My brotha

Growing up as a kid i was the youngest of three kids in my family. My brother is seven years older than me and everything he did i wanted to do, everything he got i wanted to get. I was that annoying younger brother. Whether it was for the good or bad, he influenced me to the person i am today more than anything.

At a young age i watched my brother playing all kinds of sports and i watched him excel in them. Although i didnt really have a choice of playing sports, there was nothing i wanted to do more than to be able to play sports like my brother did. Him being seven years older than me, i never really had the chance to participate in anything with him. Therefore, because of that at the age 8 that honestly was my biggest dream.

As i got older it seemed like he influenced me in every way possible. As much as my mom hated it, when he was listening to rap and things that an 8 year old shouldn't be listening to, i only wanted to go onto limewire and download that music. When he got a blow out, even though i was only 12 i wanted to get one.

Everything he did i wanted to do. But as i got older and became my own person i began to learn a lot of important things. I love my brother to death, but no matter what it is important to find out who you are and not let other people influence you completely. I was a young kid and it is common for younger siblings to want to be like their older siblings. I learned a lot from my brother, good and bad, and it is because of him that i am my own person today and i do things that i want to do.

Season Coming To And End

As my fantasy dream team has dominated all season, let all my worst nightmares happen at the end of the season. After starting my season 8 and 0, as any good NFL team has seen, injuries plagued my team. After 13 weeks and the end of the regular season, i ended in SECOND place at 10 and 3 after leading the league all the way up until the last game...

Early in the season i dealt with a big injury of MJD, Maurice Jones Drew, one of my top running backs. I was able to bounce back and i picked up Andre Brown from the Giants. Although he was not the top running back according to depth charts, i had high hopes for him.

So here i am going into the playoffs. Andre Brown is on IR, my replacement for him, Larod Stephens-Howling had bruised ribs, and i am left to try and pick up a last minute Free Agent to save my season. This week luckily i have a bye, but after that in week 15 i will need Drew Brees to have his best game of the season, after throwing 5 picks last game. I need the 49ers to keep rolling and giving the ball to Frank Gore, and most importantly, my Texans D needs to keep playing lights out.

All that together could potentially be the winning recipe that will not only lead to me a nice lump sum of cash.... but also bragging rights against all the Delt boys in my league. After taking all their heat for how shitty my team was during the draft and preseason, i show them who is number one.

The Jets

Any sports fan will be able to take this blog to heart. 

What to do when your favorite team is not good.

The Jets over the past years have not been as successful as any fan has wanted. Going back to when Eirc Mangini was coach, the Jets were a promising team. After taking over the for great Herm Edwards, Mangini led the Jets to a 10-6 start behind chad pennington and clinched a playoff birth by winning the wildward. Although they did not go far, after making the playoffs, there was high hope for the next season. So when the next season came, the jets went 4 and 12. What a disappointment!! after such a great season before that, they straight blew it. The next season had the same expectations and the season before. Although they had a bad season, we loved to believe that this was our year, after starting the season hot at 8 and 3, the jets collapsed and didnt make the playoffs.

The next reign was the big bad Rex Ryan. Rex the big mouth he was gauranteed alot to the fans of the jets. In his first two seasons he led them to the afc championshop game, both times losing just short of the final game of the season. the year that followed that dealt with many injuries and had a bad season, and this season seems to be another repeat. 

Each time the jets hire a new coach, it seems to be the coach of the future, the coach that is supposed to take them to the promise land. But each continue to fall short, and in the same pattern have a bad season till they are fired. 

As a loyal jet fan i am calling to the football gods...... WHEN WILL MY JETS WIN THE SUPERBOWL?!

Thanksgiving sports story

Up until my family and i picked up and moved to new york, we always had a traditional four on four touch football game in the afternoon before dinner. the game consisted of my dad, brother, two uncles, three cousins, and me. Being the youngest out of my siblings and cousins, i was always trying my hardest to stand out while playing with the older guys. Striving to be the fastest and have the ball thrown to me as much as posible so i could get a touchdown was how i played the game.

What was intended to be a friendly game of football, never ended up that way. Almost always i would try to fight my older brother by the end, and usually ended with someone being cut up and some serious grass stains on clothing.

It was the year before we moved, so 2007, when we were playing to 6 and my team had five. my uncle told me to go long and beat my cousin down the sideline, so beat him i did. at the sound of hike, i put my head down and didnt look up until right before the endzone. i looked up and saw the ball, a little out of my immediate reach, i extended fully in the air to make the grab. In the air, i grabbed the ball and prepared myself to hit the ground. As my body made contact with the ground, so did my wrist, except my wrist bend a certain way it shouldnt have. What eventually lead up to a fractured wrist  was a horrible way to end the last touch football game we would play because i dropped the ball that play and we ended up losing.

