A recent incident report from the federal Food and Drug Administration said energy products like Monster and 5-Hour Energy may have caused up to 18 deaths.

The report has led the FDA to announce last Tuesday an investigation into whether energy products pose a particular threat to teenagers or people with previously existing medical conditions.

“FDA takes every adverse event report seriously and investigates and evaluates other possible causes before deciding whether the product actually caused the medical problem,” the FDA’s report said.

The report lists the incidences of “adverse health” gathered by the Food and Drug Administration that occurred since January 2004 in connection with 5-Hour Energy, Monster, Rockstar and RedBull products. Of the 18 deaths, 13 were associated with 5-Hour Energy products, five with Monster and none with Rockstar or Redbull.

A majority of the incidents involved increased heart rate, headaches, changes in blood pressure, nausea and dizziness, which are all common side-effects of caffeine. Of the 166 incidents reported, 95 were considered serious, life-threatening or required emergency hospitalization.

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin of Illinois and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have been trying to convince the FDA since April to put energy products up to further scrutiny.

“There is very clearly a lack of understanding about the health effects of energy drinks and their ingredients especially on children and adolescents,” said Durbin in a letter to the FDA. “I am glad to see that the FDA is undertaking a review but more needs to be done and quickly. For instance, FDA can and should take action now to regulate energy drinks that are marketed as beverages, like Red Bull which has more than the standard of 71 mg of caffeine per 12oz which beverages like Coke and Pepsi are held.”

Energy products can contain anywhere form 50mg to 500mg of caffeine per serving, up to seven times the amount of caffeine in a can of soda.

The products are relatively new to the market, and many are sold as “dietary supplements” rather than conventional foods, which are subject to a much more lenient set of regulations under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

According to the FDA’s website, dietary ingredients require no FDA pre-approval before being put on the market, and the regulatory legislation puts the burden on the FDA to prove it is harmful before it can be taken off the market.

“The FDA is aware that new products and patterns of use require us to remain vigilant, and we are working to strengthen our understanding of the nature of ‘energy drinks’ and any causal risks to health,” the FDA announced in a letter.

5-Hour Energy, the company whose products were associated with the highest number of adverse incidents, said its products are safe if used responsibly.

“We recommend on product labels and our website that individuals consume no more than two bottles of 5-Hour energy shots per day, spaced several hours apart,” said Elaine Lutz, of Living Essential, a distributor of 5-Hour energy products. “We also recommend individuals new to 5-Hour energy try half a bottle to start, wait 10 minutes and consume the rest later.”

Cal State U. San Bernardino student Bartholomew Williams, 38, was shot and killed by CSUSB University Police at 6:56 p.m. on Saturday, according to a San Bernardino Police Department press release.

University Police responded to a call from University Village, an off-campus residential area for students, regarding a disturbance that involved Williams, according to the press release.

After making contact with Williams in the hallway of the dorm, Williams allegedly became aggressive, according to the press release. Police responded to the resistance and, fearing for their safety, fired shots and striking Williams.

Williams was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the press release.

The San Bernardino Police Department is handling the investigation.

San Bernardino Sergeant Shauna Gates declined to comment on the incident.

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel earned his place in history Saturday evening, becoming the first-ever freshman to claim the Heisman Memorial Trophy. Manziel will join John David Crow – winner of the 1957 award – as the lone Aggies in the legendary Heisman brotherhood.

The redshirt freshman beat out Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o and Kansas State’s Collin Klein, who finished second and third, respectively, for the nation’s most prestigious individual award. Manziel garnered 474 first place votes, defeating Te’o by a surprising 323-point margin on the final ballot.

In a Heisman race that was defined by untraditional candidates, “Johnny Football” found himself breaking the class barrier while, at the same time, preventing a purely defensive athlete in Te’o from claiming the recognition.

“I have been dreaming about this since I was a kid, running around the backyard pretending I was Doug Flutie, throwing Hail Marys to my dad,” Manziel said following the announcement. “I wish my whole team could be up here with me.”

Leading the Aggies in their inaugural season with the Southeastern Conference, Manziel was able to turn some heads with his eye-popping statistics.

In a league dominated by defensive prowess, the redshirt freshman racked up 4,600 yards of total offense in 12 games, surpassing the SEC record set by Heisman winner and former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton who generated 4,327 yards through 14 games in his 2010 national title campaign.

