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,".