Lindsey's Blog

Online Blog Project: Fair Play

lindsey9954 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 21:30:39 +0000

Have you ever watched your favorite sports team lose because of a horrible call by the referees? I know I have. I have been watching football ever since I was born, my first outfit was a Miami Dolphins sweatsuit. I have watched countless times when my team has scored a touchdown, but it was not called a touchdown because either the referee was out of the play, or the referee “saw” the players foot go out of bounds. With the new technology implemented in 2004 by the NFL these awful calls by referees can be decreased. Instant replay allows referees to change calls that were originally given on the field if they are not sure if they made the right call. Since 2004, instant replay has been a major factor in football games, even the most important football game of the season, the Superbowl. In football they use instant replay to review pretty much any call, from a touchdown, a catch, a penalty, or even where to place the ball on the field. Coaches can choose to review any play (if they have a timeout to spare, only twice) during a football game. During a coaches challenge if the call is reversed the team gets to keep their timeout, but if the call remains the same as on the field the timeout will be taken away. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of technology available to you if it may help you win a game? Using this technology a referee can get the fairest call. Instant replay is a way to make sure that referees are calling a fair game. It ensures that sports and referees are less corrupt. If the whole stadium and millions of people watching the game can see the play over and over again, the referees know that they will not be able to get away with being biased and calling the game a certain way.

Football is one of the few sports that has decided to use the new technology to its advantage, by making more accurate calls. Should instant replay be brought into other sports such as soccer, baseball, or tennis? Baseball and tennis both use instant replay, but a minimal amount. In baseball a homerun close to the foul post can be very controversial, so in some cases they use instant replay to determine whether the ball was fair or foul. A few years ago there was a span of three missed homeruns in four days. After that the MLB decided that they would implement the use of instant replay in baseball. But, out of all of the baseball game I have watched I have never seen an umpire use instant replay to see whether the call they made was the right call. For other calls like whether the batter is safe instant replay would be very helpful. Should baseball use instant replay more throughout games or will it just slow down the game?

For other sports such as soccer instant replay is not an option. The game moves along too fast and there aren’t pauses in between each play like football or baseball. However in some situations like a goal called back because it didn’t cross the goal line completely when it actually did, or a goal called back because the person was offsides when they weren’t, instant replay would be very helpful. I know for me that is one of the most frustrating things when it comes to playing soccer. When my team scores the winning goal of a big game but it is called back because they were apparently offsides is very frustrating, or when the other team scores when they are offsides but the referee doesn’t see it. Using instant replay would be helpful in those situations, but what about when a person is called offsides when they have a breakaway but don’t get a chance to score when if they weren’t called offsides they might have. What would they do then? Would they have to completely change the rules of soccer in order to implement the use of instant replay?

FW 10: Dinner Party

lindsey9954 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:28:57 +0000

Three people who are dead that I would invite to a dinner party would be my GG (Great Grandpa), John Denver, and Jason Taylor (even though he is still alive)

My GG would be my number one pick for dinner. I haven’t seen him since I was 3 years old. I just remember always sitting on his lap and him telling my sister and I stories. I love watching old home videos of when he was in them. He was so funny.

John Denver I would invite just because I love his music. I never knew it was considered folk music until last weekend. I grew up listening to John Denver, Phil Collins, Genesis, and Queen. My dad would always have the music on in the car on the way to my Grandma’s house. I think it’d be cool to hear him sing in real life.

Now Jason Taylor is my husband (he just doesn’t know it yet). I am in love with him. He plays for the Miami Dolphins football team. I would invite him to dinner just so i could stare at his gorgeous face for a few hours. But if he came to dinner, I don’t think I’d ever let him leave (sorry miami). That is one thing I could not pass up. If I could meet him my life would be complete. Love Him!

INF: Research Question

lindsey9954 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:22:05 +0000

Does the media aid in body image issues in young adults? A tentative title for this paper could be, The Imperfections in Perfection.

I chose this topic because of all of the images that I have seen throughout this course. I’ve seen photos of women who have been photoshopped into looking like someone completely different. The one that completely disgusted me was the dove commercial that showed a “regular” women going in for a photo shoot and all of the makeup and fake hair they put on her to make her look how they wanted her to look. Then it showed how they photoshop images to make the face shaped exactly how they want it an take out any imperfections on her face. This has made me more aware of other images that the media has done this to. The one website shows pictures of famous singers, movie stars etc. that have been photoshopped. You put your clicker over it and it shows the original image and you pull it off and it shows the photoshopped image. These images are what young adults see everyday in magazines, billboards, television, basically anywhere they look. These young adults then start to believe that this is what they are supposed to look like, when in fact these images are completely unrealistic to attain. Even the women who are supposed to be “perfect” the models are not. There is always something that the media has to do to make the picture look “better” therefore less attainable.

What I know:

Photoshopping in models, actresses, actors etc.
Ralph Lauren firing model because she was too fat (she was size 2 or 4)
Commercials portraying women who are extremely skinny and beautiful
Young adults feel as though they have to fit the mold of what these models look like

What I don’t know:

The amount of eating disorders and how much they have increased
How many companies actually photoshop their photos on a regular basis

Myth of the Boring Topic

lindsey9954 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:54:32 +0000

CD: Should it be legal for people to download music for free?

