A Huge Salute To El Capitan, Derek Jeter
By Cheval John
What more can you say about Derek Jeter?
One word, “Greatness.”
In his final game at Yankee Stadium, Jeter delivered a walk-off single that gave the New York Yankees a 6-5 victory against the Baltimore Orioles.
Jeter, who had announced that 2014 would be his final season earlier this year, did it in his own way.
Whether it was diving into the stands to catch a foul ball, becoming Mr. November after hitting a walk-off home run in the 2001 World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks or becoming the first Yankee to have 3,000 career hits, Jeter has always came through in the clutch in big moments when his team needed it.
One particular play that will always stand out from the others came against the Oakland Athletics during the playoffs that was a catalyst for the Yankees to go to the World Series in 2001.
During game 3 of the ALDS playoffs against the Oakland Athletics, Jeter made a spectacular play dubbed “The Flip.”
The Athletics was trailing 1-0 with two outs when Terrence Long hit a double down the right field line.
Jeremy Giambi, who was on first base, seemed to be scot-free for the home plate after the throw missed both the cut-off men.
Suddenly, Jeter raced towards the ball and flipped it to catcher Jorge Posada, who tagged out Giambi at home to preserve the lead.
The Yankees went on to win the game and eventually took the series from the Athletics.
Though I will always despise the Yankees, I will miss seeing Jeter play the game of baseball because he did it the right way and he always carried himself with class.
Jeter and the Yankees will finish their regular season this weekend at their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox.
One can suspect that the Red Sox faithful will give Jeter a standing ovation because he has earned it.
You Are Not The Life Of The Party
By Cheval John
As I turned the television channel to a show on a respected national network, I saw that someone had filled in for the host, who was probably on assignment.
As the show was going on, I was feeling a moment of disgust because the fill-in host was being disrespectful to the guests and the correspondents.
As the show was about to finish, I turned the channel.
If you are aspiring to be a television journalist, a sports reporter, radio show host or podcaster, you should avoid doing these two things that the “host” did during the interview.
1. Interrupt The Guest/s
As they were discussing major events and the guests were sharing their opinion, the host was interrupting the guest/s.
Not only is that unprofessional, but downright rude.
2. Speaking Over The Correspondent/s
As the correspondent/s was sharing “breaking news,” the host was cutting off both of the correspondents almost every second.
I could have imagined they were thinking, “This person does not have any courtesy or respect.”
When someone is sharing information with their audience, you should have the courtesy to listen to what they have to say.
The reason is because they might share some nuggets of wisdom that could allow you to follow up with another question.
If you go out and do what the “host” did, you might not last long in your career.
As the saying goes, “You Are Not The Life Of The Party.”
Never Underestimate An Opponent
By Cheval John
When Sam Houston State lost to the LSU Tigers 56-0 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it seemed like an anomaly.
I was thinking that the Bearkats would rebound from that loss when they hosted Colorado State-Pueblo in Huntsville, Texas.
It did not occur to me that CSU-Pueblo, a Division II school, were No.2 in the nation and went undefeated last year in the regular season with an 11-0 record.
I was going on the feeling that the Bearkats would take care of business because they had a 23-game winning streak at Bowers Stadium.
I was even debating of whether I should make a return visit to Huntsville to cover the game because I thought it was going to be a mismatch.
I decided to go and my intuition was right about the game being a mismatch.
A mismatch for Sam Houston that is.
The Bearkats got outplayed by the ThunderWolves that resulted in a 47-21 loss.
It might seemed that it was not a bad loss by the Bearkats.
Don’t let the outcome fool you.
The Bearkats went three and out in their seven drives (six in the first half).
Starting quarterback Jarrod Johnson, who went 14 of 26 for 72 yards, was sacked 6 times.
On the other hand, the ThunderWolves’ offense was slicing and dicing the Bearkats defense.
CSU-Pueblo (2-0) set the tone on their first drive, going 10 plays for 57 yards that was capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Cameron McDondle, who had 116 yards and 2 scores on 14 carries.
By halftime, the ThunderWolves had a 27-0 lead and accumulated 206 total yards while the Bearkats only muster one yard.
After the Bearkats went three and out to open the third quarter, the ThunderWolves struck again when Chris Bonner found a wide open Paul Browning for a 64-yard touchdown to increase the lead to 34-0.
The Bearkats finally found the endzone on a 9-yard touchdown run by Johnson to make it 34-7.
