The WarriorNiskayuna High School November 21, 2008 Volume 35, Issue 10

a student-run publication since 1974, now weekly

Inside this issue...

Murders occur in the Little Theater

Robin Williams and James Bond = best entertainment ever! page 6

Obama ready for change cartoonpage 4

By Lauren niedBaLec

news

Last week, Thursday November 13 through Saturday November 15, the high school’s very own Drama Club presented Agatha Christie’s well-known murder mystery, “And Then There Were None.” The play took place in the Little Theater, and tickets cost $5 for students and senior citizens and $6 for adults.

Drama Club decided to break away from its running comedy streak (the last play performed was “Laughing Stock,” a comedy) with a darker tragedy. The plot was refreshingly grim, and the unique characters still brought their own humorous lines and twists to the play.

In the premise of the play, the characters, ranging from the stolid butler Mr. Rogers, played by senior Evan Szakats, to totally “wizard” hotrod Anthony Marston, played by senior Roshal Patel, had all been lured to an isolated, foggy island by mysterious hosts that none of the guests had ever met. As the guests settle in and get to know each other, a mysterious record plays and addresses the guests in an ominous voice as the “prisoners at the bar,” and accuses each person of murder.

The guests panic, and Mrs. Rog-ers, played by junior Kayla Bam-berger, faints for being accused of murdering a previous employer. Quickly, Justice Wargrave, played by junior John Scala, who is used to organizing things in court,

calls each guest to pool together their knowledge of the mysterious hosts. The group realizes that the hosts, Mr. and Mrs. U. N. Owen, or “unknown,” are fake. They have all been led to the island to be trapped and killed as punishment for the people they themselves killed. The island is empty with no way to the main shore, since the boat

delivery man Fred Naracott, played by freshman Alexander DeJohn, mysteriously stops coming. The frightened characters soon come to the conclusion that one of their own must be the killer. Each of the guests tries to find out who is killing them off, one by one, before they too are murdered.

A particularly interesting aspect of the play was the way all of the

deaths tied in with a poem dis-played over the fireplace mantel, “Ten Little Soldier Boys.” In this nursery rhyme gone homicidal, one line states, “Six little soldier boys playing with a hive; a bumble bee stung one and then there were Five.” Accordingly, the uptight Emily Brent, played by Junior Macie VanNorden, is “stung” by

a hypodermic needle and dies, leaving five people left on the island. As each character dies, one of the ten soldier boy statues falls over as well, an eerie touch, especially as the statues fall over by themselves.

Many audience members re-ally enjoyed the play. During the intermission, people could be heard hypothesizing which

Girls’ Swimming heads to statespage 8

character would be the next one to kick the bucket, and which one was the homicidal master-mind. The butler always seems to do it in the end, so could he be the killer?

In the end, it turned out to be Justice Wargrave, played by Scala, after all. His thirst for sending people to their deaths could not be satisfied by sending people to be executed in court. He needed more, as was revealed in the great ending scene in which Wargrave reveals he is indeed the murderer. The homicidal maniac convinces a terrified Vera Clay-thorne, played by sophomore Mai Condon, the second to last one left, to hang herself.

That ending, with the dramatic lighting that cast a shadow of the hanging noose onto the wall, really made the already amaz-ing play. That ending, true to Agathie Christie’s book, had to be adjusted. In the play version of “And Then There Were None,” Vera Clathorne is not the last victim left. Instead of killing Philip Lombard, played by sophomore Manu Berduc, Vera would come to trust him, and the two would team up against Wargrave and live, also revealing that they were not murderers and were innocent all along. Happy endings can be good, but that ending was a bit of a stretch. It’s best to do things the Agatha Christie way: spooky and with a surprise ending!

continued on page two, [dRaMa pRoduction]

Warrior Photo / Emily Bartel

“TEN LITTLE SOLDIER BOYS”: Students act out Agatha Christie’s murder mystery, “And Then There Were None” last Thursday-Saturday.

2 November 21, 2008 The WarriorNews

Model UN makes it to MontrealBy naBeeL ahmad

news

On Thursday November 6, Niskayuna High School’s Model UN club went to the Secondary Schools’ United Nations Sym-posium Montreal (SSUNS) at Montreal. Advisors Rosemary Hirota-Morris and her husband accompanied the club on the trip to Montreal.

Model UN is a club where students get a chance to debate on different issues and it helps students develop good speaking and negotiating skills.

