ESPN’s hit series, 30 for 30, takes an in depth look at unique occurrences in the sports world.  The documentaries uncover not only stories about sport superstars, but it uncovers how situations, players and teams altered the sport landscape while also changing pop culture and the future of how sports are played, viewed and heralded.

The latest documentary ESPN released chronicled Michigan’s Fab Five recruiting class of the early 1990s.

The class included five of the top fifty recruits in the nation at the time (Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King and Juan Howard).

The premier of this documentary could not have come at a better time with the emergence of March Madness and the ever growing contribution of talented freshmen.

Unknowingly, these five players changed the game of college basketball forever as they paved the path for early success in collegiate basketball.

The Fab five brought swag to basketball that makes the game and March Madness one of the most exciting sporting events. At the time college basketball was pre-dominantly white and short shorts were the style. Black socks, long shorts and showmanship was what the Michigan Wolverines brought to the scene, all things college basketball never had before these fearless five teenagers.

While they never quite lived up to their potential by winning a National Title and were eventually removed from collegiate basketball record books due to money scandals, Jalen Rose sums it up best when he states that nobody remembers who won the championship ten years ago or who was on the starting lineup of the teams that beat them in the finals, but everybody remembers the Fab Five.

The reason ESPN’s 30 for 30 has become a hit for the network is because they chronicle and take behind the scene looks at what current generations lived through. Not only do they look at current sporting events, they chronicle sporting events that transcend the sport and have major implications on modern and pop culture.

Some of the best 30 for 30s also take place in the 1990’s as Straight Outta L.A. by Ice Cube illustrates how the rap group N.W.A influenced the Oakland Raiders and the building of a thug culture in inner city Los Angeles, and No Crossover tells the story of Allen Iverson, the high school standout and the increased attention on high school prospects.

The 30 for 30’s are a must see for any sports fan.  A complete list of ESPN’s 30 for30 is available online at www.30for30.espn.com

The third season of the MTV’s hit reality show Jersey Shore ended Thursday night in typical fashion: plenty of drama, partying, hook-ups, and tears.

The shore housemates ended their second summer in Seaside Heights, NJ doing what they do best, having a good time and causing a scene. The crew attended a party thrown at a hotel by their boss and landlord Danny, where they were allowed to invite a few guests.

Vinny’s famous Uncle Nino was in attendance, and Deena showed him what the “Jersey Turnpike” is all about. Deena also caused a little drama with Vinny by not allowing him to “get to know” her best friend from home who was her guest at the party.

The drama exploded back at the house when Vinny called Deena “Angelina”, which is a huge insult to anyone in the shore house. On a happier note, Jenni and Roger became official, Snooki made it to the “smush room”, and Pauly D showed off his impressive DJ skills at the party.

Of course an episode would not be complete with Ronnie and Sammi screaming at each other, and the verbal abuse kept coming this week. The Situation used his instigating skills to dig deeper into the relationship between Sam and his friend Arvin that was brought to light the week before.

In an interrogating phone call between Mike and Arvin, we found out that Sammi isn’t really a “sweetheart”. Turns out that she has been just as shady as Ron was in Miami. This revelation causes more screaming fits and Ron ends the show saying he’s “done” with Sammi. We will see how long this “break” lasts.

Although Jersey Shore is over for now, the next season promises to be interesting as the cast is going to Italy for the season. Filming begins soon, and it’s a guarantee that things will get interesting when the shore house meets the real Italians.

Have you ever heard the old phrase “not tonight, I have a headache?” Researchers have found that in fact, it should be tonight.

Research conducted by various sources have found that sex can actually cure minor headaches. And not just that, having the right amount of sex within a week is very healthy. But what is the right amount? Having little to no sex can cause mental stress and anxiety but having too much sex can weaken your immune system.

On average, a healthy sex life is found to be three to four times within a week.

According to softpedia.com, sex has been found to have mental, physical, and emotional benefits.

