What is Alpha Sports?

Hey Sports Fanatics, it’s Brant here, but this time with a bit of a different blog post this week. Today’s blog post is centered around informing you all of the exceptional course that Rutgers University, New Brunswick, has to offer. The course is called Strategic Presentation. If you are a student yourself and plan to look further into the class, its core code is 04:189:251:06. However, I’m not sure how many Professors teach this course, but I would say don’t waste your time taking it unless it is being taught by Professor Pointer. She makes the course what it is and has taught us so much. My very first memorable thing about this class was the Professor’s background. For one, she is a WRSU alum like future self. Second, and most importantly, she has worked with all types of celebrities. As an example she’s worked with recording artist Future. This blew me away and engaged me in the class just from hearing about her success. Pointer is extremely knowledgeable in her subject at hand and doesn’t try to intimidate you with how hard the journey is to achieve a similar career as her. Most Professors I feel try to scare you away from doing what you love, but she did not portray this attitude at all.

The second thing I loved most about the class was how creative and hands on it was. You can center your website around any subject you please. You then take that subject and make your very own public service announcements, and podcasts designed around it. I always knew how to make podcasts and things of that nature, but never had I imagined I would be doing it in class. So, doing something I love in class definitely made me a more engaged student and was teaching me for the future because I plan on being in the entertainment business in my professional career.

The last thing this class has helped me to do is delve further into the things I love. The class pushed me to fully research into the NCAA. Previously, I did not even know that the NCAA was a non-profit organization. But, through extensive research I found out that it is one of the most successful non-profit organizations on the planet. It does so much good for athletes. Even though some believe they are crooked, I believe they do more positives than negatives. I guess i’ll wrap up this post by putting it simply. If you are a student at Rutgers I highly recommend Strategic Presentation, but only if it is taught by Professor Pointer! An exceptional class.

What’s up Sports Fanatics, this week is a special week for my blog. This week’s blog is centered around humor in the world of sports. It seems as if we all could use a good laugh nowadays with this pandemic going on. Besides needing a laugh, there’s also just not much to talk about since every sport is shut down for now. With that being said let me introduce you to a few memes. Also, this could be a helpful post if you don’t understand some of the meme “lingo” in sports! Here goes the first one:

The essence of this meme isn’t to burst into tears once you see/read it. Instead, the meme is more so used sarcastically. Let me put this into context. Your friend has been scrolling through sports twitter all day and stumbles upon a tweet that says Lebron James is interested in signing with his rivals, the Golden State Warriors. Your friend, without checking the source on the tweet, is so shocked by the breaking news headline that he immediately sends it to you, his sports buddy. In this scenario you could respond to your friend with “Wow. Big if true.” Why? Because you, an intelligent man in the world of sports, understands that your friends’ tweet is bogus so you send him that reply which is almost a mockery of him believing such an idiotic statement. Therefore, according to Patrick Davison’s The Social Media Reader, you could say that the ideals of this meme is to be sarcastic about something that you know is bogus. Now, lets look at the manifestation of this meme. The manifestation is usually about sports reporters who are trying to crack a sarcastic joke. The origin of the meme has deemed to be unclear, but it is a cliche statement in the world of sports broadcasting. The meme has went on to have appearances in the hit show Futurama. However, the spread of the meme has been linked to football analyst Ian Rapoport who often spreads rumors about the NFL (Adam, 2017). Time for the next meme:

This one is known as the super saiyan remix. The ideal of this meme is much easier to understand. Essentially, it is about a given person evolving into a more powerful form. This “super saiyan” idea stems from the animated show Dragon Ball Z. It is a very popular show in the world of sports. The manifestation of the meme is simply an ecstatic Phelps. And the behavior, or origin, of the meme came on August 12th, 2008. Youtube user Herald77 uploaded a mini video of Michael Phelps turning super saiyan after winning another gold medal. The spread of the meme however came from Youtuber alreson (Don, 2015). Alreson uploaded a video of the loud american radio host Alex Jones turning super saiyan in one of his heated debates. The meme has gone on to be edited over many sports stars like Lebron James. On to the last meme:

The last meme is a very popular one in the sports culture and it’s called “Bradying.” The meme stems from the people who hate on Tom Brady. So, when he did this pose in one of his football games, people took it and ran with it. To be exact, the photograph of Tom Brady sitting on the field was taken by AP photographer Paul Sancya after the New York Giants’ linebacker Chase Blackburn intercepted his pass during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl game on February 5th, 2012 (Brad, 2012). Bradying is a photo fad the involves you sitting on the floor with your head down and hands between your legs. Essentially, you look like you just lost it all in that pose. The ideal of this meme is to just make fun of Tom Brady since many people just hate on him. The manifestation of the meme is simply a defeated Brady. And the origin is from that 2012 Super Bowl, and the spread of the meme came immediately after the game when fans took to tumblr and Facebook and started posting their own versions of the photo (Brad, 2012).

And with that, we conclude our mini crash course on sports memes. I hope this memes and the history behind them has appealed my Sports Fanatics worldwide during this crazy pandemic. I figured you guys might get a laugh out of them but I hope that I also educated you guys on these memes in case you didn’t really know the story behind them. If you can’t watch any sports its still good read things about sports. Take it easy everyone and I will see you next week. Brant Wolff signing off.

