Winning your home state: Is it really that important?

About two months ago now, I attended the second and third rounds of the NCAA tournament in Buffalo, New York with my dad and as we watched UConn play St. Joe’s we chatted about college basketball. A hot topic at the time was the then recent firing of Boston College head coach Steve Donahue. One of the criticisms of Donahue, other than his 54-76 record over four years, was his inability to “win his state.” In other words, he wasn’t getting Massachusetts’s prospects to stay in Massachusetts and attend BC. Similarly, UMass Amherst has had trouble landing Massachusetts prospects.

In the past four years Massachusetts has seen players a fair amount of big name players go all across the country to play Division 1 basketball, players such as; Noah Vonleh, Wayne Seldon, Georges Niang, Shabazz Napier, just to name a few. As a current student and an alum of UMass, both of us believe that, as the flagship school of Massachusetts, UMass should be able to get D1 prospects from Massachusetts to “stay home” and attend UMass.

“It’s been our goal, it just hasn’t happened,” said UMass assistant coach Adam Ginsburg, about getting Massachusetts players to come to UMass. “Fortunately we’ve been able to get kids from all over that have been able to be successful here.”

Coincidently, my dad and I were watching Shabazz Napier, a guard from Roxbury, Massachusetts, who eventually led his Huskies to an NCAA championship. St. Joseph’s led for about three quarters of the game and the last nine or so minutes of the game were back and forth before heading into overtime. During the overtime, Napier scored nine of his 24 and looked dominant as he and the Huskies closed out the game. On the cab ride back to our hotel my dad and I talked about how nice it would have been if a school in Massachusetts such as BC or UMass Amherst had gotten Napier to come to their school. So when I got back to school I set out to find out why UMass hasn’t gotten and of the D1 talent that has come out of Massachusetts in the past few years.

When I began working on this project I had my own answers to the question, why hasn’t UMass retained any players from Massachusetts, the first being; “UMass isn’t even going after these players at all, because they don’t think they can compete with more nationally recognized schools when it comes to recruiting.” When I went on ESPN’s RecruitingNation, my theory was supported. I looked at past players such as Vonleh, Niang, Connaughton, Napier, etc. and saw that UMass wasn’t among that players interests or they were but it showed no offer from UMass. I ran with it.

I made a list of players to try to interview and started contacting people. I originally thought I’d be able to talk to Pat Connaughton and Evan Smotrycz however both were too busy, leaving me with no connections to the other big name players such as Vonleh and Napier

I continued down my list and got in contact with Ryan Canty, a center from Danvers, Massachusetts who is currently playing for Fordham. Canty was able to connect me with Jared and Jake Fay, brothers from Lynn, Massachusetts who also play for Fordham. Fordham, like UMass plays in the Atlantic 10 conference, and over the years, UMass has typically been better than Fordham so it seemed weird that these three players would leave the state to play for Fordham when they could stay in Mass. and play in the same conference.

First I interviewed Canty who told me he had two unofficial visits to UMass with his AAU team and “It was number one on my list at one point.” UMass showed interest in Canty, they attended all of his games and called himself and his coaches all the time. I asked him whether head coach Derek Kellogg recruited him or if it was an assistant to which he answered, “(Adam) Ginsburg, an assistant coach.” Then I came up with my second answer to the question, why hasn’t UMass retained any players from Massachusetts?   “Derek Kellogg isn’t doing enough hands-on work to recruit these players,” is what I immediately thought when Canty told me he was recruited by Ginsburg and not Kellogg. So I asked Canty if it would have made a difference if Kellogg had recruited him himself, “Honestly, not really,” he said. “Most times Kellogg was at my games so even though Ginsburg was in contact with me I saw him as the messenger.” However, even with this answer, I still had my suspicions.

Ultimately, Canty cited two reasons for choosing Fordham over UMass, the first being that his parents had sold him on the idea that basketball would end one day and therefore “Education was a huge seller rather than the success of the basketball program.” In his mind, Fordham was one of the best schools academically that was recruiting him. His second reason for choosing Fordham he admitted was that he took too long with his decision and UMass used the scholarship to get another center instead.

Similarly, Ginsburg recruited Jake Fay, but Fay also stated that Kellogg did a lot of the recruiting as well. Fay was offered a scholarship form UMass during his freshman year of high school, but committed to Fordham a few months later. Fay, like Canty, said that the deciding factor when he chose Fordham over UMass other than it being a better fit for him was the fact that his parents were impressed with Fordham’s academics.

On the other hand, Jake’s brother Jared wasn’t offered a scholarship from UMass but they did show interest in him. According to Jared, UMass’ interest in him faded but he said, “It would have been nice playing basketball in state.” He believed UMass had found somebody at his position and that’s why their interest faded.

After talking to the three players from Fordham, I came to the conclusion that mid-level prospects weren’t coming to UMass for two reasons. The first reason I saw was that mid-level prospects knew basketball would probably end for them eventually and valued the education they would receive wherever they went rather than the success of the team they would play for. The other reason was UMass was looking elsewhere for prospects as well as in Massachusetts, and they would sign whoever would commit first. Now I had an idea of a mid-level prospects mindset, but I didn’t know whether UMass was going after top-level recruits and if they were, why didn’t the recruits want to come here?

