Champions and the White House

Article by Lexi Clary

Starting on August 30, 1865, President Johnson made it a tradition for championship teams from the four major sports: basketball, baseball, hockey, and football, to visit the White House to honor and celebrate their hard work, dedication, and victory, as well as their volunteer work in their community. Although other people in different professional sports are invited to the White House as well, these are the four sports that people normally hear about. White house visits are not only limited to professional athletes. While George W Bush was in his term, he started the tradition of honoring each NCAA Division I Champions. Thankfully Barack Obama has continued to carry on what Bush started.

According to an article by Greg Bates, another tradition has sprung from the players visiting the White House.  Teams now make it a point to bring the president of the time, a gift, to show their gratitude for welcoming them into the house.

Photo taken by: Pablo Martinez Menials
Obama parades his costume jersey in front of the press

We all remember the fantastic season the Royals played last year, claiming their well deserved title of World Champions in 2016. That win got them a ticket to meet the president himself, Barack Obama, and in return the Royals gave Obama and several other Politian’s a signed team jersey with all of the team members signatures on it.

The college team that has visited the White House the most is the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team, the Huskies. They have visited the house nine times. That’s the most any team has visited.

Another college team that has visited the White House four times within seven years of Barack Obama’s two terms, is the Alabama football team, Crimson Tide.

As anyone would imagine, being invited to the White House is a great honor. Although through the years, there have been a few teams  who have the title of champion and did not make the the trip

Photo taken by: Paul Berswill
Tim Thomas

Tim Thomas, An NHL goal tender for the Boston Bruins, decided to pass up the invitation to the White House. Thomas’ explains on his Facebook page that he “believes the federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.” He also said that “this is being done at the executive, legislative and judicial level.” And because he has the right of a free citizen, he “exercised that right, and did not visit the white house. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country.” And that was his choice as an individual to make.

Matt Brick, a player for the Ravens did not go to the White House in 2013 because he disagreed with Obama’s support for planned Parent Hood.

Photo Taken by: Charles Dharapak
Obama welcomes the 1885 champions, Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears of 1985 wear invited by Obama in 2011 to celebrate their victory of the time. The team could not make the trip in 1985 due to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Although politics and beliefs do play a role in some of the players attending the invitation, it is still quit an honor to make that special trip and to be recognized by the leader of the U.S.

https://youtu.be/f5HnIR1kemE

Green Party Candidate: Jill Stein

Article by: Lexi Clary

Photo credit: Taylor Hall

The Green Party is a left-wing group of the Democratic Party. The Green Party has 10 main key values: Grassroots Democracy, ecological wisdom, social justice and equal opportunity, nonviolence, decentralization, community based economics, feminism, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, and future focus and sustainability. The Green Party believes that these are the key values for building a solid foundation for world piece. They truly believe that they can make a difference in quality of lives and the environment.

On August 6^th, Jill Stein became the Green Party presidential nominee for 2016.

Jill is a mother, Doctor, and a hard-core advocate for environmental health.

photo taken by: Alison Balder
when Jill Stein was in Kansas City on July 1.

According to an article written by Mark Weiner, Jill stein has received the most votes for a woman candidate in the general election.

Jill Stein has helped lead “initiatives to fight environmental racism and injustice, she promotes healthy communities, she has helped with campaigns in the financial reform, and she has helped clean up of coal plants and toxic threats.

Here’s a look at some of the key issues in the presidential race and what Jill plans to do about them.

Marijuana: Stein supports the legalization of Marijuana. She would release all non-violent offenders from prison and even take off the drug offenses from records.

Jobs/Economy: Stein would also like to guarantee every American receive a “universal basic income” from the government, and a $15 per hour minimum wage. She also believes education should be free to all college students.

Health Care: Since Jill is a doctor, she understands the importance of medical care in the U.S. She would health care free for Americans through Medicare. She also wants to reduce the prescription drug prices, since those are becoming increasingly more expensive.

Civil Liberties: Jill opposes government surveillance and spying on U.S. citizens.

Environment: While Stein’s platform covers a range of issues, her top pledge is a “Green New Deal,” in which she would put an end to the dependence on fossil fuels to help counteract climate change.  The Green New Deal would “create 20 million jobs by transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2030.”

Photo taken by: David Reynolds-Gier at the same event. 

https://youtu.be/EAc_IUD-lXc

Back in the Games

 Article by: Lexi Clary 

The last time golf had an appearance in the Olympics was 1904 during the saint Louis games. Unfortunately, the men who showed up to play were from Ireland and Great Britain, sadly they were told that they would no longer be able to participate because they didn’t have enough room on the boat to transport the lads. Instead they decided to replace them with tug of war. That left the U.S. to compete against Canada. And if you think that’s lame, well, it only gets lamer. Canada actually beat the U.S., and until now I had no idea that Canada ever beat the U.S. in anything except for hockey. In 2009 they renounced that golf would be brought back into the games to play at the 2016 Rio Olympics, held in Rio Brazil.

With the return of golf, both men and women competed for the gold, bronze and silver medals. Although I personally am glad that they have chosen to add the sport back in, competition may not have been as grand as a person would think. Due to the Zika virus, many top players dropped out of the competition. This list includes Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlory, Jason Day and a few other top players in the game. The hope of golf returning to the Olympics is that it will help expose the game all over the world, and bringing more people to game whether it is to play or simply to watch. 

The format for the competition consisted of stroke play, which is where the total number of strokes taken to complete the course for an individual and the individual with the less number of strokes wins.

For the 2016 Olympics the format for competition would have probably been better with match play, that is when players are paired up in teams and the teams win by holes and not by individual strokes. One player, Matt Kuchar, had no idea that the competition was going to be played individually. An article by Kyle Robbins, thinks that the format is “counterintuitive and wasted an opportunity to set up an exciting an interesting team and match play event.” I would personally agree with Robbins, considering that for people who tend to think golf is boring, a match play; U.S. against Australia and Asia against Europe would have been quit a bit more exciting than the standard play of golf that we see all the time. The format would resemble much of the Ryder Cup match play. According to Olympic.org they are trying “to use the unprecedented exposure of the Games to increase participation in countries that do not already have a strong golfing background.” With hopes of attracting more spectators and participators in the game of golf.

https://youtu.be/R0aYbDdWiEw