Kirton was helpful for the Hawks this weekend as she led the team in kills against Binghamton. Courtesy of Hartfordhawks.com

This weekend the University of Hartford Volleyball Team added a win and a loss to their record in the America East Conference.

On Friday night at the Reich Family Pavilion in their America East home opener the Hartford volleyball team fell in a four-set decision to the University of Albany Great Danes.

The Hawks made the second of four sets interesting by making it a constantly back and forth battle to the finish that ended in favor of the Hawks, 28-26.

Leading the attack for Hartford, Dionna Kirton, finished the match with a high of 15 kills.

Following Kirton, Corinne Horanzy finished in the double figures as well with a respectable 11 kills.

Also contributing to the Hartford attack, with a leading hitting average of .238 was Lindsay Anderson. Anderson and Maya Louis finished with eight and seven kills, respectively.

Hartford had a strong defensive showing by having four players finish in double figures.

The defense was lead by setter Jackie Tamburri with 22 digs, who also finished with 41 assists for her team-leading ninth double-double of the season.

Adding to the defense, Sareeta Nethersole and libero Paola Llernadi both finished with 16 digs and Kirton had 15 as well.

In the deciding fourth set the teams were tied at 12, 15, and 17. Albany took the final set in a 25-21 victory.

Sunday proved to be a better day for the team. The Hawks swept the Binghamton Bearcats in three sets with scores of 25-23, 25-16, 25-12.

Kirton led all players with kills in the match with a career-high hitting performance with 17 kills and hitting a 53.3 percent for the Hawks.

Kirton was joined by Nethersole and Horanzy, who both finished with 10 kills each.

Horanzy finished with a 38.9 percent hitting average. Considered as a team as a whole, Hartford finished with a season best hitting average of .352 with 51 errors and matching a season low of 13 errors in 108 attempts.

This 35 percent hitting average for Hartford is the third match this season that the Hawks have hit 30 percent or over.

Offensively, the team was led by Tamburri who finished with 39 out of the 42 assists by Hartford.

The Hartford defense was led by Llerandi with 12 digs at the end of the match.

Llerandi was the only defensive player to finish in double figures. Adding to the defensive Horanzy has eight digs.

Also the Hawks had four total service aces along with four total blocks and one stop in which Anderson had a hand in.

The first saw the teams hold for 10 ties and six total lead changes before falling in favor of the Hawks.

The second set started somewhat slower as Hartford used a series of nine points over a 12 point stretch to gain their first lead of the match with the scoreboard reading 12-8.

The Hawks again took a commanding lead of 23-15 before again taking the set and a two game advantage off a kill from Louis.

In the third set of this match the Hartford Hawks had runs of eight and then seven straight to pull away from the Binghamton Bearcats and pull off the three set clean sweep victory with a commanding 25-12 final score.

The Hawks record now stands at 7-12 overall and 1-2 in the America East Conference.

The team will be on the road for their next four matches, the first of their opponents will be the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks, the newest members of the America East Conference, on Friday Oct. 11 at 7 p.m.

Spremullo was unable to give the Hawks a goal in their two loses. Brian Izzo | The Informer

The University of Hartford Women’s soccer team lost against the Maine Black Bears Thursday night in a close 1-0 game.

Hartford finished the game with a 13-12 advantage over the Black Bears in shots. Hartford keeper Jessica Jurg made three saves on the night while the Black Bears keeper made one.

Hartford first had an opportunity to score in the 18 minute of the game when sophomore midfielder, Sydney Spremullo, managed to get past the Black Bears defense.

The defense caught up to her after a few dribbles and managed to block her shot.

The Black Bears made their first shot on goal in the 27 minute, when sophomore forward Eve L’Abbe shot from just outside the 18 yard box.

Jurg got to the ball and got her first save on the night.

The Hawks got their first two shots on goal with about 10 minutes left in the first half.

Spremullo sent a corner kick into the box where junior midfielder Chanel Johnson took a shot, which was blocked by the defense for a team save.

Sophomore forward Elise Galipo got the ball off the rebound and took another shot, which also was blocked.

Hartford managed a total of seven shots while the Black Bears managed six in the first forty-five minutes and the two teams went into halftime tied at zero.

About 15 minutes into the second half, Hartford got two free kick opportunities ten yards from the box.

Junior midfielder Stephanie Santos took both shots.

The first shot went over the crossbar and the second was kicked by Santos and then headed by junior forward Raelynn Mikell but also went high.

