Reflecting on the Shame of College Sports: Should NCAA Division I Basketball and Football Players Get Paid?

Over the years, the debate on whether or not college athletes should get paid has increased dramatically.  From my personal experience, including different speeches from classmate athletes, I believe that collegiate athletes have every right to be paid for their services to the university.  These athletes make sacrifices not just for themselves, but for the pride of their schools.  Laura Pappano (2012) writes,  "Classes are cancelled to accommodate broadcasts schedules, and new research suggests that fandom can affect academic performance" (2).  The growing broadcasts of games have affected the reputations of universities by attracting students strictly for their sporting events as well as the crowds they attract from the general public.  Students and the general public are coming to see their favorite collegiate athletes perform and these athletes deserve to be rewarded for the sacrifice and performances.

I have often thought about this topic because sporting events here at CU as well as any university brings the students together more than any other event of their college careers, other than commencement and welcome week.  These events are affecting me and the University I attend and the athletes my friends and I are going to see deserve all the credit for making that happen.

Once the Cheering Stops: The Life of a Retired Pro-Athlete

From the readings, it seems as if in many ways the life of a retired pro-athlete can be mentally and emotionally draining. Athletes are confused after their sport careers as to how to manage their time and resources.  Even more mentally challenging is the idea of not being at the top anymore.  Jeff Chadiha (2012) was quoting Tiki Barber when he said, "it's hard for an athlete because you take a different path when you leave college than other kids.  Once you get into that game [corporate business], your peers are much higher than you and you're 30-something years old.  You feel like you really can't catch up" (7).

Aside from the injuries and hard hits athletes experience throughout their careers, they have been guided and told what and how to do things their whole lives and this is why I believe it is a hard transition for them.  Now, it is up to them to make the decision as for what move needs to be made next.  No longer are they able to go to their coaches and ask how they can improve on their job.  Now, they must turn to the resources they have and find whatever success they can with them.

This is a very difficult subject to develop an opinion on.  One the one hand, you look at the successful sport careers of many of these athletes and you can only praise them for the hard work and dedication they put into their job.  Then, you have to look at their 2nd careers outside of sport and judge them on how well they can perform a task off the field.  The real question I think we need to ask about them is "was it all worth it?"      

Sports, Politics, and the Olympics

In the Summer of 1996 during the Olympic games held in Atlanta, a man by the name of Eric Rudolph had detonated three pipe bombs on the Centennial Olympic Park and was held responsible for killing 2 people and injuring 111.  Sources believe that the motive of Rudolph was related to the Government's sanctioning of abortion during this time.  After discovering the ALICE Pack in which the pipe bombs were being held in, security guard Richard Jewell informed the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.  Originally, Jewell had been a suspect in the crime by the FBI, but was later dismissed of all charges one year later after another similar bombing took place in 1997.  Rudolph had then become the top suspect by the FBI.

I believe that Sage and Eitzen's use of the Olympics as a site for political demonstrations and violence is best connected with this incident, specifically with Eric Rudolph's motive behind the crime.  Because Rudolph felt that our government was depriving him of something, he took direct action to demonstrate backlash against the government.  The authors suggest that "sport and sporting events were used by revolutionaries and reformers to attack racism and American involvement in Vietnam" (203).  Instead of attacking racism and our war in Vietnam, Rudolph had been attacking abortion laws in the US.

I disagree with the idea that sport is pure and free of politics.  After all, professional sport and Olympic sport are multi-billion dollar industries in which the stakeholders wish to be paid the appropriate amount.  However, I will say that early on, sport may have been more pure relative to today's sport industry; nevertheless, it has always been a business and will continue to be affiliated with politics.