Kennedy won tonight vs. Jefferson and the final score was 34 to 0! I think that will boost our team moral going into games in the future. We were definitely expected to with this game, and I am glad we shut them out. With this victory Jefferson moves to 6-0 this year, and still has their losing streak, now up to 21-0.
We played a great game and had a great cheering section for the Cougars. We tried to do stripes of green and gold in the student section, but that idea didn't really work out. Next time we should stick to all one theme.
And I might just say that I'm getting really tired of Jefferson always "hunting for the Cougars" and wearing hunting gear every time they play us. They should try to find something new next time. Oh well, the Cougars got the win.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Iowa Grown Racer
According to my parents, I was born and raised on the racetrack. This was because my grandpa used to race stock cars, so I was always at local tracks like Hawkeye Downs, Vinton, Farley, and Knoxville. I guess his love for racing was passed down to everyone in my family. We don't race or anything, and my grandpa gave it up a long time ago, but we all still love to watch NASCAR and other local races.
It's kind of been exciting because my favorite driver at hawkeye downs, since I was little, was Landon Cassill. Back then he was just a boy with a big dream, but this dream has turned into reality for him. He apparently started racing when he was just 3 years old, just go karts obviously, but it was still racing. He raced dirt bikes, and other cart races up in Newton, Iowa as early as age 10. When I first started liking him was when I saw him drive at hawkeye downs. I remember going to the races there every weekend, when he would race midget cars. I would always look up to him because he was a younger kid, just a few years older than me. The first time I watched him race I was probably just 7 years old. He was the KCRG number 9 car, and he eventually moved up and raced in a class called Late Models. Cassill was a great driver, with mostly clean passes and good intentions. I remember crying whenever somebody would spin him out or if he was out of the race for some reason. He worked his way up to the ASA series and did all this while he was going to high school. Cassill went to Jefferson, (Boooo!) and back then he was a pretty normal kid. I remember hearing that he broke the record for youngest winner in the ASA series and I was so happy. He even made me at one point want to be a race car driver when I grew up.
Landon went to a capitol of race car driving, Charlotte North Carolina to show off his driving talent. He participated in the 2006 GM Racing Development competition. This landed him a deal to be a test driver for Hendrick Motorsports. For the past 5 years, this is what he has been doing. In 2008 he started racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series under the race team JR motorsports (founded by Dale Earnhardt Jr.). He was the number 5 Chevrolet, and this is when I started following him again. In his first year of racing Nationwide cars he ran a limited schedule, only 19 races, and still won rookie of the year! That is a big accomplishment considering only 2 other drivers in history have won that honor when they weren't racing full time. Out of his 19 starts, he put together five top-10 finishes.
It's kind of been exciting because my favorite driver at hawkeye downs, since I was little, was Landon Cassill. Back then he was just a boy with a big dream, but this dream has turned into reality for him. He apparently started racing when he was just 3 years old, just go karts obviously, but it was still racing. He raced dirt bikes, and other cart races up in Newton, Iowa as early as age 10. When I first started liking him was when I saw him drive at hawkeye downs. I remember going to the races there every weekend, when he would race midget cars. I would always look up to him because he was a younger kid, just a few years older than me. The first time I watched him race I was probably just 7 years old. He was the KCRG number 9 car, and he eventually moved up and raced in a class called Late Models. Cassill was a great driver, with mostly clean passes and good intentions. I remember crying whenever somebody would spin him out or if he was out of the race for some reason. He worked his way up to the ASA series and did all this while he was going to high school. Cassill went to Jefferson, (Boooo!) and back then he was a pretty normal kid. I remember hearing that he broke the record for youngest winner in the ASA series and I was so happy. He even made me at one point want to be a race car driver when I grew up.
