Stories of Perseverance and Being an Underdog: What Andrea Joyce and the “Miracle” Team Have in Common

In our current day and age, stories about underdogs have become almost commonplace as the  media portrays every type of underdog story in the same format: there is a team that starts off the season with a very bad record, they then start to win some games, and they eventually end up impossibly defeating a far super team in a championship matchup.

Movies like “The Mighty Ducks” have made underdog stories seem almost commonplace

Just look at movies like “The Mighty Ducks” or “The Little Giants“ (among many others), and you will see this exact storyline. Granted, I just named two of my favorite movies growing up, which were both extremely successful, but Hollywood has truly made underdog stories seem repetitive and almost boring. That is why it is great when one finally discovers a truly heartwarming and incredible underdog story that would have been impossible to make up. Both the story of Andrea Joyce and the 1980’s United States men’s national hockey team serve as great examples of inconceivable and heartwarming underdog stories.

Celebrities Are Finally Speaking Out

Memorial for Michael Brown

If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past 4 months, you know that in Ferguson, Missouri, on the night of August 9th, teenager Michael Brown, who was black, died fromwounds from a gun shot of Police Officer Darren Wilson, who was white. While these descriptions of both parties would not usually be accompanied with their names, they were the reason that this caused much controversy throughout the country. People of all colors and races were up in arms about the shooting of young Michael Brown, protesting nationwide and in Ferguson. There were both violent and non violent protests happening, but it wasn’t the types of protests that were interesting, it was who was at these protests.

What Do You Play For?

Upon reading Mika LaVaque-Manty’s The Playing Fields of Eton, Equality and Excellence in Modern Meritocracy I was sparked with the memory of working the Special Olympics when I was a young boy with my Canadian side of the family. 

Inequality in Major League and College Sports

Attendance at at University of Michigan NCAA women’s basketball game

While great strides have been made in terms of granting women equality in our country, we have yet to reach equality in all aspects of our culture. One such aspect which lacks equality to women is the world of sports. While women are able to play college sports such as basketball and softball, the attendance at their games is mediocre. Additionally, attendance at WNBA games is even worse as the average number of attendants per game for the Phoenix Mercury (which led the WNBA in regard to attendance) was a measly 9,155 people in the 2014 season. That may seem to be a relatively large number, but compare that to to the Michigan men’s NCAA basketball team which had an average attendance of 12,138 people per game during the 2013 season, and the difference is clearly evident. It does not make sense that a professional level of basketball should be less popular than a collegiate level game on such a large scale. However basketball is not the only sport in which fans display inequality toward women.

Look at all of those fans!!

Boy Meets Hockey

Hello Readers, here’s a candy-bar of a blog to help you get the shredded ideas from bizarre articles out of your mind. But since you’re not doing your mind any favors by loading up on junk like this, feel free to suck down some ideas from high-vitamin, astronaut blogs while you read on. Wait, there isn’t any gravity in space so I suppose you gotta suck it up and bear with me as I give my impression on the first hockey game I’ve ever seen or attended. (Also, I’ll stop using “Boy Meets World” quotes).

My First Hockey Ticket!

To be fair, the only sport I really follow is soccer. Unfortunately, football has games at better times and Everyone goes to experience the Michigan Difference. But what about the soccer difference? What about the hockey difference? Boy, when I walked into Yost Stadium for the first time, I didn’t even know how to get to the students section. But the setting wasn’t the only thing that was new for me. Walking into Yost to see my first hockey game ever was like walking into a whole new world with its own set of rules, customs, and manners! You’ve read this far, now come along for a story! (cue sit-com intro music)

For the Love of the Game

This past week, I had the privilege to attend two LSA Theme Semester Events, the showing of Miracle with an introduction by UM instructor John Bacon and the Values of College Sports Conference, where Amy Perko and Taylor Branch commented on their reasoning of why college sports should stay around.

Stamp depicting a shot by Rob McClanahan, a player on the 1980 US Mens National Hockey Team, against the Soviet Union

During both sessions a general idea began to form. People played sports because they enjoyed it. They won because they enjoyed the journey to winning, playing the game. Kids want to continue playing the sport that they love so they work their way up the proverbial ladder of levels of play, each with varying levels of competition.

Dynamics of Modern Gaming

Videogames Consoles: The Wii, Playstation 4 and Xbox One

Videogames are an integral part of many people’s lives, as they provide an output through which people can blow off steam, relax, have fun, kill boredom and compete in a non-serious environment. What allows many players to get these benefits out of videogames is the fact that what happens in the virtual world typically has no effect on the real world.

However, in recent years a new trend, Major League Gaming, has gained considerable popularity, though not nearly the level of popularity seen in most major sports. The key difference between the Major League Gamers and other players is that these professionals compete against each other for money.

Major League Gaming: Call of Duty Ghosts