Hard Work and Money Go Hand in Hand

Throughout history, it is evident that sports have captivated the lives of many individuals.  From a simple bicycle, to the complex game of football, sports have evolved and defied the way athletes push their own physical bodies to the brink. Along with the tremendous amount of determination that athletes show, it is obvious to say that the salaries each competitor makes differs tremendously.  Many athletes use their talents as a way to earn a living and provide for both themselves and their families. Sports have evolved over time and the income of any one athlete has changed as a result of the supply and demand of the number of athletes involved within the game itself.  While there are apparent differences between who decides who the highest paid athlete is, it is very clear that throughout sources there can only be one winner in this game, and his name is Floyd Mayweather.

Floyd Mayweather is an american professional boxer, who is also a five-division world champion.  In 2012, Floyd Mayweather became the number one highest paid athlete in the world. From 2001-2011 Tiger Woods was the highest paid athlete in the world, however, since the scandal with his wife, Tiger has lost a lot of endorsements and has thus fell in the rankings of highest paid athletes.When Tiger was on top he was making about 75 million dollars a year but now compared to his old wages he has gotten a ridiculous pay cut, down to about 54 million a year. Floyd Mayweather on the other hand gets paid accordingly to who he is fighting for the match and how big it is compared to other ones going on at the same time. On a normal basis Floyd gets paid about 85 million a year. In making the $85 million Floyd only had to box two separate times, making about $40 million dollars off the Miguel Cotto fight, and about the same amount in the Victor Ortiz fight.

Another professional athlete that Mayweather has surpassed in recent memory is Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers.  Bryant is one of the most outstanding NBA basketball player of our generation. Bryant’s personal achievements include a two time NBA Finals MVP, a fourteen time NBA All-Star, and the title of a five time NBA Champion, just to name a few.  Kobe Bryant has brought a new face and playing style to the game of professional basketball in the past decade that many coaches and critics have never seen before.  The Los Angeles Lakers have been a dominating force in the game of basketball the instant Bryant’s sneakers touched the hardwood.  Kobe Bryant’s estimated salary along with all of his endorsement contracts in the year 2012 is around $28 million dollars.  This large sum of money still is not enough to dethrone the heavyweight Mayweather.
In addition to Bryant, another multi million dollar athlete that could manage to stay in the ring with the highest paid sports star of our era would be another famous boxer Manny Pacquiao.  Pacquiao is also a world renowned boxer much like Mayweather.  Pacquiao began his astonishing boxing career at age fourteen.  With an abundance of hard work and dedication Manny climbed his way up to greatness.  His accomplishments include Fighter of the Decade, Former WBO Welterweight Champion of the World, and both a pair of lightweight and super weight world championship titles.  Manny has many high class endorsements and along with the fights he takes home quite a large amount of money.  In Forbes Magazine, Manny Pacquiao has a salary of around “$62 million dollars in the year 2012.”  Thus, making him the second highest-paid professional athlete in history.
The sports world has both entertained millions of people for centuries and also made the successful athletes very wealthy.  Athletes do not just go out each and every time they perform unprepared.  They train themselves week in and week out to be the strongest and best performer possible.  Floyd Mayweather has the title of highest paid athlete, not because of chance but because of his demanding regimen of trying to push himself and be the best.  There is no hesitation of why Floyd Mayweather should not be named the most highest paid  athlete of our time.
  photo credit: KWDesigns via photopin cc

The Shock At Penn State Blog Post # 3

Penn State has the entire nation in shock.The recent scandal involving Assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky has been the prime discussion in the NCAA. Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 of the 48 counts of sexual assault against children. Who would imagine the founder of “The Second Mile” childrens charity would commit such a heinous crime.  According to “NBC News’ Michael Isikoff, Sandusky faces a minimum sentence of 60 years under Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines — at his age, effectively a life sentence”.  It has been announced that Graham Spanier, Tim Curley ,Gary Schultz, and the late coach Joe Paterno all had a general idea of what was occurring to these boys, but all of them kept it amongst themselves.Personally, I believe that each individual involved in this act should be held accountable for their actions. All of these men are supposed to be examples for the youth in their community but instead were otherwise.

 It appears that the way the NCAA is dealing with this crime is by penalizing the current football team. Since this crime has been publicly revealed the NCAA has banned Penn State's football team from postseason play for the next four years, they also were issued a 60 million dollar sanction, and all wins dating back to 1998 were removed.

