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.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
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>.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Poll
As the knowledge of the human body grew, so did the curiosity of how to create synthetic testosterone. Synthetic testosterone is used to help build muscle faster, and help your muscles recover from strenuous activities. Synthetic testosterone, steroids, have been known to create such an advantage that they are outlawed in almost all professional sports. Steroids have tainted the game of baseball with all the widespread and public use of them through out the professional teams. Steriods give obvious advantages, they escalate an athletes training ability, which is a reason they have become more and more widespread, from the professional level all the way down to the high school ranks. An estimated 3 to 6 percent of high school students have used steroids according to the New York Times. That means in our small school of more or less 300 kids, 9-18 students have used steroids. This is alarming due to the side effects of these performance enhancing drugs. On my blog I posed the question, Have you ever or do you know anyone that has ever used steroids? I honestly was not expecting to have a single person say they knew someone who has used steroids, because I have participated in varsity sports all four years of high school. Through out this time period, I had never seen or heard of anyone using steroids. I figured if I hadn’t heard of it, then they must not have either. Well I was wrong.
3 of the 11 that voted say they knew someone who had used steroids. This is 27 percent of the voters. Way more than the actually average that the New York Times reports. This means 72 percent of voters did not know anyone that had taken steroids. It would be interesting to give this poll to the whole school and see how many yeses we get. I would think we would get somewhere near 20, basing it off the 11 prior voters. I believe the numbers came out this way because more and more people are trying to get any advantage they can. If someone can take a pill and it will increase their athletic abilities then they will do it if it is that easy. Pressure also adds to why the numbers came out this way. Many young people have the aspirations to make it big in what ever sport they are in, and they will take the pills to give them that advantage.
If I could take some more steps in the mystery of steroids amongst high school students, I would, like I said, give the entire school the survey to see the results. Then try and find the newest research and statistics on the spread of steroids throughout high school students. Overall, it was kind of alarming that 3 out of 11 people knew or had done steroids. This leads me to believe that there are more kids using steroids than the New York Times has reported.
3 of the 11 that voted say they knew someone who had used steroids. This is 27 percent of the voters. Way more than the actually average that the New York Times reports. This means 72 percent of voters did not know anyone that had taken steroids. It would be interesting to give this poll to the whole school and see how many yeses we get. I would think we would get somewhere near 20, basing it off the 11 prior voters. I believe the numbers came out this way because more and more people are trying to get any advantage they can. If someone can take a pill and it will increase their athletic abilities then they will do it if it is that easy. Pressure also adds to why the numbers came out this way. Many young people have the aspirations to make it big in what ever sport they are in, and they will take the pills to give them that advantage.
If I could take some more steps in the mystery of steroids amongst high school students, I would, like I said, give the entire school the survey to see the results. Then try and find the newest research and statistics on the spread of steroids throughout high school students. Overall, it was kind of alarming that 3 out of 11 people knew or had done steroids. This leads me to believe that there are more kids using steroids than the New York Times has reported.
Website
The Denver Post Preps website is the best website for Colorado High School sports stories. There are four things to consider when reviewing a website. One is the effectiveness of the design of the website. Second, the accuracy of the information the site is providing. A third thing to consider is the credibility of the site, how much can you trust it. A forth thing is the content in which it provides, is it biased or does it represents both sides well. For all these reasons and more the Denver Post Preps site is the epitome of a good prep website. It is effective, fairly accurate, credible, and contains good up to date content.
The Denver Post Prep website is first-class prep sports website. One reason why it is a top ranked website is that it is effective. The layout of the website is easy to navigate. You can scroll down to any sport you want or just use the search bar. The site is also a well written site and does not contain any errors. The authors of the articles are professional writers and they do their job well. Another thing that makes the site the best colorado prep site is the fact that it is fairly accurate. The information on the site is not information that can be made biased, so it makes the site that much more accurate. The only thing that makes the site only “fairly” accurate is the fact that every once and a while the stats on the site are messed up. This is typical for prep websites though, with so many numbers being punched in, mistakes are bound to happen. More often than not these mistakes are harmless and can easily be understood for what was really meant to be put in. The Denver Post Preps site is also a very credible source. The Denver Post is a large newspaper company that can not afford to have non credible information. The Prep site is updated everyday during the school year, to keep people up to date on Colorado prep news. The only apparent bias in the prep site is the column portion of it, which is supposed to be biased. The content on this site is also very good. You are able to read stories, get scores, see pictures of high school sports teams, not just in your area but all over Colorado. The main goal of the site is to provide information regarding high school sports, and the site does well in meeting this goal.
