Miller 1
You Will Always Remember Your First Time!
I wasn't real clear of what actually had just occurred, but I did know that I was in
terrible pain. I laid beside the supercross track for at least 20 minutes answering the
questions of very eager Emergency Medical personnel.
"Leave me alone! I will be all right." I said to the medical guy that was tugging at
my chest protector.
If there is one thing that I can not stand is twenty medical people trying to take all
of your clothes off for a little cut or scrape. As I was put on a backboard and taken to the
ambulance I couldn't help wondering what had went wrong. All I remember seeing was
my body tumbling with my bike to an abrupt halt.
I laid in the ambulance for what seemed like days. All I could hear were engines
revving at high Rpm's and the roar of the crowd when someone styled for the crowd. It
was very disheartening to know that I was in the back of an Ambulance at my first
professional supercross. The only thing I could do was play the past events over and over
in my head.
I couldn't believe it as I looked at a shiny gold and silver card. This card signified
all of the rights and privileges of a professional supercrosser. Now I would have the right
to race with the worlds best.
"Dad look it finally came!" I shouted.
My dad looked at me with silly grin and said "Well you knew it was coming, you
won your 25th race last month."
As I stood there with a smile bigger than the sun on my face I said "I know but I
am still excited about it. Just think I will be racing side by side with Damon Bradshaw and
Kevin Windham."
Miller 2
He just smiled and patted me on the back as I turned and walked to my room. I
sat dreaming of the race I will enter next month. I had no idea what was in store for me at
this spectacular event.
As D-day drew nearer my mind overflowed with anticipation. I gathered my riding
gear and my lucky Bart Simpson doll and headed out the door. I won my first race the day
I sat my Bart Simpson on my handlebars between races. I have done it ever since to bring
me good luck. The ride to Charlotte Motor Speedway was what I thought a trip that
would never end. As we entered the pit area I was given a special pass to wear around my
neck. I couldn't stop looking at the card that said "Professional Supercross Rider". The
pit was filled with racers walking around and talking to various people while there
mechanics worked hard in the hopes of bringing home a victory.
I walked about, talking to few people as I tried to get use to this new environment.
My stomach felt like a squeezed orange when I heard the announcer say " Is everybody
ready to see the bad boys of supercross! Well ladies and gentlemen get ready to hear the
engines roar as 250 riders bring out there talent and go to work!" When I heard this I
knew it was time to lay all the cards out on the table.
" O.K. ladies and gentlemen her comes the 1st 250 semi final heat. Starting on the
right we have Kevin Windham, Jeremy Mcgrath, Doug Dubach, Jeff Emig, Mike
LaRocco, Ryan Hughes, Brian Swink, Mike Brown, Larry Ward, Greg Albertyn, Kyle
Lewis, James Dobb, Damon Huffman, Phil Lawrence, Jimmy Button, Ezra Lusk, Buddy
Antunez, Mike Craig, and from Charlotte North Carolina, Everyone give a big round of
applause to your two home riders The Beast from the East Damon Bradshaw and new
comer Shawn Miller." The crowd came to there feet and roared like a pack of lions. I
knew that they were mostly cheering for Damon but I enjoyed being right next to him.
The thirty second card went up and my stomach fell to the ground. I knew the gate would
Miller 3
be dropping soon. I stared for what seemed like an eternity at the gate that was holding
all of us back. With all of the skill I had, I tore off the start line the best that I could. As
fast as I was in Pro motocross these guys left me like I was a rookie. Come to think of it I
was a rookie. The first race I worked my way through the pack and settled into a fifth
place spot. As I came upon the last lap I was amazed at the capacity of the crowd
watching this Spectacular event. These were people who paid good money to see us race.
I felt proud just to be out there with these masters of Supercross.
"O.K., I made it, here comes the final finish line double." I said. As I crossed this
medium size jump I laid the bike sideways in the air ,and for the first time in my life I had
dozens of cameras flashing at me like stars in the dark sky.
I rode slowly to the pit area where my father waited with a huge smile on his face.
" I can't believe you have done so well in your first supercross event!"
I smiled and said " Well I still have to race the main event to really make my
mark."
I got off of my mechanical wonder and sat down to eat a banana. As I peeled back
the outer shell of this yellow fruit of wonder, I realized how excited I was and could not
bare to eat. I was having a new emotion every five seconds. It was like a dream that you
never want to wake from. Here I was, a Professional rider at a professional event. This
was the dream that my friends and I buzzed about when we raced as amateurs. I almost
felt guilty because I am getting to live our once shared dream.
I was quickly rattled out of my thoughts as I heard the announcer ring out, "We
need the 250 Class to stage for the main event in ten minutes".
I was so nervous that I felt like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I
am not sure but at the time I think that I was more scared than anything. My father
quickly handed me my riding gear and told me to put on my race face. This is a term used
to get a rider into his racing attitude. My arms were more shaking than a old time washing
Miller 4
machine. As I approached the staging area, all of the thoughts of winning and losing were
forced out of my head. I knew that it was time to make my mark in the world of
supercross.
"O.K. ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the main attraction of the night. Here
comes the best of the best out again for the main event. Winner takes all!", the announcer
shouted.
My stomach squeezed more than ever. As much as I wanted this day to come I
was wanting it to be all over with. I felt like a little boy in a room full of superheros.
At the beginning of the race I started talking my way through jumps. "O.K. I am
going to do well. all I have to do is concentrate." when I said this, the gate dropped. The
first time I came around my pit board told me to settle down that I was in fourth. This is
when I had to really come down. "I need to breath and calm down. O.K., I am settled
into my groove." As I tried to gather my thoughts I was in the middle of the largest race
of my life. "Here comes a double followed by the triple. Wow, look at all of the camera's
taking pictures of me." I was amazed by how the crowd roared as I profiled over the
triple jump. It was quite amazing. why wouldn't it be, it hurled me over 65 feet off the
ground. as I settled down I realized that the race would be over soon and I have done
quite well. "Only two laps left and here comes the finish line double. Ooooh nooo!!!!
ahhhh!!!!!!" I found out that when I was landing off the finish line double the defending
supercross champ, Jeremy Mcgrath, landed on top of me. This pain was weirder than all
others I have felt. I really didn't feel the pain in the physical sense at first. I felt as if my
back had just collapsed. It wasn't till I tried to stand and return to my bike that I felt the
excruciating pain of four cracked vertebrae.
"Leave me alone! I will be all right." I said to the medical guy that was tugging at
my chest protector.
Miller 5
If there is one thing that I can't stand is twenty medical people trying to take all of
your clothes off for a little cut or scrape. It was now that I ended my first professional
supercross................
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Wrestling Poetry in Motion
Wrestling; Poetry in Motion
My heart beats faster as I approach my opponent. My enemy stands as a colossus although I know in my mind he is my only equal. The crowd grows louder as we step on our lines, and the only thought echoing through my mind is "shoot for the leg!". These are the happenings before every match, and yet I still return. Wrestling, in my mind is one of the greatest sports. The idea of a battle between two equal men, both striving for the same goal is something I live for. Different people wrestle for different reasons, but what I wrestle for is the exhilaration, and the principals behind the sport of which I take so seriously.
Wrestling, fortunately; is not just two sweaty men rolling on the mat. It is rather, a fight. A fight in which each combatant must push their-self to the final limits of total exertion. This great fight, although very tiring, gives you the greatest feeling after you defeat your opponent. For this feeling, and this feeling only is why I wrestle. This hard to explain feeling is like a rush of adrenaline that makes you want to kick the crap out of Mike Tyson. It is one of the greatest natural rushes one could possibly imagine, short of sticking a needle in ones own arm.
The ideas behind wrestling are more then the thick headed thoughts of- "Throw em to the ground and put all your weight on em!"- but rather, use each move with precision, not force. When a move is executed, there are at least ten counter moves for it. Therefore; one must wrestle with his mind - backing each attack with the plan for another one. This form of two or even three-way thinking, is crucial to the success of a struggling player.
To be a good wrestler, one must also be able to change from offense to defense in a matter of milliseconds. Countless times before, I have seen players who would stay offensive all the way until they were pinned. A simple arm motion could change the fate of the match, and one must be prepared for that moment at all times.
There are many reasons for a person to compete. Some come for the personal satisfaction, and some come for the glory. Some have something to prove to themselves, while others have something to prove to the world. A part of all these reasons is why I wrestle. I love the principals behind it and I live the rush. For the first time in my life - I believe I could actually say..."I love this game!".
My heart beats faster as I approach my opponent. My enemy stands as a colossus although I know in my mind he is my only equal. The crowd grows louder as we step on our lines, and the only thought echoing through my mind is "shoot for the leg!". These are the happenings before every match, and yet I still return. Wrestling, in my mind is one of the greatest sports. The idea of a battle between two equal men, both striving for the same goal is something I live for. Different people wrestle for different reasons, but what I wrestle for is the exhilaration, and the principals behind the sport of which I take so seriously.
Wrestling, fortunately; is not just two sweaty men rolling on the mat. It is rather, a fight. A fight in which each combatant must push their-self to the final limits of total exertion. This great fight, although very tiring, gives you the greatest feeling after you defeat your opponent. For this feeling, and this feeling only is why I wrestle. This hard to explain feeling is like a rush of adrenaline that makes you want to kick the crap out of Mike Tyson. It is one of the greatest natural rushes one could possibly imagine, short of sticking a needle in ones own arm.
The ideas behind wrestling are more then the thick headed thoughts of- "Throw em to the ground and put all your weight on em!"- but rather, use each move with precision, not force. When a move is executed, there are at least ten counter moves for it. Therefore; one must wrestle with his mind - backing each attack with the plan for another one. This form of two or even three-way thinking, is crucial to the success of a struggling player.
To be a good wrestler, one must also be able to change from offense to defense in a matter of milliseconds. Countless times before, I have seen players who would stay offensive all the way until they were pinned. A simple arm motion could change the fate of the match, and one must be prepared for that moment at all times.
There are many reasons for a person to compete. Some come for the personal satisfaction, and some come for the glory. Some have something to prove to themselves, while others have something to prove to the world. A part of all these reasons is why I wrestle. I love the principals behind it and I live the rush. For the first time in my life - I believe I could actually say..."I love this game!".
Winning isnt evrything
Vince Lombardi's famous saying "Winning isn't the most important thing. It's
the only thing" is unfortunately the motto of too many athletes today.
Although winning is important and sports are, and should be taken seriously, by
far, winning isn't the only thing. Putting everything you have and giving one hundred
percent to the effort is also very important to competition. A team that puts everything
they have into a game and comes out the losers, has a lot more to be proud of than a team
who comes in first but only gave some effort. Over the years many teams have lost
important games due to a few inches, one pitch or a strike of "bad luck" although these
teams lost, they take it into the next game and gave one hundred and ten percent.
