Blakeley Bartee contributed to this quiz.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love college football just as much as the face painted, ass-tatted SEC fan that always has a little too much on game days, but I’m beginning to think that giving up something I want, for something this country desperately needs, would all be worth it in the grand scheme of things. Because I believe college sports, especially the ones attracting tens of millions of viewers, have become too influential on administrative decisions, leading to a detrimental effect on our academics.

What exactly do I mean? Take the University of North Carolina “fake classes” scandal for example; UNC’s department of African American Studies created classes that students were not required to attend, but would still make A’s and B’s, regardless of whether or not they actually turned in any work. One student, in a level 3 Swahili class, apparently could not even utter the elementary word of “hello.” And make no mistake, North Carolina is not an exception, even prestigious universities such as Duke and Stanford have been caught up in similar scandals. Why are universities no longer doing what they are intended to do? Is the pressure of fielding the best possible athletics teams really worth selling out the intellectual activity that actually makes a university, a university? I don’t think so.

I’m sure all of you are aware of Tyson Summer’s recent firing. That’s $675,000 out of Georgia Southern’s pocket. College Football has become such a large and competitive industry, that end of the pack school like us are now spending massive amounts of money, in our vain attempts to “be like ‘Bama.” Universities all around this country should not have College Football as their first priority, but that’s what it seems. This survey found that 43% of college students could not Freedom of Speech as a 1st amendment right, and universities have no right to blame that entirely on our ignorance as students.

Trevor Wright is an English and Writing & Linguistics double major from Augusta, Georgia. He currently works in the film industry and plans on pursuing a career as a public educator.

Even casual NBA fans will notice some pretty drastic changes this season, as more and more NBA stars made some big moves this season -reviving old rivalries, hurting feelings and creating some of the juiciest beef you will ever sink your teeth into.

But for those of you who haven’t gotten the chance to keep track of the drama, here is your pre-season primer for all the biggest names in basketball and what you can expect on (and off) the court this season.

Kyrie Irving Cleveland Cavaliers → Boston Celtics

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Isaiah Thomas Boston Celtics → Cleveland Cavaliers

Taylor Swift wasn’t the only celebrity wading through a sea of snake emojis on Twitter. Kyrie Irving earned a lot of enmity for his off-season behavior after reportedly stating outright to the Cavaliers front office that he wanted to be traded to another team, kicking off a drama packed period of speculation and hot takes, the likes of which have never been seen. The situation only intensified once it was announced that he would be traded to the Celtics, in an exchange that sent Boston’s enigmatic point guard, Isaiah Thomas, to Cleveland, a move he made clear he was unhappy with. Can’t blame him either. During Boston’s playoff run that past season, Thomas’s sister was killed in a car crash before a game and he still made it out for the contest, and managed to bring the Celtics a win and one of their best playoff runs in recent history.

Gordon Hayward  Utah Jazz → Boston Celtics

Coming into the league in 2010, Hayward was a fixer upper for sure. Although he had a great run at Butler, he developed many of the skills that make him such a high value player during his time with the Utah Jazz. But just like any true scumbag ex, Hayward took advantage of Utah’s patience during his budding years in the league, and moved along as soon as a better offer came along. Worse yet, he moved to the team, now led by his former college coach. Suspect to be sure.

Chris Paul Los Angeles Clippers → Houston Rockets

Often hailed as one of, if not the, best pure point guards in the league, Chris Paul clearly got fed up with underperforming in L.A. under the tutelage of the venerable Doc Rivers. Despite often being named one of the best players in the league, Paul has never even made it to the conference finals. Here’s hoping that James Harden and that magnificent beard can give him the edge he needs to push past that barrier.

Paul George Indiana Pacers → Oklahoma City Thunder

Paul George kicked off the new trend of NBA stars packing their bags and heading to Oklahoma. On the heels of yet another disappointing playoff run in Indiana, George reportedly made it very clear that he didn’t want to stay in the organization, leading to one of the most nerve wracking parts of the year: speculation. After the rumor mill cycled through essentially every possible team he could have possibly landed on, George shocked many and ended up signing a one year contract with Thunder. A team with plenty of potential but not exactly poised for a championship, at least not at the time…

Jimmy Butler Chicago Bulls → Minnesota Timberwolves

Easily one of the most confusing transactions of the year came in the form of the Bulls dealing away their perennial star, Jimmy Butler. This may have come as a shock to some, considering Butler was one of the few shining spots in an otherwise depressing stretches of Chicago basketball. Butler wasn’t nearly as deadly an offensive and defensive weapon coming into the league as he is now, and for the most part had a quiet but steady rise to stardom in Chicago. On top of this, once Derrick Rose began to show signs that he may never recover to the level he was before, Jimmy began to have to take more and more of the workload in Chicago, becoming an unlikely fan-favorite. The move may be more emotionally disappointing than professionally however, Minnesota managed to assemble quite a squad over the summer, making them a serious playoff contender in an already stacked Western conference.

