Greg Hardy's Domestic Abuse Controversy

While the NFL this season has been unnaturally silent on news with players making bad decisions and getting suspended, the one story that has been going on all season is the one revolving Greg Hardy and his incident with domestic abuse. Dating back to last season, allegations came our involving Hardy assaulting his girlfriend which led to him being released by the Panthers. Hardy ended up getting a signed by the Cowboys and then received a ten game suspension which was later reduced to four games. Most recently, Hardy is off his suspension and playing for the Cowboys, however, graphic pictures have surfaced showing what Hardy did to his girlfriend. These pictures have led to people wanting Hardy suspended again, but since the NFL has already suspended him once for this case, it is up to the Cowboys organization to make any further suspensions. The only problem with this is that the Cowboys seem to be behind Hardy 100% and don't think he needs to be disciplined anymore for what he has done. In my opinion, I don't think the pictures surfacing should be a deciding reason for him being suspended more as the NFL should have suspended him for a longer time period in first place. The reason I say this is because there were reports that the NFL had already seen the pictures when they originally suspended Hardy. This should have led to more than just a four game suspension as they knew what he did, and pictures shouldn't be needed to seen to show how wrong what he did was.

Violence and Bad Parenting in Youth Sports

All across America, there have been acts of violence in all of the different youth sports. There have been crazy stories that have come out in recent years showing just how bad parents are getting when it comes to their kids and the sport they play. One story was about a man who was a referee in a soccer game and had a coach break a couple bones in his face because the ref called off the game. The coach was upset with how the man was calling the game and kept yelling at the ref to the point where he called off the game. This enraged the coach so much that he confronted the ref and assaulted him and badly broke some bones in the ref's face. Aside from this there have also been stories of things getting to the point of man being murdered at a hockey practice.

An interesting fact is that out of the 20 million kids that participate in youth sports, 70 percent of them end up quitting with the main reason being that they weren't having fun anymore. This can almost be directly related to coaches and parents taking the sports too serious and taking out the main reason kids play sports: to have fun. There have been stories of coaches and parents getting so upset to the point where they are yelling at, hitting, and even choking their kids and other kids on the teams.

I think that all of this going on in youth sports is crazy. Parents and coaches are taking the youth sports to another level of competition as they seem to care more about the results of the games more about the actual kids do themselves. The level of seriousness they have is causing kids everywhere to lose interest and end up quitting their respective sports. Parents and coaches need to realize the games their kids are playing in are meaningless at that young of an age and need to learn to have a level head when watching and coaching a game.

Gambling on Youth Football

Youth football is supposed to be about having fun and learning teamwork for young kids. In some places however, there are much more sinister events taking place during these games. What has been happening is people have been gambling on youth football. One area where this has been happening frequently is in South Florida. An ESPN investigation has caught people on video in the stands exchanging money as they are making bets on the game. Previous players for this team in South Florida told stories of how gamblers would give him money so he would play a certain way and affect the outcome of the game. Along with the gambling, there are stories and worries of gamblers getting mad about losing money and taking violent measures to get out their frustration.

The ESPN investigation shows what crazy things people will do to try and make money. These gamblers are taking a game meant for kids to have fun and turning it into a scheme to make money. This occurring in a youth South Florida league shows that gambling is more than likely happening in several youth leagues all throughout the United States, not just in football, but in other sports as well. It's crazy that people are taking an innocent game for kids and turning it into a business for themselves.

Comments For Kids

The organization, Comments for Kids, is a way for bloggers to get their blogs more known and also get feedback on them as well. This is a great tool because it shows kids that are working hard on their blogs that people are reading their blogs and appreciating their work. People can tell the kids what they are doing well, and then give them feedback on things they may want to try and implement into their blogs as well. Getting a comment from someone other than a classmate or teacher can make a kids days as they realize people are actually enjoying what they are working hard on. If done correctly, I believe Comments for Kids can actually be a pretty useful tool.

Negative of the Pink Movement

While there is good that comes with the pink movement of the NFL, there is also a good amount of negative things that come with it as well. The pink movement is meant to raise awareness for breast cancer and also raise money for it as well. The controversy that comes with all of this is that many people have raised concerns as to how much money the NFL actually donates to breast cancer. Every year in October, people go crazy and buy all kinds of different types of pink equipment for their football games, thinking they are donating to breast cancer and also showing awareness at the same time. What they be doing however is just giving the NFL more money, although they are still showing awareness by wearing the pink items. One reason people are skeptical of the NFL for how much money they really donate is because the NFL doesn't release a report showing how much money they actually give to the breast cancer charity. These things coming out about the NFL not actually donating much money to breast cancer may make people start to second guess their decision every year to go out and buy $150 worth of pink equipment.

The Good of the Pink Movement

Every year in October, the NFL has a pink movement to try and bring awareness to breast cancer. All of the players in the NFL accent their uniforms with pink equipment, whether it is their gloves, cleats, towels or something else. The color pink brings a sense of happiness to a dark subject. Football teams everywhere go out and buy pink items as well as it is not just the NFL teams that do it. People all around America come together for a good cause and raise money for breast cancer. While the NFL has been questioned about how much money is actually donated to breast cancer awareness, it still is a good thing what the NFL is doing. Not only are they raising money themselves, but it is more than likely making people want to donate themselves and making people more aware. So while the NFL may be in it for the money, they are also bringing awareness to a serious type of cancer.