Category Archives: Sports

Editorials/Student Voice, Sports

How the sports world reacted to the capitol protests

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By: Caden Ligman

With Congress in session to count the electoral votes that would confirm Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States, hundreds of Pro-Trump organizers stormed the capital building in Washington DC. Protesters broke through barriers and were soon marching around the offices of our elected officials. Something so disrespectful and violent has not happened at the Capital since the British stormed the capital in 1814.

Many people blame President Donald Trump for inciting these protesters after making baseless claims about voter fraud. This isn’t the beginning however, of Trump’s “conspiracy” theories about the presidential election. Months before the election took place last November, Trump repeatedly preached to his supporters that the only way he could lose the presidential race was if it was rigged.

The NBA recently has been seen as a very left-wing organization, with many of its members speaking out against our President, and many of his policies and actions. This time was no different. While this historic event was playing out, current and former NBA players spoke in interviews and took to Twitter to address the subject.

One of the sport’s biggest stars, Stephen Curry, responded to one of Trump’s tweets saying, “​There is literally a tweet for everything. Cat got your tongue today huh?” referring to Trump’s inaction to stop his supporters from storming the capital.

Similarly, former NBA star Dwane Wade tweeted out, “Black people get pulled over and don’t make it out alive. We can’t sleep in our own beds without being killed. We can’t jog without being killed. We can’t walk down the street with our hoodies up without being killed but they can do this???”

Coaches of NBA teams also spoke out in recent interviews. Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers said this, in an interview Wednesday night, “I will say it, because I don’t think a lot of people want to. Can you imagine today, if those were all black people storming the Capitol, and what would have happened? That, to me, is a picture that’s worth a thousand words for all of us to see.”

Seeing this historic event play out has opened many people’s eyes to the reality of what it is like to live in America today. What is happening at the capital not only exposes the discrimination of black people in America but also exposed the true values of our president and what his real motives are. No one knows how all of this will play out, but in the words of 76ers coach Doc Rivers, “Democracy will prevail, it always does.”

Basketball

Who’s ready for the 20-21 NBA season⁉

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By: Khadar Greer

Here are some players to keep an eye on in this upcoming NBA season:

Rookies: The NBA has upcoming rookies like: LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, James Wiseman, and Cole Anthony. They are all very gifted young talents that have worked very hard to get to where they are now. I cannot wait to see what they do playing against the best of the best in the NBA.

Sophomore season: We have some rookies from last year that are looking very, very good, like: Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Tyler Herro, and Coby White. These are all great young talents that are looking really good down the road in the future. Can’t wait to see what they have in store in the 2021 season.

Returning Players: The NBA also has players coming from very career threatening injuries like: Kevin Durant coming back from a torn Achilles, John Wall coming back from tearing his ACL, DeMarcus Cousins coming back from a torn ACL, and more. They’ve all been playing so far so good in the preseason, looking very good. Can’t wait to see what they’ll actually do in the regular season.

Veterans: And we also have some veterans who could really be passing down knowledge to the upcoming generation before they retire. We have veterans like: Chris Paul, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, and Marc Gasol.

Lacrosse

The face off position in lacrosse

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By: Jimmy Somerville

I’m here to tell you about the sport of lacrosse; specifically, the face off in lacrosse.

The face off is basically a battle for possession of the ball, where you and your opponent line up at the midline, and place your sticks on the line. The ball is then placed in between the heads of your sticks (the head is the part of your stick where you catch and throw so the end of it).

Once the ball is set, the ref gives the cadence of “down, set, whistle.” On the whistle, you and your opponent, as quickly as possible, attempt to clamp the ball – this means to push your stick (more specifically, the head of your stick) over the ball as fast as you can.

If you get the clamp, you then pop the ball out of your stick into your stick again. If you are able to do that successfully, that means you won the face off and you got possession of the ball for you and your team.

The face off happens at the beginning of every quarter, and after every goal, so it happens quite often.

Possession in lacrosse is relatively hard to get, so the face off is very important, as having possession leads to scoring goals.

I take the face offs for my lacrosse team and I FOGO (face off get off), which means that after the face off, I get off the field.

I enjoy these competitive 1 vs. 1s for the ball, as it’s a test of quickness, hand speed, athleticism and determination.

A FOGO is nowadays almost always a position on high school lacrosse teams, college lacrosse teams and pro teams. It is a very unique and interesting position that is also very fun and competitive. I hope to earn a scholarship for lacrosse being a FOGO.

Baseball

The 2020 World Series

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By: Caden Ligman

So far, 2020 has been a series of unfortunate events. Since March, the pandemic has affected everyone’s lives and we have lost many things, including sports. However, by the end of the summer, all major sports leagues in the U.S. were able to return. Leagues such as the NBA and the NHL thrived under the new COVID protocols, reporting very few cases throughout the season.

