Born into poverty on San Antonios violent east side, Joseph Brooks endured an unthinkable childhood. Deemed a slow learner in school, he was placed in special ed classes, which made him an easy target for bullying and sexual and physical abuse at the hand of the neighborhood gangs. To top it all off, he lost both of his parents during his adolescence.

In his new book, The Value of a Single Woman, and in his motivational presentations, Brooks recounts his past and his extraordinary turnaround. As an only child, I went through a period of deep depression after my mother died, he says. And I credit God for saving me from a 9 mm bullet that should have ended my life. Instead, it changed me forever and allowed me to see the positives instead of the negatives in life.

Brooks, who learned to be articulate and persistent from his mother, took his first job at 17 as a floor trainer at a local gym and created an after-school program called Impact to help at-risk youth. Both places played outsize roles for him. From such bleak beginnings, he managed to change his lifes trajectory, becoming one of the most successful personal trainers in Texas, a television fitness guru, an actor, an author and a motivational speaker. He has also been a featured guest on national and local podcasts, covering issues that range from business to relationships.

I have an incredible story I call From Welfare to Well-being and its a message I need to get out, he says. It has impacted so many lives already.

Author, actor, fitness expert and speaker Joseph Brooks has been helping individuals transform their lives physically, spiritually and mentally for over 30 years.

A regular fitness expert on KSAT-12s top variety show SA Live, Brooks has helped thousands by coming into their homes via TV. He is also listed on IMDb at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm10956746/.

He has been a featured guest on national and local podcast such as Erica Vargass In Search of good Men, Janie Terrazass Rise above TV, Heather Whitestones Whitestone Marketing and Our Lady of the Lake Universities Book Nook. He is also cast to play the role of Doc Brown, a major character in Director/Choreographer Joemer Dulatres Grandmaster movie due for release in 2020.

Brooks and his wife, Adriana, have been married 30 years and have raised five children, which Brooks calls his greatest success.

To learn more about Brooks story and his motivational speaking, please visit the following: http://www.gotothenextlevel.net; http://www.youtube.com/; or http://www.facebook.com.

Link:
From Poverty, Abuse And Loss, Author And Motivational Speaker Finds Success Helping Others - Wilson County News

Instagram

Michelle Obama is up in the gym just working on her fitness.

The former First Lady hasoften impressed otherswith her commitment to working out(andjust about everythingelse she does)and she's keeping that habit strong. And, of course, inspiring her nearly 34 million Instagram followers to follow suit.

On Sunday evening, the 55-year-old showed off her strength in a photo of her at the gym. Holding a large medicine ball over her head,theBecoming author is seen making lunges look far too easy."It doesn't always feel good in the moment," she captionedthe snap. "But after the fact, I'm always glad I hit the gym."

In the picture, which showcases her enviable abs, she lookslaser-focusedduring her sweat session. As she asked her fans, "How did you all take care of yourself on this #SelfCareSunday?"

Naturally, her celeb followers were quick to weigh in.

WhileTom Bradyposted a football emoji in the comments section (reminding the world what he's up to),One Tree HillalumSophia Bushopted to cheer on Obama, writing "Okaaaaay" with the fire, clapping and explosionemojis.

Other supporters opted to share their workout regimens withSashaandMalia's mom.

"The goal is that every morning I go for a two mile walk," one userwrote. "I make it 6/7 days on average." Added another, "Rested and epsom salt bath after my first half marathon yesterday."

And one fan summed up the Internet's reaction to this post perfectly: "If Michelle Obama has time for the f*@king gym, so do you."

Don't miss E! News every weeknight at 7, only on E!

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Michelle Obamas Workout Will Motivate You to Hit the Gym - E! NEWS

The 49ers, one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the NFL, are aggressively pursuing multiple options at wide receiver, league sources said, viewing an upgrade at the position as the key to a potential deep playoff run.

