (a noncompetitive game mode) Kanezaka was released in January, along with an interesting letter written by a character who lives in the city of Kanzaka. This is an unusual amount of lore with a new map for an arcade game mode, and with Blizzcon coming shortly after, we might see the announcement of “Fox Girl.” Fox Girl, whose real name is unknown, is one of the four hero silhouettes that were shown to Gameinformer after the Overwatch 2 reveal. With the new map having tons of Fox imagery, it seems to line up perfectly as a “we’re sorry” hero release. I think no matter the outcome, this Blizzcon is sure to be interesting, not just for Overwatch fans, but all Blizzard fans. You guys have phones right?
Some athletic events postponed due to weather Bryce McKinnis @McKinnisBryce Managing Editor
The UCO Athletic Department announced in a press release Monday morning that it canceled all baseball and softball games and postponed soccer and tennis matches this weekend in anticipation of inclement weather. The Wednesday men’s basketball game against Fort Hays State and both basketball games Saturday against Newman at Hamilton Fieldhouse have not been canceled. All tennis, track and field, and men’s and women’s golf contests are still on, as well. Baseball was set to open the season hosting the third annual Ed-
mond First Pitch Classic at Wendell Simmons Field with matches against East Central, Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma Baptist. Instead, it will open the season Feb. 17 at home against Southern Nazarene. Softball hosted the UCO Classic last Thursday and Friday, picking up wins against SWOSU, Nebraska-Kearney, Ouachita Baptist and Southern Nazarene en route to a 4-0 start. It will resume its season Feb. 19 at home against Colorado Christian. The soccer game against Dallas Baptist at Tom Thompson field was scheduled to open the Bronchos’ season Saturday. Instead, UCO will open its 2021 campaign Feb. 26 at Oklahoma in Norman, and its game against Dallas Baptist has been rescheduled
for March 26. Tennis, ranked No. 8 in the latest ITA rankings, canceled matches in San Angelo, Texas, against Dallas Baptist and Angelo State but plans to
reschedule them for a later date, according to the release. The Bronchos’ next match is set for Feb. 20 and 21 against Cameron and Cowley, respectively, in Edmond.
Campus on Feb. 9 during the onset of below-freezing weather. (Photo/Jacob Silva)
4 | The Vista
February 9, 2021
Sports
Football signee finds new opporunity Continued from Pg. 1
“That [game] really gave me confidence,” Davis said, “and after that, I took off.” The 6-foot-1 pass-catcher scored more touchdowns — seven, to be exact — with awards to follow. He hauled in a team-high 71 passes for 988 yards in nine games, earning AllBig Eight Conference honors and the title of district offensive MVP, despite missing four games due to injury. Davis also helped Choctaw in its postseason run, as the YellowJackets advanced the farthest in school history since 1960. Against Stillwater in the state semifinal game, Davis was arguably the most important player for the YellowJackets, scoring three touchdowns en route to a 38-35 Choctaw victory at Owasso High School. Choctaw eventually fell to Bixby in the 6A-II State Championship, which was played Dec. 5 at Wantland Stadium. UCO receivers coach Tyler Holland acted swiftly on Davis after the title game, and head coach Nick Bobeck did not take long to follow. “It was actually coach Holland first,” Davis said, “but coach Bobeck called me probably five minutes after my talk with coach Holland.” Bobeck described Davis as a “raw prospect” with “rare athleticism” in a
press release Wednesday. “Terrill can really elevate and is a strong kid that attacks the football,” Bobeck said. Terence Carter, an assistant on Choctaw’s basketball and football programs, said Davis is a steal for UCO. “[Davis is] really a D-I wide receiver,” Carter said. “I tried to get him on the field for the longest. . . I wish we had him playing his sophomore and junior seasons, but he was in love with basketball.” Carter said that Davis, among other attributes, is a quick learner, aiding his transition into a new discipline. “He’s quick-twitched, physical and aggressive,” Carter said, “loves to compete and relentless. He knows how to track the ball at its highest points, blocks very well, and is a great team guy.” While some coaches may be upset to see one of their best players switch sports his senior year, Choctaw basketball coach Jermaine Simpson was fully supportive of Davis’s decision. “I was more interested in [Davis] being happy in what he was doing, first of all,” Simpson said. “Second of all, whatever avenue that was going to allow him to become a productive adult and chase his dreams. . . that was my main focus for him.” “[Simpson] was very supportive,” Davis said. “Me and him just had a
talk, and he just wanted me to do what was best for me.” In fact, Simpson was on the northwest sideline, just inside the track at Bill Jensen Field, supporting Davis and other two-sport stars, including Mukes, at CHS home games. “I’m usually right there on the sideline, letting those guys know I’m there to support him,” Simpson said. Simpson and Davis remained in close contact with each other even after the UCO-signee made the decision not to return to Choctaw’s basketball team. “I definitely was hoping he’d come back and play, but I’m more than happy, man,” Simpson said. “He definitely
found his niche, and he’s happy with where he’s headed. “I’ll be following him throughout his football career,” Simpson said. Davis joins a UCO recruiting class 34-deep that includes all Oklahoma signees. He said he is excited to be on campus. “I think it’s going to be great,” Davis said. “I love the coaches and the facilities.” Davis had no plan to play college football a year ago, now he aspires even further. “I think I have a real good chance to get better and hopefully reach the goal of going to the NFL.”
The sports performance bulding at the end of Wantland Stadium allows players to train, meet with coaches, and more. (Provided/Broncho Sports)
UCO men score season-high win over Griffons Tanner Johnson @TDJohnson28 Sports Editor
Callen Haydon, a junior guard for the Bronchos, scored 25 points on 9-9 shooting against Missouri Western in the game Sunday afternoon. (Provided/Broncho Sports)
The University of Central Oklahoma men’s basketball team came out with a 101-96 victory at Missouri Western Sunday afternoon. UCO had eight players score in double figures, three of them scored at least 20 points. “They played really well on offense in the first half and made us work for everything,” UCO head men’s basketball coach Bob Hoffman said. “Our guys did a good job of competing in that first half and not letting them run away with it. Then we did really well to keep up that level of intensity in the second half. We did some good things and I’m just proud of the guys for playing the way they did on a week like we had.” Isaiah Wade led Central with 28 points and 13 rebounds. The Bronchos shot 60 percent from the floor overall, but they found themselves playing from behind for the majority of the first half. The Grif-
fons made their first seven 3-point attempts, and Central trailed 25-18 with nine minutes left until halftime. After a transition layup from Callen Haydon, the Bronchos had their biggest lead of the first half, 41-36, with 4:23 to go. Missouri Western would answer by going on a 14-7 run, and the Bronchos trailed 50-48 at intermission. Central went on a 10-0 run midway through the second half. That built a 12-point lead for UCO. It gave the Bronchos their largest lead of the game at 88-76. Missouri Western was able to answer by cutting it to single digits, but the Bronchos never surrendered the lead. Callen Haydon scored 25 points and added four assists, he was a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor. Jaden Wells scored 20 points and three steals. Camryn Givens added 15 points on 7 of 10 shooting. The Bronchos play next against Fort Hays State Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Hamilton Field House.