The Competitive Flame

The Olympics are finally underway and the United States have already made their mark in these games. Ryan Lochte beating Michael Phelps may have been the headlines over the first two days. This however, might not have been as surprising as Jordyn Wieber, the all-around female gymnastic champion, not making the cut for the individual finals yesterday. The games have shown how quickly you can be dethroned from your pedestal at a moments notice. As it may be weird for us as Americans to see our Olympic greats fall short, however it is good to see them passing the torch to other fellow Americans and not other countries. This can only be a great thing for team USA because in order for our team to be great, we must continue to push each other as teammates. The best competition occurs when average people put in above average effort, this is what team USA represents.

"Unprecedented" Casualties

Death penalty may have not of been the title, but this punishment that Penn State received today will make them feel like as if they were "death penalty" casualties. The NCAA banned the university from bowl games for the next four years, a vacation of all of their wins from 1998 up to 2011, loss of scholarships, and a 60 million dollar fine. Many have been wondering if this punishment is not enough or if it is to strict to an organization. If you ask me, I think the punishment fits perfectly for the crime. Supporters have argued that this punishment may be to hard especially on the kids who had no part of this heinous crime. Let us not forget, when Reggie Bush was charged for taking money from a source while he was playing for USC he was stripped of his Heisman  Trophy and the "University" of Southern California suffered by being banned from bowl games for future years. All of the current players have been given the right to transfer out and keep all of their years of eligibility at other schools. One thing that I thought was pretty harsh was the vacation of the wins from past years which now takes Paterno's records away of the all-time most winningest coach in college football. If the NCAA wanted to make a statement, erasing one of the most historical records in sports is definitely the way to do that. The NCAA in the past has showed their flaws and have rightfully deserved their nickname as the most corrupt organization in the nation, but I think today was just one small step into replenishing their image. 

Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno

Gotham City will rise again.....

Pump the brakes Knicks fans, it is not the end of the world yet. Just because Jeremy Lin is gone does not bring doom to Knicks nation. Let me remind you, even with "linsanity," we still ended the season with the seventh seed. Would I like Jeremy Lin on the team, definitely, but will I miss him, absolutely not. Let me also remind you, Jeremy Lin did not go to the celtics, the heat, the nets, the lakers, or the thunder. He went to the Houston Rockets. The Houston Rockets! As big as a basketball fan I am, I cant even name two people on the Houston Rockets. The Houston Rockets havent been relevant since Nate Robinson dunked on Yao Ming. We probably wont even see more that four Rockets games on national T.V. Gotham City will rise again, even if it does take a 85 year old party rocker in Jason Kidd and an overweight national champion in Raymond Felton. Let us not forget that we still have Melo, Chandler, and Amare who will get better by playing with each other for another year. We also have a dignified bench with Jr Smith and Steve Novak coming in with instant offense. Our problem was never putting the ball in the basket, it was denying other teams from putting up triple digits on us every night in and night out. How dare anyone think that keeping Jeremy Lin would have fixed that problem. I totally get what Lin brought to the Knicks off the court with all the revenue and all the buzz, but last time I checked, thats not what wins you games.

"this guy trying to hold Gotham City hostage, who does he think he is"

Linning Off The Court

While Jason Kidd was off party rocking in the club, Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin was "linning" off the court. Somehow in this whole turn of events, Lin is looking like the veteran and Kidd is looking like, well, the kid. For only starting 25 NBA games in his young career, Jeremy Lin played out his contract the perfect way. He is now on the market and has the potential of earning a contract worth about 30 mil. Now you may think, who is crazy enough to pay someone 30 mil to someone who only played half of an already condensed season. Well the Rockets, who have been reported of trying to trade their entire roster, their mascot, and the hot dog vender for Dwight Howard and, yes you guessed it, the Knicks. If any team comes out with the best result, it has to be Harvard, people will now realize the power of a Harvard education when it comes to beating the system.

Too Much Bieber Fever

So imagine if your job was to perform in front of thousands of fans at the best of your ability and you end up getting sued for doing too good of a job. Sounds crazy right. Well unfortunately this dream lawsuit is becoming a reality for Justin Bieber. TMZ reported that back in July 2010, Bieber performed a concert in Portland, Oregon where a woman named Stacey Betts brought her daughter to. Betts claimed it was already incredibly loud in the arena due to all of his fans and became even louder when Bieber performed a song from a heart shaped gondola. There is no denying that singing to a room full of teenage girls from a heart shaped gondola is the go to move when you are the Biebs. Unfortunate for Stacey Betts, she did not leave the concert with "Bieber fever," and allegedly now suffers from tinnitus. Tinnitus leaves you with a constant pulsing and whooshing sound in the ear which makes it hard to sleep. For that, Betta believes she now has the right to sue Justin Bieber and his record label for 9.23 million dollars. As if there wasn't a more outrageous lawsuit since the McDonald's incident, here we are, I'm the beautiful year of 2012.

