Worst Person 27-Philadelphia Phillies

In professional sports, there are always some interesting transactions. Some are ground-braking, like trading a top-tier player for a bunch of prospects. You know, something interesting like that.

Watching players fly around teams like that is something that I, personally find very enjoyable. I was intrigued this morning when I was informed that the Philadelphia Phillies traded a relief pitcher from their minor league club.

Hmm, I wonder what we got. Maybe a low draft pick or some other minor league prospect? Maybe some cash compensation?

As I read the article, I kept trying to see if I was possibly reading over something.

But the headline reminded me that not all trades make sense.

“The Philadelphia Phillies Traded A Minor League Prospect To The Los Angeles Angeles For No Compensation.”

What? Nothing? No money? No prospects?

Yup, that’s right. The Phillies literally got NOTHING from the Angels. The Angels got Mike Cisco, and the Phillies opened a roster spot.

Granted, the Phillies made the move because they believed that they were holding too many minor league pitchers. Fine, send a guy away. But, don’t just hand him over. Get something back for him. It doesn’t have to be a player. Just get some cash or something.

But NOTHING?! That’s inexcusable. I’m honestly in shock. How can a professional front office actually make this kind of move?

This is just a total head-scratcher.

Right, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.?

Derp

Circular.


Circular we live

an eternity to see

why waste the Journey

Everywhere we go

people will find their stresses

but lose their true goal.

Life is circular

and people love to worry

slow down. life is long.

NFL Free Agency-Eagles Flyin’ High

Free agency is a time where the mediocre teams of the NFL decide to add some new talent. It is a time to overpay for talent that usually wouldn’t command this kind of money. Free agency is confusing, but at the same time, makes all the sense in the world.

Well, it makes sense to me. But, a lot of people don’t get this. It’s alright though. It’s just what I do.

Anyway, the Eagles decided to crush the opening day, signing 5 players to contracts. The biggest signing, Issac Sopoaga, will play nose tackle in the Eagles’ new 3-4 defense. We needed a nose tackle and we got one. That was just day 1.

On my big board, I wanted the Eagles to pursue three big name guys. Those players are DaShon Goldson, Eric Winston, and Sean Smith. Goldson and Smith have signed with the Buccaneers and Chiefs respectively. Eric Winston is still out there, but there has been very little news surrounding his signing.

Day 2 was very slow. I don’t recall any signings by the Birds. I just heard a bunch of rumors surrounding Darrelle Revis trade possibilities. It is beginning to look like the Birds won’t be getting the prized corner.

After Day 3 finished, I was totally content with missing out on him.

Three more signings occurred on Thursday.

First off was the signing of former Ravens cornerback Cary Williams. You may remember him as the Raven that pushed a ref during the Super Bowl.

His background goes farther than that. He’s young and he’s got solid stats. He will likely be an instant starter in Philly.

Next up was our retaliation against the Giants.

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The Rolling Stone is Wrong. Part 2.

Several days ago, I wrote a blog explaining why the Rolling Stone’s list of the top 100 guitarists ever was wrong. Today I’ll be explaining why their list of the 100 greatest singers is wrong.

The Real Top 100 Singers of All Time

1.    Rolling Stone Says: Aretha Franklin

       Jack Beverly Says: James Brown

It’s kind of hard to throw Aretha Franklin off of the top spot, especially for the reason I’m about to give. James brown just had…more. Not only was he the greatest singer of all time, but he was the greatest showman too. He’s just everything a singer should be, times a million. I warn you, what you’re about to see is quite possibly the greatest performance ever. Take a seat before you watch it.

Key Track:

2.     Rolling Stone Says: Ray Charles

        Jack Beverly Says: Aretha Franklin

If you look up soul in the dictionary, you won’t find it. Instead, in its place, you’ll see a big picture of Aretha Franklin taking up about half of the page. Aretha Franklin is one of those few people that when she sings, it just sounds so damn easy. It just sounds like that’s the way she talks. If music had a mother, it would be Ms. Franklin.

Key Track:

3.     Rolling Stone Says: Elvis Presley

        Jack Beverly Says: Steve Winwood

If we were going with the most influential singers of all time, maybe Elvis wouldn’t be knocked off the top three. But, since its just the best singers, I have to go with Steve Winwood. Spencer Davis group, Traffic and Blind Faith are just a few of Winwood’s accomplishments. If I could only listen to one singer for the rest of my life, it would have to be this guy. He never forces his voice, and it just sounds right.

Key Track:

The Holy Man that Couldn’t

fefr

A country tore apart by corruption and violence.

A man in robes watches, doing nor saying nothing.

He is no ordinary man.

He is a man ordained by God.

Interesting how a man sent to do good can do nothing in the face of evil.

But I suppose that is the way God works.

The man is now a symbol.

A symbol of a religion.

Is that religion just or tyrannical?

It attempts to impose its dogma on the rest of the world.

It speaks of doing work for God but does nothing in the face of a true crisis.

Why then is the institution worshipped?

But the same answer comes, God wills it.

Lacrosse Week

This past week marked the first 3 games of the 2013 lacrosse season.

Our first game was against the York School from Monterrey, CA.

The team was on a southern California road trip and had played four games prior to their game against us last Saturday.

Our team on the other hand had not yet practiced as a whole team yet, and it was evident on the field.

The team has many beginning players and adding new players changes the chemistry of the team every year.

