Penn State Scandal

Penn State Scandal
The first thing that I want to say about this whole debacle is that I feel terrible for the victims. These are not even teenage boys who were taken advantage of by a sick, disgusting man. The riots and everything that has been going on is all about JoePa and it seems that a lot of people have forgotten about these kids who are the true victims of this whole thing.
Now our school has been all over every single news station including ESPN since Saturday or Sunday, I don’t even remember when the news broke. My opinion of the whole thing is as follows: Spanier is a piece of poop and JoePa was unnecessarily forced out. Spanier was the one who called the New York Times in the first place so that they could be notified of the possible exit of JoePa. Spanier was trying to use JoePa as a scapegoat and svae his own ass. He definitely needed to go because he is the President and when he was informed, it’s his job to call the police and get an investigation going. Now, according to the rules, JoePa did what he was supposed to do. He notified the AD and that’s it. According to the rules, he didn’t do anything wrong. My problem and everyone else’s problem is that he didn’t follow through. Morally as a human being, when you find out about something so terrible as this, you have to go to the police or something. Simply telling your superior and leaving it is pretty f*cked up. I mean, I heard an argument on the radio today that if someone told you your best friend was doing something terrible, you wouldn’t believe it right away. That’s true, and JoePa and Santouchsky were really close friends. So it’s understandable that he didn’t want to rat out his good friend immediately. One scenario that I can think of is JoePa going to the dude and asking what happened, finding out the truth and covering his back. That’s really messed up. Hopefully that isn’t what happened though.
As for McQueary, he really needs to grow a pair. I’m sorry for the vulgar language but it’s the best way I can put it. You walk into a shower and see the stuff that’s going on and you don’t have the balls to call 911? He definitely needs to go, too. I just don’t see how that’s possible.
The riots that have happened the last two nights have progressively gotten worse. Last night plenty of people were throwing beer cans at cops, screaming and yelling, knocking down lamp posts and a news van was knocked over. If we lose this weekend, the amount of damage that will be done is going to be ridiculous.
In the end of all this stuff, I think everyone really got what they deserved. Obviously Santouchsky needs to be locked up and never released, I’m not really one for the death penalty, I think a life sentence is basically the same thing. JoePa should have done more. He did what he was “supposed” to do but that’s not enough. I think that the Board of Trustees should have let him finish out the season and let him go at the end of it. He’s meant too much to this place so be basically thrown out on his @$$.

Weak Paragraph Revision

Original
In conclusion, is it really worth it? That’s all I want to know. Do coaches, administrators, university officials, boosters and players all think it is worth it to cheat? More and more of these NCAA infractions are getting brought to the table and when the school, coach or player gets caught, they have nothing to say. It is not worth taking the money if you’re a player, or paying the player if you’re a coach or booster. Play by the rules, and the rules won’t play you.
Revision
When it comes down to it, is it really worth it? All the cheating, lying, scheming and under-the-table payments almost always come back to bite the cheater in the butt. The player loses all of his accomplishments like Reggie Bush; the coach loses his job and his reputation is forever tarnished like Jim Tressel; and programs like SMU will need more than twenty years to even field a semi-respectable team. The NCAA is instituting major penalties on any form of cheating to show that anyone who breaks the rules will be severely punished. So, basically, play by the rules, and the rules won’t play you.

Sports and Scandals

The issue of the article titled “The Fall of Jim Tressel” out of Sports Illustrated is exactly what it says it is. Jim Tressel was once one of the most prestigious college football coaches in the country, working his way up from mid-major Youngstown State to take over the program at The Ohio State University. He started off in fantastic fashion, restoring glory to the Buckeye tradition that had somewhat lost its stride. He was 9-1 all-time against Michigan and finished with a winning percentage of 82.8% (Dohrmann, 1). This past summer, everything went downhill for Jim Tressel. The coach that was nicknamed “The Senator” because of his alleged upright stature and truth telling was found to be a fraud basically the whole time. NCAA infractions started back while he was at Youngstown State and every time something was brought to his attention, all he could muster up to the media or investigators was, “uh, I don’t know.” The same continued while he was at Ohio State with the Maurice Clarett business and even onto the Terrell Pryor memorabilia for tattoos ordeal. He knew about all of this the whole time and thought he could get away with it. Now, he won’t be remembered as a great Hall-Of-Fame-like coach, he’ll be remembered as the guy who cheated before he even made it big.
The author’s stance on the issue is that Tressel basically cheated his way to the top and thought that he could continue to do it when he got there. As previously stated, any time an infraction or violation was brought to his attention, he acted like it was the first time he was hearing about it. In reality, he was the one who sent that specific player to talk to the booster or even recommended the tattoo parlor to Terrell Pryor and co. He cheated his way and was finally, and rightfully, caught.
The piece is organized very well. There are a good amount of times where the author jumps back in time to either explain something that was previously said or something that he is about to say; however, it is not hard to follow him and you feel like he is trying to convince you to see his side. He gives lots of facts and statistics about Tressel’s winning percentage and coaching career if tries to make the reader feel sympathetic; but than he quickly pulls the reader back and shows how bad of a guy Tressel is.
I agree with Dohrmann because Tressel got what he deserved. Hoenstly, Dohrmann went a little off his rocker at some points and I felt like he was going to say to kill Jim Tressel; however, he made plenty of good points and backed them all up with solid evidence from players to lawyers. I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
The main thing that I want to incorporate into my paper is the strong voice that Dohrmann uses. He does it a bit over the top but I can see where he is coming from. I want my readers to feel how passionate I am about my position and the side that I chose that they will join it with me.

