RE$I$TANCE - Is It Really Worth it? by Talon

TALON ISSUE 98 / SPRING / 2019

RE$I$TANCE

Trust in the wrong hands

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is it really the best a man can get?

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will it ever change?

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INSIDE LIFESTYLE

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CONTRIBUTORS CO-EDITOR IN-CHIEF SAVANNAH PARRIS HESHAM ALBADR MANAGING EDITOR KYLEIGH ZOLTEK COPY EDITOR BRELANDE EDMONDS SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR SARAI JORGENSON DESIGN EDITOR EMME MOOREHOUSE SPORT EDITOR JOSH DYSON PHOTOGRAPHERS MARLON JONES TALAL ALASSEERI

STAY CONNECTED

TALON TEAM SARAI JORGENSON MAKENZIE MUSGROVE BRITTANY FREEMAN BRELANDE EDMOND JOSHUA DYSON ADRIAN GUZMAN MICHEAL PORTER SAAD ALGHAMDI KHALID ALZAMIL TURKI JALOUD GERSON STERLING CONNOR WYTKO ALEXANDER CALDWELL TREY HEINRICH JUSTIN STARKS JAMAAL DURITY MOHAMMED ALBADER INSTRUCTOR CODY TAPP ADVISOR DR. J ANTHONY SNORGRASS

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ON THE COVER & BACK: Front: Emme Moorehouse Back: Josh Dyson

ISSUE 98 |

by Lauren Gunderson

Silent SKY

STUDENTS FREE!

2019 • FEBRUARY 21, 22, 23 • 7:30 p.m. & FEBRUARY 24 • 2 p.m. Goppert Theatre at Avila University The Bill and Jean Buchanan Stage 11901 Wornall Road • Kansas City, Mo. 64145

816.501.3699 • Avila.edu/Tickets

Silent Sky is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York. Commissioned and first produced by South Coast Repertory with support from the Elizabeth George Foundation.

If you’d like to become a contributor, we’d love to hear from you! (Photos, articles, poems, etc. we accept it all!)

Talonnewsmagazine@gmail.com

FROM THE EDITORS It has been a cold start to this semester, don’t know about you guys but we are ready for spring. This issue is full of opinionated stories from our writers. Topics range from sports to politics. We stand by the writers and what they chose, story wise, to voice their opinions. Although you may not agree, it is how they feel. We hope you all enjoy our first issue from this semester! By the time the next issue is done, it should be nothing but nice weather!

Sincerely, Savannah Parris Hesham Albadr Co-Editors-in-Chief

EDITORIAL POLICY The Talon News Magazine is produced by students of Avila University. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of the Talon News Staff, the Trustees, administration, faculty, or staff of the University. The Talon News Magazine encourages letters to the editor. These may be submitted electronically or in writing and should include the writer’s name, address, and telephone numbers for verification purposes. Letters can be mailed to the Talon News Magazine Editor, Avila University, 11901 Wornall Road, Kansas City, MO 64145. The Talon reserves the right to edit letters for reasons of space, clarity, or inappropriate language. Copies of the Talon News Network Operational Guidelines may be requested by writing to the above referenced address.

WINTER WEATHER Kansas City recieves largest snowfall in years Mackenzie Musgrove So far in 2019, Kansas City has experienced multiple winter storms bringing inclement weather to the area impacting the Avila University community. The first and largest of the winter storms, Winter Storm Jade, dumped approximately 10 inches of snow in Kansas City and the Kansas City metro starting January 11 stretching into January 12, 2019. This storm stretched from Colorado all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, impacting a majority of the country. However, Missouri received the brunt of this massive storm, as East-Central Missouri received up to 20 inches of snowfall. This storm occurred during a busy weekend in Kansas City as the Kansas City Chiefs were hosting the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Divisional Round at Arrowhead. The snowfall impacted travel to the game, but did not keep fans away. The large amount of snow caused many trees to fall, causing hundreds of thousands of power outages in the Kansas City Metro alone. Including Avilaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own Jeanne Collins Thompson Hall (more commonly referred to as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thomp-

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BLASTS KANSAS CITY

sonâ&#x20AC;?). Thompson lost power on Saturday, January 12, 2019 and the outage lasted four days and three nights. even though most students were not scheduled to report back to Avila for the spring semester until Sunday the 13th, student athletes reported the previous week to prepare for their upcoming season. Students also reported back to Avila sooner in order to beat the winter storm and avoid hazardous traveling conditions. Students were without heat and hot water for that time frame. A majority of the students found other places to stay on campus or stay with friends and family off campus until power was finally restored later that week. Yet another winter storm came through a week and a half later on the night of January 22, 2019. However, this stormâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main threat was ice. Roads quickly became slick and travel became dangerous. Avila University announced on the morning of Photos by Mackenzie Musgrove ISSUE 98 |

