...Race and Sports in America By: Patrick Minnick December 12, 2014 “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives”. This quote proved true for no one more than the man who said it, Jackie Robinson. Robinson is seen as a pivotal figure in the fight for racial equality in America. However, he didn’t make his impact through speeches, civil right protests, or violent rebellion. Robinson did it by playing the sport he loved, baseball. Sports have always had an ability to bring people together, but, in the last century especially, sports have given racial minorities something they can’t find elsewhere; a chance to compete on a level playing field with everyone else. Jackie Robinson showed that race is simply a myth, a superficial characteristic that holds no insight to the physical or mental abilities of a person. Sports by themselves show no racism and serve as a constant reminder of this racial myth. Sadly, people are more reluctant to abandon old beliefs; meaning racism still runs deep in the organizations that are built around these sports. This research paper will focus mainly on three subcategories: 1) The history of the relationship between sports and race in America; 2) How sports have benefited or damaged race relations; 3) Why certain sports are more popular among different races. The history of sports in America dates all the way back to the Native Americans who played an early form of lacrosse that was used for recreation and promoting teamwork...
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...enhancing drugs (also known as PED) are legal and illegal substances used by professional athletes to enhance their performance. Performance enhancing drug use by professional athletes is a topic of medical, ethical, and social debate. PED usage by professional athletes has advocates arguing that the negative health consequences reported are grossly exaggerated and they contend that it’s an athlete’s personal decision to accept any potential harmful health hazards. They believe that performance enhancing drug usage is just part of a sport’s natural progression and nothing more than the incorporation of enhanced training approaches and new sport technologies. Additionally, they believe that the use of PED by professional athletes helps them to achieve the highest levels of athletic performance and puts a better product before the public. Opponents of performance enhancing drug use by professional athletes argue that their usage is extremely harmful, and possibly lethal to an athlete’s well-being. Such use makes a professional athlete a fraud, gaining an unfair competitive advantage, violating the competitive spirit of athleticism, and sending an immoral message to youngsters. Opponents further argue that the use of performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes is unethical behavior. PED use is one of the most controversial and talked-about issues in professional sports. The professional sports most impacted are baseball, basketball, and football, which give the PED...
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... Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sports A performance-enhancing drug in sports is a big thing these days. Athletes are using them to increase their ability to win. Ethically speaking at what cost do we say enough. Think about their lives, by continuing to take these form of enhancement what effect will they have in the long run. Maybe if we understand the types of drugs, the side effects, health risk, and consequence of taking drugs. Athletes would stop using these forms of performance-enhancer. The type of Drugs Athletes Take Athletes use many different types of performance-enhancer in professional sports today from pills to steroids; they will even go as far as self-injecting their own blood as a dope. Blood Doping is where the athletes take there own blood and injected in their bodies to produce more oxygen in their blood in order to increase their chances of win. The positive thing about doing this is that it makes it easy for the athletes to breathe a longer time, which give them a better chance for winning. “Athletes have always been aware of the possible benefit of improving oxygen carrying capacity in endurance sport, hence many train at altitude. More recently athletes have used blood doping – in which blood is taken off, stored and later rein fused, thereby boosting the packed cell volume.” (MacAuley 1996, para 4 pg. 3). They also used diuretics to help them pass their required weight limit in order for them to compete in sports. The good thing that comes from athletes...
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...Shydarrius Jackson Mrs. Keel English 1101 4 December 2014 Should College Athletes Be Paid? College sports is one of America’s biggest industries. It is an industry that brings in almost 4 billion dollars every year to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association). The NCAA is not the only one profiting from this large industry. TV networks like ESPN and CBS, retailers, and of course universities make millions each year because of the work of college athletes. It seems that everyone is profiting off the college sports industry except for the ones who are actually performing. College athletes are not being compensated for their hard work and diligence in this highly profitable market industry. While some college athletes get scholarships, which are renewed each year depending on the athlete’s performance and usefulness to the team, that is still not enough to meet the needs of the athletes. Also these college athletes cannot profit off their marketability and their name. College athletes are not allowed to receive anything of monetary value in exchanged for autographs or memorabilia. Every year, thousands of student athletes across America sign the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Form 08-3a, the “Student-Athlete” form, waiving their right to receive payment for the use of their name and image (Infante et al). However, retailers and college universities make millions off these athletes with university apparel with the athlete’s number on the merchandise...
