Ryan Handel

Name: Ryan Handel
Position: Opinions Editor
Graduation Year: 2018

My name is Ryan Handel, and I'm a Staff Writer for Silver Chips Online. I'm on the Blair wrestling team and in my spare time I enjoy watching sports and advocating for the Arthritis Foundation.

Stories (56)

Post Malone's new album B&B receives an A+

By Ryan Handel | May 24, 2018, 5:42 p.m. | In ‎Latest »

In just the few weeks since its April 27 release, Beerbongs and Bentleys, the second album by Austin Post (professionally known as Post Malone), has already proven to be a historical hit. It debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and has held down the spot for three weeks, set national and global streaming record on Spotify and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). However, these numerous awards and achievements are not necessary to understand the quality of the album; the music speaks for itself.

Don't be rash when approving medications

By Ryan Handel | May 4, 2018, 2:18 p.m. | In Op/Ed »

The FDA's drug approval process must become stricter

Parkland shooting begins to inspire new gun control legislation

By Zoe Friedman, Ryan Handel | April 5, 2018, 6:57 a.m. | In ‎Latest »

In the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fl. on Feb. 14, 2018, that left 17 dead, students across the country flocked to the streets to protest for stricter gun control laws. However, these protests have not yet had their desired effect, as only two of several proposed lawshave actually been passed since the Parkland shooting. So, what is currently being done by government officials in response to recent gun violence?

Blair seniors excel in Regeneron Science Talent Search

By Ryan Handel | Feb. 13, 2018, 1:28 p.m. | In Local »

On Jan. 23, the Society for Science and the Public and Regeneron named 40 finalists for the annual Regeneron Science Talent Search. Of these 40 high school seniors from across the nation, four of them hailed from Montgomery Blair High School, an astounding one tenth of all finalists.

Multi-sport athletes are coming out on top

By Ryan Handel | Nov. 27, 2017, 2:06 p.m. | In Op/Ed »

A growing sentiment among young athletes is that specialization in one sport is the most efficient way to achieve elite status in that sport, and beat out fellow athletes for a spot on a college roster.

National News Roundup

By Ryan Handel | Oct. 18, 2017, 1:16 p.m. | In National »

SCO Fantasy Football Picks Week 6

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel | Oct. 15, 2017, 8:07 a.m. | In Professional »

Once a week, sports editor Nate Bodner and Op-Ed editor Ryan Handel will post their fantasy football predictions alongside those of a special guest teacher and one student from the general Blair population. This week we are joined by executive yearbook editor Zach Dunne and math teacher Mr. Giles to help you set your fantasy football lineup for Week 6!

SCO Fantasy Football Picks Week 4

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel | Oct. 1, 2017, 10:59 a.m. | In Professional »

Once a week, sports editor Nate Bodner and Op-Ed editor Ryan Handel will post their fantasy football predictions alongside those of members from the general Blair population. This week we are joined by senior Elbi Lucas to help you set your fantasy football lineup for week four!

SCO Fantasy Football Picks Week 3

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel | Sept. 22, 2017, 1:19 p.m. | In Professional »

Once a week, sports editor Nate Bodner and Op-Ed editor Ryan Handel will post their fantasy football predictions alongside those of a special guest teacher and one student from the general Blair population. Come back every week for our Fantasy Football advice and predictions!

SCO Fantasy Football Picks Week 2

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel | Sept. 14, 2017, 3:09 p.m. | In Professional »

Blair's spring sports teams excel in record-breaking postseason

By Ryan Handel | June 14, 2017, 2:12 p.m. | In ‎Latest »

Blair had a postseason for the ages this spring, with historic success across several of the nine spring sports.

Blair Robotics advances to World Championship Quarterfinals

By Ryan Handel | May 17, 2017, 2:31 p.m. | In ‎Latest »

Time and time again, the Blair Robotics Team came up just short. They suffered a rough 2015 season, and a loss in the district finals ended their 2016 season early. But in 2017, the team finally broke through to the World Championships and made it all the way to the quarterfinals.

Blair baseball falls short against Quince Orchard

By Ryan Handel | April 18, 2017, 1:22 p.m. | In Blair »

Despite a late comeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Blair Blazers (5-5) could not recover from an early deficit given up to the Quince Orchard Cougars (5-3-1). Throughout the game, strong pitching by the Cougars and fielding miscues by the Blazers prevented Blair from making up ground and resulted in a 7-2 Blazer loss.

