Pass:

A recent Northern Star column discussed the hopeful outlook on this year’s men’s basketball season. The team ended last season strongly, and though they lost in the first round of a tournament, they showed improvement from past years. NIU has not had a winning season since 2005-06, but there is progress being made that could change this fact. I think it is refreshing to hear basketball will potentially have more success this season. This university is well known for its football team, and rightly so. Our football team rarely disappoints and the players work hard; however, I think at times NIU’s other sports teams are overshadowed by football’s success. For that reason, I think it is great to hear about the accomplishments and promising future of our basketball team, and I plan to cheer them on as they show improvement.

Fail:

Multiple incidents of a man allegedly exposing himself to people on a bike path were reported over the past month, and police have yet to catch the offender. Someone going around flashing innocent people is bad enough, but the fact that this keeps happening without any sign of catching the person is disappointing. What is more unfortunate is these reported incidents of indecent exposure seem to be escalating to an even more serious matter. In one of the most recent occurrences, the individual allegedly forced a child to touch him. The exposure itself is already unacceptable, but now this person has put children in danger as well. Perhaps when this started it was on the low end of important cases to solve, especially compared to the robberies and other incidents going on, but now the situation has become more serious. I hope DeKalb Police are successful in catching this person sooner rather than later.