Evaluative Conclusion

Well this is my 20th and last blog entry for this assignment in Writing 150. I thought this was an interesting assignment because it was an interesting and different way to write than we are accustomed to in an english type class. One regret that I have about this assignment is not remembering doing blog posts in the early months of the semester like September and October. But nevertheless I thought this was a rewarding assignment because I have never been a kind of person who keeps a journal or writes down things about my life. I guess for this blog I had two types of posts that i really enjoyed writing about. One type of post that was a pattern in my blog was current sport issues that were happening, and what my opinion on them were. I love sports, and being able to analyze and write what I thought about these different topics in sports for a school assignment was great. Another type of post that I enjoyed writing about was some spiritual topics. Being able to blog and talk about spiritual things helps spread the gospel, even if were not aware of it. Having blog posts about gospel oriented things is us bearing our testimonies to the world and whoever stumbles upon our blogs. Like I said the pattern I saw was my continuous writing on sports and giving my opinion. Which also shows that a change has happened within me since coming here to college. I am now more open to giving my opinion to people on issues and not afraid if someone might potential disagree. I believe I will continue to write in this blog here and there because for my passion in sports and a new passion in giving my opinion.

Back to the Old Routine

This Sunday was the fourth round of the Chevron World Challenge with Zach Johnson having a one stroke lead over Tiger Woods going into the round. Everyone was wondering if this was finally the tournament that Tiger would win and get over that hump. He hadn't won in over two years since the "Thanksgiving" episode and all the drama that would follow it. His game suffered tremendously because of it and had not won a tournament since then. Anyways, him and Zach Johnson went back and forth throughout the round until Zach took a one stroke lead on the 16th hole with two holes to play. Then Tiger put on his old magic from Sundays past and birdied the last two holes to win at -10. Watching Tiger on those last two holes was like watching the Tiger of old in the fourth round of tournaments. He finally got over the hump and won a tournament, and hopefully this win will now chain together some wins as he goes into the 2012 season. I hope to see if this is Tiger getting back to the old routine, winning a majority of the tournaments he enters, and closing out tournaments.

Our Choice to be Grateful

This month's First Presidency message in the December Ensign was about gratefulness by President Eyring. Especially during this time of year with Christmas and Thanksgiving, it really is our choice to be grateful. We need to choose to be grateful because we can sometime take for granted the blessing that the Lord has bestowed upon us. Because we have so much more than other people, we need to take in consideration of the people who need help. People like here in America who have lost their job or are in economic hardship, or people in Africa who do not have as much as we need to be in our thoughts and prayers. We here at college are blessed to be able to come to this great university and get an amazing education, we are blessed to have a roof over our heads, we are blessed to be able to eat whenever we want to, and we are blessed to be able to go back to our loving families and see them at the holidays. I know if we serve during these holidays that we are showing the Lord that we are grateful for what we have and that we are serving our fellow man. If we can show our gratefulness to the Lord then he will bless us even more, because like President Monson has said, we must have an attitude of gratitude about us always.

Great Day to be a Cougar

Today there were two games that BYU fans could watch and get excited about. The first game was BYU v. Oregon in basketball, where it was played in EnergySolutions arena in Salt Lake City. We easily crushed a pretty decent Oregon team 79-65 giving us our first decent OOC win. Noah Hartsock once again was our steady, leading contributor with 23 pts, 12 reb, and 4 blocks. Our win was fueled by two players off the bench named Nate Austin with 9 points and Stephen Rogers with 16 points. This should continue to keep our momentum going, and we might be ranked by the time we face off, as of now, #8 Baylor as they come into the Marriott Center, and where Matt Carlino makes his anticipated debut. After the basketball game, the football game of BYU v. Hawaii was set to take place. This was a revival of a rivalry that was created when both teams were still in the Western Athletic Conference. BYU got off to a slow start, but turned it up in the second half and winning this game 41-20. Riley Nelson, coming back from that fractured rib and punctured lung injury, had a career game throwing for 363 yards and three touchdowns. Joe Sampson also recovered a fumble for a touchdown for his first one in his career. Now our last game of the season will be at the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces bowl against a Conference USA opponent. And with Houston losing today, most likely we will either play against Houston or Southern Miss.  Overall a really great day to be a Cougar.

