Norton Tennis' Tough Loss to Dedham; Jenkins takes home a victory

   The Norton Lancer Boys Tennis Team lost a tough out-of-league match against the Dedham Marauders on May 7th, 2015 by a score of 1-4 at Dedham High School in Dedham MA.  This was due simply to being outplayed and outworked by the Marauders team. This was the first match for the Lancers as they have never faced the Marauders before this year. The only triumph on the day was for senior captain Brandon Jenkins. Although Jenkins came away with the victory, it was not enough for a Norton victory.

    Norton did not play its best  during this match. They lacked motivation and were outplayed during their matches. They gave up easy points and didn't put away shots when necessary. Many of the players from Norton simply gave up during the match and put in no effort or fight towards a victory. They played with no passion or heart and it ultimately resulted in their loss. 

   Norton made major switches in their lineup for this match. While missing one of the two members of the first doubles team, Sean Murphy, they needed to make switches to accommodate the loss. Their traditional second singles player, Alex Belinsky, moved down to first doubles, while third singles, sophomore Devin Kalnicki, moved up one spot to second singles. With the second doubles team of John Munger and Derek Kalnicki on a hot streak, they stayed in their spot at second doubles. First alternate Liam Lenhart entered the match jumping all the way up to third singles to round out the lineup for the Norton team. However, the change in lineup had no major effect on the outcome of the match as it ended in a Norton loss.

" It was a tough loss, but hopefully we will put up a better fight next time we face them", said John Munger

 The lineup for the match against Dedham was as follows:

First Singles- Brandon Jenkins(N) vs. Greg Gentleman(D)

Second Singles- Devin Kalnicki(N) vs. Brendan Flis(D)

Third Singles- Liam Lenhart(N) vs. Noah Littman(D)

First Doubles- Alex Belinsky and Robbie Douglas(N) vs. Kameel Rachmani and Saud Shah(D)

Second Doubles- John Munger and Derek Kalnicki(N) vs. Ben Springer and Ryan Heilman(D)

  The Dedham Marauders played excellent against the Lancers. They played best at the net. Finishing volleys and ending points with massive overheads was the way in which they took home the victory. The first doubles team for Dedham were incredible at the net putting away any ball that came to them.  They were a team with many great servers as well. Unlike the Lancer team that struggles with getting first serves in, they managed to make very few double faults and got the majority of their first serves in play. First singles for Dedham, Greg Gentleman, almost always got his first serve in. Another great aspect of their play was the power that they had behind their groundstrokes. They managed to return the ball with great speed and control. This was a major factor in the Dedham win.

     Jenkins was the only winner on the day beating tenth grader Greg Gentleman. Jenkins lost by a score of 2-6 in the first set, as he was getting used to the play of the young player out of Dedham. He came back strong beating Gentleman handsomely by a score of 6-1. Jenkins had the advantage throughout the match with his quick feet and ability to get to almost all the balls hit to his side.  In the third set, Jenkins beat Gentleman 7-6. Jenkins came away with the victory by causing Gentleman to make simple mistakes. Gentleman gave away easy points and it set the course for the rest of the match. Jenkins plays a simple game against his opponents. He normally will return back to his opponent and wait for them to make a mistake. He rarely hits hard winners.  This is what happened during his match against Gentleman. Jenkins worked hard to come away with the "W". 

 Jenkins said, " Mentally, I was all there and that really helped in my win."

   After this loss, it brings their record to 1-9. They will play Holliston on May 11th. The Lancers are hoping for a victory against the Panthers as they return to their home courts to play. They will need to start winning if they hope to make it into the Tri-Valley league Tournament. 

Munger on his loss against Dedham

 

Blog Post #9 Deflate-Gate

      Deflate gate is the newest scandal in the NFL and the Patriots Organization. The problem being that 11 of the 12 Patriots footballs were under the league regulated 12.5 psi. Evidence states that Tom Brady worked with equipment manager and locker room attendant, John Jastremski and Jim McNally on game day of the AFC Championship Game against the Colts to have the footballs deflated to provide an advantage to the Patriots. Claims state the both Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick knew nothing of this intentional deflation of footballs.  Deflated footballs provide the team with the ability to fumble less and drop less passes. This topic is also controversial because the Patriots have the best percentage of least fumbles in the league; 1 out of every 187 plays  compared to the rest of the league 1 out of every 105. This brings up the argument of were the Patriots using deflated footballs during every game or was it just the one time event during the AFC Championship Game?

