laurel colemire – The Hilltop Monitor

The 2018 NBA All-Star Game Adds to the King’s Legacy

Laurel Colemire — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 14:00:23 +0000

The 2018 NBA All-Star Game was the 67th time the best of the best basketball players showed what they’re made of. But this game had a twist that has never been done in All-Star history. There was competition.

Each player on the losing team earned only $25,000 while the players on the winning team walked home with $100,000. The winning team also got to donate $350,000 to the captain’s charity of choice, and the losing team got to donate $150,000. LeBron James’ charity of choice was After School All-Stars Los Angeles, and Stephen Curry chose Brotherhood Crusade.

The game started off with a hilarious announcement of the starting line-ups by Kevin Hart, with the Canadian National Anthem sung by the Barenaked Ladies. But the most notable part of the pregame show was the National Anthem sung by Fergie. She gave it a twist with a jazzy feel and it could have sounded good; but the fact that it was Fergie, and the fact that it was live in front of millions of people, made it the laughing stock of the All-Star Game.

For the first time, there was a sense of competition during the All-Star Game. It didn’t seem like a dunk contest and it played like an actual game. It was no longer the Eastern Conference vs. the Western Conference. It was like school yard ball with captains choosing teams. Many players who haven’t gotten to play together were able to play on the same team, which also helped add to the competition. It was the first time that a player hasn’t scored more than 30 points in an All-Star Game. Team Steph lead for most of the game and we all thought that his team was going to take home the $100,000 per player. But in the last six minutes, both teams were trying their hardest to prove that they were the team that deserved to win. Team LeBron was the one to prove that they were the best, and James was there to prove that he’s still the best in the NBA at age 33.

Photo courtesy of The Ringer

Kevin Durant finally fires back at the haters

Laurel Colemire — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:00:54 +0000

Kevin Durant. When you hear his name, there are many other names surrounding it. Quitter. Snake. Cupcake. Many people have taken to talking down on Kevin Durant after he left his team of nine years, the Oklahoma City Thunder, to go to “superteam” the Golden State Warriors in 2016.

Durant was a superstar on the Thunder. In 2012, he led them all the way to the NBA Finals, only to be beaten by the Miami Heat. In January 2014, Durant averaged 35.9 points per game all while scoring 30 or more points in 12 straight games. This included a career-high 54 points against the Golden State Warriors.

In Durant’s final seasons with the Thunder, he had many career setbacks. He was diagnosed with a Jones fracture, he injured his ankle and he had to undergo foot surgery. But Durant still showed the world that even though he had many reasons to give up, he was the best.

During his final season with the Oklahoma City Thunder he averaged 28.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and five assists, leading his team to 55 wins and the third seed in the West. Kevin Durant was on Oklahoma City’s very first professional basketball team. He was with the Thunder for nine years and was constantly professional on and off the court.

Even after all his success with his first team, he wanted something else. He wanted a championship. All the greatest players in the NBA have championships. It is one of the only sports where championships play the biggest factor in becoming one of the greats. Durant is easily a top three player in the league, but he wasn’t winning championships. He was tired of losing in the playoffs.

Basketball is a team game. However, the Thunder relied on 1-on-1 basketball instead of team basketball, which is what always hurt them against good team basketball like the Spurs and Warriors. He wanted to play for a team that moved the ball around and played unselfishly, and the Warriors established themselves as one of those teams.

Durant saw how easily they got open shots and how much fun it was. So after nine years with the same team and still no championships, he decided to join a team that fit his style and was what he wanted.

“I understood cognitively that I was facing a crossroads in my evolution as a player and as a man, and that it came with exceptionally difficult choices,” Durant writes in his tell-all article, My Next Chapter.

He released this article July 4, 2016 to tell his fans that he had decided to join the Golden State Warriors.

“I will miss Oklahoma City, and the role I have had in building this remarkable team. I will forever cherish the relationships within the organization — the friends and teammates that I went to war with on the court for nine years, and all the fans and people of the community,” said Durant.

The NBA is a business, and he saw an opportunity in a culture that would better suit his needs on the court. He felt as though he had made the right decision to continue his growth as a player going to a new city and a new team. That’s how any job is. If another job fits you better, you take it. But that’s not how the fans saw it.

Photo courtesy of YouTube

Jerseys were burned, angry tweets were shared and the basketball world went crazy. Kevin Durant’s new teammates were thrilled to have him once the news dropped. Draymond Green tweeted, “Welcome to THE FAMILY @KDTrey5 let’s just do what we are setting out to do!! #Blockoutthenoise”

But a lot of other professional basketball players were skeptical of the move. Paul Pierce of the Boston Celtics tweeted, “If u can’t beat em join em,” since many people believe that Durant only joined the Golden State Warriors to get his first ring, considering they beat the Thunder in the Conference Finals of Durant’s final season. But he is tired of getting all this hate for his decision.

After a year of lying low and taking the heat for his move, Durant is tired of being told that he made the wrong decision. He has recently tweeted that he did not like playing for the OKC coach Billy Donovan, and the roster wasn’t good. But the tweets weren’t enough. He is also dropping some new shoes with a special something for his haters. On the soles of the shoes there are some of the names he’s been called in a list. These include: Weak, Quitter, Doesn’t Care About Fans, KowarD, Snake and Traitor. On top of the list, in yellow, are his scores from each game in the finals, “2017 Champs”, and “Finals Most Valuable Player.”

