NEW UPDATE. Hopkins 6th in USA POLL

Tonight I read an article in the Star Tribune about number 6th in the Nation, Hopkins, who is also ranked first in state, that played the number two team in state, Henry Sibley, last friday night at Henry Sibley High School. Henry Sibley is the 4th team in the region but didn't have enough to take down the ferocious Hopkins team. Hopkins has all 5 of their starters going to a top division one college next year, while Henry Sibley has 3 of their top 5 going D1. I had the chance to go to watch the Hopkins-Minnetonka game a day before I made my way out to Henry Sibley High School to watch the Hopkins-Sibley showdown. Minnetonka won the State Championship last year and knocked Hopkins out in the Section Finals. Hopkins came back for revenge this year, picking up a D1 caliber player, senior Royce White, who committed to The University  of Minnesota. He, along with the other Hopkins players, went nuts during the Tonka game, in front of what seemed like 200 people at the Lindbergh Center at Hopkins High School. The crowd, band, and Student section was as crazy as a college game. Hopkins came out and scored 60 points in the first half, which is usually what teams have in a full game, and ended up winning easily 112-60. Watching this game made me realize just how AMAZING Hopkins really is. It's different when I hear people say how good they are when they haven't even seen them, and when people actually know basketball and have witnessed this 6th ranked team in all of America. The Henry Sibley-Hopkins game the FOLLOWING NIGHT was ridiculous. Hopkins pretty much had complete control of the game until Sibley cut it to 4 with five minutes left. The place was rocking. Hopkins ended up holding on to the game 77-66. 

If I were Henry Sibley, I would have tried to slow the game down a little more just to make Hopkins have less possessions, even with a loss, they knew there's just that one extra step they can do to maybe turn that game around. Luckily they'll get to meet them sometime in the State Tournament held at the Target Center. 

My Edina team lost our first game at Shakopee last night in a battle. We just didn't play hard enough and got out worked and out coached. It was a devastating loss. We are now ranked tenth in state, moving back because of a 10-1 record. It is still an amazing start to the season but with still over half the year to go, and at least two games against Nationally Ranked HOPKINS, we are not stopping and are continuing to work hard to reach our goal of a State Championship.  

Standings.

In the news paper this last week I was reading about how many people are arguing to have a playoff for the best college football teams each year. Right now the teams are voted on by teams and coaches around America and are put into groups by computers catagorized in ways that sometimes are unfair. Let me correct myself. They are NEVER fair. When the last standings of the year come out, it's a complete toss up. Nobody knows who the REAL number one team in College Football is, and no one knows who the 15th best team in College Football is. A number of teams could be undefeated or only have one loss. But how do you know a fair way to stack the teams? Is there one? I myself don't think there is. That's why I think College Football should have a 3 or 4 round playoffs that could make or break your team. If college basketball has "March Madness", why couldn't college football have their own playoffs in January? It's completely the same thing. Upsets can happen every week, and by the end of the tournament, you know if your team deserves to be in that title game. Nobody can say, "Well USC shouldn't have been the National Champion because they lost to Texas in week 2 this year and Texas only had one loss just like Southern Cal!". Nothing like that. If you lost in the playoffs, nobody would care what you had to say and complain about how you should have been in that final game, because quite frankly, if you can't beat so called "underdog teams" (if you're a top seed) then how could you claim to be the best team in College football? Upsets happen all the time, and I think that's why teams that never get into the top 2 or 3 bowl games are pushing hard for this Playoff month just so their team could have a shot. Now I do think that makes the season not as important, but who doesn't want a little extra excitement? I know I do!

This is very much like High School Basketball standings. My basketball team lost tonight at Shakopee High School and are now 10-1. When the section playoffs come and we're supposed to play Shakopee, no matter what our final record was, if we went 25-1 and they went 10-15, we will have to play at their place if we were to meet them in the playoffs because they beat us tonight. I do not think this is fair, though if I were them, I'd probably be thinking how else could we do it? If we beat you, there's no way it'd be fair for you to be seeded over us and have home court advantage. This connects clearly with College football because this year Texas beat Oklahoma, but Oklahoma was in the Championship game against Florida because Texas lost to Texas Tech. Texas did not think this was fair at all and neither do I. PLAYOFFS SHOULD BE IN ORDER! 

