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.

Radio Interview with Billy Corben, director for ESPN 30 for 30 documentary 'Broke'

SportsUnplugged. “Sports Unplugged: 30 for 30 Director Billy Corben talks about ‘Broke’.” YouTube. 2 Oct. 2012. Web. 22 Apr 2013 

 

                The next video I found was a radio show that interviewed the director of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary ‘Broke’. Billy Corben the director discussed the reasons why many professional athletes end up going bankrupt or broke. First, he credited that when most people stop working at the age of 30 they would run out of money as well. The average career of an NFL player is 3.5 years. Most athletes don’t make a lot of money from playing in the NFL.  A former coach Herm Edwards was quoted in the documentary as saying that the NFL was not a career, but an opportunity. Also most athletes are very young when they are coming into the different leagues and are overnight millionaires. So most of these athletes think they will be set for life and always want to give back to their communities and families and neighborhoods. The problem is most athletes are very generous and give a lot of money to friends and family that won’t pay them back, and eventually they run out of money. In college the focus of these student athletes are on athletics and not academics. Most don’t have a college degree or even know how to manage their own money. Colleges should take more responsibility to help these athletes become financially smart and help these athletes get a degree for life after sports. Corben also said that the financial issues started during the financial boom of the 1990’s when the salaries of athletes rose by a lot. The advice he gave at the end of the interview was to say no to everyone, and obtain an un-related trust worthy financial advisor.

                 I think that this was a very well done interview. The source was good because of the guest on the radio show, an ESPN documentary director Billy Corben who directed the documentary ‘Broke’. This got a lot of attention because it was one of the first documentaries to show the problem many athletes have. I agree with many of the things he said, and I agree that Colleges should do more to help prepare these athletes for the future, and put more of a focus on academics. Athletes will spend more of their life out of professional sports than in them, and they should learn how to be financially smart and make good decisions. I’m not saying that athletes shouldn’t give to charities or help out their family, but be smart about it. Make sure that the athlete can both help out and have enough invested and saved to take care of themselves after their career in sports. I also think that the professional teams that sign the athlete to their contract should provide a financial advisor for them to help make the tough financial decisions and help keep them out of trouble. I hope that colleges will begin to help out their student athletes and begin to care about the actually athletes instead of the revenue that they bring in each year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJq2bEX7ILw

How Athletes go Broke with Jalen Rose

GrantlandNetwork, “How Athletes Go Broke.” YouTube. ESPN, 3 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Apr 2013.

 

                This YouTube video included Jalen Rose a former NBA player and current analyst for ESPN talking about how athletes go bankrupt and why. He explains in the video that when rookies get their first contract you have family you never knew coming to ask you for money. That athlete also wants to help their mother and father buy a new house, help their siblings reach their dreams, and then help themselves out. He also says that every friend always has a brilliant business idea; they just need your money to fund that idea. The three business investment he says to avoid are record labels, clothing lines, and restaurants. Many athletes have tried their hand at these investments and failed.  He also mentioned in the video that if athletes are fortunate to get a second contract that they begin to mature and not loan out any more money after realizing they spent their whole first contract helping others and themselves. Another way that many athletes can get into trouble financially is having too many children and having a messy divorce. Both can cost a lot of money especially if that athlete is paying child support for all their different children.

                I thought this was a very informational video even though it was short. It was a YouTube clip on the Grantland Network which is a sports website sponsored by ESPN. Having a former professional athlete on the clip to share his experiences first hand was also very interesting. He explained all the different people that will come to you asking for money once you get your contract. Athletes all want to buy their immediate family something to help them achieve their dreams, while also dealing with added pressure from others competing for the athlete’s money as well. I was glad to see that bankruptcy is beginning to get more attention from the media and the large sports networks. ESPN also made a documentary on athletes called “Broke”. They discussed the documentary vaguely in the beginning of the clip and both the sports writer and Jalen Rose seemed to like the film. I hope that former athletes begin to speak up about the many financial dangers that will threaten the athlete throughout their career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-362OfeM9OQ

Why Athletes Go Bankrupt Continued

Buschman Vasel, Kathryn. "Why Athletes Go Broke." Fox Business. N.p., 01 Feb. 2013. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.

