Nadal Dominates in Madrid Open Finals

On Sunday, Rafael Nadal defeated Stanislas Wawrinka and won the Madrid Open. Spain native, Nadal, was able to beat Wawrinka by using a heavy topspin which kept Wawrinka far behind the baseline. Nadal returned only three months earlier due to a knee injury. However, his injury did not keep him from being successful in the sport of tennis. He has made it to seven consecutive finals and won five. This is Nadal's third Madrid title. Nadal's competitor, Wawrinka, has been in the shadow of Roger Federer, but has become a strong competitor. However, Wawrinka had a tough schedule and played in a match that ended after 1 a.m. the night before. Nadal was one of the critics that complained about the playing conditions of a blue clay court. However, after the organizers switched back to a regular clay surface, Nadal thanked them. He has won a total of 40 titles on regular clay surface courts.        

Chicago Bulls Defeat Miami Heat

The Miami Heat has the best record in the NBA with 66 wins and 16 loses. In fifth place are the Chicago Bulls with 45 wins and 37 loses. The Miami Heat's longest win streak was 27 games and their second longest was 12 games. Out of the last 44 games, the Heat have beat the bulls two out of four times and 39 out of 40 times against everyone else. So what do the Chicago Bulls have that make them able to defeat the Miami Heat during the latest play off game? Chicago's bull's coach, Tom Thibodeau, has a three-point defense which is a strong key against the Heat. Only about 16% of the Heat's points scored against the Bull's were three pointers. The Heat score the lowest amount of 3 pointers against the Bulls (4.9 average). Also, the Bulls do well on preventing the Heat from getting rebounds. Even with this loss however, the Heat still have more than a 72% chance of winning this series.          

Pablo Sandoval: A San Francisco Giant with Big Talent

26 year old, Pablo Sandoval, also know as Kung Fu Panda to his teammates, is San Francisco Giants' third baseman and one of their top hitters. Some of his many accomplishments include playing in two All-Star seasons, M.V.P. awards, and he is currently hitting with a .316 average. He is also apart of the National League leaders with 19 runs batted in. Even with his great success, Sandoval, or rather his body weight, has been ridiculed recently. But this doesn't change how Sandoval feels about his weight and says, "I'm at the weight that I feel great to play at. If you feel good, you're going to play good. And I feel great." His weight doesn't even seem to affect his playing. During a postseason game last year against Detroit, he hit three home runs. Another reason Sandoval stands out is the fact that he can bat and throw with both hands. Some people say that his weight is a problem while others believe that it helps him have more power. Pablo Sandoval knows however that he won't be able to stay at this weight for good. He's getting old (for a baseball player) and his heavyweight my just start changing how he changes.  
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/sports/baseball/pablo-sandovals-heavyweight-game-for-giants.html?ref=sports

Red Sox Honor Boston Marathon Victims

On Saturday April 20th, the Boston Red Sox played, and won for the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings. This was the first home game since the two explosions. Before the Red Sox began their game against the Kansas City Royals, the team held a pregame ceremony. This event honored the 3 victims, the 170 wounded, and everyone else who was affected. The ceremony included videos of scenes from the race. Red Sox player, David Ortiz stood on the field and told everyone in the stadium to "stay strong." Later, after the successful win for the Red Sox, Ortiz also stated, "You give people hope. We wanted to let them know we're here for them." Daniel Nava hit a three-run homer in the eight inning giving the Red Sox a lead and a 4-3 victory.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/sports/baseball/after-an-emotional-ceremony-boston-beats-kansas-city.html?ref=baseball&_r=0

Afghan Cricket's Big Dreams

The sport of cricket is the only approved sport by the Taliban and it plays a big role in uniting the country of Afghanistan. Mohammad Nabi Eisakhill, who was once a war refugee, learned to play cricket as a young child and came to respect the sport greatly. Afghanistan's government is currently trying to form a democracy and is in a war. However, cricket is supported by Afghanistan's opposing factions. The chief executive of cricket's national association, Noor Muhammad, says, "this is a game that can bring Afghanistan together and be very good tool for peace and stability." A large amount of the land has been used to build cricket grounds. Since 70% of the population is under 30, the people are focusing on teaching young people the sport of cricket. The goal is for cricket to be taught in schools. Cricket in Afghanistan has only officially been a sport for six years, but it has been played by British soldiers since the 19th century. Afghan's cricket team has played twice in the World Twenty20 finals. Afghanistan's dream is to be officially recognized to the International Cricket Council and participate in the Cricket World Cup.  

