Feb. 24, 2010

SWEAT EQUITY: Get fit with wellness center workout classes npage 4

Wednesday n February 24, 2010

Softball tears it up at weekend tournament npage 7

thewichitan

your university n your voice

Fuming over ban

Student continues to fight campus tobacco boycott Chris Collins Managing Editor

Cameron Shaffer, junior SGA senator and the campus tobacco ban’s archenemy, is at it again.

In January, Shaffer revealed findings of a poll he conducted on a tobacco ban at MSU. The result: 53 percent of students think it stinks.

He’s been busy since. Shaffer is organizing a new smoking poll he’ll distribute after Spring Break. He said he has also arranged a meeting March 5 for students and administrators to discuss the current policy, one he hopes to change.

See SHAFFER on page 6

NAACP finds ‘Precious’ to be anything but Sherriale Garnett For the Wichitan

Robotic arachnid inspires students to think outside the LEGO box Brittany Norman Editor in Chief

Mark Weller (above), machinist for the McCoy School of Engineering at MSU, built Charlotte the robotic spider (top) to serve as an aid in introduction to engineering courses.

Other than just looking pretty cool, Weller hopes the arachnid robot will push students to think of more creative ways to work in the freshman level robotics lab. Charlotte has already helped to spark a budding robotics organization.

(Photos by Brittany Norman)

Charlotte isn’t your gardenvariety spider. This arachnid has never seen a waterspout, and her exoskeleton is made out of LEGOs and custom-cut plastic pieces.

This Charlotte doesn’t have a physical web to nab passers-by with, but she’s certainly managed to ensnare the imaginations of students in the McCoy School of Engineering.

The robotic spider was imagined and pieced together by Mark Weller, a machinist in the engineering department. He was inspired by students’ lack of inventiveness in a first-year robotics lab.

“I wanted something that was more than just putting together LEGOs and letting a program run,” Weller said.

He wanted students to look beyond the mundane and be creative.

“We’re trying to teach engineers to think,” Weller said. “Assembling LEGOs doesn’t teach them to think like an engineer.

It teaches them to assemble.

We’re trying to take them to the next level, to how you make something, how you adapt a design.”

Weller brings a unique perspective to the McCoy school as it is. He isn’t an engineer. His job description as a machinist is to take the ideas formulated by engineers and shape them into something concrete and usable.

SPIDEY SPECS

The campus chapter of the NAACP has raised objection to the showing of a film during Black History Month, claiming it reflects negatively on black culture.

A petition is circulating around campus asking that “Precious,” an award-winning film, not be screened for students today and Thursday.

The movie, an adaptation of the novel “Push” by Sapphire, is the story of an illiterate 16-year-old black Harlem girl who has been impregnated twice by her father.

She also suffers longterm physical, mental

See PRECIOUS on page 3

n Charlotte’s creation took a couple of weeks of “very intermittent” work from planning to finished product. n The most labor intensive part was fabricating the legs, which consist of 44 separate parts. n The rest of Charlotte’s body is made of about 40 LEGOs from the LEGO Mindstorms set used in the robotics lab. n The spider’s movement is controlled by a program that propels her forward, backward and directs her to turn.

Part of his duties include supervising the lab.

“A machinist actually does the cutting of materials, cutting metal, plastic, forming materials,” he said. “We take raw materials and cut (them) into very specific shapes.”

He taught for three years at Vernon College before taking a

See CHARLOTTE on page 3

Gordon Goodwin

‘Phat’ band to make its MSU debut Chris Collins Managing Editor

‘Pretty hot and tempting.’

If you haven’t brushed up on your early 2000s slang recently, that’s the long way of saying PHAT, as in Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, an 18-piece ensemble that will be swinging through Akin at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday.

The group is partly about musicianship, partly about originality, and all about having fun, bandleader Gordon Goodwin said.

“We have a lot of fun on stage,” said Goodwin, who plays the keyboard and saxophone along with directing. “We screw around – bring people up on stage.

We make a show out of it.”

The 50-year-old Goodwin was born in Wichita, Kan. His father was a high school

See PHAT on page 3

2 n

The Wichitan

campusvoice nour view

Are you sure you want a parking garage?

Attention, automobile-owning students: this is a public service announcement.

No, we’re not Toyota writing to tell you that your car might careen uncontrollably into incoming traffic (though, if you own a Toyota, you should probably get that checked out).

We’re talking about parking. Again. But before you roll your eyes and turn the page, hear us out.

We’re not griping about the parking situation. We’re just asking you to please, please stop griping because we don’t have a parking garage.

Yes, we know tuition and fees are going up and better parking is nowhere in the game plan. Admittedly, there is a parking shortage – sometimes. That shortage occurs during peak class hours, from around 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and in the more popular parking lots. By “more popular,” we mean, of course, those lots closest to the doors of the buildings.

As far as the off-campus dwellers at The Wichitan have seen, there are almost always at least a handful of free spots in the slightly farther-from-the-door lots.

Now, we know walking from the football practice field to Prothro-Yeager, Bolin

or – God forbid – Dillard can be a hike, especially when Texas weather is having an identity crisis and believes it’s affecting Canada. Let’s just be honest though – who among us couldn’t stand to get a little more exercise a couple times a week?

We can’t speak for the campus, but in our opinion a parking garage is a terrible idea. First of all, have you ever seen a parking garage? They’re really, really ugly. Our campus is actually pretty attractive, but it’s too small to find a place to hide a concrete behemoth.

Which brings us to another problem.

Students complain about having to take a little hike to class. Where do you all think we’re going to put a parking garage?

There’s not a whole lot of open space left.

The closest place to classes we can think of right offhand is the old playground area by Christ Academy.

Funny thing is, the parking lot next to the softball fields usually has open spots.

You can park closer now than you could if we built a multistory parking structure.

Complaining about parking tickets?

MSU students pay $32 for a yearlong parking permit. Tickets for parking outside of your allotted areas cost $10.

We were going to lay out how much other Lonestar Conference schools paid for parking if they had parking garages, but none of them did. That’s probably a sign that universities the size of MSU don’t really warrant parking structures.

We did, however, find that MSU parking tickets are among the cheapest of all LSC schools, so that’s something, right?

Just for a little perspective, University of Texas at Austin has parking garages. Yay! Commuter students have to pay over $600 a year to park in them. That’s the equivalent of 60 parking tickets. Not so great, huh?

We don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars a semester just to park a little more conveniently (and honestly, how much more convenient could parking at MSU be? Even the lot by the Wellness Center is less than a 15 minute walk to the other side of campus). If some of you still really, really want to park closer, just pick a reserved spot and pay your tickets. Chances are, at the end of the semester your tickets will still cost you less than a parking garage would.

February 24, 2010

thewichitan 3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 n Wichita Falls, Texas 76308 News Desk: (940) 397-4704 n Ads: (940) 397-4705 Fax (940) 397-4025 n E-mail WICHITAN@mwsu.edu

editorial board/staff

nEditor in Chief: Brittany Norman nManaging Editor: Chris Collins nEntertainment Editor: Lauren Wood nOp-Ed Editor: Position open nSports Editor: Josh Hoggard nPhoto Editor: Julia Raymond nAdvertising manager: Jamie Monroe nCopy editor: Phoebe Kurmi and Amaka Oguchi nadviser: Randy Pruitt nReporters: Leah Roberts nPhotographers: Patrick Johnston, Loren Eggenschwiler

Copyright © 2007. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. First copy of the paper is free of charge; additional copies are $1. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publication. Letters should be brief and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.

