Radio Interview

Robwilsontv.”ESPN 30 for 30 interview – How to NOT Go Broke.” Youtube. 19 Oct. 2012

                This was a radio interview with Mia Jackson from the podcast Game Ready Moms, which is for current and potential athletes navigate the process. In the segment they discuss the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary ‘Broke’ and how athletes can avoid going broke. They discuss many of the important factors involved with why athletes can go broke or be under financial stress.  One main reason is that the athletes are not very good at managing their money and give out a lot of money to friends and family when they ask. The athletes also spend a lot of their money on things they do not need just to have it and look like they have more than another player. They then discussed the factors that will help athletes and gave their opinions on how to prevent athlete bankruptcy.

                I was glad to see that there are now people talking about this issue and looking for different ways to fix this issue. I think that personally colleges and universities should do more to prepare these student athletes for the real world and have them learn responsibilities and how to manage their money. The professional sports leagues should do more to help these athletes as well, there is currently some training for incoming rookies, however all leagues should have a required seminar where they show the players all the bankrupt athletes and bring some of those athletes in to warn and show the athletes what can happen when you don’t manage your money correctly. I hope that the leagues and universities begin to take this issue more seriously and begin to help out professional athletes when they need it.

The Sports Culture in India

 

Bhogle, Harsha (2010 March). Harsha Bhogle: The rise of Cricket, the Rise of India [Video File].

http://www.ted.com/talks/harsha_bhogle_the_rise_of_cricket_the_rise_of_india.html

 

                This TED talk featured Harsha Bhogle, a popular Cricket commentator describes the rise of Cricket in India. Cricket in India can be compared to the National Football League or the National Basketball League of the United States. Cricket used to take more than a day to complete just one game, and was only played by native Indians. After winning the world cup of a new form of cricket, more people began to pick up the game. The game changed again to 20-20 cricket and again India was successful against the rest of the world. Now instead of just playing as a national team city teams were beginning to form. These teams were then bought by celebrities and other wealthy people and a league was then formed. The city teams played against each other and the contracts of the players were in the millions of dollars for the first time. Also, teams were bringing in players from other countries to come and play for the city teams.

                The sports culture in India has begun to change. The Indian culture has adapted to the new and prominent western sports culture. The western sports culture is more about individual players and teams then about the nation as a whole. The athletes in India are beginning to make millions of dollars through their contracts and through their endorsements. The eastern world is beginning to make the change to the more individualistic western form of culture for the sports world at least.

The Global Economics of Sport

Gratton, Chris; Dongfeng Liu, Girish Ramchandani, and Darryl Wilson. The global economics of sport. London and New York: Routledge, 2012

               

                The Global Economics of Sport was a great source in looking at how sports affect a countries economy and how it really helps it. Sports generate a lot of revenue especially in the United States. Sports did not use to be as popular as they are today, the reason they are so popular is the advancement of technology. Television has advanced the popularity of sports and has made many sports more popular overseas. In general sports have made a large impact on our economy and will continue to generate a large amount of revenue for years to come.

The authors provide many examples of how professional sports organizations and leagues affect the global economy. Sports provide about 2% of a country’s GDP, which is impressive for something that started as pure entertainment. The book also went into detail about how sports leagues got started and how these different sports became popular globally like soccer, basketball, and gymnastics. They also discuss the important role of broadcast media on the popularity of different sports. The goal of the authors was to provide information on each sport and the impact of each sport on the global economy. The authors show how important sports are to each culture, especially the western world and how they impact each country’s businesses and economies.

ESPN 30 for 30 Broke

30 for 30 Broke. Dir. Billy Corben. Perf. Andre Rison, Bernie Kosar . ESPN Films ;, 2011. Film.

 

 

            The documentary ‘Broke’ provided a lot of necessary information about how former professional athletes went broke and why. It went through different segments about bad investments, too much spending, clubbing, and more of how these athletes lose their money. The documentary was made up of interviews from former NFL, NBA, and MLB players that have had financial struggles including Andre Rison and Bernie Kosar. It also went into detail about how bad marriages and having a lot of children can cost a lot of money, and many players have multiple kids with different women. Child support is very expensive and once the player retires and doesn’t have that income anymore it just drains their money. Another main reason is that athletes are very competitive on the field and off the field. Off the field they want to have the biggest and nicest cars, biggest chain, biggest house and these athletes are constantly trying to upgrade their stuff to outspend other athletes. It surprised me how many athletes said that they actually did that instead of saving their money. Although many athletes come from humble backgrounds you would think that they would save their money for the future. The documentary ended with a very long list of former professional athletes that have gone bankrupt.

 

            This documentary was the reason I chose to do my capstone project on sports business. So many athletes are going bankrupt for numerous reasons. The two that I think do the most damage is the child support and bad investments. Also these athletes have a tough time saying no to friends and family asking for money. Most of the athletes interviewed said that during the holiday season you would see family come around that you haven’t seen in years, and then once they take your money they leave again. I think that the issue of athlete bankruptcy is a serious epidemic that the professional leagues around the country need to help fix. These athletes gave up many years and worked hard and took a lot of hits for their team, and then they let them go bankrupt. I think colleges should also help prepare student athletes for life after college and teach them to manage their money. I think was a very well done documentary and provided many great example of professional athletes going bankrupt and why. I hope that this issue is brought to public attention so that it can finally be solved.  

