The Smoke Signal

Across
2. MVAL stands for __________ Athletic League (Mission Valley)
5. Who is the head of MSJ’s PE Department? (Pete Vaz)
6. Making his reappearance in the golfing world, this athlete was earlier found guilty of having an affair with his wife Elin. (Tiger Woods)
7. After going through four months of _______ , the NHL finally resumed its season. (Lockout)
9. From which team was the Winter Athlete of the Season? (Girl’s Basketball)
15. What is the name of the NBA team that is rumored to be moving to Seattle? (Sacramento Kings)
16. Infamous for elbowing James Harden, Ron…

By: Vivian Jair
MSJ Key Club will be holding its 6th Annual Charity Badminton Tournament (CBT) on March 3, 2013 at the Bay Badminton Center in Milpitas. The tournament will be directed by Seniors William Cheung and Derrick Long, and Certified Badminton Umpire Kevin Banh.
The tournament will be held according to Badminton World Federation (BWF) and USA Badminton (USAB) rules. Matches will be determined by the best two out of three games. Within the tournament, there are three different flights of difficulty: B (advanced), C (intermediate), and D (recreational). Players also choose from the three different events of women’s…

By: Ishan Goyal
Here is a follow-up article to the Super Bowl preview in the paper.
On Sunday, February 3rd, the Baltimore Ravens secured their second Super Bowl victory in the past 12 years after a nail biting clash against the San Francisco 49ers. The game was full of drama that included a battle of brother coaches, an inexplicable blackout, and a near 49ers comeback. To complement the game, singer Beyonce gave a thrilling performance during halftime that electrified the crowd while the audience back home enjoyed the humorous commercials.
The first half of the game was rather one sided…

By: Lindy Zeng
Last week, MSJ History Teacher Jason Cain was named East Bay Girl’s Golf Coach of the Year. The Smoke Signal sat down with Jason Cain to discuss the performance of the team this year and his role in guiding the Lady Warriors to third place in the California State Championships.
SS: When did you start coaching the team?
Jason Cain: I started coaching the team this year; last spring I coached the Boy’s Golf team and that was the first time I’d ever coached golf. I had a really great experience with them. They really responded to coaching well…

By: Ishan Goyal
On October 24, the 2012 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series began. This event was a much anticipated culmination of a three week playoff. The month started with the newly introduced wild card matches, followed by division series, championship series, and finally the World Series. The top 10 teams faced off, but they were slowly winnowed down to the best from each league. The San Francisco Giants and their fierce bullpen of pitchers found themselves opposing the Herculean sluggers of the Detroit Tigers. No one could’ve predicted that the Giants would have made it this far after…

by Jonathon Teng
 
The NBA Training Camps are nearing their end and the heavily anticipated season is about to get underway. During offseason, several powerhouse teams acquired key players, notably the Los Angeles Lakers, while many young squads are simply hoping to make an impact. Fortunately, this season has a normal schedule of 82 games, allowing NBA players to return to the normal flow of the season where they will eventually vie for the NBA Championship Title.
 
Eastern Conference
After claiming the NBA Finals with a convincing victory over Oklahoma City Thunder, the Miami Heat again enter as…

by Vishak Menon
On Tuesday, Oct. 16 at the MSJ staff meeting, Gil Lemmon, the commissioner of the North Coast Section, came to present the Elmer Brown Award of Excellence in Academics and Athletics. This award, which was presented to MSJ for the second consecutive year, is given to the school with the most high school championships in combination with outstanding academic performance. Scholarship is important to NCS, and Lemmon stated that more pennants are given annually from NCS for academics than for athletics.
This prestigious accolade is named after Elmer Brown, a former NCS commissioner and long time head…

By: Kenny Jacoby
All the Peyton Manning hubbub is over now, and where are the 49ers? That’s right—exactly where they started. They did sign former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Johnson to reunite with Jim Harbaugh from back at the University of San Diego, but Johnson is not expected to usurp the starting spot of Alex Smith. There was a lot of hype built up about the 49ers adding Manning, but all that did was get The Faithful’s hopes up. Many people speculated that had the 49ers acquired Manning, they would be sure Super Bowl favorites. That may be so.…

By: Brandon Fuhs
It’s that time of year again, when the sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing, and millions of Americans will be glued to their televisions to watch the NCAA tournament. The tournament is arguably the biggest event in all of college sports, but the madness began before the teams in the tournaments were even announced.
The conference tournaments began in early March, when 324 colleges are given the opportunity to claim of the 68 spots in the NCAA tournament. There are 31 automatic bids that go to conference tournament champions, and 37 at-large…

By: Kyle Qian
MSJ Wrestling continued its impressive performance at NCS by bringing home a total of four medals, the most for any MSJ team infor over a decade, and sending two wrestlers to the California Interscholastic Federation (States) championship held at Bakersfieldfrom March 2-3. Seniors Corbin Lee and Will Booth entered States by placing 3rd in the 120 pound weight class and 4th in the 113 pound weight class at NCS, respectively. The Smoke Signal had the opportunity to speak to both Corbin and Will about their wrestling careers and experiences at State.
Smoke Signal: What first got you…