Fighting After the Jets-Patriots Game

Posted on October 23, 2013 by elizabeth hannigan

It’s no secret that football is the most popular sport in the nation.  Every Sunday, television sets are tuned to any number of football games.  Love of the game brings people together, and also tears them apart.  Football aficionados have been known to have certain rituals they believe aid their beloved team in winning the game.  Most of the rituals are harmless.  Some people believe that wearing a jersey helps, some people rub a friends baldhead, but some people delve into hazardous ritualistic events.

People all over the nation have made headlines for rioting after sporting events, when their team wins or loses.  Sports fans are among the most volatile people in the world.  All it takes is a friendly joke about the losing team or a simple heckle to set people off.  After this past Sunday’s Jets versus Patriots game, four people have been charged with assault and have been banned from the MetLife Stadium.  38-year-old Kurt Paschke, 26-year-old Jaclyn Nugent; and two of her friends, 28-year-old David Sacco, and Amanda MacDowell, 25, came to fisticuffs after the Patriots lost to the Jets in overtime.

Sports fans take the love of their teams too seriously, at times.  Jets and Patriots fans fist fighting does not aid their respective teams in any way.  If anything it brings about negativity to their teams.  Instead of being in the news for this weeks’ game, the teams are now synonymous with a fistfight that led to an arrest.  Fans should learn to show appreciation and support for their teams without encroaching on another persons love for their team.  We all love the sport and we should be able to watch the games as civilized people.

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Unlimited EBT Leads to Walmart Shopping Sprees

Posted on October 22, 2013 by lyle evan peterson

Saturday, October 12th was like a dream in the small Louisiana towns of Springhill and Mansfield, a dream come true for EBT recipients and a nightmare for Wal-Mart and Xerox. For a few hours this past weekend, there seemed to be a computer glitch whenever EBT debit cards were swiped; apparently all EBT cards had no limit. This resulted in throngs of food stamp recipients flooded the grocery aisles of the local Wal-Mart. Customers were seen with eight to ten full carts of groceries, shelves were cleaned empty, as if it were Black Friday.

When questioned about whose fault the glitch is, both companies pointed the finger at each other. Wal-Mart claims that Xerox is the reason for the glitch, it was their machines that malfunctioned, and therefore they should have full financial responsibility. Xerox, on the other hand, claims that there is a “documented process for retailers like Wal-Mart to follow in response to EBT outages.” Yet neither have officially said who’s is going to pay the total amount, but Louisiana officials have covered the only the amount spent above the allowance on the EBT cards. The rest is to be sorted between Wal-Mart and Xerox.

Xerox also has emergency procedures set for this very situation, if the cards are not being processed properly then retailers have the option to call a phone number and receive authorization to approve the transaction. Wal-Mart chose not to do this, while other local grocery store refused service to customers whose EBT cards weren’t working properly. The fingers are pointed, but who is at fault has yet to be disclosed.

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University of Central Florida Recognized For Athletics After Decades

Posted on October 21, 2013 by jlyzniak

The University of Central Florida toppled Louisville Friday night, October 18th. Louisville, ranked No. 8, lost their Homecoming game and their solid chance for Teddy Bridgewater to take home the Heisman this year. Blake Bortles threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Godfrey with 23 seconds remaining, and the Knights stunned the Cardinals with a 38-35 victory, ending Louisville’s perfect start. Bridgewater made one last desperate heave into the end zone as time expired, but no birds appeared.

President Hitt called this “our number one win ever.” With this victory, we may now be the front runner to win the American Athletic Conference title and possibly the league’s final automatic bid to a BCS bowl. The Knights finally earned a top 25 ranking after so many years of being called “a sleeping giant” and “up-and-coming.” The AP has UCF ranked No. 21, while UCF is No. 25 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 23 in the initial BCS standings. We are officially the second-highest ranked American Athletic Conference team in the BCS rankings, just behind Louisville at No. 20.

This is the biggest win in our 50 year history. Not only did UCF become the top story on ESPN, but headlines around the country read “The Knightmare.” UCF Knights were trending globally on Twitter, as “Kentucky Fried Cardinals” recovered from The Knightmare. Knight fans then celebrated at Blacktop Madness gearing up for the UCF Basketball season. With the UCF Women’s Soccer win over Memphis, we also broke our school record for an unbeaten streak.

Now that we are “ranked and ready to rumble,” I have one request of the news media. We are the University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights, not the Central (C.) Florida Golden Knights. This is not 2006, and we are here. Get used to saying this. UCF! Go Knights! Charge On!

