College football can be a passionate game, full of striking triumphs and contentious errors. Roman muses on what occurred at Neyland Stadium a few Saturdays ago between the University of Mississippi and the University of Tennessee. Throw in their fans, coaches, and referees, and you have more than a ball game.

By Roman Rickwood, Sports Enthusiast

What we witnessed two Saturday nights ago was passion, anger, and the result of poor officiating. “It just means more”: this is the catchphrase for the SEC, the conference in which both the University of Tennessee and the University of Mississippi are conference members. Everything “means more” in this conference . . . except the officiating. While these teams are not necessarily the cream of the crop when it comes to the conference, they are generally well respected nationally as very competitive teams. When these two teams faced off on a cool Saturday night in Knoxville, there was a lot on the line. It was set to be a statement game for both teams, with Tennessee looking to turn it around with the help of their new coach Josh Huepel. The opposing University of Mississippi Head Coach, Lane Kiffin, was stepping back back on familiar turf. He coached Tennessee for many years. 

The energy was crazy with over 100,000 screaming fans fired up to cheer on their team against the villain of college football, Lane Kiffin. Scandal follows him. When the game began on Saturday the 16th, it was a tight contest with an emphasis on defense, with both teams having trouble scoring. In my opinion, the fuse was lit when the refs muffed a call that would have given Tennessee a touchdown. While refs are human and make mistakes just like all of us, the bad calls are getting out of hand–especially in a day and age when replay is as prevalent as it is. This crowd of over 100,000 soon turned into an angry mob in the second half as their team went down a score. 

Towards the end of the 4th quarter, Tennessee had the ball, was down 7, and needed a score. It was 4th down, and the Volunteers needed 15 yards to get a first down and continue their campaign for a touchdown. Quarterback Hendon Hooker connected with his tight end, and to many eyes (especially of those in the stadium) it appeared that the ball had gotten to the first-down line. However, even after going to replay, the refs still ruled him short of the line to gain. While this call could be argued back and forth between rules analysts and experts, the bottom line is if you miss enough blatant calls in a row, eventually paying customers want answers, and with this call the crowd–feeling as if their intelligence had been insulted–began throwing objects onto the field. Play was suspended for almost 25 minutes while referees, coaches, and security staff decided how to proceed. Eventually it appeared that the crowd had run out of objects to throw because the shelling ceased. The game resulted with Ole Miss making a statement and winning 31-26 in an absolute war of a football game. And yet again, the villain of college football–Lane Kiffin–had the last laugh, as he jeeringly caught a water bottle aimed for his face while he exited the field of play. 

Days after the game the only thing that was discussed was the behavior of 1% of fans rather than the athleticism and performance put on display by both teams. There were many infamous moments–such as the golf ball thrown on the field that would go on to be collected by Head Coach Kiffin and later posted on social media with the final score of the game written large in Sharpie on the side of the ball. Regardless of all of this, this is college football, and more specifically this is the SEC, and officiating cannot continue to be this dismal. To the people crying in the Tennessee home crowd, I ask if college football is really for you? 

Meet Sayu. Izumi introduces Genshin Impact character, Sayu. You’ll recognize her as the small ninja who dreams of growing taller. — Editor Ike Spry

By Izumi, Middle-School Gaming Correspondent

Hello, and welcome to this week’s blog post! This week we meet another character from Genshin Impact named Sayu, a very lazy ninja from Inazuma, who can’t seem to grow taller.

Sayu, a very short and petite ninja, attached to the Shuumatsuban. She is always very sleepy and almost never has motivation to do her work. Sayu has a goal and one goal only, to grow taller. Sayu is very self conscious about her height. She desperately wants to be as tall as the other ninjas she works with. She is 16-18 years old; she’s 4’6, and she has a high pitched voice–everyone (even me) would think she is 9 or 10 years old. Don’t underestimate her. Sayu appears to be wearing Mujina attire (Japanese definition: Badger attire), but her clothes are actually based on a Tanuki, a Japanese Raccoon Dog which has badger-like qualities.

Sayu takes a training called ninjutsu, a martial arts strategy of “unconventional warfare.” Lazy, distracted, Sayu finds it hard for her to follow through with all her training sessions. Her caretaker is always having to search all over Inazuma looking for Sayu, making sure she does her training. But, Sayu, taking selective advantage of her new ninjutsu skills, hides from her work. Sayu does this because she wants to sleep. She thinks sleeping will make her grow taller, as tall as the ninjas she does training with. However, sleeping does not help Sayu grow. She’s small, and stays small. Without her awarded anemo vision, she wouldn’t be able to even carry her sword in battle. A claymore sword is very large and heavy.

See my graphic below to meet Sayu.

Many of us have pretty salt lamps glowing in our homes. Did you know they may have healthful healing properties? And, don’t even get Jesse started on selenite lamps . . .

By Jesse Denyer, Amateur Astrologist

Welcome back!

Salt lamps–maybe you’ve heard of them. Have you heard of selenite lamps? Everyone knows salt lamps are pretty orange glowing rock lamps that every girl has in their room for the aesthetic, but do you really know what the powers of a salt lamp are? Read to find out.

Salt lamps are sold in a variety of sizes and shapes and can be found almost anywhere these days–Target, Amazon, Home Depot, etc. Besides giving your room a nice warm glow, salt lamps are purportedly great for people with allergies. Salt lamps are said to have properties that both cleanse the air of toxins and the energy in the room, through a process known as hygroscopy. Salt lamps attract and absorb contaminated water molecules in the room and lock them into the salt crystal (jpost.com). Salt lamps are recommended for people with asthma or other breathing issues. Salt lamps are also known to cleanse the air of negative energy, making your space more relaxing and conducive to better sleep. 

But, what is a selenite lamp?

A selenite lamp is a lamp made from the selenite crystal that naturally forms an obeliscal shape. The selenite lamp radiates a bright white light and is known to calm nerves, induce relaxation, and reduce the effects of blue light which is terrible for your eyes. 

I’m a huge fan of both these lamps. Their looks are stunning, and I find their powers are extremely helpful for everyday life. I wish people would stop selling salt lamps just for the aesthetic and start informing people of their benefits, but I guess that’s what you have me for. 

So, that’s it! I hope you learned a little something about everyone’s favorite room decor. Come back next week where I will be talking about choosing a Halloween costume according to your astrological sign. Capricorn? Be a historical figure. Cancer? Try a flying squirrel!