Tuesday, May 1, 2012 Tuesday, May 1, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com WATER POLO Wolverines settle for third at Eastern Championships MEN'S GOLF Thompson finishes third at Big Ten Tournament By JEREMY SUMMITT For the Daily Coming off its 11th straight Col- legiate Water Polo Association Western Division championship, the 10th-ranked Michigan wom- en's water polo team (4-2 CWPA, 23-12 overall) was looking to con- tinue its success at the Eastern Championships at Brown Uni- versity this past weekend. But the Wolverines fell short of a cham- pionship with a 2-1 record in the tournament. On Friday, Michigan jumped out to a quick start in its first game against Bucknell (2-4, 15-24), taking a 5-3 lead into halftime. Michigan's attackers - sophomore Lauren Dudley and junior Kiki Golden - led the way with two goals each in the first half. As the second half began, the Wolverines did not let off the gas. Golden picked up a hat trick early in the third quarter, and Michigan took an 8-5 lead into the final quar- ter. Bucknell tried to make a come- back off two quick goals to start the fourth, but the Wolverines man- aged to tally three of their own in the final four minutes of play. The scoring outburst by both teams led to a final score of 12-8, and Michi- gan headed to the semifinals the next day. With much excitement and opti- mism, the Wolverines hopped into the pool to face their 14th-ranked division rival, Maryland. With a championship berth at stake, the Terrapins struck first. Maryland scored first, as the Wolverines managed to miss a pen- alty shot shortly after conceding the first goal. Following the missed penalty were two more goals, giv- ing the Terrapins a 3-0 lead after the first quarter. "If I knew (what caused the slow start), we wouldn't have been slow," said Michigan coach Matt Anderson. "(Possibly) it was because we missed the penalty shot so early." Whatever Anderson said in the huddle after the first quarter worked for the Wolverines, as they rebounded nicely to knot the score at four heading into the halftime break. The third quarter was a back- and-forth affair, with the Wolver- ines and the Terrapins exchanging goals until the quarter ended, leav- ing Maryland up, 7-6, heading into the fourth quarter. With the championship game in sight, the Wolverines came together to make one last attempt at achieving glory. The alternating trend of goals continued in the final quarter, and Maryland led Michigan, 9-8, head- ing into the final possession. The Wolverines drew a penalty with two seconds remaining and had one last chance to send the game into overtime. Golden was chosen to take the final penalty shot, but the Mary- land goalie stepped up and won the game for the Terrapins. "If we had to do it again, the best player takes the final shot," Ander- son said. "(We) missed two penal- ties this game so maybe it wasn't meant to be. They worked hard, By PETER BROWN Daily Sports Writer Matt Thompson was too busy to attend his graduation ceremony on Saturday. ' While his fellow peers were taking in Sanjay Gupta's com- mencement speech at Michigan Stadium, the senior was hitting the links for his now-alma mater at the 2012 Big Ten Champion- ships in French Lick, Ind. He didn't disappoint either. Thompson (74-73-70-72) shot a one-over-par, four-round total of 289, six shots behind champion Luke Guthrie of Illinois - good for third place individually. "I felt like I got off to a good start pretty much every round," Thompson said. "(The) first two rounds, I ended up with a couple higher scores than I would've liked to." The same could be said for a majority of the competitors as well. As the first-ever neutral site of the men's golf Big Ten Cham- pionships, the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort gritted its teeth all weekend long. Dye's course layouts frequently are given the moniker "Dye-abolical." "(It) was probably one of, if not the toughest course we've played all year," Thompson said. "Every hole was a grind. There wasn't really one hole where you stood on the tee box and you felt like you had to make birdie. Par was a good score on every hole." Following Saturday's third round, Thompson was in sole possession of second place, seven strokes behind Guthrie, who shot a stellar five-under-par 67 in the round. "Unfortunately, Luke (Guth- rie) played so well in that third round," Thompson said. "After he triple-bogeyed one of his first holes, he then had eight birdies. That's just crazy." During Sunday's final round, Thompson shot an even-par 72, complete with two birdies and two bogeys. Guthrie finished his tournament with a one-over 73, good for a five-under-par total, four strokes ahead of second-place finisher Sam Chien of North- western and six shots in front of Thompson. "There was a pretty good gap for (Thompson) to make up at the start of the day," said Michigan coach Chris Whitten. "This golf course does not really allow for someone to go out there and tear it up." It's been an uphill battle for the Wolverines this spring. In order to make their fifth-straight NCAA Regional appearance, they needed to win the the tourna- ment outright for an automatic bid. Ultimately, the Wolverines' inexperience that made them fall short. "We had four guys who had never played in the Big Ten Cham- pionship before," Whitten said. "So, I think it was a learning expe- rience for them. I know all of them wish that they had played better, and they're capable of playing bet- ter. "We're just going to take this tournament and learn