With 18 minutes remaining in the second half, Santos was awarded a free kick two yards outside the corner of the box.

She missed after her shot went just a yard over the crossbar.

With 11 minutes left on the clock, the Black Bears took the lead after L’Abbe took a shot from the edge of the box which was blocked by Jurg.

L’Abbe got the rebound and took another shot from the edge of the six yard box which went in and broke the tie.

Hartford was unable to score a goal of their own and the game ended with a 1-0 score.

And after a double overtime 1-0 loss to New Hampshire, another America East team, the Hawks record in conference dropped to 1-2 and 6-4-3 overall on the season.

UNH would score their game-winning tally with 3:45 remaining in the second extra period. Anna Deweirdt, who came off the bench for the Wildcats, bent her attempt over the outstretched arms of Jurg into the upper right corner of the net.

The Hawks will conclude their three game home stand tonight, Oct. 10, at 6 p.m. with a game against the Stony Brook Seawolves.

Fans like these make themselves look foolish for fighting. Courtesy of Sportspollution.com

Poor Matt Schaub can’t seem to catch a break. First he breaks the record for the number of games a quarterback has thrown an interception that gets returned for a touchdown.

Then he gets benched at the end of the third quarter of the Texans game against the 49ers this past week after throwing for 173 yards and three picks in a 24-3 game.

Finally, it was reported that a fan showed up to the quarterback’s house in Houston, berating him because of his poor performance as of late.

The majority of us may think that this fan is insane for putting serious effort into finding where Schaub lives just to go there and yell at him because he hasn’t played as well as he used to and it’s affecting the team and the fan base in a negative fashion.

Yes, all of us can get upset at the teams we like because of the poor choices they make on the field, but can we truly control it?

You may think all that yelling at the television screen will make the quarterback throw to that wide receiver, but surprisingly enough it doesn’t do jack squat.

We all know those serious fans that get into each game too much and will use their Facebook and Twitter to tell everyone that their opinion regarding their team is right no matter who says what.

And if someone argues that point they make, they will do everything they can to prove that they’re right and the other person is wrong and for the most part it is done in an immature way, rather than done in a professional way by actually talking the argument out.

Then you will also get a person who is of equal or greater stupidity and continue to argue the point until the comment thread is up to 300 comments between two people who have done nothing but argue and prove nothing except that they are not the brightest of people.

Another type of fan I can’t stand, are fans that think that everything about their organization and anything they do is absolutely right and nothing is wrong and they are the best team in the entire league.

Then when someone attempts to argue their point, rather than trying to back up the point they make, they will take shots at your team, who was originally not even in the conversation.

I see this in a lot of Jets fans. They’ve got their blinders on and anything that comes out of Rex Ryan’s mouth they believe.

Rex says we’re going to win a super bowl, so it must be true, is a thought of every Jet fan, and look how that turned out.

No Super Bowls and a buttfumble play that had to be retired on the worst of the worst on Sportscenter.

Now for those of you who know what teams I like, you know that I’m a fan of the Buffalo Bills. You don’t have to tell me they stink, because I know it and there is nothing to argue.

But when you try to bring that in when I say that Geno Smith can’t get you to the playoffs, you are already losing in that conversation.

But if you take these types of fans and multiply it by about ten and add an anger management problem and a little bit of alcohol, you get the worst types of fans.

The physical ones.

These fans are the scum of the earth. First they’ll try to push your buttons and try to start something whenever they have a chance.

Or just for no reason start physical fights because either their team is losing or you are rooting for a team they don’t like.

Usually alcohol plays a big part in this, and will induce a lot of swearing and punches between two opposing fans.

It may start as a silly argument of something happening on the field, where one fan may argue a play that happened or why this player is doing this.

Then in comes another drunk fan to argue that point, and on goes the brawl that usually ends up on YouTube where millions go make fun of the idiots fighting.

Unfortunately there have been even worse instances where violence between fans can take a turn for the worse.

During opening day two years ago between rivals the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers, Giants fan Bryan Stow was beaten after the game by two Dodger fans.

Stow was induced into a coma and suffered serious brain injuries and he will never be the same.

Even though rivalries are good for the sports world, in no way, shape or form should someone be almost murdered because they like a certain team.

Fans also need to realize they have no impact or say in what happens during the game.

That is all up to the athletes and coaches, the fans don’t play, they do.

You can cheer and argue all you want, but what the players do on the court or field will be the only factor of what the final outcome will be.

