NFL Pro Bowl

The National Football League's reward or recognition to the best players in the league every year is a game at the end of the year known at the Pro Bowl. This is kind of like the Major League Baseball All-Star game, except the MLB all-star game has some sort of a meaning in it unlike the NFL Pro Bowl. Whoever wins the baseball all-star game, will get home field advantage during the World Series that year. But, with the Super Bowl it really has no sort of real meaning to the players as the Super Bowl is played at a neutral site every year. Also, with football being such a physical and violent sport, the players really can't risk injuring themselves in the middle of the year so the game must be played after the regular season is over. It used to be played after the Super Bowl so that the players who were participating in the Super Bowl could compete, but there was almost zero interest from fans now that the actual season was over so they actually moved it to the weekend before the actual Super Bowl itself. It also used to be the two conferences would compete against each other but now even that interesting part of the game, as they now just get two retired NFL stars and draft the players from a big pool of all the Pro Bowlers. In my opinion this has really taken any sort of competition between the two conferences out of the game. It is practically like a touch football game out on the field as most of the players are much more concerned about not hurting each other or themselves, more importantly. Which I completely understand as they really are just looking out for their own careers instead of risking their entire livelihood and job on a silly all-star game that in the long run really will not even matter. That really is the problem out of the entire event, how are they able to make things more interesting unless these players are willing to go all out and risk themselves just for the entertainment of NFL fans and viewers. Also, I think another reason why very few people are interested in the Pro Bowl is because it is just at the end of the season kind of to cap it off and really has no meaning on the actual meaning of the season.

American Sniper

American Sniper has been probably the most anticipated movie of the new year. This movie personifies and captures the life experiences of the most decorated sniper in the American military of all time, Chris Kyle. Mr. Kyle is supposedly known for having almost 100 documented kills in battle across the world within the Iraqi and war on terrorism in the Middle East. There have been plenty of mixed emotions on this movie, most controversial. Some people coming from military backgrounds completely love the idea of this movie and celebrating one of the greatest veteran's Americans have ever seen. Now some people who are completely against the idea of war and killing would much rather have peace. They then condemn what Chris Kyle was doing and elect to either not see the movie or have taken to social media to voice their opinion or disgust of what is going on across the big screen. I actually just saw two of my peers who go to Kennedy arguing the other night on whether what Mr. Kyle was doing was acceptable and should be viewed as an American hero or a man who was killing innocent people half way across the world behind the cover of the United States Military. Another thing that the people who disapprove from the film is that there are things in the movie that have been speculated and haven't been proven, in fact they even have been proven to be false. This was also a part of his book that he said, things such as when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans him and a few other elite snipers were reportedly sent to station themselves on top of the New Orleans Saints football stadium and pick off or kill any looters going around parts of New Orleans. This was proven to be completely untrue and just a plain lie by the soldier himself. That being said, in my own opinion I believe every American who enjoys their freedom and walks around United States soil freely should appreciate what this man has done for his country, whether the truth has been stretched about his accomplishments or not. Chris Kyle was killed by a former soldier suffering from post traumatic stress disorder while trying to help veterans at a firing range. He has also guest starred on many different television shows such as top shot, a show where veterans and police officers to compete to see who is the best marksman. (410)

Patriots Deflating Balls

Tensions are beginning to rise and blood is starting to boil as the 49th super bowl comes around on February 2nd with the Seattle Seahawks facing off against the AFC championship's winner the New England Patriots. New England has had to overcome a lot of adversity this year, trying out three running backs throughout the year and Tom Brady making comments about his team in a negative manner. Not to mention the Patriots were finally starting to break out of the spotlight that the Spy Gate scandal brought them a few years ago as the NFL uncovered them trying to steal the other teams plays and officials with binoculars trying to pick off signals of opposing teams. This seems to all have been brought back into speculation and consideration after the American Football League's conference championship, the game before the super bowl, as the Patriots were found to be deflating their footballs by a considerable amount in order to get a better grip on the ball, allowing Tom Brady to make much more accurate and precision passes. No one argues that either way the Patriots would have won that game, it was a complete blow out, but it is the thought of it that matters. Who knows? Maybe the New England Patriots have actually been doing this terrible thing all year and have been gaining a relatively large advantage against opposing teams. I definitely think it would be a good idea for the Patriots to lose draft picks within the next year, if not over the next couple of years. I hate when cheating is exposed in professional sports, fans pay huge amounts of money to see these athletes perform at their highest level and I think it is ludicrous for them to take an unfair advantage just for a few points. I was rather angry the first time this happened, why should the Patriots think they are good enough to cheat other teams. Who knows truly how many games they have won and other teams have lost from this cheating, but in the end of it, it's the thought that counts. If this was an NCAA ordeal or even a high school matter I think this would end up being a much bigger ordeal, definitely resulting in the loss of scholarships, or the taking away of wins and awards in high school. Maybe even the suspension of play and the death penalty for a serious enough offense. (408)