Now that students have adjusted to the return of a fully in-person, “normal” school year, changes are being made to the daily schedule.

   The current schedule has six classes a day in a six day cycle. The classes rotate in a waterfall pattern, meaning they meet at a different time each day of the cycle until they drop out of the cycle for one day. Each class lasts 59 minutes, except for period 6, which is a shorter period but never drops.

  The new pilot schedule, which has thus far been distributed to teachers, has a five-day cycle where every class would meet four times a week. Within each week, the class will run at 49 minute classes three times per week, and will meet for one 68 minute class. On Wednesdays, students are dismissed at 1:10, instead of the usual 2:14, to give administrators and teachers enough time for professional development. 

  One major difference in the new schedule is the addition of the Masco Block, or the M-Block. The M-Block will work in a similar way to the What-I-Need (WIN) Block that existed during pandemic schedules.

  A committee started meeting regularly at the end of March to discuss the functions and practicality of potential schedules. The committee consisted of eight administrators, three teachers, and two department heads.

  “Ultimately this comes down to it being an administrative decision, but two of the teachers were actually selected by the Masconomet Teachers Association, as representatives from their group,” said Superintendent Michael Harvey.  “[These teachers] were a part of the discussion from the first development of the list of priorities,” said Harvey. “They were integral in the discussions and talking about how things would work, and it was a great group actually, having some really deep, philosophical conversations about what we wanted to come out of this.”

  The committee saw the importance of teamwork and cooperation.

  “It was a very collaborative group. People kind of just shared what they had, so I don’t think it was anything specific that one group  was really fighting for, I think we were really collaborative in that process,” said Harvey.

  The rest of the teachers were sent the schedule and an accompanying letter, explaining the scheduling committee’s thought process behind the changes. When talk of a new schedule began to get out to students and parents, they immediately had many questions.

  “I think some of the questions will be answered when the letter goes out,” said High School Principal Mary Jo Carabatsos. “The committee had a process in place which was to inform faculty, let the faculty have a few days to give feedback, talk to students, and then send it out with the accompanying letter.”

  The letter, Carabatsos said, is necessary to understand all of the nuances of the schedule, from why it was changed to how it will work. 

  “I feel badly that they didn’t have [the letter] because I think it’s created angst and anxiety for students, when it really shouldn’t have,” said Carabatsos.

  Teachers gave feedback and asked questions shortly after they were sent the schedule, and Carabatsos met with the Student Council to hear their thoughts. The Student Council posted a photo of the schedule on their Instagram, with a message box asking students to type their questions or thoughts.

  A major concern of the students’ that the Student Council discovered was the concern over scheduling help during M-Block. Unlike after-school help, students will have to sign-up to go to a teacher’s classroom to receive extra help. After school help will still be available on certain days as well, but students expressed worry that signing up for a teacher’s M-Block on Monday without knowing what will happen in class later in the week is “unrealistic.”

  Another question students have is about the rotation of classes. Periods 1, 2, 3, and 4 will rotate in the morning, while periods 4, 5, 6, and 7 will rotate in the afternoon. According to Harvey, not using a waterfall rotation will allow more students flexibility, including the ability to participate in dual enrollment, where they are able to take classes at a nearby community college. Students can go in for their class in the morning or in the afternoon, then have the opposite time available for their class at a community college.

  Harvey believes that the new rotation will open more doors for students.

  “I think internship is a really great program here, and having a schedule where a student could come into school for maybe their first three or four classes, and have those all be done earlier in the day, would allow them to go out and do an internship earlier in their senior year, or even before that, so that they can do more things,” said Harvey. “Right now, it’s not possible because it’s predictable, but it’s really not regular enough that you know what time a class is going to meet. I think those are some things we’re interested in looking at and figuring out how they will work.”

  While teachers, students, and administrators work together to fix any problems, Carabatsos and Harvey both want students and parents to know that there is no such thing as a perfect schedule.

  “There's always going to be something that’s a positive or a negative to it, and those things are always a series of trade-offs, so we want to prioritize some things, and you can’t always get everything that you always want in it,” said Harvey. “If there was a perfect schedule, we’d all be doing it across the country and it’s just not the case.”

  Both Carabatsos and Harvey are open to hearing from students.

