Zach Lowe Summer 2015 Series: State of the NBA Labor Union

Labor Peace In Our Time: How the NBA's Money Train Could Keep Chugging

Lowe’s idea in this article is for the NBA players union and owners agree to actually work together for once at the end of the current CBA agreement.  The league is making astronomical leaps and bounds in revenue.  Players are already wary that they can bank on small term contracts now and sign bigger deals after the agreement.  Its very rare in this day in age that the two sides actually work together.  We often end up with very bizarre negotiation agreements because both sides feel the need to spite each either for greed or pride.

Lowe seems to have faith in the players union and Michelle Roberts.  The quote from her states that the “issue will be hopefully be solved by the end of the season”.  I must say that it may be wishful thinking, however there is no denying that a peaceful look may be the best look for the league as whole.

Lowe makes his point that this is a transcendent age for the game that seems to have less issues than the other major leagues in the country.  I don’t think the the NBA is going to make the most profit of any league but I do agree that basketball is the ideal sport as far as public relations is concerned.  The only limit which basketball presents is space.  You can only get 10 guys on the court and stadiums are smaller than football and baseball.

Lowe wants both sides to “rock the boat” which I think is definitely possible with valuable players set to gain around 10 million extra dollars per contract in the next CBA projections.  We’ll have to see if teams feel that they are being crunched in the TV deals over the next two to three year period and if they want to make that their ultimatum.

I’m one to believe that greed is predictable, and that negotiations are never a walk in the park.

Zach Lowe Summer 2015 Series: Ciao, Gallo! The Rebirth of Danilo Gallinari

Zach Lowe 2015 Summer Series: Ciao, Gallo! The Rebirth of Danilo Gallinari

I really enjoyed this article from Lowe and you can tell that Derek Lowe really enjoyed writing it.  It’s sort of amazing actually that he was able to write ten pages on a lesser known (or perhaps less remembered) player like Danilo Gallinari and include in game videos to help illustrate his points.  He also used quotes from his old coach George Karl, which really paint the picture of what kind of player Gallinari is.

Lowe doesn’t always do this but it was very cool to see him actually break down game footage and prove what Gallinari does to the spacing on the floor for the Nuggets.  In the modern NBA this is so important, because three point shooting teams have shown the ability to win a high rate.  Danillo Gallinari is definitely an intriguing player because of the versatile offense ability and the fact that he has been hurt for essentially two whole seasons, which can cause people to often forget about the sort promise he showed.

Lowe then also got to what may be considered the larger idea of the article.  Why don’t the Nuggets try to trade away their valuable players like Gallinari to try to rebuild their organization?

While the team does have a small chance of making the playoffs in the west, the team appears stuck in the NBA dead zone.  They aren’t good enough to be a contender, and they aren’t bad enough to get a top draft pick again.

Lowe gave a great in depth analysis of the Kroenke ownership and really helped explain why it is that he wants to keep Gallinari.  Kroenke wants guys that actually want be there, not guys that just want a paycheck.  And Danilo Gallinari is known as a hometown sort of player, and that he will do what the organization asks of him.

I believe the what he wants to convey to us is that he agrees with the decision from Denver management to potentially just play out the season.  After all, they don’t want to go down the same road the Philadelphia 76er’s have gone down.  They don’t want to just be a bad team, because the likelihood that they become a truly great team as a result is low and time consuming.  It’s hard to sell seats when you are starting bench players, and thats why the Nuggets want to keep their value.  Denver fans shouldn’t mind being “just okay” because the only other alternative is to lose games intentionally.

Zach Lowe Summer 2015 Series: Former #1 Overall Pick Anthony Bennett

Run'd Out Rebel: Anthony Bennett

Anthony Bennet is going to go down as one of the worst number one overall picks, but the truth is that the draft class he was a part of is significantly weaker.  As Lowe pointed out, it wasn’t like there was a clear better player which came out of the draft.  The two best players in that draft weren’t lottery picks.

Bennet sure has been out of shape in his first few years, and he doesn’t give enough hustle according to Lowe.  He doesn’t give that kind of effort that makes you think, this guy desperately wants to be on an NBA roster.  Even though he was a no.1 pick, that is the current stage of his career.