However it was too late as the ThunderWolves snapped the Bearkats 23-game winning streak.
The Bearkats can be thankful that they have a bye week because they need to fix their secondary, create new offensive schemes and go back to their bread and butter which is running the football.
Before this game, it was a matter of them having a good record against Southland Conference (SLC) opponents to get an at-large bid in the FCS playoffs.
Now, the Bearkats will have to win the SLC title if they want to extend their participation in the playoffs to four straight years.
On the bright side of things, the Bearkat bowling team was honored after the first quarter for winning the school’s first ever national title at the Division I level.
CSU-Pueblo (2-0) exposed the
Sam Houston went 3 and out in their first six drives of the game.
The Bearkats had only 1 yard of total offense in the first half.
Let’s Eradicate Domestic Violence
By Cheval John
The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Pittsburg Steelers 36-6 last night in Baltimore, Maryland.
One could say that the Ravens organization was “inspired” to play well after dealing with the Ray Rice controversy.
As you well know, Rice was released by the Ravens earlier this week and was suspended by the NFL indefinitely after TMZ released the video of him punching out his fiancee (now wife) Janay (Palmer) Rice.
The focus was on NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell’s ridiculous two-game suspension of Rice and the way how the Ravens handled the situation with Rice.
Though it was important to focus on those matters, the bigger focus should have remained on domestic violence.
I will be honest, TMZ should not have released that video to the public because it was very gruesome to watch (I did not watch it because it was really uncomfortable).
However, I could “understand” why they did it because it seem as if report after report from credible sources like the Associated Press has pointed out that the offices of the NFL had received the video on April 9th.
From what many people have heard about Goodell’s denial of ever seeing the video before TMZ released the footage on Monday, it seems as if Goodell did not wanted to see it.
But I will not focus on that.
Instead we have to acknowledge that domestic violence is a disease that is plaguing America.
Even though Mrs. Rice hates the fact that she has to relive that horrible incident everyday because of the video, it has brought domestic violence to a huge national discussion.
We finally had the chance to learn about domestic violence and how many organizations like the National Organization For Women (NOW) are doing to eradicate domestic violence.
What I hope is that the NFL will take a stand against domestic violence and even go as far as having influential players like J.J. Watt, Drew Brees and others make videos about how they are with the victims of domestic violence.
One can be optimistic that everyone will listen to the words of James Brown and take a stand against domestic violence.
The Resurgence Of Podcasts
By Cheval John
When Apple created the iPod in 2001, many in the tech world sensed that it was going to be a major disruption in the industry.
Apple wasn’t done yet as iTunes followed almost a year later.
They led the way for podcasts, a digital medium that consists of episodes, to grow substantially over the years.
As today is National Podcast Day, we celebrate the resurgence of this digital medium that has changed the media industry.
According to the stateofmedia.org, there are over 91,765 podcasts.
Shows like His and Hers, featuring ESPN’s own Michael Smith and Jemele Hill and the Marketing Lifestyle Show with Amy Schmittauer, owner of Vlog Boss Studios, have generated a loyal following that it has given the traditional radio industry a run for it’s money.
If a person is a small business owner who don’t have the money to buy ads like major corporations, a college student or a recent college graduate who are trying to stand out from the crowd of their peers, they should consider starting a podcast.
With podcasting, anyone can showcase their expertise if they do not like to be in front of the camera.
In order to create a podcast, you need equipment like a microphone, earphones and a dashboard that can be hooked up to your computer.
The cost ranges from $99.99 to $569.
If you are looking for an affordable way to create your podcast, then I would suggest BlogTalkRadio.
BlogTalkRadio was founded in 2006 by Alan Levy and Bob Charish.
It has over 30 million monthly listeners.
BlogTalkRadio is so easy to use because all you need is a phone and a computer.
You can create a free account with BlogTalkRadio that will allow you to have only 30 minutes of live
streaming.
You have the option to upgrade to either a Premium Plan for $39 a month, a Plus Plan for $99 a month or a Pro Plan for $249 a month, with the first month free.
The best part about BlogTalkRadio is that your show is live and then afterward, it is archived as a podcast and can be downloaded from the show’s site.
It can also be submitted to iTunes if you have an account with them.
So if you want to separate yourself from the competition and think that podcasting is for you, go for it.
If it does not work out, it will not be a big deal because you tried something new and stepped outside of your comfort zone.
Excerpt from the book, “8 Things You Need To Do Before Quitting Your Job”
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