Bellator 148 rumbles into Save Mart Center

THE COLLEGIAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
FRESNO STATE'S STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1922
‘Only the first week of school and I already have to buy Plan B.’
MORE
INSIDE
Yak of the Week:
FRESNOSTATE.EDU/COLLEGIAN
MMA
Bellator 148 rumbles into Save Mart Center
Darlene Wendels • The Collegian
Paul Daley (left) throws a left hook toward Andy Uhrich during the welterweight main event of Bellator 148, held at the Savemart Center, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016. Daley knocked Uhrich out with a right uppercut
within the first couple minutes of the first round.
BULLDOG EXPRESS
All aboard the new
campus shuttle
By Razi Syed
@TheCollegian
The new Bulldog Express brings students living nearby to campus.
Courtesy Photo • University Communications
Hoping to cut down on the number of students needing campus parking spots each
day, Fresno State began a student shuttle
service on Jan. 25 to take students living
close-by a lift to campus.
The Bulldog Express is free for students,
faculty and staff when they show their ID
cards and will run Monday to Friday from 7
a.m. to 10 p.m.
The buses seat 40 people, and have four
seats in each row. One of the buses had a
mechanical issue during the first week and
a large van is temporarily being used in its
place, said Abigail Hudson, president of
See EXPRESS, Page 3
SCHOLARSHIPS
Think you might not qualify for financial
aid? Think again
By Julissa Zavala
@TheCollegian
“I don’t get financial aid because my parents make too much
money,” is a sentiment that many
college students have heard, if not
said themselves.
The middle class seemed to
be a dreaded status for a college
student. Student’s parents made
too much money for a student to
qualify for financial aid, but not
enough money to pay for years of
higher education.
Students who fall in the middle class range may now have an
incentive for filling out the Free
Application for Federal Student
Aid (FAFSA) because of the recently implemented Middle Class
Scholarship (MCS) that has been
around since 2014.
The MCS is a scholarship for
undergraduate students who at-
tend a University of California
or a California State University
system school, make at least a 3.0
GPA, whose parent(s) earn up to
$150,000 and have a maximum
annual household asset amount
of $150,000.
Alexis Perez, ambassador for
the MCS, said that tuition for UC
and CSU schools had skyrocketed
since the early 2000s and now
See FAFSA, Page 3
Graphic by Bethany Izard
OPINION
GOT OPINIONS? We want to hear them.
[email protected]
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
CSU FACULTY STRIKE POSSIBLE
STUDENTS SHOULD SUPPORT TEACHERS
By Diane M. Blair
CFA Fresno State
Chapter President
By now most students know
that the faculty on our campus
and across the 23-campus California State University system
are in a labor dispute with CSU
management.
You’ve seen faculty members wearing red, you’ve read
statements regarding possible
strike actions in your syllabi, and you’ve probably seen
signs around campus about the
“Fight for Five.”
So why have you heard faculty saying, “We don’t want to
strike, but we will?”
The specific argument is
over how much faculty members will be paid.
For more than 10 years,
the pay of CSU faculty has remained flat and lagged behind
inflation. The average faculty member at Fresno State
has lost the equivalent of over
$13,000 in purchasing power
in the last decade, and this is a
serious problem for faculty and
our families.
This is also a serious problem for CSU students because
it’s harder to hire and retain talented faculty for your classes. In
addition, more than half of your
instructors work on temporary
assignments at low pay. Most of
them do not get full-time work
in the CSU, so they must rush
to other jobs or teach classes at
other institutions to make ends
meet.
2
Yaks
of the
Week
From the bowels of the anonymous app Yik
Yak – a five mile radius from Fresno State
I waste so much gas in the parking
lot.
Paul Schlesinger • The Collegian
Students walk passed boxes that the Fresno State CFA chapter used in a skit called “Race to the Bottom” to illustrate
the plight of CSU faculty and students on Thursday in front of the Kennel Bookstore.
This disinvestment in faculty is really a disinvestment in
the classroom and the university’s core educational mission.
Even with the campus-wide
equity program implemented by President Joseph Castro
last year, the average earning
at Fresno State (what faculty
actually take home in their paychecks before taxes) is less than
$48,000.
The CSU Chancellor’s office likes to talk about average
base salaries, but that assumes
everyone works full-time. Even
when you consider full-time
base salaries, the average faculty salary at Fresno State is still
less than $63,000.
CSU faculty members are
by far the lowest paid educators across the state, and that
includes not only the University of California system but the
community college system and
K-12 teachers as well.
