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THE DIAMONDBACKTHE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER 98TH YEAR | ISSUE NO. 148THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008
THE DIAMONDBACK
BRINGING THE HEAT Terps pitchers participate in summer league | SPORTS PAGE 10
GOOD GOSSIP American Teen brings what reality televisionshould be to the big screen | DIVERSIONS PAGE 7
City holds closed-door meetingString ofbreak-ins
hit campusparking lots
Scam e-mailscontinue tofill student
inboxes
University program approves 22 projects Latino Student Union aims torally voters on the campus
Ten people attend; low liquor prices ‘very dangerous,’ university official says
Although University Policewarned specific car owners,
nine thefts occur Sunday
BY BRADY HOLTSenior staff writer
A string of vehicle break-ins occurred Sun-day in two campus parking lots despite pre-ventative measures the University Policehave taken to alert car owners who might beat risk.
Police believe at least nine break-ins inparking lots 1D and 2G on Sunday eveningwere committed by the same person or groupof people, University Police Spokesman Capt.John Brandt said. He would not say if secu-rity cameras in the area had captured videoof the incidents.
Brandt said valuables — including iPods,laptop computers, purses, cameras, wallets, a
BY BRADY HOLTSenior staff writer
The City of College Parkarranged and hosted a privatemeeting last week between city
and university officials, policeofficers, county liquor representa-tives and bar owners to discusslow alcohol prices in College Parkbars, a university official said.
At issue is the Thirsty Turtle’s
25-cent Thursday night summerspecials, which have been criti-cized by university and city offi-cials.
Warren Kelley, an assistant vicepresident for student affairs at the
university who attended the meet-ing, said the meeting was organ-ized by College Park Public Ser-vices Director Bob Ryan, and 10
Please See MEETING, Page 3
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACKSenior criminology and criminal justice and economics major Paul Flood, above, has spent thousands of dollars on his 1991 Honda Accord.
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACKPaul Flood, above, became involved with College ParkTuning his freshman year and is now club president.
BEATING
OIT adds warning to e-mail login to remind
students of threat BY CHRIS YU
Staff writer
Fraudulent e-mails asking users to giveaway their passwords and personal informa-tion are allowing spammers to access studentaccounts, a school official said.
About 70 students have responded to thescam e-mails since April, potentially givingthe spammers access to their accounts, saidGerry Sneeringer, director of IT security atthe Office of Information Technology. Theuniversity’s filters try to stop the messages,but spammers continue to find ways aroundthem.
“It’s a never-ending war where we make amove, they make a move,” Sneeringer said.
Please See SCAM, Page 2
BY BEN PENNStaff writer
Think a 1991 silver Honda Accord couldn’t blow youaway? Think again.
In the hands of senior criminology and criminal jus-tice and economics major Paul Flood, that faded car —nicknamed “Stella,” as in How Stella Got Her GrooveBack, by Flood’s friends — transforms your average,beat-up oldie to a “beater” that Flood spends every centof his paycheck on.
“They all have prettier cars,” Flood said of his friends’
BMWs and Ford Mustang Cobras, before driver JennChang kindly interrupted.
“I think it’s pretty,” said Chang, a junior communica-tions major.
But Flood, president of the official university club Col-lege Park Tuning, quickly transitions away from hiswords of modesty, claiming the Accord’s lack of exteriorflash does not prevent it from earning admiration fromhis club friends.
“No one really is like, ‘My car is so much better than
Please See STELLA, Page 2
Local businesses and companies to benefit from $3.6M partnershipBY CHRIS YU
Staff writer
Maryland Industrial Partner-ships, a university-based programthat fosters collaboration betweenschools and businesses, hasapproved 22 research projectsworth $3.6 million that partner fac-ulty from the University System ofMaryland with local companies todevelop technology for commercialuse.
As part of the Maryland Technol-ogy Enterprise Institute, MIPS
helps local companies develophigh-tech products by allowingthem to access universityresources, such as professors andlaboratory space, said Martha Con-nolly, director of the program. Theprojects focus on developing tech-nology that has to do with health,security and energy.
“When you look at strong eco-nomic areas, they are always linkedto knowledge producing institu-tions,” Connolly said. “We thinkevery state should do this [pro-gram].”
MIPS will allow AmericanDynamics Flight Systems, a Mary-land company that designs aircraftsystems, to work with the engineer-ing school to develop an unmannedaircraft capable of vertical takeoffand landing, according to a pressrelease on the company’s website.
According to an MTECH pressrelease, the university is also work-ing with axonX LLC, a local com-pany that designs vision safetytechnologies, to develop an outdoor
Please See MIPS, Page 3
National study shows that young Hispanicvoters could be decisive in swing states
BY KELLY BROOKSFor The Diamondback
Members of the Latino StudentUnion are developing plans to mobi-lize voters this fall, and their demo-graphic — young Hispanics — couldbe crucial in electing the next presi-dent, one recent poll shows.
According to Coral Gables, Fla.-based polling company Bendixen and
Associates, registered Hispanic vot-ers ages 18 to 29 total 2.5 million, orabout one-quarter of the general His-panic electorate. In the overallnational electorate, only 17 percent ofpeople fall into that age range.
Voter registration efforts by pollsponsor Democracia USA show anation-wide surge in newly registered
Please See VOTERS, Page 3
College Park Tuning’s president has spentyears working on both his car addictionand raising the university club’s profile
Please See THEFTS, Page 3
THE
COMPETITION
yours.’ These guys have a lot of re-spect for it, because I put a lot ofwork in it,” said Flood, who claimshe has done 100 percent of thelabor on his own.
Since getting involved with Col-lege Park Tuning his freshmanyear, Flood has taken the groupfrom a club-for-car-enthusiastsidea to helping them get approvedby the Student Government Asso-ciation. Today, College Park Tun-ing has 11 board representatives,several sponsors and 160 totalmembers, three of whom lined uptheir cars in Lot 9 outside ComcastCenter this week to show supportfor their president.
And College Park Tuning isn’tthe only thing Flood has built upon— when he first bought his carback in his hometown of Philadel-phia for $2,000, he was 16 and onlyone month removed from receiv-ing his driver’s license. Six yearsand more than $5,000 later, theAccord stands stronger than everafter being the recipient of count-less hours of work from its pride-ful owner.
Asked the exact amount ofmoney he has put into it, Floodhesitated and then called out to hisfriends, “Anyone got a calculatoron them?”
Flood then proceeded to walkthrough all the features: $2,000 forthe motor, which enhanced the
horsepower from 130 to over 200;$600 for suspension; $800 for Rotaslip stream rims and FalkenFK452 tires; $400 for entertain-ment, including TVs in the over-head visors and a PlayStation sys-tem in the glovebox; $600 for theexhaust and then another $600 to$700 on motor work.
He at least managed to saveon the cost of his pop-off steer-ing wheel designed to preventauto-theft, since it was a giftfrom his girlfriend.
