I Did Know Once, Only I've Sort of Forgotten

The Shockers Shocking the World

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

There is an interesting phenomena going on in the college basketball world currently. The only team who is still undefeated, the Wichita State Shockers, and who are deserving of the number one ranking in most of the poll ranking systems are not ranked in the top spot.

The major argument against them being ranked number one in the country is their strength of schedule. This is a valid argument. Their overall strength of schedule is ranked 100 out of all 351 teams in college basketball. According to CBS the Shockers have only played two games against teams ranked in the RPI top fifty. They only played three games against the top 6 conferences in college basketball and the games were against some of the weaker teams in those conferences. Also, another huge problem is that their in-conference schedule isn’t helping. They are in the Missouri Valley Conference, which only has two teams with more than 20 wins, and only four teams above .500. Their best wins include a win at RPI number 12 Saint Louis and a neutral site win against RPI number 37 Brigham Young University. However, they also have 22 wins against teams ranked RPI 100 or below. To put this into perspective, Syracuse University (one of the top teams in the country) has played 15 teams ranked in the RPI top 100.

The argument against Wichita State is valid. A team that is number one in the country should have to prove themselves. Wichita State has only done that once this season, beating Saint Louis at home which gave them their only home loss of the season. The best team they have played all season from a power conference is RPI ranked 59 Tennessee, who are currently have 16 wins and 11 losses and are not even considered to make it to the NCAA tournament in March. Many people fault Wichita State for this. College Basketball schedules are very fluid and can be created to be as hard as the team would like to make it. By that logic, many people think Wichita State should have scheduled harder teams. However, they were unable to do that. The best team in Kansas, the Kansas University Jayhawks, refuses to play them because a loss for the Jayhawks would mean they would take a huge recruiting hit in Kansas. Many other teams won’t play them due to what the potential loss would do their tournament resumes.

That being said, what Wichita State is doing is rather amazing. With only one game left in their season, they are 30 and 0. Their last game is against Missouri State, which is in no way a gimme game for the Shockers, as they had to mount a comeback victory against the Bears earlier this season. However, I have faith that they can pull out a victory and become the 25th team to go undefeated during the regular season. That’s right, only 24 other teams have gone undefeated throughout the regular season. The last team to do it was the 2004 Saint Joseph’s Hawks, who went 27-0. Going undefeated throughout a season means you have to find a way to win all of your out of conference games, which is a challenge in itself. On top of that though, you have to beat everyone in your conference, sometimes more than once. That means you have to be on top of your game every single game. Anywhere, any time, any situation. You have to be able to battle adversity and be able to come back from being down. You have to maintain leads and beat the teams you are supposed to beat. You also have to beat teams that you aren’t supposed to beat.

Wichita State also has the talent to beat any team in the country. They made the Final Four last year with four of their five current starters. All of these players are a year older and more experienced. Their back court is one of the best in the country. They have the experience. They have the skill. They should be ranked number one in the country. On top of it all, with their win on Tuesday night, they become the first team ever to go 30 and 0 in the regular season.

Florida, the current number one, lost to two difficult teams, Wisconsin and Connecticut. However, besides Kentucky, the SEC is absolutely horrendous. It is possible that only two teams from the SEC, Kentucky and Florida, make the tournament this year. Depending on how Indiana State finishes, that could by the same as the Missouri Valley. Does that mean Wichita State deserves the number one spot more than the Gators? No. But could the argument be made? Yes.

Another team considered the number one team are the Wildcats from Arizona. They were undefeated until conference play, where they played and lost to two really weak teams. They play in the Pac 12, which is a conference as weak as the SEC. What makes them any more deserving than Wichita when they have two losses? Yes, the argument could be made against either of them, but I don’t think having Wichita at number one is a crazy idea.

