Mario Miracle

10.8 seconds left…...

The 2008 NCAA men’s basketball championship all in the hands of Memphis’s best player. The future NBA MVP, The future rookie of the year and  The future 1^st overall pick in  the 2008 NBA draft. 2 free throws if he makes 2 it’s over. He steps up to the line. In and out....he misses! The crowd of 43,000 people all gasp. As they can sense Kansas stealing the momentum from Memphis. Rose Back to the line with more poise. He swishes it. A clutch free throw. But still only a three point game. After the free throw Darrel Arthur inbounds the ball to Freshman guard Sheron Collins . He takes the ball up the court, and gives a little hand off to Chalmers who almost lost it. Then fading away with 2.1 seconds Chalmers throws up a desperation three with 2.1 left and it goes in. The stadium ecstatic with fans cheering. But its not over yet Memphis inbounds the ball 2.1 and Robert Dozier throws a half court shot up at the buzzer.....and its off the backboard. We are going to overtime. 

This game was as great as the 1982 NCAA championship game when Michael Jordan hit the Game winner. That was the game that the Jordan legacy was born.  Maybe this is the game everyone notices Derrick Rose the star for Memphis. 

 Now in overtime. Kansas has all the momentum in the game. Coming back from being down by 9 points. Then Memphis started off overtime were they left off shooting the ball as cold as ice. Kansas went on a 6-0 run and they ended up winning the game in convincing fashion. The MVP of the game was Mario Chalmers which was well deserved with his astounding numbers in the championship game. Chalmers shot is referred to as the “Mario Miracle” for Kansas fans now.

Fired

Author’s Note: I wrote this because I just recently read this book and I wanted to show the point of view of different characters.

WHAT….. Just because I am not the most attractive person ever and I’m not some famous person why am I getting fired. I am a great person on the inside I have a great voice and I can be a star on TV I don’t need the looks and fame to be good.  This is what Stevie Thomas’s point of view in the book Cover-Up by John Feinstein. The story would be a lot different if Tal Vincent the USTV producer told the story. In this piece it will show both Tal and Stevie’s point of view.

First, this is the point of view of on Stevie Thomas. Stevie thought everything was perfect in his life he was a 14 year old kid on TV as a sports reporter for USTV the second most popular TV channel. Not only that but he was working along with a beautiful girl who was his girlfriend. But then one day that great life came to a screeching halt. When the USTV producer Tal Vincent made a stop by his house. Why he was there Stevie and his parents did not know. But when Tal gave Stevie the news that he was going to be fired, Stevie immediately thought about his girlfriend and who was going to work with her instead of him. After that he thought about the money he was getting. Lastly why was he getting fired in the first place.  Some of those questions were answered and some were not. Jamie Whitsitt a sandy-blond haired, blue eyed six-footer a singer from California who replaced Stevie. The thing that made Stevie mad was how Whitsitt didn’t know anything about sports. The only thing he had was the looks.

Although Stevie perspective is the one that is most clearly seen in this story there is also many other perspectives. Such as Tal Vincent the USTV producer who had to fire Stevie. This is what I think Tal’s point of view is. “Its Show Business my friend I’m Sorry” That’s exactly what Tal said when he fired Stevie. Tal didn’t intend to hurt Stevie but he just was doing what was right for the company. If Tal would have told the story it would be a lot different he wouldn’t have looked like such a bad guy instead Stevie would look like a whinny brat and the bad guy.

Even though Tal and Stevie have completely different point of views it is still the same story. That’s why in life I think you have to look at everyone’s point of view and not just your because maybe they didn’t mean to do something or you took it the wrong way like Stevie did in the book Cover-Up by John Feinstein. This was a great example of that because Stevie took Tal the wrong way.

Run!

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to Compare and Contrast the movie The Patriot and The book The Fighting Ground.

According to 1800runway.org over  50% of kids runaway. Some for good reasons and some for no reason at all. But for Jonathan in The Fighting Ground   By Avi it’s a different reason he ran away not because he hates his parents, not because he gets bullied. But instead to fight for his country the country he loves, the country he lives in, but also the country that he want to be independent. Through this story I will show you the comparisons between Jonathan and Gabriel in the movie The Patriot

Don’t go…..The first similarity I found was the both decided to runaway to war. In Jonathan scenario he was only thirteen and his father didn’t want him to go at all but he took his father’s  gun and ran. Although it wasn’t much different when Gabriel decided to run he was much older. But more importantly than that but Gabriel’s father Benjamin was a part of the French and Indian  war.  But still Benjamin still did not want Gabriel to go, because he knew how bad the war actually was.

Since Gabriel decided to run the father Benjamin decided to join the war too. The only reason he joined the war was to be by his son. This is different than Jonathan because Jonathan’s father never tried to catch him. We don’t really know why but he never did.  But when Benjamin met up with each other they ended up fighting together for the rest of the war. Things ended sadly though when Colonel William Tavington Stabbed Gabriel. Not only did he stab Gabriel but he also shot Gabriel’s brother Thomas and also burned down the church that Gabriel’s wife Anne was inside.

Lastly another crucial part to the two young men was how both of their families had to be split during the war and especially Gabriel’s family because their mother already had died. Then when their father left for war and their brother things were though. They went and lived with their mom’s sister. When Jonathan ran away the family was still together but it was hard for them as well because they knew that Jonathan might not come back alive.