BCS Conundrum

The regular season for college football has finally ended, and as usual the season ends with controversy. Every year this happens because we have the BCS system, instead of a playoff system. Once every season ends there is rarely any consensus on who should be playing in the national title game. With LSU's 42-10 win over Georgia in the SEC Championship game, it saved the BCS from complete chaos. With them being the only remaining unbeaten team in the country, after Houston lost embarrassingly to Southern Miss. 49-28 in the Conference USA title game, the BCS now has to pick out out of five one loss teams to face against LSU for the national title. Those five one loss teams are Alabama, Oklahoma St., Stanford, Houston, and Boise St. Houston and Boise St. can pretty much be eliminated from getting into the title game let alone a BCS bowl. Stanford although they only lost once to Oregon would probably be skipped over in the title game discussion. It now it comes down if there is going to be a rematch between Alabama and LSU where LSU won in OT 9-6, or if Oklahoma St. will get there crack at LSU. I personally want to see a LSU v. Oklahoma St. game for a couple of reasons. One reason is that the LSU and Alabama game was kind of boring, featuring only field goals and pretty much just defense. There were no electrifying plays that got the audience excited. Another reason is I want to see if Oklahoma St.'s offense can be effective against LSU and if they could really give them a game, because LSU has looked unstoppable. Anyways my heart says a LSU v. Oklahoma St. title game, but my head says LSU v. Alabama title game.

Inaugural Pac-12 Title Game

So tonight was the first ever Pac-12 championship game featuring the Oregon Ducks and the UCLA Bruins. People expected this to be a blowout but instead Oregon only won 49-31. Anyways the rule with the Pac-12 championship game is that the division winner with the best record would host the championship game. So this year the championship game was at the Autzen Zoo. But the commissioner, Larry Scott, did some things that did not make the Oregon fans all too happy. Larry Scott tried to take away from Oregon's home field advantage that they had earned and make it more neutral. Here are some of the following things that he did. He removed the Ducks home PA announcer and brought in an objective 3rd party. Did tot allow the Ducks field practice time at Autzen for the past several days while Pac12 people give the field an overhaul to again make it more neutral. Student tickets for the game were $50 and many of the UofO student sections have been moved to different areas of the stadium. And Lastly, the scoreboard was operated by an objective 3rd party, so no Oregon cheerleading on the board (things like "Make Noise!" signs when UCLA is in a third down situation, those kinds of things). It was just funny because the conference rewards the best team with having the championship game at home, but tries to take away the home field advantage aspect. While it did not make such a difference in this game, who knows how would have it affected if the game was against USC.

Silence Hurts

This last Wednesday on November 30th Utah St. had a home game against Denver. The Utah St. administration and the athletic director previously before the game had issued an apology to BYU for its actions and words that were said during the BYU game at the Spectrum. These actions, words, signs were of a sexual nature referring to what Brandon Davies was suspended for last year. The Utah St. fans were not that pleased about the apology. Then to compound onto this frustration, the administration "supposedly" put in rules for cheering, like fans were not allowed to point or talk to any of the players, or use certain chants. These rules outraged the student section, which then caused them for the first three minutes of the game to be silent with no cheering. Some fans even went as far as putting duct tape over their mouths. Well this caused the players to be greatly affected by this, which caused them to lose the game 67-54 and snap their 33 home game winning streak. After the game, Stew Morril called out the student section for being immature and hopefully will be in the game the next time. I thought this was a very immature act by the student section of Utah St. Not only did they cost their team a win at home, but that also came off as cry babies. I feel bad for the team, who really feeds off crowd energy for a win at home.