Flood’s job as a manager at Pot-belly Sandwich Works downtownhas covered the expenses the pasttwo years — he frequently has toskip meals, he says, as most of hispaycheck goes toward the car.
“[My friends] buy my food”in exchange for his working ontheir cars, he said. “If it’s some-thing serious, they buy me twonights of food.”
And when he entered the uni-versity, Flood actually used$1,500 in family bonds intend-ed for his college education topay for auto work.
“My mom wasn’t happy,” hesaid.
In addition to his self-imposedresponsibilities working on Stella,Flood’s job as president of CollegePark Tuning has had its share oftime commitments, as he haswatched the club grow from acouple of car geeks hanging out inHagerstown Hall on North Cam-
pus to a group that requires a hugebinder, known as the CPT Bible, toorganize its contacts and events.
“I feel like a full-time eventplanner the last couple of years,”said Flood, who organizes an an-nual spring car show on the cam-pus and takes the club to variouscar shows and track eventsaround the area.
Flood, who Chang refers to asCollege Park Tuning’s “fatherfigure,” is also quite skilled atresolving the sometimes heatedinner-group conflicts, accord-
ing to College Park Tuningmember Tim Minor.
“Paul will actually talk topeople and sort it out,” saidMinor, a senior criminology andcriminal justice major. “Every-body’s got different ideas. Hedoes a good job of letting every-one know what’s realistic.”
With Flood’s expected gradua-tion coming up in December, it willsoon be time to pass on the reins toone of his friends and also time forhim to use his college degree tofind the next job to support his No.
1 hobby. While he says he wouldlike to one day have his own shop,Flood realizes a job outside theauto world might be in his future.
Still, that hardly means Stella,which Flood said will soon receivea new paint job, can expect anyless attention.
“I would love to keep this [Ac-cord] and rip it apart and start allover again,” Flood said. “That’swhat I love about cars — it’s anever-ending addiction.”
2 THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008 | THE DIAMONDBACK
Open rehearsalThe Guarneri String Quartetperforms, 5 p.m., Clarice SmithPerforming Arts Center
Film screeningFree showing of Independence Day atthe Hoff Theater. 5:30 p.m., StampStudent Union
Film screeningBeyond the Classroom presents thefilm The Bus Riders Union, 7 p.m.,1102 South Campus CommonsPage 2 MARYLAND
TODAY@
University’s athletics facilities rec-ognized by The Princeton Review
The university has the best athleticfacilities in the country, according tonew rankings released by The Prince-ton Review.
The rankings, which were releasedMonday, also showed the universityfinishing second in both the “StudentsPack the Stadiums” and “StudentsStudy the Least” categories. The Uni-versity of Florida was the No. 1 schoolin both of those categories and wasalso named the nation’s top partyschool.
In addition, The Diamondback wasnamed the sixth-best student news-paper, and the university was named a“College with a Conscience.”
Clemson University has the happi-est students, while the United StatesMerchant Marine Academy has theunhappiest, the rankings report.
The rankings are based on surveysof students and other factors.— Kevin Robillard
Frederick County won’t ban over-grown lawns
FREDERICK – The FrederickCounty commissioners havedecided against requiring ownersof vacant homes to maintain theirovergrown lawns.
The commissioners insteadwant residents to take theircomplaints about untended lawnsto their homeowners associationand the county fire marshal.
The commissioners saidovergrown lawns are becomingmore common because of therising number of foreclosures.They said the county is gettingabout a dozen complaints a week.
While commissioners aresympathetic, they say adding moreresponsibilities to the countyhealth office or the zoning officewould be burdensome for the staff.— Compiled from wire reports
Maryland raises quota for 2008black bear hunt
CUMBERLAND – The MarylandDepartment of Natural Resourceswants hunters to kill more blackbears this year.
Bear Project Manager HarrySpiker said the minimum harvestquota has been raised to 55 from50 in 2007. The upper limit is 75,up from 70 last year.
The DNR stopped last year’shunt after 51 bears were taken.
The agency will begin acceptingapplications Friday for the six-dayhunt starting Oct. 20.— Compiled from wire reports
Planner objects to Silver Springmusic hall deal
ROCKVILLE — MontgomeryCounty Planning Board ChairmanRoyce Hanson is objecting to plansto put development of a SilverSpring music hall on the fast track.
Hanson told the County Councilthe proposal by County ExecutiveIsiah Leggett to build the Fillmoremusic hall without planning agencyreview is too risky. He said thoserisks include the potential for lesspublic space and unimaginativedesign.
Leggett’s proposed legislationwould also allow the developer todelay other construction at the sitefor up to 15 years once land for themusic venue is donated to thecounty. A council vote is expectedthis fall.
The Leggett administration anddeveloper Bruce Lee said the musichall will help complete therevitalization of the downtownbusiness district.— Compiled from wire reports
BRIEFS
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACKTo continue purchasing items to better his car, above, College Park Tuning president Paul Flood often skips meals, he said.
Flood: Cars a ‘never-ending addiction’
Students shouldn’t respond to e-mails, Sneeringer says
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Confidentiality at All Times
The scam e-mails requeststudents to give their pass-words to avoid deactivationof their e-mail accounts.Sneeringer said a legitimatemessage from the universitywill never ask students togive away their personalinformation.
Spammers may use the e-mail accounts they havestolen to scam other univer-sities, Sneeringer said. Hav-
ing access to the additionale-mail accounts will makethe spammers more difficultto track down.
The university has writtenarticles and created screen-savers and posters warning stu-dents about this threat, saidPhyllis Dickerson Johnson, anOIT spokeswoman. Two daysago, OIT put a message on theuniversity’s e-mail websitewarning students not to sharetheir passwords.
Sneeringer said it is
important for students torealize only they can keeptheir information safe.
“In the end, this is not a tech-nology problem but a humanproblem,” Sneeringer said. “Inthe end, the solution has to be apeople solution.”
Sneeringer said people arefooled by the deceitful e-mails,because they are increasinglyrealistic. Their quality, gram-mar and tone are improving,
making them sound more likethey are from a legitimateorganization. Some of the e-mails are exceptionally short,making students more likely toread them.
Scammers will also placereputable links in the body ofthe messages, creating the illu-sion that the e-mail is from asafe source. They then includelinks that connect users to im-poster websites and ask for per-
sonal information from there.Some students have figured
out the e-mails are fake and re-sponded with sentiments like“drop dead,” Sneeringer said.However, he said studentsshould never respond to such e-mails because responding inany way will confirm to thespammers that the e-mail ad-dress is valid.
SCAM, from Page 1
STELLA, from Page 1
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THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008 | THE DIAMONDBACK 3
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The Step Brother 11:50 2:20 4:40 7:00 9:30
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Hellboy 2 7:50 10:20
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Meeting specificsare unknown
Hispanic voters could be key in swing states
people attended to discuss thelow-cost liquor.