For instance, having sex can increase one’s self esteem, reduce anxiety and stress, and can make you appear more attractive to the opposite sex. Having a healthy and active sex life may help a person to lose weight, build muscle, and sweat is good for opening the pores and brightening the skin. Having sex with a partner can also bring a person closer and help them to be more intimate  causing more endorphins to be released during an orgasm.

Sex has been found to help with minor aches and pains from arthritis to the common cold, but can sex actually help prevent cancer and extend a lifetime?

A ten year study at Queens University in Ireland, found that within over 1,000 men who ejaculated more through sexual intercourse lived longer than those who didn’t and had a lower percentage of cancer cases.

One should keep in mind the importance of having safe sex.  Sex can be a fun and wonderful thing between people. Just don’t try to pull the line “not tonight, I have a headache” anymore, because it no longer applies thanks to science.

Have you ever looked through the phonebook and wondered just what this person’s house looks like or who lives in it?

Well, don’t fret my dears; one website has got you covered.  Spokeo.com is an online phonebook that takes stalking to a whole new level.

The website takes information from the phonebook and adds a little social media flare. It uses the information that you provide on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and even Myspace and combines it with information that you can find in the phonebook.

Spokeo.com began in 2006 and was created by a group of Stanford University graduates.  The purpose of the website was to allow you to check your friend’s status without having to log onto multiple websites.

It wasn’t until 2008 when they redesigned the website to allow users to import contacts from their email address books. The information reflected friends’ updated blogs, video playlists, and photo albums.

In order to use the website, all you have to do is search someone’s name, email, phone number, username, or friends.

From there, you can find how much someones home is estimated to be, how big their property is, and who lives in the home.

Then, if you purchase an account, you can find out who lives in their neighborhood, what social networking sites they use, hobbies, and much more information. Now I bet you are wondering, how is this legal?

In June 2010, the Center for Democracy and Technology filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that Spokeo.com violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

They claimed that the site offered credit ratings without any of the controls mandated by the act. Additionally, they alleged that Spokeo.com engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Then in July 2010, a lawsuit was filed against Spokeo.com seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages for the alleged violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which was dismissed on Feb. 2011.

So the next time you are deciding whether or not something should be on Facebook, think about where else it could end up after you post it.

Raider Relief is a non-profit student organization that has a common goal: to help those in need. Founded in 2008, Raider Relief has partnered with other charitable causes such as Soles for Souls, Hugs for Haiti, and Help to Others.  Not only does Raider Relief help nationally and internationally, but they also help around the community.

On Saturday, March 26, multiple student organizations and individual volunteers came together to help at The Empowerment Center for “March Makeover”.

“March Makeover was a hands-on project that helped to transform the very place that is trying to transform the Second Ward of Alliance, Ohio,” said Annie Patton, a senior and the President of Fellowship of Student Athletes at Mount Union.  “The Empowerment Center is located in the poorest district in all of Stark County, and when we met Aaron Hill it was undeniable how passionate he was about changing the people’s lives of the town in which he grew up.  Through this project, we were able to take our very own hands and resources and impact a facility that will impact many lives to come.”

Raider Relief needed help with their project and Mount Union stepped up to the challenge.  More volunteers than initially expected arrived to help with the numerous projects that needed to be finished.

“When we were in the initial planning stages of the project, Patton continued, “Our entire committee was planning on having approximately 100 volunteers.  We chose to focus our efforts on 10 major projects throughout our 12 hour renovation project.  After we started publicizing Raider Relief, we were quickly overwhelmed with an unbelievably large response. We actually had to close down our online registration because we were running out of jobs.  After we realized how many volunteers were actually going to be there, we were able to attack more projects for people to accomplish.  All in all, with the help of over 250 volunteers, we finished over 30 projects at the Empowerment Center. Almost nothing was left untouched.”  Some of the projects included painting, landscaping, and building cabinets.