Sexual Scandals and Sports

In the recent months, there has been major profile cases of sexual crimes and their involvement in sports. At Penn St. a former football coach, Jerry Sandusky, molested and abused many young boys over the course of many years. Some people knew of this but no reported him, even when he was using university facilities doing these vile acts. Another scandal that has happened was the assistant coach of the Syracuse basketball team, Bernie Fine, accused of molesting the ball boys when they went on road trips with the team. And we have also seen through out the years of athletes getting in trouble with sexual scandals like Tiger Woods, Lawrence Taylor, etc. Its just said that these people will take advantage of their position of fame and glory and use it criminally for sex. Pride enters these people's minds and that they have this entitlement to anything they want because what they have done in sports and their position. And the even sadder thing, more with athletes than coaches, is they get preferential treatment within the legal system because they are such a superstar or because they have so much wealth they can hire the best legal representation. Hopefully one day in this country sports will become less affected by sexual scandals, and that if sport stars do get in trouble that they will be treated equally as if they were any other average citizen.

Friend of the People Review

On November 24th, Lupe Fiasco dropped a new mix tape called "Friend of the People". Lupe is known for his anti-war and anti-government messages throughout his songs and tweets, and the songs on the mixtape are no exception. For example, in the introduction he has a speech from Howard Zinn talking about why do we need to be a military superpower but a humanitarian superpower. Also included in the introduction track was a skit about reprogramming the machine of death. Then the next track called "Lupe Back" opens up with news sound clips about the occupy movement. He then raps a critique about the state of the rap industry and how it needs to improve. Lupe takes some elements from his latest album "Lasers" like the beats and fuses it with his lyrical genius to make a compilation of great music. Songs like "Lightwork" and "Double Burger with Cheese" really get you in a state where you get lost into the music and lyrics. And his lyrics are full of metaphors, double entendres, wordplay, and excellent concepts. His songs send a good critique on certain elements in our country that are wrong, like consumerism and war, I have listened to the entire mixtape many of times, and I enjoy it every time. It just feels great to get new Lupe music around the holidays, like an early Christmas present.

Download Friend of the People

Falling, With Style: Final Narrative Draft

“Keegan Brown” yelled the instructor, as he was calling out names for the next load of people. My heart was racing like a racehorse, and my mind was telling my limbs not to move from my spot. However, I walked over to where I was being getting strapped up into a harness, that would be my safety net between life and death. It was double and triple checked, so no room for error would be made, and then we walked over to who our instructors would be for the jump.

Someone had told me that my instructor was Carl, so I began looking for him. This tan skinned, bald Latino wearing expensive sunglasses who was at least 6-8 inches shorter began walking towards me. He sauntered over, and I could tell that he was well built, had tattoos on his legs, and gave off this impression that you did not want to mess with him.

“ Hey I’m Carl, your instructor and I’m from Carlsbad, so do you know what that makes me? A Carls bad a**” said Carl.

Oh great I thought to myself, this man is going to get me really hurt or even worse killed. I just smiled back at him at his joke and also met my photographer who was Steve, and together with other pairs of people we began walking out to the plane, which was sitting idly on the runway. Each step brought a wave of anxiety to my brain, as it began to realize that this was something I was really doing. We finally got to the end of the walkway to the welcoming opening in the plane to climb into. Once we were are set and ready to go, the plane began to taxi down the runway at a pace that seemed like a snail’s pace. Finally the plane got to one end of the runway, and began sputtering down the road. The wheels became unglued to the ground, and the plane was in the air.

Foot after foot, we were rising in the air like a bird in the sky. The butterflies were beginning to form within my stomach, and began thinking maybe this was not the best idea in the world. We reached our maximum altitude, and I began to get strapped onto my “professional” instructor, Carl. We were one of the last people to jump, so I watched person after person jump, and become tiny little dots across the sky. We finally waddled together over to the bay door and there I was standing on the edge of a plane over 13,000 feet in the air. My knees grew weak as I was standing there about to jump out of a plane. My mind went blank, for my brain could not compute with what my body was about to do. My last image ironically was looking out onto Mexican soil.

And then Whoosh! A shot of adrenaline rushed throughout my body like an electric shot. My instructor decided to do a backflip coming out of the plane without telling me, and I was taken completely by surprise. Then there we were, falling towards the Earth very fast, and it was amazing. We did a couple of little tricks, but mostly I was just enjoying this great feeling I was experiencing.  It was just like in “Toy Story” when Buzz Lightyear, one of my favorite childhood memories, says he was not flying but “falling, with style.” Here I was reenacting what my childhood hero did that I thought was the coolest thing in the world, and that was “flying”.  But when I touched down, I would be Buzz Lightyear no more but instead a newly fledged adult. Within a couple of minutes, my falling with style ended and a new life began. 

