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The wonderful world of Joe

Rating: B+

Mass shock

For a state that was the proving ground of democracy, it sure threw the country for a loop with Tuesday's election results. Massachusetts, a place where Democrats greatly outnumber Republicans, filled Ted Kennedy's vacant Senate seat with Republican Scott Brown.

UB grad becomes Duke's 'Van Man'

Once graduating seniors walk through those double doors of Alumni Arena, what greets them is the challenge of finding a job. And then there's the debt – the heaping amount of student loans that they accumulated while being consumed by the stresses of college.

Video Game Previews

Title: Aliens vs. Predator

Flawless Flashes beat down Bulls

Nothing has been able to slow down the men's basketball team lately. Entering Wednesday's showdown at Kent State, Buffalo had won four-straight games and seven of eight contests overall.

Rumblings of a green initiative

Recycling one ton of paper can save 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water and conserve the amount of electricity needed to power an average household for five months. But that's obvious, right?

Nursing dreams squashed

"Maynard leaves Buffalo, to visit Clemson"

Football head coach Jeff Quinn announced Thursday afternoon that sophomore quarterback Zach Maynard has left the Buffalo football program.

SUNY autonomy

Paterson finally gets one right.

Hiphopopotamus

Every radio I've owned for the past 10 years has been broken; they all play the same songs over and over again. I bring each radio to every repair shop I know and ask why every FM radio I own has broken-record syndrome. The repairmen always ignore me and go back to listening to their iPods.

Brees-ing to a championship

As my roommates and I lounged around watching television and enjoying our Monday off, my channel surfing landed us on highlights of the Cowboys/Vikings divisional playoff game. While my roommates voiced their disinterest in my choice to watch football, I argued that as a sports writer, I needed to be up to date on the latest NFL news.

Representin' the 90s

After a nice relaxing Christmas with my family, I returned to Buffalo full of anticipation to finally play Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with my friends online.

We're looking for our next editor in chief!

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New New York Knicks

For my first column of the semester, I wanted to write about something that I feel extremely passionately about. I wanted to write about a story that means more to me than a distant major headline, such as the Tiger Woods scandal or Brett Farve's return to the postseason spotlight. Rather than discussing a bowl game that my school didn't compete in, or detailing the upset of the No. 1 nationally-ranked college basketball team, I felt obliged to tell about something that hit closer to home; something important in my life. Of course, under these pretenses, you can easily imagine how I would be tempted to write about the season finale of The Jersey Shore. But then I realized that this was a sports column. Next best topic: The New York Knicks. Yes, I concede that the Knicks remain a team struggling for wins in a crumbling conference filled with second-tier teams. By the numbers, they don't exactly impress, standing at 17-24, the same exact record they held just one year ago. But I argue that there is more to this team than the records, stats, and stigmas imply. By the beginning of December, the blue and orange had dug themselves a deep hole, getting off to a dismal 3-14 start. Yes, they lost a few overtime bouts, including a crushing defeat to Boston capped by a Kevin Garnett buzzer-beater, but their play was lackluster and inexcusable. In the past nine seasons, the Knicks have missed the postseason seven times and lost in the first round to subpar teams twice (Toronto in 2000-01 and New Jersey in 2003-04). In all of those years, the Knicks finished above .500 just once. My Knicks had done what I feared most; they had become a team synonymous with pity and loss. After a dreadful decade, they began being mentioned in the same breath as (gasp) the Mets and the Jets. (Yes, I know the latter team is in the AFC Championship, but this entire season has been a fluke and the Giants remain the superior New York football team, always. That does include the Bills, sorry.) Just imagine this typical NBA conversation involving a New York fan: RANDOM NBA FAN: I'm so glad that the NBA season finally tipped off. Kobe and crew look eager to repeat and the East actually has some strong contenders. Say, what team do you root for? KNICKS FAN: (Notice the awkward preface to explain their loyalty) We'll, I'm from New York, so I'm a die-hard Knicks fan. RANDOM NBA FAN: (Cringes and hides an embarrassed smile) Oh, I see. I'm sorry to hear that. (Scrambles through brain to find something positive to say.) Maybe you'll get LeBron in 2010. It was as if saying 'I'm a Knicks fan' had become a stigma that immediately transmitted a sexual disease to anyone who heard the words muttered. Well, I'm from New York, and I'm a damn proud Knicks fan, especially this season. (And with that statement, I hope I've inflicted countless New England area sports fans with horrible rashes and chronic discomfort.) I've watched nearly every Knicks game this season, and in short, I've been nothing but impressed with the team's talent, effort, and results. Center David Lee is an outstanding star that has thrived playing a position he isn't naturally suited for. His outside jump shot has improved, he can finish with both hands, grabs 11.2 rebounds per game (sixth best in the NBA) and should be voted into the All-Star Game. Coach Mike D'Antoni has done an excellent job inspiring players and has gotten the most out of average guys such as Jared Jeffries and Wilson Chandler. Al Harrington is one of the most dominant six-men in the league (18.2 points per game) and Danilo Gallinari has proved he can both shoot and slash. And they're winning games. With $60 million clearing from cap space at the end of the season and a huge free agent market, it hasn't felt this good to be a Knicks fan in a while. My boys may currently be on the outskirts of the playoffs, but their chemistry is on point and they will make a run this postseason. Any superstar in this league who has watched the Knicks move the ball and hustle back on defense this year would love to play in D'Antoni's run-and-gun system. New York seems fit for a king. E-mail: andrew.wiktor@ubspectrum.com

