Kaleidoscope.12.2.2008

205.934.3354 www.UABkscope.com [email protected]

Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Serving UAB since 1967 — www.UABkscope.com Volume 41, Issue 47, 12 pages

Student newspaper of The University of Alabama at Birmingham

B’D

AYS

FAC

TS

Don’t call it Really, don’t.a comeback.

page 4

Jared SuttonStaff Writer

[email protected]

The AIDS virus instantly brings to mind great misfor-tune and intense agony.

Officially named a pan-demic by Dr. L.O. Kallings, former secretary-general of the International AIDS Soci-ety, the virus currently infects an estimated 33 million peo-ple worldwide.

Monday was the 20th an-nual World AIDS Day, and members of the UAB com-munity had the opportunity to learn about the ongoing research efforts of those who continue to work toward bringing its devastating

spread to a halt.As a part of the 2008-09

seminar series by the UAB Center for AIDS Research and UAB’s Department of Ep-idemiology, Ronald H. Gray, M.D., and Michael S. Saag, M.D., hosted discussions.

Gray, the Robertson Pro-fessor of Reproductive Epi-demiology at Johns Hopkins University, served as principal investigator for a trial done by the National Institute for Al-lergy and Infectious Diseases on the efficacy of circumci-sion as a method of HIV pre-vention in males, and is cur-rently monitoring a follow-up on long-term effectiveness.

He spoke on the findings of these trials and others like

them that are currently taking place.

Following Gray’s presen-tation, Saag, director of the UAB Center for AIDS Re-search, delivered the “State of the CFAR.”

Saag, who has published extensively about HIV and has directed a number of in-patient studies on anti-retroviral drugs, spoke about changes in leadership over the past year, positive funding ex-pectations for the future, and new research directions taken by the CFAR.

One such direction cur-rently being implemented is the development of inter-disciplinary research groups which serve as mechanisms to

foster new research programs where none are in existence, but where faculty interest and university capacity is evident.

Lori Renkl, program man-ager in the Department of Epidemiology, began the in-tensive coordinating of the symposium in early summer.

She feels that she was able to bring engaging speakers to UAB because the School of Public Health received the 2008 Milestones in Public Health Grand Rounds Award from Pfizer, an active sponsor of similar community-based initiatives for World AIDS Day.

“I want to emphasize that this symposium was a direct result of [this grant],” Renkl

said. “Pfizer’s very generous award to the UAB School of Public Health allows us to bring Dr. Gray here for this event.”

Kelly Ross-Davis, the edu-cation director for the UAB CFAR, stresses that the value of World AIDS Day is that the entire global community fo-cuses together, if only briefly, on an incredibly dire issue.

“While HIV prevention workshops, testing opportu-nities, and treatment updates are available throughout the year, Dec. 1 allows interna-tional awareness of a disease that takes the life of over 5,000 men, women, and children every day.”

The World AIDS Day 2008

Symposium is not the only event on campus commemo-rating the ongoing struggle against HIV/AIDS on Mon-day.

Organizations such as Safe Zone, Student Housing and Residential Life, SHAPE, and the Office of Student Life will display a small portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

According to www.aids-quilt.org, the quilt, in its en-tirety, measures nearly 1.3 million square feet and con-tains the names of more than 91,000 victims of AIDS.

For more information about AIDS research done throughout UAB, visit www.uabcfar.org.

A BLAZER Thanksgiving

World AIDS Day commemorated with seminar, special events

Catch Kaleidoscope in January

James McConatha/Staff Photographer

Students line up to get served rolls, mashed potatoes, turkey and other Thanksgiving dishes.

Dorm, commuter students share Thanksgiving

ThursdayTODAY Wednesday Friday

High: 51 °F Low: 33 °F




Saturday


Sunday


Dec. 2, 1981 — Britney SpearsDec. 3, 1968 — Brendan FraserDec. 4, 1973 — Tyra BanksDec. 5, 1901 — Walt DisneyDec. 6, 1953 — Tom HulceDec. 7, 1956 — Larry Birdsource: famousbirthdays.com

* In the Middle Ages, Christmas celebrations were rowdy and raucous, similar to today’s Mardi Gras parties.

* From 1659 to 1681, Christmas celebrations were outlawed in Boston. Law-breakers were fined five shillings.

* Christmas wasn’t a holiday in early America. As evidence of this fact, Congress was in session on Dec. 25, 1789, the U.S.’ first Christmas under the new constitution. source: history.com

James McConatha/Staff Photographer

Students share conversations while enjoying Thanksgiving dinner.

James T. McConathaStaff Writer

[email protected]

On Nov. 24, the Undergraduate Student Government Association hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for students in the Blazer Hall RLC. The dinner was originally planned to provide a Thanksgiving meal for students who wouldn’t be able to go home for the holiday, but all students were welcome.

Student Services Committee Chairman Ivory Dale was respon-sible for organizing the event.

“We just wanted to do a little something special,” said Dale. “We wanted to make [the students] feel like they were at home because you know, some people won’t be able to go home.”

Long tables, covered with white tablecloths and decorated down the center with a row of autumn leaves and an occasional miniature pumpkin, filled the largest part of the room.

The USGA prepared for a turn-

out of around 200 students, but everyone seemed to be OK with the relatively slow start. Many stu-dents returned to the buffet for a second helping. With a menu of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, string beans, and rolls, some stu-dents found the meal impossible to resist.

“I can’t believe people are eating at the Commons!” said BlazeRadio DJ Michael Crump. “I mean, this is a free meal!”

Technically, the meal was not entirely free, but students generally believed that it was a good use of their student services fees paid at the beginning of the semester.

“This food is delicious,” said public relations major Calvin Sturgeon as he walked back to his friends at the table with a full plate in hand. “This is my first [helping], but I tasted someone else’s plate!”

Attendees used the opportu-nity to discuss the previous week’s events, forget about finals, and so-cialize with their classmates.

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The best works of art cre-

ated by students in the UAB

Department of Art and Art

History are on exhibit at

the UAB Visual Arts Gallery

at 900 13th St. S., through

Friday at the Juried Student

Annual Exhibition. Juror to

be announced. Free. Call

(205) 934-0815.

Discussion Book Dialogues.

Michele Forman and Rosie

O’Beirne, of the Center for

Urban Affairs, will present

student ethnographic films

“Food to Fuel” by Rachel

Thompson & Jim Warnock

and “Saved: The Story of the

Watercress Darter” by Ingrid

Pfau & Linh Tran Dec. 18,

11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., in

the Blazer Hall Community

Center. Free. A complete

list of Discussion Book activ-

ities can be found at http://

main.uab.edu/Sites/DOE/

ECR/discussionbook/45047/.

ASC Kids’ Club presents

“A Dickens Vest Pocket

Christmas Carol,” an original

ASC theatrical produc-

tion, Sunday, 1 p.m. and 3

p.m., presented by the Alys

Stephens Center, 1200 10th

Ave. S., Birmingham. Tickets

are $7. Part of the ASC Kids’

Club Series. For more infor-

mation, call (205) 975-2787

or visit www.AlysStephens.

org.

Second City’s Dysfunc-

tional Holiday Revue, Dec.

14 at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30

p.m., presented by the Alys

Stephens Center, 1200 10th

Ave. S., Birmingham. Tickets

are $65, $45, $35 and $25;

students $20. Part of the

Beyond Comedy Series. For

more information, call (205)

975-2787 or visit www.Alys-

Stephens.org.

UAB Jazz Ensemble con-

ducted by Steve Roberts.

tonight at 7 p.m., Alys

Stephens Center’s Jemison

Concert Hall, 1200 10th Ave.

S. Free. Call (205) 975-2787.

UAB Department of Music

Student Recital, Wednesday

at noon, UAB Mary Culp

Hulsey Recital Hall, 950

13th St. S. Free. Call (205)

975-2787.

UAB Jazz Ensemble, Friday

at 3:30 p.m., Alys Stephens

Center’s Jemison Concert

Hall, 1200 10th Ave. S. Con-

ducted by Steve Roberts.

Free. Call (205) 975-2787.