The only way to find out without talking to the prospects themselves was to talk to somebody familiar with the UMass’ recruiting process. I tried for weeks to get an interview with Derek Kellogg, and when I failed I thought all hope was lost. Then I remembered Adam Ginsburg, the man who was so heavily involved in recruiting Ryan Canty and Jake Fay.

I spoke to Ginsburg over the phone and got an insiders look at recruiting, it’s challenges, and he was able to disprove the answers I came up with about why UMass doesn’t have any players from Massachusetts.

“Anything with recruiting is a relationship driven business,” Ginsburg said. “You try to cultivate past relationships and foster those to try to put yourselves in a position where you can have a bigger pool of people that want to try to help you.”

When you are recruiting a player, you have to develop relationships not only with the player, but with that player’s family and coaches as well because those are the people that will help the prospect decide where he wants to take his talents. This partially explains why UMass has gotten so many players from the south due to Kellogg’s ties to Memphis.

With my suspicions about Kellogg not doing enough during the recruitment process, I had to ask about the breakdown of work during recruitment. According to Ginsburg, there are four coaches, Kellogg and three assistants and all 4 have the ability to evaluate prospects and develop relationships. Who does what varies from case to case. Sometimes Kellogg finds a prospect and will assign an assistant to do the more mundane tasks that recruitment requires but Kellogg himself will still be very hands-on. Other times an assistant will find a prospect and have Kellogg look at him. After learning this, it was clear that Kellogg is doing his part, however I still had no evidence that UMass was going after the top prospects from Massachusetts. Then Ginsburg began telling me stories of when Vonleh, Niang, and Napier came to campus.

Vonleh had been to campus and was even offered a scholarship by UMass, but the Minutemen hadn’t been to the tournament since 1998. This made it hard for the coaching staff at UMass to persuade Vonleh to choose UMass over schools such as Syracuse, UConn, Kansas, Ohio State, or Indiana where he is currently playing.

While describing the challenges of recruiting Ginsburg used Napier and Niang as examples of players he says “We really liked early but didn’t go after them hard enough early.” Ginsburg continued, “Then we started to go after them really hard and a month or two later people that had more success on a national level showed them the same level of interest.”

“We had (him) up here on campus, he came to a game, he loved it,” Ginsburg said about Niang. “Georges was a kid who wanted to go to the highest level he could possibly go.”

Ginsburg described Niang as under recruited and he said that they tried to get him to commit early before other schools came into the conversation. The season prior to them recruiting Niang, the team had a so-so year and Ginsburg speculated that the prospects were thinking, “I really like you guys, but I don’t know if you’re winning enough.” If they had wanted to get Niang, they would have had to start going after him a year earlier. The problem with going after a prospect early is that these kids typically start getting recruited as sophomores in high school.

“It’s also really hard to tell a kid his sophomore year, “You’re good enough, I want you,” because that’s how you make mistakes,” Ginsburg said. “It’s a big challenge.”

If you recruit a player and get them to commit early, there’s always the chance that the player will be a bust. If you recruit the player as a sophomore and they don’t commit early, they could show interest and string you along for a year or so before signing with another school. If this happens, you may miss out on other players.

“Obviously we’d love to get the best players from the state of Massachusetts but if they’re not interested, we need to go find kids from elsewhere who fit our profile,” Ginsburg said.

After speaking to Ginsburg, I know that UMass goes after the top Massachusetts recruits and I know that Kellogg is doing his part during the recruiting process. So then why aren’t Massachusetts’s players going to UMass, and ultimately, is it really even a problem?

The first two reasons why some Massachusetts players don’t come to UMass were answered when Ginsburg told me about the recruitment of Vonleh, Napier, and Niang. Reason number one is that UMass didn’t go after prospects hard enough early enough, because they were fearful of making a mistake or missing out on another player. The second reason is that when UMass went to recruit many of the players from Massachusetts that I mentioned, they were coming off subpar years and hadn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 1998. As if that wasn’t enough, they are usually competing for recruits with nationally recognized schools that have histories of winning and going to the NCAA tournament.

The third reason I found is a website that Ginsburg directed me to called the New England Recruiting Report. This site is owned and operated by Adam Finkelstein and it looks at all the top players in New England. Finkelstein is also a writer for ESPN and covers college basketball recruiting. This means that any player from New England that maybe wouldn’t have received national recognition is now most likely going to receive national recognition.

“History repeats itself,” Ginsburg said. He was referring to the fact that basketball players from Massachusetts have a history of leaving the state to play basketball. This is reason number four. Ginsburg explained his belief that kids from eastern Massachusetts have a perception that UMass is completely different from where they are from. “It’s a long ride (for them), it’s in the country, it’s a totally different atmosphere than the eastern part of the state,” he said. Players see kids before them leave the state and go to schools all over the country and they want to do the same. But that doesn’t mean UMass won’t continue to try to persuade Massachusetts talent to come to UMass.

“We’ll continue to recruit the area, get kids on campus and see what happens, but not feel like we have to get the state of Massachusetts, because that’s not what works at UMass, that’s not what’s historically worked at UMass,” Ginsburg said.

