Tickets for TCU-Utah sold out

TCU's Saturday home football game with Utah is sold out, the TCU Ticket Office announced just before noon today.

Buyers snapped up the few remaining upper deck obstructed-view seats and standing-room only tickets this morning. A steady line of 30 to 50 people deep unfurled out the ticket office door along Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.

"We working with authorities to get as many people in the stadium for Saturday that we can," said Sean Connor, TCU Ticket manager. "At this point, I don't know how many standing-room only tickets we will sell."

Fans are encouraged to arrive early on Saturday to avoid long lines at the will call windows and at the entrance to Amon G. Carter Stadium. The will call windows in the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum will open Saturday at 8 a.m.

The will call windows in the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum are also open during the week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for fans to pick up their tickets.

Bloodlines gear a hot seller

Monday afternoon at the TCU Barnes & Noble Bookstore on campus, the special Nike “Bloodlines” T-shirts that read “Don’t Back Down” were selling as fast as workers could unpack boxes.

Nike promoted the shirts on its YouTube channel and staged a special in-store promotion handing out cards with special codes allowing shoppers to unlock a small vault and take a peak at the special Nike Pro Combat uniforms that players will wear for the game – with reptile-like simulated scales and black helmets featuring two red stripes representing the blood the Horned Frogs shoot from their eyes when attacked.

Students, faculty and alumni as well as newfound Frog fans were in line snapping up gear offered 25 percent off thanks to the Frogs’ Saturday victory. Walter Allen ’58, ’62 Brite, was buying a jacket for his son, Rob Allen ’91. A season-ticket holder, he said he was fairly confident the Frogs will beat Utah Saturday.

“I have my fingers crossed just in case,” he added.

He got a glimpse of the new uniforms and liked what he saw. “I can’t wait to see them on the field,” he said.

The special Nike uniform is 25 percent lighter than current designs (23.7 ounces vs. 37.4 ounces), the lightest Nike has ever created. Nike utilized a four-way stretch twill that does not hold sweat or water and as a result, the new uniforms are 46 percent lighter than the current designs when wet. In addition to keeping the players dry, the fabric is also supposed to help keep players cool.

There is more padding in the thighs, hips and tailbone. The padding zones are composed of dual-density foam cells that absorb, deflect and disperse the impact of on-field collisions.

Campus memorial emerges for Ron Shirey

Ron Shirey, professor of choral music at TCU since 1976, passed away Saturday in Fort Worth. His choirs traveled and performed in Europe, Asia and Mexico, including the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City with the National Symphony of Mexico and Maestro Herrera de la Fuente, where they performed Mozart’s Requiem, Prokofieff’s Alexander Nevky, and Poulenc’s Stabat Mater.

They also were popular performers at New York's Carnegie Hall and were featured multiple times at the annual convention of American Chorale Directors Association and Texas Music Educators Association.

"We have lost a colleague of very great stature and a friend who transcended conventional boundaries," Provost Nowell Donovan wrote in a campus email this morning. "Ron’s impact on our shared university culture was extraordinary and he is to a large degree irreplaceable. We shall all miss the extra zip that he and his choirs brought to the music of Convocation, the pride that we felt when his choirs and our students performed at Carnegie Hall, and the inspiration that we drew from his baton as he led us all through Verdi’s Requiem at Bass Hall."

With chalk-written messages, flowers, sheet music and more, a memorial created by students and faculty emerged over the weekend and into Monday at his reserved parking space on the north side of campus next to the Landreth Auditorium box office.

Shirey was also an active member in music beyond the campus. He served as chorus director for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 1983 to 1993. He conducted both the Chorus and DSO. Haydn was among his all-time favorites. He worked with well-known conductors Robert Shaw, Eduardo Mata, John Nelson and Jerzy Semkow.