I think Lowe played too much with possible trade options for Bennett in the middle of this article.  Too many tangents were explained in the exact middle of the article.  The information is terrific, I only disagree with the placement.  I though that it was likely that Bennett was going to get released and not traded.

Lowe did accurately predict Toronto as the suitor for Bennett.  Anybody could say, well he’s from Toronto so they are probably going to give him an opportunity but Lowe really did his homework explaining the situation.  This is where having in-depth knowledge of relationships in your industry come in handy.  Lowe nailed that one on the head.

I don’t know if Bennett will actually be a bargain for Toronto, but Lowe did end with a positive spin on him.  He won’t get on the floor unless a Raptor player gets hurt which Lowe mentioned.  Now Bennett may be ready to adopt the hustle or die attitude necessary for a player in his stage.

I personally believe that journalists like to pick their battles, and that Lowe may only be putting a positive spin on Bennett to simply keep his interested parties happy.  Maybe I am wrong and he still has a chance to be somebody in this league.  But Lowe’s analysis of his play seemed more like a rap sheet than that of an x-factor.

Zach Lowe Summer 2015 Series: State Of The Los Angeles Clippers

The Edge of Glory: Will the Los Angeles Clippers Make the Leap Or Reset?

The Clippers are arguably the team of the summer and that is why Zach Lowe went extremely in depth in his in game observations to try and explain them.  Lowe using everything he’s got to explain analytically what he thinks about them.  The truth is that they still don’t seem good enough to win the west.  

Advanced saber metrics does make up for a bit of this article but I think there is some merit when explaining that only the Knicks scored at the rim less than the Clippers last year.  Yes I understand that traditional basketball fans may not be as interested in this sort of thing, but advanced metrics are where we are heading as a civilization.  Lowe’s biggest fans are the twenty somethings and the early thirty year olds.

Lowe did a good job of inserting conflict around Doc Rivers.  He has some difficult decisions, mainly who is going to be the guy to run point besides Chris Paul.  Crawford, Stephenson, and his own son are going to be rotating in that role and it’s up to Doc to figure out who works best.  Aslo will Rivers downsize?  The Warriors and other teams proved moving to small ball is a viable option in the modern league.

Ultimately I think Lowe hints that if the Clippers don’t figure out how to win the west or at least make the conference finals, that somebody is going to have to go.  Perhaps the team will shake up or perhaps Doc will leave.  I believe that the team has a lot of questions both on and off of the court and I think that Lowe could be more blunt in explaining that this could be a messy breakup at the end of the season.

Lowe’s title is “Make the Leap or Hit Reset”.  While it is a great title, there isn’t enough about the reset.  Still a great analysis, and the obvious stage of the franchise.

Zach Lowe Summer 2015 Series: Minnesota Timberwolves Zach LaVine VS Kevin Martin

Zach LaVine gets the nod, Martin takes a seat

This article has three parts to it.  The focus of the story is the progression of young wing player Zach LaVine.  Lowe does an excellent job of explaining what basketball savants think about him in comparison to the average fan who has only seen his highlights.  LaVine has a lot to learn, but Lowe realizes that he has only just now learned how to play at a high level.

LaVine was only a reserve at UCLA before NBA teams realized his immense athleticism.  He absolutely is not a point guard, and he was playing out of position as a young player on a bad team.  This is why agree with Lowe.  LaVine’s stock is going up, because even if he is bad on defense, he will only get better with Rubio and Towns coming into the mix.

The next segment featured LaVine’s primary competition for the starting wing position…NBA veteran Kevin Martin.  Martin’s stock is going in the opposite direction.  He like LaVine is a poor defensive player, however his offensive game is undeniably savvy.  That said he is constantly dropping in efficiency year by year.  It might be best that he is relegated to a sixth man role on the Timberwolves.

The late Flip Saunders had great plans for LaVine and it is definitely his chance to show what sort of talent he is this season.  He is definitely a third or fourth option on offense but he will get big opportunities.  And he doesn’t have to try to run the offense like last year.

The third and final segment of this article is classic Lowe.  He loves to talk trade possibilities and he often is able to predict some of the trades which go down.  This must be a thought consideration because if Martin is unhappy in his role, they might need to get something back for him.  He certainly sees that the franchise is going more in the direction of LaVine.

