The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Wednesday, October 31, 2012

theStripclub

Now that Disney has purchased Lucasfilm and is planning to release Star Wars Episode VII in 2015, the thoughts of Star Wars fans are casting around for other science fiction series’ to fill the Alderaan shaped hole in their hearts.

COLLEGIANT H E R O C K Y M O U N T A I N

Wednesday, October 31, 2012Fort Collins, Colorado Volume 121 | No. 61

www.collegian.comTHE STUDENT VOICE OF COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1891

The Strip Club is written by the Collegian staff.

Culture shockNew basketball coach Larry Eustachy changes team mindset

Page 8

The Collegian Editorial Board: ‘Gone to the Dark Side, Lucasfilm has’ | Page 4

FoundationIsaac Asimov is regarded as the King of Science Fiction. Span-ning hundreds of years, and incorporat-ing hundreds of characters, Foundation is the sci-fi equivalent to “Game of Thrones”... with less sex.

The Pendragon AdventuresA story of dimensional travel, the Pendragon Ad-ventures centers around teenager Bobby Pen-dragon, who gets plucked out of his normal existence to fight against a megalomania-cal lunatic.

Old Man’s War

A story of an elderly man’s mind trans-planted into a young man’s body to fight a war is rife with creative cin-ematic potential.

Series That Need a

Movie/Show

By SkyLEr LEonarDThe Rocky Mountain Collegian

Following a controversial opinion by the supreme court on campaign finance laws in 2010, Colorado has a consti-tutional amendment on this year’s ballot that would direct the congressional delegation to propose and support cam-paign finance limits.

Amendment 65 attempts to change campaign finance by instructing elected officials to introduce and pass a federal constitutional amendment that would allow for campaign fi-nance limits.

“The ultimate goal is to get big money out of our elections,” said Daniel Katz, director of the Colorado Public Interest Re-search Group (CoPIRG).

Although no formal op-position has been made to the amendment according to the Colorado Secretary of State website, there has been criti-cism from those who believe the amendment will actually limit free speech.

“Amendment 65 is a blank check for government censor-ship of political speech and goes vastly beyond what would be something more precise to reverse the Citizens United case,” said David Kopel re-search director of the Indepen-dence Institute.

The amendment addresses Citizens United v. The Federal Election Committee, a contro-versial supreme court decision that found money to count as free speech and corporations as people who have a right to practice free speech.

The Citizens United ruling has changed the political envi-ronment. With the inclusion of super PACs, corporations and various individuals able to make substantial contributions to campaigns, this year’s election is on track to triple the amount of money spent during the 2008 election, according to Katz.

Steve Justino, the co-chair of Move to Amend, a group looking to amend the federal constitution to overturn the Citizens United ruling, said the case was a very bad tipping point for America.

“I don’t think it is an See amEnDmEnT on Page 3

By EmiLy SmiThThe Rocky Mountain Collegian

Halloween may seem like a harm-

less holiday for kids to dress up and trick-or-treat and for college students to go to costume parties, but many stu-dents don’t celebrate the occasion for personal and religious reasons.

Graduate student Justin Marks, a mathematics doctoral candidate, is one of them.

“It doesn’t encourage deepening of relationships within the family, or friends for that matter, like Thanksgiv-ing and Christmas do,” Marks said, who identifies as a Christian.

Marks said he trick-or-treated as a kid in costumes like dinosaurs or trains, but refrains from celebrat-ing Halloween now because it doesn’t have a meaningful tradition behind it in Christianity, such as Christmas cel-ebrating the birth of Jesus and Easter celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

“Currently, the dominant tone of Halloween in our culture is a celebra-

tion of death and horror, which are characteristics of Satan, versus life and peace, which are attributes of Jesus and the things truly worthy of celebration,” Marks said.

Marks said Halloween seems like an excuse for many people to get drunk and be promiscuous, both of which are behaviors he thinks are wrong. Marks said there isn’t much that draws him about Halloween, making it easy for him not to celebrate it.

Senior health and exercise science major Rebecca Schwarz doesn’t cel-ebrate Halloween either.

Schwarz explained that in her reli-

gion, Judaism, there is a different holi-day called Purim which Jewish people celebrate by dressing up in costumes and traveling to others’ houses to give them candy. Purim is usually celebrat-ed in February or March, she said.

“I can’t speak for all Jews, but most religious Jews will refrain from cel-ebrating Halloween due to its pagan roots,” Schwarz said.

The roots of Halloween and the various traditions that go along with celebrating it have been said to come from several different sources, from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain to the Catholic holiday of All Hal-lows Eve which takes place before All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1.

Schwarz grew up not celebrating Halloween and never trick-or-treated as a child.

“I did celebrate Halloween my first year up here at CSU,” Schwarz said. “It wasn’t quite as wholesome as I expected it to be, given that my

See haLLowEEn on Page 3

By CarriE moBLEyThe Rocky Mountain Collegian

Amid all the midterms and papers due this week, an-other event occurred –– the celebration of the ninth year of RamRide and the first year of RamRide Return by the As-sociated Students of CSU.

Since its creation in 2003, the program has given 174,038 safe rides home, according to ASCSU President Regina Mar-tel. That’s an average of about 200 rides per night of opera-tion.

“RamRide has come such a long way,” said Becky Ew-ing, director of RamRide. “It’s grown not only in terms of usage, but also in staff, com-munity support, cars and the amount of students who know about it. It has literally grown

in every aspect possible.”RamRide began in an

apartment off campus, ac-cording to Ewing. The pro-gram initially rented cars for every night of operation until it became clear that it would be more cost-efficient to pur-chase vehicles solely for Ram-Ride’s use.

“In the beginning, the program was completely run by the RamRide and ASCSU members,” Ewing said. “They literally worked it every single weekend just to get it started, but after that it really started to grow.”

Today, RamRide has its own office in the Lory Stu-dent Center, a 19-car fleet and eight paid employees.

“Its really become part of our campus culture,” said Emma Lanham, a veteran

RamRide volunteer. “A Lot of the CSU alumni in my home-town think it’s great that its not only still here, but that it has grown so much in the last few years and really become part of who we are.”

ASCSU also celebrated the first birthday of RamRide Return, an initiative imple-mented by the last ASCSU ad-ministration. In its pilot year, the program has seen consis-tently low numbers –– a trend

that some site as an attribute to the natural growing pains of a new program.

“It’s grown a lot in the last year, but it’s still in its early stages,” Ewing said. “It has a lot of growing left to do … this year will play a heavy role in determining its growth and how sustainable it will be for the years to come.”

