Samuel Popper


Name: Samuel Popper
Position: Sports Editor
Graduation Year: 2015
I am a big sports fan. I play football and frisbee at Blair, I also enjoy watching basketball and hockey. I am very passionate about what I do.


Stories (63)


MLB Season Preview 2015

By Robert Pfefferle, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | April 4, 2015, 1:27 p.m. | In Professional »

The busy free-agent market left the Blue Jays and Red Sox with major facelifts, but the now healthy Orioles won't be giving up the AL East crown without a fight. Meanwhile out west, the reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics may be looking at a big fallout this season.

2015 March Madness Preview

By Robert Pfefferle, Ross Cohen-Kristiansen, Samuel Popper | March 17, 2015, 11:58 a.m. | In College »

March Madness is finally here!

NFL Week 16 Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Dec. 21, 2014, 9:28 a.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 147-76 2. Bobby: 143-80 3. Sasha: 141-82 4. Agam: 139-84

NFL Week 15 Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Dec. 14, 2014, 11:09 a.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Bobby: 135-73 2. Sam: 134-74 3. Sasha: 130-78 4. Agam: 123-85

NFL Week 14 Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Dec. 6, 2014, 11:57 a.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 123-69 2. Bobby: 122-70 3. Sasha: 119-73 4. Agam: 113-79

2014-2015 College Basketball Season Preview

By Samuel Popper | Dec. 3, 2014, 1:12 p.m. | In College »

Kentucky appears to be the clear favorite. However, see if any up and coming teams were able to knock the Wildcats out of SCO's Final Four preseason picks.

NFL Week 13 Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Dec. 1, 2014, 1:21 p.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 116-60 2. Bobby: 110-66 3. Sasha: 108-68 4. Agam: 105-71

NFL Week Twelve Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Nov. 21, 2014, 11:47 a.m. | In Professional »

1. Sam: 106-55 2. Bobby: 99-62 3. Sasha: 98-63 4. Agam: 95-66

NFL Week Eleven Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Nov. 16, 2014, 9:56 a.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 98-49 2. Sasha: 94-53 3. Bobby: 92-55 4. Agam: 86-61

NFL Week Ten Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Nov. 8, 2014, 10:09 a.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 88-46 2. Sasha: 84-50 3. Bobby: 82-52 4. Agam: 76-58

NFL Week Nine Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Nov. 1, 2014, 10:59 p.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 78-43 2. Sasha: 73-48 3. Bobby: 72-49 4. Agam: 68-53

NFL Week Eight Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Oct. 25, 2014, 4:02 p.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 68-38 2. Sasha: 64-42 3. Bobby: 63-43 4. Agam: 57-49

NBA 2014-2015 Season Predictions

By Robert Pfefferle, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper | Oct. 25, 2014, 12:47 p.m. | In Professional »

With the Halloween celebrations comes a new NBA Season. Free agency and marquee trades have led to a myriad of intriguing matchups and dynamic players. Lebron James is now a Cavalier, along with Kevin Love. Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose are both finally healthy. And all 60 draft picks are ready to unleash their talents on the rest of the league. No matter what, it should be a great season.

NFL Week Seven Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Oct. 18, 2014, 10:04 p.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 60-31 2. Sasha: 53-38 3. Bobby: 52-39 4. Romalia: 47-44

NFL Week Six Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Oct. 13, 2014, 1:07 p.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 49-27 2. Sasha: 44-32 3. Bobby: 42-34 4. Romalia: 38-38

NHL Pre-Season Predicitons

By Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper | Oct. 8, 2014, 11:44 a.m. | In Professional »

Last spring, the Los Angeles Kings hoisted their second Stanley Cup trophy in three years in the most improbable of playoff runs which included one of the four comebacks from down three games to none in NHL history. Following the Kings' triumph, many teams made splashes in the off-season in order to stop the Kings and propel themselves to the cup. But who made the right moves? The Popper's give you all the insight in their 2014-2015 NHL season preview.

NFL Week Five Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Oct. 4, 2014, 2:08 p.m. | In Professional »

Standings: 1. Sam: 38-23 2. Bobby: 33-28 2. Sasha: 33-28 4. Romalia: 28-33

NFL Week Four Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Agam Mittal, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper | Sept. 27, 2014, 1:12 p.m. | In Professional »

After another week of NFL action, the standings remained pretty much the same. Sam and Bobby are widening the gap between Sasha and our dynamic duo known as Romalia. With Sasha out of town for most of the week, he called upon tech staff all-star Agam Mittal to make his picks for the week and attempt to boost him back up the leaderboard. Let's see how the picks shape out this week.

