The "Weak" in Sports

Choosing College Over Cash

Chris Brucher
Staff Columnist

Imagine for a second if you were given a choice at your job. Say, you're working a simple old job at a retail store, and your manager tells you that you've been offered a promotion to work in the corporate offices, but you'd need to leave right now. No more college, which means no more classes, but it also means no more living on campus. In fact, you might end up working across the country, and for all you know hardly ever get the chance to see your friends ever again.
Seems like a tough thing to leave behind, right? Well, Sam Bradford of the Oklahoma Sooners football program certainly thought so when he decided to stay in school for another year when the NFL draft came around last year. Deciding that the chance to win a national championship was too much to pass up, and that he wasn't quite ready to be a full-fledged adult quite yet, the quarterback opted to spend his senior year playing football for a team he loved. After all, the NFL would still be there next year, and the multi-million dollar contracts would still be waiting for him.
Or, at least, that's how it should have played out. Now Bradford has gone down with his second injury of the year, both of them to his highly valued throwing arm. So what does that mean for Bradford? Well, it means that he's not going to make nearly as much money coming out of college this year as he would have last year, for one. Honestly, he'll be lucky to even go in the first round, considering how jumpy NFL owners get around "injury-prone" players at draft time.
Now, I feel like there's something seriously wrong with that. After all, it isn't his fault that he got hurt in his senior year, and it's just as likely that he'll be a standout in the NFL now as it was before. Just ask Adrian Peterson with his college injury issues. Unfortunately, money is lost by the millions when a player gets hurt the year before entering the NFL draft. Somehow, it just doesn't seem fair that players should be penalized for finishing their college education after a stellar junior year of football.
What it really boils down to is bad luck. Unfortunately for these players, it's a couple million dollars of bad luck. Few of us are ever going to have the opportunity to make a multi-million dollar decision, and while some might be sad about that, it's also a whole lot of responsibility to handle. So while these players are getting paid outrageous salaries, try and remember that sometimes there are those who aren't getting that money, and usually for just as asinine of reasons. It seems to me that people lose sight of the fact that these players are in a profession where so much money can be won and lost over such small thing. So maybe we shouldn't hate on them for making so much money, and take a step back to respect the really difficult intricacies of their career.

Current PHOTO Casey McCullough

Men score while women miss the goal

Maeve McFadden
Staff Reporter

This week in men's and women's soccer for Carthage saw triumphs and losses, exciting goals and missed opportunities.
The Carthage Red Men's soccer team "tasted blue blood" last Wednesday with an impressive win (6-0) over the Millikin University Big Blue at 7 p.m. on Art Keller Field.
In the first half, though scoreless, the Red Men were mostly on the attack, putting pressure on Millikin.
Carthage defense, sustained by consistent saves by goalie Taao Scarnato,'13, kept the Big Blue from pulling ahead.
Rafal Zalewski, '12, scored the first goal of the game early in the second half. Ten minutes later, the Red Men scored again with a goal from Tyler Peterson, '10.
Two minutes later Carthage was back on the board as Andrew Gamarra, '10, scored the third goal. Mark Goldsberry, '11, contributed the fourth goal and Kosta Minchev, '13, finished the game with the last two goals in the final three minutes to bring the end game score to 6-0.
Steve Domin, Head Men's Soccer Coach and Director of Soccer Operations, described his young team as more "head steady" and "clear" in the second half, translating opportunities to goals.
"We've a little bit different talent pool," said Domin, explaining that playing 20 players in the first half so as not to tire anyone is a risky strategy and may leave the team vulnerable, but he can do this because the team has such a talented roster.
Domin pointed out Minchev as "fundamental" to the win, a "very steady" and "dangerous" player. Minchev, also Carthage's football kickoff expert, is balancing soccer and football this season.
"I scored my first two goals," said Minchev, who continued to express that he could have scored more. Minchev wrapped up the story of the game by saying, "In the second half we came back as a team and worked together."
Tonight the Red Men face the North Central College Cardinals at 7 p.m. on Art Keller Field.
The Carthage Lady Reds women's soccer team had a less successful week, falling to Millikin last Wednesday, 2-1, at 1 p.m. in Decatur, Ill., and North Central, 2-1, at 1 p.m. on Art Keller Field.
The lone Carthage goal in the Millikin match-up was scored by Rachel Jason, '13, in the first half.
In the face-off against North Central, the Lady Reds were frequently on the offense, but could not seem to keep possession of the ball long enough to garner points.
All the scoring occurred in the first half, leaving Carthage to have many close calls, potential game-changers, in the second half to lend hope to fans.
The North Central game began with a goal from the Cardinals. Lady Red Sarah Scardamaglia, '11, tied the score ten minutes later assisted by Kasie Jabeck, '12.
North Central scored the game-winning goal in toward the end of the first half by converting a free kick.
Head Women's Soccer Coach, Susie Foster, discussed the week saying, "I think we had some really good battles this week, we just didn't get the results we wanted." But she believes her young team is showing a lot of progress and working hard and together.
"We have good players all over the field," said Foster, asserting that the team is more of a family trying to play as a team to produce results.
"We'll focus on finishing," stated Foster, explaining that the team did a lot of great things leading up to scoring, but just could not convert it to points. "We just [have to] put the ball in the back of the net," summed up Foster.
The Lady Reds also play tonight against the Elmhurst College Bluejays at 5 p.m. on Art Keller Field. Support your Carthage soccer and watch the action unfold.