As faculty we care about our
students and we want every
student to succeed. We want
and believe that teaching in the
CSU can and should be a solid
middle class job that enables us
to support our loved ones while
we help students get college
degrees and secure their own
place in the middle class.
We hope a satisfactory resolution will be reached between
faculty and CSU management.
We will keep students updated throughout the semester
regarding any possible strike
actions.
In the end we believe we
must stand up for ourselves
and for the importance of our
role protecting the university’s
core mission.
We think this is an important lesson for our students, too.
There is a point when people
must say, this has to be fixed,
and we will not give up until it
is fixed.
C
COMMENT: The Collegian is a
forum for student expression.
http://fresnostate.edu/collegian
My cat smelled so I rubbed a dryer
sheet on her, now she smells like
fresh laundry.
Girl by the IT bldg parking lot with a
bike helmet, I love you.
I’m not part of the Democratic Party and I’m not part of the Republican Party. But I am sure as hell
part of the pizza party.
To the girl that just shared an
armrest with me during lecture…
What are we?
I’m hungry and it smells like
a baked potato in the Science
Building.
Vote online! The winner will appear on the
front page of next Monday’s Collegian!
Paul Vieira • The Collegian
THE COLLEGIAN
The Collegian is a student-run
publication that serves the Fresno
State community. Views expressed
in The Collegian do not
necessarily reflect the views
of the staff or university.
fresnostate.edu/collegian
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THE COLLEGIAN • NEWS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
PAGE 3
AMERNET STRING QUARTET
Darlene Wendels • The Collegian
Jason Calloway plays the cello with the Amernet String Quartet in Fresno State’s Concert Hall, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016.
Free shuttle runs Monday through Friday
EXPRESS from Page 1
Associated Students, Inc.
The cost for the shuttle will be
$653,446.13 for three semesters,
parking and transportation manager Tom Gaffery said.
The two shuttles run simultaneously along the route and will
stop at Bulldog Lane, Millbrook
Avenue, Campus Drive at North
Gym, the Save Mart Center parking lot and Campus Pointe.
“It takes about a half-hour to
complete a trip,” Gaffery said. “A
bus comes to the stop every 15
minutes.”
Fresno State has been looking
for a way to deal with the short
supply of parking spots.
“I know that last year, even, it
was something that had been discussed more casually that maybe a
student shuttle would be an alter-
native to a parking structure,”
Hudson said. “I’m sure you’re
familiar with all the conversations
that have gone on about a parking
structure – it’s like $40 million to
build it. It’s not really in the cards
as an immediate solution.”
As of fall 2015, Fresno State
has an enrollment of 24,136. The
university believes that around
2,400 students living near the
school could potentially be regular riders of the Bulldog Express.
“Our data shows that we’ve got
in excess of 10 percent of our student population that live within a
mile of campus,” Gaffery said.
University officials also hope
that students driving to school
and parking on campus can utilize
the Bulldog Express.
“Parking at the Save Mart
Center lot is fine, if you have classes on the east side of campus,”
Gaffery said. “But sometimes,
parking at the Save Mart Center
lot and then having to be on the
west side of campus – that’s a bit
of a walk.”
In the next several months,
Gaffery said the school hopes to
add a feature to the Fresno State
mobile application that would
allow students to get real-time
tracking of Bulldog Express shuttles along with estimates of stop
arrivals.
Thuy Nguyen, a graduate student studying education, has
enjoyed riding the shuttle the first
week.
Nguyen noted that she once
waited around an extra 10 minutes when the shuttle wasn’t on
schedule but, “I like it anyway,”
she said. Nguyen looks forward to
being able to have real-time tracking for the buses.
Discussions for a shuttle
became more serious around
September 2015, Hudson said,
and university officials determined the shuttle would be able to
begin service in January.
During the end of the fall 2015
semester, Fresno State interviewed companies interested in
operating the campus shuttle.
Ultimately, Chicago-based SP+
Transportation was picked to run
the shuttle because of their experience in running other university
shuttles and the speed at which
they could begin service, Hudson
said.
It took around four months
from the time the university seriously considered a shuttle and
having the shuttle in operation.
“Most of the companies that
applied said they couldn’t do it
by January, and that they’d want
to start in the fall,” Hudson said.
“But we knew that we wanted to
offer it to students in January
so we made sure it was a very
quick turnaround. Fresno State
President Dr. Joseph Castro really wanted it to be available in
January.”
Under the arrangement with
SP+ Transportation, the company
will own the buses, hire and train
drivers and take care of maintenance of the buses.
