The Student Voice

Whether you’ve got a whole house or just a dorm room to offer to your friends, it only takes a little thought and preparation to be a great host. 

Make Room
Before your guest arrives, clear out a space for your guest to put their bags and unpack.  If they are planning to stay for an extended time, consider clearing out a drawer or making space in your closet for their clothing.  If you’re lucky enough to have a guest room to offer, make sure it’s clear from the clutter that usually accumulates in an extra room. 

Clean Up
If you don’t clean your room or house on a regular basis, tidy up a little before your guest arrives.  At the very least, change the sheets in the bed your guest will sleep in.  From there, judge the cleanliness of your space and vacuum or Febreeze as necessary. 

Stock Your Shelves
Be ready to accommodate your guest’s needs – dietary or otherwise.  It’s always a good idea to ask them for food preferences if you plan on feeding them.  If your guest is vegetarian or vegan, double check which animal products, if any, they eat.  For example, some vegetarians will eat eggs and fish, others will not, so check before you prepare a quiche or salmon for dinner. 

In the bathroom, have extra towels clean in case your guest wants to shower.  It’s also good to have some extra toiletries on hand in case your guest forgets a toothbrush or contact case. 

Create a Plan
With out-of-town guests who want to explore, be prepared with a few activities or places to visit.  They might come with an idea of what they want to see, but in case they don’t, you want to have something fun to recommend.  Having a few suggestions is especially considerate if you have class or work, so that your guest doesn’t sit at home with no idea of what to do. 

Take Your Own Time
No matter how long your guest is staying, make sure to take some time for yourself too.  They might be your best friend or a relative you haven’t seen in a while, but after an extended period of time together, you’ll probably need a break.  Suggest an activity they can do alone for a few hours, or excuse yourself for a nap.  Once you recharge, you’ll feel refreshed and ready to resume your hosting duties.


-Leland Strott

March Madness is great. College basketball grabs the attention of the nation, sucks us in, and ultimately crushes us. We drink. We sit on the couch transfixed on the TV when we should be writing the 11-page paper that is due tomorrow. We eat too many chips. We don’t call our girlfriends. The only people we talk to on the phone are friends at other colleges once their team loses – to rub it in. We see too many beer commercials. We Drink. And we watch as our brackets are busted and our favorite players play their last games before leaving for the NBA or to never be heard from again. The Top 5 “Sadness During Madness this year are: 


5. Blake Griffin’s last games?
Griffin likely will be teaming with Kevin Durant in Oklahoma next year. Though he is young enough, Durant is not going back to college. Griffin is NBA-bound. He will be a very good NBA player, but will not have dominating entertaining LeBron-like performances like he has in college. 


4. SU’s draw in the brackets
It’s great that we got a three seed. It’s not great that we’re in the same bracket as Oklahoma and North Carolina. Aren’t we much closer geographically to UConn and Memphis? Why couldn’t we be in a bracket with those two as the top two seeds? We can beat those teams. Maybe I’m going out on a little limb, but I picked Oklahoma to win the whole tournament, meaning SU loses in the Sweet Sixteen. 

3. Johnny Flynn’s last games?
We won’t know whether Flynn will leave school early for the NBA until well after the tournament is over. But it is likely that he will.

My plea: Johnny, if you come back and Paul Harris and Devendorf do too we can contend for a National Championship next year. If everyone comes back we will only lose Waffles from the rotation. We will add some good recruits and we easily be a top 10 team in the country and maybe even number one. 

2. Early hope
After the first night of play my bracket looked great. I had 15 of the first 16 games picked correctly. I got Western Kentucky and Maryland. The only one I got wrong was picking VCU to upset UCLA. 

1. Reality
Some lucky bastard wins your bracket pool. But even this guy is probably the square who picked a number one seed to win the tournament and doesn’t even have a great percentage right in the first round. By the time I went out to drink and party away mad bad bracket, my upset teams of West Virginia – who I had all the way in the Elite Eight – and Utah State – who I had going to the Sweet Sixteen – had lost as well as Tennessee and Utah – who I also had in the Sweet Sixteen. It got worse from there, but I don’t want to talk about it. 

