The WichiTanpage 5

The sTudenT voice of MidwesTern sTaTe universiTy

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Singing onscreen Musician Kate Voegele gains renown with role on TV show.

page 7Disappointing endWomens basketball team drops final game to Eastern NM 75-56

Zachary Shipp

For The WichiTan

As MSU updates its network management and security, both students and faculty continue to struggle with poor online performance.

MSU’s four-year network up-grade project, known as Great Advancements in Technology and Banner or G.A.I.T., began in April 2006. Banner is a suite of network tools produced by Sungard Higher Education that ties academic, financial aid, registration, finance, human resources, and other university network functions together on one universal database.

The student registration por-tion of Banner is set to go live

in the time for Fall 2008 regis-tration.

Jim Hall, PC/Network Ser-vices manager, said Banner is more network-oriented than the system it is replacing, known as PLUS. This network-side em-phasis allows MSU staff easier control of the network’s inner workings and more uniform access to data. The G.A.I.T. project also allows Information Systems to tighten network se-curity as Banner is brought on-line.

Not all of the network has been improving. MSU has been increasingly limited by bandwidth, or the speed of the university’s connection to the Internet.

According to Hall, the cam-

pus network operates on a 25 mbps connection. This means that the campus can download 25 million bits from the Inter-net every second.

This network is separate from the one that connects on-campus housing to the Inter-net. Housing’s connection is only 10 mbps. This small con-nection is strained by the large number of students accessing the Internet from dorms and campus housing.

Sophomore, Zach Eskridge, said Internet speed at on-campus housing is very slow. Streaming video sites like You-Tube take a long time to load, and video will pause at times to continue loading content.

With the recent popularity of

streaming videos on YouTube and streaming music on Mys-pace, housing bandwidth has been increasingly overworked.

Eskridge said Internet access is much speedier in the Clark Student Center and on other campus computers. “It’s about ten times faster, at least.”

The student center, like other campus computing locations, is connected to the faster 25 mbps connection.

Mass communication profes-sor Liz Minden also said that the network is suffering from bandwidth problems. Informa-tion Systems send an email to Minden and other faculty late last year asking that faculty ease up on extraneous Internet use, such as audio and video,

as well as peripherals. MSU has been working hard

at increasing its housing ca-pacity to deal with overflow, but Internet bandwidth has not been upgraded at the same pace.

Hall said that if the housing network doesn’t get a connec-tion with higher bandwidth, students could experience speeds as slow as dial-up.

While Internet access is not generally monitored, Hall said that information Systems does examine network traffic for high volumes of illegal, dan-gerous, or problematic traffic. Web site access is not restrict-ed due to potentially offensive content.

“I am not your conscience,”

Hall said. The only sites that are blocked are those that con-tain known spy ware and proxy web sites.

Hall said that MSU recently added multiple layers of virus protection to the campus net-work. Since this multi-layered protection was added, virus at-tacks have been reduced.

Information Systems keeps the details of their firewall and virus protection confidential in order to prevent malicious us-ers from pinpointing any pos-sible weakness.

No major virus problems have occurred since the multi-layered protection has been installed, but Hall “won’t say it won’t happen. That tends to make fools our of people.”

chriS collinS

Managing ediTor

Clothing will be optional during Elizabeth Lewandowski’s Faculty Fo-rum presentation on drag fashion in Clark Student Center March 11. Lewandowski, who has given about 24 presentations nationwide on drag, is fascinated by the alternative fash-ion. “It’s breaking a societal norm to cross dress,” said Lewandowski, pro-fessor of theatre and costume design-er. “I’ve always been fascinated by drag.” Dressing in “drag” means wearing the clothing generally associated with the opposite sex, usually for theatri-cal reasons, Lewandowski said. Cross dressing is distinct in that many cross

dressers are homosexual. “I hope people will learn what’s happening. The people who do this do it seriously. Hopefully people don’t come to laugh,” Lewandowski said. Many students are interested in what’s outside the norm, according to Lewandowski. She warns students who plan to attend the presentation to “leave their judgments at the door.” Lewandowski said it seemed natu-ral that she be interested in drag, giv-en her background in theatre. She will give another drag presen-tation March 19 during the 48th an-nual USITT Conference and Stage Expo in Houston. The presentation will include a drag show. The confer-ence will be attended by 4,000 people from 50 countries.

”“It’s breaking a societal norm to cross dress.

I’ve always been fascinated by drag.

Dressing to ImpressProfessor to give presentation on drag fashion

Sluggish Internet connection among campus computer issuesClinton beats odds, takes Texas

Karmen SimmonS

For The WichiTan

Pay attention to the social surroundings at MSU when you enter a classroom, the din-ing hall or a common area. In the Clark Student Center computer lab Monday night, the black students occupying the lab sat close to the back. The few Hispanic students sat to the right of the room. For-eign students sat among the groups. In the Mesquite Dining Hall

Monday a similar seating ar-rangement played out. This brings about an observation that only few detect or pay at-tention to. People of the same race split themselves from the social interaction with either races, even in classrooms. Many do not notice, but peo-ple tend to sit or socialize with whom they identify the most with, especially those of the same race or ethnicity. Even though there are exceptions to every rule, a look around cam-pus will validate that discov-ery.

Radiology major Ashley Griffin said that she did not no-tice that people of the same race seemed to separate themselves from other races in social set-tings until it was brought to her attention. “I don’t really pay attention to it, but it doesn’t bother me. I just try to sit close to the front of the classroom or by friends,” she said. Mass communications major AnTuan Jeffery said that he did notice it. He also said he had friends who purposely sit by their own ethnic group.

“I think it has something to do with being comfortable. People don’t realize they do it, but then some do it know-ingly,” he said. Dr. Larry Williams, director of international education and professor of sociology, said the division among racial groups is a combination of unintentional and intentional behaviors. Peo-ple look for other people who have possible shared the same life experiences. “We look for something we can identify with in another person,” Williams said.

He also added that social distance and personal distance may be two factors involved and it is hard to distinguish be-tween the two. “Social distance is the physi-cal or psychological distance that people maintain from themselves and others. Per-sonal distance is the distance between ourselves and others, and personal preference plays a part, too,” he said. Williams also noted that ra-cial separation may not have anything to do with race at all. “It is easy to blame race as a

primary factor for obvious rea-sons, but it may be deeper than that,” Williams said. “Personal preference could be based not only upon racial markers, but also social class, where the person lives, where they wor-ship or even where they shop.” The reason racial groups tend to sit off to themselves in unclear. Although unnoticeable to a degree, it is prevalent on the MSU campus. Apparently, people are more comfortable with whom they perceive are like them or share some com-monality.

Group identification leads to self-segregation

Clinton wins tightTexas race

Brittany norman

ediTor in chieF

It was a down-to-the-wire fight for the delegates in the March 4 Texas primary, but by early Wednesday morning Sen-ator Hillary Clinton had won by a nose. With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton had clinched 51 percent of the democratic vote. Senator Barack Obama wasn’t far behind with 47 per-cent. With 34 percent of the Dem-ocratic caucus votes counted, Obama held the majority at 55 percent. On the Republican side, Sen-ator John McCain took 51 per-cent of the votes with 93 percent of precincts reporting. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huck-abee was a distant second with 38 percent, and Ron Paul trailed with five percent. Approximately 2.6 million Democrats voted in the primary election. Only 1.26 Republican voters showed up at the polls. Clinton and McCain also collected victories in Ohio and Rhode Island. McCain and Obama won in Vermont. With these victories, McCain has secured the Republican Par-ty nomination.

photo illuStration By patricK JohnSton The WichiTan

Chris Shoemake poses in his street clothes as well as his costume for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

Cindy Edwards

For The WichiTan

Usted habla espanol? Par-lez-vous Francais? Sprechen sie Deutsch? Do students care if they know another lan-guage? Will they remember enough to utilize it when they graduate and go into the real world? Not likely.

MSU requires that all bach-elor of arts students take two years of one foreign language, while those attempting a bach-elor of science degree require only one year.

Some MSU students get to choose. Students attempting a

degree in geosciences, math-ematics, computer science, sociology, psychology, and all-level kinesiology teach-er certification may choose whether to get a B.A. or B.S. degree.

The only difference is that extra year of foreign language tacked on to the B.A. degree requirements.