Travel Team

For my book report, I'm reading the novel, Travel Team. Written by Mike Lupica. The book is about a young boy named Danny who struggles all his life being the shortest one at his school. He loves basketball and many other sports, but never gets taken seriously from adults because of how small he is! Danny sometimes gets mistaken for a little kid and never gets picked for the basketball team. When Danny plays with his friends, they all know what a great passer and defender he is, and of course want a playmaker on their team! Someone who can get them the ball and find them on the open court. So on the playground it's a fight to get him on your team, and for the city team, he doesn't even get picked? How does THAT work?! Danny works so hard over the summer after he finds out he didn't make the traveling team, so that the next winter, he'll make it even if he's short.

Something like this has happened to one of my friends, all throughout our childhood he was a great player, and then during the last few years of traveling and into high school basketball, he didn't even make a team. If in the book, I was Danny, I would set aside my anger and sadness and do exactly what he's doing in the offseason; using his disappointment about not making the traveling team to motivate him to work twice as hard. Even when nobody else is. That's what will make you a better player. I know what it feels like to think you're not as wanted or valued on the team especially playing with Seniors who have 2 years on me in terms of skill, strength, speed, and also experience. Experience is the biggest thing I think about when thinking of younger players playing with older guys, because no matter how good you are, if you didn't work your butt off in the offseason and train with the team or other teams during the spring, summer, and fall before the winter season, then you wont have experience and you will not get better. You will also not be picked to play up a level or two because the coaches know who has and who hasn't worked during 8 months in between the end of the season and tryouts. They can tell.

Last One on the PLANET?

If I was the last person on Earth, I’m not quite sure I could survive. Now sure I would move farther south and find fertile land to start farming and making a life for myself, but I’m such a social person and feel I need to be with people throughout my weeks just to keep in good spirits, and I think if I was all alone without someone to talk to or even see, I would probably live a sorrow filled life. I like to be social with friends and family. I play team sports and like to actively participate and lead in church activities or extra curricular school activities. One of the main reasons why I most likely feel so comfortable in school is because I know a lot of people and feel it’s a big place with a lot of kids just like me, so I can easily relate and talk to people. To even stand a chance being the last person on the Earth, I would, like I said before, need to move to a better climate and probably hunt and farm to keep myself alive. Though I’m not sure I could do it for very long, if it meant life or death, I would most likely do all I could to stay alive, and maybe even go search for other people, even if I never found someone, just the thought of not being so alone would comfort me.

Leadership

An article I read today was titled "The Sports Guy" written by Bill Simmons. It talked about how "naked" the sport of basketball is. No player is shielded by pads or helmets, so we can easily watch every move they make. If or not they run up and down the court or just walk back on defense, if they're playing each possession with heart and passion, whether or not they are giving it their all, and also their facial expressions. Facial expressions are a big key in basketball especially if you're a leader on the team because a lot of the time your teammates, fans, and your coaches are watching your every move and seeing how you react to a play or a call. This will really put a sign over your head, either something good such as: "respectful and positive leader". Or if you have a lousy attitude, people will start to think of you more downwards like a "negative selfish player". Because basketball is so, as Bill Simmons calls, "naked", first impressions matter more than any other sport because they can predict how you will be viewed for the rest of your career. This article connects to my life because now that I am a Sophomore and part of the high school basketball team, I have responsibility not just to be the best player I can be and help my team win, but to do so in a positive way. Today before our captains practice the coaches took aside 2 Juniors and 2 Sophomores who have shown signs of leadership throughout the past year. Together with the 3 senior captains, they explained to us what it meant to be a leader. How it's  not all about telling people what to do and only playing basketball, but how you have to be one with the team and really connect with them on a personal level. Also if some teammates could be doing something differently in games and or practices and you advise them to start working on something else, well if your not a reliable source, meaning if you don't show the team you sacrifice a lot of your time and work on that skill, or show up to practice early to work on foul shots, why do you think they would do it? Because they want to listen to the captain? Well as nice as that sounds that's not reality. Life is not like that and I've SEEN juniors and seniors get into it with their captain because the right steps haven't been taken to help the team chemistry. I'm very glad I was apart of the meeting today. I am a point guard so already I am kind of forced into being a leader; telling guys where they need to be on the court as I bring the ball up and set up a play, etc.  I'm used to the pressure that comes along with being in big games and worrisome situations. I like to take charge and show I can handle these times in the game where it just seems we're doomed for. Everything I do, the attitude I have, and the words that come out of my mouth are all seen by players, coaches, and fans. I know, to continue to be a leader and maybe one day be a captain, I have to stay humble, stay composed in pressure situations, and most of all, stay respectful in my actions just like in the article.