San Francisco has been much improved on both sides of the ball, with quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo finally healthy and one of the more balanced teams in the NFL thus far. However, head coach Kyle Shanahan, who runs the offense and has a keen eye for receiving talent as a former receiver coach, and the front office have identified receiver as an area of specific attention ahead of the trade deadline, which looms after Week 8.

The 49ers have been an aggressive team on the trade market in recent years, landing Garoppolo with an in-season blockbuster. They were pursuing Khalil Mack a year ago, were in the mix for Odell Beckham as well, and landed Dee Ford in an offseason deal. Despite all of their early-season success, the offense has room for growth in the passing game, with few proven options beyond All Pro tight end George Kittle, who has more than twice as many receptions as anyone else on the roster.

The 49ers are among a bevvy of teams with interest in Bengals star A.J. Green, but it remains to be seen if the winless team relents and deals the pending free agent. Emmanuel Sanders was drawing interest as well, but the Broncos are back in the mix in the AFC West after a woeful 0-4 start. A reunion with receiver Mohamed Sanu, who Shanahan coached in Atlanta and is not being featured in the Falcons offense, is quite possible, league sources said. Atlanta is falling out of contention despite a bloated roster, and a coaching change looms. Taylor Gabriel (Bears), who put up career numbers with Shanahan in Atlanta, is not seeing much of the ball in Chicago. Former Dolphins first-round pick Devante Parker, who has yet to show much or stay healthy since being selected in the first round, would likely be a fallback option, sources said.

Rookie receiver Deebo Samuel is second on the 49ers with just 15 catches through five games; no wide receiver on the roster has even 200 yards receiving thus far or more than one touchdown. Garoppolo is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes, and there is hope that youngster Dante Pettis can stay healthy and provide a boost, but the addition of one more legit pass-catching threat could be vital in the team being able to thrive against top defenses in December and January.

The rest is here:
NFL Trade Deadline: 49ers pursuing numerous options for receivers, are highly motivated to make a deal - CBS Sports

In our ever-changing digital world, new information spills out of devices by the second. This means that no matter which career students choose, there will always be more to learn and consider.

As researcher and professor emeritus of education at the University of Maryland, Dr. John T. Guthrie explains, the road to lifelong learning starts with proficient reading. Unfortunately, says Guthrie, students reading motivation is often "shockingly low."

After spending 45 years studying how to motivate and engage students, Guthrie has learned that the secret to developing successful readers lies in understanding the rightand wrongways to motivate them.

Guthrie spoke with EdSurge, sharing how classroom teachers can use intrinsic motivation, text choice, and real-life connections to encourage students to want to read. He also explains how adaptive literacy technology makes adopting these strategies easier for educators.

John T. Guthrie: Two significant barriers to motivation include students low self-efficacyor, confidence in their reading skillsand a lack of input in choosing what they read.

Students confidence levels are challenged when they are given reading material that is too hard for them to understand. If this situation repeats itself, they may cope by retreating and not reading. Teachers intentions might be goodthey want to help students get stronger by giving them challenging material. But, if material is too challenging, it's self-defeating for the teacher and discouraging for the student.

Another issue is when students don't have any input into what they read. Reading interest decreases when the diet is set entirely by the program, the school, the teacher, or the state that they live in.

The problem is: what are they thinking about? Not the books and the content. They're thinking about the ice cream party! The quality of their thinking about the reading material wont be good. Because their motivation is external and superficial, this type of reading wont help students become long-term readers. A lot of people think external motivationgiving students a rewardis going to get them interested in reading. If a teacher says, "If everybody reads well today, we'll have an ice cream party," students will work hard for the ice cream.

Educators should provide activities that encourage intrinsic motivation in students. These activities will create confidence in their skills, interest in the content, value in what they are reading, and belief in the importance of reading. This will also help them to be social in their reading, meaning they want to share and communicate what they've learned with other people.

Teachers can use confidence as a motivator by matching the texts to the students. If it's too hard, they can't learn from it and won't learn to enjoy the process. But if it's too easy, they'll be bored. If teachers can take the time to find texts students can read and help them stay in their zone, it helps build confidence.

