By David Harrington
North Scott Varsity Baseball 2010 looks to be the best team produced in a long time.
Because of the return of three varsity pitchers and upcoming talent, it will be difficult for any team to get a hit.
Also the batting has been stupendous with bone shattering hits, during batting practice there is a constant ping of bats knocking balls out of the park. With such lethal bats North Scott should be scoring runs all-season long.
As far as fielding, Grayson Schmidt said, “the in-field is solid, but once we get the out-fielders in the right spot we should be set.”
With such a solid line-up, North Scott Baseball anticipates a great season, and with the return of 11 varsity players, a MAC championship is widely anticipated, and realistic.

It’s that time of year again, when the cold fades away and the warmth of summer approaches—when North Scott athletes come together to play soccer. So far, both the girls and boys soccer teams are off to good starts, with the boys at a conference record of 2-1 and the girls with a record of 1-1.
Last Tuesday night, both teams took on Davenport West, with the boys at home and the girls away. The boys won 3-2 in double overtime on a PK shootout. Sadly the same excitement could not be shared in Davenport as the girls were shutout by the Falcons. “We just didn’t come ready to play,” said junior defender Marianne Hart. “We had no energy on the field, and you can see that from the outcome. We had the skill to beat them, but we just didn’t go hard enough.”
Next up on the Schedule for the Lancers is Pleasant Valley; a team that is “very beatable” according to players on both the girls and boys teams.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, directed by senior Alex Kolwey takes the classic tale and gives it a twist. Nate Curlott is directing a new title, A Mugwump,Some

Flim-Flams,and a Dumb Cluck which is an out of this world combination of space aliens and robots.

Performances are Friday, April 16 and Saturday 17 at 7 pm and Sunday, April 18 at 2pm. Tickets are available at the door and are $6 for adults and $4 for students and Senior Citizens.

See you at the show!!!!

March has arrived and with that, so has the most exciting month of sports.

March Madness is set to start in the next week with the NCAA Men’s basketball conference tournaments starting up, which will be a precursor to the popular NCAA Tournament that encompasses the following three weekends and culminate on Monday, April 5, with the National Championship game.

The year has seen many surprises, including the Syracuse Orange, who started out the season ranked 25 in the ESPN/ USA Today poll and not even ranked in the AP poll.  However, the team, led by Junior Forward Wesley Johnson, is now ranked number 1 in both polls.  The team is the only two-loss team in the country with their only blemishes coming from Big East conference rivals 18^th-ranked Pittsburgh and Louisville.

Another surprise was the weakness of the ACC.  Traditionally a powerhouse, the conference only had two teams ranked in the top 25 (Maryland 23^rd and Duke 4^th) as of Monday.  North Carolina has been a large disappointment this season after being ranked 4^th in both preseason polls, and now nowhere to be found around the rankings.  However they still have a shot at making the tournament if they can get a season closing win at Duke on Saturday.

Two teams that have remained top notch all year, and are favorites to win the NCAA Tournament, are Kentucky and Kansas.  They started out the season ranked 5^th and 1^st respectively.  Currently Kentucky is 3^rd and Kansas is 2^nd and have lived up to almost every expectation that was placed on them at the beginning of the season.

One team that has been flirting with the Top 25 rankings is University of Northern Iowa.  The Panthers have had a solid four-loss season in the Missouri Valley Conference, and rose as high as 18^th, three weeks ago in the ESPN/USA Today poll.  They have clinched the regular season conference title, and are the favorites to win their conference tournament.  The team is all but locked to make the NCAA Tournament.

It is no secret that the Quad City area is not particularly an exciting one, and it isn’t exactly a mecca for entertainment, either.  History Channel’s new series “American Pickers,” however, may change that.

The show (which is based in Le Claire) follows two “pickers,” Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz. Mike and Frank travel around the back roads of the rural Midwest scrounging through piles of forgotten junk in hopes of finding something of value to restore and resell for a profit.

I started watching the series when it first premiered in January after hearing that it was based so close to home, but continue to watch for its high entertainment value. Wolfe and Fritz lead the cameras to unbelievable properties with unforgettable owners, including but not limited to: an elderly couple from Ohio with an old White Castle restaurant in their front yard, a woman who has filled an entire factory with antiques, and a man who dug a vast network of tunnels under his rural property in order to allow more space to fit his collected items.

The show is not only unique and fun to watch, but it is educational, offering viewers tons of interesting facts about the history of the objects they collect (where, when, how they were manufactured, etc.).

History Channel made a great choice in airing “American Pickers,” not only due to the show’s sky-high ratings and critically acclaimed reviews, but also for drawing positive attention to the great things about the Midwest. The program will undoubtedly be a great thing for the Quad City area.