Thanksgiving memory

In my household, Thanksgiving was always a big deal. My mom, the typical italian she is, loved to cook dish after dish for all of my family members. Each year finding new recipes and hounding us to find out if she should make it next year, whether or not we liked it. My family has been through alot and my dad always emphasized to us kids that no matter what we have, nice or shitty car, little shack or a mansion on the beach, to always be thankful for what you have been given. In my fathers eyes, nothing in this world is guaranteed and you should always be grateful.

When thinking about a thanksigivng in particular, my memory brings me back to one holiday when i was around the age of 12, living in south florida. Severe thunderstorms throuhgout the area consumed most people's attention. News and media coverage was all centered on how devastating the storm was. We had just finished dinner and my grandmother from Peru was in visiting out family. 

We had just finished dinner and were about to have some desert and sit around our table and talk when the power went out. From having light illuminating the entire house, with the echoes of thunder throughout my living room, the kitchen went black. With her thick spanish accent, all my grandma had to say was "fuck".

That is a moment that i will never forget. 

Ad buster

Dwight a hero? Could be far from it. Although he did not demand the media hype and attention when leaving his team in Orlando, he did not handle the situation right. Telling the management that he did not want to play for Van Gundy, he got his coach fired, and then still was an unhappy and did not want to play there. In front of the media, although he tried to play it off as if he did not say that, his sarcasm and demeanor towards Van Gundy publicly made Dwight look like a ungrateful drama queen that cannot be satisfied.

Yes, Lebron handled the situation incorrectly when leaving Cleveland  but people do make mistakes and the greater importance is how they act after the fact and if they learned a lesson. Lebron, after the horrible reaction, well deserved, from the Cleveland fans, at first was all about proving all the "haters" wrong and standing out. He would then lose in the finals in his first season with the Heat giving all the haters what they wanted; to see him fail. In the season after that, Lebron made it known that he changed his outlook on the game. No longer was it about proving people wrong and making a statement, for him it was all about playing as best as he can and trying his hardest to put himself and his team in a position to win. He has said in postgame interviews that whatever happens happens, as long as he gave a 110% he would have zero regrets. A complete turn around from what his outlook on the game was a year ago, Lebron seemed to have matured greatly in just one season.

Potentially, my ad buster can contain something to do with politics because i can allude to how most people of class can play golf. I really am not sure where else to go with this but i am thinking i need to talk about maybe a golf course at camp david the presidential retreat and show how previous presidents have gone on golf outings and played at golfing events.

What am i following

For the majority of this semester i have had a hectic schedule on a daily basis which had interfered with my obsession of sports. I still manage to sneak some fantasy football into my schedule, and by squeak i mean dedicate 7 days a week.

Starting on tuesday after the monday night game, i review the weekend of football how my team played overall and see how everybody played individually. First things first; if there are any players i thought could impact my team positively that i thought aren't on anybodies team i would search for them. If they are a free agent i will place a waiver on him. Second thing to look at is my opponent for next week and see which of my players have a bye week. I then proceed to set my lineup, possibly moving someone from the bench last week into the starting lineup. Last thing is to see who got who at the end of the waiver period and decide whether i want to offer any trades and wait to see if i get offered any trades.

All the while i am reading and trying to watch sports center or listen to sports analysts talking about the games and who played well and all that went on. Me not knowing that a player is injured or isn't expected to get the ball much could make or break my season. 

AD BUSTER 2

I am going to write about the social classes in sports and use the article we were supposed to read, when i read it, to talk about how golf is known as a luxury sport and how it is perceived as a sport wealthier people play.

Ad Buster

Ideas for an adbuster i was thinking about was possibly attacking Lance Armstrong. I know he has been through alot but he was found to have used steroids which invalidates all of his previous accomplishments that include 7 tour de france titles and surviving cancer. Lance was the face of LiveStrong which was a charity organization that represents the struggle to survive from cancer and to live a happy lifestyle so that you do not have to worry about health issues when you live a poor lifestyle.

I was thinking about taking a ad that he was in that maybe said live well live strong. I would put a caption under that and say in capitals USE STEROIDS and maybe even put a syringe near his arm.

Again, i intend zero disrespect because of the struggle he went through and how he survived cancer and that is truly inspirational, but he did use steroids. He did cheat, and i will make a great as buster because of that.

