NFL - New Uniforms 2013

 

Three National Football League teams over the past month have unveiled new logos, or changes to their old one, and all three have had extravagant events this past week to show the world the new uniforms that the players will don to match those logos. I do not think that each of them were a success. I do not think that all of them are a complete failure. I do, however, think that they can easily be ranked against each other with a clear cut number one.

Here are my rankings of the three new uniforms and logos.

#3 – Jacksonville Jaguars

Let us first take a look at the new logo for the team known as the “Jags.” When I first saw new logo I was utterly disgusted, but I must admit seeing it more and more it is starting to slowly grow on me. To be honest, I did not think that there was anything wrong with the one that they had previously been using and therefor I did not think that it needed to be changed. I then began to look at it more and more and I have come to the realization that the old one was not only out of date, but it was really dark and not realistic. The logo itself contained to much black, the spots looked like little finger hotdogs, the ear was a triangle and showed no resemblance of an ear, the eye seemed to be looking at the person viewing the logo instead of looking straight ahead which gives the impression that the wild cat has a lazy eye, and the whiskers that are trying to be portrayed seemed to look more like the ferocious beast took a scratch to the face in a fight then whiskers.

As I mentioned before, the new logo at first did not impress me as I thought it looked to feminine to be a professional football team logo. Then it grew on me for the simple fact that it now looks more realistic for all the reasons that the old logo did not. The ear looks like an ear, the patches on the fur now look like patches, the whiskers look like whiskers, and so on. I also like the way that the team changed the way the tongue looked as is now has a more natural flow. I did not see anything wrong with the old tongue shape, I just believe the new one was a good choice. I do still find it weird that the tongue is that teal color, now joined by half of the nose and the eye, but it is a style design that I understand and ultimately I think that it gives the logo more of a pop.

The jerseys are not all that hateful. They unveiled three new tops, a black, white, and teal, along with two new pants, a black and a white. The sleeves for each of the jerseys are a different color than the main color of the jersey and each of the jerseys have these scratch like stripes on their shoulders that look to be the same color of the jersey just a different type of fabric. The font decision is consistent with the new script they use on logo featuring their name, however the outlining colors are not consistent and bother me. I have the same issue with the strips on the pants. They try to use as many colors as they can for the numbers and the striping on the pants and I don’t think in the end it works in the overall uniform scheme (I think they work each individually, but not together).

The downfall to these new dreads for the Jaguars, and the reason they are ranked last (out of the new uniform designs) is there new dreadful looking helmets. I mean if you think that these helmets you are one of the four; colorblind, a naive Jaguar fan trying to convince yourself that they look good, an overwhelming college football fan, or simply a fool. To me they would be ranked last out of all NFL teams helmets they are that bad. The helmets have the Jaguar head logo place in the middle, like most teams do, then have the color “fade” from black to gold. I use quotation marks on the word fade because there is very little resemblance of any fading; to me it looks more like one color stops and the other color begins. I think that the idea is okay, not great, but the execution was horrendous. If the “fade” would have been more prominent I think it would have looked a tad better, but two colors like that on a NFL helmet should not happen. The designer at NIKE said that the color change was due to the fact that Jaguars hunt from the shadows, however the logo appears be hunting from the sun into the shadows so therefore his explanation makes no sense. The owner of the team called the idea “revolutionary,” I call it a joke.

The one thing that I absolutely love about the new uniforms is the military inspired patches that are placed on the left peck with the Jaguar facing towards the heart, as they do in the military.
Overall the new logo is a vast improvement, the jerseys aren’t that bad, and the helmets are terrible.

#2 – Miami Dolphins
              

When I first saw the Dolphins’ new logo I immediately disliked it and, unlike the Jaguars logo, I still think that it is pretty ridiculous. Okay, so yes I know the dolphin featured in the logo has more of a realistic flow to it and the older logo depicted a dolphin wearing a football helmet, which isn’t possible, but the older logo represented the franchise better in my opinion.  Another thing that the old logo has over the new one is the way the dolphin is shaped. In the now old logo the dolphin appears to be leaping out of the water, which makes the part about the sun being behind the dolphin. The new logo the dolphin appears to be swimming, which makes the sun in the background confusing. The only way the sun can be in the background of a picture with a dolphin swimming, as is the case, the sun would need to be underwater, or the dolphin would have to be the first of its kind to be able to fly, almost like the whales in the movie Anastasia. I personally did not think anything wrong with the old dolphins’ logo, however if they wanted something new they should have done something such as this photo I found on the internet. I think it would have been a better choice.

Design I thought would have been a better choice.

 Now let us move on to the jerseys themselves. The jerseys, like the Jaguars, are not hateful and they will be something that fans will easily buy and wear. This being said, I think that there is too much teal in the uniforms and not enough orange. The Dolphins have always enough orange in the uniform to counter-balance the teal they decided to wear. These jerseys do not have that orange and I personally think that the teal is over bearing. The numbers seem to have random points in which one area of each of the number seems to curve which gives a bubble letter effect and makes the style goofy looking because other areas of the numbers have straight edges (look at the top left and then the top right of the numbers 2, 3, and 9 to see my point). They did a good job in keeping the outlining colors consistent with both the white and the teal jersey numbers outlined by what it seems to be orange and a darker teal color. The color of the numbers will be teal on the white jerseys and white on the teal jerseys, again keeping it simple so that the outlining numbers can match on both.

The Dolphins will only showcase two new pants, like the jerseys, a white one and a teal one. The design scheme from the numbers can also be seen here on the pants. The pants will have stripes down the side of each leg that will showcase a larger (2 inch or so) stripe that, like the numbers, will be white or teal depending on the pants color. Two much smaller stripes will be on the each side of that stripe and will be the same darker teal and the orange that also outline the numbers.  I do not think they are bad and I like the idea of a solid theme, however the teal still over powers the orange to the point that the orange almost seems unnoticeable.

