Game Report: Woburn Varsity Boys Basketball January 23, 2018 Woburn vs. Stoneham

After a 4 game winning streak was snapped Sunday against Arlington, Woburn (9-3) looked to bounce back against Stoneham (3-8). From the start, it didn’t look very promising. Woburn was not boxing out and gave up too many easy second chance points. Add in some sloppy turnovers and the Spartans took a 16-11 lead heading into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Stoneham continued to out rebound the Tanners and Woburn’s defense
got worse. They were gambling too much on the perimeter and their only hope of getting the
ball back was a turnover or a missed shot. Luckily, they were able to force a few turnovers
and get some easy putbacks on the offensive end. After one of those rebounds, Matt Juko
gave Woburn their first lead at 27-26 and the game was tied at 29 at halftime.

To start the second half, Woburn and Stoneham decided it was time to put some points on
the board. The Tanners started by hitting three straight threes by Blake McDonald, Matt
Juko, and Ryan Ludwig. Just like that, Woburn had a nine point lead and seemed to be
running away with the game. But to close out the quarter, Stoneham made a few threes
of their own. When the dust cleared, Woburn led 51-47. Both teams were moving the ball
well and it seemed like we would have a game that came down to the wire.

That feeling would last for about two minutes. Woburn started to run away, hitting shot after
shot and getting stop after stop. They went on a quick 10-2 run to start the quarter headlined
by a nice block by Matt Juko that sent the crowd into hysterics. Halfway through the quarter,
Woburn had already outscored Stoneham 26-7 and it was clear Woburn would go home with
a win. The starters got some rest and Woburn would go on to win 84-58.

Even though Woburn has to be happy with a 26-point win, you have to wonder: why can’t
they play like this the whole game? The Tanners have now played a few of these games
against lower opponents where they don’t get going until late. Hopefully, in their next game
against Wakefield, we will see a strong, wire-to-wire performance.

Submitted by: Dylan Woods, Staff Writer

Game Report: Boys Varsity Basketball Winchester vs Woburn 1/20/18

Game Report: Boys Varsity Basketball

Winchester vs Woburn

1/20/18

The long awaited rivalry game between the Woburn Tanners and Winchester Sachems was
played to perfection by the team that hosted. The Sachem’s traveled over town lines and into
enemy territory into the Woburn High Gym this past Friday night and walked out with a loss.
Woburn took the lead early and never looked back in a game mostly dominated by the starters.
Four out of the five starters reached double figures in scoring. Junior guard Ryan Ludwig and
Senior captain Matt Juko putt up 16 points each while Senior guard Isaiah Cashwell-Doe and
Senior captain Blake McDonald added 12 and 10 points respectively. Off the bench, Austin
Stachowski provided a jolt of scoring hitting multiple three pointers and adding fourteen points
to the Tanner lead. The game was close after the first quarter, where Ludwig put up 7 of his
16 points on route to a 17-13 lead. Defense led the way in the second and the Tanner offense
stayed consistent enough to take a 39-26 lead into halftime. The second half wasn’t close as
Woburn stretched the lead out to 24 points. Woburn ended the game winning by a score of
78-55 improving to 9-2 on the season, a massive improvement over last year. Woburn travels
to Arlington on Sunday for a tough matchup over town lines.

Submitted by: Robert Dickey, Sports Editor

1/14/18 Boys Varsity Basketball Game Report

1/14/18 Boys Varsity Basketball

Danvers vs. Woburn

Game Report

Sunday’s boys varsity basketball game between Woburn and Danvers wasn’t much of a game at all.
The starters led the way during the first half of the game as Woburn coasted to an early first quarter
lead. Junior guard Ryan Ludwig set the tone for the Tanners as he led the way with fourteen points
mostly all of them coming in the first half of the game. Senior’s Isaiah Cashwell-Doe and Matt Juko
each pitched in as well as Cashwell-Doe had eleven points and Juko added a few key rebounds
and blocks. The Danvers team looked lost on the court with Juko controlling the paint on defense
and a quick Tanners offense that couldn’t miss from the three point line. Woburn had a 39-19
lead going into the third quarter which only widened thanks to the spectacular bench play.
Junior guard Kyle Bennett and freshman guard Dylan McLaughlin led the team off the bench.
Dylan rounded out the top three in scoring with ten points all coming in the second half of the
game. Woburn as a team ended the third quarter with thirty points to their name and a 69-35 lead
over a hopeless Danvers team. The final score ended in a 89-51 blowout. The 44 point win was by
far the largest margin of victory even for a successful Tanners team. On Friday, the Tanners host
the Winchester Sachems in a rivalry game at 7:00. Large crowds of anticipation are expected as
the game looks to be much closer than the one against Danvers.

Submitted by: Robert Dickey Sports Editor

H&M promotes themselves with potential racism, celebrities respond

Clothing retailer H&M is facing extreme backlash ever since they uploaded a new item to their website-
a sweatshirt that read “Coolest monkey in the jungle” modeled by a black child. There are always two
sides to every story, but in this situation, there is more of one opinion than the other.

