Man or Myth?

If you've ever been on Youtube, then you've probably seen the video of the guy jumping out of a small swimming pool. His name is Jarron Gilbert, and he is a football player coming out of San Jose State. it is no wonder that Jarron played defensive lineman in college, and he can jump out of a pool with his huge stature. Gilbert weighs in at 288 pounds and stands at 6 foot 5 inches. With this size, all of Chicago can be very excited that he will be coming to play for the Bears next season.

Jarron was drafted in the NFL draft yesterday as the Bears' first pick in the third round. Hopefully, he will bring back the fantastic defense that the Bears maintained just a few years ago when they made it to the Super Bowl. To read up on Jarron's stats and see his pros and cons visit http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2009/04/angelo_comments_on_1st_pick_ja.html.

Gilbert was not the only addition to the Bears' roster from the NFL draft, other key picks were

wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias, Henry Melton, and D.J. Moore. For more info on the 2009 NFL draft visit http://www.nfl.com/.

Spring Break

Spring break is right around the corner, and it seems that the school year started just yesterday. I can't believe that I am already 75% complete with my sophomore year. School went by pretty fast this year, for better or for worse, and I can't wait for a break from all this work that I've been getting. I found this quote about how fast things can feel like they are going at times, and I thought it was very interesting. I'm not sure who it is by.

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

I feel like this quote has very strong connections to the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun." In the case where one is having fun, a person is acting as the pilot and speeding through time. However, I do not agree completely with the quote. There are times when you just want to get through the day and make it to the next without anything going bad, and it feels, at least to me, like these days which you want to get over with as quickly as possible actually take much longer. In this instance, you would not be the pilot of how fast your time-plane is going, and instead you're life would be in the hands of something/one else.

"Think about it."-Demetri Martin

March Madness

Well, it's almost here, the best sports month of the year. No, I'm not talking about the World Series in October or the Super Bowl in January, I am talking about the most competetive and exhilarating tournament of all. It's the 2009 NCAA men's college basketball tournament! College sports in general are so much more exciting to watch than the 

regular seasons of professional sports. There is just so much more enthusiasm that the fans and players bring to the table, something that you don't get in the pros (except in the playoffs). I think this extra motivation comes mainly from school pride, and that is why schools like Duke and Michigan State are so renowned for their programs, especially in basketball.

As for the actual tournament, this year's March Madness is supposed to be revamped a little bit, in order to accomodate the recession in our economy. Instead of spreading teams out across the nation by their rank, the commitee is going to try to keep teams close to home to cut down on travel costs. This, however, does present a bit of a problem. That is, the really great, powerhouse basketball teams are all located in little clusters of the country. The most dominant of which are on the east coast, which is home to the ACC and SEC and don't forget the Big 12. The 4 best teams from across the country are all located in this region, so I'm not sure how the commitee plans on balancing the bracket out so it is even all the way around.

As for my prediciton on the tournament, I think the Connecticut Huskies are going to go all the

 way, due to some great post play defensively and offensively by Hasheem Thabeet. He is a raw talent from Tanzania who used to be play soccer, but because of his massive stature, he has been developed into one of the nation's best inside-men. Another team that I expect to do well is the Oklahoma Sooners. Known usually for their footba

ll teams, the Sooners have the nation's best overall player in Blake Griffin, as well as his brother Taylor Griffin. This Oklahoma team has a bunch of guys who can step up if Blake is doing poorly, so they should advance far into the tourney.

Pictures courtesy of:

http://www.allsportslocks.com/ncaab-matchups.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/12/AR2008011201874.html

A License to Drive

In less than 120 hours, I will have obtained my driver's license (assuming I pass the test)! The whole idea of being able to just go wherever I want in a car whenever I want opens up so many new possibilities to me. If I want something to eat, I will no longer have to make it, I can simply drive to a nearby restaurant and get a bite. I think overall that being able to drive by myself will make me a more responsible person.

Since I think I am a pretty good driver, I'm not too worried with how I will be driving on the streets of my town, but one thing that worries me is the other people driving. I have learned from driving around with my permit that there are tons of aggressive drivers out there and also a lot of people who don't 

really know how to drive. When you are driving a car, you are putting your life in the hands of everyone around you and not just yourself. In order to feel safe, you have to be able to trust pretty much everyone who is able to operate a vehicle. Because I don't think this is possible with the streets today, I have an idea to make the roads more safe for everyone.

