Let’s face it. The Cleveland Cavaliers are not getting any younger. As the NBA season continues to progress at a leisurely pace, our hometown team sits at a surprising 3rd place position in the Eastern Conference. They find themselves behind the infamous Boston Celtics, led by former Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving, as well as the Toronto Raptors, who boast an All-Star backcourt in Lowry and Derozan. Because we have the best player in the world who is complemented by capable all-stars, such as Love and Thomas, basketball fans begin to wonder why it is we are struggling. Is it our coaching? Is Lebron too controlling? Is our veteran presence too weak? The amount of questions raised makes it seem as if our season is a reality TV show, nothing short of a rocky roller coaster ride. However, this all-star break as well as the trade deadline could symbolize a fresh start for the Cavs, as the players have the distinct opportunity of an extended rest period. Additionally, the front office can purge the franchise of any player that fails to perform to their lofty contracts, a.k.a JR Smith and Tristan Thompson. Recently, we have heard the Cavaliers express their interest in franchise cornerstones, George Hill from the Sacramento Kings and DeAndre Jordan from the Los Angeles Clippers. The solution to our poor 1st half is simple: adjust the roster to compete with the Golden State Warriors. The common preconception that our season as well as our playoff push is a race with the Bay Area squad is true, especially since Kevin Durant joined the rivalry. How can we compete with them, you ask? The Cavaliers need to shift their scope toward supplementing the lineups with speed and length. In order to compete with the Warrior’s high-powered offense, they must add “3 and d” guards, such as George Hill, to contain Curry and Thompson. The “small ball” lineups can help defend their three point attack and preference towards the fast break. The league appears as if it is being dominated by the likes of the Warriors, as all teams are making adjustments just to defeat them. I see no better team to reverse this trend than our very own Cleveland Cavaliers.
The West-side bias for snowdays?
By Bradley Anderson ‘18
In Cleveland Ohio, winters filled with large snow storms, sporadic weather, and random ice days, make life difficult for Ignatius students. Even the largest and toughest cars parked in the senior lot at West 30th and Lorain at Saint Ignatius sometimes struggle. Yet, it could be said that one side of town gets put on blast every time our lady lake brings in snow flurries from the north. The east side, known for its large variety of shopping complexes, Paul Noce’s house, and beautiful metroparks, is often a receiver of a large amount of snow, much greater than that of its westside counterpart.
Approximately 29 percent of Saint Ignatius’s student body lives on the east side. Split between 3 sides, this roughly accounts for ⅓ of the student body. Usually what happens during a large snow shower day, roads are slippery, cars are slow, and morning commutes at least double. East side schools like Lake Catholic, NDCL, and Beaumont on these days get called off for their students’ safety. Matt Christopher, a senior from NDCL, talks about his tough drives into school: “When the roads get bad, I see kids in ditches and I also see them on top of hills unable to move, cause me to swerve around them. I’m always very nervous that these factors can cause me to get hurt or even worse cause fatal injuries.” With these tough conditions, these east side schools are often called off during these extremely dangerous times. Yet their buddies at Wildcat High, must warm up their car fifteen minutes early, wipe off the car, and make the boldacious commute.
Now the real question that impedes is: why do east siders have to make bigger risks than that of other wildcat students to get to school? Could it be because that the administration lives more west? Would things be different if the school staff lived mostly east side? Does the school believe that it must affect a larger percent of its students to call school off?
East siders hope that this article can start a conversation. Alex Misencik ‘18 says “It usually takes me 20-25 minutes to get to school, and some days when school is on and it’s snowing it’ll take me up to one hour and twenty. Aslo, impeach Abdelnour.”
Adding on, rugby captain and Chesterland native Nick Zolikoff ‘18 says “you can’t take a test if you can’t get there.”
These rough rides, filled with big accidents, unnecessary cautious drivers, and those “hold steady (insert original car name)”, make students dream for snowdays. Many of which never come. Ignatius has been famous for no snow days for centuries. Is it time to change that? What will convince the school that it is truly dangerous? Will a big accident need to happen involving students make it change?
On the other side, the administration stresses that if you feel unsafe traveling to school due to snow, stay home and don’t drive. The school does not want any danger imposed on any student.
However, some students or student’s parents would rather risk their lives than miss a day of school. Thus starting an internal war of every student east of the Keybank Tower.
Dominic DiNunzio and his transformation into one of the strongest centers in the area
By BRAD ANDERSON ‘18
At the start of his freshman year, Dominic DiNunzio weighed in at an unimpressive 135 lbs and a short 5’7”. Now weighing in at 215 lbs and a 6’4 stature ,DiNunzio is one of the strongest centers in the area. What led him to such a dramatic change? “Hard Work” DiNunzio says.