MLB on the other hand struggled with 104 cases being reported among players during the regular season alone. Despite all of the struggles, MLB finally concluded their unusual season after game 6 of the World Series, on October 27.

The 2020 World Series was played between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers won the 7 game series after winning game 6 and going up on the Rays, 4 games to 2.

Game 6 however, seemed to be going in the favor of the Rays. Their starting pitcher, Blake Snell, was hot through six innings; throwing 9 strikeouts and only allowing two hits and one earned run. Snell looked ready to dominate the rest of the game.

Then, in the sixth inning, Ray’s head coach Kevin Kash pulled Snell from the game, replacing him with Nic Anderson. This decision proved to be quite controversial, and was evidently the turning point for the Rays in game 6. Nick Anderson immediately gave up a run and was pulled shortly after.

The Dodgers winning the World Series during these unusual times was exciting, however, the biggest headline of the night came from Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner.

Late into game 6, he was mysteriously pulled from the game. It later emerged that he had actually tested positive for COVID-19. Turner was isolated immediately after he was pulled, however, after the game, he was seen on live TV celebrating with his teammates out on the field.

This carelessness, by the players and coaches in the Dodgers organization, capped off a roller coast of a season for the MLB: 43 regular season games cancelled, and 104 positive cases in players (by far the most of any of the major sports leagues).

Hopefully, MLB can walk into the 2021 season more prepared.

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Gymnastics

USAG’s culture of abuse

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By: Elizabeth Woxland

For over two decades, over 370 gymnasts (primarily minors) encountered sexual abuse “by gym owners, coaches, and staff working for gymnastics programs across the country,” according to an interview in ‘Vice’. Throughout those years, USAG silenced the gymnasts and continued to ignore the reports of molestation, specifically by a USAG doctor, Larry Nassar, who is now named in hundreds of lawsuits for engaging in sexual abuse.

Over 265 women came out to the public, addressing the abuse they faced, which became one of the largest sexual abuse scandals in sports history. This scandal led to the questioning of USAG’s way of training their gymnasts.

After the first allegations of sexual abuse were brought to the attention of USAG, Nassar continued to work for many months after. Maggie Nichols, the athlete who took part in the first allegation, was secretly taken out of the public eye for representing USAG. Many believe Nichols would’ve competed in the 2016 Olympics if she didn’t come forward with her sexual abuse. Nichols’s specific situation was detailed in the Netflix movie ‘Athlete A’ and she was also  interviewed by NBC.

Other abuse scandals started to arise after the sexual abuse scandal was brought to the public. Bela and Martha Karolyi are head coaches for USAG, and are now facing backlash for their abusive way of coaching.

The training that the girls in USAG have is now being criticized for a toxic culture and unsafe way of training. The average competitive gymnast for USAG trains year round for as much as 12 hours a day.

It was a very regular thing for girls injuries to be overlooked. In a ‘PE’ article they state: “Nine out of every 10 gymnasts we interviewed said that they had continued to train on injuries that resulted in broken bones or surgery or that they had resumed training without getting clearance from a doctor.” Think of the so-called “inspiring moment” when Kerri Strugg broke her leg on her first vault, and her coaches convinced her to still do a second vault.

This goes to show the toxic culture of winning at all costs in the mindset of USAG coaches and
trainers.

Sports

UFC 254 build up

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By : Jalalaisa Geleto

There has been a lot of excitement around UFC 254. It puts the legendary, undefeated, Khabib Numergamdov, up against one of his toughest foes yet, Justin Gaethje.

Justin Gaethje might be one of Khabib’s hardest matchups yet. So much so that thousands are betting Gaethje will stop Khabib’s lightweight title reign.

Stylistic Khabib, and Gaethje, come from the same background: wrestling. They are both phenomenal wrestlers but Gathje hasn’t used his wrestling at all during his UFC career and mostly focuses on striking (punches, kicks, elbows, knees). Khabib on the other hand stuck with his grappling (wrestling, jiu jitsu, judo, etc.) and has won most of his fights by out grappling his opponents.

People believe that Gaethje will use his D1 level wrestling with his precise striking to beat Khabib. They believe that Gaethje’s defensive wrestling (which we’ve never seen from him in the UFC) will stop Khabib from getting any takedowns and dominating Gaethje. If Khabib can’t get any takedowns, then he would be outmatched in a striking match by Gaethje.

On the other side, Khabib fans believe that literally no one can defend themselves from a barrage of attempted takedowns from khabib. They believe that Gaethje’s defensive wrestling can’t stop Khabibs attempts, or that Khabib will make, or find, an opening eventually. They believe that once it gets to the ground (takedown successful) Khabib will keep on striking him and holding him down making him support all his weight. They believe that Khabib has the endurance to completely wear down Gaethje.