There is a deep and dark history behind the word monkey, and we aren’t talking 100% about the animal. Monkey is used
as a racial slur. The slur “monkey” is derived from the slur “porch-monkey,” which according to Urban Dictionary, is a
“slang [word] originally held to highlight the segregation-induced laziness of negroes in pre-civil rights era America.”

The fact that a black child was pictured modeling the sweatshirt on H&M’s US and UK websites is what brought
up all of the backlash. This image passed by many editors, writers, and other workers of H&M and nobody
seemed to realize the “mistake.” The image, pictured below in a screenshot from singer The Weeknd’s Twitter
account, passed by numerous people and was published, while no one realized the issue at hand with the image
and sweatshirt.

After the image surfaced, celebrities such a G-Eazy and The Weeknd were sure to use their high social platforms
to spread awareness of the situation. On instagram, G-Eazy (@g_eazy) posted a mock picture of the original
image posted with this caption:

Over the past months I was genuinely excited about launching my upcoming line and collaboration with
@HM… Unfortunately, after seeing the disturbing image yesterday, my excitement over our global campaign
quickly evaporated, and I’ve decided at this time our partnership needs to end. Whether an oblivious oversight
or not, it’s truly sad and disturbing that in 2018, something so racially and culturally insensitive could pass by
the eyes of so many (stylist, photographer, creative and marketing teams) and be deemed acceptable.

I can’t allow for my name and brand to be associated with a company that could let this happen.

I hope that this situation will serve as the wake up call that H&M and other companies need to get on track and
become racially and culturally aware, as well as more diverse at every level.

Also commenting on the situation is singer/songwriter Abel Tesfaye, also known as The Weeknd. On his twitter
(@theweeknd) Tesfaye posted a reaction tweet to the H&M scandal.

(Source: @theweeknd on Twiter)

H&M issued an apology through their email and on their website. Sadly, the “sincere” apology has been taken down from
the group’s website since. Part of the apology issued,  “To all customers, staff, media, stakeholders, partners, suppliers,
friends and critics. We would like to put on record our position in relation to the image and promotion of a children’s
sweater, and the ensuing response and criticism. Our position is simple and unequivocal – we have got this wrong and
we are deeply sorry.”

Overall, the issue presented by H&M is a huge eye opener for the whole nation. Through this possible mistake,
people across the country and the world have been exposed to the possible racism within the post and have
equally expressed their deep opinions.

Submitted by staff writer Emily Correia

Edited by blog editor Amy Salvati

Boys Varsity Basketball Game Report 1/9

The Woburn Varsity Basketball team rolled into Reading coming off a tough loss 69-67 against
Belmont a week ago. Still, at 5-2, the Tanners had the record advantage against Reading.

In the first few minutes, it looked like the Tanners were going to drop their second game in a
row. Woburn came out sluggish on defense; Reading was moving the ball at will and hit their
first three threes to start the game to open a 11-2 lead. But for the remainder of the quarter,
Woburn managed to find some points and went into the second quarter down 16-10.

The second quarter was all Woburn’s. After a week off, they started to get back any momentum
or energy lost. Off the bench, it was Matt Walusimbi drawing a charge on defense and making
a three on offense to spark a run. Then, starters Isaiah Cashwell-Doe and Ryan Ludwig made
excellent plays in transition after numerous steals by the entire defense.  Reading could not
move the ball nevermind score. Woburn took a 32-22 lead going into halftime after outscoring
the Rockets 22-6 in the second period.

In the third quarter, the Tanners came out a little sluggish again. They allowed Reading back
into the game with sloppy turnovers and missed layups late in the shot clock. Thankfully, the
Rockets were not able to take advantage and still trailed 43-38 at the end of the third quarter.
If Woburn was playing a better opponent, they probably would have given up a big run.

If a stretch could define this entire game, it was the start of the fourth quarter. No one scored
until halfway through and the teams combined for what seemed like twenty turnovers. The
scoreboard operator must have fallen asleep and lead stayed around five for the entire quarter.
Down the stretch, it was senior Matt Juko who made sure Woburn would keep their lead. He
had two blocks and five points in a two minute stretch late in the fourth. While keeping four
points away from Reading and adding five to Woburn, the Tanners were able to come away
with the win 52-46. Ryan Ludwig led the team in points with 15 and Woburn improved to 6-2
on the season. Their next game is against Danvers on Sunday at 12:00.

Submitted by Dylan Woods, Sports Writer

Girls Basketball January 9th Woburn vs Reading

Coming off a game that got snowed out against Arlington, the Tanners looked past that and played an important conference game last night against the 3-3 Reading Rockets which was a solid game for both teams that saw the Tanners pull away with the win (61-54). The Tanners came into the game with a lot of defense that caused the Rockets score 54 points. The youth of the Rockets seemed to be their downfall as the team consists of six sophomores and three freshman I’m sure Reading will be able to improve in that area as the season goes on as the more they play the more experience they will get. This is also obviously a good thing for the further though as they will look to be threats to the Tanners in the upcoming years. The Tanners will look at keep up their dominance as they head into Winchester on the 19th for their next game. The captains will need to rally the team together and not get down if things begin to slip up in order to win the game in Winchester.

