...For every Batman there is a Joker, for most heroes there are villains, whether it being a tree, fire or person there are villains for a hero. People have these great qualities that make them heroes but people also have qualities that make them villains or unheroic. Greed, cowardice, selfishness and rude action all exemplify qualities that heroes must not have. While many athletes are heroes, others are villains. In all major sports league cheating accusations have been thrown around on various teams; however, due to many new drugs, athletes are being caught using performance enhancing drugs. Cheating proves cowardice and many well-known athletes have been caught, “Lance Armstrong, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens, Olympic sprinter Marion Jones, and several other top-level...
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...Why Sports Teams Move and Cities Fight To Keep Them Professional sports, like most of our popular culture, can be understood only partly by through its exiting plays and tremendous athletes. Baseball and football most of all are not only games anymore but also hardcore businesses. As businesses, sports leagues can be as conniving, deceitful, and manipulative as any other businesses in the world. No matter what the circumstances are, it seems that Politicians are always some how right around the corner from the world of sports. These Politicians look to exploit both the cultural and the economic dimensions of the sports for their own purposes. This is what is known in the sports industry as "playing the field". In the last decade, almost all the big cities in the United States, and a few small cities as well, have battled with each other for the right to host big league franchises. Cities spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build new stadiums and offer enticements to private franchise owners. Politicians often push for stadiums and other favors to teams despite not having support from neighborhoods and general opposition across the whole city, especially where these high dollar stadiums would be built. Some of the most prolific franchises in sports, like the Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Colts of the National Football League, have moved to other cities breaking off their loyalty to the hometown fans. More important than the actual moves are the more frequent threatened...
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...from the bottom up. We were privileged to host these young men (there was never a female trainee at that time) for a period of six weeks. Many would start the program ready to tackle the world. They were aware of the fact that “if you do good, you get perks.” These perks could include that “corner office with a view” or a prime sales territory. Any advantage the trainees could achieve over one another worked to the benefit. It was apparent that there was indeed “trench warfare out there.” As I would work with these young men, who were often the same age as myself, I could sense an undertone of greed. Hey had but one goal, and that was to succeed in the company. There were two young men that really caught my attention and I feel helped to mold me into the manager that I am today. One of the men, Eric, was flashy, well-dressed, and a talker. He drove a little red sports car. He was often found chatting up the managers, often leaving to play golf with many of them. We learned Eric was not from a wealthy family, had a lot of student debt, and was determined to be successful and to him that meant make a lot of money. Jonathon, on the other hand, was...
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...Enron was portrayed as an innovative company and was featured on covers of magazines a few times. They were put on a pedestal that was so high that no one could see that the company was failing and committing fraud. Enron used a different accounting method that allowed them to report potential profits, not actual profits. A company will always look good if it is reporting potential profits, because the potentials are limitless. No one wanted to neither admit nor believe that there was something seriously wrong at Enron. Greed was such a big player and no one wanted to lose money. There were many big players involved in the corruption, so they would do whatever it took to hide the truth. At the end, companies just pointed the finger at Enron and claimed innocence. 2. Describe the Enron corporate culture. Explain how the following reinforced the Enron corporate culture and the notion of “survival of the fittest?” The corporate culture in Enron was greed, lavish lifestyle, overspending, risk taking, and competitive. In the film, an analyst described workers doing whatever it took to get ahead, even if that meant trampling over their colleagues. Top executives knew that they had to get everyone in the company excited and sucked in the same mindset in order for Enron to keep up its...