Finally, does it even really matter if Massachusetts’s players come to UMass? Although Ginsburg recognizes the importance of “winning your state,” he would probably say no, it doesn’t really matter. He did not say this to me, however he did emphasize during the interview that you can’t argue with results. Over six years, Kellogg and his staff have a record of 109-86, which gives them a winning percentage of .559. UMass has showed improvement over the past three years winning more than 20 games in each season. This past season the Minutemen made the NCAA tournament as a #6 seed for the first time since 1998.

During the past three years, UMass has proven that they are a stable team, while only having one player from Massachusetts on the roster throughout that span. That player was Andrew McCarthy, a center from Scituate, Mass. who walked on to the team and played sparingly during the 2011 season. When I began this project, I was under the impression that UMass was to blame for not “winning their state.” Now I’m not so sure that it is their fault and similarly, I’m not so sure that “winning your state” is as big of a deal as it’s chalked up to b

I’ve come to realize that it’s hard for a school to recruit prospects in Division 1 basketball when they aren’t a nationally recognized school. Prior to this year, UMass had two solid seasons, but a school isn’t truly recognized by recruits on a national level until they’ve made the tournament which UMass did this year. Will this be enough for UMass to start getting top prospects? Probably not, but it’s a start. Over the past three seasons, UMass has been climbing back to the level of prominence it once had when Marcus Camby roamed the paint.

This year, the Minutemen returned to that level of prominence by making the tournament after winning some nationally televised games against tough non-conference opponents. They also earned recognition on a national level through the play of two seniors on the team. Raphiael Putney appeared on Sports Center’s “Top 10” numerous times this year while Chaz Williams ranked third in the nation with seven assists per game. Williams was also recognized on ESPN numerous times throughout the year as a player to watch for. The Minutemen even made headlines after the season when Derrick Gordon came out and was recognized as the first active, gay D1 athlete.

Since recruiting of top prospects starts so early, UMass may still not have a shot at them for another year or so, and that really depends on their continued success. Another 20 plus win season could solidify their return to prominence, but another so-so season could also send them straight back into obscurity. However with Coach Kellogg at UMass through the 2016 season and nine players returning from last years team, the Minutemen seem poised for another successful season, a season that they hope will keep them on the map and make players instate and elsewhere, want to go play for UMass.

A Preview of 2014-15 Celtics backcourt (From Summer 2014)

Preview of Celtics Backcourt Rotation

On April 17^th, Celtics fans let out a collective sigh of relief. It was finally over. Twenty-five wins and a dismal fifty-seven losses later, the NBA regular season came to an end and C’s fans could sit back, watch the playoffs, and await the highly anticipated 2013-14 offseason. Boston had a potential top 10 pick, the (16^th?) pick and some big name free agents on the market such as; LeBron, Melo, and Kevin Love. We ended up with the sixth overall pick where we selected Marcus Smart, who is essentially a bigger version of Avery Bradley. Many thought this meant the end of either Avery or Rondo, however when the Celtics resigned Bradley to a four year, $32 million contract fans were left scratching their heads. Trade rumors involving Boston’s All-Star point guard, Rajon Rondo, began circulating but none have developed yet. Now with the NBA season rapidly approaching, the big name free agents have all found homes, the Celtics still have Bradley, Smart and Rondo on their current roster, and fans are haunted by the thought of another abysmal season. However, both Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens have been quoted saying they believe the three guards can not only coexist, but can also thrive in the same backcourt. When asked whether Rondo, Smart, and Bradley could black in the same backcourt Ainge replied; “Absolutely. No question. And [Smart] and Avery. No question. He’s a very versatile player. Easily those guys can play together, and I think they would really thrive playing together, all of them” (ESPN). Even Brad Stevens agreed, adding, “I don’t think there’s any doubt. I think [Smart and Rondo] can play together” (ESPN). Ainge has said he envisions a backcourt in which all three guards will rotate between the point guard and shooting guard position, and I assume Thornton and Pressey could see some minutes here and there as well. All three guards are excellent defenders and can wreak havoc when getting out in transition, but they are all sub-par shooters which could be the only problem with this trio. Only time will tell, but I took a deeper look into this trio to try to decide who will show up all season; a three-headed monster or an offensive nightmare?

Rajon Rondo

          I began by looking at the veteran of the group; incumbent point guard, Rajon Rondo. The main concern with Rondo coming into this season is his health. After tearing his ACL in the 2009-2010 season, Rondo was eased back into the lineup last season and averaged 33 minutes per game through only 30 games. Rondo looked rusty at times to say the least, but towards the end of the season Rondo could be seen playing close to 40 minutes in some games while posting numbers similar to his career averages. After being healthy through the entire off season, one would expect Rondo to return to his normal self this season so that’s a plus. Even though Rondo isn’t surrounded by scorers like he once was during the days of KG, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce, he may actually be in a better situation this upcoming season. For the first time in his 8 year career, Rajon has a young team that should look to run at any given opportunity. With the exception of Joel Anthony and Keith bogans, who never play, the Celtics roster has one player, Gerald Wallace, who is over 30. When Rondo began his career with the Celtics, the “Big Three” could still get out in transition and run with Rondo, however towards the end of their four year journey together it looked as though the “Big Three” were holding Rondo back. Coming into this season, Rondo has the keys to the franchise during his contract season, with a good core of young players (Bradley, Smart, Sully, Green, Olynyk, Zeller) to run with him. Unfortunately the Celtics won’t be on National Television a whole lot this year, which usually means less of “National TV Rondo,” however you can expect him to play as if the entire world is watching all season as he tries to prove his worth heading into free agency at the end of the year. Rondo is still a walking triple-double, one of the best passers in the NBA, and he is playing for a new contract; expect BIG things from him this season and if I were a betting man, I’d bet he’s back in Celtics green next season.