The celebration included free cake for passers-by on the plaza, free t-shirts and informational fliers promot-ing RamRide Return. This year’s birthday celebration was low key, according to Ewing, but for RamRide’s 10th birthday, she said, the department won’t hold any-thing back.

ASCSU Beat Reporter Car-rie Mobley can be reached at [email protected].

amendment 65 could limit Colo. campaign spending

Instructs Colorado representa-tives in Congress to propose and support legislation limiting campaign contributionsSuPPorTErS Say:

The amendment sends a message that money in politics should be limited.

Passing 65 in Colorado would be a first step in changing the U.S. constitution.oPPonEnTS Say:

A ballot measure cannot force elected officials to vote for laws and policies.

The amendment could lead to limits on organization’s and individuals’ free speech.

amEnDmEnT 65

Nearly 120 million American children and adults dress up in costumes.

More than 35 million pounds of candy corn are sold annually.

72 percent of American adults report handing out candy.

46 percent of American adults carve a pumpkin.

on haLLowEEn

Since its creation on Oct. 24, 2003, RamRide has:

Provided 174,038 safe rides Expanded to a 19-car fleet Added a RamRide Return program

to return student to their cars the next day

CELEBraTE ramriDE

Jared Woodrow chooses not to celebrate Halloween because of his religious beliefs. Being a Muslim, Woodrow says there is no connection between the holiday and his country and religion.

maDiSon BranDT | COLLEGIAN

Halloween not a holiday for everyoneReligious, personal reasons stop students from celebrating

Celebrating nine years of safe rides home

2 Wednesday, October 31, 2012 | The Rocky Mountain Collegian

President Barack Obama to make a campaign stop in Boulder on � ursday

President Barack Obama will be once again make a stop in colorful Colorado on Thursday, just fi ve days be-fore the election on Nov. 6.

Obama will deliver re-marks at the Coors Event Center in Boulder at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

The event is free and open to the public, but tick-ets are required for entrance. One ticket per person will be distributed on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis and limit-ed to one per person.

Tickets are available by the UMC Fountain Area of the CU-Boulder Campus, as well as the Obama for Amer-ica offi ces on Pearl Street, Baseline and South Boulder Road in Boulder.

Celebrate Halloween with an Organ Extravaganza!

Tonight will be a “spook-tacular” evening in the University Center for the Arts.

That’s because this Hal-loween marks the seventh annual Halloween Organ Extravaganza, which will feature terrifying pieces like Bach’s “Toccata” and “Fugue in D minor” — known by

some as Halloween’s unoffi -cial theme song.

The concert, which will be performed on the world-renowned Casavant organ, will feature costumed performers, including CSU organ professor Joel Bacon, organ students and numer-ous special guests.

Tickets are $7 for CSU students, $1 for youth and $12 for adults. There will be concerts at 7 p.m., 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. in the Organ Re-cital Hall in the UCA.

CSU men’s golf team currently in � � h place at Paci� c Invitation

The CSU men’s golf team currently holds sole posses-sion of fi fth place out of 12 teams at the Pacifi c Invita-tional, with a two-day total of 553 points.

“We just kind of kept pace with everyone else,” head coach Christian New-ton said. Kansas State Uni-versity sits alone in fi rst place, followed by Brigham Young University, Pacifi c University and the Universi-ty of California-Davis.

To follow live scoring of the tournament, visit www.golfstat.com as well as @csu-mensgolf on Twitter.

-- Collegian Staff Report

FORT COLLINS FOCUS

Jennifer Knoche sells homemade dog treats at the Lory Student Center Flea Market to fundraise for a VIDA service trip to Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, student volunteers plan to provide vet dental and medical services to suffering animals.

MADISON BRANDT | COLLEGIAN

Community Briefs

COLLEGIANT H E R O C K Y M O U N T A I N

Lory Student Center Box 13Fort Collins, CO 80523

This publication is not an offi cial publication of Colorado State University, but is pub-lished by an independent corporation using the name ‘The Rocky Mountain Collegian’ pursuant to a license granted by CSU. The Rocky Mountain Collegian is a 10,000-circu-lation student-run newspaper intended as a public forum. It publishes fi ve days a week during the regular fall and spring semesters. During the last eight weeks of summer Collegian distribution drops to 4,500 and is published weekly on Wednesdays. During the fi rst four weeks of summer the Collegian does not publish. Corrections may be sub-mitted to the editor in chief and will be printed as necessary on page 2. The Collegian is a complimentary publication for the Fort Collins community. The fi rst copy is free. Additional copies are 25 cents each. Letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected].

EDITORIAL STAFF | 491-7513Allison Sylte | Editor in Chief

[email protected] Miller | Content Managing Editor

[email protected] Thompson | Visual Managing Editor

[email protected] Carrera | News Editor

[email protected] Willner | News Editor

[email protected] Jensen | Editorial Editor & Copy Chief

[email protected]@collegian.com

Nic Turiciano | Entertainment [email protected]

Cris Tiller | Sports [email protected]

Kyle Grabowski | Assistant Sports [email protected]

Kris Lawan | Design [email protected]

Nick Lyon | Chief [email protected]

ADVISING STAFFKim Blumhardt | Advertising Manager

Michael Humphrey | Journalism Adviser

KEY PHONE NUMBERSNewsroom | 970-491-7513

Distribution | 970-491-1146Classifi eds | 970-491-1686

Display Advertising | 970-491-7467 or 970-491-6834

Editor’s Note:News Editor Andrew Carrera interned with President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign this summer. He has removed himself from all political coverage including writing, editing and discussions – this include’s the paper’s daily editorial “Our View.”

$18.69 20pk btls

Aggie Discount Liquor 429 Canyon Ave. 482-1968

$15.69 18pk cans

Bud Light 20pk btls

MichelobUltra Light

18pk cans

By Kate SimmonSThe Rocky Mountain Collegian

As the fall semester passes

its halfway point, many CSU students are searching for roommates and places to live for the upcoming term.

“You might choose them (roommates) because you like them, not necessarily because they’re the best roommate match for you based on your preferences,” Jeannie Ortega, director of Off-Campus Life said. “I’ve seen best friends move in together and become worst enemies because they didn’t really know about this person’s cleanliness or opin-ions about sharing.”

Off-Campus Life provides students with a one-stop-shop to help students survive in their first step into the world. The office helps students find a place to live, groups to car-pool to campus with, party registration, legal services and Roommate Roundup.

“We’re the premiere site for students to find housing, specifically for CSU students,” Ortega said.

Many students how-ever use venues other than Off-Campus Life to find living arrangements.

