Month: October 2022

For this week’s passion blog, I will be discussing the YouTube side of golf. While there have always been many YouTube channels about teaching golf, Garrett Clark started the trend of filming himself playing golf. During the initial stages, he was not very good so he would also use breakfast balls, hit duck hooks, and even chunk or thin a shot just like any other amateur golfer (those are all common golf allusions that every golfer would know). He would film himself playing with his friends on the course, some trick shots at the driving range, and even try out games and challenges instead of playing regular golf. It came to the point where he started a new YouTube channel with some of his friends called GoodGood Golf. With the hard work and effort from the channel’s editors, there are points where it is more entertaining to watch the GoodGood Golf Youtube channel instead of watching PGA Tour professional golf on TV. 

GoodGood has definitely excelled with their channel. It started off with six people: Garrett, Micah, Steve, Matt, and Bubbie with Colin and Max as their editors. As time progressed they collaborated with golf celebrities like long drive champion Kyle Berkshire and even PGA Tour player Bryson Dechambeau. GoodGood has now crossed 1 Million subscribers, which is a big milestone for any Youtube channel. They have also started a merchandise line, where they sell golf gear and apparel. They will always plug it in the intros of their videos by saying something similar to “go get GoodGood golf gloves.”

With all of that popularity does come with some controversy. During the earlier stages, GoodGood did their own version of the popular Masters golf tournament and called it the GoodGood Masters. They ended up having to take all of those videos down after the Masters came after them for copyright infringement. Recently, Micah ended up leaving the group and the reason as to why he left is still unknown. Fans believe it is because he is trying to spend more time working on becoming a professional golfer, but hopefully he comes out and says the true reason to clear all of the rumors. Micah is now replaced by Luke Kwon, a Korn Ferry Tour player that also played at Oklahoma University. 

Overall, I believe that the golf side of YouTube is only going up from here, especially thanks to all of the innovative ideas that GoodGood has brought to that side of Youtube. I do believe there will be more golf channels like GoodGood and that the TV channels will end up collaborating with them as well. After all, golf does have the highest CPM on Youtube, which means golf videos make the most amount of money per view on Youtube.

While I am a huge fan of Elon Musk and have watched his TED Talk countless times, I recently watched a TED Talk with Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, and I really enjoyed it. Hastings talked about the upbringing of Netflix, how they are always trying to stay ahead of the industry that they started themselves, and the ups and downs throughout the process. Did you know that Netflix started out by shipping DVDs before they went online? Hastings also went into depth on how Netflix-exclusive series and shows were a key factor in distinguishing Netflix from other streaming platforms. Overall I enjoyed learning about his story with the company and how he is a very business-competitive person who also enjoys donating half of his wealth to charity and education.

This leads me to my idea for assignment 2. I want to talk about how the norms of watching movies have changed. From heading into a drive-in movie to watch a screen of flashing frames in a parking lot to now having access to thousands of hours of content in the palm of your hand. Instead of going to watch the only available movie, you are given a suggestion for your next movie based on what you just watched. This shift does have a change of technology as a big factor, but I could definitely go into it. 

My other idea would be about electric cars. As I mentioned before, I am a big fan of Elon Musk and have been learning about him since he started Tesla. I could talk about how electric cars and Tesla started, the ups and downs of the process, and the transition of how electric cars are starting to be more affordable than gas cars. Tesla’s first car was a lotus (expensive sports car) that was electrified, so you can imagine how expensive it was at the time. Then they transitioned to the flagship higher end sedans and SUVs with the Model S and X. Nowadays you will see the more affordable Teslas, the 3 and Y, and there is a $25,000 car on the way. I will also talk about what other car companies are doing in terms of electric cars, and how Tesla plans to stay ahead of the game just like Netflix does. I definitely do know more about Tesla and electric cars than I do with the transition of movies, so the research process would be much easier. 

