By: Kenyatta Wright

Washington DC — In a game that had a 16 minute delay, the Washington Nationals improved to 5-2 on the season with a 5-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. The umpires got caught in a traffic jam, causing the game to be delayed. The Na tionals received much more expectations with the addition of Dan Haren, the three time All Star, making their team much more formidable. Dan Haren thus far has not had a great start to the season.

Dan Haren looks to bounce back from an average season debut, as he will once again play before the home crowd at Nationals Park Thursday night in Washington D.C. Desmond had a triple and a pair of doubles in the contest; Bryce Harper homered, and Danny Espinosa provided his first two RBI’s of the season. With the win over the White Sox, the Nationals improved to 5-0 at home on the season, and won 5 out of their first 7 games.

With the loss the White Sox have dropped to (4-4) on the season. Adam Dunn, who played for the Nationals in 2009-2010, made his appearance against the Nationals, and received a chatter of applause from the Nationals crowd. With the loss the White Sox have dropped to (4-4) on the season, and has dropped four of six. The White Sox will play the Nationals tonight at National Park, for their back to back against the Nationals.

By: Kenyatta Wright

Chicago Ill — It was just 2 weeks ago when the Chicago Bulls ended the Miami Heat’s 27 game winning streak. The Heat’s streak was a streak that lasted for 2 months without a defeat. Win number 9 on the Heat’s streak was the Chicago Bulls, and their first loss ended the streak at 28 games, suffered at the hand of the shorthanded Bulls on March 27, 2013. Some would say the number 27 has some sort of significance as it relates to the Miami Heat’s winning streak. It ended at 27, and it ended on the 27th of March.

The banged up Bulls have been suffering injuries all season long. The Chicago Bulls await the much anticipated return of their All Star Derrick Rose, still recovering from Knee surgery, and they have had a number of various injuries to different players. Joakim Noah (Foot) Plantar Fasciitis, Rip Hamilton just recovered from the same injury, but despite the injuries, the Bulls continue to win huge games.

Thursday night at the United Center the Bulls were in familiar territory, as they had a chance to end the current winning streak of the New York Knicks at 13. In a game where there were 2 lead changes and three ties, the Knicks opened the game with a 23-6 lead, a 17 point deficit for the Bulls. The Bulls played most of the game from behind, until the third quarter, where the Bulls entered the quarter within five at halftime at 59-54. The Knicks at the beginning of the quarter went 11-4 run, leading 73-58.

Carmelo Anthony came out of the half on fire, but went cold down the stretch of the contest, as Nate Robinson, the former Knick, exploded for 35 points, including the 3 point bucket in the third to pull the Bulls within 2 at 82-80, which was the closest that the Bulls had been since the start of the game. The Bulls took the lead late in the fourth, but altered it as Knicks Forward Carmelo Anthony hit two free throws after getting fouled by Jimmy Butler to tie the game, but missed a key shot to end the game with 1.5 seconds. The Bulls entered the O/T with a Nate Robinson layup and a foul, resulting in a three point lead and the Bulls won it in O/T. The Win makes the Bulls the second team in NBA history to end multiple streaks of 13 games, or more in a single season.

By: Justin De Lange

It’s that time of year again; time for Phillies players and coaches to pack their bags, and head to sunny Clearwater, Florida, for Spring Training. Pitchers and catchers reported to on February 13, and the full squad of players and coaches reported on the

The Phillies are being watched by baseball analysts, commentators, and writers everywhere to see if they can boost their chances of winning the NL East crown.

2012 did not turn out as well as the Phillies hoped it would. They ended up in third place in the National League East with an 81-81 record, which is sub-par considering that they sat atop the division for five consecutive seasons.

They will have to contend with The Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves, who added a slew of all-stars. Just to name a couple, the Braves added the Upton brothers, Justin and B.J., to their outfield.

The Phillies go into spring training with a several question marks. One being, can the bullpen contend better than they did last season. The Phillies pen was second to last in the league when it came to the eighth inning. They produced an ERA of 4.89 (compared to the Astros 5.00), gave up 24 homeruns (Astros gave up less, 21), and walked 80 batters.

