Major League of Steriods

I must be honest. I am not a big baseball fan at all. In fact I get bored very easily watching the game. I mean I will root for local teams and the Boston Red Sox just for my best friend's pleasure, but that's it. None the less baseball is a big part of the sports world. And the more and more I see highlights of games the more and more I realize the gigantic problem brewing in the sport. Yes, there is a competitive race to get into the playoffs going on, but look at the big picture. The steriod picture. It seems to me the media keeps pushing away the obvious facts. Only one man has come out and said what needed to be said. Ricky Reilly of Sports Illustrated had a great article discussing steriod use in the Major League of Steriods. He clearly said what needs to be said. I for one, will say it. Nothing iffy just straight what needs to be said. Barry Bonds, Raf Palemiro, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa are all cheaters. That right I said it, cheaters. No way around it. They cheated the game of baseball. Sure there's more to baseball than being strong, but lets not stretch anything. Steriods does take your game to a new level. Steriods take an average hitter and turn him into a big and buff, swinging juggernaut. I am just so sick of all these players who have been caught cheating, yet the media and Major League Baseball still let them slip through the cracks. If McGwire had any class like Giambi he would have fessed up to using steriods. Instead, Big Mac replied he only wanted to talk about the future. Wow. Where do you begin with that one? A player is brought in on steriod accusations, but he does not want to talk about the past only the future. The accusations get even better when you talk about Mr. Barry Bonds. What an amazing story. So let me get this right Barry a sneaky, little man was secretly rubbing a cream on you that did not know was steriods? That is more pathetic sounding than an Aaron Brooks four interception Sunday. All in all, I am just sick and tired of this drama surrounding baseball. Where's the drama? You can just look at the fact and see that Bonds, McGwire, Palemiro, and Sosa are guilty. Did you know Barry's head grew three sizes in one season? ONE SEASON! Enough said.

USCBS

As the wonderous season known as Fall approaches, one can only hope their famed football teams achieve success. I, for one, am a die hard college football fan of LSU. Though as the days come to a close one fact always remains strong. What's the deal with USC? Yes, I know they creamed the Sooners last January 55-19. I understand they won the pretty BCS football for the first time. ( Notice how they only have one.) Yet, I am still trying to figure out what is the deal with them? All sports media seems to build this team up to be as good as the New England Patriots. Does it have to do with the fact USC is in California near Los Angeles were all the elegant stars live? Whatever it is, I have heard enough. USC is a very talented team, but for crying out loud they are not some team of super humans. This may be a biased remark, but LSU and Texas have just as much talent as those pretty boys out West. The thing that really perplexes me more than anything is how everyone seems to point out how USC went undefeated. That's a great accomplishment, do not get me wrong. But let's not forget one bit of information very important. USC plays in the Pac 10. The schools in that conference are not nearly as good as say schools in the ACC, SEC, or Big 10. Looking at the Pac 10 now I can say there are a few good teams. Teams like Arizona State and California are considered to be towards the top of the league. But then who? Okay maybe Oregon, but they are as consistent as Aaron Brooks. The Bruins of UCLA have talent, but production is sub par. I just find that fact very interesting. Only 3 teams in the Pathetic 10 I mean Pac 10 can be considered elite. Another issue is Matt Leinart. I won't be a complete jerk, Matt Leinert is an excellent quarterback. He truthfully is an exceptional man under center. Mr. Leinert has a terrific arm, great concentration, but the GREATEST college quarterback ever? I am sorry. I am not buying that. We are not talking about the greatest USC quarterback, but the GREATEST college quarterback. Period. I will not believe that. There have been a few athletes in the past who's accomplishments top Matt Leinert. For instance, Bernie Kosar, the man who brought Hurricane football alive. All in all, USC is a great football team. A great football team that seems to be hyped up more than necessary.

