BY MARK BENNETTNews Editor

Virtually every student atBucks must, at one time oranother, take an Integration ofKnowledge course. But manystudents aren’t happy about it.

Many students interviewed bythe Centurion say the courses arepoorly organized and that themultiple-instructor format isconfusing. They also complainthat the classes have little to dowith their majors, and worry thatINTG credits won’t transfer.

Almost every major that Bucksoffers requires an INTG course inorder to graduate, according toBarbara Ford, the director oftransfer services. Some of the

majors that don’t require anINTG course to graduate, such asnursing, combine the skills thatare taught in the INTG classesinto other required classes.

Many students believe thatINTG classes don’t transfer tofour-year schools, but Ford saysthat is incorrect. “There are morecolleges that accept the coursesthan ones that don’t; typicallythey transfer over as electives toother schools,” said Ford.

But Phil Coles, a 25-year-oldjournalism major fromQuakertown who took theCulture and Affluence INTGclass last semester, said that did-n’t happen in his case. “I’ll have

BY LAURA IRWIN AND

PHIL COLESEditor-in-Chief, Sports Editor

On April 10, the Bucks Boardof Trustees heard and approveda proposal for a campus-widesmoking ban to take effect, if itmeets final approval, Jan. 1, 2009.

What does this mean to Bucks? It’s not clear, because the idea

of policing such a policy is over-whelming to campus security.

What was brought to the boardwas simply a proposal, a draftedpolicy that still needs a final voteby the board. But some say ifapproved, the measure could beproblematic.

“This is a reckless measure putforward by a previous adminis-tration and if it's put into place, itwill alienate a lot of studentshere at Bucks,” said JohnSkudris, president-elect of theStudent GovernmentAssociation. “I know from talk-ing to students that the majoritydo not want a smoking ban. If itdoes get passed, I wouldn't besurprised if attendance or enroll-ment dropped.”

While the American CancerSociety does advocate banningsmoking in campus buildings,they believe that smoking should

only be restricted to 20 feet awayfrom building doorways.College students aged 18-24 arethe only U.S. population groupin which smoking is not decreas-ing. So is banning smoking onBucks’ campus feasible? Is iteven possible when a nationalsurvey conducted in 2005 report-ed that 36 percent of all collegestudents smoke?

Bucks is far from the only col-lege that has considered a totalban. There has been a nationaltrend by community colleges tocurb smoker’s rights. The trendstarted in Missouri in 2003 andgathered steam as the SurgeonGeneral released a 2006 reportthat centered on the harmfuleffects of second-hand smoke.

While California has been farand away the leading state con-cerning non-smoking in busi-nesses, restaurants and collegecampuses, the trend has movedacross the country. BergenCommunity College in NewJersey has recently passed a banon smoking at its campus. NJcounties, such as Morris,Burlington and Somerset havealso passed such bans.

So how do colleges enforcetheir non-smoking policy? It’scomplicated.

At Bergen, the policy is notalways enforced. “We don’twant to be a police state,” saidBergen President G. JeremiahRyan. “We’re not going to goafter students in their cars.”

At Morris County College,fines are in place. MorrisPresident Edward Yaw said,“Some fines have been leviedout, but most students justabide.”

Under the proposal, Buckssmokers are to be warned uponthe first offense, fined $50 on thesecond offense, $100 on the thirdoffense with Code of Conductsanctions to be taken against a

student if a fourth violationoccurs.

The Bucks proposal states thatthe sale and distribution oftobacco products is prohibited,and there will be no designatedsmoking areas or ash cans any-where on college property; allwill be alerted to this fact bysigns, brochures, web alerts,advertisements and media cover-age.

The draft also states that,“Managers and supervisors areresponsible for keeping employ-ees informed…all employees are

TThehe CCenturionenturionThe week of May 5, 2008 www.bucks-news.com Volume: 43 Issue:16

INSIDE

WEATHER

All the news--about Bucks--that’s fit to print.

SPORTS

WEATHER COURTESY OF THENATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

INTG classes irk studentsINTG courses aren’t popular withmany Bucks students, who complainthat the classes are useless and worrythat the credits won’t transfer. Trans-fer officials say they usually do.

Continued on page 2

Can Bucks quit smoking?

What does the

Electoral College

mean for candi-

datesPOLITICAL NEWS PAGE 3

Illegal dump

behind campusNEWS PAGE 6

Withdrawal stu-

dentsSTUDENT LIFE PAGE 6

Grand Theft Auto

IV ReviewENTERTAINMENT PAGE 8

Media Day a hitENTERTAINMENT PAGE 8

A Modern

Hypocrisy: End of

TermOP/ED PAGE 10

Centurion baseballSPORTS PAGE 11

Philly sports in

reviewSPORTS PAGE 12

If a ban meets final approval by theBoard of Trustees, will anyone be ableto stop smokers from lighting up?

MARK BENNETT LIGHTS UP ON CAMPUS

PHOTO BY JAY JONES

Continued on page 2A BUCKS STUDENT FILLS OUT FORMS IN THE TRANSFER CENTER

PHOTO BY JANINE LOGUE

Tuesday: Mostly sunny,with a high near 78.

Wednesday: A chance ofshowers and thunderstormsafter 1pm. Mostly cloudy,with a high near 81.

Thursday: A chance ofshowers and thunderstormsafter noon. Mostly cloudy,with a high near 79.

Friday: A chance of showersand thunderstorms. Mostlycloudy, with a high near 67.

Saturday: Mostly sunny,with a high near 68.

Sunday: Partly sunny, witha high near 69.

60 credits at the end of thissemester, 57 of them willtransfer to Temple, but myIntegration of Knowledgeclass won’t transfer,” saidColes. “That INTG class wasa big waste of time andmoney.”

According to Dr. AnnetteConn, provost and dean ofacademic affairs, “The begin-ning of INTG courses atBucks began in the late 80swhen the academic head atthe time put together a com-mittee to look at the core cur-riculum. That committeeevolved the idea ofIntegration to Knowledge.”

Conn added, “This is a cap-stone course, a course to takeplace at end of a student’s[term] to integrate what theyhave learned throughouttheir [study]… Topics like sci-ence, social science and criti-cal thinking.”

The INTG classes, accord-ing to the Bucks website, are a

writing-intensive, team-taught course that examinesthemes from perspectives ofmultiple scientific, culturaland societal disciplines.

This means there are manyassignments due over thecourse of the semester thatmust be turned in to the mul-tiple professors teaching theclass. Also, there is a groupproject that must be complet-ed by several students work-ing together.

Some students, like MattFedor, 22 from Levittown, saythe group project is the mostdifficult aspect of INTG class-es, because Bucks studentstypically work outside jobsand live at home, makingscheduling meetings outsideof the classroom difficult.

Conn said she receives awide range of student feed-back about the course. “Lotsof students love it, lots hate itand lots wish they don’t haveto take it. Some say it’s thebest course they’ve ever had.”When asked if the negativefeedback ever resulted in

revisiting the core curricu-lum, Conn said that it was“assessed a few years ago andit never came up.”

Kaitlyn Spangenberg, a 21-year-old graphic designmajor from Quakertown, saidshe didn’t have a problemwith the multiple teachers;according to her, she onlykept in contact with one ofthe three professors teachingthe class and managed to passwithout much input from theother professors leading thecourse.

But she added, “I neverwould have taken the class ifit wasn’t required... I washome-schooled, so the onlineportion of the class was easyfor me but the class waspointless, it was a waste oftime and money and hadnothing to do with mymajor.”

Lior Shulman, a 22-year-oldjournalism major fromIvyland, also seemed to runinto difficulties with the mul-tiple-teacher setup. “It’s onlyone class but having three

teachers makes it like havingthree classes.”

However, some studentshad good things to say aboutthe classes. Shulman also saidthat his Art of Science andNature class has made himaware of environmental prob-lems and possible solutions.

Many have had to take sev-eral INTG classes becausethey found the first or secondattempts at passing nearimpossible. “I had to get outof it,” said Kevin Yorke, a 21-year-old journalism majorfrom Newtown who took theRace and Racism INTGcourse. “I couldn’t deal withit; the lack of communicationbetween the teachers and stu-dents was the worst partabout it.”

Yorke added that havingmultiple teachers was a prob-lem because “they didn’tseem to know when oneteacher’s job started andanother finished.”

Brian Jacobs, a 34-year-oldbusiness major from Yardleywho recently passed the cre-

ativity class, was one of thefew students interviewedwho knew that the school heplanned to transfer to wouldaccept the INTG credits. Eventhough the course wouldtransfer as an elective toRider University, he was stillunsatisfied with the course.“It wasn’t at all what I expect-ed and it was completely use-less to me.”

A Bucks employee and finearts major who requestedanonymity took the INTGcreativity class four yearsago, and was displeased withwhat he had to go through.

“I tell people who are plan-ning to transfer to otherschools not to bother takingit,” he said. “It wasn’t what Ithought it would be. Theysucked the creativity rightout of it.”

According to Bucks’ coursecatalog, 15 INTG courses arescheduled to be offered forthe fall 2008 semester, rang-ing from The Art of Scienceand Nature to War and Peace.

News2 Monday, May 5, 2008

Bucks County Community College’s Student Newspaper

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News, Website Mark Bennett

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continued from page 1Bucks INTG courses get no respect

authorized and encouraged tocommunicate and reinforce thispolicy with courtesy and diplo-macy to any person whom theysee violating the policy.”

This leaves students, BucksSafety and Security and BucksPresident Dr. James Linksz won-dering, is this actually a policythat can be enforced?

A source from within Safetyand Security said the branch ofBucks designated to control thecampus and enforce conduct areapathetic to the ban. “I just don’tknow how something like thiscould be controlled. I guess we’dtry to do what we’re supposedto, but more likely I’ll just be asunderstanding as possible,” saidthe source, who requested anon-mymity due to their employmentwith the college.

Already on Bucks campusesyellow tape lines some doorways

and other entrances in an effortto keep smokers away. Butsmokers ignore the rule and lightup on their way out of the build-ings. This “yellow tape rule” isnot written into Bucks code, andtherefore something that is notenforced.

