Matt Whittington

Journalism Final

1/20/14

Research Paper

Year after year, we all hear about the imminent danger that the game of American Football places its players in. The main injury that always makes headlines are concussions. Every week, NFL players have to sit out of games because of this injury. To combat this, new rules have been added to the game regarding tackling. Fines, and suspensions are now being used to keep players from causing head to head hits, but this method of discipline may not be as effective as NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had hoped. This brings up the question: Have the new rules, and penalties regarding player safety truly reduced the number of injuries?

            Concussions still happen on a regular basis, but now it also seems that leg injuries have greatly increased as well. Since players are being fined for helmet to helmet hits, helmet to knee collisions are now more common than ever. In an article by Mitch Abramson, he talks about, “players frightened of being fined for helmet-to-helmet hits, the league’s new phenomenon is for players to hit low, resulting in vicious helmet-to-knee collisions, such as the one that put Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski on season-ending injured reserve after he was drilled by the Browns’ T.J. Ward.” The hit T.J. Ward delivered to Rob Gronkowski was a completely legal hit because the leagues’ new rules do not say anything about going for the legs on a tackle. Regardless, Roger Goodell seems content with the changes, “Goodell applauded the new rules regarding hits to the head, saying the sport is in a better spot for long-term success because of the changes.” However, Tedy Bruschi, a 13 year NFL veteran linebacker of the New England Patriots, does not see things in the same way, “Bruschi argued that players trying to follow league protocol by leading with the shoulder instead of the helmet are still getting penalized and that referees are failing to recognize “effort” on behalf of defensive players. With little room to operate, the players are eliminating the upper body as an option to tackle and aiming low, resulting in injury.” This is a huge flaw in the addition of these new rules. If the league is going to enforce a rule with big in game penalties, and fining players personally, they at least should be held accountable for recognizing defensive players who attempt to avoid helmet to helmet hits. It is not fun for fans to watch players get hurt badly, so the rules absolutely should be altered to reduce leg injuries either as well as, or instead of the rules about head collisions.

            The National Football Leagues' rules regarding helmet to helmet collisions have also trickled down into the lower levels of the game. It is apparent that colleges have enforced the rules, but also high schools across the nation are implementing a much more strict mindset towards blows to the head. While this undoubtedly is a positive thing for kids, and their safety, it also garners some negative setbacks for the game. Since I play football, the new, and almost extreme emphasis on avoiding helmet to helmet hits, makes players worried about delivering a big hit that can be a huge momentum swing in your teams favor. I asked a few players what they thought, and they agreed that they were fearful of getting penalized for a solid hit on someone. Generally, people that play football, including myself, have grown accustomed to the violence of the game, but also sincerely like this aspect of the sport. Being afraid to hit someone because of the threat of a penalty is definitely detrimental to a players ability to enjoy himself during a game.

              These new rules, however have not had the responding statistics that Roger Goodell had undoubtedly hoped for. According to a study by Edgeworth Economics serious injuries have only gotten more frequent, “The study says there were 1,095 instances of injuries sidelining a player for eight or more days in 2009 - including practices and games in the preseason, regular season and postseason - and that climbed to 1,272 in 2010, 1,380 in 2011, and 1,496 in 2012. That's an increase of 37 percent.” 37 percent is a huge increase for these injuries, at a time when these rules began taking effect. Not only percentage wise, but the numbers of injuries have gone up to as much as 1,496 in 2012. This is an enormous number once you consider the fact that there are a grand total of 1,696 players in the National Football League. Also the average number of games missed due to a concussion was 16 in 2012. According to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, “who said the league will look at the studies findings, attributed the longer absences for players with concussions to more caution in the treatment of those types of injuries.” This brings up the point that the execution of these new rules has been extremely suspect because they have not been very effective at reducing injuries. In fact, statistics have shown that injuries have been increasing by close to one hundred injuries every year since the implementation of some of these new rules. So why does the NFL continue to enforce a rule system that is literally hurting its players?

