Aside from baseball season, we are currently in the midst of my other favorite sports season of the year — March Madness. I hail from an alma mater pretty well recognized for its basketball program, Syracuse University. My freshman year in college was the year of Carmelo Anthony as he led the Syracuse Orange (then Orangemen) to its first NCAA Championship. Talk about exciting!

I still follow the basketball team fairly closely now, and this was a great season to be a fan. SU finished the season ranked No. 3 in the nation with a 28-3 record. At one point, we were tops in the nation. Our home game against Villanova was the highest-attended college basketball game in history. Yesterday was disheartening. After a double bye in the Big East tournament, we lost to Georgetown yesterday and had a scare when mainstay Arinze Onuaku left the game due to a knee injury. Luckily, it looks rest will do the trick and Onuaku should be back in the game for the NCAA tournament.

So, now I look forward to Selection Sunday. Go Orange!

– Kim Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive

A while back, I wrote about my niece Sam’s search for the right college. By “right,” I was assuming she meant the right place to go for a winter break. Or the right place to go for great college sports. Or the right place to go for a new destination. I gave her my advice. Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin, Louisville, UCLA, Colorado and Kentucky would have worked, just to name a few.

Last week, she made her decision. She chose Southern Illinois University, home of the Salukis.

I admit SIU would not be my choice . . . I mean for her, of course. However, I know Sam (and her parents) put a lot of thought and research into the decision. I also know that Carbondale is just 342 miles (give or take) away, which translates to a 5.5 hour trip. Not too bad.

I also know that the Salukis have made six NCAA tournament appearances since 2002. Not too bad, either (and better than my DePaul Blue Demons).

I also know that Carbondale is generally several degrees warmer than Chicago. It might not sound like much, but a few degrees is always welcome in the middle of a Chicago winter.

I learned that SIU has a teaching museum (the University Museum) on campus, which houses 60,000 artifacts and hosts traveling shows from artists. SIU also has one of the largest student unions in the country and a huge Student Center, along with a Rec Center and Health Center. There are also a number of popular food franchises on campus, including Chick-fil-A (one of Sam’s favorites).

SIU’s notable alumni include Jim Hart (former star NFL quarterback), Walt Frazier (NBA Hall of Famer), Dennis Franz (actor) and Scott Olofsson (a longtime Global Traveler fan). Unfortunately, Jim Belushi is also an alum, but I digress.

The city of Carbondale also has a lot to offer. The Shawnee National Forest, the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge and Giant City State Park are all in the Carbondale area. For the golf enthusiasts (aka our publisher, Fran Gallagher), Golf Digest awarded Hickory Ridge Golf Course a 4-star rating for the past six years.

Reviewing these facts (and Sam’s wishes, of course), I will become a proud supporter (and hopefully occasional visitor) of SIU. Go Salukis!

– John Wroblewski, distribution specialist

I love to give credit when credit is due, and credit is due to the weathermen and women in New York City. Their predictions for the weather this past weekend were absolutely right — they predicted snow and snow it did! I was fortunate enough to be in upstate New York for the first snowfall, where four to five inches accumulated into a winter wonderland.  I was with great company, surrounded by incredible food and wine, which only made the snowfall that much better.

I was born on Long Island, but I am a winter girl at heart. I love being in the snow and visiting the mountains whenever I can. This weekend, I was reminded of the time I spent in Vermont, as a student at the University of Vermont. Everyone there loved to be outdoors in the summer or the winter. Skiing and hiking the local mountains, Stowe, Sugarbush or Jay Peak, were popular activities. I know anybody reading this who knows me now can’t picture me with anything but my stilettos and BlackBerry, but it’s amazing what you learn about people, or yourself, when given a chance in a new environment.

For all those beach lovers out there (especially those dwelling in a city), as winter gets underway across North America, take a step outside your typical comfort zone and breathe in some fresh mountain air! I’m full of great suggestions for weekend getaways if you need any ideas. And if you have some ideas for excursions, send them my way!

– Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

Two bright, pretty young women choose to spend part of their college experience studying in a foreign country. Then, little more than a month after they begin sharing an apartment together, one is found brutally murdered and the other is charged with the slaying. I am referring, of course, to Meredith Kercher, a 21-year-old British student killed two years ago in Perugia, Italy, and Amanda Knox, now 22 and hailing from Seattle, Wash. Amanda was convicted this week after a year-long trial and sentenced to 26 years in prison.

 With my own 21-year-old daughter preparing to depart on her travel and study abroad experience in just a month, I find this story contains all my own worst fears about what my child could encounter so far from home. While I’ve experienced first-hand the joys and expanded horizons that overseas travel provides, and our older daughter survived and thrived during her own foreign study several years ago, I also know there are dangers that a naive, albeit bright, young woman may face.

