I choose corruption of sports because it is a serious topic and issue that needs to be addressed and resolved if the sports scene should stay the same. Corruption is defined as requesting, offering, giving or accepting, directly or indirectly, a bribe or any other undue advantage or prospect. I have an issue with these shady business agents who are solely offering their service for a huge financial gain. In fact some athletes who are represented by sports agents actually end up going broke. This problem seems to happen in almost every industry. 75% of football players who will retire from the NFL will go broke in 5 years and 60% of basketball will go broke in 5 years after retiring. If your a true sports person and follow your favorite athletes. I choose to a write a newspaper article because it would be easier to get my point across better then doing a song or video. I am basically reporting the potential lives of a professional athletes who are caught in the world of corruption and shady business. I point out the stupidity and ignorance of an arrogant athlete who is driven by materialistic needs such as cars and money.
ST. LOUIS—After an 11-year NFL career, a Rams nose tackle officially announced his retirement from pro football at a press conference Friday, telling reporters that over the next five years he intends to lose all of his money and eventually shoot himself. “After more than a decade of playing football, I’m ready to begin the next chapter of my life,” said the defensive linemen, who was selected 94th overall by the Cowboys in the 2001 draft out of Maryland. “Next week I will move to my home to Sarasota, Florida, where in the coming years I plan to squander my career earnings, slide into depression, and commit suicide sometime in early 2018.” The 33-year-old told reporters that starting next month, he will begin drinking heavily, behaving erratically, and making a series of brash fiscal decisions that will gradually reduce him from being a multimillionaire to bankruptcy. “I’ve already made several bad investments I expect will lead to my financial ruin sometime in the next three or four years,” said the nose tackle, noting that his adviser won’t push back against any of the investments because he’s afraid of being fired. “When the money dries up, I’ll try to keep my head above water by appearing in a few depressing ads for small businesses in the St. Louis area.” “Then who knows? I may even explore a career in broadcasting that will fail because I’m not famous enough and have absolutely no relevant experience,” he continued. “And at some point I’ll attempt a brief football comeback, which will be so humiliating it will just make me even more depressed.” Explaining that he is completely unable to function in normal life without a strict, regimented schedule, the NFL veteran estimated that by 2017 he will have been arrested three times for driving under the influence, once for assaulting his girlfriend in public, and will also be under investigation for tax fraud. Tormented by constant pain from injuries sustained during his career, and facing the prospect of waiting eight more years before he can even touch his pension fund, the defensive tackle said he then plans to shoot himself in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun. “I might shoot my girlfriend too—I haven’t really decided,” said the 33-year-old, noting that he intends to donate his brain to a Boston University study on chronic traumatic brain injury. “Either way, I’m definitely going to leave some kind of heartbreaking note explaining how I can’t live with who I’ve become, and how I just don’t want to deal with the pain and shame anymore.” “Maybe they’ll write a three- or four-paragraph story on ESPN about it,” he added. The 11-year NFL veteran mentioned that after committing suicide, his post-retirement plans include serving as a cautionary tale to younger professional football players and maybe being cited as a statistic in a mental health debate. “That’s all still a ways down the road, though,” said the two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman. “For now, I’m just going to focus on spending time at home feeling worthless, becoming increasingly hostile and violent toward my family, and alienating all the people I love. You know, the stuff that’s really important.” Sports history and Problems Ancient Greece were the first to introduce formal sports, with the Olympic Games in 776 B.C. Sporting events included human and chariot races, wrestling, jumping, disk and javelin throwing, and more. Today’s sports include basketball, football, soccer; cricket, golf, hockey, and baseball, just to name a few. Modern sport athletes now days are spoiled, selfish, and solely focused on endorsement contracts or paydays. Watching sporting events in the 60s and 70s is totally different from watching sporting events today in society. Athletes back then were true team players and actually cared for the sport taking time to truly master them. Drugs such as steroids, speed, and cocaine are taken to try inducing greater playing skills and bigger muscles. There is also a problem with colleges supplying potential recruits with gifts and money. Cam Newton (Jaguars’ quarterback) was being investigated for the same issue back in 2010. Corruption in college sports so common that NCAA rules are not even taken in to account. Agents begin recruiting and socializing with athletes at younger and younger ages. They have begun establishing relationships with athletes as they enter college, trying to score them as clients before they are even allowed to have agents. Despite all the warm sentiments agents give the athletes, all these agents really want is money. They want to sign the big clients before they join the professional leagues and are open to the whole market. This forces other agents to recruit young talent as well, which will only create a bad cycle for agents and athletes. If you take in all off you can conclude there’s no trust between these colleges, athletes, agents, and there is only a desire for wealth. The colleges, players, and agents have the right to do what they want, but they still must also accept the consequences. College is a maturation period that so many athletes ignore. They are truly missing an important step in their lives when they disregard college. Yet the Colleges don’t help the problem when they initiate the athletes into the corruption. Bibliography
Anderson, Jack. "A Look At The Problems In Sports Today." Bleacher Report. N.p., 19 May 2008. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/24168-a-look-at-the-problems-in-sports-today Bellis, Mary. "History of Sports." About.com Inventors. About.com, 20 Dec. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/tp/History-Of-Sports.htm |