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Brown balances her BMED courses and cheerleading for the Falcons.4 15
Sharp Falcon
In an attempt to counteract increased scholarship payouts, the Georgia House of Representatives voted to cut HOPE scholarship benefits to over 236,000 Georgia college students currently receiving funds. HB 326 would remove funding for textbooks and mandatory fees, and it would establish a two-tier system which will award full tuition scholarships to those students who enter college with a 3.7 GPA and a 1200 SAT score and maintain a 3.3 GPA in college. Students with a 3.0 GPA in high school and college would receive 90 percent of tuition, adjusted each year by the legislature according to lottery revenues. In a 152-22 bipartisan vote on Tuesday, March 1, Republicans and Democrats capped off a week-long debate over the fate of the bill. Introduced on Tuesday, Feb. 22 by Gov. Nathan Deal, the bill originally required students to maintain a 3.5 GPA to receive full tuition through what would be called the Zell Miller Scholarship. During discussion in the House Rules Committee, the Representatives lowered the GPA requirement required to keep the Zell Miller Scholarship to a 3.3 GPA. The bill will now go to the Senate, where it is expected to pass and be signed into law by Deal sometime in the next month. This is a realistic and sensible approach to preserve HOPE for today and tomorrows young Georgians, said House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blueridge) in a press release. I applaud Governor Deal for taking action and leading on one of the most important issues the General Assembly will address this year because doing nothing was not an option. We want to do everything we can to keep Georgias best and brightest in school with the full benefit package, while still creating incentives for students to work hard and go above and beyond, said Deal in the same release. While many House Democrats supported the bill, several took issue with how Republicans did not allow amendments, including one inserting a grandfather clause, to be discussed on the floor. Closing off debate on such an important matter is never a wise idea, said Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) in a press release. BeSee HOPE, page 5
The Roosevelt House crumbles to the ground as planned explosions set off throughout the building. Students were allowed to watch the event from a distance. The collapse occurred across from NAA at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 27.
By Aakash Arun Contributing Writer
The Roosevelt House, a former Atlanta housing project located on Centennial Olympic Park Drive, was imploded on Sunday, Feb. 27, at approximately 7:30 a.m. The implosion, which was supervised by Atlanta Demolition, attracted a large number of viewers. The 17-story building, which was part of the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA), served as a public housing facility for seniors and disabled citizens.
A large number of Tech students attended the main event while some East Campus residents watched from their dorm rooms and apartments. Housing emailed residents a list of precautions and key points about the implosion including keeping windows shut during this period. Housing also shut off the air handlers to the North Avenue buildings to prevent dust from being spread through the hallways. It is truly amazing how the engineers can plan such a dangerous demolition so well to ensure the safety of such a densely
populated area, said Tianlin Chang, a second-year CEE. Channing Henderson, director of Asset Preservation and Enhancement from Integral Property Management, said that since the AHA owns the land, members will come up with a plan to partner with project developers to build a new structure on the site in future. Along with the AHA, Integral Property Management served as one of the primary companies involved in the decision to demolish the
See Roosevelt, page 5
$1.3
current active assets from endowment BILLION campaign targeted goal to be raised by Dec. 2015 weekly goal in order to meet target ratio of faculty positions endowed
$1.5
BILLION
$2.3 1/8
MILLION
The first Campaign Georgia Tech Atlanta Roll Out Event in Atlanta was held in collaboration with The Georgia Tech Foundation Inc. on Wednesday, March 2 at the Coca-Cola Company headquarters. The event was held to kick off the Atlanta leg of the Campaign Georgia Tech Roll Out tour that Institute President G.P. Bud Peterson and others are leading throughout various areas of the country to garner financial support from alumni. The Georgia Tech Foundation is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) corporation that receives, administers and invests private contributions made in support of the academics at the Institute. Financial donations have suffered
greatly over the past few years in response to the financial crisis seen across the country. As bond markets and other financial safety nets began to collapse, universities suffered from an increasingly large lack of donations. We first caught wind of the recession in June 2008, said Barrett Carson, vice president of Development. It was the most precipitous drop in philanthropy we have ever seen. The preceding May was the best month we had ever seen, and in June, we dropped to rock bottom. Fortunately, however, the impact on financial gifts received by Tech was almost negligible. Despite the fact that the tax write-offs were very miniscule, benefactors paid almost all of their pledged donations. In order to maintain the same rate of response, Tech administration chose to
change their approach in donor relations. We stopped pressuring alumni for multi-year pledges, Carson said. Our focus instead became stewardship. We forged closer relationships with our donors, and we continued to actively meet with donors and faculty to keep the lines of communication open. This is a radically different model compared to other universities, especially as states such as Mich. discuss the possibility of removing the income tax deductions from donations to public universities. In fact, Tech is close to a complete and full recovery. We are extremely close to being back at the pre-recession levels we saw in 2008, said John Carter, president and chief opSee Campaign, page 5
NEWS
T echnique
Campus Crime
By Matt Schrichte Contributing Writer Handicapped thief
Founded in 1911, the Technique is the student newspaper of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is an official publication of the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. The Technique publishes on Fridays weekly during the fall and spring and biweekly during the summer. A dvertising: Information and rate cards can be found online at nique.net/ads. The deadline for reserving ad space is Friday at 5 p.m. one week before publication. To place a reservation, for billing information, or for any other questions please e-mail us at ads@nique.net. You may reach us by telephone at (404) 894-2830, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CoverAge r equests: Requests for coverage and tips should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief and/or the relevant section editor. offiCe: 353 Ferst Dr., Room 137 Atlanta, GA 30332-0290 Telephone: (404) 894-2830 Fax: (404) 894-1650 editor-in-Chief: Hahnming Lee editor@nique.net Telephone: (404) 894-2831
A student, who initially thought her car was towed, realized it was actually stolen after checking with GT Parking on Feb 19. The student believed her tan colored Mercedes Benz had been towed because it was parked illegally in a handicap spot near the J.S. Coon Building on Ferst Drive at Cherry Street. The student, who noticed her car was missing around 4 p.m., did not notice any broken glass where her vehicle had been parked. She finally reported her car missing after confirming with GT Parking on Monday, Feb. 21, that her car had not been
impounded over the weekend. Officers checked the area for the car with no immediate results. A male student was knocked unconscious briefly after being physically assaulted on the the Fifth Street bridge in the early morning hours of Feb 27. A GTPD officer came upon the scene around 3:30 a.m. when he noticed a stationary Grady Ambulance with its lights flashing. Several students were gathered on the sidewalk of the bridge around a pool of blood. The victim and a group of
Fifth Street KO
friends were walking back from the Waffle House in Tech Square when three unknown males approached the group. At least one of the members of the group was making derogatory comments towards the females in the group. It was at this point that the victim approached one of the males to ask him to leave it alone, and walk away. The assailant replied to him to watch his mouth. The victim saw the male turn away and believes that it was just after that point when the assailant punched him in the face. When he regained consciousness, there was a crowd of people standing around him who let him know that an ambulance had already been called. The assailant was not able to be identified, although the student guessed that he was probably in his late 20s and was wearing a blue or green button-down shirt.
news editor: Vijai Narayanan / news@nique.net opinions editor: Matt Hoffman / opinions@nique.net foCus editor: Kamna Bohra / focus@nique.net entertAinment editor: Patricia Uceda / entertainment@nique. net sports editor: Alex Mitchell / sports@nique.net
Im very disappointed More should be done to raise revenue with the plan
Copyright 2011, Hahnming Lee, Editor-in-Chief, and by the Georgia Tech Board of Student Publications. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the Editor-in-Chief or from the Board of Student Publications. The ideas expressed herein are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board of Student Publications, the students, staff, or faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology or the University System of Georgia. First copy freefor additional copies call (404) 894-2830
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NEWS
News Briefs
GTPD officer involved in car accident
GTPD Officer Joseph Figuras police car collided with an 1800 gallon truck on Monday, Feb. 28 at 8 a.m. Figura was responding to a call from the Atlanta Police regarding a suspect on Ivan Allen Boulevard as he was driving through the intersection of Pine Street and Centennial Olympic Park Drive when the accident occured. The officer was injured and sent to Grady Memorial Hospital. According to Institute spokesperson Matt Nagel, Figura is 25 years old and has been with GTPD for three years. Officer Figura was released from the hospital later in the afternoon.
Council Clippings
By Mike Donohue, SGA Editor
Bill Summary
Bill
Surf Club Global Leadership Conference Graduate Election Schedule Undergraduates Election Sched.
ach week, this section includes coverage of different aspects of Student Government, including the Undergraduate House of Representatives, Graduate Student Senate and the Executive Branch of both governments.
Amount
$1643 $2817 -----
GSS
UHR
The Joint Finance Committee released the submitted FY 2012 budget to Graduate Senators and Undergraduate Representatives this week, beginning the six week process of allocating $4.7 million in Student Activity Fees to organizations. SGA plans on cutting about $700,000 from the $5.1 million in submitted budget requests in that time. For two months, JFC has met with organizations to determine which items from their budgets meet with JFC policy. JFC will include those recommendations in documents sent to the House and Senate. However, these policy-dictated cuts will not close the budget gap, and JFC will recommend further items to eliminate. Many of the cuts we will be suggesting will be familiar from last year: no non-Technique publicity, no Blueprint pictures, no intramural teams, etc. We are working on a number of other cuts, but I would like to keep them in my committee until they have been firmly decided on, said Brad Bauerkemper, the chair of JFC, in an email. The House will consider the budgets for the Student Center
and Campus Recreation Center, Tier I organizations, as well as Tier II organizations, such as MOVE and Student Publications, before Spring Break. At the same time, JFC will evaluate and recommend cuts to all other student organizations. When asked how organizations can prepare for their budget defenses, Bauerkemper said, ...know your priorities. Cuts are inevitable...[so] it is important for every [organization] to understand that [it] will not get every bit of funding that they are requesting. They may not even get everything that they got last year, but... we are committed to meeting the requests as best we can. UHR is projected to pass their version of the budget on April 5 while GSS will discuss and pass the entirety of the budget on March 30 or March 31. If there are differences between the two versions, Senators and Representatives will negotiate and pass a final version on April 12. Graduate Student Body President Anthony Baldridge spoke out strongly against the proposed Green Fee during the GSS
Sustainability fee
You can follow Mike at the Niques blog, The Pulse. Check in at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday for updates from UHR sessions at nique.net/pulse.
meeting on March 1. We will not stand for the sustainability fee, Baldridge said during his weekly report to Senators. [This fee] will not happen. Baldridge admonished Senators to not author any resolution calling for the implementation of the fee, promising to veto it. He then said that sustainability initiatives can be better handled through SGA administered Student Activity Fee funds. We feel with the oversight we can provide and also just with the general way we can handle things in SGA...[that] we are best to handle the sustainability fee, Baldridge said, pointing out the upcoming bill authorizing fees to pay for a new set of bike racks as an example. He continued by saying that he was working with Undergraudate SGA to make the Sustainability Committee a joint committee, incorporating gradu-
ates and undergraduates. The fee was first proposed by students from Students Organizing for Sustainability and the Green Week committee. It would charge students between $3 and $20 each semester and would be allocated by a board of students towards sustainability based projects. Before being enacted, the fee would need to be put to a student referendum by a two-thirds vote of the Undergraduate House, following which a referendum will be held during SGA elections. The referendum must pass with 50 percent of the vote before implementation. The fee would have to also pass through the Mandatory Student Fee Advisory Committee, a committee of students and administrators that discuss new fees and whether or not to increase old ones.