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...life of a civil engineer and his experiences in the field of construction. He narrates how contractors and engineers from the private and government sectors transact business deals, more often than not, feeding their personal motives. He even enumerates ways on how to delight influential decision makers for future projects. He describes in detail how the sport of golf can get someone connections (even if personal pride is sacrificed) in the government. He further narrates that greed was the cause of some local disasters in the construction business like the Ruby Tower collapse, copper mining disaster and the Film Center accident. After failing to win bids in Malaysia and Indonesia, the young engineer went back home to the Philippines to join local biddings. Due to financial restraints, he teamed up with a Japanese contractor to go against other local and international bidders. As suggested by a congressman, there was a proposal to connive with the other bidding corporations, but the deal was exposed in the media. According to reports, there was a conspiracy going on among the bidders and the congressman. Distrust, greed and the insatiable desire for money then plays into action. As the story progresses, he discloses that he was responsible for the media leak and all of the collusion was a part of his ploy for his personal benefit. The story compares a human being to a chameleon that changes its color to be able to adapt to his environment when harmed. But unlike the chameleon...
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...day or someone that gets paid to play a game for living. Athletes today are the highest paid people in the world, with the exclusion of Donald Trump and Bill Gates. If you think about it, it is absurd to believe that someone is really worth millions of dollars and all they do is play a sport. Millions of people would do this for free if they had the chance. For that reason, I believe professional athletes are overpaid for many reasons. In USA Today Magazine, under section Your Life it says, “Although many professional athletes apparently still feel underpaid, just two percent of the public agrees, according to a survey conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide. In fact, the vast majority of Americans think athletes are overpaid.”(USA Today) This is ridiculous to hear for these athletes already making millions of dollars which is way more than they deserve. Also, in this article it states that professional athletes get paid what our economy will bear. For instance, if the attendance at a sporting events were to either increase or decrease, or the advertising money was to go up or dry up, this would affect how much the athletes get paid. In a country such as United States professional sports is a type of entertainers. People are willing to pay for their entertainers not matter what the cost is. In addition to...
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...the owner of Jurassic Park and founder of InGen, investing most of his time to see the re-creation of dinosaurs. He hires experts, such as Grant, Malcolm, and Sattler to examine Jurassic Park. Hammond’s greed for Jurassic Park and its succession ends up being his greatest downfall, as he loses all his judgment on shutting down the park. Dr. Alan Grant is a paleontologist, alongside with him is Dr. Ellie Sattler is an expert in paleobotany, both working in a dig site outside Snakewater, Montana. Grant is a sturdy humble person, who admires kids as they like dinosaurs just as much as he does. Sattler is a twenty-four years blonde with a darkly tanned texture. Dr. Ian Malcolm is a mathematician, who is interested in “how the real world works.” Studying and emerging in the field of chaos theory, he uses chaos theory for practical real life situations. Tim and Lex are both the grandchildren of Hammond, with Tim being the older sibling, he is good at computers and a lover of dinosaurs, while his younger sister, Lex is young tomboy interested in sports, but would often cry and whine in dire situations. Problem: As the park dwindles in chaos, which was Malcolm predicted it would soon happen through his chaos theory, he advised Hammond to shut down the park. Hammond filled with greed and becomes obsessed trying to save the park, denying all allegations of shutting down the park. The park then shuts down, and is now roaming with wild dinos all hunting down anyone they come across. Plot:...
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...lifestyle. The main landscape he focuses on his what he calls the “East Egg” and the “West Egg,” two totally different places that represent entirely different cultures. The East Egg consists of already established wealthy class that has been apart of aristocracy for generations. However, the West Egg represents the newly rich, and the futuristic, less-sophisticated people of the region. While reading this book, I found many associations with both the East Egg and the West Egg. People in East Egg come from families that always had money. They're more snobby, greedy, and abusive than people from West Egg, which are generally less-sophisticated, and more innocent type of people, as they haven't been around by the material possessions, money, and greed their whole lives. The Buchanans, for example, are a family of East Egg, which Tom Buchanan was born of a wealthy family, and the greedy Daisy, who married into this money. They have a very large mansion for a home, and are a somewhat of a stuck up family. East Egg is portrayed as corrupt in the story, and and is mostly moral less. According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, the West Egg is less fashionable with wide lawns and friendly trees. Most of the people that live in the West Egg have morals and ethics to live by, rather than their own money, such as Nick Carraway. After Nick does...