The helmets for the Dolphins will be the traditional white and will show the new dolphin-sun logo on both of the side. One of the changes is that the facemask will be white. It is not a bad look, but I would have liked to seen the Dolphins make the facemask orange, again to even out the colors (For those who were wondering the old Dolphins helmet featured a teal facemask). The Dolphins, continuing to do a great job keeping everything similar, made the stripe down the center helmet the same stripe that is seen on the white pants. Overall not a bad helmet like the Jaguars, but nothing special about them either. They are middle of the road.

Overall the Dolphins changed a logo that did not need to be fixed and focus on the color teal too heavily; they are just one step above the Jaguars new look (and that is only because of the Jags helmet).

# 1 – Minnesota Vikings

By far the Minnesota Vikings unveiled the best new look to the world, I mean it was not even close. If it were a race it would be Usian Bolt versus Fat Albert in the 100m. The Vikings kept the traditional Norseman logo, they just made a few tweaks to make it bolder and stand out better. The horns are cleaner without the scratchy black marks in them, the braid in the hair is shorter and thicker, and the lines throughout the hair and face are now thicker giving a more detailed look. These are all slight changes, but overall it gives the team a newer, cleaner look.




The old Vikings jerseys had always been too busy for my personal liking, not any more. The team decided to go simpler, my goodness did they pull it off. The have two different jerseys, a purple and a white and in both they allow the newer, darker shade of purple to do the talking (They also now have more of a gold, not yellow). The numbers are not bad, but they could be improved. I like how they look at first, but then a small part of them bother me. There are points on certain numbers that tail out and look good when matched by with a number with rounded ends, however the look doesn’t flow when met with a number with a corner (Look at the 28 to see what I mean by looking good and then look at the bottom of the 52  and top of 65 to see what I mean by not flowing). The colors of the numbers are extremely simple with no outlining colors, which make for a clean, sharp look. The sleeves have to stripes on them. The bottom one which is gold stays the same width, however the top one (white on the purple jersey and purple on the white jersey) starts as the same width as the gold then slowly increases as it moves towards the back of the jersey. I read that it was supposed to give the look of a Vikings ship. I think that it would have been better to keep both stripes the same width all the way through, but the way they did it is still pretty clean.

 The pants are pretty nice as well and again they are only in purple and white. Each pants have a total of three stripes on them that combine to make one large stripe. Starting from the back of the pants the strips have a wide white stripe, a thinner purple stripe, and the same thin gold stripe. The white pants, again starting from the back, have thicker purple stripe followed by thinner gold and purple stripes. Both pants have the same stripe width and style, but the colors do not coordinate completely the same (the white pants have two colors, purple pants use three) and the theme is lost a little.

 

The helmet upgrade is truly remarkable and is a good mix between traditional design and a new look. Like the jersey the helmets are a darker colored purple. The horn on the helmet remains, but the helmet does not have a gloss look on it anymore as the helmet now has a matte finish, which makes the look "more manly" according to DE Jared Allen. The facemask has also been changed from purple to black and allows the helmet to have an extra kick.

 

Overall the Vikings did a tremendous jobs combining a traditional look with new ideas. I absolutely love these new Vikings dreads.

 

Well those are the new looks that will be on the backs of several NFL teams this fall. If your team has not announced any changes do not expect anything new from them as it is a very complicated process of changing uniforms in the National Football League. Also, the NFL has a five year rule that states that teams cannot change their logo or uniforms if they had previously done so within the last five years.

 

Hope you were satisfied with your team's draft, I know I am. 

 

-JM

 

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Redskins 2013 Schedule

The 2013 NFL schedule has been released to the general public. It often surprises me how many people are uneducated about how the NFL schedule is developed. All but two games are planned years in advance. The AFC divisions and the NFC divisions play each other every four years. This portion of the schedule counts for four of the sixteen games.  AFC divisions will play each other every three years, and the same with NFC divisions. This, again, will count as four games. Six more games will come when each team will play the other three teams in their division twice (once home, once away).  If your keeping track the total of games is now at fourteen. So where do the other two games from? Those games are decided on your previous year’s divisional standing. If you finished second in your division you will play the two NFC teams that finished 2^nd in their division that you were not already scheduled for.

 Because this is a Redskins post I will use them as an example to show what I mean. Last Year  (2012) the Redskins played the AFC North (Ravens, Browns, Steelers, and Bengals).  This year (2013) they will play the AFC West (Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs, and Broncos).  2014 they will play the AFC South (Jags, Colts, Texans, and Titan), and in 2015 they will play the AFC East (Patriots, Dolphins, Bills, and Jets). After that the rotation will begin again in 2016 with the AFC North.

The same goes for the Redskins playing the other NFC divisions. Last year (2012) they played the NFC South (Panthers, Saints, Bucs, and Falcons).  This year (2013) they will play the NFC North (Packers, Bears, Vikings, and Lions) and then in 2014 they will play the NFC West (49ers, Seahawks, Rams, and Cardinals). The rotation then begins again with the NFC South in 2015.

Since the Redskins won their division and already plan to play the NFC  North this year, their remaining two games will consist of the division winners of the NFC West, the 49ers, and the NFC south, the Falcons.

Okay now that I have explained how the schedule is constructed, let me show you the 2013 Washington Redskins schedule.

