NBA Power Rankings

1. Boston Celtics (18-4)
2. LA Lakers (17-3)
3. Orlando Magic (17-5)
4. Denver Nuggets (16-7)
5. Phoenix Suns (15-7)
6. Atlanta Hawks (15-6)

Group Project

12/8 60 mins
Our group got together to complete the finishing touches on our project. We redid our brochure and printed out more for the class to view. Also we finished up our work cited paper and what we were going to say during the presentation. Everything went very smoothly and we worked well together. Our psa also was finished and ready for our presentation.

Blog Journal #4

12/3 60 mins

We had our conference meeting about our project today. We talked about our strengths and weaknesses and what we need to ad to our project. Also we look at how to improve our audio part of our project. Discovering that we needed to add some details to our project we did more research to improve the overall product of our project.

Learning Styles

After taking the learning style tests I realized that I am a auditory learner. An auditory learner learns by hearing and listening. They also understand and remember things that they have heard. I store information by the way it sounds, and prefer listening over reading and writing. I often learn by reading out loud because I have to hear it or speak it in order to know it. Also I have an easer time understanding spoken directions or instructions than ones that are written down.

Blog Journal #3

11/17 45 mins

We had no class therefore our group met out of class and put together our proposal. We determined our thesis, audience, and purpose for our project. Finally when we were done we also put together a rough copy of our brochure that had different statistics and reasons for our topic.

Blog Journal #2

11/19 30 mins

In class we analyzed advertisement and saw different types of examples of how to get our point across. We then analyzed the ad that we brought into class and posted a discussion board about it. In the end we had to connect the ad that we had brought in to our project that we are doing. I found out that the technique in my ad is the same type of technique that we are going to use in our presentation.

Blog Journal

11/12/09 10 mins

We first looked at the prompt of the assignment and established guidelines for our project. We then looked at public service announcements and realized that we could use that in our project also. Finally, we decided that a brochure or pamphlet would be a great idea to include in our presentation.

One Foot Out the Door?

As the general managers arrived in Chicago Monday, Cubs boss Jim Hendry made it clear how his team's controversial outfielder Milton Bradley doesn't necessarily have to be involved in those Hot Stove moves. "He's still with us. He's on our roster," said Hendry, during a talk with the media on Monday. "And that's how you have to go into the offseason. "Other people have had some major hiccups along the way and come back, and that's just how you have to look at it. He's on your roster until proven differently. That's how we go about it." Much of Bradley's 2009 season with the Cubs basically stood out as a hiccup, after agreeing to a three-year, $30 million deal on Jan. 6. He hit .257 with 12 home runs and just 40 RBIs, and was far from a perfect fit within the team. His season came to an end 15 games short of the official conclusion when the Cubs suspended Bradley after he took shots at the team during an interview with the Daily Herald. At the time, Hendry said that he wouldn't let the Cubs fans be used as excuses and wouldn't tolerate Bradley not being able to answer questions from the media in a respectful manner. On Monday, though, Hendry certainly didn't talk about Bradley in the past tense. He also said that the ongoing Bradley saga, which brings along trade rumors regarding the right fielder, is not distracting to him or the organization. In the end time will tell what happens with this troubled athlete.

The Fight for Kareem

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is being treated for a rare form of leukemia, and the basketball great said his prognosis is encouraging. The NBA's all-time leading scorer was diagnosed last December with chronic myeloid leukemia, he told The Associated Press on Monday. The 62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said his doctor didn't give any guarantees, but informed him: "You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle." Abdul-Jabbar is taking an oral medication for the disease. He is a paid spokesman for the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which makes a drug that treats the illness. About 5,000 cases of CML are expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society said. More than 22,000 people are living in the U.S. with the disease.The disease tends to initially be diagnosed in people in their mid- to late 60s, and usually affects men more than women."I want to spread the word," Abdul-Jabbar said.

