Tag Archives: sports

Football

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FOOTBALL

  BY:DJX

Hi my name is Ben,I’m 23 and I’m going to tell you about my childhood and how I played football when I was a kid.

I was born in 2001,September26.

Fast forward to when I was six and I started to get interested in football and on my birthday I got a football to play with my older sister. My sister and I went outside to play catch and the football coach was walking by.

“You are good at throwing a football.” seid the coach.

“Thank you” seid Ben

“Your welcome”

“I have a question”

“What that kiddo”

“Can I join the football team for the quarterback since I’m good at throwing the ball?”

“Yauy you can. Let’s start you off at widresever so you can get used to running first.”

“Ok thank you for letting me know coach”

“Your welcome Ben.”

So the next day I was on the football team doing drills and running laps around the football field. The next day we were doing drills like the left then cut right to chech the ball in mid air to get a touchdown.

“You are good at catching the football and throwing it.” sied jem.

“Thank you for the compliment man.”

“No problem for my best friend.”

I had the best time in football and we had made it to the big leagues and we had won.That was the first big game of the year.We had to head home after the game.My mom was worried for my safety on the way home from the bus making noises when we were leaving the school.

We had another football game and we were going to the new york field to play in and we were only 9 and 10 from the age and we are in a famous football field and we are from New Jersey.We are far from home to go back right away.The coach got about 20 rooms for each on of us to be in ower own room to be in and we get to do water we want to.But we have to be quiet whal we are doing the stuff that we want to do.

It was the next day and we were on our way to New Jersey on the school bus and it should take two days to get there.Well i was wrong cuz the bus broke down and nowone had sarves for their phones.But luckily the coach had a satellite phone for just in case this happens to us on the way home.We all called ower parents to let them know that we whald be home later than planned.So instead of taking two days it whald take about three days to get home safely.

The next day we broke down again so we had to call our parents again to let them know we won’t be home as planned again. We were getting irritated.I helped with the engine.We had to tear the engine apart so we could fix it so it wouldn’t break down again.We put the engine back together and we got back on the main highway so we could get home.

The next day we had made it to the school and we had to go home.My dog was so excited to see me again,my sister was still being a jerk like she always is.The next day I was sore as can be win I woke up and thin my sister sad to take the dog out and i told her to take the cuz of how sore i was.She told on me for not taking the dog out and they said

“Why don’t you take the dog out yourself cuz your brother is to sore to get out of bed to take the dog out.” said mom

“No it’s not my chore.My chore is the dishes every other night.

“Thin dishes ant his chore if taking the dog out is so hard to do.”

“O my god I will take the dog out cuz i don’t whant to do dishes every night cuz i whant it where we swap nights.”

Like I said she is a jerk and onley thinks about herself and she stells all of my hard earned money.On a Tuesday i had to mow the lawn.I got paid by my parents to mow the lawn.I got paid $50 to mow the lawn.

We had gone back to school the next day and every one had been hanging on me all day asking me all kinds of questions like 

“Are you a football player?”

“Yes I am a football player and we won awer last game by three points.It was a close game.

THANK YOU FOR READING AND HAVE A  GOOD DAY

The Legacy of the Pitch

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The Legacy of the Pitch

B y KooKoo Boy

I was always just a normal person, except for living in the Sub-Lanes. For those who don’t understand, the Sub-Lanes is a city underneath the real world, where all of the homeless, crazy, and messed up people live.

My name’s Ryder. I was one of the homeless people who roamed around the Sub-Lanes, looking for any places to be able to sleep in or just not be with the toxic underground air, that poisons and endangers everyone who breaths it in.

Milo has been my best friend since we were around four years old. Both of us lost our parents to the guards. He’s one of the best engineers in the sublanes. One time he made a mech that could fire bolts. Even though it was only a foot tall, it was still better than most things I’ve seen anyone make before.

Anyway, I need money soon or I’m not going to be able to buy anything to survive. There’s this soccer league in the Over City, and if you win a whole bunch of games, you become a champion. It’s nearly impossible to become a champion, and only three people have ever became champions. Mr. Haddington was the first ever champion and people say he’s unbeatable, even though he’s eighty now. But also if you win, you get a grand prize of fifty million dollars, and you become famous, but I don’t really care about being famous or anything though.

I don’t really care if people say I’m bad at soccer, I just need the money. You have to win a ton of games and then win fifteen games in a row, to go to the championship match. If I lose a game, at least I tried, and I’ll still get some money.

“ Hey Milo, wanna try to compete in the big soccer league?”

“ Wait, dude you know it’s like impossible to win right?”

“ Yeah, but I don’t care. We can try and if we win we get money.”

“ Ryder, even if we did want to play we need at least eight players to complete a team. I’m not doing it. Sorry Ryder.”

“ You could become famous Milo.”

“ Are you trying to bribe me Ryder? You know I like being aknowledged for my robots and engineering skills.”

“ Come on you know you want to be known for you work.”

“ Ah, fine I’ll do it I guess, but you better make sure people try to hire me at an engineering buisness.”

“ Let’s go! I’ll make sure that you get into the best engineering company there is Milo!”

“ Ok let’s find some teammates Ryder!”

Me and Milo went to find some teammates. The first one was easy because we have a friend in the Sub-Lanes. Her name is Sarah. She really likes to study magic, because she wants to be a mage. To cast spells you need a tech staff, which can only be located in the best magic store in the Over City. Her parents used to live in the Over City, but then when a big attack happend, her parents house got destroyed, and they had to move to the Sub-Lanes. After Sarah of course said yes to joining us, we went to the Over City to recruit another friend. 

Her name is Chloe, and she works with the biggest names in the Over City. She’s kinda famous, but she just likes that she gets to help people. Her goal is to make peace with the entirety of the Sub-Lanes, since both sides sorta hate eachother. She is already getting good progress on her goal, since she’s already made some friends in the sub-lanes, and she’s made more allies too. It was hard to get Chloe on the team, since she didn’t want to be seen,” Not being professional.”, she said. After we gave her some confidence she said that she would join if it didn’t waste time.