REGULAR SEASON

Sep 9 7:10PMEST  Eagles ESPN  

Sep 15 1:00PMEST @  Packers   FOX

Sep 22 1:00PMEST   Lions  FOX

Sep 29 4:25PMEST @ AT  Raiders   FOX

BYE

Oct 13 8:30PMEST  @  Cowboys   NBC

Oct 20 1:00PMEST  Bears   FOX

Oct 27 4:25PMEST  @ Broncos   FOX

Nov 3 1:00PMEST   Chargers   CBS

Nov 7 8:25PMEST  @  Vikings   NFL

Nov 17 1:00PMEST @  Eagles   FOX

Nov 25 8:40PMEST   49ers   ESPN              

Dec 1 8:30PMEST   Giants   NBC

Dec 8 1:00PMEST   Chiefs   CBS

Dec 15 1:00PMEST  @  Falcons   FOX

Dec 22 1:00PMEST Cowboys  FOX

Dec 29 1:00PMEST  @  Giants  FOX

Things I find Interesting about the schedule.

-The Skins are currently scheduled to play five nationally televised games this year.  I find it interesting to look at who the Redskins play in those games. Three out of the five games are the teams in the Redskins division; the Cowboys, the Giants, and the Eagles. By scheduling three out of the six Redskins divisional games to be on the big stage the NFL is implying two things.  One thing it is saying that they intend the Redskins to be a good show and put up points. Two, the NFL suspects that the NFC East will be a tight contest throughout the season and should be showcased for all to see.  Also by scheduling the Redskins to play the Eagles on the first Monday night of the season they are expecting, and were convinced, Robert Griffin III will be able to start the season for the Redskins, if not they would not have scheduled this game to be on Monday night. The NFL also scheduled the two most well-known option QB’s, Kaepernick and Griffin, for a prime time game expecting it to be a high scoring and very entertaining.  

- The bye week is going to be a challenge for the Redskins. I know for myself, as a player, that was one of the first things I looked for when I recieved my schedule in college. I always wanted it as close to the center of the season as possible. I know in the moment players want the bye week early, however after that bye week passes you realize it is going to be a long time until you get a significant break again in your season. The Redskins will only play four games before their bye in week five and then will play twelve games. I do not know about you, but I have played nine games in a row before and the toll it takes is extraordinary. So an early bye will be a very difficult hurdle for the Redskins to jump in order to repeat as NFC East division champions.

-Like last year,  the NFL has back ended the Redskins schedule with division games. In the first eight games of the season, the Redskins only play two division games (vs Eagles - 9/9 and Cowboys - 10/13)  and both of them are in prime time. The last eight games of the season the Skins will play four divisional games with three of them in the last five weeks. That is a tough way to end the season if you ask me. 

-The Redskins only play two away games back-to-back in consecutive weeks. They do play back-to-back away games in week four and six but the bye week in week five separate those games.

-Long away games to Dallas, Denver, and Oakland all happen early in the season. After the Redskins play the Broncos in week eight they will not have to travel out of the eastern time zone to play a football game. Which is an underestimated advantage late in the season; at least I believe it is.

I am not going to make and predictions on the season just yet as we are still very long away from the beginning of the season. 

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS!

Is it September yet? 

-JM

3-on-3 Basketball, BMX Freestyle Next Olympic Sport?

HOLD THE PHONES! The International Olympic Committee has to be kidding me right?! It was just in February that they announce they were dropping Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling a sport that has been around since the Olympics began thousands of years ago. Although wrestling will compete in one more Olympics, the 2016 games in Rio de Janerio, it will be gone by the 2020 games, where the host city has yet to be determined. 

Past Olympic wrestling champions have spoken publicly about the move by the IOC. Khasan Baroev of Russia, 120 kg (264.5 pounds) gold medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics called the move “mind boggling” and American Rulon Gardner, winner of an Olympic gold medal at the Sydney Games, told The Associated Press, "it's the IOC trying to change the Olympics to make it more mainstream and more viewer-friendly instead of sticking to what they founded the Olympics on.”

 

Well Rulon, you are absolutely correct. Yesterday it has been announced that the IOC is mulling the idea of adding

Baltimore Orioles 2013 Season Preview

The last meaningful baseball play we saw the Baltimore Orioles participate in was in the top of the 9th against the Yankees in the 2012 ALDS. It was a Matt Wieters soft dribbler back to C.C. Sabathia to finsh the game, and win the series for the Yankees. As the Yankees began to celebrate, the Orioles began to prepare for the 2013 season. Well, that 2013 season is finally upon us and currently one question looms large in the heart of Oriole fans across the country, can they repeat the success that they were able to achieve in 2012?

2013 MLB Uniform Changes

Ahhhhhhhhhhh finally, the first regular season game of the 2013 Major League Baseball slate is now just two days away. It has been 152 days since the Giants won the 2012 World Series and a lot of things have happened. Of those happenings, many of them included player and coaching transactions. However, my favorite thing to do in the offseason is seeing what teams do with their uniforms. Each year it is assured that at least a few of the teams will make tweeks to or add new uniforms to their collection. Last year the most notable uniform changes included the Blue Jays and Orioles.

This year there is no lack of uniform tweeks and changes so lets begin to go over them, beginning with those effecting the entire MLB.

(There are links provided indicated with a *)

ALL TEAMS

• On Opening day each team will wear a patch for the victims* of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Originally only the Redsox and the Yankees intended on wearing the patch, however Commissioner Bud Selig convinced the rest 28 teams to wear it as well.  

WBC Final Results

So yes, I know by now many of you have already discovered one way or another who won the 2013 World Baseball Classic. However, because I had updates along the way I thought that it would be nice to have the final results, even though they are coming a week late. (I've been busy with work, school, and being sick)

So here we go from were we left off:

POOL 1 Final Results: 

  Game 1: Netherlands 6, Cuba 2

Game 2: Japan 4, Chinese Taipei 3

Game 3: Cuba 14, Chinese Taipei 0 (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 4: Japan 16, Netherlands 4

Game 5: Netherlands 7, Cuba 6 (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 6: Japan 10, Netherlands 6 (Determines POOL winner)

 

So the two teams that went to the championship round from POOL 1 were the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who were the runner-ups,  and Japan, who won the POOL. 