            The conventional wisdom is that all professional athletes are making millions of dollars every year. However for most athletes that’s not the case. Most make around $300,000 every year. Now that is still more than most of America makes in a year by a lot but if you look at how long most of these athletes are working it doesn’t add up to a lot. Most athletes will have retired by the age of 40, and that is if they had a long career and were somewhat successful. For the rest of the athletes the average NFL career is 2.5 years. So this also contributes to the absurd number of professional athletes that end up in some type of financial distress. If you compare how much the professional teams and owners make each year from all the revenue they bring in with being a team it is somewhat ridiculous that these teams can’t help the athletes that have worked hard to keep their fans entertained for many years. Although it can also be the athletes fault that they go broke. Whether it be poor investments, wasting money that they don’t have, or surrounding themselves with the wrong people. When it comes down to it the professional teams will always to be able to have enough money, hopefully they will begin to aid players in need.

            This is another article that reiterates my point that these athletes need some help from either their former teams or the leagues in general. Most people make some sort of financial mistake in their lifetime, for these players whose careers are only around 15 years long one mistake could be very costly.  I think that this is an issue that needs to be brought up in all the professional leagues. Many of the leagues have some financial training and help but it is clearly not enough when so many players are in financial stress. I hope that there is some type of research being done, and will come up with some sort of a solution to the problem currently residing with these athletes. It was consistent throughout the articles I read that there is most likely a combination of reasons why athletes go bankrupt. It could be from poor investments, not knowing what to do with the money, a bad entourage, or it could just be bad luck from injury or not having a long playing career. I think that all athletes should get a degree so if their sport does not work out they have something to fall back on. I hope that the professional leagues come up with a solution soon so that the young athletes of today can feel confident of playing the sport they love.

           

 

Why Athletes Go Bankrupt

Burke, Monte. "Curt Schilling And Why Athletes Make Such Poor Financial Decisions."Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 25 May 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.

            Have you ever wondered why so many athletes go bankrupt or are under financial stress? It has been a question on a lot of athletes and fans minds for the past few months, so many of our favorite athletes go bankrupt after they retire. There are many different hypotheses to why so many athletes are going broke and why. One reason is the fact that some athletes grew up poor so they don’t know how to manage money. The problem with that theory is that some of these bankrupt players grew up with money so that shades some doubt on that conclusion. Another is the fact that many athletes have “yes men” around them. These people will never tell the athletes not to buy something or tell them they need to save money for the fear that they will get kicked out of the athlete’s entourage. Others believe that it is because of the come down from leaving the bright lights. Once they are retired money is a great distraction from the abrupt career end. Then once they spend all this money they aren’t making as much as they used to which could lead to financial stress. There isn’t just one main reason why so many do eventually go bankrupt, but it is something we need to fix because 78% of NFL players and 60% of NBA players go broke or have some type of financial stress within five years of retiring from the league.

            This article came from a very good source, and was a very well written article that provided many different examples of bankrupt athletes. I agree with the reasons that the author gave for the athletes going bankrupt. Most family and friends of these players don’t want to be left out of their circle or go against what the athletes say even if it would help the athletes in the long run. Especially with the many financial decisions athletes will make. I hope that the different professional sports leagues step up and try to provide these athletes with more financial counseling and try to help them if they are in need. These players provided entertainment for the fans and brought in more revenue for the teams, so the least the teams could do would be to help out these athletes. I hope that this trend of bankrupt and financially stressed athletes starts to decline, and more young athletes will surround themselves with the right people and make the right investments after their career is over. Because I for one don’t like to see my favorite athletes who provided me with many years of entertainment go bankrupt.

 

Is America crazy?

Wold, Rita. "Sports Fans Keep Spending out of the Park." Denverpost.com. Denver Post, 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

Everyone knows that sports fans can get a little crazy. That trend is continuing even with the down economy. Many sports fans still continue to purchase team apparel, tickets to the games, and the huge cable and satellite packages to watch the games. In a survey done by the Denver Post 76% of those surveyed didn’t cut back on sports spending while they did on other things. Most fans didn’t even feel guilty about not cutting spending on sports. Even local sporting apparel stores aren’t feeling the heat of the downed economy. Sports fans are crazy about their teams, and even with a bad economy they are still willing to do almost anything to watch and cheer their teams on to victory.