Next, it was time for a hard one. Mini and Tall, the brothers from nowhere. You might be wondering why we call them the brothers from nowhere, but it’s because their brothers, obviously, but they aren’t really from anywhere, because they live in the Over City sometimes, and the Sub-Lanes for the rest of the time. They were born in the Sub-Lanes but they are welcomed in the Over City as well. Tiny was the easier of the two brothers to get on the team, because even though he liked working with Milo in engineering, he also liked soccer. Tall’s passion was being a guard in the Over City. He has his passion because when he was six, a tile fell from a building and was coming straight for him, but then a guard stepped in and caught the tile, saving Tall’s life. That’s the reason why Tall is determined to be a guard. Mini and Tall’s names are hilarious, because Tall is three feet tall, and Mini is a brick wall weighing a staggering three hundred and fifty pounds and being 7 feet tall. Mini joined the team right away, because he loves soccer, but Tall insisted that he kept training for being a guard.

“ Nope sorry buddy. Not doing it Ryder.”

That’s exactly what happened where I tried to get Milo to join earlier today.

“ Come on on lil bud.”

“ My names Tall, not lil bud!”

“ Ok you dont’ have to talk to me but at least talk to Milo.”

“ Fine. I’ll talk to him I guess if I have to.”

“ Hey Tall.”

“ What do ya want, Milo.”

“ You can join our team and play soccer with us.”

“ Why should I do that?”

“ Because we’ll have a lot of fun playing together.”

Milo is good with talking to people and persuading them. For some reason people just like to agree with him, like if they don’t they’re going to get beat up, which they won’t, because Milo’s to scrawny to hurt anyone, except for when he needs to.

“ Fine, Milo I’ll play on your team or whatever.”

“ Ok dude. That’s great. We’ll have so much fun on a team together!”

“ We better.”

With the hardest person down, all we have left is the triplets.

Two of the triplets are calm and loyal people, Tinker and Poppy. On the other hand, Spinner is probably the weirdest, craziest, and the most wild person you’ll ever see. 

Tinker’s a boy, and his passion is tinkering, obviously, but not that kind of tinkering like with gadgets and stuff. He wants to tinker with star dust. With people taking constant trips to the moon, people always bring star dust back to Earth with them, there’s a lot of star dust in magic shops. Sarah always goes in magic shops and tells me about the star dust. We plan to someday put together some money and buy Tinker a bag of stardust, even though a single bag of it is twenty thousand dollars.

Poppy is a girl who loves to experiment with bombs and explosions. As a kid, she would hold fire crackers, and whenever a stranger walked up to her, she would throw one in their face. Then they would run away in pain, and it brought joy to her, because she was independent and could protect herself. She’s been making bombs and hoping that she can make different explosions each time. She’s a very kind person who doesn’t like to upset people, so she always tries to help people. Her goal is to make every kind of explosion and sound of bombs that there is. 

Spinner is definetly something. Spinner likes to carry around his rusty sword that will probably give you tetanus and kill you if it stabs you. His goal is to rule the world, which he is definitely crazy and capable enough to do it. He’s not crazy strong or anything, but he is crazy enough to make anyone scared of him. Spinner cares about people more than most people, but he just doen’t show it a lot. Since Spinner was a little kid, he would always barge into random stores and buildings saying that he would take them over, while holding a little piece of wood with a nail in it that was taller than him.

Tinker and Poppy both said yes, and Spinner after almost cutting me with the tetanus blade of death, agreed to join us too.

“ Ok everyone, now that we’ve recruited everyone, let’s go sign up!”

“ Yeah let’s do it!”

“ Yeah let’s go!”

“ Woohoo!”

We took the longest way to the stadium, since we all wanted to chat. We were also eager to get to the stadium because we could be signing up to have fifty million dollars. 

“ Is this were we sign up Milo?”

“ Ryder are you dumb or something?”

“ Um rude. Why do you say that?”

“ Because we are standing right infront of the stadium, so of course this is where we are supposed to go!”

“ Ok geez dude.”

“ Hello sir, we would like to buy an entry ticket for the soccer league.”

“ And what is your name sir?”

“ My name’s Ryder.”

“ Ok Ryder, an entry ticket is five thousand dollars.”

“ Ok here you go sir.”

“ Here’s your ticket, and the hotel is that way, and the training facility is right next to the hotel on the left of it.”

“ Ok thank you sir.”

The reason that we had five thousand dollars is because when everyone joined our team they also chipped in four hundred bucks, which is a lot of money fore us. 

We were very surprised that we got to stay in a hotel, since none of us except Tall and Mini, but they were little kids when they went in one, and it wasn’t as big as this one. We all  headed over to the hotel and slept the rest of the night cause we were very tired. In the morning, we all ate and headed down to the training facility.

We’ve all played a little bit of soccer before, because right before I thought about joining the league, I played in a match on the street, because someone bet me ten bucks that I couldn’t beat them. I beat them 5-0 in three minutes, but I felt bad, so I told him it was beginner’s luck, and I let him keep the money. We all trained at the hotel for about a month before the first qualifying match was here. The qualifying match is where the winning team moves on to the stadium matches. There are occasions where if the losing team has a lot of talent, and they don’t want to waste the teams talent, they let them join the stadium matches aswell. We all became beasts at soccer, and I was the leader of the team, obviously.

“ Ok guys the day we’ve all been waiting for is here! We will win if we try our hardest, we will win this game!”

“ Everyone say,” We will win!”.”

“ WE WILL WIN! WE WILL WIN!”

“ LET”S GOOOOOOOOOOO!”

We stepped onto the pitch and met the opposing team. They’re team captain was a rich person whos name was Zack.

“ Hi, I heard your name is Zack. Nice to meet you.”

“ Hi poor kid. Haha we’re going to destroy you.”

“ That’s not very nice dude.”

“ Do you think I care what you think?”

“ You should! Rude.”

“ We will beat you poor kids.”

“ Nope, we will beat you!”

The match started and right away the other team took the ball and made a goal right away. The score was now 1-0 and we were not happy. Our team coordination was not very good, but it got better. After they scored another goal. The score was now 2-0, and we were ready to win this game.

“ Guys, there’s five minutes left until the game’s over! We need to win this!”

“ Let’s win this guys, so that we can accomplish our dreams later!”

We started the last five minutes with the ball and we made a miracle happen.

“ I’m passing to you, Ryder!”

“ Here, Mini. Score with your power!”

