Monthly Archives: March 2017

Robot responds to president’s tweets

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

We should all be at least a little familiar with Donald’s Trump famous Twitter account; @realDonaldTrump.

The president’s tweets are bold and mostly childish, they can be categorized as a form of entertainment, mostly because they are hard to take seriously. He attacks anyone who offends him and twitter seems to be his main medium of expression.

But how will Donald Trump respond to an offense made by a robot?  I’m talking about a robot’s Twitter account responding to the president’s tweets with videos of a robot designed to print and set fire to them.

Since Donald Trump has opened his Twitter account in March 2009, he has gained more than 27 million followers and sent out around 35,000 tweets. His tweets bring with them a lot of controversies and are very condemning, leading to disappointment in the president even among people who voted for him.

This Tuesday a new account was introduced on Twitter with the description “Giving Trump’s tweets the attention they deserve.”

Since it went live, the account called @burnyourtweet, has posted a video each time @realDonaldTrump has tweeted. The videos posted consist of a robot printing the tweet on a piece of paper. The paper is then moved above a lighter, which sets fire to the paper and tosses it in an ashtray.

The video captions “I burned your tweet.”

After just one day of replying directly to Trump’s twitter, @burnyourtweet gained more than 10,000 followers. Many seem to praise this ritual and numerous reporters called it genius. I feel like it can be seen; as a work of art, a form of expression. A message that can be interpreted in various ways, but that shows clear disapproval in Donald Trump’s statements.

Behind the twitter account and the building of the robot is engineer David Neevel. A creative technologist from Portland who currently lives in Amsterdam.

He reasoned that Donald Trump’s tweets continuously cause negative emotions and the robot can isolate feelings because of its immunity to them.

Trump’s tweets depict his thinking. He is supposed to be a leader and an inspirational figure as he is the president of one of the most powerful countries in the world. His Twitter topics are improper for his position. His tweets can be inflammatory and, in this case, the response is a robot that turns his words into ashes.

Live action Lion King in the works

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By ISABELLA HALILI

“The Lion King” is one of Disney’s most beloved storylines. It’s originally an animated musical movie that has been adapted for the theater stage and is now going to be Disney’s newest computer graphics project.

Pre-production for Disney’s live-action remake of “The Lion King” has been in the works for a couple of months now, but the production team has just announced that director Jon Favreau’s top choice to voice the character of Nala is Beyonce.

The film has already cast the voice of Simba to the Golden Globe winner and star of the television series “Atlanta,” Donald Glover and also the voice of Scar to the original voice James Earl Jones.

The original movie premiered in 1994 and, with the inclusion of the Broadway stage adaptation, “The Lion King” is still the top grossed film in the world.

There has been no recent update as to when this remake will arrive in theaters, but it is a much anticipated film for Disney.

Articles from Variety and Time have been written revolving around the casting of the film, but there has been no recent updates as to when production will start or when then the film is expected to hit the theaters.

There needs to be more news media coverage as soon as production does start.

New York Times curates artisan writing

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By AMANDA PRATS

In the age of fake news, alternative facts and Facebook feeds, attempting to filter through the deluge of media we are faced with can be overwhelming.

For many, the difficulty of this task unfortunately translates into a complete lack of filtering.

Simply put, it’s often easiest to take the information presented to us at face value rather than critically examining our sources. This has led to what some have called a misinformation crisis, with “fake news” stories become a story of their own, particularly during the 2016 presidential election.

Beyond simply trying to find information that is at the very least reliable, challenging our personal views takes a step further. Many have referred to social media as an “echo chamber,” and have criticized it’s functionality as a source for news because we tend to receive information that falls in line with our personal opinions and the opinions of people in our social circles.

There is an incredible value in reading opinions that challenge ours, which is why The New York Times compiled a list of quality partisan writing to expose readers to diverse viewpoints. The list included links to articles from the right, left and center from a variety of sources. The list can be viewed here.

Dallas hosts NCAA Women’s Final Four

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By ERYKAH DAVENPORT

As March Madness is gradually coming to an end, this first week of April will mark the day one out of the final four teams remaining will be crowned national champions.