One Man

The New Orleans Saints football squad is not enduring the most memorable offseason. Let's be honest, worrying about whether the team is going to move is something you do not want to be thinking while doing line sprints. It's very possible that the Bums could move and no longer be tagged the New Orleans Saints. With all the controversy surrounding this issue, there is in fact one simple, but complicated solution. Win. If the New Orleans Saints win more games than not this year than I can pretty much guarantee that they will be staying in the Superdome. The one man who controls the destiny of this team and franchise is Aaron Brooks. The inconsistent quarterback has been the starter for New Orleans since the day he came in for an injured Jeff Blake and lead the team to victory over the St. Louis Rams. It seems ever since that postseason win in 2000 against the Rams, Aaron Brooks has not lived up to his billing. Sure he has thrown for many yards and touchdowns (let's not forget interceptions), but Brooks has not been to the postseason since that magical first year. More times than not the team falls short of the postseason time in and time out. Of course I could let my Saint pessimism kick in and say Brooks is a choke, the team will finish 6-10, and Haslett will get fired. Yet, for some reason I do not feel like thinking that. Why? I mean you have to think that one of these years the Saints will get the luck they have always wanted, and all that talent will go to use. So Brooks has had his troubles, but the guy has had some good success. You can make a strong case that Aaron Brooks is in fact the greatest quarterback the New Orleans Saints franchise has ever had. I mean look, the guy is the only man to ever direct a Saints team to a playoff victory. Sure Archie Manning had that 1978 MVP award, but he never won a playoff game (much less even get there). Brooks has also shown some John Elway-ish comeback skills. He has directed 16 four quarter comebacks. Pretty nice when you think about them. I remember a few years back the Saints were down by 10 against the 49ers with about 5 minutes left. The Saints squeaked it out because Brooks came to play. I will be frank, I get goosebumps sometimes when I watch NFL Primetime and I see Brooks back in the pocket firing rockets to our receivers. Though those comebacks have rarely mattered because most of those seasons he pulled them off the team failed to gain access to the enchanted postseason play. This year the Saints are once again loaded with talent, but talent does not always get you to the Promised Land. As I sit and wonder I really do not think I can imagine the record this year's team will achieve. It's a mystery. One thing that is not a brain teaser is in fact Aaron Brooks's play. If he plays well this season than success is very possible, but if he goes Billy Joe Hobert on us than chaos can and probably will erupt in New Orleans. So there you have a it. One city held in the palms of one man. It's a due or die season for Saints and if there is one person who knows that, it's Aaron Brooks.