Many students from the high school participated in SSUNS: sophomore Jacklyn Marie, Kate Tepps, Chetna Prasad, Gabby Reyes, Nabeel Ahmad and junior Kasarah Swart-Kaushal, Varun Vijay, Kelvin Lin, Sarah Djebli, Salman Syed, junior Jess Jachimecki, junior, Rebecca Tishler, . The Model UN students participated in many committees at SSUNS such as Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), Disarmament and International Security (DISEC), Group of 77 (G77) United States National Security Council (USNSC) and Social, Cultural, and Humanitarian (SOCHUM).

The students left early morning on No-vember 6 on a school bus to the Greyhound Station where a coach bus met them to take them to the city of Montreal. Arriv-ing late for the Opening Ceremonies, they decided not to attend and instead went to a

Lebanese restaurant where they tried many unique and exotic dishes. The students stayed at the Delta Centre Ville, the same hotel where all the SSUNS meet-ings were held.

The following day the attend-ees were required to wear for-mal clothing, suits for the boys and dresses for the girls. The students went to Tim Horton’s for breakfast, the Canadian ver-sion of Starbucks and returned in time for the first committee session.

The session lasted for about three hours and the students then took a break for lunch and returned for the second com-mittee session. For dinner the students ate at an elegant Rus-sian restaurant before attending the third and final committee session that day. The students ended the night with excitement at Lazer Quest.

The next morning after a quick breakfast the students attended their first committee session of the day. The students ended their last committee of the day by ordering pizza and socializing with the peers they met over the past few days. The day finally came to a close with the SSUNS Gala whose theme for this year was ‘Dancing in the Streets’.

People were dancing all over the place to loud music while there were little games set up such as Nintendo Wii and raffles. Those who were invited to the Gala received fake $10 to play games. Everyone attended the dance party and many popular songs were playing by singers such as Rhianna and Flo Rida.

“I loved the party! It was fun dancing with our friends,” said sophmore Jacklyn Marie.

continued on page thRee, [ModeL un]

Drama production reaches perfectioncontinued fRoM page

one,The acting was superb and it

was especially amazing to find that freshman Zach Hoogkamp, who played General MacKenzie, had only two days to learn his lines and practice!

In addition to the good acting and directing, all of the little details really made the play exceptional. The lighting flashes and the gunshot sounds really made the play come alive. “It was really good and it was so scary!” remarked senior Joanna Clark, who saw the play’s final showing.

It is also surprising that the actors had less time to practice “And Then There Were None,” than they did for previous plays, such as “Laughing Stock.” Di-rector senior Sara Koste said

overall that the play “had a rocky start, but it turned out well in the end.”

There was also a bit of rocki-ness in the Matinee showing on Saturday at 3pm. As with all matinees, the cast got a little crazy. It was funny to find Dr. Armstrong, played by Senior Daniel Stone, come out onstage with a rifle, when that was not exactly in the script. Mr. Blore also walked onstage with a menacing screwdriver during the Saturday afternoon fun.

All in all, even with its Mati-nee hijinks, “And Then There Were None,” was a great hit, a unique and expertly executed tragedy in a sea of comedies. All of the cast should be proud of their performance. Good job guys!

Warrior Photo / Emily Bartel

BRAVO! : The cast of “And Then There Were None” pose after one of the brilliant performances.

Photo Credit / www.ssuns.org

3November 21, 2008The Warrior News

By Vishnu adi

news

On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, the Niskayuna Speech and Debate club attended the annual Bump Tournament, held at Hendrick Hudson High School, in Montrose, NY.

Eight team members attended the tournament. The four varsity debaters were seniors Sean Vale-ro and Samit Dharia, and juniors Archith Murali and Abhinav Adi attended. The four novice debat-ers were freshmen Erwin Lin, Vishnu Adi, Brendam McCann and junior Matt Habib.

The tournament is one of the most prestigious in the na-tion, and this year, around 200 people participated in the two debate events. This tournament was also special for Niskayuna, since last year, Alex Williams, then a Niskayuna senior, won the tournament and placed as first speaker.

The car ride to the tournament was supposed to be about three hours. During the car ride, the nervous novices reread their cases (essays arguing for your position), and prepared for the their first ever debate round. They asking the varsity mem-bers for advice throughout the car ride.

However, the students in one of the cars had a mini-adventure. A road was blocked, so they had to call the police for directions. Since this was in the middle of the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, it was slightly scary.

As the students approached Hendrick Hudson High School, they could see the other debaters nervously glancing around. While the novices were nervously look-ing around, the varsity members rushed to meet their friends.

At the end of the first day, the students had debated 3 rounds. The students split up and went to different houses (Generally, at high school debate tournaments, debaters house with students from the school that is hosting).

At their respective houses, the novice debaters went over their cases and drafted them, so that they could be better prepared for the next day.