Some completely luck out and have no foreign language requirement at all. Students attempting a B.S. in mechani-cal engineering and all of the health sciences do not even have to take one semester of a foreign language.

Also, students trying to de-

cide between elementary and secondary education certifica-tion should opt for teaching the wee ones. Elementary edu-cation majors are required to take only one year of a foreign language.

Oddly enough, students seeking certification of a bi-lingual teacher need only take one year of a foreign language as well.

Where is the logic?MSU wishes to broaden its

students’ horizons, while at the same times broadening its pocketbooks. Why not require all degree seekers to take two years of a foreign language? B.S. students need to broaden

their horizons as well.One alternative might be to

offer other languages such as Latin, Japanese, Chinese, Rus-sian, Hebrew or even Ameri-can Sign Language.

Another alternative would be to require only one year of two different foreign languag-es. Horizons would broaden even more.

If the goal of MSU is to broaden the horizons of its students, the university could allow students to substitute other classes in place of the foreign languages, classes that deal more with the student’s particular major.

It is said that “The wisest is he who k n o w s only that he knows n o t h i n g . God only knows.” If this is true, then I en-

countered an angel; an angel in the form of a stoner.

I once attended a party as designated driver at a house I hardly knew. Soon I found myself bored with the shallow banter and excused myself to the balcony, alone.

Soon, a boy, who I later found was named Christopher, stumbled outside as well. It was obvious that, not only from the beer in his right hand, mari-juana joint in the left and dazed look on his face, he didn’t have a clue where he was.

“What you thinking about out here all alone?” he said.

I figured, ‘amuse him.’ I told him I was contemplating the meaning of life.

Christopher laughed. “Life’s a trip, don’t pack drugs!”

How ironic that he would say such a thing! I couldn’t help but laugh. But then, as if he had been struck by some type of sober and profound method of thinking, he exclaimed, “You want to know what life is? God. God is everything, yet God could be nothing at all. People base their whole lives around this…higher power, this belief in a deity. You have your own life, it’s your road, but it was given to you and you go down it because of faith.”

With that, he sauntered back inside. I had never heard some-thing so deep and surprisingly accurate, and from such an un-likely person! As common with my nature, much contemplation followed.

Christopher’s point forced me question: why must man-kind have faith in religion? The existence of a God keeps the aura and the belief in some-thing good. Without any type of faith, who’s to say that life is worth living?

What is faith, and why is it

so vital? I remembered hearing the definition of faith as “a firm belief in something for which there is no proof.” That night I analyzed what Christopher said to me and came up with a phi-losophy on “faith.”

You wake up in the morning and have faith that when you put your feet on the floor, the floor will be there. You have faith that the sun will rise to-morrow. Faith is what makes even the non-believers wake up every day. From faith, we learn that life goes on whether you go with it or you don’t. Faith makes us learn to live, without it we wouldn’t believe in a bet-ter tomorrow.

There are always some with-out any kind of devotion to fi-delity or any faith of their own, and some were mingling with the crowd inside. They could be found drinking and doing drugs in an attempt to escape from life. They showed a na-ture of momentary bliss, no consideration of consequence or morality. They would wake up, confused and hung-over; with unfamiliar people, on un-

familiar couches. Having faith doesn’t mean

only believing in a higher pow-er, it is also the ever present knowledge that there will be a tomorrow and you will still be you.

God, or whatever divin-ity you may choose to believe in, gave us life, gave us will and most of all gave us fidel-ity. I believe the promise of tomorrow is people’s religion. Blessed may it be, faith pro-vides the knowledge that your deity will give the gift of life, a life; a tomorrow.

Ironically, the name Christo-pher means “bearer of Christ.” He was drunk and stoned and his principles derivate from the Bible yet. In all his sacrilege he was able to teach someone as faithful as I something about principle. Life is given from a higher power. You have to choose to believe in that or not. Regardless what we believe in, God or no God, we all have faith or a belief in something. Because of that fidelity we are not only alive, but we live.

Staff Editorial

An angel in an unlikely disguise

Foreign language courses worth it?

HalEy CunningHam

For The WichiTan

ViewpointsThe WichiTan

Finalist2004 Associated Collegiate Press

Pacemaker Award

Sweepstakes Winner 2006 Texas Intercollegiate

Press Association

The WichiTan

Copyright © 2007. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Asso-ciation. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, faculty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwestern State University. First copy of the paper is free of charge; additional copies are $1. The Wichitan welcomes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before in-tended publication. Letters should be brief and without abusive language or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.

3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 • Wichita Falls, Texas 76308News Desk (940) 397-4704 • Advertising Desk (940) 397-4705

Fax (940) 397-4025 • E-mail WICHITAN@mwsu.eduWeb site: http://www.mwsu.edu/~wichitan

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Brittany Norman

Managing Editor Chris Collins Entertainment Editor Courtney Foreman

Op-Ed Editor Position Open Sports Editor Bobby Morris

Photo Editor Patrick Johnston

ReportersRichard CarterJosh Mujica

PhotographersLoren Eggenschwiler

Advertising ManagerCorrelle Ferlance

Copy EditorPosition Open

AdviserRandy Pruitt

Tangled Web MSU advertises Internet access for all resi-

dent students. Just don’t plan on getting anything

done with it.

A few notes of caution if you have no choice

but to utilize Resnet. In order to watch a two

minute video on YouTube, plan on a half hour wait

for loading. To download anything, no matter how

small, multiply a reasonable amount of download

time by about 20. And if there’s an iTunes gift card

burning a hole in your pocket, you might as well

plan a trip home. That song is not making it to your

hard drive without some divine intervention.

The residence halls are filled to capacity

(and then some) every year, and almost all of those

residents take advantage of the provided access to

the web. The result? An already sluggish connec-

tion has passed snail speed on the scale of slowness.

Ever watched grass grow? Might be something

like watching the little blue bar mark the ‘percent

loaded’ progress across the screen at about 9:00

p.m. This is especially irritating when the page in

question is a necessary reference for a research

paper that just happens to be due at 10:00 the next

morning.

Also, rather than tripping over a 16-foot

ethernet cord every time one walks in the room, a

wireless connection would be an enormous im-

provement.

Other universities are able to keep up with

the technological needs of their students. Band-

width shouldn’t be an ongoing problem, it should

be remedied. In an age where courses at many

colleges and universities are supplemented with

podcasts and Internet material instead of textbooks,

students need a reasonably quick and reliable con-

nection to the Web.

News The WichiTanMar. 5, 2008 3

• Mar. 5 Dining etiquette semi-

nar; Career Management Center;

Wednesday 6:30 - 8 p.m.

• “Beer and Booze: What Will You

Choose?” presentation; Carnival on

Sunwatcher Plaza; Wednesday 1 - 3

p.m.

• “Do I Drink Too Much?” alcohol

screenings; CSC Cheyenne; Thursday

1 - 3 p.m. • “Imagine Graduation;” CSC Atri-

um; Wednesday 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

• Mar. 6 “Extreme Makeover

Career Edition;” CSC Comanche;

Thursday 7 - 8:30 p.m.

• “A Funny Thing Happened on the

Way to the Forum;” Fain Fine Arts

Center; showing Thurs. - Sat 7:30

p.m.; Sun. 2:30 p.m. • Mar. 10 Nursing Associa-

tion Speaker; intership opportunity;

Bridwell 108, Monday 12 - 1 p.m. • Mar. 11 “The History of Drag,”

Faculty Forum presentation; CSC

Kiowa; Tuesday 7 p.m. • Mar. 12 “Supervisor Boot

Camp;” Hampton Inn; Wednesday 9

a.m. - 4 p.m.

Are you a...........

- Writer?

- Photographer?

- Graphic designer?

- Artist?

Think you could be?

