Documentary in Terms of the Essential Questions (TOW 31)

Documentaries play a special role in society, as they can dictate how large percentages of the American community perceive certain events or people. By using the essential questions from this unit, we can explore how Winning Time: Reggie Jackson vs. The New York Knicks is constructed to change the perspective people have on the two teams depicted. The first question we must address is as follows: "How have modes of communication been a reflection of history and society?" This relates more to the content of the documentary, the themes and facts that drive the story. The movie shows the progression of the hatred that existed between the Knicks and the Indiana Pacers, even building up momentum only to contrast it by showing Reggie Miller saying "It could have been anybody." Not only does this system help in establishing chronological order and historical accuracy, but it also establishes the grounds for competition, the breeding ground for the history that would begin between the two teams. Although this is important to the overall understanding of the documentary, I personally feel that the answer to the second essential question, "How have modern modes of communication been perceived and received by the global community?", is more crucial for the film's overall success. The rhetorical decisions the director makes in his production of the movie are critical to the perception of the players involved in the memorable battle of New York and Indiana. For example, one of the worries producers had while creating the video was observing a backlash against Reggie Miller because of his excessive trash-talking. The director combatted this by adding a five-minute section devoted solely to explaining the career of Reggie's sister Cheryl and how that drove his competitive and aggressive nature. Now, instead of seeing Reggie as a merciless predator feeding on the youth of the NBA, Miller simply becomes the product of his sibling rivalry, something Americans can easily relate to, whether having seen them or being in one themselves. Through these methods, the documentary is able to effectively tell the sports story through the intended lens.

Documentary Analysis (TOW 30)

Nothing in sports beats a good rivalry. When athletes face off with competitors from their division or battle with players they dislike, the level of play skyrockets, sometimes to a point where suspensions and fines are the only way to prevent violent confrontation. In this documentary directed by Dan Klores, ESPN delves into one of the most notable and memorable playoff battles in the history of professional basketball. The New York Knicks were forced to deal with the Indiana Pacers and more specifically Reggie Miller, a guard out of UCLA who was known for using his trash-talking skills to rile up the opponents. In the 1994 and 1995 seasons, the Pacers and Knicks would have heated confrontations during both the regular season and the playoffs. Whether it was headbutting, chanting, or arguments with die-hard Knicks fan Spike Lee, the two teams always found a way to launch war on the other.

Klores does a phenomenal job of keeping the interest of the audience in the organization of the film. Instead of lazily throwing the information in chronological order, Klores sets aside his supporting information for the right opportunity in the video. Right when the audience begins to ask questions about Reggie or the Knicks, Klores carefully inserts a small portion on a topic that answers those questions. For example, after presenting various instances where Reggie shows extreme grit and determination, Klores places the information relating Reggie's drive to his sister's own basketball achievement and the consequent competition. 

Another important piece of the documentary was choice in music. When the film began to detail the hate that existed between the Pacers and the Knicks and explained how Reggie got in the minds of his opponents, the music is not serious; actually, the music is similar to what would be played at a circus! Why? The music helped to emphasize the idea that Reggie was playing with his competition, stirring their anger to make his success much easier. Without this music choice, the documentary ultimately loses the interpretation it works toward creating the environment where Reggie Miller was most successful in enraging his New York opponents. This, added with a clip of Michael Jordan, arguably the best player in NBA history, losing his cool and attacking Reggie, was effective in keeping the audience's attention throughout the whole documentary.

Bibliography:

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs the New York Knicks. Dir. Dan Klores. ESPN Films, 2010. DVD.

TOW Reflection (TOW 29)

After rereading three of my TOWs from this year (Drew Brees, Michael Jordan at 50, & Chris Pronger) and noting the differences in my writing tendencies and strengths, I have began to understand further places where my writing has improved and what facets of my writing technique I find most effective. The first, most  noticeable pattern that I found in my writing was my change in introduction length. In the first post, there really was no intro, as I simply jumped right into explaining the article. In my second and third posts, I provided more context and background to support the following information, with the third's explanation being a bit more expansive. What I noticed is that, as the introduction grew, my creativity in hooking the audience grew. This observation has shown me the value in carefully constructing one's introduction, while still remembering to keep intros concise and the focus on the content of a piece. Along with my improvement of introductions, I feel that I have become a much stronger journalist through this process. Before, my writing would be full summarization and little analysis or consequence. However, this course has made my summaries shorter, but not lacking in important information, an crucial skill that helps keep hold of the audience's interest. One habit that must change for my writing is preventing myself from writing formulaically, which happens so often to me with other assignments. When teachers give checklists and certain required pieces of information, I usually do not stray far from the checklist and write in the same order as the list. After reading all three of my TOWs, I think that a bit more creativity here could really aid in the perception of my writing. As I have now noticed from this new TOW assignment, TOWs are more than making sure we are keeping up with modern styles of writing: they are to apply the new skills from class to everyday writing. These assignments ultimately benefitted me as an author, as I am able to look at pieces from the perspective of the reader and learn from my past mistakes. These assignments have become a very useful reflection process for seeing the development and future solutions for my writing in its entirety.