Avery Bradley

          Next we look at the presumed starter at the shooting guard position, Avery Bradley, a fourth year combo guard who just inked a four year $32 million extension at the beginning of July. During Rondo’s absence, Bradley took over as point guard and also played at his true position, shooting guard. Bradley is a defensive two guard and a streaky jump shooter at best, although his shooting has improved greatly since he came into the league. He is probably the best shooter out of the three, which isn’t saying much. Last year in an expanded role Avery shot 44% while increasing his shot attempts per game by 4 shots and his points per game by 6 points.

With Rondo back, Bradley will be able to move back to the shooting guard position which is really where he belongs. Both Rondo and Bradley have been plagued with injuries in recent years, however when they are on the court together, they really complement each other well. “I think it can be very good, not just on the offensive end but on the defensive end as well,” Bradley said of his chemistry with Rondo. “We play off each other on defense. When I’m tired of pressuring somebody, pretty soon Rondo is going to be able to pick them up full-court. That’s just how we play” (Boston Globe). Even though Bradley and Rondo’s time together on the floor was limited last season, Stevens was able to see the chemistry between the two;  “It’s something that takes a little bit of time to get the feel of how they play best together, but I do think they can be a heck of a combination. And I do think they really like playing together, so I think it’s really good for them to now get a chance to do it” (Boston Globe). Their chemistry can even be seen when comparing the team’s stats with just Rondo on the court to the stats when they are both on the court. With both players on the court rebound rates climb upwards while turnover rates drop significantly. Similarly, with Bradley on the floor, Rondo’s plus/minus is plus 1 but without him Rondo has a rating of minus 96 according to ESPN’s Chris Forsberg.

Both players have improved their mid-range jump shots, especially when coming off screens, they can handle the ball if necessary, and each of them can lock up their man on defense. However, at times Rondo has a tendency to float around and be a pest on defense, so it is nice to have a lock down guy like Avery up top with him while he freelances. An even more intriguing defensive combo that has yet to be seen would be Smart at the point and Avery at shooting guard. Smart is a bigger and better defender than Rondo, and if Stevens implements a rotation at the guard positions that mainly consists of combinations of Smart, Rondo, and Bradley, this is a tandem we could see a lot of. It’s also a tandem that has the potential to be the best defensive backcourt in the NBA.

Marcus Smart

Finally we look at the newest addition to Boston’s backcourt, Marcus Smart. Smart is a 6’4” 220 pound running ba- I mean point guard, with the ability to play as a shooting guard as well. For the most part he lacks a jump shot; he only shot 42% from the field last year and 30% from behind the arc, but that won’t stop him from shooting. Smart is fearless when attacking the basket and adept at drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line where he shot 72% last season at Oklahoma State. He’s an elite defender and he was able to showcase his defensive abilities against some of the best guards in the league during Team USA practices this summer. This means you won’t lose any defensive intensity if he subs in for Avery and you actually gain defensive intensity if he comes in for Rondo. The only question will be, how successful will he be as the floor general when Rondo is not on the court. Smart is a Lance Stephenson-like player in the sense that he is a “stat line stuffer,” he’ll scrap for boards, he’ll get steals and blocks on the defensive end, and he will pass the ball and make plays on offense. Aside from his game on the court, Smart brings an NBA ready body and a passion for the game that can’t be taught. Smart is a competitor to the highest degree, and he will do anything within his power to get a win.

Conclusion

Like Danny, I envision Rondo and Bradley starting with Smart coming off the bench as a sixth man. As the season goes on I believe Smart, Rondo, and Bradley will all get somewhere around 25-32 minutes per game apiece. Preferably Smart would sub out Avery, then after some time Avery would come in for Rondo, and so on. If this is the case, I see Boston having one of the best backcourts in the NBA. They won’t rank amongst the top offensively; however it’s going to be very difficult for opposing guards to score, even without a true rim protector in the paint behind them. If these guys can create turnovers and get out in transition, watch out because they will be tough to stop.

The Rest

Outside of these three players, the Celtics have some question marks at the guard positions. Newly acquired Marcus Thornton should see some minutes as a shooting guard due to the fact that he is the only guard on the Celtics roster that can actually shoot. This is assuming he stays with the team past the trade deadline, which with “Trader Danny” as your GM is never a guarantee. Ainge says he believes there will be some time for Phil Pressey to get into the game, but I don’t see where those minutes come from. With a log jam at the small forward position as well, I’m interested to see where Evan Turner and James Young are used. I was actually very happy when the Celtics selected Young, unfortunately I just don’t see where he fits this year. As a small forward, Young would be on the smaller side defensively; however I think he could hold his own on offense. In my opinion he’s really better suited as a scoring two guard, but with Avery, Smart, and Thornton ahead of him it will be tough to find minutes there. Young is only 18 so it wouldn’t kill him to spend a season on the bench learning from the guys ahead of him, but if Wallace, Green, or Thornton are moved before the trade deadline, I assume Young would play.