Linksz said in a phone inter-view, “The problem with some-thing like this is always, who’s

going to enforce this?”Slapping a fine on someone is

not likely to get them to stoppuffing on a cig if they want tocontinue.

The Safety and Security sourcesaid that if a real problem occurs,Newtown Police are usuallycalled in to handle the situation,where “[Bucks security] is notequipped enough” to put them-

selves in a precarious situa-tion.

Skudris does not agree witha smoking ban and finds thatpolicing such a ban would benear impossible. “People whoare for the smoking banbelieve that the securityguards will be able to catchthose that smoke and finethem. They believe this will bea deterrent. These are the samepeople who say that a 25-footrule around each entrancewouldn't work because securi-ty wouldn't be able to handleit.”In December 2007, the Student

Government Associationapproached the Board with theidea of a campus ban on smok-ing. Bucks Human Resourcesconducted a survey “to assessthe attitudes of employeestoward smoking on campus,”according to their committeereport issued April 10 of this

year.Its results show that out of 498

Bucks employees, 323 employeesresponded to the survey. Of thisnumber, a 65 percent responserate, 50 percent support a cam-pus-wide ban, 37 percent sup-port designated smoking areasand 13 percent support nochange in policy.

“Also, I have strong reserva-tions about what this will do tostudents academically. Manystudents here at Bucks go to classfor hours at a time,” saidSkudris. “If they aren't allowedto smoke in between classes,then they're going to get nicotinewithdrawal and will either A,skip class to smoke or B, not beable to concentrate in classbecause they can't stop thinkingabout smoking.”

Unfortunately for the majorityof Bucks smokers, the students,they have yet to be included inany statistical analysis.

continued from page 1Is a potential smoking ban feasible?

PHOTO BY KATE MCDERMOTT

3Political NewsMonday, May 5, 2008

Candidates battle over electoral votesBY JOHN SKUDRISCenturion Staff

All we ever hear in thenews is which Democraticpresidential candidate doesbetter in the polls against pre-sumptive Republican nomi-nee Sen. John McCain. But itisn’t the popular vote thatelects a president - just ask AlGore. It’s the ElectoralCollege.

The Electoral College is aterm used to describe the 538presidential electors thatmeet after every presidentialelection to cast official votesfor a candidate.

Each state has a certainnumber of Electoral Collegevotes equal to the amount ofcongressional districts in thestate, plus two for the twoU.S. senators from each state.For example, Pennsylvaniahas 19 congressional districtsand two U.S. Senators. Addthe two numbers togetherand you get 21, which is howmany Electoral College votesPennsylvania has.

In order to be elected presi-dent, a candidate needs toreceive 270 or more electoralvotes.

In 2004, President GeorgeW. Bush received 286 to JohnKerry’s 252. In 2008, eitherHillary Clinton or BarackObama will need to grab 18more electoral votes thanKerry did in order to win theelection.

Electoral-Vote.com is a sitedesigned to analyze theElectoral College statistics.The site, which is updateddaily, compiles polls fromevery major pollster for eachstate and decides which can-didate would win each stateif the election were today.Based on the site’s informa-tion, and recent polls from

around the airwaves, one cananalyze which candidateswould do better in whatstates.

In order to analyze whatstates will be won by whichcandidate, one must first rec-ognize the states that are“safe.” These states are theones that will go for a certainparty regardless of who thecandidate is.

For the Republicans andMcCain, the safe statesinclude his home state ofArizona, Alaska, Alabama,Georgia, Idaho, Indiana,Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana,Mississippi, Montana,Nebraska, North Carolina,North Dakota, Oklahoma,South Carolina, SouthDakota, Tennessee, Texas andWyoming.

These states are likely to goRepublican no matter what,and their electoral vote tallyis 178. The only way one ofthese states could potentiallyswing the other way is if oneof the Democrats chose aninfluential person from one ofthose states as their vice-pres-idential candidate.

For the Democrats, thereare 13 states that are likely togo their way. These statesinclude California, Delaware,Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois,Maine, Maryland,Massachusetts, Minnesota,New Jersey, New York,Oregon and Washington.The District of Columbia andits three electoral votes arecertainly going to go “blue”as well. The total of thesestates and DC are 200 elec-toral votes.

This leaves the count at 200-178 - advantage Democrats -with 15 states up for grabs.These states are denoted as“swing” or “battleground”states because they could go

either wayin the elec-t i o n .H o w e v e r ,some statesare in playfor one oft h eDemocraticcandidatesand not inplay for theother.

If Obamais the nomi-nee, theDemocratscan proba-bly count onbetter num-bers from the southern “red”states that were listed in thesafe Republican column.However, it is highly unlikelythat he’d be able to poach anyof those states from McCain.He’d likely only lose by 7 per-cent as opposed to 17 percentif Clinton were the nominee.

Swing states in whichObama does better thanClinton against McCaininclude Iowa, Virginia,Colorado and Nevada. IfObama is the nominee, theDemocrats can expect wins inIowa, Colorado and Nevada.However, it is unlikely at thispoint that Obama could winVirginia against McCain.

Obama does extremelypoorly in the key states ofFlorida and Ohio, where pollsshow he is losing to McCain.If all the states were projectedright now based on recentpolls, both McCain andObama would finish with 269electoral votes.

Obama can be projected atthis point to winPennsylvania, Michigan,Wisconsin, Colorado, NewMexico, and Iowa. McCainwould likely win Arkansas,

Missouri, Nevada, Ohio,Florida and New Hampshire.This would leave both candi-dates with the same amountof electoral votes.

In the event of an ElectoralCollege tie, the House ofRepresentatives woulddecide the next president.Since the house is dominatedby the Democrats at thispoint, it would seem likelythat they would chooseObama over McCain.

However, it’s tough to tellwhat exactly will happenbecause the polls in manystates are so close. It’s possi-ble that Obama could loseColorado and New Mexico.It’s also possible that he couldwin Nevada or NewHampshire.

If Clinton is the nominee,the Democrats are more likelyto win the big swing states ofOhio and Florida, since shedoes better with elderly andwhite working-class voters.She also polls better in WestVirginia—working class vot-ers—and Arkansas —BillClinton’s home state.However, she doesn’t do aswell in the western states ofNevada, New Mexico and

Colorado as Obama does. She’d likely win in Florida,

Ohio and Pennsylvania. Thatalong with victories in thetraditionally Democraticstates of Wisconsin andMichigan would put her at295 electoral votes. McCainwould win Missouri, Iowaand the western states, put-ting him at 243. Based on thisscenario, Clinton would winthe election.

Recently, Clinton has hailedherself as being more elec-table, and based on herstrength in the high ElectoralCollege vote states, sheappears to be right. Obamadoes better in states theRepublicans usually win easi-ly, but it won’t be enough forhim to pull out victories inthose states. Unless he cansomehow broaden hisstrength in Ohio, Florida andPennsylvania, he could be introuble.

Either way, both Clintonand Obama have a toughroad ahead against a strongopponent in McCain. Butright now, it appears thatClinton has the slight edge ina general election matchup.

By The Associated Press

ALLENTOWN, Pa._ Sen. John McCain saidthat the bridge collapse in Minnesota thatkilled 13 people last year would not havehappened if Congress had not wasted somuch money on pork-barrel spending.

Federal investigators cite undersize steelplates as the "critical factor" in the collapse ofthe bridge.

McCain regularly rails against "earmarks,"the pet projects that lawmakers tuck intospending bills, such as the proposed $223 mil-lion "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska.

The Arizona senator says he would elimi-nate earmarks, estimated at $18 billion lastyear, and would make each project competein the regular congressional funding process.

McCain also criticized earmarks for projectsin New Orleans that didn't help protect thecity from Hurricane Katrina, saying a con-gressional earmark helped to dig a channeloutside New Orleans that helped speed thehurricane into the city.

McCain said such projects "have everythingto do with the power and influence of an indi-vidual congressman or senator and has noth-ing to do with the actual transportation needsof the United States."

McCain:No earmarks

PHOTO COURTESY OF HILLARYCLINTON.COM

4 Monday, May 5, 2008Political News

Hitting the streets for Obama in BucksBY ANDREW BROWNCenturion Staff

It’s 8:43 a.m. on Saturday,April 19 and Patty Fennellshould be exhausted. She hasjust flown into toPhiladelphia from SanAntonio the night before, andshe has not had sufficienttime to sit down and recuper-ate since her arrival.

But as she enters theBoilermaker’s Union Hall inNewportville on this morn-ing, she is as jubilant as canbe. Sporting a smile thatwould make Tom Cruisestand up and take notice,Fennell greets every singleperson in her vicinity. Mostof these folks display abouthalf the energy she does.

But Fennell did not fly allthe way to Philadelphia justto say “hi” to some people ina union hall. She still has towalk to the doors of 80Levittown ranch homes andconvince the people withinthese homes that BarackObama is worthy of their votein the Pennsylvania primarythe following Tuesday.

Fennell and several othersarrive in Pennsylvania on thisparticular weekend to lend allthey can to Obama’s cause.Here at the Boilermaker’sUnion Hall, dozens of Obamasupporters convene to makecalls and canvass the sur-rounding area. The targetedareas are Bensalem andLevittown, two municipali-ties brimming with the blue-collar voters that both Obamaand Hillary Clinton covet.

Fennell has been teamed upwith Brian Moore, a welldressed 29-year-old realestate agent from Princeton.The pair has been assigned 80homes in the Cobalt Ridgesection of Levittown. Mooregrabs the keys to his girl-friend’s white Honda Accord,and prepares to brave the 85-degree heat for the next sev-eral hours.

The car, while not very old,shows signs of heavy use in

the recent campaign. Obamalawn signs, buttons and pam-phlets, along with a slew ofempty Deer Park bottles, arestrewn about the interior.Moore admits that he haspractically been living out ofthe car in recent weeks.Moore chuckles as he navi-gates his way to the areaFennell and he must patrol.

