As you can probably guess from my title, I have nothing to do this evening so I've decided to update my lovely sports opinion blog rather than pack it in at 9:00, what self respecting college student thinks of that...probably the kind who's roommate goes downstairs to watch a movie with a girl...wait a second???
Anyway, today's topic: Josh Hamilton
Anyone closely following baseball knows by now that the Texas Rangers have clinched the American League West with plenty of time to spare. Anyone who has ever seen a sports highlight show knows how the night ends after a team clinches a playoff birth...the team goes back into the locker room and pops $3.00 a bottle champagne from the closest wal-mart and showers beer all over everyone and their mother...or father, I don't judge. Personally I've always wondered how rookie phenoms who are under the age of 21 are allowed to take part in these sorts of celebrations...this is America and we follow the law, most of the times, ok sometimes, ok...almost never when it comes to those that Moses and his Ten Commandments didn't address.
But I digress, when the Texas Rangers clinched, Josh Hamilton stayed away from his teams celebration because he has a history of alchohol abuse that derailed his major league career once before. It takes some pretty strong character to not take fun in something that you've never experianced before, Hamilton's never made the playoffs, he doesn't know what that feels like. His bat is a big part of how the Rangers made the playoffs in the first place, and yet he stayed strong to his lifetime rehabilitation program and abstained from the drinking.
While I personally have never battled substance abuse of any kind, everyone knows someone who has been affected by someone who has a substance abuse problem. So everyone knows that straying from the path once can lead to a hard crash from a partially climbed ladder, and that temptation is something recovering addicts battle every single day. So while Josh Hamilton's post game celebration may not have been ideal, it was the right decision and I applaud him for doig so.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Switching It Up
I started this blog as a required component for an online journalism class that I was taking my sophomore year of college. To this point it was used specifically to inform my professor as to how I was doing in building my website for the class. Quite frankly, that's boring. So now I plan to convert it into my personal blog to comment on current issues in my favorite realm of discussion...sports.
Something I love about the job I'm training for is that it gives me something new to talk about everyday, however due to the busy life of a college student (what with class, running a newspaper section and playing the latest version of Halo) its amazing that I have time to sleep, which comes rarely let alone take time to look at my very first love...sports.
Today's Topic: Michael Vick and his chance at redemption.
We all know the story of how Vick fell from grace after it was discovered that he participated in a dog fighting ring run out of his Virginia home and even participated in the killing of dogs. I'll be the first to admit I jumped on the Anti-Vick bandwagon. Like everyone else I was horrified at the accusations made against him...not to mention the fact that I love puppies (how can you not love puppies, they are literally the sweetest things in the world) and like everyone else I felt the punishment passed down on Vick was justified.
That being said, he has done his time in jail and is in his second full year of reinstatement in the NFL and whats more impressive, after a two year layoff and a year as Donovan Mcnabb's ball boy...he's lighting it up.
Two games into the 2010 NFL season, Vick is the most exciting player under center, unless you love seeing Old Man River up in Minnesota try and guess who to throw to when he's going color blind in both eyes, here's a hint...its not a player who's number is below 80. When Vick takes a snap he commands the respect of everyone on the field and in the stands because of his pure athleticism that earlier in the decade electrified the NFL and gave it the jolt it was missing.
His stats are efficient, he still faster than 90 percent of the guys in the league which includes most of the defenses he's facing. When the Eagles signed Vick he was a last resort insurance policy, well in 2010 it was time for the Eagles to cash in the deductable because Kevin Kolb went down and was playing aweful. Vick stepped and brought his team close to beating the most hyped defense in the NFC, and the next week goes out and in his first start since 2006, passes for over 250 yards and two touchdowns to get his team a much needed W.
After reports that Kolb was going to regain his starting job in week 3, Eagles head coach appointed Vick the starter and put his eggs in what looks to be a rew0ven and very secure basket.
Andy Reid once said of his team, "your hearts are as big as my waste." If you've ever seen Andy Reid than you know his team has the heart of Andre the Giant with an enlarged heart, dude's a donut short of owning krispy kreame. But Reid showed that his team not only gets its heart from its head coach, but when making decisions like starting Michael Vick, it may be getting its brains and some jewelry to wear on their hands as well.
Something I love about the job I'm training for is that it gives me something new to talk about everyday, however due to the busy life of a college student (what with class, running a newspaper section and playing the latest version of Halo) its amazing that I have time to sleep, which comes rarely let alone take time to look at my very first love...sports.
Today's Topic: Michael Vick and his chance at redemption.
We all know the story of how Vick fell from grace after it was discovered that he participated in a dog fighting ring run out of his Virginia home and even participated in the killing of dogs. I'll be the first to admit I jumped on the Anti-Vick bandwagon. Like everyone else I was horrified at the accusations made against him...not to mention the fact that I love puppies (how can you not love puppies, they are literally the sweetest things in the world) and like everyone else I felt the punishment passed down on Vick was justified.
That being said, he has done his time in jail and is in his second full year of reinstatement in the NFL and whats more impressive, after a two year layoff and a year as Donovan Mcnabb's ball boy...he's lighting it up.
Two games into the 2010 NFL season, Vick is the most exciting player under center, unless you love seeing Old Man River up in Minnesota try and guess who to throw to when he's going color blind in both eyes, here's a hint...its not a player who's number is below 80. When Vick takes a snap he commands the respect of everyone on the field and in the stands because of his pure athleticism that earlier in the decade electrified the NFL and gave it the jolt it was missing.
His stats are efficient, he still faster than 90 percent of the guys in the league which includes most of the defenses he's facing. When the Eagles signed Vick he was a last resort insurance policy, well in 2010 it was time for the Eagles to cash in the deductable because Kevin Kolb went down and was playing aweful. Vick stepped and brought his team close to beating the most hyped defense in the NFC, and the next week goes out and in his first start since 2006, passes for over 250 yards and two touchdowns to get his team a much needed W.
After reports that Kolb was going to regain his starting job in week 3, Eagles head coach appointed Vick the starter and put his eggs in what looks to be a rew0ven and very secure basket.
Andy Reid once said of his team, "your hearts are as big as my waste." If you've ever seen Andy Reid than you know his team has the heart of Andre the Giant with an enlarged heart, dude's a donut short of owning krispy kreame. But Reid showed that his team not only gets its heart from its head coach, but when making decisions like starting Michael Vick, it may be getting its brains and some jewelry to wear on their hands as well.
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