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...The Money or The Passion: Is Money in Professional Sport Ruining the Ethos of the Game? Ross Schreuder Supervisor: Mr. Werth English Teacher: Mrs. Schroeder Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. History and Evolution of Sport 3 3. What is the Ethos of Sport? 4 4. Positive and Negative Influences of Money in Sport and an Evaluation of their Impact on its Ethos 5 4.1 Doping: 5 4.2 Throwing Matches/ Match Fixing: 6 4.3 Other Factors Contributing to Unethical Behaviour in Sport 7 4.4 Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship 8 4.5 The Money in Barclays Premier League 9 4.5.1 Stadium naming rights 10 4.5.2 Transfers and Individual Sponsorships 10 4.6 Philanthropy 11 5. Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 1. Introduction Money is, undoubtedly, evident in every aspect of professional sport. Player sponsorships and contracts, team ownership, stadia, media - its everywhere. If sport was not about the game, then arguably, sport would be about the money. Each and every week, transfers of players are made, ticket offices receive income, and money is handed from one profiteering person to the next. Where sport is widely thought to be about fair play, professional sport is, in fact, like war. There can only be one winner and what one team or individual gains, the other loses. Many sportsmen and women around the world are caught up with winning, not just because of the prowess of a title but, also because professionalism is now about money and...
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...a Monday morning, the sun is still asleep. The football superstar rises from his bed, careful not to wake his mate. The smell of Robusta coffee beans begin to awaken his senses as he sluggishly makes his way into the kitchen. He checks his watch, gathers his essentials, and heads out the door in the direction of the train station; Here begins a full day, devoted to perfecting his talent. Like any professional athlete, the life of a soccer player requires discipline, focus, and drive. The sport is more than just a game to them; it’s a career. Mandatory daily practices and workouts are imperative to honing their skills. Many Americans do not give soccer a chance due to the overshadowing caused by American Football. Americans often portray professional soccer players as pansies kicking around a ball, without considering the coordination it takes to pass, handle, and score goals without the use of one’s hands. The lack of size requirements in the sport opens its doors to a wider variety of athletes. Though it has not touched the United States of America to its full potential, it remains the most popular sport in the world; its international competition forces individuals to come together, allowing their love of the game to surpass cultural boundaries. Soccer is one of the most demanding sports; there are many physical skills required to partake, among them: speed, balance, flexibility and strength. A professional soccer player must be able to change direction on a dime while maintaining...
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...How Sports Evolved Recreation Programming Professor Newton 05/10/2013 Whether you have engage in sports in your leisure time, watch as a spectator or played on a professional level sports are major source of entertainment in the world. The earliest historical account of sports date all the way backs to BC time. A sport is defined as an activity involving physical or mental exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another. The ten most popular sports in the world are Football/ Soccer, cricket, tennis, hockey, baseball, table tennis, volleyball, rugby, and golf. In the United States motor sports, pro- wrestling, and martial arts are also popular. Sports are usually governed by rules and regulations to ensure fair competition and ensure the adjudication of a winner though fairness was not always a common practice especially in the ancient world. The history of sport can teach us about the social changes with society. In ancient times it was not uncommon for humans to die during sport events. For at least seven hundred years entire villages participated in violent combat sports such as fencing and jousting. The Romans were especially known for this with the gladiatorial games and chariot racing. These types of sports would almost always leave an opponent seriously or fatally injured. In ancient Greece most sports took place during the funeral games during the Mycenaean period. Such games have been described in Greek mythology like the Iliad and Odyssey...
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.............3 Evidence of Racism in Hockey Minor Hockey.......................................................................................3 Professional Hockey.............................................................................6 Impacts of Racism in Hockey............................................................................8 Influencing Factors...........................................................................................8 Corrective Action.............................................................................................10 Conclusion........................................................................................................12 ------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION Canada’s favourite past time hockey has and continues to endure racism throughout all levels of the sport. This paper will expose the institutional racism in Canadian hockey associations with an emphasis on black hockey players. Drawing credible news reports and personally experiences, I will provide evidence that institutional racism is deeply rooted within the fabric of the sport, which can be observed from the actions and behaviour of authoritative figures. Additionally, the essay will analyze the implications from racial discrimination in both minor and professional hockey. By doing so, valuable information will be discovered to understand the true underlying factors that are influence and permit racist behaviour...
