More Than a Game

DiPietro looking at taunting fans

Rick DiPietro, a failed goaltender for the New York Islanders NHL hockey team, revealed something truly eye-opening for fans across the country of all sports.

In 2006, the Islanders signed DiPietro to a previously unseen 15-year, 67.5 million dollar contract. It turned out to be a complete mistake. Less than half-way through the deal (7 years to be exact) DiPietro's struggles compiled so incredibly that the team was better-off without him manning their nets. A colossal financial mistake, but one that had to be done for the sake of the team.

How bad was he? He allowed an average of 4.10 goals per game. To put that into perspective, the average goals allowed per game is 2.67 goals per game. In other words, he played horribly.

What was the most eye-opening in my opinion though, was the fact that DiPietro admitted to struggling with depression while on the Islanders. Once hearing this, I really started to put sports into perspective. Sure, these athletes are paid unearthly amounts of money to play games, but they are human beings at the end of the day. Although they may show a strong outer shell during games, they have emotions just like you and I have, which must be respected regardless of their play.

Americans in general I feel struggle with grasping the fact that athletes are simply humans and must be respected. I for one get caught up in the moment during sports games and jeer my hometown athletes when they struggle, but never would have thought that it could have such profound effects on them. Depression is serious, as I would never have thought that playing a sport one loves could result in a mental disorder. Americans need to change this mentality to allow the widespread enjoyment for all athletes. The last thing they need is to worry about disorders forced upon by fans versus that of other athletes within their respective games.

Do you find this surprising? Have you ever possibly contributed to this problem? Let me know your thoughts!

Just a Color?

In tandem with the ongoing in class talks about the biased incarcerations of blacks versus whites, the simple "color" problem is really persisting. 

From a New York Times article surprisingly about the drop in percentages of blacks versus whites incarceration, a glaring number still stood out to me. "Over all, blacks currently make up about 38 percent of inmates in state and federal prisons; whites account for about 34 percent."

Keep those numbers in mind:

38% Black
34% White

Based on the United States Census, the racial percentages are as follows:

13.1% Black
78.1% White

Why the disparity in percentages?

I feel that a sort of hard-wiring has overtaken American ideals over the years. Aside from the most affluent black people in the USA such as Oprah, Obama, athletes and countless others, it seems that a common misconception of seeing a group of black men on the street versus white men on the street is made constantly. A group of black men could symbolize a gang meeting, which leads to the stops and incarcerations in conjunction. A group of white men wouldn't make a police officer think twice.

Whether or not that can or will change is anyone's guess, but I would love to hear your thoughts about why you think the numbers of incarceration vs. population are such opposites. Do you think the color of one's skin correlates to assumptions and incarcerations?

How Good Do We Have it?

Orma Men on Village Patrol

         Currently in Kenya, upcoming elections have stirred incredible violence between neighboring clans. The Orma and Pokomo ethnic groups are resorting to physical violence in support of their political leaders. As this New York Times article states, "ethnically based militias are mobilized, and neighbors start killing neighbors." Neighbors are killing each other. Under no circumstances could I ever visualize my neighbors killing each other. Regardless of ethnicity or political preferences, such actions shouldn't ever occur.

         Once seeing these atrocities in Kenya, it really opened my eyes to how wonderful elections are in the United States. Never would I think that widespread death would ever occur as a result of an American election. Sure, with opinion clashes comes disagreement and insults, but not to the magnitude like what's transpiring in Kenya currently.

Voters Voting

         I know that my neighbors have different political affiliation than my family, but something that petty I feel would never spark violence between us. For that reason, I feel truly proud to live in this current peaceful Democracy. Even if one's preferred candidate doesn't win the election within the United States, violence is really never an option, which is beautiful in comparison to Kenya. 

As seen in the picture at left, these Americans are most likely voting for different candidates, but violence isn't in the cards like it will be for Kenyans. It's a beautiful thing.