Wood Bats or Aluminum Bats for High School Baseball?

As a pitcher, they are supposed to be trained to protect themselves after they pitch. When they follow through for their pitch, they should end up facing the plate in an athletic stance so they can react. Over the course of history of baseball, there has been more protective gear for players because too many incidences happened too often. All baseball players, at every level, are required to wear a protective cup, for the obvious reasons for guarding the family jewels. I’m sure that batters have been beaned in the head by a baseball and in fact Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch in 1920. Since then batters wore helmets. Umpires wear chin guards, chest protectors, and facemasks since baseball was first invented because they have been hit by foul balls a lot. In 2007, Mike Coolbaugh, a first base coach in the minor leagues, was killed by a line drive to his head, so now the first and third base coaches are suppose to wear helmets. On a baseball diamond, the pitcher is the closest player to the batter besides the catcher and the catcher wears protective gear so why shouldn’t the pitcher have it? If people are smart enough to make bats out of metal alloys, why can’t they make a temple protector for pitchers? The mask could be made of some clear, light-weight material, such as acrylic plastic so the pitchers line of vision would not be impaired when trying to hold runners on base. One suggestion is to have longer, heavier bats so the batters cannot swing as hard. Another solution is to make the balls bigger or softer so they won’t travel as fast and they won’t hurt as much if you get hit. There are many solutions to this dangerous problem but the problem is that it would ruin or compromise the traditional baseball ways of the game.

Baseball is part of America’s past life and we have been using wood bats since then. To me, I think High School athletes are capable of playing and performing at there best with a wood bat. As a high school baseball player I think metal bats are somewhat a cheat due to the quality and technology of each bat. Some bats may not have as much “pop” as some others bats do. Most metal bats used nowadays are made from alloys so the bat can be longer, thicker, lighter, and with technology, the ball pounce of the bat as if it weren’t even there. Wood bats have a few advantages depending on what type of wood is used but it is a much smaller advantage than metal bats. Getting hit by a baseball by a metal bat is definitely dangerous and painful but one cannot say getting hit by a baseball from a wood bat traveling 90 mph or more would not hurt. I don’t know why high school and college teams are not using wood bats especially if their trying to make it to the top level where players always use wood bats. Another reason why I say wood bats should be used is because they make batters hit with better technique and it forces them to hit the ball on the “sweet spot” of the bat head. Wood bats are much safer than metal bats because they are heavier therefore the bat is not swung as fast and the ball will travel slower and not as far. However, wood bats are not totally safe either, because they can crack or splinter on impact of a hard thrown baseball, therefore, sending a sharp wooden missile towards players and fans.

Monthly Book Review

The book How Rude!, by Alex J. Packer, is a book that explains how to be more polite to other people and it includes very useful tips that people can use in their daily lives to better themselves. Alex J. Packer himself is a very polite man who graduated from Philips Exeter Academy, and received a PhD from Harvard University. The purpose of him writing this book was to share his ways of improving people’s mannerism and also how to handle certain situations that people may not be comfortable with. To me, I think this book was written for everyone because everybody is not perfect and everyone can learn some proper behavior and etiquette that can make them a better person. This book is very self-influencing that will change the reader’s ways of being polite.

Alex J. Packer is an extremely educated man who is well known for writing books on parenting, growing up as a teenager, and being polite. Other books that he has written include: Bringing Up Parents: The Teenager’s Handbook, 365 Ways to Love Your Child, Parenting One Day at a Time, and The Nurturing Parent. He has also written articles for magazines such as Education Bulletin, Child, Harvard Graduate School, McCall’s, U.S. News, and World Report. Besides being an author, Packer is also an educator, physiologist, and a screenwriter. Alex attended Philips Exeter Academy which is one of the elite prep schools in America, where he earned a solid education and later went to Harvard University. At Harvard, he majored in Social Relations. He was a specialist in adolescence, parent education, substance abuse, and received a PhD in Educational and Development Physiology from Boston College. Alex has been a head master for eight years at an alternative school for children at the ages of 11-15 in Washington D.C. He has served as a director of Education for the Capitol Children’s Museum and now is currently the President of FCD Educational Services, Inc., a leading Boston-based provider of drug education programs to schools and colleges world-wide. Since the book was dedicated to his sister…”For my sister Janet…who, except for call waiting, is impeccably polite”, Alex most likely wrote How Rude! The Teenager’s Guide to Good Manners, Proper Behavior, and Not Grossing People Out because of his own family and siblings experiences along with his educational experiences as a professional teacher, counselor, and administrator. Also, he has a light-hearted, laugh-at-myself, humorous approach to his writing. For some personal reason, Packer likes to keep a low profile for himself. He refuses to take photos or sign autographs, and makes a point of not being recognized so people won’t stop to ask him questions while he is in a restaurant about proper manners.

