Roy Bisht

When senior Lennie Char began rowing as a sophomore, she never really expected much out of the sport except a new hobby. Now two years and dozens of matches later, Char’s dedication to rowing has given her more than she ever imagined—a spot on the University of Tulsa rowing team.

With a new president and vice president, the business-focused DECA club is being revitalized this year and will begin its competitive season against other schools this spring.

What began as a season full of hopes and spirit for the Falcons’ football team came crashing down with a slew of injuries to key players, contributing to the team’s 1-6 record in league, which was good enough for seventh place in the eight-team De Anza League.

On Oct. 28, the Falcons suffered a 31-17 loss to league rivals Milpitas. With the defeat, the team has fallen to 1-4 in league and seventh place out of the eight teams in the De Anza League.

The Falcon football team suffered a 41-9 loss to Palo Alto (3-1 in league) on Oct. 21, a painful defeat that not only dropped the Falcons to 1-3 in league play, but also resulted in a concussion for sophomore running back Davis Berryhill.

In December 2009, two masked men broke into the Wardell Road home of 96-year-old Charlie Maridon. In an assault on him and his daughter, Maridon was killed. Just over two weeks ago, on Oct. 5, disgruntled employee Shareef Allman killed three and wounded seven of coworkers at a Lehigh Cement Company plant, situated on Stevens Creek Boulevard a mere five miles away from Saratoga High.

From the first moment that senior Troy Doles stepped onto a Pop Warner football field a decade ago, he knew that football was his sport. Doles, now a star running back and safety for the Falcons, has come along way from the over-sized pads and helmets of the Pop Warner days. As a junior, Doles led the team with 682 rushing yards and 1,467 all-purpose yards. Now with his high school football career almost over, Doles knows what he wants to end with: a CCS title.

The scoreboard may have only said Saratoga lost 42-14 to Mountain View, but the game was much more damaging than just the final score.

With three other brothers who play baseball and other sports, junior Kyle Dozier has grown up surrounded by competition—playing everything from backyard Wiffleball to varsity baseball at Saratoga High. “My brothers and I would play sports all the time at home or at Congress Springs Park,” Dozier said. “They always kept throwing the baseball or football around or shooting a basketball and it’s helped me improve a lot throughout the years.”

After an encouraging win against Gilroy on Sept. 9, the Falcons took a step back on Sept. 16, losing 28-14 to Hollister at home.

Waking up on a Thursday morning recently, senior Krishnan Raman opened his eyes to see a red 7:32 glaring at him. Realizing that he had slept an hour too long, he showered in a rush and raced to school. Arriving at school at 7:47, Raman estimated that if he could park quickly and run to class he would make it on time for the 7:50 first period bell. However, a parent pulled into the only open junior lot spot to drop off their child, which forced Raman to spend a few more minutes looking for a spot and made him late for class.

When senior Will Dennis stepped onto the baseball field at Seattle University for a showcase in late August, he had no clue what to expect. A few days and hundreds of pitches later, Dennis knew where his baseball career was headed next.

The Falcon football team opened its season under the lights at Benny Pierce Field on Sept. 2 with a 10-0 loss to Burlingame. As painful as the loss was, even more damaging were the injuries sustained during the game.

Coach: Tim Lugo, entering his fourth season as head coach 2010 Record: 5-5 (2-4 in league) 2010 Recap: Despite defeating crosstown rival Los Gatos to snap a 27-year losing streak and playing well against state champion Palo Alto, the Falcons struggled in league, costing them a chance to reach CCS.

As the school year slowly comes to a close, there is only one thing in sight for the senior class of 2011—graduation.

Sophomore Greg Yang was looking forward to swimming all year. However, his optimism was crushed when he was told that due to a scheduling conflict with his seventh-period class, he would not be able to practice with the team and compete this season.

Go back 12 years to Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. Two high school students unloaded multiple shotguns on innocent students at Columbine, killing 13 and injuring 8 more in one of the most devastating school shootings of all time. With such a horrific incident involving guns taking the lives of so many innocent students, it would make perfect sense to permanently ban guns from school campuses, right?

Transferring between schools has been a part of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Unified High School District for a long time, but now the situation will change next fall when the district shuts down down the freedom for Saratoga students to transfer to Los Gatos.

Although the boys’ basketball team lost to Mills 59-43 in round two of CCS on Feb. 24, their season was filled with highlights such as beating cross-town rivals, the Los Gatos Wildcats, 57-47 and crushing the Monterey Vikings 73-56 in the first round of CCS.

