By Isaac Kushner

The 2024 All Star weekend in Indianapolis this past weekend left many fans disappointed. These most recent all star games and events have definitely got less competitive and boring to watch. Starting off with the skills competition there were people shooting with their off hand, walking through the event, and just no energy being put into the players performance. The skills competition is made up of three different challenges and could be more depending on tiebreakers. This weekend there were only three starting with the first where players had to make a pass through a ring, dribble to the other side of the court and make a floater, make a corner three on that side, then dribble back to the other side and finish with a layup or dunk. This was the worst event by far and it didn’t get much better as the night went on. 

The dunk contest was the worst it’s been in recent years. It’s not much of the players’ faults, the fans are used to seeing people like Michael Jordan and Vince Carter compete, so seeing two players from the G League competing is a little disappointing. The judges don’t help much either. They don’t give some dunks the rating they deserve and they kind of ruined the contest this year. An easy fix to the dunk contest is to make bigger name players compete. Faces of franchises instead of G League players would be much more exciting. 

The three point contest is hard to mess up. That was the most entertaining event this whole weekend. This year they added on a Steph Curry vs Sabrina Ionescu three point competition. The whole point was to end the debate vs the two of them on who is the better shooter. Sabrina even shot from the NBA three point line and she only lost by one shot. Her score tied with Damian Lillard who won the actual three point contest. All Star weekend has been on a downfall and the NBA needs to do something about it.

By Isaac Kushner

Bayer Leverkusen defeated Bayern Munich 3-0 this past weekend. This win at home for Leverkusen puts them five points clear of Bayern Munich and top of the table. The lights must have been a little too bright for Bayern as Leverkusen destroyed them. They had complete control of the whole game and not once did it seem like they were losing it. Manager Thomas Tuchel who’s team has won the past 11 league titles was simply outcoached by Xabi Alonso. This is a huge loss for Bayern and they will look to bounce back and try to take back authority of the Bundesliga.

Outside back Josip Stanisic got things started for Leverkusen with an early goal in the 18th minute. Robert Andrich took the ball from a throw-in and put a perfect cross into the back post. Stanisic was waiting for the ball unmarked and was able to slot it away. Leverkusen went into the half up 1-0 and knew they needed to do more. Then, in the 50th minute Alejandro Grimaldo and Nathan Tella had a link up play that put them up 2-0. Nathan Tella got the ball in the midfield and played Grimaldo into Bayern’s defensive third. Grimaldo played Tella back and he played a one touch pass back to Grimaldo through on goal. Grimaldo stayed composed and was able to place it in the top corner near post. Finally to put the nail in the coffin, Jeremie Frimpong scored in the 95th minute. Bayern goalie Manuel Nuer was out of the net for a corner that got cleared out. Frimpong took advantage and dribbled up half the field and scored on the empty net.

Many things need to happen for Bayern to overcome Leverkusen. With Bayern being the only real threat to them, they are going to need some of the other teams in the league to step up. For Leverkusen on the other hand, they need to take care of business. They control their own destiny right now so they just have to close out the season. With only 13 matches left in the season, Leverkusen can see their title hopes getting closer and closer.

By Josiah Finkler

Justin Fields is the newest quarterback to the Bears football team, and with his second season playing he is looking really good. The Bears are all about reconstruction at this point, they are trying to get new players and build a SuperBowl contending team. Justin Fields is one of the top prospecting players on the Bears team and he is getting better every day.

For example, last year the Bears went 6-11 throughout the entire season. Not very good for a football team, but this year the Bears are currently 3-5 which isn’t terrible and are looking for a spot in the playoffs as of right now. Justin Fields, who is new to the whole NFL league is looking really good this year and he is really taking charge of the Bears offense and scoring touchdowns. Although Justin has had a lot of bad games and a lot of mistakes throughout the season, he learns from his mistakes and that is what makes him a better player. He wasn’t very good last year as you can see he went 6-11 and had nearly 10 interceptions and only 9 touchdowns which two of them were rushing touchdowns. This year he has only 6 interceptions and already 10 touchdowns and the season isn’t even over yet.  Continue reading Justin Fields →

By Daniel Chiappetta

Lionel Messi is the best soccer player of all time. Messi has played professional soccer for twenty years. He holds multiple records. He has played with some of the best teams of all time. These are some reasons why Messi is the greatest soccer player of all time. 

To begin with, Messi holds seventeen records. Some of these records are 7 Ballon d’Ors (Best Soccer player in the World Award), most La Liga goals ever with 474 goals, most goals in a calendar year with 91, and Messi holds the record for the most goals and assists combined ever in history with 1,129. He has a lot more records but these are the main records. Messi is also considered the best player ever by a lot of former teammates and opponents. One of them is another all time great Ronaldinho, he said “Messi is the greatest player the sport has to offer: He is the best in the world, and there’s nothing more to be said.” This all showcases why Lionel Messi is the best soccer player of all time.  Continue reading Lionel Messi  →

By Aleks Jankovic

The NBA has recently returned for yet another season, and the Lakers team is having a very rough start. Starting the season 0-3 with terrible shooting efficiency and defense, the Lakers squad is looking like they could miss the playoffs for the second year in a row, and become a bottom tier team in the western conference.

