Author Archives: kiatyus

About kiatyus

Kia Tyus is a senior at BGSU. She is a sport management major and marketing minor. Her short-term goal is to work with in the marketing department or communicaton department for a small Division I or Division II sports program. Her long-term goal is to become the marketing director or the head sport information director (SID) of the Michigan State University athletic department. This is her third year participating with the Maxwell Project.

Should You Get Rewarded After Any Steroid Use

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

February 26, 2015

The New York Yankees have decided to retire three more jerseys. One of those jerseys being number 46, Andy Pettitte.

Pettitte was a stellar athlete for the Yankees. With the team he won 5 championships and spent his whole career 16-season career in a Yankee uniform.

My question for you is does Pettitte deserve to have his jersey retired? Think about it as you read.

Professional sports teams have been known to cover their star players for their poor actions off the field.

In 2007, Pettitte admitted to using the drug HGH in 2002 to speed up a recovery from an elbow injury.

Recently, the Yankees have absolutely ripped apart superstar Alex Rodriguez for his steroid scandal. They acted like they were an organization who held their players to high standards.

Now, in the middle of this Rodriguez scandal, the Yankees make a controversial choice to retire Pettitte’s number even after Pettitte admitted to using a banned substance.

Even a former teammate of Pettitte’s Chuck Knoblauch made reference to the fact that Pettitte’s jersey is getting retired but it’s like the Yankees are ignoring the fact that he did in fact use HGH. Knoblauch tweet read, “Congrats to 46. Yankees retiring his number. Hopefully they don’t retire it like his HGH testimony.”

To me, it is an honor if you get your jersey retired. It means that you made history, paved the way for younger players, was an outstanding citizen, and did so by still following the rules of the game. Pettitte simply did not do this.

Sports Center brought up a great debate, on if Pettitte is really worthy of this honor. Now granted it is not the Hall of Fame, but your jersey being retired on any team especially the legendary Yankees, your respect for the game is not there.

Now I ask you, should Pettitte’s jersey be retired, and should the Yankees one day retire Alex Rodriguez jersey? Is there a different between what they both did?

What Happens in the Dark, Will Come to Light

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

February 13, 2015

The Jackie Robinson West Little League team from Chicago was recently stripped of their Little League World Series U.S. Championship.

The adults that are in charge of the program decided it was okay to put kids on their team that were out of the district. Tom Farrey and Joe McDonald both contributed to the ESPN written article.

This article gets straight to the point going into detail about the punishment of the staff. Team manager Darold Butler has been suspended from all Little League activities and Michael Kelly Illinois District 4 administrator had been terminated from his position.

In the Little League World Series if a champion is found to have cheated their way to victory, the runner-up will receive the championship. In this case, the team from Las Vegas, Mountain Ridge Little League is the new 2014 Little League World Series U.S. Champions.

The feeling of the article shifts to more of a compassionate state. Little League CEO Stephan D. Keener feels horrible for the kids of the Jackie Robinson West Little League. Keener said, it was something that had to be done. The Little League carries them selves with pride always. One thing that I like about what Kenner said was, winning isn’t everything. The important thing is the kids get an opportunity to play with their friends and develop character.

President Obama even stood up for the kids. He is still proud of the team and what they accomplished. And it is unfortunate that irresponsible adults have cost this team a historic run.

The Jackie Robinson West team was the first all African-American to win the Little League World Series U.S. Championship.

I really liked this article because it got straight to the point and gave you different feels. From what I read, the kids are not being blamed for this unfortunate event. The authors did a great job at not bashing the team but still voicing their disappointment about the adults that were in charge of the organization.

 

 

Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Review

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

February 2, 2015

An exciting first half to Super Bowl XLIX has been completed. The halftime crew starts of talking about some stats that happened during the first half. First, Tom Brady has tied Joe Montana with 11 touchdown passes thrown in the Super Bowl.

The crew then begins to discuss the struggles of the Seattle Seahawks. First point made, Seattle was having major matchup problems. After a great interception by cornerback Jeremy Lane, he ended up hurting his wrist and will not return. To replace him, Tharold Simon replaced him.

Right away, the Patriots took advantage of this and scored on their next drive.

On the bright side for Seattle, Chris Matthews scored his first career touchdown. And with 36 seconds left in the first half, Seattle marched down the field to tie the game up at 14-14.

On the other side, the halftime crew pretty much praised the play of the Patriots. Saying that the Patriots were out playing Seattle despite the score. The crew also talked about an interesting stat, that being that the Patriots scored 66 points total during the duration of the NFL season with less than 2 minutes in the first half.