We’re currently seeking the following:

Reporters Columnists Graphic artists Sports writers Entertainment writers Photographers

Call us: 397-4704or

email us: wichitan@mwsu.edu

Campus briefs

Help Wanted

Imagine being able use your iPod in class. But you don’t lis-ten to music. Instead, you listen to your professor. For those who don’t know, the iPod is a portable media player designed by Apple. Users can listen to music, watch videos and play games on the device. Several campuses across the United States have been experi-menting with this latest technol-ogy. A professor at the University of Connecticut uses the device regularly to transmit lectures to students. Incoming UConn freshmen

are given iPods. Each has to sign an agreement not to sell or give away his or her iPod for the trial period. Using a computer micro-phone, professors can record lectures and load them as pod-casts on the Internet. Students can then download lessons using the Internet. Podcasting is a method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs and mu-sic videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers. Subsequent podcasts of the review sessions are free on the iTunes music store. One MSU student said she wouldn’t mind purchasing an

iPod to get her lectures. “I’ve heard about this at other schools,” junior Ashley Adjei said. “I would rather buy an iPod than a textbook. You can have more uses for it and you wouldn’t have to worry about selling it back. You can use an iPod long after the class is over.” According to the Apple Web site, the iPod Shuffle is $69, the Nano $99. The price is about the average a student would pay for a textbook. “I wouldn’t mind buying one for class, if that’s the only thing I would have to buy,” Adjei said. “If I had to get an iPod in addi-tion to a textbook it would be a real problem.” No more asking the professor

to slow down. Students can stop the podcasts and take notes in-stead of using a handheld voice recorder. Junior Crystal Williams thinks the idea of using an iPod at MSU would be better than a voice re-corder. “The sound quality of voice recorders isn’t that great. It’s very airy. Sometimes you can’t hear what the professor said because the sound is muffled,” Williams said. Some students, however, don’t think using iPods is a good idea. “I already don’t like com-puters,” junior Elna Goudeau said. “I don’t see the point. This sounds like another Web CT.”

Apple technology could prove to be useful tool for entertainment, studying

Shalaundria anderSon

For The WichiTan

MSU students were both en-tertained and educated through the nationally known act of Susie Vanderlip Tuesday night when she brought her Legacy of Hope show to Akin Auditorium. Vanderlip translated to the crowd to never ignore their emo-tions, but rather to gain emo-tional wisdom. The event was sponsored by the MSU counsel-ing center, the Student Success Series, and the office of student development and orientation. Through seven different ward-robe changes, Vanderlip created seven different characters, each with a different problem. Her first character was a young Hispanic gang member who dealt with physical abuse from his father. He had emotion-al scars from the death of seeing his two older brothers die at the hands of a rival gang. Vanderlip brought life to the act by portray-ing the character very realisticly

with baggy jeans, a black beanie covering up her long, dark curls, a bulky plaid button-up shirt and black shades. With invigorating moves and the energy of a 15-year-old, Vanderlip thrilled the crowd as she portrayed a young girl deal-ing with the effects of an alco-holic father. From there her act and attire changed drastically as she sym-bolized four more characters, in-cluding an alcoholic man, a new, young mother dealing with ver-bal and physical abuse, a wom-an raising her grandchild and a young college student who re-cently discovered she was HIV- positive. “I brought you these charac-ters because these are all people I know,” Vanderlip said after the performance. “It doesn’t matter where I go... the problems that these characters have are ramped all across America.” Vanderlip explained to the au-dience that everyone deals with the feelings of loneliness, dis-

couragement, hopelessness, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, family conflict, relationship is-sues, self-harm behaviors, sui-cide and substance abuse, but that with emotional wisdom, one can overcome these issues. She even told the story of her first husband’s death to a life a drugs and alcohol. Vanderlip was able to connect with the crowd and make students realize that even adults carry emotional wounds. “Emotional wisdom is be-ing mature enough to see your choices more clearly,” Vanderlip said. It never hurts to consult a trusting, safe adult to help you make responsible decisions, she informed. Along with this key point, Vanderlip informed students that instead of trying to make life easier by turning to drug abuse, one must face these “symptoms of life,” or your emotions. She gave four key tips to help any-one facing emotional dilemmas. Number one: get out of denial.

Understand that your problem is a real issue and should not be ig-nored. Number two: reach out and ask for help. Feelings have to come out and there are many different support systems to turn to, including anonymous groups, counselors, friends, family, teachers and therapists Number three: set a personal policy. No matter how small, make up your mind and decide for yourself what you will and won’t succumb to, and stick to it. Number four: commit your life to service. Ask yourself “How can I make this world a better place, and what is my role in doing so?” You must realize that you are here for some pur-pose. With Vanderlip’s encourag-ing performance and informa-tive speech, students may have left with a better understanding of how to properly care for their emotions.

amanda Veitenheimer

For The WichiTan

One-woman performance teaches students to exercise emotional control

Jerry Springer is in the midst of a college tour. Which is ironic because the whole purpose of going to college is to decrease your chances of ever appear-ing on Springer’s syndicated sleazefest. On this brittle February night, the P.T. Barnum of talk-show hosts is in Asplundh Concert Hall on the campus of West Chester University, addressing the student body. The kids, who occasionally erupt into the familiar battle cry - “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” - are getting the full dog and pony show. Literally. One of the episodes shown is “I Married a Horse,” during which a Shetland pony is led out onto the stage of Springer’s Chicago studio to kiss a decrepit man in visored sunglasses. The host’s on-air introduction: “To-day we have a love story.” Earlier in the day at his hotel in Philadelphia, Springer, 64, sardonically distanced himself from this particular spectacle. “The guy who slept with his horse? I came out against it. I said it was wrong,” he says with a smirk. “So let it never be said that I don’t have a moral com-pass.” That’s Jerry’s shtick: He watches with amused astonish-

ment his show’s sick pageant of midgets, trannies and crackpots but he never steps into the slime pit himself. “One of the reasons I work (in this role) is that people see me as a regular guy in the midst of the chaos,” he says at the hotel. “My role is purely reactive. I don’t know anything about the guests beforehand. All I have is a card with their name on it. Every seg-ment always opens with me say-ing, ‘So what’s going on?’ Then they tell me their story. And I ask them questions and make jokes.” That disingenuous blend of shock and mock has kept “The Jerry Springer Show” on the air for 16 seasons. “If you aim a show at high school and college kids you can be on forever because there’s always new kids coming along to watch,” he says. “If you aim a show at a 30-year-old, by the time they’re 33, they’re bored with the show. But you always get new kids. “I really think that explains our longevity,” Springer says. “Because the show is mindless. It serves no purpose. But it stays on because of the giggle factor.” Later in West Chester, the students are shown a prepack-aged clip reel, narrated by Matt Lombardo, the sports editor of the campus newspaper, who has been drafted as moderator. It traces the arc of Springer’s

talk-show career, starting in 1991 when he was an earnest news anchor in Cincinnati trying to assume the mantle of Phil Do-nahue. Another highlight is the 1997 episode “Klanfrontation,” when militant members of the Jewish Defense League were brought on to “debate” robed and hooded Ku Klux Klan members. To no one’s surprise, a full-scale, chair-throwing riot broke out in the studio. The attendant controversy and ratings spike marked a turning point for the show. The rest of the reel is sheer Springer bedlam: brawls, food fights, gender atrocities and ro-mance gone terribly awry. You’ve never seen this many women in wedding gowns throwing hay-makers. By the way, if you do choose to get married on “The Jerry Springer Show” by the in-house man-of-the-cloth, the seedy Rev. Shnorr, you may want to have the legitimacy of the ceremony checked by local officials. After the clips, there’s a brief Q&A session with the audience (“What keeps you interested?” “My bills”). Then Springer asks the crowd’s forbearance for “four minutes to talk about what’s go-ing on in the world right now.” He delivers an impassioned case for universal health care, advising the kids to hold all the presidential candidates account-

able. “You say to them, ‘If we don’t have national health insur-ance by the next election, you who I voted for will never get my vote again as long as I live.’” Then comes the part of the evening that everyone came for, as Jerry moves to a side table and the kids line up to have their pictures taken with him by their friends with cell phones. It’s a perfectly modern mo-ment, made peculiar only because Springer himself is something of a Luddite. “We’ve become sub-servient to the technology,” he said at the hotel. “My staff al-ways makes fun of me because I don’t use a computer. It’s not a world that I want to participate in. I have no e-mail. I have a cell phone with no numbers (pro-grammed) on it.” That Jerry. He’s all about irony. He insists that his goofy, outrageous program has, almost unwittingly, made the culture more tolerant. “The intent of the show is pure entertainment,” he says. “But the effect is that we’re more accepting, more open as a society.” Wait, are you trying to tell us that in a few years marriages be-tween people and ponies will be commonplace? Springer laughs. “We did a follow-up show,” he says. “The horse left him. It’s not as open as you think. Horses are so judg-mental.”

