Monday, May 21, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Monday, May 21, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com WOMENiS TENNIS 'M' eliminated by Florda in Sweet Sixteen Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu JACOB AXELRAD EDITOR IN CHIEF GIACOMO BOLOGNA MANAGING EDITOR ADRIENNE ROBERTS EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. RMT H E D AI Y Politicizing research Bill may make NSF's funding of poly-sci research illegal The National Science Foundation is facing an unprecedented con- gressional intervention in its internal decision-making process. Last week, the U.S. House passed an amendment for a bill that would make it illegal for the NSF to fund political science research, something it has been doing for decades. The vote, motivated by partisan opposition to a handful of research projects, such as "Understanding the Origins of the Gender Gap in Political Ambition," paves the way for fur- ther congressional interference in scientific research. Such interference will seriously hinder the NSF's ability to serve as a clearinghouse for the nation's most promising research. The amendment must be stopped in the Senate. GUS TURNER|VIEWPOINT Stake in the game On May 2, as the news of her grown in recent years. The Super son's untimely passing pulsed Bowl set the record for U.S. televi- along newswires throughout the sion ratings three years in a row, country, Luisa Seau addressed the with the latest garnering an aver- -well wishers who had made their age of 111.3 million viewers. Eight way out to her home in Oceanside, of the Big House's 10 highest atten- Calif. Distraught and understand- dances - which are effectively ably hysterical, she choked out collegiate football's attendance a public statement that ended in records -have occurred in the past tears and a warning. two years. When a market this con- "Drive carefully, drive safely," ductive to the growth of a product she cried, no doubt recalling the such as collegiate or professional cliff-side plunge that Junior Seau's football is present, questions of SUV had taken only a couple of ownership with issues like player years earlier, an accident that, safety persist. Who is to be held though he emerged unharmed, now responsible for.Duerson or Waters? possessed more suspect motiva- Surely the players, who delivered tions in light of hisdeath. the hits to Duerson, Waters, Web- The tale of Junior Seau, a for- ster, Easterling or Seau could point mer National Football League star the finger of blame to the coaches whose life came to an early end after who called the plays. The coaches, his playing career, is one that is all likewise, could turn the fault to the too familiar in the NFL in recent owners and athletic directors who years. By now, many of us have pay them to make these decisions. heard the stories of Dave Duerson, And who else would the owners Mike Webster, Ray Easterling and and ADs shift the blame to but us, Andre Waters, all former. players the very fans who put the money who have recently taken their own into their hands, who create the lives. Waters was left with brain demand for such a product? tissue that had degenerated to the There is a certain pride, no state of an 85-year-old man by the doubt, associated with football at time he died, due to the concus- the University of Michigan, the sions he suffered during his football home of the winningest football career. He was 43. Duerson, in an program of all time. Beyond this act that was tragically eerie, sent a pride, however, what is our true text message to his family minutes stake inthe game as spectatorssaAs before his suicide, stating that he students, does it truly serve as any- wanted his brain to be donated to thing more than a venuefor drunk- science after he died. He, like Seau, en merriment for the majority of then shot himself in the chest. us? Is that worth the possibility of And now, in addition to these someday seeing our fellow class- deaths, the loss of Junior Seau raises mates who take the field suffer the questions that the game of football, same fate as Dave Duerson? from the NFL to the high-school It's time for the student body, for level, is hard-pressed to answer: the fans, to consider this harsh real- What's the price of entertainment? ity and to ponder: What does this Will too many parents concerned game really mean to usS When we with their child's safety keep them face the facts of the situation, it's from playing football, killing the easy to see that the inherent risks of sport from the ground up? What is the game are not worth our selfish the future of football? For the most rewards. It's because we don't take part, the answers to these questions the hits across the middle, the bone are unclear. rattling collisions, nor the back- A more important question, breaking blindside sacks that the however, is one that not only the players are subjected to every game, NFL or the NCAA should be ask- and many of us will not see a loved log, but also the fans: What do we one take his own life as a result of do now? Given a sports culture this punishment. Instead, as the that only a few years ago celebrated players make their way off the field the hard-hitting toughness of the at a game's conclusion, they're the game (check YouTube for clips of ones who are possibly injured and the. now-defunct "Knocked Up" perhaps, as the team doctors may segments from ESPN's NFL Live), later tell them, irreversibly so. We, the transition from this tough atti- the fans, just file out of