...Shane Frechette ENG 102 October 18, 2015 Holt Unconquerable, Invincible, Undefeated Strong, powerful and enticingly cryptic, are qualities many poets may strive for, but to truly express such qualities, a poet must live by them. The poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley embodies the splendor and influence that one’s own personal experiences bring to a piece of writing. Even without any knowledge of the authors own pain and struggles in life, this poem holds the rare potential to relate to any and every reader that is graced to come across it’s lines. The title “Invictus” is a Latin word, meaning unconquerable, invincible and/or undefeated in which Henley lived and died by. Inspiring the creation of “Invictus” was a past of difficult and dark times for a young William Ernest Henley. A written piece of work is best expressed when the roots are implanted in the writer’s life – that is to say, an author’s best is when it stems from experience. At the age of 12, Henley learned what it meant to struggle, losing half his leg to tubercular arthritis and essentially becoming an imprisoned inmate of hospital life for almost two years. His hardships triggered a lifelong healing process through writing poetry, subsequently creating one of his most famous and well known pieces of work: “Invictus”. “Invictus” carries the reader on a roller coaster of the lows and highs of life. Dipping and diving through the trials and tribulations that challenge the soul, then rising up against them...
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...MEN WITHOUT WOMEN by Ernest Hemingway (1928) - The Undefeated - In Another Country - Hills Like White Elephants- The Killers 1-THE UNDEFEATED This short story reflects the courage, or rather recklesness, of a bullfighter called Manuel Garcia. As the title of the collection infers, none of the characters (which are all men) appear to be in touch with, engaged or married to any female. The setting is in Spain, which is indicated by the use of pesatas as currency and Madrid as a road to success according to the bullfighters. So, we may guess the author took his experience from his professional travels as a journalist. This tale is mostly about the way poor and unskilled men cope in a society ruled by corrida organizers as Don Miguel Retana. “If you stand in with Retana in this town, you're a made man” […] “If you aren't in with him you might just as well go out and shoot yourself” (cue from a waiter of the café before the Puerta del Sol) is a sign of the brutality of a community within which everybody ought to abide by Retana's rules. It is also a way to emphasize upon some sort of injustice set up by few men acting almost as mafia bosses. And Manuel, and his late brother, are victims of the system. The former already started getting rejected on the grounds of his being too old and therefore unpopular (as his aging weakens his abilities on the bull ring). However, not being able to make two ends meet, Manuel is compelled to fight in a nocturnal. He requires the help of a gifted...
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...going to the national title game which is frustrating for not only Virginia Tech but other teams that are similar. The BCS chooses the two teams who gets to play for the crystal ball; which is the trophy for winning the national championship game. Although the current Bowl Championship Series gives us a national champion, it doesn’t necessarily give us the nation’s best team. The BCS sets up a two team playoff for the title. However, if the national champion ends undefeated, there could also be one or more other undefeated teams from the other BCS bowls. In no other sport, does the season end with more than one “perfect” team. It is not in the interest of college football fans, players, coaches and schools that this bowl system decides who gets to play in the “big” game. To have a season end with multiple undefeated teams in general is not a good model for sports today. In 2005 I was lucky enough to watch Virginia Tech play in the Sugar bowl against the Auburn Tigers, as they were one of only three teams to be undefeated at the end of the regular season. Auburn...
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...Denver’s defense completely stopped Rodgers and the Packers A long anticipated “game of the season” took place at Sports Authority Field in Denver, when the two undefeated sides met. Denver Broncos won 29:10 and this is the first Green Bay’s defeat of the season. The Broncos are still perfect, 7-0. Over 70,000 fans expected a much balanced game on Sunday night primetime. The Packers were a slight favorite, mainly because of Peyton Manning’s poor season and Rodgers’ excellent offense management. However, the Broncos’ defense was once again fantastic and limited the Pro-Bowl quarterback to only 77 passing yards, the fewest in his career as a starter. Peyton Manning started the game with an authority, connecting with his receivers relatively easy and pretty quick it was 17:0 on the scoreboard. Green Bay’s defense didn’t have any solution for Denver’s mixture of running and passing game. Ronnie Hillman finished the first half with two running touchdowns. Demariyus Thomas was deadly in the air and the injuries of the Packers’ defensive backs made his job easier. The best defense in NFL hasn’t recorded a sack or interception in the first two-quarters, but they rushed Rodgers all the time and constantly pressured him. His throws were pretty much unusable. Eddie Lacy scored a lone touchdown for...
