Lion Pride Newspaper
4th Edition Friday, February 22, 2019
Sports Section NBA Review It’s been a fun year in basketball so far, and we’re only halfway through the NBA season! It all began on June 21, 2018, when the Mavs traded the Trae Young, the college sensation from OU to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the wunderkind from Europe, Luka Doncic. Luka quickly began one of the best rookie seasons of all time, on par with the likes of Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. Although Dallas continued to have a losing record, most could sense that big changes were coming to Dallas, as everyone wanted to play with this extraordinary young superstar. Kristaps Porzingis and some Knicks were traded to Dallas for Dennis Smith Jr. and some Mavs in one of the biggest trades of the year, strengthening the Mavericks for years to come. What most basketball fans were anticipating this year was seeing what Lebron James could do for the Lakers, and the current results are a bit surprising. The Lakers are 10th in the Western Conference, so they aren’t on track to make the playoffs. This would mark a turning point for Lebron, as he has not missed out on the playoffs in around 15 years. Even when he was on Cleveland, they made it to the NBA finals! There have been some great players this year, one being James Harden. This 6’5” point guard on Houston is averaging an unworldly points per game: 37! He is also averaging 8 assists and 7 rebounds per game. If he has a game in which he scores 35 points, gets 7 assists and 6 rebounds, that qualifies as a bad game for him, which is astounding. It should be a fun race into the playoffs, which will no doubt be more entertaining than the regular season. Currently, there are about 24 teams with a realistic opportunity, all within at least six games of a current playoff spot. The fan favorite ‘round these parts is five game out of a current spot, and time is running
out with only about 27 games left for each team. Up at the top of the standings the Bucks, Warriors, and Raptors are the only three teams with a winning percentage of over 70. The favorites to win it all this year are those three, the Nuggets, the Thunder, and the Rockets, although there’s always a dark horse, so those teams better watch out. Sorry, this was shorter than usual, but next edition we will be discussing the other basketball. Hint: Zion Williamson.
If I Were the Commissioner of the MLS This article will offer my opinion of what I would do if I were the commissioner of Major League Soccer, the not so popular soccer league in the United States. It is hard enough to compete with the European leagues because of the other sports the United States has such as football and basketball, but the MLS has some rules which make it even harder for the league to compete with the European leagues. There are many rules that the MLS should change to make it more popular, but the one I will focus on is not having the promotion and relegation system that the European leagues have. The promotion and relegation system is when there are multiple tiers, and the top two or three clubs in one league will move up to the next highest league, and the bottom two or three clubs in that league will move down to the next lowest league. One of the problems that the MLS has is that there are becoming too many expansion clubs, but this could be solved if they put all these clubs together in the same system but split it into two tiers. Even if the MLS only had 30 clubs, they could make two leagues of 15 where the bottom two clubs of the top league would be relegated, and the top two clubs of the bottom leg would be promoted. This would also solve the problem of bad clubs being rewarded for losing and tanking to get a good draft spot because they would be in a lower league and lose viewership, fans, and much more.
I think that people would pay attention to MLS more because even though it might not have a lot of leagues like England, it would have the same system. Even international players who are deciding between an MLS club and a European club might be more willing to come to the MLS because of the familiar system. The first step to building a great national team that can compete with the powerhouses like Germany and Brazil in the World Cup is to have a great domestic league. The MLS can start doing this by instituting this promotion and relegation system.
Entertainment Section Reviews The LEGO Movie Part 2 directed by Mike Mitchell. The LEGO Movie Part 2 is an amazing movie. To follow up the first one, the LEGO movie team made another piece of greatness. Ben Adams was too fat and this movie died in the middle. :( Last movie ended with a cliffhanger: the boy’s dad was allowing his sister to come down and play with them. Aliens from the Sis-star (get it: sister) galaxy came and quickly laid waste to Bricksburg, renaming it to Apocalypse Burg. The Sis-star aliens came back 5 years later and kidnapped Wyldstyle and Batman. The Justice League had left and hadn’t come back, Marvel wasn’t answering their calls, and every other superhero got kidnapped. What does the Sis-star galaxy queen Whatevra Wa’Nabi want with them? Watch this sequel of greatness to find out. My movie review for this edition of Lion Pride is on “The Bad News Bears.” Most of you have probably heard of this, but don’t really know what it’s about. On the other hand, I bet your parents have heard of it and might love it. It follows a terrible Little League baseball team (7-10 years old) playing in a league where the parents make it really competitive. The coach is a retired minor league player who doesn’t care about this job, and just smokes and drinks. Then, the coach recruits one of his friend’s daughters, and she turns the team around with her pitching skills. I recommend this funny comedy for people of all ages, and I hope you watch it some time.
