Dodgeball Review

This weekend we had the annual dodgeball tournament.  We went into the tournament hoping to get out of pool play and we were able to do so, but we lost once we got there.  It was disappointing to lose because we did so bad, but I think it might be a good thing that we got out.  I didnt realzie how sore playing dodgeball would make me.  On sunday morning I was incredibly sore and still am today on monday morning.  My legs and butt are really sore.  My back is the most sore and it hurts to move around, and even the littliest movements hurt a lot.  I have baseball tryouts so I better start to feel better later today.  Even anyone has any great ideas of how to get rid of the dodgeball soreness because my entire body aches and it's got me in a bad mood.  The dodgeball was a big success though, there were some good teams and it was a lot of fun.  The teachers team won which is disappointing, but my team had one of the best tshirt designs.

March Madness

What a crazy weekend of basketball starting with the state semifinal basketball games on friday night.  All the games went down to the wire and everyone was playing their hearts out.  On championship saturday the games were just as good.  Especially the Div. 1 game which went to triple OT.  Brandon Ortiz from Memorial carried his team down the stretch and made some incredible clutch shots.  I feel better now that we lost to the state champs... kind of a cool thing.  The Badgers also won a close game against KSU.  Everybody was doubting the Badgers coming into the tournament and they did a great job staying the course and getting two big wins to advance to the sweet sixteen.  Wisconsin also has another team in the sweet sixteen, Marquette beat Syracuse tonight in a game that was back and forth the entire night.  This weekend was the most memorable basketball weekend in my life time.  Alot of fun, hopefully they can get a couple more wins together and make a trip to the Final Four. 

Cheering at Basketball Games

At OHS our administrators have something against cheering at basketball games.  All the students sections I have seen are very into the game are allowed to chant things at the other student section.  We can not because we might offend somebody I suppose which is not at all our intent at all.  We would just like to be like all the other schools.  I feel like the kid who cannot watch a PG 13 movie at age 15 when all my friends have been watching them for years.  It ruins the experience of being part of a student section and also has made some students less interested in going to games at all.  It is annoying that are administration is so paranode about cheering at basketball games.  Our administration should be less concerened about the cheering sections and more concerned about winning conference championships to fill some very empty banners in the Fieldhouse.

Brewers Baseball

After a season where the Brewers struggled horribly with pitching they made some bold off season moves.  They traded their best prospect Brett Lawrie, their young talented shortstop in order to receive Zack Greinke, and Shaun Marcum.  Greinke is a Cy Young Award winner and Shaun Marcum is a coveted ace pitcher in the american league east.  Last year it was proven that pitching and defense wins championships. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series last year with one of the worst hitting teams in the league.  They relied on pitching from their star pitchers and that propelled them to a World Series.  Hopefully the Brewers now have the pitching in place to propel them to that same level.  The Brewers are a solid hitting team that has the ability to hit homeruns at anytime.  People are very excited around the state for this season to begin.  I predict the Brewers to make a serious run if injuries dont become an issue and the bullpen performs at a respectful level.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks have been a big disappointment this season after an off season that featured them adding depth, that made them appear to be a lock for the playoffs and a team that could contend for homecourt in the first round of the playoffs.  The disappointments start with Andrew Bogut who has been very unproductive and cant seem to dominate the block like he did for a solid stretch last season that led the Bucks to their best season since 2001.  John Salmons has not been the guy that can take over games anymore and is averaging about a third less points this season and is not even leading the team in scoring.  Brandon Jennings has shown signs of continuing to become a great NBA point guard, but this year his shooting woes have continued to hurt him. Off season addition Drew Gooden has missed all but 15 games of the season, his position has been left for several reserve players to try to fill that role, but it has been very unsuccesful. Corey Maggette who was added for scoring and his ability to get the free throw line.  He has struggled so much to shoot the basketball that he is too inconsistant to make a postitve impact on the team.  Overall the team plays solid defense which is good for third in the enitre league, but have really struggled to score the ball as they are last in league in field goal percentage and points per game.  They go on stretches where they score 4, 6, or 8 points in an entire quarter.  This team has a lot of talent, but has not won a lot of games.  It will be interesting too see if they can rally to make the playoffs.  Also it will be interesting to see if they make any changes in the next off season after committing a lot of money to the players they currently have.

Changing Weather

Spring in Wisconsin appears to very near as the weather reaches the 50's spring fever really comes into focus.  After a long winter of snow and bitter cold people are ready for sunlight and some warmer temps.  I cant wait to get into the 80's, but that is sometime from now.  For now some temps in the 50's with some sunny afternoons would be amazing after another long, cold, snowy Wisconsin winter.

NCAA Tournament

March Madness is back and I'm real excited to see what happens this season!  There appears to be no clear cut pick to win it all this year. It should be very interesting to see what happens.  I have Ohio State winning the whole thing because I feel they are the team that can beat you many different ways.  Other popular picks include Kansas and Duke.  Some other teams that could make surprise final four appearances are UConn, BYU, Louisville, Texas, and Kentucky.

Budget Battle

I am most passionate about teachers recieving their collective bargaining benefits.  Having good teachers is very important to the success of education.  Teachers do not recieve very good pay.  The average teacher in the state of Wisconsin makes around 40,000 and that is after earning a four year degree and a masters degree.  With the benefits that they recieve they earn around 55,000.  Arguments are made that teachers only work part of the year... some teachers coach and manage clubs.  All teachers are responsible for grading homework, tests, as well as preparing the next days task.  In the state of Wisconsin most teachers arrive at school around 7am teach classes until 3pm, prepare for the next days class until around 4.  Then go home tend to their families.  The free time in their night consists of grading papers.  For a teacher that coaches they have to find time within their day to prepare for the next day, after school they go to practice from 3pm to 6pm.  So the person who makes that argument in my opinion is off base.  Most teachers work around 12 hour days and only earn $40,000.  The benefits they earn help them live at a comfortable level.  If they had to pay for these benefits they would be around the poverty level.  These people I would like to remind you, they have earned masters degrees.  If you know of a career that works 12 hour days with a masters degree and makes less then a teacher I'd like to hear about that career.