Sportsmanship or Winning?

 

      In the heat of a game the only thing that ever seems to matter is winning.  A couple season's ago on a chilly day in May, I questioned that.  I was playing with my town travel soccer team in a tournament.  We were playing our fierce rivals whom we had often played in the league.  We had already played brutal matches, and not many had walked away without bruises.  Even before the game, there was open hostility and rude remarks from my own team.  Of course, they said these things as a joke they were quick to confirm. However, I was still shocked at how vicious the game would become.  My team went in knowing that we were the underdogs in the match, however, we had hopes of an upset.  It took two minutes for our rivals to score.  The player who scored it was a player we had known for years and not much liked.  It was he who came into the center of the sportsmanship dilemma.   We had not been confident for no reason, and we saw ourselves taking the win.  However, something happened to halt our momentum and enrage my team's tempers, as the skillful player on the other team fell down in apparent agony.  Each and every one of us knew that no foul had been committed, and, yet, five minutes were wasted to escort him off the pitch.  After that, the game began to slow, and my team began to get frustrated.   We started committing pointless fouls. Then, the same player who had been carried off the field proceeded to score and put the game far beyond my team. After the game, we felt defeated and angry. We all refused to shake hands with our opponents, and we instead jeered them with cries of "crybaby".
              For a week after the tournament match, my teammates and I seemed to have developed temporary amnesia and did not speak of our actions at the tournament.  Most of us had a vague feeling that we were not so innocent, as we had pretended.  We were almost embarrassed to speak to one another.  However, we were not truly ashamed until our first practice back.  I will never forget how angry my coach was that day.  He truly showed us the despicable nature of our actions and illuminated the shame we should feel.  He told us that having the ability to lose graciously was more important than the ability to win.  We would face that team again the following year, and we made no mistake.  With our reputations on our minds, we fought hard and respectfully.  Miraculously, the game was clean of fouls.  In the end though, we were fairly beaten.  Forced to concede that we were the weaker side, we applauded the victors and shook their hands heartily.  My team and I will never forget that what we did that game was more important than any game we would or had ever won.  Finally, my coach was truly proud.

Steroids in Sports

           For the past decade, steroids have been the biggest problem in sports leagues such as the MLB and the NFL. Star players like Alex Rodriguez have been shamefully punished for their involvement, and records such as Barry Bond's home run record have been tarnished.  This is because the use of steroid is a clear act of cheating.  The problem was brought to light in the early 2000s, and it was soon discovered that it had been in use for years in professional sports.  In a revealing interview, Ken Caminiti, a steroid user, estimated that half of the MLB's players used performance enhancing drugs.  From there, things only escalated.  Dopers were discovered in every league while steroid testing and subsequent punishments were established.  However, the most notorious of steroid users was cyclist Lance Armstrong who finally surrendered to multiple charges in 2012.  He was harshly but fairly stripped of each of his Tour De France titles because of his clear advantage.  It was a shameful moment in sports and a key moment in a saga of steroid investigation, as one of the world's best athletes was revealed to be a cheater. Steroids is a problem in sports that needs to be solved even while it has also harmed the legacy of the top leagues and players. 
              The use of steroids has put a giant asterisk under many of the greatest records and achievements in sports.  Initially, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Marion Jones, and more were discovered to have used steroids.  All of these athletes carry with them glittering trophy cabinets and numerous personal achievements.  Lance Armstrong set a record that seemed impossible to set, and he was an inspiring figure with his incredible victories.  Now, it is clear that his record is impossible to achieve, and one of the greatest accomplishments in sports is nothing more than a shameful lie.  Likewise, Barry Bond's home run record takes the title away from players who amassed their totals without the aid of illegal substances. Performance enhancing drugs have also taken away from team victories.  While sports organizations can not strip a team of a title without proof that the team itself had something to do with the steroid use, it must also be understood that a champion team's best and most important player might be so because of steroids. Steroids have destroyed the competition in sports and made mockeries of some athlete's incredible feats It is not until the playing field is level again that competition can mean something again. 
              Primarily, steroids are clearly a problem which requires a solution and many have been attempted by the various sporting bodies of the world. Most of these solutions are the addition of drug tests to sports. However, accompanying these tests is punishments that are more severe than ever. Players who test positive are regularly suspended for a steadily increasing amount of games. In 2009, the MLB suspended Manny Ramirez for fifty games. Last year, Alex Rodriguez was suspended for the entirety of a season. While Rodriguez's case was more severe than Ramirez's, it is still an example of how the sport's world has responded to performance enhancing drugs over time.  Likewise, where the individual sports are concerned, it is not uncommon to see titles stripped from athletes caught with steroids.  This was exemplified in the case of Lance Armstrong.  After confessing to doping for years, Armstrong's record seven Tour de Frances were taken from him.  Similarly, the same punishment is applied in individual sports such as track, as runner Marion Jones's medals were taken from her after it was discovered she had been doping.  Marion Jones also ended up in prison for six months after lying in a court dealing with her suspecteed steroid use.  Finally, athletes getting into legal trouble over steroid use is not uncommon.  Athletes such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have both been charged with lying in a court about perfromance enhancing drugs, and the athletes can be left with jailtime as a severe punishment.  The search for a real solution to steroids is ongoing while new punishments continue to be implemented. 

