Articles by: studentmedia

 

• A Favre Shot to Retire: Top Five NFL Offseason Storylines

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:40 pm Comments are Disabled

  Chris Demarco, Staff Writer 5. The Uncapped Year The National Football League and the NFL Player Association’s Collective Bargaining Agreement expires in March, and with that comes an uncapped year. What this means is that there will be absolutely no salary cap, much like what Major League Baseball has. What could come of this problem is many top-tier free agents will demand more money than they probably deserve because they know they can get it with no salary cap. What we could see is a team that is not afraid to spend a lot of money (a la the Washington Redskins) on these free agents. Some teams, like the Pittsburgh Steelers, have already stated that they will use a self-imposed salary cap so they can keep a level playing field. Hopefully, some sort of agreement will be made to prevent an uncapped year from happening. 4. What Will Mike Shanahan and the Redskins Do? The Redskins are coming off another horrible season in which they went a pathetic 4-12. They fired Head Coach Jim Zorn and hired Mike Shanahan, assuming that he will be their savior. With a possible uncapped year, will owner Daniel Snyder open up the checkbook and […]

   

• Mason Hosts Home Opener

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:38 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Overview: The baseball team started its 2010 campaign in Rock Hill, S.C., taking on the Northwestern Wildcats and host Winthrop Eagles. Coming off a successful 42-win season, Mason earned a trip to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament. Mason will host the Monmouth Hawks, the defending Northeast Conference baseball champions, this weekend. Mason kicks off the home opener at Spuhler Field on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and wraps up the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Mason: The Patriots enter the 2010 season with a new outlook, having lost six of its players to the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft last June. Senior second baseman Ryan Soares, a preseason All-Colonial Athletic Association selection, returns at the keystone position as one of the team leaders this year. In his two years at Mason, Soares has posted identical numbers across the board, but last year, he hit 11 home runs — four more than his total from 2008. In turn, he improved his slugging percentage from .473 to .559. Mason ended its season on a sour note, losing its final four games. Nonetheless, the team won 24 of 26 games at one point and compiled a […]

   

• Powell's Playbook: Performance Under Pressure

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:37 pm Comments are Disabled

  John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor As I was sitting in my hotel room in Baltimore, Md., I watched the Old Dominion Monarchs get dismantled by the Northern Iowa Panthers in the opening game of the ESPN BracketBusters event. I watched the William & Mary Tribe fall to the Iona Gaels. I watched the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs beat the Northeastern Huskies at Northeastern University. I finally watched the George Mason Patriots lose to the College of Charleston Cougars on homecoming night. Needless to say, it has not been a good few days for the conference. VCU was the only team in the Colonial Athletic Association to win its BracketBuster, and was one of only three conference teams to win over the weekend. The CAA has touted how well it performs in televised games. This event however proved something quite contrary. I have said that the only way for the CAA to get an at-large bid in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament was for the losing team in the conference’s tournament to do well against quality non-conference teams. The CAA performed well at the beginning of the season, but the top conference teams have been performing terribly as of late. Some […]

   

• World Cup: Dealing with Injuries: Americans with Injuries Need Backup Plan

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:35 pm Comments are Disabled

  Donald O’Mahony, Staff Writer With the World Cup fast approaching, the United States continues to have injury problems. Charlie Davies, Clint Dempsey and Oguchi Onyewu are all currently injured and questionable for this summer. There is still hope that they will be on the field to face England on June 12, but a backup plan needs to be in place. Although Head Coach Bob Bradley is not required to announce his team anytime soon, here are a few players who might be called on to make a difference. Jay DeMerit – The Wisconsin native has built a good reputation in the national team over the last year and might be in consideration for a starting spot even if Onyewu is healthy. He debuted for the national team in 2007 and started all five matches in the run to the Confederations Cup Final in 2009. If Onyewu is fit, DeMerit will battle with team captain Carlos Bocanegra for the other spot at center defense. However, if Onyewu cannot go, he could be lining up against Wayne Rooney in a few months. It is a difficult task for any defender, but he will need to be ready. Stuart Holden – The fate […]

   

• The Final Showdown

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:34 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Overview: Saturday’s matchup between the George Mason University Patriots and the Northeastern Huskies may provide a preview of a potential late-round matchup in the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association Tournament as both teams look to stay in the top four of the conference. Mason has been just 1-4 in the month of February, relinquishing its lead atop the conference while the Huskies remain in a neck-to-neck battle with the Old Dominion Monarchs for first place. After losing to the William & Mary Tribe on Tuesday, Mason dropped to 16-11 overall and 11-5 in the CAA; the Huskies entered Saturday’s ESPN BracketBuster game against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs with an 18-9 overall record and 13-3 conference record. The game will tip off at noon. Mason: The Patriots are coming off a tough home loss to the Tribe, bringing its 18-game home conference winning streak to a halt and also ending its nine-game home winning streak. Mason has generally dominated at the Patriot Center, winning 25 of the past 26 home games prior to last Tuesday, but the team will have to deal with a tough customer in the Huskies on Saturday in its home finale for the […]

   

• Costly Questionable Calls: Williams’ Emphatic Dunks and 18 Points Not Enough to Rally Patriots

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:32 pm Comments are Disabled

