A Good Image in Sports Teams

Yesterday, my water polo team and I participated in a tournament at Fenwick High School. The last game we played was against Loyola, our biggest water polo rival. We ended up losing, which stunk, but what was really annoying and angering were the Loyola parents! Every time they scored, their parents would stand up on the bleachers and yell and scream into the faces of our parents. At the end of the game, they chanted "Every time!" which meant they win every time they play us (which, by the way, isn't true since we won last time we played them). Some of my teammates were so upset by them that they decided they were going to have a "talk" with them after the game. But, when our coach found out, he forbid them, telling us we had to have a "good image" of our team.

This made me think: what is the "good image" sports teams are supposed to have? I think coaches want to be thought of as respectful, a team when even if they lose, they congratulate the opposing team. Coaches want their team to be thought of as close-together, as well. Even if the players hate each other, the team will have to put on a good face when competing. Why do coaches want this? I think that if they can't be first place physically, they at least want to have their team be first place in sportsmanship.

Why do you think teams have to have a good image? What do you think that good image is?

iPod Loss

This past Friday, something terrible happened. As I was about to listen to my iPod, it malfunctioned and for some un-known reason, all the songs on my iPod were deleted. At first I was really mad, but I told myself that I would just have to put all the songs from my iTunes library back onto my iPod. I would be annoying, but the problem would be fixed. However, when I tried doing this, the songs wouldn't upload to the iPod. I've had by iPod fro about four years, so my parents said it was probably just old and needed to be replaced. We decided to go to the store today and I was fine with that until I had to go through all of Saturday without it. I listen to my iPod a lot and not being able to was a shock. I went into an iPod depression.

During this depression, I realized how spoiled I was. I thought of all the people who weren't able to afford things like iPods and, going even further, I thought of all the people who can't even afford food. It's sad that I couldn't even go one day without an iPod. It's also sad that in the community we live in, it's thought of as weird if you don't have one. Obviously materialism is a high value around here, but would it be possible for any of us to go without our iPods or cell phones for a week? Probably not for me.

Barbie: a Harmless Toy or a Corrupting Machine?

As I checked my email today after school, I came upon an article. It's apparently the doll Barbie's 50th anniversary. After reading most of the article, it started talking about Cindy Jackson, a 53 year old woman who was supposedly a "plain-looking" girl growing up. When she saw the Barbie-doll for the first time, she fell in love with her look. Since then, she's gotten 13 full-scale operations to achieve the "all-American beauty" she said that Barbie had. When I read this, I was thoroughly shocked. Getting plastic surgery to look like a doll? That's crazy! The image of Barbie is so fake, it's not even funny. It's said that if a Barbie doll were blown up to a human-sized figure, she'd fall down because her body would be so disproportionate. Why someone would want to look that fake and artificial is beyond me. The Barbie doll, in my opinion, is giving young girls the wrong view and image of women. If Barbies are having grown women get operations to look like them, what affect are they having on tweens?

What do you think of Barbies? Do you think they're corrupting young girls?

Harassment at the State Meet

On Friday and Saturday of this past weekend, the Boys State Swim Meet was held at New Trier. Me being a swimmer, I had to work at the meet. Although at first I was bummed, it turned out really well; although it was claustrophobic with the mass amount of people, I was right on deck and I was able to see all of the races. One of my jobs was to guard the girls' locker room door-to make sure only female officials and coaches went in. Why I had to guard it, I don't know, because those were the only females on deck. But I was sitting right next to the Evanston team, and during the whole entire meet, they were trash-talking New Trier. At first I just ignored them-I knew they didn't like us. But then one of them went off on one of my friends on the team, and that got me really upset. I was debating whether I should say something to defend him and our team, but I didn't. I didn't want to get involved and have them all hate me too. As I think back on it now, I realized I should have.

This goes back to the rules and morals stuff we learned in elementary school and junior high. That if a friend was being bullied, you should defend them. But, if you're actually in that situation, it's harder than it sounds. Would you defend someone who was being harassed? Even if they weren't your friend?

Miley Cyrus Gets Sued

This past weekend, Miley Cyrus was sued a whopping 4 billion dollars in "damages" for taking a picture with slant-eyes; aka portraying an Asian-American. When I heard this and later saw the actual picture, I though, "Seriously? They're suing her billions of dollars...for this?" The woman suing Miley is from Los Angelos and claims that Asian-Americans are now "victims" from her discriminatory acts. She was also accused of being racist. I think this whole thing went way overboard. She's a teenager whose already made some mistakes before. Although she may not be the best role model, I think everybody should just leave her alone. The picture looked like she was just having fun with her friends. Yeah, it was a little stupid, but it wasn't stupid enough to have to pay 4 billion dollars because of it.

Here is the link to the story: http://www.inquisitr.com/18005/miley-cyrus-sued-for-4-billion-over-slant-eyed-picture/ What do you think of what Miley did? Did she deserve the punishment?

Wheaties or Weedies

On Sunday, one week ago, the swimming phenomenon, Michael Phelps, was caught smoking a bong. Apparently, he was at a party in some college town and someone took a picture of him. What I don't understand is why he would think no one would take of picture of that.

In my math class this past week, we've been discussing this "horrible" act. When I found out he had smoked pot, I did some research and discovered that if a swimmer is caught with drugs, even if it's their off season, they are banned from the sport for four years; therefore, no 2012 Olympics for Phelps. I think it's a pretty harsh rule, but when I found out Phelps only had a three month suspension, I though, "What?! That's it?" I understand that he's a college kid, and that after four years of continuous training, all he wants right now is to have fun. But, while getting high at that party, I think he forgot that he's a role model for young swimmers. I'm glad that Kellogg dropped him as an endorser; he deserved it. As for the three month ban from swimming, I wish it were more, but at least he got something. It wouldn't be fair to just let him off the hook just because he's Michael Phelps.

What do you think of the situation? Was his punishment fair?

Mythology

This past week in AIS, our class has discussed the difference between myth and reality. There are myths created for so many things, like the Rosa Parks myth. Stories fabricated to make them sound more exciting and interesting. The myths that follow me everywhere are the ones about New Trier. The difference about New Trier "myths" is that most of them are true- a reality. What bothers me is that just because a lot of the girls in our school are wealth and have UGGs that I am too, and therefore am "snobby and spoiled" as other schools call us. Over the summer, I worked at a country club with a bunch of Glenbrook South students. When I told them I was from New Trier, they looked at me like I was a martian and every time I mentioned New Trier, they always turned the comment into something about money and wealth. For example, when I talked about New Trier's water polo suits and how they were all leather, one of the workers replied, "Oh..the expensive kind...".

Although we do live in a wealthy district, New Trier shouldn't give other schools a negative connotation. I think other people make up these negative "myths" about New Trier just to have something interesting to say.

What other myths are there about New Trier and why do you think they're made?