Landon went to a capitol of race car driving, Charlotte North Carolina to show off his driving talent. He participated in the 2006 GM Racing Development competition. This landed him a deal to be a test driver for Hendrick Motorsports. For the past 5 years, this is what he has been doing. In 2008 he started racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series under the race team JR motorsports (founded by Dale Earnhardt Jr.). He was the number 5 Chevrolet, and this is when I started following him again. In his first year of racing Nationwide cars he ran a limited schedule, only 19 races, and still won rookie of the year! That is a big accomplishment considering only 2 other drivers in history have won that honor when they weren't racing full time. Out of his 19 starts, he put together five top-10 finishes.
Even since then, Cassill has grown as a racer a lot. In 2010 he officially made his NASCAR Sprint Cup debut. At 21 years old he started racing full time for Phoenix racing. He went from just testing cars for Hendrick Motorsports, to driving the number 51 Cheverolet. The top finish of his career was 12th at the beginning of this year at the Michigan race track. As a young driver he has to prove himself, especially now as he looks for his sponsors. His main goal is just for his team to have faith in him, and to learn from every experience he has.
“I want to keep showing improvement to a point that my team has enough faith in me that I can do this and I can be in the car every week."
“We expect it to be tough, and sometimes we have some good weeks and sometimes we have bad weeks. And you kind of see what makes you run good then you kind of see what you did that helped out and try to repeat it and when you run bad you try not to do it again.”
Cassill knows how hard Sprint Cups rides are to come by, and he is very grateful for all his chances. It was amazing that he grew up in Cedar Rapids, and that I used to go watch him race late models every single week. My family always said he had great potential, and the fact that he made his dream come true shows he has a lot of talent and a lot of heart.
In the end, when we think of famous people that grew up in Cedar Rapids, names that come up are Ashton Kutcher, Kurt Warner, Grant Wood, and Zach Johnson. You don't often think about Landon Cassill as being somebody who is super famous yet. Most people don't even know he started his career here. I think this 22 year old kid still has a lot of potential to make an even bigger name for himself over his years.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Racial Sports Tensions
There is a great controversy dealing with sports and school mascots still going on today. Native Americans have spoken up about mascots that offend them. As white Americans, many of us don't know the Native American history, but for many years they didn't have a voice. Well now they do and they are taking a stand on this issue.
Today, many schools and teams have names and logos that are offensive to Native Americans. We don't realize this as much because for years and years we as kids have "played Indian" and didn't think anything of it. We don't realize that as kids and as adults we all are exposed to the Native American stereotype that they ride horses, do chants, are crazily religious, and wear feathers in their hair. We borrowed names like the Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, and the Florida State Seminoles all from Native American concepts. The word Indian is not an appropriate name for a Native American and the term Redskin is even worse. On top of that, the mascots and team symbols are also degrading to the people and their heritage.
Many Native American people are pushing for the names, symbols, and mascots of the teams to be changed. They don't think its fair to use Indian and Redskin as a term referring to their race of people. Also, the mascots and symbols are not true to what a Native American looks like. Take Chief Illiniwick for instance, he was the Indian mascot for the University of Illinois that used to dance around at halftime of the football and basketball games. The school said that Chief Illiniwick's dance was an "authentic and traditional Native American dance" when it really wasn't. Many people then stood up against the school because he was said to be mocking the Native American race and their customs. He was stereotyping them as being crazy people that paint their faces, wear big feather headdresses, and dance around. They eventually banned him from doing the show anymore because it was considered hostile and abusive. Below is Chief Illiniwick's last dance at an Illinois basketball game in 2007.
I was really happy to hear some schools are changing their mascots willingly, and not just because they have to. For example Marquette University used to be named the Warriors, but changed their name to the Golden Eagles instead, the president of the school said this: "We live in a different era than when the Warriors nickname was selected in 1954. The perspective of time has shown us that our actions, intended or not, can offend others. We must not knowingly act in a way that others will believe, based on their experience, to be an attack on their dignity as fellow human beings."
I agree with what some schools and teams are doing by making an effort to change, but I think it needs to happen in professional sports as well. The Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Braves, and Cleveland Indians still use the same logos that portray Native Americans in a negative way.