After a recap of each team, the crew discussed how the Seahawks need to continue to run the ball on offense and their defense needs to get things going. The Patriots on the other hand need to continue to take advantage of mismatches and they cannot give up big plays.

The NFL also showed Bobby Sena for NFL 60 made the NFL ball hand off at the beginning of the game.

To close out the half, the crew talked about how New England out played Seattle but the game is still tied. They also stated how no expert had a clear-cut winner for the game. At the ending of the game may very well be decided by the field goal kickers.

All five of the Patriots Super Bowl games have been decided by four points or less.

To end the Toyota NFL Half Time Show, they showed the first half highlights.

Deflategate: Another Patriots Scandal

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

January 29, 2015

By now everyone in the sports world is aware of the current scandal with the Patriots. Just in case you don’t know, the NFL launched an official investigation on the New England Patriots to determine if the Patriots were using deflated footballs. The NFL concluded that indeed, 11 out of 12 footballs used on the Patriots side of the field during the AFC championship game were deflated.

You may be wondering why is that such a big deal? In fact, it has been said on ESPN that if the ball is deflated it makes it easier for players to grasp and catch the ball.

The Patriots are denying their claims to have had any knowledge of deflating footballs. Finally, Patriots owner Robert Kraft is sticking up for Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the Patriots organization.

Originally, people felt that the Patriots would not be punished because of Kraft’s relationship with Roger Goodell. But, after Kraft addressed the media, it is clear that his relationship with Goodell is not intact.

Dan Wetzel wrote an in-depth article about how Kraft felt about how the NFL is handling the matter. Apparently, Kraft feels like the professionalism in the NFL is lacking majorly. Kraft feels that there are too many leaks within the NFL and that leaves for major assumption with the public.

Kraft is tired of people trying to make a big deal out of something that he feels the Patriots have nothing to do with. And Kraft wants a formal public apology from the NFL when the Patriots are cleared of all allegations.

Kraft also feels that the public is assuming that the Patriots deflated the scandal because of the Spygate case of 2007.

I personally feel that someone within the Patriots organization deflated the football. Someone with power instructed someone who works with equipment to deflate footballs. I just don’t believe that the Patriots had nothing to do with the scandal; that is just hard to believe. Obviously, the Spygate case will play a factor when it comes to the public’s opinion of this current scandal. Many such as myself believe that if you cheat on such a big scale you can surely do it again.

I enjoyed reading this article because Wetzel goes in-depth about how Kraft flat out feels disrespected by people who he thought were his friends.

Larry Sanders Preps for Comeback

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

Marijuana use has increased a lot not only in sports, but also in everyday life of the average citizen. A popular trend has started with many professional athletes testing positive for marijuana use.

Larry Sanders plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks. Currently, Sanders is serving a 10-game suspension without pay for testing positive for marijuana. This is not the first time Sanders has tested positive for marijuana. In fact, Sanders uses marijuana on a regular basis.

Recently, Sanders has been having a revelation about his life. He is now realizing that he needs to find a different way to handle his personal issues without the use of marijuana.

The Bucks have been holding up just fine without Sanders, who by the way is known for his defensive efforts. Sander’s is starting to realize that he may not even get the opportunity to return to the Bucks.

In 2013, Sanders signed a four-year $44 million contract extension. The article states, because of the recent success of the Bucks, the new ownership and new coaches may consider a buyout of Sanders contract. That would give Sanders some money but would leave him without a job.

Personally, I feel like a 10-game suspension is not enough punishment for Saunders. Every professional athlete is well aware of what they can and can’t consume in their bodies. To me, professional athletes feel entitled that the laws don’t apply to them. I feel in part, that this is the authorities fault because they continue to give celebrities a slap on the wrist.

As stated above, a 10-game suspension is not enough. In the NBA that is a little over two weeks. I feel a punishment should be given out to make professional athletes never want to break drug laws ever again.

Many readers who are reading this article may think that, a harsher punishment is not valid. Some of those reasons may be because it is a player’s first offence or even that is could affect the winning percentage of their favorite team. But, in all honesty, rules are rules.

I feel if players start receiving harsher punishments it would reduce the amount of professional athletes testing positive for marijuana.

In the case of Saunders, he has dealt with numerous injuries throughout his career. For any athlete that can affect your mental state. I would suggest counseling for Saunders and if he gets another chance in the NBA, I would suggest he also gets a road therapist to help keep his mind off of smoking marijuana.

Drama in Chicago

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

Offensive Coordinator anonymously bashed star quarterback Jay Cutler, Cutler then gets benched, a locker room full of confused players, and the media making the team look like the coaches and executives have no control. Yes, there is “Drama in Chicago”.