NFL Week Three Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Sept. 21, 2014, 6:48 p.m. | In Professional »

After a tough week for most of our experts, Sam has regained his lead in the standings he held for many week last week. Sasha is even and Romalia is only two games back from the rest of the pack. This week offers an opportunity once again shake up the standings. Lets see how the experts can do.

NFL Week Two Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Sept. 13, 2014, 10:50 a.m. | In Professional »

After a very surprising week one, our experts are all looking to rebound in week two. Newcomer Bobby Pfefferle has a one game lead on the field. With a frenzy of big time, evenly matched games in line for week two, it should be a great weekend of NFL football, and a struggle for our experts to pick them all.

NFL Week One Predictions

By Amalia Chiapperino, Robert Pfefferle, Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Sasha Tidwell | Sept. 5, 2014, 2 p.m. | In Professional »

With the new school year comes a new season of SCO NFL Predictions. Check out our picks and analysis to greatly improve your NFL IQ.

2014 SCO NBA Mock Draft

By Ross Cohen-Kristiansen, Samuel Popper | June 11, 2014, 12:34 p.m. | In Professional »

This year's NBA draft class is projected to be one of the deepest in recent memory with lots of undeniable talent. The ultimate question is which team will find the next LeBron James and which team will waste their pick on a bust.

2014 SCO NFL mock draft

By Samuel Popper, Abel Chanyalew, Michael Gerbasi | May 8, 2014, 1:27 p.m. | In Blair »

The NFL is seemingly always in the sports news cycle, but one of the biggest days on its calendar is finally here. Here at SCO, we've created our (one and only) official mock draft for the 2014 NFL draft.

Clearing up the DeSean Jackson saga

By Samuel Popper | May 2, 2014, 12:40 p.m. | In Professional »

Here is my best attempt to clear up the very shady DeSean Jackson release, share the aftermath of Jackson's signing and offer my opinion on the whole controversial situation.

Baseball blasts Einstein Titans on Senior Night

By Samuel Popper | April 28, 2014, 12:42 p.m. | In Blair »

What an evening it was on Senior Night for Blair Varsity Baseball (9-3) as they blew out the Einstein Titans (4-6) 14-0 in a game that ended prematurely by mercy rule.

There are two types of guys

By Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper | April 6, 2014, 2:39 p.m. | In Lifestyle »

When spring season rolls around every year, the world of guys fashion is faced with slight controversy.

Whose turn to host?

By Samuel Popper | March 14, 2014, 12:44 p.m. | In Op/Ed »

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the "Fédération Internationale de Football Association" (Fifa) must be more responsible when choosing locations for their events to preserve the great traditions their respective games.

Boys' Basketball fights hard in playoff loss to Whitman Vikings

By Samuel Popper | March 7, 2014, 10:22 p.m. | In Blair »

In the regional semifinal playoff matchup, the Boys' Basketball team (20-3) finished their season with a courageous effort in a 60-48 loss to the Whitman Vikings (19-6).

Out of the closet, into the draft

By Samuel Popper | March 1, 2014, 2:52 p.m. | In Professional »

After a long wait, the NFL might finally have its first openly gay athlete, and his name is Michael Sam, a mid-round draft prospect from the University of Missouri.

Girls' Basketball falls to Sherwood Warriors

By Samuel Popper | Feb. 7, 2014, 5:14 p.m. | In Blair »

The girls' varsity basketball team (10-5) fell Tuesday night to the Sherwood Warriors (6-8) in a low scoring game that finished 38-34.

Nine Blair students advance on in the Intel Science Talent Search

By Samuel Popper | Jan. 22, 2014, 1:33 p.m. | In Local »

Blair's "It's Academic" team brings year-round success

By Samuel Popper | Jan. 14, 2014, 5:56 p.m. | In Local »

The buzz sounds and Blair has the opportunity to answer the question. That is the fun of an "It's Academic" competition, full of knowledge, teamwork, perseverance and quick reactions.

NFL divisional playoff predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Jan. 11, 2014, 5:04 p.m. | In Professional »

After an exciting wild card round, and rough weeks for most of our predictors, we bring you the divisional playoffs. For the SCO experts, Sam and Abel are now tied for the top spot with Jacob not too far behind.

Hollywood East Cafe

By Samuel Popper | Jan. 6, 2014, 12:58 p.m. | In Restaurant Reviews »

Hollywood East Cafe is located in the "Restaurant Row" section of the Wheaton Mall located on Veirs Mill road in Wheaton about a 10 minute drive from Montgomery Blair High School. The restaurant itself seems kind of hidden under a canopy of the mall so it can be kind of tough to find from the outside. The Hollywood East Cafe was not a very big restaurant, it was smaller than it looked but still seemed to fit about 50-60 people on a busy day.