STALKING AWARENESS MONTH Fifteenth Annual National Stalking Awareness Month Brittany Freeman Stalking is the purposeful following, watching or harassment of another individual, and it typically occurs repeatedly and over an extended period of time. Netflix is trying to raise awareness by releasing the “You” series that shines light on how easy it can happen to somebody without the person realizing the crime is happening to them. With January being the representative month of stalking awareness, Netflix released this serious within perfect timing. The storyline of this one of kind series is the typical love obsession that individuals can get caught in when finding a specific suspect. Based on Caroline Kepnes’ bestselling novel of the same name, YOU is a 21st century love story that asks, “What would you do for love?” When a brilliant bookstore manager crosses paths with an aspiring writer, his answer becomes clear: anything. Using the internet and social media as his tools to gather the most intimate of details and get close to her, a charming and awkward crush quickly becomes obsession as he quietly and strategically removes every obstacle and person in his way. This is the same course of action when stalkers find there suspect in interest. No matter what situation you find yourself in, you can take five steps to know if you in the situation of being stalked. Trust your instincts, contact the police or campus safety, keep a record, save all evidence, and speak with an advocate. These simple steps can save someone a lifetime of heartache.

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Racism Isn’t Dead Personal Experience With Racism Gerson Sterling It is unbelievable that we still are dealing with racism in schools. A local high school student from Blue Valley High School got discriminated by a teacher on multiple occasions because of her skin color. It is usually caused by white older people. Camille Sturdivant was told not to dance because her skin color was matching her clothing. That is not all, when the coaches found out she made it on the dance team at Missouri University they were talking about how surprised they were. I have been through the feeling of being discriminated for being Latino and it only makes you want to beat people up. I was in Price Chopper with my older brother when an older man approached us and asked if we were working today because he was needing people to fix something on his roof. My brother and I laughed and said “why are you assuming that we work on roofs?” he said “I thought you guys were Mexicans”. Another similar thing that happen to my younger brother and I was at a QuikTrip, we took food to my older sister that is white and we were talking to her and an old lady ask her if she was okay and if she was being bothered. This kind of thing makes people mad and wonder when racism is ever going to end. Let’s stop racism. Don’t teach your kids to hurt other people, let’s make a better world for our younger siblings. they are going to be the tomorrow of our next generation. To solve this problem Camille Sturdivant should be rewarded for being bothered with such a thing that should have been gone a long time ago.

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Government Shutdown in the United States A Huge Fight In Between The Rulers Mohammed Albader The US is experiencing government shutdown due to the lack of understanding between President Trump and the US Congress on the appropriations bill concerning the funding of the federal government in the 2019 fiscal year. The shutdown is the longest in US history as it started more than 30 days ago, and there seems to be no amicable solution to end the ongoing conflict of interest between the US Congress and President Trump. The problem occurred when the Senate which is controlled by the Republicans solidly passed an appropriations bill that failed to factor in funds for building the wall. President Trump feels that he should deliver on the promise to build the wall and the media put so much pressure on him that he announced the denial to sign the appropriation bill that did not entail the funding of the border wall. The negotiation efforts to end the shutdown have been met by president Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unwavering support for the funding to build the wall, which is not in favor with the US Congress. With the ongoing government shutdown, various agencies, services, and government departments are experiencing its effects. These effects are trickled down to the citizens as seen with the different federal employees that have to go unpaid as long as the shutdown is in progress. Besides, the economy is now being affected due to the lack of government spending. Native Americans are also not being paid their treaties, and a section of the military which is under the Department of Homeland is also experiencing the effects. These effects have brought about a reaction from the citizens and agencies over the need to end the shutdown.

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Government Shutdown How It Is Affecting Families Alexander Caldwell The Government shutdown is affecting people all across America, but most importantly it’s affecting the very ones who work within the government. Families within the government all have to make sacrifices and cut back on their normal spendings. This especially goes for Latoya Sanchez, a mother of five kids with four of them currently enrolled in a college or university. Latoya states, “Nobody wants to work for free!” and not being able to help and provide for your children is hard, especially when they are college students with little to no means to provide for themselves. She also goes on to say that it’s devastating to be put into a situation where you have to essentially work for free and if you choose not to, you lose your job. We all know the government shutdown was due to Trump not getting his wall, but is the care for the American people less essential than a wall? When you’re the head of the household and people are counting on you for the salary you make, it can get overwhelming and frustrating to go to work for seven plus hours a day and receive no type of compensation for your hard work. Latoya, who is trying to stay as strong as she can for the sake of her kids, broke into tears saying, “people think that working for the government is great and you make so much, but they don’t understand that our jobs are expendable just like any job out there.” How many more families are either struggling like Latoya or on the verge of collapse all because the President wants a wall?