Four elite teams have managed propel pass very talented teams in search of winning the NCAA women’s basketball championship. The championship tournament is being held in Dallas. Dallas is home to one of the top WNBA teams, the Dallas Wings, and many of the players will be in attendance to check the immense talent present.

The four teams remaining are South Carolina, Stanford, Connecticut and Mississippi State. With final four match-ups taking off soon, a variety of news media outlets are making their predictions known in regards to how things will turn out. In a story published by USA Today, each of the four teams received coverage in regards to why they may win it all.

The South Carolina Gamecocks are back in the Final Four for the second time in three years. Led by two time SEC player of the year, the Gamecocks are a solid team. Accompanied by a ton of athleticism from Kaela Davis and Allisha Gray, this versatile team has every bit of reason as to why they are a special contender.

Being eliminated in the Sweet 16 in the previous year, Stanford has proven this postseason to be a gritty team. They defeated Notre Dame by one point in the Elite Eight. With the exclusion of drastically elite scorers, the Cardinals are well-balanced and have several talented perimeter shooters, including senior guard Karlie Samuelson.

The talk of the town is the matchup between the Samuelson sisters. Power forward, Katie Lou Samuelson, is averaging more than 20 points per game while shooting exceptionally well from behind the arc. The Huskies arrive in Dallas as the overwhelming favorite to win their fifth consecutive national title, while riding a 111-game winning streak.

The Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs might be the only other team in Dallas that can score enough to keep up with Connecticut after averaging nearly 93 points in four NCAA tournament games. This talented team is led by guard, Morgan William, who scored 41 points in the game against No. 1 seed Baylor. This is the Bulldogs’ first trip to the Final Four, so a just an NCAA championship appearance will be record breaking for them.

UM, FIU students arrested in Gables

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By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Students from the University of Miami and Florida International University were arrested yesterday during a prostitution sting in Coral Gables.

Acacia Friedman, a 23-year-old from UM, Maury Noun, age 21 from UM, and Samara Charlotin, a 19-year-old FIU student were all charged with prostitution after an undercover police investigation on Wednesday night.

Friedman and Charlotin were said to have met with and undercover detective at the Colonnade Hotel after they agreed to have sex for $5,000.

Once inside the Colonnade, the detective handed Friedman the money and asked for reassurance as to what was happening.

Both Friedman and Charlotin faced additional charged for having drugs on them.

Noun was charged with aiding or abetting prostitution.

Local 10 news reported the judge saying, “You’re a smart girl, and if you want to see age 20, you need to find a new line of employment…. A very risky thing you are doing, alright, for someone with a lot of potential such as yourself. You need to stay away from them.”

UM has declined information about the ongoing investigations.

The Pro Day craze out of control

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By JIHAD SHATARA

Pro day is a special event sacred to schools, coaches, scouts and most importantly, athletes.

After the NFL Combine that is held annually in Indianapolis, many teams want to see more. Players are more than happy to showcase their abilities all over again repeating the drills they just did a month ago; but why are they so eager to do these drills all over again? It is due to the high volume of news media exposure. For some players, they do not receive an invite to the combine, so this is their one and only chance to showcase their skills.

Pro day has become an event so big it is unimaginable to think that players would deny participating unless they could not walk. And the news media has allowed this to happen. The NFL Network along with ESPN sends multiple correspondents to schools all over the nation to cover these pro days. The schools holding pro day announce what scouts have representation at pro days, along with head coaches. It has become beyond crazy how much attention these days garner.

Yet, it only helps the schools and players. Potential recruits look at this as an opportunity to participate in these pro days one day. Maybe it can be them getting this attention one day.

The debacle that is the New York Knicks

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By JOSH WHITE

Carmelo Anthony has been the face of the New York Knicks since being acquired from the Denver Nuggets in 2011. However, times have changed.

Although the Knicks were never contenders to win the NBA title, they were playoff contenders. Anthony and the Knicks had been a team that battled for a bottom spot in the Eastern Conference making the playoffs in Carmelo’s first three seasons in New York.

Since then, diddly squat.

While Melo has aged and the supporting cast around him has diminished, there has been one other clear change: Phil Jackson.

Yes, the former 11-time NBA champion head coach stepped into a front office role for the first time in his career as the new president of the New York Knicks in 2014.

