NCAA Controversy

Throughout March and April the NCAA tournament is in full go.  Everyone is talking about it, and everyone is making bets on their brackets.  But with all of this excitement, there is also a little bit of controversy.  The NCAA is trying to find out new ways to make money, and one way is to expand the arena during the final four to an NFL stadium.  The NCAA is almost doubling their profit of ticket sales, because of how much bigger the NFL stadium is than a regular basketball gym.  But with this happening there is also a lot of people complaining about not being able to see the game.  With the seats being so expanded and so far away from the court fans have little to no visibility of what is happening during the game.

Not only this, but people are considering why the NCAA did not allow Louisville to play in the tournament but did allow UNC and Syracuse to play. All three of these teams were involved with cheating and the NCAA punished them accordingly.  The NCAA allowed Syracuse to play in the tournament but punished them by taking off 12 scholarships in their program.  On the other hand, UNC did just as much cheating as Syracuse but did not get any punishments.  People are saying the NCAA is doing this because UNC brings so much profit and without them in the tournament it would be a huge loss of profit, and the competition would not be the same.

 

Youth Basketball Commisioner

If we were in charge of a local youth basketball league,we would make it a positive, fun environment where it can also be competitive at the same time.  The kids in my league will learn the fundamentals of the game from scratch, and get taught the correct way to use their skills.  Until the players get how the game is played then the fun will begin.  There will be age split up groups such as the 2nd and 3rd graders together, as well as the 4th and 5th graders.  We would do live scrimmaging so the kids can put their previous taught skills learned into a real game situation.  At such a young age I don't believe the concept of sports should be about winning or losing, it should be about having fun.  I believe student athletes should not only care about winning or losing until they reach at least 5th grade.  We think that players that are pushed at a much younger age than this, such as in the show Friday Night Tykes is unnecessary.
Some of the rules in my league would be that coaches must let all of the players play in games.  Also, the coach should have a mindset to make the kids better players and utilize teamwork.  Lastly, coaches should be putting a positive influence on the kids by encouraging them to do better and practice on your own.  The kids in my league should have the mindset for work ethic, but also to have fun and have fun with their neighborhood friends.  Lastly, the parents of the kids should bring their kids to the practice every week with no exception.  If kids at this early point in their life know that it is alright to quit then they will do it for the rest of their lives'.

30 for 30

If I could any three 30 for 30 film by ESPN to watch in class, I would enjoy to see I Hate Christian Laettner, Winning Time:Miller vs. The Knicks, and No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson.  Since my blog is mainly on the topic of basketball, I would like to stay in the same topic of the sport I am writing about.  All three of this 30 for 30 films I have chose are very popular around the world, and is very influential, with many controversial topics.  In the past I have watched the Christian Laettner and Reggie Miller 30 for 30, and it was two of the best documentaries I have ever seen.  Also, the Allen Iverson 30 for 30 I have only heard positive things about.  It seems very interesting and it seems like it can have a lot of information that the students in our class can blog about.  Not only that but, I have never really heard what happened to Allen Iverson a few years back involving his case and his trial.  With topics like these, there will be many controversial topics like the ones that we have been blogging about in the past.  I believe if our class watches these three 30 for 30 films, it will leave a positive mark of how we will later blog about it in the future.

Female Journalism

Erin Andrews has always been one of the most famous sideline reporters, in the MLB, NFL, or NCAA.  But within the past few years she has been filing a law suit against another man who took nude pictures of her getting changed through a peep hole in a hotel.  The man has been stalking Erin for many years before the incident even happened, trying to get pictures of her at the beach or even at the mall.  About two years ago, the first case of the incident happened and the man was faced with 9 months in a federal prison.  But one he was released and the case seemed to be thrown away Erin Andrews sued the man again for a whopping 50 million dollars.  She later won the case, but she still lives in embarrassment each day knowing that her nude photos are out in the internet.

Female journalism seems to be the most popular in sports right now.  But, they seem to be getting a lot of criticism.  There have been cases of female reporters in the locker room after games when the players have been getting changed.  Most athletes think that it is an invasion to their personal space. One instance in 2015, there was a reporter interviewing an athlete in a locker room, and one point in the interview two other athletes on the team walked by the camera near naked not knowing that there was a camera and being broadcasted on television.  But the video of the two athletes were immediately blurred out and edited. Since this has been happening in so many cases in the past, reporters are beginning to respect the players space.  Within the past year, instances of cases like these have been dropping substantially.

In future years I believe female reporters will be protected and safe from stalkers around the world.  But I realize that when there is a female, primarily in a male working habitat, things like this may occur.  But I believe sport reporting companies will help protect these female reporters as best they can.  I hope that cases like this can be dropped and out of the way, so professional sports can be a drama free environment.

Great Reporter

Sports on its own is big around the world, from television and other aspects.  But one of the main reasons sports are popular is because of sports reporters on social media.  They help spread media and drama throughout the NBA, NFL, and NCAA.  A reporter that I will be writing about it Chad Ford from ESPN head quarters.  His reports are mainly in the basketball field, from any where from High School to the NBA he reports about it.  But some of the main topics he covers are the ranks in college basketball.  When March Madness comes about he will be reporting everything he can to get the latest updates and reports.  He has been reporting recently on the biggest NBA prospects in the NCAA such as Ben Simmons, Buddy Hield, and Brandon Ingram.  But the main thing Ford is known for, for basketball fans around the world is his NBA mock draft he does throughout the season.  The mock draft is a list showing who the top picks will be in the next draft.  Changing throughout the season because of injuries and stats, his mock draft must be constantly updated.  Because of his hard work around the reporting field, he is one of the most well known.  If it wasn't for social media, sports would not be at the height it is around the world.

All American To Bust

On Monday, March 7, 2016 my school CHS had an assembly.  The assembly focused on the aspects of social media and some players who ruined their sports careers by social media.  One of these former players is Yuri Wright.  Yuri was an All-American in high school in football and was getting scholarships from big schools such as Michigan and Notre Dame.  But this all came to an end after some foolish mistakes he made on the social media app twitter.  He tweeted explicit and inappropriate terms using race and other words.  After having his tweets seen by both his colleges and his current high school Don Bosco Prep he lost his scholarships and got expelled from his high school.  Despite all of this happening he transferred high schools to Ramsey High School, and later got a smaller scholarship to the University of Colorado.  In college, Yuri's football career went downhill real fast, dealing with several injuries.  Even after his injuries were subsided and out of the way his stats for games were down the drain. In his Sophomore season he only had 11 tackles and no interceptions.  This proves that whatever you put on social media it will always come back to you and haunt you in the future

Tennessee Rape Case

Many people know about Tennessee's famous rape case with Peyton Manning back in 1996.  But now there are even more controversial cases. University of Tennessee head coach Butch Jones accused one of his players of betraying the team by helping a woman who alleged she was raped by two of his teammates.  The woman was very good friends with the player who was "betraying the team" and when two other players on the team raped this girl the friend of the girl, he  spoke out to the university about the rape.  Later leading to a suspension to the two players, the coach then called out to the player and told him publicly that he betrayed his team.  Within a couple of weeks the two players were released from their suspension from the coaches Butch Jones' owner.  

In my opinion, I believe that Butch Jones should be fired from the Tennessee program.  For someone to call one of their players a betrayer to their team just for sticking up for one of their recently raped friends is outrageous.  If he is not fired within the next year, it will be a disappointment to myself and other people around the world. The fact that so many athletes are getting away with rape on college campuses is a huge disgrace to schools around the world.