After an all around positive 2013 season that ended in disappointment when the team lost to the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning in the AFC Championship, the Patriots are one of few AFC teams who have legitimate Super Bowl hopes for 2014. The biggest road block seems like it will be the Broncos once more, but only time can tell. The Patriots will have a slightly revamped offense and a very, and I mean very, improved defense. Tom Brady made something out of nothing on offense for the Pats last year, so the opinion of some that he is slowing down is irrelevant to me. One of the biggest reasons why the team could not beat the Broncos twice last season was due to injuries to big name players, next season will be different.
On offense, there is a lot of question marks as of right now. Is Rob Gronkowski, the league's best tight end, going to be available come the first game? Are Stevan Ridley's fumble problems corrected? Can you expect Danny Amendola to stay healthy and produce consistenly? Will the offensive line be better than last year and stay healthy? Can the second year wide receivers make legitimate contributions in the passing game? All these questions are a mystery right now and we'll have a much better idea of what is happening come training camp. For now however, I'll make my predictions. I do not know when Gronkowski will be ready to play, but if he misses say, the first three games... big deal. The Dolphins, Vikings, and Raiders have subpar defenses and we'd all rather see a durable Gronk at full health instead of a more fragile 75% Gronk. I'm expecting a huge season from Gronkowski after he gets back to full health, he'll really be able to help Tom Brady in the pass game, and he's an outstanding blocker. As of right now, Stevan Ridley looks like he will be the starting running back, and it looks like he is better than ever. He has been working hard to correct the problems he had last year that had him sitting on the bench, fumbles. He said when asked about what he needs to do, "I just have to hold it high and tight." Ridley has shown great agility, elusiveness, and trucking ability when on the field and he is the best option for the Patriots right now. This year, with Gronkowski on the field, I do not expect Julian Edelman to reach the 1,000 yard mark receiving like he did last year. However, he will still put up big numbers and be the Pats best receiver yet again. From Amendola, I do not think he can stay healthy. Don't get me wrong, he played very well in his career when healthy, but he has never played a full season. If he can stay healthy all year, he has the ability to produce just like Edelman but unfortunately, I do not see him staying healthy and I think this might be his last season in New England. Recently, it was said that Aaron Dobson does not look much improved from last season, but I see his potential. He will be a reliable third or fourth option this season. The offensive line was almost literally decimated by injuries and some linemen are still not back to full health. If, by the time the season starts, the linemen are healthy, the team will have, in my opinion, one of the best offensive lines in football. Offensively, a lot is uncertain, but with Tom Brady at quarterback, a top 5-10 offense is almost a lock.
On defense, the patriots were a middle of the pack unit. They didn't do anything special but also had huge injuries, particularly to the front 7. Two of their best defensive players, Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo were lost early on in the season to major injuries. Wilfork tore his Achilles tendon and still isn't back to full strength, and Mayo tore his pectoral muscle, but seems to be fine now. With the run stopping Wilfork back and the tackling machine, Jerod Mayo back, the front 7 of the defense should be solid. Chandler Jones is an improving third year defensive end, and Rob Ninkovich is talented as well. veterans Jerod Mayo, James Anderson will hold down the inside linebacker position and second year linebacker Jamie Collins will man the outside linebacker position with third year man Dont'a Hightower. In the off-season, the Patriots lost their best cornerback of 2013, Aqib Talib, to the Denver Broncos. They managed to pick up one of the league's best, Darrelle Revis, to replace him. He is the shutdown corner the Pats needed desperately, and they also signed former Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner. These two additions will help out Alfonzo Dennard and second year cornerback Logan Ryan who is trying to prove himself. He has the talent. And Bill Belichick believes in him. Safety is just about the only question mark, but due to Browner's physical play, he might be able to play alongside Devin McCourty rather than his normal cornerback position. This season has a very positive outlook. I predict a 12-4 record accompanied by a trip to the super bowl for the New England Patriots.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Profile lede on Tony Gwynn
With 2,999 hits under his belt, Tony Gwynn stepped up to bat against the Montreal Expos, who are now the Washington Nationals. Everybody knows he's going to get the hit, it was just a matter of where. His two favorite spots were the hole in between shortstop and third, and just over the second baseman's head. Right when the pitch left the pitcher's hand, Tony knew where he was sending the ball. It went over the second baseman's head and in to center field.
Tony would go on to hit 141 more hits after the monumental 3,000th. Over his twenty year career, Tony Gwynn had a .338 batting average, an astonishingly high average to maintain over a 20 year period. He won the batting title 8 times, yes 8, a remarkable feat for anybody to win just once. Although he never really hit for power, Gwynn was arguably the greatest contact hitter of all time. He would hit lasers in front of the outfielders or drive the ball into gaps to get doubles, he had 543 of those. Also, in 10,432 career plate appearances, Gwynn struck out only 434 times and only recorded one 3 strike out game. That feat is truly amazing considering he played in 2,440 games. When asked how he never struck Gwynn out in 107 chances, hall of fame pitcher Greg Maddux said, “You just can’t do it, sometimes hitters can pick up differences in spin. They can identify pitchers if there are different release points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision. Except that (expletive) Tony Gwynn." The ultimate sign of respect is admitting somebody was better than you, and Tony Gwynn was better than every pitcher he ever faced.