Aikens helped out the Hawks with one of the team’s assists. Charlie Kahn | The Informer

The University of Hartford Women’s soccer team opened conference play on Sunday in Albany, New York against the University of Albany Great Danes.

The Hawks were picked by the league coaches to win the America East championship this year, edging out last year’s champion Stony Brook, and so far this season they have a record of 5-2-3.

The game got off to a fast start as about five minutes in, Great Danes freshman midfielder, Caitlyn Paltsios, scored the team’s first and only goal. Hawks keeper Jessica Jurg made three stops and the score remained 1-0 going into halftime. She would go on to finish the game having allowed one goal and recording one save. Danes keeper, Jackie Ubert, allowed three goals, all of which occurred in the second half, and recorded three saves on the game.

The Hawks picked it up in the second half though, scoring three goals in under twenty minutes. Hartford senior Natasha Douglas scored two goals, on two attempts, in the game including the game tying and winning goals.

Sophomore Sidney Spremullo scored her second goal of the season in the 79 minute to give the Hawks some insurance.

The Hawks got a total of four assists over the course of the game. Caitlin Smallfield sent the ball over the Danes defense where Douglas managed to get possession and shoot the ball into the goal.

The second assist came from Emma Donnelly. Douglas managed to work her way behind the Danes defense when Donnelly passed her the ball, which she managed to get past Ubert for a goal.

The third and fourth assists came from Arielle Aikens and Elise Galipo. Forward Raelynn Mikell passed the ball up to Aikens who passed the ball into the box where Galipo was able to head it, passing it to Spremullo at the far post for the goal.

The Hawks outshot the Great Danes 17-10 with the Danes only managing two shots on the goal in the second half. Neither shot gave Jurg, much trouble.

The final score was 3-1 in favor of the Hawks who improve their record to 6-2-3 on the season. The Great Danes left the game with a 1-9 record with their only win coming in the season opener against Florida Atlantic.

Since 2001, the Hawks have played the Great Danes a total of 13 times resulting in a record of 10 wins, one loss, and two draws. However, after initially going 9-0 against them, the Hawks hit a bit of a rough patch in which they went 0-1-2 against them. Their only loss against them came in the 2011 America East semi-finals. They broke the winless streak last year after winning a game against the Great Danes two to nothing.

The Hawks will play their next three games at home, the first of which will be against the Maine Black Bears which will take place Thursday, Oct. 3.

Nethersole’s effort wasn’t enough for Hartford against the Friars. Courtesy of HartfordHawks.com

This past Sunday, the Volleyball team took on Providence College in its league-opening match. The Hawks would drop in three straight sets, with scores of 25-17, 25-20 and 25-21.

The Friars improve to 8-9 on the season with a 1-0 record in the America East, while Hartford drops to 6-11 on the season and are still looking for their first conference win.

Providence had the lead most of the way in the first set, ending with a 25-17 set win. Freshman Kayla Fitzgerald led the Friars with four kills in the set. The Friars combined for a .333 hitting percentage.

The second set started off back-and-forth with the Friars taking the advantage at the 14-13 mark. Providence then went on to take the 25-20 set victory. Junior Mackenzie Ziegler led the team in kills with four.

Providence picked up the sweep match victory in the third set (25-21). The Friars used four blocks in the set to aid their win. Fitzgerald notched five kills in the set and freshman Michelle Cruz recorded seven digs.

Overall, Providence was led by Fitzgerald with 11 kills. Sophomore Jordan Wiesler contributed 33 assists and Cruz had a game-best 19 digs.

Junior outside hitter Sareeta Nethersole led all players in the match finishing with 16 kills while the leading player for Providence was Fitzgerald, who finished with 11.

Also posting 8 kills for the day, was Maya Louis and teammates Lindsay Anderson and Corinne Horanzy both finished with 6 and 5 kills, respectively.

Overall the Hartford Hawks finished the match with 41 kills to 125 attempts (accounting for 22 errors) for an average of .152 for the day.

Jackie Tamburri led not only all the setters in the match with 36 out of 39 total Hartford assists, but also led the Hartford Hawks’ defense with 14 digs.

The defense provided a solid effort with Paola Llerandi, Sareeta Nethersole and Dionna Kirton adding 12, 11, and 10 digs, respectively.

They will get that chance taking on two worthy teams at home this coming week.

The Hartford Hawks Volleyball Team looks to improve their Conference record next with a pair of two exciting match ups which begin this coming Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. against the Albany Great Danes.