Submitted by Jack Raithel, Sports Writer

Star Wars Episode VIIII : The Last Jedi A review and a comment regarding dashed expectations

Star Wars Episode VIIII : The Last Jedi

A review and a comment regarding dashed expectations

At 2 hours and 35 minutes, the latest addition to the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi is the longest movie in the franchise to date, and many claim that it may be the funniest. With a budget of 200 million USD, director Rian Johnson had room to play with his comedic scripts and gain access to some of the best visual effects artists and gadgets in the world.

This new film follows Rey, played by Daisy Ridley along with Luke Skywalker, played by the infamous Mark Hamill on their journey to save the Rebellion from the First Order. As Rey attempts to gain Luke’s trust, and essentially become his apprentice or Padawan and learn the ways of the Force as a Jedi in order to learn more about her powers and about herself as well as get him to join her in the Rebel Alliance.

Dialogue between Ben Solo, better known as Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver and Ridley’s character grows and fans get a new look into the internal conflict between Kylo’s light and dark side. Fans also get a look into why Kylo turned to the dark side and how Luke had a hand in it.

Viewers see Kylo fight for power with General Hux of the First Order, played by Domhnall Gleeson. The two bicker with one another like children giving the duo a sibling like relationship and this really shows as they strive to gain affection and acceptance from Supreme Leader Snoke, played by actor Andy Serkis.

The First Order goes head to head with the Rebel Alliances dwindling forces lead by Princess Leia Organa played by Carrie Fisher and Poe Dameron, the witty Rebel pilot played by Oscar Isaac. In this film many were pleased to see a new side of Princess Leia that had never before been shown to the audience.

While Leia and Poe are on the run from the First Order, Finn the defective Stormtrooper turned Rebel hero, played by John Boyega, is on a mission to get inside of the main ship of the First Order and sabotage their mission from the inside out with his new accomplice Rose Tico a mechanic on one of the Rebel’s ships played by Kelly Marie Trans.

WARNING! SPOILERS FOLLOW!

  

Star Wars The Last Jedi leaves quite a few questions unanswered and ruins many fan’s conspiracies revolving around Rey and her backstory and lineage. Many superfans have made comments that go something like, “Our own ideas were more interesting than what they came up with”.

Some fans had ideas that maybe she was a descendant of Qui Gon considering that he was one of the few Jedi who broke the rule of staying single forever. Other fans thought of Rey as a “chosen one” of sorts, as Anakin Skywalker was, and was immaculately conceived to bring balance to the force.

These fan theories were crushed when the Last Jedi reveals that Rey’s parents were addicts and merchants and sold her off to benefit themselves, leaving her to be a slave in Jakku to Unkar Plutt as a young child.

The new installment of Star Wars leaves the identity of Supreme Leader of the First Order, Snoke, open for interpretation. Some conspiracy theorists believed that Snoke was actually Mace Windu the Jedi with the only shown purple lightsaber in the movies to date, whose arm was cut off by Anakin Skywalker as he turned to the Dark Side.

But Windu, played by Samuel L Jackson in the second trilogy was killed by Palpatine, better known as Darth Sidious, in Episode III Revenge of the Sith, or is presumed dead after being struck with Palpatine’s force lightning and thrown off of one of the top floors of a skyscraper in Coruscant.

Others believe that Supreme Leader Snoke is an entirely new character to this story and that his backstory is going to unravel a whole new side of the Unknown Universe in the Galaxy. Snoke was not affiliated with the Sith Lords as far as anyone was aware but he was definitely strong with the Dark Side.

Though Disney killed off Snoke’s character in Episode VIII, a large quantity of fans were unhappy to cut his story so short or in half… As Kylo Ren used his power with the force to cut Snoke in half with a lightsaber.

One of the most controversial topics revolving around this new film is the attitude and demeanor of Luke Skywalker. Hamill’s performance in the Last Jedi is said to be one of his best yet, but would the Luke Skywalker fans love, act in such a way as he did in episode VIII? Would he act so childish around Rey and even Master Yoda?

After so many years basically alone on an island in the middle of nowhere it may be possible that Luke’s personality would have drastically changed in the way that it did but many fans expected more out of their Jedi Knight.

Fans all over the world were rocked to watch as Luke deceived Kylo with his force projection and died from being so exhausted. Many beg the question “Why did he have to die?”, and “What does this mean for the future of the Jedi race?”.

This film also leaves open the end of Princess Leia, as Carrie Fisher died after filming for the Last Jedi was over of a heart attack. In the movie, she is blown out into space after her ship was attacked by the First Order and she is floating amongst the stars and many thought that this would have been the end for Leia but they were wong.

Many die hard fans have always wanted to see Leia use the force as she is sister to Luke Skywalker and daughter of Anakin Skywalker AKA Darth Vader but finally, in the Last Jedi, they go to see it happen. Audiences watched as Leia soared through space using the force to bring herself back onto her ship and get herself to safety and felt empowered seeing General Organa finally use the force.

It is uncertain what the writers and producers will do with Fisher’s character but she will definitely live on throughout history and continue to inspire other women to be as strong as her.