Summary/Analysis of the Marion Jones Documentary

            Marian Jones, who has a remarkable story of hard work and persistence that was brought to an abrupt end. She was cut short during her career when plead guilty for the illegal use of PED's. Marian was one of the fastest women athletes on the planet in her prime entering the Olympics. She was sentenced to prison for two cases after the trial, lying to officials stating she never used PED's and the actual use of PED's. This was indeed a tough setback for the young athlete, but she most certainly was not done striving for an athletic career. After she was released from jail Marian was forced to forfeit her Olympic winnings of three gold and 2 bronze medals. Also after she was released from prison she began to train to play basketball, another sport she played in college and growing up.




          Her track star days may just be memories of the past now, but she was on to bigger and better things inspiring athletes to never give up all around the world. Marians training for basketball paid off when she was drafted to play as a bench player on a WNBA team. She averaged a short amount of minuets but was valuable to the team in hustle and snatching rebounds and loose balls. Also, as a way to show kids that not giving up pays off, Marian went to several high schools and spoke to the students. She told her story and explained how she kept working and eventually made it back to being where she wanted to be in her life. Marian also has a family that she loves and takes care of dearly and she knows looking in hindsight that she still has things for her family to look up to even after the incident.

Final

https://youtu.be/5bJRXRHbrkE    https://youtu.be/Dd_2hFGfDXw

 
  Sam Baker, the only freshman to play on the Lancers varsity basketball team, Norton ended their basketball season with a 16-8 record overall. The team's season ended in a heartbreaking loss to ORR in the Division 3 South finals. Star players being the senior starting five group of Jason O'Neil, Bret Murphy, Keenan Coffey, Brandon Jenkins, and Paul Caramanica. Who led the Lancers through their high winning season. Sam's first appearance on the varsity floor was at home against the Holliston Panthers to finish up the game at point guard. The crowd was full of excitement knowing the Lancers had the win, when their bench entered, and they were ready to show the fans the skill they possessed.

          On January 9, 2015 Norton High hosted the Holliston Panthers in high hoped for yet another  team win, and that is most certainly what they achieved. The Lancers played a strong game offensively and defensively and finished it with a comfortable final score of 69-42. The starting five again having a team play style and sharing the points throughout themselves, Matt Petersen, sophomore came off the bench also contributing hustle plays and rebounds to help keep then Lancers lead steady. As the games end was nearing, coach Mark Liberatore sent in the rest of his roster to close out the game. Sam Baker being the player to enter the game as the point guard.

            Sam, arguably one of the better freshman basketball player to attend Norton High and play for the Lancers A strong willed player and is granted for his hard work with a spot on the varsity team. Yet with such a strong starting five from the Lancers getting minutes out on the court is an uphill battle, for any player on varsity especially an underclassman. Knowing that Sam Baker's work ethic became even more eye-popping than before as he began the long road fighting for varsity minutes. "He has become on of the hardest working players on this team" friend and teammate of Sam, Nick Ruby, freshman on the JV basketball team, said after a tough practice when he noticed all the passion Sam puts into building his basketball attributes. In this case, going into the mid-season opener against Holliston had Sam thinking, this game is the game. Meaning he knows something special could happen.

            Luckily, for Sam that night was his time to get some action. Although for fans when the clock is winding down and there seems to be a clear cut winner of the game, not much excitement occurs. On the other hand, for the players finally getting a chance to show themselves, this was an audition. Sam knew he had to at least show he could facilitate the game, a vital aspect of the point guard position as well as controlling the tempo of the game. That he did, keeping the game at the ideal pace for the Lancers to walk away with a well-played win. Baker used ball handling skills on offense and quickness on defense in the final minute to finish off the Panthers. "I'm sappy to see his skills greatly improving also, I'm happy he finally got minutes on the varsity floor." Josh Leafer said just after the game. He ended the game with one assist to give the Lancers their final bucket in his minute of playtime.

         "But a minute was all he needed" spectator Tim Munger said in the post game also adding "I'm glad he got to give the coaches a good look into the future" Sam, glad with his performance nonetheless knowing he was still the only freshman this year to accomplish such a feat. Others very proud after his showing. Most are well awarevhis hard work and perseverance paid off in the end. Sam ended his season as a starter on the JV team and doing very well, also adding those varsity minutes.
 

