Ndamukong Suh

The entire dispute about whether or not Ndamukong Suh kicked Matt Schaub in the crotch on purpose or not seems stupid to me. It is very clear that he did not do it on purpose and was dragged down by the offensive lineman. He wasn't even facing him. I doubt that huge man can contort is body in that way to kick him there by choice. To be honest, even if he did it should not matter. It's part of the game. You take that risk as soon as you get on the field.

The fact that Suh got fined does't really matter anyway because it was only 30K. Thirty thousand dollars to him is like pocket change to any of us. He's probably spend that much one night in Vegas. Either way, it was not a big deal and I think that it was definitely blown out of proportion.

11/27

I always liked college football more because I felt as if they played with more heart. In pro football, you are getting paid no matter what so there isnt that much incentive to go above and beyond. I also thought that pro players were a bit arrogant and stuck up. College football players on the other hand are much more humble. They play because they love the game and want to win.




The topic that I am going to talk about is fantasy football. Fantasy football has been one of my favorite sports related activities  ever since I can remember. It is honestly the only reason I watch pro football. I never really got into professional football as much as college until I started partaking in this glorious past-time.

Sports Related Thanksgiving Memory

My favorite Thanksgiving memory relating to sports has to be the year that my whole family decided to play football. For some reason, they thought it would be good idea, but it ended up being a disaster. The game started off pretty relaxed and fun but within minutes it turned into a competitive battle. The guys on each team started getting into it and it got heated. By the end of the game we were playing full on tackle football with the guys while the girls cheered us on.

The actual meal that year was awesome because we all talked about how fun the game was. It gave us a good topic to talk about all night and it created a lot of good memories. The funniest one was when my uncle was running for an easy touchdown and he tripped and fell on his face.

Non-Sports Thanksgiving Memory

The most memorable Thanksgiving to me was the one where my uncle fried the turkey. I had never heard of anyone doing this so I was interested to see how it would come out. The process was very different then the normal way that you would cook a turkey. He took it in the back to the frier and fired it up. He then poured in a huge thing of vegetable oil and dumped the turkey in. At this point, it seemed as if everything was going as planned.

About thirty minutes into the cooking process, my uncle ran into a bit of a problem. The frier was leaking and overheating. He didn't think that this was really that big of a deal until the frier exploded! Luckily, my uncle had gone into the house for a minute to check on something in the kitchen. If not, it probably would have been a pretty sad Thanksgiving.

anti ad 11/15

       People should not be surprised about the use of drugs in college sports. Every college has it's drug population, usually led by the use of marijuana. Kids smoke weed every day, it's a part of life. Football players should be trusted and not had to be drug tested all the time. If we can trust normal college kids, the same trust should be put in the players. We aren't even paying them for their services for Christ's sake! If we paid them, it could keep some athletes out of jail. They're just trying to make a living selling some weed because they have no time to have a job. They're practicing football all of the time, bringing in millions of dollars, none of which they get a part of.
      
       I have the same viewpoint on the use of steroids. If someone wants to do that to their body, who am I to stop them. We have been given our rights of freedom for a reason. To take them away from these young athletes while they are trying to perform at their highest and best potential just seems unamerican to me.

whats happening in sports

The New Orleans Saints come to mind when I think of a big story in sports this year. They started off 0-4 then fought their way back with a 4-1 run in the last five games. Drew Brees finally started playing lights out football, as we're all used to, after starting off in a pretty mediocre way.

11/13

       I am featuring Michael Vick in my adbuster because he may be one of the most talked about NFL stars today. His conviction in jail for dog fighting a little while ago made big news and is still being talked about to this day. It has hit a bit of a nerve with some people, especially those who love dogs. It also changed many peoples perception of him from an explosive offensive phenom that couldn't be stopped to a mediocre, normal football player that hasn't really been winning lately. It also tends to get made fun of a lot in the media so making it the main focus of my adbuster should  make it easy to add a comical side to the paper.

     

Michael Vick Ad buster

I am going to use this picture to make Michael Vick's incident with dog fighting into a parody. The Humane Society is an organization that cares for animals so it is ironic that his face is on it.



This makes a joke about the whole incident. This can help me think of an idea on how to specifically make fun of the situation.

Commercial 10/30

The sports related commercial that I chose was a Nike commercial. This commercial portrays the journey that Troy palamolu and Ladanian Tomlinson take in order to reach their goals of one day becoming superstar football players. The commercial begins with Troy and Ladanian in their youth. They were obviously gifted young athletes and it shows this by running clips of them showing off their skills. It gives off an underlying message of extreme dedication. The commitment that these two men undertook at such a young age is well shown in this short commercial.

