Study hall or basketball?

The Crosstown Shootout is today. Wednesday, December 13. There’s a good chance that this is the first time you’ve heard it mentioned.

What happened to all the hype about the Crosstown Shootout?! Has the absolute insanity that has stemmed from it in years past worn us out? Have we grown complacent in our role as the better team? Or are we just too damn tired from writing papers and studying that we can’t think about anything besides getting more than three hours of sleep?

Perhaps the reason the Crosstown Shootout snuck up on most people this year is its timing. In most years in the past, the Crosstown Shootout has been held in January, at the beginning of the new semester when students are well-rested and full of school spirit. Furthermore, it’s usually held toward the end of the week when students are hyped for the weekend and are ready to go out after we win.

Most importantly, it’s usually appropriately scheduled at a time when Xavier students are at their best: when finals are over, Christmas shopping is done and we’re happy to be back at school. Not a time when finals are only a few days away, Christmas shopping hasn’t begun because we’ve been too busy studying and when all we want to do is go home and spread Christmas cheer.

This year, it has been more difficult for Xavier to promote the event due to everyone’s busy schedules. Students, faculty and administration are all trying to cram in as much as they can before everyone leaves campus for Christmas. It’s hard for us to get hyped for the event when everyone is so busy with school. An unfortunate result is that the Crosstown Shootout has been given a back seat.

UC students are already finished with exams. Therefore, while Xavier students are busy studying, UC students are busy goofing off. Granted, this is not uncommon, but that’s beside the point.

Adding to the apathy surrounding the greatest event in Cincinnati is the fact that the Crosstown Shootout lacks its most infamous participant: Bob Huggins. While Huggy Bear is practiving shady recuiting techniques at Kansas State, we here at Xavier find ourselves lacking a nemesis and a butt to all our jokes. There are only so many times you can make fun of the average UC GPA. This leads into the next point.

Our basketball team this year is better than it’s been since David West was here, and our reception of the biggest basketball game of the year does not reflect that. We have new talent that makes our team more promising than in recent years. Drew Lavender, the transfer player from Oklahoma, promises to be the point guard that Xavier has needed ever so badly, and red-shirt freshman Derrick Brown is turning into the next Dr. J with his gravity defying dunks.

But, because of our academic calendar and the basketball schedule’s obvious discrepancies, most people have not made the Crosstown Shootout a priority. This is a definite problem.

We need your support! This is your notification. You know it’s today, you know it’s the biggest event in Cincinnati, you know our basketball team rocks this year and you know that we’ve been slacking in supporting them! Get your face paint ready and let’s beat UC in student support and basketball. Go XU!

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Staff Christmas List 2006

What we want Santa to bring us

Brian Bowsher- Editor in Chief
I want a Brian Campbell Buffalo Sabres jersey. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like the shirt off the back of a red-haired Canadian nicknamed “Soupy.”

John Lafollette - Sports Editor
The ideal gift for the roommate who has an annoying habit of chewing on your Cheez-its. Also, I’m told this girl in my philosophy class gnaws on these in order to get her jaw in shape for her constant blithering.

Kelly Shaw - Campus News Editor
I want a North Face coat, so I will no longer be the only female in the Xavier bubble without one.

Emily Hoferer - Diversions Editor
I want the complete series of “Friends,” “Sex and the City,” “Will & Grace,” “Boy Meets World,” “Scrubs” and every movie that Hugh Grant has ever been in on DVD. Oh, and world peace.

Matt Finger - Op/ed Editor
I want someone with whom I can spoon. But only if I can be the big spoon. But not like a serving spoon, more like a table spoon. She can be like a tea spoon or something. I guess what I’m saying is that I want a bean bag pillow. Or my roommate’s sister.

Ann Tassone - Managing Editor
I want Briana Hansen to leave me alone. Quit stalking me. Quit incessantly buying me gifts. Quit slapping me on the toosh in the middle of campus and saying, “Way to go pooky bear!” I want a restraining order.

Pat Stevenson - Asst. Op/Ed Editor
I want the Pittsburgh Pirates to trade for a power-hitting first baseman. Also, I want people to stop purchasing Gwen Stefani albums. Seriously, stop encouraging her. It’s not nice.

Briana Hansen - Calendar City
I want Ann Tassone. I want her to acknowledge me on campus since I go out of my way to see her. I want her to appreciate my gifts and know she’s my one and only “pooky bear.” I want the restraining order dropped.

Andrew Crago - Design Manager
Dominoes. You may think of dominoes as the boring activity of spelling your name with blocks or a pizza chain, but you are wrong. Well, actually you are right, but it is all that and more! It is also a slow-paced game played by old men in parks, and I love it.

Darren Lacour - Copy Editor
I just want my female co-workers at the Newswire to stop playing so hard to get. I know they all want this, so I don’t understand the point in all this run-around. Sheesh, older women. I mean, I have a sweet goatee; I think I’m man enough.

Alexis Mcconnell - Copy Editor
After spending hours upon hours in the Publications House, I’ve decided that I want a raise, a radio so we don’t have to listen to Yahoo! Music all the time, and a vending machine so I don’t have to walk to Gallagher all the time!

