Shaun White is the Disappointment

Who holds the most pressure during these Olympics, one might say Shaun White. Shaun White was the most anticipated athlete of the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He was snowboarding for the US Olympic team, and is 27 years old. White was the only athlete to be participating in both the Halfpipe and the Slopestyle. During his training run at Slopestyle, White fell on of his landings, and hurt his wrist and back. He decided to drop out of the event because he wanted to focus on being the first ever male to win three straight gold medals in the Halfpipe. His decision created much controversy, and even sparked twitter remarks from other competitors’ immediately. Max Parrot, one of the competitors who was supposed to win gold in the Slopestyle, made this twitter comment, “Shaun knows he won’t be able to win the slopes, that’s why he pulled out. He’s scarred!” It is ironic that Max didn’t even get a medal on February 8 during the final round. Whether or not White was afraid to get hurt, it was clear that his decision was not well liked. 

                The Men’s Halfpipe Qualifications started on February 11 at 2:00 A.M. Pacific time. This competition was held at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park in Russia. The conditions of the Halfpipe were very hard to snowboard on because the snow was choppy. All of the competitors complained about this, and the crews worked hard to make the conditions better. Throughout the day, everyone was waiting for Shaun White to see what he had in store for the event. The biggest competitor for White was Iouri Podladtchikov who represented Switzerland. He created the “YOLO” trick that was as good as White’s McTwist. Starting with qualification, Shaun White dazzled the judges with his first run that included amazing rotations. He earned a score of 95.75 during his first run, and came in first during the qualification run. White got into the finals directly, while Iouri had to go through the semifinals to get to the finals.

                The finals of the Halfpipe started later in the night, and the spotlight surrounded Shaun White every second. Each snowboarder got 2 runs in the final round. White started off with a diverse amount of tricks but failed at the last second. The trick that he failed was a switch double 1440 because as he was landing he hit the top of the halfpipe and fell. From a spectator’s point of view, it looked as if Shaun bent the board in half, and broke his leg. After he fell, he did not seemed influenced by the failed run. His score was a 35.00 on his first run. On the other hand, Iouri landed his “YOLO” trick on his second run, and scored a 94.75. The pressure was now on White to land the run of his life. White’s run started off very well while landing a few hard tricks, but eventually the pressure got to him. His landings were very sloppy when he did a backside air 1080 with a double McTwist and a backside 1080, and Shaun nearly almost fell twice. Due to his messy landings, he only got a score of 90.25. This meant that Shaun White, who was expected to medal, only got fourth. Once Shaun saw the score, everyone got a picture of him hugging and congratulating Iouri. Shaun must have been disappointed by this score because he missed a medal by only two points. Two points could have been gained by White only if he landed his tricks better. After talking to reporters, Shaun seemed disappointed, but not very angry. He hinted that maybe he could return in four years, and take back his throne that he has earned in the past. Although Shaun might not be liked by other snowboarders, it is clear that Shaun does not change his personality to please others. 

Michael Sam

Michael Sam will face new and different challenges that other drafted players. Many of the NFL players will accept him for who he is, but others will keep their distance. Players will focus on his football ability, but there will be tension between players and him in the locker room.

The Misfit

Aaron Hernandez had a past that was involved around crime even though he became a great NFL player. People around him influenced him too much for him to handle. He hung out with his friends who smoked weed, and who were involved with crime.They made Hernandez into a drug dealer who needed to smoke blunts every day. He even became so paranoid that he carried a gun around him all the time because he was afraid that his friends would kill him. His past created many problems for Hernandez to deal with.

Aaron had a broken family that pushed him into the wold of crime. During his childhood, a few of his family members died. His dad and his brother, DJ died which hurt Hernandez a lot. After these two deaths, people around him said that Hernandez was a completely different person. Instead of being an outgoing person, Hernandez turned into a sad and lonely person. This could have been the source of the problem because this hurt Aaron deeply. After his father died, the trouble continued to mount due to Terri marrying Cummings,a rude coke dealer. She may have married him because she had problems with drugs in the past. Throughout the year, Teri would get beaten by him, and he would end in jail. His family hurt Aaron a lot, and might have turned him to drugs in order for him to deal with his problems.

