Marion Jones

     In the documentary about track phenomenon, Marion Jones, it explains about what she went through after admitting to using Performance Enhancing Drugs. Initally, an interview is shown where she breaks down to the public explaining that the previous accusations about her were true. She was sentenced to six months in prison. Jones ended up sent to solitary confinement when she defended herself against a jail mate who came at her, but she never was given the chance to explain it was self defense. For fifty days she spent twenty three hours alone in a small room. On her time spent alone, she worked out often. After her fifty days, she was happy to go back to a normal routine before getting out and returning to her husband and children. After returning home she had another baby and became ambitious in basketball. Marion Jones' track career came to a halt and she went through a rough time, but she excelled and found happiness in her family and in basketball.  

     Marion Jones was imprisoned unfairly in my opinion. Multiple other athletes have admitted to the use of PED's and none of them ever did jail time. A-Rod, for instance, a player for the New York Yankees, was caught using steroids. He was suspended for a season and he was fined, but he did no jail time. Yes, Marion Jones did lie about it and yes, she did disappoint many, but she should not have received a greater punishment than any others found guilty of the same thing. Many believe this was a race issue and others believe it was just pure jealousy. It is unfair that she had something she loved taken away from her forever and she had everything she earned removed from her. What about the many people who have not been caught for using steroids? What about those who may never get caught? At least she came out and told the truth, it just shows she cared about her reputation, family, and fans enough to not continue lying. She may have had track taken away from her and some awards, but nobody will ever be able t take away what she achieved and how far she came after telling the truth.

FINAL

     The Bellingham Blackhawks defeated the Norton Lancers 9-5, but Norton's girls lacrosse players fought until the end at their last home regular season game on May 22, 2015.

     Norton played an independent schedule, testing the waters to see what they could do against different level teams. Norton's improvement may not have been reflected by the score, but Norton played hard.

     Norton played Bellingham earlier in the season suffering a 20-2 loss. Norton improved their passing, cutting, defense, and overall game by the time the second match up against Bellingham came around, making Bellingham have to step it up a little bit more than the first game. Both teams played much harder, with more agility, and better games in all aspects in the later season match up.

     Lancers' Christi Brennan and Taylor Mulvehill helped step up Norton's offensive game. Brennan was winning some important draws, many leading to Norton's goals, scoring one herself. Effort is to success as winning a draw was to scoring a goal in this game. Mulvehill scored two out of five of the goals Norton scored in this game. Bellingham's defense did a good job marking Norton, but both were challenging their defense by making cuts, critical passes for Norton's offense, and tactical plays.
     Late in the second half with two minutes to go, Norton started playing hard and pressuring Bellingham's defense. Norton answered with two goals scored by Brennan and Norton's only senior, Emily Weber ending the game with only a three goal difference. Both crowds grew vociferous as Norton's offense made it impossible for Bellingham's defense to become inert. Players on both sides of the field's performances were laudable and it was clear these girls were zealous to play to the best of their abilities.

     Should Norton and Bellingham play each other next year, Norton will be determined to win. They've lost both games against them, but improved greatly between match ups. Norton's Taylor Mulvehill says, "I believe that we can beat Bellingham. As a team we really need to work on ground balls and draw controls, once we get those down, we will be more successful in upcoming seasons."

Taylor Mulvehill scores an 8 meter twelve minutes 
into the second half. (10:45+)   

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMtFbTHlSxA                                    
Norton scores two goals in under two minutes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbJr5XzTQSo

                              DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
        1.Who did Norton play for their final home game?
        2. Was Norton's performance in the first half or second half better?
                                        3. What skills were Norton using to complicate Bellingham's defense?
                                        4. In what ways does Norton need to improve to increase their chance of 
                                            beating Bellingham in the future according to Taylor?
                                        5. Do you think Norton can beat Bellingham in the upcoming season? Do                                                 you think they will be more successful next season? 

