tuesday, april 3, 2012
DESCRIPTION
Tuesday, April 3, 2012TRANSCRIPT
HILLARY MCLAINCampus Reporter
A tepee constructed on a main university thoroughfare may be a curious sight in today’s world, but 200 years ago it was not such an un-usual event.
OU’s American Indian Student Association celebrated its heritage Monday by erecting a tepee and performing ceremonies, along with several other Native American stu-dent groups.
American Indian Student Life, Sigma Alpha Gamma and Gamma Delta Pi members all took part in
the ceremonies.Just as many classes were let-
ting out Monday morning, Native American students, alumni and faculty marched up the South Oval singing and chanting to the beat of a drum.
Around 45 people, many dressed in traditional costumes, took part in the event with several onlookers.
American Indian Student Life President Corey Still opened the ceremony by recognizing Native American Student Leaders and
eDitORiALBring opinions, concerns directly to candidatesWhen an uncontested election leaves you with no options, contact the candidates directly to use your voice. (page 4)
SpORtSRicketts throws first career perfect game OU’s ace pitcher became just the eighth person in school history to reach perfection on the mound Friday. (page 7)
Band’s sophomore album a solid continuationIf you’re deciding whether to check out The Ting Tings’ new album, The Daily’s James Corley can help. (Life & Arts)
Campus ........................ 2Classifi eds .................. 6Life & Arts ................... 5Opinion ...................... 4Sports ......................... 7
nOW OnLine At
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FREE — Additional copies 25 cents
Kelsey HiGley/tHe daily
Chris Woon models indigenous attire at Malaysian Night on Monday. Malay, Chinese and Indian clothing were also repre-sented in the fashion show portion of the performance, which aimed to enforce the bond between cultures. (page 2)
Wednesday
Friday
Monday
A list of all 2012 Big event sites — To compare the number of sites this year to previous years; to gather information about the site locations.
the most recent contract between OU and turnitin.com — To learn how much the university pays to use the website and all other terms and conditions of the contract.
non-identifying aggregate data for the number of withdrawals, drops and failing grades for all May and August 2010 and 2011 intersession courses — To look for trends in performance and completion of intersession courses.
The Daily’s open record requestsRequested document and purpose
Visit OUDaily.com/openrecords for a complete list of The Daily’s requests
Date requested
UOSA eLeCtiOnS 2012VOte tODAY
W W W . O U D A I L Y . C O M 2 0 1 1 S I L V E R C R O W N W I N N E RT u E s D a Y , a p R I L 3 , 2 0 1 2
elections.ou.eduGo online to
to cast your ballot
UOSA
Students have fewer election choices
CHASE COOKManaging editor
Students voting for student govern-ment representatives today will find the highest number of uncontested spring election tickets since spring 2007, ac-cording to election documents.
Today and Wednesday’s election features 13 uncontested tickets out of 18 total tickets - two of which have no candidates running for an open seat,
according to documents requested by the Daily. Overall, only 28 percent of available tickets are up for a contested vote.
The spring 2012 election is part of an upward trend in spring elections that features more and more uncontested tickets. The spring elections feature prominent campus leaders, such as UOSA president and vice president and Campus Activities Council chair, as well as Undergraduate Student Congress representatives.
Since spring 2003, the average num-ber of uncontested tickets on a spring election ballot was 55 percent. These
numbers do not include spring 2005 and 2006 because the UOSA office did not have records available; in fact the office only had 13 of 21 election reports from the academic year 2001-2002 to the present.
Since spring 2009, the percent of un-contested tickets has been at least 70 percent or greater, according to docu-ments. Spring 2010 did feature a low un-contested rate of 27 percent, including four presidential tickets on the ballot.
Undergraduate Student Congress representatives make up the majority of
Trends show an increase of uncontested elections and weak voter turnout
see UOSA paGe 3
41 classes available for May, August
inteRSeSSiOn
EMMA HAMBLENCampus Reporter
Students can now reg-ister for 41 approved summer Intersession classes that will run in a May session from May 14 to June 1 and an August session from July 31 to Aug. 17.
Registration for May and August Intersession courses began Monday. Intersession courses can be used to gain credit hours needed to ease course loads during reg-ular semesters or com-plete a general-education requirement, according to a press release.
O n l i n e r e g i s t r a -t i o n c l o s e s a t 1 1 : 5 9 p. m . M a y 1 3 f o r t h e M a y I n t e r s e s s i o n a n d J u l y 2 7 f o r t h e August Inters ession, Intersession director Renee Williams said in an email.
Following these dates, students must contact the Intersession Office during normal operating hours to obtain a course spot, Williams said.
Web registration for next session closes May 13
AT A GLANCeintersessionMay intersession:May 14-June 1
August intersession:July 31-Aug. 17
More info: Contact OU Outreach at 405-325-2899.
Source: intersession.ou.edu
nAtiVe AMeRCA
pHotos By Carey FlaCK/tHe daily
Zoology sophomore Samantha Benton (left) and piano junior Samantha Bachman chat with David Colbert, Native American studies junior and Mr. Indian OU, outside a tepee set up Monday on the South Oval for the American Indian Student Association’s powwow celebration, marking the beginning of American Indian Month.
Students celebrate Indian culture
Molly Shi Boren wears a traditional shawl given to her by the American Indian Student Association during the association’s powwow celebration. The event included a traditional dance, cedar blessings and stick ball.
American Indian Student Association erects tepee, performs traditional ceremonies
see TEPEE paGe 3
Comparison of voter turnout, uncontested elections
0
20
40
60
80 Uncontested elections
Voter turnout
No data exists for spring 2005 and spring 2006 elections
The last uncontested presidential election
2003 2004 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011Spring election
Per
cent
age
sourCe: uosa eleCtion reports; GrapH By James Corley
Laney Ellisor, campus editorKathleen Evans, assistant campus editor
Chris Miller, assistant campus [email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666
2 • Tuesday, April 3, 2012
CAMPUS
CORRECTIONSThe Oklahoma Daily is committed to serving readers with accurate coverage and welcomes your comments about information that may require correction or clarification. To contact us with corrections, email us at [email protected].
In a life & arts story in Friday’s edition about a student-produced fashion show, Tovana Traylor’s name was misspelled. The story also misidentified Traylor and Charles Atchison’s majors as human resources. Both are studying human relations.