Jedi got schooled, seeks to clarify

Whose health really matters?

more than likely be less than While many students were our health care premiums dreading Monday mornanyway (the average cost of ing, I was anxiously awaiting healthcare last year was $7,129 the morning news. President per person), meaning that we Obama was going to announce will actually SAVE money. his proposal for healthcare reThe argument I’m trying to form in an attempt to answer get across today is not about the questions everyone is askhealthcare, it’s not about ing about potential healthcare Obama, it’s not even really ‘fixes.’ about politics; it’s about huI have been met with countman nature. less heated debates these past Time after time I have couple of weeks in almost all heard people say that they of my classes, so before everyLeah Roberts don’t want to have to pay for one says that my reasoning is other people’s health care; that biased, un-American, or down For the Wichitan they don’t think they should right stupid, please observe the have to pay for the poor and following: Yes, I’m British. Yes, I’m for nationalized health care. No, I don’t needy; that it’s not the responsibility of the see myself as a ‘liberal’. No, I’m not on the State, Government or people to take care of those citizens that are currently risking their Obama bandwagon.

I say it exactly how I see it – for me and lives simply because they can’t afford healthfor millions of people across America it’s clear care. Excuse me? Whose job is it then?

There are 6 million Texas residents currentthat health care isn’t working and I am glad that something is finally being done about it. ly without healthcare. That’s a large number of The President’s plan sets out to first and people who would benefit enormously from foremost make insurance more affordable, of- the proposed plan. These people need help, fering significant tax credits to families and they need medicine and they need to have the reduced cost sharing for families with modest knowledge that they can get access to healthcare if they need it. incomes.

I find it extremely hard to digest the fact The plan aslo sets out to invest in community health centers; regulate insurance pre- that in a state like Texas, where millions of mium increases, allow people to keep current dollars are spent on pro-life advertising, that coverage, strengthen employers’ responsibility we can’t all agree human life is important and to protect their workers, crack down on waste, sacred no matter how old you are, no matfraud and abuse, increase access to generic ter where you work or how much money you drugs and increase fees on brand name drugs. have.

I truly believe that God created us all equal, The plan also aims to end insurance discrimination against people with pre-existing con- and that God believes in the human race helping one another to live well and prosper. As far ditions.

In short the plan sets out to fix everything as I’m concerned we could all make a tiny sacrifice to benefit those who need it most. we’ve ever complained about.

Now is the time to help one another and I can understand many of peoples’ concerns, such as the tax increase that would go along so I urge everyone to watch Thursday’s biparwith the reform. Understood, noted, agreed. tisan meeting (you can watch it in it’s entirety We generally are overtaxed and underpaid, at WhiteHouse.gov) and just think about the but what if this is the one thing that will help small implications it may have on you compared to the great benefit it would give anus all?

To start with, what we will pay in tax will other.

And so, the So, for humans, true Pa d a w a n - t u r n e d objectivity is comMaster has become a pletely impossible.

Padawan once again.

The only way for It seems that, in my true objectivity to exendless Jedi knowlist is if there is a truly edge, I have become objective being. just as confusing as the I believe that there great Master Yoda. is an objective truth. I And for that reason, believe there is a being I must clarify that my that is completely obsecond most recent jective. And, if you’ve nugget of wisdom, read any of the colJosh Hoggard that only Siths deal umns that have been in absolutes, should written in the past ( JeJedi guru be read from strictly a di-related or not, but scientific standpoint. possibly excluding the As a writer, I failed to inform the zombie survival guide), then I bet you reader that the debate of objective know where I’m going with this. truth versus subjective truth was to be Any piece of literature that has been kept within the arena of modern sci- written has a deeper story within it. ence.

So many times, we take published From the scientific standpoint, laws works out of the context in which they are always being bent and broken. Few were written and completely miss the theories or laws ever stand the test of point they were trying to make. time when it comes to science.

Take George Orwell’s classic 1984 When Columbus sailed to the for example. As well written and inother side of the world and discovered triguing of a story as it is, the anti-war the world was not flat, as scientist had and anti-government attitudes that once predicted, he disproved a theory. were popular in the time that it was Galileo expanded upon this idea. written are reflected, almost blatantly, True, that was about 500 years ago, if you know the context. but scientific theories once widely acSo, for past columns, this column, cepted as fact have been disproven and future columns, it must be underagain and again as time has marched stood that the author has context of on. his own.

Science is, in and of itself, a pursuit And that context, for me, is my faith of the objective and the task of trying in God. This life has no other context. to maintain an objective point of view.

Beyond the love of Star Wars and Since scientists are human and, inher- crazy stories from high school is a colently subjective beings, this becomes lege kid who struggled with the idea impossible by its very essence. of God for most of his life and was

found by Him, through blood, sweat tears, on the brink of his senior year in high school.

And, since Chris isn’t writing his Crisis of Faith column at this point in time, and the paper has had a lack of the idea of religion, I shall steal his thunder for just this week.

I know what it is like to struggle with faith. I know how hard it is to fully accept any religion or idea of a god as true or absolute.

But this goes beyond religion or ideas or gods or truth.

God is my ultimate reality.

In the realm of objective versus subjective, God encompasses both.

As previously stated, the only way objectivity can exist is if there is a truly transcendent and objective being. I believe that being to be God. Also stated was the idea that even if there is objective truth, its only use is what can be found in its subjectivity.

The clear exception of course has to be God. Since God is a personal God, religion becomes relationship, and the objective becomes simultaneously subjective.

The God I believe in is perfectly both completely objective and completely subjective.

I know that doesn’t seem logical, but the God I believe in defies logic.

That being said, I apologize for my lack of clarity in the matter of objective and subjective truth. “This is my truth, go get your own” is meant to be purely from the standpoint of science.

Next week, pending any further confusing mishaps, we’ll continue our journey into the deep realms of the Force.

nLETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Jedi Hoggard, I am writing to let you know that you are wrong. By claiming there is no absolute truth you are claiming an absolute truth. Thus you cannot be right by your own regard.

The idea of absolute truths not existing is incorrect for the mere fact that every living being on this earth is subjected to death. Death is an absolute truth; It has never been disproved, existed for a while, and applies to everything. Rationally you cannot compartmentalize existence into two categories (black and white), but you cannot compartmentalize it in one either (gray). Life is built of many colors; La vida es un carnaval (Celia Cruz reference!). But the colors (as all things do) fade.

These re absolute truths, sir. We can discuss humanity via morals, ethics, rights and wrongs, but these are subjective and arbitrary to different cultures and societies. And our societies are built upon different ideas from different individuals but face the same certainty.

Truth as an opinion cannot be the same for everyone, but truth as an opinion does not offset an absolute.