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Trust In The Wrong Hands Disabled Woman Sexually Assaulted By Nurse Sarai Jorgenson Sometime in December, a woman who has had an intellectual disability since 1992 and has been staying at a health facility in Arizona, gave birth. If you’re thinking, “well, how can that happen?”, it’s because she was sexually assaulted. This woman, with a disability where she can understand what’s going on but can’t verbally say anything like consent, was raped at a healthcare facility where people were supposed to be taking care of her, not putting a baby in her. The nurses at the hospital actually had no idea she was pregnant until the situation was right in front of them. Since the nurses at the hospital only care for people who can’t survive on their own, delivering a baby was a challenge for them, as they were not prepared. Fortunately, the paramedics arrived and made sure the baby was healthy, and then the investigation started on who sexually assaulted this woman. Through those investigations, the police found that Nathan Sutherland, a nurse working at the facility and one who was taking care of the woman at the time she would have become pregnant, was taken in due to his DNA matching the baby. It’s great that the police found the suspect so quickly, but it’s terrifying that someone had to be found at all. It’s so scary to think that even when you’re at a facility where people are supposed to take care of you and only do good to you and your health, people could still take advantage of you and hurt you. The woman and her family placed a great amount of trust into the nurses at this facility’s hands, and someone shattered it to pieces. I hope the healthcare

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photo by Erkan Utu, hospital hallway

facilities in Arizona and even other places across the country think of ways to make those places safer and to provide more security to people who are disabled and incapable. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extremely upsetting to know that you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even be taken care of at a health facility without worrying if someone will take advantage of you. ISSUE 98 |

TSA RESISTANCE Government Shutdown Forces Airports to Rely on Backup Security Screeners Saad Alghamdi The government shutdown has created pressure on the air-travel system of the nation. One to ten transportation security officers have failed to show up for the work at some airports. It has been noticed that screening agents has also dropped to 7.5% from 10%. The agency has still deployed the backup officers at big airports like Newark Liberty International in New Jersey. Employees are not getting paid. This week they will not get a salary. Their absence has created financial problems as well. The rates of call-out are increasing and these will increase until the shutdown ends. There are many questions raised over the air-travel system on when it will be running safely. The former administrator of T.S.A, John S. Pistole, said that as days and hours are passing, more bad things are happening. Further, he said that we are not hitting the efficiency of the air-traffic system, but safety is the issue. The entire system is under pressure as salaries of employees are supposed to be paid and there is a loss of $100 million per month in revenue from the airline side only. Travelers are waiting for the airport system to start safely. Employees who are in charge of security screeners are not paid from the last two to three weeks. There is a problem in the system that needs to be corrected and the system should continue as soon as possible so that people and nation do not face this problem in the future. There are many financial problems occurring with safety issues. If people do not work, they will face famine because they will not be able to fulfill their basic needs.

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Winter Wasteland KCP&L bring power back to the city Turki Jaloud The Kansas City area has been shut down due to the snow storms this past month. About 175,000 KCP&L customers were without electricity at some point after a major winter storm dumped at least 10 inches of heavy, wet snow on some parts of the Kansas City area. The snow snapped tree limbs, caused vegetation to fall, and downed scores of electrical wires. Schools and hospitals were closed because of the electric power. KCP&L is working to get back electric power for schools and hospitals. More than 1,000 workers, engineers, tree-trimmers and other support staff have worked extended hours each day to restore electrical power. South Kansas City and Johnson County were among the worst-hit areas. The utility gave an update on their restoration efforts in the 4100 block of East 106th Terrace, where a number of households remain without electrical power. Avila University was affected by the snowstorm. The dormitory of Avila University was closed, and students were moved out to hotels nearby the school. Avila University campus safety spoke about the situation. Avila University and KCP&L are communicating to get the power back to the campus. Businesses and restaurants were closed down as well due to the storm. Restaurants and bars are stocking up on food and beer this week, but managers said thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not much they can do if the power goes out again.

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THE MARKET CRASH IS COMING What to do to help your expenses Khalid Alzamil Most college students were young during the last market crash in 2008. Many of them don’t know how their parents survived that crisis. This year we are facing the same economic crisis: the interest rates are high, and the economy is so big now. We don’t know how it is going to be during this market crash in 2019. But I’m here to give you some advice about what you should do. 1- START INVESTING YOUNG So many students work every week, spend their paychecks, then work again and spend more. Here in America, the buying rate is crazy. People live paycheck to paycheck to last penny. Most single families in America can’t survive one month without paychecks. This is crazy. Most students have no responsibility, they live with their parents, they work and spend every dollar on nothing important. As student you must start investing, not saving. You need to understand that you are young. 18 – 25 years old is the best time to start investing. I highly recommend you read Money Master the Game by Tony Robbins. This book will help you understand how to not save but invest early. 2- DON’T BUY Your iPhone is fine, you don’t need to buy to phone every 2 years just to keep looking cool. Today, people are using credit card debt to buy more and more of things they don’t need. Yes, you are student and most likely you have no credit card, but you have a paycheck where you spend every penny on things you don’t need.