Campus Reflections: Playing Dress-Up at 21

Editor's Note: What will TCU Magazine intern Molly Mahan be for Halloween? Staying true to her comic book and philosophy roots, she tells us why playing dress-up is meaningful:

As with every year, I get excited about Halloween the moment autumn officially begins on September 22. Usually, I already have at least one costume in mind, with a backup already in my closet. I begin planning on what I will be doing for Halloween on the first of November of the previous year. Last year, I went to three different Halloween parties dressed as my favorite feline fatale, Catwoman (a la Julie Newmar from the 60’s "Batman" television show). This year, I settled upon the ideal costume in September: Stevie Nicks, the rock n’ roll queen of the 70’s who wrote and performed music with the band Fleetwood Mac.

Over the course of September, when I wasn’t drowning in reading and writing papers, I surfed the Internet, scouted out dancewear shops around town and preened through fabric shops until I had, in my mind and on paper, crafted the perfect costume. However, as the days rolled by and it looked as if none of my friends were holding any parties and the only word on campus was homecoming, I began to doubt whether or not I wanted to spend money on a costume I may or may not be able to wear. Last week was the cutoff date for costume purchasing, and I didn’t hear a peep from anyone, so I scrapped all my work and began to sulk about a Halloweenless year.

Then, Monday rolls around and TCU announces all sorts of activities, the philosophy club proclaims their meeting will be held in costume this week and a friend of mine in the Classics minor sent me an invite to her house for a party the night before Halloween.

Figures.

Luckily for me, I have a backup plan and because I am oh-so-clever, it looks like the backup costume will suffice. I will be Supergirl, as per my comic book nerdiness. Although nothing particularly original itself (at least not in the way the Stevie Nicks costume would have been), I will be able to play with the name of the character a bit. Friedrich Nietzsche, a 19th century philosophy, spoke about a kind of person that is beyond good and evil and called him the Ubermensch, which is often translated as Superman. So when I go to the philosphy club meeting, I will be able to make plays on Nietzschean thinking using comic book lore. For example, Nietzsche is most remembered for proclaiming “God is dead,” likewise, I will proclaim “Zod is dead.” Zod being a Superman villain that is, in fact, dead.

I wish I knew why I liked dressing up so much. Sometimes I wonder if dressing up is something that only children should do, so college is my last chance to get it out of my system (although I know the English department recently had a faculty costume party, so maybe I’m just trying to mature too fast). This may be why I was so worried and disappointed at the thought mid-October that none of my friends would be up to anything in town. Either way, if it’s just for kids or if grownups can play too, I am very pleased that my last Halloween as an undergrad will be costume filled, and while I won’t be able to put on the costume I put most effort into, I will still be in a costume that I am proud to wear and is somewhat fitting of my persona and interests.

How we jumped Boise State in the BCS standings

The latest version of the Bowl Championship Series rankings were released yesterday, and to the delight and surprise of Frog Nation, TCU was sitting nicely at No. 6.

Several outlets, including USA Today, listed the Frogs as the week's biggest winners, not just for the 38-7 beatdown the Frogs put on the BYU Cougars, but also for jumping two spots in the BCS standings. Most notably, TCU hopped over Boise State, the Frogs' primary threat to a BCS bowl. The Broncos dropped from fourth to seventh.

If both win out, the TCU/Boise race figures to become a BCS controversy-within-a-controversy, as schedule strength, margin of victory and conference respectability will be dissected daily. Since both teams play in a league without an automatic BCS bid, only the higher ranked of the two will be guaranteed a spot.

But as Coach Gary Patterson would be quick to point out, there is still almost half a season left to play and much could change. The teams very likely will trade spots each week, separated by hundredths of a point, based on how their opponents fare. The Broncos may well wind up with the single most impressive win (Oregon), but the Frogs will boast a more successful all-around slate (road wins at Virginia, Clemson and BYU, and a looming home date with No. 19 Utah).

For now, though, the Frogs are on top. Here's a look at how it happened:

As you know, the BCS standings are computed by three factors - six computer rankings (with the top five averaged for a composite score), the Coaches Poll, voted on by 59 of the sport's 120 coaches (including Patterson and Boise's Chris Petersen, and Harris Poll, which surveys 114 randomly selected former coaches, players, administrators and current and former media.