Although this article was two years old it still gave a lot of information about the sports culture of the United States. People are always checking the scores of the game on their phone and need to be updated the second their teams does just about anything. I fit in with this sports culture, almost everyone is in a fantasy football league, fills out a March Madness bracket, or does something with sports. It is not just males either; many females are beginning to become part of the sports culture. People pay probably more than $15 extra just for more sports channels and coverage. But I mean who wouldn’t want NFL Redzone to see every single touchdown every Sunday during the season. That is the culture of sports in America, Sundays have become football day, and March has become March Madness. So that is why none of these sports fanatics chose to cut their spending on sports, it is a part of them and their culture, and it will continue to be this way for a long time.  Are these people crazy? I don't think so, we are just very passionate about the entertainment that these professional athletes provide.

Bankrupt Athletes

Schottey, Michael. "ESPN's 'Broke' Barely Scratched the Surface of Athlete Bankruptcy Discussion." Bleacher Report. N.p., 03 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.

            Going back to the athletes that do go bankrupt, many make poor financial decisions regarding buying luxury things like cars, houses, and going clubbing. But there are others that go broke just because they are too generous. Some give their families and friends money that the athletes will never see again. That’s when some family and friends and ex-wives can take advantage of the very rich athletes. There are also those athletes that can go bankrupt because of injury. Their insurance companies will not pay for the athletes with pre-existing neck, brain, and other injuries. This article also criticizes the ESPN 30-or-30 documentary Broke. It states that the documentary was well done, but only scratches the surface of the problem of bankrupt athletes. There was an interesting statistic that 78% of former NFL players are either bankrupt or under financial stress due to joblessness or divorce. This shows that there really is a problem with these athletes. The NFL and other professional leagues have financial training for the incoming athletes and the programs have continued especially with the current situation with many former NFL players. The article also calls for the discussion of bankrupt athletes to continue if we are ever going to fix it.

            I really like this article. It was very well written is a great support piece for my project. I think that there are too many former professional athletes that go bankrupt. I do not like to see my favorite players go bankrupt after they retire. I agree that there needs to be more public awareness about this topic. ESPN did a nice job of getting the idea out there, now there needs to be more discussion about it. Have all players entering the draft take a money management course, and have each team assign them a financial manager they know will help the player out. I know that the professional teams can afford that, and they will only be helping out their ex players. There could also be different types of job services that could help out ex professional athletes. Athletes retire around the age of 40 and make more money than most people make in a lifetime, and yet many continue to go bankrupt. Another issue is that many athletes only spend one or so years in college and do not get a degree. Some of those athletes get a degree online or in the offseason of their sport, but many still do not have one. This will hurt them if they are looking for a job in their future. I agree with this article 100% and I think that more should be done to make this a public issue and more should be done to help current athletes so that they do not end up like the financially stressed athletes of today.

           

Bankruptcy Provention

Gerber, Ross. "Learning from Athletes That Go Broke." Learning from Athletes That Go Broke. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.

 

                                Have you ever wondered why so many professional athletes go broke when most make many million dollars a year?  Well in this article it explains some of the reasoning behind athletes and how to help them fix it. This article was very helpful in explaining why some athletes end up going broke, it is because they have bad business managers and live very lavish life styles. Many athletes like to go and spend their money at the clubs and buying expensive things for themselves and their families. This means they won’t have much money left to pay things like taxes and fall behind on paying taxes which leads to more fines and legal issues. Many athletes also choose bad business managers who can take advantage of the athletes and squander money from them. Also, these bad business managers can lead the athletes to make poor business decisions, and once these athletes retire who are used to making millions of dollars a year suddenly have no income. They want to continue to live the lavish life style and ignore good business managers who try to budget their money. The athletes end up not being able to pay for things and eventually go bankrupt. So, star athletes should have knowledge of what they are investing in, learn to budget their money, and hire good business managers to help take care of their finances.             

                                This is a great article written by an investing firm that all athletes should read. These athletes that come from nothing suddenly earn millions of dollars and don’t know how they should spend it. The athletes need help from business managers and others who can help them invest smartly and manage their money wisely. I think that when teams sign athletes to long term deals, they should provide a business manager to them that has been proven to be good with investments and can help out the athletes. This could help prevent many athletes from one going out and blowing a lot of money and could end up in trouble, and it could teach them how to manage and budget money which would help these athletes in the future. Athletes have a lot on their minds and have a lot of focus on their jobs. Having a financial manager provided by that team would eliminate the athletes from choosing a bad manager and could make a difference in how they manage money if they have money for the rest of their lives.

