Should College Athletes Get Paid?

        People have debated whether or not college athletes should be paid for a long time. There are good arguments for either side of this argument. In the end, it would be for the best that college athletes do get paid. Yes, they do get money already off their education, but why should they have a little spending cash? These athletes are not able to work because for most sports it is full time. These athletes are not able to make any extra money while playing these sports. They are still normal people. These athletes need to have money to buy food, clothes, and even just things that they want.

         The main argument against college athletes making money is that they are already getting "paid" (scholarships), so why should they get even more money? People say they would be paid too much money since they are already getting paid for their education. In certain places, government officials have already ruled that football players are employees of the university, not student athletes. In this case, they would be able to form a union and fight for certain working conditions. If this were the case, they could make the case to be paid for the time they put into the sport.
     
        Not all athletes that go to college are rich and can just be given money by their parents. They need a source of money, and they shouldn't have to worry about making a decision to either play their sport, or work. They put in a lot more time and effort more than someone does sitting in McDonalds flipping burgers. Now they should not make the amount of money anywhere close to NFL player do. For football and basketball, there is a ton of money that is produced from the events. They should at least be paid a percentage of what money their events are bringing to the college. If not, have some rate per game, or even an hourly pay at minimum wage. Give them something that allows them to have some extra money to spend on things they need and want.

        College athletes should not be worrying whether or not they have enough money to eat. Money doesn't just appear out of nowhere. Normal students and athletes alike should not have to rely on their parents for money. The only difference is most athletes are unable to work due to the amount of time their sport takes up. Basketball and football even  bring in money for the college, so the people who make the events happen (athletes) should get a percentage or share of the revenue.

They're in a league of their own alright

        There are a few reasons as to why women's sports rarely succeed as professional sports. The only two that have survived are basketball and softball. A big reason why softball survives is because not a lot of men play softball. One could say it is more of a "women's sport". Women's basketball will always be a mystery to me. It has nothing to do with gender, but these players aren't Lebron or Kobe. It's a matter of skill and talent that can not and has not been brought to the plate by the WNBA. People like to watch fun and exciting games which is why I will never watch women's basketball. I would have thought if anything, women's soccer would be there instead of basketball because soccer is a world sport. They could find a way to make an international league for women's soccer. Women's softball could be considered "more popular" because nobody watches men's softball if that's even a thing. Basketball is pretty popular, but I don't know one person that will sit down and watch women's basketball. Soccer is obviously the world's most popular sport. Under that lie football, hockey, basketball, and baseball. (Not in any order).

Trans what?

1. The MMA should treat Fallon Fox like genetics intended her to be treated... like a man. This dude grew up, wrestled, and joined the Navy. You can never truly switch genders therefore he should be treated as genetics intended.

2. Depending on the sport and the gender change, yes. HE WAS IN THE NAVY. Don't try and tell me this guy doesn't have an advantage over the women that he is facing. No matter what way you look at it, it's some dude that doesn't want to be a dude beating the bag out of women for money. Wow. Great life.

3. I would not compete against some confused and scientifically altered human. 

4. They should have their own league of scientifically altered human fighters.

What is a Sport?

        Uh oh... here we go again. One of these "what is a sport arguments", except its one sided and being written down. Now, let's try to keep this as simple as possible. Two common terms that will be stated are "indirect competitions" and "direct competitions". Anything can be a competition, but that doesn't make it a sport. If people were to competitively drunk drive, that would not be a sport, although racing is a sport. So there could be two parts to defining whether something is a sport. One could be the difference between being a direct or indirect competition and the other could be whether it is accepted as a sport by society.

        Lets start of with the direct competitions. Some examples of a direct competition are football, soccer, hockey, basketball, lacrosse, rugby, baseball and so on. All these have direct contact with opposing teams. The amount of people on the team does not matter. It does not have to be a contact sport either. Tennis involves no physical contact between the two players. The definition of a sport to me is : anything that is a direct competition between two teams, contact or not, requiring physical activity and having some way to win either by scoring points and or completing an objective.

        

        Then, we have an indirect competition. This is where neither teams come in contact and often take turns for their performances. Here we have dance, cheer-leading, restaurants on opposite sides of the street, and many other argument inspiring activities. This is where I come back to the point where a competition does not make something a sport. Although some people just need to believe that their hobby, activity, or competition is a sport for some reason, sometimes we must come back to reality and point out that just because it is something you like doing, it is not a sport. It doesn't matter how long you have been doing it. It doesn't matter how much physical exertion is required. If it is not a direct competition I will always not accept it as a sport. 

       
        The one thing that passes this law is golf. Why? It is not a direct competition. Golf is somehow the only one that passes these laws unless there is some other one that I am missing. It seems everyone has just accepted golf as a sport for some reason, returning to my point in the first paragraph. Society deemed it a sport, so it must be true. But how far can society go? Could I wake up one morning and all of a sudden football isn't a sport anymore because society said so?  I don't know. I don't want to know. And we will never know what actually defines a sport.

