PodCats 2.22 Cleveland Sports Podcast
CYO Basketball power rankings – Week of Dec 9
By Will Shepard ‘19
9Saint Thomas Moore
Saint Thomas Moore had a very tough weekend, falling to Saint Albert the Great 56-25. Offense was tough to come by this game, as Nate Previts was the leading scorer at 13 points. Alex Zheng hopes to get more involved in the offense next week as they face off versus Saint Luke.
8Saint Monica
Saint Monica, led by Vinnie Doran and Delaney Kitchen, fell to the number five ranked Saint Bridget Chargers this weekend by a score of 59-41. Doran led the way, dropping 17 points, and point guard Delaney added 14 for a nice afternoon for each of them. They hope to bounce back vs a weak Assumption team next week.
7Saint Joseph and John
Saint Joseph and John had a rough week, falling to Saint Ignatius (Hartman) 61-47. The game was a very physical one, multiple technicals were given, and the refs were not very great. It was a good test for the Vikings, as they kept it close with the number two team, and they hope to build on this game in their game next week vs Saint Angela Merici.
6Saint Ignatius (Ranallo)
One of the two junior Saint Ignatius teams had no problem in their game this week. They took care of Saint Joe’s and Johns, winning by a score of 71-40. Ignatius shot the lights out of the building and made a statement to the other teams in their division. They hope to continue their success vs Saint Mary of Avon next week.
5Saint Bridget
Saint Bridgets had a very solid week, beating Saint Monica 59-41. The teams fast pace offense showed up, as Nick Marsick had 21 and Billy Arroyo dropped 19 on endless 3 pointers. The team however lost their starting Center, Anthony Labate, for the season due to his obsession with the weight room. Saint Mary of Avon is next on the schedule for the Chargers.
4Saint Ignatius (Watters)
The top junior team took care of business this week, disposing Holy Trinity by 19 points, winning 54-35. Jack Whelan led the way for the Wildcats, scoring 15 points. The teams elite balanced offense can attack teams in the post, as well as on the three point arc. Saint Joseph and John is up next for Ignatius.
3Gesu
Gesu couldn’t miss this week. They put the league on notice. They dropped 97! Yes, 97! They have one of the most elite offenses around, with Lucas Tai scoring a solid 17 points. Gesu shot the lights out this game, while putting on a really amazing defensive showing, only allowing the opponent to score 48. Watch out CYO, Gesu is still one of the best teams around.
2Saint Ignatius (Hartman)
Saint Ignatius Hartman was involved in a physical game versus Saint Joseph and John this weekend. Ignatius got the dub 61-47 and picked up three technical fouls throughout this game They truly lived by their physical motto. Seamus Cooney was quoted saying “Our goal each game is to score more points than the other team. We dare them to shoot free throws” This team is not afraid to foul, so too beat them, you better be nailing those free shots.
1Saint Ignatius (Emery)
Our top ranked team won by a score of 54-53 versus Saint Paschals this weekend. This was a tough win for Ignatius, but led by Pat Russell, they were about to come through with the victory. Jahage Floyd is not worried about the close win saying “We will come out hard next week, this game was way too close for the talent we have.” They have a shot at making a statement next week versus Elyria Catholic on Sunday.
The MVP Race
- Pat Russell
- Nick Marsick
- Nathan Hubbard
- Lucas Tai
- Tommy Eichenberg
Playlist of The Week #7: CFD Core Team
It’s been an up and down December with the usual Ohio weather, Cleveland sports, (and maybe a few grades moving around). But, there has been one constant the past few weeks: The Rini Family Christmas Food Drive Core Team.
The Core Team, composed of students from all four classes, has dedicated a healthy chunk of time to help organize, advertise, and support the food drive the past few weeks. With their unwavering support, time, and man hours, the food drive is gearing up to be a great success!
So, I wanted to give these students an opportunity to share a little bit of themselves: their music preferences. This week’s playlist is curated from responses I received from some of the Core Team, so thank you to those that responded.
- All I Want for Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey
- Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas
- Somebody To Love – Remastered 2011 by Queen
- OMG by Usher, will.i.am
- Sit Next to Me by Foster The People
- Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra
- I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston
- American Pie by Don McLean
- If I Told You by Stephen Lynch, Laura Benanti
- Pennies From Heaven by Louis Prima, Sam Butera & The Witnesses
- All Star by Smash Mouth
- Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira, Wyclef Jean
- Honeymoon Avenue by Ariana Grande
- Piano Man by Billy Joel
- Baby by Justin Bieber
- The Sweet Escape by Gwen Stefani, Akon
- Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
- 2009 by Mac Miller
- Happy by Pharrell Williams
- Take Me Home, Country Roads – Rerecorded by John Denver
Is education a luxury?
by David Patrick Ryan ’19
Here at Saint Ignatius, we enjoy an exceptional high school education in an environment where we can walk into a beautiful campus in the morning, look up to see the towering main building, and know we are safe and ready to learn.Despite the stresses of studying, burdensome homework, and what may seem to be a lack of snow days, going to Ignatius really is a blessing. But as good as this experience is, what about others around the world who have little or no educational opportunity? What about those in our very own country and even neighborhood who do not receive nearly the same educational opportunities?
