Red Sox 2019 season

After the amazing 2018 season for the Boston Red Sox that ended in a World Series victory they have not had a strong start to the 2019 season. The Red Sox are 4th in the AL East which is raising some concerns too why they are not doing better.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/ct-spt-red-sox-chris-sale-contract-20190323-story.html

1. Chris Sale

With his outstanding season last year Chris Sale has not brought that same fire to this season. He has gone 0-4 over his past several starts which is not a good way to start off the season. He has not had much help from his relievers and the offense which just adds on to his mediocre play. Sox fans are hoping this is just a slump and not an injury or something more serious. Chris Sale is an essential piece to the Red Sox team and when he plays bad it shows. Hopefully he will start to look like his old self.

https://dotesports.com/fortnite/news/boston-red-sox-fortnite-ban

2. Lack of pitching

In the 2018 offseason the Red Sox lost both Joe Kelly and Chris Kimbrel in free agency. Losing two relievers in one offseason and not picking any others up is not an effective offseason. With good starting pitchers to begin the game and bad relievers ending it will not win you many games. Especially if your offense in not performing to their highest capability. If the Red Sox want to start winning games then either their relievers will need to start performing better or some trades for relievers will need to happen.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2018/06/09/martinez-everything-red-sox-expected-and-more/FLBZSrgYSOaFsfPYrNuNzI/story.html

3. The hitters

Both Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez were MVP candidate last year and J.D. Martinez almost won the Triple Crown. (a hitting award) So far neither of them have put up spectacular hitting performances this year. And at the moment Mitch Moreland leads the team in home runs. If the Sox have any chance of having a good season the offense is going to need to produce more runs and J.D. Martinez has to come out of the mini slump he is in.

The NFL Offseason

With many players entering free agency this NFL offseason it is interesting to see all the top players leave their teams to join new teams. Some join old rival teams and some join completely new ones.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/14/new-raider-antonio-brown-has-parting-message-for-pittsburgh/

1. Antonio Brown to the Raiders

After a disappointing 2018-2019 season the Pittsburgh Steelers decided to part ways with their star wide receiver Antonio Brown. He was traded to the Raiders after several demands to leave the team. Although Antonio Brown is possibly the best receiver in the NFL, his frequent outbursts of anger and how he always blames his quarterback for any and all mistakes makes him not the best teammate. Only time will tell if the Raiders made the right move with this trade.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ftw/2019/03/14/someone-called-911-on-an-excited-browns-fan-celebrating-the-odell-beckham-trade/39201013/

2. Odell Beckham Jr. to the Browns

When people think Odell Beckham Jr. the infamous one hand catch comes to mind for many. He is now becoming the face of the NFL with his amazing one hand catches and his over the top touchdown celebrations. But with a horrible 2018-2019 season the New York Giants for some reason decided to trade away one of the best young players to the Cleveland Browns. The Cleveland Browns for many years have been the laughing stock of the NFL but, after drafting the Heisman winning quarterback Baker Mayfield, the team finished with an 8-8 record. Now Odell pared up with his old college teammate Jarvis Landry, and an eager young quarterback leading the team many believe that the Browns may see a playoff appearance in the near future.

https://www.sny.tv/jets/news/jets-early-betting-favorites-to-land-leveon-bell/300662682

3. Le’veon Bell to the Jets

Another former Steeler’s player Le’veon Bell left the team in search of a big contract. That’s exactly what he got, after refusing to play in the 2018-2019 season, Le’veon Bell let the team as a free agent and signed a 50 million dollar contract with the New York Jets. The Jets have been struggling for a long time and with an explosive running back in the back field and a work in progress defense the Jets might be able to put together a respectable season.

The MLB Offseason

For years some of the best players in the MLB have been signed in the MLB offseason. But this year the offseason has been very quiet. With the two biggest names not signing a there is nothing to base the rest of the players prices making the offseason very quiet.

https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/47116/circle-change-fans-who-dont-want-bryce-harper-a-field-guide/

Bryce Harper

Nationals star player and 2018 Home Run Derby Champion has decided to part ways with the team that drafted him. Many teams has put in offers including the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and the Chicago White Sox. The biggest offers being hundreds of millions of dollars. But, Bryce Harper has not signed hoping to receive a larger contract. Teams are hesitant to sign him because he has only hit 30 homer runs twice in his careers, he has also been know to start fights and has an attitude problem.

