Professional Athletes’ Salaries

In today's society, the American people can't get enough of their favorite teams and athletes. Entire cities are infatuated with these teams and as a result, people spend much of their time and money watching and rooting, hoping for a victory. There is nothing wrong with enjoying and marveling at the talent of these professional athletes, but what happens with all these resources that go into the sports? They go straight to the players. Although our society idolizes and cheers on our favorite athletes, they are significantly overpaid. The amount of money some of the best athletes make in a year is astonishing.Professional baseball player, Alex Rodriguez, will have made 33 million dollars this year, just based on his salary, not including endorsements (Freedman). Tiger Woods made almost 23 million dollars in his winnings from various golf tournaments in 2009, and add on another 105 million from his endorsements and you get the highest paid athlete in the world (Freeman). Endorsements are another subject entirely, but it makes you understand how important it is for companies to have their logo on someone's hat, or have a big star in their commercial.Keep in mind not all athletes are paid in millions, we are talking about some of the best in the most popular sports. That being said, the average MLB player's contract will be around three million dollars, and the minimum being 400 thousand dollars (MLBPA). This means a player sitting on the bench the entire season will make nearly ten times what the average teacher will make. The reason all of these players get paid so much is because all professional sports leagues are essentially a business. And with all these countless numbers of sport fans (myself included), business is booming.It is important to understand how the business works when you need to fix a problem. The Managers and Owners want their team to do well to bring in the fans, which in turn brings in the money. If a team is doing well they will make expone ntially more money because of the sellout crowds and the jersey's flying off the shelves. The best way to improve your team is to get the best players, and that is done by paying for them. When a player is a free agent (does not have a contract to a specific team), teams will essentially bid and negotiate, and in most cases the highest paying team will get that player.This is why teams like the Yankees have so many of the best players, because of their humungous fan base, they have a seemingly unlimited amount of cash to bring in the best players. So all this money is coming in from tickets and clothing and other sources of income and it has to go somewhere, right? Many people think athletes are rightfully paid all the money they have earned. Some argue that football players have short careers and many health problems after they are retired, so they will then need money for their injuries.With the average NFL player making 310 Thousand dollars in a year (NFL Player†¦ ), and the y play 10 years for example, they should be okay financially. Some young athletes will receive their first big check and go blow it all immediately. This is why some players are broke years after their career, and try to use it to justify their pay check, and make it seem as if they aren't paid that much at all. In reality it is their poor money managing skills; they still make a ridiculously larger amount of money in their career than any normal person will make in their lifetime.Another argument is that not all athletes are paid so highly. This is true, a professional volleyball player, or even a minor league baseball player, will probably not make as much as a A-Rod or Tiger, but they are making a living by having fun playing a sport. What more could you ask for? When you take a look at an athlete's salary and compare it to a teacher, fireman, or even a doctor, it doesn't even come close. There are so many other occupations that are paid much less than a pro athlete, but contribu te much more to our community.Teachers are having to have more and more students in their classes and many of them are having to find a new career because of the pay. A good teacher can change the lives of some students and provide so much knowledge, but it is hard to aspire to be a teacher rather than an athlete when you compare the two's salary. Think of all the money we could put into education, health, the environment, just to name a few. Just being able to live by playing a sport is something players shouldn't take for granted.It is the very fans of the sports who are responsible for such high salaries (Callahan). The main way to lower professional athletes' salaries would be for people to stop paying so much for tickets, jerseys, and sports packages on television. Frankly, that will not be happening anytime soon with the current way we worship these people. What needs to happen is the big professional sports leagues (NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL), need to recognize what is going on. The y need to see how our economy is hurt and how our society needs the financial support.Ticket prices need to be slashed. Jersey prices need to be slashed. The best athletes can still be rewarded and paid a few hundred thousand, not millions and millions. They can still make great money from endorsements. And those extra funds need to be given back to the cities that have given so much to the sports franchises. The people need them to rebuild our educational and health systems, and our overall economy. Players can still have a great standard of living, but it is just wasted money if they are sitting among America's richest.Many of these arguments can also be said for corporate CEO's and that needs to change. These people are at the top of the food chain while everyone below them is hurting. The sports leagues are blinded by greed and stardom; not only is it the athletes being paid so much, but the team owners as well. It is okay to look at these pro's as a personal hero, but we need t o step back and cut down on how much we idolize them if we want to see improvement. In the end, it is all a business and it is their job to step up and make a change to better our society.

