Outside Source

I emailed several sports writers for my research project about how fantasy sports affects the way people now watch sports. The one writer that got back to me was Steve Wulf, the former executive editor for ESPN The Magazine, and still writes for the magazine today. He told me that he was part of one of the first fantasy baseball leagues ever back in 1980 which I thought was really cool. He said that you will often find yourself rooting for players on a team that are opposing your team in real life just because you have them on your fantasy team. He said one positive is that it has caused more people to gain interest in watching sports. The main negative he brought up was that fantasy has changed rooting interests from geographical and legacy allegiances to interests based on how much money you stand to win or lose.

Title IX Impact

Title IX is an NCAA ruling that says there must be the same amount of extracurricular activities for females as there are for males. So basically if there is baseball, football, wrestling and basketball for guys there must also be 4 athletic programs for girls as well. This ruling is true to this day although men's sports brings in about 85% of the revenue from athletic programs. While it looks good on the surface, this program has caused problem and controversy for colleges. The main reason is because men's sports have had to be dropped from a college because not enough girls were interested in playing a sport. So if they had to take a girl's sport away, they also had to take away a men's sport as well. I think that this rule should apply unless the sports for girls aren't gaining enough participation. The college should then be able to drop the female's sport but still keep the men's sport. I don't think its fair that a college might drop girls volleyball because 3 girls are interested and then have to drop boys wrestling when there are 40 or 50 guys in the program.

Feeding NCAA Athletes

In the past, NCAA athletes have said how they go hungry and don't know how they are gonna eat each night. Colleges have taken advantage of this by making their food plans part of their recruitment process. Many of the colleges are giving athletes unlimited food plans so they can eat basically whenever they need to and don't have to worry about when they are going to eat next. Colleges are also creating entire nutritional facilities to go along with their food plans and are all trying to make the best one to get athletes even more convinced to go to their college. After seeing students in previous years, such as Shabazz Napier, complain about going hungry, these new nutritional centers and unlimited food and snacks plans will certainly sway some students decisions on which college to attend.

NCAA Coaches Salaries

There is continuing debates about whether or not NCAA athletes should get paid considering how much time and work they put into their sports and also because they are shown on TV. The coaches, however, are getting paid and are getting paid a substantial amount at that. A recent report came out showing how much the coaches for the NCAA football teams are making. This report shows the pay of 121 college football coaches. Not a single coach from this report makes under $360,000 while some of the bigger school coaches make millions. This includes the highest paid coach Nick Saban of Alabama making over $7,000,000. Other top paid coaches include Jim Harbaugh, Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops all making at least $5,000,000 a year. 71 different coaches are making upwards of $1,000,000 a year. This is controversial because the people coaching the college football teams are making all this money while the students that are actually on the field doing the dirty work are making nothing at all. You'd think if the coaches are making so much money, then it would not hurt to give the players some money as well. Even just a little bit of money to would clear up a lot of the controversy as it does not seem fair to give coaches so much money and none to the players.

 

Mission Statement

Our mission for our high school sports is to have a learning environment where kids will enjoy themselves. At the same time we will try and have a good level of competitiveness without going too far and putting winning in front of the kids, and end up making it not a fun time for them. We will have fair tryouts for all of the kids and if someone does it make it for one sport, they will be encouraged to go out for another sport so they are still involved. We will make sure there is always something for each individual to do and have fun with and learn from. For the learning aspect, we will make sure there is time for everyone to learn and the best kids aren't getting all of the attention. Overall, we just want a program that kids will want to be apart of, not regret, and look forward to doing. 

http://www.shoreregional.org/Page/315

https://squalicum.bellinghamschools.org/athletic-mission-statement

Biggest Headline in Sports 2015

There were lots of big stories throughout all of sports in 2015, but the one that I believe was the biggest one was Deflategate. This was when news came out that the New England Patriots had knowledge that the footballs in the playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts had less air pressure in them. With the Patriots having knowledge of this, it would give them an unfair advantage in the game. This started a whole long debate about whether the Patriots were doing this all year and if they can deserve credit for winning all the games, especially the Colts playoff game. The Patriots ended up losing their draft pick for the upcoming draft and Tom Brady went under a long trial where he was originally suspended for the first 4 games of the 2015 NFL season. Just before the season however, his appeal for the suspension won and he ended up playing from the start of the season.

+/-'s of High School Sports

              There are several positives and negatives to high school sports. One positive that can be taken from high school sports is that it generates unity among students. It brings kids together as they work and practice together and kids can built strong relationships with their teammates that may not have happened had they not been on the same team. Another positive that can be taken from high school sports is that it gets students involved. Many students do not like to get involved at their school, but one major thing that can change this is sports. Just the overall fact that they are active and doing something relating to their school is a major positive that comes from sports in high school. One more positive would be that high school sports can build self esteem for someone. With coaches and teammates around you supporting and helping you out, it can make someone feel better and more confident about themself.
              Along with the positives of high school sports, there are also some negatives as well. One major negative that could come with high school sports is that it can distract students from academics. Most sports require a lot of a students time and effort. This can be tiring for some students so when they aren't at practice or a game, they don't feel like doing any schoolwork and just want to relax. One more problem that people might have with high school sports would be that it wastes resources. Some people think that the money used on sports is way too much and that money could be used on academics and other things that benefit the school more.

Article against high school sports: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case-against-high-school-sports/309447/

Article for high school sports: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/high-school-sports-arent-killing-academics/280155/