Last post?! What?!

Salazar 1             

Vanesa Salazar

Ms. Rumford

Self-Reflection

01/06/09

Last Post?! What?!

Through all the blog posts and all the wiki spaces that I have done, I probably have loved this blogging activity the best. It was just so fun to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about and give me own opinions because it was my blog and I had freedom of speech as a blogger. I didn’t have anyone telling me what to say or write; it was just me enjoying myself with what I love to talk about. Blogging was something really interesting, it was the first time that I had ever done a blog and the first experience, I must say, was pretty awesome! I understand a lot more what blogging is all about. I understand why we probably blog, what accomplishments it brings, what concept are interesting or need to know, and how it can benefit anyone in the future. It is an interesting way of working with your own style of writing. It’s all YOU!

                The purpose of this blogging activity, I believe, was just learning how to express ourselves in our own ways. Writing about what we wanted, what we loved, and what we believed in. We would just write and no one could say anything about it. It was us saying what we felt, and the writing helped us get more character in ourselves, open up more in our writing, and definitely trained us to write with voice whenever we can. It showed us that writing can actually be interesting and fun if it’s something we want to write about and if we can say what we feel having the right to. I chose to do blogging because I believe that it is so much more interesting than some boring traditional writing essay. This essay is usually the traditional writing essay, but it’s in a blog format now and it’s just really cool getting to say what we feel about blogging in our own way and sense. Blogging I think gives you more freedom to write so it wouldn’t really matter what we wrote, but when it comes to traditional writing, we probably have this topic that we have to be all serious about and in a specific format with a specific number of paragraphs and writing in a way that just isn’t you. This is why I have chosen blogging over any writing! It’s number one on my list!

                I have accomplished many things during my blogs. I have accomplished many tasks that would have actually taken me such a long time, in like probably an hour. I understand what information I need to get it research is all just so much easier. I beat the task of boredom. Usually when you blog, you can’t get bored because it is usually a topic that you always want to talk about. So you can basically never get bored! I completed the task of staying on task and seriously looking at all the information I get on my topic and stay focused, while at the same time, enjoy what I’m reading! I have accomplished the whole final thing! I have shown that I can write and blog! I have shown that even though something can seem so big, it is definitely possible in life. I thought that blogging every week was going to be a piece of cake; the first week was probably a killer! Then I started believing that it was going to be the hardest thing to keep up with! As time went by, I started to get used to it. I was meeting my deadlines and writing an outstanding amount of information that I thought was super interesting, but probably wasn’t even needed in the actual blog. I was accomplishing what I struggled on! I was beating that force that was

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telling me that I wasn’t going to be able to do the blogging; boy did I show that stupid force! It’s accomplishments that can be something big, but also something so small that will make you so proud during your life span and just give you memories to keep through your levels of accomplishments.

                There have been many key concepts through this process. One that was probably bugging me the whole time was how to actually work the whole site. Since I have never blogged before, I did not know what the heck I was doing. I was completely lost and knew nothing! During the span of time, I began getting the hang of it. I learned that you can save something that you are writing on the actual website and it will save it for you! I thought that was so cool! You could add pictures, link things, and even add videos! Now adding all those things to blogs was always tricky. There was always some difficult process that I had to go through to get all of that done. The only time that I tried it, I copied it wrong and something else happened and…basically, it turned out like a disaster. I definitely learned how to be more free and expressive with my writing with just letting myself know that these blogs were about me and how I felt. It didn’t matter everyone else’s opinions; this was my blog! It just made me love writing more than I used to. I learned that when researching, it is good to read the information that we are getting over and over again so that you are wording things correctly. I remember that I was reading this article and I would change their sentences into my own words, but when I would read my sentences, it wouldn’t make sense. I would have to go back, and re-read what I didn’t understand and re-word it. It was an interesting task and activity. Technology has just shocked me these days and I believe that with blogging, it has actually helped know a little bit more about the difference between a MAC and a PC. I know why they are so different now and how they work differently. It is only logical.