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Major League Baseball: National League Rookie of the Year Contenders

Posted on October 21, 2013 by jmedelman16

Major League Baseball will be releasing the winner of the Rookie of the Year awards soon and there are three contenders. The three players for the National League are Shelby Miller, Yasiel Puig, and Jose Fernandez. Shelby Miller is a Starting Pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, who are National League Champions this year and will be competing in the World Series this Wednesday, October 23rd. Miller had a record of 15-9 during the regular season with an Earned Run Average ERA of 3.06. ERA is the amount of runs allowed per 9 innings. The second contender is Yasiel Puig, the Right Fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers made a good run in the playoffs, but lost to the Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. Puig finished the season with a solid .319 batting average and 19 home runs. The last player on the list is Jose Fernandez the 21 year old Starting Pitcher for the Miami Marlins. Fernandez finished the regular season with a 12-6 record and a 2.09 ERA.

The two top contenders for the National League Rookies are Yasiel Piug and Jose Fernandez. Both players are Cuban natives and are natural baseball players. Yasiel Puig came in to the league in June and became the spark plug for the Dodgers with a great batting average and many runs batted in RBIs. Puig cooled off towards the end of the season but is still a force to reckoned with. Jose Fernandez came into the League as 20 inexperienced 21 year old pitcher and turned out to be one of the only bright spots on the struggling Miami Marlins.

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UCF’s Shocking Win Against Louisville

Posted on October 21, 2013 by johnmalala

This passed weekend was definitely a great one to be Knight’s football fan. The University of Central Florida pulled out an outstanding win against the Louisville Cardinals. Before last weekend, Louisville was ranked sixth in the Coach’s poll and eighth in the AP poll. College football fans perceived this to be an awesome game, but it was expected that Louisville would take the win.

The Knights were not keeping up in the first half of the game. At one point, the Cardinals  were beating us 28 to 7 and it seemed that an easy victory was in order. However, UCF came back with a vengeance after half time and gave ULOU a run for their money. They snapped right back in with a six play, 74 yard touchdown drive. Louisville finally realized that this game wasn’t going to be so easy after all.

The game was at 28-28 and no one knew how this one was going to play out. In the end, it was UCF that came bolting down with a two yard touchdown. The ball belonged to the Knights with just 23 seconds left. Everyone in the ULOU stands were filled with shock and disappointment. Meanwhile, here in Orlando, UCF was going crazy for their team who truly pushed on to greatness.

Now, the University of Louisville has gone down to 18 on the AP poll. The University of Central Florida is finally ranked at 21, as we knocked UF out of the poll. The game ended 38 to 35. It was a perfect weekend and I can’t get over how proud I am to be a Knight.

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Acting on A Prayer : Stephen Baldwin’s Faith Based Return to Hollywood

Posted on October 21, 2013 by alice_moskola

Actor Stephen Baldwin is stepping back into the celebrity pool after taking a ten year hiatus. Baldwin took time off from acting to explore his religious faith as a “born again” Christian. Instead of hiding his faith driven path, he was very vocal and outspoken about his religious preference. He felt that today’s film industry was not fulfilling a faith based platform. Stepping out of the light was not only a personal choice, but a stand against Hollywood’s preferences. His career hit rock bottom but today Baldwin is trying to climb back to the top of a similar but new ladder. After acting in a vast variety of roles in a solid amount films ten years ago, he now is gravitating towards films based around his Christian faith. Although a step in a personally fulfilling yet compromised direction may be a temporary fix, will Stephen Baldwin be able to achieve continued success throughout his redesigned career?

Hollywood did not take Baldwin’s exit to acting easily. He was shunned by many directors for his outspoken nature. Those that he considered close friends would try to offer Baldwin as a suggested actor only to be mocked by fellow colleagues. The more Baldwin spoke on his exit, the larger joke he quickly became. Celebrities of all statuses are able to openly celebrate their personal beliefs but there is usually a consequence to every exposed figure. A temporary tabloid is one thing but being completely wiped off the map as Baldwin was seems a bit harsh.

Commonly, faith is something that individuals work into their already existing paths. However, Baldwin at one time, chose to make it his only path. This is partially the reason that directors laugh at the idea of letting him back in. Baldwin made a choice to back out for a personal reason that he is striving to hold onto when he comes back in. It is laughable in any career to obtain your personal desire of holding onto the best of both worlds. This case exemplifies that today’s Hollywood is a disposable game. There are no sidelines. Once you step out for any reason it is nearly impossible to get back in.

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UCF Upset Over Louisville is Huge for the Program

Posted on October 21, 2013 by ahittel

On Friday, UCF pulled off the biggest win in school history by upsetting #8 Louisville 38-35.  The win was the first win over a top 10 school in UCF football history.  The win puts UCF in prime position to go to the first BCS bowl in school history.  If the Knights are able to win out, they’ll get an automatic bid for winning the American Athletic Conference.

