thelegendonline Sports, Uncategorized

Super Bowl running in

By Drew Olvaino and Vincent Hoang

Tension was high throughout the arena. It was going to be a tie. Defense and offense clashed against one another, seemingly on equal terms. It was the fourth quarter, and seven minutes were remaining on the clock. No one knew who was going to win. Would it be the New England Patriots, or the Los Angeles Rams? Time was running by quickly and the winner was undetermined until—touchdown! Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady punted the ball to running back Sony Michel who drove into the end zone. The lead jumped up drastically, and the Patriots, fans and players alike, jumped out of their seats. The winner of the game was certain.

 

Super Bowl LIII, or the 53rd Super Bowl, was hosted in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta last Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Six-time Super Bowl champions New England Patriots were against the one-time champions Los Angeles Rams in which the Patriots won 13-3.

 

Unfortunately for many who watched the game, Super Bowl LIII did not break a record by having the game reach overtime, as many had hoped. Both the Rams’ and Patriots’ past games concluded with a win during overtime.

 

Nevertheless, plenty of records were set during this year’s Super Bowl. The record of the lowest scoring Super Bowl ever was perhaps the most significant. The Rams individually made a record for the longest punt kicked off at a high record of 65 yds by Johnny Hekker during the third quarter. On the sidelines, the first time in football history, the very first male cheerleaders Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron performed for the Rams during the game.

 

The first half of the game ended with the Patriots leading 3-0. Both teams had yet to score during the first quarter and had trouble during the second quarter until the Patriots kicked the ball into the goal post.

 

When the first two quarters finished, the halftime show begun with the appearance of Maroon 5. They dominated most of the show with appearances such as Travis Scott and Big Boi who performed alongside lead singer Adam Levine. Maroon 5 dominated the stage, performing “This Love,” “Girls Like You,” “Sicko Mode,” “I Like the Way You Move,” “She Will Be Loved,” “Sugar” and “Moves Like Jagger.” There was criticism about how Levine had taken over the halftime show and took his shirt off during the performance. Celebrities such as Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and various news outlets had criticized Maroon 5 for having an uneven schedule and flow.

 

After halftime was over, the Rams tied the game with a kickoff at 3-3. They remained tied throughout the rest of the third quarter, despite Patriots’ strong safety Patrick Chung having to leave the game due to a right arm injury. The Patriots won the game by outscoring the Rams with a touchdown during the fourth quarter. This touchdown was made by tight end Rob Gronkowski who caught two of the Rams’ footballs. This led to the Patriots’ victory and wide receiver Julian Edelman was named MVP for this year’s Super Bowl.

 

Despite being called one of the “worst” and “most boring” matches in Super Bowl history, records were set and the Patriots got another championship ring and trophy for their well-deserved performance.

 

thelegendonline Sports, Uncategorized

Boys’ Soccer Scores

By Sarah Shafaeen

In the middle of a particularly challenging season, the PHHS JV and Varsity Boys’ Soccer teams are working hard to qualify to compete in CCS (Central Coast Section).

“I do (believe we can go to CCS) as long as everyone works hard on and off the field,” said Varsity Forward Saranjit Singh.

“We’re working very hard during practice and we’re taking things very seriously. We have to finish all of our games with pride and put all of our effort into the games to make sure we’re qualified for CCS,” stated Varsity Left Wing Back Isaac Padilla.

The CCS is the governing body of public and private high school athletics in the portion of California encompassing everything from the San Mateo County to the Monterey County. The latest date by which the Varsity Boys’ Soccer team will discover if they have made it to the CCS play-offs is Sat., Feb 16.

The outcome of this season is difficult to determine due to the success of the new techniques implemented by the PHHS team and equally qualified opponents.

The team acknowledged its challenges well and the players actively worked together to overcome them.

“I believe that the season is going well because the team is working hard and together, although some improvements include having to keep working together and being there for one another,” informed Varsity Midfielder Oscar Diaz.

