Double-Journal Entries

During the reading,I began to think of sports, soccer in particular. This is because when the author was referring to hockey, it made me think of the sport that I play and how I can improve.When the author writes“ if your are to work to develop that ability, the system will reward you” ( Outliers pg.17). I made a connection to what my parents and been instilling in me not just in sports but also in life.I really like how the author takes examples from different circumstances to prove his point. This allows readers to connect to the reading, and in turn makes the book more enjoyable to read.

Not long ago, thinking of the generations of Canadians who learned hockey on rivers and ponds, I collected my skates and with two friends drove up the Gatineau River north of Ottawa. We didn't know it at the time, but the ice conditions we found were rare, duplicated only a few times the previous decade. The combination of a sudden thaw and freezing rain in the days before had melted winter-high snow, and with temperatures dropping rapidly overnight, the river was left with miles of smooth glare ice. Growing up in the suburbs of a large city, I had played on a river only once before, and then as a goalie. On this day, I came to the Gatineau to find what a river of ice and a solitary feeling might mean to a game.

First, the aggressor in this situation is only 15 years old. At 15 years old, the aggressor felt it both necessary and acceptable to violently attack another player. Moreover, the 15 year old victim subjected to the attack was incredibly damaged emotionally from the event. Secondly, the verbiage used is so violent which highlights the significance of racism in minor hockey. The nature of the sport evokes intense and sporadic emotions which encourages the oppressor to express their truest emotions. As a result, one can conclude that racism is deeply rooted within that player’s beliefs, and which is not exclusive to this incident.

This selection convention is typical throughout the world and is how the best of the best eventually make their way into professional sports such as hockey, soccer, and the Olympics. The idea that a person’s individual merit is the sole reason behind his or her success is challenged. An interesting connection is realized in the birth month of star hockey players; it is discovered that more hockey players have birth months in January, February, and March than in any other month of the year. The reason is found in the January 1st cutoff date for acceptance into age classed hockey leagues. The advantage of being 9-11 months older than other players yields advantages that build upon themselves as players’ skills progress. Similar correlations were found in other types of sports and in academics. Hard work, consistency, and motivation were undoubtedly involved in the successes of those analyzed, however, attention is drawn to a very important notion; in order to find out what makes a person successful, you also need to know where they come from.

Wayne Gretzky skates down the ice with the puck, he fakes a shot, the goalie falls for it, Gretzky shoots, he scores! This is a common occurrence for Wayne Gretzky, a former NHL player who holds the record for most career regular-season goals (894), assists (1,963), points (2,857), and hat tricks (50). Most people would say Gretzky’s success all stems from his innate talent, but in “The Matthew Effect,” Gladwell argues that innate talent is not the only reason for success. He reveals there’s a much more surprising reason. In Gladwell’s chapter, “The Matthew Effect,” the controversial writer expertly asks rhetorical questions and uses charts and statistics to defend his claim that a person’s date of birth has a significant influence on their athletic and academic success.

Bilbo speaks for himself in this quote. He is not there to be someone’s tag along. He has a mind of his own and knows what is right and wrong. He also yearns for the safety and comfort of his own home when thrown into the midst of a sticky situation. I can say that Bilbo is a very convincing being.

fhurefhkserfhk Gladwell’s use of pathos and emotions touched nerves of the readers and compelled them to action. Logos are used by writers to engage the intellect in reason. Malcolm Gladwell resorts to logos to provide a factual and logical support for his argument. Professional hockey is described with logos to prove Gladwell’s point. A chart is provided that includes the birthdays of a professional hockey team. On the chart, “seventeen out of the twenty-five players on the team were born in January, February, March, or April.” The reason why there is a majority of players born between those months is because the “cutoff for age-class hockey is January 1” in Canada. Due to this, players born closer to the beginning of the year have more time to improve and mature than those born near the end of the year. This advantage developed a huge gap with the skill of the hockey players. Gladwell’s point is that the success of the people, in this case hockey players, is often determined by factors, such as age, that are

