Role in sports in popular culture Essay Example for Free

Role in sports in popular culture Essay Many people around the world have enjoyed playing many sports and have been for a very long time. Of course ancient Olympics, medieval aristocrats, cave people, and hordes of peasants kicking a ball from one village to the next is, despite the genealogy, rather far removed from sports as we know them today (History of Sports, 2012). With the history of sports we can go back and look at many sports, the earliest that the sport of baseball was present in the United States goes all the way back to 1791. It was not until 1845 that the New York Knickerbockers were founded. (History of Sports, 2012). Many people today have used sports as a useful way for the people to increase their mastery of nature and the environment that they live in. Many sports have utilized the humans own basic skills to develop and exercise their own human agility and show others what they can do on their own. When we look at the sports of today, either be the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA) many people can understand where all of these athletes had to do to get where they are at. It can all go back to when those athletes were young kids and those people that have known them for a long time can experience how good they are and the power and wealth that comes to those athletes that have practiced and mastered their skills to advance to those different leagues of professionalism. Many professional athletes have experienced their own wealth and power in their sports no matter what sport they are in. When athletes get to that point when they get a large amount of money for what they do on the field or courts, what comes with that is they will try to receive the power as well. Many athletes think that they are worth a lot of money for what they do as a professional athlete. Today, in its current state, many athletes make plenty of money to support themselves for the rest of their lives, and with that type of wealth and money, there will always be talk of why we are paying those athletes that type of money and why do the owners of those teams pay that amount. The owners know that they will have the power to negotiate and have the athlete know who has the power to make things happen. Wealth and power in sports degrades the essence of sports from an enjoyment perspective. Players for all sports are always negotiating for a better deal, working on contract negotiations, and arguing about trade negotiations. These types of negotiations just remove the player who once enjoyed and truly love playing the sport. All of the sudden, it has become a business. Sports should be played with heart. Do the owner and franchise teams help in this matter? In my opinion, they are the culprit. There is a constant battle to gain headlines with the next big contract totaling hundreds of millions of dollars for said number of years. There is a constant battle for endorsements to sign the next potential superstar to help sell shoes or the new line of thirst quenchers. There is a constant battle among agents to exploit players into this world consumed by wealth and how success is is measured. For the pure enjoyment of playing a sport, it’s truly gone. It’s an assembly line where media and fame have crossed their boundaries as they measure athletes by wealth and power. The fans are just as guilty as we continue to pay ridiculous ticket prices and purchase over-priced jerseys and memorabilia. The level of influence we have as fans is more like an addicted customer who can’t walk away from the product. There is increasing value added to rising players and their performance level. For the athletes, wealth and power have consumed their level of importance. They have no longer become a trainable, tailored athlete to a specific level where coaching dominates the team. Wealth and power have excluded most players from accepting a team concept through the visions of their coach. There is a sense of individualism among the wealthiest and most recognized players. Depending on the sport, some of those players ignore the coach or disrespect them altogether. Some could chalk up this attitude to personality conflicts that occur on any level of sports, but there is too much consistency with sports and how wealth and power have influenced those players. If wealth and power in sports could be a stock available for investment opportunities on the NASDAQ stock exchange, it would most likely be the best investment anyone could make. There is rarely a decline as players contracts continue to increase and venues continue raise prices. Most sports fans see the great athletes starting their careers soon after completing high school. Two sports icons that come to mind are Kobe Bryan and Dwight Howard. All athletes are considered role models for young people on the court and off the court. It is for that reason players need to very cognizant of their environment and their behavior. Athletes that are fortunate enough to make it to the professional ranks usually hire managers, trainers, coaches, attorneys and publicist. Players are advertised everywhere in our society. They do endorsements for restaurants, stores, energy drinks, and foot wear. Some even have their own clothing line. Players must be at their best in every aspect of their lives. Always being watched, they are examples to the next generation. Fans of these great entertainers are just as responsible for their dress and their behavior. Children must be the primary and most important focus of our society. We begin to teach our youth immediately and this must be at the forefront of our creations and thoughts. Parents need to learn everything about the business to be able to guide their teenagers if they decided to go professional in sports. Recommendations in consuming and participation include continuing to coach and mentor our children from a young age to create the athletes we wish to see. That is where it begins. It starts with families and family morals, discipline and love. Alcohol and drugs should be discussed frequently with care. At every level of school or competition there must be rules and regulations, love, checks and balances. Sports over many generations have basically become a money making issue. No one says on national TV that they love the sport and would play for free. It is a business. We can no longer think of sports as something fun for our children because in the backs of these parents minds their children just might be good enough for the big time and their futures may be filled with money. References Kobe Bryan Biography. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. biography. com Highest-Paid Athletes 2012 the World’s Richest. (2012). Retrieved from http://www. therichest. org Ogonsji, A. S. (2012). International Journal of business Social Science [University of Phoenix Custom Edition eBook]. : . Retrieved from Ebscohost, website. Athletes as Role Models. (1998, February). Current Health, 24(6), 25. Ebscohost. com.

