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That’s Greek To Me Increase In HPER Attendance

Keeping the Thrill The New Year Miracle Hogs Hold Serve Black History - It’s Your History Too.! is all-Greek retailer

supplies UA sororities and fraternities with custom apparel.

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New students and the New Year has brought increased attendance to the HPER.

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Legendary Fayetteville store o" ers fashionable items and even your next great costume.

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How to keep those resolutions going strong past the # rst month of the year.

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Arkansas beats No. 25 Vanderbilt, improves to 16-0 in Bud Walton Arena.

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! e importance of celebrating black history throughout the year.

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News News Features Features Sports Opinion

In T

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An accident in a construc-tion zone sent one student to the hospital Tuesday after-noon.

UAPD officers received a call at 12:16 p.m. that a female student was hit by a construc-tion gate. The gate is located at what used to be Campus Drive near Vol Walker Hall and Ozark Hall, said Lt. Gary Crain, police spokesperson.

The student was taken to the hospital, but she was con-scious, Crain said. She did complain of pain in her feet, he said.

“The wind blew the gate and the gate hit the student,” Crain said.

Yesterday afternoon, Fay-etteville experienced 15 to 20 mph winds with gusts as high as 25 mph, according to the National Weather service.

by SARAH DEROUENStaff Writer

Construction Accident Puts Student in Hospital

! e housing process for the 2012 school year is under-way and UA Housing o" cials are already working to prevent students from being placed in over# ow housing next fall.

More than 50 students were placed in over# ow hous-ing at the beginning of the fall semester. For the $ rst time in years, students were tempo-rarily placed in study rooms and even hotels, Johnson said.

Some of these students remained in these over# ow spaces well into the semester.

Housing o" cials work closely with enrollment man-agement to project the num-ber of students they will need to accommodate, she said.

“If cancellations are less than projected, that is when we have to use enrollment. Due to this new phenomena of enrollment, old informa-tion doesn’t really apply any-more,” she said.

Housing o" cials expect to accommodate 89 to 91 per-cent of new freshmen enrolled for next fall, she said.

“We stay in contact with enrollment services through-

out the process to see if there are variations or changes,” she said.

Housing o" cials require incoming freshmen to ei-ther live on campus or with their parents, which limits the number of upperclassmen that housing can accommo-date.

Upperclassmen who do not receive a scholarship that requires them to live on cam-pus are not guaranteed a spot on campus and usually look o% -campus for housing.

“We anticipate we will not be able to ful$ ll all requests for upperclassmen looking to re-turn to campus,” Johnson said.

! e renovations of Walton South last summer added 68 beds for upperclassmen, yet housing still cannot accom-modate all upperclassmen wishing to live on campus.

! e addition of Hotz Hall, which will add 416 beds, is expected to ease the shortage of space, though additional housing will still be needed, Johnson said.

“Hotz Hall will de$ nite-ly help, but the 416 spaces in Hotz won’t necessarily equal 416 more upperclassmen,”

Johnson said.“I applied to live on cam-

pus again next year,” said Grace Colly, freshman Yocum resident. “I would really like to keep living on campus. If I can’t live in a dorm, I’ll try and live in my sorority house, and if I can’t do that, I guess I’ll have to $ nd an apartment.”

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet,” said Lo-gan Moyer, freshman Futrall Hall resident. “My fraternity’s house isn’t going to be done yet, so we’re looking at apart-ments to rent together.”

Some student organiza-tions, like Residents’ Interhall Congress, are advocating the issue to increase upperclass-men housing on campus.

A study conducted at Northwestern University shows that there are bene$ ts to living on campus as an up-perclassman, such as lower cost of living and higher focus on schoolwork.

Housing administrators are still working on a hous-ing master plan, which will hopefully create a long-term solution for student housing, Johnson said.

by JANNEE SULLIVANStaff Writer

Housing Officials Prepare for Incoming Freshmen

D r i n k i n g W h i l e

A b r o a dPage 5

Site of Incident

ERIK NORTHFELL LEAD DESIGNERUAPD officers received a call at 12:16 p.m. that a female student was hit by a construction gate. The gate is located at what used to be Campus Drive near Vol Walker Hall and Ozark Hall, said Lt. Gary Crain, UAPD spokesperson.

BEN FLOWERS PHOTO EDITORA student was struck by a gate Tuesday afternoon on Campus Drive near Vol Walker and Ozark Hall. The condition of the student is still unknown.

Check The Traveler for updates on this story atwww.uatrav.com

NEWS

The women and men of the University of Arkansas Police Department, in partnership with the community, are committed to protecting the future of Arkansas by promot-ing a safe and secure environment.

The Transit and Parking office handles parking permits and passes and transit for students, including bus routes and GoLoco Ride Sharing. Students with parking violations can contact the office to appeal their citation.

NEED TICKETS? CALL 1-800-982-4647

NEED A RIDE AT NIGHT? CALL 575 - 7233

NEED EMERGENCY HELP? CALL UAPD 575-2222

HAVE A TICKET? CALL 575-7275 TO RESOLVE IT

Otherwise known as 575-SAFE, the mission of the Safe Ride program is to provide students with a safe means of transportation from any uncomfortable or inconvenient situation. Safe Ride brings you home safely.

Don’t forget to call early and reserve your student football tickets for the 2010-2011 season. The ticket office is located on Razorback Road next to Baum Stadium.

CAMPUS NUMBERS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012 PAGE 2

The Arkansas Traveler, the student newspaper of the University of Arkansas, is published every day during the fall and spring academic sessions except during exam periods and university holidays.

Opinions expressed in signed columns are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily refl ect the opinion of The Traveler. The editor makes all fi nal content decisions.

One copy of The Arkansas Traveler is free to every member of the UA commu-nity. Additional copies can be purchased for 50 cents each. Mail subscriptions for delivery within the continental United States can be purchased for $125.00 per se-mester. Contact the Traveler Business Manager to arrange.

CONTACT

STAFF

The Arkansas Traveler strives for accuracy in its reporting and will correct all matters of fact. If you believe the paper has printed an error, please notify the editor at 575.8455 or at traveler@uark.edu.

SABA NASEEMEditor -in-Chief575-8455traveler@uark.edu

MATTIE QUINNManaging Editortravmgr@uark.edu

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! at’s Greek to Me is an all-Greek retailer where many UA sorority and fraternity mem-bers shop for t-shirts, gi" s and more, the owner said.

! at’s Greek to Me special-izes in custom apparel. Cus-tomers can pick out which col-or, fabric, style font and letter-ing they want for their speci# c sorority or fraternity, owner Tina Huckleberry said.

“Our custom apparel is our most popular item I would say. Just based on sales, that’s what we sell the most of,” Huckle-berry said.

In addition to clothing, the

retailer sells everything from glassware to tailgating gear, ac-cording to the ! at’s Greek to Me website.

“! ey have a lot of cute stu$ at ! at’s Greek to Me and it is all pretty reasonably priced,” said Michelle Bundy, interna-tional business major and so-rority member.

! e business, which opened in August 2007, is currently li-censed for 29 Greek organiza-tions and can provide a multi-tude of services, according to their website.