Since it’s getting colder outside, I thought it would be a great idea to talk about what golf is like during cold and inclement weather. We left our window open last night and the temperature went below freezing so I woke up shivering. While one would assume that golf is basically the same during cold inclement weather, it is a lot more than just being cold or wet and playing golf as normal. The weather is actually one of the most important factors for a round of golf, especially if you are trying to shoot a good score. The perfect golf weather for a golfer to go low (shoot a lower score) is during the changes between spring and summer, and summer and fall. That perfect weather when it is partly cloudy, mid 60s, a nice breeze, and hopefully one’s allergies aren’t too bad. Unfortunately, that is only the case for a few weeks during the year, before it is unbearably hot or cold to the point you can’t feel your fingers.

Playing golf in the rain is an experience. Whether it is just a drizzle to a heavy storm, rain always affects golf. I played golf in high school, and since we did not have much time to practice on the course, our only constraint was lighting and thunderstorms. I’ve shown up to the course when it was nice and sunny and left completely drenched after a storm passed by. The most embarrassing part is when my mom had to put a towel on the seat so I didn’t mess up her car. Some of the consequences of playing in the rain include slipping when taking the shot, the club slipping out of your hand from the rain and almost hitting your friend, and getting a little muddy after chunking a shot in the rough. 

Playing golf in the cold is also an experience. It is amazing when you have no feeling in your hands from the freezing cold and you need your hands to swing your club. Also, since the air is denser in the cold, it takes more effort for the ball to travel. Therefore, my driver will only go 250 yards instead of 270 in the summer, so every hole also feels longer. The ground also gets harder so I’ve had experiences where I injured my wrist and broke my 6 iron from chunking a shot. One of the worst feelings in golf is when you have to take out your driver on a long par 3 because it is playing into the wind and it is cold. At least I still win the match and take my friends’ money!

I enjoyed this assignment as it allowed us to be creative in how we gave our presentation and we were able to still get the point across and check all of the boxes. Using VoiceThread was not that much of a challenge and I was able to import screenshots from my PowerPoint to use as slides. I believe a strength of my presentation would definitely be my slides since I did not read off of them and allowed more of the content in my speech to explain what was on the slides. I tried my best to use the ‘less is more’ approach, but one of my slides had too many words from the quotes. The weakness I found when rewatching my presentation was that even though I had shifts of tone, there were some points where I sounded a bit monotone. Another piece of improvement is that my time was on the shorter side, so I could have added a piece on specifics of the current circumstances we are experiencing due to the unprecedented rate of climate change. Finally, I may have spoken too quickly whereas I could have slowed down to help grab the viewer’s attention more.

I liked watching Michael’s presentation. He spoke at a slower but more attention-grabbing rate. I also liked how one can tell that he is talking to you because he looks straight into the camera. His speech was nice and concise yet included a lot of relevant information and supporting details. My only piece of feedback would be that if he could include a bit more emotion as that would help during the middle of his video. His topic of JFK’s speech is motivating so some enthusiasm can motivate the viewers themselves. Finally, his wrap-up at the end gave us a nice call to action and included something we should take away from his presentation.

For this week’s blog, I will be discussing how golf has grown to be a more inclusive sport. While back in the day golf was known to be the sport for rich people, it is enjoyed by people from all sorts of different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds today. Before, golf used to be excluded to private country clubs that only caucasian people were allowed membership to. Even though the world and society has changed a lot since then, a major part of transforming golf into a more inclusive sport was thanks to one of the greatest golfers to this day: Tiger Woods. There were times where Tiger was allowed to play in tournaments but was not allowed inside the country clubs or locker rooms to get ready for his round. His noteworthy phrase before starting the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club is “I asked two questions only: Where was the first tee, and what was the course record.” The video of Tiger saying this remark has started to go viral once again, except this time on the golf side of Tik Tok.

