Since my blog is about sports Friday Night Lights was a perfect fit for my blog. It created a perfect scene of big time high school sports. This book did not make me meet any goals, but that is just because I had no goals going into the reading of this book. But if I did have a goal, I am sure it would have meet and exceeded all my goals. The best part of the book was the story about all the kids’ lives. There was really nothing I did not enjoy about the book. Except for maybe the first couple chapters of the book providing details about the towns history. All in all it was a good sports book.
H.G. Bissinger wrote the widely successful book Friday Night Lights. The book eventually became such a hit that it became a box office hit, and a TV series on NBC. Bissinger is a very credible author. He is well respected as a person and an author. Bissinger is most famous for his book Friday Nigh Lights, but he has wrote 2 more books. One was Three Nights in August, and Shooting Stars. Not only has Bissinger wrote books but he has also been a journalist for the New York Times and Sports Illustrated, which are both highly respected. In the book Friday Night Lights Bissinger was fairly unbiased and told it as it was. The only thing that could be considered biased is the way he paints the Permian school system. He seems to describe them as people that put football before the school. “I just wish our perspective was turned a little bit. I just wish we could emphasize other things. The thing is, I don’t think we should have to go to our booster club to get books. I don’t think we should have to beg everyone in town for new material” (Bissinger 147). This is a quote from an English teacher at the school explaining the focus they put into the school. Though this could be viewed as biased it is merely someone's opinion. Bissinger simply just put it in his book. Bissinger has no reason to be biased.
Bissinger does a great job in structuring the story. He starts off at the beginning of the season for this Permian football team and then takes us to the end of it. Periodically stopping to tell stories about certain characters within the book. This is an effective way to tell the story because it doesn’t allow for boredom. The reader is always captivated with the book. Through out the book, you will run into all and any text features you would in any other novel. Chapters, paragraphs, and dialogue, just to name a few. The structure of the book did not necessarily aid in the comprehension of the book, but it also did not render the comprehension of the book. It added a little extra flare, and again allowed the reader to read, boredom free.
Friday Night Lights is a great true story about High School Football in Odessa Texas. In Texas football is king, nothing overrules football. This shows us how this small town in Texas loves its football, and takes us through a season with the Permian High School football players. Friday Night Lights is a great story that any sports fan should read, young or old. The purpose of the book, and the information that the author gives us all makes this a stellar read.
The Purpose of Friday Night Lights is two fold. One is to entertain, but the other is to show what kind of passion these people have for Permian Football. For those who don’t live in Texas, they would have no idea how big high school football really is. Friday Night Lights does a great job at explaining the towns love for their football team. Not only did Friday Night Lights do a good job at explaining the obsession of high school football in this West Texas town, but it also did a great job at entertaining the reader. Though the book is non-fiction, the book reads as though it is just a novel. Most non-fiction books can bore a reader. But with this book it feels as if H. G. Bissinger is retelling the legend of Permian Football as we are sitting around a camp fire. Bissinger did a great job in meeting his purpose and created a work of art.
Another reason why Friday Night Lights is a stellar read is because of the main points Bissinger makes within the book. One of those main points Bissinger makes is how big football really is in Texas. For those of us who have never experience this, Friday Night Lights, dives right into the subject and paints a vivd picture of it. He explains how the entire town is effected by this sport, even more so then the success of the students in the classroom. “This community doesn't want academic excellence. It wants a gladiatorial spectacle on a Friday night” (Bissinger 147). He also explains the enormous amount of people that attend these events. “Tickets for the showdown at Midland didn’t go on sale until Tuesday afternoon, which explained why the first handful of Permian fans started camping outside the gate of Ratliff Stadium Sunday night” (Bissinger 173). Other than for Texas high school football, would this ever happen. In other states people don’t even show this kind of support for the professional teams. Bissinger does a good job of showing people what the devotion is for Texas football.
Bissinger also points out within his book, like previously mentioned, the flaws of the Permian school system. This probably did not make people within Permian very happy with Bissinger, he does not make them look like very good educator. “the class spent the first ten minutes going over the homework assignment for Monday and the next 45 minutes doing the assignment” (Bissinger 130). This would never be allowed at most school around the nation. This is inexcusable for this to be the kids preparation for life after school. Bissinger also points out that the schools performance has dropped as well. It used to be normal for seven Permian students to qualify National Merit semi-finalists, but “in 1988-1989 school year the number dropped to one, which the superintendent of schools, Hugh Hayes acknowledged was inexcusable for a school the size of Permian” (Bissinger 131). Friday Night Lights was a stellar read partly because of the two points Bissinger makes. The devotion to football, and the interesting lack in focus on academics.