UAB Middle School Honor

Bands Concert, Saturday at

3 p.m., Alys Stephens Cen-

ter’s Jemison Concert Hall,

1200 10th Ave. S. Free. Call

(205) 975-2787.

Christmas at the Alys, Dec.

7 at 3 p.m., Alys Stephens

Center’s Jemison Concert

Hall, 1200 10th Ave. S. Join

the UAB Department of

Music choirs as they present

this holiday favorite. Free.

Call (205) 975-2787 or visit

www.AlysStephens.org.

UAB Wind Symphony, Dec.

12 at 3:30 p.m., Alys Ste-

phens Center, Jemison Con-

cert Hall, 1200 10th Ave. S.

Conducted by Sue Samuels.

Free. Call (205) 975-2787 or

visit www.AlysStephens.org.

Film for Thought, today

at noon, HUC Great Hall.

Free. Film for Thought,

sponsored by the Office of

Student Involvement and

co-sponsored by the UAB

Center for Urban Affairs, is

designed to promote the

use of thought-provoking

ethnographic films pro-

duced right here in the

Birmingham metropolitan

area to increase the aware-

ness and understanding of

issues related to diversity

at UAB and its surrounding

community. Through dia-

logue surrounding the film’s

content, you will have the

chance to form your own

opinion and learn to respect

those of others. For more

information, contact the

Office of Student Involve-

ment at (205) 975-9509 or

[email protected].

Toys for Tots toy collection,

Dec. 7-11, Mervyn H. Sterne

Library. Overdue fines will

be waived when you bring

in overdue books and a new,

unwrapped toy for Toys for

Tots. No overdue books? You

can still drop off a toy at the

library.

Hannah K. WebberStaff Writer

[email protected]

Researchers at UAB con-ducted a study that found obese women displaying weaker impulse control than normal-weight women. The study also found that impul-sivity levels are nearly the same between obese and nor-mal-weight men.

A UAB Media Relations article by Gail Short states that the study was conducted to see how obese and normal-weight men and women dif-fered in their decision-mak-ing skills.

The study focused on de-lay discounting, which is the measure of how much an individual is driven by im-mediate gratification vs. the willingness to wait for delayed but greater rewards.

Why did UAB researchers decide to focus on impulse control and obesity?

Kathy Avsar, a UAB psy-chology graduate student and co-author of the study, cited the connection between obe-sity and heart disease.

“Understanding mecha-nisms that might lead to obesity is the first step in de-veloping effective treatments for obesity,” she said. “Several similarities are seen between drug addiction and obesity, such as both being driven by cues in the environment. Re-search had shown in drug ad-diction that impulsivity was a risk factor and we thought that it might be a risk factor in some individuals who de-velop obesity.”

The study began with a screening process. According to Rosalyn Weller, Ph.D., the study’s principle investiga-tor, participants for the study were recruited from intro-ductory psychology classes by way of a screening question-naire, followed by a phone interview.

The researchers needed people who were obese – de-fined by a body mass index of more than 30 – and people who were of normal-weight –

with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9.

“We used a delay-dis-counting task where individ-uals were given a choice be-tween two amounts of money, a smaller amount that was immediately available and a larger amount that would be available after a specified number of days,” Avsar said. “We believe that individu-als who are more impulsive, more often want the money that is available now. They are unable or unwilling to wait for the larger amount.”

“We ended up with useful data from 26 obese women, 29 normal-weight women, 21 obese men, and 19 normal-weight men,” Weller added.

The results of the study, according to Avsar, were that overweight women are more likely to want the immediate reward.

When those women have to wait, the amount of money would have to be larger than that found in the studies of normal-weight women.

“No such differences were found for obese vs. normal-weight men, and in fact, the control women, control men, and obese men all showed similar delay discounting,” Weller said. “The results were the same when we statistically controlled for obese versus control group differences in IQ and income.”

Weller said that she and her fellow investigators were surprised by the fact that the differences in impulsiv-ity between obese and nor-mal-weight women were not found in men.

She believes a possible explanation for this lies in a particular personality trait, eating-related disinhibition, or the tendency to overeat in response to situations or cues such a big display of desserts.

In general, men score low-er on this trait than women, and those with lower BMIs score lower than those with higher BMIs, so obese women may have higher levels of this trait.

Impulse control, obesity linked

Michelle AmaralNews Editor

[email protected]

The UAB Campus Watch Program, much akin to the famed Neighborhood Watch, recently held a contest among students, staff, and faculty to find a new slogan that aptly describes their mission. After receiving approximately 35 entries, a panel of judges se-lected a winner.

The winning slogan, “Blaz-er eyes are watching you,” was submitted by Denise Graves, director of Annual Giving at UAB.

Graves, who has a 17-year-old daughter, came up with the slogan while pondering a big event that will take place in her family next year, name-ly, when her daughter goes off to college.

“My concerns about her safety led to the thought of ‘I want eyes on her’,” she said.

Chris Chandler, 2009-10 president of Campus Watch,

feels that this slogan is quite accurate in describing the very message they would like to get across.

“This slogan lets everyone know that we are out there, watching out for everybody,” he said.

Campus Watch, an organi-zation started in 1992 under the UAB President Charles A. McCallum, Jr., administra-tion, is a community outreach program comprised of UAB faculty, staff, and student body members. Technically a sub-set of the UAB Police Depart-ment, the group directs their efforts at ensuring the safety of everyone on campus.

“As students and employ-ees, we spend just as much time [on campus] as we do at home,” Chandler said. “We want to make sure UAB is a safe place to learn and work. Each of us are a part of the UAB community; we all need to work together to make sure this is a safe environment.”

According to Chandler, members of the group consis-tently display good behavior in an effort to encourage oth-ers to act in a similar manner.

“We want to model good behavior so that the rest of campus can see and under-stand that we want to work in a safe environment.”

Participation in the Cam-

Study: Trait is weaker in obese women than normal-weight women

‘Blazer eyes are watching you’New slogan for campus watch program revealed

see SLOGAN, page 3

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According to Chandler, members of the group consistently display good behavior in an effort to encourage others to act in a similar manner.

“We want to model good behavior so that the rest of campus can see and understand that we want to work in a safe environment.”

Participation in the Campus Watch Pro-gram is open to all UAB students, staff, and faculty. The group holds quarterly meetings that inform attendees of recent crime statis-tics or, on other occasions, offer self-defense courses in conjunction with Rape Aggression Defense (RAD). Oftentimes, the meetings feature local speakers who deliver lectures on such topics as campus safety, the psychology of crime, and the destination of parking fees. The group is also responsible for numerous pub-lic campaigns such as the annual Pedestrian Safety Campaign.

“During our annual Pedestrian Safety Cam-paign, we urge people to act safely when walk-ing about campus,” Chandler said. “Instead of just running across University Boulevard, we ask pedestrians to use the crosswalk.”

Although the exact statistics relating the ef-fectiveness of Campus Watch to the crime rate around UAB is unknown, Graves says she feels

much more safe on campus and implements safety measures in her own department, par-ticularly with employees of the UAB Phona-thon program.

“During work orientation and at various times during the semester we talk to them about arriving and departing from the build-ing,” Graves said. “No one is allowed to leave by themselves; when leaving, females must be escorted by a male, and at the end of the night everyone leaves in their cars together. No one is left alone.”

According to Tonya Webb, a Crime Pre-vention Specialist at UAB, the Campus Watch has been instrumental in solving some of their crime cases.

“They are our eyes and ears on campus,” she said. “We want people to call us when they see suspect activity taking place on campus. Because of the efforts of the Campus Watch members, the group has actually solved some of our cases.”

Chandler says the group would like to in-crease membership, particularly among the student body. Those interested should contact Chandler at [email protected] or Webb at [email protected].