Nowadays, people are able to buy an entire bag of beginner golf clubs for about $250. The best way to start using those clubs is by going to a driving range (where it is about $10 for a bucket of balls) and hitting balls to see what one needs to do in their swing to create the best shot. Once they get comfortable with hitting balls at the driving range they can move on to chipping and putting at the short game area (which is usually free to the public). Afterwards, once they feel comfortable and ready to test the waters, they can schedule a tee time at a golf course. After playing a few rounds, they will realize there will be days where they own the round and other days where the round owns them.

There are even non-profit organizations like The First Tee that teach golf to underprivileged kids for free. Kids that don’t have the financial means to start golf are able to attend classes run by The First Tee and can potentially work their way up to earning a scholarship to play golf in college. I know someone that went through The First Tee process that ended up getting a D1 offer to play golf at Temple University and he recently played with J.R. Smith (former NBA player) at a college tournament in North Carolina. 

From players like Tiger Woods that helped golf become a more culturally-diverse sport to organizations like The First Tee that helped golf become a more socioeconomically-diverse sport, golf can truly be played by anyone without any sort of burden on their shoulders. A young kid today has the ability to become the next Tiger Woods.

Works Cited:

“Best Quotes, Moments from Tiger Woods’ Hall of Fame Induction, from a Lost Bet to Tom Brady.” Sporting News, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/golf/news/tiger-woods-hall-fame-induction-quotes-tom-brady/pmg4m1xnei2orlgkwykmdnvk#:~:text=So%20as%20I%20was%20denied,to%20be%20denied%20to%20play.

Rohan Roy

Dr. Jessica O’Hara

RCL 137H

October 16 2022

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Global warming is a very important and pressing issue in today’s world, yet we as a society are very divided on the topic. It has come to a point where one’s view on climate change is already assumed based on their political affiliation. There is a lot of evidence all pointing out that our planet is undergoing severe global warming and climate change, and it is our duty to try and lower the rate. It is no more of a joke when we are losing many species, sea levels are rising, and the overall temperature of our planet is increasing as time passes. This artifact from Adobe hints possible outcomes if we do not lower the rate of climate change and has a variety of lenses that we can view through. On the other hand, the second artifact is the polar opposite of the first artifact. The second artifact deals with the opposing view on climate change, the side that is the reason we are still divided on the topic of climate change and why we are struggling to make a change to lower the rate of it. Former President Donald Trump’s opinions and statements on climate change on media sources like Twitter have completely distorted many people’s view and perceptions on climate change. While it may hurt the economy and taxpayers by investing government dollars into climate relief acts, it is better to spend that money and take the hit monetarily rather than risking the entire planet itself. The small differences and severe differences between the two artifacts explains why we as a society are divided on the issue of climate change and the Earth continuing to heat at an unprecedented rate.

This artifact from Adobe has no background as it is a free template for climate change posters on Adobe’s website, yet it has no author. This means either someone at Adobe created the poster template to spread awareness about climate change, or someone made a poster on climate change using Adobe’s software and an employee decided to place it on the public website. At first glance, the poster looks like a regular global warming or climate change poster. In plain text, it talks about how climate change is real, that everyone needs to start reducing their carbon footprint, and there is even a website at the bottom of the poster for interested viewers to visit. Yet, once you take a deeper look into this ‘basic poster,’ you will find that there are many hidden meanings and messages within the poster. In the cartoon drawing of a planet with green and blue spots, the artifact shows what the Earth could possibly look like if we do not start taking care of it now. Looking at the artifact through a visual rhetoric lens, my attention is pointed towards the blobbiness, the drop underneath the planet, the globe tilted on its axis, and the land and water not being in the correct spots. All of these details are hinting that the Earth is melting from all of the global warming and even turning disoriented because of it. Another piece to look at is the website at the bottom of the poster, kickthechange.org. If you type the website into Google, you will find that it does not even exist. Yet I can tell that the reason the creator still implemented the website at the bottom of the poster is for it to serve as a slogan or concise message of what the poster is about and a call to action of what we need to do in order to help the planet. If I could run the kickthechange.org website, I would include the articles from NASA to prove how climate change is real, implement the climate pledges from Apple and FedEx, and provide tips and ideas of what we can do individually or as a small society to spread awareness of climate change and how to start reducing our carbon footprint ourselves.

