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."                          
       

Celtics fall to Warriors 2-1-15

        Isaiah Thomas' 20 Points wasn't enough to hold 26-point halftime lead against Steph Curry and the Warriors. Last Sunday at the TD Garden, the C's defensive breakdown cost them the game. After a mediocre second half performance, the Celtics fall 106-101.
        Although the Celtics came out with a hot hand for shooting, putting up 38 first quarter points. The Celtics hit three straight three-pointers to continue their push in the lead, in a span of 60 seconds to pull them ahead by 26 with 6:53 left in the half.
         The lead still too close for comfort against the Warriors, who have the second best record in the NBA and seem like they can hit threes on command with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
        Surely enough, Golden State slowly chipped away and the fourth quarter was winding down at a now back and fourth game. Both Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes drove for hard layups to give the Warriors a 3 point lead with 26 seconds left. On the Celtics last chance, Isaiah Thomas had a good shot for three to tie the game but missed, as he watched the Celtics hopes to win the game fade away.
       "Twenty whatever we were up in the first half felt like three to me, and 16 at half-time feels like two against those guys. They just come back so fast." Celtics coach Brad Stevens said after the game.
        To recap the game Isaiah Thomas' 20 points couldn't cut it for the C's after he missed the game tying three.

"Hoop Dreams" Timelessly Influential

        The 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams" influenced many children all around years after production, and still today shows kids to follow your dreams. After watching and reading about this movie I am compelled to share my feelings towards it, I highly recommend it to anyone who has not seen "Hoop Dreams". In the beginning the two young boys William and Arthur show a lot of talent and even more determination as they work on their skills of the game. My feelings throughout the whole film were very content and uplifted the kids were pursuing basketball dreams in the right direction, until one certain point in the film when William injured his knee and shortly after Arthur is forced to leave the high school both boys were attending St. Josephs, a private mostly white school. At this point I felt sympathetic for both Arthur and William struggling to over come bumps on their road to being great players. Although Williams injury was a very tough obstacle and made me feel bad for him, most of my sympathy was for Arthur now forced to attend his public inner-city high school. Arthur now has to prove his skills all over again and re-earn a playing spot on the team. The coaches like him and let him join the team, but the film still portrays Arthur as a less important player than William, because William plays varsity.
        This moving documentary also influences everyone on other important things. A huge influential section of "Hoop Dreams" is showing that kids need to understand that their biggest role model doesn't have to be you're favorite athlete or someone you know that makes the most money, it should be your parents at home the ones providing everything you have to you working as hard as they can to keep you content. Lastly, something else that I felt an influence from was not a major part in the movie, how the two boys stayed off drugs an alcohol throughout the entirety of the movie. This really showed that if you do what you love, work hard at it, and use you're favorite hobby or sport to keep you're mind off things it can also keep you off things in the streets like drugs, alcohol, or anything else that poses a threat to negatively impact you're life. "Hoop Dreams" will forever be a movie that people can use to influence, help them through hard times and show that you are never permanently "on the streets".

How Do Professional Sports Impact Culture?

        Do professional sports impact culture? Are there negative effects to sports impacting cultures? Well, sports all around the world have impacts on individuals as well as entire cultures. For example, racism in sports is virtually unheard of, during games all you can think about is working together to get the win not their background or culture. Although there are uncountable amounts of positive effects sports have on cultures, but there are also a few negative effects. For example, if a sport takes your mind completely off everything else it could make you forget important events occurring in your culture leading to you not approaching them when you should.
        Further into example, sports largely impacts cultures all around during the Super Bowl, anyone in favor of the same team for the super bowl game can instantly become friends and just watch the game together no matter the others culture. Or, on a less happy note sports can have a negative impact on a culture. For example, Cuba's last showing in the World Cup was during a drug cartel war, killing thousands of innocent people in their home country. Then when the Cuban soccer team returned home after a loss in the second round, forgetful of the terrible shootings going on. The players basically only thinking of practicing and improving. Soon after they were home one of the teams best defense-man was unexpectedly murdered, shocking the team and reminding them of the cultural battles going on. All in all, in any way a sport can hugely effect or impact culture, breaking culture barriers for even a short time to enjoy the sport together.

Do Americans like Vilains in Sports?

