For the final in this journalism class we were assigned to create a slide show and link it to our blog and create an audio file and connect it to the blog.
For the audio I interviewed my doctor while I was getting my cast. At first I was told I needed to get more x-rays for him to know completely what was wrong, because apparently he doesn’t believe in faxing or emailing. I interviewed myself at first, and I was extremely pissed so pretty much all that audio had to be deleted. I later found out that these extra x-rays would only cost $60 so I went ahead and got the cast. Here is my interview with doctor. Click Sean’s Casting Call on the large red link in the middle of the screen.
For the slide show I have a post about the home run champions from 1997-2003 that in my opinion were not on steroids. Some of the guys I erase from the record book have not been convicted of anything yet, but it’s my opinion and a slide show never hurt anybody. Hopefully the guys I have included played the game fair. I do believe the top players in baseball that were clean during the steroid era were screwed out of their careers because of the advantage the other players had. Steroids belittled and deflated these players’ accomplishments, playing time and salaries. I won’t get into it here, but without steroids Ken Griffey Jr. would have been the Michael Jordan of baseball. Here are the home run champs that were playing fair with music to go along: True Home Run Champs from 1997-2003
Here is the list of home run champions from 97-03. Ive removed the people I think cheated and crowned the new champs. Their prize?? An awesome slideshow to honor their work!!!
I erase all the steroid using cheaters from the stat book. Some of these players are only found guilty in my opinion, but I give you the home run leaders since 1997 that hopefully didn’t cheat. Im pretty sure these guys didnt cheat……….
A teacher who wants to teach 1st grade must go through years of college, take test after test, do a year as a teacher in training and pass a certified teaching license exam, plus maybe more. When someone wants to teach Sunday school to an eighth grader, the time you start questioning things and seeing religion differently, they simply have to raise their hand. I’m not saying that teaching religion to a teenager or young adult is more important or valuable than teaching art to a first grader, but certainly this is an arguable topic.
I am going to tell you about my final days in the Catholic church and why I have beef with the people we trust to teach Sunday school classes. I switched from St. Mary Elementary in German Village to Circleville public schools in the eighth grade. At Sunday school all the other students were preparing to be confirmed; something I did in the fourth grade. At this same time we had just got a new priest, if you want to call him that, and I had recently become one of the top alter servers. I am an alter boy for the new priests first 10 Sunday morning masses, the 8 AM mass. A month and a half of alter serving and I was simply ready for a week off, I needed some rest.
The week before this I had been removed from Sunday school for the billionth time. What happened was when I started Sunday school nobody knew anything about what the teacher was trying to educate them on. He wasn’t going the best job, but he was trying. Nobody ever answered a question, and to me these were answers I had known since the third grade. After answering every question asked for the first month or two I decided raising my hand to answer questions was no longer necessary. I was having the same issue in the public school system, something that Circleville schools see as a far bigger crime than making a bomb threat. This is no exaguration; ask anyone! To me, the Sunday school teacher was on a power trip, but I was young so I could be wrong. So I get fed up with hearing him complain to my parents that I answer every question and don’t raise my hand to give the other students a chance. They had plenty of time to answer every question; they just didn’t know the answers because nobody had taught them anything.
Sunday night comes and the Sunday school teacher calls the house for my parents to complain about me; which would have got me in serious trouble… Again. I hang up on the guy and leave the phone off the hook for the rest of the night. He questions me the following Sunday and sees that as a proper excuse to send me to the hall once again. So I refuse. At least five minutes go by where he’s telling me to leave and I’m refusing. Eventually I stand and walk toward the door. I open the door so people in the hall can hear why I am about to be removed from the class once again. I say to him “The problem is only that I know the answers to all your questions and I tell you when your wrong. It’s not my fault that I’m in the eighth grade and know more than you.” He told me I was correct and to leave. I told him I would never be back and people only listened to him to see what I would say next. Everyone hated Sunday school before and after I left. I wasn’t there to entertain, I simply knew what was going on, and I argued with him when he was misinforming the class.