Earlier this summer, Khabib’s father passed away. Many believe a fight a couple months after a loss like that will impact Khabib and he won’t be at his best. You can tell by his recent interview, the man has really low energy and seems depressed. Others believe that his father’s death will motivate him to give us his best performance yet, in the name of his deceased father.

Justin Gaethje has shown a lot of respect towards Khabib and there hasn’t been any trash talking at all between them. It’s just two men looking for glory and honor and that’s what’s attracting so many people to this fight.

According to Dana White, the fight is predicted to make 26 billion dollars, and that’s with conservative information used to make this prediction. Justin Gaethje vs. Khabib Numergumaduv is looking to break the UFC pay-per-view record, which was just broken a month ago with Adesanya vs. Costa.

This will be a fight to be remembered.

Entertainment, Wrestling

This year will be the 37th anniversary of Wrestlemania you do not want to miss this‼ ‼ ‼ ‼

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By: Khadar Greer

Wrestlemania 37 will be taking place at the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on March 28th, 2021. This page will be your main hub for our Wrestlemania 37 predictions. This mostly could possibly have matches that we think could take place at the event.

Drew McIntyre is in the middle of the most aggressive push he’s received in his WWE career at the moment, and deservedly so. He has spent over a decade scratching and clawing his way to the top of the card, and he was finally rewarded for his efforts in the form of a Royal Rumble victory in January. Of course, his future as a main event-caliber competitor was started after beating Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36. The hope from there is that he’ll be able to maintain momentum and have a successful title reign. Regardless of whether he loses the belt before WrestleMania 37 or not, he should walk into next year’s spring spectacle as the WWE Champion.

There aren’t many men from the ‘SmackDown’ and ‘Raw’ rosters who’d make sense to face him for the championship, but ‘NXT’s’, Adam Cole, should be considered a strong candidate. It’s all but a guarantee that Cole and the rest of Undisputed Era will be a part of the main roster by the close of 2020. They have accomplished everything imaginable in ‘NXT’ and have been ready to move to ‘Raw’ or ‘SmackDown’ for awhile now.

There’s still time for this WrestleMania match to happen in Tampa, Florida, on April 5, but based off how John Cena has been advertised as returning to ‘SmackDown’ on February 28, and Velveteen Dream recently returned to ‘NXT,’ the chances of it coming to fruition any time soon are slim to none.

According to WrestleVotes, Cena has creative freedom to face who he wants at WrestleMania this year, making it all the more mind-boggling that Elias has recently been rumored to be his opponent at the event. Granted, they’ve interacted on ‘The Grandest Stage of Them All’ for the past two years, but the musician is the wrong person to be elevated by working with him. For what it’s worth, Cena went on the record, two years ago at an Orlando convention, to say he would rather have a match with Velveteen Dream over Adam Cole and Ricochet because of how unique of a character he is.

Becky Lynch vs. Ronda Rousey was easily one of WWE’s hottest feuds in 2019, but it can be argued that it wasn’t blown off the right way at WrestleMania 35.

Of course, fans got what they wanted with Lynch pinning Rousey in the main event and reigning supreme as the new ‘Raw’ and ‘SmackDown’ women’s champion, but the finish of the match felt botched and abrupt.

In other words, “The Man” did not decisively defeat “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” as it looked like Rousey’s shoulders weren’t completely pinned down to the mat. Rousey returning to reclaim what she believes she shouldn’t have lost is a natural story to tell. It would have been the perfect WrestleMania match this year, but it’s clear WWE is headed in a different direction with Lynch and ‘NXT’ upstart Shayna Baszler. Anything can happen with the ‘Raw’ women’s division between now and WrestleMania 37, though. Lynch could well lose her spot as the red brand’s top dog, but if she can remain relevant, a rematch with Rousey will be the way to go.

Football

How is the NFL still making money with no fans?

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By: Jimmy Somerville

As you may know, the NFL season is back and in action even with the coronavirus. But there is a catch – there are either no fans allowed or very few allowed.

And the NFL is a business at the end of the day, whether you think of it as a business or not, so their goal is to make a profit (money).

So, since they aren’t allowed to have fans, or some teams will allow a maximum of ten thousands fans, where the average NFL stadium can fill up around 70,000 fans, how is the NFL still going to make money, and are they going to be in financial trouble?

The answer is the NFL would lose around 15.47% of their profit if they did not allow one single fan to buy a ticket. Because, in 2018, the NFL made up 15.47% of their profit by selling tickets. So, assuming the 2020 data would be similar to the 2018 data, the NFL would lose around 15% of their profit.