Since Alex has been an educator for most of his life, that’s probably the main reason for writing the book. His experiences in education, especially in his interactions with youth, has forged a desire to extend his knowledge of how a family unit operates, how they deal with each other on a daily basis, how they settle disputes, and how they compromise, all lead to how each family member treats people outside of their home. Also, the reverse is true as well, that social interactions with friends, acquaintances, schoolmates, teachers, coaches, co-workers, bosses, the waiter at a restaurant, the check person at Safeway, just about everyone you can come in contact with on a daily basis, can translate to how the family member modifies their behavior and interactions with their family. The deeper, more universal message that Alex sends to his readers is that if everyone treats each other with respect and politeness, with understanding and patience, that all relationships – child to parent, parent to child, sibling to sibling, relative to relative, friend to adult, teacher to student, coach to umpires, referees to players, men to women, gays to straights, Americans to Iranians, Countries to Countries, and so on can exist and communicate without feeling uneasy or with fear. Another reason why I think Alex wrote the book is because he believes that he has something to offer people of all ages about being polite. Alex even includes a “List of Reproducible Pages” and some are for everybody like “The Ten Commandments of Telephone Etiquette”, some are for children such as, “The Thirty Commandments of Classroom Etiquette for Students” and others are for adults like, “The Thirty Commandments of Classroom Etiquette for Teachers.” This explains that everybody has something they can work on to better their lifestyle. I’m not saying that Alex is trying to make us feel like we don’t know anything but I get the feeling that he wants to share some insights in his book so readers can benefit from what he has experienced. I believe he accomplished his goal by writing a humorous book about manners, on a subject that normally is very dry and serious.


In my opinion, I think Alex J. Packer wrote this book for everyone, not one particular audience, because I believe everybody could read this book and make good use of it. Packer mostly writes about mannerism but sometimes he has a variety of topics to enjoy so it isn’t focused on one particular group of people. He has family life, business interviews, romance, friendship, and many other diverse subjects. Not only do I think everybody should read this book but I think everybody needs to read this book. I say this not because I think everyone has bad manners, but because everyone can improve on something in their lives by reading this book. Except there is a particular group that I think all of them need to read this book because they act rude all the time and that would be, high school students. When kids get to high school, they become young adults and are supposedly supposed to become more mature. In some cases this is true but in many others it isn’t. When teens get to high school, they become more arrogant and self centered because they think they are already mature enough to be their own selves but the truth is that they are no where close. As a high school student, I admit that I have had my moments. For the high school students who do read this book, it will really make them more careful about what they say to certain people, how they treat others, and especially what we do as an individual. The only problem is that the young adults who don’t have manners have probably heard the same advice Alex gives by others around them but they don’t really listen to what they are saying or they never cared to change to be a better a person. In the end, it really depends on the individual to take the advice and apply their lives or else it will be useless knowledge. I would recommend his book highly to people of all ages, to the already prim and proper to the most gross and unsophisticated slobs of the world.


Alex J. Packer did a great job writing this book. He really guides the read with directions to become a more mannerable person and includes many real life examples. Packer succeeded in spreading his ideas of being polite and acting correctly in certain situations. This book was written to be read by everyone and if everybody read this book, I believe the world would be a much better place than it is currently.

How Rude! #3

In the last section of the book, I read most of the “Talking Headiquette”, “You Are What You Wear”, and some of “AHH, AHH, AHH - CHOOOOOO.” “Talking Headiquette” was very useful to me because I am not a very good at talking to other people I am not familiar with. I wanted to read this to learn how to start a good conversation with someone that I don’t know or just met. Normally, when I try to create a conversation, the hardest part for me, is to start the conversation. The book says to start the conversation by asking an open ended question such as “Wow this band is good. Where do you think they’re from?” Instead of asking a yes or no question like, “Do you like this band?” This is the reason why people have conversations. A conversation is made of two people so you want both of the persons at an equal amount of talking. You can find out someone’s personality after your first conversation with them. If they are cocky and overpowering, they will try to take over the conversation, but if they are quiet and don’t converse, then they are most likely boring or aren’t interested in talking to you, or possibly just very shy.