BP #10

     Will Grimsley, author of 'It was lightning and thunder,' wrote an article on the fiftieth anniversary continuing to display the controversy between Sonny Liston and Ali's title match. Muhammad Ali's victory over Sonny Liston became a huge debate when Liston claimed he never heard the count after getting knocked within the first minute. Liston got back up thinking the fight was still going on. The referee, Joe Walcott, had to break up the fight because Ali had already won. 

     In the informative and debating article, Will Grimsley addresses the idea that this match was a big controversy and many fans of boxing were disappointed and felt that it was rigged. Grimsley's audience seems to be a boxing fan base and people interested in the debate. He included multiple quotes from many different people involved in the dispute. He also asked questions throughout the article to really involve the reader.

___________________________________

     In "Pedroia power not enough for Sox," by Al Schoch, the May 27th game against the Twins is highlighted. He explains that although Dustin Pedroia played an outstanding game, giving the Sox a two run lead to start, Boston fell to Minnesota 6-4. The author gave quotes from players and coaches to give readers different aspects of the game. Schoch also provides statistics between The Sox and the Twins' previous games. Overall, he provided readers with a very detailed overlook of he game between the two teams.   

 

BP #9

     The New England Patriots are being accused of cheating in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots defeated the Colts 45-7, but their glory was short-lived when they were soon being investigated about tampering the game balls. Accusations say they allegedly deflated the majority of the game balls to give themselves an advantage in the game. Many football fans are just blowing it off saying they don't even care about the situation and they just want to stop hearing about it. Others find it preposterous that they're being accused of this and some don't find it surprising at all. Deflate gate is being blown way out of proportion by the media.

     The Patriots are a team and a decision this big wouldn't have been made only by their QB, Tom Brady. Others would've been aware of what was going on and would've at least had an idea about it. The Wells Report has inaccurate facts and there are also multiple scenarios as of to why you cannot blame just one person for this. Initially, the referees should've checked the footballs if they believed there was an foul play going on and they didn't. Additionally, anybody planning on cheating would have to literally have a plan.. you don't CHEAT on accident. More than one person wouldn't been plotting on the event this was on purpose. Subsequently, there was also a big toss up as to whether or not the deflation could have been due to the air pressure from the cold air. On numerous occasions, while deflate gate has been going on, speculators have been jumping to conclusions without actually knowing what happened to the eleven game balls. 

     The punishment the Patriots suffer is losing two draft picks, being fined one million dollars, and losing their star QB, Tom Brady, for the first four games of the season. Brady will be on the bench for the first quarter of the season, unpaid. The punishment, towards Brady, is highly excessive. Tom Brady, if guilty, clearly did not do this on his own, therefore he should not be singled out as one the way he was. They are a team and they should go down as a team, the QB who holds the team shouldn't have to sit suspended when he was not the only one who partook in this. Strategically, Tom Brady is key in the Patriots line up and who knows how New England may suffer without him. It isn't utterly surprising that Tom Brady was who they targeted and suspended for four games without any outstanding evidence. 

     The number one solution for Deflate Gate at this point is to just drop it. What's done is done and whether or not they actually deflated the footballs, everybody will have their own opinions. The Patriots should just suffer the consequences with their heads held high and give this season their all and prove that they can still be extremely hard to beat in any fair game. Even if New England was found innocent, people would still assume they did it..no matter what you can't change one's opinion. 

     

BP8

     The general argument made by Josh Greenbaum in The Short Game, is that it is okay to enroll these kids into this level of competition of sports if the parents are supportive of them and stick with it for them. The kids train hard every single day and the parents are there for it all. There were nine seven to eight year olds highlighted in the film, all of which play golf at a very competitive level.  Most viewers would probably see this as a disgrace and feel bad for the kids because they think they're childhood is more so like an adulthood already.  Huge amounts of money and time are put in for the kids to practice and participate in tournaments. The documentary allows both opinions to be seen. The kids are seen happy when they do a fair job in a golf tournament and they were also shown highly distraught at some simple mistakes too. For instance, Allan Kournikova is an average boy besides the fact he comes from a very rich family. He still hangs out with friends and spends time with his family, but at the same time a huge majority of his time is being dedicated to hard training for golf. Any child's main concern should be to just enjoy what is going on, they shouldn't be worried about how many reps they can do, how many hours per week they spent on a course, or how many trophies they have brought home.