Some Schools Spend 10 Times More On Athletes Than Students

 

 

                When you actually think about it, division one colleges spend a lot more money on athletes especially football and basketball than they do on academics. This article shows that most schools spend about six times more on athletics than they do on academics. It makes sense with all the full scholarships many athletes get to go and play at that school, and you don’t see that many kids getting a full ride to a school for just academics alone. Some fbs schools spend about ten times as much on athletics as on academics. This graph shows the spending difference in spending over the course of three years. The southeastern conference spends about 10.8 times more on athletes, and that makes sense due to the recent success of many of these schools especially on the football field.

                I was very shocked when I looked at the actually numbers of some colleges spending. I knew that colleges spend a lot of money on sports, but to spend ten times more on athletes as on academics and other students.  That just blows my minds, most college athletes don’t make it to the pros, and we are spending all this money on them when we could spend more on preparing students for the work force. This proves just how much sports dominate our culture. We love spending our money on season tickets, special television packages, parties for big games, and sports related apparel. This type of spending not only occurs in the pros but also for many colleges. This article was a little outdated being from 2010, and predicted school spending would top $250 million. Sports are a huge part of our culture and will continue to be for many years.

 

 

Finnegan, Leah. "Some Schools Spend 10 Times More On Athletes Than Students: Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 June 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

 

 

Sports Economics: NFL, MLB, NHL, and the Effects of the Depression

Economics affect every type of business in the world, and sports are a business that can be affected by the economy. According to this article many of the smaller less popular leagues like the NHL and NBA could lose both fans and teams to the recession of our economy. This would be similar to how the NHL and NFL lost teams in the 1920’s during the great depression. The NFL today wouldn’t have to worry about losing teams because of the current popularity of the sport. It will all depend on how these leagues that are in trouble develop new revenue streams and expand the support for their league. The MLB should be fine as well even though there are a couple teams that are struggling with attendance. The professional sports leagues are much like the other corporate businesses of America, when the economy is in recession the professional sports leagues struggle as well.

                This article did not surprise me when it listed the current professional leagues that may be in trouble. Although this article was written in 2009 it is still a great example of how the economy affects sports. It stated that both the NHL and the NBA had the greatest threat to losing fans and teams because they have the least amount of popularity in the United States, where sports like the NFL and MLB are still popular and fans will attend even with a bad economy. However, we know now that no leagues lost any teams and the popularity of sports didn’t change due to the economy. It would have to be very hard times in the economy for professional teams to have to declare bankruptcy because of how popular sports are in our culture. Even though this article is a little outdated it still provided a great example of how all types of business are threatened by a recession in the economy, and hopefully sports never have to lose teams or fans like they did during the great depression.

Williams, Jonathan. "Sports Economics: NFL, MLB, NHL, and the Effects of the Depression." Bleacher Report. N.p., 27 Feb. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2013

Do homework before giving

                Most people give to charities or specifically athlete’s charities they are expecting the money to go to whatever the foundation stands for or donates to.  Whether that cause being helping fund cancer research, or giving supplies to needy children people like to donate to help out the cause. However, sometimes athlete’s charities are not as they seem. According to this article “Do Homework Before giving” on ESPN.com, many charities do not donate any money at all, in fact 74% of the 115 athlete charities studied fell short of acceptable non-profit standards according to three charity watchdogs. For example, Lamar Odom’s charity which was founded for his mother who passed away from cancer says it donates money for cancer research and underprivileged kids. However, over the eight years the charity has been running it has not donated a single dollar to a cancer entity. Instead the money has gone to funding an AAU basketball team and a tax exempt salary of a Golden State Warrior assistant coach. Even though there are many bad examples of athletes misusing charities, there are still many athletes out there that care about a cause and actually give to the cause the charity stands for. People should still give money to charities, just be careful about which athletes or charities that you give money to.

                I was generally shocked when I first saw this article. I couldn’t believe that so many athletes would misuse something as good as a charity. A non-profit organization that donates money to a cause, and they used it for buying sports cars or to help their business. But after reading this article it does not surprise me that so many athletes go bankrupt after they retire, they make very poor decisions regarding money. The amount of athletes that end up going bankrupt is ridiculous. I hope that none of my favorite athletes are involved in the fake charity game. That is also what is so bad about the players doing this, many of these athletes are role models to children, and when they see the athletes exploit charities and other organizations it really lets down the children that looked up to that player. This article was very well written and used multiple sources very nicely. I hope that the many athletes that actually run their charity how it is supposed to be run continue to do so and touch the lives of many people that need it.

