The NBA, the Nuggets, Carmelo, and the 2011 Trade Deadline

Never in my life did I believe that the NBA would intrigue me so much. I’ve never been a huge NBA fan, I mean, I’ll watch the occasional game, check out NBA.com, but I never have done fantasy basketball. I’ve just never been that interested in basketball. I’ve always thought it was way too high scoring, and because the players are basically scoring every time they go down the court, I’ve always thought the NBA to be a little bit boring. And I always liked how in college and high school, there is a student fan base that is rowdy as hell (and sometimes a little bit, as a cheer at my high school goes, raunchy) and just makes the game better for everyone involved. In the NBA, there is just no feeling like the one you get at a college game. So, I’ve distanced myself from basketball, and just, basically, haven’t cared about it at all.

I’ve always had a team, though. The Nuggets have always been my team. Even though I cheer for New England teams in baseball and football, for some reason, I’ve always stayed home when it comes to basketball. I’m not exactly sure why, it’s probably because I’m from Colorado, but I’ve always been intrigued by the Nugs. I love learning sports history and learning about how they were the Denver Rockets and then changed to the Nuggets and made the jump to the NBA from the ABA is just awesome. I also love learning about important people in the history of the franchise, like Kiki Vandeweghe, David Thompson, Dan Issel, Coach Larry Brown, Alex English, Coach Doug Moe, Dikembe Mutombo, Antonio McDyess, and of course Chauncey Billups among many others. Denver is just the only NBA team that has ever gotten me interested in basketball. When they traded for Allen Iverson in December 2006, I was watching ESPN like a hawk. When they made the Western Conference Finals in 2009 and almost beat the Lakers, no one could have been able to tell that I wasn’t a huge NBA fan.

            But this year, in 2011, a story caught my attention and kept it all the way through this current season. No, it’s not Lebron. I actually hate him, he’s way too selfish. I mean an hour long special where he says that he’s going to Miami? C’mon, man. No one should be able to do that. The story as any reader of this could probably guess was that of one Carmelo Anthony. The story that Carmelo wanted out of Denver started during the offseason. And obviously, since Melo is from New York, the Knicks and the Nets were the first two teams anyone thought had a chance at landing Melo.  When I heard the title Melo Drama for this situation, I laughed and thought that it was perfect for this. Throughout the season, the Nuggets were basically fed distraction after distraction through this Melo Drama. As the season went on and on, the rumors just got wilder and wilder. One day it was the Knicks, the next the Nets, after that the Lakers, and even the Rockets got in on the Melo trade drama. I would look at ESPN, both on television and the internet, and just be amazed by what team was rumored to be in on the trade that day. When I thought it really got out of hand was when ESPN.com installed the Melo Slot Machine, which was a good idea, but the actual thing was pretty boring and made little since. I guess it was like underwater basket weaving. An intriguing idea, but if it was watched or done, it would just be boring. When the All-Star Break finally came around, I wasn’t sure if anything was going to happen. Talks had calmed down, and with the trade deadline only a few days away, it was looking more and more likely that Carmelo would sign the $65 million extension with the Nuggets. But of course, as with baseball, as soon as the trade deadline nears, talks pick up.

            As soon as I thought that this whole thing was over, I looked at ESPN.com and realized the truth. This was far from over. I saw that both the Knicks and the Nets had meetings with Carmelo in LA during the break. Those announcements made me think that something was bound to happen in the next few days during the break. Lo and behold something did. The Nuggets traded Melo to the New York Knicks. Honestly, when I heard that Melo got traded, I was like most other Nugget fans, just happy it was over. The Nuggets traded Melo, Chauncey Billups, Anthony Carter, Shelden Williams, and Renaldo Balkman for Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Timofey Mozgov, the Knicks’ 2014 first-round pick, and second round picks in 2012 and 2013. Let’s analyze this trade (or just basically question parts of it).