However, some of the varsity members just relaxed. They slept at 1:30 and talked all night and played PS3. “For me, the hous-ing was definitely the best part. We had a lot of fun talking to each other and playing,” said Adi. The only bad thing was that the students had to get up really early to attend the tournament

the next day. On Saturday, the debaters fin-

ished their rounds. The novices debated a total of five preliminary rounds, while the Varsity mem-bers debated six preliminary rounds.

Dharia went 4-2 in preliminary rounds, and as a result, he quali-fied for the elimination rounds. Dharia won his double-octafinal round against a debater from Texas, but he, unfortunately, he lost in Octas (top 16) to a student from Stuyvesant High School.

Dharia said, “ I ’m rea l l y disappointed that I didn’t win my octas round since if I had won, I would have gotten a bid to the national Tournament of Champi-ons.”

The Tour-namen t o f Champ ions (TOC) is the national tour-nament and it is extremely hard to qualify for it. Every year, around a 100 stu-dents qualify for this prestigious tournament. In order to qualify, one has to reach a certain round. At the Bump tournament, one needed to reach quarterfinals in order to get a bid. At the Co-lumbia tournament, one needs to reach semifinals, and at the Harvard tournament, one needs to reach octafinals, or the top 16. Even though he lost in the bid round, he received a trophy for reaching octafinals. “At the end of the day, it’s about having fun, and we had lots of fun,” attested Abhinav Adi.

The novices also had a great time and learned a lot more about debate. They got to watch some elimination rounds, which allowed them to learn many new things. The tournament was also enjoyable since former Nisk-

ayuna debaters Sam Grondahl, Alex Williams and Sohail Syed were also there. “It was really nice to have a reunion with our former team members. We chilled and it was absolutely amazing,” said Dharia. “It was fun to meet everybody else again. It seemed like it was last year all again. I also liked meeting my friends from across the country,” stated Murali.

Debate is an activity that Ni-skayuna is renowned for. It is arguably the third best team in the northeast and the second best team in New York State. “This year, we hope to do well, and hopefully come in first in New York State,” said Dharia.

Next week, seniors Dharia and Deekshith Velagandula will at-tend a tournament at Glenbrook North High School, in Chicago. It should be a fun experience, and both of them look forward to it.

Debate team attends tournament

Students enjoy Model UN conference

Photo Credit / victorybriefsdaily.comDEBATE: Above, Senior Sam Dharia prepares for his debate. Dharia won his double-octafinal round against a debater from Texas, but he lost in the top 16 to a studen from Stuyvesant High School.

continued fRoM page two, [ModeL un]

After an exhausting party, everyone went to their rooms and fell asleep.

On Sunday, the students’ final day in Montreal, they attended their final commit-tee session. After the session ended, they checked out of the hotel. Some students went to Subway and others went to Mc-Donald’s for lunch.

The club met up with many of their new friends from many different places such as

Cleveland, Ohio Boston,Massachusetts, Calgary and Toronto,Canada, Vermont, Los Angeles, California and some from as far as Trinidad and Tobago. “SSUNS was awesome and I met people from so many different places such as Vancouver, Trini-dad, Tobago, and Mexico. Plus Hirota was so much fun,” said Prasad.

After saying their goodbyes, the students attended the Awards Ceremony where they got to see who won an award from each committee. Unfortunately, no one from

Niskayuna High School won, but there is always next year!

The students returned to Niskayuna after a six hour drive. Students finished the last of their homework and told stories of their experience all night long. Everyone enjoyed their stay in Montreal and are looking for-ward to attending SSUNS next year.

Junior Sarah Djebli enthusiastically exclaimed, “I had an awsome time at the SSUNS in Canada. The friends and the expe-riences of Montreal shall last a lifetime!”

EDITORIAL POLICIES

Letters to the editor are welcome from all members of the school community, and can be delivered toWarrior staff or sent via

email to: thewarrioropinion@gmail.com. The Warrior reserves the right to edit letters for grammar, length, and content.

Signed opinion articles express the opinions of their creators. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus of the paper’s edito-rial board, consisting of the Opinion section and the Editor-in-

Chief.

The op-ed pages are a forum for students’ opinions and ideas.

The WarriorNiskayuna High School, 1626 Balltown Road, Niskayuna, NY, 12309

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For a one-year subscription to The Warrior, please send a check for $25.00 to: The Warrior, c/o Niskayuna High School, 1626 Balltown Road, Niskayuna, NY 12309.

4 November 21, 2008 The WarriorOpinion

Editor-in-Chief:Daniel ClaridgeJulie Slotnick

News:Lauren Niedbalec, EditorAnagha Tolpadi, EditorHina Tai, Editor

Opinion:Kaela Bamberger, EditorSam Dharia, EditorLucas Lobe, Editor

Entertainment:Craig Dudek, EditorChris Murphy, EditorMarcelle Tuttle, Editor

Sports:Kevin Kurtzner, EditorRachele Marra, EditorCorey Guilmette, Editor

Magazine:Sarah Barry, EditorDinesh Kommareddy, EditorDan Stone, EditorRoshal Patel, Asst.