Caroline Ogg, a sopho-more engineering science ma-jor, said she thinks Off-Campus Life is helpful but she thinks

most students don’t think to look there so she decided to look where many students fre-quent almost daily: Facebook.

Most of the CSU gradu-ating classes have pages on Facebook and many clubs and organizations also have pages. The Facebook 2015 group page has more than 3,500 members.

Students use the social media site to ask fellow stu-dents about everything from teacher recommendations to ask for concert tickets and Harry Potter book loans.

Every few posts are about living situations off campus –– either students looking for roommates or advertising places to live.

Ogg has noticed a lot of people using Facebook to find roommates but she wish-es there was something more. She thinks someone should make a Facebook page spe-cifically to help students find other students to live with.

“So much of the room-mate search is word of mouth,” Ogg said. “If there was a place where you could find a list of people who meet your criteria that would be awesome.”

Erin Brady, a sophomore biology major, said she and her other roommates made an ad on Craigslist to find a new roommate.

Brady described the peo-ple who responded to their ad

as “iffy.” From her experience, people on Craigslist were gen-erally older and Brady didn’t feel comfortable living with anyone she interviewed.

“Be careful and cautious as you approach finding a roommate through Craig-slist,” Ortega said. “It’s so open there can be scams that exist out there and we don’t want students to be in situations where they are being taken advantage of financially.”

After Craigslist failed to match them with a room-mate, Brady and her house-mates checked the Class of 2015 Facebook page.

“If you’re looking for a col-lege student, I’d suggest using

the Facebook page because the people who see those are usually students in the same mindset, in the same place in life,” Brady said. “If you’re looking for someone older and more mature, Craigslist would work but it depends the type of person you’re looking for. Craigslist didn’t work for us because we weren’t looking for that kind of person.”

Student Life Beat Reporter Kate Simmons can be reached at [email protected].

970-491-2248 [email protected]

off- campuS life

as winter nears, students begin roommate hunt

“If you’re looking for someone older and more mature, I’d suggest using the Facebook page because the people who see those are usually students in the same mindset, in the same place in life.”

Erin Brady | Sophomore biology major

By michael muSKal and JoSeph tanfaniThe McClatchy Tribune

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The eastern portion of the nation turned to emergency rescue, recovery and resup-ply Tuesday even as mete-orologists warned that the danger from super storm Sandy will continue as the massive system works its way through the country.

Sandy churned about 120 miles east of Pittsburgh and was moving toward the Great Lakes and Canada, car-rying winds of 45 mph and pelting rain or snow across an area stretching from Lake Michigan to Maine.

At least 38 deaths were reported by The Associated Press. More than 8 million people remained without electricity.

Manhattan remained par-alyzed with hundreds of thou-sands without power and its subway system shut, portions flooded. About 80 homes were destroyed by fire in the Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens. The Jersey Shore has suffered “incalculable” losses, Gov. Chris Christie said, with aerial photos showing wide-spread flooding, sand and water inundating street after street of homes.

Snow and blizzard con-ditions pummeled West Vir-ginia on Tuesday, knocking out power and closing roads.

“I don’t want anyone to think the event is anywhere near over,” National Hurri-cane Center Director Rock Knabb said Tuesday after-noon. He echoed a warning also delivered by President Barack Obama during a trip to the Washington head-quarters of the Red Cross. “This storm is not yet over,” Obama said.

Obama will visit hard-hit

New Jersey on Wednesday, the White House announced, where he will view storm damage and talk to residents and first-responders. He will travel in the Garden State with Christie, a GOP surro-gate for presidential chal-lenger Mitt Romney. Both Obama and Christie have insisted that dealing with the storm and its aftermath trumps any politics even in a presidential election year.

Obama stressed a must-do idea of dealing with the recovery.

“Do not figure out why we can’t do something. I want you to figure out how we do something,” Obama said. “I want you to cut through red tape; I want you to cut through the bureau-cracy. There is no excuse for inaction at this point. I want every agency moving forward to make sure we are getting the resources where they are needed as quickly as possible.”

During the telephone briefing, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate stressed that fed-eral officials had moved sup-plies, including food, medi-cine and generators to help

hard-hit areas such as New York and New Jersey. Obama also granted major-disas-ter declarations to New York and New Jersey without a full federal assessment, clearing the way for quick grants to individuals hit hardest by the storm, Fugate said.

Rescues have taken place through the Northeast. But New Jersey, first hit when Sandy made landfall, was the scene of dramatic res-cues as crews in boats pulled people out of two flooded towns: Moonachie, near the Hackensack River, and near-by Little Ferry, N.J.

More than 800 people were stranded in Moonachie after the surge sent water over a berm in the town of 2,700 about 10 miles north-west of Manhattan. The town was under 5 feet of water in just 45 minutes and some residents clung to rooftops, officials said.

At least one body was re-covered in the city of Hacken-sack, upstream from the main flood area, officials said.

Houses in Little Ferry were swamped when the storm drove 4 feet of water onto the streets.

“We are in the midst of urban search and rescue. Our teams are moving as fast as they can,” Christie said during a televised news con-ference. “The devastation on the Jersey Shore is some of the worst we’ve ever seen. The cost of the storm is in-calculable at this point.”

Christie then left for a helicopter tour of the region.

The barrier islands in the southern portion of New Jer-sey were cut off, said Chris-tie, citing beach erosion, flooded and sand-crusted houses and heavily damaged amusement park rides.

The worst of the storm seemed to spare Atlantic City, the aging resort and home of the state’s gambling indus-try. At the height of Sandy, much of the city was under-water. But by Tuesday morn-ing, the waters had receded and most of the streets were clear. Houses showed miss-ing shingles or blown-down rain gutters, but there was little evidence of widespread structural damage. Some of the city even had power.

The 12 hotel casinos re-mained closed, but even the city’s Boardwalk mostly was unscathed, except for one section at the north end that was already supposed to be demolished.

The cost of Sandy’s dam-age could exceed $20 billion in repairs and perhaps an-other $30 billion in lost busi-ness over the days that much of metropolitan New York was an isolated ghost town, according to early estimates.

Lower Manhattan, which includes Wall Street, was among the hardest-hit areas after 14-foot surges of seawa-ter rolled through the empty streets, setting a record. Wall Street, closed for two days, was expected to reopen for trading on Wednesday.

Emergency rescue and recovery

The Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York, was devastated by Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.

carolyn cole | McClaTChy TRibune

continued from page 1

understanding of Halloween was that it’s a kids’ holiday.”