A third reason Friday Night Lights is a stellar read is because of the style Bissinger used. Thought the novel is non-fiction he made it into an interesting story. He used dialogue, expository text to create Friday Night Lights. Bissinger did a good job mixing up the sentence structure and not becoming monotonous. He uses appropriate words to capture the readers attention. Without all these the book would just be an average book and not be a New York Times best seller.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Private Schools
I chose to do an opinion piece on private schools within Colorado high school sports. For years private school have reigned as king in Colorado, especially in our schools division, 3a. Schools like Faith Christian, Holy Family, Colorado Springs Christian, Denver Christian etc. These schools are primarily in our schools division, which brings some bad news for our athletes and something needs to be done about it.
Year in and year out our school goes up against a daunting task of taking down these private schools. It is just not fair that our small school has to go against these private schools who clearly have big school talent. What needs to be done is these private schools need to have their own division. It should be 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a, 5a and the private school division. This is the only clear solution to the problem we have on our hands. For some reason it seems to go in one ear and out the other when it comes to the CHASSA officials. Who knows why, maybe they are alumni of the schools, or their kids go to the school. They just seem to want the private schools to dominate our little school division.
Lets just take a look at our school for example. In 2004,2005, 2006 we could have had a back to back to back state championships, but guess who got in the way, the private school. Those three years were probably the best basketball teams Roaring Fork has ever had. In back to back years we lost in the state championship game to private schools. The year we finished third our only loss was to a private school. If it weren’t for those darned private schools Roaring Fork would have had a dynasty.
Now the tiff that most public schools have with private school is the fact that they can offer scholarships, like a college. They see an athlete and are able to offer them scholarship money to come play at their school. This wouldn’t be a terrible thing if they were located in a remote area but most schools are located with in the sprawling metropolis of Denver. This means they have thousands of kids to choose from. When were are stuck with what we get. When we get stuck with what is in our town. The fact that the private schools recruit ruins once in a generation teams, like our basketball teams those three year.
As you can see private schools surely ruin public schools chances at state titles. Every year private schools seem to dominate the 3a and it is wrong. It needs to be fixed. They need to have their own private school division, this would only be fair. The worst part about it is that all but about 3 private schools are in our division, so we seem to be the only conference that has to compete with the school. If they had their own division it would be a win win for everyone, a private school would still win a state championship every year and a public school would win a 3a state championship every year.
Year in and year out our school goes up against a daunting task of taking down these private schools. It is just not fair that our small school has to go against these private schools who clearly have big school talent. What needs to be done is these private schools need to have their own division. It should be 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a, 5a and the private school division. This is the only clear solution to the problem we have on our hands. For some reason it seems to go in one ear and out the other when it comes to the CHASSA officials. Who knows why, maybe they are alumni of the schools, or their kids go to the school. They just seem to want the private schools to dominate our little school division.
Lets just take a look at our school for example. In 2004,2005, 2006 we could have had a back to back to back state championships, but guess who got in the way, the private school. Those three years were probably the best basketball teams Roaring Fork has ever had. In back to back years we lost in the state championship game to private schools. The year we finished third our only loss was to a private school. If it weren’t for those darned private schools Roaring Fork would have had a dynasty.
Now the tiff that most public schools have with private school is the fact that they can offer scholarships, like a college. They see an athlete and are able to offer them scholarship money to come play at their school. This wouldn’t be a terrible thing if they were located in a remote area but most schools are located with in the sprawling metropolis of Denver. This means they have thousands of kids to choose from. When were are stuck with what we get. When we get stuck with what is in our town. The fact that the private schools recruit ruins once in a generation teams, like our basketball teams those three year.