Aaron had a strange college experience that could have raised some red flags. He had problems with his teammates as he went out drinking with them. One of his teammates was Tim Tebow who was suppose to help Hernandez through tough times. During one of the nights at the bar, Hernandez got mad and punched the waiter in the face. This incident did not cause any trouble for Hernandez, and the waiter did not set charges. He was involved with a shooting with his teammates, the Pouncey brothers. He did not get in trouble for another incident, and did not get injured. Before the draft, Hernandez took a psychological report. He got the lowest possible score in "social maturity", and was classified as "living on the edge of acceptable behavior". His collage past seemed to make him a more risky pick during the draft.

Throughout Aaron's life, many people are responsible for his downfall. His friends could be the source of the issue. His family troubles could also be the origin of this. Once you in the NFL, it is the team's duty to keep you players in check. The Patriots organization should have done a better job in finding out what Hernandez does outside of the football field. They should have made sure that Hernandez wasn't i trouble, even after they gave him a big contract. The ex cops and FBI agents should have done a better job to keep Hernandez away from crime. He seems so untouchable because he has millions of dollars and was a amazing football player. With these talents, he looks confident with every press conference. Everyone sees athletes as role models, and do not even think about what happened in that person's life. Unfortunately, the fans did not get the whole story of Aaron Hernandez.

Seattle Winners For The First Time

My prediction about the Super Bowl was right. My score was way off, but no one expected the game to be a blowout. The sign that the game would go Seattle's way was they very first play of the game. During this play, the snap to Manning was too high for him to catch, and it ended in a safety for the Seahawks. From then on, Manning could not get the offense going, and the Seattle defense put on a show. The two interception really hurt the Broncos due to them being down early. The one hat mos hurt was Malcom's Smith 69 yard interception return. The ball was tipped up in the air and only the Malcom Smith was looking for the ball. Manning played very poorly, along with their defense. Going into half 22-0 is never a good place to be, but anything can happen. The start of the second half sealed the game for the Seahawks. Percy Harvin played extremely well, and returned the kickoff for a touchdown at the start of the second half. This really put the game out of reach, even though there was a whole half to go. Russel Wilson was very clam throughout the whole game, and didn't seem frazzled. The Denver Broncos Defense was vulnerable to everything that Seattle gave them. The poor tackling was the core of the issue, and affected the pass defense greatly. They could not stop the running game or the passing game. The touchdown thrown to Jeremy Kearse occurred because of  four or five miss tackles by the Broncos defense. The other touchdown thrown Doug Baldwin also was due to amazing jukes, but miss tackles. The one highlight that they did have was a touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas that maybe sparked something. Everything felt off about the way the Denver Broncos played, and are too use to playing at home.  Peyton had high expectations to fulfill, and failed to make his "legacy" that everyone wanted. It looked like Peyton can't really play in cold weather after all.

My overall impressions on the game was that it was very boring. There really was no point in watching he second half after the kickoff return. The only thing that kept me awake was watching all of the dumb commercials. I really wanted the Broncos to win, but I guess I can't have everything I wish for.

The halftime show was very exciting to watch. I thought that Bruno Mars did great, but on the the other hand thought that the Red Hot Chili Peppers didn't add much. Bruno sounded really good, and picked songs that were the most popular to everyone. I like the last part where they gave time to show people in the army. This was a nice gesture, and brought everyone together. This was one of the best half time shows that I have seen in a while.

Most of the commercials during the broadcast were very strange to me. I didn't understand most of them, and thought that they did not get their points across. The one commercial that I thought was innovative and inspiring was the Clydesdale one. I thought the connection between the horse and the dog was fun to watch. The commercial brought joy to even though the Broncos were losing.