The purpose of this post was to point out Wichita State has a serious chance to do something amazing here. I’m not sure if they are going to be able to win the national championship, but they have a very good chance to do it. They have a strong, experienced, and capable team and if they are given a good enough draw, they will have a really strong chance to win it all. Don’t discredit the Shockers in March. If you happen to do a pool for fun up here at Penn State, mark them down as a team that could make a run deep in the tournament.

Posted in Passion | Tagged haley, passion, rcl1314 | 3 Comments

Civic Issue Blog Post 2

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

In the wake of the recent environmental catastrophes in both West Virginia and North Carolina, many questions have been raised about the lack of environmental regulation in the United States. Both of these events also highlight the lack of media attention on many actual issues happening in the United States. If you are unfamiliar with what happened, here is what happened in North Carolina, and here is what happened in West Virginia. If you don’t feel like reading them, here is a short summary.

In North Carolina, close to 82,00 tons of coal ash spilled into the Dan River on the border of North Carolina and Virginia. It has made the river a giant puddle of toxic sludge and is threatening drinking water for people across two states. The cleanup for this toxic mess is almost impossible to clean up. It affects the entire food chain from top to bottom and the entire ecosystem. Officials are still trying to devise a way to clean the mess up, but they fear it could be years before the environment returns to normal.

In West Virginia, an even worse chemical spill happened. 4-Methylcyclohexane Methanol, a byproduct of coal production, has spilled into the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia. 300,000 people were without fresh tap water at one point. Schools were closed and bottled water is running out. The river has turned a white color, and cleanup for that spill is just as difficult.

Both of these spills highlight many of the problems with business regulations in this country. Both of these spills could have been prevented with tighter regulations on these industries. Right now, there are very few environmental regulations on businesses that supply energy from non renewable resources, such as coal or oil. Just look at the issue with fracking right here in Pennsylvania. Fracking is destroying much of the water supply in the mountainous regions of this state, but because it is heralded as a “green energy” and because our governor supports it, nothing will change with it. Unfortunately, regulations like this are tough to impose on these businesses. Most of these businesses have strong lobbies to congress, so it is hard to get congressmen to change their vote when it would cost them substantially on the campaign trail. Also, many environmental issues are not covered by the news media, so most people do not care about the environment because they do not think anything is wrong with it.

Another way to combat these spills is to encourage the development and implication of green energy sources and better renewable energy sources. These sources include wind energy, solar energy, and geothermal energy. These energy sources are difficult to get a wide base of support around because they cost businesses and the government too much to implement. As a result, the same lobby vying for less regulations are also lobbying against the implementation of green energy technologies. This is making it even hard to get green energy implemented in industry today.

These two spills also highlight the problems with American media today. These spills affected hundreds of thousands of people across three states. The West Virginia spill has put people out of their homes and without drinking water. The North Carolina spill has even a wider reach, as the toxins move farther downstream, they will affect more and more people. However, national media barely covered this over the weeks they were happening. They were more concerned about what celebrity got arrested or why the Prime Minister from France did not have a wife to go to a State Dinner with. News stations actually took more time out of their broadcast to talk about the dynamics of the state dinner because of this, than they took time to talk about the spills. And the spills actually affected people in this country.

All of these issues can be solved but it comes with a large cost. Large energy companies are going to have to find new green technology, or they will be forced out of business. The news has to begin talking more about the issues with our environment to get people more educated about the problems facing the Earth today. It is a long hard fight, but it can be done.

Posted in CI | Tagged CI, haley, rcl1314 | 6 Comments

The Big 5

Posted on February 21, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

I’d like to apologize before this post gets underway. I forgot to mention one of the most significant rivalries in all of college sports. Duke and North Carolina in college basketball is just like Ohio State and Michigan in football or the Yankees and the Red Sox in baseball. They were scheduled to play last week, but I forgot to mention it in my games of the week. Fortunately, due to the huge ice storm that hit the south last week, they did not play.
As a result, they played last night (Thursday the 20). The game was a thriller, North Carolina upset Duke 74-66 and kept their now eight game winning streak alive.

