Lion Pride Newspaper
5th Edition Friday, February 14, 2020
Jokes, Riddles, & Comics Section Comics
Jokes and Riddles A man goes to the doctor, concerned about his wife’s hearing. The doctor says, “Stand behind her and say something and tell me how close you are when she hears you.” The man goes home, sees his wife in the kitchen, cutting carrots on the countertop. About 15 feet away, he says, “Honey, what’s for dinner?” Nothing. He gets halfway to her and repeats the same question. Nothing. Very concerned, he gets right behind her and asks again “What’s for dinner?” She turns around and says “For the THIRD time, beef stew!” What does Peppa say when she gets hurt? Call the Hambulance! Why was the Thanksgiving soup so expensive? It had 24 carrots! Why did the cat stay home from school on Monday? He wasn’t feline well! How does a hen leave the house? Through the egg-sit! What train do eggs take to get to school? The Hogwarts eggs-press! I speak without a mouth and hear without ears. I have no body, but I come alive with wind. What am I? An echo
You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why? All the people were married.
What English word has three consecutive double letters? Bookkeeper.
I have cities, but no houses. I have mountains, but no trees. I have water, but no fish. What am I? A map
I come from a mine and get surrounded by wood always. Everyone uses me. What am I? Pencil lead
School Section New Schedule The upcoming year marks a significant milestone in the history of our school. As most of you all know, we will be getting a new schedule. The change will bring about a significant amount of confusion, but in the long run, it will help to improve our day and schedule. One of the major changes will be an 8:30 start. For the rising 9th graders, the school day will begin at 8:30 but there will be a 30 minute dedicated teacher office time before that from 8 - 8:30. Following the beginning of the day will be first period, the first of 2 70 minute periods. That will take us to 9:40 when we will have community time. And yes, if you have a free period first period, your school day will begin at 9:40. Community time lasts until 10:15 and is followed by a 45 minute period. This period is followed by lunch, which is now only 40 minutes. At 11:45 you will head to your second 70-minute class. You will then have three 45 minute periods. From 3:25 to 4: 45, you will have “flex time”, which will be free time. This is succeeded by athletics until 6:30. For the incoming 8th graders, it will be very similar except that the second 70-minute period is right after the first 45 minute period and is then followed by lunch, three 45 minute periods, and then athletics. The schedule will rotate so for the first three days out of the eight you may have math first, third, and fourth period. Then you might not have math the 4th day, the 3 days of math and another day off. This means that some days you have longer periods for certain subjects and shorter ones for others. Upper school athletics and P.E. will be changing too. In the upper school, you need 5 athletic credits. Athletics will remain in seasons, but P.E., like all other classes, will go to semesters. In ninth and tenth grade you must take P.E. one of the two semesters each year, PE 9 and PE 10. One athletic will equal one credit and 1 P.E. will equal one credit. You could take P.E. for ninth, tenth, and half of eleventh grade and be done with athletics for upper school. Tutorials and after school P.E. will be eliminated, but you can still go to the weight room to work out.
An article on the school website can be found by typing schedule into the search box on the main page, or by using the link below. https://www.smtexas.org/20192020/new-schedule
Inside Lion Pride Have you ever wondered what happens to make the Lion Pride newspaper? How does it happen? Well, here it is. Most of the time, we have a planning meeting on the first week after the previous edition comes out followed by 2 weeks of working and then a final editing meeting. Here is our request. We want you to join Lion Pride! Why join, you ask? Our sponsor: Mr. Mank Here are some short but very important reasons. 1. Hone your writing skills 2. Have fun 3. Boxed lunch once a week 4. Occasional food from outside the cafeteria (brownies!) If you frequently read Lion Pride, you may know, but we have several main sections in the newspaper. One is the sports section, giving recent updates on sports events. Next is the school section. The school section has articles such as photo contests, this article, and other important events at our school. The last two are tech and entertainment; and the jokes, riddles, and comics section. The tech and entertainment section gives reviews about books, movies, video games, and more. As for the jokes section, that is pretty self-explanatory. Thanks to those of you who read, submit and write for the paper.
We also encourage everyone to read the Lion Pride Newspaper to get up to date stories and information.
Ben Adams, Asa McCaleb, and Griffin Goodno hard at work.