The Book of Basketball (IRB TOW 7, TOW 28)

LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and other active NBA players constantly flirt with one season-long statistic: 30 points per game. These players, representing the most talented and valuable players in the world's most competitive and professional basketball league, are known to be the best in today's field of hoops. Despite how incredible these achievements are, though, would you believe that Wilt Chamberlain averaged over 50 points in the 1961-62 season? How about the fact that his 76ers team could not win the championship that year despite this outburst? Bill Simmons, an eternal Celtics fan, puts statistics from the 60s and 70s into perspective and compares Wilt Chamberlain to Celtics great Bill Russell. Simmons uses understatement in this chapter in order to achieve two goals: establish a relationship between him and his readers, as well as show how Wilt Chamberlain's minor mistakes ended up costing him on a major stage. For example, Simmons praises Chamberlain for his treatment of fans, professionalism with journalists, intelligence with basketball matters, and other factors. However, his one criticism was directed at his on court performance, which led to selfishness and blaming of teammates for losses. Simmons understates the multitude of issues Wilt encountered, but contrasts this by explaining the extent of these faults and why they created such a problem for his career. Simmons's highly basketball-interested audience takes two rivals in the 60s and 70s and compares and contrasts them in a unique manner to describe just how dominant Russell's career was over Chamberlain.

TOW 27: Chris Pronger has a Headache

The brain is quite hard to figure out. Neurologists study the brain day in and day out as they try to discover the secrets behind our, arguably, most important organ. In recent years, professional sports, most notably football, have made strides towards protecting the heads of players against concussions and more serious ailments related to the head. Hockey has taken part in this reform movement, and former Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger is a perfect reason as to why the NHL has to change. Sports Illustated's Brian Cazeneuve explains the hardships of Pronger to his audience of casual sports fans, telling about how one accident on the ice created millions of headaches, both literally and figuratively, for the defenseman. The most effective technique the other uses involves simple statement and lack of figurative language. In a piece geared towards both creating sympathy for Pronger and advocating for greater head protection in hockey, Cazeneuve keeps his piece easily readable and free of any complicated terminology in hopes of reaching more hearts with his writing. His simple statement is truly powerful when explaining the injury Pronger suffered, where the follow through on the slap-shot of Maple Leafs center Mikhail Grabovski punctured Pronger's right eye, and the new routine he must battle, shortening his attention span without migraines and headaches to less than one hour. The presentation of this horrible event achieves Cazeneuve's purpose, as the reader understands what changes must incur to prevent more headaches in professional hockey and spare future Chris Prongers.

TOW 26: Grading the MOOC University

As a student becoming acclimated in the college selection process, I can tell first hand that there is a consistent theme that runs throughout all college visits that makes many applicants feel safe in applying: a solid teacher-student relationship. With the rise of online courses and handling learning and studies digitally, the education system is starting to lose this connection and opportunity to correct one's mistakes. Author AJ Jacobs of the New York Times uses his personal experience with online courses to inform his audience about the his evaluation of these systems and the implications that these programs could have on how we learn as Americans. He establishes this point with his use of contrast in the criteria he uses for his evaluation. The program receives a bad report in terms of teacher-to-student interaction, but a solid grade in student-to-student interaction, revealing an interesting series of questions for readers to consider. Is this really valuable to students learning things? Could this place an emphasis on cooperation in the workplace in the near future? Does this situation embrace or push students towards cheating? All of these inquiries arise from the format and division Jacobs uses in his piece. Jacobs achieves his purpose and makes a strong point, stating that, while having courses available at your fingertips is valuable and useful when extra assistance is necessary, nothing beats the current college experience institutions are able to offer. This article has brought me new insight as to how I can most effectively collect the best information from my future in college.

We've Wasted Our Timeout (TOW 25)

          In terms of major conflict, the world has been dormant lately. Still warm after having been engaged in heated competition with the Soviet Union during the events of the Cold War, the United States was licking its wounds domestically, as were Russia, China, and most of Europe. Resolving underlying conflicts was unimportant, since nations were so fixated on their imminent danger. Author Thomas Friedman contemplates what the world could now see from this brewing conflict, and he writes an article trying to persuade readers that the world could surely be headed to another worldwide battle. The most evident rhetorical device he uses to help display this message is a metaphor connecting the situation of global politics to that of a timeout. Friedman links the two when he writes, “After all, in sports, timeouts are when you catch your breath, try to make sense of what is coming at you at high speed, figure out what has been working and what has not, design a play to win the game and then collaborate on its execution.” In a time that the world must be collaborating to find solutions to clear problems, nations are isolating themselves and simply regrouping. The comparison Friedman draws is perfect to describe the danger that is imminent in the near future of the globe. Friedman, in his article considering his opinion on what the world has become and what direction it is currently headed, effectively conveys his message and, as a result, achieves his purpose in the text.