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3- LOWER YOUR MONTHLY EXPENSES Two years ago, I looked at my monthly expenses and tried to lower them. I found so many things I could lower, like canceling monthly payment of service that I don’t use more often. Some people lower their internet plan or phone plan. Some don’t use their Hulu account, so they cancel it. Just go over what you pay every month and see if you can stop it or cancel it. In the end, when the crash happens, don’t freak out. It’s a good step to refresh the market, it’s also a good opportunity for you to start investing. Amazon stock in 2008 went down to $34, and fast forward to 2018 amazon stock got high to $1,926. If you look at the market crash as problem then you will worry a lot, but if you look at the market as opportunity, then you will win big.

Photo by Khalid Alzamil ISSUE 98 |

ISSUE 98 / SPRING / 2019

Entertainment Section

INSIDE: FEATURE:

IS IT REALLY THE BEST A MAN CAN GET? PG. 20

FEATURE:

MOON COTTON PG. 25

FEATURE:

KYLER MURRAY PG. 26

Contents

INTERACT WITH US ON OUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS!

20 21 22 24 25 26

IS IT REALLY THE BEST A MAN CAN GET? SUPERBOWL HALFTIME CONTROVERSY FORGIVE, DON’T HAVE TO FORGET CLEMSON’S IN THE HOUSE MOON COTTON KYLER MURRAY

PHOTO ON THE COVER BY: Hesham Albadr LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Check out all of our social medias for all things with the Talon located in the front of the issue! Sarai Jorgenson, Social Media Editor ISSUE 98 |

Is It Really the Best A Man Can Get? Gillette’s Controversial Ad Gerson Sterling The business world says that it doesn’t matter if the publicity is good or bad, any publicity is good publicity. This commercial, “The Best A Man Can Get” or “The Best Men Can Be?,” could be one of the best commercials Gillette has made business wise. It seems that a lot of people didn’t like the commercial, because up until January 24, the YouTube video has 708k upvotes and 1.2M downvotes. The message of this ad is really an opinion, because there are a lot of people that are not liking it, but to me the message of this ad is positive. It tells me that “ we as a society can and should do better in a lot of ways.” While I was watching

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this ad and saw the dislikes, I felt like people were saying that there wasn’t any room for improvement. In my opinion, that is not what this ad is saying. I do like to think that we, as people, can be better. We should be better example to the kids that someday will become men and will not be what a TV show teaches them to be. That is why I think this ad is great, because it is reminding us, as men, that we need to improve for our younger generation to become “The Best Men That Can Be.” Even though it was an ad that people didn’t like, like I said, no matter what kind of publicity it was, it has reached a large audience.

Super Bowl Halftime Controversy

Travis Scott to donate Super Bowl Performance earnings Alexander Caldwell When it was announced back in December that Travis Scott would perform alongside Maroon 5 during Super Bowl Halftime instantly it became controversy news. Artists all across Hip-Hop instantly gave their opinions on the matter especially HOV himself (Jay-Z). The whole point of Jay-Z trying to talk Travis Scott out of performing is due to the Colin Kaepernick kneeling protest from 2016. Though you can see where Jay-Z coming from, you also have to put yourself in Travis Scottâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shoes and understand that this is a big opportunity within the music community. Travis Scott later announced that he would only perform at the Super Bowl if the NFL would join him in in donating to an organization that

fights for social justice. Scott donated $500,000 to THE DREAM CORPS, a foundation that helps back social justice efforts. It seems like Scott knows the music world is watching him and you can also tell he is approaching this situation differently than his Hip-Hop counterparts. Instead of declining to perform, he is trying to get the NFL to back him on his charitable quest to push for a change in the injustices we currently see. So, you can either love the fact Travis Scott is performing during the Super Bowl or hate it, but you kind of have to sit back and admire the fact that he is trying to use his platform as a celebrity to invoke some sort of change even if it is just getting the NFL to drop a little bit of money to a charity.

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Forgive, Don’t Have to Forget Kevin Hart Ostracized for Past Homophobic Tweets Brelande Edmond If you haven’t’ heard about it already, Kevin Hart still is not hosting the Oscars due to the continued controversy over some homophobic tweets he made in the past. I am not condoning what he did, while I am not a LGBT community advocate, I still respect what they do and I mind my business as we all should, but the man apologized. Leave him alone. He can’t go back and change what he said. What he published on his Twitter account will forever be on the internet. All he can do is apologize and show that he has changed as a person. Who his past self was is irrelevant. If he says that he has truly changed and sincerely apologizes then in this situation, that’s all he

can do. You can either continue to whine and complain about something you can’t change or have no control over or you can accept what’s what and move on. I think everyone should move on. Because nobody is thinking about how this isn’t only affecting his career but his family. He has a wife and kids like most people. He has a job to feed them and put clothes on their back. If people are bringing up his past to disrupt his career and job, which is to entertain, then you are messing with the bellies and health of his family. Now I’m sure Kevin Hart has plenty of money, but there has to be a supply of money coming from somewhere.

