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October 10, 2014  

The Growing Pains Of A Student-Athlete

By Cheval John

University of Georgia’s tailback Todd Gurley was suspended indefinitely by UGA’s athletic department.

Gurley is currently being investigated by the NCAA for an undisclosed rules violation.

One could suspect that it was for accepting improper benefits, which is an NCAA violation.

“I’m obviously very disappointed,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said in a statement. “The important thing for our team is to turn all our attention toward preparation for Missouri.”

If it’s true, then Gurley made a huge mistake on his part.

However, we have to look at the bigger picture at what is going on in college athletics.

The NCAA is making billions of dollars a year, mostly from football and basketball.

Though college athletes receives a stipend in the form of scholarships, they do not receive a share of the revenue.

We have heard from many prominent figures that mentioned that the NCAA is taking advantage of the student-athletes.

They might go even further as saying that the NCAA is run like a business despite being a non-profit organization.

If that was the case, then the non-revenue sports would not be there and it will devoid those, particular women athletes, the opportunity to gain an education.

On the other hand, the NCAA has so many byzantine rules that it is difficult for athletic administrators to really see if they are following the rules.

I could go even further to say that most of the rules are so petty and ridiculous that it seems that they want the student-athletes to remain poor while they are in school.

Though I am not condoning the alleged improper benefits violation of Gurley, a person can understand why he did it.

If the NCAA can ease up on some of their rules like allowing a family friend to pay for meals they can’t afford, then I think that we would not see so many violations of improper benefits.

That is something that they can think about.

October 6, 2014  

Texans’ Fans Showed Their Spirit At Jerry’s World

By Cheval John

The once in a few years rivalry matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans ended with the Cowboys winning in overtime 20-17.

Though they were some highlights like Tony Romo’s houdini escape from J.J. Watt that resulted in a touchdown pass to an unbelievable catch by Dez Bryant that set up the game-winning field goal in overtime, the real takeaway was the invasion of AT&T Stadium by the fan base of the Texans.

The Texans’ fans made themselves known in Jerry’s World that Romo criticize his supporters because he felt that the Cowboys was playing a road game despite being at home.


“We played on the road today in that football game,” Romo said after the game to Sports Illustrated. “We need to do a better job as a fan base.”

This is not the first time that the Cowboys felt that way.

In the opening week of the season against the San Francisco 49ers, there were a slew of 49ers fans at Jerry World in support of their team.

At times when I took to Twitter to tweet about the game, I thought that the Cowboys had made a play after I heard the fans cheering.

However, it turned out that it was the 49ers that were making the plays.

As a 49er fan, I felt relieved and happy that they beat the Cowboys in their own stadium.

Maybe the Cowboys’ fans are sending a message to their team that we will not accept mediocrity anymore with the lack of a turnout to the games.

Jerry Jones might have finally received the message after the Texans’ fan base showed who is Texas’ real team.

October 4, 2014  

“Royal” Magic

By Cheval John

The Royals are one game away from moving on to the American League Championship Series after pulling off another extra inning win against the Los Angeles Angels.

Coming into this series, the Royals were last in the AL in home runs.

However, it was the long ball that has led them to be 2-0 against the Angels.

The first game was tied at 2 in the 11th when Royals’ third baseman Mike Moustakas launched a go-ahead, game-winning home run to secure the win.

Then lightning struck twice early this morning.

In the top of the 11th inning with the game tied at 1 with a runner on, first baseman Eric Hosmer hit a two-run blast to right field that made it 3-1.

With the air lifted out of Anaheim Stadium, the Royals tacked on another run to make it 4-1.

The post-season has made heroes out of ordinary players.

Perhaps, this is a sign that the Royals are going to win it all this year.

If that happens, it will be 1985 all over again.

The Kansas City faithful, who traveled to Anaheim seems to agree.

September 30, 2014  

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”

September 14, 2014  

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.

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