A World We Can't Understand

As I was driving to school I switched on the radio when I came across the lyrics to a recently released song. As I listened to the words of 'Hate it or Love it', a new song by The Game and 50 Cent, I heard a particular phrase by The Game that greatly caught my attention. It came out so clear through the speakers, "...thinking how they spend 30 million dollars on airplanes when there's kids starving..." At first the words meant nothing to me, but then as time passed I really began to think. I began to think what The Game was really saying was that the life he had lived is something so many of us can not even comprehend. As each day of my life progresses I become more and more appreciative of the life I have been forunate to live. For so many years of my life I was oblivious to incredible amounts of homeless and poor people across the world. Someone like myself has been so forunate time in and time out throughout my life. My parents have given me the opportunity to succeed to my fullest. I was given the ability to go to a great school like St. John's Jesuit and experiance events so many miss out on.
In the United States it has come apparent to me that one either loves rap music or he hates it. Various people who are against it think the music is much too violent. Sure the lyrics have vast amounts of profanity, but that is really a mask over the world these music individuals have survived through.
One individual music icon who has lived through some harsh childhood conditions is Eminem. Marshall Mathers, the birth name of Eminem, was born and lived his childhood in Detroit, Michigan on an infamous rundown street known as 8 Mile Road. Just like many children growing up in the ghetto, Marshall grew up fatherless. Eminem grew up in a drug infested society where crime ran the streets. It did not help that his own mother, the one who was given the duty of raising him, was addicted to drugs. For one to criticize an individual like Eminem, first understand where he has come from. He has survived living in the streets of one of the most crime infested areas of America: 8 Mile Road. So many have failed in the world he grew up in, his success is nothing short of remarkable. For some people success many be an over exaggeration for Mr. Mathers. Individuals are convinced that how can his lifestyle of explicit lyrics and vulgar images be successful. Well let me ask you this, how is he not a walking miracle considering he has a stable job, lots of money, and the ability to give his children the money they need to vear away from living the childhood he once did? Think about it.
For the South, one of the most dangerous areas is that of the New Orleans projects. These government housing projects are for the homeless and poverty-level people of the Big Easy. Two individuals who were able to fight against the forces of this rundown area were Byron Thomas, and Brian Williams. These names are not familar until it is realized that these two men are actually Mannie Fresh and Baby, the infamous Big Tymers. I for one have shown great anger at these two because of their continuous explict, vulgar lyrics. Yet, my mindset changed when I looked at what these gentlemen came from. Ice T, a notorious rapper, was quoting as saying why Big Tymers look like devilish creatures who only care about money. " Baby and Manny want to sing about lots of things, but they got all this money." Baby and Manny's family incomes were deeply low and for them to all of a sudden be floating in millions is trully a blessing. For lots of people they just see these men setting terrible examples for the youth of the world. That may be true, but take it from their perspective. No longer do Byron and Brian have to search for food like they did when they grew up. No longer do they have to steal in order to satisfy basic needs. These gentlemen can go to sleep and night realizing that their poor childhood is nothing, but a distant memory.
The final person who has grown up in the toughest neighborhoods is an individual many claim to be a rapper, poet, philosopher, and freedom fighter. This man goes by the name of Tupac Shakur. Tupac in my eyes is the most perfect example on why we should never judge what we only see. At a glance Tupac many look like something that could be tagged as the "Son of the Satan." He has tattoos of automatic weapons along with phrases such as "Thug Life." In order to really judge this person you must get to know him. I have never met this revolutionary rap artist. He died in September of 1996 and my interest in him only started in the summer of 2004. Even though we have never conversed I can see the type of person Tupac is through his meaningful music. All of his songs deal with this miserable habitat he grew up in. Most rappers seem to write music about why their lives are amazing. Tupac takes a different approach, he raps about the very diffcult lifestyle he lived. As a youngster, Tupac had moved around numerous times. He stayed in Baltimore for a few years. It was here where his love of writing poetry slowly started to come out. Having grown up fatherless, Tupac was raised by his strong mother Afeni Shakur. Yet, even she was not always there. If anything Tupac raised himself. From Tupac's music I have come to learn just how bad some parts of America's cities really are. You can quickly make the assumption that Tupac is terrible individual, for he has killed many people. He defends this by stating that the society he grew up in was a place where it's 'every man for himself.' You had to protect yourself and a gun was your only way. It was either that or you were dead. Tupac realizes the awful deeds he has done. In one of his songs, Thugz Mansion, Tupac Shakur asks God to save a place for him in heaven. "Just think of all the people that you knew in the past, that passed on, they in heaven, found peace at last/Picture a place that they exist, together/There has to be a place better than this, in heaven/So right before I sleep, dear God, what I'm askin/Remember this face, save me a place, in thug's mansion..." Powerful words said by a powerful speaker. Thugz Mansion is not 'one of a kind' song. A great majority of Tupac's songs deal with issues in he has seen in his life. "Keep Your Head Up" is a song released by Tupac that encourages all those women who have suffered abuse to not give up and continue to thrive in the difficult world they live in. "The Good Die Young" is a song about all the young children who are killed in the ghetto at such a young age. In this song Tupac and his fellow musicians say a special prayer for all those who were killed by the shootings at Columbine High School. Of all the songs ever composed by Tupac Shakur, the one that seems to send the most powerful message is Changes. "I see no changes. Wake up in the morning and I ask myself, Is life worth living? Should I blast myself? I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black. My stomach hurts, so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch. Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a n****, he's a hero. Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares? One less hungry mouth on the welfare...." It's in this song Tupac really attacks the crime in the rundown areas of America. He urges kids and adults to do something and change the crime-infested world they live in. He pleads people to stop selling drugs, to stop killing each other, but rather be the people that God sent them on this Earth to be. It's a sad song for one can truthfully see the world that so many grow up in everyday. I hope now that you see Tupac as a person you had never seen before. Not the killer, Satan-like creature he may come across as, but rather the man he really is. A man who has seen the worst of the worst. A man who grew up in a beat down area, in a home without a father, and a crack addicted mother. A world where without protection your life would flash right before you.
The purpose of three stories is not for people to rejoice and parade in love for rap music, but rather for a certain understanding to be gained. Hopefully from this article people can now have knowledge of the harsh, poverty-level world so many people grow up in each and everyday of their lives. So the next time you hear a rap song on the air, try and look past and what is being said. Just think of where the song's musicians are coming from. Just think of all the hard times they had growing up. All the times they went to bed with an empty stomach, all those times someone was shot and they sat there and watched them die. Just think and realize that the world we live in is something at times we have all taken for granted.