According to the global education network Fe Y Alegria there are 264 million children and youth who are out of school worldwide and 758 million adults who lack basic literacy skills. Combined, that is over three times the number of people in the United States, and it isn’t because they didn’t do their Pasko reading. The United Nations Human Development Report, which provides annual information on social, economic, and educational improvements for every nation, concludes that countries in West Africa and Central America have the lowest levels of educational development. This report better displays why so many people lack a proper education.
Many of these countries have been scarred by recent civil wars, inhibiting children’s ability to attend school safely and reducing accessibility to materials necessary for a quality education. Likewise, the financial stability of a nation often correlates with its ability to provide a quality education and make it readily available to the general populace. As such, only 14 percent of children complete secondary education in these low-income nations.
According to the Global Partnership for Education of the World Bank Group, every dollar invested in an additional year of schooling generates future earnings and savings of up to $10 for that child in low-income countries and nearly $4 in lower-middle income countries. Given this information, it is clear why children around the world who do not receive a proper education would benefit from the opportunities we receive.
Even within the United States, there are many children who do not receive a quality or justly equal education. Studies conducted by the National Conference of State Legislatures suggest similar results in the United States as low-income nations for investing one dollar in childhood education. The wealth generated in society from this investment largely comes from lower incarceration rates, higher incomes later in life, and lower teen pregnancy rates.
Now, while the United States is neither a society emerging from recent conflict nor qualifies a low-income nation, the quality of education students receive is not always equal, especially in rural and urban areas. According to the National Education Association, school districts with the highest number of students of color receive approximately $2,000 less per
student than school districts with the fewest students of color. Furthermore, the districts with the lowest incomes receive $1,200 fewer per student than wealthier districts. This discrepancy is being aggravated as students from these disadvantaged school districts face problems outside of school that distract them from their education and contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline in these same districts.
This article is from the first edition of The Spark, a new initiative of the Ignatians for Peace & Justice that seeks to inform, inspire and ignite the Saint Ignatius community around various issues of faith and justice.
To learn more or get involved, please attend the IPJ weekly meetings on Thursdays at 7:30 a.m. in Campus Ministry.
Movie Review: Free Solo
by Alex Gehlein ’19
Sometimes what makes a documentary great is not so much the presentation of what the filmmakers have captured, but the thing itself. This can work in reverse as well, where what they might be filming is rather mundane, but proves interesting with the filmmaker’s touch (See Hotel Monterey, Sherman’s March, or Good Hair). Free Solo exists somewhere between these two sides of the genre. The thing they capture is so absurdly interesting that you can’t help but enjoy watching it, but the presentation of the actual climb is a bit lacking. Contrast this with its portrayal of the real life of Alex Honnold, and the personal circumstances surrounding the climb, which exists on that other side of the documentary spectrum. Your interest is maintained throughout because the filmmakers know how to make the more mundane things interesting, and have a subject that you can’t take your eyes off of no matter how it’s presented.
Now I can’t exactly blame them for the way the climbing is captured. Free Solo is a new documentary by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, which follows Alex Honnold, a professional climber, as he attempts to summit the face of El Capitan in Yellowstone, without a rope or harness. The danger in getting to close is that if you distract Alex too much, he could die. A clunky camera in his face could easily pull Alex’s attention off the task at hand and cause him to plummet to his death. So I don’t really subtract any points for how they filmed the climbing.
Alex is a fascinating character. A brain scan during the film reveals that his amygdala doesn’t work in the same way as most people. He doesn’t feel fear like we do, which probably explains the climbing. He is emotionally detached and focused only on free solo climbing, which prompts the question, how does he function normally? That is the first half of the film. We see Alex scouting the summit, doing practice runs and training, all while developing a relationship with his new girlfriend. We see how he functions, grow to like him, and are emotionally invested by the time he makes the climb.
And the climb is fascinating. The way he approaches it is like a dance, practicing choreography for months on end, storing up every little detail of the mountain in his mind before taking a shot at the climb. It’s not really possible to put this section perfectly into words, but it is terrific despite the safety precautions in filming. It’s something you’ll just have to see to believe.
The last forty minutes of the movie are amazing, but they’re made even better when you grow to love Alex through the first hour of the film. His way of seeing things, his energy, his optimism, they’re all infectious, and by the time he’s started the climb you’re rooting for him like Rudy, Rocky, or Randy “The Ram.” What makes it even more impactful is that it’s real.