Photo courtesy of SB Nation

People knew how good he was, but they forgot how great he was and is until the NBA finals. He was a four-time scoring champion, an MVP and arguably one of the greatest college basketball players at the University of Texas, even though he played only one season.

In that one season, he averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game for the Longhorns, and he was recognized as the unanimous national player of the year, winning the John R. Wooden Award, the Naismith College Player of the Year Award and all eight other recognized honors and awards. This made Durant the first freshman to win any of the national player of the year awards. He went to the best team in the NBA and became their best player, even better than the previous two-time MVP Steph Curry. He immediately fit right in with the Warriors and lead them to an NBA championship and dominated the finals.

At the end of the day, Durant loves the game of basketball. All he cares about is playing the game he loves. He is sick of all the hate he’s getting from everyone. Who wouldn’t get annoyed of getting attacked constantly by everyone around the world? He just wants to play basketball and prove to everyone that he is a great player that made a smart decision. You can hate him for his decision. It is your right to voice your opinion, but you can’t argue how great of a player he is on the court and off the court.

Jewell Soccer Squads Kick-Off The Season

Laurel Colemire — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 15:00:59 +0000

William Jewell College soccer is starting the 2017 season with many new faces and a new drive to compete. The women’s soccer team has already proven that they are ready to take on anyone by starting out undefeated with a record of 3-0. The men’s team hasn’t had the luck of being undefeated, starting off their season with a record of 0-2. Nevertheless, the first two men’s games of the season were filled with competition.

The women started their season with a non-conference game against Missouri Southern State University (0-2) Sept. 3. The Cardinals came out of preseason fighting, topping the Missouri Southern Lions 1-0 with a goal by first-year elementary education major Alexa Hawkins. Both the women’s and men’s teams had their first conference games over the weekend, playing the University of Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars Friday, Sept. 8, 2017, and then the Lewis University Flyers on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. The women defeated the Prairie Stars 2-0 with goals by senior psychology and applied critical thought and inquiry major Aspen Hawkins and sophomore nursing major Gracie Schweinfurth. They then kept the ball rolling with a win over the Flyers with a score of 1-0. The single goal came from first-year psychological science major Annalee Arbeitman.

The men’s season started by jumping right into conference games.

“Our conference is pretty competitive so they know from game one it’s going to be intense, it’s going to be a battle,” said Coach Garrett Jahn.

And a battle it was. Both games were filled with nonstop competition for the win. The men started with a loss to the University of Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars with a score of 0-1. Sunday, the men came back with their heads held high to play the Lewis University Flyers. The men lost their second game of the season with a score of 4-1 with the single goal by first-year business administration major Noah Espinosa, his first career goal.

Both teams have changed from what they were last year, with new faces and new positions. For the women, Coach Jefferson Roblee came into the new season with different positions for a lot of the returning players. He said that he likes to “use talents for what it is and what you need.”

Aspen Hawkins has been a key component in helping the players’ transitions to their new positions run smoothly. Hawkins runs the center of the field using her foot skill to pass the ball quickly around the field.

For the men, second year head coach Jahn decided that new players are going to be the key to success for this season. Along with many new players, sophomore Drew Dempsey is one to watch.

“[Dempsey] has a little spark plug. He’s something that we haven’t had in the past,” said Jahn.

Dempsey was a big help in the first two games of the season, playing all over the field. One moment he would be up top charging the offense to try and get a goal, and the next he would be in the back field helping to defend the Cardinals’ goal.

Both Jewell teams play the Truman State University Bulldogs today, with the men playing at 1 p.m. and the women playing at 3:30 p.m. The next home game for the men is a non-conference game against Harding University Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. The women’s next home game is also a non-conference game against Northwest Missouri State University Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.

Mixed feelings about the new “Scream Queens”

Laurel Colemire — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 13:00:14 +0000

Courtesy of Fox “Scream Queens” was right for all of the wrong reasons. With main characters played by actors like Emma Roberts, Jamie Lee Curtis and Keke Palmer, this show definitely had some potential.

With a new semester starting, the Kappa House is hit with a string of murders. This sorority is the most sought-after house for the new women, but Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) rules that everyone can a pledge. This makes everyone question whether the queen of the sorority, Chanel (Emma Roberts), who is trying to get even, is really still in charge. Not only is Chanel trying to stay on top, but a killer dressed in a devil costume is killing off the Kappas one-by-one.

I assumed that this was going to be a constant guessing game of “who’s the killer?” which it was, but not in the way I assumed. It was actually pretty funny and just clever enough that sometimes I was questioning motives, but other times I just knew who the killer was. Now what may have made this show for me is the fact that there was a whole scene in which Nick Jonas worked out shirtless. So, Fox, the ladies of the world would like to thank you.

There were a few things that made the show a little questionable for me, mainly, the fact that there were musicians in it such as Lea Michele, Ariana Grande and Nick Jonas, but there was zero singing. You can’t put the three singers that always sound flawless in a show and not let them sing. Also, sitting through multiple people dying for an hour and a half just to find out in the last five seconds that they might not be dead? Talk about a cliffhanger.

Overall, I would give this show 3.5 stars. The death scenes were a little too gory and there were one too many jokes about having sex with a corpse for my liking. The things that compensated for this were the over-dramatized relationships and the stupid one-liners that weren’t that funny but for some reason made me crack up. It was surprisingly well-written for a modern horror show. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that it wasn’t as serious as “American Horror Story.”