The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada started out a little rocky with the death of  a Georgian Luger, but after some adjustments to the track the Olympic games were underway. The lighting of the cauldron included speed skater Catriona Le May Doan, basketball all-star Steve Nash, skier Nancy Greene, and legendary hockey player Wayne Gretzky. Fans from all around the world came to witness their own piece of history as hard trained atheletes put it all on the line for one chance at Olympic success. And when it was all said and done, the best atheletes were heroes to the countries that they so proudly represented.

The events that U.S. took gold on are as follows:

Bobsled, cross country skiing (individual), men’s super combined, men’s figure skating, men’s speed skating, women’s alpine skiing (downhill), men’s snowboarding, women’s freestlye skiing, and men’s snowboarding halfpipe.

The U.S., despite not taking the majority of gold medals, had a few players who outshined the rest. They worked harder, longer, and more fiercely to train than almost anyone else in Vancouver.

Apollo Anton Ohno

After hearing about his miraculous silver medal comeback, Ohno, a short track speed skater, was picked to be a favorite in the rest of his events. Unfortunately, in his 500 m final, Ohno was disqualified out of his silver medal performance for an infraction, impeding a Canadian skater around the final turn. His total medal count in his winter Olympics career is 8 medals, with 3 (1 silver, 2 bronze) coming from 2010, making him the most decorated American winter Olympian in history.

Shaun White

What more can we say about this shaggy haired, millionaire-earning, gravity-defying snowboarder Olympian? He never gives up at getting better. And in the 2010 Olympics, it showed. His first run on the halfpipe earned him a score of 46.8, high enough to defend his gold medal event. But did that stop him? No sirree. In his unneeded second run, he performed a Double McTwist 1260 (3.5 spins), earning a 48.4 (out of 50), widening the gap of silver medal to 3.4 behind this decorated Olympian. His performance gave Americans something to be proud of, and that gold medal hopefully won’t be his last.

Ryan Miller

The goalie of the NHL team Buffalo Sabres, and a grad of Michigan State, Ryan Miller put on the best performance of any player in the U.S.A. hockey run. He was named MVP of the tournament, but that only scratches the surface. He finished his Olympic run with the best goals-against average of any goalie.  Miller is accredited to this young team’s surprisingly undefeated run to the gold medal game, that being their only loss. He will go home a hero, no matter what the final score said. His silver medal shines proudly.

 You’ve heard the announcements, seen the signs, it’s the Muslim Student Association’s “Islam Awareness Week.”

“The objective is to clear up stereotypes and inform people about Islam,” said MSA member Faina Osman, junior.

   They’ve dedicated three days this week from Tuesday, Feb. 16 to Thursday, Feb.18 to a different theme all pertaining to helping more students understand their religion. The first day allowed any student to ask any member of MSA any question, without reservation.

 “The main question I heard was ‘why do you wear the hijab?” said MSA president Lena Gayar, senior, the answer to the question being that they are worn so that males outside of the family cannot judge females based on their appearance, and must pay more attention to the women’s personality, character, and morals.

Following question day came “Hijab Day,” where anybody, student or teacher, could wear a hijab for the entire day.

Senior Jennifer Shivnen, who took part in this day, said, “It felt like every single flaw on your face was visible to everyone, and people that I normally talk to didn’t even recognize me! People looked at me differently.”

On the final day, participants fasted.

 “It was meant so that people could see what it’s like to fast,” said Lena Gayar, “We fast to feel how the poor feel, and to get closer to God.”

 Besides heading such events, the MSA also heads an annual luncheon for teachers to inform them about Islam, and attend MIST, a tournament where Muslim students from various schools come together and compete in different events.

If you’re interested, or have unanswered questions you were unable to ask Tuesday, MSA meets every Thursday after school in room 512.

The most important weeks of an athlete’s life have arrived with the 2010 Winter Olympics. The celebration of competition and good sportsmanship amongst every country of the world is currently one of the most viewed programs on television across America. But which events are drawing us to our television sets the most during these Olympic Games? Grand Blanc High School students were asked what Winter Olympic event they enjoy watching most. Leave a comment of your favorite event!

Senior Jessica Haggerty knows a bad line when she hears it.

Ladies, we’ve all heard them; second-rate pick-up lines with content so appalling you wish you’d never been approached in the first place.