The Chicago Bears are having a terrible season and will defiantly miss the 2014-15 playoffs sitting on a sub par record of 5-9. Frustrations have been brewing for some time now.

Lately, the Bears have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Jeff Dickerson wrote an article explaining the recent headlines of the Bears.

Dickerson’s first point was how the Bears offensive coordinator Aaron Kromer anonymously said that the Bears were having doubts about giving Cutler such a big contract. Eventually, Kromer came forward out of guilt and admitted that he was in fact the one that bashed Cutler anonymously to the media. The media tour the story apart and superstars like Aaron Rogers came forward and stood up for Cutler.

The second point Dickerson touched on was the recent benching of Cutler. The Bears announced recently that Jimmy Clausen would start verse the Detroit Lions on Sunday. This is an embarrassment to Cutler someone who has brought the Bears many wins, while Clausen has a terrible record in his stint in the NFL.

To me, this moves states that the Bears are throwing the white flag on the season. Why on Earth would you change the quarterback when you are getting ready to play against the best defense in the NFL? To me, it shows a lack of professionalism.

Insiders from the Bears organization feel that the coaches handled the Cutler benching way different from the Kromer incident. They feel as though Cutler’s mistakes were leaked to the media but Kromer received a slap on the wrist.

The last point that Dickerson made was that players are very confused about what is going on within the organization. While they chose to stay anonymous, they did say that they do not object to the benching they just feel it was handled the wrong way.

Yes, the Bears season is over and they have waved the white flag. Players have trust issues with the coaching staff which Dickerson says makes them feel “confused and uncomfortable”.

Dickerson did state however that the Bears could be playing the safety card with Cutler. In the 2014-15 season, Cutler is the highest paid offensive player banking $22.5 million. In 2015, $15.5 million and is guaranteed $10 million on March 12th. If they sit him out the last two games, he won’t get hurt and they could trade Cutler, which would save them $10 million.

The New York Knicks Woes

Leave a reply

The New York Knicks are off to their worst start in franchise history 5-21. They are becoming a laughing joke in the already terrible eastern conference. There are so many problems within the Knicks organization. Those problems can be the record itself, team chemistry, the coach, and the triangle system. The article Chris Broussard wrote about the Knicks’ woes covers the above topics.

To start everything off, Broussard jumped right into the fact that the Knicks are 5-21 on the season. With any teams, a record like that can be very discouraging. Confidence is at an all time low and frustration is at an all time high. I’m sure, many teams are beginning to not take the Knicks seriously as a basketball team especially since they are in a joke of a conference.

With the losing record, it brings me to Broussard’s second point, team chemistry. Apparently, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Carmelo Anthony, never liked each other and the fact that the Knicks can’t buy a win surely isn’t helping. Insiders have said that players are not working hard in practice and that is transferring over to games.

In fact, players have started to argue in the middle of the games even though they are fully aware that there are cameras everywhere.

The next topic of discussion is the coach Derek Fisher. Many players are used to having a soft practice like previous years with Mike Woodson. Derek Fisher has fast past hard tiring practices and some players are unhappy with that.

I believe that professional athletes can be spoiled ungrateful brats. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that you need to practice hard so the games are easy. In my opinion, Fisher is one of the most respected players to every play the game, he also has multiple championships.

Lastly, the only thing that the Knicks players seem to agree on is they feel like they should stop running the triangle offense. Players feel like it not only is the current offense not working, but also they feel as though the competition knows exactly how to guard the offense.

I feel as though that is just an excuse and if the players would listen and work hard at the offense it could possibly help them. When Knicks owner Phil Jackson was coaching the Los Angeles Lakers, they ran the triangle offense and it won them six championships.

Overall, I feel like the Knicks are starting to give up on the season and it’s so early on. I feel like Phil Jackson definitely needs to consider trading players starting with the obnoxious J.R. Smith and maybe even considering Carmelo Anthony.

Another NFL Poor Decision

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

Personally, I am sick of celebrities getting special treatment for felony type crimes.

Ray Rice went into a drunken rage against his wife. He punched her and dragged her out of the elevator. Let’s be honest, we all saw the video. Rice came forward and told the National Football League (NFL) what he did. The NFL chose to cover up a superstar and now Rice has won his appeal and can be signed to any team in the NFL.

Multiple NFL players have been suspended for failing drug test and substance abuse test. Yet, they only get suspended for a few games then, they return to the field as if nothing has happened.

Gregg Rosenthal wrote an article about Josh Brent returning to the Dallas Cowboys.

Last year, Dallas Cowboys Josh Brent was involved in a drunken car crash that killed former Dallas Cowboys and best friend Jerry Brown.

