Best signing in NFL Free Agency

Although my last blog post was about my favorite team, New York Jets, this blog post will be about the best free agent signing in the NFL which, in my opinion, was Ndamukong Suh who signed with Miami Dolphins. Suh is a giant man, 6’4 and weighs over three hundred pounds who plays defensive tackle, one of the more physically demanding positions in football.

His role is to stop offensive lineman from successfully blocking the defensive line by being violent with his hands and having quick feet to get to the running back or the quarterback. He also has to have incredible stamina and great technique to continue to be a disruptive force.

Defensive linemen do not get the praise they deserve. They are a crucial part of the defense in football.  For example, even though the linebackers and defensive backs get the credit for catching interceptions, it’s the defensive linemen who pressure the quarterback to make the bad throw. Also, it’s usually defensive linemen who draw double teams from offensive linemen, for a linebacker to run down and make a tackle for loss yardage.

Suh is a player that no offensive lineman wants to play against. Sometimes, he can be very aggressive, which has caused him to miss games and be fined for thousands of dollars but he is the teammate you want. If I were a professional football player, I would want Suh on my team. I would prefer my defensive tackle to be someone who wouldn’t take nonsense from anyone and a superior athlete with incredible agility. Suh is going to be great football player for Miami Dolphins and a huge headache for me, a New York Jets fan.

Vocabulary:
1. demanding (adjective)- requiring much skill and/or effort
2. blocking (noun)- obstructing actions of an opponent.
3. quick (adjective)- moving fast
4. stamina (noun)- ability to sustain effort
5. disruptive (adjective)- causing disturbance
6. aggressive (adjective)- ready or likely to attack
7. superior (adjective)- high in rank or status

Vocabulary Activity:
If you were an owner of a professional team, would you have signed Ndamukong Suh? Why or why not, using four of the vocabulary words above.


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Grammar Point:

In all of my blogs, I have used different types of sentences. Simple sentences, which includes a subject and verb, compound sentences, which includes two independent clauses joined together with a connector (for, and, but), and a complex sentence, which includes an independent clause, dependent clause, and either a subordinate (because, after, although, when) or relative pronoun (that, who, which).

Grammar Activity:

Directions: Write a blog entry about what you as a sports fan, think is the best signing in NFL Free Agency. Use at least five simple sentences, three compound sentences and two complex sentences.

Welcome Home Revis Island

Being a New York Jets fan is full of ups and downs. Media members and newspaper reporters love to talk down on the New York Jets because they are very inconsistent and don’t see the Jets with a positive view. Jets fans are extremely passionate and we want to root for a winner but we understand that building a championship team  is a process. We also understand that winning in New York is not easy. There is always added pressure to succeed and the bright lights usually scare away top talent.

Darrelle Revis, has been one of the most consistent, dominant defensive players in the NFL for the past eight years. He began his career with the New York Jets and quickly earned the right to be called the best defensive back in the NFL. He has the ability to divide the field in half, and intimidates quarterbacks to throw the football at his direction because of his ability to make plays and stop wide receivers from catching the football.

Unfortunately, Revis was injured in 2012 with a knee injury and the Jets released him. As a Jet fan, it made me upset that we did not give him an opportunity to heal and showcase his ability the next year. It also made sense because Revis was going to sign a very lucrative contract and professional football is a business. As an organization, management didn’t believe in signing a player for millions of dollars that had just missed fifteen games with an injury.

The following year, Revis played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and in 2014, he played for the Jets’ archrival, New England Patriots, where he was a crucial part of the team, which won the Super Bowl. Revis was owed twenty million dollars with the Patriots this year. The Jets wanted bring him back and sign him to the contract he had deserved in 2013.

The new coaches and football operations staff lured Revis back to New York. He signed a new contract that makes him the highest paid defensive back in the NFL. This is the contract he had deserved all along, regardless of the injury in 2012. It makes me happy that the Jets are doing their best to revive a team that has the potential to soon contend for a championship. I hope for smiles and victories for our fellow Jets fans in 2015.
 

Vocabulary:

1) inconsistent (adjective)- not the same throughout

2) pressure (noun)- use of influence to make someone do something

3) dominant (adjective)- most important or powerful

4) intimidate (verb)- to frighten someone

5) showcase (verb)- to exhibit or display abilities

6) lucrative (adjective)- producing a great deal of profit

7) revive (verb)- restore to life

Vocabulary Activity:

If you were a professional athlete, would you re-sign with a team that once had traded or released you from your contract? Explain using four of the vocabulary words from above

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Grammar Point:

A verb is an action, state or occurrence and forms the main part of the sentence. They are the predicate of a sentence. It is difficult to start a sentence without a verb.

Grammar Activity:

Directions: Describe what type of athlete you are or would be. Make sure to use verbs in your description

For example: I would be the kind of athlete to intimidate my opponent by being very strong.

NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

One of the best weekends of sports has passed us by with the second and third round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament being played in arenas all over the United States, from Pittsburgh to Seattle and in between. The tournament consists of 68 teams. The first round consists of four teams playing in a “play-in game”, the winner guaranteeing a game in the second round. Teams are seeded from one to sixteen and the tournament includes four regions (East, West, South, Mid-West). On Thursday and Friday, sixteen games were played beginning at Noon and ending around midnight. The winners of the games on Thursday and Friday played on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. By Monday morning, only sixteen teams were remaining.

Anything can happen in the forty minutes played between the two seeded teams. It doesn’t matter if you are one of the best teams in the country (a two or three seed) or a university that does not get much publicity in the sports world (a twelve or a thirteen seed), any team can be beat. The best overall team is the team that advances on to the next round; it is not necessarily the team with the most talent.

America gets emotionally involved in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament with the use of brackets. The overall tournament is printed on a landscape page and America fills out a bracket, predicting the winners of each game and its national champion.  Even President Obama reveals his bracket on a special TV show on ESPN. Unfortunately, people do place wagers on the games but plenty of people fill out brackets for bragging rights in the office, at school or in challenges on social media.

This weekend coming up is the fourth round, referred to as the Sweet Sixteen, which is played again on Thursday and Friday. The fifth round, referred to as the Elite Eight, is played on Saturday and Sunday. The four teams remaining play in the Final Four, which this year is the weekend of Easter, with the championship being played the Monday after Easter. The Final Four generally sells out crowds of over 70,000-90,000 fans. This year the Final Four is being played at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts, a NFL stadium. If you are a fan of basketball, these couple of weekends is full of excitement, drama and greatness.

Vocabulary:
1) tournament (noun)- a series of contests, between competitors who compete for a prize
2) arena (noun)- a level area surrounded by seats for fans where events are held
3) region (noun)- an area that does not have boundaries but has known characteristics
4) publicity (noun)- attention given to someone or something
5) landscape (noun)- all the visible features of an area
6) wagers (verb)- risking a sum of money against someone else's on the basis of a future event
7) greatness (noun)- the quality of being renowned

Vocabulary Activity:
Write four sentences about your favorite weekend and include four of the vocabulary words from above!

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Grammar Point:
The use of parenthesis is frequent in bloggers. It is used when you want to de-emphasize a part of writing. They would not normally fit in writing but you want to include it anyway. To use parenthesis, remember not to capitalize or punctuate the material, even if the material itself is a complete sentence.

Grammar Activity:
Directions: Now add one more sentence to the vocabulary activity. Write a sentence successfully using a parenthesis. Refer back to the blog above for help!