“Yea, we just felt like weneeded to pitch in,” Mooreexplained with a bemusedlook as he turns left ontoRoute 413. “[My girlfriend]and I went to the campaignoffice, and we started out inDoylestown. Then they setup a Lower Bucks office, andwe volunteered to be coordi-nators for that office. So it’sbeen pretty crazy.”

Surprisingly, this has beenthe University of Marylandgraduate’s first foray intopolitics. “My friends havebeen really surprised,because they all think of meas some kind of jokester orsomething. But I reallybelieve in what Obama says.”

Fennell, on the other hand,is no stranger to the politicalscene. She has been heavilyinvolved in the public processfor more than 20 years, cut-ting her teeth on JesseJackson’s failed presidentialbid. She currently acts as theDemocratic precinct chairper-son for her community. Thisis, however, the first time thatFennell has traveled such agreat distance for the solepurpose of campaigning.

“After I saw so many peo-ple coming to help in SanAntonio, I thought that Icould surely do the same,”she said. “I think theexchange of support is veryimportant, especially thisyear.”

As Moore pulled up to thecurb of Candle Road, the firststreet of the day, he handedFennell a clipboard with a listof homes to hit. The cam-paign has already zeroed inon potential supporters, so itwas slightly easier than going

to each door. The two thensplit up.

Moore, with his caramelcomplexion and lime-greenBurberry polo shirt, looksslightly uncomfortableapproaching some of thehomeowners on his list, whowould only be caught in limegreen if the Eagles incorpo-rated the color into their nextjersey. The Levittown resi-dents, many of whom boast-ed large tattoos and Harley t-shirts, knew immediately theBurgdoff realtor was not oneof them.

Fennell sticks out in herown way. Clad in a black t-shirt emblazoned with animage of Barack Obama infront of the White House, shehas made no attempt to dis-guise her purpose in thisneighborhood.

It came as a bit of a shock toboth Moore and Fennell thatthe people on their lists wereso willing to debate. TheCobalt Ridge residents didnot shy away from speakingabout politics in a very per-sonal way. Moore claims thatthis is the first time people

have been so frank with himsince he has been canvassing.

“Most of the people I spoketo in Newtown orDoylestown, the more afflu-ent areas, just agreed withwhatever I was saying,”Moore claimed. “These peo-ple are willing to debate. It’sa nice surprise.”

Some issues that many ofthese homeowners findimportant are gun control,health care and, not surpris-ingly, the economy.

“I’m no policy genius, butthis guy’s promising a wholelot for the economy, and Idon’t know if I can believe itall,” one homeowner said.“I’m a construction foreman.I know that I can say all Iwant to my guys, but if Idon’t get it done, I lose theirrespect. I worry about some-thing like that with Obama.”

Of course, many of thehomeowners had heard allabout Obama’s notorious“bitter” comment regardingthe working class. Manywere left feeling, well, bitterabout this statement thatseemed to be a shot aimeddirectly at their beloved com-munity.

One elderly woman takesparticular exception to hisremarks. “Everyone makeschoices with religion andother things for very personalreasons,” she said in an exas-perated tone. “I don’t thinkanyone’s holding on to theirbeliefs in vain, as he seems tothink.”

Moore and Fennell do anadmirable job of fielding thequestions, and while they arecertainly pressed to clarifycertain issues, the pair doesnot experience any real hos-tility all morning.

As the heat from the sunbecomes unbearable, lunchtime is a welcome notion.

As she chows down on achicken sandwich, Fennellbegins to describe her career.She began as a music teacher,

and in 1998, was able to opena charter school, aptly namedthe Fennell Center for Artsand Education. This was oneof the first charter schools inall of Texas, and opening itwas no easy task.

“The San Antonio city gov-ernment makes it tough toopen a charter school,” shesaid in between sips of Dr.Pepper. “With all the taxes, itwasn’t easy. Luckily, since Ihad worked in politics, Iknew people that were able topull strings for me. So mydream came true eventually.”

Moore listens closely, andthe topic then shifts betweenthe current president and theFLDS, the Texas polygamistgroup garnering all the head-lines. After a brief pause,Fennell said, “This is why Ilike being involved in poli-tics. I love just getting to talkto different people and meet-ing people I’d never normallyget to meet.”

The pair soon climbed intothe Accord and headed backto Cobalt Ridge. As it is abeautiful day by this point,few homeowners are present.An on-foot Postal Workertells Moore, “Oh, they mustall be down at the OxfordValley Mall or something.”

Wherever they may be,Moore and Fennell leave liter-ature in many screen doors,and head back to theBoilermaker’s Union.

The seemingly indefatiga-ble Fennell offers to makephone calls for a few hours,but Boris Medzhibovsky, the23-year-old site leader,laughs. He tells her she’sdone enough for today as hetakes a drag off hisParliament. After all, she andMoore have been walking fornine hours.

Moore reconvenes with hisgirlfriend, and for an oddmoment, all is surprisinglyserene.

A VIEW FROM INSIDE BOILERMAKER’S UNION HALL

PHOTO BY ANDREW HESS

BRIAN MOORE AND PATTY FENNELL STOP ALONG THEIR CAMPAIGN FOR OBAMA ROUTE FOR A PICTURE

PHOTO BY ANDREW HESS

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1.43rd Annual

Student Exhibition

in Hicks Art Center

Gallery

2. Go see “Iron

Man” in theaters

3.Men’s Baseball

EPCC Tournament

4.Phillies vs. S.F.

Giants-1:35 pm

(Home)

5. Celebrate Cinco

de Mayo, taco’s

for everyone!!

6. My Chemical

Romance plays at

the Electric

Factory

7.National

Constitution

Center presents:

Baseball As

America

8. Counseling

Workshop:

Coping with Test

Anxiety 11-12 and

1-2pm

9.Panic At the

Disco plays at the

Festival Pier

10 “Death By

Disco” at Cock

N’Bull Restaurant

in Peddlers Village

11 Color: Ten

African-American

Artists at Fred

Beans Gallery in

Doylestown

12 Temple RN-

BSN Info Session

13 Last Day for

Day and Evening

Classes

14. Phillies vs.

Braves-7:05 pm

(home)

15. Elliot Erwitt:

Dog Dogs at

Michener Museum

16 Go see “The

Chronicles of

Narnia: Prince

Caspian” in

Theaters

17 Go see David

Copperfield at the

Academy of Music

18 Pearl S. Buck

House Special

Exhibit

19 Final Exam

Period for Spring

Classes

20 Soles at

Sellersville

Theater

21 Lilli Gettinger:

Memory

Transformed at

Michener Art

Museum

22

Commencement

(tentative)

23 Go see

“Indiana Jones:

The Kingdom of

the Crystal Skull”

24Phillies vs.

Astors 7:05 (away)

25 Robert Whitley:

Beauty Function

and Grace,at Della

Penna Gallery

26 Memorial Day-

No Classes

27 Classes begin

for Summer 1 6-8

week classes

28 Take a Ghost

Tour in New Hope,

at Main and Ferry

Streets.

29 Play miniature

Golf

30 Go see “Sex

and the City: The

Movie”

31Go tubing on

the Delaware

River

Monday, May 5, 2008 To Do 5

May Calendar of Events

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1- Duration; 5- Lost a lap; 10- When said three times, a 1970 war movie; 14-

Tent stick; 15- Long for; 16- At any time; 17- Son of Isaac and Rebekah; 18-

Loose fiber used for caulking; 19- Quantity of paper; 20- Demolish; 22- Stingy;

24- Agent; 25- Make lace; 26- Middle East rug; 29- High mountain, as found in

central Europe; 32- Approaches; 36- Shark's offering; 37- Spain and Portugal;

39- Black bird; 40- Reticent; 43- Bind; 44- Upward trend; 45- Hollow grass; 46-

Croatian coastal city; 48- Wind dir.; 49- Unit of energy; 50- Test area; 52- Doze;

53- Folium; 57- Confined within limits; 61- Holly; 62- Showy action; 64- Pigeon

coop; 65- Start of something small?; 66- Tee, e.g.; 67- Asian sea; 68- Verdi

opera; 69- Woman's one-piece undergarment; 70- Recline;

Down

1- Raced; 2- Attitude; 3- Winglike body part; 4- Massless neutral lepton; 5-

Ladle; 6- Salver; 7- Cask wood; 8- Egg cell; 9- Relinquish; 10- Cylindrical; 11-

Above, finished; 12- Actual; 13- Military force; 21- "Losing My Religion" band;

23- Capital of Yemen; 26- Awkward person; 27- Ancient region of Asia Minor;

28- Tied; 29- Misuse; 30- Russian revolutionary leader; 31- Self-respect; 33-

Farewell; 34- Entangle; 35- Celsius, for one; 37- Mischievous child; 38- Vanilla

___, American rap star; 41- Wall painting; 42- Hot and humid; 47- Word blind-

ness; 49- Cram; 51- Hallowed; 52- Gritty intro; 53- Capital of Peru; 54- Et ____

(and other men); 55- Set right; 56- Pine; 57- Hog fat; 58- Bull; 59- Catchall

abbr.; 60- Big name in PCs; 63- Cover;

6 Monday, May 5, 2008Student Life

Is college to blame for illegal dump?BY DAVID CARTERCenturion Staff

Hidden from the public eye,an illegal garbage dump fillsthe wooded space betweenBucks’ Newtown campus andTyler State Park.

Photography ProfessorCraig Johnson was workingon an Earth Day project ayear ago, taking photos bythe archery range at Porter’sCreek, when he discovered aheap of rusted metal and cutbranches.

Not a simple pile of junk,this behemoth spans morethan 40 yards and rises 20-feet in the air. At first glancethe mound is a simple brushpile when following the obvi-ous trail of tire tracks, butfrom the opposite side, thispile contains at least five tires,various pieces of rustingmetal and a 55-gallon drumof what used to be filled with

a strong industrial cleaningproduct.

“I have been doing EarthDay assignments for 20 yearsand never had something likethis in my backyard,”Johnson stated.

While taking pictures,Johnson allegedly witnessedtwo men dumping two truck-loads of trash into the dumparea. He claims he followedthem back to the BucksPhysical Plant and confront-ed one of them. He said hewas told that the plant hadbeen dumping there foryears.

