Introduction

When we think about things that impacted our lives and shaped us to become some of the people we are today. We think about mentors, teachers, parents, friends, and our environments. The introduction of sports into some of our lives has also played a major role in the way in which some people live their lives.

 When looking back at some of my first memories of sports I remember on Sundays my family and I would go to church then come home and my father and I would watch football games all day. I would always look forward to spending that time with my dad and us sitting talking about how good or bad players are on the field. Being from Washington D.C, most people in the area are Redskins fans. I grew up rooting for the San Diego Chargers, one thing I learned from sports when I was young is that no matter what team you like you will always have haters of your team and people who like your team.

Social Impact

  As I began middle school, I was playing football and basketball I never really knew what sport I wanted to play. I have always been heavier in weight compared to other kids in school so I did not really want to play sports. I decided to play baseball at the start of the eighth-grade, it was hard at first to play because I would be fatigued at the beginning of the conditioning summer session.

Playing sports at the youth recreational level prepared me to get ready for organized school sports in high school. Coming into high school I believe my peers would say that I was a funny guy, I began to be outspoken and more engaging with the students. I owe it all to baseball because when I entered high school I tried out for the baseball team and I made it as freshmen and also I was named a captain. 

  Being a captain allowed me to improve my leadership skills and also my listening skills not only on the field but off the field as well. A recent article by Healthdirect says that “Playing in a team helps children to develop many of the social skills they will need for life. It teaches them to cooperate, to be less selfish, and to listen to other children”.

       These skills helped me lead my team to a championship victory in 2015, we struggled a lot that we faced a lot of adversity and hardship that season but as a team, we were able to communicate what needed to get done in order to achieve our overall goal of the championship and we were able to accomplish it.   

Academic Impact

  When it came to the classroom, some of the lessons that I learned on the field was that I could never give up on myself. Even when I would sometimes get bad grades on tests in class I knew that I would have to dig deep and study hard in order to get a good grade on the next test. According to ODPHP (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion) children that play sports are more likely to get better grades and not miss school as frequently as other students. I felt that as a captain I could not let my team down by getting bad grades, because that would stop me from playing.  

Physical Impact

 Throughout my time playing baseball other players would often tell me I suck or I wasn’t going to be good at it. So I started to work on my conditioning more so that I could get better, I started seeing improvements in my weight loss because of the exercise and working to become a better player.  According to Sportsrec playing sports keeps you active and healthy, baseball allowed me to develop proper workout habits that will help control my weigh, and in the long run, keep me healthy. 

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This video shows the positive impacts and importance of sports on a persons health.

C.T.A

Readers, I encourage you to try and think about the times that sports have impacted your life or impacted anyone close to you and write down the moment and tweet it.  

 

  The idea of a portable phone was one that was around for a while. As we evolve as people and discover more technology, creators and engineers have become smarter over time and develop what we know today as the smartphone. If we all sit back and think about how our lives would differ if we did not have some of the technology that is available now, most millennials would be lost without the ability to access things with the push of a button.     

   This means that all Millenials were born into a world where cell phones and smartphones are usually the main means of communication and interaction. Being a part of the millennial generation I can tell you first hand, that smartphones keep us as fans connected to sports even when we can not sit at home and watch sports on our televisions.  

Smartphones and mobile sports applications allow fans to watch their favorite sports while on the go. According to ESPN, they have a new streaming app that you can download for free and the app allows you to log into your cable provider and watch live broadcasted sports while on the go. There was no more missing the games because now you can pull it up anywhere and always be tuned in. 

Advances in the tech industry allowed the NBA to implement a new replay center in 2014. According to the NBA, This state of the art center is equipped with 94 HD monitors and 20 replay stations which are manually operated. With the addition of the replays now officials can be more focused on the game, this replay system allows for the fans and the officials to see plays from different views. Nowadays we incorporate the replays because there are important moments in the game that sometimes referees can not see in the heat of the moment.

The NBA has introduced VR (Virtual Reality) to enhance the fan’s experience within the game. With this virtual reality, it allows the viewers to put on the mixed reality headsets and feel as if they are at the arena watching the players warm up and make spectacular plays. All while being in the comfort of their own homes, VR is a great tool that can be taken advantage of due to the” COVID19” and the suspension of the NBA.

In my audio file, I give my thoughts on “COVID19” and also how it has impacted basketball. After reading the blog I encourage you all to tweet at least two ways in which the advancement of technology has helped you stay connected to sports in any compacity thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for reading I hope you all are staying inside and taking precautions. 

