Sports

• Athlete of the Week: Quarterback Jack Langley

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 4:21 pm Comments are Disabled

  In football, the quarterback is often seen as the star of the team. Senior quarterback Jack Langley, known by friends as “Quarterback Jack” or “Simple Jack” by his teammates — a “Tropic Thunder” reference — has been on the George Mason University club football team since his freshman year. Now that his final season is upon him, there is still much this quarterback hopes to achieve. Fans can’t help but feel excited when watching Langley and his teammates play. Mason’s football team may only be a club team, but the energy is still electric and thriving in the stands, which are always filled at every home game by fans blazing school spirit. Langley’s biggest supporters can be found holding signs that read “Marry Me Quarterback Jack!” — ironically by most of his male friends — or “Lets go #14!”. The spotlight doesn’t only shine on him, though. “This team, the players and coaches, make it fun every day for me,” Langley said. “Not only do we have a variety of very skilled athletes, but great guys who have extraordinary camaraderie, a great sense of humor and pride.” Being the leader of the team isn’t always easy. “Some negatives would include […]

   
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  Are the risks of Red Bull Worth the Wings?

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 4:21 pm Comments are Disabled

  Red Bull gives you wings. At least that’s what the commercials say. As endorsed by celebrity sponsors Rickie Fowler, Sebastian Vettel and Travis Rice, who support the effects caused by the controversial drink, it gives you the energy to succeed. George Mason University athletes, however, are well aware of the risks that come with drinking Red Bull and other energy drinks. The most common and popular stimulant found in energy drinks is caffeine, but most drinks also contain other harmful energy-inducing ingredients that can cause a variety of negative nutritional, physical and psychological effects. According to Theresa Logan, the sports dietitian for the Center for Sports Performance at Mason, the ingredients in energy drinks stimulate the central nervous system, increase mental acuity, blood pressure and heart rate, as well as cause dental erosion and dehydration. “For a student athlete, consuming energy drinks throughout the day creates a jittery feeling, upset stomach and insomnia,” Logan said. “This situation cascades into poor diet and sleep habits and sudden energy crashes.” On average, a student athlete can lose approximately three liters of fluid per day through exercise, and by adding energy drinks to their daily diet, they put themselves at risk for dehydration, […]

   
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  Rookie Striker Hungry for Success

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 3:55 pm Comments are Disabled

  For a high school soccer player, a serious leg injury can be career ending. Scholarships can fly out the window. Offers themselves can disintegrate faster than they appeared. And if they ever recover, they may only be a shadow of their former selves. But when Liz Hodges tore her ACL she found a vote of confidence in the head coach from just up the street. Diane Drake had been looking at the young forward since her early days at South County High School in Lorton, Va. and gave Hodges her first vote of confidence after the injury. “She was actually at the game where I got hurt,” Hodges said. “Instantly I knew I wanted to go here because she emailed me from her blackberry on her way home asking how I was doing, if I was okay.” Usually injuries like that are hard to come back from. They have ended college careers and killed professional hopes for some. Hodges wanted nothing more to get on the field, though, to play for someone who had apparently limitless confidence in her scoring power. “Whenever I watched her play, she was always scoring goals,” Drake said. “Unorthodox goals, too, that other girls couldn’t […]

   

• Senior VP Makes Tough Decisions on and off the Field

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 3:52 pm Comments are Disabled

  In the world of sports, which is filled with pageantry, spectacle and uncertainty, the referees are the select few who maintain order — or at least attempt to. They are faced with difficult decisions in every game that they call and are always subjected to extreme scrutiny. George Mason University’s Senior Vice President Maurice Scherrens has taken the bulk of the scrutiny in his 21 years as a Division I NCAA football official. “Sports have always been a big part of my life,” Scherrens said. “I played sports through high school but wasn’t good enough to play any sports in college. A neighbor officiated sports and he got me interested in it. And once I started, I got hooked on it.” Scherrens began officiating basketball and football in a career that has spanned 30 years. “The progression from 8- and 10-year-olds, through junior high, JV, high school was about eight years or so, and then I worked Division III for a few years before Division I,” Scherrens said. “You’ve got to work your way up and, to be honest, you’ve got to be lucky. Somebody’s got to see you and like the way you officiate and then you get a […]

   

• Mason Madness Was One for the History Books

  Sports October 19, 2011 at 3:50 pm Comments are Disabled

  Two words: I’m mad. Crazy mad for the basketball season to finally get underway after the incredible performance put on by a variety of acts on Friday night. It was, by far, the best Mason Madness I have been a part of since 2009. The best introduction (see below); the best performances all the way down the line – from Urbanknowlogy to the Masonettes to Snap Boogie and Peter Rabbit; the most memorable display of coaching attire from Doc Hewitt; and the most phenomenal kickoff to the Mason basketball season.The party was rockin’ right from the start, as Doc Nix and the Green Machine performed an incredible brand of LMFAO’s hit Party Rock Anthem. Even the senior men’s and women’s basketball players came out to “shake that” for the crowd of several thousand. (I must say, though, the women’s players showed much better in the dancing category. Mike Morrison and Ryan Pearson had a whole lot of snap, but no boogie. Don’t believe me? Watch the video). Then, after all of the great entertainment, new Patriots’ coach Paul Hewitt won over the crowd by walking out of the tunnel dressed as the beloved director of the Green Machine, Doc Nix. […]

