4 Janurary 2012

Dogtown South is an article about a young man named Lincoln Ueda. Mr. Ueda is a pro skateboarder who came off the streets of Brazil $180,000 a year. Now this isn’t much compared to the soccer players of his home town but it’s what he loves to do and has paid off his father’s auto shop and pays for his diabetic father’s medical bills. Mr. Ueda’s career started when he was 12 years old. His father had fought to purchase him and his brother skateboards for Christmas in 1988. He would skate and compete for 4 years before having to take a break due to injury and a recession. After getting back into the game in 1996 he reached the finals of the “Slam City Jam”. After this he moved to California in 1998. He now has sponsors from Nike, Hurley, Element, Etnies and Electric Sunglasses.

            Skateboarding is so popular in Brazil because it is the sport for the underdog. At home basketball is one of the most popular sports in the U.S; all you need is a ball and net. In Brazil that sport is skateboarding, all you need is a set of wheels. As the article puts it “Brazilian skateboarders are like the American black man was in basketball.” It is important for business to recognize when products are popular in other countries because they can see what kinds of activities these people are taking part in. By doing so they know what they can sell to these people and what they can get back from them. Mr. Ueda’s first sponsor was a Guarulhos surfing and skateboarding shop. This was important because the shop allowed Ueda to practice for free at the skating facility. If they hadn’t Ueda might not be able to do as many of his tricks.

            Skate boarding is popular because it is fun and full of suspense. People flying into the air, making 360’s, grinding on bars; it is probably one of the most exciting games out there. In my opinion skateboarding is awesome. I cannot ride myself but I love to watch and see the cool stuff people can do. It takes lots of hard work and practice so I give respect to these people.

            Skateboarding was started in southern California in the 1950 when surfers got the idea to “surf” the streets. They took boards of wood and put wheels on them. Many different forms all came out at the same time so there has never been any proof of the first person to create one. Different people used different forms to come up with the best way to surf the streets. Frank Nasworthy created urethane wheels which are close to what most people use today. He flourished the skating industry when it took a drive into a recession in 1972. Slave Skateboards is the most profitable company in the skateboarding industry.

5 December 2011

Frugal NBA is an article explaining the cut backs franchises have had to make to save money due to the falling economy. The NBA is in a pinch financially because the economy has dropped over the years. The franchises are not making as much money as they use to so they must make cut backs such as limiting assistant coaches, expensive holiday cards, and holiday socials. Most of their cuts backs are more of becoming efficient instead of cutting things back. Scouts from the New Jersey Nets have been grounded due to these cut backs. Instead of traveling to watch upcoming opponents play they are staying home. The Grizzlies have eliminated their whole scouting department.  Some teams are even limiting their players to 13 or 14 compared to their usual 15 players. By doing this they are saving about $1 million a year; however it is also taking away their wiggle room. Coaches won’t be able to rest their key players like they use to or have certain plays.

                NBA teams make money in a few ways. First they are granted some money for each game they have, which included ticket sales, concessions and so forth. Second they are paid off by the TV programs such as ESPN and TNT, which pay each team an average of $28 million a year. Then they get money from merchandise sales and local contacts. Each team gets about the same about for each of these categories; here is where they differ from large, medium, and small markets, sponsors. Large markets make more money from their sponsors, about $30-$40 million. Small markets only make about $10 million with their sponsors. In my opinion I think NBA teams are doing a good job at cutting back on unnecessary spending which is a good start to saving money, but what happens when you run out of things to eliminate? They need to find ways to pay their employees less. So you play a sport for a living, why do you need to make $15 million a year????

30 November 2011

“Fair Play” is an article on Title IX. Title IX is a law that was passed in June 1972. This law made it illegal for any tax funded school to discriminate against females. It all started with Edith Green, a democrat from Oregon. One day she had heard from superintendents that they were making special programs for under privileged boys in their schools, however when Mrs. Green asked if they had any for the girls they said no, that the boys are “going to be the bread winners”. I think Title IX is fair. If boys and men get the right to play baseball, football, basketball and many more then women should have the right to play whatever sports they would like to. I also believe that it is fair that the funding for men sport is being cut for women sports. Both categories should have the same funding. By limiting women’s rights in college it is giving men the upper hand, telling women they can’t while men can, that is a prime example of discrimination which is illegal thanks to the Title IX. In my opinion Mrs. Green did something she should be greatly proud off! She had a vision of making it illegal to discriminate against women and because of that the US was able to win 7 gold medals in the Olympics that year.

Title IX was started in 1972 by Edith Green. It was started because Green believed that is should be illegal to discriminate against women in federally funded schools. Any rights the males had she believed the females should have too. It was originally started with the movement towards not allowing as many women into schools. For example State Universities in Virginia turned away 21,000 women in the 1960’s, however in that same time period not a single male was turned away. Green wanted to fix this. She wanted women to have the same educational opportunities as men had. Now it is more focused on sports. High Schools and colleges have to have more female sport opportunities. High schools have to form more female sports such as basketball, soccer, wrestling, and more because that is what they want to play and they cannot discriminate against that. Colleges have to hand out more sports scholarships to women and allow them to play their sports in colleges. Many didn’t like this at first because it took away from the funding for male sports. I think Title IX will always have to fight for its right to be part of our nation. So many disapprove because it limits something they like such as getting rid of a male sports team to have money for girls sports. However I believe that as long as there is women wanting fair opportunities in schools then the law will stay!

24 October 2011

Mega Bucks is an article about how colleges get funding for their sports teams. For example, OSU has the largest athletic budget is the country. However the sports bring in their own money. For example the football team brings in about $36 million in profits. While their academics may not have the most funding they believe what they do is fair. Athletic department funds them self’s, no money is taken away from academics for the athletic department. Some teams however are cutting sports because they cannot afford them. Rutgers dismissed 6 sports due to “budget cuts” however they were able to give the assistant football coach a raise. This is a school whose athletics don’t run off their own funding.