SCO NFL Mock Draft 2017

By Ryan Handel, Charles Lott | April 4, 2017, 8:56 p.m. | In Professional »

This is the slow time in the NFL calendar, but as the 2017 draft approaches, it's always fun to project which college prospect will go to which NFL team. Here's SCO's NFL mock draft for the upcoming season.

Life scares the life out of viewers

By Ryan Handel | March 30, 2017, 1:01 p.m. | In Entertainment »

Life utilizes strong acting and exceptional cinematography to create a movie that leaves little to no break from action and viewers chattering their teeth.

Indoor track team caps season by sending six to states

By Ryan Handel | March 8, 2017, 2:19 p.m. | In Blair »

Blair's indoor track team finished its season in impressive fashion, as 800m runner Morgan Casey, 1600m runner Josephine Brane-Wright and the girls 4x400m relay team took third, sixth and seventh at the 4A State Championship meet, respectively. Pole vaulter Deeya Garg also went to states as the Blazers' sixth qualifier.

The U.S. is not ready for complete automation

By Ryan Handel | Feb. 22, 2017, 1:23 p.m. | In Op/Ed »

Amazon has announced the opening of the first automated grocery store, called Amazon Go, which will have no checkout lines or cashiers. This signals the beginning of a futuristic era in which machines will perform more and more of the the tasks that humans used to do, but with increased efficiency and decreased cost.

Are colleges truly diverse?

By Ryan Handel | Feb. 15, 2017, 1:07 p.m. | In Op/Ed »

Nowadays, most top universities have everything a prospective student would desire in a place of higher education. However, hiding behind these amenities is a major weakness afflicting these universities: a startling lack of political diversity.

Top five Super Bowl commercials

By Ryan Handel | Feb. 13, 2017, 1:02 p.m. | In Entertainment »

Super Bowl 51 did not disappoint, as the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons battled in an overtime thriller, with the Patriots emerging with a 34-28 victory. The commercials were also not to be missed, as companies from around the world took advantage of the opportunity to promote their product on a national stage. As usual, many corporations opted to make their product memorable with a commercial that would give viewers a laugh, making the advertisements almost as entertaining as the game itself. In turn, here is a list of the five funniest commercials from Super Bowl 51.

Top Ten Tweets 1/31-2/5

By Nate Bodner, Amy Forsbacka, Ryan Handel, Neva Taylor, Ellie Williams, Charles Lott | Feb. 6, 2017, 7:14 p.m. | In News Blog »

Every week on Silver Chips Online the top ten tweets will aim to highlight the ten most important, most clever, or funniest tweets of the week. Keep caught up with news, sports, and social media in this week's roundup.

Top ten tweets: 1/24-1/30

By Nate Bodner, Amy Forsbacka, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Charles Lott | Jan. 31, 2017, 4:27 p.m. | In News Blog »

Skate like a girl

By Ryan Handel | Jan. 25, 2017, 1:31 p.m. | In Features »

The casual observer might not even realize that Blair hockey number nine is sophomore Mollie Dalbey, the only girl on the Blair ice hockey team.

Blair boys' basketball team earns tight win against Sherwood

By Ryan Handel | Jan. 23, 2017, 1:13 p.m. | In Blair »

Neither team led by more than six points for the duration of the contest, and the game was tied at 46 with 30 seconds to play. However, the Blazers struck last on a tip-in by senior forward Julius Cobb with less than a second left on the clock to escape with a 48-46 win.

Who can you trust?

By Ryan Handel | Jan. 11, 2017, 1:04 p.m. | In Op/Ed »

Throughout much of America's history, the media was highly trusted by the American public as a reliable source of news. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. In an age in which fake news is more common than ever, it is necessary to get information from reliable sources and double check stories that seem unreasonable.

NFL Playoff Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Jan. 7, 2017, 4:03 p.m. | In Professional »

Congratulations to Ellie for winning the SCO NFL predictions this season! This season was full of unexpected surprises like the Cardinals and the Panthers, as well as more pleasant surprises like the Dolphins and Raiders, who have made it back to the playoffs. Now we're moving on to our playoff predictions.

NFL Week 17 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Jan. 1, 2017, 10:05 a.m. | In Professional »

As we enter the final weekend of regular season football, Ellie remains in a commanding five game lead. The playoff picture in the AFC is set, but the Raiders can grab the top spot in the conference with a win and losses by the Chiefs and Patriots.

