The 4 x 800 relay team said at the start of the year that if they didn’t make it to state, then the year would be a disappointment. Well, there is certainly no frustration among the group as they cruised to a sectional victory, finishing nearly 14 seconds ahead of the second place team. The team consists of Travis Trevizo, Jon Kingzette, Alex Amaya, and Keegan Buttimer and they are in good shape for the state meet since they ran the third fastest time of all the 2A state qualifiers. The lone individual for the Bulldogs who qualified for state was Amaya, who ran a time of 1:58 in the 800-meter run.

The state meet goes from May 26-28, and the 4 x 800 relay team has a good reason to believe that they not only will be the first RB boys relay team to place at state, but actually win state. Their sectional time was three seconds off of the top 4 x 800 qualifier (Yorkville), but the Bulldogs won their heat easily, so they could run even faster when there is another relay team running right beside them. They will run at 9:00 on Friday morning, and it can be seen live on the IHSA website at that time.

Other individuals set personal records for the Bulldogs at the Glenbard South sectional meet, though they came up just short of qualifying for the state meet. High jumpers Alex Huffines and Jayson Kerber both jumped 5’11 and sophomore Alex Campillanos ran a personal record in the finals of the 200 meter dash.

But then my Freshman English teacher Mrs. Cabaj, recommended that I write for the school newspaper the next year. I still wasn’t sure whether it was something I wanted to do, and a study hall looked more appealing at the moment. But she was insistent that it would be worth my while, and that I would have a good time on staff. So I went to my counselor and changed my schedule to include second period Clarion.

And after sophomore year, it was easy to pencil in Clarion each of the next two years because it was very enjoyable. I liked being on staff because it is a lot different than a traditional class at RB. You have the freedom to leave the class and get interviews at any point, and you can write pretty much any story that you please. Since I liked writing the stories as well, I’m glad that I joined Clarion.

It was definitely better than a study hall.

 The regular season started off slowly with the Blackhawks losing three of their first four games. No worry, said most Blackhawks fans, this slow start was just a small championship hangover that would obviously be cured with the Blackhawks’ skill. As the season progressed, it became evident that not only were the Blackhawks not the same team as last year, but that they would need to fight to make the playoffs. Going into the last game of the season, they still hadn’t secured a spot in the playoffs. It took a loss by the Dallas Stars on the final night of the regular season to push the Hawks into the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

In the playoffs, the eighth seeded Blackhawks had to face the top-seeded and President’s Trophy winner (most points) Vancouver Canucks. These Canucks were not the same team that the Blackhawks had beaten the last two years in the playoffs, and the Blackhawks did not come into the series with momentum like they had the past two years. The Canucks showed this by taking the first three games in the series. Led by goalie Roberto Luongo and an aggressive defense, the Canucks shut down the Blackhawks offense and held Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews to just four assists combined with no goals scored.

But Games Four and Five brought hope to all Blackhawks supporters. They not only beat the Canucks in both games to bring the series to 3-2, but they won in blowout fashion. The Hawks took Game Four by a score of 7-2 and then shutout the Canucks by a score of 5-0 in game 5. In both games, the Canucks had to pull Luongo because of the onslaught of goals by the Blackhawks, but backup goalie for Cory Schneider did not fare much better. Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith provided most of the damage in Game 5 with two goals apiece.

In Game 6, the Canucks decided to bench Luongo and go with Schneider. But after Michael Frolik scored a penalty shot goal, Schneider cramped up and Luongo had to enter the game to the Hawks fans yelling “Lu” mockingly. Ben Smith scored the biggest goal of his career in overtime on a rebound and the Hawks guarenteed a Game 7 and showed that the Blackhawks are the team that most fans believed they would be from the start.  

Now the series goes to Vancouver for Game 7 tonight at 9:00 Chicago time and the Blackhawks definitely have the momentum. But they do have history working against them. In the NHL playoffs, only three times in the playoffs (1942, 1975 and 2010) has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. If the Blackhawks continue to play like the defending champs, they could become the fourth team to achieve this feat.

“This 4 x 800 relay team could be the best ever at RB. If we don’t go to state, it would be a disappointment,” said Amaya. 

Replacing McDonagh and Lyson are juniors Travis Treviso and Chris Dziagawa. It is evident that they are more than capable of filling in as the relay team broke the conference indoor record in the process at Glenbard South. They finished with a time of 8:50.10, which beat the second place finished by nearly ten seconds.