-Andrew Sagarin

I've never really considered the importance of consonants before coming to South America.  "Tomar" and "tocar," for instance. Almost the same word, to a foreign ear, but one should really keep in mind the difference between drinking and touching something. And let's not forget about those vowels. Only seven of them, but damn, how they really affect the significance of a word. Once I attempted to tell my Ecuadorian friend that I had just tried cui, a regional delicacy of roasted guinea pig. But I guess my cui sounded a little more like cuyo, and I wouldn't suggest telling a friend you just ate asshole when, in fact, you really did no such thing.

For this reason, I would add "a sense of humor" to the "What to Bring" list of any foreign exchange student. In addition to a Spanish dictionary, hand sanitizer ("gringo gel"), and a strong stomach, the ability to laugh at yourself is really going to come in handy. For those perfectionists who love doing everything right on the first try, prepare yourself. You too will make the mistake of adding an "o" or "a" to the end of an English word, only to find out that playing música de foca does not actually mean "folk music," but rather, the music of seals. And no, the Uruguayan I tried to pick up that night did not find my aquatic talent the least bit impressive. You will answer si to questions that require neither a yes or no, when merely your name or favorite food would've sufficed. But at least that's not as bad as answering si when you REALLY should've said no. I almost got myself a 35-year oldnovio with that one.

But these are the best mistakes I've ever made. A foreign country is the best place to make a fool of yourself, because in six months, any mistake, regret, or disappointment just fades into the collective oblivion. It's liberating, sometimes, to know that you won't be remembered. Like being home alone, when you're completely free to raid kitchen cabinets, walk around naked, talk to potted plants. I'm not condoning "experimentation" (or talking to potted plants, that's just weird) but push your limits. Try something new. Take a chance. I've embarrassed myself, offended the local culture, made people laugh for the wrong reason, but have learned from every single mistake. Everyday, the foreign becomes a little more familiar. I feel a little more understood, a little more understanding. But if a local were to ask me how to summarize my experience in South America thus far, my answer would still be si. And it wouldn't be so far from the truth.

Chilean slang of the week:

Fomingo: A play on words between fome ("boring") and domingo ("Sunday"). Because Sundays pretty much suck in Santiago.
Huevón: It's the word I hear most and understand least. I'm convinced it's the sound of a period because you'll hear it at the end of every sentence, huevon. You can call friends huevones, you can call jerks huevones, it's an adjective, it's a verb, it's a plane... it means absolutely nothing.
Hachazo: Hungover. Which makes sense, considering hacha means "axe." Gruesome.


-Christina Lacy

Must See this Weekend:
Boy Gets Girl: A contemporary thriller about love and obsession


See this award winning play about a magazine journalist who goes on a blind date, only to find that the seemingly harmless man is an obsessive stalker. Variety calls this play "a suspenseful tale about the unraveling of a woman's sense of security in the urban jungle. It certainly will touch a tender nerve with anybody who's ever squirmed through a creepy blind date." The play covers themes of romance, relationships, sexism, and stalkers. The cast of SU drama students is incredibly talented.

Performances this weekend:
Friday, 3/20/09 8:00pm
Saturday, 3/21/09 8:00pm
Sunday, 2/22/09 2:00pm

An evening of New One Acts
Support student directed and student cast one-act plays. These bold, original plays, written by Chris Galaver, won several awards at the Pittsburgh New Play Festival (and only 75 minutes long!). The shows are located in Crouse-Hinds Auditorium 010.

Friday 3/20/09 7:30pm
Saturday 3/21/09 7:30pm
Sunday 3/22/09 7:30pm

Otto's Army 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament
Help Otto's army raise money for Relay for Life (a fundraising event, next weekend, that raises money for the American Cancer Society) by signing up to play 3 on 3 basketball
It cost $5 per person (and therefore $15 per team.) E-mail [email protected] if you are interested. The tournament winner will receive a prize! Located at the Archbold Gym.

Saturday 3/21/09 11:00am - 2:00pm

Keep your eyes open for: GRILLED CHEESE TO FIGHT THE DISEASE!!

In order to raise money for Relay for Life, Habitat for Humanity and other volunteers will be selling delicious homemade grilled cheese sandwiches on Euclid, Ostrom, Walnut, Marshall, and Comstock. You can get a burrito from Kimmel after any night out, so how about something different to support a good cause this weekend?