However, this experiment has failed. Jackson has introduced his trademark triangle offense. An offense that has worked with some of the greatest players of all-time, has been a case gone awry since he took the helm in 2014.

The Knicks had their worst year in franchise history finishing 17-65 in the 2014-15 season and haven’t looked all that much better since.

New York has already been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention and are on their way to another losing season.

This power struggle between Carmelo Anthony and Phil Jackson has been well documented by the New York news media.

A story that the journalists in the big apple have eaten up and chewed out multiple times over.

Jackson and the Knicks have made front page headlines numerous times after being one of the worst teams in the NBA something that wouldn’t happen in a market like Portland and Minnesota.

The New York news media continue to grill the Knicks and rightfully so.

I think the news outlets in the city that never sleeps is doing a good job from a journalistic standpoint because they are covering stories of a somewhat comedic franchise as it burns to the ground something that creates a lot of views from readers that generates a lot of cash for these news organizations.

From the athlete (directly) to the fans

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By LUIS GONZALEZ

The Players’ Tribune, founded by New York Yankee legend Derek Jeter, gives athletes the platform to speak directly to the fans, without input from the news media.

“My goal is for the site to ultimately transform how athletes and newsmakers share information, bring fans closer than ever to the games they love.” Jeter says on the website’s About page.

Athletes, from a wide variety of sports, have reserved the website to use for big announcements. One of the their most popular posts came from NBA Forward Kevin Durant, when he announced to sign with the Golden State Warriors during last summer’s free agency period.

Durant is one to be known for not being completely transparent with the news media and the reasoning behind using the Players’ Tribune but opened up about the press on Bill Simmons’ Podcast on the Ringer.

“I wonder like, what are your motives when you talk about this stuff?” Durant told Simmons. “What are you trying to get out of it? I know that me, I love talking about basketball. My thing is, I want the casual fan to understand what we go through because it’s not as easy as you think.”

The two later discussed how Simmons did not get angry when he and Durant got into a Twitter fight.

“You’re a real guy.” Durant told Simmons. “Some of these guys are so sensitive. Their egos are too big. But, you know, we can talk about that another time.”

The website has changed the way athletes are able to communicate with fans, in less serious ways as well.

NBA Hall of Famer, Shaquille O’Neal, collaborated with the Lakers’ team photographer to go through their archives and pick his favorite pictures from his time in Los Angeles.

It is interesting to note how a mistrust in the news media lead to Durant using the website as his platform to the fans.

Jeter may have wanted to change the way athletes and newsmakers share information, but his website and bad experiences between athletes and the news media members may have created a different result. The Players’ Tribune can inadvertently lead to a slimming down of the newsmakers to his equation.

Uber’s diversity report focuses on a truth

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By VERONICA SPAGNA

Uber is one of the most important ride-hailing services worldwide. With the value of nearly $70 billion, this company has been having some trouble with its image and its company culture.

Because of its current negative public perception. Uber conducted an internal investigation because of its desire to change. It consequently released a diversity report this Tuesday. This is the first report the company has ever released and it makes sense why it was kept hidden.

Uber clearly needs to step up its game, especially after the numerous scandals that occurred in the past months. The scandals include cases of female employees being sexually harassed, a viral video showing of Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber being disrespectful to a driver, and other unprofessional business practices.

The report shows the diversity of the company employees, not including the Uber drivers as they are freelancers.

The report depicted that nearly 50 percent of Uber’s employees are white, 31 percent are Asian, 8.8% are black, and the other 5.6 percent are Hispanic.

The report also showed that 36 percent of the employees are women, 15 pefcent of tech and 22 percent of leadership positions are held by women.

Uber wants to make progress by being transparent and states that there should be a balance in the ethnicity and sexes in the positions offered by the company.

Many journalists and reporters reacted with no surprise to the unbalance of female employees in Uber. In fact, many seemed to be supportive of the idea that Uber wants to fix this issue. This could be correlated to the fact that the diversity in numerous tech companies is very unbalanced and most employees, especially in higher positions consist of white males.

It’s not just Uber that has a low level of diversity. Many articles mentioned that tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple and more, seem to have very similar numerical figures. For example, 67 percent of Facebook employees are men, 69 percent of Google employees are men, and so on.