from it, and it'll help us get motivated for the summer and for next year." Junior Miguel Echavarria was Michigan's second-best scorer of the tournament, ending with a 21-over-par total and tied for 33rd. The other three Wolverines mak- ing the trip down to French Lick were freshman Noori Hyun, who finished 55th, freshman Andrew Wong, who finished 56th, and junior Matt Alessi, who finished 59th. The Wolverines finished in 10th place in the team standings, one place behind their initial seeding for the tournament. As for Thompson - Michigan's record-holder for lowest scoring average in a season - his steady play all season long will more than likely warrant an individual berth at the NCAA Regional. On May 7, the NCAA will release its choices for individual at-large bids. If Thompson receives a bid, then he'll be playing at his home course come mid-May. "(Matt) has had a great year and he just keeps getting better," Whitten said. "The thing about him is his consistency. He just shows up at every single tourna- ment playing well and he did that again this week." The NCAA Central Region- al will be held at the U-M Golf Course May 17-19. NOTABLE QUOTABLE "Remember when the country rallied around you in hopes of a better tomorrow? That was hilarious. - Jimmy Kimmel addressing President Barack Obama at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, as reported by The Washington Post. WILLIAM LEAF AND BENNETT STEIN W A step too far Tuesday, May 1, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Its news, not drama 15 but there were a couple keys to the rnm game that allowed Maryland to get their goals." After a tough loss to rival Maryland, the Wolverines had to rebound quickly for their third place game against Brown Univer- sity (3-2, 20-18). Michigan jumped out to a quick lead with two goals from Gold- 6 en before surrendering the lead before halftime. In the third quarter, however, it 3 2 1 was all Golden. She scored three goals in the third to bring her game 7 total up to five heading into the fourth quarter. 3 With the game tied at six head- ing into the final quarter of play, 6 2 Michigan secured a 9-7 victory 6 over Brown, taking the third place crown. 4 "We exceeded everyone's expectations, but we didn't meet 9 our own, which is to play to be the best," Anderson said. 4 7 1This young Michigan team will take home a new piece of hard- ware, the third place crown from S Eastern Championships, which will rest nicely alongside its 11th consecutive Western Division title. Almost everyone is a criminal. If you have ever smoked marijua- na, consumed alcohol underage or walked on railroad tracks, you are guilty of a misdemeanor. You would most likely be in prison right now if you were convicted for every single offense you ever committed. We want the police to use their authority to punish people who injure others, however, they often use their power to harass and imprison those who have not harmed anyone. Many think that the police only enforce the law, and that anyone who goes to prison is getting whatthey deserve. But this is not always the case. We are all criminals, but those of us who are not in a targeted group can, for the most part, ignore this. The police rely on individual complaints and don't always enforce the law in a just manner. If every crime were prosecuted,>courts and prisons would be overflowing with pris- oners. If this were the case, politi- cians and their supporters would be caught in the system, making it necessary to reform laws and restrict police authority. To avoid criticism, police offi- cers often only arrest those who they can get away with target- log. Officers respond totvalid complaints, but they also harass homeless people, radical politi- cal groups and religious groups who have little political power. The process of choosing whom to watch and arrest is largely invis- ible to the public. Police depart- ments, such as the University of Michigan's Department of Public Safety (DPS), have internal poli- cies and individual officers that can choose when to arrest people or let them off with warnings. -Surveillance cameras make this process even more secretive and powerful. With cameras readily available, the police do not need citizens' complaints to justify who they choose to target. Video surveillance is not limited by the size of a police staff, and officers are held less accountable by the public, when they use surveillance cameras. In order to promote a just community that protects peopies' civil liberties and rights, the peo- ple need a say in police authority, and installing more surveillance cameras does just the opposite. University Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper and DPS leaders have suggested installing more cameras because of the recent increase in larcenies. Administrators must not agree to this and can support this argu- ment with evidence from around the world showing that surveil- lance cameras are often ineffective in preventing crime. Regardless of such data, some students will support the plan and many will remain apathetic because they do not think the police will be inter- ested in targeting them. While these students may be right, we must not endanger the civil liber- ties of those whom the police are likely to target. We should only accept increased police surveillance if it will bring us great benefits along with this cost. While DPS has a unique duty to promote campus safety, it must not be given free rein to unnec- essarily control our civil liber- ties. It is critical that