               The impending concussions lawsuits are a good place to start looking for a reason that the NFL has taken such extreme measures to add new rules to its game. The NFL, and its former players had agreed upon a 765 million dollar settlement about the case. However, there has been judicial intervention that has stalled the agreement saying that the NFL might not be giving enough money in the deal. It is entirely likely that the NFL is trying to sweep these lawsuits under the rug to avoid problems. In an article on Forbes.com, John Banzhaf said the settlement would, “allow the NFL it to keep secret what it knew about the dangers of concussions.” This means that not only were players getting a relatively low amount of money considering the magnitude of the case, but that the NFL is trying to cover up that fact that it may have known about the dangers of concussions. It is entirely possible that the NFL may have added these new rules in order to assist in their settlement regarding concussions. If the NFL added these new rules, it would have made many ex-players happy that progress was being made.

               However now it has been revealed that the number of injuries per year have risen rapidly since 2009, and it may have something to do with the legs of receivers, and running backs being targeted. The NFL needs to revert back to the old rules regarding hitting because statistically, there were significantly less injuries that players had to deal with. 

Abramson, Mitch. "Tedy Bruschi, Former New England Patriots Linebacker, Rips NFL's New Rules on Hitting." NY Daily News. N.p., 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 14 Jan. 2014.

"NFL: Severe Injuries Increased Every Year from 2009 to 2012." WCPO. N.p., 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

Heitner, Darren. "NFL Concussion Lawsuit Settlement Agreement Stalled By Judicial Intervention." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.

J. Cole

Born Sinner

Roc Nation/Columbia

Rolling Stone: star rating

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JON DOLAN

June 18, 2013

"Sometimes I brag like Hov/ Sometimes I'm real like Pac," J. Cole raps on his second LP. Sometimes he's both – a verbal powerhouse and a self-emptying truth-sayer. The flagship signee to Jay-Z's record label spins dervish rhymes over dazzling self-produced tracks (see the Outkast-sampling "Land of the Snakes"). His riffs on racism, homophobia and misogyny have more lyrical cunning than insight. But when it comes to twisting himself into Kanye-size pretzels of career-oriented real talk, he's a champ; on "Villuminati," he raps, "Beyoncé told me that she want to cop the blue Bugatti/That shit is more than what I'm worth/I think she knew it probably." Have fun at the next company picnic, homey.

The Beatles

On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2

Apple/Capitol

Rolling Stone: star rating

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By

 DAVID FRICKE

November 12, 2013

This was social media in Great Britain in 1963, during the first flash flood of Beatlemania: George Harrison singing "Do You Want to Know a Secret" for Deanne and Jenny in Bedford; Paul McCartney belting "The Hippy Hippy Shake" for a student at the bassist's old grammar school in Liverpool; Ringo Starr stumbling over names on a request card from Yorkshire. That year, the Beatles ran riot over the BBC, even landing a weekly radio series of studio performances, dedications and wisecracks, Pop Go the Beatles – a vigorous innocence and outreach that propels this second culling of the group's Beeb work. The Beatles are enjoying the speed and lunacy of stardom here: tugging their roots forward in Little Richard's"Lucille" and a sparkling cover of Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" a year before they cut it for a record; going deep into their Cavern-era song bag for Chuck Berry's "I'm Talking About You" and Carl Perkins'"Glad All Over." The mounting hysteria of concerts seeps into "Misery," taped at a BBC theater in March 1963; the live audience can barely contain its screams in the middle. You also hear the distance growing: "It's amazing that you can hear us as we're in America now," Lennon cracks in a pretaped chat in early '64. There would be no more dedications to schoolgirls in Liverpool. The Beatles now belonged to the world.

Eminem

The Marshall Mathers LP 2

Aftermath/Interscope

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 JON DOLAN

November 1, 2013

The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is the kind of sequel that gets people shouting at the screen in disbelief before their seats are warmed up. The first song, "Bad Guy," is seven white-knuckled minutes of psycho-rap insanity in which Stan's little brother comes back to chop Slim Shady into Slim Jims, tossing him into the trunk and driving around Detroit – listening to The Marshall Mathers LP, of course. "How's this for publicity stunt? This should be fun/Last album now, 'cause after this you'll be officially done," Em raps, playing his own killer.