Bieber Fever

Beckham-less

There are two weeks until the Olympics are underway and all of London is ready to show off, well all but one. One of the major faces of England, David Beckham, will not be partaking in the games. The legendary soccer player was left off of the three senior players selected for England's soccer team. In the olympics, soccer squads must compete with there under 23 year old team and get to choose three players from their senior squad. Many thought it would be obvious to pick Beckham, he was practically one of the main reasons England got to host the Olympics. England clearly had another mindset, and that was to pick the best squad that would give them a chance to win, not to be commercially attractive. Beckham will forever be a face of England soccer, but times have changed, and England is wearing a different mask to this party and its not the face of H&M.

Redeem The Dream

After watching the Bejing olympics where the "Redeem Team" dominated the world of basketball, you may ask yourself, how can they match that success this year. One of your friends might tell you that it wont be that hard if they've had success like this before in 1992 with the dream team. In the heat of discussion you may just blurt out, "well this team was better than the dream team." Before tempers begin to flare, grab your friend on the shoulder and tell them, "just think about it."

           In 1992, Barcelona hosted the olympics where we saw the greatest team ever assembled in sports. Conversation has come about that maybe the "Redeem Team" from the 2008 olympics could have beaten that team. Now you think to yourself, theres no way thats possible, the dream team had Jordan, Bird, Magic and a plethora of other hall of famers. The one thing many seem to forget is that a couple of those hall of famers were at the end of their careers. Bird and Magic were both on their way out of the league. Now if they were playing the '08 team in their prime, I feel there would be a better discussion. The fact of the matter is that, there is no way they would be able to match up with the '08 boys. I mean you could put Mike on Kobe, but then what, you going to put Scottie on Lebron, or even Bird? The '08 team was just way more athletic than the dream team, maybe not as skilled, but definitely more athletic. I mean I couldn't see Stockton stopping any of the point guards from '08. The match ups would play a big role in the game. This takes nothing away from what the Dream Team accomplished, I just feel that the game has evolved in ways we may have never imagined, 'kids' have gotten stronger and faster at such an early age. But then again, who knows, the conversation is always up for discussion.

Lucas Saunders

lucas saunders
middletown high school, middletown, CT
sophmore year highlight tape

Record Breaker

At the age of 44, worldwide track star Michael Johnson is still breaking records. Johnson has broke the record for saying the absolutely most stupid comment an athlete can say to the public. Yahoo reported that Michael Johnson said, "slavery has benefited superstar athletes like himself because of a 'super athletic gene'." Johnson continued to explain that he accredited all his success from a gene that all African Americans gained from slavery. If thats the case I do not know why I am sitting here and writing this article and not at the Olympic trials competing with everyone else. Im not sure if Im more surprised that he discounted all his hard work and effort or that he tried to use slavery as a pedestal to stand on to dignify all his success. He later brought up why he didn't understand why people never brought it up or talked about it. Here is a word of advice Mr. Johnson, if you got something that you believe is this "obvious" and you wonder why people are not saying anything about it, its usually because its STUPID.

Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Johnson

Big Decisions in the Big Apple

If Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" didn't set the city of Brooklyn on fire a couple summers ago, his next move just might. Mr. Carter's Brooklyn Nets have already landed some high scale free agents this summer and have managed to re-sign their superstar point guard Deron Williams. The summer wont be seen as a success until they land their major fish, Dwight Howard. Howard has made it clear that he wants to be the new superhero in Gotham City. Howard has also "made it clear" that he wants out of Orlando, likes the idea of LA, will think about Houston, and could even try Dallas. Howard has been holding the NBA captive to his decision throughout the past couple months, but when you have talent like his, it is hard to rush one to a major decision. One team we definitely know for sure that Howard will not be playing for is the United States during this summers Olympics. All we can do is wait until one team pays the ransom and we find out where Howard lands, but until then, Go USA, bring back the gold once more.

Super Man soaring to Gotham City?