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Reflection Blog

June 1st, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

1.  In your opinion, what was the purpose of this blogging activity? (Why did I choose to do blogging instead of more traditional writing activities?)

     In my opinion, I thought the blogging activity was very useful this year. Traditional writing activities are almost always old and boring, and what would happen is we’d have to write about some boring topic that we didn’t care much about and we didn’t really enhance our writing skills at all. However, with Ms. Rumford giving us the blogging activity, we got to pick our own topic that we really enjoyed and were fascinated by. Therefore, when writing about something we’re passionate about, the voice truly comes out, and you can just see the writing skills strengthening with every week. Also, most people our age are better writers and more comfortable writing on computers (including myself) and they develop skills quicker than if they were to write with paper and pencil. Therefore, I think all of Ms. Rumford’s students became much stronger writers in just the month we’ve been using the blogs.

2.  What have you accomplished during your blogging?

     During our blogging activities, I am proud to say that I have become a much stronger writer. Before, all I would write in my blogs is the bare minimum. Just last week, however, I just kept writing and writing and got so passionate about it, that by the time I pasted it onto Word document to count up the words, I am proud to say that I wrote over 1070 words, compared to the 400 word minimum! I think I have become a better writer in that way that I can just kind of escape into my writing.

3.  What key concepts have you learned while blogging? (This can be about writing, research or technology etc.)

     Some key concepts that I have learned through blogging are vocabulary and sentence fluency. I learned that just changing a simple word like good or bad into something like exceptional or mediocre can not only make your writing better and more interesting, but it helps the flow of the sentences, making it much easier to read.

4. Based on the skills you learned while blogging, how will this benefit you in the future? This maybe inside or outside of school.

     Based on some skills I used in doing the blogs, I know I will be benefited later on in life. I now know that I can keep in touch with sports and other events going on in the World, even if they’re being taken place at very late times and in different countries, just by using the internet. Using the internet, I was able to watch highlights of games, and read Play-By-Plays of games. Also, like I said before, all of us benefited by becoming better writers, so that will obviously help us later on in life in school. Also, using blogs at an early age like this gets us to be more comfortable with using this system so that in college or work when you are required to make a journal or blog, you will be much better at doing it, and will know how to do it better.

This has been an amazing year in Language Arts, and I’ve definitely learned a lot that I think will stay with me throughout my life.

Almost There

May 30th, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

     Oh man! This has been one compelling week. We have one team in the Finals already, and two teams still battling it out for the other Finals position. This week, I’m going to start off with the Western Conference, for a change. Last week, we found the thrilling LA Lakers – Denver Nuggets series at a slight advantage, 2-1, in the series for the Lakers. With the fourth game in the series, the explosive Nuggets conquer the game with a 19 point blowout, 120-101. Sadly for all Denver Nugget fans, that would be the very last win for the Nuggets in the 2009 Playoffs. The Lakers knew they had to pick up momentum again, or else suffer elimination from the Playoffs. With the fifth game, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters were literally neck to neck, point to point between the Lakers and Nuggets. First quarter, both teams score 25 points. Second quarter, both teams score 31 points. And shockingly, the third quarter ended with both teams scoring 20 points. So the score is 76-76 to start the fourth quarter. This is where the Lakers knew they had to accelerate. So they pushed it and pushed it, until the Nuggets were no match for them. To start off the sixth game, the Nuggets knew they had to win this game in order to avoid elimination, and the game after to get in the Finals. I personally believe knowing the fact that the opposing team going against you has an advantage and only needs one more game to eliminate you is too much pressure to bear. The Denver Nuggets did not play to their best abilities, they did not bring their “A” game. That is why they lost to a surprising 27-point blowout. The Lakers are now the Western conference champions, and will be in the Finals against either the Orlando Magic, or the Cleveland Cavaliers.

     Speaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic, here’s what’s happening in their series for the Eastern Conference championships and the last position opposite the LA Lakers for the 2009 NBA Finals. Last week the Finals were even 1-1. The third game resulted in the Orlando Magic winning by 10 points, 99-89. The fourth game resulted in a 116-114 victory for the Magic which surprised the World, including myself, tremendously. The top-seeded team in the league was losing 3-1 to the Orlando Magic. With that kind of pressure and stress, I believed the Cavaliers’ 2009 Playoff run would be finished. However, “King” James refused to have the Championship that he rightfully deserves to be stripped from him that easily. With Game 5, LeBron led his team to a 10-point victory. As his teammates ran up to celebrate their victory, LeBron walks off the court with am angry frown on his face, telling the World that they must be fools if they think the Orlando Magic will stop him.

     Stay tuned next week for the latest updates on the 2009 Playoffs.

Conference Finals

May 24th, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

    There are only two phrases that truly describe the 2009 Conference Finals: Gut-Wrenching, and very evenly matched. This week, we’re in the 2009 Conference Finals. Let us start off with my “home” conference, the Eastern Conference. We have the dominant and first-seeded, Cleveland Cavaliers (led by LeBron James). Against the Cavaliers, we have the Orlando Magic (led by center, Dwight Howard). It’s quite coincidental that these two leaders and their teams face off in the conference finals, because Dwight Howard was once dubbed the “future-LeBron James” (due to his domination in his high school career, which was quite similar to LeBron’s). People believed Dwight Howard would, in fact, surpass Mr. James as being the greatest high school ball player of all time. Unlike my expectations, the Orlando Magic and the Cleveland Cavaliers have proven to be, literally, equal teams in this series. With Game 1, after the first quarter, it appeared to everyone that the Cavaliers would remain undefeated, with the score 33-19 for the Cavs. The Cavaliers seemed to slack off a little bit, and the half ended with the score of 63-47. The Cavs had scored 30 points and the Magic had scored 29 in that quarter. Still maintaining the lead, the Cavs had nothing to worry about, but the Magic knew that winning this game would be crucial; it would put them in the lead of the best team in the NBA. They knew they had to “buck up”, and show the Cavaliers what they’re made of. The third quarter surprised the Cavaliers and their home city of Cleveland (which was where Game 1 took place). The Magic put up a stunning 30 points to the Cavaliers’ mere 19 points. Let’s skip to the end of the 4th quarter, 25.6 seconds remaining; the Magic gain control of the game, with the score of 104-103. LeBron James gets the ball, dribbles past Rafer Alston, and shoots a jump shot (2-point shot). He’s fouled hard by the aggressive Dwight Howard but makes the shot anyway. This is, what we call in basketball, an “And One”. It’s when you shoot or lay-up, and you get fouled, but you make the shot anyway. What happens is you get the amount of points the shot was worth, and you also take one free throw shot. This term become so popular that a basketball clothing and shoewear company was established, called And One of sometimes known as And 1. Anyway, going back to the game, LeBron hits the jumper and gets his free-throw. He nails it for the three-point play, and for his 49th point in the game. This puts the Cavs back in the lead, 106-104. Less than 9 seconds later, Magic guard, Rashad Lewis pulls up for the 3-point shot and sinks it, putting the Orlando Magic in the lead, 106-107! I cannot explain with words the adrenaline rushing through the blood of the players, staff, and fans. People are jumping out of their seats, the Cavaliers can’t believe their own eyes. With 14 seconds left, the Cavaliers are throwing up any shots they can, trying to score 2 points to win the game. Their efforts are futile, and, for the first time in the 2009 Playoffs, the Cavaliers suffer their first loss.