As you can see private schools surely ruin public schools chances at state titles. Every year private schools seem to dominate the 3a and it is wrong. It needs to be fixed. They need to have their own private school division, this would only be fair. The worst part about it is that all but about 3 private schools are in our division, so we seem to be the only conference that has to compete with the school. If they had their own division it would be a win win for everyone, a private school would still win a state championship every year and a public school would win a 3a state championship every year.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Movie Review Final Season
David Mickey Evans's The Final Season is by far the best sports movie ever made and an immaculate film based upon true events. It surpasses the likes of Friday Night Lights, Rocky, Invincible, and The Sandlot. Evans takes an other wise bland story, to the average person, and transforms it into a masterpiece. He stays true to the story, with minor tweaks here and there. All the major facts are spot on. Also he was able to film the movie in the actual location in which it all took place. This added authenticity to the movie.
The Final Season is a true story about a small town, population of 586, in Iowa that happens to have the a history of magnificent baseball teams with 18 state champion ships in 24 years. The movie follows the teams last season before they merge with another school district. The merge causes an uproar in this little Iowa town called Norway. The most successful coach in Iowa state history Coach Van Scoyoc found himself in a dilemma, stay as coach of the Norway or quit in protest to the merge. He quit, leading to the hiring of Kent Stock. The movie follows the team as they strive for the 19th and final state championship.
The film takes on an issue that seems to hit small towns hard. When schools merge and shift from one town to the other it kills the town. The towns economy goes down hill. It no longer has the luxury of having a school as a draw for future new comers. A town also loses its sense of pride. Most small towns back their high school one hundred percent and are proud of their school, but when that school leaves what is left?
The Final Season is the epitome of and inspirational sports movie. It has all the elements of a great sports story as well. A down trotted team, an underdog character, and the dream of the impossible. This movie has all that and more. This Norway team was expected to do absolutely nothing under the new head coach, and they turned the impossible into the possible. Part of the brilliance of the movie came with the made up character of Mitch Akers, who was a city slicker from Chicago who came to Norway against his will. Mitch who was a trouble maker was sent to Norway to clean up his act and live with his Grandparents. Mitch under the urging of his grandparents takes up baseball and seems to have a knack for it. Mitch, throughout the movie, transforms from a trouble maker to a classic Norway baseball player, a polite and well mannered young man. Not only was Mitch an underdog but the entire team was underdogs and that was the brilliance.
When my children ask me to show them what my favorite movie is, this will be the one. The movie not only entertains but has an important and pivotal message to all ages. That is to never give up and to continue to work hard for your goals. This is a message everyone should listen to. At the turn of the decade when a list of the top ten movies of the decade come out, The Final Season should be on that list if not right there at the top of it.
The Final Season is a true story about a small town, population of 586, in Iowa that happens to have the a history of magnificent baseball teams with 18 state champion ships in 24 years. The movie follows the teams last season before they merge with another school district. The merge causes an uproar in this little Iowa town called Norway. The most successful coach in Iowa state history Coach Van Scoyoc found himself in a dilemma, stay as coach of the Norway or quit in protest to the merge. He quit, leading to the hiring of Kent Stock. The movie follows the team as they strive for the 19th and final state championship.
The film takes on an issue that seems to hit small towns hard. When schools merge and shift from one town to the other it kills the town. The towns economy goes down hill. It no longer has the luxury of having a school as a draw for future new comers. A town also loses its sense of pride. Most small towns back their high school one hundred percent and are proud of their school, but when that school leaves what is left?
The Final Season is the epitome of and inspirational sports movie. It has all the elements of a great sports story as well. A down trotted team, an underdog character, and the dream of the impossible. This movie has all that and more. This Norway team was expected to do absolutely nothing under the new head coach, and they turned the impossible into the possible. Part of the brilliance of the movie came with the made up character of Mitch Akers, who was a city slicker from Chicago who came to Norway against his will. Mitch who was a trouble maker was sent to Norway to clean up his act and live with his Grandparents. Mitch under the urging of his grandparents takes up baseball and seems to have a knack for it. Mitch, throughout the movie, transforms from a trouble maker to a classic Norway baseball player, a polite and well mannered young man. Not only was Mitch an underdog but the entire team was underdogs and that was the brilliance.