The win for UCF came after big performances from running backs Storm Johnson and William Stanback.  The two combined for 174 yards and 3 touchdowns on 27 attempts.   Both were certainly crucial in allowing UCF to come back from a 28-7 deficit in the 3rd quarter.  Storm Johnson was named the player of the week for the American Athletic Conference, earning more national recognition for the university.  The win also vaulted UCF into the top 25 teams in the nation.  This is a very good thing for the program: the more national recognition the school receives, especially on a primetime network, the stronger the case the school can make for top high school recruits to come play for them in the future.  Theoretically, UCF’s success now should snowball into more and more success in future years with stronger recruiting classes coming to the school.  If the Knights were to make a BCS bowl–whether it be the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona, or the Orange Bowl in Miami–they’d get even more press, especially if they were somehow manage to obtain a victory over what is sure to be a strong program in one of those games.  One thing is for sure: UCF’s one upset win over Louisville has exciting implications for the future success of the program.

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Teens Arrested in Florida Bullying Case

Posted on October 21, 2013 by akilah.fields

Last Monday, Florida sheriff, Grady Judd and the Polk County Sheriff’s office arrested the 14-year old and 12-year old girls who were associated with the bullying of Rebecca Sedwick. Sedwick took her own life on September 9th, jumping from the top of a concrete silo tower after being the victim of both physical and social bullying. The 14-year old and 12-year old bullies, whose names cannot be released due to their age, had been sending Sedwick nasty messages via social networking sites and apps such as Kik, Facebook, and Ask.FM. Such messages included one sent by the 14-year old, which read, “Drink bleach and die… No one likes you.”

As if this was not enough, the same girl went on Facebook after Rebecca committed suicide and posted, “Yes, ik (I know) I bullied Rebecca nd she killed herself but IDGAF. (I don’t give a ****) When sheriff Judd saw this, he immediately knew that something had to be done before the girl attempted to bully anyone else. As Judd called the home of the 14-year old girl and spoke with her father, it became clear that her parents were in complete denial about the situation, claiming that their daughter would never do such a thing. The parents later told ABC News that their daughter’s Facebook account had been hacked, and that it was not actually she who wrote the post.

The Sheriff’s Office is now looking into pressing the parents with criminal charges relating to the contribution of the delinquency of a minor. Judd stated on an ABC News interview, “They (the parents) don’t think there’s a problem here, and that is the problem. It’s kind of like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, that’s what we have here.”

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Australian billionaire shares plans to remake Titanic

Posted on October 21, 2013 by bsnider92

Australian mining billionaire, Clive Palmer, announced recently that he has plans to shoot a remake of the iconic film, Titanic.

It was not that long ago that Palmer shared his plans to build a replica (with modern modifications) of the actual Titanic luxury cruise liner that lived a tragic fate over a hundred years ago.  Calling it the Titanic II, preliminary plans are currently in the works for its construction.  The ship is scheduled to make its déjà vu trip across the Atlantic in 2016.

It has been all the public intrigue in the rebuilding of the Titanic that has sparked Palmer’s interest in remaking the original film as well.  Apparently, it will be “a lot better” than the original 1997 film by James Cameron.  Palmer also says that it will “have a lot of actors from Hollywood, China and Europe who want to star in roles.”  He has also reported that this Titanic reboot will be a love story.

Although his plans of rebuilding the Titanic are being highly criticized, that has not stopped Palmer’s efforts in getting the film started as well.  “The script is still being worked on,” he’s said, “and of course we would be seeking major Hollywood stars and production people to be involved in the movie project.”

Although I loved the original Titanic film as much as everyone else, I am interested to see what a remake with all of our new filmmaking technology, and what seems like an unlimited budget, would be like.  One can only hope that Palmer will hand the reigns of production over to professionals that are equally as passionate but much more creative.

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Another school shooting tragedy occurs in America

Posted on October 21, 2013 by bhecker

Most Americans are still haunted by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting from December 2012. Tragedies like the Virginia Tech shootings are still in most people’s memories as well. These events were brought to the forefront of people’s minds today, as another tragic school shooting took place early Monday morning in Sparks, Nevada.

At around 7AM on Monday, October 21st, a 12-year-old middle school student opened fire at Sparks Middle School. Using a handgun, he fatally shot a math teacher, Mike Landsberry. He also shot two other 12-year-old boys, who were treated at the hospital and are now listed in stable condition. When police arrived on the scene to try and talk the shooter down, the boy shot and killed himself.

Parents of the victims from the Sandy Hook incident have been reaching out to the Sparks community, offering condolences and also talking about how this tragedy reinforces the need for better security at schools in America. Googling the words “school shootings in America” yields shocking and depressing results. Unfortunately, school shootings seem to be common in our country. There have been discussions about gun control and increases in school security for some time now, but so far there has not been any major reforms.

The only positive thing that can be said for this morning’s awful events in Sparks, Nevada is that the response by police was immediate and organized. This most likely kept the shooting from becoming more widespread than it was. The community of Sparks is undoubtedly grateful that the first responders made sure there was not more bloodshed.

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