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/manny-machado-new-york-yankees-offer-mlb-hot-stove-220-million-white-sox-rumors-news/o16u72v5upno1tkemyvhz10sd

Manny Machado

Manny Machado has spent the majority of his career in Baltimore before being traded to Las Angeles. The main reason he got traded was because of his attitude problem. He does not get along with teammates or opposing player and has been know to start fight and over react. He has also been known to slide late into bases and spike players. He is a very good all around player and some say that he is a better hitter the Bryce Harper but with his attitude problems no one will sign him until very late into the offseason.

http://www.jakewesley.com/mlb-former-insider/offseason-acquisition-tracker

No ones signing

Easily the two biggest names in free agency Bryce Harper and Manny Machado have not signed. This is bad for the rest of the free agents. Normal the biggest names sign first then the rest of the players not signed base their prices off them. But because of the lack of anybody signing no one knows how much anyone is worth creating more of a problem. So the early Bryce Harper or Manny Machado sign the better. Until either of the sign no one will and the early they can sign the higher prices they will get paid.

Missed field goals in the NFL

When you think of football player when normally think of tall big linemen or linebacker. But, most people never think about the kickers. And for year when a kicker misses a filed goal or extra point they become the focus point of hundreds to thousands of mean tweets and criticism.

https://www.sbnation.com/2019/1/6/18171350/cody-parkey-chicago-bears-kicker

1. PAT’s (Point of Touchdown)

A few years ago the NFL decided move the PAT back several yard to make it a longer kick. Although it was only moved back a couple yard to make the distance of a PAT equal to the distance of a short field, we tend to believe that this makes a significant difference. It is true that moving the PAT back a couple yards has made some PAT’s no good that would have been good if they were kicking from the original PAT line. But, its not as big of a difference as you would think.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/09/browns-kicker-zane-gonzalez-reaction-misses-field-goals-saints-extra-point-video-fans-nfl

2. Kickers are not missing more this year than previous years

This year we have seen a lot of missed field goals. Everyone is thinking that the kickers this year are getting worse but this is not true. The kickers in the NFL has actually improved. The percentage for made Field Goals in 2017 was 84.3% and 84.4% in 2018. All of the kickers just happened to miss most of their Field Goals in the same week. This gives us the perception that the kickers have gotten worst when in actuality they have gotten better. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8YeEnbkvqU4#fauxfullscreen

Was Blair Walsh's missed field goal the worst choke in playoff history?

3. Missing a game winning field

A kicker can have an amazing season and hit all of his field goals and PAT’S but if he misses a game winning and especially a playoff or Super Bowl winning field goal and he will be ripped apart by the fan base and media. Some of these kickers are even fired or drop from the teams if the miss a game winner. A person with a normal job is usually not fired after one mistake. People do not understand the intense stress a kicker goes through. And kickers should not need to suffer these repercussions.

Why we should be able to wear hoodies in school

It is common knowledge to most people that most to all school have a dress code. And kids who attend private and charter schools have to wear a uniform. But, even with this said kids should be able to wear hoodies as part of their uniform attire.

https://www.hufworldwide.com/huf_en_us/apparel/categories/hoodies-fleece

1. The schools are cold

Students should be able to wear hoodies in school because the building gets cold. Especially during the winter months of school, students should be able to wear their school hoodies and sweatshirts around the building. Mostly, in older schools the heating systems are never working and you cannot expect kids to sit in a cold building, with no heating system, and not allow students to wear their sweatshirts. Most schools do allow you to wear jackets around but they either are not warm enough, are not comfortable, or don’t really look good. This is why you should be able to wear hoodies because it is too cold.

https://www.cuinsight.com/why-is-most-outsourced-marketing-a-waste-of-money.html

2. It’s a waste of money

It is a waste of money for students to buy sweatshirts with their school logo on it if they are only able to wear it once a week. It is not worth it to buy a school hoodie for around 50 dollars if you’re not able to wear it when they want. Also, when you are able to wear other jackets around school there is not point in buying the hoodies. It makes no sense for a student to buy something that they are to able to wear in school. This is another reason to be able to wear the hoodies because if you can not there is no point in buying them.

https://customcityink.com/products/gildan-blank-hoodie-hooded-sweatshirt-unisex-style-18500-adult-pullover-1

3. It doesn’t change the dress code that much

The hoodies and sweatshirts that the school sells do not have that drastic of a difference from what is allowed to be worn by the students on a day-to-day basis. The hoodies have the same school colors and have the same logo on the front so there is no difference between a hoodie and the regular uniform. Except for the fact that it has a hood and is bigger. And if we are allowed to wear them on Fridays why can’t we wear them everyday? It still has the logo and everything the same so why can’t we wear them daily. This is why we should be able to wear hoodies and sweatshirts in school.

