Winter

This week is the last week of school until winter break and it really doesn't feel like it. Two weeks from now I will be sad and really missing all that extra sleep I could of had, but I hope to make these days count. Many can't wait till school is over or until they are in college but I am the opposite not wanting days to go by as quickly trying to enjoy my final 2 and half years of high school.

Back to football talk now. The Forty Niners laid the wood against the Cardinals and one of the ESPN writers is quoted to saying that the owner of the Cardinals only owns the team 363 days a year, the Niners own them the other two. That basically sums up the season for the Forty Niners as they either do great against a team or completely suck and can't do anything football related to save their lives. When the Niners beat the Cardinals 24-9 on Monday on National Television cemented their place in the eyes of all football watchers across the US. They are for real and here to stay with a bright future of young players coming up as the next generation of 49er's football. A good sign.

The raiders are officially tired of JaMarcus Russel as they have benched him for their 3rd string quarterback after Bruce Gradkowski went down with a knee injury last week against the Redskins. He couldn't move the team down the field and the Raiders didn't score a point the entire time Russel was in. If that's not a sign of how bad he is, I don't know what is. Al Davis must have seen the billboard asking for him to make some changes and took it to heart. Thank you Al for doing what's best for the team.

Hyrbid

This is what I would like to call a hybrid post. Many ideas will be focused on and talked or typed about. Speaking of hybrids, we had an interesting quick write today about selling body parts to sponsors to be "super human". I strongly disagreed with the fact that it was even possible, but upon further thinking, I realized it's closer than I expected. I was even more surprised to hear that many people in OUR English class would actually sell their body parts to make some extra money. Now, I don't know if they realize that they wouldn't be making that much because if you think about it, anybody can be experimented on so the sponsors probably won't be paying that much. Think of it like this, you are the sponsor. Would you rather pay 2 people for experimenting 5 million dollars each, or 1000 people 10000 dollars each? That's how they're looking at this, so if this ever happens, don't expect too much money for your not so precious body parts.

I said this was a hybrid so here is my second part. It's about the very prestigious Heisman awarded to the most outstanding college football player in the nation. I strongly believe that Stanford running back Toby Gerhart deserves the award and the award and I am a Cal fan so that should tell you something. He ran over ranked teams averaging 158 rush yards per game against ranked opponents and led the FBS (kind of like the NFL but for college) in rushing TD's with 26. That is dominance that can be all contributed to consistency. He never rushed for under 84 yards in a game this season and averaged 5.6 yards per rush. Now if you don't watch football, you may not understand what I am talking about, but to put it in perspective, it takes 10 yards to get a first down and if you average just under 6 yards per carry, that's a first down every 2 plays making you dangerously good and a lot of trouble for your opponents. If you are interested in watching the heisman presentation, it airs on ESPN Saturday night at 5 PT (8 ET).

Raider Fans Take A Stand

http://messagetoal.com/

That is the link to a website pleading with a sickly Al Davis to step down and hire a gm and a "Super Bowl Caliber" coach. They have even paid for a 5,000 plus dollar billboard seen here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4706922 . For all those disgruntled Raider fans out already sick of DHB and other draft busts (see JaMarcus Russel) thanks to Al, I urge to sign that petition and help send a message. If your sick of your head coach being caught up in investigations for beating another coach, then i urge you to sign that petition. Ok I think you get my point.

While they have looked somewhat impressive over the past couple of weeks, I highly doubt that was because of great GM-ing or coaching, rather great play with lots of passion. Who knows, maybe the whole Coach Cable thing motivated them to actually play better and make more a headline nationally other than your coach getting unneeded attention for an unnecessary distraction for his team. I mean can you imagine trying to play for a coach who isn't focused on football or even his team for that matter. They were pretty much on their own facing NFL teams. Not some pee-wee teams but players who are looking to kill and won't show any mercy. That's tough.

On a brighter Bay Area note, the 49ers won a game against a good team in the Jacksonville Jaguars. They beat them by a final score 20-3 after forcing 2 red zone fumbles on David Garrard. Frank Gore also continued his streak of games with a TD after a TD catch in the corner tapping his toes with a circus catch. After an impressive win such as that, one has to wonder if they are on their way to the playoffs. Now look at their team and their organization. A focused coach with good draft picks over the years with the exception of Alex Smith early in his career but it seems he is finally paying off for them with impressive showings each week since taking the starting job from Shaun Hill in Houston. Take note Raider fans or should i say Al Davis.