 

Sources

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/11156645/restricted-free-agent-avery-bradley-wants-remain-boston-celtics?ex_cid=espnapi_public

http://espn.go.com/boston/nba/story/_/id/10640732/boston-celtics-fans-need-see-more-rajon-rondo-avery-bradley-together

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/tag/_/name/avery-bradley

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2014/02/03/avery-bradley-and-rajon-rondo-quite-backcourt-combo-celtics-win/sHNPGCDTNDsFvU4tkjTOmJ/story.html

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4713558/cs-confident-smart-rondo-can-coexist

 

A Brief History of Tensions in Amherst

Amherst, a small, rural town in Western Massachusetts hosts a wide spectrum of residents.  There are those who live here year round and have lived here for generations and then there are college students.  Some attend graduate school at one of the three colleges, UMass Amherst, Amherst College, or Hampshire College, that call Amherst home.  However most are between the ages of 18 and 22 and are undergraduates, many away from home without supervision for the first time.  In this sort of setting it is easy to see how tensions could run high.

Although many of the tensions that are experienced in Amherst are forced by students actions on the weekends, many of the tensions are completely understandable and natural.

One example of a natural tension is simply the differences of lifestyles between students and town residents.  Many, but not all, undergraduate students come into college ready to let loose and go wild.  However this isn’t exactly the case for residents, many of whom choose to reside in Amherst due to the fact that i is a relatively quiet and quaint town.  Although these differences in lifestyles don’t always clash, there are numerous neighborhoods in Amherst that are affected by student housing.  Town residents that live near Fearing street or anywhere between Southwest Residential Area and the bars in downtown Amherst can see heavy foot-traffic in their neighborhoods on any given night, however Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights are the most obvious choices.  These residents can fall victim to vandalism, loud and rowdy behavior, and they may find the occasional college student urinating on their lawn.

As stated in the opening paragraph, many college students are experiencing their first time on their own without any adult supervision.  Sure there are RA’s and peer advisors, but nobody is going to hold your hand when while you drunkenly stumble through the neighborhoods surrounding Southwest in search of a party.  Although this is probably expected by residents, especially those who have been in Amherst for generations, there is a line that is crossed all too often and it causes quality of life issues for many citizens in Amherst.

Another natural cause of tensions is the age gap between students and residents.  Plain and simple, the two groups are at drastically different points in their lives.  Tuesday and Wednesday nights are big bar nights for students that can legally drink, however Wednesday and Thursday are normal work days for residents.  This means theres the chance that a resident could get woken up at two in the morning after hearing a fight, a smashed bottle, or simply drunk students talking loudly.  In these cases the behavior of the students isn’t malicious, however that doesn’t help the poor guy who lost a few hours of sleep and has to be up early for work.

These sorts of tensions are the ones that the new Student-Town Advisory Board plans to address, due to the fact that most of these issues can be resolved through communicating with one another.

On the other hand, there are many tensions where the blame can be placed completely on college students.

An obvious example of this is Blarney Blowout; UMass’ annual St. Patrick’s Day party.  A few years ago, this event was actually promoted by the bars’ however last year, the bars were forced to close for the day by town and school officials and all hell broke loose.  With no set place to go, students roamed the streets of Amherst, hoping to get a taste of Blarney.  Students started in the Brandywine and Townhouse off-campus apartment complexes but were quickly rooted out by Police officers.  This caused hundreds of students, to walk back down North Pleasant towards campus.  Students overflowed off of the sidewalks into the streets making it difficult for everyday traffic to go to and from campus.  The herd of students eventually made it to a house on the corner of North Pleasant and Fearing St. where the police and students held their final skirmish.  The day was a disaster that ended in over 70 arrests, a vast majority of which were students visiting from other colleges.  This year however, police and school officials did a better job at containing the chaos.

Some other examples that hit home a bit harder for Amherst residents are the vandalism of Puffer’s Pond and the Emily Dickinson homestead.

“There was an incident maybe two or three years ago where everyone flocked to Puffer’s Pond, took over the beach on a Sunday afternoon, and they left this huge mess,” said longtime Amherst resident Larry Kelley.  “That pissed off a lot of people because Puffer’s Pond is like the crown jewel of the Amherst conservation department.”

“Occasionally kids will get arrested for publicly urinating on Emily Dickinson’s fence and Emily Dickinson is a revered icon of Amherst, so you don’t show disrespect to the Dickinson homestead,” Kelley said.  “And you can just excuse it and say “Oh, he was drunk,” but we (Amherst residents) don’t like that excuse.”

For Amherst residents, these are landmarks and part of the town’s history.  It’s one thing to party and be rowdy, however to the residents here messing with their landmarks and the things that make Amherst, Amherst, is taking it too far.

Scott Livingstone, chief of police for the Amherst police department, has been in Amherst for 30 years and has seen his fair share of tension-causing events.

The first event dates back to 1986 when the Mets and Red Sox squared off in the World Series.

“The year that the Red Sox and Mets played in the World Series was really troublesome down in Southwest where there were riots and a lot of injuries and a lot of damage done,” Livingstone said.  “It kind of got the ball rolling on the riot mentality and it found it’s way off campus.”

Although he said this particular riot sort of started the “riot mentality,” he cited Hobart Lane in the early 2000’s as a low point for student’s behavior.