They will now look to their new eighth inning addition, Mike Adams. Adams is known to be the best eighth inning set-up man in the league, however injuries have side-lined the relief man last season.

Adams had an injury where he experienced numbness in his throwing hand known as TOS (thoracic outlet syndrome). He is very questionable as whether he will be able to perform. However, he is expected to be fine and his symptoms are gone.

Another question mark going into 2013 is whether or not the outfield will perform the way it needs tom. They will most likely platoon in left field between Laynce Nix, the unproven duo of Darin Ruf and Dominic Brown. That combination is expected by many to flop.

Even more questionable is whether they will get a great performance in Right field from the 27-year old Delmon Young. Young has been known in the past to be a hot head. There were a couple occasions where he threw bats at umpires. So, it’s iffy to say that he can be a great presence in the clubhouse.

On a good note, the acquisition of Minnesota’s Ben Revere seems to be a huge plus for the Phillies. Revere (24) is a young star out of Minnesota who can bat in the top of the line-up and eight hole if need be. He brings such an amazing energy to the club house because he just wants to be in a Phillies uniform.

The Phillies will need their top stars to stay healthy. Chase Utley, who had knee issues last season, Ryan Howard, who was out due to an Achilles tendon tear, and Roy Halladay, who suffered from shoulder problems early and late in the season, will need to avoid injury at all cost.

Overall, this spring looks to be interesting with all of the newly acquired players. This year will be a test to see if Philadelphia’s aging line-up can bounce back from injury ridden seasons, and perform to their World Series caliber way of play. Hopefully, we can enjoy this spring instead of loathing it.

By: Keishla Lagoa

Currently CCP’s athletics league was disbanded according to the College’s, Interim Director of Communications, Linda Wallace. Throughout this semester the college has been looking for a new league. According to the athletic department the college should have an athletic league by next semester. Director of the Athletics Department, Rogers Glispy, has been working hard to get the College back in a league.

The benefits of joining a league are great. If the college is on a league student athletes will be able to receive awards and recognition. Student athletes will be able to participate in a structured athletic program including regional tournaments and national championships that will increase the athlete’s and College’s exposure and publicity. A new structured program also means that schedules will no longer be misleading and games will be scheduled on the correct date.

Another benefit of having a league will be that the standards regarding the monitoring and eligibility of student athletes will be set. In some cases, monitoring can help student athletes who are at risk of dropping below the required GPA to participate in athletics. This can be a great solution to the problem of losing athletes due to academics. It is already difficult to retain athletes due to the lack of the College’s marketing to promote more athletics to students and potential students.

Depending on the league, athletic teams will gain greater prestige which will in turn assist in transfer and scholarship opportunities. According to student athlete and CCP’s MVP, Zafirah Green, states that most students do not even realize that CCP has an Athletic Department. She mentioned that a student she knew had to apply to a college farther away because that student was not aware that CCP had a Cross Country team. She mentioned that the student now is attending CCP but wishes that they were aware beforehand.

Next semester will bring promise to student athletes and hopefully the College will make the athletics a key ingredient in its marketing strategy. This current semester the College has not done anything to really promote athletics. The College’s website banner even has pictures of players wearing the old team uniforms. The website for the athletics is also very misleading and still has former Director of Athletics, Ollie Johnson, listed. Will a new league bring change for the Athletic Department? We can only hope. Go Colonials!

By Sports Columnist, Justin De Lange

For Philadelphia area universities, College signing day is vital to their schools athleticprograms. Some of the local schools made huge leaps forward in signing some of the best highschool athletes from the Philadelphia and Jersey areas. When it came to making the correct stepstoward making their teams better, Temple and Penn State stood at the top of the pack. Here arethe local college signees:

Temple: New Temple football head coach, Matt Rhule, made some great steps in signing playersto fill needs now and in the future. He signed a slew of defensive line-men such as linebacker Jarred Alwan (6-1 220 lbs) for the future of the team’s defense. Temple’s Defense struggled inits first year in the Big East. Rhule also signed New Jersey’s Elizabeth High Quarterback, P.J.Walker, and kicker-punter, Jim Cooper making a big step in improving special teams and offense.