In a news story in Friday’s edition about an endowment for scholarships for female journalists, Mildred Nichols Hamilton was incorrectly stated to be The Daily’s first female editor in chief. The first female editor in chief of The Daily was Christine Squire Hill.
In two photo cutlines in Friday’s edition and a photo cutline on OUDaily.com that accompanied a story about Norman’s Medieval Fair, Reaves Park was misspelled.
In a Monday news story on OUDaily.com about Housing Center Student Association candidate Allie Kallmann’s plans, the acronym for the association was misreported. It is HCSA.
Visit OUDaily.com/corrections to see an archive of our corrections
TODAY AROUND CAMPUSThe OU Teacher Job Fair, an event for education majors who want to teach in premier school distrcts, will take place from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the Oklahoma Memorial Union’s Molly Shi Boren Ballroom.
A free concert featuring Jeongwon Ham Piano Studio will take place at noon in the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art’s Sandy Bell Gallery.
A workshop for students interested in a career with the CIA will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Kaufman Hall, Room 229.
A lecture, WANTED: United States, Climate Outlaw, will be given at 6 p.m. in the Sam Noble Museum’s Kerr Auditorium. The public lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
Write Club Creative Writers Writing
Group meets at 7 p.m. in Wagner Hall, Room 280. The group is a supportive place for writers to share their work and find encouragement.
A book reading of “Magnificent Mistakes” by Eric Bosse will take place at 7 p.m. in Couch Center, Room 118E. After the reading, there will be a short discussion of the book with the author. Refreshments will be provided.
A concert featuring the Oklahoma Chamber Players will be given at 8 p.m. in Catlett Music Center’s Pitman Recital Hall. Tickets are $9 for adults and $5 for OU students, faculty, staff and senior adults.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4Representatives from Health Sciences Center will speak to students interested in pursuing a health-related career at the center will take place 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Wagner Hall, Room 145.
A seminar about helpful notetaking by Student Success Series will be held at 2 p.m. in Adams Center’s Muldrow Tower, Room 105.
A discussion with pop artist James Rosenquist will take place at 4 p.m. at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art’s Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium. Rosenquist will speak for 30 minutes after a 30-minute lecture by professor Susan Caldwell.
THURSDAY, APRIL 5OU Job Exposition will take place from 12:30 to 3 p.m. in the Oklahoms Memorial Union’s Molly Shi Boren Ballroom.
KELSEY HIGLEY/THE DAILY
Performers strike a pose at the end of the “Nyonya Dance” at Malaysian Night on Monday. This dance com-bines two cultures found in Malaysia, the Chinese and the Malays.
STUDENT LIFE
Malaysia cultural night shows country’s diversity, tradition
COCO COURTOISCampus Reporter
“Unity Is Strength” is both the motto of Malaysia and a description of the Malaysian cultural night Monday.
Malaysia has a multi-e t h n i c , mu l t i - c u l t u ra l , and multi-lingual society said Ning Chin, president of the Malaysian Student Association and microbiol-ogy junior.
M a l a y s i a , l o c a t e d i n southeast Asia, is composed of many ethnic groups, in-cluding the Malay, Chinese, Indian, indigenous people and others, according to the CIA Factbook.
About 30 people attended the Malaysian cultural night meant to celebrate this di-versity under the theme of “Truly Asia.”
To show the complexity of Malaysian culture, orga-nizers tried to feature per-formances representative of each of the ethic groups making up Malaysia, Chin said.
“Our songs and dances are important because they can give you an idea of how old our culture is,” Chin said.
After an introductor y quiz and dinner, the night started with a traditional Malay dance, Serampang Dua Bela, danced in pairs as a symbol of the journey of love between a couple,
according to the program. The Indian dance Ore Piya,
danced by students of the Indian Student Association, followed, which told a story of love, pain, separation and joy of being reunited with true love.
Organizers also paid trib-ute to the Chinese heritage.
Chinese students Benson Voong and Ting Ting Goh sang the Chinese song “Fairy Tale” by the Chinese sing-er and composer Michael
Wong, who was born and raised in Malaysia, accord-ing to the program.
The Nyonya dance Nona Zaman Sekaraang followed, w h i c h i n t e r t w i n e d t h e Malay and Chinese cultures through costumes and um-brellas, respectively.
In addition to the per-formance, organizers also highlighted the diversity of Malaysia and the unity of the cultures with a fashion show featuring Malaysian,
Chinese, Indian and indig-enous costumes.
The show ended with the popular folk song “Rasa Sayang,” which was created in a traditional ethnic Malay poetic form, according to the program.
“We may be a small coun-try, but we have 13 states and two regions,” Chin said. “When you have a lot of dif-ferent culture like this, it’s important to live together side by side.”
Event aimed at reinforcing bond between cultures
ACADEMICS
Students receive science, math focused award
Two OU students received scholarships due to their potential or intent to study and pursue careers in math-ematics, engineering or the natural sciences, according to a press release.
Adrian Lucy, astrophysics and history of science soph-omore, and Nathan Thomas, biochemistry junior, ac-cepted the 2012 Goldwater Scholars award, according to a press release. Only 282 students across the country received the one or two-year scholarships and more than 2,000 applied.
“It is a great honor for the university to have two Goldwater Scholars in math and science in a single year and continues our national leadership in this program,” OU President David Boren said in a press release.
Both students are National Merit Scholars and Honors College students involved in multiple research proj-ects and extracurricular ac-tivities, according to a press release.
Since 1995, OU has had 33 students named Goldwater Scholars, according to a press release. The scholar-ship covers tuition, fees, books and room and board up to $7,500 per year.
Sarah Martin,Campus Reporter
This is the watch Stephen Hollingshead, Jr. was
wearing when he encountered a drunk driver.
Time of death 6:55pm.
Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk.
Photo
by
Mic
hae
l Maz
zeo
Please join usin celebrating the 2012 Carl Albert
Award recipient
CARL ALBERT AWARD
Tuesday, April 31:30 p.m.Sandy Bell GalleryFred Jones Jr Museum of Art555 Elm Ave.
DanaMohammad-
ZadehEconomics/International Studies
This award,
established in 1965
by the late Mr. Julian
Rothbaum, honors
the late Carl Albert,
former Speaker of
the United States
House of Representatives and OU
alumnus. It is presented to the
outstanding senior in the College of
Arts and Sciences.
