Project 4/5
As I have interpreted before we come across the issue of sports athletes being overpaid. This happens to be a very controversial topic with many blogs and such of arguing that they are or aren’t overpaid. Many people don’t realize or understand that when a sport has a lock-out like the NBA did late last year is due to the fact of overpayment and trying to agree upon payment of their players. Athletes draw more attention to themselves than a doctor losing the life of a patient. It’s sad to see more of how their greed affects our enjoyment. Professional Athletes today are caught up more in their own needs and wants instead of worrying more about what brought them to this stage and that being their love for the game.
The root of all evil is how or what the problem with Pro athletes and what is affected by their poor choices. Whether it being not going to college, or taking the easy to get healthy by doing steroids. Their behavior is unacceptable and can have a huge effect on those who look up to athletes and find them to be there role model.
Today, the biggest issue with the sports athlete is how they cannot come to terms on being paid. This strikes upon those who enjoy the sport. They want all the money they can squeeze out of the owner of the team to play. The sad part is that sometimes they don’t even produce. Setting all that aside, what can we imagine all the athletes even doing with the money that they are being paid? According to mlive.com, Detroit Tiger Justin Verlander made a plea to have his own cereal brand. If you walk down the cereal isle of your local Meijer today, you will find Justin Verlander Fastball Flakes. Does he really need to make any more money? Looking at espn.com, he signed an 80 million dollar contract for five years in 2010. That means that he will make 16 million each year plus bonuses. With all that money I find no reason for him to want to have his on cereal brand. When he found out they weren’t selling that well he said “Come on, Detroit, buy them”. It blows my mind when you see a millionaire pleading to the lower class to buy a box of cereal that will make him more money.
When an athlete or performer has no other alternative when they can no longer play sports they go to television for the answer. Former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, was fired after the RedSox failed to make the playoffs in 2011. No more than two days later he was a telecaster for ESPN. How crazy is that? The economy isn’t the best right now and people are fighting for jobs, but when a higher named person applies for a job or needs one, its handed to them in a heartbeat. Also a huge example of this is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He was a college athlete until he hurt, then a professional wrestler until he felt he could make more money becoming a movie star. But then all has changed in a blink of an eye again. No more than 2 weeks ago, The Rock wrestled again for the first time in 7 years. And of course he won at WrestleMania to keep fans on their feet wanting more. Many professional entertainers go from wrestling to movies because they have nothing else to rely on.
This leads into the case of how many professional athletes have no real college underneath their belts. The No.1 basketball star Lebron James came right from high school like many other athletes and skipped college to go pro. I’m not saying that, that is bad in any way but what happens when you get hurt? When you make millions of dollars each year, how hard is it to go to school and take a few classes during the offseason? In a couple years you can earn a degree and always have a backup plan. Or, follow your dreams to become a professional fisherman after you have a failing baseball career like former Tiger Joel Zumaya. This year Joel signed a guaranteed $400,000 contract. Like his prior years he got hurt again, and is pretty much calling it quits. But because he is a professional athlete he feels that he should take the money and run while it’s still there, rather than going to school and pursuing an education. He feels if he can’t play baseball, “I'm a pretty dang good fisherman, so I might pursue professional fishing," Zumaya said with a shrug.” This still today pisses me off more than any other thing that has to deal with professional sports. This shows how pathetic some of these athletes really are.
Consequences will always be a factor when it comes to fame. Some of these factors could be steroid use, or loss of family, gambling, drugs. All these events are possible factors that can happen due to the fact that they have. First we can start with the Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds situation. Both are facing court actions because of using performance enhancing steroids. In Barry Bonds case he used them to get healthy and be able to come back to baseball sooner after an injury. Roger Clemens used the drugs and lied in front of the court and said it never happened. This made the case a lot worse but his lawyer states “What guy would go to Congress and lie under oath knowing what the consequences would be?”, which I find to be very true. Also, “The case has always been about one man’s insistence on clearing his name, against all odds”. So both of these athletes have had their names dragged through the mud.
