Straight-Lede

​On Tuesday, Westwood beat Norton girl’s tennis first doubles team 6-3 and 6-2. Nicole Kiley and Rachel Anderson fell short for Norton. Although they had hard serves, and precise placement of the ball they did not come out ahead. Westwood had fabulous net skills to gain many points in the match. It was a long battle as it was the last game of the match to finish and a lot of good rallying took place.

​In the first set, Westwood won the first three games to get ahead 3-0 before Norton tightened the gap to only 3-2. Westwood won two more games before Norton won another but eventually Westwood won at 6-3. Leading into the next set, Westwood won the first four games making it 4-0. Norton started to comeback and used their serves and placement to make it 2-4. Westwood then won two more games to finish the set and match at 6-2. Both teams fought long and hard and Westwood’s first doubles came out on top after their 6-3 and 6-2 win against Norton High School.

Prefontaine Questions

1. Prefontaine is portrayed as cocky as a person and athlete but he always pushed himself to do better.
2. Even though Pre steals the spotlight and is cocky everyone still likes him and he has a lot of fans so I would say he is likeable. 
3. Right after his teammate got a record in throwing, Pre walked out and everyone payed attention to him instead and he constantly does this while his teammate is throwing. 
4.  Pre teaches a nine-year-old boy that he never loses and if you believe in yourself you can always win.
5. The current controversy introduced in the movie is whether or not student athletes should be getting paid.
6. One of Pre's goals in High School as a runner was to be the greatest distance runner of all time.
7. The Olympic Village conditions in Munich were extremely poor and even scary which is very similar to the conditions at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
8. During to Munich Olympics, the Munich Massacre occurred in which members of the Israeli Olympic team were killed by terrorists.

What is a Sport?

                A “sport” is an activity that is physical, a competition, and requires skill. Many activities are not sports even if they have one of those factors. Going to the gym involves physical activity, but in no way is it a sport. One must use physical activity and be fit for the activity to be considered a sport. Even though it is a competition and requires skill, if there is no physical activity it is not a sport. The physical activity does not have to be strenuous, but it must be a factor. A ball is not required for something to be a sport, but if there is a ball it is a sport. Any activity I can think of that involves a ball is a competition with skill and is physical.

                A sport has to be a competition in some way. There has to be a way to score the activity ad decide a winner. A sport can end in a tie, but there must be a way to win. Yoga requires physical activity and skill, but is not a competition and therefore, is not a sport. There do not have to be teams, it can be individuals, but it must be a competition of the individuals. Athletes need to compete in a sporting event to win. People must want to win a sporting event, and must have talent and skill to do so.

                Most hobbies and activities do require skill, so it is not a surprise that sports must also require skill. A sport is something that not everyone can do. If everyone could be good at a sport, it wouldn’t be special and there wouldn’t be professionals. One must be talented and have extreme skill to be a professional at the sport they are playing. Most competitions also require skill as there has to be a winner so if an activity is a competition and has physical activity, it almost always also involves a skill. Those who are skillful in the sport will excel in the competition component. Thus, if something involves physical activity, is a competition, and requires skill, it is a sport.

NHL Playoffs

The NHL Playoffs are starting this week and everyone is anticipating who will win. The Boston Bruins are a favorite to win their second Stanley Cup in 4 years(and my personal favorite). They will take place over about 2 months and there are already some very good match-ups.  The first round match-ups are Boston Bruins v. Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins v. Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay Lightning v. Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers v. Philadelphia Flyers, Minnesota Wild v. Colorado Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks v. St. Louis Blues, Dallas Stars v. Anaheim Ducks, and Los Angeles Kings v. San Jose Sharks. I personally believe the Bruins have a very good chance of winning the Stanley Cup this year as they've had an outstanding season especially recently. It would also be nice after a disappointing end of a season last year. I think other teams with chances of winning are the Penguins, Blackhawks, Ducks, and Blues. I ultimately think the Bruins will win as they have a very well-rounded team. I also think Tuukka Rask is the best goalie in the NHL and he won't be beat. The playoffs will be very fun and entertaining to watch. 

20 Years Later: Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding

Weeks before the 1994 Winter Olympic Games, U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by a man with a metal baton after a practice. It was later found out that fellow skater, Tonya Harding, and Tonya's ex-husband and bodyguard hired a man to break Kerrigan's legs making her unable to perform in the Olympic Games. Fortunately for Kerrigan, the man only bruised her right leg and she recovered in time for the games and placed above Harding. After this cruel attack, Harding was not even sentenced to jail time. After she plead guilty, she received three years of probation, 500 hours of community service, and a fine of $160,000. Harding was even allowed to compete in the Olympic Games after paying someone to attack her teammate. 

Was Tonya's punishment so mild because of her athletic status? If she was not an Olympic athlete would she have received jail time? I personally think Tonya Harding should have absolutely received a more severe punishment after hiring someone to break the bones of another person. I also do not understand why she was allowed to compete at the Olympics; she hurt her teammate! Why did Harding not go to jail, but everyone else involved did? I believe if Tonya was not an Olympic athlete she would have received jail time, as she should have. 

Now, 20 years after the incident, Nancy Kerrigan has finally come out and talked about it. She admits that at first, she thought it was a random attack. It never crossed Kerrigan's mind that Tonya Harding was involved and she was shocked to find out that she planned the whole thing. Kerrigan instantly thought "Why me?" but never thought it was intentional. 20 years later, we can look back and know that Harding may not have received the punishment she deserved, but Nancy Kerrigan still came out ahead when she won the silver medal and Tonya Harding came in eighth place. 


Works Cited
http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20778965_20789297,00.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonya_Harding#Attack_on_Nancy_Kerrigan
http://live.wsj.com/video/infamous-kerrigan-harding-scandal-gets-another-look/3FAD2221-15C9-4D4F-863B-DE90F5269FB2.html#!3FAD2221-15C9-4D4F-863B-DE90F5269FB2

Dottie Sandusky

Dottie Sandusky, wife of Jerry Sandusky convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys, has recently come out in support of her husband. Dottie believes that her husband is innocent and people said things for financial compensation. I believe that Dottie really does not know that these things happened in her home but also that now she is in denial about it because there is evidence against her husband. I think that Jerry certainly did molest some boys, but that maybe some of them did lie in order to get money. 

In many cases professional athletes and coaches do seem to be above the law, which I do think in some cases is true, but I think normal people are also wrongly convicted or acquitted of charges and it just isn't publicized as cases involving professional athletes are. I think any highly-publicized case is subject to impartiality whether it be in favor of the defendant or not. When cases are on the news, people, including the jury, know a lot about the case and things they are seeing on the news may not be admissible in court. In the case of OJ Simpson I do believe the verdict was innocent because he was famous, but I also believe it can be a disadvantage to some.

Question

How far do you think the Boston Bruins will make it this season? Do you think this is a possible Stanley Cup winning year for the team?