Although I don’t believe that what you wear describes who you are, I still think that there are guidelines that people should consider for different occasions. You will be amazed about how many people don’t know what to wear on certain events such as a wedding, funeral or just a casual party. The book instructs to first think about the event. Will it be casual, semiformal, or formal? Most people don’t have a problem with formal because it’ pretty straight forward. Men wear shirt and tie with nice dress pants and maybe suit jacket. Ladies can wear a dress or a suit usually with high heels. Depending who you are, casual can mean a lot of things. Some teens may think casual is a comfortable pair of blue jeans with a well fitted T-shirt, sneakers and maybe a baseball hat. Others may think casual is a black jacket with spikes on its shoulders, underneath, a black T-shirt with skulls all over it, black tight jeans, black sneakers and since they love the color black, they have a black backpack. Nothings wrong with either of these because it is truly your personal preference. But the only thing that is troublesome is the person’s image. The first teen described may just be an average school boy that has average grades and plays on the JV soccer team. The other one may have a 4.5 GPA and plays for the varsity baseball team. But when you look at them together, a person would most likely think the exact opposite. I am not trying to stereotype but I believe that image helps.

Schindler's List

Today, the whole sophomore class watched the movie, Schindler's List. People think of Schindler's List as a horrifying and gruesome but after watching it myself, I think it is an excellent movie. Probably one of the best movies I've seen yet. Steven Spielberg does such a great job showing the tension and fear of the Jews that the audience has the same feeling. To be honest, i did not know that much about the Holocaust until I watched the movie. I only knew the general situation and maybe some minor details. I didn't even know who Schindler was. Another one of my favorite movies is also about the Holocaust called Valkyrie was very similar to Schindler's List in the way that Claus von Stauffenberg was trying to kill Hitler to end the war so there would be no more killings. Except in Schindler's List, Schindler bought the Jews himself and tried his best to save them. At the end of the film, he said that he failed and he could have saved more but I think he was a good enough man just to save the 1,100 Jews he did save. The little things that he did may seem not important to others but they were amazing many more. The reason why I idolize Oskar Schindler is because he had a heart of his own and followed it instead of being stubborn like all the other Nazi soldiers. That was the only difference between him and the others. The others knew about what was happening but they were scared they would be punished if they did not follow the "system".

Schindler's List gives us three major stories and a host of minor ones. First and foremost, it tells the tale of the Holocaust, presenting new images of old horrors. These are as ghastly and realistic as anything previously filmed, and Spielberg emphasizes the brutality of the situation by not pulling punches when it comes to gore. The blood, inky rather than crimson in stark black-and-white, fountains when men and women are shot in the head or through the neck. The second story is that of Oskar Schindler, the Nazi businessman who saved 1,100 Jews from death. Schindler starts out as a self-centered manufacturer, concerned only about making money. He hires Jews because they're cheap, not because he likes them. But his perspective changes, and he risks losing everything to save as many lives as he can. His eventual lament that he couldn't save more is heartbreaking. The third story belongs to Amon Goeth, the Nazi commander of Krakow, a man who teeters on the brink of madness. Despite his intense hatred for Jews, he is inexplicably attracted to his Jewish housekeeper, Helen Hirsch . The amazing part is that it describes the situations in a Disgusted by his feelings, he lashes out at her with a display of violence that is almost Scorsese-like in its blunt presentation. As written, Goeth could easily have become a conscienceless monster, but Spielberg works carefully to show unexpected depth and complexity to his character. Often, the experiences of the minor characters provide the most lasting images. Helen's story is memorable, as is the plight of young Danka Dresner and her mother as they strive to avoid death while staying together. There's a Jewish couple that marries in the Plaszow camp, even though their chances of survival are dim, and a Rabbi who survives a close encounter with a Nazi gun.

How Rude! #2

The second section in the book to me had more of a sensitive feeling and focused on decision making. The parts in the section that I really liked reading about was “Handling Friendship Problems”, “The Etiquette of Romance”, and pretty much the whole section on “Eat, Drink and Be Wary.” The decision making part really struck me because it is amazing how simple the author put it but yet people make things so difficult which causes a lot of problems. But it was good that I read this or else I would have never known what to do if I were put in a situation where I had a difficult choice to make. Friendship problems was more of an emergency read so I won’t be confused when one of my friends and I have a conflict which I hope never happens. The book suggest to first look at yourself and see if you did something or said something to cause a problem. If not then ask others if something else is bothering your friend and he or she is just stressed. It also taught me to look at the big picture and by losing a friend might just have been meant to be. I read the love etiquette part because it could be very useful when meeting someone you love and you want to create a solid foundation for a strong relationship. I read about eating etiquette because I thought it would be useful when being at a formal event and you had to be on your best eating behavior.