Falling into Insanity Essay -- Essays Papers

Falling into Insanity As readers of great novels, we are continuously examining and explaining the actions and thoughts of characters. Are we the only ones? Or do the characters actually analyze their own thoughts and actions as we do? In Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther, the protagonist, Werther, tells the story of his love for Lotte and the ensuing hardships through letters to his friend and confidante, Wilhelm. Through various situations and excerpts from his letters, we see Werther simply gliding through life, not pondering the motivations for his thoughts and actions, or even questioning his own state-of-mind; the effects of this lack of self-awareness negatively affect him and eventually lead him to commit suicide. Throughout the novel, Werther never ponders the thoughts and motivations that cause him to first fall madly in love with Lotte, then become obsessed, and finally to commit suicide because he cannot be with her. He never really asks himself why he allows himself to spend so much time with her, why all aspects of his previous life no longer interest him, or why he cannot even hold a job. Near the start of his love obsession with Lotte, he believes that he must â€Å"spend every hour of the day with her†¦in order to prove to her at every moment that he is wholly devoted to her† (Goethe, 14-15). He doesn’t pay any attention to the fact that she is already engaged to another man; Werther simply cannot fathom that he would not try to make her fall as deeply in love with him as he is with her. It’s almost as if he knows he is going overboard with his affections for her, but he doesn’t care. Werther believes his love for Lotte knows no limits, and he n ever even thinks about the social restrictions on woo... ...e suffering and eventual death. Throughout his short time with Lotte, Werther falls more and more deeply in love with her, and consequently, falls further into madness. He never analyzes his own motivations for continuing allowing his love for Lotte to grow and he never examines the extent that it has affected his sanity. Werther finally goes completely insane after Lotte tells him he no longer can see her as often. He commits suicide, the ultimate manic sacrifice, as he realizes he cannot have Lotte. As readers, we constantly analyze character’s acts. By not pondering the motivations for his thoughts and actions, or even questioning his own sanity, Werther is deeply affected by his love in a negative fashion, eventually ending in his own suicide. Works Cited Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. The Sorrows of Young Werther. New York City: Vintage Books, 1990.

Martin Luther King Jr. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos Essay

On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King delivered his speech to all of America. Martin Luther’s opening line to his speech was, â€Å"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.† In Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech â€Å"I Have a dream†, he uses all three of these forms of rhetoric in order to persuade to his audience that racism and segregation is not the plan for the future of America. As he delivered his speech, Martin Luther King states, â€Å"Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the emancipation proclamation.† His use of Lincoln brought authority into his speech. Martin Luther King is bringing attention to the authority of Lincoln and his view on civil rights. This is providing a strong ethos appeal and establishing credibility with his audience. He also uses the Declaration of Independence to bring authority into his speech. He quotes, â€Å"unalienable Rights† of â€Å"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness†. His use of this quote is to use a supreme authority as being on his side. He is saying that the American government has ignored their duty to all of the American people. He is setting up his own credibility by referring to authority of a great American and our constitution. Martin Luther King’s use of pathos is astonishing as he appeals emotionally to both races of people. His use of the bible verse ‘â€Å"And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together,† emotionally draws his audience. He is using the bible as common interest among his crowd and to build a connection between the different races. He appeals to freedom throughout his speech to keep his audience engaged in his fight for freedom. He states, â€Å"And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.† He uses the American dream to appeal to all Americans. He is saying that his dream is part of the American dream that we all deserve to have the freedom to dream. He also uses the appeal that he is a father and that he wants more for his children. â€Å"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.† This is allowing the listener to relate to him as a father and the aspirations we hold for our children. It provides a human appeal and demonstrates pathos. Martin Luther King also uses logos in his analogies. He states, â€Å"America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’† His analogy is using logic as a form of reasoning. He reasons is that everyone understands money and that the listener is able to relate to being handed a bad check. Martin Luther King’s skillful and articulate use of rhetoric in his â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech was a major turning point in American history and represented a firm stand for equal rights. He spoke out to confront the issues of racism in our nation. This speech was a remarkable moment in the fight for equal rights of everyone. â€Å"When all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing,† â€Å"Free at last! Free at last!†

When The Dolls Were First Sold, Mattel Used The Slogan

When the dolls were first sold, Mattel used the slogan â€Å"We girls can do anything†. Since then it has been joined by similar phrases like â€Å"Be anything. Do everything.† and the more recent â€Å"What happens when girls are free to imagine they can be anything?† The message that Mattel is trying to push is that young girls will play with the doll, and by doing so will imagine themselves living vicariously through Barbie. There have been many iterations of Barbie, and Mattel proudly flaunts all the various careers that Barbie has had over the decades. Careers that include being an astronaut, firefighter, nurse, teacher, and even the president of the United States. Yet the most popular, perhaps the stereotypical image of Barbie, is the one first†¦show more content†¦Indeed, the visual image completes the unfinished words for you, filling in with pictures what the words leave out† (Lutz 528). Indeed, combine the thin image with the consumerist visuals of fancy cars, enormous mansions, and you get a harmful message being pushed onto young children. Girls would assume that along with wanting Barbie’s house, they would want to obtain her body as well, because her body is what a normal woman should look like. These young girls are being shown this image as the ideal, more desired body of a grown woman, and it would make sense that they would want to grow up to look just her. While thinner may seem healthier, low self-esteem, unhealthy eating habits, and other unhealthy consequences can result from going to the extreme to achieve that thin body image. Now that it has been proven that the thin ideal is being pushed on children, children as young as 5, one should know the possible consequences of its exposure. When children are constantly being shown one certain ideal, it will soon become internalized, which leads to behaviors that often go unnoticed by parents. While these behaviors may seem harmless at first, they can b e part of a bigger unhealthier problem. A study was done where young girls played with dolls with different body proportions, and then were given snacks to eat, this was the result, â€Å"they ate less food when they played with the thin dolls than when they played with the average sizedShow MoreRelatedMass Media And Its Effects On Children1631 Words   |  7 Pagespushed a form of imagery called the thin ideal. It is there when they see their television shows, featuring their favorite actress; it is there when they play with their favorite toys. Adult women are aware of the thin ideal; it is the belief that the public is being pushed a certain body image by the media, one that is skinnier and unrealistic. Young girls are being pushed that same image, and one example of it is the very popular children’s doll, Barbie. 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