2013 MLB Season Wrap-Up

       Ryan Haynes
       Sports


As the 2013 MLB season comes to an end lets look back on how the season panned out. Late, last season the MLB announced that the Houston Astros would be moving from the National League Central to the American League West. Because of this change there was an equal amount of fifteen teams in both leagues, thus inter-league games were played throughout the entire season for the first time in MLB history.
       On the first game of the season Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish was throwing a perfect game until in the bottom of the 9th with two outs Houston's Marwin Gonzalez hit a hard grounder up the middle for a single. Other milestones for the season include Homer Bailey, Tim Lincecum, and Henderson Alvarez all threw no-hitters. Other achievements include Ichiro Suzuki collected his 4,000 career hit, and Albert Pujols got his 1,000 career extra base hit.
       Max Scherzer, pitcher for the Detriot Tigers, got off to a ridiculous start being 14-0 before surrendering his first loss. Also Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles became one of only eight players ever to have thirty home runs by the end of June. Arizona Diamondback's Paul Goldschmidt had a break out year batting .302, 36 HR, and 125 RBI rewarded him with his first all-star game. Michael Cuddyer had a surprise season batting .331 leading the national league. Clayton Kershaw has another fantastic season with an ERA of 1.83 by far the best in the major leagues this year. Craig Kimbrel has another dominant year with the Atlanta Braves, starting the season off with 37 consecutive saves without blowing one.
       This year out of the ten teams to go to the play-offs half of them had not made it the year prior. Those teams include the Red Sox, Rays, Indians, Pirates, and the Dodgers. There was a 163rd game that was played this year to decide the second American league Wild Card winner between the Rays and the Rangers. The Rays won and then beat the Indians in the Wild Card game but then lost to the Red Sox in the ALDS. The A's and the Tigers faced off in the ALDS for the second year in a row and once again the Tigers came out victorious. In the National league the Pirates won the Wild Card game against the Reds but lost in game 5 to the Cardinals in the NLDS. Also the Dodgers beat the Braves in four games to move on the NLCS. Then in the NLCS the Cardinals beat the Dodgers in six games. In the American league ALCS the Boston Red Sox beat the Tigers also in six games. Now the World Series was between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals. The first to games were in Boston at Fenway Park where the series was split 1-1. Then the series went to St. Louis in Busch Stadium where the Red Sox despite being in St. Louis took two of three games. Now the series moves back to Fenway and the St. Louis Cardinals are down to their last chance to win another World Series.

It's here!

By Sreevatsa Gottada
Entertainment Editor

          After months of waiting, it has finally arrived. The NBA season starts on Tuesday. Last June, we had an amazing finals series with the Miami Heat, and the San Antonio Spurs, in which the Miami Heat took home the championship. After taking a 3-2 lead in the series, and a five point lead with only seconds remaining, the Spurs surprisingly lost the game. LeBron James made a three, Kawhi Leonard missed a free throw, Chris Bosh rebounds a missed shot, and Ray Allen ties the game up. In 30 seconds, the San Antonio Spurs went from winning their fifth NBA title, to hoping they could finish the deal in overtime. Unfortunately for them, that did not happen. The Heat won in overtime, forced a game seven, and then won their second championship in a row. Now, it's the time to start anew...

          After an exciting off-season, newly constructed teams aspire to dethrone the Miami Heat. The Indiana Pacers proved a valiant threat to the Heat last post-season, with a stronger bench, can this team be the one to knock off the Heat? Or, how about the rockets? After leaving Los Angeles to play for Houston, is Dwight Howard the missing key to push the rockets into contenders? Maybe the team that everyone isn't considering can be the one to prove everyone wrong. The Knicks quietly improved themselves in the off-season, after finishing in second last season, they should still be a threat to finish in a high playoff spot come April.

          Not only is the race for the championship interesting, but so are the storylines. Derrick Rose will be coming back. How will the former MVP fare after a serious knee injury? Kobe Bryant will be returning. Considering his age, can he still play at a high level? Rivalries are brewing, especially the Knicks and the Nets. After an intense playoff series the Knicks had with the Celtics, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were traded to Brooklyn intensifying the tension between these two teams.

In any sense, this season will be extremely interesting and fun to watch! Don't miss out!

Protest at Bestway

Recently there was a protest going on at Bestway, a grocery store in Falls Church. They were angry because they were fired when they tried to ask for better working conditions, to not be paid under minimum wage, not be overworked, and to be allowed to form a union. When the owner of the store found out that the employees were forming a union he did not like it and he wanted them to sign a paper saying they weren’t going to do that, but when they didn’t 32 workers were fired. When they showed up for the next day they were locked out and weren’t allowed to come in, and then they got the help from the UFCW. The UFCW was there protesting with them for two weeks until the government opened because they couldn’t do anything legally with the government being shut down. They protested to let it be known to not shop at Bestway so the owner would change his ways and so that every can know what happened at Bestway. They stood there from ten in the morning until eight at night protesting. They were standing there in the rain, cold, and sunny weather not leaving until they got their jobs back or until they believe justice was done. After two weeks of protesting the owner amazingly recognizes them forming a union and allows them to come back to work all 32 workers. They of course had to come to an agreement with many other things which the UFCW helped them with too.  It was a very happy day for all of them because many of them have been working there for years and that was their only income. By this happening it made all the other bestway’s unionize and make it better for the workers.

