Jose+Romero

=The Danger of the Game of Football = toc

** People always seem to find a way to entertain themselves in the simplest ways. It could either be playing cards, watching movies, or telling a story. But to some people, that’s not enough to keep people entertained. People like to do extreme things such as hunting, skydiving, or even boxing. Those things may seem harmless, but could bring serious harm or even death to someone. But the one practice that attracts my attention is the game of football. It may seem fun but a lot of professional football players suffer career ending injuries. **

media type="youtube" key="VhmMU6afIHo" width="425" height="350"

** When I was a freshman in high school, i played football for my school. My second game into the season I hurt my knee and I was out for the remainder of the season. I was lucky enough to still be able to play basketball. That’s when I saw what serious consequences football injuries could have on my future. I love the sport of football and the feeling of scoring a touchdown is indescribable. But some people do not understand how dangerous it can be to play football. Football looks like a complicated game of tag, except it involves hitting and strategy. Every play that occurs in a football game could include a short term and even career ending injury. **

** [|Professional football] has been played for almost over a century. The NFL started its operations on September 17, 1920 in Canton, Ohio. The league started with about eight teams. Throughout the years it gained its popularity because of its violent features. It doesn’t matter if it is acting upon the activity or even watching it. Back then, the only protection that players would wear was leather helmets. There were even fatalities back then due to poor equipment protection. People might not see the harm in playing football, they may only see the entertainment part of it. People even go to the extreme just to go see their favorite teams play. They might even pay thousands of dollars, just to see people carry a ball and get knocked down to the ground. ** ** The odds of a 250 pound linebacker suffering an injury are quite less than that of a 180 pounds wide receiver. Size and weight are major factors in the severity of a player’s injury. If a 300 pound lineman lands on the head of a 200 pound running back, that could be pretty scary for the running back. It all has to do with how durable a person’s body is, if it can take a lot of pain or hits. Everyone is different and that’s another factor of the odds of an injury. There are players that have played for twelve years and have never had a scratch. On the other hand, there are players who can’t even go through their first professional game without getting carted off the field. **

** The NFL has implemented a couple of [|rules] that are supposed to decrease the number of injuries that occur in the game. For example, any player who grabs another player in the facemask, which are the bars in the front of the helmet, will get a 15 yard penalty against their team. Also, hitting the players from behind will result in a 15 yard penalty as well. And the most important new rule is that no player is allowed to hit another player directly in the helmet. That could result in an automatic ejection and/or fine. **

** I hope that people’s awareness towards injuries in football increases and see the dangers of playing professional football. All they want to see is people get hit and make big plays, I am sure that people do not want to know the feeling of getting hit by a 250 linebacker going at someone full speed. I am sure no one wants to experience that. I appreciate those who join the NFL and risk their lives for our own entertainment. **

=Contested Public Spaces =

**People might see public spaces as common areas of recreation, shopping, or whatever it is people like to do in a public place. Someone could walk through the same place every single day and not see any kind of disturbance or abnormality. For example, having a business with conservative points of views profit in a location where it talks about having a diverse environment seems kind of wrong. This was the case for the Chick-Fil-A fast food franchise and the University of New Mexico. This caused a little stir in the UNM community. ** 

**A UNM student, Brittany Arneson, had written an article about how Chick-fil-A is making a profit in a place where their beliefs totally contradict the schools opinions. The writer states “The University prides itself on its diverse student body, yet it allows this anti-gay corporation to continually profit on our campus”. I would compare this to religion and its differences. It would be like having a man selling catholic bibles at a Jewish temple. **

** It would be unconstitutional if Chick-Fil-A was denied the right to have an establishment at UNM. Since UNM preaches about diversity it would leave the school in an awkward situation if they were to remove the restaurant from their campus. That would contradict their beliefs in treating all different groups of ethnicity, religions, genders and sexual orientations alike. **

** Chick-Fil-A has been part of controversial topics such as promoting anti gay slogans. Peter Wood says “Because if Chick-Fil-A’s support for pro-family causes, it has recently fun afoul for some gay bloggers who have called for a boycott of the restaurant chain ”. When chick-Fil-a started donating money to pro-marriage causes it made it seem like it was showing some sort of anti gay marriage advertisement. **