The focus of most articles that I read on the issue did not focus on criticizing Uber but focused on the lack of diversity in many tech companies. Some titles of articles based on Uber’s first diversity report were: ‘Uber’s first diversity report reveals no surprises.’ Another article title on the topic ‘Uber looks like the rest of tech: White, Asian and male.’

Tech companies and their importance in our developing world continue to become more important.

Scary clowns? Go see ‘It’ this fall

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By CHANTAL ALBA

Fun fact about me: I am terrified of clowns. Now half of you are probably thinking something like, “wow, scared of clowns, such a cliché”, while the other half of you are probably thinking something like “wow, me too, girl.”

But I do know you are all thinking, “How bad is the fear and where does it come from?”

Well, first off, it’s not anything crazy, just like “send chills down your spine / can you hold my hand please?” type of fear. Second, it comes from Stephen King’s “It,” the movie, released in 1990.

Those of you have seen the movie know exactly where I’m coming from and know where this post is going. (Side note: if you haven’t watched it, make it a point to, it’s a great movie even though I’m scarred for life from it).

There’s an It remake coming out this fall. Yes, a remake if you haven’t watched the trailer yet here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN8il_zxNWM.

Just from the trailer you get the same creepy vibes and see some iconic scenes from the original which is great. I’m definitely excited to see this movie because (1) I love scary movies and (2) I’m expecting the movie will scare me enough to question why I would even dare put myself through the torture (in a good way) of watching the remake. I’m also glad this first trailer doesn’t give us a very long look at Pennywise the Dancing Clown, because it gives us more to look forward to when It finally premieres in theaters.

The remake will star Bill Skarsgard, who will be playing the clown in addition to “Stranger Things” actor Finn Wolfhard and “Midnight Special” actor Jaeden Lieberher. Directing the film will be Andres Muschetti and it will apparently be the first part in the two-part film series.

In the first part, Muschetti will be showing the audience Pennywise’s intentions he has in store for the Derry and the Loser club (the main kids in the story). So make sure you guys add this movie to your “must watch” list of movies, and don’t worry you have plenty of time to prepare yourself for the terror because it releases on Sept. 8, 2017.

Vogue highlights mental health

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By SHELLIE FRAI

For Vogue’s 125th year anniversary, Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief, decided that in light of the recent societal tension and due to the predominant audience of the publication, the magazine would highlight women that are impacting the world for better in each issue for the rest of 2017.

To debut the plan, March’s issue was titled “Women Rule!” and it featured a cover with seven models of different ethnicities, sizes and race, with a caption that read “the beauty revolution: no norm is the new norm.”

In the latest issue of Vogue that debuted this earlier week, pop star and fashion icon, Selena Gomez is on the cover.

While that might not be shocking to some, the story that was featured next to her photographs surprised many.

Gomez not only talked about the facade celebrities must put on when they are watched by most of the world, but how common it is to not only people of influence and how the lack of conversation about that facade is detrimental.

Gomez talks for the first time about checking into a psychiatric facility herself and how therapy changed her life. She goes on to say how mental health awareness and therapy shouldn’t be stigmatized but encouraged.

This topic has not been talked about to this extent in the magazine before, and for it to come from a person of such influence is new to not only Vogue but to many fashion magazines.

Vogue emphasized that many see Gomez as just a million-dollar actress and a singer. However, she is also the executive producer of “13 Reasons Why” a mini-series about mental health and suicide awareness, and an advocate for dialectical behavior therapy, which focuses on borderline personality disorder.

Gomez is using her fame and stature to break down walls that say your mental health is not important. She is giving a voice to many that feel they aren’t good enough.

I believe Anna Wintour chose to tell Gomez’s story as part of her “Women Rule!” movement to highlight the fact that just as women are powerful and strong, they are allowed to breakdown and cry. We are all only human.

This issue is sending a message that in an environment where it is frowned upon to look vulnerable and weak, sometimes those can be your greatest weapons, which makes Gomez the perfect person to highlight for Vogue’s 125-year anniversary.

Bicycles add to Friday Fun

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By ANDREA HUETE

The Miami Bike Scene is holding its monthly bicycle event this Friday at 7:15. The admission for the bicycle event is free and there is a party following the event from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Omni Park.

