Wheres My Cellphone?

4-6 hours without my cellphone didn't seem like a lot of time without it but little did I know it was going to be bad for me. But lets just start with the first hour without it, I found myself laying down for the majority of the day except when i had to move and get up for class. Everything seemed uninteresting and I couldnt find the motivation to focus on what my teacher or what my peers were saying. I swear it felt like I was in a dream or something. This first hour was prob the hardest to deal without it and I knew at some point I would try to reach for it but I asked my roommate to hide it somewhere so that wouldnt happen. All I could about while I didnt have my phone was "I wonder how many times my mom has called mom", because she tends to call a couple times a day and when i dont answer she thinks something is wrong, worry wart. I do everything on my phone especially play video games like a child and watch TV. IM a big texter, if I cant text I cant breathe. So for the whole 2nd hour things got easier and I just decided to take a long nap until it was all over. Woke up 5 hours later, having gone over the time I was supose to be without and I didnt even care, I just went right back to sleep for the rest of the day. The next mornign when I woke up and grabbed my phone, it took me half and hour just too sort through all the missed messages and everything. WHAT A TEST!!!

FACEBOOK RULES ALL

When we think about all these social groups the main titles that come to our minds are twitter, facebook, instagram and even Instagram. People say twitter wules all because its better and easier to upload thoughts but i beg to differ its obvious that people spend their time on facebook the most uploading family photos, breaking up and starting new relationships, adding friends, catching up with friends ect. I a huge twitter fan but i spend most of my time on facebook checking on old friends and chatting with people. Facebook has aslo entered to the world of education as teachers use it to connect with their students easier and post assignments, which is what we do for this class. Facebook can be used for many different things if used appropriate. Im not big on posting feelings and stuff like that on my facebook but more like inspirational quotes or the news. But alot of language between the younger crowd isn't doing much good for the facebook with all the arguments, breakups and facebook arguments, creating a smoke screen for it, making it look as if it were a bad decision!

Twitter hashtag

As I was following the twitter hashtag, "#getmoney" I have come to realize that it was the biggest waist of my time. I usually follow my friends or people I look upto like professional athletes and singers and actors as well. From stocking the hashtag #getmoney all it talked about was getting money, doing drugs and getting girls, now I'm not saying there is something wrong with that but is it stuff that is necessary to share on twitter for everyone to sees. Now a days I don't ever really see a lot of important things on twitter, but mostly people talking shit about each other and girls getting into fights, crazy stuff like that. Twitter is like a more secure Facebook except people don't talk shit directly too you they post it for everyone to see (immature). I honestly do not post important stuff on twitter because I usually post whats on my mind, jokes and other things that make people laugh because thats what i like to do. Many people at the University of New England tweet about how much it sucks here and how there is nothing to do on the weekends. What do I consider important on Twitter? I personally do not consider anything that is put on twitter important, If I want to find out important news, I watch the news!

Sports, When I was younger

I have been playing sports since I was 7 years old. When I started off I played football and you can say i specialized in that for about 2 years playing at the Boys and Girls Club on Nantucket, which is where I grew up. When i reached the age of 10 I played almost everything (soccer, basketball, baseball, football). My dad thought it was best to play all of these sports to stay fit for football and stay active throughout the year. My father, Elvis Butler is a former professional of the San Francisco 49ers in which he played for 2 years until he tore his acl and had to stop. I know a lot of kids that are sons and daughters of pros don't get pressured by their parents as much as their peers, because when I think back all I heard was "josh why aren't you as big as your father" or "how come your so soft". It got to me a lot when I was a kid and i eventually grew mature enough to ignore it when I got to high school. I played football all four years of high school and my dad was hired as the defense coach, our relationship when real close playing wise because I was getting recruited to Division I schools that he got offers from when he was a kid but I had plans to play Basketball in college and thats when the trouble and the arguing started between us. 