Jared Woodrow, who identifies as a Muslim, said he doesn’t celebrate Hallow-een because there is no con-nection between Halloween and the country he lives in nor the religion he practices.

Woodrow, a senior crim-inal justice major and presi-dent of the Muslim Student Association, celebrated Hal-loween up until the year he became a Muslim.

“After that, I decided that since it was not celebrated by our Prophet nor is it con-

nected to any real –– howev-er tenuous the ties may be –– scriptural connection to the Old or New Testament, if I want to dress up as Boba Fett –– which I may do –– I don’t need an excuse to do so,” Woodrow said.

Woodrow said he felt Halloween was little more than a “Hallmark holiday.”

“It is a waste of time and money,” Woodrow said. “Which the American cap-italist system is all too pre-pared to wring out for every dollar that can be mustered.”

Collegian Writer Emi-ly Smith can be reached at [email protected].

halloween | ‘It is a waste of time...’

continued from page 1

exaggeration to say that we are not in a functional democracy,” Justino said.

Those that support Amendment 65 see it as mit-igating the impact of money on the democratic process.

“We think it is a very pow-erful message coming from Colorado, given we are a swing

state in this election,” Katz said.But to some, like Ko-

pel, the amendment is very dangerous because of how broadly it can be interpreted.

“Sixty five is an order to all of Colorado’s officials to enact laws that limit cam-paign speech, but it doesn’t provide any specifics about what kinds of laws,” Kopel said. “So it is in essence giv-

ing them an order to vote for any law restricting political speech during elections.”

For the group Move to Amend, the broad text of the amendment creates confu-sion and weakens the stance against Citizens United. Yet, even though they do not stand in proposition of the amendment, they still want people to vote in favor of 65

because it will further the de-bate on campaign finance.

“Move to Amend thinks that Colorado voters should vote for it to get that dis-cussion going, but when it comes to the amendment our position is nonnegotia-ble,” Justino said.

Collegian Writer Skyler Leonard can be reached at [email protected].

amendment | Could be broadly interpreted

The Rocky Mountain Collegian | Wednesday, October 31, 2012 3

Lucasfilm has gone to the Dark Side.

On Monday, it was made public that Lucasfilm, the stu-dio behind Star Wars and Indi-ana Jones, has been purchased by Disney for a cool $4.05 billion, picking off the small-er cinematic company easier than Luke Skywalker bullseyes womp rats in his T-16 back home.

According to Disney Chair-man and CEO Bob Iger, the stu-dio plans to release a Star Wars film every two years starting in 2015, as well as further inte-grating the beloved franchise into Disney’s theme parks (please let there be a pod-rac-ing ride!).

Disney has swooped in to ex-

ploit the Star Wars series faster than the Millenium Falcon can make the Kessel Run — less than

12 parsecs, to be exact.This is a double-edged

lightsaber. Six companies in the U.S.

control 90 percent of the media.

Disney is one of them. Adding Lucasfilm to a portfolio that al-ready features ESPN, Pixar and Marvel studios only makes Dis-ney more powerful; what was once a small moon is turning into a massive, laser-wielding space station. But hey, there’s al-ways a bigger fish!

After all, it’s not like Lucas-film was some small studio. And we all know that “The Phantom Menace” kind of sucked. May-be teaming up with Disney’s almost limitless resources — even though they’re a bunch of scruffy-looking nerf herders — could really benefit the Star Wars story and give us fans “a new hope.”

Is Lucasfilm our only hope? No. There is another...

I have read a lot of ar-ticles in the Collegian over the years that I’ve marked as questionable in taste, but I have to admit, the guest column written last week by Tyler Drum is the winner of the Most Poor-ly Thought Out Column of the year award. While I sympathize with the fact that the government is in-deed not your real dad and he can’t tell you what to do, putting sin tax on the scale of depriving people of basic human rights is a little much.

Let’s step back for a moment and look for the reasoning behind the re-spective laws that you mentioned. Sin tax is de-rived from the idea that these luxury items are harmful to the body and therefore, by making the choice to purchase them, people should be forced to pay a little extra.

That is to say, when people are blowing smoke in your face and spreading harmful chemicals, you can at least take solace in the fact that they have to pay a little more for slowly killing themselves and everyone around them.

Soda has seen much the same problem as America is a notoriously overweight nation due to the prominence of adver-tising and the lack of ed-ucation given to younger children on how to control their diet. The tax there serves the purpose of en-couraging people to treat their bodies and other people with some decen-cy, but still giving them the option to choose what they want.

Now, a whole group of people that can’t get mar-ried because of their sexual orientation –– that’s a bit different. See, instead of having homosexuals pay an extra dollar for their wedding, they just can’t marry.

There is no choice in-volved there; it is banned on the bases of religious beliefs. You know, religion, that thing that all Ameri-can’s agreed from the get-go should not have the power to dictate policy. There is no logical basis for this law other than bias. It’s the same logic that was used to make sure colored people couldn’t vote for most of the United States’

existence, or to turn wom-en into second class citi-zens.

If you honestly think that making luxury items cost a little more money is comparable to people taking away your human rights, I don’t even know where to begin with the mental gymnastics that you must be going through trying to justify that state-ment.

Even looking at the bills cited in the column makes me wonder if you’ve read them. The land ap-propriation bill has noth-ing to do with “your” land. It is set to define what dic-tates blighted land, which I doubt that you own, and whether it can be used for urban renewal. The bill that disallows minors to talk on their cell phones while driving is, at worst, common sense.

I get that you want to call your BFF Jill while you’re driving, but it has the possibility of causing harm — not only to you, but to others around you — when you drive your car into the back of someone because you just had to engage in small talk while on the road.

The last bill you ref-erenced is the most mind blowing of the group, as it is set to give tax breaks to solar energy funding. If you haven’t been liv-ing under a rock for, well, your entire life, you know that the energy crisis is a clear and present danger to the economic inde-pendence of this country. The bill aims to support alternative sources of en-ergy in Colorado; some-thing has to be done if we want to see growth in these sectors. Good thing we don’t already give tax breaks to oil companies who are providing tem-porary, unclean energy. Oh, wait.

Paying fifty cents more for your Coke is not the same as taking away your basic human rights. Peo-ple telling you to drive safely and consider the wellbeing of those around you when you smoke is not “controlling your life.”

Also, voting for one of the two parties in a two party system is a joke. If you really want to see rev-olutionary change, start a revolution. If not, don’t pretend your politician is going to make things dif-ferent. It’s the same bu-reaucratic nonsense we’ve been fed from the start and I can promise you at the end of “business as usual,” you may be able to active-ly harm those around you more, but you won’t feel any freer.

