My Plan of Action

- Complete reading "Play Their Hearts Out" and take notes to implement into article - Create an extended version of introduction to provide more in-depth information about AAU basketball - Try to obtain more local evidence of AAU basketball to support my opinion - After finished project is done, I need to revise my papers and pay attention to detail - I need to find more specific examples of players and AAU teams to make my article not sound too "general", but in a way readers can realize that this is a real problem today

The Corruption of AAU Basketball 1

AAU which stands for American Athletic Union is used to create higher level competition for basketball’s elite players. It is a great way to expose players’ potential because sometimes the high school level of competition just isn’t enough. Grantland’s Jonathan Abrahams recently wrote an article about Andre Iguodala, whom currently plays for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. According to him, Andre suffered a loss in production under high school basketball because he was forced out of his comfort zone and time to time had to play under the basket because of his height. He was introduced into AAU, and completely blossomed to a star player because of the elite talent that revolved around the organization. While some praise the aspect of AAU ball, critics believe it is an organization full of corruption. NBA agents, college coaches, shoe companies want to raise sales and to simply have the best talent to represent. They want to find the next Michael Jordan or LeBron James, but are limited in doing so. AAU basketball is able to fill that void, but with a cost that relies on illegal actions such as providing impermissible benefits that could actually hurt the player in the long run. Numerous college athletes have been suspended because of impermissible benefits and links to NBA agents and boosters.

Football Debate

There are obviously risks at play in contact sports especially if it’s football. But the fact of the matter is people don’t care at all because of the excitement it brings. Americans enjoy themselves through this type of entertainment; they enjoy to see a football player get viciously tackled leaving them stunned on the football field. The disgusting fact is that instead of most fans to react with a response that seems to care about the player and to see if he’s okay after the play, it is nearly always going to be “He got destroyed!” That’s the sad fact of our modern era: Americans are too caught up with entertainment. They ignore the important things such as possible injury that could result in death or major injuries like concussions. I wouldn’t blame it on anyone because the players were already predisposed to enjoy football therefore making it a huge impact on their life. The players become easily attracted to football playing the sport for the majority of their upcoming life. The players know what is exactly at stake, but their passion for the game shuns the dangers that revolve around football. The only thing here to blame is the American culture. Our children become grown with the same intentions of our elders – we enjoy dangerous entertainment. Some people argue that football players are completely safe because they are padded and are equipped with helmets. Arguably, football is one of the top sports that have the most injuries per year due to the groundbreaking force that football players bring to each other’s bodies. We must recognize that some of our entertainment is corrupt and brings too many negatives than positives. Watching football to see football players risk themselves for pure entertainment is almost identical to watching people beat each other to death. The American society has to come to realization that we have to protect our future generation from some of the dangers. Of course, entertainment plays a large role in the American society, but why can’t be in a way it brings an assurance of safety?

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Review

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe absolutely stunned me when I first watched it when I was younger, in a good way. I read the entire series prior to the movie and felt like it brought a much greater realization than you would expect from a movie. It lives up to the hype especially the fact that movies today are bashed consistently because avid readers believe the movie isn’t as “true” as the book. Most movies I’ve watched previously that are made after its book was released are full of terrible acting. In general, it brings negative reputation to the book itself. A brief summary of the storyline of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is that a group of four children that bear the Pevensie name are evacuated from their homes because of the bombing in London, England. They separate from their mom and relocate to a professor’s home named Digory Kirke. Lucy decides to explore his home and finds an ordinary wardrobe. She is curious and opens it surprisingly seeing the magical world of Narnia. The rest of the children discover this mystery and journey into the world of Narnia. In this world, they are completely separate from the ordinary world with Professor Kirke. The Pevensie children are unexpectedly called to an adventure to save Narnia from the White Witch. They fight through tests and enemies to help achieve their goal. In general, this movie was absolutely excellent. It had great acting with stunning visuals despite the fact it was created almost a decade ago. Personally, I would recommend this to anyone especially someone who read the book because I assure it will bring excitement and pure movie awesomeness.

