My First Blog Post-and where my loyalties lie

Out of all the topics I could’ve picked for this page…I chose sports. Why? The answer is simple. Sports brings people together. The world of sports is a rare place where people of all ages can come together in agreement regardless of race or gender. I might live a million miles from you, but if we both cheer for the same team, we share a bond…and I believe that’s a beautiful thing.

My favorite sports team is the Chicago Bears. I’m not personally from Chicago, but my dad is a die-hard fan so I guess you could say there was no escaping my fate of eventually joining the lifelong frustration tour that is Chicago sports.

This blog will focus primarily on the Chicago Bears and their pursuit of a franchise QB. I know we have Justin Fields, and every good Bears fan is optimistic that he’s the franchise savior we all hoped Mitch Trubisky would be. Call me a pessimist, but I’m not sold on him yet. Sure, he’s insanely talented, and a heck of an athlete, but it takes more than raw talent to become the face of a franchise.

If you stick around, you’ll find out what I mean by that, and your comments are always welcome…even if you disagree. Which will probably happen more often than not. Happy reading, and Bear down!

UFC 274: Oliveira fails to make weight prior to title defense against Gaethje

Chris Unger, Zuffa LLC

Reigning UFC lightweight champion Charles “do Bronx” Oliveira, missed weight by half a pound today (155.5 lbs.) prior to his title defense against top contender Justin Gaethje.

Oliveira has had struggles making weight in the past (this is the fifth time he has failed to make weight in his UFC career), but the news still comes as a shock leading into what was a highly anticipated title fight. The consequence for missing weight means that regardless of the outcome of the fight on Saturday night, Oliveira will be stripped of his belt.

A loss for Oliveira would obviously result in Gaethje taking the belt through the normal process. However, a win for Oliveira would mean the lightweight title would become vacated, and a bout for an interim champ would have to be arranged.

This is the first time in UFC history that a reigning champ has lost his belt by failing to make weight before a title fight.

The overall significance of the fight is substantially impacted by the outcome of the weigh-ins, but every motivation remains for Justin Gaethje to put on a show and claim the belt outright. Fans are sure to feel a bit slighted by the odd circumstances that will accompany the lightweight title fight, but the UFC 274 card is stacked with plenty of other top athletes to ease their frustrations.

If the title is indeed vacated tomorrow night, it will be interesting to see which two fighters will be selected to compete for the interim belt. Intriguing options abound at the top of the rankings.

Fans should be sure to keep a close watch on the outcome of the other lightweight fight on the card. The winner between #5 Michael Chandler and #7 Tony Ferguson could potentially factor into an interim opportunity.

NFL Draft recap: Chicago Bears opt for quantity rather than necessity

Picture by Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports

The 2022 NFL draft is officially in the books and the Chicago Bears turned their opening day number of six picks, into a mind-boggling 11(!!) total selections by the conclusion of day three.

New general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus entered the draft process with gigantic needs in the offensive line, the secondary, and at wide receiver. Given the offseason narrative of building a foundation around second year quarterback Justin Fields, who was a first-round selection in 2021, expectations were high that the Bears would use their two second round picks to address offensive needs.

Instead, the Bears shocked everyone by using both picks to fortify the secondary in the form of Washington CB Kyler Gordon, and Penn State S Jaquan Brisker.

The front office did eventually address the need at wide receiver by selecting Tennessee WR Velus Jones Jr. in the third round. Then, GM Ryan Poles worked some draft magic and turned the team’s remaining three picks into eight, after trading back twice in the later rounds. With those eight picks, the Bears selected four offensive linemen, a running back, another safety, a linebacker, and a punter.

It appears that Poles opted for a quantity-over-quality approach to the current rebuild, in the hopes that training camp competition will reveal diamonds in the rough that could ultimately be long-term starters. Time will tell whether the decisions that were made during the draft will prove to be the correct path towards success for the organization.

USMNT Qualify for 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images

The United States men’s soccer team (USMNT) is headed back to the World Cup. Following their catastrophic failure against Trinidad and Tobago that prevented them from qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, there was four years’ worth of concern and stress about the direction of U.S. soccer. Greg Berhalter and his young and talented squad of players were determined to put an end to those worries and reestablish the United States as a force to be reckoned with on the global stage.