Photo from Time Magazine And if his career is ruined over some past tweets, then you’re ruining a human being’s life for something they said before they grew. We all have said something out of line, offensive, homophobic, or racist, we just haven’t got caught. But we probably said those things out of anger, ignorance, or were just

immature and were blind to what we see now. We still grew and probably would never repeat some of the things we said in the past. Just because Kevin Hart is a celebrity that doesn’t mean he didn’t grow and learn from life from everyone else. You don’t have to forget, but forgive and move on.

Clemson’s in the House Clemson has a cheat day with Trump Trey Heinrich On January 14th, the Clemson Tigers visited president Donald Trump at the White House in order to celebrate their national championship victory over Alabama. The Tigers dominated all aspects of the game and won 44-16. Although it is not uncommon for national champion sports teams to visit the White House, this trip was a little different than others. The team was served a variety of fast-food items, such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s. Trump said that he decided to serve fast food for the event because he thought that was everyone’s favorite food. Because of the government shutdown that was going on at the time, some of the White House staff who handles catering were on furlough. This meant that President Trump paid for the event and the food out of his own pocket. This spread of food was unusual for many of the players, who are on a very strict diet while at school. One Clemson player was actually overheard saying “I thought it was a joke.” Many celebrities have since come out after the dinner and offered to have the team over for dinner at their homes. Former NFL player Michael Strahan invited the team to his home for a lobster and caviar dinner. Popular rapper Quavo sent out a tweet that had a similar invitation. He invited the entire team to his house and offered to serve them stir fry. Although there were a lot of jokes made on social media mocking the meal, assistant coach Miguel Chavis claimed that the team loved the meal. Hunter Renfrow, who is a wide receiver for the Tigers, went to Twitter to defend Donald Trump stating that they don’t get to eat fast food very often and it was an experience that nobody else can say they’ve done before.

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Moon Cotton China attempts to grow cotton on the moon Adrian Guzman Just this past month, Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s space program has made great strides. They have become the first country to get a probe to reach the dark side of the moon. Now, to no surprise, China has now became the first country to grow the first ever green leaf on the moon. On January third, a lunar lander named Changâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;e-4 landed on the moon. Soon after its initial landing, the lander released a rover to explore to the surface of the moon. Inside the rover is a container that has soil, cotton, and potato seeds. Even though the plant was in a chamber designed to help keep stable conditions for the plant to grow, the mission was still a challenge. Unfortunately, as of January sixteenth, the experiment was announced to have ended. The temperatures inside the biosphere were constantly changing because of the outside conditions. Temperatures got as low as -173 Celsius during the lunar night. Chinese mission planners were expecting the plant not to survive in this environment. Even though China did not get to grow the cotton, they have made some groundbreaking discoveries. Growing a plant in a zero gravity atmosphere with no water on the planet and harsh conditions is not easy. But with the information they gathered from this mission, they should be sure to improve next time. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting to think about what the rest of the world will do to keep up with China. The bar has been set pretty high.

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Kyler MurrAy Torn between two paths Joshua Dyson Many that are born and grow up in Texas know that football is a way of life, it’s treated like a religion. Traditions and expectations are passed down from fathers to son. That was exactly the case for Kyler Murry. His father Kevin Murry was an all-state QB in high school. Kevin also played baseball and was drafted by the Milwaukee brewers in 1982 and played one season with their rookie league team. Kevin than attended Texas A&M, breaking their freshman school record for touchdowns thrown in a game. From there he would go on to break many more. Kevin was never drafted by an NFL team but had two short stints with the 49ers and Calgary stampeders. Trying to live up to those exceptions, not mentioning trying to surpass them would be enough to make anyone crack. That’s not the case for the 21-year-old Kyler Murry with a net worth of 3 million without even playing one second of professional sports yet. Kyler is a high school legend; his team went on a 43-game winning streak and won three state championships in a row. If that’s not enough, Kyler finished his high school career 42-0 only missing one start. From there he was named Gatorade player of the year in 2014. Kyler managed to do all that while playing baseball too. In 2014 he signed to Texas A&M to play football and baseball. Kyler fought for the starting spot his freshman year but lost. In his first shot later that year, he became the only QB since Cam Newton to gain over 100 yards on the ground and air. After the season he announced that he would be transferring to the university of Oklahoma. Due to NCAA rules he had to sit out the 2016 season.