The Albany Great Danes is the team to beat according to a vote from a league of head coaches pegging them as the next America East Champions.

Albany is coming off a clean sweep of the reigning league champions of Binghamton, who then face the Hawks a few days later.

Natasha Douglas leads the Hawks with two goals and five points this season. Charlie Kahn | The Informer

The women’s soccer team headed south this past weekend for the Fairfield Stag tournament where they faced the Holy Cross Crusaders and the American Eagles.

In the first matchup, the Hawks would look to repeat what they did last year against the Crusaders, by winning 4-0. However, it was a much closer game this time around.

Once again, freshman goalkeeper had a very proficient outing with five saves over a course of 110 minutes in a 0-0 tie.

Her five saves were a career high for her and she was also given her second straight shutout of the season.

One of Hartford’s best chances to get the go ahead goal was in the second minute of play, as sophomore Sydney Aldrich sent in a corner that connected with the head of freshman Caitlin Smallfield but was blocked by the Crusader defense.

Senior Natasha Douglas then found the ball and shot the ball toward the net, but was about five yards to wide.

Shortly after, junior Chanel Johnson forced Holy Cross keeper, Carly McCabe, to make her first save of the match.

McCabe was also tested as she saved a pair of shots in the 22 and 29 minutes of play from Hartford’s Emma Donnely and another from Johnson.

With 15 minutes left to play in the second half, McCabe made another play off Johnson’s that was headed for the corner of the goal.

McCabe then stopped the following corner kick when Smallfield attempted another header.

In overtime, senior Arielle Aikens gave the Hawks their only shot in the first 10 minutes, which McCabe would stop and also pick up her fourth save of the game.

In the second game, Jurg would once again pick up another shutout, making it her third straight, as the Hawks would go on to beat American with a final of 1-0.

Jurg, along with Amanda Hamilton and Johnson were part of the All-Tournament team, due to her two solid performances.

The freshman keeper collected four saves with sophomore Elise Galipo scoring the lone goal in the seventh minute of the match.

Galipo would send the ball to Johnson who in return fed her the ball to the top corner of the box as she placed it past the Eagle keeper, Charlene Balanger, at the far post.

Three minutes later the Hawks, fired out back to back shots in just eleven seconds, the first being blocked by an American defender and the second soaring wide of the goal.

American and Hartford both came out kicking, with the Eagles getting a pair of shots in the first 34 seconds, as Jurg collected her first save on the second.

The second half was not very different for the Hawks, as they came out once again, taking a shot in the first 28 seconds from Johnson, as Belanger made another save.

Johnson set a career high in shots, with 11, as the team made a total of 16 shots, with Belanger making six saves.

The Hawks will play hosts to the Blue Devils from Central Connecticut this Sunday at 2 p.m.

Due to their hard work this past week, both MacKinnon and Jurg were awarded rookie of the week. Courtesy of www.thesportsbusinessexchange.com

Rookie goalkeepers Jessica Jurg and David MacKinnon were both honored with the America East Rookie of the Week awards.

Jurg, shared her award with Mimi Borkan, a goalkeeper from New Hampshire.

MacKinnon was the lone winner on the men’s side.

This past week, Jurg helped the women’s team by earning a pair of shutouts and collecting nine saves.

She also was one of three Hawks to earn All-Tournament accolades at the Fairfield Women’s Soccer Invitational this past weekend.

She led Hartford to a 1-0-1 record for the tournament.

Ever since taking over duties in net, before the start of the Fairfield game, Jurg has yet to allow a goal in 290 minutes with a record of 2-0-1 in that span.

This past tournament at Fairfield, she collected nine saves, five against Holy Cross and four against American, giving her 14 on the year so far.

On the men’s side, MacKinnon also did not allow a goal this past week, playing for a total of 200 minutes and helping the Hawks to a 1-0-1 record and getting his second and third shutout of his career.

This award was Hartford’s first of the season, as MacKinnon combined for seven saves for this week, as five of them came in a 1-0 victory of UMass last Wednesday.

The rookie then made a pair of saves during the Hawks 0-0 stalemate against American this past Friday.

Since he made his college debut in the second half against Villanova on Sept. 3, he has been a force on the pitch.

MacKinnon has stopped all 12 shots on goal that he has faced over a course of 355 minutes.

He is currently tied with three other goalkeepers, and the only freshman on the list, with a 0.00 goals-against average and a 1.000 save percentage.

