Steph Curry: Shooting Robot

On Saturday 27th, 2016, Steph Curry rewrote the history books by breaking his own record. In an overtime win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Curry hit twelve 3-point shots during the game. The biggest 3-pointer of the night came at the very end of overtime, with 0.6 seconds left on the clock, securing Golden States comeback win. To top off his 46 point night, Curry tied the record for single game 3's that previously was set by Kobe Bryant and Donyell Marshall, and broke his own single-season record for 3s. With still 24 games left in the season, Curry will be able to keep adding to that total of 288 3-point shots in a single-season record. 

Social media went crazy on Sunday night, questioning whether or not Curry is actually a human. After various occasions of half court shots, pulling up from way beyond the 3 point arc and consistently draining 3's, there is only one answer to Curry's magic... He is a shooting robot. Kevin Hart came out with a video describing his and Steph's time up in Toronto for the 2016 All-Star Game. Hart said; "People I didn't want to tell you this, but I have no choice.. All-Star weekend in Toronto, Steph Curry told me to come here, he lifts up his arm and the man had mechanical wires in his arm. He's a robot, he's not real." According to Kevin Hart, Curry is a robot created to simply be the best 3-point shooter of all time. By age 27, Curry has already made 1,479 three points shots, falling just short of the man at the top of the list, the sure shot, Ray Allen with 2,973. As long as the mechanical wires in his arm are fully functional, Steph Curry will break Allen's record, and there will be, without a doubt, the greatest 3-point shooter in the history of the NBA. 

It's not only the number of 3-pointers he makes, but the quality of shots that he makes that boasts the argument that he is the greatest 3 point shooter of all time. Stephen Curry's pregame shooting routine has become a national story this season. He practices half court shots and deeps threes on a regular basis so when it comes game time, he will pull up and shoot a deep three without a second of hesitation. His routine helps build up his confidence to where he feels he can sink a shot from any spot on the court. Fans come to the game early just to watch him hit half court shot after half court shot. This has helped the Warriors out in many games, hitting crucial, game-winning shots right before expiration, most recently being this past Sunday night against the Thunder.

There are many aspects that help Curry secure his reputation as the mechanical shooting robot that people think he is. Whether he's a robot or not, one thing is almost a guarantee... Stephen Curry will be the greatest three-point shooter of all time before his career is over. Feel free to argue why Curry is not or will not be the greatest three-point shooter ever.

Millions to be Earned in Indy

Tuesday kicked of the 2016 NFL Scouting Combined that will run until Monday, February 29th. The Combined other words known as the Underwear Olympics is where college football players are tested to see where they line up with one another. Drills such as the 40 yard dash, 225 pound bench, broad and vertical jump, and 3 cone drill. High profile players such as Laremy Tunsil (Mississippi OT), Jared Goff (California QB), and Joey Bosa (Ohio State DE) will be able to show off why they are worthy of the top picks in this years draft in Chicago. What about the lower profile players who could fall to the second or third round like Connor Cook (Michigan State QB), Josh Doctson (TCU WR), or Xavien Howard (Baylor CB)? Is it really that big of a drop from the 1st to 2nd round and on? It all depends on what angle you look at, but it all starts with the NFL Combine down in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium.

For rookies in the NFL in today's game has change from the past. On July 30, 2010, Sam Bradford signed with St. Louis Rams a six-year, $78 million deal, which has $50 million of guarantees and has a maximum value of $86 million making it the largest contract ever for an NFL rookie. This was the last major contract that a rookie will ever receive in his first year. Last years first round pick, Quarterback, Jameis Winston out of Florida State signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a deal totaling $22,355,498. All the fellow first round draft picks went down from there. At pick 32 the last in the first round, New England selected defensive tackle Malcolm Brown out of Texas. His contract was well under half as much as the top pick Winston's. His contract is for a total of $6,932,002. If there is that much of a drop in the first round, imagine what it will feel like if one of the players fell to the second or third or seventh round.

A player from last years combined who really benefited financial from their performance was Southern California's wide receiver Nelson Agholor. He was predicted a second or third round pick following the college football season, but the combined changed that. The speedy slot receiver was one of the fastest performing receiver at the combine which led to him being drafted 20th to the Philadelphia Eagles. That came with a $8,465,952 contract. Without the combined Agholor would have seen his bank account drop from nearly 8.5 million to the average 4 million in the second round, or 2.5 million in the third. Combine stars don't always pan out in the long term for teams, but for a personal reason for the athlete there is millions of dollars at stake if they don't live up to expectations.

Below is a chart on the average contract of each pick from the first two days of the Draft.

• Full First 2015 NFL Draft Contracts 

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/05/nfl_draft_2015_how_much_each_f.htm

Butler takes on #5 Xavier

This weekend I went down to Indianapolis to see the Butler Bulldogs take on the #5 ranked Xavier Musketeers out of Cincinnati. This game was my second Bulldogs game of the year, earlier in the year I made it up to Milwaukee for a tough Butler loss to the Marquette Golden Eagles. This game was exciting though because it my first trip to the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, home court of the Bulldogs, and because the Musketeers have been struggling for the past few weeks, I had high hopes for a Butler upset.

The 17-7 Bulldogs lost to the 21-3 Musketeers, dropping them further down the in Big East standings. The Bulldogs started off hot, jumping out with a promising 9-0. However, that wasn't enough to slow down the Musketeer's lights out shooting, going on to a 27-6 run of their own, finishing up with a score of 43-29 at the half. After Xavier got on, it was all downhill from there for the Bulldogs. The Musketeers grabbed their 22nd win of the year, while handing the Bulldogs their 8th loss of the season in a final score of 74-57. The white-out in the stands of Hinkle Fieldhouse didn't prove to be enough for Butler to get the psychological edge over their opponents, but I did appreciate the free t-shirt for being in attendance.