NBA Power Rankings

1. Boston Celtics (6-0)
2. Los Angeles Lakers (4-1)
3. Denver Nuggets (5-0)
4. Orlando Magic (4-1)
5. Cleveland Cavaliers (3-2)
6. Phoenix Suns (4-1)
7. Dallas Mavericks (3-2)

Top 7 NBA Rookies

1. Brandon Jennings
2. Jonny Flynn
3. Ty Lawson
4. Stephen Curry
5. Terrence Williams
6. Tyreke Evans
7. DeJuan Blair

One Scrappy Kicker

Once again another showing of the how the morals in professional sports today has taken a great hit. One of the better kickers in the NFL Jeff Reed is in trouble this the law once again. A couple hours after having a nice day kicking two field goals in a win over the Cleveland Browns Jeff Reed's day took a turn for the worse. The issue is still under investigation but the report is , in which he was cited for simple assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness after allegedly scuffling with Pittsburgh police officers outside a bar near Heinz Field.The Pittsburgh Steelers kicker has apologized to his teammates, saying he didn't mean to cause a distraction by getting involved in a run-in with Pittsburgh police. Even with this being his second run into with the law in the span of a year Reed will not be suspended. I guess playing against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings is more important than punishing someone for immature wrongful doings.

Hows The Deal Look Now?

Last offseason the Chicago Bears made a swap of Quarterbacks that was supposed to push them to be one of the elite teams in the NFC. In a trade that sent underrated Kyle Orton to Denver and brought Jay Cutler to Chicago it looked like the Bears finally landed the franchise quarterback they've always wanted. Well half way through the season you would look at the stats of the two quarterbacks and ask which one was supposed to be the franchise qb again? Jay Cutler the Pro Bowl quarterback has completed 110 of 172 passes with 1,201 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions while leading Chicago to a 3-2 record. With a 64.0 completion rate and 240.2 yards passing per game, he is on pace to set club single-season records. One the other hand the Denver Broncos are undefeated largely due to the stellar play of Kyle Orton. He has completed 124 of 194 passes with 1,465 yards, 9 touchdowns and only one interception on the year. With most of Kyle Orton's numbers it raises a great argument of who got the better of the deal? I guess the future will only tell us.

"Captian" Jack

To be the captain of a team is usually regarded as one of the greatest honors in sports. Obviously, Stephen Jackson thinks otherwise. Disgruntled Golden State star Stephen Jackson asked to relinquish his captain title during a meeting Tuesday with Warriors coach Don Nelson and general manager Larry Riley. Jackson went on to say that he does not want to be a role model and that being captain was overrated for him. I think these comments are just ridiculous and are one of the many reasons the Golden State Warriors will never get back to form like they were in 2007 advancing to the second round of the playoffs. Along with the fact that Jackson disband his captain role he also wants out of Golden State again and thinks that it is possible to trade him if the team tried. With all of this being said Coach Nelson still says Jackson is their starting 3 man. Once again proving that their is no real discipline in major sports today and the players basically call the shots. I would not put up with these kind of actions and I definitely wouldn't want a selfish player like Stephen Jackson on my team.

2016 Olympics

This article is about the Olympics that are going to be held in 2016. Contrary to prior belief Rio de Janeiro came out on top and was chosen to hold the stage in 2016. Despite President Barack Obama's attempt to bring the Olympics to his home town in Chicago Rio de Janeiro pulled out an amazing surprise. The question is was it the correct decision? Personally I think that Chicago would have been the best place to have the Olympics do to the great fan base and passion for sports. Also it would have been a great surrounding environment due to the fact of Rio De Janeiro high crime rate. The IOC report said Rio was reducing crime and increasing public safety but noted that Rio is by far the most violent of the four bid cities. There is also a curious lack of hotel rooms in a city known as a tourist mecca. Rio promised to add 25,000 new beds between now and 2016 and said it would make up any shortfall by offering 8,500 beds on docked cruise ships. In the end time will only tell if the decision of Rio was a good one or not.

Works Cited

Downie, Andrew, and Dan Murphy "Rio de Janeiro wins out as host of 2016 Olympics." Christian Science Monitor 02 Oct. 2009: 6. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Oct. 2009.