So I skip church the following Sunday to finally sleep in. The new priest goes and finds my mom after mass and tells her if I was only going to show up when I had to serve then this was not the church for me. My mom went to school at this church until eighth grade. She still cuts the past priests hair. We are one of the only members that actually go to Catholic schools, we always went on Sundays and some Wednesdays, yet I was not a member because I missed once in two months. Who was this guy? Certainly not my priest!!!
I informed my mother of my choice never to return to church again, let alone serve, and my thoughts on our obese, dickhead priest. I think Voltaire or Dante must have known this guy because he’s exactly like the priests they described. I have not been to church since, yet my relationship with God is still strong. One thing the Catholic schools did manage to teach was you don’t need to ever go to church to pray or love God. I see it like this; anywhere you can find peace and quiet and get into a conversation with God or simply praise him, then it’s just as good as going to mass. As to where in Circleville you must always attend Sunday mass and they ask for 40% of your yearly income if your a dedicated member. I’m not affiliated with any congregation that expects this of anyone. Kind of makes me want to discuss our “free will.”
True story. It’s maybe the new priests fourth week in our church and mass is wrapping up. He passes out a piece of paper to everyone and waits for everyone to look at it. He says to us “The church and the people of the church know how much money all of you make. We feel that everyone makes more than enough money to survive, and if you can’t donate 40% of your yearly income to the church then maybe your in the wrong place or spending money in wrong ways.” You could hear the gasp from every single person in the church. The priest didn’t blink. I remember being 13 or 14 years old and thinking this guy was crazy! This was the first thing my buddies and I talked about in Sunday school following the mass. Looking back at it I wish I would have laughed out loud and got up and left right then.
The point is one Sunday school man, not teacher, and one priest managed to take something I knew and enjoyed and completely transformed my opinion of everything. That is why I circle the Catholic box under religion, yet I claim to be anything but Catholic. With quality religious teachers and priests educating me for eight years I never had an issue with church, but two months in the local church and I refused to go back ever again. What is wrong with this picture?
The night of Friday, June 27 2009 I had an experience that I will not soon forget. After making plans to go out to the local pubs I invited my friends over for a little “pre-game” before we headed out. The conversation somehow got to broken bones when one of my best friends made the comment “I have never broke a bone in my body; knock on wood.”
Upon hearing the expression “knock on wood” and knowing the story behind it, thanks to one of my professors, I decided to share the interesting tale. I explained that there was a god in the wood that liked to change your fortune if he hears you bragging about your luck or success. So I told the story and admitted I had never broken any bones myself; refusing to knock on wood because I don’t believe in wood gods. However, I had been wondering what kind of “god” would bring you misfortune? Wouldn’t this be the opposite of a god?
After an evening at the bars and a long walk home; the next morning I woke to a broken hand of all things! I still have absolutely no explanation for how my hand broke. I had been drinking but I never recalled falling or hitting anything, nor did the people who walked with me. If anything it goes perfectly with my recent string of bad luck. Nothing has been going my way for over a month now! There is no story that goes with my hand; making it odd every time someone asks me what I did to it and I have no answer.
After explaining how I had no explanation for my broken hand to my boss, he removed his shoe and sock and showed me a broken toe he mysteriously woke up with Saturday just like me. Why would anyone even think of a god that is here to bring bad to us? I couldn’t understand why this would even be a thought.I have thought and thought about this and I’ve realized there could be a god that doesn’t necessarily bring us good fortune and luck. I’ve come to the conclusion this wood gods’ purpose could be for people like me to realize our good fortune and luck when we neglect it or refuse to see it.