SLOGAN, from page 2

After the momentous day of constant eating, Thanksgiving, there is the consumer-made holiday of Black Friday, the first official round of Christmas shopping. We always joke about the dangers of Black Friday, our mothers telling us to be careful and watch how we drive because of those crazy bargain hunters, but a Long Island man found these warnings to be true. According to the New York Post, at 6:03a.m.Friday, just an hour and three minutes after the doors of Wal-Mart opened, temporary worker Jdimytai Damour was pronounced dead, due to injuries sustained while opening the doors of the Wal-Mart he had been assigned to by the temporary work services. A crowd of at least 2,000 people rushed through the doors of the Wal-Mart to purchase electronics and toys at significantly reduced prices. The saddest part of this, as customers and eyewitnesses said in the New York Post’s video coverage of the event, Black Friday is simply a series of sales that last five or six hours at most, and are not the lowest prices that can be found, although advertisements say differently. This death and the trampling of four other people, including a woman who was

8 months pregnant could have been avoided if businesses just had low prices, and if our society didn’t place such value on material items. Which is more valuable to you? A low-priced flat-screen TV or a man’s life? Were you one of the frantic shoppers on Black Friday? Chances are, the people at the Wal-Mart in Long Island didn’t even feel Damour’s crumpled body under their feet, but I’m sure he felt every step. Next time, what’s say we try to slow down, and have a safe holiday season? Just because it’s called Black Friday doesn’t have to make it a nightmare for real.

Black Friday turns deadlyA worker dies from stampede looking to scrape up bargains

Ashley JonesStaff Columnist

[email protected]

Happy Holidays from the Kaleidoscope staff


Mark TrammellFeatures Editor

Phone: 934-8053 E-mail: [email protected]


‘Australia’ entertains, doesn’t reach epic heightsJared PeoplesStaff Writer

[email protected]

Throughout the history of Hollywood, there has been one genre of film that has displayed its ability to sepa-rate itself from the perpetual barrage of new releases: epic films.

The epic film does have one major problem: consis-tency. In terms of consistency, a few have been great, some have been really good, some have been just OK, and others have just been bad. If these films tell us anything, it is that there is no recipe for a suc-cessful epic.

Epics with amazing con-tent are rarely rewarded in U.S. box office receipts. “Schindler’s List” is one of the greatest films of all time, but the abysmal “Pearl Harbor” amassed over 100 million dol-lars more in domestic theaters than the Steven Spielberg film. In fact, if you added the gross revenue of “The English Pa-tient” to the domestic revenue of “Schindler’s List,” you still would not equal the financial superiority of “Pearl Harbor.”

On the other hand, “Schin-dler’s List” took home the Oscar for Best Picture while “Pearl Harbor” managed only one win for Best Sound Edit-ing.

Still, this is overall a sad state of affairs. It means that not only are domestic audi-ences being deprived of great films, but they are also con-tributing to the glorification of mediocrity.

Someone very familiar with films presented on a grand scale is “Australia” di-rector Baz Luhrmann. Could we ever forget 1996’s “Romeo + Juliet,” which reintroduced the Shakespeare play to an MTV audience? Nor will we soon forget 2001’s “Moulin Rouge!” which taught many

people the only French phras-es they know, via the song “Lady Marmalade.” These two films made it clear that Luhrmann does not do small.

The vague trailers for “Aus-tralia” do not reveal what the film is truly about. The im-pression is that it is a timeless love story, set in the country known as Oz. Perhaps this is the reason that I was the only person under the age of 45 in the theater. While there was a clear age gap between myself and everyone else, I think that everyone present was some-what surprised as to what “Australia” truly entailed.

The love story element to “Australia” is, sadly, some-thing you have seen before on numerous occasions. While the minor details are differ-ent, the film is the typical aris-tocratic lady-meets-cowboy formula.

In a predominantly Austra-lian cast, Nicole Kidman plays English aristocrat Lady Sarah Ashley. She is forced to go to Australia in 1939 because … well, does it really ever matter in films like this? The point is, she needs a guide to reach her destination. Who better than a barroom-brawler whose manner of speak eerily mim-ics that of Steve Irwin? Hugh Jackman plays this character, known only as the Drover, to comedic perfection. Dramatic perfection is much more elu-sive within the film, however.

This age-old combination of pairing completely op-posite characters in stressful situations makes up the banal portions of the film. It is those unexpected parts, though, that make up the heart of the film.

Being an Aussie himself, Luhrmann uses his film’s long run time to inform the general public of the mistreatment of aboriginal Australians, while admonishing the Australian

government at the same time. The main aboriginal character employed to fulfill these tasks is a young boy named Nullah, played by Brandon Walter.

Nullah is the illegitimate child of an aboriginal mother and a white father. The fa-ther is the film’s main villain, and one of his primary goals is to do away with the child. Not only does Nullah face the problem of a nefarious father, but he also must avoid be-coming part of the historical Stolen Generations.

Australia’s racial follies are not as familiar to American audiences as our own racial

follies, but it is easy to see the similarities between the two countries.

The juxtaposition of a love story against an unfamiliar racist legacy is what makes “Australia” unique. As World War II threatens to expand, Lady Ashley and Drover must not only tackle their feelings for each other, but also the prejudicial treatment they in-cur for being sympathetic to the plight of the aborigines.

We have already seen that an epic can tell an important story and still be a bad film, though. So the question must be asked, is “Australia” a good

film? The answer is compli-cated. Visually, it is very beau-tiful. Kidman is believable as an aristocrat, but the love sto-ry with Jackman feels forced at times.

Jackman is a bit too comi-cal throughout the film to be believable. Walters makes “Australia” worth seeing and is clearly the film’s standout. He is able to narrate the story, bring the main characters to-gether, and all the while, make “The Wizard of Oz” enjoyable again; no easy task for such a young actor, but he pulls it off seamlessly.

So what will the legacy of

“Australia” be? Oscar nomina-tions will undoubtedly occur, but they are more likely to be in the more artsy departments instead of the more- publi-cized categories.

While the film is very easy to watch, even with its long run time, it is just not an epic in the mold of “Schindler’s List.”

Its historical background is important, but just like “Pearl Harbor,” an important message still necessitates a great story to achieve a place in cinematic history. For this reason, Luhrmann’s epic falls short of greatness.

‘Chinese Democracy’ just an Axl Rose solo albumMark TrammellFeatures Editor

[email protected]

It’s been a weird year, what with the economy bottoming out, the seemingly endless election finally coming to a close, and the music charts rocking like it’s 1988 instead of 2008, what with the return of Metallica and AC/DC, both of whom had their highest charting successes in years.

Why am I not surprised, given these circumstances, that Guns N’ Roses’ long-awaited, nearly 15 years in the making, “Chinese Democra-cy” should finally see the light of day this year, of all years? Folks, you can now officially stop making “Chinese Democ-racy” jokes, because Axl Rose finally got around to releasing the thing, for better or worse. No doubt about it, this al-bum is over-produced within an inch of its life. The list of credits is endless and the number of musicians who worked on “Democracy” is exhaustive.

Indeed, one track features no less than six guitarists! None of which, I might add, are named Slash. Indeed, Slash, Duff, Steven, and Izzy (aka 4/5s of the original GNR lineup) are nowhere to be found, leading one to won-der why Axl Rose didn’t just release this thing as a solo album and be done with it. To be sure, it’s the Axl Rose show from start to finish, and it’s more self-obsessed than

any given episode of the Tyra Banks Show. To wit, the word that recurs the most is “I,” which is featured in every sin-gle song. It’s a constant stream of endless finger-pointing and defensive reasoning for everything Axl has ever done over the years, including the amount of time spent record-ing this monster.

It would be interesting to see what actual fans of ’80s metal make of this CD, which couldn’t be further removed from what most people think of when they think of that scene. If you want something that harkens back to primo GNR, pick up the first Velvet Revolver CD. How ironic that a group made up of cast-offs from metal groups, includ-

ing GNR, no less, would nail it on the first try, while Axl spent over a decade refin-ing what amounts to “Use Your Illusion Part Three.” Don’t get me wrong. Axl has a real gift for, as he terms them, “melodies.” But is wad-ing through the layers of pro-duction to get to the songs something old school GNR fans will have the patience for? True, Axl has grown a little.

This time out, on the closer, “Prostitute,” he’s actually talk-ing about — you guessed it — himself, instead of ranting about the latest woman who’s done him wrong. “If my in-tentions are misunderstood/Please be kind, I’ve done/All I should,” Rose sings.

