Declaration of Independance

In A.P. Composition, February 9, 2012,

Declaration of Independence from Minor League Baseball

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are not created equal; as a matter of fact there is such an extreme drop off in talent a majority of these losers will never make it to “The Show.” Among these requirements are talent, intelligence, and overall passion for the game. This game truly shows who the Men will be that will be able to show off their talents and one day becomes a part of something special.

What is the point of following such a silly league in which only a handful of people actually know what these guys’ names are. For example how many people actually watch the MLB Draft or even know that it is televised? I would guess that about quarter of baseball fans actually know when the MLB Draft is, let alone watch it. So why be so passionate about such a nonsensical league? I enjoy looking at the hypothetical, the what ifs in baseball, knowing full well that approximately a quarter of them will have a career of a couple years or longer. Overall, clearly not all players are created equal, therefore one would really question what the point is to watching Minor League Baseball so closely.

Trancendentalist?

Do I identify myself as a transcendentalist? In some aspects, I see myself as one. The biggest problem with it is that I am not the quickest to agree with ideas or believe them or quickly buy into fads so that would be one major reason that I don’t always agree with the newest and latest fads. I do realize that this would have been in the 19^th century. The 19^th century was a major turning point in our country’s history, beginning with the new ideas in the earlier part of the decade to the Civil War in the middle, and ending with the Industrial Revolution.

                The parts of transcendentalism that I agree with would be the forward thinking aspects. I really would have been in agreement with abolishing slavery and the rights of women. It is very easy for me to make those decisions, because they should both definitely be considered part of our society today and should have been long before. Look at all of the ideas that African-Americans and women have brought to our country as a result of being instated fully into our society. Those impacts are everlasting and can’t be destroyed. Today we have an African-American president and who did he defeat in the primary, a woman. That would have been unthinkable in that time period to most; however, that is what the transcendentalists had in mind all along.

                The parts that I have trouble agreeing with would be the self-reliance part. Emerson’s Self-Reliance was a very interesting read, but there is no way that I could ever completely agree with all of his thoughts. In life you can’t expect to take on the journey by yourself. A main part of society is companionship and community; those are aspects that are necessary. To live your life by secluding yourself and believing that you have the godly powers that it takes to live on your own without much outside help is absurd. The only place to go from that point of thought is to live a long  lonely life without any help from anybody, and that is something that I cannot completely buy into.

America, "The New Country"

A new map of the United States of America-1854

My initial response to this map was that there was an inclusion of Cuba, a country that America has had an embargo on for the past 50 or so years. I wouldn’t have thought of them in this inclusion of a map no matter the year. Of the 31 states admitted by this time, this map shows all, as well as the 31 states included there are the territories of Oregon, New Mexico, and Utah. Something that is also surprising to me is that there aren’t any specified waterways or bodies of water, which was a good way of transporting goods.

            To me this really signifies the end of an era, it was 70 or so years removed from the Revolutionary war and just a few years before the Civil War will be taking place. The Civil War was the single most destructive act in America’s young history and something that we should learn from. Another thing that I am talking away from this map is the inclusion of Cuba as I mentioned before, it just shows how relations with other countries were not only frequent but important.

http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1854w5.jpg

Untitled Phobia

Well as of right now I don't have an extremely clear phobia, but to tide me over and to Mr. Kunkle's disapproval. The phobia is the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series. I already know that they have no shot of obtaining the Commissioner's Trophy, unless they can do the unthinkable and court Albert Pujols to Chicago in the offseason and get a wise man to replace Jim Hendry. The players right now are nothing more that mediocre and their upcoming talent is sub-par at best. Overall this is a complete rebuilding time on the North Side and I've got another 100 years to develope a real phobia.

Far From Home

A song that really means a lot to a certain Milwaukee Brewers player as it is his "walk-up" or "at-bat" music, Johnathan Lucroy the Brewers catcher has had this song as his walk-up music all season as a tribute to those fighting for our country in the Middle East. Written in 2009 by a rock group Five Finger Death Punch, Far From Home "is sort of a ballad" it definiely follows that definiton as it has come to be a tribute to those fighting for our country overseas. Since the song has been recently written it fits the tune of our counrty strving for a real reason as the song suggests that people don't realize the losses that happen and how much tumoil that a family goes through. Overall it has a constant theme that many can relate to.

Presidents

Well my inital thoughts of all of the crap spouted by these Ivy league grads was, could this be any more vague? It truely is very boring to fatham that all these men do is try to convince the masses that they made the correct decision in choosing them to run our country for the next four years. The most astonishing thing is that some acctually show remorse in their second term like Clinton and "W." where something had happend rather serious during their first presidency and by their dumb luck some people really enjoyed their presidency and felt that by boasting up the country in their campaign that they would be getting votes and that is exactly what happend. William J. Clinton had nothing to do with the economy but it was turned around during his years. George Bush tried to join his country together by stating that 9/11 was a time for togetherness and joining one another to be a strong country and is what has been a complete falasy for our country.

Moneyball

My Non-Fiction choice was the book Moneyball written by Michael Lewis. Moneyball is a biography of Oakland Athletics' G.M. Billy Beane. Beane grew up in Southern California under the impression that he would definitely be going to play professional baseball considering that he had two great chances to enrich his baseball career, no question that he was a first round talent in the upcoming MLB amateur draft, but he wasn't sold as his other option was for him to go to Stanford University on a joint scholarship where he would be playing football as well as baseball. The most intriguing part of the book was when Billy realized that after spending about ten years in the big leagues he went into Sandy Alderson's office (Oakland A's G.M.) and requested to become an advanced scout in the Oakland system. What Beane did really resonates with me, though I am not saying that I am near as good as he was but I feel the way that he did right now. I like to play baseball somewhat but I know that my dream job would be being able to take over a team and be the General Manager of any team and after reading Moneyball I really can relate with Billy Beane and before reading I wasn't a huge fan of Billy Beane, but what he has done on one of the smallest payrolls in Major League Baseball.