Mini launches the ball at probably fifty miles an hour. “AND HE SCORES”, the announcer says.

Now it’s 2-1 with three minutes and thirty seconds left.

“ Hey poor boy.”

“ What do you want Zack? Are you scared that we are going to beat you?”

“ Shut up, no I’m not. That’s just what I expect a non- grateful Sub-Lanes person to say.”

“ Shut it rich boy. We will beat you whether you like it or not!”

They started the final minutes with the ball and they almost wreck our chances of winning.

“ Milo take the ball!”

“ I’ll try!”

Milo misses the steal and they are now twenty feet from the goal.

“ Spinner, get the ball from them!”

“ You got it Captain!”

Spinner saves us and almost gets fouled by doing it. But, he did get the ball for us and now there’s one minute left in the game. We pass down the field, scrambling for the goal.

“ Here Milo!”

“Pass to Poppy!”

“ Take the pass Tinker!”

“ Here Sarah!”

“ Pass to Chloe!”

“ Score the ball, Tall!”

Tall winds up his tiny leg, but there’s only five seconds left! 

“ Shoot the ball Tall!”

 “ THERES FIVE SECONDS, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!”, the announcer screams at the stadium.

He shoots the ball. It goes a little slow, but it throws the goalie off guard and he dives to the left. I see the one second fade to zero, but I look at the ball and hear the announcer say,“ HE SCORES WITH THE SLOW BALL! OH MY WHAT A COMEBACK! NOW IT’S 2-2 AND COULD THE SUB-LANES TEAM MAKE A COMEBACK IN OVERTIME?!”, the announcer yells to the whole stadium.

In over time, we start with the ball and it’s a fight back and forth with no goal made. Over time is coming to an end and we had the luck on our side, and by luck I mean the ball.

“ Ok guys let’s do this thing, AND WIN!”

We pass back and forth and then we are at the goal and we have a chance.

“ Here Ryder, Score the ball!!!”

I shoot and the goalie gets ready to block. I close my eyes…….and I SCORE!!!

“ We win guys. Let’s go!!!”

“ Let’s goooo!!!”

We move on to the stadium matches, and the team that we beat was apparently a good team that the rich people didn’t want their talent to go to waste, so they let them join the stadium rounds as well, but I don’t know how that’s fair, but I don’t care.

We train for months and keep winning matches. We became one of the best teams in the league. Now everybody knows who we are and the rich people and even Mr. Haddington says that we are the most favorited team in the entire league.

The day of the championship comes and we are all nervous, but excited. We get our uniforms and get ready to win this game. We all need to win this for our dreams.

We get onto the field and get ready. We find out that the other team is Zack’s team again. We aren’t that happy that we can’t play a different team but it’s fine, I guess.

“ THE MATCH WILL START IN TWENTY SECONDS!!!” the announcer yells at the champion stadium. Mr. Haddington walks up to me and starts talking to me.

“ Hi Ryder. I’ve heard that your team is pretty well known.”

“ Yeah haha we are.”

“ Well good luck out there and I hope you win. Not to be biased.”

“ Thanks. I hope we will win.”

The matches starts and for the first twenty minutes we score goals back and forth and the score is 5-5. 

“ Score the ball, Tall!”

“ You got it!”

Tall scores another goal and with forty minutes left the score is 6-5 and we are winning. So far we are all working great together as a team, but we aren’t winning by enough. We pass it back and forth a few more times until Zack scores a goal. Now the score is 6-6 and we aren’t doing as good as we need to, but we get ourselves together and with thirty five minutes left we score another goal. The score is 6-6, and were tied again.

The final stretch of the game comeswith five minutes left and we pass the ball a few times and each team scores a goal. Now the score is 7-7, and there is thirty seconds left. Neither of the teams can score, so we go into over time, but still, no one can score, so now we go into penalty kicks.

“ RYDER SCORES!!!”

“ ZACK SCORES!!”

We go on and the penalty score is 4-4 and we kick.

“ Come on Sarah, you can score!!!”

Sarah winds up and…GOOOAAALLLLLL!!!!!

“ Let’s go Sarah we did it!!! Now we just have to block them and we win the whole game!”

“ OK EVERYONE, THERE IS ONE KICK LEFT CAN THEY DO IT!!!”

“Zack shoots with Chloe in the goal and he…..MISSES THE GOAL!!! OH MY GOD THAT IS A WIN FOR RYDER AND THE SUB-LANES TEAM!!!”

“ Let’s go guys our dreams can now be reality!!!”

( 1 YEAR LATER )

“ Hi Ryder!”

“ Hey Milo! I haven’t seen you for a long time.”

“ It’s only been a week.”

“ Still now that we are interviewed all the time it’s hard to be able to see eachother all the time.”

“ Yeah, well it’s been good seeing you and i’ve been talking to everyone and it seems like we have all accomplished our goals!”

“ Yeah, bye!”

“ Bye!”

Tinker got a bag of star dust, and is now one year older. Tall became a guard. Spinner kinda rules the world. Chloe has made peace with the Sub-Lanes. Milo and Mini have gotten into the best engineering academy kinda because they’re famous. Poppy has figured out every explosion and bomb there is. Sarah became a magic conjurer. And I have made some money, and by some I mean eight million dollars, and I am now the forth champion of the pitch.

The Second Chance

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The Second Chance 

By: Bumblebee Homie

“There Elsa goes down the rink in a zigzag motion, ready to score,” the broadcaster said on TV. “It’s only her against the goalie. She hits the puck and in the goal it goes. She scored!” 

My dream is to be on that rink with people watching me from all over the world. I am 14 and live in Churchill, Canada. By the end of this year I hope my dream will come true. 

This week is the big game that could change my life. If we win this game we will then play to be the top team in the country of Canada. The rest of the week I just have practice, but there is one more thing I like to do. I like to meditate. Everyday after practice I go home, sit on my swing, and think about what I want to happen every second of that game. Then I just breathe, getting prepared for the minute I step on that ice.

“Today at practice we will be scrimmaging against other people on our team,” said Coach Bree,“You guys need to hustle. You are as slow as snails.” 

“Coach is being tough on us today,” said my teammate.

“Yeah,” I responded,” but the big game is in two days.”

