Vol. 4, No. 9 May, 2012 SPORTS X-TREME Lafayette Elementary School Washington DC 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Update by Josh Taubman, 5JL The Stanley Cup Playoffs are the most exciting, intense hockey play of the year. After a long road only four teams remain. #3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings The Undethronables: The LA Kings had a wild end to the regular season and found themselves heading into the playoffs as an eight seed. Facing the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks in the first round they cruised, finishing them off in five games. The next round, the Kings squared off with the St. Louis Blues, a two seed, and swept them, making the Kings the first ever eight seed to knock off both a one and two seed in the same playoffs. For the Western Conference finals, they will play the Phoenix Coyotes and LA can continue to roll right to the Dustin Brown Stanley Cup for two reasons. One is the goalie, Jonathan Quick. He isn’t the most exciting name, but he never quits and is always willing to sacrifice, which is a big reason why he’s 8-1 in the post-season. He has been lights out with a .949 save percentage and a goal against average of 1.55. A second reason is the work of Dustin Brown. He is the captain of this team, and rightfully so, because he has been playing with royalty. He leads the team in goals and assists and was the spark to this charge the Kings are having. Prediction: The Kings came to the playoffs hot off the press and if they stay this way, the Cup is taking the throne. Howling at the Cup: The three seed Phoenix Coyotes were known for being first-round playoff failures. Well, that was then because now the ‘Yotes are four wins away from heading to play for the team’s first-ever Stanley Cup. In Inside the first round, they beat the Chicago MLB First Place Teams....2 Blackhawks in six games, and in the Chilean Horse Jumping....2 Western semis, the Coyotes dropped one of the Cup favorites, the Nashville Big Business of Sports.....3 Mike Smith Predators in five games. Now with the NBA PLayoff Update........4 Conference final with the Kings coming Track End Great Season...5 up, the ‘Yotes success so far, the play of their goalie Mike Smith will have to keep it up. Smith is underrated, but playing like an MVP with a goals against NBA Playoff Injuries..........5 average of 1.77 and a save percentage of .948. Although Quick’s numbers 2012 Olympic Games......6 are slightly better, a lot more pressure is put on Smith because of their lack The Best NFL Draft..........6 of offensive production. Prediction: Although defense wins championships, if the Coyotes can’t get lots of pucks to the back of the net, then it looks like O’s/Nats Beltway Battle...8 the Kings aren’t the easiest prey to catch. Cont’d on p.71 MLB First Place Teams by Aaron Rosenthal, 5JL Power Rangers-The Texas Rangers have surged throughout the beginning of the season to lead the American League West. They are 26 and 17 and are demolishing the remainder of their division. With Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton both swinging hot bats, they have a combined 22 homers and 70 RBIs. The Rangers look to cruise through the rest of the regular season. O Yeah!-The Baltimore Orioles lead the American League East, THE BALTIMORE ORIOLES LEAD THE AL EAST! They!re amazingly 27 and 16. Their pitching staff is holding steady and their offense, compared to last year, is blowing people away. These Birds are cleared for take off. Battle Cry-The Cleveland Indians are off to another fantastic start. They have surprised the baseball world once again. They are 23-18 and in first in the American League Central. They have a team OBP of .338, seventh in the league and have a run total of 179, 12th in the league. The Bold and the Braves-The Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals are in an extremely heated race for first in the National League East. The Braves are currently 26-17 and in first place, but that could change given the Nats! surprisingly strong start this season. Soaring Red Birds-The St. Louis Cardinals, defending World Series champions, are leading the National League Central. Other teams are finding the Red Birds offense to be excruciating. They are third in runs, second in batting average, second in OBP, and third in slugging. The Cards are soaring. Dodging Trouble-The Los Angeles Dodgers are 29-13 and out in front in the National League West. Led by the dynamic duo of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, their offense is surging and blowing many other teams away. Reigning NL Cy Young winner, Clayton Kershaw, leads their rotation and their staff is