DPS and University administrators look carefully at the potential costs of surveillance cameras on campus. Slightly reducing the chance that our laptops are stolen is not a good enough reason to give up what little oversight we have over our campus police. Bennett Stein and William Leaf are members oftthe ACLU- UM Undergraduate chapter. It's finally summer vacation. After many months of wait- ing, it's time for long weekends with friends, movie marathons and, in some households, the sound of cable news com- mentators fill- ing the home as families go_ about their daily lives. It's no secret MICHAEL that cable news SPAETH isn't always the most objec- tive. In fact, studies have shown that cable news often misinforms its viewers. In November 2011, a study by Fairleigh Dickinson Uni- versity found that Fox News view- ers were "less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their gov- ernment" than people who didn't watch any news at all. The study also found that MSNBC viewers were "most likely to think the (Occupy Wall Street) protestors are Republicans" than people who didn't watch any news. The large amount of viewers absorbing this misinformation is certainly troubling. The real prob- lem, however, lies in the common belief that watchingtelevision is a passive experience. This, in turn, makes it difficult for viewers to rationally consider political issues and events. As The New York Times columnist Jane Brody stat- ed in 2004, watching television is a "mentally passive activity." Nor- mally, we watch television when we are relaxing, texting a friend or doing another activity. Let's be honest - we don't carefully ana- lyze everything we see on televi- sion. Instead, we just sit back and enjoy the show. Most of the time, there's noth- ing wrong with that. Sitcoms, sports games, home improvement shows, dramas and most other shows on television aren't sup- posed to be carefully scrutinized. They're meant to be enjoyed. These shows are clearly adver- tised as entertainment and should be treated as such. News programs, however, aren't supposed to be entertain- ment. They're there to be actively analyzed and critiqued by view- ers when the information isn't correct or when politicians aren't being held accountable for their actions by the news media. Yet, cable news is becoming a form of entertainment in which commen- tators compete to be the loudest voice in the room, catering to the preferences and beliefs of specific viewers at the expense of provid- ing a vital service to our country. If we treat cable news as enter- tainment, we will naturally sit back and enjoy the show, instead of scrutinizing the content of the programs. When watching cable news becomes a passive expe- rience, we consciously give up our willpower to fight back with our own logical reasoning. Most importantly, without rational and informed citizens, our country is weakened greatly. When we read bodies of text, our minds are more engaged than they are when watching televi- sion. In 2009, Dr. Jennifer Otten of Stanford University's School of Medicine told The New York Times, "compared to watching television, you burn more calories reading, writing, doing desk work - pretty much any activity other than sleeping." In November, Associate Professor Dr. Ahmad Salehi of Stanford University also told The New York Times, "for everyone, the evidence is very, very strong that physical activity will ... improve cognitive health." Since we are more physically active when we read than when we watch television, reading bod- ies of text can help to improve our cognition and, in turn, improve our understanding of the facts underlying important political issues. Although some articles in news- papers, news magazines and other publications may contain con- tent that is similar to the content of cable news shows, the notion that our cognition improves when we read bodies of text suggests that our minds are more capable of fighting back against illogical arguments when we read. Even the Internet - which poses another set of problems for our cognitive processing, according to writers like Nicholas Carr - is likely to be better for our minds than televi- sion because we choose what we read on the Internet, we read at our own pace and our minds are actively processing the informa- tion. When we read, the television does not determine what informa- tion we absorb or the rate at which we receive that information. News programs aren't entertainment As the future leaders and great thinkers of the world, we need to get in the habit of actively ques- tioning and analyzing informa- tion in the political arena on its own terms, without the interfer- ence of cable news commentators who could possibly be spreading misinformation. Even if news net- works won't meet their respon- sibilities toward our country, we can still meet our responsibilities to ourselves and our futures. We can start by reading about news to further exercise our cogni- tive abilities. But when the TV is inevitably turned on, we need to separate entertainment from sub- stantive content that impacts our lives and think about the material accordingly. I plan to watch some comedies during my summer vacation. I might even watch a drama or two. But cable news won't be the source of my relaxation this summer. Michael Spaeth can be reached at micspa@umich.edu. CONTRIBUTE TO THE COVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850 words. Both must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Send submissions to tothedaily@michigandaily.com