Patton added, “We painted the grand entryway, painted and furnished 7 classrooms, installed 4 new toilets, redid the landscape and installed a new sign, built shelving units for their clothes closet, cleaned and organized many additional rooms, as well as the balcony over the sanctuary, scrubbed every hallway and floor in the Empowerment Center, completed minor electrical work, patched walls, organized their gymnasium supply room and scrubbed the entire gym floor.”

“I painted a few rooms as well as swept and mopped the rooms and I also scrubbed the floor boards,” said Mary Cosimano, a senior at Mount Union. “I really enjoyed the experience and was glad to help out.”

“I really wish I could personally thank every volunteer that walked through the doors of the Empowerment Center this past Saturday,” said Patton.  “I hope and pray that everyone was as blessed as I was to have been a part of the transformation that took place over those 12 hours.  I will never forget Raider Relief, not only because of what we were able to accomplish, but because of how I have been changed as a result of its efforts.  The response of volunteers was overwhelming, the amount of work accomplished was unbelievable, and the love that was felt was indescribable.

For more information about Raider Relief go to www.raiderrelief.org or email raiderrelief.mountunion.edu.

The Student Senate budget is completely empty as of the meeting on March 22.  Raider Relief asked for an appropriation of money in order to help with supplies for their March Makeover community service project that was held this past weekend.  The budget only had $394 left in it, so the appropriations committee decided to allot the entirety of it to Raider Relief.

Next on the agenda was a faculty report from Clark Magdych.  He said that throughout all of the faculty meetings that he has been to, this last one, only lasting an hour, was the shortest he has ever seen.

Magdych said the major thing they talked about was CourseEval.  These will begin on April 14 and the faculty really encourages all students to take these seriously.  If there is not a great response rate, they may go back to the paper evaluations that would not be optional and students would take those in class. At the next faculty meeting, they will be deciding all the final details about the new General Education program.

He also said that the freshman book for next year was announced at this meeting.  The book will be “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini.  Also discussed at the meeting was the fact that the Japanese House is collecting money for tsunami and earthquake relief in Japan.

The English department wants all students to know that they are currently hiring writing center tutors.  They are encouraging all majors to apply for these positions.

Dean Patricia Draves provided the presentation for the order of the day and also discussed the importance of the CourseEvals.  She said they moved to the online version a few years ago because they hoped to get more writing from the students. They have added something this year that shows how many students have taken the evaluation for that specific course already and how many have yet to take it.  Draves addressed another concern and stated that faculty members do not see any evaluations until all grades have been submitted.

These results are used for two things, according to Draves, “Faculty development, which is to help the professor improve the course, and faculty evaulation, which is to help the administration decide if the professors are being successful in their courses.”

She said that besides the CourseEvals from the students, there are also two other factors that play into the evaluation of a faculty member by the administration.  These two other factors are that the department chairs evaluate the faculty members and the professors complete a self-evaluation on how they think the course went. These results are used for promotions, tenure, and continuation decisions.

At the end of the meeting, there were general announcements made to the group.  There will be a student debate on Thursday in Chapman 202.  Refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m. and the debate will start promptly at 6 p.m. Relay for Life is April 8 from 6 p.m. until noon the next day.

I am a huge fan of Nintendo’s handheld devices.  I currently own a Nintendo DSi but that has been on the market for a while and I am ready for something new.  Thankfully, Nintendo is launching a new handheld device called the Nintendo 3DS.  It will debut nationwide on March 27, 2011.  In case you do not know, the Nintendo 3DS looks identical to a Nintendo DS but there are a few differences. The 3DS is designed to run games in 3D without any need for 3D glasses. Players can also turn the 3D functionality off if they wish.  But while the Nintendo 3DS sounds awesome, I have mixed emotions about it for four main reasons.

1) The Price: The 3DS is priced at $249.99. This price is identical to the launch prices of the Wii and Xbox 360.  In 2006 the Wii launched for $249.99. In 2005 the Xbox 360 basic edition cost $299.99.  And not only that, but 3DS first party software is expected to retail for $39.99.  That is $5-$10 more than original DS games. In comparison, Wii games typically cost $40-50 while new Xbox 360 games typically cost $50-60. When you compare it to those consoles’ launches and software prices, you can see that this handheld is extremely expensive.

