Recent Posts

• It All Starts With the Owner: Snyder’s Ideology Should Be Bottom-up

  Sports November 5, 2009 at 8:47 pm Comments are Disabled

  Chris DeMarco, Staff Writer Another Redskins’ loss brings more and more criticism onto the organization. In the Redskins’ first seven games, they have played six winless teams. As a result, they are only 2-5. They gave the lowly Detroit Lions their first win in 19 games. That is the closest thing to a highlight for the Redskins this year, and it is definitely not a pretty one. The media can only blame Head Coach Jim Zorn so much. He does what he can with what he is provided, which is practically a team made up like a fantasy football team. Zorn and the fans have the Redskins wonderful owner Daniel Snyder and President of Football Operations Vinny Cerrato to thank for that. Do not get me wrong, as an Eagles fan, nothing makes me happier than seeing unhappy Redskins fans, but it has gotten to the point in which I just feel bad for them, and that pains me to say. In the 10 years since Snyder bought the team, he has opened his wallet and overpaid for past-their-prime stars in Deion Sanders, Bruce Smith, and Mark Brunell. He has hired and fired good coaches like Norv Turner and Marty […]

   

• Pink Beats the Panthers: Mason Moves Past Tribe for Third Place

  Sports November 5, 2009 at 8:44 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Supporting breast cancer awareness, the George Mason University women’s volleyball team sported their pink uniforms. Even with the different look, Mason (19-7, 8-3) carried out the match in a familiar fashion they had throughout this season, defeating the Georgia State Panthers in four sets on Saturday night. After dominating the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks on Friday, Mason recorded nine attack errors in the first set. Both teams struggled as they combined for 16 errors in the first set alone. Despite the back-and-forth errors, Mason battled hand-in-hand with the Panthers, but the Panthers took the first set with a narrow 25-23 win. Mason had a stronger showing in the second set, hitting .424 in the set. The team closed out the set with a 25-18 win and entered the third set with more confidence. “We started off kind of slow, and Georgia State really came to play tonight, so we had to re-focus ourselves, get back into it, and stick together as a team,” said freshman libero Koala Matsuoka, who had a match-leading 18 digs in Friday’s match. Mason jumped to a 9-1 lead early in the third set. Eleven of Mason’s first 18 points in the set […]

   

• Sports at a Glance

  Sports November 5, 2009 at 8:39 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ryan Dempsey, Staff Writer Men’s College Basketball As the men’s college basketball season is getting ready to start, the Associated Press has announced its rankings for the preseason poll. The AP voted the Kansas Jayhawks number one in the country with Michigan State Spartans, the Texas Longhorns, the Kentucky Wildcats and the Villanova Wildcats rounding out the top five. The AP ranked the defending national champions, North Carolina Tar Heels, sixth and their biggest rival, Duke Blue Devils, ninth. MLB Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig has announced that MLB will be looking into the use of instant replay next season. Selig, who is against expanding the use of replays beyond home-run calls, personally believes that the tempo of the game will change dramatically with the use of instant replays. Despite his anti-replay beliefs, Selig understands that there is a serious issue at hand and that it must be addressed immediately. “I understand we have had some incidents that were most unfortunate,” Selig said. “They were controversial and beyond controversial. There is no sense in hiding that, nor would I.” Whether or not the Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series back-to-back, the team that has played so impressively for two […]

   

• In My Own Words: Midterm Examination

  Sports November 5, 2009 at 8:37 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Staff Writer The last couple of weeks were midterm evaluation period. It is time for midterm evaluations in the classroom and also on the court. Besides finals period, midterms are the second most stressful part of the semester. All the deadlines for major projects, papers, presentations and exams seem to accumulate in one week. If you are lucky, your “hell week” may be spread in two weeks. It is exam after exam on top of endless homework. We also encounter the exhaustion of the college routine around midterm time. The lack of sleep reaches its limit, and there never seems to be enough time. Thank God for Thanksgiving Break, otherwise we would not survive finals. The weather also changes by the middle of the semester to contribute to the chaos and stress around midterm time. With your immune system low because of the nights you spent awake studying, or in my case the poor-quality sleep I get during flights and bus rides, a simple weather change can put you in bed. All of these factors combined help set the context for midterm evaluations. Just like in the classroom, we have just passed the middle of our volleyball “semester.” […]

   

• South Africa Welcomes the FIFA World Cup: The Value of Soccer on an International Stage

  Editorials November 5, 2009 at 8:35 pm Comments are Disabled

  Justin Lalputan, Broadside Correspondent There are only two sporting events in the world that cause nearly every single country to stop what they are doing to watch, and both occur every four years. One is the Olympics, which occurs during the winter and summer. The other is the FIFA World Cup. Many people, especially Americans, dismiss it as a simple soccer game, but it is far from that. The World Cup is a large-scale soccer tournament that can have effects that many world leaders wish they could conjure. When the World Cup was held in France in 1998, a French family noted the incredible change that they witnessed by saying, “The team is so different, but they are all fighting for France, and that reminds us to look at what bonds us together.” This sentiment is exactly what I am talking about. When soccer teams play for their countries, they are not playing for just one city or one area, they are playing for everyone, and that unites the entire country. The country that is hosting the World Cup this year is South Africa. It is safe to say that even though the finals have not started, the citizens are […]