Eminem could use a publicity stunt, and The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is just what the therapist ordered. During the 13 years since The Marshall Mathers LP, he's never lost his acrobat-gremlin skills on the mic. But some subsequent albums felt hermetic, perverting rage into rock-star griping on 2004's Encore, horror-show shock tactics on 2009's Relapse and 12-step purging on 2010'sRecovery. The Marshall Mathers LP 2 is about reclaiming a certain freewheeling buoyancy, about pissing off the world from a more open, less cynical place; he even says sorry to his mom on "Headlights," where he's joined by Nate Ruess of fun.

Nostalgia is everywhere. Em surrounds himself in allusions to classic hip-hop, like the Beastie Boys samples producer Rick Rubin laces together on "Berzerk." It's telling that the only guest MC is Kendrick Lamar on "Love Game," probably because his slippery syllable-juggling owes a lot to Eminem.

Yet Em's former obsession – his own media image – has been replaced with a 41-year-old's cranky concerns. He's still a solipsistic cretin, but in a more general, everyday sort of way. He raps about how he can't figure out how to download Luda on his computer and waves the Nineties-geek flag with references to Jeffrey Dahmer and the Unabomber. He's playing his best character: the demon spawn of Trailer Hell, America, hitting middle age with his middle finger up his nose while he cleans off the Kool-Aid his kids spilled on the couch.

Much of the album hews to the stark beats and melodies he loves rapping over. But the tracks that lean on classic rock are loopy and hilarious. "Rhyme or Reason" brilliantly flips a sample of the Zombies' "Time of the Season"; when the song asks, "Who's your daddy," Em answers, "I don't have one/My mother reproduced like a Komodo dragon." "So Far . . ." shows some love for a Rust Belt homey by rhyming over Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good": "Jed Clampett, Fred Sanford, welfare mentality helps to/Keep me grounded, that's why I never take full advantage of wealth/I managed to dwell within these perimeters/Still cramming the shelves full of Hamburger Helper/I can't even help it, this is the hand I was dealt to."

MM LP 2 fits in well in the year of Yeezus and Magna Carta . . . Holy Grail, records by aging geniuses trying to figure out what the hell to do with their dad-ass selves. (It's like hip-hop is the new Wilco or something.) Since Em has always been a mess, he'll probably still be able to give us pause when he's rhyming about retirement ventures through dentures and cleaning out the colostomy bag he wears up inside his saggy drawers. MM LP 3, 2026. Let's do this.

Elton John

The Diving Board

Capitol

Rolling Stone: star rating

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 ALAN LIGHT

September 13, 2013

Tabloid fixture, Las Vegas institution, movie producer, duet partner with everyone from Lady Gaga to Queens of the Stone Age – even in his sixties, Elton John still thrives in the spotlight. Yet musically, his priorities have shifted. When he released 2010's The Union – a triumphant collaboration with Leon Russell, which reclaimed the legacy of one of Sir Elton's greatest inspirations – he said that the project had left a permanent mark on his creative direction. No longer would he chase the fleeting vanities of pop taste, but he would commit to making music that was more honest and personal. 

The first result of this new approach is The Diving Board, which brings Elton back together with Union producer T Bone Burnett and demonstrates that he wasn't blowing smoke. The album is more focused than anything he's done in years, and it returns Elton to the kind of spare, country-flavored narrative songs with which he made his name on early-1970s masterworks likeTumbleweed Connection and Madman Across the Water – before he plugged in his electric boots, transformed into Captain Fantastic and became the biggest rock star in the world. 

