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Why November 8th Will Go Down in History

By Kyle Boris

November 8th could go down as one of the most important dates in the history of the United States of America.

Take that statement for what it’s worth.

Yes, the main reason this day could be such an important date for our country is because we will be selecting our 45th President. It’s been well-documented that our country is split between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Both have been in the news and in the tabloids for the wrong reasons. Many have questioned, whether through a long Facebook status or a quick tidbit on Twitter or even a rant on Youtube, how these politicians could be the best our country could come up with. There are many people who are 100% for Trump. There are also many Americans who are fully behind Clinton. But, for many Americans, they fall somewhere in between.

No matter where we fall, however, the real reasoning behind November 8’s importance is not the outcome of the Presidential Election. Instead, I argue, that the reactions of the American voters, following the election, could make November 8th the most important date in the history of the United States of America.

What will we do? How will we react? Will we give up? Will we allow our beliefs, feelings and dreams to lay to the rest because the person we wanted was elected? Will we lose hope after the person we voted was defeated? The answers to those questions will speak loudest after November 8th.

Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will be the next president of this country. Barrack Obama will say his goodbyes and move on with his family as the White House opens its doors to either the Trumps or the Clintons. That might sound disgusting, unbelievable, and even flat-out insane to some of us, but that doesn’t mean we stop. That doesn’t mean we complain without action. Trump or Clinton’s name will be etched in the history books as the man or woman with the power. But, what they do with that power can only crack the surface of what the American people can do.

On November 9th, half of our country will wake up knowing that the person they voted for lost. It might make you want to scream hateful words on the internet. That might make you want to riot. It might make you threaten to leave the country. The great thing about this country is that you have the right to make any of those options a reality. You also have the right to attempt to make things better and make our country stronger.

I’ve stated that this day could be the biggest in our history. That could be good or bad. Positive or negative. When we look back it might carry importance because whomever we elected turned out to be the best thing for our country. We might also look back and realize it was our country’s biggest mistake.

But why should the voters only be looking back to think what could have been if so and so wasn’t president? What if we become the reason that when people look back they become aware that even though Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton became President, our nation came together. 2016-2020 wasn’t about who was the leader of the free world. That time period was about a country, that for so many months prior to the election was torn apart, that came together and built back up what was almost torn down.

Just because someone becomes president, that doesn’t mean we’re starting over or taking steps back. It doesn’t mean our entire country will be flipped upside down. I understand political policies come into play and decisions we don’t agree with might be made. But isn’t that always the case? We’ll never be happy with every decision that is made. That being said, we can be happy with the decisions we, the people, make. We can be happy about how we stepped up when a decision was made on November 8th.

Have you been fighting to put racism to an end? After November 8th, fight even harder. Do you believe rape culture is getting the attention and responses it needs? After November 8th, stand up even taller for change. Are you pushing for LGBT equality? After November 8th, push even harder. Scream for marijuana to be legal or illegal. Plead for stricter gun laws or scream against it. Plead for more awareness toward environmental issues, the bee population and animal cruelty. Plead for whatever it is you believe in.

Fight. Stand. Push. Scream. Plead.

Don’t stop. If you believe in something; if you believe in this country; if you believe in the American people than keep fighting. Don’t sit down. Push through and scream and plead until your voice is heard. Donald Trump is one man. Hillary Clinton is one woman. We are over 300 million strong. We are over 300 million voices. We are over 300 million different beliefs that make each and every one of us unique. As a whole, the over 300 million people of this country are stronger and have more power than two politicians fighting, degrading, and insulting each other to sit at a desk they may or may not deserve. We have more voices than the ones on the news telling us what we ‘should’ hear and know. We believe in things that none of them could ever imagine.

Every now and then, a day comes around that changes the course of history. It could be the start of a war or it could be the beginning of a revolution. The day could be one of tragedy or one of celebration. The day could even be one when the people of the United States of America started to fight, stand, push, scream and plead for their voices to be heard until the change they believed in was achieved.