  “I’m always open to meeting with students, and talking to them, and getting feedback, even if that feedback can’t necessarily mean that we’re going to change it significantly,” said Carabatsos. “I think that the commitment of that group is to continue to meet, to live in that schedule, and get feedback. Once we’ve lived in it for a bit this fall, and if we feel the need to make a shift or do something, then we’ll do that, if we feel it’s in the best interest of students at that time.”

  For now, the plan is to enter the 2022-2023 school year with the new pilot schedule, then adjust as necessary after a few months.


Photo via Wrike

  Major League Baseball’s demise is going to be because of their own inability to attract young fans.

  Between the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and Major League Baseball, baseball has the fewest number of Generation Z members who consider themselves Major League Baseball fans. According to USA Today, 49% of Generation Z fans said that they were football fans, 47% said they were basketball fans, and 35% said they were esports fans. Only 32% of Generation Z said that they were casual baseball fans.

  The gap between the number of sports fans in baseball compared to other major sports has led to Major League Baseball creating a TikTok account, matching the efforts that basketball, football, and hockey leagues have put in. In an effort to reach out to a larger audience, the Major League Baseball TikTok account announced a plan to create an annual “Creator Class” in 2021. The Creator Class was made as a way for baseball fans to promote to younger generations through popular creators, including popular baseball creator Jackson Olson.

  The major problem with the Creator Class is that the creators selected made baseball-related content prior to their ambassadorship, meaning that their audience was mostly baseball fans. While their content was able to grow and become more advanced, as members of the Creator Class were allowed on the field and in press boxes, their new content was not reaching the intended audience. Their platforms expanded, but only to more baseball fans, not to fans of other sports. The Creator Class was not reaching non-baseball fans, but it was creating a community for young baseball fans to share content.

  A common complaint among Generation Z fans, fans with school, part time jobs, and extracurricular activities, are the start times of games. The post-season started at a later date than usual, on Friday, October 7. The first postseason game of 2022 was between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays, and started at 12:00 P.M. Eastern. Obviously, much of Generation Z is at school during Friday afternoons, decreasing the number of young viewers. On the same day, the Wild Card game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners started at 4:00 P.M. Many young fans are either on their way home from school or have just arrived home. Many of the weekday games started while Generation Z was still in school, despite the timezones. 

  All of the World Series games started just after 8:00 eastern time. The average Major League Baseball game takes over three hours to complete, meaning that the games ended at around 11:00 for fans on the East Coast. Many young fans were not able to take three hours out of their night to watch baseball games, regardless of their importance. When games start at 8:00, dedicated fans are likely staying up until past 11:00, later if they want to watch the postgame show. Games are being played at inconvenient times for young fans and the number of Generation Z baseball fans is reflecting that. How can organizations expect to have young fans if they aren’t available during game time?

  On top of that, individual players that build their name into their own brand have developed bad reputations in recent years. Former Los Angeles Dodger starting pitcher Trevor Bauer was notorious for speaking his mind and doing what he wanted, regardless of who mocked him for it. His name became recognized by all sports fans, not just baseball fans, and he was celebrated for speaking his mind. Major League Baseball realized that Bauer was bringing sports fans back to baseball, he was modernizing the ancient sport. The general style of promotion for Major League Baseball shifted from headlining games to showcasing players. Unfortunately for this promotion strategy, it relied on players being able to show the positive aspects of their character. 

  In June of 2021, the Pasadena Police Department told news sources that Bauer was under investigation for assaulting a woman in May. Days after the confirmation from the police, Major League Baseball placed Bauer on administrative leave and the Dodgers organization canceled their Bauer bobblehead giveaway. Since this incident, Major League Baseball has been cautious about which players they display. Because of the actions taken by Major League Baseball to promote Bauer prior to his investigation, Bauer still has a community of fans who defend his actions. Sports media has gradually left Bauer and stopped giving him attention, and instead ushering fans towards the action on the field.

  Sports media also has a large influence on fans. New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge was on the hunt for the American League single season home run record for the better part of the season. His chase brought fans back to baseball, fans who were excited to watch history happen. Writers and fans on social media found every way to explain how Judge’s climb to beat former Yankee Roger Marris wasn’t as impressive and exciting as it was. Fans who were looking to return to watching baseball were slowly turned away, thinking that Judge’s feat wasn’t as monumental as they once thought. 