In the game of basketball, the five positions on the floor have evolved tremendously. Looking specifically at the position of a power forward. The conversation that is being held throughout the NBA, is whether it is best to have a pure power forward, which is a big man that will just play defense and get blocks and rebounds. 

According to Wikipedia, a power forward is a big man that plays with their back to the basket and plays the defensive zones. Traditionally this was all that was asked of a player of this position. Now the role of the power forward is becoming bigger and more demanding of a position in the league.  

According to Rotoballer, the traditional forwards are becoming dead in the NBA, due to the fact the stretch forwards are becoming the main piece of a team’s offense. Stretch forwards are able to really impact the game more offensively because they are able to stretch the floor more and score better than pure forwards on the floor. 

TheRinger, reports that the power forward position has changed tremendously more than any other position in the game. The evolution of the position has now lead to coaches allowing big men to check guards and not just stay in the paint.  

These big men usually can usually hit some mid-range shots. They don’t go beyond the three-point line. If we take a look at all the power forwards around the sport they are different, we have what some people refer to as a stretch forward  Which is a center that plays the big man role but he can also step out and shoot three-pointers, and guard more athletic players. 

The similarities within the two forwards are that they both will play the role of getting defensive/offensive rebounds & blocks also they are used to stop defenders from making passes through the lane and scoring within the paint area. 

People often get the two types of power forwards mixed up and think that all forwards can not really shoot and that they are just are big men. The major difference is that a stretch power forward can shoot better than a pure power forward and also they can defend the perimeter players out at the three-point line. 

I want you guys to do some research and formulate your own opinion, then tweet about which type of power forward is a better fit for the game of basketball in the future.  

Kobe Bean Bryant was a professional NBA player who impacted the game of basketball inside and outside the arena in such an amazing way that he brought everyone together from all over the world to play and enjoy the sport. He was determined to be the best player ever and he tried to get to the top no matter what. Here are three reasons why Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T) to play basketball. 

1 Scoring Ability

Kobe Bryant was amazing at the game of basketball. He was able to get himself anywhere on the floor so that he would be able to score for his team. Kobe was a master at creating enough space between him and the defender so that he can get a good high percentage shot. According to the NBA, on January 22, 2006, Kobe scored a career-high 81 points against the Toronto Raptors. This had never been seen since Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points against the New York Knicks. Kobe was finding all his spots that night and was able to score at will against his opponents

2 Awards

When we look into the book of greats as fans we also look into the category of the championship ring. Its viewed by some people that Michael Jordan is the goat because he has six championship rings and others do not even have one. Kobe is also considered a goat because he has amassed five championship rings and other players do not even come close. According to Landofbasketball, they show you Kobe’s award resume which pretty extensive. Grant it that there are players that have been in the league that has more rings than Kobe but he was able to also accomplish all his championships with the same team so he showed that he is able to carry a franchise as well.

3 Mamba Mentality

Kobe Bryant took the approach that he has about life and he applied it to the game of basketball. He was able to mentally build himself up to say that no one was going to be better than him or outwork him on the court. I believe that as a coach you would love to have an athlete that has that outlook because as long as you work hard you can become better. Kobe’s mentality rubbed off on his teammates and they started to see improvement in their ability to win games and also individually getting better as a player.  So guys I want you to go on twitter and let me know who your top greatest of all time are.          

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So as we watch the NBA season unfold this year we all have our team rankings but we also have our individual player rankings. Everyone will have one player higher than another.

So according to an ESPN  article/interview, there was a conversation held between show host Brian Windhorst, Jackie MacMullan and Kirk Goldsberry and others about who is a better basketball player between Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Kirk feels as if Giannis is a better player because he means more to his team and he has a bigger impact on his team with the way that he is able to score at will and aid his team to victory.

Jackie feels as though will have to take into account what Kawhi did in the playoffs last year, also how he lead his team to an NBA championship.

Kirk also says Kawhi is a better player because defensively when he was put into the game last year in the playoffs he was able to impact Giannis game so that he could not perform at a high percentage.

So that would be a major deciding factor to see how they performed against each other if we are putting them head to head.

For the sake of the argument, I will say right now Giannis is better, he is not the best player in the NBA right now. That would have to go to Lebron James in my eyes he is still the game’s best player right now.

He is a tremendous piece of the Lakers offense when he on the floor most of all the playbook works through him or around him. Now I have a call to action for your guys, I want you all to go out and come up with your top three NBA players of this season and compare it to ESPN’s list.

 

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