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During the 2017 season Kyler backed up future Heisman trophy winner and number one draft pick Baker Mayfield. In 2018 he was drafted as the 9th pick in the first round by the Oakland Athletics. Kyler signed a contract with them that included a 4.66 million signing bonus. Kyler still decided to play his senior year of football with the Sooners as a starter. He would go on to have a year that skyrocketed his draft stock. He would go on to lead the Sooners to the second round of the national championship and win the Heisman. With many telling him to go play baseball professionally, he chose to inter the 2019 NFL draft.

photo from Washington Post ISSUE 98 |

ISSUE 97 / FALL / 2018

SPORTS SECTION

INSIDE: WILL IT EVER CHANGE? PAGE 30

ONCE A ROYAL, ALWAYS A ROYAL PAGE 34

ANDREW JOHNSON PAGE 39

Contents

CAPTURING THE LIVES AND INTERESTS OF AVILAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S STUDENT ATHLETES

30 32 33 34 36 37 38 39 40

WILL IT EVER CHANGE? MARCH MADNESS PREVIEW FIELD IMPROVEMENTS FOR AFC CHAMPIONSHIP ONCE A ROYAL, ALWAYS A ROYAL BOB SUTTON OUT, STEVE SPAGNUOLO IN FIFA 2022 BLOW WHISTLES, NOT GAMES LIONS PLAYER LASHES OUT ANDREW JOHNSON

ON THE COVER: Photo From Talal Alaseeri LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

We have so many great stories for this issue in sports, so be sure to check out all things relating to Avila and the Kansas City Chiefs on the next few pages!

-Josh Dyson ISSUE 98 |

Will It Ever Change? Racism in sports on the rise Michael Porter Jr. “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”Martin Luther King, Jr. 2018 was seen as a year of change with Nike endorsing Colin Kaepernick. He became the new star of the “Just Do It” campaign, despite not being signed by an NFL team. Lebron James continued his heroic acts of speaking out against events in Washington, along with opening up his “I Promise” school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. These are essential, not only to the African American community in America, but to the issue

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of what is going on abroad. With soccer or “Football” or “Fútbol” as the most popular sport in the world, you would assume it would be graciously accepting of any culture, race or gender, but sadly this is not the case. There have been many instances, but recently Manchester City’s own Raheem Sterling received abuse from a Chelsea FC fan who called him an obscene phrase that mentioned his race. Raheem Sterling, being a great man, responded to the moment with class and just went on to play the game. He was a hero in the World Cup for England that just took place this last summer and provided his comments to the moment on Instagram about how the British media aids these actions to a certain extent.

There was a study done by the FARE Network, in which they took stats of 1,378 soccer matches during two seasons (15’-16’, 16’-17’) and fans from the United Kingdom showed the worst behavior with 59 accidents of racism, anti-Semitism, hemophobia or many other crude acts. You also have other incredibly sad accidents where in 2014, Barcelona star Dani Alves was taking a corner kick and you have a fan from the opposing, Villarreal FC, threw a banana at the defender, obviously intending to let it know how they felt about the Brazilian’s color of skin. Moments like these are seen as degrading and add to the stigma of what this game is. Soccer has so much room to grow, especially as the “Beautiful Game”. With these actions, many are turning it into a hideous playground to where many feel as if they do not fit in. The game is about including any, not excluding many. This has to change for this game to reach a new level in the upcoming years while it reaches new peaks. With stars like Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba, Sadio Mane, Alphonso Davies and many others who are young and upcoming stars captivating the game, let’s treat them with love not hate. Because one day, they will be gone and we will regret not treating our black superstars the way they should have been treated. rawpixel.com

March Madness Preview

March madness is heating up early this season. Brittany Freeman 2019 is the third year for the March Madness Bracket Preview show. This preview will reveal the committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s picks for the top 16 seeds, identifying the top four teams in each region. The NCAA tournament begins with Selection Sunday, when the selection committee announces all 68 tournament teams, and ends with the Final Four and championship game three weeks later. Leading off the show, the bracket with the Committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top 16 seeds as of Feb. 11 will be revealed. The committee arrives in New York City for the beginning of the selection process. For the next five days, the 10 committee members will cast hundreds of ballots and engage in debate over dozens of teams until the

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final bracket of 68 tournament teams is released on Selection Sunday. The 68-team single-elimination tournament holds 67 games over a period of 19 days, a jam-packed end to the season that aptly earned the nickname March Madness. Joseph Lunardi, American college basketball analyst for ESPN, revealed his final four prediction. He projected Washington D.C. for the East, Louisville for the South, Kansas City for the Midwest, and Anaheim for the West. March Madness is a huge time for NCAA Division 1 in college basketball. The competition is high and the intensity is rising day by day as teams come to an season end. Stay tuned for more to come as brackets start filling up and the tournament begins.

