As one of college football’s brightest talents, former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam has what appears to be a very bright future ahead of himself in the National Football League. As we move closer to draft day though, a larger issue has taken precedence over his football ability. Recently, Sam has come out as homosexual. NBC Sports has reported that the NFL Players Association President has been quoted as saying that the league will welcome Sam with open arms, but yahoo reporter Frank Schwab thinks that things might not be so straightforward. Either way, it appears as though the NFL is approaching a fork in the road regarding how it will react to its first openly gay player.
The President of the NFL Players Association, Dominique Foxworth has a firm belief that Michael Sam will have no big issues when he is inevitably drafted into the National Football League this upcoming April. He states that it would not be a surprise if Michael Sam encounters some “rough patches” along the way, but that the players’ desire to win football games would supersede the issues created by a teammate’s sexuality. Foxworth addresses the issue on everyone’s minds; that the locker room atmosphere is apparently “unwelcoming” to a gay presence and that it would disrupt the overall feeling of the locker room, and in the process, it would disrupt the focus of the team. Foxworth goes on to make his largest and most profound point, being that a disruption in a locker room over a gay teammate is a disruption that some teams need to get through. As society changes, the attitude of the NFL locker room must adapt to reflect it. It is also stated that it appeared as though Missouri was able to rally around Michael Sam and create a sense of togetherness tha...
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...o speak out because of the possible comments that could be made against them. There is obviously a rough road ahead for Michael Sam, and he needs to prepare for ostracism from those who are not accepting of his lifestyle.
As the American society becomes more and more accepting of homosexuals in all aspects of life, it makes sense that the issue would eventually present itself in professional football. As Michael Sam inches closer and closer to reaching his NFL dreams, he will be tasked with enduring the judgment of those who do not agree with his lifestyle. The dynamic of the NFL locker room will be tested at the same time, whether or not it is ready to welcome its first openly gay player. Only time will tell if the Michael Sam story is one with a happy ending, or one where the bias and bigotry of a vocal NFL minority will force him away from achieving his dreams.
African-American players are often negatively affected due to the prevalence of racism in the town. Ivory Christian, for instance, is a born-again Christian with aspirations to be a famous evangelist, but he is unable to pursue his dream due to his commitment to the football team. Because of this, the townspeople have unrealistic expectations of him and assume that he will put all his time and energy into football. Furthermore, there is a greater pressure on him to succeed...
The NFL position in this article makes them look very greedy and indifferent about the overall health of their football players. One of the ethical perspectives that can be used to analyze the NFL's position in this article is deontology. Deontology is the perspective where rules is the defining factor for ethical decisions. From the deontology perspective it makes it seem that the NFL has decided not to follow the rules and even blurred the lines as to what potential injuries their players can get. They wanted their injured players to play without having to follow through the with proper procedure in verifying that the players are in conditions healthy enough to play. It looks as if the NFL cares only about bringing in money and not care about
Throughout history in the NFL, head injuries and fixing those problems have always been hidden from the athletes because of the NFL striving to make a large profit instead of caring for the players. With this being an ongoing problem between NFL players and the NFL itself, many past and current players are digging deeper to find the truth and statistics continue to show how serious this problem actually is. When the lawsuits first began to come known to the public, the NFL agreed to pay over seven hundred million dollars to compensate former players suffering neurological injuries. Many believe the NFL offered this so quickly, hoping to avoid a potential public relations nightmare. The NFL, a ten billion dollar annual business, couldn’t take any type of guilt, or legal discovery, which some inside and out of the industry expected could have caused a fatal blow to the game’s future (Thiel). The settlement may have prevented the public from learning much about the past, but the issue of head injuries is a danger to football and won’t just go away because NFL wants it to (Waldron).
Playing football comes with several risks factors that players’ acknowledge prior to playing the game starting a young age. Regardless, these players still chose to play the game, which they end up loving and cherishing despite all the risks accompanied with it. Football is one of the toughest sports in the world; it takes a certain amount of strength, speed, and aggressiveness to play 48 minutes of hard-nosed football. However, the National Football League (NFL) is in the midst of a controversial issue. Is the NFL getting soft? This has been a debatable issue for several years. While some believe that implementing all these rules in the NFL is progressively turning the game soft, others say that the NFL is not getting soft; it is just trying to make the game safer for its players.
In the article titled, “Dear Americans: Whatever You Do, Don’t Ban College Football,” published May 26, 2012 on pjmedia.com, Michael Van Der Galien endeavors his audience the influence of football, and how banning the sport within schools will take away the uniqueness of the sport. Van Der Galien compares football players as “gladiators”; how gladiators are known to entertain the crowd while hurting one another. No matter how dangerous the sport may be, Van Der Galien is confused on how analyst are shocked about the man injuries in football. Coming from England, Van Der Galien believes that football is freedom for America, and how “the freedom to pursue your happiness, regardless of what know-it-alls thinks.” (Van Der Galien, 2012, para. 6). Mr. Gladwell, interviewer from Slate, argues about how college football needs to be banned because of its health issues, and how it does not benefit the academics whatsoever.
Abstract: High school football in the state of Texas has become out of control. The sport is no longer played for the sake of the school but rather has become a Friday night ritual to these small towns in Texas. The players are no longer just high school kids inter acting in school sports but have now become heroes to these small town communities. Communities simply no longer support their local high school team but rally in pride of their hometown rivalry against another team. School administrators and coaches no longer are teachers and mentors for the kids but are the equivalent to what in professional football are team owners and "real coaches". Parents have become agents and sacrifice their jobs and homes so that their child may play for the right team. Finally the fans, the fans have lost the sense that it is just a high school sport and changed the game to a level of professional sports. I plan to prove and show that for all these reasons Texas high school football has become out of control. It is no longer the game that it was originally meant to be.