Now to the real post. This week I am going to be talking about the Big 5.

For those of you who do not know, the Big Five is one of the oldest unofficial college basketball organizations in the sport. It was founded in 1955 to bring light to the skill of Philadelphia basketball at the time and to help the University of Pennsylvania keep up with the Palestra. The Big Five is composed of five schools all in and around the city of Philadelphia. It includes LaSalle University, Temple University, the University of Pennsylvania, St. Joseph’s University, and Villanova University.

Here is a map to show how close these schools actually are.

Naturally, this proximity created intense rivalries between the schools and their fans. The Big Five is like nothing else in sports. Not only has it produced some of the best basketball games ever played, but it has also created some of the most interesting dynamics in all of college sports. There were unwritten agreements between coaches to not share scouting reports and game films on other teams in the Big Five to teams from outside the city. Double headers at the Palestra were sacred, and athletic directors would never schedule games that would conflict with them. Players that wanted to leave the school they were at would never consider transferring to another Big Five school.

Recruiting in college basketball in this time was nothing like it is now. Very few teams traveled outside of their region to recruit talent. They focused their attention to the talent in their own back yard. For the Big Five, that was the Public and Catholic High School Leagues across the city. This meant most of the kids who waged war on the courts throughout their childhood and in high school could do the same in college. Winning the Big Five meant supremacy for these players throughout the summer, where they’d be playing streetball just as they did throughout their childhood. It was a way of life for basketball players in Philadelphia. The Big Five wasn’t bad basketball either. It was top tiered talent, playing at a top level. Many years, it was hard to find a post season tournament that did not have a Big Five team in it.

Drexel University is the only Philadelphia basketball school not included in the Big Five. They are not considered a part of the Big Five because they did not have the same prestige about basketball about that time. This interest has spurred the creation of the City Six, but it is not recognized like the Big Five is.

Now for my games of the week. At this point in the season, there are always games on. There are also many games this weekend, unfortunately THON is going on, so I imagine most people will not be watching them (if you even considered it anyway). I’m not going to recap my last games of the week because they were a while ago, and it wouldn’t mean much to go over them.

My first game of the week is a battle for the second spot in the Atlantic Ten Conference. This game occurs tonight, February 21, at 7 PM. It features the “havoc” defense of Shaka Smart and VCU, taking on a UMass team who are having their best season in recent memory. The winner of this game will take a huge advantage into the Atlantic Ten Conference tournament.

My second game of the week is a rematch of a game of the week that I mentioned before. Syracuse versus Duke Round Two. The game is tomorrow night, Saturday February 22, at 7 PM. This game occurs in Cameron Indoor Stadium (meaning its a home game for Duke) and Duke is coming off of a tough loss against North Carolina. It is going to be a hard game for them to lose. However, Syracuse is coming off of the first loss of their season, to an abysmal Boston College team who only had six wins up to that point. Oh and did I mention Syracuse is ranked 1 in the country and Duke is ranked 5?

1 @ 5

My final game of the week is Michigan versus Michigan State. This game is Sunday, February 23 at noon. Not only is this a battle for the state of Michigan, but it is also a battle for first place in the Big Ten. Taking over first place in the Big Ten would mean a huge boost and a first place seed going into the Big Ten tournament.

10 @ 20

Posted in Passion | Tagged haley, passion, rcl1314 | 2 Comments

The Soul of College Basketball

Posted on February 7, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

This piece is much less of an analysis of the current state of college basketball and more of a rant. In recent years, in an attempt to get more recruits and increase revenues, many basketball programs across the country have upgraded or moved their facilities to much larger venues. This movement has left some of the old, traditional stadiums in the dust. Unfortunately, this is killing the heart and soul of the sport.

