Elliott's blog

Washington Rapper/Recording Artist Macklemore opened his concert in Arizona by bashing President Trump. Macklemore, a vocal non supporter of Trump, gave a speech during the concert on immigration and acceptance.

He says, “Everyone should be welcome here no matter which side of the ‘line’ you stood on.”

Macklemore also stated in his speech that he believes that everyone, no matter where you are from, should be able to have to opportunity to live the American Dream.

This act by the Washington rapper comes just days after World renowned rapper Eminem came out with his 5 minutes cypher bashing Donald Trump. It has been all over the news, talk shows, and social media about people’s thoughts and opinions.

A lot of celebrities have chimed in and backed Eminem up on this thoughts including Snoop Dogg, Macklemore, and other rappers.

It is a toss up for how Trump will respond but I am sure it will be controversial.

The NCAA has been hot on the radar as of the late fraud scandal that has leaked from an unknown ex player that has Louisville head coach Rick Pitino in more trouble.

Already under wraps for other allegations including violations tied to the hiring of escorts to have sex parties and strip for recruits and players.

The new allegations that have risen are those of coaches taking bribes from agents of well known brands to funnel the players to signing with the agents in order to bring them to that school as well as future plans of signing the players to those brands as they went pro.

Coach Sikes, Morningside College Men’s Basketball Coach, says “This is just the tip of the iceberg…there’s a lot of guys shredding documents and cleaning out file cabinets trying to get rid of a paper trail.”  

There is going to be a lot more coming for this scandal. A lot aimed towards whether or not college athletes at the high level should be paid or have something chance where it helps them out financially.

Brad Roling, a good friend and fellow high school athlete of mine says, “I don’t think student athletes should be paid directly, but I believe that financially something should be done to help out student athletes so we don’t run into this situation again and prevent future allegations.”

There is a lot more to come with these issues and as Coach Sikes said this is just the tip of the iceberg and there are some deals that need to be figured out because this will be a huge hit on the NCAA. The players, and Pro Athletes as well will be thrown under the bus and a lot of money will be thrown around.

My take on this is that the companies that bribed the players should take a hit as well as the agents that conned them into taking the money. More than likely, there will be a few players that are going to be involved.

And speaking for majority of high school and college athletes I have talked to; if anybody was in their position they would do the exact same thing that those players did and take the deal. That is easy money in their pocket. The kind of money and deals that they have never dreamed of having.

So do I think anything big is going to happen, probably not. But it will have an effect on the future of big school recruiting and sponsorship of athletes.

Since Pete Carroll took over the head coaching job in 2010 the Seahawks have done what no other team in the NFL has ever done…8 years in a row.

The streak is that, since 2010, the Seahawks have had a score each year that no team has had in the NFL.

• 2010—Seahawks 36, Cardinals 18
• 2011—Seahawks 36, Giants 25
• 2012—Seahawks 58, Cardinals 0
• 2013—Seahawks 43, Broncos 8 (Super Bowl XLVIII)
• 2014—Seahawks 36, Packers 16
• 2015—Seahawks 39, Steelers 30
• 2016—Seahawks 37, 49ers 18
• 2017—Seahawks 46, Colts 18

You may not think of it as a big deal but as for Pete Carroll, he thinks “..it’s freaking awesome!”

It is partial credit to the great defense the Seahawks have creating safeties and a couple key missed field goals and extra points.

But no matter how the Seahawks achieve these scores. They are going to enjoy it until the streak is gone. But we’ll have to wait until next year to see if that streak doesn’t continue thanks to the 46-18 win over the Colts this past Sunday night.

The second that I walked into the room with Alex Watters I could feel passion in his voice. Finding out the reason for his passion struck me deep as he talked about his accident he had as a freshman here at Morningside college that left his paralyzed and unable to walk or have function in his hands.

Like most kids, he had plenty of dreams and goals that he wished for the future. He was asked if he never had his accident would he still have wanted to become an advisor for Morningside College and his answer was very abrupt.

“Not a chance in hell!” He said as he continued to say how his dream was to open a restaurant or own a golf course. With his accident he lost the ability to go out and enjoy the feel of golfing a round with himself or friends. “Golf was my place of peace…the sound is therapeutic.”

“When I was 18 all I wanted was golf, money, and girls…and not particularly in that order.”

