The Amazon Guide

These two coveted rookie quarterbacks will be forever linked as being the top two quarterbacks taken in the 2009 NFL Draft. Only time will tell who will end up being the best, however I believe one has a distinctive advantage already…

One can only imagine the amount of pressure and responsibility these two young men have on their shoulders. Once you get past the hype and the big contracts there is a much bigger task at hand…earning the respect of the locker room.

There are many examples of young quarterbacks not earning the respect of their teammates. A classic example is one Joey Harrington. Just never fit in and established himself as one of the boys in Detroit. His nickname was “champagne Joey” and his piano playing performance didn’t help much either. I actually had the pleasure of sitting next to him at a Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox game in 2005. He had his hat very low, talked with my friends and I a bit with a little cockiness but the most surprising thing of the whole experience…He came by HIMSELF.

At the time I really respected him for it and still do knowing how much the Detroit fans hated him at the time. However, it spoke volumes about his relationships with his teammates in my opinion. I mean the starting quarterback of an NFL team couldn’t get one other guy to go with him to the baseball game? The funny thing is that he did say some of the other guys were on the way but they never showed. Not a shocker that a guy like this wouldn’t succeed at leading a professional football team. He is now the third string quarterback in New Orleans and recently had this to say about Detroit when asked last year in the week 16 game against the Lions about their performance in 2008:

“Yeah, I guess I was here in their heyday”

I guess he can laugh now, but the point is that Harrington’s inability to win over the locker room had a big effect on his performance. So now the question is; out of Stafford and Sanchez, who seems to be gaining the respect of their teammates quicker? Without question the answer is Matthew Stafford.

A photo shoot and a couple pictures from a Nascar outing at Talladega have made all the difference in the image of these two youngsters. While Sanchez is posing for GQ looking like a Baywatch lifeguard, Stafford is keepin’ it real with a backwards hat, cut-off shirt and a keg over his head. Ironically, pictures that got him in trouble while he was in college at Georgia are helping his image in the eyes of his teammates in the NFL.

I first heard about these pics of Stafford a while ago but Tom “The Killer” Kowalski wrote a good article for mlive.com recently about how these pictures are earning Stafford respect in the locker room that opened my eyes to how they could be working to his benefit now. And Stafford’s teammates are not the only one’s who are gaining his respect. His new head coach Jim Schwartz had some really good things to say about him recently, noting his textbook release.

At Jets camp things are a bit different. Jets kicker Jay Feely wrote on his twitter page recently; “Should be another fun day for our boy Sanchez today … GQ photo shoot came out and he is taking heat!!!” Feely wrote earlier, “Sanchez was a common target from the moment he introduced himself.”

So, will these two be compared with Vince Young and Matt Leinart or more with Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco? My guess is somewhere in between, but Stafford has the early edge and the potential to break out to a point where he will not even be linked with Sanchez very much anymore.

Sanchez reminds me all to much of Harrington and they even played in the same weak defensive conference, the Pac 10. I’m not saying that Sanchez will be a complete bust like Harrington, but I’m not saying he’s the next Joe Namath either. Don’t underestimate the value of fitting in with your teammates and the effect that their image will have on the young quarterbacks performance. The fantasy value may not be there for either of these guys yet, however their fates could be pre-determined by their teammates already.

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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Stafford vs. Sanchez…Who has the Early Edge?

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Bi - Dazzled! ...

Several months ago, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (often referred to as Ted) passed away. Oft-referred to as a “liberal lion”, he was one of the Senate’s major supporters of healthcare reform and express vociferous support for the public option. His temporary replacement, Paul G. Kirk Jr. has taken up the mantle of his former mentor. Kennedy’s death was considered a blow to the prospects of a public option, although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have recently renewed them. With a decades-long tenure, he had connections with politicians on both sides of the aisle. It’s doubtful that a relative newcomer will be able to achieve the bipartisan cooperation he asked for in his recent floor speech. Healthcare reform, especially the public option, are very politically divisive issues. Rhetoric has become even more partisan over the past several months.

What exactly does Kirk want in a healthcare reform bill? During his speech, he assailed the health insurance lobby, which he referred to as a collection of “special interests” who profit off of the status quo. While many politicians in both parties have pointed to a recession as a reason for delaying reform (or scuttling it altogether), Kirk also stated his view that there is an even greater need for reform now, with so many families in need. Like his predecessor, he supports the public option, telling the Boston Globe that he believes it is the most effective way to increase competition in the insurance market and lower your health insurance quote. While not completely discounting the debt resulting from such an action, he seems to think that a New Deal-esque public program for insurance will assist in jump-starting the economy and eventually pay back in spades.

