Literacy Autobiography

My four years of high school have helped me understand who I am as a writer and a reader and that is not a very patient one. I never had much patience for reading and writing that was forced upon me. If it was not a topic of interest to me, which it usually wasn’t, I just didn’t want to do it. I do, however, have a few memories when my teacher granted me the freedom to write about whatever it was I wished to write about. I always took those opportunities to write about my favorite topic and the one thing that could never lose my interest; sports. Whenever I got the chance I would spin the assignment while still following the guidelines so that I could make it about sports. I love to read sports books, magazines and newspaper articles. I have drawn an interest to sportswriters such as Rick Reilly, Mitch Albom, and Mike Lupica. Whether I agree or disagree with their sports opinions, I love their writing styles. I always thought that school made reading and writing more of a punishment than a privilege. Students should be encouraged more to read and write about what they are interested in.

Looking back on what I wrote in the beginning of the term I have realized that not much has changed. I believe that my writing has definitely improved, but my motives have stayed the same. As you can see, I wrote about how my love for sports has affected my writing. It has continued to affect my writing throughout the term in my blog, Overtime! I have used this blog as a stepping stone to follow my dreams of becoming a sports writer. If I continue to follow my dreams, sports will be affecting my writing throughout my entire life.

"38 Pitches"

The most famous sports blog is probably that of Curt Schilling, veteran pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. His official blog is titled “38 Pitches.” This is probably a play on his uniform number “38” and the fact that he is a pitcher. The layout for Schilling’s blog is perfect for his theme. Besides the graphic on top displaying the title, a picture of Schilling in action, and a picture of an autographed baseball, it is a very simple layout. The sidebar is an important part of this blog. The first part of his sidebar is titled “CURTS PITCH 4 ALS SEASON TOTALS.” Schilling is very active in charity and this is a fine example. His main cause for charity is the ALS association. ALS is better known to many as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This section of Schilling’s blog totals the strikeouts and wins of teammates Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Arizona’s Brandon Webb, and Philadelphia’s Cole Hamels. These totals then determine how much they will donate to the ALS association.

I was very impressed by Schilling’s writing. He is an intelligent man who writes whatever is on his mind. He is a strong supporter of presidential candidate John McCain, as he writes about him in his entries on more than one occasion. He often touches on the main issues that are going on in baseball today. His latest entry is about the concept of throwing a pitch behind a batter. Although he does not directly say it, he is referring to the incident between Kyle Farnsworth and Manny Ramirez. Although I hate Curt Schilling because of obvious reasons (I am a Yankee fan), I respect what he does on and off the field.

Yankee Dynasty

I recently wrote a paper for my sports management class about the New York Yankee dynasty of the late 90s. Here is an excerpt from my paper:

The New York Yankees are the most noticeable and most successful franchise in professional sports history. They have won 26 World Series championships and 39 American League Pennants. The Yankees have had some of the greatest teams in Major League Baseball history in 1927, 1961, and 1998. Many of their championships came in bunches. They won four in a row and six out of eight from 1936-1943. They are the only team to win five in a row which they did from 1949-1953. They also won three in a row and four out of five from 1996-2000.

These long strings of championships are better known as dynasties. The word dynasty is defined as a sequence of rulers from the same family, stock or group and that is exactly what these Yankee teams were. They dominated. A specific dynasty that I would like to focus on would be one that I was fortunate enough to witness with my own eyes. From 1996-2000 the Yankees won four World Series championships including three in a row from 1998-2000.

From 1996-2000 there were many constants on the New York Yankees. It started with the manager, the captain of the ship, Joe Torre. The man no one believed in when he was signed before the 1996 season is now the proud owner of four World Series rings. On the mound it was David Cone, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera who were there for all four championship runs. Tino Martinez, Derek Jeter, Paul O’Niell, and Bernie Williams were also members of all four championship teams. Other key contributors included; Scott Brosius, Chuck Knoblauch, Joe Girardi, Jim Leyritz, Jorge Posada, Chad Curtis, Wade Boggs, Luis Soho, Luis Vizcaino, David Justice, Mike Stanton, Jeff Nelson, David Wells, Roger Clemens, Orlando Hernandez, and the list goes on. Being able to witness such teams is something that I will never forget. There were so many great baseball teams throughout the history of the game, but the New York Yankees of the late 90s will always be remembered and cherished in my heart.