Canadian Money: Should Americans under the age of 21 be able to drink in Canada?

Cards: Should online gambling be illegal or should there be a minimum age?

Business Card: Should the price of apple computers be regulated? People are willing to pay 2000 dollars for a computer when they could buy a computer for hundreds of dollars.

Film: Should all cameras be digitalized? Should facebook pictures be approved by government before able to be posted?

Lighter: Should cigarettes be illegal for all people? Should marijuana be legalized? Should there be a minimum age to buy a lighter since most of them are used to smoke cigarettes or marijuana?

Restaurant Menu: Should all restaurants have a vegetarian option?

FW 9: Hot Topic

lindsey9954 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

What pisses me off the most? Abortion! I don’t understand why old men who are politicians should have a say in what women do about their body. These men are not the ones who have to go through the life changes that these women have to when they become pregnant. I’m not saying that I am pro abortions, but I am pro choice. Women should be able to decide what they want to do with their body. Would you rather have mothers who don’t take care of their children, mothers who can’t afford to take care of their children, and more children in adoption agencies? If someone doesn’t want to have a child then they shouldn’t be forced to. Now I’m sure a lot of people say then they shouldn’t have sex in the first place, but lets be real. How many people are not going to have sex at all just because they don’t want a baby right now? That would mean the majority of college students wouldn’t be having sex, which we know is not the case. To tell people to abstain from sex just isn’t a realistic request. Condoms and birth control are not 100% affective either. Accidents do happen, so women should be able to chose what they want to do with the choices they make. They are the ones who are going to live with their decisions, not the 60 year old male politicians.

FW 8: Favorite Halloween Costume

lindsey9954 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:21:04 +0000

hmmmm… my favorite Halloween costume was my Raggedy Ann costume when I was 3 or 4. I had a red whig, a dress that my Grammie made for me, and red tights with white tape around them to make them striped. I had makeup on that gave me really rosy doll cheeks and freckles. I must admit that I was quite adorable. At the time I hated the costume, I was so embarrassed to be wearing a whig. Everyone loved my costume. My sister was the same thing, but just a little bigger version. I was also a Hershey’s kiss once. My mom made the costume for me. It was awesome. I looked exactly like one I even had a little pointy hat with the paper coming out of it that said Hershey’s down it. I won the contest in the parade that year.

FW 7: What do you want to be when you grow up?

lindsey9954 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:41:35 +0000

I originally wanted to be a veterinarian, but then I realized I can’t deal with animals that are hurt, I get grossed out too easily. All of a sudden last year I decided I wanted to go into psychology. I think I want to help kids who have gone through their parents getting a divorce, or help people with eating disorders. But I think that might be a little depressing, so Im not sure. I also want to double major in physical therapy. I had knee surgery last year after I tore my ACL. After that I wanted to go into a field that would help people come back from serious injuries, but I don’t do well with blood, or needles. After I had my knee surgery I had to go to physical therapy for 6 months. I got to know my therapists and they made a huge difference in my life. Their jobs seemed really fun and something that I feel I would be good at. I have always been a very sports oriented person, so I would love to help people who have had a sports injury come back and play like my therapists did for me. I’m not sure exactly which field I would like to pursue more, I’m thinking physical therapy right now because I like the whole sports aspect of it.

FW 6: Favorite Toy as a Kid

lindsey9954 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:08:25 +0000

My favorite toys as a kid were barbies. I played with them everyday with my sister. We would play school and she would be the teacher with the dolls. My sister and I would always have the same names for our dolls, no matter what one we were playing with. We had more barbies than anything else growing up. We have four big boxes full of barbies and all the accessories that go along with them. I had a red convertible car for my dolls, my sister had a pool set for hers and we would be up in our rooms for hours playing with them whenever we got the chance. For every birthday or holiday I would always ask for a new barbie doll from my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles. I thought they were the best things ever to play with.

FW 5: Five Things

lindsey9954 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:05:30 +0000

The five things I can’t live without… Number one will have to be my cellphone. I can’t go anywhere without it. When I don’t have it with me I feel lost and disconnected to the world around me. The second thing would probably be my computer. In today’s society technology is what keeps you connected to the world. Without my computer I wouldn’t know what was going on around campus, and I probably wouldn’t stay connected with as many people from home. The third thing is my iPod. I need to have my country music with me at all times. It helps keep me entertained when I have nothing else to do. Number four of Course I need my family. Without them I would not have gotten through soccer preseason this year. Me and my family are really close, so its hard being away from them. They would probably be number one on my list, without them I wouldn’t need my cellphone. Last hmmm this is hard… I would have to say would be my soccer cleats. I have been playing soccer since I was in 2nd grade. It has been a part of my life for so long, I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t play soccer anymore.

INF: Bordo

lindsey9954 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:11:47 +0000

Throughout the day we see images of the “perfect”body. These images are unrealistic. We see them whenever we turn on the television or in any ads in a magazine. During football games there are always commercials of skinny women in belly shirts and tight short shorts. No women actually go around wearing these kind of outfits on a day to day basis unless they work at hooters. These women have perfectly flat stomaches and seem to have no imperfections what so ever anywhere on their body. This gives women an idealized view of what they think men think that they “have” to look like in order to be beautiful. Many women often go to extremes to get these “perfect” bodies that are nearly impossible to get without plastic surgery.