Last month at the Erie Mayors Cup 10K and 5K race, competitors from around
the tri-state area were in competition. Trophies and plaques were to be awarded to the
first, second and third place runners. A 10K is a 6.2 mile long race across the
streets of downtown Erie in 85 degree heat and humidity. Runners who are running in
the 10K have to show tremendous determination, stamina, speed and physical agility not
to mention surviving in grueling temperatures and humidity. Great Olympic and Boston
Marathon runners have dropped out of a 10K due to it's intense strain. I was on hand to
witness the race and saw many great athletes finish the race with great times. These are
runners who put every day into running and run every race. Soon after these runners had
crossed the finish line and been handed their trophies, the last runner in the race came
through the finish line with his hands in the air and to thunderous applause. He was 87
years old, and had taken up the sport after his doctors told him he had a cholesterol
problem when he was 67.
The runner in this story was not out to win the Mayor's Cup 10K, he wasn't out to
set a record time or come in first. He came in dead last, but finished the race. If he
would have listened to Vince Lombardi and say "Oh, I can't win, their are professional
runners from colleges and high schools competing against me!" he wouldn't have
completed his life long goal of running in a 10K. Better late than never.
The most important thing is for all who participate is to have fun and do it with
pride and determination, to set a goal and reach it. Two good sayings that contradict
Vince Lomabardi state..."It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game"
and "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" Words to live by.
the only thing" is unfortunately the motto of too many athletes today.
Although winning is important and sports are, and should be taken seriously, by
far, winning isn't the only thing. Putting everything you have and giving one hundred
percent to the effort is also very important to competition. A team that puts everything
they have into a game and comes out the losers, has a lot more to be proud of than a team
who comes in first but only gave some effort. Over the years many teams have lost
important games due to a few inches, one pitch or a strike of "bad luck" although these
teams lost, they take it into the next game and gave one hundred and ten percent.
Last month at the Erie Mayors Cup 10K and 5K race, competitors from around
the tri-state area were in competition. Trophies and plaques were to be awarded to the
first, second and third place runners. A 10K is a 6.2 mile long race across the
streets of downtown Erie in 85 degree heat and humidity. Runners who are running in
the 10K have to show tremendous determination, stamina, speed and physical agility not
to mention surviving in grueling temperatures and humidity. Great Olympic and Boston
Marathon runners have dropped out of a 10K due to it's intense strain. I was on hand to
witness the race and saw many great athletes finish the race with great times. These are
runners who put every day into running and run every race. Soon after these runners had
crossed the finish line and been handed their trophies, the last runner in the race came
through the finish line with his hands in the air and to thunderous applause. He was 87
years old, and had taken up the sport after his doctors told him he had a cholesterol
problem when he was 67.
The runner in this story was not out to win the Mayor's Cup 10K, he wasn't out to
set a record time or come in first. He came in dead last, but finished the race. If he
would have listened to Vince Lombardi and say "Oh, I can't win, their are professional
runners from colleges and high schools competing against me!" he wouldn't have
completed his life long goal of running in a 10K. Better late than never.
The most important thing is for all who participate is to have fun and do it with
pride and determination, to set a goal and reach it. Two good sayings that contradict
Vince Lomabardi state..."It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game"
and "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again" Words to live by.
WHY ATHLETES ARE GOOD ROLE MODELS
WHY ATLETES ARE GOOD ROLE MODELS!
Ever since the ancient years, we have admired athletes and the hard work that they do to
achieve their goal of winning. We idolize them and wish we were more like them. What
happens though when the realization sinks in that they are human too and that some of them do
get greedy and selfish? A lot of athletes are model citizens that you should really look up to, but
there are also some bad apples in the bunch that ruin it for everyone. Athletes can inspire young
people to work hard so that their efforts can pay off, but no one is pure and flawless. Greed
does take a hold of some players, but they shouldn't be the ones we devote all of our attention
to. We should look at the positive things that people do. The media does not go around
reporting all of the good things that these people do, just the bad things and their mistakes. They
are only human just like the rest of us. Are these people safe for our children to idolize to look
up to? I think that the answer is YES!
If you were watching the news, would you really want to hear about all of the charities
that an athlete has donated money to? It would be interesting at first, but you would get tired of
it afterwards. That is why the media never covers anything like this. We all know that they really
don't care about anything else except for a hot topic. The truth really does not mean anything to
them. This we notice in all the cases that the media jumps to wrongful conclusions, such as the
Richard Jewel case and the Olympic bombing and the TWA flight 800 that blew up over New
York. The media jumped to numerous conclusions that had us lost. Do you think these people
worry about what fund raiser Michael Jordan attended and about what Shaquille O'Neal did on
Thanksgiving for the needy? No. They are more interested in what color Dennis Rodman's hair
is and what he wore last night at Excalibur.
I had to go through days of research to find out that Chicago Bears star Chris Zorich has
started a full scholarship at Notre Dame for inner city youths that get accepted to the school, but
can't afford it. He plays for our city's football team, and we have not heard of any of his
philanthropic efforts. He also has an annual food drive for the needy around Thanksgiving. I
read about that in a little column in the newspaper. Would he have been accused of theft or
assault, he would have had a front page article and the whole back page of the Chicago Sun-
Times to himself. Shaquille O'Neal bought over 1,000 turkeys and gave to needy families all
across the nation on Thanksgiving. I did not hear one mention of that in the news. They are
making us believe that all athletes are bad people with their propaganda. If they spent half the
time covering the good-hearted stories that they do the bad ones, we would have a different
opinion on the hard working athlete.
Michael Jordan has started a foundation that donates money for research to help
physically challenged children. He has been running up the tabs at Atlantic City casinos, but who
hasn't gambled? We are not perfect. Michael may gamble, but he does his share of helping and
works hard for what he has acquired. Gambling is no crime, so then he is not showing us a
negative thing. If parents disapprove of him gambling, then they should outlaw it because he is
not doing anything wrong. Michael, and other athletes as well, is aware that he is constantly
being watched by millions and tries to act accordingly.
There has been a major controversy in the NBA lately thanks to Charles Barkley and his
claim in an interview that he is not a role model, but that is the job of the parent. He says that
parents shouldn't be blaming the athletes if they can't control their own children. Another person
that agrees with this notion is football and basketball star Deion Sanders. Barkley has paid over
$80,000 in fines over a period of two years. He is known for getting very aggressive and violent
at times. No one is asking Barkley to give all his money away to charity, but to do what other
stars do, realize that all these people look up to you and show some restraint. Nobody is forcing
athletes to be good people, we just want some of them to use better judgement.
One person that honestly thinks that ball players do serve a role as models for the kids and
should live up to it is Vincent Lamont Baker of the Milwaukee Bucks. He is the best all round
player on the team and one of the most versatile in the league. He is said to be the symbol of
what the NBA is really trying to sell: "good players who are even better people." An excellent
role model for black youth is Dave Bing. He was elected into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1989 and
is now the CEO of Bing Steel, a firm that had $61 million in sales in 1991and was ranked tenth in
the United States among black-owned industrial and service companies. He now donates a lot of
his time and money to various charities.
Football player Orlando Pace sits with 6th grade children in their school library and helps
them read. His message was "Yes, I have had some athletic ability and talent, but studying is
what's really important." He also said that he doesn't think of himself as a role model, but he is
doing the right thing because he knows that there are people looking up to him and he wants to
show them something positive. I couldn't believe all of the things he does for children and then
says that he doesn't think of himself as a role model. Most of these players are just doing their
job. But he realizes that people do look up to him and that is why he tries to set a good example.
If only all of the players would think that way, then there wouldn't be any problem in the athletic
league.
The most influential player that I have found is Mo Vaughn of the Red Sox. He does
community service and gives kids autographs. He has impressed everyone with his poise,
dedication, and his appetite for work. Vaughn takes the time to talk to groups of schoolchildren,
urging them to stay in school. Vaughn also plans youth centers to keep kids off the streets and
signs and sends get-well cards. He also uses the proceeds from formal autograph-signings to
fund cultural events that are denied to poor children. I wish I knew why I never heard about this
on the news or read about it. It would be different if Mo Vaughn got accused of something.
Arthur Ashe was just as influential. He was the only black man to win the U.S. Open and
Wimbledon. He protested apartheid and launched a $5 million fund-raising campaign and
questioned the lack of government funding for research of AIDS.
It is hard to think that any athlete is good with all of the headlines that you hear about
today. The media just covers the athletes that are acting like sports entertainment celebrities.
William Bennett, the Bush's administration drug czar, is enlisting pro athletes to help him fight
the war on drugs. He assumes that they are held to higher standards of conduct than other
people because they serve as role models. Everyone is aware of the role that these athletes have.
We should not look at the inappropriate actions of few athletes. I was biased to believing that all
athletes are bad before I started doing my research for this paper. Then I found all of the good
things that numerous players have done to help others. Just because they want to help doesn't
mean that we should expect them too because they are only human. We should not have athletes
as scapegoats if children are resistant and defiant. Those are responsibilities of the parents.
Just because there are some bad people in sports today doesn't mean that we should generalize.
We have had some bad presidents also, but we don't hate all of them. Some of them work hard
to contribute something to us just like professional athletes do. We just have ot remember that
they are human just like us and that Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman aren't gods just because
they have a lot of money. They worked hard for it so let them enjoy it.
Ever since the ancient years, we have admired athletes and the hard work that they do to
achieve their goal of winning. We idolize them and wish we were more like them. What
happens though when the realization sinks in that they are human too and that some of them do
get greedy and selfish? A lot of athletes are model citizens that you should really look up to, but
there are also some bad apples in the bunch that ruin it for everyone. Athletes can inspire young
people to work hard so that their efforts can pay off, but no one is pure and flawless. Greed
does take a hold of some players, but they shouldn't be the ones we devote all of our attention
to. We should look at the positive things that people do. The media does not go around
reporting all of the good things that these people do, just the bad things and their mistakes. They
are only human just like the rest of us. Are these people safe for our children to idolize to look
up to? I think that the answer is YES!
If you were watching the news, would you really want to hear about all of the charities
that an athlete has donated money to? It would be interesting at first, but you would get tired of
it afterwards. That is why the media never covers anything like this. We all know that they really
don't care about anything else except for a hot topic. The truth really does not mean anything to
them. This we notice in all the cases that the media jumps to wrongful conclusions, such as the
Richard Jewel case and the Olympic bombing and the TWA flight 800 that blew up over New
York. The media jumped to numerous conclusions that had us lost. Do you think these people
worry about what fund raiser Michael Jordan attended and about what Shaquille O'Neal did on
Thanksgiving for the needy? No. They are more interested in what color Dennis Rodman's hair
is and what he wore last night at Excalibur.
I had to go through days of research to find out that Chicago Bears star Chris Zorich has
started a full scholarship at Notre Dame for inner city youths that get accepted to the school, but
can't afford it. He plays for our city's football team, and we have not heard of any of his
philanthropic efforts. He also has an annual food drive for the needy around Thanksgiving. I
read about that in a little column in the newspaper. Would he have been accused of theft or
assault, he would have had a front page article and the whole back page of the Chicago Sun-
Times to himself. Shaquille O'Neal bought over 1,000 turkeys and gave to needy families all
across the nation on Thanksgiving. I did not hear one mention of that in the news. They are
making us believe that all athletes are bad people with their propaganda. If they spent half the
time covering the good-hearted stories that they do the bad ones, we would have a different
opinion on the hard working athlete.