There are no estimated ridership numbers available for the
first week but Hudson said she
has been using the shuttle and
has always had at least one person
riding with her and up to as many
as 10 other people.
Hudson said she expects
more people will ride the Bulldog
Express as they learn about the
new shuttle.
Deadline to apply for FAFSA and MCS is March 2
F
FRESNO
STATEE
FAFSA from Page 1
middle class students need financial aid as well as students from
low income families.
“The California government
has created their own initiative
to provide more aid to those
families that fall within that middle income bracket,” Perez said.
“Just to make sure that it’s not a
burden for their children to go to
a university in California.”
Monique Mejia, coordinator
for the MCS through California
Student Opportunity and Access
Program (Cal-SOAP), said that
she thinks students are intimidated by the financial aid process
or they just don’t realize that
they qualify for certain grants or
scholarships.
“All they have to do is fill out
the free application for FAFSA,”
Mejia said.“There’s no special
button that they have to push,
they just fill out the FAFSA like
normal and if they are eligible
then they will receive the aid
money.”
Perez said that the application
will recognize if a student is eligible for the MCS and will automatically enroll the students who
qualify.
“Scholarship is attached to the
name of this grant, so a lot of people hear that and they think of a
separate application or they think
that they need to write a personal
statement or provide more personal information,” Perez said.
“Which is not the case.”
Mejia said that last year
150,000 students were expected
to qualify for the scholarship, but
that only about half of that number applied, thus allowing more
scholarship money to be allotted
to qualifying students.
Depending on how many
students fill out the FAFSA and
qualify for the MCS, Mejia said
that students in the UC system
should expect to get around
$1,100, and CSU students should
expect to get around $700.
“That $700 can buy them a
laptop or some of their books or
their rent for one month,” Mejia
said.
Mejia said that Cal-SOAP is
trying to bring awareness to the
MCS by attending functions at
high schools and putting up flyers
at community colleges to let possible transfer students know that
they can receive money when
they transfer by just applying for
FAFSA.
The Middle Class Scholarship
is for incoming freshmen, continuing students and transfer
students throughout the UC and
CSU systems.
The deadline in California to
apply for FAFSA and the MCS is
March 2.
happening toMORROW
registration still open
Apply online
Asi.fresnostate.edu
NEWS
4
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
WEATHER
Storm dumps record-breaking rainfall on Fresno
An overturned big rig blocked the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 along the Grapevine as a result of a storm system that dumped rain and snow across the state.
By Paul Schlesinger
@PaulSch_Photog
An El Niño-fueled storm
system brought record-breaking
rainfall to Fresno and dumped
snow in the Sierra Nevada on
Sunday.
Fresno received 0.98 of an
inch of rain on Sunday, breaking
the previous record of 0.96 of an
inch from 1963, said Scott Rowe,
meteorologist at the National
Weather Service in Hanford.
The record rainfall was much
more than the third of an inch of
rain originally forecasted to fall
in Fresno.
“It was a healthy dosage of
precipitation for the central San
Joaquin Valley,” Rowe said.
In the mountains above
Huntington Lake, China Peak
Mountain Resort reported receiving over 2 ½ feet of snow since
noon Saturday, with most of the
snow falling on Sunday, said Tim
Cohee, CEO and general manager
Courtesy Photo • California Department of Transportation
for China Peak.
Interstate 5, the main route
from the Valley to Los Angeles,
was also affected by the storm as
a traffic collision involving a big
rig blocked multiple lanes on the
southbound side of the freeway
along the Grapevine, the California Highway Patrol said.
Mostly to partly cloudy skies
are expected this week as the Valley dries out as the storm system
barrels toward the Midwest.
Fresno is forecast to reach
54 degrees on Monday, with
temperatures dipping to 35 at
night. The high is expected to be
54 again during the day and 38
during the night on Tuesday.
EDUCATION
Obama seeks $4.1 billion to expand programming classes
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Bloomberg News/TNS
WASHINGTON — President
Barack Obama will ask Congress for $4.1 billion to expand
computer programming classes
in every public school, the White
House said Saturday.
The proposal, backed by
technology firms including Apple,
Google and Microsoft, will be
included in Obama’s fiscal 2017
budget, to be released Feb. 9.
Teaching basic coding to more
grade-school children is necessary to expand the U.S. economy,
Obama said.
“In the new economy, computer science isn’t an optional skill
— it’s a basic skill,” Obama said
Saturday in his weekly television
and radio address. “I’ve got a
plan to help make sure all our
kids get an opportunity to learn
computer science.”