CTE in the NFL

CTE is a disease in the brain that causes cells to die. Normally found in soldiers and boxers but lately NFL players have been known to suffer from this freightning disease.

https://www.inverse.com/article/38319-aaron-hernandez-cte-brain-mckee-boston

1. What is CTE

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy better known as CTE is a disease that cause part of the human brain to die. CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head that normally affected boxers and soldiers. But a recent study it was found that deceased NFL players that played in the 70’s were found with CTE. This causes abnormal behavior to sufferers of this disease. Examples are: stress, anxiety, depression, anger issues, and outbursts of rage, etc. People with CTE have sadly been known to commit suicided. One of the most infamous examples of this was Aaron Hernandez. “https://www.bu.edu/cte/about/frequently-asked-questions/“

https://thebiglead.com/2017/09/21/aaron-hernandez-found-to-have-severe-cte-brain-scans-released/

2. Aaron Hernandez

Aaron Hernandez was a former tight end for the New England Patriots. He was arrested on charges of murder and was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He would later kill himself in his cell one night. After he died his brain was donated to science. His brain was found to have a very severe case of CTE. Now with the information of his sickness it is now believed that he may not have had 100% control over his actions. This does not excuse the murder he committed but it may explain it. It is now believed that Aaron Hernandez had undiagnosed concussions that lead to his CTE illness.

https://www.bigblueview.com/2017/7/23/15975804/nfl-to-introduce-new-football-helmets

3. What you can do about CTE

There is not much you can do to prevent CTE. Because CTE is caused by hits to the head and concussions, and concussions are caused by the movement of brain matter and there is not real way to make a helmet that cushions the inside of the skull concussions all almost unpreventable. The only thing the NFL can do to prevent head injuries is to change the rules to make contact the head and neck area limited. But, until a nw idea emerges the NFL will just have to enforce the rules on hits to the head.

3 more reasons to hate the NFL

The NFL might have some of the most viewed televised events including the Super Bowl racking in hundreds of millions of views a year. But this does not come without some conflict and hatred.

https://clutchpoints.com/steelers-rumors-pittsburgh-got-no-calls-for-leveon-bell-at-trade-deadline/

1. The Franchise Tag

The Franchise Tag in the NFL has not been a good system for the player contracts for years and the NFL has refused to change it. The Franchise Tag is essentially a 1 year contract a team can force onto a player to keep them from entering free agency. The paycheck for the Franchise Tag is an average of whatever the top 5 players are making or roughly what that player was making the year before. This is a broken system, for example the running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers Le’Veon Bell as the target of the Franchise Tag. Le’Veon Bell and the Steelers could not come to a reasonable conclusion for his contract and will now most likely miss all of the 2018-2019 season. And if a contract is not signed by a certain date he will be under the Franchise Tag again and will continue to be unless a contract is signed. This is why the Franchise Tag is a broken system.

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2016/2/16/10956324/nfl-free-agency-2016-franchise-tag-definition-value-candidates

2. Uniforms

Back in 2015 running back DeAngelo Williams was denied the right to wear pink gear to rise money and awareness for cancer after his mother died. DeAngelo was given the reason by the NFL for not being able to wear pink because “there are no exeptions to the uniform policy.” Although he was allowed to wear pink during October because the rest of the NFL was wearing pink accessories. “It’s not just about October for me; it’s not just a month, it’s a lifestyle.” DeAngelo Williams stated this in an interview after being denied the ability to wear pink. Instead DeAngelo Williams dyed the ends of hair pink to raise awareness. This is just another reason of how unreasonable the NFL can be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYRdRKq2f84

3. Touchdown Celebrations

Several years ago the NFL changed the rule on touchdown celebrations to make them illegal. Any celebration resulted in a 15-yard penalty. After complaints from everyone in the league the celebrations were reinstated, and some were even put into the Madden 19 game. But, flags are still throw on players with excessive celebrations or the use of props. It is a judgement call to the referees on what is excessive and what is not. Until this is finally settled on what is and what is not excessive it will just be another reason to hate the National Football League.