Lets look at this in scientific terms (I know your love for science runs deep within your Jedi soul). Take a picture of yourself and look at the picture in the terms that you are billions of cells doing many different things but

ending in the same result. A truth of these cells is the human form (you), a truth of all existence is birth/death.

If you look at that picture and tell yourself that there are no such things of cells, let alone millions of different cells, does not extinct all cells from existence. Because you cannot determine the objectivity of the nonexistence of cells.

There is also the question to universal right and wrong, and I find proof of this as well. If you ask a million of people “is what Hitler did right or wrong,” chances are 999,990 people will say wrong, and the last ten being Neo-Nazis say “Yes” does this right Hitler’s extreme wrong? I extremely doubt this.

The ten Neo-Nazis, using cognitive dissonance(look it up) can determine and justify what he did was in fact good for humanity. However, cognitive dissonance does not justify ending millions of lives, and it never will. If you don’t believe me or follow ask Dr. Noam Chomsky, he can clear things up.

Life is worth living because there is birth and death, and life should not be taken away from anyone by anyone.

Because there are three absolutes isn’t it worth searching for more? These are truths, not clear, nor small, nor accepted or relied upon but they in fact exist.

-Daniel Reiser

news

February 24, 2010

campus briefs

CHARLOTTE.......................................................................................................................continued from page 1

n today:

Journey of Hope Grief Support Group in CSC Apache at 3:30 p.m.

Movie showing: ‘Precious’ in the CSC at 7 p.m.

n tHURSDAY:

Movie showing: ‘Precious’ in the CSC at 11 a.m.

Professor Edwards: Discussion in politics in Dillard 101 at 2 p.m.

Real Women, Real Beauty Group in CSC Apache at 1:30 p.m.

What School systems want Presentation in Shawnee Theatre at 6 p.m.

Artist Lecture Series: Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band in Akin Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.

n Saturday:

Alpha Phi High Heel Walk the Quadrange at 11 a.m.

in

MSU Night with the Wildcats at Kay Yeager coliseum at 7 p.m .

n Monday:

National Survey for Student Engagement reminder

Where’s the Tent? from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Residence Hall Blood Drive in the CSC Comanche at 11 a.m.

n Tuesday: Where’s the Tent? from 10

a.m. to

2 p.m.

Resumania Days in Wichita I

& II at 1 p.m.

Faculty Forum Series: Dr. Nathan Jun in the CSC

Shawnee at 7 p.m.

The Wichitan n 3

Senior Recital: Stephanie Benson in Akin Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

job at Midwestern in will start incorporatJuly 2009. ing Charlotte into the “At Vernon I was lab,” Weller said. “The training the machinists students will be able to how to build,” he said. fabricate the legs and “Here, we’re training put them together. They the engineer. There’s a will get the experience lot of crossover because of taking the raw maengineers really need to terial, putting it in the understand how things mill, cutting out the are built, otherwise you pieces, sanding them get a lot of mad maand putting them tochinists because the gether.” engineer has designed Once the base modsomething that can’t be els – possible Charlotte built.” clones – are completed, Weller said he tries Weller hopes students to make students think will start making imabout how their “latest provements on the deand greatest wonderful sign. widgets” will be made.

“Beyond simply “When the students putting together the are in the lab, I’m usuLEGO pieces, they’ll ally either helping or actually manufacture sticking my head in and their own parts. When making sure nothing you’re manufacturing, has blown up,” Weller you can (think about) said with a laugh. how this was designed Lab equipment can and how it can be imbe dangerous, Weller proved. They can add said. sensors so she can ‘see’ “You can end up obstacles and turn missing pieces of anataround them, ‘bump omy,” he said, adding As a machinist, Mark Wells can take raw materials, like sensors’ so she can react that he’s thankful there the tall metal cylinder, and create finished products to touching things. She have been no “student like the chess pieces in front. could be programmed (Photo by: Brittany Norman) to go search for things.” casualties” since he’s been at MSU. Right now, Weller “It drives eight legs with two “We don’t want any said Charlotte is just less students in engineering,” he motors,” Weller said. “It can move a “moving chassis.” Students can said. “We have a lot of sharp things forward, backward and turn on its build atop that starting point and own axis.” that move really fast.” make her into a more advanced roAnd, he added, “it looks a little bot.

Even if the labs in the McCoy School of Engineering can be dan- creepily like a spider.”

Students haven’t started building Charlotte may not be able to their own Charlottes yet but she gerous places, Charlotte isn’t venomous. In fact, she doesn’t have weave any webs, but she might just seems to have sparked an interest fangs at all. She lacks eyes as well, be the smartest spider you’ll ever in robotics for some. Weller said but what she’s missing in the way meet. Weller said the mathematics the general student reaction to the of general arachnid anatomy, she involved in making her legs work spider-bot has been “fascination.” makes up for with her dance skills. is more advanced than anything “I’ve been surprised at just how The spider’s legs are made of taught in even master’s degree level fascinated people have been by the high-density plastic custom-cut classes. whole concept,” he said.

“The math to design (the leg linkusing a mill in one of McCoy’s labs.

So far, Charlotte has been at least Weller utilized a leg-linkage design age system) is Ph.D. level math,” he partially responsible for a budding patented by Joe Klann in 1994 and said. “Thankfully (Klann) published robotics organization, still in its inmodified it to fit with his vision for his patent. I would not have been fancy at the moment.

Charlotte. The Klann linkage sys- able to design this linkage.”

“It’s not yet an official club, but The true test for Charlotte would we’ve started the organizing meettem allows all eight of the spider’s legs to be operated using only four be whether or not she served her ings,” Weller said. “We’ll be putting motors, but two of those were just purpose – inspiring students. together a constitution and electing “Hopefully next semester we officers and everything.” added in for a little extra torque.

Students from the intro to engineering course Charlotte debuted in approached Weller to ask if he taught a “LEGO robotics class.”

office of student development and orientation, said he was unaware of the students’ concerns.

“I never received any written or official notification that the MSU chapter of the NAACP had an issue with the film,” he said.

Calhoun cited awards the movie has garnered, including the NAACP Image Award. Calhoun said the film brings to light many issues prevalent within the black community.

“We wanted to celebrate the aspect of black art and acknowledge

some disparities that occur within the African American community, to bring light to them through various topics and discussion panels,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun said such topics include inner-city education and the socio-economic problems within the black community. All are issues prevalent in the lives of MSU students, he maintains.

Despite the protests, Calhoun said the show will go on.

MSU has paid approximately $400 for viewing rights, he said

“My first thought was ‘there’s so much more to robotics than LEGOs,” he said. “We don’t have a course for robotics at this point, but (the organization) could be an outlet.”

If the plans for a robotics club come to fruition and student interest remains high, there could be opportunities for engineering students to compete in robotics competitions.

Weller has plans for creations of a non-arachnid variety as well. Within the next year, he said he’d like to start working on a 3D printer.

“For a few hundred dollars you can now build a printer that’s similar to an inkjet printer, only instead of ink it deposits a little filament of melted plastic,” he said.

He described it as similar to the concept of piping icing onto a cake.

“You turn it on and as it squirts plastic, it builds up a 3D plastic piece layer by layer.”

