The Fam Bam

The three people I chose to interview were my grandfather whose 85 years young, my father whose 47 years young and my younger brother who just turned 21. I chose to select all male family members because they all shared a lot of things in common. The men in are family get together and talk often. The topics range from sports to politics during these all male conversations. I figured since the three of them were all well educated on these topics that they talk about they must have researched these topic using some kind of technology, newspaper or book.

I thought it best if I interviewed my grandfather first. Grandpa James is really getting up there in age but will talk your ear off, which is a good thing. I gave him a call and asked him a few question about technology in general. I thought it be best if I beat around the bush a little bit because I had already had an assumption about his beliefs of the internet. I started the interview by asking question pertaining to the presidential election and how he felt things were going. As the conversation continued I begin to ask him questions on how did he come up with these beliefs and views. I felt the time was now for me to throw the question about internet usage at him. Grandpa James said he although he has a computer, brand new by the way, he has no use for it. He claimed that he receive all his information from newspapers or the five o’clock news. He went to provide reasoning into why he has no use for the internet. Gramps explained that growing up there was no internet or television. There were only radios and newspapers. So these two methods were what he was accustomed to. Gramps acknowledged that internet may be a good researching tool for some yet he feels no need for it.

My next victim was my little brother. I thought I’d pick him second because it would be a good follow up to my grandfather. My little brother was total opposite of gramps regarding internet usage. If gramps was far right, my little brother was defiantly far left on the idea of internet usages. I started my interview with Dom, my little brother, by asking him how many hours a day does he used the internet. He had trouble figuring it out so I thought I’d rephrased the question. I asked him how many hours a day does he go without the internet. He replied quickly, “Only when I’m sleeping.” This was not surprising to me because Dom has always been a computer freak. He has access to the internet at all times. He has the internet on his mobile phone, on his laptop and has a desktop in his computer; the kid even takes his computer with him to the restroom with him. His reasoning for being so obsess with the internet was simple, everything was there. He explained that technology has made it easy for him to research topics that he was interested in. He also explained that the internet is a great way of networking.
My last victim was my father. Pops was boring. When asked about the internet, he basically said there was no need for it but it’s a good tool to have. What the hell does this mean? He explained that things can be researched in other ways yet the internet provides a faster way of receiving information. Pops really clarified his beliefs to me but I was confused, if a task can be completed faster wouldn’t everyone prefer to do it that way? Pops is old fashion so he responded in a typical old fashion way, “It’s not how fast you get something completed, its what you get out of it.” Boring.

After conducting these interviews I think it is well known that technology is taking over. The younger generation are more involved and up with the latest technology and the older generation view some technology such as internet usage as pointless. I think Gramps explained it best when he talked about what he was accustomed and why he was accustomed to these things. As seen in the interviews my little brother can’t stay away from the internet. My father stands in the middle on the topic of internet. He recognizes that it is a tool that can be used but he chooses not to use it often. My grandfather completely stays away from it. If I was to go out on a limp, I would make the argument that technology is being created for younger generations because it is growing just as they are.

My New Family

First I must start off by admitting I am a sports addict. I love sports and personally I don’t know what the world would be with out it. I decided to join the Rivals.com family for this assignment. It costs me an arm and a leg for the yearly subscription so I will be looking for my reimbursement from Dr. Goodnow at the end of this term. Now back to this Rivals thing, if you’re a sports fan Rivals.com is for you. It features stories relating to athletes from prep schools through the professional rankings. This cite always had the latest updates and breaking news throughout the sporting world. I’ve been a reader for a couple of months and I decided that it was time to indeed take the next step and become a member of the Rivals.com family.
Being a member of this cite allows you to have access to the discussion boards in which you can post your own opinions and belief on different issues that have occurred in the sporting world. The great thing about this discussion board is opinions that you are written by people all over the nation. Rivals.com discussion board allows you to read and response to people all over the nation. I think it’s a great thing because it allows someone on the west coast to get an understanding of how people on the east coast view sports and vice versa. It builds a strong family and there is tons of disagreement with one another on these message boards which leads to great conversations.
For me, it was easy to assimilate into a group because my knowledge of sports. I was able to jump into many conversations and voice my opinion in the early stages. Some of my opinions and views were strongly accepted and some weren’t, some of my views were even laughed at. It was hard for me to feel accepted in the first couple of days because these members had been writing on this cite for years and I was the new booty of the family throwing out these bold comment s. Although some of my opinions were accepted I still didn’t feel accepted. I felt that they were agreeing because it was obvious that I had the right answer it just happened to be that I was the first one to respond to the blog and everyone else simply agreed with my post. The day that I truly felt accepted is when I challenged one of the guys who had been around for years and was well respected by many of the members throughout the cite. The discussion was about the best player in the NBA. He felt that LeBron James was indeed the man on top of the league. Personally, I felt the title belong to a follower by the name of Kobe Bryant but I wasn’t going to sit around and try and prove my point by bringing up different stats and awards won by both because it would be a waste of time and the conversation would have never come to any kind of agreement. Instead, I went another rout with my argument. I stated that there was no best player in the league and argued that any player can be replaced and because there is a strong number of players that have showed and proven to be great talents we as fans can not possibly single out and appoint one individual to be the best player in the league. Honestly after writing that I felt that it wouldn’t get approved or accepted by others and they would respond and think I was some crazy little kid. Later on that day I checked my email and I found a couple of emails from guys on the message board applauding me for my comment and the way I viewed the situation. This is the day I felt accepted.