Jerry Springer takes show on the road, treats college campuses to shock thrills

daVid hiltbrand

McT

EntertainmentThe WichiTanMar. 5, 20084

The members of technical death metal band Eli Cash liked one of Owen Wilson’s film charac-ters so much they named their band after him. The five-piece area group ap-propriated the name of Wilson’s eclectic western novelist from “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Also an eclectic band, Eli Cash bor-row from a wide array of musi-cal sources from classical guitar theory to death metal. The up-and-coming band per-forms March 16 at the Ameri-can Legion 120. The all-ages show begins at 6 p.m. and also features Maylene, John Henry vs. The Machine and Corithea. The show is being promoted by MSU student Nicole Bar-ron, and several members of Eli Cash attend MSU. In a diverse all-ages music

scene, where people listen to many different kinds of mu-sic and bands combine genres, it’s hard to define Eli Cash’s sound. “I don’t like to categorize music, because people like to fight about it,” guitarist Eric Priolo said. “I just usually tell them it’s death metal, technical death metal,” singer Josh Kirkland said. “It’s really tech-y. We also throw back and put in some old school guitar riffs in it and things like it.” Their drummer Jason Baber simply calls their sound “bru-tacular” or “southern hosbrutal-ity.” While the band is not out-wardly trying to be humorous, they do admit to a sense of hu-mor. One of their songs is called “I’ve Slayed this Dragon One Too Many Times.” The title came from joking around with

the whole epic metal thing said Kirkland. “You know, the Norse gods and things like slay-ing dragons.”The song is actually about deal-ing with everyday situations that keep recurring. Featuring three trained musi-cians, the band’s music is about slaying the typical recurring sounds that people hear every-day. Eli Cash plays music for people who like real metal, ac-cording to their vocalist “A lot of our writing is to challenge ourselves and enter-tain ourselves,” Priolo said. It’s not about being trendy or edgy. Guitarist Tim Robbins is in the classical guitar program at MSU, and Baber and Priolo played in the jazz band in high school. “The classical guitar train-ing has helped a lot with our music,” Priolo said. “The tech-nique is not similar, but the theory involved in the metal

actually translates well.” Priolo and Rob-bins write guitar riffs, teach them to one another and then figure how what comes next. Kirkland then adds his lyrics. “I use a lot of metaphors,” he said, “but at the same time I try not to make it not too complicated where people are saying, ‘What? What is he talking about? I keep it pretty sim-ple.” The members of Eli Cash only started playing together as a band last summer. They stay busy with full-time jobs and school. The band expects a raucous show. They also expect a mosh

pit that lives up to the old school nature of the name. “We like to provoke bru-tal pits,” Kirkland said. “The breakdowns we write, we try to make them as brutal and as epic as we can to get people to get pumped up for it.”

Death metal band brings “southern hosbrutality”

“Two peanuts were crossing the road, one was assaulted.”

This was just one of the jokes produced by a comedic legend who could be consid-ered one of the greatest come-dians of our time.

Best known for his role on Seinfeld, that ended it’s nine year series run in 1998, Jerry Seinfeld has taken his stand-up comedy on a cross-country tour of America, leaving waves of laughter in his wake.

He may be “old, rich, and tired,” but from the moment he jogged onto the stage in his classic suit and tie, Jerry Sein-feld kept you howling with delight, clutching your side, and gasping for breath.

The New York comedian filled Memorial Auditorium

Thursday night, adding one more distinguished name to the long line of celebrities that have graced the historic stage in Wichita Falls before him.

People who were once strangers began to feel like long lost friends as you sat side-by-side and laughed to-gether at the quirkiness that makes up the human psyche.

He joked about the size of our “airport.” He drew upon the idiosyncrasies of Ameri-can culture like our obsession with our cell phones and our reliance on the size of our Starbucks coffee cup to define our stature in the world.

Seinfeld was able to draw people together with his own unique brand of comedy about the mundane existence of ev-eryday life in a way that kept you sitting on the edge of your seat, begging for more, and

secretly admitting that he’s describing your inner self.

Nothing was left untouched whether it be f a t h e r h o o d , the weather, married life, or prescription drugs.

Not even an over zeal-ous audience member could throw off his groove as his good humor came to the rescue and kept the show rolling at high speed.

The real ex-citement that comes from seeing Seinfeld live on stage

is his mastery of the English

language, creating a world where the everyday seems ex-traordinary and asks for an in-ner reflection and redefinition of what it is that we consider “normal” today.

He is masterful at playing the everyman. For someone whose life is so far removed from that of his audience, he makes you think he’s just like you.

His delivery is the key to his comedy. His use of voices, in-tonation and pacing turn what could be classified as fairly standard material into some-thing wonderful. Dealing in a modest yet hilarious way with the over-excited American au-dience who randomly shout his name, he is nothing short of genius.

For over an hour Seinfeld kept the audience in hyster-ics and ended the show with

a question and answer session where audience members got the opportunity to ask all-consuming questions like, “Can I have your empty water bottle?”

The 53-year-old comedian and father of three has no plans to star in another TV show and is enjoying spend-ing time at home with his wife and young children.

He signed off with an exu-berant “Hello, Newman” and exited with the same standing ovation that accompanied his entrance.

This is one show that’s not to be forgotten any time soon.

Seinfeld has 12 more stops on his current comedy tour including Memphis, Boston, Charlotte, N.C. and Chicago. The last day to catch Seinfeld this tour is August 9, 2008 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

Jerry Seinfeld brings laughs to the Falls

The one thing every good fairy tale has taught us is that nothing is as it seems. A frog is a prince. A cat can talk. Living with seven vertically challenged men can be dangerous. "Penelope," a family-friendly

film fairy tale, does not break with that tradition. At face value - and what a face - this is the story of a young woman (Christina Ricci) who is the unfortunate victim of a fam-ily curse. Because of an indis-cretion by one of her blueblood relatives, she has what can only be called the world's most prom-

inent birth mark. Penelope's nose looks like a pig's snout. Only the love of "one of her kind" will reverse this condition. Her loving but misguided par-ents (Catherine O'Hara, Richard E. Grant) have built a sanctuary for Penelope full of everything but human contact. If she ever

hopes to end the curse, Penel-ope will have to find a suitor. That is easier said than done: One glimpse of Penelope sends potential husbands run-ning like vegetarians at a pig roast. They all bolt except for Max (James McAvoy). His gam-bling debts have put him a financial bind. That's when he agrees to pretend to be a po-tential hubby to help a bitter newspaper writer (Peter Din-klage) get a photo of Penelo-pe. Even pretend love comes with all kinds of complications. And that sends Penelope, her face half hidden by a giant scarf, into the world to find her freedom.

Director Mark Palansky finds a quiet tone to present this en-gaging script by Leslie Caveny. That means the moral of this sto-ry (and all good fairy tales have a moral) is delivered with a light embrace instead of an emotional slap. The real credit goes to Ricci. Whether it is the pig snout or the scarf, a large part of her face is hidden throughout most of the movie. Ricci manages to show with just her eyes the emotional pain, the joyful awakening of her senses and the innocent hope that exists inside this character. There are other strong ele-ments in the film, but revealing too much detail might jeopar-dize the discovery of all of the elements that aren't what they seem. "Penelope" deals with a host of issues, the most obvious about learning to deal with something that might set a person apart from the crowd. It is the kind of movie that should stimulate con-versations. When a movie does that, then everyone lives happily ever after.