POOL 2 Final Results: 

 

 

Game 1: Dominican Republic 5, Italy 4

Game 2: United States 7, Puerto Rico 1

Game 3: Puerto Rico 4, Italy 3  (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 4: Dominican Republic 3, United States 1 (WINNER ADVANCES)

Game 5:  Puerto Rico 4, United States 3 (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 6:  Dominican Republic 2, Puerto Rico 0 (Determines POOL Winner)

 

As you can see the two teams that represented POOL 2 in the championship round were Puerto Rico, the runner-ups, and Dominican Republic, winners of the round. 

Championship Results:

Game 1: Puerto Rico 3, Japan  1

Game 2: Dominican Republic 4, Netherlands 1

CHAMPIONSHIP

Dominican Republic 3, Puerto Rico 0

CHAMPS = DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

 

Thoughts on the WBC:

 

I had several thoughts when it comes to this years WBC. The first of these is how well this event is spreading the news of baseball around the world, more importantly Europe. As we all know, Europe is heavily a soccer (futball) region. However, the WBC has made great strides of narrowing that gap. This can be seen by the successes of Italy and Kingdom of the Netherlands in this competition. The broadcasters also mentioned how the Netherlands have most likely the best baseball facilities in Europe and compared it to that of MLB stadiums. 

 

The second thought that I have based on the WBC is how much more this event is being taken seriously by its players. Players involved in the WBC this year showed extraordinary enthusiasm in the games and overall seemed to wanted to be there and represent their countries, except for the United States. The United States seemed as though they wanted to win, but they did not seem to have the same passion for playing for their country as the other players did. David Wright seemed to be the only American player that seemed to really love playing for his country because of a Veteran that he met and has remained close to. I think the passion for other countries involved can be seen in the brawl that broke out between Mexico and Canada. These players are now really starting to care about this competition, which will lead to more players wanting to compete in it. 

Overall I was pleased to see the quality of play in the WBC throughout the competition. I know that it will only continue to grow as the WBC builds an even richer history. 

Congrats to the Dominican Republic!!!

See you in 2017 WBC... its been fun. 

-JM

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Lets Go... Towson?

Towson University announced in the fall that they were possibly going to stop funding a men’s soccer and baseball program. On Friday the school announced that they were in fact going to stop the baseball program at the University after this season. Worried of a criminal and violent reaction from players, and players, to their announcement, the school went as far as hiring police support before making the announcement. The coaches, players, and fans had a different reaction to the news; they decided to use black duct tape to cover up the “Towson” on the front of their uniforms. 

The NFL New Year Begins

Today officially starts the New NFL year, which means teams can begin to sign and trade player. Some trades have already been made and will become official at 4:00 pm EST. That is also when teams can begin to sign free agent players.

Here are the trades that will become official:

• QB Alex Smith (49ers) traded to the Chiefs
• WR Anquan Boldin (Ravens) traded to the 49ers
• WR Percy Harvin traded to the Seahawks 

There have been numerous small key signing to this point of players eligible to sign already. As soon as 4:00 pm hits we will be updating signings and/or trades right here on this page, so please continue to check back. And follow us on twitter for updates...

DEALS MADE and  UPDATES BELOW

• CB Aaron Ross agrees to return to the NY Giants after one year in Jacksonville
• TE  Martellus Bennett will sign with the Chicago Bears tonight
• DE William Hayes signs with the St. Louis Rams
• WR David Reed has resigned with the Ravens 
• WR Mike Wallace has reached an agreement with the Miami Dolphins
• G Adam Levitre signs with the Titans 
• Bills release QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
• Eagles Release CB  Nnamdi Asomugha
• TE Anthony Fasano is now a Kansas City Cheif
• OLB/DE Paul Kruger agrees to be a Cleveland Brown 
• Broncos sign G Louis Vasquez  
• Chargers reach agreement with TE John Phillips  
• TE Delanie Walker signs with the Titans 
• Jonathan Vilma restructures contract to stay with the New Orleans Saints 
• Redskins resign P Sav Rocca
• Chiefs sign QB Chase Daniels  
• OT Gosder Cherilous signs with the Colts 
• Colts agree to terms with CB Greg Toler 
• LB Erik Walden is headed to the Colts 
• S Chris Clemons is on his way to the Dolphins 
• Steelers resign WR Plaxico Burress  
• G Donlad Thomas also headed to the Colts 
• Colts continue to stay have by signing Lawrence Sidbury 
• LB Dannell Ellerbe is headed to the Dolphins 
• Vikings resign OT Phil Loadholt 
• Seahawks release RB/KR Leon Washington 
• TE Jared Cook has agreed to play for the Rams
• Dolphins to release Karlos Dansby
• OT Jermon Bushrod agrees to terms with the Bears 
• Bear DT Melton has signed his franchise tender today 
• FB Jerome Felton resigns with the Vikings 
• DT Mike Devito is headed to the Kansas City Chiefs
• Vikings resign WR Jerome Simpson
• Texans release WR Kevin Walker 
• DE Chris Canty is the newest Baltimore Raven 
• Raiders have released three players
• WR Darius Heyward-Bay
• DB Michael Huff
• DE David Tollefson 

• Raiders have also resigned DB Phillip Adams
• Eagles have signed HB/FB/TE James Casey
• DT Kevin Vickerson has resigned with the Denver Broncos  
• CB Brent Grimes is on going to play for the Falcons again next season
• LB Phillip Wheeler has signed with the Dolphins
• NT Issac Sopoaga has agreed to terms with the Eagles 
• Eagles have also signed three more players 
• CB Flethcer Bradley
• S Patrick Chung
• LB Jason Philllips