  The constant negativity from people looking to draw attention away from Judge’s record isn’t anything new to baseball. In 2019, The Athletic announced that the Houston Astros cheated throughout the 2017 and into the 2018 season, using an elaborate system with trash cans and buzzers as a way to relay signs to the batter. Despite the roster and front office being almost completely different in 2022, fans and writers were still looking for ways to discredit the organization. Casual baseball fans are turning away from baseball, yet again, because the constant negativity is something that has become overbearing.

  Who can blame someone for not being a baseball fan in 2022? The promotion methods have yet to show any promising change and young people are not being accommodated into the game schedules. Young fans don’t want to see the same things that their grandparents saw, and it’s time for Major League Baseball to make the necessary changes. If they don’t, then it is only a matter of time before baseball’s time is up.


Photo via The New York Post

  On Thursday, January 6, there was a fire during Masco’s swim team practice at the Bennett Center at Gordon College when a light above the pool was on fire in the middle of the team’s practice.

  “At first I thought there was just some dust, then after a minute or so, the light started smoking then caught on fire,” said varsity coach Heather Rousseau.

  Varsity swimmer junior Paige Panagos was in the swim lane under the light when it caught fire.

  “I was questioning how I hadn’t seen it even though I was swimming in the lane almost below the light that was burning,” said Panagos.

  Swimmer and diver junior Meghan Burr saw what she assumed was dust falling from the ceiling.

  “Originally when I saw the fire we actually didn't think it was a fire. The pool is in an older building, so when we saw stuff coming down from the ceiling we just thought we could ignore it,” said Burr.

  When the fire was spotted by swimmer Anna Halilaj, the team evacuated the Bennett Center.

  “I wished Gordon College was more prepared for a fire at the pool, as the first fire alarm our coach pulled broke and could have put many people in danger had there been a larger fire,” said Panagos.

  Rousseau started the season by preparing the team for what to do in the case of an emergency.

  “The team was definitely prepared, because I start every season off reviewing the emergency action plan for the training facility. We go over locations of exits, the AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and fire alarms. We also go through the exact sequence of events that need to happen in an emergency including calling 911,” said Rousseau.

  The athletes also get emergency practice at school, although there are some differences in school and Bennett Center fire procedure.

  “The evacuation was definitely different than the fire drills at school, we were in the pool so we were told to get our stuff as fast as possible and run outside and many of us were actually still wearing swim caps, so it was a much more urgent evacuation rather than the orderly ones we do at school,” said Burr.

  Panagos noted one key difference between the practice fire drills at school and the actual emergency.

  “We went through emergency protocols so we were definitely prepared, along with the drills we practice at school. Although, since this was not a drill, we ran instead of walking,” said Panagos.

  Because of the minor damage caused to the pool area, the team was not able to practice for days. The team spent one of their off days bowling.

  “We bonded over how terrible we were at bowling,” said Panagos.

  Despite the fire, the team’s dynamic hasn’t changed.

  “Not much has changed because our team has been a tight group from the start so this didn’t have much of an impact. They spend a lot of time together in and out of the pool,” said Rousseau.

  With the team hoping to make it to States, their relentless positivity and ability to carry on are valuable assets.


Photo via Heather Rousseau

  For at least the first few weeks of the second semester, students will not be able to change their Masco Block locations for Friday.

  Known as M-Block, the 36 minute block provides teachers and students an extra opportunity for whatever they need. Students can use the block for many things, including signing up to see teachers and get extra help. Students can sign up for a teacher’s room themselves on the PowerSchool Adaptive Scheduler the day before, which is only available on the PowerSchool website. In addition, teachers can “draft” students they need to see into their M-Block. 

  To gain M-Block, students lost after school extra help on Mondays and Wednesdays, as it is now limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays. M-Block provides students with after school obligations the chance to receive help from teachers outside of class time during the school day.

  When finalizing and releasing the plan for the pilot schedule in June 2022, the expectation for M-Block was always that there would be four days students could move from their home base teacher.