2) Battery Life: Rough estimates for battery life say that playing 3DS software only allows for 3-5 hours of gameplay while playing regular Nintendo DS software allows for 5-8 hours. This means that players will have to tone down the brightness and Wi-Fi settings if they want to play it during long car rides. Second, this means you better have your charger with you constantly when playing this handheld.

3) Software: The launch games for the 3DS are not very impressive. Nintendo only has three games slated for launch and none of them include their gaming icons such as Mario or Zelda.  The only notable games, to me, are from third party developers and include Street Fighter IV, Ridge Racer 3D, Madden NFL, and Ghost Recon.

4) The 3D: This may be hard to believe but , 3D, the major attraction of the handheld, may be what makes or breaks this system. My worry started when I read a press release from Nintendo which recommended that children under the age of six should not play the 3DS, due to the 3D effects. Next, I read that players should only play the 3DS for thirty minutes at a time. There are two problems here. First, the children ages six and under are one-third of Nintendo’s handheld market and if Nintendo eliminates that market, its profits could severely decrease. Second, I like to play handheld systems longer than thirty minutes in one session. I cannot remind myself to play the 3D games for a short time. I have to ask myself: Do I really want to be playing the 3D games? Is it that bad for my eyes? I feel like negative side effects of the 3D will emerge from the media soon after its release.

While I agree that the Nintendo 3DS looks amazing and certainly is revolutionary, I am not sure if I will purchase it on March 27, 2011.

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson gave the Mount Union community just a sneak-peek of his wisdom at the Schooler Lecture on March 24.

In his speech, “10 Things You Should Know About the Universe,” Tyson recited some of the facts that he finds most important about not just the world, not just the galaxy, but about everything in space.

10 ) The Universe has a shipload of stars.

Tyson tried to illustrate the number of stars in the universe for the audience. The number one-sextillion is hard to imagine, but Tyson’s explanation painted a picture in everyone’s minds.

9) The Universe is bad for your ego.

Some people fail to realize the size of the universe. He explained the earth’s size in comparison to sun spots, the solar system, the universe and he went as far as to describe the “multiverse” it is all a part of.

8) The universe is like a time machine.

“The farther away you look,” stated Tyson, “the farther back in time you see.” He then elaborated to let the crowd understand that the speed of light travel affects when the eye can see it.

7) The Universe is big; molecules are small.

It is hard to imagine the true size of the universe. Tyson’s breakdown of the universe gave the audience a glimpse of the reality of everything’s true size.

6) Earth wants to kill you; The Universe wants to kill you.

After shocking the audience with this point, he calmed everyone down by explaining that there are always going to be natural disasters. Luckily, mankind has learned how to cope with these happenings and technology is only helping.

5) Earth might not be the origin of life.

As more and more research is being conducted, scientists are finding other means of life to add on to the question, “where did we come from?”

4) Carbon: life as we know it; life as we don’t know it.

Contrary to the common belief that oxygen is the most important element, Tyson reassured the audience that carbon comes first. The earth has carbon-based life, for it is the most fertile element of them all.

3) Life is of The Universe.

2) The Universe is of life.

Two of the points Tyson made went hand in hand with each other. The elements on earth, such as carbon and oxygen, are just as important as the elements in the universe.

1) The Universe is alive within us.

Tyson ended with a strong point where he explained that the universe is indeed everywhere.

His friendly personality and sense of humor fit alongside perfectly with his knowledge of the universe. While some facts may have been hard to comprehend at first, Tyson’s witty comments made each subject entertaining and easy to understand.

The standing ovation Tyson received following the lecture proved that the audience found the evening to be an incredible experience.

Rich, emotional fare graced the Rodman Playhouse stage last week as one veteran alumnus performed before a rather unprepared audience.