** In my opinion chick-Fil-a has the right to have a restaurant at UNM and make a profit because they have the freedom of speech and religion. The only problem with letting any company sell their product is that not all students might like that store or restaurant chain. Then again, some stores or restaurants are not that controversial. Not all fast food restaurants in the United States involve religion in their company. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Peter Wood states in his article that, “<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">students, of course, are well within their rights to criticize the company and to circulate petitions, and chick-Fil-a is well within its rights to support pro-family causes even as it pursues business opportunities on college and university campuses ” .Both sides may contradict themselves, but that gives no excuse for a group of people to demand the removal of a business. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> If UNM were to remove chik-fil-a from its food court because of its beliefs and supports, they would end up getting sued. That would be unconstitutional and it would discriminate the beliefs of a religion. Chick-fil-a has the right to support any cause they like without being criticized. It is wrong for the gay community to judge this company because they are also discriminating heterosexual marriages and ** **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">contradicting themselves. **


 * Works Cited:**


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“<span style="color: #000080; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Anti-gay Chick-fil-A profits at UNM.” __DailyLobo.com.__ 09/29/11. University of New Mexico. 10/18/11. [|www.dailylobo.com/index.php/article/2011/09/antigay_profits_at_unm] " **

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">**“Is Chick-fil-A anti-gay?”.01/31/2011. __[|The Chronicle of Higher Education].__ 10/18/11**

=<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Console',Monaco,monospace; font-size: 120%;">Is Corporal Punishment Right? =

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Corporal punishment is a custom that has been carried throughout generations as a form of discipline towards children. This form of punishment is used in a lot of different cultures. Parents usually spank their children when they misbehave. A lot of people disagree with the method of corporal punishment; instead they ground their children so that kids will learn their lesson and not make the same mistake twice. Sometimes corporal punishment goes as far as using shoes or belts as the object of the very harsh lesson. Corporal punishment is an effective way of raising children in a manner of keeping them well behaved. ** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The other method that parents use to discipline a child is grounding a child for misbehaving. This could either be telling them to stand in the corner for half an hour, or it could be taking away the child’s TV for a whole day. In “Who’s Irish,” the grandma ended up spanking Sophie because she would not listen about taking off her clothes. She never took her clothes off again. In effect, it could be a painful lesson for the child to learn that what he or she did was wrong and not do it again. If they don’t want their prized possession to be taken away again, then all they have to do is follow the rules being implied by their parent or guardian. Some parents think that grounding a child is not harsh enough to punish a child, it only softens them up. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">The majority of today’s teenagers can say that they have experienced corporal punishment at least once in their lives. Once a kid starts to grow older, corporal punishment isn’t used as often. If a parent tells their little 4 year old to stop misbehaving they won’t understand, in that case, corporal punishment has to be used. Once a kid starts to grow up, he or she will understand when told not to do something. Unfortunately my family followed this kind of punishment and I experienced this harsh consequence. Fortunately now that I’m all grown up, I don’t have to go through this violent ordeal anymore. **



**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> In “Who’s Irish?,” grandma says that if they spank Sophie, she will stop misbehaving. When the grandmother says to spank Sophie, Sophie’s mom says, “In America, parents are not supposed to spank the child” (Jen 7). She says, “It brings their self esteem down and it will hurt them in the future” (Jen 7). I think that harsh punishment might discipline a child and help them be more responsible when they are growing up. They need to learn that what they are doing is wrong and it will get them in trouble if they keep doing it. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> My dad always told me that being too liberal with your kids can lead to a disaster when the kid grows up. If discipline isn’t implied then that child will grow up to be a useless citizen and be a burden on society. If there was no authority when a kid was growing up, then the odds of the child not being successful are pretty high. In other words, discipline has to be enforced starting the day that he or she is born. There’s not much discipline to be given to a 4 month old baby but when they grow up they should learn what is right and what is wrong. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> In some cases, corporal punishment may go too far. It’s one thing to spank your child or give him a little smack in the back of the head, but involving objects such as belts, paddles, or any other object to be used for hitting, could be considered child abuse. Many schools use paddling as a form of punishment either in elementary, middle, or high school. A lot of school districts have made this illegal because it seems as an extreme way to punish a child. It should be the school’s business to punish a child. With that being said, they need to tell their parents what the child has done and they will take care of it. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> Now that we have seen the different types of punishment out there, we may conclude that both types have their own ways of effectiveness towards a child’s behavior. If not taken to the extreme, any punishment may be correct by either grounding or spanking the child. The type of punishment that should be implied should depend on the severity of the trouble that the kid is in. A good parent should know what kind of action to take against the child’s bad deed. With implied control, corporal punishment may be an effective way to teach a child discipline and make sure they learn that what they have done is wrong. **

Works Cited:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> ( Jen, Gish. //__ Who's Irish? __ : Stories // . New York: A.A. Knopf, 1999. Print.)