NEWS
Campaign
from page 1
In recent years, Tech has performed the necessary studies to begin the planning stages of redeveloping the Institutes portion of North Avenue. This year, implementation will begin on that project to go along with this years addition of North Avenues dining hall. The studies were originally developed to put into place a plan for campus development along North Avenue and to more fully and formally integrate that area with Techs campus. The results of the studies pointed towards a consistent streetscape of North Avenue beginning at the Downtown Connector and going to Northside Drive, redevelopment of the plaza in front of Bobby Dodd Stadium and a softening of the transition between the street and Tech Tower lawn. With this project, we are going to try to open up some of the areas adjacent to North Avenue such as Tech Tower lawn and possibly the green area in front of the Wardlaw Center so as to better integrate it with the street, said David Bowman, the lead architect for the project. These improvements have been inspired by a recent push to improve student safety in the North Avenue area, especially with the addition of the new dining hall at NAA. With the new 300 seat allyou-care-to-eat dining hall opening in the Fall, we anticipate additional pedestrian movement along North Avenue. The streetscape will provide a much safer environment and will stay uniform with other streetscape movements that have been happening all over campus, said Howard Wertheimer, the director of Capital Planning
Work will begin in the coming months to remodel the Institutes portion of North Avenue and make it more pedestrian friendly. and Space Management for the Institute. According to Wertheimer, The construction will occur in phases, labeled AD, which will each be completely separate so as to minimize obstruction and inconvenience to pedestrian traffic. Each of the phases will take about 45 days to complete. The typical streetscape update that will occur in each section of the build will include a widening of the sidewalk and a special extension of the sidewalk for trees and street lamps. Future projects in the area include the addition of student support facilities, expansion of the Alumni House and administrative space on the south side of North Avenue. Even further in the future there is the possibility for modifications to the North Avenue Bridge over the connector, reorientation of traffic on Techwood Drive and the potential re-routing of Tech Parkway to better connect North Avenue and Marietta Drive.
erating officer of GT Foundation. We have about $1.3 billion in active assets, and we have seen a most remarkable recovery. The event began with a speech from John Brock, chairman and CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., who was announced publicly on campus as the Campaign Chair of Campaign Georgia Tech last Sept. Brock discussed the opportunities that philanthropic donations create, such as the 3000 undergraduate scholarships that exist currently on campus because of donations. According to Brock, around one in eight faculty chair positions are endowed. It is a goal of the campaign to double that proportion in order to endow every one in four positions. Continuous donations from alumni will help such policies. While discussing the active role that philanthropy has played in the history of the Institute, Brock referenced the single largest donor to Tech, Mrs. Letty Pate Whitehead Evans, for whom the Tech Tower building is named. Evans was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Coca-Cola Company in 1934 and was one of the first females to serve on the board of directors for any American corporation. Evans estate has contributed millions to Tech each year and continues to contribute around $7 million annually. It is because of people like Letty Pate Whitehead Evans that Tech has the reputation that it does today, Brock said. Philanthropy has been a part of the fabric of Tech for its 126 years in existence. We must continue the tradition. The tradition of donation and alumni support was heavily emphasized throughout the evening, especially by Peterson. Peterson discussed the strategic
plan for the next 25 years, which was one of the very first initiatives of the campaign. Peterson worked closely with Alfred P. West, who was Campaign Chair during the quiet phase, to establish a strong financial foundation for the campaign. Before being announced to the public, West had managed to generate fundraising totals reaching more than $900 million. However, the current philanthropic projections greatly exceed that. This campaign is intended to raise $1.5 billion by Dec. 21, 2015, the most aggressive campaign we have ever undertaken on this campus, Peterson said. In order to achieve our goal, we have to raise around $2.3 million a week. This will present some challenges, but I am confident that we can achieve that. According to Peterson, costs are only rising. Ninety percent of the tuition today is more than 100 percent of the tuition from two years ago. In order to exceed that, only an 11 percent increase would be needed and tuition increased 16 percent last year alone. The campaign has raised just under $1 billion in an effort to generate funds to help address the rising costs of school. Professor of the Practice of Finance Gary Jones emphasized to all in attendance that any donation, at any size, would be appreciated and helpful. Weve had donations from $5 to $50 billion, Jones said. A lot of students donate in $5 increments through the Student Foundation, and we received our largest donation of $50 billion a few weeks ago. According to Peterson, Collaboration between the Alumni Association, which raises donations through Roll Call, the Georgia Tech Foundation and the Office of Development is paramount in order to achieve short- and longterm donation goals.
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE
SIX BED HOUSE 1000 FT TO TECH Awesome modern six bedroom house. 1000 feet from Ga Tech Campus. Large living room and dining area. Large kitchen. Den. Study room. Great community spaces. 3 large full bathrooms - 2 with double sinks. Only 12 years old. Off street parking. Security System. Brick siding hardwood floors. Why live in a cramped dorm or old house? House available August for Fall 2011 semester. Some rooms available now. $399 to $499 per bedroom per month plus split utilities. 678-793-6100 OFF CAMPUS HOUSING Perfect for a group of four! 4BR/ 3 full bath, includes W/ D, appliances, central AC, private off street parking. Large rooms and very nice! $1850 per month. Available May and Aug 2011. Two miles from GT, near Howell Mill Kroger - Verner ST NW. Safe neighborhood! Also a 3BR/2B home available. $1450 Call 678-296-9685 or email GThousing@ yahoo.c
NEWS
Roosevelt
from page 1
Roosevelt House. The demolition of the Roosevelt House took about a year in planning. Weve been working here for five months. There will be a new project on this land decided by the Atlanta Housing Authority, said Barry Roberts from Atlanta Demolition. The company used approximately 150 pounds of explosives to bring down the Roosevelt House. According to them, the building was first weakened and then allowed to fall. Holes were cut into the side of the building and extra explosives were added to ensure that it fell away from the nearby NAA. North Avenue and Centennial
Olympic Park Drive were closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic from 7-8 a.m. but there were still a number of people who watched the implosion from Techwood Drive. The building site clean-up will take at least a month to complete. Atlanta was the first city in the United States to construct buildings for the underprivileged and disabled in the 1930s, replacing slums by widespread housing projects like the Roosevelt House and Palmer House. In 1994, city authorities decided to replace them with modern mixed-income projects. The Roosevelt House was built in 1973 and contained 150 apartments, but it had been vacant for the past two years. The building
was named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who founded the national public housing policy along with Atlanta developer Charles Palmer. It was the second last public housing project slated for demolition in the city. The Palmer House, which is the last remaining public housing project, will not be imploded, but it will be demolished floor by floor over the next three months since an implosion would be dangerous to surrounding establishments. The infrastructure of these buildings was old and crumbling. Now we have an opportunity to build something more up to date with no challenges posed by the infrastructure. Demolition is the only way to build new structures, Henderson said.
HOPE
from page 1
Clean-up crews will work on cleaning up the rubble from the site of the Roosevelt House for approximately two months, removing debris from the area in order to make way for a new building.
cause of the magnitude of this program, the far-reaching impact of HOPE for all Georgians and because of our economy, we simply must provide families more time to plan and prepare. We are doing our best to work with the Governors office, which has indicated a willingness to continue the dialogue. Time is of the essence. Corey Boone, Undergraduate Student Body President and fourth-year MGT major, had some reservations about the content of the House bill. I have mixed feelings. I think that its great that they changed the GPA requirement because that would open up the door for more full tuition to be covered by the Zell Miller scholarship for Georgia Tech students, Boone said. Needless to say, we still need a grandfather clause for Georgia Tech and other students to be able to financially plan and study enough to increase their GPA. Other Tech students were also unhappy with the lack of a grandfather clause and the increased costs it would cause. I dont understand why there isnt [a grandfather clause], or why there isnt even a mention of it, said Steven Ball, second-year CS major. Housing costs go up every year. Mandatory fees seem to be going up for stupid things like athletics and stuff. We can probably handle it, but its something we dont want to pay for, said Chip Cely, second-year CS major. If I had to raise an amount of money for college, it would be a big hindrance. Luckily my parents are able to cover the cost. Charlotte Huang, second-year IE major, recognizes the benefits of the program, despite being from out-of-state. I think that HOPE was pretty cool. I think that in general, its a cool program to have for all states.
People should look at the benefits of having it, Huang said. Cely and Ball hoped that the legislature would look into other methods of shoring up the scholarship. Maybe they should come up with another income source besides the lottery. Rich people dont go into the lottery, so its mostly the poor people paying for our tuition directly, Cely said. What are the chances that this happens again in the future, now that theres a precedent set? Ball said. They can change it without a grandfather clause. They can just change it to an arbitrary number. Several hundred students protested the bill the morning of Wednesday, March 2 at the steps of the capitol. Organized by Georgia Students for Public Higher Education, students from Georgia schools including Tech attended. SGA did not sponsor the event, however. I was reached out to, Boone said. But we did not want to go out there in an unprofessional, unorganized manner and represent the 13,000 undergraduate students of Georgia Tech unless there is a centralized key measure we are bring forward. We feel that the relationships weve built over the past few weeks have been cultivated through one-on-on talks rather than getting out and creating sound bites and having press conferences. We feel our approach is the more effective approach. Boone also cited the vulgar nature of some of the rallys fliers as a reason that SGA did not wish to endorse the rally. SGA has worked on HOPE throughout the course of the semester, most recently presenting a HOPE white paper to state legislators at the GT Day at the Capitol. Boone said that SGA does not plan to hold another event at the capitol and will continue the personal approach it has taken so far to advocate those changes.