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...Orange, and the National Championship. The Bowl Championship Series take many factors into account in determining the rankings of teams. The most important factors are wins and losses, followed by strength of opponents. This is why teams from weaker conferences, like Boise State, who have comparable records to the top teams are left out of the National Championship game. Boise State is from the Mountain West Conference, which is considered to be one of the weakest in all of division one. This team routinely goes undefeated or suffers one loss, but is passed over by teams from stronger conferences. Boise State usually dominates the other teams in its conference, however their victories are seen as that impressive because of the level of competition that they face. This is part of the argument against the BCS system, that it does not give teams from lesser conferences an equal opportunity to win the national title. `One would think that having an undefeated record would be enough to earn a trip to the National championship game. However there have been several instances when a team has not lost a single game For example Utah in 2008 won every single game they played and were still left out of the championship game. In his column in ESPN magazine Life of Reilly,writer Rick Reilly described the situation perfectly, “Sure, BCS blowhards will hand you schlock about how the...
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...four other weight classes while he had an undefeated record. Mayweather is One of the best pound-for-pound fighters in history, American boxer Floyd Mayweather has won championships across five weight divisions. And also mayweather's dad was a boxer too his box in Michigan. His dad took him to the gym when he was 7 and stated bought him his first pair of gloves.His family life was complicated. The elder Mayweather had a violent temper, and drifted in and out...
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...Tom Brady has won in his division for 12 years now of getting a 12-4 record or higher. Tom Brady has also led his team to an undefeated season in 2007 and has been to 6 superbowls. Tom Brady and Joe Montana are ranked as the top 10 quarterbacks of all time in the history of the NFL, but the thing is is that Tom Brady is just so much better. Joe Montana has been to 4 superbowls in his career and has won all of them in which isn’t impressing since he had the best receiver of all time Jerry Rice. Tom Brady has been to 6 superbowls in his career and has won 4 which is even better than Joe Montana. Tom Brady only had one hall of fame wide receiver which was Randy Moss who they had for only a short time where Jerry Rice was with Joe Montana for ages. Although Joe Montana has won a lot so has Tom Brady. People don’t recall Joe Montana having an undefeated season, but people definitely do recall Tom Brady...
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...Jordan Murry 4/24/14 Sociology of Sport 233- Final Paper Undefeated Sociological Analysis It is my honor to be doing my first submission of a topic based on the sociological aspects of the sports world in this month’s addition of Sports Illustrated. First off, let me start by saying “Undefeated” was an excellent film choice to look at from a sociological perspective. Not only does this film posses multiple theories and sociological concepts, but it also has real-life stories built into the film. The viewer almost feels a personal relationship with these characters by how detailed and up close the documentary is. The first theory that the film shows is the conflict theory. The Manassas High School football team is in Memphis, Tennessee. The team is compiled of poor inter-city kids in the western Memphis region. The Manassas Tigers football program has had a reputation for being an “easy win” on the opponents’ schedule for the last 110 years. The explanation for the consecutive failing seasons was due to the prominent power plant in Manassas shutting down. This caused the population rate to rapidly decline, thus resulting in an extreme loss of student athletes. The town, school, and football program never recovered because of this reputation. Meanwhile, a couple miles down the road in towns like Westwood and Munford, the football programs flourished because of the large population. These towns prospered because of a vast array of available jobs creating wealthy...
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...resourcefulness, confidence and enthusiasm, both academically and in extracurricular activities. Thus in high school my goal was to embody these qualities into a sport or club, therefore as a Freshman, I decided to try out for Terra's first Varsity Bowling Team. The first year was a bit disappointing, substituting most of the time. Nevertheless, I established myself, and during Sophomore year I became the Team's Lead Starter. As a Sophomore and Junior, I consistently bowled well, helping the team achieve two undefeated seasons, two USBC-GMAC Championships, one FHSAA District Championship, 2nd Place Districts and the honor of going to States twice. Consequently, I set my sights on helping the...
