The unsung heroes: The Sixth Man

Football season is now over. This means that it’s time for RB to focus on its next big sports craze, basketball! The 2009-2010 basketball season is quickly approaching and hoops fever is high.

The team this year will be led by future Brown University superstar and senior, Sean McGonagill and returning junior, Ryan Jackson, who came off a sensational sophomore year. With these two players returning this year, the team looks better than ever.

Possibly more important than these two stars, however, is the RB basketball cheering section, The Sixth Man. At home games, more than 100 spirit-filled RB students yell, scream, and cheer on the Bulldogs.

“The goal of The Sixth Man is to give the team a confidence boost during the game and also get in the heads of the other team’s players, and psyche them out,” said senior Ian Robertson, who plans to lead The Sixth Man this upcoming season.

Over the years, The Sixth Man has helped the Bulldogs prevail against many difficult opponents by making their presence known.

“The Sixth Man definitely gives us a home court advantage,” said senior Forward/Guard Mark McDonagh, “every team that comes into our house knows that The Sixth Man is going to be relentless, so they start the game off with a disadvantage.”

Another thing The Sixth Man wants to bring to the table this year is not only going to home games, but games on the road too.

“Playing on the road is one of the hardest things our team has to do. Having The Sixth Man there will definitely make us feel at home,” said senior Shooting Guard Mike Hansa.

The Sixth Man has some big plans for the upcoming season. “We are going to try a lot of new and different things this season to help get our team win a state championship,” said Robertson, “we are going to use black outs, rally towels, and different costumes. Be ready for anything!”

The RB Basketball Season tips off on November 25^th at RB. The team will be there, The Sixth Man will be there…will you?

To speak or not to speak, that is the question

This past week at RB, two days of action were carried out. One of them was the Day of Silence for Pro-Life which occurred October 20th. Few students chose not to talk to try to make their point and support the pro-life cause. Minimal results happened. The second day, Day of Service, which took place October 17^th, had much better results. More than 500 students participated in the Day of Service doing random acts of service to help benefit the community.

For hundreds of years, people have been trying to get their points across in many different ways. One of the fastest growing methods is simply not talking. Days of silence are occurring in more and more schools each year, and are showing no signs of slowing down. But where are the results?

The Day of Silence, which is now in its 13^th year, is a national, student led event that brings attention to all lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender people that have been silenced due to discrimination.

Senior Emily Chapman, who has been involved with Riverside Brookfield’s Day of Silence, said, “The goal of the Day of Silence is to get people to recognize how hard it is to be who you really are, especially if you are constantly being judged or made fun of.”

In an ideal world, people would see this day, take it to heart, and do their part to help. Realistically, people do not change their opinion very easily. Just because people choose not to talk for a day does not mean it is going to change people’s minds on the topic.

Some people agree with the goal of the Day of Silence, but they do not participate because they simply don’t believe in not talking.

“I strongly believe in what the Day of Silence stands for, but I have never participated in it, and I don’t plan on it either,” Senior Ian Robertson said.

The Day of Silence’s website states that more than 8,000 schools and 100,000 students participated by not talking for a whole day. But visual results are not there. Especially since more and more acts of violence are occurring due to discrimination and harassment every year.

I would like to make it clear I have nothing against what the Day of Silence stands for. The point I’m trying to make is that I feel like there are more effective ways of getting a point across than not talking.

Get out and do something for your cause. Don’t just walk around all day and not talk.