Script Draft: ASU rowing

ASU has many sports on campus, ranging from club sports to NCAA teams. You have your basic football, baseball, soccer and swim programs all with a competitive and club teams. There are also the abstract sports like water polo, rugby, volleyball and of course rowing. Out of all the club sports on campus there is constantly a fight for which team will be supported by the school so that they can become an NCAA sports team and compete in the PAC10 and PAC12 competitions. The one team that does deserve the support of ASU and the athletic board is the ASU crew team which is currently a club team at Arizona State University.

I spoke to one of the varsity girls on the ASU women's crew team and this is what she had to say about the matter, "Well ASU is one of the largest schools in the country, another thing that we have on our advantage is that we have water on campus, Tempe Town Lake is right down the street. The lake is a full two thousand meter course so its not a small body of water you have plenty of space. It is one of the original Olympic sports and its becoming increasing competitive on the west coast, its very popular on the east coast and now more and more people are getting involved here on the west coast so its a very important sport to keep going. The medals that we will win will completely out weigh the equipment costs that we have to put forward for our equipment."

If rowing is so popular and such a rising sport, why won't the school support the team.  Many say its because the school refuses to pay for the expensive equipment and constant out of state traveling costs. If Arizona State University were to fund the rowing program the speed at which the crew team would progress could make it one of the top competitors on the west cost.

One of the biggest set backs that the ASU crew team faces that would be fixed if it became an NCAA team would be the freshmen. Many of the members become apart of the team with no knowledge or experience with the sport. This creates a difficult task for the coaches and athletes when they have to constantly teach and re-teach how to row at the beginning of each season. If ASU did decide to to support the crew team the re-teaching of novices would no longer be a big one-man job.  Since athletes would have multiple coaches and also new rowers that were recruited and have experience.  Athletes from all over the country and even the world would have reasons to come to Arizona State and partake in the school if there was a crew team supported by the school. If this were to happen ASU would quickly become one of the top competitors of the west coast and even the nation for college crew. If ASU did decide to fund the crew team many positive things would happen. Since ASU could have such a competitive team, There would surely be many medals and trophies throughout the course of one season.

ASU has many talented rowers on the team some with experience and some with none. One with experience is a freshmen that came straight out of high school and decided to row, he shares a little bit about his experience rowing. "I've been to South West Junior Regionals, I've been to Junior Championships, I've been rowing for four years. There is two types of rowing, there's sculling and then there is sweep. Sweep is with one oar and you're usually on either side with port and starboard. And then sculling you have two on both sides and the boats only go up to four unlike sweep which go up to eight, plus a coxswain, so technically nine.

The fact that ASU athletic boar refuses to support the team makes it difficult for the team to represent Arizona State University. With its coaches and athletes practicing with old and broken down equipment, the team is seeing an undying need for financial funding. The boats, launches, and ergometers are old, heavy, and completely out of date with the average level crew teams in college. Even though the equipment is heavy and broken the team still manages to push through the seasons year by year and complete each race. The fact that the ASU athletic board refuses to support the team makes it difficult to represent ASU at even the home races that take place on Tempe Town Lake twice each year.

A freshmen at ASU explains the difference between the two races that Tempe puts on during the year. "Hot head is a race like during Fall Season thats five thousand meters all the way around the lake. And uh, Desert Sprints is 1500 meters during Spring Season. Some out of state teams come to that, not a lot though, if you guys supported the team more people would come."

Many say its because the school refuses to pay for the expensive equipment and constant traveling for out of state races. But with the amount of money that Arizona State puts forward towards sports like water polo, swim and dive, and of course the football team with their private jet, some suspect that this is just a lame lie. If you were to see the amount of money invested in some of the other athletic programs at ASU you would see that there is money to be shared between not just one, but multiple teams. With this money, Arizona State University could take the club sports and turn them into something that the west coast has never seen before.

ASU Reacts: Jepp, Who Defied the Stars

The audio piece that I evaluated last week was on a book called Jepp, Who Defied The Stars. Written by Katherine Marsh, it’s a tale about a dwarf named Jepp who is offered a job working in a Palace as a court dwarf. Unknowing to Jepp, a court dwarf is more of a comedic act and one who provides entertainment. Jepp, embarrassed and upset, sets out to find a better life for himself and tries figure out the true meaning of what it would be like to be something more. From this book one can easily learn how to find motivation to better their lives even if it’s out of their comfort zone.

 The question that I wanted answered was if anyone would ever be able to actually do this, if there was a person with enough ambition to go out and start over completely.  I asked three different people, all in completely different age groups.

The first was Andy, a four year old child whom I babysit, his response was, “If I was a dwarf and being made fun of I-I’d go out a get all my buddies together so we could take back the castle and be dwarf kings! That would be my new life, of course I need mommy to cook my king sandwiches.”

The second was my sister Hannah, a 25 year old grad student from UofA, her response was, “sh*t yes I would start over. The first thing I would do is finish college in four years instead of seven and get the hell out of this country, far far away from you.”

I was touched by the loving words my sister gave me, but had to move on to my third interview with my father. Having just turned 66 in October and still working as a lawyer, my dad had one thing to say when I asked if he would go out and start a new life: “You know what, I wouldn’t.”

General Analysis of: A Tale of Fate: From Astrology to Astronomy

For this blog, I decided to go with the NPR article about, “A Tale Of Fate: From Astrology To Astronomy” from the website All Things Considered. This piece of audio was more of an interview with the author of the novel, so the format and script (so to speak) was easy to follow. The author, Katherine Marsh’s, was talking about her new novel, Jepp Who Defied the Stars which is considered to be a great piece of writing by many of her peers.  In the interview she answers questions like, what inspired her and if there was any hidden meaning behind the general story.  The page that hosts the audio also has a picture of what the book looks like, and comments that critiques have made and even subscribers to the website have made. I feel like this piece of audio that I picked will be more of what I will do in my project three. I am not entirely sure if this is the proper direction to be heading in, but that’s all part of the process I suppose.

I became worried about this project while listening to the audio from All Things Considered because it made me think about what perspective or argument I should be taking. When I think of audio, I think interview or short review of an event.  A typical one minute recap on the car radio that you hear in between songs, is what always comes to mind. So I’m worried about two things. One is if I can make it long enough and if I will have the proper set up. Since I was gone during class on Monday while you, Professor L., were describing the new project, I feel like I have put myself behind the group. I know that this project will be unlike the first project or second project. Since the first project was really only an essay, and the second was a map with attached shorter essays, I’m not sure how I should go about doing this since I have never had any experience with recording or editing sound. My original plan, much like the interview from All Things Considered, was to do an interview of the ASU Men’s crew team to get perspective on what it’s to take part in a sport that is not supported by the school. During the interview I would try to get their opinions on why they think they aren’t being funded and if they would even be capable of becoming a D1 sports team. I am unsure and a little worried about what my stance should be while doing this project, but that’s probably my fault since I didn’t show up to class.