NFL wild card playoff predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Jan. 4, 2014, 5:59 p.m. | In Professional »

As the playoffs kick off we have a new leader in the SCO expert predictions. Abel has overtaken Sam and Jacob and claimed the top spot.

Girls' Basketball beats Rockets in comeback fashion

By Samuel Popper | Jan. 3, 2014, 1:44 p.m. | In Blair »

The girls' varsity basketball team (7-1) overcame a bad start to defeat the Richard Montgomery Rockets (3-4) in a statement game on Monday night.

Girls' basketball routs Knights at home

By Samuel Popper | Dec. 14, 2013, 1:18 p.m. | In Blair »

The girls' varsity basketball team (2-1) demonstrated their superiority last Friday night in a commanding 51-27 victory against the Wheaton Knights (0-2).

NFL week fifteen predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Dec. 13, 2013, 1:43 p.m. | In Professional »

Heading into the second-to-last week of the season, the tides have turned in our SCO expert standings. After by far the worst week of the season, Jacob has dropped in the standings to second place.

Girls' basketball dominates Gladiators to open season

By Samuel Popper | Dec. 11, 2013, 2:12 p.m. | In Blair »

The girls' varsity basketball team (1-0) opened the season with a commanding 46-13 victory over the Northwood Gladiators (0-1).

NFL week 14 predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Dec. 7, 2013, 1:46 p.m. | In Professional »

Heading into week fourteen, the race remains tight. Jacob has a five game lead over his brother Sam, who is in second place. Abel and Rohan are also not too far behind.

NFL week 13 predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Dec. 1, 2013, 1:06 p.m. | In Professional »

Heading into week thirteen of the seventeen week season, the pressure is on our experts. For the most part, the standings have remained the same. Jacob still holds a slim lead over Sam and Abel and Rohan find themselves at the end of the pack.

The post-up movement

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper | Nov. 30, 2013, 4:11 p.m. | In Features »

These various backgrounds and interests have given rise to a new gesture that has taken up prominence inside the Blair hallways and on social media pages: the post-up.

It's all black & white: Incognito and Martin

By Samuel Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Nov. 25, 2013, 6 p.m. | In Professional »

There was a lot of troublesome news in the sports world these past few weeks surrounding the Miami Dolphins football team. Starting left tackle Jonathan Martin left the team following incidents of bullying from teammates, specifically Guard Richie Incognito, that reportedly had gone on for a while.

NFL week twelve predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Nov. 23, 2013, 11:31 p.m. | In Professional »

Now heading into week twelve of this NFL season, Jacob has given himself a three game lead over his brother Sam and the rest of the pack.

NFL week eleven predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Nov. 15, 2013, 11:22 p.m. | In Professional »

Now that it's week eleven, the four SCO expert predictors look to put a rough week ten behind them.

NFL week ten predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Nov. 9, 2013, 5:35 p.m. | In Professional »

Heading toward the latter half of the season, a few teams look to make a playoff push.

NFL week nine predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Nov. 1, 2013, 2:34 p.m. | In Professional »

After a thrilling week eight, which included the Lions' last minute game winning drive against the Cowboys, week nine has the make up of a good one.

NewsChips: Second Verse, Same as the First

By Samuel Popper | Oct. 31, 2013, 1:22 p.m. | In News Blog »

As many of you know, the government shutdown has recently come to its end, but by no means is the congressional controversy over. The agreement made by the United States Congress on Oct. 17 is not made to settle on a budget. Instead, it is delaying the debt ceiling until Feb. 7.

NFL week eight predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Oct. 24, 2013, 8:58 p.m. | In Professional »

As we now near the halfway point in the NFL season, our SCO expert predictions remain in a relatively close race. With a lot more injuries and players sitting on the sidelines, it only makes our experts' jobs more difficult.

"The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band to play at Blair

By Samuel Popper | Oct. 22, 2013, 11:03 p.m. | In Local »

On Thursday, Oct. 24, the "President's Own" Marine Band is scheduled to perform in the Blair Auditorium. This complimentary concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. and was primarily organized by Blair music teacher, Michelle Roberts.

Respect trumps tradition

By Samuel Popper | Oct. 21, 2013, 12:45 p.m. | In Op/Ed »

The Washington Redskins have had a tough season so far, but they are currently facing an even bigger problem: their team name.