Women Coaching

After reading over the prompt for this week I thought about several different topics to research. I thought it would be easy to differentiate information gain over the internet and information that was provided through books. I settled upon researching women sports. Having a strong background in sports and being a man, I figured it by researching women sports I can have a better understanding and appreciation for women sports.

My first thought after selecting the topic of women sports was how outstretched this topic was. Honestly I thought this would be a benefit because there would be tons and tons of information out there in regards to women sports. I was wrong. I was wrong not about how much information was out there regarding women sports but rather this information being beneficial. This was evident when I typed the phrase “Women Sports” into the Google search engine. There were numerous of pages that featured women sports. I would start reading one article that supported a specific point but the next article took me in a whole different direction. I thought to myself that changing the subject was the best thing to do yet I couldn’t come up with a specific topic to research that dealt with women in sports. I was in a bind because I had such a broad topic and by far too much information on one subject.

Later on that day my problem was solved. I went over to the library and typed in Women Sports into the library booking database and found a specific topic in women sports to research. I selected to focus on the coaching aspect of female sports, how they are viewed differently then men and the extra precaution they must take while coaching.

I selected a couple of books to skim through such as Coaching Athletics Social Aspects and Sports for Women Coaching. The interesting fact that I noticed with the information that was provided in these books was the clarity and supported information to the points that were being provided.

My next step was to find information over the internet. I researched my topic through the Google search engine and found somewhat of the same information. Although it was the same information the information didn’t really have that same kind affect on me as did the information did through the hard copy of the books. The information that was provided via internet was to highlight certain situations and make people aware that there is a difference in coaching amongst females and males. I didn’t feel as the information really supported the points that were being made.

I was very surprised at the outcome of this research. I defiantly thought the internet would provide me with more reliable information on this topic. I anticipated using majority of the information from the internet in any kind of paper rather then an actual hard copied book.

When writing a paper on a research topic I feel that I would incorporate information from both into my paper. The information used from the internet would be used to point out issues that occur within women sports from a coaching point of view and the information used from the hard copy would be used to support my points. I would used this method because the hard copy seems to be a bit more reliable because it someone’s work that is published. The internet on the other hand is simply articles posted on the web that are some what reliable.

Sources

Microfiche. Eugene : Microform Publications, College of Human Development and Performance, University of Oregon, 2 microfiches : negative.

A cost/benefit analysis of declining numbers of women coaches [microform] : a social exchange theory perspective / by Sharon Candie Stevens.

Leadership styles of female collegiate field hockey coaches / by Jill P. Butcher. [microform]

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/coach/article.html?record=27

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/coach/article.html?record=575

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/grant_wahl/02/06/the.bag/index.html

Two Different Men, One phrase

Thinking of two individuals whom have had some sort of influence on my life was a simple task. I selected two coaches, my former high school coach and one of my recent college coaches.

Greg Gano, my high school coach is a man that has influenced me in many ways. Most high school coaches usually only care about winning and their players on field performance. Coach Gano on the other hand was more than a coach. Day and in and day out he demonstrated great character, dignity and great leadership skills. Coach Gano was the perfect role model.

The second letter that I chose to write was to my coach from this past season. For the past four years Mark Banker has also had a huge impact on my life. Coach Banker made my transition from high school to college a lot easier. Banks emphasis how important it was to work hard day in and day out. Off the field he was some what of a father figure. Being from California and coming to Corvallis, OR was a huge culture shock to me and Banks understood this and provided me with some very helpful advice and let me know that he was always here for me.

I consider myself lucky to have played and learned from both, Coach Gano and Coach Banker. So when asked to write a letter to two individuals who had influenced me, it was a no brainer. I decided to write both coaches a letter similar to one another of course they had some tweaks here and there but the purpose of the letter was very similar, just letting them know how much I appreciated them as coaches, mentors and as friends. My next task was to figure out which one I would email and which letter would I send via snail mail. I figured since I wanted both coaches to receive the letters at the same time it was best that I emailed Coach Gano who was back in California. With Banks being closer in distanced it was easier for me to hand write his letter and simply put it in his mail boxes.

I purposely delivered these letters on Friday to see which coach would respond right away and which coach would respond over the weekend. I predicted Coach Gano would respond right away due to the fact that his letter was sent through email and I figured Banks on the other hand would be too tied up in one of his numerous off-season obligations that college coaches usually face.

After waiting a couple hours I received a call from Coach. Surprisingly the voice on the phone wasn’t that of Coach Gano, it was the voice of Mark Banker. Although I was surprised that it was Banks rather then Coach Gano who responded first the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I may have thought these two coaches would receive these letters at the same time but thinking about it later it was much easier for Banks to go through his mailbox then it was for Coach Gano to sit down and check his email. I know personally I check my email numerous times of the day and only check my mailbox once a day. It made sense to me, despite checking my email numerous times a day; it is my mailbox in which I check first.

My prediction was wrong and Banks was the winner. In fact neither one of the coaches wrote a letter back. The two choose to call instead of responding in a written letter. It shows how much technology is taking over in from a communicational standpoint. In Postman’s writing he talked about how information used to be sent through telegrams and only travel as fast as the train could go. These days with technology on the rise we can send letters and receive responses in the same day. As for both there response being via phone it just shows us the value of the mobile phone for communicational purposes and how easily it is for someone to simply pick up the phone and talked to someone rather than writing it down.