Furthermore, Manziel became the first freshman and only fifth player in FBS history to throw for 3,000 yards and rush for another 1,000 in the same season.

Guiding A&M to an unprecedented 10-2 season in the their new conference, Manziel compiled impressive victories over then-top ranked Alabama, Mississippi State and Louisiana Tech. In defeating the Crimson Tide at Tuscaloosa, the young quarterback rocketed himself into the Heisman conversation.

Despite his incredible compilation of accomplishments, however, Manziel was still able to remain humble upon receiving the award.

“Leadership, respect and putting others first – it’s what the 12th Man is all about,” Manziel continued. “I believe that the 12th Man is one of the greatest traditions in all of college football – forty thousand students standing not as fans, but as members of our team.

“To the 12th Man, to Texas A&M, Kerrville, Texas and Aggies everywhere, this Heisman Trophy’s for you.”

Manziel, though, wasn’t the only Aggie to secure his place in history this year.

At the college football awards ceremony Thursday night, junior offensive tackle Luke Joeckel became the first player from Texas A&M to win the Outland Trophy, given annually to the nation’s top interior lineman.

Additionally, the redshirt freshman quarterback was able to start his hardware collection on Thursday, earning the Davey O’Brien Award, bestowed each year to the country’s top quarterback.

On a celebratory note, Texas A&M has purchased the latest Heisman winner a billboard in the heart of New York City – Times Square. Similar full-page ads will run in Monday’s editions of the New York Times and USA Today, as well as multiple other national and regional publications, in an effort to push to growing A&M brand.

“With our move to the SEC, we are building a national brand for Texas A&M,” Jason Cook, the Aggies’ vice president for marketing and communications, said. “Johnny (Manziel) winning the Heisman certainly accelerates our efforts.”

With the young Heisman winner at the helm, Texas A&M will conclude their 10-2 campaign at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas against former Big 12 rival Oklahoma.

Five days after USF Athletic Director Doug Woolard stood in front of reporters at the Lee Roy Selmon Athletic Center to announce the firing of football coach Skip Holtz, multiple reports surfaced that the successor has been decided.

After reports of talks, interviews and negotiations, news that Western Kentucky coach — and Bradenton Manatee High School product — Willie Taggart will be returning to his home state broke on Friday evening.

Though USF has not released an official statement yet, Taggart reportedly told Western Kentucky players after practice on Friday afternoon that he would be coaching at USF. The Hilltoppers are preparing to play in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl against Central Michigan on Dec. 26, and it is not known whether Taggart will coach that game.

The 38-year-old Palmetto, Fla. native, who led Western Kentucky to its first ever bowl game this season, was one of the leading names after Holtz was fired, mainly because of his local ties and up-and-coming status in the college landscape.

Taggart earned local support earlier in the week when ESPN sportscaster Dick Vitale, a Tampa native, voiced his support for Taggart via Twitter and current Bradenton Manatee High coach Joe Kinnan, who coached Taggart for four years, also publicly endorsed him.

Woolard announced a coaching search had begun last Sunday. When Holtz was hired in 2010, his selection was announced six days after former coach Jim Leavitt had been fired.

Taggart was running backs coach for then-Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh form 2007-2009 and coached Toby Gerhart when the running back was invited to New York and finished second in Heisman Trophy voting.

It is unclear whether Taggart will bring his entire staff or will keep some of the current staff at USF. An official announcement is expected soon.

On Friday, Dec. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its intentions to review the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8.

The Defense of Marriage Act, enacted in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, is famous for its law in regarding that the marriage of same-sex couples in one state does not have to be honored in another state. Under the Defense of Marriage Act, a marriage in the state of Iowa between a same-sex couple does not mean the marriage will be honored in states that choose not to recognize same-sex marriage.

Currently, there are nine states that allow same-sex marriage in addition to the District of Columbia. Likewise, there are 31 states that have constitutional amendments in their state constitutions banning same-sex marriage.

Proposition 8 was the people of California’s attempt to overturn the California Supreme Court’s ruling on the banning of gay marriage in the state. Passed during the November 2008 elections, California passed Proposition 8 into their state constitution with a vote of 52.24 percent, a little over 7 million votes.

Both Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 will be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court for its constitutionality. The U.S. Supreme Court’s session is between October and June. So it is believed that the U.S. Supreme Court will make the decision by the end of the session in June after hearing oral arguments, which are predicted to begin in March.