  John Kleeb, Staff Writer The George Mason Patriots (16-12, 11-5) came up short against the College of Charleston Cougars (19-9, 13-3) on Saturday night in a heartbreaking 85-83 loss on Homecoming night at the Patriot Center. “I think [the BracketBuster] is a tremendous concept; I think it gives a lot of juice to the weekend where a lot of teams are fired up to showcase their talents,” said Larranaga. “I thought the game itself was extremely entertaining and well-played. I was thrilled to see the crowd cheering for us wildly during the game.” The enthusiastic crowd pleased Cougars Head Coach Bobby Cremins, who said after the game that he was impressed with the atmosphere at the Patriot Center as well as young Mason players such as forwards Luke Hancock, Johnny Williams and guard Sherrod Wright, all who had a major impact on the game and all who scored over 10 points. The freshmen accounted for 53 of Mason’s 83 points in the game. The team was still without sophomore forward Mike Morrison, who had been suspended for a double technical foul in the game against the Old Dominion Monarchs. The game started out promising enough for the Patriots, who led […]

   

• Tribe Breach Patriot Center: William & Mary Ends Mason’s Conference Home Win Streak at 18

  Sports February 22, 2010 at 2:31 pm Comments are Disabled

  Cody Norman, Staff Writer Over the last two seasons, the men’s basketball team has posted an incredible 25-1 record while playing at the Patriot Center. They have notched 18 consecutive victories against Colonial Athletic Association opponents dating all the way back to Feb. 16, 2008. As fate would have it, the Patriots took the court on Tuesday night against the William & Mary Tribe, exactly two years since their last home conference loss. The Patriots were without sophomore forward Mike Morrison, who was suspended for two games after receiving a pair of technical fouls in the game against the Old Dominion Monarchs last Saturday. Morrison is averaging eight points and better than five rebounds per game this season, so Head Coach Jim Larranaga and his squad had a sizeable hole to fill on Tuesday night. After an extremely slow start on the offensive end, redshirt freshman forward Kevin Foster came off the bench to spark the home team. Foster brought energy to both sides of the floor and finished the half with 12 points, five rebounds, two blocks and one steal in just 12 minutes of work. Sophomore guard Andre Cornelius found his stroke from long range and canned 3-of-4 […]

   

• Damage Prompts Ballroom Closure

  News1 February 22, 2010 at 1:50 pm Comments are Disabled

  Kevin Loker, C2M Executive Editor The roof above the Student Union Building II Ballroom may not be a casualty of ‘Snowverkill 2010,’ but it has left some damage as far as events scheduling is concerned. The large-room space, which according to Events Management is used at least once a day by students and faculty for events, meetings and practices, was closed earlier this week as a precautionary measure to evaluate possible damage noticed by maintenance staff after last week’s snowstorms. According to Associate Director of Operations and Events Services Keith Ellis, the metal trusses that support the roof and ceiling of the SUB II Ballroom had developed a slight bow after last week’s massive snowfall, temporarily placing the safety of the room in question. Student groups and events began to be relocated to different rooms early Monday evening. Engineers have since assessed the damage and deemed the structure to be safe for use and, moreover, to be functioning as designed. “Trusses are designed to flex,” said Ellis. But damage has still been done. Ellis says the trusses have flexed to a point that the movable partitions are starting to drag the floor in the center of the room. To read […]

   

• Mason Majesty Showcases Spirit: Competition Becomes Fierce as Students Battle for Title

  News1 February 22, 2010 at 1:47 pm Comments are Disabled

  Yuri Svjaintsev, Broadside Correspondent Homecoming Week began on Monday with a heavy dose of George Mason University spirit. The celebration coincided with Mardi Gras and Michelle Davis, event coordinator and assistant director for programming from the Office of Student Activities, was there to bring a little New Orleans flavor to the Fairfax campus. One of the highlights of the week-long event was the Homecoming Pageant. Traditionally, homecoming pageants have a king and a queen. However, this year’s host, Reann Ballslee, the drag queen who represented Mason as 2009’s homecoming queen, inaugurated a new tradition by naming a gender-neutral “Mason Majesty.” Four students were up to bat in a competition that combined an overview of each contestant’s contributions to Mason, a trivia session, a talent show and a round of personal questions conducted by the Office of Student Activities at Ballslee’s discretion. The students who participated were Peter Danjczek, Lee Warner, Thomas Lee and Meredith Cutchin. All are accomplished members of Mason’s student community. The trivia session was loaded with questions about Mason life, history and random tidbits about the man George Mason himself. For instance, who knew that rubbing Mason’s foot brought good luck, or what the four original buildings […]

   

• Revised Exam Schedule Unveiled; No Readings Days, Shorter Exams Part of New Plan

  News1 February 18, 2010 at 11:55 am Comments are Disabled

  Emily Sharrer, Editor-in-Chief To make up classes missed due to last week’s snowstorms, final exams originally scheduled for May 5-7, will be pushed back to May 8-12 and a reading day scheduled for May 4 has been cancelled. Final exams, which are usually two hours and 45 minutes long, will be reduced to two hours, with six exams scheduled over four days, as opposed to the original plan of having five exams over five days. George Mason University Provost Peter Stearns announced the makeup class plan and unveiled the new final exam schedule to students, faculty and staff via e-mail on Friday. Classes at the university, which were cancelled since 12:30 p.m. Feb. 5, resumed Friday. “We can press the exam schedule back and that frees up several days — plus the reading days — to make up as best as possible for the days we missed in this latest series of storms,” said Stearns. This is the first time within at least ten years the university has scheduled exams on a Saturday according to Stearns. “We’ve used Saturdays in case of difficulty, as well as for some Saturday classes, but this is the first time to my knowledge that […]