Huckleberry opened the business a" er attending the University of Central Arkan-sas. Unlike Fayetteville, Con-way had an all-Greek appar-

el retailer for members of the university’s Greek system. Huckleberry was inspired to open her own shop.

! e busiest time of the year is fall, when all the sororities and fraternities get their bids, Huckleberry said.

“! e majority of our t-shirts are done through Houndstooth Clothing Company, but di$ er-ent sororities have their own websites that they can go to and order shirts,” Bundy said.

Generally, sororities have t-shirt committees that design di$ erent t-shirts for various chapter activities. Members can then pick size and quan-tity of shirts and then place an order.

Members can either pay for the shirt themselves or put them on bill-highway, a system where parents can pay for their student’s shirts, due and other fees, Bundy said.

! e sorority or fraternity that most frequents the store varies from year to year, Huck-leberry said.

“! e majority of customers that we get at the store are so-rority girls, because they love to shop, as all girls do,” Huckle-berry said. “But we are increas-ingly getting more and more fraternity guys as the word spreads about us around cam-pus and in the fraternities and sororities.”

by KAREN STIGARStaff Writer

That’s Greek to Me Offers Custom Apparel

Annual spring recruit-ment for the UA Interfra-ternity Council began this month, giving Greek hope-fuls who didn’t rush in the fall another opportunity to do so, members said.

! e process began Jan. 26 in the Arkansas Union with an event called “Meet the Chapters”. IFC recruitment orientation is to take place on Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. ! e orien-tation will take place in the union ballroom and is man-datory for all rush members.

Spring recruitment is not much di$ erent from fall re-cruitment, said Mark Ma-

chen, president of UA Inter-fraternity Council.

“! e only di$ erence is the amount of young men going through the process, but they will be going through the same processes and events that fall recruitment o$ ers,” Machen said. “As president, my role is to aid our excellent co-vice presidents of recruit-ment, Daniel Massanelli and Ben Shipley, in all the aspects of the recruitment process.”

Going through the re-cruitment process does not require rush members to join a chapter. Men interested are encouraged to participate in order to learn more about the UA campus and Greek com-

munity. Recruitment coun-selors, known as Rho Chi’s, will assist rush members throughout the process and answer questions they may have.

Daniel Bingham, a senior biology major and member of Lambda Chi Alpha, served as Rho Chi during fall re-cruitment last semester.

“Rho Chi’s are truly there to alleviate any concerns that rushees may have. ! ey’re someone who has gone through the process before and can answer any questions that rushees may have. Essen-tially, we served as counselors to our groups throughout the week,” he said.

Interfraternity Council plans to hand out a combined 80 bids, according to the Greek Life website, encour-aging rush members to “meet as many chapter members as possible, and keep an open mind throughout the entire process.”

Because of less partici-pating in spring rush, fewer bids will be handed out, Ma-chen said. “Ultimately, it is the chapter’s decision on how many bids will be handed out,” he said.

A 2.5 GPA is required to participate in spring rush, according to the Greek Life website.

by MANDY MCCLENDONStaff Writer

Spring Rush Begins for IFC

JACKI FROST STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERMeredith Kaloogian, employee of That’s Greek To Me helps Blaire Bauer pick out a letter pattern for her new letter shirt before it is made in the store. Both girls are juniors at the University.

NEWSPAGE 3 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

HEALTH & SAFETYSpecial Traveler Beat

Faculty and staff can now access a nutritional coun-seling and weight man-agement program through QualChoice Health Insur-ance, according to Housing officials.

The program, which went online Jan. 1, offers incentives like rebates on health-care plans “in an ef-fort to help you attain or maintain a healthy weight,” according to the UA De-partment of Human Re-sources.

Students, who are ineli-gible for the program, can still visit a staff nutritionist at Pat Walker Health Cen-ter, said Pam Delaney, UA student insurance repre-sentative at Pat Walker.

“Student health plans don’t typically have a lot of preventative stuff, like nutrition and weight man-agement, but that’s just be-cause they don’t need it,” Delaney said.

Students can make a free appointment with the nu-tritionist to discuss weight loss and nutrition issues, she said.

“The nutritionist usually stays pretty busy,” Delaney

said. “Typically someone realizes they want to lose weight or their doctor tells them they are pre-diabetic and they need to change their diet.”

Students can work with the nutritionist on their meal plans and develop a nutritional solution that works for them.

Speaking with a nutri-tionist is one of the best ways to curb unhealthy eat-ing habits and fix nutri-tional issues in college and regular physical activity to help with weight issues, ac-cording to the CDC web-site.

A person with a body mass index more than 25 is considered overweight and a BMI over 30 is con-sidered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

Obesity is rampant in Arkansas, where 30 per-cent of adults are consid-ered obese. In certain sub-groups, as many as 40 per-cent are obese, according to the 2010 Trust for Amer-ica’s Health F as in Fat re-port.

Nutritional deficiencies, which are less obvious than weight issues, are common

in college students. Often students don’t know they are suffering from a nutri-tional deficiency, accord-ing to a University of New Hampshire study.

More than half of male students, ages 18-24, suffer from health issues such as high blood pressure. Two-thirds of women students suffer from deficiencies in iron, calcium or folate, ac-cording to the same study.

Obesity is linked to many health problems and can steer students toward a lifetime of chronic nu-tritional and weight issues, including type two diabe-tes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and certain types of cancer, ac-cording to CDC website.

There are also high medical costs associat-ed with obesity – in 2008, costs stemming from ris-ing obesity levels were ap-proximately $147 billion. Third-party payers – in-cluding insurance options like the new UA faculty and staff program - for people suffering from obesity was on average $1,500 more than people with healthy weights, according to the CDC website.

by JANNEE SULLIVANStaff Writer

UA Offers Weight Management Program for Faculty and Staff

With new teachers, new schedules and a slew of New Year’s resolutions, the HPER has seen a dramatic increase in student traf-! c, o" cials said.

Student attendance increased in all the HPER’s daily ! tness classes, from cardio-oriented dancing to isogenics and strength-ening, said Taylor Martin, HPER employee.

“[# e classes] are pretty full right now, with most of the attendees being girls with a handful of guys in every class,” Martin said. “It’s because of the New Year’s. Everyone shows up with their resolutions and starts working at them.”

HPER sta$ said this January was the largest increase in student tra" c in recent years.

Fitness classes are free and o$ ered on a “! rst come, ! rst serve” basis. Some of the HPER’s most popular classes, including Zumba and Pilates, have seen attendance as high as 70 students this semester, which forces instructors to turn students away.

Classes like ‘Rock Hard Abs’ and ‘Turbo Kick’ have had to turn people away, too.

“However we must be realistic,” said Jessica Graham, graduate assistant at the HPER. “Attendance always starts out like this at the beginning of semester. A month-and-a-half in is when we start getting a bet-ter estimate of what attendance throughout the semester will be like.”

It isn’t just the HPER employees who are surprised at the overloaded classes.