As you can see, the Denver Post Prep website is one of the best high school sports websites you will come around. The layout of the effective by engrossing the reader. Not only is the layout effective but the information is accurate. A large company like the Denver Post can not afford to have a misleading prep website. Also the site is credible and the content is great. If all websites were put together this well, people would not have to worry about misleading information on the world wide web.
Denver Post. "Prep Sports - The Denver Post." Home - The Denver Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. <http://www.denverpost.com/pr
The Denver Post Prep website is first-class prep sports website. One reason why it is a top ranked website is that it is effective. The layout of the website is easy to navigate. You can scroll down to any sport you want or just use the search bar. The site is also a well written site and does not contain any errors. The authors of the articles are professional writers and they do their job well. Another thing that makes the site the best colorado prep site is the fact that it is fairly accurate. The information on the site is not information that can be made biased, so it makes the site that much more accurate. The only thing that makes the site only “fairly” accurate is the fact that every once and a while the stats on the site are messed up. This is typical for prep websites though, with so many numbers being punched in, mistakes are bound to happen. More often than not these mistakes are harmless and can easily be understood for what was really meant to be put in. The Denver Post Preps site is also a very credible source. The Denver Post is a large newspaper company that can not afford to have non credible information. The Prep site is updated everyday during the school year, to keep people up to date on Colorado prep news. The only apparent bias in the prep site is the column portion of it, which is supposed to be biased. The content on this site is also very good. You are able to read stories, get scores, see pictures of high school sports teams, not just in your area but all over Colorado. The main goal of the site is to provide information regarding high school sports, and the site does well in meeting this goal.
As you can see, the Denver Post Prep website is one of the best high school sports websites you will come around. The layout of the effective by engrossing the reader. Not only is the layout effective but the information is accurate. A large company like the Denver Post can not afford to have a misleading prep website. Also the site is credible and the content is great. If all websites were put together this well, people would not have to worry about misleading information on the world wide web.
Denver Post. "Prep Sports - The Denver Post." Home - The Denver Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. <http://www.denverpost.com/pr
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Current State
With todays advance in technology and science, athletes are becoming bigger, faster, and stronger. Thus making contact sports more and more dangerous. Technology has really boosted the efficiency of an athlete. Now a days an athletes every move can be analyzed to determine what wasted movement he/she has, getting rid of that wasted movement will maximize their abilities. Take a look at the technology used by many Major League Baseball teams as well as college. They take videos of you, and show you where the wasted effort you produce. Once pitchers and batters take away the wasted movement all their actions become more efficient enabling them to throw harder, hit harder, and run faster. The harder these athletes throw, the harder they hit the more there is for a chance of injury to a player who is less fortunate athletically.
Not only has technology improved to help athletes, but the way people train for their athletic events has improved as well. Performance enhancing drugs have become more and more of a problem in amateur levels of sports and professional sports. Some performance enhancing drugs such as Steroids, are illegal, but then drugs such as Creatine can be bought over the counter at your local GNE store. Then there are supplements that are used to aid you in your training for sports. Such as protein supplements. The protein supplements are there to help your muscles recover from the strenuous activity. The faster your muscles recover the faster you get back to your training regimen, thus helping the athlete train harder.
With all the technology and new ground breaking ways to help your body recover from training, players are become dangerously big. Oppents are suffering from side effects of other players becoming “to big.” Todays superb high school athletes already look like grown men. These athletes being so big escalates the chance of injury to themselves or opponents. It causes injuries that can linger for the rest of their lives. Over two million high school athletes are injured each and every year (cdc.gov). Concussions have reportedly been on the rise in the last couple of years. An average of 136,000 high school athletes suffer from concussions each year (tbo.com). Many of them are minor concussions showing little or no symptoms at all. But then the other small percentage of them are severe brain injuries. Many experts are adamant that concussions are not on the rise, but we are just more knowledge able about the brain and the symptoms of a potentially deadly injury.
Not only is the new advances in sports a serious risk for other opponents, but also puts the athletes themselves who partake in the new supplements and training at risk. Athletes are willing to try anything to get and edge on the competition, to make themselves better. Such dangerous activity can lead them to make decisions blindly and could be a problem in the future. If an athlete takes steroids many side effects will affect them for the rest of their life's. An estimated 3 to 6 percent of high school students have at least tried Anabolic Steroids (New York Times). Once those 3 to 6 percent of high school students use the steroids they are going to have to live with the side effects of the illegal PED (performance enhancing drugs). Acne, excess hair growth, and deepening of the voice are all short term side effects. The long term side effects are more severe. Mood swings and the damaging of important muscles to the body including the heart. Basically steroids cause excess hormones to be produced which cause all the symptoms.
