Movie Review: Free Solo

December 11, 2018

by Alex Gehlein ’19

Sometimes what makes a documentary great is not so much the presentation of what the filmmakers have captured, but the thing itself. This can work in reverse as well, where what they might be filming is rather mundane, but proves interesting with the filmmaker’s touch (See Hotel Monterey, Sherman’s March, or Good Hair). Free Solo exists somewhere between these two sides of the genre. The thing they capture is so absurdly interesting that you can’t help but enjoy watching it, but the presentation of the actual climb is a bit lacking. Contrast this with its portrayal of the real life of Alex Honnold, and the personal circumstances surrounding the climb, which exists on that other side of the documentary spectrum. Your interest is maintained throughout because the filmmakers know how to make the more mundane things interesting, and have a subject that you can’t take your eyes off of no matter how it’s presented.

Now I can’t exactly blame them for the way the climbing is captured. Free Solo is a new documentary by Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, which follows Alex Honnold, a professional climber, as he attempts to summit the face of El Capitan in Yellowstone, without a rope or harness. The danger in getting to close is that if you distract Alex too much, he could die. A clunky camera in his face could easily pull Alex’s attention off the task at hand and cause him to plummet to his death. So I don’t really subtract any points for how they filmed the climbing.

Alex is a fascinating character. A brain scan during the film reveals that his amygdala doesn’t work in the same way as most people. He doesn’t feel fear like we do, which probably explains the climbing. He is emotionally detached and focused only on free solo climbing, which prompts the question, how does he function normally? That is the first half of the film. We see Alex scouting the summit, doing practice runs and training, all while developing a relationship with his new girlfriend. We see how he functions, grow to like him, and are emotionally invested by the time he makes the climb.

And the climb is fascinating. The way he approaches it is like a dance, practicing choreography for months on end, storing up every little detail of the mountain in his mind before taking a shot at the climb. It’s not really possible to put this section perfectly into words, but it is terrific despite the safety precautions in filming. It’s something you’ll just have to see to believe.

The last forty minutes of the movie are amazing, but they’re made even better when you grow to love Alex through the first hour of the film. His way of seeing things, his energy, his optimism, they’re all infectious, and by the time he’s started the climb you’re rooting for him like Rudy, Rocky, or Randy “The Ram.” What makes it even more impactful is that it’s real.

9/10

Weekly Update – December 9, 2018

December 10, 2018

This week, we have Christmas in Our Community, which means we get to serve the less fortunate in our community and eat 10 times the serving size of Christmas cookies we should. Okay, maybe that last part is just me.
Here’s the sports section and an update from Science Olympiad and Speech and Debate.

Hockey: The Wildcats bussed to Michigan and picked up two wins over Hartland (defending D2 stars champions) and Brighton (2X defending state champions). Friday, Michael Boehm and Alex Bilardo scored as the Cats beat Hartland 2-1. After trailing 3-0, the Cats came back to beat Brighton 4-3 in OT. Boehm (2nd goal and OT winner), Greg Langermeier, and Joey Trobenter scored. Benny Savarino picked up his 50th career win Friday. Cats head to Shady Side Academy for a two game set this weekend.

Bowling: The Wildcats felt the struggle this weekend. With juniors out of commission Saturday due to ACTs, the Wildcats struggled in league play, getting swept by Olmsted falls. Sunday the cats were back to the full 7, but fell short of placing at Nordonia High School’s tournament. This weekend the cats continue league play Saturday, and will bowl in Padua’s tournament Sunday.

Wrestling: The Wildcats competed at Independence high school this past weekend. Johnny Novak took 1st. Patrick McGraw took 2nd. Matthew Whipkey took 4th. The team took 16th out of 33.

Swimming/Diving: The Swimming and Diving team had a successful weekend as they hosted the Viking Invitational. Daemyen Haywood took second in the 100 free while Nicholas Hong got second in the 100 breast, the 200 free relay placed 4th, and the 400 free relay placed 5th. Meanwhile, Sophomore Tyler Hong swam at Junior Nationals in North Carolina. The team will face Upper Arlington and Columbus St. Charles this weekend.