I am going to go out on a limb and predict the outcome of tonight’s Home Run Derby. I follow baseball as much as anyone and I have a strong love for this game. It is unlike any other game in so many ways. The numbers tell a lot about a player, and it is the only sports where you play defense with the ball. Hardly anything that happens in baseball can be described as “expected” which is part of the beauty of the game. Here’s the lineup for tonight’s HR derby:
National League:
Prince Fielder
Adrian Gonzalez
Ryan Howard
Albert Pujols
American League: Brandon Inge
Nelson Cruz
Joe Mauer
Carlos Pena
I think Albert Pujols is the best player in the game; he hits better than anyone and has top three power in the league. This is why Albert won’t win. I will advance him to the second round, but don’t see him leaving as champion. I hope to be wrong!
Prince Fielder is another player I love. He has tremendous power and is a true lover of the game. I think he makes it to the final, but anything can happen.
Adrian Gonzalez and Ryan Howard are also two other top notch home run hitters. Howard is as good as anyone at hitting the long ball but I think he is done after the first round. Adrian Gonzalez may just be the best player nobody knows about in baseball, he’s truly a force. I think he is done after the first round. The favorites always seem to let you down in this contest. Both these guys have enough power to go the distance.
Now to the American League where the lineup looks much less powerful, but like I said nothing is predictable.
Carlos Pena is an absolute stud that should find his way to the second round at least. For the purposes of my predictions he’s done after the first round.
Nelson Cruz is an oldie but goody; he’s having an awesome season and deserves to be in this contest. That being said I think he goes out first.
Mauer and Inge are both new comers to the contest, and have never been seen as powerful forces. This is why these two are my sleepers, Inge goes to second round, Mauer goes to final.
First four eliminated: Howard
Cruz
Pena
Gonzalez
Second round contestants:
Pujols
Fielder
Inge
Mauer
Inge has the lowest odds to win the derby which is part of the reason I’m going with him this far. He is having a terrific season playing third base instead of catching, and has been great this season. I think he keeps it close, and possibly swings his way to the final, but I will eliminate him in the semi finals and predict he finishes 3rd.
Pujols gets in the second round easily but I think he hits a wall here. I am giving him 4th place but would not be surprised to see him win it. After all, he is the favorite.
The final features two of my favorite players in the game, the catcher Joe Mauer against the traditional powerful 1st baseman. A catcher in the finals, you say??? Yep you heard it here first! Mauer is hitting the cover off the ball as usual but never with this kind of power. With the second lowest odds to win behind Inge, I like both these guys’ chances to get to the final and possibly win.
For the sake of not making a fool of myself I must pick Prince Fielder, have to like a 1st baseman to come in 1st, but Prince certainly is worthy of an award like this. I’ll crown Prince champ of 2009, but who do you like???
My dad, Steve Kesler, started working with an artist named Andrew Bawidamann around five years ago. This guy is never going to let you down! Check out his amazing artwork!
My father found him where he finds all good talent; The Columbus College of Art & Design.
Hello, my name is Sean Kesler and I am a journalism student at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. For the summer quarter I am taking a journalism course on web design. For our first project we are asked to create a blog on wordpress.com and write some posts that we will present in class. We are about 30 minutes away from presenting our blogs and I only have two of the three required posts on my blog, so this one is about me. Little thought required…
I went to Ohio Dominican my first year out of high school, then transferred to Columbus State for two years and now I found the best college of all! I dig this place, and that’s quite strange because I’m no fan of school. But I went to Circleville high school and that is certain to make you hate school, life and adult authority. Or whatever it is they think they are. I lived in Columbus the past two years before recently returning to the rough streets of Circleville. I have a strong interest and desire to have career doing something involving sports so I’ll pretty much be blogging about that on this blog!
Vern Riffe State OfficeTower, where I work on the 21st and 23rd floor.
After my freshman year at Ohio Dominican I began interning for the Division of Financial Institutions in downtown Columbus, Ohio.
I am still with the State and have been there for over three years now. I feel like I have done any and every job since I started working, but mainly my duties invole the Ohio “Save the Dream” proogram. Save the dream is the program our state put together to help out people facing foreclosure on their house by contacting their mortgager and trying to workout a loan modification. The issues that home owners have had involving mortgage payment problems that were caused by the brokers and apraisors, is one I am certain will be remember for a lifetime.