The question many ask is why is it fair to take away funding and scholarships from student athletes who had nothing to do with this.

What is the NCAA thinking, why would they revoke funding from the university and its students who had nothing to do with it, when the ones who need to be punished are the ones with involvement. I agree with Penn State assistant coach receiving the maximum jail sentence. He should receive the fullest charge as with the others who had involvement. Other states have taken a lesson from this vicious scandal and have began implementing new laws to help prevent this from happening again. California's Governor Jerry Brown responds to Penn State's scandal with his new law in addition to the one already in place requiring reporting by teachers, teacher aides, doctors and others who supervise children. His new law states “ California's K-12 schools, and all higher education employees, will be required to report suspected child sexual abuse”. In my opinion ,it should not have to be a law but human nature to help a young child who is being victimized by a much older man. It seems unethical for a standard interview to be one of the only forms of security protecting children against predators.  

  This sequence of unfortunate events should be a “eye opener” for society. Not everyone is who they appear to be , and if one takes on the responsibility of being a coach,teacher,counselor etc .The intentions of that individual should be examined thoroughly ,so an event like this never occurs again. All in all , this scandal should not diminish the universities integrity and facade as long as they progress to a honest better and brighter future.

                                               Photo Credit

Picture 1:

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            Picture#2
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Picture #3

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Blog Post #3 Replacment Officials v The NFL

Coming into the 2012 season, the replacement officials have been the talk of the NFL.The Seattle Seahawks' 14-12 win over the Green Bay Packers on "Monday Night Football" will forever be remembered for its controversial ending, with the replacement officials blowing several calls down the stretch. Due to financial agreements between the regular officials and the NFL, replacement officials from several levels, including high school and college, have been brought in to fill in the jobs. However, their lack of experience and bad decision making regarding penalties, time management, and managing the game in general, has made the NFL the laughing stock of professional sports and has gotten to the point where players and coaches are fed up with the whole thing.

Since the first game of the season, some teams feel that the replacement officials have jeopardize their chances of winning which could play a factor come December when the playoffs come around the corner. Coaches have even gotten fined for verbal abuse towards the referees. Players, during press conferences, are not shy when it comes to the new officiating crew. After Sunday's Ravens-Eagles game, Baltimore's Ray Lewis criticized the officiating and Joe Flacco ripped the refs for "affecting the integrity of the game.” There were even complaints after other games stating that the officials have been doing a horrible job with managing the game and some say they have no clue what is going on. A vicious and illegal blindside block delivered by Seattle's Golden Tate on Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee (that went uncalled) sparked scrutiny from the media. This has gone to believe that the players health may be endangered due to their lack of experience.

Commissioner Rodger Godell has allegedly notified all coaches and general managers for their blunt actions towards the officials. Although the inexperience has led to the poor decisions and may have cost a few teams a win, the replacement officials as well as the rest of the league may have to adjust to the way the game is. After all, it is only temporary, allegedly speaking. But, some coaches have already been fined for their actions towards the refs The NFL hit Bill Belichick with a $50,000 fine yesterday for grabbing an official’s arm after the team’s loss Sunday night to the Baltimore Ravens. The Patriots head coach was not the only coach fined, Denver’s John Fox was fined as well.

For the moment, this is an issue everyone around the league must deal with. However, the way things are going right now, players and coaches might end with with repeated fines for their actions, even suspended. Although inexperience officials have lead with a few miscues, until the bargain agreement between the original referees and the NFL is completed, the replacements will judge the games.

Blog post #2 Sandusky scandal

Going into the summer of 2012 the Penn State Nittany Lions had high hopes on next season they began practicing for the upcoming season. They were ranked, and known for being an elite team and was presented to America as an old fashion team that does everything the right way. An out of nowhere on one November day “the abuse scandal touched off by Sandusky’s Nov. 5 arrest rocked Penn State, bringing down famed coach Joe Paterno and the university’s president and leading the NCAA to levy unprecedented sanctions against the university’s football program.”