Michael Jordan has started a foundation that donates money for research to help
physically challenged children. He has been running up the tabs at Atlantic City casinos, but who
hasn't gambled? We are not perfect. Michael may gamble, but he does his share of helping and
works hard for what he has acquired. Gambling is no crime, so then he is not showing us a
negative thing. If parents disapprove of him gambling, then they should outlaw it because he is
not doing anything wrong. Michael, and other athletes as well, is aware that he is constantly
being watched by millions and tries to act accordingly.
There has been a major controversy in the NBA lately thanks to Charles Barkley and his
claim in an interview that he is not a role model, but that is the job of the parent. He says that
parents shouldn't be blaming the athletes if they can't control their own children. Another person
that agrees with this notion is football and basketball star Deion Sanders. Barkley has paid over
$80,000 in fines over a period of two years. He is known for getting very aggressive and violent
at times. No one is asking Barkley to give all his money away to charity, but to do what other
stars do, realize that all these people look up to you and show some restraint. Nobody is forcing
athletes to be good people, we just want some of them to use better judgement.
One person that honestly thinks that ball players do serve a role as models for the kids and
should live up to it is Vincent Lamont Baker of the Milwaukee Bucks. He is the best all round
player on the team and one of the most versatile in the league. He is said to be the symbol of
what the NBA is really trying to sell: "good players who are even better people." An excellent
role model for black youth is Dave Bing. He was elected into the NBA Hall of Fame in 1989 and
is now the CEO of Bing Steel, a firm that had $61 million in sales in 1991and was ranked tenth in
the United States among black-owned industrial and service companies. He now donates a lot of
his time and money to various charities.
Football player Orlando Pace sits with 6th grade children in their school library and helps
them read. His message was "Yes, I have had some athletic ability and talent, but studying is
what's really important." He also said that he doesn't think of himself as a role model, but he is
doing the right thing because he knows that there are people looking up to him and he wants to
show them something positive. I couldn't believe all of the things he does for children and then
says that he doesn't think of himself as a role model. Most of these players are just doing their
job. But he realizes that people do look up to him and that is why he tries to set a good example.
If only all of the players would think that way, then there wouldn't be any problem in the athletic
league.
The most influential player that I have found is Mo Vaughn of the Red Sox. He does
community service and gives kids autographs. He has impressed everyone with his poise,
dedication, and his appetite for work. Vaughn takes the time to talk to groups of schoolchildren,
urging them to stay in school. Vaughn also plans youth centers to keep kids off the streets and
signs and sends get-well cards. He also uses the proceeds from formal autograph-signings to
fund cultural events that are denied to poor children. I wish I knew why I never heard about this
on the news or read about it. It would be different if Mo Vaughn got accused of something.
Arthur Ashe was just as influential. He was the only black man to win the U.S. Open and
Wimbledon. He protested apartheid and launched a $5 million fund-raising campaign and
questioned the lack of government funding for research of AIDS.
It is hard to think that any athlete is good with all of the headlines that you hear about
today. The media just covers the athletes that are acting like sports entertainment celebrities.
William Bennett, the Bush's administration drug czar, is enlisting pro athletes to help him fight
the war on drugs. He assumes that they are held to higher standards of conduct than other
people because they serve as role models. Everyone is aware of the role that these athletes have.
We should not look at the inappropriate actions of few athletes. I was biased to believing that all
athletes are bad before I started doing my research for this paper. Then I found all of the good
things that numerous players have done to help others. Just because they want to help doesn't
mean that we should expect them too because they are only human. We should not have athletes
as scapegoats if children are resistant and defiant. Those are responsibilities of the parents.
Just because there are some bad people in sports today doesn't mean that we should generalize.
We have had some bad presidents also, but we don't hate all of them. Some of them work hard
to contribute something to us just like professional athletes do. We just have ot remember that
they are human just like us and that Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman aren't gods just because
they have a lot of money. They worked hard for it so let them enjoy it.
What sports mean to me
Being a cheerleader in the summer of my sophomore year
gave me a new perspective about people and the stereotypes we
put on them. Before I started cheering, I always categorized
athletes who lived only for sports as being "single- minded" and I
valued more highly people with a more diverse of interests.
After cheering for two months and discovered that I was not
very good at it, I realized that sometimes it is necessary to focus
intensely on learning a new skill to excel. As a result of this
experience I have learned to respect my peer's that stand out in
cheering as well as in other sports and not necessarily in the
classroom. I no longer am committed in cheering but this
experience helped me to change certain values and to look deeper
into people before I judge.
gave me a new perspective about people and the stereotypes we
put on them. Before I started cheering, I always categorized
athletes who lived only for sports as being "single- minded" and I
valued more highly people with a more diverse of interests.
After cheering for two months and discovered that I was not
very good at it, I realized that sometimes it is necessary to focus
intensely on learning a new skill to excel. As a result of this
experience I have learned to respect my peer's that stand out in
cheering as well as in other sports and not necessarily in the
classroom. I no longer am committed in cheering but this
experience helped me to change certain values and to look deeper
into people before I judge.
Wakeboarding
Written by: Bjorn Tonne 990-202777 Due monday, February 03, 1997
Wakeboarding
Wakeboarding is a fun and challenging sport. A couple of years ago I
was boating with some friends when one of them pulled out something I had
never seen before, a wakeboard. In the past I had tried water-skiing and
kneeboarding, but until then I had never heard of wakeboarding, I
haven't picked up a water-ski or kneeboard since that day.
A wakeboard is shaped a lot like a snowboard. It is 150 cm long and
about 60 cm wide. Riding a wakeboard has been compared to surfing,
skateboarding, waterskiing, and snowboarding.
At first I was nervous about learning a new watersport at age 18, because
I remembered how hard it was to get up one ski. My friends convinced me to
give it a try and I loved it. At first it was hard to get up, but after four try's I
could get up almost every time on the first pull. One of the reasons this sport is
so great is that once you get up you can learn and excel very quickly. By the end
of that same day I was almost able to jump over the wake. I have friends who
are able to do backflips, so this gives me a goal. But for now I have to be content
with jumping the wake. I like this, because while there is always another level
that I'm aiming for I still feel and look competent on a wakeboard.
While jumping is the first skill that I learned, the second skill I began
working on was riding fakie. Riding fakie consists of riding with the opposite
foot on the back of the wakeboard. Normally I ride with my right foot on the
back of the board, this riding stance is referred to as regular. While riding with
your left foot back is called riding goofy. When I first started going fakie it was
like learning to wakeboard all over again. Just recently I have gotten to the point
where I can ride regular or goofy in any water conditions, choppy or smooth as
glass, and feel like I am doing well. Just recently I was able to land a jump that I
started in the regular position executed a 180 degree turn and landed in the
goofy stance. This took me hours and hours of practice, but overcoming the
challenge was so exhilarating that it was worth the time and effort, and made me
even more excited about the sport.
The next skill I have been working to acquire is grabs. A grab is
contorting your body into different positions then grabbing the board with one
of your hands while jumping. The most complicated grab that I can currently
land is starting the jump in the regular stance, while in the air I reach
through my legs grab the back of my board and execute a 180 degree turn
landing in the goofy position.
I'm excited about continuing to improve and learning to tweak big air in
this new and exciting sport. I am working towards a goal of being able to land a
backflip within the next year. Currently I am really good at landing on my head.
But for some reason when I am wakeboarding even landing on my head doesn't
hurt. I am totally stoked about this awesome sport that I have found, the thing
that will continue to bring me back to boarding is that it is a sport of never
ending challenges and I will never be at the point where I can't get better
anymore, there will always be something to improve on.
Wakeboarding
Wakeboarding is a fun and challenging sport. A couple of years ago I
was boating with some friends when one of them pulled out something I had
never seen before, a wakeboard. In the past I had tried water-skiing and
kneeboarding, but until then I had never heard of wakeboarding, I
haven't picked up a water-ski or kneeboard since that day.
A wakeboard is shaped a lot like a snowboard. It is 150 cm long and
about 60 cm wide. Riding a wakeboard has been compared to surfing,
skateboarding, waterskiing, and snowboarding.
At first I was nervous about learning a new watersport at age 18, because
I remembered how hard it was to get up one ski. My friends convinced me to
give it a try and I loved it. At first it was hard to get up, but after four try's I
could get up almost every time on the first pull. One of the reasons this sport is
so great is that once you get up you can learn and excel very quickly. By the end
of that same day I was almost able to jump over the wake. I have friends who
are able to do backflips, so this gives me a goal. But for now I have to be content
with jumping the wake. I like this, because while there is always another level
that I'm aiming for I still feel and look competent on a wakeboard.
While jumping is the first skill that I learned, the second skill I began
working on was riding fakie. Riding fakie consists of riding with the opposite
foot on the back of the wakeboard. Normally I ride with my right foot on the
back of the board, this riding stance is referred to as regular. While riding with
your left foot back is called riding goofy. When I first started going fakie it was
like learning to wakeboard all over again. Just recently I have gotten to the point
where I can ride regular or goofy in any water conditions, choppy or smooth as
glass, and feel like I am doing well. Just recently I was able to land a jump that I
started in the regular position executed a 180 degree turn and landed in the
goofy stance. This took me hours and hours of practice, but overcoming the
challenge was so exhilarating that it was worth the time and effort, and made me
even more excited about the sport.
The next skill I have been working to acquire is grabs. A grab is
contorting your body into different positions then grabbing the board with one
of your hands while jumping. The most complicated grab that I can currently
land is starting the jump in the regular stance, while in the air I reach
through my legs grab the back of my board and execute a 180 degree turn
landing in the goofy position.
I'm excited about continuing to improve and learning to tweak big air in
this new and exciting sport. I am working towards a goal of being able to land a
backflip within the next year. Currently I am really good at landing on my head.
But for some reason when I am wakeboarding even landing on my head doesn't
hurt. I am totally stoked about this awesome sport that I have found, the thing
that will continue to bring me back to boarding is that it is a sport of never
ending challenges and I will never be at the point where I can't get better
anymore, there will always be something to improve on.
Wages
How would you like to be paid twenty-three million dollars a year ? It is obvious to say that everyone would more than love it. This figure is only one of the many outrageous wages athletes are being paid today. True, not all twenty-three million dollars goes directly to the athlete because of Uncle Sam. Still these figures are too extreme regardless of the sport, baseball, football or basketball. The athletes here in the United States are without a doubt the greatest on earth. The only problem is so are their wages. Although the athletes pay indicates the greatness of their individual ability, the amount earned per year is way beyond reason. Due to these great wages being paid in particularly in the sport of basketball, the games greatness is being lost.
One example of the extreme pay an athlete can achieve is shown by an athlete named Michael Jordan. This basketball player is being paid thirty million dollars for the 96 - 97 season. Last year for the season of 95 - 96, Jordan was only being paid 3.5 million. While being paid this salary, Jordan hardly ever complained too much even though the amount Jordan was being paid was very low for the NBA. During this season Jordan never made any kind of statement about quitting or even leaving for another team to make the money he may deserve. Other players such as Shaq (Shaquille O'neil), and Reggie Miller, and even teammate Dennis Rodman have been known to say things like this. The only difference between Jordan and the other athletes is that Jordan seems to have a great devotion towards his team and the other players do not have the same loyalty or devotion. The circumstances appear that Jordan might actually play for the mere love of the game, while others only play for the love of money. Regardless of the motivation for playing the sport, a salary of 30 million dollars is outrageous.