“We all searched for solutions,understanding the risk that hav-ing very low prices for alcohol inbars very close to campus is avery dangerous practice. It sim-ply provides very cheap alcoholthat can be consumed in verylarge quantities,” Kelley said,adding he thought the meetingwas productive.
At the meeting were Kelley,Ryan, College Park MayorStephen Brayman, the owners ofthree downtown bars, countyliquor inspector John McGortyand Paul Dillon and MajorChristopher Jagoe of the Univer-sity Police. The identity of thetenth official at the meeting couldnot be confirmed. Mark Srour,who owns Santa Fe Café, Corner-stone Grill and Loft and TheMark, joined the meeting via tele-phone.
But the specifics of the meet-ing remain cloudy, as it was
closed to the public and the press,and most of its attendees are un-willing to discuss the meeting.Kelley, the only attendee whowould speak to The Diamond-back, said the group discussed in-expensive alcohol at city bars butprovided no other details of thediscussion points or any out-comes of the meeting.
This meeting is not the first ofits kind in College Park. In spring2006, Cornerstone held a “Ladies’Lockdown” that drew much criti-cism from the university and cityofficials. The event, which admit-ted only female patrons for twohours and featured one-centbeers, was supposed to make fe-male students feel more relaxedwithout having to worry aboutmen watching them, Srour said.
Srour met with city officialsand was reprimanded by thecounty liquor board a week later,but he faced no sanctions for hislow-cost, female-only drink spe-cials.
MEETING, from Page 1
Secluded parking lotstargeted, Brandt says
Playstation Portable and even atelevision — were visible insidethe locked cars, making them en-ticing targets.
“That’s our greatest enemy —visible stuff,” he said. “The crimeof opportunity is only there if theysee something.”
But University Police beganwarning specific people aboutleaving valuables in their cars acouple months ago by sendingletters to the owners of cars theysee with visible valuables, specif-ically naming the date, locationand visible items, Brandt said.
“We’re doing our best to get themessage out to people,” headded. “All it takes is ‘Csssh,’ thewindow’s broken — five, six sec-onds a car.”
Brandt said his departmentpays 27 cents to mail post cardsthrough bulk mail and spendsonly a few seconds on each car.
The parking lots in Sunday’scrimes may have been targetedbecause of their relative seclu-sion, Brandt said. Lot 1D is be-
hind University of MarylandUniversity College, and 2G is be-hind the Eppley Recreation Cen-ter. Lot 2G was filled with peopleattending the National YMCAswim meet at the Eppley Recre-ation Center, many of whomBrandt said left valuables in theircars without even locking doorsor closing windows.
“These people must think thatPrince George’s County is a won-derful place,” he said, adding thatUniversity Police later warnedthe people attending the swimmeet about the car break-ins.
Officers, who are already onduty patrolling the parking lots,now also carry forms with check-lists of signs a car might be at risk.
“They’re already out there;they’re just doing something a lit-tle more while they’re there,”Brandt said, adding that Univer-sity Police sends out about 20 to30 cards a week.
In February, there was a seriesof thefts of Global Positioning Sys-tem devices from cars in Lot 1B.
THEFTS, from Page 1
Hispanic voters under 40, pollingcompany president Sergio Ben-dixen said at a July 17 press con-ference at the National Press Clubin Washington.
This indicates that in swingstates, such as New Mexico andFlorida, where the growing His-panic vote may be decisive, “theHispanic young voter is going tobe the key ingredient to winningthose states,” Bendixen said.
LSU president Manuel Ruizsaid his organization plans to reg-ister voters, possibly with theLatino and immigrant advocacyorganization CASA de Maryland.
Ruiz is not sure what course ofaction the group will take, but “wedefinitely are very politicallyaware, and we definitely do asmuch as we can to inform ourcommunity,” he said.
But Latino voters don’t cast bal-lots at the same proportion aswhite or black voters, and the gen-eral youth demographic also un-derperforms, said Karen Kauf-mann, a university associate pro-fessor of government and politics,adding that the combined effect isa bleak outlook for high turnoutamong young Hispanics.
This year might be different,said Ruiz, a senior business major.
Eighty-five percent surveyed
in the Bendixen and Associatespoll said this will be one of themost important presidentialelections in American history,and nearly three-quarters havebeen closely following the 2008presidential campaign.
“The Democratic nominee isa man of color — that mightplay into it,” Ruiz said. Howev-er, Ruiz also noted there is aningrained tension betweenblacks and Latinos that couldaffect how they vote.
More than half of the 500 sur-veyed were born in the U.S., and aplurality — 44 percent — saidthey consider themselves bicul-tural. Forty percent, however, said
they considered themselves moreHispanic than American, com-pared to only 14 percent who saidthey consider themselves moreAmerican than Hispanic.
Ninety percent said a lot orsome discrimination existsagainst Hispanics and Latinos inthe United States.
The Republican and Democ-ratic candidates could connectto Latinos by witnessing thatdisenfranchisement firsthand,said Jose Espejo, a senior gov-ernment and politics major andvice president of programmingfor LSU.
“I think both have talked toLatino organizations but not nec-essarily talked to Latinos,” Espe-jo said, suggesting visits to com-munity centers. “If they do itright, they could swing a lot ofvoters that way.”
VOTERS, from Page 1
Partnerships can help create productsvideo system that providesearly detection of fire.
Other projects involve cre-ating a drug for heart attacksand finding better ways toproduce alternative fuel.
Now in its 21st year, MIPShas had a successful historyof helping companies createtechnology, Connolly said.Under this program, HughesNetwork Systems, a localbroadband network provider,worked with university pro-fessor John Baras to developthe first consumer Internetprovider that offers satellitecoverage.
With this technology, userscan have access to Internet
anywhere in the world.Thanks to MIPS, Quantum
Sail Design Group was ableto use the wind tunnellocated on the campus to test
their boat sails, Connollysaid. Before participating inMIPS, the company had towait on the Chesapeake Bayfor winds to show up beforethey could do their measure-ments. But because they hadaccess to universityresources, they were able togrow into an internationalbusiness, with more than 60sales outlets around theworld today.
Connolly said allowinglocal companies to collabo-rate with universityresearchers is a good way topush high-tech products intothe market to stimulate theeconomy. This, in turn, helpscreate more jobs and some-times a brand new industry.
MIPS not only allows univer-sity faculty to work with thecompanies; students areallowed to participate aswell, giving them practicalexperience for their field.
Because the partnershipbetween local companies anduniversities can create somany advanced products andideas, it can put Maryland inthe forefront of a countrydriven by technology.
“The state and tax payersget an enhanced ability tocompete in this new world,”Connolly said. “It improvessociety; it improves our real-ity; it improves the way welive.”
MIPS, from Page 1
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACKBikini Splash, located between Santa Fe Café and Ratsie’s on Knox Road, is going out of business. The store is the third in the past year, afterPotomac Video and Wawa, to clear out of the downtown shopping area.
