www.redandblack.com Wednesday, January 20, 2010 Vol. 117, No. 86 | Athens, Georgia

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PHOTO FRENZYView how photographer

Beth Thompson sees the world through her own kaleidoscope lens.

Page 5.

News ............................. 2Opinions ......................4

Variety ........................ 5Sports ..........................9

Crossword .................. 2Sudoku ....................... 9

An independent student newspaper serving the University of Georgia communityE S T A B L I S H E D 1 8 9 3 , I N D E P E N D E N T 1 9 8 0

Black&RedThe

By DREW KANNTHE RED & BLACK

Last Friday, former Georgia soc-cer star Carrie Patterson sat anx-iously at her Athens home sur-rounded by teammates and friends, eyes glued to the Twitter feed scrolling slowly down her comput-er screen.

For nearly two and a half hours, Patterson watched as former SEC soccer foes learned their profes-sional destinations in the 2010 Women’s Professional Soccer League Draft.

Then around 1:30 p.m., another familiar name appeared on her computer screen.

“Round five, pick two: Carrie Patterson (University of Georgia) selected by the Philadelphia Independence.”

“It was kind of surreal actually. Just seeing that I was a pick in the Women’s Professional Soccer Draft

was a really awesome feeling,” Patterson said.

After rewriting the Georgia soc-cer record books in her four sea-sons in Athens, the former Georgia standout forward was taken with the second pick in the fifth round of the 2010 WPS Draft Friday.

Patterson, an Atlanta native, was drafted 40th overall by the Philadelphia Independence, but was later traded to her hometown Atlanta Beat.

Just miles from the soccer fields where she tormented high school and collegiate goalkeepers, Patterson will take her one-wom-an, goal-scoring show to the pro-fessional stage.

“There’s nothing better than playing at home in front of your friends,” Patterson said. “It’s a comfortable place for me obvious-ly, and it’ll be nice to have my

See WPS, Page 9

By ANNE CONNAUGHTONTHE RED & BLACK

A low-altitude solution is avail-able for those who wish to try rock climbing, but are afraid of serious heights. The catch? No harness.

The new rock climbing gym Active Climbing, located on Barber Street, offers the full range of options any seasoned climber could expect.

Since its opening last April, the focus has shifted from traditional climbing to bouldering. As opposed to the mental image typically associ-ated with rock climbing, bouldering is done on climbing structures only reaching 10 to 15 feet off the ground.

The participant climbs routes called “problems” without the sup-port rope or a belay system.

Bouldering problems are lower and shorter than typical top rope climbing, but require more power and finesse, according to David Ward, a 23-year-old graduate student from Alpharetta who has been climbing for almost two years.

The owner and founder of Active Climbing, Adrian Prelipceanu, thinks bouldering has become a trend because it is so social.

“It brings everybody together,” he said. “It’s a little bit more aggressive so it’s a little more spectacular.”

When bouldering, others sit and wait their turn, while watching and encouraging each other.

“It’s something where you can be happy for other people,” said new climber Brie Galbreath, 21, a wildlife major from Savannah.

Self-described as a non-athlete, Galbreath would recommend the sport to anyone.

“You grow fast, it’s rewarding,” she said. “I’d only been once, and was pumped to come back.”

In the main climbing room there are opportunities for climbers of all skill levels. The wall increases in dif-ficultly from left to right, and the atmosphere is relaxed and casual.

There is also a “children’s” room, but plenty of students were scat-tered throughout that room as well.

See BOULDER, Page 6

LILY PRICE | The Red & Black

An Active Climbing client hits the rock wall on a Tuesday afternoon. Bouldering, as opposed to rock climbing, uses no safety harnesses.

University hosts GOP debate

By POLINA MARINOVATHE RED & BLACK

For the first time, University TV station WNEG hosted the Republican gubernato-rial debate.

In October, Bill Griffin, chairman of the Athens-Clarke County GOP, contacted Michael Castengera, senior lecturer in Grady College , to see if the debate — held Tuesday in the Instructional Plaza- South auditorium — could be hosted by the University.

“I think it kind of reaffirms the University’s role as the leader in the state of Georgia,” Castengera said. “I’m hoping that it raises the visibility of the television sta-tion, WNEG-TV.”

WNEG-TV is a station serving the north-east portion of Georgia. The station is owned by the University of Georgia Research Foundation and operated by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication on campus.

“For a long time, it was a station that was just in Toccoa,” Castengera said. “Now, it is here in Athens, and it is serving the Athens community and the UGA commu-nity. I hope people realize they have this huge resource available to them in the Athens community.”

See WNEG, Page 3

New programs on the horizon after proposal

By BRIANA GERDEMANTHE RED & BLACK

Students may have three more programs of study to choose from if proposals from several campus departments are approved at the next University Council meeting in February, members of the University Council Executive Committee decided Tuesday.

The committee moved forward propos-als to add a new minor in African-American studies, reactivate a minor in fashion mer-chandising and offer a dual degree for mas-ter’s students in foreign language educa-tion and German. They also discussed a proposal to terminate the Ed.D. program in social studies education.

The new minor in African-American studies would be sponsored by the Institute for African-American Studies, which now offers a major and a certificate.

The fashion merchandis-ing major, if approved, will reactivate a major that the Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors offered in the past.

“We had a fashion mer-chandising minor several years ago,” Patricia Hunt-Hurst, head of the department, said. “It was very popular, stu-dents wanted it, [but] at that time we didn’t have enough faculty to offer the classes.”

In the past few years, students from other majors have wanted to take fashion merchandising classes and have asked about the minor.

“Students keep asking, ‘Is this going to happen?’” Hunt-Hurst said.

The reactivated minor would not require any additional faculty hiring or resources but would give students a struc-tured way to take classes which already exist.

Similarly, the proposed dual degree pro-gram in foreign language education and German would allow students to combine existing courses from the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies and the Department of Language and Literacy Education.

Gubernatorial hopefuls speak on campus TV

HUNT-HURST

Climb high, no strings attachedNew climbing center offers bouldering

Patterson taken in WPS Draft

FILE PHOTO

Former Georgia striker Carrie Patterson was drafted to the Atlanta Beat Friday.

GYM DOGS MAN ON THE STREET The Gym Dogs have

changed their lineup — and their mentality. See

what’s new with the team on page 9.

What are students thinking after Obama’s

first year in office?Page 2.

Students bring a little ‘home’ to Athens with weekly dinners.

Page 6.

ON THE WEB Check out our bouldering video.

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composer 20 Sup 21 Iowa export 23 In the know 24 Blues singer

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conditions 30 History 31 To and __ 34 Tale teller 35 Holy book 36 Queue 37 Of no impor-

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2 | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | The Red & Black NEWS

By POLINA MARINOVA THE RED & BLACK

Waking up for an 8 a.m. English class and walking to Park Hall in freezing weather may seem like something every student has to experience in their time at the University, but junior Delisha King has found an alternative — online class-es.

“There are no time restrictions, there are no discussion sections and you do your own reading,” King, an internation-al affairs and Arabic major from Covington, said. “It is ideal for a person who is working a lot and just doesn’t have time for the traditional class set-ting.”

King left the University after her freshman year, but decided to return two years later. She took a basic English class last summer through the University’s Independent and Distance Learning, or IDL, program and said it’s a good idea to take lower-level classes online.

“The instructions for the course are straightforward and the professor gets back to you pretty fast,” she said. “I wouldn’t recommend taking higher-level courses online, but they may be easier through IDL because there’s only a cer-tain amount of material they can give you.”

However, Nancy Thompson, depart-ment head of IDL, said she had a differ-ent view. Though she said the most pop-ular courses are core-curriculum classes, more than one-third of the 111 online courses are upper-level.

“It has been interesting because a lot of students will take our online courses because they think they’re easier,” she

said. “But our evaluations at the end of the semester always say that the stu-dents didn’t expect to learn so much, and they didn’t expect for the courses to be so difficult.”

The IDL program offers courses such as English, music and geology, and up to 3,500 students enroll each year.

