Keeping up with the Dallas Cowboys

So Far this season the Dallas Cowboys have kicked off their regular season with two wins and one loss. The Cowboys lost against the Jets in their first game. However,  they got back on their high horse and beat the San Fransisco 49’ers 27-24 and they beat the Washington Redskins 18-16. Tony Romo had led Dallas with great passing in the San Fransisco game which in the end led them to a win. Romo has also had a great season so far only falling short to the Jet’s. He played against the Redskins with a fractured rib and still led his team to victory despite the pain that he had to deal with.

This weekend the Cowboys are facing the Detroit Lions. In my personal opinion I think the Cowboys will have a tough game against the Lions, because the Lions have a record of three and zero. Even though I always root for the Cowboys to win, I think the Lions may have the upper hand in the game. But we will just have to wait and find out. If you can’t watch the game go to www.nfl.com for the final score or to see any other final scores you may have missed. Will the Cowboys prevail over the lions, or fall short?

~Matt Robidoux

The Canadian Bus

President Obama has very strong ideas. Some of which are put to use and others that just stay ideas. One of these ideas is that America should export more along with more manufacturing. He proposes we export cars such as Chevys, Fords, and Chryslers. Obama gave a speech in which he said these words, “ I want to see folks in Korea driving Fords and Chryslers and Chevys.” He also wants to export more goods with the words “Made in America” on them.

If a president is going to say these things, one would think he should back them up. But Obama has other plans for a new bus of his. This bus is designed to take him all over the country on his tour. However he decided to have this specialty bus made in Canada. Meanwhile he is giving speeches about how America needs to export and manufacture more. This wasn’t any old bus; it was a state-of-the-art custom security modified bus. This bus was mainly purchased by the secret service because of the way it was able to accommodate these security modifications.  It was a 1.1 million dollar purchase to Canada when that money could have been spent in America.

The controversy here is how he gives speeches about exporting and then goes and buys a bus from Canada. This is not a bad thing, but it goes against a speech he gave in Iowa. This speech entailed him presenting the crowd with the idea of cars, specifically, being exported more. Couldn’t he have bought an American bus? An American company built air force one, and he travels the world in it. He only plans to travel around the country with this big bus. By backing up his speech Obama could have probably gotten a mostly American made bus. This does not mean that every single part could have been American but more parts could have been than there are. Nothing is wrong with the bus or the purchase, but the point is that if you say something you should want to back it up. We want our country to be in a better economic situation when we are paying the bills.

~Jeff Tyrrel

Mass Hysteria

What is happening?  The Bills are 3 and 0! They increased their record to 3 and 0 after they beat the Pats in a close match this Sunday, which they won 34-31. So practically they won by a field goal. The Bills, in my opinion, have the most underrated player in the league. That player is their quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. I think the only reason why he’s so underrated is that he plays for a team like the Bills. I’m not talking about this season. I’m talking about all the seasons before. The Bills were probably the second worst team in the league. The only player that gets props on the Bills is probably Marshawn Lynch. I really think the Bills will have a breakout season.

Another team that I think will have a breakout season is from Detroit, the Detroit Lions. This will probably be the Lions best season since they became a team. They will be going all the way this year. I can just feel it in my gut. I’m a Vikings fan and even I have to say that the Lions are going to be an incredible team this year. But unlike the Bills, the Lions don’t have many underrated players. Calvin Johnson is extremely good, Matt Stafford will hit spots most Quarterbacks can’t, and you’ll see Jahvid Best zooming down the sidelines.

These were two of the worst teams in the league last year and this year I think they will be the two best teams. Good luck to both of you, hope you really do have a breakout season.

~Jacob Biafore

ALYSSA’S BIG MOVE

This personal blog is about how I have moved from Hamden schools to Cheshire. My transition in schools was hard. I miss all of my friends and its very tough to see any of them.  On the first day I was able to meet a few people. At first I thought the kids would be mean and unwilling to take me in as a friend. I felt that everyone hated me. I was very nervous and scared but I soon realized that it isn’t so bad after all. Once I started to walk around a little bit and got to know the school i felt comfortable here. The teachers are nice and they treat me like family and I don’t feel left out at all anymore. I like my new school and I feel there is more freedom here than my old school.