     Game 2 was a very similar story, but so unbelievable that it’s almost unrealistic. Game 1 seemed to be a wake-up call for the Cavaliers, and they started the first quarter of Game 2 doing what they’ve done this whole year, dominate. With the score at 30-16 for the Cavs, they almost doubled the Magic’s score. This lead was just enough for this game. Throughout the next 2 quarters, the Magic scored more points than the Cavs did, and at the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 69-75. Quarter 4 of that game will be remembered. We’re going to, again, skip to the end of the quarter, with 48.7 seconds left on the clock. The score is perfectly tied, 93-93. Jawad Williams (Cleveland Cavaliers forward) tries for the tie-breaking jump-shot but is savagely blocked by the great Dwight Howard. With literally 00:01:00 left on the clock (exactly 1 second) Magic player, Turkoglu hits the jump-shot to put the Magic in the lead. With the timeout, the Cavs have literally no more than 1 second left on the clock. With hope leaving the Cavaliers’ fans’ hearts, a win is nearly impossible, and many fans accept the fact that they’ve lost this second game. LeBron James thinks otherwise. As many fans leave their seats and exit the arena, and with the pass-in by Jawad Williams LeBron fires the jump-shot from behind the 3-point arc. As the buzzer goes off showing the end of the game, the ball is in the air. As it beautifully travels towards the net, my mouth completely dropped. The ball goes in the net, after the buzzer (if it’s in the air as the buzzer goes off, it counts), putting the Cavaliers in a 1 point lead, 107-106, and winning Game 2 in the series. I was literally frozen from shock. The remaining fans in the arena are going wild. LeBron truly showed them why he’s been named “King James”.

    The other series currently taking place, the LA Lakers-Denver Nuggets series is nearly as close. Kobe Bryant, the second best player in the 2009 Playoffs, takes his team up against the number 5 and number 9 top ranked players, Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups players’ team, the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers win Game 1, 105-103. With Game 2, the Nuggets fire back, winning 106-103. The Lakers won’t be defeated that easily, however, and narrowly beat the Nuggets, 103-97. I predict the Nuggets will win this game being played at 3 A.M. tonight. Who knows what’s in store for these two series, being two of the closest series (and the Cleveland-Orlando series being the closest) series of all time.

     Stay tuned for next week for the new 2009 Playoff updates.

 

 

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Time to Shine

May 16th, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

     The playoffs are just simply electrifying at the moment. I honestly can’t think of how it could have possibly been going any better. We have the overpowering Cavaliers rated as top-seed, winning the series 4-0 against the Atlanta Hawks. They have yet to be defeated, conquering every team attempting to even win a single game in a series against them. It’s phenomenal how they’re already in the Eastern Conference Finals without a loss under their belt, going up against powerful teams such as the Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks. Most people, not knowing much about the NBA, don’t seem to fathom what an astonishing accomplishment this is. This is all due to “super-human”, Cavaliers forward, LeBron James. Since his time in high school, he was known as the “future Michael Jordan”. For people who live under a rock and don’t know who Michael Jordan is, he is basically known as the “King” of basketball, being considered the greatest basketball player of all time. Some people had a difficult time believing he would live up to such expectations, but honestly, who could? He’s definitely not the only player to have such expectations, other players who have been dubbed “future Michael Jordan” include Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and Kobe Bryant to name a few. Dominating the high school league, LeBron James was already such an astounding player that he hadn’t reached college level before being drafted to the NBA in the 2003-2004 season. That’s right, he was drafted into the NBA with only high school experience. Since his rookie year, he has been on the list of top NBA players, even receiving the Rookie of the Year Award. Throughout his career, he has endured immense frustration, having to deal with mediocre teammates. During the 2006-2007 season, he was able to carry his whole team to the Finals, but got swept by the San Antonio Spurs. However, this season, with a few new additions and changes to the team, including former Pistons legend, Ben Wallace, the Cavaliers are on fire, with no competition so far.

    Going to the next Eastern Conference series, the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics, the series couldn’t be any closer, going into Game 7. This game will determine who makes it to the Eastern Conference Finals! I predict that the Magic will win this series, due to Dwight Howard stepping up, but it’s up for grabs for any team. Honestly, I think the only way the Cavaliers have a chance of being stopped before the Finals is if the Orlando Magic win their series.