If you were to break down this thirty million dollars into different categories such as how much money Jordan earns per game, the true outrageousness will appear. For instance over an eighty-two game season Jordan will be paid $365,854 a game. That is more than any middle and even most upper class people make in one year. In one single game, it is hard to believe that one man could make more than one person for a year. Believe it or not though, most athletes do.
As the years go on athletes keep asking for higher wages. With this want of higher and higher wages, the sports fan starts to think that the only reason the athletes are playing is for the love of money, not for the love of the game in which they compete. These professional athlete's are playing for millions upon millions a year, and it is continually growing. So where do these outrageous figures stop ? Who Knows. It may go on forever and the appreciation and greatness of each sport will become lost.
million dollars is outrage
One example of the extreme pay an athlete can achieve is shown by an athlete named Michael Jordan. This basketball player is being paid thirty million dollars for the 96 - 97 season. Last year for the season of 95 - 96, Jordan was only being paid 3.5 million. While being paid this salary, Jordan hardly ever complained too much even though the amount Jordan was being paid was very low for the NBA. During this season Jordan never made any kind of statement about quitting or even leaving for another team to make the money he may deserve. Other players such as Shaq (Shaquille O'neil), and Reggie Miller, and even teammate Dennis Rodman have been known to say things like this. The only difference between Jordan and the other athletes is that Jordan seems to have a great devotion towards his team and the other players do not have the same loyalty or devotion. The circumstances appear that Jordan might actually play for the mere love of the game, while others only play for the love of money. Regardless of the motivation for playing the sport, a salary of 30 million dollars is outrageous.
If you were to break down this thirty million dollars into different categories such as how much money Jordan earns per game, the true outrageousness will appear. For instance over an eighty-two game season Jordan will be paid $365,854 a game. That is more than any middle and even most upper class people make in one year. In one single game, it is hard to believe that one man could make more than one person for a year. Believe it or not though, most athletes do.
As the years go on athletes keep asking for higher wages. With this want of higher and higher wages, the sports fan starts to think that the only reason the athletes are playing is for the love of money, not for the love of the game in which they compete. These professional athlete's are playing for millions upon millions a year, and it is continually growing. So where do these outrageous figures stop ? Who Knows. It may go on forever and the appreciation and greatness of each sport will become lost.
million dollars is outrage
VIOLENCE IN SPORTS
Violence in sports
To: Mrs. Woods
From: Jean-Philippe
Do you think there's a connection between sports and violence? If you do, do you think it should be banned? I too think that it's connected but, unlike most people, don't think it should be banned. I have many reasons to believe so and I will state them in my essay.
First I will point out that not all sports include violence. Not many actually express violence, the only ones that do contain violence are team sports. I'm not saying that I dislike team sports, au contraire I love team sports, they help build team spirits. All I'm saying is that sports like football contain lots of violence, unlike individual sports like ping pong or kayaking.
Some sports are now becoming so violent that it's almost impossible to remove the violence without removing the sport itself. Lots of people protest because some sports are too violent and they're trying to take the violence away by banning them. What they don't realize is that there are billions of fans that are obsessed by those sports and by taking a sport away from them, could ruin their lives.
Trying to stop the violence is almost like trying to declare world peace. There will always be someone who either picks a fight or builds an underground organization. Football, hockey, soccer, and all those other violent sports will be practiced until the end of the world.
Another reason why I don't want these sports to be cut is because when you practice a sport like football it helps you release all that
frustration and energy you have inside. By releasing all that pressure it helps you relax for a period of time. Getting rid of popular sports like hockey or football could put a lot more kids on the streets because they would have nowhere else to go or nothing else to do.
Some people tell others to keep their kids out of team sports to avoid getting involved in a gang. What those people don't realize is that those kids that never played a team sport before will probably either get involved in another kind of gang or end up spending all his time working and not playing.
Violence in sports is terrible, and I must admit it's becoming, if it's not already, a major part of sports. What's really awful is that you cannot remove the violence. The best suggestion I can give is to teach the young ones just starting that violence does not make the game fun.
To: Mrs. Woods
From: Jean-Philippe
Do you think there's a connection between sports and violence? If you do, do you think it should be banned? I too think that it's connected but, unlike most people, don't think it should be banned. I have many reasons to believe so and I will state them in my essay.
First I will point out that not all sports include violence. Not many actually express violence, the only ones that do contain violence are team sports. I'm not saying that I dislike team sports, au contraire I love team sports, they help build team spirits. All I'm saying is that sports like football contain lots of violence, unlike individual sports like ping pong or kayaking.
Some sports are now becoming so violent that it's almost impossible to remove the violence without removing the sport itself. Lots of people protest because some sports are too violent and they're trying to take the violence away by banning them. What they don't realize is that there are billions of fans that are obsessed by those sports and by taking a sport away from them, could ruin their lives.
Trying to stop the violence is almost like trying to declare world peace. There will always be someone who either picks a fight or builds an underground organization. Football, hockey, soccer, and all those other violent sports will be practiced until the end of the world.
Another reason why I don't want these sports to be cut is because when you practice a sport like football it helps you release all that
frustration and energy you have inside. By releasing all that pressure it helps you relax for a period of time. Getting rid of popular sports like hockey or football could put a lot more kids on the streets because they would have nowhere else to go or nothing else to do.
Some people tell others to keep their kids out of team sports to avoid getting involved in a gang. What those people don't realize is that those kids that never played a team sport before will probably either get involved in another kind of gang or end up spending all his time working and not playing.
Violence in sports is terrible, and I must admit it's becoming, if it's not already, a major part of sports. What's really awful is that you cannot remove the violence. The best suggestion I can give is to teach the young ones just starting that violence does not make the game fun.
Ty Cobb
"Baseball," Ty Cobb liked to say, "is something like a war...Baseball is a red-blooded sport for red-blooded men. It's not pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out of it. It's...a struggle for supremacy, a survival of the fittest" (Ward and Burns 64). Although Ty Cobb was possibly the greatest player in baseball history, many people would consider him its worst person.
Tyrus Raymond Cobb was born December 18, 1886 in The Narrows, Georgia. His parents named him after the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, which stubbornly refused to surrender to Alexander the Great. From the very beginning, he took after the city and became one of baseball's most stubborn and hated men.
The Georgia Peach, so-called, was a creature of extremes. Ty Cobb is, by bald statistics, measurably the greatest hitter ever; he was, by the reckoning of virtually everyone who met him, personally the most despicable human being ever to grace the National Pastime (Deford 56).
Cobb's playing career, with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Athletics, was arguably the best anyone ever had. He won twelve batting titles in thirteen years, including a record nine in a row. He also holds the records for the most runs scored with 2,245 and the highest lifetime batting average at .367, a number nearly unreachable even in just one season by today's standards. Other records he set that have since been broken: 3,034 games played, 4,191 hits, 892 stolen bases, 392 outfield assists, 1,136 extra base hits, and 1,961 runs batted in. He also struck out just 357 times in 11,429 times at bat, a phenomenal achievement. After his career ended, in 1936, he was the leading vote-getter of the first class of the Baseball Hall of Fame, beating even Babe Ruth.
However, Cobb's career was marred with controversy and scandals. He was hated by nearly every player in the league, including his own teammates. When he was first called up to play with Detroit, he was extremely unpopular with his teammates. They locked him out of the bathroom, tore the crown out of his straw hat and sawed in half the bat that had been especially fashioned for him by his hometown coffin maker. He did not take any of it with good humor and could not bear to be the target of the mildest joke. He fought back with his fists, refused to speak to his tormentors, developed ulcers, took to sleeping with a revolver under his pillow, and soon began to display an obsessive animosity toward blacks. One day when a black groundskeeper tried to shake his hand, Cobb slapped him, chased him into the dugout and then tried to strangle the man's wife when she came to his aid (Ward and Burns 64).
In 1926 retired pitcher Dutch Leonard told American League president Ban Johnson that near the end of the 1919 season, Leonard and Tiger teammate Cobb, along with two Cleveland Indians, had arranged to throw a game and bet on it. According to Leonard, Cobb was planning to bet $2,000 on the game, but apparently didn't get his money down on time. Therefore, when Johnson turned the case over to commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Landis exonerated all parties involved, stating the case to be "rather old" and sensing overwhelming public support for Cobb and Tris Speaker, another Hall-of-Famer involved in the incident ("The Cobb Gambling Scandal" 20).
One day, after a crippled New York heckler called Cobb "a half-nigger" in 1912, he climbed into the stands and savagely beat the man. When an onlooker pleaded that the heckler had no hands, Cobb replied, "I don't care if he has no feet" (Wulf 45).
When Cleveland catcher Nig Clarke kidded Cobb that he had once applied a phantom tag to nail him at the plate, Cobb grabbed Clarke's throat with such fury that it took three men to pull him off (Wulf 45).
Before he even reached the majors, Cobb tried to attract interest in himself by writing false pseudonymous letters and postcards to famous sportswriter of the time Grantland Rice, praising himself in an effort to be noticed and get called up to the majors (Wulf 45).
Cobb knew he was hated by most players around the league, and on October 9, 1910, he found out just how much. Cobb and Cleveland's Nap Lajoie were in a dead-heat tie for the American League batting title. Cobb sat out that day's doubleheader. His teammates were angry at him, knowing he was just trying to keep his average high by sitting out. Nearly all players in the league were rooting for Lajoie to win. The St. Louis Browns, who were playing Cleveland that day, let every ball hit by Lajoie to fall in for a hit, giving him the title. Afterwards, eight of Cobb's own teammates sent Lajoie telegrams congratulating him (Kramer 33).
Off the field, Cobb was his own worst enemy. On the field, there was no question whose enemy he was--anyone who presumed to get in his way. The cruelty of Cobb's style fascinated the multitudes and made him baseball's first true superstar. He played in a climate of hostility, friendless by choice in a violent world he populated with enemies....But not even his disagreeable character could destroy the image of his greatness as a ballplayer (Ward and Burns 64).
Cobb was famous for his style of sliding into a base, "steel showing" as he called it. He would come in full speed and put his spikes, which he was rumored to have sharpened especially for the occasion prior to each game, high enough to bloody the opposing player up. The player had two options: either tag Cobb out and take the punishment or get out of the way and allow Cobb to reach the base safely. More took the latter option than not. However, more than a few fights were ignited when the opposing player would choose to tag Cobb out and cry foul when he did get injured.
Many people thought of Cobb as a conniving cheater with his way of intimidating opponents, but he just shrugged off his critics, believing that he did nothing wrong. "I just play hard," Cobb said, "and if playing hard means getting a little rough sometimes, then I'm sorry, but I can't help you" (Montville 63).
At least part of Cobb's ugly torment may be explained that, although he revered his schoolmaster father above all men, the father disapproved of baseball, thinking it too frivolous for his son. Unfortunately, the boy's determination to prove his worth to his father ended at age 18, when the elder Cobb was shot dead...by his wife, Ty's mother (Deford 56).
