History

An ascribed status is something that no matter who you are, whether you like it or you hate, you are born with it. The ascribed status that I was born with was nothing to brag about. Nobody in my family has attended college before my sister who attended it just a couple years ago. Overall expectations in my family are not much more then high school and then straight to work. I grew in a town called Lodi in New Jersey. Lodi is positioned right next to some questionable towns that are considered poorer like Passaic, Paterson, and Garfield. My town Lodi is grouped right in with those towns, my high school was extremely diverse and had a very low college attendance post high school.

My father who also grew up in Lodi, went to the same high school I went to and fell right into this trend. He graduated high school and right after, proceeded to become a roofer. Eventually my father branched off from a roofing company he worked for and created his own roofing company called Spero Roofing. My Mother graduated high school in Clifton and also went straight to work. The cultural capital my parents faced led them both into going straight to work after college. Cultural capital has to do with the social assets somebody has such as education and style of speech. Having just a high school education, first generation parents and living in a poorer area led them to make these decisions.

Also working against them was social capital and economic capital. My grandparents all worked extremely low paying jobs and the friends of the family all worked similar jobs. My parents both worked jobs during high school in order to help pay bills and put food on the table. Economic capital is the resources you have around you such as goods, property, and money. My parents not only never were surrounded by economic capital, they were never surrounded with the social capital to push them toward a college education. Their parents did not expect them to go to college, they expected them to work after school.

The reason I bring up my parents in such detail is because they are ultimately the reason I am here studying at Rutgers University and if you understand them you will better understand me. My parents are a perfect example of achieved status. Despite being born with extremely low ascribed status, they pushed on and were extremely successful in their areas of work. Achieved status does not care what the ascribed status was that you were born with, achieved status is what you work for and my parents are a perfect example of that. My parents have worked hard to not only provide me necessary economic capital to attend college, they provided me with the proper the social and cultural capital to get here. Unlike their parents, going to work after school was never an option to them. I can still remember in high school being frustrated with going to school and mentioning perhaps not going to college. My sister and I knew that was a big no no in our household. If one of my parents heard you suggest such, let’s just say they would be very unhappy. 

Grandpa

When I thought about this topic, I was not sure where to go with it. I am not an extremely cultured person when it comes to my culture, I have never been to Italy or the Netherlands. None of my family speaks Italian or Dutch, that being said I do still carry traditions and have something comparable to an very tight knit Italian family. So, I did not think that was interesting enough to write about. I really wanted to write about somebody in my family that has changed my life and choose somebody I considered not only a grandfather, but a best friend.

My grandfather George Spero was a true role model for me. He was a little rough around the edges, but man did he push me and show me what it was to be a man. The stories he would tell me about growing up in Brooklyn and having nothing was nothing short of inspiring. It made me realize how spoiled I was to have such an ample amount of opportunities and how much tougher life could be. The main thing me and my grandfather bonded over was baseball. My grandfather was always extremely generous to me, he would buy me baseball bats, helmets, gloves etc. My grandfather was a baseball coach for fifty years, he not only coached me and my father, but numerous sets of cousins.

I still remember going to the old Yankee Stadium and him buying me ice cream at the end of the game. Now you may be saying how did going to Yankee Stadium change your history. The relationship me and grandfather had fostered my love for baseball. If I have one passion in my life it is easily baseball, if you have not been able to tell by the fact that most of my posts are about baseball. My grandfather is what instilled baseball into my father's blood, and my father pushed me to enjoy baseball as much as he did. Not even joking, when I was a kid all I did was eat and sleep baseball. A normal kid might watch cartoons in the morning, I used to watch baseball tonight reruns looking for the scores of the previous games. I played on three different teams during the spring baseball season and two teams during the fall ball season. My grandfather would always be at the games no matter what, my dad coached most of those teams, so personally I feel baseball is what made us so close. I still remember my grandmother hollering at me, my father and grandfather at dinner because we would non stop babble about baseball. Whether it was Yankee baseball, Little League baseball, or private baseball leagues I played in. Man, if I had a bad game, I had to deal with more then just one father haha. I would get what I did wrong from my father and then my grandfather would be waiting to tell me what I did wrong. Sadly my Grandfather passed away years ago suddenly. Sadly this really made me appreciate what he was and meant to me. He was someone I could always turn to for help and really taught me right from wrong. I always write about my grandfather when I get the chance because I do not want him to get lost in history.