OSU brings in so much money from concessions, game tickets, endorsements, and from hotels and restaurants that people eat at while in town to see the game. UF’s football team brought in $27 million this year alone. Most schools use the money they raise with the sports on the sports. New equipment, better fields, new stadiums, and even break rooms including flat screen TVs. OSU has a $75,000 hockey treadmill for their men and women’s ice hokey team to practice on. It resembles real ice, goes up to 16 miles per hour and it even simulates shard turns. There are some pro hockey teams that don’t have this machine due to its size and cost! However some money earned is used to better the overall school, from scholarships for the athletes to re-doing the school’s library.

It is important to have such a strong football team because they help pay for the other sports that don’t have such a high income. All sports are important because no one should ever be told they can’t play the game they love because a school doesn’t have money. A strong football team helps pay for these types of sports. In my opinion it definitely is not right for a school to cancel sports because they don’t have enough money but yet they can give raises to the couches of the other more popular sports.  Overall thought, I believe all sports are important to every school.

2 November 2011

“Overinvolved” parents seem to be the new epidemic of colleges. These parents are those that make all the decisions for their kids, what school, what classes, even the roommates! Officials at these schools say that it is not safe for the students, when everything is decided for them they don’t know the common since to stay safe. Most schools are now trying to stop these “overinvolved” parents by setting up their own orientations, hiring people to distract them, anything to move them away from the students for just a bit. The schools must do this in order for the students to be prepared for the college experience. The officials understand that mommy and daddy won’t always be there but these students and parents don’t realize this.

I think schools are right for doing this. It is one thing to get help from your parents and it’s another to let your parents do everything for you. Students have to learn how to do some of these things on their own before they get out into the job world because mom and dad won’t be able to yell at the woman who didn’t hire you, or yell at your boss for being rude. I believe that students will benefit from this. It can teach them some life lessons they have missed out on from being babied their whole lives.

As a senior I will be a part of the fall freshman going into college, and as scared as I am I know my mom will force me to do things on my own. My mom has never been one to do things for me; she has this mato “If you won’t it, you better get it yourself.” I’m sure there will be some things that my mom will involve herself in, but for the most part I think she will stay away. She knows I am a strong person and can do it on my own. In my opinion what these schools are doing is a good idea, these kids need to grow up already and move on.

17 October 2011

This article is about a man named Vladimir Guerrero and how him and his brothers changed the way the residents in Don Gregorio live. “Vladdy” was recruited into the U.S Baseball league with a $70 million dollar contract. He has used most of him earnings to help improve his home town like many say they will do and never fallow though on. It all started in 1990 when an older cousin asked the brothers to buy him a bus so he could bring people to the nearby city of Bani. The bus cost $10,000 and they got $600 a month till it is paid off.  Vladdy was a big shot sports player. Many thought they would never see him again, but he gave back to the community. He didn’t just give them what they needed for the moment he gave them jobs and business that helped the economy so they would be doing well in the future as well. If I was a rich celebrity I hope I would give back to my community. Coming from a lower middle class family I would like to give children a better chance to do things that I know I was never able to. I would give money to schools for anything they need to help further education, help start a fund that would allow a student to go through college for free.

                If I was rich the charity I would donate to would be the Kawian organization. The Kawian’s are a group of volunteers that go out into our community and do anything that needs to be done. From directing traffic at the elementary school to planting flowers at the veterans’ park they do everything. They also sponsor groups below them like Key Club or the K-Builders, who essentially take part in the same actions and will hopefully partake in being a Kawian in their later years. This charity is all about the public. People hear about their organization and when it comes to getting a project done fast and cheap why not get some volunteers? If people didn’t call of them they wouldn’t exist. My favorite part about this organization is that they are not selfish; one of their biggest projects is raising money for the Eliminate Project. This project is about eliminating disease in third world countries. The diseases they are knocking out are ones that no longer exist in our lives. Last year alone they raised $20,000, this year their goal is $50,000 in hopes or removing these disease from the face of the earth.

3 October 2011

The X games have become so popular because males in their teens to their 20’s can connect to it. X games have taken something a lot of people like to do and mixed it with high corporations like TV and sponsors. Businesses are interested in the X games athletes endorsing their products because of the amount of people who watch and participate in these games. These athletes are celebrities to many people, and they get popular the more people want to be like them: same hair cut, clothing style, and sports equipment. When these BMX riders, snowboarders, and skaters are riding around with equipment from one particular sponsor they want that stuff too.

                These athletes make that money! Original salaries were the jackpots from winning a particular game/event. Now however it’s those prizes plus however much they are making by the sponsors. The average participant in the X games has a 6 digit salary. In the beginning of the X games, sponsor money was at an estimated $25 million, they predicted an estimate of $107 million for the year after this article was written.

                In 1993 ESPN management decided that they wanted to form a contest with international action sport athletes. June 24 through July 1 2005 was the first ever Extreme Games in Rhode Island. There were nine future sports: Bungy Jumping, Eco-Challenge, In-line Skating, Skateboarding, Skysurfing, Sport Climbing, Street Luge, Biking and Water Sports. In 1994 the name was officially changed to The X Games because that was what the population preferred to call it. In 1997 the winter sports part of the X Games was started, televised in 198 countries and in 21 different languages. The X Games quickly became a popular sport amongst spectators.

                The X Games went from nothing to something fast! Starting in 1995, these connectible sports have soared amongst favorites. At fist the only prize was from the games themselves, now however you can earn 6 digits with sponsors for endorsing their products. With many different sports, there is a little for everyone.