The second annual run to benefit Coppell Special Olympics comes to Andy Brown West Park this upcoming Saturday, May 7. Join over 300 other participants in either a 5K run/walk, or one mile fun run at 7 to register for the race, starting at 8.

Registration costs only $35 and all goes towards supporting the Special Olympics team. For more information speak to Lori Emery at coppellsoteams@gmail.com or visit the website.

Staff Writer

2010 was filled with breath taking moments in many sports including hockey, soccer, basketball, and football. Graphic by Scott Bennett.

As I contemplated the past year during the first days of the New Year, it struck me that 2010 was truly a great year. It was filled with fantastic games and performances, and the most prominent were the amazing moments in sports leaving fans speechless.

One thing is for sure: it was an exciting year for sports enthusiasts. All of the usual hype surrounding yearly sports events such as the NFL or NBA was converged with rare occurrences such as the Winter Olympics and the World Cup.

This made 2010 the ultimate year in sports, stocked full of amazing moments. Although there were definitely thousands of amazing sporting feats that could be mentioned, I have compiled what I think were the five most amazing sports moments of 2010.

5. 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship Game: Duke vs. Butler

The 2010 NCAA Tournament lived up to its nickname “March Madness” when Butler faced Duke in the championship game. With just three seconds left, Duke went to the free throw line with a 60-59 lead. Brian Zoubek swished the first free throw to extend Duke’s lead to 61-59. When Zoubek missed the second, Butler’s Gordon Hayward sprinted up the court and tossed up a prayer from half-court at the buzzer. The shot was inches away from going in, but bounced off the rim, giving Duke fourth national championship. Had Butler won, it would’ve gone down as one of the greatest upsets in NCAA history. Watch the video!

4. Texas 5A Football Playoffs: Coppell vs. Trinity

Senior corner back Bennett Okotcha tackles Trinity receiver. Photo by Aditi Shrikant.

Next on the list is the Coppell Cowboys football team’s matchup against the Trinity Trojans in the fourth round of the playoffs. This isn’t exactly the Super Bowl, but as a witness, I can attest that this game had intensity like very few I’ve seen before. Both teams were undefeated, and knew that everything they had worked for was on the line. Trinity, being the No. 1 team in the state, was obviously favored. However, Coppell was hungry for an upset, and jumped out to an early 13-0 lead. The Cowboys led for the entire game, save one play: the final one. Coppell had a 40-35 lead with a second left and Trinity lining up on the goal line.

Everyone in the stadium was on their feet; the intensity was cranked up to top notch. However, the Coppell side completely deflated as Trinity rushed into the end zone for a 41-40 victory. Coppell’s storybook 13-0 season was the first in school history and their loss to Trinity was by far the best high school game I’ve ever seen. Watch the video!

3. Olympic Hockey Gold Medal Game: USA vs. Canada

For the “bronze medal” spot on the list, we’ll venture outside of the U.S. to Vancouver where the 21^st Winter Olympics were held. The United States and Canada’s hockey rivalry was revived as the two battled for the gold medal. The score was tied 2-2 at the end of the third period, sending the game into overtime. Only a few minutes into the overtime period, Canada’s Sidney Crosby slipped the puck into the net behind USA’s Ryan Miller. The red-clad audience exploded into a frenzy of cheering and flying Maple Leaves. This was part of a historic 14 gold medals for Canada in the 2010 Olympics, the most of any nation. Watch the video!

2. World Cup 2010: USA vs. Algeria

Even over the unbearable noise of the vuvuzelas, there was plenty of epic action in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In the final match of group stage, America was in a duel with Algeria, both teams fighting for their spot in the knockout stage. The intensity reached a climax when the match was hurdled into extra time at the end of a scoreless regulation. In the first minute of extra time, when least expected, USA’s Landon Donovan collected a shot blocked by Algeria’s goalie and swiftly punched it into the net. The game was over, and the USA team was moving on to the knockout stages. All across the world people were thrilled by this spectacular moment. Watch the video!

1. Super Bowl XLIV: New Orleans vs. Indianapolis

Claiming the top stop as the most memorable sports moment of 2010, was the New Orleans Saints’ Super Bowl victory over the Indianapolis Colts. The Saints prevailed 31-17 on the biggest stage in all of football. New Orleans overcame an initial 10-0 deficit in a riveting game of trick plays and improbable feats. This was not just a win for a football team, but for the entire city, struggling to rebound from the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Awe inspiring images of jubilant Saints fans and Drew Brees lifting his son into the air in joy after the game are the stuff of legends and will always be known as one of the most amazing moments in 2010, and in sports history. Watch the video!

Asst. Business Manager, Staff Writer

Bob Bowman, the swimming coach that helped Michael Phelps become an internationally renowned winner of 14 Olympic gold medals, no longer thinks that Phelps is the best U.S. swimmer. According to Bowman, Phelps’ American teammate, Ryan Lochte, has taken the crown.