Missed target

Rating: C-

The world according to Eli

Grade: D

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The clock is ticking.

Budget roulette

Nobody enjoys Tuesdays – they're the ultimate 'Jan Brady' day. To make it worse, New Yorkers got a gift from Governor David Paterson when he announced yet another plan to fight New York's pressing deficit issue. Honestly, residents statewide are just tired of hearing about the problems with the budget. Yes, it's bad, but the situation has been talked to death. Try doing something that will actually work for once. New York is looking at a deficit of 7.4 billion dollars for the next fiscal year, so the governor has taken out the treasure map and begun searching for new revenue streams. Here's what the 'geniuses' in Albany have come up with: legalize Ultimate Fighting, allow the sale of wine in grocery stores and tax cigarette sales on Indian Reservations. It would be even worse if it came from the income taxes of the hardworking citizens of New York, because the earlier plans involving utility taxes were just uncalled for. But there is a part of this budget that'll come as a bit of a shock. Paterson is going after school aid. Yes, that's right – school aid. The plan calls for a cut of 5 percent in a state that spends the most on funding education. New York ranks 6th in overall spending and 3rd in elementary and secondary spending. Under the plan, wealthier school districts would bear the larger portion of the cuts – a strategy that has long been fought by the state Senate, especially by senators from Long Island. Now, before the state gets up in arms over this, there needs to be more examination of this. For example, Eric Hanushek, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford with a Ph.D. from MIT in economics and an expert in educational policy, has found that there's no correlation between students doing better on standardized tests and increased funding for schools. So maybe, just maybe, the governor isn't mortgaging the children's futures with the tax plan. No one actually condones cutting education expenses, but if the debt crisis is that bad for New York, then the residents need to give it a shot. The plan in its entirety banks on the premise that a strapping economic recovery will take place in the state tax revenues and that a host of other proposals that haven't passed before will pass, such as a soda tax which charges $1.28 per gallon of bottled soft drinks. There are some cuts planned, such as slowing the growth of spending on Medicaid, reducing $1 billion from spending on state agencies and eliminating $300 million in annual aid to New York City. The governor's budget would also introduce fees to a state program that provides early intervention services for about 74,000 special-needs children. Families would be charged on a moveable scale, with fees starting at $180 a year for those with a household income of at least $55,126 and topping out at $2,160 a year for those earning at least $198,451 annually. At least 11 other states already charge such fees, including New Jersey and Connecticut. The exact numbers and where the money is coming from are almost irrelevant at this point. New York lacks a governor and legislature that can actually deal with problems in a swift, concise manner. If the plan is logical and effective, it shouldn't have come this late.

