The Bruin - Middle School Newspaper - January 17, 2011

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T H E BR UI N The Middle School Newspaper

PLAXICO BURRESS: ROAD TO REDEMPTION 39 seconds were left. Plaxico Burress lined up to the left, knowing that this play would change his life forever. As his quarterback hiked the ball, “Plax” went out and faked inside. As the cornerback guarding him stumbled slightly, Burress broke to the corner of the end zone as Eli Manning lofted him a floating pass. As he caught the ball, the stadium screamed, some with joy and others with disbelief, as the New York Giants essentially clinched Super Bowl XLII and beat the previously undefeated New England Patriots, then heralded as the best team ever.

Days later, as Burress waved to the delirious New Yorkers, he realized just how much of an impact his catch had had on more than five million (at the least).

In case you couldn’t tell, this started with a paragraph about the New York Giants pulling off one of the biggest upsets in sports history, focusing especially upon Plaxico Burress. This wide receiver was a key player on the Giants ever since he signed with them after the 2004-2005 season- he had previously spent his career as a Pittsburgh Steeler. He was the star player for Big Blue; one night in November 2008, however, that all changed.

He accidentally shot himself in the leg with an unlicensed pistol at a New York City nightclub and was suspended for the rest of the season by the Giants, even though he would not have been able to play anyway. Burress was arrested and jailed for two years, being released in early June 2011. (Continued on Page 3)

NOVEMBER MAGIC: iPhone 4S The brand new iPhone 4S is a top contender for the best smartphone. Its features include Siri, the new AI in every iPhone, iOS 5, which has now been released over iTunes, and the new design. This article will cover many new features. It has a 1080p camera, which coincides with the amazing retina display, and a faster processor. Siri offers streaming to the internet by hearing your voice, searches, weather checks, set reminders, and set alarms. It has iOS 5, which includes reminders, a new messages system, and iCloud. The phone also carries over the old features like airplane mode, multi-tasking, and zoom on the photo.

Some hints for downloading iOS 5 are make sure you back everything up before you download the software, this includes photos to iPhoto.

by Anonymous

Sports and Athletics

Technology

Friends, Bruins,

Your daily source of sports,

Here is a guide to all your daily

Countrymen

outside and inside school.

circuitry

Community news, and other

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interesting community stories Page 3

The Bruin • 1252 King Street • Greenwich, CT 06902

Staff Editors: Tate Huffman ’17 Jack Kulesh ’17 Keshav Raghavan ’17 Staff Writers: Michael Farello Dan Forester Advisor: Nicholas Stevens

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ATHL E T I CS (continued from Front Page) Burress, once being released, declared that he still aspired to play in the NFL. After being shown minimal interest by teams, he was signed by the New York Jets at the end of July for $3.017 million. He believed that his talents were adequate to participate; this was proved with him catching a touchdown in each of his first two games.

However, his critics seemed to be validated when he had a total of a mere seven catches in his next three, with no scores. But on October 23rd, everything changed.

With about seven minutes remaining in the first half at home versus the Chargers, Mark Sanchez hit Burress with a three yard strike to bring the Jets within four points of the Chargers. He scored on another Sanchez pass with three minutes left in the third quarter and put Gang Green ahead for good with another TD with eight and a half minutes remaining in the game. His final stat line: four catches for 25 yards with eight targets, but, most importantly, three touchdown catches. After years of frustration, Plaxico Burress was finally back in the big time.

Since that day, Plax has only had three touchdowns, but he has become a force in the NFL once again. Actually, according to an ESPN study, he has a catching range of almost 3,000 cubic feet, something that would trouble even teammate Darrelle Revis and his 38 inch vertical leap. While his season has ended in pain, as his former team and intra-city/stadium rival Giants are in the Super Bowl against the Jets’ division nemesis the Patriots, his season’s magic still lives. After two years of toil in prison, a vigorous summer chock-full of workouts to try to reprove himself, and one magical day in late October, Plaxico Burress has finally crossed the Road to Redemption.

The New York Knicks; Loads of Talent

Iman Shumpert steals the ball from a Denver player. Shumpert has been averaging about three steals a game this season

The New York Knicks started the season slowly, going 1-2 in their first three games. As of 1/10/12, they are now 5-4. Carmelo has had an amazing season so far to say the least, as Amare has been in an out due to a sustained injury. Tyson Chandler has been racking up double-doubles, as his rebounding skills are second to none. Mike Bibby might be old for a basketball player, but nobody seems to notice. Bibby has been shooting threes like crazy, going four for four and three for three in the last few games.

Amare Stoudemire, was the first star to the Knicks who started the new era after the slump in the couple of years before him. His leadership skills are amazing, and he can score. Right now, he averages 23 PPG and 8.9 RPG. No surprise here, but Iman Shumpert, the rookie out of Georgia Tech, has been great recently. He has stolen the starting role at point guard from Toney Douglas, as he averages 13 PPG. He has already been in preliminary conversations for rookie of the year, partly because as a starter he averages two steals a game. With other rookies like Josh Harrelson, the Knicks have an edge over struggling 4 and 5 Celtics. I personally think that the Knicks have a lot of potential, and are sure contenders going into the postseason.

