TUESDAY, APRiL 14, 2015 I SERVING TEXAS A&M SINCE 1893 I © 2015 STUDENT MEDIA I OTHEBATTONLINE
Players weigh in on the science of
choosing the perfect walk-up song
Vanessa Pena, Tim Lai and Tanner Garza—THE BATTALION
COMMUNITY
FACULTY SENATE
By Alex Scott
s every Texas A&M baseball player
approaches the plate, a hand-picked
walk-up song is played throughout
Ja the park — everything from Johnny
Cash to Chamillionaire.
There is no single, routine way of choos
ing a walk-up song. The diversity of the tastes
of music in the locker room affect a player’s
selection, as do the deeper meanings of the
songs.
Whether they know it or not, the Olsen
Field faithful have had some influence on the
songs they hear. In addition to consulting with
their fellow teammates, some of the players
look to friends outside of baseball for songs
they should showcase at Blue Bell Park.
Senior Logan Nottebrok said he looks for
something to put him at ease.
T TTook for something that’s calm and is re
laxing and will make you forget about every
thing else,” Nottebrok said.
Senior Blake Allemand said he had a similar
way of narrowing down his song.
“[I want my song] to get me loose, keep me
relaxed, get my mind oft' of what’s going on
and get the song in my head and get loose,”
MORE AGGIE WALK-UP SONGS
■ Blake Alleman
Check Yo Self (Remix) - Ice Cube
■ Ryne Birk
They Just Don't Know - Gyft
■ Mitchell Nau
Still of the Night - Whitesnake
■ Logan Taylor
Blow Up-J. Cole
■ Ronnie Gideon
Your Love - The Outfield
■ Hunter Melton
Cowboy - Kid Rock
Allemand said.
For junior JB Moss, getting into a groove
is more important than relaxation.
“I just like something with a good beat and
a good rhythm, something positive to walk up
to the plate to,” Moss said.
Some players want their song to do more
than just relax them or clear their minds. Se
nior Mitchell Nau, after spending a lot of
time in the baseball program, said he decided
to attach something of greater substance and
thought to his song choice. Of course Nau
chose a song that he likes, but beyond that, he
chose a song that he thought would warrant a
greater appreciation from a greater audience,
“Still of the Night” by Whitesnake.
“I like to do old school because of the tra
ditions at A&M,” Nau said. “And a bunch
of the Old Ags up there really appreciate it.
I had Led Zeppelin last year and they really
liked that.”
An A&M baseball game has attendees of all
age ranges. Players said they recognized not
everyone would enjoy every song played, but
the players do their best to choose songs that
help fans engaged and tapping their feet.
Head coach Rob Childress said, at times,
he and his fellow coaches have selected songs
for the players that they see best fit.
“I would think that the ones that we’ve
chosen for our players have been the most im
pactful with the 203ers,” Childress said.
Childress said the idea of the players’ per
formance correlating directly to their walk-up
songs is subjective.
“Hey, if it makes them feel better or play
WALK-UP ON PG. 4
A history of the
natural world
Tim Lai —THE BATTALION
Deborah Cowman has been director of the Brazos Valley
Museum of Natural History for the past seven years.
Local museum gives glimpse
into the world's past
By Connor Smith
A dinosaur, killed by a punc
ture wound, lies fossilized with
its skin still apparent for visitors to
see right inside the Brazos Valley
Museum of Natural History.
The museum —- a community
staple since the 1960s but relatively
unknown to students — features
fossils such as a well-preserved
dead hadrosaur, rotating exhibits
and many activities for visitors. It
lies a few miles from Texas A&M’s
campus and holds much of the col
lection left over from a university
natural history museum that closed
in the 1970s.
The museum inherited many
collections left behind after the
campus museum was disbanded
due to a change in state policy.
Deborah Cowman, director of the
museum for the past seven years,
said Texas cut funding in the past
to keep only one land-grant natu
ral history museum open. Uni
versity of Texas’ museum stayed
open, while A&M’s closed.
The museum still maintains a
close relationship with many Tex-
as A&M departments. Just recently
it hosted a crystallography exhibit
in conjunction with the chemistry
department.
“We are always working on
new exhibits, in fact we have
one coming down the pipes that
will be all about lizards,” Cow
man said. “So we will be working
closely with the wildlife depart
ment on that. Exhibits on cultural
and human history complement
those that focus on natural history.
For example, the current principle
exhibit shares the lives of the Inuit
people.
“For that particular exhibit the
items are all privately held, and so
this is the only time that they will
ever be on display. We’ve actually
expanded the exhibit because peo
ple have been enjoying it so much,
so the exhibit will be open until
MUSEUM ON PG. 5
Provost says local
park won’t be used
for football parking
By Sam King
Texas A&M Provost
Karan Watson addressed
the Faculty Senate meeting
Monday about issues such as
football parking at Veterans
Park and concealed carry on
campus.
After the parking lot at
Veterans Park came under
consideration for the “Get
to the Grid” program de
signed to increase available
football gameday parking,
the Brazos Valley Youth
Soccer Association released
a letter last week advocating
against the notion. Monday,
Watson said the park won’t
be used as a park-and-ride
option.
“They’re working it,”
Watson said. “I can tell you,
that’s not what we’re go
ing to use. They’re working
with the city on alternates.
They should have that be
fore the end of the week, is
all. So just hold, it’s com
ing.”
Addressing concealed
carry on campus, Watson
said there is still uncertain
ty and administrators are
working to make sure the
L>est solution for A&M is
brought forward.
“I know that the system
approach on this has been
to refer to what police force
and overwhelmingly secu
rity forces recommend, and
that we would urge that the
legislatures listen to them, in
mass, not just one individu
al, but what they have rec
ommended,” Watson said.
Watson said administra
tors have been listening
closely to police and security
oflficers on campus.
“It is more worrisome to
our security and our police
Mary Reyes — THE BATTALION
Provost Karan Watson
speaks at a faculty
senate meeting Monday.
force,” Watson said. “Be
cause on the occasion that
you might actually need a
weapon they are deathly
afraid they’re going to come
on a scene and not know
who the good guys and the
bad guys are. And they are
more afraid of the conse
quence and the cost in lives
and in their personal health
and in the university’s li
ability if they come on a
scene and they can’t discern
quickly enough where the
problem is in a given situ
ation.”
While some faculty mem
bers expressed concerns of
enforcing the rules, Watson
said that people who are go
ing to become violent, will
do so whether or not they
have a permit.
“The problem is crazies
don’t get a permit before
they go crazy,” Watson said.
“The perpetrator of real
violence for us is usually not
the person that follows all
the rules.”
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Aggies bring Indian dance to German film fest
Former students' work to
be featured at film festival
By Mason Morgan
For former visualization
^ students Jonny Greenwald,
Class of 2009, and Shyam Kan-
napurakkaran, Class of 2010, the
path to a career in the film in
dustry started with a school as
signment.
Now poised to screen in
Oberhausen, Germany, at the
International Short Film Fes
tival, the oldest film festival in
the world, “Tarang” is a three-
dimensional collage of a tradi
tional Indian dance performed
by Aparupa Chatterjee, Class of
2011, combining nine different
performances to create a single
coherent experience.
The film also features a musi
cal composition by Ganesh Rao,
Class of 2011 and former visual
ization student.
The former students’ profes
sor Karen Hillier, now a profes
sor emerita of the visualization
department, said the initial as
signment for the project was to
make students aware of the pro
cess of observation.
TARANG ON PG. 5
PROVIDED
"Tarang" is a three dimensional collage that consists of nine
different performances of traditional Indian dance.