Here are some more “I-Search” projects which I help tutor through Writer Coach Connection. This week we take a look at kids who love sports.
Is ballet more of a sport or art? Eh, who cares? Those who do it are as athletic and hard working as they come.
Surf’s up.
The cover story in the current issue of Sports Illustrated is that NBA player Jason Collins has come out as gay.
I know, big snooze, right?
Well, actually, no. He is the first athlete in the American big four – basketball, baseball, football, hockey (hockey? really?!?) – to come out publicly while still an active player.
Do you know what this means? This means that there are still 9.9999999% of professional athletes who feel they must hide their sexuality, who lead split lives, who worry that what they do in their bedrooms could ruin their professional lives.
In the 21st century.
It drives my family crazy, in fact, sickens them.
Last year, when it became clear the Oakland Raiders had no chance of making the playoffs, I suddenly got very interested in the San Francisco 49ers, and would chatter on like a schoolgirl with a crush about how amazing Colin Kaepernick (“C-Kap”) was.
And not that it matters, but his girlfriend is kinda amazing, too.
When the Oakland A’s were knocked out of the playoffs, I couldn’t stop gushing about how the San Francisco Giants swept the Tigers in the World Series. And Pablo “Panda Bear” Sandoval hitting three home runs in one game? Well I just swooned.
Would anyone have guessed that when North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un took over after his father’s death that the first American he’d meet would be Dennis Rodman?
Yup, that Dennis Rodman. Not only did he visit with Kim in North Korea, but apparently they’ve become BFFs and Rodman has returned with the solution to our woes with North Korea. During an interview with ABC’s This Week which aired this morning, Rodman said this: “He wants Obama to do one thing, call him…He told me that. He said, if you can, Dennis, I don’t want to do war. I don’t want to do war. He said that to me.”
Who knew the on-going conflict between North Korea and the U.S. could be solved with something as simple as a phone call? Who knew Kim Jong Un spent his days sitting wistfully by the phone, staring at his heart-shaped framed photo of President Obama and wondering to himself, “Why won’t he call? He has my number. (Long pause) *Sigh* I’m so ronery. Call me maybe.”
Who knew that in addition to being a fashion icon, Dennis Rodman was also a diplomatic genius? Someone get this man to Iran asap.
I think most people with functioning eyes would agree that Harrison Barnes of the Golden State Warriors is cute.
But the question is, is he cuter in the NBA’s traditional tank top jersey, or in the new body hugging euro-tee style jersey, which will be debuted tomorrow night in Oakland?
Some facts: the new uniforms, which also include revamped shorts, are 26% lighter than their traditional counterparts. The shirts are made with a stretch fabric that allows a full range of body motion, so that players’ jump shots won’t be hampered by their new bass thumping sense of style.
So disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he has indeed taken drugs and previously lied about it. No matter what you may think about this admission, there comes even more shocking news uncovered by CBC News. Check out this unbelievable headline:
So not only did Armstrong use performance-enhancing drugs but he was also apparently using rugs. And we all know the unfair advantage any athlete has if they’re using rugs.
I mean—just look at how tempting these rugs look:
The fault line seems pretty clear: you either say absolutely not…
…or you say everyone was doing it, or might’ve been, and that means the playing field was more or less level, even if that field was being watered by chemists.
Barry Bonds holds the record for most home runs in a single season (73), as well as the record for most career home runs, period (762), and no pitcher has as many Cy Young awards as Roger Clemens (7).
Two shoe-ins for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, right?
Well….no…maybe…or yes…
…but with all kinds of footnotes and asterisks, or maybe even a separate museum dedicated to the kings of the Steroid Era (my older son’s suggestion).
If you’re a hoopshead like I – and several other family members on this site – am/are, then all you’ve been hearing about today is the Lakers’ decision to go with Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson to fill the coaching vacancy created by the firing of Mike Brown. But what gets me every time one of these things happens is all the impassioned conjecture and confusion over why things happened the way they did. In this case, it’s stuff like: why did the Lakers pull the trigger on D’Antoni Sunday night before Phil Jackson’s agent had a chance to start negotiations on Monday? Wasn’t this Phil’s “job to lose”? Who was whispering in Jim Buss’s ear and swaying him away from Phil?
Without needing to know the exact details of what happened or who said what (or debating over whether D’Antoni was the right fit), all this can be understood very simply if you just boil it down to one simple thing: leverage. People tend to let emotion get in the way when it comes to trying to understand these dealings, but it’s really quite common in business, and would make everything a lot more easier to accept if people just tried to see exactly where the leverage is in each situation. My family members Justin and Norith always label me as a “company man” when I go into these soliloquys, but it’s really not about choosing sides so much as it is just trying to understand the situation and why things unfold the way they do.
My gut reaction on seeing double amputee Oscar Pistorius jump out of the blocks for the 400 meter race in London was A) wow, those legs look a lot cooler than the clunky old wooden leg my Uncle Joe used to wear in the 1970′s (uncle Joe lost his leg at 13 in a truck crash), and B) this is so freaking inspirational!
This is what the Olympic Games are all about.
Tune in around second 50 for the excitement.
A couple hours later, with a calmer gut, I found myself asking, “Wait a minute, was this actually fair, or had world sport just opened a Pandora’s Box?”
As a viewer of the Olympics and a bilingual speaker of English and Mandarin Chinese, I feel like it is my duty to point out an ongoing error in broadcasters’ pronunciation of the city “Beijing.” With the current Olympics going on, there have been opportunities aplenty to reference the previous 2008 Olympics that, of course, took place in Beijing. So I am hearing this error repeated time after time…after time…after time (and I can’t possibly be the only one who is annoyed by this).
Here’s the thing: “Beijing” is one of those words that should just be pronounced as it’s written in English. Don’t try to get fancy with it. For some reason, I keep hearing broadcasters pronouncing the “j” as a “ziuh” sound (as in “je ne sais quoi” or “photogenie”).
Let me clue all you people in on something with my somewhat-limited knowledge of the Mandarin language: that “ziuh” sound DOES NOT EVEN EXIST IN MANDARIN. “Beijing” is pronounced with a hard “jay” sound. BEI (bay) JING (jing). Get it?!
In two days Rafael turns 16.
It all happened in a flash. We were watching the opening game of “The Battle of the Bay” series between the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants – me, my wife Linda, my 12 year old son Gabriel, and Rafael – when the A’s jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the first inning and held it through the top of the ninth. So far, so good: we’re A’s fans.
The A’s brought in closer Ryan Cook, who’s been terrific, with a 0.57 ERA coming into the game.
Rafael was thrilled:“If the A’s are still ahead and they bring in Cook, it’s lights out,” he said.
Meet former pro-boxer Eric Kelly: Amateur pro, Olympian, and now proprietor of the Church Street Gym in NYC. His main clientele are Wallstreet dudes. And he don’t give a flying fuck. Behold, perhaps the best boxing gym ad in the history of gym ads. Seriously.“I’m cut from leather. I’m cut from suede!” Awesomeness of epic proportions.
(Thanks, Blake)