Voting on November 8th will be the second most important thing you need to do that day. The most important will be to begin to decide how you want the day to be remembered.

Kyle Boris is the founder of YourSitch.com

Twitter: @KyleNoStyle

The Natural Opinion: Tom Brady

By Adriel “The Natural”

Could Tom Brady be finished in New England? Wait. Hear me out.

What do Joe Montana and Tom Brady have in common? Well for starters, they’re both considered by the masses to be two of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all-time. They both have four Super Bowl victories. They were both drafted in the later rounds of the NFL draft. Their similarities are many. However, there is one similarity that I could see coming to fruition once the 2016 NFL season begins. Just as Joe Montana finally lost his starting job to Steve Young, Tom Brady will lose his starting spot to Jimmy Garoppolo.

That’s right. I said it! Tom Brady will lose his starting job for the New England Patriots during the 2016 season. How blasphemous! How dare I say such a thing? Now hold on, before you start going crazy, hear me out.

In the preseason of the 1990 season, I was a young boy watching NFL football for the very first time. I wasn’t always a fan, but I knew of the big names; none bigger than Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. The San Francisco 49ers were the glamour team at that time as they exercised dominance throughout the 1980’s while ushering in the 1990’s. I was an 11-year old kid and I made a concerted effort to watch and learn the game. Starting off in the preseason, one thing stood out to me. Every time Joe Montana would leave the game, this guy named Steve Young would not only come in and play well, he would look, dare I say, even more dynamic than Joe. Now, it wasn’t as if Joe wasn’t playing well, it was just that to a novice like me, it seemed that there wasn’t much of a difference between the “greatest of all time” and his understudy.

Fast forward to the regular season. The 49ers got off to a blazing start. The team was clicking on all cylinders to the tune of a 14-2 record which was tops in the league. They were destined for another impressive run to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately for them, the 1990 New York Giants happened and the 49ers were unceremoniously dismissed from the playoffs in the 1990 NFC Championship game. Joe Montana suffered a major injury that game. Joe was almost 35-years old at the time and obviously on the downside of his career. That was the beginning of the end for Joe Montana as the starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.

What does this have to do with Tom Brady, you ask? No matter how great you are or how great you were, there will always come a time where we all will have to move on especially when it comes to sports; especially when it comes to the game of football.

Tom Brady had one of his greatest statistical seasons last year: 64.4%completion percentage, 4770 yards, 36 touchdowns and seven interceptions. However, if you paid close attention to every Patriots game, it was easy to see that most of Tom Brady’s brilliance last year was due to the greatness of Rob Gronkowski and the elusiveness and guile of Julian Edelman. Brady got off to a blazing start in the 2015 season. He was on pace to destroy all his peers when it came to the MVP voting. Then, a funny thing happened. After 9 games, Julian Edelman was lost for the rest of the regular season due to a severe foot injury leaving Brady and the rest of the team to pick up the pieces. Brady was never the same quarterback after that. His numbers dropped significantly and it was clear to see how much he missed the security blanket called Julian Edelman.

Why is this significant? Because in the 2014 season Rob Gronkowski started off the season slow. He was deliberately eased back into things coming off major injuries to his knee, forearm and back. While he was being eased into things, Tom Brady struggled mightily. Not looking like the same quarterback we’ve come to expect, Brady and the New England Patriots got off to a mediocre start. They were 2-2 after the first four games. Once Gronk was cleared for full game participation, the Patriots went 10-2 the rest of the way, and they won the Super Bowl.

I’m saying all this to illuminate how now, more than ever, Tom Brady’s greatness is completely reliant on having his 2 most trusted weapons on the field at the same time. He can’t have one without the other. He must have both simultaneously in order to be great. No longer are the days where Tom Brady can make lemonade out of lemons. In Brady’s hay day he made guys like Troy Brown, Dion Branch, and Kevin Faulk into well-known names. Why? Because he was that great. As he’s gotten older and his arm strength and arm talent have dropped significantly he’s become entirely reliant on the all-pro receivers he now has at his disposal.