For accommodations on the basis of disability, contact Tracy Karjala at 325-2099.
OU College of Arts and Sciences
performing a song in his na-tive language.
Molly Shi Boren, Choctaw tribe member, spoke to the group after being intro-duced by Clarke Stroud, vice president of Student Affairs and dean of students.
Boren briefly recounted the history of native art at the university, saying it can be found in almost every building on campus.
“As anyone walks around this campus, they can’t miss the native art,” Boren said.
718 students represent 30 different Oklahoma tribes at the university. The other 1265 students represent out-of-state tribes or didn’t list a specific tribe, Boren said.
“I hope you share with fellow students, who are
uncontested elections because they also make up the ma-jority of tickets on most election ballots, according to elec-tion documents.
The higher number of uncontested elections could be at-tributed to the culture of the current student population, Congress chairwoman Alyssa Loveless said. Another factor impacting students wanting to be candidates is making the time to be a representative, she said.
Congress makes efforts each semester to inform students about positions and elections, Loveless said. Most of that is passed word-of-mouth by representatives, but another tool Congress uses is Student Affair’s mass email system.
Student Affairs doesn’t have an organized movement to recruit students to student government, but administra-tors try to work with students that show interest, Student Affairs vice president Brynn Daves said. Our office will set up meetings to inform interested students.
While the efforts to recruit more students to run for Congress do not seem to have increased candidate turn-out, Loveless said lack of contested elections doesn’t im-pact student government’s effectiveness.
If students take the time to fill out the application and campaign, then they usually are willing to fulfill the posi-tion’s responsibilities if they are elected, Loveless said.
Voter impactThe lack of candidates may not have a visible impact on
student government, but it does have an impact on how many students decide to vote. The higher the number of uncontested tickets, the less likely students participate in the election process, according to election documents.
In spring 2011, when 73 percent of tickets were uncon-tested, 19 percent of the Norman’s campus population voted, compared to an average of 23 percent, according to records.
In spring 2009, the last time a UOSA presidential ticket ran uncontested, 77 percent of the ballots were uncontest-ed, and only 16 percent of the student population voted. This was the lowest turnout since spring 2003, which was the earliest spring data available through academic year 2001-2002 to present.
The lack of exposure is probably why fewer students vote during elections with more uncontested ballots, said Corbin Carter, political science senior . If there were more contested higher-profile ballots, like UOSA president and CAC, maybe more students would vote in those elections, he said.
Carter said he votes in elections because he knows the candidates personally and understands UOSA’s role on campus, such as distributing student activity fee funds, which fuel UOSA departments and student organization budgets.
Elementary education senior Jacqueline Mc Clain votes for student government candidates for a different reason. The candidates are brave enough to put their name on the ballot, and voting for them isn’t that difficult, McClain said.
“It only takes two seconds to click a button,” she said.
- The Impact of Excellence
OU’s debate team composed of RJ Giglio and Chris Leonardi just won the Cross Examination Debate Association’s national championship. Their victory is making national debate history for OU’s Shannon Self Debate Program.
This is the fourth time in six years the OU Debate Team has won the national championship.
� ��OU ranks No. 1 in the nation among all public universities in the number of freshman National Merit Scholars enrolled, with 207 National Merit Scholars in this year’s freshman class.
� ��The Princeton Review ranks OU among the best in the nation in terms of academic excellence and cost for students.
� ��OU has the academically highest ranked student body at a public university in Oklahoma history.
Congratulations to OU Debaters National Champions!
The University of Oklahoma is an equal opportunity institution.
With the championship trophy are: (from left) OU students RJ Giglio and Chris Leonardi.
Now OU Debaters have provided further evidence of OU’s Academic Excellence.
CAMPUS Tuesday, April 3, 2012 • 3
TEPEE: Molly Shi Boren addresses attendeesContinued from page 1
UOSA: Turnout tied to number of candidatesContinued from page 1
PHOTOS BY CAREY FLACK/THE DAILY
The American Indian Student Association jump-started American Indian month by hosting a powwow celebration Monday on the South Oval, including a tepee that housed cedar blessings. This event included a traditional dance, cedar blessings, and a speech from Molly Shi Boren.
not Native American, your story, your culture and your history,” Boren said.
American Indian Student Life members then present-ed Boren with an honorary blue shawl.
Lindy Waters, Student Life associate director, also spoke at the event.
Waters explained how originally the American Indian Heritage Celebration was originally a week of events that were expanded to a month.
After a few years, the month-long celebration was extended to blanket the entire spring semester with events, Waters said.
Boren and the student groups followed the speak-ing portion of the celebra-tion with a round dance. In this dance, males formed a small inner circle and
females for med a large outer circle with every per-son dancing in a circle.
Fo l l ow i n g t h i s, s ma l l
groups then went into the tepee and partook in a cer-emony with cedar burning in a skillet.
Sigma Nu Alpha Gama, or the Society of Native American Gentlemen, play a traditional drum piece Monday on the South Oval.
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Chris Lusk Editor in ChiefChase Cook Managing EditorJames Corley Night EditorLaney Ellisor Campus EditorGreg Fewell Sports EditorLindsey Ruta Life & Arts Editor
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Our View: Even though the UOSA presidential election is uncontested, you still can express your concerns.
UOSA elections start today. Monday, we gave you our view on the candidates, formulated after meet-ing with them and examining their views. But we realize this is only our view.
We stand by our endorsements of Joe Sangirardi and Rainey Sewell for UOSA president and vice president , and of Vicky Vargas for Campus Activities Council chair . But we realize you might disagree with us. Unfortunately, in the case of the UOSA presidential election, you don’t have any other option.
The presidential race is uncontested, and be-cause OU doesn’t have a mechanism for students to express confidence in or displeasure with an uncontested candidate, the student voice has been lost in this election. If you disagree with us and don’t think Sangirardi and Sewell will make effec-tive leaders, you have few options.
You could just stay home and not vote, but given the usually low voter turnout for UOSA elections, that would hardly make a statement. You would simply be mistaken for the majority of other stu-dents who don’t participate.