Is DeAndre Hopkins a top 3 Wide Receiver

For many years the wide receiver position has been one of the most important positions in the football field. Now, with athletes putting more and more time into practicing their skills and everyone getting better it has become hard to say who are the top wide receivers in the NFL.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/philadelphia-eagles/nfl-notes-texans-wr-deandre-hopkins-reportedly-receives-81m-extension

1. Good player bad team

The first reason for why I believe that DeAndre Hopkins is a top 3 wide receiver is because he has be one of the few bright spots on a struggling team. Without DeAndre Hopkins on the Texans they would be one of if not the worst team in the NFL. Unlike Odell Beckham Jr., Antonio Brown, and Julio Jones who are considered to be the top three wide receivers, DeAndre Hopkins has done everything for the organization to win. Where the other three receivers have other very good players on there team an opposing defense has to worry about. DeAndre Hopkins has no one else and is the main focus point.

https://www.papercitymag.com/culture/aaron-rodgers-calls-deandre-hopkins-nfl-best-receiver-free-agency-courting/

2. Lack of other good receivers

For the past couple years Odell Beckham Jr., Antonio Brown, and Julio Jones and been considered the best in the NFL but this year they have not preformed as well as they have in previous years. Less passes throw their way and more runs by the offense have contributed to this. DeAndre Hopkins has stepped up and in my opinion been the best receiver so far. He had a decline of production over the past few seasons and stepped out of the spot light but, burst back in the beginning of the season and shows no sign of slowing down. And will continue to perform at this high level.

http://dailysnark.com/deandre-hopkins-makes-ridiculous-one-handed-catch-between-his-legs-video/

3. Amazing catches

Every year we see players make the most acrobatic and outstanding plays we have ever seen. Most of the time we see one amazing catch by a player. But DeAndre Hopkins will most likely make two or more of those catches and in my personal opinion make the best. Last year DeAndre Hopkins made a catch that was tipped in the air, caught the ball with one hand, and was able to get his feet down for a touchdown all while being covered by a defender. And most recently made the catch shown in the image above. He jumped up caught the ball with one hand and kept possession with his other hand reaching between his legs.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/12/see-deandre-hopkins-incredible-td-catch-in-6-photos-and-a-video

DeAndre Hopkins in the best player on a not so good team. He has out preformed the other wide receivers in the NFL. And he can make the highlight reel plays you love to see. For these reason I believe that DeAndre Hopkins deserves to be called a top three wide receiver.

Angel Hernandez

Over the past couple years the MLB has had some questionable calls. Several of those calls have come from Angel Hernandez who some have called one of the worst umpires of all time.

https://dubsism.com/2017/07/04/apparently-telling-angel-hernandez-he-sucks-is-now-racism/

1. Three Blown calls in the ALDS

On Monday night’s game Angel Hernandez was the umpire at first base. There were 3 calls Angel made at first base that no one liked. All 3 of these calls were overturned. This is a major deal because this is a playoff game. If the game was not a 15 run blow-out and was much closers this would be a huge controversy that would haunt the MLB and Angel Hernandez for many uses to come. https://thebiglead.com/2018/10/09/angel-hernandez-umpire-twitter-bad-call-overturn/

http://joyofsox.blogspot.com/2011/05/angel-hernandez-is-utterly-incompetent.html

2. Angel Hernandez consistently horrible

Angel Hernandez has made some of the worst calls in MLB history, and is consistently bad. The picture above shows Angel Hernandez’s ball and strike calls in a 2011 game. As you can see there are several balls in the strike zone and strikes farther away from the zone then balls. Over the past 3 years Angel Hernandez umpiring first base has had 18 calls reviewed by the office in New York. 14 of those calls were overturned. This means 14 out of 18 calls Angel Hernandez made were wrong. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/ct-spt-angel-hernandez-call-reversed-mlb-playoffs-20181009-story.html

https://sports.yahoo.com/umpires-wearing-white-wristbands-protest-escalating-verbal-attacks-202209921.html

3. Escalating Verbal Attacks and law suits

In 2017 Angel Hernandez and many other umpires became fed up with what they called “Escalating Verbal Attacks” so they decided to wear white wristbands as a way to protest these “verbal attacks.” I believe is absolutely ridiculous, it has no effect on whether or not you as the umpire makes a bad call and is called out on it. Also, Angel Hernandez sued the MLB for what he believed to be the reasoning for the “attack” being his race. Yes, Angel Hernandez sued his employer for “verbal attacks” that some believed were more than called for.

