TASK DEFINITION: Given a document and an entity the task is to select the author's sentiment towards the entity. Sentiments can be Positive, Neutral and Negative. Select Positive if the article expresses a positive view towards the given entity or praises its quality or skills. Select Neutral if the document expresses no clear view towards the entity or has equal amounts of positive and negative statements or expressing some fact/quote by someone else. Select Negative if the article expresses a negative view towards like harsh remarks, criticizing entities action/decision etc. Note that URLs in the text have been replaced with [Link].
PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Kershaw Max Scherzer ? In such a crowded field  then  the essential question is simple: Who has been the best hitter? As long as  he  has also played capably on defense   he  should get the award. Votto it is.
Legacy should not matter in the voting  but it offers a compelling backdrop: Washington’s  Max Scherzer  is seeking his third Cy Young Award  and the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw  his  fourth. Kershaw should win  but the margin is really close.
Scherzer has 26⅓ more innings than  Kershaw  — again  heading into the weekend — and has allowed 14 more earned runs. That comes to a 4.78 E.R.A. So imagine that the pitchers had the same stats through 171 innings  but  Kershaw  stopped and Scherzer continued — but was generally ineffective.
 Kershaw  gets the edge  but there is no wrong choice between the two. This much is certain: The two richest pitching contracts in N.L. history ($215 million for Kershaw  $210 million for Scherzer) have been wise investments this season.

SOLUTION: Positive

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Jay Sekulow ? Jay Sekulow  chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice  introduces Republican presidential candidate and former Florida governor Jeb Bush during a presidential candidate forum at Regent University in Virginia Beach  on Oct. 23  2015. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Jay Sekulow  a member of the legal team counseling Trump on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's wide-ranging Russia probe  said Tuesday that a second special counsel should be appointed to focus on FBI and Justice Department investigators.
 Sekulow 's call for a second special counsel was first reported Tuesday morning by Axios.
 Sekulow  did not allege wrongdoing on the part of Mueller or  his  team  telling The Washington Post that  his  call for a second special counsel has ânothing to do with Bob Mueller.â
But  Sekulow  argued that alleged conflicts of interest among FBI and Justice Department officials demand a full investigation by a special counsel.  He  singled out a Fox News report last week that Bruce G. Ohr  a senior Justice Department official  was demoted amid an investigation of  his  contacts with Fusion GPS  the opposition research firm that commissioned a salacious dossier documenting Trump's ties to Russia.
âThis is the kind of situation that  in my view  warrants a special counsel â  Sekulow  said.
Asked whether he was speaking on Trump's behalf or whether the president agrees with having a second special counsel   Sekulow  would not answer.  He  said  he  does not speak publicly about  his  conversations with the president.
 Sekulow  works alongside John M. Dowd  another private attorney for the president  and in close collaboration with Ty Cobb  a White House lawyer who handles the Russia portfolio.

SOLUTION: Neutral

PROBLEM: What is the sentiment of the following document towards the entity Wang ? To find out  Morning Edition asked two online daters who also spend their days thinking about online dating:  Megan Murray  a senior content strategist for Zoosk  an online dating site and mobile app  and Skyler Wang  a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of California Berkeley .  Wang  also taught an undergraduate course at the University of British Columbia called What Makes Us Click  about online dating and  he  gave NPR permission to use  his  course title for Morning Edition's series on online dating.
 Wang  who identifies as gay   says before  he  and  his  friends go out to a bar   his  friends go on dating apps Tinder and Grindr to meet people at the bars where they're headed. "Now  the 'gayborhood' is in your cell phone "  he  says. "I think technology has created a better  more democratic social environment for especially marginalized groups."
"Basically  people use lists nowadays to get a better sense who they're attracted to and put a very quantitative twist to something that didn't used to be like that "  Wang  says.
 Wang  cautions that this kind of approach to dating lets users act like they are shopping  which isn't necessarily a good thing.  He  calls the practice "relationshopping " and  he  warns that it not only objectifies others  it de-emphasizes the importance of building a relationship. People sometimes treat dating as if they are looking for the perfect dress or handbag   Wang  says.
"Relationshopping is problematic because people give up so quickly now "  Wang  says  "and for the most bizarre reasons."  He  says that people may choose to not go on a second date with someone simply because they don't like their hair.
"It makes you feel like people are a commodity "  he  says.
In fact   Wang  says  some sites describe themselves as more of an introduction service than a dating site.
"The dating doesn't happen online. The dating happens in person "  Wang  says. "So in a way they're trying to preserve that magic."

SOLUTION:
Neutral