But it’s understandable for you to have concerns — or even just questions — about Sangirardi and Sewell’s bid for office. After all, they have barely campaigned and have failed to provide any specific platforms or plans for how they will bring their ab-stract goals to fruition. We expected more from two
such experienced leaders.If you do have questions or concerns — or dis-
agreements — your only option is to contact them directly.
You can email them at [email protected] and [email protected] , tweet @Joe_and_Rainey or call the UOSA office at 405-325-5471 and ask for them.
Even in an uncontested race such as this, it’s important to participate in the demo-cratic process to elect the people who will represent your interests (and control what happens with money from your fees) next year.
You would have a better opportunity to participate in that democratic process if
OU had a vote of confidence procedure for uncon-tested elections, which we have previously advo-cated for. This would entail a yes or no option on the uncontested ballot, asking students whether the candidate would make an effective leader. The candidate would then need a majority of “yes” votes to take office.
But until UOSA acts to give you another choice in uncontested elections, you only have two options: express your questions or concerns directly to the source or vote for the one candidate to show your support and provide him with the authority of a mandate from their constituents.
Then vote in the other elections (at elections.ou.edu until 6 p.m. Wednesday) and remind your friends about the importance of voting for their UOSA representatives.
Comment on this at OUDaily.com
EDITORIAL
Sooners can voice UOSA qualms
The Our View is the majority opinion of The Daily’s nine-member editorial board
?Do you support Joe Sangirardi and Rainey Sewell’s bid for UOSA presidential office?
» Poll question of the day
To cast your vote, log on to
Mary Stan� eld, opinion [email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666
4 • Tuesday, April 3, 2012
OPINION
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Candidates want UOSA to have drive, passion
Simon [email protected]
OPINION COLUMNIST
Monday, in an endorsement of Rainey Sewell and myself as UOSA vice president and president, The Daily expressed concern that our platform is non-spe-cific and that we’ve avoided stating it in our “stagnant” campaign.
While I appreciate its input, I have to disagree. In the meeting where we spoke with the Daily’s edito-
rial board, it said we were non-specific. I’d like to take this opportunity, then, to ad-dress some of our major campaign plat-form issues.
One of those is helping UOSA be-come a greater resource for student organizations.
We want to help organizations with membership drives, advertising and nav-igating the university’s bureaucracy by reorganizing and retraining the Student Organization Resource Office.
We also want to build a new resource for student organizations: a website that allows them to more easily communicate with themselves and other organizations, keep track of their rosters and hold docu-ments online from year to year so they’re always easily accessible and not lost in annual leadership changes.
This might be accomplished through using a company like CollegiateLink that specializes in these issues — helping stu-dent organizations mobilize more effectively.
We also want to advocate and push for various on-campus initiatives such as: increased recycling, fit-ness, diet health, fine arts support and especially civic engagement.
These will be accomplished through publicity pushes of current university resources like Healthy Sooners and co-programming events with student organizations like a mass voter registration drive in preparation for the up-coming elections.
Rainey and I also plan on restructuring the executive branch of UOSA to make it leaner and more efficient.
We don’t want involvement in UOSA to be a résumé filler. We want it to be a cause and an organization filled with passionate and driven, proven and rising leaders who want to give back to the entire student body.
This is the reason why we also want to create a philan-thropic component to the executive branch to drive the point home: We are here to serve people.
Lastly, I want to address our campaign’s visibility. We appreciate The Daily keeping us accountable, but our campaign is anything but stagnant.
We have built a website, joeandrainey.com, to make our platform public, we have made T-shirts and we have purchased chalk which everyone has the pleasure of seeing all over campus today.
We have visited more organizations than either can-didate in the contested Campus Activities Council race and have spoken with numerous individuals to discuss their concerns on campus and our platform.
Again, we thank The Daily for keeping us as transpar-ent as possible. We encourage The Daily, as we know it will, to continue holding us accountable during our time in office.
We look forward to serving all OU students here on the Norman campus this coming year, and we want to remind everyone to make sure you vote today and Wednesday at elections.ou.edu.
Joe Sangirardi, letters junior and UOSA presidential candidate
JOE SANGIRARDI
RAINEY SEWELL
What are white people? When I think of white people in America, I think of an upper middle-class family with both parents (who are educated or employed).
I think of people who are privileged and have advantage over others due to some past exploitation of a minority population.
That certainly has not been my story. But, evidently I am white. In fact, I do not
even know what it means to be “white.” I realize that I am white colored, but what
does it mean? I do not have any “white” cus-toms, or any “white” cultural events or val-ues or common struggles.
I do not have any “white” student asso-ciations or Mr. and Mrs. “white” OU. There is not “white” entertainment television or any of that to tell me what it means to be “white.”
There are no “white American” scholar-ships because, evidently, all of the other “white” people are at an advantage, and those of us who are not, well, just being “white” ought to be enough, right? Or “ev-erything else is white ”?
Is it? Really? And, even if there did exist those things, who is to say what is “white” and what is not?
The fact is that I am not “white.” I am German, Russian, English, Irish and about 1/8 Black Foot. Bottom line: I am American.
Being white is not an ethnicity. There is no white ethnic group. But, evidently, I am white.
Being that I am an American, I share cultures with most of the world’s peoples. Because we are all a part of the same cul-ture in America. We share many things and many things overlap.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Whenever I hear that, I get all emotion-al. Because I realize we all have more in common as human beings than we have differences.
Which is why I suggest that, while it is good to embrace diversity, if we really search, we can find we have much more in common than we have not.
Jeffery Dittenber, mathematics and computer science senior
COLUMN
Students must explore cultures Last Friday, Paul
Gadd, a former OU student and pro-
ducer of shows like “The Walking Dead” and “24,” spoke to students in the Gaylord College about his career.
During his presentation, I had the opportunity to learn more about how such series are made and how the job market in this business works. It was fascinating — and only took me a couple of hours.
Events allowing students to learn more about other people’s experiences, cultures and knowledge are plentiful here at OU. Cultural nights are organized so we can find out more about other countries, for example.
And many student organizations can be found on the campus that allows you to open your mind and learn about others.
When did you last attend a meeting, a reunion or a presentation, not linked to your field of studies, that you do not usually attend?
If you did not get to know at least one or two new cultures or discover a few other things you did not even know existed, out of the host of events held on campus this year, you should be disappointed.