Dirk Deam, senior lecturer in political science, said that if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the federal court that oversees the state of California in addition to eight other states, then same-sex marriage will be legal in all 50 states as federal law.

Each decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court is seen as constitutional law; thus, if the U.S. Supreme Court finds the ban of same-sex marriage unconstitutional, then the decision is seen as federal law.

If the U.S. Supreme Court decides to overturn the ban of same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, then the decision will affect all 50 states because the U.S. Constitution defines the Supreme Court’s decision as the “supreme law of the land” as stated in Section 4, Article VI of the U.S. Constitution.

However, if the U.S. Supreme Court does not rule the Defense of Marriage Act or Proposition 8 as unconstitutional, then the decision of same-sex marriage will be left up to the states to decide.

Deam explained that the U.S. Supreme Court can look at the case by viewing homosexuals as a suspect class, a group of people who have been traditionally discriminated against, or by invoking the right to privacy, marriage and procreation.

If the U.S. Supreme Court treats homosexuals as a group of people who have been discriminated against by law, then the court will treat the case with special consideration. Deam stated that sexual preference has not traditionally been considered a suspect class, but some states, such as Iowa, have treated homosexuals as a suspect class. The classical example of a suspect class is race and ethnicity.

One of the most famous cases that considers privacy as a fundamental right is Roe v. Wade (1973), which ruled abortion as being the privacy issue of a woman. Extended to same-sex marriage, the argument would be that the issue of marriage is private between the parties wishing to be married.

“In many ways, I do see this compared this to the 1967 supreme court case of Loving v. Virginia in which the Supreme Court struck down laws in a number of Southern states outlawing sexual relationships between people of different races,” said Warren Blumenfeld, associate professor of the School of Education, who teaches queer studies classes at Iowa State. “It hopefully will end the debate on whether or not same-sex couples will have the same rights as different-sex couples to marry.”

Blumenfeld was grading papers for his multicultural class when he said his phone and email blew up with news of the U.S. Supreme Court reviewing the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8. Blumenfeld said he hopes that the case will give recognition and publicity to gay rights and issues.

A common misconception about same-sex marriage is that laws regarding same-sex marriage occur because of the “right” of same-sex couples to be married. The 14th Amendment is often cited as the reason why some state constitutions overturn the ban of same-sax marriage as unconstitutional marriage.

The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment states that the rights of one group of people cannot be denied the same rights and privileges of another group. Thus, same-sex marriage is not legalized due to a person’s right to be married to someone of the same sex, but from it being unconstitutional to ban the marriage of same-sex couples according to some state constitutions.

Blumenfeld said he is “cautiously optimistic” about the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I believe even some of the more conservative justices on the Supreme Court understand and follow the Constitution,” Blumenfeld said. “Therefore, I believe they as well will vote for marriage equality.”

Family Leader, an organization with a platform opposing same-sex marriage, has been contacted for comment but could not be reached.

Steve Addazio is the new head coach for the Boston College football team.

A press conference was held yesterday to introduce the former Temple University head coach, who will take over for Frank Spaziani less than two weeks after the former coach was fired.

“The mantra of Boston College is ‘Ever to Excel,’” said Athletic Director Brad Bates. “Today we celebrate a leader who thrives in the context of daily striving for excellence.”
Addazio was signed to a six-year contract. He most recently led the Owls to a 9-4 record and their first bowl win in 32 years during his first season as a head coach in 2011. Temple then moved to the Big East from the Mid-American Conference last year, and went 4-7. Addazio also served under head coach Urban Meyer at the University of Florida, and won two national championships during his time with the Gators.

“I’m here for the long haul, and I’m here to win championships,” Addazio said. “And win championships with class and honor and develop young men on the football field and off the football field and in the classroom—men that are going to leave Boston College one day and are going to make a difference in society and this world we live in in a positive way.”
Addazio is from New England and remembers where he watched Doug Flutie’s pass to Gerard Phalen. He also was a four-year starter for Central Connecticut State University during the late ’70s, and he recalled driving up to BC with his friends at the end of every season to watch the Eagles play Holy Cross. He knew back then that he wanted to be a college football coach someday, and as he sat there watching the game, he told himself that one day he would like to bring his team out onto that field.

“My dream was to come to a university that was all about the family concept,” Addazio said. “I grew up in a strong family with strong faith, and I have an opportunity to now lead a football program within a tremendous family with a strong faith.”