Say your students are learning to draw a conclusion from a paragraph. They should be able to read the paragraph out loud almost at the speed at which they can speak. If you have a passage that is well-suited to them, then they can focus on learning the skill you're trying to teach instead of stumbling over some of the words.

It also helps when students see the value in a text. One way to do that is to show how it relates to their lives. For example, students might wonder what the value of knowing about environmental conservation and forests are when their interests lie elsewhere. Teachers can provide a learning experience with videos, picture books, and discussions about forests and their importance today and for future generations. This can be followed up with readings about threats to forests and ways students can aid environmental conservation. When you connect texts to what students know and care about, it creates value.

Another way to motivate students is by making the content useful to them in school on that particular day. Maybe students have to read and explain a text to each other. When a student does that successfully, he can say, It is valuable because it helped me tell my partner about this topic. Or, maybe it helps a student draw a map she needs to complete a project. Collaborating by working in pairs and small teams is also a technique that encourages the social aspect of reading, which is valuable motivation for reading comprehension.

Finding the time and resources to support these strategies can be hard. In a fifth-grade classroom, teachers could have students reading at a 10th-grade level, second-grade level, third-grade level, and so on. Finding material that works for all of them is a challenge. But tools like CommonLit give teachers a large bank of resources. If they need material on the historical westward expansion in the United States, for example, it's easy to find texts on the same topic for students. Students gain the same knowledge and skills, but do it at their own level.

Another challenge teachers face is knowing whether students have gained real, deep competency in the tasks they're working on. If you have 25 students, are they all able to understand this story and understand the character well? Teachers can estimate that. But they can't test every student all the time or track how much of the story they are reading.

But with a computer-based system, such as Reading Plus, educators can do those exact things. Essentially, it provides a tutor who's with the student for every task. And students can read at their own levels and work on their own specific skill sets until they're comfortable and competent. When students have this type of support, and a chance to read a high volume before moving to the next stage of complexity, that promotes deep learning.

Yes, research shows that self-confidence, interest in the material, and collaborative reading and writing are just as important in the digital world as they are in the print world. How frequently students work on reading and the intensity of their engagement are the biggest predictors of whether they learn. Its simple: the kids who read the most grow the fastest.

Original post:
The Secret to Developing Successful Readers Lies In How You Motivate Them - EdSurge

The American Athletic Conference has gone and done it now.

No, the league didnt reverse the replay reversal that never should have been reversed and award Joey Magnifico a catch. It didnt force Memphis and Temple to replay the final two minutes of Saturdays football game to figure out who actually would have won had the AACs replay official done his job correctly and realized indisputable evidence means a play is actually indisputable.

No, the AAC didnt fix that outrageous decision. It created another one.

Seven of its mens basketball coaches picked Houston, not Memphis and its No. 1 recruiting class, to win the AAC this year. Only four tabbed the Tigers as the conference favorites. The two teams were tied for first atop the AACs preseason poll.

Even though Memphis is ranked as high as No. 6 in the country in some preseason polls by national media. Even though Memphis is the only AAC team ranked in every single one of those national preseason polls.

Normally, you dont lose four starters and get picked first in the conference, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson told reporters Monday morning at AAC media day in Philadelphia.

He, apparently, was just as shocked as everyone here in Memphis.

But this slight might be just what the Tigers needed at just the right moment.

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They wanted all the smoke, and plenty was being sent their way of late.

Locally, nobody can imagine anything but a magical season. Elsewhere, ESPN and national college basketball reporters are flocking to town to talk to coach Penny Hardaway and share with the country how hes turned this program back into a title contender again so quickly. Hardaway told The Athletic he thought this team would win a national championship this year.

Whatever doubts Hardaway subsequently mentioned, like last week when he called Memphis the hunters instead of the hunted in the AAC, seemed like transparent attempts to motivate his team, to take the focus off the lofty expectations.

But not anymore.

Now, with one preseason poll, Hardaway has the motivating tool every coach desires. He can use this as fuel all year long.