Grilled Cheeses will be sold:
Friday 3/20/09 11:30pm- 2:30am
Saturday 3/21/09 11:30pm - 2:30am

Breakfast for Relay
Feeling Hungry Sunday morning and still want to donate more money to Relay for Life?
Join brothers of the Alpha Phi Omega, co-ed service fraternity in the Walnut Hall Kitchen for customized omlettes,

Sunday, 3/22/09 11:00am - 2:00pm


-Amelia Bienstock

Today I’m watching Don Dohler’s The Galaxy Invader from 1985, which the video box claims to be “Science Fiction Gold,” and is pretty much guaranteed not to be. The fullest synopsis I could find is the following: 

“When an alien is forced to crash-land his spaceship on the Earth’s surface, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by a bunch of drunken rednecks.”  

It was a tough call to watch this one, honestly, when I had such a large selection of movies promising “beautiful women,” “a clan of beautiful women,” “a stone-age beauty,” “wild women,” and “lost women,” and all this has to offer is drunken rednecks and one alien. Nevertheless, it promises to be brain-stompingly stupid. 

00:01: Cue ‘80s synth score during opening credits. 

01:00: A car is driving through the desert when a cartoon meteor-like object flies across the sky and strikes the ground. 

02:00: We’ve got the alien’s perspective as it walks through the forest after crash landing. 

02:30: A redneck that saw the hand-drawn meteor/UFO is calling another redneck who apparently is a redneck expert in these matters and also a horrible actor. It’s hard to tell, but no one appears to be drunken yet. 

The expert is heading out to the site. 

04:00: Alien-POV in some redneck house. Redneck husband gets a knife to protect his wife, enters basement. 80’s synth chords make it tense. 

05:00: We keep getting POV’s but I’m not sure whose. Alien? Redneck? Knife? I don’t know. 

7:00: Alien pops out! Synth chords go crazy! He kills both redneck and his wife, meanders out of house. 

7:30: Cut to redneck dinner. Rednecks arguing about coffee and the social life of the daughter. Father is definitely drunken, and slaps the daughter when she points it out.  

Father chases daughter with a shotgun, wears torn white t-shirt. Now things get all Shining as Dad hunts the girl through the woods for way too long. He stumbles to accentuate his drunkenness, and — op, there’s the alien. Just standing there. 

Dad shoots the alien and it runs away, leaves some kind of pulsing egg. The rednecks (Dad and son, JJ) are far too casual about this very close encounter.  

10:00: We learn that this is the fourth time the father has chased the girl with a gun; her boyfriend is mildly perturbed by this. 

13:00: Redneck UFO expert shows up, talks to kid that saw the crash. These two don’t seem prone to drunkenness. 

16:00: My attention wanders for a moment, but a car just pulled up to redneck house and a couple got out. Not sure what their deal is. I think the girl is supposed to be an east-coast city gal, but her accent is horrible. They’re there to check out the egg thing. 

They claim it has a button and does something incredible, but you can’t be near it when it’s on. So they poke it with a stick. Turns out it’s a smoke bomb, or something. 

18:00: Drunken rednecks begin to hatch a plot to catch the alien in order to make money off of it. City girl, Vicky, is hesitant, but easily swayed by the prospect of money, like all city girls. 

20:00: JJ has the egg thing and — there’s the alien again. It attacks him and takes the egg.  

21:00: Bar scene. Everyone gawks at Vicky. Rednecks wax hillbilly and practice wearing trucker hats. Guy with Vicky recruits them all to hunt the alien. Drunken father still hasn’t changed out of his torn white t-shirt, and chances are he won’t. 

24:00: Cut to drunken father running around hilariously for no apparent reason, looking confused. The children express for the third or fourth time how much they hate their father. 

Father yells at JJ for losing the egg, seems to be unsure of whether the camera is rolling or not. 

25:00: Remember when I said Santa Claus Conquers the Martians may be the worst movie ever? God, was I wrong. 

27:00: The rednecks gather at night, drunken, to hunt the alien.  

27:30: I lose interest and wander to the kitchen to talk with my roomate about the tiramisu coffee creamer she just bought. I’m skeptical. French vanilla is about as crazy as I like to get with my coffee creamers. 