Take Penn State for example. Penn State used to play basketball in Rec Hall, a very traditional college basketball stadium. The ceiling is low to the ground and the stands are right over the court. For any game, you could guarantee it was packed and loud. Rec Hall may have only sat around 5,000 people a game, but it was hard to play in. It was an opposing players worst nightmare. If anyone attended the Return to Rec game this year against Princeton, you could attest to that. It may have been the loudest game Penn State Basketball has played in years. In arenas like this, you can feel the history in it as soon as you walk through the doors.However, Penn State, like many other schools moved to a giant, soulless arena in the Bryce Jordan Center.

Don’t take me the wrong way, the Bryce Jordan Center is a nice facility. It does well hosting concerts and THON, but it has no soul. It is almost always empty and most games it is so quiet you can hear Coach Chambers yelling at his players down the court. Yes, some of this has to do with the lack of basketball culture at Penn State. I won’t dispute that, but the basketball team would be much different walking out of the locker room into a packed gymnasium, rather than an empty BJC.

There is a reason many teams won’t schedule away games against certain teams. There are bad teams that will always have success at home because of the place they play. Look at the case of University of New Mexico or Utah State. Both stadiums hold between 10-15 thousand fans, but they are impossible to play in. They are loud, raucous, and unforgiving. New Mexico has won 80 percent of the games they have played in “The Pit.”

The stadium is almost always sold out. Utah State once won 34 games in a row in the Smith Spectrum. They have one of the best records at home since the stadiums inception.

On top of the home court advantage, old time arenas have such history behind them. One of the most historic stadiums in all of sports, (and one of my favorites), is the Palestra, home of the University of Pennsylvania basketball teams. It was finished in 1927 and has played host to the most NCAA basketball games of any other stadium in the country. It is also the home to the Big 5, which is one of the oldest rivalries in college sports. It is the most beautiful stadium in all of college basketball. Walking into the stadium is like no other feeling you can have. In reality, it really is ugly. It was one of the first concrete and steel stadiums in the country. The walls are a bleak, gray, and stained. Most of the windows on the outside are broken. Its in a very questionable part of the city. But then you walk to your seat and you look down on the court. The sun shines through the ceiling right onto center court. The stands are sloped right on top of the court. The architecture of the beams that comprise the roof over the court is stunning. You sit in your seat and you realize you are sitting in the cathedral of college basketball. The Palestra may be one of the most important buildings in getting college basketball to where it is today. As Saint Joesph’s basketball coach Phil Martelli said “The Palestra is unique because it’s the only empty building in America that you can go in to and there’s sound.”

College basketball needs to go back to this. Instead of going for the money of playing in a giant arena that you can sell out once a year, play in small arenas that you are guaranteed to sell out. Play in arenas that amplify your crowd’s noise so much that you can’t hear yourself think. Play in stadiums where other players are afraid to play in. The soul of college basketball is found in these stadiums, let’s bring them back.

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I also have to recap my games of the week. Syracuse beat Duke in an overtime thriller 91 – 89. Iowa State beat Oklahoma State in three overtimes 97 – 96. My other game of the week did not go to overtime, but it was an upset, as Ohio State beat the ranked Iowa team.

My games of the week for this week are:

Saturday, February 8:

10 @ 17

Carver- Hawkeye Arena is one of the toughest places to play and the Hawkeyes are coming off of a tough loss to a crumbling Ohio State team. They need this win to help solidify a first round bye in Indianapolis in the first week of March. Michigan needs this win to stay close with in-state rival Michigan State for first place in the Big Ten.

Tuesday, February 11:

19 @ 15

This is the best Texas team in about three years and they are coming off of a humongous home win against Big 12 leader Kansas. They are currently on a seven game winning streak in the Big 12 after starting 0-2. It’s going to be hard to beat the Longhorns in Austin. Oklahoma State needs the win to stop the bleeding of their three game losing streak. It’s a bad time to be losing, so hopefully they can pull themselves together before March.