He can tell his players nobody believes in them, and do it with a straight face. He can tell them nobody believes in him, because how else would you interpret Memphis receiving only four first-place votes given the talent disparity between the Tigers and the rest of the league this year.

"The hate for Penny is real," Stadium's Jeff Goodman tweeted in reaction to the poll.

Which, by the way, brings us to the most ridiculous part in all this.

James Wiseman is the only Memphis player listed on the preseason AAC first team. No Tigers player made the second team. And yet, South Florida, picked to finish fifth in the league, had three players listed. UConn, picked to finish sixth on its way to the Big East next season, had two players listed.

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It would be more forgivable if these picks were made by the media.

Maybe some of the reporters covering the league just dont know much about Precious Achiuwa or Boogie Ellis or Lester Quinones or Damion Baugh or D.J. Jeffries and the rest of this new-look Memphis roster. Perhaps all they heard about was the recruiting class being ranked No. 1, not who specifically made up that class.

But this preseason poll and the preseason all-conference teams are chosen by the American Athletic Conferences coaches.

They should know better.

They should know better than to give Hardaway the ammunition he needs to shove this right back in their faces.

Because heres another prediction: Thats exactly what Memphis basketball is going to do this season.

Want to stay informed on the latest Memphis basketball news? A Commercial Appeal subscription gets you unlimited access to the best inside information and updates on the Tigers, plus podcasts,newsletters and the ability to tap into sports news from throughout the USA TODAY Network's 109 local sites.

You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter:@mgiannotto.

Read the original post:
AAC coaches just gave Penny Hardaway, Memphis basketball exactly the motivation they needed - Commercial Appeal

In the days leading up to Canada's CONCACAF Nations League game with the U.S., Canadian coach John Herdman said his players didn't need him for motivation.

A 34-year-winless run against the Americans plus the need for valuable FIFA rankings points to earn a more direct route in World Cup qualifying would do the job just fine, he reasoned.

So did the 44-year-old Herdman, renowned for his ability to inspire, hold back?

"I think every minute of the day he has a motivational speech," said a smiling Lucas Cavallini, who scored the insurance stoppage-time goal in Canada's 2-0 win Tuesday at BMO Field.

"That's why we're here. That's why we're doing important things."

"Eversince John took over, he's been focused on changing the identity of Canadian soccer," added defender Kamal Miller. "And step by step, every camp, we've just been getting better and better. We feel like we're reaching new heights."

Said teenage forward Jonathan David: "This guy knows what he's doing ... because he has a tactic every game."

WATCH | Davies nets winner as Canada tops U.S. in Nations League:

While there is far more work to be done by the 75th-ranked Canadian men, it can be argued that Herdman has changed the face of soccer in Canada since being named women's coach eight years ago.

"He brought new football to Canada ... Thank you for bringing the spirit, the belief, the energy to these guys," veteran goalkeeper Milan Borjan said as he sat next to Herdman in the post-match news conference.

Herdman inherited a women's team that was in a dark place after finishing last under Italy's Carolina Morace at a disastrous 2011 World Cup in Germany. Herdman helped rebuild the women's talent pipeline, reminding the women why they played soccer and for whom they did it and led them to back-to-back Olympic bronze medals and fourth place in the FIFA rankings.

In January 2018, he switched its focus to the Canadian men another team struggling for a road map out of the depths of CONCACAF.

Subsequent news that Canada would co-host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and the U.S. gave fans something to look forward to, given the Canadian men have only ever attended one World Cup (in 1986).

Herdman wanted more.

"We're going to qualify for 2022 Qatar," he told a news conference in February 2019. "And lay the foundation for 2026."

Herdman wears many hats coach, confessor, motivator among them. He surrounds himself with talent, counting goalkeeping coach Simon Eaddy and fitness coach Cesar Meylan among his inner circle from his days as women's coach. While he made changes to the existing men's staff, he also kept on some veteran team officials.

And he made a point of listing off a string of Canada Soccer employees after Tuesday's game, making sure they got their recognition for the famous win.

As coach, he has a knack of saying the right thing at the right time.