He feels the college shouldbe a good example for thecommunity, not a violator ofdumping laws.

Bucks Physical Plant didnot respond to calls or e-mailsregarding the dump.

Bucks President Dr. JamesLinksz responded, however,and said, “There never was a

trash dump. There is a natu-ral area where physical plantstaff put some tree cuttingsand other brush in the past tonaturally decompose ratherthan burdening our landfillswith such material. Whywould anybody in PhysicalPlant drive out of their wayinto the woods to dump trashthat is routinely collected oncampus?”

From basic observation,many of the discarded itemshave been around for a while.Rust is caked onto almostevery crevasse of metal andmany objects are half buriedfrom erosion.

An article in the BucksCounty Courier Times onJuly 24, 2007 said campusofficials blamed communitymembers who trespass forleaving behind their trash,and said they could not con-firm the allegations againstany campus employees.

Students take a ‘W’ over an ‘F’BY JAY JONESOp/Ed Editor

Bucks students are startingto notice many of their classesare eerily empty now. TheApril 8 withdrawal deadlinehas passed, and course with-drawal forms have apparent-ly inundated the Admissionsoffice.

Many students are appar-ently deciding to take a ‘W’on their transcripts instead ofan ‘F’

The withdrawal is consid-ered one of the most criticaltimes for many students as itcan make or break an aca-demic career. With numerousstudents dependent on get-ting good grades to keep theirfinancial aid and many moreriding on their marks in orderto transfer into a good school,a withdrawal doesn’t look asnearly as bad as a failure.

“When it comes down to it Ican always redo the course,”said Eric Haugh, 21 ofFairless Hills.

Many students seem toagree. Since a drop has noeffect on your GPA it is farmore alluring for a student tosimply pull out of the classwhen it is becoming too muchthen to see it through to theend, and risk taking a failinggrade.

It almost seems like Bucks,along with many other col-lege campuses, are creating agolden safety net for the stu-dent body to fall back on.

If a course becomes toohard and you’re not going topass, drop it and save your-self the trouble. This systemof withdrawal however couldbe breeding a generation ofunderachievers, giving wayto this notion: Why workwhen you can quit instead?

The withdrawal form giveseight possible choices to pick

from when choosing yourreason for drop/withdrawal.Ranging from academicallyunprepared, personal illness,dislike of the course or moresurprisingly, dislike of theinstructor, Bucks studentshave a variety of grounds tochoose from.

“I have to work to pay forschool,” said MariaDuminski, 18, of Morrisville.“An ‘F’ drops my GPA and a‘W’ does nothing.”

There are, however, manystudents who are wondering,what is the differencebetween the full refund with-drawal available during thefirst week of the semester andthe current no refund drop?

The drop/add period as itis called was instituted by theAdmissions office as a meansto allow students to adjust totheir courses. If they do notthink the class is for them, oranother class has come totheir attention that theywould prefer to take, theymay drop or add additionalcourses without losing anymoney.

“I have not withdrawn and

this is my third semester,”said Elise Reifsnyder, 19,from Fairless Hills. “I thinkthat the date should be longerto get your money backbecause one week is not longenough to get to really knowyour professor.”

According to a report by theDepartment of Education,dropout rates among 18–24-year-olds in 2002 to 2003 werea staggering 11.3 percentamong males and 8.4 percentamong females. The reportalso noted studies that hadshown that dropouts are lesslikely to work in jobs thatrequire a high school certifi-cate or higher and were farmore likely to be part of ourprison and death rowinmates.

“We all have a responsibili-ty,” said U.S. Secretary ofEducation Margaret Spellingin a 2007 address, “to makesure our higher educationsystem continues to spurinnovation.”

She went onto report onnumerous statistics aboutundergraduate students. Halfof all undergraduates receivesome form of federal financialaid, and 90 percent of thefastest growing jobs in thefuture will need some form ofpost secondary education,she said.

Many Bucks students mustunderstand that while a with-drawal is academically betterto have on your transcripts itstill doesn’t remove the factthat you choose to drop acourse instead of seeing itthrough.

Students completely with-drawing from the collegemust secure a clearance fromthe Financial Aid office priorto submitting a withdrawalform. If you do not you couldrisk losing scholarship or

financial assistance, some-thing that many cash-strapped students cannotafford to do in today’s everworsening economy.

No appeal for a change of agrade to ‘W’ will be consid-ered after three years haselapsed since the end of thesemester or session in whichthe grade was received.

Student-initiated with-drawals are those completedby students before the dead-lines, with a simple ‘W’ onthe transcripts and no refund.Withdrawal becomes officialthe day the Admissions officereceives written notice of thedrop, so the day you drop isthe day the course becomes a‘W’ on your transcript.

Instructor-initiated with-drawals however are strict. Ifa student has poor attendanceuntil the midterm then theOffice of Admissions willnotify you of your drop fromthe course. If you want tocontest that decision, howev-er, the Committee onAcademic Performance canbe called in to schedule areview of the instructor’sactions.

For those crafty few whothink that not attending classwill mean the professor willjust drop you from thecourse, a rude awakening isin store for you. If officialwithdrawal papers are notfilled out then you are notofficially withdrawn. Insteadof a safe removal of a coursefrom your academic record,you instead will be faced witha failing grade due to lack ofattendance.

“I don’t understand whysomeone thinks droppingwill help you,” said SaraMohn, 20, from New Hope.“Just work harder and takethe grade you deserve.”

Bucks sum-

mer session

gets you

caught upBY MIKE FRAIOLICenturion Staff

As the spring semesterwinds to a close, Bucks willonce again open its doors tosummer sessions available tostudents wanting to catch up,get ahead, or transfer credits.

It is expected that studentsfrom more than 260 otherinstitutions will attend Bucksthis summer.

Students can take classesonline, or in a hybrid format,which is a mix of on-campuslearning and online classes.

If you are interested inattending summer sessions,there are many key dates tobe noted and various meth-ods of registering. Studentscan register online, mail-in orwalk-in.

Walk-in registration is May14-20 for the first summersession and June 25 to July 1for the second session.Classes range from six-to-12weeks long, depending onclass format.

There are a variety of cours-es that are offered to summerstudents. The summerbrochure of classes lists morethan 200 courses.

This year the popularity ofsummer sessions hasincreased. Summer sessionenrollment has increased 4percent from last year, and63 percent of the studentscurrently enrolled havealready been taking classesduring the spring session.

If you have questions orconcerns regarding summersessions, contact Admissionsat (215) 968-8100.

PHOTOS OF THE DUMP SHOW BUCKS-RELATED GARBAGE.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF CRAIG JOHNSON

I think that thedate should be

longer to get yourmoney back

because one weekis not long enough

to get to reallyknow your

professor.

“

”

7Student LifeMonday, May 5, 2008

Print circulation still on fast decline

BY SEAN MCGOVERNCenturion Staff

Newspapers are waning insales and general public inter-est. With all-news networks,the internet, and variousradio sources, newspapersare no longer the vital sourceof information they used tobe.

If you read that, then youare one of the few who will.The Centurion’s readership isdown, but so are the sub-scriptions to the WashingtonPost, New York Times andWall Street Journal.According to a Post article inMarch 2005, the decline innewspaper reading beganmore than 20 years ago.

Now, the internet might killthe print edition of printnews. While most newspa-pers publish daily, bloggersgive instant coverage, analy-sis, and offer easier feedbackto readers.

The Centurion keeps upwith the new technology,using webcasts and an onlinearchive of stories. But there isstill the foundation of theprint edition at its core, andthe core of the journalismprogram.

Sam Katz, a 21-year-oldcommunications major said,“The only time I read [TheCenturion] is when someoneeither hands it to me or I’m ina location and see it sittingthere.” When asked aboutlooking at the stories online,Katz said, “I didn’t knowthere was a journalism home-page.”

But the students who doactively seek out the weeklystudent newspaper are alsohaving difficulties. ThomasCoates, 22, chemistry major,said he could never get acopy. “When I do look forcopies, they’re all gone.”

“The problem is that blogsare now considered a newssource,” said KimberlyPiefiazek, 26, nursing major.She believes that blogs areless reputable than a newspa-per because “[blogs] arebased on opinion rather thanfact, and hard journalismshouldn’t be based on opin-ion.”

The University of SouthernCalifornia Annenberg’sOnline Journalism Reviewcovered the blogger versusjournalist question in April2007, when it found that onaverage, bloggers used moresources than journalists, andthose sources were of a widervariety than those found innewspapers.

USC also found that whilebloggers use traditionalWashington sources in theirpolitical stories, and citednewspapers as other sources,the print editions rarely citedblogs as sources.

Perhaps people have mis-judged the blogosphere andwhat it might hold for thefuture of journalism and themedia. However, the draw-

backs of blogs and questionsabout their legitimacy linger.

In March 2007, presidentialhopeful John Edwards foundout he would be droppingout of the political race whenthe Associated Press reportedon what a blogger said heheard from a source—a highschool chain of hearsay thatwas proven to be untrue.

Coates said, “If you reallywant to understand some-thing, you must get all thefacts. You can’t just go withone source, you have to getmany sources and then makeup your own opinion.”

If the print edition is to sur-vive, it needs readers andfeedback.

The Centurion, as well as aplethora of major and minorpublications, has pdf archivesand interactive news on theirrespective sites.

Visit The Centurion atwww.bucks-news.com andsee imbedded weekly web-casts and leave comments onthe week’s articles. The jour-nalism homepage iswww.bucks.edu/journalism

‘Poor college students’ lack social lifeBY ALEXANDRA NEUCenturion Staff

Adam D’Alonzo wakes upevery morning in hisBensalem home at 6:45 a.m.,then drives 20 minutes to thecampus. After classes he goeshome to do homework, andthen returns to Bucks at 2:30p.m. for tennis practice. Inthe evening he has nightclasses at the Lower Buckscampus.

Ask him if he has time for asocial life.

“Believe it or not they’remy easy days,” saidD’Alonzo. “After my longweek, Tuesday nights is real-ly the only night I have to goout on. When the weekendcomes, I work...I’m spendingall my time dedicated toschool, work, and tennis.And, [I am] spending a hugeportion of my paycheck on

gas.”Between the time demands

of school and work, and ris-ing prices of everything fromgas to food, Bucks studentssay it’s getting harder andharder to have a social life.