Tim Keown. "Do Homework Before giving." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 02 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 Apr. 2013.

In America, it's win or go home

 

                This ESPN article was just the type of thing I was looking for on sports culture in the United States of America. While many agree with the idea of the “wussification” of America especially in youth sports, this article claims that the sports culture for at least college and professional sports is winner take all. In the last 50 years the sports organizations have been slowly but surely eliminating the consolation and third place games. College basketball and the NFL both have eliminated the consolation games from their playoff system because the only important thing to the athletes is winning the whole thing. Since Vince Lombardi coached and preached winning the culture of professional sports has completely changed. The best players now are the players that can win championships, Lebron James was highly scrutinized because he was the best overall player, but he couldn’t win a championship, until this past year of course. Even though most consolation games have been taken away, there are still many out there, including the World Cup and the Olympics. Many have called for the restructure of the bowl system in college football, and that is related to the fact that all the bowl games except for the national championship are basically consolation games. That is a main reason that many people are calling for a playoff system in college football. In America only one thing really matters in professional sports, winning.

                This was a very well written article, and I think a very important article to my research on sports culture in America. The article includes a link to learn more about the other and other articles he has written. The article appeared in ESPN the magazine and there was a link leading to that issue of the magazine. I agree with the article and I was not surprised to see the connection between consolation games and bowl games. I for one am a strong supporter of a college football playoff system, especially with the recent domination of the national championship game by one team, Alabama. This article reminds me of the movie Talladega Nights the ballad of Ricky Bobby, where Will Ferrell took to heart the phrase, “If you ain't first, you're last”. This saying definitely reflects the attitude of many professional and college athletes in America.

 Cyphers, Luke. "In America, It's Win or Go home." ESPN.com. N.p., 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 05 Apr. 2013.

Today's American sports culture is out of bounds

                Today in the United States sports and athletes are a huge part of our culture. They entertain fans at least once a week for a season, and make millions of dollars doing so. They are the role models many children look up to and strive to be. Every year the Super bowl is one of the most watched televised events. According to this article however the sporting culture is getting out of hand. Many athletes today have made mistakes, some are forgivable, and others will lead to scrutiny for the rest of their lives. For example, many baseball players have been charged with using performance enhancing drugs, the best golfer fell out of everyone’s good graces when he cheated on his wife, a lot. Now he has to fight to get back on the good side of the fans, as do many of the other plays charged with using PEDs. But, this article claims we look into and rely on sports too much. Our youth look up to these players that are constantly in the news for doing something illegal, or wrong, or just plain old cheating. If the athletes can’t live up to being role models, than maybe we shouldn’t let our youth look up to them.

                I both agree and disagree with this article. At first I was shocked and remembered how many star athletes have screwed up at some point. They are constantly on the news and always doing something. But we have to remember these are athletes and many of them came from having nothing to more than a million dollars in a matter of months. They may not know how to handle the money or the fame, and do what they were shown to do growing up. This relates to my point that many athletes don’t know how to handle fame and fortune, and many athletes end up blowing away all their money and end up bankrupt. However, there are still many professional athletes that our children SHOULD look up to. They are great athletes, leaders, charitable, and show how a true professional should be. We should not be so quick to throw away these role models, and not lose our faith in professional athletes.

"Today's American Sports Culture Is out of Bounds." NY Daily News. N.p., 08 Jan. 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2013

 

Room and Model Capstone Analysis

We step in through Door and it’s all wrong. Smaller than Room and emptier and it smells weird. Floor’s bare, that’s because there’s no Rug, she’s in my wardrobe in our Independent Living, I forgot she couldn’t be here at the same time. Bed’s here but there’s no sheets or Duvet on her. Rocker’s here and Table and Sink and Bath and Cabinet but no plates and cutlery on top, and Dresser and TV and Bunny with the purple bow on him, and Shelf but nothing on her, and our chairs folded up but they’re all different. Nothing says anything to me. “I don’t think this is it,” I whisper to Ma.

“Yeah it is.”

Our voices sound not like us. “Has it got shrunk?”

“No, it was always like this.”…

There’s the mark of Track around Bed. The little hole rubbed in Floor where our feet used to under Table. I guess this really was Room one time. “But not anymore,” I tell Ma.