Additional Staff:Archith Murali, Copy EditorBrian Vedder, Business ManagerChris Rivadeneira, Advertising ManagerAmy Yao, Web ManagerNina Santiago, Distribution ManagerEmily Bartell, Graphics EditorAdvisors: James Edgar Russell McDowell

By aBhinaV adi

OpiniOn

Sweaters are the best! If you don’t wear sweaters, then you are missing out on some-thing that is truly amazing and remarkable. Sweaters are so cool that our school actu-ally has a day called, well, “Sweater Day.” If you didn’t wear a sweater on Sweater Day, then you obviously don’t care about school spirit. Sweater-day is by far the best day in our school.

The funny thing about sweater day was that people actually complied with it. Many students wore colorful sweaters to school. On Facebook, over 100 people had attended Sweater Day. This was a significant amount of people. In fact, Sweater Day was founded by a Niskayuna student. The legendary Dave Stop-era is rumored to have started this amazing and unique day. Originally, Sweater Day was called, “blazer day.” Stopera and his buddies

attended school in sports blazers that they had bought from the Salvation Army. Now, blazer day has evolved into Sweater Day. Even if you don’t particularly care for Sweater Day, you can’t deny that sweaters are absolutely amazing for a number of reasons!

Sweaters are superb and cool because they are astonishingly comfortable. This is further amplified by the fact that in winter, it is bit-ter cold. In the cold, nothing tops wearing a warm, cozy sweater, apart from hot chocolate. But then again, nothing tops hot chocolate. Apart from being amazingly comfortable and cozy, sweaters are also remarkably stylish. When you wear a sweater, people think and tell other people that you look classy. To me, nothing else matters apart from style. I need to impress people.

Sweaters also come in various sizes, styles, colors, and patterns. You have traditionally plain sweaters, and you have some sweaters

with intricate patterns and designs. Some sweaters have collars, while others do not. Some have zippers, while others have buttons. Some have nothing apart from a neckline. This is one of the unique qualities of sweaters. There are so many unique forms! There is a sweater for everyone. If you look closely, you will not fail in finding a sweater. You can also wear the sweaters in different styles. If you really want to, you can tuck your sweater in. Some people might say that this looks “nerdy,” but I don’t care. I think that even cool people can tuck their sweaters in. However, if you are re-ally afraid of what other people will say about you, you can leave your sweater hanging. This makes you look really casual and chill, which many of us want to be. At the end of the day, no one style is right or wrong. Sweaters are a way that we can express who we are. We should use them for their comfort, style, and as a way to showcase our personality.

Swea te r day i s a succes s

5November 21, 2008The Warrior Opinion

ALL OPINIONS expressed on the op-ed pages represent the individual viewpoints of their authors. The content does not neces-sarily represent the views of The Warrior, the high school, the school district, or the Board of Education.

By sarah djeBLi

OpiniOn

Migration is one of the world’s oldest won-ders. It allows for an immersion of cultures, providing diversity among nations. However, along with the benefits there are also negatives such as the gender based violence experienced by women and girls. Migrant workers are those subjected to human trafficking and poor living conditions. As the UN stated “Sexual and gender-based violence is a violation of human rights”.

We must work to end this horrid action which denies human dignity. Anyone who migrates is subject to violence because of their inability to communicate in the main language, and therefore, many abuses are not even reported. The UN General Assembly passed the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant work-ers and Members of their Families in 1990, to resolve the issue of migrant workers and

their abuse. However, it took 13 years for an adequate number of countries to ratify it. Therefore, there must be a far greater effort from all nations to enforce this resolution which provides for a legal framework for migration policy.

The effects of migration, both physical and psychological, are severe, traumatiz-ing women and girls who experience forced contraception before migrating, verbal and physical abuse, forced captivity and depriva-tion of necessary food by their employers. In addition, passports are stolen, restricting the rights of the migrants. Some employers ban women and girls from leaving their houses on their own or from quitting, leading to many suicides. The exploitation by police officers and other authoritative figures is detrimental to all governments and societies. The nations of the international community must take a unified action to address this problem. The UN Trafficking Protocol of 2003 attempted

to respond to the problem by presenting a resolution for the prevention of human traf-ficking, the protection of victims of human trafficking and the prosecution of trafficking offenders. Nations of the world should enforce this resolution along with the two presented by the ILO conventions of 94 and 75 and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their families.

