The Night Of The Locker Room

What is victory? What is failure? How do we know what state we’re truly in? In “Locker Room Talk” Stephen Dunn explores the conception of men boasting about their sexual encounters alongside women and persuades the audience boastful men who are presenting their victory of not yielding to the attractiveness and capability of women by not falling in love have actually failed through rhetorical strategies such as purpose, audience, and genre; pathos, logos, and ethos; and angle of vision. Dunn supports his stance on the journal by providing evidence and examples that emphasize the fear of falling in love to the general audience. Moreover, Dunn persuades the general audience through a reasonable, emotional, and credible approach on why men boast about their sexual encounters alongside women such as “Frankie made it sound dirty, something great you do with a bad girl” (Dunn, Locker Room Talk) and “A young man was telling his friend what he did to this particular young woman the night before, and what she did to him” (Dunn, Locker Room Talk). From Dunn’s angle of vision, even though boastful men feel victorious in their effort to not fall in love Dunn experiences sympathy for their actions as portrayed at the end of the passage “He thought we’d be happy for him” (Dunn, Locker Room Talk).

It only took us twenty minutes to be up 2-0 against a team, our main rivals Clements, we had not beaten them for twenty years and who were also former state champions. It was the best feeling ever, seeing the confusion in their faces from being down to us. All the work we had put in that year was finally translated into the field, where it truly matters. Toe to toe with a team they said we had no chance against, I beg to differ. All was going well, until early in the second half they had scored a goal. I could sense the timorous feeling beginning to rise within my teammates, but I never doubted them and knew we still had a

My team was playing in Denver at the Mountain Madness tournament, our last tournament of the year. It was the second day of the tournament and after suffering a loss earlier that morning, we really needed to play well if we wanted any chance at playing in the championship game the next day. I played for a

We got changed in the locker room, listening to music that would get our adrenaline pumping. The game started with a tip-off with us getting the ball and scoring on the first play, but so did the other team. The game was very close. We would score, they would score. No one ever got ahead by more than four points. At the end of the second quarter with ten seconds left, it was their ball and we were down by two. They did a nice play and a girl got a wide open three pointer. Then the buzzer went off and we all looked at our fuming coach and knew what was about to come at half time. You know that scene in the movie, “42” about Jackie Robinson, where the other teams coach is yelling at him saying rude things? And then there’s the heartbreakingly beautiful scene where Jackie goes into the dugout and breaks his bat and screams and cries. That’s what our halftime was like. The coach yelling and us wanting to scream and cry, but still we had determination to win this game. We came back out ready to play and immediately tied it back it up. The game kept going back and forth, until the fourth quarter with a minute left and us up by four. The other teams coach called a timeout and our coach gave us a speech about if we wanted to win, we needed teamwork. Teamwork just like Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. We came back out and held the game at four points until the buzzer went

It had been a long season, many losses, but many learning moments, we were second to last in the league and only had about ten wins. The only thing we had going for us, the playoffs. We had tied the West Kent Hawks and beat two other teams 7-1 and 10-2 to make it here, and there I was. Sitting in the locker room with a blank stare and hands hanging from my chest guard, this is usually what happens before games. I was anxious to get on the ice, but neverous too, because this is how the little caesars playoffs work.

As our two senior captains closed the practice with their last words I will never forget Claire Basetti saying "Girls, this is my last year here at Wood, all I want right now is this team, my favorite team of sisters I've had at Wood, to win this State Championship". From that practice on, we played our hearts out for the person playing next to us. As we made it to the Giant Center once again in March of 2016, we ended up beating Villa with a lead of seventeen points. The feeling we all felt rushing onto the court as we won when the clock ran out to 00:00 was one of the best feelings I will never forget. That season really taught me that when things don't feel right the way they are going, that talking the problems or feelings out with others definitely helps. If our coach didn't have that one practice dedicated for us I highly doubt we wouldn't have won that game. Winning the State Championship is definitely one of the best moments I'll remember for the rest of my life, and especially the sisterhood I made with my best

The day the team got together and fought threw a tough battle facing pinnacle high school. It was our second home game and our record was 1-2. After all of the hard work we had put in over summer, we realized we could not lose, especially in front of our home crowd. At the beginning of the game we did our usual warm-ups, I have never felt so much adrenaline pushing threw my veins in my life. After the warm-ups the whole team got in a big huddle, we chanted a chant that will never be forgotten and one day make history for the pride. After the chant we got ready for kick-off, lined up and ready to go. The crowd started cheering at the first 2 seconds of the game “go pride go, go pride go”. This made the whole team nervous, not just because there was so many