Brian Fosdick is a ju-nior journalism major. Letters and feedback can be sent to [email protected].

In a little less than a week, the ma-jority of the American electorate who has not voted early or sent in a ballot by mail, will flock to polling places across the country to cast their ballots for ei-ther President Barack Obama or for his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

It is at about this time that many news outlets across this great country of ours will begin to start classifying vari-ous sections of the map as “Democratic” or “Republican” leaning. They do this in large part to try and predict how each state's votes in the electoral college will determine who “wins” the election.

Inevitably, once all of the dominos fall on Election Day, someone, some-where is going to start complaining about how unfair the Electoral College is. It happens on both sides. Liberals complained in 2000 when George W. Bush won more electoral votes than popular votes. Conservatives com-plain that states like California and New York give an unfair advantage to Democrats. And someone will inevi-tably belly-ache about it after the con-clusion of the 2012 election.

In this election it is not hard to find

something to complain about, and the Electoral College is a very easy target. With every state save six or seven com-pletely locked up, the candidates are focusing almost all of their efforts in an amorphous area which I am calling “Colohiovadinaconsinstan.”

Colohiovadinaconsinstan is made up of the key contested states in this election: Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin and Flori-da. From an electoral votes standpoint, these states make up about 104 votes, which makes up about a quarter of the total votes in the electoral college. In other words, only about 25 percent of the country is deciding the election.

That does sound admittedly unfair (provided that you forget that on any given presidential election only 60 per-cent of the voting population actually votes, optimistically). But it does not make a cogent argument for nixing the Electoral College, because the alterna-tive is actually even more unfair.

If the Electoral College is removed, then the presidential elections will be decided by popular vote. While it might not sound like a bad idea, this is actually monumentally unfair to the electorate, because all of a sudden the only places that actually matter in an election are the cities with the largest populations.

All of a sudden, instead of the amorphous grouping of states of Colo-hiovadinaconsindiastan deciding the election, the deciding areas will be New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Hous-ton, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Anto-nio, San Diego, Dallas, and San Jose. If the combined opinions of six or seven states deciding elections is unfair, then having only 10 cities deciding elections is monumentally unfair.

Which is why the Electoral Col-lege needs to stay in place, and why

small states will continuously advocate against getting rid of it (as they always have). As a Coloradoan, I do not want people in New York, or Texas, or Califor-nia deciding who becomes president. As a Coloradoan, I like that my state actually gets to have a significant say in the election.

I sure as hell do not want candidates to ignore my state because we only have nine electoral votes. I like it that my state can be a deciding factor in the most im-portant election that our country holds.

Do I think that winning the elec-toral college but not the popular vote is unfair, yeah. But it is much, much better than small states like Colorado being completely ignored.

This is why, in the spirit of the Great Compromise which created the House of Representatives and Senate, I will support the established institution that gives the small states the power to sway elections. It is not perfect by any means, but then again what system is?

It is a choice of what is most fair. Not everyone lives in California, New York, and Texas. Those three states should not be the ones that decide who is pres-ident. I would much rather have Colo-hiovadinastan be the deciding factor in an election.

This is the United States of Amer-ica, emphasis on the “states.” Fifty states. Not three. Fifty. Everyone’s say matters, no matter the size of the state or the number of people in it.

I support the Electoral College, be-cause it gives me a voice that matters in the election.

Editorial Assistant Caleb Hendrich is a senior political science and journal-ism double major. His columns appear Wednesdays in the Collegian. Letters and feedback can be sent to [email protected].

OPINIONCollegian

Collegian Opinion Page Policy

The columns on this page reflect the viewpoints of the individual author and not necessarily that of The Rocky Mountain Collegian or its editorial board. Please send any responses to [email protected].

Letter submissions are open to all and are printed on a first-received basis. Submissions should be limited to 250 words and need to include the author’s name and contact information. Anonymous letters will not be printed. E-mail letters to [email protected]

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 |

our view

Use the force, Disney

The Collegian Editorial Board is responsible for writing the staff editorial, “Our View,” and for the views expressed therein. Letters and feedback in response to the staff editorial can be sent to [email protected].

Allison Sylte | Editor in [email protected]

Matt Miller | Content Managing [email protected]

Hunter Thompson | Visual Managing [email protected]

Andrew Carrera | News [email protected]

Elisabeth Willner | News [email protected]

Kevin Jensen | Editorial [email protected]

Nic Turiciano | Entertainment [email protected]

Cris Tiller | Sports [email protected]

Kris Lawan | Design Editor [email protected]

By CaleB henDriCh

By Brian fOsDiCk

“Maybe teaming up with Disney’s almost

limitless resources could really benefit the Star Wars story and give us fans ‘a

new hope.’”

In Colohiovadinaconsinstan we trust

This is an unscientific poll conducted at Collegian.com and reflects the opinions of the Internet users who have chosen to participate.

yOUr twO Cents

*28 people voted in this poll.

yesterDay’s QUestiOn:

tODay’s QUestiOn:

Do you approve of Disney buying Lucasfilm?

Log on to http://collegian.com to give us your two cents.

Are you voting for or against Amendment S?

50% Against. 25% For. 25% Undecided.25%

50%25%

Sin taxes and civil liberties: A matter of scale

By MICHAEL J. MISHAK and ANTHONY YORKThe McClatchy Tribune

SACRAMENTO, Ca-lif. — California Gov. Jerry Brown still has not settled on a central sales pitch for his tax-hike initiative, even though support is shaky and Election Day is fast ap-proaching.

He has said at turns that Proposition 30 is about fi x-ing Sacramento, supporting local schools and creating jobs. At recent campaign stops, he has said the mea-sure would help stabilize the state budget — even though ads in favor of it say the bil-lions of dollars in new taxes will fl ow only to schools and cannot be touched by Sacra-mento politicians.

On the stump, Brown emphasizes that most of the tax increases will affect only the wealthiest Californians. The campaign ads make lit-tle mention of that.

The mixed messages underscore the Democratic governor’s struggle to per-suade skeptical taxpayers to open their wallets and provide fodder for a well-fi -nanced opposition to plant doubt among voters. A re-cent University of South-ern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll showed support for the proposal slipping below 50 percent for the fi rst time.

The shifting “creates un-certainty and makes voters head in the ‘no’ direction,” said John Matsusaka, presi-dent of the Initiative & Refer-endum Institute at USC.

Californians have not approved a statewide tax in-crease since 2004, when they voted for a levy on those making more than $1 million to pay for expanded county mental health programs.