In my old school you’d have to have passes for where ever you went and you also had to have bathroom keys.  However the good thing about Hamden was that  there wasn’t as much homework and we didn’t have too wear uniforms for gym. I’m not very happy about wearing uniforms in gym here at Dodd.

The best part about Dodd is that we don’t have to have the teachers walk us to and from lunch. I always found that annoying in my old school. Other than that I love my classes and I think its nice here. The sad part is people will come up to me and ask me if I know somebody and I don’t know them or who there talking about. I used to know everybody in my old school and it was easy for me to get around. This is my honest and personal opinion about how I feel about Cheshire.

~Alyssa Allen

Dogs: Domestic Pets or Military Men on the Frontline

What do you think when you see a German Shepherd puppy?  “Awwwwww that’s so cute” or ”wow that dog could save lives in Afghanistan”?  Dogs are being sent overseas to sniff out bombs and other dangerous materials and many are dying in the process.  Often brutally murdered and maimed in war they lay in makeshift graves of rubble, dying to save their handler.  They are able to brave the front lines.  Recently there was a suicide bombing that killed 7 men.  Sergent Kenneth Fischer was found with his legs full of shrapnel and his dog Drak with him and also injured.  Both are expected to survive.  Fischer, 27, states “I have literally spent more time with Drak than my own daughter”.  The growth of relationships of the dogs and handlers is amazing.  There have even been times when the dogs have come out without a scratch and the military man have lost limbs.

The dogs have an outstanding connection with their owners.  The men and woman of  the K9 unit have been said to know when there dogs are catching a bomb scent or an animal scent. Other dogs are said to only respond to their owners and no one else.

These dogs are being killed in the war but at the same time saving thousands of lives.  These dogs have changed the men of the military inside and out.  Without these faithful dogs where would we be???  Most people don’t have as much as half of the courage and strength of these dogs.  So next time you see a German Shepherd puppy in the window of a pet shop think, that dog could save someone’s life someday.

~Sydney Taylor

Misconceptions About Swimming Injuries

Many people think that competitive swimming is not a dangerous sport. It’s not a contact sport like lacrosse, basketball, soccer, football, and hockey. There have been many injuries that result from swimming even though you might not interact with the person next to you.

Some of the main injury’s from swimming are overuse or repetitive stress injuries. Shoulder and knee pain are the common complaint amongst swimmers. This is from swimming the stroke wrong or from long practice sessions. Its the constant over head action that causes a problem with shoulders. The awkward rotation of ones knees during breaststroke and the up and downward kick in various strokes may cause knee injuries. Having a muscular injuries may keep swimmers out of the pool which will decrease the amount of practice time.

Recently the worst injury that was reported at Cheshire High School came from swimming. A swimmer was kicked in the head and suffered a concussion. She has been out  of the water for over 6 months, and during that time she has been out of school and will have to repeat the year. Cheshire High School is now checking every school sport, contact or non-contact for head injuries.

I think that is very smart and that they should have done this from the beginning. Concussions are very common now and extremely dangerous. An injury can result in any sport.

~Danielle Grenon

Storm of the Century

About a month ago there was a category one hurricane that hit the east coast hard. It was Hurricane Irene. This wild storm happened on August 28th, 2011.  People were preparing everywhere in case the worst would happen.  Stores were empty and homes were full of supplies.  Flooding and major winds were expected so many people were preparing.

Some places that had problems with flooding was New York. The Northern part of the city, had flooded in the Hudson River Valley and in the Catskills there were washed out roads and buildings.  In Philadelphia, several buildings collapsed after the two rivers around the city flooded. In Maryland, Delaware, and Washington DC widespread power failure affected more than a million households. But in some places people were lucky and did not lose power or have flooding issues.

In many places there was no school and for Dodd Middle School and all Cheshire Schools we had to postpone the first day of school. In my opinion its good that the first day of school was canceled because there were still many people with out power and some roads were blocked off from the branches being in the road. In my neighborhood we did loose power but for only one day, and there were many trees and branches that had blocked the street.