our seats tude to a public consciousness that either raucous in victoryor despon- is more concerned with safety has dent in defeat, but regardless, feel- been relatively swift. ing things easily forgotten by the One looming issue still persists next week's contest. There is no one that negates this concern. It's an telling us about broken legs, head issue that contradicts the very trauma or ended careers, just the nature of professional and colle- voice of the announcer as he calmly giate football itself: We still watch sounds across the PA, "Everyone the game. Despite the mounting drive home safely." By BEN SEIDMAN Daily Sports Writer There were a couple bright spots for the No. 15 Michigan women's tennis team first round matchup versus the No. 2 Florida Gators. But in the end, they were sent home packing from the University of Georgia's Tennis Complex in their third consecutive appearance in the Sweet Sixteen. Florida handled Michigan, win- ning three singles matches decisive- ly over the Wolverines. However, Michigan freshman Emina Bektas and sophomore Brooke Bolender gave the No. 1 nationally ranked doubles partners, Allie Will and Sofie Oyen, all they could handle. Bektas and Bolender ousted the best doubles duo in the nation and was the first match to finish on the court. But the rest of the team was not as successful in its matches. In fact, Bektas and Bolender's win was the first and only match Michigan would take all day. The Wolverines have yet to beat the Gators in head to head matches in the three times they have met in series play. This weekend marks the third consecutive appearance in the Sweet Sixteen, and is Michigan's fourth in its program's history, and is also Michigan coach Ronni Bern- stein's third Sweet Sixteen appear- ance in her fifth year as head coach. Michigan finished this season with an overall record of 21-8 and a 10-1 conference record. "I'm pretty happy with the way we played in general," Bernstein said. "We had a shot at the doubles point, and I think that if we could have squeaked out a win there it would have put a little more pres- sure on Florida in singles. They kind of just took it to us in the singles. When you have chances to make something happen, you have to take them, and we couldn't do that." Bernstein is always happy to make it to the Sweet Sixteen but admitted that Florida was simply a better team than Michigan was. Satisfied with the level of energy and fearless spirit, Bernstein knows that there is plenty of room for improvement with the amount of youth and talent on their squad. "We had a good year," said Bern- stein. "We got here again, and that was our goal. We wanted to take a step forwards and improve. Over- all, I'm very happy with the way we played and competed all year, and that's all you can ask for." Senior Michelle Sulahian capped her career off, closing out with a record of 85-49 in singles matches, placing herself in the top-10 among Michigan's all time singles wins leaders. Fresman Sarah Lee also wrapped up her rookie debut season with an impressive 32-10 singles record to rank fifth among Michigan single- season Wins leaders. Bektas tied her in the same category, finishing 32-9 for the season and will have a chance to improve upon her record in the NCAA Singles Champion- ship. Thompson ends career at NCAA Central Regional U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) proposed the "Flake amendment," which prohibits the NSF from funding political science research, as he believes it is "a waste of tax- payer dollars." The representative cited, among others, a project that requested "$600,000 to try to fig- ure out if policymakers actually do what citizens want them to do." The House voted on this amend- ment May 9, and it passed by avote of 21$-208. The current amend- ment is Representative Flake's sec- ond attempt to cut NSF spending. Last year, his proposal to trim the general NSF budget failed in a 291- 121 vote. Representative Flake's singling out of an individual academic area should give us pause. Federal research funding drives innova- tion at the University of Michigan; last year federal money accounted for $800 million of the University's research expenditures. An attack on the NSF may signal trouble for other, larger federal research agencies. Flake is a known oppo- nent of research funding, and his attacks on political science should be taken not asa sincere evaluation of that field's social value, but as a politician's search for a vulnerable target. Most research is valuable, though not all project titles make that value immediately obvious. There is tremendous irony in Rep. Flake's opposition to politi- cal science research. The con- gressman himself holds a master's degree in political science. Fur- ther, the research Flake cites to explain his amendment has imme- diate, tangible implications for the U.S. government.It matters agreat deal whether, as Flake describes the project he opposes, "policy- makers actually do what citizens want them to do." The particular funding Flake proposes to cut is money that would be used to study how the government - of which Congressman Flake is a part - does its job. American political leaders have long recognized that aca- demic research is valuable. They have also, since creating the NSF, respected Congress's decision to give scientific experts respon- sibility over research funding rather than elected officials and civil servants. The NSF's leader- ship is chosen by the president, but the original law's requirement that members of the