I am not judging, and I don’t want to pretend I did better. Things are going pretty fast, a lot of work needs to be done, and personal activities make it almost impossible to look for other things to do.
I just realized when I was there, listening to this awesome presentation, that I could have missed it if I did not hear about it from a friend.
Then I wondered: How much have I missed before? How many stories? How much culture did I just let pass by me
without doing anything about it?To feel better, we always use these three little words: “I
have time.” Well, that’s a habit of lifetime procrastination. It’s important to realize that, right now, these events are made for students — it is all just in front of us.
The ability to learn so much new stuff is just right there waiting for us. How long is that going to last? If now is not the best moment to learn, if now is not the best moment to be open-minded, well, when will it be?
Can you honestly say tomorrow, with a job, responsibili-ties and potentially a family, you will want to take more time for yourself?
Aside from the pure desire to learn, it is important to re-member how much culture may affect the answer to this
simple question: hired or not? Knowing at least a little about a lot of things is a huge boost in the message you are sending about both your personality and motivation.
It shows interest and the ability to gather and remember information. I cannot think about a single situation in which this would not be valued, especially in the job market.
Beyond that professional aspect, getting involved in campus life allows you to really understand others.
I hold this belief that getting to know other people and finding out more about their experiences allows people to live to-
gether better in a connected world. How could we understand the person just next to us with-
out knowing anything about his or her life, story, culture, past or job?
All in all, you need to enjoy and utilize this giant pool of knowledge coming along with your classes, because its ben-efits are huge.
Especially — and this is the bottom line — given how much it costs you to be on this campus.
Simon Cantarel is a French economics exchange student.
“I hold this belief that getting to know other people and finding
out more about their experiences allows
people to live together better in a connected
world.”
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Americans should embrace similarities and shared experiences
Lindsey Ruta, life & arts editorMariah Webb, assistant life & arts editor
[email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666LIFE&ARTSTuesday, April 3, 2012 • 5
OUDaily.com ››Looking for more music to add to your collection? Read James Corley’s review of � e Ting Tings’ new album, “Sounds from Nowheresville.”
Rating: 1/2
Five years is too long to wait for most anything, especially
a new album from a front-running band. Granted, the group changed personnel and labels since the 2007 re-lease of “Wincing the Night Away,” but it seems the wait was worth it because “Port of Morrow” is a fantastically-produced, well-rounded album.
The Shins built its success upon being predominantly “indie pop” — the inevitable bridge between pretentious, “music-connisseur” hipsters and folks who listen to that guy who used to be in the TV show, “Degrassi.”
The group is careful to tip-toe the fine line of being just hipster enough for the hip-sters and just pop enough for the general consensus without alienating either group.
If anything, The Shins has been a sort of gateway-drug band for most “mainstream” music consumers who find the unfamiliar and, quite frankly, weird landscape that makes up indie music very uninviting.
The band stayed true to that approach through thick and thin, and the result is an amalgamation of different genres and styles wrapped up in an indie pop hybrid shell that should please the vast majority of music consumers.
Those previously famil-iar with The Shins should have been pleased with the album’s first single, “Simple
With the release of the Hunger Games movie,
many fans are flocking to pick up a copy of the film’s soundtrack. But is it any good?
That depends on one’s criteria. If all you want out of a soundtrack is a list of songs that compliment the atmosphere of the film, “Songs from District 12 and Beyond” should be right up your alley. The album offers many songs that compliment the movie lyrically and atmospherically.
However, if you want a soundtrack with consistency and good songs, this album might be better off left alone.
“Songs from District 12 and Beyond” does an excellent job maintaining the atmosphere of the movie’s predomi-nantly outdoor setting. Most songs — notably “Dark Days” by the Punch Brothers and “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder” by The Secret Sisters — have a light country twang to them that befits the Appalachian setting of the protagonist’s home-town and the forested arena in which Katniss Everdeen is forced to fight.
Likewise, the lyrics are very true to the events and characters of the movie. The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ “Daughter’s Lament” speaks of a singing girl with a bow and father who descends into the mines, never to return. It’s clearly written for the protagonist, Katniss.
Similarly, “The Ruler And The Killer,” the otherwise negli-gible contribution by Kid Cudi, speaks from the perspective of the Panem Capitol. With lyrics like “You’re putting on a show for me,” and “You don’t talk/You don’t say nothing,” what else could it refer to other than the charade Katniss is forced to put on to survive?
But where the soundtrack succeeds in building atmo-sphere and thematic consistency, it fails in delivering con-sistently good, unique songs.
A good handful of songs here merit an individual down-load. “Abraham’s Daughter” by Arcade Fire and “One Engine” by The Decemberists are successful, but for the most part the songs here are not very inventive and wear out too quickly. The aforementioned Kid Cudi track is too repetitive to stay interesting and the two songs Taylor Swift contributes are pretty typical.
“Hunger Games” fans would do well to check out this album, but resist buying it in its totality. Better to listen to each track via Spotify or YouTube, then determine which ones strike your fancy.
Steven Zoeller is a journalism sophomore.
Steven [email protected]
LIFE & ARTS COLUMNIST
PHOTO PROVIDED
Alternative rock band, The Shins, haven’t released an album since its 2007 “Wincing the Night Away.” “Port of Morrow,” the band’s fourth album, was released March 20.
James [email protected]
LIFE & ARTS COLUMNIST
MUSIC REVIEW
New Shins album worth the wait
Song,” which was exactly that. It pulled every bit of any song from the band’s previ-ous installments that any-one liked (except maybe the quirkiness of some songs on 2003’s “Chutes Too Narrow” ) into one promise of a great new album. It was catchy and upbeat, inviting and inclusive.
During the first listen-through of the full new re-lease, it’s obvious early on the group has a different
sound than when we first left them half a decade ago.
Despite the departure of a few members , frontman James Mercer resolved to re-build the broken pieces into something vaguely familiar but excitingly new.
The influences of the indie influx into popular music since the last album are ap-parent in the transforma-tion of the band, but Mercer made sure never to stray too far from what worked in the
REVIEWS, PREVIEWS AND MORE
THE DAILY’S
NEW MUSICTUESDAY
Read more at OUDaily.com
Album: “Port of Morrow”
Released:March 20
Label:Aural Apothecary (Columbia)
Top tracks:“Simple Song”“Bait and Switch”“40 Mark Strasse”
Compiled by James Corley
first place — a perfect, bal-anced marriage of indie and pop music to appeal to the most people possible in a non-threatening way.