30:00: I come back and haven’t missed much. Kid and UFO expert are in the bar, and so is Vicky, who doesn’t seem to be wearing pants. She’s flappin’ her mouth about the alien-hunt and UFO expert is interested; I’m not. She tells them about it and they head out. I get some cold pizza.  

Sometimes the camera doesn’t even have the characters fully in frame. It’s like this movie was actually made by drunken rednecks. Or aliens. Let’s see what else Don Dohler has made, because that’s sure to be more interesting than this movie: 

The Alien Factor
Fiend
Nightbeast
Blood Massacre
Alien Factor 2: The Alien Rampage
Dead Hunt 

40:00: Now there’s a shoot-out with the alien and the rednecks, who are hootin’ and hollerin’; also drunken. 

But ya know what would be more fun? Trying to make porn titles out of Don Dohler’s movies: 

The Alien Factor is Sex
Sex Fiend
Nightbeast
Blood Massacre (After several traumatizing attempts, I refuse to do this one.)
Alien Factor 2: The Alien Factor is Still Sex
Dead…oh, come on now 

It seems I’m horrible at writing porn titles. 

45:00: The rednecks have captured the alien and have the egg thing again, as well as the alien’s gun. They plan to sell it to the Russians?  

50:00: Kid and UFO expert are trying to save the alien, I think. They break into redneck’s garage, where the alien is tied up. As they study the restrained alien, it strikes me that this character is really lacking depth. Why did it come to earth? Where did it come from? What are it’s motives? Why does it wear suspenders without pants? All questions that demand answers. 

Now they’re friends with the alien, and they run, again hilariously, out of the garage. This may have just turned into the best buddy movie ever. Redneck father still refuses to change out of his torn white t-shirt. 

55:00: Oh my. A drunken redneck just shot UFO expert. Oh! And he tries to shoot the kid, but the alien pops out and shoots the redneck. Then another redneck shoots the alien, steals all his shit, and scampers into the woods, as rednecks are wont to do. That was intense. But not to the kid, however, whose level of dismay and trauma is at about “dropped my ice cream on the ground,” as opposed to the more appropriate “my friend was shot by a redneck as we were escaping with an alien, who was then shot protecting me.” 

65:00: I think the movie should end now. I just don’t see it getting any better than this. 

I’ve now tried the tiramisu creamer, and it’s a bit much for me, as expected. I heard some screaming from the television while I was in the kitchen, but couldn’t care less what happened. Redneck father is still wearing his torn shirt, still drunken. He’s wandering around for no good reason, much like the plot of this movie. 

75:00: Do these people even know they’re in a movie? Is this just home video spliced with footage of a guy in an alien suit? Are rednecks really that drunken?  

78:00: Vicky is such a hoochie in her hot pants and shiny shirts. Drunken father starts making moves, and by making moves I mean near-raping. She runs away and—oh god. He just shot her. He shot Vicky. What the hell. And now he’s drinking more. 

You know, with the alien dead, I’m really not sure why this movie is still going. Now it’s just rednecks drinking, fighting, and shooting each other to the sweet atmospheric chords of a synthesizer. 

Don Dohler porn titles, round two: 

The Alien XXX Factor
Fiend Who Has Sex a Lot
Nightbeast, Naked
Blood Massacre (Still not doing it.)
Alien XXX Factor 2: The Alien Sexcapade
Hed Hunt 

85:00: Daughter, boyfriend, and kid have stolen the egg thing and are being chased through the woods by drunken redneck father. They’re on the edge of a cliff, and he forces them to drop the egg. They back off whi— the alien is back. It shoots redneck father and redneck father shoots it, fights with JJ. 

87:00: They fight while redneck family watches. Father has JJ on the edge of the cliff, strangling him, when—oh sweet moses—redneck grandmother, in slow motion, picks up a rifle and, in slow motion still, swings it, in very very slow motion, with double, triple, quadruple takes, and knocks redneck father off the cliff. 

A dummy, apparently made of sticks and clothing, falls off the cliff and the father is dead at the bottom. He goes out of this world as he came into it: in his torn white t-shirt. 

And it’s over.  