“Obviously, Ryan Lochte is the best swimmer in the world this year. No question,” Bowman said.

Bowman’s bold statement may come as no surprise after Lochte’s stellar results at this summer’s Pan Pacific Championships last month. Lochte beat Phelps directly in two head-to-head races and too home six gold medals to Phelps’ five.

Though Lochte is ahead for now, Bowman doesn’t expect Phelps to be second-best for long.

“[Lochte] will be a huge challenge for Michael going forward, hopefully a motivator,” Bowman said.

For more information, check out ESPN.com.

Video by Molly Hohfler and Victoria Flemming
KCBY Broadcast

Athens, 1896: the first modern Olympics are held, with a few choice countries competing in track events such as discus and relay races. No big deal.

Vancouver, 2010: Hundreds upon hundreds of competitors from all over the world come together for the Winter Games, and Shaun White puts down his Double McTwister during his victory lap. Very big deal.

Needless to say, the Olympics has made some major changes throughout the course of its history, be it in the sports that are competed in or the presentation of the opening ceremonies. Despite the exterior changes, however, the intent of the Games has always been about bringing the world closer through the love of the sport – even students at Coppell High School.

“It truly is the best of the best – the best in the world coming together for world unity and peace,” junior Kelsey Dreier said. “Everyone comes together, melding and fighting at the same time.”

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games began on a sad note when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in an accident during one of his practice runs on Feb. 12. After some modifications were made to the icy downhill track, the competition continued as planned but not without a batch of shock from viewers.

“[NBC] kept showing his crash video over and over [the only time they ran the segment], and all I could think was, ‘Who wants to see that?’” junior Shannon Conrad said. “I couldn’t watch.”

In spite of the tragedy, the Games began to pick up momentum after a superb opening ceremony and other matches began. Big names and medal hopefuls from Team USA include Shaun White (Snowboarding), Lindsey Vonn (Alpine Skiing), Apolo Ohno (Short Track), Meryl Davis and Charlie White (Ice Dancing) and Team USA for hockey, which beat the Canadian team in qualifiers for the first time in over 50 years. These competitors, as well as many others, have contributed to a stellar medal turnout thus far for America.

However, the Olympics offers many other events that are often overlooked by the more popular competitions, yet can be more extreme. Some of these lesser-known events include luge, freestyle skiing and biathlon, all of which have come and gone at this point during the 2010 games. For some students, simply flipping on the channel at the right time offered them a new form of sports entertainment they did not know they were missing in the first place.

“[Biathlon] was really interesting – I never thought there was a sport that could combine two things so different such as skiing and shooting,” junior Morgan Harnois said. “I like it because it’s not your typical, run-of-the-mill Olympics sport where they speed down the slope and try to go the farthest – it’s much more complicated than that. It’s a mix of having to go quickly while still being able to shoot something, calm your heart rate down and hit a target.”

NBC holds exclusive broadcasting rights of the games, producing profiles on athletes and covering events with the help of guest commentators – most of who are former U.S. Olympic champions in the sport. Though the commentary can be good to those who do not understand the event, some students have found them to be more unhelpful than not.

“I don’t really think the commentaries are necessary,” Harnois said. “They are kind of like background noise.”

This year’s Olympic Games have been an exciting one that has drawn students and staff from all across the campus toward the daredevil and exhilarating competition. However, remember that there comes a time when there is too much of a good thing, CHS.

“I spend way too much time watching when I should be doing my homework,” Dreier said with a laugh.

Well, there is one good thing about the Olympics ending: “The Office“, complete with a one-hour special event this Thursday, March 4, for Pam and Jim to have their baby. Need I say more?

For the comments…do you think it will be a boy or a girl? And what do you think its name should be? (I’m rooting for a Michael Scott Halpert, personally.)

The United States hockey team has had a very successful winter Olympics thus far but hope to continue farther in their pursuit of a gold medal when they play Finland 2 pm central.  The Americans look very hot going into this game however the Finland team has many top NHL performers to counter America.

Finland has players such as Teemu Selanne and the Koivu brothers whom come from top NHL franchises and are all accustomed to playing with each other.  The Finland team will be a dangerous test for the Americans.

America could conceivably come into this game with a cocky “we beat Canada” attitude.  Look for Finland to try and make this a physical contest early and be aggressive offensively to surprise the Yanks.

America will need defenseman Brian Rafalski and captain Jamie Langenbrunner to supply offense, tough defense, and overall savvy to help produce another USA victory.  If the Yanks win, then they will at least lock up the silver medal.

With a loss, they would play for the bronze medal in the consolation game.  A possible match-up in either game with Canada is a distinct possibility.  The re-match would be a widely viewed contest with one great team coming out on top.