3 reasons to hate the NFL

Over the past 53 years the NFL (National Football League) has produced some of the most iconic moments in sports history. But, in those 53 years, you can argue that there have been more downs than ups.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwj7u6aeoN7dAhXxQ98KHcRRAwoQMwhIKAMwAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpackerswire.usatoday.com%2F2018%2F09%2F23%2Fclay-matthews-nfl-getting-soft-with-roughing-the-passer-penalties%2F&psig=AOvVaw0I6EmhKYuODifX7GC6wC4f&ust=1538243101799155&ictx=3&uact=3

1. Roughing the Passer penalties

Starting with the 2018-2019 season the NFL has changed the “Roughing the Passer” penalties and how its called. The old rule used to be you could not hit the passer after the ball had left the quarterback’s hand. But in this past offseason the NFL changed the rule to “A rushing defender is prohibited from committing such intimidating and punishing acts as “stuffing” a passer into the ground or unnecessarily wrestling or driving him down after the passer has thrown the ball, even if the rusher makes his initial contact with the passer within the one-step limitation provided for in (a) above. When tackling a passer who is in a defenseless posture (e.g., during or just after throwing a pass), a defensive player must not unnecessarily or violently throw him down or land on top of him with all or most of the defender’s weight. Instead, the defensive player must strive to wrap up the passer with the defensive player’s arms and not land on the passer with all or most of his body weight.” With the addition of this rule it makes it almost impossible to sack the quarterback without a flag being thrown. https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2018/9/27/17911444/nfl-roughing-the-passer-penalty-explanation-clay-matthews

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjWq4mMwt7dAhUL_IMKHcxADAEQMwhdKA8wDw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Ffirst-read%2Fhopefully-wake-call-obama-weighs-ray-rice-case-n267191&psig=AOvVaw1F5fRLNRk8fSfdLqLQgjbo&ust=1538252190368449&ictx=3&uact=3

2. The NFL Suspension

In the past few years the NFL has been horrible with their rules on suspensions and the duration of the suspensions. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for allegedly deflating footballs. Several scientists were hired and all came to the conclusion that the footballs were inflated inside a heated locker room and taken outside into the cold air. This caused air to leak out of the balls. Eventually the NFL took the case to the Supreme Court where they were practically laughed out of the court room. Even though all the evidence pointed to Tom Brady being innocent the NFL still gave him a 4 game suspension. Back in 2014, the Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was arrested for assault charges. A security camera video was leaked showing an argument between the Ravens’ running back Ray Rice and his fiancé Janay Palmer. Ray Rice then hits knocks her unconscious and drags her out of the elevator. He was charged with assault. But, he only received a two game suspension without pay and fined $58,000. These are just two examples of the NFL’s bias and horrible suspension policy.

http://time.com/3329351/ray-rice-timeline/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjYmO-Zy97dAhVKwlkKHa_bCK0QMwi-ASgBMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbssports.com%2Fnfl%2Fnews%2Freferee-explains-why-dez-bryants-catch-was-ruled-incomplete%2F&psig=AOvVaw1XSrVey3auzDIBX2EcjDtg&ust=1538254635032062&ictx=3&uact=3

3. The Catch ruling

Thankfully, the NFL did change the ruling of what is and is not a catch but, this is still ridiculous. Now, there are many different examples of what is and what is not a catch. I believe that the Dez Bryant incident is one of the most infamous examples. As you see in the picture above the receiver caught the ball and reached for the goal line in an attempt to score. There is no doubt that the ball pops out. But, he made three steps before diving and reaching for the goal line. This should be enough to be ruled a catch but as referee Gene Steratore famously said “It has been determined that the receiver did not maintain possession of the football.” This caused an outcry of memes and angry videos all over the internet and social media. There is little to no evidence to support that this was not a catch.

Final Thoughts

Even thought the NFL is a billion dollar organization and draws millions upon million of viewers to every game every Sunday. The NFL still has their draw backs like the ones listed above and many more.