If “Simple Song” didn’t do enough to win you over, try out “Bait and Switch” (ironic, I know) or “40 Mark Strasse,” two very differ-ent songs with one singu-lar message: The Shins are back, and you won’t be disappointed.
James Corley is a journalism senior and the night editor for The Daily.
“The influences of the indie influx into popular music since the last album are
apparent in the transformation of the band, but Mercer made sure never to stray too
far from what worked in the first place — a perfect, balanced marriage of indie and pop music to appeal to the most people possible
in a non-threatening way.”
‘Hunger Games’ soundtrack typical
MUSIC REVIEW
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6 • Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Classifieds
ACROSS 1 ___ throat
(painful ailment)
6 Short commoner?
10 Big name in small construction
14 Airport in “Home Alone”
15 Showgirl Manilow sang about
16 Bizet’s “Habanera,” for one
17 Exciting adventure
19 Old-fashioned pen points
20 Paul’s brand, Newman’s ___
21 Word with “grown” and “follow”
22 “Pinocchio” insect
24 Snail-mail system (Abbr.)
25 “Don’t use that ___ of voice with me!”
26 A company picnic could be one
31 Mess with someone’s hair
32 Activate, as a bomb
33 Boy, as an adult
35 Tiny quantities
36 Snaky character?
37 Egypt’s capital
39 Also mention
40 Longtime Hawaiian staple
41 Hair-setting item
42 A-list wannabe
46 Kachina doll carvers
47 1st and 2nd in NYC
48 Military newbie
51 Bachelor’s digs
52 Lineman farthest from the center
55 Sound that’s coming back?
56 One needing a fence?
59 Calla lily family
60 Small part of a fork
61 Caribbean cruise stop
62 Unsophisti-cated one
63 Citizen of Edinburgh
64 Like a car without a muffler
DOWN 1 Area of
London or New York
2 Winter-ending event
3 Some precipitation
4 Go down the wrong path
5 Careful examinations
6 Crinkledcot-ton
7 “El” pluralized 8 Certain
college voters 9 “Cheers”
setting 10 Surgeon’s
blade 11 “CHiPs”
co-star Estrada
12 Mocking remark
13 Brewer’s oven 18 Present for
the teacher 23 Outs’
counterparts 24 ___ Major
(Big Dipper locale)
26 Imperative and subjunc-tive, e.g.
27 Achieve a personal best
28 101, in a course name
29 Nellie’s “South Pacific” love
30 Harder to find 31 ___ Maria
(coffee liqueur) 34 Easter
starter? 36 Related to the
earliest period
of human culture
37 Stand-up kind of guy?
38 Altar attire 40 Ardent sup-
porters of the Vatican
41 Be in com-petition with
43 Harley-Da-vidson trim
44 Letters from a short person?
45 Small flap on a garment
48 Something to fall back on
49 Beige-like shade
50 Minnow cousin
52 Case for pins and needles
53 Birds’ beaks 54 Farmer’s cart 57 Yoko who
married Lennon
58 Away, idiomatically
Universal CrosswordEdited by Timothy E. Parker April 3, 2012
PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER
© 2012 Universal Uclickwww.upuzzles.com
GOING UP? By Jill Pepper4/3
4/2
TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012
Someone from the past who was extremely important to you might re-enter your life in the year ahead. This person had a good infl uence on you then and chances are will continue to do so.
ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- If you take on too heavy a schedule, all it would do is cut down on your profi ciency. Putting too much pres-sure on yourself could make you feel overwhelmed.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- Once more, you could get yourself involved socially with someone of whom you’re not too fond. Try not to dwell too much on this person’s shortcomings, or problems will result.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- It’s going to be up to you to put a stop to an outside infl uence that could undermine the tranquility of your space. If you don’t do anything about it, you’ll have to live with it.
CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- Someone you know is spoiling for a fi ght. If you fi nd yourself on a collision course with a very strongly opinionated person, walk away as fast as you can.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) --Thoroughly check out an expensive, purportedly long-lasting article to see if it can live up to its claims, before putting your hard-earned money down. It may not be worth it.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- If both you and your special someone
have short fuses, make sure you keep your mouth shut when out in public. If you don’t, it could lead to something very embarrassing.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) --Try to help someone who has come to your assistance in the past. Even if this person’s problems are more complex than yours, don’t compare the two.
SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 22) --Be extremely careful about how you handle a friend who is already miffed for something you supposedly did in the past. Even if you weren’t at fault, turn the other cheek.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 23-Dec. 21) -- Enhance your chances for success by trying to see things through the eyes of your competitor. It could substantially increase your ability to get what you want.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) --Un-less you are very careful with whom you pick an argument, you could fi nd yourself in a situation where you are completely overmatched. Be agreeable to all.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) --There are strong signals telling you and your family to be extremely careful about handling your funds. You or another member could incur a debt that would be diffi cult to pay off.
PISCES (Feb. 20-March 20) -- It’s OK to go to someone for advice, if you believe he or she is bright enough to help. If the other party is clueless, however, he or she could make mat-ters much worse.
HOROSCOPE By Bernice Bede Osol
Copyright 2012, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
Instructions:Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.
Previous Solution
Monday- Very EasyTuesday-EasyWednesday- EasyThursday- MediumFriday - Hard
$445$515
$440$510$700
Spring Specials
Kedric KitchensAssistant Sports Editor
Former Central Florida assistant Er ik Peters on j o i n e d t h e O U v o l l e y -ball team’s coaching staff Monday after coach Santiago R e s t re p o a n -n o u n c e d h i s h i r i n g a s a n a s s i s t a n t o n Monday.
P e t e r s o n c o m e s t o O U after three years at UCF where he was respon-sible for oppo-nent scouting a n d t r a i n i n g outside hitters and defensive specialists.
W h i l e a t UCF, Peterson trained out-side hitter Angelica Crump who was named an AVCA A l l -A m e r i c a n a n d A l l -Conference USA first team selection in 2011 — the first UCF payer to ever earn the honor.
Peterson said that he is very excited to join the Sooner team.