A lot is going on right now

So just as quickly as it came, it is almost gone. I am of course talking about the NFL season which is already in its 10th of 17 weeks in this season. There are the usual suspects at the top of the standings which isn't always as exciting but this season is the first time in many years that we have had two teams undefeated this late in the season. It is also quite possible for them to play each other in the Super Bowl which would inevitably mean big bucks for sponsors and great commercials for everybody watching.

Basketball is starting to hit its stride for this season as teams are getting warmed up and getting used to playing with each other. And for you haters out there (Elijah), you can expect most of the same from the Lakers this year. This is also a year of newcomers for the NBA as it looks as if the Clippers might have a season that doesn't end with a lottery draft pick. The same can not be said for the Warriors this year as it looks as if they are smack dab in the middle of a rebuilding process as an organization. So again, expect the same out of the Warriors this season.

Last, but not least, it is the beginning of a new day. The current obsession at the moment is Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and to be honest, I am one of the obsessors. Like tonight, I spent about 3 hours straight playing which i consider to be way too much. However, there are people out there who have played over 6 hours straight which is probably why they are so much better (not really, but whatever.) And when I'm not playing that, you can find me playing madden 10 and pretty much whooping anybody in my way. I'm so modest.

Statement Of Purpose

In my original statement of purpose I stated that I would post videos of sports plays that I particularly liked and break them down individually with what made them work. While I haven't done exactly that, I feel I've done a pretty good job sticking with one subject for most of my posts. Sports is still something I like and always will like. Mostly because it plays such a big role in my life. I sit inside on rainy Sundays and I am completely capable of wasting an entire Sunday on watching 3-4 football games. Also now that the NBA season has started, that will hopefully give me more writing material.

My original writing goal was to use blogging to better my writing and even further my grammar skills. Knowing this, I feel I have actually grown a lot from my original skills, most of which is due to blogging. Another part of my growth is actually just being back in school. That 3 and a half month break can do things to the mind. Not that I don't love the break, though.

My goals in the second quarter are actually the same. Just make my writing better but don't stress over it too much. School is important, I know this for a fact, but it will be useless if you don't pace yourself. So I feel if I have any new goals for the 2nd quarter, it would be to pace myself and not over-stress about anything. I also hope I can still write about sports so I'm really counting on the NBA to give me some good material. If this season is anywhere close to as good as last season, I'll have no worries. But please don't let me down. If the Lakers just repeat, there will be no shortage of blog posts.

The NFL season so far.

Hearing Alex Smith to Michael Crabtree for a Touchdown is something I can get used to over the next few years. Last weekend Alex Smith came in for "relief" of Shaun Hill who quite frankly wasn't getting it done. In one half he threw for 206 yards and 3 touchdown passes. Last week also marked the first game for long time holdout Michael Crabtree who caught 5 passes in his opening game. Many consider those 2 plus other offensive threats the future of the 49ers and let me just say that the future is looking bright.

On a side note, however, the team across the bay (the Raiders) didn't look too good playing the jets losing 38-0. There is always next week, right? Many Raider fans felt that they had the future on their team with a streak of 6 years with a top 10 draft pick meaning they had the opportunity to draft their future stars. Not so fast says owner Al Davis who apparently felt it would be smart to draft a few questionable players, mainly JaMarcus Russel, who this year only has 2 touchdown passes and over 10 turnovers. While being the butt of many jokes, it could be worse. Take the Lions, for example. They finished last season 0-16 and this year is not looking much better. It could even get WORSE than that. The St Louis Rams haven't won a game in over 20 attempts going 0-7 so far this season. Many call this year the year with the most bad teams they have ever seen. With 3 teams without a win yet this season, many can relate to what the experts are saying.

So in closing, this looks to be a promising year for the Niners, a not so surprising season for the Raiders, and a rather weak season for the NFL as a whole, HOWEVER there are 3 teams yet to lose so that is a promising stat.

NBA Season Begins

This Tuesday is the start of the NBA regular season. This date has been marked on many people's calendars for a while now, including mine. While this day may not be much for most of you, it is a very big deal to me and many basketball fanatics out there for obvious reasons. For those of you who haven't watched a basketball game, i suggest you check it on Tuesday October 27th when the Cleveland Cavaliers play the Boston Celtics (BOO) or you could check out the reigning NBA champs Los Angeles Lakers face off against the Los Angeles Clippers.