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sliver
Time to get Buck wild lovin me a man in uniform, especially Navy guy in econ 2100 noon bootyful weather youve got a hot photographer ;) girl in me2202 and ece3710 that looks like hermione. youre hot Hello? IT. Have you tried turning it on and off again? people seem pretty upset about HOPE, so i guess i should be too Why yes, I am indeed taking the bus to the gym when its 70 degrees outside. im just watching Dexter in the library - i promise its not pr0n AMC - great idea! lets get rid of the name of someone who actually meant something to GT other than money if youre coming to the third floor, please dont sit down and talk on the phone for 4 hours... Stuffed Steakhouse from BK Hey Technique editor - no one reads your paper. phew! I was afraid the new dining hall was going to have better food than Brittain. So relieved to hear that its going to be exactly the same. watching my drunken white roommate try to do the dougie = classic Does anyone ever actually win those aux services giveaways?? my bf just created an infinite loop in matlab saying i love you and then tried to deny his techyness why cant the library properly regulate temperature conducive to studying? just got a twitter so my statements wont be rejected. now all i need is followers first dienamics and then death bods. good grief girl on red route with red flower in your hair: you are beautiful Slivers are basically anonymous Tweets. georgia tech turned down a zelda musical and let uga have it?! T-Square Unscheduled Outage Posted: 2009-08-05 12:52:24 T-Square- Cant live with it, Cant live without it Its so appropriate: the way we amplify the sound
Opinions
OUR VIEWS Consensus opinion
This Sunday will mark the end of Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The Thrillerdome, as it is affectionately known, has been the sight of many great memories for generations of Tech students and fans. When the new facility reopens as McCamish Pavilion, the arena will, in time, develop a fresh and exciting game experience for the people who love Tech basketball. Still, it is unfortunate that the facilitys last game comes at such a low time for the mens basketball program. For many fans, the thrill has been long gone. The memories of the magical Final Four run less than a decade ago have all but faded away and seem more like a myth than a series of exhilarating contests. Students and fans alike have become disenchanted with the team, and it appears that there is little hope of winning them back under the current leadership. Paul Hewitt has done many great things for Tech basketball. When he
Technique
Friday, March 4, 2011
Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please. Mark Twain
came to Tech, he rejuvenated a program that had begun to flounder. He brought in new and talented recruits and installed a more modern playing style that invited fans back to the games to watch exciting, fast-paced contests that many across the nation envied. He took his teams into the NCAA Tournament and had Tech fans sitting on the edge of their seats, confident that their team always had what it took to pull out a win. But over the past several years, the program has regressed, and change is needed. In order to reinvigorate the fan base, a new head coach must be brought in to take the program in another direction, much the same way Hewitt did 11 years ago. With the team playing home games away from campus next season, the timing is also apt for the program. People will one day remember the once-great Tech teams Hewitt coached, but before the beginning can be reread, the chapter must first come to an end.
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The Consensus Opinion reflects the majority opinion of the Editorial Board of the Technique, but not necessarily the opinions of individual editors.
Hahnming Lee, Editor-in-Chief Vivian Fan, Managing Editor Kate Comstock, Business Manager Jennifer Aldoretta, Layout Editor Alex Mitchell, Sports Editor Kamna Bohra, Focus Editor Vijai Narayanan, News Editor Steven Cappetta, Advertising Manager Nishant Prasadh, Online Sports Editor Mike Donohue, SGA Editor Chris Russell, Online Editor Matt Hoffman, Opinions Editor Jarrett Skov, Photo Editor Reem Mansoura, Outreach Editor Patricia Uceda, Entertainment Editor
erational, to produce 100 million pounds of recycled PET plastic chips enough to produce two billion 20-ounce bottles of Coke or Dasani or whatever, according to Greenbiz.com. PET plastic isnt just recycled back in to new water and soda bottles. Recycled plastic becomes flooring, playground equipment and auto parts. It also becomes fibers for clothing, such as t-shirts and fleece jackets, and for carpet. National Association for PET Container Resources statistics show that it takes just 19 soda bottles to make enough fiber for an extra-large T-shirt or one square foot of carpet and only 14 plastic bottles to make enough fiberfill for your next ski jacket. If environmentalists posit that water bottles fill up our landfills with a plastic that wont decompose, there is a new solution: the PlantBottle. This new bottle for Dasani water from Coca-Cola is made with up to 30 percent plantbased material and is appropriately named PlantBottle. Coca-Cola also has a stated goal to develop a bottle composed of 100 percent plant-based materials. According to Coca-Colas website, the PlantBottle is the only bottle made of plant materials, which is also 100 percent recyclable. While this new bottle will become widely available on our campus in just a few months, it is still important to remember to recycle it. Small changes in our everyday lives, such as turning off the lights and the water when we brush our teeth, are changes everyone can and should make. Students, faculty, and staff all play an integral role in ensuring the success of Techs recycling program. However, lets not allow an overzealous green movement demonize products that have been created to help the environment. Corporate recycling campaigns and innovative, sustainable production go a long way to achieving green goals, too. Kristen Greig Third-year IAML
OPINIONS
The sellers and publishers that adapt to technology will thrive, and the ones that dont wont.
Chris Russell
Online Editor
ing, and the Internet offers the ability to build communities around books, authors and genres that put old-fashioned book clubs to shame. In a nutshell: books wont change. The way we interact with them, however, will. Think about it. Say youre watching the Daily Show, and the guy across from Jon Stewart starts talking about his new book. With an e-reader, you can be reading a copy of that book before the interview is over. Or say a new book in a series comes out five years after the last one. You cant remember the plot, the characters names are all running together, and everyone you do remember is killed off in the first chapter. It might make your high school English teacher roll in her grave, but a quick trip to the series Wikipedia page will get you caught up in 10 minutes. The book isnt dead. Far from it. Readers just have more options than ever before to interact with their favorites. Perhaps more importantly, authors have more ways of interacting with their readers.
From blogs to social media to self-publishing, authors suddenly have way more interaction with their fans than their picture on the back cover. Take publishing. The associated costs made self-publishing in the past if not impossible, then at least unreasonably expensive for an author to undertake on his or her own. Authors had to go to publishers that took the lions share of sales in exchange for the capital required to print and advertise their books. Look at those costs today. The cost of printing a book on the Kindle or Nook is essentially nil. If youre willing to do a bit of work yourself, you can handle the entire process of publishing digitally on your own. Granted, authors will still lose some portion to costs from the seller, but they can essentially go from receiving royalties from publishers to having complete control over their own costs and earnings. And as far as advertising goes, grassroots advertising campaigns have never been easier. Between authors personal blogs, national blogs like
Gawker Medias sci-fi blog io9 and word of mouth through social media, an author can easily reach an audience that would have required a major publisher and massive capital investment in the past. I follow a half-dozen of my favorite authors blogs, and I always know when they have a book coming out, what its about, what kind of special deals theyve got going on and what the authors up to in general. Personally, I look at books like I look at music and movies. Despite the ratings of the MPAA and RIAA, the rise of the Information Age didnt kill the film or music industries. Some studios and labels found ways to adapt and thrive, others didnt. Most music and movies are now consumed entirely digitally, indie endeavors (particularly in music) have much more exposure and bands and studios can interact directly with their fans. I look at books the same way. The sellers and publishers that adapt to technology will thrive, and the ones that dont, wont. People who would never have had the chance to write before can now break into the market fairly easily. Between Amazon, eBay and e-readers, books are easier to find and access than ever before. While I hope the deadtree book doesnt go the way of the dodo, even if it does, books and reading arent going anywhere anytime soon.
Around Campus
BUZZ
The obvious choice for Best New Artist was Justin Bieber...it cannot be denied that 2010 was his year.
Ive actually heard of before, to hear that he lost to a jazz singer named Esperanza Spalding was just laughable. The Grammys are supposed to honor the artists that are shaping the cultural history of our generation, not artists a select few elite judges think we should like. Esperanza Spalding may be the most talented jazz singer ever, but the fact remains that the majority of viewers didnt even knew who she was when her name was announced; I certainly didnt. It seems like the Grammys are morally opposed to giving a Grammy to a pop star that can be seen as cheesy or overmanufactured to music critics, but at the end of the day, what matters is the opinion of the American public, not elite music critics. Thats whats shaping our cultural history, and awards ceremonies should reflect this. This misplaced recognition has happened repeatedly in the last couple of years, from Kanye West losing Album of the Year to Herbie Hancock in
like Justin Bieber and Eminem when it comes to advertising their awards show to increase viewership and ad revenue, but when it comes to rewarding them for their musical achievements, the Grammys choose Patricia Uceda not to recognize them. I think the problem is that Entertainment Editor the Grammys are trying too hard to be like the Academy Awards by awarding their re2008 to the Jonas Brothers los- wards to artists that their judging Best New Artist to Adele es feel are talented singers and in 2009. While I do like a few songwriters, which is usually of her songs now, at the time, not found in the typical mainthe vast majority of people did stream pop icon. What they not know who Adele even was, dont realize is that the Osand it was completely out of cars strike a balance between cheesy blockbusters and films left field. Its almost as if the Gram- of distinct artistic value. If a mys have veered too far to- random indie movie that no wards the opposite side of the one had heard about or even spectrum after they received seen won Best Picture, there criticism for catering too much would also be criticism. An to mass consumerism in the award should go to the artistic past. However, that doesnt work that reflects mass public mean that they need to reward opinion, not private. While its a random, unknown artist nice that the Grammys may with one of the biggest awards be trying to bring recognition of the night. There is a balance to unknown artists, this type to be struck, and they desper- of awards ceremony is not the venue for it. ately need to find it. Hopefully the Grammys Several veterans of the music business have also come will get it together for next forward to express their disap- year and start choosing artists pointment with the Grammy that are actually relevant to Awards, including music ex- the average consumer. If not, ecutive Steven Stoute, who their reputation will continue went so far as to print a full to worsen, and the Grampage advertisement in the mys will become less and less New York Times. He pointed a reputable awards ceremony out how funny it was that and more and more an inflated the Grammys understand the three hour commercial for the cultural significance of artists music industry.
It was awesome, and I wished every day could start off like that.
OPINIONS
HOT or NOT
The Roosevelt House had a grand exit on Sunday morning, dropping faster than some North African regimes. One request: in the future, please set the building demolition to be later in the day. Often times, college students partake in festivities on Saturday night that keep them out late and make them hyper-sensitive to loud sounds on Sunday mornings. Please be courteous.
Dy-no-mite
Governor Nathan Deals proposal to fix HOPE is making its way through the Georgia General Assembly. While the GPA requirement to keep full tuition was lowered from the initial 3.5 in the proposal to a 3.3, the lack of a grandfather clause for current recipients still makes the fix a lousy one for students. Luckily, there is still time for the state Senate to fix these errors.
HOPEfully not
The plan to improve the streetscape of North Avenue is a much needed safety and cosmetic change for the south end of campus. With the anticipated increase in traffic to the new dining hall, this project is more important than ever. Going to class is enough; having to dodge the splashing rain water from cars, and sometimes the cars themselves, is just overkill.