       Do Americans like villains in sports? Lately, there hasn't been many "villainous" players throughout major league sports. Although a lot of players in sports have so many people that hate them, they aren't villain like people. For example, Lebron James one of the most hated NBA players in this region is actually a great person, he is a frequent donator to various charities and a good guy to the press and public. Another good example is Tom Brady, the most hated quarterback in the present day NFL but he is also a great man just playing the game he was born to play. The basis of his hate is because he is such a great player, people that are not Patriots fans hate him for the sole reason that he is a winner. Tom Brady also a frequent charity donator, and nice to the public, he donates to a charity called " Best Buddies International".
         There may be no current villains in major league sports but from previous villainous players in sports being very popular there is proof Americans do love villains. The most popular group of villains in sports, "The Bad Boys" a team who's starting five was feared and hated throughout the NBA but loved by viewers all around. The "Bad Boys" of the Detroit Pistons most famous season being the NBA's "villain was the 1989-90 season. The starting five being point guard Isiah Thomas, shooting guard Joe Dumars, small forward Mark Aguirre, power forward Dennis Rodman, and center Bill Laimbeer. These players main goal other than winning games was to take out the opposing's team best player in any way possible. The viewers of the NBA across the nation loved "The Bad Boys" for shutting down the best players in the NBA and making the game more physical, and more interesting for that matter. This clearly shows that Americans like villains in sports.

Super Bowl Sunday

     Sunday, February 1st, Super Bowl Sunday A big day for fans in New England and Seattle because the Patriots led by Tom Brady looking for his fourth ring and a young Seahawks team led by captain Russell Wilson for his second Super Bowl appearance. I myself, a patriots fan, am very excited for a good battle between the two powerhouse football teams of the NFL. The Seahawks are looking to be the second team in history to win two Super Bowls in a row, the other team being the Patriots in 03'-04', and the Patriots looking to be the third coach quarterback duo to win 4 super bowls together. I am expecting a great game that comes down to the wire.
     I'm really hoping the Patriots can pull out a win, but the Seahawks are a great team and also have a lot of potential to win the game. I personally think that at the end its all going to be decided by the running game. If the Patriots defensive line can stop Marshawn Lynch and can pressure Russell Wilson in the pocket the Patriots will have the edge. On the other hand, if the Seahawks can stop Brady from throwing with a lot of time in the pocket and not letting Blount get yards after the initial contact the game would be theirs. The game could go either way we will have to wait and see.

AFC Game Footballs Were Checked Properly

     The general argument made by the Associated Press of "The Sun Chronicle" in their work, "NFL: Ref checked AFC title game footballs properly" The head of the NFL officials, Dean Blandino, says that the pre-game ball inspection was done correctly. The Sun Chronicles associated press writes, "As the league's investigation into the Patriots' use of under-inflated footballs moves along, Blandino  made it clear the officiating crew foe New England's win over Indianapolis did its job." In this passage, the associated press is suggesting that the officiating crew should have no further involvement in the situation. They believe this because the officials did their job correctly and inspected the footballs to regulation before the start of the AFC championship game. In conclusion, the Sun Chronicles Associated Press' belief is that the referee's had nothing to do with the deflation of footballs during the Patriots vs. Colts AFC championship game.


     In my view, The Associated Press is correct because I think, the referees did their job to the fullest of their extent and the footballs were inflated to regulation, they should not be dragged into the investigation and have to take part in the blame if the Patriots are guilty of deflating the balls. More specifically, I believe that the refs of the AFC championship game should not have to take blame for any part of deflating the balls, if they checked the footballs when necessary. For example, if they were not to check the balls, I understand why the deflated footballs situation could fall into the refs hands, but they did their job correctly and should not be receiving any blame. Therefore, I conclude that under any circumstance the referees of the AFC championship game should not take any sort of blame for the deflated footballs.

What are sports?

     Sports have many different definitions depending on the person you are talking to. Everyone has their own way that they explain what a sport is, but what is the real definition? Well, I believe a sport is where either an individual or a team work together against other teams or individuals to achieve a common goal. Also, i think a sport could just be something someone uses an activity to entertain, usually including any sort or competition. Sports can range from things like cycling to frolf.
     I also believe that a sport must involve some part of teamwork at one point or another. Unless the fact that you participate in your sport as an individual, you would still need at some point a coach or a mentor to teach you, which is still depicted as teamwork. All in all, the real meaning of sport to me is a way to have fun.