nearly untouchable. The Dodgers look to rocket into the playoffs. World Sports: Chilean Horse Jumping by AJ Branton 5JL Ever since the 1902 Paris Olympics, equestrian sports--sports that have to do with horses--have been featured in the summer games. Show jumping is one of the most popular events. Equestrian sports are very important in Chile because a lot of the labor is done with horses. Horse jumping is one of rural Chile’s big sports. There in 1949, a horse named Huaso set the high jump world record. Ridden by Chilean Captain Alberto Larraguibel, on February 5, 1949 in Viña del Mar, Chile, Huaso jumped 8ft. 1in (2.47 m). Huaso’s record remains unbroken, making it the longest-running, unbroken sports record in history (63 years as of 2012.) 2 The Big Business of Sports by Jonathan Barnes, 5N There is much more to sports than just playing a sport or watching an event. So, if you have a love for sports, but you are not able to become a professional athlete, have no fear. There is hope. There are many ways that you can still be involved in sports. Professional sports is a big business. Professional leagues and associations make money by sales of concessions, tickets, and team paraphernalia. Corporate advertisers of events and sponsors of stadiums, like the Pepsi Center in Denver, pump money into the World’s Most Profitable Sports professional leagues. In ascending order, the top profitable sports are: There are many jobs within the business of sports. Athletes are Professional League Annual Gross Earnings not the only ones who can make (in millions of US $) money from sports. The Sports Business Journal reports that the National Basketball League 207 Commissioners of the sports leagues are also well paid. David Formula One** 435 Stern, Commissioner of the NBA, is paid by the league owners. There Major League Baseball 496 was talk that Stern was paid $23 million in 2010, but there is no English Premier League (soccer) 513 written public report of the exact amount that he made. The last National Football League 984.5 public report showed that he made ** Organization that runs races such as Grand Prix. $3.5 million in 1990. Bud Selig, the Commissioner of MLB made $18.35 million in 2007, which included a base salary of $17.5 million. The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell, made $9.89 million in 2010, and he is not the highest paid executive in the NFL. That would be Steve Bornstein, the head of the NFL Network, who earned $12.65 million. Other sports executives earned a lot too. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman made $7.2 million during the 2008-2009 season; MLS Commissioner makes $3 million and PGA Tour Commissioner makes $5 million. Exclusive Interview: I had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Solomon about the business of professional sports Meet MLB Executive and learned that he did not start out knowing that he would work in sports. At first, Mr. Solomon thought Jimmie Lee Solomon that he was going to play sports. When he could not fulfill his dream of being a professional athlete, he Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB Executive Vice decided to go to law school instead. He attended President, Baseball Development, was a standout in Harvard Law School, practiced law in Washington, athletics at Dartmouth College and found his way D.C. and later became a partner at a law firm. into the business of professional sports. He has However, Mr. Solomon decided that he did not like been at MLB since 1991. He has held several being a lawyer and wanted to try to transfer his positions such as running the minor league, education to the sports world. He then joined MLB. overseeing minor and major league operations, Many jobs make professional sports run. In including international operations, as well as partial his work, Mr. Solomon deals with accountants, responsibility for on-field discipline and facilities, lawyers, secretaries, announcers, broadcasters, responsibilities for umpires, and youth and facilities athletes, trainers and technicians. There are many development. Now, Mr. Solomon works to develop jobs that you can do in the sports field. Lawyers opportunities for players from all walks of life to play negotiate contracts; analysts discuss the baseball. This includes building new youth baseball broadcasts; marketers sell team shirts, and civil academies and telling the history of baseball, engineers design the stadiums. Which job would including its involvement in the Civil Rights you like? --Jonathan Barnes, fifth grader movement. 3 NBA Playoffs Round 2 by Adin McGurk, 5JL Editorʼs Note: Itʼs hard for a monthly paper to be up to date in the NBA playoffs.