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The Boys of Jackie Robinson West Deserve Their Title

February 19, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Benjamin Simon

Staff Writer

chi-jackie-robinson-west-20140825-001-624x351 — Courtesy of chicagonow.com

When I first heard the news I was sitting in math class. I had just finished a grueling and stressful quiz. I opened my phone and checked the updates. At the top sat an update from ESPN. “Breaking:” it read, “Little League Baseball strips US title from Chicago area team for using players outside of geographic area.”

I sat there for second and grappled with the news. It wasn’t long before I had to leave class. As I maneuvered through the hallways, I saw a friend, and we briefly talked about it, but for no more than a couple minutes. After that, it was pushed out of my thoughts.

I went through two more classes of work and a period of lunch. Next, I climbed on the trolley and subway, finding myself at the Philadelphia Inquirer for my internship. When I walked into the gigantic room of journalists, I went directly to the desk of my mentor, Mr. John Quinn.

“Did you hear?” He asked me.

“About the Jackie Robinson Little League team?”

“Yeah. Are you guys happy?” He questioned. By “you guys,” he was referring to my connection with the Little League World Series participant, the Taney Dragons. My brother, Eli Simon, had been a part of the team

“Happy?” I asked. Happy? This triggered many thoughts. Honestly, at the time, I hadn’t done much research. I knew the outlining information. The United States Little League champion, Jackie Robinson West Little League, would have their title taken. They had supposedly extended their boundaries against rules to bring in star players. Other than that, I was quite ignorant of the situation.

But I did know I wasn’t happy. Yeah I guess Taney was now technically the second best little league team in the nation, but was I happy? They had still lost to Chicago. They still didn’t win. Regardless of the fact of where the players lived, the team had beat every team fair and square. They were just a bunch of 12 and 13 year olds playing baseball.

Thinking about it more made me slightly sick. These coaches and officials had used these kids to get what they wanted. Now, for the majority of their life, they won’t be able to say with pride, “Yes, I played for Jackie Robinson West Little League in the 2014 Little League World Series.” Now, that saying will have negative connotations, instead of the positive ones it should have. Now those kids will be known as “the cheaters from Chicago”, not “the baseball players from Chicago.” Now, a moment of happiness and success has been tainted. And its not their fault. Its the adults’ fault whom knowingly tip toed around the rules and carried a group of kids with them.

After Mr. Quinn sent me back to my computer to type this piece, I did more research. For 45 minutes, I read articles, listened to reactions, and grasped a better sense of the predicament.

Unfortunate? Yeah, I guess.

Deserved? Yeah, I guess.

Extreme? For sure.

The team did cheat. The organization. Even the district. They slid past the rules and knowingly invited players to the team who did not live in their boundary. So should the kids get to keep their banner?

I don’t think there is any doubt that the kids should get to keep their wins and championship. They played hard and they fought to deserve every last win that they had during the summer. I think that there are other ways to punish the team. Ban the coach. Suspend the organization. But at least let the kids keep the title they played for: champions.

The whole investigation reminds me of the Reggie Bush scandal that began nearly 8 years ago. The superstar running back at the University of Southern California reportedly received many gifts from an agent, which was against the rules. Wins were vacated and Bush was pressured to give back his Heisman trophy he had won years before. I always felt strongly that Bush should not have had to give the award back. Regardless of the fact that he had been given many presents, he had earned and worked for every last yard he ran or caught that year. And it wasn’t like he was enhancing his performance via drugs. He was just playing football. That trophy is given to the best player in the country, and Bush was the most successful.

The fact is that Jackie Robinson West did cheat–but not during the game itself. The kids still scored all of those runs. They still struck out all of those batters. And they still stole all of those bases. People can ask themselves “what if”, but the bottom line is JRW was the champion team. They were and are the best little league team in America.

Locker Talk (Darius Purnell- Sophomore)

February 19, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Angelica Owens

Staff Writer

Question:

Note: The movie does not have to be actually nominated but just an opinion of the interviewee.

What movie should be the oscar best picture and why?