Steroids in the MLB

The Major League Baseball is one of the largest sport leagues not only in the country, but in the world. Known as America's past time baseball in the hearts of many. The season is long and each team plays one hundred sixty two games per season. For those who have been involved in any type of sport imagine how taxing that might be. Often these players will play twelve games in thirteen days. Last year the Yankees played fourteen games in fourteen days and none were home, that is right consistent traveling across the united states. Clearly the scheduling for these players is taxing and at no point are they well rested, when these players become tired that is when injuries happens.

Baseball has been faced with an epidemic of steroids starting and escalating to maximum usage during the 1990s. Players like Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire, and Sammy Sosa abused steroids. These players used their superior natural ability combined with steroids to stay healthy and stronger. Battling each other for the single season home run records they tarnished the records books of the MLB. Many people questioned these so called records that these players were breaking, calling for *** next to the names in the record books.

Insane that people did not realize that steroids were being used, look at this before and after picture of Barry Bonds. The one on the left you can see he is skinny, Bonds was primarily a speedy player that hit for some power. But, after taking steroids he turned in a bomb hitting monster seen on the right.

Now the reason this is a social issue is because we all  know that these players are using steroids to get ahead in their careers. People look up to these stars and seeing their usage of steroids might drive them to take shortcuts in their jobs, which is not okay. The other big problem is increased usage and trick-down that is falling down to high school and college level.

Steroids are an extremely unhealthy and hurtful entity to the human body. Steroids have created a competitive edge that is killing players that refuse to use these harmful drugs. It has caused legitimacy issues within the game of baseball and it hurts has a hardcore baseball fan to wonder what exactly is real and what is embellished by steroids. You question what team should of really won the world series.

It is a real shame that when I turn on sports radio around hall of fame voting for the MLB I have to hear arguments over whether Barry Bonds should be a hall of famer. The guy hit the most home runs ever, the most single season homeruns and top five in runs batted in. The best hitter probably ever stats are basically being discredited, makes you feel like you were cheated watching him break all these records. Despite steroids being used slightly less, randomly they will catch people and it makes you wonder how many people are using and just have not been caught.

Worst day ever

Well, I do not really consider myself to be very funny. I consider myself to be a decent story teller, but definitely not through text. So when I think back there is not many things that I think I could translate into words and make everyone reading this laugh. So I decided to go with a story that might garner a giggle, but will also make you cringe about how crappy of a day I had back in third grade. Just to throw this out there, my best friends from back then still bust my chops over these course of events, but fortunately I have accepted what took place that day.

In third grade I would consider myself a pretty cool  guy. I was rocking some pretty sick vans, Hollister shirt, and my rolling back pack. Yeah I know tough day for me already with the rolling back pack, but man that thing was efficient you can not deny that. My mom drops me off at the front of school early because me and my friends always play wall ball out in the yard. I walked into the school yard and the first thing I did was step right in a pile of dog poop. If that was not bad enough I did not even realize and re stepped in the same exact pile when I was waiting for the ball to bounce off the wall. So it was 8 am in the morning and I already managed to step in poop not only once, but twice. 

I desperately looked for my mother among the crowd of parents running up and down the fence hoping she could take me home and I could change, but she was long gone. Soon I heard my teacher Ms. Carbonetti yelling "Zach, lets go it is 8:30 am". Not wanting to get in trouble for being late also, I start dead sprinting toward my group going into the school and I just when I thought this day could not get worse, I tripped and face planted in front of the entire school. My elbows were both bloody and my right knee the pants ripped decently enough to expose my entire knee. Man that was tough, the entire school laughed at me and they did not even know I had shit all over my shoes.