                The skills I learned will definitely help me move forward! I learned all these new things that I didn’t know about computers and writing, I even found out things I didn’t know about myself. I let myself be me and realize what I really was and who I really was. I know all of these things will help me move on with life when I disagree with things, I know what to do. I really want to be some sort of teacher and I believe that with the experience of doing blogs, I would absolutely love to have my students do this blog activity. It makes you be so open-minded and it can help you crack out of your shell. When people feel lost in the world, especially kids, you usually need something or someone to tell your things to. You will have problems that you will want to resolve or just tell someone about so that they can see who you truly are. Blogging, I believe, can help you do that. I think that blogging is a way of letting emotions and stories out and letting that help you calm yourself down. A blog can be like your best friend in the way that you are completely yourself and no one can change that. It’s the hidden you in writing. I know that what I have learned with blogging will definitely help me through high school. I am extremely terrified of how high school is going to be next year and I don’t know what will be able to help me. When I think about it, I remember that blogging has opened me up so much more to see opinions of others and to just see what I am actually thinking in my brain, I will be able to know how to think harder and try harder. I will become the better thinker and I will have more expression that can take me where I want to be. Through high school, college, final essays or papers, I will always have these blogs in my mind and I will know to use them whenever they are in need.

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Blogs are incredibly fun and I am going to miss it. I needed this blog to be a special one, so I was being myself all the way! I hope you can enjoy what I have accomplished through blogging and I know that if you try someday, you can just be like me and everyone else that it has changed their lives for it. I remember Ms. Rumford told us a story about a boy that wrote blogs in Costa Rica that wasn’t much of a friend person; he didn’t have many friends. When they began blogging, people were so anxious in having him post his blog because people would read it like a hawk! It was their way of watching a really good show! They loved his writing which made them get to know him a lot better and they all became really good friends because of how all the blogging let everyone see himself and his ways of expressing. Blogs are life changers! They describe you, you and ONLY you!

« The King of the Scorpion

The King of the Scorpion

                Through soccer legends, we have very talented players that have mad amazing accomplishments. These things aren’t only amazing; they are probably the sickest and coolest things I have ever seen! In Colombia, there was a legend called Rene Higuita that played for the national team that made goalies in the past, present, and probably in the future look terribly bad.

                Higuita was a Colombian soccer player that played for our national team. He helped us win the Colombian League in many games as in the Copa De Libertadores and La Copa Interamerica in 1989. He is famous for inventing the so called Scorpion kick when the keeper jumps forward, arches his legs over his head and when he does that, kicks the ball away with his heels. This save gave him the fame when he did the scorpion kick in a friendly game against England, September 1995. It was ranked 94^th on channel 4’s 100 Greatest Sporting Moments in 2002. On the field he is known for taking stupid risks and scoring goals from all the way in the goalies spot. Because of all these risks, Higuita knocked out Colombia out of the 1990 World Cup when he got nervous with the ball when it was 35 yards from a Cameroon striker scoring to enter his team in the quarter-finals. These behaviors lead him to be called, “El Loco” by TV Media and fans. He retired in 2007 to sign for a club Guaros De Lara FC in Venezuela. In January 2008, he played for Colombia’s second division team Deportivo Rionegro. That June, he played for the first division team Deportivo Pereira. His dream is to coach Colombia’s National team or become a politically active person.

                Higuita is married to Magnolia Higuita who had two children Andres and Pamela. He also has a daughter from another marriage, Cindy Carolina. He was put in jail for 7 months because he was involved with a kidnapping where he was paid to take money to someone who had Carlos Molina’s daughter. He was paid 64,000 dollars for doing that. Carlos Molina was a drug dealer that paid him that money. Later on in 2004, Higuita was tested positive with cocaine while playing for a soap opera and no one knows what he has done since.

                Most of you know that famous people usually end up messing up their lives because they start with drugs or alcohol. This is a similar story, but less tragic. In my opinion, I think he’s pretty awesome for that legendary save. He is still married, which is probably a success in his part of the deal. He still has thing to live for in life, which is surprising! I just wish specific people wouldn’t screw up their lives like he almost did. Oh Well! If they want to screw up their lives, that’s their problem; it is their life!