                     By: Yancy Garcia

Disabled Girl Bullied By Threatening Text Messages

By Alissa Grisler

     

      According to a 2005 study, 1 out of every 5 Americans is classified as having a disability.  Another study shows that out of children aged six through fourteen, eleven percent of them will be born with a disability. With such a high ratio of disabled persons in America, you’d have thought that by now we would have realized that disabled people aren’t abnormal, or weird, and should be treated with respect, just as you would be expected to treat anyone else. However, some people still don’t seem to understand this. Shea Shawhan is a perfect example.

     For 8 months, eighteen-year-old High School Junior Shea Shawhan was sent violent text messages, harassing her and bullying her over her condition. Even though Shea is eighteen, due to a brain injury suffered at birth she now has the mental capacity of an eight year old. The threats were sent anonymously, telling Shea that she should kill herself and people wished she would have another seizure and die. There were also messages threatening to rape her. One message said, “I’m pretty sure ur going to hell. God doesn’t like sluts. U need to be cleaned.” Because of this torment Keri Riddell, Shea’s mother, has been coming to Shea’s school to sit with her at lunch.

    Many would fall apart over this kind of bullying, but not Shea. Instead, Shea’s mother set up a Facebook page called I’m With Shea. Here, people can show their support for Shea by posting on her wall. Other victims of bullying are telling Shea that she is an inspiration to them. This page currently has 70, 129 likes. What is, sadly, a fairly common occurrence has turned into a National story.

     

To show their support for Shea, at their Homecoming football game, many students came out sporting green, I’m With Shea T-Shirts. Even some students from the opposing school wore them to show Shea they had her back. She herself had on a shirt saying, I’m Shea, although she clearly needed no introduction. This display of kindness goes a long way. Shea has received a lot of support from Plano West Senior High School, and strangers whose lives she never even knew her story could affect.

7.2 Earthquake Devastates the Philippines
by Giselle Namata

            This past Tuesday, October 15th, an earthquake reaching 7.2-magnitude struck the Philippines near a major tourist city of Cebu at 8:12 am. Cebu is the most visited cities in the Philippines. Such magnitude caused buildings to collapse, bridges to fall, and roads to be destroyed mainly in areas of the city Bohol. Many churches in the surrounding area caused them to have significant damage, while a church built in the 17th century collapsed. Some deaths were caused by the roof of a market area to collapse, after reaching the densely populated area of Cebu city. The earthquake was deeper below the surface, compared to last years earthquake of 6.9-magnitude. The country of the Philippines is known to have often have quakes and volcanic eruptions, similar to it's neighboring countries in the "Pacific Ring of Fire". An earthquake on this great scale caused the death of nearly 100 people; while also leaving just as many people injured. 

            Have you heard about it? Did you know that this devastation took place? Currently in the US, the government has been working to get the system up and running again as of today. This event in the Philippines may have been overshadowed by the constant coverage on the government's latest actions.

            This video was taken by a security camera, showing footage of a pool in the area during the time the earthquake hit. It is visible to see the steady water levels of the pool to rapidly change and overflow onto the pavement with such force. 

           

The Government is Back

By Sabrina Arauz

October 1st of 2013, the government was shut down due to a disagreement between the two political parties, democrats and republicans. Today, October 17, 2013 the government finally came back and it’s up and running. For almost 20 days people did not go to work because of the government shutdown. People are back to work and are finally getting paid. Federal agencies, monuments, parks, museums, and zoos are now open again.

The government being shut down gave people quite an impact. All the tourists who wanted to visit museums, monuments, and parks were unable to visit these places at the time. They are now free to come back, but what about those who can’t? All the people who worked for the government were sent home and could not work. Some people got paid for the time they were out, but it wasn’t the same amount since they were not actually doing any work. People have bills to pay and their payments may come short. High School students wanted to apply for scholarships, but the scholarship acceptance was also delayed due to the government shutdown. Basically, this shutdown affected everyone somehow.

Today, our government is up and running. Everyone can keep calm and depend on the government. The government’s return has brought a feeling of relief within the people of the United States. We are all protected and we FEEL protected by the government. It is our main system to live in this country safely and securely. It was just about the right time for our government to fix its issues and continue guiding our country towards the right path. They finally said, “Enough of the disagreements, it’s time we got back to work.”