When I got home I didn’t even do my meditating, that was how tired I was. On top of the scrimmaging, coach Bree made us skate around the rink fifteen times before we could leave because she was saying we were too slow. I really don’t think it was a good idea because we will all be tired and sore before our big game. 

The next day at practice we only did a few warm up things before we meditated  as a whole team. Coach Bree let us out early and told us to all go home and get a lot of rest. I knew the whole team was nervous, the team we were playing was not only good, but physical. 

It was the day of the big game and I was feeling confident. When we got to the rink I could see that I might have been the only one that was confident. When we got on the rink and started warming up, someone from our team skated off the rink and threw up. It didn’t help anyone else on the team feel any better. 

There was one minute until the game started and Coach Bree was talking to us about strategy. 

“Ok everybody, we all know today is going to be tough, and we need to keep our heads in the game,” said Coach Bree,”All we have to do is think of strategy. Just remember your plays and it will be smooth rolling from there.” 

I was ready. All that needed to happen was my team doing their best and shake out any nerves they had. 

“WELCOME everybody to the 2024 Canada’s Best in the Country hockey game! Just a few reminders for everyone, we want to make sure everyone is safe and has good sportsmanship throughout the game,” said the announcer.

My team got on the rink and we all got in position. The ref threw the puck in the air. I played ball from there. 

One of my teammates got hold of the puck first. She went all the way to the goal and missed. Right away, Coach Bree called our first timeout. 

Coach Bree started screaming,“Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork, you guys. I don’t just want one of you going solo down the rink one on five. If we want to win we have to work together, ok.”

“Yes, Coach Bree,” said the team in unison.

We got back on the rink. No one liked that  Coach Bree yelled at us, but we didn’t want to let her down. 

I started with the puck, passed it to one of my teammates, they passed it to another one of my teams, and by then I was right next to the goal. My teammate passed it to me. SCORE! The crowd went wild. 

For the rest of the half, it went back and forth between my team and the other. The score was 5 to 6 with the other  team in the lead. 

At the start of the second half the other team started and missed. It was our turn. One of my teammates started and it went to a few other people before it came to me. I was losing my balance as someone was on my tail. It was like a lion chasing a zebra. I quickly passed it to my teammate near the goal and I really didn’t know what happened next. 

In the mix of it, I ran into the wall and the person behind me ran into me. As the other person was walking away she took my helmet with her as it was stuck on her jersey. She pulled me down and accidentally took my helmet off before I hit the ice. In that second I was unconscious. 

The next thing I remembered was being in the hospital bed listening to Dr. Hiemberry and my mother talking. 

“Elsa has a severe concussion and possible brain bleed,” said Dr. Heimberry. ”We will have to go into surgery within the next few hours if that is alright with you.”

“That’s fine Dr. Heimberry, I will do anything to help my daughter,” my mom responded. 

Later that day I went into surgery so they could help prevent the brain bleed. The only thing I could do about the concussion was taking medications to help it heal. The worst part was I damaged my brain a little. It is the part of my brain that helps tell me how to move. There wasn’t much I could do besides work to build that memory of just simply walking. I was told walking shouldn’t be a problem, but getting back out on the ice is a different story. 

Dr. Heimberry helped me day by day recover and I had a few other surgeries for who knows what. I got up and walked around a few steps at a time with support from a walker. Each day a new family member would come visit me, and I really never felt alone. One month later, I was out of the hospital. 

When we got home for the first few days all I could do was lay down. My mom was way too worried about me and to be honest, I could have been out of the hospital a week or two before I was. The only thing holding me back was the thought of my mother. She told me I had to do 30 consecutive steps by myself before we could leave. Even Dr. Hiemberry told me I was free to go by the third week I was there. 

By the end of the week my mom told me I could watch the tape of the big game.

“Hey Elsa, Coach Bree just sent the footage of the game. Would you like to watch it,” asked my mom. 

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to watch it, but I knew I was going to see myself get hurt. I didn’t even really find out the result of that game. Did we win? Did they even finish the game? 

“Sure,” I said, questioning myself, ”I will watch the game. 

Right as I started watching the game, the doorbell rang. My mom told me I should get it, which surprised me since she really hasn’t let me walk for the last week. I paused the video and got up. I used my walker to get to the door knowing I was rusty. When I opened the door I saw my whole team stand there.

“We missed you!” they all said in unison. 

“Mind if we come to watch the game with you?” stated Coach Bree. 

“Yes, Yes, Yes,”I responded,”I would love it if you do.”

The rest of the afternoon we watched the game and hung out. There was one odd moment. It was near the part that I got hurt. While it happened we all grabbed hands and prayed like you do at the dinner table. Then it got even weirder.

“You know we will miss you on the ice,” said someone on my team.

“Yeah,” said everyone else at different times.

It was silent. Did anyone believe I could play hockey again? I did up until that moment. I started to realize that playing hockey again might not be possible for me. I didn’t want it to end that way. 

“Does no one believe I will be able to play hockey again?” I asked.

The room was once again silent.

Coach Bree finally responds,”We all wish you could play hockey again, but your mom told us your doctor said you would barely be able to run for a while let alone skate for the next few years. By then you will probably just give up on hockey.”

“I don’t want to give up on hockey, and I never will,” I said as I ran to my room as fast as I could, which was not really fast at all. 

I spent the rest of the night in my room. I really didn’t want to give up on hockey and I was determined to get back out on the ice. 

For the next three months I walked a little bit more everyday to the point where I was at a jogging pace. My mom was worried I would get hurt, but she believed me. She knew what I wanted to accomplish. 

Once I got up to a slow running pace which was another three months later, I started on the ice. I was basically back on day one. I went from using the walker for a month, to falling left and right, to acting like a really bad figure skater. It wasn’t until about a year after the accident that I got a hockey stick back in my hand. I knew if I wanted to reach this point it was going to take awhile, but it was starting to get hard. 

There were times that I just wanted to quit and times that I just wanted to be able to play hockey again. One week I just couldn’t do it anymore. I spend 80% of my time in my room and the rest in the kitchen or bathroom. Then I finally got my confidence up and got back on the ice once again. 

Once I was back to being a good skater I started my hockey journey. For weeks I practiced on my skills until I was an ok hockey player. I would have kept practicing for weeks, but I found out that they were having a rematch of the game I got hurt in. 