I’ve followed the Amanda Knox case almost from the beginning, at least in part because her family lives in the Northwest and she attended the University of Washington. The story was often in the news as her parents tried to counter all the salacious stories the Italian press pumped out over the last two years — most based on wild rumors and imagination rather than fact. Print and television newsmagazine reports which closely examined the police investigation and prosecution tactics have convinced me that Amanda and her then-boyfriend have been wrongly convicted.

Apparently, I’m not alone.  After the verdict, Washington’s Senator Maria Cantwell cited the “negligent handling of evidence by investigators,” harsh treatment Knox received after her arrest and the fact that jurors weren’t sequestered and were exposed to all the highly negative news coverage throughout the trial. She also stated that she had serious concerns about whether anti-Americanism tainted the trial.

Is it likely that my own precious child will be murdered or wrongly accused of a horrific crime while she travels? No, but nevertheless I will be sure to share with her an article from Global Traveler’s July 2008 issue by Leif Pettersen about what to do when facing an encounter with legal authorities overseas. Along with all the magazine’s great articles on destinations she’ll be visiting, I’ll include Ron Bernthal’s piece from May 2009, “Safety First.” While Jenny’s school has advised its students on guarding against pickpockets, drugged drinks and travel scams, I’m not sure they’ve covered what to say and NOT say when involved in a crime (as victim or accused) in a foreign country.

I’m not one of those parents who wants to wrap her child in cotton and protect her from all the bad things in the world. I trust her instincts, resourcefulness and brains to get her through most of the situations she’ll encounter as she travels (she has survived quite nicely on her own in Chicago these last three years, after all!). I believe she will return enthused about all she will have seen and experienced and wiser for facing the wider world on her own. That won’t keep me from sharing those articles with her, though, and praying for her safe return every day she’s gone.

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader 

Each year in Oregon as families gather around the Thanksgiving Day table, there is one subject which should be avoided if a pleasant and peaceful meal is desired. Politics? Religion? Aunt Sue’s new beau? All potentially volatile subjects, certainly, but none of those match the potential for fireworks that a discussion of the annual “Civil War” football game between the Oregon State Beavers and the University of Oregon Ducks possesses. The two teams first met in 1894, and with the contest usually played on the Saturday after Turkey Day, many a heated discussion of the upcoming game has been held as the mashed potatoes and gravy circle the table.

As with most born-and-bred Oregon families, mine features alums from both schools (along with a select few like me who attended smaller state schools and don’t get too worked up about either one of the others). There is always plenty of good-natured (mostly) ribbing going on, and some creative bets have been wagered over the years. One year my Beaver brother Chris had to stand up at Christmas before the entire family after OSU had been defeated by Oregon that year (and he had lost his bet to Duck sister Julie). Decked out in a bright yellow Oregon t-shirt, he had to loudly and convincingly proclaim, ”I wish I’d gone to Oregon instead of Oregon State.” After another Beaver loss, brother Tim, in deference to losing his bet with brother-in-law Dave, had to wear a shirt bearing Oregon’s rabid-looking “Fighting Duck” to the following year’s Thanksgiving dinner. As he took his place at the table, Tim reached over, grabbed some mashed potatoes and liberally smeared them all over the front of the shirt, obscuring his Beavers’ nemesis. He pointed out that although he was required to wear the shirt, the condition of said shirt had not been specified when the bet was placed. 

Most years, there isn’t much on the line for either team beyond bragging rights over defeating the other, but on occasion a win for one team may ensure a trip to the Rose Bowl (or an invitation to one of those “lesser” bowl games) or may confound the chances of the other getting there. Last year, for example, Oregon played the spoiler when the Ducks beat the Beavers and ended their dreams of a trip to Pasadena. This year, for the first time in this long rivalry, both teams go into this so-called Civil War game with a Rose Bowl berth at stake. Let me tell you, the trash talk has reached new heights, and the anticipation and anxiety are palpable whenever the subject comes up. The game will be played this upcoming Thursday night (certainly T.V. revenues were at play with that scheduling decision!), so we’ve all had a few extra days to revel in the seemingly endless coverage from all the regional media outlets.

It really has been an exciting year in the Pac-10 conference, though, and anyone who saw last week’s double-overtime Oregon win over Arizona experienced a good example of that. My husband (OSU class of ‘73) found himself incongruously cheering on the Ducks, as an Arizona loss would ensure the Beavers’ identical top record with Oregon in league play. Unlike many other leagues, each team plays every other one in the conference. As Oregon coach Chip Kelly pointed out, “When you end up getting the chance to call yourself a champion in this league, you’ve actually earned it because you’ve got to play everybody.”

I’ll be cheering for the Beavers come Thursday, hoping this year will be their turn to spend New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl. If the Ducks win, life will go on (though my husband may be bummed out for a while), and I’ll root happily for an Oregon team against the Buckeyes on January 1 (even though I attended that other OSU as a graduate student for a year — a long time ago). It will be fun to see what kind of bets my siblings have come up with this year, though, and observe the pay-offs in the near future! No matter the outcome, it’s sure to be a great game!

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader