Category: Sports

I need some help right now understanding the Gilbert Arenas case. Arenas pleaded guilty in January to felony gun possession. He pulled a gun on his own teammate Javaris Crittenton in their locker room because of a dispute over a card game.

What I don’t understand is Arenas pulled a gun on his teammate over cards. Cards really? What upsets me the most is he was only sentenced to a month in a halfway house. Is he above the law just because of his basketball skills? If this was a regular non-famous person, they’d be in jail right now serving time while Agent Zero “Arenas” is ready to get prepared for next season.

Michael Vick was in jail for two whole years and all Arenas gets is a halfway house. Yes, I understand Vick fought dogs for gambling purposes, but Arenas could have injured a human being with his actions. Vick served his time and owned up to it. Arenas served no jail time for his actions. It just doesn’t add up to me.

According to www.espn.com, Arenas was questioned about his stay in the halfway house. Each time he had nothing to say about his stay. That’s terrible. He can’t say anything positive about his stay? He can’t tell people he really learned his lesson and will never put himself in a position to get in trouble with the law again? This guy is headed down the wrong track. He still has four years left in his six-year, $111 million contract. The Wizard’s president Ernie Grunfeld said they will not trade Arenas because he is a franchise player.

David Stern- the NBA needs you to step up and put an end to this nonsense. These players are not representing sports the way they should be. Players need to take responsibility for their own actions.

By Taylor Groff and Cody Straub

King James grabs it again.

The reigning MVP of the National Basketball Association, LeBron James, will be the reigning MVP for at least one more season.

James won this year’s most valuable player award by a landslide. He had a total of 116 first place votes which was 112 more than the closest contestant, Kevin Durant.

With averaging 29.7 points per game, 7.3 rebounds per game, and 8.6 assists per game, it isn’t a wonder as to how James acquired this award.

He also carried his team, the Cavaliers, to the number one spot in the league with the best record.

Students around Penn Manor have great things to say about James.

“He is flat out amazing,” said Junior, Jessen Smith.

“He will probably win the title five more years in a row, he is amazing,” boasted Sophomore, Joey Jackson.

Even with thousands of supporters around the nation, there are still many critics of James.

“I don’t think he should have won, Durant,” said Robert Warfel.

Durant came second in the polls for first place votes for the MVP title but still lost to James by more than 100 votes.

James has proven to be an all around excellent player with his skyrocketing statistics and impressive leadership.

Now, all the King has to do is win his first championship to secure a spot as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

By Simon Zimmerman

Penn Manor Comets defeated the Solanco Mules Friday night during the first test of the season.

Although the game saw numerous turnovers, it was Penn Manor who stopped the Mules’ final drive with an interception.

The final score was 21-13.

The Penn Manor boys volleyball team was soaring through their season until Tuesday night when the team succumbed to Warwick.

With a 6-2 record before entering the game against Warwick, Penn Manor was playing really well while riding on a five-game win streak.

They took down Manheim Township, Cedar Crest, Conestoga Valley, McCaskey, and Garden Spot while on a roll.

The match was never really close. In fact, Tuesday was the only time throughout the season that the Comets were swept during a match, meaning they lost the best-of-five-game match in three games.

Penn Manor lost the first two games of the match 25-17 and the second was 25-23.

The whole match came down to a third game which was a nail biter.

With the game tied at 25, the team that scored the next two points would have won the third game of the match.

The points were back and forth, one team was leading at one point and the other team was leading at another.

This pattern continued until Warwick took control.

The score was tied at 26 when Warwick finished the Comets off with two straight kills to end the game, the match, and Penn Manor’s win streak.

Penn Manor’s next game will be a showdown against Hempfield, Penn Manor’s biggest rival and the division leader with a record of 6-1.

By Simon Zimmerman

Yellow fuzzy balls will be on the minds of five Penn Manor students Thursday.

Five members of the tennis team will be entering the Lancaster-Lebanon League tournament in hopes of bringing home a trophy to Penn Manor.