The end result is something called “rapid prototyping.” Instead of taking a piece of metal or another raw material and cutting it out on a machine, a model could theoretically designed in a computer program. Students would need only to push “print”, and the printer would create the model. “(Rapid prototyping) is a technique that’s really in its infancy,” Weller said.

He added that a number of very expensive ways exist to achieve the end result. The idea of a desktop modelmaking machine could do the same thing for prototyping that the laser printer did for desktop publishing.

“If you have a $1,500 printer on your desktop that can create parts, you can make something just for you,” Weller said, citing an article he read recently about runway-ready plastic shoes that had been literally printed out.

If the concept holds true, a 3D printer could allow Charlotte, the robot spider, to reproduce on the same scale as her namesake in the E.B. White children’s novel Charlotte’s Web – hundreds upon hundreds of robot spider pieces just waiting for engineering students to piece them together and come up with new tricks.

PRECIOUS..........................................................................................................................continued from page 1 wand sexual abuse from her unemployed mother. Her first child, known only as “Mongo,” has Down syndrome.

Some black students maintain the movie does not relate to the majority of black students at MSU. “I have never come across anyone that deals with the issues that are reflected in ‘Precious,’” said student Chastity Smith.

“We choose the petition because we do not want to turn the month in which we should be celebrating our heritage into a negative one, so

the petition is more of a silent protest,” said Jessica Jones, president of the MSU chapter of NAACP. Some 20 students have signed the petition, which is still circulating on campus, Jones said.

Although students are petitioning the showing of “Precious” some say they plan to attend the panel discussion immediately following the film.

“I would love to hear opinions that counter my own,” Smith said.

Dominique Calhoun, coordinator of multi-cultural services for the

PHAT....................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 teacher and his mother is a retired teacher for the physically handicapped.

The bandleader said his interest in music was a bit of an anomaly for the family.

“Neither of my parents were into music that much,” he said. “My dad was actually kind of a jock.”

Goodwin said his parents were supportive of his musical interest regardless. They bought him a saxophone, keyboard and other instruments to fiddle with.

“I’m sure my interest in music was kind of a shock to them,” he said. “As a kid I was a klutz.

I’m sure they said, ‘Oh no, my kid’s a band geek!’”

The Goodwin family moved to Los Angeles when Gordon was 2 years old. He got his musical start not long after, while in kindergarten.

“The music teacher said, ‘Why don’t you write a song? One week I would do a waltz, then a march, a polka. It wasn’t great, but I got me started. It got me thinking: hey, I can write my own music.”

He wrote his first big band piece in the seventh grade, he said. He started bands – one of which was named Jazz Chart – in the elementary school, middle school and high school.

“It was a good training ground for being a leader,” Goodwin said.

He said his band offers audiences a veritable cornucopia of musical styles, from blues to swing to bebop to big band. Earth, Wind and Fire, the Beatles, Maynard Ferguson and Buddy Rich all place high on his influence list, he said, but this is a different band – one that can amalgamate all those styles into something truly unique.

“My interests have always been wide-ranging,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin attributes a lot of the band’s success to the skill of his 18-piece ensemble, most of whom are professional studio musicians in Los Angeles.

“I can basically put anything in front of them and they can sight-read it,” he said.

He said working with 18 strong-willed, talented musicians can get overwhelming.

“To get them to march in order, sometimes you have to yell at them, sometimes you just

have to talk to them, and sometimes you have to pay them,” Goodwin said. “But they are there for the music.”

Goodwin assembled the group about 10 years ago, he said.

“We basically got together to have fun and make a record or two,” he said.

Four albums and a decade later the band is still swingin’ strong.

“We’re still just bangin’ away at it,” Goodwin said. “And we’re doing things now that I never anticipated.”

The Big Phat Band will release its fifth CD in September. Goodwin said about eight of the songs have been recorded. He said the challenge with this recording is trying to please old fans – and excite new ones.

“We have some expectations to deal with,” he said. “You have to do what got you there, but don’t stand still. You have to come back around to ideas you haven’t done yet. Once in a while it’s good to step outside the lines.”

Goodwin said he just has fun with his music and that he doesn’t necessarily try to innovate.

This can sound too contrived.

“I just play what sounds good to me,” he said.

Goodwin, a Baby Boomer, said his band attempts to merge old influences with contemporary ones.

“We all love Count Basie,” he said. “But we’re recording with the latest technology most contemporary influences.”

4 n

The Wichitan

feature

February 24, 2010

Fit club From the relaxing to the hardcore, the Wellness Center offers programs to help anyone stave off the freshman fifteen Chris Collins Managing Editor

packed.”

Trammel said the new facility has drawn attention from people who otherwise might not know about fitness courses.

Feel the burn!

We hoped there would be more people getting Since the MSU Wellness Center opened in summer 2009, multitudes of students, faculty and active when we moved into the new facility,” she said. “It has helped – it’s brought people’s awarealumni have been dropping in to drop weight. ness to the group fitness. Before, when we were out Or to just get in shape.

Everybody has different reasons for attending by the lake, not everybody knew we had programs. fitness classes, said Kevyn Trammel, coordinator of We had great numbers over there, but it’s a great benefit being over here now.” wellness programs.

Trammel said everyone works out differently “Some people come to get in shape, others just want to relax,” said Trammel, who teaches five of – some people like to cool down on a treadmill after they exercise, others like to shoot hoops, the fitness classes. “It’s for everyone.”

The Wellness program at MSU started in 2000 walk or jog. A consolidated fitness center cawith spinning. It was called ‘Spinning with Texas,’ ters to everyone’s needs.

“Attendance has gone through the roof,” Trammel said.

Ten years later, spinning is still a part of the she said. “And it can only get bigger beMSU fitness regimen, but many more courses have cause people are still learning about all been added. Currently the Center hosts 12 exercise the stuff we’ve got over here.”

Trammel said the she isn’t curcourses, which totals to over 50 meetings for any rently looking to expand instrucgiven week. tors, but is always trying to expand “It’s been a great progression,” Trammel said.

Trammel said the programs have mainly changed and improve classes.

“We’ve got a great group of inbecause they’ve been consolidated into the Wellness Center. Before the facility was built, activities structors,” she said. “All of them were held in the Rec Center by the lake and in the are so willing to help and get coliseum. Some students saw it as inconvenient to certified for other classes.”

Angie Reay, a spin teacher, have to go to two separate buildings to work out, is the complex director for she said.

Trammel said she never offers fewer classes to housing. Keith Williamson, students from semester to semester. In fact, she’s university physician, and Dail Neely, dean of students, also always trying to add more. teach spin classes.

“We don’t take anything out,” she said.

Neely said he has been teachShe said the Center issues monthly surveys to students who work out in the building to gauge ing spin classes at MSU since 2001.

He said activity in his class peaks around Sumwhat they like, what they want more of, and what mer, Spring Break and the New Year. could be just a little better.

“It’s pretty cyclical,” he said.

The surveys are usually given in the fitness classNeely teaches two classes per week on Tuesdays es. So far, none have been distributed outside the and Thursdays. He said the classes keep him active Center doors to the rest of the campus.