Bounce Back

Tonight at seven, the BYU Cougars basketball team is playing their first game after the Wisconsin blowout against Northern Arizona. It will be interesting to see how the Cougars bounce back after they got blown out by Wisconsin and their 3-pt shooting. Will the Cougars improve their perimeter defense after getting torched the last game where Wisconsin shot 13-25 behind the line? Will Brandon Davies and Charles Abouo bounce back after having really subpar games against Wisconsin and get back on track? I believe that this game will be a fairly easy game for the Cougars to handle because of their matchup advantages they have over Northern Arizona in the post. This BYU team has too much size for Northern Arizona to contain, and BYU will exploit that. But a key factor like every game this season is if Brandon Davies can stay out of foul trouble in the first half. If he can avoid those two quick fouls in the first half in games, our team will be more effective throughout the entire game. Another factor coming into this game is Northern Arizona is in a rebuilding year, graduating their leading scorer and losing their top scorer this year to a freak accident. Overall this should be a double digit win for the Cougars in a high scoring matter. BYU 87- NAU 53

NBA Lockout

This past weekend over Thanksgiving break, the owners and the players of the NBA finally reached an agreement that would save the season this year. I was really glad that this happened because I would miss watching the Lakers dominate as usual, plus the newcomers who are rising like Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose. Also it will be interesting how Jimmer progresses from the National Player of the Year in college to the NBA, especially without not as much practice with his new team the Kings. Some people from around here in Utah though wished that the season and maybe the next could be lost to teach the players and owners a lesson. The lesson that they wanted them to learn was they have all this money and are so well off than everyone else in the country, that they should not be fighting over money issues. I think the people in Utah wanted the season to be lost because they don't have a good basketball team in the Jazz. They would rather see everyone else suffer than endure another disappointing season. I am most likely going to the Lakers v. Jazz game on January 17th and I can't wait for the Lakers to impose their will on them. But I think this will be a tough year for the Lakers because of two reasons. One reason is that the season is now so scrunched together, the time to recover between games is shorter, and that will affect the Lakers more than others because they are an older team. The other reason is they are breaking in a new coach Mike Brown, and breaking in new offensive and defensive philosophies. With the short training camps, it will be hard to get team chemistry and build cohesiveness, but its the Lakers, and I believe they will be just fine and compete for a championship.

Personal Narrative Draft

This is what I originally had as my first draft, but I had some inspiration that will make it a bit shorter and better with dialogue and more description. Plus I will have a better central message that will be clearer. But until i write and post my final draft, here was my so-so first attempt.

The day had finally come. After waiting for three long months, my parents finally stopped being lazy and reserved my skydive jump. My parents for my 18^th birthday gave me the opportunity to go skydiving whenever they reserved it. I had to wait an agonizing three months because of all the crazy events happening in my life like finishing up high school/graduation, getting my Eagle, job etc. But finally they got my spot reserved and began our journey to the border that separates the USA and Mexico. The drive was simple, just an hour and a half drive to through scenic southern California. We finally arrived at the skydive company’s airfield where numerous cars filled their parking lot. My family and me exited the car and went into their main offices to check in and sign boring waivers and such. As I had to sign the copious paperwork, their legal video was playing in the background. It featured this old, boring looking man talking about the legal matters of skydiving. It was so monotonous and looked like it had not been updated since the 1980’s.

Finally the dreary part of this experience was over, and I could now focus and prep my psyche for what was going to take place in the following hours. From the office, the people that were going to skydive had to do little tutorial on what was going to happen during the jump. We practiced the different positions that we needed to be in during certain times of the jump. To my family I bet I looked really dumb, doing things like hip thrusts, lying on the ground with my legs curled in etc. But it was necessary because me and the other people had no skydive experience whatsoever. The person who was teaching us these techniques was, according to my mom, this handsome, attractive Australian guy, who would have even got my mom out to skydive if she knew about him. Now that our training was completed, we got to wait around for our “load” or group turn to go up in the airplanes.