“It is de! nitely really cool to see all these new people trying something new,” said freshman Austin Wilkins. “Personally, I found these work-out classes helped me out not only ! tness but in my life overall.”

by VICTOR MONTALUOContributing Writer

New Year, New Students Bring Increase in HPER Traffic

MIKE NORTON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERForty students participate in the group exercise class Lethal Legs in the HPER. The class occurs every Tuesday from 4:45 p.m.-5:15 p.m. and again on Wednesday as a double class with Amped Up from 3:15 p.m.-4:15 p.m.

EDITOR: SABA NASEEM MANAGING EDITOR: MATTIE QUINN

Scan here to go tothe Opinion section

on uatrav.comTHE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

OPINIONPAGE 4 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

UA Greek LifeExpands Diversity

When we say the word “sorority girl,” what comes to mind im-mediately is a tall, skinny blonde, yelling her sorority chant at the pep rally. Now, we know in reality that this isn’t what the sorority scene at most colleges, especially at the UA, is. Yet, the ways that our society depicts the modern Greek Life scene is much di! erent.

At the end of last semester, seven members were initi-ated into Greek Life, who were set apart from the typical so-rority style – members of Hermandad De Sigma Iota Alpha, more commonly known by Sigma Iota Alpha, a Latina sorori-ty on campus that is now o" cially recognized by UA Greek Life.

So, what does this mean for our Greek Life at Arkansas? A cultur-ally diverse, large group of women who strive to represent not only their chosen sorority, but also the university as a whole. # ough many might not think the addition of new Greek chapters is primarily im-portant on campus, this gives us a new light to shine down on what we can o! er students through our campus organizations. It gives us something else to brag about as a university that breaks cultural boundaries in all aspects of campus, from the classroom to social life.

Being the second group added to the Greek Life Mul-ticultural Council, in addition to the Latino fraternity, Phi Iota Alpha, we’ve not only shown that we care about hav-ing multicultural groups on campus, but that we care about the growth of these groups through adding more.

It seems that the UA is not only growing in size, but also in diversity of student organizations, o! ering more opportuni-ties for us to get involved in every aspect. However we catego-rize ourselves here at the UA, we know that there is a place for each of us throughout our RSOs and campus supported groups.

Traveler Quote of the Day

FROM THE BOARD

# e Arkansas Traveler welcomes letters to the editor from all interested readers. Letters should be at most 300 words and should include your name, student classi$ cation and major or title with the university and a day-time telephone number for veri$ cation. Letters should be sent to traveler@uark.edu.

EDITORIAL EDITOR

MANAGING EDITOROPINION EDITOR

Saba NaseemMattie QuinnEmily Rhodes

Emailed Class Grades:Safe or Sorry?

Email – it’s convenient, fast and remote, the best way to get a hold of someone you don’t know, don’t particularly want to talk to in person, and an easy way to get a hold of someone quickly. Let’s be honest, we all do it - email a professor that we don’t feel comfortable with to ask questions, check on class information and most notably ask for grade information.

While email is an easy way to speak with your not-so-friendly college professor, the question of $ nding out where we stand in their class has become an issue throughout the past few days. Are we safe sending information and asking questions about our class grade via the Internet, or does the prospect of online hacking and replying to the unknown cause a major issue?

# e question at hand shouldn’t be “is it safe?” but rather “why are we so inclined to stay away from our teachers?” What happened to going and visiting your professor to talk (and yes, actually sit down and discuss in person) your class standing? We as the digital-age student body have become so reliant on email, the Internet and social media that we have forgotten how to form actual relationships.

In reality, our distance from our instructors might not be helping our situation in class. Now, obviously our grades don’t depend on how much our teachers like us, or how many times we talk to them throughout the semester, but if we got to know our instructors more in the year, wouldn’t we feel more comfortable in class, know what our instructor expects past the “class expectations” paragraph on the syllabus and in turn, work harder in our studies? We need to be more concerned with getting to know our instructors, talking to them in person and relying on face-to-face contact when asking for sensitive information, rather than relying on our computer keyboards.

If we were more at ease with our classes and our instructors, we wouldn’t feel such a need to contact people over the Internet. # ough we have easy-to-use and incredibly fast technology in front of us, we need to make sure not to sacri$ ce relationships that could hurt us in the long run.

“Attendance always starts out like this at the beginning of semester. A month-and-a-half in is when we start getting a better estimate of what attendance throughout

the semester will be like.”

- Jessica Graham, graduate assistant at the HPER, “New Year, New Students Bring Increase in HPER Tra! c” page 3.

HEBRON CHESTER Sta" Cartoonist

February. It’s the month of red and pink hearts, cupid and “I love you.” It’s also the month that carries the honor, celebra-tion and education of black His-tory.

When we $ rst learn of Black History Month, it’s exciting and interesting. But by the time high school rolls around, it becomes an annoying celebration that sparks debate and forces you to learn about black people who aren’t even alive.

And to add to it, students are taught the same thing about the same people every year. # e leg-acies of Harriet Tubman, Rosa

Parks, George Washington Carver, Colin Powell, Oprah and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., among others, are drilled into the minds of both the majority and minority until they are blue in the face, or should I say black in the face.

One month simply isn’t enough in terms of education, especially for those who know absolutely nothing about black history, including blacks them-selves.

# e solution: stop relying on February to teach an important part of American history, and utilize the other eight months of the academic year to teach well-rounded and accurate American history. # is includes the enslavement of Africans and African Americans.

Growing up, I noticed many of my history curriculums ex-cluded slavery. I found that this was a decision made in fear of striking the wrong cord with blacks. Meanwhile, memoriz-ing the Declaration of Indepen-dence and the Gettysburg Ad-dress was top priority, but the

Emancipation Proclamation and 15th Amendment were items that could forgo discus-sion.

A% er adding my Afri-can American studies major, I found that I was completely de-prived of a ful$ lling and well-rounded education because I never learned the full story. And I found that I wasn’t alone.

I encourage anyone, no mat-ter your race or ethnicity, to take at least one African Ameri-can studies course. # ey are far from one-sided and are com-pletely unbiased. Most are sur-prised of what they learn about others and themselves.

It’s obviously ine" cient to try to crush hundreds of years of heritage and appreciation in a single month. # e spectrum of black history seems to be con-stricted to the aforementioned people and some exceptions.

Why deprive young stu-dents of a truth that should be known? What good does it do?

It only perpetuates igno-rance and allows for shallow, stereotypical thoughts to breed

and be made into insensitive reasons to dislike or have preju-dice against minorities.

For the most part, when you know better, you do better, and we as a multiracial and multi-cultural nation need to do much better in educating ourselves and embracing our unique dif-ferences.

I encourage all students on campus to take a look at the programs and events that will be taking place this month.

# e “State of the Black Col-lege Student” address will be held tonight at 7 p.m. in the Union # eatre, the Essence of History Fashion Show will be held from 7-9 p.m. in the Ve-rizon Ballroom on # ursday, February 9 and the 4th Annual Black History Month Showcase will be taking place at 7p.m. at the Jones Center in Springdale.

For more information on what the UA and Fayetteville community is up to this month, go to aast.uark.edu.

Rosalyn Taylor is a Traveler columnist.

