COMMENTARY
Re-elect Rogers
Congressman Mike Rogers is one the Republican Party’s “chosen,” rising quickly in the ranks of the U.S.
MICHIGAN
Objecting to WAR
Grand River Avenue traffic was halted Saturday afternoon as MSU student groups and area residents took to East Lansing streets in protest of a U.S.-led preemptive strike on Iraq. Hoisting anti-war placards and chanting pro-peace slogans, the participants marched west on Grand River Avenue before turning at Michigan Avenue to march east.
BASKETBALL
Spartans showcase talent in Green and White games
Though this year’s incoming men’s basketball recruits have a difficult road ahead, the sophomore class has made the path a little smoother. Last year’s trio of Chris Hill, Alan Anderson and Kelvin Torbert exploded in their first full-length game this season, scoring 17, 11 and 10 points respectively to lead the Green team to a 78-52 win in the Green-White scrimmage Saturday at Breslin Center. “I really thought we got some good things out of it,” head coach Tom Izzo said.
VOLLEYBALL
Volleyball team picks up two wins at Jenison
The MSU volleyball team battled it out with Big Ten opponents en route to picking up two victories this weekend. Led by another red-hot performance from redshirt freshman Megan Wallin, the Spartans (14-6 overall, 6-4 Big Ten) defeated Purdue 30-23, 30-23 and 30-19 on Friday. Senior outside hitter Kyla Smith led the charge Saturday, recording 18 kills in the Spartans’ 38-40, 30-22, 30-21, 25-30 and 16-14 five-game marathon win over Illinois. The contest against the Fighting Illini proved to be the highlight of the weekend.
MICHIGAN
Spooky weekend
A tortured scream rang through the woods as a masked man stepped out of the fog and revved his chainsaw. Rebekah Lampart gasped.
NEWS
Spartans splatter U-M 7-0 in match
It was a cold, damp, muddy morning when University of Michigan and MSU fans hit the trenches to battle it out in the name of green and blue ammunition - and the Spartans kicked some Wolverine butt.Just one week before the football showdown in Ann Arbor, there was no better time to get the competitive juices flowing, said Mark Mays, co-owner of Chaos Paintball Fields.
COMMENTARY
Holidays approach spooks memories
One of the few things I enjoy about fall is Halloween, and its arrival is upon us. It seems as if the highly anticipated holiday is announced earlier and earlier each year - some stores herald candy and costume sales as early as late September, and Halloween decorations pop up everywhere around that time.
MSU
APASO conference brings awareness
Standing arm in arm, Jennifer Won and Ben Yu waited for Saturday night’s formal dinner to begin.The couple stood in the halls of the Kellogg Center before dinner - the last event of the annual Asian Pacific American Student Organization weekend conference.The tables were covered in white linen cloths and candles softly lit the room.All day Saturday, the organization conducted workshops on Asian Pacific Americans in the job market, media, sexuality, activism and other issues.Won, a merchandising management senior, wasn’t able to attend the workshops earlier in the day, but dressed up to attend the dinner with her boyfriend.Won said she was glad the conference was able to touch on Asian Pacific-American sexuality issues.“They rarely discuss those issues,” she said.
COMMENTARY
Taking Munn to the rock is a good move
A lot has changed in the MSU’s greek system since I was involved - fewer people are rushing and numbers seem to be dwindling.
NEWS
MIDDAY UPDATE: Gore denies rumors, stumps for Democrats
No - Al Gore does not own Shoney’s Restaurants. He doesn’t have a beard and he has not gained weight.“I am Al Gore, I used to be the next president of the United States and if it was up to Michigan I would be the next president,” he told more than 700 people packed in the Fairchild Theater for a Democratic rally on Monday.This fall Gore has decided to concentrate on campaigning for candidates nationwide.
NEWS
Granholm delivers Gore
When former Vice President Al Gore joins Jennifer Granholm on campus today, it’ll complete a one-two punch for wide-eyed Democrats who hope the party scores big at the polls next week. As the clock strikes noon, Granholm plans to lead a parade of Democratic hopefuls who will join the former presidential candidate on stage at the Fairchild Theatre before nearly 1,000 supporters.
VOLLEYBALL
Spartan spikers put up winning weekend
The No. 25 MSU volleyball team played two different kind of matches this weekend, but in the end, they did just what they expected - pick up two victories.