ONE LAST SPLASH
“The state and taxpayers get an
enhanced ability tocompete in this new
world.”–Martha Connolly
MIPS DIRECTOR
4
One neat thing about Googleis the people are friendlyand social. At many jobs,people put in their time and
work and then just go home. At pastjobs, I’ve found it hard, to put it mildly,to get people to go out after work. ThePoles at the Google office in Krakoware different though, and most areready to go out at a moment’s notice —if not for dinner, then certainly forbeers. People stop work to play a roundof Rock Band or Wii Tennis or to showme a new pub after work.
Not only is everyone at work friend-ly, but they are extremely internation-al. There are several guys from theCzech Republic, where there isn’t anengineering office. Another engineer isfrom Bratislava, Slovakia. He commut-ed every day in college from Bratislavato Vienna, Austria. My roommate isBrazilian but currently in Cambridge,England finishing her doctorate in nat-ural language processing. An Argen-tine engineer working in Krakow hasbeen traveling for years and has a par-ticular interest in languages. He want-ed to learn a Slavic language, so hecame to Poland to learn the language,traveled for nine months and thenbegan working for Google. Another in-tern is from France and has been atGoogle for six months — and is nowgoing to Singapore.
With all of this diversity, going outfor dinner and drinks is often a lot offun. Since we have little in commonand many differences, we compare ourchildhoods and the different traditionsin our home countries. I’ve found thisis the best way to actually get a goodfeel for the modern culture instead ofjust the culture from 300 years ago,preserved mostly for tourists. To thatend, I’ve learned a lot of random tidbitsabout life in Poland.
The hardest part of moving to a for-eign city is learning the customs so asnot to offend anyone. Luckily, I have anoffice full of people to ask before Imake a fool of myself. Tipping is lessthan I’m used to — 10 percent tops andonly in restaurants, not for taxis ormassages. As for going out, birthdaysare a lot of fun, especially for theguests. It’s typically the responsibilityof the birthday person to buy everyoneelse drinks. On other occasions, it is theinvitee who pays.
Krakovian food and drinks are someof the city’s biggest attractions. Krako-vians love their beer, and they also lovetheir vodka. They could easily out-drink any college student any day fromwhat I’ve seen so far. However, whenout at a restaurant, they will almost al-ways order a beer, since vodka is drankin the home. I tried to buy my first bot-tle of vodka in a store and almost endedup with beer. The American way ofpronouncing “vodka” sounds morelike “vadka,” which happens to be abeer here. I stepped back, took a deepbreath and tried my hand at a Russianaccent. Worked like a charm!
The Poles are famous for a lot ofdishes, usually involving pierogies,sauerkraut and kielbasa (keel-BA-sa).Pierogies, Polish dumplings, comewith a variety of fillings: meat, mush-rooms, cabbage, strawberries, cherriesand spinach. One of my favorites isPierogi Ruskie, though they are notRussian at all. They are just normalpierogies filled with cheese. Yum!Once, after go-karting, the Krakow re-cruiter took the interns out to lunch at aPolish peasant restaurant. I asked for arecommendation on a good Polish dishto try. They replied there are lots of re-gional dishes but only one truly Polishdish — bigos. My roommate and Igave it a try and found it good. The onlyproblem was the meat. There weredefinitely some weird pieces, and evensome veins in hers. Even in Europeyou can try some ... “exotic” foods.
I was surprised to learn differentcountries use wedding rings differ-ently. The Poles wear their weddingrings on the ring finger of the lefthand. Engagement rings go on themiddle finger of the left hand. Seemslike it could make an easy gesture toget guys to go away!
Every corner of Krakow has at leastone bakery and a flower stall, if notseveral. Sunflowers are very popularin Krakow, as are flowers in general. Ionce asked why everyone exchangedsunflowers and was told sunflowersare nice because they are a non-ro-mantic flower. While the same stereo-types still exist, sunflowers are even agood gift for a guy’s birthday.
It’s certainly different working inKrakow for a long time instead ofmerely being a tourist. The differenceis really the cultural nuances it’s hardto pick up on in the short term.
Sonny Franckel is a senior computerscience major and is writing summercolumns on her experience interningwith Google in Krakow. She can bereached at [email protected].
Customsabroad
Last week, District 2 City Council-man Jack Perry ran his mouthquite a bit. He talked aboutspeakers of the “Hispanic lan-
guage” and other “minority factions”forcing the city to “bend over backwards”to provide document translations, and hetalked about a situation in which the citywill soon find itself translating documentsinto “Tagalog, whatever the hell that is.”Perry suggested the city investigate theadvantages and disadvantages of makingEnglish the official language of CollegePark, and he made no question of whichside of the fence he lies on.
I’ve been around College Park a fewyears, so the tone of these comments did-n’t really surprise me — Perry isn’t exact-ly known for his political correctness. ButI did get quite a surprise from the inci-dent, in a completely different way.
It all started when I visited The Dia-mondback Online to read commentsabout the article. Of the 19 comments —quite a few, by summer Diamondbackstandards — those that disagreed withPerry only went so far as to condemn hisrough presentation of the matter or gen-erally disagree with the idea of makingEnglish the official city language. ThoughPerry was called a racist, elitist and “tool-bag,” nobody bothered to poke holes inthe logic he laid forth for making Englishthe official language of College Park.
Laying out a slippery slope argument,Perry asserts by adding Spanish transla-tions of documents, the city opens itself toneeding to support a slew of other lan-guages, resulting in an expensive overalltranslation process. However, most lan-guages are not as widely spoken in Col-lege Park as Spanish is, and given theamount of fuss Perry has raised concern-ing Spanish translations, translations toTagalog — or, for that matter, pretty muchany other language — just don’t seem toolikely, leaving the councilman’s argumentmoot (Sorry, College Park Filipinos).
However, the flaws in reasoningfound in the comments of Perry’s onlinesupporters were even more alarming.One supporter asserted there are com-munities of Latinos cropping up acrossAmerica with no desire to assimilate, ne-cessitating English as the sole officiallanguage to force these groups to learn.Unfortunately, I’ve heard the same orsimilar arguments used a number oftimes, and these arguments strike me asbeing exceptionally weak.
One of the main reasons many Latinosimmigrate to America is in search of eco-nomic well-being that’s much more diffi-cult to attain in their native lands. As Eng-lish is the language of business in Ameri-ca, it makes sense many of these immi-grants would value education in English,if not for themselves then certainly fortheir children. This postulate is supportedby statistics, as well — according to a re-cent survey, more than 90 percent of His-panics believe it is “very important” toteach English to the children of immi-grant families. This doesn’t sound like thestance of a people isolating themselvesinto communities that won’t assimilate.
