Columnists

---

COLUMNS

Judging books by their covers: an author study

By By Sean Reichard | Sep. 11, 2012

If you walk into a bookstore, a few things should be readily apparent to you. Firstly, you will see the obligatory table set up with the latest hardcover and bestsellers, foisted right at wallet level. Then you will notice rows and rows of general fiction, and that should be the largest section in the store besides all the cheap mysteries, romances and nonfiction. A good litmus test: if you walk into a bookstore that doesn’t have at least one copy of “The Great Gatsby,” you’re either in an airport or not in a bookstore.

---

COLUMNS

McIlroy’s emergence puts brakes on Tiger’s comeback

By Vince Huth | Sep. 11, 2012

It’s been one of golf’s top stories in some capacity since early 2010: Tiger’s comeback. He was in contention at the 2010 Masters—his first event since news broke of his extensive affair—and analysts couldn’t help but presume Tiger would soon be back to his major-championship-winning ways.

---

COLUMNS

Column: Bielema made right move to let go of O-line coach

By Matt Masterson | Sep. 11, 2012

Coaches don’t get fired after two games. It just doesn’t happen. Excuses are made, scapegoats are blamed, but no one loses his job after just two games. Right?

---

COLUMNS

Real trap music: both thriving and dying?

By By Michael Penn II | Sep. 9, 2012

I had zero idea that I would end up in the middle of Dance Motherf*cker at Union South with Gabe Herrera spinning last May. He moved seamlessly between hip hop and electronic vibes and I found myself thoroughly enjoying the mix and pondering why I never came to DMF. Eventually, by my request, Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like” boomed menacingly in a room containing me and about 20 others. I leapt in some sort of graceless aggression with my friend Ian while watching the rest awkwardly performing a verbal tiptoe around the infamous N-word war-chant chorus.

---

COLUMNS

Column: NCAA sanctions maybe not severe enough

By Vince Huth | Sep. 7, 2012

College football is here, and one of the sport’s traditional powerhouses, the University of Southern California, is among the national title favorites. In fact, it was ranked the preseason No. 1 team in the nation over defending national champion Alabama. Normally this contender status wouldn’t come as a surprise, but USC was issued severe sanctions just two years ago—including a two-year postseason ban and a loss of 30 scholarships over three years—for illegal benefits given by sports marketers to its former Heisman-trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush.

---

COLUMNS

Column: Big Ten football not ready to match SEC

By Matt Masterson and Maureen Backman | Sep. 5, 2012

How far apart are the Big Ten and the SEC?

---

COLUMNS

50 shades of groan: subtlety in sex

By By Sean Reichard | Sep. 4, 2012

I had two Jameses on my mind this summer who (hopefully) bear no relation by blood and other family fluids. The first I could not escape: E.L. James, the author of “Fifty Shades of Grey.” I didn’t read the book, but I did hear a top-notch live reading by Gilbert Gottfried; it was delightful and bespoke eldritch abominations of the written language. The second I came quite voluntarily to: Henry James, the indomitable (and even to some English majors, a thoroughly frightening) prose maestro.

---

COLUMNS

How to dance like nobody’s watching

By Jaime Brackeen | Jun. 8, 2012

Sometimes I ask myself: Why New York City?

---

COLUMNS

Column: Schultz’s professional career up in the air

By Matt Masterson | Jun. 8, 2012

After one of the most prolific careers in Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey history, junior defenseman Justin Schultz has decided to leave the university in order to pursue his NHL future. While this marks the end of Schultz’s time as a Badger, it is only another step in his unique path to the NHL.

---

COLUMNS

Column: Despite Memorial win, Tiger not back yet

By Michelle Turner and Vince Huth | Jun. 8, 2012

In case you haven’t heard, Tiger Woods won the Memorial Tournament June 3 at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.

---

COLUMNS

Column: Lessons from four years at UW

By Nico Savidge and Tom Walsh | May. 9, 2012

The college newspaper farewell column—recognizable by the 800 words it spends saying goodbye to people readers have never met and reminiscing over an office where they’ve never been—is a pointless beast. And yet, each spring, we find ourselves at this point as graduating seniors get ready to move on.

---

COLUMNS

Remembering music legends past

By By Jeremy Gartzke | May. 9, 2012

The music world lost a great man this past weekend, as Adam “MCA” Yauch of the Beastie Boys passed away from cancer. I won’t claim to be a huge fan of the Beastie Boys, I honestly only know a few songs well, but Yauch is part of a generation that has influenced pop culture for 25 years, and his contributions deserve acknowledgement.

---

COLUMNS

Column: The Bryce Harper era in Major League Baseball has begun

By Ryan Evans and Brittany Jones | May. 7, 2012

The other day, as I was perusing around the “Truth and Rumors” portion of Sports Illustrated’s website, I came across a headline that caught my eye: “Harper’s call-up may not last long.”

---

COLUMNS

Appreciating the past, looking to the future

By By David Cottrell | May. 7, 2012

The end is nigh. In only two excruciatingly short weeks I’ll be graduating from the Badger state’s finest institution of higher learning, finally earning that elusive descriptor of “real adult”—or more likely just “that depressed guy who drinks at the Union all day and pretends he’s still a student here, drowning his delusions in pint after pint of Spotted Cow.”

---

COLUMNS

Column: ‘Junior’ Seau’s death brings attention to a real problem

By Matt Masterson | May. 3, 2012

No player encompassed what football fans love about the game more than Tiaina Seau, Jr.

---

COLUMNS

Men's Hockey: Schultz takes home team MVP, other Badgers honored Thrusday

By Ryan Evans | May. 3, 2012

The Wisconsin men’s hockey team handed out its nine player awards Thursday at a team gathering at the Kohl Center.

---

COLUMNS

Column: Outdoor hockey games have gone far enough

By Nico Savidge | May. 2, 2012

A little more than six years ago, the Wisconsin men’s hockey team transformed Lambeau Field into a hockey venue, skating to 4-2 win over Ohio State in an outdoor game no one who saw it will soon forget. Then, in 2010, the Badgers moved the Kohl Center’s atmosphere a few blocks up Dayton Street, topping Michigan in the Camp Randall Hockey Classic.

---

COLUMNS

Column: Thompson again proves himself to be draft guru for Packers

By Ryan Evans | Apr. 30, 2012

At no other time of year does Green Bay Packers’ general manager Ted Thompson shine brighter than during the NFL Draft.

---

COLUMNS

New single is good news for Handwritten

By Andy Van Sistine and By Jeremy Gartzke | Apr. 30, 2012

The Gaslight Anthem released a new single yesterday, from their upcoming major-label debut Handwritten, on Mercury records. The song is a return to some of the more punk energies from their debut, but it still maintains some of the Springsteen-esque qualities that engineered their success.

---

COLUMNS

Bo down: Burnham to perform at the Barrymore Theatre

By By Michael Penn II | Apr. 29, 2012

Adolf Hitler was a dictator-tot. Jesus hates you for masturbating. We can fix Africa through laughter. By this point, you are either laughing or nodding disapprovingly at the comedic styling of 21-year-old Robert Burnham. Known affectionately to the world as “Burnham”, he singlehandedly placed the world of comedy into a chokehold from his bedroom piano five years ago. Equipped with a tie-dye T-shirt, a happy disposition and a post-Catholic-school allure that would make any humor-seeker uncomfortable, Burnham has transitioned from viral video phenomenon to beloved comedian for his well-tuned satire.