The computers

The computers like TCU, improving the Frogs' average rank from eighth to fourth while downgrading Boise from fifth to eighth. TCU is ranked fourth by two (Anderson & Hester and Peter Wolfe), and fifth by three others (Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix and Kenneth Massey). Jeff Sagarin's rating has TCU eighth. In the BCS formula, the lowest ranking is thrown out, leaving the Frogs' computer rating at fourth.

Boise, however, is all over the map. Sagarin ranks the Broncos fourth, while Billingsley and Massey have them sixth. Wolfe ranks them eighth, Anderson & Hester 10th and the Colley Matrix 11th. Toss out the low one.

The bottom line is that the computer average leaves TCU with a .11 lead on the Broncos. Seems small as a decimal, but it's a significant advantage, to which the Frogs will cling.

The voters

Analyzing the pollsters is the more interesting trend. Boise entered the season ranked 16th (542 points) to the Frogs 17th (461 points) in the coaches poll. With an early victory over Oregon, Boise jumped to 11th (803 points) while the idle Frogs stayed 16th (543 points). A deficit of 81 votes ballooned to 260 in a week.

By the Sept. 27 poll, Boise had climed to fifth, with Frogs in 10th, trailing by 216 points. A month later, the Broncos are still fifth, but TCU is on their heels in 6th and now only trail by 21 points.

Week 4 - Sept 27

Boise 5th 1144 points 216 lead

TCU 10th 928 points

Week 5 - Oct 4

Boise 6th 1133 points (loss of 11) 168 lead

TCU 9th 965 points (gain of 37)

Week 6 - Oct 11

Boise 6th 1170 points (gain of 37) 191 lead

TCU 8th 979 points (gain of 14)

Week 7 - Oct 18

Boise 5th 1153 points (loss of 17) 84 lead

TCU 7th 1069 points (gain of 90)

Week 8 - Oct 25

Boise 5th 1152 points (loss of 1) 21 lead

TCU 6th 1131 points (gain of 62)

In the Harris poll, released after the first four weeks of the season, TCU has gained on Boise significantly. The Frogs have trimed a 606-point Bronco margin to 154.

Week 4 - Sept 27
Boise 5th 2264 points 606 lead
TCU 11th 1658 points

Week 5 - Oct 4
Boise 5th 2245 points (loss of 19) 472 lead
TCU 10th 1773 points (gain of 115)

Wk 6 - Oct 11
Boise 5th 2274 points (gain of 29) 469 lead
TCU 10th 1805 points (gain of 32)

Wk 7 - Oct 18
Boise 5th 2289 points (gain of 15) 274 lead
TCU 8th 2015 points (gain of 210)

Wk 8 - Oct 25
Boise 5th 2273 points (loss of 16) 154 lead
TCU 7th 2119 points (gain of 114)

Final analysis

TCU's lead over the Broncos is far from safe, BCS analyst Jerry Palm told the Associate Press.

"If those two teams keep winning, it's going to go down to the wire," Palm said, who owns and operates CollegeBCS.com.

Palm said the computer ratings are volatile early in the season.

"Boise took a beating for playing Hawaii (2-5). At the end of the year, TCU is not going to be four spots ahead of Boise in the computers," he said.

Ultimately, Palm said, the poll voters will decide between Boise State and TCU.

"Nobody should be making travel plans yet," he said. "TCU is there this week but long-term they have to get better in the polls or they're not going to stay."

"Keep in mind, this probably isn't permanent. A lot can change. We're showing the computers are fickle. TCU gained a lot in the coaches' poll, but not enough in the Harris poll. The computers mean more now because fewer games have been played. But by the end of the season, they won't have as much of an impact. TCU needs to gain more in the polls. If I'm TCU, I'm disappointed in the Harris voters."

Don't mistake Palm's thoughts for a guy who doesn't believe TCU can be this season's BCS buster. He does think TCU will end up ahead of Boise State if both go undefeated. He just thinks it will be very close and could come down to the final weekend.

"If you made me go to Vegas and bet on it, I'd bet on the Frogs," Palm said. "It's just not a sure thing."

Palm said what would help TCU's poll numbers is for Iowa or Cincinnati to lose. "They are taking votes away from TCU," Palm said.