NFL Week 16 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Dec. 24, 2016, 12:27 p.m. | In Professional »

Two weeks left in the NFL season means teams will be clinching divisions and playoff berths left and right. Some teams may do so without stepping foot on the field, like the Cowboys did on Thursday.

International News Roundup for Dec. 9 to Dec. 20

By Ryan Handel | Dec. 23, 2016, 1:58 p.m. | In International »

In a time of turbulence, here are the latest stories from around the world.

NFL Week 15 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Dec. 18, 2016, 2:08 p.m. | In Professional »

The NFL season is winding down, which means the playoff races are ramping up. The Seahawks became the second team to punch their ticket after a Thursday night win, following in the footsteps of their NFC counterparts the Cowboys.

NFL Week 14 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Dec. 11, 2016, 12:47 p.m. | In Professional »

With just four weeks left in the NFL season, the Cowboys have already clinched a playoff spot. This week the Redskins will face off against their division rivals in Philly, while the Ravens will play the Patriots in an attempt to prove they belong in the playoffs.

NFL Week 13 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Dec. 4, 2016, 12:24 p.m. | In Professional »

With the playoffs looming, the Patriots rocked the NFL with the news that tight end Rob Gronkowski will miss the rest of the regular season after undergoing back surgery. Will the Pats' Super Bowl chances suffer because of this?

Local elections reshape the MoCo political landscape

By Ryan Handel | Nov. 30, 2016, 2:20 p.m. | In Local »

Along with the national presidential election on Nov. 8, several local elections took place in the county. Of the seven seats on the MCPS Board of Education, three were up for election, and Maryland voted on three different ballot measures, as well.

The NFL has it backwards

By Ryan Handel | Nov. 28, 2016, 2:21 p.m. | In Sports »

The punishments handed out by the NFL for drug offenses are extreme when compared to the punishments for domestic violence.

NFL Week 12 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Nov. 24, 2016, 12:37 p.m. | In Professional »

Happy thanksgiving! The Redskins will face off against the Cowboys in an important division matchup on this Turkey Day, while the Ravens play the Bengals on Sunday.

NFL Week 11 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Nov. 20, 2016, 11:43 a.m. | In Professional »

We're ten weeks into the NFL season, and some teams have been performing as expected, like the 7-2 Patriots and the 0-10 Browns. Surprisingly, there are a lot of teams that are not performing as expected.

Blair's football season ends in disappointment

By Ryan Handel | Nov. 18, 2016, 1:04 p.m. | In Blair »

Heading into Friday night's game against the Quince Orchard Cougars (10-1), the Blair Blazers (8-3) were eager to pick up their first playoff win in school history. However, they will have to wait until next year after being eliminated by the Cougars, 35-7.

NFL Week 10 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Nov. 13, 2016, 12:42 p.m. | In Professional »

We are headed into the playoff push. Currently lots of big teams are reeling from surprising losses, as the Eagles, Packers, Saints and Panthers all sit at or below a .500 record.

Blair football falls short against undefeated Damascus

By Ryan Handel | Nov. 10, 2016, 1:07 p.m. | In Blair »

The playoffs don't begin until next week for the Blair Blazers (8-2), but they still had to face an intimidating foe on Friday night: the Damascus Hornets (10-0). The Hornets had not lost a game since the 2014 3A state finals, and they kept that streak alive by edging the Blazers 35-27.

NFL Week 9 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Nov. 6, 2016, 10:24 a.m. | In Professional »

We're getting into the home stretch of the season. This is where seasons will be made. The Redskins take their bye week while the Ravens duke it out against their rivals from the Steel City. Can anyone keep up with the Cowboys in the NFC East?

NFL Week 8 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Oct. 30, 2016, 9:41 a.m. | In Professional »

The NFL no longer has any undefeated teams after the Eagles rocked the Vikings 21-10 last week. This week calls for a short slate of games, as six teams have their bye weeks, including the Ravens.

Blair football blows out Kennedy in homecoming game

By Ryan Handel | Oct. 25, 2016, 2:24 p.m. | In Blair »

Coming off their first loss of the season against Sherwood, the Blair Blazers (7-1) were eager to get back on track against the Kennedy Cavaliers (0-8). They did so in dominant fashion on Friday night, routing the Cavaliers by a score of 54-0.

NFL Week 7 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Oct. 23, 2016, 2:31 p.m. | In Professional »

The Vikings will put their undefeated season on the line the Eagles. The Redskins will look to take their fifth win in a row while the Ravens will play the Jets this week.