“I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to join the current staff at the
University of Oklahoma,” Peterson said in a release. “Coach Restrepo has built a program with such sto-ried tradition and I cannot wait to help contribute to build on the success and tradition.”
OU is Peterson’s fourth collegiate coaching job.
Before UCF, he was a vol-unteer assistant at the Florida in 2003 and spent f ou r ye a r s a s an assistant at South Florida.
P e t e r s o n helped develop outside hitters and defensive special ists at USF as well and served as a sec-ondary recruit-er at both UCF and USF.
Peterson also spent time as an assistant with
the USA Women’s National Team in preparation for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
While at UCF in 2011, P e t e r s o n h e l p e d t h e Knights to a 20-11 record — the team’s best record since 2003.
Peterson has coached at the Orlando Volleyball Academy for the past four years, leading two teams to back-to-back AAU national championships.
R e s t r e p o s a y s t h a t Peterson’s notoriety and visibility will prove an asset for the Sooners moving for-ward, particularly when it comes to recruiting the na-tion’s elite players.
“We’re extremely excit-ed to add someone of Erik (Patterson)’s stature to our staff,” Restrepo said in a release. “He’s a very well-known coach in the volley-ball community, and he has a lot of connections with clubs across the country.
“He will boost the pro-fi le of our program and we are looking forward to the future success of our program.”
P e t e r s o n a t t e n d e d C o n c o r d i a C o l l e g e i n Bronxville, New York, where he graduated with a bach-elor’s degree in biology in 1999.
Greg Fewell, sports editorKedric Kitchens, assistant sports editor
[email protected] • phone: 405-325-3666SPORTSOUDaily.com ››Freshman Hunter Lockwood, who has been having a stellar year for the Oklahoma baseball team, earned two conference honors for last week’s play.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 • 7
Softball
oU’s pitcher-perfect play Ricketts pitched a 4-0 game against Oklahoma State
Peterson leaves a three-year position at UCF to join OU
astrud reed/the daily
OU’s ace pitcher junior Keilani Ricketts fires a strike to the plate on the way to one of her 10 strikeouts in the Sooners’ 8-0 run-rule victory over Kansas on Friday. Ricketts continued to cement herself as one of the best pitchers in school history by becoming only the eighth Sooner ever to throw a perfect game.
tobi neidySports Reporter
After a quick 68 minutes of action during Friday night‘s game against Kansas, there was no doubt junior pitch-ing ace Keilani Ricketts had finally collected another his-torical milestone in her al-ready prolific Sooner career.
Ricketts has been one hit away from a flawless perfor-mance four separate times this season, already. Most recently, in Wednesday’s game against Bedlam rival Oklahoma State, Ricketts allowed one hit and one walk in the 4-0 win over the Cowgirls.
But during the opening game of the series against Kansas on Friday, Ricketts turned off all of the outside pressures and focused on performing for her team.
“I could hear my defense behind me, and they really got me excited,” Ricketts said.
The result : a blistering performance on the mound that saw no hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts to allow Ricketts to join a prestigious fraternity of dominating pitchers by hurling her first perfect game, an 8-0 run-rule win over Kansas in five innings.
Coach Patty Gasso also saw just how solid both her starting pitcher, who retired all 15 batters she faced, and the rest of the OU defense performed on the same night.
“Keilani was just on fire as
usual, and tonight was real-ly a complete effort,” Gasso said. “Our defens e was steady, and it was overall a smothering performance.”
Only seven Sooner pitch-ers in the histor y of the Oklahoma softball program have been able to throw to perfection since its incep-tion 37 seasons ago, and Gasso had the opportunity to see every one of them, in-cluding Jill Most (1994-97) who recorded the first OU
perfect game against Baylor in 1997.
In a perfect game, no bat-ter can reach base — the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks or hit by pitches — and is therefore ruled both a shutout and a no-hitter by the winning pitcher.
This accomplishment is rare in both collegiate soft-ball and baseball because not only must pitchers be pivotal on the mound, but also because the rest of the
defense must be ready to make a play on every ball that is hit in fair territory.
The San Jose, Calif., native was quick to credit her fellow teammates for helping to make stops in order to help Ricketts achieve perfection.
“I didn’t do it all myself and my team helped me out,“ Ricketts said. “There was one ball that could’ve gone through, but the Jessica Vest made a great play on it for the out.”
ColUMN
Men’s gym out to fill all seatsAb o u t . c o m ’ s
Reader’s Choice Award winners
were announced Monday, with categories ranging from electronics to sport-ing events.
No t t o o s u r p r i s i n g -ly, the No. 1 Oklahoma men’s gymnastics team was voted as the fan favor-ite while former Sooner Jonathan Horton was voted as favorite male gymnast.
Of course, if the members of the Oklahoma team heard about the award at all, they probably did not pay much attention to it. After all, the Sooners are more worried about winning an NCAA championship right now.
However, the award, while not incredibly prestigious, does bring up a question. Where have all the Sooner fans been?
While Oklahoma has been establishing itself as the favorite to win this year’s national championship, the team has struggled to sell out McCasland Field House.
The Sooner football team has no problem selling out its home games, regardless of how many games it loses.
The men’s gymnastics team, on the other hand, is struggling to sell out a small venue while it’s having one of the best seasons in recent years.
The Sooners have a golden opportunity this season. Not only does the team have all the talent needed to win it all, but it also is hosting the NCAA championships in its own backyard.
However, that will not matter if OU fans do not show up to cheer the team on.
The team has had numerous promotions and events for this year’s slate of home meets to attempt to draw in fans.
Thus far, though, the attendance at the meets has left a lot to be desired.
One thing that has always drawn Sooner fans is winning.
Thus far, the men’s gymnastics team has lived up to its end of the bargain. As for the fans, they only have one chance left to see the 2012 Sooners in action.
This time, it’s for all the marbles.
Greg Fewell is a journalism senior and sports editor of The Daily.
COACH PROFILEErik Peterson Former job: Central FloridaCollege:Concordia CollegeCareer stats: Trained UCF’s first ever All-American. Also helped prepare the U.S. National team for the 2004 Olympics.
VollEyball
Central Florida assistant coach to join Sooner staff
“coach restrepo has built a
program with such storied
tradition, and i cannot wait to help contribute to build on the success and tradition.”