Every year, you go to the doctor for a checkup, as well as the dentist and many other professionals. So I'm thinking, what makes driving so different? Isn't driving on the roads more of a direct threat to my personal safety than a cavity in one of my molars? I think that all people should have to go in to the DMV for an annual "checkup" and take a driving test until they no longer have their license. Now someone might say that bad drivers are taken care of by the police by giving them tickets for reckless behavior. This does work in some cases, but it definitely hasn't fixed the danger of the streets. Anyways, I'm sure this idea will never be put into practice because no one will want to have to wait in huge lines once a year just to reacquire their driver's license, but if it somehow is passed by the government, I bet it would make a difference in the safety of driving cars.

Upper right photo courtesy of http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2008/07/

Bottom left photo courtesy of http://www.skidzz.com/license/

Superbowl XLIII

Well, the big day is finally upon us. Superbowl Sunday is today, and I have decided who will win. The game will be a struggle for both teams, with many lead changes, but in the end, I predict that the Arizona Cardinals will beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on a game-ending field goal kicked with 3 seconds left in regulation. The field goal will be from 31 yards, and it will give the Cardinals a 2 point lead to win the game. My estimate for the final score is 27 to 25, obviously with the Cardinals scoring 27.

Assuming all that was previously mentioned happens, the player of the game will be wide receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, #11. In the first and third quarters, Fitzgerald will score one touchdown amounting for two total touchdowns and 176 total receiving yards in the game. Boldin, the other star Cardinal receiver will also have a spectacular game, but will not score any touchdowns.

As for the Steelers who will have the lead going into the final quarter of play, Ben Roethlisberger will once again have a horrendous Super Bowl performance. This will, however, be made up for by the Steelers running game with Willie Parker and the defense. Troy Polamalu will have 2 interceptions, one of which will be returned for a touchdown.

Well, there you have it. I'm sure that when someone reads this post tomorrow and the game happened exactly as I said it would, they'll just have to remember that I can see the future. That's all I can say for now.

Finals

As a sophomore in highschool, I've already gone through this process twice before, yet it still a hassle. This coming week, we have our final exams for the 1st semester of school. Having studied a bit for the past two days, I've realized that most of the information that I have learned over the last several months is still with me, I just had to go over it once to remember everything. However, for people that don't remember little facts and formulas for long periods of time, they have to study for hours just to recollect how to do it. My experience with the final exams is that they are generally not challenging problems, but rather a test to see how much you remember from previous chapters.

This process of finals where they strictly test how much you remember from the semester pretty much defeats the purpose, or at least I think so. If teachers actually wanted to find out how much the students have learned, they should do some sort of project that tests whether the kids have learned how to go about something. An example of this could be that for chemistry we have to do a class lab (open note) where the teacher doesn't tell you the kids what to do. My chemistry teacher actually does stuff like that, but we are also taking the normal standardized final (probably because it is required by the department).

Finally, I don't get why finals are called finals. They only happen at the end of the year 50% of the time, and even then, what are they an end to? As my 9th grade English teacher used to tell us, "The learning will continue!" By the institution calling these examinations "final" they are hinting to us students that this is the last time we will have to remember all this material. But of course, our teachers don't want us to forget anything and expect us to keep reviewing everything we have learned. My English teacher from last year also devised a way to not call them finals. Instead of preparing for finals, he tells everyone that they are to prepare for "The Grand Celebration of Learning," which truly is what these tests should be.

Movie Reviews

I can’t believe winter break is already ending, it all went by so fast. One thing that I did do over break was see a few movies in the theaters. First, I saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" starring Brad Pitt. The movie was about a man who was born old and instead of getting older as he grew, he grew younger until he was a baby and died. While of course the movie was not possible, it was very interesting and a story that is very unique. Out of 5 stars, I would give this one a 4.5.

Then, the next day, I saw "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey. This was a classic Jim Carrey film much like "Liar, Liar," so if you are a Jim Carey fan, I would definitely recommend seeing it. The plot of the movie is basically that a man who turns down every offer in his life goes to a cult-like seminar where an enthusiast of Yes Men makes a covenant with him so that he would have to say yes to every opportunity that presents itself, or else he would be punished in some way. The end of the movie was a little disappointing, but I won't give it away.

Overall this one receives 3 stars for some good laughs.Outside of the theater, I saw a number of movies on DVD (I was very bored in northern Minnesota) including "Wanted," "Run Fatboy, Run," "Meet Dave," Smart People," "Cashback," and a few others that I can't really think of at the moment. Out of all of those my favorite was "Wanted" because it had some really cool action scenes a plot twist that you wouldn't see coming. The last line of the movie also was very inspirational and it went something like what "have you done lately." This movie gets a 3 out 5 as well because there were some things that were a little unreal.