What Does Friend Mean Now by John Wedrickas

What Does Friend Mean Now?

By: John Wedrickas

Comp 101

Lora Strey

The article What Does Friend Mean Now?  by Joseph Kahn shows how the word 

friend has changed over the generations that have lead to present times. In this 

blogpost I will be explaining how friendships in hockey have changed since the 

hockey began in Canada in 1877. Ever since the beginning hockey has been a 

friend and foe sport; you have to protect your friends, also known as your 

teammates, from the foes, also known as your opponents. Over the years I 

believe that friendships in the sport of hockey have remained close to the same 

as they started out in 1877. This is a very cool discovery because even with the 

rise of technology in the last century and the ways that Americans have began 

to live differently over the last century, hockey is still one of the sports that has 

not changed much. The sport of hockey shows you need to make friends with 

your teammates and coaches because if your team lacks communication and the 

coach doesn't teach your group how to become one on the ice, your team will 

not win as many games. The key to team success is communication on the ice. 

If a hockey team doesn't communicate with each other well they will not 

perform well. Everyone can agree it is easier to communicate with your friends 

that it is to communicate with strangers which is why when your whole team 

can bond with one another, the result will be more games won. 

Works cited:
http://www.fih.ch/en/fih/history

http://www.gnb.ca/cnb/news/tp/2004e0304tp.htm

Braindead Megaphone Blogpost by John Wedrickas

BRAINDEAD MEGAPHONE

John Wedrickas

Comp 101

Lora Strey

In the article Braindead Megaphone written by George Saunders, the reader is invited to imagine a person at a party with a megaphone. The person with the megaphone may not have too much to say, but when he speaks he is heard indefinitely by the rest of the guests. This relates to the sport of hockey due to the fact that the media is who we would think of as the guest at the party with the megaphone. They may not always have important things to say to the viewers but when they do it seems that everyone puts their ears in and listens to exactly what the media has to say. Any kind of publicity that the media tries to make popular usually ends in rumors and stories being tweaked in order to gain more followers. I think that the only way that you can hear the truth in media is if there is information provided for the viewers instead of the media reporting something that they heard is true just to grab the attention of the viewers. When the media companies tell small bits of false information, then the viewers start to tweak the story a little more until the whole story is a big fib. One example had not happened too long ago with a social media site called Tinder. A player in the NHL was suspended for 15 games because the media gave out false information on what looked to be the hockey player trash talking the league on this social media site when his account had been hacked and he did not have anything to do with it. This goes to show how the media can twist peoples wrists to make them believe their stories. 

works cited 

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=588534

http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0710/2007006410.html 

Kids Speak Their Mind About Race Laura Latterell

Kids Speak Their Mind About Race

            The inspirational video “Kids Speak Their Mind About Race” can be found on YouTube. It is great video that shows us children perspective and thoughts on racism. We learn what children have to say about racism and how it effects their lives at school at home and in the society. It seems from the video that racism is a taught thing that children learn from their parents. Many of the children do not agree with racism but say they have to follow what their parents say about racism and they are not allowed to play with the minority children, or the minority children are not allowed to play with the white kids. It is a very eye opening video, and a great way to hear what kids have to say. It was heart breaking to hear about some of these children’s experiences with racism.

            The question I have is how is racism showed in children’s sports, such as hockey? Because if children experience so much racism in schools and at homes there must be racism seen in sports that they play. Especially hockey because it is a very white dominant sport. Has there been any recorded events of race issues in children’s hockey?

            When we look into these questions it does show that there are a lot of race issues in sport, including hockey. But there are not that many serious issues in children’s sport. On bleacherreport.com we learn that there are a lot of inner city minorities that have dreams about playing in the NHL or playing on college hockey teams when they get older. One young girl “Katherine was also positive about her future plans involving hockey. When asked if she plans to play college hockey and to somehow make it into the NHL, she responded with an adamant, ‘Yes’” (Hockey in The Hood). A lot of minorities in the inner city have the hopes to play hockey, but as we know it is not common for a minority to play professional hockey. As of September of this year only 30 African Americans play in the NHL and over 45660 whites currently play (The End to Racism). So as you can imagine it does not give much hope to these young minority athletes.