Derrick Rose New York Knicks → Cleveland Cavaliers

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Dwyane Wade Chicago Bulls → Cleveland Cavaliers

The former Rookie of the Year and league MVP, Derrick Rose has landed on some hard times lately. After suffering multiple injuries over the course of his career, Rose just hasn’t seemed the same player he was coming into the league in 2008. Conversely, Dwyane Wade, has experienced a storied and successful NBA career, but after 14 years of intense play, Wade may be coming in on his last legs. So no better home for these two wayward sheep than the equally despondent Cavaliers. This off-season hasn’t been too kind to Believeland, losing their second best player, and arguably the future of Cleveland basketball Kyrie Irving, the core of their team seems to just be getting older and older. This paired with intensifying rumors that the King, LeBron James, may be headed elsewhere at the end of his contract, has left the Cavs starving for something. Anything.

Carmelo Anthony New York Knicks → Oklahoma City Thunder

The patron saint of the Knicks was yet another franchise player who made a startling move this off-season. After an incredibly tense regular season with the Knicks, Anthony didn’t hide that he was harboring some resentment for his organization’s front office. This coupled with his inability to win a NBA championship has led us to the greatest form of Melo that may have ever graced this plane of existence, Hoodie Melo.

Ian Leonard is the Enterprise Managing Editor for The George-Anne. He is a senior writing & linguistics major from Johns Creek, Georgia. His love for basketball began after watching ESPN documentary “Bad Boys” and is a Portland Trailblazers fan despite his best interests.

A former FBS dynasty, the Eagles currently sit at 0-5 on the season and 5-12 since the start of last season. The record makes them one of five teams in the entirety of Division 1 college football who have not etched out a victory this season.

Many fans blame the downfall of the program on the coaching staff and Summers has caught much of the heat. The team continues to struggle well into in his second season after the departure of his successful predecessor, Willie Fritz. Fritz left the program at the end of the 2015 season to take a position at Tulane University. Further fueling the fire, recently discovered emails disclosed that his leaving was the result of GS not offering him the job security he desired. 

The tension on the school’s campus has continued to rise after each consecutive loss and Monday’s protest was the cumulation of long-running unrest among the student body.

“I feel as if a lot of students and alumni are pretty mad about the turnout of these past two seasons,” said Cody Newcomb, a senior criminal justice major. “It seems like they really don’t care, they keep doing the same thing.”

Photo by Dana Lark

Among the protesters, most were die-hard football fans.

“I came here thinking that we were coming into a good football situation,” said Dylan Suttles, junior finance major. “It’s just been a disappointment; we need a sense of urgency to change what we have going on here.”

Nathan McLeod, junior education major, talked about the lack of parties and an active bar scene in Statesboro since the school’s decline on the football field. Mcleod expressed hopes that a new coach and winning season will return the town to its former glory.

Photo by Dana Lark

Word of the protest spread from Sunday night into Monday afternoon after online posts from Barstool Southern and Old Row Southern, both popular student-oriented social media accounts. But when the time for the protest came, there were roughly 20 students who showed up.

Those who did show up, signs in hand and full of gusto, met in the middle of Sweetheart Circle around 4 p.m. The afflicted voiced their concerns on the walkways as passing cars honked in solidarity or frustration. From the numerous police cruisers patrolling the area, it seemed that they too were privy to the protests prior to their onset.

After a short time at the popular lovers lane, the protesters moved to the Russell Union pavilion where they accosted students to join their plight. Much of the student reaction seemed to be supportive of the cause or that of amusement and indifference.

Photo by Dana Lark

The administrators of the Russell Union, however, were not amused. After about 20 minutes of peaceful protests at the location, the students were asked to leave by a faculty member. Protesting on the schools campus is only allowed on the pedestrian walkways or in Sweetheart Circle.

