“Pets Allowed” seemed to me like an exposé of people who use and abuse the ability to have Emotional Support Animals. I like how in this story the author went out and performed experiments. The author went in detail about how you can get an Emotional Support Animal and to me that was very interesting, it gave a new view to this story. The only thing I didn’t like about the story was how long it was. She conducted the research pretty much by just going out and testing what it’s like to have an ESA. I think she wrote this story in first person so that we could get a taste of how to do this for ourselves.
1 in 22,449 Jonah Meredith
For most people, college is the time that you become who you are going to be for the rest of your life. For most they may balance being a student with a job, or with clubs. For most they can’t say that they balance being a student with early morning workouts, weekly traveling, and constant tiredness. For sophomore Jonah Meredith he knows that’s just what comes with the territory of being a student athlete. Read the rest of this entry »
To Vote or Nah?
Students checking out the polls on campus. Photo by Courtney Smith/TU Student
The Midterm elections have just passed across the U.S. and in this election college students had a lot at stake by not voting. Listen to this story on why it is crucial to vote as a young person and how one college student is trying to get their voice heard.
You Can Graduate in Four Years or Less
Towson University Junior, Taylor Gardner struggling to decide whether to graduate early or prolong her college career. (Photo by: Courtney Smith/TU Student)
“Graduating early was never my intention. I just wanted to graduate in four years and get good grades,” said Towson University Junior Taylor Gardner, ”but knowing I made that possible for myself is a great accomplishment.”
In this day graduating from a University in four years or less is next to impossible, and according to a survey done by The Chronicle of Higher Education in 2010 only thirty-four percent of New York public college students graduated in four year. Specifically for Towson University forty-six percent of people graduated in four years in 2010. With the pressure of paying for college, trying to maintain grades, maintain a social life, and maintain your sanity it’s easy to get side tracked and take a little extra time. But for some that is not an option and having to complete college in four years or less is the only choice. Read the rest of this entry »
Rivalries? Yes!
Hey Ladies! There are two very intense rivalries in the NFL that important to know about: The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, and the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins. Hands down these are two rivalries that if you ever ask any football lover what the best games of the season are, they will say these two. Both of these rivalries are division rivalries, which means there is a little more at stake.
The Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers are both AFC North teams. The history of the this rivalry actually began with the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers then Baltimore Ravens then moved into the AFC north division. Another possible reason for this rivalry is the fact that in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania they must show all Ravens road games but that is also a big area for the Steelers. With that being in Pennsylvania the Steelers feel that is their territory.(wikipedia) The coaches for either team don’t get along, nor do the players, or the fans so when these teams get together it is a bloodbath. These teams have played each other 40 times since 1996 and the current record is Pittsburgh: 23 wins and Baltimore: 17. These two teams play each other again on November 2nd.
The Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins has been called the greatest rivalry of all time. Both are NFC East teams, which drives a wedge even deeper between these two. This rivalry has very petty beginnings. The Dallas Owner was to bring a football time to Dallas, Texas and the owner of the Washington Redskins was going to sell the Redskins to him and at the very last minute he took back the offer leaving Dallas still without a team. The Dallas owner then got to make a team with the permission of the NFL commissioner and he was allowed to pick players from multiple teams around the league and he chose to take the Redskins Pro Bowl Quarterback just to get back at them but never start him.(Wikipedia) The Cowboys and Redskins have played each other 106 times and the current record is Cowboys: 64 wins Redskins: 44 and two ties.
These are always the best games of the season and we’re luck enough to get to see these four teams battle it out twice each season.
My first game
Hey girlies! I’m back and today I’m going to tell you all about my first football game. As I told you guys I’ve been a Carolina Panthers fan since I was 13 years old and my dream was to see them play live just once. My dream came true this past Sunday, September 28th. They played the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore, which gave me the perfect opportunity to see them. Here is my struggle to get tickets to when I finally got to see my team.