So this brings me to the question of have you ever sit and thought if your child away at school was actually safe? It is really a good question because if your child is just a regular student you are paying thousands of dollars for your child to go to basically a random place that you don’t
Know much about. In Penn state's case it was different. They had a coach that was violating his players for about a “(15 year) period.” This is a scandal that puzzles most because how could you coach under one of college football's greatest coaches Joe Paterno for 40 year which and some claim that Joe Paterno didn’t know. They were most then just on a coaching staff they were actually friends so i’m sure that he knew about the sexually abuse that was taking place between Sandusky and his players. So ask yourself if Sandusky was a sexually predator what is Joe Paterno since he knew about the molestation.


This scandal has cause all type of controversy over America because Penn State is not a place where something like this would usually happen because it is a classic type school that is based off football and academics also known for having a great coaching staff and a dependable experiences coach. This rocked the fans of Penn State when they found out that their assistant coach had been molesting his players for some of 15 years. Then you had some that were such true fans that they didn't believe it. However Jerry Sandusky was charged with 52 criminal counts of sexually abuse on 10 players in 15 years. This cause Jerry Sandusky to get fired and possible played a part in Joe Paterno death. By Paterno’s passing it made this controversy even worst because some blamed the death of Paterno on Sandusky which made the weight of every worst on Sandusky.

As of now Jerry Sandusky is awaiting his sentencing on his trail which is Oct. 9th. From all the media and reading stories on the web most say he will spend the rest of his life in jail. He is currently 68 years of age, and the least amount of years he is said to get his about 40!! You never know because anything could happen in the courtroom only way to know what’s going to happen is to wait until Oct. 9th.

Saints Bounty Scandal

Starting in 2009 from 2011 football season for the NFL, the New Orleans Saints defensive players had a deal with their coach. The deal was that the players would get
paid extra money for making big hits on the opposing team. In 2009 they were
targeting high profile quarterbacks like Brett Favre and Kurt Warner in the
2009-2010 playoffs. The NFL started investigating the Saints in 2010 and then
this past 2011-2012 season they confirmed that this deal was happening.

Jonathan
Vilma, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith, and Scott Fujita are the players that had a
connection with the deal. These four players will meet with Rodger
Goodell, the NFL Commissioner,
about their suspension and other action dealing with this scandal. There will
also be three players representing the NFLPA (National Football League Players’
Association) in the trials for the four players. Vilma and several teammates
including the head coach Joe Vitt, testified in a federal case claiming they
were not intending to injure any other players. Only
Smith played on Sunday, when the Saints lost to Washington. Vilma
was placed on the physically unable to perform list, while Fujita sat out
Cleveland’s loss to Philadelphia with a leg injury. Hargrove was cut by Green
Bay during the preseason.

     Before Goodell meets with the other players he will meet with Vilma on Monday in New York to discuss
his suspension for the 2012 football season. He can still reinstate their
suspension time.

Concussions Change The Game

     Over the past number of years, there have been numerous head injuries throughout
football on all levels. It has become a bigger issue each year because the
injuries seem to increase and cause more problems. These problems being, that
there are rules that have been changed to create a safer environment for the
sport and there is still issues with concussions. Also, management has created
new helmets to adjust to the force being created with big hits and that has cut
down but there are still ways to be put in that harmful situation. So, why does
it seem like concussions are becoming more out of control as much as we try to
make the game safer?

     Simple, he game will evolve and there will be changes made but that doesn’t mean we
will get different results. Time after time, there is this new rule or equipment
to help make the game better but concussions always seem to appear almost every
other game. In today’s game, we have stronger, bigger, and faster athletes. So,
its liable that more injuries occur and especially if guys are getting hit in
the head. Then, how can this problem be fix. Honestly, I feel that there may
always be concussions in the game of football because players play a certain way
and the game of football is about being totally aggressive. Most players have
been taught to play aggressive and to be instinctive. If a guy plays defense, he
has to do his best to get the ball back from the offense. There have been steps
to improve this violent situation and hopes to prevent such violent acts. If a
player hits another player helmet to helmet, then that player is penalized for
that play
and cost his team yards. Although, these rules has been put into play and that
they are crashing down hard on this rule, it doesn’t stop players from hitting
with their heads. Here is a link that shows football players
how to tackle:http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&ved=0CEIQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fyfbca.org%2Ftackling_tips&ei=8Z1YUMDAOJKO9AT5iYFI&usg=AFQjCNFdKkllx5WV1QMc1o-uovr3Kw6eQQ&sig2=MfRueJ9L-cMyEwj9OH6m6g

photo credit: <a

href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/32286671@N02/3019520161/">court_59</a>
via <a href="http://photopin.com">photo pin</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">cc</a>