“I have been watching you on the ice lately and I think we can all agree that you are ready to play hockey again,” said Coach Bree. ”So we talked to the team that we played in the Best in the Country game. They agreed to a rematch. It won’t mean anything, but we want you to have your second chance.

“When is the game?” I asked. 

Coach Bree respondes,”It is this Friday, three years from the day it all happened.”

I spent hours preparing for that game. I knew I was never going to be as good as I was, but I was doing pretty good considering what happened. I went to practice with the rest of the team, and did my meditation when I got home. It was finally the day we had all been waiting for.

We got right into the game. I wasn’t starting, but Coach Bree just wanted me to get the way of the land or at least that’s what she said. I really just think my mom told her I couldn’t start. 

It was half way into the first half before I went in. It wasn’t hard for me to get right into the game. I was dominating. I passed it to my teammates left and right. Whenever I passed it to them they scored. It was like I was a good luck charm. By the beginning of the second half the score was 5-6. We were in the lead. 

I didn’t start the second half but I did seem like I needed a break. There were five minutes left in the second half, and the score was tied 7-7. I finally went in. 

It went back and forth between teams and there was thirty seconds left, score 9-9. One of my teammates passed it to me. Everyone was behind me. The only thing that was stopping me was the goalie. I went straight into the right, faked left hit in and … SCORE!!!!!! Right before the clock ran out. We won. 

After the game everyone came to celebrate at my house. 

“We are so proud of you Elsa,” said Coach Bree. ”You probably expected this, but we want you to join us for our around the world tournament. After we won the Best in the Country again, we want you to join us this time because you lost out on your chance.”

“Thank you guys!” I say really loudly,”I am so lucky to have you all.” 

We ended up getting second place in the world tournament and had a great time. By the end of the year I was 18. I ended up going to college at the University of Waterloo in Canada. By my second year I was assistant coach for the Waterloo Warriors men’s team. When I graduated I became a hockey coach for young girls that had or were having trouble getting back on their feet, just like I did.  

Brace Yourself

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Brace Yourself

By: Anita Dump

5..4..3..2..1

ring ring

School’s out for the day. I head to my locker and grab my gym bag, then wait for my best friend Hailey. 

“Hey Emily, are you ready for practice? I heard we are doing a lot of running,” said Hailey, “are you sure your ankle is going to be ok?”

“Yeah,” I said, “It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to.”

Right before basketball season, I sprained my ankle during PE doing relay races. It caused me to sit out the first two games, but now I am able to play just having to wear an ankle brace. 

We headed down to the locker room and start getting ready for practice when all the sudden we hear the Weller twins, yelling everyone’s ear off per usual. This time it was about one of them getting new shoes. It finally stops when the coach comes into the locker room and yells at us to hurry up, and of course Hailey and I are the last ones in the locker room.

“Hurry up,  Coach Rachel is going to yell at us for taking so long,” Hailey complained.

“Sorry my brace takes like a million years to put on.”

Finally we get into the gym to warm up, and  Coach gives us a firm look so I just hang my head.  She l calls us in and gives us a lecture about taking too long in the locker room and I can feel everyone’s eyes on me including Coach Rachel. Once she is done lecturing us she tells us what we are doing in practice today.

“Since you guys lost your last game we are going to do conditioning today”Coach Rachel said.

You could just hear the groans throughout all the girls, then the excuses started.

“But we have a game tomorrow, we will play worse because we are soar,” said one of the twins. 

“Well, maybe it will teach you guys not to slack off while playing,” said Coach Rachel, “and as a matter of fact every complaint or excuse I hear is one down and back.”

We started the conditioning and on the first drill with running I hurt my ankle and fell to the floor. 

“Emily, are you ok!” said Hailey in a worried tone.

Then the Coach came over.

“What hurts?” said Coach 

“My ankle,” I said  while trying to stay calm

After that Coach Rachel called my mom and I went home early. On the car ride home my mom told me I should probably sit out on our next game.

“No I can’t sit out, I have already missed two games this season, I can’t miss another one.” 

“I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for the morning. We will see what he says,”my mom said.

After we got back from the doctor, he said I was fine to play. I just had to be careful considering my ankle is weak. I got to school an hour late just in time for second period with Hailey.

“So can you play today?” Hailey said in a nervous voice.

“Yeah, the doctor said I just need to take it easy.”

The rest of the day went by slowly but when the final bell rang I was ready for our game. We got to the locker room and put our uniform on and shoes then I looked in my bag and realized, I forgot my brace! This causes me to get really nervous, so I started to overthink everything. After all this is the first game I am playing, and everyone has already played two. What if I am absolutely terrible and the coach doesn’t even play me, or worse she tries playing me and I make us lose. 

We got on the court and started to warm up and I didn’t miss a single shot which really boosted my confidence. Once warmup was over she sent the starters out on the court. I saw Hailey was starting like usual and it made me kind of sad I wasn’t out there with her this year. The game was going smoothly and half way through the first quarter I was in the game and right off the bat I made a shot and forgot all about that I am not wearing my brace and should take it easy. I decided to guard the biggest girl on the court, she was rough. She pushed me over which caused me to fall then stepped on my ankle.The pain was excruciating.

“Emily, are you ok!?” said the Coach.

I tried to respond but I couldn’t get a word out of my mouth. I saw my mom rush over. She picked me up and took me to the car and drove me to the hospital. At this point I am terrified because I am in urgent care. I am in extreme pain, I am brought to the hospital bed and a doctor comes to the room. 

“By the looks of it, I think that’s broken,” the doctor said, “but we will go ahead and take some x-rays.”

He was right, it is broken and I will be on crutches and have to wear a cast for three weeks. He also said I will probably be out for the whole season because I need to rest, which breaks my heart because this is the first year I can play school basketball. The doctor also mentioned that my injury might lead to later problems down the road and that my ankle might never fully recover.

The three dreaded weeks are finally over and I am going to go back to the doctor to see how I am healing and take off my cast. It has been miserable sitting around while I know all my friends are playing basketball, but Hailey has made sure to tell me everything that happens when I am not there to see it for myself.

“And then number 45 started to get mad and threw the ball at the ref just for calling a foul!” 

Though Hailey made sure I didn’t feel left out, part of me was still really sad. So that is why today is important. It could either be one of the best days of my life or one of the worst. We showed up at the doctor and got in to my appointment.