Ever since their championship run during the 2020 bubble year, the Lakers have had trouble with 3-point shooting efficiency and having players with good shot selection. Russell Westbrook has taken a steep decline ever since joining the team, with his points per game and shooting percentage both steadily decreasing as he continues on the team. In these first three games specifically, Westbrook is averaging just 10 points per game on 28% field goal shooting, and a measly 8% from the 3-point line. Although the Lakers two main superstars, LeBron James and Anthony Davis, are continuing to put up good numbers among their games, their shot selection and low 3-point shooting percentage are just not up to standard with today’s NBA, where offense relies heavily on 3-point shots.  Continue reading Why the Los Angeles Lakers are Bombing →

By Josiah Finkler

Leo Messi is one of the best soccer players the world has ever seen. He isn’t that big of a person, but he sure fights hard on the pitch and he has shown the world that you don’t need to be the biggest player on the pitch to be the best. Messi has shown and taught the world so much from soccer, and it is every kid’s dream to once play like him in the professional leagues someday.

Firstly, Messi has 41 titles, four champions league titles, six Ballon D’Or, and many other trophies that are too long to go on about. Messi has spent most of his career with Barcelona, a Spanish football team that was always one of the better teams in the world, especially with Messi on the team. Barcelona would always be feared as they went on to win their league title for multiple years in a row and often won the title every other year. As of now though, Messi is now on PSG, a French football team with some of the best players in the world and a lot of Messi’s old teammates. Messi is 35 years old and has played the game for 17 consecutive years, and has accomplished so much for the football industry. Continue reading Leonel Messi →

By Daniel Chiappetta

The 2022 World Cup is going to be one of the best World Cups ever. This World Cup will be the last for so many legends of the game. Also this year there isn’t one or two teams that are super dominant compared to others. These are some reasons why the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be one of the best World Cups ever. 

To begin with, the 2022 World Cup will be the last World Cup for Lionel Messi, Cristano Ronaldo, and many other great players. Both Messi and Ronaldo are considered two of the best players the world has ever seen. Messi has 7 Ballon d’Ors(Best Soccer player in the World Award) and Ronaldo has 5. To add to that, neither Messi or Ronaldo have won a World Cup so if either Argentina(Messi) or Portugal(Ronaldo) win the 2022 World Cup then they would have something the other doesn’t.  This shows why the 2022 World Cup is gonna go down as one of the best ever.  Continue reading 2022 World Cup →

By Daniel Chiappetta

The Chicago Bulls are a top 5 franchise of all time. They have records and a storied history. They have had some of the best players of all time. These are just some reasons why the Chicago Bulls are one of the best franchises of all time. 

To begin with, the Chicago Bulls have the most wins in a single season including playoffs. This happened in 1995-1996 when the Bulls finished the regular 72-10 and then won the championship. The only team to beat their record of the most wins in the regular season was the Golden State Warriors, they went 73-9 but lost in the playoffs. Also the Chicago Bulls’ has had the best player of all time in Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan won 5 Most Valuable Player awards and 6 Championships. He won those championships 6 in a row. Continue reading Chicago Bulls →

By Aleks Jankovic

Year after year, Detroit shows promising potential to rewrite their failure-ridden history, and every year they fail to capitalize off of this potential, leaving myself and many other fans of the franchise distraught and ashamed. 

As of the time of writing this article, the Detroit Lions are leading the league in both offense and passing touchdowns. Their newly acquired quarterback, Jared Goff, is showing major potential in being able to lead an offense to score and reading the defense. Their games so far are always high scoring for the Lions, and they have finally found a way to be labeled as a promising franchise. However, the Detroit Lions will always find a way to squander any semblance or illusion of success that they may acquire. Detroit is dead last in defense across the league, and they have given up more points than any team in the league thus far. The Lions being #32 in defense should come as no surprise to many, since they have consistently ranked among the lowest tier for defense in past years. However, for a franchise to lead the league in offense and start their season with a 1-3 record is truly astonishing.  Continue reading The Detroit Lions Will Never Succeed →

By Daniel Chiappetta

The Chicago Bears are one of the best football franchises in the NFL. They have the historical success and the records to back it up. They have some of the best head coaches ever. This all shows why the Chicago Bears is the best franchise of all time. 

First, the Chicago Bears have the most wins ever in the NFL. They have a total of 785 wins, 612 loses and 42 ties. They have also scored the second most points ever in NFL history. The Chicago Bears have also won nine championships which is second all time. They won their championships during 1921, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946, 1963, and 1985. This all showcases how great of a history the Chicago Bears have in the NFL.   Continue reading Chicago Bears →

By Josiah Finkler

The Bears football team has had many ups and downs, but ever since the old days of the Bears, our club has fallen off and many people have made fun of and have taken the Bears as a joke. If you walk around town with a Bears jersey, normally people will make fun of you because the Bears are probably down by 30 on a Sunday afternoon, and overall it’s generally pretty rough being a Bear fan. Especially dealing with the Packer fans, there are many fights and arguments with them as the Bears and the Packer are the biggest rivalry in football. Although this year is going to be different, especially with our new quarterback Justin Fields who is currently helping us rebuild our legacy and become one of the greats once more and finally beat the Packers.

This year we have gotten a lot of new and good players that will develop majorly over time and make the Bears football team one of the best very soon. We have a lot of youngsters on the team as we have traded for picks, and we also have a new head coach so we might need some time to adjust but we should start doing better this year as last year was a disaster. Our quarterback last year was Justin Fields, but it was his first year playing in the NFL which is a big difference compared to college football. In the end, all of our first and second round picks that we have made over the past years will be worth it as we win this year’s Super Bowl and prove everyone wrong. Continue reading Da Bears Football Team →