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/03/sport/mohammad-nabi-afghanistan-cricket/index.html?hpt=isp_bn9  

Louisville Wins NCAA Title

Rick Pinito and the 13 Louisville players won the NCCA championship title on Monday April 8th. They played Michigan and won 82-76. One of the Louisville players, Luck Hancock, scored 22 points. At one point during the first half, Michigan was ahead by 12 points, but that doesn't discourage the team. The coach said, "this team is one of the most together, toughest and hard-nosed teams. Being down never bothers us. They just come back." The coach, Pinito, was also entered into the latest Hall of Fame class and promised that he would get a tattoo to honor the team if they won. For those who do not know, Louisville is the team of Kevin Ware, the person who broke his leg in a previous March Madness game. To show their support, the team came out wearing their warm up suits with a number five on it (Ware's number) and the slogan "Ri5e to the Occasion."

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens-basketball/2013/04/09/louisville-beats-michigan-for-ncaa-title/pGJsK5TsGLgXZxIzX07vDI/story.html

*NEW* Gibraltar Female Football League

After realizing that she had very little interest in critiquing and creating art anymore, acclaimed artist, Art, has left the art scene and moved to athletics. Art officially announced her resignation from the well known and respected art section of the GeoCon Blogger last month. Her position goes to the semi-talented art critic, Ben Anderson who claims to know a lot about "art" (aka a wooden chair). Art recently claimed, "I don't want to just report about sports anymore. It has become boring...I want to participate in the art of sport." Instead of going the simple route of joining an already existing team, Art has presented the Gibraltar School Board with the idea of starting a female football team. The school board responded with encouraging words, but made the point that the small school probably would not have enough interest since most females are already participating in extracurriculars throughout the school year. But Art is not discouraged! She has already started advertising for a summer female football league. Art says, "I haven't gotten any people interested yet, but it's still early, and I'm still hopeful!"         

Sweet 16 for Florida Gulf Coast University

History was made on Sunday night as a No. 15 seed made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. The team everyone is talking about, Florida Gulf Coast University won against San Diego State, a No.7 seed at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The score was 81-71. Previously, in their second round, Florida Gulf Coast had victory over Georgetown, a No. 2 seed with a score of 78-68. On Friday, Florida Golf Coast University will face Florida which is a No. 3 seed. They are playing for a spot in the Round of 8. One of the players, Bernard Thompson said, "We just want to make history. We live for moments like this."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/sports/ncaabasketball/florida-gulf-coast-beats-san-diego-state.html?ref=sports&_r=0

WBC Canada-Mexico Brawl

WBC stands for the World Baseball Classic. Who knew there were baseball teams for entire countries? Well Art didn't! But when I was watching SportsCenter (I know! me?) breaking news about a brawl between the teams Canada and Mexico broke out. The fight began in the ninth-inning after a bunt single. This bunt, by a team with a six point lead in the ninth, would typically not be allowed in a regular season game, but it is in the WBC. However, Mexico third baseman Luis Cruz was upset with this bunt and singled to the pitcher to directly in the side. Leon, the pitcher hit Rene Tosoni on the third pitch. After that, both teams began to partake in violent punches and wrestling each other. Canad batting coach, Larry Walker said, "I grabbed [Alfredo Aceves], and I had a hold of him and I think I saw Satan in his eyes." This brawl caused seven players to be thrown out of the game. Canada won the game 10-3.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/worldclassic2013/story/_/id/9035941/wbc-canada-wins-wbc-brawl-mexico