Sports Commercial

The commercial i saw this week was relatively old because it aired during the superbowl a few years ago. It consisted of Tim Teabow's mother starting out the beginning of the commercial by showing a baby picture of Tim. She then proceeds to say how she almost lost him and how hard that was. But now if you look at Tim, she realizes that if he did not make it, she, and the entire would, would be missing out on what Tim is today.

This commercial is an advocate for pro-life. The argument is that when you are going to decide to have an abortion, you do not know what you are taking away. The life of each and every person is valuable and not to be taken for granted. Had Tim not made it the whole world would not have experienced the phenomenon that is Tim Teabow and the Florida Gators may not have one the national championships that they did with him on their team.... although we could probably have done without those.

post #8

My favorite sports related movie is a tough choice because there are so many greats one i love, but i would have to chose the fighter starring mark wahlburg and Christian bale.

This movie consists of two brothers, in a large family full of sisters, and one brother is a washed up boxer who nearly made it big but got himself caught up with drugs. He was so good that he knocked down sugar ray Leonard in one of his fights. his younger brother, aspiring to be as good and better than his older brother, has to deal with his brothers drug issues, as his brother was his trainer, and his crazy family where everyone wants to be apart of his success.

This movie deals with poverty stricken areas and how drugs and crack houses are prevalent. It focuses on the struggles many families go through when money is an issue. Drugs are something that hits close to home with me as i saw my brother become severely effected by them and seen his life change because of his drug use.

post #7

Movies have been something i have enjoyed for as long as i can remember. my favorite movie, not sports related, would have to be Goodfellas.

Goodfellas is a classic mobster movie that is about a kid who was not born into the mob family but found himself making his way into as a young kid. Throughout the movie, you see relationships change and characters evolved. Everything from the main character Henry going away to jail as someone who did not involve himself in the drug trade, to coming out as someone who was trafficking cocaine over the tri-state area.

I believe this movie attracts me and many other viewers for the themes it embodies. Drugs, theft, killing people for being disrespectful, are all things that are not apart of the average everyday life, but they are a novelty that everyone is fascinated with. The dangers of the overall business that all the characters are involved with is something extraordinary and people who live normal lives enjoy all this because of the action and suspense-fullness that they do not have in their everyday life. Watching the effects that drugs have on people is an interesting thing to want to see, but it is a lot of peoples guilty pleasure. Everyone likes to think that dont care about drugs violence and sex, and if they say they dont care for that stuff, they're lying.

post #6

A personal trigger for me with regards to sports would be each time i drive by the softball field that is near the Leech. When i drive by my eyes are always attracted to the batting cages that are located behind the field. Immediatley it takes me back to the countless hours i spent taking lessons with my hitting coach at the cages and at Athletic Republic. I invision my coach, Matt, sitting on a bucket throwing me underhand balls to warm me up behind an L screen. First ten balls inside, taking them to left field and opening my hips to drive the ball. That would be followed by ten pitches up the middle to drive right back at the screen, keeping my hands inside the ball to make sure i hit it on the meat of the ball, and exploding my hips through to get more power. and lastly ten pitches away. Constantly hearing him telling me to WAIT and drive the ball to right field.

My highschool coach had reccomended all of us go to another guy who was more on the older side and used technology to help us improve. Although my past history with Matt i was obligated to go out to this man named Kaupp for a lesson out of respect.

The session were held in the basement of a church where we hit off a tee and used this machine that spit out these small light yellow balls, no bigger than a golf balls. although Kaupp had all the greatest technology with cameras and was able to compare our swings to professional players, it was not the same as hitting baseballs through all different exercises and hearing the wisdom of someone who actually played professional baseball. Safe to say, that was my first and last session with Kaupp.

post #4

The ideals and culture of a community do a lot to shape people and i have personally seen this first hand. Upon moving to New York i had met a lot of new people and i actually became good friends with this kid names Andrew who had just moved to the same town as me. In this sense, the culture of our new town had already been created and we were yet to find out how it was going to shape us.

A few years later it was the spring time and i saw Andrew after school and we got to talking. Remembering when we had first met, i asked him if he was going to try to play baseball for the school because i remember him telling me he was a ball player. long story short Andrew went out for the lacrosse team. At the time i never thought to much of that, but knowing now how my town truly is, lacrosse is the biggest sport and through the athletic director and the districts support for the team is it clearly evident. Andrew may have tried out for many other reasons, but the fact that we were now living in a lacrosse are definitely had a lot to do with it.