Ken Ross

I do not agree with the punishment because it was an invasion of privacy, he was set up, and in his own home. In what United States of America do you not have freedom of speech and of privacy in your own home?

NHL Playoffs

You saw it here first, the perfect NHL playoff picture. Now everyone knows it comes down to the mascots. Never mind who they are actually playing. So lets automatically eliminate the Blues, the Stars, the Wild, the Redwings, Flyers, and the Blue Jackets. Now, we move on to survival of the fittest. A fight between the Sharks, Blackhawks, Penguins, Bruins, and Ducks. Sorry, but the Ducks and Penguins are out. It was a valiant effort by the Hawks, but the Bruins weren't able to be stopped by the winged rats. The land V.S water battle will be decided by the elements. Now we have an Avalanche, and some Lightning. Well this one is easy. Avalanche is snow, snow is water, and water conducts electricity. Lightning beats Avalanche. Now we come back to decide the fight between the Bruins and the Sharks. Well, back to the whole water thing, it looks like the Shark is in for a shocking surprise...(punpunpun). All we have left are the Bruins, Lightning, Canadiens, Kings, and the Rangers. I don't know how the Canadiens are still in it... so they are out. Then we have the Kings... what are they the kings of? Losing? They are out. Okay so we have the Rangers. Now are they Army Rangers or park Rangers? Having to question their identity...out. It's down to the Bruins and Lightning I guess. Well Lightning isn't a living thing, and last time I checked you had to be alive to win the Stanley Cup. SO by a default the Bruins win. Don't question it.

The Bounty Hunters

So there's been a huge bust in the NFL regarding bounty hunters. That's right, and no I'm not talking about Boba Fett, Greedo, or Bossk. I'm talking about the New Orleans Saints. Not fictional characters created by the genius mind of George Lucas.  This is a real bounty system made up by an NFL team. The NFL had discovered that the New Orleans Saints weren't really Saints after all. They found out the Saints had held a secret slush fund that was dedicated to these bounty hunters. What were the bounties for? They were used for motivation for Saints players to make "big plays". The bounties were really conducted in the hopes that a defensive player would target the best opponent players, aiming to injure the opponent, making them incapable of playing. This is an absolutely unjust, unfair, and absolutely prosecutable way of playing the game. This should never happen in any sport. People almost forget the fact that IT IS A GAME. Why is there a need to eliminate a player's ability to play, and possibly their whole career just because you want to win a GAME. Pathetic.
The whole system was manufactured by defensive players including the defensive coordinator, Greg Williams. The head coach even knew it was going on! Sean Peyton knew about the bounty system and even gave his approval of it. Wow. Good thing most of the people involved (We still probably don't even know half) got suspended. Sean Peyton was gone for a year. Some players got suspended... for a little bit and then the suspensions were overturned. Oh, but dont worry! Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for this fierce offense (more like defense)...punpunpun. Oh? Where is he now? Ah don't worry there's no way he's a coach anymore... Oh he is? Where? Oh he's on the Rams. What a surprise. They are desperate enough. Don't tell me he's the defensive coordinator again... Oh he is? Wow... Let's give Adolf Hitler another chance at being ruler while we are at it too. Maybe both of them will run things differently this time. I don't know if I'm the only one that thinks this is a lot more serious than people put it, but the NFL absolutely did not do enough to penalize or even prosecute the guilty party.

Sandusky... Just Another Case

Things like this have happened over and over and over and over. Whether it is true or not, we will never know. We will never know if Ben Roethlisberger actually raped two women. We never never know if Michael Jackson actually molested little boys. We will never know if Sandusky did something similar. But we do know that they all have one common factor. It all ends up being about money. It's never about what happened, its always about how much money the "victims" will get out of it. Money is power, and these big stars have a lot of power. "Regular people" don't have enough money to pay for all these lawyers and to bail themselves out of jail. The more money you have, the longer you can stall the case. That's why cases like the Hernandez case are still going on. Half of these cases would have been done a long time ago if there was not a lot of money involved. It's not just professional athletes and coaches. It's whoever and wherever all the money is.

Sports Related Question

Should NFL players be forced to speak to the media? There has been lots of talk since Marshawn Lynch has been fined 50,000$ for not talking to the media for the whole season. Is that fair? Why should he be forced to speak to the media? Some people are just not comfortable going up and talking to people. Especially when its for the NFL, and its being recorded for people to see... forever. There are many players who love the spotlight and love to answer the media's questions. Why force the ones that don't to do it as well?

Joey D all around Athlete.