Refugees and IDPs, who do not necessarily receive the most protection from any form of government, are one of the most vulnerable groups. Because they experience little or no protection from the government, they are subject to sexual abuse and exploitation. There should be a common approach on mi-gration and all nations should establish legal and policy frameworks which incorporate the provisions of international conventions and to ensure follow-up by periodical reports.

Help migrant women workers!

Blame society, not radical MuslimsBy sam dharia

OpiniOn

The teachings of radical Mus-lims are what shocks most of us as Americans, but our society isn’t so different. Regardless of the society in which you live, moral guidelines act as a system of rules for people to act and think in a certain way.

This, by definition, makes mo-rality a tool to subvert individu-als to society’s demands. Neil Cooper, of “The Philosophical Quarterly,” explains, “(One) may react to our judgment by bare conformity; he does what he is recommended to do because he is recommended to do it, not because he agrees that it is the right thing to do. He acts out of fear or deference or the desire to be well thought of. In such a case repetition of the moral judg-ment is in place. We might well repeat the moral judgment to such a person in a different but appropriate tense, even though he has done what we wanted him to do. For we want to convince him that it was the right thing to do. Moral judgments are con-cerned with the regulation not only of our actions but also of

our attitudes and through them of our resulting future actions. They are not to be reduced to bribes and threats, which operate on people whatsoever their convictions. In making a moral judgment we care not only whether it is acted on but also whether it is agreed to.” Moral-ity thus is nothing but a set of rules society wants everyone to follow, and it need not be taught through direct and conscious brainwashing. Because those who violate it are punished, it forces people to follow its rules in order to be left alone. This applies to American society as well. Society tells us that we cannot have multiple spouses or we cannot put our elbows on the table, and at the same time most Americans blindly agree to such laws, yet few can articulate why. Society defines which actions are permissible or not . John Dewey, a prominent moral philosopher explains, “Family life, property, legal forms, churches and schools did not originate to serve conscious ends nor was their generation regulated by consciousness of principles of reason and

right. Yet each institution has brought with its development demands, expectations, rules, standards. These are not mere embellishments of the forces, which produced them... They open new avenues of endeavor and impose new labors. In short, they are civilization, culture, morality.” Therefore, morality is a social construct, and its rules vary as different societies have different moral codes. As such, no system of morality can have a logical claim to be preferred over another, making morality a set of unfounded claims programmed into us by others. So radical Muslims believe in things like gender inequality, which we find to be “radical”, while to them, the fact that a woman almost became our vice-president is even more radical.

A thought instilled by society eventually becomes true, and we see it even in what we think is a land of freedom every day. We pledge allegiance to the flag and the democracy that it rep-resents, yet few can explain why democracy is fair. Why can 51 choose to harm the other 49? Regardless of the answer, the

fact that we accept certain state-ments as true makes it clear that we are very much entrenched into a culture we ourselves can-not justify. Similarly, in poor regions in the Middle East, Al Qaeda is brainwashing children to pledge allegiance against the US, noting how we are the evil enemy.

After living here for 17 years, I cannot claim to have an ob-jective view of morality, but I can see its flaws. Morality isn’t some universal truth, but rather something we construct, to make people act the way we want them to. No one can be faulted for their anger towards America, as they haven’t instilled the fear in themselves. We should in-stead, as the Bible, which guides most of our politicians, says, “Love thy neighbor” and realize that he, while misguided, is still another human being.

6 November 21, 2008 The WarriorEntertainment

‘Quantum of Solace’ entertains

Robin Williams impresses fansBy dan cLaridge

entertainment

Two weeks ago, on November 5th, Robin Williams performed stand-up comedy at the Palace theatre in Albany. An eccentric audience, having paid seventy dollars per ticket, crowded into the old-fashioned theatre to see the legendary comic perform. In typical William’s style, the performance was full of irrever-ent jokes, mocking politicians, celebrities and society’s most backward practices.

Two jumbo monitors welcomed the comedian on stage, who took a graceful bow and launched into an attack on the city of Albany. “You guys have a hockey team named the River Rats!” claimed Williams. In attendance, Albany mayor Jerry Jennings smiled at William’s disparaging remarks. My friends and I, some of the youngest audience members, sat in the back corner of the theatre, squeezed next to an older woman

By chris murphy

entertainment

Bond is back, and has a lot running for him. He must live up to expectations set by ‘Casino Royale’ now, which is quite relished by movie-goers. For once, Bond fails to finish the mission. Fortunately for the viewer it’s no spectacular failure. ‘Quantum of Solace’, despite having a riddle of a title, remains quite entertain-ing, despite its dubious plot.