    In charge of the investigation against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots was Ted Wells. He compiled a 243 page report accusing Brady of the deflation of the footballs before the Championship Game. The report lacked evidence that would hold up in a court of law. The evidence he presented in his report would bring readers to the assumption that Tom Brady was guilty, but provides no legitimate evidence that prove that Brady is 100% guilty. All of his evidence is circumstantial and would be torn to shreds if it was presented to a lawyer. I do believe that Brady was involved one way or the other, but I feel that the accusations from the Wells Report are not conclusive enough to accuse Brady of being fully guilty of Deflate Gate. Wells has been known to be bias of the Patriots and Tom Brady showing signs of hatred towards Brady and The Patriots. He erupted into a fit of rage after reporters questioned the legitimacy of his report.

   For their punishment, The Patriots were fined $1,000,000 and the loss of two first round draft picks. Brady was suspended the first 4 games of the 2015-2016 season. I believe that since there is no hard evidence against Brady, the suspension of the first four games is unfair. The saying you win as a team, you lose as a team plays into effect when in it comes to punishing the Patriots. The fine and loss of draft picks, while severe, is fair. They have to take the punishment and look on the bright side. Every game they finish is one game closer to the end of Brady's punishment. The loss of the draft picks is going to be tough, but the Patriots are a strong team and they will figure out a way around those two losses. Goodell has been under much scrutiny with claims of him being corrupt. This severe punishment is his way of showing fans, players, and coaches that he is still fit to run the league.

  If I was in charge of the punishment that would go to Brady and the Patriots, I would take away one  draft pick and fine them $1,000,000. Since the evidence against Brady is not firm, I would not suspend Brady. If they find more substantial evidence, I would consider a suspension of Brady and possibly a greater fine to the team. I would also need to review to see if there was the possibility of the balls be deflated during the game simply due to weather conditions at the time of the game and not because members in the Patriots Organization intentionally deflated the footballs. It would be an ongoing investigation that could possibly lead to future punishment or the overturning of punishments.

Blog Post #8

Summary:

        The sports documentary The Short Game, director Josh Greenbaum, presents eight golfers in the 2012 U.S. Kids World Golf Championship. The film opens with introductions of the eight competitors who are from all over the globe. Their ages range from 7 to 8 years old. These eight golfers are the best young golfers that this world has ever seen. The competitors are Allan Kournikova, brother of tennis superstar Anna Kournikova. Allen ends up wining the tournament for his age group.  The next hails from South Africa, he is Zama Nxsana. The next six are Alexa Pano, Jed Dy, Augistine Valery, Sky Sudberry, and Amari Avery. This documentary shows the friendships the kids gain from golfing competitively and it also shows the stress of the game and how they overcome the stress. The movie shows the three days of play and going into the last round there are four competitors who are in the lead. They are Allen vs. Justin Shui and Amari vs. Sky. Jed, who is a favorite to win in his age group showed up late and received a 10 stroke penalty and this automatically took him out and lost his chance at winning. The following year he showed up an hour early and ended up winning the tournament.  It ends up being Allen and Amari victorious for their age group. Zama wins most improved player moving from 43rd place to 18th place and is immediately invited back next year. The children gain valuable life lessons and new friends and experiences from this tournament and they can't wait to go back next year.


Analysis:
The speaker of the documentary, Josh Greenbaum presents eight golfers with the occasion being the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship Tournament. The audience of this documentary are parents and children and anyone who likes the sport of golf. The purpose of the documentary was to display some of the best young golfers all over the world. The strategies used in this documentary were important in evoking different attitudes and atmospheres in the movie. They used montages and different choices of music for different situations in the movie. For example, when we hear that Jed receive a ten stroke penalty they play somber music as a way to evoke a somber feeling in the viewer. This way the viewer almost feels as though they are part of the movie. Another great strategy was having the kids lip sync "How you like me now" at the end of the movie. It was a great end to a great movie. The tone of the movie was holistically upbeat and fun, it had its moments of sadness or anxious moments, but all-in-all, I would say the movie had a very happy, funny tone. There was some bias in the movie. There was bias towards its benefits of the championship and also the negative effects of not winning. I really enjoyed this movie and I would recommend it to anyone. The kids were all incredibly funny and I really enjoyed watching the film.


Rhetorical Precis:
In Josh Greenbaum's sports documentary, "The Short Game(2012),he shows the effect that golf has on the children in this tournament and displays valuable life lessons. The narrator first introduces the eight competitors in this golf tournament. He then shows their play through the three day tournament. His purpose is to show some of the best young golfers all over the world and show the effects that competitive golf has on kids of such a young age. His audience is parents and children and fans of golf.