Wednesday, February 12:

1 @ 25

Syracuse is currently the number one team in the country and are one of the two remaining unbeaten teams. These once Big East rivals are reunited in the ACC and are fighting for the top of the standings in the ACC. Pitt has won three of there last six, so this game is a must win for the Panthers. Last month, Pitt gave Syracuse on of their closest games all seasons in the Carrier Dome. This month, they face them in the Zoo. Get ready for a defensive showcase.

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

This I Believe Script

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

The first thing you do when you get to the beach is run down to the edge of the water to feel the ocean for the first time. In the euphoria of running to have your toes caress the frigid water, you fail to see the broken piece of shell in your path. Before you can even touch the water, you are doubled over in pain grasping your throbbing foot. Once you finally compose yourself and get back up, the pain from sand entering the cut on the bottom of your foot is excruciating, but you push through it to get to your final destination. Each step pushes grains of sand further and further into your foot, until finally you reach the water. Miraculously all of your pain goes away once your feet touch the bone chilling water. As you head deeper into the water, the once painful cut feels almost soothing. By the time you leave the beach later that day, you can barely feel the cut. It is almost like it never happened. As your week at the beach goes on, the cut heals faster than any cut you’ve ever had before.

The ocean is my source of solitude. It allows me to be myself and washes away my worries and struggles. However, my relationship with the ocean has not always been this way. For most of my life, I abused the ocean. It was there to provide me with entertainment for three months of the year, while I ignored it the other nine. I treated it like everybody else does. I took advantage of it and gave nothing back. Three summers ago, my mentality towards the ocean changed completely because it was the only thing there to get me through one of the worst days of my life. I was down the shore working for the summer and I woke up to a phone call from my mom at five in the morning telling me my grandfather was being admitted to the hospital because he suffered a heart attack. I had to wake up my grandmother and get her ready to go home, but she too was having health issues. My aunt was the only person there, so she rushed her home where she was also admitted to the hospital. On top of it all, I was working non-stop because we were really short-handed and it was the busiest week of the year. All I wanted was a break. After my aunt took my grandmother back home, I was by myself. I had no one to go to and no one would listen to me. To clear my mind, I went for a walk. I ended up stumbling across a long lost friend. This friend wasn’t a person. It wasn’t an animal. It was the ocean. It listened to my problems and washed my worries and stresses away. It helped me get through these hard times and helped me realize the ocean is not just there. It has a purpose and is more significant than most people think.

Throughout history, the ocean has been heralded as a source of life and vitality. It was preserved, honored, and used for many different ways of life. Today, we still use it, just in different ways. Some people use the calming sound of waves crashing to help fall asleep, other people use it to support their careers and their life. However, not all of our uses for the ocean are good. Many people don’t even think about the ocean. It is a hole that takes all of their physical garbage and hides it from them. They don’t care what happens to it because it doesn’t affect them directly. Unfortunately, this attitude is ruining the ocean. The oceans are in such bad condition that there are giant islands of garbage and plastic in the center of each of the four oceans. Fish populations are crumbling because of overfishing. Coral reefs are being bleached. The overall health of the ocean is diminishing every second.

I believe in the power of the ocean. Everyone has a weird connection with the ocean. Many people don’t realize it until they feel it, but they underestimate the sheer power of the water that surrounds us. It can be our best friend and our worst enemy. It listens when nothing else is around to listen to you and it is always there for you. It is the best friend that most of us don’t have. We need to look at the ocean the way people before us did. The ocean isn’t a hole that we should dump our physical garbage into. The ocean is the best friend that listens to us and can take our emotional baggage so we don’t have to carry it around with us. It is a presence that we should embrace and revere not abuse, because pretty soon it might be not be there for us.

Posted in RCL | Tagged haley, rcl, rcl1314 | 1 Comment

Civic Issue Post 1

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

I chose to do my Civic Issues blog on the environment and environmental policy. I will cover all aspects of environmental policy, from old policies that are appearing in the news, to policy actions that are in the process of being passed, and policies that should be passed. I will also talk about things that are occurring in the environment and how these events might affect policy.