• LB Erin Henderson has agreed to continue to be a Viking
• DT Desmond Bryant has agreed to terms with the Browns
• Redskins resign DT Cedric Golston 

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High School Wrestler Inspires

There are several reasons why I have such a passion for athletics. The first of those reasons is because of the thrill and the disappointment of winning and losing. Think about it, if losing was not disappointing and frustrating, would winning be thrilling and quite frankly awesome? No, so in order to love one you must also love the other. The second reason I love athletics is because of the action. I sit down and wonder to myself, how boring would this world and this life be if we did not have any athletics or games. I'll tell you it would be horrendously boring. The third reason I love athletics is because of the inspirational stories that they bring. From the story of a high school football team coming together to win a state championship while facing the adversity of desegregation in the civil rights period, to a track star with no legs competing in the Olympics, to a girl who continues to surf and dominate at it after having one of her arms bitten off by a shark, to high school autistic students getting the chance to feel like a star just by making one irrelevant basket; the list simply  never ends and moments/stories consistently get add to the list. While playing around on ESPN.com, I ran into one of these stories.

New Jersey high school senior Anthony Ferraro is an avid skateboarder, surfer, guitarist and has even played some soccer and basketball, but he is best at wrestling. Now, this might seem completely normal to you, as it does to Anthony, but you cannot overlook the fact that Anthony is blind.

Being born five weeks early, Anthony had to fight for his life very early on. He developed jaundice and dropped to only 4 pounds. From there he was transferred to Jersey Shore Medical Center, where it was discovered he had also contract E. Coli. However, this was only the begining.

A few months later one of his Uncles noticed that his eyes were moving rapidly, so his mom took him to more doctors and little could be known because of his young age. Then finally when he was three doctors diagnosed Leber’s congenital amaurosis, a degenerative retinal condition. He has been legally blind since birth, but he can see some variations of lights and shadows out of a pin sized hole out of one of his eyes.

Anthony began to wrestle when he was in middle school. In his seventh grade year he finished with the record of 3-10 and was pinned in the first round of the end of the year tournament. He then joined Rhino Wrestling Club and began to train hard to become a better wrestler. Surprise, it worked! By the end of his eight grade year Ferraro won the tri-county championships.

Anthony contunied his success throughout his high school career that recently ended in a regional tournament loss. Despite that loss, his senior season was still very successful with the record of 34-2 and was ranked number 3 in Region 6, all against able bodied competitiors.  He was also able to gain the eye of two college wrestling programs: Division I Rider and D-III The College of New Jersey.

What is inspiring about Anthony is his desire to be independent. His parents say that he uses several helpful tricks to do tasks. When he pours drinks, he keeps one finger in the glass to feel when it is filled. At the pool, he counts steps on the diving board to gauge the distance. He learned to skateboard on half pipes by memorizing the dimensions. He also refuses to use a cane except at night. "I'm very good at adapting to places," he says. "If I get the layout of a place, within two or three times I have it memorized."

Both his parents and Anthony have credited wrestling to his growth and understanding in life.  "I don't look at it from a wrestling standpoint," Ferraro says. "I look at it from a life standpoint. The lifestyle you develop from wrestling, the training and discipline, will help out in the real world. Just knowing you have to get up and work out -- down the line, if you have obstacles with a job, you'll know you've been there before. Wrestling has helped me develop a life." 

"People tell me I inspire them, and when someone tells you that, it's the best feeling in the world," Ferraro says. "If I do inspire people, that's the best thing I could ever hear. I never thought anyone would care about me and my wrestling, but now I see that I can help kids. To be honest, I don't always want to do interviews, but if I can help one kid like me, that's a big accomplishment. I get that part of it, but the last thing I want is sympathy."

Continue to inspire and change the minds of many doubters Anthony!

-JM 

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*I DO NOT OWN THESE PHOTOS

ORIGINAL STORY: 

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/9032132/blind-high-school-wrestler-anthony-ferraro

http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/wrestling/index.ssf/2013/03/st_john_vianneys_anthony_ferraro_has_battled_through_blindness_to_find_success_inspire_others.html

World Baseball Classic UPDATE!

It is very hard to give updates on the WBC because of the way the schedule for the event is set-up, but I thought that this would be an appropriate to give one.

First let me explain what has happened in POOL C.

Even with one game left to go in POOL play, the two teams representing the POOL in the next round have been decided. Those two teams are Puerto Rice and the Dominican Republic. Here are the standings and the results of all games in POOL C:

Standings

Dominican Republic 3-0

Puerto Rico 2-1

Venezuela 1-2

Spain 0-3

Results

Dominican Republic 9, Venezuela 3

Puerto Rico 3, Spain 0

Dominican Republic 6, Spain 3

Puerto Rico 6, Venezuela 3

Venezuela 11, Spain 6

Dominican Republic  4, Puerto Rico 2

Now lets take a look at POOL D...

After the game between USA and Canada today, POOL D has officially ended. The two teams that will advance will be the United States and Italy. I expected the United States to move on, but Italy was a total surprise. Here are the final standings and results from each of the games:

Standings

United States 2-1

Italy 2-1

Canada 1-2

Mexico 1-2

Results

Italy 6, Mexico 5

Italy 14, Canada 4

Mexico 5, United States 2

Canada 10, Mexico 3

United States 6, Italy 2

United States 9, Canada 4

What is ahead for POOL C and POOL D winner and runner-up?

Now that we know who will advance from POOL C and POOL D, we know what to expect. All four teams will now head to Miami were they will play in a customized double elimination tournament until only two more remain known as POOL 2. As a reminder here is how bracket is the set-up in the second round:

Game 1: Italy vs. Dominican Republic

Game 2: United States vs. Puerto Rico

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (WINNER ADVANCES)

Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 (Determines POOL Winner for next round seeding)

 What's going on in POOL 1 of the second round?