When he isn’t ranting and raving about something or the other, he just sounds ex-hausted. And after working on the same album for nearly 15 years, who can blame him? The problem is the record is so densely packed, it’s often just as exhausting for the listener. For instance, did “There was a Time” really need that choir intro and outro? Does the title track really need dou-ble-tracked Axls and five gui-tarists? Probably not, but you can’t fault a guy for trying to get the music he hears in his head as close to perfection as he can possibly achieve. Oh wait, yes, you can.

In fact, with all the para-noia and recurring gun im-agery, Axl sounds like one of those Waco types, armed to the teeth in an underground bunker, just waiting for some terrorist to invade his turf. What makes him fascinating is you get the feeling he’d wel-come it!

Now and then there’s a glimpse of something real. Take, for example, the near Billy Joel-esque piano-bar torch song, “This I Love,” in which Axl pours his heart out to a girl he loves. But even then, he can’t resist compar-ing her to himself: “Her heart’s just like mine.”

When the most revealing track is called “Madagascar,” and reads like the gospel of Axl, you know you’re in ego-tistical waters like no other. “Forgive them that tear down my soul/And bless them that

they might grow old.” As if this wasn’t mind-

blowing enough, the song features an extended vocal-snippet-montage made up of sound-bites of movies like “Braveheart,” “Mississippi Burning,” “Seven,” and “Cool Hand Luke” (also sampled in the GNR classic “Civil War”), not to mention a prominent sampling of MLK’s “I have a dream” speech! Modesty, thy name is surely not Axl Rose.

The album does have its moments. Check out the hook-laden “Shackler’s Re-venge,” which sounds like an alliance between the Deftones, Rage Against the Machine, and Nine Inch Nails, with Axl on lead vocals.

“If the World” has lovely Spanish guitar interludes, crunchy guitars elsewhere, and even some trip-hop and funk influences around the edges.

“There was a Time,” which could serve as a requiem for the old line-up of GNR, and the perplexingly titled “Riad N’ the Bedouins” (a search reveals that it’s a reference to Arabic nomads and Moroc-can gardens) both have killer choruses.

Many songs are piled high with memorable riff-age, and hooks for days. The musicianship is su-perlative across the board. Yet, the effect is almost too overwhelming. To his credit, Axl has certainly kept up with the times. “Better” could be an emo/screamo power ballad,

and “Street of Dreams” could be “November Rain” updated for the new millennium.

Nor are his past influences unaccounted for. “Catcher in the Rye” sounds like a lost ’70s arena-rock stomper and “Sor-ry” features a sweet bluesy solo from Buckethead. Much of the CD, however, comes off like an ongoing battle be-tween honoring Axl’s musical heroes, especially Elton John, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, and Nazareth, and trying to keep up with the times and sounds of today’s artists.

The real problem is that the sounds that made people fall for GNR in the first place — that classic GNR bluesy bar-room stomp — are nowhere to be found. Axl is not GNR, any more than Roger Waters is Pink Floyd or Jim Morrison is The Doors. Anyone who thinks so is clearly not paying attention.

Why not call a spade a spade? This is really a solo al-bum posing as a band many hold near and dear. GNR’s ap-peal was that they came off as hard-scrabble L.A. kids who wanted to rock themselves into the limelight. They were hungry and it showed.

With Axl having rested on his laurels for over a decade, will anyone even care about this CD anymore? And if they do, will they be disappointed to find it’s more like an at-tempt to stay current than the good old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll they hoped for? Only time — and record sales — will tell.

Photo courtesy of australiamovie.com

Nicole Kidman stars as Lady Sarah Ashley, an English aristocrat who reluctantly falls in love with the cattle-herding Drover, played by Hugh Jackman, while protecting her inheritance in Australia.

gunsnroses.com

Guns N’ Roses released “Chinese Democracy” on Nov. 23 after nearly 15 years in production.

Serving UAB since 1967 Tuesday, December 2, 2008 — 5




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the ages of 19 and 32, are a non-smoker and a normal weight for your height, please consider participating in our egg donation program. You can help an infertile couple realize their dream of a child to call their own. Once you have completed the screening requirements and are accepted into the program, you will be asked to make fi ve to six visits over a six week period. You will be provided reimbursement for your time and travel. � e ART Fertility Program of Alabama at Brookwood Medical center is helping turn dreams into reality.

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Women Helping Women

Beyoncé’s double disc hits highs and lowsAshley JonesStaff Writer

[email protected]

She’s the self-proclaimed “number one diva in the game,” as she quips in her song, “Diva.” She’s a singer, actress, entrepreneur, model, and overall filthy rich super-star, so famous that she only goes by one name: Beyoncé. The female Michael Jack-son, as I like to think of her, usually strikes the right, sell-able note with her pop/R&B-fusion music, and has spoken previously about her alter ego, Sasha Fierce, who helps her gain stage presence and that perfect amount of diva that is necessary to perform in front of thousands of screaming fans.

But Beyoncé wants to show the world the two sides of her-self quite literally, by releasing a double-CD called “I Am … Sasha Fierce,” which hit stores on Nov. 18. Each CD represents a different “side” of Beyoncé. The first, “I am…” is the more personal, auto-biographical side, while the second, “Sasha Fierce” is the side Beyoncé presents to the public. Paging Hannah Mon-tana! (Or is it Miley Cyrus?) The first track, “If I Were a Boy,” is classic Beyoncé, but with a softer touch. This song, the ultimate guide for men to stop acting like jerks (think of “Irreplaceable,” without the diva), is strong because Be-yoncé controls it well, but in a way it’s just more of the same.

Nonetheless, this song is so infectious, and does show a different side of Beyoncé, just as the next track, “Halo,” does. “Halo” shows Beyoncé as more than a pop star — and perhaps if she had started out with this type of music, she would have been a totally different artist. “Disappear” keeps the “I Am ...” side of Beyoncé’s album go-ing. Again, I like the different sound, and I hate to say it, but I like that I can’t identify this as Beyoncé. If I didn’t know it was her, I would just wonder who that new artist was.

“Disappear” uses Beyon-cé’s voice in a more accessible way, and I appreciate the pro-duction of the song. “Broken-Hearted Girl” ruffled my feathers from the song title alone. I’m not one for sappy songs, and this one is not lacking sap. Its sticky lyrics proclaim “I don’t want a bro-ken heart/And I don’t wanna play the broken-hearted girl.”

I was still confused and annoyed with the next song, “Ave Maria.” I am familiar with the traditional song, but Beyoncé’s version of “Ave Ma-ria” makes the religious staple into a love song, saying that finding her love is a spiritual experience.

“You are my heaven on earth/You are my hunger, my thirst/I always hear this voice inside,” Beyoncé sings. I’ve never really heard any-thing like this, and I’m not sure I like the combina-tion of “Ave Maria” and Be-yoncé’s lyrics about love. “Smash Into You” continues the downward spiral of Be-yoncé’s more personal side of the album. Her voice is good, but the song itself is just not enjoyable.

The chorus proclaims “I wanna run (run) and smash into you,” which, I assume means that she loves this

person so much she wants to merge with them. The senti-ment is great, but I’m not sure that the slow arrangement and lyrics are right.

“Satellites” is a dreamy love song that attempts to break the cycle of less-than-enjoyable songs. I like the relaxed sound and Beyoncé’s clear vocals powered into the lyrics, which aren’t as forced as the others. “That’s Why You’re Beauti-ful” is a ballad about beauti-ful people, and again, while I appreciate the sentiment, I’m not sure I really appreciate the song as it is arranged.

Beyoncé’s voice, while able to handle slow ballad-type songs, is better suited for more powerful, diva-heavy songs. That’s why I longed for the “Sasha Fierce” side of the album to come around — which brings me to “Single Ladies.”

I love “Single Ladies” be-cause it’s classic Beyoncé, but fresher. It is just sensual enough to be tasteful, and empowering but not cliché, and I think this might be one of the only times on the fierce part of the album that Beyoncé hits the nail on the head without going too far. “Radio” is another upbeat song that’s heavy with techno-instruments and Beyoncé’s signature “oh-oh-ohs.” I like this sound from Beyoncé, it almost doesn’t sound like her, but then it does, and I enjoy the light, experimental sound the song has.

