Sports preview

With The NFL OTAs starting, the Seahawks are looking to win their second Super Bowl in a row.  So far the Seahawks have extended Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman's contracts.  As a result of this they have had to let some players like Brendan Browner and Walter Thurmond walk.  Losing Browner shouldn't hurt because he was suspended most of last season anyways.  They brought in Kevin Williams from the Vikings to add some depth to their defensive line.  They also drafted some defensive backs and promising wide receiver Paul Richardson.  One interspersing topic is Marshawn Lynch threatening to retire if the seahawks don't give him more money.  The team doesn't seem to worried about it as they think he is just trying to gain leverage.  Even if Marshawn were to retire, they have one of the more promising young running backs in Christine Michael.  Michael trains with the same trainer as Adrian Peterson and the trainer said that Michael is easily the more athletic between the two.  With an entire season learning behind Lynch Michael should be ready for more carries this year.  The seahawks have a very bright future and I can not wait for the season to begin.

Sports profile:Kevin Durant

Durant and Lebron embrace each other at half court as time expires in the NBA finals and with it go the Thunders goal to win the championship.  As the Heat celebrate their first championship of the Big Three era Durant is in the tunnel crying as he hugs his mom and brother.  For Durant basketball is more than just a game, it was his ticket out of harsh living conditions.  Durant grew up going from apartment to apartment some nights there was not even enough food for his family so his mom wouldn't eat.  For Durant the NBA is more than a business, he wears 35 to honor his AAU coach who was murdered at age 35.  He is not the kind of player who needs to play in a big city like LA, all he needs is a gym.  In 7 seasons Durant is a 4 time scoring champion, rookie of the year, MVP, and 5 time all star.  Durant made it clear during his NBA speech that he cares about his friends, family, teammates, and fans.  He singled out each of his teammates to let them know that they were the reason why he won the MVP.  As far as his fan interactions go, my brother had the chance to meet him.  After a Celtics Thunder game a few years ago a security guard brought my brother to see Durant, he signed my brothers jersey took pictures with him and talked to him for a few minutes.  Durant easily could have blown him off like I'm sure some NBA players do to their fans but Durant cares.  Durant is a humble player who continues to improve from year to year.  I have mentioned him a few times in my essays because I believe he is one of the few players in the NBA who is in the league for more than the money.  He cares about the game and wants to make a difference.  On top of the way he handles himself off the court, he is one of the best, if not the best scorer the NBA has ever seen and he continues to amaze NBA fans throughout the league with his unbelievable plays.  The way he improves from year to year, he will probably win the championship he has been chasing for his old AAU coach within the next few years.  Athletes like Durant deserve to be recognized for what they do on and off the court.

Prefontaine vs without limits

I think Prefontaine was the better of the two movies because it focused more on his career.  Without Limits focused too much on his personal life and seemed like more of it was made up.  I was more interested in Steve as a runner than him as a person and Prefontaine provided more information on his career.  Although it was interesting to see how Prefontaine handled himself off the track in without limits, some of it could have been made up while Prefontaine stuck to the facts.

Prefontaine questions

1) How is Pre portrayed as a person and as an athlete?

He is portrayed as a great athlete who will not settle for anything less than being the best.  As a person they make him seem like he cares more about himself than he does about his team.

2) Does he appear to be a likable character?

Yes but, he is kind of full of himself

3) What arrogant thing does Pre do to one of his teammates?

He always takes the spotlight away from the shot put thrower

4) What lesson does Pre teach a 9 year old boy?

He teaches them to work hard and have a winning mentality

5) What current controversy with college athletics is introduced in this movie?

The controversy of wether college athletes should be paid

6) What was one of Pre's goals in High School as a runner?
To become the greatest distract runner in history

7) What are the living conditions in the Olympic Village? What do these conditions remind us of?

They are not good and they remind us that athletes in college do not get the treatment they deserve

8) What Olympic scandal took place during the Munich Olympics?

The hostage situation and the USA basketball game

Persuasive article PEDs in sports

One highly debated problem is sports is if performance enhancing drugs should be allowed.  If I were a professional athlete I wouldn't use PEDs but I believe that players should be allowed to use them.  I feel like using PEDs would take away that sense of accomplishment because the drugs are what would be giving athletes the ability to make big plays, not personal skill.  People say that athletes can put themselves at risk by using PEDs but if they look into the health risks involved and decide that they want to use them than they should go for it.  Also each team could hire a team doctor who knows how to manage PEDs and they could monitor the amounts the players are taking.  If players used PEDs than it could make sports more entertaining.  I can understand where people that say PEDs should not be allowed are coming from.  Some say that PEDs could compromise the integrity of sports.  A lot of players from the NFL and MLB have been suspended for PEDs the past few years so clearly they are not going to stop using so why not level the playing field and have someone manage what they are using.  A lot of the players who get suspended come back and keep using the PEDs, this is not safe because they are given a huge physical advantage.  They need to legalize them and have a specialist controlling the amounts taken in order to keep players safe.

A league of their own

There are not as many popular women's sports because they don't tend to be as athletic as men.  People want to see the most physical and athletic people going at it and that's why we tend to watch more men's than women's sports.  Although I support women's sports and think it is good that their are leagues like the WNBA, I do not see them becoming as popular as leagues like the NBA and other men's leagues.

The Oklahoma City Thunder managed to blow a 16 point fourth quarter lead in their 101-99 loss to the Clippers in game 4.  This loss now evens the series at 2-2.  Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 40 points and 7 rebounds but his effort was not enough to pull out the win.  The Clippers win probability with 9:07 left in the fourth quarter was 0.9%.  The Thunder have a very strong roster so you have to wonder why they are struggling in the playoffs.  They barely pulled out the win in the Memphis series and Westbrook's brother went as far as tweeting that OKC needs to fire their coach.  The blame should be put on Scott Brooks.  For as good as he is at developing young players and helping them reach their potential like he has done with many of the players on the Thunder, he is terrible during games.  He does not know how to adjust his game plan when one of his players is struggling.  He also does not know how to adjust to unlikely players from opposing teams who are having a good game.  A good example of this would be when Darren Collison went off in the fourth quarter and it did not look like Brooks tried that hard to stop him.  When a team has such a big lead with so little time left and they blow it, the coach is usually to blame.  Many people believe that if Scott Brooks can not improve than he will be fired.  He has a lot of talented players to work with like Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka now he just needs to learn to make adjustments during games.