Contributing to the consequences of fame is losing family members. I’m not saying in death, but in divorce. Tiger Woods is known to be the highest paid athlete in the world. Even with all the fame and glory it couldn’t stop his urge to go outside his marriage. With stardom you will always have the people who envy you or even want to be with you. That put a big effect on Tiger Woods life and family which will never be the same. This made me as an golf fan lose respect for Tiger. As I believe many did. According to http://www.dailymail.co.uk Tigers closest friend Steven William after twelve years of caddying for the golfer and was fired shortly after the scandal and said “Well, I think when you're great friends with somebody and a situation like this occurs, you obviously lose some kind of respect.” This proves my point.
After everything that has happened today in sports not everything is bad as I have made it out to be. The good is still in some people like the late but still legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell. According to http://sports.espn.go.com Ernie had said that “"In America, we have a tendency to knock down anything that's over 30 years old and make a parking lot out of it," the 89-year-old Hall of Fame member said. "Whereas in Europe, they preserve all these beautiful buildings and structures that have a history. I sort of like the European approach." This meaning that he wanted to save the Park and make it into a community field for “a venue for boxing, amateur football and amateur baseball with 10,000 to 14,000 seats”, which too many of people isn’t a bad idea. This is an example of just one person looking to help thousands with just one gesture.
Even when someone has passed away good deeds can still be accomplished for the underprivileged. Tim Horton passed away in 1974, leaving behind one of the biggest coffee chains in North America. But he started the fundraiser Camp Day, which made 9.9million last year, coming from http://www.mlive.com. This one fundraiser that happens once a year impacts hundreds of lives for youths and gives them the ability to go beyond their potential and believe in something. Little actions or contributions from one sports athlete can influence millions, even at one step at a time.
In the end what should be done? Arguing that the money made is well spent or well donated is opinion based. Believing that good things can be done are at the liberty of our sport stars. They control what they feel is right and how they want to impact the lives of the fans. It can all be made to be something big or little. One small impact can change the lives of not only our stars but those who look up to them. The fans for once will be reaping the reward after contributing to those who they love to watch play the sport that they enjoy. All good can come from random acts of kindness, and as it has been said big things come in small packages.
The root of all evil is how or what the problem with Pro athletes and what is affected by their poor choices. Whether it being not going to college, or taking the easy to get healthy by doing steroids. Their behavior is unacceptable and can have a huge effect on those who look up to athletes and find them to be there role model.
Today, the biggest issue with the sports athlete is how they cannot come to terms on being paid. This strikes upon those who enjoy the sport. They want all the money they can squeeze out of the owner of the team to play. The sad part is that sometimes they don’t even produce. Setting all that aside, what can we imagine all the athletes even doing with the money that they are being paid? According to mlive.com, Detroit Tiger Justin Verlander made a plea to have his own cereal brand. If you walk down the cereal isle of your local Meijer today, you will find Justin Verlander Fastball Flakes. Does he really need to make any more money? Looking at espn.com, he signed an 80 million dollar contract for five years in 2010. That means that he will make 16 million each year plus bonuses. With all that money I find no reason for him to want to have his on cereal brand. When he found out they weren’t selling that well he said “Come on, Detroit, buy them”. It blows my mind when you see a millionaire pleading to the lower class to buy a box of cereal that will make him more money.
When an athlete or performer has no other alternative when they can no longer play sports they go to television for the answer. Former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona, was fired after the RedSox failed to make the playoffs in 2011. No more than two days later he was a telecaster for ESPN. How crazy is that? The economy isn’t the best right now and people are fighting for jobs, but when a higher named person applies for a job or needs one, its handed to them in a heartbeat. Also a huge example of this is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He was a college athlete until he hurt, then a professional wrestler until he felt he could make more money becoming a movie star. But then all has changed in a blink of an eye again. No more than 2 weeks ago, The Rock wrestled again for the first time in 7 years. And of course he won at WrestleMania to keep fans on their feet wanting more. Many professional entertainers go from wrestling to movies because they have nothing else to rely on.