Black History - It’s Your History Too

by ROSALYN TAYLORTraveler Columnist

Black at the UA

Justin Bieber is amazing, truly. As a red-blooded, truck driving, Bruce Willis-watch-ing, steak eating, gun-shoot-ing American man, I have to give the lovable little guy and his serendipitous career se-rious respect. But more re-markable than Bieber himself are his Beliebers. # ey rep-resent an irrational, piercing and intensely loyal devotion to a persona that transcends than any individual person and their true attributes.

Bee-bopping 12-year-olds (and slightly more sheep-ish 18-year-olds) are not the only ones to succumb to the weight of personalities. Four years ago, somewhere between watching Slumdog Millionaire and bragging about the iPhone 3G they preordered, college students fell in love with their

own personality cult.It was something about the

seas stemming their rise and the planet beginning to heal. It was a landslide election for President Barack Obama. Sixty-eight percent of vot-ers in our age bracket backed Obama at the polls, and they gave him almost four times as many Facebook Fans as Mc-Cain.

So what did their invest-ment in Team Obama yield? Ron Meyer at the Young America’s Foundation created a metric to measure just that, called the “Youth Misery In-dex.” By simply adding youth unemployment, federal debt per-capita, and average stu-dent indebtedness at gradua-tion, it’s a quantitative picture of exactly how those voters are fairing under the Administra-tion’s policies.

Under President Obama, the Youth Misery Index has reached a record high. # e President doesn’t magical-ly run the economy, but it is in& uenced by his policy re-sponse to the recession. # e $ rst step was borrowing $826 billion to bail out state gov-ernments, hire public sector workers, keep key constituen-cies happy and try to stimulate the economy.

Did it work? Even if Team Obama was 100 percent cor-

rect and they optimistically “saved or created” 2.4 million jobs, that’s a price of more than a $270,000 per job.

What all that spending did accomplish was ramping up the national debt. Funding programs with T-Notes is free money to politicians who see only low interest rates, but it costs a fortune to young peo-ple who will spend a lifetime paying for record de$ cits.

PolitiFact con$ rmed that by the end of Obama’s $ rst term his administration will have added more nation-al debt than the previous 43 presidents combined.

Democrats love to blame debt on the Bush tax cuts, but even a% er Bush tax cuts had been in e! ect for years, the an-nual de$ cit stood at less than $200 billion. It exploded af-ter falling revenues in the re-cession and sweeping bailouts, social programs and a new health care entitlement that had to rig the books to pass Congressional Budget O" ce scoring.

College students realize all of this, and reality came crashing through the façade. # e most recent numbers in a Harvard poll show that, for the $ rst time, more college-aged voters disapprove than approve of Obama’s perfor-mance.

We have a jobless recov-ery where businesses are slow to hire, investors are reluctant to roll out new capital, and there’s uncertainty about taxes and a quirky regulatory sys-tem. What’s the Administra-tion’s reaction?

Promising us that if we could only tax the rich more, then it’s nothing a few green jobs, infrastructure projects, broccoli in school lunches, and a high-speed rail to Dis-ney World couldn’t $ x.

# e president should to stop punishing businesses with the second highest cor-porate tax rate in the devel-oped world, and might as well simplify and & atten the whole code while he’s at it. Young people can’t a! ord to $ nance more stimulus experiments that attempt to create wealth by dipping it out of one side of the bucket and pouring it into the other side.

Young people, in their de-monstrable misery, are losing faith that Barack Obama is the man for that job.

Will Simpson is an econom-ics and ! nance major, and a columnist for " e Arkansas Traveler.

His column runs bi-weekly on Wednesdays.

Obama’s Youth Misery Index

by WILL SIMPSONTraveler Columnist

Good To Know

THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

FEATURESFEATURES EDITOR: LAUREN LEATHERBY ASST. FEATURES EDITOR: KELSI FORD

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FEATURES EDITOR:FEATURES EDITOR:FEATURES EDITOR: LAUREN LEATHERBY ASST. FEATURES EDITOR: KELSI FORDKELSI FORDKELSI FORDPAGE 5 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

! e memory of the 10-second countdown to 2012 is fresh on most peoples memories, but when that new year’s clock strikes midnight, it is not just ringing in a new year. It is also the beginning of new year’s resolutions.

According to an article on ! e Pi-oneer Online, 30 percent of people have already given up on their new years resolutions by mid-January.

People o" en abandon their resolu-tions because they set impractical as-pirations.

“My advice to keep new year’s res-olutions is to make one that is reason-able,” said Matt Strauss, a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering. “I also think it is good to set a goal that does not go against your person-ality.”

It is better to make a speci# c res-olution rather than a general one be-cause vague plans are more di$ cult to follow. People o" en get discouraged if they feel that their improvement is too small of a change rather than a drastic one, but a modest renovation can still encourage the goal setter.

“My resolution is to try to judge people a" er I get to know them rath-er than judging too quickly,” Strauss said.

! e most popular new year’s reso-lutions are to lose weight, save money, and to spend more time with family, according to ! e Washington Post. A way to keep ambitions constantly on the mind is to write them down and re-read them everyday to help moti-vate.

“I am going to try and save more money this year,” said John Wadill, a sophomore majoring in business. “I hope to accomplish this by eating in

more or going to less expensive res-taurants.”

Men have a greater chance of com-mitting to their new year’s promises by focusing on the bene# ts of the res-olution, while women achieve their goals better by telling their friends and family about it to create a support system, according to ! e Pioneer On-line.

“! is year I want to read more books instead of watching so much TV,” said Hannah Bush, a sophomore majoring in apparel studies.

New year’s resolutions that are made solely for the sake of the person making it are much more likely to be completed than resolutions that in-volve in% uencing others, because cre-ating a goal to please someone else of-ten leads to failure.

“! is semester I want to pay more attention to my grades rather than fo-cusing a lot of my attention on the so-cial aspect of college,” said Brett Ad-amie, a freshman majoring in engi-neering. “I hope to succeed in my res-olution because getting good grades is very important to me.”

By summertime, less than half of people who made resolutions have stuck with them, according to Psy-chology Today. ! is may lead some to wonder if there is even a point to making resolutions at all.

“Unfortunately, I usually never keep my new year’s resolution,” Bush said.

! e most important thing to realize when making new year’s resolutions is that change is not going to be a simple task, but rather a challenge that will require a great amount of e& ort. ! e new year can be a time for change, but also a time to discern that 2012 could be a year without resolutions, too.

In college, students have almost unlimited possibilities and freedoms as they break away from adolescence and become adults while gaining their degree, but those un-der the age of 21 still cannot legally drink alcohol in the United States. Many students enhance their learning expe-rience by studying abroad, which increases wisdom and also provides underage stu-dents the opportunity to drink legally.

Students who are under the age of 21 almost triple their drinking habits while studying abroad, according to a study done by the Uni-versity of Washington.

“I was the only UA student within my program. I did take advantage of the lower drink-ing age, but not as much the nightlife,” said Keely Dye, a UA senior majoring in inter-national relations, European studies and economics. “A lot of the drinking that took place within my study abroad experience was with my homestay family. ! ey would have wine or spirits at almost every dinner and any celebra-tions I was a part of.”