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...3 III. SWOT Analysis...………………………………..…………….……….……………………6 IV. Marketing Objectives..…………..…….….……………………………….…..………………..7 V. Marketing Strategies...……………………………………………………..…………………...8 VI. Marketing Implementation.………………………….…….….…….…….……………...……10 VII. Performance Evaluation…………….………..…………………………….......................…….11 References..…………………………………...………………….………........….12 I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Suunto is a world leader in designing and manufacturing sports precision instruments. Since 1936, Suunto has been at the vanguard of innovation and design of sport watches, dive computers, and sports instruments engineered for training, hiking, mountaineering, hiking, skiing, and sailing. Suunto enjoys an esteemed reputation because it delivers intuitive design, accuracy and dependability combining aesthetics and functionality that allows athletes analyze and improve their performance. The demand for fitness products and the rise of wearable technology is a prospect that Suunto must look into. Suunto must look into the feasibility of expanding its product line to produce products that will fill the needs of other users in aviation, and the military for example. This expansion in product offerings has the potential of increasing market share and revenue. Suunto will have to overcome challenges to expand its product offerings and increase its market share. This marketing plan presents a possible way for Suunto to capitalize...
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...Athletes and Sports Abstract This paper will explain the effects of the luxury contracts of athletes on sports as well as the athlete. The debate is whether the effect is a negative effect or not. This paper will aim to show how the contracts of athletes have changed significantly over time. It will also show how the pro athlete affect the sport of college in different aspects and if that helps or hurt the college athletics or influences it in a way to help the athletes. Then we will focus on how the salaries affect the players themselves. We take a look at today’s professional athlete and wonder what it be like to live like that. Even though the professional athlete is few in numbers, the popularity of such sports industries as the NFL, NBA, MLB and etc. are well documented by the lucrative pay days. The major sports industry is at least a 100 billion dollar business and growing. The athlete’s income only consist of a small percent of this amount, which leaves the majority to the industry itself. Though we must take into account the exploits of the professional athlete. The perception of today’s athlete has drastically changed from that of the last decade, and even as early as the 80’s. One of the major changes would be the drastic increase in the salaries paid to professional athletes. The high salaries have robbed what most would say the passion for the game that the athletes of early age played before the luxury contracts of today. Has the professional athlete luxury...
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...Tourism -Ragasudha RV 2014 saw 1.1 billion international tourist arrivals according to UNWTO, roughly 5% rise from 2013. Europe accounts to more than half of these arrivals followed by Asia and America. Outbound tourists from China outnumber those from the USA and Germany, and are expected to increase even further. 50% travelled for leisure and recreation, 27% travelled for visiting family or friends, medical or religious reasons and another 15% travelled on business and profession. This shows that Leisure, VFR and Business remain the top three motivations for people to travel. In the luxury travel market, travellers from US, Europe and Japan are the dominant consumers. Continued growth in global GDP, change of leadership in countries like India and meetings like BRICs promise increase in economic performance in foreseeable future. In this backdrop, tourism scene looks promising as countries in Asia and Middle East compete to attract investments and visitors, and Europe and America look to seek partnerships with developing countries. Increase in affluence, disposable income and leisure time fuelled the desire to travel for new experiences. Provisions like Visa on Arrival and Visa Waiver Program enable hassle-free entry and saves time on travel formalities. Stressful professional life also necessitates the motivation to take short breaks by young professionals. Business travellers are often combining leisure element or bring their partners on the trips. Low cost business...