Though the term “minimalist” quickly comes to mind to describe Mark Conway Thompson’s performance on Friday, it doesn’t quite do the artist justice.

His solitary performance, titled “Flight From Himself,” rose above minimalism to a heightened dramatic experience. How can doing so much on one’s own really be called “minimal”?

Thompson began his performance in a forthright manner and with but one essential prop: an antiquated chair. The rest of his sweeping performance was modestly accompanied by a looping, fantastical score and ominous ambient noise. Dashing away lines of dialogue, Thompson’s script was one of physical, ethereal gestures and expressive facial contortion.

Arguably, Thompson’s strongest asset is his well-versed familiarity with pantomime, and for good reason. Following his study at the University of Mount Union in 1970, Thompson studied under Ella Jaroszewicz, primarily in her theater company La Theatre Magenia in Paris, France. He then spent a great deal of time travelling and performing as a solo artist in Italy and Germany.

His interests eventually led to work with the Swiss mime troupe Mummenschanz, with whom he worked between 1980 and 1982.

Returning to the United States, he founded the Pittsburgh Mime Theater, taught mime and movement training at a number of national universities and now works within the drama department at Duquesne University.

While his performance on Friday evening – in essence a return to his collegiate, theatrical roots – confounded and astounded viewers both old and young, Thompson’s physical presence was undeniable. Expressing waves of sorrow, misunderstanding, the realization of one’s own fragility and so many other emotions through mere movement and expression is certainly commendable.

Comprehending some absolute narrative seemed most difficult throughout the performance, though this seems to be a requisite of Thompson’s showmanship. Rather than provide a familiar, linear story, the actor challenged his audience to feel and think through the emotions presented independently. This quickly became evident as several viewers shifted uncomfortably at the start of the performance.

While a handful of the most anxious spectators slunk away in the dimly-lit theater, the steadfast remainder received a performance both arduous on the aging performer and upon themselves.

Through the harsh messages, though, a brilliant spectacle emerged that truly touched the heart – the mark of a very talented man and grand performer.

Yes, it is true that April showers bring May flowers, but they also deliver a bad case of fashion fever. Spring 2011 pops with graphic patterns and flashy headgear, and keeps it real with charming Oxfords. The weather calls for flash floods of fabulous—grab that polka-dot umbrella. You are going to need it. The spring must-have list is as follows:

Sensational stripes to brighten up those rainy spring mornings like the ones featured on Prada’s spring runway.

Whether you are on a team or not, varsity jackets are all the rage this season.  There is something for every player, whether it is a black and white number from Tommy Hilfiger or a punchy red, baseball-inspired jacket from Topshop. Either way, you are guaranteed a win.

Wrap your head around this: turbans. Not to worry, these new, slick turbans are edgy and modern. Colors range from sassy animal print to metallic. There are even emerald-green turbans, like the one designed by Jennifer Behr and featured in a Teen Vogue spread. They are all no-brainers.

Class it up this spring with smart Oxfords and boyish flats. Pick your color, size and price. Glitzy Oxfords like the ones from Forever 21 priced at $25 will do the trick for a night out, while smarty saddle shoes will be the hit of the classroom.

Orange lips anyone? True, neutrals are in style wardrobe-wise this season, but do not let your lips go naked. For luscious lips, use a coral spectrum of colors. Wear a tangy orange lip or try a flush of coral.  Refiner29.com gives tips and hints for experimenting with the fun shades. Bright lips, flushed cheeks and nautical blue eyes scream spring, just not worn all at once.

Grab your cell phone, tube of lip gloss and that should do it. Spring 2011 has downsized the bags. Drastically. Handbago.com gives pictures and hints galore for rocking that tiny bag. Tassels, stones, and gems add texture, like the small, white-gemmed number by Chloe shown on the site. Keep in mind, smaller is better. For now, anyway.

These remedies are a guaranteed cure for that spring fever itch everyone feels this time of year.