I think The Lego movie should win the award of best movie nominated or not, because they started the process of getting everything approved in 2005 and was able to start script in 2007, then were able to started making the movie in 2011. They put a lot of work in it, they didn’t just take a year or so and just spit out a movie. They put in a lot of dedication and I respect that. I was disappointed that they haven’t won any awards for it yet. The visual effects were excellent, they had a great combination of animation and stop motion. Also for a pg movie it still kept me interested and entertained using a mixture “kiddie jokes” and a few “adult” jokes that were slipped in and in a way were it wasn’t too obvious. I think the story was really original. I liked how they used a subject where many people grew up on and kids this days grew up which are legos. What made it better than other movies with the same concept like Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is that they were able to come up with a completely new story because there never was one in the first. Another reason is because there also wasn’t anything to base it off of like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where they say they had a few facts wrong with the characters. As well as the story and concept, I liked the cast. The scenes where Morgan Freeman’s character had to make ridiculous noises had me imagining him in the sound booth looking like a crazy man along with other actors who had to scream in some scenes. Also the whole ending and moral of the movie was that everyone is creative in their own way and that everyone has the right to express it. No one should hold you from being the best you can and if people are bringing you down and don’t believe in you.. You should believe in yourself regardless and stay true to yourself, if you do so you can accomplish your wildest dreams.

Valentine’s Day Gone Wrong- Funny & Embarrassing Valentine’s Day Stories

February 12, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Darius Purnell

Staff Writer

Valentine’s Day Gone Wrong

Funny & Embarrassing Valentine’s Day Stories

When it comes to Valentine’s, day many people first imagine it as a lovely “holiday” where people shower their love one with love, affection and gifts. Usually when planning ahead, they assume everything will go perfectly and it will be the most romantic and memorable time of the year. However, this is not always how it goes.

I went around the SLA community and ask people what were their most funny and embarrassing Valentine’s Day stories,. Based on what I found, the holiday has developed to a time to be by themselves and just joy alone time or a time for casual interactions with love ones and not so much serious and romantic. Also I noticed that not so many boys had an experience with the holiday.

“Its Not The Sameeeee!”

This story comes from Tianna McNair, a 10th grader. She told me that a couple years ago she didn’t have a valentine and was very upset. So her grandfather bought her some candy to cheer her up. Later that day she was in the car with her father eating the candy when he slammed the brakes and the candy flew out her hand. Her father wanted to make up for her, so he took her to the dollar store and bought her some more. The candy wasn’t just not as good– Tianna found it nasty. So she started crying again saying, “Its not the sameeeeee!”

“#FrankUnderwoodForLife”

The second person that had an interesting story about Valentine’s Day was the photography & digital video teacher and the baseball coach, Mr. Herman He told me jokingly that “Netflix was really crafty about how they launched the second season of house of cards on Valentine’s Day” He didn’t want to miss such an opportunity so unlike any other year where he normally cooks dinner for his girlfriend, he boycotted the holiday instead with a marathon of House of Cards. he now represents the hashtag, #Frankunderwoodforlife.

“All Fun & Games until Someone Gets Lice”

Zoe Anderson, a fellow 10th grade student, allowed me to share her third grade Valentine’s Day experience. Before Valentine’s Day, she had unknowingly gotten lice. She end up infecting the whole class on Valentine’s Day. As a joke and apology, Zoe and her mother made cards with cartoon lice on them and passed them out to her classmates once everyone was treated.

You’re Awesome Girl!”

During her 2nd grade year, Michaela Peterson’s mother was a guest speaker at her school. Her mother also brought in candy hearts with messages on them. Michaela helped pass them out. When she approached a boy in her class named Miles, she gave him a candy heart. What surprised Miles was that it read “You’re awesome girl”. Miles assumed that Michaela purposely gave that specific one to him. People started talking to him as if he was a girl and gave him a female name as a joke. For a while, Michaela and Miles found that experience awkward and the two of them couldn’t look at each other for a week.

“What is this?!”

Katarina Backo wasn’t born here in America. In fact she was born in Serbia and hasn’t been here in her new of the USA for more than 5 years. When she came to America on January 18th in 2011, she didn’t know much about the customs, culture and even any English. When Valentine’s Day came around she had only adjusted just a little bit so she could at least understand some English but still not aware of most of the culture. When she was in class a boy was passing out valentines. When he handed one to her, she then freaked out because she was not aware of what Valentine’s Day was and what was handed to her. She quickly gave it back and yelled to him “What is this?!”

Technology Status in Cuba

February 12, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Ella Donesky
Staff Writer

As of January 2015, the United States has expressed a desire to open a dialogue with Cuba and travel between the two countries has become more accessible. Together with travel, President Obama has put new rules into action, allowing the transport of money and the exchange of business.

