Disappointing End of Season for Norton Basketball

Norton had high hopes for the boys' basketball team this year after winning the TVL Championship the past two years. The season was tough but they pushed through with a 10-10 record that qualified them for the MIAA Tournament. With Marc Liberatore as the coach and seniors James Loring and Paul Schleicher as the captains the boys played a tough season. They played a good season but fell short in their first MIAA Tournament game. 

The boys lost the first three games of the season against Medfield, Dover-Sherborn and Hopkinton, but won four games after that against Millis, Holliston, Westwood, and Bellingham. With a record of 9-10 and one game left against the undefeated Ashland, the boys' chances of making tournament didn't look very high. The boys were down 3 with a score of 14-11 after the first quarter and down again at half-time with the score being 21-18. After the third quarter things weren't looking good when the boys were down 35-33 but they kept playing and tied the game up with 1 minute and 57 seconds left in the game. The boys broke the tie with 28 seconds left and went up by 2 points. The Norton boys broke the Ashland winning streak and qualified for tournament with an ending score of 45-42.

It was a stressful few days of a lot of practice for the Norton boys as they prepared for their tournament game against Westport. The game was held on February 25, 2014 at Westport who finished their season 14-4. With a donated fan bus and supportive parents Norton had a lot of fans to cheer them on throughout the game. The boys played tough and stayed ahead throughout most of the game. With Bret Murphy leading in points the played a very close game. After senior captain Paul Schleicher fouled out of the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter things got tough. Westport went ahead and the offense couldn't make up the points lost. Westport came out champions when they won 56-50. It was a disappointing loss for both the team and the fans who came out to support the team.

The Norton boys' basketball team played a good season but ended up a disappointment with a loss in their first tournament game against Westport. Coach Liberatore and his team have won the TVL Championship the past two seasons but didn't do that this year with a 10-10 record. The team will lose a total of nine seniors this year. Current juniors Bret Murphy and Jason O'Neil are expected to be next years star players. Even though the boys failed to win a third consecutive TVL Championship or tournament game, they played a great season.

Flying Tomato Fails

Two-time, half-pipe gold medalist Shaun White did not receive a medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The fan favorite came in fourth in the men's half-pipe and dropped out of the new event, slopestyle. The guy everyone thought would win became one of Sochi's biggest disappointments.

Shaun White went into the Olympics expected to compete in his usual men's half-pipe competition, and the new men's slopestyle competition. Slopestyle is a freestyle competition for snowboarders and skiers where tricks in the air and on rails and boxes are performed (http://snowboarding.about.com). Slopestyle is not timed and judges give points based on style and difficulty of the performance. Half-pipe is a very long U-shaped terrain used also by freestyle snowboarders and skiers to perform tricks and aerial stunts. Shortly after arriving in Sochi, White dropped out of slopestyle due to safety concerns as he believed he had a better chance of getting a medal if he only performed in the half-pipe competition; he was wrong.

White was ultimately beat by a Swiss rider, Iouri "iPod" Podladtchikov, and his "YOLO" trick. White performed unusually sloppy and had a few unsteady landings. Shaun White's leaving Sochi without a medal was one of the biggest disappointments in the 2014 Olympic games.

Michael Sam Coming Out

As Michael Sam comes out as gay, many are questioning the NFL. The question many now have is will this affect him being drafted? I think he will be accepted by the right team, he was accepted in college by teammates and coaches so the NFL should be no different.

Super Bowl Blowout

My predictions for the Super Bowl were unfortunately wrong, the Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos 43-8. Peyton Manning cracked under pressure and only threw for one touchdown through the whole game. After Seattle's 22-0 halftime lead over Denver no one was surprised by the end result. Manning threw two interceptions and had a total of four turnovers in a very inadequate performance. Kam Chancellor of Seattle played outstandingly well ending the first half with 104 passing yards and two interceptions. Richard Sherman was taken out of the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury and never returned, but he did help in Seattle's 29 point lead before he left. Russell Wilson played much better than Peyton Manning and the ending score showed it. Manning simply could not go up against Seattle's defense.

The halftime show was better than I expected as I was surprisingly entertained by Bruno Mars and I especially liked the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Both are extremely talented musicians and they performed very well. I was disappointed by most commercials but loved the Budweiser "Puppy Love" commercial and the Budweiser commercial honoring soldiers and veterans. I must admit the commercial with the mixed breed dog with a huge head and tiny body freaked me out a little bit. Overall, the Super Bowl was pretty boring with a blowout game and mediocre commercials.