“It’s hard to fi nd the right phrases, the right words,” Brown said, speaking to re-porters after a San Francisco

campaign event last week. “Everybody’s so afraid to mention that taxes are even involved. We walk on egg-shells.”

From the outset, Brown had pitched his initiative as part of what he called a “bal-anced approach” to closing the state’s budget gap. He had already cut billions of dollars from government programs.

With polls showing that voters were most likely to ap-prove taxes to help schools, he said the new levies on sales and upper incomes would help him balance California’s books, stave off education reductions and fulfi ll his campaign pledge to restore fi scal sanity to Sacra-mento.

As he traveled the state to promote his plan in the spring, he hammered home that point. “My goal is to bal-ance the budget,” the gover-nor said repeatedly.

He cast his initiative as “far superior” to a separate tax measure by civil rights attorney Molly Munger be-cause that proposal, Propo-sition 38, would send most of its new revenue to schools but would not fi ll the budget hole.

By summer, Brown had changed tactics.

Rocked by a fi nancial scandal at the parks depart-ment and ill-timed legis-lative pay raises, the gov-ernor co-opted Munger’s education message — and even mimicked her adver-tising, which vilifi ed Sacra-mento and focused on gov-ernment accountability. He aired television spots featur-ing teachers who argued that the new money would go di-rectly to classrooms.

Another ad stars the state controller, an elected offi cial, asserting that “Sac-ramento politicians can’t touch the money.”

But the nonpartisan Leg-islative Analyst’s Offi ce has

said “future actions of the Legislature and the governor would determine the use of these funds.”

Some political analysts said the campaign ads tar-nished the governor’s repu-tation as an honest broker in the polarized Capitol.

“Brown’s credibility was the most precious com-modity that campaign had, and they’ve degraded it,” said Rob Stutzman, a Re-publican consultant who helped former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger craft mes-sages for a series of ballot measures in 2005.

Brown’s opponents have seized on the contradictions, airing ads that cast Prop-osition 30 as “just another misleading budget gimmick by Sacramento politicians.” And since most of the gov-ernor’s ads do not mention where the new money would come from, anti-tax activists are fi lling the vacuum, fo-cusing on the quarter-cent hike in the state sales tax.

Some of Brown’s allies lament that he has failed to capitalize on the most politically potent part of the initiative: The new in-come taxes would fall on individuals making more than $250,000 a year or couples earning more than $500,000. That message could help reverse flagging support from Democrats, more than a third of whom say they’re undecided or won’t vote for the measure, according to the latest USC Dornsife/Times poll.

“People who are in the top 2 percent can afford to pay a bit more. We think it’s really a powerful message,” said Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign, a liberal advocacy group that backed the idea of a “millionaire” tax before abandoning that plan in an agreement with Brown. “The campaign has made another choice.”

California’s Brown has yet to pick a central sales pitch

By KATE WINKLEThe Rocky Mountain Collegian

While the economy has been the overarching theme of this election season, the estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. have still provoked differing opinions from President Barack Obama and Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. Here’s what the two candidates have to say about immigration:

Politics Beat Reporter Kate Winkle can be reached at [email protected].

BACKGROUND

*Information provided by each candidate’s campaign offi ce and public records

WHAT THEY PROMISED*

“It makes no sense to expel talent-ed young people who, for all intents and purposes, are Americans. They’ve been raised as Americans, understand them-selves to be part of this country. To expel these young people who want to staff our labs or start new businesses or defend our country simply because of the actions of their parents or because of the inactions of politicians,” Obama said at a speech ad-dressing immigration in the Rose Garden June 15, 2012.

Make immigration policy more “fair, effi cient and just:”

As a second-term priority, work with Congress to pass comprehensive biparti-san immigration reform

Focus immigration enforcement on those who endanger communities, and de-emphasize low-priority cases like stu-dents, veterans, citizens and military families

Opposes Arizona’s S.B. 1070 that re-quires police to check immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion someone is undocumented

“Immigration reform is not just a mor-al imperative, but an economic necessity as well. Immigrants with advanced de-grees start companies, create jobs and drive innovation at a high rate. … We can fi nd common ground here, and we must. We owe it to ourselves as Americans to ensure that our country remains a land of opportunity – both for those who were born here and for those who share our val-ues, respect our laws and want to come to our shores,” Romney said at a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Offi cials June 21, 2012.

“Enforce the law, welcome legal immi-grants and attract the best and brightest:”

Implement immigration strategy to bolster the economy, ensure security, keep nuclear families together and address ille-gal immigration

Grant permanent residency to foreign students who obtain advanced degrees

Speed up process of temporary work visas and create an effective mandatory employment verifi cation system

WHAT THEY DID*

2010: Urged Congress to pass the Devel-opment, Relief and Education for Alien Mi-nors (DREAM) Act

Failed to advance in the Senate Would have let young people

brought to the US as children earn citi-zenship through military service or high-er education

2004: Vetoed a bill offering in-state tuition benefi ts for undocumented immigrants2003: Opposed a bill that would grant driv-er’s licenses for undocumented immigrants2006: Signed a pact with the U.S. Immi-gration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)to give specially trained Massachusetts State Troopers the authority to enforce federal immigration laws

ROMNEY OBAMA

ROMNEY OBAMA

ISSUE

A LOOK AT IMMIGRATION

CandidateContrastRomney vs. Obama

05ELECTION COUNTDOWN



Daily cartoons and games available at Collegian.com. Send feedback to [email protected].

Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle

RamTalk compiled by Kris Lawan

To the girl in sociology trying to pretend she didn’t fall asleep: there are notebook rings imprinted on your face.

That moment when you walk into class expecting to watch a video and exams are being handed out.

Free cake AND condoms in the Plaza?! Who could’ve guessed trick or treating would get better with age.

To the students heckling the radical Christians on the Plaza: don’t you see that you’re just like them?

Submit RamTalk entries to [email protected]. Libelous or obscene submissions will not be printed. While your comment will be published anonymously, you must leave your name and phone number for veri� cation.

Want more?The fi rst RamTalk Book is offi cially in stock at the Student Media offi ce in the Lory Student Center.

Buy your copy for $10, or get one online for your Kindle or Nook.

Find out if you got in!

Text your rants to 970-430-5547.

Follow us on Twitter @RMCollegian.

“Like” us on Facebook. Search for � e Rocky Mountain Collegian.

