Raptors Advance to Conference Finals

     If you haven't heard, the Toronto Raptors advanced to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history after defeating the Miami Heat in a 7 game series . On Sunday afternoon the Raptors defeated Miami 116-89 with key players like Lowry finally showing up dropping a game high 35 points. The difference in game 7 was that everything was clicking. Especially in game 6 Raptors offence was clicking but their defence lacked which is why they lost the game. Key defensive players like Demare Carroll and Bismack Biyombo all played a key part in the Raptors defence not letting Dragic get to the paint and keeping Dragic and Wade off the three point line. Throughout the whole second round series it was evident that when key players Derozan and Lowry show up then their chances of winning are much higher.


  
     Although Cleveland finished higher In the Eastern Conference standings in the regular season I think that the matchup will be very close. Lebron is very clutch when it comes to playoffs, he doesn't like losing. Toronto Raptors took the season series 2-1 and Cleveland finished first by just one more win. In this series I believe that the most important game will be game 2. The Toronto Raptors have bounced back every time they lost picking up a win right after throughout the whole postseason. If the Raptors can bounce back and win game 2 then they will have a good chance to do good in the whole series.


 
   Although the raptors lost yesterday by 30 people of Toronto are not worried. In the first game of the western conference semi finals, San Antonio beat Oklahoma City 126-92 and despite the huge game 1 win. Despite losing by a large margin, Oklahoma didn't take the loss to heart and they bounced back in the next game and eventually won the series 4-3 .Being called the other motivates the players to do better and win games and they can use that as a boost to help them win games. in the end I think that if the raptors can have key players work and have their defence working then they could come out with the win in the end but it all starts with the most important.

Leicester City's Dream Season

If you haven't heard already, Leicester City have done the impossible and won the English Premier League title. They have defeated all odds and beat out all the competition and won the Premier league title. On the weekend, Leicester City tied Manchester United 1-1 leaving Chelsea to either defeat or tie Tottenham on Monday night. Chelsea down 2-0, scored a header in the second half. Then, in the 83rd minute, the unthinkable happened, Eden Hazard, having one of the worst seasons of his career curls in an amazing strike in the upper 90 to equalize the match. Nearing the end of the game, it was evident that Chelsea did not want Tottenham to have a chance at the title considering that they were shielding the ball in the corner to waste time.



Many people don't realize that this is known as one of the greatest sports stories in all of sports history. At the beginning of the season, Leicester had 5000 to 1 odds of winning the title. These odds had the same chance of coming true as Kim Kardashian becoming president of the United States in 2020, Barack Obama starting for the English National Cricket team and most ridiculous of them all, Leicester City had the same odds of winning the English Premiership as someone spotting Elvis Presley alive.



In all honesty, almost nobody believed that Leicester would win the title and that is why I believe that this is one of the best sports stories of all time. Considering Leicester was in the relegation battle last year and everybody counted them out makes the Cinderella story that much better. Everybody was talking about all the big clubs but this just proves even more that no matter what, hard work beats talent.

Who will win the Stanley Cup ?

        
      
        The Dallas Stars in recent years have had much success in the regular season but unfortunately couldn't translate their success to the playoffs. They had success in the first round defeating the Minnesota Wild in six games. The Dallas Stars had their big guns show up in the series and when they came to play they were unstoppable. With center Tyler Seguin, second on the Stars with 73 points this season, sidelined for all but Game 2, others had to step up and they did. Captain Jamie Benn, who led Dallas with eighty-nine points this season, led the way with ten points in the series. The Stars also got big production from second-line center Jason Spezza who had nine points in the series, grinder Patrick Eaves with 5 points and playoff veteran Patrick Sharp with four points. "Well, our big guys came to play," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said after Game 6. Secondly, Dallas' defence was solid throughout the whole first round conceding only 17 goals in the first round which is an average of 2.83 goals per game. Lastly, the Stars know that home or away they can get the job done. In the first round series, they got the win at home twice as well as winning on the road twice which proves that being on the road isn't a problem for them.

    
         In the second round, The stars come up against the St. Louis Blues. In the regular season the season series was 1 Overtime win for Dallas, 1 regulation time loss for Dallas and 3 Overtime losses for Dallas. Although St. Louis took the season series I still think that Dallas will have the advantage leading into the playoffs. St. Louis will go into the series confident, knowing that they won the season series, but this will drive Dallas to come out stronger and win the crucial games. I believe that if key players like Benn and Seguin perform in the series, then Dallas will have no problem moving on to the conference finals. If Dallas' defence can shut down Tarasenko, the Blues key player, then St. Louis will have to rely on other players to step up and if those players don't show up then it is clearly evident that Dallas will take the series and move on to the conference finals. \


  
       In my opinion, I believe that Dallas will win the cup because they have the edge on everyone in the western conference considering that they finished first and also because of their good record against the four playoff contenders in the Eastern conference and they also have good records against Anaheim, Nashville and San Jose in the regular season. Therefore I believe that Dallas' toughest task will be their current series with the St. Louis Blues. If they can defeat the Blues, I think that they have the upper edge on all the teams remaining in the Finals and the Conference finals. If they can overcome the Blues, I believe that if Seguin stays healthy throughout the remainder of the playoffs and Benn and Sharp are solid then there is no reason why Dallas should not win Lord Stanley.