“We only try to have the classes people want,” and in cycling shape.

“If you instruct, you have to go!” he said jokTrammel said. “Of course, people who take the ingly. poll always want more of the classes they take.”

Neely said about 1,000 people attended spinThe step class is new this semester, she said. It’s ning classes from Jan. 15 – Feb. 15 this year. already one of the most popular.

“It’s been crazy!” he said.

“They just love it,” Trammel said. “It’s packed Male and female students can participate in any every time.”

Most classes have about the same number of class at any time, Trammel said. Guys, that means people attending every week – a lot. Attendance yoga is not just for girls. And you don’t need tesnumbers for the courses stay about even, Trammel tosterone to do abs.

“Sometimes people think, ‘yeah, aerobics classsaid. This could be because the Center sees quite a es are just for women,’ but guys can come, too,” bit of return business.

“There’s a lot of the same faces every time,” she Trammel said.

“Classes are open to all fitness levels,” she said. “Right now, we don’t have any classes that are said. “I think all of our instruggling. They usually stay

structors are good about incorporating beginners in and not pointing them out. But letting them feel like they’re part of the class, too.”

Even if a student can only exercise with the group for a fraction of the class period, it’s okay.

“It’s intimidating to go into a room full of people in a class where you’re not sure you’re gonna make it,” Trammel said. “Even if you stay for 15 or 20 minutes, it’s fine. You can leave when you want to – we definitely don’t call people out.”

Trammel said she doesn’t prefer teaching any one class to another.

“I like to teach all of them,” she said. “I can’t be biased.”

Trammel said instructing helps her to stay in shape, but also helps her train for other activities.

“I run, and this definitely helps,” she said. “It’s like interval training – instead of having to go to a track to run, I teach these classes. It gets your heart

rate up, then takes it down.”

The Center will begin to host aquatics classes in the pool when the weather warms, Trammel said.

That could mean March, April or even May. “It’ll be open for the summer,” she said.

Last summer, students looking to sweat in the facility had to enroll in classes for the term, or shell out about $30. Trammel said she wasn’t yet sure what arrangement the Center will make with students this summer, but anticipates it could be a similar system to last year’s.

She said facility administrators study the wellness programs of schools comparable in size to MSU, such as Tarleton.

“Sometimes our program exceeds the other ones,” she said. “We do try to keep with the trends.

Like whatever is popular in big health clubs. I think the kids expect us to keep up.

The Wellness Center is open 5:30 a.m. – midnight Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m.

– 10 p.m. on the weekend.

Students, faculty and staff have been flooding into the new Bruce and Graciela Redwine Wellness Center since it opened in the Summer of 2009. The facility boasts a plethora of excersice bikes, treadmills and weight sets, as well as an indoor running track, a pool and a basketball court. But for many, the heart of the Center is in its fitness classes, including zumba, yoga, circuit training, spin and abs. (Photos by: Loren Eggenschwiler and Julia Raymond)

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The Wichitan n 5

Headbanging at the Hanger Bands bring back the metal scene to Wichita Falls Josh Hoggard Sports Editor

The Red Chord and Mychildren Mybride entertained the crowd last Tuesday at the Hanger. (Photos by Julia Raymond)

The metal scene is making a comeback.

Wichita Falls used to be known, at least locally, for it’s good local metal and crazy shows.

Five years ago, shows were regular weekend activities for students in Wichita Falls. I remember all the way from the Mack Stack to the Brickhouse to the 169, and everywhere in between.

I hardly remember a weekend throughout my high school years in Wichita Falls that I didn’t go to a show, or at least didn’t hear about a show or get one of those pesky flyers.

Then, as if by some sort of Ice Age occurred, the metal scene in this town became all but extinct.

Local bands seemed to die off.

Big name talent from out of town started to skip right over the Falls.

Venues started to die off.

nGentlemen Prefer Blondes: AN ENTERTAINMENT COLUMN

A quick lesson in textiquette Text messages are very handy little things.

I mean, there are a lot of things you can do with a text that you can’t do while talking on the phone. For instance, it’s considered really weird to yack on the phone while peeing in a public restroom. But texting?

As long as you’ve got your phone on silent, no one’s going to know. Not the person next to you, and certainly not the person you’re texting.

Pee-texters of the world can rejoice in anonymity. However, there are a lot of situations where texting would be considered tacky, inappropriate, or just plain rude. What follows are some basic text etiquette guidelines- textiquette, if you will, for our mobile society.

1. The “Text-in” In theory, texting rather than calling in to say you can’t make it to work/class/practice seems super easy and timeefficient. You’ve taken up five seconds of someone else’s time and saved a lot of yours.

However, while you’re at home watching Jersey Shore reruns, you look like a super douche to your teammates, coworkers, and classmates who got your “I’ve been puking up blood all night, sry” text.

Because we assume you’re at home watching Jersey Shore reruns, even if you are puking up blood.

Manage a phone call, or at the very least an e-mail to your professor. Because everyone is going to read right through whatever your excuse is and come to one conclusion: hungover.

2. The Text Fight Text fighting is the stupidest thing ever. It starts with something simple, like, “Hey, have you seen my sweater?” Thirty messages later, it degenerates into, “I DIDN’T STEAL YOUR SWEATER WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS ACCUSING ME.” People can read into things wrong, people can get defensive for no reason,

Jamie Monroe Advertising Manager even if there was nothing to fight about.

Even if there is something to fight about, text fighting is passive aggressive and can drag on for hours, whereas a simple call can clear things up pretty quickly. If you’re mad at someone, don’t deal with it through text. If whatever you have to say takes ten messages, man up and hit the cancel button.

One exception to this rule: if your girlfriend/boyfriend hangs up on you during a standard phone fight, sending a snitty text message is not advised, but may be used with caution. Just remember they’ll have a record of what you said days, weeks, maybe even months after the fact.

3. The “K” Text Everyone has gotten the “K” text, or the “lol” text.

When you’ve had something awesome to say, come up with a set of awesome plans for the weekend, or otherwise taken your time to send something thoughtful, only to get a one-word response back. Worse, a oneletter response. Or a not-really-aword response. f the conversation is done, let it drop. If you’ve settled up extensive dinner plans and need

to send a confirmation text, take the time to say, “Sounds good, see you then.” YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND “K” AFTER THIS. Just let it go. If you compulsively have to have the last word, try something like, “Awesome, can’t wait!”

The “K” text is unacceptable under any conditions because it is never not annoying.

4. The “I’m Bored” Text There are some people in this world that really love texting.

They have those nifty phones with the touch keyboard and a real keyboard and a separate attachable keyboard with thumb rests. I try not to judge these people.

However, some of those people love texting so much, they have to bug people into having text conversations with them. These people deserve to be judged. If you have to send someone a text telling them how bored you are, try reading a book, or making a sandwich.

Maybe even venture out into the sunlight and have an actual conversation with someone.

Avoid sending back “For the love of God would you please stop texting me!” when receiving an “I’m bored” text.

It will inevitably lead to a text fight, and your puny, untrained thumbs and standard keypad will not hold out.

Now if everyone can follow these easy textiquette guidelines, texters can enjoy the happiness of receiving a text, instead of dreading it.