"William Herschel Cobb was shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the head," said Eugene Phillips, who is the unofficial historian of Cobb's hometown, Royston, Georgia. "Amanda Chitwood Cobb's explanation was that she had heard a noise, saw someone trying to get in her house and used the gun that her husband had given her for protection. A terrible case of mistaken identity. This explanation was believed by a jury and Amanda was acquitted. It has never been believed in Royston" (Montville 63).
Residents of Royston over the years have devised several theories as to the nature of the shooting. The most commonly accepted story is that because Ty's father was out of town on business about five days a week, his mother had been having an affair for years. The father had suspected it, so went he went away this time he came back early to check on his wife and came in secretly. Then it becomes fuzzy as to who actually shot William Cobb. Many believe that Amanda's lover actually killed him, others believe Amanda did (Montville 63). The complexity and mystery of this tragic incident continued to have an enormous effect on Ty's life until his dying day.
"My own father had his head blown off when I was 18 years old--by a member of my own family," Cobb told a writer in the latter years of his life. "I didn't get over that. I've never gotten over it" (Ward and Burns 64).
Cobb became the first millionaire athlete, although baseball was not the primary reason for his wealth. He was a smart investor in business. In 1908, he invested in a small Georgia soda company. No one outside of Georgia had yet heard of Coca-Cola, but Ty liked its taste. When Coke became America's favorite soda, Ty became a millionaire (Kramer 28). He made other investments throughout his lifetime that made him even wealthier.
Cobb, although worth millions late in his life, was as cheap with them as he was dangerous with his spikes during his playing days. He was outraged at having to pay twelve dollars a year after a Cornelia, Georgia, Kiwanis Club asked him to be a member (Wulf 45).
Sydell Kramer describes the extent of Cobb's cheapness in his biography of Cobb. "Money was extremely important to Ty. It was a way of showing off his success. But even though he was rich, he was very cheap. When he got older, he used candles instead of electric lights. He wouldn't pay for a telephone, or buy firewood if it was cold. At times, Ty burned his fan mail for heat" (Kramer 31).
As with all bad boys, there was a good side to Ty Cobb, although few ever saw it. Despite his inability to spend money on himself, he did give a lot to others. He gave money to needy retired ballplayers, helped build a new hospital in Royston, and started a fund for poor college students (Kramer 44).
While giving money, Cobb still felt unliked and remained virtually alone for the rest of his life. What money he did spend on himself was almost exclusively towards the use of alcohol, which he became heavily dependent on. He said he would have given up his money if only he could change the way players felt about him. He knew nobody forgot how nasty he always could be in his playing days (Kramer 45).
Cobb died of cancer July 17, 1961, a sad and lonely man. Only 400 people, most of them little-leaguers who only knew him as a name from baseball's past, showed up at his funeral. Just three ballplayers from his era bothered to attend. Near the end of his life, Cobb commented to a caller that if he had his life to live over again, "I would have done things a little different...I would have had more friends" (Ward and Burns, 65).
Tyrus Raymond Cobb was born December 18, 1886 in The Narrows, Georgia. His parents named him after the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, which stubbornly refused to surrender to Alexander the Great. From the very beginning, he took after the city and became one of baseball's most stubborn and hated men.
The Georgia Peach, so-called, was a creature of extremes. Ty Cobb is, by bald statistics, measurably the greatest hitter ever; he was, by the reckoning of virtually everyone who met him, personally the most despicable human being ever to grace the National Pastime (Deford 56).
Cobb's playing career, with the Detroit Tigers and the Philadelphia Athletics, was arguably the best anyone ever had. He won twelve batting titles in thirteen years, including a record nine in a row. He also holds the records for the most runs scored with 2,245 and the highest lifetime batting average at .367, a number nearly unreachable even in just one season by today's standards. Other records he set that have since been broken: 3,034 games played, 4,191 hits, 892 stolen bases, 392 outfield assists, 1,136 extra base hits, and 1,961 runs batted in. He also struck out just 357 times in 11,429 times at bat, a phenomenal achievement. After his career ended, in 1936, he was the leading vote-getter of the first class of the Baseball Hall of Fame, beating even Babe Ruth.
However, Cobb's career was marred with controversy and scandals. He was hated by nearly every player in the league, including his own teammates. When he was first called up to play with Detroit, he was extremely unpopular with his teammates. They locked him out of the bathroom, tore the crown out of his straw hat and sawed in half the bat that had been especially fashioned for him by his hometown coffin maker. He did not take any of it with good humor and could not bear to be the target of the mildest joke. He fought back with his fists, refused to speak to his tormentors, developed ulcers, took to sleeping with a revolver under his pillow, and soon began to display an obsessive animosity toward blacks. One day when a black groundskeeper tried to shake his hand, Cobb slapped him, chased him into the dugout and then tried to strangle the man's wife when she came to his aid (Ward and Burns 64).
In 1926 retired pitcher Dutch Leonard told American League president Ban Johnson that near the end of the 1919 season, Leonard and Tiger teammate Cobb, along with two Cleveland Indians, had arranged to throw a game and bet on it. According to Leonard, Cobb was planning to bet $2,000 on the game, but apparently didn't get his money down on time. Therefore, when Johnson turned the case over to commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Landis exonerated all parties involved, stating the case to be "rather old" and sensing overwhelming public support for Cobb and Tris Speaker, another Hall-of-Famer involved in the incident ("The Cobb Gambling Scandal" 20).
One day, after a crippled New York heckler called Cobb "a half-nigger" in 1912, he climbed into the stands and savagely beat the man. When an onlooker pleaded that the heckler had no hands, Cobb replied, "I don't care if he has no feet" (Wulf 45).
When Cleveland catcher Nig Clarke kidded Cobb that he had once applied a phantom tag to nail him at the plate, Cobb grabbed Clarke's throat with such fury that it took three men to pull him off (Wulf 45).
Before he even reached the majors, Cobb tried to attract interest in himself by writing false pseudonymous letters and postcards to famous sportswriter of the time Grantland Rice, praising himself in an effort to be noticed and get called up to the majors (Wulf 45).
Cobb knew he was hated by most players around the league, and on October 9, 1910, he found out just how much. Cobb and Cleveland's Nap Lajoie were in a dead-heat tie for the American League batting title. Cobb sat out that day's doubleheader. His teammates were angry at him, knowing he was just trying to keep his average high by sitting out. Nearly all players in the league were rooting for Lajoie to win. The St. Louis Browns, who were playing Cleveland that day, let every ball hit by Lajoie to fall in for a hit, giving him the title. Afterwards, eight of Cobb's own teammates sent Lajoie telegrams congratulating him (Kramer 33).
Off the field, Cobb was his own worst enemy. On the field, there was no question whose enemy he was--anyone who presumed to get in his way. The cruelty of Cobb's style fascinated the multitudes and made him baseball's first true superstar. He played in a climate of hostility, friendless by choice in a violent world he populated with enemies....But not even his disagreeable character could destroy the image of his greatness as a ballplayer (Ward and Burns 64).
Cobb was famous for his style of sliding into a base, "steel showing" as he called it. He would come in full speed and put his spikes, which he was rumored to have sharpened especially for the occasion prior to each game, high enough to bloody the opposing player up. The player had two options: either tag Cobb out and take the punishment or get out of the way and allow Cobb to reach the base safely. More took the latter option than not. However, more than a few fights were ignited when the opposing player would choose to tag Cobb out and cry foul when he did get injured.
Many people thought of Cobb as a conniving cheater with his way of intimidating opponents, but he just shrugged off his critics, believing that he did nothing wrong. "I just play hard," Cobb said, "and if playing hard means getting a little rough sometimes, then I'm sorry, but I can't help you" (Montville 63).
At least part of Cobb's ugly torment may be explained that, although he revered his schoolmaster father above all men, the father disapproved of baseball, thinking it too frivolous for his son. Unfortunately, the boy's determination to prove his worth to his father ended at age 18, when the elder Cobb was shot dead...by his wife, Ty's mother (Deford 56).
"William Herschel Cobb was shot twice, once in the stomach and once in the head," said Eugene Phillips, who is the unofficial historian of Cobb's hometown, Royston, Georgia. "Amanda Chitwood Cobb's explanation was that she had heard a noise, saw someone trying to get in her house and used the gun that her husband had given her for protection. A terrible case of mistaken identity. This explanation was believed by a jury and Amanda was acquitted. It has never been believed in Royston" (Montville 63).
Residents of Royston over the years have devised several theories as to the nature of the shooting. The most commonly accepted story is that because Ty's father was out of town on business about five days a week, his mother had been having an affair for years. The father had suspected it, so went he went away this time he came back early to check on his wife and came in secretly. Then it becomes fuzzy as to who actually shot William Cobb. Many believe that Amanda's lover actually killed him, others believe Amanda did (Montville 63). The complexity and mystery of this tragic incident continued to have an enormous effect on Ty's life until his dying day.
"My own father had his head blown off when I was 18 years old--by a member of my own family," Cobb told a writer in the latter years of his life. "I didn't get over that. I've never gotten over it" (Ward and Burns 64).
Cobb became the first millionaire athlete, although baseball was not the primary reason for his wealth. He was a smart investor in business. In 1908, he invested in a small Georgia soda company. No one outside of Georgia had yet heard of Coca-Cola, but Ty liked its taste. When Coke became America's favorite soda, Ty became a millionaire (Kramer 28). He made other investments throughout his lifetime that made him even wealthier.
Cobb, although worth millions late in his life, was as cheap with them as he was dangerous with his spikes during his playing days. He was outraged at having to pay twelve dollars a year after a Cornelia, Georgia, Kiwanis Club asked him to be a member (Wulf 45).
Sydell Kramer describes the extent of Cobb's cheapness in his biography of Cobb. "Money was extremely important to Ty. It was a way of showing off his success. But even though he was rich, he was very cheap. When he got older, he used candles instead of electric lights. He wouldn't pay for a telephone, or buy firewood if it was cold. At times, Ty burned his fan mail for heat" (Kramer 31).
As with all bad boys, there was a good side to Ty Cobb, although few ever saw it. Despite his inability to spend money on himself, he did give a lot to others. He gave money to needy retired ballplayers, helped build a new hospital in Royston, and started a fund for poor college students (Kramer 44).
While giving money, Cobb still felt unliked and remained virtually alone for the rest of his life. What money he did spend on himself was almost exclusively towards the use of alcohol, which he became heavily dependent on. He said he would have given up his money if only he could change the way players felt about him. He knew nobody forgot how nasty he always could be in his playing days (Kramer 45).
Cobb died of cancer July 17, 1961, a sad and lonely man. Only 400 people, most of them little-leaguers who only knew him as a name from baseball's past, showed up at his funeral. Just three ballplayers from his era bothered to attend. Near the end of his life, Cobb commented to a caller that if he had his life to live over again, "I would have done things a little different...I would have had more friends" (Ward and Burns, 65).
