Monday, May 21. 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Lions tight end talks college
football Michigan connection
By LIZ NAGLE in baseball - I kind of just did it be the administrator that he was,
Daily Sports Writer because I love playingbaseball. But and I'm just proud of him and real
I neverreallygave it ahundred per- happy for him.
After being traded by the Den- cent in college, so it was always on TMD: Being from Michigan,
ver Broncos in 2010, tight end Tony the back burner. It was something when you came back to play for
Scheffler returned home to Michi- I enjoyed and I loved the change of Detroit, was this ultimately what
gan. pace it brought and different guys you wanted?
Over the years, Scheffler has on the team. It was a lot of fun and TS: Yeah, it just kind of worked
developed local ties to the com- kept me out of trouble in college - I out really awesome. It was a whirl-
munities in and around Detroit had to stay focused. wind when I got traded and I got
through family, friends and work. TMD: At Chelsea High School, rumor that it might be here and
On Saturday, Scheffler was one was your (baseball) coach Wayne it was just really cool. Both sides
of the thousand in attendance, Welton? of my family are from down-river
supporting C.S. Mott Children's TS: One of the best men I've ever area, so just coming back and being
Hospital during the Griese/ been around on and off the field able to play in front of my fam-
Hutchinson/Woodson Champions of play. He's a great, great man - ily every weekend and just being
for Children's Hearts weekend. there's not really words to describe back in the state. I have so many
While perusing the silent auc- him. He's a guy that expected a ties here, and it's awesome to be
tion items, Scheffler talked to the lot out of us in high school, and he back, playing for the Lions and I
Michigan Daily about his ties to his did a fantastic job of raising young get to do stuff like this on a regular
home state and the future of the men at Chelsea. There's just not a basis. And I'm still meeting guys
Lions' upcoming season. lot I can put into words to say - he like George Blaha, Ray Lane and
The Michigan Daily: At West- knows how much I appreciate him. Mark Champion ... guys that I grew
ern Michigan, you were playing And he's had a lot to do with where up listening to on the radio and
both football and baseball - what I'm at today. I'm really happy for watching on TV in the sporting
ultimately led you to choose a him. I know he's super excited to world. Now, I'm kind of rubbing
career in football? be here with (men's baseball coach elbows with them in and around
Tony Scheffler: I was on a Rich Maloney). I'm sure it's one of the state is pretty cool.
football scholarship, so I had to do his dreams come true. I know that TMD: Coming back to the Lions
everything with the football team. he's passed on opportunities like organization, what do the new
So I was always a little bit behind this before to stay at Chelsea and draft picks bring to the table?
TS: It's fun - it's always fun.
This is going on in my seventh year,
USUE Eso I probably have pretty good feel
for what goes on and helping guys
out. It's cool to see, every year, a
new wave of guys come in. Espe-
cially now with the new (Collective
Bargaining Agreement), our ros-
8 7 2 5 ter's expanded and we've got a lot
more undrafted rookies, so there's
9 3 5 a lot of guys out there. It's juts fun
to be a leader out there and help the
1 7 2young guys out. And it's definitely
fun to watch them swim a little bit
the first couple days.
4 2 6 7 TMD: There's still some con-
cern on the Lions' running game -
9what do you see there?
TS: I think if (Mikel Leshoure's)
injury comes along and, obviously,
7 1 (Jahvid Best) is a great running
back and I think we have plenty of
9 6 1 5 weapons in the backfield as long
as we stay healthy. And with our
1 7 offense, we've got so many weap-
ons that we're able to make up for
deficiencies when we get injuries.
5 3 4 It's something that all flows pretty
well, and we're excited. We love
' who we have in the backfield and,
hopefully, we can just stay healthy
back there.
SOF TBALL
Wagner dominates, sets
freshman wins record
By COLLEEN THOMAS tied Taylor with the most wins
Daily Sports Editor as a freshman with 31. Wagner
again went the distance in the
LOUISVILLE, Kent. - And circle, giving up three hits and
you thought Jordan Taylor was one earned run, and put Michigan
dominant. in a good position for a trip to the
Last year, Taylor set the Michi- NCAA Super Regional.
gan softball program record Then she went for win number
for wins and career strikeouts 32. Against the Cardinals on Sun-
and was named to the NFCA day for a trip to the Super Region-
All-American second team. As al on the line, Wagner recorded
a freshman, she set the rookie another dominating performance
record for most wins (31) and in the circle, completing her third
earned Big Ten Freshman of the game in three days, shutting out
Year honors. And now, Taylor is a Louisville while giving up six
member of the US softball nation- hits.
al team. After Saturday's game, Michi-
But the Wolverines may just gan coach Carol Hutchins was
have found a candidate to replace unsure whether or not she'd start
the former star. Wagner in Sunday's matchup, but
Enter Haylie Wagner, the said she would check with Wag-
freshman ace for the Michigan ner to see if Wagner would be
softball team. available for the third game of the
weekend. The freshman lefty had
already pitched 15 innings against
two great offensive teams, and
"I'n going to Hutchins didn't want to risk over-
use of the arm.
play my one- But that's not unusual for Wag-
. ner.
pitch softball ... "In high school I was the only
pitcher and I pitched basically
right now. every game," Wagner said after
the May 12 win against Purdue.