Bates described the coaching search as thorough, meticulous, and deliberate. He was looking for someone who had a strong history of facilitating a family culture within a program, an inspiring passion for his students and the sports, and a pedigree of winning and building championship programs.

BC has gone two straight seasons without making a bowl game, and the team went just 2-10 this year.

“It’s time to turn the page,” Addazio said, “To come together and unite and all work together for the same goals.”

He announced that Ryan Day, formerly a wide receivers coach at BC and the offensive coordinator at Temple last season, will take over for Doug Martin as BC’s offensive coordinator. He will take time to evaluate the rest of the staff as he gets settled, but he is already infusing the program with his enthusiasm.

“When you press play on the video, what I’ll expect and what I’ll want you to see is a team that plays with energy and passion and a love of the game and is excited,” he said. “A team that plays hard. A team that you can tell loves the game of football and treats it as a privilege and not as a right.”

The players met the coach for the first time during a team meeting before Addazio’s introductory press conference.

“We’re not playing in a bowl game,” he said. “We’re hungry and we’re disappointed. I talked to the team before I came in here. I said to the team, ‘You sit in that chair and I hope there’s a disappointment. I hope it hurts. I hope there’s a hunger and I hope there’s a drive. I hope that you understand that you came to Boston College to win championships, and I hope that fuels as we start this offseason workout program, because we’re all striving for success and we’re all competitors.’”

Addazio stressed the importance of his role off the field as well.

“I’m a teacher, and it’s very important to me to know that I can be a small piece of the development of a young man,” Addazio said. “The whole young man, not just the football piece.”

He also emphasized that BC is the perfect place for him.

“I want to be here and finish my career here,” he said. “This is where I want to be. I have a home up in Cape Cod. I’m in New England. I’m at the most wonderful place I could possibly be at, and I couldn’t be more clear about that.”

It will be nine months until Addazio coaches his first real game as an Eagle at USC to start the 2013 season, but his energy and his passion are already evident.

“I’m proud to be a Boston College Eagle, and I won’t let you down,” he said. “I’ve got drive and I’ve got energy. I’ve got a love and passion for what I do, for these student-athletes, and for Boston College.”

Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long introduced the new head football coach to trustees and media at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

It streamed online and on local television stations for fans to watch as well.

Bret Bielema ended his seven-year term with the Wisconsin Badgers Tuesday, yet he did not break stride when addressing questions about his former team and his dedication to the Razorbacks.

“What today brings is an opportunity for me to stand in front of you and chase a dream,” Bielema said.

Bielema did not specify what the dream was, but expressed more than once that he wanted to be at a place where he could do something that had never been done before.

Living in a state with no professional sports teams and no other division one college programs makes Razorback fans a passionate group, and that is something that has Bielema excited to be here, he said.

“From this day forward we will do nothing but as players and coaches to try to give you every win you deserve,” Bielema said.

A large part of the battle in college football is recruiting quality athletes, and there was some concern from fans about Bielema’s ability to recruit in the South.

However, Bielema’s teams have featured multiple players out of south Florida and Texas. One of the things Bielema said he will emphasize in recruiting is putting a focus not on the player, but on the person.

“We’ll recruit uncommon men here,” Bielema said.

Since the hire was made, there has been speculation about what members of the current staff will be retained what new faces will be brought in.

Bielema said he will talk with each member of the current staff before making any kind of decision about who will be on the staff going forward. He did say that the administration at Arkansas will make it possible to hire a top notch staff.

“The staff that I’m going to assemble is going to be second to none,” Bielema said.

Bielema said he left a great place, but the opportunity to coach in the Southeastern Conference, especially at Arkansas could not be passed up.

“There’s only one school I would have done it for,” Bielema said.

The Big Ten recently announced the addition of U. Maryland and Rutgers U., bringing the conference to 14 members. In addition to bringing inroads into the East Coast TV markets and the all important revenue that will result, the two research institutions also joined the Committee on Institutional Cooperation with considerably less fanfare. The CIC consists of the Big Ten institutions, plus the University of Chicago, which was a founding member of the Big Ten until it withdrew from the conference in 1946 in order to prioritize academics over athletics. The decision would be unthinkable today.