Last post?! What?! »« Wayman Tisdale R.I.P

Wayman Tisdale R.I.P

     Basketball legends have their ways of living, they are always remembered when they pass. Now, today I read a really sad story that I probably didn’t want to read. The news was said that Wayman Tisdale had died last night. I couldn’t believe it! My dad was really sad! My dad coached him with Knight and was a great friend with him because of the ideas of music that they shared together. My dad loved listening to him play on the guitar; he said it was like no other sound before.

     It was said that where ever Tisdale was, he was always smiling. He always had this joy in his face that would brighten people’s day and his voice was everlastingly beautiful. Tisdale was from Oklahoma and he was a three-time All-American in the mid-1980′s before playing 12 years in the NBA and later becoming a very selling jazz musician. Tisdale died Friday at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was a professional basketball player with such a sunny personality and he lived with such energy suffering a two-year battle with cancer that killed him at 44 years old with an amputated leg. Billy Tubbs, who coached Tisdale with the Sooners said, “I don’t know of any athlete at Oklahoma or any place else who was more loved by the fans who knew him than Wayman Tisdale,” said Billy. “He was obviously, a great, great player, but Wayman as a person overshadowed that. He just lit up a room and was so positive!” Even his coach in Oklahoma stated Tisdale’s “incredible gift of making the people who came in contact with him feel incredibly special.”

     After three years at Oklahoma, Tisdale played with the Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, and the Phoenix Suns. He was on the U.S. team that won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Brad Henry, who is now the Governor of Oklahoma, was a classmate of Tisdale and then he was later made part of the Tourism Commission of the State. “Oklahoma has lost one of its most beloved sons,” Henry said. “Wayman Tisdale was a hero both on and off the basketball court. …Even in the most challenging of times, he had a smile for people, and he had the rare ability to make everyone around him smile. He was one of the most inspirational people I have ever known.”

     Tisdale had found out that he had cancerous cyst below his right knee when he broke his leg falling in his home on February 8th, 2007. He was glad he discovered the cancer early. He was really inspired by this accident that he had encountered. He said, “Nothing can change me,” Tisdale told The Associated Press last June. “You go through things, you don’t change because things come in your life. You get better because things come in your life.” Like I already said, his leg was amputated last August and a fake leg was given to him out of crimson with the Oklahoma colors. He attended an Oklahoma City Thunder game and during a Greenwood Cultural Center, he spoke about his cancer, saying that in his mind, he had already beaten it.

     Last month, Tisdale was put on the NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first freshman to be chosen to play for the NCAA since freshmen were allowed to play in the 1971-1972 season. This was kind of like the rule that I talked about a couple of posts ago where I stated that in 1984, only NBA players were allowed to be selected to play for the USA team. “On the court, he was an offensive machine that could score with the best of them,” said Dallas Mavericks president Donnie Nelson, an assistant on Tisdale’s Suns teams. “Off the court, he was grounded in faith and family.” Tisdale played on the Olympic team that went off to the gold medal in L.A. It was coached by Bobby Knight, with assistant coach Tim Garl, and manager Julio Salazar (my dad), featuring Michael Jordan, Ewing, Perkins, and Chris Mullen.

     Perkins and Tisdale shared the passion of music and became best friends. In the meanwhile, Perkins became Tisdale’s best man in his wedding. “That’s a real friend who’s got your back and would do just about anything for you,” Perkins said. “That smile just gets you.” As a musician Tisdale recorded eight albums! In July 2006, he was the Number 1 contemporary jazz artist. He even had the Yankees player, Bernie Williams hooked! “He was truly and inspiration to me, paving the way for an athlete like myself to pursue a passion for writing and performing music,” said Bernie who turned into a jazz musician. “I had the honor and privilege of having Wayman perform on the title track of my new album, and was looking forward to collaborating with him again.”

