Speak

                What might it feel like if your whole school was laughing at you?  What if they thought of you as the thing in the corner.  One might be thinking “What did I do”?  Another possibly could say why they did what they did right then and there.  Personally I would have ran and hid.  Speak shows how it is very hard to tell the truth and the longer you wait to do so it only gets worse.

                Think about the emotions Melinda was having while she was raped and how she didn’t know when or how to tell people.  One knew she wanted to tell her parents earlier in the story but she just couldn’t.  She wasn’t ready.  Finally in the end of the book she tells everyone and she gets all of her old friends back.  Rachel even wants to catch up on what they missed together all because she didn’t tell someone right away.  Telling the truth is one thing, but telling the truth right after the incident is another.  Vividly the incident is remembered in one’s mind when people are closest in time to the scene.  It has happened to me before and most likely many others because at first thought you have it in your mind but five seconds later you are thinking about what you were going to say.  It is like taking notes on a story; you should always write down what you were thinking when you read that sentence so that you don’t forget.

                In this particular story Melinda’s life got worse and worse as it went along.  It got worse in the way of she still had no friends except for Heather who thought that she needed to join a group which is fine but then she left Melinda.  Melinda’s parents also kept pushing their relationship farther and farther apart.  If she would have told them they might have felt sorry and tried to work out the differences between the two of them.  Parents always disagree about things because they are not perfect.  When they disagree and fight this much it is bringing Melinda down since she knows she has no control over what is going on.  The only thing she could do would be to tell them how she feels. Telling someone how you are feeling inside is very hard to do.  There is no reasoning why it is hard; it just is.  For Melinda it must be extra hard to tell her parents she was raped since that will lead her to thinking about her and IT(Andy Evans).

                Eloquently and clearly shown is why you need to tell someone if something bad happens to you right away in this book, a New York Times and Publisher Weekly bestseller Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  The message that Mrs. Anderson was trying to show in Speak was that you need to speak up and everything will be ok.

               

The Big Field

Imagine, being in Florida, Boynton Beach to be exact, playing senior league baseball all summer  long.  Would you ever think of being in the state championship? What might you think if you lost Game One for your team?  Probably not good.  However, your teammates say they have your back; even your enemy, the last of your team sitting on the bus, says, “Let's win this thing” to you. It just goes to show how The Big Field by Mike Lupica tells a tale of teammates of different ages can come together as a whole.

          
 Seniority on a team gives you a leadership role, but when the rookie tries to take that role away, it is not good for a team.  Even though you may say more leaders better organization, but that is not always the case. For this team it is not a good thing because they both want to be the superstar and only leader.  Since they both want to be leaders it causes great conflict between the two of them.  It evens starts a fight.  Fighting is not what you want when you are a team.  Thinking about fighting with a teammate is like a sin in team sports because then it shows that nobody agrees on what to do.  It proves that you have no grasp on how to fix the problem in hand.  That greatly affects how you do on the field or court.  In the story Hutch the main character and Darryl who is being scouted to play in the majors at only age 14 solve there differences and win the championship.  One may think that if players are fighting off the field they may fight on the field as well, but that is not the case; they may fight off the field but not on the field.  On the field they work together.  They work together well and turn the best double play in Florida. 

In this day and age leaders are what teams need, but there is a difference between leading and being bossy.  Being bossy can split teams apart.  Trust me I have had it happen before.  Teams must trust each other and play to each others strengths.  A team cannot win without a team effort and you can only have a good team if they get along well and have good chemistry.  That happened to the Milwaukee Bucks team in about 2000 with all of the smart-alec personalities  they all thought they were better than the others.  They talked bad to the media about there teammates and they made it to the eastern conference finals.  This team would've won the whole thing if they were a team and not just players, but they lost it.  They lost it for themselves, there family, there team, and all bucks fans throughout the nation.  It is a sad thing when one person thinks of themselves before someone else.  If you can help someone in need you should; it is just the correct thing to do. 

This Saturday, November 27, 2010 my family and I are going to a place called The Gathering in Milwaukee.  The Gathering in run only on volunteers who volunteer there time to serve meals to homeless people who are living on the streets.  I am even giving up badger football tickets.  Even though I want to go to the game it is more important that I use the time that I have to help others. that is what teammates should always be thinking, We not I.  If you are a player don't worry about being seen because it will happen if you are good enough, but it might be better to not worry about that and just play baseball eventhough you might not want to.  There is no I in team.

Mike Lupica's The Big Field just proves that teammates of different ages can come together and win a championship, but there will still be bumps in the road like there normally are.  Being a good teammate has proven to win more games for teams.  More teams need to work on there team chemistry because that is what makes teams better.  Chemistry on and off the court.

Bucks Edged by Thunder

          Brandon Jennings scored 25 points but the Bucks fell 82-81 at home to the Thunder Saturday night. Drew Gooden had a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Andrew Bogut finished with eight points and 12 rebounds.

Bucks Fall To Sixers

          The milwaukee buck fell to the Seventy sixers with a score of 90 to 79.  Led in scoring by corey maggette who has carried the load for alot of games this season who had 20 points. i have nothing more to say but that was a terrible loss to a 2 and 10 team who we should have blown out.  Now we are 5 and 7.

Bucks Fall Short to NBA Champs

          The LA Lakers won which seamed to be an easy game for them 118 to 107.  The Bucks Had big performances from Drew Gooden who was hussling all over the place, he had 22 points, Brandon Jennings who had 31 points went back and forth with Kobe who also had 31 points, and Corey Maggette had 15 points.
Overall we had a good showing and now we are 5 and 6 and ready to roll.