There was just no reason for that movie to be made. I feel a little sick. Here are Don Dohler’s movie’s as Christmas specials: 

The Alien Toy Factory
Tinsel Fiend
Santa Claus, the Nightbeast
Blood Massacre (There’s nothing I can do with this that isn’t horribly disturbing.)
Alien Toy Factory 2: The Alien Egg Nogg Rampage
Elf Hunt 
-Kyle Adams

Even though St. Patrick’s Day is over, everyone’s looking to capitalize on the luck of the Irish.  And with two Friday the 13th months in a row, luck seems to be on everyone’s mind.  It might seem like a difficult task if you’re constantly plagued with black cats and ladders, but here are a few ways you can increase your good fortune. 

Attitude
We all pay bills, go to work, and run into our fair share of obstacles in life.  But the difference between miserable people and happy people is what they choose to focus on.  Miserable people only see the bad things that happen, and as a result, their mood plummets.  Happy people are more optimistic and don’t let the small stuff get them down.  The same holds true for lucky people – they look at situations they face and find the luck. 

Lucky Charms
Sometimes it helps to feel more fortunate if you’ve got a good luck charm, a number or a symbol on your side.  It might have to do with your birthday – if you were born in 1987, the year of the rabbit, it’s the luckiest of the Chinese zodiac signs.  You may have a lucky uniform number that makes you play harder, better, faster or stronger.  A pair of socks you never wash, a rabbit’s foot, a clover tattoo, whatever it is, sometimes just having the external object to count on makes you feel luckier. 

Create Opportunity
You can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.  But while your chances of winning the lottery are very slim, there are smaller ways to create your own luck on a regular basis.  If you have bad luck catching the bus to class in the morning – it’s too crowded or you miss the last one to get to campus on time, try waking up a few minutes earlier to catch an earlier bus.  Yes, it involves a little work, but remember your attitude and think about your good luck when you get to campus with enough time before class to grab coffee!

-Leland Strott

For those who don’t know, fantasy baseball is a growing multimillion-dollar industry. Basic fantasy baseball consists of a group of people “drafting” individual Major League Baseball players to make a team. Each team gains points based on the real players statistics in that season’s MLB season. Just like  

Five best things about fantasy baseball

5. You're not looking at Porn
      ‘Nuff said. 

4. It's acceptable to know too much about sports
      Many may chide those who know how many saves Francisco Rodriguez had last year (62) or to go further what Rickie Weeks’ batting average was (.234). Outsiders may ask about these people’s social and sex lives (some are doing just fine, thank you). But in fantasy baseball circles these stats - along with the facts that Rodriguez will certainly have less saves this year and Week’s batting average will very likely be higher - are known to all who are competitive. 

3. Knowledge
      Serious fantasy baseball players follow the game closer than many serious fans and remember essential statistics that can end Saturday afternoon couch arguments over whether Jose Reyes or Hanley Ramirez is an all around better shortstop with the player the emphatic winner and his challenger drowning his sorrows in his Bud Light.  
 
2. Smack Talk
     After your sleeper starting pitcher who your buddy has been hating on all season (for this year let’s say someone like Chris Carpenter) gets a seven inning win allowing one run and striking out eight on Sunday, giving you a narrow win over the buddy for the week you get to throw it in his face. “Carpenter nailed the win for me, scumbag. Gotcha!” you might say and throw in some expletives for good measure. 

1. Winning
      Getting the money (if you play for money) is one thing, but bragging rights over your buddies for the entire off-season are glorious. 
 
Five worst things about fantasy baseball

5. People lump you in with other nerds
      Fantasy baseball is based in reality and accompanies an obsession with sports. It is an outlet for those whose claim they know more about sports than their friends to prove it. Fantasy baseball is a social activity that is more real than “Magic” or role-playing games (not that kind pervert, we’re talking about people who re-enact battles and things of this nature, like in “Role Models”). 

4. It can be addicting
      Spending an hour and a half looking at stats and trying to decide whether or not to drop Matt Cain to pick up Randy Wolf is over the top. Spending five minutes doing this is okay, but then you need to write that five-page psychology paper that’s due tomorrow. 

3. Rooting against your team
      I would never do this in the stretch-run in September if the playoff race is close, but I have found myself in June rooting for Orioles closer George Sherrill to get a save against my Yankees because he is on my fantasy team.  