News of shows came once in a blue moon.

But from what I saw last Tuesday night at the Hangar, the metal scene is starting to gain resurgence in the culture of Wichita Falls.

Nationally known acts such as The Red Chord (Metal Blade Records) and Mychildren Mybride (Solid State Records) stopped in Wichita Falls on their tour and left their fans craving more.

Not that the bands were bad, but that they were so good that a 45-minute set each just wasn’t enough.

The diversity of the two bands made for a truly unique show.

Believe it or not, not all metal is the same.

For grindcore fans, The Red Chord is one of the best of the best. For breakdown junkies, you can’t get much better than Mychildren Mybride.

Although I’m personally not a huge grindcore fan, I can appreciate a band like The Red Chord. While half the time, I didn’t know where the songs were going, the other half, I was awestruck by what the instruments were doing.

A key characteristic of grindcore is its hard-to-follow, yet incredibly difficult guitar, drum, and bass lines. They mess with time signatures and pretty much do whatever they want.

If you want your mind blown by musicality, and you like metal, The Red Chord is a good choice.

However, if you’re more like

me, and want to bounce and feel the rhythm of your metal, Mychildren Mybride is a great fit.

Mychildren Mybride has mastered the breakdown.

Lyrically, they are uplifting and charge up their listeners.

Musically, they’re phenomenal.

And, when they left the stage, the crowd was left in awe and yearning for an encore.

Which, of course, they complied.

As an avid show attendee, from local to national shows, this was one of the better shows that I’ve seen in a while.

For the 150 plus people crammed in the Hangar on that Tuesday night, it was a night that won’t soon be forgotten.

And hopefully, for people who don’t know about the sleeping giant that is the Wichita Falls metal scene, it will be a wake up call.

Metal bands are emerging in Wichita Falls. (Photo by Julia Raymond)

AVA spreads ‘Love’ in their new free album Lauren Wood Entertainment Editor

Angels and Airwaves have given fans a belated Valentine’s Day present: their new, free album.

Their third studio album, Love, consists of ten tracks all free to download off their website, angelsandairwaves.com.

The band self-released their new album in hopes that their fans will pay them back through ticket sales and merchandise purchases. Fans can also choose to make a small donation for the

album at the site, and in return, they’ll receive a bonus remix of the first single, “Hallucinations.”

Angels & Airwaves also plans to release a full-length feature film, also called Love, which is a thematic companion to the record. Although the band has given no official release date as of yet, the film is expected to make its debut online sometime in March.

The band members, including guitarist David Kennedy, bassist Matt Wachter and drummer Adam Willard, are led by the longtime singer and guitarist

of the ‘90s pop-punk titans Blink-182, Tom DeLonge.

With two successful albums under their belt, it’s safe to say that AVA have established themselves outside of the Blink 182 sound, but the audience is constantly reminded of the old tunes when DeLonge belts out the lyrics.

Other platinum-selling rock musicians who have given away free records include Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails.

Check out their new tunes and see if you fall in love, with Love.

Above: Angels and Airwaves released their third album “Love” and is available online. Left: Textiquette is the basic text ettiquette guidelines. (Photo Courtesy)

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The Wichitan

February 24, 2010

Wrestling: dumb men doing dumb things Lauren Wood Entertainment Editor

The WWE RAW tour, Road to WrestleMania, which is traveling the U.S. with some its greatest wrestlers, is stopping through Wichita Falls on Sunday, hoping to draw a crowd from our quaint city.

I’m not going to lie, when I was a kid, I enjoyed watching wrestling.

I was glued to the T.V., along with my brother, as we cheered on our favorites.

(Mine was Rey Mysterio. You know, the super cool one with a tattoo of his spine going down his back.)

However, that was a long time ago. I came to realize the truth about the “sport” and quickly moved on from my fixation.

But, as some of you know, some people never grow out of this phase.

They still collect WWE t-shirts and merchandise, as well as spend money to watch this ridiculous masquerade, all while still in college.

The problem with wrestling fans is they act as if this is an actual sport, and even worse, some of them still believe it’s real.

Sorry to break it to you, but

wrestling is not real. It is just dumb men,doing dumb things.

Nothing about it is authentic, not the moves, not the story lines, not the outcomes. It is all scripted and performed by some pretty horrible actors.

If you think a middle-aged overweight guy like Mick Foley is strong enough to catch a flying elbow to the head, take a pile driver, get hit with a steel chair, and still get up to win the match against all odds, then you are living in a fantasy world and need to come back to reality.

And if you believe grown men strutting around in bikini bottoms and knee high socks qualify as a sport… well, have fun staying single.

Seriously, these 200- to 300- pound grown men spend twenty minutes or so throwing themselves at each other while half

naked and oily.

Half of them are wearing Nacho Libre type masks, and the other half has receding hair lines and long stringy locks, probably due to all the steroids they are on.

If you have ever been to an actual match, (I have not), I can only imagine what the crowd must consist of. I am envisioning men with mullets, hair metal band rejects and chubby guys whose only interaction with women is when they are cheering for the WWE Divas.

The most humorous part of this phenomenon is the names of the wrestlers.

T h e Under taker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, H u l k H o g a n and The Rock are all catchy n a m e s that have stayed familiar throughout the years.

But what really cracks me up, is their real names.

Take for example, Triple H. His real name is Paul Michael Levesque.

I guess that’s not as fearsome as Triple H. Yeah that must be it, because Triple H really sends a shiver down my spine.

Hulk Hogan’s real name is Terry Bollea and Stone Cold Steve Austin’s real name is Steve Williams.

I understand that most of these awful names were created in the 80’s, but still, even the more recent names are a bit on the ridiculous side.

Overall, here is my message to all you avid college fans: Grow up.

The real world awaits you.

I’m not saying that you have to give up those nostalgic memories of you watching wrestling, but as college student, I think you should retire the WWE t-shirts and merchandise.

Or at least after some of you go and watch the matches on Sunday.

Rey Mysterio’s real name is Oscar Gutierrez. (Photo Courtesy)

WWE RAW tour:

Road to WrestleMania Sunday, Feb. 28 at 3:00 p.m.

Kay Yeager Coliseum Buy your tickets online at wfmpec.com Come See Your Favorite Raw Superstars Including: John Cena Randy Orton Sheamus Mark Henry The Miz MVP Cody Rhodes/ Ted DiBiase Evan Bourne Maryse Kelly Kelly And Many More!!! *Lineup subject to change

SHAFFER......................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 The meeting will be held in Shawnee Theatre from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

“This is not a me vs. him mentality,” Shaffer said. “We’re just hoping to be more clear about student opinion.”

Shaffer said one of his main qualms with the new policy is its lack of a disciplinary mechanism. Students are asked to curb the behavior of other students.

He also argues that the current policy is invalid because it was presented by faculty and staff, not students. More than anything, Shaffer said he wants to have an open-minded discussion.

“We want to say, ‘Here’s our argument, let’s talk about it.’”

It’s been a long fight for Shaffer, who doesn’t use tobacco products. He conducted preliminary research and polling on the issue last semester and has been gathering steam ever since.