Review Section Book Reviews
The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb: This book that came out in 2004, is more interesting than I thought, and details the journeys of three runners: Roger Bannister, a man learning to be a doctor in England, John Landy, an Australian underdog, and Wes Santee, a college runner from Kansas, trying to be the first to break the 4 minute mile. Although most people already know who broke it, Bascomb still keeps you in suspense the entire time. You learn the grueling training the best athletes in the world go through, and it makes you appreciate top runners. True Legend by Mike Lupica: High school junior Drew “True” Robinson is one of the best basketball players in the country. That being said, one time being too cocky can cost you a lifetime. He finds that out when he meets a basketball ghost in the park, who was a great high school player himself. Can Drew Robinson learn the lessons from him before it’s too late?
Sports Section MLB (AL) Preview
AL East: I think the AL East will be the 4th most exciting division in baseball this year, led by the powerhouse Yankees, who are looking like one of the best teams in the MLB, especially with the acquisition of Gerritt Cole this offseason. The most analytical team in the MLB, Tampa Bay will once again be a threat in the division, Boston has a promising team yet again, although they traded their best player, Toronto is trying to build off of a very good young core, and Baltimore is in a deep rebuild. The Yankees acquired Gerritt Cole in free agency, who was probably the best free agent in this year’s class. This makes their starting rotation look much better, as it was one of their weaknesses last season. Last year they won 103 games with a bunch of their stars being injured for the first half of the season, and with their starters back plus Gerritt Cole, they should have another great year, winning around 105-110 games. The Red Sox and Rays will be in close pursuit, both solid teams who were in the wild card race all of last year. The Rays won the wild card game against the A’s and almost defeated the Astros in the divisional round. They didn’t exactly improve or decline this offseason, so I think this analytically-minded franchise will rack up about 90 wins again this year and have a fairly uneventful season. The Red Sox had a disappointing year last season in which they only won 84 games during their World Series hangover. Just a few weeks ago, at the beginning of February, they traded pitcher David Price and one of the top five players in the game, Mookie Betts, to the Dodgers, and received two very promising prospects in Alex Verdugo and Jeter Downs. I think they won this trade because Betts had just one year left on his contract, and it was very unlikely that he’d sign with Boston in free agency, so I think getting a return out of him now was the right thing to do. This front office is trying to capitalize on a strong young core, and will have another down year between 80-85 wins, before being back at the top of the MLB in 2021. Toronto signed Hyun-Jin Ryu, a pitcher who had a fantastic season last year, and will be led by a duo of young potential stars. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was the #1 prospect last year before being called up, and Bo Bichette was also in the top 20 prospect rankings before being called up. These two sluggers could lead the Blue Jays to an increase in wins from last year, in which they won 67 games. I think they’ll win 75 games this season, and their future looks pretty bright. Then, in the
division cellar, are the Orioles. They have been rebuilding, and the process will still take a few more years, but with their #1 overall pick last year, they got Adley Rutschman, a catcher who already is a top 5 prospect in the MLB. They don’t really have anyone to trade right now, so it will be a pretty boring season in Baltimore, as they are focused on just developing their prospects. They have a few nice players, but they are a couple years away from contending. They won 54 games last year, and I expect them to win between 55-60 games this year. AL Central: I think the AL Central will be the 5th most exciting division in baseball this year, as they have three interesting teams who could win the division, but also have two of the worst teams in the MLB, both entrenched in massive rebuilds in Kansas City and Detroit. The White Sox have a young core surrounded by veterans acquired this offseason, the Twins are trying to have another successful year after having the franchise’s best season in 50 years, and the Indians seem like a mess, not trying to win now, rebuild, or stay pat. Let’s start with the White Sox, who are my pick to win the AL Central. They have a very good young core, made up of 1B Jose Abreu, SS Tim Anderson, and outfielder Eloy Jiménez, to name a few. They won 72 games last year, but a lot of young guys on the major league team have improved, and they had a great offseason. They acquired probably the second best catcher in the MLB, Yasmani Grandal, a pitcher in the upper echelon of pitchers, Dallas Keuchel, and a solid veteran slugger in Edwin Encarnacion all from free agency. They also traded for a solid slugger from Texas, Nomar Mazara. They have a bright future ahead, and it will start this season in which they’ll win 95 games. The Twins, as said a second ago, will be trying to build off of a fantastic season from last year. They acquired third baseman Josh Donaldson, who was the second best third baseman on the market, and he will definitely help Minnesota this year. They didn’t lose much talent, although it’s unlikely that the team will perform as well as they did last year. I’m expecting the Twins to win about 90 games, although I think they’ll be in the division race the entire year. The Indians are a weird team to write about, because no one is really sure what they’re doing. They’ve been a very good team for the last five or so years, but don’t have much farm system depth. So it seems like they are trying to stay good and not sell all their good players, while building up a little bit deeper farm system to preserve the future. This is probably the reason
