Myers Park Hoofprint

The Myers Park High School Newspaper

Martha Goldsmith

Quiet On Set

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Growing up in the era of prime Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, I can attest to the significance of their laugh track shows as a presence in the childhood of Generation Z. Whether you were an avid Victorious fan or you dabbled in some iCarly or Jessie, most kids who are now high school and college age grew up watching the programs Nickelodeon and Disney Channel produced. The programs were made for kids, featuring kids. While child acting has always been known as a scandalous and intense industry, the Discovery documentary series Quiet on Set exposes the real danger involved in the industry of child acting and the truth behind some of our favorite shows. 

The series was released in March of 2024, revealing that behind all the neon green slime, Nickelodeon was not a healthy environment for their child actors. These former child stars allege a variety of abuses and toxic behavior on the sets of classic shows, such as Drake & Josh, Victorious, All That,  and The Amanda Show. From claims of bullying and discrimination to truly horrifying accounts of sexual assault, the documentary reveals all the darkness hidden behind the laugh tracks. Many of these claims are directed at infamous producer Dan Scheider who denies all the allegations of inappropriate behavior after being fired in 2018 when the allegations surfaced. 

Perhaps the most shocking of all is Drake Bell’s disclosure that he was the victim in the criminal case, for which Nickelodeon dialogue coach Brian Peck pleaded no contest to lewd acts with a child. “My name is Drake Bell and I came here today to tell my story,” Bell says as he opens up for the first time in the documentary’s third episode, before detailing his relationship with Peck, whom he met at the beginning of Season 2 of The Amanda Show. Nickelodeon’s child actors commonly stayed in Peck’s home, trusting him as a role model and their parents trusting him as a supervisor. Unfortunately, according to Bell, “everything changed with Brian one morning.” After experiencing repeated acts of sexual abuse Drake didn’t immediately go to the police in fear that Peck, a powerful man in the industry, would destroy his career and income. Later telling his mom the truth, she immediately called the police and a year-long investigation began. Brian Peck was eventually arrested in 2003 and no one, not even at Nickelodeon knew who the victim was. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison and is officially registered as a sex offender. After his release, Peck landed a job on Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

In Quiet on Set, actors Bryan Hearne and Giovonnie Samuels alleged experiencing racism, both subtle and glaring, from producer Dan Schneider. Two former female The Amanda Show writers accused Schneider of sexism and sexual harassment. Rewatching all of the shows that were a part of our childhood after the details regarding the truth behind the industry were released, many people took to social media accusing Schneider of sexualizing the children on his shows, including now-famous pop star, Ariana Grande. Schneider expressed remorse in an interview posted to his YouTube page. “I owe some people a pretty strong apology,” he said.  

Viewers are heartbroken by this series to learn that their enjoyment of watching childhood shows came at the expense of the well-being of the actors who played them and that it took years for people to start listening to their claims. Talented youth have been paraded in front of the spotlight for years but at what cost? With increasing numbers of childhood stars admitting the troublesome experiences they went through and how they drove them into substance abuse or mental health issues, it’s important to push Hollywood adults to do better. The current safeguards for child safety in the studio environment are insufficient. After this documentary, many are left wondering, will this documentary change the situation?

Lost In Translation

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An hour east from Tokyo lives the Kamagaya Stadium, the home of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. The star pitcher on this team was Shohei Ohtani, who made history as “the next Babe Ruth” and in 2016 was named the NPB Pacific League’s best pitcher and designated hitter. From his outstanding skills and one of a kind stats, many scouts believed he was more than ready to join a Major League Baseball team and make history.

At 16, Shohei Ohtani was pitching 90 mph, soon reaching 99 mph. When it was time for him to graduate, instead of going international, he shocked the world by playing baseball for the Nippon-Ham Fighters. This was risky for the team, as taking him as a first round pick was an unpredictable move. After dominating Nippon Professional baseball  (NPB) in both earned run average and fielding independent pitching, Ohtani moved on to Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2017 and made his debut for the Los Angeles Angels. 

From 2017 to 2023, Ohtani led the Los Angeles Angels, and in those six years gained the title of two-time AL MVP. In 2017, the Angels signed Ippei Mizuhara to be Ohtani’s personal interpreter. In an interview with AP News, after Ohtani announced his departure from the team, Angels general manager Perry Minasian said,“It’s somebody that I have a huge amount of respect for personally, the organization loved having,” he added, “He’s one of the best players that’s ever played for this organization, and we understand that, but life goes on. We’re going to take the rest of the offseason and work as hard as we can to put a really competitive team on the field.” Ohtani decided to move 50 miles up Interstate-5 to the Los Angeles Dodgers and bring his best friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, with him. 

In 2021, Mizuhara apparently met Southern California bookmaker Mathew Bowyer at a poker game in San Diego, where he allegedly he started placing bets, but claimed to make none specifically on baseball. By early 2023, he had reached about four million dollars in debt and asked Ohtani for help. His name is shown on two transfers equalling one million dollars, and the recipient of both wires is Bowyer. Nine transactions of $500,000 later, Mizuhara had paid his debts, and Ohtani had no clue these wires were going to the bookmaker. 