A regular civilian would have been sentenced to multiple years in prison as well as a lengthy probation afterwards. Not in the case of Jerry Brown.

Jerry Brown instead was sentenced to 180 days in jail and 10 years of probation. Now, Brown has recently been reinstated with the Cowboys and can play Sunday. Also, Brown has been practicing recently with the team.

I understand that everyone should receive a second chance. But, I feel as though the NFL’s and the laws priorities are not in order. Michael Vick went to prison for participating in dog fighting, but he wasn’t the ones actually fighting the dog.

Yet, a guy who was drunk behind the wheel of a car is not only returning to the Cowboys, but signed a contract extension that will last to 2015. The Cowboys felt that Brent would be an asset to Dallas’s rush defense.

The way that the Rosenthal article was edited further gave me the impression that the NFL doesn’t really believe in punishing the players even if the law let’s the players get off. I think that the NFL needs to increase their punishments for breaking the rules. Players simply aren’t taking them seriously because they know that their punishment won’t be that severe.

Massive Blowout

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

Many people believe the whole point of playing a team sport is to not only win but win by as much as possible. Many competitive athletes love to completely dominate a team. In the case of Savannah State vs. Louisville this was exactly the case.

The players and the fans were probably amped up about the blowout win. But, not Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. Instead, Pitino early on in the game decided to come up with ways to not beat Savannah State by so much.

The question you should ask yourself is, when competing in a game should you hold back from destroying a team? Personally, I have mixed feelings about what Pitino did in the game. I understand that when your team is blowing out another team, it is important to reserve those players energy. It also lessens the chance of an injury.

But, is it fair to tell the players who rarely see playing time to hold back? No, I agree with the Jeff Eisenberg, the author of an article on the subject. When you put your backup players in the game, I feel as though they should get the same chance to pad their stats. It is their turn to have a feeling of accomplishing something.

Eisenberg also touched on Pitino’s post game press conference that was in fact a risky one. Pitino pitied Savannah State, stating, “I don’t like to see any team struggle like that. I really don’t.” Pitino furthered his comments by saying, “We tried everything” Referring how he was trying to not beat up on Savannah State so much.

Pitino ended his press conference making a statement, “You get nothing out of this, you just feel bad for the other team.” As a former athlete, I feel no matter how bad you get beat, I would never want a team to feel sorry for me. Clearly, Louisville was a better team being ranked in the nation. Savannah State is a struggling Division 1 school playing in a poor conference. No one should have been that surprised by this score.

Eisenberg began to compare Louisville blowout to their in-state rivals Kentucky; who blew out Montana State 86-28. Of course, Pitino refused to comment.

Eisenberg wrote a great article that made you think about what if you were in Pitino’s situation and how you would handle it. I feel as though Eisenberg gave great statics on each team such and the score, record, and even went as far as making a point of how this isn’t even Savannah State’s worst point differential in the shot clock era. In fact, in 2008, Savannah State scored a measly four points in the first half.

More Than A Game

Leave a reply

By Kia Tyus

In many sports, the sole purpose is to win by all means necessary. Many athletes have gained a terrible reputation of being very conceded with others and have the mind-set that they are better.

In a sport like hockey, which I consider one of the most physically demanding sports, players are constantly getting slammed into the wall, taunting one another, and receiving multiple penalties throughout the game.

With many student athletes there seems to be a constant struggle to abide by disciplinary rules off the field. Well the media seems to portray this that way.

Greg Wyshynski wrote an emotional article about how Keving Shier, a freshman hockey player at Union College, helped save Timothy Neild.

Usually, when people see others having car trouble on the road, you rarely have people stop to see if it is okay. This isn’t just people being road but some people are in rushes and simply don’t think twice about a broken down car. Now if most people were to see a burning car on the side of the road, they would probably call the police and stay as far away from the car as possible; to refrain themselves from injury.

Well, Shier and his father were driving to Union College for a recruiting visit and noticed a burning car. Instead of panicking and calling the cops and waiting, they alertly went over to the car to see if anybody was in there. Shier and his father ended up pulling Neild out of the car. Shier stated, “We thought he was dead”. Because of this act of kindness, Shier and his father ended up saving Neild’s life.

It turns out that Neild is in fact a Captain in the armed forces. To pay his respect, Neild presented Shier the Medal of Valor one of the top medal to receive at the Union vs Princeton game. And in return, the Union team autographed a signed jersey for Neild and his family.

The way Wyshynski wrote this article allowed people to see that many college athletes both future and present have great hearts and do a lot of wonderful things off the courts that just never get said in the media because the media focuses more on negativity.

The editor edited this story in a way that allowed readers to connect and read about how the incident impacted everyone involved.