Most countries have lower drinking ages than the U.S., which cause students to be-come more attracted to the party life abroad.

“I de# nitely think oth-er students took advantage of being able to go out and drink, legally,” said Jessica Hawley, a UA senior major-ing in Spanish. “! at was the most popular thing to do for the majority of the students in the program.”

Studying abroad is a great opportunity for students to gain experience with other

cultures while gaining cred-its toward their degree, but o" en students are distracted from this goal from overseas nightlife.

“My observation is that students do take advantage of the lower drinking age, not necessarily with the intention of abusing the privilege, but in part to enjoy the freedom,” said DeDe Long, Director of Study Abroad and Interna-tional Exchange. “Learning how to drink responsibly is so important.”

While many underage students drink in the Unit-ed States, the University of Washington found that those who increased their drink-ing levels abroad still contin-ued their excessive drinking

when they returned home. “Once you do start drink-

ing, it is easier to continue doing so once you go back home,” Hawley said.

! e most popular study abroad destinations for American students are the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain, all of which have a le-gal drinking age of 18. Ger-many, Greece and Luxem-bourg have a minimum drinking age as low as 16 while Albania and Vietnam have no drinking age at all. ! e United States is one of only # ve countries in the world to have the legal age set at 21.

A factor that causes stu-dents to drink more while abroad is the convenience.

“! e major appeal of the nightlife is living in an area with public transporta-tion. You have a set way to get home without any worry of drunk driving,” Dye said. “You also are in a program with students in the same sit-uation as yourself: away from home, more relaxed academ-ic schedule and more acces-sible nightlife with almost no age restrictions.”

! e University of Wash-ington researchers discov-ered that studying abroad in Australia, New Zealand and European countries caused students to drink more heav-ily than those who studied in Asian, African, Latin Amer-ican and Middle Eastern countries.

“Students need to take responsibility for themselves abroad just like they do when they participate in college life here in Fayetteville,” Long said. “If they get caught up in drinking here, they are going to have to be extremely careful not to mimic that behavior in another country, where access may be much easier.”

Studying abroad allows the student to learn new per-spectives from being in a for-eign country, but if drinking becomes too much of a dis-traction, the chance of a life-time can become threatened.

“I think that those who did [drink more] tended to go to class less and focus less on their studies,” Hawley

said. “School and studying was not their priority.”

! e cornerstone of study-ing abroad is to acquire knowledge not already found in the United States, and the opportunity can bene# t the future of the student.

“Study abroad is a signi# -cant investment of time and money,” Long said. “What a waste it would be to throw such a great learning experi-ence away by # nding your-self without money or a pass-port, or on a plane home a" er an accident caused by poor judgment.”

! e study abroad program is trying to prevent and raise awareness of binge drinking overseas.

“In our pre-departure meetings with students, we continually stress how im-portant it is for students to be mindful of their surround-ings, take care of themselves, and to represent the Univer-sity of Arkansas well,” Long said. “We strongly discourage over-drinking. Over-drink-ing can easily put a student in a vulnerable position, this is when they get lost, hurt or robbed.”

Some students already # nd normal college life to be distracting enough and fac-toring in the culture and ex-citing night life of a foreign country may lead them to stray away from the aspira-tion of studying abroad.

“I would tell students who are apprehensive about studying abroad that they should not worry,” Hawley said. “! e partying scene wasn’t for me, and I had a very enjoyable time abroad without partying. I think you can have an enjoyable time anywhere, without having to drink or hang out at clubs.”

by STEPHANIE EHRLERStaff Writer

by STEPHANIE EHRLERStaff Writer

Located on East Avenue, it’s a legendary tenet of Fayetteville cul-ture. It’s a spot to # nd new Hallow-een costumes or some unique and trendy threads to embrace collegiate individuality.

! e scores-old shop that is Cheap ! rills provides a variety of advantages for shoppers. Most who know of the iconic store are un-aware that one can trade or sell gen-tly worn clothing and not just buy. Great perks, right?

! e best part is that the clothes are not just thri" store-chic but are an accurate re% ection of a wide ar-ray of styles. Even those you’d # nd in other local landmark stores such as Mason’s, Private Gallery and Maude, but for a fraction of the price.

Designer tops, % owing tunics and gaudy accessories are only a few

items that Cheap ! rills o& ers its customers.

Owner Harriet Wells described her store as being both “contempo-rary and vintage” in a 2010 inter-view.

! is happy-medium Wells has created has been a major help to fashionable and fun college students looking to dress fashionably on a budget.

Walking into Cheap ! rills is like entering a world of make-believe. Customers can try on anything and immediately embody the charac-ter the clothing creates. Because of its versatile inventory, Cheap ! rills also allows customers to bask in their own personal style.

College is a time of renewal, in-novation and change. Shops such as Cheap ! rills feed on the need that students have to express themselves in ways they may not have been able to do before.

Clothing is a major catalyst for self-expression and is one of the more visible ways to show o& cre-ativity.

Finding one’s inner profession-al, diva, scholar, etc. requires dress-ing the part. Expressing these many facets through fashion is a gi" and a pleasure. It’s even more awesome when this can be accomplished without spending an entire pay-check.

All students, new and seasoned, can # nd their niche at Cheap ! rills and explore the options the store of-fers. Students may even be surprised at some of the unique things that can be found at Cheap ! rills. ! e lasting legend, the modern yet vin-tage character that is Cheap ! rills gives Fayetteville that extra % air of greatness. And greatness is always thrilling.

by ROSALYN TAYLORStaff Writer

JACKI FROST STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERSenior Jackson Cellars makes a sake bomb shot at Wasabi for himself. The United States has one of the highest drinking ages in the world.

COURTESY PHOTO

CROSSWORD

SUDOKU

TODAY’S SOLUTION

SOLUTION

ACROSS1 Severe fear2 Bolts down3 Fictional wolf ’s disguise4 Talking-__: tongue lash-ings5 Somewhat far6 Past curfew7 Part of TGIF8 “Catch my dri! ?”9 Acquired by, in the big leagues10 “" e Alienist” writer11 Cartoon hero with an-tennae12 Twelve-note scale, e.g.13 Séance contact21 Lovable droid23 Clumsy hammerers’ cries25 Square dance comple-ment26 Hobby with hooks27 30-Down genre30 Classic # lm involving a split personality34 A sleeper hit may be on it36 Went wild37 Bee complex38 Circles around the sun39 Landers lead-in42 “My sympathies”43 Exhortation from a gi! giver44 Clan45 Chances for photos47 Lake Erie city50 Small openings52 Fades to black53 Create57 Tee size letters58 Bully59 Flight board abbr.