Trackers
My heart beating loudly in my chest is the only sound I can here. The air, whipping past my face, tries to curb my inertia but I just press on harder and harder. As I make my turn to go into the straight-away, the next man in the relay team comes into sight. I push my legs harder and harder, but I cannot make them move any faster. There is only one hundred meters left to go before the instant I have to pass the baton the next runner. As I am speeding down the lane like a jet about to lift off, I see the fans cheering in my peripheral vision but I remain focused on my objective ahead of me. I move closer and closer to the red zone, now counting my steps and pacing off the distance in my mind to the sprinter ahead of me. I ready myself and keep telling myself "be patient, wait" then ....."Go," I yell as he harnesses his adrenaline for a good start. I again have to make another critical, split second decision. When should I give him the baton? There can be no mistakes on the hand off. If I miscalculate my steps, it could be disastrous for the team. As I sprint at his newly energized heels, I yell "Stick!" He reaches his arm back in a robotic-like manner and I slam the baton in his hand, so he will not lose a handle on it. It is a successful hand-off and my body jars, as I try to bring myself to a quick stop. My journey is over but the next runner's has just begun.
Track is a big part of my life and it holds much more significance to me than just running. I would not even get the opportunity to set foot on the track if I did not practice several hours a day, running the same stretch of track twenty times over. This may seem like insanity to others but to me it is a way to focus my energy and discipline my mind, as well as my body. Running a race to me is like life; you have to pace yourself and being better than the next guy is a must. Like one who does not receive a promotion in business for not working to their potential, I will not make varsity if I do not strive to be the best I can be, on and off the track. The Baton is my hopes and aspirations and I have to protect it and not lose sight of it. Because I am a long way from being the fastest man on the team, I have to work even harder, which poses a challenge to me. I am not discourages by this but encouraged to work even more assiduously, which makes the victory all the more sweeter. The relay, in my opinion, is one of the greatest forms of teamwork, for each man has to know what the other man is going to do and when he is going to do it. I know I could not come close to beating the insuperable odds of winning if I ran the race alone. Though, working together as a team, we can form one graceful body that can not be overcome. With the perception as life being race, I feel it is my duty to run as fast as I can and as hard as I can and just don't drop the baton.
Track is a big part of my life and it holds much more significance to me than just running. I would not even get the opportunity to set foot on the track if I did not practice several hours a day, running the same stretch of track twenty times over. This may seem like insanity to others but to me it is a way to focus my energy and discipline my mind, as well as my body. Running a race to me is like life; you have to pace yourself and being better than the next guy is a must. Like one who does not receive a promotion in business for not working to their potential, I will not make varsity if I do not strive to be the best I can be, on and off the track. The Baton is my hopes and aspirations and I have to protect it and not lose sight of it. Because I am a long way from being the fastest man on the team, I have to work even harder, which poses a challenge to me. I am not discourages by this but encouraged to work even more assiduously, which makes the victory all the more sweeter. The relay, in my opinion, is one of the greatest forms of teamwork, for each man has to know what the other man is going to do and when he is going to do it. I know I could not come close to beating the insuperable odds of winning if I ran the race alone. Though, working together as a team, we can form one graceful body that can not be overcome. With the perception as life being race, I feel it is my duty to run as fast as I can and as hard as I can and just don't drop the baton.
The Various Types of Skiing
hkazemi
English 104-05
Feb. 11, 1997
Classification
The Various Types of Skiing
Every four years in the Winter Olympics, we see professional athletes compete in many areas ranging from downhill skiing to high-speed bobsledding. We see the professionals demonstrate their spectacular abilities, and we try to emulate them in our own activities. In the Olympics, cross-country and downhill skiing are two very popular sports, and even non-professionals can get into them. In this essay I will classify the various types of skiing into three categories and inform you about each.
The first type of skiing that I will discuss is cross-country skiing. As its name implies, cross-country skiing consists of horizontal travel across flat land and relatively few hills. Cross-country skis are not optimized for speed, but instead for easier long distance travel. This type of skiing is also the least expensive of the three types and has recently been gaining many new enthusiasts. A decent quality cross-country ski package would cost around $150. As for choosing equipment, the skier should pick out poles that are as tall as his shoulders. (For most people this would mean a 140 cm to 150 cm pole.) Skis come in three common sizes, 190 cm, 210, cm and 240 cm, and the proper length depends on the height of the person. To determine the size needed, the person should hold his hands above his head and choose the ski that most closely approximates the distance from the base of his palm to the floor. The following table gives some guidelines as to which ski lengths are proper for which heights.
Height: Proper Ski Length
~5'3" 190 cm ski
~5'10" 210 cm ski
~6'6" 240 cm ski
Table 1
The last thing the skier will want to decide on is whether or not he wants to have wax or non-wax skis. Wax skis are traditional and have the benefit of being faster for the experienced skier. Non-wax skis are good for new skiers and those who do not wish to bother with waxing every time they ski. Overall, I would recommend non-wax skis to anyone getting into skiing mainly due to their ease-of-use and lower maintenance requirements.
The second major category of this sport is downhill skiing. Downhill skiing differs from cross-country skiing mostly in where it is performed and in the equipment used. Downhill skiing is best suited to mountainous areas, but ski hills have been built in most states for those who live too far from the mountains. Downhill skis are designed for speed, and their extra strength and width gives skiers more control at these high speeds. In fact, experienced downhill skiers can reach velocities of 65 mph before coming to a rest at the bottom of their hill. The equipment costs are higher for downhill skis than cross-country skis and a starter package will the skier back at least $300. Currently, downhill skiing is the most popular form of the sport, but as mountain ski resorts become more crowded and overused, more people have been turning to cross-country skiing which can be done anywhere that the snow falls.
The last group of skiers includes those who ski freestyle and perform jumps, flips, and other acrobatics. Freestyle skiers prefer the bumpiest, steepest, and most difficult courses and mountains, and they constantly court danger and injury. The equipment costs for freestyle skiing are higher than the other two areas mainly due to the specialized skis, poles, and clothes used. Since this is the most dangerous form of skiing, I do not recommend it to anyone who is not experienced in the other forms of skiing and has not been skiing for several years.
In this essay I have informed you on the three major categories of skiing: cross-country, downhill, and freestyle. You have also been given some information on each relating to cost, equipment, and danger present. Overall, skiing has an excellent safety record, and if you follow the steps to learn to ski in the proper order, you too can enjoy the sport as thousands of others do.
English 104-05
Feb. 11, 1997
Classification
The Various Types of Skiing
Every four years in the Winter Olympics, we see professional athletes compete in many areas ranging from downhill skiing to high-speed bobsledding. We see the professionals demonstrate their spectacular abilities, and we try to emulate them in our own activities. In the Olympics, cross-country and downhill skiing are two very popular sports, and even non-professionals can get into them. In this essay I will classify the various types of skiing into three categories and inform you about each.
The first type of skiing that I will discuss is cross-country skiing. As its name implies, cross-country skiing consists of horizontal travel across flat land and relatively few hills. Cross-country skis are not optimized for speed, but instead for easier long distance travel. This type of skiing is also the least expensive of the three types and has recently been gaining many new enthusiasts. A decent quality cross-country ski package would cost around $150. As for choosing equipment, the skier should pick out poles that are as tall as his shoulders. (For most people this would mean a 140 cm to 150 cm pole.) Skis come in three common sizes, 190 cm, 210, cm and 240 cm, and the proper length depends on the height of the person. To determine the size needed, the person should hold his hands above his head and choose the ski that most closely approximates the distance from the base of his palm to the floor. The following table gives some guidelines as to which ski lengths are proper for which heights.
Height: Proper Ski Length
~5'3" 190 cm ski
~5'10" 210 cm ski
~6'6" 240 cm ski
Table 1
The last thing the skier will want to decide on is whether or not he wants to have wax or non-wax skis. Wax skis are traditional and have the benefit of being faster for the experienced skier. Non-wax skis are good for new skiers and those who do not wish to bother with waxing every time they ski. Overall, I would recommend non-wax skis to anyone getting into skiing mainly due to their ease-of-use and lower maintenance requirements.
The second major category of this sport is downhill skiing. Downhill skiing differs from cross-country skiing mostly in where it is performed and in the equipment used. Downhill skiing is best suited to mountainous areas, but ski hills have been built in most states for those who live too far from the mountains. Downhill skis are designed for speed, and their extra strength and width gives skiers more control at these high speeds. In fact, experienced downhill skiers can reach velocities of 65 mph before coming to a rest at the bottom of their hill. The equipment costs are higher for downhill skis than cross-country skis and a starter package will the skier back at least $300. Currently, downhill skiing is the most popular form of the sport, but as mountain ski resorts become more crowded and overused, more people have been turning to cross-country skiing which can be done anywhere that the snow falls.
The last group of skiers includes those who ski freestyle and perform jumps, flips, and other acrobatics. Freestyle skiers prefer the bumpiest, steepest, and most difficult courses and mountains, and they constantly court danger and injury. The equipment costs for freestyle skiing are higher than the other two areas mainly due to the specialized skis, poles, and clothes used. Since this is the most dangerous form of skiing, I do not recommend it to anyone who is not experienced in the other forms of skiing and has not been skiing for several years.
In this essay I have informed you on the three major categories of skiing: cross-country, downhill, and freestyle. You have also been given some information on each relating to cost, equipment, and danger present. Overall, skiing has an excellent safety record, and if you follow the steps to learn to ski in the proper order, you too can enjoy the sport as thousands of others do.
The Olympic Athlete
The Olympic Athlete
I always have respected Olympic athletes, for they spend all their time training.
Victorious athletes were professionals in the sense that they lived off the glory of their achievement ever afterwards. Their hometowns might reward them with: free meals for the rest of their lives, honorary appointments, or leadership positions in the community. The victors were memorialized in statues and also in victory songs, and commissioned from famous poets.
Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. These two opposing elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention. The conflict between the Olympic movement's high ideals and the commercialism or political acts, which accompany the Games, has been noted since ancient times. The ancient Olympic Games, part of a major religious festival honoring Zeus, the chief Greek god, were the biggest events in their world. They were the scenes of political rivalries between people from different parts of the Greek world, and the site of controversies, boasts, public announcements and humiliations. Ancient athletes competed as individuals, not on national teams, as in the modern Games. The emphasis on individual athletic achievement through public competition was related to the Greek ideal of excellence, called "arete". Aristocratic men who attained this ideal, through their outstanding words or deeds, won permanent glory and fame. Those who failed to measure up to this code feared public shame and disgrace.
Olympia was one of the oldest religious centers in the ancient Greek world. Since athletic contests were one way that the ancient Greeks honored their gods, it was logical to hold a recurring athletic competition at the site of a major temple. Also, Olympia is convenient geographically to reach by ship, which was a major concern for the Greeks. Athletes and spectators traveled from Greek colonies as far away as modern-day Spain, the Black Sea, or Egypt.
Athletics were a key part of education in ancient Greece. Many Greeks believed that developing the body was equally important as improving the mind for overall health. Also, regular exercise was important in a society where men were always needed for military service. Plato's Laws specifically mentions how athletics greatly improved military skills. Greek youth therefore worked out in the palaestra (wrestling-school) whether they were serious Olympic contenders or not.