A large part of DiNunzio’s motivation came from survival.
“After the freshman basketball season I knew I’d have to start working hard to make the 15 man JV team and I thought the weights were where I needed to improve the most. I noticed I was a lot less athletic and strong than the teams we were playing against.”
His long workouts and countless lifts with Coach Anthony Rubino started to really transform the Saint Bernadette graduate. “I’ve been working with coach since sophomore year and he’s been great. All the different stretches and lifts he’s given me over the years, along with nutrition and rehab help have made me into a better athlete.” he started to see his time go up on the court. In his junior year, he had cosistat minutes acting as Matt Davet’s ‘16 backup. That made Dinunzio play against some of the largest players in the area as a junior. Now as a senior, he has been making centers double his height fools of themselves. Most notably Cleveland Heights Tyreke Smith, a 6’ 3” 260 pound Ohio State Football commit, who had 3 rebounds all game against the wildcats.
DiNunzio continues to gets better and thanks his friends, family and teammates for motivating him everyday “especially my brother Aymin Bahhur. We’ve been pushing each other since freshman year and he’s been a great motivator.”
Passport Cats: The Spring Sports go global
By Patrick Francis ‘19
Being able to handle practices, homework, games, finals and so many more things can all be overwhelming at times for the student-athletes here at St. Ignatius High School. But the reason people keep playing their sports is because of their love of the game and for some, once in a lifetime perks, like traveling to different states and countries with your athletic team to compete against different high caliber teams.
This Spring sport season is going to be filled with many new experience for all the coaches and athletes in Rugby, Baseball, and Lacrosse.
One of the newer sport teams here at St. Ignatius High School, the 6 year old rugby program will be traveling to South Africa for a tournament against the best high school rugby teams in the world. South Africa, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, England, and Argentina, are just some countries represented. At the moment, the wildcats are the only American team in the tournament.
The news of the South African trip is fairly new to everyone. Coach Dan Arbeznik ‘00 was looking to local schedule for the 2018 season, not planning on leaving the country. Plans changed though right before Thanksgiving, when the Representatives of Heyneke Meyer, the former coach of the Springboks (South Africa’s national rugby union team) reached out to Coach Arbeznik, extending an invitation to play in the first-ever World Schools Festival located in South Africa.
“This is an amazing opportunity for us,” Coach Arbeznik said. “The trip presents a unique opportunity for our students to acquire a larger perspective on culture, history, and civilization.”
Along with Rugby, the Baseball team will be traveling for the first time out of the country, heading to Nettuno, Italy. The baseball team will face the very skilled Nettuno Baseball Academy team in 4 exhibition games and will be traveling to several historic cities including Capri, Pompeii, and Rome. While the baseball team is in Italy, the team will be exploring the culture, food, and historic facts of the country and it’s cities.
Though baseball is widely known and played here in the USA, it is also extremely popular in Italy. Popularity for the sport grew after World War One when it was played by the soldiers from America, then caught on to the locals of the city. The city is now called “The city of Baseball” by many.
The lacrosse team, under new head coach Gary Cintron, will leave for California on March 30th to play against 3 very skilled LAX teams from the Southern California region.
The Wildcats will face Coronado High School, Torrey Pines High School, and Loyola (LA) High School while there. All three of these programs are well-respected in the sport of lacrosse. Loyola LA and Torrey Pines near the top of last season’s final Under Armour / Inside Lacrosse high school lacrosse rankings, coming in at the No. 4 and No. 5 teams in the entire West region.
The experiences that these men will experience will be unforgettable. It is put best by athletic director Rory Fitzpatrick;
“Playing premier teams is great, but the goal of this type of trip is to expose our students to new experiences, ideas, and cultures, expanding their worldview along the way.”
Chatham Training Facility Enters Phase II
By Tim Zvoncheck ‘19
Just months after the completion of Kyle and McLaughlin Fields, plans for an athletic training facility are already in progress. The building will help out many groups and teams, including baseball, lacrosse, golf, soccer, football, track and field, band, sports camps, SEP, Arrupe and other community outreach programs. Overall, the building will benefit the school, neighborhood, and community. In the words of head baseball coach Mr. Ganor, “This project will separate our baseball program and all of athletics from anyone else in the area. Having the opportunity to practice in an environment that most closely resembles actual baseball conditions will ensure that we can continue to produce at the highest level.”