As long as students are enrolled at the University, scholarships — such as HOPE — will cover the cost of online courses.

To ensure the same material covered in the classroom is covered online, facul-ty members from the University’s aca-demic departments design the online courses.

James Marshall, associate dean for academic programs in the College of Education, advised students to be wary of obscure non-accredited online insti-tutions.

“I have great respect for online courses, and I would encourage many students to take them,” he said. “But there are a lot of for-profit institutions and some very small out-of-state insti-tutions which offer online courses where the quality of the course isn’t going to be so good, and the student’s experience isn’t going to be good either.”

Thompson said online classes have become even more popular today because they allow students to have more freedom with their school and work schedules.

“Students are having to work a lot more in these difficult economic times to pay for their education, so it’s nice to have at least one course that you can take late at night or when you’re not working,” she said.

Online class saves time

By ADINA SOLOMONTHE RED & BLACK

Despite national trends showing fewer minority undergraduates going on to attend law schools across the country, the University’s Law School has as many minority stu-dents as ever.

In national law schools, the percentage of minori-ty students — namely African-American and Mexican-American — has decreased, according to a study by a Columbia Law School professor. This is occurring even as the number of minority appli-cants remains constant.

At the University, minority enrollment fig-ures have been “holding steady,” said Gregory Roseboro, director of diversity programs at the Law School.

Roseboro said this is because Georgia is a cul-turally varied state, and Atlanta — which is home to a large minority com-munity — is in close prox-

imity to the University.“We have a vast pool [of

people] to draw from,” he said.

Roseboro explained that for admissions, the Law School does not look at a student’s minority status but at its Law School Administration Test scores, grades, any-thing they have “overcome in life” and whether or not they will be skilled lawyers in the future.

“We look at the whole person,” Roseboro said.

In past years, the University’s Law School has been ranked in the top 10 nationally for its number of graduating African-American stu-dents, Roseboro said.

The Law School also “stacks up well” in terms of diversity when com-pared with law schools nationwide, he said. Minority students repre-sented 23 percent of the entering law class in 2009.

“[Diversity] adds a richness to any college campus,” Cynthia Polk-

Johnson, director of Multicultural Services and Programs and the African American Cultural Center, said. “[It] brings different thoughts and opinions.”

One law student from Lagos, Nigeria, Abiodun Akintolu, said he thinks diversity is important for the law school experi-ence.

“Diversity makes [learning] more interest-ing,” Akintolu said. “[Minority students] help bring different ideas from different legal systems.”

Roseboro expressed a similar idea, saying diver-sity “brings different per-spectives to the class-room.”

He said when students graduate and enter the workforce, they will better empathize with the people they meet.

“You have a little more u n d e r s t a n d i n g , ” Roseboro said. “We live in a diverse world with people from different backgrounds.”

School breaks diversity trend

One year ago today, Barack Obama swore on the steps of Capitol Hill to “pre-serve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Chief Justice John Roberts bumbling the oath, the wars, an unexpected Nobel Peace Prize win, an economic crisis and the prolonged health care debate have all been a part of the national assessment of President Obama’s first year in the White House — a year that has been anything but quiet.

Today, the Obamas seem to have set-

tled into their new home. Michelle is set-ting fashion trends and Sasha and Malia are enjoying their time with their Portuguese water dog, Bo.

Although most University students can agree Obama’s presidency is histor-ic, ideas about how he’s acted as com-mander-in-chief vary. The Red & Black asked several University students for their opinions on his performance as president since his inauguration last year.

— Julia Carpenter

BRITTNEY BAUMERT freshman biology major from Acworth

“My opinion from last year has been proved correct, I guess. I think the Obama administration is a little over its head with all these problems.”

KENASIA BROWNsophomore pre-med and biology major from Augusta

“I think people expected too much too fast. He promised change, and change can’t happen immediately. I think he’s doing a good job with everything on his plate.”

CALLY WOOfreshman business major from Norcross

“Give him until the end of the year, at least. Issues like the economy — the economy was so bad — it takes longer to bounce back.”

PATRICK CHANG freshman environmental health major from Duluth

“I feel like it’s too early to see. Not until the term’s over. You won’t see the effects of his presidency until years later.”

ADAM BLOODWORTHsenior music major from McDonough

“It’s hard to tell after only a year. He inherited quite a nest of problems from the previous administration.”

MAN ON THE STREET:Obama’s first year

By BRITTNEY HOLMESTHE RED & BLACK

UGA HEROs, the University’s largest student-run organization, wants more students to get involved.

The group will begin accepting applica-tions to kick off the new semester begin-ning Thursday.

“HEROs was started by two [University] students — Garrett Gravesen and Ryan Gembala — in 2003. They [want-ed] to help children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Georgia,” said Becca Elliott, executive director for HEROs.

In its seventh year, HEROs is dedicat-ed to furthering its founders’ mission. The group is searching for students who are passionate about the cause and are will-ing to dedicate themselves to the organi-zation, Elliott said.

Applications for joining any of HEROs’ 13 committees are now available on their Web site. They are due by Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. in the Tate Student Center.

When turning in applications, students will also sign up for interview times.

“[The interview is] much more relaxed,” Elliott said. “[It’s] more about trying to see the personality of the appli-cant. We want to make sure that every committee has a solid mix of person-alities and experiences.”

HEROs’ committees reach out to students across campus. The Multi-Cultural Affairs committee stirs up excitement for HEROs within the multi-cultural community and the Residence Hall Committee caters mostly to the freshman class in order to get students involved through fund-raising and events.

Lisa Donachie, a junior from Douglasville, joined HEROs as a first-year student after hearing about the organiza-tion while still in high school.

“I fell in love with the mission,” she said. “We got to interact with kids, there were cool events and fund-raising, and it was started at UGA.”

Donachie, who started out as a volun-teer raising money for HEROs, is now on the executive board. She serves as the director of development, where she is

responsible for acting as a resource for the five committees under the develop-ment team, through which many of the organization’s participants are recruited.

According to Donachie, HEROs is look-ing for applicants who know what the organization is about and want to be involved.

“We want a variety of people,” she said, “so anyone who is looking to get involved, create awareness and raise money [should apply],” she said.

HEROs has accomplished much in its years of service. It received the Organization of the Year award in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009, making it the first organization on the University’s campus to receive the award two years in a row. The group raised over $322,000 last semester and recently reached its million-dollar mark.

The philanthropy is only planning for bigger and better accomplishments in the coming year.

They will host a Child Relations Committee event in which they will bring children from Athens and Atlanta to the University to meet the organization’s par-ticipants.

Throughout the month of February, HEROs will hold a percentage month at Terrapin Beer Company. They will also co-sponsor the Unity Ball with the Black Affairs Council and several other student organizations on Jan. 23.

“Everyone on campus knows who we are, but we challenge you to know what we do,” Elliott said. “We always keep in the back of our mind our children and all we are doing to help. Children who are affected with stigma are innocent, and we take the job of being advocates of them very seriously.”

UGA HEROs, proud of all it has accom-plished, realizes that “2010 will be just as huge and big and exciting to watch,” says Elliott.

HEROs wants new members, students encouraged to apply

ELLIOTT

What: Applications for joining any of UGA HEROs’ 13 committees.When: Applications available Jan. 21 and due Feb. 5 at 5 p.m.Where: Access form from www.ugaheros.org and submit to the Tate Student Center.

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NEWS The Red & Black | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | 3

Junior John Newsome, a production manager from WNEG-TV, said he hopes this opportunity will bring positive attention to the station and to Athens.

“It’s nice because it gives us this exposure, and it’s good experience for us,” Newsome said.

Six candidates faced off in a heated debate in hopes of securing the governor’s seat Gov. Sonny Perdue will vacate. The candidates who participated in the debate were U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, ex-Secretary of State Karen Handel, former state Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah), state Rep. Austin Scott (R-Tifton), state Sen. Jeff Chapman (R-Brunswick) and businessman Ray McBerry.

