The Visor

           Freshman Sarah Carmon isn’t a typical fourteen year old girl. Most girls her age wear headbands, but she prefers a helmet. Most girls spend their weekends shopping; Sarah prefers practicing at the race track.

Carmon has been riding go-karts for almost nine years and because of this dedication is one of the top racers in the nation.

    Carmon fell in love with go-karts one day when her father took her to Cedar Point.

“We rode the go-karts for almost two hours that day,” Carmon said. “It all just started from there.”

    The karts that Carmon now drives are nothing like the ones that she first drove at Cedar Point. The body is custom-made in Italy then brought to the U.S. for competition. Carmon’s father is her wrench and lead mechanic, helping with the motor and putting the whole kart together. When the kart is entirely assembled, it can reach speeds up to 65 mph.
    Carmon has also received a number of awards throughout her racing career. She has achieved such honors as Regional Champion and Most Improved on the Florida Tour. Being unfamiliar with racing phrases can cause one to underrate these achievements, but in simpler terms, Carmon is ranked tenth in the nation in the coed 12-16-year-old division.
    With such a history of success, Carmon looks to continue this trend in the future.
    “I want to attend Skip Barber Racing School in Atlanta, Georgia,” Carmon said. “It is the most well known racing driving school in the country.”

Skip Barber isn’t anything similar to Drive Team or Meyers Driving School. This is where students are taught techniques and strategies by either current or former professional race car drivers. Barber is the most elite driving school that the country has to offer.  In the near future, Carmon is planning on progressing to racing F1600s, which are second only to the engines driven by the professionals.

“My favorite NASCAR driver has to be Jimmy Johnson,” Carmon said. “He is the only five-time defending champion that the sport has ever seen.”

Whether professional or amateur, go-karting provides a thrill for many of its drivers.

“It is a whole lot of fun,” Carmon said. “You are filled with adrenaline before [the race], and during the race, and its just addicting.”

   Every Friday afternoon, Carmon straps on her helmet and practices her driving before racing in the weekend competition. It all begins with a ritual handshake between father and daughter. Then, the race is on.

For the majority of students, freshman year is one of the most difficult times during adolescence.  It can be an extremely uncomfortable year of transition.  Once again, they descend to the last rung of the social totem pole. Adapting to high school’s fast-paced routine takes time as students try to do so without embarrassing themselves in the process.  Luckily for this year’s freshmen, seniors are overflowing with helpful advice to help make freshman year a bit less awkward.  Hopefully this compilation of words of wisdom from Hoban’s own seniors will serve as a guide for freshman along their exciting and frightening journey through Hoban High.

“Don’t be intimidated by Mr. Yappel.  He has emotions.”
    -Kayla Morris

“Don’t eat stromboli and mushie cookies on the same day… just don’t do it.  It’s a bad idea.”
    -Duran Johnson

“Laugh it off when you trip and fall up the stairs. It happens to everyone.”
                                -Danielle Cincurak

“Avoid the central office at all costs.”

-Jake Pelini

“Pickup lines are the best way to introduce yourself to your teachers.  Example: ‘Mr. Donatelli, did it hurt when you fell from heaven?’”
                                -Rajat Chadda

“The brothers aren’t actually related.”
    -Becca Krajewski

“Avoid girls.”
    -John Paradise

“Cheering at a football game doesn’t make you uncool.”
    -Taylor Droppa

“…”
                                -Mr.Horringer (former Hoban Senior)

“If you drop your calculator in the middle of the hallway in between classes and it falls apart, don’t panic.
                                -Taylor Patterson

The main focus on Sundays seems to be changing for most NFL football fans: fantasy football is taking over. Fantasy football is an interactive, virtual competition in which fans manage NFL football players against one another. Before the NFL season starts, a group of people plans out a league and has a live draft in which the goal is to draft the best possible team. The pick order is complete random, therefore the best possible choices are not always available.

