7December 2011Hi Times Issue 3 Vol. 103

By Sky ShorttStaff Writer

By Cole KelloggManaging Editor

By Tommy SnyderStaff Writer

By Jenna DiehlStaff Writer

Girls’ swim and dive team looks for success

The NBA drought has ended

Will David Beckham stay in MLS?

Wrestling team tackles the start of new season

Photo by Taylor Crider

Carly Jackson swims through the hallways.

David Beckham is more than a famous athlete. He is known for just about everything, from red cards in the World Cup to goals from half field. Beckham spent the prime of his career at the two arguably greatest historic soccer clubs: Manchester Unit-ed and Real Madrid. The former England captain captivated his nation for years on end and even captured their hearts during his most controversial moments. And for the last five years, Beck-ham has been the face of soccer in America. In 2006, MLS commissioner Don Garber made the smartest move in the history of American soccer by bringing David Beck-ham to play for the Los Ange-les Galaxy. This move came as the first under a new rule, the Designated Player Rule. This “Beckham Rule”, as it has been nicknamed, allows teams to pay the salaries of big names play-ers outside of the specified MLS team salary cap. Other popular players that benefit from this rule include Landon Donovan, Thierry Henry, Rafael Marquez and Robbie Keane. Beckham changed American soccer without having to do much work. As the most popu-lar, though not the best, soccer player in the world upon his signing and perhaps still today, Beckham merely had to play av-erage and accept all the money the Los Angeles Galaxy was throwing at him. He made a few trademark free kick goals in his first season, but ultimately he didn’t make much of an impact. The Galaxy went without MLS success until 2009. The most famous American soccer player, Landon Donovan had a bit of a ruse with Beck-ham in 2008. Beckham chose to leave Galaxy on a loan to major club AC Milan, while Donovan

was given out to German furors Bayern Munich. At the end of the summer, Donovan returned to the MLS while Beckham fin-ished out the season in Serie A (the Italian league). Donovan openly criticized the way Beckham handled the loan to Milan. As a player that was earning the most in all of the MLS, it only seemed right that Beckham play for the entire season. Instead, he opted out of doing so in hopes to play for England in the 2010 World Cup. Playing for a team of higher qual-ity than Galaxy would give him an undoubtedly better chance. When Beckham eventually re-turned to Los Angeles, he apol-ogized to Donovan. Beckham gave up the captain’s armband and it is very possible that this played a part in their future suc-cess. In the year 2009, things began to click. Beckham recorded only 2 goals and 3 assists, but he be-gan working very well with his team. The LA Galaxy reached the MLS Cup and lost narrowly in penalty kicks that year. From 2008 on out, the world’s most famous footballer had a pretty successful time in Amer-ica. He helped rack up the wins with 14 assists and 4 goals in 2010 and 2011. His bending crosses have several times as-sisted the game winners in cru-cial matches. The “Beckham Experiment” may have reached its storybook ending in November 2011 when the Galaxy won the MLS Cup for the first time since the super-star’s arrival. Three post-season assists from Beckham qualified his importance to the team in the eyes of naysayers. However, since the Spiceboy’s contract is up while he still wants to play, there may not be a fairytale con-clusion with the Galaxy. During the 2011 MLS pre-sea-son, Becks trained in England with a club named Tottenham.

Talks between Beckham and the coach really got the trade rumors swirling again. By the time his contract was up, sev-eral teams were notably inter-ested in Beckham’s services. By the time this is published, Beckham may have chosen to go with Paris Saint-Germaine in France’s Ligue 1, Tottenham in the English Premier League or stay in Los Angeles. Knowing the rather large ego of the Brit, soccer fans can expect Beckham to milk every offer out of big clubs until the last minute, so no news can be expected until mid-January. Why should Beckham choose to leave? The Becks has stated a public goal to work his way back onto England’s roster for the 2012 Olympic soccer team. Eng-land coach Fabio Capello would see playing time at a European club much more valuable than playing time in the MLS. Plus, a new contract overseas would bring in much more moolah for the Beckham family. This will obviously play into his decision, mostly due to the fact that he can “spend it like Beckham”. Why would he choose to stay? Perhaps Beckham would be willing to concede his dream of the 2012 Olympics in order to stay in the city his family loves. Galaxy fans have been wonder-ful to him and maybe he thinks he owes it to them to give at least one more season in LA. No matter what happens in 2012, it is certain that David Beckham had a good time in America. He earned millions in advertising, won an MLS Cup, made quite a few new friends, and gave new reasons for an-other nation to fall in love with him. In the end, I think all of the United States can agree that Beckham’s worst flaw is his sense of hairstyle. As of late Jaunary, Beckham has decided to stay in Los Ange-les for the welfare of his family.