When it comes to driving the direction of the health care debate, Kirk is in a surprisingly good position–despite being a new senator with little clout in a chamber ruled by seniority. He also doesn’t have to worry about re-election, since he will leave office after Massachusetts’ special election in late January. As a result, unlike most other legislators, he doesn’t need to pander as much to either side. Above all, he wants both parties to cooperate the way they did in his home state. People across the political spectrum have pointed out flaws in that state’s healthcare reform program, but the combined efforts of Republicans (such as Mitt Romney) and Democrats on Massachusetts health care reform resulted in nearly all of its population (97%) becoming insured. Similar to the late Ted Kennedy, Kirk thinks that providing basic healthcare through a public option is a moral imperative for the American government. His ideal of compromise is a lofty goal. Kirk may not be able to overcome this philosophical difference with Republicans, who think private industry is more efficient and that it isn’t the government’s job to get so involved (although some are more open than others to stricter regulation of the health insurance industry). However, the underlying concept of a health care system that benefits all Americans is one that applies to both parties.

(Image: Official U.S. Senate Portrait)

About the Author:

Yamileth Medina is an up and coming expert on Health Insurance and Healthcare Reform. She aims to help people realize that they can get a good health insurance quote right now while waiting for a public option, if it ever gets passed. Yamileth lives in Miami, FL.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – How Ted Kennedy’s Replacement Is Impacting Healthcare Reform

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Copyright © 2006 Ed Bagley

To Kill A Mockingbird – 3 Stars (Good)

Gregory Peck won a Best Actor Oscar in this adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about white lawyer Atticus Finch defending an innocent African American man accused of raping a white woman.

This is a story that illuminates everything that is wrong about hate, prejudice, bigotry, ignorance, stupidity, lack of backbone and lack of a heart. It is a story about an all-white male jury who makes important life decisions without right thinking and right motives.

Finch (Gregory Peck) suffers retribution because of his defense of Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) who is accused of raping Mayella Violet Ewell (Collin Wilcox). The real villain is her father Bob Ewell (James Anderson) who beats her and tries to kill Finch’s daughter Scout (Mary Badham) and son Jem (Phillip Alford).

Scout narrates this story about her childhood memories. She and Jem team up with friend Dill Harris (John Megna) in a subplot involving “Boo” Radley (Robert Duvall) who ultimately saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell by killing Ewell with his own knife.

Sheriff Heck Tate (Frank Overton) would later claim that Ewell fell on his own knife. Tate knew that Ewell was two legs and bad news coming in the form of one bigoted human being; there would be no charges filed against Boo.

In the end, the innocent Tom Robinson is found guilty and shot to death when he tries to flee his injustice.

It is no irony that this 1932 story takes place in Macon County, Georgia, a cesspool of racially motivated hate even in 1962 when this film was released.

To Kill a Mockingbird shows that some people will never have any discernable personal growth in their entire life; thank God that others do.

Boo, a scary recluse who only came out at night, was Duvall’s first movie role. Duvall apparently stayed out of the sun for six weeks and dyed his hair blond in preparation for the role.

Dill was modeled after author Harper Lee’s childhood friend Truman Capote. Finch was the middle name of Harper Lee’s father.

Horton Foote, who wrote the screenplay for To Kill a Mockingbird, won an Oscar and the film also won for Best Art Direction for a black and white film. The film earned 5 other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, won by Lawrence of Arabia with Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif.

Gregory Peck picked up the Golden Globe for Best Actor, and the film also won another for Promoting International Understanding. Peck has said that this film was his favorite work.

His character Atticus Finch was voted the top screen hero of the last 100 years by the American Film Institute. This is truly a no-spin honor. To Kill a Mockingbird is also ranked No. 2 on AFI’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time (It’s a Wonderful Life with James Stewart is No. 1).

The evidence of just how emotional To Kill a Mockingbird is comes from Brock Peters (the accused) who started to naturally cry while shooting the testifying scene. Gregory Peck said he had to look past him to keep from choking up himself.

Racial bigotry is an extremely emotional and hateful occurrence that continues to linger with us today. Were it not for a loving God who is color blind, the hurt would be even deeper and more destructive.

To Kill a Mockingbird is as appropriate today as it was when it was released. Each generation must work to progress past the sins of past generations. Tom Robinson may rest in peace knowing his descendants will then have a better system of justice.

About the Author:

Ed Bagley’s Blog Publishes Original Articles with Analysis and Commentary on 5 Subjects: Sports, Movie Reviews, Lessons in Life, Jobs and Careers, and Internet Marketing. Read my 3-part series on “Secrets Men Don’t Want Women to Know” and reviews on the Broadway musicals “Camelot”, “Chicago” and “The Phantom of the Opera”. These are all excellent films. Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/MovieReviews.html

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – “to Kill a Mockingbird” Exposes the Destructiveness of Bigotry

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