Besides for interning with the State, over the past six months I also interned at 97.1 FM in Columbus; the largest sports radio station in the city. Columbus also has the number one market for sports radio in the country! I was given the oppertunity to interview the Ohio State football team, Columbus Blue Jackets and coach Thad Matta. I really loved working there. I also worked with and assisted the on air talents like Chris Spielman, Scott Torgerson, Paul Keels and Bruce Hooley. This was an awesome experience I won’t soon forget! Should only lead to bigger and better things…
I assisted The Big Show with Spielman, Hooley and Herbstreit
I lived in Hilliard until I was seven then moved to Circleville, Ohio where I graduated high school and met many of the oddest people ever to grace this earth. Two weekends ago I was witness to my neighbor running outside at 2:00 AM and screaming “HELP! He’s beating the hell out of me!” I then witnessed her “man”, whom my roommate and I named “mullet man” the first time we ever saw, come sprinting outside to grab her and drag her back in. I, in my 2:00 AM Saturday morning state yelled “I got you” back at her. This may explain some tension that plays into my story and current state living on the rough streets of East Franklin.
So I dial 911 and speak to a woman that was more interested in learning my name than the nature of the call I was placing. I asked her “Why the hell do you need my f*#$ing name? Is the really the time for that?” Actually it was. I told her my name was S E A N K E S L E R which apparently made sense to her. I continued “You can put that in the f^%#ing Circleville Dispatch!” The world’s worst local newspaper. So I explained to her what I had just seen and told her she had five minutes to get someone there or I was going over there myself and fixing the f*$%ing situation. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I was definitely in barbarian mode this night.
So after ending the call I walk out into the street where the cops were at not 45 seconds after I called 911. I’m in the middle of the street as the first cop pulls up and I demand him to park in my driveway. I even pointed exactly where he was to go and he obliged. I tell the cop what happened and how the mullet man was on heroin everyday repeatedly approximately six or seven times. The cop stops me and says I better go check it out. At this point my roommate, Luke Scipione, decided he should charm in and tell the cop the same story he had just heard six or seven times. While all this is going down I’ve got five underage females in my bedroom. When I say underage I am referring to under 21 but over 19. Obviously actual thoughts were not crossing my mind on this particular night.
The cops ended up being the nicest po I had ever encountered. We were never asked to chill or calm down and we were never told we did anything wrong. In fact, the cop parked in my driveway told me I was a good guy for doing what I did and said the wife beater had ran out the back and would not be coming back. We saw him three days later and every day since, which has been around two weeks. Actually the next day my roommate said he was walking home and he opened the door and whistled at him and said “Hey come here for a sec.” My roommate doesn’t speak mullet though. So nowadays when I go outside or walk my lady friend to her car I get to stare down ol mullet man wife beater for a couple of minutes. This usually only happens two or three times a day.
Ironically, two days ago I pull down the alley by my house where mullet man is walking thru. He turns around and sees me coming literally 200 feet before I get to him. He continues to walk in the middle of the alley. So I’m getting closer and closer traveling 15 mph or so and I get to the point I must break to not strike him with my vehicle. The thought crosses my mind if I hit this guy with my 2005 Taurus will anyone care? Will anyone even report it or say they witnessed me? Will my car devalue? Do I feel like going to the car wash on the one day I get home before 10 PM? They answer was no to all of the above, so I didn’t do it. Mainly, I had no coins for the car wash. I swerve thru one of my respectable neighbors’ yard to avoid dirtying my car. I lean toward my window and glare at the ugliest guy I have seen in months. But, I would pay big bucks for close up pictures of his mullet. We are talking Joe Dirte style.
photo courtesy of www.everythingpittsburgh.net
This guy has made me pretty pissed off of late and I’ve only lived on the block for about two months now. I hope he can read this blog and knows what I am saying, but we know he has no computer because he does H instead, and more importantly he can’t read. I havent fought anyone in years but I might have found a challenger!