2. Smack talk
      If someone beats me with Nate McClouth, Lance Berkman, Kevin Youkilis, Matt Holiday, Adam Dunn, Cliff Lee, or Troy Percival achieving the same stats or better stats than last year I’ll have to eat my now printed words stating that all of these guys will fall off significantly from last year. 

1. Losing
      Any ultra-competitive person knows losing sucks. 

Bonus
Some of my favorite sleepers for this season:
1. Chris Carpenter SP St.L 
2. Nelson Cruz OF Tex 
3. Joey Votto 1B Cin 
4. Justin Upton OF Ari 
5. Clayton Kershaw SP LAD 
6. Cameron Maybin OF Fla 
7. Xavier Nady OF NYY 
8. Chris Iannetta C Col 
9. Randy Johnson SP SF 
10. Shin-Soo Choo OF Cle 
11. Chad Qualls RP Ari 
12. Jorge Cantu 2B Fla 
13. Travis Hafner DH Cle 
14. Hank Blalock 1B/3B Tex 
15. Clint Barmes 2B/SS Col

-Andrew Sagarin

Did you know they make the beds upside down in Chile? Bet you didn't. The actual beds are right-side up, of course. But there they were: my Sesame Street alphabet bedsheets made upside down on my Chilean, right-side up bed. An inconsequential observation, until I noticed the faded backwards alphabet visible through the thin fabric. Kinda symbolic of my study abroad experience thus far. They see ABC; I see CBA. Which just sounds like the acronym of some metaphoric TV channel that I've never watched. One with sitcoms of upside down sheets, backwards flushing toilet water, and a language barrier incredibly difficult to overcome. I think I need to stop looking at my sheets.

But these are the crazy things you notice while abroad. Things that appear so opposite to one's own culture, and with connotations you couldn't even begin to express to a local. Okay, so upside down sheets aren't that crazy. But a swimming school in Ecuador called "Duran Duran." Grown men and women living with their parents until marriage. Coffee shops with scantily-clad waitresses for middle-aged businessmen, scattered about Santiago - cafes con piernas, they're called. Perfectly normal things, to anyone from South America. But to this little gringo? Not so much. But how can one remain objective in a foreign country? How can one ultimately appraise their own culture without first comparing it to another? Yes, being from a country that values independence above everything else, living with your family until the age of thirty does seem strange to me. But could I honestly say that moving away from your family, the people that love you most, is a better alternative? You tell me.

But not everything is so different here. Trends and music reminiscent of the United States remind me daily that we truly do live in an integrated society. And if they haven't hit the states yet, I'm absolutely positive that jodhpur pants are coming back with a vengeance - they're everywhere! But globalization has affected more than just culture. While Chile has been estimated by the Ministerio de Hacienda as the fitfh most prepared country in the world to combat the crisis (what that really means, I couldn't say), the economic situation is universal. The construction of the Costanera Center, a skyscraped projected to be the tallest building in South America at 300 meters high, has been suspended due to lack of funds at only 22 stories high. As of now, it's just a concrete skeleton ominously referred to by Chileans as la cicatriz - "the scar"- de la crisis economica. Guess we're not so far away as we thought.

Chilean Slang of the Week:

Bacán: Awesome, dude 
Cachar: to understand ("Cachas?": Do you get it?)
Terremoto: The literal translation is "earthquake," but the tastier version is a liter of pipeño (sweet, fermented wine) with pineapple ice cream. You'll understand the name after drinking it.


-Christina Lacy

Pictures (Right to Left): Empty seats in Montevide during Carnaval, reserved for 300 Uruguyan desaparcidos; Futbol game in Ecuador between Cuenca and Venezuela Cuenca won); Evita Peron's gravesite in Buenos Aires

All-nighters are a college essential.  Chances are you’ve probably pulled a few already, and if you haven’t, the rest of us are jealous.  It happens when you find yourself knee-deep in midterms or finals with three group projects, two essays, and huge presentation due within the week, and sleep is last on your to do list.  But pulling a successful all-nighter isn’t just about chasing caffeine pills with Red Bull.  By following a few tips based on your natural body rhythms, you can maximize every hour before dawn. 

Early evening to midnight 

If you know you’re going to pull an all-nighter, try to take a power nap earlier in the evening.  This will help to push back the first wave of sleepiness past your normal bedtime hours.  Later, as your body temperature begins to decline, resist the urge to turn up the heat.  Warmth is more likely to put you to sleep, so grab a sweater and move to a cooler location.  If you can open your window or step outside into cooler air throughout the night, this will help refresh you. 