Fast forward to 2016. Brady has been suspended for the first four games because of Deflategate. Jimmy Garoppolo will be at the helm. There is only a small sample size, but every time I have seen this young man step on the football field, he has been impressive and more than competent even at such a young age.

Now in his third year in the league, he will be entrusted to hold down the fort until Brady comes back in week 5. It is my assertion, that if Jimmy Garoppolo plays well enough to lead the New England Patriots to at least a 3-1 record to start the season, he will remain the New England Patriots starting quarterback. Now when I say, if Garoppolo leads them to at least 3-1; I’m implying that if his play on the field is the primary reason for their success, he will remain the starter. Bill Belichick has been known to be as cutthroat as ever when it comes to his football team. He doesn’t care what you did before. He only cares what you can do now and in the future and in my estimation, the future will be Jimmy Garoppolo. I could be wrong and Belichick might go right back to Brady no matter how well Garoppolo does. But even so, the writing will be on the wall. Tom Brady, 39-years old, will be on his way out. Even though he might still have something left, he won’t have enough moving forward to be a better option at quarterback than Jimmy Garoppolo.

Adriel “The Natural” is a contributing writer for YourSitch.com

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Layton Ross is a contributing editor of YourSitch.com

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The Rio We Don’t See

A brief look into the life in Rio de Janeiro and it’s relation to the 2016 Olympics.

By Daisy Rivadeneira

90141061_welcometohell — Sight of Brazil tourist when landing in Rio (BBC)

‘Welcome to Hell’ is how many were greeted when landing in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics earlier this month. Now, if that’s not terrifying, I don’t know what is. Months leading into the world-wide competition hinted that Rio was going through an economic crisis. The cost of last year’s World Cup, in addition to the construction of more stadiums for the Olympics, has put a strain on its community.

Here’s what we see versus what is actually going on just outside of the stadiums:

Opening Ceremony Moments Olympics — 2016 Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony (NBC)

rio-olympics-police_e7658521565d43328dbc78f514d667fc — Olympic Park- Rio de Janeiro (Rappler)

It’s not like people are walking in blind into Rio. It was publicly known that natives in Rio de Janeiro were protesting the Olympics, leading to the boycott of many police officers before the event. Yes, Brazil has brought in officers to keep the athletes and tourists safe as a temporary solution- but how has that held up?

Quick background, as soon as it was announced that Rio would host the World Cup and the Olympics, the government quickly acted on pushing the poor into favelas; urban ghettos, where there is little to no police supervision. These favelas are far enough from where gold medals are being distributed, but still just a few kilometers away from the glamour.

Currently, many cities in Brazil are going through the same severe poverty Rio is going through. The only difference here is that most of the world has their eyes set on the Olympics, forcing the city into a negative spotlight. Unfortunately this isn’t something that has come about in the recent months, but something that has been going on for years. Yet, not much has been done by the government to change or resolve the problem. It seems almost as if the government has accepted the issue and is just settling.

Due to the severe poverty in Rio, there are women selling their bodies and kids pickpocketing tourists just footsteps away from Maracana Stadium. People are doing this because there aren’t jobs that will pay them, coercing them to do what it takes to survive. Not sure if I missed that in the news, but all I have been hearing is how the city is beautiful, safe, and fun. Honestly this doesn’t come to my surprise, but it’s not what has really shocked me so far. What really has shocked me is how the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the people who chose Rio as the host city, are coming off. They appear to be more worried about looking foolish in the decision they’ve made in choosing Rio de Janeiro.

Throughout the Olympic games the IOC has overlooked and ignored many incidents in where people have been mugged, robbed, or just merely had their life threatened. However, it got to the point in where they could no longer ignore the real-life crime happening right in front of their faces. Now obviously there have been many crime related instances throughout the games, but what has been making headlines as of late is Ryan Lochte’s incident on Sunday.