In conclusion to all of the similarities and differences I have listed there are many more that I didn’t mention. I believe that what each one of these young men went through took a lot of courage and toughness. But thanks to people like Jonathan and Gabriel. Our country is now independent and free from the British. 

A Decision of a Lifetime

Author's Note: I wrote this piece because i wanted to show the reader the conflict and resolution of the story the Last Shot.

Over 75,000 people come to one of the greatest sporting events there is. The Final Four. To have somebody throw the Final Four game would be terrible. But that’s what almost happened in the book Last Shot By John Feinstien. The main conflict in this story is the star player of Minnesota State’s team Chip Graber is getting blackmailed  and told to throw the game (Person vs. Person). If he doesn’t throw the game his two 14 year old reporter friends will be kidnapped and held.

The conflict gets resolved by the kids who got kidnapped getting free. After they got free they went to Chip’s game. When they got there they found out that he was losing. He was only losing though because the wanted his friends to be back and free. When Chip saw the kids he started trying again. The game ended by Chip Graber hitting a game winning shot.  After the game they found out that Dean Wojenski who is  Chip’s dads friend was the person that was doing all the blackmailing.

Why?

Author’s Note: I decided to write on this book and topic because I really like this topic and have passion for it. But I also wanted to show you the theme of the story.

According to CNN.com 49 % of people have had to deal with racism some way or another. Sadly Drew Lawson is one of that 49%.Racism is something nobody wants but will continue to happen forever and ever. It is horrible to judge someone on the color of their skin or their religion but people still do. This story will show the pain and suffering of racism, and how it affected Drew Lawson and his life in the book Game by Walter Dean Myers.

Although we know racism is horrible we still know it’s going to happen. Such as when Drew saw scouts were at his game he thought they were there for him. But no they were actually there for Tomas who happened to be the only white kid on the team. He wasn't even  that great. Tomas was getting scouted by Duke, Kansas and West Virginia all great basketball teams. The problem was Drew only had two offers from New York University and Depaul University both not very good teams. The only reason he wasn’t getting better offers was because the color of his skin. Which wasn’t fair at all. His response to it all was always the same "I know I got game" he would always say that to his coach and anyone who anted to know his opinion.

Secondly Drew and his team went to a tournament in Vancouver, Canada. People there were not the nicest to Drew. The media would  always go to their practice and only talked to Tomas and the coach. One day Drew asked one of the media “are you here to talk to me”  then they replied “No why would we be here to talk to you, we are here to talk to the star Tomas.” Drew used this as motivation and to make him work harder. Maybe that is why his team won the tournament, and he got tournament MVP? 

In addition to Drew having to deal with racism there are many other novels that have to deal with racism as well. Such as the books Glory Road and Danger Zone. In the book Glory Road  the University of Texas El Paso basketball team is verbally and physically beaten because of the color of their skin. They would travel to places and get robbed. One time they went to Kansas and they almost got stabbed in a restaurant bathroom. The reason behind all this was because they had the first ever all black starting lineup. Also in Danger Zone the USA under 18 nationals team went to Greece and in Greece they got threat letters that they were stupid white kids from the US and they were threaten to be killed. The reason behind that was because some people didn’t like the kids from the US

In conclusion to all this information it shows how racism does really affect people and especially Drew in the book Game. Please don’t make that 49% raise anymore. But also don’t judge people on the color of their skin or their religion or even where they live. I hope you can see it really hurts people. Just thinks of those people as you. So would you want to be treated like that?

The Jordan Brand

Authors Note: I wrote this because we had to use proper citation and bibliography so i decided to write on Jordan shoes because i have them and like them a lot.

In 1985 a man by the name of Michael Jordan created not only brand but one of the best selling basketball shoes ever. The best selling Jordan shoe ever was also the best selling shoe of all time even in front of the converse Chuck Taylor All Stars which many would have thought would be the number one selling shoe. But know the name of the number one selling shoe ever is the Air Jordan I. They have sold over a million pairs (Morrison).

Bibliography

Morrison, Dave. "Top 100 Basketball Shoes of all time." 25th October 2010. Bleacher Report. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/500756-the-top-100-basketball-shoes-of-all-time. 3 December 2012.

Game Winner

Author's Note: I decided to write a prediction to this book because i am reading it now and i am into the book a lot and i thought because i m not done it would be a great piece to do a prediction.

Creative Scene:

5,4,3,2.............1 The shot goes up and....errrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!! He got it a three at the buzzer to beat Bradley the #1 Team in the state. This was for the state title and Drew Lawson hit a game winner. This was by far the biggest shot of the young man's career.  After the game Drew got many scouts from colleges such as Minnesota, Depaul and Betune Cookman Which had a smoking basketball team. Although he got wonderful offers from all of those great schools he decided to go to Rutgers because he wanted to stay by his sister and mother because Rutgers University is right downtown.

Rationale:

1. The First Reason i beileve this will happen is because In the book on pages 170 and 129 There were scouts scouting him and one of those was from Depaul University. But not only but in the book Drew Says "I would love to stay close to home and play ball" to his mom. That is why I have him going to Rutgers which is really close to home.

2. When Drew hits the game winner i have that happening becuase in the story he passes to tomas and he hits the game winner and gets all the credit that is why in the end i think it will be Drew who gets the last laugh and make his own game winner. 

3. The reason why i dont think he should go to bethune cookman a smoking program is because the only reason was most great programs wanted only white kids then. Becuase this was taking place when race was a bigger problem