Vacation Homework Due Monday, January 5th!

Your assignment over vacation is to start and complete an article of your choice for the Personal Newspaper Project (full assignment is in the post below this one). If you have any questions or need help getting started, please feel free to email me at mr.donohue@gmail.com.

Have a great vacation!

-Mr. Donohue

Homework For Monday, December 23rd!

For Monday, come prepared with an idea for your next article.

Research material that will help you get started. Your choices are below.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

Personal Newspaper Project
Assignment: All assignments are to be completed on Microsoft Publisher. You will be responsible for 100 points worth of work at the end of the marking period unless told otherwise (some individual’s goals will be adjusted). Once an article is written, you will have until the end of the marking period to adjust it. Due at your final exam.

OPTIONS:

Game Story: 25 points each. Write a game story on one of the L.E.C. teams (if you’re on a team, write about another team). To obtain a full 25 points, you must include the following:
• All 5Ws and the H
• Information Displayed in the Inverted Pyramid Form
• Lead & Headline
• 2-3 Quotes
• Writing: Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Paragraph Separation

Sports Column: 20 points each. Choose a sports topic and answer a main question like “Did Michael Vick deserve jail time for dog fighting?” Please check topics with me for approval. You will be graded in the following areas:
• Lead & Headline
• Clear and sustained opinion
• 4-6 pieces of evidence to support your opinion
• Use of Hammer (opinion at start of story) or Velvet Glove (build to opinion at the end)
• Writing: Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Paragraph Separation

Profile: 20 points each. Choose an athlete or student-athlete to profile. Please ask if you are not sure whether the person you choose will count for credit. Grading:
• Lead & Headline
• 3-4 pieces of Current News about your subject
• 5-7 Historical Facts about your subject
• 1-2 quotes BY your subject, 2-3 quotes ABOUT your subject
• Writing: Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Paragraph Separation

Revised Work: 10 points each. Substantial improvements need to be made to a piece of old work. Original work must be submitted with revision.

Homework For Thursday & Friday, December 18th & 19th!

For Thursday and Friday, work on your Plaxico Burress column (175-225 words) and be ready to have a draft finished in class by Friday.

Remember, you are answering the question: Should Burress go to jail for owning an illegal handgun?

Please email if you are having trouble: mr.donohue@gmail.com

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

Homework Due Tuesday, December 15th!

For Tuesday, put together an outline of your Burress column.

The main question you are trying to answer in this column is: Should Burress serve jail time?


The outline should include:
*A lead and a headline
*Your Opinion
*2-3 reasons to support your opinion
*1-2 arguments against your opinion

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

Homework For Week of Monday, December 8th - Friday, December 12th!

This week you must prepare one page of notes for your final. Additionally, you are responsible for the mini-profile with an extended deadline of Monday, December 8th.

For the final, you may use the Final Exam Form provided in class or a page of your own notes. The Final Exam Form is posted below.

Good luck!

-Mr. Donohue

Sports Journalism Final Exam Form

Task: Write a profile about a pro athlete or student-athlete of your choice. Be sure to follow the rubric guidelines below. 350-450 words.

Athlete/Student Athlete covered:_________________________

Exam Rubric:
*Lead & Headline = 5 points
*3-4 pieces of news on the subject of your profile = 5 points
*5-7 pieces of history on your subject = 5 points
*Quotes: 1-3 by your subject, and 2-4 about you subject = 5 points
Note: quotes cannot be longer than 18 words in length. If you are using a source for quotes on a pro athlete, please note what source you used in the body of your article.
*Writing Quality (Spelling, Grammar, Punctuation, Paragraph Separation) = 5 Points


1) 3-4 pieces of news on the subject of your profile:



2) 5-7 pieces of history on your subject:



3) Quotes: 1-3 by your subject, and 2-4 about your subject:

HW Due Thursday & Friday, December 4th & 5th!

Your "mini-profile" on a classmate is due on Friday. The rubric is once again posted below. Please email with questions: mr.donohue@gmail.com

Good luck!

-Mr. Donohue

-Rubric for 275-325 word mini-profile (25 points total, each area graded on a scale of 1-5)
*Lead (20-25 words) and Headline (1-5 words)
*3-4 current facts about your subject (blended into article, not listed)
*4-5 historical facts about your subject (blended in)
*2-3 quotes about your subject, 1-2 quotes by your subject (15-word max per quote)
*Writing: Spelling, grammar, punctuation & paragraph separation

HW For Wednesday, December 3rd!

For Wednesday, work on your mini-profile and gather any information from your partner that you still need. Tomorrow's class will be dedicated to writing your classmate's profile.

If you have any questions, please email me at mr.donohue@gmail.com

See you in class!

-Mr.Donohue

Homework #6, Due Tuesday, December 2nd!

For Tuesday, obtain 4-5 quotes about your profile subject that you can use in your article.

The rubric for the assignment due Friday is below:

-Rubric for 275-325 word mini-profile (25 points total, each area graded on a scale of 1-5)
*Lead (20-25 words) and Headline (1-5 words)
*3-4 current facts about your subject (blended into article, not listed)
*4-5 historical facts about your subject (blended in)
*2-3 quotes about your subject, 1-2 quotes by your subject (15-word max per quote)
*Writing: Spelling, grammar, punctuation & paragraph separation

Homework for Monday, December 1st!

For Monday, read the profile of LeBron James. Find one part of the article to match each of the three elements of a profile. Then, find 5-7 facts you have learned LeBron in this article.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Mr. Donohue

Keys for a Sports Profile:
*A mix of current news and personal history.
*Quotes from others and the subject of the profile.
*Explain why the subject of story is unique.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL; Manchild Approaches The Promised Land
By MIKE WISE

On the lacquered wooden bleachers of the St. Vincent-St. Mary High School gymnasium, they all took their places. Gloria James, the mother. Eddie Jackson, the surrogate father. Good friends, family. Unpaid advisers. Even the old-school loner, the man who taught him to use his left hand in the backyard.

All the guardians of LeBron James's fading youth were out in force, watching the prodigy hold court.

James made fallaway 3-pointers from 25 feet and beyond, seven in a row during a taut scrimmage at the end of varsity basketball practice. He made the ball disappear in the crevices of the lane and then reappear in his teammates' hands. James, the nation's most celebrated high school basketball player, kept passing and shooting.

All net, all afternoon.

Watching James play basketball in high school may be akin to watching Bobby Fischer play checkers in the cafeteria at lunchtime or Dizzy Gillespie marching with the school band at halftime. Something seems terribly out of place.

Judging his readiness for the National Basketball Association is impossible. But Michael Jordan invited him to play several times when Jordan was preparing his most recent comeback last year, and James was invited to practice with the Cleveland Cavaliers (whose coach, John Lucas, was later fined for including an under-age player in an N.B.A. workout).

James, a 17-year-old high school senior, will be on his way to a man's world in no time, if he is not there already. Before the leap, though, the people who know him well make sure to gather round, to keep the outsiders away and themselves in, a protective shell around a gifted child.

''It's like when you take a piece of gold and you let all these people touch it and feel it, it loses its glare,'' said Maverick Carter, James's friend and former teammate. ''You got a piece of gold, you stand around it and don't let no one touch it. That's his circle.''

There is gold in LeBron James, millions in his jump shot and his peripheral vision. Next June, N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern is expected to introduce James as the No. 1 pick in the league's 2003 draft.

Several N.B.A. executives believe the lottery winner will inherit in James the scoring savvy of Kobe Bryant, the shooting stroke of Ray Allen and the court sense of a young Magic Johnson, compressed into a muscular, 6-foot-8, 240-pound frame.
But that is still seven months away. Today, as the most heralded schoolboy ever, James is simply America's largest wishbone, being pulled every which way.

Nike and Adidas tug hard, hoping James can swing the sneaker war in their favor. The news media want his time. Time Warner, too; for about $8 a household, the local cable affiliate will broadcast some of his games to 14 counties in northeastern Ohio. The demand for his talent is so great his team did not play in its own gym the past two seasons. St. Vincent-St. Mary's games were moved to a 6,000-seat arena at the University of Akron, where James outdraws the college team.

Big man on campus is putting it mildly. His high school had to put out a message in the school paper last month, asking students to refrain from asking for autographs or pictures during school hours.

''So much for most likely to succeed,'' Patrick Vassel, 17, the senior class vice president, said as he stood outside the St. Vincent-St. Mary gym. ''I'm not going to get $10 million next year. I'm not going to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. So I'm not going to vote for myself. I think LeBron is a shoo-in.''

All-Stars like Bryant and Kevin Garnett did not garner this kind of attention when they made the jump from high school to the N.B.A. in the mid-1990's. But the frenzy over James just keeps growing. He will play in three of America's most storied college basketball arenas this season: the Palestra in Philadelphia, U.C.L.A.'s Pauley Pavilion and the Dean E. Smith Center at the University of North Carolina.

ESPN2 will televise a game between St. Vincent-St. Mary and Oak Hill Academy of Virginia on Dec. 12. Bill Walton and Dick Vitale will call the game. A Web site is selling four of James's game tapes from last season for $49.99. David Letterman's producers have already called James's high school, asking when he can come on their show.

James's coach, Dru Joyce II, has an imposing task, trying to help a teenager trapped in a man's body negotiate the fine line between boredom and demolishing an overmatched, 5-foot-10 opponent's confidence. After all, there is still another Ohio state title to pursue.

''Bron is such a great talent, it's hard to keep him motivated,'' Joyce said. ''What we're trying to do is make him understand: all you got is right now. Let's take care of this moment. All of that other stuff will be there.''

The Extended Family

James spent his first years with his mother in an area of north Akron called the Boondocks, in the house in which Gloria James was raised by her mother and grandmother. ''We had what we needed and sometimes what we wanted,'' she said. ''Mad love, we had a lot of that.''

Her grandmother died in 1986, her mother in 1987. The house was eventually condemned and torn down by the city, and now there is only an empty lot where it stood.