Okay, so if you remember, you know that the four teams that make up POOL 1 are Cuba, Chinese Taipei, Japan, and The Kingdom of the Netherlands; these are the winners and runner-ups to POOL A and POOL B. Here is what has happened so far: (Using the same bracket just explained for POOL 2)

Game 1: Netherlands 6, Cuba 2

Game 2: Japan 4, Chinese Taipei 3

Game 3: Cuba 14, Chinese Taipei 0 (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 4: Japan 16, Netherlands 4

Game 5: Netherlands vs. Cuba (TBD) (LOSER ELIMINATED)

Game 6: Japan vs. Winner of Game 5 (Determines POOL winner)

So now you sound be all caught up on the WBC. Continue watching great international baseball!!!

Until next time, 

-JM

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WBC: Team USA Preview

Since POOL C and POOL D are now officially underway, more on this later, and with Team USA slated to get going tomorrow night against Mexico tomorrow night, I thought that this would be a good time to preview the roster of Team USA. I also thought that it would be a good time to predict what I think will happen for Team USA.

First things first, the roster:

Pitchers

Jeremy Affeldt	41	L-L	6'4"	225	Jun 6, 1979
Heath Bell	21	R-R	6'3"	250	Sep 29, 1977
Mitchell Boggs	33	R-R	6'4"	215	Feb 15, 1984
Steve Cishek	40	R-R	6'6"	215	Jun 18, 1986
Tim Collins	55	L-L	5'7"	165	Aug 21, 1989
Ross Detwiler	48	R-L	6'5"	190	Mar 6, 1986
R.A. Dickey	43	R-R	6'2"	215	Oct 29, 1974
Gio Gonzalez	47	R-L	6'0"	200	Sep 19, 1985
Luke Gregerson	57	L-R	6'3"	200	May 14, 1984
David Hernandez	26	R-R	6'3"	230	May 13, 1985
Derek Holland	45	S-L	6'2"	210	Oct 9, 1986
Craig Kimbrel	46	R-R	5'11"	205	May 28, 1988
Glen Perkins	15	L-L	6'0"	205	Mar 2, 1983
Vinnie Pestano	52	R-R	6'0"	200	Feb 20, 1985
Ryan Vogelsong	32	R-R	6'4"	215	Jul 22, 1977

Catchers

J.P. Arencibia	9	R-R	6'0"	200	Jan 5, 1986
Jonathan Lucroy	22	R-R	6'0"	195	Jun 13, 1986
Joe Mauer	7	L-R	6'5"	230	Apr 19, 1983

Infielders

Willie Bloomquist	18	R-R	5'11"	190	Nov 27, 1977
Eric Hosmer	35	L-L	6'4"	220	Oct 24, 1989
Brandon Phillips	4	R-R	6'0"	200	Jun 28, 1981
Jimmy Rollins	11	S-R	5'8"	180	Nov 27, 1978
David Wright	5	R-R	6'0"	210	Dec 20, 1982
Ben Zobrist	12	S-R	6'3"	210	May 26, 1981

Outfielders

Ryan Braun	8	R-R	6'2"	205	Nov 17, 1983
Adam Jones	10	R-R	6'3"	225	Aug 1, 1985
Giancarlo Stanton	27	R-R	6'6"	240	Nov 8, 1989
Shane Victorino	50	S-R	5'9"	190	Nov 30, 1980

Coaches

Joe Torre		Manager
Gerald Perry		Batting Coach
Greg Maddux		Pitching Coach
Dale Murphy		First Base Coach
Willie Randolph		Third Base Coach
Larry Bowa		Bench Coach
Marcel Lachemann		Coach

When Looking at the roster one must be surprised to see some of the big name American's not on the roster such as C Matt Weiters, 3B Ryan Zimmerman, C Buster Posey, 1B Adam LaRoche, 1B Prince Fielder, 2b Dustin Pedroia, SS JJ Hardy, SS Ian Desmond, SS Troy Tulowitzki, 3B Chase Headley, and OF's Mike Trout, Bryce Harper or Andrew McCutchen. Noticable pitchers not be be added or to decline an invitation are David Price, Max Scherzer, Adam Wainwright, C.J. Wilson, and Jordan Zimmmermann. Relief pitchers that also should be on the roster are Ryan Cook, Joel Hanrahan, Jim Johnson, Lance Lynn, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon and Huston Street. Some more pitchers are obviously excused from participation, they include: Roy Halladay (strained lat), Clayton Kershaw (hip), Cliff Lee (oblique), CC Sabathia (elbow surgery), Stephen Strasburg (innings limit) and Jered Weaver (late-season fatigue) are understandable.

All that being said by no means does the American teams have a weak roster. By far I believe that their strongest position group would be the outfield with Braun, Jones, Stanton, and Victorino. All of them but Victorino have 30 HR power in the regular season and can easily strike at any time! Jones is a 2-time gold glover, Braun is the former NL MVP, and Stanton is a sensasible that quickly made a name for himself last year for the Houston Astros. 

I think that offensively the catchers won't be all that productive. Mauer has not been what he used to be, Arencibia is decent, and Lucroy is okay, but none have the bat that will intimidate the other nation's pitching staff. However, I do believe that they are all above average defensive player, so I am happy with that. 

I think the defense is decent. I really like Brandon Phillips and David Wright. Phillips is by far the best defensive second baseman in the MLB and is in the top 3 when it comes to his bat. Wright is an above average third baseman and who is a good power hitter, but doesnt get the credit he deserves for playing in a large ball park. I kinda like Ben Zobrist and Willie Bloomquist, but again nether of them scare me. Although I am not all that fan of Eric Hosmer being on the roster, however he is replacing Mark Texiera at the last moment due to Texiera spraining his wrist after reporting to Team USA. 