This leads into the case of how many professional athletes have no real college underneath their belts. The No.1 basketball star Lebron James came right from high school like many other athletes and skipped college to go pro. I’m not saying that, that is bad in any way but what happens when you get hurt? When you make millions of dollars each year, how hard is it to go to school and take a few classes during the offseason? In a couple years you can earn a degree and always have a backup plan. Or, follow your dreams to become a professional fisherman after you have a failing baseball career like former Tiger Joel Zumaya. This year Joel signed a guaranteed $400,000 contract. Like his prior years he got hurt again, and is pretty much calling it quits. But because he is a professional athlete he feels that he should take the money and run while it’s still there, rather than going to school and pursuing an education. He feels if he can’t play baseball, “I'm a pretty dang good fisherman, so I might pursue professional fishing," Zumaya said with a shrug.” This still today pisses me off more than any other thing that has to deal with professional sports. This shows how pathetic some of these athletes really are.
Consequences will always be a factor when it comes to fame. Some of these factors could be steroid use, or loss of family, gambling, drugs. All these events are possible factors that can happen due to the fact that they have. First we can start with the Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds situation. Both are facing court actions because of using performance enhancing steroids. In Barry Bonds case he used them to get healthy and be able to come back to baseball sooner after an injury. Roger Clemens used the drugs and lied in front of the court and said it never happened. This made the case a lot worse but his lawyer states “What guy would go to Congress and lie under oath knowing what the consequences would be?”, which I find to be very true. Also, “The case has always been about one man’s insistence on clearing his name, against all odds”. So both of these athletes have had their names dragged through the mud.
Contributing to the consequences of fame is losing family members. I’m not saying in death, but in divorce. Tiger Woods is known to be the highest paid athlete in the world. Even with all the fame and glory it couldn’t stop his urge to go outside his marriage. With stardom you will always have the people who envy you or even want to be with you. That put a big effect on Tiger Woods life and family which will never be the same. This made me as an golf fan lose respect for Tiger. As I believe many did. According to http://www.dailymail.co.uk Tigers closest friend Steven William after twelve years of caddying for the golfer and was fired shortly after the scandal and said “Well, I think when you're great friends with somebody and a situation like this occurs, you obviously lose some kind of respect.” This proves my point.
After everything that has happened today in sports not everything is bad as I have made it out to be. The good is still in some people like the late but still legendary broadcaster Ernie Harwell. According to http://sports.espn.go.com Ernie had said that “"In America, we have a tendency to knock down anything that's over 30 years old and make a parking lot out of it," the 89-year-old Hall of Fame member said. "Whereas in Europe, they preserve all these beautiful buildings and structures that have a history. I sort of like the European approach." This meaning that he wanted to save the Park and make it into a community field for “a venue for boxing, amateur football and amateur baseball with 10,000 to 14,000 seats”, which too many of people isn’t a bad idea. This is an example of just one person looking to help thousands with just one gesture.
Even when someone has passed away good deeds can still be accomplished for the underprivileged. Tim Horton passed away in 1974, leaving behind one of the biggest coffee chains in North America. But he started the fundraiser Camp Day, which made 9.9million last year, coming from http://www.mlive.com. This one fundraiser that happens once a year impacts hundreds of lives for youths and gives them the ability to go beyond their potential and believe in something. Little actions or contributions from one sports athlete can influence millions, even at one step at a time.
In the end what should be done? Arguing that the money made is well spent or well donated is opinion based. Believing that good things can be done are at the liberty of our sport stars. They control what they feel is right and how they want to impact the lives of the fans. It can all be made to be something big or little. One small impact can change the lives of not only our stars but those who look up to them. The fans for once will be reaping the reward after contributing to those who they love to watch play the sport that they enjoy. All good can come from random acts of kindness, and as it has been said big things come in small packages.