Gloria James gave birth to LeBron when she was 16. She was on her own at 19. She declined to talk about LeBron's biological father, with whom he has never had a relationship.

Gloria began dating Eddie Jackson when LeBron was 8 months old. They went out for three years and remained friends. Jackson stayed involved in the child's life and says he has not missed a single game since LeBron was in seventh grade.

''Eddie is his dad,'' Gloria said. ''Always has been. He's been a great father and a great friend to me. LeBron loves him and trusts him.''

Gloria worked in accounting and retail jobs, but she said she could not save enough money to rent an apartment or move into a house. ''We moved from here to there after the house was torn down,'' she said. ''Finally, after a few years, I did get an apartment in public housing in north Akron. We did some more moving. It took me awhile to get stable.''

For nearly two years, while Gloria went through personal crises, LeBron lived with a youth coach and family friend, Frankie Walker, his wife, Pam, and their family. James remains close with the Walkers.

''He was better than the rest of the kids,'' said Walker, who showed James how to shoot with his left hand when he was 8 years old. ''But I never let him know that. I taught him how to share the ball, not be selfish.''

Gloria James said she always took care of her son financially. ''I gave him money, food stamps,'' she said. ''I did receive a couple years of welfare. I'm not afraid to say the assistance helped us survive. But wherever LeBron was, nobody had to pay his way.''

Jackson, who is a concert promoter and a real estate broker, pleaded guilty in August to state charges of mortgage fraud and is expected to be sentenced to three years in prison. Jackson also faces federal charges of bank fraud and mail fraud; federal prosecutors have accused him of stealing two checks worth $197,000 and of using fraudulent documents to obtain $100,000 in home loans.

Jackson, who served 26 months in prison in the early 1990's on a drug trafficking conviction, has worked with several social-service programs, including one that offers defendants drug treatment in lieu of prison.

''You do something in 1990 and now this thing, and it's like I haven't been doing anything good in LeBron's life the last 12 years,'' Jackson said. ''I made mistakes, but now everybody is saying Eddie Jackson shouldn't be around LeBron. I've done right by him, tried to have the best influence on him I can.''

James and his mother still live in subsidized housing, on a hill in west Akron. ''I think this game is what's kept me out of trouble,'' James said. ''Basketball has kept me off the streets. I was very close to that.''

He is guarded around reporters he does not know well. Like another basketball prodigy at a young age, Shaquille O'Neal, he speaks in concise sentences.

''I take it day by day,'' James said. ''I might not even wake up tomorrow, you know. I can't take things for granted. I have to take it second by second and live out these years I've got right now that God has given me.''

The Right Time and Place

On a gray, chilly Saturday, James's high school team drives to a suburban high school for the season's first scrimmage, a four-team round robin.

St. Vincent-St. Mary dominates the action against the host school, Stow High. In the traditional handshaking line afterward, James barely acknowledges the kids that his team has just drummed, slapping their hands nonchalantly, but not looking at any of the other players in the eye.

Several minutes into the second scrimmage in an auxiliary gym, James takes two hard dribbles to the basket from the right wing and rises, also elevating his hands. As he slams the ball through the rim, the old metal fixture gives way and a loud pop pierces the gymnasium. The bolts come free from the backboard and the apparatus crashes down.

James has broken his first rim.

After a few moments of concern over whether James is all right -- he has bruised his neck -- a playful exchange ensues. Jackson picks up the rim. ''Who wants this rim?'' he asks. ''Can we have it? This is going in the trophy case.'' No deal, the school's athletic director said.

It was Chris Dennis, a family friend, who helped create this ruckus nearly three years ago. He walked into a hotel room in Indianapolis during the N.C.A.A. men's Final Four with a videotape and a short LeBron James biography that he had put together.

The tape -- grainy, black-and-white footage -- was of a regional playoff game from James's freshman year. Sonny Vaccaro, an Adidas basketball representative, was in the room, as were others connected with Adidas. Dennis was fortunate enough to have a decent audience that day.

''There were probably three, four coaches from top-25 schools,'' he said. ''I didn't give an introduction or anything. I just put the tape in. They were glued to the TV.''

Left-handed scoop shots, no-look passes in the open floor and, what caught most people's attention, composure.

''He was a freshman at the time, but he was so poised,'' Dennis said. ''He was looking at the referee, making sure he didn't get a five-second count. He looked at the clock to find out how much time was left. What 14-year-old does that?''

James showed up at Vaccaro's ABCD Camp in the summer of 2001 and secured his status as the best young player in the country. In time, Jordan would inquire about James's mother and O'Neal would attend one of James's games. The sneaker companies would begin their bidding war, and his name and likeness would become a commodity on the Internet.

Dennis tried to sum up the fuss by saying, ''The school, Sonny, Adidas, Nike, the coach, everyone -- eventually they all bow down to King James.''

The Plan for the Young Man

James has already honed the professional athlete's habit of referring to himself in the third person.

''These people around here respect my image, they respect LeBron James and our basketball team to a level that we don't have to be big-headed,'' he said after a recent practice.

Of the people in his life looking out for him, he said: ''Of course, every time you've got a positive background behind you and people that's just for LeBron, the person, instead of just LeBron, the basketball player, you know it's good to have a good trust and a good circle around you.''

He loves his mother and the game, in that order. ''Anything that's good and great, you could put my mother in that category,'' he said.

His coach worries that the adjustment to the N.B.A. is going to be tougher than people are telling James. ''What he needs to understand is, he's going to be playing against grown men,'' Joyce said. ''I just don't need more people coming around here and telling him how great he is. It's gotten out of control.''

Gloria James has a related set of concerns about her son. ''I didn't want someone ruining his life at a young age,'' she said. ''I remind him that there are those who will take advantage of his position. There are a lot of females who would love to hem him up with a baby. So, 'Just protect yourself; be smart,' I always tell him.''

Jackson, his surrogate father, noted that James's talent has produced major revenue for his school; if 4,000 people attend 10 home games, and the average ticket costs $10, he said, that comes to about $400,000 a season.

''Now, what's that over his high school career?'' Jackson said. ''I'm not against it, but let's just be straight up about it, O.K.?''

Jackson said he opposed the high school's agreement to broadcast some games on a pay-per-view basis. ''Donate that money to a cause or a scholarship, rather than the school and cable company benefit,'' he said.

St. Vincent-St. Mary officials said that all the revenue is used by the school for educational purposes.

Dennis, the family friend, put together a marketing plan for James when he was 14. Dennis said he has battled with Jackson over what James can accept and what he cannot.

''I would tell him, 'Nike can't do that, but this is what we can have Nike do for us,' '' Dennis said. '' 'Man, the money is going to come. But this is how we have to do it.' Sometimes, Eddie was like, 'It's there for the taking.' But we couldn't do it.''

Dennis, who describes himself as an unpaid adviser to the family, works for a nonprofit agency that provides after-school programs for children.

''I want to be part of the team that makes sure the right people are around him,'' Dennis said, when asked to explain his relationship with James. ''If it happens, great. If not, I'll just make sure my kids keep getting scholarships to college. If you're thinking LeBron is going to provide you with money at the end of the rainbow, you're not objective anymore.''

James's family and advisers put together a back-to-school giveaway at the Akron Urban League last August. Bookmarks bearing his likeness were given away, along with backpacks, folders and notebooks. The shoe companies courting James donated the supplies.

James's classmates tell of the day he showed up at school last spring with a bag of sneakers and sweats from Nike, Adidas and And1. He held a trivia contest at lunchtime, asking students to name halftime scores of playoff games, among other things. A correct answer won a pair of new sneakers, until all the items were gone.

''Last year he was driving a Navigator, he had a two-way pager and a cellphone on his belt,'' said Vassel, the senior class vice president. ''I was starting to get worried. But he's back to himself a little more now.''

Walking around school, James sometimes still seems in the late stages of adolescence, bobbing a classmate's ponytail or joking with friends.

''He's still a 17-year-old,'' said Carter, James's former teammate. ''He wants to be a 17-year-old. But it's kind of hard when people all want a piece of you. You have to become a little more leery of people, especially the ones that want to be hangers-on.''

HW # 4, Due Tuesday, November 25th!

For tomorrow, read "For Alberto Riveron, From Cuba to N.F.L.’s First Hispanic Referee" and locate 5-7 facts about Riveron from the article.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

For Alberto Riveron, From Cuba to N.F.L.’s First Hispanic Referee
By JOHN BRANCH

MIAMI — Alberto Riveron was 5 when his mother, Irene Valdes, brought him here from Cuba, hoping for a better future that she could not quite imagine. Her first job was in a shoe factory, inserting insoles that read “Made in Italy.” But she spent most of the years supporting her only child by ironing and pressing at a dress factory.

That is just another reason Valdes does not seem to mind when Riveron, now 48, drops by on Wednesday nights to unload one item of dirty laundry: the white knickers he wears as an N.F.L. referee.

“Nobody gets them as clean as she does,” Riveron said, sitting beside her on the couch in her condominium. “And she puts a perfect crease on them.”

Among the countless immigration journeys, the one that Riveron and his mother began in January 1966 is original. This 5-year-old Cuban boy grew up to be the first Hispanic referee in the N.F.L., the most American of sports leagues. He was promoted to one of the 17 top positions this year.

Valdes will occasionally turn on the television for a glimpse of him and the sound of his voice. She cannot bear to watch for long. When Riveron played football in the neighborhood streets near the Orange Bowl as a boy — not soccer, like so many others in the neighborhood — she took to calling it el juego de los empujones, the game of pushing.

“I’m afraid something will happen to him,” she said. “Someone will push him and hurt him.”

The N.F.L. calls Riveron a trailblazer, although Hispanics, the nation’s largest ethnic minority, go back a long way in professional football. Tom Flores became professional football’s first Hispanic starting quarterback in 1960, for the Oakland Raiders, and Tom Fears the N.F.L.’s first Hispanic head coach in 1967, for the New Orleans Saints. Johnny Grier became the league’s first African-American referee in 1988.

