Life and the Game of Adjustments

Chima Okoli was a senior captain when the news broke. He recalls being summoned to an emergency “squad meeting” and told the shocking and horrifying details. He remembers with distaste the media horde that followed every movement of anyone involved with Penn State football. He thinks back on the student protests and the riots. And while he acknowledges the severity of the crimes committed and the lack of responsibility and accountability surrounding the situation, Okoli’s sadness involves his entire motivation for attending Penn State in the first place. “It broke me down. It broke my heart. That’s not what that school’s about. And the whole reason I went there is because it was a different model of doing things. And now it’s the smudge that will never come off.”

Most know the story of the Penn State football scandal by now. Assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of numerous counts of child molestation over a 15-year period during his time at Penn State, and several members of the administration and staff, including legendary head coach Joe Paterno, were involved as part of the investigation. Although Paterno didn’t receive legal punishment, he was fired due to the belief that he didn’t do enough to prevent the crimes from occurring. Paterno, the man who promised integrity and leadership when recruiting Okoli out of high school, had been removed as coach with four games left in Okoli's Penn State career.

“He definitely had a hard time [getting through the scandal],” says former teammate, co-captain and friend Quinn Barham, now a strength and conditioning coach for North Carolina State’s football team. “There was a point in time where he hated Penn State. People judged us when we would walk around in public wearing Penn State gear. It made us really doubt ourselves.”

It’s been four years since the scandal, and Chima Okoli is describing the play-by-play approach of an offensive lineman, but he might as well be teaching life lessons. “You see the center pointing everywhere; it’s like an orchestra, or directing traffic. Every offensive line play is three plays in one, because you never know what the defense will do. If the defense does this, we do this; if they shift to this we’ll do that. At any given time, any of those situations can occur. And you have to be ready for it.”

Vision Test Could Help Diagnose Concussions on the Sidelines of Games

COLLEGE PARK – A vision test administered on the sidelines of sporting events could help identity athletes who’ve suffered a concussion, according to a study discussed last month at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting.

Researchers, supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, determined that the King-Devick test detected 79 percent of concussions suffered by athletes of the University of Florida men’s football, women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse teams. The study followed 217 athletes, 30 of whom had a first concussion during the season the testing was taking place.

When combined with the test results of two other comprehensive concussion tests – the Standardized Assessment of Concussion and the Balance Error Scoring System – 100 percent of concussions were identified.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to have one comprehensive sideline test,” said study co-author Dr. James Clugston, team physician for the University of Florida Athletic Department, Gainesville. “But the King-Devick casts a wider net in diagnosing concussions.”

Researcher Warns: Soccer Headbands, Mouthguards Don’t Prevent Concussions

COLLEGE PARK – Parents of young athletes need to be warned that some sports equipment manufacturers are trying to capitalize on concussion fears with claims that their gear can prevent head injuries, the director of the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln said during a recent interview.

Despite what some manufacturers claim, “there is no reviewed, known literature that says mouthguards or headbands prevent against concussions,” said Dr. Dennis Molfese, director of that center and scientific director of the Big 10/CIC-Ivy League Traumatic Brain Injury Research Collaboration.

The Federal Trade Commission has been cracking down on false claims made in mouthguard ads for the past few years. The FTC reached a settlement in August 2012 with Brain-Pad Inc., and its president Joseph Manzo, prohibiting the company from claiming that its mouthguards can reduce risk of concussions. At the time, Brain-Pad’s website stated that they could.

Brain-Pad’s website now makes no such claim.

Deadspin’s Dedication to Their Truth

“For that story to turn out to be fiction, that is what Deadspin was put on this Earth to figure out.”

For Deadspin Editor-in-Chief Tommy Craggs, breaking the story of Manti Te’o, a highly touted Notre Dame football player who was involved in a fake online girlfriend hoax, was the embodiment of what his sports website strives to cover.

“Sports Illustrated was just slotting in the characters of a football player whose girlfriend had died but was still playing well. Deadspin’s mission statement is to tell the unauthorized version of things, and the Manti Te’o story was an example of that.”

The growing online mega-blog launched in 2005 as a small sports site, and when Craggs was hired in 2009, still consisted of only three members. Today, Deadspin has about 20 staff members, posts around 30 stories a day and covers topics ranging from a post-game commentary to an in-depth sea scallops recipe. To date, the site has attracted over 700 million visitors.

The Respected Legacy of Nelson Mandela

History has a habit of smoothing the rough edges and bringing out the positives when it comes to looking back on favorably viewed leaders. The passing of time tends to wipe away some of the negatives and bring out the best decisions and aspects of a leader’s character. They say time heals all wounds.

With Nelson Mandela, however, it seems every accolade he has acquired over the years has been earned through steadfast dedication to his beliefs, even in the face of the greatest opposition. For Mandela, the time has healed his wounds.

Mandela passed away last week at the age of 95, bringing an end to the storied life of one the world’s true great liberators. Once a militant anti-apartheid activist, he rose up as a unifying voice for freedom for a democratic South Africa.