             The punisments for steroid use can extend beyond suspensions, as steroids can include undesirable side effects.  These effects can vary between minor or severe.  The most dangerous problems seem to occur in the long term.  These include liver cancer, heart attacks and an all-around shorter lifespan.  Primarily, one of the main areas of effect from steroids is the hormones.  Steroids change the body's hormone system which will then create irregularities in the physical characteristics of users.  In males, steroids can causethe growth of breasts and baldness.  In females, steroids cause the body to become more like a male's Females will grow body hair and get deeper voices.  The majority of these side effects only get worse the more steroids are taken. Additionally, steroids also hugely affect the cardiovascular system.  Steroids alter the levels of the different lipoproteins in the body to irregular levels which can ultimately cause a heart attack or stroke.  This is beause by changing those levels the body has an increased chance of clotting blood vessels with fat. Finally, there is evidence of athletes suffering these consequences.  In 1992, a player in the NFL named Lyle Azado died of brain cancer which was a result of twenty years of steroid use.  In 2007, it was revealed that German athletes who had unknowingly been exposed to steroids were beginning to show side effects.  Many of them have cancer and their children have various problems ranging from the physical to the mental.  The use of steroids has hunted sports for many years, and a solution is required to preserve the safety of the athletes and the purity of sports.

Sources: www.sportsanddrugs.procon.org
               www.drugabuse.gov

                 

 

 

             

Brady Suspended for Role in Deflategate!!!

              This week, the long awaited Ted Well's report about the scandal known as Deflategate was released, and the NFL has handed down a suspension to Brady for evidence indicating that he had a role in deflating the footballs in the AFC Championship game.  Brady's suspension is four games long, and the New England Patriots were also punished.  The Patriots were fined one million dollars and lost draft picks.  In a statement released before the report was released Robert Kraft stated that his team would cooperate with any punishment the league believed was necessary although he restated his team's innocence.  After the punishment, Kraft seemed to have changed his mind when he expressed his disagreement with the punishment.  However, it does look like the Patriots will not appeal despite Kraft's outrage.  Tom Brady, meanwhile, can and most likely will appeal his suspension.  Brady does have a good chance of minimizing his suspension to one or two games.  The Well's report does not exactly condemn Brady beyond doubt.  After all, most of it is based on circumstantial evidence.  Even the author himself will not directly accuse Brady.  Instead he says, "It is more probable than not."  There are many more problems with the report.  These include that the texts that were key pieces of evidence against Brady were, in fact, sent months before the Patriots took on the Colts.  Then there is the fact that key evidence to do with the actual PSI could have been messed up due to two different gauges, and the punishment is handed out to a crime that Brady might not have committed.  Eventually, it is clear that Tom Brady's suspension has little to do with deflated footballs and everything to do with politics.  Roger Goodell needed a statement after his horrible handling of several other discipline decisions.  He has chosen to punish to heavily punish a star quarterback for a minor cheating issue he may not have actually been involved in, and he has made this issue bigger than it actually ever was.  There is a small piece of irony in the situation  Tom Brady is scheduled to return from suspension in a game against the Indianapolis Colts.  Good luck to them.

FC Barcelona v. FC Bayern Munich: A Preview

   This year, the UEFA Champions League will feature one of the most even games in the competition's history. The semifinals will feature a game between FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich.  The contest is between the teams that most agree have been the two best in Europe this season, and that is just one of the storylines going into this match.  One thing that will affect this match is Bayern's injury problem. Bayern will be missing star wingers Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben. Bayern may also lose players like Lewandowski, Thiago, and Alaba. Meanwhile, Barcelona will be able to play their first choice squad.  The scariest thing about that for Bayern is the front three of Barcelona composed of Neymar, Luis Suarez, and Lionel Messi.  Between themselves the three have scored over one hundred goals, and each one is playing excellently.  Another fact that makes this match-up even more enticing is the fact that it sees Pep Guardiola return to Barcelona.  Pep is the legendary coach of Barcelona who upon resigning as manager joined Bayern.  There will be many conflicting emotions as Barcelona attempt to achieve success by defeating the coach that gave them so much success in the past.  Finally, one more storyline for this game is the revenge Barcelona will certainly be looking for.  This is because two years ago, Bayern Munich beat Barcelona on an aggregate score of 7-0.  However, things are different now.  Lionel Messi had been injured for that game.  Last week, he scored twice.  Also, this is a much different Barcelona team, as Neymar and Suarez are new signings.  Despite the adversity, Bayern will be sure to give Barcelona an incredible game.  The most anticipated game of the season will surely pay off

