You either love or you hate referees. There is no indifference for fans. A call in favor of your team and they’re your favorite person on the field, a call against it and they are your sworn mortal enemy. Some referees and umpires even get hate mail for calls they’ve made such as umpire Don Denkinger or the crew of the controversial Monday night football game last year between the Seattle Seahawks and the Green Bay Packers.

When one call can change the outcome of a game or the referees try to make themselves the story it’s usually not a good thing. NBA referee Tim Donaghy even got caught up in a betting scandal fixing games. It’s certainly one of the most controversial and pressure-packed jobs someone can have.

Intermural referees here at ASU don’t get hate mail, and situations don’t escalate to national prominence, but refereeing the games is still not an easy task. see more

A lot of people think that the Civil War took place strictly between the mostly northeastern states and The South. Although The South stretched all the way to Louisiana, we don’t normally consider Arizona being a part of that geographic region. Well, believe it or not, the American Civil War made it all the way over to the southwest. Pichacho Peak State Park is located in southern Arizona. During the California Gold Rush, a wagon road was constructed through the mountain and it was deemed “Picacho Pass.” After the Gold Rush settled down, the pass was used by the Butterfield Overland Stage Company to transport people and goods to the west. However, one of the most interesting events that happened there is known as the most western battle of the Civil War.

April 15th, 1862: Tucson had been occupied by Confederates sympathizers. It was even named the capital of the Confederate Arizona Territory. Afraid that they might expand even further west, a group of Union volunteers were sent from California to Tucson to get the Confederates out. Commanded by Lt. James Barrett, a California cavalryman was ordered to make a sweep of the Picacho Pass area for Confederate troops. The reenactment of the Battle of Picacho Pass. Photo courtesy tusconcitizen.com

He found them, but instead of heeding his orders to not engage the men, he did anyway. Shots were exchanged and a few Union men were wounded and thrown off their horses. Three Confederates surrendered. While talking to a prisoner, Barrett was shot in the neck and killed instantly. There was a small skirmish until the Union troops retreated. The Confederates regrouped and retreated as well. In all, two union men plus Lt. Barrett died in the Battle of Picacho Pass while the Confederate column lost three men as prisoners. see more

3DS owners rejoice! The strategy RPG Project X Zone has been scheduled for release on June 25, 2013 according to both a report by IGN and its official site. Pronounced “Project Cross Zone,” The game is one of the most promising looking projects that Nintendo has on its way for American gamers, with over 200 iconic characters taken from three major Japanese publishers: Namco, Sega and Capcom. “Project X Zone promises to provide gamers with some fantastic, flashy battles with some of your favorite characters. After all, who doesn’t want to see these heroes team up to save the world?” Photo courtesy Google Images

According to Namco’s website, the game’s story is that an ancient artifact known as the “Portalstone” has been stolen, causing a rift in space-time. As a result, various universes as well the past and present are being brought together and the heroes will team up to restore the world to normal.

But enough about the story, what about the gameplay? A strategy RPG with all of your favorite Capcom, Namco and Sega characters you say? How will that pan out? Well, the gameplay combines the strategy of a game like Fire Emblem, providing characters with a grid that they will position themselves along. However, when combat is initiated, the game shifts into action-RPG mode. Players will be able to use the Directional Pad, the Circle Pad and the ABXY buttons to perform a number of combo attacks on enemies. If you are skilled enough, you can keep air-juggling an enemy under a string of successful combos until they die, ensuring that you never have to take damage from fights. In addition to the two main characters who will be operating together, there will apparently also be the option to assign a third character to jump in and perform support attacks. When certain characters are paired together for support it unlocks an even flashier, powerful attack called a “Cross Hit.” see more

The college lifestyle isn’t luxurious to say the least. For most of us it’s the first time being on our own, and between rent, food and textbooks, there isn’t much money left in the bank. So how do you stay stylish while being a college student on a budget? Here are five different tips that will help you do so without breaking the bank.