   

• Responding to Adversity: Mason basketball has what it takes to win

  Sports October 3, 2011 at 11:25 pm Comments are Disabled

  Just two weeks remain before the George Mason University basketball season kicks off with the beloved Mason Madness event and I, for one, am getting more and more excited by the day. So much uncertainty surrounds our talented team with the well-documented changes having taken place this offseason. The Patriots have gone from a shoo-in top-25 team to start the regular season, to a borderline NCAA tournament qualified. .Yet, it is the uncertainty that excites me about this team. They respond to adversity as well as any group of guys I have ever seen. With or without Andre Cornelius, who will likely miss at least some time with felony larceny charges pending, the Patriots’ strength for the 2011-12 season will be in the painted area. Returning forwards Ryan Pearson, Mike Morrison and Jonathan Arledge, as well as newcomer Erik Copes, will have to control the basketball in order for this team to succeed. They will have to dominate the painted area; rebounding and scoring in volumes to make up for the lack of production from the backcourt. New assistant coach Roland Houston could be an outstanding hire in this regard, as he specializes in footwork and back-to-the-basket moves from solid […]

   
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  Out of Spotlight, Mason Hockey Takes the Ice

  Sports October 3, 2011 at 11:24 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fall has arrived and it’s starting to show. Leaves are changing colors, there is a chill in the air and sports fanatics are dusting off their team colors. It is one of the most exciting times of the year in the sports industry: Football is kicking off, baseball is wrapping up, and the hockey season is set to be in full swing. Though George Mason University does not participate in all of these sports at the Division I level, the Patriots are, in some capacity, involved in all three of these sports. But what many students aren’t aware of is the Mason ice hockey club team. The team has been around since the ’90s but hasn’t received much attention since its founding. “Most of the Mason community doesn’t know that we even exist,” said Ernest Capasso, the team’s general manager. “So we would just like for people to learn about the team and come out and see a game or two.” The team has some exciting games taking place throughout the fall semester including their first home game at the Prince William Ice Center on Oct. 14 against Radford University. They will also be matched against some highly respected schools […]

   
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  Freshman Midfielder Has Found a New Family at Mason

  Sports October 3, 2011 at 11:22 pm Comments are Disabled

  RICHMOND, Va. — When most freshmen walk on campus, their aim is to find new friends, find off-campus parties and overcome homesickness. When Verneri Valimaa, the Patriots’ midfielder, walked onto campus, he was met by a family that was already in place. That was, in fact, one of the reasons he chose to call George Mason Universtiy his home in September of his senior year in high school. While Mason’s assistant coach and main recruiter, Nick Carlin-Voigt, went all-in on Valimaa, it was not the Floridian’s only offer. He may be as good in class as he is on the field. He was staring down offers from the likes of Ivy League schools like Harvard and major conference schools like teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. He was a member of the Mu Alpha Theta mathematics honor society while attending American Heritage Academy. The academy was ranked first for Mu Alpha Theta in private schools and second when private schools were thrown in to the mix. “Verneri was injured his sophomore year and ended up having a great senior year and being named Gatorade Player of the Year,” Carlin-Voigt said. “He’s a player that had ACC interest. He could’ve gone […]

   

• John Carlos to Visit Mason

  News1, Sports October 3, 2011 at 10:56 pm Comments are Disabled

  At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos made a remarkable stance against racial inequality. The respective 200-meter gold and bronze medal winners held their black-gloved fists high in protest of the treatment that blacks received in the U.S. Nearly 43 years later, the moment in time is still relevant and considered one of the most courageous and significant moments in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Currently, Smith and Carlos spend their days talking with people about their experiences and spreading their messages of racial equality. Carlos and Dave Zirin — a sportswriter and radio personality who has co-written an autobiography with Carlos titled “The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment That Changed the World” — will be at George Mason University tonight at 6 p.m. in the Johnson Center Cinema. “[The book], traces [Carlos’] life from his upbringing in Harlem up to the Olympics and beyond,” said Zirin. During the event they will be viewing the documentary, “Not Just a Game,” and speaking about their new book. Based on Zirin’s bestselling book “The People’s History of Sports in the United States,” the documentary argues that American sports have long been at the […]

   
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  ‘Moneyball:’ A Fresh Take on a Trite Genre

  Sports September 26, 2011 at 8:16 pm Comments are Disabled

  Sports movies have become cliché over the past 25 years with stories of underdog players or teams coming together to win the big game. In this fall’s sports movie representative, Moneyball, the cookie-cutter plotline is not the case. However, the adversity that the characters must face is still prominent. The story revolves around Oakland Athletics general manager, Billy Beane, played in the film by Brad Pitt. Beane has faced his fair share of difficult, life-changing decisions throughout his life and the film does a great job showing the thought process that he had to go through in making them. As a teenager, Beane was a top baseball prospect and was offered a hefty, first round contract by the New York Mets while also pondering a joint football-baseball scholarship to Stanford University. After much deliberation, Beane took the Mets offer and started his career in Major League Baseball. Though his playing career would be short-lived and filled with disappointment, Beane worked his way up through the ranks to eventually become general manager of the Oakland A’s, with the lowest salary in baseball. In order to be competitive, he must find a way to acquire top talent for a bargain. In the […]