Castengera said the University venue was appropriate because students are an important audience and shouldn’t be overlooked in elections.

“In the last presidential election, there was a lot of talk that one of the big factors was the young voter,” Castengera said. “I hope we can keep their interest up and keep them involved in politics.”

One student who is involved in politics is sophomore Jared Peden, the membership director of College Republicans. He was one of the key organizers of the event.

“I think the debate went very, very well this evening,” Peden said. “Everything went according to plan, and everybody was on time, so we’re very happy with the results. There’s nothing to complain about.”

The University will also hold the Democratic debate on Feb. 2. Though Peden is part of the College Republicans, he said he is thrilled about the attention the event will bring to the University and Athens community.

“The people of the state need to understand that this University matters,” Peden said. “The people running for governor need to understand that this University mat-ters. We care about this University, so it was a very big deal to have this on my campus.”

WNEG: Event a success

By SARA CALDWELLTHE RED & BLACK

The down economy is driving up graduate school applications across the country — and the University’s numbers are no different.

Director of Graduate Services Krista Haynes said the number of applications for graduate school is grow-ing, but the growth is not as steep as it has been in the past.

“In the fall term of 2008 to 2009, there was an increase of 516 [applicants] for that fall term,” Haynes said. “However, we had an increase of 891 between 2007 and 2008.”

But Haynes said her department was unsure of the causes behind the changing numbers.

Maureen Grasso, dean of the Graduate School, said the slight decrease in growth could be due to the econ-omy.

“It was a very uncertain time, [and] students were unsure about receiving funding whether through loans, grants, or assistantships,” she said.

Haynes said the school only calculated numbers for fall semester when determining trends.

“Generally speaking, when the University is looking at enrollment, they pay attention to the fall term. Roughly, we’ll see 10,000 [applicants] a year, [and] 8,600 are for fall term,” she said.

Ben Benson is studying for a master’s degree in jour-nalism with a concentration in public relations.

“The current incoming class is the largest class [the University] has ever had,” Benson said. “It’s a record.

More students are coming here despite cutbacks and more people applying,” he said.

By the end of 2008, many departments had to cut back significantly, he said. Some departments only accepted the amount of students they could fund.

“Even though there is more competition, students can hunker down and wait out the current recession,” he said.

Benson discussed the benefits of graduate school in tough economic times.

“A lot of it has to do with improving human capital, acquiring new skills [and] temporarily taking yourself out of the job market,” Benson said. “The recession is an opportunity to grow.”

The School of Law is also seeing an increase in stu-dent applications.

Paul Rollins, the administrative director of the University’s law school, said the applicant number var-ies over time. During the fall semester of 2009, there were more than 3,000 applications, he said.

“That’s the largest we’ve ever seen here,” he said. “Two years ago, during the fall of 2008 we had 2,283 applications.”

A small part of the increase is due to job loss in the down economy, Rollins said.

“The conventional wisdom is that anytime [there is] an economic downturn there is a rise in law school or grad school applicants,” he said. “There’s definitely an interest for people who have just graduated. It might make sense to go ahead and do it during the economic downturn. It makes you more competitive when you do enter the job market.”

Bad economy may affect grad school

By KATIE VALENTINETHE RED & BLACK

In March, graduate stu-dents will have the oppor-tunity to present their research in a familiar set-ting.

The Graduate Student Association is hosting its 10th annual interdisciplin-ary conference, entitled “Health and the Disciplines,” on March 27, and is accepting abstract submissions through Jan. 31.

Robert Shostak, vice president of the GSA, said the conference is a great opportunity for graduate students to practice pre-senting their work and for faculty, staff and students to see what kind of research is being done at the University.

“This is a chance for doctorate and master’s students to be in a warm and welcoming — but pro-fessional — presenting environment,” he said. “It gives them something to put on their resume and it helps them improve their public speaking skills.”

The conference will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first floor of the Miller Learning Center and will include individual and panel presentations by graduate students.

The fee for participating in the conference is $15, but Shostak said he hopes the fee can be lifted through GSA fund-raising efforts. The conference is free to attend and open to the public.

Though the title of the conference might appear to suggest a bias toward research in medicine and science fields, Shostak said students from all disci-

plines are encouraged to participate.

“We want there to be a broad interpretation of the theme, one that can be applied to any type of field,” Shostak, said. “It’s not just for sciences — the more fields the better.”

This is the first year that the conference has had a theme, and Shostak said he hopes the title will help tie the conference in with current events.

“With the recent talk of health care, global warm-ing and the health of busi-ness and the economy, we thought the theme was appropriate for this year,” he said.

Shostak said the GSA has received about 20 abstract submissions, and he is hoping for between 20 and 40 participants. The I n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y Conference Committee, comprised of seven gradu-ate students, will review the submissions and choose abstracts in order to achieve the greatest variety in the subjects pre-sented.

Brendan Kretzschmar, a second year master’s stu-dent in public administra-tion, said he is planning on participating for the sec-ond time in the confer-ence.

“As a master’s student, I’m looking to continue school and get a Ph.D. Part of the way you build up a resume is to present in conferences like this,” Kretzschmar said. “It’s a good way to get experience and practice giving profes-sional presentations.”

For more information and to submit an abstract, visit the graduate school Web site at www.grad.uga.edu.

Grad students present studies

WES BLANKENSHIP | The Red & Black

Republican candidates for governor, on cam-pus for Tuesday’s debate, discuss the issues.

By KATHERINE WEISETHE RED & BLACK

Though economic concepts aren’t always the easiest to grasp, one group is giving students a chance to improve their financial literacy this afternoon.

Today, Students in Free Enterprise will sponsor their first “Money Matters” workshop called “Chronicling America’s Financial Crisis.” The goal of the lecture is to cover many of the confusing or hid-den causes behind the recent reces-sion that students may not under-stand or find obvious.

The rest of the series includes sessions such as “Freshman Finance,” “The Basics of Credit Scores and Loans” and “Saving and Investing to Improve Your Lifestyle.”

Today’s workshop will be pre-sented by junior real estate major and SIFE member Michael Bowen.

Last year, SIFE had more “hands-on” presentations, but in order to cover more topics and keep stu-dents interested, members decided to have multiple sessions within a

shorter time period, Connor Bergeron, a finance and risk man-agement major and SIFE project manager, said.

“Connor revolutionized our lec-ture series by making them shorter and more concise,” Muizz Mullani, SIFE president, said. “This informa-tion can be utilized immediately. You can go home and use it.”

Bergeron said these sessions are important to students — especially to non-business majors — because they cover topics not typically taught in classrooms.

“We are giving you sources to find more information,” Bergeron said. “Learning these things is extremely important as soon as a student graduates, if not earlier.”

SIFE complied the most relevant facts of each topic to present to stu-dents, he said.

“Money Matters” will give stu-dents important financial informa-tion without forcing them to enroll in a class or waste time searching the Internet for answers, Bergeron said.

The workshop will consist of a short lecture and time for students

to ask questions. The first 30 attend-ees will receive free Chik-Fil-A sand-wiches.

“We are pretty much bringing the information to you,” Bergeron said.

‘Money matters’ for one student group

Who: Students in Free EnterpriseWhat: A workshop entitled “Chronicling America’s Financial Crisis” teaches stu-dents about the ins and outs of credit problems and the subprime lending cri-sis.When: 5 p.m. todayWhere: Room 213 Miller Learning CenterLooking Ahead: SIFE will continue its workshop series throughout January and February. Events include:Jan. 27- “Freshman Finance” Feb. 3- “Basics of Credit Scores and Loans” Feb. 10- “Saving and Investing to Improve Your Lifestyle”

STUDENTS IN FREE ENTERPRISE

4 | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | The Red & Black

Like a drunk standing in an Alcoholics Anonymous meet-ing, I am here to say: Hi, my

name is Yasmin and I’m a Facebook addict.

I compulsively log on the site 15 to 20 times a day to get my Facebook fix. It’s my escape from a stressful life.

Concerned friends have tried to help me get rid of my addiction. I tried to quit but I can’t stop.