To be a sports fan in Ohio one must accept defeat at the biggest of stages. We may always beat your team, but we arent winning everything by ANY means. You might not believe it but it’s true, it’s easier to have a typical season, some success nothing spectacular, than to go the whole season thinking your team has “it” just to come up short when it matters the most. And in Ohioans cases, we have come up “just short” as of late.
Everyone and their brother knows of the recent struggles the hated Buckeyes have had. Just before the 2006 National Championship game ESPN did a list of the ten best championship teams ever. This was all to lead up to a Buckeye victory and the arguement that we had just witnessed the greatest team ever. That’s kind of a big deal. Instead of being considered the best ever, that class will be remembered as the most over-hyped team in history, that suffered one of the worst losses in championship history. This is now the prime example to how the big ten stinks so bad. The following year the Buckeyes shocked the world and returned to the big game, just to come up a few touchdowns short. Great teams, great players, one win away from the greatest memories.
The big problem of late seems to be the Cleveland James’s “Cavs”, and their dominance in the regular season just to get eliminated with home court advantage before reaching the finals! The team with the best home record wins the championship more times than not, in this case we didn’t even get to the big one. We lost to the Magic! The Orlando Miagic without Shaq!!! I can’t really argue the loss to the Spurs a few years ago, that was clearly a dynasty and they will be remembered for years. The Cavs were a much worse team, and Lebron was much younger. I knew coming into this season if the Cavs didn’t win it all this season I would be a little dissapointing. Lebron is clearly on top, the East looked like it was in need of a dominant force outside of Boston, and Cleveland brought it. Not even the champion LA Lakers had a better record. What could go wrong???? I forgot, Ive seen this one quite a few times before. Simply dissapointing.
So the Cavs get the Magic instead of the Celtics, and boy was it sad. I can understand Lebron not wanting to shake hands after the elimination loss. It was like you fell in love with the most beautiful girl in the world, the past five months have been heavan, not one real bump in the road. Then in a weeks time it’s completely over with and you now have to accept it is over, and nothing can or will ever change that. If Lebron sticks around he will put at least 5 banners in the rafters in Cleveland. IF he stays…..
So Buckeye basketball is signing these top name recruits and Thad Matta is showing the world he can coach with anyone, unlike the coach in Cleveland whom I could outscheme in my sleep. We had the greatest recruiting class in the history of college basketball: the Thad five. We make it to the Championship after the greatest season in OSU’s history, just to lose to the beloved Florida Gators. Joakim Noah is a whole different post. Man, if I could punch one guy in the face………. So we get this recruit Kosta Kufos; a seven-footer who shoots the three. Little did we know he shot the three terribly and didnt rebound. NIT CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!
This brings us to BJ Mullens, the most overhyped piece of garbage I ever saw play ball. I can beat this guy in horse! I saw our high school point guard, who was 5’9, block Mullens while trying to dunk. I knew then that this guy didn’t work at all. He is a chump yet someone will pay him big bucks for being extremely tall and goofy looking. He cried at NBA workouts yesterday, June 18 2009, incase you hadn’t heard already. The rumor is he was guarding a player that was six inches shorter than he is and got worked so bad he just let the tears go mid workout. He wasted minutes and a season for the Buckeyes, not to mention a scholarship. This stud averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds against a weak Big Ten, then declared pro. hahahahahahahahahaha!! OSU was eliminated first game of the tourney. My best bet would be that Thad Matta never offers a scholarship to another eighth grader unless he clearly is the second coming of Lebron James.
The one-and-done rule in college basketball needs to be changed immediately! This rule that forces high school basketball players to be at least one year removed from high school before becoming NBA draft eligible. This has improved some teams, changed scouting in virtually every way, won a team or two a National Championship, destroyed any interest people once had in the NBA draft and is forcing kids to pick a school they already know they will be abandoning in one years time.