Danielle Carr, 20, a nursingmajor from Bensalem said, “Iput my social life ahead of myfirst semester at Bucks andslacked off, then I realizedwhen my grades went down Ihad to start caring moreabout school. Most days Iwork at Frankford Hospital 8and 9-hour shifts and school.I’m always preparing speech-es, presenting them and ambusy with psychology workall the time. The time I dohave, I devote to spend withmy boyfriend. I really don’tgo out as much or haveenough time for my friends.”

It’s a vicious circle. Collegestudents spend money on gas

to get to and from school andwork. They work to getmoney and then spend it ontransportation. There’s notime to spend money on any-thing else.

“I’m taking classes at HolyFamily and summer classes atBucks,” said Lindsay Schafer,20, a nursing major fromBensalem said.

A lot of students are over-whelmed with the amount ofwork and school they haveand the lack of time to have asocial life. The lucky onesshrug it off like it’s nothing.

“I go to school fulltime andwork 25-30 hours a week. Idon’t struggle with the two,”said Mike Shinefeld, 19, acommunication major fromBensalem. “I pay for my carinsurance, cell phone bill,haircuts, clothes, you name it,and I still have money.

Centurion Editor-in-Chief

Laura Irwin, 25, fromNewtown, agrees withShinefeld. “I can afford mylifestyle. I work enough topay for anything I need to do,and not just bills but play too.If I can’t afford it, I don’t doit. Rent and such is first prior-ity. It’s the only responsiblething to do.”

Going out on the town canget expensive. The lowestprices for regular gas are cur-rently around $3.50 per gal-lon. To go to a night clubcosts $7-$8 on a weekday andup to $15 on a weekend.

“There’s nothing to doaround here in Newtown,”said Kyle Crawford, 19, jour-nalism major from Newtown.“We go to the city to hangout. Gas alone I spend $20 aweek.”

Jay Jones 20, a journalismmajor from Yardley said, “Idon’t go to the city without

$100, including gas in mybudget it gets expensive.”

Going out on dates gets tobe pricy for the gentlemenwho pay, whether it’s goingto the city or just hanging outlocally.

“My boyfriend and me taketurns paying when we go out,it’s too expensive to alwaysmake him pay,” said TiffanyLuszczak, 20, from Bensalemwho is an education major.“Movies are getting way tooexpensive, we just rentmovies. It saves money.”

Prices are creating stickershock for many college stu-dents.

Dinner and a movie arenearly impossible for manybecause of the cost. And thatdoesn’t include the price tagassociated with getting to therestaurant and move theaterto begin with.

Student loan bill goes to presidentBy The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) —Congress gave final approvalThursday to legislation aimedat ensuring the problems inthe credit markets don't pre-vent students from gettingcollege loans.

The House passed the legis-lation in a 388-21 vote, oneday after the Senate approvedit. President Bush is expectedto sign the measure.

"Today's vote will helpensure that students' dreamsof going to college aren't side-

lined by the turmoil in thecredit markets," said Rep.George Miller, D-Calif., chair-man of the House EducationCommittee.

The legislation increaseslimits on how much borrow-ers can receive in federallysubsidized student loans.

That should decrease stu-dent reliance on more expen-sive private loans. Some stu-dents have had trouble get-ting those nonfederal privateloans because lenders haveleft the market in recentmonths due to the credit

crunch.Dozens of lenders also have

stopped making loans in thefederal program. However,where that has happened,other lenders have stepped inor students have receivedsupport through a smallerprogram in which theEducation Department lendsmoney directly to students.

"Our legislation guaranteesthat low cost college loanswill continue to be availablewith government help, nomatter what happens in theprivate loan market," said

Massachusetts DemocratEdward Kennedy, chairmanof the Senate EducationCommittee.

The legislation attempts tomake it easier for parents totake out federal loans fortheir children's education byallowing parents to deferrepayments until after theirchildren leave school.

The legislation also nudgesup grant aid to poor studentsand gives the EducationDepartment the authority tobuy up loans from studentlenders to ensure they have

access to capital and can keepissuing loans.

Bush said he was pleasedby Congress' swift actionbecause millions of studentsaround the country couldpotentially benefit from thelegislation.

"By granting theDepartment of Educationgreater authority to purchasefederal student loans, today'saction should ease the anxietymany students may feelabout their ability to financetheir education this fall," thepresident said.

PHOTO BY JAY JONES

8 Monday, May 5, 2008Entertainment

As expected, GTA IV sells millionsBYCHRISTOPHER JOHNSONCenturion Staff

The biggest videogamerelease of the year was GrandTheft Auto IV on April 30.

The most anticipated titlein 2008, GTA IV is one of themost controversial games inthe history of consolegames— with mafia bosses,prostitutes, drug dealers, ille-gitimate business men andpeople with very low moralcenters. But in the game thesepeople are your friends andwhether you help them or notdetermines how the gamewill play out for you.

This formula is not new toGTA IV but it is the first gameof its kind to be released onthis scale.

Even after a few hours ofplay, the game will suck youin and make you want more.

Unlike previous games,whether Vice or San Andreas,this version of the game hasyou cast as Niko Bellic, a manof Eastern-European descentwho comes to America withideas of women, cars andexpensive houses.

These ideas were planted

into his head by his cousinRoman Bellic, who claimed tohave many women, four carsand an expensive house.

Unfortunately, “your”cousin actually has a low-rentapartment not far from hiscab business. This is the startof the main string of missionsthat lead you to the five bor-oughs of Liberty City.

It should be noted that theoriginal Liberty City of GTA Iis vastly different from GTAIV. The city has beenrevamped into a more-recog-nizable, parody-city of NYC.Four of the five boroughs arerepresented in this gamefrom Bohan, the Bronx, toAlgonquin, or Manhattan.

A bunch of NYC landmarkscan also be found all over thegame, from the “Statue ofHappiness” to “RotterdamTower.”

It almost feels like you arein NYC, but with the abilityto get away with murder.

The game’s graphics andinteractive gameplay havebeen stepped up from theprevious games. Niko caninteract with everythingaround him, a vast improve-

ment to previous GTAs. In previous games charac-

ters would try to interact withsome of the environment andit wouldn’t look realistic, infact it was almost cartoony.Now, when Niko steps on toa curb, he steps up from thecurb. He will actually haveone foot up on the curb andhis other foot in the street,just like real life.

One of the best elements ofthe new game is that therewill be episodic content avail-able for download forPlaystation 3 and Xbox 360.

The other fantastic part ofthis game is that for the firsttime, multiplayer play isavailable online.

Now, players can team upwith up to 16 other playersand go on killing sprees, com-plete missions and, of course,steal some cars.

Overall, there is a lot ofgame to take in and it willtake more than 30-hours ofstraight gameplay just to getthrough the main story.

The gameplay itself isworth the play time and thisgame will have huge replayvalue.

According to Yahoo! News,GTA IV will most likely gen-erate $400 million in revenuein its first week, wiping outHalo 3’s first-week recordand breaking the all-timeentertainment industry singleday sales record.

For anyone who has playedthese games in the past, this isa must buy, if you haven’tpurchased it already.

For newcomers to thedynamic of GTA, go pick itup now.

Forum focuses on coverage of crime

BY LAURA IRWINEditor-in-Chief

Maybe it was because heescaped from a pointed gunto his head, has chatted withMafiosos or was a finalist forthe Pulitzer Prize for a 60-part series on the Ohio mafia,but Bill Moushey, one ofthree panelists at the ninthannual Media Day at Bucks,captivated an array of stu-dents on Wednesday, April23.

Alongside him was J.D.Mullane, a columnist for theBucks County Courier Times,and Erin O’Hearn, a reporterfor Channel 6 Action News.They all spoke to their experi-ences for this year’s theme -covering the police beat.

“You know what’s greatabout journalism,” saidMoushey, “is that you get todo what you want—and tome it’s dear to my heart—bad guys. You are coveringthe worst human beings onthe face of the earth, andthere certainly are plenty of

bad guys to go around.”Moushey has been an inves-

tigative reporter for thePittsburgh Post-Gazette since1985. His stories have includ-ed a series revealing abuseswithin the federal witnessprotection program, uncover-ing corruption on theSupreme Court ofPennsylvania and revealingdreadful health care condi-tions in the state prison sys-tem.

His Post-Gazette reportshave won numerous nationaland local awards. His 1996series "Protected Witness"was a finalist for the PulitzerPrize. He was awarded theNational Press Club’sFreedom of InformationAward. He also received hon-orable mention for TheNewspaper Guild’sHeywood Broun Award forreporting about society’sunderprivileged.

“Journalism doesn’t payvery well, but we certainlygive each other a lot ofawards,” reflected Moushey

of his near-achieved PulitzerPrize.

Instead, the winner was areporter who was dying ofAIDS and chronicled the finalstages of his life. “My editorsaid to me, ‘Now you knowwhat to do to win,’” saidMoushey.

Mullane agreed withMoushey—journalism wasn’tthe highest paying job, but itsrewards far outweighed anyfinancial downsides.

Mullane, a columnist for theBucks County Courier Timesand a blogger forPhillyburbs.com, was nomi-nated for a Pulitzer Prize forhis crime series that exam-ined the 1962 rape and mur-der of a 9-year-old girl in aBristol Borough church.

He is the only reporter tointerview bank robberWilliam Alston, who shot aBristol Township sergeantand then escaped to Africa,where he lived for a decadeas a clean-cut, soft-spokenuniversity professor.

“Will Austin was a bank

robber in 1972. He was cor-nered right in front of thepolice department, where hethen pointed his gun at anofficer, killed him, was appre-hended and pled guilty,”recalled Mullane. “[Austin]escaped and vanished. Yearslater they found him, living inTunisia. He had gone to col-lege and carved out a newidentify for himself as a high-ly educated college professorteaching French to the chil-dren of a British ambassa-dor.”

O’Hearn got her start differ-ently, but her insight to thecriminal mind was more per-sonalized.