    The Denver Nuggets have won their series 4-1, almost sweeping the renowned Dallas Mavericks. They now wait for either the Houston Rockets or the LA Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Now, this series has caused a great stir in the basketball world. The underdogs, the Houton Rockets, have won an upset victory against the LA Lakers to tie the series up at 3-3. The winner of this game will make it to the Western Conference Finals. To be honest, I think the fairy tale story will come short for the Houston Rockets. I think the Game 6 loss was enough to wake them up, and they’ll definitely be giving Game 7 all they’ve got.
                           That’s it for this week’s edition. Stay tuned for more Playoff updates.
 

Conference Semi-Finals

May 10th, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

     I can’t take the exhilaration; the increasing anticipation is too much to bear. We’re already in the Conference Semi-Finals. The reigning 1st seed in not only the Eastern Conference, but the league, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are continuing to dominate the playoffs; they’ve already swept the Detroit Pistons and now they have a 3-0 lead against the Atlanta Hawks. They haven’t lost even one game in all of the 2009 Playoffs, . The Hawks put up a good fight in trying to stop the Cavaliers from getting their third consecutive win against them, but their efforts were futile. They don’t call him “King James” for nothing, LeBron James dropped a stunning 47 points on the Hawks, their defense just couldn’t stop him, grabbing down twelve rebounds without any trouble. Surprisingly, the Hawks had less turnovers than the Cavs did, only letting up 8 turnovers compared to the Cavaliers with their 11 turnovers.
     The next stirring series is the Orlando Magic – Boston Celtics series. The series couldn’t be any closer with Orlando leading 2-1 against the 2008 champions, the Celtics. However, with Kevin Garnett injured, hope for the Celtics being victorious is looking pretty bad. The Magic have been making 50.0% of all of the 3-point shots taken compared to the low 27.8% for the Celtics.
     The next series causing quite a bit of stir is the LA Lakers – Houston Rockets series. The rivalry is getting much more intense throughout the series. Much stir is going on concerning the ejection of Rockets player, Ron Artest. Many Houston Rockets fans are deeply angered by the fact that Lakers player, Antoine Walker committed a foul, yet no call was made, but Ron Artest said some inappropriate things to Lakers star, Kobe Bryant and was ejected from the stadium. With the LA Lakers being the number 1 seed in the Western conference, and 2nd in the league, I predicted from the beginning they would win. However, the Rockets did show them up much more than I expected, and I thought they had a chance. However, with Rockets center, Yao Ming injured with a fractured foot, I am quite sure the Lakers have this in the bag. The Rockets could, however, prove me wrong.

The last series taking place presently, the Denver Nuggets – Dallas Mavericks series are going much different than I thought. With the Dallas being a renowned team for their great teamwork, I expected them to win. Shockingly, the mind-blowing Nuggets look like they will, not only win the series, but sweep the Mavericks. Personally, I’ve always loved the Nuggets and I do hope they go far in the Playoffs. One of the key sources of victory for the Nuggets is former Pistons star, Chauncey Billups. He’s been setting up great plays, and making spectacular 3-point shots to really get the Nuggets moving.
     That’s all for this week’s post, stay tuned next time for more detail. 

 