The tickets for the free event can be bought at eventbright. They ask that all bicycle riders sign in at 6:30 at the Miami Critical Mass – Government Center at 150 NW 1ST St.  This gives bikers a chance to socialize and prepare physically before the event. A good long distance bicycle ride needs a good stretch session beforehand!

The bike ride will be 20 miles in length and go through all types of Miami’s neighborhoods. From Overtown to Little Haiti to Wynwood and Miami Beach, you are sure to come across brand new areas you may have never seen before.

Miami-Dade County says the event will impact traffic for at least three hours., which means if you are a driver in Miami, your Friday night post-work/pre-weekend traffic just got worse.

The Miami Bike Scene holds this event to make people more aware of the lack of bike lanes within Miami-Dade County. This is not to make an inconvenience for the cars, but rather make the cars understand that more bike lanes are needed so as to not inconvenience or danger bicyclists.

If you’re on campus and ride a bike, this might be a great opportunity to meet other cyclists who share your passion as well as take your bike out for a view other than the University.

Another heartbreaking Hollywood split

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By CHELSEA LOVELL

Everyone was heartbroken after word got out of the split between one of the most iconic couples in Hollywood. The news of the d word (divorce) between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie took over the media. From social media to entertainment news and even major news networks everyone was talking about it.

According to reports, Jolie decided to end their marriage after 12 years because she was “extremely upset” with the way Pitt has been parenting the kids. She sought out joint legal custody, but not joint physical custody.

“This decision was made for the health of the family,” attorney Robert Offer said in a statement. However, other reports say their split could have been brewing for years.

Despite everything, Angelina has said they will “always be a family”.

Dailymail.com reports that Pitt has been spending around 15 hours a day in a Los Angeles studio, where he is working on an art sculpture. A source has said “he spends all night working on his art and listening to emotional songs. Everybody knows it’s related to what’s going on with him personally, but nobody says anything. He’s a quiet guy, and very humble. He’s learning at a fast pace.”

CFDA unveils fashion award nominees

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By SHELLIE FRAI

With film award season over, a less publicized, yet equally as important, award season commences, American fashion award season.

Every year during the spring and early summer, fashion designers, retailers and brands join forces to celebrate the winners of the CFDA Fashion Awards.

The CFDA stands for the Council of Fashion Designers of America and was founded in 1962. Each year the council awards America’s future and established fashion talent at their fashion awards.

For the 2017 CFDA Fashion Awards, chairwoman and former creative director at her namesake label, Diane von Furstenberg, unveiled the list of nominees.

The nominees were not surprising due to the brilliance and beauty of the collections they have displayed throughout fashion month in February. The list includes, Joseph Altuzarra, Raf Simons, Marc Jacobs and Thom Browne and past winners Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.

However, to some in the fashion industry, the amount of designers from abroad being honored were staggering.

Robert Geller, a Germany-based designer, was nominated for the first time in the Menswear Designer category. He is up against big names like Calvin Klein, Thom Browne and Todd Snyder.

Demna Gvasalia, the Belgian wunderkind that launched his millennial hit label, vetements, just a few years ago will receive the International Award for his work at Balenciaga and vetements.

Finally, Franca Sozzani, Vogue Italia editor-in-chief who recently passed away last year, will be honored posthumously with the Fashion Icon Award.

The award show will take place June 5, giving the fashion industry a season to wait anxiously.

However, until then the CFDA will keep busy.

Throughout the year the foundation provides monetary assistance in the form of resources and support to students at high schools to the graduate level. The CFDA also kick-starts fashion designers careers through the CFDA / Vogue Fashion Fund that provides business opportunities and publicity to emerging designers.

Drake releases ‘More Life’

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By CHANTAL ALBA

If you’re a Drake fan like myself, then you know how great this week has been because he finally dropped his album, “More Life.” The internet was buzzing with the release because this album is following “Views,” which was probably his biggest project before this one.

“More Life” features other rap artist like 2 Chainz, Young Thug, Quavo, Travis Scott and Kanye West (which gave us a little of the old Kanye back in my opinion). Most of Drake’s albums have a theme or fit together as narrative piece of his life stories. This album did not follow that same outline. However, a lack of structure is what made “More Life” so great.

While listening to this album, I realized the songs ranged in genre, era, culture and slang, which make it a blast to listen to whether you have work to get done or you’re just vibing with friends.