Campus Reflections: Ancient Eats

Editor's Note: As a fan of Greek and Roman culture and history, TCU Magazine intern Molly Mahan, who is studying Classical Studies and philosphy, writes about an Extended Education class she's exploring this semester:

I am an avid studier of the Classics, especially the ancient Greeks. However, currently TCU currently only offers a minor in Classical Studies so it can be hard to find classes geared towards my ancient interests within the four years of my degree tenure. It is especially difficult to find classes that extend outside of history and philosophy and allow you to get a look at what life was like for the less scholarly people of the period.

Lucky for me, this year TCU offered a course this semester through its Extended Education program that offered just that. The course is called “Ancient Eats” and is centered on the anthropological study of food. Sadly, it won’t be credited to my degree, but as a major in the liberal arts school, I know that education is more important than a degree (at least until I start that dreaded, post-graduation job search) and so I eagerly signed up for the course.

Ancient Eats is taught by Jennifer Lockett, an adjunct professor in TCU’s Sociology and Anthropology department, who is a Romanist (i.e., a scholar of the Roman period) and offers Extended Education courses regularly throughout the school year.

The course is divided into two three hour class meetings. The first meeting gives a background on evolutionary development of dining, as only primates eat meals in groups as a social activity, and explains that what is acceptable to eat is, for the most part, set up by social norms rather than what is actually “healthy.” With that in mind, Professor Lockett segues into what and how the Greeks and Romans ate. Some things were old to me, such as the eating of dormice by Roman aristocracy, but other things still came as a shock as it was unfathomable to me that the Romans ever cooked without the use of the tomato.

For the second meeting students in the course are on assignment to bring in an ancient meal. I’m bringing kykeon, which is half-drink, half-food and chocked full of protein. It is more or less the ancient equivalent to a protein shake. From ancient Greek literature, we see that kykeon was used both for religious purposes (as it was given to the goddess Demeter in the Eleusian mysteries) and, because it is filled with protein, it was used to feed soldiers. Depending on the recipe, it is either mixed with water, wine or served on its own. I’ll be serving it on its own, because it doesn’t need to be distributed to hundreds of people and a few students aren’t of age just yet.

It is good to know that once I graduate that I will still be able to place myself in the student setting through TCU’s extended education program. It is also nice that I can take these classes while still a student, although they are generally aimed at those who have degrees already. There aren’t any tests or papers, just lecture and discussion.

There are some other extended ed courses that do require reading, however, and if you take a language course it might be best to study the vocabulary outside of the class. But if you can do that, then extended ed is pretty much the easiest and best thing to do, if you want to learn more and enjoy a good lecture.

And, in case you’re interested, here is the recipe I used for kykeon:

Ingredients
• ¾ cup semolina
• 13 oz ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons honey (or to taste)
• 1 small beaten egg

Directions
1. Soak the semolina for 10 - 15 minutes in plenty of water, enough to cover it.
2. When it softens, strain it and add the ricotta cheese, the honey and the beaten egg.
3. Heat the mixture at low temperature and do not let it boil.

Who's the first-half MVP for TCU Football?

The TCU football team has reached the halfway mark of the season and, at 6-0, sits ranked eighth in the BCS standing. This week, I caught up with Brian Estridge, the Voice of the Frogs, to chat about the highs and lows of the season thus far. Here's what he had to say:

Who's your first-half player of the year?
Estridge: Jeremy Kerley (pictured above) edges Jerry Hughes for me. The two punt returns are the highlight moments so far. Kerley has emerged as the energy guy for the team. He's been the special teams gamebreaker we've needed him to be. He's also the team leader in receptions along with Bart Johnson. Hughes had almost unconquerable expectations this year and he's ahead of his sack pace from a year ago despite double teams. Honorable mention: Joseph Turner, 7 TD's and a 5.2 ypc
average.

What's been the biggest surprise?
Estridge: Tank Carder, second in the team in tackles behind Daryl Washington. He's been the LB we needed to step up to play alongside Washington. And LB opposite Washington was a question mark coming into the season. Honorable mention: Curtis Clay. He's gone from 9 catches all year to 11 in the first half, 2 of those TD's.