Still, the N.F.L.’s marketing arm has had difficulty winning over Hispanic fans, particularly in households where Spanish is predominantly spoken — like the one in which Riveron was raised. There are only two dozen Hispanic players in the league, and Riveron is the only Hispanic among its 120 officials.

“He’s got a responsibility ahead of him,” Mike Pereira, the league’s vice president for officiating, said of Riveron. “I’m going to work with him and others about recruiting more Hispanic officials. We’re constantly trying to diversify our staff. It’s the makeup of our country.”

Riveron, with thick arms and a few specks of gray in his dark hair, is married with two teenage sons. He sees his promotion less symbolically. He began officiating in youth games as a second job in 1977, when he attended a clinic for youth football officials. Besides, he hardly feels like a minority in Miami, a predominantly Hispanic city with a Cuban soul.

But his wife, Patricia, said he was privately proud of his distinction. It is telling that, while most friends call him Al, Riveron the referee wants to be known as Alberto.

“It is pretty neat, because of where I came from,” Riveron said over lunch at La Carreta, a bustling Cuban restaurant where men crowd an outside counter, engaged in lively discussions in Spanish while sipping from tiny cups of cafe Cubano.

Valdes and Riveron were among the roughly quarter of a million Cubans who arrived in the United States on freedom flights, sanctioned by the governments of both countries in the 1960s and early 1970s. Riveron’s father, also named Alberto, Valdes’s former husband, immigrated three years earlier. He now lives on the same block of well-kept ranch houses as his son, daughter-in-law and grandsons.

“I was afraid to get on the airplane, but I had to do it,” Valdes said. She called it, in retrospect, “a perfect decision.”

On Tuesday, she and her son traded stories of building lives together in a new country. They talked about hours spent sitting around the radio, and the excitement of getting a black-and-white television that barely worked. When Riveron was 10, he came home from school one day to find his mother had a surprise. He heard ringing. It was their first telephone.

“Now my kids both have cellphones,” Riveron said, another reminder of how times have changed for him.

He began officiating college games in 1990 and spent 15 seasons mostly in the Big East and Conference USA.

“He had the look and presence of a referee,” Pereira said.

The N.F.L. hired Riveron as a side judge in 2004. He worked under the referee Ed Hochuli for two seasons, then under Gerald Austin, whose retirement opened a spot for Riveron last spring.

N.F.L. officials are part-time employees, earning $2,500 to $8,400 a game, depending on their roles and years of service, Pereira said. As a referee and crew chief, Riveron works 35 to 40 hours each week in addition to his full-time job, selling hurricane shutters for Florida Storm Panels.

“If I’m meeting a Cuban customer, I’m going to wear a guayabera,” Riveron said, referring to the formal white linen shirt, usually with pockets and pleats, popular in tropical climates. “And I bring along Cuban pastries and a shot of coffee.”

He was not dressed that way last Tuesday.

“This morning, I was at a construction site,” he said. “I wear jeans, a polo shirt, tennis shoes. But I still bring the Cuban pastries.”

Riveron’s home office, the one room Patricia allowed him to decorate, is a giant scrapbook to his family and to officiating. One wall is crowded with family photographs. A bookcase holds footballs from various officiating milestones: first college game, first bowl game, first N.F.L. game.

Riveron often sits in a leather chair behind a large desk, remote control in hand, studying game films and calls on his television. In a typical week, he returns home late Sunday or early Monday with a DVD of the broadcast of the game he officiated.

On Monday and Tuesday, he trades calls and e-mail messages with other crew members to discuss erroneous or missed calls.

He anxiously awaits the report from an officiating supervisor analyzing every aspect of the crew’s performance, which arrives about 6 p.m. on Tuesday in an e-mail message. The crew discusses it on a conference call, and Riveron responds to the supervisor in writing.

“Then we hold our breath,” Riveron said.

Final grades from the game are issued on Wednesday, part of a season-long assessment to determine which crews will work the playoffs. Riveron, who has officiated in the postseason three times as a side judge, is not eligible this season because he is a rookie referee.

The weekly routine for officials includes training tapes and an exam issued by the N.F.L. The travel prevents him from spending any weekends with the family. This weekend, Riveron and his crew will meet in San Francisco, where the 49ers play the St. Louis Rams.

Riveron spends spare hours, usually late at night, watching himself on a DVD, often falling asleep in his chair. He studies his positioning on the field and rehearses his announcements.

“We’re the only sport where the game stops for an official to talk to you,” Riveron said. “You turn on your microphone and tell 50 million people what you decided, and why.”

Recently, for the first time, a stranger recognized him as an N.F.L. referee, he said.

On the wall behind the desk chair is a map of Cuba — Riveron and his mother have never returned. There is Cuban currency, framed, and other personal mementos of a country Riveron says he does not really remember.

Before a preseason game this summer, the broadcaster Al Michaels asked Riveron what he preferred to be called on the air.

“I asked him to call me Alberto,” Riveron said. “And I said: ‘Make sure you roll that r. You’ll make my mom very happy.’ ”

HW #3, Due Monday, November 24th!

For Monday read "US Wrestler Completes a Journey From Poverty" and answer the following three questions while using the R.E.A.D.S. strategy:

1) What challenges did Cejudo’s mother face in raising a family?
2) What role did Henry Cejudo’s brother, Angel, play in Henry’s success?
3) Why did the young wrestler, Jake Deitchler, decide to change schools and attend Colorado Springs?

Below you will find more information posted on the R.E.A.D.S. strategy as well as the article.

Please contact me at mr.donohue@gmail.com with any questions.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

Sports Journalism: Profiles
Homework Assignment: Apply the R.E.A.D.S. strategy to the article titled: “U.S. Wrestler Completes a Journey From Poverty”.
Due: Monday, November 24th.

R.E.A.D.S.
Reading Comprehension Strategy

RE-state Re-state the initial question.
Answer Answer the question.
Details Give details to support your answer.
State Again State the question and the answer again.

Use R.E.A.D.S. to answer the following questions about “U.S. Wrestler Completes a Journey From Poverty”.
Provide your answers on a separate piece of paper.

Sample Question: Why was Henry Cejudo fighting back tears?
1) What challenges did Cejudo’s mother face in raising a family?
2) What role did Henry Cejudo’s brother, Angel, play in Henry’s success?
3) Why did the young wrestler, Jake Deitchler, decide to change schools and attend Colorado Springs?


Sample Answer: Why was Henry Cejudo fighting back tears? Cejudo was fighting back tears because he won the 121-pound freestyle wrestling gold medal at the 2008 summer Olympics. He defeated Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan, setting off a wild celebration amongst his family members in the audience. Tears swelled in Henry Cejudo’s eyes because he had won a gold medal.



US Wrestler Completes a Journey From Poverty
By GREG BISHOP

BEIJING — The American flag landed on the scorer’s table, launched by a family member with exceptional aim. Henry Cejudo grabbed it from his coach and draped it around his body. He stood there for the longest time, fighting back tears, the son of illegal immigrants wrapped in the Stars and Stripes.

After Cejudo had defeated Tomohiro Matsunaga of Japan to win the 121-pound freestyle wrestling final on Tuesday, and after his family members had celebrated so loudly for so long that security threatened to kick them out, officials hung a gold medal around his neck. He said he might never remove it.

“I might just sleep with this,” Cejudo said. “It changed my life already.”

Fitting, because his is a story about change — for himself, for his family and maybe now for the USA Wrestling program, which trained the 21-year-old Cejudo to become the youngest gold medalist in United States wrestling history.

The gold medal, and his path to it, changed so many lives along the way.

Like his mother’s life. Nelly Rico, who came to the United States from Mexico as an illegal immigrant, raised seven children by herself and left Los Angeles with them in the middle of the night to escape the career criminal who was the father Cejudo never really knew.

Rico does not like flying, so she watched her son’s Olympic performances on a laptop in Colorado Springs. She vomited three times — one for each period her son lost in the three matches leading to the finals.

His right eye bruised and darkened, Cejudo talked of all the hours his mother had worked over the years, as a janitor and a construction worker, anything to put food on the table or to heat the house. He talked about all the times they moved, from Los Angeles to New Mexico to Phoenix to Colorado Springs, each time in search of a better life.

“I wish I could just give her the medal right now,” Cejudo said.

More lives changed, like those of all the people back in Phoenix. Frank Saenz, Cejudo’s coach at Maryvale High School, was the one who raised money for him to enter tournaments by knocking on doors and pleading for donations.

Tracy Greiff, another wrestling coach from the Phoenix area, was the one who had told Cejudo in seventh grade that he would win an Olympic gold. Greiff said he sold hundreds of tickets to travel here and sit in the rowdiest section this venue has seen.

Alonzo Cejudo, one of Henry’s older brothers, was the one who said that next to the birth of his children this ranked as the greatest moment of his life. He was the one who remembered how Rico called Henry her “little golden boy” from the moment of his birth. The one who listened to Angel, Henry’s brother and training partner, talk all week.

Angel told the family he had never seen Henry this strong, this focused, this tough or this prepared.

“Henry knew he was going to take it,” Alonzo said. “He just came to pick up what was already his.”

Angel’s life changed, too, for better and for worse. He was the first Cejudo brother to take to wrestling, the first to become a star. He won four state championships at Maryvale. He had a 150-0 record.

When he went to Colorado Springs, Henry, as always, tagged along. When Henry won more matches, more tournaments and more medals, Angel became his toughest critic and best friend. When Henry wrapped himself in that flag on Tuesday, Angel watched from the stands in tears.

“It’s not, oh, it should have been me,” said Angel, a world-class wrestler in his own right. “Because if it should have been me, I would have been out there. I’m not going to be jealous of my brother.”