As you can see, the more technology increases the more the high school athletes become “physical specimens.” This can lead to some problems for the opponents, and the athletes themselves. It can lead to injuries to opponents who aren’t quite as big, and it can lead to injuries to the athletes. They could make a decision blindly and make the wrong decision, not thinking about the future.
Not only has technology improved to help athletes, but the way people train for their athletic events has improved as well. Performance enhancing drugs have become more and more of a problem in amateur levels of sports and professional sports. Some performance enhancing drugs such as Steroids, are illegal, but then drugs such as Creatine can be bought over the counter at your local GNE store. Then there are supplements that are used to aid you in your training for sports. Such as protein supplements. The protein supplements are there to help your muscles recover from the strenuous activity. The faster your muscles recover the faster you get back to your training regimen, thus helping the athlete train harder.
With all the technology and new ground breaking ways to help your body recover from training, players are become dangerously big. Oppents are suffering from side effects of other players becoming “to big.” Todays superb high school athletes already look like grown men. These athletes being so big escalates the chance of injury to themselves or opponents. It causes injuries that can linger for the rest of their lives. Over two million high school athletes are injured each and every year (cdc.gov). Concussions have reportedly been on the rise in the last couple of years. An average of 136,000 high school athletes suffer from concussions each year (tbo.com). Many of them are minor concussions showing little or no symptoms at all. But then the other small percentage of them are severe brain injuries. Many experts are adamant that concussions are not on the rise, but we are just more knowledge able about the brain and the symptoms of a potentially deadly injury.
Not only is the new advances in sports a serious risk for other opponents, but also puts the athletes themselves who partake in the new supplements and training at risk. Athletes are willing to try anything to get and edge on the competition, to make themselves better. Such dangerous activity can lead them to make decisions blindly and could be a problem in the future. If an athlete takes steroids many side effects will affect them for the rest of their life's. An estimated 3 to 6 percent of high school students have at least tried Anabolic Steroids (New York Times). Once those 3 to 6 percent of high school students use the steroids they are going to have to live with the side effects of the illegal PED (performance enhancing drugs). Acne, excess hair growth, and deepening of the voice are all short term side effects. The long term side effects are more severe. Mood swings and the damaging of important muscles to the body including the heart. Basically steroids cause excess hormones to be produced which cause all the symptoms.
As you can see, the more technology increases the more the high school athletes become “physical specimens.” This can lead to some problems for the opponents, and the athletes themselves. It can lead to injuries to opponents who aren’t quite as big, and it can lead to injuries to the athletes. They could make a decision blindly and make the wrong decision, not thinking about the future.
- Cindy. "Steroids | The Partnership at Drugfree.org." The Partnership at Drugfree.org | Support and Resources for Parents Dealing with Teen Drug and Alcohol Abuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://www.drugfree.org/drug-guide/steroids>.
- Grossfeld, Stan . "A sad and revealing tale of teen steroid use." New York Times 20 Feb. 2008: n. pag. Nytimes. Web. 14 Oct. 2010.
- "HEADBANGERS: CONCUSSIONS POSE DANGER IN MANY SPORTS; MORE STEPS NOW TAKEN FOR ATHLETES' SAFETY." Reading Eagle 25 Aug. 2010: n. pag. Ebsco Host. Web. 14 Oct. 2010.
- "It's no game: Head injuries in high school sports." Tampa Bay Online - breaking news headlines, weather & deals - Tampa newspapers & WFLA - TBO.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2010. <http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/aug/08/090748/its-no-game-head-injuries-high-school-sports/sports-prepsports/>.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Background
You all know that it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to talk about high school sports. In this blog scores and your regular sports stories will not be discussed. Issues with high school sports among other things will be discussed. Each week a new question will be asked and answered. This week is just background information that we must get through.
The start of sports, not modern day, dates all the way back to the time of ancient Greece. Greece is famous for their competitiveness and forging the way for modern day sports. The first olympics were recorded in Greece. Though they were not like the modern day olympics, they paved the way for our modern day event. Then, and now athletes were treated like celebrities of great status and power. Athletes get just as much attention draw to them as the president of the United States. Sports have changed greatly from the time of the ancient olympics. Track like events and horse races were a staple in the ancient olympics now, sports seems to be boiled down to the four major sports; basketball, football, soccer, and baseball. Though these four sports are widely considered the four “main” sports two of them are not even considered an olympic event.
