Is Britney Griner a Man?

As many of you know, Brittney Griner is all the talk right now. As a 6'8' women basketball player from the championship winning team at Baylor University, how could she not be? However, the attention she is getting is not necessarily a good thing...
Griner is getting this attention because people think she is a "man." Literally. Just because she is not particularly feminine does not make her a man people, common. Yeah she is tall, and yeah she plays tough, so what? These characteristics do not physically make her a man, but they do make her an amazing basketball player.
People have go to get it out of their heads that women who play sports are all manly and lesbians. It is a stupid stereotype that society has led us to believe. Just because women play tough and act tough does not make them a lesbian. Sure there are some women that play sports that are lesbians, so what? That shouldn't make a stereotype.
People need to realize that female athletes, such as Griner, are just incredible. Shes tall, tough, competitive, and aggressive...everything that a good basketball player needs. Women athletes should be able to be all of these things without being considered a "man" because it is just plain rude.

Origins of American Soccer: "Once in a Lifetime"

The documentary, "Once in a Lifetime" is about the successes and downfalls of the first professional men's soccer team in the United States, the New York Cosmos. Steve Ross, also the owner of Warner Brothers, was the founder of American soccer, which came to be known as the North American Soccer League. By creating the New York Cosmos and the North American Soccer League, soccer slowly adapted to American culture in the 1970's and 1980's. In my opinion, soccer is that one sport that either you love or you hate. Some people have something against soccer, however, the people that love it, really LOVE it. This documentary showed that soccer is a game of passion no matter where you're from.

The first coach of the New York Cosmos was a British man named Gordon Bradley. He coached the team and brought them to a new home field in New York City to help them to attract more fans. Steve Ross knew that if the team was to become bigger, they would need a big name to represent them. The famous Brazilian soccer player, Pele, had retired from his career in Brazil and with much persuasion and money, Pele was signed to the New York Cosmos for a total of $4.5 million dollars. This contract was 14 years and included more than just soccer. Since Steve Ross saw not only a great soccer player, but also a "global franchise" and major attraction of fans. Pele had completely retired from soccer and then came to American to play. That is love and passion for the game. He loved it so much that he wanted to bring it to America even after he had retired.

Not only did Pele help to popularize soccer in America, but the team consisted of fourteen different nations as well. All of these nationalities of the men brought different aspect of their soccer to the New York Cosmos. Just by the way that the players were talking during the documentary, you could tell that creating that team and making soccer popular in America was the time of their lives. This was because of the passion and love they had and still have for soccer. Also, the perseverance that the New York Cosmos had even when they were starting out, and not getting as much attention as they had hoped, they still persisted in becoming known. This in turn helped America discover the game of soccer.

If I had to have one criticism about this movie however, it would be that they didn't talk about the success of women's soccer at all. It was only about how the New York Cosmos helped develop men's soccer in the United States. I understand that they documentary was about them, but they could have mentioned at least once that it also helped to recognize women's soccer as well. If I had to rate this documentary I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars.

The Natural or The Naturally Boring?

"The Natural" directed by Barry Levinson starring Robert Redford as the rookie baseball player Roy Hobbs, might be on of the most bland movies I have ever seen in my life. Where was the excitement? The substance behind the plot? Sure, there were different ideas floating around during the length of the movie, however, none of it was exciting. Even when they were trying to make something thrilling or moving...it wasn't.

Roy Hobbs is a "old man" rookie baseball player who comes back to the game after fifteen years of being out from an injury. That injury was that he happened to be shot. Like hello?! He was shot, that could have been exemplified a little bit more. I understand that he was trying to keep it a secret, but they didn't even mention it at the end of the film. If Roy Hobbs being shot was released to the public, he would have become an even bigger star from coming back from such a catastrophic injury.

Also, where was the romance? I mean it was there for Roy Hobbs first with the risqué Memo Paris (Kim Basinger) and then again when he falls in love with his soon to be wife Iris Gaines (Glenn Close), but it wasn't well portrayed. There were no intense love scenes, or happy flirty scenes. There were only boring scenes with attempted cuteness that wasn't very successful. The only attempted intense love scene was when Iris stands up in the crowd during one of the games, and when Roy sees her he spontaneously gets out of his slump. Boring. Just plain boring.

And the tone...wow. I felt myself falling asleep during the entire movie because the tone was so boring. I think that the producers were trying to pull off a mysterious vibe with all of the characters, but it just didn't come out that way. It came out that they all had the same personality and tone of voice throughout every single scene.

In my opinion this is one of those movies that is just left better as a novel because when you try to make a good novel into a movie, 95% of the time it doesn't come out as good. This could have made a great movie if it just had a little extra "oomph" put in it. But since it was monotonous, bland, and boring I would only give this movie a 1 out of 5 star rating.

Family: Stronger than a Left Tackle

The Blind Side is a true story of a poor, high school student from the projects of Memphis, Tennessee named Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), who is generously taken in by the wealthy Tuhoy family andtransformed into a football superstar. With no home, no money, and no family Michael is uplifted and taken care of primarily by Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock). Michael is provided with not only the materialistic necessities such as food, clothing and a home, but also with a family. This new aspect in Michael's life helps to demonstrate the strong and loving relationships that he forms with the members of the Tuohy family.

I thought that the most invigorating relationship in the movie was that of Micha

el and Leigh Ann. When Leigh Ann first met Michael, you could tell that she felt bad for him and insisted that he stay on her couch. Her generosity was just enough though. It was not as if she overwhelmed Michael with a sob story about how she felt so bad for him and his poor life. As she began to learn that Michael had no other choice but to live with them, her generosity only became stronger. As her giving to Michael got stronger, their relationship also grew stronger. Michael began to trust Leigh Ann. After very few time together, they created an adorable mother-son relationship that made me smile during every sweet moment.

