Olympic Dons Foghorn Article

The Olympic Games in Sochi have come to a close, and the best athletes from the United States will be returning home after finishing second in the medal count. This year, there were no Olympians from the University of San Francisco on the squad, but USF has previously been a starting point for a number of Olympic athletes, some of which have managed to bring home medals.

One of these medal-winning Olympians was Bill Russell, who is arguably the most famous athlete in USF history. After winning back to back NCAA championships for the Dons in 1955 and 1956, Russell became a member of the United States national basketball team. He competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics, and went on to win the gold that year after the USA beat the Soviet Union 89-55 in the final.

Russell wasn’t the only basketball player from USF to win Olympic gold. His teammate K.C. Jones, joined him on the podium in 1956. In addition, current USF Women’s Basketball Head Coach Jennifer Azzi won a gold medal at the 1996 games in Atlanta.

Another standout Olympic athlete who attended USF was Ollie Matson. Although he is now better known as a football player, Matson also excelled in track and field for which he attended the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. The future NFL hall-of-famer won bronze in the 400-meter race and silver in the 4×400-meter events.
Out of 22 Olympians that have come from USF, only figure skater Yvonne Gomez has competed in the Winter Games. The three-time Spanish national champion participated in the 1988 Winter Olympics. Gomez, a San Francisco native, did not earn a medal at the games, placing 18th.

Of all the Olympians with ties to USF, the majority have been soccer players. The United States, Nigeria, Mexico, and El Salvador have all featured former USF alums on their Olympic soccer teams. Dons soccer players that have been selected for the United States Olympic team include Alex Roboostoff and goalkeeper Mike Ivanow, members of the 1972 squad, as well as John Doyle of the 1988 squad and Troy Dayak of the 1992 squad.

More recently, Haley Nemra, who graduated from USF in 2012, represented the Marshall Islands as a track and field athlete at the 2012 London Olympics. Nemra was unable to advance to the semifinals, but she was honored as the flag bearer for her country.

Dons Basketball Article Week of 2/27

The Dons won both of their two games last week, beating the Pacific Tigers in a close matchup on Saturday after defeating St. Mary’s for the first time since 2006 just two days before. The wins improve the Dons’ season record to 18-10 and their conference record to 11-5, currently putting them at third in the Western Coast Conference.
Despite a late drive by Pacific that almost won them the game, USF managed to hang on for the win against the Tigers in a 64-59 victory, aided in part by 15-point games from both senior forward Cole Dickerson and sophomore guard Avry Holmes. Dickerson also tacked on 13 rebounds for the Dons in his final home game for USF before he graduates.

“I’m sure emotions played a big part with Cole [Dickerson] today,” head coach Rex Walters told usfdons.com. “He doesn’t show much on the outside, but he wanted this one bad for obvious reasons.”
The Dons jumped out to an early lead against the Tigers and maintained it throughout the course of the first half. USF headed into halftime up 33-21, but the Tigers rallied fiercely in the second half and managed to take the lead a couple of times, but only by two points at most. A layup by Dickerson broke a 57-57 tie, and free throws from both Holmes and redshirt sophomore forward Mark Tollefson helped the Dons cement their lead and secure the victory.
USF’s win on Saturday was their second of the week, and it came after a commanding performance against St. Mary’s on Thursday that concluded with the Dons shutting down the Gaels 73-62. USF had lost 17 straight games to the Gaels over the last nine years.

Before Saturday, the Dons’ last victory against the Gaels was on Jan. 10, 2006.

The first half was very similar to that of the Pacific game, as the Dons performed well and maintained a double-digit lead going into halftime. Their performance was highlighted by massive dunks from both Tollefson and junior forward Kruize Pinkins. Tollefson, Pinkins, and junior guard Matt Glover led the Dons in scoring with 16 points each.

Although there were times in the second half when it seemed like the Gaels might rally for a comeback, USF always managed to stay on top and respond to St. Mary’s attempts at a run. The Gaels were able to cut the lead to 61-52 with 3:40 to play, but they would get no closer than that. A fastbreak dunk by Tollefson with 1:14 to go put USF up by a comfortable 12 points, and effectively sealed the win for the Dons. As a team, the Dons shot 50 percent both from the field and from beyond the arc, while also giving up only four turnovers.

The games against Pacific and St. Mary’s were the last Dons home contests of the year. USF has two games left in the regular season, with the first coming on Feb. 27 at 7:00 p.m. in Malibu, Calif. versus Pepperdine, and the second on Mar. 1 at 7:00 p.m. in Los Angeles, Calif. against LMU.

Foghorn Opinion Article On Student Athlete Play

The issue of whether or not to pay college athletes is one that is much less glamorous than some other aspects of college sports, but also one that tends to get as much media coverage as some of the sports themselves. It has been a hotly contested topic for many years, and it seems like the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and those who support its unpaid athlete policy are losing more ground every year.

One place the NCAA’s system faces challenges is within the court system, the most notable case being that of former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon. O’Bannon is suing for former athletes’ entitlement to compensation for further use of their image after they have left school. Currently the NCAA licenses the likenesses of college players for commercial purposes, the most notable of which is video games. To an average person it would seem absurd if a company took their image and name, used it to make millions of dollars and then paid them nothing for it. However, this is common practice under current NCAA regulations.

This lawsuit is an important move forward in the battle for college athlete pay, but one that needs to be taken a step further. It is not enough that players should be compensated for their likeness only after they graduate or leave school. The NCAA is still making money off of them while they are a student, so why is it unreasonable for them to see some of it?

One of the most popular arguments against paying college athletes is that schools already spend too much and are losing money on their sports programs so paying athletes would only further intensify this problem.