     In my view, Greenbaum is wrong because these kids are being pushed way too far and being expected of too much. I, personally, believe they are being tossed too much at once. Their entire life is revolving around golf and nothing else. I think this level of competition shouldn't be reached until around ten years of age or older because at that point kids know of it is really what they want to commit all of their time to. Although Greenbaum shows the parents supporting these children, I just don't believe they are mentally or physically ready to take this on yet. Kids should be able to go out and play with their friends or go home and watch TV with their family.. these select kids are having to put their childhood aside and act like they are in the pros and basically spend every other waking moment on the course. I strongly oppose the stress these children are having to undergo at such a young age.

     In the documentary, Greenbaum persuades that there is not an issue with young children being involved with extremely competitive sports with supportive parents to a certain extent. He interviews families of different races and different social classes to show the common obstacles and the similar good moments by giving background information on each of the highlighted kids. He shows that throughout their time spent in golf they overcome adversity and build from their mistakes by pinpointing some of their improvements. Ethical appeals he reiterates are that kids should be taught to exercise to stay healthy, not to excel in professional sports and kids should do it to have fun, not for the money or fame of it. His purpose is to expose people to the negative and positive effects of these high levels of competition at such young ages in order to prevent the negative effects. He seems to have a family/parent audience in mind because this is a growing phenomenon in today's culture.

BLOG POST #7

     In Trevor Martin's documentary "Schooled- The Price of College Sports" (2013), he stresses that the NCAA treats its student athletes very unfairly. Martin first provides information to support his argument by using montage with voice overs throughout the movie, he then furthermore supports his claim with strong analogies, and to conclude he organized multiple interviews with people from different aspects of the situation. His purpose is to expose conflicts concerning player compensation in the NCAA in order to spread awareness about players being exploited and hopefully make a change in the players' favor.

     "They are not employees, they're students." This was said many times throughout the movie, and I personally think it has no meaning. Student athletes put everything they have into college sports just to be exploited. They ARE employees, they just are not aware of it. Coaches push them and they are still cashing out. What are the players getting? Nothing. Student athletes always have to be extra careful what they are doing on and off the field because one wrong move and any scholarship they may have can be taken. Colleges don't like being held accountable for any problems these athletes have and that is wrong. NCAA players deserve a profit because they are being cut to the core and they are trying to juggle so much at once to begin with. The amount of money NCAA coaches make is outstanding, and I believe that players should be receiving some of that money, after all, they are the ones playing the game. The NCAA should be frowned upon just after hearing upsets like "everybody has a right except the player" and "a mass murderer has more rights than players." The athletes of the NCAA are in desperate need of a change, and they deserve to be able to play the sports they love without being exploited.
   

SPORTS BIO

     My name is Felicia Ruffing. I play soccer and lacrosse. I started playing soccer when I was eight and played defense. I moved through every position and now my main positions are goalie and offense. I currently do not have a record of my own at NHS for soccer because I suffered a hip injury that began and ended my season for me. This is my first year for lacrosse and I have been making it my main focus. My main interest is to dedicate most of my play time on attack. I have been training hard and doing what I can to improve my skill work. This season is going to be far from easy for us, but I'm ready to rise to the challenge and contribute to the team as much as I can. I also hope to join a club team as soon as possible as well. My two favorite sports to watch are football and hockey. My favorite athlete is Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins. He is widely known as one of the best players in the NHL. He is a great person on and off the ice. I love watching him play because he gives every game his all. Sports are such a big part of my life, I'm not sure what I would do without them. One of my favorite sports quote is "I can accept the failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying again.