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...A Miraculous Deja-vu It was a story no one could write. The ultimate example of David conquering Goliath and capturing the hearts of everyone. It was so miraculous that no one would believe that it happened twice. The story of the 1980 Olympic United States hockey team is well publicized in American and world sports history as the greatest underdog story of all time. It has been immortalized by Al Michael’s phrase, “Do you believe in miracles? YES!” Still within the grip of the Cold War, a team of college kids took down the all-mighty Soviet Union. The Soviet team had won the last four Olympics and were widely considered the best hockey team to ever put on a pair of skates. In 1980, the scene set in Lake Placid, New York, the U.S. Olympic team became enshrined in hockey history as they beat the Soviets 4-3. The 1980 team seemed destined to repeat the less well known success of the 1960 team. Widely overlooked in the pages of hockey history stands the story of the 1960 United States hockey team and its gold medal now known as the “Forgotten Miracle.” Although twenty years separated the two teams, their stories are strangely similar. Both teams played the Soviet Union when political tensions polarized the two countries. Behind the bench of both teams were demanding coaches leading a bunch of amateur players from Boston and Minnesota. Each team had talented amateurs but relied on comebacks and star-studded performances by the goaltenders. Both teams won their medals on U...
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...are playing as good of team ball any any team in the league. Any question about that was certainly answered in the last two games when the Celtics played against two of the better teams in the league. First up was the then undefeated Golden State Warriors that came into Boston with a record of 23-0. All the Celtics did in this one was keep pressure on the Warriors all game long, only to lose in double-overtime 124-119. In the process, the Celtic certainly earned the respect they deserve at this juncture of the season. Note: The Warriors had its winning streak stopped at 24 after losing to...
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...Invictus by William E. Henley and the Documentary Evolution of a Criminal are very similar they share` similar, theme, tone, and in some sense order of events. These two have the same general theme; the theme is main life is tough, the decisions and things we do in life can put us in a dark place. Even though you are in that dark place you do not have to stay there, you can come out. Invictus is Latin for "invicta" meaning “unconquerable” or “undefeated”. In William Henley's poem, he describes someone with the qualities of being undefeated and unconquerable. Moreover, to me that also seem to describe Darius, as he was unwilling to be defeated or conquered he was "invicta". In the documentary by Darius Monroe, he used two literary elements that stood out to me the most. The first thing you see in the documentary is a young Darius being...
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...Have you ever met a leader that is greatly appreciated yet has to make irresistible sacrifices in order to please his people? Julius Caesar is an incredible war leader who has many good characteristics. However, Caesar has refused the crown of Rome in order to keep Rome a republic. Everybody loved Caesar except for a few people who managed to change others viewpoints of him. Even though Caesar may convert Rome to a Dictatorship he is a phenomenal leader because he is undefeated in war and is loved by most of Rome. Julius Caesar was loved by everyone at a point in time. He loved Rome and was the most loyal to it. Caesar kept declining the crown of Rome which if he would have accepted it, Rome would have become a dictatorship, which many Romans feared. “I thrice presented him a kingly crown,/ Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?” (III.II.98-99) stated Antony. Brutus believe that Caesar was ambitious, and Brutus was an honorable man. Caesar was a fantastic Roman senator and war leader. Julius Caesar has never lost a war in his entire career. Caesar just recently returned back to Rome in triumph after a successful military campaign against...
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...their success as an organization (“Leaders Are Made,” 2008). The performance of a company often rides on the many decisions the higher management or company leaders make. Company leaders, for example the chief executive officer, make crucial decisions that determines the direction the company is heading towards, whether resulting in its success or towards its demise. Hence strong leadership is often seen as a key, highly sought after asset in many corporations. Likewise, in ancient times, people have been in awe and in fear of certain great leaders. One good example would be Alexander the Great. He was the most celebrated member in his dynasty and created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Armed with a brilliant mind, he was undefeated in battle with his usage of superior tactics. Indeed, he was one of the most feared and respected leaders in history. The basic principles of leadership have been until recent times, discussed by many, but received no formal agreement on definition (Radman, 2007). Much focus has been placed on the leader’s personal characteristics of traits in the past to comprehend leadership success. Samson and Daft (2009, p. 557) define traits as “the distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader, such as intelligence, values and appearance”. The early findings emphasized on leaders who had achieved a level of success and hence, the findings were coined the Great Man Theory (Cawthon, 1996). Leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr, John F. Kennedy...
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...Fighter/Fastest man in the world One day a 20 year old man that’s named Bobby Wong Lee was in the gym punching some bags. He has been training and training, one day he believes to become the greatest fighter in the world. He is training for a fight that’s coming up in a couple of hours. After a close nail biting round 3 he loses. He was upset and angry at the same time. His family died during a carjacking 6 years ago all he can remember is the carjackers tattoo on the back of his neck. He finds a poster about a fighting tournament and the winner gets 10 grand but thing is you have to fight the undefeated champion. He signs up but you have to fight first to join and if you do well you’re in, so he starts training...
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