It is an adjustment period to learn how people play the game and to be able to predict how they will react to certain situations.

Come game time I was excited to be back on the field from 9 months ago.

For most of the game York was dominating offensively and defensively ultimately scoring 11 goals.

The game almost ended in a shut out until one of our star returning players, Grant Spencer, scored the one goal of the game.

We all celebrated like we had won the game, but to us it was a victory because we did not give their goalie the shutout.

Final score was 1-11 L.

I was disappointed, but also realized it was the first game of the season and we had a lot of room to grow.

On Wednesday came the game against Laguna Blanca, a game I look forward to every year no matter what sport I’m playing whether it be football or lacrosse. Even when I’m not playing in the game, but the school is, I get excited.

Many think that Thatcher is our biggest rival, and they are, but they are our biggest hometown rival. Laguna Blanca is our biggest rival over all.

Most games with Laguna consist of some mouthing off from players and their parents which at our level of play can get a little out of hand.

We aren’t playing Division 1 sports, what parents need to remember is:

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Happy Birthday Sarah

This weekend, my friend Kendall Shiffman checked me out, and I spent the weekend at her house. On Friday we watched a ton of TV, which was, as always, really fun.

On Saturday, my best friend Sarah came over in the morning, and we hung around the house. She then went to the lacrosse game while we got ready for her birthday dinner at California Pizza Kitchen that night.

At first, I was a little worried about the dinner. I knew a couple girls from a nearby school, Villanova would be there, and I had never met them before. I was nervous, and expected the dinner to be really awkward. Thankfully, it wasn’t. They turned out to be really nice and funny, and the whole night was a blast.

Then this morning, Sarah and her brother came over, followed by two of the girls from last night. We barbecued hot dogs, and ate ruffles with onion dip while drinking coke. It was delicious.

Sarah is my best friend. She’s funny, isn’t afraid to laugh at herself, and is someone I know I can always count on to be there for me. We have lunch dates every day at school, where we talk about everything and pretty much anything.

She has helped me so much, from problem-solving to leaving behind some of my insecurities and growing into myself. This weekend with her and Kendall was so much fun, and I hope the rest of her birthday day is amazing. Happy Birthday Sarah!!

Image

The Better Food.

Recently, one of my American friends asked me about my perspective of the food differences between Chinese and American food. Well, it’s hard to say which is better but there are lots of differences. But since I am a Chinese, I would of course prefer mine.

Gourmets will like Chinese food more than American food even by only looking at the it. Chinese chefs put a lot of efforts to make their food look beautiful. Since the ancient times, Chinese people have considered food as an individual type of art. Food is usually made colorfully and sometimes is made into the shape of animals, such as a dragon or a phoenix. Great dishes do not only have taste, but also have gorgeous embellishments. On the other hand, American food also has its own style of appearance. For both casual dining and fine dining, American food is often layed in the plates in a simple and clear way. Food eaters do not usually get a large amount of embellishments other than small pieces of fruits or vegetables.

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Observation

Power lies not with those who rule intellectuals, but who rule the fools. An Intellectual knows when his rights are being taken away, they fight and resist to no end. Fools can easily be owned. Their faith can be bought with the simplest of things. They will believe anything they hear, which is exactly hat makes them dangerous.

-Unknown author 21st century.

In the second half of the 22nd Century a computer virus spread that wiped the data from millions of servers across the country. This outage caused The U.S. to be sent back to the dark ages. There was no way to contact the military overseas, the internet was the only way to control a military that was entirely robotic. Although when you think about it, the enemy’s army was entirely robotic as well. I always thought it was a ridiculous thing, to make machines just to break each other, piling millions of dollars into robots that served the express purpose of destroying other robots. A huge waste of money.

Back to the revolution. The people grew increasingly angry with the government. Martial Law was in effect in most states, and people were starving. The programs that ran the farming equipment had been shut down, and most towns had no ability to provide for their populations. Villages began to fight over food and water. We became barbarians over night. Thousands of years of morality lost in an instant.

Hunger changes a man, his instincts take over. Food becomes one’s only thought, and those who had it had the power. The smart ones like myself read books from museums to learn how to farm and grow food for ourselves. We had a garden with a few vegetables growing, and life was good. Well, at least until the town got word of our little establishment.

When people get angry they riot, when people riot they destroy, and when people destroy, nothing can be saved. They devoured what little food we had and burnt our home to the ground. An incredibly foolish gesture considering that the books they burnt were far more valuable than the vegetables, but alas, fools have no time for critical thinking in a riot. They think only for themselves.

Pull the Trigger.

Gun shooting scenes are always among the most popular ones in American movies. People get excited for gun shooting scenes. During the visit to Las Vegas, I held and shot a gun for the very first time of my life. I am still very excited when I think about it now.

It was an afternoon, I walked into a gun store’s shooting range. The staff in the front counter assisted me and helped me pick the guns I will shoot. Boys likes to study and even collect guns, they know all kinds of guns, but I do not know as much as they do. Therefore I picked a few easy ones to start with.

After paying for the guns and ammo, A range master came and greeted me. He gave me a set of eyes and ears protection. The things that cover my ears would block the noise of a firing gun so that my ears would not feel uncomfortable. I also got to wear a pair of shooting goggles so that nothing would hurt my eyes. When I was about to hold the gun, I was very nervous. Because it would be almost impossible for me to shoot a gun in China, that was something very new to me.

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