Summer Sports

What’s HOT, what’s NOT

By Josh Martin, Sports Editor

ith this special June
edition coming at
you live, you must be

wandering about what kind of
activities you want to partake

in this summer... hmm... and by
activities obviously you mean
sports. So I’m going to discuss
several sports and rate them on
the HOT or NOT HOT scale, just
to help you out this summer if
you feel like impressing a special
someone.

I’ve been playing tennis for 14
years and I have still yet to come
up with the conclusion if girls dig
guys who play tennis. So far they
seem quite indifferent. The subject
of tennis doesn’t exactly make
them swoon with affection. No, the
response that I often get is, “You
play tennis?” In a kind of sarcastic
tone with a hint of “that’s lame.”
However I could be extremely
sensitive, they could actually be

asking a genuine question... But
my intuition is usually right on the
money, so I’m going to have to give
tennis a NOT HOT. Sad but true.

The easiest way to meet the
opposite sex at the beach is playing
volleyball. It’s the go-to move.
Hit up Kits or English bay grab a
volleyball and within a few minutes
you'll be covered with either
females or males. Seriously, it’s
that easy. And the best think about
volleyball is that each team can
have up to eight people to a side,
that way if you look left and there’s
someone who doesn’t quite fit your
fancy... look right and there’s bound
to be someone who makes you
move your eye brows up and down
repeatedly. Volleyball is HOT. One
word: bikinis.

Playing Ice hockey growing up,
I never once thought about playing
lacrosse. And every time I go to
watch my friends play at Queens
Park Arena I am consistently
reminded why I chose not to.

Sports.

Players are hacking players without
the ball, the goalies look like robots,
the scores end up being 9-7 or
something ridiculously high... it’s
shear madness. Not to mention the
fact that you have to run back and
forth in that arena and not skate
back and forth. I couldn’t imagine
how tiring it would be. However all
that work does pay off. The crowd
is pretty decent with parents from
both teams and groups of high
school girls and lacrosse players’
girlfriends coming out to watch
their beloveds. And even though
I’m not a huge fan of lacrosse, it’s
quite the environment. Now I’m
just wondering why we didn’t have
crowds like that come out to watch
our hockey games. Result? Lacrosse
is HOT.

Ultimate Frisbee is the classic
hot summer’s day with a warm
breeze on the field sport. Although
whenever a Frisbee is brought
out my friends and I just tend to
pass it around until we get bored.

 

The image of it is far greater than
actually doing it. Maybe that’s
because it takes a long time to
organize and requires a larger
amount of people per team, but
that’s hard to come by when you’re
not at the beach. I’m going to leave
the image as that perfect breezy
day but in reality this sport is NOT
HOT.

Street ball on its own is part of
growing up in the summer. Finding
that neighborhood basketball hoop
and shooting around with friends
has generated so many childhood
memories. And the best thing about
basketball is that you can play by
yourself too. Practicing your shot
and dribble in the warm and not-
too-hot weather after dinner time
was the best way to tire out before
hitting the hay. Basketball can be
played one-on-one, three-on-three,
or simply by yourself, and for that I
have to give it a HOT.

Football fever: the breakdown of Andrew Luck

By David Hollinshead, Staff Writer

hen the Indianapolis
Colts drafted Andrew
Luck first overall in the

NFL Draft in April, every expert
was hailing him as the Colts’ new
franchise quarterback who will
“replace” Peyton Manning for the
next 10 years or so. It’s interesting
how he has yet to take an NFL snap,
and his career seems to already
be decided as a success. Might as
well put his bust in Canton now,
why wait 30ish years to put him
in the Hall of Fame. You won't
find me hating on him, but I think
that as easy as it is to fall in love
with his measurable and college
tape, we should take a look at
what his future may hold for him.
Without making any ridiculously
bold predictions like “perennial
pro-bowler” and comparing him
to Peyton Manning every five
minutes.

Andrew Luck is an athletic
freak. That’s the only way to
describe him. It’s rare for a
quarterback to be given the term at
all, but to still be as effective in the
pocket as Luck is. Luck stands at
a tall 6-foot-4 and weighs a sturdy

234 pounds. He ran 40 yards in
4.67 seconds which is amazing
for a quarterback, and was a top
performer in the broad jump, three
cone drill, and 20 yard shuffle. It’s
not only those measurables, but
his intangibles set him apart from
any other quarterback in recent
memory. His college film shows
he has the ability to pick apart a
defense with excellent reads and
can make every NFL throw. You
also saw him running down the
sidelines, bringing in a one handed
catch for a touchdown. His past,
you can’t debate, it’s his future
situation that’s interesting now.
The Colts just departed from
Peyton Manning, the quarterback
that literally carried them for his
entire career, and here comes Luck
who is doomed to fail. If he doesn’t
measure up to Manning, you can
no doubt bet that people will be
bringing up his predecessor to no
end. Team owner Jim Irsay brought
in head coach Chuck Pagano
to replace Jim Caldwell after a
disappointing 2-14 season. Pagano
is a good coach. He was last with
the Baltimore Ravens as a defensive
coordinator, keeping in place the
Ravens great defence of probably

the last ten years. He doesn’t have
an offensive mind though, so
Luck won't be receiving too much
progression help from him. It will
be coming from Bruce Arians,
who last coached the Pittsburgh
Steelers for the past four years. He
contributed in the development
of Ben Roethlisberger, who was
named to his first pro-bowl once
Arians took over and won a Super
Bowl title the year after. Luck is in
good hands with Arians.

The division that Luck is going
into is another plus to help him out.
The Houston Texans, the division
winners last year, appear to be the
team to give the Colts the biggest
amount of trouble. The Texans
defense looks to be getting better
and better, making them tough
to de-throne. Their front seven
is loaded, despite losing Mario
Williams. With JJ Watt, Brooks
Reed, Brian Cushing, and newly-
drafted Whitney Mercilus, they can
put the pressure on. The Texans
also have Pro Bowl cornerback
Johnathan Joseph and riser Kareem
Jackson covering receivers that are
less than starting calibre, aside from
Reggie Wayne

The Tennessee Titans look to

Tg Andrew Luck

 

take second place, just for being a
better all-around team that’s not in
the middle of a rebuilding phase
like the Colts, but it wouldn’t
surprise me if they split the season
series. If the Colts are built right
and quickly, it won’t be long before
Luck can overcome them. The lowly
Jaguars round out the division.
Two easy wins a year for Luck, and
isn’t that music to every rookie
quarterback’s ears? The division

is set up perfectly for Luck, giving
him challenges at every stage of his
career, assuming that things stay
the same, which they definitely
won't, but we can only live in what
we know now. How many times
though have we heard of the “next
big franchise quarterback” and they
let us down?

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