The pitching staff has a few really good starters (Gio Gonzales and R.A. Dickey), but other than that none of the pitching staff stands out to me. I think they are all quality pitchers but I am not all the impressed and I think that this might be the weakest link to the Team USA roster.

One HUGE advantage that Team USA has is that former Yankees Manager Joe Torre holds the same position for them. Torre is probably the best Manager in the past 20 years, let alone the best manager in the WBC. Former MLB Managers Larry Bowa and Willie Randolph also strengthen the coaching staff.

So now that your introduced to Team USA's roster, let us take a look at their first round schedule. 

Round 1, Pool D, Game 3	Fri, Mar 8	MEX @ USA	7:00 PM (Local), 9:00 PM (ET)
Round 1, Pool D, Game 5	Sat, Mar 9	USA @ ITA	7:00 PM (Local), 9:00 PM (ET)
Round 1, Pool D, Game 6	Sun, Mar 10	USA @ CAN	1:00 PM (Local), 4:00 PM (ET)

I really like team USA in all of these games, not because I am American, but because I think they are the better baseball team in each. The one game that absolutley scares me the most though is against Canada, whose star is Joey Votto. I am predicting that Team USA will go 2-1 in this round (I am really hoping for 3-0) and be able to move on to the next round. If I had to guess a second team from POOL D to move on I'd pick Canada. 

POOL C and POOL D UPDATE

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, which at this point must seem like 5 years ago, POOL C and POOL D have begun. This afternoon Italy beat Mexico in a shocker in POOL D and Dominican Republic currently leads 5-3 against Venezuela in the bottom of the 4th in POOL C play as I am writing this. TO FIND OUT UP TO DATE INFO FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @hitting_a_td 

HAPPY WATCHING!

GO USA!

-JM 

WBC: POOL A and POOL B Decided

Okay, so only POOL B has completely been decided. However, the two that will move on from POOL A have. The only thing that is left to be decided in POOL A is which of the two teams advancing will be the winner of the POOL. UPDATED!!!

Here are the results of POOL B:

Chinese Taipei 4, Australia 1

Netherlands 5, Korea 0

Chinese Taipei 8, Netherlands 3

Korea 6, Australia 0

Netherlands 4, Australia 1

Korea 3, Chinese Taipei 2

Final Standings

Chinese Taipei 2-1

Kingdom of the Netherlands 2-1

Korea 2-1

Australia 0-3 

The two teams that will be moving on from POOL B are Chinese Taipei and Kingdom  Netherlands due to the WBC tie-breaker rules. To find those rules revisit yesterday's post. Congrats to these two teams. I expected one of the the two to move on, but both, that is surprising. I really liked Korea to move on as the winner of this POOL. I was really surprised to see how well Chinese Taipei was able to play.  Their pitching was on point, they batted well, and really played great defense in the first round. Let's see if they continue to be a surprise in the Second Round. Good Luck to both Chinese Taipei and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

Here are the current results from POOL A: UPDATED!!!!!

Japan 5, Brazil 3

Cuba 5, Brazil 2

Japan 5, China 2

Cuba 12, China 0

China 5, Brazil 2

Cuba 6, Japan 3

Current Standings

Cuba 3-0

Japan 2-1

China 1-2

Brazil 0-3

So you can see that all the games have not been played yet, but you can also see how both advancing teams have already been decided. China and Brazil have both already played all three games and have been eliminated. Cuba and Japan will move, however, they yet to play each other in POOL play and will do so early Wednesday morning (NOT that early where they are playing). This match-up will decide the winner of the POOL. To me there were really no surprises in this bracket. Although I thought China would put up more offense, I did expect Cuba and Japan to move on from this POOL. Good Luck to both Cuba and Japan!

Cuba defeated Japan Wednesday, thus winning POOL A. 

The second round POOL 1 will consist of Cuba, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. 

First games will be:

 Netherlands vs Cuba (Thursday March 7 @10 pm ET)

Japan vs Chinese Taipei (Friday March 8 @ 5 am ET)

The rest of Round 2 is based of what happens in these games.

 

Continue to watch baseball played at the highest international level and ENJOY; this only happens every four years.

-JM

The World Baseball Classic has Begun

Although Team USA has yet to play a game, serious baseball fans already know, the World Baseball Classic has begun. Games for the WBC have been being played since last Friday morning and thus far most of the teams represent eastern nations.

                                            

Those unfamiliar with WBC let me quick explain to you the set up and this year's WBC.

The first round is set up is round robin where teams are placed into a pool with four other teams. Currently there are four pools as well. The pools are as follows:

Pool A

 Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome - Fukuoka, Japan

March 2-6

Japan

Cuba

China

Brazil

Pool B

Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium - Taichung, Taiwan

March 1-5

South Korea

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Australia

Chinese Taipei

Pool C

Hiram Bithorn Stadium - San Juan, Puerto Rico

March 7-10

Venezuela

Puerto Rico

Dominican Republic

Spain

Pool D

Salt River Fields at Talking Stick - Phoenix, Arizona

 March 7-10

United States

Mexico

Canada 

Italy

For those who do not know how a round robin tournament operates its quite simple. Each team will play the other three teams in their pool once. From that, the two in each pool with the best record will qualify to move on to the next round. So for instance, if Pool C finished as Venezuela 3-0, Puerto Rico 2-1, Dominican Republic 1-2, and Spain 0-3 then Venezuela and Puerto Rice would move on to the second round. 

