4th Quarter

Well, the end of 3rd quarter was indeed horrible. The teachers crammed on numerous tests in a very long two week period. Fortunately, I and the other students knew this was going to happen. Every quarter ends in chaos, at least at NRCA. What we didn't see coming was that this horrible nightmare would continue into the 4th quarter. This quarter has been a continuum of those very stressful two weeks and does not appear to get any better. Even Spring Break won't be that much of a "break" seeing how the AP Exams begin the week we get back. That means learning half of the book by myself and re-learning the other half that we discussed and forgot right after the test...needless to say, I'm not exactly looking forward to Spring Break.

The summer can't come soon enough for me and for probably the rest of the kids in AP BIO. I'm not saying that there are not other kids looking forward to summer-seniors want it more than I do-but AP Bio has been truly horrible. Can't wait for this to be all done...

UCONN

I really hate to be that guy, honestly, but I have to take advantage of the beautiful opportunity that has shown itself to me. For the NCAA Tournament, the Connecticut Huskies are the 2010-11 champions, who I, Mason Smith, picked to win! Yes, that is correct, I predicted the champion of one of the most unpredictable tournaments in recent memory. To top it off, picking this propelled me to the top of the Mr.Hahn's bracket challenge. Yes, there are some other people who also foresaw this, but none actually picked it as a liable option. They did it more as a "just in case". I, on the other hand, did no such thing. My OFFICIAL ESPN BRACKET consisted Kentucky in the final four (which no one picked) and the Huskies winning it all, putting me in the top 99.7 percentile of the 6 million people on ESPN. Yes, as you can tell, I am very proud of this.

For some, this would just be a fun bragging right. Something to remind your friends at every opportunity. I, on the other hand, see this as a victory of being a sports fan, and all the other things. Of all the people on Hahn's Bracket Challenge, I was the ONLY person to not pick a number 1 seed, which is ridiculously lame. But, this blunder committed by all the others did secure my victory, so I am grateful that they did this.

To just say this all again, I am extremely happy and proud of UCONN. The fact that they were not seen to go to the championship is thrilling. I, as a sports fan, will never forget this and I will make sure that none of my friends forget it either.

Canes Season Final Breakdown

Well, the Carolina Hurricanes had everything set in place for a glorious walk into the playoffs. The New York Rangers dropped one of their final three games, thus giving the Canes complete control over their own future. All they needed to do was win out. The won their first two games with ease. It appeared that the third would be no different. Unfortunately, this was not the case. The Canes had a home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on the final day of the season. The Lightning had absolutely nothing to play for, as they were already locked into the fifth seed of the playoffs. All the Canes needed to do was come out hard early and break Tampa Bay's will. This is the exact opposite of what occurred. Before the 1st period was even over, the Lightning had jumped all over the Canes to get a 3-0 lead. This sad story continued for Carolina and because of the lack of effort in one game, they will not be going to the playoffs.

I hate to say it, but I saw this coming. The Canes have a horrible tendency to seemingly fall apart with about 16 games left. Then, out of nowhere, they make a strong urge in the final 5 games, but then come up just short. It's sad really, but a successful organization cannot always depend on the very last minute runs. It was an excellent rebound season, and I think the Canes have much to build on in the years to come. They should be excited to see what comes next year.