More change looms on the horizon, but this time, with a wider reach. Tucked into the Cejudo cheering section was Jake Deitchler, an 18-year-old who wrestled in the Greco-Roman discipline at these Olympics. Deitchler had committed to the University of Minnesota but said on Tuesday that he would instead head to Colorado Springs.

“I want to go down the same path,” Deitchler said. “I want to be where he’s at, gold medal hanging around my neck.”

The victory was what Kevin Jackson, the national freestyle coach and a former gold medalist, had envisioned since Cejudo entered the program at the Olympic Training Center as a high school junior. Instead of going to college, where folk wrestling is the dominant style, Cejudo honed his considerable skills against the best freestyle wrestlers in the world.

The program pays for him to attend college if he wants. In the interim, Angel said, “the benefit is going up against world-class athletes.”

Jackson ranks Cejudo among the best young United States wrestlers ever, alongside names like John Smith, a world champion at 21, and Lee Kemp, a world champion at 22. Jackson hopes Cejudo’s success at these Olympics will prompt promising young wrestlers like Deitchler to follow the same path.

“He is the present, and he is the future,” Jackson said of Cejudo. “He has two more cycles in him. And he hasn’t come close to how good he can be.”

After the match, Jackson lifted Cejudo in the air, a freestyle wrestling tradition. Jackson watched Cejudo afterward and concluded he was the most emotional champion in recent memory.

Maybe that is because Cejudo’s medal meant so much to so many.

His family waited near the tunnel, and after Cejudo received his prize, he made wrestling’s version of the Lambeau Leap — right into the stands. His family members embraced him, tousled his hair and wrapped seven pairs of arms around him.

They all wore or waved American flags, an entire family decked in the Stars and Stripes. A family that started with illegal immigrants and advanced to right here, this moment, their very own gold medalist resting in their lap.

“Only in America,” Cejudo said.

Homework for Monday, November 17th-Thursday, November 20th

This week, you must be ready to present your Sports Scandal Report with your partner on Thursday. The assignment is below with your options for scandals following.

Please contact me with any questions: mr.donohue@gmail.com

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

Sports Scandal Assignment:

End Goal: You and your partner will present a 4-6 minute Powerpoint presentation in which you will fully explain the details surrounding a famous sports scandal. A list of ten is available under a desktop document titled “Top 10 Strange Sports Scandals”.

Rubric: You will be graded in the following areas on a scale of 1-5 for a total of 25 points:
1) You have fully explained the events surrounding the scandal and have provided background information. (Who were the people involved and what was their background? What were the events leading up to the scandal? What was the motivation of the characters involved?)
2) A well-developed Powerpoint presentation with a minimum of 4 photos and 7 slides.
3) Verbal presentation (the clarity of your message, your charisma and overall style).
4) Your presentation lands between 4 and 6 minutes.
5) Listening and feedback. You must respectfully watch other presentations and offer feedback on how each pair preformed.

Suggested Resources:
Google the person’s name: www.google.com
Also try visiting:
www.ESPN.com
www.wikipedia.com

Saved Material: Be sure to keep track of which computer you and your partner are using. If you need to save any material, please create a folder for yourself on the desktop of the computer and note which user you are logged in under.

Internet Abuse/Computer Abuse Policy: Although most students are usually busy doing the work necessary to complete their assignment, a few choose to stray off task. If you are caught visiting websites not relevant to your project, playing MP3s from a jump drive or playing games on the computer, you will first receive a warning and then a point off your MARKING PERIOD grade for every following infraction.


Number 10
Flockton Grey - Ringer 'Round the Rosie
Money won is much sweeter than money earned, but when Flockton Grey, a British racehorse, won a race at Leicester racecourse in 1982 by an unconscionable 20 lengths, the mood around the track was more sour than sweet. The margin of victory provoked suspicion of fraud and an investigation ensued. It was uncovered that the horse's owner, Ken Richardson, had switched the two-year-old Flockton Grey for a seasoned three-year-old ringer. Furthermore, Richardson and trainer Stephen Wiles had backed the horse with 20,000 pounds dispersed over several betting outlets. They were both convicted of conspiracy to defraud, fined 20,000 pounds and received long bans from horse racing.

What makes it stranger: Richardson would become the chairman of a football club, which he later conspired to burn down in order to collect on insurance money. He was convicted of attempted arson and spent four years in jail.

Number 9
Spanish Paralympians - How Low Can You Go?
Pretending to be stupid generally has minimal benefits, but the Spanish Paralympic Committee saw otherwise. They produced fake documents for 10 of the 12 members on their 2000 Paralympics basketball team, falsely claiming that they had IQs below 85. With an amazing performance, their intellectually able team captured the gold medal in a tournament for the intellectually disabled. It was soon discovered that the majority of their team members had no mental deficiencies to speak of and their medals were stripped.

What makes it stranger: The story was brought to light by a Spanish journalist who joined the basketball team to uncover the scandal. To make the roster, it was not required of him to complete any medical or psychological tests; all he had to do was complete six sit-ups and a blood pressure test.

Number 8
Kobe Bryant - One-Night Stand
A night to remember took on a new meaning for basketball superstar Kobe Bryant after a sojourn at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera Hotel in Edwards, Colorado. The Los Angeles Lakers guard was charged with sexual assault after a 19-year-old woman accused Bryant of raping her in his hotel room. A couple of days later, Bryant held a press conference, claiming that he did have sexual relations with her, but that the sex was consensual. When the trial began, Bryant's lawyers focused their efforts on sullying the credibility of the accuser, and with minimal tangible evidence, the case was dismissed.

What makes it stranger: The young female complainant received several death threats from Bryant fans, including one from a Swiss bodybuilder named Patrick Graber, who offered to commit murder for a $3 million fee. He was caught in a sting operation by the FBI and was sentenced to three years in jail.

Number 7
Rosie Ruiz - A Rat Raced
The simple things in life can be completed without breaking a sweat, but not a 26.2-mile race. When 23-year-old Rosie Ruiz crossed the finish line of the 1980 Boston Marathon with the third-fastest time ever for a female runner while barely glistening, speculation started to mount. That wariness was justified when a few onlookers communicated that they saw Ruiz join the race in the final mile, where she sprinted to the finish line. She was stripped of her olive wreath and the rightful winner, Jacqueline Gareau, was crowned.

What makes it stranger: Two years later, Ruiz was imprisoned for stealing $60,000 in cash and checks from a Manhattan real estate firm, and 19 months after that, she was arrested again for trying to facilitate a cocaine deal to undercover FBI agents in Florida.

Number 6
Danny Almonte - Being 12 Again
The advantages of a fake ID are usually to ameliorate the opportunities for underage drinking and clubbing, not to play in Little League Baseball. In 2001, Danny Almonte led his Bronx, New York team all the way to third place in the Little League World Series when he pitched the first perfect game since 1957, but a conflicting birth certificate surfaced during his team's run. His family's copy stated that he was born in 1989, but his Dominican home town's official copy stated he was born in 1987, making him two years too old for eligibility. His pitching feats were erased from the record books and the Rolando Paulino All-Stars were forced to part with their accolades.

What makes it stranger: Danny's father, Felipe de Jesus Almonte, appeared on Good Morning America to defend his son. Investigations by the Little League determined that his father had registered Danny's birth twice.

Number 5
Jamie Sale and David Pelletier - Skategate
Canadian figure-skating pair Jamie Sale and David Pelletier performed a near-perfect program only to receive ordinary ordinals from the judges in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. They tried to just smile it off, but they remained puzzled, along with pundits and skating aficionados worldwide. A probe ensued, exposing collusion between Russian and French judges, who agreed to swap votes in a sordid deal. Eventually, the Canadian duo was awarded gold medals and received a share of first place.

What makes it stranger: As the investigation continued, there were allegations that implicated a famous Russian mobster as one of the masterminds behind the scandal.

Number 4
BALCO - Perfect Strangers
Steroids and performance-enhancing drugs have always been the elephant in the room that nobody wants to address, but when the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative -- a sports nutrition center in California -- was exposed in 2004 for mass producing and distributing illegal anabolic steroids, the topic of drugs in sports became a hot one. BALCO's founder Victor Conte was quick to drag sports icons down with him, as he incriminated baseball legend Barry Bonds and American track star Marion Jones for steroid use. It wasn't long after that American Congress invited the executives of the four major sports leagues in for an interrogation and forced them all to beef up their drug policies.

What makes it stranger: In an interview with ABC's 20/20, Conte claimed to not only have supplied five-time Olympic medalist Marion Jones with illegal steroids and human growth hormone, but also to have sat right beside her while she injected the drugs into her thigh. She has since struggled in track and field competitions.

Number 3
Mike Danton - The Blues Lagoon
In 2004, Mike Danton, a former St. Louis Blues player, enlisted the help of a 19-year-old girl to hire a hit man, who was actually a police dispatcher. The FBI was quickly alerted and Danton was convicted of plotting to commit murder, with the exact target still unknown. The details were muddy and the suspected motives were varied. Some believed Danton was trying to remove a gay lover threatening to out him, while others claimed he was attempting to end a miserable relationship with his svengali-like, mind-controlling agent, David Frost. People close to the situation came forward and disclosed how Frost manipulated Danton to the point where he became his hand puppet, even forcing Danton to sever his relationship with his parents. Given these strange details, the common hypothesis was that Frost was the target.

What makes it stranger: Frost's influence over Danton was frequently discussed but remained indistinct until the transcript of a prison telephone call was revealed to the public after Danton's arrest. At the end of the phone call, Frost asked Danton, "Do you love me?" and pressed him to reinforce his positive response twice.

Number 2
Patrick Dennehy - The Basketball Diaries
The story started when Baylor basketball player Patrick Dennehy was reported missing in June 2003. A month later, after teammate Carlton Dotson was charged for murder, Dennehy's dead body was found in chest-high weeds. The police had been tipped off after Dotson told a cousin of his that he shot and killed Dennehy during an argument.