   

• Letter From Our Student Body President

  Editorials November 5, 2009 at 6:53 pm Comments are Disabled

  This fall Student Government has made it a goal to provide Vote Vans for the gubernatorial elections. Thanks to the dedication of many members of Student Government including Student Senator Ally Bowers and Secretary of Government and Academic Affairs Ryan Huff, this Tuesday, Nov. 3, we will be following through with this initiative. We will be providing two seven-passenger vans to take students from Sandy Creek to the local polling place at W.T. Woodson High School, which is less than 5 miles from campus. The shuttle will run from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. The vans will be driven by members of Student Government, and will alternate trips, with one heading to the polls while the other is departing, with the hope that no student has to wait more than a few minutes for a ride. Not only will this event give students an opportunity to get to the polls as quickly as possible without having to block off a large portion of their day to go vote, but this year students will also be provided with non-partisan literature on both the Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The platform information provided for both candidates will be drawn solely from the […]

   

• Letter to the Editor

  Editorials November 5, 2009 at 6:51 pm Comments are Disabled

  In the previous issue of Broadside, a number of writers commented on the popularity of sexy Halloween costumes and expressed disapproval of it. I agree with their misgivings and commend their efforts to bring the issue to the attention of Broadside readers. However, I think their focus is misplaced. The way I see it, criticizing acts of sexual exhibitionism in practice while supporting sexual libertarianism, or “free love,” in theory is inconsistent and pretentious. To argue against sexually-exhibitionist Halloween costumes, while supporting sex and romantic intimacy, with little or no restraint is capricious; arguments that are not kind and based on differences in degree are fertile ground for subjective opinion, rather than reason or a consistent worldview. To criticize those who use a liberty that is based on principles you do not question is not only baseless, but hypocritical. Like the concerned staff of Broadside, I am made uneasy by rampant exhibitionism that pervades the sexy costumes fad. However, unlike the majority of the writers or most people, I am also opposed to the pervasiveness of sexual liberalism in society. The modern trend of sexual misbehavior in our culture is simply part of a much larger issue: The fact that […]

   

• Detroit's For Sale, But Nobody's Buying: Michigan Making Up for Economy by State Sale

  Editorials November 5, 2009 at 6:47 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brandon Minster, Staff Writer About once a week, I have a serious discussion with myself that starts with, what do I want to be when I grow up? And usually near the top of my list is auctioneer. The career combines the best of all other jobs. Fast, unintelligible talking, “do I hear five, five, five, do I hear wharlgurlgarble hamanahamana”, but at a much higher wage than working a fast food restaurant. Describing people’s shameful character traits, “sold to the obese, balding woman in the back row,” but with more regular gigs than an insult comic. Forcing people to buy things they do not want: “I’m sorry, sir, but I did see a slight motion of your head, and now you own a Rembrandt,” but without the criminal record that accompanies a career in racketeering. Auctioneering has it all. It is the wave of the future. The future is already here in Detroit, Mich., a city poised to become the first in America, since the days of railroad speculation, to be sold completely on the auction block. In 2007, Wayne County, Mich., officials offered 2,000 seized properties at their auction. This year they offered 9,000 properties. More than four-fifths […]

   

• Too Close to Call

  Sports October 30, 2009 at 11:09 pm Comments are Disabled

  Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Bohman recorded nine blocks as Mason totaled 12 team blocks in their 3-0 sweep over the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks on Friday night. Sophomore outside hitter Noelle Fanella added a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. Mason improved to 18-7 overall, and despite staying in fourth place, the competition among the top four teams tightened as the Delaware Blue Hens dropped a five-set thriller to the VCU Rams. Mason is just a half game behind the two second-place teams, Rams and William & Mary Tribe, but after Friday night, Mason closed the gap to one game on the Blue Hens. Mason hosts the Georgia State Panthers at the RAC tomorrow night. The Panthers are another tough customer despite not having a good showing in conference play thus far. Not only will Mason try to prevent the upset to solidify a top four spot, but the team looks to contend for a spot on top of the standings by the season’s end.

   

• Politics in the Classroom: Are Professors Just Personal Agenda Pushers?

  Editorials October 27, 2009 at 3:42 pm Comments are Disabled

  Alan Moore, Broadside Correspondent Since coming to George Mason University, I have been shocked and appalled at the number of professors who are more concerned with pushing their own political agenda than actually teaching. I have had to bear professors lobbying for a variety of political ideological rants ranging from Christopher Columbus accomplishing nothing more than being a bigoted murderer to Rush Limbaugh perpetuating a fantasy system of lies and falsehoods. I also can’t seem to get through a class without hearing about how man irrefutably aids global warming. Quite frankly, I’m sick of it. Let me be clear on this next point: If you subscribe to such beliefs, then that is fine with me, I do not really care in the slightest. I might think you’re a radical leftist, but if that is what you want to believe, then so be it. We can both think whatever we want. However, the line must absolutely be drawn when you walk into the classroom. Professors in their ivory towers love to push their ideological values on their students because students fear that speaking up will place them in their bad graces. After all, we are all here to earn a college […]