"But coming here it's just been
great, (and) if I have to pitch, I
Wagner, also named Big Ten pitch."
Freshman (and Pitcher) of the So after Sunday's win, Wagner
Year this season, ended the Big wasn't concerned about the tired-
Ten season as the top pitcher in ness of her arm.
the conference in ERA and wins, "(It) feels great," she said. "I
and looked to lead the Wolverines could throw for another game
to a Regional victory. right now. It feels fantastic, (and)
She led them to three. I'm going to take care of it as the
The Orange, Calif. Native days go on."
started in the circle in Michigan's Michigan plays Alabama in
Regional opener against Ken- Tuscaloosa this weekend in the
tucky on Friday afternoon and NCAA Super Regional with a trip
put up stellar numbers. Despite to Oklahoma City for the Women's
surrendering the lead in the top College World Series on the line.
of the seventh - the Wolverines The Crimson Tide are the No. 2
would come back and hit a walk- team in the country and have one
off double to win the game - of the nation's most potent offens-
Wagner gave up just one earned es. The Wolverines need to shut
run and recorded four strike- down Alabama's offense tosecure
outs in seven innings en route to a 10th berth to the WCWS.
her 30th win of the season. And And as for extendingher record
things just got better from there. to33 wins?
Wagner started again on Sat- "If it happens, it happens,"
urday against No. 9 Louisville, Wagner said. "I'm going to play
who she struggled against in the my one-pitch softball and that's
March 10 matchup when she was my mindset right now."
tagged with the loss. But this So look for Wagner to start in
time, she recorded the win and the circle. Again.
"NOTABL E QUOTA BLE
I don't know whether Barack Obama was born in
the United States or not. But I do know this, in his
heart, he's not an American. He's just not an Ameri-
can."
- Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) speaking to supporters on May 17,
as reported by the Huffington Post. He later apologized.
"Tree Town"fun
Monday, May 21, 2012
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
In rover oasis
15
When I came to Michigan three
years ago, I was a very different per-
son. It only took one springterm for
me to figure
out why this
was. It wasn't
entirely due
to the books,
the problem
sets or the
lectures. My
education has
been as much MICHAEL
Ann Arbor SMALLEGAN
as it has been
coursework.
Our school
consistently ranks among the top
learning institutions of the world,
and you might agree that this is in
large part due to the town in which
we live. We're at a school that is
deeply integrated with its sur-
rounding city. Contrast this with
Michigan State, our neighbor on
the banks of the Red Cedar. This
facet provides an opportunity, but
not one that comes in the form of
a class. We have to actively seek it,
and I don'tthink enough of us do.
The real problem here is that
there is no syllabus for exploring
Ann Arbor. So, to whet your appe-
tite while LSA drafts a course in it,
here's my outline:
In the first place, Place. This is
going to take some footwork and
involves leaving the comfortable
confines of residence hallsand
South University bars. Ann Arbor
boasts 157 city parks, not including
Nichols Arboretum, where there's
a line of 10,000 daffodils in bloom
right now. Hunt Park overlooks the
entire city. There will be a quiz on
the sunset from that vantage.
Any rigorous class should draw
from established material, and so
our itinerary will mostly be set
by a pamphlet from 1859 called
"Pleasant Walks and Drives About
Ann Arbor." I recently walked the
path of Drive A, which includes a
"genuine mountain road ... like ...
in Switzerland," and found myself
transported in time. The road
described is now blocked off to cars,
which makes it easier to imagine a
horse and carriage overtaking me
on the switchbacks.
Get your money's
worth and live it
up in Ann Arbor.
The route brings you close to
North Campus where the Bentley
Historical Library, which digitized
that pamphlet, holds 3-D stereo
photographs from the 186Os, just
in case you thought 3-D technol-
ogy was new. This library closes the
first part of the course, from which
we have gained context for what
follows.
Next up is Weirdness, in the
best way possible. Ann Arbor has a
unique voice, and because of that,
it has been heard on the national
stage many times.A character that
is self-evidently representative of
this is Homeless Dave, also known
as Dave Askins, who is the editor of
the Ann Arbor Chronicle and who
interviews people on a teeter totter.