RichaRd caRteR

For The WichiTan

Lisa MooRe

For The WichiTan

Rick BentLey

McT

Penelope entertains, teachesvaluable lesson through tale

Christian Ricci and James McAvoy in “Penelope”

Despite local airport perils, renowned comedian entertained local audience, even invoked loathsome name of Newman for humorous effect

Eli Cash band members play their brand of metal at a show Photos by Richard Carter

Entertainment The WichiTanMar. 5, 2008 5

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A cluster of media types is sprawled inside Michigan State University’s Breslin Center, sipping on sodas and waiting for an encounter with a king of comedy. Things are running behind schedule, but the mood is amiable enough because the payoff is getting to meet Will Fer-rell. What will he be like? Will he come barreling in with arrogant bravado, like Chazz Michael Michaels from “Blades of Glory,” or prance about with childish wonder, like Buddy from “Elf?” The surprise is, in real life, he’s more like his reserved, wistful character from “Stranger Than Fiction,” a guy who approaches life’s tasks with a low-key politeness that’s as ordinary as it is en-dearing. On this day, his job is talking up “Semi-Pro,” his new basketball come-dy set in 1970s Flint, Mich. It’s a disco-funky underdog story that gives Ferrell an excuse to wear horrendous clothing, wrestle a bear and attempt a death-defy-ing leap over a line of sexy cheerlead-ers. Clad in a Michigan State sweatshirt, Ferrell settles into a chair for a one-on-one chat. In a few hours, he’ll be the star attraction at a comedy concert inside the same building. But for now, he’s the soul of modesty. What does he think about the mov-ie’s affectionate tone toward Flint? The credit for that, he replies, goes to the director, Kent Alterman, who used to work with Michael Moore, the man who chronicled Flint’s struggles in “Roger and Me.” Did Ferrell sense the scrappiness of Flint that the movie so goofily cap-tures? Again, he says, that idea came from Alterman, who worked with the cinematographer to give the comedy a gritty, retro feeling. The conversation shifts to classic ‘70s comedies and then to Ferrell’s stomach as an acting tool. He has no qualms about revealing his flesh, whether it’s for a naked run through the streets in “Old School” or, most recently, the “Semi-Pro” trailer where he’s stretched out like a Playgirl pinup, wearing only a discreetly placed basketball and a headband. Does he have the only comedy abdo-men in the business right now? In a flash, Ferrell slips into the mock-serious voice of the overly confident goofball he portrays so perfectly onscreen. “I don’t have the only one. I have one of the best,” he dead-pans. “It may not be the only one, but it’s in the top three, at least.” It’s also safe to call Ferrell one of the funniest people in film these days. The “Saturday Night Live” alumni has attempted more

nuanced roles in movies like “Stranger Than Fiction” and Woody Allen’s “Me-linda and Melinda,” but he seems most at home in relaxed, lovably silly com-edies. And if a script has a sports theme, all the better. He’s done the NASCAR thing in “Talladega Nights,” coached a kids soccer team in “Kicking and Scream-ing” and pioneered all-male pairs figure skating in “Blades of Glory.” Now, with “Semi-Pro,” he tackles the story of a fictional American Basketball Association team called the Flint Trop-ics. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the one-hit-wonder singer of “Love Me Sexy” who owns and coaches the Tropics, and also serves on court as an eccentric power forward. His financially shaky team (whose very un-Rust-Belt-like slo-gan is “Let’s get tropical”) draws only a few die-hard fans to its games, which explains why Jackie can never deliver on the cash or food prizes he offers as audience promotions. When the NBA hatches a plan to merge with the four best teams in the ABA, the Tropics go on a do-or-die mis-sion to grab the fourth slot, with Jackie leading the charge, helped by a former NBA player named Monix (Woody Harrelson). Flint was a perfect setting for such a story for several reasons, says Alterman, a development executive who’s making his directing debut with “Semi-Pro.” Having worked with Moore on his television show “TV Nation,” Alterman says he had “this sort of vicarious af-fection for Flint,” which, for him, rep-resents a classic American underdog town. He liked the idea of Jackie Moon, the one-hit crooner, growing up in the shadow of Motown. And he credits Fer-rell’s performance with giving the mov-ie the same heart the real Flint has. “The character he plays is a great character,” Alterman says. “He’s really funny, but he has real vulnerability.” And though the Flint Tropics are fic-titious, the city did have a team in the early `70s called the Flint Pros that played in the Continental Basketball Association Great Lakes region, says Dennis Truax of the CBA. Ferrell, Harrelson, Andre Benjamin and other cast members traveled to Flint and Detroit last spring to shoot some scenes, including exterior shots at the Michigan State Fairgrounds (the

outside of the State Fair Coliseum doubles as a Flint stadium in the movie) and in an alley next to Flint’s Capitol Theatre. “That was fun,” Fer-rell recalls of the alley scene in Flint, where his character lies despon-dently in a Dumpster. “It was so sweet. People were really nice to me and they were so ap-preciative that we were there.” In keeping with the renegade spirit and showmanship of the ABA, “Semi-Pro” isn’t just set in the `70s. It captures the mood of a freewheeling comedy from that era, in part through using profan-ity and racy situations that aren’t as common in Ferrell’s PG-13 fare. “We wanted this to have the feel of films like ‘Slap Shot,’ that were ‘70s comedies that had a little grit to them and were even shot darker, things like that,” says Ferrell. “I thought it was a great idea, a very appealing thing.” But the movie has typical Ferrell touches that will please his loyal fans, like the fight that breaks out among Jackie Moon’s pals over use of the phrase “jive turkey,” and the sort of ab-surd lines that Ferrellites love to repeat (“I’m so happy I can’t even feel my arms!” Jackie shouts at one point). There’s even a bit where Ferrell wres-tles a bear, a stunt that Jackie attempts to boost attendance in his NBA quest. It’s a scene that fills Ferrell with great mock pride. “Well, I train bears myself,” he says. “I have about 10 of them at home. But that one, I wasn’t allowed near because of the union rules, but I am proficient in handling live bears, yes.” At this point in his career, Ferrell faces the dilemma of the successful cin-ematic funny man. Does he keep doing the kind of pictures everybody loves? Or does he aim to stretch his acting muscles, Jim Carrey-style, and seek out edgier, more chal-

lenging parts? So far, Ferrell seems willing to try both, but his heart belongs to laughter. Last year, he and his friend and col-laborator, Adam McKay, made a splash on the Web with their FunnyorDie.com site, which struck gold with “The Land-lord,” a vignette featuring Ferrell as a tenant arguing with an abusive landlord played by McKay’s 2 -year-old daughter (who repeated lines she was too young to understand). One of his upcoming projects is star-ring in a film remake of “Land of the Lost,” the 1970s kids TV series by Sid and Marty Krofft. It’s a project that sounds as unusual as some of Ferrell’s characters. But it could be more prom-ising than another Ferrell TV remake, the misguided version of “Bewitched” with Nicole Kidman. In choosing which projects to do, Ferrell says he’s trusting his instincts and avoiding calculated career plans. “I’m really just trying to be selective in things that are really going to make me laugh. If it’s a little more of a broad-er movie, if you will, it’s still got to have some teeth to it. Ultimately, I am focusing on doing what I really want to do without any thought of as to whether

it will be commercially successful.” He continues, without bashing any past choices by name. “You always hope that happens, but a couple times that I’ve gone down the road of, this is a commercial choice, I’ve had some pang of like, I don’t know if it’ll work. It’s backfired.” No matter what “Semi-Pro” earns in its opening weekend, Ferrell can walk away having spent time with kindred comedy spirits such as costars Will Arnett, Andy Richter, David Koechner and Rob Corddry. “I had a great time and I think it’s re-ally funny,” he says of the experience. With the interview almost over, he fields a question as daft as Jackie Moon. When he receives his Mark Twain Prize for American Humor or his Kennedy Center Honors one day, which clip from “Semi-Pro” would he like to include in the highlight reel? “Uh, gosh,” he says, pausing. Maybe that scene “where I’m eating cold pan-cakes in a Dumpster.” Then he laughs skeptically. “I look forward to my Mark Twain award,” he says, sounding as if he honestly doesn’t realize he’ll be in the running.

Actor chats basketball, bears and the comic potential of his abdomenJulie Hinds

DeTroiT Free Press(McT)

Belly laughs with Will Ferrell

Jackie Moon, played by Will Ferrell, prepares to take a free throw in recent release “Semi-Pro.” Photo by MCT

Ohio native Kate Voegele joined the recently popular scene of female singers as she made her breakthrough role on the hit TV show One Tree Hill. Kate Voegele began making appearances on One Tree Hill at the beginning of this year and the start of season five of the show. She plays Mia, a young, slightly unconfident singer who finds herself the next big act in the town of Tree Hill.