Today’s Crossword sponsored by:

Today’s Sudoku sponsored by:

Yesterday’s solution

Today’s RamTalk sponsored by:

Daily Horoscope Nancy Black and Stephanie Clement

Yesterday’s solution

Brew

ster

Roc

kit

Tim

Ric

kard

Won

derm

ark

Davi

d M

alki

Ctr

l+z

Chel

sea

Lond

on#

Room

-Ant

ics

JADE

Meh

Com

exRo

chel

le P

eele

r

Across1 Mythological fi re-breather8 Man-horse creature15 Tangled or disentangled16 Employee’s security pass17 Like Napoleon on Elba18 Nonsense19 Elementary20 Teacher’s answer book21 Guitarist Barrett22 About, in dates25 AEC successor28 Labyrinth dweller31 Elusive loch dweller, familiarly35 Powerful health care lobbying gp.36 Internet letters38 Singer Ronstadt39 Massage style42 Champs-__: Paris boulevard44 __-face: smooching45 Law offi ce hire47 Not in the clergy48 Riddler foiled by Oedipus50 Fictional destroyer of Tokyo53 Match part54 Erased55 Leader of the pitching staff58 Nipper’s org.60 Godliness64 Brahe contemporary67 Temples with up-curved roofs69 Paper-folding art70 No help71 Beowulf’s victim72 What each of seven answers in this puzzle is

Down1 Final exam no-no2 ‘80s tennis star Mandlikova3 Folk singer Burl4 Arizona neighbor5 Draw forth6 Cath. or Prot.7 Juice drink suffi x8 Name as a source9 Keenan’s actor father10 Bulls org.11 Smidgen12 Puts in

13 Like Cinderella’s stepsisters14 Bassoon, e.g.20 Small racer23 Cheers from tiers24 Prankster26 Count (on)27 Forensic detectives, briefl y28 Trick-or-treaters’ costume items29 Beatnik’s “Got it”30 J. Carrol __: TV’s Charlie Chan32 Fishhook-to-line connection33 Perfect34 Cinch course37 Big name in Argentine politics40 With no warranties41 Emmy winner Daly43 “Shane” star Alan46 Océano fi ller49 The “X” in XFL, so some thought51 Homemade pistol52 Imbeciles55 Awestruck56 “The Alienist” author Caleb57 Nobelist Wiesel59 Slinky’s shape61 Cut and paste, e.g.62 Story63 River of Flanders65 Car starter: Abbr.66 Young fellow67 Milne’s absent-minded Mr.68 It begins with enero

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (10/31/12). All Hallow’s Eve is auspi-cious for planting intention seeds. What do you really love, and what kind of contribution would you like to make this year? Money looks good, so save it and keep living simply and conserving resources. Stay grounded, even as your spirit fl ies.

To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easi-est day, 0 the most challenging.

ARIES (Mar. 21-April 19) ––6–– You’ll learn quickly for the next few days. Complications and changes could arise, so re-vise plans. Study the angles. Don’t share with friends yet, and avoid gossip at all costs.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) ––8–– Cover all the bases, and tap another source of revenue. It’s not all about fun and games now, but you can still enjoy yourself. Choose an em-powering interpretation.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) ––5–– You’re getting more sen-sitive and stronger. Postpone travel and daydreaming, and jump into action instead. It will require willpower, and you have it. Cultivate inner peace.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) ––7–– No more procrastination for the next few days ... put it off for the weekend. It’s emotion versus reason now, and both count. Watch out for hidden dangers. Create love and peace.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) ––7–– Associates deliver data now. The answer will surprise you. Be polite, and don’t say every-thing that’s on your mind, unless you welcome controversy. Sometimes peace and quiet work best.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) ––7–– Others wonder if you’re ready for more responsibility. Show them that you are. Lead by example. Keep an open mind; you need what you’re learn-ing to do the job well.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) ––5–– Working your agenda with care is good but there’s only so much planning you can do. Get into action. Don’t be afraid to hit the trail (or the slopes). Just do it.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) ––7–– Finances are more of an issue for the next two days. Make changes while saving mon-ey. Postpone family time slightly. Don’t believe everything ... imagination’s especially alluring.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) ––6–– Fantasy doesn’t quite match reality, at least for now. Make the best of it, even with unwanted confl ict. Plug a fi nancial leak, and it all works out.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) ––8–– Stand up to critics. Re-focus on work today and tomorrow. But it’s not always about the money. Postpone a shopping trip. Observe the impact of your words.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) ––8–– Your loved ones encour-age you to take on a new challenge. Silence is bliss now. Plan a special romantic evening. Love fi nds a way, and friends help you to see farther.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) ––7–– Discover the truth, and erase all doubt. Make household decisions for the next few days. Face your demons. Provide advice only when asked. Stick close to home.

FOODBEST COFFEE DRINKS Local roasted. Handcrafted pastries and desserts. Cafe Vino. 7 days. 7am-Midnight. 1200 S. College. Across from CSU track.

FOR RENT3-5 BEDROOM HOUSE near CSU, NOV. 1ST, dogs ok, 2 levels, cool landlord, $1600. Call 407-1700 or 481-5993

2 bedroom 2 bath $890 per month. Across the street from campus. Furnished W/D. 970-226-0650. [email protected]

Studio apartment overlooking lake,large patio,high ceilings,full kitchen,full bath. Includes all utilities. Located on outdoor biking and walking trails.No pets. $850 Call (970) 222-4782

FOR RENTRoommate wanted $450/mo: Male/Female. Private bedroom/ bath. Two bedroom, two bathroom apt. Near campus. Washer/dryer. Small pets ok. 970-599-4935 [email protected]

WANTEDSTUDENTPAYOUTS.COM Paid Survey Takers Needed In Fort Collins. 100% FREE To Join! Click Surveys.

HAPPENINGSBOTTOMLESS Mimosas Saturday, Sunday brunch. 8am-3pm. Cafe Vino. 1200 S. College. www.cafevino.com.

EMPLOYMENT!BARTENDING! $300/day potential. No experience necessary. Training provided. Age 18+ ok. 1-800-965-6520 ex167.

Earn $1000-$3200 a month to drive our brand new cars with ads. www.VehiclePay.com

JOB OPPORTUNITIESSupermarket Liquors. Stock Clerk/Cashier. 15-25 hrs/wk. Nights weekends and holidays a MUST! No experience req’d. Apply in person. No Phone Calls.

CLASSIFIEDS

O�ce Hours: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday-Friday

O�ce: Lory Student Center, Lower Level, South End

Deadline to submit classi�ed ads is 4 p.m. the day prior to publication.

To Place an ad:(970) 491-1686 • [email protected] • www.collegian.com

CSU Discount DaysWednesday & Thursday

9 7 0 • 2 2 5 • 6 9 2 7

w/ CSU I.D.