Blackhawks win 10th Consecutive Game

Recently, the Chicago Blackhawks (a hockey team for those who didn't know) has won its 10th consecutive game. They won 5-3 against the Minnesota Wild. This has increased their points to 29 and gave the team second place of highest point streak. During the Tuesday night game, points were scored by Bryan Bickell and Patrick Kane. "It doesn't feel like we're on a streak," Bickell said. "We're just business, come to the rink and we're going to do what we need to do." The leader of the team, Hossa, just recently played his 1,000th NHL game and hopes to keep the streak going.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400442806

Granderson Out with a Broken Forearm

The New York Yankees is off to a rough start for this upcoming season. Their outfielder, Curtis Granderson was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat during a spring training game on February 17th. He was hit by a pitch from J.A. Happ and was clearly in pain afterwards. At first, he was diagnosed with only a bruised forearm, but after X-rays, it was announced that it is a fracture. This game was supposed to be Granderson's first game in left field, but he never got a chance. Happ is reported to be concerned with how Granderson was doing after the hit and it was not intentional. The Yankees have their backups however. They signed Matt Diaz and Juan Rivera for backup outfielders. Granderson will be able to play in ten weeks, or on May 5th.    

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/8980685/curtis-granderson-new-york-yankees-breaks-forearm-may

Dancing for a Cause

On February 14th, also known as Valentine's Day, men and women throughout the world joined together and danced for a good cause. This event was called One Billion Rising. It was a day, recognized globally, to bring light to the fact that violence towards women is still occurring too often. Tens of thousands of people participated. The name came from the horrifying statistic that 1 in 3 women (one billion) will experience some form of sexual abuse in her lifetime. This event has become very popular among celebrities and they have been helping to encourage a larger turnout. The goal is to have 1 billion people performing a choreographed dance around the world. One of the participants, while describing why she chose to be apart of OBR, said, "I;m inspired by the idea of billions of women coming together to end violence. I chose to be happy today and to be a part of something amazing. I wanted to be surrounded by women coming together to stand for strength and courage and love." OBR took Valentine's Day, a day that many feel bitter towards, and turned into something positive.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/living/vday-one-billion-rising/index.html?hpt=us_t5

Stress Health Effects

Recent studies show that stress can cause some pretty serious negative effects to our heath. A little bit of stress is okay, but the feeling of constantly being stressed can cause:
1. Cancer According to a recent study using mice, stress can actually help cancer cells fight against anti-cancer drugs.
2. Shrinks the Brain Stressful situations are reported to to cause the brain to shrink in regions that are connected to emotion and physiological functions.
3. Prematurely Aging in Kids When a child experiences extreme stress, such as violence, at a young age, it is reported that it may lead to the premature aging of their cells.
4. Affecting Your Offspring's Genes Scientists suggest that the negative effects a person experiences from stress may be passed on to their offspring's genes.
5. Depression Another study using mice suggests that stress leads to depression.

Read the other five "Scary Effects of Stress" at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/04/stress-health-effects-cancer-immune-system_n_2599551.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living#slide=2053542

   

California Goes Green

Recently California has mandated that 33 percent of their electricity must be generated from a renewable energy source by the year 2020. There are currently 227 proposed solar projects throughout California. It is said that with those solar projects, wind power, and other renewable energy sources that are proposed, they will be able to supply California with all of its power needs on an average summer day. People have been buying prime agriculture land in order to develop solar and wind farms. People fear that necessary farming land is being used for solar and wind farms instead. Land buyers that want to "plant" solar and wind farms are looking for the same land that farmers want. Land that is flat and receives plenty of sunlight. Currently there are no rules set in place that keep farm lands used for agricultural purposes.  
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/02/solar-development-california_n_2607891.html?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=Green