The president’s proposal would
provide $4 billion to states and
$100 million to school districts
over three years that could be used
to train teachers, expand course
offerings and improve programs
that encourage girls and minorities to pursue technology careers.
The White House said technology companies had pledged
to increase their investments in
computer-science education as
part of the initiative.
HMONG
New Hmong minor a glimpse into future
By Jasmine Castrellon
@TheCollegian
First in the western United
States and fifth in the nation, Fresno State plans to offer a Hmong
minor next semester through the
Linguistic Department in the College of Arts and Humanities.
The Central Valley has one of
the largest Hmong populations
in the nation and Fresno State,
having a highly populated Hmong
student body, now has the need
for a Hmong minor.
The minor calls for 18 units
in Hmong culture, history and
language and was proposed by
Dr. Kao-Ly Yang, a Hmong and
French professor. The Hmong minor is still awaiting approval from
a few committees, but Yang is
confident everything will be ready
for the fall semester.
Yang said that as the coordinator, she believes the four main
objects of the minor are: to learn
the language, answer to students’
need, help create future leaders
and to advance students’ academ-
ic writing skills.
“You have a lot of students
who would like to get reconnected to their culture,” Yang said.
“In order for you to succeed in
mainstream society, to become a
lawyer, doctor, teacher, engineer,
reporter, you have to know your
culture and be proud of who you
are.”
Yang had a lot of Hmong
students who insisted that she
should push for a Hmong minor
at Fresno State. Keng Vang, president of the Hmong Language Club
at Fresno State, told Yang that he
did not want to graduate until he
received his minor in Hmong.
“I’m the oldest son in my family so there is a lot that is expected
from me. I’m supposed to be the
one who holds the culture and traditions and be the model for my
younger siblings,” Vang said . “It
would be great if I have a minor,
so that I’ll have proof that I’m fluent in Hmong.”
Dr. Honora Howell Chapman,
associate dean of Arts and Humanity, supports and said that
having a Hmong minor at Fresno
State is important for students.
“It provides emotional benefit
for the students who get to study
their family’s language, culture
and identity. They can ask questions about what it means to be
Hmong today, what it will mean
for children eventually,” Chapman said.
“I think any time you have the
opportunity to learn about your
family's history and background,
you become a more complete person; you become a more whole
human being.”
THE COLLEGIAN • POLITICS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
PAGE 5
Presidental candidates on immigration
57%
“We are a nation of
immigrants.”
•
Dismantle inhumane deportation programs and detention centers.
•
Pave the way for a swift and fair legislative roadmap to citizenship
for the eleven million undocumented immigrants.
•
Ensure our border remains secure while respecting local
communities.
•
Regulate the future flow of immigrants by modernizing the visa
•
Triple the number of ICE officers.
•
Nationwide e-verify. This simple measure
will protect jobs for unemployed
system and rewriting bad trade agreements.
Bernie Sanders
(D.)
U.S. Vermont
Senator
•
•
38%
“We need
strong borders.
We need a
wall.”
Donald Trump
(R.)
American
businessman
Americans.
Enhance access to justice and reverse the criminalization of
immigrants.
•
Mandatory return of all criminal aliens.
Establish parameters for independent oversight of key U.S.
•
Detention—not catch-and-release. Illegal
aliens apprehended crossing the border
department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies.
must be detained until they are sent
“America needs
comprehensive
immigration reform
with a pathway to
citizenship.”
Hillary Clinton
(D.)
Former Secretary
of State
•
Fight for comprehensive immigration reform
legislation with a path to full and equal
citizenship.
•
37%
Defend President Obama’s DACA and DAPA
executive actions.
•
Do everything possible under the law to go
further to protect families.
•
Conduct humane, targeted immigration
enforcement.
•
Expand access to affordable health care to all
families.
•
Promote naturalization.
home, no more catch-and-release.
•
2016
Defund sanctuary cities. Cut-off federal
grants to any city which refuses to
cooperate with federal law enforcement.
•
End birthright citizenship.
“It’s not that we don’t
know how to solve illegal
immigration. What is missing
is the political will to get it
done. And, as president, I will
get it done. We will secure the
borders.”
•
Build a wall that works.
•
Triple the number of Border Patrol agents.
•
Increase vital aerial surveillance.
•
Provide additional equipment and technology along the border.
•
Finish the biometric tracking system at our nation’s ports of entry.
Ted Cruz
(R.)
U.S. Texas Senator
13%
All polling percentages represent the latest for New Hampsire whose primary is Feb. 9.
