Rehotorical Journal Assignment #2

Journal Blog Assignment #2

In the article “Reforming Big Time College Sports” written by Tom Price, he uses an informative style of writing. His main focus is on how major colleges perform major recruiting violations. He just tells story after story of how a lot of major schools recruit illegally. Price’s main argument is that it is not morally correct to recruit illegally but everybody does it. I specifically remember him saying that only one school is not currently on probation for a recruiting violation. He uses some pathos because he even describes some of the things that went on like the school providing stripers and sex for recruit’s visits. He goes into that much detail so that he effects your emotions and you realize how wrong that really was to do.

He tries to gain credibility from the audience by using some articles from some very well respected sources. Price talks about the well-known Colorado scandal right in the beginning of the paper to gain credibility because most people have heard about that and have strong feelings about how horrible that was. That means that most people will have the same opinion as him on that specific topic. This type of writing is using ethos to gain credibility so that the audience trusts his opinion. He than continues on throughout the article to use logos in his writing because everything he says is factual and actually did happen.

He uses all of these rhetorical appeals to write in an informative style, which that hopefully the audience agrees with his opinion. He uses strictly factual information and violations that colleges actually committed to inform the audience about this serious problem.

Weekend Off

We have got an easy weekend for baseball! We have a lift real early in the morning and than we are probably off Sunday as long as we have three good scrimmages. We intersquad or scrimmage, what ever you want to call it Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. That really sucks for trying to actually trying to get your school work done but makes for a great weekend. If we have nothing to do on Sunday than I am going to either just relax all day or even head home to see some people back there that I have not seen for a while. These next three days are going to be really tuff considering that I have alot of work and four hour scrimmages every night but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
First thing is that we have this weekend pretty much off which is like the frist one since I have been at college. Also another great thing is in November baseball cuts way back because all we do is lift like four days a week but no practice. So that will make for some great weekends plus I will have alot more time to get my school work done. Hopefully these next couple weeks go smoothly and than November will be here.

Baseball

Well today started off as a great day and than is amazing how one little part of your day can make it turn for the worst. I was having a great day because my classes were done at 12 and its beautiful outside. I even passed this big math test that moves me up to my next class. Than I go to baseball practice and everything good. I am hitting well and just playing overall good baseball. Than I make a couple throws and all of a sudden my arm starts hurting. Coach sends me to the training room to see what is up and boom I am out for all weekend which happens to be three games that I am going to miss. It is horrible because I am a freshman compeating for playing time and than I am devasted by injury. This is a huge weekend for evaluations by the coaches and I am not even going to get to play. What is even worse is that there is a chance that I could be out even longer. So therefor I go from having a nice calm relaxing day to horrible in all of about 20 minutes. Now my entire weekend is going to suck not including that all the upperclassman are going to look at me like I am a wussie. This really sucks but hopefully it will all work out in the long run.

Journal Assignment #1

Journal Assignment #1

“VW Unpimp-Drop it like it’s hot”

I choose the Volkswagen advertisement that is trying to sell one of their new model cars. I would say that the intended audience is a younger generation of people, most of the time people anywhere from a junior or senior in high school too people that are finishing up college or even working on their masters. If an age had to be set than I would say the intended audience is about the ages of 16-26. The purpose for this particular audience is because Volkswagen is putting the image that you are only cool if you drive this type of car. Most of the time people in that age group care about being cool. There is also one more type of audience that could be targeted by Volkswagen and that is just males in general because they put a good-looking girl in it, as some sex appeal. That could be any age male but I believe that the main intended audience is young people because of the “cool” factor.

I believe that the ad contains one major fallacy in this advertisement. It comes in the form of a logical fallacy, in that this ad is saying that you are only cool if you have this car. Volkswagen abuses the use of logos in that there are many cool cars out there and this one is by far not the only one. They don’t even give the other car in the ad a name; Volkswagen just calls it a what-you-ma-call-it. That right there is a logical fallacy because it might be true for some people but it is defiantly not completely true, there for it is a gimmick. They show the other car and than just slam the new one on top of the old one and don’t really give the audience a choice.

The main form of Rhetorical Appeal that I think Volkswagen used in their advertisement was pathos. Their main purpose was to try and effect the emotions of these young drivers. When the guy took the F off of the kid’s old car and said you fail than that was defiantly a form of pathos. The logical fallacy kind of ties in with the use of pathos because Volkswagen is saying you are not cool in less you drive their car and that is defiantly effecting your emotions. Volkswagen also used sex appeal because they had a good-looking girl in the advertisement and that is a form of pathos that directly affects males.

I also believe that Volkswagen uses ethos in this advertisement. They try to gain credibility through the intended audience by having the main guy in the clip attempt to talk in a “cool” way. This makes the audience say that this guy thinks like us so maybe we should listen to him and buy this “cool” car. That is ethos because they are trying to appeal to the younger age of car buyers so you have to gain credibility from them. If you talk in a real formal way with a bunch of statistics than you are not going to appeal to them at all. That is how I feel Volkswagen used some forms of Rhetorical Appeals in their advertisement.

Dark

I have just happened to notice that it is getting dark outside real early. It seems like just the other day it was getting dark and 830 and now it is pretty much pitch dark at 7. I have noticed that has been getting dark a little earlier but it was not till tonight that I realized it is real early. They had to turn the soccer lights on here by study hall at like 630. That is crazy because I thought that the time had changed by this time earlier. I know that it is suppose to save energy and everything but I don't understand it why they keep pushing it back. When they change the time it usually gets dark around 530. I don't ever remember there being this in between time of year when it is not dark till like 630.
I wish it would go ahead and change because than we would be able to practice under the lights the majority of the time instead of just the very end. It am 18 years old and have played and practiced under the lights for years but it still feels so cool and special to practice under the lights even now. I feel just like a little kid again every time I get the chance to do it again. I am also in a criminology class right now and from the stuff that we have been learning I would imagine that the crime rate goes up the earlier it gets dark. So I guess that would be one motive to not setting the time back any earlier than you have too besides just the saving energy factor.

Alarms

Does anybody else think that the alarms that are on all of the dorm dorrs are annoying? If you leave the door open for more than like fifteen seconds than this really annoying extremly loud noise goes off. The people that live next door I guess don't get the concept through their head that you have too close the door once you come in. I guess that the university is trying to cut down on thefts in rooms. If you close the door than the only people that can come in are the people that live there. You have to use your swipe in order to come in so there for other random people can't just walk in and steal your stuff.
I guess it is a good feature but it is extremley annoying when i am trying to sleep. I can't stand that noise because it sounds like a buglary at like a bank or something when the bank teller pushes the big red button. Anyways it is really annoying and I think that the choice of sounds is bad considering the only reason it goes off is because you prop open a door for a little bit of time.

Long Practice

I did not know if coach would ever stop talking. Practice was already long enough and than on top of it coach just started talking about signs. I swear that when he started talking the sun was way up in the air and by the time he got done it was pitch black. We have a scrimmage game already Friday, Saturday, and Sunday which means our entire weekend is going to be listening to him talk. On a weekand it is not too bad but when you need to get so many study hall hours done and your work done he needs to go ahead and let us go.
It is very fustrating because he already has said what he wanted to say but than he just starts talking to her himself talk. It is extremly boring because he repeats himself over and over not including that I think he just trys to drag it out so that practice is longer. He has a family at home with a wife and kids, you would think that he wants to get home and see them. I guess I think wrong because he continues to drag it out. That is not including that we don't get to eat because we have to get our hours in and the place closes at ten so you have no chice but to just run over to comcast and get signed in. That is enough of my rambling but I just need to vent because we had a useless long practice.