Twenty four years ago, many prominent countries across the world began to realize the devastating effect that the loss of the ozone layer would have on the world. The ozone layer is a thin layer of high levels of ozone (O3) in the stratosphere. Its main function is to prevent the suns harmful ultraviolet rays from hitting the Earth below it. Without it, life may have never developed on Earth. Around the same time as the realization, the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica reached its largest size ever recorded.

To combat this, many of these countries met in Montreal, Canada, to figure out how they could reverse this. The result was the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. This treaty has since been ratified by 197 countries, including all of the members of the United Nations and the European Union. This treaty banned the use of ozone depleting substances, the worst of which are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halogenated hydrocarbons. It was officially ratified in 1990.

Chloroflourocarbons are arguably the most well known ozone depleting substance. They are composed of chlorine, fluorine, and carbon. They were most commonly used in aerosols and refrigerants. When they are released into the air, they travel upwards, into the stratosphere, where they decompose into constituent elements. This decomposition allows them to react with the ozone in the atmosphere, removing the ozone from the ozone layer more quickly than natural processes do. Usually, ozone in the atmosphere is decomposed by the ultraviolet rays that hit them, however this occurs at a relatively slow rate. CFCs speed up this rate and allows the ultraviolet rays to get through to the surface of the Earth. This resulted in increased rates of skin cancer and the increased need for sun screen.

At the time of the signing of the treaty, many people were not sure if the ozone layer would replenish itself. There was much debate about whether or not it could be saved, however everyone argued something needed to be changed. So, many countries signed the treaty and held their breath, anxiously waiting to see what would happen. For a while nothing got better. Actually, on the contrary, the hole grew even larger throughout the mid 1990s (as shown in the graphic above). Finally, it looks like the regulations against CFCs are working. A NASA study has found that the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica has finally stabilized. They warn that over the next decade or so, the hole will still fluctuate in size depending on global weather patterns. Until chlorine levels in the atmosphere can reach the levels they were in the 1990s, a point that researchers believe will happen between 2015 and 2030, will we begin to see a definite change in the trend of the ozone layer. If the amount of chlorine in the atmosphere can reach the 1990s levels, scientists believe we will have a full recovery around 2070.

This is great news. However, it does not mean people should stop treating the environment any worse than they are now because things are getting better. If anything, they should take this as a wake up call. Environmental policy can be successful, as demonstrated by this study. This means we have to take every step to make the environment our number one priority. Clearly, environmental policy has its benefits. This specific example did not cost a lot to make a reality, however many other ideas require a significant time and monetary investment to be successful. We have to begin making this investment. Instead of funding the endless wars in the Middle East or the war on drugs, which have both had zero evidence of success, we should look to things that have had or can have success. That starts with a serious investment from ordinary people. You can make significant change simply by putting a plastic bottle in the recycling bin or by turning off the light when you leave a room.

Posted in CI | Tagged CI, haley, rcl1314 | 2 Comments

My Predictions for March- College Basketball

Posted on January 27, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

I am going to use this blog to highlight as much of college basketball as I can in the ten weeks or so that we have to write the posts. Unfortunately, (and I know you are all disappointed), I will not be able to cover every single college basketball team and conference. There are 351 teams in 32 conferences. I may or may not know most of them, but it would take huge blog posts each week if I wanted to cover all of them, and no one wants to read that much.

This blog is going to talk about everything happening in college basketball. I will have reoccurring parts each week, but the main post each week is going to vary. This week, I am going to give some of the predictions I have for the conclusion of the season as conference play is really gearing up and the post season is right around the corner. Instead of trying to predict each conference winner this week, I will wait for conference tournament week to do that. This week, I will talk about who I think will make the Final Four of March Madness and who will win the National Championship this year.

______________________________________________________________

First off, my final four.

The first team that I predict will make the trip to Arlington, Texas to play in Jerry World are the Wildcats from the University of Arizona.