            My first question, and this has to be the one that all Nuggets fans are asking, is WHY trade CHAUNCEY FREAKING BILLUPS? There really was no reason to trade Chauncey. It’s not like he wanted out of Denver. It’s actually quite the opposite. He wanted to stay in Denver. He’s from Denver, went to George Washington High School in Denver and played for the Buffs in Boulder. I just want to know, why trade him if he wants to spend the rest of his career in Colorado? It just doesn’t make any sense in my mind. I really would like to know what the Nugget officials who made this trade were thinking when they sent the person who was already playing in his hometown with the guy who wanted to go and play with his. Hopefully, when Chauncey’s contract expires in two years, he’ll come home again.  Either that or find a way to trade with the Knicks and get him back. Denver is where he wants to be and the people of Denver want Chauncey Billups on the Nuggets.

            My other comment on this trade is about the acquisition of Raymond Felton. The Nuggets already had on former Tar Heel point guard in Ty Lawson. But they went and got the other national championship winning North Carolina point guard. I find this really, really interesting. I will love being able to follow the battle between the two former Heels and see who eventually wins the starting point guard spot for the Nugs. Hey, since the Nuggets want some North Carolina players, why not trade for Tyler Hansbrough when the season ends? Hey, if they could win together in college, who’s saying they couldn’t do the same in the pros?

            There was another trade that utterly surprised me. That was the trade of Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson from the Boston Celtics to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic. I was not expecting the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics to make a move, especially of two players that could really help them come playoff time. I guess that the Celtics wanted to start the process of finding Paul Pierce’s replacement, since Pierce’s years are very quickly coming to an end. Other than that, it was a ho-hum NBA Trade Deadline… (Sweet, I can get a ‘90s joke in here) NOT! There were many other trades around the league that will shape the league for years to come, most notably the trade of Deron Williams to the Nets from the Utah Jazz for Devin Harris and Derrick Favors. With everything that has happened recently, maybe this NBA skeptic can actually start watching and enjoying the sport of basketball at the professional level.   

Imperialism DBQ

Back in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the world was a place of conquest. European countries were taking over Africa and the United States was quietly taking over the Caribbean and Pacific. It is surprising that a country as important at this time as the US was could go through a large expansionist time period and do it with as little attention as was paid. I guess Europe was just too important. Late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century US expansion was a continuation of past US expansionism because of the ways in which the land was acquired and how Americans generally felt about it and expansionism was a departure because of the reasons it was done for. 

            American expansion of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was much like the expansion of past time periods in US history in more than one way, but one of the main ways was how the land was acquired. America has always been a land of fighting. In our short 124 year history (up until 1900 that is) we had already been involved in five large wars and many other smaller skirmishes. Two of those wars that really show how American expansionism had stayed the same were the Mexican-American and Spanish-American Wars. While neither was fought to expand to expand the country, expansionism was one of the main backstories for both. In the Mexican-American War, America was fighting for Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California among other places. In the Spanish-American War, we were fighting for the Caribbean and the Philippines among other places. Even with half a century of time passing between wars, Americans and their expansionist ideals stayed the same. This is not the only way that it stayed the same, though.

            American expansionism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was also like past American expansionism because of how the general populace felt about it. As in the days of Tejas and the Westward movement, Americans felt as if it was our “destiny” to expand. Americans felt as if we had the “God-given” right to expand. We felt as if the world was ours for the taking. If this time period didn’t already have a nickname (The Gilded Age) it could be known as “Manifest Destiny 2” or something even more clever. There are always people who don’t share this point of view, for example, the American Anti-Imperialist League who saw the Spanish-American War as a “criminal” act and this whole time period as a “betrayal of American institutions” (Doc D). But just as there are people against the ideal, there are people for it like Senator Albert J. Beveridge who celebrated America getting the Philippines in his Speech to the 56^th Congress (Doc E) and Alfred T. Mahan who said that we needed a stronger naval force to protect the area of the future Panama Canal and other interests because “The growing production of the country demands it” (Doc B). But even though Gilded Age expansionism was very similar to past expansion, it was also very different.

