Madison Hill
Position I Would Like: Sports Editor
Date: September 2 2008
My name is Madison Hill, my friends call me Maddy, and my sports coaches call me Madwoman. I’ve followed sports since I could play them so I’m pretty much addicted to them. So for the Cab Calloway Middle School paper, I think the best position for me would be sports editor. I know so much about sports. From baseball to football, to track and swimming. I’ve been playing them since the age of three. So sports are a big part of my life. Why I think I should get this position as sports editor is I’m a hard worker, always try my best, and never give up. You can count on me to do anything at any time. I don’t want to be like some people and end up with a job I don’t like doing, I would rather do something I like to do. When I grow up, I would like to be an editor for the New York Times. Well, how do you think the editors got their jobs? They probably started out no more than us, which was their school newspaper. I think this would be a great opportunity for my writing to be recognized. Everyone has to start out small and work their way to the top. I’m that kind of person. I wont give up until I make the New York Times!!!!!
Article # 1
Eat, Sleep, Swim Repeat
By: Madison Hill
Have you been watching the Beijing Olympics? Everyone knows about the horses on drugs, to the world’s fastest man with a record breaking 19.35 seconds in the 200 meter dash. But have you been aware that six more records were broken in Beijing? He broke four individual events, one with his relay team, and one with most Olympic gold medals received in one Olympics. Can you guess who that person is? That person is Michael Phelps.
Phelps appeared in the past two summer Olympics which was Athens, Greece ( 2004 ) and in Sydney, Australia ( 2000 ) in which he received six gold medals. In Beijing he received eight gold medals coming to a total of thir-teen gold medals in his career.
Phelps was born on June 30, 1985 in Baltimore, Maryland. Weighing one hundred and ninety-five pounds, twenty-three year old Phelps grew up to be six foot four, with an arm spam of six foot seven which gives him more of an advantage of hitting the wall first. Michael may look like a typical swimmer, but he isn’t. His torso is longer compared to his legs allowing him to stay above the water better. He has flexible ankles, plus size four-teen feet which gives him a powerful kick. He moved out of his home for the first time to go to Michigan Collage, were he now trains. When Phelps was a kid, he had a hard time focusing in school. His teacher said to his mom that he will never be able to achieve or focus on anything, but that was until Phelps discovered swimming at the age of seven. At the age of twelve, Phelps parents were informed that he could make the 2000 summer Olympic team, and also that 2004 and 2008 could be a target also.
Coming in to Beijing, Phelps qualified for 200 meter freestyle, 100 and 200 meter butterfly, 200 and 400 meter individual medley, 4x100 and 4x200 meters freestyle relay. Four years ago in the Athens Olympics, Phelps would have gotten eight medals if he participated in the 4x100 medley relay, instead he let one of his teammates get the gold medal. Well, Phelps was in the same situation this year too. So, Phelps teammate, the one who he gave up his position for, gave up his spot on the 4x100 meter relay so Phelps could get his eighth gold medal in Beijing. That was true sportsmanship.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Do you seriously think im joking, cuz im not.
Maddie,
For the new 7th grade co-editors, I found the link to have two authors to a blog. Follow these directions:
One person needs to create the blog. After it's created, go to Settings, then permissions, then "ADD AUTHOR"
More info: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en-uk&answer=41440
Reilly
*start* Sports
Eat, Sleep, Repeat
Madison Hill
Have you been watching the Beijing Olympics? Everyone knows about the horses on drugs and the world’s fastest man with a record breaking 19.35 seconds in the 200 meter dash. But are you aware that six more records were broken in Beijing? He broke four individual events, one with his relay team, and one for the most Olympic gold medals received in one Olympics. Can you guess who that person is? That person is Michael Phelps. Phelps appeared in the past two summer Olympics which was Athens, Greece (2004) and in Sydney, Australia ( 2000 ) in which he received six gold medals. In Beijing he received eight gold medals coming to a total of thir-teen gold medals in his career.
