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More handpicked essays just for you.
Sports influence on society
Sports influence on society
Sports influence on society
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Why I Love My Job Rick Reilly, born in Boulder Colorado, in 1958 was a longtime columnist for sports illustrated, later on in 2007 he joined ESPN The Magazine where his essay Why I Love My Job appeared in the December 14, 2009 edition for the 100-years-in-review issue. In his essay Reilly brings up his writing days in college and how his journalism professor told him “ You’re better than sports.” Reilly disagrees with his professor and lists all the reasons why he will never be better than sports. Why I Love My Job is an essay that touches the hearts of many sport fans showing them how beautiful the thing they love is because sports has no grey areas, sports is something that is raw, sports brings multitudes together. At the beginning of his essay Reilly quickly starts of by listing the reasons he disagrees with his professor in college about how he will never be better than sports. the first thing he starts off by saying is sports is the realest thing there is in our lives. “ Sports is real. It can't be faked. If you’re Henry Fonda’s son and you want to act you get to act. If you’re Chelsea Clinton and you want to govern, you get to govern. But just because you’re Nolan Ryan’s son doesn’t mean you get to pitch in the show. Money, family, looks mean diddly in sports. If Tom Brady suddenly can’t throw …show more content…
Sports is something raw, It needs no scripture, whatever happens happens and in sports anything could happen. Reilly backs that up with his comparison of Y.E Yang, “a nobody”, beating Tiger Woods, “The god”. In sports even the gods fall from time to time and obviously its not something that is planned. When players enter the court their mind is only in playing a good game and winning, sure they might have strategies and game plans but in no time there can be a 360 degree change in things. players can get injured or the other team suddenly have a
Even with knowledge of Mosher’s Ph.D. in Sports Studies, the essay would have been stronger if it included additional credible resources. I agree with Mosher’s unstated evaluative claim that society should not expect someone to possess the characteristics of a hero simply because they are a sports athlete. Yet, Mosher asserts that society unrealistically demands their sports athletes to possess traits of high character. After reading this essay, I still ask; why not?
When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...
He is the author of many books including Sport, Play, and Ethical Reflection and the coauthor, with Craig Clifford, of Sport and Character: Reclaiming the Principles of Sportsmanship. In his book Sport, Philosophy, and Good lives professor Feezell’s research question is if it seems plausible to think of sports activities as meaningful and to believe that such activities contribute to a meaningful lives. In addition, the primary method utilized in this research consisted of many document analysis about many top athletes’ lives. In the research, professor Feezel found out that competition has a bigger essence of seeking to become good than rather the actual activity. In fact, in a deeper level, competition is the reference in the way the athlete’s identity is fixed in relation in how good they did. In other words, sport affect directly an athlete’s self-esteem which created a meaning in their lives. In fact, professor Feezell’s work is related to professor Pelling’s work in many ways. Both of them talked about how important is to an athlete to win a competition. They stated that how well they did in a competition can impact their lives. This work is relevant to the topic of why sports are important to college students because how good they are go directly to how the personal
Sport is the new Opiate of the Masses it behaves in the same way religion does as it is used as a deterrent from our everyday lives. Religion main function is to preserve the status quo, which means that it serves the “haves” and keeps the “have-nots” down in their place. Sport may be very different from
The history of sports goes back since ancient times. It has been a useful way for people to explore nature and their environment. Sports include different activities and games such as football, soccer, basketball, and etc. to express their skills and talents. Also, sports are a way to relax and have fun; but are sports all our African Americans rely on? The dream to become future sports stars. The reason why Gates begins his essay with an anecdote is to show and compare how many african-american athletes were at work today and how little the chances of African-Americans becoming athletes are compared to being a lawyer, dentist, or even a doctor. African-Americans assume that they are born athletes and it’s because the school system doesn’t teach them reality and educate them to undertake more realistic goals for careers.
Development of Rhetorical and Analytical Skills through Sports. In “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, the author speaks about how schools should use students’ interests to develop their rhetorical and analytical skills. He spends a majority of his essay on telling his own experience of being sport loving and relating it to his anti-intellectual youth. He explains that through his love for sports, he developed rhetoric and began to analyze like an intellectual. Once he finishes his own story, he calls the schools to action, advising them to not only allow students to use their interests as writing topics, but instead to teach the students on how to implement those compelling interests and present them in a scholarly way.
Charles Prebish draws the conclusion that religion and sport are not just parallel, but they are a complete identity. He comes to this conclusion because he feels that there is more to the religious terminology that other authors suggested. Prebish says that fifty or more terms and phrases can expand the terminology, with little investigation. He also feels that most of the other authors share the vocabulary for both religion and sport, but have different meanings for each. He says in many cases there is no difference in meaning that each term carries for the two traditions. Prebish also gives us an example of two people, an athletic marathoner and the faithful churchgoer. The churchgoer seeks the glorious experience of God, while the marathoner pursues the “perfect run”, which in some cases can be an equally profound and religious experience. Prebish gives more examples of the identical similarities between religion and sport: sacred food, chants, personnel, seasonal rituals, etc. Although Prebish gives these examples of how identical these similarities are, I think the main point in his argument is that he is convinced through his work with athletes that it is possible to experience ultimate reality through sport, and that it happens regularly.