“I hate to characterize parties as riots but these were full out riots,” Livingstone said. “There was a lot of vandalism, a lot of arrests, intoxication, a lot of fisticuffs, fighting, stabbings, we had it all and it had really gotten out of hand.”

Since those days, both Livingstone and Kelley have said that the relationship between the town and the students has gotten better and still is getting better.  Livingstone stated that to date there have been less complaints filed, less arrests and less citations written.  Kelley cited this years handling of the Blarney Blowout as a step in the right direction, but both men hope this relationship continues to grow and improve and the new Student-Town Advisory Board was created to do just that.

“Serial”

“Serial,” an award winning podcast series, that explored the 1999 murder of Min Lee in Baltimore, Maryland.  Sarah Koenig is the narrator for the series and is the only voice or viewpoint that the listener connects with throughout the series.  This fact alone leads me to believe that “Serial,” isn’t the best form of journalism.

That being said, it is still journalism thanks to the immense amount research and reporting done by Koenig and her team.  The story is chilling and intense and it does a good job at keeping the listener on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what happens next.  In terms of being entertaining, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

The main issue is that the listener hears the entire story from Koenig’s point of view.  When discussed in class, Koenig was described as “biased” by some and I tend to agree.  By being the only speaker, Koenig has total control over how she describes the characters and her interactions with them.  Think about it, something as simple as a description can turn the listener against a character or make them think a character is innocent.  If Koenig describes somebodies face or facial expression as dark, you instantly think less of that person.  And I’m not trying to say Koenig purposefully leads her listeners towards her bias’, but I think it’s extremely hard to be that close to a situation and remain unbiased.  She had to have developed opinions about characters such as Adnan Syed or Jay Wilds and I think it was visible at times.  When you’re the only voice and there are no pictures or videos of characters, it’s hard for the listener to think anything other than what they are told.  In “Serial,” Koenig’s word is law.

Another issue, although understandable, is the fact that there are no visuals.  The main problem with this is that it may cause some listeners to lose focus or become confused because each episode is filled to the brim with information.  Even if you miss one, minuscule detail, it can be hard to comprehend exactly whats going on.

Pictures of characters or videos of interviews with them would allow the viewer to make their own judgments and assumptions of that person and facial expressions and raw emotions are very powerful tools in multimedia journalism.

Another far-fetched solution for the lack of visuals would be to turn it into a television show rather than a podcast.  I believe the series would be much more effective as a television show.  Koenig could still host and narrate the show, however scenes she describes could be reenacted.  Crime scenes could be reinvented, with every minor detail and piece of evidence exactly how the police report described.  All in all I think it would be easier to explain each scene and scenario with visuals.  I often found myself rewinding to catch things I missed due to the fact that it is very easy to get distracted when you’re simply listening to something.

The Ethical Implications of SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is the process search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. use to control the visibility of a website or page in “natural” search results.

I personally do not agree with this method and think it needs to be changed.

In the case of the mosque that was built near the ground-zero site, false reporting was located at the top of search results because the articles that made it seem like the mosque was located on ground-zero were more appealing.  To me this is a major ethical problem that affects everybody, not simply journalists.

Too many people in today’s society take everything they read on the internet as the truth.  It is inconceivable to many that somebody out there is getting a kick out of the fact that you believed their lie.

Unfortunately, there are those that would lie or blur the lines between truth and lies to gain more publicity.  If anything, SEO should be used to weed out the false articles and bump the good reporting to the top.  The way SEO works now is simply making the public dumber by putting bogus articles at the top of search results, because they fit a set of rules and sound more appealing.

If people keep reading stories or articles that use dishonest reporting and then try to correct their mistakes late, they’ll condemn journalism as a whole.  It’s a classic case of a few ruining a good thing for the many.

Obviously the internet is a relatively easy thing to navigate through and if you really want to find an article or story, chances are, you can even if it’s buried under articles that contain falsehoods.  But the point is, it shouldn’t be like that in the first place.  Authors that practice dishonest reporting shouldn’t be rewarded by being placed at the top of result queues.  The top should be reserved for articles that sacrifice the truth for nothing.

The Future of Journalism

As a child I looked forward to joining my father at the breakfast table.  We had a routine and it was pretty simple.  He would get my breakfast for me while we watched Sports Center and I would scan through the basketball or baseball box scores to see how my favorite players were doing, who had a big night, and who put up a stinker.

Those days are long gone, along with the popularity newspapers once held in society.  People all over the world used to wait for the 5 o’clock news to come on to get their news or they would stop at a news stand to get a paper on the way to work.  Now, everything and anything you could possibly need to know is available to you at the click of a button.

With today’s new developments in technology and with the recent outburst in social media platforms, news can be obtained on the go using your smartphone or tablet.  Social media outlets such as twitter or Facebook are continuously becoming more popular when it comes to sharing news.  Twitter can turn any regular Joe-shmo into a “citizen journalist” and gives them the opportunity to live tweet events or share a breaking news story that they happened to witness.  Facebook connects millions of people who all post, repost and share articles, breaking news, videos etc. with each other, which helps spread news more quickly.

Newspapers have one foot in the grave and sure magazines are alright, but subscriptions can be viewed on your phone as well as on a computer thanks to their websites.  Words on paper are a thing of the past thanks to technology.