Blair football suffers first loss of season to Sherwood

By Ryan Handel | Oct. 17, 2016, 1:24 p.m. | In Blair »

Sherwood didn't need a strong passing game to achieve offensive success, as the Warriors put up 456 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns en route to a 43-26 win.

NFL Week 6 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Oct. 16, 2016, 9:40 p.m. | In Professional »

After five weeks, the Vikings are the only undefeated team standing. A Broncos loss and an Eagles loss left the Vikings alone on their bye week.

NFL Week 5 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Oct. 9, 2016, 12:07 a.m. | In Professional »

Week 4 of the NFL season saw two undefeated teams lose unexpectedly. Now down to the three undefeated teams, the Eagles and Vikings should be expecting to continue their undefeated seasons.

Blair begins free dinner program for all students

By Ryan Handel | Oct. 4, 2016, 9:53 p.m. | In Local »

Montgomery Blair has been selected by Montgomery County as one of ten high schools to start a program that will offer free dinner to all students. The program, which began at the start of this school year, is available to all students.

NFL Week 4 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Oct. 2, 2016, 8:23 a.m. | In Professional »

The Redskins recorded their first win of the season, and of the five undefeated teams, two are perennial winners, but there are three big surprises atop the standings (Eagles, Vikings and Ravens).

NFL Week 3 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Sept. 25, 2016, 10:16 a.m. | In Professional »

Another week down in the NFL season. Last week we saw a ton of injuries to some major players, most notably Danny Woodhead. Just kidding. Adrian Peterson left last week's game with a torn meniscus, and his status is seriously doubtful for this week.

Blair field hockey trounces Einstein

By Ryan Handel | Sept. 20, 2016, 7:44 p.m. | In Blair »

The Blair Blazers (2-2) defeated the Einstein Titans (0-4) in a 9-0 thrashing Friday night. After scoring three times in a solid first half, the Blazers turned up the heat in the second and slid past the Einstein defense for six more goals.

NFL Week 2 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Sept. 18, 2016, 12:22 p.m. | In Professional »

Week 2 of the NFL is coming, and the prediction team is here with their picks for this week's games. Lots of unanimous choices this week by our writers. Will those favorites hold their ground against teams hunting for an early-season upset?

Blazers offense overpowers Barons in home opener

By Ryan Handel | Sept. 12, 2016, 2:35 p.m. | In Blair »

After vaulting to number six in the Montgomery County football rankings, expectations were high for the Blair Blazers (2-0). But, the Blazers refused to let the pressure get to them. They pounded the BCC Barons (0-2) on Friday night by a score of 42-12, pummeling the Baron defense into the ground with 612 total yards of offense.

NFL Week 1 Predictions

By Nate Bodner, Ryan Handel, Ellie Williams, Benjamin Yokoyama | Sept. 11, 2016, 11:56 a.m. | In Professional »

Every football fan is excited for week one, but with a Super Bowl rematch to kick off the season, the slate is even better than expected.

Blair football stomps Northwood 35-0 in Battle of the Boulevard

By Ryan Handel | Sept. 5, 2016, 12:42 a.m. | In Blair »

The Blair Blazers (1-0) soundly defeated the Northwood Gladiators (0-1) by a score of 35-0 in the annual Battle of the Boulevard rivalry game on Friday night.

The Juno mission to Jupiter comes with a cost

By Ryan Handel | Aug. 11, 2016, 6 p.m. | In News Blog »

The Juno mission comes with an immense price tag, about $1.1 billion. This includes the $581 million it took to build the spacecraft and $342 million for continuous operation.

The Infiltrator somehow sneaks into theaters

By Ryan Handel | Aug. 1, 2016, 3:47 p.m. | In Movies »

Despite a talented cast and a compelling premise, The Infiltrator is an overall let-down. With too little exposition and too many moving parts, the movie is difficult to follow. A strong lead performance by Bryan Cranston, who plays undercover agent Robert Mazur, is not enough to overcome the vague plot and the many seemingly repetitive scenes.

Never forget

By Ryan Handel | July 22, 2016, 8:57 a.m. | In Op/Ed »

Each day, the number of remaining Holocaust survivors trickles down towards zero. This came into the international spotlight on July 2nd, when Holocaust survivor and acclaimed author Elie Wiesel passed away at the age of 87.