Troy Davis Executed After Stay Denied by Supreme Court

http://abcnews.go.com/US/troy-davis-executed-stay-denied-supreme-court/story?id=14571862

This article  is about a man named Troy Davis being executed September 21,2011 at 11:08pm. Troy Davis was executed for the murder of a police officer Mark Mac Phail that happened in 1989. Troy Davis was executed by lethal injection. He spent his last days reading mail from his supports all over the world and enjoying visits with his family. Officer Mark Phail family watched while  Troy Davis was being strapped to a gurney. In fact both families watched the whole execution. The families said his eyes  fluttered as he was given the first injection. They said the process lasted 15 minutes until he was pronounced dead.   Troy Davis had asked for  a last minute stay of execution and he was denied. Troy Davis spent 20 years in a Georgia State Prison before he was executed. Troy Davis remained innocent until he was executed. His final words to the officers family was "Let you know, despite the situation you are in, I'm not the one who personally killed your son,your father,your brother". Troy Davis also asked his friends and family to continue to fight this fight. While reading the article I noticed that the writing strategy was quotes. The author got most of his information from witnesses and the victim himself . I also noticed that the genre was informative.

Dominique Haskins

Focus inward - Focus outward

http://baseballbytheyard.blogspot.com/2011/09/focus-inward-focus-outward.html
   

In any sport, athletes are always trying to create and edge for themselves.  Athletes always want to be one step ahead of the other players. In simplest terms, they just want to be more prepared.  When I came across this blog post I thought it took a complex idea and put it into words, which many people struggle to do.  One of the most important parts of  sports is the mental game.  Your mental state before and while you compete can change the entire outcome of a competition.  Whether it be outside influences, or the athlete getting in their own head, mental focus is crucial to a strong performance.  Outside distractions consist of fans, coaches, and anything externally which causes the player to direct their focus anywhere but the game.  Many players develop a calming strategy to keep their heads in the game.  An example of this is Evan Longoria, a baseball player for the Tampa Bay Rays.  When up to bat, Longoria will undo his batting gloves and then strap them on again to create a fresh start.  He also fixes his eyes on the leftfield foul pole to calm himself.  Considering that Evan Longoria is an extremely talented and successful baseball player, he is proof that these techniques can be used at any level.  Longoria is a huge supporter of mental focus strategies, and feels they are necessary for a team to capitalize on all their strengths.

  The other type of distraction is internal, or “getting in your own head.”  These are often more dangerous than the external ones.  When you are putting more pressure on yourself, and doubting your ability, the player is setting themselves up for failure.  Not only does this idea relate to athletes, but it is something that everyone can benefit from.  Being mentally prepared and focused for any situation is beneficial to everybody.  The way this article is written is, it uses baseball as an analogy to explain and important idea.  Mental preparation is most commonly associated with athletics, but people fail to realize how important it is to everyday life.  I feel that everyone who reads this post can benefit from the information, whether it is using these new techniques to allow yourself to be the most prepared in any given situation, or if you do mentally prepare yourself already, this information will put into perspective how much affect these mental focus strategies can have on a person.

For me personally, I love coming across mental preparation information because it develops an entire new aspect of sports for players.  It is an important part of competition, and it can be game changing when your team is struggling, and the level of play needs to be turned up.  My experience so far in college athletics has been short, but in this small amount of time I have developed a deep respect for the mental aspect of sports, and life in general.  Open you mind to these ideas, and watch your performance exceed what you even believed was possible.

(For more on the information of mental training I highly recommend watching this video on Evan Longoria’s mental approach. http://vimeo.com/6153913 )

-Ariana Darcy

Controversy of Pledge of Allegiance in Schools

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/controversy-of-pledge-of-allegiance-in-schools.html

 The writer Priya Johnson starts of with a brief history of the Pledge of Allegiance and how it was founded. She then goes in deeper and talks about how the words "under god" in the pledge actually have started some controversy in some of the states. Before she says anything about any different type of religion she goes into talking about what the phrase "under god" could mean to different people. Whether its the belief in monotheism, which is belief of one god or supreme being, or even that there is a higher power guiding the country in the direction we want. She brings up a survey of how many Christians there are in the US and how its plummeted in the years past, she also surveys how much the Atheist population has grown. Lastly she talks of how people "forced" to say the pledge feel its a violation of the 1st amendment.

I chose this because its a topic that I had the choice of researching in class and its also something that's been kind of eating at my brain since. I don't understand why we're in America and we're all American citizens and we're questioning a phrase that's been given to us to help establish pride in our country. People have died and are dying right now for are flag that we pledge to. Every time we oppose that phrase those people probably are giving us a mean look. We need to just accept it and move on, we're a country with bigger problems than this. That's what people don't see. Johnson wrote in a very clear way, she didn't criticize anyone for their belief, she simply just informed people that there was a matter that some people believe need to be heard and explained it in a clear cut way.   

Evan Giannakas