The Sad Truth About Sports Pawns

    The reason I am making this post is because of the recent injury of one of my favorite NFL players, Dj Chark. He is a wide receiver for the Jacksonville Jaguars and in his last game against the Bengals he, unfortunately, suffered a terrible injury. The Jaguars ran an Hb Toss and while blocking a corner, his teammates crashed into him landing on his left ankle. This ended up breaking his ankle and he will likely undergo surgery and miss the rest of the season. While injuries are common in sports, the impact of the injury is huge to Charks’ career. 

    This season was actually his contract year, meaning this offseason he will become a free agent. Now most players play their best during contract years because obviously, they want to make the most money they can with their new contracts. Dj Chark was on the right path to getting a big contract with the Jaguars or another team, already having two touchdowns in just three games this season. While he isn’t a Tyreek Hill or Davante Adams-like player, he has been the best wide receiver for the Jaguars the past couple of seasons at just 25 years old. The sad truth now is that Dj Chark will not receive his big contract but instead will likely receive a really cheap contract and there’s even a chance he may not be signed at all. Imagine that, your about to get a huge payout for your hard work and after one injury you’d be lucky to get a minimum contract.

    This is why I titled my post ‘The Sad Truth About Sports Pawns’. The sports industry isn’t just a way for skilled players to make some money, the sports industry is an entertainment business. While I’m sure the Jaguars would never wish an injury on any of their players, the reality from a business standpoint is that the Jaguars Manager is probably excited since they can give Dj Chark a huge pay cut. This is why I label sports players as pawns. They are at the front line taking the most damage and in the grand scheme aren’t seen as most important for the business. I would say the Kings would be the owners, sitting in the back not doing as much, just reaping the benefits since they are the cornerstone of the business. Then I would say the Queens are the Managers of the teams, the powerhouse that has complete control over the business, hiring and firing whoever they please. It’s a sad truth but in the sports industry, players are not seen as human beings but as pawns that can help teams win so the fans are happy and so the team can make revenue of products with their name or likeliness on it. 

     Sorry if that impacted the way you look at sports but again, that’s why I titled my post ‘The Sad Truth’. Hopefully, Chark is able to recover from his injury and suit up again on a decent contract. I realize these players make a lot of money even on minimum contracts, yes, but maybe the huge contracts are the reason the public doesn’t scrutinize the business aspect of sports. Overall I’ll continue to pray for Dj Charks’ recovery and in the future, I will look at players’ injuries in a much different light. 

A Healthy Soda?

    For this post, I wanted to help my fellow classmates because I believe I found a great alternative to pop. While I know the best substitute is probably water, I’m pretty addicted to pop so cutting it out isn’t so easy. I have tried other alternatives in the past but always just went back to the great taste of Dr. Pepper. Eventually, I found a soda called Zevia through some random health app. 

    This growing brand offers zero sugar soda alternatives that also don’t use the harmful diet substitutes for sugar that can cause cancer. Instead, they use stevia leaf extract that so far scientists haven’t discovered any negative side effects. As I said before I have tried other alternatives but this is by far my favorite. There is no gross aftertaste and while it isn’t as cheap as a normal soda, your not gonna be paying hundreds of dollars on a 12 pack. Usually, when I purchase mine I receive a 24 pack for $20 on Amazon. Another interesting thing about their drinks is that they are zero calories, gmo-free, and vegan. While I wasn’t looking for a drink with all these benefits, it’s cool to know this drink is pretty pure. 

    Another reason I love Zevia so much is the huge variety in flavors. Personally, my favorite regular sodas are Black Cherry, Grape, and Orange. While they don’t exactly taste like Crush or Fanta, it’s still a pretty good drink. If I had to recommend one of their specific products, I would actually recommend Zevia Kidz. While these cans are smaller the flavor is actually more profound and taste like an actual soda. I would recommend trying the variety packs they offer to find your favorite alternative but I personally love Strawberry Lemonade and Fizzy Apple. 

