dailygamecock.com UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
VOL. 113, NO. 60 • SINCE 1908
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013
USC grad launches seat-finding website TagSeats helps USC fans find friends in stadium at games Natalie Pita
NEWS@DAILYGAMECOCK.COM
W hen G a mecock fa n Jack Dietrich was making plans to at tend t he 2010 SEC Championship game, he knew most of his friends were also going. But he was having difficulty fi nding where his friends were sitting at the game. That inspired him to create TagSeats, a website where USC fa ns ca n see which of their friends are going to a game and where they will be sitting. “I t hought t here mu st be an easier way with new tech nolog y to solve t h is problem ... and socialize t h e e v e n t m o r e ,” s a i d Dietrich, a USC graduate a n d C o l u m b i a r e s id e nt who is now the CEO of the company. Fans can connect t heir F a c e b o o k o r Tw i t t e r accounts to TagSeats.com or create a qu ick prof ile u si ng a n em a i l add re s s. Users can pick an event, tag their seat on an interactive map and then easily share where they are sitting across their social media accounts. TagSeats launched Nov. 12 for Saturday’s USC game against the Florida Gators. Over 200 users tagged seats for t hat event , t he sa me number of fans that checked in with Foursquare. Dietrich said he thinks this tool will be especially usef ul for USC st udents. For example, he said, since Wi-Fi connection is weak in some areas of the stadium, st udent s w i l l no longer st r uggle to contact t heir friends before or during the game to fi nd them. Instead, they can use TagSeats as a tool to plan ahead. For students with lower d e c k t i c k e t s , Ta g S e a t s fac i l it ates coord i nat ion, e ve n i f s t ude nt s de c ide to move seats during t he game. For t hose w it h an upper deck ticket, TagSeats helps students swap seats so they can be closer to their friends. Diet r ich pred ic t s t hat TagSeats could diminish t he problem of st udent s le a v i n g t he g a me e a rl y because they will no longer have to worry about fi nding their friends before heading to their after-game plans. “A little bit of the problem for USC students this year has been staying the whole game,” Diet rich said. “If you’re not sitting with your friends, you’re spending the whole game worrying about how you can get back.” Dietrich said the TagSeats team members are happy wit h t he success of t heir i n it ia l lau nch, a nd t he y have big plans to expand t he compa ny. They pla n to include this year’s SEC
Hannah Cleaveland / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
Students wait to donate blood on Monday. More than 3,600 Gamecocks donated blood during last year’s donation competition.
Blood-stained rivalry kicks off Annual Carolina-Clemson donation drive hopes to top last year’s collection Sarah Ellis
SELLIS@DAILYGAMECOCK.COM
W hile USC hopes to extend its winning streak to five straight against Clemson at Williams-Brice Stadium next Saturday, it’s looking to continue a longer winning streak in the rivalry this week. T he 29 t h a n nu a l Ca rol i naClemson Blood Drive k icked of f Monday and will run through the end of the week. Whichever school collects the most units of blood will win bragging rights in the traditional competition. The series is tied at 14 wins apiece, with USC winning the last five years. The competitive frame certainly helps drive donat ions, said A nna Drew Jackson, a fourth-year exercise science student who coordinates the
drive for the Greek Programming Board. But beating Clemson isn’t the only thing that makes the blood drive important, she said. “The drive comes at an important time because it’s right before the holiday time when donations actually decrease because people are traveling or busy or just forget to donate,” Jackson said. “I think the competition definitely fuels it, but at the end of the day, the goal for both schools is just to collect as much [blood] as possible.” Last year, USC collected blood from 3,655 donors, barely topping C le m s o n’s 3, 534 , a c c o r d i n g t o Jackson. There’s no specific goal set for donations this year, she said, only to top last year’s numbers. The blood drive continues through Friday, wit h donat ion stat ions in the Russell House Ballroom daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and at various mobile locations on campus from 11
Here’s where and when you can donate on campus today: Russell House Ballroom, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Bloodmobile at Thomas Cooper Library, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bloodmobile at Colonial Life Arena, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
BLOOD • 3
Castilho discusses Brazilian abolition Visiting professor talks recent book on country’s slave emancipation Hannah Richardson
NEWS@DAILYGAMECOCK.COM
An accomplished Brazilian history specialist joined a crowded room of s t ude nt s a nd f ac u lt y Mond a y i n G ambrell to g ive a lect u re called “‘Africans,’ Indianist Allegories, and Abolition: Creating Race and Nation in
Brazilian Freedom Celebrations.” Celso Thomas Castilho, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt Universit y who has published works in the U.S. and Brazil, spoke about the last two chapters of his book, “The Politics of Slave Emancipation in Pernambuco: Abolitionism, Race and Citizenship in Northeastern Brazil, 1865-1893.” In his book, he discusses the effects of abolit ionist mobilizat ions f rom the 1860s to the end of the Brazilian
monarchy. “With a presentation like this, it affords me the opportunity to engage a nd to t a ke back suggest ions a nd criticisms then to incorporate them,” Castilho said. Cast ilho was born in São Paulo, Br a z i l, a nd r a ised i n Ca l i for n ia. He received his doctorate from the BRAZIL • 2
Gamecock Pantry officially opens The Gamecock Pantry officially opened Monday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its McBryde Quadrangle A location. The st udent-r un pantr y, a St udent Government initiative, provides food for in-need students and also offers services like counseling, legal assistance and help paying rent. Canned food donations for the pantry can be dropped off at the Campus Life Center. — Compiled by Sarah Ellis, Assistant News Editor Leah Grubb / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
TAGSEATS • 3
INSIDE
Want to give blood?
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SPORTS
MIX
VIEWPOINTS
The women’s soccer team dominated Furman 5-0 Friday behind four first-half goals.
Timeline of the regrets, sorrows and cat videos experienced during a late-night cram session.
Editorial Board: Giving blood can save lives and continue our other win streak against Clemson.
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