I like this commercial because I think it has a good overall message. It shows the common theme of hard work paying off in the end. I also think that this is a good way to motivate the youth of America to follow their dreams. Some kids don't even try for what they want because they start off not giving themselves a chance. If everyone in the world had the work ethic and commitment of these two men, the world would be a much better, much more productive place

Favorite Non Sports Movie

My favorite movie that doesn't involve sports has to be the Dark Knight Rises. In this movie, Batman portrays the themes of being an underdog, coming back from impossible odds, and the good guy always winning. Batman seems to be obviously defeated at one point in the movie which shows his portrayal of the underdog. He is trapped in the abyss with only one way out, a jump that has only been accomplished a single time. He trains himself and after a couple failures succeeds in his goal. He shows his ability to come back from impossible odds though this feat as well. Only one person had ever accomplished the jump, and it seemed for a while like it would stay that way. As usual, he showed his incredible work ethic by getting in shape in a place where he barely even was fed. It seemed as if he was even feeding off of some anger and resentment to push himself to those limits. Finally, by the end of the movie, Batman does indeed do the impossible and defeat the Antagonist role which fits perfectly into the typical action hero movie theme.

Blow Up Blog

Unfortunately I followed in my daily routine of waking up to late. I completely forgot to do my laundry and on top of that I never made my way to Publix like I told myself I would. To make it even worse, some idiot cut me off this morning in the worst traffic jam ever. I was inches away from swerving out of control and hitting a tree. You would think that my morning couldn't get any worse, right? Well if you thought that, you'd be wrong. When I got to work i was called into my boss' office. I kind of already had an idea that this was gonna happen, but it finally did. She handed me an envolope and told me to pack up my desk. I must admit, I didn't take it that well. I threw a bit of a temper tantrum and was escorted out by security. I made my way home to sit on my coach and start enjoying unemployment.

post #2

Happy Gilmore is by far my favorite sports movie. The themes that this movie portrays are imperfection, the good guy winning at the end, and love. This movie shows imperfection through Happy's unconventional swing. He did something that no one had done before and something that most people would regard as flawed. It also shows this trait when he gets angry and throws a temper tantrum multiple times per round. He curses and throws clubs like it's nothing, which is something the real PGA would never tolerate. He is, in essence, the exact opposite of the typical golfer.

The movie shows that the good guy always wins because Happy trains hard and eventually beats Shooter McGavin. He gets his start in golf from his one handed friend who teaches Happy everything he knows. A very important aspect of this theme is the fact that Happy doesn't always win. In fact, he sucked at the beginning of the movie. He had to persevere to win the money to buy back his grandma's house, which is the only reason he started playing in the first place.

Love is also a huge part of this movie. It starts off with Happy getting dumped. He goes on to partake in a one night stand with a matured asian woman, but I don't think that would be included in this particular theme of love. Anyways, Happy pursues the very attractive sports woman and eventually wins her over. This could also blend in with the theme of the "nerd" winning the ten.

   "33" by Klosterman talks about the epic rivalry between the Lakers and the Celtics during the times of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. He says that everything in life can relate to this matchup and that it represents  racism and a cultural schism in said subject. Since Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were two of, if not the two best players in the NBA at the time and one was white and one was black, it was sort of a representation of the racist thoughts during that time. This happens a lot in sports. Relate this event to the olympics in Lake Placid when the U.S team beat Russia. It was more than just a game of hockey to those people. It represented the ill feelings toward the russians because of the Cold War. This event gave them hope.
   "The End of Practice" by Jones portrays the intense feeling during football season. These kids take football extremely serious and make it their main concern. During football season, kids and parents alike get so amped up that it could even lead down a bad road. As we read before, parents can get so caught up in their childrens athletic career that they push them too hard. This can lead to a child losing interest in the sport completely.

 

Fresh Cut Grass

    Whenever I get the smell of fresh cut grass in my nose, I always think back to playing golf as a little kid. Don't get me wrong, I still play golf often, but this smell brings me back to a time of freedom and no responsibility. As a child, golf was purely fun. I never had to worry about making a team or playing good in a tournament. It was just about whacking some balls with your buddies while you laugh and have a good time. I see golf as more of a job now. It's serious and there are consequences if you do not perform. While I was being recruited by a college scout, I remember being so stressed out and feeling like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. This isn't how it should be and I'm reminded of that every time this sense is triggered. I think this trigger might be related to the fact that I would always go to golf camp early in the mornings during the summer. This is when the dew is still freshly scattered across the newly cut grass. That smell would always get me in a competitive mood, especially on tournament day.