When my children ask me to show them what my favorite movie is, this will be the one. The movie not only entertains but has an important and pivotal message to all ages. That is to never give up and to continue to work hard for your goals. This is a message everyone should listen to. At the turn of the decade when a list of the top ten movies of the decade come out, The Final Season should be on that list if not right there at the top of it.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
It’s official, the National Football League is the most popular sport in America. It has taken baseball’s position as America’s past time. There was once a time where baseball generated the most revenue of all sports in America. But now things are different, Football generates the most revenue. In the 2008 seasons for MLB, NBA, NHL, and the NFL all together they generated over 20 billion dollars just in that one season. Football reigned as the overall king racking in 7.58 billion dollars of revenue, with baseball coming in a distant second at 5.82 billion. The information and graph is provided by Forbes magazine, which is a reliable business magazine thus meaning the graph is accurate as well. The data of the graph is complete they have found the total revenue for the each of the four major sports. The only question I have is that, what would the revenues look like now that we are in a recession, still I am assuming they make an implausible amount. Doing an overall revenue graph would not make sense because baseball has been around much longer than all other sports so it would not be informative. The only thing that the graph helps one understand is something that is blatant, that football is king in America, no other sport get the participation numbers and no other sport gets the attention football does.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Reflection
At first, when the blog assignments was first given to us, it seemed like a daunting task. Choosing a topic and basically writing a paper on it each and every week of the semester seemed near impossible and torturous. First came the agonizing step, which it really was agonizing, of choosing what to write about. There was almost nothing that would seem to keep me interested for an entire semester. I really didn’t decide until the day that our first blog was due, on that day I chose to write about sports. My decision to choose sports is very telling, when all else fails I can always talk about sports.
Through out the whole blog process, I have not learned much that I hadn’t already read. About the only time I read is if it has to do with sports, like Sports Illustrated, or ESPN. The main thing I have learned through out this process is little statistics about certain issues. Such as; 3,114,091 girls and 4,422,662 boys participating in high school sports in 2008-09 (NFHS.org). 3 to 6 percent of high school students have at least tried Anabolic Steroids (New York Times). Also through deep research I have gained a better knowledge on Title IX and the effects it had upon colleges. I also learned that Title IX was part of an overall bill the made it illegal to discriminate based on a persons sex. I feel like I have a very good grip on the sports aspect, because of prior background knowledge and through research for this blog.
Since sports is such a general topic there are many more ways I can take this blog. There is not much at the moment that I have a thirst to figure out. A real inspiration for the topics that are covered in this blog come from current event in the sports world. When one really strikes an interest I write about it, like the concussion issue, and the Title IX issue. One issue that elicits strong opinoins from everyone is the aspect of private schools dominating the Western Slope 3a sports teams. This is an issue that I will wrtie about before semesters end. I am also going to try and stay away from blatant topics that are can not cause debate. All in all I am glad I chose the topic I did. It has helped tremendously.
Through out the whole blog process, I have not learned much that I hadn’t already read. About the only time I read is if it has to do with sports, like Sports Illustrated, or ESPN. The main thing I have learned through out this process is little statistics about certain issues. Such as; 3,114,091 girls and 4,422,662 boys participating in high school sports in 2008-09 (NFHS.org). 3 to 6 percent of high school students have at least tried Anabolic Steroids (New York Times). Also through deep research I have gained a better knowledge on Title IX and the effects it had upon colleges. I also learned that Title IX was part of an overall bill the made it illegal to discriminate based on a persons sex. I feel like I have a very good grip on the sports aspect, because of prior background knowledge and through research for this blog.
Since sports is such a general topic there are many more ways I can take this blog. There is not much at the moment that I have a thirst to figure out. A real inspiration for the topics that are covered in this blog come from current event in the sports world. When one really strikes an interest I write about it, like the concussion issue, and the Title IX issue. One issue that elicits strong opinoins from everyone is the aspect of private schools dominating the Western Slope 3a sports teams. This is an issue that I will wrtie about before semesters end. I am also going to try and stay away from blatant topics that are can not cause debate. All in all I am glad I chose the topic I did. It has helped tremendously.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Title IX
Through out the early 1970s and before it was not uncommon to see discrimination based on ones gender. In 1975 President Ford set in place Title IX in order to end discrimination based on someone's gender in athletics. Title IX seemed to be passed just to appease women and now it is having consequences. Though Title IX was intended to end discrimination, which it did, it hasn’t quite lived up to what it has promised. Title IX is terrible for collegiate sports. Title IX is bad for college sports for a couple of reasons. One reason being that Title IX requires schools to cut funding, and entire programs, to ensure that women have an equal opportunity. Another reason is that when schools cut funding for a sport it ends up coming from the football program which is the highest revenue college sport. A third reason is that it was created to end gender discrimination against women, but what it really did was create gender discrimination against men.