Their record says it all. They have 20 wins and have yet to lose a game. With a weaker than usual Pac-12 conference this year, coach Sean Miller could have the Wildcats finishing the season undefeated. Led by star Nick Johnson, who is leading the team in points, and superstar freshman Aaron Gordan, who is a dominant force under the net.

The Wildcats also possess one of the best defenses in the country, allowing only 57 points a game to some of the top ranked teams in the country. The team also has some weaknesses, they rely on their defense, do not have a lights out shooter from three point range, and find it hard to pull away in close games, but it clearly has not affected them that much, as they are the number 1 ranked team in the country.

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The second team that I think will make the Final Four in Arlington are the Orange from Syracuse.

The Orange are coached by legend Jim Boeheim and also are undefeated. They have posted big wins against Baylor and Villanova, two of the top teams in the country. They also run Boeheim’s sacred 2-3 zone, which is almost unbeatable. The Orange also tout one of the best backcourt’s in the country with Tyler Ennis and Trevor Cooney. CJ Fair also leads the team in points and is the team’s star player.

However, they just lost center DaJuan Coleman to knee surgery, so they will have to find a replacement for him, and quickly. Another complaint people have of the Orange is their weak schedule. They have not been fully tested, and have played very few road games. They have a huge test this weekend against legendary powerhouse Duke.

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The third team I think will be going to Arlington are the Shockers from Wichita State University.

They are a team that made the Final Four last year as a 9 seed in the March Madness tournament and this year, they are even better. The Shockers are also undefeated, and will probably remain undefeated as they close their schedule in the weak Missouri Valley Conference. They have a great backcourt with Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker, and have star player Cleanthony Early.

They are a complete team, and have both a great offense and defense. The biggest blemish on the Shockers is their schedule. They have yet to play a ranked team, and have not played many big name conferences.

_____________________________________________________________

The final team I think will make the Final Four are the Spartans from Michigan State.

They have a very experienced team, and have one of the best coaches in March in Tom Izzo. They have many injuries now, but when they get healthy they have what I believe to be the best team in the country. Keith Appling is the best leader in the country, and when paired with Gary Harris, they are unstoppable. Adreian Payne is a huge presence underneath, and can be a difference maker for the Spartans.

They have a tough schedule to finish the season, but if they survive with minimal injuries, they can win the Big Ten and make a run in March.

_____________________________________________________________

My prediction for National Champion is Michigan State. Tom Izzo is one of the best coaches in March and when they are healthy, I do not think they can be beaten.

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I will also pick three games I think are the best games of the week to highlight why college basketball is my “passion”. I highly recommend watching these if you have nothing better to do.

#17 @ #2

Game 1: #17 Duke at #2 Syracuse. Saturday, February 2 @ 6:30 on ESPN. It’s a battle between two of the most successful coaches in college basketball history. Students at Syracuse already started camping out. What more can I say?

#16 @ #8

Game 2: #16 Iowa State @ #8 Oklahoma State. Monday, February 3 @ 9 on ESPN. Two of the top teams in the Big 12, and a battle for position when the Big 12 tournament rolls around.

#24 @ #15

Game 3: #24 Ohio State @ #15 Iowa. Tuesday, February 4 @ 7 PM on ESPN. Ohio State was once considered the number 1 team in the country. They are now ranked 24 and lost four straight. Can they pick themselves back up?

Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 Comments

I Believe in the Ocean

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

This is a really rough draft, and is probably not what I am going to end up using. I just don’t really understand “This I believe” as a genre and can’t wrap my head around it. So this piece is terrible, but it was posted before the deadline, so that’s good right?