  Having one “home base day” would allow students who might struggle to get a spot in a teacher’s room the chance to ask to be drafted into their M-Block, when there’s less competition. It would also alleviate pressure on teachers and students to constantly be running around, instead, they could just stay in one place and relax.

  “When the scheduling committee thought about it last year, there always was this idea about a home base day, but when it rolled out and the timing of how we opened the portal, we didn't find our way there,” said high school principal Mary Jo Carabatsos. “In a way, we're almost going back to the original idea that we had last spring.”

  In order for students to be able to select which day teacher they want to be with for M-Block, Carabatsos has to unlock the PowerSchool Adaptive Scheduler. There were some weeks where there would be a glitch or alternative issue, preventing students from switching their M-Block unless it was requested by a teacher for a day.

  When that unintended mistake occurred, however, Carabatsos was not just met with frustration. Instead, some teachers expressed relief at this inability to move from the home-base M-Block.

  “We were getting feedback from people who appreciated [the scheduler] not being open, because then they just had the [originally scheduled M-Block] kids in front of them, and they could find themselves a little breathing room where they could invite certain other kids,” said Carabatsos. “It's teachers helping students who haven't yet taken advantage of what M-Block was supposed to be.”

  This allowed teachers to draft students into their M-Block who needed extra help but were not able to sign up for it previously. Many M-Blocks fill up quickly, often with the same students every day.

  The scheduling committee created a survey that was sent to teachers and students in late October, as a way to hear their opinions. 

  “It was definitely not student feedback, it was definitely more adult feedback,” said Carabatsos. “It was a group decision of [the scheduling committee members present] when we were looking at all the data.”

  An estimated 67% of the 687 students who took the survey said they left their home base M-Block 2 or fewer times a week. By having one home base day, students’ schedules will likely not be drastically changed.

  Though students cannot move themselves on Fridays, they are still able to see a teacher and request to be drafted by them if they feel they need help.

  “I want students to know that if they really feel strongly that they need to meet with the teacher, they should email or speak with their teacher and say, ‘I really need to see you,’” said Carabatsos. “I [also] want students to know it's not permanent. We're trying it. We're testing it out. We're in a pilot, we're trying some new things. I'm hoping that it will go well, and if it doesn't, it's a button to bring it back.”

  To catch future glitches that may prevent the Adaptive Scheduler from being opened, the portal will now be overseen by two people.

  Although changes are happening to the schedule used for the 2022-2023 school year, it is still a pilot schedule. Many changes can happen quickly, but can also be reversed just as fast.


Photo via Wicked Local

Written by Alexa D'Amato, edited by Giovanny Soriano

  The St. Louis Cardinals’ designated hitter & first baseman deserves and will have a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

  Albert Pujols was drafted in the 13th round of the MLB draft and his tenure with the ball club lasted until the 2012 season. He went on to play with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim until he was designated for assignment in May 2021. After being released, he quickly signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he finished his 2021 campaign. Once the MLB lockout concluded in early March, he signed with his original team to complete his career, and come full circle.

  Pujols’ consistency and fantastic work ethic is something that deserves more recognition than it gets. From 2003 through the 2010 season, he hit above .300. He won 3 National League MVP trophies in that span. His .300 and above streak failed to continue as in the 2011 season he hit .299 and barely missed the mark. The following year continued to show his production even as an aging veteran as he finished the season hitting .285. Despite this, Pujols will leave pro baseball with a .296 average, the second most RBIs in a career with 2218 (Hank Aaron ranks first with 2297), and the fourth most career home runs in MLB history (703). He sits behind only Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), and Babe Ruth (714).

  It wasn’t always easy this year for the future Hall of Famer. In the opening month of April, he had a batting average of .267. Although those may seem like decent numbers, the sample size was small as he only had 30 plate appearances. The 42-year-old began to show his age as in May and June he had a batting average of .188 and .158. As he struggled with a slash of .198/.294/.336, Pujols later admitted he had nearly retired. He grew frustrated and irritated with the direction his final season was going. Cardinals’ manager Oliver Marmol, hitting coach Jeff Albert, and many others on the coaching staff had to talk him out of the decision. That talk not only continued his career but ignited a fire inside Pujols. After deliberation, he turned back the clock and played like the Pujols that didn’t leave St. Louis.