The problem is not that these are being held back from making the big bucks, but rather college basketball is being hurt by the loss of scholarships these kids bring, and the style of game they are turning the NCAA into. College coaches are forced to change their style of play in hopes that their recruit pans out and makes his school a winner. Recruiting can and will never be the same due to this rule. Coaches must go after the top players if they’re going to be successful, and top players leave sooner than later. Almost every coach that has signed one of these straight to the NBA caliber players have been accused of recruiting violations in one way or another. This hurts the school about as bad as anything does, and often leads to probations and scholarship losses.
A huge recruit like O.J. Mayo signs at USC. I have known since 2003 that this kid was going pro, and that he would be good when he got there. So USC adds this stud to their not so great basketball program, hurray USC!! Now Mayo and USC are going to be connected forever! He took the Trojans to a 20-10 record, averaging over 20 points per game, far better than the nine a game B.J. Mullens sported for Ohio State. Mayo joined the Trojans and from day one their offense was different; obviously designed to have their best scorer shooting the ball more times than not. This isn’t necessarily the problem, except that these kids try their best to show they are NBA ready so they try and play NBA style basketball. The problem is you are now taking purity from the game. A game that based on the rulebook alone is supposed to be different from the NBA’s game.
The game is going to change more and more as these coaches are forced to go after these studs they know are leaving after just one season. They change everything for the big recruit, like giving them the right to shoot any time they so choose to, something I’m guessing that is promised to them before they pick their school. Then the following season he is gone, you have guys on the team that have been around for three and four seasons, and that one season with the big recruit has destroyed so much more than is visible to the eye. So if the rule is going to stay the same I think more and more coaches should simply recruit guys that plan on staying all four years; the strategy of the great Mike Krzyzewski since day one.
I understand these guys are DI college athletes on full rides, but you cannot expect these “kids” to understand a college scheme and game plan his first season, get more comfortable to it his second season, complete change everything his junior season so that Joe Freshman can show off his skills without actually showing true basketball skill, and then adapt back to the original game plan that wasn’t practiced the entire past season. This just won’t work! Maybe some of these kids can adjust that easily, but not all of them that’s for certain. You couldn’t expect ten guys on a team to learn an offense, change it, and then switch back to the original or something new, to understand that. You would be happy if five of them learned two of the offenses in four seasons!!
The biggest issue of all is that the players that stick around usually don’t get to keep their offensive playbook, let alone their head coach! This new rule makes so-so coaches look great and great coaches look so-so. Coaches go in the dog house or get put on the hot seat faster than ever before. For example, a highly talented junior point guard could be running the third different offense he’s had to learn in three seasons. If he is successful at understanding then obviously he’s getting it and has a high basketball I.Q., but will an entire team develop like this? Will five players out of ten even develop better skills or knowledge of the game because of the wasted time? These are just a few of the issues the one-and-done presents.
On the other hand these young men are required to mature one more year before heading to the league, a big plus for everyone. Perhaps if the NBA keeps a 19-year old out for an extra year it truly makes a difference in his maturity and development, and this is what the NBA is trying to achieve. Of course you still get the Carmelo’s that went to school for a year and still get arrested smoking the reefer their first season in the league. A player with off court issues will have those same problems when he enters the NBA, he will just be older.
With the one-and-done you also get schools like USC, OSU and Texas that are not traditional powerhouse basketball schools that end up with these prize recruits which boosts attendance and many other economical perks for the university. And of course, every once in a great while we see the Carmelo Anthony that takes his school to the National Championship and wins it. So in certain cases everyone can be a winner; the school is improved and gets a much better reputation while the player matures and improves his game while showing off his skills representing the team of his choice.
I would simply suggest making a rule that says the player must be at least 21 years of age or older to enter the draft, causing them to stay two to three seasons in college. This would make more sense to me; but one year in school is clearly destroying the game and the draft. If no changes are to be made I hope to see more coaches follow coach K and go after the talented ball players that also plan to be a collegiate student for three or four seasons, and represent their school proudly.
