Freedom Time - Día 2
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By: Fe Paisa

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Freedom Time - Día 2 - Video

Coming off last year's disappointing 4-6 finish, Freedom coach Jason Roeder decided to adjust his duties.

Roeder had always handled the Patriots' defense in the past. But after seeing how well his ideas meshed with defensive backs coach Greg Moore last year, Roeder elected to take over Freedom's special teams this season.

Moore, the defensive coordinator on Central Catholic's PIAA 3A championship team in 2010, was elevated to the same post with the Patriots. The move has worked fine so far, with Freedom playing two solid defensive games to open the season.

"We're both 3-3 stack guys and we work really well together, so it was a no-brainer to pass that off to him so I could focus on some other aspects of the team, big picture stuff," Roeder said.

One piece of Roeder's big-picture focus is pushing the Patriots (1-1 overall, 1-0 Lehigh Valley Conference) to return to the postseason. They will resume that drive tonight when they host Whitehall (2-0, 1-0) in one of two Week 3 matchups between teams that won their league openers.

With a young offense still finding its way, Freedom has needed its defense to carry it early this season. The Patriots lost their season opener to East Stroudsburg South, but their defense limited the Cavaliers to 203 yards. All but 67 of those yards came on two long touchdowns.

Freedom cut down on the big plays it allowed in last week's matchup with Central Catholic. The Patriots limited the Vikings to 130 yards of total offense, including just 29 on the ground, in a 14-7 comeback win.

An emphasis on tackling the football and pursuing every play has paid off. Freedom has generated six turnovers in the first two weeks.

Senior defensive back Jared O'Donnell intercepted two passes last week, returning one for the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter. Freedom's defensive line of Brad Romig, Taran Reinert and Cordell Cotto also played well against the Vikings.

This week's matchup against Whitehall will give the Patriots their toughest test yet. The Zephyrs boast the league's leading rusher in junior Saquon Barkley. He burst through Liberty's defense for four long touchdown runs last week.

See more here:

Freedom High School football team's defense off to strong start

EVERYTIME Cebu media celebrates Press Freedom Week, I always feel something is missing in the ritual. No, that something is often mentioned indirectly or in passing, but it has not been given the importance it deserves. I am referring to the word responsibility. Or why not make it Cebu Press Freedom and Responsibility Week?

I was a staff member of our student publication in college during the waning years of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. By waning years I mean the early 80s. I also got friendly with some media people then, particularly in Visayan Herald (which has long ceased operation), and worked part-time in dyLA. I, therefore, know what media is like during a period of repression.

Press freedom was genuinely the problem at that time, although the struggles that we participated in paved the way for the expansion of the democratic space that was constricted when Marcos declared Martial Law on Sept. 21, 1972. The toppling of the dictatorship by the 1986 Edsa uprising and Corazon Aquinos assumption of the presidency widened that space further.

Since then, press freedom has not been much of a problem. While a president or two post-Marcos did attempt to dictate their terms on the media by either filing nuisance libel cases against some media people and even encouraging a boycott by advertisers of recalcitrant media outlets, these never made a dent on the kind of freedom already in place.

Instead, we are seeing many instances of irresponsibility in the practice of the media profession. And the problem is, most media organizations and media leaders only grudgingly acknowledge this for two reasons: one, because of the mistaken notion that advancing the cause of press freedom is more important than pushing for a more responsible media and two, because of the worry of destroying the camaraderie among peers.

Dont get me wrong. I am not for the intervention of outside forces, like the government, in running of the affairs of media. That would be damaging to the cause of press freedom paid for in blood, sweat and tears by sectors who struggled for the acquisition of the democratic space we are now enjoying. What I am asking is a more vigorous push for media responsibility.

When I was younger, I idolized many media practitioners, most of them on radio. While many of these practitioners were most probably not saints as persons, but they brought public discourse of issues to a higher level. Because they were well-informed and well-prepared, their resort to the use of insults and personal attacks were minimal. And even the hurling of insults and personal attacks werent vulgar and crass.

I am not trying to be holier-than-thou. I admit to being shallow in my columns at times and of being too passionate in defending my views. But being vulgar and crass is not in my resume.

Again, I consider the push for media responsibility more important in the current period than advancing press freedom. Or to put it in another way, the threats to press freedom do not come from extraneous forces but within ourselves.

By the way, I agree with the criticism hurled at Sen. Jinggoy Estrada for pushing a magna carta for journalists. It is an attempt by government to interfere in the affairs of media and is a threat to press freedom. But the push to professionalize the media profession should also make us ponder. Is it a recognition that we have been remiss in this regard?

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Wenceslao: Press freedom: my take