Now if you think Joey’s (from the sitcom Friends) famous, “How you doin’” is unoriginal, and you’re frustrated by the ever so over-used, “Did it hurt, when you fell from heaven?” Well, just wait.

Below are the ten raunchiest, yet  print-appropriate pick-up lines heard throughout the halls of Grand Blanc High School.

“Do you come here often?” John Lynn, senior

“Heavy Penguins…glad I could break the ice.” –Jessica Haggerty, senior

“Do you do karate? ‘Cause your body is kickin’” –Jake Troyer, senior

“Excuse me, but there’s something wrong with my cell. It’s missing your number.” -Chris Machielse, alum

“Are you a parking ticket? Cause you have fine written all over you.” –Kate Sanford, senior

“I saw your picture; it was in the dictionary next to KABLAM!” –Gabe Martin, senior

“I just noticed you noticing me and I just wanted to give you notice that I noticed you too.” -Chris Machielse, alum

“Say girl, do fries come with that shake?” –Jon Waller, senior

“What’s cookin’ good lookin’?” –Will Sanford, senior

“What’s that on your hand? That’s my hand…” –Sam Cox, junior

There is a reason residents of Grand Blanc avoid the Saginaw Street, Holly Road intersection around 7 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Yet every teenager is stuck in the midst of the mass chaos known as the high school parking lot.

The parking lot is a mess on a normal day, but when a freak snow storm hits, it’s like us mid-Michiganders have never seen snow before. Arriving at the school at my normal time, I was stuck in the last row of the upper lot, when I should have been about three rows closer. Cars made curved lines, they were so close, students cannot even open their doors. Some were even so far apart a Smart Car could have created its own spot between them.
I realize there are no lines to go by, but you passed your driving test didn’t you? You know the dimensions of your car, and what it looks like when you normally park, so why can’t you keep your one to two feet distance between cars?
Don’t forget about the lower lot, I didn’t even stick around to see how the afternoon rush played out. Cars were bumper to bumper. No aisle ways to pull out into—you had to wait for the person behind you to leave.

There are not even enough spaces for the amount of students who drive at this school to park, let alone when students forget what a parking lot looks like when the ground is covered in snow and the lines are lost.
The school can do little to solve this, but they can try to keep the lots as clean as possible in the time they have before the students arrive. Students just need to gain some common sense when it comes to parking. How hard can that be?

Television may never be the same: Oprah Winfery is calling it quits. After 25 years the iconic talk show host will be turning the lights out on her daytime talk show in September of 2011. American Television will also be saying goodbye to the Tyra Banks show. After five seasons the model turned talk show host will end her award winning show. However, the country seems to be grieving, not over Oprah or Tyra, but over Simon Cowell’s announcement that after this season he will be exiting from the ever so popular “American Idol.”
Despite being offered $100 Million dollars to remain as the cut throat and snarky judge of “American Idol,” Simon Cowell has officially announced that he will depart from “Idol,” after nine seasons, to pursue better things. Since 2002 viewers have tuned in to witness the crude comments that Cowell so effortlessly utters in his cunning British accent. He has truly become the “Idol” judge that all of America has loved to hate, yet now much of America is finding it hard to fathom the idea of saying goodbye. However, Cowell will not be out of the television spot light for long.
According to Cowell the main reason he will be leaving “Idol” is to launch the highly successful show of the United Kingdom, “The X Factor,” in the United States. The show which is slated to premier in 2011 will not only feature Cowell as executive producer, but also as judge of the show with a similar format to“Idol.” While no one can say how the shows will hold up against each other on net work television Cowell is very confident that “The X factor” will be highly successful in the United Sates, and will in no way hurt American Idol.
“Idol” fans do have another season with Cowell, but, that is not the case with the beloved and sometimes controversial Paula Abdul. The singer/ dancer and original “Idol” judge has not returned for this season. Abdul’s seat, however, is filled by a woman on the other end of the spectrum, funny woman, and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. Many fear that DeGeneres is inadequate for the job, but her witty sense of humor and love of music surly give contestants a new and interesting bit of critique on their music journey.
No matter how funny DeGeneres proves to be, fans of the show are sure to miss Abdul. The nicest and most caring judge of the group, always brought an extra flare to the show with the sometimes outrageous on camera moments that left the nation wondering, “What’s in Paula’s cup?” While it is uncertain the exact reason Abdul has left the top rated show, it is known that her attempts for a raise and new contract negotiations fell through in the fall of 2009, possibly leading to her goodbye, after eight seasons
“American Idol “turns out well seasoned singing stars, each less successful than their predecessor, but still very talented. The 2010 season of “Idol” is still very early in its run so it is hard to say how the show will fare with the loss of Paula Abdul and the addition of Ellen DeGeneres. It is safe to say that the show will definitely lack something important in 2011 with the absence of Simon Cowell at the judges table. American Idol has grown to be loved for the competition and talent but also the consistency of its judging panel season after season. With one of the original three already out the door and another on the way, “American Idol” may find it difficult to woo America into accepting new faces in the position of people they have grown to love.