NFL week seven predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Oct. 18, 2013, 3:29 p.m. | In Professional »

Going in to week seven, it finally looks like the Patriots will have TE Rob Gronkowski back. Peyton Manning also returns to Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium where he played for his first 14 seasons.

NFL week six predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Oct. 10, 2013, 8:47 p.m. | In Professional »

After a week full of upsets and surprises, our experts are back to predict another week. All of our experts had difficult weeks last week and are looking to improve in week six. Sam has come back to tie his twin brother Jacob after Jacob had overtaken the lead the previous week. Abel and Rohan on the other hand, find themselves slightly distanced from the two leaders at the moment.

NFL week five predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Oct. 4, 2013, 1:17 p.m. | In Professional »

There were a lot of great games last week, including the Seahawks' narrow victory over the Texans in an overtime thriller. This week, the Colts battle the Seahawks as draft class mates Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson face off. Also, the undefeated Saints match up against a tough Bears' team.

NFL week four predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Sept. 28, 2013, 11:41 p.m. | In Professional »

Following a crazy week three, what will week four have in store? Last week, the Chiefs upset the Eagles to move to 3-0 and the Dolphins upset the Falcons to move to 3-0 as well. As for our experts, it was an off week for everyone. Only Jacob managed to go over the .500 mark at 9-7 for the week. Although Sam retains his lead, Jacob is now only two games behind.

NFL week three predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Sept. 20, 2013, 11:45 p.m. | In Professional »

Looking forward to week three, we will see the Redskins try get in the win column against the Lions (no easy task), a battle of rookie QB's in Geno Smith of the Jets and EJ Manuel of the Bills and of course a well-anticipated potential thriller (not) as the Broncos take on the Raiders on Monday night.

SCO Says: Dating, SAT or ACT and much more

By Samuel Popper, Melissa Arias, Michael Gerbasi, Temi Ibirogba | Sept. 19, 2013, 9:58 a.m. | In Humor »

Yo how do I learn to balance school, sports and a social life? -Illuminati Mel: Just don't sleep

2013-2014 NHL preview

By Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper | Sept. 18, 2013, 7:57 p.m. | In Professional »

NHL hockey is finally ready to start this October. With all the free agents moving around and the whole realignment thing, it might have been a little tough to formulate expectations for this full 82 game season. That's why you have the Poppers, we'll tell you all you need to know about 2013-2014.

NFL week two predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Sept. 12, 2013, 8:08 p.m. | In Professional »

After an eventful week one, Sam Popper has jumped out to an early lead. He had an outstanding 13-3 record and also was the only SCO expert to correctly pick the Jets to win. Week two holds a couple of intriguing match ups as RGIII and the Redskins take on the Packers and the 49ers face off against the Seahawks in the battle of the NFC West.

Snoozing is the way to win

By Samuel Popper | Sept. 10, 2013, 1:49 p.m. | In Humor »

But that night before the start of arguably the most important year of high school: my junior year, I noticed that I was in fact not ready for school. I did not have a single school supply!

NFL week one predictions

By Rohan Oprisko, Samuel Popper, Jacob Popper, Abel Chanyalew | Sept. 4, 2013, 6:54 p.m. | In Professional »

The NFL has returned after a long offseason, so grab your popcorn, grab your chips and salsa, grab your buddies and grab a seat in front of the TV and get ready for some hard-hitting NFL action.

Courtney Wells

By Samuel Popper | June 18, 2013, 7:21 p.m. | In Teacher Feature »

Courtney Wells is glad she did come to Blair because even though she has just entered the Blazer family, she loves it already and is glad she came here over anywhere else,

Sideline Report: NHL conference finals predictions

By Samuel Popper | June 2, 2013, 10 p.m. | In Sports Blog »

The Los Angeles Kings will take on the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference, while the Boston Bruins play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference.



Images (3)


Photo: AYYE

By Samuel Popper | Dec. 5, 2014, midnight | In ‎Latest »

Combined photos by Connor Smith (C-Smithers) and Gabriel Cote, into one frame

Photo: Girls Bball vs Northwood 1

By Samuel Popper | Dec. 11, 2013, midnight | In ‎Latest »

Sophomore Camille Estrin gets ready to defend a Northwood inbound pass.

Photo: Girls Bball vs Northwood 2

By Samuel Popper | Dec. 11, 2013, midnight | In ‎Latest »

Senoirs Debbie Olawuyi and Shannon Healy defend a Northwood player in the paint.