The wrestling team started its season by traveling to Yorktown on November 25 for an Invitational. The Slicers placed 4th in a six team tournament. While the Slicers defeated Delta and New Albany, they fell to powerhouses Belmont and Yorktown and lost a close one to Huntington North. The Slicers then traveled to the Bulldogs’ den in Crown Point, fac-ing the number two team in the state. The Slicers put up a good fight, but lost in the end. The Slicers got victories from Kye Stachowski, and Cody Mullican. The Slicers are very young and inexperienced at the varsity level. This year they have three freshmen and four sophmores. “The younger guys are getting used to the dominant Duneland Conference. The early season workouts are quickly improving their conditioning, while improving their technique along the way,” said coach Kuzdas. The Slicers got a big win over Duneland foe Michigan City Wolves on December 14. The Slicers fell behind early, but with help from their older and experienced wrestlers they got the victory. “I think we are off to a good start considering were young, but once we get the younger guys with more experience we will get better,” said senior Cody Mullican. The Slicers hope to have a strong postseason run and make it to Regionals and send as many wrestlers as possible to state.

The girls’ swim team has one of the strongest teams they have had in the last few years. Their first meet was on November 29, at Michigan City High School. The meet was very close but La Porte ended defeated. “Although we lost, it was still my favorite meet. It was a lot of fun and we worked hard to make it as close as it was. Everyone really got into it, even the crowd,” said senior captain Krissy Jones. Since the November meet the girls have participated in five more swim meets. They have yet to pull out a win, but each meet they get closer. The team consists of seven senior swimmers; Krissy Jones, Alli Ray-mond, Payton Povlock, Angelica Kasper, Chelsey McIntosh, Jaclyn Lewis and Rachel Edlen. The team doesn’t have a lot of experienced swimmers, but the se-niors and the captains are helping them improve so that they can build the team for future years. The girls’ main goals for the season are to finally get a relay to state and get as many swimmers to the second day of sectionals as they can. “I’m looking forward to all of the team parties and state, it’s when we have the most fun and shows that our hard work paid off,” said junior captain Carly Jackson. Key home meets for the girls are January 17, La Porte versus Mer-rillville High School at 5:30; January 26 La Porte versus Knox High School at 5:30; and February 4 at Chesterton girls’ sectional, time still to be announced. The girls’ are looking forward to making memories and doing well, not only individually, but as a team.

Staffer’s Superbowl XLVI picks

Referred to as a “five-month roller coaster”, the NBA lockout finally came to an end. Now many may ask, what even caused this lockout? On July 1, the owners and players met to make a clear set of rules known as a “collective bargaining agreement”. This shows how much a player is able to make and how their contract will be handled. The agreement sets a salary cap on teams, with the hope that certain teams cannot stack their players. The owners at this meeting came together and agreed that their players were being overpaid. NBA players were of course outraged by this statement and refused to play until the owners could come up with a plan they would be content with. Months went by and the tension began to rise. They would meet day after day, sometimes for sixteen hours at a time. There would be days where ESPN analysts would sense an agreement in the works, until another player would come out with a threat to play overseas if they would refuse to raise his pay. The center of this situation revolved around greed. On December 8, the owners finally came up with a plan to please their players. Practices started the very next day. “It makes me chipper to know that the NBA season will be here this year because basketball is one of my favorite sports to watch. Unlike most people in this community, I enjoy professional basketball more than college so when I heard the NBA season was back on, I was ecstatic,” said senior Jordan Gasaway. This agreement involved a reduction of games. The season will now only have 66 games, the first of which were on Christmas Day. This change begs the question, how will this affect the championship? “There will be controversy because with less games comes less chances to win and move on to the championships. The competition will be even harder and the games become more important,” said senior Mariah East. The controversy will come back in due time, but many people are glad that basketball is back. The agreement only guarantees this for about another 10 years. This story goes to show that money truly runs the world.

Photo by Tommy SnyderJoe Loera takes down Caleb Stewart.