Why We Lost to City High

Ever football team has a breaking point. A point at which the water gates break open and unless the flood of unanswered points rains down. What separates a good team from a bad one is the amount of wear and exhaustion its individual parts can take before the whole machine shuts down. Many of the worst teams walk onto a field already broken by the expectation of being beaten and therefore give themselves no chance at winning the game. However, a team that's record is under five hundred can easily upset a "better" team by believing they can win and pushing themselves beyond their expected breaking point. This is what we started last Thursday night but did not finish.

The Little Hawks are a good football program, there is no doubting that. But when we walked on the field with them last Thursday there was not one among us who believe we couldn't beat them. It was that belief that pushed us to a one possession game against them at the half and it was that belief that could have spurred us to win the game. However, when we came out the second half and were forced to punt right away it pushed us closer to our breaking point, and when Iowa City sensed that they began to pour it on. They backed us further and further toward the edge of the cliff, and although we never quit gave up and fell off, we never gained back the ground we had lost either.

What separated us from Iowa City in the 3rd quarter of the game was not a physical difference. They didn't take some miracle protein in their locker room that made them magically bigger, faster, and stronger. What did happen was almost more significant. They were probably yelled at, they were definitely motivated, and they were all convinced beyond any reasonable doubt that they could win. But we were to. The difference came in the first plays of the second half. When we were giving everything we had and still losing play after play we began doubting ourselves. We were never beat but City High physically, but mentally we got tossed around. And mentally we gave up.

I believe this can be credited to who our team is made up of. First, we are a relatively young team. We have only three returning starters, and many of our new starters are juniors and two are even sophomores. Most of us have never played in games like this on the varsity scale. Games where one play we gain twenty yards and the next we lose six. Games like this are tolling and require extreme mental discipline to not get frustrated and lose hope. Also, our junior class is particularly inexperienced with this season as a whole. We went undefeated 8th grade, 7-2 winning our conference 9th grade, and 7-2 again in 10th grade. We have never had a losing record before and I believe it's causing many of us to lose confidence in ourselves and our team. When we came out trying as hard as we could and still losing at half, many may have resorted to calling the season a failure and believed we could never beat a team of Iowa City's caliber.

This is mostly discouraging, but also gives me hope. I don't believe it is a good thing the team gave up on itself after competing so well with one of the best teams in the state, however if inexperience is really the culprit of our lapse in play, then hopefully as we grow as a team we will continue to get better and eventually be able to finish games against tough opponents.

Experimental Topic 2: Football

The City High Little Hawks are the second ranked football team in the state. We're not ranked at all. The City High Little Hawks are 4-0. We're 2-2. The City High Little Hawks have a 33 MVC winning streak, and we're going to end it.

When I found out we were going to be playing the City High Little Hawks for our homecoming game this year I couldn't believe the administration would do that to us. Put us up against the best team in our conference for the most important game of the year? How could they? Why would they? It's easy enough to figure out though. For some reason the administration likes to put the homecoming game on a Thursday so they can have the dance on a Friday and the City High game is the only Thursday game we have this year. So out of convenience for themselves the administration strung their football team out on a line, and hung us out to dry.

However, regardless of the administrations motives I want to thank them. We are a substantially better football team than we were the first two weeks when we lost to Xavier and Lin Marr, and we need an opportunity to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we can compete with the best football teams in our state again. I believe that since we were beaten by two of the better teams in our conference many people have lost faith in our program for the entirety of this year, and I believe that tonight we could possibly not only win the game but the support of our fan base.

Experimental Topic One: Politics (Draft One)

Sitting around with a group of University of Iowa students the topic of convorsation suddenly took that forbiden turn towards politics. The to major players in this  discussion were two girls from Chicogo with almost polar opposite views, one was a left sided liberal and the other a conservative as could be republican. They dominated the once friendly atmosphere with talk of whether or not Obama is a good president. The republican discribing him as "One Big Ass Mistake America" (each word begins with the letters of his name, because for some reason every major politician's name is actually an acronime in disguis) who isn't doing anything productive, while the liberal ranted about the jerks in Congress who don't allow Obama to do anything. Eventually the republican's words outlasted the liberal's and everytime the democrate made a half-hearted attempt to express why her party was right the republican harshened her tone and ended the liberals end of the arguement.