For much of the album, Elton's piano is backed only by neosoul wonder Raphael Saadiq, who plays bass, and drummer Jay Bellerose, at times augmented by guitar fills from Doyle Bramhall II or by atmospheric horn or string arrangements. The simple feel leaves space for the recurrent themes of travel, memory, nostalgia – of lessons learned – to resonate, reaching wistful, emotional peaks with "Voyeur" and the first single, "Home Again." As usual, Bernie Taupin's lyrics are filled with images of vintage Americana and the Old West. Sometimes, as on the detailed history lesson of "Oscar Wilde Gets Out," the words are too dense to leave much room for melody, and occasionally a metaphor runs amok ("When the arrow's in the bull's-eye every time/It's hard assuming that the archer's blind"). But the opening "Oceans Away," a moving, deceptively complex tribute to the lyricist's father and fellow World War II vets, illustrates the power of Taupin's language. 

Perhaps the LP's most impressive achievement is the way it returns Elton's piano to the forefront, where it ought to be. There has never been a rock pianist like him, equally fluent in Little Richard jackhammer rhythms, careful, Nashville-derived fills and English music-hall razzmatazz. It's apparent in three brief instrumental breaks, but even more so when he lets loose with the honkytonk gospel of "A Town Called Jubilee" and "Take This Dirty Water," where Russell's influence is felt the deepest. 

The album ends with the title track, a slow and stunning meditation on that final moment of youth, when we are all still pure potential. "I was 16/And full of the world and its noise," Elton recalls in the slightly slurred and weary voice of the saloon singer, before embracing the call of "the planets alight/Those dizzy heights." With The Diving Board, Elton has regained his sense of musical possibility and taken a brave, graceful jump.

Self-Deprecation

                There are way too many things that tick me off than I care to admit. Most of them, however, are simply pet peeves that shouldn’t make me angry, yet they never fail to do just that. Here is a list of some of these things:

 One of my pet peeves are when people come into my bedroom, but fail to close the door when they leave. I shut the door for a reason, and that reason was most likely to keep others out, so I get pretty mad when they leave it wide open.

Another one of my pet peeves generally happen very late at night, and it is always one of my parents. You see, when my parents are trying to sleep, and I need to do something I try to remain relatively quiet when doing so. However when I am trying to sleep, my parents think it is a great time to be as loud as possible. I don’t know why, but my mother will occasionally start vacuuming at midnight. It truly is mind boggling that they can’t wait until the morning, but I guess the thought never occurred to them.

It also never fails to annoy me when people have clearly finished their drink, yet they continue to slurp away as if their life depended on it. Seriously just get more, or throw it out, it’s gone.

This one happens when I’m driving all the time. Getting stuck behind drivers who have do not turn on red where it is allowed. Seriously, I think getting a license is way too easy, because some people seriously should not have a license. It also annoys me when I come out of a store to find somebodies car inches from mine. There are lines painted on the pavement so this very thing does not happen. You are supposed to be in between them, not taking up two spots at once.

I also dislike people who hate Tom Brady, yet cannot come up with any legitimate reasons for feeling this way. The true reason you hate him is because you are jealous of him. He is the starting quarterback for one of the best teams in the NFL. He has three super bowls, he is rich, with an even richer wife, he is arguably the best quarterback of all time, he is very bad at losing (I could keep going), and you are not. That is the only real reason you hate you hate him. He did not do anything to you except beat your favorite team.

I also hate it when people butter their toast, but leave a ton of crumbs in the container. It completely soils the butter, and makes it look nasty.

It is also frustrating when I go to watch a movie, I open the DVD case only to discover that: A) its empty, or B) there is a completely different movie in it. Seriously, why is it so difficult to put a movie back in its case?

People that do not cover your mouth when they cough, especially when they are sick. You are sick, and yet I might believe that you are sick in the head if you actually have the audacity to not prevent your disease from spreading by simply covering your mouth.

It is also infuriating to go to brush your teeth, only to discover a sticky mess all over the toothpaste container. Somebody needs to invent a new toothpaste dispenser, because the current toothpaste containers are an old fashioned, and extremely effective at making a mess in your bathroom.

I also find it concerning when I’m on the highway, and I see people with their feet hanging out the window. They don’t seem to realize that if they get in a light car accident, they could get their leg cut off or worse.