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Vols hoops host SEC West leader Alabama Saturday T H E
E D I T O R I A L L Y
Music duo White Stripes calls it quits
Friday, February 4, 2011
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Issue 17
PUBLISHED SINCE 1906
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Vol. 116
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Week’s events give UT fans plenty to celebrate Former, future Vol offensive linemen success play vital roles in Super Bowl, signing day when they are in the position they are in,” Richardson said. “I didn't want to leave them hanging … I'm going to Gentry Smith stay loyal to Tennessee." Staff Writer Richardson will look to follow the success of Clifton, Wells and Foster while at UT. But those accomplishments With the Super Bowl kicking off on Sunday and will not come without hard National Signing Day having come work. and gone, football fans must relish Embattled by injuries, this weekend's excitement, Clifton has spent 11 years in the because both professional and colNFL and was named to his seclegiate gridiron festivities are ond Pro Bowl this season. coming to an end for the time Clifton plays left tackle for the being. Packers, arguably the most For a few former Volunteers, important position on the offenthe Super Bowl stage offers opporsive line, as he protects tunities of immortalization in NFL Rodgers' blind side. Rodgers antiquity. relies heavily on Clifton, but As for future Vols, National without Scott Wells at center, Signing Day is evolving into a the Packers might not be where spectacle unlike any other for high they are today. – UT signee Antonio Richardson school seniors. The spotlight of Wells, a Brentwood Academy late has not been focused on curon choosing to play college graduate, attributes his success rent players who don the orange football in-state at the next level to his time at and white, but rather these former UT. Looking back to the place and future Vols have kept the where Richardson is now, Wells attention of the UT faithful. speaks volumes to UT's proSimilar to an offense itself, the gram. focus of the Super Bowl and “I went (to the University of Tennessee), and a lot of it and the state of National Signing Day has revolved Tennessee's No. 1 was because of the challenge,” Wells said. “I wanted to around a handful of offensive lineWade Rackley • The Daily Beacon prospect, Antonio play football for a living, and I figured if I could do it at man. Derek Dooley speaks to a crowd at the Signing Day Richardson, rounded UT, I'd have a shot.'” Current Green Bay Packers and Celebration at the Knoxville Convention Center on The Packers offense carried it through the regular seaout a top-15 recruitformer Volunteers Chad Clifton Feb. 2. National Signing Day, along with the Super son, but the defense has gotten the glory throughout the ing class on Bowl on Feb. 6, features several future and former and Scott Wells anchor a group of postseason. Wednesday. Vol linemen carrying the UT banner on some of foot“big uglies” that have allowed With two former Volunteers anchoring the offensive The four-star offenquarterback Aaron Rodgers to ball’s grandest stages. line of one of the league's most dangerous offenses, the sive lineman is one of flourish in the regular season and Cheeseheads and the Big Orange could both have someDerek Dooley's cornerstone pieces to the recruiting class. the postseason, through the air and on the ground thing to celebrate on Sunday night. “It wouldn't make sense for me to leave my home state (Rodgers was second to Michael Vick in rushing yards by quarterbacks this season.) Ramon Foster, an undrafted offensive guard out of Tennessee, has started eight games this season for the depleted Pittsburgh Steelers line. While these three ex-Vols are at the pinnacle of professional football, high school senior
“
I didn’t want to
leave them hanging...I’m going to stay loyal to Tennessee.
”
Egyptian mobs attack foreign reporters Associated Press CAIRO— Foreign journalists were beaten with sticks and fists by pro-government mobs on Thursday, and dozens were detained by security forces. The U.S. condemned what it called the “systematic targeting” of the reporters, photographers and film crews who have brought searing images of Egyptian protests to the world. Foreign photographers reported attacks by supporters of President Hosni Mubarak near Tahrir Square, the scene of vicious battles between Mubarak supporters and protesters demanding he step down after nearly 30 years in power. The Egyptian government has accused media outlets of being sympathetic to protesters who want Mubarak to quit now rather than complete his term as he has pledged. Among two dozen detained were correspondents for The New York Times, Washington Post and Al-Jazeera. Human rights groups said at least five activists were taken away after a raid by the military police on a legal center in Cairo. BBC foreign editor Jon Williams said via Twitter that security forces seized the network’s equipment in a Cairo Hilton hotel in an attempt to stop it broadcasting. Many international news organizations have been using the Ramses Hilton overlooking Tahrir Square as a base to cover the mayhem. And Al-Jazeera said its broadcast signal had been disrupted across the Arab world. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced reports of “systematic targeting” of journalists in Egypt. The State Department described it as a “concerted campaign to intimidate.” “I think we need to be clear that the world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt,” Gibbs said. Douglas Jehl, foreign editor for The Washington Post, said on the paper’s website that multiple witnesses reported that Cairo bureau chief Leila Fadel and photographer Linda Davidson were among two dozen journalists arrested by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. “We understand that they are safe but in cus-
tody and we have made urgent protests to Egyptian authorities in Cairo and Washington," he said. The New York Times said two of its reporters were released on Thursday after being detained overnight. The Qatar-based pan-Arab broadcaster AlJazeera said three of its journalists were detained by security forces and another was missing. Egyptian authorities have complained the network’s coverage was slanted in favor of protesters and could encourage unrest. Al-Jazeera also said equipment was stolen and destroyed during the 10 days of protests and its broadcast signal was disrupted. The Arabic-language satellite channel AlArabiya pleaded on an urgent news scroll for the army to protect its offices and journalists. The Toronto Globe and Mail said two of its reporters were detained by the military for about three hours. One, Sonia Verma, said the pair was picked up with about 25 other foreigners, including other journalists. The Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini said its correspondent in Cairo was briefly hospitalized with a stab wound to the leg after being attacked by pro-Mubarak demonstrators in Tahrir Square. A Greek newspaper photographer was punched in the face. The injured Greek correspondent, Petros Papaconstantinou, said on Kathimerini's website that: “I was spotted by Mubarak supporters. They ... beat me with batons on the head and stabbed me lightly in the leg. Some soldiers intervened, but Mubarak’s supporters took everything I had on me in front of the soldiers.” The leaders of France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain said in a joint statement that the “attacks against journalists are completely unacceptable.” Associated Press spokesman Paul Colford said that “AP journalists in Egypt have faced the same harassment and intimidation as other news organizations.” One Associated Press location was disrupted by men wielding sticks, and satellite equipment was taken. “The situation was quickly defused,” Colford said. “No one was injured.” George Richardson • The Daily Beacon Other news outlets reporting beatings and Taber Spani lays it in against ETSU on Dec. 22. She is enjoying the practice pace before the Lady Vols take on Kentucky on Monday. Spani is averaging 9.3 points per See EGYPT on Page 3 game.