Current PHOTO Lisa Suttman

Alumni swim meets expectations

Jessica Johnson
Staff Reporter

The warm-ups had ended, and the teams were excited. The competition was going to be fun and friendly. The alumni swim meet was about to begin.
It was an inter-squad alumni swim meet. The Lady Reds and Red Men competed against each other and against the alumni who had the time and determination to get in the water once more. As a tribute to all who gave their time and energy, a new scoreboard was unveiled at the beginning of the meet last Saturday.
As the team gathered around the scoreboard before the meet, each alumnus was invited to give a piece of advice to current and future Lady Reds and Red Men. Much of the advice was to have fun, stick with it, and remember those you swim with. The alumni were mostly friends of the current swimmers, as they had graduated recently. After the scoreboard was unveiled to cheering swimmers and parents, the team walked to their blocks, to start the meet.
The meet was set up as a shortened and quick version of a real one. There were six events: 200-meter medley relay, 100-meter butterfly, 50-meter butterfly, 100-meter backstroke, 50-meter backstroke, 100-meter breaststroke, 50-meter breaststroke, 100-meter freestyle, 50-meter freestyle, and 200-meter freestyle relay. The Lady Reds alumni had a relay of their own in which eight swimmers swam one length each. This relay was spectacular; each of the alumni looked great. The Red Men alumni swam with the current Red Men with powerful swims, even after years of little or no practice, they competed as if they had practiced three hours yesterday.
The meet was moving smoothly, a flurry of long glides and well-practiced technique. Everyone seemed to be having fun and doing well. The current Lady Reds and Red Men were excited to see and race once more against their old friends. "I forgot how cold it gets," Mary Ann Zellmann, '81, laughed. Many alumni talked about the memories they had as they cheered for each other.
The alumni were fast and furious, powering their way through the meet as they laughed together. Lonny Boeke, '00, was excited about "the ability to actually come back and compete.... I'm not fast, but its good to come back and feel like a student again. It's great." Many of the alumni were excited to get back in.
The meet ended with an entertaining relay swam by all eight of the Red Med alumni in attendance. Both coaches were proud and happy with the way the swims went. Lady Reds Head Coach Beth DeLaRosby articulated, "It was fun to get everyone together... and race for the first time this year. The team did have fun and raced well." As Greg Earhart, Red Men Head Coach, mentioned, "It was nice to race everyone for training.... It was good." After the day was over, everyone laughed and walked to the locker room tired and happy. The meet had been fun, or "exasperatingly tired," as Andy Steenrod, '06, celebrated at the meet's conclusion.