Take Liam Fraser as an example. The 21-year-old came on in the ninth minute, replacing the injured Mark-Anthony Kaye, and delivered a calm, composed performance in his senior debut.

After the game, Herdman shared a conversation he had with the Toronto FC midfielder.

"Only last camp I'm sitting on the stairs with him and the kid's upset that he can't see an opportunity coming for his country. And here you are," he said with a smile.

"Funnily enough on the stairs three weeks ago I said 'Son, just keep being good and the universe will bring you something. Just keep being good.' And it did. He got on that field tonight and he did bloody well."

Herdman watches over teenage star Alphonso Davies, trying to shield him from the expectations that come with a big-money transfer to Bayern Munich while putting him in a place to succeed.

"With Phonzie, it's just 'Get out there and play, son. Just go and do your thing,"' said Herdman.

The night before the U.S. game, he sat down with Davies and showed him clips from his days with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

"We just went back to some of his original days where when he got kicked, he got straight back up," said Herdman. "And when balls went in behind him, he'd recover and he'd fight to get it back. I think a little bit of that was missing. Just that wanting to play free and thinking he had to be in a structure. But he was free tonight and it was lovely to see."

Herdman also knows that competition in the Canadian ranks works wonders.

"He can't sit on his heels," he said of Davies. "We had Cavallini and (Junior) Hoilett on the bench."

Cavallini plies his trade for Puebla in Mexico while Hoilett is a veteran of the English Premier League who now plays in the Championship with Cardiff City. In past years, they would be automatic starters.

Hard work and commitment have been constants for Herdman, who grew up in Consett, just outside Newcastle, the son and grandson of steelworkers.

He played semi-pro football in the Northern League and for his university, soon realizing a pro career was not in the cards. So he got into coaching, starting to take courses at 16. He had his own soccer school at 23.

After spending time in South America to study Brazilian coaching methods, he returned home and set up a Brazilian soccer school. Players from Sunderland started sending their kids there, which led to a job offer in the Sunderland academy.

He spent three years there, working with a young Jordan Henderson, now a Liverpool and England star.

Herdman was lecturing four days a week in the sports science department at Northumbria University and working at the academy in the evening. He considered a PhD, using his experience at Sunderland as research.

Then Dr. Paul Potrac, his university supervisor, moved to Otago University in New Zealand. Potrac told Herdman about a soccer job as a regional director in New Zealand, selling him on the chance to essentially take over a blank football canvas.

Herdman took him up on it, coaching all ages while creating a soccer blueprint for the region. His hours matched his passion.

"I can't remember when I haven't done an 80-plus-hour week," he once said. "It's my personality, probably my mental disorder ... when I'm tuned into something I'm passionate about, I'm a bit crazy about it."

Herdman took the Kiwi under-20 team to the 2006 and '08 FIFA-20 Women's World Cups before leading the senior side to the World Cup in 2007 and 2011.

Then Canada came calling, dangling the lure of hosting the 2015 Women's World Cup.

Herdman is a driven coach. But a story about a VW Beetle speaks volumes about what makes him tick.

He used to drive a vintage silver Bug back and forth every weekend from university in Leeds to Consett to see his childhood sweetheart, now wife Clare. It helped that his best man was good at fixing Beetles.

Then someone crashed into the back of it, totalling the car. Herdman told his wife that some day, when he had time, he would get one to work on with his son.

Years later, in 2014, he unearthed a 1962 ragtop in Abbotsford, B.C., that needed work. Then he found one in Toronto ready to go.

Herdman mulled over the choice. While he liked the idea of working on the car with son J.J., he knew it might take years given his hectic schedule. So he bought the restored one, reasoning he and his son could share vintage car shows together (he also has a young daughter named Lilly-May).

The story demonstrates both Herdman's persistence and pragmatism.

Herdman celebrated Tuesday's win, which featured Canada's first goals against the U.S. in 12 years. His voice slightly hoarse and he proved to be in fine hugging form.

But he reminded listeners there is a long way to go.