Another faulty argument on the dis-cussion board I’ve seen a number oftimes to support legislating English asan official language is the ethos appealthat English is “the glue that has kept theU.S. together” historically, and makingit official would lead to catastrophe (inthis case, the commenter provided “civilwar” as the likely side effect). Of course,this is a blind emotional appeal with nosubstance. Historically, the UnitedStates has seen a number of immigra-tion surges, and none have topped thesurge around 1910 in magnitude or ef-fect. Yet I didn’t hear about any Ameri-can civil wars in the early part of the 20thcentury, and I have to believe today’ssmaller immigration surge will similarlylack major upheaval.
However, it’s equally bogus to hold upEnglish as some sort of magical glue thatkeeps the country together — the consis-tent presence of immigrants throughoutU.S. history doesn’t seem to support thatpoint at all. Indeed, one historical constantseems to be the U.S. has always had alarge number of foreign language speak-ers, so if anything, working to limit thenumber of non-English speakers inAmerica would be un-American.
The American official language debateis a very interesting one that raises a num-ber of questions reaching all the way tothe very meaning of what it is to be anAmerican. By cluttering the debate withlogical fallacies and blatant misstate-ments, Perry and the like obscure the truedebate, making a touchy and charged na-tional issue even more touchy andcharged.
When approaching the national lan-guage issue, I suggest we all step backand look critically at the arguments beingpresented; there are a lot of Jack Perrysout there with an argument that fallsdown under the least bit of scrutiny.
John Silberholz is a computer scienceand mathematics major and The Dia-mondback’s deputy managing editorduring the school year. He can bereached at [email protected].
With prices rising on consumer goods vital tostudents’ daily lives — gas and food chiefamong them — the Thirsty Turtle has provid-ed a welcome relief all summer with its cheap
summer specials on alcohol. Now, thatspigot may be about to run dry.
The meeting that took place lastweek, attended by city and universityofficials, a county liquor board inspec-tor, police and the three bar owners, ap-pears to be a step toward ending thebar’s summer-long low prices.
Assistant Vice President for StudentAffairs Warren Kelley told The Dia-mondback, “...the risk that having verylow prices for alcohol in bars very closeto campus is a very dangerous practice.”This statement makes the connection that the low-pricedalcohol purchased in the Thirsty Turtle creates an unsafeenvironment on the campus.
But before rushing to this judgment, the universityofficials, the city officials and the police owe it to thepublic to show this correlation is actually taking place.Holding a meeting behind closed doors on what wouldsurely be a hotly debated topic in a public forum denies
the students and residents of College Park the opportu-nity to voice their opinions on the issue.
This is not the first time low prices at the city’s barshas prompted a rebuke from public officials. Two years
ago, the Prince George’s CountyLiquor Board scolded CornerstoneGrill and Loft for its “Ladies Lock-down” event, and in February 2007,the same bar drew reprimands for itsrenewal of a 50-cent rail special. But inboth of those instances, the officialscould point to the clear negative conse-quences of the cheap alcohol.
The Ladies Lockdown, wherewomen were served “penny pints” fortwo hours before men were admitted,prompted concern for the women’s
safety, while the 50-cent rails at Cornerstone had earlierbeen cited by officials after gunfire broke out on twoweekends in September 2006.
In this case, no such clear-cut evidence exists — nothingofficials have shared with the public, at least. If these offi-cials decide to hold another meeting on the topic of cheapalcohol prices in College Park, they owe it to the public to doso out in the open, so every voice is heard.
“Transparency is not the same as looking straight through a building:It’s not just a physical idea, it’s also an intellectual one.”
- Helmut Jahn
Behind closed doors
Staff Editorial
Our ViewThe police, the city offi-cials and university offi-
cials should meet out in the open to
discuss alcohol prices
THE DIAMONDBACK | THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008
Editorial Cartoon: Mike O’Brien
3150 SOUTH CAMPUS DINING HALL | COLLEGE PARK, MD [email protected]
YOUR INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPERUNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
PHONE: (301) 314-8200 | FAX: (301) 314-8358
THE DIAMONDBACK
OpinionSonny Franckel
Best of the Web
Listed below are some of the comments postedon our website, www.diamondbackonline.com,regarding articles printed in last week’s edition.To comment, visit the website.
“Councilman hopes to make English city’s official language”JosePOSTED 7/25/08 @ 1:31 PM EST
I think Perry is 100 percent correct. Although othersmight read and speak in another language, it doesn’tmean that everyone around them has to do the same.Can you imagine “a university priding itself on multi-culturalism and diversity” teaching math in nine dif-ferent languages to accommodate everyone? No, theyteach it in one. The city has the same issue — shouldevery publication be printed in various languages? Areyou also for making every road sign in different lan-guages? Of course not. That would be silly. I don’t careif English is the official language of College Park. I justthink that they shouldn’t publish or translate any oftheir publications to any other language except Eng-lish.
future terperPOSTED 7/25/08 @ 3:06 PM EST
This guy is a major toolbag. He’s a blanket racist andidiot. I find it funny racist politicians like Perry find itdifficult to accommodate immigrant workers and tax-paying community members the city hires to perform
under-paying menial jobs. A multilingual city would bebeneficial to everyone — students, neighbors andtourists alike.
Kyle MeksvanhPOSTED 7/25/08 @ 3:28 PM EST
Perry is 100 percent correct in his legislation pro-posal. When I travel abroad, no one caters to my lan-guage whatsoever. I actually have to take the initiativeto learn the language or else I don’t function effec-tively within the population. And guess what? If I com-plain that nothing is in my language, do you think thatthe natives of that county would care? I think not. Noone needs to apologize and revamp everything becausea handful of immigrants to this country are too lazyand narrow-minded to take the initiative to learn thelanguage of the country that they wish to belong to andfunction within. Mick Jagger said it best when he said,“You can’t always get what you want ... You can’talways get what you want, but if you try sometime, youjust might find that you get what you need.” I’ve livedhere for 22 years, and I don’t think that myself or myfamily should be the ones who need to assimilate intomy own country, city or community.
Local VoterPOSTED 7/28/08 @ 1:48 PM EST
The real tools here are the students of the university.If students would actually take an interest in local pol-itics and vote, Jack Perry would have never beenelected. If you really want change, go out to the pollsand vote.
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PPOOLLIICCYY:: The signed letters, columns and cartoon represent only the opinions of the authors. The staff editorialrepresents the opinion of The Diamondback’s editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.
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Highly illogical
John Silberholz
The coming week is likely to thelandscape become more sunnyand bright, as a result of re-cent decisions that enable in-
dividuals to breathe easier, focusmore keenly and enjoy what eachand every day brings more genuine-ly. Indeed, all aspects of daily lifemay seem to be more enjoyable atthis time, and this is not likely to be amatter of perception only.Things re-ally should seem better, on allfronts. This in itself, of course, is amatter of degree and personal expe-rience; one person’s better may notbe enough for someone else, andvice versa. It’s important that every-one be willing to accept what worksfor someone else.