DOWN

Crossword provided by MCT Campus

1 USAF NCO5 Crème de la crème10 Jazz devotees14 “Tulip chair” designer Saarinen15 Plant need16 Crowning17 Some HDTVs18 Hopelessly lost19 Pasta/rice brand word20 Basic computer command21 “Check, mate”22 Common Cape Cod feature24 Restaurant kitchen workload26 Get one’s teeth into28 Bush spokesman Fleischer29 Invoice word30 Encourages31 “__ a problem”32 Palm tree starch33 Organize, in a way34 Incidentally, in IMs35 Massachusetts school ... and a description of the two-word meet-ing that occurs at each circled letter38 Summer setting in Chi-town40 O$ -the-wall response?41 61-Across curl44 Rival45 Catchall checkbox46 One point from a service break48 Football’s Parseghian49 " ing to cook up50 “Just like that!”51 To a greater extent53 Expert in pop psychology?54 Vinaigrette ingredient55 __ ideal world56 First name in bologna59 One-named illustrator60 Touch down61 Fire sign62 Stepped heavily63 What some losers have to resist64 Cary of “" e Princess Bride”65 “__-mite!”: “Good Times” catch-word

Di! culty:

PAGE 6 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012 Comics, Games, & Much Much More!

You can check outthe Traveler online at

uatrav.com or byscanning here:

THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

DOWNTIMELAUGH IT UP

THAT MONKEY TUNE Michael A. Kandalaft

BREWSTER ROCKIT Tim Rickard CALAMITIES OF NATURE Tony Piro

WELCOME TO FALLING ROCK Josh Shalek BLISS Harry Bliss

Q: What is a cat’s favorite dessert?

A: Mice cream.

Q: What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor?

A: “Where’s my tractor?”

Q: Did you hear about the cannibal lion?

A: He swallowed his pride.

Q: Who’s a shark’s favorite rocker?

A: Sid Fishes

Q: Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage?

A: To the dump, to the dump, to the dump, dump, dump.

SPORTS EDITOR: JIMMY CARTER ASST. SPORTS EDITOR: ZACH TURNER

Scan here to go tothe Sports section

on uatrav.com:THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER

SPORTSPAGE 7 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012

BASKETBALL

COMMENTARY

NFL Draft: Annual Sports Crapshoot

For the Arkansas Traveler readers out there, you might have noticed that this marks the second consecutive week in which I have written on

the NFL.Basketball still remains my

clear-cut favorite sport and the NBA my favorite profes-sional league.

A basketball top play is always better than a football top play. ! ink about it.

However, that is a topic for another day.

Last week I laid out the Su-per Bowl from my perspec-tive. Players from both teams wound up on their respective squad somehow.

New York Giant quarter-back Eli Manning was the top overall pick in the 2004 NFL Dra" , while arguable his favorite target down the

stretch, Victor Cruz, went from a two star recruit com-ing out of high school to an undra" ed free agent out of UMass.

A" er being on the active roster for a full season, Cruz leads the Giants in receiv-ing yards this season with more than 1,700 and has be-come a cult hero at MetLife Stadium this season, being the catalyst to the “CRU-UUUUUZZZZZ,” chant from the Giant faithful.

On the other side of the ball, New England quarter-back Tom Brady was dra" ed in the sixth round with pick No. 199 in the 2000 dra" .

! ree Super Bowl rings lat-er, Brady has made a mock-ery of the way the dra" can potentially backstab teams that pass on guys in the late rounds.

Same for his favorite re-ceiver target Wes Welker. Not even dra" ed out of Texas Tech in 2004, the 5-foot-9 wideout bounced from the San Diego Chargers to the Miami Dol-phins before winding up on the Patriots, where he led the league in receptions in 2007, 2009 and 2011.

Basically the NFL Dra" is a crapshoot. Players get hyped up too much based on poten-tial and not so much proven

worth. One guy who broke all his schools records might get passed over for a guy who ran a blazing 40-yard dash at the NFL combine.

Players up and down the two Super Bowl rosters have stories of success that might not have started like they would have chosen. Which brings me to the real point of this column -- Arkansas has a number of NFL worthy pros-pects in this year’s dra" .

None of the players have the “can’t miss” prospect label on them like former Arkansas running back Darren McFad-den in 2008 or the # rst-round dra" grade like fellow Hog

tailback Felix Jones the same year.

! e 2012 NFL Dra" on April 26-28 will feature six Razorbacks that will likely have their names called in the seven-round event, though.

Well I am no Mel Kiper Jr., obviously, but let me take the time to give my best impres-sion of one of ESPN’s # nest employees and break down the Hogs o$ ensive side of the ball prospects.

Editor’s Note: Arkansas’ de-fensive prospects for the 2012 NFL Dra! will be previewed

Old Fashioned3-Point Play

ZACH TURNERzwturner@uark.edu

see COMMENTARYon page 8

RYAN MILLER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Arkansas junior guard Julysses Nobles battle through a tweaked ankle and scored 17 points to help lead the Razorbacks to an 82-74 win against No. 25 Vanderbilt. The Hogs improved to 16-0 at Bud Walton in the win.

S t i l l P e r f e c t

Vanderbilt entered the game with the second-best 3-point percentage in the Southeastern Conference, but Arkansas was the better out-side shooting team Tuesday.

! e Razorbacks knocked down six 3-pointers in a four-minute span in the second half

to spur an 82-74 upset of the No. 25 Commodores 82-74 and remain undefeated in Bud Walton Arena this season.

! e Hogs hit a 3-pointer on # ve consecutive possessions in a 22-6 run that turned a three-point de# cit into a 61-48 lead.

“We feed o$ each other,” Arkansas junior guard Julysses Nobles said. “You see one hit a three and you get an open shot, you feel you have got to hit it, too. ! en the% crowd gets into it … When the crowd is shout-ing for you and rooting for you and you shoot it, you fell its go-ing to go in every time.”

Four di$ erent Arkansas

players made six 3-pointers in the decisive run that broke open a close game and gave the Razorbacks (16-6, 4-3 SEC) a double-digit lead.

“When a team makes a run like that against you, every-body gets their head up and is con# dent,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “! ey start making shots that may-be they wouldn’t otherwise make.”

Freshman forward Hunter Mickelson started the run by making a 3-pointer at the top of the key, his # rst make in just his third attempt this season.

“We’re just versatile like

that,” Mickelson said. “Any-body can start it at any time. We’ve been doing that through-out whole year. We can pick it up whenever we need to. We should come out the gate # ring on all cylinders.”

Sophomore guards Rick-ey Scott and Mardracus Wade scored 18 and 10 points, re-spectively. Each hit two 3-pointers in the run and freshman guard BJ Young made another.

“I always tell our guys if there’s a half you want to win,

What  to  Watch  on  Signing  Day

FOOTBALL

RYAN MILLER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERSpringfield, Mo., receiver Dorial Green-Beckham will announce his college destination Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. on ESPNU. Arkansas is one of his finalists.

8274

LOGAN WEBSTER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Arkansas sophomore guard Rickey Scott scored a team-high 18 points and led fi ve Razorbacks in double fi gures in an 82-74 win.

Balanced Scoring Propels HogsArkansas had a balanced

scoring att ack in its 82-74 upset win over No. 25 Vanderbilt.

Five Hogs scored in double # gures for the third time this season, led by sophomore guard Rickey Scott’s 18 points. Scott led the Razorbacks in scoring for the # " h time this season as he shot 6-for-13 including two more 3-point baskets. It was the second consecutive game in which Scott has made multiple 3-point baskets.