Maradona's Problems

                                                              Maradona's Real Potential    


     Arguably the most famous non-performance enhancing drug case in sports due to soccer’s worldwide appeal. Despite his drug problems, Maradona is still regarded by many as the greatest soccer player of all time. Most experts would choose either Maradona or Pelé. Maradona played for various clubs in his career, including Boca Juniors, FC Barcelona, Sevilla, and SSC Napoli. He also represented Argentina in a number of international games, including leading Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup. He also captured the Golden Ball award as the tournament’s best player.
Still, despite his considered success, Maradona has had several drug problems. A long running addiction to cocaine affected his play starting in the late 1980s, eventually leading to a fifteen month suspension in 1991 for testing positive for the drug. It also led to him changing teams.


     At the 1994 World Cup, he was sent home after failing drug tests, reportedly for ephedrine. And he would retire in 1997 at age of 37 after failing yet another drug test. In 2000 he collapsed of heart problems, and collapsed again in 2004 before kicking his cocaine habit. All told, Maradona was a fabulous player, but one who could have been even better without the drug issues.  His international success helps obscure some failures at the club level. Nearly half his career was affected by drug use, and for a player that fantastic, any time he wasn’t 100% was a shame for soccer and its fans.
 


  
  At the end of the day, Maradona had a good career but everyone knows that if he would've kept the drugs out of his professional career, then he could've exceeded expectations of everyone and probably been better than his rival during the time Brazilian legend Pele.

McGregror vs Diaz Fight

      UFC 196 had a clash of two huge fighters go head to head. Bantamweight champion Conor McGregor go up against welterweight giant Nate Diaz. There was a lot of speculation and " trash talking going on before the fight between the two which was no surprise because in reality that is just their personalities. Diaz did defeated McGregor in the second round via submission. So what are some of the factors that caused McGregor to lose his footing and come up short of defeating the welterweight Nate Diaz.

      We are now days past UFC 196 and Bantamweight champion Conor McGregor was defeated by Nate Diaz. Some people believe that Conor did this to himself and he made himself his worst enemy. He talked a lot of smack and thought it would be a good idea to go fight two weight classes up to prove to everyone that he is just as good as it seems and by defeating Nate Diaz he wanted to prove it was a fluke. For much of the beginning of the fight McGregor capitalized on his punches and he landed a lot of good strikes. Most UFC fans know that McGregor isn't as affective on the ground as he is on his feet and Nate Diaz took advantage of that. He got McGregor on the ground and used his size to his advantage. He got him in a chokehold and made him tap out.

        In some ways people believe that McGregor made a smart decision by fighting Diaz as if he won, his confidence would remain high and he would gain pride considering that he defeated someone two weight classes above him. But if he lost which he did, although he couldn't put pen to paper or in other words back up all the crap talking he would still remain the Bantamweight champion and he could use the loss as a motivator to remind him that he is still the champion of his class. Other people think that McGregor deciding to fight two weight classes up was a stupid decision because eventually it would come back to bite him. In reality many people believe that if some things were changed in regards to the build up of the fight then all the speculation and talk after the fight would've also been different. If McGregor decided to keep his mouth shut and decide to not talk all that smack before the fight and not back it up in the ring then people wouldn't be questioning his abilities like they are now. People are now saying that McGregor shouldn't talk before the fights and let his actions in the ring do the talking.

   In my opinion I believe that Conor McGregor should just keep doing what he is doing because it is clearly working. This loss to Diaz was his only loss in the UFC and in my opinion I think one of the only reasons is because of the weight difference. I think that Conor McGregor is an amazing athlete and he should continue fighting but stay in his division. He should not let this loss drag him down because at the end of the day he is still the Bantamweight champion.

Anderson Silva vs Michael Bisping Contoversy

          


         This past Saturday March 27th at UFC Fight Night 84 Anderson Silva went up against Michael Bisping in his second encounter from returning from injury. This particular match was very significant for Anderson Silva as a win could potentially get him back in the title race with a couple more wins ahead of this one. Unfortunately that wasn't the case on Saturday night.

 
     Anderson Silva had Bisping pinned up against the cage in the Muay Thai clinch and then he gave him a couple punches to the face. After Bisping was pinned up against the cage he pointed at the floor trying to let the referee know that his mouth guard fell out. Silva caught Bisping when he was pointing to the ground and caught him with a flying knee, knocking him to the ground. After the fight at a post match conference Bisping stated that all of this happened and it was the referees fault. Herb Dean responded that he thinks that Bisping doesn't know the rules as "That’s the way the mechanic works, is that you replace the mouthpiece during a lull in the action. And [Bisping] signaled once, and Anderson was actually in the process of attacking him," he explained. For a lot of reasons that are pretty evident you can’t stop to replace the mouthpiece during a heated exchange, and that qualified as a heated exchange


     As a result of these actions I believe that Anderson Silva has proved himself and he deserves a rematch. Bisping won the fight by decision and if they didn't go the full 5 rounds I think that Anderson Silva should be rewarded with the win because he did knock out Bisping . Although Bispings mouth guard was out, I believe that Michael was ignorant and didn't know the rules of his own sport which state that the play continues until the heat dies down and since they were fighting and they were in a heated moment, I believe that Anderson Silva should have been granted with the victory.