Field Improvements AFC Championship

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KC Grounds Crew Able to Re-Sod Field Ahead of AFC Championship Game Makenzie Musgrove Prior to Kansas City Chiefs matchup with the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Divisional Round, there was an estimated 10 inches of snow that fell around Arrowhead Stadium leading up to the playoff game. Although it did not seem to affect the match up with Indianapolis, (as the score still reached the original over-under) it forced the Chief's groundskeeping crew to re-sod the field ahead of the AFC Championship Game that was played the following week in Kansas City against the New England Patriots. This is a very impressive turn around for the Chief's field, thanks to the head groundskeeper Travis Hogan and his grounds crew. It is especially impressive given the inclement weather in Kansas City during the time of the games at Arrowhead in January. This move by Kansas City also raises questions about what was supposed to be a Chiefs vs. Rams matchup in Week 11. This game was scheduled to be played in Mexico City, Mexico. However, subpar field conditions were discovered in the week leading up to the game. It was determined that the week leading up to the game was not enough time to re-sod the playing surface and for it to be up to NFL standards. In the end, the decision was made to move the game back to the original location in Los Angeles at the Ramâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home field at The Coliseum. Hats off to Travis Hogan and the Chief's grounds crew for pulling off this impressive feat in Kansas City. ISSUE 98 |

Once A Royal, Always A Royal

Remembering Yordano (Ace) Ventura Connor Wytko January 22nd was his home country, the Dothe two-year anniversary of minican Republic, due to the tragic death of former a car accident. During his Royals star pitcher Yordashort time with the Royals, no (Ace) Ventura. Ventura Ventura never failed to put was always known for his on a display and show the one hundred mile per hour flair that ultimately became fastballs, love for his teamhis trademark, because he mates, and his obvious love was full of energy and it for the game of baseball. was fun to watch him do his The twenty-five-year-old thing every fifth day. This phenomenon was on track last December, Yordano to be one of the premier Ventura was nominated to pitchers in Major League have his name written in Baseball. One of the definstone as a member of the ing moments in Venturaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kansas City Royals Hall of young career was when he Fame, alongside legends took the ball in the World like George Brett and Bret Series only a few days after Saberhagen. The death of the death of his close friend Ventura was a big shock to and former Cardinals outthe Major League Baseball fielder, Oscar Taveras. It Community, but by honoring was during this game Venthe legacy of Ventura, the tura would go on to retire six Royals and Major League of the first seven he faced Baseball will not lose sight en route to a seven inning of the Dominican kid with shutout on a mere three a big fastball and an even hits. Unfortunately, Ventura bigger personality. passed away while back in

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photo by Cody Tapp

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Bob Sutton Out, Steve Spagnuolo In Replacing Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Connor Wytko

The Kansas City Chiefs fired now former defensive coordinator Bob Sutton the day after losing a heartbreaking overtime game against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Chiefs wasted no time addressing the defensive leadership, as the Chiefsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; defense had a lot of trouble stopping teams throughout the season. With such a bright future behind players like Pat Mahomes and Tyreek Hill, new leadership is a must to remain a dominant team in the AFC and to take the next step to being a Super Bowl team and a perennial powerhouse. The Chiefs wasted no time as they hired Steve Spagnuolo just over two days after letting Sutton walk. Spagnuolo is a very experienced coach in

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the NFL, as his talents have been most recently utilized by the New York Giants. As the Giants defensive coordinator, his 2016 defense allowed the second fewest points in the league. Spagnuolo will be given one of the worst defenses in the NFL, finishing dead last in opponentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; yards per game, passing yards per game, being in the bottom three teams in opponents rush yards per game, and points per game. The Chiefs are hoping Spagnuolo can bring the same change as he did in 2016 with the Giants. With defensive standouts such as Dee Ford potentially leaving for free agency, this move will certainly not be the last one worth following as the Chiefs work to take the next step to win a very talented AFC.

FIFA 2022 Will Qatar host the World Cup for 2022? Turk Jaloud The 2022 World Cup will be held in Qatar despite arguments surrounding the host country following FIFAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shock decision to award it the tournament in 2010. Qatar will become the first country in the Middle East to host the FIFAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tournament in 2022. Major development and redevelopment of stadiums are required between now and 2022. Besides moving the entire tournament from the summer to the winter, primary plans involved Qatar hosting games across 12 stadiums, but it has been reported that the number of venues will be reduced to eight. Only the 40,000-seater Khalifa International Stadium, located around eight miles from Doha, is opened to the public, and will host the World Athletics Championships next year. The other seven

stadiums are still currently under construction and are expected to finish work by 2020. Charge of the corruptions have been made, considering how Qatar won the host for the 2022 World Cup tournament, after beating out the other countries likes USA, Australia, and Japan. Qatar has always denied the claims of the corruption and FIFA subsequently launched an independent investigation in the case. Despite this, FIFA's awarding the bid to Qatar has been disapproved by many as part of the FIFA corruption scandals. Others have raised concerns about awarding the World Cup to a nation that needs to essentially build for the entire tournament, instead of awarding it to a country who already has the established infrastructure. ISSUE 98 |