What's been the biggest disappointment?
Estridge: The biggest disappointment has been the turnovers, but that's on more than one guy. So I will go with the tandem of Nick Sanders and Rafael Priest. For a position that was supposed to be a strength with two four-year starters, the corners have been vulnerable against Texas State, SMU and even Air Force.

Who's the top unsung hero so far?
Estridge: Kevin Sharples. His kickoffs have been pretty decent this year, including a couple of touchbacks. That's kept Ross Evans fresh for place kicks. Honorable mention: Ed Wesley. He's third on the team in all purpose yards and his catch on the deflection at Clemson was huge. Honorable mention:

What's been the high moment of the year?
Estridge: Kerley's return against SMU with the helmetless block by Tanner Brock. I like Keith's mention of the drive-snuffing close of the Clemson game. Other TCU teams would have found a way to lose.

What's been the low moment of the year?
Estridge: The fourth quarter fumble and subsequent TD drive at Air Force. A 10-point win and we probably don't drop two spots in the polls. Honorable mention: The helmet-to-helmet hit on Ryan Christian. Completely ridiculous that it wasn't called. One player is gone for the year. It was good to see Ryan back out there for CSU.

Who's the top player to watch for the final six games of the regular season?
Estridge: Andy Dalton. He'll shoulder the most of the pressure that comes with a top 10 ranking and trying to crack the BCS.

Campus Reflections: Global service as "edutainment"

Editor's Note: With TCU's campus day of service approaching this weekend, TCU Magazine intern Molly Mahan, a self-proclaimed gamer, writes about a fun way to help fight world hunger:

“To educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community.” – TCU’s Mission Statement

Since registration for TCU’s semi-annual LEAPS program has come to a close, I thought it might be a good idea to mention an even easier form of global service brought to us by the internet: FreeRice.com.

FreeRice.com has swept many Horned Frogs off their feet, including myself. It is a nonprofit site that hosts a variety of educational games (what a professor of mine and Disney might refer to as “edutainment”), from vocabulary building to testing one’s knowledge of the periodic table to artist-painting identification. Each game has a number of levels of difficulty which you can choose. And while learning new things is always fine and dandy, the best part is that for every question answered correctly, FreeRice.com, via the site’s donors, donates ten grains of rice through the UN World Food program to help end world hunger.

Answering a question incorrectly doesn’t deplete the amount of rice donated (a la "Jeopardy!"); rather it lowers the level of difficulty so you can earn more rice for those global citizens in need of food and work your way back up to the harder difficulties. I usually play the English vocabulary game, which has 60 levels of difficulty. So far, I have only surpassed level 50 once, but one of these days I will “beat” the game. I also play the Italian vocabulary game, but there are only 10 levels, so after about ten minutes of play it starts to repeat itself as the vocabulary bank isn’t that large.

However, for those less language inclined, there are also math and chemistry games, as well as geography quizzes and a section on famous paintings. There all accessible from the “Subjects” link on the horizontal navigation bar at the top of the page. The friend who introduced me to FreeRice.com usually plays the painting game, wherein you identify the artist of a given painting, but since I have a hard enough time telling the difference between impressionism and cubism, I stick to the word games. Perhaps, I’ll take a visit to the Kimbell Museum sometime and try the quiz again.

It’s always nice to give and get a little something in return, even if it is just a basic review of things you may have known before. So, whether you love Picasso, are a pro at the periodic table or are a logophile (like me!), FreeRice.com has a game out there for everyone with access to a computer and gives a little to those that are without even the basics to survive. Have fun, learn and give.

For further information about FreeRice.com, check out their FAQ page: http://www.freerice.com/faq.html

Leap into action

October brings cooler weather, pumpkins, Homecoming and TCU LEAPS, the annual campus-wide community service event.

Students, faculty and staff can sign up for a morning shift, afternoon or all day stint helping out at a variety of Fort Worth area non-profits including Giggles Therapy Autism Treatment Center, Hangman's House of Horrors and Union Gospel Mission.