            Gilded Age expansion was done for much different reasons than that of previous times of expansion in US history. In the past, expansionism was done to, as the name implies, expand, or for religious reasons (we had to convert the Native Americans, of course). Gilded Age expansionism was done more for political and economic reasons. One of the main reasons that the United States wanted the Philippines was so that we could have a stronghold in Asia and easy access to markets in China, Japan, and other places in Asia. (That’s the main reason Senator Beveridge was so happy.) Document G, a cartoon depicting Uncle Sam standing in front of a giant door (to China) while the traditional European powers, Germany, the UK, France, and a few others, looking past through the door to the markets in China. This cartoon is saying that the only way to these markets was through the United States. Political reasons were another way in which expansionism changed in the Gilded Age. In this “new” expansionism, America was expanding to civilize these rugged, unkempt societies, at least according to Teddy Roosevelt. President Roosevelt said that America’s interests in other nations were only to protect what the Monroe Doctrine stated and to civilize the peoples of these rugged countries (Doc F). He also stated that once these countries were civilized, we would leave (Doc F). But that didn’t happen because we were in the Philippines until 1946 and we are still in Guam, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa along with a couple of other places. Apparently, expansionism has changed a lot over the years.

            America went through an expansionist phase that went largely unnoticed by the global audience of the time, who was more interested in Europe’s imperialistic age over Africa. Even though America’s expansionism went largely unnoticed, it allowed America to gain power in the world, develop our economy through markets in Asia, and show that we were (and still are) a force to be reckoned with militarily through the Spanish-American War. Without this time in American history, America may not have been able to survive through the two World Wars, Depression, and everything else that would happen in the near future.  

Northwestern and who is now my favorite school

Ok, so today is the day I took my tour for Northwestern University, here in Evanston, Illinois. Unfortunately, we didn't exactly get the best day to go on an outdoor walking tour of Northwestern's campus. Luckily, Northwestern is a private university with only about 8,400 undergrads, is not a gigantic campus. The tour started in the Office of Undergraduate Admission, which is just a big old house. They have a large lecture room upstairs where the tour started with a Q&A. An undergrad admissions counselor and a current student that works in the admissions office came and gave a PowerPoint presentation that focused on the facts about Northwestern. They did get into the student life a little bit, but it was towards the end of the presentation. Overall, the presentation that the admissions counselor and the student (a senior, named Andrew) gave was pretty good. They had pretty good information and it made an impression on me. I did like learning that Northwestern makes up what students cannot make in financial aid. They make sure that the students who want to go here, can go here. Since the group in the Q&A session was freaking huge, about seven tour guides came and broke us up into groups. I went with a girl, a senior named Kirsten, who is a journalism major, just like I hope to soon be. My group was small, on my mom, me, another prospective student and her mother and grandmother, so we got to go inside of some buildings when it got really cold. The tour was great. We saw the rock, about every academic building on campus, the technology building, the student center, and most importantly, the journalism center. Sadly, they didn't show us the gym, library, or a dorm, but that may have been due to the winds off the lake, the fact that it was freezing cold, and that it was snowing. It was good that I go to experience that, though. It shows me what winter can be on the shore of Lake Michigan, because Northwestern is literally ON the shore. If you were inside, the lake was actually a pretty cool thing to see. I can't even imagine how nice it is during the spring and summer. The tour was actually pretty good. I had a great time and our tour guide was great. After the tour we went and ate at the Student center, which was a little expensive, but that really doesn't matter when you become a student because of the meal plan.  After eating, we went upstairs and checked out the auditorium and the third floor which is where the many, many student activities and clubs are housed. The reason that we went up to the 3rd floor is to check out where the office for the student newspaper, The Daily Northwestern, is housed. We went in and checked out the office where articles are written for the newspaper. We ended up talking to the sports editor (Katherine Driessen) and learning what life in the Medill School of Journalism was like and what writing for the paper was like. I learned (and I liked this) that as a freshman, I could end up writing beat stories for the sports section of the Daily. I couldn't believe that. I definitely thought you would at least have had to have been a sophomore to get in the paper. Later on, I had a Journalism School Q&A and tour. We had another PowerPoint presentation in the Medill School and what really impressed me about this were the internship possibilities that Northwestern has. They have internship partners all over the US (and Qatar and South Africa) with newspapers, websites, and news networks. There were so many places that they had a packet with all of them listed and it took up 3+ pages. It was impressive. I know that the possibility of real word experience definitely intrigues me when it comes to the Medill School. We then toured the TV studio the Northwestern News Network operates from. I was impressed with this also. Just like TCU's it rivaled a professional studio. We then toured the rest of the school and the other building that houses the Medill school and we went on our way.
            When it comes down to which school I like most so far, and which university I am leaning towards, I think I have a definite answer. Although Northwestern and the name and real life opportunities that come with it would be great to have on my resume in the future, I am definitely leaning towards Texas Christian University. TCU has just as good of a program as Northwestern. Their newspaper is up and coming, their news network just got a brand-new amazing studio and honestly, when I went to TCU, it felt as if they wanted me. I didn't totally get that feeling here at Northwestern. Don't get me wrong, Northwestern is great and I would be honored to be a part of the program here, but TCU just floored me when I was there. When it comes down to the campus feeling I also liked TCU's better. I just got a really good feeling at TCU and I just loved it. I also like how closed off TCU was compared to how open Northwestern is. I loved how when you got to TCU, you knew it. When we arrived at Northwestern, it was just all of the sudden. It was like "Oh, we're here." When I put the pros and cons of both schools against each other, I definitely have a winner. TCU hands down. I want to be a part of the rise of TCU's journalism program, and unless Oregon, Missouri, or Kansas can knock me off my feet more than they did, I think I'm going to be headed down to Fort Worth to become a Horned Frog.