Bucks Beat Golden State

          The Milwaukee Bucks put a dagger in the hopes of the Warriors on the night of November 13.  The Bucks gave a beatdown to the warriors beating them 79 to 72.  I have to remind you that exactly 1 year ago Brandon Jennings threw down 55 on the Warriors which is what made him a known in the NBA.  Jenning had 19 points last night and John Salmons had 26 points.  Andrew Bogut had an off night but he still got his boards.  He had 8 points and 17 rebounds.

Bucks Get Revenge From Last Years Playoffs

          The Bucks put out another impresive showing this time against the Atlanta Hawks who beat the bucks in 7 games in last years first round.  The score was 108 to 91. The bucks won tonight with a TEAM effort that is what make it so significant. We had 4 players with at least 15 points.  They were Brandon Jennings, Corey Maggette, Ersan Ilyasova, John Salmon.  Today we won the boards battle by 12. Now we are 4 and 5 and on the rise.

Bucks Blowout Knicks

          The Milwaukee Bucks blew out the NY Knicks by 27 points last night.  Where we really beat the Knicks was on the boards.  We out rebounded them by 11 rebounds.  Last night our offense was electric and our defense was tenacious.  We had 7 players in double figures.  Led by Milwaukee's star Brandon Jennings who had 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists the bucks had a very good showing for the home croud fans.

Hornet's and CP3 Stay Undefeated Beat Bucks by 6

          The Milwaukee Bucks lost to the New Orleans Hornets 87 to 81.  The reason we lost was because the Hornets made 5 more Free-Throws than the Bucks but they had 2 more attemps.  If we tie them in Free-Throws Made we are right back in the game and have a chance to win it in the end.  I must say we have a clutch Free-Throw shooter in Corey maggette whose career average is around 82 % but this season at the charity stripe he has shot almost 90 %.  If I could vote I would vote for him for the sixth man award.  Now the Bucks have fallin to 2 and 5.  Next up is the Knicks on November 9. I don't know about you but I am feeling a blowout.  Let's see what happens.

Nice Road Win @ Pacers

          The Indiana Pacers have lost at home to the Milwaukee Bucks with the final score being 94 to 90.  The Bucks were led by John Salmon's 22 points and Brandon Jennings 18 points.  Luc Mbah a Moute had 15 rebounds which was huge on the night Andrew Bogut was out with a migraine. Now the Bucks have improved there record to 2 and 4.

Tough Loss @ Boston

          The Milwaukee bucks lost a tough hard faught game to the Boston Celtics 105 to 102.  We played a good game they just played 3 points better.  I have to complement Rajon Rondo on a 15 assists game.  Man is he a game changer.  We had 6 players in double figures.  This puts us at 1 and 4 but no worries we have 75 more games to turn it around.

Bucks Fall Again

The Milwaukee Bucks lost this past November 2 to the Portland Trailblazers with the score of 90 to 76.  Leading scorer for the good guys was Corey Maggette who had 16 points.  Overall it was not a good night for the bucks who made 27 out of 72 shots taken.  That is only 37.5 %.  Let's hope they do better next game.

Bucks Beat Bobcats

          The Bucks Beat the Bobcats 98 to 88.  Led in scoring by Carlos Delfino who scored 23 points and BJ ( Brandon Jennings ) who added 20 points to that.  Brandon also had 10 rebounds and 10 assists so he had the complete TRIPLE DOUBLE.  Thats right Milwaukee's superstar dropped a triple double on the Charlotte Bobcats. Now the Bucks are 1 and 2 and the Charlotte Bobcats fall to 0 and 3.

Bucks Lose Again

          The Milwaukee Bucks have lost again this time to the Minnisota Timberwolves with the score of 96 to 85.  Our leading scorer was Corey Maggette who had 23 points off the bench.  Corey has been money off the bench for the bucks this season.  Brandon Jennings led the offense with 7 assists.  Also Andrew Bogut added 10 rebounds.

Hornets Knock Off Bucks

          The New Orleans Hornets knocked off the Milwaukee Bucks 95 to 91 and it took the full team effort in the loss. 5 of the bucks scored 15 or more points. Those players were Carlos delfino, Dwight gooden, Andrew Bogut, Brandon Jennings and Corey Maggette. Carlos led the scoring with 19 points and he made 5 three pointers. The season opener was a good game and we must hope there will be many more except we are on the winning end.  The bucks are 0 and 1.

T'wolves win a Nail-Biter over the Bucks

          The bucks fell in heartbreaking fashion Friday October 22 to the Minnesota Timberwolves with the final being 119 to 118.  The bucks leading scorer was Carlos Delfino who scored 18 and made 3 three pointers.  Carlos also had 8 rebounds and 8 assists.  That left him 2 rebounds and 2 assist shy of a triple double.  For the T'wolves there leading scorer, a former Buck, Luke Ridnour ended the game with 17 points while going 10 for 10 from the charity stripe.

Cleveland Wins Again without LeBron

          The Cleveland Caveliers won again in this preseason this time beating the Milwaukee Bucks by 6 points.  The final score was 83 to 77.  Chris Douglas-Roberts led the scoring attack with 16 points and Ersan IIyasova had 9 boards.  Also leading the Cavs in scoring was Ramon Sessions who had 26 points along with 3 rebounds and 2 assists.