The rest of the defense, featuring sophomores Jhamie Hyde and Blake Jones, and juniors Damion Lowe and Rohan Roye, have only allowed one goal this year and is own of the nation’s best teams in goals-against average with a 0.18.

That lone goal was scored 355 minutes and 53 seconds ago, when they face Villanova.

Hartford has still yet to lose a game in the 2013 campaign, standing with a record of 3-0-2.

This is the team’s best start based on win percentage after five games since they went 4-0-1 during their Division 1 inaugrual season back in 1984.

Muggsy Bogues broke height barriers as an all-star on the basketball court. Courtesy of NBA.com

Throughout my entire life, sports have been a big part of who I am, and what I do.

They have shaped me into the person I am today, and have given me skills that I will use for the rest of my life.

I’ve learned skills like leadership, teamwork, selflessness and many others.

I’m sure that I am not the only one who has played sports that feels this way.

With all the camaraderie that sports has taught me, I have learned to accept people for who they are and as long as they put in the effort they will always share something important with me.

However, something that I have always noticed, whether it be at the college, high school or even the professional level there have been incidents of stereotypes for most sports.

These stereotypes usually start off in the movies or television shows and spread out to reality and are continued by normal people.

One stereotype that I have always noticed or heard people talk about is that all tall people can play basketball.

While it is true, that there are teams that consist of athletes who are  above average height, it’s not true that because someone is six feet or taller they can  be a star on the court.

Another body stereotype people seem to have, is that large people can play football as a lineman.

Yes, there are rather large people that play football, but those athletes have been training for years, and are in good shape for their size.

Normally, large people, have trouble running or doing athletic activities because they have not been exercising regularly like the athletes that play football.

Often more than not, college athletes are portrayed as people that only care about their sport and will make some nerd do their homework or pay that teacher off, or just be excused from doing the homework because they’re the star athlete.

Of course, this also isn’t true with every single athlete in the NCAA.

Those incidents are really only seen in the movies as being true, and how NCAA is these days, it would be pretty difficult for an athlete not to do  his work or paying someone to do it.

Also, athletes may be seen as dumb and need help on every assignment that they have to do and barely pass each of their classes.

Here at Hartford, there are have been numerous amounts of times when our athletes have been given awards for doing really well in academics.

For the past few years, Hartford athletes have had a combined grade point average of a 3.0 or higher.

With those grades, it’s proven that at Hartford we’re good not just on the field, but off it as well.

Unfortunately, there are also hurtful stereotypes that people like to make up about athletes who play certain sports, whether it’s here at Hartford or some other school.

Personally, I have been a part of a team that is always stereotyped here on campus.

The men’s rugby team.

Even from the beginning as a freshman, I always heard that they were a dangerous group of guys, all they do is party and the list goes on and on.

Even after hearing all these warnings, I still wanted to be a part of something that was a team, and at that point, the only option was rugby.

As I’m sure with other sporteams that have been stereotyped, you shouldn’t say anything until you have tried it.

With the amount of hard work that I put in each week, I could see that these so-called “stereotypes” were far from true.

Still, even though  I have been on this team for four years, there are still always people talking behind my back about how bad of a team we are and all the bad things we do.

To those people talking bad about not just rugby, but other teams as well, have you ever tried talking to those people and getting to know them, or do you just go on something someone told you, at a party sometime?

Stereotypes will forever be a part of our lives, and will most likely never go away, but instead of believing everything you hear, go and find out for yourself first hand if these “stereotypes” are even true.

Volleyball looks to dig out of their losing ways in the weeks to come. Brian Izzo | The Informer

The University of Hartford Volleyball team lost in a three-set decision to the visiting Holy Cross Crusaders this past Tuesday night at the Reich Family Pavilion.

The Hawks, who are now 2-7 in overall play, were led by freshman Corinne Horanzy who finished with seven kills and eight digs.

Not too far behind Horanzy was sophomore Chandler Goodwin and senior Dionna Kirton who both finished the game with five kills.

Goodwin also completed the game with a .200 hitting average in 15 attempts, but accumulated two errors as well.

The Hawks and Crusaders went back and forth for the first eight points of the game,until Hartford picked up two more points and took and early lead of 6-4.

The points came off of junior setter Jackie Tamburri’s kill, while sophomore Alicia Tripoli then added the first ace of the set.

Holy Cross then returned the favor with three of their own points to take a one point lead, which eventually led to Hartford’s last lead of the first set of 10-9 with a kill by Horanzy.