Basketball: The basketball team won against the Cleveland Heights Tigers this weekend 61-59. Kevin Davet had 11 points and Chase Toppin had 10.

Science Olympiad: The Science Olympiad team competed at Sylvania Northview on Saturday against 45 teams. Forensics – 4th Place (Tyler Cox, Andrew Passow), Herpetology – 6th Place (Sam Pike, Anthony Bogar). If anyone is interested in participating in Science Olympiad, go to room SC308 any day after school this week for information.

Speech and Debate: The Speech and Debate team split and competed in two different tournaments this weekend. Congratulations to senior Prester Pickett II, who received his fourth bid to the State tournament at Poland High School on Sat and has automatically qualified to compete at States in March. Congratulations also to Alex and John Daoud, who finished fourth at Poland. The debaters competed at Vermilion, where Sam Navacruze and Matt Conway finished third and earned their first bid to the state tournament. Four bids means automatic qualification for States. Very good work by everybody.

Give me a second to think of something.
John Libertin

Preview of the Preview of the Week: Check the actual email for details regarding the events below.

Monday: Jazz Ensemble/Steel Drum Ensemble performance (Breen 7pm)
Tuesday: Gonzaga Society meeting
Wednesday: Percussion Ensemble/Symphonic Band performance (Breen 7pm)
Thursday: College Counseling Brown Bag Lunch, A Cappella Christmas Concert (Breen 7pm)
Friday: Christmas in Our Community

The future looks bright for Wildcat Football

December 8, 2018

By Bobby Gerome ‘21

First Energy Stadium was full of life on a cold, rainy day for Wildcats fans on October 27. The football team took on the St. Edward Eagles in a historic rivalry game.

Going into the game, both teams had lost twice; so it was expected to be a close game. The Eagles took an early lead with a touch-down two minutes into the game and would keep that lead for most of the first half. But the Wildcats would respond late in the second quarter. This came via a 16-yard touchdown run by Jack Welcsh. The score was tied at halftime, and would be until late in the third quarter. Danny Scelza intercepted the ball after it was tipped to him by Mitch Puhalsky. After Scelza ran for 39 yards on the interception, the Wildcat offense was in very good field position on the St. Edward 4. The Wildcats took their first lead of the game with a 7-yard touchdown run from Bo Floyd. The score remained 13-7 going into the fourth quarter, after Rory McConville’s PAT was blocked. With 9:45 left in the game, the Eagles turned over the ball on a fumble forced by Jack Kennedy and recovered by Danny Scelza. A few plays later, Kennedy would have a 9 yard rush into the end zone, putting the Wildcats ahead 19-7. To make it a two touchdown game, the Wildcats attempted a two point conversion.This attempt was successful from an outside run by Connor Cmiel.

With the score at 21-7, St. Edward started driving down field, but killed five minutes off of the clock in the process. The Wildcats ended this drive on a fourth down stop. With three minutes left on the clock, all the Wildcats had to do was take time off of the clock.The Wildcats finished off the regular season with a win over their archrival St. Edward Eagles.

The Wildcat offense finished off the game with 98 yards rushing, and Patrick Delahunty threw for 76 yards. The defense had a couple of big stops to prevent the Eagles from scoring. The defense was led by a duo of Tommy Eichenberg, who had 12 tackles, and Connor Francz, who had 8 tackles. Together, they had 30% of the team’s tackles on the night. In an interview after the game, CoachChuck Kyle ‘69 said “We had a couple breaks. Honestly, either team could have won. We took advantage of the breaks, and that’s all I can say. In the running game, you have to be patient, and I thought we were. In the red zone, both Jack and Bo had nice runs for touchdowns because they saw a seam and took it. That was awesome.”

Team captains take the field before the week 10 meeting at First Energy Stadium.