"Tick, tock"

Grade: B

Hedderson's return lifts Bulls to first MAC win

The women's basketball team entered Saturday's Mid-American Conference matchup with Ohio in search of its first MAC victory. Strong shooting proved to be the surge that Buffalo needed to crack into the in-conference win column. The Bulls (5-12, 1-3 MAC) put on a show from 3-point range to end the losing streak and dispose of the Bobcats (4-13, 0-4 MAC), 76-62. Buffalo went 9-for-14 for 3-point range, their best shooting performance from the perimeter since the 2007-08 season. 'We sure hit some 3-point shots in the first half,' said Bulls head coach Linda Hill-MacDonald. 'I think that was creating a dilemma for Ohio because they wanted to jam on our inside game. Knocking down some threes really opened up [the floor for us]. [Ohio] had to spread out and then we were able to penetrate. I thought we penetrated the gaps really, really well today.' Using a 7-0 run to start the game, the Bulls immediately put the Ohio on their heels. The Bobcats got off to a rough start, as shot after shot bounced off the glass and rim. The Bobcats finally made their first layup and cut the Bulls' lead down to five with 17:40 remaining in the first half. This was the closest Ohio came in the contest. Less than a minute later, a trey by junior forward Jessica Fortman and a jumper by freshman guard Chrissy Cooper increased the Bulls' lead to ten. Ohio gained some momentum after making two consecutive buckets to pull within six, but a trey from Cooper put an end to that run. Sophomore guard Brittany Hedderson sank the next three buckets for the Bulls, including a 3-point shot, putting the Bulls up 22-10 with just over 10 minutes left in the opening half. The efforts of Cooper, Hedderson, and junior forward Kourtney Brown allowed the Bulls to dominate the Bobcats for the next five minutes. Freshman guard Abby Dowd knocked down a 3-pointer to cap off a 17-6 run. This gave the Bulls a 23-point lead, the largest of the half, at 39-16. Buffalo ended the first half with 47 points to tie a season-high record set in the opening half of the Youngstown State game. Overall, the Bulls shot 56.3 percent from the field, 63.6 percent from the 3-point range, and were perfect from the free-throw line. The team continued to build on its lead and went on a 20-8 run in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Buffalo held a 67-37 lead, its largest of the game, with 9:44 left on the clock. But the Bulls relaxed as the Bobcats tried to claw their way out of a rut. Though Ohio finished the game on a 23-8 run, it was not enough to overcome Buffalo's substantial lead. Buffalo finished the game with four players in double digits for the first time this season. Hedderson led the team, going 7-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-4 from 3-point range for 17 points in just 21 minutes. Hedderson, who is still fairly fresh off of a stress fracture that put her out of action for nearly six weeks, was glad to be back on the court. 'It was hard being out for that long,' Hedderson said. 'But it just made me try to fight through every day and have even more of a fire now that I'm back.' Brown added 16 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocks. She earned her seventh-straight double-double of the season. Before the game, Brown was honored, as she became the newest member of the 1,000-point club at Buffalo. Fortman put up 13 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a steal. She went 6-for-6 from the foul line. Dowd recorded 11 points, three boards, three assists, two steals and a block. Cooper and freshman forward Nytor Longar rounded out the team with 8 points apiece. Hill-MacDonald said that it was nice to get a MAC win. 'I think a game like today helps build confidence and restore confidence,' Hill-MacDonald said. 'We have a tough one coming up… so we've got to be able to carry the emotion from this game down to Kent.' The Bulls travel to Kent State to face the Golden Flashes on Tuesday night. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. at M.A.C. Center. Email: sports@ubspectrum.com