Daily Archives: March 4, 2016

Jets Put Franchise Tag on Wilkerson over Revis

New York Jets v Buffalo Bills

The New York Jets have recently decided to “Franchise Tag” or in other words, claim Muhammad Wilkerson, a defensive lineman. Wilkerson is 6 foot 4 and attended Temple while playing defensive end. In addition, he was the 2010 captain of the Temple Owls as well as being elected the 2010 defensive player of the year. Muhammad was drafted in 2011 by the New York Jets in the first round and the 30th overall pick. He is arguably one of the most feared defensive players in the NFL as well as being an offensive lineman’s nightmare. Wilkerson has recorded a total of 185 tackles, 117 assists, 36.5 sacks, 1 safety, and 1 interception through 75 career game starts. He is currently 26 and was recently “Franchised tagged” by the New York Jets for 15 million dollars.

I think that the Jet’s should have franchise tagged Darrelle Revis. Revis is considered to be one of the top 5 cornerbacks in the league currently. The Jet’s defensive line is pretty powerful and intimidating as it is with rookie Leonard Williams, Veteran Demario Davis, the big man on the line, Sheldon Richardson. As you can see, the Jet’s have one of the or the best defensive lines in the game. The Jet’s depth in cornerback is not so appetizing especially with releasing 2 time defensive player of the year Antonio Cromartie. With this, the Jets leave Marcus Gilchrist, Calvin Pryor, and Marcus Williams as their defensive backs to prevent the pass. Clearly Darrelle Revis would be a better improvement for the team to have. One of the only positives that I can see out of the Jet’s deciding to tag Wilkerson over Revis is that Revis has age on Wilkerson. So if the Jet’s are looking for someone to have in the future to lean on for the defense, Wilkerson wouldn’t be a bad idea. Also, Revis is more well know hence the nickname, “Revis Island.” With this, Revis clearly will be asking for much more money that the Jet’s will be willing to give him rather than go with the emerging Wilkerson who is pretty good and will want more money. Another way to think why the Jet’s picked Wilkerson over Revis is that Revis will take up more cap space than Wilkerson. If the Jet’s are deciding on making a big signing in the off-season and picking up a decent defensive back, this would be ideal to save money, keep your rising star Wilkerson, and pick up a decent  corner in the off season.  Overall this could be a great move for the Jet’s if they plan on signing a cornerback in the off season or a bad move considering that they will be letting go one of the top 5 cornerbacks in the league.

~John

Is the United States Really A Democracy?

The United States Constitution has been amended 17 times, and they have all been for extremely important reasons, such as the abolishing of slavery, and the women’s right to vote, but is there another major flaw in the Constitution that needs to be amended? The thing that people see is  beautiful about the United States is the freedom. We get to chose our leaders, and elect our president, or so most people think. While we

do get to vote for who we want to be our president, the real decision is up to these people in the image to the left, members of the electoral college. For years different organizations and groups have tried to get rid of the electoral college, but none have succeeded. What the electoral college actually is and what they do are kind of confusing, so I will say them in simple terms. On election day, voters vote for the candidate they want to be president. Whichever candidate gets the most votes in that state, their chosen electors go to the real election in the first week of December. They will then cast their vote, presumably based on who they said they would vote for, but only 29 states actually require electors to vote for who they pledged too. Whichever candidate receives the most electoral votes is then the president. When the Constitution was written in the 1787, the electoral college was a good idea because voters had very little, if any, opportunity to learn about the candidates, so it was the job of educated, state appointed electors. This system is, however, now severely outdated and badly needs to be removed because of voters ample opportunity to learn about candidates.   
The biggest flaw comes into view when you realise that 21 of state electors (not including Connecticut) can vote for whoever they want to, even if they pledged to vote for someone else. If you pledged that you would vote for a certain candidate, and you are representing nearly 600,000 people, you would think that you would vote for the person that the 600,000 people chose. What I don’t understand is when electors vote for someone completely different, and even sometimes someone who isn’t even running! You may think that this doesn’t happen very often, but it has happened in every single presidential election in U.S. history! You may also be thinking that it doesn’t really matter if one or two electors vote against whom they pledged to, because the vote has never been down to one or two votes, but it actually has. In the election of 1876, the electoral vote was 185 to 184, just barely giving Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency. I don’t know about you, but I would be very mad if the person I wanted to be president lost because my elector lied. I hope that after reading this blog, you can support those who are taking action to abolish the electoral college.   

~James

How Technology Has Taken Over

Imagine there was a giant power outage and you could not use any technology until it was fixed, could you get through your daily lives. When thinking about a person’s dependency on technology someone can take one of two sides. Either they think people are too dependent on technology, or people are not dependent on technology. New technology is getting created every year, like phones and computers. This new technology’s goal is to be better than the last. Every time this new and improved technology come out, it can increases one dependency on technology. Technology is a great tool that helps people in their everyday lives, but the question is do people overuse it.

I personally think we are too dependent on technology. I’m not saying that everyone needs to stop using technology. One thing that has that has changed with technology is communication. This is a big area that I think has changed because of texting. Texting is an easy way to tell someone something, but how much texting is too much. That is a standard that should be set. A person’s dependency on technology, more specifically texting could make people less social. Since people have been texting and not really communicating face to face as much anymore, it could cause them to forget how to communicate with people. Communication is a really important thing in life whether it is for a job interview or a school presentation. I think this is a skill more people need. Communication is an important aspect of life that can’t be taken over by technology.

~Jimmy

Concussions vs. Fun

A huge debate has taken over the media, with the question, “Should kids be allowed to play Youth Football?” With surprisingly high concussion rates, many say youth football should be banned, due to some long term effects on kids. Recent research found that when children who play football and other contact sports suffer repeated jolts to the head, it can cause lasting damage to the developing brain. However, some parents seem to think kids should be allowed to play contact sports like football. Those parents say that it gets them physical activity, or promotes teamwork and discipline. They also say kids should be allowed to play, just for the love of the game. Some of the kids live and breathe football, and would be absolutely devastated if that right was stripped away from them. However, is fun strong enough to fight off the thousands of concussions that happen in youth football yearly?

In my opinion, kids should not be able to play football. When 2.5 million kids get concussed in four years, I think it’s a wake up call that this sport is too dangerous for kids to play. Frankly, not all the teamwork and discipline in the world can bring back all the damaged brains. Kids are constantly being stripped away of their lives just so they can have fun isn’t necessarily a good thing. More and more parents are pulling their kids out of football every year, and more people should follow. Youth football is a hazard, and it needs to be stopped.

~Kevin