After a slow start, team meetings and teamwork have changed the Falcons from a mediocre team to one with a strong 11-7 record.

UC Berkeley football wide receiver and ‘08 alum Alex Lagemann, senior football captain Greg Johnson, Pomona College scholar athlete and ‘07 alum Augie Lagemann, sophomore varsity baseball player Stephen Ruff, freshman football player Jacob Marr and sophomore basketball player Mary Johnson. What do all they all have in common?

January 31. For many students, this is just a regular dreadful Monday morning, but for me, it is the beginning of baseball season.

It’s not 2012 yet, but maybe the world won’t have to wait that long to end. With reports claiming that the new judgement day is May 21, 2011; many believe that we may be within months of the end of the world. The Family Radio Network in Nashville, Tenn., claims that when Zephaniah 1:1-3 said “ I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea … I will cut off humanity from the face of the earth,” he was referring to the day all life on earth will cease to exist.

Boys’ basketball coach Trevor Naas and his team knew they had one major weakness going into the season—lack of height. But so far the Falcons have made up for their lack of height with skilled play.

Trash talking has become a regular part of most professional or amateur level sports. From the traditional “You play like a girl!” to an expletive-filled outburst, any athlete can expect to be involved in some form of trash talk during their life. But what happens when one takes trash talking too far?

”Team unity!” bellowed boys’ basketball coach Trevor Naas as members of his team passed the ball to each other during an afternoon practice in the gym, working their way toward the hoop. “It’s all about team unity, and that’s how we’re going to play!”

Returning to the El Camino league with three out of their five starters from last year, the boys’ basketball team looks to improve from last year’s mediocre season, in which they finished 5th place with a record of 9-15.

As Troy Doles intercepted and closed his hands over the football in the most crucial play of the Saratoga-Los Gatos game on Oct. 22, not only did the junior defensive back help end the 27-year losing streak to LG, he also sealed himself into Saratoga football history.

What could one buy with $1 billion? Maybe a few dozen cars, a mansion, a beach house, a professional sports team like the Warriors (which recently sold for $450 million) and the luxury of early retirement. Or how about a 27-story house complete with 600 servants?

The Saratoga-Los Gatos football game on Oct. 22 was one of the most exciting events in years. With packed bleachers and a roaring crowd, the atmosphere at the game was electric. In front of the bleachers, a group of bare-chested, red-emblazoned students led the crowd in cheering by chanting and yelling, encouraging fans to get into the game.

Roughly six months ago when the major league baseball season started, I boldly predicted that this year the Giants were going to the World Series. After hearing that prediction, many of my friends immediately referred to me as a “fool.” Fast forward six months through the season and into the depths of postseason baseball, and only two teams remain in contention for the title of World Series Champions. Yes, one of those teams is the Giants, and no, I am no longer considered a fool.

From June 11 to July 11, millions of fans worldwide tuned in to watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Among them was senior Aditya Dev, who was merely hundreds of feet away from some of the most talented soccer players on the planet.

"I almost died." No, this is not from a movie in the "Indiana Jones" trilogy, but the words of senior Soorya Rangan about the newly added speed bump in front of the school on Herriman Avenue.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is having his suspension reduced by two games for "good behavior." But since when are two separate rape allegations considered "good behavior"?

Some students keep their cars completely spotless. Senior Kabir Jiandani is not one of those students. Ever since Jiandani got his 2008 silver Mercedes Brabus last year from his older brother, he has never made much of an effort to keep his car tidy. He blames this habit on a variety of things, particularly his heavy schoolwork load as an upperclassman.

On July 17, 2009, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexually abusing a 31-year-old woman in his hotel room in Lake Tahoe. After leading his team to multiple Super Bowl victories, Roethlisberger was one of the most heroic figures in Steelers' franchise history. Even though Roethlisberger denied the claim, his image was tarnished. He had spent all his time since trying to re-build his fan base. But that all changed on March 5 of this year.

Alex "Loggy" Lagemann is not your typical Saratoga High graduate. The class of '07 grad may be a tremendous football player, playing for Cal as a wide receiver. But more unusual, Laggeman is an accomplished rapper—a feat that is unheard of for most former Falcons. Rhymes about calculators and B+'s in AP science classes are nowhere to be found on Loggy's impressive new mixtape "Up All Night." Rather, Loggy belts out snappy verses about late night parties and the effects of consuming inordinate amounts of alcohol.