Penn State: Penn State tried to plot out who they would eventually want to replace quarterbackMatt McGloin. They may have found what they were looking for when they signed Fork union(Virgina) Military Academy’s Christian Hackenberg. Penn State keeps finding ways to add totheir schools Football Program who lost a lot after the Sandusky scandal.

Villanova: Nova made its big signing when it signed Garnett Valley offensive lineman Matt Donoghue. Donoghue was originally a defensive lineman and tight end at Garnett Valley, but switched to offensive line in his sophomore year.

Rutgers: Rutgers added to its potent offense from 2012 with the addition of Archbishop Wood tight-end Nick Arcidiacono. Rutgers ended their Big East season with a 9-4 overall record and a 5-2 record in conference play.

Penn: Penn signed a few defensive and offensive players. On defense the signees were MaddenZach (defensive line), Corey Power (defensive-end), and a defensive back-quarterback in AdamStrouss. Offense again is Adam Strouss, and special teams are Kicker-punter, Aron Morgan.

Again, Local Colleges definitely added to their team in different ways, but did a great job in staying with local, home grown players.

By: Romie Lipscom

Thursday’s NBA trade deadline came and went, and the Philadelphia 76ers did not make a much needed major move as fans thought they would. When the 3 p.m. deadline came to an end,  the Sixers came out with nothing to show. However, they did acquire back-up point guard Charles Jenkins from the Golden State Warriors. Jenkins is a second round pick of the 2011 draft. Jenkins averages 1.7 points per game. This wasn’t a very effective signing by Philadelphia, and leaves many questions as to why they made the deal. 

 
The daunting question on the minds of Sixer fans is why Evan Turner, who has been very inconsistent of late, and center Spencer Hawes were still on the roster. There were rumbles of Atlanta Hawks star forward Josh Smith, whose is currently averaging 17.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Ownership didn’t try to win Smith over, even after knowing that he becomes a unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

 
Toronto Raptors seven foot 256 pound forward/center Andrea Bargnani, who is currently averaging 14 points per game, was another possibility for the Sixers before the deadline. Bargnani would provide the Philadelphia with a big presence in the middle. Not to mention the 76ers could have used Bargnani in Wednesday night’s loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

 
With the end of the trade deadline, the Sixers seem to be in a hole. Their season record now stands at 22-30.

 
With center Andrew Bynum still out due to his continuing knee issues, along with Thaddeus Young( strained hamstring) and Jason Richardson (knee), the 76ers are fading fast in the playoff race.

 
Every day seems to get worse for the Sixers. The Fans are already starting to prepare for the off season. Now they will have to focus solely on the draft and free agency. This team had so much promise going into this season. Now it looks like those days are just a footnote in what has been a forgettable season.

By: Justin De Lange

It was Valentine’s Day at CCP’s Colonial Gym; however no love was felt for the Colonials as they were out played by the Delaware County Community College Phantoms. In the final home game for the Colonials basketball team for the season, they couldn’t muster a win against the Phantoms as CCP fell by a final score of 83-67.

The Colonials got off to a strong start in the first half quickly scoring 13 points which gave them a lead of 13-7. Then a sequence of sloppy plays quickly brought the Colonials spirits down. CCP committed a series of fouls bringing the Phantoms to the line a total of times 29 times.

CCP almost matched the Phantoms with 25 free throws; however they only made 48 percent of them. In comparison, the Phantoms made 65.5 percent of their free throws.

The rest of the game was a Phantom free for all. Delaware came out with an aggressive style of play. This left the Colonials down 41-35 at half time.

The Colonials fell to the floor numerous times due to the Phantoms double coverage on some of the Colonials top scorers. They just couldn’t seem to keep up the fiery tempo that they started out with in the early minutes of the first half.

Colonials Player Yusef Goubaa was thrown to the floor at one point in the game by three Phantoms players. It was a surprise that a technical foul wasn’t called on that play. The Phantoms did not get away with their rough housing later in the game. Miley was thrown to the ground as well, which finally brought the Colonials to the line.