    While this may seem like an ad for Zevia, trust me they are not sending any money my way. I’m just so excited that theirs an alternative that's affordable and actually tastes good. If you try it please let me know what you think, again don’t expect it to taste like regular sodas but the flavors are pretty good. I believe Zevia has a website where you can buy their products but I usually buy them on Amazon or at Target. Also if you try their energy drinks or tea products, please let me know your opinion as I haven’t tried those yet. 

The Sneakerhead Dilemma

     During my teenage years, I joined the booming sneaker market and purchased many different Jordan and basketball shoes. If I had to guess, I have probably bought over a hundred pairs of sneakers. With most sneakers being over a hundred bucks, that means in my lifetime I’ve probably spent at least $10,000 on shoes. Looking back this looks ridiculous but to this day I still have a love for good-looking sneakers. With my sneakerhead experience, I have many regrets but I’m sure I will continue to buy sneakers during college and after.

    So one of my main regrets about buying sneakers is the waste of money. Most people probably think I mean wasting money on things you wear on your feet, but in reality, I am talking about selling all of my sneakers. I went from buying over a hundred pairs to having only four and a pair of slides. I had countless interests growing up and whenever I needed money to buy something, I would always just sell a pair of sneakers I didn’t wear as much as the others. The problem with that is that sneakers are like cars, as soon as you start using them the value depreciates. Basically, I was buying shoes at about a hundred bucks, wearing them for a month or two, and then selling them for $50 if I was lucky. Not the best concept and that’s coming from a business major. 

    The crazy thing is, I still consider myself a sneakerhead and one of my life goals is to buy all the shoes I sold so I don’t feel like such an idiot. This plan is probably stupid too but at least I can look at them and recollect on my past. I think the reason I developed a love for sneakers is the props you get for wearing a fresh pair. You may be the ugliest or weirdest kid in school but you come in wearing a new pair of jordans peoples eyes are gonna turn. As a guy, I don’t receive many compliments during the day but one of my favorite feelings in the world was having a cool kid say “I like your shoes.” While that probably started my sneakerhead journey, I actually developed an interest in the art involved and the history of certain shoes. From Michael Jordan’s banned colorways to Kyries Spongebob-themed basketball shoes, I became fascinated with the sneaker culture. 

    Overall my sneaker journey has taught me a lot about spending money wisely but I’m sure in the future I will continue to purchase sneakers. Below is a collage of all the sneakers I have owned in the past or at least the ones I can remember.

Herbert Terrace: The Selfish Professor

    After watching 'Project Nim' for my summary assignment, I kept thinking one thing over and over again, Herbert Terrace is a real a-hole. He is the professor that started Project Nim, an experiment that asked “Can a chimp learn to communicate with humans after being raised as a human child?” Now you may be wondering why I have such a distaste for this professor. Herb Terrace is a disgraceful professor that doesn’t take blame for his actions and doesn’t care for anyone but himself. During this project, he sexually manipulates one of Nim’s teachers and when the experiment ends, he has no care for Nim’s future treatment. 

Ok, so one of the main reasons I dislike this guy is how he manipulates one of Nims handlers, Laura-Ann Petito. She was a student at the University and after meeting Herb she decided to join the project. She began helping teach Nim sign language and when Nim began living at the college, Laura becomes Nim’s main handler. Now through various interviews, Herb and Laura hint that they had some kind of relationship. Eventually, Laura describes how she and Herb had sex but after Herb wished to have no relationship. Herb is dismissive of the topic so I have no doubt in my mind that Herb used his position and manipulation to hook up with Laura. When Laura quits Nim attacks her as she’s leaving so all in all Herb caused a lot of unnecessary damage just for sex with a student. 