Would you end your college sports career and go to the pros?

This past week I read an article in the ESPN Magazine written by Luke Cyphers. The article was called Massive Returns, and it’s about young basketball players and their choices whether to leave college early to play in the NBA, or to finish out their career in school and enter the NBA Draft when they’re ready. The article brings up many good “pro’s and con’s” for the choice whether to leave school early or not and it relates deeply to common talk around sport television shows such as; Sportcenter, ESPN News, Sports Reporters, Jim Rome Is Burning, and also Pardon the Interruption. Most kids, teenagers, and also adults who are into sports find themselves commonly checking and updating themselves with scores and highlights from previous games and matches they have missed. Others turn on these stations during an early morning breakfast, a mid-day at lunch, or even in the evenings to see and hear the “gossip” around sports. In our nation, there are many competitive people. Most include those surrounded by sports in their everyday life. I want to connect this article I read in ESPN Magazine with these shows because the same concepts and ideas around young gentlemen entering the NBA before their 20 is a big choice that will effect not only themselves for the rest of their lives, but the choice will also effect their families, friends, other players and teams, fans and most of all their college team. Competitive college basketball teams recruit in the offseason like CRAZY. Do you think they could be as successful without going around America finding players that would fit their team’s needs perfectly? Absolutely not. But for some of the best players in the nation who may be on their team for only one or two years, that may get scouted and pressured into entering the NBA draft and having a “set” future, is it fair for them to leave their team and organization who has put so much time and energy into them? Is it a selfish thing to do, not only for the team and coaches, but also for college students and fans around America? But then again you would be in the NBA! The big show! Who would pass up a chance for that? I can tell you from a basketball player’s perspective that would be extremely amazed and flattered to be picked to play in the NBA as a college student that it would honestly be one of the hardest decisions I would ever have to make in my life. The instant money, fame, and not to mention just the self pride of knowing all your hard work ended up paying off is adored by almost every teenager. Arguments for not staying in school found in articles and T.V. broadcasts all the time are mostly about if you were to stay in school and had a knee, ankle, head, or any other career ending or career “slowing” injury, would it be worth the chance you gave up? I’m not sure. But if you did stay in school, had the time of your life playing for an exciting and just overjoyed league of players who all had that pride and passion you had, and being the best, would you want to leave that early just to be some average player in the NBA?  Questions like these KILL me. I’m not even- and probably won’t ever be at that point in my life to feel these pressures young men are feeling everyday, and I can’t even start to think how hard it would be to make this decision. But that’s why we have sports writers for newspapers and magazines and T.V. reporters that give us this information each year isn’t it?

Everything I need to know.

Everything I needed to learn and still learn about is from my parents and my friends. Being around my parents I learn the basic things like; don’t steal, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t be mean. BASIC things. Yet very meaningful. Now obviously they talk to me more in-depth about these kinds of issues but I think you get the point of the kinds of things they have taught me and continue to teach me and the level that is at. Granted, they have taught me SO much more but for right now I want you to think about how I’m calling them “basic” things. Now maybe they’re not that basic to most people if you start to look at them more closely, but to me I feel I learn more about life and the “real world”- if you will, from my friends and peers. From school, parties, sporting events, and other activities, I am constantly bombarded by pressures and situations I learn from. I feel I confront these activities with an open mind because of the great teachers my mom and dad have been for me. Yet being out surrounded by others with no parents, I am forced to make my own decisions. It could be making fun at a kid at school, cheating on a quiz, stealing an iPod out of somebody’s backpack, and all the pressures around a school to when I’m out with friends I could be asked to drink alcohol, smoke, and end up being rowdy and careless and eventually end life how I may know it here in Edina. This meaning if I were to get caught or have somebody tell my parents about what I do, I know my basketball season, football season, church leadership, and any other activities I am involved in would be taken away in a blink of an eye. Because I have learned so much from my parents and then taking it into the “real world” of Edina, I feel very confident in my decisions and am happy I have 100% of people’s trust wherever I go.