The Ravens don’t put their regular single tickets on sale until late July so all summer I saved my hard earned dollars for this game. I logged on to the ticketmaster site promptly at 10am to find 0 seats. I immediately began to freak out then after about 20 minutes of looking two seats opened up in the nosebleed section of M&T Bank Stadium. I didn’t care I just knew I couldn’t wait until September 28th.
From July to September the only thing I could think of is that I would finally be getting to see my favorite football team play live. On that Sunday at 11am my dad came to pick me up and we went to the stadium. Going into M&T was unreal. It was honestly everything I ever dreamed of. There were statistics, posters, and programs everywhere. The stadium itself was ginormous and there were Ravens fans everywhere. I was actually quite surprised to see so many other Panther fans in the stadium.
Me in my Panthers jersey pre-game.
My dad and I went to our seats and looked around the huge stadium and every seat in the house was full. The people I actually sat next to were actually Panther fans and it was so nice to see faces rooting for my team. When the Panthers came through the tunnel my face lit up with excitement and I thought to myself “I’m actually seeing this team that I have loved for 7 years in person.” Although no one from the team could see me or even knew I was there it was still amazing to me.
M&T Bank stadium
The Panthers ended up losing the game and losing bad (38-14) I was still so happy to have done something I had wanted to do my whole life.
I hope you girls one day get to see your favorite team too!
How to watch Football for a living!
Hey Ladies! You girls have a lot of time to figure out what you want to be when you grow up, and I’m here to try and help you out. There are a lot of careers for women in the NFL, but today I’m going to talk to you about the profession I’m going into.
I would like to become a sideline reporter, and pretty much a sideline reporter watches the game and reports on the injuries during the games, talks to the players during halftime and before/after the games. They are the first to get a lot of information on what’s going on during the game, and changes that are happening to the roster during the game. I’m going to tell you guys a little bit about some ladies in the football world that have made a difference for all women wanting to have a place in sports entertainment.
The first person I’m going to tell you guys about is Lesley Visser. Lesley was the first female NFL analyst on TV. She is the only sportscaster in history who has worked on Final Four, NBA Finals, World Series, Triple Crown, Monday Night Football, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Figure Skating Championships and the U.S. Open network broadcasts. (Wikipedia) She laid the groundwork for women in sports in general. She broke records, and received honors like being the only woman inducted into the Pro football Hall of Fame, Named one of the Ten Pioneers of Women’s Sports by USA Today and numerous others.
Erin Andrews has become the hottest thing in sports broadcasting now. She hasn’t just been covering football games she’s even become a co-host on the show Dancing with the stars. She started on ESPN’s College GameDay and being a correspondent for Good Morning America. She is now the face of Fox’s broadcasting group.
(Sun-sentinel.com)
Someone I hold near to my heart is Jayne Kennedy. She was the first African American Sports broadcaster. She was the first and only woman to host TV’s longest running syndicated sports show, Greatest Sports Legends. As a woman of color she showed me that it’s possible to be in this industry and make a difference.
(Eternallight.org)
It’s Playing Time!
Hey Girlies!
Do you guys have a favorite team now? I sure hope you all do!
This week I’m going to break down a few ways you can get “real life” experience with football! As a girl it’s not “normal” to play tackle with the boys, but if that’s what you guys want to do..GO FOR IT!
For those of you that would rather not put on the pads and get tackled here are a couple ideas on how you can learn plays, terms, and other football related hints.
For me I grew up playing Madden! Of course over the years the game has changed but Madden is HANDS DOWN the best way to learn the different types of plays, the players, and the rules of the game. In Madden you get to pick a football team to be and you get to pick what play the team does play by play. You can even change the jerseys the team wears, what players are active and inactive, what weather conditions the team plays in, and everything. You can get madden for numerous gaming systems, the Wii, Playstation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox one. For each system the rules and buttons will be different but the overall gist to the game will stay the same. In Madden you can play regular scrimmage games alone to work on your skills or you can challenge a friend to play you!
Video Games aren’t for everyone so if you want something a little more real you can always try flag football! Flag football is all the fun of a football game with no tackling. The same rules apply only difference is each player has a belt with flags hanging from it. And instead of tackling someone when you get close enough you pull his or her flags off and then that ends the play. Flag football is a lot more hands on than a video game but it requires a lot more work and effort!