This is a good week for forgingimportant and lasting relationships,both at work and on the personalfront. Indeed, friendships that takeshape now are likely to last a life-time, though the road may not besmooth at all times. Friendshipsborn can surely weather all kinds ofstorms.LEO (July 23-Aug. 7) — You musttake care that you don’t take forgranted those closest to you — athome or at work. (Aug. 8-Aug. 22)— Don’t underestimate the powerof affection. Now is the time to ex-press yourself openly and honest-ly to a loved one. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 7) — A dif-ference of opinion needn’t causeundue stress; trust and faith re-main paramount. (Sept. 8-Sept.22) — You are ready to reassignimportance to those things you’velet slide during recent weeks ormonths. A new dedication is pos-sible by week’s end. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 7) — Stick toany and all projects you begin atthis time. Self-improvement, ulti-mately, will be of primary impor-tance. (Oct. 8-Oct. 22) — Keepyour passions in check or youmay be putting others in dangeras well as yourself. Remain intouch with motives. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 7) — You’llrealize, yet again, the long-termimportance of staying organizedand prepared. (Nov. 8-Nov. 21) —Stay active, and focus on yourphysical stamina. You will want tobe building up your energy re-
serves at this time. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 7) —You may be feeling surprisinglyinsecure at this time. You can beproud of your importance, how-ever. (Dec. 8-Dec. 21) — You’llunderstand the very real influ-ence of cause and effect. You’ll donothing that does not affect oth-ers. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 6) —Spend time with family members,and be willing to give up some-thing now to gain something later.(Jan. 7-Jan. 19) — You can findthe little ways to reward yourselffor time and effort you’ve dedi-cated to a recent project. Don’tbecome overconfident.AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 3) — Nowis the time to come to terms with acommitment you may not haveunderstood fully until now. (Feb.4-Feb. 18) — You may require agentle push in the right directionat this time. Listen to whatfriends and family members haveto say to you.PISCES (Feb. 19-March 5) — Youmustn’t let playtime slip throughyour fingers. Remember to have agood time. (March 6-March 20) —Something special lies in store atthis time, and you must be willingto prepare accordingly even asyou play the waiting game. ARIES (March 21-April 4) — Noth-ing in your plans may be de-
signed, as yet, to lessen the im-pact of the unexpected. Realignyour efforts. (April 5-April 19) —There is a secret side to you thathas a great deal more self-confi-dence than you are currently will-ing to show. Get in touch with itnow. TAURUS (April 20-May 5) — Nowis no time to seek aggressive solu-tions to lasting problems. Try amore lenient approach. (May 6-May 20) — Assertiveness can beyour greatest asset — but youmust balance your aggressiveside with understanding and sym-pathy when needed. GEMINI (May 21-June 6) — Thetime for resistance against thosetaking advantage of you hascome. Say no now. (June 7-June20) — Your interest in the unusualis reaching an all-time high —and may lead you into a course ofendeavor you may not quite beready for.CANCER (June 21-July 7) — Hu-mility has its value, but it is im-portant that you are willing to askfor what you truly deserve. (July8-July 22) — Social activities youmay be dreading can provide youwith more fun and more opportu-nities than you had ever expected.
Copyright 2008United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
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Recycle
BY ZACHARY HERRMANNSenior staff writer
In the broadcast-first, think-laterworld of reality television, there is rarelyso much as a moment allotted for true in-trospection. Facebook, YouTube andcamera phones have dulled our mindsand bloated our egos. A person’s everywaking thought must be aired in somequickly digestible, easily downloadableformat.
But the rebirth of the “me” age has itsboons as well. Occasionally, an intelligentslice of “real” life — “real,” in this case,meaning emotionally believable —makes it through the gatekeepers andinto the mass market.
American Teen, though more enter-taining than reflective, respectfully fol-lows its subjects through their senioryear of high school in the predominantlywhite, middle-class community of War-saw, Ind. Documentary filmmaker
Nanette Burstein (The Kid Stays in thePicture) wisely keeps her hands out ofthe action, allowing her spectacular castof real characters to speak for them-selves.
There probably isn’t a whole lot of re-play value in the film, but on first pass,American Teen is both sweet and sassyenough to warrant an aside from the end-less slew of summer blockbusters.
The gossipy premise — follow aJohn Hughes-worthy assortmentof teenage stereotypes for 10months; and let the drama unfold— immediately conjures up im-ages of primetime, MTV-pro-duced garbage. But ultimately,Burstein’s modest aims for Ameri-can Teen keep the film grounded— you won’t find the Lauren, Heidiand Spencers of the world here.
The film eventuallyfalls back on more reassur-ing storylines — docu-mentary or not, Ameri-can Teen is still proneto the oft-predictabletraits of the Holly-wood teen flick.Everyone’s identitycrises all end in varyingforms of crowd-pleas-ing resolutions. Yet thestories and charactersare credible, evenloveable at times. It allmakes for somerather juicy, “Oh no
he/she didn’t!” hilarity any high schoolgraduate should be able to relate to.
Hannah Bailey stars as the out-of-sorts, rebellious girl; Colin Clemens isthe struggling basketball star; MeganKrizmanich is the bitchy overachiever;Jake Tusing is the band geek; and MitchReinholt is the bland (yet handsome)jock. From beginning to end, Bailey is theclear fan favorite, the most interesting
and reliable of narrators. In-evitably, we see Warsawthrough her eyes.
Bailey’s struggle withfitting in at Warsaw andher preparation to takeflight from the townmay not transcend itsgeneric coming-of-agestory, but she’s com-pelling enough to re-ally sell her plight.
When the filmsteers awayfrom Baileyas she dealswith de-pressionand anextend-
ed absencefrom school,AmericanTeen losesconsider-able mo-m e n t u mbut still
banks on the reliable supporting cast.The other outsider, Tusing, picks up a
good deal of the slack with his failed at-tempts at chivalric dating. At one point,Burstein literally places Tusing in hisvideo game fantasy, an amusing mock-up of a Zeldascenario.
The pop-documentary gimmick,though effective for Tusing, wears thinwhen applied to every other character. InBailey’s case, the Tim Burton-esquegraphics become an absolutely tackyway to visualize the girl’s fears of lapsinginto her mother’s manic depressive state.Though the cartoon scenes constitute avery small portion of the film itself, theyprove horribly disruptive, especiallygiven the strength of the main charac-ters.
Parents, and sometimes filmmakers,just don’t understand.
Fortunately, Burstein recovers fromthe brief stylistic mistakes and keeps therest of the film focused on the preciousteenage drama. Things get catty at times— American Teen sits right on the fencebetween documentary and big-screenreality television — but with minimal in-terference, the narrative unfolds natural-ly.
Krizmanich, at first dislikeable on herdifficult road to acceptance at her fa-ther’s alma mater, Notre Dame, growsover the 10-month period into a far morecomplex character than she is when we
first meet her. Clemens, though not asplain as Reinholt, has a little more trou-ble commanding the screen as he tries tosecure a place in college by performingwell enough to attract recruiters.