Take A Ride On The Bulldog Express
POLITICS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
6
IOWA CAUCUS
Presidential candidates take last shots before Iowa caucuses
By David Lightman, Anita Kumar
& Lesley Clark
McClatchy Washington Bureau/TNS
DES MOINES, Iowa — Presidential candidates offered closing arguments — with
insults and accusations — as they crisscrossed Iowa in search of votes the day before voters head to caucuses.
With huge blocs of voters still undecided
on their choices, Republican front-runners
argued over who was a true conservative.
Democrats clashed over the meaning of
Hillary Clinton’s latest email controversy.
The State Department designated 22 of
the emails that Clinton, the former secretary of State, sent or received on her private
server as “top secret,” giving critics an another opportunity to attack her for not to
properly securing sensitive information.
Clinton said Sunday that that “it was not
the best choice” to use a private email system for government business, and charged
that Republicans were using the issue to
beat up on her. “I just want this matter resolved,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Clinton led 45 to 42 percent over Bernie
Sanders, the independent senator from
Vermont, in the Des Moines Register/
Bloomberg Politics poll released Saturday.
There were echoes of 2008 for Clinton.
She began that campaign as a strong caucus
favorite, only to finish third behind Barack
Obama and John Edwards.
Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, has had a similar surge. He’s
campaigned on ridding the U.S. of income
inequality.
“I thought that message would resonate,” he said Sunday of his popularity
in Iowa and elsewhere. “I did not think it
would resonate as fast as it did.” His campaign announced Sunday that it raised
more than $20 million in January, almost
all from small online donations.
The fight in the closing hours was for a
sizable pool of undecided voters – 16 percent of Clinton backers said they could still
switch, while 29 percent of Sanders supporters said the same.
The big variable is turnout. “We will win
the caucus on Monday night if there is a
Riccardo Savi • Sipa USA/TNS
GOP presidential candidates Dr. Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R- Texas) and Jeb Bush on stage during the CNN Republican presidential debate
at the Venetian in Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2015.
large voter turnout,” Sanders told an audience in the Iowa town of Manchester.
Clinton does well with voters over 45,
while Sanders has a huge edge with younger voters — but they traditionally are more
reluctant to caucus. Obama’s appeal eight
years ago was a big factor in attracting those
voters, but so far, there’s little evidence of a
similar new voter turnout.
While 60 percent of 2008 Democrats
were first-time caucusgoers, this time about
one-third are expected to be new.
Among Republicans, the race Sunday
remained an often bitter brawl. Donald
Trump and Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and
Marco Rubio, R-Fla., took turns insulting
each other Sunday.
“Ted is a liar. This is why nobody likes
him,” Trump said on ABC.
As ads by Cruz supporters charge Trump
has only recently discovered conservatism,
Cruz himself tried not to respond to his rival’s latest attacks.
“I’m not going to engage in personal
attacks,” Cruz said on CNN’s “State of the
Union.”
He was less generous to Rubio, who’s
been under fire for his 2013 support for a
path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Rubio backed away from that
position after conservatives criticized him.
Still, Cruz said, “a vote for Marco is a
vote for amnesty.”
Rubio fired back. “The lie that his whole
campaign is built on is that he’s the only
conservative and everyone else is a sellout
and a RINO (Republican in name only) and
it’s absurd,” he said.
When he campaigned over the weekend, Cruz stressed his religious ties and his
loyalty to the conservative cause. He urges
supporters to “awaken the body of Christ
that we may pull back from the abyss.”
Cruz is for that vote with retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and others, and hasn’t
quite convinced a lot of sympathetic voters.
“I like where Cruz stands, but sometimes
he comes off as a little harsher than I want,”
said David Smith, a software engineer from
Ames.
Mobilizing the Republicans’ evangelical
bloc could inch him closer to Trump. While
the Register poll had Trump up 28 to 23
percent over Cruz, it found that 47 percent
of GOP caucusgoers said they were evangelicals, down from 57 percent four years ago.
If evangelical turnout swells to 60 percent
Monday, Trump’s projected lead shrinks to
1 percentage point.
Anita Kacmarynski , a volunteer from
Newton, is trying to get out the word. “We
believe in the Constitution. We believe in
the Bible. When you’re in the room, you
feel that Cruz will do what you believe in,”
she said.
Rubio, a favorite of mainstream Republicans, could benefit from a familiar caucus
scenario. Should supporters of like-minded
candidates who are faltering — like Jeb
Bush, the former Florida governor, or Chris
Christie, the governor of New Jersey —
decide they have little chance, they could
switch to Rubio.