But the black eye didn't end there for Baylor University's basketball program, as Dennehy's girlfriend reported violations to the NCAA. Investigations revealed that head coach Dave Bliss had been improperly paying for Dennehy's tuition, had not reported players' failed drug tests, and had told players and coaches to lie to authorities by claiming that Dennehy had been dealing drugs. The school is now under probation until 2010.

What makes it stranger: In October 2004, Dotson was deemed to be psychologically incompetent and was sent to a mental hospital where he was evaluated. He was returned to jail after doctors doubted his accounts of hallucinations, and a week before his trial was to begin, with no plea bargain in hand, Dotson pleaded guilty in the death of Patrick Dennehy. He is currently serving a 35-year jail sentence.

Number 1
Tonya Harding - Knee-High Goodbye
The leg bone is connected to the knee bone, and knowing that, American figure skater Tonya Harding calculated that it would be more difficult for her rival to compete if she hired a man to take out her knee. Harding hired Shane Stant to put fellow American Nancy Kerrigan out of commission at the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, paving the way for Harding's victory. Soon after, her ex-husband cut a plea bargain deal in which he spilled the beans of their scheme to implicate Harding. When her time came, she had no choice but to plead guilty and received three years of probation, a $160,000 fine, a ban from U.S. figure skating, and was stripped of her 1994 title.

What makes it stranger: Tonya Harding didn't just climb into a grimy cave and disappear after the scandal, though, as she kept her face in the limelight with a pornographic sex tape, of which stills were posted in Penthouse magazine. She also had a brief boxing career that included a celebrity bout with well-known Paula Jones, and ran into the law on several occasions for drunk driving and domestic violence.

Homework For Friday, November 14th!

For tomorrow, prepare for your sports prediction presentation. The rubric and the elements for a sports prediction are pasted below.

Good luck!

-Mr. Donohue



Rubric: You will be graded in the following areas on a scale of 1-5 for a total of 25 points:
1) You have covered ALL of the elements of a sports prediction (below).
2) You have told us about your team’s main competition (either a rival or a team that would prevent them from winning a championship). Who is this team? What is the history between teams? What may make them tough to defeat?
3) Presentation (the clarity of your message, your charisma and overall style).
4) Your presentation lands between 2 and 3 minutes.
5) Listening and feedback. You must respectfully watch other presentations and offer feedback on how each pair preformed.


Elements for a Sports Prediction:
*Clearly stated prediction
*Who are the stars?
*Who else is on the team – their strengths and weaknesses
*Coaching – will it help or hurt?
*Team strengths and weaknesses
*What are the team’s “intangibles”?

HW #2, Due Thursday, November 13th!

For Thursday, work on your prediction presentation with your partner. Bring an outline featuring what you have learned so far. Your work will be checked for credit, but you will hold on to it in order to complete the assignment.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

HW #1, Due Wednesday, November 12th!

For Wednesday, select a team you want to do a season/game prediction on with your partner. Explain your selection in 3-5 sentences.

Be ready to discuss on Wednesday.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

Exam Week Homework

The second marking period exam week starts on Monday, November 3rd. Your homework for the days leading up to your test date is to prepare one page of notes that you may bring into the exam.

Remember, you are using facts and information from classwork and articles to answer the question: Should girls play high school football?

If you have any questions about the exam, please email me at mr.donohue@gmail.com

Exam dates are:

Wednesday: Period 8

Thursday: Periods 3 & 7

Friday: Periods 4 & 9

Good luck!

-Mr. Donohue

HW #11, Due Friday, October 31st!

For Friday, read "15-Year-Old Girl Throws Three Touchdowns". When done, complete your pro/con list from class with regards to the question: Should girls play high school football?

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

15 year old girl throws three touchdowns
________________________________________
Associated Press

TORRANCE, Calif. -- When the Bishop Montgomery High School quarterback went down with a fractured leg, his replacement stepped in and completed four of five passes for three touchdowns.

There's nothing too unusual about that, except that the replacement quarterback was a girl.

Miranda McOsker, 15, is one of 253 girls out of 100,000 high school students in California who are playing football this year, according to the California Interscholastic Foundation. She joined the private Catholic school's football program last spring.

"I didn't try out for quarterback, I was just looking to play anything," said the 5-foot-9, 140-pound sophomore. "One day I was throwing with the quarterback after practice and the coaches watched me. They told me to play quarterback the next day and ever since I've been playing quarterback."

McOkser is the starting quarterback for the junior varsity team and the third-stringer on the varsity squad. She got into the varsity game Friday after her team led early and Coach Arnold Ale put in the second-string quarterback, who was injured.

Ale said he doesn't know if Miranda will become the starting varsity quarterback for the school in suburban Los Angeles but expects her to compete for the position during the next two seasons.
Her parents support her choice of sport and her teammates accept her as just another player.

"We've been good friends for a while," sophomore center Rob Huizar said. "When she started playing football, I told her that I'm the center, so I'll get the offensive line to protect her as long as she gets the throw to the receivers."

Miranda's uncle, John McOsker, also played quarterback for Bishop Montgomery. The family is trying to figure out if he ever threw three touchdowns in a game.

"I think the answer is no, because he hasn't gotten back to me yet," said Miranda's father, Tim McOsker, an attorney who served as chief of staff to former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn.

HW #10, Due Thursday, October 30th!

For Thursday, read: “HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS; In Field Hockey, a Twist on Title IX ”. Is this situation fair to the girls? Should boys be allowed to play field hockey?

Respond in 5-7 sentences.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue


HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS; In Field Hockey, a Twist on Title IX
By MIKE WISE

Before a smattering of about 50 people in the stands at Arthur H. Roberts Field, the leading scorer for the junior varsity field hockey team at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School swerved through the opposition, keeping the ball on the nub of the stick, churning forward. Several parents rose from their seats, their voices laced more with venom than with enthusiasm.

''Get him! Get him!''

Bradley Bell was finally detained along the right sideline, but Bell, a freshman in a burgundy skirt, had already made his presence felt, wristing two goals and assisting on another in a 4-0 victory over Holyoke High School.

''He'll be playing varsity soon,'' Amy Bottke, the former varsity coach at Amherst, lamented. ''That means a girl will have to sit down.''

As another splendid season of October foliage unfolds here in western Massachusetts, an intermittent debate has begun anew. The sunlight dies before 6 p.m., the hues from burnt-orange-, mustard- and sienna-colored leaves poke through on the horizon and, in another rite of fall, boys compete on girls' field hockey teams.

Bell is among almost a dozen boys playing on six teams in the regional high school leagues, where the Division I varsity champions of the last two seasons, Southwick and West Springfield, had boys on their rosters.

A passion for field hockey runs deep in Massachusetts, with more than 8,000 students playing each year.

Julia Hunter, a senior co-captain on the Amherst varsity, is tolerant enough to accept Bell. But she added, ''In some ways, it feels like Title IX has been used against us.''

This fall, the issue has produced a seething opinion piece published in five area newspapers, subsequent hate mail and a threat by a junior varsity coach not to put her girls on the field against Amherst if Bell competes the next time they play.

After the playoffs in November, two coaches plan to submit a realignment proposal at their annual meeting: one league for all-girls' teams, another for teams that include boys.

Another less controversial, if delicate, issue of sex has also emerged: the clear admission by fervent women's sports supporters that boys are indeed stronger and faster.

''Sheryl Swoopes is great, but she's not going to challenge Michael Jordan,'' Bottke said as she leaned over a chain-link fence separating the all-weather track from the stands at Holyoke High School. ''Carl Lewis against Marion Jones? It's a joke. It's silly. We're different biologically. We have baby makers in our gender. They don't. Enough already. Put them on different teams.''

What's a Boy to Do?

The problem is, there are no boys' teams. Among the 18 states with field hockey programs, Massachusetts is one of only three in which boys compete at the high school level. (California and Maine are the others.) Men's field hockey thrives in other countries, but the sport has traditionally been played by girls in the United States. Either because of custom or state law, most American boys do not compete.

On one side of the debate here, boys are viewed as physically dominant, enough so that they dramatically alter competition for girls. Even for boys not as talented or as physical as their female teammates, some coaches and parents argue that they should not play because they would be displacing girls from teams, thereby reducing the opportunities afforded girls and women under Title IX, the 1972 legislation that prohibits discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funds.

Just because girls are allowed to go out for the boys' football team, the critics say, does not mean that boys should be allowed to compete on the girls' field hockey team.

''Typically, adding a girl to a boys' team doesn't have the level of impact when a boy plays on a girls' team,'' said Janet Ryan, the mother of Megan Horrigan, an Amherst player. ''It's not a level playing field. We almost hate to say to our daughter, 'Boys are stronger and faster than you are,' but they are.''

But other coaches, parents and players maintain that without a comparable boys' team, boys have a right to play field hockey and do not significantly change the way the game is played.

''I understand the whole reason behind Title IX in its original form was to provide girls equal opportunities to play sports,'' said Katie Zacarian, a former Amherst player who is now the starting goalkeeper at Harvard University. ''But I think when you create a policy like that, you have to apply it equally. The inclusion on a team should be based on merit, not on sex.''

Dave Bell, Bradley's father, said fairness required that his son be allowed to play. ''We don't want to make waves, we just want Brad to continue playing hockey,'' he said. ''When you create a policy like that, you have to apply it to everybody.''

The rules of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association are clear: ''No student shall be denied in any implied or explicit manner the opportunity to participate in any interscholastic activity because of his or her gender.''

Rule 43 of the association's handbook permits schools to establish separate teams. But if only one team exists, additional language in the handbook allows for mixed-sex competition. If an all-girls' team refuses to play a team fielding boys, it is subject to a forfeit unless the school can demonstrate a specific safety reason to justify not playing. To simply say a boy is bigger and poses a physical danger does not qualify as a reason.