She showed a short TVreport she had done that doc-umented the fear ofPhiladelphia children livingamong daily shootings, mur-ders and drug wars.

According to her bio,O'Hearn joined the ActionNews Team as a generalassignment reporter inJanuary of 2006. She has abackground covering politics,as she began her broadcastingcareer at Capital News 9 inher hometown of Albany,New York.

She discussed how it feelsto walk up to a mourningfamily who just lost a familymember. “They don’t owe me

anything. And there are somepeople that don’t talk, otherpeople who embrace you. It istherapeutic, because there is abad guy out there and they’lltalk because they don’t wanttheir friends to lose a child,”said O’Hearn.

“Then,” she added, “yourealize you are doing a serv-ice.”

Media Day, presented byBucks’ journalism programand the Centurion, is anannual forum emceed byjournalism Professor TonyRogers and the Centurioneditor-in-chief.

This year, several highschool classes and a juniorhigh school newspaperattended along with theBucks journalism students.

Several films were shownthat gave insight into thejournalism and communica-tions majors at Bucks.

And The Centurion pre-sented a film that showed theproduction of the paper fromstart to finish.

Aside from the invaluablecareer advice from Moushey,Mullane and O’Hearn, MediaDay encouraged potentialreporters, according toRogers, to pursue not just acublicle but a career.

(FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) ERIN O’HEARN, J.D. MULLANE AND BILL MOUSHEY

PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY ROGERS

9Op/EdMonday, May 5, 2008

Student returns from year in TokyoBY ANNAS MIRZATokyo Correspondent

I spent a good chunk of lastyear in Tokyo and I’m finallyback at Bucks for vacation.

Coming back to the Stateshas given me time to thinkabout what I’ve done in mytime in Tokyo.

Tokyo was one hell of a trip;I don’t think that could besaid enough.

I’ve done and grown somuch in the past few monthsthat it’s even showing as Imeet up with people I haven’tseen in months.

To be honest, I really don’tknow what to talk aboutwhen I think back on Tokyo.There was so much, and therewas a lot I never really did. Ifeel like I need to do a lotmore when I get back in a fewweeks.

Then I reflect on the smallthings that really leave a bigimpression on me. Thingslike—how easy it is to graspthe language if you’re justwilling to learn a little, ormaybe how people walk upand down stairs.

In Japan, the left side isalways used for a slow pacewhile the right side is onlyused for people who are in ahurry.

This is a bigger issue as Icame back to the States.Already I told off a guy fornot moving down the escala-tor in a quick manner fromthe right side of the stairs.

I quickly said I was sorry tothe poor guy and told him Iwasn’t used to people stayingstill from the right side. Ithen later started to askmyself what other thingswere different from Tokyo.The list grows tenfold.

Another thing I noticed isjust how much space I have tospread around my arms andwhatnot.

I feel very uneasy as I walkinto a mall and it’s notpacked shoulder to shoulder.It sounds strange, but I’vegotten so used to alwaysbeing pressed against some-one, so it’s odd to be able torun around like an idiot.

I also missed driving…a lot.And that’s not an over-

statement. I drove for the first time

today in months, and it waslike being able to fly over theground. Being able to goaround anytime I want, andwherever I want is a gift thatpeople shouldn’t take forgranted.

This might be a strange onebut I’m no longer used to

watching a lot of TV. Since Igot back, I’ve been over-whelmed by all the TV chan-nels and started to ask myselfjust why someone wouldneed so many. So, I’ve cut offwatching TV and just stuckwith playing Grand TheftAuto IV.

Drinking alcohol withfriends has been a very differ-ent experience as well. Let’snot even bring up that I’monly 20, but 20 is the legal agein Japan. But some of the bars

here aren’t at the same quali-ty as the lower-end bars inTokyo. Drinking with yourfriends is something every-one does, even if you don’tdrink alcohol.

These are just some of thethings I’m noticing as I’mstaying at home. If I lookback, Tokyo feels way too faraway and it feels like a worldI can’t physically connectwith anymore, almost as ifthe only way I could reallynotice Tokyo was if I was still

there. Being in Tokyo has been

one of the greatest experi-ences of my life, and I’ll be soexcited once I get back. I’vemet a lot of friends, been toamazing festivals and havehung out with some of themost amazing women.

Yeah, I missed home while Iwas in Tokyo, but now thatI’m back, I’m missing Tokyomore.

Oyasumi!

A letter to

the editorMark Bennett, let me give you a piece of my mind. As I was

reading your opinion piece in the April 23 edition of theCenturion, you hit a nerve.

I am Schizophrenic, the paranoid delusional type. I take as many pills as a cancer patient; if I didn't have access

to my medication, I wouldn't be able to function as a semi-welladjusted member of society, what most people refer to asbeing "normal."

I wouldn't be a proud student of Bucks, nor would I beworking as a bartender at a job I absolutely love.

I agree with you on the points you made in reference to pre-scription drug abuse and dependency.

When a patient is prescribed a pill for what doctors now call"situational depression," it makes me sick to my stomach justto think that doctors are calling a mild case of the passingblues a disorder. Get over it!

Restless leg syndrome, take a pill, stress at work, take a pill.Nothing but what they call “mother’s little helper,” and I callthat a disorder in and of itself.

Addiction is a terrible thing, I have been down that road ashave many people; I remember it as the darkest point in mylife.

But, without my pills, I would probably still be eating check-ers with salt and ketchup in the mental institution doomed tobe mentally handicapped for the rest of my life.

God bless good doctors and God bless medication!-Jessamyn Fox

Got something to say? E-mail Editor-in-Chief LauraIrwin with your comments

at centurion@bucks.edu!

ANNAS MIRZA POSES FOR A PHOTO IN JAPAN

Random photo of the month

Sea lions murdered at damBy The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) Foryears, the sea lions loungingat the Bonneville Dam havehad easy pickings fromsalmon waiting to go up fishladders to upriver spawninggrounds.

Over the weekend, the fed-erally protected sea creatureswere themselves easy preyfor a gunman who shot andkilled six of the sea lions asthey lay in traps meant tohumanely catch them.

The six salmon-gobblinganimals appear to have beenshot by somebody on theWashington side during thenight, said Brian Gorman, aspokesman for the National

Marine Fisheries Service.Fishermen and AmericanIndian tribes have pushed toprotect the salmon andremove the sea lions, bylethal force if necessary.

The shootings came lessthan two weeks after anappeals court issued a tempo-rary injunction against feder-al authorities killing themammals.

Federal agents have beentrapping them instead, buttrapping will be suspendedduring the investigation, saidRick Hargrave, a spokesmanfor the Oregon Department ofFish and Wildlife.

Gorman said when officersgot to the traps below thedam's powerhouses, where

the water is rough enough tomake getting to there diffi-cult, they found themclosed."It isn't clear howsomeone got access to thetraps," Gorman said."Nobody in an official capaci-ty closed the traps."

The Humane Society of theUnited States has gone tocourt to challenge the author-ization, with another hearingset for May 8. Until a judgerules, no animals may belegally killed.

Sharon Young, a HumaneSociety spokeswoman, wholearned about the sea liondeaths from a reporter said,"We're a nation of laws, andwe should expect people toabide by them."

AN ICE SCULPTURE MELTS AWAY OUTSIDE TYLER HALL

Well, this will be my lasteditorial for Bucks. That’sright, if all goes well I shouldgraduate with an associate’sdegree in journalism in a cou-ple of weeks, and then it’s alittle time off to reflect andthen off to a four-year school.

As I sit here writing this, Iremember back to when I firststarted this column, my firststory was about how baddrivers push me near thebrink of going on a shootingrampage. All the editors atthe paper loved it, and toldme that I should just writeabout things that push mybuttons, that when I’m angryabout something I shouldwrite about it because itmakes for an interesting read.Well, if that’s how they wantit, that’s how they’re going toget it.

How come every singletime the cops are about to letme and my friends go, one ofthose drunken idiots have tostart arguing with them?Dude, just shut up, Shut up,shut up, shut up! They areabout to let us go, screw youropinion on the matter andwhy do you have to try andget the last word in? Just shutup, take your verbal scoldingand be glad they’re not goingto arrest us. But that’s askingfor too much isn’t it?

How come the people thattalk the most in class haveabsolutely nothing of impor-tance to say? You know, thisthree-hour class would beover in an hour if you

crammed a Twinkie in yourpie hole and sat there and lis-tened to what the professorhad to say without puttingyour 2 cents into the conver-sation.

How come every time a girlbreaks up with me, “It’s notyou, it’s me.” No it isn’t. Do Ilook stupid to you? I have noproblem with you so obvious-ly the problem resides in me,just be honest and say thatyou’re not interested andsave me the mental mindscrew.

Why is it that the best look-ing girls always go with theguys that will treat them theworst?

How come the African-American College Fund isn’tconsidered racist but if some-one was to start a CaucasianCollege Fund it would be themost racist thing since theRodney King beating?

How come a girl can quiteliterally beat the crap out of aguy, but if he so much aspushes her he’s in jail for thenight?

Why do people waste moretime concerned aboutAmerican Idol, MySpace andcelebrity worship then thingsthat are actually important?

How come people have somany beliefs? Why not justhave ideas? It’s easy tochange an idea, people killand die for what they believein. Thanks “Dogma.”

Why is everyone I know abloody moron? Have youever taken a look around atyour friends, co-workers andpeople you’re forced to be incontact with on a daily basis?Has anyone else ever caughtthemselves thinking, “Christ,I’m surrounded by idiots?”

How come people that havegood lives whine and com-plain about how hard theyhave it? Listen you littleworm, at any given time thereare millions of people in theworld that have it worse thenyou, stop bringing me downand shut up.

How come Comedy Centralcan say the ‘N’ word but theycensor the vulgar term forhuman fecal material? Itmight just be me but I alwaysthought the ‘N’ word wasworse than the ‘S’ word… itmust just be me.

Well, I’m running out ofspace so that will end my rantfor this issue. You know, I’mkind of sad that this will bemy last editorial, and I’mgoing to miss this place whenI’m gone. I only hope that likea Ryder “You’re going tomiss me when I’m gone.”