Ancient competitors were required to train at Olympia for a month before the Games officially started, like modern competitors at the Olympic. Young men worked with athletic trainers who used long sticks to point out incorrect body positions and other faults. Trainers paid close attention to balancing the types of physical exercise and the athlete's diet. The Greeks also thought that harmonious movement was very important, so athletes often exercised to flute music.
The sports have changed dramatically, but the pride of being an Olympic competitor has remained as strong as ever! The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. "The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well" (Pierre de Coubertin).
I always have respected Olympic athletes, for they spend all their time training.
Victorious athletes were professionals in the sense that they lived off the glory of their achievement ever afterwards. Their hometowns might reward them with: free meals for the rest of their lives, honorary appointments, or leadership positions in the community. The victors were memorialized in statues and also in victory songs, and commissioned from famous poets.
Today, the Olympic Games are the world's largest pageant of athletic skill and competitive spirit. They are also displays of nationalism, commerce and politics. These two opposing elements of the Olympics are not a modern invention. The conflict between the Olympic movement's high ideals and the commercialism or political acts, which accompany the Games, has been noted since ancient times. The ancient Olympic Games, part of a major religious festival honoring Zeus, the chief Greek god, were the biggest events in their world. They were the scenes of political rivalries between people from different parts of the Greek world, and the site of controversies, boasts, public announcements and humiliations. Ancient athletes competed as individuals, not on national teams, as in the modern Games. The emphasis on individual athletic achievement through public competition was related to the Greek ideal of excellence, called "arete". Aristocratic men who attained this ideal, through their outstanding words or deeds, won permanent glory and fame. Those who failed to measure up to this code feared public shame and disgrace.
Olympia was one of the oldest religious centers in the ancient Greek world. Since athletic contests were one way that the ancient Greeks honored their gods, it was logical to hold a recurring athletic competition at the site of a major temple. Also, Olympia is convenient geographically to reach by ship, which was a major concern for the Greeks. Athletes and spectators traveled from Greek colonies as far away as modern-day Spain, the Black Sea, or Egypt.
Athletics were a key part of education in ancient Greece. Many Greeks believed that developing the body was equally important as improving the mind for overall health. Also, regular exercise was important in a society where men were always needed for military service. Plato's Laws specifically mentions how athletics greatly improved military skills. Greek youth therefore worked out in the palaestra (wrestling-school) whether they were serious Olympic contenders or not.
Ancient competitors were required to train at Olympia for a month before the Games officially started, like modern competitors at the Olympic. Young men worked with athletic trainers who used long sticks to point out incorrect body positions and other faults. Trainers paid close attention to balancing the types of physical exercise and the athlete's diet. The Greeks also thought that harmonious movement was very important, so athletes often exercised to flute music.
The sports have changed dramatically, but the pride of being an Olympic competitor has remained as strong as ever! The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. "The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well" (Pierre de Coubertin).
the life of babe ruth
THE LIFE OF BABE RUTH
Babe Ruth, born George Ruth, Jr., is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. Everybody knows how great a hitter Babe was and how he virtually invented the home run. Not everybody knows how great of a pitcher Babe was, even though he was one of the best left-handed pitchers of all time. Babe had a 92 and 44 record, 67.6%, and a 2.24 career earned- run average in 163 games pitched. Not many career .342 hitters that averaged a home run every 11.8 at bats can say that.
George Ruth, Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 6, 1895, son of George Herman Ruth, Sr. and Kate Ruth. George took the name of Herman at his confirmation since it was his father's middle name and the name of his friend at St.Mary's Industrial School, Brother Herman. Ruth says he had a "rotten start" in life; he spent his childhood days on the streets and piers of Baltimore. He led a rather lawless life, his parents were medium-poor and he was mainly on his own.
All this changed when Ruth entered St.Mary's Industrial School at the age of eight. Ruth, even though he didn't realize it, had come in to a good thing. Brother Matthais took young Ruth under his wing and taught him to read, write, play baseball, do needle work, and right from wrong. Ruth showed a startling natural talent with a baseball bat, so Brother Matthais tried to round young George into a complete baseball player by teaching him to pitch and field. Ruth says that, "Brother Matthais was the greatest man I ever knew." Ruth was taught to make shirts and became quite good at it, he boasted that he could sew a shirt in less than 15 minutes.
Ruth never had to use this skill because he was discharged from St.Mary's School on February 27, 1914 to join the Baltimore Orioles baseball team of the American League. Ruth was paid a salary of $600 to play in the International League, one step below the major league, on an Orioles affiliate team. The team went to Fayettville for spring training and Ruth showed raw talent and didn't need much formal training but needed lots of controlled practice. Coach Sam Steinman warned the veterans to go easy with the rookie Ruth, he said, "He's one of Jack Dunn's babes." Journalist Roger Pippen asked Steinman to explain, Steinman said out of all the players in camp Ruth was the biggest and most promising babe of the lot. The players heard this and the name stuck. Babe Ruth. At first George thought the name, Babe, was a joke, but after a while it became like a proper name, and everybody called him Babe.
After an impressive showing in the International League, Babe and the rest of the Oriole team were put up for sale. The Boston Red Sox bought Babe and he saw his first major league action on July 11,1914, as he took the mound against the Cleveland Naps. Babe ended up winning the game 4-3 after pitching seven innings and letting up only three runs on five hits. The Red Sox sent Ruth to the International League to play on the Providence team, to get some more experience. At Providence, Ruth had a record of 11 wins and 2 loses. On September 5, Ruth won a game 9-0, only letting up one hit, but more significantly he hit his first and only minor league home run.
The Red Sox brought Ruth back up after the Providence team won the pennant and Ruth pitched in one game without decision. While in Boston, Ruth almost always went to Landers coffee shop and his usual waitress was a girl named Helen Woodford. During breakfast one morning Ruth looked up at Helen and said, "How about you and me getting married, hon?" After thinking it over for a couple of minutes, Helen accepted his proposal. After the baseball season, Babe and Helen got married in St. Paul's Church, Ellicott City, Maryland, on October 17,1914. Helen Woodford Ruth stayed out of the public eye and was known as the only person in Boston to still call Babe by his proper name, George.
The Red Sox roster of 1915 included Babe Ruth's name. Never again did it appear on a minor league roster. Babe Ruth has made his way to the major leagues quickly and would stay there for a long time. Babe had one of his best overall seasons as a pitcher going 18-6, winning 75% of his games, and racking up an outstanding 2.44 earned run average (era). Ruth went 23-12 with a career best 1.75 era the following year, 23-13 the year after that. In 1918-19 Babe only pitched in a combined 37 games with a 21-12 record in his last seasons as mainly a pitcher. Between 1915 and 1919, Babe pitched 1,167 innings in 154 games with a record of 85 wins and 43 losses.
At the start of the 1919 season, Ruth started in right field but moved to center after Duffy Lewis switched to right. Lewis accused Ruth of having little defensive ability in the outfield. To Lewis' dismay, Ruth ended up being the best fielder in baseball that year with a fielding average of .992. Ruth hit an unbelievable 29 home runs in 1919, his first full season as a fielder.
In the 1919 World Series, the Chicago White Sox, or as they became known as the "Black Sox," had a better team than Cincinnati and probably would have won the series. Except some of the players were too concerned about money and a big time gambler paid them to throw the series. When the commissioner of baseball found this out he banned the eight men who took the money from baseball for life. Some of the big name players banned were "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Eddie Cicotte and others.
After this horrible incident, most baseball fans were so disgusted they turned on baseball and the American pastime almost died, and probably would have if it wasn't for a player by the name of George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. When the fan's turned their collective back on baseball, the Babe emerged as the most well known and most popular figure in American culture. With his towering home runs and great all around play, he kept the fans coming to the ballpark. It is hard to believe what the world would be like without baseball and thanks to Babe Ruth we will never have to live in a world like that.
Even after Babe's amazing "rookie" season as an outfielder, the Red Sox were ignorant enough to sell him to the New York Yankees for the sum of $125,000, the most ever recorded in baseball annals. That may have seemed like a good deal at the time, $125,000 for one baseball player was a lot back then, but the Yankees got all they paid for. In the 1920 season, Ruth hit .376 with an unprecedented 54 home runs, crushing the old record by 25 home runs, while driving in 137 runs. In only his second year as a full-time fielder, Ruth was the most feared and respected batter in baseball. Not only did he have more power than any other hitter of all-time, he had an outstanding average of well over .300.
In 1921, Babe led the Yankees to their first pennant in their 19 years of existence. As unbelievable as it sounds, Babe improved on all accounts, hitting .378, breaking his old record of 54 home runs by hitting 59 of them, and driving in 170 runs. In the 1921 World Series, Babe's Yankees faced cross-town rival New York Giants. Ruth played through injury in games 4 and 5 but by physicians advice sat out games 6, 7, and 8 in which the Yankee's lost all games, along with the series.
In 1922 Babe and Helen Ruth had their first child, Dorothy. This was the only highlight for Babe in an otherwise dreadful year. Ruth was suspended on three different occasions for various reasons and his numbers dropped substantially, but the Yankees still won the pennant. Again they faced the Giants in the World Series. Babe was not a factor at all in this pitiful series for the whole Yankee team as they got swept by the Giants. Even with this failure, Babe led the Yankee's to seven World Series, winning five of them.
In Babe's unbelievable career, he had a lifetime average of .342, hit 714 career home runs, had 2,209 career RBI's, and 2,873 total hits, all in only 2,503 total games. As amazing as these stats are, they are not the reason people should be grateful that Babe played the game. The reason most people should know Babe Ruth is for the most important reason, that being the way he saved baseball from extinction. Forget how Babe was the best power-hitter in baseball and considered by many the best player in baseball history, and just think about how he kept the American pastime alive.
On August 16, 1948, at 8:01 PM, not only did the greatest baseball player of all time, but a great person, die in the form of George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr.
Babe Ruth, born George Ruth, Jr., is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. Everybody knows how great a hitter Babe was and how he virtually invented the home run. Not everybody knows how great of a pitcher Babe was, even though he was one of the best left-handed pitchers of all time. Babe had a 92 and 44 record, 67.6%, and a 2.24 career earned- run average in 163 games pitched. Not many career .342 hitters that averaged a home run every 11.8 at bats can say that.
George Ruth, Jr. was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on February 6, 1895, son of George Herman Ruth, Sr. and Kate Ruth. George took the name of Herman at his confirmation since it was his father's middle name and the name of his friend at St.Mary's Industrial School, Brother Herman. Ruth says he had a "rotten start" in life; he spent his childhood days on the streets and piers of Baltimore. He led a rather lawless life, his parents were medium-poor and he was mainly on his own.
All this changed when Ruth entered St.Mary's Industrial School at the age of eight. Ruth, even though he didn't realize it, had come in to a good thing. Brother Matthais took young Ruth under his wing and taught him to read, write, play baseball, do needle work, and right from wrong. Ruth showed a startling natural talent with a baseball bat, so Brother Matthais tried to round young George into a complete baseball player by teaching him to pitch and field. Ruth says that, "Brother Matthais was the greatest man I ever knew." Ruth was taught to make shirts and became quite good at it, he boasted that he could sew a shirt in less than 15 minutes.