My family and me had to wait for at least an hour and a half before I was able to go, so we were treated to a show of all the people who were ahead of us. Load after load, plane after plane, we watched people and their photographers skydive, pull their parachutes, and touchdown on the ground. But the most amazing thing about watching these people were the professional photographers who would show off as they were coming into land. They would make these dangerous, steep turns right before they land and then make these graceful landings right before they hit the ground. It was astounding to watch them pull off these complex and intricate moves with their parachutes then like a dove, gracefully land on the ground. Finally my name was called within a load, and my mind began to start subtly telling my body that this was a bad idea. I began getting strapped up in my harness, making sure everything was secure so I did not get separated from my instructor or the parachute. My harness was double and triple checked, and then we were off to meet who we would be attached to for the duration of our flight.

My companion name was Carl, and ironically he was from Carlsbad, California. I also met my photographer who was Steve, and together with other pairs of people we began walking out to the plane, which was sitting idly on the runway. Each step brought a wave of anxiety to my brain, as it began to realize that this was something I was really doing. We finally got to the end of the walkway to the welcoming opening in the plane to climb into. Once we were are set and ready to go, the plane began to taxi down the runway at a pace that seemed like a snail’s pace. Finally the plane got to one end of the runway, and began sputtering down the road. The wheels became unglued to the ground, and the plane was in the air.

Foot after foot, we were rising in the air like a bird in the sky. The butterflies were beginning to form within my stomach, and began thinking maybe this was not the best idea in the world. We reached our maximum altitude, and I began to get strapped onto my professional companion, Carl. We were one of the last people to jump, so I watched person after person jump, and become tiny little dots across the sky. We finally waddled together over to the bay door and there I was standing on the edge of a plane over 13,000 feet in the air. My knees grew weak as I was standing there about to jump out of a plane. My last image before we went off was looking into Mexico, and seeing their land and neighborhoods, and how they did not look any different than the US. Whoosh! My instructor decided to do a backflip coming out of the plane without telling me, and I was taken completely by surprise. Then there we were, falling towards the Earth very fast, and it was amazing. We did a couple of little tricks, but mostly I was just enjoying this great feeling I was experiencing. It was just like in “Toy Story” when Buzz Lightyear says he was not flying but “falling, with style.” I was sad when he had to pull the parachute because it ended what I felt was something I wish I could experience everyday. It was one of the greatest experiences and feelings of my life so far, and I believe it has changed me. I now think that I can do anything if I set my mind to it. If I can jump out of a plane, then I can do a lot of things that previously I did not think I could do. I believe it helped me grow up, and make me feel more like and adult and a man. 

Home Sweet Home

Well today I finally got back from my Thanksgiving break, and am now back to reality in Provo. Looking back at it, it was really nice that I was able  to go back home and see my family, my friends, and my homeland. Nothing will ever come close to where I live in Southern California, in Southern Orange County. That place is a paradise, and is such a great place to live and I miss it every time I leave. It just has this aura about it to me that makes it harder to leave every time I go back. But it's time to get back to reality. Finals week is two weeks away, and its time to gear up for it and study hard so I can get the grades that I want. With numerous loose ends to tie up before finals week, like this blog project, I am going to have a busy next two weeks. But it is the Christmas season so hopefully that will lift me up here and there as school engulfs my life for the next three weeks. But the light at the end of the tunnel is Christmas Break.

College Basketball

Well I just witnessed the BYU Cougars lose to the Wisconsin Badgers in the Chicago Invitational championship game. The Badgers just got to hot from outside the 3pt line shooting 13/25. #1 on Wisconsin personally set a career high with 21 points shooting 7/10 outside the 3 point line. BYU was only down by 2 at the half but struggled mightily in the second half with their offense and couldn't keep up with Wisconsin's hot shooting. Although they lost, this was a good game for BYU to find out who they were before conference play starts. They are still without the UCLA transfer Carlino who should change how this team is run when he becomes eligible on Dec. 17th. I also think Dave Rose was out coached in this game by Bo Ryan. Dave Rose failed to use Rogers and Harrison more who could have given more offense production. Also the offense should have run through Hartsock more because he was consistent than Davies who missed easy shots and turned the ball over. We will see how the team responds in the coming games after getting torched.

