What’s in a Name?

                This Baseball postseason has been a story of underdogs, with teams like the Houston Astros, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs getting the chance to bring long awaited fame back to their franchise. Although the Astros got eliminated after a tough battle with the Kansas City Royals, the Cubs and Mets joined together in the National League Championship Series to battle for the NL Pennant. Ultimately, the Mets handed the Cubs the loss in a four game sweep. One player in particular though made the Cubs shrink back into their den for winter hibernation. In fact, ever since the Cubs organization was founded back in 1870, the name Murphy has given them trouble time and time again.

                The Murphy curse started in 1908, the last time the Cubs had won it all. They were owned by Charles Murphy, who supposedly started the curse when he got banned from the celebration party by the players. The team had gotten mad at him for selling World Series tickets at ridiculously high prices which made it hard for a lot of the fans to buy them, so they kicked him out. Later, in 1945, a fan and his billy goat were denied entry to one of the last World Series games the Cubs would ever play in. The goat’s name turned out to be Murphy and the Cubs ended up losing that game and thus the Series. They haven’t been it since then. They failed to make it into the postseason in 1969 when the Mets, owned by Johnny Murphy, suddenly overtook them in the standings and went on to win the World Series. Later, up 2 games to none in the NLCS again against the San Diego Padres, they lost 3 straight at Jack Murphy stadium and were denied World Series access again.  Flash forward to current day and Cubs and Mets are facing each other once again. After having a horrible season, Daniel Murphy stepped out into the cold October air and unleashed a torrent of hits and all-star defensive plays. He hit seven home runs in the first two rounds of the postseason, including  four against the Cubs. He also hit for .529 with 6 RBI and 6 runs scored, while gaining NLCS MVP honors.

                The Cubs have made a historic playoff run this season, and will definitely continue their excellence on field for the next couple of years, but this year they just had the unfortunate luck to run into the one player with the one name that has cursed them for years and years. As the famous Murphy’s Law states, “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” In the Cub’s case, as long as that anything’s name is Murphy, then it’ll go wrong and some.

Fall Sports

Joe Korn                                                                                    Fall Sports

 

As another fall passes, so does another season of Sterling’s Fall Sports and boy was it a good one.  The girls’ volleyball team won another division title, their fourth in just five years while the Boys and girls soccer each won championships for the first time in 1986. That’s 28 years of no championships and no reasons to celebrate; however, that didn’t stop Mr. Maryls or Mrs. Caracciolo because they went out this year and brought home their own individual achievements. The boys’ team captured their division, the Liberty Division, and made progress in the playoffs while the girls’ team went all the way and won the South Jersey Group II title. Meanwhile , Cross Country put together a 15 and 3 record this season and Senior Sean Macpherson won the SJ and State Group II Championships, something that no Sterling runner has done in a long time. Football continues to excel with the help of Devon Tucker, who set personal and school records this year with 1400 rushing yards. No team ever wins a championship without loss and struggles though and even if teams like the Girls Tennis and Field Hockey didn’t make the playoffs this year, they have shown great promise. First year coaches Mrs. Rella and Ms. Ehret, respectively, are trying to build up their teams and hopefully become the team that they are hoping for. Regardless of wins or losses, each team performed admirably on the field, showing great sportsmanship and respect to the other teams. Last year, we actually won the Colonial Conference Sportsmanship award. This award recognized that we play the game the correct way and that we play with class every time, win or lose.

Individually, we performed as well as we did as a whole. Over twenty of our best athletes made All Conference this year including Devon Tucker, Sean Macpherson, and Jelani James. Every year, our athletes give it their all and those twenty that made it this year are living proof of that statement. We may not be a “Haddonfield” or a “West Deptford” but we are Sterling High School and we should be proud of our teams and what they have accomplished this year. All of the athletes who took part in our fall sports did great and should be proud to be part of sterling’s athletic program. What we might lack in terms of championships or titles we make up for heart and spirit.

The Captain

Joey Korn           

Re2pect for the Captain

                Baseball might have just lost not only one of the best all-around players, but one of the most honored and respected ones as well. Over the past 20 years, Derek Jeter has solidified himself into baseball history with over 3,645 hits, a career batting average of .316 and an average fielding percentage of .975, ranking 9^th out of all shortstops still playing today. Team-mates and opposing players and managers have agreed that Jeter is a true professional and is one of the best players in this generation.