While this trip wasn't my first to Butler University, it was my first trip inside of Hinkle Fieldhouse. It is the sixth-oldest college basketball arena still in use, and it is known as a U.S. National Historic Landmark. It was built in 1928, and has been renovated 3 times since, with it latest additions beginning in 2014, creating a 9,100 capacity. The arena is named after Butler's first head coach, Paul D. Hinkle, who led the Bulldogs basketball program for 41 years down in Indy. 

Overall, it was a great first experience at Hinkle, despite the loss. I enjoyed dressing in my white Butler shirt, and blending in with the student section. Cheering on the dogs was a great start to my Saturday, and it was great to see a Butler home game for the first time. I am looking forward to seeing more games at Hinkle down the road.

Super Bowl for the Fans

Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest days of the year. From Peyton winning his second ring in a Hollywood ending and his brother's joyless reaction after the Bronco's last score, to the "Beyonce Bop", there is a lot to talk about from Super Bowl 50.

First, let's talk about the game. The Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers with a final score of 24-10. Peyton Manning didn't have the greatest Super Bowl performance, but his defense did, helping him end (possibly) his legendary career on top. The Panthers could not stop Von Miller and the rest of the Bronco's defense, even the President of the United States declared the Broncos defense as the best he's seen since the 85' Bears. There are plenty of videos of Cam Newton's reaction to the Bronco's final score. Very similarly, Eli Manning's reaction got just as much meme videos. I believe the reason for his emotional reaction was because he was concerned that the Broncos were going to have to go for two, and not that Peyton brought home the better report card and Eli now has nothing to brag about at the family dinners. 

Now onto the entertainment portion. It starts off with Lady Gaga singing the National Anthem. Social Media was quick to start making memes of her and her performance. First thing I saw about her on social media was her interesting red dress choice and the Fairy Godmother from Shrek in the same interesting red dress with a microphone singing.  I am not the biggest halftime show fan, but seeing everything on social media made me look into what happened with Beyonce. She joined Coldplay and Bruno Mars on stage at halftime of the big game. Beyonce, while performing her newest song "Formation", was at the front of the stage with her background dancers behind her, and it appeared that she hit one of her "hot" moves too hard and had to catch herself from falling. She played it cool, of course, and social media has declared it the "Beyonce Bop." 

Finally, let's discuss the marketing and advertising portion of the game. To get a commercial played during the game costs a company roughly 5 million dollars, so you better make that commercial count. Budweiser pays roughly 20 million dollars for their commercials, but Peyton saying that he's going to celebrate with a few, who knows? Some of the top commercials that are making some noise are; the Mountain Dew Kickstart- Puppy/Monkey/Baby, Coca Cola's- Hulk and Ant Man, and many more. There is a top 10 commercial link below. Like most years, the big winner from commercial ads was Doritos. They took in the most total shares and saw the biggest sales increase. Papa John getting a peck on the cheek from Peyton after the win to celebrate the win was also a good strategy for him. In the end, the Super Bowl to me is always fun to watch no matter who is playing in the game.

Super Bowl Highlights-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR0qOk_pcyg

Commercial Ads Highlights-- http://www.businessinsider.com/most-shared-ads-super-bowl-50-2016-2

Super Bowl Meme Highlights-- http://mashable.com/2016/02/08/super-bowl-50-memes/#N43F12qbMEqI

Pro Bowl Sunday Funday

The 3rd annual Pro Bowl in the non-conference drafting format took place this Sunday on the last day of the month of January. Over the past decade, the Pro Bowl has been taking some heat on whether or not the game should be eliminated from existence. The Pro Bowl moved to ESPN from NBC and that effected the amount of people who watched the "All-star" game. According to NBC analysis, the Pro Bowl drew a 5.0 overnight rating. That’s down from 5.6 last year and significantly down from the 6.7 rating the Pro Bowl got in 2014 when it was on NBC. This is the lowest rating the game has ever received. However, even with the game receiving the lowest rating of all time or the game, there was still millions of people watching it, and as long as people still watch the game it will still exist. 

I believe there are plenty of pros and cons to the game being in existence where it evens out to keep the game around. The biggest positive I saw about the game is how fun the people who participate in the game have while playing. A few things that stuck with me with how fun the game must be for those apart of it starts Richard Sherman dropping an RKO, a professional wrestler's signature move, on fellow star Clay Matthews. The reaction of the players on the field was priceless with a ton of laughter and smiles as Sherman failed to even getting close to taking down the large bodied linebacker Matthews. Another thing that really stood out to me is that young superstar best friends Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. had a blast being reunited as teammates on the Team Rice. Another positive about the pro bowl is that younger studs start to get recognized and recruited to join older veterans players to come join their hometown squad.

Negatives about the game is of course the level of competitiveness. As the years go on the level of competition has dropped making fans and some players not want to watch and play in the game. This partly has to do with the fact that none of the players want to get injured or injure a fellow colleague during the game. Another negative is the cost for the game. Eighty-eight people play in the game with forty-four on each team. Each person involved on the winning team received $61,000. Is that too much money to give away on a game in talked of being no more? The losing team received half as much roughly $30,000. Another fact is how much it cost to send each player and personnel to the game, advertising, streaming the game, ect. There is a lot of money going into the game, and the major question being brought up; Is the game worth the time, money, and effort worth the game being in existence?