Tony Gwynn died yesterday, June 16th, at the age of 54 due to complications in his cancer treatments. The San Diego Padres, the team he played all of his 20 seasons for, released this statement, "You were a better person than you were a hitter, and you were the best hitter this generation has seen. San Diego will miss you dearly, Mr. Padre. Thank you for the memories." His son and current Philadelphia Phillies added this statement on Twitter, "Today I lost my dad, my best friend and my mentor. I'm gonna miss u so much pops. I'm gonna do everything in my power to continue to make u proud!". Tony Gwynn will be greatly missed.
Tony would go on to hit 141 more hits after the monumental 3,000th. Over his twenty year career, Tony Gwynn had a .338 batting average, an astonishingly high average to maintain over a 20 year period. He won the batting title 8 times, yes 8, a remarkable feat for anybody to win just once. Although he never really hit for power, Gwynn was arguably the greatest contact hitter of all time. He would hit lasers in front of the outfielders or drive the ball into gaps to get doubles, he had 543 of those. Also, in 10,432 career plate appearances, Gwynn struck out only 434 times and only recorded one 3 strike out game. That feat is truly amazing considering he played in 2,440 games. When asked how he never struck Gwynn out in 107 chances, hall of fame pitcher Greg Maddux said, “You just can’t do it, sometimes hitters can pick up differences in spin. They can identify pitchers if there are different release points or if a curveball starts with an upward hump as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. But if a pitcher can change speeds, every hitter is helpless, limited by human vision. Except that (expletive) Tony Gwynn." The ultimate sign of respect is admitting somebody was better than you, and Tony Gwynn was better than every pitcher he ever faced.
Tony Gwynn died yesterday, June 16th, at the age of 54 due to complications in his cancer treatments. The San Diego Padres, the team he played all of his 20 seasons for, released this statement, "You were a better person than you were a hitter, and you were the best hitter this generation has seen. San Diego will miss you dearly, Mr. Padre. Thank you for the memories." His son and current Philadelphia Phillies added this statement on Twitter, "Today I lost my dad, my best friend and my mentor. I'm gonna miss u so much pops. I'm gonna do everything in my power to continue to make u proud!". Tony Gwynn will be greatly missed.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Women's Sports Response
The survival of any professional sports team is not attributed to the views held during the 40's at all. Nowadays, the survival of any sports team is attributed to its popularity and how much profit is made. Softball is one of the most played sports by girls in the U.S. Its popularity rising is a great reason why this sport has been thriving at the professional level. This is also, in no small part, attributable to the Women's College World Series and its popularity. The WNBA, or Women's National Basketball Association, has had its problems but has survived because it makes a profit and the area's its teams are located in have shown good amounts of fan support. The only reason other sports for women have failed have been due to a lack of popularity and not enough profit. The survival of these two leagues is largely attributable to the fact that these two sports are extremely popular and wide spread as well.
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Getting Ahead in the NFL Draft
Requirements-
1) Do some research! You will have to include properly cited outside materials in your article.
2) It should be organized in a way that makes sense.
3) You should address the counter -argument in a meaningful way.
4) It should be proofread.
5) The top 3 articles, will be sent to the Page for publication in next weeks paper.
Michael Sam is the first openly gay player to ever be selected in the NFL Draft, and he might deserve the selection. But the question still remains, did Michael Sam use his sexuality to get ahead, or gain more attention in order to get picked? Some people could argue, "Yes, of course the announcement created more buzz around his name and brought more scouts and evaluators his way." While others could argue "Sure it brought more attention to him, but it also made teams aware that he could be a huge locker room distraction and that hurt his draft stock." Regardless of your opinion as to whether it helped him or not, everybody can agree that it brought him more attention. Seeing as how the NFL is a business and every aspect of a player affects their draft stock, I think his announcement did not help him get ahead. However, I still understand how people could feel the extra evaluation made a team more confident in selecting him with one of their picks.
Starting with the way I feel on the matter, I think this, among other things, hurt his draft stock mightily. Another thing that did this was an experiment in a senior bowl game at the end of his college career in which he attempted to play at linebacker, rather than his usual defensive end position. He looked noticeably slower and much less agile than when he played defensive end, and that put him much lower on team's draft boards than before. But I believe his announcement also put him even further down on most teams big boards. Being the first openly gay NFL player would certainly warrant a ton of media attention in and around team facilities. Almost every coach would prefer a distraction free environment where his players can focus on getting better and winning. With a ton of cameras and reporters randomly covering the team's practices more aggressively, the players wouldn't be able to do that as well as they could in a distraction free environment. Also, in a much less common and likely case, other players could be homophobic or uncomfortable with being in a locker room with a gay man. This could prove to be the ultimate distraction and risk for a coach to take and they wouldn't be likely to take it. With these factors, among others, his draft stock was, in my opinion, negatively affected. Because of this, I do not think the announcement of his sexuality helped him get ahead in the draft.