Oh do not worry, the day is not over I went to nurse and got patched up. Then I had to go back to class smelling a similar fashion to dog feces for the entire day. If smelling like dog crap the entire day was not enough then lets fast forward to lunch. 

My young self was just happy to make it to lunch without anyone noticing the smell to much and perhaps my attempt to wipe it off had worked. So I sat down for lunch, ripped open my lunchbox and pulled out my thermos that was filled with hot soup. I opened the thermos, looked back down, and by the time I looked up my best friend Vinnie had already tossed his lunch box and it was hurdling toward the soup. By the time I was able to react it was all but to late and the hot soup went all over my lap. 

It burned a bit, but I had to navigate my way out of the lunch room with soup stained pants. It was extremely embarrassing and at that point I was over trying to change this horrible day and just called my mom and told her I needed to come home. She needed to send someone to pick me up and get me out of this place, that I had shit on my shoes, ripped pants and they were soaked with the chicken noodle soup she sent me for lunch. My mom answered "Wow Zach, you should of went to the office and called me after you stepped in the poop, I would of came and got you then".

Baseball my obession

Ever since I was kid my parents said you could find my me with a baseball in my hand. My Dad was a massive baseball fan and even my Grandpa coached baseball for about forty years of his life. When I was a kid I would sit there watching sport center after school patiently waiting for the baseball highlights. Do not get me wrong I love football and basketball, but nothing will ever touch baseball. By the time I was like six or seven, I could name almost every player in the MLB, what they hit, what their earned run average was, and even how many home runs they hit. I spent countless hours playing old MLB games playing franchise mode. I would do fantasy drafts crafting my own teams from the ground up. I played baseball all year round. I played rec baseball and private ball that carried over into the fall and even the winter.





My main position was always pitching and I always thrived at it. It really taught me how to deal with pressure and still use that in my life today when I have to do something like present a project. The amount of money I have spent on going to Yankee games, baseball merchandise, and baseball cards I probably could pay off my student loans. My Yankee pitcher of all time was Mike Mussina, aka the Moose.


I am not sure why, but I always loved his style of pitching and mirrored it to mine in real life. He was not an overpowering pitcher, but instead used his breaking pitches to set up his fastball, therefore making the fastball seem much faster then it actually was. One time when I was at Yankee Stadium my father got seems right above the Yankee dugout when I was about seven. I was mildly disappointed Mussina was not pitching, but boy did my demeanor change soon after. In the fourth inning I saw Mussina come out of clubhouse and into the dugout and he was watching the game. I proceeded to scream Mike Mussina!!!!!!! your my favorite!!!! He turned and looked right at me. He signaled for me to come to the side of the dugout and I quickly ran down. He exchanged conversation with me asking if I played baseball, what position, and things like that. After the conversation was over he signed a ball and his hat and gave it to me. Probably the best thing that has ever happened to me ever. I still have this stuff in my room positioned like a throne at home. Baseball has been the one consistent thing in my life no matter where I go. Despite not playing college baseball due to injuring my elbow, I still umpire baseball on a daily basis, continue to watch every Yankee game, and still stay up to speed with the entire league. My morning routine consists of waking up, brushing my teeth, and checking the Yankee/MLB bleacher report to see if I missed out on any new headlines. I still even play in men's leagues but I have a pretty messed up elbow so I can throw to much anymore.

Baseball 101

Since I was just a three year old you could always find a baseball in my hand. My dad said my favorite toy as a baby was a stuffed baseball that I would toss around. I started playing playing baseball at the age of four and played throughout high school forever falling in love with the game of baseball. I have spent endless hours playing on private baseball teams, working with my father, and even by myself just working on technique. After high school I had offers at numerous division two schools and one division school, but sadly threw out my arm senior year of high school actually requiring surgery. After, being done with playing baseball I began umpiring to stay in tune with baseball and stay with something I consider a passion. So in honor of one my first jobs that I started at the age of 14, I will be explaining the basics of how to be a baseball umpire. I have spent years of my life dedicating it to baseball and have seen it not only from an umpires shoes and players I have basically seen it all. 

