Saturday Worthy Talent Playing on Sunday

Touchdown 49ers! A 10-yard completion from Montana to Taylor gave San Francisco a 20-16 lead over Cincinnati with only 39 seconds remaining in Super Bowl XXIII. This clinched the 49ers’ fourth Super bowl in the last eight years and was one of the more memorable games these two teams have played.

Fast-forward 22 years though, to the third week of the 2011 NFL season, it was a vastly different story to say the least when they played Sunday, September 25^th.

The Cincinnati Bengals (1-1) hosted the San Francisco 49ers (1-1) in a matchup of the AFC North versus NFC West.

There was not much anticipation and hype about the game, when compared to other marquee and established teams playing in games like the Eagles/Giants or Steelers/Colts. This would be understandable seeing as though the Bengals have been a bottom feeder in their division the past few years and the 49ers being a part of arguably the least competitive.

The smallest home-opener crowd ever at Paul Brown Stadium (43,363) witnessed this debacle of a game; a number of them perhaps knew of the low-grade performance that would ensue on the field. So at 10:05 a.m. the teams took the field and started one of the most ugly and unbearably hard to watch games that have every graced an NFL field. San Francisco won (I guess someone had to technically) by a joke of a score, which was 13-8.

Simply as a fan watching on television, I feel as though I was entitled to some sort of reimbursement for the three hours I invested. You would feel that way too if you watched two offenses taking turns punting for the better part of three quarters. And even all the points scored up until the 56^th minute of the game (there are in fact only 60) were because of kicking the ball, with a whopping three field goals in total; now that’s no fun to watch. 

Watching the 49ers and Bengals trying to move the ball on offense was similar to knowing the ending of a really awful and anticlimactic movie, a la The Happening. Predictable and conservative play calls would be consistent and continue drive after drive with minimal progress being made at all for either team. To elaborate further, San Francisco didn’t even make it to Cincinnati’s territory  (the other side of the 50-yard line) until their eighth drive of the game that came in the third quarter.

I imagine that in the interest of not losing viewers and making the game sound remotely entertaining, the FOX announcers Ron Pitt and Jim Mora kept reverting back to how well these two defenses were playing, instead of focusing on the lack of offense, which was apparent. To be fair though, there was nothing else to discuss when such a pedestrian play like a seven yard run up to middle on second down was a rarity.

It just wasn’t all about a lack of offensive statistics and scoring that made this game horrible to watch though, oh no. Four turnovers, 16 penalties, and six sacks combined, aided that notion as well.

And to top it off, there was no heart or competitive vibe you got from watching. It was as if neither team really wanted to earn the victory, but just not lose. A play that perfectly encompassed that belief was the 2^nd to last of the game. Here the 49ers voluntarily gave the Bengals two points with a safety, just so they wouldn’t have to punt with a bit more time on the clock to not give up any chance of a good return. Wow!

If I were to sum up all of the errors, miscues, mistakes, anemic statistics, unproductiveness, and eyesores this game presented it would be an immense task, and frankly quite boring to the reader. Just take my word for it that it was, well, simply put, BAD all around. If you find yourself in a similar predicament on a future Sunday, turn to a different game or just simply back away from the television.

Jeremy Clarkson

            Who would possibly use analogies for motoring and test-driving cars that regard: mouth ulcers, Piers Morgan, monkeys, insects, gardening trousers, and liberal democrats? Well Jeremy Clarkson incorporates these kinds of randomness abundantly with “other off-the-wall” criteria for his columns and reviews.

            Clarkson is best known as being a co-presenter on BBC’s massively popular Top Gear, but also he writes columns weekly for The Sunday Times and The Sun which are newspapers in England.

            As a motoring journalist, his columns are about car reviews. He has a style that is certainly his own and because of this, you are never going to have a dull read with one of his reviews. You could disagree with every point made by him or be hysterically laughing and entertained, but one thing is certain in that you won't put down the article.

           

            Clarkson, born April 11^th, 1960, was raised as a child in Doncaster, South Yorkshire (in England). He attended Hill House Academy in Doncaster up until his adolescent years, then Repton School in Derbyshire, England. There he was actually expelled because of his self-proclaimed “ drinking, smoking, and making a nuisance of himself.”

             In the early 1980’s, Clarkson started writing for newspapers such as: The Rotherham Advisor, Rochdale Observer, Wolverhampton Express and Star, Lincolnshire Life, and Associated Kent. Then in 1984, along side Jonathan Gill (another motorist) started the MPA or Motor Press Agency, where the two would road test cars for newspapers and magazines.