     This situation also have a long term effect on the players too. There have been
formers players who are now dealing with brain damages for past concussions. At
one point, there were more than 2,000 former NFL(National Football League)
players filed a lawsuit against the NFL. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2FUS%2Fnfl-players-file-lawsuit-league-concussions%2Fstory%3Fid%3D16514359&ei=u6BYUOi2EoO68wSiqIHoCA&usg=AFQjCNFzp5dX6AUEYkW31641dgEb5MW55w&sig2=E29sA0M5B5Yu7UH1vzi50Q.
     I do not disagree with the former players because maybe this information could
have helped their situation. If a player risk his life and is entertainment for
the NFL, then at least the NFL can provide them with information that is so
valuable concerning their well-being. There was a survey done in 2000 and if you
go to this link, then you should get an idea on just how bad it was back in only
just ten years ago.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&ved=0CDcQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftopics.nytimes.com%2Ftop%2Freference%2Ftimestopics%2Fsubjects%2Ff%2Ffootball%2Fhead_injuries%2Findex.html&ei=JpBYUPPHE5Tk9gT78IGQBg&usg=AFQjCNGUH_G4GSU6DBAqPWB2NxW5lL-qJA&sig2=bRZFjjVLEP7DlNfU73NTuQ
     Hopefully, the game of football can become safer because we don't want to see the concussions. It's all about wanting to want to do better. People will say they want the game to become safer but they also have to let their actions speak.

Are Professional Athletes Overpaid?

         People can not argue with the fact that most professional athletes are exponentially overpaid. I mean in some cases the athlete is deserving of a decent paycheck, but when you have LeBron James making $53 million dollars to throw a ball in a hoop while you have neurosurgeons making on average $474,500 when they are saving lives everyday, I see something very wrong with that picture. In Are Professional Athletes Really Overpaid? The Answer Might Surprise You, Steve Resnick states, "Lebron James, Manny Ramirez, Kobe Bryant, CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez, etc...sign huge contracts for over $20 million per season." Those figures just blow my mind, they just go out and pretty much do nothing while the people that are saving lives everyday such as police and firefighter's are in the 5 figure range.Most people think that athletes deserve what they are earning, which i mean in only one case is where I would maybe agree with that; when you have football players that are getting charged at by 250 pound men at about 17 mph, its likely that you are going to get tackled the wrong way and possibly give yourself brain damage or maybe even paralysis.

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         In Athlete are Overpaid and Selfish Matt Lefebure says, "Major League Baseball may be responsible for the rising salaries of athletes. If all 30 teams’ salaries were combined, the total price tag of every big league player would be in excess of $2.02 billion. That translates to $67.6 million per team, and $2.7 million per player. There are currently 41 players in the majors who make more than $10 million per year. One of these 41 players, Alex Rodriguez is the highest paid athlete in the world; he makes $22 million a year." The total is astounding being that all that extra money that we are practically wasting on athletes we  could put that towards the national debt. So all in all we have come to the conclusion that athletes are overpaid and we should find a better way to use the money by either putting it towards our country or paying the people that actually do something to help society. 

Keep Your Head On

Are The NFL Commissioner's Causing The League To Be less Interesting With Zero Tolerance In Helmet To Helmet Contact?


The NFL has started suspending players for helmet to helmet collision due to concussions. Half of the players within the NFL hate this sudden change in the rules because its taking most of the fun out of the sport, along with players some fans are upset as well.

As Americans we feel as if its our duty to stay loyal to the NFL. No matter what punches the league throw at us we love it like it was one of our own, but is the league getting soft on us? The rules were changed in 2010 after Eric LeGrand, a former NCAA Rutgers football player was paralyzed from the neck down, from making a tackle against the opposing team leading with his helmet. After the devastating news broke out, the NFL didn’t hesitate to show their concern for their own players and immediately banned the players from using helmet to helmet contact. No one in the NFL has been paralyzed from a head on collision yet, but the league has had its share of concussions.

In 2010, the concussion rate was fairly high, having 9.5% players being treated for concussions every week. The defensive side of the NFL often got it the worst. At practice and on game day, the defense ended the season with an on average of 51.5% of the players having a concussion, but the offense took a pretty big slice out of the “concussion pie” their self having an average of 48.5% concussions for the season. With this many injuries a week and there being 52 players on a team, that means theres a 72% chance that on any giving sunday a player from all 32 teams will suffer from a concussion.