In my opinion, the future of journalism is bright. When it comes to technology, the sky is the limit, and technological advances have been tremendous for journalism as a whole, thus far. Modern day technology and social media outlets have made it near impossible to not stay somewhat informed in today’s society.

A Shift to the Path Less Traveled

A year or two ago, there were times when you’d see cars pull right up to the Campus Center or weave through the roads near the Cage and Bartlett Hall to get to and from a crowded basketball game.  As recent as five years ago, there was a 300-car parking lot next to the Recreation Center that could be used to easily access the center of campus, however times have changed.

“They’re (campus planners) trying to make it safer to walk around campus,” said Rob Hendry, the Commuter Options Program Coordinator. “You should be able to walk around without worrying that there’s a car in back of you in the center of campus.”

If you have a car you could drive to campus, however, you risk potential consequences such as circling lots for upwards of 10 minutes, and exhaustion after trekking from a parking lot to class.  Another option would be to use the PVTA buses that run through campus regularly; but they can run late and crowd easily.  The only other options are to walk or ride a bike, two options that Rob Hendry believes campus planners like the best.

“Part of the shift to having parking spaces on the peripheral of campus, on the outskirts of it,” Hendry said, “has been a concerted effort to make it a more pedestrian oriented campus, like in the core.”

When Hendry says “the core” he is referencing the area of campus surrounding the library and the student center. Why shouldn’t this area of campus be pedestrian oriented?  After all, campus planners have been working hard over the past few years to make that area more modern with the addition of the Integrative Learning Center and its courtyard located between the ILC and the Student Union. In addition to buildings such as the Chapel and natural beauties such as the pond and rare trees belonging to “the Waugh Arboretum“–a collection of trees on UMass’ campus named after legendary Landscape Architect, Frank Waugh–there are plenty of sights to take in while walking through campus.

Senior Psychology major, Ryan Imbriaco enjoys taking in the campus on his walks to class. “Sometimes when it’s raining or just freezing outside, it can be a real pain to walk to class,” he said.  “But most of the time it’s nice admiring the surrounding area and getting some fresh air.  Plus it’s a good way to exercise during the day and it’s better for the environment (than driving), so everybody wins.”

Clare Leathersich, a senior Journalism and Communications double major echoed Imbriaco’s thoughts. “I enjoy walking to class to get a sense of the day,” she said.  “I  feel like if you take the bus, sit in class all day, go to the gym then go home you’re never outside and get no fresh air.” “Taking the extra 15 minutes it takes to be moving instead of standing, waiting for the bus gets you outside for a while.”

The alternative to walking is biking. However, even bikes require parking spots.

“Bike parking is just like car parking,” Hendry said. “The demand changes.”

Hendry talked about the shift from movable bike racks, to “bike ribbons” that need to be cemented into the ground, making it a little more complex to choose where new racks should go.  Hendry also mentioned the increase in bikers during his 10-year tenure at UMass.  As the campus constantly expands, bikes are becoming a more and more popular option among students for a multitude of reasons.

“Well for one I never have to wait for my bike, it’s always there when I need it,” said Nolan Burns, a Sophomore Plant, Soil & Insect Sciences major.  “It’s faster than walking and I hate trying to cram on to a crowded bus.”

While some may think maneuvering on a bike would be difficult when large crowds are walking to and from class, Burns disagreed.

“I wouldn’t say it’s hard to move through crowds,” Burns said.  “People are usually pretty good about getting out of your way if you’re on a bike.”

Hendry and his team are worried about those who aren’t as good at getting out of the way and have discussed a bike lane from Whitmore to the library. However, the project is in the works due to safety concerns.

UMass Amherst Prepares for Blarney Blowout

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is offering its students a free “Bring the Spring!” concert at the Mullins Center on Saturday featuring star artists Kesha, Juicy J, and Ludacris.

The initiative is aimed at providing students an alternative ‘party’ venue to the popular Townehouses and Puffton Village locations which regularly gather mass crowds– non-coincidentally the sites for the majority of last year’s 73 arrests. 

Condensing the student population into a secure, controlled environment might be the right trick to avoid a repeat of last spring’s chaotic scene.

“Will people go? Yeah,” said Trinava Roy, a senior biology major. “A lot of people don’t want to get in trouble with the impending security increased throughout the campus.”

“I guess that it could result in a safer Blarney,” he added. “Just based on the control the administration would have.”

The idea of a free student concert is only as strong as the featured talent.

Picking ponies instead of horses, popularity-wise, would do no good–students always look for the best of the best.

This Saturday’s lineup? UMass officials hit a home run.

The duo of established rappers Ludacris and Juicy J, along with pop sensation, Ke$ha, provide for a more than talented team capable of entertaining a wide range of student musical interests.

Patrick Reyes, a junior sociology major, is fully on-board.

“I think the artist lineup is strong enough to draw attention from all types of students,” Reyes said. “Personally, I’m excited. I listen to those guys all the time.”

Those words should be music to the ears of administrators.

When the university hears that students are openly excited about campus-run events, they know they’ve done something right.

A safer and more-controlled Blarney is a win-win for the state’s flagship university.

Restrictions have been a major priority. Non-Umass guests are banned from the campus from March 5 to March 9. A parking ban from March 6 to March 8 denies non-UMass parking permit holders to park on any campus lot. Six of downtown Amherst’s student-popular bars will open at a delayed 4 p.m..

