Basketball
Basketball was created a simple game. The primary objective was to place a ball, without dribbling, into a peach basket. However, like Darwin's theory of man, basketball has evolved into the most exciting exhibition of athletic ability. Basketball has seen many rule changes, because of the increasing ability of the players. Basketball is a melting pot, where black, white, and European people excel. This is a sport that is color-blind. This sport requires complete control over one's body and mind. Pure strength is required to fight through opposing teams picks, and to gain position for rebounds.
Speed is necessary to create space for a shot attempt or a pass. Concentration is vital to dribbling a ball up the court, with an opposing defender harassing you. With as much physical prowess that is required for success, basketball is a mental chess match.
"Thurber, make the smart play!" yelled Coach Balderama all last season.This game is only "ten percent" physical as Duke's Coach K explains it. For those who deny the mental aspects of the game, John Stockton is an ideal example. He is not the fastest, strongest, or best player on the floor. Stockton uses angles and his understanding of basketball to quietly and consistently outplay much more talented opponents. There is a growing problem in the NBA, and it is evident in the "Pop Warner" leagues also. Basketball is not the same game it was ten years ago, and ESPN's Sportcenter, the lack of fundamentals, and the influx of teenagers into the professional ranks. "Vince Carter on the baseline… He raises up… Boo-ya, all in Alonzo Mourning's grill!" States an exited Stuart Scott. Every day ESPN gathers the most amazing highlights from the games the night before, and creates a visually appealing collage. As a religious viewer I am fed a steady diet of no look passes, monstrous slam-dunks, and impossible fade-away shots that only NBA caliber players are capable of making. This, almost unknowingly, has assisted in creating a new mentality towards the sport. Last season I would find myself in situations where I was trying to execute a spectacular play, instead of completing the easy one. Why do I try to imitate the sweeping crossover dribble glorified by Allen Iverson? ESPN has made "Playground" basketball in style. Allen Iverson is the pioneer of this ghetto re...
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...aliber, and he educated himself about the game and life off of the court. Many of these players who jump to the pro's after little or no college are ignorant. The NBA, these days, has a combined IQ of fifteen, and we wonder what is wrong. The NBA is in a limbo, and is tripping over it's own clumsy feet. The game will not get better until the players improve their levels of play. But improvement comes with experience, and it is difficult for players to gain experience and confidence when they are only children trying to master a complex game. In conclusion, ESPN's Sportcenter, the lack of basic basketball fundamentals, and the decreasing age of players entering into the league is a recipe for disaster. It is a cycle that is going to be hard to break. Today's kids are presented with options that are too difficult for them to comprehend. So instead of doing it the right way and going through school and listening to their coach, agents are give utter control over these exploited children. However, with all of the negatives surrounding the game, basketball will survive. David Stern is a competent commissioner and there is too much money involved for people to let the NBA self destruct.
Kate Chopin uses characterization to help you understand the character of Edna on how she empowers and improves the quality of life. Edna becomes an independent women as a whole and enjoys her new found freedom. For example, Chopin uses the following quote to show you how she begins enjoying her new found freedom.”The race horse was a friend and intimate association of her
The main argument of this novel has been diluted though a too widened scope of Edna’s life. Throughout the novel Edna mentions countless flat characters that do not bring much to the Awakening that she is encountering. The wide variety of characters makes the novel very frustrating level of work. The audience can become confused with the different characters and the meaning Chopin holds behind each character. The Audience will them spend infinite time trying to incorporate meaning of the characters that they lose the overall journey that Edna is challenged with. While repeatedly reading this novel it became apparent to me that many of the characters could have been excluded from the novel to make the journey more objectified. The audience could still understand the object of this novel without Alcée Arobin, Madame Lebrun, Victor Lebrun, Mariequita, Dr. Mandelet, Mrs. James Highcamp and many others. All of these characters have little to no meaning that enhances the novel. For example, Alcée Arobin played a minor role as the second affair Edna was engaged in during her awakening. Without mentioning the affair between the two, there would still be circumstantial evidence that Edna is breaking free from society. She was already moved out of her husband’s home, abandoned all duties as a
When her husband and children are gone, she moves out of the house and purses her own ambitions. She starts painting and feeling happier. “There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day” (Chopin 69). Her sacrifice greatly contributed to her disobedient actions. Since she wanted to be free from a societal rule of a mother-woman that she never wanted to be in, she emphasizes her need for expression of her own passions. Her needs reflect the meaning of the work and other women too. The character of Edna conveys that women are also people who have dreams and desires they want to accomplish and not be pinned down by a stereotype.
In the novel, Mademoiselle Riesz states, “The artist must possess the courageous soul that dares and defies,” (Chopin). In The Awakening, Edna Pontellier exhibits the unconventional woman and possesses the artist’s rebellious soul. She sacrifices her position as being a wife and mother to her children, in pursuit of her happiness. With the overbearing burden of upholding society’s idealized image of women, Edna repels the illusions by being a free woman. By her being free, it allows her to discover the world around her and unleash her curiosity. Kate Chopin illustrates through Edna that limits are nonexistent. Chopin also makes clear that the only way freedom can be truly achieved is through death. Although there were limited opportunities for women to express themselves, it takes courage to sacrifice oneself for the sake of being true to who they are.