"33", by Klosterman exposed a lot that i had never thought about previously. Being a life long sports fan, i have heard all my life about the great rivalry of the lakers and celtics back in the day. But living in the era we do today, racial topics are much less apparent than they were 30 years ago. It was interesting to hear the racial side of the rivalry because all i had known up to this point previously to reading the piece was that Larry Bird and Magic are legends of the game who created memorable series after series in the 80's.

In addition, when reading these i couldn't help but unconsciously relate this to the red sox yankees rivalry. I have been to Fenway Park, the old yankee stadium and now the new, and that truly has helped me understand the way that a city can define people. The vibes from outside the park, from boston to the bronx, to even just being around the people from each area are significantly different each have their own feeling. If you live in NYC and are a yankee fan it is almost as if you are a certain type of person because of it and the same goes for Boston citizens who are Sox fans.

post #4

Mr Drew Brees

My names Daniel Chlimper and I am the proud owner of you in my fantasy league. As I am sure that you receive many letters like this, I would extremely appreciate if you put up at least 30 points every week. Recently i received a bid to the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha, also known as Pike, and I proudly say with zero doubt in my mind; We are THE best fraternity at Florida State. You see, I was at school this summer taking two classes and I met alot of new people and made alot of new friends. Only issue is that 10 out of the remaining 11 in my league have joined what you can call a rival fraternity, Delta Phi Delta, also know as Delt. They may or may not be inferior to Pike. . .

Unfortunatley, my team did not turn out as well i had anticipated. I actually sent a group chat the night before our draft to all the other players and warned them in advance for the beating i will be placing on them. This is where you come in Drew. You are coming off one of the best seasons in your life, not to mention just overtook the record for most passing yards in one single season by the legendary Dan Marino, and i NEED you to tear it up. I understand there has been a lot going on with your saints in this past offseason, but you need to step up and truly lead this team. Lets be real though, we all know you have been running the team since you came there from San Diego.

I really didn't want to have to say this but i feel it will stress the importance for you to perform at your highest level. Make sure you are passing the ball all three downs when you are in the red zone and whenever you are forced to hand the ball off, fumble it and run for the end zone for the six. Not to mention i will be 300 dollars wealthier.


I know you won't disappoint.

Daniel

post #3

The reading that was assigned to us in class made me look at sports in a different light. As the author said early in the piece, i would consider football the most common sport in america due to its wide spread attention and how college football is like a platform for the pros, that gets just as much attention, if not more, in the media and in households as well. But because of its largely spread popularity, is it not a top sport because of the limited amount of spots there are to play in it? football is a rough gruesome sport that requires physical ability, that of which once you get to a certain age, if you are not training for it, you most likely are not good enough to play. Therefore, i agree with this because i have never looked at a sports popularity by the amount of people who actually play the sport.

In addition, i have never looked at a sport for me as a recreational sport. To me a sport is a sport whether it is a pick up basketball game or playing high school baseball; if you are competing you are playing. however, this piece says that there are two different reasons people play sports; extrinsic or intrinsic reward. Extrinsic meaning external rewards such as money or fame, intrinsic meaning internal rewards such as fitness or pride. throughout this reading i enjoyed what was being said because i truly have never looked at sports in such depth. To me sports is something i enjoy to do and it had never been something that i had even thought about analyzing in this depth

Prompt 1

Throughout my entire life I've played one instrument, which was the recorder in fourth grade, and it was forced upon me without choice as I have less musical ability than someone who is deaf. My mother, born and raised in the Bronx, is a die hard Yankee fan and since ever since I can remember she has been putting the Yanks before her own son. To say the least, baseball has been a apart of my life since I exited the womb. 

At a young age I started playing tee ball in the rec league in my city. The uniforms, white jersey with teal writing, were nothing more than a t-shirt with print on it, but when I put that on for the first time I got a feeling like no other. Not trying to be corny, but I really think I did fall in love at the very moment. at that age I didn't grasp at all what baseball was going to mean to me in the future. 

I remember vividly the last game of the season. Actually not vividly, but I remember making the last out of the game which was the last out of the season. I was playing short stop and a player hit a hard line drive my way. It was probably a little dinger i can now catch with my bare hand, but i was six years old at the time so it felt like A-Rod just drilled one at me. anyways, next thing i knew the ball was in my glove and all my teammates were running up to me just because catching a ball on the fly was a big deal back then. At that moment, my passion for baseball was immediately derived. Each and every day i step on the diamond i strive to re-create that feeling by trying to out do myself and be better than i was yesterday.