Some people, like Roy, may be opposed to the 12 p.m. start of the concert. He believes that there will be ample time post-concert for students to possibly migrate to the traditional party venues.

“I do think that the concert should be at night,” Roy said. “It allows students to celebrate throughout the day and end it safely at night under university supervision.

“It gives people an incentive to stop celebrating earlier than usual.”

Reyes is fine with the afternoon start. He points to last year’s mess which started around mid-day.

“Start the concert early,” Reyes said. “The upperclassman can go to the bars when they open and maybe tire out by night.”

Of course, the real answer to whether the student concert will pay major dividends will be answered Saturday.

“People will want to get together and celebrate a national holiday (St. Patrick’s Day) no matter where they are,” Reyes said.

“The concert might be enough.”

Ian Keilty

The Sky Cowboys

Courtesy: NY Times

The New York Times does an amazing job using still photographs, natural sound, and a group of ironworkers to give an inside look at the rebuilding of 1 World Trade Center.

The slide show starts off a bit jumbled.  You first hear a hammer clanking and a man sort of sing “Connect that iron in the air” and I wasn’t too sure where the video would go from that point. Pamela Chen, the woman responsible for the interviews and sound design, then does a good job reeling the viewer in by having a man simply say, “Ironworkers.”  That man’s voice is quickly followed by a few other men saying something along the lines of, their changing the skyline.  Chen does a good job mashing together similar responses from multiple voices, this shows many of the ironworkers think the same way.

In the background between the questions (which are not actually heard by the viewer) being answered, Chen adds natural sounds such as hammers, saws, metal clanging together, groans, grunts, sighs, laughter, and random side comments to make the viewer feel like he or she is actually there with the ironworkers.  The sounds made by tools, metal, etc. were effective because it gives the viewer a sense of what these ironworkers hear on a day to day basis, while they watch pictures of them working appear and disappear on their screens.

The sounds the men made while they weren’t answering questions was even more effective.  Sounds such as laughter, sighs, the random side comments regarding their work and jokes such as “I smell like a hockey bag right now,” give the viewer a better sense of who these guys are.  They add character to these men that we only see in pictures.  While the pictures appear we as viewers can try to match the voices and personalities with the black and white photos. The grunts, groans, and comments like “Ughhh why is it so hot,” give the viewers a sense of just how hard their work is.  Looking at the pictures you can’t tell how heavy something is, so hearing one of the men groan/grunt, we can imagine that they are probably lifting something heavy or doing something that requires a great amount of strength.

At times I found myself wanted the slideshow to be a video so I could see who was saying what, however doing the slideshow was much more artistic and complex.

The black and white pictures fit perfectly with the job that was being described and the sounds that were heard.  Had the pictures been in normal color, there would have been vibrant colors and large patches of bright blue skies and that may have taken away from the rugged, manly vibes that were portrayed through the sounds and the characters involved.

A “Middle-Class Must” Turned to Scraps and Dust

In a package from July 29, 2012, Daniel Wakin and Jamie Williams of the New York Times, used a video and written piece to look at the harsh realities faced by many pianos over the past few years.

Wakin’s written piece revealed that old, wooden, grandiose pianos are becoming a thing of the past for multiple reasons.  For starters, they are hard and expensive to maintain.  According to his article, “pianos are expensive to repair, requiring long hours of labor by skilled technicians whose numbers are diminishing.” Pianos have also suffered from the technological boom that has occurred over the last decade or so.  New electronic keyboards are smaller, more portable, and can mimic the sounds of many different pianos while also offering other sound effects.

Both the video and written piece use Bryan O’Mara and his company, O’Mara Meehan Piano Movers, as main characters.  O’Mara talks in the video about the fact that pianos are simply not a heavily sought after item anymore. Schools and nursing homes don’t have the funding or space to take them on even when O’Mara try to give them away for free.  When O’Mara can’t find a home for them, they get a one way ticket to the landfill.

This package is very well put together and very effective, in my opinion.  The written portion of the package gives a lot of statistical information about piano sales, both electronic and wooden, and the “golden age of piano making”.  It also brings in numerous sources, such as Martha Taylor and Brian Goodwin while the video only uses Bryan O’Mara’s point of view.

I thought the video was even more effective than the written piece, however they complimented each other well and each picked up the slack where the other was lacking.

The video used a lot of different camera angles to get it’s point across.  There was a good mix of voice overs and shots of Bryan O’Mara actually speaking to the camera.  Throughout the video you sort of got a sense of what O’Mara’s day was like.  A portion of the interview is done while O’Mara is driving the truck, then it switches to voiceover as we watch O’Mara hurl a piano off the back of his truck in the warehouse.  The only portion of his day we missed was when he takes the piano from it’s home to the truck, which may have been a cool scene.

In terms of sounds, I thought the video was incredible.  The raw, natural sounds of the pianos smashing against the floor or being crunched by the construction vehicle are something that you wouldn’t be able to imagine.  It was very effective to actually be able to hear and see the pianos being destroyed.  I also liked the fact that Jamie Williams chose to use piano music in the background through most of the video, just to give a subtle reminder of the beautiful music that these pianos could make before meeting their fate in O’Mara’s warehouse.