As Bond is still mourning his gold-digging corpse of a girlfriend, he really lets himself go in ‘Quantum’. He doesn’t hesitate to kill and ends up murdering quite a few potentially useful criminals, but no matter, he’s got a license to kill after all! Killing isn’t the only crime Bond commits here though; he also gets away with quite a bit of plagiarism. The many murders leads to Bond being rejected by the British Intelligence Agency and his many licenses being taken away by his supervisor. This twist is taken straight out of a Jason Bourne book.

The story is dull; however, the emphasis on the action. And the action is outstand-ing. The cuts are crisp and just the right length, and if they ever used computer-

generated-images it was indistinguishable from the very well done live stunts. Males jealous of Daniel Craig’s handsome face will enjoy seeing him smashed into wall after wall after floor and females will have fun imagining that they get to clean him up afterwards. The finale is a bit of a let-down, as it is split between two fights: a fat man versus a petrified woman and Bond versus a wuss who injures himself throughout the fight. Still though, ‘Quan-tum of Solace’ is fun for anyone who enjoyed ‘Casino Royale.’ This is just another great Bond Movie.

with binoculars who asked her husband to repeat every joke recited. As avid Williams fans, we were well prepared for Robin’s comedic style, defined by coarse language, vulgar images, hilari-ous impressions and insulting ethnic jokes.

The show, titled “Weapons of Self-Destruction,” made direct reference to the political climate of the week. Performing the day af-ter an historic election, Williams, an obvious supporter of Barack Obama, threw his fists in the air in response to the previous night’s results. The crowd erupted into applause. At one point, having mocked our economic crisis, he took a dollar bill out of his pocket. On the front, he claimed, should be a picture of Ben Bernanke, and on the back, he continued, should be the manipulated saying: “trust me.” The crowd, a small minority of angered Americans, responded enthusiastically.

Throughout the performance,

William’s satirized societal trends. In a memorable act, he mocked teenagers who text all the time and adults who wear blue-tooth wireless earphones. He intro-duced his concept of ethnic GPS systems, whose voices, directions and attitudes fit with ethnic stereotypes, and mocked our auto-industries latest “green” automobiles. William’s perfor-mance was hardly restricted to politics and technologies though; he also did impressions of Michael Jackson, Christopher Walken and acclaimed physicist Stephen Hawking. His encore, encouraged by a standing ova-tion, included similar references and impressions.

Williams is often noted for his amazing ability to improvise comedy. While he rehashed many of his oldest jokes, he adapted his performance to the election results, the Albany location, and the presence of Mayor Jerry Jen-nings. “I’ve never had the privi-

lege of making fun of someone who is sitting in the audience,” he excitedly proclaimed. At one point, Williams mispronounced a word, but recovered through an improvised joke. These genuine moments, replete throughout the performance, made the night an enjoyable experience.

Williams, sweating from the physical rigor of his performance, took a final bow and headed off stage after ninety minutes of side-splitting comedy. His fans, dedicated from the start, affirmed their support with a standing ovation. My friends and I, while disappointed that the show was over, reiterated our favorite jokes on the car ride home, and repeated them the next day in school. In the end, the performance affirmed our support of Robin Williams, while providing us with a different, memorable and hilarious look at the attitudes and actions of common Americans.

Editor’s Box I don’t know what movie Chris Murphy

saw, but the newest movie in the James Bond series was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. After Casino Royale, like many fanatics, I was quite excited for the next Bond masterpiece and was certainly not disappointed. Any Bond fan knows how great the action is, and this was no excep-tion. The movie begins with a car chase in Siena, Italy, where Bond outsmarts a cop and a foe, and only slightly damages his car. The movie continues with many other action scenes such as a boat chase in Haiti, and a great fiery battle between Bond and his enemy Greene, in the desert of Bolivia. Though it was obviously farfetched, it looked quite real and exciting: heart-racing would be an understatement. “I enjoyed it a lot. The twenty second Bond installment defi-nitely did not disappoint. The action was great, the plot was a little lacking, but what movie is perfect anyway?” asked senior Mike Reinemann. While it may be true that the plot isn’t the best out of the Bond movies, it was definitely suspenseful and thrilling from start to finish. For any action lover, this movie will not be a waste of $10.

www.reelmovienews.com

7November 21, 2008The Warrior Sports

F a l l s e a s o n w r a p s u p

A crash course in wrestl ingBy wiLLiam andersOn

spOrts

Typically, wrestling does not get much attention, often getting lost in the basketball, hockey, and skiing hype. It seems that a lot of people do not understand high school wrestling, so I am going to explain what it is.

In high school wrestling, the goal is to pin your opponent. A pin is when one wrestler holds the other wrestler’s shoulder blades to the mat for several seconds. When a wrestler is pinned, the match ends.

