OPINION:

With fourth quarter set to begin right after spring break, students will be looking forward to finishing their final exams and enjoying summer break. Although all students should feel the need to make one final push, some, specifically seniors, simply do not have that desire.

Commonly referred to as senioritis, this “disease” infects almost every senior each and every year. Symptoms of senioritis include lack of desire to do homework assignments or study for tests in advance and overall laziness when it comes to schoolwork.

So, why do seniors lose motivation at the end of the year? Well to answer that question we must ask ourselves another question. Why would they have any motivation left?

Most seniors will know what their plans are for after high school within the last few months of high school. Whether it be college, joining the armed forces, or even taking a gap year, the fact that someone knows what their plan is will certainly lower any motivation they had.

Seniors often ask themselves, “what is the point of finishing strong?” For some, finishing strong is required by a college or their future plans. But for most, finishing strong is a mere suggestion, not a requirement.

Obviously that does not mean seniors completely give up (because if they did they might not graduate high school), but they just give less effort overall.

You may be wondering, “how real is senioritis?” Please believe me when I say this is a very real thing. I think that I can speak for all of my fellow seniors here and confidently say, we are all ready to be done with high school.

SPORTS:

As the seasons change, sports fans around the country rejoice. The first round of the annual NCAA tournament, or an exercise in losing money for the majority of Americans, has finally arrived.

Typically, the opening round does not go well and most brackets are busted by the end of the first weekend. However, there is a way to recoup your lost capital in entering round-by-round tournament picks.

In order to regain your capital, you have to be smarter with your second and third round picks. These tips will help you in your quest to not go broke.

Forget the first round: just because a team staged a huge upset in the first round does not necessarily mean they will win in a later round. Examples include 15 seed Norfolk State beating second seed Missouri and then losing in the next round by 34 points.

Value depth: as the tournament goes on, teams naturally get better. The more quality players a team can field, the better they can adapt to foul trouble and potential match up problems.

Do not over-think matchups: With all the metrics and tools now available to make picks, many people will end up talking themselves into upsets based on a chosen set of statistics. Make sure to take into account the full picture.

If you follow these rules, you will most likely make up the money you have blown in various pools. Either that or these rules are just as consistent as the actual seeding.

SPORTS:

Arguably the most historically loved and famous National Basketball Association (NBA) team received a much needed face-lift.

Earvin “Magic” Johnson, one of the greatest players of all time with a stellar entrepreneurial post-career, is taking over as President of Basketball Operations for the Los Angeles Lakers. While dramatic, this was a genius move.

The late former owner of the Lakers, Jerry Buss, left the organization to his six kids, equally. He left his daughter, Jeanie Buss, to be the president of the organization and the representative in league meetings. She recently boldly fired her brother Jim Buss.

I have a lot of respect for what she did in removing her older, male sibling from the position. She showed me that anyone can be a part of the sports world, no matter their gender.

Reports say that Jeanie had a greater interest and invested more of her time in the well-being of the team. Although Jim’s position was of greater importance, Jeanie was put in a non-sports role.

He was responsible for creating a winning team in order to keep ticket sales up, and he did not take it seriously.

Johnson won championships with the Lakers and has shown his affection for the team which proves to me that he will put in the effort and use his resources to put this organization where it was.

What Jeanie must do is stay out of the headlines so that this situation with her brother dies out; if Jim wants to create problems let him bring himself down.

I am excited to see where a great female role model in sports in Jeanie, new General Manager Rob Pelinka, and Johnson take this team, which is no doubt on the rise.