https://www.espn.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/30213723/why-tampa-bay-buccaneers-nfl-best-team-mile

The Buccaneers are the best team in the NFL, by a long shot, writes ESPN writer Aaron Schaltz. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were supposed to be a great team in the NFL this year, before signing 5x Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.

If you look at their record you might not be able to associate “best team in the NFL” to the Buccaneers, due to their 2 loses. However, when you break down the stats, it is clear who is at the top of the NFL.

Tampa Bay is now number 1 in the Football Outsiders DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) rating. In fact, they are number 1 by a long ways. The gap between the Buccaneers and the number 2 Baltimore Ravens is equal to the gap between the Ravens and the number 7 Los Angeles Rams.

Since 1985, 10 of the 10 best teams in DVOA went on to the Super Bowl, with seven of those teams winning it all. The Buccaneers have a very good chance of finding themselves late into the postseason, and doing well.

Their defense isn’t the only thing thriving either. Tom Brady is averaging 9.1 average depth target, which is up from 7 from years prior. Brady isn’t fully emerged in his offense yet either. It has taken him to adjust to a previous 20 year in a completely different scheme at New England with Bill Belicheck. He is slowly showing signs that he is starting to figure things out at Tampa Bay.

This information is relevant to anyone that is an avid sports watcher, sports gambler, or fantasy player. This shows how, even though you wouldn’t think, the Buccaneers are at the top due to their successful defense and Tom Brady led offense.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/10/florida-could-see-a-sea-turtle-baby-boom-thanks-to-pandemic/

Florida turtle population may see a boost, thanks to the pandemic.

According to Sea Turtle Conservancy, approximately 90 percent of sea turtle nesting in the U.S. happens on Florida’s beaches. Each year, thousands of sea turtle mothers dig into the sand to lay their eggs, and then return to the sea.

Florida’s nesting season for turtles runs from March through October, the sands are normally filled with humans. However, this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, severely curtailed travel and some beaches had to close their beaches for weeks.

Scientists believe that there have been far more successful turtle nesting this year, due to the fact that people weren’t on the beach to mess with turtles. “We actually did find a significant difference during the beach closures and then after in terms of a successful rate of nesting,” says Justin Perrault, director of research for the Loggerhead Marinelife Center.

Loggerhead Marinelife Center, also observed approximately 17,000 nests along Juno, Jupiter-Carlin and Tequesta beaches this year. They reported a 62 percent successful nesting rate for turtles during the time the beaches were closed. When the beaches reopened that number dropped to 46 percent.

Macaroni salad turns deadly for this newly wed couple yesterday at 5 p.m. Police were called to the scene after a neighbor reported shooting coming from the couple’s house.

A police spokesperson reported that Richard Brunson, 50, shot his wife Laurette Brunson, 38, with a .22-calibre handgun after she threw a plate of wedding reception macaroni salad at him. Laurette Brunson was taken to to St. Luke’s Hospital, while the whereabouts of the groom, Richard Brunson, are still unknown.

Just 3 hours earlier, Richard and Laurette Brunson were married on the front porch of their home, with about 30 relatives and friends in attendance.

Mr. Brunson worked for a construction company and his wife had been working for a government housing program but had recently quit. The bride had three children, who were at the couples home at the time of the incident.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30154407/source-miami-dolphins-naming-tua-tagovailoa-starting-quarterback

For this assignment, I will be doing a video and article comparison about Ryan Fitzpatrick getting benched for Tua Tagovailoa. I will be comparing the video report from ESPN and the article from NBC.

The video from ESPN was just under 2 minutes long, and was quite different from the article written on NBC. The video does a lot of explaining about why Tagovailoa got the job over Fitz, where the article just explains how Fitz got demoted and his feelings about it.

The video mainly explains what starting Tagovailoa means for the Dolphins going forward in the future. The article talks more about the emotional side of the story, like how Fitzpatrick felt when he got his job taken by a rookie.

Considering it’s the same subject, both the video from ESPN and the article from NBC are completely different. The ESPN video talked more about the analytics side of benching of Fitzpatrick. They explained why the Dolphins did it and how it could pay off for them in the future.

NBC really only talked about the emotional side of the story. They got Fitzpatrick’s side of the story and created their article around that.

A rise in NFL COVID-19 cases has a lot of coaches, players, and fans wondering if they will make it through the season.