There are standouts for the Bulldogs in other events. Since the Glenbard South Invite, the Bulldogs have competed in meets at Lemont and in the Gary Johnson Bulldog Relays at RB. Jayson Kerber does the high jump for RB and was good enough for second at Glenbard South, and won the high jump at Lemont. Buttimer was also second in the individual 800 at Glenbard South.

Other individuals who should be strong this year include senior George Smith (200 meter) and junior John Kingzette.  The 4 x 400 should also be able to compete for first place in conference. Both Buttimer and Amaya are part of this relay and are able to run the quarter mile under 55 seconds. 

As for the team’s chances, Amaya is optimistic. “We should have a good team overall, too, “ he said.

At the first meet at Glenbard South, the team finished second to Glenbard South. Glenbard South had 199 points and RB finished with 85 points as six teams competed in the meet. At Lemont, the Bulldogs finished a modest fourth out of seventh team and they also had a good showing at the RB invite, despite several juniors missing to take the ACT. The Bulldogs finished fifth out of ten teams.

The team is coached by Tim Olson, Gary Johnson, Tim Brasic and Larry Forberg. The captains for the 2011 boys’ track team are Amaya, Buttimer, Treviso, John Schraidt, and Joey Malone. Malone and Treviso are both juniors, while Amaya, Buttimer, and Schraidt are seniors.

After several long discussions, a few tears shed, and plenty of controversy, a new sport has been added at Riverside-Brookfield. Poker is the name of the game and it is going to be a sport, not a club.

Poker will be considered a winter sport and will have all of their games played in the main gym. It is a cut sport and from the looks of it, there will be a lot of competition to make the team. At the meeting to determine whether poker would be a sport at RB, exactly 1000 kids showed up, and all appeared determined to get poker to be a sport. Once the administration saw the how many students showed up, they immediately gave in to the demands. All of the one thousand kids say that they will try out in the winter of the 2011-2012 school year.

Even several kids from local schools such as Nazareth and Lyons Township were at the meeting because those schools don’t yet have poker teams. One student for a local high school said he would transfer now that RB got a poker.

The coaches have not been selected yet, but the administration says that they want the varsity head coach to have experience in the World Series of Poker, preferably having finished in the top five in a competition.

The addition of this poker team has not made everyone happy, though. Coaches of winter sports such as basketball, swimming, and wrestling are angry because nearly every star player has decided to try out for poker. The rosters for these other winter sports will most likely be made up of rejects from the poker team. The basketball coaches are especially mad because the poker matches will be held on Friday nights in the main gym. This means that the basketball home games will be held in the East gym or the field house. The enormously popular Sixth Man has also decided to stay in the main gym to cheer for the poker team, meaning that the crowd at the basketball game will plummet.

The winter sport coaches aren’t the only people angered by this. The class of 2011 is mad because they won’t be able to compete on the poker team because they are graduating. Several seniors are contemplating failing on purpose, so that they would have to come back as super-seniors, just so that they could try out for the poker team in 2011-2012.

One senior that is especially mad is 6-9 standout basketball senior Alex Dziagwa. He is going to college for basketball, but he swears that poker is his pastime. “I’m mad that they waited until I graduated to start a poker team. I would have quit basketball in a second to join the poker team. Every match I would wear my orange vest and it would be unstoppable,” he said.

More controversy is sure to follow until the team is finally selected in November.

The baseball and softball teams both finished last year losing in their sectional championship. Both teams will try to take the next step in advancing further, despite losing some key graduates. The softball team was ranked in the top ten in the area for much of last year, so expectations are high. The baseball squad also has high expectations, with their tryouts and early practices being held at 5:30 in the morning. All-time RB single season batting average Matt Scott record holder graduated so the Bulldogs need a big bat to fill the number three spot in the batting order. 

As for the girls’ and boys’ track teams, they both return a lot of key members. The boys’ team has several runners coming back that ran in the state meet. Alex Amaya and Keegan Buttimer were on last year’s 4 x 800 meter relay team and are seniors this year. Amaya and Jason Pomey (now a senior) were both on the 4 x 400-meter relay team that went down state. Two girls went down state last year for the girls’ track and field team: Alexis Adams (graduate) and Brenna Mossman (now a senior). Adams took third in state in the discus and Mossman took 12^th. Look for Mossman among others to make it to Eastern Illinois for state in 2011.

The boys’ volleyball team holds tryouts a week after most spring teams, but this is most likely because they don’t play a game until they open against Morton on March 24. They have a strong schedule with plenty of games against bigger schools. The Bulldogs have games against OPRF, Hinsdale Central, and Hinsdale South, in addition to the teams they will face at tournaments during the season. This schedule should help the volleyball team in the playoffs.

