Dayne's Blog 2023

Powdered Hair to Hoodies: How Did the Senate Get Here?

I like what this article is doing. I usually do my news comments on sports but I went to the home page and this is the first story that caught my eye. First I’m thinking, powdered hair, what does that even mean? When did branches of the US government ever wear hoodies? I think a title and lead is always good when it gets you thinking and asking questions to yourself because then you get skeptical and want to learn more.

I like how the article puts the government in another light. It takes away from the seriousness of the government and puts them over into the fashion world which more people are probably able to closely relate to. Aside from that, I feel like this is a tough read, it still isn’t as interesting as it is informative which is something that could have been done better about the article.

Lastly, I do like the visual aspect of the article. It shows the relaxation on dress codes of senators as generations change. Also, the initial questions that I had about the article were answered with the visuals at the end because I was able to see for myself that not long ago Senator John Fetterman was seen out wearing an oversized Carhartt hoodie along with gym shorts and sneakers.

The 1972 USA Olympic Basketball Team continues to refuse Silver Medal amidst
Being Robbed of the Gold 50 years ago In Munich.

Many would consider the 1972 Olympic basketball game to be the greatest
injustice in Olympic history. The match for the gold took place just about 30
years after the United States’ WW2 victory, a lot of bad blood still filled the
air between the USA and the Soviet Union in which the animosity spilled over in
this controversial game.

 “Those medals are going to be in Lausanne, Switzerland, for a thousand
years from now,” stated a former player for the 1972 USA Olympic Team. Why is
that though? What could have gone so wrong that the team still refuses to
accept its loss to the Soviets and collect their medals even 50 years
later? 

The Washington Post reported that despite everything going on at the time,
the game wasn’t expected to cause any drama. Days before the game Palestinian
militants executed 11 athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympic Village. They
also reported that Avery Brundage, International Olympic Committee president,
stated that the games must go on despite uncertainty by Team USA members. 

A win over Italy in the semi-final game gave Team USA their 63^rd
consecutive win, setting them up to face the Soviets in the final for the gold
medal.

The final 6 seconds of the US-Soviet game were what made this whole
controversy. Sports Illustrated reported that Doug Collins of Team USA was
fouled hard, nearly unconscious. Down 48-49, Collins sank two free throws to
give Team USA the lead at 50-49 with just 3 seconds on the clock.

Sports Illustrated reported that an illegal timeout was taken by the Soviets
who ran on the court and demanded it from the refs. Following a missed violation,
the Soviets would get the ball and run the time out.

The game should have been over, but the refs gave the Soviets another chance
after making invalid excuses for them. Another play was made, but it was
suggested that there was a clock malfunction, so the Soviets were given yet
another chance to win. With 3 seconds remaining on the clock, the Soviets ended
up cashing in on their third chance and won the game, robbing Team USA of a gold
medal.

After protesting the outcome of the game, Team USA was outvoted 3-2 by other
communist nations in Hungary, Poland, and Cuba which was reported by the
Washington Post.

“The Americans have to learn how to lose, even when they think they are
right,” FIBA chief, Jones, stated to The Washington Post. Team USA was left
with an all or nothing acceptance for their silver medals meaning that the
whole team would have to accept them, or no one would receive anything.

After fifty years, the team still stands on their beliefs about the game
despite multiple opportunities to put it behind them and accept their medals.
As time continues to go on players on the team like Tom McMillen still hold
fears that the significance of the story is slowly being eroded by time. A
wrong never to be righted will very much soon be forgotten.

“It’s unfortunate because that’s exactly what the I.O.C. wants. Our medals
sit in Lausanne, and there are going to be fewer of us around for the 60^th
anniversary. History fades into the ether,” McMillen says via New York Times.

Many of the players from Team USA remain bitter about the situation to this
day, but some have taken something positive out of the ordeal. “You know what those
Olympics did? They made me grow up. They opened my eyes,” Collins went on in an
interview years following the 1972 Olympics.

Others from the team are still having a rough time getting over being
cheated by the Soviets in the gold medal game. Jim Brewer, power forward for Team
USA, was violently injured by a Soviet player during the game and was unable to
return to the second half. Brewer expressed, “That night was the end of the
world for me. It never goes away. A lie is persistent. I was bitter for a long,
long time.”