Diana Barran - Copy Editor
I want a boyfriend or just a life-size Ken doll. He can come with me everywhere and I would even pay for his dinner, which wouldn’t be expensive since he watches his figure. Or heck, a life-size cut-out of Grady Sizemore would work as well.

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Do not pass go, do not watch TV

Matt Finger
Op-Ed Editor

I like board games, do you? Candy Land, Mousetrap, Risk; they’re all a lot of fun. I even like Monopoly, except when I’m playing with Time-Warner Cable. You might be asking why that is. Clearly you weren’t trying to watch the Xavier-Creighton game if you are. Time-Warner promised its customers that it would be airing the game, starting at 8 p.m.

They lied. All I found on the channel where basketball should be was a poor compilation of heavy metal songs on a program called “Steele.” This is ironic because that’s exactly what Time-Warner was doing; they were stealing. Irate is really the only word to describe how most Xavier fans in Cincinnati felt, not because we hate heavy metal (even though it’s awful music) but because we were promised our game. I’m not one to judge but…wait, yes I am. Time-Warner lied to its customers. I know that Direct TV doesn’t lie to its customer; Direct TV comes through with their promises. Maybe we should all switch to Direct TV.

But the real question you’re asking is, how is this possible? Well it brings us back to Monopoly, and the seemingly unbreakable one that Time-Warner has on cable television in Cincinnati.

According to their website, Time-Warner provides service in 33 states and has over 13 million customers. That’s a lot of people NOT watching the Xavier-Creighton game. Especially here in Cincinnati, it is hard to find ANY provider of cable television other than Time-Warner, or as I like to call it “Mr. I’m Going to Lie and Steal Your Moneybags.” But that’s all in the past. I suppose I can forgive one game that I didn’t get to see.

I’ll just sit back in my comfy chair, sip on my juice box and watch the Crosstown Shootout…right? Oh, Time-Warner doesn’t have it this year? Well, why not?

Because of another monopoly! Lets face it, team; ESPN rules the sports world. If ever there was a monopoly, this is it.

But here we have the rare instance of two monopolies going head-to-head in a power struggle of epic proportions. ESPN wants Time-Warner to pick up ESPNU as part of the basic cable package. Time-Warner said “No sir.” But ESPN has the license to broadcast the Crosstown Shootout.

As a result the Crosstown Shootout is going to be aired on ESPNU, preventing it from being broadcast in the Cincinnati for the first time since the dinosaurs walked the planet (about 10 years). Neither wants to give, so we lose out.

But the good news is those crazy kids over at the Extreme Fans secret cave headquarters have put together a viewing party for those of us who don’t get ESPNU.

There’s going to be giveaways, food, beer and most importantly Xavier beating UC so badly that they go home and cry and have to change their name from the Bearcats to the My Little Ponies.

But alas, that’s not the point. The point is that we’re being hijacked by gigantic companies with millions of grain silos full of money. Even coach Miller commented that it is a “shame” that there are so many students, fans and alumni in the area who can’t watch the Shootout. A shame! We have been shamed! And that is something normally reserved for Miami Universtiy (OH).

I don’t really have a solution to this bamboozling predicament, unless you want to get Direct TV and just be done with it. But my suggestion is to find a place that does have ESPNU, be it the viewing party, a sports bar or a friend’s and enjoy Xavier basketball without having to pass go and pay $200 for a game you can’t see, all while having to watch those stupid Time-Warner cartoon-advertisements.

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Letter to an Angel: All I want for Christmas...

I’m fairly certain that at some point in everyone’s life, he or she has met someone who just blew them away…in all the best ways.

This person was smart, funny, relaxed, genuine…not to mention ridiculously beautiful or handsome…or so you thought. See, you didn’t actually know this person, at least not as well as you would have liked.

You only had brief encounters with them…fleeting interactions that always left you sort of speechless and wanting more. “Hey” or “What’s up?” were the best conversations you could come up with whenever they came near…and you felt damn proud to get that far.

You saw this person almost every day…and nothing could have made you smile more. The kind of person you went out of your way to catch a glimpse of.

The only real proof you had that angels existed…and you didn’t care how cheesy that sounded. This person actually made you want to relive movies like “You’ve Got Mail,” “Kate and Leopold” or any other “chick-flick” where the guy and the girl end up together.

Unfortunately, you were shy…and for whatever reason, you let them slip through your fingers. And it really was too bad, because you were sure that if they ever got to know you, you’d be inseparable.

Now, older and wiser of course, I’m just asking you to take the time…and the chance….to do something I think we’ve all failed to do on occasion. During this Christmas season…a time of hope and love, and everything good in this world…
Here you go…in case you can’t find the words…in case you can’t find the courage…..

This Christmas…for all the times I’ve seen you and said nothing; for all the furtive glances, stolen whenever possible; for all the wondering and waiting….I just wanted you to know…there’s no place I’d rather be than with you.

And oh yeah……Hi.

Marc Pengal
Class of 2008

Published since 1915 by the students of Xavier University

Study hall or basketball?

Staff Christmas List 2006

Do not pass go, do not watch TV

Letter to an Angel: All I want for Christmas...