    

Boston Sports in the 2000's

            Since 2000, the city of Boston has become the most successful city in sports in terms of winning titles in the four major leagues of NHL, NBA, MLB, and the NFL in which their teams have won nine total championships.  After years of citizens of Boston hearing about things like "The Curse of the Bambino" and the mediocrity of the New England Patriots, people of Boston most likely never imagined they would live in a time with such success.  However, in the past ten to fifteen years, Boston has been a superpower in almost every sport.  It all started the New England Patriots winning the Super Bowl in 2002 and the miraculous nature of it.  Most thought the team would amount to nothing, and when Drew Bledsoe went down, people thought it would be even worse.  No one thought that the back up quarterback would turn out be arguably the best of all time.  Despite the complete unlikeliness of that happening, it did happen, and the Patriots also incredibly won the Super Bowl.  That extraordinary event was necessary to start a sports dynasty in Boston.
        The Patriots did not stop winning.  They took a year off from winning titles, but the next season they came roaring back with two consecutive titles.  Three Super Bowls in four years was already almost unprecedented success that saw Boston become a football superpower.  However, the titles were only being won in football.  Next up for Boston was "The Curse of the Bambino."  Since 1918, Boston had been denied a World Series Championship.  The common opinion was that the Boston Red Sox were cursed.  In 2003, that belief was validated, as the Sox were beaten by the Yankees off a walk-off home run to go to the World Series.  In 2004, the Red Sox seemed cursed again, as they lost three games straight only to win four in a row to win a trip to the World Series.  It was the largest comeback in baseball playoff history.  Once in the World Series, the Red Sox made no mistake and won four straight to break the curse.  In 2007, the Red Sox repeated the feat, and in 2013, they performed miraculously to recover from a last place finish the previous season to go from worst to first.
        In 2008, Boston claimed another championship.  This time it was from the NBA and their Boston Celtics.  Although the Celtics had always been the most successful basketball team that had done Boston proud, they had yet to strike in the 2000s.  That all changed when the Celtics rose to the NBA Finals to meet their great rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.  Led by Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon Rondo, the Celtics beat the Lakers in the finals and bring Boston another title.
       In 2010, Boston won their NHL Championship, as the Bruins triumphed over the Vancouver Canucks.  It was a series that the Bruins were the underdogs in.  The Patriots cemented Boston's legacy as a sporting superpower with a fourth Super Bowl ring.  In the 2000s, Boston has nine Championships.  The closest competitor which is Los Angeles has seven.  In the past fifteen years, Boston is unrivaled when it comes to winning in sports.

A Reaction to "Some things you just don't forget" by Matthew Berry

         "Some things you just don't forget" is a powerful article written by Matthew Berry about the bullying incident between the NFL players, Richie Incogito and Jonathan Martin, and how it relates to his personal bullying struggles as a child.  This article is emotionally written, and you can tell that Berry means every word he writes.  It will strike most people close to the heart, and there is few who can not relate to the topic.  the article also does a fantastic job relating to the sports topic.  Matthew Berry uses his own experiences to cast a new light onto the situation.  He makes it clear through his own experiences the true nature of what Jonathan Martin had to deal with.  He also shows us that what Martin did was arguably the bravest thing of all.  Another thing that Berry does in his article is to teach about the bullying problem.  Some of his experiences are horrifying to hear about such as the abuse he went through in the vandalism of his property and home.  However, it is also an encouraging message to victims of bullying.  After telling the story of his past, he is still Matthew Berry.  Even though he may have been a bullying victim, he has now become successful.  this is an inspiring article that changes the way many will view the harrassment of j
Jonathan Martin.

