Exemplification Essay: The Dead-end of Professional Sports

About three weeks ago, the Packer Varsity baseball team beat Berkeley Carroll school for the first time in twelve years and in glorious fashion. Tears streamed down my face as our winning run crossed the plate in extra innings, dust flying up as my teammates and I mobbed each other at the plate. Yet a few short days later, our team was blindsided by the news that St. Ann’s had pulled off back to back upsets to squeak their way into the playoffs ahead of us - just as our season seemed to be looking up, it was over.

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

Most African American that want to make it to the National Football League (NFL) or the National basketball League (NBA), do not realize there is a slim chance to none of actually going into a professional sport. Gates writes “African American youngster has about as much of becoming a professional athlete as he or she does of winning the lottery” (1). Not many African American youngsters know that there are “12 times more black lawyers than black athletes” or there are only 1200 blacks who play in a professional sport (1). There are 12 times more black professionals that are in the communities accommodating to the needs of those who need the assistance with either legal or health issues. The youth can achieve greatness in today’s society by getting a degree and forming a foundation to make enough to be financially stable.

In the collegiate world of sports, basketball has become an increasingly recognized sport among African Americans, predominantly males. The hope of any young basketball player is that one day a scout will come and recruit them into stardom The question that presents itself as a problem to the lucky few who are chosen to go professional, is whether or not an education is more important than a million dollar shoe deal, “The NCAA's (1998) annual six-year study reported that only 33% of Black male basketball players graduated, (Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999). Individually, basketball reported the lowest graduation rate in all divisions,” (Robinson, 2004:1). Basketball players have become so idolized in the eyes of young

         Instead, Jerry Stackhouse went on to make millions of dollars at the age of 20. He played his rookie season with the Philadelphia 76ers. His team came in last place, and received no glory. Jerry Stackhouse doesn’t have the hype that he had when he came out of college now. Rahseed Wallace decided North Carolina and college basketball was too easy also. After his sophomore year, he went pro. He was drafted by Washington, made millions, rode the bench, was injured, then traded to Portland, and finally forgotten about, all within two years of leaving college. Jeff McInnis was basically forgotten about during the NBA draft, getting drafted by Denver at the 37th pick. He got injured in training camp, then cut a few weeks later.

Drafted by the NBA at the age of 19, many critics wondered if he would last. Not many kids know how to handle fame, most end up on the never-ending road of drugs and rehab...a cycle that never ends.

The ugly truth behind the money machine that is college sports is that, every year, college athletes are deceived by the institutions the compete for into making them millions of dollars, with relatively little in return. Athletes are said to be given a chance to attend college and to attain a free college degree. However, research has shown that this is not completely true for two reasons. For one, the student athlete will spend most of their time in preparation for competition. Secondly, what education the student athlete does receive hardly serves them outside of maintaining eligibility just so

There are many high school basketball phenoms that are scouted by pro teams even when they are in high school. A select few in the past have gone straight to the NBA out of high school and had a lot of success, while some players go to college all four years to develop their skills at the next level. However, there are athletes that will waste one year at the college level just so they could get to the NBA. Why would you waste one year of your life when you could have already been in the NBA a year earlier? Basketball players should either go to college all four years and enhance their skills and get a solid education. If not, skip college and go straight to the NBA, rather than wasting a year of your life, and possibly a classroom seat for a person who wanted to get an education.

Marty Blake and other NBA scouts said, ?No high school player belongs in the NBA? (Unknown 1). They don?t have the body type or mental strength to withstand night-in, night out beatings by bigger and faster people than them. Getting your education should be your first and most important priority in life. Scholarships and other academic money will help you learn things that you will never learn in your life. College ends up tapping into your outside sports life and lets you learn there are greater things and achievements than just sports. A more mature and literate person tends to be of better use to

The NBA “one-and-done” rule was first implemented in the summer of 2006. This new rule concerns the eligibility for recent high school graduates to forego their eligibility to play college basketball and enter straight into the NBA draft. The informed high school basketball players that they had to be at least one year removed from high school and had to be at least 19 years of age in order to partake in the NBA draft. Currently, the league does not require players to play NCAA basketball as you can be drafted after playing a season overseas. However, for many high school graduates attending college has becomes their only option in pursing the dream to one-day play in the NBA.

All of the publicity that is attained by success, and the possibility of this success, places a great deal of pressure and stress on these young single-sport athletes. This stress and pressure takes the fun out of some sports. Youth sports are becoming serious and based more on winning than on having a great time and learning good sportsmanship. Adu points out the winning mindset of athletes in this day and age when he says, “Teams will do anything to win the game. My coach told me to expect that going in and that is exactly how it was. . .I felt like everybody was out to get me” (Goodall, 2003). This

The likes of Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady, Amare Stoudamire, and Jermaine O’Neal are setting the tone across the nation for high schoolers considering by-passing college for the NBA. Two of today’s biggest stars, Garnett and Bryant, have never attended college, but both were immediately successful and popular in the pros (Head to Head). The biggest star in the NBA right now, Garnett, is having an MVP-caliber season and is leading his team to their best record in franchise history. The teenagers with high hopes admire these professionals living their dream and hope to someday be in their shoes.

In order to make it in the NBA, black students will have to finish high school and go to a college. The NBA rules states in order to be eligibility for the NBA draft the one-and-done rule is in effect (Wikipedia). Meaning one year of college is all your need. Despite this, black students feel this bias towards them, and compared the MLB Draft Rule, “High school players, if they have graduated from high school and have not yet attended college or junior college” (Major League Baseball) can still join the MLB. The black community feels this not equal and fails to gives hope to some black students, a great example

In the Summer of 2005 the path to NBA stardom would forever be changed. David Stern, the commissioner of professional basketball at the time, signed a new provision that prevented basketball prospects from going straight to the pros. Instead, young athletes were forced to wait until their nineteenth birthday before they would be considered draft eligible. With seemingly no other options, NBA bound athletes were forced to bite their tongues and go to college. It was the only choice that they had in order to continue playing the game that they loved. However, many young athletes would quickly find that this is far from the truth. After discovering some loopholes, many top prospects learned that they could attain professional status without having to go to college or taking a year