I believe that the Timberwolves will be a top team as soon as next season, even in the western conference.  Zach Lowe wrote a great article and I think he understands that this is a pivotal point in the team’s development.  Decisions like this aren’t obvious.  Every other starter on the team is a no-brainer but LaVine vs Martin could be the kind of decision we look back and define a coach by.

Zach Lowe Summer 2015 Series: A Former Diehard

A Former Diehard

Zach Lowe is definitely a basketball writer.  But this article taught me that he was a true diehard fan.  Its interesting that his father, a Red Sox fan, actually allowed him to adopt the Mets.  All of the little nuances of this articles are extremely in depth.  I loved it when he talked about how he knew the Mets better than other humans, because I feel that I have definitely gone through the same phases in my life.

He explained how painful it was to watch this extraordinary Mets team, and not have any knowledge of the players and or how the team came to be.  He provides some hindsight advice that we should try to somehow follow our favorite teams because life will happen, and you will lose some touch.

He made a mistake when he spoke about Armando Benitez along with the 96’-98’ teams and corrected it with an annotation explaining that he joined the team in the summer of 99’.  I believe that is an effective way to correct a minor reference.  Other than that the column was brilliant and I obviously don’t think that at all was a detriment.

One thing that really connected with me as well was the deal that he made with his Royals buddy.  It really sort of shows how fast things change.  It wasn’t impossible that the two teams could meet in the World Series, and it may have taken 15 years but it happened.  I hope that the two are still in touch and I suppose if there was one mention in the story that could have been further explained that would be the point I choose.

Overall Zach Lowe used his platform to essentially apologize for falling out of touch with his team, which I’m sure if we haven’t all done we will in the future.  It just happens, but I think he shouldn’t be so hard on himself.  It doesn’t appear that he has been waisting his time.

Greg Hardy: The Most Hated Football Player Of All Time

High Point Panthers Defeat Longwood Lancers 79-68 in Big South Opener

Division I Women’s Basketball

Tuesday December 4th

High Point, N.C. - High Point University opened Big South Conference play with an eleven point home victory over Longwood in the Millis Center on Tuesday night.  The victory moves HPU to 2-6 following a difficult non-conference stretch to begin the season.  The loss also drops Longwood to 1-5 overall.

Junior guard and Big South Pre-Season All-Conference First-Team selection Kaylah Keys led the charge for the Panthers with 26 points.  These types of performances are essentially becoming a regular occurrence for the former Big South Freshman of the Year.  This season she will attempt to lead her team back to the Big South Conference Championship game, despite being the only returning starter from 2014-15.

Freshman guard Lindsey Edwards had her best collegiate game with 18 points on six of nine field goal attempts.

HPU was able to dominate the third stanza 26-17 behind 12 straight points from Edwards.

“Lindsey Edwards is going to be very special.  I think she is just now realizing that she can be really good,” said High Point Head Coach DeUnna Hendrix.  “She’s just now tapping into her potential, and she is a spark for us coming off of the bench.  She is getting more comfortable each game.  Lindsey looks like a dominant scorer right now, but once she gets better on defense, she is going to be one of the best players in this league.”

HPU built a 64-47 lead before Longwood began a late 12-3 run. The Lancers cut the deficit to as low as 6 but the Panthers were able to hold on and take the victory 79-68.

Redshirt-junior guard Daeisha Brown led the Lancers in scoring with 20 points.

Junior forward Eboni Gilliam led the Lancers in rebounds with 7 in the first half.  She finished with 11 rebounds and 8 points.

Despite coming up short, Longwood Head Coach Bill Reinson was pleased with his team’s effort late in the second half to make it a close game.  “We were finally able to find the right mix of people in the late third and early fourth quarter,” Reinson said.  “We came back from about 20 points down, and cut it to six at one point.  We really just ran out of time and had to foul, but I think that stretch of play is what we are looking for moving forward.”

HPU had a huge advantage scoring off turnovers scoring 20 points off of 18 turnovers.

Kaylah Keys carried the load for the panthers in the first half with 14 points. HPU held the lead for most of the first half but relinquished it for a 4 minute stretch before capturing a 9-0 run late in the second quarter. HPU led 34-30 at the half despite losing the rebound margin 27-17.  Both teams are shot poorly from the perimeter.  HPU shot 2 of 11 and Longwood shot 4 of 11 from three point territory.  The two sides also struggled at the free throw line in the first half, as the two teams shot 4 out of 10 combined at the charity strike.