In real life, Kate Veogele began singing and playing the guitar in high school and only started re-cording her songs after some con-vincing by her father. By age 16,

word got out about Voegele’s talent and soon enough she found herself opening for artists such as John Mayer and Counting Crows, which eventually led to openings for Dave Matthews band, The Wreckers, and many more. After playing numerous shows around the Cleveland area, a 5-song EP was released by the sing-er, titled The Other Side. Voegele was finally signed in the fall of 2006, while only a sophomore in college, with MySpace Records. Shortly after her signing, Voegele released her first full-length debut album, Don’t Look Away, in May of 2007.

This album includes songs that are not only catchy, executed with such perfection its impossible not to

enjoy this CD. Kate Voegele brings back the familiarity of the girl em-powering, feel-good music by Mi-chelle Branch, or even Vanessa Carlton. There is no denying she is a truly talented young singer that should be commended on her one-of-a-kind, artistic style and unique sound. Some song highlights of her latest CD, Don’t Look Away, are “Kindly Unspoken,” “Chicago,” and “Only Fooling Myself.” Her songs range from more serious tones and soul rhythm, to up beat and en-ergetic, always seeming to connect with the pure emotion she pours out in her songs. Kate Voegele is cur-rently working on her second album and can be seen on One Tree Hill Tuesday nights at 8:00p.m.

Courtney Foreman

enTerTainMenT eDiTor

Breakout songstress takes spin on the small screen

The WichiTanMar. 5, 20086 Feature

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Mcclatchy Newspapers(Mct)

Lots of famous people are on MySpace. But a good number of them are long dead.

Every dead poet, philosopher, artist and past president you can think of has a MySpace page - and many are presented in the first person, as if Thomas Edison and Joan of Arc are lounging at home in their pajamas, post-ing pictures and updating their blogs.

Benjamin Franklin recom-mends that his visitors read a bio that’s posted on the site. “May-be,” he writes, “it will help peo-ple realize that flying a freakin’ kite wasn’t my greatest accom-plishment.”

Charles Darwin has gotten tired of people spamming his page. So he’ll be approving comments before they’re posted, thanks.

And George Washington asks us: “Who rocked the revolution? ... That’s right, I did.”

The Internet can bridge dis-tances, bringing people togeth-er across continents. But now - thanks to some creative souls with a lot of time on their hands - it can also bridge decades, even centuries.

Who thought Henry David Thoreau, who found such solace in solitude, would approve of a social networking site? Or that private Emily Dickinson would find the exhibitionism to blog? And who would have predicted that, in the Internet age, Abra-ham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth would be friends?

They’ll add you as their

friends, too - after all, that’s what MySpace is all about. But the anachronism raises all kinds of etiquette questions. What do we say to our long-departed he-roes? Can we really talk banali-ties with poet Marianne Moore or Mary Todd Lincoln? Can we

tell Alexander the Great to have a great weekend, or urge Na-poleon to hang in there ‘cause Monday’s almost over? But, as with almost everything online, it’s best not to overthink things. After all, even the most articulate voices of history seem nearly il-

literate on MySpace. Mathema-tician Rene Descartes _-he who brought us “I think, therefore I am” - introduces himself this way: “Well, I’m a famous philo-spher, mathemitician, and scien-tist lol. I went to college when I was 8 because I am so smart rofl,

but later I learned how much of a noob I really was.”

And in another circle of MyS-pace friends, the Founding Fa-thers hash out some specifics of the Constitution by commenting on each other’s blog entries. “I think that’s probably a good idea,” says Washington about a hard-won compromise. “Let’s use that. WOOT.”

We couldn’t resist dropping in on the heroes of history, the fa-mous figures who have returned to us online for “networking and friends” (except for Pablo Picasso, who also signed on for “dating” and “serious relation-ships”). Here’s what we learned about how the famous faces of the past tend to mingle among the living online:

When you’re famous (and de-ceased), how do you introduce yourself?

Shakespeare: “It is correct. I am backeth! It was once that I had a flight of sleep, but I have arisen to reclaim my art in this new and bright millennium.”

Salvador Dali: “At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At sev-en I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.”

James Joyce: “I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality.”

Richard Nixon: “I welcome this kind of examination of my profile, because the MySpace us-ers have got to know whether or not their friend is a crook. Well, I am not a crook!”

Walt Whitman: “If you want purely biographical stuff, I un-

derstand there’s a really good ar-ticle about me on Wikipedia.”

Ernest Hemingway: “I would like to apologize for one thing. While writing Death in the Af-ternoon, I sounded like a total jerk, and I promise you, I’m not a jerk. I’m actually a pretty nice guy.”

Who’s in their Top 8:T.S. Eliot: Dorothy Parker,

D.H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, MySpace celeb Tila Tequila

Carl Jung: Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, H.L. Mencken, Peter Gabriel Tribute Band

Cicero: Odysseus, Roman Emperors Caligula and Domi-tian, Cookie Monster

Albert Einstein: Isaac New-ton, William Shakespeare, Plato, Mister Rogers

Whom they’d like to meet:John Keats: “Poets, nightin-

gales, people who like my po-ems, perhaps a doctor to cure me once and for all of this debilitat-ing sickness.”

Martin Luther: “I’d also like to meet faithful ‘Lutherans’ (I TOLD THEM NOT TO NAME THE CHURCH AFTER ME!) and other Christians.”

William Shakespeare: “Ken-neth Branagh, Patrick Stewart, Marlon Brando (sadly, never will), Al Pacino, Emma Thomp-son, Mel Gibson (just to slap him).”

Ernest Hemingway: “I’d like to meet all my fans. I’m glad that you all enjoy reading my books. Some of you may not like my books, but hey, there are other authors to choose from aren’t there?”

Beethoven: “I am not what you call a people person.”

Whither Shakespeare? He’s backeth, baby!

How do you say, `Thanks for the

add’?

–Terry, to President Abraham Lincoln: “Thank you for the add. I’ve admired your courage and politics for quite awhile. I also think you were kinda hot when you were younger. ...”

–Annie, to poet Sylvia Plath: “HI, SYLVIA! I’M GLAD WE’RE FRIENDS. COME READ MY POETRY IN MY BLOG IF YOU HAVE THE TIME. I SHALL NOT CLAIM TO BE ON YOUR LEVEL, OF COURSE BUT I SING MY SONGS MAINLY FOR MY OWN AMUSEMENT, ANY-HOW! ;) BUT YOU MAY ENJOY THEM. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.”

–Nick, to writer Gertrude Stein: “Thanks, Gert.”

How do you thank your hero?

–TomO, to President Abraham Lincoln: “Abe, dude, that thing you are doing with trying to free the slaves? Awesome. You da man! You rock that hat like no one else!”

–Max X, to author George Or-well: “Good writing, loved Ani-mal Farm.”

–Nicole, to President George Washington: “Thanks for lead-ing our country even though by now ur probably a ba-jillion years old ... keep on wearin that wig.”

Familiar faces from the history, literature books live again on MySpace

Students get airbrush tattoos, enjoy activitiesduring UPB-sponsored Sadie Hawkins Social

PAtrick Johnston the wichitaN(Left) Graduate student Sachin Yawalkar gets tribal emblem inked on his arm during the Sadie Hawkins Social last Friday night at the Clark Student Center. Other activities included Scene It? the DVD game, food, and dancing. (Above) Sophomore Gigi Mattar smiles while she watches the tattoo artist airbrush on a tempo-rary tattoo.

