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Monday, May 25, 2015

Final Blog Post

This Friday, May 22, your Norton High Lancers Tennis Boys faced off against the Hopkinton Hillers. In this inner Tri Valley League match the Lancers received another loss at the hands of the Hillers losing 0-5 in the match. After being outplayed and over-matched the Lancers fell to 2-15 on the year as a whole. Although, the Lancers had little to celebrate in the match; they were celebrating their senior night.

Coming into the match the Lancers were over-powered as they met early resulting in an 1-4 loss in Hopkinton. The Hopkinton Hillers have had a very successful season when compared to the Lancers. Norton coach Katelyn Green stressed the importance of "setting small goals" in hopes to improve the play heading into this almost David vs Goliath match. Last match senior captain Brandon Jenkins battled Ryan Mastroieni in an epic 3 set victory in becoming the Lancers only victor of the day. Friday's match would prove to be much different as everyone received losses across the board. Norton High's No.2 doubles team battled in a close first set, but unable to pull through lost 6-7.First Alternate Liam Lenhart moving up and playing at No.3 singles on the day was able pull away with 5 games against Luke Whitehouse of the Hopkiton Hillers. 

Embedded image permalinkHopkinton 5, Norton 0: Ryan Mastroieni (H) def. Brandon Jenkins 6-0, 6-2; Chris Mastroieni (H) def. Alex Belinsky 6-0, 6-1; Luke Whitehouse (H) de.f. Liam Lenhart 6-1, 6-4; Andrew Xu-John Healiff (H) def. Robbie Douglas-Sean Murphy 6-1, 6-1; Will Nadeau-Chris Stattlefield (H) def. Derek Kalnicki-John Munger 7-6, 6-0.

The Lancers have had a rough season, but were hoping their home-court advantage would be enough to rally the troops to a victory. As, the Lancers did receive an extra audience for senior night including some of their fellow Norton High students shown here. The Lancers are saying good bye to eight senior players this season, and even went with an all senior lineup against Hopkinton. As the future of Norton Tennis remains in question with the amount of graduating seniors and lack of participation. The Lancers did seem to show a lack of hope knowing that they were heading up against a better and more experienced opponent. 

Even though the Lancers fell to the Hillers in an 0-5 defeat they showed heart as they hustled on the courts. The Lancers were outmatched and lacked in experience compared to the Hillers, but they were able to compete with their hustle on every point. Although there was celebration due to senior night, most of the lancers fought hard to give the crowd something to cheer about. As Liam Lenhart was quoted, "It was a bar fight out there, we had to fight our tails off for every point." The loss didn't stick well for Liam or any of his teammates, but he was quoted "we fought hard out their, and that's what makes us champions at heart." Seniors Sean Murphy and Robbie Douglas experienced a tough 1-6 1-6 loss. There was some disputes in the tough loss as Sean Murphy claimed he could've won the match all by himself.  The Lancers played their game and played well, but still did not have enough to beat the Hillers. Some of the results were disappointing, but moving forward they hope to improve. 

The Hopkinton Hillers played one of their best matches all year with great serve and volley play. The Hillers were able to take advantages of positioning by the lancers with excellent volleys. The general power of their serves helped them get an advantage over their opponent along with superb net play. The winners and aces that accumulated were too much to overcome and help lead the Hillers to a season sweep off the Lancers. 

Norton Tennis player Brandon Jenkins hopes to keep his tournament hopes alive as he currently sits with a 8-9 record just needing one victory to qualify for the tournament. After earlier defeating Ryan Mastroieni there was hope that he would clinch tournament berth Friday. However, with a disappointing match he fell 0-6 2-6 to Mastroieni, Jenkins faces one more opportunity to clinch berth at Ashland. Jenkins feels confident he can as unlike the Hopkinton match earlier in the year he was able to defeat Ashland's No.1 singles player, Dan Kamerin, in two quick sets. 

The Lancers are concluding their season Tuesday May 26th with an away match against the Ashland Clockers. This match is a focus point for the Lancers as they almost pulled away with a victory against them earlier in the season. 


Friday, May 15, 2015

Blog Post #9


Deflate-gate is a rising conflict coming up recently in the NFL involving the New England Patriots. The problem is that eleven of the twelve Patriots footballs that they supplied were below the regulated 12.5 psi requirement and for most footballs under by only a notch. The incident occurred during the AFC Conference Championship Game where the New England Patriots routed the Indianapolis Colts 45-7. The deflation of footballs is only a very minimal advantage if even an advantage. The supposed advantages are widely exaggerated and made-up. There is but only circumstantial evidence that links quarterback Thomas Patrick Brady to the deflation of footballs. The evidence presented that accuses Brady would not stand up in the court of law and is been compared to a witch hunt.

Ted Wells compiled a 243 page report accusing Tom Brady of being guilty of knowing about the deflation of footballs. The report was very faulty in logic as it demands for a brash penalty against the Patriots when there is only circumstantial evidence. Most of the evidence can be turned around and is not hard concrete evidence. The report already has bias as Ted Wells has already been known to have a dislike towards quarterback Tom Brady. After a recent interview, Ted Wells exploded in an outrage due to the fact that many people were questioning the legitimacy of the report. I believe this evidence is not enough to come to the conclusion that Brady did do the crime; I am not saying Brady did not know about it if the deflation was on purpose I am only saying if the NFL is going to make a ruling on this matter they must have hard evidence clearly linking Brady and the Patriots to purposely deflating the footballs.

The NFL issued a four game suspension to Brady a one million dollar fine and the loss of two draft picks to the New England Patriots. Roger Goodell issued the ruling and now has named himself the unbiased arbitrator in the ruling of the appeal. I disagree with the severity of this ruling as I would not take away two draft picks and issue a four game suspension off of accusations and circumstantial evidence. The deflation of footballs is not even a serious issue and is much less than all the recent issues among the NFL. I believe the Dallas Cowboys should be under much more scrutiny right now as they have signed Greg Hardy recently convicted of child abuse, domestic violence, and has had a deep criminal history before. The Cowboys also signed L’ael Collins who is involved in an ongoing murder investigation and drafted Randy Gregory who fell in the draft due to his criminal record and off the field issues. The Cowboys are also one of the teams interested in Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson. The NFL ruling on Brady when in perspective to the way they are handling domestic violence is far more harsh.

If I was in charge, I would only issue a hefty fine as of now with the evidence collected. The investigation should keep going on and if there is concrete evidence than I would make a ruling of a suspension of Brady for 2 games and a loss of a 4th round draft pick. The problem aligns with the explanation provided by physics in the Ideal Gas Law which could offer an explanation given to why the balls were deflated due to weather condition. I would continue to review this situation and see how it progresses over time.