“It was just excitement,” Scott said. “I feel like if our team is hot like that, we will be un-beatable like that. When every-

body is hitting threes and get-ting open like that, it just brings us more excitement.”

Junior guard Julysses wasn’t far behind Scott, netting 17 points including a 3 of 6 mark from the 3-point line. Nobles is shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc at Bud Wal-ton Arena this season dur-ing Southeastern Conference play, connecting on 12 of 24 at-tempts.

“It felt good,” Nobles said. “We feed o$ each other. You see one hit a three, then you feel like you have to hit it too, then that gets the crowd into

Editor’s Note: National Signing Day is the " rst day of the football signing period that runs Wednesday, Feb. 1 through Sunday, April 1. Al-most all FBS recruits in the 2012 recruiting class will sign letters of intent with their re-spective schools on Wednes-day.

Below is a guide of what to watch for in Arkansas’ signing day.

DGB decisionSpring# eld, Mo., receiver

Dorial Green-Beckham, the consensus No. 1 receiver in the nation, will announce his college destination in a 9 a.m. press conference televised by ESPNU.

Arkansas is one of Green-Beckham’s # nalists, along with Oklahoma, Texas, Ala-bama and home-state Mis-souri.

! e Razorbacks and Ti-gers are widely considered the favorites to earn the signature of the 6-foot-6, 220-pounder ranked No. 1 in the country by Scout and Rivals.

Last week, 14 of 15 na-tional recruiting analysts from Scout, Rivals and ESPN predicted Green-Beckham would sign with the Hogs, where he visited the weekend of Jan. 21.

As of Tuesday, four other analysts had switched their prediction from Arkansas to Missouri, where Green-Beckham visited with near-ly his entire family over the weekend. Tulsa World col-umnist John Hoover reported Green-Beckham would com-mit to the Tigers on Monday, citing a source.

Green-Beckham # nished a record-setting high school career with a national high school record 6,353 receiving yards and 75 touchdowns.

How many do the Hogs sign Wednesday?

! e Southeastern Confer-ence introduced a new rule

for the 2012 recruiting class limiting league schools to signing 25 players each class.

! e rule was enacted be-cause of schools that over-signed to account for play-ers that did not qualify aca-demically, a practice that oc-casionally le" schools with-out enough scholarships for committed players.

Wilmington, Calif., junior college defensive end Austin Flynn signed with Arkansas as a mid-term graduate in December and enrolled for the spring semester, leaving the Razorbacks with 24 open-ings.

! e Hogs have 20 other verbal commitments in the class, leaving four open spots.

Arkansas is a # nalist for the Chicago Simeon duo of Jordan Diamond and Robert Gregory, who will both an-nounce their decisions Fri-day, according to ESPN. If the Razorbacks have more than 23 signees a" er Wednesday, it could indicate Diamond and Gregory won’t be choos-ing the Hogs.

Diamond is a 6-foot-6, 290-pound o$ ensive tackle rated a # ve-star by Scout. Ar-kansas is a # nalist, along with Auburn, Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin, where he visited over the weekend.

Diamond was leaning to-ward signing with the Razor-backs last week, according to a Michigan recruiting service report.Gregory is a 6-foot-3, 185-pound quarterback who was verbally committed to the Hogs until December. Ar-kansas is still one of his # nal-ists, along with Kansas, Min-nesota and Purdue.

Other signing day decisions

- California junior college receiver Courtney Gardner has been verbally committed to Arkansas since early De-cember, but took an o& cial visit to Oklahoma over the weekend.

by JIMMY CARTERSports Editor

see SIGNING DAYon page 8

by JIMMY CARTERSports Editor

see STILL PERFECTon page 8

see BALANCEDon page 8

by ZACH TURNERAsst. Sports Editor

SPORTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2012 PAGE 8

Men’s Track Splitting Up

He is one of just two Ra-zorback verbal commitments with a consensus four star or higher rating from recruit-ing services, including Allen, Texas, running back Jonathan Williams. Both are consensus four stars.

Arizona junior college re-ceiver Demetrius Wilson ver-bally committed to the Hogs on Sunday night, according to Scout.

- Arkansas is among the ! -nalists Arroyo Grande, Calif., outside linebacker Seth Jacobs and Chandler, Ariz., receiver Javon Williams, who will an-nounce their respective deci-sions Wednesday, according to a UCLA recruiting service.

Jacobs is rated a four star prospect by Scout and will choose between the Razor-backs, UCLA, Oklahoma State and Colorado.

Williams is rated a three star prospect by Rivals and will decide between the Hogs and

Bruins.- Jacksonville, Fla., LB Reg-

gie Northrup is a so" verbal commitment to Miami (Fla.), but will announce between the Hurricanes, Arkansas, Flor-ida State and Ohio State on Wednesday morning, accord-ing to Scout.com.

# e 6-foot-2, 225-pounder is ranked the No. 38 outside linebacker in the nation by Scout.

For more signing day infor-mation, follow @jicartersports on Twitter.

from SIGNING DAYon page 7

next Wednesday.

Receiver/Return Special-ist Joe Adams

Noticed I added return specialist to Adams posi-tion. # is is where he is going to rise up dra" boards and make some extra money that he might not had before the season he had, returning four punts for touchdowns.

Adams has top-notch speed, shi" y moves and an overall football savvy to him. However, his hands have been questionable at times.

His return skills could get him dra" ed higher than his receiver skills suggest, ala Devin Hester.

Projection: 2nd – 5th round

Receiver Jarius WrightNo other prospect among

the Hogs saw their dra" stock rise more than Wright this season. # e 5-foot-10 crisp route runner holds the all-time school record in receiv-ing yards, receiving touch-downs and yards in a game.

Wright may have a slight edge in speed on Adams, but de! nitely has better hands and leadershaip. Wright may have a hard time distinguish-ing himself in the NFL, but also has an upside similar to the aforementioned Welker in catching a high volume of passes for many yards like he did in 2012.

Projection: 3rd-5th round

Receiver Greg Childs

Could it be possible for the small town of Warren, Ark., to have two players dra" ed in the same year? It absolute-ly could, but Childs saw his stock go the opposite direc-tion from the rapidly rising Wright’s.

As Arkansas’ No. 1 re-ceiver his ! rst three seasons, Childs had established him-self as possibly the third-best available receiver in this class behind Oklahoma State’s Jus-tin Blackmon and South Car-olina’s Alshon Je$ ery, but the 6-foot-3, 220-pound NFL-ready bodied Childs never seemed quite right a" er tear-ing his patella tendon during the 2010 season.

Childs struggled mightily, going without a catch in mul-tiple games in 2011 and also

failing to catch a touchdown. The  former  All-­Southeast-­

ern   Conference   performer  

has   great   upside   due   to   his  

size  and  strength  and  he  also  

seems   to   show  great   attitude  

and   effort.   Childs   saved   his  

best  game  of  2011  season  for  

last,   as   he   had   a   team-­high-­

Razorbacks’   29-­16   Cotton  

Bowl  win  over  Kansas  State.  