As you begin to feel sleepy, you’ll probably want to reach for the caffeine to get a boost.  Just remember that too much will make you wired and antsy, which can increase anxiety.  Space out your caffeine intake by the hour or switch to tea instead.  Drinking cold water is another good option. 

1 am to 6 am 

Your brain will start to lose focus as the night goes on, that’s why it’s best to start with your toughest material first.  Take frequent breaks to move around your space.  Exercises like jumping jacks, dancing, or simply walking around your room a few times will refresh your mind.  If you get hungry, reach for snacks like fresh fruits or vegetables, or anything high in protein – they will help you concentrate better than a carbohydrate-heavy meal.  Around 4 am, the urge to sleep will be at its strongest.  But shorter naps will do more harm than good, so resist the urge unless you can sacrifice an hour or two. 

7 am through the next day 

Finish up your work and take a shower.  The water will wake you up and also help you relax.  Then eat a high protein breakfast, which will give you more long-term energy.  Go to class, give your presentation, turn in that paper, and take your exam.  When you’re done, you can finally relax!  Now is a good time to take a nap.  Sleeping all day can further mess up your sleep cycles, so sleeping for an hour or two is best. 

Other Tips

-Don’t work in bed or somewhere you could otherwise doze off comfortably, it will remind you of sleep.
-If you wear contacts, take them out so your eyes don’t get irritated.
-Work with good lighting.
-Find a friend to stay up with.  The conversation will keep you alert and you can keep each other motivated.
-Turn of AIM and sign off Facebook.  Since you’re probably pulling an all-nighter because you have a lot of work to do, excessive procrastination will only stress you out more.
-All-nighters put a lot of strain on your body and are difficult to recover from quickly.  In the future, try to space out your work so you can avoid them.


-Leland Strott

Brian Jordan, Danny Ainge, Mark Hendrickson, Todd Helton, Dan Marino, Jim Brown, Kirk Gibson, Julius Peppers, and Charlie Ward (who won the Heisman trophy but opted for the NBA) all deserve honorable mentions, but here are my chosen 10: 

10. LeBron James
The current best player in the NBA (see my blog from last week for a lengthy explanation) was also recruited as a wide receiver by college coaches while in high school and was named All-Ohio at the position as a sophomore, before quitting football to focus on his basketball career. (I guess you could say that move worked out well.) There is a commercial playing in which LeBron signs with the Cleveland Browns. Many don’t know that if he wasn’t so good at basketball this may have actually happened. 

9. Tom Glavine
Glavine is still in baseball having recently signed a one-year contract with his original team, the one that made him successful and famous, the Atlanta Braves. Glavine returned to the Braves last year after spending five years with the New York Mets. Even with the speculation that he would likely choose baseball, Glavine was chosen in the 4th round, 69th overall by the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. To put it in perspective – Glavine was drafted ahead of Brett Hull. 
8. Antonio Gates
The best tight end in the NFL did not even play football in college. He was recruited as a linebacker, but chose to play basketball instead. After bouncing around a few schools, Gates landed at Kent State University where he became a star. Gates helped Kent State win a MAC championship and advance to the Elite Eight as a junior. As a senior Gates averaged 20.6 points per game and was an honorable mention All-American. After NBA scouts told the 6’4” big-bodied forward that he was a “tweener” and he went undrafted, Gates scheduled workouts with several NFL teams. The first was with the San Diego Chargers, who immediately signed him and turned him into the best tight end in the game today. 