Afterword: I am now a freshman at Arizona State University, and many of the posts that will be on here (they are out of order) will be about my college search that ended with me choosing ASU

Urban Meyer

Christmas comes, Christmas goes, and surprises usually are like that too. But in 2009, that does not seem to apply.

Urban Meyer. That name conjures up a lot memories. Urban is a very interesting person to me because well, he has coached my two favorite teams and one that I kind of like now. Before Urban started head coaching he was an assistant at many schools. Two of the most important in his career though, are Colorado State University and the University of Notre Dame. Those are both imporant to me because, first for CSU, I have family connections there (my dad got his master's there and my brother is a freshman there right now) and I live in Fort Collins (that's where CSU is located) and have proudly been a ram fan my whole life. Back in the 1990s, Urban Meyer was a receivers coach for the Rams under Coach Earle Bruce and Coach Sonny Lubick. Meyer even credits Lubick for saving his coaching career. After CSU, Meyer turned his sights on bigger and better things and went to coach the receivers at the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame is near and dear to my heart not only because I am Roman Catholic, but because I want to go to Notre Dame when I go to college in a few years. Then, to add another Meyer connection, when he led the Utah Utes to a 12-0 record in the 05-06 season, a classmate of mine had just moved from Salt Lake and was (I'm guessing still is) a huge Ute fan. After all those connections to Urban, how could he not be one of my favorite people in football?
A few weeks ago, I received an issue of Sports Illustrated with an article on Urban and all he has done for college football since he has become a head coach. It was a great article and even gave a little bit of information on Urban Meyer that I hadn't had before. It also told me of a health conditions that Meyer was suffering from because of football, and that he had just ignored it in his career. So I knew that something was wrong with Coach Meyer, but I never expected what would happen on December 26, 2009.

On the 26th, I went on Facebook, and the status of one of my camp counselors from this past summer (2009) said "no more urban meyer." I had no idea what he was talking about so obviously I headed straight for ESPN.com. And there right on top, it said "Urban Meyer to leave Florida for health reasons." I couldn't believe it. Urban Meyer, winner of two national championships this decade, two time AP Coach of the Year, the reason Tim Tebow came back for his senior year, not coaching college football? What is going on? Then I kept watching SportsCenter and reading articles and I learned that Coach Meyer has a stress related heart issue that resulted in him going to the hospital after the SEC Championship Game. I had no idea it was that bad. It caught me totally off guard that someone like Urban Meyer could have health problems that bad when he is only in his mid- forties.
Then the next day, Sunday the 27th, I heard some good news. Coach Meyer would only be taking a leave of absence until this whole matter is taken care of.