   Albert’s final 3 months of statistics and records speak for themselves, and practically every baseball fan was thrilled to watch him chase the record. In the next three months, he slashed .314/.377/.681 to go along with 20 home runs. On September 23rd, Social media and fans in attendance seemed to hold their breath when the bat flew off the ball at Dodger Stadium, and it felt like every single baseball fan was rooting for him. The usual amount of hate athletes get daily seemed to disappear in the stream of excited Tweets, all celebrating Pujols’ 700th career home run. For a moment in the lengthy baseball season, everybody stopped to watch this moment in history. Other games being played at the same time were paused as the crowd and players witnessed an outstanding accomplishment. Pujols is one of the most beloved players in baseball, next to class acts such as Ichiro Suzuki, David Ortiz, and Miguel Cabrera.

  One of the most overlooked Hall of Fame requirements is the character clause which critics argue kept players with worthy statistics out of Cooperstown, such as Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling, Omar Vizquel, and more. If there’s one thing that Pujols has shown he has, it’s character. When he hit his 697th home run, officially passing Babe Ruth and securing fourth place in the all-time home run record, he met the fans who caught it after the game when they went to give the ball back. Pujols rejected their offer to take the ball back. What everyone didn’t know is that on that day one year ago, one of the fan’s fathers had passed away, and when she told Pujols that, he told her to keep the baseball. Not only did they leave with a piece of history, but Pujols signed two more balls for them. His kindness was a constant throughout his whole career, years before his 700th home run, he was seen giving a young fan the jersey off his back after a game. He is a class act on and off the field.

  Pujols has the statistics and hardware to be voted into Cooperstown and he’s one of few players who have shown their genuine character and morals. His 22-year career has shown his perseverance and willingness to continue to learn and adapt to the game, especially with new technology being introduced later in his career. His dedication to the St. Louis Cardinals is especially evident and admirable in his choice to return to the organization for his final year. It was a sentimental and symbolic way to show his thanks to the Cardinals fans and as a way to thank the organization for giving him a chance to start his career.

  His contributions to baseball history will never be forgotten, especially by being voted into the Hall of Fame in 2027.


Photo via Tampabay.com

  With retirement in his near future, history teacher Chris Fay is taking time to reflect on some highlights of his career.

  Fay originally chose to go to college for banking. It was at his job, just out of college, where he realized he wanted to become a teacher.

  “There was a young woman there, roughly my age, she was a teacher, and she worked in the summer there as an intern. I didn’t really like the business that I decided to go into, and it was based on those conversations with the intern that I began thinking about becoming a teacher,” he said. “I wanted to do something positive for other people with my life, which is why most, if not all, teachers want to be teachers.”

  While there’s not one specific memory Fay would call his favorite, there are many little moments that make teaching worth it.

  “This is going to sound sappy I think, but the best memory is of the students you enjoyed teaching. I can remember so many kids and what they looked like from my first year of teaching, it’s scary,” he said.

  Hearing from students who graduated reminds Fay of the impact he had. 

  “I just got an email from somebody who graduated last year and she brought up something we had been talking about in class because it came up in her college class, and she just wanted to let me know. I think for a lot of teachers, that’s the fuel that they run on,” he said.

  Masco hired Fay and a group of other teachers at the same time, as many teachers were retiring. 

  “I came in with a group and we were kind of told to come in and try anything,” said Fay. “I think we were kind of given this charge as a group of young teachers to disrupt the norm in a good way, I guess.”

  One of the things that Fay and other history teachers tried out was the Family Biography writing assignment. Former history teacher Peter Delani talked to Fay about it in 1993, as a writing assignment that wasn’t based on textbook history, but on the students’ family history.

  Delani and Fay were both teaching freshmen when they started, and were part of a freshmen class team where Masco staples such as freshman orientation and peer leaders originated.

  Eventually, Fay went to teach the junior class when the modern United States history curriculum moved from the freshman class to the juniors. He also introduced and continues to teach the elective The 1960’s, and co-teaches a course with his wife, science department head Tammy Fay, called Prometheus Unleashed, which explores the impacts of scientific discoveries on history. He also advises the school’s radio station, WBMT.