they traded two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber to the Rangers, for not that good of a return. But they still have a really good rotation and still have a star shortstop: Francisco Lindor. But I still think this team will have a disappointing year and win between 80 and 85 games. This division would be more exciting if it didn’t have the 27th and 30th teams in terms of wins. These teams have been very similar, so I’m going to talk about both of them at the same time. Detroit and Kansas City’s amount of wins last year combined is still one win less than the Astros (107W vs. 106W). Kansas City’s average number of wins over the last three years is under 66, while Detroit’s is under 59 wins. These teams have been terrible the last three years, and it’s very likely they’ll continue that trend this year. Neither teams have any good players to trade away, so it will be just a boring, developmental season in both Kansas City and Detroit. Both teams are looking to develop prospects and aren’t entirely focused on winning many games this year. I think KC is a little bit better, but I still expect both of them to win about 60. AL West: I think the AL West will be the 2nd most exciting division in baseball this year, with a little bit of everything. They have a team entrenched in a cheating scandal, Houston, a rebuilding mess in Seattle, the Rangers, the hometown team that’s pretty solid, the always interesting moneyball A’s, and of course, the Los Angeles Fightin’ Mike Trouts, who picked up the second best free agent of this year’s class. This division is viewed by many as possibly the best division of 2020, and I agree. Houston was caught electronically stealing other teams’ signs from 2017, the year they won the World Series. Other teams steal signs, but electronically doing it isn’t allowed. Here’s a video that explains how they did it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2XNW1qHN9w. Although statistically Houston didn’t improve because of it, it’s still not allowed, and they were heavily punished. Their general manager and field manager were both banned from baseball for one year, and the Astros owner fired both of them. They hired Dusty Baker, who used to be the Nationals manager, as their field manager, and James Click, from the Ray’s organization, as their GM, and hope they’ll be able to guide them through this rough time. But for the team itself, they again will be at the top of the league, even after the loss of key pitcher Gerritt Cole and some other solid
rotation stalwarts. Oakland is always good, but I expect a few more losses this year than last year. They will have a stellar bullpen once again, but the Athletics’ magic can’t last forever, and I expect 90 wins from them this year, a dropoff from their 97 from last year. The Angels are proving that they are tired of waiting, and want to win now after hiring arguably the best manager in the game, Joe Maddon, and picking up superstar third basemen, Anthony Rendon. They hope that will be enough to compliment the undisputed best player in baseball, Mike Trout. But the Angels free agents signed in the last few years have not panned out at all, and I think this trend will continue, and Rendon will perform well, but not great. Regardless, Trout can do anything, and I think with Maddon and Rendon, this team can crack .500, and reach 81 wins. The Rangers are an interesting team this year after vastly improving their rotation, picking up free agents Jordan Lyles and Kyle Gibson, and trading for two-time Cy Young winner, Corey Kluber, while not giving up much to Cleveland. These guys will add to Lance Lynn and Mike Minor, to give Texas one of the best rotations in the MLB. Joey Gallo, a budding superstar, was injured midway through his MVP-caliber season last year, so a fully healthy season in 2020 would definitely help the Rangers’ playoff bid. Holes at third and first were haphazardly filled in this offseason, but a combination of Todd Frazer, Greg Bird, and the defensive star Ronald Guzman, should patch those up. Texas picked up Robinson Chirinos, a top-five catcher, and will be a major upgrade behind the plate. With all of these additions, I’m expecting the Rangers to snag 85 wins this year, and continue building for a semi-bright future. The Seattle Mariners are rebuilding, and have managed to build a top-ten farm system. They have traded all of their decent players except for Dee Gordon, so they obviously won’t be very good this year. I expect them to get 60 wins this year, but although this year’s outlook is dim, their future is looking brighter and brighter.
Credits We could not have done this without our sponsor, Mr. Mank, and our writers and editors. Ben Adams: benjamin.adams06@gmail.com
Griffin Goodno: 24goodnog@smtexas.org Henry Hoak: 24hoakh@smtexas.org Asa McCaleb: 24mccaleba@smtexas.org Nathan Meyer: 24meyern@smtexas.org Peyton Militello: 24militellop@smtexas.org Zach Olyan: 24olyanz@smtexas.org Jaden Ouyang: jadenouyang@gmail.com Vivek Patel: 24patelv@smtexas.org