This year’s qualifying slate was not without its missteps, and moments of frustration for the fans back at home. But in the end, after a 5-1 trouncing of Panama in Orlando, all the USMNT had to do was avoid a 6-goal loss to Costa Rica in the final qualifying game. A 2-0 loss later, and the job was complete. Despite not finishing with a very impressive showing at the Estadio Nacional De Costa Rica in San Jose, the United States got the job done.

The groups for the World Cup were officially drawn today, and the United States now knows that it will have to play England, Iran, and either Wales, Scotland, or Ukraine. The winner of the final European slot will not be decided until the summer as Ukraine’s semifinal game against Scotland was postponed due to the ongoing war with Russia. The winner of that game will face Wales for a chance to go to the World Cup.

The United States spent four years trying to figure out what went wrong during the qualifying campaign that left them out of the 2018 World Cup. Four years, waiting for an opportunity to avenge their failure. Now a new wait begins…eight months until Qatar. Eight months, until the United States sets foot back on a World Cup pitch in pursuit of the ultimate soccer prize.

Is the universal DH good for Major League Baseball?

The MLB recently approved a rule change that will expand the DH to the National League. A universal DH is something that has been up for debate for a long time. The recent holdout between the MLBPA and the owner’s association gave both sides a chance to sit down and discuss implementing the change.

There will inevitably be people who fall on both sides of the debate, so I wanted to give my perspective on the topic and discuss some of the positives and negatives of the change.

Western Illinois Falters in Final Non-League Game

Game recap: Men’s basketball

 12/29/21

Photo by WIU Athletic Communications

Missing the Mark

In a 92-71 road loss to the Big Ten powerhouse Iowa Hawkeyes, a troubling trend continued for the Western Illinois Fighting Leathernecks.  They couldn’t find the shooting touch that had boosted them to a 10-3 record over their first 13 games of the season.  The loss in their final game of non-league play drops the Leathernecks to 10-4, and they will now look ahead to their conference slate.

Slow Start Spells Doom

A slow start in the first half was all it took to bury the Leathernecks.  Iowa jumped out to a 20-point lead before halftime, and never looked back.  A strong counter punch from Western Illinois slashed the lead down to 13 midway through the second half, but the hole they had dug for themselves proved too deep to overcome.

Defense, Defense, Defense

Coach Rob Jeter believes defense is what will get the team back in the win column.

“We’ve got to get our confidence back and that starts by grinding out a victory defensively, and I think that’s our key. If we can grind one out defensively that will help us.”

Take What They Give You

Although the game was a tough loss for Western Illinois, it was not without some bright spots.  As a team the Leathernecks made all their shots from the line and won the second chance scoring battle. Western Illinois also won the turnover battle 12-9.

Evaluating the work of a professional

While searching for blogs to follow and learn from, I ran across the blog of data journalist Simon Rogers. Rogers is an accomplished journalist, a published author, and a speaker. While his primary focus is on data journalism, Rogers does not limit himself to only that topic on his blog. Rogers uses his skills in data visualization to cover lots of topics including music, politics, technology, and more. This blog is professional, polished, and very easy to navigate.

I think what inspires me the most about Rogers, is the fact that he is a published author, in addition to being a journalist. As someone who wants to someday author a fiction book series, it is encouraging for me to see that it is not impossible to be a journalist and still write books. On top of all that I am impressed that Rogers has managed to maintain his blog on top of everything else he has done.

I did not find very many mistakes in his blog. The one area that might be a weakness of the blog is the sizing of the text. The small print makes it difficult to read without having to strain a little. This is obviously a minor issue and one that could easily be fixed.

The one thing Rogers could maybe improve on is expanding the written portions of his posts. The data visualization aspect of his posts are generally the primary focus of his work, with only short written explanations accompanying them. This is understandable as Rogers is a data journalist by profession, so in many ways his focus on data should be expected. This type of blog wouldn’t necessarily fit my blogging style or skill sets, but it is still a good example of a polished site and something to strive after.