From the first day of senior year toprom and beyond, American Teen’s an-ecdotal musings never really illuminateor explore anything new — kids can becruel, and high school is a shared horrorwe all eventually repress.
Hopefully, at the expense of our enter-tainment, the five Warsaw graduateswon’t be retelling their stories one day ona therapist’s couch. More likely, they willdo as most teenagers do: disappear intothe masses of once-teenagers, the wiser,slightly less self-absorbed suits, ties anddresses around the country.
HOFFHOFF THEATHEATERTERFREE SUMMERFREE SUMMER FILMSFILMSTHIS WEEK:7/29-7/315:30 pm Independence Day7:30 pm Jumanji
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SIZZLIN’ SUMMERSIZZLIN’ SUMMERCONCERCONCERT SERIEST SERIESTHIS WEEK:July 31, 2008
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DATEEvery Thursday fromJune 5-August 21
TIME12 noon-1 pm
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DiversionsOPENING TOMORROW
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≠ Swing VoteStarring: Kevin Costner, Kelsey Grammer
ARTS MUSIC LIVING MOVIES WEEKEND
THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008 | THE DIAMONDBACK 7
REVIEW | AMERICAN TEEN
THE KIDS STAY INTHE PICTURE
American Teen gives an earnest look at the everydayglee and terror of high school, circa senior year
MOVIE: American Teen | VERDICT: 1/2
MEGAN KRIZMANICH: THE DRAMA QUEEN JAKE TUSING: THE GEEK
HANNAH BAILEY: THE OUTSIDER
8 THE DIAMONDBACK | DIVERSIONS | THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008
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The 2008TerrapinYearbookIs StillAvailable...Only 5 copies of the2008 Terrapin arestill available at$62 on a first-come,first-served basis.
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REVIEW | X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE
After a six-year hiatus from the small screen, theThe X-Files returns to theaters ... miserably
BY ROXANA HADADISenior staff writer
Don’t blame the Syndicate, Black Oil, AlexKrycek or the Cigarette Smoking Man. For the trav-esty that is The X-Files: I Want to Believe, you canblame Chris Carter.
In 2002, X-Files creator Carter ended the pop-culture-molding science-fiction series on a fittingnote: During the two-hour series finale, “TheTruth,” FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny,Californication) and Dana Scully (Gillian Ander-son, Straightheads), finally a romantic couple, areon the run from the government, which has closedthe X-Files for the third time and is trying to killMulder. The pair may have been robbed of its life’swork, but at least the two are together, having sur-vived everything and anything the aliens, the gov-ernment or the aliens working with the govern-ment has thrown at them. Everything was mysteri-ous — nothing was answered for sure, and it was allvery X-Files.
So for Carter to twist and turn upside-down thatfitting series finale with I Want to Believe is awholly unnecessary blasphemy. While Duchovnyand Anderson still have their acting chops — and,thankfully, that unmistakable chemistry — thisfilm isn’t a proper avenue for them. A lame idea, aboring script and some forced musings aboutCatholicism versus science all tread on familiarground, giving viewers a disappointing sense ofdéjà vu. Was this what we waited six years for?What a bummer.
Here’s the deal: Six years after the series finaletakes place, Mulder is a loner (shocking), living inan abandoned, gated home in the middle of the for-est somewhere, while Scully is a doctor at a Catholichospital grappling between her religious beliefs andher scientific training (again, shocking). When anFBI agent goes missing, fellow agents Dakota Whit-ney (Amanda Peet, Martian Child) and MosleyDrummy (rapper Xzibit, Pimp My Ride) go to Scul-ly for help, asking her to appeal to Mulder and bringhim in on the case.
Hence starts a struggle of sorts between Mulderand Scully. The former insists on relying on aCatholic priest and convicted pedophile, JosephFitzpatrick Crissman (Billy Connolly, Fido), who
claims he is receiving psychic visions of the missingagent and other girls, while the latter is disgusted byCrissman and dismisses him as a sham. Add insome moral tests for Scully — wait, could Crissmanbe telling the truth after all? — and Mulder’s obses-sion with solving the case as a way to cope withnever being able to find his sister, Samantha, andyou get all the tried-and-tired plot twists Carterloves relying on. Can you tell where this is going?
It’s sad Carter had to pull the series in this direc-tion, as the film — which uses a “monster-of-the-week” type format instead of dealing with one ofthe larger mytharcs — could have been great, asanother exploration of Mulder and Scully’s relation-ship or as a look at the importance of their work inan age without the X-Files. But instead, there are nomonsters as cool as Eugene Tooms, no psychologi-cal exploration as creepy as “Home” and no sceneas fantastically satisfying as Mulder and Scully’sfirst kiss. It’s merely a dragged out, boring messwith a ludicrously unbelievable plot (and that’s say-ing a lot, considering the whole basis of the fran-chise is unbelievable things) that collapses under itsown lack of weight.
Even more depressing are how good Duchovnyand Anderson still are and how wasted their talentsare in this slop (Peet, however, does not have thisproblem; she decidedly delivers the worst actingthe film has to offer). Duchovny is still pitch-perfectas Mulder, a bearded and reclusive man of J.D.Salinger-like proportions, while Anderson is contin-ually cool, confident and cruel as Scully, and soskeptical it hurts. They excel at slipping back intotheir complicated, complex roles, and it’s obviouswhat Carter wants to discover about their relation-ship: Without the X-Files, what are Mulder andScully? Do they simply become a couple known asFox and Dana? Or do they become nothing at all?
But these questions are far too weighty, far tooexistential to be properly answered within I Want toBelieve. Instead, Carter gives us a mediocre, unful-filling film that could have been edited down from afull-length movie to a standard 40-minute episode— and even then, it still would have been one of theworst episodes in the bunch. And that includes theones with Robert Patrick as Agent John Doggett.
Refuse to Believe
PHOTO COURTESY OF MOVIEWEB.COMFox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) have been brought back by The X-Files mastermindChris Carter for what may be their last, ill-advised mystery.
MOVIE: The X-Files: I Want to Believe | VERDICT: 1/2
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THE DIAMONDBACK
THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008 | SPORTS | THE DIAMONDBACK 9
Jones primed for big senior year
proximity to Washington D.C. andBaltimore as having an impact ontheir decision.”
Coach Franklin agrees with Brackenabout the proximity to those big mediamarkets and specifically mentionedthe appeal of Washington. Even thoughFranklin thinks the show needs to bemarketed more, he thinks the show hasa major impact on recruits.
“It certainly has a big impact be-cause it allows recruits to learn aboutthe program and because reality televi-sion is so big these days. It also allowsfor a local kid to imagine himself on tel-evision and for his parents and family
to be able to see him on TV a coupleyears down the line.”
Terrapins Rising is considered tobe the only television show in thecountry to focus on just one collegeprogram for an entire season. Theprogram is also shown during thesummer months, a time labeled asthe “dead period” because coachesare not allowed to be in contact withplayers.