Hartford started off the second match like they did in the first by scoring early and taking a 4-2 lead, with a kill from Kirton and blocks from senior Lindsay Anderson and Horanzy.

Then the Crusaders went on a 6-1 run to give the visitors a 10-6 lead with an ace from Kamele Shizuru and a kill from Katie McKernan and would not look back and take the second set with ease.

In the third set the Hawks started a tremendous comeback after being down 18-12 by scoring eight straight points to get a 20-18 point advantage.

But after a kill from Horanzy, the Crusaders would muster out six points to finish out Hartford and take the game and match victory.

Tamburri finished with a team best .500 hitting average without an error in six attacks and three kills.

The Hawks finished with 28 kills and 19 errors in 109 attempts. Kirton and Junior Sareeta Nethersole stole the show on defense finishing with 11 digs apiece.

Nine other players also had assists on the defensive end. Freshman Paola Llerandi and Horanzy both ended the match with nine and eight digs, respectively.

The Hawks will return to tournament play with a pair of games at the Art Carmichael Invitational hosted by the University of Rhode Island.

Hartford opens the two-day event with a Friday afternoon match against Texas-El Paso at 3 p.m. before taking on the host Rams on Saturday also at 3 p.m.

Manziel is one of many athletes who have been put on a pedestal. Courtesy of Bleacher Report.com

If you follow sports closely, you will recognize the name Johnny Manziel when it’s either spurted out on Sports Center every ten minutes or just in a normal day with friends or co-workers.

This past year’s Heisman winner has been part of a lot of controversy this summer with his partying lifestyle and alleged “drug-use”.

And more recently his autograph signing scandal that occurred during Texas A&M’s 41-13 Cotton Bowl victory over the Oklahoma Sooners this past January.

It was leaked that Manziel had signed up to thousands of autographs for some sort of price and that this may not have been the only incident.

It is a well-known fact that college athletes are not allowed to profit from any sort of signatures or products that have their name on it or have been endorsed by said athlete.

There will always be the controversy of whether or not the NCAA profits too much on athletes like Manziel, Jadaveon Clowney of the South Carolina Gamecocks and many others.

And if those athletes should see some of that money. But that’s not what we’re looking at right now.

Manziel, being a young 20 year old who goes to school at a big southern school and the face of the football team, should be allowed to do what he wants as long as he does what he’s supposed to on the field and academically.

With all of the pressure most college kids feel from just classes and some activities, one can only imagine how hard it is to do that and then have everybody in the country just waiting for you to mess up. So let Manziel be a bro and do his thing.

If I were in the position of being a college athlete at a school like A&M, I would want everyone to think higher of me and I would want to get away with little things like missing homework assignments, being able to drink underage and not have a true care in the world except for next weeks game.

Manziel and other college athletes spend so much of their childhood and early adulthood to become the best athlete they can be and when they get to college they should have every right to be on a higher pedestal than those who have not put in all that work to become a college athlete.

I feel bad for Manziel, the media is on his case 24/7 and if he slips or is seen to be “partying” too much, then the school has to clean it up somehow and make sure he doesn’t stay in the spotlight as much.

But for Manziel, that seems too hard for him to do because he just wants to be a college kid and have fun, but being the face of a big school is pretty hard to do that. If he acts negatively then the school gets negative reviews and it doesn’t look good on them.

For bigger schools, you spend millions of dollars on these athletes to come to your school and make your sport programs better and eventually get that money back and better your school as a whole. So schools should want players like Johnny “football” to just focus on their sport and not put that much effort on academics.

It sounds bad, but like I said, that’s why they are there, to win games for your school. And if paying someone to make sure that player passes in order for them to put more effort in the weight room then so be it.

However, at Hartford, even though we are a division one school, we are not seen as a “power-house” in the NCAA.

Unless we get some super star athlete like we have in the past like Vin Baker or Jeff Bagwell, then the students and athletes are very much on the same pedestal.

There are incidents where athletes are able to miss class because of their games and that is totally acceptable, but there is no reason that an athlete at Hartford should be able to get away with being reckless and their reason for that is because they are a Hartford athlete.

Because we are such a small school, we need to have more a connectedness between students and athletes and not separate each other from one another.

All students need to go to games, and athletes need to respect the students and acknowledge that they are part of this school.

So let the big time athletes be themselves and fool around because they deserve it with the winning they do and the money they bring their school. As for Hartford athletes, just keep going out on your field, win those games and show what we can do.