Blog #6 In My Humble Opinion

All but one player who was picked in the first round of last April's NFL draft came to terms on a contract with their respective team. The one disgruntled player who didn't was Michael Crabtree, a highly touted receiver from Texas Tech University who set a number of school records before leaving early for the draft. The long saga of Crabtree's relationship with the San Francisco 49ers has been covered in every bay area newspaper for the past couple months.

After sitting out nearly a month of the season, Crabtree and the 49ers finally came to terms on a six year contract that will pay the receiver over $20 million per year. In my humble opinion, this is a disgrace to the game of football and the business that it has become. Players are now able to demand ridiculous amounts of money before proving anything at the professional level. If they turn out to be a bust like many do, the entire franchise can be set back for years. This has happened in several instances such as Ryan Leaf and Alex Smith, both of whom doomed their franchises from nearly a decade.

Football used to be played by tough guys who cared more about hitting someone in the mouth than hitting the bank. In my opinion this isn't the case anymore as the game has become overrun by greed and the lures of multi-million dollar contracts. In my opinion, if you have proven that you deserve to be paid top dollar then you are entitled to receive due credit, but rookies who are coming out of the draft with no experience should have no place to demand $20 million a year.

If I'm a teammate of Crabtree's on the 49ers I'm making sure he earns his pay. It's clear he already thinks he is better than the current group of wide receivers, but if he doesn't prove that right away there will be a price to pay. Crabtree is setting the bar extremely high for himself, and already polishing a reputation that reflects a "me" before the team mentality.

In my opinion the 49ers made a mistake giving in to Crabtree's demand. Yes, they need his play making ability on the field but at what cost? They allowed a rookie and inexperienced agent to boss them around in negotiations, showing future players who think they are worth more then they are paid that they can do the same.

Link to article: http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_13504478?nclick_check=1

Word of the Week #7

Word: Alacrity (noun)
Def: Promptness in response, cheerful readiness
Sentence: It is excellent, we must all allow; yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.
Source: Civil Disobedience (Henry David Thoreau
New Sentence: The student's alacrity during class was clearly evident during discussions

Blog #7 NPR Fresh Air/ Terry Gross

I listened to an episode of "Fresh Air" on npr.org hosted by Terry Gross that she interviews the director of the new movie 'Where the Wild Things Are'. Spike Jonze, who also directed 'Adaptation,' is Gross's guest for the 20 minute episode that discusses many features of the film.

Gross knew quite a bit about Jonze's personal career and accomplishments, which made easy transitions from question to question. Jonze seems like a very timid guest judging by his voice, but Gross is very accommodating with her questions and tone.

She opens their interview with a thorough background of the film that was once a children's book. It then transitions into a clip from the film before she explains how the author of the book and Jonze had been friends for 14 years and decided mutually to do the adaptation.

Her questions allowed Jonze to drag on a bit which is well suited for a radio interview, but Gross knew when to cut in and direct the focus of the dialogue in a different direction. This was part of Gross's strategy, allowing Jonze to elaborate on the themes of the adaptation and allowing his train of thought to dictate the order of her questions.

I wouldn't say Jonze had inadequate answers but some of his responses were a little longer than they needed to be. To prevent him from turning monotone, Gross would re-direct the interview by asking a question about the general topic he was discussing.

She made Jonze feel comfortable by laughing at all his jokes and allowing him to speak. She did interrupt on a couple of occasions, but it was done in a skillful and apologetic manner. I don't believe they had much of a relationship before the interview besides being mutual admirers of each others work.

From this interview I learned that the interviewer should allow the interviewee to speak far longer. I also learned a few things about how Gross weaves her questions based upon the material Jonze would give her. Another thing Gross does is ask "how" quite often which I observed is an excellent strategy towards attaining a lengthy response in an interview.

word of the week #5

Bravura
Adj.
Def: 1. Marked by a dazzling display of skill 2. Ornate, showy
Sentence: The way Micky Mantle played centerfield was a beautiful blend of bravura and brawn.
Source: 'The Mick' (a book about micky mantle's life)
New Sentence: The musician played with the bravura of Mozart.

Word of the Week #3

Jubilant
(adj.)
Def: meaning exultant or rejoiceful

"Jubilant Washington players and fans stepped over him, on their way to a riotous purple party that stretched from goal line to goal line."