 More and more people are beginning to play sports. A lot of people choose one sport that they love and stick with it. Joey D has been a part of three different sports. "I have played basketball, baseball, and football. All these sports have brought great moments, but Joey D has one that he especially remembers. "My team beat the all time single game scoring record for Pop Warner football." That is a great achievement to have reached and one to always remember. Playing in three different sports brings that many more chances to get injuries. We asked Joey D if he had suffered any major injuries and he said" Yeah, I have broken four bones in my right hand." The hand is one of the most important tools in your whole life, and a major factor of playing many sports. To be able to go through that, and continue doing what you love, knowing the risks is always incredible. Joey D has had his fair share in big games, so we asked him what its was like to score in one. "It is a good feeling. It feels like the camera is on you and everyone is cheering for you. It gets you excited and even more pumped up." Many athletes experience something that they call being in the zone. We asked Joey if he ever experienced it and he said, "Yeah, in a game of basketball I banged 13 three pointers in a row. It was like nobody could break my focus."

Andrew Steele Basketball Prodigy

Trying to figure out exactly what it's like to be an athlete is really hard for people that aren't athletes. That's why we have interviewed Andrew Steele, an uprising basketball prodigy. "I play basketball and I used to play baseball" just one of his many famous quotes. In any sport, moments are created and remembered for the rest of your life. When asked what the biggest sporting moment he was a part of, he said "The biggest moment in sports I have been a part of was winning the basketball championship in recreational basketball". All legends start somewhere. Basketball is a tough sport. People put the health of their bodies on the line for the game, and unfortunately, injuries do occur. "Yeah, I tore a ligament in my right ankle. I was out for three months" says Andrew. That is just absolutely touching. Being able to heal that injury and bounce back to continue to do what you love is just incredible. Being in the big game is an absolutely different story. We asked Andrew what it feels like to score in a big game and he said "It feels good because your helping your team win, and the crowd gets out of control when you score." The only way to experience it is to be a part of it. The final question o Andrew was if he was ever in the zone. He said "Yeah, one game I had 30 points and I was just hitting shot after shot after shot. It felt like it was just me and my team on in that building. No outside distractions." The level of focus when somebody is in the zone is outstanding. Athletes can block out anything and everything from the outside world. The only thing that means anything to them is what is going on in the game at that moment. Andrew Steele is a god.

The World's First Olympic Slopestyle Gold Medalist.

Sage Kotsenberg is an Olympic snowboarder who has a long line of TV appearances and publicity ahead of him. Sage was the first American Olympian to win a gold medal in Sochi, and the first person ever to win a gold medal in slopestyle. He made his first U.S open debut at the age of 12. When he was 16, he won the silver in slopestyle at the European X Games in 2010. He was the first one to land a "cab double cork 1440" in February 2011. He then went on to take third place at the 2011 Arctic Challenge. Later that year, he was named to the U.S Snowboarding Slopestyle Pro Team in December. At the Winter X Games XVI in 2012, Sage won the silver. Sage seemed to be desperate for Gold once he got in the Olympics as he attempted a trick he had never tried before. Along with the trick he had never attempted before, his run also featured his signature trick which was called "The Holy Crail".

Michael Sam's Arrival

I believe the NFL will be forced to accept Michael Sam, whether or not the players like it. Any negative comments against him will be the top headline of any sports page, and that person will be under fire by the majority of people. There will be more like Sam.

Hernandez Could Walk

There were many things that led to Aaron Hernandez's eventual downfall. Aaron Hernandez's short career is already considered one of the best. Although he was an outstanding athlete and football player, his brutal past has finally emerged and gotten in the way of his success. From his fathers death, to his acceptance of his gangster friends, Hernandez has been traveling down the wrong road for far too long. This outstanding athlete had so much going for him. From being an all star tight end in high school, all the way to the NFL, he had a lot of background that a lot of people would not want to happen to them. His father died when he was 12 years old due to an infection of getting an operation. His mother then proceeded to marry an abusive coke dealer. She also got arrested when Hernandez was young which has been said to be the turning point of how Hernandez felt about his mom. There were many hardships in his life, but his father's death was the hardest to deal with. Hernandez has been a completely different person since. His father was a man who only wanted Hernandez and his brother to succeed. The thing is, they did. Hernandez's brother, DJ, was a 2 year captain at Connecticut, where he played quarterback for three years and wide receiver for two. Aaron Hernandez starred as a tight end in high school, putting up massive numbers rarely if not never seen by a tight end in high school. In college, he played at Florida alongside Tim Tebow, Maurkice Pouncey, and Mike Pouncey. Even Tim Tebow's powers were not enough to save the meantally scarred Aaron Hernandez. Now that's saying something. Hernandez had a series of encounters with police, scruffs at bars, drug problems, and many other problematic police encounters. Most of these problems can be attributed to his adoption of gangster friends after his fathers death. Some say he got the friends because they "stick together until the end". These gangsters could be capitalizing oh Hernandez's need for a father role, using him for his money, and getting him involved in things that could and obviously have gotten him in a lot of trouble. The thing that could let Hernandez go, is the fact that he has a LOOOOOOOOOTT of money. Even though he has no access to his assets, he can bribe people by saying that he will pay them a lot of money if he walks. This is what seems to be letting him get this far in the case in the first place.