        

MLS Season Preview

 Out with the old and in with the new, in less than two weeks a new MLS season will be among us and this season shows a lot of promise to be one of the best. With many teams bringing in new talent they are several teams that could be up for title contention.


  In the Eastern Conference there are many teams that could potentially go far and also some teams that don't stand a chance. First lets start off with Chicago Fire. A team that shows very little promise but has a lot of young talent. If their young guns can show up and get in to good form I think that they can make it into the playoffs by narrow margins. Next up, Columbus Crew. Last years finalists, in my opinion can live up to their great run last year and I think are a huge contender to win the title, I believe they will comfortably make the playoffs and also go far in the playoffs. After them we have DC United. I think that this team will make the playoffs and fall short just like they have done every year for the past 3 years. Montreal Impact, the surprise of the season last year falling short of the Finals by just one away goal. I think that Montreal will use last season as motivation and try to make it far. They will comfortably make the playoffs. Next team we have to offer is New York City FC. I think that if David Villa and Andrea Pirlo stay healthy, then NYCFC can go far and make a playoff push. New York Red Bulls is a team that doesn't have that many big names and I think that they surprise a few and I believe that they will comfortably make the playoffs just like they do most years. Orlando City FC the new club that beat top teams but couldn't get the job done against the bottom half of the table last year. Although they have Brazilian star Kaka I cant see them making the playoffs with such little depth to their squad. Philadelphia Union, a team that finished in last place last season and have acquired nobody in the offseason to help boost them to a position. I predict that like last year they will finish last again. Last but not least we have dark horses Toronto FC. Although TFC disappointed many in the playoffs last year I think this year Giovinco will be striving to beat the records he held last year and along side with Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore I can see success in this squad especially if they can keep their defense solid.


  Now lets move on to the Western Conference, Western conference has been dominating for a couple years now having won the championship in the past two years many teams show great promise while others in the conference might be fighting to stay out of last place. Firstly lets start off with the Colorado Rapids a team that hasn't been in the playoffs for a couple of years now and considering they don't have a lot of money to buy players I believe that they will be e a team competing to stay out of the bottom. Next up we have got FC Dallas a powerhouse of a team that fell short of the finals last year, I believe that they will go deep into the playoffs and make it comfortably.

   In my opinion I think that the finals will be between Toronto FC and LA Galaxy. with the new addidtions of European talents Nigel De Jong and Ashley Cole I think LA Galaxy will win the playoffs 2-0. In my opinion the Galaxy have too good of a team to not win.

Toronto Trade Controversy

     If you haven't heard, the Toronto Maple Leafs made a huge trade with Province rivals Ottawa that included 9 players in total. 9 Players is a fairly large trade but the thing that has "Torontonians" buzzing is the shipping away of their captain Dion Phaneuf. Along with Phaneuf, the leafs traded away Matt Frattin, Casey Bailey, Ryan Rupert and defence prospect Cody Donaghey. In exchange for those players the Leafs acquired defenceman Jared Cowan, forwards Colin Greening, Milan Michalek and Tobias Lindberg as well as Ottawa’s second-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. Dion at Toronto was signed to a 49 Million contract deal and many people thought that his high cap would shy teams away from wanting him.


     Although he played an important role in the squad the Leafs knew that they had to get rid of him considering the Leafs are in a "rebuilding season". They had to get rid of Dion in order to free up cap space to acquire more players in the offseason. One rumour flying around Toronto is that one of the main reasons why they decided to do this is to free up money in order to acquire Stamkos in the summer. One of the players that shared a more important role in the trade was Milan Michalek. He has appeared in 32 games this season for the Senators and has six goals and four assists along with 12 penalty minutes and a plus -1 rating. He was drafted in the first round, sixth overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the San Jose Sharks. Jared Cowen, 25, has played 37 games for the Senators this season and has four assists and a plus -7 rating. The leafs also acquired Lindberg who was the Senators 4th round draft pick in 2013 has been playing in the AHL this entire season. Greening has also spent this entire season in the AHL. They also acquired a second round draft pick which will be good to get fresh young talent in 2017.

  Some people think that this was a bad trade for the leafs and although they got rid of some depth I personally believe that taking the risk of trading away key players will be really important to sign star Steven Stamkos in the offseason. In my opinion I think that the Leafs did win this trade because freeing up cap will help them get a star in Stamkos and they will also acquire a top three prospect in the 2017 draft which could likely be Austin Matthews, Patrick Laine or Jesse Puljujärvi. Although the Leafs did get rid of captain Dion Phaneuf many people of Toronto didn't particularly like Dion anyways so getting rid of him wasn't really a problem to Leafs fans. I think that by getting rid of Phaneuf, it is a step In the right direction and as a leafs fan I believe that anything to help the leafs get out of this long slump of many seasons without a playoff run then it will help most or all leafs fans to believe that this team could have potential in the coming years.

