MULTIMEDIA
Duo 'knot' afraid to push jazz norms
By William Hoffman | Mar. 12, 2014Jazz requires a keen ear and a loose interpretation of the rules allowing the artists to play off one another for pure improvisation. Jazz is a conversation.
Student comedy troupe set for MemAud performance debut
By William Ashton | Mar. 12, 2014Although Blue Pencil Comedy and Black Sheep Improv have been performing annually inside Baker University Center, their next upcoming event has them moving to a new, larger location.
MAC Tournament: Eastern Michigan tops Northern Illinois, advances to quarterfinals
By Brandon Kors | Mar. 12, 2014Eastern Michigan has proven all season that it's a pesky team that sticks around, which was evidenced by their wins against Mid-American Conference leaders Toledo and Western Michigan.
Men's Basketball: Bobcats' MAC Tournament run comes to a close
Mar. 12, 2014CLEVELAND — Ohio coach Jim Christian slowly made his way to the podium and sat down to open a news conference, holding back tears and trying to hide the lump in his throat.
OU students come forward for arson
By Allan Smith | Mar. 12, 2014Both men charged with setting a house fire on Stewart Street have voluntarily turned themselves in.
Next year's budget unsettled
By Danielle Keeton-Olsen | Mar. 12, 2014Ohio University’s Board of Trustees will break a recent tradition at Thursday’s meeting by postponing the presentation of the final FY 2014-15 budget.
Football: Bobcats prepare for Pro Day
By Tony Wolfe | Mar. 12, 2014Players and coaches have filed into Walter Fieldhouse for the first days of spring practice throughout the week. Thursday, however, the new facility will be packed even further when professional scouts enter the building for Ohio’s Pro Day.
Chauncey man found guilty of multiple felonies
By Kelly Fisher | Mar. 12, 2014A Chauncey man was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday after attempting to hide items in his car during a traffic stop and for attempting to use his son’s urine during a drug test.
Men's Basketball: Akron awaits Ohio in MAC Quarterfinals
By Christian Hoppens | Mar. 12, 2014CLEVELAND — Neither •Stevie Taylor nor •Javarez “Bean” Willis put up especially gaudy stat lines, but when it mattered most, each rose to the occasion in Ohio’s second-round Mid-American Conference Tournament victory against Miami.The duo of junior point guards each hit a •pair of 3-pointers when the game tightened in the second half to help the Bobcats advance past the RedHawks •63-55 •Wednesday.After a layup and a triple by Miami freshman guard •Jared Eustace gave the RedHawks a •43-39 lead with •10:49 remaining in the contest, Taylor came back up the floor and knocked down •3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.“I told (Taylor) that, ‘We can’t win games in this tournament without you. … you’re going to have to give us everything you’ve got’,” Ohio coach Jim Christian said. “I thought he played with a lot of courage tonight.”And when RedHawks eventually •retook the lead, Willis knocked down a pair of 3-pointers of his of his own with to push the Bobcats ahead again, knocking down his second on a pull-up jumper stemming from a •Jon Smith steal. “At that point in time, there’s limited time left in the game,” Willis said. “If you’re going to shoot it, then you have to shoot it with confidence. … I shot it knowing that I had to make it and I did.”Miami didn’t quit, however, trimming the lead back to within one point with 38 seconds left. But Ohio senior guard Nick Kellogg finished off the Bobcats’ second-half heroics, taking the ball to the hoop and completing an and-one opportunity. The free throw gave the Bobcats a •four-point lead and essentially sealed the win.But the first half wasn’t a shining example of how beautiful the game of basketball can be, as both teams combined for •20 team fouls, which averages out to a foul a minute.“It’s kind of tough, but it’s part of the game,” Kellogg said. “You just have to adapt and adjust to it. If that’s the way (the officials) are calling it, that’s how they’re calling it. I think it’s up to us to stop fouling.”On top of that, there was a pair of lane violations, blood on the floor and a shooting performance that made it seem like there was a lid on the rim.Ohio shot 7 of 26 from the field in the first half, while Miami actually managed to shoot worse, connecting on 7 of its 30 attempts before the break.There was also a •nine-minute, •28-second stretch in which the Bobcats didn’t make a basket. A Kellogg •3-pointer with •7:39 before half served as the first made field goal since Willis made a shot from downtown at the •17:07 mark.Awaiting the Bobcats in the quarterfinals is an Akron team that crushed Ohio’s MAC Championship and NCAA Tournament bid chances last season with a •65-46 win in the tournament’s title game.Kellogg said it wouldn’t be a •MAC Tournament without meeting a Zips team that •split the regular season series against the Bobcats this year.“Obviously they’re a really good team,” Kellogg said. “We felt like we’ve built some momentum winning these two games prior to this game, so we know what kind of energy and effort it’s going to take to beat them.”ch203310@ohiou.edu@C_Hoppens
Editorial: A point worth making, a question worth asking