  “I think in the last few years I’ve gotten a little bit… grandfatherly… I would describe it. A little bit softer, because you do change. It’s more like ‘Ok, so you didn’t do it right the first time, so let’s do it again,’ rather than ‘You get an F,’ he said. “There’s a part of me that looks back on the teacher I was 10 or 12 years ago and kind of goes ‘Oh I wouldn’t do that now,’ and there’s probably parts of me that younger me would look at and go ‘Wow you’re really soft.’ ”

 Despite this understanding attitude Fay credits himself as currently having, he still expects his students to work carefully and thoughtfully. In fact, any student who had Fay for any class knows the one of the first things he hopes students remember from his class: how to properly do citations.

  Fay currently has plans to retire at the end of next school year. His impact on the Masco community, however, will be long lasting. From the record students now have of their family’s history, to the appreciation of the tunes of the 1960’s, to the ability to cite research that they completed in his class, Fay’s legacy will live on.


Photo via Zion Lutheran School

  After Chris Sale was scratched from the Opening Day roster because of a rib cage fracture, fans are starting to wonder if the contract extension was really worth it.

  In 2019, former General Manager Dave Dombrowski offered left hand pitcher Chris Sale a five year extension, with a no trade clause through the 2024 season. Sale took the extension and spent the 2019 and the shortened 2020 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. The path to recovery was long, and Sale finally came back to the team in 2021, where he pitched in 9 games, with a 5-1 record and a 3.16 earned run average.

  Shortly after the delayed Spring Training began, the team announced that right hand pitcher Nathan Eovaldi would most likely get the start on Opening Day, as Sale had a rib cage fracture. Since the extension, Sale has dealt with injury after injury, making his extension seem like a waste of $145,000,000.

  Dombrowski and current General Manager Chaim Bloom signed very different players; Dombrowski would spend excessive amounts of money on big name players, while Bloom spends less money on lesser known players who get the job done. Because of Bloom’s strategy, the well known starting pitchers are from the Dombrowski era and the lesser known players are ones that Bloom signed, there are not many widely known players on the rotation. Sale and Eovaldi are the most known on the rotation, and both were signed by Dombrowski - Sale signed with Boston in 2016, and Eovaldi signed with the team in July of 2018, then signed an extension in December of the same year. 

  Since his extension, many people have wondered how valuable Sale and his extension is to the team. After missing the entirety of the shortened 2020 season, Sale has been inconsistent. He returned in August 2021 against the Baltimore Orioles, where everyone thought the “Old Chris Sale” had returned and was better than ever. Unfortunately, Sale looked too human on the mound.

  During the regular season, Sale threw over 42 innings, giving up 45 hits. His starts were planned so he pitched against teams that had losing records or were skidding, such as the Orioles, the New York Mets, and the Washington Nationals, who were well out of the playoff race by the time the Red Sox played them in their Wild Card hunt at the beginning of October.

  Sale seemed to start off strong, giving up 13 earned runs over 8 games, but by the end of the season and into the postseason, Sale seemed as if he ran out of gas, with an earned run average of over 7 in October and a loss of the Wild Card game start. However, it was expected that he wouldn’t be the Sale that Boston fans remembered from 2018. He needed time to build up to that, and a normal offseason would have provided him with an amount of time in which to do so with a trainer. But, because of the lockout, Sale wasn’t able to communicate with a Red Sox trainer. Players were literally locked out of training facilities owned by teams and injured players weren’t able to rehab with the teams’ athletic trainers.

  His extension seems to look like more of a mistake after every injury. However, if Sale can stay healthy for an extended period of time, he has the potential to go back to the “normal” Sale. His work ethic is unmatched, his intensity on the mound shows his dedication to the team, and his reactions after watching his teammates, even on days he wasn’t playing, prove that.

  The extension will be worth the price, but only if Sale can manage to play for most of the season. He wants to prove that he’s able to come back stronger to fans and haters alike.

  Sale is a valuable member to the team, not only because of his pitching, but also because of his dedication and desire to be as good as humanly possible. Just by being on the team, his presence makes his teammates hold themselves accountable. A prime example of this is during the 2018 World Series, when his team was losing. He paced the dugout, cursing and telling the team to “pick it up” - and they came back to win the game.