            Also in addition to being a presenter on the show, Clarkson has been creating columns for Top Gear the magazine since 1993. And to brush off his resume with writing, Clarkson has compiled 13 books of which he has written to be recognized as an accomplished author.

            What interested me in profiling Clarkson are a number of things, starting with me being a huge fan of Top Gear the show. Clarkson’s personality and outstanding reviews of automobiles add so much flavor and life to the program. A prime example would be like in episode three of series 13 where he said Mercedes’ inspiration for the seats in their SL65 was quite possibly “a pile of stones” and that it was equally as comfortable.

            After watching the show for a while, I read some of his car reviews online; I then began to become even a bigger fan. Seeing analogies appear like this with Clarkson commenting on cheap cars “…Much better than a moped? Give me a break. That’s like saying syphilis is much better than aids.” This just makes me keep reading, not knowing what I’ll see next in one of his reviews.

            Clarkson’s writing style is unique, unpredictable, clever, and witty: also he is one of the most entertaining and engaging hosts and writers I’ve ever come across myself.

Clarkson never hesitates to speak his mind and I believe that to be an admirable trait as a journalist. Because of this, I could imagine the amount of negative responses he receives through letters and the media, but this seems to not detour him at all from him giving his two cents on subjects.

             Whether I am reading one of his car reviews or watching an episode of Top Gear, I  cannot help but to pay attention to whatever material he presents.

            And on that bombshell, it’s time to end this column. Goodbye everyone! (A gaff on how he ends each episode of Top Gear ends)

            

Some articles from Clarkson:

http://www.topgear.com/uk/jeremy-clarkson/clarkson-road-signs-02-2010

http://www.topgear.com/uk/jeremy-clarkson/clarkson-supercars-2009-14-07

Our Now Scarred Pastime

Hopefully a new version of “Take Me out to the Ball Game” never resembles anything this; “Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd. Buy me some syringes and HGH…”            

           

            Unfortunately though, at the rate of which baseball is being tarnished by steroids and performance enhancing drugs, not much integrity of the great game might be left.

            Let me take you back a bit, back to the late 1990’s when Major League Baseball was at it’s peak of popularity. Sure, it could have been because of teams like the Braves, Marlins, Indians, and Yankees (aka The Evil Empire) were exciting teams to watch with an abundance of talent. But, I would bet an absurd amount of money that it was because of one thing, home runs (“the long ball, homer, going yard”).

            Fans were obsessed with seeing a freakishly large man with boulders as shoulders and arms with the same circumference as a model’s waist launch baseballs as humanly far as possible. And who could blame them; I mean chicks do in fact dig the long ball.

            Players at that time like Mark “Big Mac” McGuire,” “Slammin’ Sammy Sosa,” and Ken Griffey Jr. fit that build and were accumulating tremendous offensive numbers season after season.

            60 home runs, 155 runs batted in, and a batting average around .360 were not uncommon at all to encounter back then. Today however, those kinds of stats are more of an oddity if someone magically produces numbers near those.

            So then what has changed in that time? Why have offensive statistics diminished so much? Why are players just not as big and muscular as back then? Well, the speculation is steroids and how it changed the game.

            Today, it is virtually impossible to think of a star player in the last decade that hasn’t had any links to performance enhancing drugs.

Names like: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez are superstars of the game that have been implicated with steroids. They continue to deny any use, even as evidence stacks up against them and as a result are viewed by the public as “cheater.”

 Others just have admitted using performance enhancers such as: Jason Giambi, Jose Canseco, Andy Pettite and Ken Caminiti. In these cases, players acknowledged that they made mistakes and end up looking a lot better than the one’s still being accused.

Regardless, if we find out the total number of users or see any more notable names to have to an association with steroids, baseball has a serious problem! Sadly, steroids look to be that horrible stigma that will stick around the game for a while to come.

It’s not fair for the players that are or were regarded as “great” players. A current prime example is Jose Bautista (who by the way stands 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds) of the Toronto Blue Jays, who has isolated himself from the rest of the league in homerun totals the last two years. Because of this outburst of homeruns randomly, people began to think he is the potential beneficiary of steroids, instead of good hard work being put in.

It’s just sad how much steroids has plagued baseball. They skewed statistics for players, determined Hall Of Fame Members, and created an everlasting scar. The integrity of our beloved pastime is at an all-time low. Who could have thought such a obscurely small needle would have such immense and costly repercussions?

Eh, College Works

In what other setting do you attempt cure hangovers that were totally worth it for the night before? Be able to meet cool new people seemingly every day? And hopelessly cram the night or morning before your huge midterm?

College is where, and the experience cannot be matched or substituted for.