Mandela was born in 1918 in Mvezo, South Africa, and as his education increased, so did his passion for justice for his countrymen. In his autobiography, Mandela wrote that his struggle for civil rights involved, “a steady accumulation of one thousand slights, one thousand indignities, one thousand unremembered moments, [that] produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that impoverished my people.”

The Modern Drone Program and Its Impact

The development of drones has been a vital advancement for U.S. military purposes. It allows an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to attack a specific terrorist location quietly, effectively, and is minimally violent to surrounding areas.

Drone strikes have come under criticism, however, due to the documented loss of civilian lives as a result of errant attacks or collateral damage. In our view, UAVs are the most effective weapon to date at killing specific threats to the U.S. without causing overreaching harm that other methods would inevitably lead to.

The argument that drone strikes can kill innocent people and thus should be eliminated as a military tactic entirely simply doesn’t hold water when analyzed reasonably.

Times of conflict lead to military engagement between two or more sides. When this happens, violence and death are inevitable. With any form of military involvement, there is a significant threat of the loss of civilian lives in the fray of battle. Opponents of drone strikes have cried that the loss of innocent lives, famously that of a pregnant woman and three children in a bus strike in September of 2012, is proof enough that UAVs are not safe enough for use.

Immigration and the U.S.

The United States was founded by a group of foreign citizens who entered a new land to establish a great nation, free of government entanglement and open to respecting rights granted to the people.

In the decades that followed, millions of immigrants, from England, Ireland, Italy, Germany and many other countries entered U.S. borders to establish a better life for themselves. The country coined the phrase, “the American dream” and we became a multi-cultured nation thriving on our old customs and a new collaborated identity. Over 98 percent of our current population is immigrant based, according the 2010 Census.

Today, immigration reform is a heated topic of debate, with 11 million undocumented immigrants living illegally within our borders. However, it is clear that the U.S. needs to reform its immigration policy to help these people gain legal standing and eventual citizenship. Doing so is not only a basic tenet of our cultural fabric, but it will provide significant improvements to our nation’s economy.

One significant boost benefits Social Security. As 75 million baby boomers prepare to retire, the 75-year shortfall of benefits beyond the taxes expected to be collected is $8.6 trillion. The influx of legal immigrants greatly narrows the funding gap that looms over the program. Over 75 years, immigrants will add $4 trillion to the Social Security trust fund, the biggest potential benefactor to solving the program’s financial crisis.

Much Ado about Fracking

Once again, there is debate over a revolutionary change facing the United States, and once again, cooperation is the best way to reach a compromise-however challenging that may be.

The debate this time is about hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, a process of fracturing rock deep below the earth’s surface with pressurized liquid to extract natural gas and oil. Many supporters of fracking believe its expansion in the U.S. will boost the economy, add domestic jobs and lessen our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Opponents, meanwhile, find that fracking will destroy our environment, decimate our fresh water and only create tension in the Middle East.

So who is right? As with most debates, both sides have valid arguments. But with cooperation, there is a way to produce incredible amounts of natural gas and domestic oil while not ignoring the environmental aspect.

The U.S. runs on energy. While this statement is not revolutionary, it is important to remember in the fracking debate. Before opponents eliminate fracking completely because it has potential negative effects, we need to remember that, as of today, natural gas is still a vital part of our infrastructure. As such, until there is a 100 percent efficient, sustainable energy source, the U.S. still depends on drilling and extracting gas.

Bezos takes the Reigns of a New Challenge

Adapt or die. It is a simple business phrase, yet so effective in encapsulating the shift of ownership of The Washington Post to Amazon.com founder Jeffrey P. Bezos. After a lucrative career starting and expanding the well-known online shopping community, Bezos has decided to take on the challenge of jump-starting the renowned, but struggling newspaper.

Critics of the ownership change are wary of Bezos’ lack of experience in the news industry, and worry he will change the political watchdog direction of the Post simply by moving to a more online format.

It is difficult to believe Bezos would have such interest in a $250 million purchase if he had no preplanned vision or fresh ideas for a currently stale news format. While it has been noted this purchase is not a great financial risk for the billionaire, is it foolhardy to believe this is a uncommitted decision, especially considering the faith in the sale by the Graham family, previous owners of the Post and noted for their belief of the importance of a newspaper with a strong backbone.

Meanwhile, the concern over moving the Post more wholeheartedly online and losing political clout is a popular one, but this should be addressed regardless of new ownership. The future of news is online, and this is no longer a topic of debate. In a survey conducted by Pew Research, 39 percent of responders stated they got their news online in 2012, a significant increase from 24 percent in 2004. The issues with news agencies, and specifically newspapers, today are how to distribute content online, and how to profit from it. Print advertising revenue decreased from $44.9 billion in 2003 to $18.9 billion in 2012, but online advertising revenue in 2012 was only $3.4 billion, according to Pew. With such a need for increased revenue, it is difficult to come up with a stronger candidate to lead this charge than a businessman with such an impressive track record in barrier-breaking online vending and formatting.

Amsterdam, Netherlands
Taken by Antonio Barbera

Chair inside Rundetårn Tower, Copenhagen, Denmark
Taken by Antonio Barbera