Spider

I found this story to be really interesting, mostly because i wrestle. It reminded me of some of the things that happened on my high school wrestling team. The way Coach Tyler teaches things to his team-through experience, is the way my coach teaches us stuff as well. The way he puts spider against a larger, more experienced opponent at practice is a realistic and pretty much an everyday occurance in a wrestling practice, and i didnt think that part needed to be as dramatized as it was. Also, there was a part where it said "the only thing that could win the match for gary was a pin." but there was still another period left to go, and he could have won by points if he had exposed his back a few times, he didnt HAVE to pin him, although, ideally, that is what a wrestler would want to do.

The Masked Marvel's Last Toehold

This story was alot different than i had thought it was going to be. I didn't expect the masked marvel to be getting amputated on. I also found it to be rather ironic that a little boy who had seen him in a toehold and had said it wasnt fair had grown up to be the doctor that would amputate his feet, and when he saw somebody holding his foot in the operating room he had made them stop so that it was his last toehold.

To an Athlete Dying Young

i found this poem to be extremely sad. it talks about a young runner who had won a race and told us that he died, i liked the way they compared carrying him on their shoulders cheering after he had won to carrying his casket and said that the silence sounds no worse than the cheers. i also liked how they pointed out that he wont be forgotten, whereas most people who win races are forgotten long before they pass on. this poem made me think of an athlete i was on a team on with in high school who had also passed on soon after graduation, and i know that everybody will remember him for the rest of their lives, or atleast i will.

Fast Break

I think the idea behind the way this poem was written was good (it was written in a way that showed us what a fast break in basketball is really like) but im not really a big fan of basketball so it wasnt really all that interesting to me.

The Fat Man at The Ball Game

I liked this poem and found it easy to understand. although the man in the poem reminded me of a stalker, it sent a good message out, everybody is more alike than we think in the sense that we all have some sort of baggage, whether it be some extra weight or emotional, or whatever.

The Illiad

I found the Illiad kind of hard to understand, all i really got out of it was that there was a fight and a race between two men and that Hektor was the man that had lost and therefore had been killed by the other man.