Source: San Jose Mercury News (USC vs. Washington article)

New sentence: The cheerleader was jubilant when she learned the quarterback was now single

Word of the week #2

Triffle; trifling
To talk in a jesting or mocking manner or with intent to dilude or mislead.
To treat somone or something as unimportant

Sentence: Sometimes I may be trifling, but sometimes I rightfully am

Source: El De Sensei song "Crowd Pleaser"
New sentence: I dont like people who are trifling in asy aspect of life

Blog #2: My Favorite Writing: Rick Reilly

Rick Reilly is a renowned sports journalist who has made a great career out of being both witty and brutally honest about what is going on in the world of sports. I used to read his piece in Sports Illustrated almost every week and fell in love with his humor and writing style. He occupied the back page of Sports Illustrated for many years and you could count on a well thought out and entertaining read about sports and how it often parodies life.
His writing is non-stop comedy to my taste. Reilly is excellent at drawing comparisons between an athlete's features and a material object. For example, he describes Tom Brady's chin as one you could "crack coconuts on." He no longer writes for Sports Illustrated but does appear on a few websites from time to time. Here is a funny article he wrote about Tom Brady that I recall reading a while back. I think you will enjoy it if you know a little about Brady and Reilly as a writer. It's not from a actual copy of SI but rather from an Internet archive so I don't have the page number or anything like that.

Hey, dude, haven't had a date since the Fig Festival 12 years ago? Are you about as cool as a Bob Dole bumper sticker? Do girls walk by you like you're running a seminar on jock itch?

Buddy, your worries are over. Tom Brady, coolest man on the planet, has volunteered to be your new cool coach.

'What are you staring at?' "

Humility. Check.

"I mean, I'm just walking out the door, you know? And people follow me! I have to disguise myself now. I never go out without a hoodie on. My head is always down! I never make eye contact anymore! It's like I'm not even myself!"

True to yourself . Check.

The one person Brady has always wanted to meet is Tiger Woods, but he's never had the nerve to introduce himself, even after he was in Woods's gallery recently outside Boston.

Shy is cool. Check.

His rival for top QB in the league, Peyton Manning, has done every commercial short of adult diapers, but Brady has done almost zero, even though, with his looks and charm and game, he could sell pogo sticks to seniors.

"You realize you're turning down a lot of dough, yeah, but it's just not me. I'm just not going to go out and do a Chunky Soup ad.... Like that [MasterCard] ad Peyton did about, 'Cut that meat! Cut that meat!' -- our D-line yelled that every time he came up to the line. 'Cut that meat!' Man, I'm so glad I didn't do that one."

Integrity. Check.

Ask him: What about a bar in Hollywood? Or a restaurant in SoHo? It would be the hottest joint since Bachelors III! He looks at you like you're from Pluto. "You mean, like Namath's? Oh, man, my mom loved Joe Namath. But I don't think I could pull off something like that."

Modesty . Check.

See, Brady is Namath with a milk mustache. Mothers want him for supper and daughters for everything after. O.K., you might say, but how cool is it to get one woman pregnant (Moynahan) and be dating another (Bündchen)? Well, a) Brady says he didn't know Moynahan was pregnant until after they'd broken up, and b) Brady is aching to be a full-time dad. He was there three weeks ago for the birth of John Edward Thomas Moynahan.

"I kind of cuddled him like a football," Brady says, adding that it's killing him that he can't be in Los Angeles for every sneeze. "I'd love to be out there all the time, year-round, but it's hard to make that a reality. I live here. But I'll start lobbying for off days throughout the year."

Personal responsibility. Check.

O.K., but how about a few secrets? How do we get that Clooney stubble?

"This?" he says, rubbing his cheeks. "I just hate to shave."

Dates? "Whatever you do, keep 'em short. You can't let them know you're that interested. I try to get this across to my best friend. He's really into this girl, but I keep telling him she's got to leave that date thinking, What's wrong with me?"

Machiavellian mind games. Check.

Music back at the crib? "Definitely not Metallica. And no girl music, like Madonna. Something in between. John Legend always works for me."

And that's when he had to go. So that's all I've got. But if you're not dating at least one supermodel within six weeks, I'll double your money back.

"This is never going to work," Brady said as he was leaving.

Firm grasp on reality. Check.