Tag: Sac State

Hornets soccer kicking ass!

Most Sac State sports seem to slip under the radar, especially if it is not football. This year, the Hornets men’s soccer team is having their best season in history. They finished the regular season undefeated in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference play. For the second time in team history, they are the #1 seed in the upcoming MPSF tournament which begins in Denver today with the quarterfinal matches. The Hornets have a first round bye, which automatically advances them to the semifinal round. Two wins will result in an automatic invitation to the NCAA tournament, which will be a first for the team.

Brackets for the Men’s College Cup will be announced on Monday, let’s hope that the Hornets get an invitation!

KSSU destroys at CMJ!

KSSU takes Station of the Year at 2009 College Music Journal awards!

The College Music Journal is one of the largest and most influential publications for the college radio industry. Seattle’s KEXP has won Station of the Year honors since the inception of their annual awards… until this year.

The hard work and keen ears of Sac State’s student run station KSSU was recognized with twelve nominations in major award categories. This year, KSSU defeated other stations that have paid professional staff, a larger audience and better funding with their tireless dedication to music and to our community. You should reward their efforts by tuning in and getting a taste of Sacramento’s only source for alternative radio.

2009 CMJ Awards for KSSU
Station of the Year
Music Director of the Year – Suzie Kuo
Biggest Community Resource
Best Use of Limited Resources
Best Student-Run Station

Sac State player taken in first round of MLB draft

Sacramento State outfielder Tim Wheeler was taken in the last slot in the 1st round of this year’s MLB draft, going to the Colorado Rockies as the 32nd pick. You have to be pretty stoked to be picked by a team just a few season removed from a pennant winning campaign.

Prep catchers Max Stassi (Yuba City) and Andrew Susac (Jesuit) have yet to be taken in the draft. At this point (end of 2nd round) I would assume both young men will be college bound next year. UPDATE – The Oakland A’s drafted Stassi in the 4th round. So now the kid has to choose between turning pro or going to UCLA, and I would think the prospect of playing for a Norcal team might tip the scales toward joining the MLB. I gotta think signing bonuses for 4th rounders are not stratospheric.

Virginity Auction!

Future Sac State grad student “Natalie Dylan” is setting the blogosphere and horny-man media afire by offering her virginity in exchange for tuition. Her current offer is $250,000, which makes me wonder why she doesn’t opt to pay for an education from a more prestigious university.

Oh, that’s right, she’s a virgin whore selling her body with assistance from Howard Stern. Never mind.

Sac State’s Roadside Attraction

Sac State’s new digital billboard overlooking Highway 50 is scheduled to go live today with a barrage of advertising to simultaneously distract and educate drivers, raise much needed funding and refresh the public debate about the new University branding, logo and tagline that “Leadership Begins Here”.

If you have not seen the sign, it looms 55 feet above the freeway and has a 48 by 14 foot digital face. This sucker is big. It makes me wonder if CSUS hired the same folks who design advertising for casinos. Not the ubertrendy manscaping and fake boob casinos, the ones on rural highways filled with old people. The good news is that it features new LED technology that allows the contrast to brighten or dim depending on changes in lighting conditions. Hopefully it will be less obnoxiously intrusive than the one bordering Cal Expo, which tends to lull and hypnotize me with giant images of Monica Woods and Dale Schornack.

As many as 8 ads will rotate every 64 seconds. It will also provide public information such as traffic updates, road conditions and amber alerts. Clear Channel owns and operates the sign, and has entered into a 25 year lease with University Enterprises with an initial $750,000 payment. President Gonzales has put aside almost half of that amount in an account dedicated to funding research and travel to academic conferences.

(Note: Clear Channel says that it will go live today as it did not go live yesterday.)

2007 Festival of New American Music

Sac State hosts the 30th year of this annual event that brings free music and avant-garde composers to Sacramento with, unfortunately, very little fanfare. With such a dizzying array of musical styles, from orchestral and choral pieces to solo artists and small combos, I am surprised that I have not heard more promotions for this event.

For a calendar of performances, click here. My recommendation is to check out guitarist/composer/professor Derek Keller, who performs Wednesday at Noon. Keller’s most recent work has been a 2007 tour with Kronos Quartet, and he is currently an instructor at American River College and is the curator of the Music Series at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

CSU Strike Update

Just a quick note to let you all know that the labor dispute at the California State Universities has been all but settled with negociations to be finalized over the next few weeks.

The deal gives all CSU faculty guaranteed base salary increases of 20.7% over four years (retroactive to July 2006) and step salary increases of up to 2.65% each year. In addition, it assigns $28 million to fund two new merit-based programs that will provide raises for senior and junior faculty. As part of the deal, faculty would receive an extra 1% raise for each of the last three years of the contract, contingent on additional state budget funds for the university system.

A labor dispute is still brewing, however, over at the University of California over equitable pay for janitors and other maintenance staff.

Sac State and other CSU faculties authorize strike

The Sacramento Bee reports today that the California State University faculty has voted to strike. Statewide, 82% of the more than 11,000 members of the California Faculty Association voted, with 94% of them authorizing the strike. Tensions have centered upon the lack of a contract and extreme disparity in the salaries of various faculty members. A possible strike will take the form of a rolling walkout, with individual campuses striking for two days at a time.

Here at home, the faculty of Sac State met as a body for the first time in 30 years. Among the budget discussions, a vote of no confidence in University President Alex Gonzalez was proposed. As next week is Spring Break, the vote will not occur until the next Faculty Senate meeting on April 5.

L.A. Times takes another shot

Last week, two swipes at Sacramento from the teetering L.A. Times. Today, another. In Bill Dwyre’s column about Florida’s routing of THE Ohio State University last night for the ridiculous no-playoff championship, he manages to mock our admittedly pathetic local Hornets in defending Boise State’s claim on No. 1:

[…] There ought to be a Sacramento State Rule in college football, as in, no team that plays Sacramento State can end up No. 1.

Hmmm. Maybe that rule makes some sense. Boise State didn’t even have to break a sweat, kicking Hornet tail 45-0 in the season opener for both teams. The Hornets lost six more, but I don’t think you can quite call them the closest thing to a gimme in Division I football. After all, they did beat perennial power houses Eastern Washington, Weber State, Northern Colorado and Idaho State. So there.