College exemplifies freedom, and in every way. Being a college student, you encounter that inevitable stage of transitioning into an adult (gasp…) with actual responsibilities (oh my…). But through unique experiences, personal challenges, and trial and error, you’ll be a seasoned pro at it (or at least, that will be your mindset).

Unlike the glorified babysitting-like stage of high school, you are the one who controls your own schedule. If attending a 7:30 a.m. statistics course is the way you like to start up the day followed by a three-hour organic chemistry class, then that is your decision and no one else will make you change that.

Also now, while being a student, more often than not, a common phase occurs. It is the “I don’t care what I look like” look or simply known as the “college guy appearance”. Jeans not close to sitting at the waist, holes in the t-shirt, untamed hair styled by the pillow, and even strange and unpleasant odors sometimes complete this look. However though, that is individualism and an apparent lack of rules that college encompasses.

Along with freedom, the college lifestyle offers countless social perks as well. In some free time away from the hustle of studies and endless reading, perhaps; join a club that interests you, do what students do best and just stay cooped up in their dorms, or find the closest party with a “kegger” (if it’s needed).

Other activities that are desirable to students and need little cognitive abilities to participate in are sleeping (which is prevalent amongst them), becoming anti-social with social networks on the laptop, or watching shows that rapidly speed up the killing of brain cells like The Jersey Shore.

Now being a college student is unfortunately not all about having fun by ditching classes and partying hard all the time, education is somehow incorporated as being part of the process as well. When your rear-end meets the desk and your pencil hits the paper, actual learning and schoolwork takes place. This can be a difficult stage for some people and certainly for particular classes, but that is far from being an anomaly and with the implementation of the magic word “effort” it may not seem as such of a mountainous task.

Believe it or not, classes can be quite bearable and even mildly enjoyable. I mean something has to be for your liking if you’re a U.S History major and you endure two hours of lecture on the Battle of Gettysburg, right? Or if your focus is art so you complete a long detailed portrait of the Sistine Chapel for a project, so you’ll probably end up liking more than a fraction of it.

The unique experience of college is one that cannot be duplicated. This usually crazy, hectic, amazing, unforgettable, and happy time in a young man or woman’s life is special. And it is the last ditch effort to be able to act immaturely, childish, and individualistically before it all ends in a blur, and “life” actual starts with families and jobs.

Revisiting The Educational Grind

Awakened early and abruptly at by the highly unpleasant, ear-wrenching sound that came from my alarm clock made it official on the morning of August 29th, another first day of school had arrived. No more being able to enjoy leisurely waking up and starting the day when I so desired. For the freedom that summer signified was over and orderly structure was now in place.

However, for me this would not like be a typical semester I would have been accustomed to in the past. Changes such as more classes, less free-time, altering sleep schedules, parking fiascos, and implementing serious time management would quickly ensue. 

Its not like I had been dreading for this day to come for the previous three months though, not at all. I welcomed some changes and I was eager to see how they would fit into my schedule. For example, no more American River College (my previous three years of college were there), upper-division classes for my major (journalism), and classes occurring five days a week. And those are the main differences that stood out as I attended four of my six classes the first day. 

Previously, the most classes I had ever taken in a semester was four and wasn’t on campus for more than a few hours at a time. It hit me as I completed a full six on Monday, that a heavier dosage of units would in turn mean much more time on Sac State's Campus and less time for me to do as I wish away from school. 

Minor obstacles were abundant as well. I had to cope with inconsistent sleep patterns Monday through Wednesday nights, but wake up consistently early. Oh, and the parking issue, that could have gone better. Apart from it adding an additional 10-15 minutes to my commute each way alone, it wasn't unbearable. Oh, but having my air compressor in my car run faulty creating negligible airflow, that wasn't much fun to endure while circling a parking lot in 96 degree weather.

Apart from the heinous amount of time being spent commuting, parking, and coping without any airflow in my car, it seemed ok. However, I quickly realized that it was not going to be a usual semester of three to four classes with a bit of part-time work being sprinkled it, not the case. It really hit me towards the end of the week (Wednesday and Thursday) though as more and more work kept being piled on for five out of my six classes. Examples were two papers, online exercises for 2 classes, more materials to buy, and twelve total chapters in various textbooks to be read.

Although I was more looking forward to seeking refuge and relaxing a good amount this weekend, I came to see it is not exactly the end of the world. It might not be enjoyable all the time or what I would choose to do leisurely, but this is why I am here. I transferred to Sac State to further and broaden my education. I am excited and eager to spend countless hours in the library studying, reading chapter after chapter, and fighting through “writer’s block” every time I stare blankly at my laptop.

The first week here at Sac State showed me more than anything is that I have a challenge for the next 16 weeks, but also it showed me as well that I have a fantastic opportunity too.