Will Shipley, Eric Clark, Faheem Gilani, Patrick Jones and Tyler Keck are the fab five that will be representing Penn Manor in the league competition.

Will Shipley, Penn Manor’s number one player, came into the tournament unseeded and drew the fourth seed from Manheim Township, Sebastian Tovi.

“Not sure, I think I’ll do alright, I played him earlier this year and lost 6-4, 6-0,” said Shipley.

Not only will Shipley be representing Penn Manor in singles, but he is paired up with Faheem Gilani to compete in doubles.

One thing Shipley may have an advantage of over other contestants is his experience in the tournament, after finishing sixth place last year.

“I think we’ll do OK as a team this year,” said Shipley.

Penn Manor’s final tally is unpredictable considering everyone but Shipley drew unseeded opponents.

By Zane Sensenig

He just continues to amaze, time and time again.

After a nail-biter win at states a few months ago, Coty Johnson went off to nationals to bring back honor to the Penn Manor name.

Although he did not come in first place, he finished in tenth, not bad for being the first Penn Manor bowler ever to make it to nationals.

Saturday April 10, 2010 may have been the most stressful and the most glorious day in Johnson’s life.

At a 50-lane bowling alley in Erie, 25 of them were occupied by bowlers of the High School Junior Bowling League.

“We weren’t even seeded.  We had to get seeded by bowling 15 games.  We didn’t get a break all day.  My pinfall (total pins knocked down) was 1856 after the 15 rounds.  I just kept going,” said Johnson.

Johnson was seeded tenth after the preliminary rounds (out of 50 total players, one from each state).

“I thought I’d finish in the middle.  I thought I’d be 20 to 25 by the end,” he said.

The tenth seed was the final seed to continue on after the preliminary rounds, almost a déjà vu experience since Johnson was the last seed to get into states and he ended up winning it.

“I qualified as the last seed possible to get into the finals.”

“I focused like I did at states.  I concentrate I guess,” Johnson said.

“I just told myself, I can do it again.”

And he did just that, bowled his way up the ladder.  He only got to his second match in the finals.

“My first round I won, the second I got beat.  I finished kind of high, 195.  It’s good but the others did better.”

As terrible as it sounds to hear that Johnson made it that far only to fall short, he remains happy with his place.

“I’m happy with eighth, of course.”

Johnson is the number one bowler in the state and now eighth in the nation. What does he have to say after all of his hard work?

“My bowling is 10 percent skill and 90 percent luck,” said Johnson modestly.

Whether 10 percent skill or not, the practices on Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday for three hours a day, have definitely paid off. Johnson said he will continue to practice to stay in tune for next year.

Johnson plans on going to West Chester University, which is fairly well known for their bowling program. As of right now, he has a partial scholarship but may have a chance to get a full scholarship. While he attends college he plans to major in sports medicine, and of course continue to bowl.

By Mike Bouder

By Sam Valentin-

Butler had a close to fairy-tale ending to its 2010 season, but it was happily ever after for Duke.

After a crushing screen on Dukes Kyle Singler from Butlers Matt Howard, Gordon Hayward was instantly freed up and put up the shot it hit the backboard as the clock hit zero the ball then hit the rim and hit the floor next as the Butler Bulldogs clock struck zero on their fairy tale.

As the Butler fans screamed “ohhhhhhh,”  there was already a dog pile of Duke players at half court.

The win for the Blue Devils wasn’t secure until after the ball shot near half court by Bulldog forward Hayward, hit the floor.

Duke won their fourth national championship Monday, all under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. He won his first in Indianapolis and now gets his fourth there, also. He is tied with Adolph Rupp for second place on the all-time list.

Kyle Singler led the “big three” and Duke in the championship scoring 19 points and grabbing 9 boards. Duke’s junior guard Nolan Smith had 13 with senior guard Jon Scheyer scoring 15 points in the win.

Butler was only 5.6 miles from their private school to Indianapolis, ensuring the stadium had many Butler fans.