Even Brewer, who was injured during the game and arguably feels the most
emotional attachment to the 1972 Olympics out of all his former teammates, was
able to let go of some of the resentment that he had from that game. “I came
upon some pictures of the guys on that team, and some letters from that time, I
just started crying…I finally let it go that day,” the former power forward
expressed emotionally.

The members of the 1972 Team USA still have a soft spot in their hearts for what went down that year, but all in all the players were all able to move on from the situation of some sort. To this day Team USA still won’t accept their silver medals, though. That’s something that they will never be able to sit well with.

 

https://vault.si.com/vault/1992/06/15/robbed-of-gold-medals-in-munich-the-72-us-olympic-basketball-team-will-not-betray-its-principles-for-a-few-pieces-of-silver

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/09/sports/olympics/usa-soviet-union-olympics-basketball.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/09/08/us-ussr-basketball-1972-munich-olympics/

Replacing Nick Chubb won’t be easy, but the Browns ‘have to keep it pushing’

This article is mainly just about how in last nights MNF game Nick Chubb, Cleveland Browns running back, went out with a gruesome knee injury. Chubb will likely be out for the rest of the season which is a big hit for the Browns considering that Chubb is a top 5 running back in the NFL no question. They went on to explain the game and Chubb’s importance to the team being that Chubb is irreplaceable.

In my opinion the lead isn’t really captivating, but the article does a good job of being informational enough to keep one’s interest. For anyone who is interested in football and keeps up with the NFL I think this is an easy read in terms of making the reader want to read until the end. I think the article does a good job of keeping the emotional factor of a man being injured and having to miss an entire season after only the second game, while also being informative enough for you to understand the severity of the situation along with Chubb’s impact on the team. I would definitely say this article is considered news due to the timeliness, human interest, and impact factors that it provides given that it happened last night and that this is something the whole football community can feel.

Overall, I think this is a pretty spot on article because it doesn’t just highlight one person, it highlights him for the most part, as well as how his fellow teammates and the organization have handled the injury and what position the team is in going forward.

Today, I went on a little scavenger hunt to find two gentlemen who would be willing to have some short conversations with me.

The first person I ran into is Cheyenne Domley. Cheyenne’s original reaction to me was a bit caught off-guard, but given that he wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere he was more than open to talking with me and having me ask a few questions. Cheyenne attends Morningside University as a student and majors in public accounting. Being that in my head accounting majors dress pretty clean, I was surprised to hear what his major was given that he was wearing a red t-shirt and jeans. “Have you seen the newest Conjuring, the Red Door one,” Domley questioned me as I suggested he shoot me some movie recommendations. Personally, I’m not a big scary movie guy, but he seemed genuine and enthusiastic about it so I’ll take his word for it and check it out soon! Overall, Cheyenne was a pretty cool guy based off of the couple minutes we spent talking.

The next person I came across on my scavenger hunt was Justin! His initial reaction was very welcoming, I couldn’t sense that he was any sorts of nervous at all he seemed really calm. Honestly, I knew that he would be a cool laid back guy just based off of what he was wearing. Justin had on a skateboard hat, a fox t-shirt, khaki shorts, and low top skateboard shoes (vans). Since Justin is a sophomore student at Morningside from San Diego, I went on to ask him how he likes it being in the midwest. “It’s a lot more green out here, a lot more vegetation being that San Diego is the desert. Also, snow is interesting. Being out here is the first time I’ve ever really encountered snow.” I think he may have just been being nice because coming from California weather to the midwest would not be interesting to me at all! Justin all says that the people he’s met out here are great and that midwesterners have pretty good hospitality. Lastly, I also asked Justin for a movie recommendation letting him know that I’m into psychological thriller type movies. Justin suggested me to watch the newest Joker movie. He also recommended me to watch Tucker & Dale vs. Evil if I wanted to watch a comedy.

All in all, I had a pleasant experience talking to both of the gentlemen that I bumped into but Justin gave me the more comfortable feel because of his natural ability to be conversational have an overall welcoming vibe about him.