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...I came from a traditional Asian family that defined as a large extended family, usually up to three or four generations living together ((Vandeusen et al., 1980) which already shaped my perspectives of cultural values and beliefs early in life. As the hierarchical in the structure of traditional Asian family, male has higher value comparing to female, therefore male has more responsibilities to take in a family such as the bread maker, a good husband, a good father, a good son following the set standards (Linda, 2002). My father is the eldest son in the family has six children and I am the eldest son in the family has five children as well as the great grandchildren. This means that I was expected to be a good example for my younger brothers and sister to follow and I am always in the comparisons with everyone in the relatives. According to Chan (1986) Asian families apply “ pride and shame “ principle, which means that an individual’s actions reflect on the whole family, to their children. People who are successful in schooling and workplace enhance family pride while bad behavior brings shame to the whole family. Being educated by this mindset, my only duty was studying hard to get good marks to be the excellent student in order to make my parents proud. I became an overachiever always seeking for the best of everything and really afraid for being second, for losing in a comparison. I was guided to study three different languages, Vietnamese, English and Mandarin; since...
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...Amani Wynne Dr. Earley Image Analysis: NFL logo “Poisoned by Greed” The National Football League was founded in Canton, Ohio, by a group of seven individuals representing four clubs in 1920. The league began with 14 teams and after eight decades since its inaugural season, the NFL has grown to 32 clubs and has become America’s biggest and most popular sports league. According to a recent Harris poll, 30% of those surveyed selected the NFL as their favorite sport, equal to the popularity of professional baseball (15%), professional basketball (7%) and auto racing (7%) combined (Harris Poll). Roughly 120 million fans watch NFL football on television or in stadiums every weekend during the season. The top 10 most-watched television shows in history are all Super Bowls. Telling people one thing when one looks at the NFL logo: it epitomizes sports in America. That is one thought that can come to mind when one views the NFL logo. Many believe the NFL is a prosperous business full of wealthy, honest and hardworking individuals. However, if one were to dig a little deeper into the NFL organization, one would find that the NFL is far from hardworking and honest. To be honest, the NFL works pretty hard to screw everybody over, and take their money in the process. A deeper look into mind of an NFL exec, one would find that the NFL is nothing but a group of frugal, deceptive, egotistical, billionaire snobs...
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...K.Williams 1 I feel that college students shouldn’t be paid. A college student represents his or her institution and it is his responsibility to play with honesty and devotion. Many students find it the best way to earn money and leave the education behind. [pic] Sport is necessary but there should be schedules for playing sports and studying. In my opinion, a good player should be given scholarships and medals as an encouragement to be a wining athlete and a successful student. Let us also not forget, talks of collegiate pay for play, the reason college athletes are in school in the first place is they are here to acquire an education (hence the word student before athlete) which in turn will catapult them to lucrative careers down the road. “Sports as great as it is, is at least in college, a side show and should remain that way if for nothing else to protect the innocence and integrity of the game. For the athletes who are great and posses the potential to elevate their games to the next level, they will eventually be more than adequately compensated for their athleticism to the tune of millions in some cases. And before you under value the worth of a college education, look at it like this for some perspective. A college education, especially an American, one of the most desired attributes worldwide.” .”(Powell, A 2004) Every day Latinos climb on boats, along with anything else that will float, to try to navigate themselves on to Florida's...