         Fantasy football was created in 1962 by Wilfred Winkenbach from Oakland, California. The goal of the game was to compete against others’ teams on a performance-based point system. Although the game of fantasy football did not gain popularity quickly because of the lack of technology, by 1989 there were 100,000 participants. From 1989 to 2011, fantasy football has reached an all-time high of 19 million players according to NBC Sports.
         There are several types of leagues with different sponsors that run each league.  ESPN and Yahoo are the two main choice of leagues for fantasy players. There are both public and private leagues. Private leagues are made through a group of people whose members know each other and have live drafts. Public leagues choose users at random and put them in a league already made up.
         The storm of fantasy football is growing each year by the thousands and seems to becoming the hot topic of conversation on the weekends.
         “I don’t even care about the Browns on Sundays; all I care about is if my fantasy football team wins,” junior Dom Orsini said. “I mean I love the Browns, but my fantasy team is way more interesting each week.”
         This seems to be the consensus among NFL fans these days. Even NFL players tweet or post on Facebook about fantasy football.  In preseason, the league’s 2010 rushing leader Arian Foster pulled his hamstring and immediately tweeted about his injury.
         “4 those sincerely concerned, I’m doing ok & plan 2 B back by opening day. 4 those worried abt your fantasy team, u ppl are sick,” Foster tweeted.
         Fantasy fans are becoming more concerned about the wellbeing of their own virtual teams rather than the actual injury of another human. Fans gather around local bars, restaurants or their own television sets to watch all the NFL games, not just their favorite teams. The bars and restaurants are filled with people on their smart phones or laptops to keep track of their players on their team throughout their game.
         “When I heard Mike Vick got a concussion, the first thing I did was go to my fantasy page and tried to find a new quarterback,” junior Sean Merle said. “I’ll be honest; I was more worried about my fantasy for the next week.”
         Each team owner has his or her own unique strategy that they use throughout the season. Fantasy owners continue to show their love for football watching every game they can. It has improved ratings of the amount of football watched, making it the most-watched sport in America.
         Do not worry Cleveland fans: if the the Browns cannot hang on with the 2-1 start, at least there still is fantasy football.

This fall sports season has been riddled with the gloomy aura of injury. Almost all teams have been effected by the hardships of injuries, most notably football, soccer and cross country.

Football has seen the worst bouts of injury with many players out for extended periods of time. Several starters have been injured such as senior starters, Jimmy Zazo, LaTroy Lewis, Jordan Cook and Greg McMullen. While some have returned back to the playing field, others still remain on the bench.

    “Being off the field right now with a broken tibia is frustrating because I want nothing more than to be out there contributing with my teammates,” senior linebacker Jimmy Zazo said.

The boys soccer team has also seen losses on the field. Key players have been on the bench due to on-the-field injuries. Sophomore Shane Weidt will be out all season due to a strain on his cranial nerve in his eye which causes him to lose the ability to move his left eye.

“It is very frustrating being out because sports are the one thing I can turn to to forget about all the other stresses in life,” Weidt said.

Other than Weidt, sophmores Ben Easton, Ben Naragon and Kevin Outwater and senior Braden Evans have also missed time this season. The starters’ intermittent injuries create instability for the soccer team and problems for the coach regarding replacements for these key players.

The girls cross country team has also been bitten by the injury bug this season.  Senior Erin Drake has been battling tendinitis in her posterior tibial tendon.

“I get so discouraged everyday because its my last season and I want to do well, which I can’t do if I’m hurt,” Drake said. “I feel like my season is over.”

The past summer had everyone in anticipation for this year’s fall season.  Now deep into the fall season the attitude has changed and students now dread this fall sports curse.

The teams hope they can overcome these trying times and prevail against the worthy opponents that lie ahead. With football games against Walsh and Massillon, soccer games against Padua Fanscican and St. Vincent-St.Mary and cross country meets at Wadsworth and Medina, athletes need to stay healthy in order for their teams to succeed.

In the 50s and 60s, a drive-in theater was a popular venue to watch a movie on the big screen, grab a burger or enjoy a date night. With over 4,000 drive-in theaters dotting the nation, these entertainment enterprises became an American classic.

In recent years, however, drive-ins across the nation have become a declining business with more closings each year, especially in Ohio. Ohio once hosted one of the first 10 drive-in theaters in America, The Starlight Auto Theatre in Akron, which opened June of 1937. Within ten years, Ohio had more than 80 drive-ins and by the late 60s there were over 200 drive-in theaters in operation. Sadly, in the years since Ohio has witnessed a decline of 80% in the number of drive-ins, according to driveinmovie.com.

What were once popular and budding sites for American entertainment, drive-ins are now rare finds which can often be found sitting deserted and forgotten on the side of the road. Owners and operators of these “open-air theaters” face a difficult set of obstacles in trying to gain a profit. Drive-ins require a large amount of land in order to run properly which is often hard to find. Ideally, the land must drain well and be sloped so people do not block each other’s view. It also must be located close enough to a metropolitan area for customers, but not so close that city lights and traffic interrupt the show. In Ohio, where the winters are brutal, the drive-in must be able to shut down completely for half the year. In an effort to stay afloat, some drive-ins hosted flea markets and even showed XXX rated movies to survive in the late 70s early 80s.

However, not all drive-ins are sinking. Locally, Magic City Drive-In in Barberton, Blue Sky Drive-In in Wadsworth and Midway Twin Drive-In in Ravenna stand as the few remaining drive-ins in the area. These drive-ins continue to attract customers and show special“Features” every weekend. Midway Twin Drive-In  is currently showing the popular movies Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Bad Teacher and 30 Minutes or Less.   Many Hoban students, like junior Megan Bennett, still enjoy going to these theaters despite the declining business.  

    “I love going to drive-ins because they are much more fun than regular movie theaters. I hope the ones still standing remain in business and I encourage people to go!”