Drake’s idea to make such a wide range of music shows that he is in-tune with what is going on around him and what everyone is doing musically. It’s clear the Drake veered away from commercial rap, pop, and R&B styles, but this just shows his growth as an artist and his confidence level in himself.

He’s making music that he wants, the way he wants, without the fear of losing his “Top 2” status. This may not be his best album or even a classic, but this just shows Drake evolving into his true 6 God status and that’s accomplishment enough.

March Madness draws big numbers

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By ERYKAH DAVENPORT

March Madness is one of the leading sports stories throughout the news media currently.

News media outlets such as CBS, TNT, TBS and ESPN Sportscenter have been booming since the start of NCAA play. As brackets are busted as a result of many upset, the basketball world remains highly attentive to games played day in and day out.

On the women’s side, there has been a significant amount of tragic injuries causing some to miss the remainder of the season. Journalists and news anchors make it their priority to try to get in touch with those who have any type of inside information about injuries that may potentially hinder players from engaging in play.

Being first to the punch is ideal because as fans are tuned into games, they are dying to receive immediate follow ups and  coverage in regards to unknown or hidden information.  Once this news is released by a credible source, they in turn receive an immense amount of credit which is a vital component in the media world.

This time of the year, there is a ton of basketball played both on the men’s and women’s side. Therefore, every game cannot be aired at once. ESPN works around this by focusing on one pairing in which it thinks is a game that will attract more viewers, while still cycling through other games either during timeouts or at halftime. This coverage gives each team a chance for an adequate amount of TV time.

Currently heading into Sweet 16 play for the women as the men just started up yesterday, sports channels are responsible for a ton of coverage for the NCAA tournament. Until the first week of April, when all the brackets are finalized and a winner is known on the men and women side, this tournament is responsible for attracting lots of viewers and a ton of revenue being generated.

No spring game for Miami Hurricanes

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By ANDREA HUETE

Last year, Miami Hurricanes held two scrimmages leading up to the traditional spring football game at Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale.

This year, the team announced that due to the renovations at Hard Rock Stadium, there will be no spring football game.

Instead, the team is having 13 open practices that are open to news media only, which means fans are out of luck.

  •        Saturday, March 25, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Tuesday, March 28, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Thursday, March 30, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Saturday, April 1, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Tuesday, April 4, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Thursday, April 6, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Tuesday, April 11, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Thursday, April 13, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Tuesday, April 18, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Thursday, April 20, 9:30 a.m.
  •        Saturday, April 22, 12 p.m.

The Hurricanes went through a similar situation last football season. The team was unsure if the first game against the FAMU Rattlers would be able to be held at Hard Rock Stadium, also due to renovations.

The renovations at Hard Rock Stadium were a $500 million project. The new stadium includes shade over most of the seating, which is great for the unpredictable Miami weather, as well as four brand new jumbotrons in each corner of the stadium. They also created a designated space for fans that Uber, which is a smart move to prevent drinking and driving.

This year marks the third phase of the renovations, which will mostly be final touches and club level upgrades.

These new renovations unfortunately mean no spring game for the Miami Hurricanes this year, however this does mean more non-sporting related events such as concerts. The renovations to the new stadium also allowed Miami to secure the 2020 Super Bowl.

From the finished renovations I was able to see last football season, the new stadium looks gorgeous and it’s much more enjoyable not having the sun on the back of your neck while cheering on your favorite team. Hopefully, this season people are able to enjoy the new multi-million dollar amenities.

Rodriguez, media clash off field

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By JOSH WHITE

On March 23, the Watsco Center field house was packed with some of the brightest minds in the sports industry.

Inside the glass doors, the 2017 University of Miami Sport Industry Conference was underway.

The event drew 305 top sports businessman and women, students aspiring to become successful in the sports industry and a middle-aged man named Alex Rodriguez.

Although Rodriguez was known for his towering home runs, boisterous attitude and PED use late in career, since his playing days, ARod has developed into a business pioneer.

Rodriguez is the CEO and founder of a company called ARod Corp.

ARod Corp. ventures in real estate, auto dealerships and high-end fitness centers in Mexico and The United States.

While there was plenty of knowledge in the room, news media coverage was lacking.