Prior to the addition of Maryland and Rutgers, the Big Ten earned nearly half a billion dollars from football revenue alone and profits somewhere around half of that. Yes, some of this goes to support other sports and supports Title IX-mandated women’s sports. The new TV deals stemming from the addition of Maryland and Rutgers are predicted to add some additional $200 million annually. Coaches make big bucks — Iowa’s football coach Kirk Ferentz is the highest-paid employee of the state of Iowa, commanding some $3.8 million annually. Minnesota’s own Jerry Kill makes at least $1.2 million a year. Announcers and TV networks profit. Vendors profit. Contractors are paid for the new facilities. All in all, college athletics is a high-dollar affair.

But where do the student-athletes fall in this scheme? Generously, a full-ride scholarship is in the ballpark (pun intended) of $50,000, covering tuition, room and board, books and health care. This figure omits the extra “gifts” players receive upon earning bowl berths. Of course, athletes are also prohibited from receiving fringe benefits from boosters, which at big-name schools can include big-ticket items like cars or money from selling jerseys. Violations have led to high-profile sanctions upon the biggest programs. Yes, such practices may not be completely ethical, but given the short end of the stick athletes get in the NCAA, it is hard to blame them for taking outside boosters up on their offers. Many students come from humble backgrounds and cannot even afford to fly family members to bowl or tournament games.

Recently, the NCAA decided to allow colleges to provide student-athletes with a pittance of an extra $2,000 stipend but quickly suspended the measure after backlash from institutions unwilling to commit the extra $1 million for athletes to pay for their families to travel to see them play. Student-athletes are also prohibited from earning more than that $2,000 working a part-time job. While, yes, receiving pay without working would be unethical, such a prohibition seems to only incentivize players to take advantage of those other offers given by boosters outside the NCAA’s ability to effectively monitor and control. Simply paying athletes a reasonable compensation for the services they provide in generating millions of dollars in profits for their university, which also fail to include the alumni donations brought in by exposure of the athletics programs that benefit the general student population, seems reasonable.

As the super-conferences align and the ever-increasing TV revenue deals continue to provide college athletics with expanded revenues, the time has come to abandon the antiquated and unfair idealism of clinging to amateurism. These institutions owe a lot to their athletes and should compensate them as such.

In a society that values technology for both its potential for good and its capability for evil, the “hactivism” tactics of loosely-affiliated hacker group Anonymous has provided a glimpse into the shifting boundaries of law, ethics and the morals of activism.

The group uses its collective expertise to manipulate the system in a way that, to its followers, is morally right.

Despite working for human rights, a valiant cause, the tactics of the group are ethically wrong. Yet they have created important dialogue that needs to be considered as technology improves and the borders of our society change with further globalization.

When Tunisia sparked the Arab Spring movement in 2010, demonstrations and protests ensued that threatened the tenure of long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The Tunisian government tried to block Internet communications in and out of the country. Disturbed, the Anonymous hactivists sprung to action by hacking the Tunisian government’s servers and showing the rebellion how to go around the government’s ploy, according to Al Jazeera.

More recently, Anonymous has hacked Israeli government websites, leaving messages saying “Stop bombing Gaza!! We Anonymous will not sit back and watch a cowardly Zionist State demolish innocent people’s lives.”

Perhaps its greatest trait, Anonymous does not have a leader. It does not have a headquarters and it seems nearly impossible to know for sure who is in the group. The only thing that connects the group of hackers is that they collect intelligence of wrongdoing and combine their forces to try and eradicate it.

Their adage, “we are anonymous, we are legion, we do not forgive, we do not forget, expect us,” sends a clear message of their intentions towards those they deem a threat to society.

Despite its work against these enemies, its tactics are intimidating and unconventional in that the group does not wish physical harm on perpetrators of rights violations; only a revelation of a hidden truth in need of exposure.

What makes Anonymous strikingly intimidating is that it uses tactics that are ethically wrong to achieve goals that are morally right. The ethical dilemma of whether or not to condone this type of vigilantism begs to question the reasons the vigilante acts are conducted.

To just play devil’s advocate would undermine the serious consequences that borderline lawlessness can create. If the system of checks and balances that Anonymous is trying to put in place becomes too strong, it raises the concern of who would be able to stand up to the power that the group gained through working outside of the law.

There are evils in this world. For every tragedy and transgression that occurs, there is a tendency to question whether something could have been done. Anonymous has gained our attention in ousting those who they believe to be evil and it can only continue as long as their “Robin Hood” mentality does not escalate to anything more nefarious.