"It's only one step, it's only one little drop in the ocean I'm hoping for this team. There's more to come," he said.

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With inspiration and motivation, John Herdman is changing the face of Canadian soccer - CBC.ca

When the Houston Texans traded for running back Carlos Hyde from the Kansas City Chiefs before the start of the season. The Texans ended up getting more than many expected, and Hyde made the team that traded him remember him with a strong performance on Sunday.

It was the Hyde revenge game as he put together a solid outing, rushing 26 times for 116 yards and one touchdown.

"I definitely had a little extra chip on my shoulder," Hyde said of taking the field against the Chiefs. "How things turned out here, it gave me extra motivation. I'm thankful for where I'm at and how things are going."

The Texans running game once again leaned on Hyde to do the bulk of the work for the offense. The running game was able to put up 192 yards on the ground in their win over the Chiefs while averaging 4.7 yards a carry.

The offense is showing the ability to not only throw the ball at will but the ability to control the clock on the ground. Hyde likes the balance that offense is showing early in the season.

"With the offense clicking like that, it's so hard to stop us," Hyde said of the offensive success. "When our offense is moving the ball like that, things are clicking, it's just hard to stop us. There are so many playmakers on this offense. It's a beauty."

Through five games, Hyde leads the Texans in rushing with 426 yards while averaging 4.3 yards a carry while finding pay dirt three times this season.

The Texans have allowed Hyde to get back to what he does best, and he appreciates them, letting him be the focus of the running game.

"They just let me be myself," Hyde said of the Texans. "[They] let me play my game. [They] let me get downhill. [They let me] do what I do best. You can't just focus on me. Like I said, there are so many other guys on this team that are a threat and can take over the game at any moment. The focus is not just on me. I can just go play my game, play free, and just be me."

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Texans Carlos Hyde Finds Extra Motivation in Win Over the Kansas City Chiefs - Sports Illustrated

The Kirksville football team has been battling momentum all season long, with the Tigers coming up on the losing end more often than not.

Coach Conrad Schottel said riding momentum is one of the best parts of the game for him, but being on the other end has been a tough pill to swallow with the lofty goals the team had for this season, now sitting at 1-6 after last weeks loss to Mexico.

Were fighting a big case of disappointment. Id be a liar if I didnt tell you I was disappointed or that any of the kids are, or the coaches, Schottel said. Were competitors and we want to win and we had high hopes coming into the year, certainly to have more wins in our win-loss column than we did. The fact of the matter is it hasnt worked out. Like I told the kids and I tell our staff and myself, we have two options: We can play the blame and victim game or we can rise to the occasion and make our own break and make our own momentum.

The Tigers get another winnable game this week as Moberly (4-3) comes to town. Kirksville eked out a 34-32 win over the Spartans last season and hope they can grab another one this time around on senior night.

Kirksville has had less than stellar showings in the second half of many games this season, losing halftime leads to Macon and Mexico, and going quiet against Clark County and Palmyra. Schottel has seen that happen and credits it more to not playing each phase well. He thought his offense and defense were playing very well last week against Mexico, then special teams allowed a long kick return before halftime to let the Bulldogs get back in the game before winning.

The Tiger defense had the team right there with Palmyra before the offense was shut out in the second half.

The biggest thing for me and our team and our staff isnt so much the halves, its playing a complete game and playing three phases of the game, Schottel said. Each phase of the game the kicking game, the offense and defense it all feeds each other. Right now, if you look at all of our weeks 1 through 7, we have not put together a full game, so thats really our emphasis. When our defense is playing really well at Palmyra, our offense not stepping on our toe and turning the ball over, for example. Or when both our defense and our offense is playing out of their heads and executing very well against Mexico, our kicking game cant stub our toe. Right now thats what weve got, were two of three at best and mostly one of three. Were trying to go three for three.

Junior Andrew Nothdurft plays all three phases of the ball for the Tigers, so hes seen what Schottel describes. Nothdurft said each unit has played hard, but has shot itself in the foot several times, usually caused by a lack of trust in each other, themselves, or the coaches. He said sometimes a player might read a situation differently than what the coaches call and will make a different move, leading to a mistake.