Michael also formed a close relationship with the rest of the Tuohy family as well, especially the little boy, SJ (Jae Head). You'd think that a 3 foot tall boy would be afraid and intimidated by a 6'5" left tackle, however, it was quite the opposite. SJ coaches Michael the summer before he tries out for his high school football team, and lets him have it, but in a brotherly way of course. The two form a tight brotherly bond that literally made me "Aw" at the love they share.

In reflection of the family, Michael is transformed into a football player by protecting his team "family". When Michael first begins to play in high school, he does not tackle well. Leigh Ann steps out onto the middle of the field during a practice and tells Michael that he must pretend that his team is his family. From that point on Michael protects his team in his left tackle position as if he is protecting his family. He brings the relationships formed with his new family into his football team "family" which makes for a touching feel to Michael's story.

I would recommend The Blind Side to anyone. I think that anyone would be able to find an enjoyment in the story that Michael Oher brings to the game of football. And the story is true, which makes the movie all the more entertaining. I would definitely give this movie a full 5 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: The Fighter

The Fighter is a true story that takes place in Lowell, Massachusetts in the mid 1980's about two brothers, Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, and their lives in boxing. Dicky, a former boxing champion, struggles with his drug addiction while trying to train his brother Micky to become someone in the boxing world.

As the only two boys in a family with seven other children, family is the main focus of the movie. Dicky and Micky's mother, Alice, is their manager and the one who books all of Mickey's fights. The seven sisters are basically Alice's little helpers and back their mother up on every word that she speaks. They always have a comment, and provide some comical relief during the tense moments in the movie. The family fights a great deal more than a normal family would. They get in verbal as well as physical fights, and say some pretty nasty things to one another, but at the end of the fight they're always there for each other.

The acting was a ten in my book. The actors did not just sign up to play a part, they were the part and it made a huge difference in the overall feeling of the movie. I could see the passion in the actor's actions, movements, and spoken lines. It was as if it was the real life story happening before my eyes as a documentary instead of a film with a bunch of actors and actresses.

Plus, what is a good movie without heart-felt moments and learned lessons? Dicky's son got me there. His little blonde son hugging him when he gets released from jail made me tear up a little bit. Precious. Also, the lesson Dicky learned about his drug addiction and how it was not getting him anywhere productive in life.

The most important part of this though is that it is a true story, which makes the movie relatable to everyone. When people watch this movie, they'll think "Wow, this actually happened" which makes it all the more awesome. When movies are too fake, people take notice and don't enjoy them as much, however, with The Fighter people do not have to worry about that because it is all real life.

I think that what made this movie a truly remarkable sports movie was that it was not only a true story, but it was also not all about the sport. It was about all of the factors that come along with the sport. These factors including family, love, overcoming obstacles, and persistence of dreams.

I would give The Fighter 5/5 stars with no question.

OMG I Want To Be A Bandwagoner Too!

Living in New England my entire life and particularly growing up in the hometown of the New England Patriots' Gillette Stadium, I have always been an avid New England sports fan. The Patriots, the Red Sox, the Celtics, the Bruins and even the New England Revolution have always been a part of my life, ever since I was a kid. I know that some families do not always grow up like this though, and some people don't even like sports to begin with. But please don't pretend that you like a team just because they start winning games...the rest of us don’t like you!

When certain people have a serious passion for sports, they don't want people rambing on sounding like fools. I cant tell you how many times I’ve heard “Hey! Did you see that guy kick the puck into the end zone and the other guy caught it for 3 points?”..come on people. Just because you go out and buy the team colors and know a few of the names of the "hot" guys on the team doesn't mean you're a fan. REAL fans don't want to hear you pretending you know what you're talking about because that's just flat out annoying.

The life long fans that sports can create are closely knit. The emotions that rise from a sports "nation" are feelings that people get when they truly have a passion for something. It is a pride that they feel in their team. Maybe they have grown up loving a team, or have a true love of all sports, but it's passion that brings them to love what they're a fan of. And I'm not saying that new fans can’t join, but when they join just for the sake of joining or just because the team is winning isn’t fair, especially to those who truly admire the team or the game.

My favorite example is last year's 2010-2011 Bruin's season. The last time they had won before that was in 1972...Does anyone really think they kept as many fans as they had now for 29 years? Absolutely not. Yep, just climb aboard folks. Probably more than half of them are bandwagon fans. I can see that people get excited even if they're not sports fans and see their home city winning, but don't be fake and pretend you've been a fan the entire time.

And lets be honest, how many people really like the New England Revolution? Only true soccer players right? So that's all fine and dandy. That’s what a sports "nation" is about. Having a true passion for that sport that you love. I give props to those obnoxious Revs fans who sit behind the goal with their drums, face paint, ribbons, banners, and blankets every single game just because they love to be there cheering for their team. That is what it's all about.

So in case you were wondering if you were a "bandwagon" fan or not here is the list of 8 reasons that would make you one:

1. If you can only name the "hot" players on the team

2. Have been a fan for less than a year

3. The only position you can name is the "goalie" or the "quarterback" because a three year old knows what those are...

4. You don't know the coaches' name

5. If asked you don't know whether the time of the game is measured by an inning, quarter, or half

6. You didn't already own an article of clothing from that team and had to go out and buy one once they started winning

7. You don't know the name of the location where they play their home games

8. You only watch the playoffs or the championship game

If any of the above apply to you...I hope you're embarassed.