Phelps was born on June 30, 1985 in Baltimore, Maryland. Weighing one hundred and ninety-five pounds, twenty-three year old Phelps grew up to be six foot four. He has an arm spam of six foot seven, which gives him more of an advantage of hitting the wall first. Michael may look like a typical swimmer, but he isn’t. His torso is longer compared to his legs allowing him to stay above the water better. He has flexible ankles, plus size four-teen feet which gives him a powerful kick. He moved out of his home for the first time to go to Michigan Collage, where he now trains. When Phelps was a kid, he had a hard time focusing in school. His teacher said to his mom that he will never be able to achieve or focus on anything, but that was until Phelps discovered swimming at the age of seven. At the age of twelve, Phelps parents were informed that he could make the 2000 summer Olympic team, and also that 2004 and 2008 could be a target also. Coming in to Beijing, Phelps qualified for 200 meter freestyle, 100 and 200 meter butterfly, 200 and 400 meter individual medley, and the 4x100 and 4x200 meters freestyle relay. Four years ago in the Athens Olympics, Phelps would have gotten eight medals if he participated in the 4x100 medley relay, instead he let one of his teammates get the gold medal. Well, Phelps was in the same situation this year too. So, Phelps teammate, the one who he gave up his position for, gave up his spot on the 4x100 meter relay so Phelps could get his eighth gold medal in Beijing. That was true sportsmanship.
*Maddy, I love your article. It’s very professional and looks as if you put a lot of work into it. Amazing job.
*To Mr. Mayo- What do you think of the ending? Does it need an extra sentence, I’m not sure.
Monday Night!
Brent Hall
Possibly the game of the century. Yes it is only the beginning of the season, yet Monday Night Football is getting more and more amazing. Focusing on Monday night 9-15-08, Eagle's VS. Cowboys. The Eagle's started out with the ball. The team charged up the field, yard after yard, easily. But when they reached the redzone, a fumble occurred. What was supposed to be a simple screen was caught, and with two step progress, dropped. It was tapped by an eagle's player and hit into the hands of the Cowboys’ defense who tipped the ball with his fingers. Diving in for a touchdown with the ball is the eagle's offense. After all of that, the referee called him down when he dropped the ball so the eagles had to settle for a measly three points for a field goal. After that, Tony Romo threw a 72 yard pass to Terrel Owens for a touchdown and Felix Jones returns a 98 yard kickoff for a touchdown. Also, the eagles score another field goal. The score at the end of the first quarter is 6-14.
In the second quarter Westbrook gets a short 6 yard pass for a touchdown and Chris Gocong of the Eagles recovers a fumble in the end zone. Then, Terell Owens gets a short pass for a touchdown and by the end of the second quarter the score was 30-24. It was starting to look up for the Eagles.
In the third quarter Marion Barber gets a 17 yard touchdown pass, putting the score at 30-31 Cowboys.
Just at the beginning of the fourth quarter the Eagles get a touchdown and the Cowboys get a field goal, putting the score at 37-34 Eagles. But, with just 4 minutes on the clock, Marion Barber runs in a one yard touchdown for the cowboys putting the final score at 37-41… a loss for our highflying Eagles.
*Great article, it really made me root for the Eagles and feel bad when the Cowboys scored. This is a pretty big feat, to convince a sport-dummy like me. I made each quarter a new paragraph, but if you don’t like it, we could change it back. It’s not a big deal. Like I said, I’m not sport-savvy. If I messed up any terms, please let me know!
The Rookie Who Had a Chance
Maddy
You knew him as number 5 in a blue and yellow jersey. That’s right, that rookie is Joe Flacco. He was on the University of Delaware football team. After graduating from college, Flacco was invited to the 2008 NFL Draft. The eight-teen year old was pick number eight-teen in the first round, by the Baltimore Ravens. On July 16th, he signed for a five year contract with a maximum value of around $30 million and $8.75 million guaranteed.
Flacco got his chance to start in the Ravens opening game against Cincinnati Bengals because the Ravens other two quarterbacks, Kyle Boller and Troy Smith were injured. He completed 15 of 29 passes, throwing for 129 yards. His longest pass was a fifteen yarder to Derrick Mason. But his shining moment was when Flacco rushed the ball himself for a 38- yard touchdown. Flacco lead the Ravens to a victory over the Bengals which was 17-10. Flacco was rewarded by starting in game number two for the Ravens against the Texans. This will decide if he does well in the Texans game*.
Will our once hometown college quarterback get his time to shine? Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that he will have a very successful and healthy career.
*Another great one. If you see my astrix (*) above, I didn’t really get that sentence. Maybe you can help me on that one.
*END* SPORTS
Hey, Maddy . Sure you can write as many articles as you want. Especially sports, we don't ahve a lot of those :)
Maddie, the article that you recently posted on my blog is very long. I will get around to editing it. Probably will be done by next week. After I edit it I'll ppost it here as a comment and you can send it to Reilly.
--Sam S.
Maddy,
Here is your 4 page-12 pt. font article. It's way too long and I don't think its gona be possible to print a four page article in the paper. but thats justmy thinking. we will have to ask reilly and mr. mayo. but i editied it anyways.
here it is
Digging Deep
By: Maddy Hill
Pat Devlin, standing at six foot four, weighing two hundred and twenty-two pounds, and born on April 12, 1988 (age twenty), has transferred from PSU (Penn State University) to U.D. (University of Delaware). Luckily, I got some information from Pat first-handed (meaning that I interviewed him).