I put on Facebook hundreds of pictures, scores of links and engage in online relationships with my Facebook “friends” or people who request to be a part of my network.

My constant status updates — where I can tell my whole life in the Facebook maximum of 420 char-acters — are infamous among my approximately 1,000 “friends.”

Could my excessive time and over-sharing on Facebook get me in trouble in my career? I’ve brushed off that worry.

My profile is private, I do not participate in any illegal activities and no pictures exist that would make my mother cringe.

I’m safe, right?That is what I used to think. It

took the unfortunate downfall of another user for me to wake up.

I was shocked to read about for-mer Apalachee High School teacher Ashley Payne.

Payne was pressured to resign after administrators received an anonymous e-mail from a parent objecting to content on Payne’s Facebook page, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.

The content included pictures of Payne, 24, holding alcoholic drinks

during a European vacation. She also posted a Facebook status that said, “Going to Bitch BINGO,” referring to a game played in an Atlanta restaurant.

Payne, whose profile was private and was not friends with any stu-dents or their parents, is suing the Barrow County School District. She does not know who sent the e-mail.

Payne’s story may be shocking, but she is not the only user whose life has been negatively affected by a social media site.

Approximately 17 percent of companies reported problems stemming from employees’ use of these sites, according to a recent study by the Internet security firm Proofpoint.

And the percentage of compa-nies firing employees for behavior online has doubled from 4 percent in 2008 to 8 percent in 2009.

The increasing popular-ity of Facebook among the coun-try’s workforce — 45 percent of Facebook’s 45.3 million active users in the United States are 26-years-old or older — suggests that social media conflicts at work will only continue to grow.

That scares me. Facebook is like a nice nightcap after a long day. It allows me to relax and forget my problems.

However, I’ve realized that there could be a price to pay for my

addiction in the form of a paycheck.Language in Facebook’s privacy

agreement only increased my worry of future problems for compulsive users like me.

“We cannot control the actions of other users with whom you share your information. We cannot guar-antee that only authorized persons will view your information. We can-not ensure that information you share on Facebook will not become publicly available.”

What does that mean for us? It means that the whole world

could be privy to our darkest secrets — or at least anything we share online.

Don’t think your boss won’t find out. Many companies track their workers’ Internet use.

And even if they don’t, your hid-den use could catch up to you in the form of poor performance evalu-ations or even a pink slip.

Not the best situation to find yourself in the midst of a recession.

So think twice before you upload those pictures from last night, com-plain about your job on your status or write an unflattering remark on a friend’s wall.

Stop hiding from your problems by spending hours online. Your online life can easily start affecting you offline. Trust me.

And what about my addiction, you say?

I’m entering myself into a self-created 10-step rehab program. My first step was acknowledging I had a problem.

— Yasmin Yonis is the opinions editor for The Red & Black

Facebook addiction can become costly

It’s the proverbial question for many stu-dents — enter the job market, or continue edu-cation to get a higher degree and supposedly a higher salary?

What happens when you have your doctorate in hand, at least eight years of debt to pay off and a job market saturated with fellow doctor-ates, all vying for the same coveted positions?

In today’s competitive job market, where do you draw the line between “higher degrees make you competitive” and “higher degrees make you overqualified?”

Students who wish to go to graduate school should ask themselves if it’s the right decision before they make that leap.

In the end, only time will tell.In the meantime, utilize the University’s

resources. Each major has academic advisors that can do more than tell you what classes you still have to take to graduate on time.

Each college has a career consultant in the Career Center, whose job is to help you make these difficult decisions that will impact the rest of your life.

Do not be afraid to ask the tough questions. Ask about salaries, ask whether the benefits will outweigh the costs and ask how marketable you will become with a graduate degree.

Talk to a professional who is already estab-lished in your potential field. Though some job recruiters may glorify a career and the associat-ed benefits, talking to someone who is already in that position may give you more realistic picture.

Ask yourself some questions too — are you passionate enough about graduate school? Are you $20,000 a year passionate? How about $40,000? Are you willing to take another stan-dardized test, over and over if need be, to get the score you need to apply?

Are you thinking of higher education for a better salary, or would you obtain a graduate degree no matter where you will end up eventu-ally on the socioeconomic scale?

Think about graduate school like your high-school counselors told you to think about col-lege. The time to research, the time to decide is now, not when you’re about to don your cap and gown and walk across a stage.

It’s a life-changing decision. Don’t rush it.

— Dallas Duncan for the editorial board

Majority opinions of The Red & Black’s editorial board

Prepare for futureUtilize University resources to decide if a graduate degree is the right choice

Chelsea Cook | Editor in Chief editor@randb.comDaniel Burnett | Managing Editor me@randb.comYasmin Yonis | Opinions Editor opinions@randb.com

Our Take

Phone (706) 433-3002 | Fax (706) 433-3033

opinions@randb.com | www.redandblack.com

540 Baxter Street, Athens, Ga. 30605

YASMIN YONIS

Opinions

I am a “Super Speeder.” Sounds cool, right?

Like maybe I hang out with Batman and Green Lantern at the bowling alley waiting on Wonder Woman, my date, to show up in her invisible plane.

Well, it’s definitely not cool. In fact, being a Super Speeder can be expensive.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about let me tell you a funny story about the state of Georgia.

First, I should let you know that Georgia is French for a whale’s …ummm … forget that story.

Let’s start again. So, years back, counties in

Georgia used to collect a thing called property taxes.

Usually these counties would use the tax money to pay for important things like schools, hospitals and plasma televisions.

Any extra money they had left over they would burn in huge bon-fires because they always knew next year they would just collect more property taxes.

That system worked for hun-dreds of years until people began to realize that their $40 houses were not worth the $500,000 mortgages they had on them.

Property values dropped as homes were worth less, so coun-ties collected less money than they anticipated.

That wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but many of the counties

had already spent their money on Snuggies for every constituent.

“Oh no! What will we do to recoup all that lost tax revenue,” legislators screamed.

So they began to come up with a list of things they could do.

The list looked like this: a) sell drugs. b) sell drugs. c) Super Speeder lawAfter a failed attempt at selling

drugs, the counties realized they needed to go to plan C, and the “Super Speeder” law was born.

Basically, the law states that if you get pulled over for speeding on any two-lane road and you are going over 75 mph you will auto-matically be forced to pay an addi-tional $200 over the normal ticket fines.

This fee is also applicable if you are pulled over on any 4-lane road for driving over 85 mph.

“So what’s the big deal?” you ask. “Those who speed should be punished!” you scream.

I would have agreed with you until I rode down State Route 316 the day after the law took effect.

Police cars were almost running into each other to pull people over.

In fact, I saw a couple of officers

from different jurisdictions fighting each other over a guy doing 95 mph.

Well, what does that mean? First off, no more late-night drag

races around the Ramsey loop.What I fear, however, is that law

enforcement, in an effort to collect money for their jurisdictions, will forgo doing their actual job, which is, ummm … you know, being offi-cers of the law.

Here is what I think future 911 calls could look like:

911 Caller: (Frantic) I need help. I think I married an axe murderer!!!

Dispatcher: Ok sir, calm down. What is your location?

911 Caller: I am at 555 Lexington Road. Hurry, she is chopping through the door!

Dispatcher: Ok sir, right now every cop is on 316 looking for dan-gerous speeders, but we will get someone out there in 30 minutes.

911 Caller: ARGGGHHH!!!!It may be a slippery-slope argu-

ment, but I think we should all be wary of our local authorities turning into tax collectors.

My guess is that by the year 2011 police officers will forgo police cars and will start driving around in Brinks armored trucks.

It could be farfetched, but either way, don’t say I didn’t warn you the next time your axe-murdering girl-friend gets home.

— Jason Andrews is a graduate student from Athens studying

business administration

Law punishes ‘Super Speeders’ with ticket

JASON ANDREWS

It’s early afternoon on a Friday and I’m leaving Baldwin Hall.

Destination: my car, parked near Oglethorpe Dining Commons.