“Diva” might be a risky song, as people already think that Beyoncé and her alter-ego, Sasha Fierce are one and same. This half-rapping, half-singing, sort of masculine, potty-mouthed Beyoncé is not really the woman of class and integrity she promotes.

“Sweet Dreams” is inter-esting, and I definitely like it better than “Diva” and “Ave Maria.” “Sweet Dreams” is up-beat and easy to listen to, but did not prepare me for “Video Phone.” “Video Phone” is a little sketchy — telling men “So press record I’ll let you film me/On ya video phone.” At one point she says “You want me naked?/If you likin’ this position/You can tape it.” I think that says it all. Maybe I’m a prude, but I don’t like the direction this song is go-ing.

“Hello” makes the age old expression, “you had me at hello,” an entire song. Yes, Be-yoncé’s voice is very strong, but the message is a little over-done. I might be surprised by this song’s ability to stick in my head, though.

Beyoncé knows how to make a marketable song, and she’s definitely done that here.

“Scared of Lonely” is not really a “fierce” song, but I definitely identify with what Beyoncé is saying. Everyone is scared of be-ing lonely, and this was a good way to end the album. So, “I Am … Sasha Fierce” might not be for everyone. Die-hard Beyoncé fans will love the album, fans of up-beat dancing songs will love the ‘Fierce’ CD, and romantic types might find something to love on the “I Am” CD. I’m not necessarily a Beyoncé fan, but I did find some tracks that I liked, and I think this album is worth a listen — you just might not like it all.

Photo courtesy of Beyoncé.com

Sasha Fierce, the artist formerly known as Beyoncé Knowles, cuts her ‘fierce’ side loose on her new album ‘I am...Sasha Fierce’.


8— Tuesday, December 2, 2008 Serving UAB since 1967

Ryan HeadleyForum Editor

Phone: 934-8097 E-mail: [email protected]


Daniel SimsStaff [email protected]

During the week of our Thanksgiving holiday, India has suffered some of the

worst terrorist violence in its history. The story has been widely reported, over 140

people have been killed and hundreds more injured in the city of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), so the details are readily available on most news channels or Web sites. The larger ques-tion is why this has hap-pened, and what the response of the United States should be.

The origin of the ter-rorists, while uncertain at this time, may be Pakistan. Pakistan neighbors India and has within its borders many extremist pseudo-Islamic groups. The two countries, India with a majority Hindu population and Pakistan with a majority Muslim popula-tion, have been at odds since the creation of Pakistan more than 50 years ago.

Since the removal of longtime Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf, and the subsequent assassina-

tion of his most popular rival for the presidency Benazir Bhutto, the country has been experiencing some turmoil as alliances within the govern-ment form and reform.

It has been the widely held opinion that elements within the Pakistani government are sympathetic to some terrorist groups. It would be relatively easy in this turbulent envi-ronment to organize the forc-es of terrorists who infiltrated Indian territory, some alleg-edly entering India aboard a Pakistani ship docked at the port of Mumbai.

Resentment at the coop-eration between the United States and Pakistan may have something to do with these attacks. Since the terrorists cannot make it as far as the continental United States, they chose their longtime rival India as a target instead. As the turmoil in Pakistan subsides, terrorist activity based within that country will also subside as security improves.

The American reaction to these attacks should be heightened awareness of our own security. The vacuum of power that took place in Pakistan before these attacks is in ways similar to the tran-sition which will take place as outgoing President Bush and incoming President-elect Obama exchange roles. We shouldn’t stop here, though.

The United States and

India have grown closer recently with the exchange of high level nuclear tech-nology. These are peaceful applications of nuclear power and, as important as this exchange is, we should look to develop stronger security and military ties as well. As a democracy, India does not have the security controls on its population as its neighbor China does, nor does it have the monetary surpluses of China to expand its army and police forces to meet an increased terrorist threat.

By establishing more sig-nificant military and security ties to India, it would give India additional security and allow India to counterbalance the growing influence China is gaining in the region.

The result of closer United States-India relations can only be positive for both countries. India will become safer, and the United States will gain by applying ad-ditional pressure to terrorist groups.

During the election, Barack Obama spoke often of having a more global view of ourselves and our country. I think closer and more sig-nificant ties with India would allow him the opportunity to show his leadership in a meaningful way and to ac-complish something impor-tant at the same time.

Denise HoneycuttStaff [email protected]

A few weeks ago, MTV said goodbye to what used to be one of its most popu-lar programs, TRL (Total Request Live).

I personally didn’t watch the 2-hour finale of the show, but its cancellation did make me a bit nostalgic for the earlier days of MTV and channels like it. I used to enjoy watching music videos and seeing musicians per-form, but MTV doesn’t seem to be about that anymore. MTV is one example of how more “music” channels have abandoned catering to music and music fans, and have adopted reality programs as their primary format.

There was once a time when all MTV did was play music videos and interview musicians. Eventually it did have some game shows as part of its programming, but the overall focus of the chan-nel was still music, which was fitting considering it was called Music Television.

I know that not everyone was a fan of the music videos shown on MTV, but MTV was the genesis of other mu-sic channels that came after it. It helped music fans learn more about the people they heard on the radio, or put a face to the name/songs they were hearing.

It also helped to make some musicians more famous and more recognizable to the public. It’s sad that MTV has now decided to focus on real-ity programs.

I used to watch one of MTV’s reality shows, “The Real World.” In fact, I think that show started the trend of popular reality programs.

It existed long before

shows such as “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race.” When I watched shows like “The Real World” and “Road Rules,” they seemed to be a bit more tame. As the years passed, these shows became more about young people doing outrageous/degrading things for attention.

This seems to be the for-mat adopted by most of the reality programs now shown on MTV. “The Real World” was once a reality show surrounded by a number of music programs, but eventu-ally MTV became a reality channel, with the occasional music program.

When TRL was cancelled, I think it was the last show on the music channel that ac-tually showed music videos. Well really this show, which started out as a countdown of requested music videos, be-gan to show five second clips of music videos. They rarely showed music videos in their entirety. The show became more about promoting CDs and movies.

Actors, who really had nothing to do with music, be-gan to come on the program to promote movies. Like MTV, the show seemed to lose its focus, which may be a major reason why it began to lose its audience.

MTV seems to be the first music channel that has decided to change its format, in large part excluding music programs. I haven’t always been the biggest fan of MTV, or its programs, but the music channel used to at least appear to care about music.

Music was the whole pur-pose of the channel. I think that it is only a matter of time before the other music chan-nels do the same as MTV. They have, in fact, already begun. VH1, BET, CMT, and

MTV2 each feature reality programs on their schedules. It’s probably only a matter of time before reality programs are all that they show.

For a number of years, VH1 has grabbed my atten-tion, as far as music pro-grams are concerned. I enjoy watching “Jumpstart” in the morning. This program seems to feature music and artists that may not be well known to the public.

They also play music that we may not hear on local radio stations. VH1 also still has programs like “Storytell-ers,” which gives musicians the opportunity to give fans and viewers the story behind some of their hits. I would like to see more music chan-nels adopt programs like these before it’s too late. I know that there is an audi-ence for them.

I realize that the world has changed, and some people’s interests have changed when it comes to television.

I also realize that the Internet has also become a quick and easy way for music fans to keep in touch with their favorite musicians and watch videos, but I still think there is a need and an audience for actual music television.

Video and music televi-sion isn’t dead yet, but like MTV, it seems to be head-ing in that direction. Maybe if the programs replacing many of the music programs seemed to be of some sub-stance, I could understand the change, but shows like “The Hills,” have proven that isn’t the case.

At the very least, these music channels should con-sider changing their names, since their focus seem to no longer be on music or videos, they are misleading.

TRL’s end last blow for music TV?

India attacks show need for closer ties

Amy PedigoStaff [email protected]

Each year, thousands of greyhounds are euthanized after their racing careers are over. Deemed useless by many owners, the dogs who no longer measure up are cast aside.