You know what grinds my gears? People, who attend Grand Blanc High, yet insist on wearing clothes that have other high school’s logo on them. It’s like, why wear that if you don’t even go there? Why support a high school you don’t even go to, or even support Grand Blanc’s rival, what’s up with that?

If your significant other goes there or something, maybe that’s different, but still. Out of all the sweat shirts, t-shirts, or sweat pants someone might own they chose to wear the ones that support a high school other than their own.

What goes through someone’s mind when they decide to wear that? “Hmm, lets see who I can piss off today.” Well it’s worked on at least on person – me. I know I can’t be alone on this, but it’s like seriously, why don’t you just wear a sign that says, “Please beat me up.”

The Powers spirit wear really gets me. They may not be in our conference anymore, but there’s always going to be some animosity towards their school; they were our rival for a long time. Really no school is excluded, there is some sort of competition towards every school, and when people wear clothes from others schools, I look at them and I think, “Wow, how stupid can some people get.”

I’m betting that even just the competitive human nature makes people want to be hated in some way, because being hated may mean somebody’s jealous of them, but really, how many excuses can you make for these people.

In the December issue of the Bobcat Banner, we posted some trivia for all you holiday lovers, and here are the answers for all the devoted readers out there. These questions were related to the many holidays in the holiday season, so please enjoy not only this, but all the hard work our Banner staff has put in to this December issue for you all to enjoy.

Happy Holidays,

Banner Staff

1. Clay
2. Reindeer
3. Marshmallows
4. Garlic
5. Kwanzaa
6. Christmas
7. Hanukah
8. Muharram
9. Twenty- first
10. Seollal
11. Otoshidama
12. Yalda
13. Yule
14. New Years Eve
15. Año
16. Singing

Is it just me or does it seem like having your planner everywhere you go is the most ridiculous rule this year? If I have to go to the bathroom I have to have my teacher sign my planner. Well, the big scare is going around about this whole swine flu and germs, and I think taking a planner to the bathroom where there are millions of germs is not the best idea.

I use the planner everyday. There’s no telling how many germs are on it. It’s not like I can put hand sanitizer on my planner. So even when I do wash my hands…the germs are still on my planner! What happened to the little pink passes that we used to get? At least we get to throw those away.

What if you lose your planner? Then can’t you go to the bathroom or the library. I guess using these planners is a good idea to keep the student body organized but do we have to take them everywhere we go?

We should go back to using the pink passes. By the end of the year, my planner is going to be filled with so many germs, that I might end up getting sick.

Maybe that’s why the school decided to put hand sanitizer in every classroom because they know how many germs and bacteria are on our planners.

This season’s new hit show, “Sons of Anarchy,” is growing in popularity each and every week. Based on a motorcycle gang in California, “Sons of Anarchy” is a thrilling and impressive show. It keeps the viewer hooked from the second the episode starts. It provides viewers with a look at the every day struggles and rewards of the life in a motorcycle gang.

The show takes more of an edgy approach and for that reason it is rated “M” for mature. But because of the edginess “Sons of Anarchy” is one of this season’s hit shows. The “Sons of Anarchy” are located in a fictional place called Charming, California, and their main objective is to keep meth out of their town. The battle all starts when a white supremacist gang called the Nordics, who are known for being high level meth dealers, try to penetrate the walls of Charming.

Leaders of the group Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), and Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman) come to disagree on a lot of things with the way the club is run, constantly leading to head to head battles between them within their own club

“Sons of Anarchy” is not one of your typical shows such as “Greys Anatomy,” “House,” and “ER,” which all provide the same kind of drama. SOA is different, there is no other show like it on TV and I believe it will become very popular by the second season. It is flat out entertainment, and isn’t that what were all looking for when we turn on the TV?