"Nobody Wants Him"

A six foot three inch NFL superstar, weighing two hundred and twenty-five pounds goes from the top to the bottom in just a few years. How is this possible? How can someone ranked so high get tossed from team to team like a rotten egg? What went wrong? If I had the opportunity to remove someone from the public eye it would be Terrell Owens. Nobody wants a cry baby; their is only so much people can put up with no matter how great he is. This recently established Buffalo Bill, is not only an embarrassment to the National Football League, but a horrible influence on young athletes.

Terrell Owens, also known as T.O., is a money hungry professional athlete with no respect for the game or his teammates. T.O. has bounced around from team to team sharing a little bit of his disease with each of them along the way. Although he is a semi-gifted athlete, his record of disrespect makes him unwanted. After he requests a ridiculously large sum of money, T.O. goes to a team and destroys them. He plays head games with the owner, coach and all of his teammates. If things don't go his way he always makes a fuss. If the ball is not thrown to him as much as he thinks it should be, he complains. If plays are not developed for his personal gain, he complains. If he doesn't make catches, he claims the quarterback cant throw. All of these problems that T.O. complains about are things a real athlete will just forget about. A real athlete will realize that the world is not perfect and that there will be games that don't go their way. The disrespectful thing that he does to the NFL is the publicity stunts. He voices his opinion to the media disrespecting those around him, such as: team owners, coaches and teammates. He makes a mockery of himself and the league. Someone like this doesn't deserve to call himself a professional and surely shouldn't be broad casted in the media where he can influence younger athletes.

One of the first things coaches try to teach youngsters is character. They try to teach them how to play as a team and respect the sport. When T.O. blasts his bias opinions over the media he is ruining this lesson. Young athletes look up to this professional and view him as a role model. The influence that his outbursts have on the younger crowd is detrimental to their success. He is displaying that athletes can talk bad about their teammates and blame their mistakes on something else while still making millions of dollars. This message destroys the most important moral learned from sports. Who wants their children learning this type of character? If he was taken out of the public eye it would allow young athlete to learn good character.

The issue that leads me to the decision that Terrell Owens should be taken out of the public eye is the impression he leaves on young athletes, as well as the disrespect he has for the NFL. Teams need to shut T.O. down by leaving him jobless. The only thing that will come out of his association with a team is trouble. He will start drama which will tear the team apart. Everyone needs to take a stand and stop this overpaid headcase from ruining the NFL and the work ethic/character of young athletes.

Is this real...or false advertisement?

Should Nike be able to use this to sell their product?

People hate seeing commercials on their television. They always seem to interrupt the best part in the program that people are watching. The reason companies choose to advertise during this time, is because it sells their product. Each company develops a catchy slogan, jingle, or event to grab the viewers attention. In this video Kobe Bryant, a famous basketball player, hurdles over a car. Although most of this video is about a basketball player being able to jump, a little part of it causes Nike to get more business.

At the beginning of the video, the viewer will notice that Kobe picks up a Nike shoe and places it on his foot. After the crazy stunt is completed, and Kobe is successful he yells out, "Nike Hyper- dunks." This phrase places the success of the jump solely on the shoe and not the athlete. Nike can display this video as part of their advertisement for their new product. The stunt will catch the viewers attention and Kobe's phrase will sell the shoe. Every kid who sees the video will want the shoe because they think it will make them jump like Kobe. But is this jump even possible; can someone really jump a moving car? What if this jump is fake? Is this false advertisement?

Each person has their own opinion on whether or not Kobe really jumped over the car. Some think it may have just been Hollywood making the stunt look real. If this is the case, and Nike implies that the shoe is making the jump a success; then is this false advertisement?

Should America Inforce Capital Punishment?

When is justice fully served to those who have committed a bad dead? A famous quote from King Solomon says it all. He says, "Justice will only be achieved when those who are not injured by crime feel as indignant as those who are." This quote directly places sight on whether or not those who commit a crime are being punished enough to give the victim justice.

Some people feel that sentencing people to any form of capital punishment is wrong. These people believe in second chances and think that after doing time in prison, criminals can be released upon good behavior. Once in a "blue moon," this may be a possibility; but nine times out of ten its not the case. Minor changes in a persons life can easily be made. Someone can be taught to put their dishes in the dishwasher, or be respectful to elder. Even over a long period of time people cannot be taught, not to murder, or not to rape. A person that does something like this needs more then a little jail time. People that do this need to be treated just like they treated their victim. The victim deserves to know that the criminal who harmed them is being strictly punished. No one wants someone capable of committing a crime this bad back on the streets. It is one thing if their is doubt that the crime was committed by a certain person, but if their is significant evidence that the suspect did it, then they need to be punished right. The victim of the crime deserves justice.

If you were in the victims shoes, what would you want? Would you want the criminal to be let out on bail, after physically or mentally harming you in anyway? I believe that if someone murders a human being, then they need to be sentenced to the death penalty. A crime at this level does not need to be messed with. Why should we as tax payers, pay for this murderer to live? When these criminals are sentenced to life, we pay for their life. Our tax money goes to their room, meals, activities, and supervision. If these criminals are going to be in prison until they die, then why cant we save money and give them the death penalty? Our tax money should be spent on those kind hearted people that are raised well enough to know not to harm others. We shouldn't let criminals of this kind live in prison playing sports and receiving free meals. If the criminal thinks it is alright to treat someone the way that they did, then it must be okay to treat them in the same way.