“Even though it’s a dead perioduntil September, Terrapins Risinggives recruits an unlimited look intothe program,” Cavanaugh said. “It’sa great gateway for potential play-ers to learn about the coaches andcurrent players.”
With constant television exposurefor the university football program,it wouldn’t be a surprise to eventual-ly see opposing coaches complainabout the show being an unfair ad-vantage. But Franklin isn’t worriedabout what others may think.
“It certainly gives us an advantage,but any other BCS conference schoolcould do this,” he said. “And as for dis-advantages toward other schools, lifeisn’t fair and neither is recruiting northe NCAA.”
RISING, from Page 10
placement in the elbow of Jones’ throwingarm that caused him to redshirt his sopho-more year. “But now he’s got his arm in asgood shape as it’s been since the surgery.”
Terrapin baseball coach Terry Rupp at-tended the July 24 doubleheader to see theimprovements Jones has made this sum-mer as the righthander started his sixthgame for the Bombers.
Jones started out strong but had trou-ble in the third inning, giving up a walk,two hits and a run. But he kept his com-posure, pitched all but the final inningand earned a 2-1 victory — his third ofthe summer.
“Brett is really coming on strong,”Bovello said. “Next year, he should be aweekend pitcher for the Terps.”
Jones and the Bombers are 26-18 asof July 30 after winning a pair of gamesin the round robin playoffs. Theyplayed the The team hopes to earn aspot in Friday’s championship game at7:30 p.m. at Shirley Povich Field inRockville.
The reason why this team is winning
is because they like each other,” Bovel-lo said. “They hang out together, playball together. A lot of people think we’regoing to win it all. Even a coach in frontof us in the standings told me, ‘You’rethe team to beat.’”
The Bombers are behind onlyYouse’s Maryland Orioles and theBethesda Big Train, the first and sec-ond place teams, respectively.
The only other Terp in this summerleague, pitching ace Scott Swinson,plays for the Orioles. The Terps leaderin wins and strikeouts this past seasoncontinued his success this summer,with a 5-1 record, seven starts and a1.03 ERA. He was named to theleague’s East All-Star team.
The Cal Ripken Sr. League isn’t theonly place you’ll find Terps taking thefield this summer, as 17 players are invarious summer leagues across theEast Coast.
Going straight from the college sea-son into summer-league play mightseem exhausting, but it’s a necessarypractice for some players to preventgetting rusty.
“You don’t get much of a break, butwith too much of a break, my armwould get tight and stiff,” Jones said.“It’s good to just keep playing.”
And if players put in the work duringthe summer, it can pay dividends.While the Bombers’ games do not at-tract the spectators Terp games do,players can attract the attention both oftheir college coaches and of majorleague scouts.
Players get experience, meld withplayers from across the country and,most important for the scouts, learn tohit with or pitch against wooden bats,which Major League Baseball uses andthe NCAA does not.
But for Jones, the experience was notabout trying to impress others butabout proving to himself he could liveup to his potential: “The summer’sgood for just getting in innings and get-ting my pitches how I want them, get-ting my work in so when we [the Terps]come back this fall, I’m ready to go andready to throw.”
BASEBALL, from Page 10
Exposuregives Terpscompetitiveadvantage
10 THURSDAY, JULY 31, 2008 | THE DIAMONDBACK
ADAM FRIED–THE DIAMONDBACKThe Terps’ baseball season has been done for months, but there is still talent on Shipley Field this summer. The College Park Bombers and Herndon Bravesof the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League squared off at Shipley on Saturday.
Sports
Offseason on the hill
Football Risingto new heights
in recruiting
BYKATEYANCHULISStaff writer
Terrapin pitcher Brett Joneswalked to the mound in a blackand red jersey at Shipley Fieldon July 24, as he had donemany times before. But thistime, he was not pitching forthe Terrapins.
This summer, the right-handed Jones, who appearedin 20 games for the Terps base-ball team last season, was tak-
ing the field for the CollegePark Bombers, a team in theCal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Base-ball League.
Jones and fellow Terp NathanSteelman are on the Bombersroster this summer; it is Jones’third summer with the squad.
The Bombers have beenbringing baseball to College Parkfor 20 years, and in 2005, theteam played in the inaugural sea-son of the Cal Ripken Sr. League.Players from colleges as far away
as California come to the leaguewhen their NCAA season ends.
“They’re here to better them-selves and go back to school thenext year better, more experi-enced players,” Bombers owner,chairman, general manager andhead coach Gene Bovello said.“We really want players to enjoytheir time here. They love theprogram and tell other players,and we build the program up.”
Bovello has been wearingmany hats with the Bombers
since the team’s inception. Withmore than 50 years of coachingexperience and 28 of his formerplayers in coaching positionsthroughout the country, you cantrust him when he says Jones hasimproved drastically in his timewith the Bombers.
“Brett had Tommy John sur-gery, which usually makes guysstruggle with control,” Bovellosaid, referring to the ligament re-
FOOTBALLPRESEASON CAMP
BEGINSMONDAY
Terps pitchers compete in Ripken League
Television program helps teamnab local players
BY JOHN TALTYFor The Diamondback
Comcast SportsNet’s Ter-rapins Rising has been hailedas a show that offers aninsider’s perspective into theuniversity’s football program.Each week it focuses on a fewstories about players andcoaches, as well as showingsome drama surrounding thespring practices.
But Terrapins Rising —shown throughout the state ofMaryland and some selectnational areas — isn’t justabout the entertainment; italso seems to be having aneffect on local recruiting. Andthe Terrapin coaching staff ishoping this program sets itselfapart from what other teamsare doing in the hectic worldof recruiting.
“[Terrapins Rising] is atremendous resource to edu-cate on the University ofMaryland and its football pro-gram,” offensive coordinatorand noted recruiter JamesFranklin said.
One player that is very famil-iar with the different aspects ofrecruiting is freshman widereceiver Kenny Tate. Tate, afour-star recruit from
DeMatha High School, said heused to watch the show while inhigh school. Tate said eventhough he didn’t have a lot oftime to watch television, hecame away with a positiveimpression of the Terpsthrough the show.
“It gives an insight on whatthe team is doing, and itinforms you of some things thatyou didn’t know where goingon,” Tate said.
Tate is not the only playerTerrapins Rising has affected.Terrapin Times.com’s KeithCavanaugh recalled a story inwhich a player was so “pumpedup hearing [head] coach[Ralph] Friedgen speak” onTerrapins Rising he committedright after watching it.
Although Terrapins Risingisn’t the recruiting slam-dunksome may have hoped it wouldbe, BalitmoreSun.com recruit-ing expert Matt Bracken thinksit certainly doesn’t hurt theuniversity football program.
“It’s a solid recruiting toolbecause players may beattracted to the spotlight,”Bracken said. “Additionally,several recruits have men-tioned the location and its
Please See RISING, Page 9 Please See BASEBALL, Page 9