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...can be said for the Latino culture. In the eyes of the media, some are born Latino, some become Latino, while others have Latino thrust upon them. Latinos in the media include, politicians, actors, activists and criminals. The vast majority of these individuals create their own personification. Their media image is formed by the causes they support, the roles they play and the words they speak. In this regard, these individuals are either "born Latino" or "achieve Latino". In contrast, athletes are often judged before they ever speak to the media. Our perception is formed based on how these individuals are portrayed or personified by the media. For this reason, it can be said that athletes have "Latino thrust upon them". Of all the major sports, Latinos have had the greatest impact on major league baseball. Today nearly 25% of the players in the major leagues were born in Latin America (Berry, 1). As such baseball provides a unique perspective on Latinos in the media. Players rarely provide insight into their personalities rather our perception is based upon what the media wants us to believe. In this regard, baseball media artifacts enable us to see how differently Latinos were personified in the media over time. In the end it will become apparent that while their growth and achievement on the field has escalated, media perceptions have remained relatively unchanged. Over the past century, there have been countless Hispanic players in the major leagues. Television has captured...
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...speaking of falsehood, or in other words lies. Usually lies can come as a result of greed, anger or even mischievous. An example would be giving someone false information, or telling your friends a lie out of jealousy. 3. Adattadana: In all, this papasthanak means stealing. An example would be cheating someone some money which was not deserved for you. Or another example would be taking clothes from a store without paying. 4. Maithuna: This means to engage in sexual activities. In Jainism, there is no space for sexual relationships because sensual desires bring bad karma. An example would be degrade a women by secretly calling her pretty or hot to your friends, all behind her back. 5. Parigraha: This means to have an attachment for articles or wealth. An example would be of someone owning more pair of shoes than they really need. For example they would have 7 pair of shoes, when, in reality, all they need for everyday work is just 2. 6. Krodha: In short, this papasthanak means to have or obtain anger. An example of this would be having unnecessary anger, for example having your favorite sports team lose and then become mad at not only the team, but also your surrounding environment. 7. Mana: Overall, this papasthanak means to have ego; ego is to be self-centered. An example would be off someone cooking just for themselves instead for everyone. Or of someone on a sports team keeping the ball instead of passing it. 8. Maya: This papasthanak means to...
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...Greed is reaching new levels in college athletics. Universities make huge profits from their athletics and now many people want players getting paid as well. The idea that college athletes should be paid during their years in college is something that has been suggested for years, but paying athletes will only lead to further decline in collegiate sports. College athletes in most sports, both major and minor, receive a full scholarship that provides them with a top-notch college education. This scholarship provides the athlete with everything they need to have a successful four to five years in college. There is no reason for them to receive more. Giving college athletes additional spending money can also lead to other problems. Colleges profit millions of dollars from TV deals, merchandise and ticket sales and appearances in important games like the Bowl Championship Series or the Final Four and the athletes don't see a penny of it. Even though it all may seem unfair, as long as one remembers that an education is being received for free while all this money is going around, it is easier to see how terming these athletes as exploited may seem harsh. By paying college athletes, learning in the classroom would take a back seat to learning the ways of the team plays. It’s likely that more collegiate athletes would stay in school and develop their game a little further rather than making a premature leap into the professional ranks, yet therein lies the problem. College athletics...
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...Zachary Scott Bryant Professor Engleking Humanities Cluster September 9th 2015 Themes in Canterbury Tales When dissecting the Canterbury tales for themes you can find about 30 thousand different ones to try to draw stories from your own life. However, in my opinion the three biggest themes that resonate with me are the ideas of Relationships, Companions, and Corruption. Let us begin with the easiest one, relationships. There are several relationships discussed within the Canterbury tales. The most important one is by far the Wife of Bath’s tale of the knight. I see much of the male youth of today in him he is a real smartass and at times is outright rude he is a piss poor example of what a Knight is in general but through his own development in the story he builds his redeeming qualities and ultimately succumbs to his wife’s will and better judgement. I have been in the Knights shoes, stuck between what you want in life and what is truly the right thing to do. Many times my wife’s better judgement has saved me from some unnecessary hardship. Whether it be my impulsive buying habits or my quick to anger personality, I think many men could do well to learn from the knight how to place themselves in the hands of their better halves. From the romantic side of things it is a very short step into the world of corruption. A lot of corruption comes out of romance or love. The knight at the heart of himself is corrupt he is at his deepest level no knight at all. However in my...
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