Don’t be afraid to challenge the boys to either of these games! Practice up a little bit and I’m sure you’ll shock any boy you play against!
Who’s Your Team?
Hey Ladies!
Do all of you have a favorite football team yet? If not I’m going to help you decide on a team to pick! My favorite football team is the Carolina Panthers! I have been a diehard Panthers fan since I was 13 years old. Now the way I went about picking my team is very simple. They’re my favorite colors! Teal/Baby blue and white! Immediately their colors grabbed my eye and that became my team. As I got old I became more interested in football and realized I really loved the team and most of players, and 7 years later they are still my team.
If you want to follow my trend take your favorite color (unless it’s pink because there are no pink football teams) and make that your team!
There are more ways to pick a team though! You can decide by the area you live in! Where I live in Maryland I am equal distance from Baltimore, Md and Washington, DC so most of my friends are Baltimore Ravens fans or Washington Redskins fans. You could pick a team based on your family preferences for instance my entire family are Dallas Cowboy fans (except myself and my sister who’s a Philadelphia Eagles fan)
Or if all else fails and you still need a football team you can always go with “America’s Team” The Dallas Cowboys. Why they’re called America’s team I’m not 100% sure (they’re kinda bad) but they do have the biggest fan base in the NFL!
Another common way of picking a team is by who’s winning during the season! People that do this are often called bandwagon fans but since this would be your first team it’s okay to do.
If you want a cute and fun way of picking a team there are lots of quizzes that will tell you what team you should be rooting for.
The last and maybe most important thing I have to say about picking a team is…ONCE YOU PICK ONE YOU STAY WITH THEM. Being a fair-weather fan means only liking a team when they’re winning. Every team in the NFL is going to have a bad game or even a bad season but you have to stick with them through it all!
Tigerfest Take Over
Photos by: Courtney B. Smith
Dj Steve Aoki takes the stage
The crowd as Steve Aoki performs
Rapper Juicy J takes the stage
Rapper Juicy J
The sign to the carnival part of Tiger fest
The crowd at the concert in SECU arena
Cotton Candy Machine at the carnival
Inflatables at the carnival
You could take pictures with the cardboard cut outs of Juicy J and Steve Aoki
Mechanical Surfboard at the carnival
take a picture with the Steve Aoki face
Inflateable maze at the carnival
By Courtney B. Smith
“Tigerfest 2014” is what the countless Towson University students screamed April 25 and 26 as they enjoyed a carnival and concert brought to them by Towson’s Campus Activity Board.
Tigerfest is the annual concert and carnival Towson throws for its students. Headlining the concert this year was rapper Juicy J and DJ Steve Aoki. In past years Tigerfest has been outside on the Johnny Unitas football Field, but since the cancellation of last years Wiz Khalifa concert CAB has moved it into SECU arena.
“It sucked so much that it was cancelled last year but this years concert and carnival made it totally worth it,” said Mackenzie Crow junior.
Tigerfest is often students favorite event held at Towson. The excitement of Tigerfest began in late March when the tickets first went on sale. Selling out in two days. The floor seats sold out the first day with the remainder of the arena selling out the next day.
“I’ve been waiting for this all semester. It’s the absolute best day at Towson,” said Derrick Edwards senior.
Day one of Tigerfest was the carnival in which had inflatables, raffles, food and a mini concert. It was originally supposed to be out on Burdick field but because of inclement weather it was moved into the University Union.
“The rain made us bring Day 1 inside, it was a bummer but a lot of people still came out so in the end it was a good first day of Tigerfest,” said Alexandra Goldbeck sophomore.
The concert with Steve Aoki and Juicy J took place on the second day of Tigerfest in which Steve did his trademark move of caking the audience, meaning throwing a whole sheet cake into the audience.
“My favorite part by far was the concert. I didn’t really like being caked but everything else was awesome,” said Taylor Gardener sophomore
Everyone that attended Tigerfest seemed to have a great time and can’t wait for what’s going to happen next year.
-30-
Inside my Court 