-Jack Kulesh

The Bruin • 1252 King Street • Greenwich, CT 06902

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TECH, COMMUNITY , AND EVERYTHING ELSE What’s Bruin?

24/7 Rangers-Flyers: Road to the Winter Classic Ever since passing beneath the phrase “With all thy getting…get understanding,” I have begun to gain an understanding of life at Brunswick and life at an all boys’ middle school. At the forefront of this understanding, is the realization that the discussion of sports is ever-present and never-ending. It is impossible not to overhear the constant analyzing, criticizing, and hypothesizing that underlies the daily academic day and ranges anywhere from outcomes, rival teams, individual statistics, conference standings, Tim Tebow, and so on. One needs only to spend a morning in homeroom with Hayden Hoover and Carson Bendnar or witness the amount of times Lance Johnson has used the Green Bay Packers to illustrate a literary device to understand this phenomenon.

With this in mind, however, I was surprised at how little discussion I heard about HBO’s four part series, “24/7 Rangers-Flyers: Road to the Winter Classic,” that led up to the outdoor game at Citizens Bank. Perhaps some of you don’t get HBO or maybe you were deterred by the frequent use of four-letter words (a valid turn off), but as soon as I watched the first episode I was hooked. Being an English teacher, I found the writing to be exceptional and when coupled with Live Schreiber’s “wry omniscient” [shout out to 8th grade English] narration, it was beyond compelling. 7th graders should recall their time spent reading Of Mice and Men as Schreiber narrates, “At times, their season can seem like nothing more than a collection of obstacles to their success. Its sheer length, ubiquitous brutality, and most of all, inescapable unpredictability. Best laid plans have no place on the ice.” Second, HBO’s scientific grade filming presents a new way to experience a sporting event. The filming was so up-close and personal that it captured everything

Lytro- The camera that is really ‘point, click, and shoot’ Recently a new technology company called Lytro created its first lightfield camera. The lightfield is the amount of light traveling in every direction through every point in space. A lightfield camera captures all of this light, and therefore can later, through digital imaging, be refocused to concentrate on one area of the picture. Regular cameras captures only a fraction of the light a light field camera captures. This explains the effect of why some pictures are not focused at all, and look blurry, and not detailed. When a camera focuses on a certain spot, it collects more light in a certain point on the picture, than on the rest. The Lytro Camera solves this problem by filtering light through a lens, then onto a sensor which then digitally captures, according to Lytro’s website, 11 million light rays.

Then it reaches a Light Field Engine, which saves, and prepares the data to be saved on the memory card. It also allows a use to use the touchscreen to refocus the pictures right on the camera. To try out the refocusing capabilities of Lytro, visit this URL: https:// www.lytro.com/living-pictures/282 -Keshav Raghavan !

from the coach’s pre-game speech, to heated disputes with the referees, to in-huddle goal celebrations. HBO literally put you, the viewer, at center ice. And finally, the last reason I was so enthralled by this series, is that very rarely is the general public given binoculars to examine the life of a pro-athlete. With all the nonsense that surrounds pro-sports, there can also be many good lessons to be observed from these teams. I never ceased to be amazed by the passion, commitment, energy, and work ethic that these athletes put forth on a daily basis. Lessons that everyone, especially those of us who are constantly discussing sports, can absorb and apply to our own lives every day.

The Bruin • 1252 King Street • Greenwich, CT 06902

J a n u a r y, 1 7 , 2 0 1 2

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20 11 N F L DR A F T GR ADE S Looking Back on the 2011 NFL Draft

By Dan Forester Carolina Panthers: A Cam Newton was a fantastic pick. They needed a franchise QB, and they definitely got one in Newton.

Newton threw for 4,000 yards, the first QB to throw for that much in his rookie year. He will be their quarterback for a long time to come. They also got Sione Fua, their starting defensive-tackle, with the last pick in the third round. They found a return-specialist too in Kealoha Pilares, who had a 101-yard kickoff return against the Detroit Lions. Overall, this was an amazing draft for the Panthers.

San Francisco 49ers: A The 49ers picked four players in this draft that made good contributions to their team.

With the 7th pick, they picked Aldon Smith, who led all rookies this year with 14 sacks. They drafted Colin Kaepernick, who only played in three games this season, but could start next year at QB because Alex Smith’s contract is up this year. Chris Culliver, their third round selection, had a solid rookie season with one interception and 35 tackles. He will be a great player in a couple years. Kendall Hunter, their backup RB, will also be good for years to come. He provides a spark off the bench when Frank Gore can’t get it going. The 49ers had a great draft, picking a lot of players with loads of talent.

Detroit Lions: BThe Lions picked Auburn defensive-tackle Nick Fairley with the 13th overall pick. He was a huge bust, only having 11 tackles and one sack in 14 games. He and Ndamukong Suh were expected to be the best defensive-tackle tandem in football, but Fairley fell apart. Even though they got a decent receiver in Titus Young, Fairley had a bad rookie season, and the Lions could’ve selected much better players with such a high pick.

Aldon Smith, recording one of his 14 sacks on Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger

Roger Goodell, the NFL’s Commissioner, with Nick Fairley during the 2011 NFL Draft

The Bruin • 1252 King Street • Greenwich, CT 06902