''The language says there can't be a gender-based distinction,'' Sherry Bryant, the assistant director of the state athletic association, said. ''We have to let them play.''

Bryant estimated that about 20 boys play field hockey each year in the state, most of them in western Massachusetts.

Bell, 14, is already 5 feet 10 inches and 220 pounds. Like many of the boys who take the field each week this fall, he consciously walks the line between showing his dominance and trying to fit in. On Oct. 11 against Holyoke, his performance helped bring the Amherst junior varsity's season record to 12-0.

Bell grew up playing field hockey in South Africa, where the sport is popular among boys. He played on a youth national team until his family left so his mother and his father could pursue doctorates in education at the University of Massachusetts. He is often razzed by classmates because he has to wear a skirt, and he has heard his share of off-color remarks from parents in the stands.

Asked why he does not compete on the varsity with his skill level, he said: ''I guess I could be playing for them, but I like the J.V. team. If I stay here, there won't be any negative vibes from the varsity team.''

His father said: ''I probably would have felt the same way as many parents if my daughter was on the team. But Brad is as gentle as a lamb out there. He could probably run and score 20 goals. But he wants to take the least-disruptive route.''
Bottke, the former varsity coach at Amherst, said, ''I think it's great that Brad passes and fits in, but he shouldn't have to be aware of his delicacy.''

Boys playing girls' field hockey is not a new phenomenon in western Massachusetts. Brenda Kurle, the Amherst junior varsity coach, said she believes she competed against the first boy 24 years ago. About 15 years ago, Northampton fielded four boys on the girls' team.

''This has been going on awhile,'' said Ann Simons, the coach at Longmeadow High School. ''It's just picked up steam again.''

Dissent and a Proposal

Bottke has taken up the latest crusade. Bell declared last May that he was going to play this fall. Bottke resigned as Amherst varsity coach in August, though she insisted that there was no connection; her full-time job as a real-estate agent did not allow her to continue coaching, she said.

In her editorial published in the summer Bottke contended that boys playing on girls' teams represented a ''major injustice to high school athletes.'' She noted that three of four teams in last year's western Massachusetts semifinals fielded boys, including the eventual champion, West Springfield.

Bottke and other critics say some of the boys employ intimidation tactics around the goal. Players in field hockey use Kevlar-wrapped wooden sticks and a baseball-size, industrial-strength plastic ball -- a ball nearly as hard as a cue ball in billiards.

In an all-girls' game between East Longmeadow and Longmeadow High Schools this season, an East Longmeadow player broke her jaw, lacerated her lip and lost three teeth when a Longmeadow player inadvertently struck her in the mouth following through on a swing.

''The dynamics of the game change when a boy is on the field,'' Colleen Rafferty, a junior player at Longmeadow, said afterward. ''If a girl has a free hit, I will be much less resistant to go up and block the ball. I'll give her maybe 5 yards. If it's a boy, I'll give him at least 15 yards. I just know it has a higher chance of being a harder shot, going up and injuring me.''

But some coaches insist that the inclusion of boys changes the game less than many people think. ''There are bad aspects, and I can see where Amy is coming from, but you would not believe how much more open-minded and tolerant these kids become once they play together,'' Maryann Pelligrinelli, the varsity coach at Holyoke, said. ''I tell my players: 'The only difference is, you shave your legs. Go out there and play. Don't make excuses.' I will say that Amy and the others might not have a problem if the boys weren't any good.''

Pelligrinelli and other coaches say boys from West Springfield and Southwick were verbally abused the last two seasons after victories. At one match, where ''Go home, Sissy!'' and ''The football field is over there'' were some of the tamer retorts, several parents were ejected from school grounds.

Diane Lussier, the coach at East Longmeadow, and Simons, the Longmeadow coach, are adamant about boys not playing with girls. They plan to propose a realignment with two leagues, one with all-girls' teams and one with mixed-sex teams. The coaches are not confident that the athletic directors of the 22 field-hockey programs in western Massachusetts will approve the proposal.

''I've had plenty of boys ask me to play,'' Lussier said. ''I've always said, 'You can have a tryout.' I will not tell them that they may never get off the bench. I feel very strongly that they are denying a girl an opportunity to develop their skills.''

Hunter, the Amherst varsity co-captain, said she used to have major problems with the idea of boys playing field hockey. ''Then Brad came out for the team,'' she said. ''At first, I was like, 'Oh, no, Amherst is going to be one of those teams that wins with guys.' But since Brad has been on the team, we've all gotten used to it and we like him as a player. He plays for the love of the game, not because he wants to run over the girls.

''But I'm still not for it.''

At the year-end Amherst team banquet last season, a special plaque was made for Hunter, an aggressive midfielder who takes great pride in physically shadowing male opponents. ''Boy Basher,'' the plaque read.

''I love that title,'' Hunter said. ''That's my way of saying: 'I belong here. You don't.' ''

HW #9, Due Wednesday, October 29th!

For Wednesday, read: “Another Victim at Colorado”. What does Hdina say happened to her? Do you believe her? Could this happen anywhere? Explain in 5-7 sentences.

Another Victim at Colorado
After being verbally abused and molested by teammates, former kicker Katie Hnida says, she was raped by one of them

If you thought Colorado football recruiting parties were jailbreaks, brace yourself for the allegations made by the only woman ever to play on the team.

As a CU placekicker in 1999, Katie Hnida says she endured a kind of sexual hell you can't imagine. After being verbally abused and molested by teammates, Hnida says, she was raped by one of them.

An honor-roll student, a homecoming queen and an honorable mention all-county kicker at Littleton (Colo.) Chatfield High, Hnida (NYE-da) had dreamed of booting for Colorado. "Football is what makes me breathe," she says. Then-coach Rick Neuheisel invited her to walk on, she accepted and then he took off, leaving her in new coach Gary Barnett's hands. "None of the players wanted her on the team," Barnett remembers. "Basically we were doing her a favor."

On her first day of practice Hnida found out how welcome she was. She says five teammates surrounded her and verbally abused her, making sexually graphic comments. During the season players exposed themselves to her "at least five times," she says. "They'd go, 'Hey, Katie, check this out!'" One player came up from behind, she says, and rubbed his erect penis against her.

Sometimes when the entire team was huddled up, Hnida says, players stuck their hands on her crotch or groped her breasts under her shoulder pads. "She endured more abuse than one person should have to bear," former teammate Justin Bates says. Even as she practiced, players called her vulgar names and one fired footballs at her head.

Why didn't she tell Barnett? "Because I was terrified," she says. "He didn't want me around in the first place. I thought for sure he'd kick me off [the team]."

The worst was yet to come. One summer night Hnida was watching TV at the house of a teammate. "He just starts to kiss me," she recalls. "I told him, 'That's not O.K.' Next thing I know he's on top of me. I told him, 'No!' But he just kept going, 'Shhhhh.' I tried to push him off me, but he outweighed me by 100 pounds."

Hnida says he lifted her skirt, pushed aside her panties and penetrated her. She was a virgin. The phone rang, he reached for it, she slipped out from under him and ran.
Why didn't she go to the police? "I was so scared of what he might do to me," she says. "And I didn't want a huge media mess. I was already carrying around so much inside me, I was numb."

Just before the start of the 2000 season, it was clear that Hnida, sick with tonsillitis, was not going to make the roster. She says she fell into "the darkest of dark places."

Worried for his daughter after she had finally told him about some of her hell (but not the rape), Maj. Dave Hnida, an Army surgeon currently stationed in Iraq, went to athletic director Dick Tharp and Barnett about "the cornering, the groping, the name-calling and the football-at-the-head thing," Katie's father says. He got nowhere. "Talking to Barnett was like talking to a wall."

Neither Tharp nor Barnett recalls Dave Hnida saying anything about sexual harassment. "If I'd have heard that, I'd have jumped down somebody's throat," Barnett says. "Not one time did I ever see or hear about anybody treating her wrong. I don't believe she was sexually harassed. I don't believe our players would do that. They'd be in too much trouble with me." Barnett says he gave one player a "tongue-lashing" for making a vulgar comment to Katie.

She dropped out of CU after her sophomore year. She says she was depressed for two years, suffered from insomnia and gave up kicking. Her dad ached for her. "Barnett went on TV and said how these [recent recruiting party] accusations have hurt his family," Dave Hnida says. "I'll show you a hurt family."

Katie went into therapy, enrolled at a junior college and then had the guts to walk on at New Mexico in 2002. Last August she became the first woman to score in Division I football history when she kicked two PATs in the Lobos' 72-8 rout of Texas State-San Marcos.

Meanwhile, three other women alleged they were raped by players or recruits at or following a Colorado football recruiting party in 2001 (click here for full story). There have been reports of players hiring strippers for recruits as recently as last month.

So why is Hnida, 22, telling her story now? "Because all the news sent me back into that nightmare," she says. "It made me literally sick. I realized that until I tell my story, I can never heal."

Hnida isn't suing Colorado or pressing charges against former teammates. "I just want to see changes made there," she says.

She also wants a sixth-year exemption from the NCAA, so she can return to the Lobos. "We have 125 great guys on this team, and I haven't had one single incident," Hnida says. "That's because of the standard Coach [Rocky] Long sets here for behavior. There's no b.s."

At Colorado they're majoring in b.s. The denials have piled up like cordwood. You show me a coach who maintains he's unaware of recruiting parties featuring paid strippers, of four alleged rapes, of sexual harassment claims by one of his players against other players, and I'll show you a coach who is hell-bent on not knowing.

Makes this alum want to hide his class ring.

HW For Monday, October 27th & Tuesday, October 28th!

This weekend, work on the final draft of your Michael Vick column (450 words) due on TUESDAY. Information that may help you has been posted on older assignments below.

Remember the assignment will be graded out of 25 points with each of the following areas being worth 5 points.

