Playing For Pizza by J. Grisham - Ch. 8-9

Sam met up with Rick in the cafe. Rick told Sam about his introduction from judge Franco, and Sam assured him that no other American had received such a special welcome from Franco. After the cafe Sam brought Rick to open a checking account. After, with a quick tour of the neighborhood Sam introduced Rick to the style of living in Italy. Sam gave him a car it had a manual transmission and Rick was not familiar with this, he didn't even like the color, a deep copper. 

Rick had his first practice today with the Panthers. One of the players, Sly, came in wearing a Denver Broncos Sweatshirt. Sam said, "You wearing that for a reason?" Denver was the team Rick was playing in the AFC championship, when he blew the game for Cleveland. Sly was another American and he was joking around with Rick about the game, he grew up near Denver. Another American, Trey Colby, came running up from the locker room. He also joked around about the game but Sly told him he didn't want to talk about it. For about hour they threw around the football and talked about players back in the U.S.

When all the players arrived in the small locker room Rick gave a speech. This was Sly and Trey's second and there last year in Italy, few Americans stay for a third year. During practice they ran wind sprints and Rick doesn't believe he should be doing them because he is the quarterback. He felt that this practice was like the practices back in high school, he needed to talk to Sam and straighten this out. Rick met the back up quarterback, Alberto, who had a weak arm and would prefer to run the ball. Nino was not comfortable with giving Rick snaps and Rick was not comfortable with the speed of the snaps. They ran wind sprints again and Rick thought to himself again that quarterbacks don't run wind sprints.

Playing For Pizza by J. Grisham - Ch. 6-7

Rick goes to Cafe Montana with Sam to meet up with some of the team members. Nino the center of the panthers owns the cafe. They look up to Rick, thinking that he will lead their team to the Superbowl. Rick looks at the players and getting worried that some of the players are not big enough. Rick loves the food in Parma and is eating a lot.

The next day Rick was sleeping in his apartment when the door bell woke him up. It was the police. The police said that there was noise complaints and would not elaborate. The only thing they said is he had to see the judge. When Rick walked into the office, the judge introduced himself as Franco, he was the Panther's fullback. In Franco's office there was a lot of pictures and sports memorabilia of Franco Harris, a professional football player in the U.S. They talked about this memorabilia and other topics, they also watched clips of Franco Harris and then some clips of the Panthers. Rick had to see the judge not for a noise complaint but an introduction to meet his new fullback.

Steinbeck's Poem

The poem starts talking about mice and how people chase them wanting to kill them. He is sorry to kill the mouse, he understands that the mouse needs a new source of food and a new home. He puts the mouse outside to endure a painful death. He says that he fears the future. This relates to the book because George does not want to kill Lennie but he knows he has to. George does not know what will happen without Lennie there.

Of Mice And Men by J. Steinbeck

The main characters in this book are George, Lennie, Curley, Curley's wife, Candy, Crooks and Slim. George and Lennie are companions, George is small, and Lennie is humongous in size. They start off at a Stream close to the Salinas river, they were leaving their old job and traveling to their new one. George and Lennie's dream is to own their own little farm together, their dream keeps them working hard and their friendship close. While on the farm Lennie has a puppy but does not know his own strength and accidentally kills it. This is common with Lennie, he used to have mice and killed them too because of his tremendous strength. Lennie was in the barn petting his dead little pup, when Curley's wife walks in. Curley's wife starts a conversation with him, and then tells him to stroke her soft hair. She was startled by Lennie's strong hands and started screaming, This frightened Lennie so he covered her mouth, in doing so he broke her neck and killed her. Knowing he did something wrong, he ran to the stream. George found him there and killed Lennie, putting him away from the painful torture the other ranch workers would have done.

Playing For Pizza by J. Grisham - Ch.4-5

Rick moves to Parma, Italy. Sam brings him to his apartment in downtown Parma, Sam said this is the place you want to live. The apartment is on the third floor, the owner of the team owns a few buildings and that is why he gets to live in downtown, it is more expensive here. The apartment has three rooms and is newly furnished and painted. They go to a cafe that is two blocks away from the apartment and then visit the field. The stadium is a professional rugby field and the panthers lease it for football. It has two canopy-covered bleachers, a press box and a natural grass field. The Parma Panthers are one of the teams out of nine. There are the Bergamo lions, who are the perennial champs, Bologna Warriors, Rome Gladiators, Naples Bandits, Milan Rhinos, Lazio Marines, Ancona Dolphins and Bolzano Giants. The locker room is nothing like the one Rick had in the NFL. It is a small room packed with lockers and equipment. When they leave the field they go to dinner with some of the players on the team who are anxious to meet him.

Violent Video Game Article

I agree that aggressive video games bring out aggression in kids. Kids think that it is cool to play violent games which then makes them think that it's alright to be violent. I believe that sometimes people have aggression hidden inside of them and the game then brings it out in to their lives. Also, some kids don't have violence in them at all and the game introduces them to it. Since there is violence in everyday life kids lose all of the emotional feelings that come with it, which makes playing these games have no harmful effect on them. Finally, there is a lot of disrespect for those who have respected positions in our society. These individuals, like policemen and EMTs are murdered and brutally beaten in these games. I disagree with this because the games make this something entertaining and fun to do for kids.

Playing For Pizza by J. Grisham

The main character in this book is Rick. Rick is a professional football player and is a quarterback that was released from many different teams because of injuries. He is currently on the Cleveland Browns in the AFC championship game. The Browns lost their starting quarterback previous to the game and their second quarterback during the game so now Rick has to go in to the game. During the fourth quarter the browns are up with a 17 point lead, but Rick throws two interceptions and a fumble to lose the big game. On the last interception Rick gets hit hard and suffers his third concussion. The Browns release him and no other team will take him. His agent, Arnie, is looking for a team that will take him. Arnie finds a team in Italy that needs a quarterback. Rick is not to sure about this, until a girl is looking to sue him. Now he is thinking that going to Italy would be a good idea because she won't be able to find him.