Today, many schools and teams have names and logos that are offensive to Native Americans. We don't realize this as much because for years and years we as kids have "played Indian" and didn't think anything of it. We don't realize that as kids and as adults we all are exposed to the Native American stereotype that they ride horses, do chants, are crazily religious, and wear feathers in their hair. We borrowed names like the Chicago Blackhawks, Washington Redskins, Cleveland Indians, and the Florida State Seminoles all from Native American concepts. The word Indian is not an appropriate name for a Native American and the term Redskin is even worse. On top of that, the mascots and team symbols are also degrading to the people and their heritage.
Many Native American people are pushing for the names, symbols, and mascots of the teams to be changed. They don't think its fair to use Indian and Redskin as a term referring to their race of people. Also, the mascots and symbols are not true to what a Native American looks like. Take Chief Illiniwick for instance, he was the Indian mascot for the University of Illinois that used to dance around at halftime of the football and basketball games. The school said that Chief Illiniwick's dance was an "authentic and traditional Native American dance" when it really wasn't. Many people then stood up against the school because he was said to be mocking the Native American race and their customs. He was stereotyping them as being crazy people that paint their faces, wear big feather headdresses, and dance around. They eventually banned him from doing the show anymore because it was considered hostile and abusive. Below is Chief Illiniwick's last dance at an Illinois basketball game in 2007.
On the other side, many people are opposing changing the names of the rest of the teams considered offensive. First of all, many people cannot handle change. When fans have been rooting for their team for a very long time, they don't want to mess with tradition. The majority of people would be upset if their team had to change it's name. Others say that the names and symbols are not meant to be abusive to Native Americans, but are meant to pay tribute to their race and all they have been though. Kurt Swanson, vice president of the Washington Redskins, said the name Redskins, "Symbolizes courage, dignity, and the greatness and strength of a grand people." So many of the people that named the teams years ago had good intentions, and today they still think that they are just honoring the Native Americans.
In my opinion, the names and symbols that are considered offensive need to be removed. What would happen if we had a team named the Washington Blackskins? The Cleveland Jews? The Atlanta Whites? It would be a big deal and be really offensive to the races of people living here, right? So why isn't it a big deal to use these names for the Native American race? Yes, they are a minority group in this situation because they want the team names changed, but if it brings offense to them I think as Americans we should just deal with the changing tradition. America is about freedom and not discriminating against anybody, so we need to change the names and logos of the teams to something less demeaning.
I agree with what some schools and teams are doing by making an effort to change, but I think it needs to happen in professional sports as well. The Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Braves, and Cleveland Indians still use the same logos that portray Native Americans in a negative way.
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| Washington Redskins |
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| Chief Wahoo (Cleveland Indians) |
The First thing I think of when I see theses logos is that the Native American race is being cartooned and pretty much being made fun of. This is not the vision that should pop into a persons head of what a Native American is, but unfortunately for so many Americans that is the case. That is because at the games of these teams, fans dress up to look like the stereotype of being Native American.
The last reason why I think the teams names should be changed is that some of the things we say as fans of teams can be very wrong and derogatory towards the Native American race. As a total Dallas Cowboys fan, i even find myself making comments. The Washington Redskins are a big rivalry for the Cowboys, and at games people, including myself, shout things like "Kill the Redskins!!" Now how do you think that makes a redskin, an offensive term for Native American, feel? You are essentially saying "Kill the Native Americans!!" and to me, that is just not right.
Hobby and a Sport
To many people, when they think of bowling and golf, they think of the word hobby. It is just something you go play on the weekends that takes little to no skill. I play both of theese sports for Kennedy, so I know that both of them take determination and practice, just like any other sport out there. No, they are not the two most physical sports you can play, but both require a lot of accuracy.
In bowling, it isn't just about throwing the ball down the lane anywhere. It is a careful science of hooking the ball into the pocket. You do this by hitting a board, your mark on the lane, just one inch wide. Then, you have to calculate how many boards left or right you need to move your feet to pick up the spare, and hit the same mark again. If you miss your one inch mark you have a good chance of missing the spare.
Golf is all about patience. You drive the ball off the tee and try to hit it far while still being accurate on the spot you want. Golf is good because if you misshit a ball every once in awhile, you can make up for it by making a good recovery shot. It takes time to fine tune your swing, and determine which clubs you need to hit for each different shot.