North Ave-view
When a Tech team loses to an in-state rival, fans normally have the luxury of the other team being an hour-plus drive away and out of sight, not a few blocks down the road in downtown. The baseball teams rocky start got even bumpier when the Jackets fell to Georgia State on Wednesday. At least Tech will have a chance at redemption later in the season.
Panther pounce
Since my arrival at Tech last Sept., I have met, formally and informally, with a lot of students. I have been very impressed. The leadership is outstanding. Students participating in activities such as the Honors Program and the Presidents Scholarship Program are especially committed to learning and pursuing the very best education possible. Feedback from talking with many students during my regular open lunch periods, as well as data from formal surveys, indicate that a large majority of undergraduate students are very satisfied with the education and student experience offered at Tech. Nevertheless, a significant minority is not as happy, mainly due to the perception that access to the faculty and appropriate mentoring from faculty and senior staff members is not the reality for those students. That a significant minority is not fully satisfied is a problem that we must tackle, together. By the time every student graduates from Tech, at least two or three faculty members, researchers or academic staff members should know him or her sufficiently well so that they would feel comfortable writing an informed and personal recommendation letter to a graduate school or a potential employer. To achieve that goal, we must certainly strengthen the classroom and extra-curricular interactions. The easiest way, though, to create the environment for routine student/faculty interaction is to improve the mentoring and advising. At the very least, all first-year students, and the overwhelming majority of higher division students, should have regular, formal access to a faculty member
Focus
focus@nique.net
Focus Editor: Kamna Bohra @GTGreenBuzz: @RT @Georgia_Tech: Outracing the wind Wired Magazine showcases Georgia Tech alums wind powered vehicle. http://bit.ly/hfjymx
Technique
Friday, March 4, 2011
Some students struggle to balance engineering classes alone. Others find distress in taking classes and participating in extracurriculars. But for Wendy Brown, a fifth-year BMED major and an Atlanta Falcons cheerleader, the work loads of two entirely different activities are manageable both on the field and in the research laboratory. Academics and my career goals are important to me, but my personal goals like dancing and cheering are too. I maintain that if its important to you, youll find a way to make it work, Brown said. Brown has been dancing for her whole life, becoming more involved when she began high school. DurPhoto by Will Folsom / Student Publications
ing her college years, she was on Gold Rush, Techs official athletic dance team, for her first four years, and she became captain her last year on the team. Browns collegiate coach, who is a former cheerleader for both the Atlanta Falcons and the Atlanta Hawks, first introduced her to the idea of cheering for a professional athletic team. Before then, I had thought of cheering for the NFL as [a] niche like something only a select group of special people got to be involved with. Once I saw it as a tangible opportunity, I knew I wanted to do it, Brown said. In addition to six hours of weekly practice and workout sessions, Brown is required to be at the Georgia Dome several hours before each game. Before attending
any practice, Brown must have her material and routine memorized, which requires even more time. Along with the athletic side, the Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders are required to participate in 20 charity appearances over the course of the season. These appearances have included visiting brain and spinal cord injury patients and teaching cheer camps for the under-privileged children. As for her time off the field, Brown has been conducting undergraduate research throughout her years at Tech, and Browns plans are to receive a Ph.D. in Tissue Engineering and then attend medical school. My ultimate goal is to be a reconstructive surgeon and work with the military to develop bioSee Wendy, page 11
Walk up Freshman Hill to the library. Turn right and walk down the steps. On the immediate right, tucked away in a secluded corner, is the Library Archives, the core of Techs historical safekeeping. Locked deep within the vaults of Techs archives lay the tools of revolution, weapons that overthrew monarchs and dawned a new age of democracy and science. Books and ideas written by authors hundreds of years ago carried the Western World from the dark fog of feudalism into the bright light of intellectual discovery. Sitting in an ordinary grey box underneath the library is a 324-year old book written by Isaac Newton that introduces for the first time in history his famous theory of gravity: The Philosophi Naturalis Principia Mathematica. The first few rows of the archives are the current Tech science fiction book and magazine collection, which holds over 10,000 unique publications, most of which are the last copies remaining on earth. The collection was actually begun by Irving Bud Foote, Techs first science-fiction scholar and a former LCC professor. Foote donated his personal library, containing first edition works by H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov and Jules Verne. The next row contains the entire U.S. official government published records of the Civil War. Dating back to the early 1890s, this anthology of books details every battle, manifest, letter, speech and legislative record of Americas bloodiest war. Far from entertainment and fiction, the archives hold immeasurable resources for research on any topic.
See Library, page 12
Being an engineer became much more exciting when Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honor society, hosted its annual Engineers Week. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the event, which has strived to give engineers some well needed relaxation. This year, E-Week was held from Feb. 20-26, entertaining students at Tech with multiple programs across campus. Based on the one event I attended, not many people showed up initially [and that] deterred my experience at first. As the event progressed and attendance grew, it turned out to be an evening wellspent, said Akhil Modi, a secondyear ME major. These events are designed to promote teamwork, creativity and fun, said the E-Week organizers on the E-week website. The week commenced with the Humpty Dumpty Drop, which encouraged participants, both individuals and teams, to design an innovative apparatus that would protect an egg from breaking when dropped down the entrance stairwells of the Bobby Dodd Stadium. Among the four competitors, the winner was Allan Visochek, a firstyear AE major. [The competition] was won by Visochek on the tie-breaking basis of weight and creativity. The judges unanimously agreed that his device
Engineers Week participants practiced engineering with real-world applications, such as skyscraper building, outside of the classroom. had the most merit because it did not reach terminal velocity in the test and utilized a protection system unlike anything else seen, said James Fisher, an E-Week chair and a third-year ISyE major. E-Week also included a Rubiks Cube Contest. Among 22 contestants, Chris Tran, a first-year BCHM major, solved the cube with the fastest time of 22.38 seconds, five seconds faster than any other contestant. The following event was the Build-a-Thon in which the teams were required to bring in 15 cans of food to be able to participate in the event. These teams were then provided with a set of cans and were asked to make a creative and unique structure using the cans and other allowed items. Three teams competed in the event: Tau Beta Pi, Pi Tau Sigma and [the Society of Women EnSee Engineers, page 11
FOCUS
Wendy
from page 9 logical reconstructive and regenerative technologies for use in surgery, Brown said. Meanwhile, Brown is finishing her last semester of courses and her undergraduate thesis. Additionally, Brown will be hosting a segment of the Science of the NFL series that is produced by NBC Sports, NBC Learn, NFL and the National Science Foundation. Her segment will focus on Newtons third law of motion. In striking a balance, Brown does find some stress, but she thoroughly enjoys her academic and athletic careers. As far as school work [goes], I have finished a lot of my degree requirements already, so that helped me not completely overload myself. I have definitely had some very late nights in Whitaker this year, though, between studying for the GRE, doing homework and trying to finish my undergraduate thesis. Its funny, though, because I almost dont mind the work load, Brown said. Brown notes that she is not the only member of the Falcons cheerleading team with a diverse career path. Every Atlanta Falcons cheerleader has a career. Its actually a requirement to be on the team, and interests vary a lot. We have everything from lawyers, nurses, financial analysts and financial advisors to TV producers, fulltime students and moms on the team, Brown said. Pursuing two entirely different career paths is feasible to Brown, and she works to dispel the stereotypes associated with cheerleading. I definitely think there is no reason you cant have it all, and I would like to work to discredit stereotypes and discourage the tendency for people to automatically assume that women pursuing things like dancing or cheerleading or modeling arent smart, Brown said. My advice to people encountering this type of discrimination is to just stop listening and work toward accomplishing your goals for yourself, Brown said.
Students competing in the Tech Chef competition were scored based on taste, ingredient choice, presentation and cleanliness.
On Saturday, Feb. 26, the second annual Tech Chef competition was hosted in Brittain Dining Hall. Tech Chef is a nutritionallybased cooking competition, and it was the closing event of GT Body Image Week. The event was created through the combined efforts of GT Dining, Auxiliary Services, Health Promotions and Cooks for Heritage, Education, Fellowship and Service (CHEFS), a student-run organization that promotes cooking and healthy eating habits. The different Tech student teams each had an executive chef and two sous chefs, who are direct assistants to the executive chief. These teams competed throughout the day in breakfast, entre and dessert rounds. Each team had 45 minutes to create a dish of their choice that was composed of 45 percent of the key ingredient: low fat ricotta cheese. We chose low-fat ricotta cheese because it is healthy, can
be sweet or savory and is a versatile enough ingredient to be used in breakfast, entre and dessert, said Julia Turner, CHEFS president and founder and a third-year STaC major. Each round was scored by a different panel of three judges including staff members from around campus. Judges evaluated teams based on taste, ingredients, cleanliness and presentation with tie breakers being determined by the lower fat recipes. I like food, and I like to judge people, said Brett Hulst, an area manager for the Freshman Experience dorms, of his decision to participate as a judge. Hulst also watched to make sure teams followed proper food safety guidelines. No one likes food poisoning, said Dori Martin, the events emcee and marketing manager for GT Dining. Tech Chef generated a crowd of students and staff. Some students stayed for the entirety of the six-hour competition just to sample the different student-created
See Chef, page 12
Engineers
from page 9
gineers]. Over 400 pounds of canned goods were donated to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. $100 worth of canned goods [was also] donated by Southern Company, said Ann Trippe, president of Tau Beta Pi and an ECE grad student. E-Week included a skyscraper contest in which contestants designed and built a skyscraper using marshmallows, skewers, spaghetti noodles and toothpicks, a true test of engineering skills. The participants towers ranged from five to seven feet in height. Nearly all of the towers collapsed at the end of the contest. Toward the end of E-Week, a dodgeball tournament provided some much needed physical challenge to participating students. Overcoming the onslaught of dodgeballs was the winning team
of CHBE grad students Brian Kraftschik, Ryan Lively, Michael Abrahamson, Gregory Cmarik, Alexander Jordan, Matthew Mistilis, Brennen Mueller, Khaldoon Abu-Hakmeh and Prabuddha Bansal. Finally, E-Week came to a close with comedy night consisting of comedians Michael Kaiser and Marshall Chiles, regulars at the Laughing Skull Lounge located on Peachtree Street. It was interesting noticing events all around campus. The mood was pretty festive, which contributed to a happier atmosphere in a week where professors choose to pile on the tests. I feel a lot of them were actually very inclusive. There wasnt really that much time [though]. After all, it was the week before the week of drop day, said Akshaya Srivastava, a second-year AE major.
Often considered the beacon of engineering, the Rubix Cube was the center of one of the competitions during Engineers Week.