Only a short bus ride separates me and the free-dom of the weekend. And it’s raining.

I hear tires screech. I look back to see a girl almost being hit. Another driver didn’t notice the “stop for pedestrians in crosswalk” sign.

Sloshing up the side-walk, I reach the bus stop. I sit down in the seat clos-est to the driver, knowing the emptiness won’t last long. When a single drop of rain falls, UGA buses fill up very quickly to — and beyond — capacity.

And suddenly, I become aware of why so many stu-dents complain so much about the UGA transit sys-tem. The complaints boil down to too few buses, overcrowded buses and schedules that are flexible to say the least.

The bottom line of all this is students arrive late for class and professors become angry at tardiness.

It all leaves me wonder-ing, as my bus lurches into motion, what can be done?

My driver obviously is eager to get back on schedule. A schedule exists? I’ll believe it when I see it.

“I could have walked quicker,” says the girl to my left.

“Yep, but you’d be

soaking wet,” I respond.The time is 2:35 p.m.

and the building I left 30 minutes ago still is in view.

The driver, taking a deep breath, negotiates the bus between the fire truck and the crowded sidewalk to the right.

This only escalates my respect for the men and women who pilot these huge machines safely through masses of human-ity every day.

At last, we reach the next stop, Park Hall. The doors open and we are inundated by countless passengers. Most are tex-ting with one hand while the other grasps a pole for support as the 14-ton behemoth jerks and sways its way through crowded campus streets.

At last, I reach my destination, albeit later than I had desired. Exiting the bus, I do something that far too few of us do. I thank the driver.

Another safe trip. I know the University is in budget trouble and there are more pressing needs.

I know a problem exists, but I’m left wonder-ing, what is the solution?

— Justin Davidson is an alumnus from

Lawrenceville

Overcrowded University buses need solution now

JUSTINDAVIDSON

NEWS: 706-433-3002News Editor: Carey O’NeilAssociate News Editor: Mimi EnsleySports Editor: Rachel BowersVariety Editor: Courtney SmithPhoto Editor: Katherine PossDesign Editors: Lauren Bellamy, Haley TempleCopy Editor: Beth PollakRecruitment Editor: Brittany BinowskiEditorial Cartoonist: Bill RichardsEditorial Adviser: Ed MoralesEditorial Assistant: Casey Bridgeman

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Cleaning Person: Mary JonesPublisher: Harry MontevideoThe Red & Black is published Monday through Friday fall and spring semesters and each Thursday summer semester, except holidays and exam periods, by The Red & Black Publishing Company Inc., a non-profit campus newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia. Subscription rate: $195 per year.

Our StaffOpinions expressed in The Red & Black are the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of The Red and Black Publishing Company Inc. All rights reserved. Reprints by permission of the editors.

Editorial board members include Daniel Burnett, Chelsea Cook, Michael Fitzpatrick and Yasmin Yonis.

VARIETY The Red & Black | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | 5

To be honest, “Broken Embraces” broke me a lit-tle. The story of Harry Caine, blind writer jolted into remembering his deliberately-forgotten past life, has a tone of celebra-tion and total satisfaction.

But after the colorful scenes end, the sadness of memories that shine brighter than the experi-ences surface.

Hidden in the beautiful shots of director Pedro Almódovar’s handiwork is a longing for the apex of a life slowly ebbed in excite-ment, as most lives go.

Harry is the blind rein-vention of Mateo Blanco, a writer and director with full vision who fell in love with his lead actress, Lena, played by Penélope Cruz.

Told subtly out of sequence, Lena leaves her controlling and powerful lover, and the producer of Mateo’s film, for a brief but burning romance that makes up most of Harry’s suppressed memory.

The movie doesn’t dwell on tragedy or long-ago mistakes, but toasts to all a life halfway over has accomplished. But it slow-ly culminates into some-thing darker.

Some basic plot points are left unrevealed until near the end, creating ten-sion in the audience that can be seen in on-screen relationships.

Characters are defined by the decisions they’ve made. Lies creep into long-time suffering as they fes-ter in otherwise clear heads, and honesty attracts tragedy and the scorn of others.

Almódovar muses light-ly, referencing many films including his own and let-ting the beauty of Cruz and the Spanish landscape fully bloom.

Harry Caine’s life is shown from the perspec-tive of one more or less succeeding at continuing after life’s various disap-pointments.

His relationships lay exposed like cracked mir-rors, but still intact, reflect as accurately as they are able.

— Sydney Slotkin is a contributor for

The Red & Black

Spanish film looks at love, the past

THE VERDICT: A lively, honest portrayal of how bad decisions and good memories can affect the future without destroying it.

By KATHLEEN DAILEYTHE RED & BLACK

Photographers have captured land-scape images for years, but none have turned the images into stunning and unique works of art quite the way Beth Thompson has.

As a local artist, Thompson has designed many beautiful images of pho-tography in the forms of tarots, kaleido-scopes, and fractals.

Thompson describes her works as being interconnected since each one bounces off of and inspires the others.

“The bodies are linked together in a few ways,” Thompson said. “Firstly, they almost always have some natural ele-ment.”

Thompson said since she finds peace in nature and enjoys photographing nature, all three bodies of art rely on the natural images of the world. She takes the images and alters them into her own unique pieces.

“Another way the bodies are linked is that they are meditative,” she said. “I get lost in each image and flow through the piece and find myself in a meditative state. Even sometimes when I am creat-ing the image, I get lost in it.”

The final way the pieces are linked, Thompson said, is they are all abstract.

“I start with a simple photograph and then I manipulate the images into the fractals or kaleidoscopes,” she said.

Thompson’s tarot cards have been a project ten years in the making. She has been designing the cards with the inten-tion of creating a tarot deck featuring 78 different images.

“I am definitely beginning to see the light at the end of the tarot card tunnel,” Thompson said. “I’m down to the last thirty or so cards, and when the deck is complete it will be available for pur-chase.”

The cards feature layered images which Thompson has carefully designed. Some of the cards feature 3-D images with photograph components other than nature.

“Sometimes people and cities will show up in the tarots,” Thompson said. “The tarots push me further and gets me using something other than landscape.”

Thompson’s pieces are now on exhibit at Strand Hair Salon in Five Points. The images will be on display throughout January.

Her pieces can also be found and pur-chased in a variety of size and canvas on her Web site.

“I want to be able to share these bod-ies with as many people as I can,” she said.

Artist manipulates ‘stunning’ nature photographs

Courtesy Beth thompson

“Cedar on Marsh,” a kaleidoscope image, is one of Beth Thompson’s photographs on display in Five Points throughout this month.

ELAINE LACHICA:‘I THINK I CAN SEE THE OCEAN’

★★★✩✩If you were to attempt to describe the

sound of leaves falling, swishing and swooping through blustery autumnal breezes, you might very well use Elaine Lachica’s debut album as the linchpin of the narrative.

Laden with a tasteful blend of tangible pop sentiments and exorbitantly profes-sional orchestral arrangements, the album seems to evoke the full spectrum of emotions, lending well to its seasonal consciousness.

Lachica boasts a well-trained set of soprano pipes; however, she tiptoes in and out of classical form, convincing her

listeners that she indeed has her own unique sound.

But I don’t get the sense that musical uniqueness in and of itself is her ultimate goal; rather, I would simply say that I believe her. I believe that she means and feels what she sings.

In the song “Collective Myth,” the haunting minor melody entrances the lis-tener in an ethereal dreamscape reminis-cent of an operatic aria.

On the other side of the coin, the first two tracks, entitled “Behind My Mind” and “Tumbleweed” respectively, lift the listener’s spirits with a joyous and almost

flippant tone. This is definitely not a one-dimensional album.

Now, that’s not to say this will appeal to everyone. In fact, I would argue that perhaps few will enjoy “I Think I Can See The Ocean” upon first listen. One of Lachica’s shortcomings is that her lyrics are a bit mumbled and unintelligible at places, which can be frustrating. But overall I would recommend the album. For students, “I Think I Can See The Ocean” is nothing if not a fantastic study music.