Super...Blowout haaaaaa got 'em

Well... I was not prepared to be writing about this game as a complete blowout, but here we go. This game was lopsided and nobody was able to predict what happened on that field. Right off the bat, a non-baseball Manny Ramirez snapped the ball over the giant forehead of Peyton Manning. All Manning could do was sit there with a mortified look on his face as the football flew by him out of his control on the first snap of the game. The ball was to be recovered by a Broncos player in the end-zone, causing a safety. After that completely demoralizing play, everything went downhill from there. Malcolm Smith picked off one of Peyton Manning's "ducks" and returned it for a touchdown. Then we have Jermaine Kearse getting spun out of 5 tackles and making his way into the end-zone. On a similar play Doug Baldwin looked like he was going to be stopped by 3 Broncos but ended up making them all break their ankles and dodged, ducked, dipped, dive, and dodge his way into the end-zone. On a kick return, Matt Prater thought he would be smart and kick it away from Percy Harvin, but that didn't help much. Harvin returned the kick for a touchdown just 12 seconds into the 3rd quarter. The Seahwaks absolutely dominated this game, and Peyton Manning didn't even have a chance for his offense. Nobody on the Broncos played well, while everybody on the Seahawks played to their full potential. There was not really one absolute star of the game, although Malcolm Smith won the MVP award for leading the Seahawks in tackles and returning that interception for a touchdown. I think it was a good game overall, and I am glad it was not altered with in any way...(not shutting off the lights to try and alter the outcome). The half-time show... was the half time show. It was exactly as they said it would be which is a bit disappointing having no surprises. Bruno Mars played two songs that we have heard a thousand times. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were the only real save to that halftime show other than the fact that they dedicated the last Bruno Mars song to the troops. The commercials were absolutely disappointing, with no really funny ones and no big trailers for any movies. I believe that there is a plot to save all the really funny commercials for Super Bowl 50. That will be the biggest event of all time just because its one of those even number anniversaries. Oh yeah, I couldn't believe the amount of snow and the super low temperatures... I don't know how they were able to play through those extreme conditions! (Sarcasm)

Supah' Bowl

This Super Bowl is going to be a super bowl. If you don't get it, don't ask. This is a game that could go either way and if played multiple times, it could have many different results. The Denver Broncos have had a beyond outstanding year, breaking multiple records. Two of those records now belong to Peyton Manning himself. He broke the season long touchdown pass record with 55 touchdowns and the season long passing yard record with 5,477. The Denver Broncos as a whole also broke the season long total points record with 606 points. After breaking all these records, the Broncos now have a chance at winning the Super Bowl. The Seattle Seahawks have had a dominating year as well on both offense and defense. Marshawn Lynch dominating with the running and their defense being nearly unstoppable. Russell Wilson has been a bit shaky thought leading into and throughout the playoffs. Richard Sherman... do I need to say more? The Seattle defense managed to allow the least points for the season as well as the least average points allowed per game. The Super Bowl looks like it is going to be a game of the best offense versus the best defense. The deciding factor will be if the opposite sides (Denver defense and Seattle offense) can make some big plays. In the end, I think the game could go either way. If Russell Wilson can get his $%!* together, Marshawn can dominate the ground game, and Richard Sherman... can be Richard Sherman, the Seahawks have a good chance at winning this game. Although, if Denver can prove the stats wrong and put up a lot of points with Manning yelling "Omaha" 50 thousand times throwing to one of his four outstanding offensive weapons, they have a good chance of winning this game as well. The only reason why I would want the Denver Broncos to win is so that Peyton Manning can cap off his incredible season with a Super Bowl win.

Academics aren't Everything

All the video does is complain about how student athletes shouldn't make it through due to their academic level of performance. Not everybody is academically inclined, and not everyone should be. People are born as athletes and are not meant to be put through years and years and years and years of school. Yes, many of them are "reading at a 4th grade level and shouldn't be making it through college", but where else are they supposed to go? What are they supposed to do? Go live in the street because they are more physically inclined than they are academically? There are not special schools for these athletes and they have absolutely nowhere else to go. Colleges let these "academically challenged" students into their college because they need athletes to compete in sports. While there are students who can maintain their sport and their education, there are many people who can compete even better although their academic performance may not be "at the right level". Physical and athletic performance should be (if not already) treated as the same level of importance.