Have we Lost the Meaning of Christmas

     
People have seem to forgotten that we should share these Christmas times with family and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ our Lord. Kids these days only care about what they are going to get for Christmas and what they have to get. Kids feel that Christmas is a time in which they can brag about what they got and rub all their presents in others peoples faces even if some families aren't as wealthy as others.


 
  
The main thing that people think of when they think of the lost meaning of Christmas is that Kids only care about presents and everything is based on the fact of making sure that everyone likes their presents especially the kids. People believe that Christmas is too commercialized now a days. I feel like you cant even watch T.V without getting interrupted with a Christmas ad for the latest gadgets or toys. Then there is always the mother telling the kid to be on their best behaviour so they can get these presents from Santa.
 


   You can also look at it from another perspective and say that Christmas is celebrated because it was Jesus Christ's birthday our saviour but rumour has it that some people say that Christmas is not lost because of the fact that we have mistaken its true meaning. People say that it was to celebrate Jesus' birthday but he was not even born in December and he was actually born in May. People say that Christmas was originally a Pagan Festival that was hijacked by the Catholic culture so they could have a major holiday for themselves



 


    In my opinion I think that the Christmas tradition is lost in some way as Kids nowadays probably don't know why we actually celebrate Christmas and they all probably do care about Christmas but the fact that we still spend a lot of time together with our families still means we still know some meaning of Christmas. And in my opinion I feel that the true meaning of Christmas is still there because people my age have matured and realize that Christmas isn't about the presents but its about spending time with friends and family and celebrating our saviours birth.

Trudeau Spanking Ban

   
       Justin Trudeau is working to implement a law that states that spanking your children as a way of providing disciplinary action will be illegal soon. Parents either think that this is the right thing to do or they think that the Government shouldn't get involved in the homes of the nation.

   
      This may come off as surprising to some but spanking your children as a way of showing them discipline is legal in some ways as of right now, although Justin Trudeau is working to change that. The law permits only mild corrective action. The law prohibits straps, paddles and other implements, blows to the head, and any corporal punishment of children under 2, In no way does it condone beatings or physical harm, by parents or any other adults. When it comes to disciplining your children many parents are asking for change regarding the laws towards child abuse. Many people feel that it is ridiculous that you will get reported for leaving your child in the car alone for five minutes but if you spank your child in the butt there will be no consequences. Abusive parents need to be dealt with because the parents behaviour inside the house will affect their children's behaviour everywhere else. Justin Trudeau has promised to implement every one of the 94 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. No 6 on this list calls for the repeal of current spanking law which Trudeau is taking action to right now.

   
        Other parents believe that there is nothing wrong with using reasonable violence to discipline your children when they have done wrong. They need to know that when they do wrong they will face the consequences. Parents that use violence against their children know that its for the better. When they spank their children, they are letting them know that if you do something wrong, this is what will happen and parents believe that something will trigger their children to not do those wrongful actions considering that they will know that the consequences of a spanking will come when they do. People also need to realize that there is a difference between protection and abuse. If your child goes to reach for a hot plate and you smack their hand away then that is protection. But if you smack your kid for misbehaving at an amusement park, then that is abuse.

 
      In my opinion I agree with Trudeau and I think that spanking in general should be illegal because I feel that there are other remedies that you can give to your children other than violence to prevent them from doing wrongful actions. Some of these may include taking away of electronics or being sent to their room to reflect on their actions. After the children have realized that their actions aren't worth being punished, then they will continue to act disciplined and not commit wrongful actions.  Children know when they have done wrong, and when you take something of theirs that they use frequently or they love then it will teach them to not do something bad again. In conclusion, there is no need for violence when dealing with your children because it will eventually backfire, leading Kids to think that Spanking gives the impression that violence solves problems and eventually after using violence on your children multiple times, your kids will being to tell lies because they fear of getting hurt. Violence used frequently on your children should not be permitted in any way because simply, there is no need for it.

My Favourite Film of All Time

         Your favourite movie has to be something that you know you can always rely on. Something that you can watch when you're feeling down and need something to pick you back up. Or a movie that you will go out of your way to stop whatever it is that you are doing and take the time to watch the movie.


      For me, my favourite show is a cross between 21 Jump Street and Kicking and Screaming. I know I can rely on these movies to pick me up when I am down and they will always be there to make me feel better. For me I feel that comedies are the best movies because you will usually need a good laugh when you are feeling down or you'll need something to take your mind off of the things that are going on in your life. For me, these movies are 21 Jump Street and kicking and Screaming because I have seen them so many times that I have memorized most of the lines in the films and I can count on it to cheer me up.

   For me, another factor that comes in to play when deciding what my favourite film of all time is depends on the time of the year or the season. For example, whenever its Christmas time I will watch Elf around 6 or 7 times in a 4 week span. The movie puts me in such a good mood to just spend time with my family and appreciate what I have during the holidays. Another example would be something that I personally do in my life is watching funny movies related to school in the summer. its funny to me because I choose to watch these movies during summer as it gives me a little reminder that I don't have to deal with what these people in the movies are dealing with for at least two months.