The other spring sports at RB that started February 28 include boys’ and girls’ water polo, badminton, girls’ soccer, and boys’ tennis. These  are all no cut sports for spring excluding girls’ soccer.

Did Boozer deserve this reaction? He isn’t Lebron James returning to Cleveland in a Miami Heat jersey, and it was pretty obvious that he was going to leave as a free agent. Most of the animosity towards Boozer came from him missing 138 games during his stint in Utah, including the final game of the 2010 regular season, which would have improved their playoff seed if they had won. Fans thought he could have played through some of those injuries because none of them required surgery of any kind.

I think each case of a player returning to face his former team should be treated differently. Fans get too emotional over a player’s return and tend to forget what that player did for several years. The Lebron case is an exception because James handled things pretty poorly. Boozer, on the other hand, had a little bit of a rocky ending, but that does not cancel out his six years in Utah. When he was playing there, the Utah fans could not question his effort and production for the Jazz. Since he had been an all-star in Utah and that’s where he became a star in the league, it was hard for the fans to let go.

It is obvious that role players that return to their former teams do not get the same reaction as Boozer in most cases. This was apparent when Bulls reserves and former Jazz members checked into the game for the first time since their departures. Ronnie Brewer entered the game in the first quarter to loud cheers that seemed even louder when contrasted with Boozer’s entrance. Kyle Korver received the same reception when he checked in during the second quarter. The fans were not as attached to these players, so that is why they were welcomed when they came back. 

Each scenario of a player returning to face his former team is different, and Boozer should not have gotten booed. He looked bothered by it during the game as he was forcing shots at times. He finished with 14 points and six rebounds on just 6 of 16 shooting. The Jazz fans apparently got what they wanted, though the Bulls won in the end. Boozer deserved a better reunion, especially as a long time Jazz star.

 The Fighter will get compared to Rocky like all boxing films do, but in reality they are two completely different stories. The Fighter takes place in Lowell, Massachusetts and tells the story about about two professional boxing brothers, Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) hand Dicky Eklund (Christian Bale). Ward is a struggling welterweight boxer being managed by his brother and his mom. But his brother has trouble balancing the training of his brother with his crack addiction. Ward and his girlfriend (Amy Adams) continually struggle with Ward’s mom and brother influence on him as they keep getting him into bad fights. Meanwhile, Eklund continues to miss training sessions. Ward has to face the decision of picking a new trainer or staying with his family, and Eklund has to deal with numerous arrests and an HBO documentary about his past boxing heroics and current crack addiction.

Wahlberg is the main character and plays the boxing part very well. He spent four years getting in incredible shape to play this part and even had the real Micky Ward on set to critique his acting to make sure he was as realistic as possible. Though Walberg was impressive, Christian Bale clearly stole the show. Evidence of that is the fact that he won Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globe Awards and is nominated for the same award at the Academy Awards. His impersonation of the real Dicky Eklund is spot on. At the end of the movie, they show a conversation between the real-life Ward and Eklund. It is incredible at how similar Bale gets to talking and acting like Eklund does.

One criticism of The Fighter is that the decision that Ward faces about whether or not he should pick a different trainer or stick with Dicky and his family drags on for too long. Ward’s girlfriend is constantly trying to convince him to ditch his family and follow his dreams. On the other hand, his family wants him to dump this “bad influence”. This conflict drags on throughout the movie and doesn’t end until the end of the movie.

Overall this movie receives an 8.5 out of 10. It’s hard to argue with the fact that The Fighter is up for several Oscars, including Best Picture, and the only reason that it doesn’t get a top rating is because it was not perfect.

The wellness center features 40 cardiovascular machines: 10 treadmills, 10 bikes, 10 ellipticals, and 10 stair-climbers. The machines are made by Life Fitness and all are in good condition.

The membership for the wellness center will cost $30 for district residents and $50 for those who live out of district. The membership is a six-week offer that goes through February 17, 2011. However, the Wellness Center is only open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday between 6:00- 8:00 PM for adults.

The Wellness Center is an affordable option for district residents. The membership for the YMCA in LaGrange is $40 per month (excluding fee for joining) and an LA Fitness membership costs $9.95 per week. These gyms do offer more equipment, but for cardiovascular equipment, the Wellness Center is a good financial option.

Students are still welcome to work out before or after school in the Wellness Center for free with their student I.D, so this offer is pretty much just for adults.  To sign up for this fitness experience, people that are interested can go to the RB school website (www.rbhs208.org)  and click on the athletics page. There is information about this offer at the top and a link to sign up and pay for the membership.