The Dome Stays

After the season is over the Minnesota Twins are getting a new stadium and waving good bye to the Dome that they play in as of now. Well the Domes life span was extended yesterday when the Twins won the one game tie-breaker to win the American League Central Division. In dramatic fashion as has come to be accustom from the Twinkies this year they won an 11 inning thriller with Carlos Gomez scoring the walk off run. A back and forth battle was just what this game was made up to be. After the Twins coming out of no where to storm back and tie up the division on the second to last day of the year you would not expect anything less. The only bad new coming out of this is that this resilient ball club now has to face the best team in the Majors in the New York Yankees. But I think the Dome and the Twins will take it because once you get in the playoffs anything can happen.

Most Important Peer Review Question

There are many questions that are great to help develop your paper. Throughout the peer review there is not a single question one that isn't important but i would have to say that this question is one of the most important ones: Does the writer include text from the song? Does the writer spend time analyzing those lines? Do you understand the text’s connection to a larger idea or literary concept? What? In writing your paper one of the most important parts of it is connecting the text with the larger idea or literary concept. Plus the addiction of text from the song is mandatory because in order to understand the connection you have to be able to visualize some of the text. Finally, the analysis of the text that is in your paper helps the reading understand what point or theme you are trying to get across.

Quarterbacks

Top 8 Quarterback in the NFL Today

1. Peyton Manning
   
2. Tom Brady
3. Eli Manning
4. Drew Brees
5. Philip Rivers
6. Jay Cutler
7. Aaron Rodgers
8. Ben Roethlisburger
   

Power Rankings

Top Ten NFL Football Teams as of Week 3

1. Baltimore Ravens
2. New York Giants
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. New Orleans Saints
5. New York Jets
6. Minnesota Vikings
7. New England Patriots
8. Atlanta Falcons
9. Chicago Bears
10. Denver Broncos
    

Playoffs!

It's just about that time... October! and if you don't know what that means I'm guessing your not a true baseball fan. The playoffs are pretty much set besides teams jockeying for home field advantage. The end of the season this year won't be as exciting as past because the closes race is the Tigers having a 3 game lead over the Twins but the playoffs as usual will be exciting. The Yankees sport the leagues best record but i wouldn't consider them the favorite. This year more than ever is wide open and I'd like to hear from other people who they think will go all the way. Personally even though I'm a Cubs fan and it kills me to say it but the Cardinals have the best record sense the All-Star break and look like they will be tough to beat. It should be an exciting and entertaining Playoffs as usual.

Another Top Team Falls

Last night #4 Ole Miss was upset by unranked South Carolina. This is the first time in college football history that through the first four weeks there was a top 5 team upset. The first week of the season it was Oklahoma getting beat by BYU, the week after that Oklahoma State was defeated by Houston, and last week the mighty USC Trojans lost to Washington. Which lead to an argument that I heard this week that was very intriguing. Why do they have rankings this early in the season when you are not sure about how the teams will be with the lose of players from the past year and arrivals of new players. It's just an idea but maybe like the BCS that doesn't come out till later in the season, they should not have rankings for the first few weeks and then around week three or four they come out with the rankings. It would be something new and exciting and would also cause less let downs from unknown teams being ranked high at first and quickly falling of the ranking world. It may never happen but it would be an interesting change.

Kanye West

If anyone got the privilege the watch the VMA's this last week you got to see a lot of great music from some amazing people. Also your got to see an awful seeing of one of the most liked artists in the hip hop/ rap industry. After Taylor Swift was named for the Female Video of the Year a drunken Kanye West came on to the stage and ruined Taylor's spotlight. He grabbed the microphone away from her and announced that Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. This left the crowd in an uproar and wondering where this action even came from. Later it was discovered that Kanye was drunk and in an interview he was going to take time off to evaluate his life. All in all, this was a horrible showing of an artist who at one point and time was thought of as the most popular of his time. This shows that with all the fame and accolades that there still can be many problems behind the scenes.