Freshman forward Shea Morgan also added 12 points for HPU.

“At halftime we addressed the fact that we really needed to get rebounds and defensive stops,” said Morgan.  “I think that was the key to our run in the third quarter.”

With the win, the Panthers have now won nine consecutive games against Longwood.  Both teams play their upcoming games at home on Saturday, December 4th against Big South foes.  HPU will face Radford and Longwood will take on Presbyterian.

HPU Men's Basketball: Healthy Weary ready to make impact in 2015-16

Opinion Piece: Why US Women's Soccer Victory Tour did the National Women's Soccer League a Diservice

Can we please do away with victory tours?

This summer the United States Women's Soccer Team was in the limelight of American sports.  People who have never even cared much for soccer in general all tuned in and were electrified by what the team did in the FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, defeating Japan 5-2 in the final and claiming the gold medal after falling short against the same team four years ago in Germany.

Ultimately this was an enormous opportunity also get more eyes on our own women's soccer league.  But instead, the US Soccer team scheduled a "Victory Tour" and looked to bank off of the team's success financially.  This meant that all of the top players in the National Women's Soccer League were required for meaningless David versus Goliath exhibition games, destroying teams like Costa Rica 8-0.

While we trotted our heroes across the country to play cupcake teams, the NWSL played the final stretch of it's season missing all the players we actually know about.  It is also no secret that the last women's soccer league in our country actually went bankrupt only a little while following the 2012 Women's World Cup.

How are teams like the Portland Thorns and Kansas City FC going to get people interested in their product when they are missing their own stars and recognizable faces on their rosters?

It's also ludicrous that we needed to further prove how good our team is when we all just watched them dominate the runner-up in in the World Cup Final.  We have all of this talent, yet we cannot see them face each other on a high stage.

I understand the incentive to want to bank on their success, but why ruin the struggling women's league and enterprise in your own country where the players are actually employed and hope to make a living?

For that reason, I believe that this situation could have been handled better.  It is clear that the organization believed that it was most important to schedule those games as soon as it possibly could, in order to seize a window of opportunity.  They did not care much for what negative effect it could have on the player's teams.

I believe that they should simply have played friendly matches perhaps once a week or two instead of an entire tour.  That is what the US Men’s team does currently and in recent years those games have been rising in the ratings thanks to the influx of American sports networks like Fox Sports 1 and NBC sports network.

The tour was financially successful in the short term for Team USA.  But we can only hope the NWSL still draws attention in the years to come, or else it will have to fold for a third time.

2015 World Series Preview: Kansas City Royals and New York Mets

This year the fall classic comes down to two teams who've completed a full 180 within the last two years.  These are two teams who were easily considered laughing stocks and the butt of many jokes as recently as, well July for the Mets. 

The Royals now enter as a slight favorite, a different tone from last year when they made an appearance in the world series for the first time in 29 years.  Despite falling short to the juggernaut San Francisco Giants  who claimed their third title in five years, the Royals remained the dominant American league club in 2015. They now find themselves with home field advantage in the series where it matters most.

Kansas City will likely face a challenge in games 3,4, and 5 at Citi Field in New York. The weather could prove to be a difficult adjustment after having played all of their playoff road games indoors. The Mets have gone 3-1 this playoffs in their frigid home ball park, and only plan on providing the Royals with heaters of the fastball variety.

From what we have seen, these are two teams that appear equally strong and most analysts will probably tell you that there is no clear cut favorite to win. The Royals get the nod on experience however the Mets appear to be hotter of the two.

The key to the series for most baseball enthusiasts appears to be the difference in the two giants' greatest weapons. New York sports elite young starting pitchers and Kansas City has arguably the greatest cast of relief pitchers we have seen in the modern era. The Mets appear capable of handing the ball to all of their starters and relying on spectacular late inning performances. Meanwhile, the Royals really only need four or five innings from their own due to their versatile arsenal of arms out of the pen.