The feeling of my bone snapping in my knee during practice knowing that the injury was going to make me miss some of the games at the start of the season. My official visit to Wake Forest University and seeing a dead body in the health building and also hearing the coaches tell me, “We are offering you a full athletic scholarship to attend Wake Forest.” Finally, my last high school football game concluding in a loss in the playoffs to Lamar high school. All of these memories affected me in ways in which Coackley states, “changing or ending sport participation.” Getting injured was a quick way to realize that anything can happen and how suffering from an injury could end sport participation. Getting a scholarship immediately made me think about the influence and encouragement of my friends and coaches about participating in football. After my last high school game made me realize that I can’t play football forever and that it is going to come to an end one
As Miller and Wilson revealed, athleticism is not always analogous with success. Willy regarded Biff highly because he observed Biff’s presence and athleticism, and he believed these qualities would result in immediate success. Today many parents associate sports with success and therefore pressure their children to excel in sports. In today’s society it is very rare that fears of discrimination would cause children to not pursue a lucrative career in sports. Both Miller and Wilson knew the impact of sports on family dynamics, and how sports have evolved from a leisure time activity to a full-time commitment. Clearly, many of the qualitative aspects of sports--competition, teamwork and physical dexterity can contribute to being a success in almost any career.
As stated in my introductory paragraphs, both authors examine the academic motivation of student athletes, but focus their arguments on different aspects. Since both authors agree on the fact that athletics make big impacts, it makes it harder to choose one argument over the other. Both Flynn and Herbert D. Simon’s have similar ideas in which they discuss, but they add their own opinions. Both authors have a strong agreement but the way they present their ideas are completely diverse.
Weir, Tom. "Fans Still Love Their Sports, but Think Twice about Hero Worship.” USATODAY.com. USA Today, 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2013
In the book entitled Out of Their League, David Meggyesy describes his life as a football player from high school through his days with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). Born in 1941, Meggyesy was raised in a low-income household in Solon, Ohio. Like many athletes from impoverished backgrounds, he was able to use the game of football to better himself though both a full scholarship to Syracuse University and financial stability with the Cardinals. During his career, however, Meggyesy became increasingly disillusioned with the game of football and how its athletes were subject to tremendous physical and psychological turmoil from those in power—namely the coaches and the NFL team owners. He began to see the game of football from a conflict theorist point of view. This is the belief that sport is an opiate used to benefit those in power through the exploitation of athletes which enables those such as coaches and team owners to maintain their power and privilege in society. (Coakley, 1998) Meggyesy's growing disenchantment with football and adoption of a conflict theorist point of view led him to retire from the Cardinals in 1969.
Thompson, Christie. "Life of an athlete: balancing sports and academics." Stetson Reporter. N.p., 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
Year after year, college athletes make the headlines of newspapers and magazines across the country, not only for their accomplishments on the field, but more for their antics off the field. College athletes sacrifice their bodies, integrity, and character to gain an advantage over their opponent. Athletes give up the very things that make them who they are to feel appreciated by their coaches, teammates, and fans. Players cheat by taking anabolic steroids and other banned substances that give them a chemically induced physical advantage (Eitzen 3). Athletes desire to be identified with a team that works and sacrifices together to reach a common goal. The guestion we should ask ourselves is: Why? Why do individuals give up so much to be a part of a team? The answer lies within the organization of how big-time college sport exists. Fans are drawn to big sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the World Series. College athletes want to be in that spotlight, and they sacrifice everything to gain that status. Fans are consumed by sports. USA Today, the most widely read newspaper in the United States, devotes one-fourth of its space to sport (14). Fans know every detail about their beloved sports team. Not only the latest box scores, but also the win-loss record, point spread, current statistics, play-off probabilities, and biographical information about athletes and coaches (16). College sports appeal to the general public, young and old.
Vince Lombardi, one of the most successful football coaches of all time, said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of will.” Although Lombardi was primarily speaking about success on the turf, he was also speaking about success in life. Aside from being a phenomenal leader on the field, Lombardi was a leader in all aspects of life and stands as a role model for many young student athletes. When student athletes apply this extraordinary will to their academics alongside athletics, the stellar character of these young adults is revealed. Unfortunately for these athletes, many people, especially educators, blame athletics for struggles within the classroom. A common controversy amongst parents, educators, coaches, and athletes is if education is severely affected by athletic participation. When the results of classroom performance aren’t proficient or greater, it is easy to blame sports because of their time consuming nature. This topic carries a lot of weight for kids ranging from middle school to graduate students because, for many, involvement in athletics is a crucial part of developing important life skills that cannot be attained through a classroom setting, and may be the student’s only method of social outreach. Sports serve as a sanctuary, an escape, a passion, and so much more to each individual involved. Athletics have the potential to negatively impact education, if you allow them to yet research shows just as many cases of sports having positive affects on education as cases of sports being detrimental towards education. The truth of the matter is that your education is your responsibility, and sports cannot be blamed for a lack of succes...