Title IX is bad for college sports because it causes programs to be cut to make room for women's programs. From 1981 to 2005 mens sports have seen a decrease in participants and programs. In that time period men’s athletes have decreased 6 percent (usatoday). Teams per school have also dropped, from 9.1 to 7.8 that is a decrease of 17 percent (usatoday). Also since the birth of Title IX many specific men’s programs have been dropped to make room for women's teams. 181 wrestling teams have been cut, 56 men’s gymnastics programs have been cut in order to be in compliance of Title IX (CBS). A major university recently in the news, for cutting teams in order to meet Title IX requirements is University of California. The University of California has dropped men’s rugby, baseball, and gymnastics in order to make room for the Title IX requirements as a result a total 118 student athletes will loose their varsity sport (Sfgate.com). This gives the University of California just enough room to play to meet the Title IX requirements. As you can see Title IX is harmful to college sports.
Another reason why Title IX is does more harm than good is that it takes funds away from college football programs, which is the highest revenue sport in college athletics. Many school administrators, and antagonists of Title IX, argue that there should be three genders in college male, female, and football. Football is the king of college sports, and when funding is cut from football then the football teams will make less money for their school. Notre Dame itself is the king of college football, in terms of how much the football program is worth. The Notre Dame Football program is worth an estimated 97 million dollars. 23.5 million of that 97 million dollars is contributed to the non football sports at the school (forbes.com). If funding is cut for the football team it causes and cause and effect case, and ends up costing the entire sports programs (mens and women's) money.
A third reason why Title IX is harmful for college sports is because it causes discrimination towards men. One reason it causes discrimination towards men is because their are more women than men, on average, in colleges around the country. Which means that, according to Title IX, there should be more women than men competing in college sports. This means that there actually has to be enough women to be interested and good enough to compete in college sports. When there is not enough women it means that the men suffer because Title IX does not allow a surplus of mens sports. In essence TItle IX does the reverse of what it was intended to do, yes it does give women an opportunity to women, but in doing so it allows for discrimination of men. Dale Anderson, who is an attorney for the Reform and Oversight Committee in D.C says that “ if 55 percent of the students in a university are female (the national average), then the percentage of female athletes must be 55 percent. In order to achieve this absurd quota, educational administrators are simply dumping male athletes” (deeperintosports.com). By just “simply dumping male athletes” Title IX is achieving the opposite of what it was trying to achieve.
As you can see, Title IX is a harmful regulation on college sports. Though it was created for a good purpose, it has not done exactly what it should have. Title IX had made schools cut teams just to make room for women's sports. It also has cut funding to football programs which gives large amounts of its revenues to non football sports at their universities. Also Title IX has created opportunities for women, but has caused discrimination towards men in the process.
Crumpacker, John. "Cal cuts sports: baseball, gymnastics, lacrosse - SFGate." Featured Articles From The SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-09-29/news/24102128_1_female-athletes-college-athletics-rugby>.
Garber, Greg. "ESPN.com: GEN - Title IX always open to interpretation." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://espn.go.com/gen/womenandsports/020619interpret.html>.
"In Pictures: Ranking The 20 Most Valuable College Football Teams - Forbes.com." Forbes.com - Business News, Financial News, Stock Market Analysis, Technology & Global Headline News. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/20/notre-dame-fooball-biz-sports-cx_ps_1120collegeball_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=15000>.
Porpora, Gary. "Title IX No Gender Equality Women's Sports | Deep Into Sports." Deep Into Sports - MLB NFL NBA NHL NCAA PGA Olympics Tennis. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.deepintosports.com/2009/07/07/title-ix-no-gender-equality-women-sports/>.
Title IX is bad for college sports because it causes programs to be cut to make room for women's programs. From 1981 to 2005 mens sports have seen a decrease in participants and programs. In that time period men’s athletes have decreased 6 percent (usatoday). Teams per school have also dropped, from 9.1 to 7.8 that is a decrease of 17 percent (usatoday). Also since the birth of Title IX many specific men’s programs have been dropped to make room for women's teams. 181 wrestling teams have been cut, 56 men’s gymnastics programs have been cut in order to be in compliance of Title IX (CBS). A major university recently in the news, for cutting teams in order to meet Title IX requirements is University of California. The University of California has dropped men’s rugby, baseball, and gymnastics in order to make room for the Title IX requirements as a result a total 118 student athletes will loose their varsity sport (Sfgate.com). This gives the University of California just enough room to play to meet the Title IX requirements. As you can see Title IX is harmful to college sports.