SPORTS
HARDY:Fans flee from games, leaves team flustered
The top left corner of the Spartan backdrop peels behind MSU head coach Bobby Williams, who stood before the media fielding questions in a press conference after Saturday’s loss, serving as a reminder that even the duct tape has given up on the football program here in the land split by the Red Cedar. No spin could distract from the four pieces of gray tape that couldn’t hold on Saturday - neither could a hundred green-and-white gridders. If duct tape can’t keep the Spartan football program together, don’t expect this team to fix itself, as duct tape can fix anything - so my father once told me. My father, a skilled man, never coached this football team. The green-and-white paper folded and so did the program marred by poor play and scandal. “This is the most disappointed I’ve ever been as a coach,” Williams says. Put up or give up. The fans, the alumni and, seemingly, the players have given up on a season of fumbled football - a few team members have at least given up on team rules. They’d throw in the towel if it wasn’t likely to be intercepted. As Saturday night’s glowing lights illuminated a Spartan Stadium tomb, the last of the 75,507 grains of sand slide out of the bleachers before all time had run out. Standing there in the cool crosswinds, only a few fans remain - clad in MSU mittens, winter caps, hooded sweatshirts and Spartan jackets - in section 13, usually dominated by students. The bleachers here are mostly empty, littered with popcorn boxes and hot-dog wrappers. “This year, I think the fans gave up before the football team,” elementary education sophomore Katie Neddermeyer says.
NEWS
Nugent wants to keep tuition low, close funding gap
Tuition might seem expensive to some students, but it also was a problem in the ’60s for MSU Trustee Don Nugent when he was beginning his agricultural studies at MSU. “I do understand what it’s like to put yourself through school,” the board’s chairperson said, adding he went to school and had to drop out for two terms to save up money for his education.
MSU
Students get chance at superstardom with Spartan Idol
The University Activities Board and Residence Halls Association are co-sponsoring auditions for “Spartan Idol: The Making of an MSU Superstar” today and Tuesday. RHA and the University Activities Board had been discussing the idea, said Derek Wallbank, external vice-president of RHA.
FEATURES
Shipmates, ElimiDATE offer tasteless, shallow look at dating
I’m pretty sure Chris Hardwick hates his job. Hardwick, the former co-host of MTV’s “Singled Out” with Jenny McCarthy, is back on the television dating scene with Sony Pictures Television’s effervescent reality show, “Shipmates.” The program follows two often disillusioned contestants around a cruise ship while they painfully size each other up and decide if their unworthiness to each other will preclude the eventual dance-floor hookup. Hardwick, in a continuous state of apparent physical and emotional pain, will sigh and roll his eyes as he gives the post date wrap-up, where nail-biting viewers find out if the curious daters have confessed their liking for each other or bitterly left the cruise ship alone. But his wearied attitude and sarcasm regarding the contestants and their important mission is almost vital to the show - it reminds the television audience that despite the overflow of shows like “Shipmates” and its familiar counterparts “Blind Date,” “elimiDATE,” “Dismissed” and “The 5th Wheel,” our culture might not readily embrace the ideals present in every skin-tight episode.
ICE HOCKEY
Last-second goal secures weekend sweep of Lakers
Junior defenseman Joe Markusen’s name usually doesn’t spring to mind when listing the offensive threats on the MSU hockey team. But the light-scoring blueliner made a huge play late for the Spartans in Friday’s game against Lake Superior State at Munn Ice Arena. With the score tied 2-2 and the clock winding down in the third period, Markusen corralled a high pass from sophomore defenseman Duncan Keith at the point and fired a long feed to sophomore forward Brock Radunske at the side of the crease. From there, Radunske simply guided the puck into the mostly open net to lift the Spartans to a 3-2 victory with 2.7 seconds left. “I knew he was in the area,” Markusen said of Radunske.
MSU
ASMSU wants student bus tax
In the near future, students might be able to hop on a bus and travel anywhere on campus they want - without worrying about paying. ASMSU’s Academic Assembly is working to develop a transportation tax that each student would pay to ride the Capitol Area Transportation Authority buses - much like the taxes students pay each semester for services provided by ASMSU, the Residence Halls Association and The State News. Adam Raezler, James Madison representative for the undergraduate student government’s Academic Assembly, said the tax won’t come easily, but he has hopes of it happening by the 2004-05 school year. “This is just a great service for students,” he said.
MSU
WEB ONLY: MTV game singles out students on campus
A legion of students vying for the affection of four singles entered the ultimate compatibility contest Thursday night - hoping to get singled out.Case Hall Singled Out, sponsored by the Case Hall government, was based on the popular MTV 1990s game show, “Singled Out.”The price for the winners of the contest was an all-expenses-paid dinner to Olive Garden Italian Restaurant, 5015 Marsh Road in Okemos.About 30 men and 40 women were placed in the dating pool.
FEATURES
Oktoberfest deemed a success despite low turnout
Shaun Murray, Phi Delta Theta social chairman, almost lost his girlfriend over this.Murray spent the last two months preparing for Friday’s Oktoberfest 2002, an outdoor concert at the rock on Farm Lane to benefit the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Foundation, an organization that fights Lou Gehrig’s Disease.“It’s been so stressful,” the public administration and public policy sophomore said.