Unlike other forms of entertainment, sports can be appreciated by nearly everyone on the planet. There is a sport for everybody out there. Whether it be archery, or football. Almost everyone can appreciate some sort of physical activity, which is why sports are such and interest for me. Not only can sports be enjoyed by just about everyone but they also give kids a way to vent and they give kids a safe haven. It has been proven that kids who actively participate in sports are less likely to end up in trouble. I can account for this first hand. If it weren’t for playing sports, I would not care what grades I would get, I would not care what I do in my own personal free time because it wouldn't effect anything. But since I do play sports I strive to do the best I can so I can continue playing sports without being ineligible for any reason. If someone is dedicated to a sport, it can keep them focused and goal oriented, which is a very important thing in life. Another reason why sports interests me is because sports give you real world lessons every day. For example: sports are the epitome of life not being fair, you will never win at everything. It also teaches kids to be adamant about working hard because if they can work hard they will see positive results. Also it teaches them that nothing is handed to them on a silver platter.
Clearly sports are played by both men and women, and that high school sports are played by kids in high school generally from the ages of 14-18. Many kids around the country participate in sports related activities. Despite the economy statistics are showing more and more students are becoming student athletes. For the 20th consecutive year participation has increased in high school sports. 3,114,091 girls and 4,422,662 boys participating in high school sports in 2008-09 (NFHS.org). Football is the number one sport for high school student athletes with over 1 million participates nation wide.
As you can see, sports are a passionate subject for me, and I very much enjoy talking about them. More stories to come in the weeks ahead. Stories about performance enhancing drugs, the economies effect on sports and much more.
" NFHS | High School Sports Participation Increases for 20th Consecutive Year." NFHS | National Federation of State High School Associations. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3505>.
"Ancient Olympic Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Olympic_Games>.
The start of sports, not modern day, dates all the way back to the time of ancient Greece. Greece is famous for their competitiveness and forging the way for modern day sports. The first olympics were recorded in Greece. Though they were not like the modern day olympics, they paved the way for our modern day event. Then, and now athletes were treated like celebrities of great status and power. Athletes get just as much attention draw to them as the president of the United States. Sports have changed greatly from the time of the ancient olympics. Track like events and horse races were a staple in the ancient olympics now, sports seems to be boiled down to the four major sports; basketball, football, soccer, and baseball. Though these four sports are widely considered the four “main” sports two of them are not even considered an olympic event.
Unlike other forms of entertainment, sports can be appreciated by nearly everyone on the planet. There is a sport for everybody out there. Whether it be archery, or football. Almost everyone can appreciate some sort of physical activity, which is why sports are such and interest for me. Not only can sports be enjoyed by just about everyone but they also give kids a way to vent and they give kids a safe haven. It has been proven that kids who actively participate in sports are less likely to end up in trouble. I can account for this first hand. If it weren’t for playing sports, I would not care what grades I would get, I would not care what I do in my own personal free time because it wouldn't effect anything. But since I do play sports I strive to do the best I can so I can continue playing sports without being ineligible for any reason. If someone is dedicated to a sport, it can keep them focused and goal oriented, which is a very important thing in life. Another reason why sports interests me is because sports give you real world lessons every day. For example: sports are the epitome of life not being fair, you will never win at everything. It also teaches kids to be adamant about working hard because if they can work hard they will see positive results. Also it teaches them that nothing is handed to them on a silver platter.
Clearly sports are played by both men and women, and that high school sports are played by kids in high school generally from the ages of 14-18. Many kids around the country participate in sports related activities. Despite the economy statistics are showing more and more students are becoming student athletes. For the 20th consecutive year participation has increased in high school sports. 3,114,091 girls and 4,422,662 boys participating in high school sports in 2008-09 (NFHS.org). Football is the number one sport for high school student athletes with over 1 million participates nation wide.
As you can see, sports are a passionate subject for me, and I very much enjoy talking about them. More stories to come in the weeks ahead. Stories about performance enhancing drugs, the economies effect on sports and much more.
" NFHS | High School Sports Participation Increases for 20th Consecutive Year." NFHS | National Federation of State High School Associations. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2010. <http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3505>.
"Ancient Olympic Games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Olympic_Games>.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Intro
In Mrs. Wrights English 4 class, we were asked to come up with a topic and blog about it for a semester. I went back and forth between many topics, not being able to make up my mind. It is difficult to write about one topic for an entire semester. The topic can’t be to narrow, for the fact that it will be difficult to continue writing about it, but it also can not be to broad too, for it will mean to many things to talk about. I bounced back and forth between human cannibalism, and high school sports. Ultimately I chose high school sports because writing about cannibalism is almost to narrow of a topic. High school sports would be a perfect topic for me because I am a sports nerd, I tend to read about all sports anyways so why not write about it through out this blog? The major topics I will be discussing throughout this blog is; What are the pros and cons of a high school offering sports? Should schools offer just as many women's sports as men's? What effect does the recession have on high school sports teams? How wide spread are the use of performance enhancing drugs? I will be answering all these questions and more throughout this blog page.
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