Space Jam

Space jam. Dir. Joe Pytka. Perf. Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, Charles Barkley, Larry Bird. Warner Home Video, 1996. VHS.

 

            Space Jam combines two great things of American entertainment, a sports superstar and funny cartoons. Space Jam combines the real world and the world of Looney Tunes. Michael Jordan has just retired from basketball for the first time and is trying his hand at baseball. But things aren’t going so well for him in the minor leagues. In the Looney Tune world a group of small aliens from an intergalactic amusement park arrive to take the Looney Tunes back to their world to be slaves and work in the amusement park forever.  The small aliens’ boss is very demanding and cruel to his alien workers and sent them to capture the Looney Tunes. The Looney Tunes meet and decide to challenge these aliens to a game of basketball because the aliens are very small in size. Then the aliens go to a professional basketball game and steal the powers from various NBA all stars. The aliens grow very tall after and the Looney Tunes transport Michael Jordan to help them win. After being convinced to play Michael sends Bugs and Daffy to go and retrieve his basketball gear. After a miserable first half of the game Michael gives them some his drink and even though it was just water, they thought it was what made Michael so good at basketball. The Tune squad turned it around in the second half and ended up beating the aliens and retained their freedom.

 

            Space Jam was really the pioneer for making sports entertainment movies. This combined a NBA All star with a very popular cartoon series. This is one of my all time favorite movies because I love basketball and the Looney Tunes, what could be better. This showed how popular both Michael Jordan and basketball was in the 1990’s. It also was the start of how important sports are in our culture today. This is a classic movie that many people still love today and one of the greatest children’s movies of all time in my opinion. This movie paved the way for movies like ‘Like Mike’, ‘Glory Road’, and ‘Thunderstruck’. It also was the first very popular basketball movie released in theaters. I really enjoy this movie and the great importance it provided in establishing the sports movies and the enjoyment it brought to children to see Michael Jordan dunking on aliens.

 

           

Game by Walter Dean Myers

Myers, Walter Dean. Game. New York, NY: HarperTeen, 2008

 

 

                Game by Walter Dean Myers is a great fiction novel about how a basketball player named Drew grows up in a rough neighborhood and how basketball keeps him in line. Drew is an African-American basketball player that dreams of playing basketball in college and in the NBA. He is a star basketball player at his school and hopes to make a run in the playoffs this year. Drew lives with his parents and very smart little sister. The first half of the season is going great, until the coach brings in two white players to join the team. One player is from the Czech Republic and is taking over Drew’s spotlight even though he isn’t very good. Drew initially is angered that the coaches and media are focusing on these new players. Then many issues arise between the coach and Drew. He is constantly on the bench even though he is their best player and everyone knows it. Eventually Drew learns that he needs to be a team player and that Drew and these new players will need to mesh in order for them to succeed his senior season. They make the playoffs and Drew learns to become a team player. He then receives a scholarship to DePaul University and stays friends with his new teammates.

                This was a well written book but at times lacked character development and information about the characters. It was a good representation of how athletics can keep an athlete living in a rough neighborhood out of trouble. The one thing that I felt was missing was why the kid from the Czech Republic got so much attention when in the book he was described at not that good of a player. Also it was confusing where the team was at during the season as far as record wise and at what time of the year they were playing. I think the book fit in well with my project because it gave some detail on how hard some athletes have to work to get out of their community and how it can save them from dropping out of high school and keeping them out of trouble.

John Wooden TED Talk

Wooden, John. (2009, March) John Wooden: the difference between winning and succeeding

[Video File] Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/john_wooden_on_the_difference_between_winning_and_success.html

                This TED Talk was from legendary college basketball coach John Wooden. John Wooden won ten NCAA men’s basketball championships in twelve years and won seven titles in a row. He was a great coach and an even better mentor. In his TED Talk his main message is that you may win but not succeed, and you could lose and succeed. He described in detail his days of teaching English to students and then his career at UCLA coaching. He always wanted his students and players to succeed. His mentality was that succeeding is doing your best. Players and coaches shouldn’t be judged on how many wins or losses they had, but by their character. John Wooden is one of the greatest coaches that ever lived and provided many student athletes with motivation to get better and improve their character. He continues to inspire athletes around the country even with his passing in 2010.

                John Wooden is a great example of a role model.  He is someone that all athletes and coaches should aspire to be like. The TED Talk gave an example of how the sports culture in America is like. Even if the coach wins the game he may not be successful just because the public thought they would win by more. His philosophy is copied by the successful coaches of today, and his teachings on character and trying hard continue today to show student athletes there is more to life than sports. I hope that young athletes take his message to heart and try hard at the sport they love no matter what their skill level is.