WWJD?

Halloween is in my view a great time for the students at OU to have a good time by dressing up and going to parties. While I was walking down court street at one of the four major intersections I saw this group of people holding sins and crosses in the air that said “If you die today do you think you will have the insurance to go to heaven?” Halloween is looked at from the religious section as a sinful and deviant night. Halloween was first brought to history when witchcraft was found out in the seventeenth century. Children that now a days dress in costumes like devils it is an ancient symbol of a damned soul. Christians believe that dressing up is sinful and is looked upon by god as a sinful night. Halloween is a harmless fun night. It is understandable that people look down on Halloween because people think they can get away with more deviant acts considering there is so many people dressed up and no one will be able to see their real face but to say it is sinful to dress up and go around trick or treating then that is wrong. Halloween is suppose to be a festive time when people get dressed up into crazy costumes and go around with your family and friends to have a good time looking at decorations and other peoples costumes. Halloween is okay in my book.

HGH?

HGH-human growth hormone. This drug was banned in the MLB on January 13, 2005 because players were using it to enhance their skills and strength. The Cleveland Indians are in the ALCS race against the Red Sox. Two hours before game seven of the series the Indains pitcher Paul Byrd acknowledged using HGH for a medical condition and claims to have never injected the banned drug without a doctors prescription. They said Byrd’s last purchase was a week before the drug was banned in the MLB. Byrd has made 13 purchases of HGH between August 2002 and January 2005. Byrd’s HGH use has created a crazy atmosphere for the Indians team as they were mobbed by the media walking into Fenway Park this evening and hopefully this won’t distract them during their game 7. The Indians manager Mark Shapiro has know Byrd for 14 years and was never aware of Byrd using HGH. Byrd says he has been tempted to abuse the HGH so he could throw harder but says he has never.
The thing is no one will ever know if Byrd has abused the drug. Of the 13 purchases of the HGH two purchases were not written by a physician. This is very sketchy considering he said he used the HGH for medical reasons so why would he buy HGH without prescription? Byrd is wrong for what he did and shouldn’t be allowed to pitch in the series anymore. Byrd right now is allowed to come into the game if he must but I think that is wrong. Baseball officials are going to question Byrd more after the series and will investigate more when game 7 is over.

College football players are starting to become a role model to kids as football in college is getting bigger. Alumni who went to colleges take their kids to the games and their kids look up to these players. Penn States running back, Austin Scott, has been a big part of Penn States offense with 6 rushing touchdowns and 302 rushing yards in only 5 games. October 5th Austin Scott was charged with raping a woman in his apartment after meeting her at a bar off campus. According to the complaint, Scott was walking with the victim from the bar and she said to him "Just so you know, I am not going to have sex with you." Scott just continued to walk her to his apartment and kept a conversation going on. They both fell asleep on his bed and when she woke up he was sexually and she tried to leave but felt a punch in her back so she laid there afraid of what he would do as he continued to rape her. Scott stated to the police later that she said stated she didn't want to have sex but things tend to heat up as the night goes on.
Austin Scott is setting a wrong example for kids. Now when a kid goes to a Penn State game and doesn't see there favorite running back playing how is a parent suppose to tell his son or daughter he is in jail charged for forcing a girl to have sex with him. Some people may say he is still only a kid who can make mistakes but no matter what rape is not acceptable if a 21 year old rapes a girl or a 40 year does. I believe Austin Scott is definetly wrong in what he did and deserves what he gets. Also i think college players feel they have a certain power over other students since they are noticed more by media and fans so they try to use their authority as power over other students which is completely unacceptable.

The Boo heard around the World

The owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, William Wirtz, for 53 years has passed away on September 26, 2007. He purchased the Blackhawks in 1954. He was president for 41 years and was the chairman of the National Hockey League Board for 18 years. William also was involved in negotiating the merger of the WHA and the NHL. In 1976 William Wirtz was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was at least to say a legacy in the NHL. The Chicago Blackhawks first home game was last night against the Detroit Redwings. They had a moment a silence for William Wirtz before the game started and the fans were booing the whole time showing no respect. William Wirtz was not loved by the fans. They use to call him Dollar Bill because of his unwillingness to spend money on the team and he didn’t pay the television companies to broadcast the games because he believed if you wanted to see the home games then you should go to the games. Even though he wasn’t liked by many is it morally right to boo a man who has just died? I believe it is unjust to boo anyone who is being given a moment of silence. Even though some of William’s way of owning the Blackhawks could have been shaky he should still get respect and be able to have a moment of silence. His family was all at the game when they booed him and I can’t even imagine the pay and confusion they must have been going through. It was wrong of the Blackhawks fans to boo him even after what he did for the Blackhawks organization.