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...collegiate sports. For example, March Madness the college basketball post season made $1.15 billion in ad revenue in 2013 (Van Ripper). It is a proven fact that college athletics is a revenue giant so why can’t these athletes get paid to play. Instead, college athletes the main attraction, for endorsement companies, and fanatics, are paid with a scholarship that is worth, an average of $50,000 in four years depending on universities (Jennings). In addition, collegiate athletes are forced to agree to harsh rules and regulations that prevent them from being normal collage students. Therefore, college athletes deserve financial recognition for the merchandise profit they generate, as well as the opportunity to pursue their own financial gains. As athletes, they work hard on the field every day to bring in fans and wins for their school; it’s only fair that they are rewarded for their efforts, at least in some small way. Background, According to the NCAA in order to play college sports every athlete must be amateur certified. Yet, what exactly makes a collegiate athlete an amateur? The NCAA has struggled to properly answer this question for a long time. Therefore, as of 2007, the NCAA amateur rules are as follows. Collage athletes are prohibited from, signing contracts with professional teams, earning salary for participating in athletics, earning prize money above actual and necessary expenses, playing with professionals, trying out, practicing or competing with a professional team,...
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...Marketing 401 Name of organization: Nikon Corporation Product analysis and strategy Pricing strategy Promotion strategy Distribution strategy Environmental Analysis Nikon operates in a highly competitive consumer and professional optics environment. The product range in this industry starts with consumer level digital cameras then moves through to pro-level film and digital cameras and includes sport and scientific optics such as binoculars and telescopes. There are a number of competitors all pushing for market share. Smaller competitors include Lumix, Olympus, and Leica. Larger, more dominant, competitors include Nikon, Canon, Sony and Pentax. The largest influence of this environment is the economy. Sales are typically directly inline with expendable cash flow of both businesses and consumers. Technological advancements are also a major influence. Although professional optics and cameras tend to have longer shelf lives, consumer level products are expected to advance a much quicker pace. Advancements in micro-technology assist with making consumer products smaller, faster, and more powerful as the market and consumer spending habits tend to dictate. Finally, in foreign markets such as the UK, political debates about the right to photography in public often influence which type of optics are released and how powerful those optics are. Environmental scanning would be conducted on a continuous basis across all existing products. Closely monitoring...
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... Sports Now a Business Sports is now a money making business in the human culture. In the United States, Every day millions of office and break time conversations center on the local team’s most recent performance, an upcoming game, the impending draft, the current coach, the future coach, and so on. according to the existing records, in United States of America, there are less than 110 Teams of the 4 main organized professional sports, basketball, baseball, hockey, and, football participating in the main League level fixtures annually. There are less than 90 Stadiums spread over 25 States. Today, sports has become a money making alternative for not only players but also the coaches or managers, the media, and schools participating in sports. Salaries for professional athletes continue to escalate each year. From Alex Rodriguez’s record, $252 million contract to David Beckham’s $50 million per year enticement to join the LA Galaxy soccer team, most sports fans believe that professional athletes, in general, are overpaid and not worth their salaries. Yet for the professional athlete, maximizing compensation is critical, given the short careers and health risks associated with the sports profession. Thus, athletes and their agents often look to see what others within their sport are paid in an effort to negotiate for more money. Few, if any, have compared athlete compensation across sports (Rod Hilpirt, Scott Wysong, Sheila Hartley...
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...WNBA and the Economy The topic of sports is an ongoing form of popular entertainment that generates millions of dollars per year. Although the revenue is enormous, the slow demise of the Women’s National Basketball Association is apparent within the economy. Many other factors, including the recession, have had an enormous effect on the deterioration of this league. Some of these factors include the demand for women’s basketball which has led to a decrease in fan base, salaries, and funding for other teams, ultimately contributing to the downfall of this empire. In dissecting this problem, it becomes evident that the demand for this particular sport is an issue. How many people have a desire to watch this sport, and furthermore are willing to pay a price for this entertainment? The WNBA fan base is slowly declining, and as a result, less money is being generated from the public. Spectators have concluded that the growing audience has been hard to come by for the WNBA, which is apparent by the league’s attendance history. With the WNBA falling short of its male counterpart attendance wise, the WNBA has the lower hand of the deal when it comes to ticket pricing. The WNBA is already put at a disadvantage by having half as many seasonal games as the NBA. The average WNBA ticket price is fifteen dollars as opposed to the average NBA ticket being forty-five dollars. When compared with the attendance rate, the women’s basketball league is struggling tremendously. With people already...
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