For those of you who have never cared about basketball enough to watch it, here's some background info that could be useful for you and this basketball season. For instance, the NBA season is 82 games long which is plenty of time for your favorite (new or old) team to turn around any ill-fortune they have from last season.

And for those of you who like the games this Tuesday, I suggest you get a favorite team and start rooting now (I suggest the Lakers who WILL repeat this season). If you can't tell by now, I am a Laker fan. Have been since an early age mainly because of my brother who has liked them ever since Kobe has been playing for them.

And for those of you who have liked basketball long term, get on your favorite couch and get comfortable because you have a long season ahead of you if you don't like the Lakers. All I have to say is get used to Kobe with his rings because by the end of his career, he wont have enough fingers for all his rings. Am i getting over-confident? You can say that, but when the Lakers win ANOTHER title this year, I won't be afraid to say I told you so.

2 in 1

So since I was sick last week with what I've been told is just a flu, I have the opportunity to make up some work in all my classes this week. While it has been a lot of a hassle with all the extra work, it has actually been kinda fun knowing I can procrastinate even longer and still get ALL my work done. Take this post for example. 11:20 on a Friday night when I have 2 blog posts due. Not risky enough? I don't even know if it's ok to combine my 2 blogposts to make a SUPERPost as you would call it. Well here's to hoping it is.

Well back to post itself, it has been a pretty crazy week for me. Today was especially fun for me. Not only did I win candy for my English group (ya I won it), but I'm actually understanding Spanish 3. I even got a "punto" (point) for correctly correcting the Spanish CD. I have never felt more smart in a 1 hour 50 minute period of time.

If you've come here for my usual weekly sports post, well then this is the paragraph for you. This week was horrible for bay area sports and I honestly don't seeing it getting any better for the Raiders. After their worst loss of the year by far last week, the niners head into a bye week to regroup. The raiders, however, aren't as lucky as they are forced to face the tough Philadelphia Eagles. If you think last week was bad, imagine
what the Eagles can do with a healthy Donovan McNabb against the shaky, to say the least, Raider's pass defense. Lets just say it will make for a very interesting match up. And if you're into Fantasy Football, then this is the week that you start all the Eagle players and "Root root for the good team."

Like I said earlier, the Niners (or good team) have a bye week and look to prepare for their next opponents better than they did the Falcons. While I made fun of the Raiders "D" earlier, last week, the Niners Defense didn't look much better against a very balanced rushing and passing attack of the Falcons. With Michael Turner running for 97 yards and Roddy White receiving 210 of Matt Ryan's 329 passing yards, the Falcons looked like a well oiled machine while the Niners looked about as good as the rusty bike that's been left out for the past year. However, the Niners defense wasn't completely flat. Take, for example, the Dre Bly interception deep in their own redzone followed by the classic Deion Sanders high step. Too bad Dre hadn't even gotten past his own 30 and a Falcons player close behind. In case you missed it (you better not have) here is the play so you can watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAAs9gHrJAk . Not that that was a game changing moment or anything (hint: look at the scoreboard), but it didn't go unnoticed in the Niner's organization. Not only did Dre Bly "willingly" apologize, but he also impressed his coach by "willingly" apologizing.

So not only is this 2 blog posts in 1, but I even covered both bay area teams here. This really is the 2 for 1 SUPERPost. Now don't get used to this as next week, I will be going back to the traditional 1 in 1 weekly blogpost but you know what time to look for it. That's right the weekly Friday night at 11 o clock. So until next time, just enjoy this post for the time being.

"Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?"

(6.) “Yeah, I just found out that Cleopatra was a Black woman.”

“What?”

The first student went on to explain her newly learned information. The second student exclaimed in disbelief, “That can’t be true. Cleopatra was beautiful!”

I feel this quote demonstrates how racism has become so worldwide that many people have begun to just accept it. Not that that's the right thing to do, but it is a thing to do. If you just let it keep bothering you, you will drive yourself crazy worrying about it. I think if somethings bothers you that much, you have to just let some things slide and go on with your life. Fretting over the small stuff is generally not worth it.