Another reason why Title IX is does more harm than good is that it takes funds away from college football programs, which is the highest revenue sport in college athletics. Many school administrators, and antagonists of Title IX, argue that there should be three genders in college male, female, and football. Football is the king of college sports, and when funding is cut from football then the football teams will make less money for their school. Notre Dame itself is the king of college football, in terms of how much the football program is worth. The Notre Dame Football program is worth an estimated 97 million dollars. 23.5 million of that 97 million dollars is contributed to the non football sports at the school (forbes.com). If funding is cut for the football team it causes and cause and effect case, and ends up costing the entire sports programs (mens and women's) money.
A third reason why Title IX is harmful for college sports is because it causes discrimination towards men. One reason it causes discrimination towards men is because their are more women than men, on average, in colleges around the country. Which means that, according to Title IX, there should be more women than men competing in college sports. This means that there actually has to be enough women to be interested and good enough to compete in college sports. When there is not enough women it means that the men suffer because Title IX does not allow a surplus of mens sports. In essence TItle IX does the reverse of what it was intended to do, yes it does give women an opportunity to women, but in doing so it allows for discrimination of men. Dale Anderson, who is an attorney for the Reform and Oversight Committee in D.C says that “ if 55 percent of the students in a university are female (the national average), then the percentage of female athletes must be 55 percent. In order to achieve this absurd quota, educational administrators are simply dumping male athletes” (deeperintosports.com). By just “simply dumping male athletes” Title IX is achieving the opposite of what it was trying to achieve.
As you can see, Title IX is a harmful regulation on college sports. Though it was created for a good purpose, it has not done exactly what it should have. Title IX had made schools cut teams just to make room for women's sports. It also has cut funding to football programs which gives large amounts of its revenues to non football sports at their universities. Also Title IX has created opportunities for women, but has caused discrimination towards men in the process.
Crumpacker, John. "Cal cuts sports: baseball, gymnastics, lacrosse - SFGate." Featured Articles From The SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-09-29/news/24102128_1_female-athletes-college-athletics-rugby>.
Garber, Greg. "ESPN.com: GEN - Title IX always open to interpretation." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://espn.go.com/gen/womenandsports/020619interpret.html>.
"In Pictures: Ranking The 20 Most Valuable College Football Teams - Forbes.com." Forbes.com - Business News, Financial News, Stock Market Analysis, Technology & Global Headline News. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/20/notre-dame-fooball-biz-sports-cx_ps_1120collegeball_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=15000>.
Porpora, Gary. "Title IX No Gender Equality Women's Sports | Deep Into Sports." Deep Into Sports - MLB NFL NBA NHL NCAA PGA Olympics Tennis. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.deepintosports.com/2009/07/07/title-ix-no-gender-equality-women-sports/>.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Concussions
We all know that the concussions have made headline news recently throughout the sports world, especially in football. Where the NFL has reportedly had 53 players diagnosed with concussion (Sports Illustrated 37). The NFL has fought to make football a safer game. But some players think that takes away from what football really is. Is it possible to change the culture of such a historically violent sport? A sport where down to it’s inner core is renowned for the violence it impacts on human beings. A sport that glorified the vicious hits done by its players. The NFL has sought to change the mindset and culture of the game. Some people within the game welcome the change, others find it a horrendous idea though up by the power hungry NFL commissioner.
The main concern that has been brought up with concussions is the chance for permanently damaging a persons brain. The NFL has sought to reduce the number of concussions in it’s sport. They have done this by trying to change the culture of football, by imposing fines on the players that produce the lethal hits that we all have seen. Many players have a strong animosity towards this new rule “It’s a sad day for the sport.” said Ryan Clark Steelers Safety, referring to the new rules imposing fines on players making vicious hits (Sports Illustrated 36). Kevin Mawae Players Union President said that “The skirts need to be taken off in NFL offices.” (Sports Illustrated 36) A former NFL player and current ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth, ranted about the move the NFL was making, and is adamant about calling it a hypocritical league. He argues that the NFL makes money off oh these glorified hits and now they are imposing fines on the very players that have made them millions (usatoday.com). He argues that it is just the speed that the players play the game at that creates these violent hits. "You can't take the NFL and what we do and eliminate contact," he said. "The game of football is about going out there and separating the man from the ball. Going out there and playing hard. It's reaction. The players are so fast, so big and so strong. It happens in a moment's notice. It's not like players are saying, 'Watch me try to decapitate someone.' "(usatoday.com) Schlereth also states that if you take the contact out of the game that all the NFL has on it’s hands is soccer, and that is not what made the NFL the most popular sport in the country.