Dear Tiger Woods,
     I would like to start off this letter by saying that I think people handled your little incident the wrong way. Only a true gentleman would take the time and effort to get to know so many classy, smart girls. You should not let the media affect you because they're just jealous and don't truly understand the situation. Honestly, I think that your wife is the one at fault. I've seen your Escalade and really liked it. What gives her the right to break a perfectly good window. Anyways, good job on your tour-leading three wins this year when everyone, except for me, was saying that you were finished. Once you can finally win a major again, you'll truly be back on top and I'll be saying I told you so quite a few times.
     This next portion of my letter goes out to your caddy. You suck. What friend leaves just when you need them the most. Tiger started your career and you would be nothing without him. Granted, you may have picked a pretty cool guy to go sell your soul to, you still suck.
                                            Sincerely,
                                                         Sean Weiss 
    

Participants Versus Spectators

     This article talks about the differences between participants in a sport and their spectators. They also delve into the topic of high performance athletes versus the common recreational athlete. The main difference between the two is the level of preparation. High performance athletes dedicate their entire lives to their sport. They train all year at the highest possible level that they can. Recreational sport participants have more of a leisurely outlook on this. They play solely because they love and enjoy the game. Also, another factor that may play an integral part in your selection of sport and level of participation is your environment. Geography, age, gender and social class each have effects on our abilities to compete. Say you live in Florida. How could you possibly be an olympic skier if it never snows? You're eighty-five years old but you've dreamt of being a pro baseball player since you were a young boy. This may also be a little challenging to accomplish because you cannot physically keep up with these elite athlete.
     Spectators also benefit from sports in various ways. First, it tends to bring people together. It can provide a common ground for people that would probably never interact were it not for sports. Also, it gives them something to help get away from their everyday problems. They can escape, in a way, and not have to worry about anything, at least while it lasts. On a larger scale, sports can provide enormous amounts of nationality. This is especially prevalent every four years when the olympics comes around. Even in a countries worst times, sports can give them a way of inspiration and hope that they may not have been able to find anywhere else.

Post 2

Blog 1

9/3/12

ENC 1145

 

"Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio" and "Three-Man Weave" both have many themes that seem to be  very similar. The first and most obvious theme seems to be one of racism and discrimination. The three man weave portrays attitudes of lessened expectations for native americans in the basketball world at the time. The five man team of natives was never given a shot until they actually proved their naysayers wrong. On the other hand, the short poem touches on racism as well  but in a more generalized way. It talks about families of minorities hoping and waiting for success but never actually speaks of them achieving it.

          Both readings have a related feeling of inspiration and a sense of rejuvenation by sports. It brings cultures together to celebrate their accomplishments as a whole and individually. These memories can make places for people in history and make their legacy last far beyond their years on this Earth. One great game can immortalized an average man in sports history. Sports even have the power to make people nostalgic. Remembering things because they played such a large role in your life can bring back some strong emotions.  Another thing that sport provides in cultural terms is a common ground. It gives the white man, the black man, the yellow man and every color in between the chance to be on an even playing ground and display what they can do.

          Both of these pieces of writing can definitely help me formulate an idea for my paper. From the poem, I would probably use the idea of an over-emphasis on sports and them taking over family's and lives. In my life, sports have been huge, especially to my grandfather. Ever since I could walk, he has wanted me to be a golf phenom. This feeling was probably amplified, seeing as how he never had a son and I was his only grandson. He would come watch me play in golf tournaments and it pained him to see me play poorly. I would even go as far as saying that he cared about me winning more than I did.
           "Three-Man Weave" will help me write about the struggle of not always being the best in my sport but never giving up. Throughout my entire golf career, I have always struggled with not being the best. It is torturous, but in the end it is beneficial. Having to practice hour on end every day of your life to try and keep up with the elite gives you a sense of fulfillment and pride. Just like anything in life, seeing your hard work pay off is reward in itself, but that one moment when you finally win as the underdog is a feeling  that you can't even begin to explain.

prompt 1

       The first day that my grandpa took me out to the golf course that he used to play at when I was six years old was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between me and "old man par". I use this term because this is what he used to say when he was talking about the game of golf. He always used to tell me, "It's just you against the golf course. Don't worry about what anyone else is doing, you can only control what you do". This saying stuck with me throughout the years because I have come to realize, as my wisdom and knowledge about the game grew and matured, that he was absolutely right.
       All throughout my childhood I took part in every recreational sport that you can think of. Little league baseball, soccer, football, basketball, hockey. You name it, I played it. Then one day at the beginning of my seventh grade year, my grandpa asked me if I wanted to go to the golf course again like when I was a kid. I was skeptical at best because I had always heard kids make fun of people who played golf. They would say it was easy to hit a ball with a stick, especially if it was just sitting there waiting for you to crush it. Nevertheless, I went with him. As the day went on and my grandpa told me funny stories about him and his friends on the course and shocked me with amazing shots, I immediately fell in love. On that day, I had officially become hooked on golf and have never looked back since.