ERIK PETERSON, ASSISTANT vOLLEybALL
COACH
Greg [email protected]
SPORTS COLUmNIST
number crisisline9
325-6963 (NYNE)OU Number Nyne Crisis Line
8 p.m.-4 a.m. every dayexcept OU holidays and breaks
help is just a phone call away
X
Expires on May 31, 2012
SPORTS8 • Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Mayo leads Memphis past OKC to prevent team from best record
Above: Oklahoma City Thunder for-ward Kevin Durant (35) shoots over Memphis Grizzlies guard Gilbert Arenas (10) in the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game Monday in Oklahoma City. Memphis won 94-88.
Left: Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins (5) knocks the ball away from Memphis Grizzlies forward Rudy Gay (22) while Thunder forward Serge Ibaka, left, defends in the fourth quarter.
O K L A H O M A C I T Y — O.J. Mayo scored 22 points, including a key 3-pointer with 17 seconds left, and the Memphis Grizzlies pre-vented Oklahoma City from tying for the NBA’s best re-cord by beating the Thunder 94-88 on Monday night.
Oklahoma City had pulled within a game of league-leading Chicago by blow-ing out the Bulls a day ear-lier, but the Grizzlies took the lead just after halftime and hung on to snap the Thunder’s six-game win-ning streak.
To n y A l l e n a d d e d 1 5 p o i nt s a n d Ma rc Ga s o l scored 13 for the Grizzlies, who were without starting point guard Mike Conley for a second straight game be-cause of a sore right ankle.
Ke v i n Du ra nt l e d t h e Thunder with 21 points and Russell Westbrook scored 1 9 , w i t h 1 2 c o m i n g a s Oklahoma City tried to rally in the fourth quarter.
The two teams that last y e a r p ro d u c e d a n e p i c s e v e n - g a m e W e s t e r n Conference semifinal se-ries — including a triple-overtime game and one with a single overtime — went right down to the wire again.
Oklahoma City nearly erased a nine-point deficit in the final 3 minutes be-fore Mayo connected on a 3-pointer from the right wing with two seconds left on the shot clock to bump the Memphis lead to 90-86.
A f t e r a p a i r o f f r e e throws by Westbrook, Zach Randolph answered with two of his own with 13 sec-onds remaining. Durant’s 3-pointer with 6 seconds left was off target, and Allen hit two free throws to seal it with four ticks left.
The Grizzlies, enduring a grueling stretch in their schedule, won for the fourth time in five games. Memphis is in the midst of playing nine out of 11 games on the road and Monday’s game also opened the team’s only back-to-back-to-back stretch this season.
M e m p h i s a l l o w e d Oklahoma City a season-low two fast-break points — coming on Westbrook’s free throws with 1:12 remaining.
We s t b r o o k , w h o h a d missed 10 of his first 12 shots, drove for a basket to start a run of eight straight Thunder points.
Serge Ibaka scored un-derneath with 7:05 left to get Oklahoma City within 75-74, then missed a free throw that could have tied it.
Gasol answered with a basket from the right block and the Grizzlies were able to restore their nine-point lead with a 12-4 run, going up 87-78 after Randolph’s
basket inside with 3:16 to play.
Memphis then went near-ly 3 minutes without scor-ing as the Thunder closed within one again following Ibaka’s jumper and then a string of six straight free throws — with Westbrook hitting the last of his four in a row with 39 seconds remaining.
Oklahoma City, which won Game 7 on its home court in the West semifinals, had won all three previous meetings this season by a total of 15 points.
The Grizzlies sustained an early 12-0 Oklahoma City run and kept it tight despite shooting only 31 percent in the first half. Memphis even led in the final minute before Thabo Sefolosha’s 3-pointer from the right side gave the Thunder a 44-42 edge at halftime.
Gay and Gasol scored back-to-back baskets to start the second half, and Memphis continued to pull away before building its lead to 75-66 after a string of five straight points by Mayo.
The last came on a free
CoLumn
Men’s tennis vies for title
ben williams/the daily
Junior Lawrence Formentera returns a serve during the Sooners’ March 4 home match against the Arizona Wildcats. The Sooners won all but one match, beating the Wildcats 6-1. After a shaky start to the season, Oklahoma has been on a tear, winning its last six matches.
Even after a four match win streak on the road, the 21st-ranked OU men’s tennis team was a few votes shy of being the favorites to win the
Big 12. Instead, the Big 12 coaches picked the rival Longhorns of Texas as the favorite to win the confer-ence in 2012.
Apparently, though, the players on Oklahoma’s squad did not get the memo from conference officials.
The team proved the voters wrong Friday with anoth-er dominant road performance against the conference favorites, No. 13 Texas, beating the Longhorns, 5-2, in Austin.
For good measure, the team went ahead and took down Texas A&M, the third-ranked team in the confer-ence, just two days later in College Station by the same score.
Now, the team seems to be performing at its peak right at the beginning of conference play.
The Sooners have already set themselves apart from their competition in the conference after their 2-0 start to the season. They didn’t just defeat their two stron-gest competitors for a conference title; they beat them handily and on the road.
People are starting to really take notice of the team’s success.
The league office announced yesterday that junior Costin Paval was named the Big 12 Men’s Player of the Week. Paval has been anchoring the young Sooner squad at the number one singles and doubles spots this year.
The team went through some growing pains early this season, but members of the team have grown into their roles and younger players have stepped up to the challenge to help contribute to the Sooners’ success.
Dane Webb, a freshman, proved that on Sunday against the Aggies by closing out his opponent to clinch the Sooner victory.
The team’s strength all year has been its doubles play. Even early this season when the team was struggling
to close out matches, the Sooners were normally able to build up leads with their strong performance in the doubles portion of matches.
Now that Oklahoma has proven it can close out matches once it develops that early lead, the team could be a force to be reckoned with for the remainder of the 2012 season.
OU still has four matches remaining in the regular season, all conference matchups. However, the team proved last weekend that the road to a Big 12 champi-onship goes through Norman this year.
Cameron Strock is a University College freshman.
nBA
Grizzlies topple Thunder
Photos by sue ogrocki/the associated Press
throw following Thunder coach Scott Brooks’ third technical foul of the season with 10:03 remaining, one possession after officials overruled an initial deci-sion to grant Harden three free throws and instead gave the Thunder the ball on the sideline.
The Associated Press
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