— Michael Whitworth is a variety writer for the Red and Black

By BRIANA GERDEMANTHE RED & BLACK

After Thanksgiving and Christmas, some may have had their fill of family din-ners.

But that hasn’t stopped one group of students from gathering extended family, friends and significant others and cele-brating “family night” every Wednesday.

The tradition of weekly dinners evolved from the family traditions of three cousins – Emily Oliver, Chaz Oliver and Bradley Jones, all University stu-dents from Cairo, Ga.

They began hosting dinners and invit-ing their friends. Eventually, the group grew to include boyfriends, girlfriends and friends of friends.

The family nights now usually have a “core group” of about 15 in attendance on average every week.

Most of the group hail from southwest Georgia originally, and now attend Athens Technical College, Gainesville State College in Oconee or the University of Georgia.

Since the tradition has expanded, most attendees aren’t related, but they still consider themselves a family of sorts.

“It’s pretty much the one time of the week we’re all together, and we’re all hanging out,” Jones, a junior business major, said of family night. “We’re not in a bar and everybody’s here and there; we are together.”

Emily Oliver, a sophomore majoring in public relations and English, said the weekly dinners are a good way to keep in touch with friends and family when times get busy.

“I lived in a dorm my first year and I

live in a sorority house and, if we didn’t have this once a week, I probably wouldn’t see him [Bradley Jones], my brother [Chaz Oliver] or any of our close friends from home,” she said.

Even though many in the group have known each other for years, newcomers aren’t unusual at the dinners either.

“I’ll bring friends over and my room-mate will come sometimes and eat with us,” she said. “We’ll just bring in random friends and it’s a good way to meet peo-ple.”

The students take turns hosting and cooking the dinner each week and, although cooking for a group of 15 or more can be a challenge, the participants are getting more creative with the meals they cook.

“This year we’ve gotten into kind of a competition of outdoing each other on food,” Emily said. “Last year it was kind of like spaghetti, tacos and hamburgers.”

She added this year’s meals are a bit more adventurous, like the California rolls that Chaz made.

“Now it’s like a Thanksgiving dinner every week,” Jones said. “Or a gourmet restaurant.”

The group celebrates special occa-sions at family night too; this year they had a Thanksgiving dinner and a tacky Christmas party.

But the regular weekly dinners are the most important part, a chance to relax and socialize over a home-cooked meal.

“We try to get together at least once a week,” Jones said. “Being college kids, we don’t always eat that great, so at least one night out of the week we know we have a good meal, and I look forward to it every week.”

By RACHAEL MIRABELLATHE RED & BLACK

Many wish for the moment in their lives where they think, “There is nothing I would rather be doing than this.” For students involved in the UGA Ballroom Performance Group, this happens fairly often.

The Ballroom Performance Group is a pre-profes-sional dance company on campus. Started by Mark Wheeler in 1991, its members include students with the desire to dance and eventually compete professionally.

In other words, these dancers are seriously good. But not all of them have had a lot of time to hone

their skills.One member of the group, Spencer Smith, a fourth

year music performance major from Athens, did not perform dance until he got to college.

According to Smith, one night he went to a Swing Dance Club meeting and saw the poster for the Ballroom Performance Group.

Like every dancer in the production, he had to audi-tion for the apprentice group, where one is taught the dance vocabulary and basic moves for ballroom danc-ing. At the end of each semester, anyone who is ready can move up to the senior group, the group that per-forms the shows.

This week’s show, “Ballroom Magic,” will consist of 20-25 pieces of choreography, with genres including jazz, swing, Latin and rumba. Around 30 senior group members will perform, as well as two guest performanc-es by dance companies Contact and Swung. Several of the performances will be pieces choreographed by members of the group.

One such performance was choreographed by Liza Pitts, president of the group. A third year pharmacy school student and former Miss UGA, she did not hear of the Ballroom Performance Group until her fourth year as an undergraduate.

“My parents went to a show performed by the BPG, and my mom told me I had to check them out,” Pitts said. “I went and auditioned right away, and now this is my third year dancing with them.”

Pitts has been working on her piece since the spring of last year.

“It’s a jive to Tina Turner’s ‘Proud Mary.’ I’m really happy with the way it turned out. There are five couples and it’s just a lot of fun,” Pitts said.

The Ballroom Performance Group has a lot of diver-sity, ethnically and rhythmically.

“We have people from all different backgrounds, two Foundation Fellows, and our dances have such a variety that almost anyone can connect in some way,” Smith said. “Many connect because our dances tell stories; many are love stories. It’s very theatrical.”

Smith is enamored with the group, dancing for his third year.

“There’s a connection with the person I’m dancing with — I feel like I’m floating on air,” Smith said. “Many times I think to myself, ‘I can’t believe this is really hap-pening.’”

6 | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | The Red & Black VARIETY

LILY PRICE | The Red & Black

Students from local colleges have formed a ‘family of sorts’ and take turns hosting weekly home-cooked meals together. The group sees it as a good time to reunite with friends and keep in touch.

LILY PRICE| The Red & Black

Ballroom Performance Group members rehearse for “Ballroom Magic,” a dance show running from Thursday to Saturday this week in the New Dance Theatre in the Dance Building.

From Page 1

“It’s a welcoming environment willing to teach people who are new,” Ward said. “The guys that work there are pretty solid. It’s a cool place to hang out with friends, listen to music and get a good workout.”

When opening a gym in Athens, Prelipceanu hoped to draw interest from the student population. In this spirit, there are weekly all-inclusive specials including “Ladies’ Nights” on Mondays and “Student Nights” on Wednesdays.

On these nights, $8 covers the climb and all the necessary equipment.

While Prelipceanu’s intention is not to compete with or replace the climbing facilities offered at the Ramsey Center, he believes that his gym is available for those wishing to take climbing to the next level.

The walls are stripped and new routes put in place every two months so the gym becomes unfamiliar and is consistently challenging to a frequent climber.

This offers a great workout, as climb-ing combines many muscle groups along with power and balance. According to Prelipceanu, his love for the sport clouds his view of fitness.

“For me, I’m so hooked to it, I don’t see anything else,” he said. “The way I see it, it’s like a virus. It gets in your blood and from there, there’s no way you can cure that.”

He agrees that traditional gyms can be effective, but explains that the body quickly adapts to the same motions, which can get boring.

“Climbing is fun. You will exercise without even knowing it,” Prelipceanu said. “Here, you know, you kind of lose track of time.”

BOULDER: $8 covers all costs at Active Climbing ladies’ and student nights

University students celebrate weekly ‘family night’

Dancers conjure up ‘Ballroom Magic’

Presented by UGA Ballroom Performance GroupWhen: Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m., with additional 2 p.m. mat-

inee Saturday

Where: New Dance Theatre in the Dance Building

Price: $10/students, $15/non-students More Information: Tickets available at Tate Center Box Office.

“BALLROOM MAGIC”

Lachica’s debut album ‘a fantastic study of music’

The Red & Black | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | 7

UGA Students, We would like to thank each of you for your support of our basketball teams so far this season and encourage you to fill up Stegeman Coliseum as Tennessee visits for two big games this week. We’ve been impressed with your spirit and enthusiasm in making Stegeman Coliseum a tough place to play and lifting our teams to big wins already this season at home. !is week’s games against Tennessee are big ones and we need your support in filling up Stegeman for these two games. When Students pack the Coliseum, there is no greater home court advantage in the SEC than at UGA! Our #6 ranked Lady Dogs are o" to the best start in school history and take on #4 Tennessee !ursday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. in a battle for first place in the SEC and the inside track for the SEC Championship! !e men’s basketball team hosts #10 Tennessee this Saturday, January 23, at 5:00p.m. and look forward to battling the Volunteers in front of another packed student section and Coliseum! !ere is no doubt that your support has made Stegeman Coliseum a tough place to play for our opponents this year and we look forward to seeing you at this week’s big games. Be early, Be loud and Be a Dawg!

Thanks, students!

