BURLINGTON

Cheerleading is Deadly: Proceed With Caution

By Allie Harris
   Is football truly the most dangerous sport? Sure, sprains, tears, breaks, and concussions can happen at any time out on the field. However, the cheer squad’s strange world of injuries is often overlooked.
   The first and most severe thing to happen while cheering is concussions. The flyers in the air can be dropped, and the bases holding them up can be fallen on. Hitting your head when girls are being thrown in the air is a real, not uncommon possibility. 
   Severity is not what sets cheer above other activities. The ailments occurring are often not worthy of a doctor’s visit. They are just a bit strange.
   One common way to get bruised in cheer is, oddly enough, called kissing. This is when two cheerleaders smash faces, often while basing. In fact, Junior Chloe Guptill expresses, “I kissed Sage Kuhlmann in my first stunt my freshman year.” She was scared to stunt again after that. 
   Other silly injuries are also common. Squad members are kicked in the hips, chest, and crotch. People get punched in the face, and wrist strain is very common from holding up flyers. Limbs are thrown about every which way.
   Cheer is never really thought of as a dangerous sport. In some ways, baseball and football may have it beat. However, if the contest is in the weirdest way to need a brace, the cheerleading squad is this school’s leading champion. 

Rare Encounter- Boys Basketball Earns 4.5 Line

By Lyra Codney
   Breaking news at Burlington High School: due to the boys’ basketball team shooting three’s as easy as any other shot, our district has decided to make a 4.5 line. Now, if you shoot behind the half court line it will count as 4.5. Congratulations on the boys’ basketball team for being above average. 
   Many may be wondering why it would be 4.5 points instead of simply 4 or 5. The Community meeting held decided it would be more beneficial if it was 4.5. Since half court shots are rare this will prevent over time more often.
   The meeting also discussed how 4 points did not feel as deserved and was too little of an amount. However, 5 points was too great of a number; it would cause more problems than it would solve. So, they agreed to meet in the middle with 4.5.
  Sage Fejfar, a sophomore starter on Burlington High School basketball, teams says, “Grant Hegg (Senior starter) would shoot and make it in every possession.” This shows how the team believes this new shot will be used well, especially by Grant Hegg.
   However, is this shot only useful to Burlington, or will other teams be able to keep up? This new 4.5 shot could change the game itself. It might give our district, that allows this shot, an advantage over other districts that do not allow it.
  This new idea has the potential to go all the way to the MBA. Imagine sitting down watching the game and seeing someone dribble twice then just shoot. The game could become much quicker and rely primarily on shooting ability.