#Why?

Today’s post is different as in it’s not a bookish post. When I changed the direction of my blog to be majority a bookish blog, I didn’t change the name because I still wanted to have the freedom to post non-bookish content when and if I wanted to.

If you’ve been living under a rock, you have missed what just happens to be the BIGGEST sports scandal, bigger than Jerry Sandusky and Penn State, bigger than Deflategate, and bigger than any other sports scandals. I’m talking about Larry Nassar. It involves three different governing bodies, the NCAA, USAG (USA Gymnastics), and the USOC (US Olympic Committee). NCAA is involved because Larry Nassar was an employee at Michigan State University, USAG and the USOC are involved because he was the doctor at the Karolyi Ranch in Texas which was the training center for USAG. He did not have a medical license to practice in Texas and he was also the team doctor for the Women’s Olympic team, which is why the USOC is involved. This disgrace of a human being sexually assaulted at least 150 young girls, teenagers, and young women. Watching the victim impact statements is heartbreaking, but what is even worse is that these young girls, teens and young women reported the abuse, but the governing bodies did NOTHING. On Wednesday Judge Aquilina listened to the last of the victim impact statements and handed down her sentencing by sentencing the disgrace of a human being to 175 years in prison. The Karolyi Ranch which has a history of abuse, Dominique Mocheanu spoke out about it in 2008, has been shut down, the entire USAG board of directors has resigned, the president of MSU has resigned, the MSU athletic director has retired and now the federal government is involved, the USOC has hired a private firm to investigate, Valeri Liukin has resigned from his position as coordinator of the women’s National Team, a position he took over in 2016 after Martha Karolyi retired. And Larry Nassar was sentenced a third time earlier this week. It will be interesting to see what happens with USA Gymnastics in the coming months with competition season coming up.

No, I have never been a victim of sexual abuse. However, I would like to mention that I did gymnastics for eight years. And when I first heard about all of this TWO YEARS ago in 2016, I wondered why nobody listened to these athletes until now, or when Dominque Moceanu first spoke out about abuse within USA Gymnastics in 2008. It saddened me to see/hear that this happened. I hope a lot of changes happen so a situation like this never happens again.

Thoughts on the NBA Finals trophy presentation

Sunday night, as I was watching the trophy presentations, more specifically the Finals MVP trophy presentation, something bothered me. The NBA Finals MVP Trophy is named after Bill Russell, who was on stage for the presentation. The thing that bothered me, was not that he was on stage, but because he was not acknowledged by anyone. In my opinion, it was extremely disrespectful that Bill Russell wasn’t acknowledged. This is a man who was the first African-American head coach in the NBA, and won 11 NBA titles, something that might never be done again. Bill Russell should have gotten more respect than he did, and he should have been acknowledged. After all, there is a reason why it is his name on the trophy, and not the name of another player. 

3 Days 3 Quotes Day 3

The rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you.

2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day).

3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

Thank you Cara from Periods and Semicolons

 

Today’s quote is from Big Papi by David Ortiz with Tony Massarotti

“In Boston, you have to understand: Everything is about the Yankees.”

 

I tag:

Sean from Kingdom Book Blog

Bubbly Bookish Girls

Louise from Genie Reads

3 Days 3 Quotes Day 2

The rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you.

2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day).

3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

Thank you Cara from Periods and Semicolons

Today’s quote is from Pedro by Pedro Martinez and Michael Silverman

““What can I say? I’ll just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy.  I can’t find a way to beat them at this point””

 

I tag:

Liam from Panorama of the Mountains

Lindsey from A Piece of Paradis

Yana from Books For Infinity

3 Days 3 Quotes

Thank you Cara from Periods and Semicolons for tagging me to do this.

The rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.

2. Post a quote for 3 consecutive days (1 quote for each day).

3. Nominate three new bloggers each day.

Today’s quote is from Francona: The Red Sox Years by Terry Francona and Dan Shaughnessy (CHB)

“Sox fans were reeling from a Sports Illustrated item in which the estimable Tom Verducci wrote, “Manny Ramirez wants out of Boston.””

 

I tag:

Lauren from Wonderless Reviews

Carrie from Carrie’s Book Reviews

Giovanna from Book Coma

 

 

NFL vs. New York Times

If you have been living under a rock, or just not paying attention to National Football League (NFL) news recently, than this post will make you aware of what is going on. The reputation and image of the NFL is slowing becoming more damaged. I read a New York Times article (linked at the end of this post) about the NFL’s flawed concussion research, I then read the NFL’s rebuttal to said article (also linked at the end). First things first, The New York Times is one of the most reputable journalistic publications, second, the NFL told The New York Times to retract the published story about the flaws in concussion research. What I have gathered from reading the article and the rebuttal, is that the NFL is right and The New York Times is wrong. It is evident that The New York Times conducted extensive research for their article, and the NFL by telling them to retract their story, does nothing but attempt to discredit a prestigious publication. However, the NFL has done nothing but discredit itself.  My feelings are this, recently the NFL has been denying truths that others have pointed out, and this is a huge problem, that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

 

New York Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/sports/football/nfl-concussion-research-tobacco.html?smid=tw-nytsports&smtyp=cur

NFL Rebuttal: https://nflcommunications.com/Pages/More-To-The-Story.aspx

Baseball

Baseball was always my favorite sport, and it still is. A lot of people think baseball is boring to watch, but not me. I don’t know how, but I always find something exciting about watching a game, I guess it’s because of the probability involved, there’s always a bunch of different probable outcomes. Ironically, I hate math, but baseball math is kind of fun. I find baseball statistics fascinating. A lot of times, I tell people that my spring starts in February. February is when players report to spring training to begin baseball activities, and even spring training games start in February. In Massachusetts, a typical New England winter is cold and dreary, so baseball beginning is a sign that spring is coming, and after the long winters us New Englanders deal with, baseball is an extremely welcome sight.