-Lead & Headline
-"Hammer" or "Velvet Glove"
-Clear and sustained opinion
-4-6 pieces of support or evidence to back up your opinion
-Writing: Spelling, grammar, punctuation and paragraph separation.

Also, please feel free to email me with any questions: mr.donohue@gmail.com.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

Rough Draft Due Friday, October 24th!

For Friday, be sure to bring in your completed rough draft column on Michael Vick. Columns need to be 450 words long.

If you need information to help you out, please look at columns posted in previous homework assignments. Also, you may email me at mr.donohue@gmail.com for additional help.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

HW #9, Due Thursday, October 23rd!

For Thursday, add another 150 words to your column about Michael Vick (250 so far...remember, the column will be 450 total when done).

The videos about Michael Vick's dogs seen today in class can be found by clicking here.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

HW #8, Due Tuesday, October 21st!

For Tuesday, review your own work from last night. What “main question(s)” are you trying to answer? What style will you use – Velvet Glove or Hammer? What 3-5 pieces of “evidence” you will use?

For ideas, read the articles pasted about Vick in older homework assignments.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

HW #7, Due Tuesday, October 21st!

Bring in first 100 words of Michael Vick column with a lead.

Be sure to answer a "Central Question" by the time this column is done. The final assignment will be 450 words.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

HW #6, Due Monday, October 20th!

For Monday, read "It is Time For Vick's Deeds to Speak For Him" and come up with 2 to 3 ideas from the article that you can incorporate into your own column about Vick.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue

It Is Time for Vick’s Deeds to Speak for Him By WILLIAM C. RHODEN

Flowery Branch, Ga.

Alge Crumpler sat in a small office inside the Atlanta Falcons’ training facility earlier this week, talking about his friend and teammate, the fallen Falcon, quarterback Michael Vick.

Crumpler, Atlanta’s tight end, said he spoke with Vick several times a week — not so much about football, but about life. Crumpler passes along scripture passages from his mother, and well wishes from teammates. The last time they spoke, Crumpler said, they joked about playing the Madden NFL 08 video game online. But even that was bittersweet: Yesterday, EA Sports pulled Vick from the rosters of Madden NFL 08.

Vick’s fall from grace is stunning, so traumatic that its effect on the team is difficult to measure. Crumpler and his teammates have spent the past several weeks putting this situation into perspective, trying to keep a team that once had lofty aspirations inspired.

Vick and Crumpler were members of the 2001 draft: Vick was the first player taken.

Crumpler, taken in the second round, was the 35th player selected. They were going to contend for the Super Bowl together; Crumpler said he could feel it. In fact, Crumpler said he saw it.

“I had a vision that we were going to win the Super Bowl together,” Crumpler said. “I had a vision of winning the Super Bowl, and it was always going to be with Mike. I’ve had that vision since the day we were drafted. I want to still have it, but I just don’t.”

Would Crumpler ever catch another pass from Vick?

“Not here,” Crumpler said, referring to the Falcons.

“I think Mike is going to be back in the league,” he added, and then said: “I think it’s going to take a lot of ‘show me’ for Mike to get back into the league. It’s going to have to be more than words.”

Everyone has carved out their turf on this issue. Like Crumpler, I feel that Vick should and will return to the N.F.L., as a quarterback. Suggestions to the contrary betray an underlying prejudice that goes far beyond the legal issue at hand. Vick should receive a yearlong sentence for pleading guilty to a felony charge of conspiracy stemming from his connection to dogfighting but should serve no more than six months in jail.

The more intriguing question is how Vick’s fall from grace will affect a city that had become deeply invested in him.

Friends of mine who live in Atlanta say, half-jokingly, that the Falcons are black America’s team. The city has a large African-American population, and a substantial portion of the team’s season-ticket holders are African-Americans.

On the other hand, Atlanta has had an up-and-down relationship with its pro football team, and the fans are largely regarded as fair-weather ones. Right now, the weather is stormy.

The Falcons may have to deal with empty seats this season. Last year, they drew an average of 55,000 fans in two preseason games; this year they drew an average of 40,000.

In many ways, Atlanta’s fans have never stood on solid ground. The Vick episode is simply the latest blow.

Atlanta played its first season in 1966 and didn’t have a winning season until 1971.

The Falcons have never had back-to-back winning campaigns, with or without Vick.

The Falcons did reach the Super Bowl in the 1998 season but that moment was tarnished when Eugene Robinson, a star safety, was arrested on charges of soliciting a female undercover police officer posing as a prostitute the night before the game.

The Falcons lost, 34-19, to the Denver Broncos. The next season they finished a dismal 5-11.

In 2004, Vick led Atlanta to an 11-5 record and the National Football Conference championship game. In 2005, the Falcons finished 8-8. Last season, they finished 7-9

.

Before Vick officially pleaded guilty 11 days ago, there was a sense in Atlanta that the African-American community was split down the middle regarding its star quarterback.

Now there’s a resignation in that community that he did something seriously wrong, that he will have to atone for what he did and that in all likelihood he will never play for the Falcons again.

“But if we can win, if we can show some form of competitiveness on a consistent basis, I think we’ll be all right,” Crumpler said.

Vick apologized the day he pleaded guilty. He apologized to the Falcons’ owner, Arthur Blank, to Falcons fans, to the city of Atlanta. But when Vick said that he had also found Jesus, I felt that the time for talking had come to an end. Faced with being hemmed in, as Vick was, one can easily find the Lord.

At this point, Vick has to demonstrate his remorse, not only enunciate it.

As for Crumpler; the new starting quarterback, Joey Harrington; the new coach, Bobby Petrino; and Blank, the challenge is to move on and build a consistent winner, something Atlanta has never had even with Vick running the show.
In Atlanta, this is a time for deeds, not words.

HW For Thursday & Friday, October 16th & 17th!

By Friday, be sure to finish your 300-word "mini-column" about Barry Bonds. The assignment is fully explained in the rough draft assignment post. Click here to view.

Good luck!

-Mr. Donohue

HW #5, Due Wednesday, October 15th!

For Wednesday, read “Elusive Vick Takes His Hardest Hit” and reflect on the following questions in 5-7 sentences:

Should the NFL or Falcons have had someone watching over Michael Vick?

Is there a problem with giving a young man millions of dollars with no restriction?


Also, the Final Draft of your “mini-column” (300 words) is due on Thursday.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue


The Elusive Vick Takes His Hardest Hit

By WILLIAM C. RHODEN

I’ve argued for a number of years that Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons is one of the most important players in the N.F.L. His approach to quarterback — with speed, quickness and a rifle arm — makes him, on some days, the most dangerous player on the field. Many of the arguments against the way he plays the game reflect a deeply rooted cultural bias against athleticism at one of the most hallowed positions in sports.

The debate has now moved beyond the playing field, and Vick is facing an unprecedented rush. The federal government is accusing him of not merely crossing the line between good and bad judgment, but of going completely out of bounds.

Earlier this week, Vick was indicted on federal felony charges alleging that he had sponsored dogfighting since 2001, that he frequently gambled on dogfighting and that he authorized acts of cruelty against animals on property that he owned.

An 18-page indictment suggested that Vick was not just a distant spectator sitting on the 50-yard line; he was the quarterback for Bad Newz Kennels.

Now the federal government must prove its case, and Vick has to think long and hard about whether he wants to challenge the government’s evidence or strike a deal.

•

The pressure also shifts to the N.F.L. and its new law-and-order commissioner, Roger Goodell. Goodell is like a scrambling quarterback approaching the line of scrimmage who must decide: does he run or does he pass? The animal-rights activists — and a number of fans in general — are clamoring for the league to suspend Vick; the players union is ready to fight such a suspension. The owners and N.F.L. sponsors, ever taking the public pulse, are looking for Goodell to suggest a great move that assures the public that the inmates are under control.

So far we’ve been blitzed by cautious statements by the N.F.L., the Atlanta Falcons and the players union about how disappointed they are in Vick, but also how they are committed to letting the legal process run its course.

Nike made a statement yesterday by suspending the introduction of Vick’s latest shoe — the Air Zoom Vick V.

Since he joined the N.F.L. in 2001, Vick’s No. 7 jersey had been among the top-five sellers, according to the N.F.L.

My original position on the Vick investigation is that, for all its validity, it had the earmarks of overzealous federal prosecutors taking on a high-profile athlete. I still feel that way, but my hope is that the investigation and indictment becomes a catalyst — not for a referendum on conduct and African-American athletes — but for a far-flung war on animal fighting. Animal-rights activists say that dogfighting is more popular today than ever.

Yesterday, Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West. Virginia, spoke out against the practice of dogfighting in the United States.

What’s troubling for me, and it should be troubling for all of Vick’s so-called handlers and advisers, is how Vick came to be so close to this fire in the first place. How did one of the N.F.L.’s brightest stars, one of a multibillion-dollar league’s most recognizable faces — indeed, the face of his franchise — become inexorably linked to dogfighting, one of the lowest forms of savagery in modern society?

Guilty or innocent? You wonder. From the Falcons’ executive staff to Vick’s business associates, was there — is there — anyone telling Vick, “You, know Michael, this may not be such a good idea?”

Association can be as devastating as doing the deed itself. That’s certainly the case here.

•

The Vick indictment is not a pleasant document to read. It describes, point after point, heartless, often barbaric acts of cruelty. During an April raid, law enforcement officials found a stand used to hold dogs in place for mating. They found an electronic treadmill modified for dogs, and bloody carpeting.

Last June, a search uncovered the graves of seven pit bulls that were allegedly killed by members of the Bad Newz Kennels after sessions to test their fighting ability. Documents allege that sometimes dogs were starved, and described how a fight ended when one dog died, or when a dog gave up. According to documents, losing dogs were sometimes put to death by drowning, strangulation, hanging, gunshot, electrocution or body-slamming them to the ground.

“This has become bigger, much larger than Michael Vick,” said Christopher A. Bracey, a professor of law and an associate professor of African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “He has become a poster child for animal rights and animal fighting, for conspicuous consumption, for bad judgment and for what happens when you give someone too much too soon.”

