College Football Union

          For the last couple of months college football players have been going to court to try to unionize. Last Wednesday the National Labor Relations Board regional director  found that Northwestern football players who receive scholarships are university employees and may unionize. There's two sides to this argument. The players argue that they are employees of the college. They argue that the school makes millions of dollars off their performances and they should get the money they earned. They say are required to spend more time on the field than in classes which helps their case that they are employees of the college more than they are students. People that oppose the players argument to unionize say that players exchange their hours of practices and games for scholarships that go towards there college tuitions. The National Labor Relations Board director ruled that Northwestern’s scholarship football players should be eligible to form a union based on a number of factors, including the time they devote to football (as many as 50 hours some weeks), the control exerted by coaches and their scholarships, and a contract for compensation. The television contract for the new college football playoff system is worth $7.3 billion over 10 years, and the current deal to broadcast the men’s basketball tournament is worth $10.8 billion over 14 years. 

          I personally don't think college athletes should be allowed to unionize becuase the college gives them many privileges that you wouldn't get unless you were an athlete. College athlets have the opportunity to go to some of the most prestigious schools in the country for free just becuase they are athletes. Also most professional league teams scout players at colleges which gives the athletes greater opportunities to play professionally. Professional teams pick their players on how well they did in college. Going to college is a privilege, you have to write a letter asking if you can go to the college your applying to. Colleges can reject or accept you depending on their decision, they should be able to kick you out of school if they chose to. I do believe that the money colleges get from television channels are an enormous amount but I do not believe the players should get any of the profit. 

Links

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10680161/players-union-victory-small-battle-collegiate-landscape

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/sports/ncaafootball/national-labor-relations-board-rules-northwestern-players-are-employees-and-can-unionize.html?_r=0

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/2014/02/12/hearing-on-bid-to-form-college-players-union/5417739/

March Madness

          Hello, March Madness has started and I wanted to explain what it is and what my thoughts are on it. The NCAA Men's Division 1 Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament played each spring. There are 68 college basketball teams. The tournament is organized by the NCAA it was created during 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Played mostly during March, it is known as March Madness or the Big Dance it has become one of the most famous annual sporting events in the United States. The tournament teams include champions from 32 Division I conferences and 36 teams which are awarded at-large berths. At-large teams are teams chosen by the NCAA committee in a nationally televised event on the Sunday before the First Four play in games. The 68 teams are divided into four regions and organized into a single elimination bracket. Each team is ranked in its region. Each weekend eliminates three quarters of the teams, it goes from 64 teams to thee Sweet Sixteen. for the last weekend of the Tournament a Final Four. The Final Four is four teams that has beat every team they have played. These four teams, one from each region compete in for the national championship.

          This year I am in a league with a couple of my friends. Right now there are four teams left. The Florida Gators, the Connecticut Huskies, the Wisconsin badgers, and the Kentucky Wildcats. To make it to the Final Four Florida beat Dayton, Connecticut beat Michigan State, Wisconsin beat Arizona, and Kentucky beat Michigan. I've had really bad luck in this years bracket, I had Michigan winning it all. Now since it's down to the Final Four I predict the Gators are going to beat the Huskies and then beat the Wild Cats in the Championship Game. 

Links 

http://www.azdesertswarm.com/basketball/2014/3/29/5562604/march-madness-2014-arizona-wisconsin-score

http://www.cleveland.com/marchmadness/index.ssf/2014/03/five_things_about_the_final_fo.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/march-madness/index.ssf/2014/03/march_madness_2014_uconn_stuns.html

Opening Day

          Today is March 31st and it is the Opening Day for the MLB. Opening day is the first baseball game of the season. Spring training has been going on for about two months now. Spring training is where baseball players go, usually to warmer places to train for the regular season. They play real games against other MLB teams but they don't count on their records. Its for players to get loose and warmed up. It's also for fans to check out the players and predict how well they are going to play during the regular season. Fans also use this period to scout players for their fantasy baseball teams. I personally playing in a fantasy baseball league. I didn't use the Spring training stats much as a reference when i picked players because in spring training players usually don't try as hard as they would in a real game. I mostly used stats from last year and professional scouts recommendations as references. I only used Spring training stats to look at rookies and players that were hurt that season.

          Here are a few games that I will be checking out today. The Boston Red Sox are playing the Baltimore Orioles in Camden yards at 3pm. John Lester in pitching for the Red Sox and Chris Tillman is pitching for the Orioles. At 1:05 p.m. the Chicago Cubs are playing the  Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Jeff Samardzija is pitching for the cubs and Francisco Liriano  is pitching for the Pirates. At 1:08 the Kansas City Royals are playing the Detroit Tigers  at Comerica Park. James Shields is pitching for the Royals and Justin Verlander is pitching for the Tigers. At 1:10 the  Washington Nationals are playing the New York Mets at Citi Field. Stephen Strasburg is pitching. The one I am most looking forward too is the Red Sox game.

Links:

 http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/mlb/opening-day-brings-hope-across-major-league-baseball-landscape?ymd=20140331&content_id=70474844&vkey=news_mlb

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/03/31/2014-mlb-opening-day-schedule-starting-pitchers/7087667/

http://mlb.si.com/2014/03/31/opening-day-2014-what-to-watch-for/

Loungo off to Florida

          Last tuesday the Vancouver Canucks traded their goalie, Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers. Luongo has not been happy with the Canucks for a while now. Ever since the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals Luongo has been complaining about the Canucks. The last straw was when the Vancouver Coach John Tortorella chose to start backup goalie Eddie Lack instead of Luongo in last weekends Heritage Classic, a game he has been looking forward to all season. Luongo said “This caught me off guard, but I’m excited. I’m going home,” as quoted by the Canucks on Twitter. 

          Luongo will be playing his last 8 years of his contract on the Panthers. The Panthers already have another goalie, former goalie for the Boston Bruins Tim Thomas. Thomas and Luongo have not had a nice relationship in their hockey careers. Thomas beat Loungo in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals with the Bruins. Thomas only has a one-year contract and there are rumors that he will be traded. The two goaltenders were involved in a famous exchange during the Cup final. Luongo criticized Thomas’s playing style before saying “I’ve been pumping his tires ever since the series started and I haven’t heard one nice thing he had to say about me, so that’s the way it is.” Thomas said later that he didn’t know he was supposed to praise Luongo. 

          Vancouver was shocked when they heard the news of their fan favorite being traded. While in a Canucks uniform he had at least 30 wins in six of his eight seasons, in two of those seasons, he recorded more than 40 wins. This year Loungo has 19 wins and 16 loses with a 2.38 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. Players called him the ultimate teammate, and management viewed him as a model player. In September 2008, he was named Vancouver’s 12th captain. Vancouver's last captain was Markus Naslund’s before he left to the New York Rangers as a free agent. Luongo became the first goalie to be a captain of an NHL team since 1947. The last goalie to become captain was Bill Durnan of the Montreal's Canadians. 

          Luongo has not always been the fan favorite. In the 2010-11 playoffs, Vancouver almost lost to Chicago in the first round, winning in overtime in the seventh game after having  a 3-0 series lead. In the Stanley Cup final, Luongo helped the Canucks get out to a 2-0 series lead, but allowed eight goals in Game 3, he was pulled in Game 4 and did not play at all. After having a shutout in Game 5, he let in three goals in just over three minutes and didn't play in Game 6. He played in Game 7 but the Canucks lost 4-0 and lost the Stanley Cup to the Bruins. 

Extended Link www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/panthers-welcome-home-roberto-luongo-1.2561577