Unexpectedness

Unexpectedness Coach John Tim Lasky [SPOTLIGHT ON COACH AND JOHN] COACH: Last year wasn’t so great. COACH: We prepared hard for last season, but we took everything lightly as a whole. JOHN: Oh come on, Coach, cheer up. Our new teammates have high expectations this year. JOHN: They’re all very athletic and come with great amount of skills capable of making us a winning team unlike last year. COACH: I don’t know John. We might be a little under-experienced because our veterans graduated last year. COACH: We were mentally strong as a team, we were fearless, we had everything to win, but it didn’t happen. COACH: We were so close to winning the State Championship or at least reaching it. JOHN: Coach, you need to be more positive and look towards the future. If we prepare even harder to reach our goal, there should be no reason it can’t happen. JOHN: We just have to take everything that failed from last year and improve. Our defense last year wasn’t top-notch, even with one of the best big-men in our conference. JOHN: There are only a few more weeks until kickoff. We need to prepare while we have time, Coach. COACH: We’ll begin starting the day after tomorrow. [LIGHT FADES TO BLACK] JOHN: My name is John, I was my team’s starting quarterback last year. We had high expectations to make the championship game because of our individually improved players. Notice how I say “individually” not team. JOHN: We had star players on our team, we had one of the best coaching, the best defensive and offensive plays, but for some reason we lacked effort and teamwork. JOHN: I look back at some of the old film from last year and I can clearly see why we didn’t even surpass a .5 win/loss ratio. JOHN: Most of our players think it’s an individual performance. Our high school is one of the most-looked at high schools for college football prospects because of previous student-athletes that were enrolled here that later made it to the league. JOHN: Our coaches are known for great player-development. This attracts a lot of high school players to transfer to our school or simply attend. JOHN: But anyways, our players want to show off to college scouts. They like to use our school as a step-up to the higher level. JOHN: I’ve talked to my coaches about it, but it just seems as it rubs off and my criticism gets nowhere. JOHN: But hopefully this year, everything changes and maybe we can actually win and pursue the championship. [LIGHT FADES FROM BLACK TO WHITE] [COACH AND JOHN ARE IN THE FOOTBALL OFFICE TALKING TO EACH OTHER DURING OFF-SEASON FROM LAST YEAR] JOHN: Our players like to show off. They want to play more to themselves rather than as a team. COACH: Are you sure? I think it’s mostly because we aren’t focusing and taking our opponents lightly. JOHN: Why would I not be sure about a topic as serious as this? If you don’t talk to our players soon and fix this, we’ll end up being the same or even worse and not improving from last season. [PRESENT DAY. COACH AND REST OF TEAM ARE IN THE LOCKER ROOM] COACH: Alright, listen up. Starting from today, we start fresh. Forget everything we’ve done previously; it doesn’t work with you guys. COACH: Even though this is just high school football, there shouldn’t be a reason that you should take it lightly. Think of this being your professional career. Would you rather play as a team and win? Or would you like to play as an individual and lose every single game of the season?

Best Buy Employees' Reaction

1. 65 year-old man – This is going to be completely hilarious. I can’t wait to see the faces on these best buy employees. This might be the most fun I’ve had all 65 years of my life. I think these khakis look pretty similar, maybe my blue polo might be a little off, but I think I’ll be fine. Here comes everybody else. Oh man, this is hilarious! Look at the face of that employee, he’s completely shocked. Oh I best peace out; apparently the cops are on the way. I’m not going to jail for something this stupid. 2. Ugh, this job can be very boring at times. There’s nothing very entertaining here to do to pass the time. Wait what is this? When did we get new employees; I’ve never seen this guy or that girl. What the, there are so many of them! They’re wearing the same exact outfit as us! I’m not sure what to do, tell them to leave or just leave them alone. Oh man, this is pretty funny, the faces on the customers makes this entire thing actually entertaining. I got to tell my friends about this! 3. What in the world? When did we get new employees? Wait hold on for a second, these people don’t actually work for us; they just have a blue polo and khakis, but no name tag or a best buy trademark on their shirt. Ok, there are more of them coming in. Who are these people and what are they doing in my store? Alright I’m calling the police. Hey you in the blue shirt, the police are on their way. Get out of my store immediately! 4. How stupid is this. I get a call from the local best buy saying there are over 90 people that came right into the store impostering employees and are acting like they work there. I really don’t feel like dealing with something this stupid. I already know this will be a complete waste of time when I get there because they will just run for it. Ok this manager seems very upset, but I really can’t do anything because they all left. There is nothing illegal about wearing a blue polo and khakis. Ugh, I knew this would be a waste of time.