“Let’s take this cast off and see what we are dealing with.”

How could he say that so calmly this could determine my future.

“Well there is certainly still quite a bit of swelling.” Not what I wanted to hear. “But you should be fine to play basketball in a couple weeks.”

That was great news! I am so excited that I am able to play this season and trust me I will always remember to bring my brace, maybe even a backup.

Making it Pro

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Making it Pro

By Scarful

Hello there you should read my story. It’s about my life. I really recommend it.My name is Tanner Rock. I am a 15 year old male. My dreams are to make it pro in the NBA but I’m not very good at basketball. I recently moved to Nevada with my mom. My dad passed away when I was younger. And I wanted to make him proud and make my dream come true. But my mom is living in rough conditions. We moved so my mom could get a better job. 

On the first day of school I met a really nice kid. His name is Oliver. His dreams were also to make it pro in the NBA. But he was 10x better than me. And he said he could give me some pointers on my ball handling and shooting. After school he gave me his number to text him. I  went to his house later in the day to practice my basketball skills. We practiced for around

2 hours and his mom said,

 “Hey do you wanna stay over and have some dinner?”.

 After I ate I walked home. It wasn’t a very far walk to my house. When I arrived home I told my mom what I had done at Oliver’s house. She was really happy that I made a friend. At my old school I didn’t have that many friends. Oliver and I tried out for the high school team. We both made the team.

After my freshman year I didn’t start that much and I still wasn’t a shooter, I was more of a passer. I only scored around 30 points the whole season. But my sophomore year I scored a lot more points than I did the year before. I was averaging 19.3 points a game. My junior year I was on varsity so I didn’t play a whole bunch but I was still averaging 17.6 points a game. But my friend Oliver was doing very well; he was averaging 25.0 points a game. And in our senior year I was averaging 26.1 points a game. My last game there was a college scout and this was my chance to make a college team. I was playing really well; this game I had 23 points in the 3rd quarter and I finished out the game with 36 points. And the college scout came up to me and we were talking for a while. I made the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Oliver on the other hand he did make a college team, but he’s on the Iowa State Cyclones. We both did pretty well; our freshman year he averaged 22.4 points a game and I averaged 23.2 points a game. And through the rest of my college years I decided to go in the NBA draft.I didn’t get drafted till the 5th round. I got on the Houston Rockets.

And so did my friend Oliver. We finally got reunited. I got the starting center position at 6’8 and my friend Oliver got the starting point guard position. He’s only 6’3 but he can do everything he can drive down hill. He can shoot three pointers really well. And he’s the best at his mid range shots. We were 24 games into the season and we were doing good.

Then Oliver tore his ACL. He was out for the season and the thing that sucks is it was his rookie season. He was on pace to get rookie of the year. He was averaging 22.3 points a game more than any rookie this season. I’m only averaging 19.8 points but I was averaging 6.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The very next game after Oliver got injured he got my first triple double. I had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. When we were getting to the end of the season. I actually got rookie of the year with averaging 23.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 9.0 assists. 

The thing I was the best at was tip offs. I won almost all of my tip offs besides one and I only lost because I slipped when I jumped. After the season me and Oliver would train every day with our private trainer. When the next season arrived, me and Oliver both got 21 points in our first game of the season. 

Week 8 of the season we had to go against the boston celtics they were 7-0 and we were 5-2 not off to a bad start but we didn’t have the best start to the game we were down 10 points at the end of the first quader. The score was 29 to 19. I had 3 of those points with a lay up and 0ne made free throw but Olliver didn’t have any points so he was really discouraged but when we were on the bench I had to give him a little speech so he didn’t feel down on himself. 

After that when we went in halfway through the second i gave it to Oliver on the give and go and he got his first points. After that he got hyped up and got 10 points after and at halftime the score was 56-55 we were up by 1 point. During halftime our coach gave us a pep talk. I only had 7 points so I was kind of mad. But after half i got 14 points in 4 minutes. I had 21 points going into the 4th. We were up by 5 points with 2 minutes left in the game. Then they got a lay up and a three pointer with 20 seconds left and it was 120 to 120 and then they got a layup in 5 seconds so we had 15 seconds to either get a three pointer or a layup and we gave it to Oliver then he gave it to me in the post and i passed it to Oliver in the corner for a three and he MADE IT!!! To win the game. The only team to beat the Boston Celtics was us so far. 

  At the end of the last game of the regular season I had 45 points, the most I’ve ever scored. In the off season I was working out with Oliver and I was doing squats and I tore my quad. But luckily it was right after the season was over. So I had enough time to heal. It’s gonna take around a month for my quad to heal. After the offseason was over I was all healed up and ready for my 3rd season. On the first game of the season I jumped up for a rebound and got injured. After the game I went to the hospital and I found out from the doctor that I won’t be able to play for the rest of the season. And Oliver was having the best season of his career. 48 games into the season he was averaging 25.6 points a game. After the season they ended up 72-12 and won the championship. But gladly I got a ring. 

My 4th season on my first game I didn’t do any good. I was still a little hurt from the previous season. I had 0 points in my first game. And I didn’t get too many in the first 10 games. So the Houston Rockets decided to trade me. They traded me to the pistons. I wasn’t a starter for the Pistons and barely got any playing time. And when I got in the game I wasn’t doing anything. Then the Pistons traded me the next season. Then every team that traded for me would trade me a season later then my last shot to prove I’m still good. The last game of the season I was playing for the Lakers and I got injured again. I knew my career was most likely over. And I got cut a week later and no team wanted to pick me up so I had to retire early. And Oliver went on to win 5 more championship games and be known as the GOAT.  

Hoop Dreams (1994)

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January 12

This is one of the most recognizable, iconic documentaries of all-time and it was one of the first films I placed on the list of possible docs to watch during this Genre-ary. Hoop Dreams follows two black youths from the inner-city Chicago area on their struggles to get through high school with a dream to make it to the NBA.

The two boys were named Arthur Agee and William Gates, and, one of the things that I liked about Hoop Dreams was it was much more in depth than just basketball. It truly looked at the problems each boy faced as they navigated their way through their specific high sachools.