Mark Lansing, a Dubuque credit counselor, found Rubio to be “most articulate, the
best opportunity for us to win in the fall, by
far. I love that he supports traditional values, his heart is in the right place.” Trump,
he said, is “the worst possible candidate.”
Trump retains solid, seemingly unshakeable support. He campaigned Sunday
with Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty
University, a Christian school with strong
evangelical ties.
Trump’s refusal to debate Thursday apparently didn’t hurt him. His supporters
are unfazed by charges that he only recently embraced conservative principles, and
cheer his eagerness to flout conventional
wisdom and political behavior.
TRUMP
Trump says he would
consider appointing
justices to overturn samesex marriage decision
By Sarah D. Wire
Los Angeles Times/TNS
Republican
presidential
candidate
Donald Trump told “Fox News Sunday’s”
Chris Wallace that he thinks the Supreme
Court, which last year ruled that same-sex
marriage does not violate the Constitution,
should have left decisions about same-sex
marriage to individual states.
Trump and fellow Republican candidate
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are battling for the
support of Iowa’s evangelical voters as the
state prepares for Monday night’s first-in-
the-nation caucuses.
Trump said he’d “strongly consider”
appointing Supreme Court justices who
would overturn the court’s 5-4 decision in
Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015
case that legalized same-sex marriage
across the country.
“I don’t like the way they ruled … I disagree with the Supreme Court from the
standpoint that it should be a states’ rights
issue and that’s the way it should have been
ruled on,” Trump said. “I would have much
preferred that they ruled at a state level
and let the states make those rulings themselves.”
Riccardo Savi • Sipa USA/TNS
Presidential candidate Donald Trump walks on stage during the CNN Republican presidential debate at
the Venetian in Las Vegas on Dec. 15, 2015.
THE COLLEGIAN • SPORTS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
SUPERBOWL
PAGE 7
Paul Klee: Super Bowl 50 is Von Miller vs. Cam Newton
David T. Foster III • Charlotte Observer/TNS
Mark Reis • Colorado Springs Gazette/TNS
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton steps off the stairs after the team’s plane landed at Mineta
San Jose International Airport on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, for Super Bowl 50.
Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller hoists the Lamar Hunt trophy following Denver’s 20-18 win in the
AFC Championship game against the New England Patriots on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2016 in Denver.
By Paul Klee
In the 2011 draft, Newton went No. 1,
Miller No. 2. They share a history.
How Miller got to this point _ the eve of
his first Super Bowl week, since he missed
Super Bowl XLVIII due to a knee injury _ is
more complicated.
This is Von 3.0. The first iteration earned
Defensive Rookie of the Year and piled up
a franchise-record 30 sacks over his first
two seasons. Von then was a toned-down
version of Von now, challenging strangers
to games of Connect Four and spending
longer than he needs to signing autographs
outside Mile High.
The second Von was a ghost. He faced
legal issues like traffic tickets and a missed
court date, and he faced stuff that threatened his career. Failed tests put him in the
NFL's drug program and earned a suspension. He bulked up, his neck disappeared,
and so did the free spirit who was happy to
explain the difference between "layers and
fryers" at his chicken sanctuary in Texas.
"I wouldn't call it a full (chicken) farm,"
said Miller, a poultry science major at Texas A&M.
It's always risky to claim someone is a
changed man, on the straight and narrow,
since we never truly know what's going
down beyond the locker room. We just
don't. But the Von you see now is definitely
not the Von from two years ago.
Since the first week of training camp
when Miller declared, "I love this team,"
he has been a steady stream of sacks (13.5
overall), shenanigans (gifting to teammates
underwear "that increases blood flow to
their area") and sack dances (if he drops
Newton, who wants to bet he dabs?)
"If I was a quarterback, I'd probably be
doing the exact same thing," Miller said.
What changed?
"DeMarcus Ware," he said.
Here, let Von tell it.
"You get to see greatness up close and
personal," he said. "The coaches tell you
this is what leadership looks like. You've
got all these greats that come through here,
and they tell you this and they tell you that,
but having a real-life example just a couple
feet from me... Him being my idol, it was
just great.
"I get to come in and see what type of
shoes he wears every day, how he laces up
his shoes, how he comes to work. How does
he handle adversity and all that stuff? I got
to see it up close and personal. That helped
me be the type of person I am today."
Powerful stuff, right?
