Zion

Zion Williamson is not so different from you and I. He is a freshman attending a North Carolina college just like us. So why did his broken shoe create such headlines? So maybe he is a little different. He is 6ft 7 inches and is the number one NBA prospect, perhaps the next first round pick in the 2019 NBA draft. Duke’s game against UNC last week was looking like another classic.  Tickets were crazy expensive and fans were hyped up to see this kid play in this huge rivalry.  It only took about 30 seconds into the game when Zion took a nasty fall.  His Nike shoe had broken apart and he lay on the court holding his knee.  The crowd which included Barack Obama looked on in horror.  He was assisted off the court and did not play again that night.

Turns out he has a sprained knee and is expected to recover 100%.  So what are the longtime issues of this broken shoe?  Duke lost a game they were expected to win, Nike stock decreased by $1.1 billion and Nike’s hopes of signing Zion to a shoe deal when he turns pro, went down the tubes.  Zion’s golden future is probably intact but Nike’s shoe reputation is not.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nike-share-price-zion-williamson-shoe-duke-blue-devils-north-california-stock-a8791476.html

Colin Kaepernick

This week Colin Kaepernick settled his lawsuit with the NFL. I am sure everyone knows the story. During a preseason game, Colin Kaepernick sat on the bench for the national anthem to protest the treatment of minorities in the United States. He felt that he wasn’t going to show pride for a country that oppresses black people. Before long many of his teammates as well as other NFL players started to follow his lead refusing to stand during the anthem. He first protested in 2016 and has not participated in an NFL game since that year. The first amendment ensures the freedom of speech, religion and press but it does not cover Colin’s actions as the NFL is a private company and the first amendment ensures protection only from the government. He started a huge protest that caught everyone’s eye and lost his job because of it and no team wanted to hire him.  Colin’s protest was controversial and the settlement with the NFL shows he had a case.  Let’s see if we see Colin on the field next season. If he able to return for next   season, then this shows that the Nation Football League is giving him a second chance.


https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/27/politics/first-amendment-explainer-trnd/index.html

Class discussion Feb. 12

Today in class, Professor Smith talked about the separation of church and state as well as freedom of speech and the first amendment in general. He talked about Locke, who in the year 1689 wrote about the Letter of Toleration and had also mentioned Milton who in the year 1644 wrote Areopagitica. In his work, Milton was against a law called The Licensing Order of 1643, in which the British government forced authors to have a government license before their work could be published. Spinoza in 1670 criticized all organized religion in general. This is a topic that has been written about for hundreds of years. We still have issues. Recent comments by a new congresswoman that have been condemned as anti-semitic seem to violate the separation. Why would a government leader make such comments? Although freedom of speech could be argued it seems government leaders should be held to a higher standard. I guess Rep. Omar agreed she was wrong and apologized. Professor Smith drew out a triangle, at the top was the speech/press as "thinking" category, the bottom left shows being free and establishment as "being" category and the bottom right side as the assembly and the petition as the "acting" category. Only time will tell if Omar really meant her apology.

NBA allstar weekend blog

The countdown is on! In just 3 days the best basketball players in the world will be in our neighborhood.   The NBA All-Star game is coming to Charlotte on February 15th-17th.  The All-Star game and events have not made an appearance in North Carolina since 1991. This is a huge event for the best NBA players to show off their skills and for the NBA to promote their product while other players get a rest from the regular season. That hardly seems fair?! Although the game itself is supposed to be a fun, non-competitive game, both teams, of course, want to win! Besides bragging rights, the winning team gets to donate $350,000 to the charities that they are playing for and help those in need. This is actually more than just one actual All-Star game. The first day of the weekend is the rising stars challenge where all the rookies and second-year players are placed on the USA or World team and compete against each other. The second day is my favorite, it includes the 3-point contest, the dunk contest, and the skills competition. Sunday is the big game! Instead of doing East vs West, the NBA decided to have captains, one from the East (LeBron) and one from the West (Giannis) and let the captains pick their own teams from either side of the NBA, like how they do it in the streets for a pickup game. This event is great publicity for Charlotte as well as an economic plus for the area. Given the crossover these days between sports and politics these days there is bound to be some controversy, let’s see what happens. 

https://www.nba.com/article/2019/02/07/all-star-draft-final-rosters-official-release