Denis Johnson

On November 9, 1863, Abraham Lincoln watched John Wilkes Booth perform in the play Marble Heart from the same box at Ford's Theatre that he would later be assassinated (UMKC). What turned this well-traveled actor into a cold hard assassin? How did commit such a drastic deed single handily? What abled him to escape that theater and evade the authorities for such a long time? Before finding out any of those answers, John Wilkes Booth’s life has to be learned about from the beginning. Booth was…

Olympian- Shawn Johnson 3-15-17 Keirsten Heflin Shawn Johnson is an American gymnast, she’s performed in the Olympics many times. She was training to go to the 2012 Olympics, but she had to stop training due to her knee injury. She tore her ACL, MCL and meniscus, and her hamstring. Unfortunately, her knee never returned to its full strength, and she had to retire. She was the all-around World Champion in 2007, they say she is very good at the balance beam, she is called the balance beam…

Michael Jordan is known to be one the greatest basketball players of all time. Jordan’s love, passion, and work ethic as an individual and as teammate has bulged him to the top. Even if you don’t like the Chicago Bulls or Jordan himself, just with all the achievements he’s got on and off the court, the man deserves respect. Michael Jordan’s famous sneaker brand “Air Jordan” is one of the most popular brands of all time. A commemoration of his work, “Work Before Glory”, is a sneaker advertisement…

In everyday life, people go to work, school, or stay at home. One of the things each of these people do, is take a chance. In almost everything a person does, they are taking a chance. Solving a math problem is also like taking a chance, because you don’t know if you’re using the right formula or having the correct answer. It is necessary to take a chance because you may not know the outcome without taking that chance. In basketball, it is needed to take a chance. Michael Jordan, whom is…

Going into this season, Alain Vigneault is in the same boat he was last year, fielding a team with a lot of youth. The New York Rangers second line of Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, and Kevin Hayes are all 25 or younger. Last year was Kreider’s second full season, where he totaled 46 points in 80 games (21 goals, 25 assist). This season he is only expected to get better, as Vigneault was quoted early in the preseason that this was Kreider’s time to shine. With his athleticism, he is expected to…

Separating Neat Breath: Autoethnography Water-Polo The strongest feeling any water-polo player feels about their love and passion for the game is sportsmanship and the closeness of the team. Through the smell of chlorine. The echoing chants. Cheers and splashing making the player feel and fully realize that they are in a water-polo game. Coaches distantly yelling from both sides of the pool “It’s not over yet, keep pushing.”. The strong humid air surrounding you heating you up until near…

The piece of art that I chose to write about was, Basketball Superstars by Leroy Neiman, painted from November eleventh to December seventh. This painting was featured in the Hastings Gallery. In this painting I see a lot of the all time greatest basketball players. I see eleven time NBA Champion Bill Russell, the only player to ever score one hundred points in a game, Wilt Chamberlain. I also see Willis Reed, who I think is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving also known as Dr. J, and Oscar…

Introduction The method we used to introduce our team imitated the introduction the NBA uses at the beginning of each game to introduce its players. There is one MC on the microphone that has the task to hype up the crowd and get the audience excited. As an entertaining way of introducing our team members we chose this method. The team was introduced by first stating each team members height, topic they will present on, their hometown and the number they were wearing (we all wore NBA jerseys…

How LeBron James has Effected Society? The focus of my research paper will be on the overall impact LeBron James has had on society and the NBA. • What methods will I use to answer these questions? I will research using credible sources and scholarly articles from the KU libraries. • Why is it important to do research on this topic? For years now, LeBron’s dedication and contributions outside of the NBA has been overshadowing due to his amazing athletic abilities. • What conclusions can be drawn…

Top 5 shot blockers of all time Number 5 Tim Duncan- Duncan has been around for a long time and over the years he has managed to block a lot of people. He has recorded an astounding 2,966 blocked shots in his career but he still has a season or two to get some more. Number 4 Marc Eaton- Eaton played with the jazz his whole career, participating in 875 games. By the end of his career he blocked 3,064 shots. He is the current leader all time in blocks per game with 3.50 blocks. He also broke the…