"Rooting for Your Own Kind"

http://www.salon.com/2012/02/16/politically_lincorrect_rooting_for_your_own_kind/


     Everybody knows about the no-name basketball player Jeremy Lin who broke into the scene recently.  This article does not discuss his accomplishments but rather discusses how many people of the same origin are cheering for Lin.  The author, Gary Kamiya, wrote in the article, "I'm one of them.  As a half-Japanese, half-white ex-jock, I've always followed and rooted for that tiny number of Asian-Americans who make it in any of my three favorite sports..."  I found this article humorous and insightful.  For example, Kamiya wrote that Lin is" from an ethnic group about as associated with the NBA as bullfighters are with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals".  He was insightful because he himself is Asian so he has personal experience in the topic.
     If anything, I would say that Kamiya focuses mostly upon ethos in this article.  he does so by discussing race and its connection to sports, specifically the effect of Jeremy Lin.  The article presents hope for Asian-American athletes throughout the world, as it displays the fact that Lin represents a social minority group that is so underrepresented in the NBA.

"Mooresville's Shining Example (It's Not Just About the Laptops)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/education/mooresville-school-district-a-laptop-success-story.html?_r=1&hp


    I chose this article because it reminded me of our school, and how much technology we use everyday.  This article focuses on the East Mooresville Intermediate School and their use of technology.  Rather than focusing on the technology itself, this article explains that the teachers connect with the students in an emotional way.  The students spend time on computers often, yet the author of this article stresses that the teachers help them in a way that their education is not run by technology, but by people.  Due to this, Mooresville "has quietly emerged as the de facto national model of the digital school.  This article reminded me of Hanover High School and how we use computers to do work (like right now).  I have witnessed both extremes, from classrooms where teachers never use technology, to my VHS class which is taught almost 100% online.
     The author of this article, Alan Schwarz, does an excellent job in convincing the reader that Mooresville Intermediate is driven by a combination of technology and teacher-student relationships.  He did much of this by using ethos.  Schwarz approached this article by focusing on American ways of life, specifically our system of education.  In the modern era, we use technology more and more.  Sometimes it appears overwhelming and it is difficult to sort out of it is good or bad to use technology often.  Schwarz implies that there is a fine balance between human contact and technology, and if we can find this balance in school systems, then it will be extremely beneficial to the students.

"2010 Tour de France Winner Found Guilty of Doping"

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/sports/cycling/alberto-contador-found-guilty-of-doping.html?hp


     I chose this article because i thought it was about Lance Armstrong.  On ESPN the other day, the sportscasters were talking about Lance Armstrong possibly doping but the case was eventually dropped.  This particular article was about a bicyclist named Alberto Contador.  Ian Austen, the author, states, "An appeals court ruled on Monday that Alberto Contador, a three-time winner of the Tour de France, used a performance-enhancing drug when he won the race in 2010, the latest black mark on a sport that has been tarnished by doping scandals over the past several years".  It is sad to think that so many pro athletes are using performance-enhancing drugs because it isn't really them accomplishing achievements, its the drugs that they are using.  Contador will suffer the consequences of being banned from racing for two years, a sentence I think is menial compared to what he did.  I would be very angered if I had been a cyclist in that race.  Although, Contador will be stripped of his 2010 Tour title and it will be given to the second-place finisher, Andy Schleck.  One fact that was stated in the article is that there have only been two Tour de France winners that have not been tarnished by controversies involving performance-enhancing drugs".  That is a scary fact.
     I found this article both informative and enlightening.  Not only did it fully document the investigation, but it also made me realize that cycling is full  of scandals and such.  i always thought that baseball had the most drug-rtelatred scandals but I guess that is just because baseball is a lot more popular than cycling, or at least in America.  Like the last article I did, the author of this article once again focused on ethos in writing of the subject.  he also used logos to incorporate important statistics into the article.  By doing so, he was more convincing and the article became eye-opening.

"Roger Goodell Threatens to Eliminate Pro Bowl Altogether"

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1055067-roger-goodell-threatens-to-eliminate-pro-bowl-altogether#page/20

     There may not be a Pro Bowl next year for the NFL according to the article.  Goodell, the commissioner, talked about the Mike and Mike In the Morning Show saying that the quality of the game must improve or he may consider eliminating the game.  Players in the Pro Bowl give as little effort as possible since their is no reward or incentive for winning.  The only bonus they get is a sum of money but that money doesn't make them try hard.  It was so easy to tell this year that the players didn't care at all who won the game.  Even the author of the article noticed this: "nobody is trying to tackle and players are running at half-speed".  This article covers a subject that interests me and the information it provided gave me a good base for my understanding of the topic.
    The author of this article didn't use much rhetoric which I found surprising.  He wrote with some humor yet the only possible rhetoric that he used was ethos.  He does so be questioning why we work hard and put in effort.  In reality, we work hard in hopes of money.  The NFL players in the Pro Bowl don't try hard because if they get hurt then they may miss games/a season and therefore they will not make as much money.

"Finding Fish: A Memoir"

     I have not started reading my next memoir yet it looks like it will be a good read.  You never really know until you actually read the book but i read the back and the story seems inspiring.  Apparently, this memoir, written by Antwone Quenton Fisher, is about a person named Baby Boy Fisher who was born in a prison to a single mother, endured abuse in a foster family, escaped, and enlisted in the navy to create a life for himself.  This novel appears to be about a boy that overcomes the many conflicts in life and finds himself due to this.  I don't have much more to say about the book but I am sure that I will after I read a bit.