Student Ticket InformationLady Dogs vs. Tennessee

!ursday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m.Free admission with UGA ID. Enter at Gate 4.

Stegeman Coliseum gates open at 5:30 p.m. First 300 students receive “Beat Tennessee” T-shirts and

all students can enter to win a Nintendo Wii, iTouch, and gift cards.

Men’s Basketball vs. TennesseeSaturday, Jan. 23 at 5 p.m.

Student tickets are $2 each. Deadline to purchase student tickets online at www.georgiadogs.com is Friday, Jan. 22 at noon. Tickets are also on sale at the UGA Bookstore from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 22 and Stegeman Coliseum

Ticket Booth 4 starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday. All students must enter through Gate 4 which opens at 3:30 p.m. First

1,500 UGA students receive a Hairy Dawg mask.

Mark FoxMen’s Basketball Coach

Andy LandersLady Dogs Coach

8 | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | The Red & Black

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SPORTS The Red & Black | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | 9

By MICHAEL FITZPATRICKTHE RED & BLACK

The final scores may not show it, but the biggest prob-lem facing the No. 10 Gym Dogs after two meets isn’t their gymnastics, but their relationships with each other.

The team spent nearly two and a half hours in a closed-door meeting laying their opinions on the table about how to improve as a team, and very little of it had to do with poor routines or execu-tion.

“That meeting probably means more than any of the three practices we will have this week,” senior Courtney McCool said. “The gymnas-tics isn’t our problem. We aren’t hitting our potential because we aren’t hitting our potential in other parts of our lives — together and as a team. You can’t just be a team inside the gym.”

As a group, the Gym Dogs get along very well, but as with past teams, it took a lit-tle longer to form the team chemistry and cohesiveness essential for success.

“We have to continue to work on [team chemistry] year in and year out because every team is different and every team develops in differ-ent ways,” Georgia head coach Jay Clark said. “I think sometimes you can get lulled to sleep and think you have great team chemistry but you’re just missing a little something with the energy, and that was the purpose of the meeting.”

As far as what was actually said, the team isn’t telling, other than they have to unconditionally support each and every member of their team.

“I don’t think we entirely had each other’s backs and their support,” sophomore Gina Nuccio said. “You cheer for them, but you aren’t entirely invested and that’s one thing we talked about in the meeting that needed to change because you are not going out there alone ... you don’t want to feel like you are

going out there alone, and we have been struggling with that so far this year.”

Added McCool: “It’s about the team atmosphere and be mentally there in someone else’s routine because that helps you be there in your own because you know they are there with you. If there are 14 other girls doing that routine with you, there is no way you are coming off that event, but if you’re doing it by yourself — like in life — you’re gonna fall and not know how to get back up.”

New lineup to be unveiled at No. 6 Utah

When the Gym Dogs head to Salt Lake City for their annual meeting with No. 6 Utah Friday, the competition lineup will be dramatically different. The most notable change will be the absence of senior anchor Marcia Newby on the vault.

“We can’t beat her to death,” Clark said. “We can’t ride that horse all year because her shins are in bad shape and … we are going to have to pace her if we want her down the line.”

Clark said he hopes to see senior Grace Taylor return to the floor lineup after a respi-ratory infection sidelined her against Alabama and antici-pates to see either Nuccio or senior Lauren Sessler step into the vault lineup. He also didn’t rule out resting McCool, who suffered wrist and ankle injuries last season.

He said that he hopes the new lineup will spark more in-practice competition, which will benefit the team in the long run.

“So far this season there haven’t been a whole lot of difficult decisions in terms of putting a lineup out there,” Clark said. “Now we are get-ting to a place where we have a little bit of depth that you can see growth in because it creates a more competitive environment in the gym to

get in the lineup, and that’s just going to sharpen every-body.”

Georgia to keep focus on itself

A common mantra in colle-giate gymnastics is there is no defense. Only Georgia can affect Georgia’s score. After two subpar meets to open the season, the Gym Dogs con-sider themselves 0-2, despite a record indicating otherwise. But Friday’s loss to archrival Alabama may have been just what Georgia needed to get on the right track.

“Sometimes it takes per-forming poorly, but losing, to have that impact because you can perform poorly and win and it doesn’t really have the impact it needs to have to get the results that you want,”

Clark said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to go through loss-es, but you can benefit from them.”

And with a trip to No. 6 Utah looming, the third-straight top-10 team Georgia has faced to open the season, the Gym Dogs are not focus-ing on the Utes, but them-selves.

“I think it’s essential [to focus on ourselves],” fresh-man Christa Tanella said. “I think it’s the ingredient that makes teams great. If you look at the [New England] Patriots they always said that before each game. They always said ‘we focus on our-selves, win or lose. It doesn’t matter who they were facing.’ They worried about them-selves and that’s the approach we take every meet.”

Team unity main focus for Georgia

From Page 1

friends around and my family at all of my games so I couldn’t be more excited to play [in Atlanta].”

Patterson captured virtually every Georgia soccer record during her Athens tenure, finishing her career with Georgia’s all-time records for goals (44), assists (t-23), points (111), and multi-goal games (nine).

“It’s very exciting and it’s a tremendous reward for all of her hard work and suc-cess,” Georgia head coach Patrick Baker said. “Ultimately to be selected by Philadelphia was great and then to turn around and have her rights traded to Atlanta, I think for all involved made a lot of sense.”

Despite her impressive collegiate résumé, Patterson will need to make waves in training sessions in the coming months if she wants to be on the pitch for her hometown Beat when the 2010 WPS season kicks off on April 10.

Each WPS team enters preseason camp with 28 players, a number that will be trimmed down considerably to an active roster of only 18 players for the start of the 2010 season.

“I know I need to be in the best shape of my life because I know I’m going to be competing with a lot of other really good soccer players,” Patterson said. “It’s going to be a full-time job getting ready for [pre-season].”

WPS preseason camps open in March, and in the weeks leading up, Patterson will be training with her former Georgia soccer teammates in the team’s spring practice sessions to keep her on-the-field skills sharp, in addition to getting herself in peak shape for the Beat’s preseason work-out regimen.

“As she and I have talked, it’s one thing to be drafted. Now you’ve got to make the team,” Baker said. “That’s the next step and if that goes well ... It’s going to be pretty special.”

Whether or not Patterson is on the field for the Atlanta Beat come opening day, to Baker, Patterson’s selection speaks vol-umes about the quality of soccer being played in Athens and is another indicator that the Georgia soccer program, consid-ered a “sleeping giant” by many in the col-legiate soccer ranks, has been awoken.

“I think it also just helps our future as a program as well to be able to say, ‘Hey, if I go to Georgia, this could be something that happens at the end of my career’,” said Baker.

WPS: Physical shape now key

BAKER

KATHERINE POSS | The Red & Black

Senior Marcia Newby will not anchor vault Friday at Utah, as the Gym Dogs will debut a new lineup.

GYM DOGS NOTEBOOK

By RACHEL G. BOWERSTHE RED & BLACK

With the NFL combine looming in the distance and pro scouts on the prowl for the best steal of the year, seniors Jeff Owens and Geno Atkins have the chance to display their ability in one last game before Draft Day, as the defensive linemen are set to play in the 2010 Under Ar-mour Senior Bowl Jan. 30.

With at least 800 NFL general managers, head coaches and the like in attendance year in and year out, the Senior Bowl is made up of the nation’s top collegiate players, who NFL head honchos hope can be molded into the next Rookie of the Year candidates.

This year’s bowl will be held in Mobile, Ala., with

other top names in the college football such as Florida QB Tim Tebow, South Carolina linebacker Eric Norwood and LSU running back Charles Scott joining Atkins and Owens on the 2010 roster.

“The Senior Bowl is where you have

to bring your ‘A’ game,” Owens told Georgia Sports Communication. “I just want to turn some heads and have the opportunity to prove that I can play at the next level and compete with the best of them. It’s a once in a lifetime oppor-tunity. Some of the best players that played the game have played in the

Senior Bowl. It’s a great honor for me and my fam-ily and I’m blessed to have this opportunity.”