All eyes will likely keen on New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy who had exhibited an otherworldly performance in this postseason. What he has done has been nothing short of remarkable, but will he be able to continue what has now become a historic post season hot streak on this the biggest stage? Perhaps an even bigger question may be, do the Mets need him to do so in order to win the championship.

The Royals attack is a model of balance and their defense is top notch. The Mets are definitely seen as a streakier team, however they do have wildcard bats in their oder with players like Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda. Even young catcher Travis D'arnaud has been swinging a hot bat in these playoffs.

I predict that the series will include two stanzas in Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The logical part of me believes that the Royals are the better overall team and that they are twice as hungry and ready for this inter league battle. However I believe that baseball defies logic in a way that is unlike any other sport. The Mets seem to have that magical quality and are simply the hottest team at the moment. Even though Kansas City is the best team on paper, the Amazing' Mets are burning up the scouting reports. I say the Mets win in seven games.

If you want to hear another interesting take on the world series check out Buster Olney and Jerry Krasnick's analysis of the fall classic on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast.

Bill Simmons: A Hall of Justice

ESPN To Lay Off Hundreds Of Employees Amidst Budget Cut

According to several reports, media giant ESPN is attempting to cut between one and two hundred million dollars from it's budget by 2017.

The company appears to be operating under direct orders from the hierarchy at Disney and will now be forced to vacate two or three hundred jobs as a result.  ESPN President John Skipper began this process of trimming the budget by releasing highly priced talent such as Bill Simmons, Keith Olbermann, and Colin Cowherd.  It is now however apparent that the budget cut was a lot bigger than just on air talent.

This news comes in the wake of reports that ESPN would be ending a series of graphics known as cover alerts.  Cover alerts inform viewers of the sports gambling implications of a game.  ESPN and other networks have been more open to the idea of sports gambling recently.  Much of that has to do with DraftKings and FanDuel becoming leaders in the market and becoming business partners with ESPN and other sports channels.  Despite the fact that these companies claim to be only daily fantasy sites and not actual gambling sites, which is a different discussion.

Gambling is a major discussion in the sports industry at the moment, but it now it appears that a potentially larger issue for networks might be actual television subscriptions.  With the rise in entertainment availability on the internet more and more people have resorted to ending their cable subscriptions in order to save money.  There are millions of absent subscribers evaporating the normal income of the networks, and unfortunately that means that less jobs will be available at cable networks.

Album Review of “Under Pressure” by Logic

Who is Logic? What is the Rattpack?  Who is Young Sinatra? What are Bobbysoxers?  These are all questions I can answer for you.  These are all terms that refer to the young hip-hop artist Sir Bryson Hall II also known as Psychological.  Hall is from an urban community in Gaithersburg, Maryland.  He is a rapper, producer, and musical engineer.

He is a member of the RattPack, which includes his friend Big Lenbo and fellow artist C Dot Castro.  He is also associated with Grammy award winner Jon Bellion, as both are affiliated with Visionary Music Group, with whom Logic recorded his first four major mixtapes with.  Logic released his debut album with the major music group Def Jam Recordings.

Logic is all about trying to the best he can to be a wholesome a young man in this day and age.  He is quoted as saying, “I think we live in a time where peace, love, and positivity are considered corny, or wack.  I think that is just evil.”  You see Logic was born into a broken family.  His father was not around often when he was growing up, and he has noted on several songs that his mother often took drugs and became violent.  He also believed that his sister’s boyfriend abused her.  Logic notes that he so desperately wanted to defend here but that she resisted him and additionally that he felt the police would consider him a delinquent.

These are just some of the trepidations from his early youth. In his early childhood Logic was more of a troublemaker.  He didn’t graduate high school, and found himself often following around some of his childhood friends.  Watching drugs take the spirit of several of his family and friends pained him, and he vowed to never fall into that lifestyle.  This was one of the very things in which he believed propelled him forward in life.

Logic worked as dishwasher for a local Red Lobster, and it was at this very restaurant in which he began attempting to rap for the first time.  In fact his manager even let him and a few of his friends who worked there perform verses for customers.  This led Logic to begin creating songs in his friend Big Lenbo’s basement.  He did this for about four years while working at Red Lobster before eventually being signed by Visionary.