     “Tisdale averaged 25.6 points and 10.1 rebounds during his three seasons with the Sooners, earning Big Eight conference player of the year each season!” said the coach of the Sooners, Billly. Can you believe he still holds records for points and rebounds?! As a sophomore, he scored 61 points in a single game against Texas-San Antonio! He is a legend! In 1997, his number became retired from the Oklahoma team and then two years ago, Blake Griffin asked for permission to wear his number 23 and Tisdale granted it. “I spoke to him pretty frequently this past season and he helped me in ways he probably doesn’t even know,” Griffin said. Tisdale is alive with his wife Regina, and four children in their hearts!

   I know for sure that I am going to miss him and I already know him through my father and stories that have been told by him. He really is a legend and he deserves a prayer through history. Wayman Tisdale is the bomb!

The King of the Scorpion »« Underwear Jordan?!

Underwear Jordan?!

Now, most of you think that great stars and basketball players are all responsible and very organized. I have a story that will completely prove that that at times can’t be true. Michael Jordan out of all people should be very organized and ready before a game; you will be surprised the incidents that have occurred to him. I am going to start telling you the story of Michael Jordan in his underwear.

Michael Jordan, as you all know, played in the very first dream team in 1984 in the Olympics. As you know from my previous post, USA and Spain were in the finals. This final was hosted at the University of South California. They were staying at dorms that the University offered. The next morning, was game time! They drove up to the stadium, The Forum, and the players began to get off the bus and head to the locker rooms there. Michael was all chilled out and he went over the locker rooms, took his shirt off and opened his bag. When this was done, Michael realized that he had left his uniform at the dorm. Don Donoher and another assistant coach took a taxi all the way from The Forum to Jordan’s USC dorm, got into his room, and collected Michael’s uniform and went back to the Forum. In the meantime, all the Olympic team was dressed and ready to start the game. While Bob Knight was having the last pep talk with the team, Jordan was in his underwear, waiting anxiously for his uniform; it was on its way.

Coach Donoher arrived to the Forum with Michael’s uniform, 5 minutes before the game started and Jordan was ready to play. In that championship, USA beat Spain and won the gold medal.

The cool thing about this is that no body really knows this. My dad was watching as all of this happened in the changing rooms. My dad, as you know, was with them at the time. His experience with Michael Jordan was interesting. He couldn’t believe that Michael had forgotten his uniform! What kind of player forgets his uniform in the final of the Olympics?! Well this one did. He said that he couldn’t stop laughing because of how funny it was to see Michael Jordan in his underwear jumping up and down anxiously. People always make mistakes and this is a mistake to remember by the glorious Jordan.

Wayman Tisdale R.I.P »« My Idol-”The General”

My Idol-”The General”

            My biggest hero I think would have to be Bob Knight. Bobby Knight, through his years, was loathed by many people! He wasn’t taken seriously because of all his accidents, but he was known to be one of the praiseworthy basketball coaches of all time. He was focused on the prize and if someone came to be taught by him, he would do it. He focused on teaching how to play basketball. A theory of teaching them all the skills and on the court there’s nothing that can stop them from winning; they have the skills so it shouldn’t be a complication. I am going to give you a little biography, on my idol, Bobby Knight.

            Bobby was born in Massillon Ohio on October 25^th, 1940. He went to Orrville High School and played Basketball and American Football. He played through High School and through college in Ohio University. Soon he got engraved into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998. Knight graduated with a degree in history and government in 1962. After graduating, he coached JV Basketball in a school called Cuyahoga Falls High School for a year.  He later became enrolled in with the US Army and accepted an assistant coaching job for the Army Basketball team. Two years later, 1965, he became the head coach at the age of twenty-four; the youngest coach in the history of coaching. At West Point, Knight won 102 games as head coach for the first time. One of Knights most admirable players, Mike Krzyzewski, is also in the Hall of Fame and now he is head coach at Duke.

Fun fact: Knight was part of the military and he was given the nickname “The General”.

He was given the nickname by Dick Vitale who was the NCAA commentary/broadcaster. He coached the Detroit Pistons about 25-30 years ago and after he retired, he became the NCAA broadcaster.

