Monday, April 27, 2015

How Much Money Should a Piece of Paper Be Worth?

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2443482-honus-wagner-rare-card-sells-for-132-million-at-robert-edward-auction?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

Did you ever collect any type of cards when you were younger?  Whether they were Pokemon cards, baseball cards, basketball cards, football cards or any other types of cards, your mom would always tell that they're trash and they're a waste of money but what if you had one that was from somewhere between 1909 and 1911.  Would your mom think that was trash?  Because if she did, she would be the most wrong she's ever been.

Just recently a T206 Honus Wagner baseball card was sold for 1.32 million dollars.  The reason that this card is worth so much money is for a couple of reasons.  First off, it's just so old.  It cam from somewhere between the years of 1909 and 1911.  Next, there were less than 200 cards of the Hall of Fame Shortsop produced mainly because Honus Wagner himself didn`t want the cards sold.  One last reason that the card is worth so much is that Honus Wagner is one of the best baseball players in the history of the game.  The only thing that could have made this card anymore valuable than it already was is if it was signed by the legend himself. Every collecter in the world wants to get their hands on this card, but of course your mom just probably thinks it would be trash.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Northern White Rhinos on the Verge of Extinction

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/16/africa/kenya-northern-white-rhino/index.html

Just one male northern white rhino is left in the whole world.  His name is Sudan and he lives on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenya.  He's the only one left because over 1000 rhinos were poached in 2014 alone.  This poaching happens because the poachers are told that the rhino horns can be sold for large sums of money to certain people in China because the horns are said to have magic curative properties.  Sudan was placed under 24-hour armed security at the conservancy to keep the poachers away.  Sudan pretty old for one of his species being at 42 years old.  There are two females with him at the conservancy so that he can mate with them and keep the species alive, but that hasn't worked so far so scientists there are thinking of taking embryos from southern white rhinos to try and at least keep some of the northern white rhinos' genes alive.  They believe that the last five northern white rhinos will be extinct within the next ten years.  There is one female in a zoo in San Diego, one in a zoo in the Czech Republic, and two females and the one male at the conservancy in Kenya.  The scientists hope that they will be able to keep this subspecies from going extinct, but they don't have much time left to do so.  They believe it may be possible to bring back the subspecies even after its extinction sometime in the future.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Derrick Rose Returns Again

Just recently, Derrick Rose had returned to the NBA and resumed play after recovering from an injury he sustained earlier in the year.  Throughout his 5 year career he has been injured multiple times resulting in missing three full seasons due to multiple different injuries like tearing of his ACL or of his meniscus.  After returning to play, he has started to see more minutes in game and that is helping him to rebuild his muscles even stronger after his injuries.  In his first game back, he got 29 minutes of game time and as he keeps getting stronger and back to 100% he will start to see the full time he would have if he hadn't been injured.  He is an essential player to the Bulls roster and it will be good to see him back in action after his injuries.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Concussions in the NFL

Recently there has been an event in the NFL concerning player safety.  San Francisco 49ers LB Chris Borland recently retired after a short career consisting of just one season.  He had a phenomonal rookie season recording the most tackles and sacks on the 49ers powerhouse defense.  He outshined veteran and seven time pro bowler Patrick Willis.  He decided to retire due to previous concussions he had sustained earlier in his life.  He is just 24 years old and had a bright future ahead of him.  "I just honestly want to do whats best for myself.  From what I've researched and what I've experienced, I just don't think it's worth the risk." Borland told ESPN's Outside the Lines.

A large part of what influenced his decision to retire was the fact that many players after many years in the league started experiencing depression and other brain injuries due to the physical contact they endured during their years playing the sport.  Because of this many players even turned to suicide.  Borland didn't want his life to go to this so he decided to end his career short despite having a promising future ahead of him.