Now that you know my outlook on capital punishment, how do you feel? Do you feel that capital punishment is justification for a major crime like murder or rape? If you were the victim, how would you want the criminal to be punished?

The Horrible Truth

Many years ago African Americans put up a good fight and received the equal rights that they deserve. Although the law states that they should be treated equal; some of the law enforcement chooses to act in their own way. A huge problem that still presents itself today is racial segregation. Everyday people of different ethnicity get picked out of groups and targeted by others.

The image on the left is meant to address a very serious problem with some humor. Although the image of the young African American boy getting pulled over by a Caucasian cop is humorous, it is realistic. The image is not addressing this problem on the youth level, but more on the teenage and adult level. This image sparks controversy because of how Americans are raised. Some Americans are raised old fashion and taught to dislike people from other ethnicity. Since they are raised this way they don't know any different and just assume that they are always in the wrong and causing trouble. Racist Caucasians are the target of this image but it is also very offensive to African Americans.

When cops go after African Americans just because of their skin color they are violating rights. This causes the African Americans to fill with anger and feel as though they are less of a person. Personally I have seen this horrible act in action. As a Caucasian male I felt embarrassed. While on my way to a party with two of my friends I got pulled over in a small neighborhood for a burnt out tail light. When the cop came to get my information, he saw my African American friend in the passenger seat. At first I didn't realize what was going on and was a bit nervous. After taking both of our information the officer went back to his cruiser, typed in information, and then returned to my truck. Upon his return he walked around to the passenger side and told my friend to get out of the truck, and place his hands on the hood. He asked for my friend's backpack and began to rummage through it throwing stuff on the ground. Innocent as a saint, my friend stood still and waited for the cop to release him. Sure enough the cop didn't find anything and told my friend to pick everything up or he would be fined for littering. At this point I knew what had happened and wasn't about to let it go. When the cop handed me my warning I got his badge number. A few weeks later after we reported him the situation was resolved, but I was still completely outraged with his actions. It was an embarrassment to myself and the rest of Caucasian people for him to act like this. The only reason the cop searched my friend was because he was an African American with a backpack. This cop had no probable cause to search my friend, except that his belief that all African Americans are criminals.

This horrible experience opened my eyes to the huge issue that this picture addresses. When I see this picture I think about that experience, and all of the other Caucasian cops that are segregating people based on their race and not their actions. This image is very effective and it will appeal to people of all races. It is controversial to people that have been segregated because of race. It is also effective on those that have witnesses segregation and those who are embarrassed because of the people committing the segregation.

Overcoming Stereotypes

The lottery is a game played by many Americans each day. Although the chances of winning are slim, many spend money on a ticket just to try their luck. Those who are lucky enough to guess the random number drawing for the lottery, are blessed with riches. This large sum of money is a blessing, but it comes with a number of curses as well. Nine times out of ten, a large sum of money like this will change a person's life, along with their personality. That ten percent of people houses a family that is as kind, warm hearted and helpful as they were before the lotto. Deep down inside behind all of the material things these folks are still truly wonderful people.

Twelve years ago a friend of mine was living a normal American life. She worked a nine to five job and her husband ran a small construction business. They had two kids both of which were young at the time. Occasionally when they had some extra cash and were near a liquor store they would buy a lottery ticket. Every time they would play my friend would discuss what she would do with her winnings with a co-worker. Without any hesitation she would tell him that the first two things she would do is, start a cat rescue, and give a portion to her family. Never once did she include herself in the plan for her winnings; that is just the type of person she was. She always put others first. Her co-worker would always say, "just wait until you win; you will change your mind right away." Little did he know that she would get the chance to prove him wrong.

One morning over Labor day weekend while reading the newspaper her husband decided to check their ticket. After matching all of the numbers and not believing his eyes, he rushed outside yelling to his wife that they hit the lotto. She was also as shocked as he was and immediately went into denial thinking it couldn't be true. They waited until the Tuesday after Labor day and went into the liquor store to confirm their numbers. Sure enough they really did win. The next step was to go to Baltimore and collect their winnings. Upon arriving they found out that they won seventeen million dollars. After taxes and finding out they had to cash it over twenty years it didn't seem quite as much. Still excited and shocked they met with a financial planner to prevent spending the money on things that were not worth while. Sticking to her plan the friend of mine told the planner that a portion of the money from each check every year would go to their families and to her rescue. After word spread rapidly in the small town things began to get hairy.

Being money hungry Americans, people started to make threats against her kids. They also started coming out of the woodwork asking for money. This madness astonished these kind people and they didn't want any part of it. After giving winnings to their family and setting it aside for the rescue they built a new house on a decent amount of land. Many people would stop at the property stereotyping and ask if they were the people who won the lotto. After their answer, the people would snicker as if they had just met someone completely stuck up. My friend didn't want this, she wanted to be remembered for all of the people she had helped and the good things she had done. Now years after, things have settled down and rude people have begun to leave them alone. She still continues to stick to her plan and help others. The cat rescue is fairly large now and she is placing friendly kittens into the good homes they deserve. It takes a lot to defeat the greed but someone so whole hearted like her, has no problem.

No matter what shape, size, or color, anyone is welcome into her home. She will take care of anyone or anything that needs a helping hand. Character traits like these are hard to find in a person. Finding these before and after an event so significant as winning the lotto is a gift. I feel so lucky to have met such nice people. Anyone who has had the time to get to know this amazing family will remember each and every one of them as true kind people. Their character will overwhelm their association with the lotto and it will be placed in the back of peoples' minds and relatively forgotten about.