FOCUS
Chef
from page 11
cuisines. The winning dish of the breakfast round was called Whey Out There Breakfast Burritos. Its a reference to the large amount of whey in ricotta cheese, said Nathan OConnor, executive chef of the rounds winning team and a fourth-year ISyE major. My biggest challenge was definitely creating a recipe that met the 45 percent ricotta cheese requirement, OConnor said. OConnor, however, enjoyed the competition and plans to compete again next year. During the entre round, a power breaker shorted out, and the Tech chefs faced more challenges than just cooking under a time constraint. However, the entre team led by executive chef, Aya Ishizu, a fourth-year ISyE major, worked beyond the distractions and won the round with a Vegetarian Friendly Ricotta Noki. The final dessert round was taken by a team led by executive chef Mya Oren, a fourth-year MGT major. Orens team created Healthy Ricotta Fruit Cups made of semi-sweet chocolate cups with
a creamy ricotta filling infused with orange clementine flavor. Oren, who one day hopes to open a bakery, also plans to enter the competition again next year. The winners from each round received aprons that said Tech Chef 2011 Breakfast Champion, Entre Champion or Dessert Champion. Ishizus entre team was the overall winner of Tech Chef 2011 with a score of 87.16 points. In addition to her champion apron, Ishizu received a $140 Heiko knife, and her sous chefs received $25 gift cards courtesy of GT Dining. The Tech Chef 2011 champions recipes from each round will be posted in an online cookbook format on the CHEFS organizational website. Martin said that the turnout nearly guarantees Tech Chef will happen again next year. Tech Chef 2012 will be hosted in the newly built North Ave Dining Hall. Students do not have to have a meal plan to participate or [to] come watch the event, Martin said. Turner will return again next year as student coordinator for the event.
Library
from page 9
Students practiced cooking on a set time limit and had to design a breakfast, entree or desert primarily made up of ricotta cheese.
Locked away in a hermetically sealed room closed to the public is Techs rare book collection. The moisture and temperature are strictly controlled to ensure the longevity of prized historical possessions. Among the influential literary works stored there are Rene Descartes Philosophica published in 1656, Gottfried Leibnizs Combinatoria from 1690 and Blaise Pascals treatise on his triangle theorem from 1665. So delicate are these books that one fears that opening them all the way will break the bindings. Though they are old, their pages are crisp and clear due to advanced preservation methods. The fullpage colored pictures retain their original shine and detail, and the volumes do not appear as though they were hand-crafted centuries before. Conservation is not the only reason to keep these books behind closed doors. Newtons Principia is valued at approximately $285,000. The most expensive item in the archives is a small collection of nine atlases from 1664, which is collectively valued at a total of $400,000. These atlases actually only contain pictures of bridges, but their age and condition have increased their value almost 1000 times. In fact, any otherwise common object is worth more due to preservation. Aside from books, the archives hold old RAT caps, footballs, letters, pins and even a ceremonial British sword. At the bottom of one shelf, sitting plainly in a box, is a vase created in Picassos studio. Two Oscars won by a Y. Frank Freeman are in another box in the same room. The 1996 Olympic Torch from the Atlanta games is also located here. The library reserves are not
only a bookcase for history, but also an ark for Tech and Atlanta culture. The first T-Book ever published is found in the Library Archives as well. About five inches tall and not much wider than a credit card, this booklet contains, as always, the words to the fight song, a synopsis of Techs history and a football schedule for 1909. When Tech was an all-male school, it had regulations for attire proper for a gentleman and in-
structions for RAT cap usage. At the time, Tech was a trade school, and experience in the shop was required for all engineering students. Thus, the freshman class was then commonly referred to as the apprentice class, according to the first RAT book publication. Although seemingly out of reach to the average student, a tour of the Library Archives only requires an appointment made in person or online. The research collections are open to everyone for academic use.
The aisles of the Library Archives include artifacts from the worlds of science and technology, along with the Institutes beginnings.
Entertainment
By Hank Whitson Staff Writer
entertainment@nique.net
Entertainment Editor: Patricia Uceda Assistant Entertainment Editor: Zheng Zheng
Technique
Friday, March 4, 2011
13
Bulletstorm became available for purchase on Feb. 22, 2011, and it can only be described as obnoxious and completely offensive. Fortunately, these traits actually help the game. Developed partially by Epic Games, a team known for the Gears of War series and the Unreal Engine, the game rewards you for shooting enemies in the privates or dispatching foes while drunk. Furthermore, every exchange of dialog is punctuated with at least three profanities. On the flip side, it is also a lot of fun and much smarter than its advertising or demo would lead you to believe. You are stepping into the boots of disgraced soldier-turned-spacepirate Grayson Hunt, who crash-lands on the doomed resort planet, Stygia, after a botched suicide run against his nemesis, General Sarrano. Graysons straight man is Ishi Sato, a crewmember and friend who has been transformed into a cyborg after sustaining horrible injuries in the crash. Trishka, a tough soldier chick in Sarranos employ who is looking to escape Stygia, later joins the duo. The story is ridiculous, self-consciously crass and tremendously refreshing, especially when weighed against the over-wrought wreck of Call of Duty and Gears of War. There are some clever wrinkles, like Ishi struggling to maintain control of his mind as the logical processors of his cyborg half try to take over. The game even begins with a Melville reference. Kill with Skill is the games tagline, and its main game play hook is a point system that awards players for completing skill-shots: obscenely sadistic recipes for killing foes in novel ways. The Wii game Madworld featured a similar mechanic, but Bulletstorm is best thought of as Tony Hawk with guns instead of skateboards. Each firefight is a rail to grind off of, an opportunity to pull off crazy tricks with your gun, the telekinetic leash attached to your hand and your over-sized action hero boots. More elaborate kills award players with more points, which can then be spent to purchase upgrades and ammunition, and each level of the game introduces more skill-shots or new firearms. The leash and the boot are more versatile tools than you might expect, allowing you to yank enemies close, kick them away and slow them down in the process. The games arsenal is suitably bombastic, featuring quadruple barreled shotguns and a gun that fires exploding flails. Every gun has a genuinely novel alternate fire mode. Unfortunately, the arsenal is not quite large or innovative enough to make the scoring system feel as robust as it should. The games opening ramps up a little more slowly than it should, offering too few weapons and scoring options at the outset. For the inevitable sequel, it would be great to see a full spread of BioShock-like super-powers. All the same, the campaign is a memorable experience filled with creative situations like fights in fallen skyscrapers and exploding dams, a sequence where you guide a robotic tyrannosaurus-like-monster
See Bullet, page 14
GAMES
Bulletstorm
CONSOLE: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows GENRE: First-Person Shooter DEVELOPER: Epic Games RATING: M RELEASED: Feb. 22, 2011
OUR TAKE:
Drive Angry
GENRE: Action, Fantasy STARRING: Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard DIRECTOR: Patrick Lussier RATING: R RELEASE DATE: Feb. 25, 2011
OUR TAKE:
By Chris Ernst Senior Staff Writer
Drive Angry is an R-rated, 3D, supernatural action flick with unpretentious goals and explosions to spare. While the film may not have a lofty purpose, it still does not quite succeed because of its
obfuscated plot, wooden acting and slow pacing. However, all is not lost because while it is no film of note, it still entertains sporadically. The 3D elements are pretty fun, but many times, they were just distracting and heavy-handed. Overall, it is not a movie worth the price of admission, let alone the 3D surcharge. Drive Angry does not try to be a great film that goes down in history as a classic. Instead, it tries to be more of what it actually is: a Baction movie that is good as forgettable fluff. Because it knows its place in the cinematic landscape, it exploits the some of the elements that would otherwise try to be smoothed over to favor a more high-brow audience. The filmmakers emphasize
the fun of the movie: the beautiful Amber Heard, fast cars, loud guns, guitar-driven rock and an obvious split between the good and bad guys. These are not only what make the film succeed, but also what bring it down. The elements are things that every audience everywhere has seen before. There is nothing new here, and the envelope is never pushed or even touched at all. This movie only works in its self-aware augmentation and subsequent exaggeration of the low-brow ingredients. What does not work (and usually does not ever) is Nicolas Cage. Someone needs to tell him he can turn down a part. His heavyhanded delivery of oddly emphaSee Drive, page 16
ENTERTAINMENT
Bullet
from page 13
Killzone 3
CONSOLE: PlayStation 3 GENRE: First Person Shooter DEVELOPER: Guerrilla Games RATING: M RELEASED: Feb. 22, 2011
OUR TAKE:
By Andrew Akker Contributing Writer
In the world of first-person shooters, the Killzone franchise stands out, bringing fast-paced action along with a good sense that you are wreaking havoc on everyone in front of your gun. After the first slightly disappointing Killzone came the sequel, Killzone 2, which continued the story and finally brought the franchise to a next-generation console. Killzone 3 brings a similar dish to the table with another continuation of the previous story line and slight tweaks to the gameplay. The story of the third game starts out where the second one ended. The war between the humans and the Helghast rages on. The player begins the game playing as what is believed to be a Helghast soldier, learning the basics of the game play and attending to the Chairman of the Helghan armys broadcast to the people. However, after the protagonist is revealed to be a human named Sev, the game cuts to six months earlier. The gameplay of the main campaign is very similar to the previous game in the franchise, Killzone 2. The main part of the campaign is to progress through the story, picking up where the
previous game left off. However, the game keeps things fresh with a couple of new weapons and abilities to use against the enemy. New weapons include the WASP, a multi-rocket launcher designed to take out heavy machinery such as tanks or airships. A new ability includes the brutal melee which is also the goriest part of the game. Performing this ability will do one of several moves such as gouging a Helghans eye out or breaking its neck. The new weaponry adds a bit of a new element of strategy to the game, as well as a fresh way of creating destruction in your path. However, the players overall will notice practically no difference in the campaign from the previous game. The multiplayer is where the game starts to look like a new invention. The player can choose from five different classes to play as such as an Infiltrator wielding a shotgun, a Medic who can revive players or an Engineer who is good with repairing structures and building turrets. Similar game modes to the previous games are available, such as Guerilla Warfare, which is a straightforward team deathmatch style game play, which just relies on body count as the objective to win. Killzone 2s Warzone has also made a return in Killzone 3 as another option for multiplayer action. Warzone is a multi-mission based mode which has the players on teams competing in different objectives such as Body Count, Assassination (targeting a single team member) or Capture and Hold (an area defense mode). The new mode for Killzone 3 is Operations. Operations have the two teams, one is the Earth based Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) and the other the
Helghast, trying to take over or destroy the others base of operations. For example, in one map, the ISA must destroy a Helghan dam. The cool thing about this mode is that at the end of the game, depending on which team wins, a special cut scene will take place. The cut scene depicts heroic events of a player who contributed the most to the victory against the other team that ended up failing in their efforts and are ultimately destroyed. The multiplayer progression uses a simple leveling system, 45 in total. When leveling up, the player can choose to upgrade certain weapons from the various classes, such as upgrading the Engineers sentry gun or getting a more powerful sniper rifle for the Marksman class. Players can also play in the Botzone. The Botzone is a place where players can play against AI in various game modes and team make-ups. With all of the good things Killzone 3 brings, there are some problems with it that irked me throughout the game.