Like all other issues there is another side to this. The other side of this applauds the NFL in its attempt to change the violent culture of the game. Many doctors are know the effects of brain damage and are glad to see this rule be enforced more strictly. Dr. Ann McKee has examined the brains of past NFL players and has time and time again seen Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). She has never seen the occurrence of CTE’s in a brain that has not had the repetitive violent hits of Football. Recent studies have shown that it is not just the big violent hits that cause brain trauma but the constant repetitive hitting does as well. Many parent and doctors are happy to see the NFL take the matter of human brains seriously. Hopefully this will lead to more and more football teams below the NFL to take head injuries more seriously.
Mark Schlereth comments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SMavliBT38&feature=related
Epstein, David . "The Damage Done." Sports Illustrated 1 Nov. 2010: 42-47. Print.
King, Peter . "Concussions." Sports Illustrated 1 Nov. 2010: 34-41. Print.
"Mark Schlereth: NFL a 'hypocrite league' with unfair punishment of James Harrison - The Huddle: Football News from the NFL - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/10/mark-schlereth-nfl-a-hypocrite-league-with-unfair-punishment-of-james-harrison/1>.
The main concern that has been brought up with concussions is the chance for permanently damaging a persons brain. The NFL has sought to reduce the number of concussions in it’s sport. They have done this by trying to change the culture of football, by imposing fines on the players that produce the lethal hits that we all have seen. Many players have a strong animosity towards this new rule “It’s a sad day for the sport.” said Ryan Clark Steelers Safety, referring to the new rules imposing fines on players making vicious hits (Sports Illustrated 36). Kevin Mawae Players Union President said that “The skirts need to be taken off in NFL offices.” (Sports Illustrated 36) A former NFL player and current ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth, ranted about the move the NFL was making, and is adamant about calling it a hypocritical league. He argues that the NFL makes money off oh these glorified hits and now they are imposing fines on the very players that have made them millions (usatoday.com). He argues that it is just the speed that the players play the game at that creates these violent hits. "You can't take the NFL and what we do and eliminate contact," he said. "The game of football is about going out there and separating the man from the ball. Going out there and playing hard. It's reaction. The players are so fast, so big and so strong. It happens in a moment's notice. It's not like players are saying, 'Watch me try to decapitate someone.' "(usatoday.com) Schlereth also states that if you take the contact out of the game that all the NFL has on it’s hands is soccer, and that is not what made the NFL the most popular sport in the country.
Like all other issues there is another side to this. The other side of this applauds the NFL in its attempt to change the violent culture of the game. Many doctors are know the effects of brain damage and are glad to see this rule be enforced more strictly. Dr. Ann McKee has examined the brains of past NFL players and has time and time again seen Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). She has never seen the occurrence of CTE’s in a brain that has not had the repetitive violent hits of Football. Recent studies have shown that it is not just the big violent hits that cause brain trauma but the constant repetitive hitting does as well. Many parent and doctors are happy to see the NFL take the matter of human brains seriously. Hopefully this will lead to more and more football teams below the NFL to take head injuries more seriously.
Mark Schlereth comments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SMavliBT38&feature=related
Epstein, David . "The Damage Done." Sports Illustrated 1 Nov. 2010: 42-47. Print.
King, Peter . "Concussions." Sports Illustrated 1 Nov. 2010: 34-41. Print.
"Mark Schlereth: NFL a 'hypocrite league' with unfair punishment of James Harrison - The Huddle: Football News from the NFL - USATODAY.com." News, Travel, Weather, Entertainment, Sports, Technology, U.S. & World - USATODAY.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/10/mark-schlereth-nfl-a-hypocrite-league-with-unfair-punishment-of-james-harrison/1>.
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