Black Friday

Every year our society is constantly obsessed with the idea of Black Friday. Stay up all night and buy as much as you can on all the amazing deals. But my question is why? Why does everyone get so crazy over discounted goods? We hear the stories of people getting trampled, people using pepper spray, long lines that go on for hours and it makes me confused. I don't get why we need to be like crazed animals fighting each other for a discounted camera or TV. I know why stores do it because of capitalism, and they greatly benefit over peoples obsession over Black Friday. I see on Facebook all these posts that sound so miserable  of people at these stores so early in the morning. It just made me feel glad that me or anyone in my family isn't that crazy to fight off hordes of people for material goods. But thats what our world has come too, materialism is continuing to become an important factor for people.

National Security

Here I am now sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home for the Thanksgiving break. And this was the first time I have gone through security where metal detectors weren't used but these high tech wave machines were used. You stand with your hands above your head in this capsule sized machine and then these detectors do a circle around you. You then walk out and wait for the results and once you pass you can grab your things. This new technology is very helpful to the TSA because for the results it tells exactly where on the body if there something metal on the body or something else. Since 9/11 the TSA has substantially increased their security measures within all their airports. Things like taking our shoes off and having them scanned, no liquids unless met by certain requirements, and not even allowing things like pocketknives are just some of the measure they have taken since 9/11. 9/11 was a black eye for the TSA because these terrorists somehow slipped through airport security with their weapons, and was able to take over aircraft. Ever since then the TSA has been very staunch with their security measures. And while they may be a hassle for us when we travel, it is required so that we can be safe, and our country can be safe from terrorists.

Research Journey

I was not excited for this research paper at first when it was announced. I had no clue whatsoever what I was going to do, and was not excited to try and come up with something. Once we were given a more narrow scope to focus on I began to think, what was something that I liked a lot that has been affected by new media? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, college athletics and more specifically college athletic departments have definitely been affected by new media in the past couple of years. Because I have been working with the athletic department with my committee, I have seen first hand how the BYU athletic department is using new media to operate more efficiently.

So my research question to start off this whole process was how did new media affect the way athletic departments operated more efficiently, and how did it help better communicating with the fans and recruits.
So I went into the first library session excited to see what I would be able to find on my topic. Well as we went throughout the databases that were on the Harold B Lee Library, I was not finding anything. I was getting discouraged because it was really hard to even find how athletic departments worked, let alone communicate and market their sports. I left that library session now more confused than ever because did I need to pick a new topic or try one more library session to see if I could get any sources at all.

This last library session had tons of progress for me towards my research topic. Halfway through class I began noticing that a lot of the sources I was finding were more related to one specific point of my original topic. Recruiting in college sports and the use of new media by athletes has had both positive and negative impacts on college athletics. As I delved into this more specific point, I found a lot more sources and found my new research topic. Now my new research topic is What effects has new media had on college recruiting and the college athletes? Any thoughts or help with my research?

Standing Alone

General Conference this past weekend was such a blessing in our lives, to hear from the servants of God. We got to hear exciting news like a new temple in Provo, and new temples throughout the world. One talk that stood out to me was President Monson's talk in Priesthood session. He stressed about being an example of our faith, even if it meant standing alone. His first hand experiences on the subject mixed in with his humor really helped me connect with what he was talking about. We must have courage in standing alone, even if it is lonely and scary to us. And this seemed to be mentioned a lot in conference, being an example of the believers. All in all, I was very grateful to hear from the Lord's servants this weekend.

Eyring's Take on Correction

In Elder Eyring's talk about being a Child of God, he gives some characteristics of being a good learner. One characteristic that I would like to focus on is welcoming correction. Not everyone is perfect, so therefore everyone makes mistakes every day. Depending on your point of view, you can take correction in a prideful way and despise it, thinking you are to great for correction. Or you can welcome it with humility, allowing you to grow from correction and be a better learner. Great learners care more for the feedback they get for their work than the grade that they may have gotten. They cherish wise correction from other learners so they can mature and become better learners themselves. From Elder Eyring's point of view on correction, I fully believe that we must take correction humbly and look to build and grow upon it.