The Varsity Soccer team are having a successful season with eleven wins, three losses and three ties. The Junior Varsity team is going through a very challenging season with three wins, eight losses and two ties.

“The season is picking up. We were not doing so good at the beginning of the season but we’re doing pretty good now,” declared Junior Varsity Goalie and Midfielder Santana Sila.

The junior varsity team faced a unique situation with the team having trouble working together but are slowly improving.

“I think we’re getting better as a team, we’re learning how each other play,” stated Sila.

Overall both teams are feeling confident about their ability to work together and compete.

“The overall season is going well. The team does have its ups and downs but we work together and stay composed,” said Singh.

The latest game this past Monday against Oak Grove ended in a win for both Junior Varsity and Varsity with the final score being 3-0.

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Arrgh You Looking For Advise

A boy has recently broken my heart by not liking me back. How can I recover from feeling this way? 😦      

 

Just like physical pain, emotional pain is not something we can always talk ourselves out of! It’s easy to become self-critical after being rejected. Do your best to remember all the positive qualities you possess and write a list of all the reasons you are worthy of love and acceptance. Surround yourself with your loved ones who already know how wonderful you are. My guess is that in a few years, you might even wonder what you saw in him in the first place!

 

How do I deal with my anxiety about college?  

 

Preparing for college is a huge stressor. Picking your career path, choosing your college and then working hard to get in is exhausting. Let’s add some peer and parental pressure to the mix just to make things even more difficult. Although it is normal to feel overwhelmed, I think it’s important to divide our worries into two categories: things we have control over and things we don’t. Focus your energy on the areas where you do have some control. You don’t have to have it all figured out. Be gentle with yourself and remember that you can still get to your destination no matter which path you take.

 

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Winter Choir Concert

By: Janelle Perez

 

The annual winter choir concert was held last Friday, Dec. 14 in the L-Building. The free concert featured PHHS Varsity Choir, Concert Choir, and vocal jazz group The Treblemakers.

The concert focused around holiday music and included Christmas classics such as Deck the Halls and Sleigh Ride, which is performed every year. The groups started to rehearse right after their previous fall concert in order to perfect their performance.

Focusing on pieces they have learned throughout the semester, the choir groups brought holiday cheer to the stage. Varsity choir opened the concert singing Firefly Darkness, followed by O Vos Omnes, The Bells and Sleigh Ride which was a combined performance with concert choir.

“Firefly Darkness was my favorite song to sing because it’s very joyful and adventurous,” said junior Kaitlyn Nguyen. The singers spent time rehearsing their songs and memorizing their parts.

Vocal Jazz group, The Treblemakers performed after Varsity Choir, singing Bumblebee, Voice Dance and Christmas Jazz.

“Bumblebee has three solos, which I was a part of, and I enjoyed singing that the most,” said senior Jeremiah Porda

a student also a part of the Choir Concert group.

Along with Deck the Halls and Sleigh Ride, the group also performed Where I Send Thee, O Magnum, Mysterium and Cacticum Novum.

Concert choir followed The Treblemakers in bringing holiday cheer through their strong vocals and special dance number.

“I was most excited to sing ‘Hela Rotan’,” expressed senior Lourdes Sandoval with great excitement. “Since we are dancing and moving around during it, I think adds to the song perfectly,” said Lourdes. Concert Choir closed the concert, making their last school performance of the semester a success.

Friends and family came out to show support for the PHHS choir groups and enjoyed holiday treats and performances by the different choir groups.

Along with great music and performances by PHHS choir and The Treblemakers, hot chocolate was provided by Insane Ink, in order to contribute to the holiday spirit and warmth.

“I think the concert is a great way to relax before finals and a great way to start the holiday season,” says senior Samantha Alderete who attended the music filled night. “It was my first time attending a choir concert and I loved it!” The music brought an early feel of the holidays to campus and showcased the hard work and talent of our fellow PHHS choir groups.

Choir is anticipated to have their annual concert in the spring semester with beaming music to be sung.

