American Sports Essay

Since this great country was first established many intuitive minds have tried to answer the question; "What is an American". This country is full of individuals of many backgrounds, and diversities and each person has a different opinion on this question. In my opinion, an American is someone who values freedom and equality and pursues the "American dream." Every American exercises these rights and these are great adjectives to describe our country. Each of the seven readings, and the one image I compiled help mold this broader definition into a more precise description of an American.

After watching ESPN’s 30 for 30, Broke, my mind starting pondering this question of why and how so many professional athletes are blowing through the millions they make while playing their specific sport? It is amazing that someone can spend that much money so quickly. What are they buying and who are they buying things for? Where are they spending it? Where do they go wrong? When did this trend start and will it continue in the future? What are the league officials doing in order to prevent this tragedy from happening? These are some of the questions I will try to answer throughout this paper.

Abstract: Society is affected every day by many different kinds of sports.  These sports often govern society's way of life.  People all over the nation turn their TVs to sporting events, such as golf, during the weekends.   Scott Stossel states that "more than six million Americans enjoy watching golf on the weekends."  Parents  use sports as a teaching tool for their children.  Kids learn teamwork and discipline from team sports programs and  sports have also helped many students with their grades.  Kids who want to compete in school sports are taught to keep their grades up or they won't be able to play, but the greedy coaches and schools often look around grades to keep their "star athletes" in the games.  Adults have

In Jeffrey Schranks’ short story, “Sport and the American Dream”, he is trying to show us that the sport America watches and plays, portrays America’s character as a nation. Since America goes from baseball to football we it shows us that we are becoming more violent. his comparisons of sports and war is says best how America changes as a country over the years. Back when baseball was Americas’ pastime to being a totally football country. When we were a baseball country, Americans were happier, not many cared about wars or violence just the enjoyment they got from watching the games with friends or family at the ballpark. It didn’t matter that the sport wasn’t moving at a fast pace or so competitive. Football is the

The National Football League (NFL) is an example of the incredibly successful industry generated by the sport. This business has been, and continues to be, the highest earning sports league in the United States. Average revenue that a franchise earns in the NFL is 286 million dollars, with the closest industry trailing behind being Major League Baseball (MLB) averaging almost 50 million dollars less (Gaines). Another aspect to observe with this comparison is putting in proportion how much more is made per game since football has significantly fewer games. The NFL creates its leading revenue in only a 16 game regular season, whereas the MLB falls short after playing 162 entire games. Putting this into perspective, an NFL team generates an average 17.8 million dollars a game, but an MLB team generates only 1.4 million dollars a game. Revenue

Americans are raised from a young age to be the best that they can be, never give up, and reach for any goal no matter how unattainable. One of the biggest examples of this is the rise of the American automobile industry. Not only was there competition between the Big Three American automakers, but also from foreign competitors. This competition led the charge for American car companies to reinvent themselves. In order to beat the competition, they had to make if better, faster, and less expensive (Jayaram, Vickery, Droge, 1999). This competitive spirit is seen across many levels of American culture from sporting events to space travel, anything less than the best is

Anyone who has been involved in an organized sport, whether it is backyard football or a high school sports team, knows that these sports all have organizations that are responsible for setting rules, determining conditions of play, and penalizing individuals who infringe the rules. Some of the organizations like the National Football league and the MLB are familiar to most people, the rules they follow are not generally understood by anyone who is not closely associated with the sport. Most fans and sport critics assume that what is happening inside these organizations are of little concern to them. However, this is not the case. In the MLB, the New York Yankees spend an excessive amount of money every year to obtain big name players. A

When people hear of college athletics, all they think of is a game. Most people do not realize that there is a million dollar industry going on around these athletes. Eric He, a sports fanatic who writes for the Daily Trojan, states, “The NCAA is a nonprofit, tax exempt organization that just happens to be a billion-dollar industry, raking in $740 million per year from March Madness alone” (par. 7). When the NCAA is generating that much money, how can it not go to the players? It is not the

Otherwise whoever has the most points at the end of the extra time, is the winner (Compare anything).

Every year, it becomes more obvious that many sports in America have problems. For years, Hockey has been criticized for its excessive violence. The National Football League has also been scrutinized for this reason as well as the fact that many of the top players have constantly been in trouble with the law. Major League Baseball is no different. The situation with baseball is more complicated, and is not only ruining the game itself, but also drawing millions of fans away from the sport. The biggest problem is with the high salaries paid to athletes. These salaries are taking the competitiveness out of several sports, especially baseball, where there is no salary cap. Action must be taken

With how many sporting events that there are in this country, it is common to see fans that love multiple games. Professional sports are typically favored by most followers, but there is a clear deficiency that hurts the leagues. Professional sports are exhilarating if one is a fan of a playoff team or especially a team that wins championships on a regular basis. While this is great for traditional powerhouses and teams with endless amounts of money, the majority of teams in these leagues serve as punching bags for years or even multiple decades. There is a fine line between these teams and other organizations that struggle just to make financial ends meet. Teams in financial

There is no doubt some of the highest salaries in America belong to professional athletes. Whether it’s LeBron James’s $19.3 million dollar salary with the Cleveland Cavaliers or Matt Ryan’s $42 million dollar deal with the Atlanta Falcons, professional athlete’s salaries prove just how valuable the players are to whatever organization they are a part of. (Forbes.com) In 2014 the average professional football franchise was valued at $1.4 billion and the average professional basketball franchise was valued at $1.1 billion so it’s no wonder why athletes can be paid such high sums of money.(Forbes.com) Besides professional sports American’s love college athletics, college football in particular. Drawing in an average of 44,997 fans per game

Athletes and the sports industry have turned into a multi-billion dollar business annually. Stacked on top of that is that leagues and educational institutions receive multi-million dollar media contracts each year. This is so that broadcasters such as NBC, FOX, and TNT have the rights to broadcast that team or leagues games. The surge of money in the sports industry has led to an influx of agents into the world of agent athletes.

For years, sports have been a part of American high schools. They have been a source of school pride and give people a connection to their school. They break up the otherwise mundane routine of going to class and doing schoolwork. In recent years there has been a huge push by researchers, educators, politicians, and parents to figures out why America’s schools are constantly falling behind other countries in crucial test subjects. One of the latest reasons to blame for the shortcomings of American students is the incorporation of sports in the American school system. Some are beginning to think that the focus of schools is no longer education and that sports are taking on a greater role within schools. It’s

The NBA is one of the United States’ favorite sports leagues, with each team averaging 100 million dollars of income each year before expenses.