The first is the little annoyances in the campaign. The AI teammates would often not be able to see your dead body staring at them in the face when they look around to revive you if you are dying. Another problem is that the character will randomly clip through the environment and get stuck in certain places, which can be annoying if the player is in the middle of combat. A big gripe about this game is the annoying acceleration that takes effect when you move your sight around. This was also present in Killzone 2 and isnt any less annoying. It makes it difficult to move your target onto exactly whom you want to if your sensitivity is on the higher side. Once you get used to it, however, it becomes easier to target. With these problems, Killzone 3 is still a very acceptable sequel to the previous games in the series. It rightfully earns its place as one of the best shooters on the Playstation 3 so far, and it will take a lot to best it in the future.
through a rampage and a lengthy Zelda-esque boss-fight with a carnivorous plant. This kind of heavy scripting would normally be stifling, but the point system invites enough improvisation to keep the experience feeling fluid and fresh. Stygia is an absolutely beautiful dystopia with clever architecture and polished landscapes. Next time, however, Epic and People Can Fly, the other developer, should spend a little more time fine-tuning the engine. For the most part, the game is quite stable, though I did encounter a few collision bugs that forced me to reload from checkpoints. The multiplayer is heartbreaking. The lack of any kind of local multiplayer is a criminal omission because Bulletstorm would have made an outstanding party game. Another, less-keenly felt absence is the lack of a PvP mode. The only kind of head-to-head game play is Echoes mode, which is essentially a score attack mode with leader boards. The real meat of the online experience is essentially a Horde Mode clone, where a team of four players take out waves of enemies while trying to score as many points as possible. Setting up or assisting your team with an elaborate team skill-shot is exhilarating, but the experience is best enjoyed with friends. Not being able to invite a friend over for a round or two is a tremendous missed opportunity. Bulletstorm is not quite as great a game as it could be, and its crassness may turn a few people off, but it is an enjoyable over-the-top romp with a meaty campaign and several good ideas. If you are looking for something new in first-person-shooting that is available to all the gaming systems from Playstation 3 to XBox 360 to Windows, give this screwball comedy a try.
ENTERTAINMENT
Eating
RESTARUANTS
Atlanta
($18.95), mac-n-cheese ($2), a few slices of white bread and a few ounces of barbecue sauce for dipping. Maddys sauce has an excellent bold tomato, savory flavor. This was pleasantly unexpected as it contrasts with the usually oversweet or ketchupy flavor of sauces found at many chains or largerscale operations. It works quite well over the meat, with a smoky flavor that seeps into the flaked surface of the rib. The rib meat was thankfully not the fatty or lean sort that typifies the subpar barbecue joint. Rather, the ribs were an excellent balance of meat to fat, with each rib at a filling half pound each. Unfortunately, we didnt consider bringing a third person to help put away this full rack, and we had to take the remainder with us. Considering the barbecue pit needs constant attention, Maddys cant spare one of their finest to deliver. Instead, Maddys suggests using Ziftyan Atlantan webbased delivery companyto pick up and deliver your orders. Zifty drivers charge $4.99 (tip not necessary, but encouraged) for their service, and it allows this Decatur favorite to be delivered hot to your Tech residence. More information about this service is on both Maddys and Ziftys websites. Atlanta barbecue joints are frequent sights on Atlanta coupon sites. Half Off Depot, for example, is offering a $25 coupon for only $10 at Maddys BBQ.
Maddys BBQ
LOCATION: 1479 Scott Blvd. CUISINE: BBQ ribs COST: $10 HOURS: 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. PHONE: 404-377-0301
OUR TAKE:
By Yameen Huq Contributing Writer
Image courtesy of XL Recordings
Feb. 18, 2011 saw the release of Radioheads latest album The King of Limbs. A digression from the bands previous work, this album provides stark atonal sounds laced with minimalistic percussion rhythms. The album starts out with Bloom. Its a sparse, minimalistic song that relies on a repeating drum pattern and Thereminesque sounds. These sounds are sprinkled with brief vocals that help guide along what is generally a slow, contemplative piece. The song runs a bit too long and, unfortunately, relies too much on the same repeating motifs. Morning Mr. Magpie follows Bloom. More ethereal and fast-paced, this song is driven by pulsing, rhythmic baselines. The song, like its predecessor, is still bare-boned, but the faster pace and almost foreign feel give it a much stronger kick. A great song for thinking, Morning Mr. Magpie is surrealism meets minimalism. Next on the list is Little by Little which follows the album trend of generally increasing the energy and tempo of each successive song. Built upon the repeating, light sounds of a drum machine, the song is much more
reminiscent of Radioheads previous work. Interspersed with eerie, airy vocals, this song has a much more classic feel and is an improvement from the previous two songs in terms of momentum. Feral is the next piece. Heavily emphasizing rhythms, the song relies substantially less on melody and more on sweeping drumbeats. The only melodies placed on top of the beats are haunting, ghostly sounds created by synthesizers and the human voice. The eerie, frenetic feel of this song continues to convey the abstract nature of this album. The next song, Lotus Flower, is again very limited and constrained in its sounds. The vast majority of this song is again a complex drumbeat with occasional electronic harmonies as accompaniment. The song carries a strong urban feel and has a tone steeped in modernity. Changing the atmosphere is the following song, Codex. Replacing drums for softer piano music, the song intermingles this with whispery wind instruments to create a nostalgic, almost mournful atmosphere. The lyrics here are sung normally and are mostly a return to Radioheads more traditional songs. Fans who
were displeased with the experimental qualities of this album can find much more standard fare to enjoy in this song. The penultimate song, Give Up The Ghost, is an even more traditional song. Relying on acoustic guitars and old bongos instead of drum machines, this song contrasts the urban feel of its predecessors for a more harmonic, natural tone. The choral vocals echo harmoniously with the acoustic sounds and end in slow, soothing whispers. However, the final song, Separator, returns to where the album started: more drum machines. While not bad, the drumbeats will wear on anyone who listens to this album from beginning to end. Overall, this last song manages to combine some of the natural vocals of the later songs with the urban drum machines of the beginning songs. This albums experimental nature is not for everyone. The record is short, and the acoustic, mainstream songs in this album are far and few. Anyone who is interested in contemplative, innovative music that embraces quality over sheer complexity or tradition will greatly enjoy Radioheads latest foray into innovative music.
OUR TAKE:
By Andrew Nelson Contributing Writer
Nearly every city, metropolis or nowheresville in the Southeast includes some variety of barbecue. Atlanta, with its established wealth of cuisine, hosts a bluesy brand of barbecue. Though barbecue restaurants are spread across the city, the best are usually on the east side of Interstate 85. This week, we found our ribs and blues at Maddys BBQ in North Decatur, about a mile east of Emory. A beaming man in an apron awaited us behind the register, the primed open barbecue pit behind him. Their offerings were slabs of ribs, a half or quarter of a chicken or a combination of the two. A good ribs joint doesnt rely on variety to be winner. In fact, Maddys was Access Atlantas 2006 pick for best ribs and Citysearch Atlantas pick in 2008. They also offer the usual assortment of sides, including coleslaw, rum baked beans, Brunswick stew, potato salad and macaroni and cheese. About 10 minutes after ordering, we had our full rack of ribs
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ENTERTAINMENT
Drive
from page 13
The Georgia Tech Chamber Choir will be performing J.S. Bachs Mass in B Minor Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5 in cooperation with the New Trinity Baroque Orchestra. With Austro-German Latin pronunciation and young voices, this may be the most authentic performances of an already rarely performed work. Bachs B Minor Mass is one of the last compositions the composer ever completed. It is really a compilation his entire lifes work. Its not just something he wrote from beginning to end. He recycled some of his own best music, said Tim Hsu, assistant director and pianist for the Chamber Choir. Bach actually never heard it performed in its entirety; he was a die-hard Lutheran writing a Catholic mass, for reasons still debated today. It is over two hours and he was able to stitch together a lot of his earlier work, and it serves as a glossary or dictionary of Baroque music. Its one of the major masterpieces of Western music, Hsu said. Unlike most instruments, the human voice is very continuous and can easily sing a continuous spectrum of frequencies. But since most people are used to modern pitch, we have developed some
muscle memory. We are used to singing at 440hz, so [the choir] has to relearn how to sing, more or less, [in 415hz], Hsu said. This isnt a problem for the choir since their instrument, their collective voice, is so fluid. The work was originally written in Latin, but the Chamber Choir took this to a new level by affecting their accent of the Latin. Since no recordings exist of native Latin speakers, no one really knows what Latin is supposed to sound like, so there are several different types of Latin pronunciation. There isnt ever a really correct way to do it. We are doing it the way that Bach would have probably been familiar with in his life and his area, the way people would have pronounced Latin in Bachs area in his time, Hsu said. This is different than Italian Latin, which is very popular with
choirs. The piece itself is not performed very often because it is a huge undertaking, being very long and challenging; it hasnt been performed in Atlanta in 20 years. Musicologists have evolved their opinions on how Bachs music should have been performed. They used to think it should be performed with as many as sixty voices, but now they think it should be sung with as few as eight or twelve, Hsu said. Along with this new information, this is the first time this piece is being performed by college voices in Georgia. There will be two concerts: Friday, March 4 at St. Johns United Methodist Church and Saturday, March 5, at St. Bartholomews Episcopal Church. Tickets are $9 for students and $29 for adults. They are available online at and at the door.
sized would-be one-liners may not entirely be his fault, but his flat facial expression and uninspired emoting are. In a rare age-appropriate role, Cage plays a newly-grandfathered criminal out for revenge, a simple emotional journey he still cannot quite muster. The audience is never empathetic or even sympathetic to Cages pathetic portrayal of what could have been a nuanced performance. But none of this comes as a surprise to anyone familiar with Cages body of work. Hes the Schwarzenegger of the new millennium, just not as self-aware, politically inclined or skilled. Cages wooden performance can not tell a lie because it is apparent on his face when he tries to be something other than Nicolas Cage. The story, which ultimately has some intrigue, is unfortunately hidden behind a wall of plot. The whole movie is a journey, and it takes until the end to find out why this journey is so important. Most of the movie therefore just feels frustratingly meandering. By the time all is revealed and the destination approaching, not much is left to happen except to open a big ass can of whoop ass. Unfortunately the can seems to have sprung a leak because the huge firefight ending promised since the beginning leaves more than a little to be desired. Sure there is lots of shooting, but none of it is very exciting or imaginative. And that really sums up the whole movie: a lot of prom-
ise with just a little delivery, which I guess is better than no delivery. This could have been another Avatar as far as the 3D elements are concerned. Bullets and muscle cars can be so much cooler in 3D, if it is done correctly. Unfortunately, Drive Angry (what is with that title, anyway?) cannot quite make the most of its 3D medium. Careful choreography and cinematography could have elevated the ho-hum action into a new dimension (pun definitely intended). Pointed guns and flying cars beg for a properly planned and executed 3D treatment, but this is not it. The visceral nature of action movie are perhaps the best application of the budding technology and more (better) 3D action movies are sure to come. This is not a movie many anticipate to see, but with a group of friends out to enjoy a popcornfueled (again, pun intended) suspension of disbelief, Drive Angry just may meet the quota. Yes, the 3D is neat; there is plenty of mechanical and organic eye candy (and a surprising amount of non-sexual nudity) and explosions. But with all of this comes Nicolas Cage, heavy-handed film making and eye roll-inducing dialog. Drive Angry is a good time with no surprises or new storytelling ideas. It is something everyone has seen time and time again, just this time in 3D. Drive Angry is not bad enough to be a cult classic and not good enough to be a guilty pleasure.