Tip 1: Affordable pieces vs. investment pieces

Always having a few investment pieces in your closet is a must. Splurge on a few essential items that fit you great and pair them with more affordable pieces and accessories. One of my new favorite investment pieces, the high-waist scrunch skirt from Free People. Photo courtesy Free People see more

There is always something new happening in the world of technology, from new ways to interact with your car to any sort of other improvements and innovations. Any news in the tech world is intriguing (for me, at least), but sometimes there are stories that just make you go, “. . . Why? Why is that a story? That is so weird!” Especially with April Fool’s Day this week, there were some . . . how can I put it . . . interesting posts. Here are some of the recent articles that caught my eye:

Probably the most obvious weird news pieces of the week were centered on one day, April 1. Monday was the day of pranks, jokes and other tomfoolery. Some companies really got into the spirit of the day, including two radio show hosts in Florida. They decided to pull a prank on their listeners by talking about “dihydrogen monoxide” coming from their taps. For those who do not know, dihydrogen monoxide is just a technical term for water (di equals two, hydrogen, mono equals one, oxide; you have H2O). Because people did not make the connection, they assumed something was wrong with their water and the utility company got flooded with calls about the issue. The entire dilemma with this situation is that certain people did not pay enough attention to the story to realize it was just water, but heard just enough to think something was wrong. It was April Fool’s Day; people should be paying closer attention to details on this day (you can just Google it and find out what it is, am I right?).

Speaking of April Fool’s Day, there were quite a few pranks done by companies, with Google playing one of the bigger roles. There was the announcement of “Twttr,” which is Twitter, but users cannot use any vowels (they have to pay a monthly subscription to utilize vowels), Netflix posted video categories like “TV shows where defiantly crossed arms mean business!” and some companies even used this time to poke fun at each other.  While both Google and Microsoft took part in April Fool’s Day, they also made a point to joke about each other’s features; Microsoft made fun of how plain the Google search page is and Google joked about Microsoft’s blue color scheme. When two big players (that have quite bit of marketing money) decide to screw around with each other, it turns into a hilarious show for the consumers. One of Google’s many jokes on April fool’s day was Google Nose, which, in essence, was smell–o–vision. Photo by Courtland Jeffrey see more

Opening Day in Major League Baseball is unlike any other event in sports. It is the culmination of a long winter leading into spring, it is a new beginning for every team — a clean slate and a fresh hope that each team has to make it to the Fall Classic.

The unfurling of the large American flag, the full introduction of each team and a military plane flyover are standing traditions at each ballpark nationwide on opening day. The view from my seats on Opening Day. The Diamondbacks defeated the Cardinals 6-2. Photo by Nick Krueger

Each team has its own unique traditions. The Cincinnati Reds have the Findlay Market Opening Day Parade, the St. Louis Cardinals bring out the Budweiser Clydesdales and paraded the late Stan Musial around the outfield in a golf cart. It doesn’t happen every year but the president of the United States traditionally throws out a first pitch at a game too. see more

Well, it is official; Disney has shut down LucasArts for good, putting an end to the iconic development studio. According to the report by Kotaku, Disney has laid off over 150 employees and has also canceled both of the studio’s ongoing projects: Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault. Furthermore, while the development studio has effectively been dispersed, Disney still plans on using the LucasArts name to license software to license games. While Kotaku’s sources reported that both projects were effectively shut down along with the rest of the studio, Game Informer talked with another representative from the parent company LucasFilm who told a different story. The confidential source stated that there was still a chance for “Star Wars 1313” to continue, licensed out to third-party developers and publishing partners. A game project that showed great promise. With LucasArts’ development team gone, will it ever see the light of day? Photo courtesy LucasArts.com

Naturally, I was just as shocked as anyone when the news was released just earlier today. Disney only just acquired LucasFilm last year in a massive merger. LucasArts had been around for over 3 decades, providing us with a number of beloved Star Wars titles over the years, such as Star Wars X-Wing and Star Wars: Rebel Assault. In addition, LucasArts also was responsible for a number of successful PC adventure titles such as the Monkey Island series, Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. However, while the studio had hit its stride during the ‘90s with such titles, it has had trouble producing the same level of success in recent years. In fact, the Knights of the Old Republic series as well as the Star Wars: Battlefront titles where all outsourced to other development teams to work on. Meanwhile, LucasArts failed to find an audience for its FPS title, Fracture, when it was released in 2008. The studio’s latest game was Star Wars Kinect, a game that serves as an example of one of the studio’s most dismal creations to date.

Even with its recent shaky history, Star Wars 1313 showed great promise. I really hope that the project can continue on with another studio. The same goes for Star Wars: First Assault, but now only time will tell if these projects will survive the fallout and emerge victorious onto store shelves. see more