The Apple FaceTime Bug Apple has always been pretty on point with their products and apps, with Steve Jobs being the pioneer of micro-computers in 2007, and escalating all the way to recent iPhone X series. However, recently, there has been a huge, well known, bug in one of the most popular apps: FaceTime. Recently, Grant Thompson, a fourteen-year-old teenager was trying to plan Fortnite strategies with his friends over FaceTime when he was suddenly given the ability to listen to the audio on the other side of the call even though they hadn’t answered the call yet. Initially, when his mother was sending numerous emails to Apple about this problem in early January, she was getting no response. Later, however, Apple pronounced the bug so unbearable that they shut the app down for a couple of weeks. On February 7, the app finally had a software update that repaired the mistakes and flaws that were also included in the bug, along with the bug itself. As for Thompson, Apple gave him and his family a reward that has not been revealed yet, but it has been said to be given to his education.
Jokes, Riddles, and Comics Section Comics
Jokes and Riddles What is the difference between a schoolboy studying & a farmer watching his cattle? Answer: One is stocking his mind, while the other is minding his stock. A boy has as many sisters as brothers, but each sister has only half as many sisters as brothers. One sister is a farmer but doesn’t live on a farm. One brother is a doctor, but never went to medical school. Their parents are gone. How many brothers and sisters are there in the family? Answer: 4 brothers & 3 sisters And the Lord said unto John, “Come forth and you will receive eternal life.” But John came fifth and won a toaster. Women used to call me ugly before they found out how much money I make. ;) Now they call me ugly and poor. :( I threw a boomerang a few years ago. I now live in constant fear. London used to be very dangerous, where someone got stabbed every 52 seconds. Poor guy. Teacher: Just say NO to drugs! Student: Well, if I’m talking to my drugs, I probably already said yes. When my friend was dying he gave me his EpiPen. It seemed it was very important to him that I have it.
What’s green, fuzzy, and if it fell out of a tree would kill you? A pool table.
School Section
7th Grade Photo Contest
Zach Olyan - Montego Bay, Jamaica
Raja Mehendale - Taj Mahal, Agra, India
Merritt Fisher - Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki, Finland
Grayson Redmond - White Settlement Public Library, Fort Worth, TX
Thomas Whitehurst - Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon Village, AZ
Honorable Mention
Reed Sussman - Stuffed Animals
Thank you for submitting to the photo contest and congratulations to our winner, Zach Olyan!
Model UN Last month, the upper school club led by sponsor Mr. Fisher went to Boston for a school-related trip. They were there to experience the UN by creating one of their own. The model UN club helps high school kids understand the real UN, and the club was revived by Mr. Fisher a few years ago. We asked him some questions about the club. Explain Model UN in your own words. Mr. Fisher: It’s a simulation experience of the “real” UN and its component committees. The exercise gives kids the opportunity to role play representatives of different countries who have to work together to “solve” global problems. The experience helps build up an understanding of the variety of perspectives out there in the world, develops research skills, and encourages cooperative decision-making. What made you want to start Model UN at St. Mark's? MF: I’ve been a MUN advisor at all the schools I’ve worked at (MUN is a “big deal” on the international schools circuit where I spent most of my career), so I’m very familiar with the institution. More importantly, though, I saw it as a vehicle through which I could encourage the growth of global mindedness and curiosity about how the world works here at this school. It’s not as if those outlooks don’t exist at St. Mark’s, but I think we have to be more proactive at cultivating them in a school where everyone is American than at an international school with 65 different nationalities in the student body. How has Model UN benefited you? MF: It’s improved my understanding of different cultures and political systems and encouraged me to stay abreast of international current affairs. What is your favorite part of Model UN? MF: Seeing how students react to crisis situations. They have to think on their feet
and come up with speeches and positions that reflect their country’s positions without having done specific research on a specific topic.
How would you compare Model UN to the real UN? Compare it to other experiences like this? MF: It’s much more fun! It’s a bit like Shakespearian acting in the sense that the role you play does have to resemble a real world “character” – but to be successful theatre, you also have to “play it” bigger than real life. In the real world, UN delegates have to be measured, diplomatic, and … boring. That way, they don’t get their countries in trouble. In MODEL United Nations, the incentives are there to amplify your country’s approaches to problems and crises in a manner that is entertaining and fun to promote but still reflect your country’s true positions. When a delegate plays North Korea, for example, I’d expect him to be a pretty strident supporter of the right of small countries to develop nuclear weapons to counter the globalist hegemony of capitalist evil doer nations like the US. I doubt the real DPRK representative to the UN would speak like that…but his MUN version? Why not?
Credits We could not have done this without our sponsor, Mr. Mank, and our writers and editors: Ben Adams Hudson Brown William Clarke Henry Hoak Arnav Lahoti Asa McCaleb Nathan Meyer Peyton?!?! Militello Tyler Tang Thomas Whitehurst Dawson Yao