        I was lucky enough to land an interview with the freshman basketball player. Sam was a person who spoke the truth and understood what it meant to work hard to reach a goal, he is known to always adhere to his word. Some of the better answers he gave came when I asked about why he works so hard and what motivates him. For example, when asked who his role model was he answered, "Bret Murphy one of my very good friends" and went on to explain because he was also such a good mentor, and a good athlete to set your goals towards. He also answered explaining how chemistry and how friendly the team was with each other played a role in this seasons success when asked how his teammates get along. Lastly, when asked how he played he was not very fulfilled with how he played, hoping for a more copious box score. He was still very glad to be apart of the game. Sam also understands that he has to show himself to get what he wants, a trait not many people this age possess.

BP #10

             

In the article "It Was Lightning And Thunder" by Will Grimsley he used several of the tips from "10 Tips for Improving Scholastic Sports writing". He uses the tip listed as number five, know sports writing styles. He does this by showing stats, numbers, and dates writing in the correct format. Grimsly also uses the first tip, writing about certain players, not just that certain game or in this case match. He does this when he first introduces Ali, giving the background information that he is a worshipper of Allah, and giving his age as well as his opponents age. Lastly, he uses the sixth tip for improving scholastic sports writing, making sure the sports stories are the last stories turned in before deadline. For example, he used the latest information on the match. Although the match was a long time ago, using the most updated stories is still a very good option. The rhetorical strategy Grimsley uses is logos. Examples of him using logos was using real logical facts from the match and things that actually happened.
         
                For my second article, I read "The Prodigal Son Returns" by Mark Farinella and he uses many tips for improving his sports writing as well as themes from the rhetorical triangle. One tip he uses to make his writing better is tip number 1, writing about players and teams, not just games. For example he writes about how Brandon Spikes is sort of a "Loose Cannon, undisciplined on and off the field." He also says that Spikes and Bill Belichick have "No bad blood" and Spikes says "You can clearly see that me and hoodie kissed and made up," Another tip for improving his sports writing he used was number 3, keep up with the team statistics and use them frequently in stories. He uses this by  giving a lot of quotes on how Spikes was not there when the Patriots won their most recent Superbowl this past year. This works into tip number three because the fact of them winning comes up in a few occasions, winning the Superbowl being the most prestigious statistic in the NFL. Farinella's use of the rhetorical triangle was logos. It was logos because he used quotes describing how the player and coach have no hard feelings for each other and have "Kissed and made up,".

Blog Post #9 Deflate Gate

            Deflate Gate, a controversy that was unveiled during the 2015 AFC Championship game. What occurred during the game was the league found that the footballs the New England Patriots were using were under inflated. The league found that the majority of the footballs were un-inflated for a competitive advantage. The games outcome was 45-7 in the Patriots favor over the Indianapolis Colts. The general problem at this point is who is to blame, and what should the overall punishment be on the Patriots as well as their quarterback Tom Brady. Is his legacy tarnished?

             In my opinion, I think that Tom Brady is neither guilty nor completely innocent. I believe this because clearly he knew about what was going on with the deflation of footballs but, he I also think he did not directly ask to lower the PSI by a certain amount. Therefore, I think the ball boys were aware that Brady's ideal throw comes from a ball that is a little softer or less inflated, and they took it too far by taking out way too much air. Tom was probably aware of this but did not have anything against the fact that it was giving him a competitive advantage so he did not bother saying anything to change it. Also, the Patriots would have won the game even without their passing touchdowns, due to a great game on the ground by LeGarrett Blount. The accusations in Wells' report were too vague to put all the blame just towards Brady, I do believe they deserve a punishment. I do not think the punishment should single out Tom Brady without solid evidence it was him.

            I most certainly do not believe the punishment given to Tom Brady is justifiable for many reasons. First, the evidence only shows the Patriots as a team did the deflation of footballs, therefore the full blame should not be put onto Tom Brady. I understand the fines as well as the draft picks taken away, but to suspend Brady for four games seems like too much. If anything I think the suspension should be shorter than four games. All in all, I think the punishment put on Tom Brady is not fair and should at least be shortened.