This seemingly small advantage in most cases tends to give the older kids an advantage over the younger players because they get more playing time, get placed on better teams, receive better coaching, and in turn become more skilled hockey players. Obviously those who go on to succeed must have innate talent, but that is not the primary factor deciding whether they succeed or fail at the sport. The primary factor in how good they become at hockey is the better opportunities they received because of their age. When applying Gladwell’s Outlier theory “The outliers in a particular field reached their lofty status through a combination of ability, opportunity, and utterly arbitrary advantage” (37) the birth date of the hockey players serves a crucial role and is just an arbitrary advantage. The coaches should not place the same expectations on the younger players or the younger players should be put in a younger league more suitable for them so they too can be given a chance to become great like those born in the earlier months. Since this doesn’t happen though those born earlier are much more likely to become great, which provides a solid backing of Gladwell’s Outlier theory.

“Every time, when I got my self into position to jump, I felt a flash of disbelief that was I was doing anything so perilous. But I always jumped. Otherwise I would have lost face with Phineas, and that would have been unthinkable.” P. 34

Each of those opportunities continues to build, and they continue to gain the experience needed to become successful in their field. The hockey players that were born during a certain time of the year, January and February, to be exact, already had a greater advantage over the rest of the players born in any other months. This was because of the way the cut off is set in place for hockey at the elementary level. Those player, then, are a little older than the rest of the team, grow and mature a little faster, and become the better player. They then will be offered more opportunities, such as club teams, to continue their practice and eventually put in enough hours of practice to become a professional hockey

Hockey, a sport who’s premier league is the NHL. The NHL, over time has had its fair share of players who dominated the game. Some of these players were just “too good”. Examples of this are Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe, and the Great one, Wayne Gretzky. Today, there are a lot of great players in the league, sadly to go down in history in any sport you need to be at the top of your time. In current days we see plenty of good, young players, who really contribute to the league but some of the older players who have established their name to everyone are the only ones who have really put themselves in the history books. Today I’m writing this article to talk about two players, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. The two players are considered the

Malcolm Gladwell introduces his readers to his story by discussing an advantage several hockey players possess that cannot be controlled by the individual. In a roster that was provided with birth months, Barnsley, a Canadian psychologist, identified that, “in any elite group of hockey players—the very best of the best—40 percent of the players will have been born between January and March” (qtd. in Gladwell 22), and the percentages decreased as the months reached the end of the year. What

Sometimes it is easy to forget the game played on frozen ponds and backyard rinks, and get lost in the overwhelming professional sport known as hockey. However, we strive to remember that hockey became Canada's game because it made our never-ending winter months more bearable . The game gradually became a sport, then an entertainment industry. It seems like the lockout was one of the biggest news stories of the year. Part of the amazing nature of the game is that it's origins are fairly vague. However, we always remember that hockey is our game. It may not be our official sport, like lacrosse is, but hockey is what Canada seems to be most well-known for, and it continues to have immense influence on our free society, with its unique style

What makes a good athlete? What separates a person on the 1st line up from a bench warmer? Where does athleticism come from? Is it from our genes, or is it a product of the environment we live in? These are the types of questions that arise in the nature vs. nurture debate pertaining about athletic ability. In 1582, British educator, Richard Mulcaster wrote that
''Nature makes the boy toward, nurture sees him forward,'' he gave the world
a euphonious name for an opposition that has been debated ever since; Nature and Nurture. People's
beliefs about the roles of heredity and environment affect their opinions on an
astonishing range of topics including sports. The nature versus nurture debate not only exists in the sporting community but also in many others. It is a very controversial topic that has puzzled researchers for centuries. There are two sides to the debate; Nature and Nurture. To be on the side on nature one believes that DNA and heredity make us who we are. In the case of sports, an athlete is born with genes that give them the ability to excel in a certain sport. On the other hand, many people believe that we become who we are because of the environment and people around us; Nurture. A nurtured athlete is an individual that has developed elite skills over time caused by rigorous training and their surroundings. Nature or nurture, which contributes more to the creation of professional athletes?

the game will be even more fun to play. This paper will discuss the importance