 

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Advanced Drama rings in Holiday Spirit with Winter Showcase

Harleen Kaur and Christine Do

                The PHHS Advanced Drama class held its annual winter showcase on Dec. 7 in the L-Building.

“Part of learning about theater is learning how to produce theater, so it’s important for actors to learn about the whole process. The drama showcase gives them a chance to direct, work on light design, costume design and all the facets of what it means to produce theater,” said Anna Woods, the drama teacher.

This is another show that the Drama Department puts on besides the fall play and the spring musical. In this play titled The Elf on the Shelf Must Die, parents surprised twins Sammy and Luke with an Elf on the Shelf toy named Pip that would report their actions to Santa and decide whether they were on the naughty or nice list. In an attempt to keep Pip quiet, Sammy accidentally kills the elf and embarks on a journey with Luke and Benny to return the dead elf to Walmart. The play was performed during 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th period.

“This is an opportunity for those advanced drama students who do not participate in the play or musical to showcase their talents on stage,” commented junior Amanda Gill, a member of the costume crew.

Unlike previous years, the showcase script was not made by the advanced drama students themselves; instead, they bought the script from a publisher. Going through a dozen scripts, the drama crew finally found one that they thought would be able to spread the Christmas spirit.

“We spent two hours going through scripts till we found this one which made us all laugh, and we decided this was the perfect script,” said lights and sounds director Chris Nguyen.

Countless hours and weeks were spent on the preparation of this show, from finding costumes that fit the story to the delivery of the performance itself. The drama students have worked hard in directing and practicing for this performance.

“We had to run around Walmart for three hours to look for costumes that are affordable and fit production,” stated Amanda.

                The audience thoroughly enjoyed the play, clapping and gasping along as the kids fight the elves.

                “I was surprised when they threw Pip’s body around as if she were actually dead,” said junior Nghi Nguyen.

For this showcase, the Drama department and Insane Ink have teamed up together to put on an evening performance called Winterfest along with other Christmas festivities such as face painting, family games, and handing out hot chocolate.

“It’s a chance for the parents of the students to come and enjoy the performance since many cannot make it to the morning performance,” stated Ms. Woods.

The Drama Department hoped to bring some cheer and joy into Piedmont Hills before finals came along.

“We hope that everyone comes out to the morning performance or the evening show to kick off the holiday season. It’s our way of saying ‘Happy Holidays’,” said Ms. Woods.

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Black Friday tips

By Victor Xie

 

Imagine: On the afternoon of Black Friday, the malls are filled and almost all the good deals are taken. Finding parking was the most intolerable experience of your life and now you have absolutely no idea what to do or how to spend your money. Well, here are some tips to avoid that scenario and get you the best deals of the year! Please note that these deals are mainly for those who want to buy clothes, not electronics.

  1. Make a plan. What is your budget? What are you trying to buy? If it’s clothes, what store? Make a budget and stick to it. Make a list of stores you want to hit and figure out your sizes beforehand. Those fitting rooms will be packed on Black Friday and it’s best that you come prepared.
  2. Go early in the morning. Most stores in Great Mall and Valley Fair reopen at 6 to 7 a.m. This means that while the rest of America is still dreaming about their Thanksgiving turkey, you can beat the traffic, the parking problems and the majority of the crowd. The lines at almost all the stores will be short. Plus, if the rest of your family finally wakes up at 10 a.m. and wants your parking spot, you can auction it off to the highest bidder.
  3. 50% and nothing less. Target, Forever 21, American Eagle, the list goes on and on. These stores don’t give you even 50% and are simply here to use Black Friday as a psychological strategy to get you to buy their products. Unless you miraculously find an acceptable item that is on clearance (as in 50% off or more), these stores are a trap.
  4. Buy with a good mindset. During Black Friday, you want to buy as if you aren’t going to spend money for the entire next year. Buy for the winter, the spring, the summer and possibly the fall season. Buy those shorts you know you’re going to need for track practice even though you won’t wear them until March. Buy that Christmas gift for your relative while it’s still 60% off. Trust me, you’ll save more money in the big picture.
  5. Finish shopping by 12 p.m. At this time, you should circle the mall one last time for any last minute things you wanted to buy. You may notice that the crowd is coming in, and because you don’t want to be seen by the rest of Piedmont Hills at Great Mall, you have to get out. So leave your parking spot and say goodbye to the three cars fighting for it because you have just accomplished what the rest of America couldn’t realize: to get up early.

