Recent Posts

• Sports at a Glance

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:09 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ryan Dempsey, Broadside Correspondent Chicago out of Olympic Host Contention: On Friday, Chicago, the third-largest city in the U.S. was removed in the first round of voting for a potential 2016 Summer Olympics host city. Many people thought that Chicago and Rio de Janeiro were the two lone standing favorites to host the event, but instead, Chicago was eliminated. The U.S. was the first of the four finalists to make its presentations, with some of the speakers stiff and seemingly nervous. “It’s not about the words,” Chicago Mayor Richard Daley stated. “It’s about the heart and the soul.” But despite the soul put into the presentation, voters for the International Olympic Committee did not feel the same way. A large part of the way the voting took place could be because Chicago is largely unknown oversees. Another view could be based on President Barack Obama’s brevity when talking to IOC members. The short stopover was “too business-like,” Former IOC member Kai Holm said. “It can be that some IOC members see it as a lack of respect.” According to Reuters, “White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Obama’s appearance before the IOC was not enough to overcome ‘politics inside that […]

   

• Point/Counterpoint: The One-Named Wonder

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:08 pm 1 comment

  John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor Ichiro: a name that symbolizes a legacy. Ichiro Suzuki embodies the game that has gained international acclaim. He is the best player on the field and off the field. In Japan, the ballplayer won his first batting title at age 20. He was named the league’s most valuable player at the age of 21. He then followed that feat by gaining five more batting crowns in Japan. In 1994, partly because of the hype he was creating, his manager, Akira Ogi changed the name on the uniform from “Suzuki” to “Ichiro.” He was introduced as a Mariner in the 2001 season, leading the team to a record-tying 116 wins out of 162 total games. Ichiro won the batting title with an average of .350, amassing 242 hits. He was named rookie of the year and MVP. First, we look at his hitting statistics. He stands alone as the only player to have nine, that’s right, nine 200-hit seasons, beating our Hall-of-Famer Willie Keeler, who held the record at eight seasons. The man reached 2,000 hits faster than everyone except Hall-of-Famer Al Simmons, missing the record by only 13 games. This is after he has compiled […]

   

• Point/Counterpoint: The Paradox of Ichiro’s Batting Average

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:07 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor There is only one player who would round first base and run towards center field after hitting a walk-off single. Anticipating a mob chasing him, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners unsuccessfully escapes from Mike Sweeney and a beer can in a 14-inning marathon against the Chicago White Sox. Ichiro always electrifies the sport with his unique and unorthodox presence, but for him to be considered one of the top baseball players in his generation, Ichiro would have to outperform his counterparts in his own league, which he certainly does not. As a 21-year-old in 2001, Albert Pujols debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals and won the National League Rookie of the Year award and finished second in the MVP voting. At the same time, the Japanese invasion reached a whole new level in Major League Baseball with Ichiro’s emergence in the Pacific Northwest. As a 28-year-old rookie, Ichiro took home the American League Rookie of the Year and AL MVP award. In just his fourth season in the major leagues, Ichiro not only won the batting title with a .372 batting average, but he set the single-season record with 262 hits to provide a […]

   

• In My Own Words: The Positive Mindset

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:06 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Staff Writer Lately, our team has been talking a lot about positive attitude. On the volleyball court, positive attitude is a state of mind where you feel motivated and confident in your skills and your teammates. It also includes believing, thinking about the best outcome and never letting your guard down. Positive attitude can be considered a way of life too. It is like wearing a “positive lens,” where you see every event from a positive perspective. For the context, let us think about positive attitudes on the court. In a volleyball game, whether you want it or not, the opponent is going to score points. It is the nature of the game. Think about it: without the mistakes, no one would ever score. Consider for an instant that the opponent scoring a point is the concept of a negative situation. How would you deal with it? How do you recover from a negative situation? Also, do not forget to consider that when playing volleyball, you only have control of the actions that happen on your side of the court. It can be a very frustrating game if you do not have control of your mind. When a […]

   

• Mason Battles Towson on Wednesday

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:05 pm Comments are Disabled

  Kevin Nydam, Broadside Correspondent After an incredible performance shutting out the fourth-ranked Maryland Terrapins last Tuesday, the men’s soccer team improved their record to 6-2. As they near the midway point of their season, the team prepares to play the Towson Tigers this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at George Mason Stadium. The Patriots sit in second place in the Colonial Athletic Association standings, nine places ahead of the Tigers. As the defending CAA men’s soccer champions, Mason has been projected to repeat the achievement this year to win back-to-back conference championships. The preseason CAA poll results predicted Towson to finish in sixth place, one rank higher than the previous season. Mason has a strong offense, averaging nearly 14 shots per game. They have outscored their opponents 14-4 so far in the first eight games of the season. This match will be a true test for the Patriots, who look to move to first place with another conference win. Senior goalkeeper Sean Kelley has already recorded 26 saves in the first seven games, while Towson’s sophomore goalkeeper John Steele has saved 24 shots. The Tigers have played seven games this season and currently sit under .500 with a record of 3-4-0 […]

   

• Paying Off The Taliban?: Possible Solutions For Resolving The Many Afghanistan Conflicts