Oh, Chicago

This Friday, it was made official that America will get the Summer Olympics. No, not North America, rather South America. More specifically, in Rio de Janeiro. Even after putting out his best effort, Barack Obama was not even able to get Chicago past the first round in the committee voting. With a measly 18 points, America was eliminated from the bid to host the Olympics in the first round of voting.

Many felt that if Chicago was voted to host the Olympics, it would spark a new interest with Americans and rooting for their country. As a matter of fact, it might have had the opposite effect. After putting their best effort into being allowed to host, America still came up short.

The second round saw Tokyo get the boot with a score of 20 votes. In the final round of voting Rio de Janeiro beat out Madrid 66-32. This marks the first time that South America will host the Olympics. These will also be only the third Olympics held in the southern hemisphere. The only other 2 were held in Australia which hosted two times in the past.

The only other continents to never host the Olympics are Africa an Antarctica. With Antarctica not having any inhabitants other than Polar Bears, I think it's safe to say that Africa will be the next continent awarded their first Olympics.

One reason America might not have been awarded the hosting gig was brought up by an IOC member from Pakistan. He reminded the IOC (people who vote who hosts the Olympics) that some countries might feel uneasy going to America. This could bring up memories of the Atlanta games where there was a bombing.

All in all, North America will not be hosting the Olympics, rather South America will be. To the American Olympic teams, I bid you good luck.

I Beg You

Many believe that baseball is America's past time but i think differently. Looking into the stands tonight watching the giant's game, I realized that baseball is a dying breed. If you look across the bay, though, it's a completely different story. Football has always been popular and if anything is on the up and up. While the Giants may be trying to squeeze into the playoff picture, but a quick 2-0 start by the Niners has stolen any attention from that. With a new era present in bay area football, it is time for the giants to move along and let football shine.

This isn't the first time that football has been number 1 in the bay area. Just look at 49ers who are tied for second with 5 Super Bowl titles second only to the Steeler's who just won last year. What isn't to like about the 49ers? They're young and talented with many great years ahead of them and have an owner who believes in his team and more importantly, their coach. Mike Singletary, who took over last year, is changing the team into winners. His motto "We want winners" can be seen on all AC Transit buses around the bay area which is a sign of a change. The state is getting behind the team and we know a great team when we see one.

Whether this is the year they win it or not, nobody knows. But, I can guarantee this wont be the last year they make the playoffs with this team. So it's important you get into football. I beg of you, whether it be watching a game this weekend, or playing fantasy football, PLEASE get into football and I promise you won't be disappointed with the results you will get from YOUR San Francisco 49ers.

Kobe > Lebron

I'm sure many people disagree with this statement, but the of the matter is, Kobe is greater than Lebron. Last year, an incredible amount of people were hopping on the "Cavalier Bandwagon". It seems they jumped off just as fast as they got on which is bound to happen with any bandwagon. To those certain people, I had one simple question to ask them when the topic of who is better got brought up. That question was "Who's sitting at home, and who is out there winning his 4th title?" The silence after that only proved my point more. Lucky for them the Lakers won the title after school ended so they didn't have to try to defend their earlier statements about who is better.

Over the summer, Lebron furthered himself from the top spot in the NBA even farther, and the season hadn't even started. During one of his own camps, he got dunked on by a college player. On top of that, he told Nike about it and had them confiscate all of the visual evidence of him getting dunked on. When it was released many thought it was going to be a "Oh DAMN he got shitted on" kind of dunk. I think it was more of a "He got kinda shitted on. Sharted on." Kobe even went as far as saying at his own camp that nobody would be dunking on him at his camp. Granted he was at a camp for middle schoolers and the risk was really low, it still made national sports channels thought to be fuel to fire of this ongoing rivalry in the making. Many even said Kobe went too far to say that. I honestly think Lebron deserved it. What will happen next? Nobody knows but i guarantee it will be great.

My Blog

In my blog, I plan to do a Sportscenter Top Plays kinda thing. I'll also break down the plays with certain stats and success rates for those plays. Videos of the Top Plays will be posted as well with break down and detailed analysis of al the plays.

I like to watch sports a lot because at one time or another, I played them all. However, I can't relate to hockey as I've never played it outside of on the street and running instead of skating. After playing all of these sports, I feel I have a new found respect for them and the time that must be put in to be successful at them.

I plan to improve my writing by spending more time on practicing it. Whether it be blog writing or writing writing, I hope to improve on it as much as possible before my college years come around where practice is over and it's time to put all that practice to work.