ENTERTAINMENT
59. Reply: abbr. 61. Salty sauce 62. Rocket 63. Pleasantly familiar 64. Fragrant wood 65. Worship 66. Annoy: 2 wds. 67. Oka River city 68. Suppress, in a way 69. Fairground instrument 71. Monastery
72. Usual food 75. Unsettle 78. Growing in pairs 79. -- Bator 80. Bent 81. Tricky doings 82. Farm implement 88. Auto part 90. Western Indians 91. Steam generator 92. Passengers 94. Ripple pattern
95. Dear one 96. Some radar blips 97. Almost 98. About: abbr. 100. The Ballad of Reading -- 101. Do -- others ... 102. Huffy 103. Jug 104. To boot 106. Q-U connection 108. Queen of Thebes
COMICS
COMICS
SPORTS
SPORTS
Wren
from page 24
moving runners over. His goal is simply to get on base in anyway possible. This will allow the home run hitters in the middle of the lineup to hopefully knock him home. Wren has shown that he knows how to hit from the leadoff spot, having hit there at Landmark High School and posting a .541 on base percentage and scoring eight runs. Wrens strong plate discipline has allowed him to draw a teamhigh five walks and constantly put pressure on opposing pitchers to throw the right pitch. I have been blessed with a great [batting] eye, and so at the leadoff position, if they throw me my pitch then Im going to hit it, but if it is not my pitch then I can lay off of it, Wren said. Hall could see the potential in Wren before the season started and put Wren in the leadoff position for the seasons opening game against Kent State. Wren led off that game with a hit, and he proceeded to get two more before the game was over. I was excited. I had no idea that I would be starting, and it being the first game, the coaches did not tell us anything. I was pretty confident that I would [eventually] be somewhere in the outfield, but I also did not know if I was going to bat leadoff or ninth, Wren said. Maybe it was his not-thinkingand-just-playing philosophy that sparked such a great first game for Wren, but whatever it was, Wren has carried his opening day mo-
Kyle Wren slaps a single into the outfield in a recent home game. Wren is hitting a team-high .429 so far this year and has eight RBIs.
mentum throughout the season. Wren had at least one hit in his first eight games of his collegiate career and already has five multihit games. I dont think about [the hitting streak]. Im just happy to be where I am at right now: freshman year and hitting in the .400s. That is just something that I am very happy with because if I were to look forward before the season, I would definitely not see [myself] having this great of a start to the season, Wren said. Although Wren has been a star so far in his rookie campaign, he did have to overcome some growing pains on the field in addition to the amount schoolwork that every freshman faces. Wren had to find a way to hit
a 90-mile per hour fastball when all he had faced before that was a low-80s pitch. To this end, Wren used batting practice against his teammates to adjust to the speed of the collegiate game. The great thing about coming [to Tech] is that you get to face such good pitching like [sophomore pitcher] Mark Pope and [sophomore pitcher] Buck Farmer that it is almost like you are getting better experience in intersquad then you are facing on the other team, Wren said. This is a very different Tech team than last years power-hitting squad, but if the Jackets can learn to use Wren to play smallball, then they will have a chance to replicate what the Jackets were able to accomplish in 1994.
Three Tech football athletes were invited to the NFL combine in Indianapolis, Ind. to showcase their skills prior to Aprils NFL Draft. Running back Anthony Allen and defensive backs Jerrard Tarrant and Mario Butler performed in several workout drills to try to improve their draft stocks. Allen appeared to have helped himself by finishing as a top-10 performer in all seven of the drills. His 41.5 inch vertical jump was the highest mark for all running backs since 2006. Among running backs, Allen was third in the 20-yard shuffle and fifth in the three-cone drill. Allen posted times of 4.06 and 6.79 seconds, respectively. He also posted a time of 4.54 in the 40yard dash, a quick speed for a back of his size. To round out the drills, Allen finished sixth in the 60-yard shuffle and broad jump and seventh in the bench press. Allen was projected as a lateround pick, but he separated himself from the majority of his competition, outperforming several top running back prospects in several workouts. Allen came into Tech as a transfer from Louisville before his junior year. After sitting out the 2008 season, the 228-pound Al-
len played as an A-back as a junior in 2009 and averaged 9.7 yards per carry. He switched to his more natural position of B-back for his final season and ran for a teamleading 1316 yards. Tarrant, considered the fourthbest safety in the draft by cbs. com, was also a top-10 performer in all of the competitions. Tarrant finished fourth in both the 60-yard shuffle and three-cone drill and tied for fourth in the 40yard dash with a time of 4.62 seconds. He also finished fifth in the bench press and the vertical jump and seventh in the 20-yard shuttle and broad jump. Tarrant came in as a starter at cornerback his sophomore year before switching to safety for the 2010 season. Tarrant finished his career with five interceptions on defense and two touchdowns on punt returns. Butler only participated in a few drills, posting a 40-yard dash time of 4.65 seconds and a vertical jump of 30.5 inches. Butler started three years at Tech, posting up three interceptions and 129 tackles. Butler is projected as a late round pick or as an undrafted free agent. All of these athletes, along with several other former Tech players, will be participating in Techs pro day at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Wednesday, March 9.
SPORTS
Techs womens basketball team dropped its last game of the regular season on Sunday Feb. 27 against the No. 12 Miami Hurricanes. After a thrilling back-andforth first half, the Hurricanes eventually pulled away from the Jackets in the second half, with the Jackets losing 70-59 in their final game at the Alexander Memorial Coliseum. The home loss brought Techs regular season record to 21-9 and 9-5 in the ACC, while Miami finished tied for first in the league at 12-2. The game started off quickly with Miami going on a 7-2 run. The Jackets, however, would fight back slowly, taking their time in their half-court offense until an open shot was found. Through the next five minutes, Tech would chip away at Miamis lead until junior forward Chelsea Regins got a steal with 12:17 left in the half and passed the ball to freshman guard Tyaunna Marshall for a fastbreak layup. The Jackets found themselves holding a short-lived one-point lead, up 17-16. Miami responded by going on a 9-2 run to give itself a six-point cushion with 8:56 left in the half. Senior forward Alex Montgomery would get the Jackets going, however, putting up a three-point shot as the shot clock ran out with 8:29
Alex Montgomery poses with her mother and Head Coach MaChelle Joseph on Sunday before her last home game at Tech.
left. Montgomerys shot sparked the Tech offense on its way to a 7-0 run and a one-point lead with 5:41 left in the first half. After the Jackets run, both teams struggled to put down a shot until Miamis Stephanie Gardner hit a three to give Miami another lead change in the back-and-forth first half. Tech responded with a three of its own. This was set up when Marshall passed the ball to junior guard Metra Walthour on
the wing for an easy shot. The Jackets were up one again with 2:08 left in the half. However, a quick steal by Miami followed by a close jumper gave the Hurricanes a one point advantage going into the half. The Jackets were fortunate to only be down 30-29 going into half time despite committing 15 turnovers and a 37.5 percent shooting percentage for the half. The Hurricanes came out hot to start the second half, extending their lead to four in the first two minutes. Tech would come back on a run, like they did in the first half, to take a one-point lead with 16:34 left before three more lead changes within the following minute. After the Jackets went up 3938, Miami responded quickly with a layup of their own to take the lead. The Hurricanes then went on a 9-1 run after the quick layup to go up 49-40 and would never relinquish their lead. Tech continued to struggle shooting from the floor, hitting only 12 of their 33 shots in the second half. Miami, however, shook off their 41.4 percent shooting effort from the first half and shot 51.9 percent through the last 20 minutes of the game. The Jackets could not find an answer to defending Miami despite out rebounding them 42-39. Tech had opportunities to cut Miamis lead with free throws, but both teams struggled from
the line. The Jackets only hit 57.1 percent of their free throw attempts,while the Hurricanes hit only 50 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe. It looked like Tech would be able to go on another run to make the game close again when Walthour hit a jumper with 8:40 left in the game to cut the Hurricanes lead to six. Miami, however, scored when they needed to in order keep a comfortable lead. The Jackets would eventually finish the game losing by 11 points, 70-59. If were serious about going to the next level, then we have to show up at home. I thought today we had one or two players show up, but the rest of the team didnt play their roles. We cant win a game against a top-20 team with two players, said Head Coach MaChelle Joseph. Marshall led Tech in scoring, hitting seven of her 19 shots for 15 points and picking up six rebounds. On their Senior Day, Montgomery shot four-for-18 for 13 points and 11 rebounds, and senior forward Deja Foster hit four of her six shots for nine points. Tech now enters the ACC tournament as a fifth seed at 9-5 in conference. The Jackets will face the 12th seed Virginia Tech Hokies in the first round of the tournament. In their last meeting, the Jackets blew out the Hokies in Blacksburg, 78-57.