The Asterisk

Barry Bonds of the Sanfrancisco Giants holds the record for the most homeruns. He has overcome Hank Aaron’s record of 755 with a whooping 762. His record-breaking ball was voted to go into the Baseball Hall of Fame but with an asterisk on it. The ball was original caught by New York resident Mark Murphy, who sold it on an online auction for $752,467 to fashion designer Marc Ecko. Marc Ecko then set up a website where fans could go and vote on whether the ball should have an asterisk on it or just be sent to the Hall of Fame untouched. The asterisk shows in Ecko’s statement as “this was shrouded in a chapter of baseball history that wasn’t necessarily the clearest it could be.” This asterisk shows that the record-breaking home run may have been tainted due to suspected steroid use of Bonds.
Steroids have been an increasing issue in sports and consequences are starting to be more intense. Why did Cooperstown accept the ball with an asterisk? The hall of fame president Dale Petroskey said they accepted it but didn’t endorse the viewpoint that Bonds used drugs. This sounds like an easy way out of avoiding controversy with fans that are die-hard Bonds fans. If I were Barry Bonds I would be really pissed by the asterisk. It is almost saying that he cheated to break a record. I think the Hall of Fame should have either accepted the ball or not. Don’t give it a mark and then put it in that’s just dumb.

Added Pressure?

Out of the 32 teams in the NFL 5 of those teams have black quarterbacks who started the season off. Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, stated in an interview that black QB’s face added pressure and criticism because there are fewer black quarterbacks. McNabb also says “There’s not that many African-American quarterbacks, so we have to do a little bit extra because the percentage of us playing this position, which people didn’t want us to play… is low, so we do a little extra.” Philadelphia fans do have the reputation of being very passionate sports fans so maybe the criticism from Philly has made McNabb believe that all black quarterbacks are treated differently.
I am from Philadelphia and I can definitely say the fans turn on players quick. It’s a love hate relationship. How can McNabb speak for other black quarterbacks and know how they are criticized? Maybe McNabb is saying this now because he played horrible the first two games of the season and is feeling like he needs to say something to cover his ass. There is also a statement going around that McNabb is going to be traded to the Chicago Bears. Maybe knowing that McNabb isn’t afraid to say whatever he wants considering Chicago fans won’t be as brutal to him as Philadelphia fans are. Could the added pressure McNabb is talking about just be influenced by the fact that the Eagles picked up a new younger QB, Kevin Kolb, as there first round draft pick? But if McNabb’s statements are true then why don’t other black quarterbacks talk more about the added criticism?

Cheating

The Patriots last Sunday had a 38-14 win over their rival NY Jets. After the game the Patriots were accused of video taping Eric Mangini, NY Jets coach, signs and signals he gave to the offense and defense. This is a violation against NFL rules because the other team could watch the signs from the other coach and know when they are signaling a blitz, zone, etc. An NFL security man confiscated the camera supposedly used for cheating purposes and noticed the whole taping was on the Eric Magnini when he was giving defensive signals. Cheating could give the Pats a great advantage for their offensive and even could help them win the game. Another interesting fact is that this is not the first time Bill Belichick and his staff has been under suspicion for cheating. The first time was when the Patriots played Green Bay and won 35-0.
When growing up you are always taught that cheaters never win. Has cheating during sporting events become a bigger challenge to stop because of new technological inventions? How do you handle cheating in the majors? Bill Belichick was fined 500K and the patriots will have a draft pick taken away, what number pick depends on if they make the playoffs or not. Is this enough of a fine to stop cheating? I believe it is completely wrong to cheat no matter the circumstances. Cheating has never been accepted through my years of playing sports. Steroid problems are another form of cheating and you see more people getting caught ever month. Is cheating becoming a necessity in sports in order to win or have one up on your competition?

The Race Card

Gary Sheffield played with the Yankee organization from 2004-2006 before he was traded to the Detroit Tigers. He finalized a three-year contract with New York for 39-million dollars on December 17, 2003. Yet after being traded to the Detroit Tigers Gary Sheffield stated that Joe Torre treats black players differently from white players in the yankee clubhouse. Gary Sheffield said that Torre would treat his white players like men when he had an issue with them and call them into his office but with his black players, including Kenny Lofton and Tony Womack, he would call them out in front of the team in ways that seemed unneccessary. Gary also stated that "He (Joe Torre) had a message to get across to the whole team, so he used me to get the message across." I believe Gary was treated like ever other player on the Yankee organization and that is as a player whether black or white. Gary has been know before for his sharp word and this may just be another one of his outrageous statements. It also seems to be a real coincidence that Gary just started talking about Torre and his views towards blacks once he was traded to Detroit Tigers. With regards to Derek Jeter on the Yankees, since he is a great player who is also black, Gary said that "Derek is black and white", because Jeter is from a mixed-race family, so he is in Gary's eyes treated differently from an "all the way black" man. Gary Sheffield is a very outspoken person and whether this is true or not i believe Gary Sheffield was treated like ever other player on the Yankees and i don't believe Joe Torre is a man who would treat players differently because of there race. Joe Torre has been in the game of baseball for many years and is respected highly in the MLB. Why should he be critized by another player on the way he runs his team in the first place?

English

In high school i had a really bad English teacher my last year who really made me someone who dislikes writing papers. However, if I had to write I would prefer to write about topics I am interested in and know a lot about like sports. I consider myself an ok writer. When I usually have a lot of time to work on papers I have more success then writing a paper about a topic given in one day. In my papers in the past I usually had trouble with grammatical errors. But I am willing to change my writing style.