After starting QB for the New England Patriots tested positive last week, teammate and star CB has tested positive this week. Additionally, two more Titans test positive this week after they had two positive tests last week as well. Chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Stills, explained how tough the virus is to stop, even if they continue to follow protocols and add new ones.

The NFL was thrown into a scramble last week when they had to postpone the Steelers vs. Titans game and the Chiefs vs. Patriots game. The NFLs decision to not do a bubble (similar to the NBA playoffs) or in some sort of closed community has made it even harder to reduce the risk of infection.

David Canter, agent to over 2 dozen N.F.L. players, thinks that a bubble would be the best option. “Once players go home or walk into Chipotle or go to their chiropractor, they are at risk because COVID is everywhere,” he says.

Even with the cases starting to kick up, some NFL stadiums are letting a select amount of their fans in. The Steelers, , Buccaneers, and Panthers are the newest teams to allow a small amount of their fans in after originally deciding to not have any at the start of the season.

This article is very important to those that are involved in watching NFL, betting on sports, or NFL fantasy. This is important information because it shows that the NFL might not make it much longer if they don’t decide to make some changes.

Morningside football is off to a hot 2-0 start, but has been faced with past and current challenges.

In August, nobody was even sure there would be any fall athletics at the NAIA level. Lots of rumors were swarming that all events would be cancelled in the fall, but nobody knew for sure.

“It was tough training not knowing if I was going to have a season, but I always try to stay optimistic”, says Sione Tuifua, a Morningside football player I got the privileges to speak with.

Sione Tuifua is a Junior here at Morningside College that plays tight end for the team, while pursuing a degree in biology pre-med. Tuifua is from Alaska, so while a lot of the team was training in Sioux City during the Summer, he was back home. “I came for the last couple of weeks of training here, and social distancing was required when possible and temperatures were taken before every lift and running,” he mentioned

Tuifua notes how he ran through scenarios in his head frequently, just thinking of everything that could happen. “So far, everything is working out well even after our last game got cancelled. I am still super optimistic and we are taking car of ourselves, trying to get through this whole season one game at a time,” he finished.

Morningside did get their last game cancelled, but they are back on track for Homecoming this weekend against Briar Cliff.

“Many people say that Sweden is just a small country and it doesn’t matter what we do. But I’ve learned you are never too small to make a difference”, says 15 year old Greta Thunberg in her speech on behalf of Climate Justice Now.

She talks about how a very small portion of people in the world continue to make large amounts of money, while a large portion of people continue to make small amounts of money. “It is the sufferings of the many which pay for the luxuries of the few,” she notes.

Thunberg wants to keep fossil fuels in the ground, while maintaining a focus on equity. Additionally, she warns that if solutions aren’t found within the current system then the people should change the system itself.

She lets the people know that her speech isn’t about getting the world leaders to care. “You have ignored us in the past and you will ignore us again.”

It was more a warning to those same world leaders to prepare themselves. “We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not. The real power belongs to the people.”

On Tuesday September, 29th our class got the opportunity to interview Steven Postolka, current lawyer for the city of Siouxland.

Steven Postolka graduated from Morningside College in 2011 with a degree in both political science and mass communication. After that, he pursued law school at the University of Iowa and studied for 3 year there. Once he passed the bar exam he spent under 2 years in Sioux City at a clerkship, before moving to Spencer, Iowa to practice private law.

Growing up in a small town called Sioux Rapids, Postolka had big aspirations to be a lawyer when he was in middle school. When he reached high school he decided that law school wasn’t for him and decided he wanted to be a journalist. However, when he got to Morningside, a professor that Steven Postolka grew close with over the years insisted that he went to some sort of graduate school. Postolka decided that following his old dreams of being a lawyer was his best choice, so decided to do that.

After practicing private law in Spencer for 4 years, Postolka got a great opportunity to be an attorney for Sioux City. He started earlier this year and, simply put, he protects Sioux City from when they get sued from people. Every year, Sioux city gets sued tens of thousands of times with some of the serious cases being an excess of $1 million dollars.

When asked about the stress level from his private law job compared to his new job he said, “The stress level is different from Spencer to Sioux City. It’s less stressful being on salary. There is no incentives. I get paid the same no matter what.”

While Postolka has seen a downshift in his amount of work this year due to the pandemic, he is preparing for a big trial that he speculates will make its way all the way to the courtroom in early December.