Being a big food guy he didn’t really have a preference in what kind of food he would serve but he did say that he is a big dark beer guy. His favorite being Dragon’s Milk.

With his accident he chose to continue his life’s path by being an advisor for Morningside College and wanted to make a difference for other people and lead them on their right path.

Working with all these students makes Alex feel like the parent of them as he watches them on the playing field of their sport or thriving in their classes because he knows how hard they worked to get to that spot.

I take his message as he is helping these students realize that they need to take advantage of every opportunity they have because you never know what could happen. He sure didn’t, but for all that he accomplished since then shows how big of a heart Alex Watters has to give this world.

After breaking one of the longest streaks of not winning a Championship last Postseason, the Chicago Cubs yet again made history this present season by making it to the post season for the third straight year!

The Cubs sent out John Lackey to face his former team and pitched an excellent game for them.

It all came down to the bottom of the ninth where the Cubs were up 5-1 in St. Louis, thanks to Addison Russell’s 3 run homerun to put them up back in the 7th.

Wade Davis, with a 2.34 ERA, came in to close it out. With two outs in the 9th Randall Grichuk of the Cardinals hits deep ball to center field but just doesn’t quite have the distance and is caught for the final out of the game.

The Cubs cinched the AL Central and got to celebrate there accomplishment on their rival’s home field!

As I sat in the computer lab Tuesday night the room was filled with the sound of instruments and the sound of typing keyboards.

As peaceful as music can be, the sounds of different compositions  didn’t bring a peaceful sound to me ears. It would have been nice to just put headphones in but I needed to experience the outside world I was in.

The sound of typing and clicking was coming from the two students that were working on projects in the lab. There was little conversation as we were all trying to get our projects done in time for our deadlines.

As I was about to shut down the lab for the night Slater cut me off and said that he had some more things to work on and that he could take care of everything.

“I have spent many long nights in this lab,” Slater said, “so I know how all of this works.”

So I left him to lonely sound of his clicking mouse.

Slimy, but satisfying. The smell that makes you squeeze inside as the sour taste starts in your nose the moment you put it up to your mouth. As you chew the green kiwi, it sweetens your mouth as you chew but leaves your mouth with a dry and tangy taste that makes you want more.

As for the sweetness of the donut, the sugars hit your taste buds and the soft breading satisfies your hunger for a few minutes then leaves you wanting more!

Sitting in her normal office typing on her computer I met up with Terri Gaffigan to discuss my poster idea for the upcoming alumni art show. She was wearing her usual casual wardrobe including her round glasses and had the same calm and welcoming tone in her voice that she always has. It is always good to talk to her after my morning lifting session on Tuesday mornings.

Scavenging my way around campus I found myself in the computer lab in the Epply building. My task, find a favorite memory and a knock-knock joke from a student, professor, or visitor.

I just so happened to run into Slater Marshall, a cross country and track runner for Morningside college, and Niccole Wolken, a golfer for the Morningside women’s team.

Slater had to think back to his arrival on campus when he transferred into Morningside. His favorite memory was when we first got to campus, nobody told him where he lived. He said, “I got here with a fully loaded car and nobody told me where I was living…so I was homeless for a little while.”

Niccole’s story was a little different. It was also her freshman year here at Morningside and was playing in the band during the Morningside/Whitewater game. In the middle of the down-poor they still had to perform at halftime so her director had them put garbage bags over where bodies, holes to put their heads through of course, and continue to play in the rain.  “I had to stand out in the cold rain to play my saxophone…and we didn’t even win.”

I then brought up the knock-knock joke and I was only able to get one out of Slater. He said that he only knew one knock-knock joke.

Slater: “Knock-knock”

Me: “Who’s there?”

Slater: “Poop”

Me: “Poop who”

Slater: “Gross!”

I was confused at first but after repeating it faster in my head a second time I understood and gave it a good laugh.

An incident in the 5th inning, of the already devastating Yankees Twin’s game, brought the game to a holt and a hush among the entire stadium.

Todd Frazier, the Yankees 3rd baseman, hit a screeching foul ball over the third base dugout striking a little girl in the stands sitting with her grandfather, a season ticket holder.

The bleeding girl was carried by her grandfather to the exit and soon after taken to the hospital. When they finally came out to talk to reporters they said that it was too early to know if they needed surgery yet.

This was the 3rd time this season that a fan was struck by a ball or even a broken bat. So maybe its time to check into extending the nets further down the baseline.