Mar. 12, 2014Athletics’ bowl game budgetAn initial scan of the expenditure report for this season’s football bowl game indicates that Ohio Athletics did a good job pinching pennies for its trip to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl.The trip, which resulted in a 37-20 loss to East Carolina on Dec. 23, cost Ohio University students only $32,642.08 — less than half of last season’s $78,569 for the Advocare V100 Independence Bowl (which Ohio won, by the way).Bravo, right?We don’t think it’s that simple for a variety of reasons, which we believe are largely circumstantial.This season’s bowl was played earlier in the year (Dec. 23 versus Dec. 28 the season prior), presumably saving Athletics money from the fewer days student-athletes were living and training on campus before the game. Plus, hotel arrangements were significantly cheaper in St. Petersburg than in Shreveport, La., the site of the Independence Bowl.An Athletics official said after the Independence Bowl that Athletics has little say in where the team stays during a bowl trip. He noted Independence Bowl officials specified a “home hotel and visiting hotel.” We have no reason to believe this season’s accommodations were handled differently.We concede with an Athletics statement emailed to the media that it’s common for football teams to spend more than they receive for playing in bowl games and that Athletics made a good effort to incur “the least expense possible.” What we take issue with, though, is the statement that Athletics broke even on this season’s bowl trip.The university budgets $120,000 of its General Fee for its athletic teams’ postseason play, but there’s no doubt that the university spent more money on this bowl game than it brought in by playing in it.Don’t get us wrong: We support the Bobcats and cheer them on as much as the next fan, and we’re glad that they get to compete in postseason play as a culmination of their hard work throughout the season. We don’t take issue with the money that OU pays to finance its postseason play, and we understand the value of the exposure the university receives from bowl appearances. But this season’s bowl expenditures — lesser than the past largely because of circumstance — cost students money. There’s no debate to be had. The university did not break even.CommencementOhio University typically maintains the tradition of booking alumni to deliver the commencement address. But is that necessarily a good thing? To be honest, we’re split. We see the value in hearing from a successful, prominent alum who can relate to students about living in Athens, bar-hopping on Court Street, strolling through College Green and perhaps walking across the stage inside The Convo at his or her own commencement. An alum’s address has the potential to personalize the recycled “you-will-go-far” sermon that college graduates sit through year after year.However, we wouldn’t mind a little more hype and impact at commencement. We don’t need to go to the lengths that a certain state school did last year and book the sitting president of the United States, but we think students would appreciate a recognizable name. Here’s a name: Pete Souza. Souza’s the official White House photographer and a faculty member in the School of Visual Communication, but he doesn’t hold any degrees from Ohio University. Does that preclude him from speaking at commencement? We hope not. (Souza: If your schedule is clear around, say, May 2 next year, give us a call.)There are plenty of non-Bobcat authors, businesspeople, journalists, politicians and artists who are great at what they do and are capable of rousing a crowd. Isn’t that the point of the commencement address anyway? Or is hearing from an alum what makes a commencement special?Like we said, we’re split. And as you can see at the bottom of this page in today’s Post Streetview, students are split too. Some want to relate to the experiences they share with the speaker, while others just want to be inspired by a good speech regardless of who’s giving it. What do you think?Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
Football: Bobcats prepare for Pro Day
By Tony Wolfe | Mar. 12, 2014Players and coaches have filed into Walter Fieldhouse for the first days of spring practice throughout the week. Thursday, however, the new facility will be packed even further when professional scouts enter the building for Ohio’s Pro Day.Former Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton and receiver Donte Foster are among the list of athletes who will be showcasing their talents to potential suitors during the afternoon.“It’s fun to be back around the guys, and see how far they’ve come with their training,” Tettleton said. “I’ve been working out every day when possible, just trying to take care of my body and eat right and do the right things. I feel like I’m in the right place right now. It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to it.”The former Bobcat also says he’s weighing his future options after six NFL teams began communicating with him following an All-Star Game he played in last month, in addition to one Canadian Football League team that has offered him a contract.Foster has spent the past eight weeks training in Miami, Fla. working on drills such as shuttles, bench presses and verticals preparing for Thursday’s opportunity. Foster shared Tettleton’s enthusiasm about Pro Day and relayed some advice given to him by Indianapolis Colts receiver and former Bobcat LaVon Brazill.“LaVon told me to just stay relaxed,” Foster said. “If one thing goes bad, you can’t let that dictate the rest of your Pro Day. He just said to stay focused, and if you have one bad drill, then just go onto the next one and just make the most of it. You have to go into these things with confidence, so hearing that from him was very beneficial to me.”Tettleton and Foster have each attended the early days of the Bobcats’ spring practices to observe next year’s team, as well as the new practice facility.“I’ll always be a Bobcat, so I’ll always support them,” Tettleton said. “I try to be around the guys as much as possible. It’s great to be in here, and see the new indoor that my class and all of these guys helped build and provide for this program.”As one of the players looking to fill Tettleton’s shoes this season, redshirt junior Derrius Vick has been looking to get the most out of the first week of practice.“Practice has been way different,” Vick said. “The new quarterback coach has us doing a lot more drills and puts a lot more emphasis on different things. I can definitely feel myself getting better quickly every day.”Ohio’s Pro Day kicks off at Walter Fieldhouse on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.aw987712@ohiou.edu@_tonywolfe_
OU students come forward voluntarily for arson
By Allan Smith | Mar. 12, 2014Both men charged with setting a house fire on Stewart Street have voluntarily turned themselves in.
