The Matter of One Call

Author's Note: I wanted to show a different perspective about the game that will always be remembered. Kentucky fans everywhere  still believe that Watford traveled before he shot the ball.

“Here we are in Bloomington Indiana for a great match up tonight”. “We’ve got #1 Kentucky and #15 Indiana”. “I’m Jeff Carl and I’m here with Dick Vitale”. “Let’s go down to center court for tip off and get ready for a crazy game”. In this intense and extremely close game, it came down to the last shot by Christian Watford, which most people think was clean and released before time expired. When watching this nerve racking game and seeing that last second shot, in my perspective I saw Christian Watford catch the ball, travel, then shoot the ball for the win. In this point of view piece I will show the view I had when watching this game.   

This was the one game all year I was just a little worried about because it was at Indiana, which according to www.BleacherReport.com is the forth toughest arena in NCAA basketball. Throughout the whole game each team would never fall far behind the other. At halftime it was 29 to 28, with Indiana on top. This game was going to be decided by defense and clearly both teams knew how play defense. Kentucky was coming into this game undefeated and with two future first and second draft picks to go into the NBA. It was so incredible how two freshmen would be the first and second draft picks.

It was a huge game to me, being a big Kentucky fan and also hating Indiana. My dad and I almost got tickets for the game, but were just a little too late. This was a game where you couldn’t take your eyes off the screen or even leave the room. Throughout the whole game it seemed as if my eyes were glued to the screen. As much faith as I had in my team, I was still very nervous and had a bad feeling that something terrible would happen this game.

With six minutes left in the game, Kentucky was playing excellent and turning stops into points. With three minutes left Indiana was down by seven and was forced to call a timeout. Kentucky Coach Calipari told his team they need to play defense and commit no stupid fouls. As time came down to 37 seconds it was a tie game and Kentucky’s ball. Kentucky wasted almost all the shot clock and got a layup and was up by two with 5.6 seconds left. Indiana called a quick timeout and got the ball on the other half of the court. Jordan Hull brought the ball up with great speed and passed it to Christian Watford to shoot at the last second. He caught the ball, stepped forward, then took two more steps and shot the ball and made the basket. Soon after, everyone stormed the court thinking they won. The referees had to fight their way to see the replay.

I’m shouting at the TV saying that he traveled. When the referee called the shot good, it made me furious. My team just got robbed from a win and would no longer be ranked number one overall. I believe the referees called the shot clean because every student that could fit on that floor was on it. If they called it a travel and Indiana lost, it would have turned into one huge fight and so many people might have been injured. Even though Kentucky won the National Championship that same year, Kentucky should have never lost that game.

Overcoming Problems

Author's Note: I wrote about Stanley figuring out how to fix problems and stand up for himself because i think a lot of kids need to make the decision help themselves and not get bullied. 

Before getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time Stanley was bullied every single day of his life for being a nerd and overweight. In the book “Holes” by Louis Sachar, Stanley Yelnats, the main character learns how to stick up for himself and fix his problems. He Doesn’t want to be pushed around and stepped on from bullies anymore so he decides to help himself. 

While walking home from school one day out of nowhere shoes came flying out of the sky. After walking  with them for a while two cops drove by and picked Stanley up to go to jail. Stanley had no clue what just happened and why he was going to jail. He got a choice to either sit in jail or go Camp Green Lake. He thought it was the camps his mom offered to sign him up in the summer but was to afraid to get bullied there, but he decided it was better than jail so he went.

Getting to that camp was different what he thought it was going to be. There was no lake, no shade, no nothing. He was scared he would face the same bullying and torture he got every other day back in his home. The head guard told him that he needed dig a 5 by 5 hole every day.  Mr. Sir told him it will build character to make a better man. Stanley thought you could never get good character by digging a hole. After being there though he did build character and even stood up to a bully one day in the cafeteria when a bigger man tried to take his food.  

After him and his friend Zero tried to run away from the tortures camp they found a mountain named “God’s Thump, that was thought to be filled with water and a bunch of wild onions that would recuperate the young boys health. Before retrieving the wonderful water on top of the mountain he had to carry Zero up the mountain to recover and sustain health because he had been without water for much longer then Stanley. Over the month at Camp Green Lake he lost weight, became smarter, and knew how to deal and concur his problems.After being pushed around all those years Stanley was going to seek revenge and the people who have made his life miserable all the years.

In the beginning of the book Stanley and the Yelnats thought they were all cursed for a old ancestor, but at the end Stanley broke that curse by bringing a Zeroni family member which was Zero up God’s Thumb and let him drink the water. Before then Stanley would never have the courage or even the strength to do what he did. Right after he brought Zero up God's Thumb good things started to happen to Stanley such as finding the buried treasure, go home with Zero, and even got to adopt Zero into their family. Stanley changed through the book because he had a choice, either be picked on and bullied or become different and stand up for himself. He made the right choice by sticking up for himself and learning how to fix his problems.