Love etiquette is very simple. The main statement the book says is to “be you.” If a person can’t love you for who you really are, then they don’t actually love you. But if you can feel comfortable and not be afraid to make a mistake or act a certain way, then that would allow another person to see, and possibly love, the “real you”. As a picky eater, I could use some tips that can hide my pickiness in a formal event so I don't seem rude by not eating the foods I don't enjoy. The “Eat, Drink and Be Wary” section was very ironic in a sense that it’s teaching you to be rude in order to have manners. For example, if I had to eat lamb with brussels sprouts which I absolutely can’t stand, I can’t just not eat it because that would be extremely rude. Instead, I could eat as much as could until I really can’t take anymore and then as the book says, move your food around, and hide some of the food anyway possible. People will pay attention to the surface area of your plate and if your plate is messy and shuffled, it’ll seem like you had a good meal.

How Rude! #1

Dear LindeFURD,

I wanted to read this book for a couple reasons. First I wanted to read so I could learn how to be more manner-able with my actions so I don't act like a jerk around others. Also I wanted to read this so in the future, I could use some of these tips for important events such as a job interview. The main sections that I enjoyed were, “Having Manners vs. Being Fake”, “An Introduction to Introductions”, and “Applying for a Job.” I liked the section, “Having Manners vs. Being Fake” because people in this world sometimes try too hard to be polite and end up annoying people instead. There is a very fine line between being nice and being nice because you want to "seem" like a good person. For example, someone drops their pencil during class and it lands near another person's feet. The fake person would first look who the person's pencil is and if it was a person he or she knew they would pick it up. But if they didn't know the other person, they wouldn't. Another aspect of this is the audience. Say someone drops their books in the middle of passing period when everyone sees it and I go to help them. But if I were to not do the same if there was nobody around, that would be considered fake.

I read “An Introduction to Introductions” not because I necessarily liked it, but because it was something I have to improve on as an individual. Sometimes I get shy around people I don't know and I don't know how to introduce myself and if I do, I feel awkward doing it. This section really helped me to feel more comfortable introducing myself and to other people. I also read “Applying for a Job” because I thought it could be very useful in the future. Although I have had job interviews for a Counselor in Training summer job, I wish I had read these tips a little sooner to practice them in my past job interviews, but its better late than never.

Blog Review/Goals fo the Fourth Quarter

During the last quarter, i mainly focused on writing about current events, my thoughts and emotions, and some debate topics that i wanted to share to others. I like writing blogging about current events so i wont forget about an exciting or memorable moment in my lifetime. I think my favorite blog post has got to be the Alameda vs. Northgate NCS game because it was the first high school basketball playoff game I've ever been in and i got to express my emotions about the game. I am also thinking about colleges i want to go to and how i can get in. currently, i am trying to pick out my school schedule for next in order to succeed so i can have a chance of making it to a college that i would like to go. I will most likely start to begin writing more on colleges because i need to start focusing on applications and SATs for next year. I kinda was thinking about being some sort of scientists or engineer so i want to focus on my math and science. I am most likely going to take pre calculus and AP environmental science(APES). After talking to my older sister who is doing very well at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and my upper class men friends and they all said that APES was hard work but it's a class worth taking. Next year is gonna be a very busy year for me due to the amount of work loads i will be getting and the preparations for college. Me and my parents are debating whether or not i should take SAT classes in the summer or during the school year. I prefer taking them in the summer so it wont interfere with my sports during the regular school year. But the only problem with this is that i might forget the material that i learn over the summer time. Sports is another problem. this year i have chemistry for my sixth period class. The problem with that is that when it's baseball season, i have to leave early every game whether it's a home or an away game and we have two games a week which means i am missing two classes every week. Next year i am trying to work my schedule out so i don't have a class that is very important to me for my sixth period class.

I truly believe that i have reached my third quarter goals and i have more for this quarter. This fourth quarter, i want to work on my writing fluency and making my sentences better flowing so it's easier to read and comprehend. My writing can sometimes seem very choppy which makes it confusing and i need to fix that in order to get a good score on my SAT essay that i will be taking next year. I really hope i can finish this last quarter off with a strong, solid foundation.