Senior nabs Athlete of the Week accolades

After putting up a personal-best and NCAA provisional qualifying weight throw of 66 feet, 10 inches at the Kentucky Invitational, Georgia track and field senior John Freeman was named SEC Field Athlete of the Week Tuesday.

The Plano, Texas native placed second Saturday, and his throw was good for the best mark in three sea-sons, with the last record set in 2007 by Nate Rolfe.

Freeman and team-mates Branislav Danis and David Schiedt posted the best scores of the Invita-tional, and beat out all other SEC throwers.

10 | Wednesday, January 20, 2010 | The Red & Black SPORTS

By NICK PARKERTHE RED & BLACK

The rigors of constant play can drain a team emo-tionally and physically, especially when you’re sit-ting with an 0-3 conference record that could just as easily be 3-0.

That’s why Georgia’s week-long break before Saturday’s game against Tennessee comes at the most opportune time for the Bulldogs.

“We could probably use a little rest and certainly the practice time that we’ll gain this week by just hav-ing one game,” head coach Mark Fox said of his 8-8 squad.

The rest is especially needed for Travis Leslie, Trey Thompkins, Dustin Ware and Ricky McPhee, who have all seen a sub-stantial rise in minutes with the increase in com-petition that comes with the beginning of confer-ence play. All four of the starters came into SEC play averaging less than 30 minutes a game, but in Georgia’s three conference

outings, they are all aver-aging 34 minutes or more, and Fox clearly isn’t com-fortable with his bench yet, as Jeremy Price is the only reserve that has seen more than 10 minutes per game in conference play.

And that’s why the break comes at such a key time for the Dogs, as it will allow them the chance to get their legs back under them. The break will also give Fox’s staff the opportunity to put more emphasis on getting “extra work” for the reserves, whose development will be crucial in limiting the reli-ance on the starters going forward.

“One of the things that we’ve identified is we’ve been a little bit fatigued,” Fox said of the blown late leads. “We’ve saddled our guys with major minutes, and so we need our bench to mature a little bit so we can steal some minutes to keep guys fresher for the end of games.”

Despite the winless con-

ference record, Fox sees “the positives in how we played,” and the three games should show his team that “they’re able to play at that level.”

“We’ve continued to put ourselves in those situa-

tions, but we need a few to go our way so we can play with some confidence.”

But that confi-dence can only come with wins, and Fox knows being in the position to close out conference games late isn’t a feeling his team is familiar

with after enduring a dou-ble-digit margin of defeat in the SEC last season.

“We just haven’t had a lot of experience in these games, and I don’t think a lot of people expected them to be in this situation this year. But I have to give them credit for battling and putting us in position to win. We just have to learn how to finish and how to play in that set of cir-cumstances. The next step will be learning how to fin-ish those games.”

Off-week to benefit fatigued Bulldogs

FOX

By LISA GLASERFOR THE RED & BLACK

One is brown-haired, the other a blond.

One is from San Antonio, Texas, the other from Chattanooga, Tenn.

One is a self-described neat-freak, the other is prone to spraying shaving cream all over his friends’ rooms as a joke.

But both are named Will and both fill their days with tennis.

The two freshmen on the Georgia men’s tennis players — Will Oliver and Will Reynolds — live together and practice together daily.

However, at the begin-ning of the their first year of college, neither knew each other. Both competed separately for years. Oliver started when he was around five years old, while Reynolds began at nine. The two had tennis-orient-ed families who helped each of them become a col-lege athletes.

“My whole family played tennis. Both of my older sisters played tennis, so I would just kind of tag along with them. My dad pretty much taught everybody how to play, so that’s how I picked it up,” Oliver said.

Both became seriously involved, including travel-ing to tournaments at about age 12. Oliver and Reynolds each took time in high school to concentrate intensely on tennis; Oliver was home-schooled his sophomore and junior years, while Reynolds took classes at Middle College at Chattanooga State dur-ing his sophomore year.

These two paths let the players use their time more advantageously for practic-ing and traveling to com-pete in tournaments. However, each returned to their original high school to graduate and to have more typical high school experiences.

When deciding what col-lege to attend after high school, the two had similar

reasons. Reynolds’ decision was influenced by his older brother, Brandon, who graduated from the University in 2002.

“It started with my brother. I’ve always looked up to my brother. He didn’t play tennis though; we’re different in that respect. When he came to Georgia, I became a huge fan. I had all the Georgia apparel and wanted to come here, regardless [of making the team],” Reynolds said.

Oliver, initially skeptical of leaving Texas, became convinced by his home-town friend and tennis cap-tain, senior Jamie Hunt. Oliver’s and Hunt’s families live in the same city and have been friends for years.

“Our families were friends even before we were born, I think. His oldest sister and my oldest sister were the same age and played on the high school tennis team together, and were actually doubles part-ners. He’d always told me how awesome it was here and how I should come here,” Oliver said.

Together, Oliver and Reynolds have navigated Georgia’s campus since starting school last semes-ter. Roommates at East Campus Village since August, the pair forged a friendship in the fall, partly due to how much their daily schedules over-lapped.

“We didn’t know each other before college. Living together did help [starting school]. We had the same schedule, so it was ‘we’re going to class or we’re going to practice.’ We were going to the same stuff, which was cool,” Reynolds said.

This semester, they still practice, eat and live together. Together, they have struggled with time management and have learned how to strike a bal-ance between their roles as students and as athletes.

“Tennis takes up so much of your time, and then you get home and you’re really tired and you realize you can’t just go to bed, you have to study,” Oliver said. “So that was a little bit tough to get used

to, but now I’m getting into the pattern of when I can study, when I can do this, when I can sleep.”

The two are still learn-ing separately and together how to survive the next three years. Their team-mates have played a key role in helping the pair feel comfortable in Athens, a new town for both.

“The team is really close, so on weekends we all hang out. We go over to our man-ager’s house and watch a football game. We’re a real-ly close team so we have a lot of fun together,” Oliver said.

To prevent confusion from their teammates, the two Wills have taken on several names to distin-guish themselves from one another. Oliver’s unique nickname came from a rap battle he had with a recruit last semester.

“We call him ‘Black Bear.’ He was having a free-style rap one time with someone, and his ending rhyme was ‘some people call me Black Bear,’ which nobody called him black bear, so we started calling him black bear. That kind of sums him up,” said senior Nate Schnugg.

Reynolds has been called Wilbo, Willy Reed and most recently, Wild Bill.

“I’m the most tame per-son on this team, and I have no problem saying that and they came up with ‘Wild Bill.’ That hasn’t real-ly stuck though. ‘Black Bear’ is way cooler,” Reynolds said.

For now, the duo look forward to the rest of the season and what it may offer. This Saturday, Oliver, Reynolds and the rest of their team, face off against USC-Upstate in the sea-son’s first home match.

“We don’t know the line-up yet, so for us, we may not be playing. And hon-estly, for me, that’s fine. I love seeing these guys play and cheering them on is a lot of fun,” Reynolds said. “And certainly, for me, it’s whatever it takes to help the team and make each other get better and better, on the court and off the court.”

Roommates share name, bond during first year

SPORTS NOTEBOOK

Atkins, Owens to play in senior bowl

PHOTOS BY JACKIE REEDY | The Red & Black

Freshmen Will Oliver (top) and Will Reynolds (above) have been room-ing together since the start of the school year, while training side-by-side in practice. The Bulldogs’ first dual match is set for this Saturday.

WILL POWER

Though Will Reynolds

and Will Oliver share the

same first name, their

games on the court are

distinct:

• The laid back Reynolds

— most recently nick-

named “Wild Bill” — pos-

sesses sound technique

on volleys and head

coach Manuel Diaz says

“he has always been a

Bulldog in his heart.”

• Oliver — dubbed “Black

Bear” by his teammates

— uses his power game

and his forehand as his

primary weapons, as

Diaz calls Oliver “a very

hard worker.”

Freshmen set to take court

OWENS