The Wildcats would play the Eagles in a rematch the next week. Unfortunately, the team fell to St. Edward, 21-19. It was a very close, hard fought game that came down to the last two minutes.Both sides played a terrific game and fought through another cold, rainy evening. I wouldn’t call this season unsuccessful for the Wildcats. Yes, the goal of a state championship did not happen, but they overcame all expectations from the regular season. The team started the season 0-2, the expectations were not high. But after a loss against Mentor in week two, the Wildcats did not lose a single game for the rest of the regular season. What was most impressive from the regular season was that the Wildcats went 3-0 in the gauntlet of the last three weeks. They played three well talented teams in Moeller, St. Xavier on the road, and St. Edward. All three teams were playoff caliber, have rich histories in their football pro-grams, and all had the potential to win the state championship.

The future looks bright for the Wildcats. Yes, they are losing some valuable assets in their seniors. But the Wildcats have fantastic players in the younger grades that will be able to fill the gaps.

A huge thank you goes out to the seniors. They have given us memories to cherish. On behalf of The Eye, I wish them the best of luck in college and for years to come. Saint Ignatius football looks hopeful for the future.

Why Michael Jordan is still the greatest player of all time

December 8, 2018

By Graeme Agronin ‘19

Right when you read this title in your head you thought, “FALSE! LEBRON’S THE GOAT!!” Now, before you move on to the next article of this wonderful school newspaper, hear me out: Michael Jordan is the greatest to ever do it.

I am not belittling LeBron—he is a once in a generation player and is undoubtedly second on my list. But I must ask you: what is the game of basketball? Basketball is putting the ball through the net in any legal way possible while stopping your opponent from doing the same. Jordan is undeniably best at this.

Jordan played in the NBA a total of fifteen years, the last two as a veteran after taking three years off. In the thirteen years before his break, Jordan accumulated the follow-ing major awards: 10x Scoring Champion, 9x All-Defensive 1st Team, 11x All-NBA (10 of which were 1st Team), 6x NBA Champion (all of which he won Finals MVP), 5x NBA MVP, and NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He was and still is comprehensively the best at what basketball is on a fundamental level.

The only thing LeBron is objectively better at than Jordan is passing—I’ll give you that. LeBron is a certified DIMER (though still aver-ages only two more assists per game over his career).

You may say, “WRONG! REBOUNDING TOO!!” but this is again false. LeBron plays small forward, a position that generally guards people driving to the basket, and is closer to the basket on shots than Jordan, a shooting guard, would be, giving him a better position to clean the glass. Combine this with two inches and thirty-five pounds on Jordan, and you’re looking at a player that should have a significant rebounding advantage. However, over his career, LeBron only averages one rebound more than Jordan—clearly not enough to be objectively considered a better rebounder.

Next there is scoring and defending, in case the awards didn’t do it for you. Jordan played in the hand-check era (the era in which impeding the offensive player’s progress through the use of your hands or fore arms was still legal), making scoring and offense in general much tougher, especially inside the arc. For Jordan, predominantly a driver and mid-range shooter, to average 30 points over his career (LeBron has only averaged 30 TWICE to Mike’s EIGHT), mainly from inside the arc while getting hand-checked the whole time, is incredible. Put him in today’s era with this rule change and I wouldn’t be surprised if he averaged 40 (heck, he already averaged 37 in ‘87). LeBron, even more predominantly a driver, gets to the rim effortlessly because with hand-checking outlawed, his sheer size and strength is unstoppable with a head of steam.

As for defense, Jordan was one of the toughest wing defenders ever. He played defense like it was his specialty, practically always outscoring his opponent by a large margin. While LeBron can put up great numbers, take a look at who he guards next time you watch him (For reference, Kevin Durant averaged 29 on him the last two finals); chances are it’s almost as much as him. Defense is not defined by chase-down blocks (and in case you think it is, their career blocks per game average is the exact same, despite the height difference). Watch him on-ball. Likely, he’ll get burned; he stopped playing defense years ago. Finally, winning. 6-for-6 vs 3-for-9.

Need I say more?

PodCats 2.20 Lessons from Loyola Hall – College Football Playoffs

December 7, 2018

Playlist of The Week: Ohio

December 3, 2018

Image result for ohio Welcome to week six! I finally found a new theme for this week: Ohio.