Only two news media outlets were on hand; CBS Miami Channel 4, and UMTV. After Rodriguez delivered a talk to the attendees and participated in a question-and-answer session, ARod spoke to the two TV stations.

After a short interview with UMTV, Rodriguez spoke to sports anchor Jim Berry from CBS Miami. This is where it spiraled downhill.

Rodriguez, who had recently been seen with celebrity Jennifer Lopez, was asked a question about it. Thrown off guard, Rodriguez gave a vague answer and concluded the interview.

Not only were very few outlets in attendance to cover a sports celebrity giving a local talk, but then a question that had nothing to do with the event was asked.

First off, I think more news media organizations should’ve covered the event because Alex Rodriguez is a prominent sports figure especially in the Miami community. Secondly, a very unprofessional question having nothing to do with the conference and Rodriguez’s business ventures should not have been asked.

Understanding LaVar Ball

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By LUIS GONZALEZ

Former Division II basketball player LaVar Ball speaking in hyperbole is fine, but only for his sons.

Ball, father of UCLA Basketball star Lonzo Ball, rising high school athlete LaMelo Ball, and future UCLA Bruin LiAngelo Ball, has been in the news lately for comparing Lonzo to the likes of Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson and even Michael Jordan.

The quotations, retrieved from ESPN’s Ian O’Conner, say an obviously false narrative about his sons.

When comparing Lonzo to Magic Johnson, LaVar said “Lonzo is more athletic than Magic, blocks more shots, and makes more steals. … Lonzo is Magic with a jump shot.”

“The way you compare him to Kidd is, he likes to pass and Kidd and Zo are light-skinned.” LaVar said when comparing Lonzo to legendary former New Jersey Nets Guard Jason Kidd “But [Lonzo] is taller and longer, and he’s got a better jump shot than Kidd. He’s more athletic in how he jumps and catches lobs back door.”

On the comparison of Lonzo to arguably the best player to ever play in the NBA, Lavar said.

“Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, but all three of my boys can go down as the greatest player ever. Lonzo is better than what Michael Jordan was doing in high school, and he’s better than what Michael Jordan was doing in college. … He’s only 19. He’s got to get past Jordan’s six titles and get to seven to be the greatest player ever, and I think he can do it.”

An obviously proud father has gained traction on the internet pages of many news programs and even got him a chance to argue with ESPN’s Stephen A Smith.

Understanding LaVar is easy, being a good father means believing your kids are the best in the world.

LaVar however, knows that the media will put out much of what he says. He is not a television analyst or bound to any journalistic integrity, so he can say whatever he wants.

Using the media as a marketing ploy to get your child’s name into every home before they get drafted, helps only Lonzo. Getting his name on your eye through an article or twitter makes you keep an eye on him during the NCAA tournament.

Watching Lonzo’s 14.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.6 assists a game (according to sports-reference.com) leads many to fall in love with 6-6 guard. Once they fall in love it adds fan pressure to teams to draft the Bruin earlier, adding jersey sales, making him more marketable for sponsorships.

Pair arrested for counterfeit jewelry

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By COURTNEY ADELMAN

Miami-Dade County recently arrested two jewelry store owners for selling high-end jewelry that was fake.

Jimmy Hernandez, 40, and Tania Varona, 57, were co-owners of Joyeria The Lord of the Rings Collection. Both were arrested for counterfeiting services and good worth more than $20,000.

investigators say that they see name-brand jewelry sold at its normal retail price.

This jewelry included items from Bvlgari, Cartier, Chanel, Christian Dior, Gucci, Hermes, Lous Vuitton, Micheal Kors, Movaddo, Ray Ban, Rolex, Tiffany, Tory, Tous, Van Cleef & Arpels and Yves St. Laurent.

If all of this jewelry were authentic and new the arrest would have claimed for counterfeiting about $31,000.

Whether or not this is important news is hard to say. This arrest and incident did not hurt anyone. I feel that it wouldn’t be until they continued this business that the store owners would get into worse things.

However, I don’t see this story posing any threat to people in nearby areas. I did fin it interesting because I enjoy jewelry and would not want to buy something fake.

So in that sense, it is important to report this so people know that if they have ever bought something from this store, it is counterfeit.