Ishmael Beah

I thought Ishmael Beah's presentation was very entertaining and full of information. Also he answered some of the questions that I had from the reading. I always wondered if he still had problems to this day with thinking of his past. Obviously he still does sometimes but he said that he began feeling better about telling his story and sharing the happenings of his journey. He also shared that during his time in the war that he slept about one or two hours a day and still to this day he can only sleep 4 hours or so a night. This will probably stay with him his whole life and will always remind him of that fact that he has lived a very stress filled life style. Also he answered the question of if it was hard to write his book and relive his past. He answered this by telling how he had nightmares after writing about certain events and also almost thought about canceling the whole writing of the book. All in all it was great to hear from the author of this great tale and he answered all of my questions that I had about it.

Top Ten Country Artists/Groups

1.Kenny Chesney
2.Lady Antebellum
3.Rascal Flatts
4.Dierks Bentley
5.Carrie Underwood (Hottie)
6.Tim McGraw
7.Jason Aldean
8.Josh Turner
9.Jake Owen
10.Keith Urban

A Wild Week

It's finally that time of the year. A time where all the college students get extra crazy and excited. All the hype and predictions are established. That's right its the first week of college football and man was it an eventful one. We've already seen a former Heisman injured, a team in the top 5 upset, and a player get suspended for the season in the span of a week. Wow sounds like an exciting season huh? This week was also "Sportsmanship Week" with new sportsmanship rules introduced. For example all teams have to shake hands before the game with the apposing team. One team has already broke that rule and I'm pretty sure that the first game of the year didn't go over very sportsmanlike. Boise State and Oregon battled it out in the first game of the year, both teams ranked in the top 25 so it figured to be an intense game. I don't think that anyone figured it would end up this intense though. After a lost and horrible game by Oregon's running back he took his anger out on a Boise State players face. The teams were headed to the locker room and the running back was talking to a Boise State player and punched him square in the chin knocking him straight to the ground. The hit resulted in a season suspension for a player that was supposed to be a NFL prospect. Then this was followed up by the number 4 Oklahoma Sooners who were supposed to be in contention for a National Championship were upset by number 20 BYU. Not only was the loss a big blow for the Championship but along with that they lost there quarterback Sam Bradford with a separated shoulder. All in all that was one week imagine what the rest of the season will hold.

Who Let Vick Out

So the NFL is starting to enter the news for often now a days and for all the wrong reasons. Recently Michael Vick was reinstated to the NFL and suspended for the first half of the season after being in jail for many charges having to do with dog fighting and his cruel acts on those animals. I don't know what this league is coming to really; they give people like Adam "Pacman" Jones, and Donte Stallworth second chances when they should be kicked out of the league for life. In Stallworths case he hasn't had his second chance yet but he will get it after only a year suspension for running over a man and killing him (under the influence of course). And in Vicks case this man should never have left jail in the first place let alone be playing football games. This man kill innocent animals and did just cruel and sick things to them that no one in there right mind would do. His sick human being should never been released from jail and is the prime example of why major league sports figures get too much special treatment. Also this is a reason why major sports are heading in a bad direction as a whole.

In Loving Memory

Have you ever had that one person in your life that can always make everyone laugh or smile? Or someone that is just a kind caring person that cares more about others than even his own self? And have you ever blamed yourself for something that you think that you could have changed even though in realistic thinking you couldn't have? Well I have experienced all of these things by the end of my sophomore year in high school. His name was Brett Anderson and he just had a way of going about himself that made everyone around him happier and better off. One the night of February 6th Brett had text me to go to the movies and I did not have my phone at the time. So by the time I had gotten his message he had already left for the movies with another group of people. The next morning I received the stunning call that he had gotten into a horrible car accident and wasn't going to make it. Immediately I thought if I had been driving that he would have been okay and that never would have happened. The world lost a wonderful young man that day and even though he is at a better place still to this day I partcially blame myself for not being there for him. Realistically speaking me driving probably wouldn't have even mattered but it would have made me feel better if I would have had the chance to control the outcome rather than someone else. I hope that everyone realizes how fragile life is and just like that it can be taken away from you. We all miss you Brett and this is written in your loving memory.

Top Ten Favorite Movies

1. Step Brothers
2. Hot Rod
3. Anchorman
4. Superbad
5. Blades of Glory
6. 21
7. Billy Madison
8. Semi Pro
9. Remember the Titans
10. Glory Road