Logic was relatively unnoticed until he released a mixtape in 2011 titled, ”Young Sinatra”.  With the help of Visionary, he released it onto Datpiff.com (a popular hip hop website).  This mixtape was downloaded so many times (It went platinum with over 250 thousand downloads) that some actually believed that he hacked into the website and faked the buzz of himself.  Logic admires Frank Sinatra and the original “Rat Pack” group (singers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Buddy Greco.)  A bobbysoxer is simply a female fan of the group.  Logic was actually signed by Def Jam after the release of his first mixtape, but kept releasing music for free for three more years.

The story of how Logic got interested into hip-hop, is actually quite fascinating.  When Logic was about 13 years old, he watched Kill Bill and decided to buy the soundtrack for the movie.  The soundtrack was produced by Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (commonly known as “RZA”).  Diggs is a music producer and rapper for the Grammy winning Wu-Tang Clan.  This is what inspired him into making music.  The first actual hip-hop album Logic bought was by The Roots, whom Logic actually got to perform “I’m Gone” with on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.

“Under Pressure” is Logic’s life story, including both the good and the bad.  It features extremely positive songs as well as a song entitled “Gang Related” inspired by the movie “Boyz In The Hood”.  He also has several lyrics transcribed by actual voice messages left by some of his friends and family when he toured with Kid Cudi.  There are also a few songs, which feature hidden messages, proving lower pleasures (money, drugs, and promiscuity) insufficient.  Rather than go “the radio route”, Logic decided to style his album more like some of his favorite artists Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, and Big Daddy.  

My favorite songs on the album are “Nikki”, “Soul Food”, and “Metropolis”.  “Nikki” is an emotional song that figuratively equates a girl with nicotine. In other words, he sings about how he feels slave to a girl, only to reveal at the end of the song his somber addiction to smoking cigarettes. The album was executively produced by famed music engineer “No I.D.” and the up and coming “6ix”.  Since the release of the album, Logic has proudly quit smoking cigarettes and gotten engaged to his longtime girlfriend Jessica Andrea.  The album reached #1 on Itunes and #4 on the Billboard 200.  It sold 73,000 copies in its first week (October 16-23, 2014).

Wesley Morris Named New York Times Film Critic at Large

2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Wesley Morris, will be leaving the ESPN website Grantland for the New York Times where he will be the paper's primary film critic.  Morris is one of if not the most prominent African-American film critics in the world.

Morris, a 39 year-old Philadelphia native won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his 2011 work with the Boston Globe.  Morris graduated from Yale in 1997 and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Following the news of his departure from ESPN, Morris's former employer at Grantland, Bill Simmons, had nothing but praise for him.  "As a person, writer, colleague, friend, collaborator and late night hang, Wesley Morris remains undefeated.  Congrats to the New York Times." 

Morris joins a substantial list of prominent ESPN employees including Simmons who have parted ways with the company in 2015.

Morris's absence will certainly hurt Grantland and ESPN, however many have predicted a mass exodus of ESPN employees following the Bill Simmons firing.  It does however appear that ESPN president John Skipper is fully aware that the company is undergoing a transitional year.  The company brass seems to operate under the motto that nobody is bigger than the letters E, S, P, and N. And so far they are correct in that ideology, because viewership is not yet lacking.

A Few Photos Of Vert Stadium and Witcher Athletic Center

These are a few of my best shots of Vert Stadium and just outside Witcher Athletic Center.

My friend Zach and I were stuck in a rain delay before yesterday's soccer game when we snagged the first two photos.  The third photo was taken in April.

I don't take pictures often.  But when I do, they are usually pretty good ones out here.  Its these sort of moments that I feel cannot be taken for granted.  I can't believe how unbelievable lucky I am to go to this school and have the opportunities that I do.  Of the hundreds of colleges in the United States, photos like these prove that High Point University is without a doubt in the top tier of aesthetically pleasing campuses.

I'm also pretty sure that the rainbow visible in the first photo is the only one I've ever seen in it's entirety.  The only time I've ever gotten a full view of an entire rainbow like that was on the internet, and there was a bearded man yelling to the camera, "It's a double rainbow!"

One thing I should note is that I learned that panorama photos are actually very difficult.  I took about ten different panorama photos of this rainbow before I could actually get one that didn't seem distorted.  I don't know whether that fault should be credited toward the camera or myself, however Zach seemed to get the basically the exact same photo in about one or two tries, so I'm pretty sure that I just needed some practice.