Op/Ed10 Monday, May 5, 2008

A Piece of my MindA weekly column by Centurion Editor Mark Bennett

A Modern Hypocrisy

A weekly column by Centurion Editor-in-Chief Laura Irwin

Oh Baby! A weekly column by CenturionManaging Editor Janine Logue

Another year at Bucks draws to a close and here’s the lastissue...until fall semester. In other words: end of the yearwrap-up!

I started the semester with a column on my being aRepublican. This year’s Democratic primary angered me.Pennsylvanians were stupid for letting Hillary Clinton takeour state. Really? Her?

Now as a registered member of the GOP, I couldn’t vote foreither candidate, but had I changed my political stance, I’d goBarack Obama any day. Go McCain in the fall, and I hope he’srunning against Obama. I’m ready for a qualified race betweentwo substantial candidates.

Then there are my Heely’s. I still think they are fun and Idon’t care what people think of my footwear, or anything per-taining to me. Besides, without the wheels, they make a nicepair of sneakers.

During Halloween I carved some pretty rad pumpkins and Ilook forward to more purposeless crafts in the future.

My fourth column was about dating past the age of 25. I’ll be26 in September and hopefully by then I’ll be closer to a rela-tionship than I am now. I’m not really desperately looking fora partner in crime however “the scene” is different once manyof your friends have husbands. It’s a kick to the gut at timesbecause you’re reminded of other’s happiness; regardless oftheir utter joy and marital status, it gets so annoying to watchand who doesn’t like tax breaks?

Christmas was around the corner when I wrote about thenever-ending Yuletide tunes blaring from the stereo systemsin stores.Seriously, what is the connection between buyerimpulse and bad music and why is popular music “inappro-priate” for many stores? I hear plenty of good tunes that avoidprofanity and could easily have hidden Mickey’s etched ontotheir tracks, “Buy me. Buy me.”

Then, the day after Thanksgiving, I went vegan. I pledged 30days to a completely vegan diet. I went 44 days before theembarrassment of restaurant dining was too much for me. Iwent 67 days until I bought my favorite food, yogurt, at thegrocery store. I lasted way longer, it felt long anyway, than myoriginal timeframe, I lost a few pounds and most of the dietarystipulations have stayed with me. But, as mentioned in the ear-lier article, I cannot resist the smoky heaven that is BBQ sea-son.

My favorite article this semester was the one I wrote onslacker Bucks students. Not only have I heard the jeers frommy targeted audience loud and clear, and thank you for read-ing, but I was told several professors have printed out thispiece for their students to read. Way to go teachers of Bucks,don’t let anyone get away with blatant disrespect. Welcome tothe real world kids. But, if it makes anyone feel better, thissemester will not continue my rein of perfect A’s. With myhectic responsibilities that come with being editor-in-chief, mypriorities have been newspaper over class. I can rationalizethat this is my career, as history is not, but it still makes me feelbad. I wrote I was a multi-tasking pro, and I do a lot in mytime, and as a very competitive person it pains me that I could-n’t fit in everything. There’s a certain pride in being able to“do it all.”

I loved talking about the crazies I favor in books and TV. Getan imagination if you can’t see why certain vampires and odd-balls could be sexy. Don’t deny it. I am talking about a hotnessfactor. I do not want to marry a psychopath nor do I go for“the bad boy.”

Mark Bennett, mine’s better.Spring is a better time for reflecting on your life.I have followed through with my go-green aspirations and

have made significant leaps from a dismal environmental per-spective. I have always cared. I was just not very proactive.

And this leaves me to a farewell for now. I’d like to thank themembers of my staff who aren’t returning next semester. I willreally miss seeing you guys everyday. Bennett, you’re the best.Phil, I’m sure I’ll have you in my car soon. Rowan,dawg.Yorke...well that’s it, for the, uh, thanks. Neany, foreverything! I continue as The Centurion’s editor-in-chief nextyear, so until then, happy summer and do keep reading.

The year’s columns in review

It is the end of the semesterand, as I have done for thelast three years, I have beentrying to wrap up last minuteassignments and prepare forfinals.

The difference being that,this semester, I am sevenmonths pregnant and I amfeeling the effects of my con-dition.

Finals are always a hardand stressful time for a stu-dent, but with so much elseon my mind lately I havefound it doubly hard to con-centrate on my studying.

Every time I sit down totype up a paper or preparefor a test, I find myself havingto walk off a cramp or run tothe bathroom.

Soon, I find myself in thenursery trying to straightenup or putting together somenew baby item.

The next thing I know, it is10 p.m. and I am ready forbed, never having gottenback to my studies.

Even as I write this column,my final piece for the

Centurion, I find myself wan-dering off to take care ofother, more pressing issues.

I have to keep remindingmyself that I am in the homestretch. I am about to finishmy last classes here at Bucks.

I am finally graduating andwill not having to work full-time while going to schoolfull-time.

I wish it were true that,once classes are over, I’ll havemore time to get things done.But the truth is, once classesare over, I will only have afew weeks left before thebaby arrives and then, ofcourse, I will have zero freetime.

As has been the ebb andflow of my life, as soon as onething ends, another begins.

I will be moving on to big-ger things and new experi-ences, just like the rest of thestudents in my graduatingclass.

For most of them, it will betransferring to a four-yearcollege or entering the workforce. For me, it will be enter-

ing in to motherhood, andtaking on the next stage in mylife.

It was never in the plans forme to get pregnant while Iwas in college.

When I started at Bucks Iwasn’t even that seriousabout dating the man whowould become my husband.

I thought that, like manyothers at Bucks, I would headoff to Temple after Bucks andget my bachelor’s. I thought Iwould rent a small apartmentnear the campus and workpart–time to make ends meet.

As it turns out, the cosmoshad other plans for me. I mayeventually make it to Temple,or another school to finish mydegree, but for right now Iwill be focusing on my careerand my family.

That is what needs myattention the most right now.

At least when my songrows to be a bit older I cantalk to him about how heattended his mother’s collegegraduation.

See each issue’s webcast at www.bucks-news.com!

11Centurion SportsMonday, May 5, 2008

BY TOM ROWANCenturion Staff

The nuanced thrill filtersthrough the wave of excite-ment radiating from theCitizen’s Bank Park faithful.

Chase Utley swings com-pletely through the red stitch-es of the white baseball, send-ing it deep into right centerfield.

The All-Star second base-men’s first long-ball all yearat “The Banks” hallowedhalls.

And the fun has just begun.Had it not been for a broken

wrist Utley suffered at thehands of WashingtonNationals left-hander JohnLannan on July 27 of lastyear, there may have been aCivil War between 2007National League MVP JimmyRollins and Utley over theprestigious award.

Utley, prior to his injury,was either the leader or near

the top in most offensive cat-egories.

He was batting .336 with 17homers and 82 RBI’s, oncourse to have the best over-all offensive numbers in theNational league.

Rollins, in comparison,ended the season batting .296with 30 homers, 94 RBIs and41 steals from the leadoffspot.

“There's just somethingabout all the energy this guyemits, the tone he sets, therelentless pace he plays at,”said ESPN Analyst JaysonStark. “He's one of those rareplayers everybody in thesport admires -- guys on histeam, guys on the other team,the GMs who wish they'ddrafted him and the stat guyswho love crunching his num-bers.”

Utley was the clear MVPfavorite when he broke hishand.”

Utley has begun the 2008

season with a content handand fierce motivation.

Utley is leading the majorswith 11 home runs, ranks 2ndin RBI’s with 23, and his .357batting average is also secondbest in all of baseball.

Utley also leads the leaguein slugging percentage andtotal bases, is tied for themost runs, and has the 2ndmost hits in MLB.

If Utley can keep his com-posure, and stay away frominside fastballs, he may verywell accomplish a feetmatched only by the NewYork Yankees with threestraight MVPs.

If the Phillies are lucky,they may see back-to-backNL Division Titles for the firsttime since the 76 and 77 sea-sons; maybe even win theirfirst playoff game since 1993.

The Phillies have alreadyhad their first winning record(15-13) in April since 2003.

Chase Utley is the Phillies big hitter

By Centurion Staff

They came in as underdogs,they emerged as champions.

Rookie Coach Mark Bohlingled Bucks baseball in doublewins over the weekend toclaim the EasternPennsylvania CollegiateConference BaseballChampionship.

The Centurions were seed-ed third in the tournament,however they beat second-seed Delaware CountyCommunity College 13–5 onSaturday May 3, then dis-mantled top seed LuzerneCounty Community College9-5 at the tournament thatwrapped up on May 4 inWilkes-Barre, Pa.

Bohling said the team was

confident going into the tour-nament, despite having a reg-ular season conference recordof 3-5 and an 0-2 recordagainst Luzerne.

"Surprisingly we had apretty good attitude goingin," said Bohling in a Buckspress release. "The last twogames of the season, every-body started hitting. Goodpitching is vital, but reallyhot bats will carry youthrough. We gave the team arun for its money."

Bohling credited the pitch-ing of Pat Boyle, 19, ofYardley and 18-year-oldCraig Kieffer of Perkasie withpulling the team through thetournament.

Boyle pitched all nineinnings Saturday, then

stepped in to relieve Keifferin the ninth inning Sunday toearn the save.

"Both pitched incredibly,”said Bohling, “better thanthey had all season. It was agreat finish."

According to Bohling, otherstandout players includedthird baseman RyanHerrmann, 19, of Silverdale,and utility player DavidMullen, 18, of Philadelphia,who played left field duringthe tournament.

Contact Mark Bohling at(215)968-8443 or at his e-mail,bohlingm@bucks.edu.

Baseball is one of sevenintercollegiate sports offeredat Bucks. To learn more, visitwww.bucks.edu/athletics.

Manchester U, Chelsea going for titleBY ANDREW BROWNCenturion Staff

Moscow hoteliers, restaura-teurs and bar owners beware:the English are coming.

In a thrilling week ofChampions League Socceraction, British clubsManchester United andChelsea FC secured passageto the final of the competi-tion, set for May 21 in theRussian capital.