Despite what the fans think of the new rule, the NFL has to look out for their self, because the number of lawsuits or in the 100s. The NFL is currently being sued by retired NFL players who have had a fair number of concussions while playing. The retirees claim is that the NFL didn’t tell them the consequences and effects of concussions because surely had they had known that they would have short term memory loss, headaches, and more severe illness they would have cut their career short after the first blow to the head. So is the NFL protecting the players or just saving themselves from increasing lawsuits? Who knows, but what I do know is that we the fans are upset, but respect the players minds “literally”, we just hate that we can’t have our cake and eat too. 

                                                                                                

A State Divided

For 365 days a year people are constantly arguing about Alabama and Auburn Football. This rivalry between the teams and the fans is so serious that it has torn friendships, ruined relationships, and even lead to families growing apart. That shows just how much the state of Alabama cares about their football. According to Tim Hyland, the rivalry between the two schools first began on February 22, 1893. The Auburn tigers took home the win that day with a score of 32-22. However, in the overall record of wins Alabama has the lead of 41-34-1. Now, most Auburn fans will probably say that the only reason why Alabama has more wins is because they have had home field advantage for four decades.

In 1907, the two teams were suspended, and were not allowed to play each other anymore because the rivalry was beginning to get out of hand. It literally took an act of government in December of 1947 to get the two teams back together on the gridiron. The Alabama House of Representatives had to pass a resolution to encourage both teams to play again but even this act of congress was not enough. Both Auburn and Alabama's presidents had to agree on terms to come back together to allow the two teams to face off once again. Also, at the same time they decided to move the game to Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. And even though Alabama's campus is located in Tuscaloosa it still came off to Auburn fans, that Alabama had the home field advantage. Auburn and Alabama playing at Legion Field is how the rivalry got it's name "The Iron Bowl". The reason why is because located near Legion Field is iron deposits, and ever since then the Iron Bowl is what everyone knew it as

.

The relationship between the two teams is nothing but pure hatred. The hatred reached it limit after the 2010 Iron Bowl when an Alabama fan, Harvey Updyke poisoned the two famous oak trees at Toomer’s Corner in Auburn. Fans can never leave these two football teams alone; someone is constantly wanting to sabotage the other by any means to make sure that their team has the better chance of winning. To this day the animosity between the two schools still burns brighter than ever, and the intense competition of determination that both teams exude is one reason why this game is considered the biggest rivalry game in all of college football.

                                          photo credit: Southernpixel Alby.us via photo pin cc

Falcons V Cheifs

After scoring only 2 points in their playoff loss to the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, the Atlanta Falcons were determined to solidify an offensive identity and become one of the most feared offenses in football. Newly acquired offensive coordinator Dirk Kotter quickly brought in a new scheme that would center Matt Ryan and Julio Jones’ talents. As for the defense, the Falcons not only added Mike Nolan to run the defense but All-Pro cornerback Assante Samuel will be a key in the secondary.

With high expectations entering the 2012 season, the new look Atlanta Falcons opened the season at Kansas City facing a stingy Cheifs defense lead by safety Eric Berry. But, Berry and the rest of the Chiefs defense were no match for Matt Ryan, also known as Matty Ice, who accounted for 4 total touchdown(1 rushing) to go along with nearly 300 yards passing. 2nd year wideout Julio Jones caught 2 of Ryan’s touchdowns and former Chief Tony Gonzalez had the other. Atlanta as a team put up 40 points versus the Cheifs.

Defensively, the Falcons struggled during the second half, allowing Kansas City it score 17 points also allowing Matt Cassel to get off to a hot start. Jamal Charles, the Cheifs elusive every down back had long run of 40 yards during the 1st half as well. After halftime, it was a different ball game. The defense shut out the Chiefs, forcing 3 turnovers to help win the game 40-24.

As for both teams, it is still very early in the season and there is always room for improvement however, there are concerns for both teams. For the Falcons, the team will have to finish the season without Brent Grims, who is one of the leagues best at his position. And for the Cheifs, the only problem is that for the team to get healthy. Both Brandon Carr and Tamba Ali missed Sunday’s game but, should be available for week 2.