Delaware County’s Malcolm Nunn was the lead scorer of the night with 24 points, 9 field goals, and was 6-10 from the line. Tayquan Wallace added 16 points and was 5-8 from the line. Other game leaders were James Middleton (13 points, 3 field goals), and Hector Sanchez (5-8, 11 points, 3 field goals).

CCP’s lead scorers were Davis and Miley, both with 16 points. Davis complemented his 16 point game by going 6-7 from the free throw line and 5 field goals. Giddings had 12 points while Kanard added 9 points for the Colonials.

Heart break may be the only way to describe what went down at Colonial gymnasium on Valentine’s Day night. CCP felt confident going into Thursday’s game. However, the outcome ended up being a dampening memory on a season where they faced adversity.

CCP Basketball’s record now stands at 10-12, which isn’t too bad given that they had lost an immense amount of players due to GPA and lack of credits. Love was certainly not in the air for our Colonials against Delaware County.

By: Keishla Lagoa

About two years ago CCP’s former Director of Athletics, Ollie Johnson retired and Assistant Director of Athletics, Roger Glispy became the new face of the athletics department. Glispy has been affiliated with the college for about 15 years. He started out as a student at CCP playing for the school’s basketball team and was even one of the first sports reporters for CCP’s very own Student Vanguard. Glispy was the star player for CCP’s basketball team when him and Johnson first met. He obtained his Associates degree in Liberal Arts from CCP and received his Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Neumann University.

After receiving his Associates degree from CCP, Johnson hired Glispy as a student intern while Glispy attended Neumann University. Later to become a coach for the cross country team. Glispy led his teams to eight state championships and nine conference championships. He also has been given the title of Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association Cross Country Coach of the Year for six consecutive years. Glispy climbed his way up to his current position and has been a great asset to the college’s Athletic Department.

Glispy is excited for the future of the Athletics Department and is happy with where it is going. The College has provided its athletes with new uniforms, new courts and have been renovating the athletics department as a whole. Also, the college’s new mascot and more of black and gold throughout the buildings influence the overall school spirit of not only the athletes but students and faculty as well.

As the Director of Athletics Glispy as well faces many challenges. Since the Athletics Department this year is independent this means that all sports teams are not in leagues.

“Hopefully by next semester the Board (Board of Education) will decide to include all sports on the  leagues,” Glispy said.

Another challenge that Glispy faces as director is the decrease of students enrolling into the athletic sports. Due to new Financial Aid regulations and other external factors that may have caused students to completely forget that the Athletics Department is of existence. Glispy suggests making the Athletics a key ingredient to the CCP’s marketing strategy in order for it to grow.

Glispy is a true visionary and has hope for the future of the Athletics Department. There are many opportunities available for all students, athlete or not. For anyone interested in participating in any sports, tryouts will be held the first week of classes for each semester.

“It is all about the students having a voice,” Glispy states.

By: Sports Columnist, Justin De Lange.

Click, click. Off went the lights on the 49ers side of the Super Dome. Ironically, the power going out would represent something else turned off for San Francisco, their drive to win. Joe Flacco, the South Jersey native, trounced the 49ers offensively in Super Bowl XLVII.

Flacco ended up with a 124.2 passer rating, and accumulated 3 touchdown passes on 22-33 completed passes for 287-yards. The way he moved the ball down the field was superb. They had no problem with moving the ball down to the end zone in the first quarter. Once in the red zone, Flacco threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin.

The 49ers answered by moving down the 27 yard line, but were content with a David Akers field goal. The score at the end of first quarter of play was 7-3.

The second quarter was even worse for San Francisco. Joe Flacco flung out a couple of touchdown passes; a one-yarder to Pitta and a huge 56-yard pass to Jacoby Jones. Once again the 49er had to settle for an Akers field goal.

The first half consisted of 49er rookie quarterback that was beat by Ravens defenders. He was sacked three times. It was a rough night for the young quarter back.

As the game went on emotions escalated. Ravens and the 49ers players got in each other’s faces and pushed and shoved all game long.