After graduating from Saratoga High last year, alumnus Kirstie Lee was eagerly anticipating starting at UC Berkeley—but was also unsure of what her first year of college would hold for her. Many friends told her freshman year was great; others said it was horrible. A year later, Lee is the one doing the advising—and she's come out with a positive impression.

Two sophomores and 11 juniors were honored at the CSF Awards Breakfast by their teachers, who nominated students for their dedication and willingness to learn. This event took place during the collaboration period on May 19, when teachers and their nominated students gathered for breakfast and the awards ceremony. Junior Nick Renda was among those nominated, as he was selected by his English teacher Suzanne Herzman to receive the Brown Book English Skills award for his ability to understand strong literature and for really enjoying reading.

Record: overall: 10-20, league: 3-11 Highlight of Season: 8-3 victory over Monta Vista to stay in the upper league. After finishing 7th in the regular season standings, the Falcons needed to beat 6th-seeded Monta Vista in a best-of-three series to stay up in the De Anza League. After beating Monta Vista 9-7 in the series opener, Saratoga lost the second game 11-2 but finished off the Matadors with the third game win to solidify their spot in the De Anza league schedule next year.

On a recent Monday afternoon, sophomore Benji Laus slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed to CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting), which is one of his favorite classes. Unfortunately for Laus, he won't be attending CAD next year, as it is one of the handful of classes that will not be offered next year. The cutting of electives such as poetry and CAD results from the classes not receiving enough sign-ups. Assistant principal Brian Safine said the cutting of these classes was not a direct result of the district's budget difficulties.

56 years. It has been 56 years since the San Francisco Giants were the World Champions of Major League Baseball. It has only been eight years since they last went to the World Series, when former manager Dusty Baker's poor handling of the pitching staff ended the team's chances of winning it all for the first time since 1954. The point is, it has been a long time since the Giants won the World Series. But if there is any year that they are going to do it, it is going to be 2010.

In Major League baseball, injuries are serious obstacles that clubs must learn to overcome. However, the plethora of minor league players ready to step up and the highly experienced team of medical personnel eases the painful injuries that so often rear their ugly heads. This year, the Falcons have learned that, in this respect, high school baseball is nothing like the Majors. At the high school level, where teams usually carry around 15 players, injuries can be extremely dangerous.

When one types in the word "iPad" into Google, one of the first hits is "iPad a disappointment." Many people may believe that the iPad has been rather underwhelming; however, the iPad supports all of the demands of the average customer: entertainment, games, videos, mobile e-mail, and wireless Internet. So why is the iPad a disappointment?

At every level of baseball, from Little League to the Majors, pitching is considered to be the most important aspect of the game and the key to victory.

For the majority of collegiate sports, tournaments are usually not taken into much consideration by fans unless the team is nationally ranked. But when March comes around evey year, collegiate fans go to the extremes while rooting for their team to win the national championship. Many people would argue that these fans are wasting time, but they have more reason to cheer than most people know.

Wouldn't it be great to be able to carry around a calendar, a world map, a periodic table of elements, common mathematical equations and a place to write down the daily homework? Well, the student planner has all of these useful items and even more.

Major League Baseball is a game of transactions. The constant waiving, releasing and signing of players and coaches epitomizes the continual change of team sports. This past off season, the Falcons' baseball program underwent some major changes of its own. Among the changes were a league promotion, new coaches and roster swaps. Movin' on up After posting a stellar 12-3 record last season in the lower El Camino Division, the young baseball program will face tougher competition this year in the upper De Anza Division.

Since the opening of the Whistler Sliding Centre in 2008, many have called the luge track "too fast" or "unsafe." People believed that one day, the track would take the life of one of its competitors. But they never expected that a fatal accident would occur so soon, as Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvilli was killed after losing control of his sled and slamming into a steel pole during a practice run on Feb. 12, the opening day of the Olympics.

After winning the El Camino league and advancing to the quarterfinals in CCS playoffs after a bye in the first round, the Falcons' season came to an end on Feb. 27 in a 5-0 loss to Sacred Heart. The Falcons (13-7-1) kept up with Sacred Heart (13-7-3) early in the game, trailing their opponents 1-0 through the first half, but fell during the second half when Sacred Heart scored four goals to increase their lead to 5-0.

