It's been a while

Due to the end of this past school year, I have not had to write a blog in forever. However, I have began to compile a list of topics that have been on my mind. First being the Chinese gymnastics team. The IOC cleared them from all questions of them having girls underage competing on the team. I believe that the IOC should be ashamed of themselves for their lack of effort in their investigation of the team. They said that there was no evidence no evidence to determine that the one gymnast was underage. That's because the Chinese government issued her a new passport and destroyed all other evidence that she was 13. Another topic is the NL MVP. ESPN's Buster O'Malley said that he feels Albert Pujols should with out a doubt be the MVP. Wait what? Are you talking about the 4th place St. Louis Cardinals? Pujols however, did put up impressive numbers batting .357, had 37 homeruns and also collected 116 rbi's, but did he carry his team, did he bring his team to the playoffs. No. The true MVP is without a doubt Ryan Howard. The big man did struggle in the beginning of the year, but had one of the greatest September's in baseball history. He finished the regular season with 48 homeruns, 146 rbi's and a average of .251. Not only did he play well, he carried the Phillies on top of his shoulders and led them into the playoffs for the second time in two years.

Mariners Charge First

Whenever a sports event takes place, there is always the thought of their being a fight. Pushing and shoving takes place every game, in hockey after every whistle, football after every down, basketball after every foul. But, in baseball there aren't as many. When there is a fight its always, I hate to say it, but exciting. The first baseball fight took place yesterday in a game between the Texas Rangers and the Seatle Mariners. Rangers pitcher Kason Gabbard threw a high pitch to Richie Sexson. Sexson is 6 foot 8. Sexson threw his bat to the side and charged the mound, all 6-8 of him. He then threw his helmet at Gabbard and tackled him to the ground. The dug outs and bullpens cleared and came on to the field. The game ended with the Mariners on top of the pile literally winning 7 to 3.

Spy Gate Coming To An End

The New England Patriots over the past 8 years has established a very strong franchise. The Patriots have won three out of four Super Bowls they have been in. The latest this past season. Bill Belichick is well known for his sweatshirt with the cut sleeves, and his awkward news conferences. Belichick this past season got himself into a huge hole that keeps getting deeper. In the first game of the season, Belichick hired Matt Walsh to video tape the New York Jet's deffensive coaching signs. A few weeks after that game Walsh was caught on tape taking video of the other teams signs. The Patriots were heavily fined and lost draft picks. But the question now is, if Walsh video taped the St. Louis Rams walk through before the Super Bowl in the 2001-2002 season. Walsh sent tape signs into NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the 2002 walk through was not on there. Since I am very passionate about my Philadelphia sports I believe that somebody filmed the Eagles' walk through before the 2004 Super Bowl. Every time the Eagles went to run the ball the Patriots were in run coverage, and every time McNabb went to drop back for a pass, they read it like they knew what was coming. What ever the case may be Walsh and the Patriots will have the hammer dropped on them sooner or later by Goodell.

"Down The Stretch They Come"

The 134th Kentucky Derby was an exciting one. One of the favorites Big Brown pulled through with a 5 length finish. Big Brown was the first horse to win the derby in the 20th position since 1929. However after this victory tragedy struck. The second place winner Eight Belles collapsed after finishing the race. Moments after Eight Belles fell doctors rushed to the scene. Eight Belles broken both its front ankles. This fatal injury resulted in Eight Belles being euthanized. This was a sad way to end the most exciting two minutes in all of sports.

Ethics In Sports

In class we have discussed ethics in journalistic pieces of the past 20 years. One example was "Jimmy's World" by Janet Cooke, another was Stephen Glass's several made up quotes and sources for the New Republic. When it came to my ethics in writing my sports blog, I caught myself several times contemplating over saying a few things about some Phillies players. I try not to put down players, but there are some players I have grown to dislike. Not so much on the Phillies, but around the league, so I try not to blog about them. There are two examples of unethical journalism sports that have become very vivid to me. The first is the poor interviewing of now ESPN host of Jim Rome is Burning, Jim Rome. In an interview with now former NFL quarterback Jim Everret, Rome called Everret, Chris. Chris Everrt was a women's tennis player Jim Everret corrected him several times, but Rome kept on saying it. Everrret told Rome if he did it again, that he would hurt him. Rome did it again and Everret attacked him. This is an example of unethical journalism.

Superstitions

I finally figured out that whatever I write about here ends up getting back to me in a bad way. I once wrote about how good of a player Alexander Ovechkin is and now he is versing my Flyers in the playoffs. The day I wrote how I thought the Houston Rockets would extent their winning streak to 23 games, they lost to the Boston Celtics. I wrote how I thought the Phoenix would be unstoppable with Shaquille O'Neal, but they had a ruff end of the season going into the playoffs. So considering that the Flyers are in the playoffs I have chosen not to write about them. Check out some of these superstitions.
Curses! Thirteen Super Sports Superstitions

What A Time To Live In The City

With the Flyers in the playoffs and the Phillies kicking off their first meeting at home with the New York Mets, the city has been packed. At one point during this past week the Flyers and Phillies were playing at the same time, about 300-500 feet apart from each other. That means that there had to be no parking in any lots. That equals angry fans. Whatever the case may be the Philadelphia fans are still the Philadelphia fans. My friend called me up after Jose Reyes' head collided into Chase Utley's knee when he stole second. He said he was mad at me because the fans cheered as he layed on the ground hurt and booed when he got back up.