With the Vancouver Olympics coming to a close on Sunday the American team can look back on a successful Olympic Games and look forward to a bright future four years from now. As of right now the American team holds a six medal lead in the medal count over Germany who has taken the total medal count in the past two winter games. Norway sits in third with 19, while the host country, Canada sits in fourth with 17.

As the Olympics wind down though there is still plenty of excitement left due largely to the men’s hockey finals on Sunday. As of right now the U.S. team remains unbeaten and is looking to shock the world by taking a surprise gold.

Looking back, though, this Olympics has provided plenty of excitement. Apolo Ohno set the record for individual medals won in the winter games. Lidsey Von gutted her way through a shin injury to claim a gold medal the women’s downhill and the men’s nordic combine team medaled for the first time in Olympic history, as they picked up three individual medals and a team silver.

All in all the Olympic Games have been widely successful for the United States as they look to take both the gold medal count and total count over the weekend.

We have seen the clever Coca Cola ads and cell phone commercials preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. But how ready is the public for another Olympics game? It seems to me the Olympics is losing its drive.

The 2010 Winter Olympics was said to have a more intimate setting this year which was clearly seen in the opening ceremony when countries entered with only one or two athletes.

Also, living in Texas it is easy to see why the Winter Olympics would not be as important due to our once in a life time chance of snow besides the freak snow storm of the century, we experienced in February.

Summer Olympics is a definite phenomenon in Coppell because big time names in the Summer Olympics are close to us whether it is Nastia Luikin being trained only minutes from our school or Michael Phelps and his subway commercials.

Winter just doesn’t seem to be a Texas theme. However, this has not stopped groups of students debating hockey games and medals given out for figure skating.

News reports seem to all agree the Olympics are causing NBC to lose money. The television station paid $820 million to earn the rights to televise the event, but this might not be a shock to NBC seeing if expected to lose money in the business deal.

Early in the week ratings looked very poor showing the expected loss however the Olympics ratings increased dramatically beating Fox’s “American Idol” for the first time since the show premiered. Personally this is no surprise to me seeing American Idol is becoming a total bore.

Either way, the Olympics is trying to make its way into Coppell from conversations heard around school. Groups debate gold medalist and games. However this could be a side effect from interest level. The groups of people talking about the winter gases had a personal connection to the games. Majority of the people I heard talking about it were figure skaters.

The main talk of the Olympics I have heard is unfortunately not really what the Olympic officials were looking for. Controversial topics such as the death of the luger from Georgia seem to circulating quicker than Apallo Ohno making history by winning the most medals. It has been seen through Olympic history that controversial topics get the lime light more than the players themselves.

The 2008 Summer Olympics received more publicity because of the fact that it was in Beijing. Commotion was everywhere on weather athletes should even be participating in the Olympics. Would they be safe, protests erupting? The location overshadowed the event.
In the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics the United States and the Soviet Union boycotted due to political disagreement. All the world’s problems are suppose to stay out of the Olympics to keep its main purpose.

Olympics are supposed to be an event for the country to come together and celebrate talent and “old fashion fun”. People could get over their differences to have a good time. It was a time to break away from all the controversy but it seems to follow us any way. We can’t break away from it and it continues to over shadow the Olympics sole purpose.

I don’t see the problem getting any better. The traditional Olympics are a thing of the past. There will have to be something controversial to be found to keep people interested. The Olympics will never be forgotten the will be remembered for years to come. The will be remembered for location or even death. But what can you say, publicity is publicity.

With winter olympics starting in just a few days we would expect Vancouver to be making final adjustments to make the even run smoothly.

If you are in Vancouver you would see numerous helicopters transfering materials in the air, so you think. The helicopters are making it snow.

These helicopters are transfering large amounts of snow on to the mountains. The El Nino is causing warmer tempetures in the area. Record heat tempetures for this time in Vancouver are greater than ever.

The combination of trucks and helicopters are transfering 780 tons of snow per day to high elevations of Cypress Mountain in efforts to save two olympic competitions.

However heavy fog has delayed many helicopter trips to the mountain.

Work is continuing and olympic organizing commitiees are sure the problem will be solved in time.

To read more go to:http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/vancouver/2010-02-08-weather-concerns_N.htm

Staff Writer

It’s become nearly impossible to view any prime time TV show without being bombarded with ads about the upcoming Olympic games. Not that that is a bad thing – the Olympic games are an athletic tradition that have been anticipated since 776 BC.

The upcoming winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver and will take place starting Feb. 12 and lasting through the 28. Over 500 athletes will compete as representatives of their individual countries to compete for the paramount of athletic success, a gold medal.

Tickets for the games are still available online at the Olympics website, but a majority of the fans will be watching from home. And even though they can’t hear our shouts of support through the TV screen, it’s important to provide ratings so that those athletes know that we’re here for them.