Have fun getting those spicy deals!

 

 

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Thanksgiving activities

By David Shih

 

Are you dumbfounded when asked about what Thanksgiving activities you do with your family? What you do can vary from person to person, and family to family. The traditional way to celebrate Thanksgiving is to cook a meal for your entire family and eat it together. But what else can you really do?

“(My) family doesn’t really celebrate Thanksgiving, we just eat hotpot,” said senior Mike Guo.

Others didn’t really follow the traditional homemade meal and feast together.

“We just go out and eat Popeyes,” admitted sophomore Aileen Le.

Due to a lack of ideas from our student body, here are some interesting activities that you can do with your family during Thanksgiving.

 

Family Game Night

Do you ever find yourself sitting in a room with your family, conversations sparking in different groups, and you feel left out? Here’s a way to jump in and relieve the awkwardness by interacting with everyone in the room. Pull out a board game, and have a competitive evening of family game night. Some board game ideas include Monopoly, The Game of Life, Headbanz, Apples to Apples, and Scrabble. And you can even compromise that whoever loses cleans up all the dishes.

 

Bingo

What sounds better than a game of Bingo with the family? This activity allows prime family gathering time and is preferred and loved from people of all ages. You can also select certain Thanksgiving prizes such as Thanksgiving sticker or paintings to the winners

 

Planning a shopping strategy for Black Friday

Does mom want that pair of new earrings? Does little brother want that new game that just came out a couple days ago? Does dad want that suit that he’s been eyeing for half a year? This is a perfect opportunity for the family to get together and set up a perfect plan for the family to get everything that they want

 

Breaking a Wishbone

Do you want to have that A+ in your class or a brand new car from your parents? According to tradition, after the Thanksgiving meal family members that have a wish in which they break it, the one with the longer bone gets their wish granted, while the shorter one do not

 

Telling the Thanksgiving Story

Parents this is the perfect opportunity to tell your kids how this American exclusive holiday was made. You guys can take turns telling the kids how rough it is on the first couple years landing and how everyone almost starved to death> Thanks to the Native Americans we were able to survive as they gave us Turkey and potatoes. This is why we call this holiday “Thanksgiving”.

 

Hot Pot

A new tradition that has emerged from Thanksgiving is eating hotpot with the family. Hotpot is a traditional Chinese cooking method that involves adding random foods and spices into a bowl of hot water and eating your concoction in the end.

“We eat hot pot because we don’t know how to make turkey,” said Mike.

 

Those are just a few ideas to help liven up your Thanksgiving with the family.

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Black Friday Crime Stats

By Mason Sandoval

It seems the Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year. It’s gotten to the point where Christmas time literally starts the day after Thanksgiving. As soon as the doors open at a Target or a Walmart, it becomes “every man for himself.” Many have compared it to the stampede from “The Lion King” or “The Hunger Games.”

Theft and violence are everywhere during Black Friday; this can be anything from ripping the tag off of a shirt and then putting it on your bag or shoving someone out of the way to get the last toy on the shelf for your kid to running out the door with a new flat screen TV and knocking out the security guard trying to stop you. Most cases are worse than the latter.

The states with the most crime during Black Friday are Nevada, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. Crime isn’t exclusive to just these states on Black Friday however. It’s just the most frequent.