Obama skirts major media for ‘Ferns’ sit-down
By Josh Jamerson | Mar. 12, 2014Sitting between two ferns, President Barack Obama spoke to actor Zach Galifianakis this week about the Affordable Care Act in an almost-last-ditch effort to get more young people to sign up for private health care plans by using the federal and state government-run marketplaces.But I’d bet most people reading this column, which appears in a college newspaper, already knew that. That’s because Obama’s sales pitch, in some ways, worked.As the White House would tell you, funnyordie.com, the website that hosts the semi-scripted show, was the No. 1 source of traffic yesterday to healthcare.gov, the federal marketplaces.And even if you’re 18-34 and you didn’t sign up for health care after watching the “Between Two Ferns” piece online, the president made his pitch and you remembered it. And, judging by the “Funny or Die” meter on the Galifianakis episode, you likely laughed.But some critics argue that a sitting president appearing on a Web-only, tit-for-tat comedy show — with a microphone pinned on to his lapel with masking tape — is not the best use of precious presidential time and resources.As The Washington Post noted, with the advent of the Internet, Obama is the first president who is able to bypass traditional news media in favor of more laid-back, non-traditional media that will be kinder in its line of questioning.For example, The Washington Post noted that Obama last met with the newspaper in 2009. Since then, Obama has given interviews to People, Entertainment Tonight and The View, as well as entertainers Jay Leno, Steve Harvey and Jon Stewart. NBA legend Charles Barkley interviewed the president this year. Now add Hangover star Zach Galifianakis to the bunch.Obviously, the White House’s agenda can be better delivered unfiltered by lighter media outlets. So it’s a no-brainer, perhaps, that a president with more than 27 million Twitter followers — many more than The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other top news outlets with a beefed-up Washington Bureau — doesn’t feel like he needs to cozy up to the traditional news media.Because they will ask tough questions and write stories that have deep context from seasoned reporters who know how Washington does and doesn’t work. That’s probably a scary thought for a president facing approval ratings near or touching his all-time lows, depending on the poll.But Obama often talks about what this nation’s leaders can do versus what is the right thing to do. He said that about the NSA programs that have come under intense scrutiny.“The power of new technologies means that there are fewer and fewer technical constraints on what we can do,” the president said in January during a landmark speech on U.S. intelligence gathering. “That places a special obligation on us to ask tough questions about what we should do.”I wonder how he would feel about applying that logic to disseminating his agenda.Now that traditional media — with reporters who will vet information and offer in-depth looks at a president’s public policy agenda — is becoming eclipsed by brand new forms of “light” media, should the president opt for the easy way or the hard way to inform the American people of his White House’s plans? Because we know he can opt — and is opting — for the easier way. But should he?Regardless of what he thinks of that, my prediction is an obvious one: Obama’s not going to stop the light interviews — which history might be kind to — any time soon.Joshua Jamerson is a junior studying journalism and local editor of The Post. What did you think of Obama’s “Between Two Ferns” interview? Talk about the episode with him at jj360410@ohiou.edu.
Alumnus to address students at graduation
By Danielle Keeton-Olsen | Mar. 12, 2014Even if Ohio University’s six regional campuses are scattered throughout Ohio, they will have a presence at this year’s undergraduate graduation ceremony in Athens.