“What?”

“It’s not Room now.”

 

Donoghue, Emma. Room. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010. Print.

 

 

 

                This passage is a very important part of the main story. Jack and Ma are prisoners of a kidnapper by the name of Old Nick, and Ma has been held captive for seven years. Jack is five years old and has spent his whole life in the eleven by eleven foot room. He knows nothing of the outside world, and to him the only world is Jack and Ma in the small room. Ma keeps him sheltered from knowing about the world while they are locked up. One day, Ma comes up with a plan to escape.  Ma gets Jack to fake being really sick, and eventually fakes his death with the help of Ma. Old Nick takes the body to bury it and throws it in the back of his truck.  Jack jumps out of the back of the truck and right to a passing by dog walker. The dog walker threatens to call 911 after an exchange with Old Nick. Old Nick runs and the police arrive on the scene. They get enough out of Jack to go and rescue Ma out of the eleven by eleven foot room. Once they make their escape, they are thrown back into the world and everyone in the media is trying to get pictures and figure out the tragic story behind the two. They live under the care of doctors and other people to help them get over the shock of being in the world. Ma however almost overdoses on the medicine she receives. Jack goes to live with his Grandma and Steppa, and he is exposed to so much more of the world. Originally he was quite skeptical and was used to how things were in room. Now he has to adjust to the social and cultural norms we have in our society and it is a slow process.

                When Jack went back to the room after being out of it for a couple weeks it seemed completely different. It seemed much smaller, and many of the items he had are no longer there. This passage shows the importance of setting and the environment kids have when they are growing up. I learned that if a child is stuck in a room his whole life he will not have developed many of the social skills we take for granted today, we just assume that everyone has these skills. There are many examples towards the end of Room where Jack is scolded or told you can’t do that, or it’s not right to do that. It was very well done because you got the feel he really didn’t think it was the same place he lived the first five years of his life. He was confused, and once he experienced the outside world, the small room looked even smaller. Many of the things that happened in the room Jack thought would be the same in the world. When he wanted something he would ask his mom to ask for it for Sunday treat, and want to do the same things he did in the room. Jack’s actions and thoughts really surprised me from both this passage and the book in general.  I couldn’t imagine being stuck in a small room with just one other person for five years, and those five years being the first five years of my life. Having no knowledge of the luxuries or memories of the outside world would really crush me. It is amazing how the author portrayed Jack’s thoughts and feelings.  This passage was written very well and many people take for granted the simple things in life we enjoy that many people around the world do not have, for example, a childhood.

                I think that the model capstone project was a success. The freedom the project grants you is a nice change from always being told what to do. Sometimes however the complete freedom to choose between so many things can cause a little anxiety of trying to make sure that you picked the right thing and picking something and sticking with it general. The blog posts were interesting as well, I have never thought about blogging before and it is an interesting way to analyze and look at different texts. I enjoyed the model capstone project, and learned a lot about the environment on the way. The main thing that shocked me was all the harmful chemicals that are being put into simple things just so companies can cut costs and make them more resistant to things. I have no idea how our ancestors could live without flame retardant mattresses, that of course is an example of sarcasm. We are putting unneeded chemicals into certain products that don’t need them. In general, I liked the format of the model capstone, it was very nice to be able to work on the things I wanted, and be able to just have a lot of work time. I look forward to accomplishing the actual capstone project and making it a similar success.

               

               

 

Slow Death by Rubber Ducky

                Slow Death by Rubber Ducky by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie follows two environment friendly authors and their quest to find out what is really in all of the products we are using. Both authors decide that it is a good idea to experiment on themselves, and determine what types of chemicals that are in the things we use daily. It was shocking to find out all the different harmful chemicals that are included in simple things like toys, coffee, fish, and soaps. The things we use every morning to make ourselves look presentable are filled with chemicals and other unhealthy things. Rick Smith went for a period of time avoiding the harmful chemicals located in these products. When he used the products again, like shampoo, deodorant, and cologne, his levels for that particular chemical rose from about 0, to just over 1,400. The harmful chemicals located in all these things scares me just a little. Especially because there are so many located in children’s toys, and kids are exposed to so many different chemicals on a daily basis. I thought this book was very informing and interesting about the use and effects of the many harmful chemicals that are constantly affecting our world slowly and invisibly.   

