Articles by: skline

 

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  Walk-on to Sing National Anthem at Homecoming Game

  Sports January 30, 2012 at 10:04 pm Comments are Disabled

  Walk-on junior Jordan Baird is a unique talent. He has been on “American Idol.” He performed live for Simon Cowell on “The X-Factor.” And he will be singing in front of a sold out Patriot Center on Saturday night as the men take on Old Dominion to put an exclamation point on Homecoming week. Right out of high school, Baird packed his bags for Orlando in hopes of landing a deal with a major record label. He excelled through four rounds of “American Idol” before being eliminated and, thus, winding up at Mason where he is pursuing a degree in music. “Something like that happening right out of high school — it was just a blast,” Baird said. “You can take something away from almost any experience. So that was a really big learning thing for me.” Despite his lack of playing time for the Patriots, Baird is enjoying the grind of a long basketball season and continues to work hard, preparing himself for the opportunity that he might one day be needed on the floor. “[College basketball] has been a dream come true,” he said. “We know our place as walk-ons. But just because you know your place doesn’t […]

   
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  Back With Philly Swag

  Sports January 30, 2012 at 9:59 pm Comments are Disabled

  Two seasons ago, redshirt sophomore forward Janaa Pickard led the team with 45 blocks in 30 games as one of the women’s basketball team’s most consistent defenders off the bench. In preparing for last season, she sustained an injury that is becoming all too common for teams needing to play rougher: She tore her ACL during the preseason. It was an unfortunate, freak injury. “The exhibition game last year, most people probably don’t even remember, we’re up in our full-court pressure,” Coach Jeri Porter said. “She’s on the ball. She goes one way, her leg goes the other and [she] didn’t see a minute on the floor for us last year.” For a team relying on new blood to transform the program from perennial underachievers to competitors — a lofty goal in itself — the loss of Pickard for the 2010-11 season would prove difficult to overcome. The Patriots went 13-17 overall and 7-11 in the conference for an eighth-place finish and a first-round loss in the tournament. Pickard worked as much as possible during the offseason and at the midway point of the conference schedule, proves she did not miss a beat. Through 18 games she totaled 33 blocks, […]

   

• More Than a Game

  Sports January 30, 2012 at 9:56 pm Comments are Disabled

  The life of a college student. Despite the workload and other scholastic challenges involved in a semester of academia, students all over find the time to workout their thumbs through video games. The Mason recreation department capitalized on students’ thirst for video games and challenged them to participate in an NFL Madden Tournament on Thursday night in Corner Pocket. Sixteen participants began the tournament at 7 p.m. in Student Union Building II, playing four rounds until junior Health, Fitness and Recreation Resources major Isaac Johnson walked away as the champion. “I can only play a couple games in a row,” Johnson said. “Otherwise, I get tired. So that was difficult.” Despite playing a couple games a day, Johnson came into the tournament at a major disadvantage. While Johnson plays at home on his XBOX 360, he was forced to make the switch to a Playstation 3 in the tournament. As well, he typically plays online as the Detroit Lions but, because contestants could not update the standard 2012 rosters, Johnson adapted and elected to play with the 2012 NFC Champion New York Giants. Johnson led at the half 14-7 and completed the victory by a final score of 23-14. “The […]

   
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  Oft-Injured Forward Sidelined Again

  Sports January 30, 2012 at 9:54 pm Comments are Disabled

  Paris Bennett started the first exhibition for the Patriots to open their 2011-12 campaign. He also started the second, before an injury sidelined him for 10 games, the reason fans have not heard his name much since then. Returners came back with a vengeance and underclassmen — even freshmen — had a chance to step up. A second injury in three years cost him more than any other player could. “I think if he doesn’t get injured, he’s playing a lot more,” Coach Paul Hewitt said. “He had a bad ankle injury versus Marquette and subsequent to getting back on the court, he had a bad blister on the back of his foot. All those things contributed to a situation where certain guys got ahead of him.” Starting guard Andre Cornelius missed 10 games at the beginning of the season, but came back and upended the starting lineup, moving in where Hewitt rotated underclassmen at the top of the key. Forward Mike Morrison missed nearly all of his offseason games coming back from an injury of his own, but came back knowing his starting job would not be in jeopardy. Both upperclassmen had something that Bennett could not claim. Not […]

   

• Liam Neeson Dances With Wolves in ‘The Grey’, Except Instead of Dancing With Them, He Kills Them

  Lifestyle January 30, 2012 at 9:49 pm Comments are Disabled

  You may think you’re a badass, but until you trek across the Alaskan wilderness with next-to-no supplies while a pack of savage wolves is stalking you, you can go ahead and just sit down. “The Grey” stars the baddest of badasses, Liam Neeson, in pretty much the same role he played in “Taken” and “Unknown.” The difference here is that instead of punching thugs, he’s punching wolves. This begs the question: Why do we keep putting Chuck Norris on a pedestal when clearly Liam Neeson is the new standard for all things manly? In case you’re unfamiliar with the premise of the film, it’s about an oil-drilling team and their fight for survival after their plane crashes in the northern Alaskan wilderness. As if things aren’t bad enough, shortly after they come to terms with the direness of their situation, the band of survivors encounters a pack of wolves that make their journey home all the more dangerous. The theme of man versus nature is one of the oldest tropes in literature. Director Joe Carnahan, known for his films “Smokin Aces” and “The A-Team” takes a tenser and more tightly wrought approach to action in this film. It’s not about […]