Obesity: Logic and Marion Nestle

â€Å"Obesity: Who is Responsible for Our Weight? † In the essay, â€Å"Obesity: Who Is Responsible for Our Weight? † Radley Balko explains his argument on obesity; we are responsible for what we eat. Overall, the strengths were clear and persuading in this essay. One strength in his essay was his main point, we are responsible for our own weight. He explains that we are in control of what we consume, and the government should not be responsible for that. This engages the reader to think, should we really blame the government, or is ourselves to blame. This main point validates all his reasoning.Another strength is his ability to explain why government intervention is irrelevant to obesity. For example, he mentions that Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown is conducting to have a Fat Tax on high calorie food, where food restaurants must list their fat, calories, etc. on each meal. And instead they should be promoting personal-sense awareness. Overall this essay had more weaknesses than strengths. Though his side of the argument is completely true, his reasoning weren’t clearly detailed. For example, Radley Balko only targeted the government’s intervention on obesity.But what should have followed that is the food industry businesses that allow this, not just the government. Not only did he lack detail, but also he didn’t consider the point of genetics. Some Americans do not become obese by choice, but by genetics. Those who are affected by genetics may be very conscience of what they eat, but it still does no justice because of their genes. This weakened his essay. Another weakness is that he focuses too much on the government’s intervention on obesity; instead he should have listed more reasons to why obesity is a personal problem.Taken as a whole, the essay was very short, and took a while to get to the point. â€Å"Are You Responsible for Your Own Weight? † I found this to be a very strong, interesting argumentative essay by Kelly Brownell and Marion Nestle. One strength relates to the fulfillment on attention grabbing in their opening sentence. Brownell and Nestle reminds us that the food industry is like any other business: they must grow. This makes a valid point, and grabs the readers attentions which leads to wanting to read more.Mentioning the counter-argument that obesity is a personal responsibility is also a strength. This tells the reader that she is understanding to the opposing argument, while making hers very clear. Another strength is the fact that gives several examples why personal responsibility isn’t to blame which includes; obesity is growing year after year, it’s human biology for humans to be attracted to good food with high calories, the default approach of promotion of eating better and exercising more has failed for multiple years, and how personal responsibility is a trap.Not only did they have multiple examples, they had clear reasoning for each example, which proves they thought out their argument on obesity. Although this was a very strong, convincing essay, there were a couple of weaknesses. The first weakness is the unawareness of government’s real role in business. In America, our policy towards business relies strictly on the concept of Laissez Faire. Laissez Faire means allowing industry to be free from state intervention, especially restrictions in the form of tariffs and government monopolies.This is a very known concept to many Americans, and this weakens her argument. Another weakness is Brownell and Nestle mentioning they’re attentive to personal responsibility, but didn’t clearly give any reasoning to that. Overall, they essay was very well structured and barely had any weaknesses. The essay â€Å"Are You Responsible for Your Own Weight? † gives a more persuading argument. First of all this essay was clearly structured, which made it easier to read. The first essay was not as easy to read, and not as structured.Brownell and Nestle listed their reasoning, which made their points clear reassuring no confusion. Where as to Balko, there were barely any explained points in his essay, which made it hard to follow. Also, Brownell and Nestle are much more persuasive. They provided clear explained examples of why we are not the only ones responsible for obesity while Balko had little to none examples of why we are responsible. Altogether, Marion Nestle and Kelly Brownell provided a more effective argument on obesity and whose responsible for it than Radley Balko.