Sports The WichiTanMar. 5, 2008 7

March Madness & Goodness

“March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb” is the old saying around here regarding the volatile spring weather that Texoma is known for. The com-parison, however, of March to a lion has a completely different meaning to me. The most compelling time of the year in the world of sports for me, and many others, cen-ters around March. If it’s not the grinding second half of the NBA season, the buzz surrounding the upcoming NFL rookie draft, or even the beginning of spring training for the major leaguers then look no further than March Madness, baby! Every NCAA Division I col-lege basketball program circles this month on their calendars in the pre-season and sets their sights on going to “The Big Dance.” Now, in the month most famously, or infamously, known for its Spring Break, all of these college teams are seeing their dreams come true or vanish right before their eyes. It has been coined cleverly as “bracketology” over the pass-ing years, as sports experts all gather at one time and fill out the elaborate brackets that are associated with every March Madness. However, in many businesses, schools, and more recently online pools, everyone gets a chance to flex their colle-giate basketball knowledge mus-cles and attempt to complete that ever-impossible perfect bracket. Sixty-five teams get into the annual tournament and these teams are all divided into four separate and evenly balanced re-gions: West, Midwest, East, and South. Once March hits you start to see the buzz on Division I col-lege campuses rise as the immi-nent chance to be invited to the Tournament awaits them. Every day when you flip on the tele-vision to a sports network you can see the experts, or “brack-etologists,” spew their opinions, thoughts, and knowledge on America in an attempt to build the perfect bracket. Over the opening two week-ends of play, the field of sixty-five teams is narrowed down to the Final Four, or the national

semi-finals. On the way to the Final Four the bracket passes through other famously-quoted alliterations such as: the Elite Eight and, of course, the Sweet Sixteen. Most people’s hopes and dreams of perfect bracket glory are long dashed by this time, but after watching over fifty bas-ketball games in the month of March many fans, even if they never watch college basketball, start pulling for a team and get emotionally attached to how well a team does later in the Tournament. I think that the greatest week-end in all of sports is Final Four weekend, this year being held in San Antonio, Texas. Final Four weekend proves greater than even Super Bowl weekend, in my eyes, because of the colle-giate atmosphere and also the volume of games. There are three games over Final Four weekend, encompassing the Na-tional Championship game. Now, say college basketball isn’t you’re thing. Luckily for you there is still a plethora of sporting occasions to get excited about in the month of March. The playoff push comes down to the wire in the NBA, where eight teams from both the West and East conferences of sixteen, are battling it out for playoff berths and positioning. The pros differ from the collegiate ath-letes, because maybe they won’t put all of their emotion and en-ergy into every outing, but not in March. March is where the great teams separate from the sub-par squads and where the elite play-ers step up and lead their teams to potential post-season glory. The second half of the NBA season makes for great prime-time television and the pouring out of competitiveness by the pros makes a lot of people want to tune into the NBA season in March and heading into the play-offs which start in early April. Okay. Say you’re not just a real big basketball fan in gen-eral. There isn’t really to offer for baseball and football fans in both of the sports’ off-season is there? That’s where you’re wrong. In March, in ballparks around America, the sounds of gloves smacking together and bats clanging with the sound of a

crisply hit balls, ring in the sound of spring training for baseball fans everywhere. Every major league ball club begins spring training in March, if not in Feb-ruary. Spring league baseball leagues burst onto the scene as poten-tial big leaguers look to make a name for them while seasoned veterans look to warm-up into another grueling 162-game reg-ular season. Most major leagu-ers participate in these spring

leagues most commonly known for their festive names, like the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues. All of the preparation and organization in February and March leads up to the dramatic Opening Day for Major League Baseball, usually coming in late-March or early-April. Now, for all the football fanat-ics – don’t worry. The NFL Draft comes in early-April and there’s never a shortage of coverage and analysis of all of the college ath-

letes and pro franchises during March leading up to the Draft. For fans of specifics teams and cities, this is the time of year where your team picks up the players to solidify their dynasty or makes the mistakes that leave them at the bottom of the pack for yet another year. Will your team get that fran-chise quarterback to lead your team into years of glory, or will they go for that high-risk, high-reward running back that could

be the next Barry Sanders or the next Maurice Clarett? This question and so many more will be asked by analysts, fans, and teams’ staff, but all will be an-swered on that draft day in early April. So sit back and enjoy every-one, because you’re right in the middle of the most intriguing and exciting time for sports; en-joy this time of the year in all its goodness. And madness.

Enjoy the greatest time of the year in sports, while it lasts!

BoBBy Morris

SporTS ediTor

Selling Plasma Pays the Bills

Selling plasma serves as an additional source of income for many college students in need of a little extra cash. DCI Biologicals at 1908 9th Street in Wichita Falls pays their donors $20 cash on their first visit and $25 second donation within a week’s time. Thereafter, depending on donor’s weight and number of donations roughly $190 per month.

For many, people use this to supplement a meager income. “It supports my transportation,” said 20 year-old Nick Collins of donating plasma for “gas money.”

Collins, a junior computer science major, started donating regularly during his freshman year as a way to supplement his meager budget.

“It’s the easiest money I’ve ever made,” he said. “I sit there for an hour, and watch movies, and they pay me.”

Plasma is the liquid portion of the blood that contains proteins and antibodies that the immune system produces to fight diseases, said Jason Wheat, Medical Supervisor at DCI Biologicals.

Donors only give the liquid portion of their blood, which is separated from the cellular portion that contains white and red blood cells and platelets. Approximately 3 million liters of plasma are collected annually, Jason said, in more than 60 collection centers nationwide. These 3 million liters go to developing life-saving plasma products that more than a million people depend on annually.

Some of these products include coagulation therapies, which are used in the treatment of bleeding disorder such as hemophilia; critical care products, which are used to treat shock and burns, and serve as fluid replacement therapies in places such as hospitals.

Donors are required to have valid identification and proof of their social security number present. After filling out a mandatory questionnaire, the medical staff performs a health screening and exam. The first visit takes the most time then after that it goes a lot faster.

The first donation is used for testing to ensure the safety and quality of the plasma. Only after a second donation is made can the first be used, which is one reason why Jason urges everyone to make at least two donations. To make the process go by quicker, Jason suggests eating a well-balanced meal and drinking four to six glasses of water, juice or other caffeine-free liquids two to three hours before donating.

While some donate regularly like Collins, and others would like to, but are unable to do so for health reasons like autoimmune disease. To find out if your qualify stop by today DCI Biologicals at 1908 9th St. in Wichita Falls.

The Lady Mustangs basketball team took on the Eastern New Mexico Zias in their season fina-le Saturday night at Greyhound Arena in Portales. ENM rushed out to a 16-2 lead with six minutes to go in the first half and although MSU was able to cut the lead in half with an 8-0 run with three minutes left before intermission, the Zias hung on to claim the victory, 75-56. ENM took a 42-30 advantage into the half and kept a double-digit advantage for the rest of the game. Tiffany Cook posted seven-teen points and snagged nine re-bounds to lead the Mustangs in the game. Kaylon Hodge contributed her second career double-double, in

her final game with Midwestern State, with a thirteen point, elev-en rebound performance. MSU was without the services of guard Brandy Moore, who missed the game due to family matters. ENM’s Megan Kabrick netted a season-high 22 points while shooting 8-of-13 from the field. She also had six treys and three steals in the game. Til-Lois Fifer helped the Zias with fifteen points and ten re-bounds while Patricia Malouff threw in fourteen points and grabbed nine boards. The Mustangs end the season by dropping their eighth-straight game for a 9-18 overall record in what ended up being their final game under head coach Shan-non Burks. They finished 3-11 in the Lone Star Conference South Division competition on the sea-son.

Josh MuJica

STaff reporTer

Lady Mustangs drop season finale

Without any inclement weath-er to speak of, besides some terrible wind gusts on Sunday afternoon, the Lady Mustangs’ softball squad finally took the field at Mustangs Park for the first time this season. The team wasted no time capitalizing on home-field ad-vantage, taking care of busi-ness and notching four straight victories against Southwestern Oklahoma State and Abilene Christian. The four-game home win-ning streak improved the Lady Mustangs overall record to 14-9 and 3-1 in Lone Star Confer-ence North competition. Yesterday, sophomore pitch-er Katie Peterson led the Lady Mustangs’ squad against the Southwestern Oklahoma State

Bulldogs and completely domi-nated the first game of the dou-ble-header, eventually taking the game 10-1. Peterson pitched four score-less innings, before being re-lieved, and struck out six batters on her way to her ninth win of the season. Senior Ashley Kuchenski led the way in the batter’s box for the Lady Mustangs in game one, by driving in four runs on 2-of-2 hitting. Catcher Lindsey Voigt and shortstop Amanda Potysman both slammed homers over the left field fence to highlight four-run third and fourth innings. Relief pitcher Brittany Tan-ner gave up a late run before re-tiring the last three batters and giving the Lady Mustangs the dominant game one victory. The second game of the dou-

ble -header was a completely different story, but the outcome was the same as the Lady Mus-tangs rode Peterson’s pitching and timely hitting to take the 4-3 win. Kuchenski started game two and gave the Lady Mustangs seven quality innings of work, allowing only three runs until being relieved in the first extra inning. Voigt blasted her second homerun of the afternoon in the third inning to give the Mus-tangs the lead temporarily. It was Voigt’s fifth homerun of the season. Peterson pitched a three-up-three-down eighth inning, be-fore coming to the plate and lin-ing a game-winning single into center field. The extra innings victory im-proved Peterson’s mark to 10-2

on the season. The Lady Mustangs are set to take on Texas Women’s Uni-

v e r s i t y in a dou-ble-header at Mustangs Park this afternoon at 1 p.m., before

battling Central Oklahoma in a double-header at Mustangs Park this Saturday at 2 p.m.