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Cheating in youth sports is a growing problem all across the country. Coaches have been reported to have mentally, verbally and even physically abused kids starting at the age of 9. These kids in turn obviously are under an enormous amount of pressure to perform well and when they don't they are also getting attacked by their parents. New generation parents push their kids and make them work out at ages where kids shouldn't be touching any weights. The controversy that I see in this is that parents and coaches try to push their kids too much. They need to understand that some kids weren't made out to play sports and if the kid wants to play than he/she will play. Salter, Jim (11/29/2005). "CHEATING, ABUSE REPORTED IN YOUTH SPORTS". The Augusta chronicle

Gay men and women in the army has been a topic of discussion for the last decade. Ever since gay people have been open about their sexuality, the army has been one of the institutions or branches of government that has been in question about allowing them in. I think that gay people should be allowed in the army like they are today. I think this because regardless of a person's sexuality, they should be able to serve our country and die for what they believe in. (03/26/1997). "Gays in the Army". Times (London, England : 1788)

Arizona's new immigration law has been on the minds of all Americans since its establishment. The law states that if a police officer thinks of any person to be illegal, he can go up and ask to see the person's "papers." These papers are to show that the person is a legal immigrant. I think that this is a bit of a privacy violation; however, I think that these illegal immigrants should be sent back to the country from where they can from. Harrop, Froma (12/30/2007). "Will Arizona's immigration law work?". Herald (Glasgow, Scotland)

Bear Vs. Bear

The two things that I am going to be comparing and contrasting are the first two album covers from Kanye West. The names of the albums, respectively, are "College Dropout" and "Late Registration." The first of the albums is "College Dropout," which was released on February 10th, 2004. This cover has a picture of a man in a full on bear costume right in the center. The bear is sitting in the first row of bleachers of a gym with his head down, showing that he must be a dropout. The banner around the part of the cover with the bear in it is gold and look to be leaves around a wreath. An interesting part of this album cover is that nowhere on the cover does a person see Kanye West's name or the title of the album itself. The second of the albums is "Late Registration." In this cover, the same bear is in the middle of an open doorway with doors that look like they are to the entrance of Hogwarts. There is a spotlight behind the bear to show the significance of him coming back to school. There is a chandelier in the top and middle portion of the cover; however, there is no banner or anything like that to bring more attention to one part of the cover. I think that the spotlight in the background does that for the bear. Finally, in this cover Kanye's name and the name of the album are both present.

There aren't really a good amount of similarities between these two album covers. The main part of the covers are similar though. The bear is present in both, which is quite odd that Kanye chose to make the figure a man in a bear costume rather than just standing for the picture himself (personally, I think its because he never even showed up to his orientation for college). Another similarity between these two covers is that each has its own way of bringing all the attention right to the bear, even if that wasn't already done. The cover of "College Dropout" does this by creating a banner around the bear sitting on the bleachers. The cover of "Late Registration" does this by having the spotlight come through the Hogwarts doors right onto the back of the bear, creating a shadow that basically makes the bear look badass.

There are also a good amount of differences between these two Kanye album covers that makes them unique. The first =main difference is that in "College Dropout" it doesn't say Kanye West, the name of the album or the Record Company at all. On the other hand, "Late Registration" has all of these elements clearly visible except for the Record Company, which is listed on the back. Another difference is that there is no banner present on the cover of "Late Registration" to bring attention to the bear. The final difference is that in the first cover the bear is very upset and in the second the bear is making his triumphant return.