The first thing you need to do is secure the proper equipment to umpire. You need shin guards, chest protector, umpires helmet, and steel toed shoes to stop the ability. Baseball for umpires is no game, equipment is necessary when you have ninety mile per hour fastballs whizzing by your head. If you do not have the proper equipment you can take a foul ball and really get hurt. Throughout my time I have taken balls of the arms, off the helmet, and even in the ankle. You can not protect everything so you need to line up properly behind the catcher in order to avoid majority of balls. You need to get a official umpire shirt, grey pants, a belt, and also a ball pouch that goes on your belt for the balls. After you have the equipment set up, you need to begin to grasp the strike zone. The strike zone is typically knees to the letters and from both the inside and outside of the plates. It really is not that easy of a job, you really need to focus and learn not to flinch when a pitch comes directly at your head. Fortunately I played catcher for years so I have that ability way before hand and did not have to learn that. 

Most people know the basics of how out and safe works. Some basic rules that some might not know are three strikes your out, four balls is a walk, three outs per inning, and foul balls count as a strike (you can not strike out on a foul). Some more intricate things that you will learn over time is positioning, balks, and specific rules that leagues will carry. Each league has different sets of rules and different levels of baseball are almost completely different. For example, you need to wait for the pitch to cross the plate in order to steal, but in higher level baseball you can steal whenever you please. Baseball umpiring might sound tough, but it is extremely profitable. I have the ability to make upwards of 25 to 40 dollars an hour cash depending on the level of baseball I am umpiring, if you can get over it being a extremely high pressure job it is totally worth it. When I am not interning I still umpire whenever I can. 

 

Something about Home

The town of Lodi, New Jersey has been my home for the entirety of my life. I can still remember not being allowed to drive my bike past the stop sign at the end of the street or playing basketball on the street with my friends till it got too dark, then still playing a while more till we literally could not see the ball. I used to have a trampoline in the backyard that hosted my friends and we would play games like kill the man with ball and handball. Growing up I was lucky enough to have my best friends PJ Potter and Vincent Pinghera live just three and five blocks away. We would constantly switch off at each other's houses playing videos games, basketball, riding our bikes, anything we could do that occupied us believe me we did it. I grew up on a little street called 2 Lorelei Ter. It was situated on a dead end so there was always little traffic. It was the worst when it would snow though, plows would never come down the off the beaten path street and my dad would end of attempting to clear it with his snow blower. I still remember pulling out the football and tossing it around with my dad in the snow. Making diving catches in the middle of street is something I will remember forever, I always wanted to be a football player playing in a snow game. The way they would slide after diving or getting tackled looked like an insane amount of fun. PJ, Vinnie, and I would always go to avenue E deli and as weird as it sounds I still can remember what everyone purchased each time. Kind of crazy to look back riding around with our bikes on the streets of Lodi and something about that makes driving around Lodi now in my car a little more satisfying. I was lucky enough to have both of best friends from the young age of four. Really crazy to think about it, but we are still best friends to this day. Whenever I go home we always link up and just hang out. We all go to colleges pretty far away from each other so we rarely see each other outside at school, but no matter how long we spend apart we always come back together like nothing changed. Sure, those avenue E deli runs may have turned into a quick drive to Wawa, but it is something about the inseparable bond we have that makes home home. Knowing that I am going to go back to not only my family, but literally friends that I consider brothers. I still remember waking up twenty minutes before high school and rushing to pick up Vinnie, PJ, my girlfriend and just running into first period as the bell rang. The struggle to find the spot amongst the extremely crowded streets near my parking lot less school. I remember going to baseball practice with them, tossing the ball around and screwing around. I guess I associate home with a much simpler time. Not worrying about internships or employment law tests, but just hanging with friends, how we're going to get a couple four lokos. High school sports and who got with the hottest chicks. Before I got my liscense me and my friends would walk home everyday. It was brutal and we hated it, and of course my house was the last one on the walk. I would always persuade everyone to come over and hang out so I did not have to walk that final couple blocks solo. These are couple things I hold close to my heart when I think about home and I wish I could relive on a daily basis. I will never forget these things.