Do I think that was a good decision? Yes, I do. I think that Coach Meyer taking just the leave of absence is good for recruiting purposes and it is good for the program in general. It says to the recruits that committed to Florida to play for Meyer that he will be there, if not this season, the next. It is good for the program because Coach Meyer will be back and the Gators will still be good.
To Urban Meyer, I say, take all the time that you need and get this taken care of. College football will be waiting for you when you return. Get well soon and thanks for the post-Christmas surprise. It makes this time of the year even more exciting.

Thomas Edison: The Most Influential Inventor From 1800 to 1950

  Thomas Alva Edison, The Wizard of Menlo Park, made many, many contributions to the world during the time period of 1800 to 1950.He invented the main source, (if not the only source), of light in our homes, but also the camera that lets us watch movies. He also invented the microphone, that let’s you hear live music or someone talking a level much louder then their regular voice and he invented the way to get power to our houses. He improved the x-ray and invented the phonograph. Now I am going to use a few of these inventions to convince you that Thomas Edison is the most influential inventor in this time period and all other time periods.

            First for his most famous invention, yes you know it, the light bulb. This alone could make him the most influential inventor ever. Without it, there wouldn’t be cool light effects, like strobe lights, spotlights, multi colored lights, and things like that. And there would just be candles to light up the space around you. And since they don’t light very much space, then you would need tons of candles to light up your house rather then the few amounts of lights that you need. You would also have to read by candle light, and that could possibly set your book on fire so you drop it, and then it lights your floor on fire and your house burns down. So, thanks to the light bulb, we don’t have as many fires and it provides us with a lot of light to helps us do the things that we have to inside our houses. It lets us do our homework late at night and still be able to read. In fact, it is one of the main reasons that we are able to school and schoolwork.

            Then there is another awesome invention, the one that lets you watch movies at the movie theater, the movie camera. It projects the movie on to the twenty foot tall movie screen which is amazing seeing as it’s just light projected and how he discovered that is another reason that Thomas Edison is the most influential inventor from 1800-1950.

            Then there’s the microphone. We have seen and heard in everything from pep rallies, to talent shows, to concerts, whether they be choir or some band like AC/DC, Bon Jovi, or other bands like them. We also hear them for lectures and they are all around us. And even though you might not believe it, they way that they do the announcements is through a microphone that is connected to a speaker in every room. Then u see microphones on TV, when people are getting interviewed and the small little one that people wear on their collars that let you hear the people speaking on the TV. 

            Then he essentially invented the way that we get power to our house to light all our light bulbs. It was originally DC, or direct current, that was sent to 53 costumers in Manhattan when it was first introduced. Later on Edison had help form one Nikola Tesla, who invented alternating current, which is mostly what we use today, even though the New York City Subway system is still run on DC. (And if you haven’t realized, AC/DC, the band and alternating current, or AC, was the invention of Nikola Tesla then direct current, or DC, was invented by Thomas Edison, then they combined it and put a lightning bolt between the two. Interesting, huh?)

            While Edison did not invent the x-ray machine, he did improve it to almost the level that we have today. What Edison did was use calcium tungstate fluoroscopy, which produced better images then the widely used barium platinocyanide screens. So thanks to Edison, we can actually see the bone that was broken with suprising accuracy.

            Then Edison invented the phonograph, which was the first way to listen to music without a radio. It was the first way to record music. Then that originally led to vinyl, which led to cds that are now mp3s and many other things. And you have Edison to thank for that. That’s another great reason that Thomas Alva Edison is the most influential inventor of this time period.

            Now, I have explained a few ways of why I think that Thomas Edison is the greatest inventor ever, but there are many, many more ways that prove this. While the few I have listed may be the most important, you could thing of a bunch of other things that you have Edison to thank for. So because of the light bulb, movie camera, microphone, the way to get power to our houses, the way to see our bones, the x-ray, and the phonograph, the original way to listen to recorded music. And that is why Thomas Alva Edison, The Wizard of Menlo Park, is THE most influential inventor from 1800-1950 and all of history.