Don't We All Want to be #1?

On Wednesday, May 30 the NBA Lottery took place and decided the draft order among all 30 teams. The team with the greatest chance to receive the 2012 NBA's top pick was the disheartening Charlotte Bobcats with 25%. After completing the season with the worst winning percentage in the history of basketball of close to 10% (7-59), basketball fans would feel terrible to see the woeful Bobcats not get the top spot in the 2012 draft. However, as proven in years past, the Bobcats, unfortunately ended up with the 2nd pick in the draft. The New Orleans Hornets won the 1st pick and undoubtedly will select the college player of the year and National Champ, Anthony Davis from Kentucky University. An ESPN article, says, "losing would pay off at the lottery", but for the poor Bobcats it did not. Their 59 losses amount to a lowly number two overall pick.

This basketball tragedy relates to American ideals because in America everyone is trying to get that top spot, but even when it seems that it can only be yours, it can, and is often, taken away from you. Even in sports, there is always twists and turns, upsets or injuries, the elusive one spot is nearly impossible to achieve. America is getting more and more competitive every day, and the opportunities that were once there are gradually decreasing.

Police vs. Protesters

Today in class, we briefly talked about the NATO Summit in Chicago. We talked of the goals of the protesters and of the way it is framed in the media. I found it very interesting that many different types of media highlighted the efforts of the Chicago Police, over the goals of the protesters. In a Las Vegas Sun article I read, a protest organizer said that, "Whatever violence there was, was the fault of the police, not the protesters." Yet the police are being praised for their work in not beating up protesters. It is American citizens' constitutional rights to be able to protest things that they disagree with. So why is it so important for the police to be praised for allowing the citizens to exercise their constitutional rights? Shouldn't the spotlight be put on the protesters for standing up for what they believe in? Their views should be held over the restraint of the police for not acting out, when still all of the violence was their fault. I don't understand this phenomenon where the police are payed more attention to than the protesters. Is it because America is so obsessed with tragedies that even when they are avoided that they make the news? Or because the protesters are just seen as troublemakers so the police are what everyone cares about?