  

Works Cited

"Hockey in The Hood": But Is The Hood in Hockey?" Bleacher Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.

"The End to Racism and Discrimination on the Playing Field | Commonplace." The End to Racism and Discrimination on the Playing Field | Commonplace. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.

Mind Over Mass Media - Hockey

The NHL is one of America’s least popular sports mass media wise. ESPN does broadcast scores of NHL teams, however not to the extent that it does for the NBA, NFL, or MLB. When it comes to the NHL on ESPN, if you do not have a big name player who is well known or you are not a team in the top five of the league, chances are you will be left off that nights episode. They have been transitioning into a more NHL friendly program by having NHL segments featuring a great former player and coach, Barry Melrose. While this is headed in a good direction, it is still an under broadcast sport.

            In the NHL, seven teams sell out and fill their seats all year long. That is five more than any NBA team can do (Koivu). Also, in the NHL, there are only two teams that are under 80% when it comes to filling their seats and those two teams come in at 77.7% and 79.5% (Koivu). In the NBA there are seven teams that fall below that 80% mark and all seven of them fall below 75.8%. Two even fall below the 70% mark! Yet they are still receiving more media attention than the NHL.

Until recent years, ESPN and local news stations were the only place hockey fans could go, but they still would not get as much coverage as they want. Not until different channels were developed that challenged and are still challenging hockey fans to switch their sports viewing to. The most famous pertaining to the NHL is the NHL Network. They cover strictly NHL news witch is now a hockey fans heaven. This, in turn, has influenced ESPN to start the coverage like I mentioned above.

Twitter is another thing. NHL players accumulate for millions and millions of followers. Not to mention the millions of people that follow the team pages and all of their unofficial twitter handles. These people would all love to see more of the NHL on the TV. Improvement is there, but is still in the working.

Work Cited

CapGeek.com. "NHL Twitter Rankings." Cap Geek. N.p., 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Koivu, Kayla. "Mass Media." Prezi.com. Prezi, 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

What We Eat Laura Latterell

 

Have you ever really realized how much fast food has taken over our country? Well Eric Schlosser tells us all about the fast food industry and the impact it has in his article “What We Eat”. (Schlosser) While reading this article Schlosser tells us all about how government helps build up the fast food industry. We also read about how fast food makes their food and produces their food, and that it’s more chemistry then it is really food. And finally we learn about fast food spends more on advertising than any other brand.

            So how does hockey have to do with the fast food industry? Well professional sports have a lot to do with this industry. Professional sports are a lot of what helps sell this industries food. Especially the NHL. Fast food restaurants like McDonalds and Subway sponsor professional athletes to help advertise their products. McDonalds is the number one advertiser in the country, and they sponsor the NHL to help with their advertising.  (Schlosser)

            One major sponsor for McDonalds from the National Hockey League are the Los Angele’s Kings. This Kings have had a long term sponsor ship with McDonalds for several years. With this sponsorship McDonalds will be able to advertise their logo at many of the Kings sporting events, such as McDonald’s logo of the teams practice jerseys, and on the opening night banner giveaway. (McDonald's Named Kings') Another major event that the NHL allows the fast food to advertise at is the Winter Classic! (Your Client) The fast food industries get advertising all over at this event. They can advertise on the banners around the ice, TV broadcasts, even on the ice’s surface. Almost all professional NHL games allow sponsorships and advertising at their games. The NHL averages 17,768 fans per game which means all of these fans are seeing all of these advertisements from the fast food industries which are helping them grow. (Your Client)

Works Cited

"McDonald's Named Kings' Presenting Sponsor." McDonald’s Named Kings’ Presenting Sponsor. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.

Schlosser, Eric. "What We Eat." Rereading America, 9th Ed. Bedford/ St Martins, 2013. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.

"Your Client Being Seen at NHL Games." - Media Life Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.