Friday, November 17, 2006
Behrend swimmers and divers sail past the competition
By Dan Mitchell
assistant sports editor
The Penn State Behrend men’s and women’s
swimming and diving teams are reaping the ben
efits of hard work. Both the men and women
moved to 3-1 on the season, with wins in both of
their last two meets.
Both the men and women traveled to Bethany
November 4, and both teams came out with wins
79-66 and 94-68 respectively. The following
week both teams again came out on top in the
pool with big wins at St. Vincent College.
The Behrend Lions swimming and diving
Economic theory explains Steelers’ woes
By Ed Miseta
l.cciuivi in Lconoimcs
The Steelers' fans must be wondering what has
gone wrong. How can a team that won the Super
Bowl in January come back a few months later
and sink to the bottom of their division?
Remember, this is basically the same team, minus
Jerome Bettis, that performed a miraculous
comeback in 2006, clawed their way through the
playoffs and won a championship for the fifth
time in team history. So what exactly went
wrong'.’
It would be easy to point a finger at various
players and accuse them of
being the problem. Ben
Roethlisberger is playing like
a drunken Jeff George, while
Joey Porter and the Steelers’
defense seem to have more
holes than my favorite pair of
Sponge Bob boxer shorts.
Truth is. the answer to what
ails the Steelers may lie in
basic microeconomic theory.
Economists note that when
you consume an additional P nde - for their team - and for
unit of any good, that addition- their Clty ' That may have « lven
al unit will always bring you players the extra incentlve t 0
less satisfaction than the previ- win re P eat tltles ’
ous one. For example, eating Unfortunately, free agency has
D », 11 u contributed photo created a class of players that
one Big Mac will bring you a „ , . r 3
. . f .. Z . Economic theory may explain why are more concerned about their
certain amount of satisfaction. , „ , ... , , , . ■ •
When you eat a second Big the Steelers Wlll not win the Lombardl own and paychecks,
Mac, you will still get satisfac- Tr ° phy thlS year rather than their team. The
tion from it, but not as much as you got from the days 0 P^ a y ers spending their
firs. one. Ditto for the third, fourth, and fifth entire careers with one organization are over, and
ones. Economists believe this theory, known as with U went that addltlonal incentive
the Law of D.minishing Marginal Utility, would Does the law of DMU mean re P eat tampions
even hold true for money. After all, if someone are a thin g of the past? Not necessanly ' The
gives you 49 $lOO bills, will the number 50 be as desire t 0 win a Super Bowl wiH always be S reater
meaningful to you as the first? If the Law of F J 6 v 3
DMU holds true for every good, then it must also one - For a team t 0 win a second title ’ the solution
hold true for Super Bowl wins. 1S sim P le: Keep your core P layers intact ’ but fiU
Ask any NFL player about their ultimate goal, other P osl,lons Wlth talen,ed P layers who do not
, t ij* 11 * • • • c yet have a championship. For the Steelers, that
and most would tell vou it is winning the Super J r v
Bowl. There have been many NFL greats, howev- would mean discarding those players who might
, i . o d i only have a tew years left before retirement, as
er, who never managed to win a Super Bowl ring. J J
Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas. well as those with contracts that will soon ex P ire '
Bern.e Kosar and Warren Moon are but a few. Re P laci "g them wit h players who have the drive
While most NFL players would give anything to and motivation t 0 win their first championship
have the chance to be called a world champion, m ‘g ht be the tlcket t 0 more wins -
once you achieve that honor, how great is the
Bernstein was awarded AMCC diver of the
week on November 13 after placing second in the
one meter dive against St. Vincent. Both were the
first Behrend divers ever to be selected as AMCC
divers of the week by the AMCC committee.
drive and desire to become a second-time cham
pion? Is there any doubt that the second Super
Bowl ring will not bring a player nearly as much
satisfaction as the first? And if that's true, how
many players would be willing to put forth the
same amount of effort to get the second one?
In fairness to the Steelers players, this is not to
say that any of them are putting forth a lackluster
effort. However, we all know that once you attain
the title of world champions, every team will play
you harder than they play any other team on their
schedule. Becoming a repeat champion would
almost certainly require a greater effort than win
ning the title the first time. And, if that second
title will not bring as much satisfaction as the
first one, is it surprising that
teams often seem to come up
short?
“But wait,” you say. "There
have been repeat champions in
the past. The Steelers of the
1970 s won several Super
Bowls.” That’s true, but the
NFL and its players have
changed since then. There was
a time when players played for
teams have also had five swimmers and divers
recognized in the last two weeks’ AMCC honors.
On the men’s side, both A.J. Kondash and
Jacob Bernstein were recognized as AMCC
divers of the week. Kondash received the award
on November 6 for his outstanding diving against
St. Vincent, winning both the one and three meter
dives in the Lions’ victory.
Behrend’s Joe Reese was awarded with AMCC
OPT'
C r p
r-i
P
swimmer of the week on November 13. Reese
took first place in two individual events as the
team defeated St. Vincent. Reese won the 200
individual medley and the 200 butterfly and was
a member of the winning 400 medley relay.
The women also had both a swimmer and diver
named AMCC athletes of the week. Michelle
Quail became the first woman in Behrend history
to be named diver of the week for the AMCC on
November 13, after a stellar week in which she
scored 138.35 points in her first ever collegiate
diving competition. Quail's performance is also
the seventh best by a Behrend women's diver in
school history.
Intramural Weekly Update
Rob Wittman/INTRAMURAI. ACTIVITIhS
Staff claimed the intramural dodgeball championship by beating TOE on November 1. Team members
were (1-r): Jake Kowatch, Brian Hirschberg, Keith Cerroni, Keith Batchelor and Mike Barlett.
Recent Results:
Dodgeball finals took place Wednesday, November 1
Staff defeated TOE to claim the men’s dodgeball title in a best of three final
The Staff team was made up of Brian Hirschberg, Keith Batchelor, Keith
Cerroni, Jake Kowatch and Mike Barlett.
Josh Hannold, Tyler Schmidt, Jory Giger, Ben Kuhn, Kathy
Miaczynski and Jessica Patz of the Chick Magnets won the coed championship
Deadlines:
Indoor Soccer, Inner Tube Water Polo and Team Triathlon entries must be
received by Friday, November 17.
Current Sports:
Balls Deep, Burning Lumber and Super Duper lead the men's
competitive divisions of 3v3 Basketball. On the women’s side, Voltz and
Herberts are setting the pace. The season ends with the playoffs on Monday,
November 20.
• ■■■ • a mmm a mmmm a ■ mmm ■ ■ mmm ■ mamm ■ ■ h ■ a ohm ■ ■ ■ ■ •
■ Last Week’s answer: On April 10, 1999, the Miami Heat held the ■
j Chicago Bulls to an NBA record 49 points, which is the lowest single J
| team score since the introduction of the shot clock. |
• Sports Trivia will not be appearing in the final two issues of the ■
! Behrend Beacon this semester. \
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Sports Trivia
The Behrend Beacon I 7
The women also had an AMCC swimmer of the
week last week. Colby Seibert was named AMCC
swimmer of the week on November 12. Seibert
received the award for winning both the 21)0
freestyle and 200 butterfly in the victors over St
Vincent. Seibert's time of 2:22.82 in the butter
fly is the second fastest time by a female swim
mer in Behrend history. Seibert is the first
Behrend women's swimmer to be given the honor
of being named AMCC swimmer of the week.
Both the men and women travel to Na/areth for
a meet on Saturday. November 18.