What’s my sports fanatics, it’s your guy Brant Wolff here from Alpha Sports. Last week, I hit you guys with my PSA to support the NCAA. Today, I am here with a full on podcast for you guys detailing why the NCAA is one of the greatest non-profit organizations. Sure, I make it known that they are under heavy backlash because some believe they should be paying their athletes. Well, if you are one of those believers, I hope this podcast can change your mind. The NCAA does so much for its student athletes. I understand they profit huge money off their basketball and football athletes, but they are giving so many scholarships and educational opportunities to so many more of their athletes. To the people who don’t make it as a professional, the NCAA is everything to them. It offers them a chance to attend our finest universities. Then, it offers them a potential scholarship. Additionally, it offers them personal tutors, chefs, housing, etc.. And in my opinion, the most important thing is it offers them a platform to feel like a professional athlete. To the people who don’t make it to the pros, maybe they have a chance to be a cinderella story in March Madness to an audience of millions. These are experiences of a lifetime for these student-athletes, and as someone who was in the NCAA, I speak for myself when I say they have helped me become the man I am today. Don’t hate the organization, support them because without it the world of sports would have a gaping hole. Take it easy sports fanatics. Brant Wolff signing off! Make sure to listen to the podcast!

What’s up guys, it’s your man Brant Wolff back with a quick PSA for all you sports fanatics out there. You know we couldn’t enjoy sports the way we do today without one of the biggest non-profit organizations in the world, the NCAA. Without them, we would have a massive whole in the world of sports. We would have no college football. No college basketball. No college baseball, and no college sports at all. The NCAA has been scrutinized for not paying their student athletes. But, I’m here to say look at the bigger picture. The NCAA allows these student athletes to go to the best colleges in the world on scholarships. So, not only does the NCAA help the athlete get into any of our most prestigious universities, but they also give scholarships, which in most cases is a full scholarship. Wow. Think about it, there are some universities that cost upwards of sixty thousand dollars a year. Now combine that with free food, free tutors, exclusive housing on campus, and the best physical trainers around and then think to yourself if the NCAA doesn’t offer their student athletes a lot. Without the NCAA airing these events, these student athletes wouldn’t have the opportunity to be today’s next viral-sports star. Think about hitting a game-winning shot in March Madness. Even if you don’t go to the NBA, there is still so much buzz around you as a person. The feeling must be electrifying. The NCAA offers an exceptional platform to shine on. Anyways, take a look at the soundcloud link embedded above to hear my personal PSA towards none other than the NCAA.

This week’s sports talk is ultra-important for all fans of New Jersey sports, specifically Rutgers sports. I uploaded a video to my YouTube channel, Alpha Sports, that details this topic in full. I embedded the video above for your guys’ pleasure! The topic this week is should Rutgers Men’s Basketball make the NCAA Tournament. After getting off to a historic start, their best since the 1990-1991 season, Rutgers has hit a bit of a skid. They have failed to win another road game after beating Nebraska by 17. And to make matter worse, they once held the best home record in all of college basketball. A week ago, Rutgers was 17-0 on their home court, which is known by many as the RAC. The RAC has many alternate names, in which it most recently was named the trapezoid of terror due to its trapezoid shape; but, the trapezoid of terror fell victim to the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan went to the RAC and did the unthinkable: beat Rutgers handily. Rutgers is now 17 and 1 at the RAC. So, not only did they fail to win more than one road game, but they failed to continue their utter dominance at home. But, I am here to tell you to not hit the panic button just yet. They have two more games to play. If they win one more game they will post a .500 record in the Big Ten at 10-10, which should firmly place them in the tournament. Their best opportunity to seal a victory would be this Tuesday night at the RAC. They play #9 Maryland, the best team in all of the Big Ten, so pack the RAC and get LOUD! If Rutgers wins that game at home where they bolster the best home record than they will easily cement their spot in the NCAA tournament. Now, if they were to LOSE this game, they still have another opportunity to win a game. They play Purdue at Purdue. If they were to win that game, they would still be at 10-10, which is enough to make the 64 team bracket. NOW, if they were to lose these next two games I am here to tell you that it is still not over. If they go on a mini-run in the Big Ten Tournament they could still squeak into the tournament. I have discussed in detail all of these possibilities in my video above! Enjoy, but don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe! See you next week!

In the world of Rutgers Sports, there was a huge game played at the RAC. Rutgers took on Number 22 Illinois this Saturday. The game took place at 4:30pm. The RAC was completely sold out and the students flooded the stadium. It was set to be a wild game. Illinois had been playing extremely well before losing 3 games in a row to tough opponents. Rutgers was also struggling in previous games. They had won 1/3 of their last games. This was a huge win for Rutgers’ hope for an NCAA tournament bid. A win against a ranked opponent means everything. They started the game with a flurry of points and held the lead from start to finish. Rutgers was putting on an offensive clinic in which they won 72-57. The Scarlet Knights were led by sophomore Ron Harper Jr. He finished the game with 27 points, a couple behind his career high of 29 (Fonseca, 2020).

In other sports news, the NBA is on their all-star break. So, that means it’s time for the All-Star Game and Dunk Contest! The festivities kick-off on Friday and conclude on Sunday. Right before the NBA went into all-star break, there was many good-games that could preview the NBA Playoffs. First, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Denver Nuggets. Lebron sealed the game away with a clutch overtime performance. The Nuggets were second in the west and playing at home, so this was a huge win for them. In the east, the Boston Celtics hosted the Los Angeles Clippers in a huge showdown with Finals implications. The game went into DOUBLE overtime. Jayson Tatum had a career high of 39 points in his amazing effort. The Clippers also might have lost Paul George for a small duration due to a hamstring injury he suffered in the game.