The second artifact has a lot more background information, but has a polar opposite perspective on climate change from the first artifact. This artifact discusses former President Donald Trump’s statements on global warming and climate change that have influenced his following’s view on the topic as well. BBC news created this artifact, which is a collage of Trump’s most viral tweets on climate change. In my opinion, if someone were to read these tweets without seeing that a former president wrote them, they would think the author of those tweets is crazy. As BBC puts it, “his views on climate change appear contradictory – and confusing.” Yet, millions of people agree with former President Trump on his opinions on climate change, so he continues to post about it to spread false claims to even more of his supporters. Along with a large variety of other factors, Trump has been banned from many of the largest social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook due to the claims that he puts out on their platforms. Many individuals get their daily dose of news solely from social media, and if they follow accounts similar to Trump’s and other biased sources, their perception on climate change along with a variety of other topics is at risk of being far from the truth. If you look at Trump’s tweets through a logos lens, you will find that many of the tweets in the BBC collage do not logically make sense. The problem is that he makes his claims solely based on his beliefs; he has no source or research to back his tweets. For example, Trump believes that “the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing goods noncompetitive.” Whereas there is specific evidence from NASA, an independent agency of the U.S. federal government, that states “from global temperature rise to melting ice sheets, the evidence of a warming planet abounds.”

Conclusion: In this final paragraph I will compare and contrast the two artifacts along with providing my final thoughts and a call to action.

Speech outline:

• Address how the artifact looks like a normal climate change poster at first glance but has a lot of hidden meanings and messages within it.
• Talk about how climate change is real and the supporting evidence for it from NASA.
• Look at the artifact through a logos lens and relate it to the climate pledges from Apple and FedEx.
• Look at the artifact through a visual rhetoric lens and see how the Earth is melting, etc.
• Discuss second artifact on Trump
• Elaborate on how BBC made the collage
• Discuss social media presence and eventually getting banned
• Final thoughts and call to action.

In this week’s passion blog, I am going to talk about my round of golf this past weekend. I played with my friends from home, and there were a lot of exciting events that occurred before, during, and after the round. While the weather app said there was only a 20% chance of rain on Saturday, it rained cats and dogs throughout Friday night and into the morning. Our tee time was pushed back from 10am to noon due to the rain delay. I told my friends that it was not a good idea to play since it would be soaking wet on the course and there’d be a high chance that it would rain even more, yet they were very persistent so we decided to go. Even though our tee time was pushed back two hours, we still managed to get there slightly late since one of my friends is not good with time management. After teeing off a semi-flooded tee box with no warm up, our round was not as bad as we expected it to be. 

While there were areas with swampy grass and puddles of water, we were able to play golf as we normally did and had a lot of fun. I had a match going with one of my friends where I gave him 15 strokes, and the match was pretty close throughout the round. My other two friends played in a format called ‘scramble’ where they play as a team and take the best shot out of the two to see how low of a score they can produce (they are not the best golfers so their score was quite high). Surprisingly, the rain did not affect our round that much apart from short periods of drizzling. 

As I mentioned before in previous passion blog posts, the best part of playing golf is the fun moments you have with your friends that can get hard to describe on paper. Those little laughs, chuckles, and angry screams are what make the four hours of the round fly by, regardless of if people are playing good or bad. Some fun moments from our round included me hitting four consecutive shots into the water on hole 5, one of the golf carts spinning out and getting stuck in the grass that sprayed a layer of mud onto my friend, and the torrential rain that came in on hole 18 that completely drenched all of us since we decided it is better to finish all 18 holes than skipping a hole and staying dry. At least it washed the mud off my friend!