Most people think that most theft on Black Friday happens in the store but it’s actually the opposite. While it is worth noting that there is a two percent increase in theft in stores during Black Friday, there is a 28% increase in home burglaries while everyone is at the store as well as an increase in car break ins in the unattended cars in the parking lots. In addition to theft violence is also increased a great deal on Black Friday.

Most violence consists of trampling on others while rushing into the store as the doors open, but this can get deadly.

According to a West Virginian news station, years ago Walter Vance was shopping at a West Virginian Target for Black Friday when he collapsed. The 61 year-old pharmacist had already been dealing with a heart condition, but the chaos of Black Friday didn’t help. When he fell to the ground countless customers did absolutely nothing. In fact, they walked around him on their way to find bargains. Vance was brought to the hospital later, where he died.

Another incident occurred in Long Beach, Calif. According to the Press-Telegram in 2008 a stampede broke out as soon as the doors opened to a Walmart and a woman who was eight months pregnant was knocked over and trampled on, the trampling resulted in the woman’s unfortunate miscarriage.

Even hate crimes occur on Black Friday. One occurred in Jackson, Tennessee in 2012. According to the Jackson Sun, Black Friday was brutal for a woman named Akasha Adonis. The transgender woman and her mom were assaulted by other shoppers as soon as store personnel unlocked the doors to a Kohl’s Department Store. Adonis and her mother were hit by an assailant who pulled out her hair. Most disgustingly, the suspect put his hand in her mouth and tore three teeth out of her gums, breaking her jaw. As Adonis laid on the floor, Kohl’s staff greeted other shoppers until a woman called the cops.

So then what’s a safer alternative to Black Friday? Well, there’s always Cyber Monday where you can find similar deals online on websites like Ebay or Amazon. You could always wait until December to do your Christmas shopping. Lucky for us California is one of the safer states to shop in during Black Friday. However California doesn’t rank in the top ten safest states to shop in so stay safe folks!

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Sales stats

By Mansi Patel

 

Pushing, shoving, scampering and scrambling isn’t the first thing that comes into mind when thinking of Black Friday. Black Friday is known as the biggest shopping event of the year, with millions of people coming out to shop in stores or staying in the comfort of their homes and shopping online. Over the years, with a rising population in the US, there have also been more shoppers and an increase in sales in stores nationwide.

Throughout the years, shopping in stores has become less and less popular, and staying at home in the comfort of your bed and not having to wait in long lines has become more popular. According to CNNMoney, there was a two percent decrease in in-store traffic on both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday compared to the previous year. This is probably due to how easy of an access shopping online has become for younger generations. According to the National Retail Federation, approximately 51.6 million people went to shop in stores, 58.4 million people shopped online and 64.6 million people shopped both online and in stores on Black Friday.

Over the last few years, more people are buying items ranging from jewelry to Instant Pot to Amazon Echo Dot. According to Adobe Systems Inc., online sales in 2017 rose by a shocking 18% that year alone, resulting in the total sales to be a whopping $7.9 billion between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Adobe also claimed that mobiles accounted for about 47.4% of all online shopping traffic in the U.S. in 2017. That is approximately a 39% increase from the previous year. According to the National Retail Federation, they suspect that sales will increase another 4.1 percent this year. Overall, every year there has been an increase in sales on Black Friday except in 2008 due to the financial crisis.

Last year, according to Amazon, their top-selling items were the Amazon Echo Dot, the Fire TV Stick with Alexa voice remote, the TP-Link smart plug, the Instant Pot DUO80 8-quart seven-in-one multiuse programmable pressure cooker and the 23andMe DNA test.

Americans aren’t the only ones celebrating Black Friday and Cyber Monday. According to research for discount shopping site vouchercodes.co.uk carried out by the Centre for Retail Research, shoppers in the UK spent approximately £7.8 billion between Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2017. Right behind is Germany which spent £5.7 billion online and in-store, and France which spent £4.7 billion.

With Black Friday coming around the corner, sales are expected to increase, specifically those online. On Fri., Nov. 23, take this once-in-a-year opportunity to go out or stay at home and get some shopping done for the season!