Let me take a moment to describe the three positions in which a wrestler can start. First, there is the “neutral” position. In “neutral,” a wrestler is on his feet, and facing his opponent.

In the “bottom” position, the knees, butt, hands, or thighs support the wrestler, and his op-ponent is on top of him, holding him down, and is in control. In the “top” position, the wrestler’s opponent is in the “bottom” position.

A full match is divided into three periods; each period lasts two minutes, so a complete match lasts a full six minutes.

At the beginning of the first period, both wrestlers start in the “neutral” position, a couple of feet apart. The two wrestlers shake hands, and then the ref-eree will blow the whistle. When the whistle is blown, the match begins, and the clock starts. The wrestlers may now wrestle. After two minutes, the referee blows the whistle and the first period has ended.

The referee then flips a coin. The winner of the coin toss gets to choose which position he starts in, or he may “defer” and let the loser of the coin toss choose his starting position. If top or bottom position is chosen, the wrestler on “bottom” will start on his hands and knees.

The wrestler on “top” will then place his one hand on the “bot-tom” wrestler’s belly button, his other hand on his opponent’s elbow. The “top” wrestler’s legs

will be to the side, and behind the “bottom” wrestler. It will look like the “top” wrestler is partially encircling the “bottom” wrestler. When the two wrestlers have properly assumed the correct po-sitions, the referee will blow the whistle and the second period will begin. The starting position for the third period is chosen by whichever wrestler did not choose the starting position for the second period. If, at any time during the match, one wrestler pins the other, the match ends and the pinned wrestler loses. If neither wrestler is pinned, the match will be determined using points. If at any time during the match one wrestler scores 15 more points than the other wrestler, the match ends. This is called a “tech.”

Points can be scored in several different ways. A takedown is worth two points. A takedown occurs when you move from “neutral” (standing on your feet) to “top” (on top of your opponent). An escape is worth

one point. An escape occurs when you move from “bottom” to “neutral” (from your knees underneath your opponent, to standing facing your opponent). A reversal is worth two points. A reversal occurs when you move from “bottom” to “top.”

A near fall earns back points for the athlete, usually two or three. A near fall occurs when you force your opponent to have his back facing the floor. Your opponent’s back does not need to be touching the floor for this to occur. At the end of the match, if neither wrestler was teched or pinned, the wrestler with the most points wins.

At the end of a match, the wrestlers shake hands with each other and the coaches. The win-ner’s hand is then raised.

If you get the chance, please come and watch the wrestling matches at Niskayuna. In the words of Richard Glasby, wrestling “needs more fan sup-port.”

By the spOrts editOrs

spOrts

As the chilly winds usher in a new season of high school sports, the Warrior sports edi-tors would like to reflect back on Niskayuna’s fall athletics. Niskayuna’s finest varsity vol-leyballers ended their season with a successful 15-4 record, placing second in the season and third overall. The team was led by varsity captains Alex Billen-Calhoun, Ryan Grant and Jer-emy Mosch, along with five other returning seniors and six junior players. Throughout the season, the team gracefully walked the line between success and fun, forming lasting friendships and hilarious memories. Congratula-tions on a great season! Coming off of last year’s mi-raculous run deep into the state tournament, the boys soccer team came out of the gates with a target on their back. They proved to the league that they

were a team to contend with after defeating returning Class A Champion Burnt Hills. Un-fortunately, the season did not pan out in a similar fashion, as their season ended with a final record of 3-4-11. This is a laud-able performance for a season that featured four games against top-ten teams statewide and five one-goal difference games. There are many talented young players that gained worthwhile experience that will help in fu-ture years.

The football team finished the season with a solid 6-3 re-cord. After losing their first three games of the season, Nisk-ayuna rallied back and won their next five games. These victories earned Niskayuna a spot in the Sectional quarterfinals against rival Shenendehowa. Niskayuna once again fought hard, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 1:46 left in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Schenectady got

the best of the Warriors in the semifinals, earning a 27-8 vic-tory to advance to the finals. The Warriors hope to build upon their success this season and advance even further next year. The girls’ soccer team launch-ed an impressive sectional run, falling just short against pow-erhouse Bethlehem. The girls finished with a 14-5-2 record, which included a nail-biting de-feat of Shaker in the Sectional semifinals. The girls prevailed in sudden death, triple overtime with a goal by Senior Whitney Frary, with time running down. Unfortunately, the girls ran up against Bethlehem in the finals, who at the time was ranked sec-ond in the nation in the ESPN Rise top 50. The girls lost in a hard fought 2-0 game, but have nothing to be disappointed about after giving it their all. Although the season ended with a disappointing loss to Schenectady in the Sectional