In Dan Sabo’s article “Pigskin, Patriarchy, and Pain”, Sabo tells us of his own past experiences playing football, and the patriarchy involved in the game. He also explains how boys in society are brought up to be tough and to suppress their pain and emotions, which is only hurting these men in the grand scheme of things. Sabo grew up wanting nothing more than to be accepted by his peers, and he figured the best way to do this was to join the football team and become like his idol, Dick Butkus. Sabo observed that receiving and dishing out pain was a part of the game, so he developed himself to channel his rage from off the field, on to his opponents. He became an “animal” and he loved being known as one, because that meant recognition. He strived
Present players in the National Football League disagree with all the protective rules now but when they are no longer playing football it’ll be a different story. Players also tend to forget that they won 't be playing football forever and that they will need to be healthy later on in life when they can no longer play football. It’s not okay for players to complain about the safety rules now, and then later claim the National Football
In particular, in 1966 the National Football Associated founded the NFL Physicians Society to provide care for athletes and support athletic trainers (“The NFL Physician’s Society,” 2012). The physicians, therefore, are dedicated to promoting the health of their patients and protecting them from injury. The physicians promise to follow the code of ethics, including autonomy, informed consent, beneficence, non-maleficence, confidentiality, and justice. Sports, however, are heavily supported by the nation and highly competitive, resulting in conflicts in interest in health care from team physicians. Team physicians are influenced by coaches, parents, teammates, the nation, the need for success, and the players themselves to play athletes without full recovery, allow controversial procedures, decide whether to report violations in drug enhancing tests, and make decisions on disclosing personal information. Players elect to play for reasons that do not reflect an understanding of consequences and physicians struggle with controversial decisions to break confidentiality and report a player’s inability to play in order to prevent injury or harm. Physicians are required to follow the Health Insurance Portability and
In March of 1946, a man named Kenny Washington made a very important contribution for the NFL (Britannica). Kenny Washington became the first African American to ever play in a professional sports league (Amaral). Since he was colored in the 1940 draft class, none of the teams wanted to draft him (Bowen). Even though Kenny was doubted and treated differently than others, he was able to play on a smaller league team near the Pacific coast (Bowen). Then the day finally came when Kenny was allowed to play in the NFL after World War II had ended. This essay will discuss the story of Kenny Washington’s life before he became the first African American football player, what he went through to get there, and why he is important to the NFL.
Defending Titles Diversely: A Persuasive Essay about the Lack of Diversity in Sports Many Americans have seen or at least heard of the movie “Remember the Titans.” The classic film focuses on a school that blends black and whites and takes on an African American head coach. The coach knows the importance of winning, but also knows the team must work together to get those wins and have respect for every single person in the locker room. Although coach Boone was still put in a tough situation with the school board and the community, he was able to lead his team, with the help of a white assistant coach, to an undefeated season. The team coming together is exactly what America does with sports.
Globalization is erasing country borders. It’s expanding something to a worldwide scale, and generally making the world a little bit smaller. When you think of globalization in terms of sports, the best example is soccer. Soccer is something that started in 1863 as a simple game played in England by people of humble beginnings and not long after that turned into a worldwide phenomenon (Parrish). Soccer has over 3.5 billion fans worldwide. When you really think about that number you realize how big of a deal that is. That’s about 50% of the world’s population. Meaning that 1 in every 2 people watch, play, and generally enjoy soccer. The globalization aspect of it comes in when you know that its regional popularity is in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas: basically, almost the entire world.
Success without adversity is impossible. Everyone in life has their ups and downs and nothing in this world is perfect. At some point in life, hardships begin to occur and that’s when the real test begins. Some people rise up and try their absolute best to take a stand against the challenge. Then there are others that would crawl back into their shells, crying for mercy. There should be no excuse for giving up or not putting in the effort. People are only successful in winning the battle of adversity when they are mentally tough. The intense game of adversity can be referred to football.
The movie I decided to analyze was Remember the Titans. I examined the dilemmas and ethical choices that were displayed throughout the story. In the early 1970s, two schools in Alexandria Virginia integrate forming T.C. Williams High School. The Caucasian head coach of the Titans is replaced by an African American coach (Denzel Washington) from North Carolina, which causes a fury among white parents and students. Tensions arise quickly among the players and throughout the community when players of different races are forced together on the same football team. Coach Boone is a great example of a leader. He knows he faces a tough year of teaching his hated team. But, instead of listening to the hating town or administrators, Boone pushes his team to their limits and forces good relationships between players, regardless of race. His vision for the team involves getting the players concerned in what the team needs to become, and not what it is supposed to be; a waste. Boone is a convincing leader with a brutal, boot camp approach to coaching. He believes in making the players re-build themselves as a team. When Boone says, You will wear a jacket, shirt, and tie. If you don't have one buy one, can't afford one then borrow one from your old man, if you don't have an old man, then find a drunk, trade him for his. It showed that he was a handy Craftsman and wanted done what he wanted done no matter what it took.During training camp, Boone pairs black players with white players and instructs them to learn about each other. This idea is met with a lot of fighting, but black linebacker Julius Campbell and stubborn white All-American Gerry Bertier. It was difficult for the players to cope with the fact they had to play with and compete with ...
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.