foundation's board be "eminent in their field" ensures that the NSF's governing body can put good research ahead of politics. Federal funding is one of the most important sources of money for academic research in this country. Previous Congresses understood how important it was for decisions about research to be made by experts. That's why they created the NSF. By PETER BROWN Daily Sports Writer At 9:40 a.m. on Saturday morn- ing, Matt Thompson stood on the tenth hole tee box at the University of Michigan Golf Course prepar- ing to strike his opening drive of the NCAA Central Regional final round. In order to move on to the NCAA Finals at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on May 29-June 3, Thompson would have to post a low score - something in the mid- to-high 60s - to have a chance. Otherwise, the round would be the senior's last as a collegiate golfer. After hitting his tee shot in the right rough, Thompson marched up the fairway with coach Chris Whit- ten by his side. They looked a little odd, seeing as they both sported nearly knee-high blue socks, a rarity amongst the other 74 competitors. They were a sequel to the white ones that Thompson had donned on Friday, but this time his coaches got in on the action. "(Whitten and assistant coach Nick Pumford) threw them on today, which I was actually kind of surprised to see," Thompson said. "Yeah, I don't think (my team- mates) jumped on that bandwagon," he said, chuckling. Thompson's flashy wardrobe, however, was juxtaposed all week by his calm demeanor and his steady play on the course. During Thursday's first round, Thompson struck the ball well, hit- ting 14 out of 18 greens in regula- tion. He made two birdies and no bogeys on the front nine, making the turn at two-under par. After a string of missed birdie opportuni- ties on the second nine, Thompson hit back-to-back wayward drives on holes 17 and 18, both resulting in bogey. He finished the round at an even-par 71, four strokes back of the leader, but solidly in a tie for fourth place. "I was hoping a few putts would drop eventually but nothing really did," Thompson said. "I hit a lot of downhillers I had to be pretty care- ful with. I couldn't get real aggres- sive with anything." Because the pin locationswere so difficult during the first round, low scoring was tough to come by. On day two, however, the pins were much more accessible, and it showed early on in Thompson's round. He promptly birdied holes 10 and 11- his first two of the day - en route to a three-under 32 total for his first nine holes. The highlight came on the demanding par-four 18th hole, when Thompson hit his long approach shot over the water to within four feet of the cup. He easily drained the putt to move to three-under for the tournament. From there; his round suddenly became riddled with missed oppor- tunities. After narrowly missing birdie putts on holes one and two, Thompson took a calculated risk by attempting to cut the corner on'. the par-5 third. Instead of driving it down the fourth fairway like he planned, he hit a tree branch with his tee shot, eventually resulting in a bogey. "I had so many chances that just didn't go in," Thompson said. "I hit it better (than on Thursday), putted better and got the most I could out of the round. I just missed a couple short ones and had a lot of 15 to 20 footersgoing over edges of the cup." Thompson finished his round with a respectable two-under 69, but was five strokes off the pace of the leaders. He would need a strong round on Saturday to have a shot at moving on to Riviera. "If I do the same things I did today, I could easily put a 64 or a 65 up on the board. I just have to go out and do it, make more putts and play my game," Thompson said. But on Saturday, Thompson couldn't replicate Friday's hot start. two par-fives (holes 11 and 1) and was two-over par through 10 holes. Add in the fact that North Caro- lina State's Albin Choi came into the clubhouse with a three-under 68 and a 10-under par tournament total, and Thompson's fate was sealed. He wouldn't be moving on to the NCAA Finals. Thompson finished his round with two birdies and two bogeys, carding a two-over 73. His total for the tournament was an even-par 213 total, good for a tie for 19th place. "It was a grind all day," Thomp- son said. "But what can you do? It's golf- not every day is perfect. I still had fun." The reality that this was his last tournament as a Wolverine wasn'tl sinking in yet. "I+1 ' i } c nL n]+1 ,++ put it all into perspective," Thomp- son said, choked up. "It was a lot of fun - finishing up on my home course. Not a lot of people get to play their last tournament at home, so that was great." Thompson finishes the season with a 72.06 scoring average, sec- ond only to his own record of 72.00 from the 2009-2010 season. He also finishes his Michigan career as the all-time leader in scoring average, with a mark of 72.79. He plans on turning professional in three weeks, at the Michigan Open. "I'm going to try to play as much as I can this summer, then start a full-time schedule in the beginning of 2013," Thompson said. He'll be taking his high socks $1 off ANY smoothie size Limit One offer per customer with coupon. Cannot be combined with any other offer Valid at Barry Bagels Ann Arbor location ONLY BAGELS Barry Bagels Westgate Shopping Center 2515 Jackson Ave, Ann Arbor, MI 48103 (734) 062-2430swww.barrybagels.com L Expires: May 29, 2012 tragedies, the popularity of foot- ball in the United States has only Gus Turner is a LSA junior.