quarterfinals, the girls’ volley-ball team had a successful sea-son. Having lost a large group of talented Seniors that had led the team to a Sectional cham-pionship, this year’s team still achieved much while creat-ing lasting memories. Unfor-tunately, the season drew to a close after a tight five set loss to Schenectady. With talented play-ers returning next year, the girls hope to improve upon this sea-son’s accomplishments. Despite graduating 10 out-standing seniors, the girls’ field hockey team had a solid season. The Warriors were led by cap-tains Alex Pomato, Diana Baker and Molly O’Donnell. Unfortu-nately the team could not repeat as Sectional champions. The season came to an end after a heartbreaking 2-1 loss against Bethlehem. After losing a large portion of last year’s team, Nis-kayuna hopes to improve next year its returning players.

8 November 21, 2008 The WarriorSports

Girls’ swimming ends successfully

Don’t forget to recycle this issue when you finish reading it!

BUFFALO BOUND: From left to right: (top) freshman Leanne Archer, senior Kerry Archer, junior Laura Manor, (bottom) freshman Emma Terwilliger, sophomore Emily Whitaker

Warrior Photo / Emily Bartell

By Lauren cardinaL

spOrts

Girls’ varsity swimming ended its dual season with a solid victory over the difficult team Burnt Hills, and went into sectionals with a positive attitude. They knew after that meet, at which all of the girls performed to the best of their abilities, that anything was possible, and thus had high expectations. Niskayuna varsity swimming sent fifteen girls to sectionals for swimming on Thursday, Nov. 6, and two for diving on Friday. The team spent the two weeks of practice prior to sectionals by tapering, a technique which lowers the amount of distance swum in order to give one’s body rest for the big races. The team boarded the bus Thursday morning, looking to swim their best yet.

With almost the entire team having quali-fied for sectionals, coach Michael Stone was looking forward to the meet. During the regular season, the team ended with a record of 5-3, leading to a fourth place overall fin-ish. Two of these losses came at the hands of the meet favorites, Shenendehowa and Bethlehem. The third team Niskayuna lost to was Saratoga, though going into sectionals Stone noted, “we have a very solid chance of beating them, and I believe that the girls can pull out third.”

“Not a lot of the girls realize the potential they have until they swim at sectionals. The cheering and massive amounts of team sup-port creates an environment where swimmers are encouraged to reach their limit,” says senior Captain Kerry Archer.

In order to qualify for Finals, one must rank top sixteen at prelims. Those who rank in 9 through 16 are in the consolation heat, and can only score points on Saturday in those positions; it is not possible to rank in places 1 through 8. The higher number of points are scored in the finals heat, where most swimmers are within tenths of a second of each other.

At preliminaries on Thursday there were exceptional races swum, including eight of the swimmers ranking in the top 16. The girls returned to practice Friday to prepare further for Saturday’s finals.

One example of a superb performance is freshman Christine Hart dropping three

seconds off of her best time, moving up from 19th to 11th place overall.

“All of the younger girls did great on Thursday. We all knew that we really had to step it up for Saturday, though,” said senior McKenna Murphy.

Sophomores Megan McDevitt and Clare Griffith competed in preliminaries for diving on Friday afternoon while the rest of the team trained back at school. McDevitt qualified for finals on Saturday, placing fourth out of the sixteen returning divers. McDevitt, who came as close as one point away from quali-fying for States in a previous meet, entered sectionals determined to meet the mark. Come Saturday, she not only qualified for the state meet but also shattered Niskayuna’s diving record.

Saturday also turned out to be a huge suc-cess for the swimmers. Niskayuna racked up points and at the end of the first half, they held third place. Sophomore Emily Whitaker beat a season-long rival from Saratoga, and junior Laura Manor excelled in the individual medley, providing for a very eventful first

half of the meet. Manor not only swam her best time and beat the top ranked swimmer from Shenendehowa, but also set another new Niskayuna record.

The second half of the meet proved to be just as strong for Niskayuna as they main-tained their lead over Saratoga. The most eventful race of the second half was the 400- Freestyle Relay, where freshman Emma Terwilliger, freshman Leanne Archer, Manor and Whitaker qualified for states placing second. By qualifying this relay for the state meet, Niskayuna managed to place more athletes in the state meet than any other Section II team.

As predicted by Stone, Niskayuna ended up third overall. Everyone involved was ec-static with the performance. For the past two weeks, Murphy, Kerry Archer, Leanne Archer, Whitaker, Terwilliger, Manor and McDevitt, have trained every day after school for the New York State Championships meet. The girls leave for Buffalo on Thursday, Nov.20 to represent Niskayuna and Section II before all of New York State.