Shortly after their unceremonious dismissal, the group of students parted ways. Before they left, they made a promise: They’ll be back every Monday until GS wins a game.

*Reflector reporter Dana Lark contributed to this story*

In an embarrassing loss to Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday, the US hopes quickly vanished once Honduras and Panama won their respective games. The National Team looked like a mess out there and a team that clearly doesn’t belong to be among the 32 best soccer nations in the world.

The stars that were suppose to save the team, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Tim Howard, didn’t show up. The coach, Bruce Arena, who  was suppose to get the team to the World Cup after the firing of Jurgen Klinsman, made the wrong decisions.

It’s time to clean house. From top to bottom, U.S. soccer is broken. I don’t think this team has the talent necessary to go to the World Cup in 2022. Other than Christian Pulisic, the 19-year-old phenom who plays in Germany, there are no players ready to replace all those “stars” mentioned above.

Starting over after missing the World Cup is a process that many nations around the world go through and the U.S. hasn’t because they have made the last 7 World Cups. Qualifying to the World Cup every four year has made people think that U.S. soccer is growing and it’s well. It’s time for a new generation of US soccer players to take over the team. It’s time to give kids coming up through the system a chance. Although that system is broken. The veterans can’t get the job done anymore. The problem is that people in the U.S. don’t care enough about soccer to demand change. People will forget about this failure in a couple of days, but the majority of soccer fans won’t.

Soccer is our way of life

Christian Pulisic at one of his practices with Borussia Dortmound. Pulisic was the high point of the U.S. disappointing campaing. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

For a lot of us, soccer is everything and the World Cup is the ultimate goal and event. I have watched soccer and played soccer all my life both here in the U.S. and when I lived in Ecuador. Soccer for most of the world is a religion and we take it seriously.

Panama declared a national holiday on Wednesday following the country qualifying to the World Cup for the first time. A video is circling online of a man from Egypt crying after his country made it to the World Cup. I remember crying and celebrating after Ecuador made its first, second and third World Cup. It’s a feeling that I can’t describe.

The story is different in the U.S. Americans tend to not care about soccer and I don’t blame you. Just look at some of the replies when ESPN or other networks and people tweet something about soccer, you will always get multiple replies saying “Soccer is not a sport.” Well, according to FIFA’s most recent Big Count Survey, nearly 265 million people are involved in some capacity, which is around 4 percent of the world’s population. According to the same survey, more than 24 million people in the U.S. play soccer at some level, second only to China. According to NBC News, more than 3 million youth players are officially registered with U.S. Soccer programs in 2014, which is an 89 percent increase since 1990, the first time the U.S. qualified to the World Cup in 40 years.

The sport keeps growing and the World Cup and the Men’s National Team are directly linked to that growth, but with this failure, the growth might be stopped. However, the MLS can change that. Creating a culture within MLS that demands respect around the world, would go a long way into making sure the Pulisic type players stay in the U.S.

The next generation

Graphic designed by Jozsef Papp.

Pulisic might the best player in US National Team history since Landon Donovan. In my opinion, he will surpass Donovan, but we have to wait and see. He has grown in talent by going to play in Germany for Borussia Dortmund, one of the best teams in Europe, and has quickly become a well-known name on the team.

The problem is that Pulisic is the only one out there. Dempsey, Howard, Bradley, Altidore and the majority of the other players on the national team play in MLS, which is not close to the same level of European competition.

It is true that MLS is growing. Stars like Ricardo Kaka, David Villa, Bastian Schweinsteiger, among others are increasing exposure to MLS. Crowds are MLS games increase every year and new franchises like Atlanta United have exceeded expectations. However, most of the players in Atlanta United are from out of the country.

There is a problem in US soccer and it starts from the top all the way to the bottom. There are thousands of academies and millions of kids that play soccer every year in the US to become the next big thing. Qualifying to World Cups is a process and can’t be done in a year, but if U.S. Soccer doesn’t get to work sooner rather than later, there won’t be any World Cup for the U.S. until the possibility of hosting in 2026.

Jozsef Papp is the Editor-in-Chief of The George-Anne. He is a senior journalism major from Cumming, Georgia. Jozsef lived in Ecuador for 12 years before moving to the U.S. in 2009. He has followed and played soccer all of his life.

The alarm sounds early Saturday morning, a college students dawn, around 8:30 A.M. You press snooze once, maybe twice, but the excitement for what’s to come on this glorious day in Statesboro is enough to lift you up and out of bed. If it’s not, a game day breakfast-in-bed mimosa will sure do the trick.