Some   NFL   team   lacking  

a  diamond   in   the   rough  with  

Childs.

Projection:  5th  round-­un-­drafted

Zach   Turner   is   the  

assistant   sports   editor   for  

The   Arkansas   Traveler.  

His   column   appears   every  

Wednesday.   Follow   him   on  

Twitter  @zwturner.  

from COMMENTARYon page 7

LOGAN WEBSTER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Arkansas’ No. 1 men’s track team will split up this weekend, with part of the team going to the Meyo Invitational in South Bend, Ind.,while the other members will compete in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston.

Arkansas’ No. 1 men’s track team will split up this weekend, with two events on the schedule. Some of the athletes will be compet-ing in the Meyo Invitation-al in South Bend Ind. and others will be at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix held in Boston, Mass.

The meets will be a change of pace for the Ra-zorbacks, the competition not based on the schools, but more focused on indi-vidual athletes.

“We will mostly be send-ing mostly our middle dis-tance crew. Some of our kids need to train more and need more practice,” Arkansas Chris Bucknam said.

The Meyo Invitational is a two-day meet, staring on

Friday. The New Balance Indoor will be a one-day meet only, scheduled for Saturday.

Since the events won’t reflect the team as much as a normal meet would, Bucknam said he wants to use the meets as a tool to help his athletes gain ex-perience and train against real competition.

“There is a big difference between running and rac-ing,” Bucknam said. “Our kids are good racers. We have a team that races and they are developing into a great group of competitors. We don’t have runners. We have racers.”

The Razorbacks have been ranked No. 1 for two consecutive weeks and want to keep it that way.

“I love how our kids are training,” Bucknam said. “I love how they race.”

The team has had plen-ty of success from its fresh-men, a highly-touted re-cruiting class that has lived up to its expectations. Freshmen Andrew Irwin and Gunnar Nixon have both made huge impacts for the team.

Irwin qualified for na-tionals and set an Arkansas pole vaulting record in just his second meet and Nixon broke a junior world record in the heptathlon in his debut meet for the Hogs. Nixon will be participat-ing in his second event for the Razorbacks, coming off his record setting perfor-mance.

Another Razorback star will be making his debut for the Hogs this season when junior All-American distance runner Eric Fer-nandez competes for the first time this season.

RYAN MILLER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Former Arkansas receiver Joe Adams’ draft stock went up after an eight-catch, 133-yard performance in the Senior Bowl on Saturday.

by ZACH LIGIStaff Writer

it. When the crowd into it, and you shoot it, you feel it is going to go in.”

Leading scorer BJ Young pitched in 12 points while fel-low freshman Ky Madden and sophomore shooting guard Mardracus Wade both scored 10 points.

“When you play up tempo style you are going to have some of those spurts as we call them,” Arkansas coach Mike Ander-son said. “Before you know it, the crowd was into it and we were speeding up Vanderbilt, but more than anything else I thought our defense was very, very good.”

# e 82 points scored by the Hogs ended a six-game drought in which Arkansas had failed to score at least 70 points.

REBOUNDING TRIG-GERS SUCCESS

With an undersized team, only having three healthy play-ers taller than 6-foot-8, Arkan-sas has been at a disadvantage on the boards.

# e Hogs have been out-

rebounded in each of its SEC games, except for Tuesday night. # e 36-29 advantage on the glass for Arkansas over Vanderbilt, was the ! rst time during conference they won the rebounding battle.

“# e most disappointing thing from our stand point was the success that they had re-bounding,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “# ey had not done well rebounding the ball and they had a good night on the boards against us.”

Freshman forward Devonta Abron catalyzed the rebound-ing attack, pulling down seven rebounds, while the other three forwards on the roster com-bined for nine.

It was Arkansas’ guards with the majority of the rebounding against the Commodores. No-bles, Scott and Wade, who each started the game, combined for 11 of the 36 rebounds.

“I thought we could use our quickness,” Anderson said. “I thought it was about our guys getting in there and getting af-ter it. It is all about a mindset. We were active, we were quick to the ball and in the second half

when fatigue began to creep in we got some long rebounds.”

MITCHELL SEES AC-TION FOR FIRST TIME ALL SEASON

Arkansas backup quarter-back Brandon Mitchell joined the Razorback basketball team a" er thee football team’s 29-16 win over Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl.

# e redshirt sophomore ath-lete checked into the for the ! rst time all season at the 2:59 mark of the ! rst half, a" er having suited up for the Hogs previous four games.

“We used a lot of people tonight, including Brandon Mitchell the football player,” Anderson said. “# ose three minutes were very valuable be-cause looking down the bench we had some guys in foul trou-ble early.”

Mitchell was a member of the 2009 Arkansas squad, but played in just four games, hav-ing a career-high of four points and two rebounds. # e 6-foot-4, Amite, La., native failed to regis-ter any stats in his three minutes of action against Vanderbilt.

it’s the second half,” Anderson said. “It couldn’t go any better for us … # e crowd was into it and we started speeding up Vanderbilt.”

# e barrage helped the Hogs improve to 16-0 in Bud Walton this season, matching the 1994 and 2001 seasons for the most wins in the arena.

“You’ve got to protect the home,” Scott said. “You’ve got to. It’s just natural to us.”

Arkansas got a big night from Nobles. # e junior scored 17 points and fought o$ a tweaked ankle that caused him to miss two minutes of action in the second half.

Mickelson fouled out a" er playing just 11 minutes, but scored all nine of his points in the second half.

In addition to starting the

run, he helped the Razorbacks keep the momentum a" er the Commodores (16-6, 5-2) cut the lead to 10. He turned a spin move in the lane into a thun-derous dunk, then had an ath-letic putback on the next pos-session to push the lead back to 14.

“# at dunk Hunter got, I went crazy,” Scott said. “I’ve never seen Hunter do it like that. If he keeps doing that on the road, I think we’ll get a lot of wins because that de! nitely picked us up.”

# e second half was vastly di$ erent from the ! rst, when Arkansas struggled against Vanderbilt center Festus Ezeli a" er Mickelson picked up two fouls in the ! rst two minutes of the game.

# e Razorbacks used an 8-0 run to take an early lead, but Vanderbilt’s 11-0 run gave it a 29-25 lead. Ezeli started the

run by scoring seven consecu-tive points and the Razorbacks went almost four minutes with-out scoring.

Ezeli ! nished with 10 ! rst-half points and made all four of his ! eld goal attempts.

He scored just four points in the second half as the Com-modores tried to match the Hogs outside onslaught.

Arkansas’ 82 points was the ! rst time the Razorbacks broke the 70-point mark in seven games. # e Razorbacks closed the game out by making 5 of 6 free throws in the ! nal 90 sec-onds.

“I thought this team grew up tonight in a lot of areas,” Anderson said. “We shared the ball o$ ensively. our pressure was disruptive. it took Vander-bilt out of what they wanted to do. fatigue was a factor … We were able to close the game out. Total team e$ ort.”

Hogs  participating  in  two  meets

from STILL PERFECTon page 7

from BALANCEDon page 7