SUV Runs Over Motorcyclists in Manhattan

By: Edward Cochrane
     Nearly two weeks ago in Manhattan Alex Lien was pulled out of his black SUV and beaten by a group of motorcyclists in front of his wife and daughter. This news spread like wildfire because of a video posted by one of the motorcyclists who had a camera attached to his helmet on YouTube a video sharing website and went viral almost instantly . The video begins with what seems like a large group of motorcyclists surrounding an SUV on a freeway, causing the driver to hit one of the motorcyclists with very little force.  The group to completely stopped, after about ten seconds of being consumed in a mob of agitated motorcyclists the SUV plows through the group running over two motorcyclist,the rest of the group attempts to catch the driver for about five minutes until finally they have the driver trapped in New York City traffic the video comes to an end as one of the motorcyclists approaches the car with his helmet in hand and smashes the driver seat window. The whole video and information released with the video seems vague, and biased towards the group of of motorcyclists.

    The New York City Police Department released an official statement, and information about the event after investigation saying that one of the rear view mirrors  of the SUV was broken by the motorcyclists before the incident, Lien was arrested with charges of reckless endangerment one of the victims of the incident Edwin Meises suffered injuries to his spine and it is likely he will be paralyzed for the rest of his life,One of the bikers James Kuehne was arrested on charges of assault for beating Lien with his helmet while he was on the ground,and another biker Wojciech Braszczok testified untruthfully claiming he did not witness the beating but the video evidence shows him breaking a window.In  Liens own defense he said he panicked because the bikers threatening actions posed an imminent threat to himself his wife and his daughter.

Here is a link to the video it is not the original, the original is hard to find with so many re-posts:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvJW8Up65og

The Return of Rose

By Christian Marcia

Guess whose back? Derrick Rose has made a return to the NBA after suffering and ACL tear. Derrick Rose got injured on April, 2012. The injury caused him to miss all of the 2012-2013 season. If Rose didn’t get injured the Bulls would have had a shot at the championship. In my opinion they would have took the trophy to Chicago. The 2011-2012 season the Bulls were one of the best teams in the Eastern conference. In the 2012-2013 season the Bulls were an ok team. If they would have had Rose they would have probably advanced in the first round. One player really makes a difference to a team. 

   He went to rehab for a year because of the ACL tear.  He worked hard to come back this season, and he said he expects a championship this season.  Also his vertical increased by five inches after coming out of rehab. On October 5th, 2013 Rose played his first game since getting injured. Rose scored 13 points against the Pacers in 20 minutes. That’s a good start for someone who hasn’t played for a year. I think that Derrick Rose is back and he will have an impressing season this year. I think that the Bulls will the number 1 seed because of Rose. Also I think that he would be in the mix for league MVP. This is how good Rose is. Many people are going to expect a lot from him this year. If he doesn’t perform well people are going to think he’s just an average player. Before suffering the tear Rose was considered one of the best in the NBA. He was an explosive player, and he was the league MVP 2010-2011 season. Can he still be that explosive player this season?

The Steps Towards College

By Juliana Clifford

As most seniors know, college is approaching quickly. College applications are approaching even faster. The first thing that should be done in applying to colleges are knowing what colleges to apply to. The second step is finding out the deadlines and picking which deadline to use. The third step is filling out the college application, and doing the essay. The fourth and final step is sending in the applications and pray to get accepted. 

While picking colleges find at least five colleges to apply to. Apply to one or two safety, two match, and one or two reach schools. A safety school has a lower GPA and/or SAT score than what you have. A match school is a school that has an equal GPA and/or SAT score. A reach school has a higher GPA and/or SAT score that is close to your scores but still above. Make sure while applying you keep in mind each schools tuition fees because some schools have higher tuition rates than others. Don’t be afraid to look out of state because some states have lower tuition fees.
Each school has a different deadline schedule. Most schools have Early Decision, Early Action, and Regular. Early Decision is when applying, if accepted, you are agreeing to go there, even if you are excepted into other schools. So don’t apply to more than one school in Early Decision. Early Action is just being accepted before the regular admittance students. It shows that you are dedicated to college and ready for it, it usually has a higher acceptance rate as well. Regular is just applying in February or march and finding out with a larger pool of students. Look out for Rolling Admission, this is when you find out if accepted within four to six weeks of sending in your application, so get it in earlier!
Filling out College Applications is a tedious process that will test the limits of any sane persons patience. Don’t freak out just yet though, the essay is what will have you pulling your hair out. The essay is supposed to tell the admissions officer who you are, so essentially you are defining who you are in less than 650 words. Some good ideas is to tell a story of a choice or a person that either changed your life or showed who you are as a person. It is definitely hard to pick just one moment in time for that, but it helps looking at example. All you need to do is google “great college personal statements” make sure you don’t plagiarize though, it won’t start college off on a good foot. 
After all of this is done, all that needs to be done is submit the applications and pray to any thing you believe in that you get accepted. I wish you all good luck on the insane college application process.