                Many people share my view on Slow Death by Rubber Ducky, on Amazon I found many different views on how this is a well written, informational, and a scary read. To read about all these different chemicals and how the chemicals can lead to long term health effects. I even read one review claiming that this book can save your life! It is a great read and many other people feel the same way about this very critical information. Slow Death by Rubber Duck received 4.5 stars out of five on Amazon and came highly recommended.

                While searching through the Amazon reviews I also stumbled across a few readers who were not impressed. One even claimed that the research was not scientific and not well put together. The writing was poor and encouraged the authors to do more research if they intend to write another book on the same topic. The reviews claim the authors were well meaning, but called the book poorly written and put together. However, these are very few on the site and most reviews were quite positive about the writing and information from the book.

                Other reviews also point out that if you want to protect and save your family to read this book. It claims that if you want to save your children read to book to prevent future exposure to these harmful chemicals. While it would be impossible to avoid all these chemicals completely, the tips and exposure of these chemicals will help make yourself and your family healthier.

New Study Finds Pesticides Leading Cause Of Grassland Bird Declines

 

 

 

 

 

 

"New Study Finds Pesticides Leading Cause Of Grassland Bird Declines - 02/25/2013 - Chattanoogan.com." Chattanoogan.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.chattanoogan.com/2013/2/25/245183/New-Study-Finds-Pesticides-Leading.aspx>.

 

            This article is written about the use of dangerous pesticides and the affect they have on grassland birds. The grassland bird population has been decreasing in the last few decades. Until recently it was thought that the loss of habitat was the reasoning for the decline in bird numbers, however it is now believed to be pesticides. The grassland birds are declining faster than birds from other biomes. According to Dr. Pierre Mineau who recently retired from Environment Canada “Our study put the spotlight on acutely toxic insecticides used in our cropland starting after the Second World War and persisting to this day – albeit at a lower level. The data suggest that loss of birds in agricultural fields is more than an unfortunate consequence of pest control; it may drive bird populations to local extinction”. The researchers then looked into the effect of dangerous pesticides like carbamate, an insecticide on the grassland birds. They found that pesticides are four times more likely to be associated with the decline in population than the next theorized cause. Most pesticides that were used in the 1980’s and 90’s are not in use today, they are called neonicotinoids, and are at the top of the global markets. A major toxicological assessment has been prepared by the American Bird Conservancy that will determine that the new pesticides will still harm birds and other organisms.

            I am still very surprised that after all this time and failed pesticides and other chemicals that are harming many different organisms that we have not produced one that is not harmful. With all of today’s technology we should be able to test the pesticides and chemicals before they are being used. Many chemicals are very harmful to both humans and animals and will do long term damage once they get in our body. I personally have an allergic reaction to many different fruits because of the pesticides used to grow them and keep off the bugs.  The companies producing these should try to come up with a safe type of pesticide and make sure they do enough tests to make sure it will not be harmful. The article was somewhat eye opening because while humans are just making things more profitable and proficient, these chemicals are doing a lot of damage in the long run.  

Arctic permafrost is melting faster than predicted

 

 

 

 

Michael , Slezak. "Arctic permafrost is melting faster than predicted - environment - 28 November 2012 - New Scientist." Science news and science jobs from New Scientist - New Scientist. N.p., 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. <http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22549-arctic-permafrost-is-melting-faster-than-predicted.html>.

This article by Michael Slezak described how the earth’s permafrost is melting at a very fast rate, and when it melts it will release tons of harmful greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. Permafrost is frozen soil that covers about a quarter of the northern hemisphere and traps vast amounts of carbon. Both methane gas and carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere when the permafrost melts. Methane gas is twenty five times more powerful than carbon dioxide in a course of 100 years. A team of NASA researchers have been studying the permafrost and the greenhouse gases that will be emitted. Currently there is no large release of these gases, but they are leaking out of the permafrost slowly. The equipment will also warn them if there is a big change within the permafrost and the gases are released. The article says there is about 1700 billion tonnes of carbon locked under the permafrost. It can be released either as methane or carbon dioxide. If there is a large thaw, they say that the region will become warmer and drier.

My reaction to this article is that I am very nervous for our environment. If the permafrost melts and releases all the harmful gases it can cause a lot of problems for a lot of people. I know I would not want to be living in northern Russia and be exposed to an abundance of methane or carbon dioxide. It could affect many types of wildlife and the eco system in general!