  Editorials October 6, 2009 at 2:01 pm Comments are Disabled

  Bardia Mehrabian, Broadside Contributor “It’s time to get real about Afghanistan,” writes Fareed Zakaria, contributing writer and editor for Newsweek International. He, in a Sept. 21 Newsweek article, continues, “Withdrawal is not a serious option. The United States, NATO, the European Union, and other nations have invested massively in stabilizing the country over the past eight years, and they will not—and should not—abandon it because the Taliban is proving a tougher foe than anticipated.” These words should resonate for any proponent of seeing the Taliban eradicated in Afghanistan, but from NGOs, think-tanks, to the military itself; everyone is stuck scratching their head regarding how to achieve this objective. Zakaria’s prescription: pay the Taliban, whom are virtually all ethnically Pashtun, to stop killing and bombing. He elaborates: “Buying, renting, or bribing Pashtun tribes should become the centerpiece of America’s stabilization strategy, as it was Britain’s when it ruled Afghanistan.” Zakaria’s argument is mainly drawn from the strategies that were employed in Iraq by the U.S. military. During the most violent years of the second Iraq war, the U.S. bribed different militia groups not to kill U.S. troops and rival militias to quell the maelstrom of violence plaguing Iraq. This was met […]

   

• Dirty Little Secret: America Possibly Facing the Oppression of Past-Marxist Countries

  Editorials October 6, 2009 at 1:59 pm Comments are Disabled

  Alan Moore, Broadside Contributor A colleague in one of my classes, whom I have nothing but the utmost respect for, referred to “America’s Dirty Little Secret” in class the other day in the context of the widespread oppression in the United States of America. Another person alluded that Marxism should be mulled over more in the U.S. because when people are being oppressed it should always be considered. They spoke as if Marxist governments embodied some romantic, revolutionary, blue-collar paradise and that we should be ashamed of wrongdoings committed by some people in this country. Huh? After hearing that I felt like I was taking crazy pills or something. America is not only a country, but an ideal. The ideal that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This was written by great men who were truly being oppressed by a tyrannical foreign government without direct representation. The point being that the individual is responsible for his or her actions, not a country. To label this country as having a “Dirty Little Secret” is utterly ridiculous and offensive. That would […]

   

• A New Threat Against Home: Americans Now Have More to Worry About Than War

  Editorials October 6, 2009 at 1:56 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ryan Comer, English, (Broadside Contributor) America should be thankful: The last war that was fought between her shores echoed only the thundering of charging cavalry, the resounding boom of cannons, and the crackle of musket fire; a desired alternative to the churning of metal tanks, the devastation of thundering artillery, and the screaming of machine gun fire. For many people in the world, however, these sounds are as common to them as the sounds of rush hour are to you and I. Indeed, even the oldest generation of Europeans remembers the horrific devastation caused by World War II. However, America, when compared to the rest of the modern world, has been a safe haven. Pearl Harbor, one of the deadliest attacks by a foreign enemy on U.S. soil was, in a sense, isolated. Hawaii was still only a territory when the attack happened, and resting about 2500 miles from the mainland, it was a remote land to most Americans. However, in 2001, despite it’s history of safety, America’s status quo instantly changed a week after Labor Day. Americans were forced to swallow a grim dose of reality; a reality many countries across the Atlantic Ocean had already acclimated themselves to. […]

   

• Roller Derby, Texas Style: Drew Berrymore Excels in Directorial Debut

  Lifestyle October 6, 2009 at 1:53 pm Comments are Disabled

  Josh Hylton, Staff Writer Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It is like an online gaming avatar: it allows the audience to step into the shoes of somebody else and live vicariously through them, even if it’s only for a brief period of time. Whip It is a coming-of-age story told with equanimity and aplomb, a story that is likely to resonate with many who have had a desire to follow our dreams, but have never realized them. Based on the book Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, Whip It stars Ellen Page as Bliss, a 17-year-old high school student in desperate need of a new life. Cross lives in a small, desolate town in Texas, has a miserable job at The Oink Joint (a local restaurant where she is forced to wear an embarrassing pig apron in front of her peers) and participates in a myriad of pageants to please her mother, despite her secret hatred for them. She is emotionally lost and unsure of where life is taking her until she finds a flyer for a roller derby league promoting the upcoming pre-season game. She attends the game and falls in love with it, eventually trying out for the team […]

   

• Farmers’ Market Going Sour?: Mason, Smart Markets in Contract Dispute

  Lifestyle October 6, 2009 at 1:51 pm Comments are Disabled

  Patrick Wall, Style Editor This is not the plan Smart Markets founder Jean Janssen had in mind. Less than two months into the school year, there is growing concern that her farmer’s market, like much of the produce sold there, will not survive the winter. Janssen is locked in a scuffle with George Mason University over the future of her program. According to Janssen, University Services has informed her that they plan to close the market at the end of October to assess its future. Last year, University Services started investigating farmer’s markets to bring to campus. They decided on Smart Markets, and opened the market on Earth Day last year, continuing during the summer. It started with only a few vendors, but slowly gained momentum as the summer progressed. It was a hit with faculty and staff and is now reaching an increasing student audience. Mason’s market was recently named the third best small market in the country by American Farmland Trust. However, tensions between Mason and the market began when, according to Assistant Vice President of University Services Mark Kraner, the university asked Janssen to submit language to change their contract. According to Janssen, Mason is neglecting the […]