One Outcome, Two Sides

With the score 64-62, the Scott Bulldog's Kenny Byrd missed his second free throw. Senior phenomenon BJ Raymond grabbed the rebound and with seven seconds remaining the St. John's Titans still had a chance, a chance to once again pull out a last minute victory. As BJ raced down the court the noise in Savage Hall was ear puncturing. As the clock neared zero, BJ Raymond took a tough shot that unforunately did not fall. And just like that the game was over, with one team jumping up in joy, and the other sitting in disbelief. With every victory in any sports competition comes two sides to the story. One side representing the victor and one representing the loser. The victor in this instance was that of the Scott Bulldogs. A team that had lost it's previous two games to St. John's by an average of twenty points. One could clearly see the happiness in the Bulldogs when starting point guard James Walker gave a few words. Moment earlier, James Walker had drained an NBA range three pointer that put up Scott 63-62, and eventually gave them the lead for good. " If I make it or miss the loss is on me." Walker's enthuaism once again gave the clear perspective of the two sides to every outcome in a sporting event. James understood it that if he missed the three pointer in the closing moments of the game, that the loss could be put on himself. On one side it was all glory, while the other was pure disappointment. BJ Raymond calmly explained through his eyes the thoughts that transpired when Walker hit the go ahead three pointer. " James Walker is a dynamite player... He wanted to the win the game." In so little time so much took place, so many events occurred that will for sure not be forgotten. One game, one outcome, and two sides to the story. For some it was a day to cherish, while for others, it was a day to forget.

Game 1: SJ/Rogers

    The Road to Columbus begins in the small gym of Libbey for the Saint John's Titans.  The Titans will be playing their first state playoff game against the Rogers Rams.  Tonight's match up is not expected to be close, but you never know with players such as Rogers's Brent Jones on the court.  Brent is currently second in the City League in points per game with about 21.  Scoring most of his team's points game in and game out, expect for Mr. Jones to be guarded by Zach Hillesland.  All of Coach Heintschel's players know that the Road to Columbus takes one game at a time.  As a Saint John's fan the important thing to look for in the Titans/Rams match up tonight is not the scoring of BJ and Zach, but rather the scoring of the other key players on the team.  If the Titans want to yet again run the tables in the playoffs they are going to have to continue to get the excellent play they are receiving out of players such as Jon Dunn, Andrew Taylor, Mike Floyd, and Teddy Heintschel.  Teams are going to know that BJ and Zach are the key contributors to Saint John's offense.  That's why when a player such as Jon Dunn came in off the bench and put up 6 points and 8 rebounds, the Scott Bulldogs had so much trouble in the City Semifinals.  The City Championship was yet another great example of a Titan player stepping up.  Andrew Taylor nearly pulled off a double-double with 9 points and 9 rebounds.  Rogers will for sure not be the hardest team the Titans will be facing in the State Playoffs.  The one solution is for the exceptional play of BJ and Zach to continue, along with the very helpful play of such players as Dunn and Taylor. 

 

-Chris Ballay

Welcome to My Column

Hello I am Chris Ballay and welcome to my sports update page. Current issues in the sports world will be displayed on my website. More importantly, I will keep track of Saint John's Jesuit High School sporting events throughout the year.