On most Saturday afternoons, you'll find sophomore Kevin Rezaii is inside—and not just inside at his house, but inside at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose hurriedly rushing through the hallways and tending to the needs of the ill patients. He is part of a group of students from local schools, formally known as the "Junior Auxiliary," who visit the hospital to assist with patient care-taking.

Just a month ago, when the season first started, few would have ever guessed that the boys' soccer team, led by a brand new coach and made up mostly of sophomores, would even be able scrape together a few wins, let alone compete for a league title and a spot in CCS. However, with an overall record of 10-5 and a league record of 5-2, the Falcons are leading the El Camino Division and are on target to earn a spot in the playoffs.

One new coach ready to bring home a victory? Check. Two sophomore captains ready to lead their team to the top? Check. Twenty-two skilled soccer players ready to play their hardest to become league champions? Check. The boys' soccer team is now in second place out of eight teams in the El Camino League as of Jan. 25. They credit this newfound success to good chemistry. "We all play really well together," said senior goalie Kevin Benzing. "Even though we all come from different teams and different grades, we manage to put that aside on the field."

On Dec. 17, 21-year old Adam James, a player on the Texas Tech football team, was forced by coaches to sit in a dark, secluded and guarded storage closet. He was threatened with suspension if he were to try and escape. No, this was not the armed forces or a Middle Eastern kidnapping. It was coach Mike Leach's way of "curing" James's concussion.

After securing a 5-5-2 record and a seventh place finish in the El Camino league last year, the sophomore-heavy team and a new coach are looking to make improvements and maybe even capture a league title. In order to combat a lack of upperclassmen this year, new coach Adam Clarke resorted to pulling up many of the sophomores who tried out to compete along with the juniors and seniors at the varsity level. "The sophomores really work well with the rest of the team," said senior goalie Kevin Benzing. "They compete as well as any other team in the league."

If you were going to visit the Queen of England, what would you give her as a present? Certainly, something fancy and expensive; dignified and beautiful. President Obama chose to give the Queen an iPod during his recent visit. Of course, an iPod is not complete without music, so Obama's staff graciously stuffed the device with copyrighted MP3s. This makes the Queen eligible to be sued by the RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America. Some consider this an extension of Obama's present.

By day, Vasona Park is full of happy parents and energized children enjoying the vast expanse of trees and grass while circling the fields on the steaming miniature train that makes its rounds throughout the park. But at night, the park is transformed. During the holiday season, it is a different world—cars cruise through the paved roadways while families admire the dozens of luminescent decorations that cover the park.

In today's word, many of the entertainers and professional athletes who give us enjoyment are thought of as role models and gain widespread admiration.

John Mayer's new album, "Battle Studies," is hitting the shelves soon and has quickly become one of the most anticipated albums of the year. Mayer has hinted at yet another reinvention of his style—incorporating a new method of songwriting, and generally changing the approach that he took in his most recent success, "Continuum." Mayer said it involves advice, observations and lessons that he has learned over the years. Mayer has said he is attempting to experiment with the new approach he is using through this album and gauge the reaction that it gets.

With the world transitioning to a more electronic one, many aspects of everyday life are going digital. Because technology plays such an important role, such advances should also be used in education, such as the Amazon Kindle.

When colleges look over a student transcript, admissions officers focus mainly on a student's sophomore, junior and senior years. Although still taken into account by colleges, freshman year is more of a "freebie." Junior Tim Lycurgus tried to beat the system freshman year by slacking and procrastinating more than he wishes he had; now he knows the error of his ways. “During freshman year I was just happy to be done with Redwood [and] in high school,” said Lycurgus. “I didn’t really care that much because college was far off and the [freshman] classes were easy.”

With the world transitioning to a more electronic one, many aspects of everyday life are going digital. Because technology plays such an important role, such advances should also be used in education, such as the Amazon Kindle.

When students cannot earn credits for a class at Saratoga High, they often head to one place: community colleges.

In 2007, investigators received a warrant to search the property of NFL quarterback Michael Vick. They found three buildings full of abused and neglected dogs that had been trained to viciously fight other dogs. Three years after being convicted, Michael Vick has spent time in a federal prison, apologized for his actions and pleaded for forgiveness from his fans. He has learned his lesson and is ready to get back to the NFL .Although Vick committed the horrific crime of sponsoring a dog fighting operation, he deserves a second chance.