SPORTS
Red Storm
from page 24
[Hagan] just seemed a little flat today. Im sure hes a better pitcher than [he showed], but a lot of his pitches were flat and he left a lot of [pitches] up, Hall said. He was just leaving the ball over the plate, and his offspeed pitches werent the bestand we were swinging [well], Skole said. The score was 9-0 when Hagan left, and Tech freshman first baseman Daniel Palka singled on the first pitch he saw from reliever Eddie Medina to drive in a 10th run. One batter later, the inning ended. In total, the Jackets notched 10 runs on 10 hits during the inning; all but one Tech hitter reached base in the opening frame, and four of them reached base twice. The Jackets added two more runs in the bottom of the second, taking advantage of poor control by the SJU pitchers to extend the lead to 12-0. Tech scored one more in the fifth inning, and neither side scored from then on. Three Tech relievers hurled a scoreless inning each in relief of Pope, and the Jackets won 13-0. Skole, freshman catcher Zane Evans and Palka had three hits apiece; Skole finished the day with four RBI, and both he and Evans scored two runs in the game. Perhaps the most interesting line for a Tech hitter, though, was that of Smelter: the freshman went 0-1 but reached base three times after being hit by a pitch twice and drawing a walk. The Jackets got another shutout the following day, and this time the highlight was indeed the pitching performance. Junior lefthander Jed Bradley pitched seven no-hit innings before being pulled from the game before the start of the eighth inning, and the Jackets went on to win 5-0. The game was a pitchers duel for some time, as the Jackets were only able to add two runs through
DeAndre Smelter hurls a pitch in Saturdays game against St. Johns. Smelter pitched a scoreless ninth inning in a 5-0 victory. six innings. Palka drove in a run on an infield single in the third and Tech pushed across another run in the fourth to take a 2-0 lead. Meanwhile, Bradley kept the SJU lineup completely silent. He allowed just three walks in seven innings as he struck out 10 Red Storm hitters. Through seven innings he had thrown 103 pitches, but he did not take the mound in the eighth inning. Freshman right-hander Dusty Isaacs replaced Bradley, but he was unable to preserve the ongoing no-hitter, quickly allowing a single to designated hitter Frankie Schwindel. Isaacs and Smelter did hold up the shutout, though, and Tech went on to win 5-0. Skole had another strong day at the plate, going four-for-four with a double in his first start at third base. Wren continued to produce in the leadoff spot as he had two hits, an RBI and a run scored. Sophomore right fielder Brandon Thomas had a two-run double in the seventh inning to pad Techs lead late in the contest. With the series clinched, Tech looked to complete the sweep in Sundays finale, but SJU had other plans. The Red Storm scored early and often, taking advantage of Tech sophomore right-hander Buck Farmers struggles to win the contest 13-3. In a bizarre top of the first, Farmer did not permit a hit and recorded three strikeouts but also allowed four walks. Two of the strikeouts came on 1-2 counts, while three of the walks were on 3-0 counts. The ultimate result was that SJUs Baltz drew a twoout walk with the bases loaded, earning an RBI in the process and giving the Red Storm a 1-0 lead. The Jackets also loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom half but were unable to capitalize, as Smelter ended up grounding out
to short, so SJU led 1-0 after one inning. After Farmer retired the side in order in the second, the Red Storm added to their lead in the third inning. After the leadoff man reached on an error, Panik hit a two-run home run to right, and second baseman Matt Wessinger added a two-run shot of his own later in the inning to give SJU a 5-0 lead. The Jackets did push across a run in the bottom half, courtesy of a Skole RBI single, to cut the deficit to 5-1. SJU continued to score, though, and ultimately they were able to break the game open. Farmer left the game in the fifth inning after allowing an RBI double, and the Red Storm proceeded to score at least one run in every inning from the fifth to the eighth, culminating with a fourrun eighth that gave them a 13-1 lead. Tech added two runs in the bottom of the eighth and shortly afterward had the bases loaded with two outs, but the rally did not go anywhere, as junior pinchhitter Jake Davies flied out to end the inning. The game ended with SJU winning 13-3. It was a rough afternoon for Techs pitching staff. Farmer allowed seven runs (four earned) on five hits and four walks in fourplus innings, though he did strike out six. Senior left-hander Taylor Wood went 1.2 innings and allowed a run on three hits, and freshman right-hander Jonathan Roberts pitched the eighth inning and allowed four runs on three hits and two walksthough all four runs were unearned. The only hitters who had decent days at the plate were Wren, who went two-for-two, and Skole, who was two-for-four with two RBI. The Jackets had one midweek game: a home contest against Georgia State on Wednesday. Freshman right-hander Matthew Grimes got the start for Tech. He quickly gave up a run, as
GSU left fielder Mark Micowski homered to right-center on a full count to lead off the game, and he allowed a double to the next hitter. However, Grimes locked down after that and got three straight outs, and he struck out the side in the top of the second as well. Through two innings, the freshman had five strikeouts. GSU manufactured a run in the top of the third inning, but the Jackets did the same in the bottom half. Wren took first after being by a pitch and proceeded to steal second, and he scored on an RBI single by Thomas. An inning later, the Jackets added another run after a Smelter double set up an RBI groundout by Butler, and the game was tied at two runs apiece. The visiting Panthers added two more runs in the fifth inning to take a 4-2 lead, and they held the lead for the remainder of the contest. The Jackets were able to put two runners on base in three of the final four innings, but they only pushed across one run in that span. GSU added a pair of insurance runs in the final innings and pulled off the 6-3 upset. Grimes pitched five innings, and for the most part was never able to settle into a rhythm. The freshman ended up allowing four runs on eight hits and three walks; he did record nine strikeouts, but he left the game with the Jackets trailing 4-2. Another freshman, Isaacs, did a solid job in relief, holding GSU scoreless over the sixth and seventh innings while striking out three. There were few strong performances at the plate for Tech. Only two hitters, Thomas and freshman shortstop Mott Hyde, had two hits on the day, and the Jackets were often unable to force GSU starter Aidan Francis into mistakes. Francis allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings, and over that span he did not allow a walk.
Sports
By Nishant Prasadh Online Sports Editor
sports@nique.net
Sports Editor: Alex Mitchell Assistant Sports Editor: Alex Sohani
Triple Options
Three of Tech's former football players competed in the NFL combine. See how they did.4 20
Technique
Friday, March 4, 2011
24
hitter
By Alex Mitchell Sports Editor
Brandon Thomas takes a pitch above the letters in Fridays game versus St. Johns. Thomas went one-for-three with a run and a walk in the Jackets 13-0 victory over the Red Storm. walk while striking out seven. Coming out of the first inningI just needed to relax a little bit. My two-seam [fastball] wasnt moving as much as I wanted early on, but after a while I settled in, Pope said. I thought over his last couple of innings, he threw the ball really well. He had a good fastball with a lot of sink on it today and a pretty good sliderand [the SJU hitters] didnt get many good swings on him, said Head Coach Danny Hall. In the meantime, Techs lineup had ensured that Pope had more than enough run support. After a relatively quiet opening week in terms of scoring, the Jackets erupted for 10 runs in the bottom of the first to quickly seize control of this game. Facing SJU left-hander Sean Hagan, freshman center fielder Kyle Wren and junior second baseman Jacob Esch led off with back-to-back singles. Junior first baseman Matt Skole started the scoring with a towering three-run homer to center field, his first of the season and the teams third. Skoles home run really got us going. We were able to follow that with a lot of hits and get way ahead early, and we never looked back, Hall said. Following two more singles, Hagan finally recorded an out but proceeded to allow three more hitters to reach base; in that span, freshman left fielder DeAndre Smelter recorded an RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and freshman third baseman Chase Butler followed with an RBI single to give Tech a 5-0 lead. After a Wren sacrifice fly scored another run, Hagan allowed three straight singles again and was finally pulled from the game. His final line for the day was 10 earned runs allowed on nine hits and one walk as he threw 47 pitches in 0.2 innings.
See Red Storm, page 23
This offseason, Head Baseball Coach Danny Hall recruited and signed 17 freshmen to replace the nine starters that the team lost the previous season. It was one of the largest recruiting classes Tech baseball had ever seen, and although the team is young, it still boasts a 5-3 record. I go back to my first year in 1994, when we had a great team and played for the National Championship. There were a lot of freshmen that year, but we were able to survive the rigors of the seasonwe have some new faces [this season], but the expectations are extremely high. We want to play well as [we] go through the season, but [we] realize that there are going to be bumps in the road, Hall said. Perhaps not a single one of those freshman has had as great of an impact as center fielder Kyle Wren. Wren has done it all for the Jackets. He had started off his college career with an eight-game hit streak, he has started every game at center field and his .429 average is highest on the team. Wren also has more tools in his arsenal other than good contact. He is said by many to be the fastest player on the team, and his timely hitting has also led to a team-high in RBIs. [Wren] has been a great table-setter for us this season. He has played extremely well [and] has not played like a freshman. Not only has he set the table, but he has also gotten some key two-out RBIs already in the season and made a great catch here on Sunday. He is a very, very good player, Hall said. Wren has already put up great numbers this season, but what makes them even better is that Wren has been putting them up from the leadoff position. At leadoff, Wren does not necessarily have to worry about trying to hit home runs or
See Wren, page 21
Iman Shumpert drives past a defender against N.C. State. Shumpert had a team-high 21 points and eight rebounds.
The Jackets headed to Raleigh, N.C. on Saturday Feb. 26 to face the N.C. State Wolfpack to begin the first of the final three ACC games left in the season. It was the only meeting between these two teams during the regular season, and the Wolfpack came out on top, 79-74. The Jackets opened up play with a 5-0 lead before the Wolfpack rallied to tie the game at 8-8. Tech would regain the lead only once at 10-8 during the first half before the Wolfpack regained control with a three pointer from Lorenzo Brown. Though N.C. State managed to lead Tech by up to 11 points during the first half, the Jackets were able to fight back to trail the Wolfpack by only six before halftime, 39-33. The second half did not show great improvement for the Jackets in shooting percentages. Three-point percentage dropped by half, and two point percentage diminished from 56 percent to 40.6 percent. The Jackets did manage to
improve their perimeter defense in the second 20 minutes, as the Wolfpack only shot 20 percent from beyond the arc. Tech opened up the second half with a 15-10 run that spanned five minutes and gave them a one-point lead. N.C. State immediately retook the lead with a dunk by Jordan Vanderberg. The last two and half minutes of the game was back-and-forth between the two teams. The Jackets greatest deficit was just five points in the last few minutes. Still, the team was unable to come within less than three points. Two final free throw shots in the last ten seconds sealed the game for the Wolfpack. Not only was the score between the two close, they were nearly identical in several statistical categories. Both teams had similar rebounding numbers, but Tech was able to out-rebound the Wolfpack 33 to 31 thanks in large part to the presence of redshirt freshman center Daniel Miller inside the paint. The story of the game was the
disparity in fouls and turnovers. Tech committed 20 fouls in the game compared to 13 by N.C. State, and this gave the Wolfpack plenty of oppurtunities to score from the charity stripe. As good as Miller was on the glass, he had a hard time hanging onto the ball as he and sophomore guard Glen Rice Jr. combined for half of Techs 14 turnovers. N.C. State was sometimes careless with the ball as well, committing 10 turnovers. Still, by forcing four more than the Jackets committed, the Wolfpack walked away with a four-point win. Junior guard Iman Shumpert played a large part in Techs efforts in the game. Shumpert led the team in both points and rebounds, finishing with 21 and eight, respectively. Shumpert also showed great defensive ability in the game by making three steals, the most of any Jacket in the game. This loss made the Jackets 0-10 on the road this year going into their next game at Wake Forest, which was played prior to the time of print.