Both sports are all about practice, so I think they should be taken seriously. I often get laughed at for not play the most popular sports, but both of the sports I play for school do take some serious work.
In bowling, it isn't just about throwing the ball down the lane anywhere. It is a careful science of hooking the ball into the pocket. You do this by hitting a board, your mark on the lane, just one inch wide. Then, you have to calculate how many boards left or right you need to move your feet to pick up the spare, and hit the same mark again. If you miss your one inch mark you have a good chance of missing the spare.
Golf is all about patience. You drive the ball off the tee and try to hit it far while still being accurate on the spot you want. Golf is good because if you misshit a ball every once in awhile, you can make up for it by making a good recovery shot. It takes time to fine tune your swing, and determine which clubs you need to hit for each different shot.
Both sports are all about practice, so I think they should be taken seriously. I often get laughed at for not play the most popular sports, but both of the sports I play for school do take some serious work.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
My First Blog Post. Ever.
Sports. Sports. Sports. There is nothing more interesting to me to talk about. I can argue about how the Dallas Cowboys should have won that game last Sunday night, or about how women should get as equal opportunities as men. I can talk about sporting events going on at Kennedy, because right now cross country, volleyball, women's swimming, men's golf, and football are in the middle of their seasons. I basically just want to "get in the conversation" and provide my opinions on the world of sports.
As for my first post, this is it. It isn't as glamorous as I thought it was going to be. I have so many different topics I can write about but I guess I don't know where to start. First of all, I will say that I am doing this blog for an AP Language class I am taking in high school. I wasn't so sure about the idea at first, but I think it might turn out to be a good thing for me to get some of my ideas out there. The reason I chose sports for a topic is that I am in love with both watching and playing sports. The sports I play are volleyball, bowling, golf, and softball so I guess I am partial to those, but I watch almost every single sport out there. My favorites to watch would have to be football, golf, and NASCAR.
My Favorite Teams or Players:
Football- Dallas Cowboys, Iowa Hawkeyes
Basketball- Boston Celtics, Iowa Hawkeyes
Baseball- Chicago Cubbies
NASCAR Driver- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Golf Player- Rickie Fowler
Bowler- Norm Duke
Hockey- Chicago Blackhawks
So you will probably hear a lot about those teams as I continue with this blog. Also, I really want to make it a point to talk about Kennedy High School sports as well. I find it important to have pride in my school, so I make it a point to attend as many athletic events as I can. Along with that, I will blog about the sports I play for school, which is just bowling and golf now. This blog will probably change over the course of the year because certain sports are play during certain parts of the year. Overall I can't wait to dig in and actually blog about some topics.
As for my first post, this is it. It isn't as glamorous as I thought it was going to be. I have so many different topics I can write about but I guess I don't know where to start. First of all, I will say that I am doing this blog for an AP Language class I am taking in high school. I wasn't so sure about the idea at first, but I think it might turn out to be a good thing for me to get some of my ideas out there. The reason I chose sports for a topic is that I am in love with both watching and playing sports. The sports I play are volleyball, bowling, golf, and softball so I guess I am partial to those, but I watch almost every single sport out there. My favorites to watch would have to be football, golf, and NASCAR.
My Favorite Teams or Players:
Football- Dallas Cowboys, Iowa Hawkeyes
Basketball- Boston Celtics, Iowa Hawkeyes
Baseball- Chicago Cubbies
NASCAR Driver- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Golf Player- Rickie Fowler
Bowler- Norm Duke
Hockey- Chicago Blackhawks
So you will probably hear a lot about those teams as I continue with this blog. Also, I really want to make it a point to talk about Kennedy High School sports as well. I find it important to have pride in my school, so I make it a point to attend as many athletic events as I can. Along with that, I will blog about the sports I play for school, which is just bowling and golf now. This blog will probably change over the course of the year because certain sports are play during certain parts of the year. Overall I can't wait to dig in and actually blog about some topics.
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