The first thing you do when you get to the beach is run down to the water to feel the ocean for the first time. In the euphoria of running to have your toes caress the frigid water, you miss the broken piece of shell in your path. Before you can even touch the water, you are doubled over in pain grasping your throbbing foot. Once you finally compose yourself and get back up, the pain from sand entering the cut on the bottom of your foot is excruciating, but you push through it to get to your final destination. Each step pushes grains of sand further and further into your foot, until finally you reach the water. Once your feet touch the bone chilling water, all of your pain goes away. As you head deeper into the water, you feel the once painful cut feel almost soothing. By the time you leave the beach, you can barely feel the cut. It was like it never happened. As your week goes on, the cut heals faster than any cut you’ve ever had before.

I believe in the power of the ocean. People have used the ocean for almost everything. Many civilizations throughout history have looked at the ocean as a source of life and vitality. It provided a means for exploration and supported us. Today, it still supports us. People use the calming sound of the ocean to fall asleep, others use the ocean to support their careers and their way of life. Other people use it as a source of stress relief. Everyone uses the ocean differently, but we all have a weird connection with the ocean. A connection that not all of us understand. The ocean is a friend who is always there. We can abuse it and it can abuse us, but we still go back.

The ocean is my source of solitude. I use it to be by myself and for entertainment. The cooling waters that run over my body seem to clear all negative attitudes out of me. After what I thought was the worst day of my life a few summers ago, I went to the ocean. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I just needed a friend who was there for me. After hours by myself, everything seemed to be okay. My life didn’t stink as much and I got much happier.

People underestimate the power of the ocean. They’d rather dump their trash and sewage waste into it than use it the way it had been used for centuries before. Instead of trying to ignore it, we need to look back to our roots and admire the ocean for what it is. It can help us through the worst of situations and the best of situations. It can heal us and entertain us.

Posted in RCL | Tagged haley, rcl, rcl1314 | 2 Comments

Passion and Civic Issues Blog

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

I think I am going to do my passion blog on college basketball. I will use my blog to highlight the top games of the past week, make predictions about upcoming games and tournaments, and talk about some of the history of college basketball. With this blog, I will talk about all regions of the country, and not just the B1G or the Mid-Atlantic area. I also will not specifically talk about top ranked teams, I will try to highlight teams of all calibers.

I am going to write my civic issues blog about the environment as a whole. I will mostly focus on the most recent current events about the stability of our environment. Expanding on this, I will highlight on legislation that is being passed to help protect the environment from these things happening in the future.

Posted in RCL | Tagged haley, rcl, rcl1314 | Leave a comment

First Post Of The New Year

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Gavin Vanstone

Passion Blog Ideas: Last semester, I gifted my readers with posts about surfing and everything associated with it. This semester, I am struggling to come up with a good idea for a blog, but I have narrowed it down to a couple ideas. My first idea is to write about the college basketball season. I would touch on every aspect of it, and with it the tournament coming around, I would not run out of anything to talk about. Another idea I had was to build upon the “Great Debate,” as my friends call it. If you do not know what the “Great Debate” is, it is the ongoing battle between Chipotle and Qdoba and which one is better. Including deciding which of those two is better, I could also settle other food place debates. My last idea is to write about music of some kind, but I’m not sure which genre or even how I would do that.

Civic Issues Ideas: I have a few ideas for my civic issues blog. The idea that I am leading towards the most is focusing on climate change. I would focus on all aspects of climate change, such as green technologies, the state of climate change, and policy decisions about climate change. My other idea is the issue of college “student athletes” and if that term is actually applicable. Many people argue they should be paid, others do not. In the wake of the UNC student athlete scandal, I think this topic is very applicable to a civic issues blog. My last resort is to look at political parties and their affect on the US today.

“This I Believe” Ideas: I am not entirely sure what I am going to do for this yet. I think one of my ideas will be that I believe in the ocean. I am still unsure of my other ideas, I think they might be I believe in music or laughter. I think I will be able to do a this I believe about the ocean the easiest, so as of right now, that is my main choice.

Posted in RCL | Tagged haley, rcl, rcl1314 | 2 Comments

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Passion and Civic Issues Blog

First Post Of The New Year

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