     In conclusion, I feel a movie should reflect the opposite of your personality at the time of watching it or reflect on something happening in your life during the current moment. Like watching Christmas movies during Christmas or watching school movies when you're out of school or lastly just watching hilarious movies that don't make you think much when you are in need of a good old fashioned laugh.

Terrorist Attacks in Paris

          

               If you haven't heard, which it would be very hard to believe if you didn't hear, there were Terrorist attacks by ISIS on Paris, France on Friday during a soccer match. An unidentified man was carrying a bomb attached to his chest and was not granted access into the stadium. He then walked away and detonated the bomb. Also there was mass shooting during a concert killing many people and injuring even more. The question that has to be asked here is why. What was the reasoning behind ISIS bombing Paris and why did they do it.

     Apparently, there are many reasons for why ISIS decided to terrorise France and the first is simply because, this is what Global Jihadists do and they simply cant help themselves. Another reason is that this was always the plan, but Isis didn't have the capability or opportunity to carry it out before and they felt that considering there was a large concert as well as a soccer match they felt that this would be the best time to do so considering how populated Paris was going to be. The Islamic State wants to offset its territorial loses in Syria and Iraq by carrying out high-profile attacks abroad. this mean that ISIS wants to take their mind off of their territorial loss to Iraq and they felt they felt that the best way to do that was to bomb Paris.

   By ISIS doing this terrible action they are making a statement saying that they want to cement their position as leader and show Al Qaeda that they are the leader of the Global Jihad and they want everyone to fear them so they know how strong they really are. ISIS also wants more powerful nations to attempt to get rid of ISIS as it will give them even more reasoning to want to terrorise these particular countries like United States and Russia. But the answer could be way more simplistic to why ISIS did this. It could be the total opposite of what we think the reasoning is to why ISIS did this. Maybe ISIS actually wants its enemies to all go into Syria so ISIS can do things to their countries when there is nobody there to protect it. ISIS could potentially drain resources, since all large countries are basically at war, it will create a lot of chaos. they may even be presenting themselves as a defender of Muslims in which they just want to protect their religion.

    The thing that is very bad is that ISIS is very unpredictable and we don't know when they will strike again. In my opinion I believe that all of the larger countries like USA, England, Canada, Russia and France all need to declare war and fight together to defeat the Islamic Nation once and for all. For the safety of the citizens I believe that the only way to defeat ISIS is to declare war and get rid of them once and for all.

Was shooting Sammy Yatim Necessary

        Sammy Yatim, 18 was on a TTC streetcar, and decided to pull out his penis and held teenage girls at the back of the Streetcar hostage with a knife. After the Streetcar came to a stop all the passengers ran off the car and Sammy stayed on the Car. Shortly after the cops arrived and they all held guns to him asking him to drop his knife. After he held the knife in his hand after being asked multiple times to drop the knife James Forcillo a 30 year old officer shot him times. After seeing that he was still moving he put another 6 shots for a total of 9 shots to Sammy. To top it all off, Sammy was moving but at the slightest and the Officer decided to tase Sammy to solidify that Sammy was no longer a threat. You have to look at this from two different perspectives. What would you want the police officer to do if you were a parent of someone who was being threatened by Sammy or what would you want the Police to do if you were close to Sammy.

       Some people may think that Officer Forcillo shooting him 9 times as well as tasering him after the shots were fired was going overboard. People know that Sammy was not close enough to the officers that the knife would cause a threat. Even if Sammy decided to throw the knife, the armour that Officers wear would easily protect them. If they wanted to make sure that Sammy no longer posed a threat then they could have easily shot Sammy in a spot that would have made him fall to the ground like the arm or leg. This returns to cop training, maybe they should train cops to shoot people in places that will most likely not cause death so we can prevent things like this happening. At the end of the day, Cops should be here to serve and protect, not murder.

      
        Other people may think that shooting Sammy was the right thing to do. Due to the fact that he was holding a knife, he was posing a threat. The only way to keep everyone safe on and off the streetcar was to remove him from the situation and after he decided not to listen to the officers, they felt that the best thing to do was to get rid of him by shooting him. Yatim reportedly pulled out his penis and was threating girls at the back of the streetcar with a knife. How would you feel if you were a parent of one of the girls. what would you want the cops to do.  you would want the cops to remove him from that particular situation for the safety of your daughter

    In my opinion I think that shooting Sammy Yatim was not necessary, let alone 9 times as well as a taser shock. I feel that, at a distance a knife can not cause a threat. In the surveillance video you can easily see that Sammy is scared, considering he had several guns pointed at him. Although I didn't personally know Sammy I could tell that the only reason he didn't drop his weapon is because he felt that is was the only sense of defence he had. Even after Sammy didn't drop his weapon there was clearly no need to shoot him 9 times. At most the officer could have shot him in an area like the arm or leg which would cause Sammy to drop the weapon and not die. I hope that the officer that shot Sammy gets charged as well as lose his job because we can not have officers like that who aren't protecting us attempt to protect us.

Does Media Hype Cause Harm or Success ?

             Hype in the media can be anything from killing off a character in a series to hyping a particular product around Christmas time and the thing that we don't realize is that the more we talk about the particular show, the more hype builds up and in regards to T.V shows and products, hype means money.