In case you missed it,12-time Olympic Gold medalist Ryan Lochte reported that he had allegedly been robbed at gunpoint with three other US swimmers. Lochte goes on social media to break the news and instantly the news goes viral. Now here is my issue. Any organization would have an initial reaction of trying to get ahold of the situation and get to the bottom of it. However, the IOC’s reaction was to shut down the claim and deny it happened immediately. Now it appeared as if they were trying to hide and bury the news as if nothing had happened, but since Lochte is a world-wide name it was hard to have the news disappear. Who knows what the truth in this story is, but Brazilian officials are determined to find out the truth. This case is currently under investigation and on Wednesday the Brazilian court ordered to seize Lochte’s passport along with the three other athletes he was with that night (USA Today). Now if the Brazilian officials actually did this in-depth investigation for other crimes, things might not be so bad in Brazil.

This is just a very tiny glimpse and a quick overview of what is going on down in Brazil. So what happens after the games are over and done with? The only places with protection seem to be around the events. Currently every event is being heavily guarded, and even locals have reported that this is the safest Rio has been… at least around Olympic Park (NY Times). Like I said this is just the tip of the iceberg and you can read about Rio’s crime problem for hours and even read into the corruption in IOC’s decision. But that’s another article for another time.

Let me know your thoughts as this discussion isn’t close to being done.

Daisy Rivadeneira is a contributing editor for YourSitch.com

Twitter: @day_zeeee

The Natural Opinion: Kevin Durant

Is Kevin Durant Just Following The Lebron James Model?

I certainly think so.

Picture this. As a young kid growing up in Brooklyn, New York, my friends and I are choosing teams. Myself, along with my little brother, are by far the best players of the bunch. Automatically, I along with my brother are nominated team captains. Notice the word, “automatically”. Why is it automatic that the two best players play on opposite sides? Competitive balance. The two best players on the same team is called a “slaughter”. No one wants to see that, no one wants to be a part of that, including two young boys just playing on the courts of Brooklyn.

The only true way to ultimately decide who truly is the better player is for us to compete against each other. Being on the same team doesn’t accomplish anything. As competitors, no matter the age of the athlete, we feel a sense of accomplishment when we challenge ourselves that way.

I say all this to illuminate the fact that the day Lebron James decided to join Dwyane Wade in Miami in the summer of 2010, the NBA as we knew it would never be the same. I’m an NBA fan through and through. I still love the NBA now, just as much as I did back in the day. But I’ve gotta say, I feel like I’m in the twilight zone these days. NBA Superstars who are considered in the top two or three players in the league consciously teaming up to “slaughter” the rest of the league are being celebrated like those NBA legends of old who accomplished even more without resorting to these “punk-like” tactics? In Brooklyn that’s called “sucka shit”.

Whenever I bring things like this up, I’m deemed a “hater”. But the reality is, I want others to truly appreciate how difficult it is to win an NBA championship. Not only that, how difficult it is to win many times over. Common sense would say, when two of the top three players in the league team up it means they’re taking a much easier road to the ultimate goal. But someway, somehow, Lebron James is now being celebrated like he is on the same level, or according to some, even better than the GOAT Michael Jordan. Remember what I said, “twilight zone”. With that, with only three rings to his name, he’s now bypassed legends like Magic Johnson(5 rings), Kareem Abdul Jabbar(6 rings), Kobe Bryant(5 rings), Shaquille O’Neal(4 rings) Tim Duncan(5 rings). Really?

In 2010, Kevin Durant condemned the forming of super teams in his now infamous tweet. But a funny thing has happened since; Lebron James is being celebrated because he finally started winning championships by doing “sucka shit”. So apparently, Kevin Durant has had a change of heart. He’s now joined the Golden State Warriors to team up with another, arguably, top three player in Steph Curry. My assertion is that the Golden State Warriors have the potential to be the greatest team of all time and once Durant starts winning championships, he too will celebrated as if he’s greater than Michael Jordan. Twilight Zone.

Adriel “The Natural” is a contributing writer for YourSitch.com