The Halftime show with Beyoncé was energetic, however, it would take up more energy than it would generate. At the start of the third quarter, during one of the opening plays of the second half, the broadcast went out, and then the lights turned off. That was it; the power was out. The outage lasted for total of 34 minutes. Reports later that night told that the half-time show took up most of the energy in the stadium.

This seemed like a bad omen for a while, as the 49ers started to make a comeback. There was no stopping them for the third quarter. Colin Kaepernick threw a 31-yard pass to Michael Crabtree and handed off to running back Frank Gore for a 6-yard run into the end zone.

It seemed for a while that San Francisco would come back. However, the comeback would be short lived. The black-out did not stop the Ravens from winning on that special night.

In a kick return to Ravens Jacoby Jones, The Niners couldn’t stop Jones from running into the end zone for a 108 yard touchdown, which would turn out to be an NFL record. Then in the fourth quarter, on the last scoring drive for the Ravens, kicker Justin Tucker kicked a 19-yard field goal. That was the final nail in the coffin for Kaepernick and the 49ers.

Once the game ended the emotions ran high. As the confetti fell, players cried and hugged each other. For some players, such as Ravens 17-year veteran middle linebacker Ray Lewis, the game meant the end of a career. For others it meant the start of their own careers.

Though there was no Gatorade being poured on Coach John Harbaugh, his emotions were evident. The two head coaching brothers, Jim Harbaugh (49ers) and John Harbaugh (Ravens) exchanged a hand shake and acknowledged each other’s coaching accomplishments.

Ray Lewis could be seen crying on the side lines. He saw that his 17-year hall of fame career flash before his eyes. Joe Flacco lifted the Lombardi Trophy over his head with a smile. This was the 28-year olds first Super Bowl title; he won it not only for the city of Baltimore, but for his hometown of Audubon, New Jersey. Flacco went into the game being questioned as to whether he was an elite quarterback. He replied to those doubters by saying, “I don’t think I’m top five, I think I’m the best.”

Even though the lights went off in the Super Dome in the third quarter, the light continued to shine on Joe Flacco and his new trophy. The Ravens are the champions; the champions of the world. And that’s a light that will shine forever, power outage or not.

By Justin De Lange

The only way to describe the game that ensued at the New Jersey Devils home ice on Tuesday night is sloppy. The Flyers were shut-out by the Devils which earned them their third-straight loss of the season in only their third game played in the 2013 season. The flyers were shut out 3-0.

The Fly Guys were shut down and stoned by possibly the best goalie in the history of the game, Martin Brodeur. Brodeur was flawless in the loss, saving 17 shots on goal in 17 attempts. He piled on the statistics with a perfect save percentage of 1.000.

For the Flyers the loss was a tough one, and without Danny Briere and Zac Rinaldo in the line-up, the Flyers seemed to be playing somewhere off in the distance.

The scoring smorgasbord began with a Travis Zajac wrist shot just 1:07 into the game. The Devils wouldn’t score again until there was 25 seconds left on the clock. David Clarkson, the Devils instigator, scored that goal on a wrap-around shot.

Later in the game there was a break-away by the Devils leading goal scorer, Iyla Kovalchuck. Just to note, Kovalchuck was not supposed to even play in the NHL this season because he was playing in Russia and needed to finish the season there.

Kovalchuck reached the net but was stopped by Flyers defensemen Kimmo Timmonen‘s stick. That ended up to be the final nail in the coffin for the Flyers. Timmonen was called for interfering with Kovalchuck’s chance to score so a penalty shot was called upon.

Kovalchuck got that goal on a wrist shot that he lifted up in back of Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. There it was, Kovalchuck shut and nailed the coffin.

Special teams have hurt the Flyers in the past, not too distant past, and in the present. This game was no different. On 10 short-handed opportunities in 2013 for the Flyers, the opposition has scored 6 out of those 10 times, including Tuesday night.

Penalties hurt the Phillies as well; they had 9 penalties most of them high-sticks and roughing calls. The Season is still young; however the Flyers will have to recuperate fast from the lockout blues in order to be successful in 2013.

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