Consider John Elway's acquisition of
Ware in 2014 a double splash. Both benefited Miller, and not by coincidence. One, the
Broncos scored a bookend for Miller's pass
rush. Two, Elway landed a mentor for Miller, who soon will sign the most lucrative
contract for a defensive player in league
history _ if he's not hit with a franchise tag.
I asked DeMarcus: How is Von different
now from when you arrived in Colorado?
"Von was going through some things off
the field, but you have to understand that
sometimes you're young for a while and you
have to grow up," Ware said.
Simple enough.
Media are trying their damnedest to
complicate and turn Super Bowl 50 into
a contrived political statement. Labeling
quarterbacks by their race makes for juicy
clickbait, but don't fall for it.
See, the coolest thing about the games
we play is that they don't care. They don't
care about your ethnicity, your background.
They care about whether you can play.
Sports are mostly silly, but sports remain
an unbiased meritocracy. In a locker room,
race is seldom an issue until outsiders inject it into the situation.
Newton being a black quarterback
wasn't a thing until media made it a thing.
I have yet to meet a person in Colorado
who cares about Newton's skin color, only
those who wonder this: Can the Broncos
beat the Panthers and their absurdly gifted,
26-year-old quarterback.
Without knowing it, Miller offered the
freshest take on the black vs. white nontroversy that serves as low-hanging fruit in an
otherwise riveting Super Bowl.
"That's one of my favorite quarterbacks,"
Miller said. "Peyton (Manning) is obviously my favorite quarterback, but other than
that, it's Cam."
Real recognizes real, not skin color.
Von 3.0? The best player in Super Bowl
50 recognizes an opportunity.
Football has rolled its calendar over to a
new year. I'm really excited about the assistant coaches that Tim DeRuyter has added
to his football staff. With signing day coming up next week and spring football at the
end of February, now is the time when the
2016 season really starts.
Bulldog Foundation and football season ticket renewal packets will be hitting
mailboxes next week. We can't thank you
enough for your long-standing support.
Your donations to our scholarship fund, as
well as your football ticket purchases, are
the backbone of our department. Every donor matters and every donation makes an
impact on our student-athletes. The BDF
also launched its new website last week
(bulldogscholarshipfund.com), which will
make the ticket renewal and donation process easier for you. Our dedicated team is
here to help you with any questions you
might have, so please give us a call or stop
by our offices any time.
Lastly, we look forward to the upcoming release of the 2015 Fall Mountain West
All-Academic Teams. Our student-athletes
continue to impress us with their dedication in the classroom. That is an important
part to their education, growth and development as well as a focus for us as a department. It is our calling to have athletics and
academics rise together at Fresno State.
We want Fresno State to be the best in
the Mountain West and to make this community proud. Please jump on board and
join us in that mission.
Go `Dogs!
Jim
The Gazette/TNS
DENVER – The best player in Super
Bowl 50 is African-American, constantly
dancing, some people don't like him, and
no one is making a big deal out of it.
'Sup, Von.
"Howdy," Miller says often.
The biggest stage in American sports
was made for a man who once referred to
himself as Vonnie Football. Have you noticed the Broncos' eccentric linebacker relishes the spotlight? Oh, just a little.
The dress shoes studded with gold
spikes. The fur-trimmed Elmer Fudd hat.
Wrapping up his media obligations last
week by taking a quick Snapchat.
"Sunday," he said of his self-imposed
social media hiatus. "I'm back on Sunday."
For the Broncos to upset the favored
Panthers on Feb. 7, Miller must perform
like the All-Pro pass-rusher who wrecked
Tom Brady and the Patriots in the AFC
Championship Game. Two { sacks and an
interception? That's a start.
"The best defensive performance in
Broncos history," Hall of Fame tight end
Shannon Sharpe said of the 'D' as a whole
on Denver's 104.3 FM The Fan.
Miller Time would give Denver a shot at
emptying the tank on Cam Newton and the
Carolina juggernaut that carry a 17-1 record
into Levi's Stadium next Sunday.
AD Bartko releases letter to Red Wave
BARTKO from Page 8
our teams. Let's pack the Save Mart Center
the rest of this year and help our teams stay
hot as they chase Mountain West titles. Our
men's team ranks seventh in the Mountain
West in attendance and our women's team
third, which I believe we can do much better than that.
Come out and watch Marvelle Harris
chase down Melvin Ely's school scoring
record and watch Bego Faz Davalos put up
double-doubles just about every night.
NDAY
Men’s Tennis vs. St.
Mary’s, 2 p.m.