After Nim attacks more teachers, Herb decides to end the project to avoid legal trouble. Another reason I dislike Herb is that he deems the project a failure even though Nim had a huge sign language vocabulary. He deemed it a failure because Nim couldn’t use proper grammar. For example, Nim would sign “Give Nim Banana” instead of “Give me the Banana.” Sounds good professor, many teachers wasted their valuable time teaching Nim sign language every day and got bit constantly so you can deem Nim a failure. So after the experiment, instead of finding a proper home for Nim to adapt to, the professor convinces the Doctor he bought Nim from to take him back. Nim had never seen another Chimp in his life and now he’s being sent to live in a cage surrounded by hundreds of Chimps. Herb admits to “feeling bad” for doing that but I just can’t believe him. If you feel bad now then you definitely knew that was the wrong situation you were putting Nim in the first place. Eventually, Herb actually visited Nim at the Institute but that was purely a camera stunt since he brought an entire crew for one day of filming. When Nim saw him he started hugging him and screaming joyously, thinking he was finally going home. Nope, Herb left the very next day on a plane and Nim became more depressed. 

So yeah I think these are pretty good reasons to deem this guy a selfish a-hole. He sexually manipulates people, ends a project because he’s scared of being sued, and gives no care for the monkey he forced to be raised by humans. Herb obviously started this project on a whim, didn’t carefully plan out situations that might occur, and when he got scared he just deemed the project a failure and used it to make money through books and television. I know I have no room to talk but I believe this is not how a Professor should conduct his projects.

Basketball is Back in Chicago

    I am a huge Chicago Bulls fan and I am happy to say that the Bull's future looks very promising. The past couple of years us fans have had to sit through awful seasons led by the terrible management of Gar Foreman and John Paxson. Finally, Reinsdorf realized the team was going nowhere and brought in Arturas Karnisovas (President of Basketball Operations) and Marc Eversley (General Manager) in 2020. They immediately shook up the team by trading for all-star center Nikola Vucevic. While this didn’t drastically change the team, this offseason they went all out bringing in point guard Lonzo Ball, shooting guard Alex Caruso, and four time all-star Demar Derozan. I believe that these key attributions will help the Bulls increase their playmaking ability, develop their younger talent, and re-energize the Bulls fanbase.

    One of the first signings the Bulls made in free agency this year was signing Lonzo Ball. Now his game as a point guard focuses on his playmaking abilities and defense. I think both of these skills will greatly help the Bulls as they lacked good perimeter defense last season and without a solid playmaker, the offense was forced to take many contested shots. Also while Demar Derozan isn’t known for his playmaking abilities, he actually averaged more assists than Lonzo last season. While his main skills include slashing, mid-range game, and defense, he actually developed some great playmaking during his time in San Antonio. With the bulls adding these key playmakers, many offensive weapons will be better utilized in Billy Donovan’s offense. 

    One of the weapons I hope develops in the new offense is second-year power forward, Patrick Williams. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Williams at first, he actually became a great role player for a not so great team. With the Bulls trading away the more pathetic power forward, Lauri Markannen, Patrick Williams will actually get to start with three all-stars in the lineup. I predict that with the opponents focusing their defense on locking up Lavine or Derozan, Williams will have many more opportunities to sink open shots. He will also be a great addition to the defense averaging almost five rebounds and about one steal per game last season. The bulls also drafted two great young players in Ayo Dosunmu and Marko Simonovic and I believe they will have great opportunities to come off the bench and freshen the lineup.

    Since the Bulls made all these key moves after years of not being a competitive team, I believe the fan base will be very excited for this season. In the past, the Bulls haven’t been competitive and would make meaningless signings to try and get fans in seats. With the new management actually focusing on the weaknesses of the team and bringing in proper talent, I believe the Bulls will be very competitive and actually have a good run in the playoffs. With the Bull’s last playoff run being a first-round exit four years ago, I’m sure fans, like myself, will be very excited to watch some good playoff basketball at the United Center. 

    Overall I’m very excited the team actually shook up the roster to fix their weaknesses and I hope to visit some games this season and watch some good, competitive basketball in Chicago.