The Swamp Monster

The day is during the year of 1791. There is a small village off the country side of Kansas. The population here isn’t much and the people here are rather strange and awkward. The village is named after a priest that founded the village years ago; his name was Virgil Kent. I hear stories about him all the time how he seemed like a great person and was very active within the community, but I also heard rather inconsistent stories that really don’t correlate to the description I learned of him. Everytime I hear his name, I get a weird vibe and the people around me become silent and awkward. It’s like they become brainwashed everytime they hear Virgil Kent. I try to ignore it because he died recently. I remember when the time of his death, there seemed to be an immediate effect with the villagers, it’s like their personality and attitude completely changed and they actually seemed normal. Over the course of a few years, that effect diminished; they returned to their original personality of being strange. Anyways, my name is Lucas and I was born a little west of here. My parents had difficulty in raising me because we were just peasants at the time. My father was the one who supported our family while my mother took care me. Years later, my mother caught a deadly disease and was on the edge of dying. I hate looking back at the fact I couldn’t help her survive; I deemed myself useless. My father and I had to watch helplessly as she slowly passed away. I will never forget that image in my mind; I used it as motivation to realize that I can be stronger than I was. Combat and blacksmiths always interested me throughout my childhood, but it was almost virtually impossible to find a mentor. I didn’t want to give up simply because I couldn’t learn from someone; I wanted to protect the people I love. I realized I wouldn’t be successful if I completely relied on someone to guide me through a skill; I had to learn on my own because of my situation. As the years progressed, I quickly learned the main aspects of blacksmithing. My collection of the weapons and armor I created became abundance in my storage. This was the first time of my life where I was actually proud that I accomplished something. It has been a long 13 years to get to where I am; the journey was a long road filled with obstacles I had to overcome. I learned a lot through my errors which gave me experience in tough situations. I am twenty-four now, and not much has changed in this village. My father has aged which put himself out of work. He usually lies in bed staring either upwards at the ceiling or the river outside that connects the village. Every day I return home from work, he always has that blank expression as if he is thinking of something. I assume it’s my mother and I can’t really blame him because I think of her most of the time as well. But wait, if I actually think of it, my father has stopped responding to me ever since he fell in the river a few weeks ago. He was trying to pick an apple from a nearby tree but somehow tripped into the river because of his small length. I dropped my rake and ran to his calls of distress, lifting him out of the river. He seemed okay when I asked him, but something was out of place. How could have my father fell into the river if there is a large fence that encloses the river? I was dumbfounded by this fact. At that time I didn’t really think of it too much and just continued on to working. However, after the incident, he stopped responding to me with a blank stare towards the river he fell in. I was curious onto why his behavior changed dramatically; therefore I looked for answers that may dwell in the village. I was a bit nervous and afraid to go to the central part of the village because the stories I hear about the people here and simply the fact that it was my first time talking to a villager. I traveled to each store, asking the people who didn’t seem strange if there was anything unusual about the river. Each response was nearly identical, “I am not allowed to speak of the river”. I felt helpless once again because I couldn’t find a solution to help my father. This entire process brought nightmares and vivid images of my mother’s death. Part of me wanted to stop immediately, but the other part wanted to help my father. I focused solely on finding answers and neglected the images in my mind. I asked a teacher who seemed odd in comparison to the other villagers. He was very charismatic and not so much awkward. I asked him about the river and he seemed quite hesitant to respond, but finally gave me an answer of “Come, we must speak of this secretly”. He directed me towards a hidden room under his carpet. We climbed down a dusty ladder into a rather spacious room. There were drawings, maps, jars filled with strange materials, and a wide variety of books. The room was dim, with the only light coming from a small candle. He brought out a red book whose cover was dusty; the book was severely beaten up. He explained to me that there is an ancient swamp monster that resides in the river within the village. I started to become fearful because I knew I would eventually encounter the monster. He continued to explain to me that the entire village has been affected by the monster thus explaining why their behavior is unusual. We shifted focus to a jar which appeared to have a material similar to salt, but instead it was dyed green. The man explained to me that to reverse the effect, I had to throw this into the river when the moon is full. I felt a great amount of relief because I was expecting something much more difficult. The man told me to leave immediately and to not speak to anyone on my way home. Hours later, I waited, sitting on top of the fence that enclosed the river. I could see the bright, moon become full which signaled the cue. I opened up my bag and took out the jar. I stared downwards toward the river, and took a long, deep breath of air. I didn’t want to hesitate much longer; I arched my throwing arm, and threw it downwards. Immediately, I could see a dark, red burst of fumes exploding out of the river. I stepped back and ran towards my cabin to be precautionary because those red fumes definitely don’t seem normal. Little did I know, something extraordinary was happening before my eyes. I heard a laughter that began to crescendo in volume. It was an old man, rising outwards from the surface of the river. “Thank you for resurrecting me, young man.” “This world is finally mine!”