As Businessweek points out this argument does not hold much water, “In one of the filings in the O’Bannon case, the plaintiffs detail how schools use accounting tricks to obscure the profitability of their football and basketball programs…”

Another attempt to break the NCAA’s policies includes players at some schools trying to unionize, claiming that while they are students they are also “employee-athletes”. One such challenge comes from Northwestern football players who will have a hearing with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Feb. 18 to plead their case. As reported by ESPN, the hearing is not a court case. A representative of the NLRB will take testimony and documents from each party and give them to their regional director who will make his decision from there. From there the losing party can submit an appeal, and the process can eventually move into federal court.

While this is an important part of the process, the Northwestern players’ struggle will not be over even if they are allowed to unionize. The statement released by the players states that this is only a more localized effort with a national objective: “Establishing a union at Northwestern is not the endgame. Rather, it is a first step toward building a nationwide players’ association that will eventually have the leverage to eliminate unjust NCAA policies that affect players at each college.”

If it is decided that athletes should be paid, the obvious next question is, how much? According to Businessweek, the best system might be one that is already used by professional sports organizations — the free market. “Colleges could simply bid for the services of high school recruits. Contracts could be negotiated individually, like the contracts for coaches and athletic administrators.”

This is only one of numerous ideas being considered but it may just be the best one. Setting up regulations for how much athletes should be paid would be an enormous task, and would only extend the time athletes go uncompensated. Do all athletes get paid the same amount? Should pay be determined by performance, or by how successful the school is during the season? The best option is to simply let players negotiate their contracts on an individual basis, because no two athletes are the the same so no two athletes should be paid the same.

While we seem to finally be moving towards paying college athletes for their work, the ideal salary system is still a long way off. There are still many challenges to overcome, legal and otherwise, but if college sports are to continue being the financial giants that they have become, the only just option is to give the “employee-athletes” the compensation they deserve.

NY Times Lenny Cooke Article

On an otherwise lazy Sunday, dinner took hours to prepare, filling the small one-story house on a remote and wooded street with the aromatic smell of chicken, ribs and all the trimmings. The extended family would soon be arriving, in full, hungry force.

Standing tall but cramped in the narrow kitchen at 6 feet 6 inches and not much less than 300 pounds, Lenny Cooke suddenly looked up from his culinary masterpiece.

“I went from being a superstar basketball player to being a cook,” he said wistfully, unmindful of the play on his name.

The rest f the article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/sports/basketball/lenny-cooke-star-to-be-who-never-was.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Restaurant Review

Men Oh Review

   In the middle of every table at Men Oh noodle shop is a shallow cutout filled with stones. During my time at the restaurant every single person in my group picked one up and commented on how smooth they were. These were just one of the interesting and well placed decorations that cover the Japanese noodle restaurant, in addition to hanging wood frames with lighting on them, wood on the walls, and an enormous painting of what appears to be a warrior of some sort that commands the attention of anyone eating in the small restaurant.

   The combination of all this decor gives Men Oh the feel of a modernized traditional Japanese restaurant but despite how it may seem it is actually very casual. For the most part it seemed like you could walk in anytime you wanted and get a table for 2-4 people. I did go on a Wednesday so if you're planning a weekend meal then it would probably be best to call ahead especially considering its size. The restaurant is sandwiched between two other shops making the actual eating area very small but you shouldn't worry about going with a big group, there were ten people in my party and they were able to fit us without any issue.

   The menu for Men Oh is not particularly long but because of the various ways you can prepare a noodle dish there is no shortage of things to choose from. A meal for one person will cost them between $10-15 but the portions are very large so sharing is definitely an option. The noodle bowl that I got was more than enough food for the $10 price tag and I was feeling stuffed by the end even with more left to eat. In addition to ramen there are a few other things to choose from including Japanese style fried chicken, pot stickers, and a number of rice dishes. Water is provided at every table but if you want something alcoholic they also serve pitchers of beer and small bottles of sake that come with shot glasses for the group.

   The dish I chose was a spicy tonkatsu ramen with pork belly. The food comes in a large bowl that contains ramen, broth, meat, and a number of other things. One thing I especially liked was that each bowl was laid out in a specific way with a number of garnishes on top that made the meal look almost like a painting. In my ramen was a hard boiled egg, bamboo shoots, ground meat, and red string like things, all of which had their own place in they bowl. You could really tell that the ingredients weren't just thrown in without a specific order or layout.

   One of the things I immediately noticed when taking a bite was the level of spice in the dish. If you choose the spicy option you have a choice between mild, medium, and hot. I chose the medium option and I thought that was well reflected by the meal, you could really taste it with each bite but at the same time it wasn't overpowering. The pork belly, which looked like a beige version of bacon, was well cooked and fit well with the rest of the dish. No one ingredient took control of the experience and you could easily taste every one of them with each bite you took.

   All of the waitstaff that I interacted with were extremely professional, well dressed, and knowledgeable. There is often confusion about the menu, especially in a foreign restaurant and our waitress had no trouble answering any of our questions. Even though the restaurant was very small at no point did I feel we were being rushed to leave and we sat and chatted once our meal was finished. Our waitress brought us the check when we had finished eating and had been talking for a while, telling us that we could pay when we were ready. Everyone we met during our time there had been very friendly and thanked us as we left.

   I have been to a few noodle shops in the Bay Area and Men Oh definitely ranks at the top. Everything from the atmosphere to the food was exceptional and I will certainly return anytime I have a craving for noodles.

   Men Oh is located at 5120 Geary Blvd. between 15th and 16th avenues. It is open on Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for lunch and then 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. for dinner with hours extended to midnight on Fridays. On Saturday it is open from noon to midnight and on Sunday it is open from noon to 9:00 p.m