New Worlds for All:Indians, Europeans and the Remaking of Early America

Collin G. Calloway’s â€Å"New Worlds for All† is a wonderfully written look into the relationship between the indiginious people and the Europeans who came to America. His work takes a different path than those of other historians. There is a creative genius in how he explores the historical facts and insight into the history of the two different people’s lives. It is a helpful look at the lineage of the time and brings a new insight into the historical facts of our time. Covering events from the Revolutionary war in his introduction where our fore fathers asked the Indians to not stand at their side but remain passive in the fight for freedom in the introduction. Quoting several of our fore fathers, the tact they used in their bid to get the native people to think that they were all one and that they stood together with them. Each of the ten chapters covers a wide range of subject matter from the interactions with the Europeans and the Natives, to the warfare of the Natives against each other as well as against the invading Europeans. We take a walk through the Seven years war as well as all the wars that came before and after. It takes a look at the way the Europeans arrived in North America and wanted to build societies much like the ones they had left behind in Europe. It also goes on to explain that while they thought they were superior they found that the Native people were in some cases more advanced and superior than their own culture. How their arrival changed not only the workings of the native communities but the very land they lived on with the cutting down of trees for homes and the over hunting of their lands for food making it harder for them to feed their own families. The chapter on disease and healing was an amazing look at how the European disease affected the natives. It also looked at how the natives dealt with healing as not so much healing as conflict as they were complementary. Calloway goes on to say that while Native America people were not completely disease free the magnitude of their diseases were actually rather simple, from aches and pains to snake bites. Medicine men had a vast knowledge of herbs and plants that could be used for medicinal purposes. He covers the decimation of entire tribes by disease some of them brought by the Europeans and others brought by the natives themselves as they traded in foreign lands. There were several ceremonial aspects to the trade with the natives that the Europeans tried to integrate into their own trades. The Stuff of life in chapter three goes into depth about the interactions of the native people and the Europeans as they not only struggled to coexist as well as integrate the bits and pieces of each other’s cultures into their lives. Learning how to do something’s differently like hunting for food and even the diets and clothing they wore took on the differences of what they learned from each other. In the next chapter Calloway talks about the integration of religious beliefs of the different people the Christians that brought with them their beliefs in one God and his word, it brought many of the natives into a new religious arena where they learned about bibles, churches, missions, priest and ministers. Indian religions tended to be less exclusive and intolerant than that of the Christians. It is an interesting look at the way they handled the integration of the Christians not only into their culture but into their lives and how their own beliefs were shaped outside of what the Christians believed. Chapter five takes a look at the ways the Europeans affected the Indians in their warfare not only against the Europeans but also against other natives. The face of the way war was fought not only between warring tribes. The turning point in the tribal warfare changed on one Instance, 1609 when the Algonkin and the Montagnais Indians, the use of guns made this an uneventful war and short lived but it opened the door way to the Indian people to guerrilla warfare as well as the use of guns. The introduction of guns made the native weapons basically useless. Chapter Six, the diplomacy and Foreign affairs of the Europeans and the Indians were at times bloody and deadly, fighting to preserve their own lands the Indians had to adapt to the foreigners as they invaded and the Europeans were after more land and more land, always fighting with the Europeans trying to maintain the balance between the two worlds was difficult one side or the other was always violating the treaties that they signed. As more Europeans moved into the new world and more warfare and diseases ravaged the lands the Indians were forced to move from place to place and rebuild their world and lives often in environments that were not their own and dealing with people that they knew nothing about, this often created tension and conflicts. As well as the need for the Indians were forced to adapt to the world around them. There is a lot of great information in this book, and a fresh perspective that takes the reader weather a professional historian or just the average reader into the lives of people from different worlds. It is a new look at the world that was created around us and the people who inhabited it, their lives and the changes that were caused by each interaction with the other. Mr. Calloway takes us on a journey through old and new in an enlightening way, exploring the world as it is new and discovering the different effects of the changes in cultures, beliefs, politics and life as the people of two different cultures learned, adjusted, and tried to build the world we now see around us. A great read for anyone interested in the history of America and the people in it.   

Promoting Emotional Wellbeing in Working with Children and Young Essay - 1

Promoting Emotional Wellbeing in Working with Children and Young People - Essay Example Teenagers who are strong in their emotional foundation are more capable of taking the advantage of the positive opportunities available in the surrounding. However, those teenagers, who belong to disadvantageous backgrounds (HM Government n.d., 1), are not capable of making the most of their youth as they lack support, ability and emotional foundation to utilize the benefits that teenage has to offer. This increases their frustration and drives them to take wrong decisions and indulge in anti-social behavior, drugs and sex (HM Government n.d., 1), which further deteriorate their physical and psychological health. The case study of a teenage girl Carla, which is discussed in this paper, is a good example of how a teenager from disadvantageous background can get in a repetitive destructive behavior pattern and lose all control over life. This paper aims at understanding the core of problems related to young people from disadvantageous background and what can individuals, society and go vernment initiatives can do to improve their lives. It has been found that teenagers who lack the emotional strength and well-being suffer the additional loss as they not only lose on life opportunities but also develop a negative and destructive pattern in life which continues in their adulthood and destroys all the chances of growth, happiness and success in life. Hence, to make the most of life, every teenager should be provided with emotional well being by giving them all the support that is needed in their familial, educational and social environment and more importantly, they should be counseled to develop a strong self-esteem as only a strong self-esteem can drive them to refuse in becoming a victims of negative patterns in life and choose the best that life has to offer. Carla Case Study Carla is 14 years old girl who is going through lots of emotional, psychological and educational problems. She has a history of getting involved in destructive relationships, indulgence in u nsafe sex and abortions. Currently, she is 16 weeks pregnant and it is her fourth pregnancy. Two of the pregnancies were early terminations with the last being at 20 weeks gestation, and they all with different abusive partners. Carla has a chaotic lifestyle and although she claims not to ‘use’ Class A drugs, she is a frequent Cannabis user and heavy drinker which makes it difficult for her to focus on her studies. Sadly, Carla’s mother has been in a succession of abusive relationships since Carla can remember. The insecurity and unstable home environment made Carla to spend two years between the age of 8 and 10 years, under the care of the local authority (her two younger brothers have been placed in care for the foreseeable future). Carla does not know her father and her mother is an alcoholic. Carla’s mother is incapable of giving emotional and financial support to Carla as she herself is fighting addiction, financial insecurity and emotional problems. This has negatively affected Carla’s life. Carla’s attendance at school throughout her younger years has been sporadic with exclusions for assault, theft and arson. She is currently under the supervision of the youth offending team. Carla has difficulty in building healthy relationships so she has no friends to offer support. Carla and her family are known to the local Social Services Department and Safeguarding Board. Analysis of the Case Carla’