We'll move rapidly through
Food, in which required eating
will be at Mark's Carts. Then we'll
close with Events, for which your
cheat sheet will be the Ann Arbor
Events Calendar.
This course needs no exam.
You're embedded in your location
and are shapedby it no matter what.
This course happens whether or not
you have a syllabus. The only vari-
able is how much you grow from
your surroundings.
If you treat your education as
if it only comes from lectures and
library sessions, you're getting
ripped off. Go get your money's
worth and live it up while you're
still in Tree Town.
Michael Smallegan can be
reached at smallmic@umich.edu.
Despite the fact that Face-
book has evolved tremendously
over the past
eight years, its
primary goal
of connect-
ing people has
never changed.
This social net-
working site is
a mechanism
of communi- MICHAEL
cation among SPAETH
a staggeringly
diverse array of
people. Wheth-
er rich or poor, young or old, cre-
ative or analytical,, introverted or
extroverted, the Facebook com-
munity knows no boundaries.
Introverts gain a unique ben-
efit from Facebook. When it's
used wisely, Facebook can be an
extremely valuable tool to assist
introverts as they try to navigate
challenging social environments.
By using Facebook, introverts can
have frequent or lengthy conversa-
tions with people without suffer-
ing the social anxiety of speaking
with someone face-to-face or even
over the telephone. While Face-
book can't completely replace
face-to-face relationships, it can
help introverts begin the process
of slowly forming meaningful
personal relationships with other
people, step by step.
Among other characteris-
tics, Susan Cain's book, "Quiet,"
describes most introverts as
people who prefer less stimula-
tion, think longer before they act
and think on a deeper level than
their peers. With the exception of
the video chat feature, Facebook
is conducive to these character-
istics. Unlike the immediacy of
social interaction and the stress
that comes with it, introverts can
spend as much time as they want
carefully crafting a wall post or
inbox message. Once those inter-
actions are comfortable, intro-
verts can then use the chat feature
to communicate in real time with
TE
another person while still having
time to think deeply about their
responses and avoid the social
anxiety of being in another per-
son's presence.
The experience of communi-
cating via bodies of text is also
conducive to an introvert's pref-
erence for reduced stimulation
in his or her environment. While
the Facebook website is certainly
stimulating, common character-
istics of social interaction such as
another person's body language,
vocal tone or presence at a party,
are likely to be more engaging
than sitting alone with a laptop
in a quiet house. With a compara-
tively low level of stimulation,
introverts can demonstrate their
true, favorable personalities to
new acquaintances on Facebook, a
feat that might not have occurred
in person due to the introvert's
shyness or social anxiety.
Opinions ofwriters andscholars
conflict about Facebook's effects
on social interactions. In January,
Clay Shirky, a journalism profes-
sor at New York University, told
The New York Times that "Digital
media is an amplifier. It tends to
make extroverts more extroverted
and introverts more introverted."
It's reasonable that once the devel-
opment of a personal relationship
on Facebook reaches the point at
which face-to-face interaction is
the next natural step, introverts
are likely to become more intro-
verted if they only use Facebook
for communication. I'm skeptical,
however, that Facebook makes
introverts more introverted in all
situations, since there have been
multiple cases in which Shirky's
statement isn't true.
In fact, some Internet users
experience an opposite phenom-
enon. They're actually extroverts
when they interact with other
people online. Wael Ghonim, the
creator of a Facebook page that
helped to spawn the uprising in
Egypt last year, describes him-
self as a "real-life introvert yet an
Internet extrovert" in his memoir
called "Revolution 2.0."
Facebook is a
valuable tool for
introverts.
Of course, Facebook shouldn't
completely replace personal inter-
actions. As Jenna Wortham, a
reporter for The New York Times,
has noted, "In many instances,
Facebook and Twitter make us
more curious to meet and chat
with the people we've encoun-
tered online. Knowing them on
the Web isn't enough." Once per-
sonal relationships on Facebook
become strong, attempts at deep
and meaningful communication
via Facebook begin to seem artifi-
cial. One University of California,
Los Angeles study conducted by
Prof. Albert Mehrabian found that
55 percent of human communica-
tion is body language and 38 per-
cent is voice, while only 7 percent
consists of the spoken words. If I
ever want someone to comfort me
during times of struggle, I don't
want to read two lines of a reas-
suring comment on my status.
Instead, I want somebody to sit
next to me, look me in the eye and
say that everything is going to be
fine.
Introverts need to eventually
make the transition to face-to-face
interactions with people if their
personal relationships are going
to be meaningful and long-lasting.
Facebook conversations are a valu-
able first step towards meaning-
ful social relationships with new
people. Yet, these relationships
eventually must extend beyond the
confines of the computer screen.
Michael Spaeth can be
reached at micspa@umich.edu.
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