New relations suggests the potential for new access to technology. Thanks to strict government controls, social media and the internet are commodities Cuban citizens have not had much access to. While we’re hoping to find evidence of this new type of market opening up between the United States and Cuba, for many years, Cuba has been providing their own, somewhat amateur solution.

How do they do it? An NPR article details the distribution of internet and television access in a town outside Havana, Cuba. The article is titled “Lacking Internet, Cubans rely on ‘The Package’ for Entertainment.” The way this works is, one man obtains tv shows, movies, apps, video games and software updates through a satellite download, which is then passed to a middle man (who goes by the name of Iyawo) through a thumb drive, the contents of which are sold and passed around citizens of the town.

There are many vague restrictions to this sort of activity, meaning, legalities aren’t clear. While owning a laptop in Cuba is legal, Iyawo’s enterprise is not. However, according to NPR, “The package doesn’t include anything political or pornographic, that’s why he [Iyawo] speculates the government permits it.”

Within the last few years, internet access has become more widespread, progressing to availability in cyber salons, computer clubs, post offices and offices, though it usually comes with a fee and viewer censorship.

An interview with Robert Muse, published in Scientific America, provided interesting information with regards to the United States’ role in Cuba’s increasing internet availability. Cuba isn’t obtaining the technology from the US, in fact, they’re doing so with the help of countries like Venezuela. In his words, “there’s nothing they specifically need from the US.”

Regardless of whether Cuba believes they need anything from the US or not, as of four weeks ago, devices and software were beginning to be transported to Cuba.

The newly opened relations between Cuba and the United States may allow for a more flexible exchange of technology, access to internet, and a less censored form of access, at that. In the future, it may even promote a larger presence in trade for Cuba.

For more information about Cuba and the United States’ relations and hear students’ perspectives, check out “Teachers, Students React to New Relations with Cuba” published in early January.

Image courtesy of NPR

Chelsea vs. Manchester City Recap

February 9, 2015 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

William Derry

Staff Writer

Image Courtesy of talkChelsea.net

On January 31, 2015, the two teams atop the Barclays Premier League (BPL) standings table met at Stamford Bridge, in Fulham, England. Chelsea has been at the top of the League table for most of the season, but if Manchester City were to win this clash between the respective clubs, the three points that they would receive from winning, would put them within four points of the league leaders.

Chelsea had an abundance of confidence coming into this game, after beating Liverpool four days before in a Capital One Cup semi final fixture. Chelsea took a big blow to their starting eleven in that game with star striker Diego Costa being thrown out because of his altercation with Emre Can, in which Costa stomped on the hand of the versatile midfielder. That led to Costa missing the game against Man City. Cesc Fabregas, also missed the game because of a hamstring injury.

Man City was unable to showcase their new striker, Wilfried Bony, who they transferred for in the Winter transfer market for a large transfer fee of 25 million pounds, which is a little bit more than 38 million US dollars, in this competition because of his participation in the Africa Cup of Nations for his national team, Cote d’Ivoire or simply the Ivory Coast. His new teammate on Man City, Yaya Touré is also on national team duty and will miss this game.

Loic Remy, opened the scoring for Chelsea with a volley from midfielder Eden Hazard, who crossed the ball into the six yard in the 41st-minute for the score. Man City, trying to get a goal before the half, hurried down the field and leveled the game with a goal from attacking midfielder David Silva, to bring the game to a tie before the half.

The 1-1 draw would remain the same, after the final whistle was blown in the second half of the game.

The average soccer fan in America should care about the outcome of a game in England because of the quality of soccer in England. The BPL is one of the most competitive sports leagues in the world and no result is guaranteed week to week. Some of the hero’s from the 2014 FIFA World Cup run in Brazil play in this league, such as 2014 World Cup standout Tim Howard, backup goalkeeper Brad Guzan and Geoff Cameron. American’s have the opportunity to see their national team players, play club soccer.

Chelsea is on top of league but Man City still has a chance. Although Chelsea and Man City have fourteen league games remaining and nine of the fourteen games are against teams in the bottom half of the league table, Man City has tied with Chelsea during both matches played this season. Chelsea still has the lead over Man City in goal differential, if the two were to end the season in a tie. Bony will make his anticipated debut for Man City in the coming weeks, along with Touré returning to the starting eleven. Costa will return to Chelsea’s lineup as soon as his three game suspension is over with, for now Chelsea has lead but will it last?