If there are any two teams tied in the rankings, the team that won the head-to-head match wins the tie breaker. It is not so simple for tie breaking procedures for a three team tie. If three teams are tied after Pool play then the winner of the tie-breaker will be decided by who ever has the highest Teams Quality Balance ((i.e., the sum of runs scored divided by the number of innings played on offense, minus the number of runs allowed, divided by the number of innings played on defense (RS/IPO)-(RA/IPD)=TQB)). For the purpose of the tiebreaker, only games that were played between the teams in the tie will be included. If all teams remained tied, then the calculation of the Earned Runs Team's Quality Balance ("ER-TQB", i.e., the sum of earned runs scored divided by the number of innings played on offense, minus the number of earned runs allowed, divided by the number of innings played on defense (ERS/IPO)-(ERA/IPD)=ER-TQB)). If all three teams remained tied after the TQB and the ERTQB then the tie will be decided by the teams batting averages. And in the very unlikely event that all teams remained tied after all previous tie breakers then the tie will be decided upon a coin toss. Also, again, ALL head to head tie breakers are decided by the head to head meeting during pool play. 

So once all Pool Winners and Runner-ups have been decided they move on to the next round, which is a modified double elimination. The four Pools in the first round will now be lessened to two pools; Pool 1 and Pool 2. Pool 1 will be the Winner and Runner-up from both Pool A and B. Pool 2 will consist of the Winner and Runner-up from both Pool C and D. Here is an example of the schedule of this round: 

Game 1: Pool A Runner-up vs. Pool B Winner

Game 2: Pool B Runner-up vs. Pool A Winner

Game 3: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Winner

Game 4: Game 2 Loser vs: Game 1 Winner

Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser

Game 6: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 3 Loser

The way this is set up while defiantly force two teams to lose two games. However, there is still a possibility of a tie for first place  But, again, that will be decided on head-to-head match-ups. Pool 1 will be played at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan during March 8-12 and Pool 2 will be played at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida between during March 12-16.

Now that only two teams remain after the First and Second rounds, the Championship round begins and its the most simply of the three. Here is the set-up: 

AT&T Park - San Fransisco, California 

Semi-Final 1: Pool 1 Winner vs. Pool 2 Runner-up (Sun, March 17)

Semi-Final 2: Pool 2 Winner vs. Pool 1 Runner-up (Mon, March 18)

CHAMPIONSHIP: Semi-Final 1 Winner vs. Semi-Final 2 Winner (Tue, March 19)

 

Some other random rules around the WBC are: 

• Designated Hitter will be used.
• There are very specific rules regarding how much and how often a pitcher can pitch.
• There are Slaughter Rules:
• such Federation Team is ahead by 10 or more runs after any complete inning, beginning with the completion of the seventh inning; or
•  such Federation Team is ahead by 15 or more runs after any complete inning, beginning with the completion of the fifth inning.
• Extra Inning Rules:
•  For any inning beginning with the 13th inning, the Federation Team at bat shall begin the inning with runners on first and second base.
• Runner on 1st = Player Immediately Preceding the batter due up
• Runner on 2nd = Player Immediate preceding runner on 1st
• Video Replay Rules:
• a home run/no home run "boundary" calls involving a decision regarding:
  1. whether a ball left the playing field or struck an object;
  2. whether a ball struck the top of the fence, hit a railing or otherwise stayed within the field of play (including "yellow line" calls); or
  3. whether a ball was interfered with by a fan reaching over the fence.
• a decision regarding whether a potential home run ball traveling over either side of the foul pole was fair or foul.
• Only initiated by the Umpiring Crew Chief.

So there is it. There are the basics of the World Baseball Classic. I am hoping to, in the next few days, do a report on Team USA roster before they play their first game. Until then, ENJOY THE OTHER WBC GAMES, MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN!

BASEBALL IS BACK!!

-JM

For More Information on the WBC visit: http://web.worldbaseballclassic.com/index.jsp

Early Scholarship Offers

Over the weekend eight-grader Dylan Moses, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, went to a University of Alabama football event. While there Head Coach Nick Saban offered the eight-grader a scholarship for football. Now Dylan isn’t even in high school yet and his anticipated graduation date is 2017.  Recently it has become more popular for Division I schools to offer scholarships to kids not even in high school. Though it is more common for basketball it does happen quite often in football. The question is whether or not this practice is right or wrong. I believe that there is nothing wrong with it.

The first reason why I don’t believe this practice is wrong is because they are just verbal commitments. The school and the coaching staffs involved are just making a verbal commitment to the player based on several variables. The first is whether or not the player will be able to maintain the correct GPA. The second variable is whether or not the player continues to be a dominate force on the court or the field. A third variable is whether or not the player gets injured. Because these are just verbal commitments nothing is contractual and binding making it easy for the teams to back away if something is not right. 

The second reason nothing is wrong with this practice is because it allows the schools to see what kind of student-athlete they are going to get. After offering a young student a scholarship, the schools will be able to tell whether or not they are going to want the player on the team. If the player becomes lazy or satisfied, the coaches will be able to tell. If this occurs, the coaches are most likely not going to offer the player a scholarship when it comes to the actual time to offer the scholarship to the player.

The third reason it is not wrong is because it is becoming a common practice. With this, if a school is not participating in such recruiting practices they will lose players because they will end up “late to the party.” Losing players will result in losing games and quite simply that is not worth it for what the coast of an early verbal scholarship costs. The reward is bigger than the risk. 

While many might consider this practice to be wrong, I believe that it is a low risk high reward practice that ultimately is nothing more than a “IF” commitment because of all that variables that must go right in order for the commitment to come to tuition. So, good luck Dylan. Continue to do what you do on the field and the classroom, but don’t believe that you have a scholarship no matter what because you are still going to have to work for it.

-JM

P.S-I am sorry about not posting that often this past week. Currently with work and school I have been very busy leaving a little amount of time for the blog. I just wanted to let you know.