The comparison of Edna’s friends, Adéle Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, controls how Edna views herself as a woman. While both friends want the best for Edna, they have opposing views on the role women should play in society. Adéle is the conformed motherly figure, while Mme. Reisz is the single artist who would not dare conform to what society expects of her. Though they are different, Edna looks up to both of these women. Literary critic Carole Stone states, “Certainly this describes Edna’s situation as she seeks out her two contrasting women friends for validation, Mme. Reisz and Adéle Ratignolle.” The two women inspire Edna to think and speak about things she would never have thought before her awakening. Adéle brings out Edna’s inner feelings and thoughts, while at the same time, reminds her of the pains of childbirth and motherly duties. She shows Edna how a woman can put aside her feelings of passion and artistry through motherhood. Chopin writes, “She was keeping up her music on account of
Many of us know of the fun game of basketball, the object of the game is to basically run up and down the court and shoot the ball, and block the other team when they try to score. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the game is the winner. According to Bran Faurschou’s article, “ NBA Hoops Online” Basketball was invented in 1891 by, Dr. James Naismith. He was a physical education instructor. Back then the game of basketball was a little bit different, It was the same concept but it was different. When Dr. James was working as the physical education instructor at the YMCA training school, he came up with the game of basketball as an activity for his
Michael Jordan once said “I will not let anything get in the way of me and my competitive enthusiasm to win”. This have help people of all ages get through their burdens and do something they love instead of doing some negative. For many people basketball has become more than a game, it’s the way of life. The American game of basketball has traveled now, it’s played by more than 250 million people worldwide.
LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, some of the most talented athletes to walk the earth. These men don’t play soccer or baseball, they play basketball. Basketball, some call it the sport of legends others say the game of kings, still others say it’s boring, but really no one likes those people, and no one ever will. This is the origin of the game of basketball.
Basketball has been around for 118 years. It has evolved so much. I bet Naismith never thought that something so simple would change the world. Basketball has even changed lives, by reaching out to other countries, and all kinds of charities. For some people basketball is life, and it has even saved lives. A lot of players in the NBA have come from nothing, but since they excelled in basketball all their biggest dreams have come true. Basketball can even help you escape from all your troubles and worries. You can ask any player what it is like to step on a basketball court and I bet they will tell you it’s the best feeling in the world. Basketball really is more than a game, it’s a way of life.
In The Awakening, Edna is constrained culturally by the gender roles of 1890’s New Orleans, and throughout the book, she makes advances towards becoming free of these gender roles, and consequently, her constraints. Chopin writes, “Even as a child she had lived her own small life all within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life—that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions” (Chopin 18). The excerpt above is a direct example of Edna’s dual life. The duality of Edna’s life is extremely constraining because the gender roles of being a woman in southern society in 1890 force her into submission: she has to carry herself a certain way on the outside, or risk being excluded from “polite society”. Edna is aware of this, and in result, her inner personality is much more stifled in relative to her outward personality. Throughout the book, the way people view her changes greatly, as her deviant inward personality starts to triumph over
Soccer is the worlds most popular sport. It is the national sport of most European and Latin-American countries, and of many other nations. Millions of people in more than 140 countries play soccer. The World Cup is held every four years. Soccer is one of the most famous international sports. Soccer is known world wide and is played in the Olympics.
Basketball is a sport that has changed in various ways since its invention in 1891. It has evolved and expanded across the United States and across the world. Although it has had its ups and downs basketball is still a sport that is enjoyed by over 250 million people in this world. Today it is one of the biggest sports known and it continues to grow every year with new players bringing new styles and competition. The changes throughout the history of basketball can be shown through its origin, how it developed into a competitive sport, and its evolution into present day leagues.
Kate Chopin's novel, The Awakening details the endeavors of heroine Edna Pontellier to cope with the realization that she is not, nor can she ever be, the woman she wants to be. Edna has settled for less. She is married for all the wrong reasons, saddled with the burden of motherhood, and trapped by social roles that would never release her. The passage below is only one of the many tender and exquisitely sensory passages that reveal Edna’s soul to the reader.
Being part of the basketball clique in high school helped me learn the intrapersonal and social communication skills I use today. As a child playing basketball was my favorite activity or hobby. It's also the way I met a lot of my good friends that I have now. All my close friends I have met. I have met them through playing basketball.. Whether they were on my team, the opposing team or just fans in the crowd who admired my play. Not only has basketball helped me gain friends, but basketball also taught me a lot about life. There are many aspects of life that coincide with basketball. For instance basketball is a team game and an individual game. Like in life you have to work together with other people. The communication skills I learned from basketball helped me communicate with friends, girlfriends, parents and bosses at work.
From all this chaos, Edna is consistently trying to find and express herself. She has a strong feeling towards being set free and the importance of herself to her. “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t make it more clear; it’s only something which I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me.” (47). What Edna is stating, is much deeper than a simple feeling on how she would not give herself away for her children. She’s expressing her emotions on the creativity of feministic thoughts and feels who you are as your own person is essential. Another example is, "You have been a very, very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, 'Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,' I should laugh at you both." (108). This shows Edna again exploring feminist thoughts and the feeling that she is not an object. Kate Chopin shows many of the same feelings and readers see this through characters like Edna and other literary sources. As an article states, “Chopin herself stood naked in her exploration of female creativity