As we walked out of the McLeod Center, I learned that I experience history wherever I go. I can also say that any team can be beaten on any given day. Even if your record is bad you can still exceed expectation to win. Being with my dad and experiencing this moment is one of the best memories I will never forget this moment with

The third game, that was previously postponed, was a tie at 8-8 with a team from Bucks County. Then it was a waiting game to see who and when we would play. We ended up playing a team called Big Sky and won that game. Then right after that we played York A team for the gold medal; which no keystone west team had ever won. The game was a long one if you were playing even though the game was only 40 minutes it felt like 2 hours. The game was 6-2 at the half and the keystone West team were winning. With under 1 minute left in the game the score was West 12 a York A had 8. York ran the ball down the field and then throw it out of bounds with under 30 seconds. West got the send it call and that is what they did and ended that throw with a goal. That ended the game and all but one of the West team ran to their goalie but I did not. I was in so much shock from how I went from one position to another in under a year and was one of the best in Western PA and how much we practice we had to let this moment happen. I am now and was and will always be proud of what happened with this

I sat in the corner of the locker room, just looking, waiting, and most of all there was a lump in my stomach I couldn't seem to get rid of. This was the region 5 WAHA Kohlman Cup tryout room and there had to have been 30 others looking for my spot that I wanted on the team glaring at each other. There was a coach in the room that went by the name coach Buster and by the looks of it he was just as uncomfortable as all of us, sitting there and staring into the sea of players just waiting for the ice to be done resurfacing. The buzzer went off.

As of planned, my team in bounded the scream. I caught the ball, stood there, and held the ball to my hip. I called for a screen from one of my teammates. I used the screen soon after he set in. All I heard was my coach telling me to shoot. I pulled up way beyond the three point line and I swished it. I won the Pennsylvania State Championship.

It was 7:00 in the morning when we arrived at the Johnston City High School. Once everyone arrived at the high school, we got on the bus and headed off to Benton. As we stepped foot on the bus, we all sat there quietly, nervous about the results of this game. This was the game that determined whether or not we went on to state. Coach Simon and Coach Shane gave us one of their what we like to call "before the game warm-up talks". We were all nervous of course, but we were all determined to win this game. We had been looking forwards to winning regionals and going to state the whole season and that day was the day that we gave us the opportunity to go to state. After the thirty minute bus ride, we finally got to Benton and once we got there,

Many athletes are particularly trusting with regards to performance enhancers because many of them are eager to be the best in their respective sport. At the professional level, where athletes are expected to perform at high levels, many who are desperate to keep their jobs will do whatever they can to match the standard. In their book Death in the Locker Room, authors Bob Goldman, Patricia Bush, and Ronald Klatz discuss this immense pressure athletes feel to use PEDs. The authors explain how players often place this pressure on themselves because of an overwhelming desire to become famous, adored athletes.

Running into the gym with my team, knowing it was my last middle school basketball game, but first championship game I felt elated and truly blessed. My knees quivered with anticipation after seeing all the bleachers filled with people. After realizing even the press and other media was in attendance I grasped the moment like a newly elected president at his inauguration. I am warming up doing basketball drills, when I began to look at the flags on the gym wall depicting the history of the basketball team. The years and dates of the last championship game, Historically a championship game had not been won since 2007 . The more I stared at the flags, the more it made me want to win this game and make history in this gym. As the crowd and cheerleaders start to chant, cheer and get loud, I started to feel more comfortable and rowdy more than I had ever felt in any other game that I’ve played. Waiting for the referee to blow the whistle for jumpall to start. I felt my fingertips tapping the side of my leg, which for some reason gives me a sign to myself that I am pumped up and ready to play!

With the game tied 6-6 that is when I went into my own little zone and was in my moment. The crowed was electrified and cheering us on. I thought about all the hard work the coaches put us through doing two a days and keeping us late after a hard practice, spending all of that time and hard work just for this one little moment when the game was on the line. Back to reality our quarterback had started the play and it looked like it was going nowhere and we might have to got into overtime. Then after about 6 crazy seconds he threw the ball to our halfback and he broke a couple tackles and the somehow stretched across the goal line by about 2 inches and we had taken the lead 8-6 with 52 seconds to go. When the game clock hit 00:00 for the first time in our schools history the football team had beaten Aberdeen and none of us could believe it. This was a special moment.