Draft(Golf)

In the 1960’s golf took a close second in popularity of American’s, to “Americas Past-time,” baseball. Those two sports ruled television and radio sets all over the place. Now, those to sports seem to be fading as fast an evening sunset. Why is this? Why has football and basketball now become more entertaining to an average viewer than America’s most pure sports? In my opinion it’s a direct reflection of today’s high pace society. People now days do not have time to follow a four-day golf tournament, they’d rather sit down on a Sunday for just a few hours and watch the Packers play the Vikings.
To football’s credit, they have marketed their sport extremely well. They do a very good job of appealing to the younger generation’s eye. Unlike golf, which is viewed as a patient, methodical sport, it’s harder to market to this generation. Gambling is another reason that football is strides in from of other sports. In the article, “Why Pro Football is the Most Popular Sport in America,” Randy Inman explains, “football is a great sport to gamble on because the games all take place within 2 days which makes your bets easier to keep up with.” (para. 3) If you think about it from an editor of a newspaper that is trying to boost their readers, more times than not, you would see football on the front page instead of golf. When is the last time you saw two golfers collide a full speed causing a collision? How about never? A wide receiver getting crushed by a massive, out of control, freak athlete is astronomically more entertaining than an out of shape 5’ 9” sack of bones hit a ball in to a tiny hole. That’s just the way it is and from what I can see its not changing anytime soon. In 2003, 6.1 million children for ages 5-17 participated in golf, the following year, 4.4 million. Since then it’s been declining even more. Without the interest of young people golf will have no future. Golf could end up in the same boat as tennis. Since 1975, tennis has dropped in participates from 34 million to 1.3 million.

What Happen to Golf?

In the 1960’s golf took a close second in popularity of American’s, to “Americas Past-time,” baseball. Those two sports ruled television and radio sets all over the place. Now, those to sports seem to be fading as fast an evening sunset. Why is this? Why has football and basketball now become more entertaining to an average viewer than America’s most pure sports? In my opinion it’s a direct reflection of today’s high pace society. People now days do not have time to follow a four-day golf tournament, they’d rather sit down on a Sunday for just a few hours and watch the Packers play the Vikings.
To football’s credit, they have marketed their sport extremely well. They do a very good job of appealing to the younger generation’s eye. Unlike golf, which is viewed as a patient, methodical sport, it’s harder to market to this generation. Gambling is another reason that football is strides in from of other sports. In the article, “Why Pro Football is the Most Popular Sport in America,” Randy Inman explains, “football is a great sport to gamble on because the games all take place within 2 days which makes your bets easier to keep up with.” (para. 3) If you think about it from an editor of a newspaper that is trying to boost their readers, more times than not, you would see football on the front page instead of golf. When is the last time you saw two golfers collide a full speed causing a collision? How about never? A wide receiver getting crushed by a massive, out of control, freak athlete is astronomically more entertaining than an out of shape 5’ 9” sack of bones hit a ball in to a tiny hole. That’s just the way it is and from what I can see its not changing anytime soon. In 2003, 6.1 million children for ages 5-17 participated in golf, the following year, 4.4 million. Since then it’s been declining even more. Without the interest of young people golf will have no future. Golf could end up in the same boat as tennis. Since 1975, tennis has dropped in participates from 34 million to 1.3 million.
We’ve become accustom to the era of the super star. Super stars rule basketball and football. In golf there’s only one person that is marketed as a super star, and of course it’s Tiger Woods. With Tiger’s latest antics the game has turned even more people away because everyone sees him as the face of the sport. All sports have multiple dominate athletes, except golf. If you asked a typical sports fan to name the top five golfers, they would struggle to name and besides two or three. If you ask the same question about basketball they could name more than likely over ten.
As much as hate to say it golf is a game of failure. Its always been that way. In golf you count you’re strokes and aim low. In other sports you strive to get the highest point total. To go along with our fast pace so society, people want instant results and instant gratification. In golf you don’t get that. Even to be an average recreational golfer you most discipline yourself to become better. Many people could golf one round and not hit one good shot. But in basketball even the worst player could make 50 percent of their just shots, shooting around by themselves. “Time” may be the biggest killer of golf. In our lives we just struggle to find the time to spend over two hours to walk around a course but shooting around in the drive way or playing catch with a football can take less than a half an hour.
With the future of golf seeming to fade, another killer is the prices. Not only the outrageous prices but the equipment required for golf is through the roof. One single club can cost upwards of $500. In this area for a slightly above average green fee it cost about $15 for nine holes. Not to mention will cost from 6 to 10 dollars. As a golf course, they must charge these prices to make up for the lack of revenue due to the decrease in golf popularity.
Technology has innovated the sport of golf greatly, as it has all sports. According to Geoff Shackelford how authored the book, Future of Golf, “PGA (Professional Golf Association) Tour driving distances increased a foot per year from 1968 to 1995 thanks largely to subtle technological improvements, better athletes, the advent of practice, and better instruction.”
(26) Technology can possibly be the beginning of an evolution to bring the game of golf back to where it once was. With newly designed clubs and balls, player’s confidence can be boosted due to the control and distance of each shot.
In closure, golf is a struggling sport that needs to be revamped by the youth of today’s society. Golf may never be able to surpass the overwhelming popularity of football in America but golf is a wonderful hobby to inhabit and should be enjoyed by all who have the patience and interest. According to one of the best golfers ever golf is easy. “Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing”, Ben Hogan.