Now more than ever before he’s hopeful the policy will change.

“When I first started this I wasn’t spearheading it,” Shaffer said. “I was working with a few other people. But we didn’t think we could change it.”

He said the furthest he thought the proposal would go was to the Student Government Association vote, but even there it was likely to fail.

“At this point, I notice a lot of people do not agree with what’s happening ideologically,” Shaffer said. “But on a practical level, students are busy and fairly apathetic. People need to care for this to work.”

He said that if his proposal were voted on today, it would pass.

“But the chances of it passing increase with the work we do prior to the vote,” Shaffer said. “In the end, for the Board of Regents to truly be convinced,

the results of his poll of 150 students but was told he didn’t have enough data.

He said he was told he would need to collect 500 to 1,000 respondents for the results to be considered.

“I think they had some valid concerns about how representative of the demographic my data was,” Shaffer said. “It was an undergraduate project and I didn’t have complete data on hand, nor the resources of a professional polling company.”

He calculates the margin of error for his poll to be between two and four percent.

“It’s not very much,” Shaffer said.

“Even calculating the error in, there’s still a huge number of students who feel this way.”

Lamb said he sees some of Shaffer’s concerns with the proposed bill mirrored in campus activity preceding the current bill.

In short, meetings were held to discuss the issue, but hardly anyone showed Cameron Shaffer is a student Senator who is spearheading a protest against up. the smoking ban. (Photo by Julia Raymond) “There wasn’t a lot of student representation in those meetings,” Lamb said. the students have to make their voice He thinks this is what makes his cause “It seemed like there was a lot of apathy. heard.” distinct from the administration’s.

It’s reasonable that they felt their voice Shaffer said his main responsibility is “I’m trying to protect student rights wasn’t heard.” keeping student liberties from getting and they’re trying to uphold individuals’ Lamb said the Office of Student Aftrampled on like a cigarette butt. preferences,” Shaffer said. “I think that’s fairs stands in the middle of administra“The crux of the matter is about free- where we’re butting heads. That’s why tion and students. They listen to student dom and responsibility,” Shaffer said. “I this bill is important. This is not about concerns, help assess those concerns, try to sacrifice my well-being to protect health. It’s not about smoking. It’s about and make changes if need be. the rights of others. Even if the result of freedom.”

Lamb said he is a supporter of the that sacrifice is for somebody to smoke He said Keith Lamb, vice president current non-smoking policy, but he and destroy their lungs, that’s their de- of student affairs, coordinated a meeting works to see the issue objectively and cision. And even if it’s a small smoking between Shaffer and Joey Greenwood, doesn’t let his personal beliefs get in the debate on a relatively small campus, director of the Wellness Center and Dr. way of his job. that’s what I have and that’s what I’m Keith Williamson, university physician, “At the end of the day, it’s our job to going to work with. My goal is to pro- to discuss the matter. listen,” Lamb said. “Students need to tect students’ rights and liberties.”

Shaffer said he presented the two with feel like they have a voice.”

He said Shaffer’s policy will have to win the support of the Student Senate before the Board of Regents will ever be able to sink its teeth into it.

Even this won’t be an easy task.

“But if their conviction is strong, it’s not impossible,” he said.

Lamb said Shaffer is

$385

26 * Free Wi-Fi

Number of psychology students who have presented their research at professional conferences during the past ve years.

doing everything right so far.

“He’s going through all the correct avenues,” he said. “There’s a wrong and a right way to go about doing something like this. You can’t just start off by protesting. But he’s going about it in the right way.”

Lamb said he welcomes dissenting attitudes like Shaffer’s – it’s just constructive criticism.

“Part of your education is to voice your opinion,” he said.

“Keith has been the number one person in the administration I’ve worked with,” Shaffer said. He said Lamb has given advice on how to hold the meetings and the town hall discussion.

“Lamb has been helpful,” Shaffer said.

“I’m aware that he has a dissenting view, and I know he won’t hesitate to let that view be known in meetings. I know he’ll share that dissenting view, but he’s still been extremely helpful. We’ll just have to firmly disagree on this point.”

Shaffer said the Office and Student Affairs is helping coordinate a new poll to gauge student opinion on the subject.

The office is loaning its computers and software to Shaffer to make the polling easier and more efficient.

“It would be wonderful if we had 500 to 1,000 respondents,” Shaffer said. “But the truth of the matter is if we have enough people coming from different majors, different ethnicities, people who live on campus and off, we could have 150 respondents and it still be representative.”

Shaffer said many national polls that measure less than one percent of the population are still considered representative.

“The more data we have the more authoritative it is,” Shaffer said. “We finetuned the poll template a bit with more ethnicity and age questions.”

Shaffer created his own Senator page on Facebook so followers stay updated with the battle.

“That really helps with transparency,” he said. “When I ran for Senator that was one of the main things I campaigned on.”

He said the page helps him keep track of what students really want to see happen with MSU’s tobacco policy.

February 24, 2010

sports

The Wichitan n 7

On Deck This Week n

WEDNESDAY, february24

BASKETBALL

Women VS. ANGELO STATE*

6:00 PM

Men VS. ANGELO STATE*

8:00 PM n

friday, february 26 TEnnis

Men and women @ oklahoma

City university quad n

saturday, february 27 TEnnis

Men and women @ oklahoma

City university quad

BASKETBALL

Women @ Incarnate Word

4:00 PM n

monday, march 1 Golf

Men @ texas a&m commerce Tournament

n

TEnnis

Men and women @ Emporia ST.

Tuesday, march 2 Golf

Men @ texas a&m commerce Tournament

n

TEnnis

Men and women @ Emporia ST.

WEDNESDAY, march 3

BASKETBALL

Men @ lone star conference

Championships

Bartlesville, ok

bold denotes home game * denotes conference game

HappyTrails Left: Junior Forward Nolisha Markham for the MSU Lady Mustangs was named Defensive Player of the Week against ACU on Saturday. Center: Senior Guard Craig Green led the charge against ACU Saturday night. Right: Senior Guard Jason Ebie posted a double-double against ACU on Saturday. (Photos by Patrick Johnson)

Mustangs to finish regular season strong WOMEN’S Matt Ledesma For The Wichitan

3-pointers -- the last of which gave MSU their first lead of the game, putting the The Midwestern State wom- score at 60-59. en nabbed their first win in ACU would then go up by a Lone Star Conference South point with 45 ticks left on the Division play with a 64-61 clock. squeaker over Abilene ChrisBut junior forward Nolisha tian last Saturday.

Markham displayed some Tonight at D.L. Ligon Col- late-game heroics off the iseum, the team will get its last bench by nailing the go-ahead chance for another season-first bucket, and then blocking an -- winning two division games ACU shot on the following in a row. possession. She also helped ice Tipoff for the Mustangs’ the victory with a pair of free LSC South finale against An- throws in the final 13 seconds, gelo State is set for 6 p.m. and finished a stellar night Nothing came easy for with 14 points.