Pat Devlin Downing Town East High School just about forty-five minute ride from here, which makes Pat happy to be so close to home. Just because Pat is known for football being his biggest hobby, but that doesn’t mean he has other hobbies. Depending on what season it is, he likes to hunt and fish. Every football player has a dream of someday making it to the N.F.L. (National Football League). Devlin says the ultimate goal would just be to make it to the N.F.L., and not everyone makes it.
As a kid, Pat had three simple steps: go to school, do his homework, and go outside and play sports. He would always go outside and either play basketball, baseball, or football. As he got older, he dropped baseball and continued high school with basketball and football until his senior year. Things worked out great for football so he stuck with that. Not only did Pat play quarterback for his high school team, but he also played a bit of safety too. Safety was fun for Pat because being the quarterback; people are always trying to hit him, so it felt good to be the other side of the coin and hit people as opposed to being the one hit.
Many big athletes get nervous before a big game, so people need a little help to get calmed down. So Pat learned a couple of techniques, like meditations to calm him down and controlling his breathing. You should always try to use the technique before a big game if you are nervous or tense.
Just coming down from Penn State to U.D. in January, Pat has been getting to know the guys on the team better by going to one of the basketball games down at the Bob Carpenter Center, and some of the guys had fun and danced at half time. Not only did Pat need to get to know the guys on the team, but he needed to find a place to stay. For Pat, it was tough for him to find a house down here, but the coaches were great and helped him find a house. Again, socialization with the guys came in to play, because Pat was rooming with some of the guys who were on the team last year and are graduating this year. One of his biggest parts coming down here to U.D. was to try to get to know the guys on the team and hang out with them as much as possible.
In each career, male or female, he or she has one major obstacle to overcome in his or her career. For Pat, his biggest obstacle was just the Penn State, but it came out for the best and he is happy where he’s at now. Another obstacle for Pat would to make it to the N.F.L., but not everyone makes it, so you should always have a “Plan B” or a back up plan, just in case things don’t work out, so Pat needs to look in to other careers. Being finance major, he would love to go into banking or financial management if football doesn’t work out.
In Pat’s college football career, he has had two coaches, Coach Keeler (University of Delaware’s Head Coach of Football) and Coach Paterno (Penn State University’s Head Coach of Football). Pat said he has recently talked to Coach Keeler a lot, and think he’s a really great guy, but when he think it comes to comparing both coaches, he says “I think both coaches want what’s best for their players.” Pat is also very thankful that Coach Keeler took him in and gave him a second chance.
At Penn State being a Division 1 team, they did not have play-offs; instead, they had bowls (no, not the kind you put cereal in) such as the Rose Bowl, the Orange Bowl, etc., but down here at U.D., we have the play-offs. Pat said he is definitely excited for the play-off system versus the bowl system because for bowls, you have to wait around for a while (as if you get a month off then you play one game), but in the play-offs, there’s more excitement and it just follows the regular season immediately.
If you are a recruit, it means you transferred from a different college to another college to get more playing time in a sport, just like Pat and others down here at U.D. However, Pat has noticed that some of the other recruits have more experience here on the field than him. He thinks that you won’t see as many things down here as you see in Division 1, but as far as experience goes, there are more guys down here that have more experience than I do. Just against some of the guys such as Joe King, I think that gives him more of a heads up. So far, Pat can’t tell between the Division 1 recruits. Many of the guys who were recruited from One A, but they just didn’t get scholarships for whatever reason. Back when Pat was up at Penn State, his team had some great wide receivers, but he can’t gage it of that, he has to gage it off everyone else. He couldn’t see a step down as for athleticism, but we got some short guys, some tall, guys, and all kinds of stuff down here at U.D.
Academically, Pat is considered a junior, but on the field, he’s considered a sophomore, which means he has two more years of playing time on the field. With the schedule already out for the Blue Hen’s 2009 season, the game Pat is looking forward to the most is the West Chester game because a few of the guys who were on his high school team plays for West Chester.
Athletes have the “shining” or “golden” moment in their careers. Pat’s moment was when he was a senior in high school and his team was in a play-off game against a team, which the odds were, they were going to lose. The night was just beautiful and they scored with ten seconds left in the fourth quarter and won the game. Pat said there was nothing better than to go out in front of your community and play, but there’s a lot more people who come to see the college games and it’s such a rush.