El Clasico: A Review

              On March 22, 2015, the top two teams in Spain, Barcelona and Real Madrid, faced off in a match to determine the new front runner in La Liga and Europe.  The score of this "El Clasico" was 2-1 in Barcelona's favor.  A match up between Real Madrid and Barcelona is always going to be exciting and it is almost a guarantee to have goals.  This match was no exception as both teams played 90 minutes of attacking play.  Going into the match, the favorites were FC Barcelona.  They had begun 2015 playing at an extraordinarily high level and have not stopped.  Real Madrid, meanwhile, have slowed down. Their last few months have been dotted with losses, and their free flow attack has been stalled.  Both teams are characterized by their attacking tridents  In the past three months, Madrid's Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, and Cristiano Ronaldo have been outshined by the red and blue attack of Neymar, Luis Suarez, and Lionel Messi.  Another subplot going into the big game was the battle for world supremacy between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.  This time around,Messi is unquestionably the player in better form.  The stats speak for themselves as Messi has consistently outscored and out assisted his rival in 2015.  However, one lesson often learned in El Clasico is that there are no favorites when these two titans of soccer clash.
         The starting lineups did not contain surprises as each manager put out their best possible team.  The Barcelona players seemed shocked to see the powerful attack of Real.  Madrid looked better than they have in months as they charged toward goal time and time again.  However, it was Barcelona who scored first.  Real Madrid conceded a free kick far from their goal, but distance can not stop Lionel Messi's magic as he swerved the ball directly on Jeremy Mathieu's head, from the free kick, who emphatically placed it beyond Iker Casillas.  However, Real Madrid equalized with a brilliant attack culminating in a Benzema backheel and a sliding Ronaldo finish.  The scores were level at half and Barcelona came out firing, and the attack was led by the Brazilian, Neymar.  Neymar, who had missed easy chances in the first half seemed determined to redeem himself.  He almost found the net with some brilliant dribbles, but it was not his night to score.  It was Luis Suarez's night. Suarez had made his debut in a Clasico and had been heavily criticized for his performance.  Now months later, he scored the winner.  A Dani Alves long pass was controlled by Suarez in between two defenders with a brilliant first touch and his finishing did not let him down as he jaw-droppingly slid the ball by Casillas.  From then on, Barcelona controlled the game by retaining possession and almost scored several more times as Real faded out of the game. Barcelona's manager  Luis Enrique deserves credit for two excellent substitutions in bringing on Xavi Hernandez  and Setgio Busquets to control the game. It was a milestone for Xavi Hernandez who played in what will likely be his last Clasico after his debut more than fifteen years ago.  It was a key victory for Barcelona, and it puts them four points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Can Manchester City Bounce Back and Defend the English Premier League?

           With ten games left in the English Premier League, the defending English champions, Manchester City are in dire need of an uptake in form to take first place back from Chelsea.  It was three games ago that the general consensus in the City camp was that every remaining game needed to be won in order to close the gap on Chelsea.  Three games later and Manchester City seem to have a better chance of dropping to third than rising to first.  those three games have symbolized the highs and lows of the entire campaign.  The first game saw City demolish Newcastle to a score of 5-0.  The team also shortened their gap between Chelsea to five after the league leaders tied.  The next game stopped the momentum, however in a crushing loss to Liverpool courtesy of Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho with two wondrous goals.  The final of the three games was an unconvincing victory against the bottom table team, Leicester City. Manchester City are running out of time to rekindle their dominant form.

               The fact that those three games included two wins and one loss just goes to demonstrate how good the opposition is.  Chelsea have been brilliant in the Premier League this season and are led by the pragmatic manager Jose Mourinho and superstars Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.  Mourinho sides have had a huge record of success across Europe and the manager is legendary for never turning over an early season lead.  However, Manchester City have a history of overhauling the leaders at the very end.  The story was such as they chased Manchester United in 2012.  Manchester United at the height of their powers led their local rivals by eight points as the season reached its end.  It took a run of phenomenal games for Manchester City to will themselves back into the title race, and it still required a stoppage time goal from Argentine striker Sergio Aguero.  Last season, it was Liverpool led by PFA Player of the Year, Luis Suarez, who led Manchester City.  That time it was the Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure who led City back.  This year, it will take both Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure as well as David Silva and Vincent Kompany to defend the title.  Of course, City can not just will themselves back to winning ways.  It will require a change of tactics from Manuel Pellegrini who has come under criticism for poor formations and starting eleven.  The defense will also need to improve quickly.  The normally unshakable Vincent Kompany has been poor for City and needs to get backs to the days when he shut down offenses. Manchester City certainly have the quality to come back, but the question is: will Chelsea crumble, and if they do, can Man City be ready to race by them and win the English Premier League yet again?

Lionel Messi Biography

         
         Lionel Messi stood on the brink of history.  The Finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup will be viewed by over a billion people worldwide.  In soccer, there is no greater achievement, and it is monumental for the man who has already won everything else.  Countless victories have brought Messi global acclaim and most label him as the best player in the world and quite possibly the best ever.  One more win and his legacy is cemented forever. 