How do young, newly created millionaires react when wealth allows them to indulge their dark side? We have to embrace the presumption of innocence, but the sad truth is that no matter what happens now, this indictment has thrown Vick for the greatest loss of his career.

HW # 4, Due Tuesday, October 14th!

For Tuesday, Read "Vick Pleads Guilty in Dog Fighting Case". In 5-7 sentences, explain what Vick did and what is happening to him now. Also, talk about how the commissioner of the NFL feels about Vick.

For those who did not write the "mini-column", be sure to write it for Tuesday. The assignment is below in homework assignment #3.

See you in class!

-Mr. Donohue


Vick Pleads Guilty in Dog-Fighting Case
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 27 — Michael Vick formally accepted a plea agreement from the federal government today at the United States District Court here, pleading guilty to a felony charge stemming from a dog fighting ring run from a property he owned.

On Friday the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons was suspended indefinitely without pay by the National Football League hours after the plea agreement was filed here.

Within the statement of facts, which accompanied the agreement, Vick admitted to funding the dog fighting operation and the gambling associated with it and to being complicit in the killing of at least six dogs that underperformed.

“I was ashamed and totally disappointed in myself, to say the least,” Vick said at a press conference at the Omni hotel here after the hearing. He added: “Dog fighting is a terrible thing. I reject it.”

Vick, 27, faces up to five years in prison on the charges of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and conspiring to sponsor a dog in an animal-fighting venture. The United States attorney’s office will recommend a lighter sentence, between a year to 18 months, as long as Vick continues to cooperate with authorities. Although the government can argue for a lighter sentence, United States District Judge Henry E. Hudson, who is overseeing the case, is not bound by its recommendation, and Vick cannot appeal his decision.

“We hope Judge Hudson will see the real Mike Vick,” Vick’s lawyer, Billy Martin, said to reporters after the hearing. “What you have seen is an aberration and we think Judge Hudson will get it right when he sentences him.”

Sentencing, Hudson said today, is scheduled for Dec. 10.

In the plea agreement Vick said he would cooperate with the federal government’s investigations regarding any criminal activity. This includes testifying in front of grand juries, on behalf of the government at trial and even taking a lie detector test.

In the statement of facts, Vick said that he agreed to the killing of “approximately 6 to 8 dogs that did not perform well in ‘testing’ sessions,” adding that “all the dogs were killed by various methods, including hanging and drowning.”

Vick said that he did not place side bets on any of the fights and did not share in the purses that were won by Bad Newz Kennels, but that he funded the betting and was present when his co-defendants placed bets.

“I will redeem myself,” Vick said at the news conference. “I have to.”

In a written statement, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Chuck Rosenberg, said that although a first time offender would have avoided jail time under the sentencing guidelines, the government saw the behavior of Vick and two of his co-defendants as “heinous, cruel, and inhumane,” and thought they should face more time behind bars.

The government required two of Vick’s co-defendants, Purnell A. Peace, and Quanis L. Phillips, 28, who both pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, and Vick to accept an additional provision in the plea agreement that they “indeed understated the severity of their conduct and that a sentence substantially above what would otherwise be called for by the guidelines would be appropriate.”

“The parties thus agreed to recommend to the judge that the advisory sentencing range for these three defendants (assuming no prior criminal record) should be 12 to 18 months in prison, rather than zero to six months in prison,” Rosenberg said. Tony Taylor, the other co-defendant, was the first to accept a plea agreement from the government and is not likely to face any prison time.

N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell told Vick in a letter on Friday that his actions were “cruel and reprehensible” and that Vick’s involvement in gambling was a violation of the N.F.L.’s personal conduct policy.

Vick said today: “I want to personally apologize to Commissioner Goodell, Arthur Blank, Coach Bobby Petrino, and my Atlanta Falcons teammates, for I was not honest and forthright in our discussions.”

He also said: “What I did was very immature. That means I need to grow up.”
Goodell said that he would review the suspension after legal proceedings were concluded. He said that in reviewing the suspension, he would take into consideration the possibility of new charges; Vick’s conduct; his sentence, and how much Vick cooperated with the league and the law enforcement officials.

Goodell could decide to reinstate Vick after his incarceration ends, or the suspension could continue indefinitely. But if Vick serves a year in prison he would not be eligible to play again until 2009, at the earliest. Vick would be 29 years old.

Even if he is reinstated and is available for the 2009 season, he would not have played for two seasons, and would have surely lost some of his speed — his best weapon — likely making him unattractive to all but the most risk-taking teams.

The suspension frees the Atlanta Falcons to pursue, before an arbitrator, a portion of Vick’s signing bonus because he is now in default of his contract. The Falcons could also decide to release the player who, only four months ago, was the face of the franchise.

It has become clear since then that Vick lied to Goodell and to Falcons owner Arthur Blank when they asked him in April about his involvement in dog fighting. Blank has indicated that he feels personally betrayed by a player he had once felt close to and on whom he had lavished a 10-year, $130 million contract in 2004.

HW #3, Due Friday, October 8th!

Bring in a rough draft of your opinionated "mini-column" discussing Barry Bonds and the accusations surrounding his steroid use. (minimum 300 words)

Pick one of the questions about Bonds to focus from the list below, and then incorporate the others into your column as needed.

Remember, you need to start with a 20-25 word lead to interest you reader in your column. After you write your lead, you should be sure to get directly to your argument.

Please email me if you are having a hard time writing this piece: mr.donohue@gmail.com

For more information to work with, you can look at the articles we read in class from homework assignments #1 and #2 (posted below this post).

You can find links to statistics we used in class by clicking on the following names:
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Jason Giambi

The questions for this column are:
1) If found guilty, should Bonds/Clemens have their records stripped? What about everyone else who used steroids?
2) Should Major League Baseball just accept steroids and move on?
3) Should Bonds and other suspected/confirmed steroid users be allowed in the Hall of Fame?
4) Should a baseball team sign Bonds?

HW #2, Due Tuesday, October 6th!

For Tuesday, read “Clemens must be judged the same way as Bonds.” What is the writer's opinion? Find 3-5 places where you agree or disagree with what he has written. Explain why.

Clemens must be judged same way as Bonds

Wallace Matthews
December 14, 2007

For the past 10 years, one guy has been treated like he's Nicky Barnes, the other like he's John Wayne.

But in fact, they are very much the same guy. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, forever linked by a single word. Cheater.

Their career arcs have been nearly identical since 1998, two men defying Father Time, the one opponent no one can get around on or throw a fastball by. But somehow, both managed to do it at an age when most men have trouble playing catch with their kids.

And somehow, while Bonds was (rightfully) suspected for it, investigated because of it, and ultimately scorned, Clemens was (inexplicably) admired, enriched and celebrated.

Or maybe not so inexplicably. Because there is only one real difference between the two, and that is the color of their skin.

If, in light of allegations in the Mitchell Report regarding use of steroids to revitalize his career, Clemens is not subject to the same kind of treatment Bonds has endured, then we know that for most of the public, this whole steroid mess has not been about cheating or preserving "the integrity of the game" or the sanctity of the records after all.

It has been about race, pure and simple, a witch hunt solely in search of a black witch.

How else to explain why for a decade, Clemens has been held up as a physical marvel, while Bonds has been vilified as a chemically altered freak? In a truly just and color-blind world, they will now pose together, arm in artificially pumped up arm, poster boys for the most shameful era in the history of any sport, their unholy pact signed not with a pen, but with a syringe.

Because you can excuse the difference in the treatment of the two with all the justifications you like -- Clemens is a pitcher, he's been a workout freak his whole career, he didn't suddenly go from throwing 85 to 95 at 40, the rough equivalent of Bonds going from 49 homers to 73 virtually overnight -- and it still comes down to the same thing.

The man who was admired is white. The man who has been vilified is black. There's simply no getting around that.

This is not to say that Bonds has not deserved every bit of the hell he brought upon himself. He wasn't brought down by BALCO or Victor Conte or an investigation. Bonds was brought down by his own character flaws, his own insecurities, his own illegal actions.

So, too, was Clemens.

The problem is that for roughly the same period that Bonds has been under scrutiny, Clemens has been praised. Clemens is two years older than Bonds, and has matched him, year for year, award for award, contract for contract. And yet, despite press-box snickers, there hasn't been a fraction of the suspicion and outrage heaped upon Bonds.

Well, now there'd better be. Every question we ask about Bonds -- How many homers would he have if he played clean? Should his "record" come with an asterisk? Does he deserve the Hall of Fame? -- must now be asked of Clemens, too.

How many wins? How many Cys? How many Ks?

Neither Clemens nor Bonds has ever failed a Major League Baseball drug test, which has a lot more to do with the integrity of the testing than the integrity of the athletes. But suspicion alone has been enough to convict Bonds in the court of public opinion. Why shouldn't it be the same with Clemens? No doubt, today people will be saying we have to wait until all the facts are in before judging Clemens.

The fact is, you don't need a positive drug test to pinpoint when Clemens went over to the dark side, or the testimony of a "personal trainer" turned rat, or a canceled check or a syringe full of his blood, any more than you do with Bonds.

It's all right there on the back of his baseball card. By 1996, when the Red Sox, after two seasons of declining wins and rising ERA, decided he was a punched ticket, Clemens was 192-111 with about 2,500 strikeouts -- about the same as Dwight Gooden, no one's idea of a Hall of Famer.

After that, he took off like, well, a Rocket, putting up better numbers at 41 than he had at 25. Four of his seven Cy Youngs came post steroids, plus another 2,400 strikeouts. If we are inclined to disregard all of Bonds' accomplishments after 1999, when he crossed over, shouldn't we do the same with Clemens?

Of course we should. It shouldn't even be a question. Why, it should be as plain as black and white.

Which, of course, is a big part of the problem.