Athletes strive to do their very best and to make it to the top. If Pat could give advice to a high school football player who wants to play football in college he would say “Work as hard as you can. My dad always told me there is someone out there always working harder than you do. There will always be someone always bigger, faster, and stronger and you got to work up to that level. You work harder in high school, but when you get to college it’s another step up.”
Every quarterback will always have one hit in their career that they will always remember. When Penn State played Ohio State, Pat got some playing time because Penn State’s starting quarterback got hurt. On one play, they ran the Quarterback Sneak (QB Sneak) and what your supposed to do is you step back and get low and then the linemen are supposed to make and opening for you to run through. Well, Pat took the snap, stepped back and got low and then he stood up a bit because he thought he was clear and then one of Ohio State’s linemen came and hit him right in the chin.
Penn State went undefeated the whole season until the Iowa State game came. Pat described the day being a terrible, cold, and windy Iowa day. Iowa was a good team but not a great one, nut something went wrong in every play, and things just didn’t click that day, so we came out with a loss. It was disappointing because you go the whole season undefeated and then you face a team that’s good, but not great and then you lose when everyone expects you to win.
On January 1, 2009 in Pasadena, California, Penn State traveled there to compete in the Rose Bowl against USC (University of Southern California) Trojans. Pat went to Coach Paterno and said that he was going to look at different schools, but Paterno said okay, but I don’t think it’s the best thing for you to do, but you do what you think is best. Pat and his team had a meeting with Coach Paterno about going to Pasadena, but Pat didn’t ask to go, but in the meeting, Coach Paterno said you deserve to go, but he didn’t say I think you should go. Pat gave him Paterno a call saying what did he think about Pasadena and Coach Paterno replied give me two days to think about it. So Pat gave Paterno a call two days later thinking that he would have made up his mind, but Paterno said “I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to go to Pasadena, I think it would just be a distraction.” However, Pat thought coming to U.D. would be great because it would give him a second chance to get more playing time on the field.
Even though Pat is from the Philadelphia area, he’s a Pittsburgh, Steelers fan (booooooooo!!!). His mom was from the Pittsburgh area and always watched the Steelers so he just picked up on it and became a Steelers fan. Many people have iPod’s or MP3 players. On Pat’s current play list, he likes to listen to Pearl Jam and a little bit of the older stuff. If Pat could ever run his own play, it would probably be a pass play, defiantly something deep. Studying does not come natural to Pat. He has to work tough and he had good high school academics. Pats a meticulous eater, so he’s doesn’t eat anything like pizza. A lot of athletes have nicknames. So far, Pat says he does not have a nickname because he says he hasn’t been down here long enough to get a nickname. Probably the most common trait people first see in Pat is his athleticism, but besides that, people usually notice that he’s very calm and reserved. Most little boys have a dream of someday becoming a superhero. Pat didn’t watch too much TV when he was younger, but when he got older he was in to multiple sports and stuff. Therefore, if Pat could be a superhero, he said, “I’d be Batman you know, because he has all that money, and he goes out around Gotham and saves people.” Liking to watch movies, Pat would say one of his favorite movies would be “The Dark Knight” following the Batman scheme. Like most people, Pat has siblings. He has an older sister who just graduated from Penn State and now is in a Master’s program up there, and a younger sister who is still in high school at Downing Town. One of U.D.’s former quarterbacks, Joe Flacco, (now currently playing for the Baltimore Ravens in the N.F.L.) had the same exact problem as Pat. Joe was also a recruit and came down to U.D. hoping to get more playing time. Well, Pat got a chance to meet Flacco at U.D.’s Pro Day and Pat said he was a great guy. Every person has a role model to look up to. Pat’s quarterback role models are Tom Brady (New England, Patriots), Peyton Manning (Indianapolis, Colts), and Ben Rothlisberger (Pittsburgh, Steelers). If Pat could go anywhere in the world he would go to Ireland because he’s Irish, and he would love to go and see the scenery. Pat is not absolutely one hundred percent sure, but he thinks his jersey number for U.D. will be number seventeen. Pat was never really big on numbers. When he was little, he started out on the number “ten” and then one season got the number “seven” and stuck with that for a bit. One year, his dad was coaching his Pee-Wee All-Star game and he wanted a specific number, but his dad said you get what you get, and Pat ended up being a quarterback with the number “seventy-five.” Since then, Pat never really cared which number he got. If Pat could throw a football to any wide receiver in the N.F.L., he would choose Larry Fitzgearld because what he did in the play-offs was just amazing. Finally yet importantly, if Pat could learn from any N.F.L. quarterback he would choose either Peyton Manning or Brett Farve (New York Jets) because they have been around in the leagues for so long.
Post a Comment