When I was a junior in high school he put a lot of pressure on me to have a successful season and he wanted me to play for myself so that I could stick out. When it comes to football its very difficult to play for yourself because its the most team oriented sport in the world to me. I played Wide Receiver and Safety, and I was a tall one at that so a lot of passes came my way and I would never get any breaks whether it was on defense or offense. My sophomore season was pretty successful, I led the league in interceptions. But my sophomore and junior season was pretty unsuccessful but I still managed to stick out. 

Once basketball season came about, me and my father rarely spoke to one another. He would still make an appearance at my games after work but I just didn't feel enough of his support  like I did with football. Our Basketball season was off to a great start I had been a starter on the team since I was a Sophmore and I was a hell of a leaper in the post. Sophmore year our high school held the best record in its school history (16-4). 

Skipping all the way to my senior year I became a hot head, always full of anger all the time. During football season we had only 14 kids come out for the team and I thought I was the man, nobody could tell me anything. Me and my dad would always get into these arguments during practice and curse each other out, and I also was suspended from 4 games that entire season. So you can say i had quiet a few burnouts. I felt like he wanted to live something through me and still had something to prove instead of just supporting me. Every game i played that year I averaged over 100 yards receiving and set a school record for the longest reception touchdown. Yet I still felt like there was nothing for me with football and I only looked forward to Basketball. My senior season with basketball I averaged 21 points a game, I had the best times of my life with my team and they selected me as captain that year. 

Ethics in Sports, Uconn Basketball

The NCAA defending Basketball champions have been denied a waiver that would let them participate in the 2013 tournament in which they were banned from due to below average academic standards. Basically none of the players were going to class and getting the right grades to play but were still allowed to participate. To me this is one of the most important college rule there is, this isn't the NBA, school comes first and playing basketball while in school (college) is a privilege and a lot of spoiled Division 1 athletes don't seem to understand that concept now a days. According to the NCAA, the Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a term-by-term measure of eligibility and retention for Division I student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates. Everyone knows how great a program UCONN mens basketball team is and how a lot of players from there have great chances to continue their basketball carriers in the NBA. But with that being said it is still UCONN's duty as an academic institution to meet the minimum academic standards. The NCAA believes that they are making an example of UCONN to show they don't mess around when it comes to academics. I believe this is a fair punishment. Recently the APR has raised from 900 to 930, which translates to about a 50 percent graduation rate. In order for this to be fair to other schools the NCAA has allowed schools to have a four year average of 900 or a two year average of 930 in order to stay eligible for the 2013 tournament. The average APR in Division I men's basketball is 945, so UCONN being the NCAA defending champions are seen as a model program and with that being said should set an example for other basketball programs at the Division 1 level. The percentage of NCAA mens basketball players that make it to the NBA is approximately 1.2%. Also there are currently 11 former UCONN Huskies playing in the NBA who range from having played since as early as 1997 (Ray Allen) to being in their first season (Kemba Walker). From what we know UCONN will most likely appeal the NCAA's decision, but we won't find out the what will happen until april of this year. But little do some people know, not only is this a problem for UCONN but it will effect future recruiting as well. "This should teach student athletes that there is more to life than sports and they will face consequences if they do not perform academically. At the end of the day, many of these players are going to be future lawyers and businessman and their scoring average isn’t going to get them as far as their GPA will" (Todd, 2012).

This issue would be relevant to any sports organization because to keep it short and sweet, "You don't get good grades, YOU DONT PLAY" (Butler 2012). When hearing the facts I believe this would affect the people is a highly negative, for example other college athletes that strive in the classroom and work hard to have good grades. I feel this particular issues intensity is about a 10 on a scale to 10 which no longer makes it an issue but a public crisis. 

I believe the NCAA really has no other choice but to implement this punishment. It seems only right that they make an example out of UCONN to show that they don't mess around when it comes to education. As the facts show, UCONN clearly did not make the required APR so there is no reason why they shouldn't be punished. There could be other options for the NCAA to take action but I truly believe this option would send the best message to the public and would help get their point across. As I have said before playing a sport in college is a privilege and should be earned in the classroom as well as on the court.