   

• Smartphones May Damage Relationships

  Lifestyle January 30, 2012 at 9:47 pm Comments are Disabled

  We have all noticed that most George Mason University students are on their phones when walking from one class to the next. A majority of students are on iPhones or application-savvy smartphones. According to CNET, the popular tech media website, over one-third of the U.S. population owns a smartphone. This means that every third person sitting in your class right now has one. On what would seem like a completely irrelevant note, many couples are also calling it quits and many friendships are now losing value. So what does this have anything to do with smartphones? It has to do with smartphones because many blogs and editorials are now seeing a correlation between deteriorating relationships and this popular technology. There are more than a few reasons why your beloved iPhone is keeping you single — reasons like distractions. Half the time when you’re on a dinner date and your phone keeps vibrating, you will eventually check it. And this will lead to the infamous line, “Sorry, what’d you say?” or playing Temple Run on your iPhone while tweeting about your date. Now that’s a really bad first impression and will probably be your first and last date. Miscommunication is another […]

   

• SUB 1: The Gathering

  Lifestyle January 30, 2012 at 9:44 pm Comments are Disabled

  Anyone who’s ever eaten at the Rathskeller, or any other dining facility in the lower level of Student Union Building I, has probably noticed the crowd of people that usually forms just outside the doors of the RAT. To the average passerby, that’s all it is — a group of people huddled around, playing a card game. But what game could possibly keep people so invested that they find themselves in the same place most days? One word: “Magic.” Magic: The Gathering is a popular card game played by an estimated 12 million people around the world, in which players assume the roles of warring mages as they summon creatures and cast spells to attack their opponents, draining their life until only one man is left standing. “If you were to try and sum up Magic in 10 words or less, you couldn’t,” said sophomore economics major Nathan McBrady. “There are just too many styles of play.” Indeed, Magic is a game that is easy to learn yet extremely difficult to master. Here at George Mason University, it’s less about the competitiveness and more about having fun with friends. “I was just wandering around, looking for Chick-fil-A,” said freshman computer […]

   

• TV is Not What it Used to Be

  Lifestyle January 30, 2012 at 9:42 pm Comments are Disabled

  For the great majority of Patriots, growing up on the Eastern Seaboard during the ’90s evokes memories that fill one with the nostalgic longing for yesterday. In neighborhood playgrounds across the states, Pokémon battles erupted among elephant pants-clad elementary schoolers, Pluto was still a planet, a hot plate of Pizza Pockets awaited in the kitchen after school and Walkmans were all the “rage.” Times were good but even better once Saturday morning arrived, when one ran down to the family basement and binged on all the new cartoons of the week. These days, kids don’t get excited over Saturday mornings like they once used to. The Millennial generation is now coming to an end and the new additions to our society, Generation Z’ers, are not given the justice they deserve from television programming. The moral education that was once provided through shows such as “The Wild Thornberrys”, Rocket Power, “Zoom!” and “Doug” have been replaced by mindless humor, inappropriateness and bad role models. This does not bode well for the future. As children, the Millennials were graced by a set of programs that exemplified the changing morality of our nation. Becoming less conservative and embracing all the diversity that was […]

   

• Looking Trendy Without Breaking the Bank

  Lifestyle January 30, 2012 at 9:39 pm Comments are Disabled

  They say chic isn’t cheap, but fortunately for college students the game is changing. Many designers have created or are working on a more-affordable sister line that can be purchased by the general public. These lines are not only less expensive, but also allow designers to reach out to a wider array of people. Designers from Karl Lagerfeld to Missoni to Stella McCartney have all collaborated with different chain stores to create their more reasonably priced clothing lines. So what is it about designer duds that get everyone so excited? First off, designer clothing is typically of higher quality than clothing found in a local mall. Though the quality of the clothes is reflected in the price, customers are also paying for the designer’s name. When it comes to buying a Gucci purse for $2,000 or a Dior dress for $3,000, most shoppers simply cannot justify the price. But when consumers can buy clothing and accessories from the same designer for less, most cannot say no. This is why these designer collaborations have become so popular. Some even have customers lining up outside the store just hoping to pick up a piece from the collection. When Target first started its […]

   

• GMU Student Outraged at the Treatment of Military

  News1 January 30, 2012 at 9:37 pm Comments are Disabled

  Dear Broadside Editors, It was nice to see the anti-military issue addressed in the December/Holiday edition of the school newspaper. I would like to make some of my thoughts known too. As the daughter of a mother and father who have retired from the United States Navy, the granddaughter of a fighter pilot and former deputy commander of an air force base of another country and the great-granddaughter of a man who lost his life in the U.S. Army in WWII in a death march, a heaviness, sadness and fire overcomes me when I hear others criticize this country’s military. The men and women of the U.S. military are some of the most organized, thoughtful, dedicated and strongest people on this planet, and they deserve our respect. To increasingly reduce their efforts from honorable to evil is repulsive. Just who do we think we are? We have no right, no right at all, to bite the hand that so generously and willingly is the source of our security of free will and free expression. They sacrifice their lives, professional and personal, on a daily basis; they have to leave their families behind and face endless months at sea and in […]