             In Regards to television, hype will make you a lot of money when you decide to make a controversial move in the particular series. If you kill off a character in a T.V series, everybody begins to talk about it the next day and what consumers don't realize is that by us talking about it they are gaining hype and when shows gain hype they gain better reviews as people are demanding the show because they want to find out what will happen next and to top it all of, all of this hype is just making the Series gain more and more money. An example of this would be Dexter. In this series , you may have not noticed it but they would always end off the season with the main character Dexter killing off the main Villain in that particular season. They would usually introduce a new character in the last episode of one season and that same character would play the villain in the upcoming season. By doing this, it creates a lot of hype and makes people excited as they feel like they cant wait for the next season, considering they always end of the previous season in suspense. There is also a lot of hype around Christmas time in regards to toys and merchandise. Big companies will release new things around November and December so consumers will buy them for Christmas. The funny thing that us the consumers don't realize is that why do we need this particular product in December more than we need it the 11 months prior. it is all about advertising and because they advertise their products so much it creates a lot of hype for us to buy them. When a particular product sells out, there is a lot of hype because people want them really badly and they feel that the only way that they can is from people who already have that product for more money. The problem with this is that all this hype triggers companies to increase their prices as soon as they restock that particular product so that they can get an ever larger profit because of the high demand.

           Some disadvantages in regards to hype in T.V show is that it can actually cause harm to their ratings. If the hype surrounding the show is that one of the main characters was killed off then many people who adore that particular character will proceed to giving the show a bad rating because their favourite character is now gone. Some people only watch shows because they have a favourite character and if they kill them off then what is the point of that person watching anymore. For Example, this past Sunday, AMC hit show The Walking Dead killed off one of their biggest characters who has been on the show since the first season Glenn. This was a controversial move as it could backfire viewers who love Glenn to not watch the show anymore and give a bad rating. Product and Consumers hype can cause harm simply because of build up. If there is a specific product being hyped up for a while and people finally receive it, some cases the product might not exceed expectations. Another prime example would be Black Friday. The biggest deals of the year in North America are on this day and people line up for days just to get early Christmas shopping done and all this hype leading up to black Friday comes with harm during black Friday. Every year people fight with one another push and shove just to get the greatest deals. For the past 8 years there has been an average of 4 deaths every black Friday which is terrible considering people think that they are just getting early shopping done, meanwhile they are at risk of death and injury.

           In conclusion, I think hype in media and T.V shows is fine as it provides many benefits for the viewers as well as the producers but in my opinion I think hype regarding Products and Advertisements is not good as it can make us feel bad about the product that we finally get after a year of waiting for it or we can even get injured trying to get a good deal on a T.V on Black Friday. Hype in television isn't bad because it doesn't harm anyone physically meanwhile when your shopping on Black Friday, your at risk.

Dear 18 Year Old Self

Dear , 18 Year Old Self and Future Voter


         I hope that you will actually take the time and actually go out and vote. As a 16 year old right now I think that you should vote for the Liberal Party. Based on the election going on right now in 2015 I think that the Liberal Party provides the largest amount of benefits for young people like you. With all the encouragement towards young people I hope you make sure that you actually do vote. Make sure that you if you don't vote for Liberals, vote for anyone but conservatives. They are a bad party in my eyes and they don't provide any benefits for you as a first time voter.

         Turnout for young Canadians in the May 2011 election was considerably below the average – just 38.8 percent of Canadians aged 18-24 and 45.1 percent of 25-34 year olds voted. A study commissioned by Elections Canada following the election gives new insight into why they are less engaged. The National Youth Survey -- the most comprehensive study yet of 18-34 year-olds -- detailed the motivational and access barriers they experienced. When asked why they did not vote, many participants cited access issues – they were too busy, couldn't get to the polls, and didn't know where the polls were – but scratching below the surface, the study found that in most cases, the real issue is motivation. In other words, if they were motivated to vote, most youth could overcome these access barriers. Don't be in this 38 % and not vote. Be yourself and take the time to vote for the Liberal Party.

            It seems that many people your age as well as people a little bit older than you aren't motivated to vote because they feel it is a waste of time and has nothing to do with them. Believe me, voting for the Liberals will  provide so many benefits for you and your parents. If you are asking what your parents has to do with this situation, just remember, when your parents are happy that will make you happy because your not getting into trouble by them. So, in  conclusion vote for the Liberals because they will keep everyone happy.

       

Narcissm in Society

            Narcissism is defined as excessive or erotic interest in ones self and ones physical appearance. People are beginning to think that if they are physically attractive or they have a lot of money, then nothing else really matters. For example, Floyd Mayweather. He is a professional boxer and is probably one of the wealthiest person on this planet. During his fight against Manny Pacquiao, Floyd made 1.46 million dollars for every minute of his fight, according to bleacherreport.com. The funny thing is, although he has all this money and he is indeed narcissistic, he is illiterate and can not speak fluent English even though he is American. The word Narcissism comes from the Greek Mythology story of Narcissus. Narcissus was the very handsome fellow in Greek mythology who, because of his indifference and disdain toward others, was punished by the gods by falling in love with his own image. He was so enraptured by his beauty that he was unable to pull himself away from his own reflection, and he wasted away and died. In my eyes there are two variations of Narcissism. You are either full of yourself because you think your physical features are perfect, you are super wealthy and can do whatever you want with the money you make, or you are proud of who you have become and show pride in your physical appearance.