9/10
Weekly Update – December 9, 2018
This week, we have Christmas in Our Community, which means we get to serve the less fortunate in our community and eat 10 times the serving size of Christmas cookies we should. Okay, maybe that last part is just me.
Here’s the sports section and an update from Science Olympiad and Speech and Debate.
Hockey: The Wildcats bussed to Michigan and picked up two wins over Hartland (defending D2 stars champions) and Brighton (2X defending state champions). Friday, Michael Boehm and Alex Bilardo scored as the Cats beat Hartland 2-1. After trailing 3-0, the Cats came back to beat Brighton 4-3 in OT. Boehm (2nd goal and OT winner), Greg Langermeier, and Joey Trobenter scored. Benny Savarino picked up his 50th career win Friday. Cats head to Shady Side Academy for a two game set this weekend.
Bowling: The Wildcats felt the struggle this weekend. With juniors out of commission Saturday due to ACTs, the Wildcats struggled in league play, getting swept by Olmsted falls. Sunday the cats were back to the full 7, but fell short of placing at Nordonia High School’s tournament. This weekend the cats continue league play Saturday, and will bowl in Padua’s tournament Sunday.
Wrestling: The Wildcats competed at Independence high school this past weekend. Johnny Novak took 1st. Patrick McGraw took 2nd. Matthew Whipkey took 4th. The team took 16th out of 33.
Swimming/Diving: The Swimming and Diving team had a successful weekend as they hosted the Viking Invitational. Daemyen Haywood took second in the 100 free while Nicholas Hong got second in the 100 breast, the 200 free relay placed 4th, and the 400 free relay placed 5th. Meanwhile, Sophomore Tyler Hong swam at Junior Nationals in North Carolina. The team will face Upper Arlington and Columbus St. Charles this weekend.
Basketball: The basketball team won against the Cleveland Heights Tigers this weekend 61-59. Kevin Davet had 11 points and Chase Toppin had 10.
Science Olympiad: The Science Olympiad team competed at Sylvania Northview on Saturday against 45 teams. Forensics – 4th Place (Tyler Cox, Andrew Passow), Herpetology – 6th Place (Sam Pike, Anthony Bogar). If anyone is interested in participating in Science Olympiad, go to room SC308 any day after school this week for information.
Speech and Debate: The Speech and Debate team split and competed in two different tournaments this weekend. Congratulations to senior Prester Pickett II, who received his fourth bid to the State tournament at Poland High School on Sat and has automatically qualified to compete at States in March. Congratulations also to Alex and John Daoud, who finished fourth at Poland. The debaters competed at Vermilion, where Sam Navacruze and Matt Conway finished third and earned their first bid to the state tournament. Four bids means automatic qualification for States. Very good work by everybody.
Give me a second to think of something.
John Libertin
Preview of the Preview of the Week: Check the actual email for details regarding the events below.
- Monday: Jazz Ensemble/Steel Drum Ensemble performance (Breen 7pm)
- Tuesday: Gonzaga Society meeting
- Wednesday: Percussion Ensemble/Symphonic Band performance (Breen 7pm)
- Thursday: College Counseling Brown Bag Lunch, A Cappella Christmas Concert (Breen 7pm)
- Friday: Christmas in Our Community
The future looks bright for Wildcat Football
By Bobby Gerome ‘21
First Energy Stadium was full of life on a cold, rainy day for Wildcats fans on October 27. The football team took on the St. Edward Eagles in a historic rivalry game.
Going into the game, both teams had lost twice; so it was expected to be a close game. The Eagles took an early lead with a touch-down two minutes into the game and would keep that lead for most of the first half. But the Wildcats would respond late in the second quarter. This came via a 16-yard touchdown run by Jack Welcsh. The score was tied at halftime, and would be until late in the third quarter. Danny Scelza intercepted the ball after it was tipped to him by Mitch Puhalsky. After Scelza ran for 39 yards on the interception, the Wildcat offense was in very good field position on the St. Edward 4. The Wildcats took their first lead of the game with a 7-yard touchdown run from Bo Floyd. The score remained 13-7 going into the fourth quarter, after Rory McConville’s PAT was blocked. With 9:45 left in the game, the Eagles turned over the ball on a fumble forced by Jack Kennedy and recovered by Danny Scelza. A few plays later, Kennedy would have a 9 yard rush into the end zone, putting the Wildcats ahead 19-7. To make it a two touchdown game, the Wildcats attempted a two point conversion.This attempt was successful from an outside run by Connor Cmiel.
With the score at 21-7, St. Edward started driving down field, but killed five minutes off of the clock in the process. The Wildcats ended this drive on a fourth down stop. With three minutes left on the clock, all the Wildcats had to do was take time off of the clock.The Wildcats finished off the regular season with a win over their archrival St. Edward Eagles.