$4 Million to stop Lead Poisoning

Fortunately, the president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, decided to release four million dollars to be spent on cleaning up the lead outbreak in Nigeria. This recent led outbreak has caused the deaths of more than 400 children. The led is said to be caused by the mining company, Wildcat Gold-Mining. Also, due to the price of gold going up to $1,800 an ounce the previous year, villages decided to do their own mining. The gold that the villagers mine contain high amounts of lead which gets into the air, soil and water. Currently, more than 1,500 children are reported to have high lead levels. The $4 million of cleanup money has been blocked since 2011, but the choice to spend it on cleaning, "could be lifesaving for countless children," believes Jane Cohen, a researcher from Human Rights Watch.  

American Cinema in the Obama Era

Have you recently noticed more and more films about Lincoln and slavery hitting the big screen? Well New York Times authors A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis believe that is because of President Obama. Lincoln, Django Unchained, and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter are movies that have all been released in the past year. Some believe that this "Lincolnmania" began the day that Barack Obama announced that he was planning on running for president in 2007. Other movies are starting to more prominently display interracial couples ever since Obama was elected. Also, movies have hinted at different classes and issues with the economy. Four years ago, movies displayed hope which was Obama's campaign slogan, while now, movies are hinting at exaggerated challenges that we may face over the next few years. Also, an obvious movie that is related to the president is Dark Zero Thirty which is about the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Is the American cinema in the Obama Era or is it just a coincidence? Read more at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/movies/lincoln-django-unchained-and-an-obama-inflected-cinema.html?ref=arts       

Turning Our Tragedy into a Moment of Transformation

On the one month anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, parents and community members have joined together to create the non-profit group, Sandy Hook Promise. The original name of the group was Newtown United. It asks people to sign a pledge to "encourage and support common sense solutions that make my community and our country safer from similar acts of violence." The non-profit group will not only focus on making schools, streets, malls, and public places safer, but also focus on a better discussion on mental health issues. Recently, parents of Anna Marquez Greene, one of the 20 children victims, appeared on Good Morning America to honor her memory. Her mother, Nelba Marquez-Green said, "We're hoping that through Sandy Hook Promise, we can bring awareness to issues, and start a conversation based on love and respect."  

http://abcnews.go.com/US/sandy-hook-shooting-month-parents-aim-bolster-dialogue/story?id=18209336

Stolen Matisse is Returned

Twenty-five years ago, "Le Jardin," an oil painting by Matisse was stolen from Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art. This painting is worth $1 million dollars and has recently been recovered. A member of the Art Loss Register, a database of stolen artwork, Christopher A. Marinello negotiated the return of "Le Jardin." Charles Roberts received the painting from an 85 year-old man a few years ago. Recently Roberts was searching the Art Loss Register and noticed that "Le Jardin" was listed as stolen. Mr. Roberts is unclear as to where the mysterious man got the painting from. Mr. Marinello said that, "I'm elated..." and is shocked that the painting is actually being returned and during the holiday break. 

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/07/stolen-matisse-to-be-returned-to-swedish-museum/?ref=arts

Bliss at the MoMA

This years Museum of Modern Art's Artist's Choice exhibition features art by Trisha Donnelly. She is known for her conceptual and performance style. She works with multiple mediums of art including drawing, photography, video, film and sound art. This particular exhibition features paintings, photographs, and sculptures in three different galleries located throughout the Museum. Donnelly pushes the boundaries and raises the question, "what is art?" One of the galleries includes 28 photographs that feature nature. The second gallery, on the fifth floor, includes drawings, prints, and photographs of landscapes and portraits. This exhibit does not only feature artwork by Donnelly. With help from MoMA's curator, she selected other pieces of work that she believed fit into her galleries. This exhibition is called Bliss, named after one of the museum's founder, Lillie P. Bliss. Bliss is known for being an, "eccentric, joyful, finely wrought excursion."
        
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/arts/design/trisha-donnelly-in-momas-artists-choice-series.html?pagewanted=1&ref=design