                Derek Jeter grew up in New Jersey, and was a hard worker from the start. He never gave up on things and his parents even had him sign a contract that forbid the use of the word “can’t” and any other negative words. This behavior followed him all the way through high school and into the Yankees Minor League system. He had some brief struggles in the Minor Leagues, but eventually his turn came when the starting Yankee’s shortstop got injured early in the season. He was called up and had a slower start than most, but quickly turned things around. He got his first hit and scored his first run during the second game of his career and then on Opening Day of the following year, he hit his first home run. He had also won the Rookie of the Year award that same year, hitting .314 and 10 home runs. Now being with the Yankees helped his postseason career but when they were struggling, he was most certainly not.  He earned the nicknames of "Captain Clutch" and "Mr. November" due to his outstanding play in the postseason, both defensively and offensively. He has won 5 World Series Rings and has a career .316 batting average just in the postseason alone. In the 2001 ALDS, against Oakland, the Yankees were winning by one run when Oakland got a player on first with their best hitter up in the ninth inning. He hit a line drive past the Yankees right fielder, which would’ve allowed the runner to score if not for Derek Jeter. The throw from right field throw was wild, sailing into foul territory by first base, but Jeter ran all the way form shortstop, caught the ball and flipped it backhand to the catcher in time to get the runner out. The play was dubbed “The Flip” and it made Jeter even more famous.

                Derek Jeter is one of those guys that only come around once a while and thankfully for us, he stayed around for a long time. During his twenty seasons, he’s had 14 All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. He also became the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits and finished his career sixth all-time in career hits and the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop. His fame isn’t just from his plays on the field either; he is a morally rich person and a natural born leader. He once said, “In order to be a good leader, you have to actually get to know the person. Some people you have to be gentle with and some you can be a little rough but you won’t know that until you know that person.”  Curt Schilling, former All Star said this of Jeter, “Derek Jeter has always been above the fray. As someone who's wallowed in it, 'foot-in-mouthed' it hundreds of times, said dumb things and backed up dumber ones, it's refreshing. He's shown up, played, and turned in a first-ballot Hall of Fame career in the hardest environment in sports to do any/all of the above." There are thousands more of quotes on Jeter and they all have one common theme: “Derek Jeter is one of the most respected players of any era and will go down in history.” His whole life is summed up by this one quote, "If you're going to play at all, you're out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose.” He never did either, making his family, fans, teammates and most importantly, himself proud of his accomplishments. We all salute the captain. Even though he is walking away from the game, he is leaving behind a legacy of greatness.

Tennis Article

Joe Korn                                                                                                                                                                    May 17, 2015

 

There’s no “I” in team, or is there?

                The saying “There’s no “I” in team” is the key motivation behind many sports teams’ success. Sports like baseball, basketball, or football require everybody on the team to work as one. They can’t afford to have just one player try to be the star. You can certainly have one great player but that one player has to work with everyone else on the team in order to win the game. This isn’t the case for tennis though. You try to win as a team every time you go out on the court but tennis is also about trying to win as individual. Sometimes it’s alright to look after yourself because it’s only you that’s out on that court. If all five of those “I’s” look after themselves and make sure they win, then the team as a whole will too. Tennis is a sport that blurs the lines between a team sport and solo sport.

                In high school tennis, you have a “top seven” who make up your starting lineup followed by the rest of the Junior Varsity team. There are 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd singles, with two more doubles teams. In order to win the overall match, you need to win at least three of the five individual matches. So even though you have a whole team full of players, the only thing that matters is getting three of those five players to win their matches. Now teamwork mainly comes into play with the doubles teams, because they need to communicate constantly with each other regarding who gets the ball, if they have to move back or move up, or just to support each other after they hit a bad shot. They keep each other playing, so good teamwork and good chemistry is essential at these spots. When you play singles, it’s a whole different matter. The only encouragement you get is from your coach or team. Other than that, it’s just you and your racket.

There is no team in singles, that’s why it’s called singles. You have to focus on your match only, not on how the other singles are doing, not on how the doubles are doing, not about how you had a horrible day. That’s why I like it so much; it’s up to you and you alone to win the match. In doubles, you can have a great day but ultimately lose because your partner didn’t perform to the best of his ability. In singles, you win or lose because of how you played, not how someone else did. It can be nerve wracking, stepping out onto the court and having no one to offer any type of moral support, but it’s one of the challenges you will face when you play. Once you get that under control, all you have to do is play your game. And the great part is that even if you don’t win personally, you can still win as a team.