The Wildcat offense finished off the game with 98 yards rushing, and Patrick Delahunty threw for 76 yards. The defense had a couple of big stops to prevent the Eagles from scoring. The defense was led by a duo of Tommy Eichenberg, who had 12 tackles, and Connor Francz, who had 8 tackles. Together, they had 30% of the team’s tackles on the night. In an interview after the game, CoachChuck Kyle ‘69 said “We had a couple breaks. Honestly, either team could have won. We took advantage of the breaks, and that’s all I can say. In the running game, you have to be patient, and I thought we were. In the red zone, both Jack and Bo had nice runs for touchdowns because they saw a seam and took it. That was awesome.”
The Wildcats would play the Eagles in a rematch the next week. Unfortunately, the team fell to St. Edward, 21-19. It was a very close, hard fought game that came down to the last two minutes.Both sides played a terrific game and fought through another cold, rainy evening. I wouldn’t call this season unsuccessful for the Wildcats. Yes, the goal of a state championship did not happen, but they overcame all expectations from the regular season. The team started the season 0-2, the expectations were not high. But after a loss against Mentor in week two, the Wildcats did not lose a single game for the rest of the regular season. What was most impressive from the regular season was that the Wildcats went 3-0 in the gauntlet of the last three weeks. They played three well talented teams in Moeller, St. Xavier on the road, and St. Edward. All three teams were playoff caliber, have rich histories in their football pro-grams, and all had the potential to win the state championship.
The future looks bright for the Wildcats. Yes, they are losing some valuable assets in their seniors. But the Wildcats have fantastic players in the younger grades that will be able to fill the gaps.
A huge thank you goes out to the seniors. They have given us memories to cherish. On behalf of The Eye, I wish them the best of luck in college and for years to come. Saint Ignatius football looks hopeful for the future.
Why Michael Jordan is still the greatest player of all time
By Graeme Agronin ‘19
Right when you read this title in your head you thought, “FALSE! LEBRON’S THE GOAT!!” Now, before you move on to the next article of this wonderful school newspaper, hear me out: Michael Jordan is the greatest to ever do it.
I am not belittling LeBron—he is a once in a generation player and is undoubtedly second on my list. But I must ask you: what is the game of basketball? Basketball is putting the ball through the net in any legal way possible while stopping your opponent from doing the same. Jordan is undeniably best at this.
Jordan played in the NBA a total of fifteen years, the last two as a veteran after taking three years off. In the thirteen years before his break, Jordan accumulated the follow-ing major awards: 10x Scoring Champion, 9x All-Defensive 1st Team, 11x All-NBA (10 of which were 1st Team), 6x NBA Champion (all of which he won Finals MVP), 5x NBA MVP, and NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He was and still is comprehensively the best at what basketball is on a fundamental level.
The only thing LeBron is objectively better at than Jordan is passing—I’ll give you that. LeBron is a certified DIMER (though still aver-ages only two more assists per game over his career).
You may say, “WRONG! REBOUNDING TOO!!” but this is again false. LeBron plays small forward, a position that generally guards people driving to the basket, and is closer to the basket on shots than Jordan, a shooting guard, would be, giving him a better position to clean the glass. Combine this with two inches and thirty-five pounds on Jordan, and you’re looking at a player that should have a significant rebounding advantage. However, over his career, LeBron only averages one rebound more than Jordan—clearly not enough to be objectively considered a better rebounder.
Next there is scoring and defending, in case the awards didn’t do it for you. Jordan played in the hand-check era (the era in which impeding the offensive player’s progress through the use of your hands or fore arms was still legal), making scoring and offense in general much tougher, especially inside the arc. For Jordan, predominantly a driver and mid-range shooter, to average 30 points over his career (LeBron has only averaged 30 TWICE to Mike’s EIGHT), mainly from inside the arc while getting hand-checked the whole time, is incredible. Put him in today’s era with this rule change and I wouldn’t be surprised if he averaged 40 (heck, he already averaged 37 in ‘87). LeBron, even more predominantly a driver, gets to the rim effortlessly because with hand-checking outlawed, his sheer size and strength is unstoppable with a head of steam.
As for defense, Jordan was one of the toughest wing defenders ever. He played defense like it was his specialty, practically always outscoring his opponent by a large margin. While LeBron can put up great numbers, take a look at who he guards next time you watch him (For reference, Kevin Durant averaged 29 on him the last two finals); chances are it’s almost as much as him. Defense is not defined by chase-down blocks (and in case you think it is, their career blocks per game average is the exact same, despite the height difference). Watch him on-ball. Likely, he’ll get burned; he stopped playing defense years ago. Finally, winning. 6-for-6 vs 3-for-9.
Need I say more?