First Rounds

May 3rd, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

Here we are, the NBA Playoffs First Rounds are almost finished. So far, my favorite team, the Detroit Pistons, have been eliminated. The Pistons were swept 4-0 by the dominating LeBron James and his talented team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. During the regular season, the Cavaliers had the best overall record in the whole league, Eastern Conference and Western Conference. The loss for the Pistons was crushing, not only to the team and loyal fans, but for the whole city of Detroit. With the economy in Michigan doing as terrible as it is, and the auto-industry nearly filing for bankruptcy (thankfully President Obama passed the 70 billion dollar bail-out), there are thousands of loss jobs. On top of that, polls showed that Detroit is now the most violent city in America, and the city with the most murders. With such a difficult period of time for not only Detroit, but for all of Michigan, the people had hope. Hope that their hard-working basketball team, the Detroit Pistons, would win it all and bring pride and glory back to Detroit. It has been 5 years since the last NBA Finals trophy was won by the Pistons. Unfortunately for the city of Detroit, however, fairy tales rarely happen in the real world. A lot of hope was lost after the second loss, but by the third lost, the people had given up on the Pistons. For the past 6 years, the Pistons have made it to the playoffs and have not been eliminated any earlier than the Eastern Conference Finals, which broke the NBA record. It would have been amazing to have accomplished that incredible feat again, but that was not the case, unfortunately. That made the defeat even more embarrassing. The Pistons played their hearts out, but they were no match for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the critically-acclaimed “future Michael Jordan”, LeBron James.Not only were the Pistons eliminated in the first possible round of the NBA Playoffs, but they didn’t even win a game in a series against the Cavaliers, they literally shut them out. LeBron James could not be stopped, he played so beautifully that it seemed he was almost humilitating the Pistons. He has created many haters by doing so; even Facebook created a group called the “I Hate LeBron James” group. I’ve had some friends and relatives from Detroit join the group. Personally, it was hard to watch the Pistons lose, but I must congratulate the Cavaliers. After 6 frustrating years, LeBron James again gets the chance to win the Finals, and I do say he quite deserves it. He has carried his team to the playoffs before, even managing to drag them into the Finals, but his fellow teammates were quite mediocre. Now that the team has gotten better, I think the Cavaliers have a big chance of winning it all this year, and personally, now that the Pistons have been eliminated, I hope the Cavaliers will win it all. 

NBA Playoffs

April 26th, 2009 by · 2 Comments · Uncategorized

     Here we are; after eagerly waiting for a whole season, die-hard NBA fans get their reward; the NBA playoffs! The NBA playoffs are arguably the most exciting playoffs out of all sports.  16 teams, 4 rounds, and only 1 prize. Rounds are won by one of the two teams in, what we call, a series. In order to win a round, you must win a series of best of 7 games. This basically means two teams play each other in a series of games, and once one team has won 4 games, they have won the series. First, let me explain that the National Basketball Association (NBA) is divided in to two conferences: The Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. This is basically determined by their location on the U.S. However, teams in the mid-west such as the Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, and Indiana Pacers are in the Eastern Conference, even though other teams (such as the Minnesota Timberwolves) are located in the mid-west but are still in the mid-west. In each conference, there are 3 different divisions, but they don’t make a difference in the playoffs. The first rounds are called the  [Eastern or Western]  conference quarter-finals. This is the round with the greatest number of eliminations. Out of the 16 teams in the playoffs, 8 of them are eliminated in the conference quarter-finals. If a team makes it past the first round, they are set up to play one of the other 3 victorious teams in the conference semi-finals. With these rounds, 4 teams are eliminated. After this round comes the Eastern or Western Conference Finals. This is where the best two teams from each conference collide (the top two from the Eastern Conference play against each other, and the top two from the Western Conference play against each other). A win in this round will win you a trophy (either the Eastern or Western Conference championships). After this round is the most exciting round in all of basketball; the NBA Finals! The best team from each conference go head-to-head to win the greatest prize in the NBA; the NBA Championships. Stay tuned for more updates on the NBA playoffs.

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Freedom of Speech

April 18th, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

     The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America clearly states “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This basically means that U.S. citizens are free to practice any religion, say any opinions or facts (as long as they remain truthful), and that U.S. citizens are allowed to hold any kind of group meetings, or petition anything they want to. So, I will make sure everything I write about as a blogger is completely truthful and accurate.

     As a blogger, freedom of speech is very important to me. It gives me the right to say anything I want, and give my opinion about anything, as long as I don’t say anything untruthful. As a sports blogger, I can express my opinions and feelings towards a certain team, manager, or player. I can do this as much as I want, as long as I don’t make up any lies about this team, manager, or player. If I don’t like a team, I can say I hate the team, and give reasons why, as long as I don’t make up stuff, and if I do, I can be punished for libel. Libel is when you publish a false statement that damages someone’s reputation (especially an elected official).

 

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March 16th, 2009 by · No Comments · Uncategorized

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