Alums can also get into the action, signing up to help read books to kids, paint and repair homes for older adults and sort food for the Tarrant Area Food Bank. Three shifts are available: 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., noon to 4:30 p.m. or all day. Breakfast and lunch are provided. Register on froglinks.

Mark Munns is serving as LEAPS director this year. A senior majoring in neuroscience and pre-med, he fell in love with LEAPS his freshman year.

"My LEAPS experiences have been the most rewarding times I've had at TCU,"' he says.

For more about the students who are coordinating this year's event, click here.

Deadline to register is Monday, Oct. 19.

Campus Reflections: Religion and the Golden Rule

Editor's Note: This week, TCU Magazine intern Molly Mahan attended Karen Armstrong's lecture on Religion in an Age of Terrorism Here's what Molly took from the lecture:

Last night, I was one of many who attended Ms. Karen Armstrong’s lecture entitled “Religion in an Age of Terrorism: Perils and Possibilities.” Her lecture is the first in a series dedicated to former Religion Department Chair Daryl Schmidt entitled “Religion in the Public Life.” Disappointingly, it turned out that Ms. Armstrong’s lecture had very little to do with religion and the public practice of it, and was instead mostly about her belief that all religions say the same thing and are indistinguishable from each other. The thing they are all saying, according to Armstrong, is what is commonly called the Golden Rule: “Do not do to others what you would not have done to you.”

Armstrong supported her argument with a variety of anecdotal stories from many religious backgrounds, with all of them claiming that the central theme to their religions is the Golden Rule. She even claims to quote the Dalai Lama that it is unnecessary to convert from one religion to the other.

While the concept of loving one’s neighbor and treating everyone with respect is very important for the management of societies and is a part of most, if not all, major religions, I think it is offensive to not only to practitioners of religion, but also to scholars of religion, to say that one religion is no different from another. It is further offensive to claim that no wars throughout history have ever been fought for religious purposes or that the idea of the supernatural is a recent occurrence.

Armstrong also says that no wars are ever fought for religious purposes, they have always been political. As a former nun, I assume she has read the Bible, and it appears to be quite evident in Joshua and Judges that the Hebrew people have fought in wars because they were commanded by their God to wipe out people groups to ensure the pagan religions did not infiltrate their own. Also, I am sure many people would have things to say about the Crusades and even more recently World War II. To say that no war is ever fought over religion is just plain naiveté.

Further, if no religion is truly separate from the other, then why do sects continue to pop up and why does TCU have a whole department dedicated to religious studies, with a staff of scholars—not “public intellectuals”—who are each dedicated, with doctorates, to a particular religion or how religions compare with one another and change over time? Or, if they are all the same, why does she seem to have a particular distaste for Catholicism?

Her point is to treat others with respect, this is a rule that is universal for all peoples and does not need to be discussed through the domain of religion. If she taught it rather from a personal belief or a kind of societal philosophy, I could understand this, and it is unlikely that I would have had any qualm with her speech, as I agree. People should be treated with respect and dignity. But to say infer that it is only valid from a religious stand point has potential to alienate atheists and those who may not too keen on the idea of religion, the supernatural or the concept of deity. It also would prevent her from interpreting Scripture inappropriately, repeatedly telling the same story with different characters and misquoting Socrates (she said that Socrates called those aware of their ignorance “wise,” when in fact Socrates never once called anyone wise).

When one person during the Q&A attempted to correct her while she was mid-story, she cut him off, and this man was one who had just put her in the ranks of Christ, Buddha and Krishna as religious teachers. If one of her disciples thinks she is wrong and she refuses to listen to his correction (claiming he hasn’t heard what she has to say yet), it seems impossible for others who are scholars in the field she represents to even attempt to penetrate her shell.

I am grateful TCU was able to bring Ms. Armstrong to talk about compassion. It started a huge discourse in the Religion Department about the difference between the many religions represented in the department and practiced on campus. We affirmed that it wasn’t all just “commentary” on the Golden Rule as Ms. Armstrong suggested.

It is a shame that such a necessary discussion and important idea for a globalized community like the Golden Rule got befuddled by the need to bring in religion, and, in the process, pervert the religions and cultures mentioned to make sure they all fit with what she had to say.