FEATURE 15
TURN THE VOLUME UP
BY BLAKE SCHUSTER bschuster@kansan.com
On November 4, 2010, ESPN named The University of Kansas' Allen Fieldhouse the loudest venue in college basketball. ESPN asked their experts to make a list of the top 10 "most boisterous" arenas. To avoid any biases getting in the way, ESPN then turned their list over to Penn State's acoustic program, Penn State's crew looked at construction data and assumed that each crowd was at capacity and yelling, counted the students as yelling twice as loud as everyone else, and that the fans' bodies absorb sound equally at all venues. They compiled all of that data to get the maximum decibel level at each center court.
The results were no surprise to anyone who has ever been to a game in Allen Fieldhouse. The house that Forrest C."Phog" Allen built was ranked at number one over Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium, Kentucky's Rupp Arena, and
Kansas Sate's Bramlage Coliseum among others.
The article referred to Allen Fieldhouse as a "sonic storm", due to the acoustics of the building. The seats and ceiling reflect the noise coming from the students who are right on top of the court.
The Jayhawks track record at home backs up the Fieldhouse's top ranking. Alltime, Kansas basketball is 634-106 at home. That's good for a .857 win percentage. Since Bill Self has been at Kansas, the Jayhawks have been 114-6. On top of that the team is in the middle of a 60 game home win streak.
Some of the best college basketball players of alltime have come through Allen Fieldhouse, and there have been some incredible games. Students at the University of Kansas that frequent games at Allen Fieldhouse often get to see and be a part of some great games.
Allen Fieldhouse is named the loudest college arena in the country
"Sherron's last game was awesome. It was cool to see the winningest Jayhawk's last game, it was just some thing memorable."
Amen-Ra Stampley
"The Longwood game was my first as a cheerleader, so that was probably my favorite. There was so much more excitement than the exhibition games - the team was playing faster, the crowd was definitely louder - it was a lot of fun."
Martrez Taylor
"Getting to watch the team that had Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, and Jacque Vaughn would be my favorite Fieldhouse experiences. Getting to look back on seeing those guys play, when I can now watch them in the NBA is pretty cool."
Parker Scafe
"The first time you go to a game and they show the pump up video is my favorite experience. Everyone is just going nuts." Will Wright
"The Kansas State game last year was my favorite. The crowd was rocking, and it was Sherron's senior night. God that was awesome."
Spencer Goldenberg
THE WAVE NOVEMBER 19,2010
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Health officials have raised concerns about mixing caffeine and alcohol. Jenny McKee, health educator at the Wellness Resource Center at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said that mixing the two can lead to problems.
Four Loko is sold in a 23.5 ounce can, has an alcohol content of 12 percent by volume and contains 135 milligrams of caffeine. That's the same amount of alcohol in four to five beers and the caffeine content of a Red Bull and an espresso shot.
The FDA has been examining these products since November 2009 and concluded that caffeine is an "unsafe food additive."
Caffeine is a stimulant and alcohol is a depressant. The two have opposite effects.
Alcohol slows down bodily functions like heart rate and breathing while caffeine increases heart rate and alertness. The combination could potentially be heart stopping, McKee said.
However, the company's founders still aren't convinced their product is unsafe for consumers.
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced it was warning four companies that produce caffeinated, alcoholic beverages that their products are unsafe.
"I suspect that sales will go through the roof here until they're all gone," he said.
HISTORY OF CONTROVERSY
"If it were unsafe, popular drinks like rum and colas or Irish coffees that have been consumed safely and responsibly for years would face the same scrutiny that our products have recently faced," the founders said in a statement on their website.
Mike Hathaway, manager of Cork and Barrel, 2000 W. 23rd St., said he expects a spike in sales as a result of Four Loko going decaf.
Nationally, Four Loko isn't the only drink causing worry.
Brad Wandell, a junior from Ellicott City, Md., said he's surprised by the controversy. He said he has been drinking Four Loko for about six months, but never had any problems with the caf-
pie are having fun with it," he said.
2. The company's statement said if Four Loko was unsafe, the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the federal bureau that approves alcoholic beverages, should not have approved the products.
alcohol content of the students ranged from 0.12 percent to 0.35 percent. According to blood-alcoholcontent.org, a BAC level of 0.40 can be lethal for more than half of adults.
Gravity HG Orange, and Lemon Lime Core Spiked
Following these incidents, several states made moves to ban the drink. Lawmakers in New York City and Pennsylvania started asking liquor stores to remove Four Loko from their shelves. The beverage has been officially banned in four states: Washington, Michigan, Utah and Oklahoma.
"But it's only a matter of time before another product will replace it," he said.
Liston said he thought the buzzy around Four Loko would die down soon.
New Century Brewing Co.
Freda Warfield, a spokesperson for the Kansas Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the state had been monitoring Four Loko closely.
"If it has three to four drinks, spend three to four hours sipping on it," she said.
"We will take any actions necessary to keep our Kansas safe," Warfield said.
-Produces Moonshot
Gravity HG Orange, and
A problem, McKee said, is that one container isn't one drink.
Phusion Projects, LLC
—Produces Four Loko
However, in order to ban the drink in Kansas, legislation would need to be passed. The Kansas Legislature reconvenes January 11.
- Edited by Kelsey Nill
REACTION
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McKee said the drinks could pose health risks even if they do not contain caffeine. She said that some people still might not understand how much alcohol the drinks have, especially Four Loko.
The circumstances of Matt's death make filling that hole all the more difficult. Ashley Brown, one of Matt's closest friends from high school, expressed her frustrations in a poem she recited from the lectern:
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"There's going to be a hole in a lot of our hearts for a while, including mine," said Cole, a senior from Boston. "Matt was a huge part of all of our lives. He left a hole that's going to be difficult to fill."
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Even so, still. They did it to create a new and outrageous memory together. The laughter that filled the church meant everyone understood at least that much.
Matt was an effortless comedian and everyone's favorite jokester. Even in death, memories such as Cole's could still make people laugh.
"We're all going to miss Matt," Cole said. "A day is never going to go by that I don't think about him."
— Edited by Clark Goble
Selby cleared by NCAA to play starting Dec.18
The freshman from Baltimore faces a nine-game suspension and a sizable fine for taking impermissible benefits as a prospect.
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INDEX
Classifieds...6B
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...1B
Sudoku...4A
The KU Public Safety officers patrol campus nightly.
SAFETY|3A
Making the rounds at KU
WEATHER
TODAY
63 30
Partly cloudy
The latest installment in the series sold out in theaters.
HARRY POTTER | 6A
Film pulls in young adults
52 33
TUESDAY
Sunny
WEDNESDAY
9
57 20
Partly cloudy weather.com
3
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
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