Earth Day..

In a world of fast pace, and technology. “Going Green” has become more innovative and is used as a marketing premise for many big corporations. According to Leslie Kaufman’s article in The New York Times, At 40, Earth Day Is Now Big Business, “the momentum for the first Earth Day came from the grass roots, many corporations say that it is often the business community that now leads the way in environmental innovation.” (para 14) Businesses say that they do not intend for people to purchase there items, because they are promoting a greener planet, its hard to deny to inevitable. Why would businesses throw the millions of dollars at a campaign to not reap the rewards?

It's a Great Time for Sports

This Monday may be the beginning of the best sports week/ weekend of the year. Donavan McNabb was traded from the Philadelphia Eagles after 11 years of being there starting quarterback. Also, college basketball is nearing its end, bringing us the frenzy called “March Madness.” Major League Baseball kicked off last night with the Boston Red Sox defeating the defending World Champions. On top of all that, the biggest story is that of Tiger Woods making his appearance back on the PGA Tour.
The Philadelphia Eagles brought us the biggest off-season move of the year. They traded star quarterback Donavan McNabb to a divisional foe, the Washington Redskins. The Eagles ideally did not want to trade him within the division, but they claim that they wanted him to go to a place he could succeed. The way I see it, it’s not going to matter anyways because both teams will be battling for last place.
This year was one to remember in sport of college basketball, along with the tournament. Although my bracket was busted within the first couple of hours of the tournament starting, it was definitely entertaining. This tournament has seen more upsets than ever before. The Butler Bulldogs were a 5 seed who face the likes of power houses; Syracuse, Kansas State, and Michigan State, to reach the Championship game against Duke.
Baseball is Americas Greatest Pastime, and its back. Although it’s a long season, every team starts out in first place, even the Pirates and Royals.
Finally, the five month wait is over, Tiger Woods is back on the course and off the tabloids. Even though It seemed like such a big deal at the time, I have a feeling that if Tiger is down one stroke going into the 18 hole, we’ll all be rooting for him. Tiger is a superstar, regardless of his off-field predicaments.

Education, what is it good for?

This guys point is very insightful. I argee with most everything he said. I think it's too bad that we go to school for 14 to 16 years and when we get a job they have to train us anyways, defeating the purpose of all that schooling. Obviously, schooling can't hurt and may be critical for occupations such as a doctor or a lawyer. But for a cop, salesman, or a recptionist, they should be able to get by with a short training course spcefic to that job.
Also, i agree with him that the most important education is taught in the younger years, and the best form of education is learning humanity before math, etc. If child is taught something at a young age, they are more likely to learn it easier and it will stay with them for longer.

Somebody Has to Say It

How can you increase your self-esteem? Self-esteem is defined as “a realistic respect for or favorable impression of oneself; self-respect.” So, what can you do to raise your self-esteem? In order to increase your self-esteem, treat others with respect and do not tolerate people disrespecting you. Treat people well.
There are many things that you can do to treat people well. Listen to them and try and understand them, be honest with them, be considerate of them, be kind and courteous to them, care about them and show concern for them. If you practice these things on a daily basis with the people that come through your life, your self-esteem will grow. Your life will become more fulfilled and you will feel like you have more purpose and that you are more important than you ever realized.
Today, it appears to me that lots of people are suffering from low self-esteem. We have a high divorce rate. We have many individuals and institutions that do not show integrity in their business dealings. We have teenage mothers abandoning or disposing of their babies. We have brutal attacks from both sides of our political parties. Is our whole country lacking self-esteem?
I think in order to save our economy and save our country’s future, all of us really need to start working very hard at increasing our self-esteem. The first step to solving a problem is to admit that we have one. So, as you go through your life trying to treat people well how do you handle it when you feel like you have been disrespected? When we are disrespected our emotions start kicking in we can feel anything from mild irritation to extreme anger. You should feel something when you have been disrespected. But unfortunately, lashing out and being disrespectful right back does not help your self-esteem.
Now of course nobody is perfect and we certainly cannot be completely available to everyone all the time, so some understanding is necessary. Realize what you can control and what you cannot. You can only be in control of yourself.

Its our Environment, Take a Stand

In a time where some people believe the world is near its end, due to global warming, there are many alternative ways to create energy without harming the earth natural resources. Since the world is now more electronic and electricity is used for almost everything unlike many years ago, our planet has paid is price. As a nation, we use the most energy of any per person.
One of the best ways, I feel, is wind energy. Wind energy is a clean alternative to coal power plants, which are becoming a thing of the past. Hopefully, one day power plants will completely disappear for good. Although expensive to build and put up they would pay themselves off in just a matter of years. Becoming more common is personal wind turbines. People in rural areas, typically on ridges or places of higher elevation use these as a lone source of energy and many times have power left over to sell back to the electrical company. The money one would save on electrical bills and the money they earn by selling power would pay for the cost of the turbine and installation in just a matter of years. With just one wind turbine, approximately 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide can be displaced in just one year which is a big help for planet Earth. Saving 2,000 tons of carbon is equal to planting a square miles worth of trees. Some complain about the sound they make, but personally I wouldn’t mind a slight background sound if it meant saving loads of money and a grant from the government to construct one. Also, in this time of recession, installation and maintenance of these turbines create jobs for many people. 1000 megawatts of electricity produced by wind energy is equivalent to almost 2500 jobs.
There are many more ways of alternative energy, not just wind. Solar, geothermal, and hydrogen are excellent ways of producing clean energy. One that is close to home for me, literally is methane energy. Within the next our family plans to install a methane turbine. Being farmers we produce a lot of methane gas that grouping in our manure pit. We would collect all of the gas giving from manure and use it as a source of energy. There are many things we can do a nation and also internationally. I hope that people start to realize that we must protect of natural resources or we one day won’t have these resources to feed from.

Keystone, CO

Every year since I was in 7th grade my family has gone out Colorado skiing. In general our family loves winter sports such as snowmobiling, snowboarding, and of course skiing. In certain parts of Colorado its snows almost every day, making the ski conditions merely perfect. Most of the time we go to Colorado in March so the temperature is typically above 35 degrees so that we can enjoy ourselves without being cold.
One of the best parts of going out there every year is that usually three or four other families go as well. One of my good friends and his parents come out there annually which keeps it enjoyable to me without getting too fed up with my own family for 16 hours in a car. Also, it is nice to have someone that is nearly the same skiing level so that we can do more difficult runs and not have to wait for stragglers. Before you ski in the Rocky Mountains it’s hard to know how big they are compared to Mt. La Crosse or other local places.
Typically at Mt. La Crosse, it takes about two or three minutes to get up the hill on a chair lift. In Colorado, it takes about 15 minutes in a chairlift that is twice as fast. Also, it is almost impossible ski to the bottom of a full run, without stopping to catch your breath or rest your legs. Another difference is that there are moguls on some of the harder runs, making it difficult to reach the bottom without wanting to pass out. We’ve skied at places such as; Breckenridge, Vail, Arapaho Basin, Copper Mountain, and Steamboat. The place I like the most though is Keystone. The resort that we usually stay in is directly at the bottom of Keystone, so it’s just a small walk away. Another reason why I prefer Keystone is because they have lights on certain runs making them available at night, which I feel is the best time to ski.
The winter months are definitely not my favorite but it makes it just a little bit better when you make the most out of it!

Peters Farms Inc.

My grandfather has been farming since he could remember. Although having other jobs throughout his lifetime, he has always maintained his passion, farming. Things have not always gone swell though. In 1988, a tornado ripped though the home farm, destroying most of what was once standing. While having to milk what remained of the cows at the neighbor’s farm, my grandpa decided that 1988 would be a great time for a change.
He and six other farmers got together with the same understanding. They wanted to change the way they farmed and change the health concerns of farming. The following year those seven farmers were known as the founding fathers of Organic Valley. A cooperation that would produce dairy products without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, or any other unnatural antibiotics. He now is the CEO of the Board of Directors for Organic Valley. He also, co-owns the farm with two of his sons, one being my father.
Previous to the tornado in 1988 Peters Farms Inc. was milking about 50 cows. After expansion throughout the years we now milk around 150 cows and employee ten workers. Nearly five years ago the decision was made to construct a high tech milking parlor, which would help us milk cows at a more efficient pace, allowing us to take on a bigger herd. It has been one other the best things that has happened to our farm.
This past summer we hosted the Vernon County Dairy Breakfast for the second time in 12 years. Our dairy breakfast set a new record attendance with 2200 people that came out. In 2004, Jim Doyle (the Wisconsin governor) gave a speech at our farm regarding the evolution of organic crop and what it did for the states agriculture. Then in 2007, Peters Farms was name Farm of the Year by Organic Valley, out of at the time, 700 farms.

Roommates............................

In the spring of last year me and two of my friends from high school made the decision of renting a house in La Crosse because we all attend school here. Just like many decisions that we make it has its advantages and consequences. Of course, when signing the lease all we thought about was the good times and how fun it was going to be and how it wouldn’t be so bad living on our own. Well we were right for the most part, but to go along with that I’ve had some struggles and hard times.
It was definitely nice to get away from my parents and my two younger sisters. Being that one of my sisters is a junior in high school and the other in 8th grade, they have developed attitudes that I don’t miss at all. Also being on my own, I have a lot more freedom and privacy. To go along with that, being on my own has shown me part of how to grow up and to support myself. Money gets tight in these years but that’s all about becoming old, because unfortunately it has to happen sometime.
As one could only imagine, two eighteen year old guys don’t make the best roommates. Saying that, I’m guilty of the same. Opposed to living with organized and particular parents, they were substituted for two slobs. Unbelievably, three college students trapped in the same house with the daily stresses and frustrations of college, is not the best combination. Also financially it’s by far more expensive. Consequently, eating habits structure around that and getting a well cooked meal comes harder than it used to.
For the most part, thus far, I feel that being on my own has been a positive experience and can only help me for what’s to come.

Tinkering School

My opinion on “Tinkering School” is that it is a good way for children to experience life’s tasks and to use their typical childhood creativity. It shows them that what they once thought wasn’t possible, is easy with help from each other. For instance, seven year old children making a twenty foot bridge out of what most of us throw away, plastic bags. Also, it’s nice to have a worry-free environment so that the children can spend their time doing activities that they view as fun. Also, to go along with that fun comes learning. Learning in a whole different way then what they thought was possible. Instead of books and tests, this schooling provides a way for children to learn through doing and applying real life scenarios. When these children become older, most will actually apply more from what they learned in “Tinker School” for the six days that they were there, then what they would have learned in traditional school in those six days. The main difference that I notice in Tinkering School is that the children are pushed to find a way to make it happen and in traditional school they are told how it’s supposed to be done and expected to do it. As I am finding out by becoming older, there won’t be anyone telling you what to do and how things are suppose to be done, I’ve discovered that life is about improvising and doing things that I, myself didn’t think I was capable of.
It is true that children have to greatest sense of imagination and creativity. In this clip that is widely displayed and portrayed in a positive learning experience. This school is so good for children not just because they make marvelous projects but also because it is a great chance to get away from what now days is a very hectic life style. Looking back on my childhood I wish I could have attended a camp or schooling such as the one seen in the video. I think Tinkering School is a great way for children to get a head start on challenges they will face just a couple years down the road.

About Me...Riley

Well, my name is Riley Peters. I am from small town about 30 miles south of La Crosse, called Coon Valley. I attended Westby High School and graduated this past spring. I am 18 years old and turn 19 in March. Also I was a three sport athlete (football, basketball, baseball). I have two younger sisters, 13 & 16 and an older brother who is 24. I am enrolled in the Computer Support Specialist program, which at times is very boring, but hopefully it will all pay off in the end. My hobbies include; ping pong, snowmobiling, and basketball.