05.16.2020 - The impact of COVID-19 on Major League Baseball

By: Omar Sanchez

March 26 was set to be the earliest Opening Day in Major League Baseball history, with all 30 teams scheduled to play for the first time since 1968.

It is now May 16. 

Spring training never finished, Jackie Robinson Day and Mother’s Day were celebrated virtually and ballparks all across North America remain nothing more than empty vessels that once held the spirits of the country’s national pastime.

“It was a matter of less than a week going from normalcy, by our stretch, and to automatic shutdown,” said Victor Rojas, a freelance broadcaster for the Los Angeles Angels. 

02.26.2020 - CSUF baseball struggles against USC’s pitching

By: John Corona & Omar Sanchez

FULLERTON, Calif. — A four-run first inning and solid pitching by USC (5-2), was all it took to put the CSUF baseball team (3-5) away in a 7-1 defeat at Goodwin Field on Tuesday night. 

“They kicked our butt. If I were you, I’d go talk to coach Gil and coach Silva over there because his pitchers were unbelievable, they dominated us.” said CSUF head coach Rick Vanderhook.

02.16.2020 - CSUF men’s basketball wins quadruple-overtime thriller

By: Adam Maldonado & Omar Sanchez

FULLERTON, Calif. — In a dramatic thriller that needed an extra 20 minutes of basketball to decide the winner, the CSUF men’s basketball team prevailed over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in a 105-101 quadruple-overtime victory at home that had multiple starters to play almost an hour on the floor.

Fullerton senior forward Jackson Rowe played a game-high 57 minutes on the hardwood that allowed him to rack up a 15 point and 17 rebound double-double. 

“Jackson was trying to Uber Eats,” said CSUF head coach Dedrique Taylor. “He literally was trying to, he was yelling at our strength and conditioning coach to Uber Eats some food for him because he was hungry.”

01.12.2020 - Musician and artist UMI manifested community through a charity yard sale event

By: Omar Sanchez

LOS ANGELES — 2020 is professed to be a year of manifestation and clear vision. Musician and artist Tierra Umi Wilson (UMI) decided to build upon this concept by becoming more politically active and involved in the community. 

UMI hosted the very first “Full Moon Yard Sale 444 Charity” on Friday near the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round, where the artist created a safe space for fans and guests to interact with one another.  The event gave visitors a chance to purchase services or any thrifted goods with all proceeds going to the World Wildlife Foundation to aid in wildlife preservation and helping the animals affected by the wildfires in Australia. 

“I wanted to do something for charity, but I wanted to make it kind of a community event where I could interact with people who were feeling the same way about the world,” UMI said. “It’s the full moon and the full moon is a great time to connect and gather with people.”

12.16.2018 - CSUF student comes out of postpartum depression stronger

By: Omar Sanchez

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Maricsa Secundo, a MAC makeup artist and biology major at Cal State Fullerton, was thrilled to finally find out the sex of her baby as she went in with her husband for an ultrasound at the Fountain Valley Regional Hospital on Oct. 4, 2016.

Secundo had a normal pregnancy up until her appointment at 19 weeks, and it was the events of that visit that completely changed her life.

“We found out that they couldn’t locate one of her bones in her pinky, and she was showing extra fluid on the left side of her brain. Immediately they were concerned, and they told us that those were markers for Down Syndrome,” Secundo said.

Secundo was told about the possibility of having an emergency amniocentesis, which is the procedure of taking a sample of the fluid using a needle that punctures through the uterus, but the risk of a miscarriage was high.

12.04.2019 - Slam poetry event brings friendly competition to the community

By: Kim Pham and Omar Sanchez

FULLERTON, Calif. — There’s nothing like starting off the month of December than with a Poetry Slam competition, where Cal State Fullerton students can express their semester’s worth of stress, loss, love and expectations for the upcoming holidays and new year.

With a grand prize of $100, competing poets came into the Titan Student Union Pub yesterday hot and hungry. Audience members attended eagerly for free food and prizes, opportunity drawings and good old fashioned rhymes and raps. 

Contestants were required to have two three-minute poems and one one-minute poem prepared for a total of three rounds. Prizes were awarded to poets who advanced onto the next round, as decided by judges chosen from the audience.

“They’re all good and talking about different topics, so it’s like, ‘Is this one better than that one?’” said Poetry Slam judge Tianhui Song, Associated Students, coordinator. “They’re really emotional, very expressive. It’s really easy to understand what kind of message they’re trying to convey.”