The MLB has a strict legal policy that prohibits players and team employees from placing bets on baseball. Specifically, these rules prohibit betting on any sport at all through any illegal bookmakers. By the end of 2023, federal agents had raided Bowyer’s home and Ohtani signed a $700 million contract with the Dodgers- the largest contract in MLB history. On March 18, 2024, Mizuhara was sat down for a 90-minute interview with ESPN. In that interview, Mizuhara claims he was placing bets through the DraftKings Sportsbook. “I want everyone to know Shohei had zero involvement in betting,” he says according to ESPN. “I want people to know I did not know this was illegal. I learned my lesson the hard way. I will never do sports betting again.” Soon after the Department of Justice gets involved, he admitted to gambling, Dodgers fire Mizuhara as Ohtani’s translator. 

Finally, after weeks of silence, Shohei Ohtani delivered a statement to the media that explained his feelings and the facts behind it all. “Just to go over the result, Ippei has been stealing money from my account, and has told lies…In conclusion, I do want to make it clear I never bet on sports or have willfully sent money to the bookmaker. To summarize how I’m feeling right now, I’m beyond shocked. It’s hard to verbalize how I’m feeling at this point.” 

As of April 11, 2024, Mizuhara has been charged with bank fraud for allegedly stealing more than $16 million from Ohtani. “Mr. Mizuhara stole this money largely to finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said. Prosecutors say Ohtani is a victim and had no prior knowledge of the gambling or the theft. According to Sam Blum of The Athletic, on April 12th Mizuhara voluntarily surrendered to authorities,followed by a hearing which he was then released on a $25,000 bond. Any contact with Ohtani is forbidden and he cannot leave the central district of California.

MLB Pitcher Injuries

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It’s early May, The MLB season is just getting started, the World Series is still months away. Yet already in 2024 there have been enough pitcher injuries to make you think it would be late August. Spencer Strider, the ace of the Atlanta Braves, is out for the year, reigning Cy Young award winner Sandy Alcantara is out for the year, Shane Beiber is out for the year, and Gerrit Cole got hurt early in his spring training starts. All of these pitchers are out for one all too familiar reason that has been taking over the MLB in the last few years, injuries to the elbow or shoulder. Over the last few years, there have been more and more headlines about career-altering injuries to pitchers to the point that it has become a serious issue for Major League Baseball, one that needs to be addressed. 

While there are many different conclusions on why there is this spike in injuries, there is one common theme, the hunt for velocity. In 2002, Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics built a team based on analytics and baseball was forever changed, it became less of a game and more of a math problem. Players were turned into numbers and stats and  pitcher injuries could be one consequence of the analytical side of baseball. In a February interview, just a few months before he went down with a season-ending elbow injury, Spencer Strider addressed what MLB front offices are looking for, “front offices are paying for strikeouts and home runs”. Front offices are no longer looking for good pitchers or good fits for their team, they are looking at the numbers, who will get the most strikeouts, who throws the hardest, and who spins it the most”. In 2007 the average MLB pitcher velocity was 91.9 and it is now 94.2. Front offices are looking at the analytics, and the analytics say to find the hardest throwing guys.. However, analytics do not take into account just how well a player will hold up. In a recent thread on X, Oakland A’s pitcher Alex Wood talked about the rise in pitcher injuries, “When I first came into professional baseball in 2012 as soon as the season ended I usually wouldn’t touch a baseball until December…. If you told a young player today that they had to take 8-10 weeks off throwing in the offseason and couldn’t touch a mound until at least the middle of January they would think you’re crazy.” Wood makes a good point here, not only has velocity increased since 2012 but competition within the game as well. Pitchers have gotten so good that essentially if you take time off then you could be risking your job. Justin Verlander went as far as calling the pitcher injuries a “pandemic” in one of his early-year interviews. It is very clear that Major League Baseball has a problem, and the question is how do they fix it. 

If MLB pitcher injuries continue to rise then there are a number of things that can happen, the first is the product on the field gets worse. People pay to watch the best of the best duel it out and if the best pitchers are sidelined due to injury such as Spencer Strider and Shohei Ohtani then it hurts the product and MLB as a whole. It also could affect the pitching market as a whole. Currently, in the NFL, running backs are being severely underpaid and are being signed to very short contracts because of how common injuries are. If injuries continue in the MLB something like this could happen to the market for pitchers and pitchers will not be paid what they are worth. While the solution might not be known, it is clear the MLB is facing a pandemic and one they need to fix for the health of their players for the good of the game.

Mars 2020 Rover

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The past twenty years of Mars Exploration has led scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to believe that Mars is an evolving planet that is worthy of exploration. This prompted the creation of the Mars 2020 rover, a Mars exploration vehicle that was, according to the NASA website, “designed to better understand the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient life.” This exploration is important work as it is imperative in the evolution of human discovery on other planets. These discoveries will be exhibited through the rock and soil samples that the rover will gather for NASA scientists. The rover, whose name will be chosen from a list suggested by K-12 students, is expected to launch in July or August of 2020. It will land on February 18, 2020, and will spend 2 Earth years exploring the region of its landing. The rover, which follows its predecessor the Curiosity rover, has new and improved technology including a new autonomous navigation system that is designed for intense terrain. Those interested in the project can find more information, including an active countdown to launch, on NASA’s Mars website.