       However, it did not start that way for Lionel Messi.  When he was born in Argentina, he did not have much money to his name.  Now, his skills on the soccer field are worth over one hundred million dollars.  At a young age, Lionel Messi was diagnosed with a growth disorder.  It required an impossibly expensive medication that the Messi family had no way to pay.  They found an answer in their son's left foot, or, rather, what he could make a soccer ball do with it.  Messi's skills in the world's most popular game has brought him more than he could have possibly dreamed.  At thirteen, he signed a exceptional contract with FC Barcelona that not only secured the medication for his disorder but also started one of the greatest careers in the history of sports.  That is pretty good for a kid nicknamed "La Pulga," or the flea.  After signing his first contract on a napkin, Lionel Messi's life changed forever.  He left Argentina behind for Barcelona, Spain where he was enrolled in one of the most legendary youth academies in the history of the sport, La Masia.  It is a school credited with developing some of the world's best players such as Messi's soon-to-be teammates, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta.  However, Lionel Messi would soon become the greatest player to ever come out of the school.  The FC Barcelona first team was and is one of the best team in the sport worldwide.  Most would train for more than ten years for the chance to play for such a team.  

       Lionel Messi took just four years in La Masia to make his league debut at seventeen years old.  In the 2006/2007 season, Messi was part of the Barcelona squad that won the Spanish Premier League and the European Champions League.  One year later at 20 years of age, Lionel Messi was starting for the champions of Europe.  It was a spot in the lineup that he has not relinquished to this day and what followed was an unprecedented era of utter dominance.  The 2008/2009 season in particular was one of the most famous of all time with Messi leading the club to the Treble.  The Treble involved victory in the Spanish League, Spanish Cup, and Uefa Champions League.  Lionel Messi then won the most coveted award in all of soccer, the FIFA Ballon D'or.  It is the award given to the best player in the world.  Players have gone through entire careers without coming close to it.  Messi had his hands on it at twenty-one years old.  Incredibly, Messi won the prestigious award for the next three consecutive years.  In those three years Messi cd another European Championship and two more Spanish League victories.  Those three years also included the ridiculous 2012.  Messi had always been the greatest goal scorer and soccer.  However, in 2012, Messi broke every record there was on the way to 91 total goals for the year.  It is the greatest goal scoring achievement of all time.       

        Despite all this success at the club level of soccer, Messi did not win so effortlessly on the Argentina National Team.  That is, until the FIFA World Cup 2014.  Messi scored 4 goals in the 7 game competition and led his team to the finals.  On that day, he did not do what he had done all his life.  He failed to win.  He was honored as the MVP of the tournament although it was not the trophy he wanted to bring home.  That loss capped what has been a disappointing year for Messi standards.  His team failed to win any trophies, and he lost the Ballon D'or for the second consecutive time.  2015 appears to be a brighter year.  Messi has broken the all time La Liga goal scoring record and the all time European League record.  He has started 2015 well and has played fantastically.  Lionel Messi looks well on his way to do what he always has done again: score goals and win games.

Reaction to "Sacking the Super Bowl" by Steve Almond

                           I recently read the article "Sacking the Super Bowl" by Steve Almond, and I found it to be a well written  article that does an exceptional job of making the reader question the ethics of the most popular sport in America.  The beginning of the article is a spectacular attention grabber that appeals to the sympathy of the reader.  It is not about football at all, but rather a sad story about the writer's mother and her struggles with a form of dementia.  This opening works to grab the sympathy of the reader, and then apply it to football.  This is because the next thing the writer does is compare his mother's illness to the illnesses of retired players.  The writer then goes on to describe the lucrative nature of the NFL in terms of their mass wealth which comes from the public as a whole while the NFL remains tax-exempt.  The author then brings up the danger football poses to the players and asks the reader what the reward is for them.  Steve Almond encourages readers to ask ourselves if football is really safe.  This question also influences the reader to wonder how they can then support football.  At the end of the article, the writer leaves the decision in our hands about whether or not to watch football.  This article is extremely well written with the ending especially standing out.  Steve Almond knows that he has no chance convincing a large group of people to give up on football, so instead he leaves it to our conscience.  He hopes that this article will stick in the mind of people watching the game and that it might encourage them to come around to his way of thinking.  Ultimately, I will continue to watch football.  The truth is that the players are paid a lot for what they do and each one knows the risks.   Football players play football because they love it, and not even the risks involved could convince them to stop playing.  This is the reasoning I will use to clear my conscience every year when I sit down to watch the Super Bowl.