At first, it seemed as if they would both be going to the same high school, St. Joseph, but after their freshmen year, Arthur was behind on the tuition payment and wound up being removed from the school. William had financial issues too, but he received help from donors of the school. It was implied that William received the aid because he was seen as the stronger basketball player.

The film spent time with family members of both kids too. Arthur’s family provided the most drama as his father left during his high school years and ended up in prison. He was able to return to his family eventually and did appear to have turned a page on his criminal activities.

William went through an injury to his knee during his high school days and it was something that really caused problems for the young man. There were moments of game footage that was tough to watch as he struggled to make it through the injury.

Coach Gene Pingatore was a major character in the documentary, and he was not always portrayed in a positive light. He was that old school basketball coach in the vein of a Bobby Knight (who did cameo in the doc) and watching that today was challenging at times. Pingatore’s final meeting with a senior William was about as awkward as it could possibly be.

Hoop Dreams was a deep dive into the inner city youth whose only hope to escape came with a basketball. Both of the young men involved faced their difficulties with a differing level and reached for what they could. It was a very involved doc.

The Turnaround (2024)

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January 3

It is a busy day today, so this is the first of the Genre-ary DailyView that will be a documentary short. I found this doc on Netflix, called The Turnaround and it focused on Trea Turner, a player for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Trea Turner signed a contract with the Phillies was 11 years for $300 million. It was a large contract and they expected adding him to a mighty Phillies lineup that would immediately shoot them to the World Series.

However, Turner started off with the Phillies in a terrible way, striking out and committing errors.

The Phillies fans are notorious for being tough on players. However a standing ovation from the fans led to a total turnaround.

This doc looked at one fan in particular named Jon McCann. According to IMDB, McCann was “a Phillies fan from the city’s Bridesburg neighborhood and a content creator known as ‘The Philly Captain’ who helped spearhead the standing ovation.”

“It’s nice to be nice some times,” said McCann in the doc.

The doc showed the depression that McCann was in, to a point where he was hospitalized for the potential of killing himself. The doc brought the two stories together in a very effective manner.

I am a baseball fan, and I loved Trea Turner, who spent some time as a Dodger. This was a really nice documentary short that presents that love of baseball and how the power of positivity can truly make a difference.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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December 26

This is the final EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week for 2024 as next Wednesday’s NEW COMIC BOOK DAY is January 1st. And since it was the last week, of course there were about eight books in the contention for these three medals.

Shout outs to the runners-up that did not make the medal round: The Creeping Below #2, Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu #3, Hello Darkness #6, Sabretooth: The Dead Don’t Talk #1, and Metamorpho #1.

The final medalists for 2024 are…

Bronze Medalist

X-Men #9

Cover art by Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, & Marte Gracia

What a cool use of the Wolverine claws, showing him facing off with Psylocke. The claws almost pop off the page.

Silver Medalist

Absolute Wonder Woman #3

Hayden Sherman & Jordie Bellaire

Boy does Wonder Woman look bad ass. The grey background looks awesome and the red symbol stands out wonderfully.

Gold Medalist

Redcoat #8

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Brad Walker & Brad Anderson

This variant cover is soooo cool with the red background and the way Simon Pure’s coat blended right into the background. Then, the big ass gun is a great example of perspective. I picked this off the stand today, replacing the cover A that I had in my pull box. This is the final gold medalist of 2024. Congrats!

What If…? S3 E5

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Spoilers

“What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth”

Mysterio is Emperor Palpatine?

Who watches the Watcher? I guess we know now.

The Watcher breaks his vow once again… his vow to never interfere… and three other Watchers were paying attention. Obviously, this is what will be heading to the finale of the show.

This was a cool episode with some characters that we do not usually see much about. Ironheart, Wong, Valkyrie, Okoye, and Ying Nan(voiced by Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh) made an intriguing group of characters.

I have never been a great fan of post apocalyptic stories. I mean, they are okay, but it is not my preferential choice, so this episode started off at a disadvantage. However, I did think that the use of the Emergence from the Eternals movie was a neat way to set it up. The show is clearly also trying to set up Riri Williams for the upcoming Ironheart show by featuring her here.

I did like the idea of Mysterio taking control of what remained of the world after the Emergence. It made sense and, in Marvel, there have been plenty of futuristic books where Mysterio played a huge role.

I did love the ending salvo of the show, with the Watcher tired of seeing the same tragedy every time and getting involved, ever so slightly. Looking forward to where this will go.

E2 What If Agatha Went to Hollywood?

E5 What If the Emergence Destroyed the Earth?

E3 What If The Red Guardian stopped The Winter Soldier

E1 What If the Hulk Fought the Mech Avengers?

E4 What If Howard the Duck Got Hitched?

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of 12/18/24

We have a couple of more weeks in 2024, and we have already named the cover of the year and the cover artists of the year. Congrats to Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2 (Variant) and Alex Ross respectively.

That means that this week’s medalists are the old too late for the date. They will just have to settle for medalist presented this week.

Bronze Medalist

Plastic Man No More #4

Cover art by Alex Lins & Marcelo Maiolo

The Plastic Man series has had some excellent covers. The way he is melting is a very distinct look. The reflection of the timer in his goggles are very intriguing too. Close in to his face is very compelling too.

Silver Medalist

Parliament of Rooks #1

Variant Cover B

Cover Art by Abigail Jill Harding

This new book from Ablaze is a beautiful cover in black and white. Black and white is not used as often in cover art, but this is so wonderful with the creepy birds and some kind of creature behind the man on the stairs. It’s a beauty.

Gold Medalist

House of Slaughter #28

Cover art by Jorge Fornes

Broken glass is a very compelling image and the colors are fabulous. There is just so much to look at on this cover and it does not feel like a typical House of Slaughter book. I noticed this one immediately, and knew it would be this week’s gold medalist.

Year in Review: Favorite Comic Covers of the Year

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2024

In 2024, I started something new. It was a weekly feature in which I would choose the best comic cover of the week on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY. After a few weeks, I adjusted the concept so that I was giving three awards, and I connected them to the Olympic medals (Gold, Silver, Bronze). That way I could honor more of the great covers that was coming out every week.

I reviewed my list of winners and I picked out the best of the best and gave them the year end medal.

I decided I would give out the top three regular covers (Cover A) and I would give the top three variant covers from the gold medalists from this past year. Then, I would give an overall medal (Platinum) for the Best Cover of the Year.