By KEVIN G. HALLThe McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Resi-dents along most of the East Coast on Tuesday began cleaning up the wreckage left behind by Hurricane Sandy, and it was immedi-ately clear that all Ameri-cans will get slapped with the astronomical bill for the late-season storm.

“One of the big lessons here is there is going to be a very large gap between the insured losses and the total direct losses, and the overall economic losses due to Hurricane Sandy,” said Cynthia McHale, director of insurance services for the business advisory fi rm Ce-res.

The insured losses from Sandy are initially estimat-ed by Ceres and others to come between $5 billion and $10 billion. That’s a fraction of the total losses, however, since damage from fl ood-ing and Sandy’s storm surge would be covered not by the private sector but rather by the National Flood Insur-ance Program. Only a small percentage of homeown-ers — 5.6 million policies nationwide last year — are thought to actually have the federally provided insurance

coverage.That means taxpayers

may be on the hook for a lot of the disaster assistance as well as the low-interest rebuilding loans given to residents and businesses in affected states along or near the East Coast.

“All of society is going to be affected by this,” said McHale.

Americans also will feel Sandy’s effect on gas prices, which are likely to spike for a short period as a result of the storm forcing refi nery shutdowns and disrupting gasoline deliveries along the East Coast.

Sandy shut down the New York Stock Exchange on Monday and Tuesday, the fi rst time weather has closed the symbol of Amer-ican fi nancial might for two consecutive days since 1888. Leaders of the exchange an-nounced Tuesday afternoon that trading will resume Wednesday morning at nor-mal hours, although with the subway system and schools closed in New York it wasn’t clear who would come to work and how they’d get there.

Initial estimates of broader economic losses range from $20 billion to $50 billion, although these num-

bers could go sharply high-er in days ahead as more is known about the submerged New Jersey resort town of Atlantic City, parts of which Tuesday resembled the mythical submerged city of Atlantis.

One reason for the dif-fi culty in estimating dam-

age is that the slow-moving Sandy continued to drench inland portions of the na-tion Tuesday, said Annes Haseemkunju, a meteorolo-gist with the risk-assessment fi rm EQECAT in Oakland, Calif.

“This is going to be (seen as) an unusual event,” he

said, noting that gale-force winds were felt in a diameter of 1,000 miles from Sandy’s center. EQECAT initially es-timated $5 billion in insured losses but expected that number to rise sharply.

Another big unknown is the extent of damage in and around the densely popu-

lated New York City area. Water levels in the Battery Park area on the edge of the fi nancial district surpassed records set in 1960. The fl ooded New York subway system is expected to be closed for days, and for mil-lions of New Yorkers, in a city proud of its toughness, it’s sure to be a week demand-ing patience.

As a point of compari-son, Hurricane Irene, which hit New Jersey and Vermont the hardest, caused about $4.3 billion in insured loss-es last year. Sandy is sure to top that, but it still pales compared to 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma combined for insured losses of $60 billion. Katrina accounted for $45 billion of that number.

To give a sense of San-dy’s massive reach, Presi-dent Barack Obama signed emergency declarations for New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Vir-ginia and the District of Co-lumbia. Claims for damages are expected to range from fl ooding and wind damage to business interruption to losses from a blizzard in western Maryland and West Virginia.

Sandy’s damage worse than Irene, far from Katrina

The Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, New York, was devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Firemen from En-gine 45 from the Bronx mop up the area of Breezy Point where more than 50 homes were burned to the ground, on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.

CAROLYN COLE | McCLATCHY TRIBUNE



By Kyle GraBowsKiThe Rocky Mountain Collegian

New CSU coach Larry Eustachy said he cares more about his team’s mindset on the court than the X’s and O’s of basketball.

He states and restates that “the offense will take care of itself,” and the Rams need to recommit them-selves in terms of effort on the defensive end and hustle plays.

“We’ve got to change the culture. In my opinion, if we’re going to go to the next level with this team, that’s what we need to do,” Eu-stachy said.

CSU played against someone other than itself in Sunday’s 87-67 win over Metro State, and despite the 20 point win, the team ac-knowledges it still has a long way to go.

“We have to improve drastically over the next few weeks before we play Mon-tana — we’ve just got to get tougher,” senior forward Pierce Hornung said.

When CSU defended Metro State the “right” way,

the Roadrunners shot 19 percent from the floor, but when the team didn’t defend the “right way, Metro State made 65 percent of its shots, according to Eustachy.

“We just have to buy into that this is really what wins games,” Eustachy said. “What I’m selling is, no mat-ter how bad we shoot, we can win games, and that hasn’t been the case because of a lack of depth.”

Eustachy has taken ad-vantage of the depth on his team by ratcheting up the intensity of his practices and holding the team more ac-countable for its mistakes.

“Right now, we’re in bet-ter shape than we’ve ever been and we practice with no out of bounds,” senior guard Wes Eikmeier said. “Every drill we do if no one’s on the floor going after a loose ball, we’re running for it, we’re paying a price.”

The Rams’ coaching staff will take advantage of their depth not by giving their players more rest, but by ex-tending their playing time in games and demanding a higher level of effort during

those games with the expec-tation of more rest later.

“The body can take a lot, it’s just how mentally tough are you to serve it out,” Eu-stachy said. “I’m big on that, it’s a mental thing more than a wear-down physical thing. That’s what I think we really lack.”

CSU will have one more opportunity to test its mettle against another team before the Nov. 9 opener against Montana when the team travels to New Orleans Friday to scrimmage with Tulane.

The NCAA allows teams that play only one exhibition game to travel and play a scrimmage against another team as long as it is com-pletely closed and not publi-cized at all.

“We’ve got seven practic-es left before we play a real-ly good Montana team and we certainly won’t play our best,” Eustachy said. “These guys are going to get better and we’re just not going to be our best early.”

Assistant Sports Edi-tor Kyle Grabowski can be reached at [email protected].

New basketball coach creates culture of effort

“We’ve got to change the culture. In my opinion, if we’re going to go to the next level with this team, that’s what we need to do.”

Larry Eustachy | Basketball Coach

Junior guard-Dwight Smith goes up for a vicious dunk to end the weave drill during Tuesday’s Practice. (Photo by Austin Simpson)

Men’s basketball

RF6

Aggie Discount Liquor 429 Canyon Ave. 482-1968

$13.49 12 pack

NEW BELGIUM 12pk btls or cans all types & Follys

The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Documents

Transcript of The Rocky Mountain Collegian, Wednesday, October 31, 2012