7. Joe Mauer
Mauer, a former number one overall draft pick (GREAT call over Mark Prior in retrospect), is arguably the best catcher in Major League Baseball. Though is seems like he’s been around for a while, Mauer is only 25 years old. What many don’t know is that Mauer won multiple awards in football as a quarterback in high school and was offered a scholarship to football powerhouse Florida State. In addition to his personal achievements in high school football, Mauer lead his team to consecutive state championships, winning the Class 5A state championship in 1999. His sideburns could use a trim, but – a great quarterback and a great catcher – this guy is a multi-talented leader. 
6. Michael Jordan
Arguably the greatest and most dominant athlete ever, he only makes it this high because of his basketball supremacy. Jordan’s time off from basketball – when he played minor league baseball for the Chicago White Sox – was not a result of his wanting to play baseball as many people believe. He had (and probably still has) a huge gambling problem. NBA Commissioner David Stern did a phenomenal job of keeping it quiet for the benefit of his league. In fairness to Jordan, this came at the same as his father’s murder, so I don’t fault him for taking time away from basketball. Though easily the greatest basketball player of all time, MJ’s baseball foray into baseball was less than impressive. He batted .202 with 3 home runs, 51 runs batted in, and 11 errors in the outfield. His one impressive statistic was his 30 stolen bases. 

5. Dave Winfield
Winfield was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, getting immortalized in Cooperstown after a great professional baseball career with the San Diego Padres, New York Yankees and a few other teams. Winfield is one of only a very few professional baseball players to go straight to the major leagues after being drafted, without ever playing in the minor leagues. Winfield’s talents made him the guy with perhaps the most impressive record of being drafted into professional sports. The Padres drafted him number four overall and he was drafted into two professional basketball leagues, the NBA by the Atlanta Hawks and the ABA by the Utah Stars. Not only that, he was also drafted, albeit in the 17th round, by the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. 
4. Deion Sanders
“Prime Time” is the only athlete ever to play in both a World Series and a Super Bowl. There have been a few players who have played both Major League Baseball and in the NFL. Sanders has been the most successful in both sports combined of any of them. “Neon Deion” not only has two great nicknames, he has more swagger than maybe any pro sports figure and is a decent NFL commentator, currently with the NFL Network. Sanders was one of the greatest cornerbacks of all time. In addition to his football prowess, Sanders was a decent baseball player, but actually earned the “Prime Time” nickname for his high school basketball skills and was an assistant coach for the Dallas Fury of the National Women’s Basketball League in 2004. (Cynically though, I have to wonder if he was qualified for the job or if it was a publicity stunt for a league that no one has ever heard of. That’s not me being misogynistic – the WNBA and other women’s leagues are great, but have you ever heard of the NWBL?). 3. Jim Thorpe
The Associated Press named Thorpe the top athlete in the first half of the twentieth century in 1950. The AP named Thorpe the number three athlete of the whole twentieth century in 1999. Thorpe’s biography is fascinating. There is not nearly enough space here to scratch the surface of his athletic accomplishments, let alone what he did in life. Briefly, Thorpe furthered opportunities for Native Americans, not just in sports but in the world, won Olympic gold medals in the multi-event pentathlon and decathlon, and played professional football, baseball, and basketball. 

2. Bo Jackson
So how do you beat Jim Thorpe? With an absolute freak of athleticism, easily the most athletic person to play professional sports during my lifetime. Bo Jackson would snap baseball bats over his knee like they were twigs. Can you imagine that? For almost anyone else trying to snap a baseball bat over their knee would likely turn out with the bat still fully intact and the person writhing on the ground. The story of Jackson’s rise from poverty to great athletic achievement is another great read. Jackson won the Heisman at Auburn and ran a 4.12, 4.12!, in the 40 yard dash. And at 6’1” 225 lbs. he was not a small running back. He could have been an Olympic sprinter, but opted for the money offered by the NFL and Major League Baseball. Jackson is the only athlete ever to be named to both a Major League All-Star Game (he the 1989 All-Star Game MVP) and an NFL Pro Bowl. The “Bo knows…” ad campaign was genius (and not that much of a stretch – Jackson also briefly played semi-pro basketball). Unfortunately a hip injury cut him way short of what he could have done, but those who know sports know Bo. 

1. Jackie Robinson
Obviously an iconic American hero for what he accomplished to further race relations in the 1950s, Robinson was also arguably the greatest athlete to ever live. Not only was he a great baseball player in his ten seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1936 Robinson won the junior boys' singles championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament. Robinson was the first athlete in UCLA history to letter in four sports - baseball, basketball, football, and track. Robinson was the high scorer in basketball in the Pacific Coast Conference – twice. He was also a national champion long jumper. Robinson was an All-American running back. Robinson actually played semi-pro football before ever playing professional baseball. It has been said that baseball was only Robinson’s third or fourth best sport.

-Andrew Sagarin