        There are many different possible solutions to how the punishment could be distributed to the team or how they settle this situation. What I would offer as a solution to the NFL on administering punishments about the deflate gate is a few different things actually. One thing I would do is continue the research and investigation to find out if it actually does lead directly to Tom Brady if so, the suspension could be added on to and the fines and draft picks could be reduced. Or, if the investigation was brought further and no more evidence of it lead directly to Tom I would reduce his punishment and make the punishment towards the entire organization instead of directly at a player.

Blog post #8

        "The Short Game" the director Josh Greenbaum shows and explains the world championship of golf, that is made up of kids 8 and under. It also explains how the children work to get the championship and how the kids sacrifice their childhood to become the next great golfer. The film first starts off showing interviews with the kids showing their home life and family, their love for golf as well as the kids goals in the future. The director then shows how the players start off their first hole. Unfortunately, for Jed Dy on his first hole he was only a minute late and was rewarded a ten stroke penalty, that without he would have won. As for the other golfers we were introduced to Allan, Zama, Alexa, Agustin, Sky, and Amari had good starts on their first hole. After three days of golfing the winners took the podium. Allan came in first for the boys division, and Amari for the girls. Zama finished in 18th place, and won the most improved award as he finished in 43rd the previous year. All the other competitors we met finished relatively well.

         Personally, Josh Greenbaum's film "The Short Game" was a very good film, and I liked it a lot. I especially liked how they used a lot of cut scenes into interviews of the players, it really showed how involved the kids were in  the tournament. Josh Greenbaum was also very good at showing how the parents reacted as their children competed. Overall, it was a very well-done film.

        In Josh Greenbaum's documentary "The Short Game" he shows the hard work young children go through to be apart of the golfing World Championship. The producer first shows how hard they work by giving clips of interviews where the children go through their busy day to day schedule, and to conclude he presents the kids golfing well into the night or working out with a personal trainer whenever they are not golfing or at school by showing short clips of them doing this strenuous work. His purpose is to envision viewers in order to show how hard kids even younger than 8 will work to play golf. He seems to have a parent of an athlete, or any athlete audience in mind because the documentary highlights the fun all the athletes have working at a common goal.

Blog Post Number 7

         In Trevor Martin's documentary "Schooled- The Price of College Sports(2013)" , he persuades that college athletes are treated unfairly in the NCAA. The director first shows unfairness of the NCAA by presenting a story of a college athlete Devin Ramsey, a running back for UNC and how he got indefinitely suspended for getting help on an essay by a tutor and showing it to his teacher, which according to the NCAA is a violation. He then exposes wrongdoings by the NCAA with including ex-college athletes who greatly struggled to get a full education because sports often got in the way. To conclude, he shows more wrongdoings of the NCAA by presenting the concern of athletes who are getting exploited by the NCAA, for example the UCLA basketball player who was put into a video game without his consent. His purpose it to persuade viewers in  order to inform them the risks of being a student-athlete in the NCAA. He seems to have a general athlete audience in mind because they could be upcoming college athletes and should be aware the risks of being apart of the NCAA. I completely agree with Trevor Martin's documentary because the rest of the public should know about the wrongdoings of the NCAA.

          To sum up Schooled- The Price of College Sports, Trevor Martin really strives to show how the NCAA players are treated in a sub-par manor. Although, he gives representatives from both sides of the argument he clearly shows the the NCAA is at fault. Trevor uses many examples as how this is happening in current day college sports, as well as wrongdoings of the NCAA in the past.

JJ Nelson Worthy of $100,000

         J.J Nelson former receiver of UAB he ran the fastest 40-yard dash in the NFL combine. According to a Adidas the top three times in the 40 will get an endorsement and $100,000, as long as the athlete wear Adidas cleats while they run. There is a valid argument for both sides, here is why Rovell persuaded me to be on J.J Nelson's side of the story.
        Adidas' less compelling side of the argument, "Open to athletes who sign with Adidas prior to running their 40 yard dashes later this month," is saying that they did not give J.J the money because he did not sign with Adidas prior to running. Although this makes sense J.J claims " I signed some waiver at some point, but I was never given a chance to sign an endorsement deal" Nelson also tells ESPN.com  " I wasn't completely focused on it at he time, I was obviously focused on getting a good time first."