White,+Traylor


 * Winter/Spring 2011 Mr. Dunne **

** A Pre-Game Warm-up **

What do sports mean to you as an athlete and as a fan?

I have been playing sports since I could start walking. I've played predominantly soccer, basketball and baseball. They've the only extra curricular thing I'm involved in, so they mean a lot to me and I take them seriously. As a fan teams like the 2004 Red Sox and the 2001 Patriots have made my childhood dreams a reality. I followed both of these teams forever and seeing them surpass every team they faced being big underdogs. It has inspired me to do well, and has showed me that hard work can pay off in the end.

What has been your with youth sports? Describe your best and worst experiences.

My worst experience in youth sports was in the 2009 fall soccer season when I missed our final penalty kick in the New England tournament quarterfinals to knock us out of the tournament. It was the first time I cried in sports since I was 10 or 11, and I was 16 then. I felt that I had let the whole team down, and that the end of the season was all my fault. All my teammates were consoling me telling me that we wouldn't have made it to the playoffs without me. It took me a while to get over it but in the end it has given me mental strength and determination to eventually redeem myself. My best experience in youth sports was winning the Division 2 Metro-west basketball Championship with my 7th grade Dedham travel team. We were seeded 7th and won our first playoff game easily, but our second game was against the number 1 seed who was undefeated the whole season. We had to play them away, and our coach had pumped us up for the game and when we took the court we were all business. We beat them by more than 20 and it was the best feeling in the whole world seeing the other teams faces after the game. We went all the way to the championship game and won by 3 points in the final minute and our bench rushed the court when the buzzer sounded. I still have the picture in my room of us with our championship tees on holding up the metals and when I see this picture it only bring a smile to my face

Do athletes make good role models? Identify one or two professional athletes to make your case.

It's not about the athlete and how successful they are, its their personality and how they carry themselves. Not only is Ray Allen arguably the best shooter ever to play the game, but he also does a lot of charity work and work with NBA cares. He has also won the sportsmanship award on multiple occasions. Some people might say that LeBron James is a better basketball player than Ray Allen, but James is selfish, egotistical and arrogant. He is not a good role model for kids, while Ray Allen is for his incredible skill he possesses and his charity work. It's important what they accomplish on the court, but a role model should be someone who carries themselves respectably off the court.

What sports/teams do you pay attention to the most? How much time do sports occupy in your life? How do you spend that time (attending, watching, reading, talking, participating)?

My first love was the Red Sox. Ben and I would listen to them on the radio every night in our room, and eventually watched them starting in middle school when we finally got NESN. Growing older I kinda grew out of this phase and started fallowing the Celtics and Patriots very closely. I watch every Patriots game and most Celtics games. I've only been to a handful of Patriots games in my life, but attend the Celtics and Red Sox both 5 or 6 times. I watch sports center on the regular and a night doesn't pass where I don't watch sports center or a game on ESPN.

What sports-related issues would you be disappointed //not// to cover in this class? Why?

I hope we can go more in depth concerning the Michael Vick and the dog fighting scandal. I believe animal cruelty is a big issue, and it says a lot about our society in general.