This will be only the thirdtime in the history of the com-petition that two clubs fromthe same nation will face eachother for the cup. It’s also thefirst time that two clubs fromthe Barclay’s Premier Leaguehave clashed in the final,which is essentially theEuropean equivalent of theSuper Bowl.

In the first semi-final of theweek, United met FC

Barcelona at Old Trafford,their legendary homeground.

Barcelona came out andplayed their trademark brandof pass-and-move soccer forthe first 10 minutes of thematch. The Manchester outfit,playing without key menWayne Rooney and NemanjaVidic, seemed to have toanswers for the questions theSpanish side were asking ofthem.

However, in minute 14 ofplay, Barca defenderGianluca Zambrotta made acareless pass on the edge ofhis own penalty area. Unitedmidfielder Paul Scholes inter-cepted the Italian’s pass andpunished him for his mistake,thrashing the ball past keeperVictor Valdes from 25 yards.A truly breathtaking strikeand United were up 1-0.

The goal seemed to give

United a much needed boostof confidence, and for theremainder of the game, theylooked the side more likely toscore again.

Barca played some attrac-tive passing soccer in themiddle of the field, but neverreally seriously threatenedUnited. At the end of 90 min-utes, United prevailed, andwaited anxiously to seewhich of their league rivalsthey’d be facing for the cup.

In Wednesday’s all-Englishsemi-final, Chelsea metLiverpool FC at Chelsea’sStamford Bridge, where theLondon side has not lost toEnglish opposition in anycompetition for over fouryears. The first leg had ended1-1 after Liverpool’s JohnArne Riise had scored ashocking own goal in minute95, keeping Chelsea in the tie.

The game promised attack-

ing soccer, which is a depar-ture from the historicallydull, defensive nature of thisfixture. Chelsea’s DidierDrogba opened the scoring inminute 32 on a trademarkrebound.

After the half time interval,Liverpool’s Spanish goalmachine Fernando Torres lev-eled the score. At the end ofregulation, the matchremained deadlocked.

In minute 98, MichaelBallack, Chelsea’s Germaninternational, was broughtdown in the box, and FrankLampard stepped up to takethe penalty. Lampard hadbeen grieving the death of hismother all week, and it was asurprise that he had evenstarted this match. So whenhe coolly buried the ball pastLiverpool keeper Pepe Reina,he was understandably over-come with emotion. It was a

touching moment for eventhe most ardent Chelseahater. The Blues now had a 2-1 lead.

Didier Drogba doubled histally in the 105, and putChelsea up 3-1. AlthoughRyan Babel pulled one backfor Liverpool, it was notenough. The match ended 3-2, and Chelsea advanced totheir first ever ChampionsLeague final.

As United and Chelsea arealso both vying for the leaguetitle, this game carries a greatdeal of importance for bothsides. The English leaguewill have concluded by thistime, so one of these sideswill have been crownedPremiership champions. Thetitle race gives the cup finalmuch more weight.

Centurion baseball champs

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOTO BY JAY JONES

Monday, May 5, 2008

CC enturionenturion SSportsports

Flyers’ key

players

BY KEVIN YORKEStudent Life Editor

Things looked prettybleak for the Flyers whenthe team lost 10 in a row inwhat looked like a squadthat was uninspired andlacked enough focus to playconsistent hockey. In theplayoffs, however, theFlyers have showed impres-sive depth from its for-wards, improved defense,and for once in a long time,quality goaltending. It hasbeen a number of playersthat have carried the Flyersthis far, and certainly thesespecific players have reallymade the difference.

Daniel Briere Center #48 – This is whyhe was brought in by General ManagerPaul Holmgren: to provide clutch scoringand leadership. As of May 1st, Briere hasled the Flyers with 14 points. His clutchgoal scoring has really carried the Flyersand led the way when they really needed itmost.

R.J. Umberger Center #20 – The manwho was “demoted” to the fourth line hascome up huge for the Flyers in theWashington and Montreal series. He hasscored 7 goals in the playoffs and consis-tently makes life nearly impossible foropposing teams to match up because theFlyers now role out 4 lines that, from top tobottom, can all put pressure on the goal-tender. In the Montreal series specifically,Umberger has scored in the first 4 games,amassing an impressive total of 6 goals inthe series.

Martin Biron Goalie #43 – What can yousay that hasn’t been said about the Flyerstravelled, French Canadian goaltender? Hehas carried the team on his back in the play-offs. Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, andDominik Hasek were goalies that took overfor their teams in the playoffs. CouldMarty Biron be in the same league withthose guys when these playoffs are saidand done? Time will tell.

Kimmo Timonen Defenseman #44 – TheFlyers’ premier defenseman did a numberon the Caps phenom, superstar AlexanderOvechkin. The usually unstoppableRussian superstar had an unusually plainplayoff series, and you can probably attrib-ute that to the Flyers’ Finnish defenseman.

Mike Richards Center #18 –Richards hasbeen the Flyers’ best defensive forward,killing penalties and creating havoc. He isthe heart and soul of the team, and has leadby example, checking, breaking up passes,and has provided scoring to go along withall the defense he displays. Ultimately, likeDanny Briere, he has shown why the Flyerssigned him to a huge 12 year, $69 Millioncontract last summer.

John Stevens Head Coach – The Headcoach has to be given credit for the team’sresurgence during the season. He adjustedand configured the team in such a way thatset them up to win every game. His switchfor R.J. Umberger to the fourth line,although met with frustration byUmberger, has turned into instant gold inthe playoffs.

In and out with a championship?BY PHIL COLESSports Editor

I have this sick feeling. I wasborn on Oct. 5, 1982, and if yourecall, that was the last year aPhiladelphia team won a cham-pionship; sorry, the PhiladelphiaWings or Phantoms don’t count.That year the 76ers won the NBAtitle. My feeling, however, is thatthere won’t be another champi-onship in Philly until the year Idie.

So unless I meet a tragic deathsports fans, prepare for 60-someyears of painfully close-but-no-cigar, short-end-of-the-stick fin-ishes.

Let’s examine our four majorsports teams’ chances.

The Flyers. They are surpris-ing everyone with their run inthis year’s playoffs. If any teamhas a chance to win a title, it’sthese guys, because Ed Sniderconsiders them his favorite, as healso owns the Sixers. The Flyersseem to routinely go after play-

ers to make their teams better.They have a fan base that is oneof the most loyal in the league,prompting Sports Illustrated tocall Philadelphia the NHL’s new“hockeytown” replacing Detroit.

So what’s the problem? Thisyear’s club is too slow defensive-ly, and while they will probablyget past Montreal, they won’t getpast the Penguins. And as fortheir future title hopes, they needto change their image as thetough guys of the NHL. Leagueofficials want to see a crisp,clean, fast brand of hockey. TheFlyers will continue to cater totheir roughneck fans by playingtheir beat-em-up style. Unlessthey change their mentality, itwill be tough for the officials to“let” the Flyers win a StanleyCup. Conspiracy…maybe, Iwouldn’t rule it out.

The Sixers. Not this year, for-get about it. The future doeslook bright though. New SixersGM Ed Stefanski is aPhiladelphia native and will do

everything he can to make theSixers champs. The team hassome talented young players,and the experience they are gain-ing in this year’s playoffs isinvaluable.

They also are a team filled withhuge holes. Good teams usuallyhave two low-post scoringoptions, the Sixers have none.Championship teams also usual-ly have a superstar player, andthe Sixers don’t have one. Andperhaps most importantly, theSixers, owned by Ed Snider, arenot his favorite team. Thereforeit is only natural to assume mostof his energy - and more impor-tantly money - will go towardthe Flyers.

The Phillies. Well, for starterstheir pitching stinks. And well…that’s pretty much it. They haveone of the most potent lineups inall of baseball and yet for thethird consecutive year, they havefailed to get enough qualitypitching to be taken seriously inOctober. Can you imagine if thislineup was in Boston or NewYork? They would beg, borrowand steal to get some arms tomatch. If Chase Utley wins theMVP this year, and he has to bethe early favorite leading the NLin home runs, the Phils couldhave three different MVP’s inthree seasons. To waste this kindof talent should be a crime pun-ishable under the law. This is aneasy one: until they get a newowner to replace the cluelessDavid Montgomery, they won’twin a championship.

The Eagles. This one hurts themost, since Philly at its core is afootball town. We appreciateseeing men throwing themselvesinto one another with the force ofan Ivan Drago right-hand. Letme resurrect some bad memoriesfor you. I’ll fast forward to theearly 90s since most of us weren’t

around to see the first EaglesSuper Bowl team fold to theRaiders in 1980. The “MeanGreen Machine” defense hadclimbed into the pantheon ofgreat defenses, earning itself anickname that is only given outto legendary units likePittsburgh’s “Steel Curtain” andMinnesota’s “Purple PeopleEaters.” Randall Cunningham isrevolutionizing the quarterbackposition. Then tragedy strikes asstar defensive tackle JeromeBrown is killed in an auto acci-dent. Cunningham goes downwith a severe leg injury and titlehopes go up in smoke.

As for this year’s Eagles’ team,there are just too many holes tolook past. The quarterback iscoming off a major injury, andhas played inconsistentlythroughout his entire career. Theoffensive line is aging and thereceiving corps lacks a top-flightreceiver. Defensively, their lineis undersized and wears down asthe season progresses, their line-

backers are young and untestedand the safety position is a ques-tion mark. But that is not thebiggest hurdle stopping theEagles from winning the SuperBowl.

Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie is alucky man. He owns one of themost successful franchises in allof sports. The Eagles are a cash-cow with a die-hard fan base;just try getting a ticket under$100. All Lurie cares about iskeeping the franchise successful.He wants those extra playoff dol-lars, but could care less aboutseeing the team win it all. Howelse would you explain theabsence of a top flight receiver?

It just doesn’t seem fair. Ibelieve Philadelphia has themost knowledgeable fans insports. Why do we deserve suchscorn? Whatever the reason, Ihave a feeling I’m going out likeMark Twain did; in and out withHaley’s Comet, 82 years inbetween. Only in my case, thecomet is a Philly championship.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS