Trial by Media

Amanda Knox who is on trial for the murder of her roommate in Italy has been undergoing a trial long before her actual trial began. With the onslaught of media, Amanda Knox was deemed guilty by the Italian press long before the investigators were done fully investigating the case. The media has changed the landscape of justice, not only in our country but world wide. Jurors should be able to decide a case that they have yet to form an opinion about before hand. But with the sensationalized media, this is becoming more and more impossible. The Drew Peterson case is another in which the media and the public have already formulated an opinion. I will not give my opinion as to his guilt or innocence, but I will say that it will be extremely difficult to find jurors who have not heard of him when the time does come for him to stand trial. And then what type of jurors could he possibly get? They would have to live in a cave to not have heard of him or this case before. It is only human to draw conclusions or have opinions about these stories, but it is harmful to our justice system when the media presents such a biased filter. If I was going to stand trial for a crime, I'd feel more intimidated by the media's perception of my guilt than anyone else. They have the power to persuade the public and they fail to use their power responsibly.

Video Games

My eight year old son was given his first introduction to the XBOX 360 by my 18 year old brother. It was HALO. At first, I had reservations, but I was never censored as a kid and so I figured that it would be a great opportunity to see what it was about and how he reacted. I was unprepared for the fact that he would love it! I on the other hand, realized an effect that I never hear anyone talk about and that's the stress I felt watching him being shot at. Yes, I said "him" because it felt like he was him even though I logically understood that it was only a game. As he walked down corridors searching for Aliens to shoot, and attempting to not be shot at himself... I found myself jumping every time one would suddenly appear. It reminded me of the moment in that Mel Gibson movie "Signs" when the media shows the picture of the Alien running across the screen and it startles you or when in scary movies the character looks into the mirror only to realize that the "bad" guy is standing right behind her.... I couldn't help but notice the lack of stress my son seemed to have from it and he was the one playing. He was so relaxed. Overall, my husband and I decided that he wasn't old enough to play the more mature games and he was devastated. I would love to see a study of the blood pressure of gamers versus non gamers any day. I wonder if I would be surprised by the results or not.

Killer Instinct?!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/33750267#33750267

So, I'm sure you've seen the latest video of the crazy soccer player gone too far, if not, the link is provided above.... University of New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert was caught on video physically attacking an opponent from BYU during a game. Overall, soccer can be a brutal sport. I coach little kids and it starts pretty early. They push, pull on jerseys, and talk trash. And this happens as early as 4 years old. Now, the majority of pushing and pulling of jerseys occurs because they are so little they are using these things to balance themselves. They're still so uncoordinated and then you ask them to dribble a soccer ball at their feet with 7 other kids clustered around each other. It looks more like rugby than soccer at this age. But Lambert is a Junior in college and her tactics were deliberate and inexcusable. One thing that is interesting to me is that no one seems to be looking at the BYU player who also intentionally elbowed Lambert in the chest earlier in the game. This doesn't excuse Lambert's behavior in any way. Her tactics were far more brutal. However, those individuals who have never played contact sports like Basketball or Soccer may not realize how prevalent intentional pushes and elbows are. One of the dads on my 7 year old son's soccer team recently told me that he was disappointed that his child didn't have the killer instinct that he had when he played. He added that he was prepared to deal with anger issues and that wouldn't bother him as much as the fact that his son plays calmly without the need to attack the other team. Now this dad is one of the sweetest guys and shouldn't be surprised that his kid is well adjusted without much killer instinct. I have to wonder about the parents, coaches and the referees that Lambert has experienced in her many years of soccer - that she could attack not just one player but several throughout the game and feel as if this was acceptable behavior. Killer instinct?! I'm not so sure that's what I want to teach my players....