NFL's Crime Problem and Solution

32 players have been arrested since the Superbowl this year.  That seems like a lot, but lets do the math.

Every team has 53 roster spots and there's 32 teams throughout the NFL.  (Weird coincident that theres 32 teams and 32 players arrested!)

Also assume that each offender had a spot on the team and the team has not yet replaced them.

So, 32 out of 1,696 players.  That's just 1.89% of the league.  If that bad or is that good?  I looked into the CIA World Factbook for some comparisons

• Apparently that is the same percentage as American children being under 5 and overweight (1.3% in 2004).
• In 2011, the real GDP grew about that percentage (1.8%)

Anyways, according to the FBI's crime statistics, the NFL is actually doing better than the average.  Following Wikipedia's chart, there were 2.9 property crimes per 100 people and 0.4 violent crimes per 100 people.  

That's sort of good.  If they were above average, action better have been taking place.  Thinking about it, a large source of crime is poverty.  Some of these guys did find there way out of poverty through football.  A lot of their friends and family are probably still living near poverty, making them risk it all by association and eventually making some terrible decisions.  Being the rich one of their communities, they might feel like they are above the law as well.  

It however could be bigger than this.  It could be a from the constant head pounding they have done, the aggressive nature of the game, or the extended down time.  

Concussions have been known to cause violence.  There's plenty of scholarly articles enforcing that (one example).  Football players get concussions almost every time they strap up their helmets and have getting them since they were 5 playing Pop Warner and the liking.  Having 20 years of concussions building up for a 25 year old, of course there is some effect from them all.  

Football is a violent sport and can totally be depicted as a dog-eat-dog game.  The more vicious you are play after play, the bigger your ego is, the bigger the paycheck, and the more likely you will take this aggression off the field.  I am not saying all the crimes were violent ones, but it would explain the some of the violent ones.  

Preseason starts in August and the regular season ends in December.  There are 8 months that these players have to deal with.  Yes, they work out, study plays, do commercials, do some charity work (maybe), and work some camps.  There's obviously a lot of down time still!  More games isn't quite the right solution, but it might help.

An interesting solution is space out the games a bit more.  Having a game every other week might be too long, but a week and a half should be plenty.  Imagine if every night there is a football game on.  I think we are going to see a solution like this sooner than you might think.  

Having less free time, more time in between games, and maybe even more games could help this issue. It would make football a full time job for more than just the coaching staff.  

The Boston Bruins Win the Stanley Cup!

You would have heard that if Patrice Bergeron didn't play, in my mind.

Bergeron, a player for the Boston Bruins in the NHL, was playing in game 6 with numeerous injuries.

He apparently had a broken rib, torn cartilage and muscle tissue, a seperatad shoulder, and had a small puncture in his lung.  That is a lot of pain to endure.  I do think he definitely won some hearts with his playing through the pain.

One thing though, if he is in so much pain, wouldn't that make his slower, less aggressive for the puck, and not as nimble?

(http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/schilling-sell-bloody-sock-cover-debts-article-1.1174845)

I don't recall how swift he was the other day when the Bruins lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, but wouldn't a fresh player be a better solution?

I am sure that there are plenty of fresh, energetic, and able bodies that the Bruins could have brought up and played in this crucial game.  I understand you want one of your star players in the lineup if you can, but I think it was stupid for both the Boston Bruins organization and Bergeron himself to play.

He was trying to play into Kurt Shilling's bloody sox.  Too bad, they didn't win.

Will Aaron Hernandez play again?

Will the former New England Patriot play football in the NFL again?

My vote is sadly yes.  As you might know, Hernandez was arrested today at his home for the connection of. Murder of his friend.  From the evidence that have been made public, there is no way he is getting out of this.  

Another question is, if Ray Lewis can come back and win a Superbowl, what's stopping Hernandez?   

Apparently Kraft and the Patriots have a sense of morals by releasing him.  However it's still okay for them to cheat the league and such (asterisks please!).  I honestly think, given two years, he is coming back to play professional football for a team that is in need of a tough TE.  

What's amazing is that this guy is not even a year older than me and has that huge house an had a multimillion dollar contract and still decided to do something so stupid, he is going to loose it all.  Typical.

 Someone just rocked their own world!  

(Picture below is from NASA)

The Job Hunt: Strategy

Just this week, I have formally started my job hunt.

Scary, I know.

I am trying to be organized, but yet efficient about it.  I have done several things already to stay focused, stay determined, and stay ahead of the game.

First, I opened my iCalendar and scheduled time where I am focusing on my job search.  I selected from 9 to 11am each weekday for the morning session.  For the afternoon, I put down 12:30pm to 5:30pm.  This way, I get gilt reminders when I am off doing something else that I should be looking for a job.  I have done this before with my senior project back in college, where I needed to work on it independently, but regularly.

My Schedule; Its a full time job looking for one!

Second, I have been keeping a journal of the steps that I have taken during my job searching times.  I start each day with the date, and make a note of each job I applied for.  I make sure I put done, the title of the position, the company and geological place it would be, where I found the job (linkedin, monster, careerbuilder, etc.) and several tidbits of the job posting like the qualifications and keypoints of why I fit the position.  I am doing this all because its relatively quick to do and I can also use it for when I hear back from a company, but can't find the actual posting anymore.

I can also use this journal as a way to see that I am making progress.  I can see what I have done today and motivate myself that I need to do more.  It can also be used as a way to justify that you have been working on searching for jobs and not just playing games, in case someone asks (like your parents).

The last thing that I haven't quite done, but working towards is a way to develop my resume and become more competitive in the job market.  Every day after graduation, your degree's value is decreasing slightly.  So far, I am registering to take the Fundamentals of Engineering Exam (FE exam) in late October.  I am also currently in the research phase of looking for other ways to add value.  I am thinking of taking on a hobby of some kind.  I'm thinking of designing something practicing my mechanical knowledge or working through some problems using MatLab.

Let me know if any of you have any suggestions or advice.

Two Regrets of My Career!

For those who are still in high school or in college, you need to do two major things: Network and intern.

Linkedin.com is a great place to start your networking and search!

First, network around town all the time.  Become friends with your friends' parents.  You can learn a lot through this.  Ask about their career, how they started and what made it possible to be where they are now.

Second, find a meaningful internship.  It gives you credibility, adds depth to your resume, and can potentially get you a full time position after your education.  It might take some time to develop this, but again, network around and you can find opportunities.

All in all, stay in the game, be creative, and always push further.

Good luck.