While there are some owners who care for their dogs and only raise and race a few greyhounds, the major-ity of owners treat their dogs as if they are solely monetary commodities.

At Auburn, ex-racers are received as lab animals. Un-fortunately for greyhounds, they have extremely docile dispositions when not on the track. When the dogs arrive at the university, they are either subjected to medical research or used in labs for dissections.

Though we do need medical advancements and practice for our nation’s upcoming doctors and veterinarians, it need not be a factor in the propitiation in the racing industry.

One suggestion that comes off the top of my head would be to use the animals from our human societies that have not been able to find homes. They are the result of society’s inability to keep the animal population under control. Greyhound overpopulation is a pandemic that has a simple solution: Stop purposely over breeding these animals.

Luckily, there are many advocates for racing grey-hounds. Birmingham is the home of a few rescue groups where retired dogs are placed in loving homes. But this is not enough. There is still senseless killing of dogs each year.

Some live a “good, long life” of four or five years racing, others live only one or two years because they cannot make it past training, and yet others still are killed as puppies because they are simply not needed.

And as for the dogs who do prove to be fast enough to live, many are subjected to overcrowding in kennels (which leads to needless fights among some males), putrid Grade D meat as food, and often poor medical care, if any is administered at all.

In third world countries,

it is the norm to torture the dogs who are “losers” after races for cheap entertain-ment.

Often it is more cost-ef-fective to hang dogs in order to save the cost of a bullet or euthanasia drugs. The ropes can be used multiple times, not just once.

It has been a long while since the majority of the hu-man race depended on dogs to help them hunt and catch food. So, the use for breeding

dogs for the purpose of speed seems asinine. We are intel-ligent enough to find other means of occupying our time and spending our money in the pursuit of leisure. Yet, greyhound racing continues.

I ask: Why? Why do we endorse a pastime that is blatantly cruel? Legislators make efforts to control dog-fighting rings, calling them “inhumane.” Why isn’t this rationale applied to grey-hound racing?

Dog racing perpetuates cruel treatment of greyhounds

Cynically Speaking by Jared Sutton

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B.J. SteedSports Editor

Phone: 934-6165E-mail: [email protected]

Dale AddisonSports Columnist

Is the current BCS format re-ally the best formula for deter-mining a true national champion in college football? Absolutely NOT!

But for those of you who aren’t old enough to remember when bowl tie-ins were the law of the land and national cham-pions were decided by subjec-tive voting, the BCS really has been a much more efficient way of determining college football’s national champion.

Of course, it goes without say-ing that a playoff is at the top of every fanatic’s Christmas list this year. And why not? Playoffs are essentially the most logical way of ensuring that a championship is decided on the field of play. But it’s imperative that you come to the realization that the current BCS format is the only system that the presidents of the SEC, BIG-12, BIG-10, ACC, PAC-10 and BIG EAST will more than likely ever agree upon.

The BCS is a cash cow of epic proportions.

And the one aspect of life that each and every person should have already come to grips with is the fact that money makes the world go round.

Sure, you can jump up and down screaming and shouting that a playoff is ultimately going to generate more overall revenue than the current BCS format, but the presidents of the big six aren’t concerned with increasing the overall revenue of the entire NCAA when it jeopardizes their perspective conferences enjoy-ing the position as the Bill Gates of college football.

A BCS bowl game pays each of its participants $17 million apiece. And if a conference is re-ally, really, really lucky, say like the SEC and BIG-12 are going to be this year, they have the oppor-tunity to qualify two teams and collect $34 million without ever having to land on Boardwalk or pass GO.

Better yet, why would any of the BCS conferences even con-sider a playoff a viable option when there is a possibility that the conference is going to suffer through some down years when they might not even have a dog in the fight?

Think about it like this, if a playoff were already implement-ed and in full effect this season, neither the ACC nor the BIG East would have a team good enough to qualify for the field of eight.

So if you were thinking that each and every BCS conference champion should automatically qualify, well, would you really be willing to make the argument that a Cincinnati or Georgia Tech squad that won a watered down conference was really more de-serving of a trip to Miami than either Texas or Texas Tech? Not if you really wanted people to take your opinion seriously!

But under the current BCS formula that is in effect as of to-day, the BIG East may not have a team competing for the crystal trophy, but at least it has already guaranteed itself a $17 million payout because of the Bear Cats.

Corporations all across this country have become synony-mous with firing their CEO’s when they invest in a risky fi-nancial decision that causes the company to lose revenue and de-creases profits, so why on earth would a conference president want to risk losing a multi-mil-lion dollar payday because the

Blazers blank Knights

Marlon GlennSports Writer

[email protected]

Instead of stuffing their faces with turkey and dress-ing, the UAB women’s basket-ball team played three games during the week of Thanks-giving.

Unfortunately, Thanksgiv-ing week got off to a rocky start for the women’s basket-ball team as the nationally ranked Auburn Tigers mauled the Blazers 91-62 Wednesday night at Bartow Arena.

The Blazers came out de-termined to upset the Tigers playing to a 32-32 tie in the first half. Auburn led 32-26 until two threes by sopho-more guard Amanda Peterson evened the game.

“I am very proud of the way we played in the first half,” said Coach Audra Smith. “We defended well and took some things away from them. We were also getting the ball moving on the offensive side and getting some shots. We played hard and with a lot of

intensity.”The second half was a dif-

ferent story as the Tigers ex-ercised their dominance out-scoring UAB 59-30. Auburn’s 23-5 run in an eight and a half minute span signaled the end for the Blazers as Auburn’s relentless intensity led to a 29 -point victory.

“We played good the first five minutes of the half. But, once things started to go wrong, it seemed to snow-ball,” said Smith. “We weren’t getting stops on the defensive end and we gave up way too many layups. We couldn’t get anything going in the offen-sive end either.”

Auburn shot a remarkable 64 percent from the field com-pared with UAB’s cold 31 per-cent. Auburn dominated the glass as they out-rebounded the Blazers 46-26. As further proof of their solid defense, Auburn blocked eight shots in the contest.

Senior forward Dewanna Bonner scored 29 points on 9-of-14 shooting, pulled down

a game high eight rebounds, dished out two assists and re-corded two blocks.

Freshman guard Morgan Jennings recorded 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and tallied three rebounds off the bench.

Sophomore guard Re-neisha Hobbs was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, record-ing 10 points and three re-bounds.

Sophomore guard Amanda Peterson scored a career high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. She was on fire as she hit six of nine treys from downtown.

Senior guard Brittney Jones finished with 15 points on 6-of-21 shooting. She also dished out four assists and grabbed four rebounds.

“After the first half of to-day’s game, I know how well we are capable of playing. If we play the rest of the season like we did in the first half, we will be just fine,” said Smith.

Things didn’t get any easierAlyssa Mitchell/ Photo Editor

Junior Amanda Scott pulls up for a shot against Auburn. The Blazers lost 91-62 to the nationally ranked Tigers.

Busy Thanksgiving for basketball

see BCS, page 10see WOMEN’S,

page 10

BCS may be just a cash cow

UAB concluded their 2008 football season with a 15-0 blanking at UCF Saturday afternoon. The shutout was UAB’s first ever against a Conference USA opponent.

“We’re really happy to win this game,” said head coach Neil Callaway. “We are tremendously proud of the players. I thought they played extremely hard and competed and stayed focused the entire game.”

The game could not have gone better for senior kicker Swayze Waters, who went a perfect 5-for-5 in his final collegiate game. Waters concludes his career at UAB in second place on the all-time field goal list with 50. The Jackson, Miss., native finished his senior year making 19-of-24 field goals.

While Waters scored all the points for offense, it was the Blazer defense that won the game Saturday. The much improved defense held UCF to just 209 total yards in recording the school’s first shutout in 10 seasons in C-USA.

UCF (4-8, 3-5 C-USA) starting quarterback Rob Calabrese went 2-for-8 for 6 yards before be-ing pulled at halftime. Backup Joe Weatherford had little success, either, against an inspired group of seniors leading the defense.

“We talked a lot this week about three things,” said Callaway. “We talked about that we needed to just win a ballgame, obviously we wanted to win one for the seniors, and we wanted to win one to create some momentum for next year.”