Butler showed they could hang with the elite earlier in the tournament by eliminating Syracuse, Kansas State, and Michigan State. They showed it again by only being down by one at half to the skilled Duke shooters.

The teams came out and were fast paced in the first half, only starting to slow down about half way through the first half.

Most believe this is one of, if not the most, memorable NCAA basketball tournament in recent years with a great combination of upsets, underdogs and a plethora of close games.

Butler was led by sophomore guard Shelvin Mack and forward  Gordon Hayward who both had 12 points in the crushing defeat.

Butler won’t be losing many players to the draft or to graduation so look for them to make another deep run into the tournament next year.

And the always strong Duke team always expects to go deep into the tournament but they will most likely be losing Kyle Singler to the draft and Jon Scheyer is a senior, therefore dismantling their big three.

That leaves only Nolan Smith, but he too could declare for the draft. Duke will also lose senior center Brian Zoubek to graduation or to the draft and starting forward Lance Thomas, leaving maybe one starter from last year, Nolan Smith.

Duke has a strong recruiting class coming in for next year. But always expect the Blue devils to go deep.

On Easter Sunday it was finally announced that the Eagle’s six-time Pro-Bowler, Donovan McNabb, was traded to NFC East rival, the Washington Redskins. The trade now opens the door for Kevin Kolb to become the Eagles starting quarterback.  The Eagles acquired a second round (No. 37) draft pick in 2010 and a third or fourth rounder in 2011.

“He was worth more,” said Penn Manor math teacher and Eagles fan, Gary Luft.

Others believe that the Eagles decision was a good step forward.

“I think they got enough for him, I think Kolb will be a successful quarterback,” said senior TJ Richartz.

One Eagles fan thought they traded McNabb at just the right time in his career.

“I have a lot of respect for him, but he is not as good as he used to be,” said freshman Sonya Hamby.

There are some fans who think the Eagles made a huge mistake trading McNabb.

“This is a decision they are going to regret,” said sophomore Mark Raymond, “I think they are worse off without McNabb.”

Young Kevin Kolb will go into this season with only two NFL starts under his belt. In those two starts Kolb won a game and lost a game. Many have high expectations for Kolb because in both starts he threw for over 300 yards and accumulated four touchdowns.

“I’m looking forward to a fresh start with a new QB,” said Luft.

Everyone will be able to see who benefits more from this trade because the Eagles and Redskins play each other twice this season.

“I think McNabb will be more determined to beat the Eagles now,” said Richartz.

By Cody Straub and Taylor Groff

Ten years of bowling with the waxed lanes and the sounds of the pins falling, has finally paid off.

Penn Manor bowler Coty Johnson is off to nationals to compete against the best of the best from across the United States.  Fifty bowlers (one from each state) will compete in Indianapolis.

The road last traveled was not an easy feat, to say the least, for Johnson.

Johnson has been bowling since second grade and hasn’t looked back since.

“It was just for the fun of it,” said Johnson, “and then it got competitive.”

In order to compete at states you have to be at least twelfth seed or better. Johnson barely pulled off being in the tournament in the twelfth spot.

“It was a shock, I was emotional. I was packed and ready to leave,” said Johnson.

In the first round of states, Johnson beat the fifth seed. From there, he beat the fourth, third and second seed in the competition.

In the final round of the tournament, Johnson had to face an already two-time state champion. The odds were stacked against him but there was nothing to do from there but bowl the best he could and hope it would all pay off.

It did.

The final score of the game was Johnson-222 to the first seed’s score, Antonio Palangio, of 165.

“It’s a thrill, really exciting to be the best in Pennsylvania.” said Johnson

Now with a state championship under his belt, along with four 300(perfect) games, a 832-3 game-high series and more than 30 trophies, Johnson is on his walk to fame.

Johnson plans to continue to bowl in college for West Chester University.  He earned a $5200 scholarship from the PIAA youth bowling.

“I plan to go to West Chester University and bowl for them while trying to get a degree in sports med,” said Johnson.

Penn Manor’s bowling team captain is now on his way to nationals to bring back a new title.

By Mike Bouder