A Giant Draft

I know the draft was last weekend and I may be a little late with this, but I wanted to take some time and discuss my Giants' draft picks.

After the draft is over everyone becomes a football analyst and thinks they know the winners and losers of the draft. I just like to watch who my team picks and take it from there. The Super Bowl champion (I just wanted to throw that in there) New York Giants had a nice draft in which they addressed their needs. In the first round they drafted Kenny Phillips, a safety out of Miami. After loosing Gibril Wilson in the offseason, a safety is what they needed. Phillips is being compared to two other outstanding safeties from Miami, Ed Reed and the late Sean Taylor. If he turns out to be even half of those guys, I will be happy. When their second round pick approached I was hoping to get Dan Conner, a linebacker out of Penn St. Instead the G-Men drafted Terrell Thomas from USC. Thomas is a cornerback who scouts say could move to safety at the professional level. A versatile secondary player sounds good to me.

The Giants got a steal in the thrid round with Michigan wideout Mario Manningham. He was a projected first rounder who dropped all the way to the 95th pick in the draft. Manningham will be groomed to follow fellow Wolverine Amani Toomer when he retires. I can see it already: Manning to Manningham for the touchdown!!

The rest of the Giant's draft picks included two athletic linebackers, Bryan Kehl and Jonathan Goff; quarterback Andre Woodson and defensive end Robert Henderson. All-in-all I like what GM Jerry Reese and the Giants did in the draft. They took care of their needs as best they could and that is all you can ask for. If this draft class turns out like last year's draft class, Jerry Reese deserves a huge raise.

Player Turned Fan

My dad recently told me that my high school baseball career ended one year too short, meaning I was getting better during my senior year. I started working out that year. I was getting stronger and I started hitting the ball a lot better than I did in the past. I was playing my best baseball during the second half of my senior year, then it just ended.

I knew that this years team was going to be better, because our team was filled with younger players who were only going to get better. I also knew that I wanted to go and watch as many games as I could. I still have many friends on the team that I still hang out with and I wanted to watch them play and root for my old team.

The Wagner Falcons are now 10-2 (2nd place in Staten Island) and are fighting for positioning in the PSAL playoff brackett. I am not surprised that they are doing good, but I am surprised that they are doing this good. I have been to almost every game and I am excited for them. They have been carried by their clutch pitching and timely hitting. Their big wins this season have included a 3-1 victory over Curtis (last year's division winner), a 1-0 pitchers duel over Port Richmond, and a 4-2 victory over the reigning PSAL champion Tottenville Pirates. With only five more games before the playoffs they will continue to grow and prepare for a run at a championship and I will be watching from the other side of the fence with all the parents who used to watch me play.

Back on the Diamond

I haven't played an organized baseball game since the high school season ended last May. I was a little happy when it was over, because I was getting a little tired of it. Between the high school season, fall ball, and summer ball I was playing non-stop my whole life. I thought I needed the break, but i did not realize how much I was going to miss it.

I love playing sports, but I am a baseball player at heart and I could not stay away from the game for too long so my friends and I formed a team and entered a Sunday morning men's league. The league is not very competitive, but it should be fun and that is all I am looking for. Our first game was scheduled for this morning at 9 a.m., but it was cancelled due to the weather. I was dissappionted because our whole team was out there ready to play, the field was in good shape, and the rain held up. I don't know why we couldn't get the game in. We ended up having a practice and went out to breakfast so it was not a total loss.

My team's name is the Raiders and I am the starting catcher/shortstop/where ever else I am needed. For the past few weeks my friends and I have been anticipating the first game. It was hard to get the whole team out on the field to have full practices because everyone is busy with school and work and can't make anytime for baseball. I can always make time for baseball. I got out as much as I could with a few teammates to at least throw the ball around. We would sometimes try to grab a field at Willowbrook Park and hit some ground balls and fly balls to try to get ready for the season. It's hard to say if we will be any good. We don't have any superstars on the team, just a bunch of kids who want to play some ball and we will be playing against some older guys. We may just get blown out every game, but I hope we can squeeze out a couple of wins. The most important thing to me: I'm getting back on the diamond.

Stay tuned for more Raider updates!