ESDAY
TU
Y
MO
FRESNO STATE ATHLETICS CALENDAR
N ES D
URSDAY
FRIDAY
A
ED
H
T
W
Women’s Basketball
vs San Jose State,
7 p.m.
Women’s Tennis @
ITA Team National
Indoors
Equestrian @ TCU
TURDAY
A
S
Lacrosse vs PomonaPitzer, 2 p.m.
Men’s Basketball vs
UNLV, 4 p.m.
ND
SU AY
SPORTS
8
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016
SWIMMING & DIVING
‘Dogs fall to rival Spartans
on Senior Day
Darlene Wendels • The Collegian
Fresno State and San Jose State swimmers compete in Saturday’s meet at the Aquatics Center. The Spartans came out on top 153-147 in a meet that came
down to the final event.
By Collegian Staff
@TheCollegian
The swimming and diving team
dropped its regular season finale 153-147
to Mountain West in-state rival San Jose
State Saturday afternoon at the Fresno
State Aquatics Center.
In the back-and-forth meet, the Bulldogs held a 143-140 lead heading into
the final race but weren’t able to hold off
the Spartan relay team of Riley Spitser,
Brynne Beneke, Taylor Lehr and Marley
Maluafiti in the 400-yard free relay.
The Bulldog relay team of Leah Hatayama, Katelin Britton, Kali Conlon and
Tarryn Rennie recorded a time of 3:30.24,
just 2.23 seconds behind San Jose State.
“It’s disappointing that we lost the
meet,” Bulldogs’ head coach Jeanne Fleck
said. “But we swam faster than we’ve ever
swam in a dual meet all the way across
the board from start to finish. Everybody
came with their ‘A’ game.”
Fresno State kicked off the meet with a
win in the 200-yard medley relay with the
team of Ugne Mazutaityte, Brooke Rodriguez, Tarryn Rennie and Leah Hatayama
finishing with a time of 1:44.61.
But San Jose State answered back with
wins from Riley Spitser in the 1,000-yard
(10:36.65) and 200-yard free (1:51.65) to
give the Spartans a 37-18 lead.
The Bulldogs, however, snatched the
lead back with wins from Mazutaityte and
Brooke Rodriguez in the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard breaststroke, respectively.
Hatayama pulled off a 50-yard free win
with a time of 23.46 to cut San Jose State's
lead to 66-65 heading into the break. The
senior then returned with another win,
this time in the 100-yard free (51.94).
The ‘Dogs continued the momentum
and grabbed a 108-99 lead after taking
first place in consecutive events as Mazutaityte and junior Hailee Baldwin took
the top spots in in the 200-yard backstroke (2:00.14) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:21.57), respectively.
But the Spartans weren’t done as Spitser brought her team back with a victory
in the 500-yard free (5:03.07) over Fresno
State’s Casey Kennemann.
Junior Esme Gullick then picked up
a 200-yard individual medley win to put
Fresno State up by three points heading
into the deciding 400-yard free relay.
In total, the Bulldogs recorded nine
first place finishes – in one relay and eight
individual events.
The ‘Dogs are about two weeks out
from the Mountain West Championships,
which take place Feb. 17-20 in College Station, Texas.
“We swam our best and we gave them
everything we’ve been able to give them,”
Fleck said. “We had a great meet. I’m feeling great going into the Mountain West
Championships.”
ATHLETICS
Jim Bartko Issues Letter to the Red Wave
Hello Red Wave,
What an exciting start to 2016 it has
been for the Bulldogs!
I must say how proud we are of our
women's tennis team and coach Ryan
Stotland for their huge victories over
No. 34 Arkansas and No. 9 UCLA last
week. The win over the Bruins advanced our team on to the Sweet 16 of
the 2016 ITA Indoor Championships.
It will be our third trip to the Sweet 16
since 2008, which is the most from any
school in a non-Power 5 conference. We
look forward to cheering them on next
week in Wisconsin.
Our freshman phenom swimmer
Ugne Mazutaityte was selected by the
Lithuanian Swimming Federation to
swim at the European Aquatics Championship in May, giving her an opportunity to qualify for the 2016 Olympic
Games in the backstroke. We all look
forward to watching her pursue her
dream of reaching the Olympics. No
Bulldog swimmer has ever competed in
the Olympic Games.
Our women's basketball team is off
to an 8-0 start and atop the Mountain
West standings. Men's basketball is 11-2
at home this year and 5-3 in conference
play, remaining in the top four in the
league standings. They both are playing
really well right now and it is time for
the community to buy in and support
See BARTKO, Page 7