Now, 30 years ago, ticket sales would probably make up around 50% of the NFL’s profit because now, there is more advanced technology where the NFL can sell jerseys and other fan apparel online.

Losing 15% of profit can hurt, but the NFL made 15 billion dollars in 2019, so they will be just fine, and remember, they can still bring in some fans, so they will probably lose around 12% of profit, which is more than noticeable, but won’t hurt them too badly in the long run.

So, to answer my final question, the NFL will still make around roughly 88% of the profit they would’ve made without the coronavirus, this season, by having their games televised with expensive TV deals. And, like I said earlier, they also make money by selling jerseys and other fan apparel. In 2015 the NFL made more than 50% revenue from just TV deals. So the NFL will be fine.

-Jimmy Somerville

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Basketball, Sports

Be sure to watch the best of the best battle to win a NBA championship ‼️

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By Khadar Greer

The playoffs have been amazing so far with a lot of shocking upsets and endings that you never would’ve seen coming. Especially to East; the East was full of surprises.

I mean, look at how the Miami Heat eliminated the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks, in the semifinals with the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo on that team.

Also, the Heat eliminated their rivalry team, the Indiana Pacers, in the first round with key players like Jimmy Butler, averaging 19.9 points per game in the playoffs, and and Bam Adebayo averaging 17.8 points per game.

They also have rookie Tyler Herro averaging 13.5 points per game in the playoffs and it’s only his rookie year⁉️ And, they have great role players coming off the bench.

At the time of this writing, the Eastern Conference Finals had the Heat with a 3-1 lead against the Boston Celtics (who had also been on an amazing path eliminating last year’s NBA champions, the Toronto Raptors, and what a fantastic battle they had).

The Celtics and Toronto Raptors went to game 7, with only one team coming out on top. The Celtics also eliminated their rivals the Philadelphia 76ers, which was a squashed series because the Celtics dominated that series 4-0.

The Celtics have some incredible talent too with 2 All Stars on this team: Jason Tatum, averaging 25.2 points per game, and Kemba Walker, averaging 19.9 points per games.

A lot of people thought that the Milwaukee Bucks we’re going to be winning this whole thing, or at least make it to the finals, but now since that’s out the picture, this series should be interesting.

Will the Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics 4-1 or will the Boston Celtics come back from a 3-1 lead to overcome the Miami Heat? Who Ya Got? 

*Note: We obviously know how that one played out now.

Now, let’s talk about the Western Conference with the Denver Nuggets shocking the world with defeating the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Nuggets came back from the Clippers having a 3-1 lead, and also came back from a 3-1 lead by the Utah Jazz. This left them as the only team to come back from a 1-3 deficit twice to win both series.

This is why NBA fans feel that the Nuggets are very underrated. It is a very crazy day to be the number 2 team in the Western Conference.

But now they have an even tougher challenge.

Right now (at the time of this writing) let’s see if they can come back from another 1-3  deficit. Though now, they’re playing the number one team in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers, and that team has LeBron James (the debatable greatest of all time everyone says that he’s a goat but it’s hard because he’s very debatable) and they also have five All Stars that have played the Lakers.

I mean, they even say LeBron is better than Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, so this series has to be tough, and and I’m pretty sure everyone’s going with the Los Angeles Lakers, but with the Nuggets being the underdogs, we can’t sleep on the Denver Nuggets. Especially with the intensity and energy they’ve been playing with so far in the playoffs. Can the Nuggets dethrone the Lakers, or will the Lakers beat them? For only one can advance to the finals: who you got?

*Note: The finals are now set, and it will be Heat vs. Lakers.

Football, Sports

The NFL is back!

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By: Caden Ligman

On September 7, the Kansas City Chiefs played the Houston Texans to kick off the 2020 NFL season. Due to COVID-19 this season is unlike any other.

Most of the teams have decided that there will be no fans in attendance for their games this season, however there are a few exceptions. The Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Dallas Cowboys will all allow between 2,500 and 17,000 fans to attend their games.

The NFL is also allowing individual players to opt out of this upcoming NFL season because of COVID-19. So far, a total of 66 players have already opted out with nearly half of the players who have opted out being linemen. Players who choose to opt out will be guaranteed $350,000 if they prove that they are high risk for getting the virus. Players who aren’t high risk are guaranteed $150,00.

There were a total of 16 games played week one of this year’s NFL season.

During the Vikings game against the Green Bay Packers, both teams chose to honor George Floyd in their own way. The Vikings did not sound their signature Gjallarhorn at the beginning of the game to honor Floyd. The Packers on the other hand, stayed in their locker room during the playing of the nation anthem.