To me sitting there watching this all occur I couldn't help but think it was a perfect example of the actual ongoings of our federal government. The Republican dominated Congress not allowing the Democratic President to put his actions into affect, while Obama could be more insistent and proactive. And the whole ordeal is not caused by whether or not it's the best thing to do for the nation, but rather if it's the best thing to do for ones particular party. Americans and our representatives are so consumed by whether an idea is republican or democrat that we brush aside the whole notion that it may be niether, it may just be a good idea. Todays world of politics is so overly conserned with party affiliation that nobody is looking after the state of the nation anymore. Especially with the upcoming election democrats are focusing all their time and energy into how to get Obama reelected, while Republicans and Congress are using all their resources to make sure he is a one term president. The rivalry between Democrats and Republicans is pointless and childish. Both parties were originated for the same perpose, to make America the best country it could possibly be, but today their very existence is the disease that is plauging our nation. They are so conserned with making the other party look bad that they have put up a road block on the advancement of America, and refuse to remove it until everyone admits their party is right.

Everyone's Passionate, and I am Not (Draft One)

All around me bloggers blog. They rhythmically pound on the keys in perfect timing with one another, producing an orchestra that gets displayed on their digital paper as a variety of subjects. On my left it's a mad scientist who writes about the on goings of his mind. Ideas that are sporadic and twisted and to him must seem genius if he is bothering writing them on the page. On my right it's a young girl who talks about her religion. Only to her it's not a religion. It's a "relationship with god". I'm not sure what the difference is and she tries to explain it to me but I'm not really listening. I am feeling though. Feeling the passion she has in her God as it runs from somewhere deep inside her, past her vocal chords, out her mouth, and into my heart, where it is consumed by my soul.

I believe if you talked to any blogger, whose blog is of any interest, you would find a similar case. Because it's what makes reading about what other people think interesting at all, their passion for what they are saying. People are drawn to those who are passionate, forced to listen to what they have to say by some primitive instinct to indulge in their words. That is why egotistical people are stereotypically good essayist. They poses such an extreme passion for themselves and what they think that they can express an interest for a variety of topics; not because they are passionate about that topic but because they find endless passion in what they think about the topic.

With that said, I am not passionate. I possess no subject that I could write for hours on end about. No one ever says, "Oh, don't get Jake started on such and such. He'll talk your ear off". Maybe this is why I find myself especially drawn towards people with passion. Why I constantly question that young girl's relationship with God, although I know I will never convince her her faith is ill placed. Because I have no passion of my own I must suck off the passion of others like some bottom feeder, or vulture looking to pick off the scraps others have left behind. Or potentially I am the narcissist. Passionate about only myself and therefore it is hard to see what others find so indulging about their topics. I'm not sure which is worse: finding passion in only yourself or finding passion in nothing at all, but either way it is not for

A Delayed Introduction

Hello everybody, I'm late and I apologize. I could tell you I got hung up in traffic or that I was told the wrong time, but that's not the truth and I wouldn't be late and lie to you all. The truth is actually a stupid mistake of location; when I thought in my brain "About Me" last Wednesday night it sent me to the profile editor and wondered why Mr. Ayers wanted us all to tell everyone our favorite book and movie and interest. Then, once I discovered my mistake, I drug my feet in getting here and introducing myself.

So again I apologize, and without further ado I'll introduce you to myself. I'm sixteen years old and originally from San Diego, California, although I moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the summer before my 7th grade year. I live with my mom, step dad, and step brother, while my dad, two sisters, and one brother all live back in San Diego. Although I never cared that my parents were divorced (it happened before I could remember), living halfway across the nation from my dad and siblings is a little rough at times.

The first summer I lived in Iowa I discovered a love for football that has carried through till today. This year is my first year playing varsity under the lights of Kingston and it seems crazy to me. I remember my first days of football vividly and I don't remember when that little seventh grader in the gold cougar junior football jersey grew up to be a starting varsity football player, but I hope I make people proud.

I feel like a complete jock saying that my family and football are pretty much my "About Me" but it’s almost true. I mean I obviously have other hobbies and I would never want to play in the NFL, even if I was good enough (which I'm not), but that summer playing football before 7th grade was where I met all my closest friends. I do love playing football, but not for the game itself, but because of what it's given me since that summer.

In closing I guess I would say people are the most important think that makes me who I am. I love a lot of people and I hate others but I believe it is my interactions with all the people in this world that have made me me. That’s probably true for all people though, I guess.

                                    Sorry For Being Late,
                                                                    Jake