Hurricane Irene definitely did some damage in New England. And living in Connecticut we were lucky that it did not do as much damage as in other places.

~Danielle Grenon

Mysterious Ship, Crew Disappears

The Mary Celest was a ship who’s job was to carry 1,701 barrels of pure alcohol from New York City to Genoa, Italy in 1872. The ship had a crew of 10, including the captains daughter and wife. A week after the Mary Celest took off, another ship, the Dei Gratia, left New York on the same path. This is where it gets freaky. As the Dei Gratia was making its way to Genoa, the crew noticed the Mary Celest floating in the water. They wondered why it wasn’t in Italy already, so they took a look. The captain boarded the boat, and no-one was there. The ship had a bit of water on the decks, but was was still operational. All the papers were missing, except for the captains log-book. The compass was broken, the clock was not functioning and only one lifeboat was missing. Doesn’t it just give you the creeps.

There are many theories about what happened to the ship. Some people think pirates took over their ship, yet there was absolutely no sign of struggle, and none of the cargo was missing. Nine of the barrels were empty, so some people think there was an explosion of some kind that caused water to rush the ship. Others think it was aliens, or tsunamis but not many people believe that. I think that pirates attacked, and the crew, knowing that they had no chance, didn’t put up a struggle. The pirates set up everything to make it look like they had nothing to do with it. What do you think?

~Adam Kaszas

A Great Day for New York

The football season has finally started and the games are as exciting as ever! Now my favorite team, the New York Giants, has been sub-par the past couple of years. When I heard that Vick was going to play this week against the Giants, my heart sank. But, with the help of the amazing Giants defensive line, Vick ended up breaking his hand mid game. This was a huge turning point in the game, although the Giants were up before Vick’s incident, the Eagle offense got nowhere after it. It was a glorious day for New York, but it wasn’t over, the Jets also pulled away with a W.

In all of this excitement the New England Patriots were making a fool of the Buffalo Bills throughout the 1st quarter. But as the game progressed, the Bills mounted a comeback, and a big one. After 4 interceptions (the amount he threw all of last season) from the “glorious” Tom Brady, two of which where pick six’s, the Bills tied it up at 24-24 in the dwindling minutes of the 4th quarter. After yet another Pats turnover the Bills got the ball at the goal line with 1:57 left to play. After two knees from the Bills to run down the clock, the Patriots got a personal foul, which gave Buffalo a first down, or more time to waste. As the clock was stopped at 00:3 the Bills went into field goal formation, the 23 yard kick was child’s play for the Veteran kicker, and it sailed trough the uprights at 00:0 to end the game.

~Xavier Celestino

Remembering 9/11

If you have recently tuned into the news, you probably know about the completion of the 9/11 memorial. This memorial consists of a reflecting pool and a wall to honor the men and women who lost their lives that day. The memorial has been placed directly were the World Trade Center once stood. Specifically at Ground Zero.

Multiple commercial jets were overtaken by terrorists in the Al Qaeda group, led by Osama Bin Laden. This group targeted the twin towers and crashed the 2 commercial jets directly into the towers, which soon crumbled to the ground. 1000’s of lives were lost during that 1 attack. A small time later, another jet came into contact with the Pentagon. Which also caused the deaths of many. The last plane was rumored to have been targeting either the White House or the Capital Building. However,  the 2 buildings were saved by a few brave men aboard the plane which thrashed out at the terrorists, which I thought was amazing, then they tried to land the plane, but crashed.

Now in New york, stands the beautiful reflecting pool and the memorial wall. On the 10 year anniversary of the attack, people fill the grounds to mourn the loss of loved ones. I think that building a memorial was a great idea, because the people who died that day deserved some sort of recognition, and the reflecting pool was a great add-on. Although it may have made people feel worse because they had to remember the dreadful day, depending on the person, it is a meaningful memorial.  Overall, I do think that the anniversary project was good for New York, it made it look good, and it helped the city feel remembered.

~Alex Shoop