             
              If you are one of the people who are ignorantly narcissistic and have a really large ego, only caring about yourself and not others, then I truly feel bad for you. Studies in America have shown that 30% of young people ( 18 and under ) are considered narcissistic and in the last 5 years that percentage has increased by 8%. A study by the celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Drew, in which 200 celebrities completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, found that they were significantly more narcissistic than the general population. We wonder why our narcissistic population has been increasing and this clearly the reason why. We generally look up to celebrities as leaders and people who we want to be like when we are older and if they are showing narcissism towards themselves we are going to ' follow in their footsteps ' and by following our celebrity footsteps we are contributing to the rising population of narcissism.


   
               Another way you can view a form of narcissism is showing pride in yourself. If you had bad habits and your life was going in the wrong direction, picked your socks up, got back on track and showed pride in accomplishing that, then that is a good form of narcissism. There is a difference between being full of yourself and being proud of yourself. If you are like Kim Kardashian and you're famous for doing nothing and earning lots of money while still bragging about it then you are a narcissist. Meanwhile, if you go through many tough years of schooling and work really hard at school and get good grades to eventually get a good job making lots of money then you are a good narcissist because you have earned your wealth.


              In my opinion I believe that Narcissism in society and in peoples everyday lives is okay if you are being a narcissist in a good way. Showing pride is being a good narcissist while bragging about the amount of money you have or how popular you are when you did close to nothing or nothing to earn it is being a bad narcissist. Narcissism in society wont go away because we always want what celebrities have and they are going to brag about the wealth that they have or the things that they own just to trigger our desire to be just like them.
           
             

Will the Man Responsible for Killing Three Children and Grandfather Experience Justice

         Jennifer Neville Lake and her husband thought that her Father and Mother as well as grandmother were just going back home in their minivan like any other ordinary Sunday Afternoon, but then a drunk driver by the name of Marco Muzzo struck their minivan and killed the three children as well as the grandfather. Daniel Neville Lake who was the oldest child was killed on scene as well as the grandfather. Later that evening, Harrison and little sister Milly both passed away holding one another's hands in their hospital beds. In the car was also Grandmother and Great Grandmother of the children who are still alive receiving treatment at hospital.

         There is one way you can look at this that most people will most likely disagree with but it is still an option in to regards of how this happened. Marco Muzzo couldn't be totally to blame here as there could have been a possibility that the grandmother driving could have avoided the crash. Another point that you can take into perspective is that although he was double the limit of the alcohol driving level, there is a very slight chance that he could have been sick and actually had some cough syrup that contains alcohol or mouthwash that has alcohol but these are definitely highly unlikely.

        You can also view this situation as Marco being drunk off of liquor which is obviously a stupid decision to drive being under the influence because he was a danger to all drivers on the road and could've and did kill multiple people. This situation is very unfortunate and is going to be dealt with on October 19 which is his Bail hearing date. It is truly pathetic to think that in todays society ,money can get you out of anything. Coincidentally, Mr.Muzzo who is from a really rich family had to give his car in for evidence and it apparently caught on fire. Most likely Marco Muzzo used his money to pay someone to destroy the evidence so he has a greater chance of getting less of a punishment considering the evidence is now gone.

     The question to be asked here is will Mr.Muzzo feel Justice? In my opinion I think that he will indeed feel justice because at the end of the day, he took the lives of three children and their grandfather and if you could live with yourself after committing such a large crime and not feel any animosity then there is a lot of problems going on in your life. Marco Muzzo must put himself in the shoes of the mother and feel what she is going through having lost her father and three children. Marco Muzzo should feel guilty and feel sorry for taking away the life of three young children and an elderly grandfather and he will face the consequences of his actions for driving while under the influence.

Should Female Students at J.V be Able to Wear Tight Yoga Pants

       The staff at Jean Vanier High School have decided to prohibit females from wearing yoga pants and tight pants because they feel that the male population are getting distracted. You either agree with this decision or you on the same side as the female population at Jean Vanier and you disagree with this situation.

       The situation is that Jean Vanier staff think that the males at the high school are getting too distracted by the females wearing tight yoga pants as the males are paying attention to the girls legs and butt and not their school work. You have to look a this from two different perspectives. Males may actually be distracted by females wearing tight pants and they may be not focusing on school work. Males at J.V marks may be decreasing and the staff may feel that this could be a reason why. On civvies days females may where these tight leggings just to get boys attention or just to look good and have their legs and butt area nice and tight. Another solution is that if the females at Jean Vanier don't agree with this situation and feel that they should wear whatever they want, then they can easily get a school transfer.