  What Sale provides for the team goes beyond pitching, and just by sitting in the dugout during games, you can feel the energy radiating from him. He is invaluable to the team and the history of that proves it. His ability to be a leader in the dugout and on the field proves the value of his extension.


Photo via Baseball Savant

  Today’s athletes are the first generation who have access to the world of social media in the palm of their hands. What they post is seen by a large audience, we should hold them accountable.

  Every Red Sox fan knows the story behind the “Bloody Sock Game” in the 2004 American League Championship Series. Starting pitcher Curt Schilling pitched seven innings, and gave up one earned run and no walks during Game 6: a do or die game for Boston against the New York Yankees.

  That game had some of the highest stakes of any sports game. Boston hoped to beat the odds and do something that had never been done before: come back from being down 3 games to 0 to win the series.

  Schilling carried the team to secure the victory, despite a bleeding ankle from a torn tendon sheath. His performance was one of the most important and iconic in Red Sox history. He had the postseason heroics to become immortalized in Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

  However, it was a good thing he was not voted into Cooperstown.

  Schilling is known for his political, and oftentimes offensive, Twitter rants. His most notable ones were when he disregarded the identity of transgender individuals and continuously posted offensive things towards Muslims, even comparing them to Nazis. 

  After North Carolina passed a law mandating that transgender people must use the bathroom for the gender they were assigned at birth in 2016, Schilling tweeted an offensive picture towards the transgender community. The post featured a bigoted meme displays a white man in a wig and torn women’s clothing with bold words in all capitals saying “LET HIM IN! TO THE RESTROOM WITH YOUR DAUGHTER OR ELSE YOU’RE A NARROW MINDED, JUDGEMENTAL, UNLOVING, RACIST BIGOT WHO NEEDS TO DIE!!!”

  Hall of Fame candidates are judged “based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played.” This displays none of these qualities. 

  Major League Baseball needs some changes, and they can start by denying players Hall of Fame nominations based on their acceptance of other people. The organization has acknowledged their shortcomings in acceptance of minorities and people who aren’t men.

  They need to change, and fast. Baseball, and major league sports as a whole, have been long overdue to progress into the 21st century. The first female General Manager in major North American sports was only hired in March, when there were still less qualified men climbing the ranks at a much faster rate.

  Transgender people have suffered through laws declaring what bathrooms they can and cannot use and people harassing them online and in public because of their identity, the least Major League Baseball can do to support them is to not let openly transphobic people into the Hall of Fame when one of the categories players are judged on is their character.

  While there must have been other players in the past who would be considered transphobic, they didn’t have the same access to tell the whole world what they were feeling.

  Social media posts can be a way to judge someone’s character: if a player is constantly spreading misinformation or spewing hate, it’s logical to think they probably aren’t a great person away from the screen.

  Posts on social media are an easy way to get a glimpse at someone’s character. So, what an athlete posts, either during or after their playing careers, should be taken into consideration when voting on their Hall of Fame candidacy–a place where they are forever immortalized.


Photo via Milford Daily News

  Making any comment pertaining to someone’s race is inappropriate in every situation, and Yankees’ third baseman Josh Donaldson should know that.

  In the early stages of Saturday’s game, Donaldson and the Chicago White Sox’s shortstop Tim Anderson began exchanging words. The situation got worse when the White Sox’s catcher Yasmani Grandal seemed to confront Donaldson on his way into the batter’s box. Grandal pointed at Anderson and got in Donaldson’s face while the benches cleared.

  After the game, White Sox manager Tony La Russa blatantly told reporters that “[Donaldson] made a racist comment.” Donaldson cleared up what he said, and admitted to calling Anderson “Jackie,” alluding to Jackie Robinson. He immediately tried defending himself, claiming that he jokingly referred to Anderson as “Jackie” for years, but insisted it was because of a Sports Illustrated article where Anderson said “[He] kind of felt like today’s Jackie Robinson,” for his need to change the game.

  The surrounding context of the quote is often omitted from Donaldson’s excuse. Anderson went on to say he feels isolated as a Black man in baseball, a sport that is controlled by white men, where double standards between white and Black players are so prevalent to him. If Donaldson was truly mentioning that specific interview, he should have read it to understand the significance. His reasoning feels as though he tried to find an excuse just as the reporters flocked to his locker.