But the Tigers have tried to keep using their own disappointment in positive ways.

Everyones disappointed. You could say theyre pretty pissed, but we all want to win more and more after every loss, Nothdurft said. We just try to get it back up and keep fighting.

Moberly had its own second-half woes last week, getting shut out by Hannibal in the later portion of the game. Moberly has previously lost to Fulton by four and Lafayette County by seven, so theres reason to believe the Spartans could have been 6-1 coming into this game.

Junior quarterback Dominic Stoneking presents plenty of issues for a Tiger defense that has had trouble stopping the run. He can bruise his way up the middle and the Spartans also have some speedy backs to hit the edge.

But the Tigers have carried great attitudes through practice and hope to send their seniors out with one last home win.

Obviously, losing homecoming sucks, but this upcoming week with Moberly, we have senior night and theres been a lot of enthusiasm this entire week, said quarterback Paxton Dempsay.

Read the original:
Kirksville football hopes to turn recent misfortune into motivation - Kirksville Daily Express and Daily News

With the pageantry and tradition, game days at Los Angeles Coliseum are quite the spectacle. USC remains one of the more recognizable brands in college football. And although the Trojans have been wildly inconsistent over the past decade, Arizonas players know exactly what this matchup means.

I mean, USC is always a big game, junior linebacker Tony Fields II said. As you can see last year (at Arizona Stadium), the crowd was almost sold out. My freshman year when we went to USC, it was wild, it was super loud.

When you used to play NCAA Football, you hear USCs (fight) song right when you cut it on. Its like, Yeah, Im playing against the head of Pac-12 football.

Junior defensive lineman Trevon Mason has yet to play a game at Los Angeles Coliseum. Unlike some of his teammates, the juco transfer isnt as impressed.

I just feel like they have a name, he said. I feel like theyre OK...

More here:
Extra motivation for J.J. Taylor, teammates from California as Wildcats visit USC - The Athletic

The Belarusian authorities must uphold the right of former prisoner of conscience Dzmitry Paliyenka to a fair trial and ensure his hearing is open to the public, Amnesty International said ahead of the start of his trial on 17 October.

Dzmitry Paliyenkas prosecution follows a well-documented history of being targeted and harassed by the authorities for his activism. The Belarusian authorities must drop all charges against him that stem from the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and open his trial to public and media scrutiny, said Aisha Jung, Amnesty Internationals Senior Campaigner.

Dzmitry Paliyenkas prosecution follows a well-documented history of being targeted and harassed by the authorities for his activism

Despite constant harassment that led him to serve two years in a penal colony simply for peacefully protesting, Dzmitry Paliyenka has continued with his activism. This appears to be the reason why the Belarusian authorities have targeted him with a new set of criminal charges. Amnesty International has reviewed his case and concluded that at least three charges against him are illegitimate and should be dropped immediately.

The onus is on the Belarusian authorities to demonstrate that allegations leading to a fourth charge of malicious hooliganism are genuine and that Dzmitry Paliyenkas guilt is proven beyond any reasonable doubt. So far, their decision to keep the trial behind closed doors raises serious questions as to the real motivation of this charge.

Background

On 20 March 2019, Dzmitry Paliyenka was arrested on suspicion of malicious hooliganism following an incident in which he allegedly used pepper-spray against another individual. Use of pepper-spray in self-defence is legal in Belarus. Dzmitry Paliyenka has maintained he acted in self-defence. Three other criminal charges were subsequently brought against him: insulting a representative of the authorities, incitement to racial, ethnic, religious or other social hatred or enmity, and desecration of buildings and property damage related to a graffiti painting he did on a wall. Amnesty International believes these charges stem solely from the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and are consistent with the history of harassment Dzmitry Paliyenka has faced for many years.

Continue reading here:
Politically motivated trial against former Belarusian prisoner of conscience starts behind closed doors - Amnesty International