Pedro Marcello - Blogger Assignment

As the end of the course approaches, so does the end of this blog. Although it is pretty fun to just write about things, especially soccer, I don't think I will be keeping up with the blog. I believe it can be an important tool and that knowing how to use Blogger could be useful in my future as an Advertising major. This class has helped me learn many different functionalities and tools to social media that I hadn't heard of before, while still providing me a solid background about the "basics" that definitely improved my social media skills. I also learned about new applications, such as Flipboard, that I will be adding to my daily usage. I would like to thank Dr. Sachs for such a helpful and up-to-date class. Best, Pedro Marcello

Changing the subject from soccer a little bit, I actually graduate in 8 days from now.  Although I am pretty excited to start my professional career, I am also a little upset to graduate. The fact that I won't be seeing my friends as much as I do today, and that some of them are moving to other cities and starting new lives, kind of bothers me, once they have made an impact in my life over these past 4 years.  Today I am headed to The New School, to watch my roommates graduation. Although we're both graduating now, we aren't departing ways just yet. We will be living together at least until August, and have been talking about moving into another apartment together once our lease expires.  Really happy for him, my friends, and I for successfully completing these 4 years, allowing us to pursue our professional dreams.

As mentioned in my Week 2- Blog Post, Ajax had a pretty good advantage over Tottenham after the first game of the Champions League semi-final. They HAD the lead, however, they saw their spot in the finals slip away through their fingers as Lucas Moura scored a hat-trick in the 92nd minute of games, already in the extra time. The frustration in the face of the Dutch team's players was evident: after a very promising campaign with the youngest team in the competition, the dream has finally come to an end. They are headed home with the L, and, like Duke University, this was probably their only shot with this current squad, once bigger teams are willing to make high bid offers to players like Matthijs de Ligt.

Watch Out: Brazil will be taking over the next World Cup! Brazil is the biggest champion of the World Cup, winning it 5 different times. The only 2 teams that come close are Germany and Italy, with 4 each. However, nowadays when thinking about Brazillian soccer, the first thing that comes to people's minds is the 7x1 loss to Germany during the 2014 World Cup, a team that was completely dependable of only one player, Neymar; or even the loss to Belgium in quarter-finals stage of the last World Cup. This recent view of the Brazilian national team is going to change very soon. I believe the new generation of athletes is the best one out of these past 8 years. There are many young players who have been taking over their teams, playing a major role and leading them to big wins. Two of the best examples are: 1) David Neres, 22, who has been playing for Ajax and is still fighting for a spot in the Champions League big final this year; and 2) Vinicius Junior, 19, who besides his recent...

Brazilian National Soccer League has finally started! Because Brazil is located in the southern hemisphere, the sports seasons normally start towards the end of the second half of January and ends in November, however, the national league doesn't start until the beginning of April. Every year the season starts with the Regional State Tournament (happening in each state, only with teams from that region), which helps players get back to their rhythm, and serves as a preview for fans and staff of the potential of the team throughout the year. Although we won the State Tournament of Sao Paulo, Corinthians isn't doing that great in the first 3 rounds of National League. With 1 win, 1 draw, and 1 loss, my team is currently in the 11th place out of 20, but hopefully, the team will find its way and fight for the title, after all, it's too early to predict the winner. I have added below the current standings of the league, and this weekend's matchups.

Below are some pictures of the Brazilian Soccer National Team, the only country in the world with 5 World Cup titles. Enjoy! photo credit: Nathan Congleton Neymar via photopin (license) photo credit: Ronnie Macdonald It's just like watching Brazil! via photopin (license)

My soccer team from Brazil, Corinthians, has recently moved out of our old stadium to a brand new one that was built for the last World Cup. I went there for the first time when I was 4, and, although the new stadium is beautiful and modern, the good old Pacaembu will always be in the fans' hearts. Below there are two pictures: one of the stadium completely empty, and another completely full in a game day.  Photo by wallyg on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND Photo by ingowilges on Foter.com / CC BY-NC

About Blogging Blogging is more fun than I expected. At first, I thought the fact that I can write about anything would lead to indecisiveness and creative block, but it has been easy to select a topic with so many things happening right now, like sports and Game of Thrones, making it kind of hard to not have a topic to talk about. I just found quite hard to edit the layout of the website, which I am still trying to improve. However, it has been an overall positive experience. 

  As written in my previous post, Liverpool beat Barcelona 4-0 and advanced to the Champions League Final. Here is a funny cartoon about their win, and sending Messi home.

An Unpredictable Champions League Although soccer is not the main sport in the United States, it is for the rest of the world. As the end of the season approaches, more people started turning on their tv to watch the final phases of one of the biggest tournaments in the world: the UEFA Champions League. This year was full of surprises, without being able to predict the winner for either one of them. As of right now, the Champions League is halfway through its semi-final stage. Liverpool just defeated Barcelona on a crazy two-game series: Barcelona won the first game (home) by 3-0, making it extremely hard for the British team to make a comeback, but not impossible. Today, Liverpool beat the Spanish team by 4-0 without two of their main players: Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, knocking out the current favorite for the title. Their determination throughout the game was key for the win. The other semi-final is between Ajax and Tottenham. The Dutch team won the first game 2x1 in E...