Overall, I think the quality of Rogers blog is exceptional. Everything is clearly laid out and very accessible. He has archives located in a widget on the side of his page to make it easy to locate past posts. He has a search bar located in the top right corner of the blog to further simplify navigating the site. His About Me section is one of the first things you notice when you log onto his blog, and he effectively utilizes a word cloud on his home page that reveals the type of subjects he covers most in his posts. In addition, Rogers does a fantastic job of including different multimedia aspects into his posts. Every post has a cover photo, and some posts include video or audio, while others include unique forms of data visualization. The multimedia aspect of this blog is one of its strengths. I would highly recommend anyone who is interested in data journalism to go give his blog a look. In addition to providing good examples of data journalism, Rogers also makes an effort to post helpful tips and hints for readers to take advantage of. Rogers’ blog does what I believe all good blogs should attempt to do–it highlights his own knowledge and experience while also providing insight and guidance for others.

My Word Cloud on Roger Goodell and the NFL

We all know Roger Goodell has a spotty track record when it comes to NFL players and domestic violence cases. The real question is when will his failure to respond properly finally catch up to him? The Kareem Hunt case was yet another botched NFL investigation into domestic violence allegations. Once again the commissioner acted too slow. He dragged his feet and took a player at his word until video evidence was produced to back up the claims of the victim.

The fallout from the Kareem Hunt investigation tells us one thing…as long as Roger Goodell is running the NFL, domestic violence cases will not be taken as seriously as they need to be. Delayed investigations, half-hearted questioning, and the lack of a desire to see justice is starting to wear on the public’s patience.

This leads me to wonder when the last grain of sand will finally fall on Roger Goodell’s run as league commissioner.

The word clouds above are meant to show two things. First, the gavel is meant to represent the questionable ruling in the Kareem Hunt case. Second, the hour glass is meant to represent time running out on Roger Goodell’s time as commissioner of the NFL. The bigger words are in the word cloud, the more frequently those words appear in their respective story. By looking at the size of the words, the general idea of each word cloud should begin to clarify.

New York Times Social Media Policy Critique

In 2017, the New York Times posted their social media guidelines for all reporters and employees. In November of 2020, the New York Times updated their policy to address the ongoing debate about Twitter and censorship. In the updated policy, the newspaper acknowledges that social media can be a great place for reporters to interact with people and improve their reporting abilities. Even while acknowledging the benefits of social media, the policy made clear that partisan opinions were to be kept off social media as it reflected poorly on the newspaper. In addition, the New York Times emphasized that potential punishments for breaking this policy would be swift and strictly enforced.

I agree that reporters need to remain unbiased when reporting a story. But one aspect of the policy that I have a problem with is the idea that reporters are not allowed to express their opinions on any social platform outside of work. This kind of censorship seems dangerous. If reporters are never allowed to share their own opinions on an issue–then their voices are nothing more than an echo chamber of the newspaper’s executives. As someone who believes strongly in free speech and the ability for individuals to express themselves, I struggle to accept the idea that a newspaper can silence its own reporters on social platforms. Threatening termination of employment over a personal opinion expressed on social media seems like a subversion of democracy.

Yes, it is important for reporters to remain fair, but I believe fairness in reporting means presenting both sides of an issue, not pretending to be unbiased. There is no such thing as a perfectly unbiased reporter which means there will never be an unbiased newspaper. Fair reporting is different from unbiased reporting, and the New York Times doesn’t seem to understand that.

The Times Issues Social Media Guidelines for the Newsroom – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Without Digital Media

I did not realize how big of a role digital media and technology played in my life until I was without it.  Every little habit becomes ingrained into our subconscious to the point where we perform tasks seemingly without thinking about them.  I wake up and grab my phone.  I need to check the time and I grab my phone.  I am bored—so I grab my phone.  When I was without digital media, I found myself frequently wanting to check my phone for notifications even though I knew I would not see anything new.  Logging on my social media accounts and surfing through my phone had become a crutch.  This level of reliance on anything can be dangerous—some people might even consider it an addiction. 

In many ways, digital media has caused problems in our society.  But despite many of the negatives, there are also lots of positives.  The accessibility to the internet through our phones is a major plus as it allows us to find answers to questions almost immediately.  Phones can also be utilized as alarm clocks, calculators, and speakers.  In addition, people can now do almost anything online through their phone such as banking, shopping, and investing. 

My biggest takeaway from being without digital media is how big of a role it plays in my life.  Often, we do not realize how much we rely on something until we lose it.  This principal extends beyond the use of digital media.  We should not take anything for granted—that includes relationships, health, family, and friends.  This project allowed me to reassess my priorities on more than just my digital media usage, and for that I am grateful.