The WichiTanMar. 5, 20088 Sports

on deck...

5

The men’s tennis program re-turned home for a set of match-es at the MSU Tennis Courts last Thursday in a lately sched-uled set against the Metro State Roadrunners. Following a pair of closely contested doubles’ matches, No. 32 Midwestern State ex-tended their winning streak to eight matches by beating down the Roadrunners, 6-3. The tandems of Zac Dillard and Vjekoclav Stipanic along with Karim Belhadj and Chip Threadgill came away with two tight victories from the top two positions, 8-6 and 9-7 respec-tively, to propel the Mustangs to the victory. Mustangs’ other doubles team of Travis Stegner and Daniel McMullen teamed up to dominate the third and last dou-bles’ match, 8-1, to sweep the

doubles’ matches against Metro State. The Mustangs then moved on to take on No. 22 Southwest Baptist (Mo.) and Southeastern Oklahoma last Friday, in Law-ton, Okla. at the Cameron Uni-versity Tennis Complex. After extending their season-long winning streak to eight at the MSU Tennis Courts, the Southwest Baptist Bulldogs promptly squashed the streak by defeating the MSU No. 1 and No. 2 doubles team for the sec-ond time all season and eventu-ally taking the matches 6-3. McMullen rallied from drop-ping his doubles’ match to ex-tend his personal singles’ win-ning streak to eight by defeating SBU’s Daniel Prerad in a three-set tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-3, and 10-8. The top half of the lineup, which struggled against South-west Baptist, led the way later in the afternoon against South-

eastern Oklahoma as they got back on the winning track 5-4. The doubles’ tandems of Belhadj / Stipanic and Dillard / McMullan dominated both of the opening matches and gave the Mustangs a 2-1 lead enter-ing singles’ matches. McMullan claimed his ninth straight singles’ victory to high-light three different singles’ vic-tories to clinch the victory for Midwestern State. Midwestern State then clashed against St. Mary’s last Saturday afternoon also at the Cameron University Tennis Courts. The Mustangs clinched a 5-4 victory coming from the final match off the courts to improve to 10-3 on the season and recov-er to win their second-straight after dropping one against Southwest Baptist earlier in the weekend. MSU dropped their doubles’ matches at the No. 1 and No. 2

positions again in this match-up but rallied to take four of the six singles’ matches including the final match on the court. Midwestern State’s Travis Stegner dropped his first set 6-3 before recovering to take the final two sets 6-2, 6-0 to give MSU the clinching match to

claim victory. The men’s tennis squad will return to the MSU Tennis Courts next Friday, March 13 to take on Collin County CC be-fore pausing a week for Spring Break. The Lady Mustangs tennis team will also be back in action

at home this Saturday to take on Central Oklahoma in their opening Lone Star Conference event and hopefully extend their present-winning streak of five games. They will take on Cen-tral Oklahoma before traveling to take on East Central next Wednesday March 12 at 3p.m.

Mustangs victorious in finale

Tennis team returns home and prepares for conference playBoBBy Morris

SporTS ediTor

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Take a look at what’s on tap for Mustang athletics this week and come support your Mustangs!

Lady Mustangs go on four-game winning streak after playing first home games of season

BoBBy Morris

SporTS ediTor

Softball - Texas Women’s (DH) 1 p.m.

Softball - Central Oklahoma (DH) 2 p.m.

Women’s Tennis - Central Oklahoma

Women’s Soccer (Spring) - University of Oklahoma 11 a.m

Women’s Soccer (Spring) - NOKC United 2 p.m.

Golf - @ Red River Intercollegiate Golf Tourney (Thackerville, Okla.)

Golf - @ Red River Intercollegiate Golf Tourney (Thackerville, Okla.)

Softball - @ Central Oklahoma (DH) 1 p.m.

Midwestern State’s wom-an’s basketball coach Shannon Burks announced his decision to resign from the program Monday morning.

“This is strictly a family de-cision for me,” Burks said. “I was given a job opportunity that will allow me to spend more time and be closer to my family.”

Burks has coached at Mid-western State for nine years,

the longest tenure by a coach in the program’s history. He led the Mustangs to three 20-win seasons, two trips to the NCAA Division II regional tourna-ment (2001, 2003) and a Lone Star Conference championship in 2001.

Last year, Burks passed Kim Griffee, Midwestern State’s head coach from1984-1992, to become the program’s win-ningest coach. He compiled a record of 132-117 over his nine years as the Mustangs’ coach.

Throughout his coaching experience at MSU, Burks has been named divisional coach of the year two times, coached a pair of All-Americans, eight first-team and three second-team all-conference players.

“I’ve always felt privileged to be coach at Midwestern,” Burks said. “It was a great place to be for me. I thank everyone for all of their support.”

After going 8-18 in the 1999-2000 season Burks led his team to a 23-7 mark in his second

season as head coach (2000-01).

His third year, the team fin-ished with a mark of 20-9 and placed third in the LSC.

Burks led the Mustangs to a

19-8 mark in the 2003-04 sea-son before suffering through four sub-.500 seasons.

“Shannon brought class and character to the MSU athletic program,” MSU Athletics Di-rector Charlie Carr said. “He will be greatly missed in our

women’s basketball program, but we respect his decision to put his young son first. We will move forward as quickly as possible to find a quality person and coach to lead our program forward.”

A native of Lincoln, Burks graduated from Evangel Col-lege in Springfield, Mo. He lettered in baseball while com-pleting a bachelor’s degree. He then moved to Henderson State in Arkadelphia, Ark., where he served as the graduate assistant

baseball coach while earning his master’s degree.

Burks served seven years as the top assistant to the legend-ary Jim Foley at Arkansas Tech University. He helped the Gold-en Suns to a 185-33 record, an NAIA national title in 1993 and an NAIA national semifinal ap-pearance in 1997.

After making the move to Division II, Arkansas Tech advanced to the Elite Eight in 1998 before finishing as nation-al runners-up in 1999.

Kaitlin Morrison

For The WichiTan

Women’s head coach resigns suddenly following season

The Mustangs avoided a los-ing season Saturday as they stomped the Eastern New Mex-ico Greyhounds, 73-56, in Por-tales. MSU finishes with a 13-13 overall record and improved to a 5-7 Lone Star Conference South Division mark on the season. The Mustangs used a 17-4 run at the end of the first half to jump out to a 31-14 lead and never looked back.

The Greyhounds rallied to pull the score to 59-52 with five minutes to go in the second half but were unable to take momen-tum away from the Mustangs. MSU’s Nolan Richardson IV finished one assist shy of his sec-ond double-double of the season with a line that included seven-teen points and nine dishes for scores. Senior Jeremy Ford added fourteen points including twelve from three-point land, while se-nior captain Chris Davis had ten points and five rebounds. Senior

Christopher Reay aided the Mus-tang rally with four points, five boards and three blocked shots in all of their final MSU game. Ford ended his career at Mid-western with 136 3-pointers to put him at fifth place in the pro-gram’s history. His 79 3-pointers for the year rank him seventh in most treys in a single season. Marquis Ruffin posted nine-teen points and nine boards to lead the Greyhounds in the loss. ENM ends the year 6-21 over-all and winless in LSC competi-tion.

Josh MuJica

STaFF reporTer

PatricK Johnston The WichiTan

(Above) Pitcher Katie Peterson (19) hurls a pitch in game one of a double-header against Southwestern Okla-homa State, yesterdy.

(To the right) Senior Lindsey Voigt (3) slams her second homer of the afternoon which wound up being the decisive run in the extra innings Mus-tangs’ victory.