Many people will disagree with my opinion, and I understand why they would because there are also factors that could support the argument that it helped him get ahead. First of all, the biggest and most prevalent factor, would be all the attention he received from his announcement. Many people from the start saw it as a strategical move for Sam to make his announcement when he did. By doing it weeks in advance before the draft, it brought unlimited attention to him from NFL scouts. Albeit good and bad, attention is exposure and around draft time exposure is vital. The more a team sees of you, the more they consider taking you in the draft, which makes people think his announcement is one of the bigger reasons he was drafted. Also, it helped other draft prospects at Missouri University get extra attention from scouts. Because of this, it is also a common belief that his teammates and coaches gave Michael Sam an additional outpouring of support to make his sexuality public when he did. Since these arguments could also be legitimate, you could try and say his declaration helped him get ahead of other prospects, but i do not think it helped him as much as it hurt him.
Regardless of what you think of this, Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams with the 249th overall pick in round 7. His selection was the first time in NFL history an openly homosexual player was picked in the draft. It is unknown if he will be the first to play in an NFL game because he has yet to make the Ram's 53 man roster and we are not very close to knowing if he will. At the defensive end/ pass rusher position, the Rams are loaded, so even if he makes the roster he probably won't be much of a factor on defense. Many NFL analysts from networks like ESPN and CBS Sports say he will most likely be a special teams player if he makes the team, which is not a guarantee. If Sam makes the team and plays in a game, he will be the first openly gay player in NFL history and he would obviously be proud of that. But that isn't how he wants to be known, " I just wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player," he said, " not Michael Sam the gay football player."
1) Do some research! You will have to include properly cited outside materials in your article.
2) It should be organized in a way that makes sense.
3) You should address the counter -argument in a meaningful way.
4) It should be proofread.
5) The top 3 articles, will be sent to the Page for publication in next weeks paper.
Michael Sam is the first openly gay player to ever be selected in the NFL Draft, and he might deserve the selection. But the question still remains, did Michael Sam use his sexuality to get ahead, or gain more attention in order to get picked? Some people could argue, "Yes, of course the announcement created more buzz around his name and brought more scouts and evaluators his way." While others could argue "Sure it brought more attention to him, but it also made teams aware that he could be a huge locker room distraction and that hurt his draft stock." Regardless of your opinion as to whether it helped him or not, everybody can agree that it brought him more attention. Seeing as how the NFL is a business and every aspect of a player affects their draft stock, I think his announcement did not help him get ahead. However, I still understand how people could feel the extra evaluation made a team more confident in selecting him with one of their picks.
Starting with the way I feel on the matter, I think this, among other things, hurt his draft stock mightily. Another thing that did this was an experiment in a senior bowl game at the end of his college career in which he attempted to play at linebacker, rather than his usual defensive end position. He looked noticeably slower and much less agile than when he played defensive end, and that put him much lower on team's draft boards than before. But I believe his announcement also put him even further down on most teams big boards. Being the first openly gay NFL player would certainly warrant a ton of media attention in and around team facilities. Almost every coach would prefer a distraction free environment where his players can focus on getting better and winning. With a ton of cameras and reporters randomly covering the team's practices more aggressively, the players wouldn't be able to do that as well as they could in a distraction free environment. Also, in a much less common and likely case, other players could be homophobic or uncomfortable with being in a locker room with a gay man. This could prove to be the ultimate distraction and risk for a coach to take and they wouldn't be likely to take it. With these factors, among others, his draft stock was, in my opinion, negatively affected. Because of this, I do not think the announcement of his sexuality helped him get ahead in the draft.
Many people will disagree with my opinion, and I understand why they would because there are also factors that could support the argument that it helped him get ahead. First of all, the biggest and most prevalent factor, would be all the attention he received from his announcement. Many people from the start saw it as a strategical move for Sam to make his announcement when he did. By doing it weeks in advance before the draft, it brought unlimited attention to him from NFL scouts. Albeit good and bad, attention is exposure and around draft time exposure is vital. The more a team sees of you, the more they consider taking you in the draft, which makes people think his announcement is one of the bigger reasons he was drafted. Also, it helped other draft prospects at Missouri University get extra attention from scouts. Because of this, it is also a common belief that his teammates and coaches gave Michael Sam an additional outpouring of support to make his sexuality public when he did. Since these arguments could also be legitimate, you could try and say his declaration helped him get ahead of other prospects, but i do not think it helped him as much as it hurt him.
Regardless of what you think of this, Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams with the 249th overall pick in round 7. His selection was the first time in NFL history an openly homosexual player was picked in the draft. It is unknown if he will be the first to play in an NFL game because he has yet to make the Ram's 53 man roster and we are not very close to knowing if he will. At the defensive end/ pass rusher position, the Rams are loaded, so even if he makes the roster he probably won't be much of a factor on defense. Many NFL analysts from networks like ESPN and CBS Sports say he will most likely be a special teams player if he makes the team, which is not a guarantee. If Sam makes the team and plays in a game, he will be the first openly gay player in NFL history and he would obviously be proud of that. But that isn't how he wants to be known, " I just wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player," he said, " not Michael Sam the gay football player."
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