Blazer fans can look to next year with optimism with quarterback Joe Webb returning for his senior season. Webb finished Saturday’s game throwing for 248 yards, and completing 20-of-28 pass at-tempts while rushing for 80 yards. More impor-

tantly Webb managed a UAB offense that did not commit a turnover against UCF.

The junior already broke C-USA’s record for rushing yards by a quarterback earlier this season, and Webb now becomes UAB’s second 1,000-yard rusher in school history, joining Carl Sanders who ran for 1,154 in 1996.

UAB dominated practically every statistic, most

notably in time of possession where the Blazers controlled the clock for more than 41 minutes, compared to only 18 minutes by UCF.

Game management was UAB’s agenda from the kickoff, stringing together three consecutive long drives to end the first half, all capped by Waters’ field goals.

The key stat to maintaining these long drives was the Blazers’ third-down success where they converted on 11-of-19 third-down opportunities.

After Waters made his fourth field goal of the game on UAB’s first drive of the second half, the Blazers turned to their opportunistic defense to close out the game.

First it was freshman Chase Daniel who picked off a Weatherford pass to end a UCF drive in the third quarter. Waters then made his final field goal to extend the Blazer lead to 15-0 with 7:02 left in the game.

After UCF had marched into the red zone on their next drive, cornerback Kevin Sanders fit-tingly put the game out of reach when he grabbed his seventh interception of the season. The inter-ception was Sanders’ fourth in the last three games and enough to put the senior in sole possession of second place among UAB’s all-time interception leaders.

“I had no idea we’d be able to shut them out,” said Callaway. “The defense played extremely well. We gave up a few throws, but that’s going to hap-pen. We’ve come a long way from early in the year when we struggled to stop anybody and now we’re doing some things pretty well.”

UAB finishes the season 3-5 in C-USA and 4-8 overall. The good news for Blazer fans is the way their football team finished the season, winning three of their last five games and nearly knocking off C-USA East Champions East Carolina.

Jonathan DealAssistant Sports Editor

[email protected]

James McConatha/Senior Staff Photographer

Running back Justin Brooks (left) takes a handoff from Joe Webb (right). Brooks and Webb combined for 115 yards on the ground.

Men’s basketball falls short in Big Apple

The trek to the Big Apple was not so glamorous for the UAB men’s basketball team. They fell to the Oklahoma Sooners and Boston College Golden Eagles, and had their jerseys stolen in the process.

“We played good in our first two games against Santa Clara and Arizona,” said senior forward Law-rence Kinnard. “We started to wither at the end of games. We need to work on finishing games and playing defense. Overall, it was a good experience, but we can play better.”

According to ESPN analyst and former UCLA head coach Steve Lavin, the battle between the 13/14 ranked Oklahoma Sooners looked like a Sweet 16 match up. Two heavyweights slugged it out, but the Sooners prevailed in a hard fought 77-67 win Tuesday night at Madison Square Gar-den.

Sophomore power forward Blake Griffin showed why he’s hands down the best player in college bas-ketball this year after his fifth double-double in as many games with 32 points and 16 rebounds on 11 of 14 shooting.

“Blake Griffin is a great player. He’ll probably be a lottery pick. It was a challenge guarding him. We made some mistakes, but he did a good job getting free,” said Kinnard.

The Blazers showed they weren’t a pushover, jumping out to an early 5-point lead in the game. The Sooners fought back to even the contest, but the Blazers responded with an array of jumpers and dunks to up their lead to 11.

Griffin, who was quiet for a majority of the first half, led the Sooners with a late resurgence and cut UAB’s lead to 34-29 at halftime.

The second half was marked by both teams mak-ing serious runs. Oklahoma came out early to take the lead as they jumped out on a 10-3 run, but UAB showed no signs of backing down as they went on a 10-0 run at the 6:45 mark. However, Oklahoma had the final say as they capped the game on a 15-5 run to end the game.

Oklahoma had a big night from the field and shot 55 percent for the game compared with UAB’s 40 percent. UAB pressured Oklahoma into 16 turnovers, with Griffin making seven turnovers, compared with UAB’s nine.

Delaney showed he’s over his injury with a big time performance against the Big 12 foe. He scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and pulled down 6 rebounds.

Vaden had a tough shooting night as he had several shots go halfway down and rim out. He finished the night with 18 points on 7-of-20 shoot-ing, including 4-of-10 from downtown. Despite his struggles with his jumper, he managed to grab a team high eight rebounds.

Freshman forward Cade Davis shot 4-of-8 from downtown and finished with 12 points, four re-bounds and four assists for Oklahoma.

The loss to the Sooners set up a match up with Boston College, who lost 71-64 to Purdue in the third place consolation game.

The Blazers had problems with the match up with the Golden Eagles before tipoff. First, the team learned Delaney would miss the game due to an injury he sustained. Then, the team had to fly spare jerseys in from Birmingham to New York a few hours before tipoff after someone stole their jerseys.

UAB came out with solid intensity and took an early 6-point lead in the game’s first few minutes, but Boston College came back to tie the game. UAB went on a 23-13 run to end the half as junior forward Howard Crawford nailed a three pointer with 10 seconds remaining in the half to give UAB a 37-29 halftime lead.

The second half went back and forth until the game’s final four minutes when Boston College pulled away. Senior guard Tyrese Rice carried the team on his shoulders as he scored all 24 of his points in the second half to secure the third place finish for the Golden Eagles. He also finished with six rebounds and three assists.

Marlon GlennSports Writer

[email protected]

See BIG APPLE,page 10



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fans want a title decided be-tween the hash-marks?

Concentrate on that ques-tion for as long as you can wrap your brain around it, and you know deep down in the back of your mind you can’t think of one legitimate reason that they would even dare consider switching the current BCS system for a playoff format.

The BCS may not be your method of choice, but as it stands right now, the winner of the match-up in SEC cham-pionship game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Florida is going to play either No. 3 Oklahoma or No. 4 Texas for all the marbles if they defeat Mizzou in the BIG-12 cham-pionship game.

But if either No. 3 Okla-homa or No. 4 Texas man-ages to fall apart faster than Michael Jackson’s career and get upset, the SEC champion would then play the PAC-10 champion, which just so hap-pens to be No. 5 USC.

Now if you were to travel back in time before the BCS contract was ever negotiated, the SEC champion would have had no choice but to play the ACC champion, the PAC-10 champion would have been forced to square off with the BIG-10 champion, and the BIG-12 champion would have been required to battle the BIG East champion.

In other words, if it weren’t for the current BCS format that the entire world ada-mantly opposes, this year’s SEC and BIG-12 champion wouldn’t be allowed the op-portunity to stand toe-to-toe in the ring with one another for a 12-round heavyweight title bout.

You can argue until you’re blue in the face that the BCS isn’t perfect, but do you really envision an eight-team play-off being perfect? Just like the BCS might leave out a worthy contender, so would a playoff.

The BCS was never in-tended to be a perfect route to a national championship. The BCS was created for the sole purpose of producing revenue for the big six — PERIOD! Its second mission, the one that college football fans are the most concerned with, was to try and give college football the closest thing it had ever had to an undisputed heavy-weight champion.

It’s extremely important that you remember that the BCS wasn’t created for you, it was created for the confer-ences.

If you really want to be brutally honest with your-self, the best scenario that any die-hard college football fan could ever wish to come to fruition is for the ever popu-lar plus-one model to be im-plemented.

as the team made the brief trek to Samford University’s Pete Hanna Center to partici-pate in the Samford Classic. On Friday, the team fell 62-47 to Evansville.

Cold shooting plagued the Blazers all afternoon as they shot 24 percent from the field in the first half. They improved the percentage to a subpar 32 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 28 percent.

“I don’t feel like we had any energy tonight. We just couldn’t get things going. We were struggling on the offen-sive end and we had a hard time containing Evansville on the defensive end.”

The following day, UAB edged McNeese State 56-53 to conclude the Samford Clas-sic.

“It was important for us to get this win today,” said Smith. “We have played a couple of tough games over the past two weeks and we needed to get back on the winning track and get some confidence.”