       On the other side of things, we have probably 95% of the female student population at Jean Vanier disagreeing with this situation. Females think that its unfair that boys can wear whatever they want while women have limitations to what they wear on civvies days. You have to look at other situations, what if there was a women who was Principal or Vice Principal, how would the situation differ. Do the female teachers still get to wear tight pants ? Because if they do then what is the difference between the boys looking at Female Students butts rather than looking at Teachers butts. Do they not get distracted just because teachers are older. There is the fair share of females that do wear the tight Yoga Pants to look sexy but the vast majority of female students wear the Yoga Pants for comfort. They already give you limitations on colours that you have to wear on civvies days but it seems a bit unfair to not allow females to wear a certain type of pants. Some girls maybe don't fit into Jeans and would like to wear Leggings just for comfort not as a fashion statement. If all students have to wear uniforms for the majority of an entire month and they are very strict on the uniform during that month, then you shouldn't have that many limitations on civvies days because you only get them once a month so you should be able to wear whatever you want.

       In my opinion I feel that Females should be allowed to wear the tight yoga pants because at the end of the day it is a piece of clothing. It is not harming anyone in any way and if boys get distracted its their problem to deal with. I find it very unlikely that boys cant focus on their school work because their eyes are attached to a women's butt. Although teenage boys do look at girls butts they don't do it to the point where they cant focus on school work and it becomes a major distraction.

The FIFA President Controversy

Over the past year FIFA President, Sepp Blatter has gotten himself in quite a mess. There has been many speculations regarding Blatter and the bribery scandal about the 2022 World Cup being held in Qatar. People feel that Sepp accepted a bribe to let Qatar host the 2022 world cup. Qatar hosting the world cup has had many changes being made to the tournament which is leaving many people unhappy. Since Qatar's climate is so hot one change they are making is that they are going to make the tournament in November and December rather than usually having it in June and August. Another controversial thing about the topic is that Qatar is in the Middle East and people are concerned about bomb threats on The biggest sports tournament in the world watched worldwide by over 2,000,000,000 ( 2 billion ) people. There has been lots of people who would say that they are going to run for the presidency but they all eventually fall through. Sepp Blatter's tenure as FIFA president suffered a new blow after the Swiss Attorney General opened criminal proceedings against him on "suspicion of criminal mismanagement." A statement released by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland confirmed it was examining a contract signed by Blatter with the Caribbean Football Union and an alleged "disloyal payment" of $2 million to UEFA president Michel Platini.In a statement sent to CNN, Blatters lawyer Richard Cullen said: "We're confident that when the Swiss authorities have a chance to review the documents and the evidence they will see that the contract was properly prepared and negotiated by the appropriate staff members of FIFA." The big question asked here is that if there is this much complication and difficulty regarding Blatter and his job, is it worth keeping him as FIFA president.

In my opinion I think that Blatter should be fired. There has been so much controversy that people are starting to focus more on the President, than the actual game of soccer. There has been to much commotion and speculation going on regarding Sepp Blatter and the decisions that he has made that I think that they should get rid of him for good. If FIFA fire Sepp Blatter then we would stop focusing on bribery and speculation about the President position and finally focus on the 'beautiful game'

Air India Denies "Fat' People Access to fly

 

 

 

          

               Air India has decided to tell 125 crew members that they are not allowed to fly because they are simply "too fat". Reducing you luggage weight is manageable but reducing your body weight is not possible to quickly fix. The State Run Carrier warned 600 crew members that they are overweight and it is not good for passengers flying on Air India to look at. The 125 members were fired after they failed to reach an "adequate BMI" (Body Mass Index).BMI is reached by comparing somebodies height to their weight. It doesn't make you unhealthy if your BMI is high, but it remains a popular solution as it is very simple to calculate. This announcement came after the 600 people were told to shape up did not do so. 18-25 was an acceptable BMI for men while 18-22 was acceptable for women. Unfortunately for the staff members, the average BMI between the males and the females was 26 which means that they were unfit to be working for Air India. This also hasn't been the only time that there has been incidents involving Air India. In 2008 they didn't allow women with a BMI over 20 which was extremely sexist because at the time Men didn't have any requirements to meet in regards to their BMI

                I feel that this is very unfair and definitely unacceptable. In Todays society, people most likely do not care about body weight and obviously care more about kindness and generosity. Would it matter to you if your flight attendant wasn't the skinniest, or if your Pilot is the slightest overweight. I don't think body weight matters, especially on my way to vacation. The thing that I could care the least about is the staff on boards body weight. I am focused on getting to my location safely and having a good vacation. This should be a big thing in the news because this is not acceptable. People rely on these jobs to supply their family with food and shelter and they shouldn't be losing their job because their body weight isn't acceptable. Although it may be hard to seem, but some good has come out of this situation. Considering Air India wants their crew members to be physically fit, a member mentioned them to pay for their gym memberships. After that was declined Air India supplied all their "unfit" members with free yoga classes. Air India should give all their crew embers jobs back in my opinion because at the end of the day, firing someone because of their body weight, seems a little ridiculous. It seems that Air India only cares about body weight and just as a former crew member named Joshi Digla, who was fired said "weight is not an infectious disease" which means that weight has nothing to do with Generosity and Knowledge which are two characteristics that most flight crew members have and on Air India are clearly not being credited for.