Let’s kick it off with the…

Medalists for the Regular Covers (Cover A)

Bronze Medalist for 2024

Ice Cream Man #38

Cover Art by Martin Morazzo & Chris O’Halloran

Silver Medalist for 2024

Amazing Spider-Man #45

Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, and Marcio Menyz

Gold Medalist for 2024

Zorro: Man of the Dead #3

Cover art by Dan Panosian

Medalists for Variant Covers of the Year

Bronze Medalist for 2024 Variant

Namor #1

Cover art by Alex Maleev

Silver Medalist for 2024 Variant

Hello Darkness #4

Cover Art by Jenny Frison

Gold Medalist for 2024 Variant

Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #2

Cover art by Mitsuhiro Arita

Platinum Medalist (Best Overall Comic Cover of 2024)

Congrats to all of our Medalists.

Runners-Up: (Cover A) Get Fury 34, Swan Song #6, Star Wars: Mace Windu #1, Uncanny X-Men #1, Fantastic Four #26, (Variant) Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver #3, Spider-Boy #7, Resurrection of Magneto #1, Ice Cream Man #39

The Greatest American Hero S2 E6

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Spoilers

“The Beast in the Black”

I haven’t watched an episode of The Greatest American Hero is quite awhile. There were a couple reasons why. One, I have been watching a bunch of shows over the last couple of months and the schedule has been tight. But the real reason was the previous GAH episode I watched was probably my least favorite of the series so far and it kind of stunted me on the show.

However, watching season two, episode six reignited my love of the show. This episode, entitled “The Beast in the Black” was one of the best ones of the series so far.

Ralph recruits his students to come to an old house, scheduled for demolition, with the understanding that whatever they were able to salvage from the location would be theirs to sell. Ralph discovered a hidden safe and he and Maxwell went to the house before the kids to see if they could get into the safe, using the suit.

Ralph was seeing strange things, such as a fireplace that had a fire in it that Maxwell could not see. Turned out that the house was haunted by a wayward spirit and Maxwell had a bronze chandelier dropped on his head, killing him. At this point, the spirit, a woman, entered Maxwell’s body and possessed him.

This was a lot of fun and some of the special effects were funky. For the early 1980s on TV, this was very well done. Ralph had to go through a 4th dimension guarded by the Beast in the Black, in order to save Maxwell.

This was unlike any other Greatest American Hero episode we had seen before and I really found this to be creative and enjoyable. I thought this was excellent.

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

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Week of 10/21

Big week this week. I literally went through my pile of comics just now and I picked out nine books as potential medalist this week. A great week of covers.

It is one of those weeks where there are no Marvel or DC in the cover medalists. Unbelievably, two of the places are taken up by IDW books. That has got to be a first.

Medalists this week:

Bronze Medalist

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3

Cover art by Rafael Albuquerque

This new Jason Aaron written TMNT series has been epic so far and their covers have been great. What an image with (I’m guessing) Leonardo walking away from his sword with his mask wrapped around it. Absolutely gorgeous cover.

Silver Medalist

The Exorcism at 1600 Penn #1

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Jock

What an amazing variant cover to this series that just came out of nowhere. I love the red and the black mixed with the demon-like creature and the Presidential seal. This Jock variant is extremely hot!

Gold Medalist

Hello Darkness #4

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Jenny Frison

What an amazing cover. We have seen the close up on eyes before, but the skull reflection in the eye and the single tear running from the eye is just astounding. The title of the book down in the lower corner allows the art to dominate the cover. This is breath-taking.

WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony

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Last night, the WWE inducted seven people into the 2024 Class of the WWE Hall of Fame in a broadcast on Peacock. This year’s class included Paul Heyman, Bull Nakano, Barry Windham & Mike Rotunda, Thunderbolt Patterson, Muhammad Ali and Lia Maivia.

The headliner of the class was inducted first. Paul Heyman, whose background in Philadelphia with his revolutionary ECW was well known, came out after a really great induction by Roman Reigns. Paul, one of the best talkers in the history of the business, proceeded to give one of the best HoF speeches of all time. I have seen most, if not all, of the speeches over the years and, while I saw several hyperbolic comments online about this being the greatest HoF speech of all time, I’m not ready to anoint it such, but it is definitely in the argument. Paul Heyman had the audience in the palm of his hand and it was exceptional. Paul took us all on a ride that was funny, emotional, nostalgic, and generally inspiring.

There was a great moment inside the U.S. Express speech when Mike Rotunda mentioned his son Windham Rotunda, aka Bray Wyatt, who passed away this past year. Rotunda got out his cell phone and asked for the crowd to follow along with him displaying the light on the phone. This was the symbol of the Fireflies that were the fans of Bray Wyatt.

There was a really weird moment during the Muhammad Ali induction. Yolanda Ali, Ali’s widow, accepted the honor. What was weird was when Yolanda (Nicknamed Lonnie) presented Dwayne Johnson with a title of People’s Champion. Rock came out and thanked her. It felt fairly awkward.

Most of the other speeches were fine, but did not stand out. Thunderbolt Patterson spoke about his faith in God. Bull Nakano was well spoken despite English being her second language.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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Week of March 11

It is that time of the week. It is NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and that means it is time to give some medals out to the best comic covers of the week.

This week, we have an EYG Hall of Famer with his third (I think) medal and a group that has received their second medal in as many issues.

BRONZE MEDALIST

Dark Ride #11

Cover Art by Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas

The Image Comic with the demonic amusement park provided a great cover art with a clearly demonic character. The eyes and the teeth are just astounding.

SILVER MEDALIST

The Immortal Thor #8

Cover Art by Alex Ross

This the third medal awarded to the EYG Hall of Famer Alex Ross. Ross is the preemptive cover artist and he has been doing covers for Marvel including Fantastic Four, Avengers: Twilight, and Thor. This one is different than his normal cover with more of the vines taking the main section of the cover.

GOLD MEDALIST

Amazing Spider-Man #45

Cover art by John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna & Marcio Menyz

This is the second issue in a row where Amazing Spider-Man cover artists Romita Jr., Hanna & Menyz received a medal. Last time it was a bronze. This one is a gold! Beautiful image of Spidey in the rain looking the worse for wear. The shadows are just a perfect addition to the image.