Whether you love it, hate it, or don’t really care, it’s produced some really good music.

And why not give the state a little bit more love? It’s been Ohio against the world for so long.

This week’s playlist consists of songs produced by Ohio artists, songs about Ohio, and songs about certain places in Ohio.

So, let’s get into it.

Tracklist:

Ohio by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
How I Survived Bobby Mackey’s Personal Hell by Lincoln
Ohio by The Black Keys
Sandusky by Dave Paulson
Ohio Is for Lovers by Hawthorne Heights
Ohio by Cedar Point
Ohioisonfire by Of Mice & Men
Bloodbuzz Ohio by The National
Ohio by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Ohio (Come Back To Texas) by Bowling For Soup
Ohio by Caamp
Ohio Is For Emo Kids by Canadian Softball
Cleveland, OH by Little Brother
Cleveland Rocks by The Presidents Of The United States of America
Look Out Cleveland – Remastered by The Band
Bodybag by Hit The Lights
Carbocide by Who Hit Me (Drummer was Rex Larkman ’15, now drums for Tropidelic)
Uncontrollable Urge by DEVO
Green Tambourine by The Lemon Pipers
Get Bummed Out by Remember Sports

PodCats 2.19 Student Actor John Cugel ’20

December 3, 2018

PodCats 2.18 Rock Climbing Club

November 30, 2018

PodCats 2.17 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice 2018

November 28, 2018

Students from Saint Ignatius and Walsh Jesuit visited politicians on Capitol Hill as part of the teach-in.

Welsh Academy preparing to serve Cleveland’s youth

November 28, 2018

By Tim Zvoncheck ‘19

Last issue, we wrote about the passing of Rev. Robert J. Welsh, S.J. ‘54. And months later, the Saint Ignatius Community is still recognizing his legacy. Welsh Academy, a middle school for boys from Cleveland, will soon be opening in his honor.

This church on the corner of Carroll and W 32nd Street will be renovated to house the Welsh Academy.

The school presents a new learning experience for inner-city boys of modest economic means. Each grade will be filled with about twenty-five students. Prospective students will partake in an application process which includes an interview with him and his family. The school is designed for students who were previously enrolled at a Cleveland Public School. Thus, no students will be drawn from any other local Catholic schools. There will be no tuition for the students who attend, in order to eliminate any financial burdens prohibiting students from reaching their academic potential.

A typical day at Welsh Academy will last from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The long day will prepare the students for high school, college, and careers. The day will be different from that of an average middle school. Welsh Academy will integrate different styles of learning to meet the needs of the students, including field trips and collaborative projects. The current plan also involves students from both schools coming together to celebrate Mass periodically, attending all-school events together, and eating in the same cafeteria, the Rade Dining Hall.

The location for the inaugural school year is still undecided. However, by August of 2020, the old church near Gibbons Hall will be completely renovated into the new Welsh Academy.

New faculty and staff will be hired to teach the young students. Currently, Ms. Vogel, Director of Implementation of The Welsh Academy, has been working full time on the project. As one can imagine, starting a new school is no easy task. Each day, she works on different aspects of the school – curriculum, fundraising, admissions, job descriptions, etc. Additionally, Mr. Dan Dixon, S.J. has been helping Ms. Vogel to hire more staff by the spring.

The creation of Welsh Academy helps fulfill the Saint Ignatius mission even more. Although The Welsh Academy student does not get automatically admitted into Saint Ignatius High School, the hope is that they will be accepted and continue their educations as a Wildcat before going to college. Welsh Academy fulfills Fr. Welsh’s dream and shows that Saint Ignatius High School is taking a huge step in the right direction by providing high-quality education to those who might not have other options available.

The Welsh Academy mission statement sums up the purpose very well. It reads, “Inspired by the Catholic faith in the Jesuit tradition, The Welsh Academy serves the unique needs of early adolescent boys of modest economic means in their journey of becoming men for others. Rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Welsh Academy shares the mission and life of Saint Ignatius High School, forming boys to grow in faith, leadership, academic excellence, and the desire for lifelong learning.”

Saint Ignatius Eye