Week 10 - Role Model or Felon?

Article 10

According to Wikipedia, Floyd Mayweather is an American professional boxer. He is a five-division world champion, where he won nine world titles in five different boxing weight classes. He is undefeated as a professional boxer, with 41 wins including 25 by way of knockout.  According to this article, Mayweather is accused of hitting and threatening his ex-girlfriend, stealing her cell phone and threatening two of their children during an argument at the woman's home last September. His lawyers deny wrongdoing on his behalf. Mayweather could face 34 years in state prison on the felony charges, which include grand larceny, coercion and robbery.  Big difference in descriptions..

In class, we touched on the expectation of professional athletes to be role models for our children.  Obviously, someone like Mayweather is not acting in a manner that we would like our children to mimic.  The question remains: Are pro athletes role models?  In my opinion, yes.  Some people say that the signed up to play sports, not to be a role model, but I believe that if you chose to put yourself in the spot light, you are signing up for a lot more than the sports team, or label you are representing.  There's no reason why anyone should be held to a higher standard in other aspects of their life if they aren't going to fulfill that standard in all aspects.  If a normal person were to be charged with these offenses, they would be in jail already, not being granted an extension until their hearing date.  To me, that's unfair, and isn't the way it should work.  

Week 9 - A League of their Own

Article 9

In week 2, I discussed Justine Siegal's contributions to the MLB.  This week I found another article dealing with women in the pro baseball circuit.  Retired MLB player David Segui attended a youth tournament in Las Vegas, where he was impressed by what he saw.  The squad he watched is made up of the country's best U-13 female players, each of whom was once the only girl on her team. The Dream Team currently has players from five different states. In addition to baseball, they play everything from ice hockey and soccer to mandolin and viola.  Seigal, whom I mentioned was the first women to pitch an MLB batting practice, created the Dream Team with her program Justine Siegal's Baseball for All.  

Justine's accomplishments, as well as the efforts of all the young girls who continue to fight for what they think is right.  If a girl can hold her against all the boys, why shouldn't she be able to compete with them?  That's the question that has yet to be answered by Feminist theorists alike.

Week 8 - Inadequate Seating at Superbowl

Article 8

It's all about the money, honey.  When seats weren't ready for Superbowl attendees, the NFL has made offer, upon offer to reimburse the owners of the tickets.  With an impending NFL lockout on the horizon, author Jane McManus thinks that the NFL will need a certain amount of public support on their side, and after something like what happened at the Super Bowl, that is highly unlikely.  

"If the NFL is going to lock out the players, it needs to have some amount of public sentiment on its side, and it won't get that by looking like a group of arrogant owners who can't address the simplest of unfair situations.  Like a ticket that didn't come with a seat.  The average NFL fan may not be able to identify with wealthy professional athletes in Gucci sunglasses squawking about fair pay, but she can most certainly relate to a Packers fan who gets unceremoniously kicked out of a seat during a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see Aaron Rodgers make Green Bay proud."

Needless to say, none of that happened and it didn't take long for a lawsuit to arise.  The NFL has built itself up in the sports landscape to look like "clear-headed grownups" when compared with the NBA, MLB and NHL. A lockout will harm that. But more importantly, the NFL needs to appear to be a league that is fair and reasonable, whether it is dealing with players or displaced fans.  The NFL has "dealt with the ticket holders by being reactionary in dealing with complaints and lawsuits, when a little foresight and a fair offer could have alleviated a public relations disaster."  The stakes are obviously higher in the case of a lockout.   So once again, I say, "It's all about the money, honey."