The girls have started the season 13-7 overall and are 4-1 in conference play with victories over Elmwood Park, Fenton, and Ridgewood. 

After losing a bulk of the starters from last year to graduation, Alleigh VandeMerkt and Elena Duve have stepped up their play to lead the Bulldogs. Both girls have been named Athlete of the Week because of their stellar play and leadership on the court.

Playing through a shoulder injury for the past two and a half weeks, VandeMerkt has toughed it out and continued to bring home victories for RB. Against OPRF, she had 10 assists, 6 kills and 12 digs in a huge road win.

Sophomore Amanda Lelivelt has really come on lately with her excellent play at middle hitter. She contributed with 4 kills in a victory over Elmwood Park.

The Dogs have several tournaments coming up including the Wilmington High School Fall Classic on October 8^th and the Maine West Pumpkin Invite on October 14^th and 15^th.

On the 20^th, the final regular season game, RB takes on Morton in the annual “Volley for the Cure” game. In the past four years, RB has raised over $13,000, all of which goes towards Breast Cancer research.

MVP favorite Derrick Rose had another monster night for Chicago as he scorched the Pacers for 36 points, eight rebounds, and six assists just two days after dropping a career playoff high 39 points. Rose has been critical to the Bulls success all season long, and they have won as a result. But if they want to make a serious run at a title this year, someone else on the Bulls’ roster needs to step up and make big plays.

Kyle Korver came through in the clutch again after Joakim Noah found him wide open for a baseline three-pointer with just over a minute left to make it 90-85, but throughout the rest of the game and down the stretch in the fourth quarter, Rose seemed to struggle once the Pacers started double teaming and trapping him. It appeared as if some of the other key players on the team such as Carlos Boozer were running away from the ball when Rose needed help. Rose will absolutely continue to be a serious headache for other teams throughout the postseason, but if they Bulls can’t find somebody else to take over when Rose is incapable, they are in trouble.

Still, the Bulls defense was solid as it has been all season long (the NBA’s best), and they were able to hold Indiana’s primary scorer Danny Granger to 19 points. The defensive tenacity will be the difference for the Bulls down the stretch.  They will go on the road to take on Indiana in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

The New Year’s event caused a debate on what exactly happened. It first occurred in Arkansas. Shortly afterwards, reports of avian deaths were recorded in the United States all the way to the eastern seaboard.

 Suggested explanations for this event have varied from the apocalypse to controversies of a weapon of mass destruction in the creation.

However the most convincing explanation leans towards the environment. Thousands of the same species birds died (Red wing-Blackbirds) while a thousand (drum fish) flooded the Arkansas River. This is significant because this is the first time in a while that a mass animal kill has happened near a civilian zone. Due to the rare occasion, the public felt a sense of fear, which fed to this uproar of the topic.

Environmental Science teacher, Mark Schaedel said, “The bird deaths are likely no cause for alarm. Groups of birds can die for a variety of reason, one theory is that they have been hit by planes or got caught in a storm. These cases are not that unusual. I think that the media coverage of these events has caused more people to take notice and report more sightings.”  

Whether it’s any of these reasons scientists are looking into this to decipher the true cause of this rare phenomenon.

Before the game, Madrid was in first place in the La Liga and Barcelona was trailing them a point. After the 5-0 win for Barcelona, they now lead the group with 34 points, while Madrid has 32 points. Coming into the game everyone was talking about the matchup of Cristiano Ronaldo v.s Lionel Messi. These are the two greatest players in the world and they would meet in the “El Clasico.”

The final score was 5-0 in the favor of Barcelona. This was a landslide win and everyone was shocked. Many picked Madrid to win because of their strong start to the season and how well they have recently been playing. This is definitely a game Real Madrid wants to get passed and to move on.

The first goal came in at ten minutes with Xavi Hernandez, followed by Rodriguez Ledesma at eighteen minutes. David Villa scored two goals in the fifty-fifth minute and the fifty-eighth minute. The last goal came from Suarez at the ninetieth minute.

Not only did Barcelona score five goals, but they also shut down Madrid’s offense for the clean sheet. Madrid has to carry on with their season, but they are definitely not out of the picture for the championship. They have a good chance to win the league being in second place.

“Family and friends.” –Senior Jake Johnson

“Family and friends.” SophmoreJack Gibson

“Friends and famiy.” –Sophmore Mike Hornung

“Activision, Call of Duty, Microsoft, my sister Jillian, my mom, and my dad.” –Junior Jordan Dahms

“My awesome second hour physics class.” Which was followed by rooring applause and expressions of gratitude from the class. –Science teacher Mr. Schaedel

“Family.” –Science teacher Jame Holt

“The 2011 senior class.” –Math teacher Lindsay Mynaugh

“Derrick Rose.” –Senior Sean Brennan

“Family.” –Senior John Schraidt

“My five division one offers that I turned down to get a full ride at Lewis University(Division two) to play basketball and also my mom and dad.” –Senior Ryan Jackson

“My very wonderful family, loving husband, and my three healthy children.” –Science teacher Michelle Koehler

“A great job that I love here at RB.  And I’m grateful for my beautiful grandson.” –Librarian Doreen Fritz

“David Akers.” –Senior Mike LeBeau

“Karl Marx and his teachings in Berlin.” –Senior Thomas Linehan

“Splurging and being known around the school.” –Senior Watoris Slater

“Friends and family, dogs, being a senior so I can leave this school, my art teacher Mrs. Bartelson, and giving Bryan Doyle a ride to school in the morning.” –Senior Kayle Vitek

“My job.” Fine Arts teacher Susanne Bartelson

“Doing what I have always wanted to do with my life, working with kids and coaching basketball.” –Security guard/Boys basketball coach Genes

“A successful fantasy football team, family, and no problems.” –Senior Brandon Mitchell

“The children in my room each day.” –Math teacher Steve Yurek

“Family, friends, the house I live in, and a good neighborhood.” –Sophmore Jordan Peklo

“Five day vacation.” –History teacher John Fields

“Living in Riverside.” –Freshman Christian Verdin

“I’m thankful for a job in this hard economic time, an amazing student teacher, a home for my children, and my wife.” –English teacher Tom Fuller

Now it’s time to ask yourself, what are you thankful for?

I am a huge fan a Christmas. I enjoy presents just as much as the next guy, but I think it should be celebrated after thanksgiving. I am not saying to switch your way of celebrating holidays, but give Thanksgiving more honor and respect. After all, it does feed you.

My thanksgiving was very small but I enjoyed it very much. Though being a vegetarian and not being able to eat turkey, I still ate like no tomorrow. Sitting around the table with family, eating good food and just hanging out and talking, there is nothing better. Football is always on during Thanksgiving, and to me, it is a perfect complement to such a great holiday.

Not only is the dinner tasty you have the good ol’ desert to have afterward. It could be the pumpkin pie, French silk pie, lemon squares and even those oh so delectable grandmother’s cookies. When all the commotion of making dinner and eating was done my family sat down and played quite an intense game of Apples to Apples. That is what thanksgiving is about, no different than Christmas: giving thanks for what you have and spending quality time with your family.

So though Thanksgiving has passed, be sure to tell it “thank you” next time it comes around.

“I’m looking forward to working hard and hopefully making my way up the varsity team.” said sophomore Ian O’Day.

Once November 22^nd comes around the boys will start the season and will have practices Monday- Friday from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. They will also have morning practices from 6:00 to 7:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Eventually, the meets will start which are held on Saturdays.