Did you ever think a book could save your life?

By Isabel Vargas

Staff Writer

Some people do not enjoy reading any types of books, but still carry them around with them either way. Who would ever think that carrying a book in your pocket could save your life.

A bus driver in Dayton, Ohio recently survived a shooting thanks to a book in his pocket. The bus driver named, “Rick Waggoner” who is 49 years old is now recovering from the shooting.

Rick was going through his regular routes that Monday and stopped because his bus broke down. As he stopped he saw three male men, Rick said he heard one say, “if you want to be all the way in the club, you have to kill the polar bear." After this, the worst happened to Rick. He got shot in the chest twice, once in the hip, and was stabbed in the arm. Luckily for Rick his book was in his shirt pocket near his chest that protected him. Police say that if that book had not been there, Rick would have died.

Rick still having strength was struggling in trying to take the suspects gun and knife, after he succeeded in taking both the knife and gun the suspects began to run. While the suspects were running Rick managed to shoot one of them but is not sure if he hit one of them because of all the confusion.

Police say, that there is usually never a gun accident involving a bus, the last time this had happened was probably a decade ago. Even though this happens rarely, police are trying their best in trying to figure out what happened exactly.

Softball vs Baseball

       

         Spring sports start today and many have questioned the difference of baseball and softball. The major thing that many people know, is that at the high school level softball is for girls and baseball is for boys. If you ask the student body, that is the only thing that they can tell you that is different about the two. So here are some major differences. 

The actual field is different between the two sports. The softball field does not have a raised pitching mount while baseball does. This makes the softball field flatter and more accessible for the team. The pitching mount is also closer to the home plate in softball than it is in baseball. The actual diamond is also smaller in softball, making the bases closer together, giving the players less of a running distance. The outfield is smaller in softball too, by about 100 feet. Overall the softball fields are smaller than the baseball fields, which makes it easier to cover more area and makes the players practice aiming to avoid the players in the outfield. 

The ball is different, if you didn’t catch it from the name. The softball is much larger than a baseball, but not any softer. Baseballs are smaller to go through the air faster. The bats are different too, but not by much; the softball bats are slightly larger, to hit the larger ball, and the baseball bats are smaller to match the smaller ball. Softball has larger equipment, while the baseball players play with precision and agility with their smaller equipment. So overall the women’s softball team practices on a smaller field with larger balls and bats and baseball is the opposite. 

By Juliana Clifford

The History of Saint Patrick’s Day

By Abhinav Mishra
Staff Writer

      Saint Patrick’s Day also known as Feast of Saint Patrick is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on March Seventeenth. This day is named after Saint Patrick, who was one of the patron saints of Ireland. It was in the early seventeenth century, that this day became an official Christian feast day. This is festive day is celebrated by Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox Church and Lutheran Church. 
 

     Saint Patrick’s Day is a commemoration to the Saint himself as well as a celebration of the heritage and culture of the Irish in a general. This festivity generally involves public parades and the wearing of the green attire or shamrocks. Saint’s Patrick day is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

     But this festive day is also widely celebrated in other countries such as Britain, Canada, United States of America, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century. He had a wealthy Romano-British family. He was kidnapped and enslaved by Irish raiders when he was a teenager. Although he was able to escape after six years and become a priest in Britain, he later chose to return to Ireland as a missionary, in order to help spread the teachings of Christianity to pagans. The original color associated with Saint Patrick’s Day was blue but as time passed on the color green emerged and this association grew. 

     Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn by the people as early as the 17^th century in celebration for Saint Patrick’s Day. Saint Patrick himself also used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the Pagan Irish. St. Patrick's Day was first publicly celebrated in Boston in 1737 where a large population of Irish immigrants resided.  Saint Patrick died on March 17^th and was declared to be a saint by the local church. The term to officially declare a dead person to be a saint is known as canonization. 

Here Comes All-Star Weekend

     The annual all-star weekend is here! It is sure to be a night filled with fun, laughter, and suspense.

     The weekend kicked off with the "Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game." Usually these games are very sloppy, but this event proved the previous statement to be false. While there was some general sloppiness, the game was very close until the final minutes, and proved to be extremely entertaining. The game was highlighted by the performance of Arne Duncan, our current Secretary of Education. He scored the most points in celebrity game history with 20, and added 11 points and 6 assists to go with his performance. The fans voted previous two-time MVP winner Kevin Hart as this years MVP, but he chose to defer his award to the much deserving Arne Duncan. Next up on Friday was the "BBVA Rising Stars Challenge." Grant Hill and Chris Webber squared off the teams they had drafted previously. Hill's team beat Webber's, but the most interesting part of the game was when Tim Hardaway Jr. (36 points) and Dion Waiters (31 points) went head-to-head during a certain stretch of the game. The two exchanged buckets while receiving "oohs and aahs" from the crowd. However, the MVP of the game went to Andrew Drummond who had a masterful performance with 30 points and 25 rebounds (new record).

     This night, the all-star weekend will cater to multiple events. The first of which will be the "Sears Shooting Stars Challenge," where a team consists of a current NBA player, and ex-NBA player, and WNBA player. These teams will go against each other in an shooting-based event. Many interesting teams have been formed this year including players such as Tim Hardaway Jr., Tim Hardaway Sr., Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins, Kevin Durant, Karl Malone, Ella Della Donne, Stephen Curry, Dell Curry, etc. The Next event is the "Taco Bell Skills Challenge," where a guard has to go through an obstacle course in the shortest amount of time. Individuals such as Goran Dragic will look to dethrone last years winner, Damian Lillard. Then comes the "Footlocker 3-Point Shootout," individuals such as Stephen Curry, Aaron Afflalo, etc. will look to dethrone last years winner, Kyrie Irving. The final event today is the "Sprite Slam Dunk Competition." This will probably be the most watched as everyone will have their eyes toward all the contestants as they will look to dethrone Terrance Ross.

     Finally, on Sunday, is the main attraction, the All-Star game. The East will look to defeat the reining champion West. Many individuals will also be gunning for the all-star game MVP which was won by Chris Paul last year with his 20 points and 15 assists.

     So far, the all-star weekend has been very entertaining. Let's hope the rest of the events will prove to be as entertaining, as well.

By Sreevatsa Gottada
Entertainment Editor