East Dakota as well as surrounding metro areas have ordered for the ban of hand-held radar guns.

Just yesterday, the East Dakota Highway patrol ordered a ban of hand-held radar guns over concerns that troopers may develop cancer due to the exposure of radiation from these radar gun devices. This ban also effects part of the Sioux City, Iowa area.

Something like this has never come about within the state police agency. The ban began to be the topic of discussion following 3 municipal officers filing workman’s compensation and claiming that the radar devices caused cancer.

If the ban were to go into effect, over 70 radar guns would need to be withdrawn from service as of immediately. The ban wouldn’t slow down much as troopers could still use the radar transmitters that are on the outside of the cruisers.

As of now, the whole situation is still something that is being taken into consideration. “The feeling is to err on the side of caution until more is known about the issue,” Adam Smith, spokesperson for the highway patrol, announced.

“How the Pennsylvania Fugitive Scaled a Prison Wall and Escaped”

First of all, I want to say that what this man did is pretty impressive given the fact that he just scaled up a wall in order to escape from a prison. Here, I don’t believe the lead to be too captivating but for some who may want to know more it does a good job at getting straight to the point.

I don’t believe that this article is newsworthy in my opinion. I think this is just something that is interesting and it’s outside the box of from traditional news stories that people who may be regulars are used to. It’s good to switch things up, especially given today’s media world and the fact that news outlets have to be more entertaining now in order to keep people coming.

This article is definitely more informative than it is news. I think for us way in Iowa this isn’t really considered news, but in Pennsylvania where the proximity is close enough to cause some fear, the situation should be considered news. Especially, given that the fugitive is still at large after over a week of escaping the prison.

“After the Loss of a Son, a Football Coach Confronts a Terrible Truth”

First of all, the header of this article is very helpful in my opinion. Personally, when I first read the title my initial thought was that there ended up being some sort of scandal that went on. The header cleared up my thoughts in stating that the son of this coach had a brain disease & that the father was forced to come to terms with this.

Meiko Locksley, son of Michael Locksley, was a natural born football player and it ended up costing him his life. Back in 2017, Meiko was shot and killed at the age of 25 after his parents believed him to be beginning to slip away from football and starting to run with the wrong crowd.

“I always thought, like, how do you go from a normal 21-year-old Division I football-playing person to, literally six months later, saying you hear people in the basement of an apartment where you lived on the eighth floor and you don’t have a basement?” Michael questioned. I think this article uses great quotes, which are directly from the source. I also believe the timeliness of the quotes that they use are good because they capture you at the right times and make you continue wanting to read.

I think the article does a good job at being informative and story-telling at the same time. A lot of articles have the tendency to sway one way or the other, which can make them seem repetitive at times. So, when reading this article it’s soothing to feel like you’re learning new information and being told a story at the same time.

Lastly, I like how this article uses outside sources and actually sites them along with giving visuals to the reader. This allows the reader to be able to feel comfortable consuming the information being given without feeling like the statistics are being pulled out of nowhere. Every article that is informative should be able to site where their information is coming from.

This morning I, Dayne Davis, had the luxury of having an interview with none other than Omaha native himself, Jack Larchick.

Jack was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska where he was brought up in a family full of background in combat sports and started wrestling at the age of 5. Larchick’s father wrestled at Columbia University in New York, his grandpa was a glove boxer, and his uncle was an MMA fighter as well. Jack gives credit to his upbringing for making him a hard worker as he’s seen a good mix of white collar and blue collar work.

Along with wrestling, Jack began playing football at a young age and Morningside University allowed him the opportunity to continue his football career at the next level. Morningside has been a top program at the NAIA level for years now so getting the opportunity to play at the highest level was a blessing for Jack but he didn’t see it as something he needed to continue focusing on. So, he decided to end his football career and focus on his education.

Jack is now on the way to a degree in Business Administration. He then plans on into sales, more specifically, construction sales. This is a field of work that Larchick feels he holds a lot of experience in being that he’s previously worked in construction for years. Jack believes that his knowledge in this field of study will propel him into a successful career in construction sales.