The teams played a fairly evenly matched half as UAB lead 28-27 at halftime. Three points was UAB’s largest margin when Jones nailed a

jumper with a couple of min-utes remaining in the half.

UAB looked as if they would pull away as they led 49-41 with just under six min-utes remaining in the game. McNeese State’s 7-0 run cut UAB’s lead to one with 3:49 remaining.

UAB matched that 7-0 run with a 7-0 run of their own with 32 seconds remaining in the game. McNeese scored five more points, but time ex-pired with a 56-53 Blazer win. This marked UAB’s second win in the young season.

“We had some players step up and give us some quality minutes today. We still didn’t [hit] the boards as well as we should have and we have to work on getting our offense going better, but will take this win and will build off of it,” said Smith.

Jones notched a team high 16 points, four assists and four steals on 7-of-14 shoot-ing. Salaam scored 11 points and swiped four steals for the Blazers.

Freshman guard Ashlyn Baggett scored a game high 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting in the losing effort.

Senior forward Jessica Hooker scored eight points and pulled down a game high eight rebounds.

“In the second half, we lost some of our intensity. We didn’t play as hard as we did in the first half and we didn’t close out the game,” said red-shirt freshman Terrence Rod-erick.

According to Kinnard, Boston College didn’t do any-thing that would be too diffi-cult for the team.

“We score in space and get any shot we want. We didn’t finish strong around the bas-ket and it hurt us in the end,” said Kinnard. “We have an option for anything you’ll take away.”

Boston College also caught fire nailing 67 percent of the their jumpers from the field

after halftime. They also made 7-of-11 three pointers from downtown.

Kinnard scored a career high 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting, tied for a team high eight rebounds, and dished out four assists.

Crawford helped offensive-ly, scoring 10 points off the bench. Redshirt senior guard Channing Toney scored nine points and six rebounds.

Vaden has had some big time games as a Blazer, but this wasn’t one of them. Vaden was colder than Antarctica as he finished with 22 points and eight rebounds.

However, he only shot 8-of-26 from the floor and 3-of-15 from three point land.

Sophomore forward Joe

Trapani finished with 12 points and seven boards for the third place winners. Soph-omore guard/forward Rakim Sanders scored 16 points. Freshman guard Reggie Jack-son, not to be confused with Mr. October, chipped in with 11 points off the bench.

After going up against the big boys and avoiding the cup-cakes, the Blazers know what to work on in preparation for the conference schedule.

“We got to come into the second half with the same intensity and can’t take plays off,” said Roderick.

The Blazers will have a chance to redeem themselves with their home opener against former Conference USA foe South Florida Bulls on Wednesday.


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100 AnnouncementsFOR MORE INFORMATION about clas-sified and display advertising opportuni-ties, and how UAB’s leading information source can be put to work for you, contact Shelby Yarbrough <[email protected]> or call 205.432.9214.

ANNOUNCEMENT -- Classified ads are published as a service to the UAB com-munity. Commercial ads and premium ads can be placed online exclusively. Visit www.UABads.com to place your paid ad.

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120 Freebies8 wks. female puppy-1/2 Shih Tzu/1/2 Yorky-1st set of shots-$200 [email protected]

210 Autos or Parts For Sale1993 Toyota Camry LE, 4 cyl, 161,000 mi, white, good condition, gas saver, $3,500, obo, call 205-835-0563.

1991 Mazda Miata MX5 Convertible. Runs good, cold air, power windows asking $3600 Please call 205-337-8643 or 205-368-0550

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230 Books for SaleUsed & new Kaplan MCAT materials available ranging from $2 to $10. [email protected]

260 Miscellaneous for SaleFurniture - Futon, Twin beds, Wicker chairs/ottomans, and more. See them and contact info at http://homepage.uab.edu/mccalley

320 Child Care Needed2 month old, on campus, mon or wed. 3-6 hrs per week. $ negotiable Anne 822-0523

360 Jobs Part TimeID checkers and barbacks needed ASAP, hourly plus tips. Fun atmosphere. Apply after 3 PM. TC 2711 7th Ave. South. 250-5700.

The UAB Office of Annual Giving is look-ing for motivated, responsible individuals to work in our call center. Hours are M-TH 5pm-9pm, Sat. 10am-2pm and Sun. 1pm-5pm. Previous experience preferred but not required. Work-study available. Will train. Call 975-6623 for an interview.

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Survey Takers Needed: Make $5-$25 per survey. www.GetPaidToThink.com

420 Student HousingFor rent: 2 bed, 1 bath historic house, hardwood flrs, close to campus, quiet street near Silvertron, front porch, back deck, fenced in backyard, W/D, central H & A. $800 mo. 238-0696

430 Apts/Lofts/Rooms1 BR apt. 1416 13th St. S $425 St. ref D/W Dep. $300. 2 BR apt. 1416 13th St. S $525 St. ref D/W Dep. $400. Phil Bostany Realty Co. 930-0684. 1201 16th Ave. S 930-0697

Move in special for UAB students. large 1-3 bedrooms floor plans. W/D connec-tions in select units www.cardiffcove.com Call!! 205.854.1125 Center Point.

All utilities included $550 per month. Single person/no pets/no smoking. Spacious and fully furnished, w/separate entrance, 8 mins to UAB, 205.821.2738

Are you tired of the dorm? BERKLEY ON HIGHLAND. Historic studios; unique w/lots of character and modern convenience. Studios $465-$540. Check out all ameni-ties at www.theberkleyonhighland.com

FREE RENT! 4 BR 2 BA luxury home in Southside. Walk to UAB. SS appliances, granite, W/D, fenced back yard with private parking. Only $600/mo. Call 408-7771.

Southside 1 BR condo within walking dis-tance of UAB!! $525/mo. includes water & sewer, all appl., & a w/d! Must have good credit to qualify. www.barkleyproperties.com or 205-587-5262.

CONDO FOR RENT SANGRIA Great view! Sangria on Arlington Crest 1 BR luxury condo, W/D conn. Hdwd flrs. Great, safe neighborhood, short walk to English Village, Available now, $715 mo. Rent incl condo fees, water & sewer, 205-254-1423 or 205-401-2397

460 RoommatesWould anyone/couple like to share two-bedroom apartment with a new Chinese couple? They will stay here for several months (from Nov 1st 2008) and they are easy-going persons, quiet and have no bad habits. Please contact: 253-6935

480 Real Estate for SaleBelview Heights: 2BR/1BA updated throughout (ceramic tile, new carpeting, lighting, electric water heater, new kitchen countertops & more). Act now before downpayment assistance disappears forever beginning Oct. 1, 2008. $59,900, 527-1112

610 Education & TutoringWANTED: Tutor for high school student in subjects Algebra II and Chemistry. Can be proficient in either. If interested, contact Mrs. Cruz at 256-521-3281 or [email protected]

610 Education & TutoringExperienced high school and college-level tutor available for the following subjects: Spanish, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonom-etry, Psychology, and General Chemistry

among other subjects. [email protected]

710 Spring Break TravelTRANSPORTATION NEEDED to the UAB area 8 a.m. Monday through Friday. Gas compensation will be paid. Transport non-driver from G’dale area to job site. Contact Heather (c) 337-9438, (h) 631-2449, (f) 631-2448.

BAHAMA SPRING BREAK SALE! $200 Sale! Includes Roundtrip Cruise, 4 Nights Beachfront Hotel, Meals & #1 Parties! Text Message: SPRINGBREAK to 313131 to redeem sale! Limited Space, Book Now! 1-877-997-8747 www.XtremeTrips.com

GARDENDALE LEASE TO PURCHASEExecutive Home 3,500SF, 1Ac, 4BRs, 3.5 BAs, Great Rm, Family Rm, 3 FPs, Den/Office, Cook’s Kitchen, 6 Seat Jauzzi, 2 Car Gar, Solarium, Forest Views, Gardendale Schools,Gardendale Schools, Appraised $280,000 asking $270,000 avoid realty fees, $1,695/mo with $500/mo credited towards lowering sales price 205-918-9090



Kaleidoscope.12.2.2008

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