MSU (7-17, 1-10) last SaturTuesday, Markham was day night, as has been the case named the LSC Defensive all season. player of the week for her efThe Mustangs trailed by 14 forts. points with less than five minAngelo State brings a 5-5 utes to play in the fourth quar- LSC South record into toter. But MSU responded with night’s contest. a big run down the stretch, led In the teams’ first meeting by a career night from sopho- back in January, Angelo State more forward Savannah Carv- came away with a narrow er.

62-58 win.

Carver led the team with a The Mustangs will wrap up career-high 22 points, includ- the 2010 season at Incarnate ing a trio of Word on Saturday afternoon.

MEN’S Matt Ledesma For The Wichitan It didn’t take long for the No. 9 Midwestern State Mustangs to get on another winning streak.

MSU (24-2) notched its thirdstraight win with a 96-83 victory over Abilene Christian last Saturday night. The Mustangs also took down Texas A&M Kingsville 87-74 earlier in the week.

The Mustangs, who slipped to No. 2 in the latest South Central Regional rankings, were led by senior guard Craig Green against ACU. Green poured in 27 points to lead Midwestern State Saturday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

With the win, the Mustangs improved to 24-2 on the season and 9-2 in division play.

MSU raced out to a 31-14 lead on the strength of a 13-2 run midway through the first half after Hagan converted a fast break layup off of one of Ebie’s seasonhigh 11 assists.

Ebie finished with his third double-double of the season while

adding 13 points and five rebounds to an all-around line.

Green was on fire from the perimeter where he hit for 7-of-13 from the field and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the 3-point arc and 9-of-9 from the charity stripe, while Hagan finished with 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting with a block and two steals.

Senior forward Anthony Moore matched a season-high with 19 points and added seven rebounds.

With the wins, the Mustangs improve to 9-2 in Lone Star Conference South Division play. They can now claim at least a share of the division title and the top seed in the upcoming LSC Championships with a victory over Angelo State (16-9, 7-3) tonight.

Even with all that riding on the game, MSU doesn’t need any extra motivation. It was Angelo State who ended the Mustangs’ then undefeated season back on Jan. 13, in a 84-76 loss at San Angelo.

So the air should be thick with the feeling of retribution when Angelo State rolls into D.L. Ligon Coliseum tonight.

Tipoff for the regular-season finale is set for 8 p.m.

Softball team demolishes enemies Matt Ledesma For The Wichitan

It was a banner weekend for host-school Midwestern State at the Holiday Inn at the Falls/MSU Invitational.

The Mustangs posted a perfect 5-0 mark in tournament play, including a 10-1 run rule over Missouri Southern Sunday afternoon at Mustangs Park.

As a team, the Mustangs outscored their opponents 22-3, while the MSU pitching staff held batters to just one earned run and nine hits for the weekend. They also racked up 51 strikeouts while

giving up only seven walks.

Senior pitcher Katie Peterson (3-2, 2.01 ERA) was named tournament MVP after tossing a perfect game against Western New Mexico on Friday. She followed that with a three-hit shutout over West Texas A&M a day later.

Teammates Mallory Mooney, third base, Courtney Bingham, outfielder, and Brittany Tanner, pitcher, also headlined the alltournament team.

Mooney continued to come up big for the Mustangs at the plate, blasting a two-run homer in the first inning Sunday that gave MSU the lead for good. She now leads the team in batting average

(.438), slugging (.656), on-base percentage (.438) and runs scored (8).

Freshman shortstop Natalie Rodriguez came up in the second inning and recorded her first career grand slam -- part of a sevenrun outing that helped end Missouri’s day early. She now has two homers on the year to go along with eight RBIs. Tanner (3-0, 1.25 ERA) posted her third win in the circle with a two-hit, nine-strikeout performance on Sunday.

MSU, now 8-2 on the season, will next travel to play a doubleheader against Abilene Christian on Thursday at Wells Field.

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The Wichitan

February 24, 2010

USA’s investment in Olympics pays off as medals pile up Jean-Jacques Taylor MCT Campus Many Olympians spend their lives preparing for an event that lasts a minute or two but can define them for a lifetime.

Champions embrace so-called pressure because they view the Olympics as an opportunity to display their talent, not as a risk of failing, before the millions watching the Games.

Right now, is there any doubt about the approach the Americans have taken as we move into Week 2 of the 2010 Olympics?

Nope.

Entering Tuesday’s events, The USA already has 25 medals, three more than second-place Germany. One more medal and the USA will eclipse its total from the 2006 Games in Turin.

Ten more medals and the USA will beat its record of 34 medals set in Salt Lake City in 2002.

The impressive aspect of the USA’s haul is that the medals aren’t coming just from athletes we expected to dominate their events.

No one who follows the Winter Games is surprised that Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, Apolo Ohno and Shani Davis have stood on the medal podium multiple times We knew others such as Evan Lysacek and Bode Miller had talent, but who really thought that Lysacek would beat Evgeni Plushenko, the 2006 gold medalist and master of the quad, for the gold medal in men’s figure skating?

Or that the 32-year-old Miller, who contemplated retirement, would earn a gold medal in the men’s Super Combined?

And let’s not even talk about the silver medal in Nordic Combined won by Johnny Spillane, the first American to ever medal in that sport.

The USA has won 83 medals in the last three Olympiads.

It’s not a coincidence. Any success begins with amateur programs.

In 1996, USA Hockey began a national team program that houses the nation’s best juniors and seniors with families in Ann Arbor, Mich., allowing them to face the best competition.

The program costs nearly $3 million a year, but the USA owns the international titles in the under-17, under-18 and under-20 divisions.

Then there’s the Maine Winter Sports Center, a non-profit organization that opened in 1999 and focuses on biathlon.

Last year, Tim Burke became the first American biathlete to lead the world rankings.

The sports center also has a Nordic skiing program.

Ashley Caldwell, 16, an aerial skier, was one of the first people accepted into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association’s Elite Air Program, among the reasons she’s competing in these Games.

And to think, the USA has done it without a fancy slogan and marketing campaign such as

Canada’s “Own the Podium.”

Not this time.

In the last five years, Canada has spent $117 million on facilities, coaching and marketing in its quest to rule the medal standings in the Vancouver Games after winning a Canadian-record 24 medals at the 2006 games.

The slogan seemed full of bravado for a country that prides itself on politeness and friendliness. Now, that doesn’t mean Canadians don’t compete hard

or receive tremendous support.

They do.

Maybe that’s the problem.

Perhaps Canadian athletes are trying too hard on their home soil.

Skier Jen Heil looked like she wanted to cry after earning a silver medal but failing to become the first Canadian to win a gold medal on home soil.

Mellisa Hollingsworth, a strong candidate to medal in skeleton,

dropped out of contention on her final run.

Speed skater Denny Morrison initially implied the Own the Podium program hurt his performance in the 1,000 meters because it prevented him from training with Team USA’s Davis.

A day later, he apologized.

Canada’s 5-3 loss to the USA in men’s hockey Sunday completed a disappointing week.

Chris Rudge, leader of the Canadian Olympic Committee, delivered a concession speech on Monday because Canada isn’t going to win the medal count.

Canada is fifth with 10 medals.

At least Canada has four gold medals in these Games. Canada had never won a gold medal at home, either in 1988 in Calgary or in the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.

So there has been progress.