  Donaldson’s feeble excuse was not taken seriously by the majority of the baseball community. Normally, when people joke with others, it’s with people they’re on good terms with, not someone they have a history of fighting with.

  Whether Donaldson wants to admit it or not, whether he meant it offensively or not, his comment was racist. Despite Robinson’s incredible legacy, he didn’t call Anderson that out of respect, he called him that because of how Anderson, a Black player, looks.

  In a statement Major League Baseball published on their website Monday afternoon, they referred to that moment as “disrespectful and in poor judgment” rather than outright saying the buzzword guaranteed to spark controversy: racism. Donaldson’s punishment was a fine and a one game suspension, which he has chosen to appeal.

  An overwhelming number of baseball players, managers, general managers, and other high ranking officials are white. Major League Baseball needs to come to terms and realize that they’re going to do things that may make their white players and audience uncomfortable, but it’s the right thing to do. Having uncomfortable conversations with players is something that officials will have to do, even if it means they have to explain why their behavior was wrong as though they were a child.

  Major League Baseball needs to call the Donaldson-Anderson incident what it was: a verbal racist encounter, one that Black baseball players are all too familiar with. Racism in sports is becoming more and more common, and when fans realize that players can get away with being racist, they start to think they can too. Current and former Celtics players Marcus Smart and Kyrie Irving have talked about their own experiences regarding racism from fans and players.

  Organizations like Major League Baseball have a huge responsibility when it comes to condemning behavior that is not okay, such as racism and homophobia, and it’s time that they start standing up for minorities.


Photo via Sporting News

  The most hated man on the Red Sox isn’t even on the roster: he’s the brains behind them. Don’t hate the person who got the team in their “rebuilding season” well into the postseason.

  Chaim Bloom was hired as the General Manager in 2019 after the team fired former General Manager Dave Dombrowski in the middle of the season. His first major move was the one that cemented his fate to fairweather Boston sports fans: he traded the 2018 American League’s Most Valuable Player, Mookie Betts.

  Bloom was heavily criticized by fans and the media for how he handled the trade deadline in the 2021 season. He was attacked for not trading for any big name pitchers, but his most important addition to the team at the deadline is Kyle Schwarber.

  Schwarber is an important figure to have both in the clubhouse and on the field. He’s excellent at taking pitches that are close enough to the zone to look like good pitches to hit, but are slightly too far. His influence is a huge contributing factor as to how the Sox went from 81 walks in July to 104 walks in August. 

  Bloom made his intentions with Schwarber clear: to make him into a first baseman. Starting first baseman Bobby Dalbec had to have taken it personally, he was hitting .219 before the All-Star break with 12 walks, and entered August on a hot streak that didn’t seem to end. He was named Rookie of the Month and left hitting .339 and 8 walks on the month. Schwarber’s influence and the team taking more time to train both him and Dalbec, who is a natural third baseman, giving both players the chance to prove themselves before the postseason, where the team was chasing a Wild Card spot.

  After the abysmal 2020 season where Boston went 24-36 and had no relievers, everyone expected Bloom to find any half decent relievers before the season and at the deadline. 

  Reliever Ryan Brasier had been out the whole season, suffering a gruesome sequence of injuries, and spent most of the season recovering in Worcester. When he came back to Boston, fans forgot how dangerous he could be when healthy, pitching 12 innings and holding an earned run average of 1.50. Bloom never forgot him, and when Brasier came to make his season debut on September 3rd, he built his way back to his prime, which was during the team’s Wild Card hunt.

  Bloom proved himself one of the smartest people in baseball. Trading Betts and starter David Price was the right move with Boston receiving left fielder Alex Verdugo–who has proclaimed and shown his love for Boston countless times–and two prospects in infielder Jeter Downs and catcher Connor Wong, both players who can benefit the team in a few years. 

 Chaim Bloom turned a team of nobodies into the team that knocked out the New York Yankees and the team with the best record in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays, where Bloom also worked as the Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations. He has consistently brought his teams up from the bottom to competitive World Series contenders, and people need to start acknowledging his accomplishments.


Photo via NBC Sports