Will you put on a blue flowy dress, a white jersey, or possibly a yellow button down and khakis? Whatever the attire, male or female, southern style and trendy flare is sure to power through and have fans dressed in their game day best.

Ladies grab their game day buttons, men snag a 12-pack from the Fast & Easy, and everyone will be on their way to the pregame for actual game, aka, the tailgate.

When you attend a university that has coined the phrase, “We pregame harder than you play,” you know Saturday’s are no joke for True-Blue Georgia Southern fans. We wake up early, we start early, and we end late (if we’re lucky).

The Recreational Activity Center (RAC) and the Performing Arts Center (PAC) always open their lots for families, alum, students, and friends to set up tents and fire up the grills. You can also find fans in the grassy areas around the stadium, alongside the streets, and really wherever there’s room to stand.

Greek Row is a lively spot for members and friends of the Greek community. You’ll find the left side of Olympic Boulevard swarmed with people pouring in and out of each house, loud music occasionally accompanied by live bands, and an energy unlike any other Greek atmosphere in Georgia.

The homes on Robin Hood Trail, directly across from the stadium, are equally as packed with students tailgating the big game, who can conveniently cross the street and take a seat in the stands.

Before you know it, your senses will be overwhelmed.

The aroma of grilled hotdogs and hamburgers filling your nostrils;

The sea of blue and gold taking over every inch of the streets.

The chants of the famous Eagle Shout-Out, “Georgia…Southern!” heard from every corner, simply because there’s just nothing quite like tailgating at Georgia Southern.

Visitors from out of town come just to experience it, alumni make their way back to reminisce on the good ole’ days, and we get to live it every single home-game Saturday. We are blessed with the prettiest little stadium in America, rich traditions unlike anywhere else, and school spirit that’ll continue long after our days here are over.

Are you ready yet? Our first home game (and tailgate) of the season will be this Saturday, September 9, against the New Hampshire Wildcats! Kickoff is at 6:00 P.M. and the game will be aired on ESPN3.

Fantasy football allows you to form a bond with your friends and family, over a game that millions across the country love and watch every week.

For those who don’t know what fantasy football is, it is a game in which participants select players at the beginning of the football season and manage them throughout the season in an attempted to score the more points than their opponents and win more games.

For me, fantasy football brings a lot of joy to my life. I might spend a lot of time just looking at my phone to determine who should I start in a particular week, but it doesn’t matter. Winning a fantasy game is at times more satisfying that my own team winning. And clearly I’m not alone.

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), 57.4 million people played fantasy sports in the U.S. and Canada in 2015.

Now that the NFL season is coming to a close, the fantasy football playoffs for many leagues are about to begin. Being in the playoffs and winning the title of league champion, represents the hard work and dedication a person has put to make sure their team had the best players in order to win. Or it could simply be a matter of luck.

For those whose season are sadly over, there is always next year. It’s time to look forward to next season to avenge those who humiliated you by running up the score.

Regardless, fantasy football does have some negative aspects, specially towards the players in real life. Many players have received death threats and insults, simply because their performance in fantasy football wasn’t good enough.

It’s true that I will get mad at players who don’t perform up to their potential (I have called OBJ a bust multiple times this year), but I realize that their health and their jobs are way more important things than whether or not I win or not. I don’t understand why people make death threats towards players, for a game that is supposed to be fun.

Hopefully this season has been a good one for you. Now it is coming to an end, I wish you the best of luck, unless you are playing against me.

Each and every student at Georgia Southern has an open-ended opportunity to be a part of the RC and get their conversation started. The mission is simple: to ensure that your voice may be shared and your opinions heard. If talking about the rights of humans versus the rights of animals is your passion–let it be heard, if you’d like to explain why it’s acceptable to wear slip-ons and athletic shorts every single day–let it be heard, from video game crazes to thoughts on marriage equality, here in the Reflector Community, each opinion is invaluable.

As GSU students, and more importantly, thinking and active members of the world community it is imperative that our conversations be heard by those who are willing to listen. Let this not be your personal diary, let it be an informed and opinionated blog to share your experiences and ideas with the community around you. As a generation of progressive-minded adults it is our responsibility to unite and reflect on life’s many opportunities; however, it is our moral responsibility to also discuss the hard stuff.

What you have to say matters, so let’s start the conversation.

Macy Holloway,

Reflector Community Editor