The facility is the second phase of a potential three-part plan. It would be used quite often, especially during times when the Cleveland weather does not allow for outdoor practice. Also, it is conveniently located near Kyle and McLaughlin Fields, as it is in between West 31st Street and West 32nd Street. However, a building like this does not come cheap. Thankfully, Peter Carfagna ‘71 and his family were extremely generous, funding around half of the project that includes not only the facility, but also Kyle and McLaughlin Fields, which were phase one. While more funds are still being raised, the school has already acquired the necessary real estate and begun getting approval from the city of Cleveland, a process that should last about five or six months. After getting approval, construction will begin and end all before the end of 2018. The potential phase three of the plan would include building permanently affordable housing on West 32nd Street. The land is currently vacant and shows potential as a great spot to carry out the school’s mission.
The addition of the athletic training facility will make Saint Ignatius students even better at offering up their talents to God, which is the reason behind everything done at the school. Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer Mr. Klingshirn ‘79 summed it up by saying, “Most importantly, this facility provides yet another opportunity for the young men of Saint Ignatius High School to focus on mind, body and spirit as ‘Faith on the Field’ and ‘Magis’ are major themes of this project.”
Wildcard hits Phoenix
By Andrew Zerman ‘18
Phoenix Coffee has officially announced that they will be accepting the Wildcard as a form of payment. This makes it much more convenient for those who do not have credit cards and those who do not carry around money on a regular basis. Phoenix Coffee is a small chain of coffee shops that are all located in the Cleveland area. One of the six shops is located right on Bridge Avenue, which is about a three minute walk from Ignatius. This is the sole chain thus far that has announced the acceptance of the Wildcard.
The shop certainly has garnished nothing short of rave reviews among people who have visited. It has scored an impressive 4.8/5 from 132 google reviews. On Facebook the reviews are about the same, scoring a 4.7/5. Phoenix Coffee has a diverse menu selection when it comes to the drinks. They offer European shorts, French pressed coffee, shakes, and tea beverages, just to name a few. The variety of options is what makes it unique from a large chain such as Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. The shop also has some snacks, but the options are not as diverse as the drinks that it offers.
This local chain is considered newer than most local coffee shops, having been founded in 1990. Phoenix Coffee peaked in the mid 1990’s with a dozen locations. In 2014 there were only three. Since then, the chain has roared back to life, having doubled the amount of locations in less than half of a decade. Now, all thanks to the Wildcard, Phoenix Coffee has the potential of stretching its business to a whole new generation.
Most Powerful CYO Power Rankings, V3
Please send anything you want to see in the next rankings to [email protected]. Can be updates, stats, banter, really anything you want.
- John Tenerowicz
- Pat Russell
- Tom Grosel
- Armand Muhammad
- Matt Hunt
Movie Review: The Post
By Alex Gehrlein ’19
From the acclaimed director Steven Spielberg comes a gripping story of free press and investigative journalism in the 1970s. While that might make it out to be a film in the vein of “All The President’s Men,” there is no contest as to which is the better film.
The Post’s main problem is its pacing. While this probably won’t bother most people, I could not help but address it. The entirety of this film hinges around an investigation into the location of the Pentagon Papers, and the effects they have on the lives of those working at The Washington Post. Seeing as how the focus of the film is an “investigation,” one would expect an actual investigation to take place.
Going in, I expected a film much like “All The President’s Men,” about reporters hitting the streets and tracking down these important documents, followed by the intense legal battle over their publication. The search for the documents actually takes up about ten minutes of the film, and is incredibly disappointing. If you could literally just get the documents with a single phone-call, why spend 40 minutes of screen time building up to it? And, to be fair, it isn’t as if I didn’t enjoy much of those 40 minutes; it’s just that they could have been condensed and carry the same impact.
Shortly after begins the best portion of the film, where I have no qualms. This section shows the speedy creation of the paper’s first articles while simultaneously showing the head of the paper’s (Meryl Streep) decision over whether or not to publish. I was legitimately invested in the film at this point, and it builds up to what you would think would be a great finale showing the heated court battle…and they flash forward to after it has finished.
Why? This confused me while I was watching it. You had been building up to this moment the entire film. You could have given great scenes of Streep and Hanks testifying, proclaiming the sanctity of the freedom of the press. Instead you just jump cut to the end? I was disappointed to say the least.
On another note, the writing in this film is quite good, and credit goes out to Liz Hannah (this was her very first published script), who gives us insightful characterizations of these real men and women and their situation. Spielberg as always is terrific. His directing abilities seem to never fault, and this is no exception.
Overall, there is enough good with this movie to warrant a favorable score, and I give it a 7.5 out of 10.
Movie Review: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
By Alex Gehrlein ’19
Martin McDonagh has made some of the funniest, most well written films of the last decade. In Bruges is my personal favorite of his three films so far, and while his last, Seven Psychopaths, pales in comparison to his other work, Three Billboards proves that Martin McDonagh is without a doubt one of the most talented screenwriters working today. This is a film with an admittedly far fetched premise.