Anyways, after all of that hard work and standing in the rain for a couple of hours, these photos were well worth the wait.

A Few Websites Worth Your Time

Grantland

This is without question my favorite website.  A sports and pop-culture website named after the great 20th century sportswriter Grantland Rice, this blog is owned ESPN and was founded in 2011 by the sports journalist icon Bill Simmons.  Before the website reached a mass following, Simmons recruited several young writers to develop the website when it was in it's infancy.  Bill Simmons served as the editor-in-chief  and throughout 2015 until he was released by ESPN President John Skipper.  On July 22nd it was announced that Simmons had signed a multi-year deal with HBO to host a weekly talk-show beginning in 2016.  The website is currently run by interim editor-in-chief Chris Connelly and one of it's most famed writers is Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Wesley Morris.  The website also features popular online podcasts which draw a heavy amount of YouTube viewers to the blog.

 Campus Chronicle

The Campus Chronicle is the student newspaper of High Point University.  It was awarded a first place award in 2015 by the American Scholastic Press Association's Annual Review and Contest Awards.  You can also find some of my work there!

Awful Announcing

Awful Announcing is essential to me as someone who follows the sports media industry in America.  Although it might not have an enormous following, you can find many relevant sports personalities sharing articles from the website frequently on social media.  Despite the title, the website does more than just criticize others.  I believe that the website is essential because it acts as a place where broadcasters and sports journalists can be refereed like athletes.  Awful Announcing can help you stay socially informed about the sports media in the US.

Basketball Insiders

This is a lesser known website to many, however Basketball Insider is a top website for young basketball reporters.  If you are interested in basketball at all this website is one of the best NBA insider sites.  I also believe that it is a great site for voicing young reporters opinions on the sport and important topics.  Many of the content creators for this site are quite young, much like Grantland.

Genius

Genius is a lyric website dedicated to clarifying all of the messages and themes of music.  The site allows users to edit, cite, and annotate songs.  Employees monitor the site much like Wikipedia.  The site began as "Rap Genius" focusing on hip hop and rap until it became so popular that it became a frequent website for fans of poetry and other genres of music.  It has since expanded to now cover all music in general.  Artists can also create a verified account and annotate/clarify their own songs or speak to users.

HPU Women's Volleyball Takes Home Opener Over Rival Elon In Breathtaking Fashion

by Sean Hamilton

September 1st, 2015

High Point, N.C. - After finding themselves in a 2-1 set deficit, the Panthers picked themselves back up and took the subsequent 4th and 5th sets in order to dispatch the local Elon Phoenix.

An excited crowd filled Millis Center eager for the cross-town matchup and the first chance to see the 2015 Panthers at home in action.  Several Elon Phoenix fans made the short journey to support their team as well, creating a pretty mixed home field advantage.  One notable Phoenix supporter was former NBA player Dell Curry, on hand to watch his daughter Sydel Curry (Elon Class of 2019).

Soph. Hayley Barnes of Neenah, Wisconsin picked apart the Phoenix defense all night with 14 kills. Freshman and fellow Wisconsin native Molly Livingston was also a huge factor in the win, she had 11 kills in the decision.  Elon Sophomore Megan Gravely also had a respectable game for the Phoenix with 10 kills.

The Panthers had a high number of errors in the first three sets, and the Phoenix capitalized by claiming an early 2-1 lead.  The Panthers were able to regather themselves and dominate the 4th set 25-12 which set up what would be a thrilling fifth set.

High Point climbed to an early 8-3 lead in the 15 point fifth set.  HPU was on the verge of victory and holding a 14-10 lead, when Elon scored a furious four consecutive points in order to force a win by two dual.

The Panthers buckled down when they found themselves in the 14-14 dog fight, and scored the next two final points after allowing Elon to equalize.

With the win the Panthers returned the favor of a similarly competitive five set Elon victory over HPU last year.

The victory brings HPU to an even 2-2 record and drops Elon to 0-4 on the young season.

You can hear what HPU Women's Volleyball Head Coach Jason Oliver had to say after the win on the High Point Panthers YouTube Page.

Also for more info you can visit the High Point Panthers Website.