Pat Summit's New Book

I'm currently reading the book published in early 2013 by former Head Coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteer Women's Basketball team, Pat Head-Summit. It is called Sum It Up. Basically it "sums" her life up in a little over 400 pages.
I not only enjoy reading this book because it involves collegiate basketball and high intensity type situations, but because it is so easy to read. She is from down south in the rural part of Tennessee, and her accent is heavy. She can read and write, but she isn't the most grammatically correct nor that complex in her writing and diction. She gets down to the point and doesn't creep around with a bunch of artistical fluff. She says what she wants the reader to know and moves on. That is what I like about the book! It covers a very long, successful life in a very short amount of pages. The text is simple and there are many quotes that support her claims in the book.
It is very well written especially for a sophomore (second) book author. She did, however, get one of her very good friends to help her write and publish it. Who wouldn't want to publish a book with Pat Summit! She is one of the most winningest coaches of all time, collegiate, pros, women's, men's! It doesn't matter! Her name is up there with the greats such as: John Wooden, Coach K, and Bobby Knight! She has quite a legacy as evident by the basketball world and this book! No wonder her name gets slung around with the commentators during the NCAA Final Four, she had a career and life as successful as could be! I can't wait to finish it! (288)

Bright Future Requires Shades

Beings that I did a blog post on the end of school and what not, I deemed that it was necessary to write a little something something about plans for the future... Not the near future (as in Senior year), but more of your college years and beyond to infinity, as Buzz Lightyear would say.
Personally, I want to pursue a career in the military (hopefully either USMA/West Point Military Academy, Air Force Academy, or the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD). This military isn't like being drafted... I wouldn't be on the front lines. I would be more of a leader or higher up officer. Why? Because I would go to college at the academy. I would get my schooling paid for and get paid even while I'm in there for extras. How sweet is that? Scholarship and money for whatever I want? NICE! And the cool thing about it is, I could get any schooling after my four year degree paid for. Me, personally, I want to go Pre-Med and then continue into Med School to become some sort of a doctor. The military academy would pay for that! They are the elitist of the elite to say the least, but it comes at a price. You must give x number of years to them after your schooling is finished. You would more than likely be deployed in those years of service, if the United States was in some sort of a foreign war/dispute. Being someone that has always wanted to travel all over the world my whole life, I might enjoy this! My parents on the other hand are naturally a little concerned as they don't want anything happening to me. I very much like the discipline that you get at these academies. They prepare you to be the best that the country has to offer academically, athletically, and in any other aspect. I can't wait to see if I can go through this avenue to pursue a nice career in my future.
If I got the awesome opportunity to go to one of the military academies, I would play basketball there! Division 1 women's NCAA college basketball to be exact. I've always wanted to be a college basketball player on scholarship, and what better way to do it! If I didn't go to the military academy, and went to a regular four year state or private university or college, I would still play basketball on scholarship! I have always dreamed of playing in an NCAA championship in early April.
No matter where I go, I want to become a doctor. Specifically a surgeon as of right now, but who knows how I could change my mind. I'm particularly interest in specializing. I think it would be so rewarding if I could perform heart surgery on a baby that wasn't even a month old, or brain surgery on a person that suffered injury and head trauma from an unfortunate accident.
Whatever I plan to do or wherever my future takes me, I hope it is bright! I can't wait to set off into it and see where I end up! I didn't even discuss a husband or kids! ;) (530)

Crime is Pride

            In the excerpt from Antigone, Sophocles displays a very factual message to not only the Greeks reading his work at the time, but for all of mankind to come centuries later. His moral in the excerpt is very timeless and applies to today’s world so well. Many other Greek playwrights and philosophers were ahead of their times, needless to say. The wise Teiresias was an extremely humble person, and you can tell in his writing, because he was able to analyze all of humankind, himself included.

            When he wrote that “all men make mistakes (line 1),” he was telling us, the reader, something we have always heard. It has been a cliché parallel to “nobody’s perfect,” and others. I don’t know about your mother, but I learned from my mom, growing up, that mishaps are inevitable, but it is how you bounce back from it that counts. And more importantly, accept your imperfections. When something goes wrong, don’t keep covering your tracks. Go back to the problem, fix it, and move on in the right direction. When you don’t you can become something you aren’t: vain, cocky, unrealistic, and unsure of how to problem solve.

            Sophocles refers to the people that accept themselves as sinning human beings as “good” men (line 2). When these good men stop and recognize that they are doing something wrong, they must come to terms with themselves and that they were mistaken in their choices (line 2). When they are able to do this, they know that their course is wrong (line 3).

            It is one thing to know that you are wrong, but it’s another thing to change for the better, or fix the evil (line 4). Some may just play it off and hope that it doesn’t impede any more of their progress, but the only thing standing in their way is themselves. Some people are just too proud to show everyone else that they messed up. Their egos get a shot in the face, and the bad man thinks way too much of himself to let anything reshape his reputation (line 5).

            Sophocles uses diction involving criminals. To people (men especially), a mistake made known to everyone (themselves included) is considered an evil. But the real crime is when they don’t go back and fix it. Not all mistakes are crimes and evils, but we, as people, look at them more seriously because they affect our appearance to others. (407)