After the police have spent months with little to show on the murder of her daughter, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) pays to have three billboards put up outside of their small town, reminding the police to go out and do their job. This provides the basis for a series of brilliantly written encounters between disgruntled townsfolk, police, and familiar faces (Woody Harrelson, Peter Dinklage, Sam Rockwell, etc.) all with differing views of the controversial problem. I feel that I can’t really go much more beyond that, since the rest of the film consists of rapidly escalating confrontations, which to reveal any bit of the surprise from would ruin the fun of the film.
Without a doubt, this film will win the best original screenplay award at the Oscars, and it is my personal opinion that Frances McDormand more than deserves to win the best actress award for her fantastic performance along with Sam Rockwell in the supporting actor category. This is not only, in my opinion, the best film of the year, this is one of the best films of the 2000s, and in a few years time will be seen as a masterpiece along the likes of classic films of the crime genre.
See this soon, as it is starting to go out of theaters. 10 out of 10
Weekly Update #21 – January 29, 2018
Sports
Hockey The Cats played well all weekend splitting 1-1 versus the Hill. The Cats fell 5-1 in a tough contest, and came back Saturday to win 3-2 in what Coach O’Rourke called one of the ten best wins in team history. Joey Trobenter and Charlie Klenkar provided early goals, and Michael Boehm scored with a minute left. Savarino played well, and the team improved to 23-4-1 This weekend the team goes to Trenton MI for the MIHL Showcase.
Basketball The Wildcats took a tremendous step forward in their two contests this weekend. On Friday night, the team defeated the Garfield Heights Bulldogs, one of the top teams in 
Northeast Ohio in a signature win by a score of 72-59. Senior Jon Barnes led the ‘Cats with a strong performance, finishing with 20 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Sophomore guard duo Chase Toppin and Tevin Jackson also played a great game. Toppin finished with 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists while Jackson had 12 points and four rebounds. On Saturday night, the Basketball ‘Cats were back in action for a contest against Cleveland Central Catholic High. The Wildcats took the Ironmen, another one of the area’s top teams, all the way to the end before dropping the game by one, 44-43. Jon Barnes again led the ‘Cats with 11 points. The Wildcats are back in action on Thursday night at home against John Marshall before a day off on Friday and a Saturday night contest on the road against Benedictine. The team also wants to give a huge shoutout to the student section, especially the student section leaders, for bringing a ton of energy to both games this weekend’s games! They couldn’t have done it without you!
Wrestling The Mat Cats competed with Berea-Midpark on Wednesday but lost in a tough dual. They’re back in action next Friday against CVCA and Bedford.
Swimming The swim cats had a great weekend with a big win over Brunswick, up next is the jv championship meet in Canton on Saturday.
Miscellaneous
Policy Debate Team The policy teams of Elias Najm & John Conway took 1st, Leonardo Villa-Forte & Henry Wade took 5th, and Thomas Kmet & Colin Moon took 6th. Our duo team of Alex & John Daoud broke to the final round and placed 5th overall. In POI, Prester Picket II broke to the final round and placed 4th overall. In humorous interpretation, Daniel DeVenney also broke to the final round and finished 7th overall. And finally, Jarred Meyer broke to the final round and finished 2nd and earned his final bid to go to the State Tournament in March. Saint Ignatius placed 6th in team sweepstakes out of 30 teams.
Academic Challenge On Saturday, a shorthanded, young Academic Challenge squad traveled to Cloverleaf for a tournament. The trio of Michael Donnelly, Chirs Haddad and Jason Zhang overwhelmed the opposition in their first seven matches. They fell just short in their eighth match of the day, losing by two questions in the round that would have qualified them for a berth in the regional tournament. They look forward to qualifying in a few weeks at their next tournament.
Speech Team The Speech team had its best tournament of the year as the following students advanced through the competition to make the final round of the Solon Tournament: senior Jarred Meyer, junior Prester JPickett II, sophomore Daniel DeVenney, and freshmen Alex and John Daoud. Jarred Meyer earned an automatic entry to the state tournament in March and, combined with the debaters, St. Ignatius earned a tournament sweepstakes award. The Speech and Debate team will compete at the district tournament this Saturday at Berea-Midpark to qualify for the state tournament.
Jeff Outcalt “My legs are shot from dancing at ASD last night, and only got worse at Mom Prom.”
C.A.T. Meeting The Christian Action Team, or CAT, provides students opportunities to fulfill the mission of the school by practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy. CAT meets every Thursday in room 227 at 3 p.m. and is open to all grade levels.
If you have an activity you wish to have featured on a weekly basis, please tell Nate Abdelnour and he’ll add it to the list.