            Bobby became a rising star; Indiana University was seeking a coach in 1971. He became the head coach for IU. In 1973, Indiana reached the final four and got beat by UCLA. Two years later, the Hoosiers made an extraordinary comeback and they were victorious all he way to the final. They were said to be the #1 team in the nation. That night, Scott May-their leading scorer, broke his arm by being between a rival with Purdue. Purdue were said to be their supreme enemies! In the regional finals, they lost 90-92 to Kentucky with May playing with a heavy cast. 1976, two years after that incident, Knight was, again, undefeated all the way. He won 86-68 and he knew that “It should have been two championships.” He went deep in his career and by January 1^st, 2007, he made the 880^th victory with Texas Tech University. That broke Dean Smith’s record with 879 wins in his 36 years of coaching. January 16^th, he had his 900^th victory setting a new worldwide record for the utmost wins. Bob has leaded the Hoosiers to 3 NCAA championships, one national Invitational Tournament and to 11 Big Ten Championships. He received the National Coach of the Year four times and has been Big Ten Coach of the Year six times.

            In 1984, he went to the Olympics with the USA Men’s Olympic team. This team included Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Steve Alford, Vernon (Vern) Flemin, Alvin Robertson, Wayman Tisdale, Jon Koncak, Sam Perkins, Joe Kleine, Jeff Turner, Leon Wood. This was the Dream Team; they could only be college players. Charles Barkley was not taken because of his dreadful attitude for being coachable. Even if he was one of the most incomparable players in that time, Knight wasn’t interested at all! They won the gold medal for The Olympics Basketball.

            Bob was a very controversial coach. He is legendary for throwing a chair across the court when he was frustrated during a game. Unfortunately, he was arrested for assault. In 2008, Bobby retired and joined ESPN as a commentator and has been there ever since. He left Texas Tech with his son Patrick Knight.

            He is amazing at his job. I don’t think anyone could be any better right now. He is my idol. He is also my dad’s idol. My dad worked with him for about four years and during that time, he went to the Olympics with him. Bob and my dad were really close and they still are. He really is a stupendous guy! You better watch out for “The General” or he’ll throw a chair at you!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Knight

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Underwear Jordan?! »« Don’t focus on the outcome of the game, just keep lovin’ the game!

Don’t focus on the outcome of the game, just keep lovin’ the game!

When you hear the word sports, what do you feel? When you see people in action, what do you think they feel? How do you feel? When I hear the word sports, I go completely crazy with excitement. I enjoy it so much by just hearing the word because when you do sports you get to excercise and you get pumped about your actions and excited about you accomplishments. When I see other people playing a sport, it seems like they have trouble having fun. They focus completley on the competition of the game and they forget about the reason that they are playing the sport; that reason is because they love the sport. They are concentrated about the score and they don’t realize how much fun it is to just chill and have fun. Like the other day, I was in a softball tourny with the team. It was lots of fun, until we got to the final. When we started that game, everyone was pumped and we were dancing around having fun, but when we got up to bat or to field, we completely forgot how to play the game relaxed. We got all tense and we didn’t have our best game at all because we were worried about the score and what the outcome of the game was going to be. We really really wanted to win the final, but we wanted to win it by having a higher score than the other team. Right now you’re probably thinking, How can you win the game without have a higher score than the other team? Isn’t that how you win? NO!!! You win a game inside of you. You win the game of leadership, enjoyment, and strength. You are winning a path through life that will help you in the future to be stronger and to just love the game. We all, at the moment we lost, were sheding tears because we thought we had lost, we did, but we didn’t realize that the reason we were crying wasn’t just for losing the game, but losing the game we all love to play so much. With such passion for a sport, it will help you through tough situations because you love it so much=) Ever since that tournament was over, I have felt like something has grown inside of me. Strength and passion has made me grow and be strong when i’ve needed it the most. The sensation of going all the way to Dubai and showing what we were made of and showing everyone else how much we love that sport, is good enough for me any day!

My Idol-”The General” »« Hello world!

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Don’t focus on the outcome of the game, just keep lovin’ the game! »