Blow Whistles Not Games Saints Cheated Out of Super Bowl Justin Starks

On January 20th, the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams battled it out for the NFC Championship. At first it looked like the Saints were going to roll over the Rams, but after halftime the Rams made a comeback making it a 20-20 tie ball game. The Saint received the ball late in the fourth court with 2:45 left in the game. They drive down field making it to the Rams 15-yard line. Drew Brees snapped the ball and was looking for a wide open Tommy Lee Lewis down the sideline. Looking like a promising firstdown, Nickell Robey-Coleman smacks Lewis without the ball in reaching distance. The ball was four yards away from Lewis. So what look liked an obvious passing interference and also a helmet-to-helmet hit, which would have given the Saints the ball on the 5-yard line. Turned out to be a nocall. Coach Sean Payton was furious, blazing down the side hollering at the refs. There were two refs in front of the play and not one of them flinched to reach for their flag. Rams went on to win the game in over time, advancing them to the Super Bowl. But everyone and the refs knew, the saints should have won. In the press conference after the game, a frustrated Coach Sean Payton spoke, “Just got off the phone with the league office. They blew the call.” The Saints have a had a tough run in the playoffs the past two years. Anyone who knows football would have thought the Saints would be in the Super Bowl. Their well respected QB, Drew Brees is getting older, and it’s not easy making it to the playoffs. Will they overcome that hump next year? Will they make it to the playoffs next year? The Saints have a great team and the Rams do too, but games should be defined by the players, not the blown calls by the refs.

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Lions Player Lashes Out

Trevor Bates Goes on Rampage Jamad Thomas Recently, NFL linebacker Trevor Bates, who was a star player at the University of Maine, was drafted in 2016 by the Indianapolis Colts, who later released him. He played for the New England Patriots and New York Giants before being signed by the Lions last May. Bates plays for the Detroit Lions and recently got arrested. He got into a cab, failed to pay the $32 fee to the taxi driver and he called the police. Bates was later charged with second degree assault, obstruction of governmental administration, theft of services and resisting arrest. According to CNN news, if convicted he could face probation or up to seven years in prison. Trevor Bates was arrested and

taken to a NYPD precinct, where he became increasingly agitated and punched Sergeant James O'Brien in the face, according to the district attorney's statement. Bates was subsequently tased, and O'Brien was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated for a concussion and received three stitches over his left eye. Bob Quinn, the general manager of the Detroit Lions, said the team is aware of Batesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; arrest but had not spoken to him and was â&#x20AC;&#x153;still in the process of gathering more information." Quinn said the Lions would have no further comment. His fate on the team depends on how the case will go, in the upcoming months.

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Andrew Johnson Racism in the flesh Jamaal Durity

Andrew Johnson, a teenage wrestler from Buena High School in New Jersey stands stagnant while scissors run through his dreads removing them from his head. The onlooking crowd watches in disbelief. Johnson did not plan on cutting his dreads heading into his wrestling match that day. It just so happens the referee says his hair and headgear were not compliant of regulation. The referee then gave Andrew a choice…Cut the hair or forfeit the match. Andrew being a tremendous team player decided to cut his dreads for the better of his team. A video surfaced on the internet that spread like a wildfire across news stations and social media sites. It shows Andrew standing still while his dreads are being cut. On top of his dreads being cut, Andrew

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didn’t let that throw off his focus, and he ended up winning the match. After the match Andrew pops up after pinning his opponent and you can visibly see the emotion on his face. It wasn’t over the win. It was the fact that he was mistreated and discriminated over a simple hair style. Many high school wrestlers have dreads especially in Florida where I’m from. No referee has ever told/made a high school wrestler cut his dreads. They have rules in place that insist if you have long hair or dreads to wear a hair cap to cover your hair. In fact, Andrew had a hair cap on but apparently to the referee that wasn’t enough, he decided to take it a step further by telling him to forfeit or cut his dreads. This isn’t Andrew’s first wrestling match where he has sported his dreads.

Courtesy of SNJ TODAY No referee in the past has told him anything about his dreads until that match. So, it begs to raise a question. Did this referee have a personal vendetta for Andrew Johnson or kids that look like Andrew Johnson? According to sources this is not the referees first racial incident. Back in 2016 he called a black referee a racial slur in his face which caused the black referee to slam him to the ground. This will not be the last time an African American athlete is racially discriminated and

profiled against. I am glad that many news channels and social media sites got ahold of this. Because people need to realize that racism and discrimination still exists it is very much real. It is in our local gyms and in our classrooms every day. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just many are scared to shed light on it and bring the situations that occur to the surface. I applaud those who stand up for African Americans in every situation and facet of life. ISSUE 98 |

BEFORE YOU SPEAK, LISTEN. BEFORE YOU WRITE, THINK. BEFORE YOU SPEND, EARN. BEFORE YOU INVEST, INVESTIGATE. BEFORE YOU CRITICIZE, WAIT. BEFORE YOU PRAY, FORGIVE. BEFORE YOU QUIT, TRY. BEFORE YOU RETIRE, SAVE. BEFORE YOU DIE, GIVE. -WILLIAM A. WARD