Ruth never had to use this skill because he was discharged from St.Mary's School on February 27, 1914 to join the Baltimore Orioles baseball team of the American League. Ruth was paid a salary of $600 to play in the International League, one step below the major league, on an Orioles affiliate team. The team went to Fayettville for spring training and Ruth showed raw talent and didn't need much formal training but needed lots of controlled practice. Coach Sam Steinman warned the veterans to go easy with the rookie Ruth, he said, "He's one of Jack Dunn's babes." Journalist Roger Pippen asked Steinman to explain, Steinman said out of all the players in camp Ruth was the biggest and most promising babe of the lot. The players heard this and the name stuck. Babe Ruth. At first George thought the name, Babe, was a joke, but after a while it became like a proper name, and everybody called him Babe.
After an impressive showing in the International League, Babe and the rest of the Oriole team were put up for sale. The Boston Red Sox bought Babe and he saw his first major league action on July 11,1914, as he took the mound against the Cleveland Naps. Babe ended up winning the game 4-3 after pitching seven innings and letting up only three runs on five hits. The Red Sox sent Ruth to the International League to play on the Providence team, to get some more experience. At Providence, Ruth had a record of 11 wins and 2 loses. On September 5, Ruth won a game 9-0, only letting up one hit, but more significantly he hit his first and only minor league home run.
The Red Sox brought Ruth back up after the Providence team won the pennant and Ruth pitched in one game without decision. While in Boston, Ruth almost always went to Landers coffee shop and his usual waitress was a girl named Helen Woodford. During breakfast one morning Ruth looked up at Helen and said, "How about you and me getting married, hon?" After thinking it over for a couple of minutes, Helen accepted his proposal. After the baseball season, Babe and Helen got married in St. Paul's Church, Ellicott City, Maryland, on October 17,1914. Helen Woodford Ruth stayed out of the public eye and was known as the only person in Boston to still call Babe by his proper name, George.
The Red Sox roster of 1915 included Babe Ruth's name. Never again did it appear on a minor league roster. Babe Ruth has made his way to the major leagues quickly and would stay there for a long time. Babe had one of his best overall seasons as a pitcher going 18-6, winning 75% of his games, and racking up an outstanding 2.44 earned run average (era). Ruth went 23-12 with a career best 1.75 era the following year, 23-13 the year after that. In 1918-19 Babe only pitched in a combined 37 games with a 21-12 record in his last seasons as mainly a pitcher. Between 1915 and 1919, Babe pitched 1,167 innings in 154 games with a record of 85 wins and 43 losses.
At the start of the 1919 season, Ruth started in right field but moved to center after Duffy Lewis switched to right. Lewis accused Ruth of having little defensive ability in the outfield. To Lewis' dismay, Ruth ended up being the best fielder in baseball that year with a fielding average of .992. Ruth hit an unbelievable 29 home runs in 1919, his first full season as a fielder.
In the 1919 World Series, the Chicago White Sox, or as they became known as the "Black Sox," had a better team than Cincinnati and probably would have won the series. Except some of the players were too concerned about money and a big time gambler paid them to throw the series. When the commissioner of baseball found this out he banned the eight men who took the money from baseball for life. Some of the big name players banned were "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Eddie Cicotte and others.
After this horrible incident, most baseball fans were so disgusted they turned on baseball and the American pastime almost died, and probably would have if it wasn't for a player by the name of George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr. When the fan's turned their collective back on baseball, the Babe emerged as the most well known and most popular figure in American culture. With his towering home runs and great all around play, he kept the fans coming to the ballpark. It is hard to believe what the world would be like without baseball and thanks to Babe Ruth we will never have to live in a world like that.
Even after Babe's amazing "rookie" season as an outfielder, the Red Sox were ignorant enough to sell him to the New York Yankees for the sum of $125,000, the most ever recorded in baseball annals. That may have seemed like a good deal at the time, $125,000 for one baseball player was a lot back then, but the Yankees got all they paid for. In the 1920 season, Ruth hit .376 with an unprecedented 54 home runs, crushing the old record by 25 home runs, while driving in 137 runs. In only his second year as a full-time fielder, Ruth was the most feared and respected batter in baseball. Not only did he have more power than any other hitter of all-time, he had an outstanding average of well over .300.
In 1921, Babe led the Yankees to their first pennant in their 19 years of existence. As unbelievable as it sounds, Babe improved on all accounts, hitting .378, breaking his old record of 54 home runs by hitting 59 of them, and driving in 170 runs. In the 1921 World Series, Babe's Yankees faced cross-town rival New York Giants. Ruth played through injury in games 4 and 5 but by physicians advice sat out games 6, 7, and 8 in which the Yankee's lost all games, along with the series.
In 1922 Babe and Helen Ruth had their first child, Dorothy. This was the only highlight for Babe in an otherwise dreadful year. Ruth was suspended on three different occasions for various reasons and his numbers dropped substantially, but the Yankees still won the pennant. Again they faced the Giants in the World Series. Babe was not a factor at all in this pitiful series for the whole Yankee team as they got swept by the Giants. Even with this failure, Babe led the Yankee's to seven World Series, winning five of them.
In Babe's unbelievable career, he had a lifetime average of .342, hit 714 career home runs, had 2,209 career RBI's, and 2,873 total hits, all in only 2,503 total games. As amazing as these stats are, they are not the reason people should be grateful that Babe played the game. The reason most people should know Babe Ruth is for the most important reason, that being the way he saved baseball from extinction. Forget how Babe was the best power-hitter in baseball and considered by many the best player in baseball history, and just think about how he kept the American pastime alive.
On August 16, 1948, at 8:01 PM, not only did the greatest baseball player of all time, but a great person, die in the form of George Herman "Babe" Ruth, Jr.
The Hartford Whalers Are Going Going
The Hartford Whalers Are Going Going ...
The Hartford Whalers are in a very tough situation at this time. When Peter Karmanos bought the team in May of 1994, he inherited the worst lease agreement at the smallest arena in the NHL. The Hartford Civic Center lease agreement creates profit for private companies; however, the lease causes the Whalers to lose money. The mall is owned and operated by Aetna; therefore it has nothing to do with the Whalers. The city of Hartford owns the coliseum, parking garage, and exhibition hall. The state of Connecticut pays a 1.6 million dollar annual leasing fee to take control of the coliseum, parking garage, and exhibition hall. The state hired Ogden Entertainment Services to run the coliseum, and Ogden receives all of the revenue from luxury boxes, the coliseum club, advertisements, rental fees and the exhibition hall. The state also hired Kinney Systems to run the parking garage and Service America Corporation to run the concessions. Both companies receive all revenue from the service they run. After all of this, there is no money left for the Hartford Whalers (Swift & Arace, 1+).
The reason why these three companies keep all of the revenue from the Civic Center can be blamed on Richard Gordon, the former owner of the Whalers who did not want the city of Hartford to run the Civic Center. In 1993, the state decided to negotiate a new lease with the Whalers. The state of Connecticut did not want to run the coliseum so they hired three private companies to take this job. These companies would only run the Civic Center if they could keep all of the revenue from the service they controlled. Richard Gordon accepted this lease because this agreement would repay him for an additional ten million dollars in loses and he sold the team a year later (Lang 53-69).
The Hartford Whalers is the only major league team in Connecticut and at the Civic Center. They currently have a bad lease which causes them to lose money. The Hartford Whalers play all exhibition, regular season, playoff games, the training camp, and some practice time rent free at the Civic Center. However, the Whalers get no revenue from concessions, luxury boxes, parking, and the coliseum club. The Whalers get sixty percent of the revenue from advertisements along the boards but no revenue from all other ads around the coliseum (Swift, 1+). The Whalers can leave Hartford after the 1997-98 season if they lose a cumulative thirty million dollars from 1994-95 through 1997-98. They must also pay a five million dollar penalty to leave Hartford. If the Whalers lose more than thirty million dollars and they choose to stay, they can subtract one-half of only thirty million dollars from the 25 million dollars they owe the state to complete the sale of the Whalers. This amount is 10 million dollars. If the Whalers do not lose thirty million dollars in this four year period, they must subtract one half of their loses from the 25 million they owe the state to complete the sale of the Whalers, and they are locked in Hartford through the year 2013 (Lang, 53-69). This lease makes it impossible for the Whalers to make money because even if they sell out the season, they will still lose seven million dollars a year. If the Whalers lose more than thirty million dollars in four year then the lease gives the Whalers an option of paying five million dollars to leave Hartford or paying ten million dollars to stay in Hartford. Which one do you think Peter Karmanos, the owner of the Whalers, will choose.
Now the Hartford Whalers are at a major crossroad in their twenty-five year history. This may be a bigger disaster than the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse because the Whalers may not be in Connecticut in two years. Peter Karmanos has only seen finical hardship since he bought the team in 1994 and he inherited a terrible lease agreement from Richard Gordon at the Civic Center. The Hartford Whalers lost twenty million dollars in the 1995-96 season and eleven and a half million dollars in the 1994-95 season for a total of 31.5 million dollars in only two years (Jacobs, 1). The Whalers have not made a profit since the 1990-91 season (Arace 1+). The Whalers current lease is so bad that even if the they sell out every game of the season, they will still lose seven million dollars a year. The Whalers had a season ticket drive last April to double their season ticket base and it only was partially successful. Many teams in the NHL have recently received new arenas that can generate a lot of revenue for their hockey team (Swift & Arace 1+). The state of Connecticut must go all out to save the Whalers, our only major league franchise, by giving them a very attractive lease at the Hartford Civic Center and the Whalers need a new arena for the 2002-03 season that can produce a lot of revenue.
The first step toward solving the Whalers' problems is changing the Civic Center lease. The state must no longer allow private companies to run the Civic Center. The private companies are taking all of the revenue away from the Whalers and they are not even making money so the state of Connecticut must run the Civic Center. Ogden Entertainment Services, Service America Corporation, and Kinney Systems will no longer be allowed to run the service that they run. The state will pay all of the salaries of the employees and the maintenance costs of the Coliseum. The state will only pay 500,000 dollars a year to lease the Civic Center from the city of Hartford. It will cost the state about twenty million dollars a year to run the Coliseum but the state will be able to keep all revenue form the Civic Center that does not go to the Whalers. Now that the private companies are out of the way, it will open up revenue streams for the Whalers and eliminate an endless cycle operating in the red (Swift 3).
The Whalers need a new lease at the Civic Center which is similar to a lease they would get if the Whalers moved to a different city and similar to other teams in the NHL. They will continue to get all ice for free. The Whalers will receive one hundred percent of the revenue generated during their games from concessions and parking. These revenue streams are created only because the Whalers play at the Civic Center so they deserve this money. The Whalers are the only hockey team that plays at the Civic Center so people only see the board and ice advertisements when the Whalers play, therefore they should receive all of the revenue from advertisements along the boards and in the ice (Jacobs 1+). Most other NHL teams receive seventy percent of all other ads around their coliseums so the Whalers will get the same treatment at the Civic Center. The Whalers should receive seventy percent of the revenue from luxury boxes and the coliseum club which is what most NHL teams receive. All of this will give the Whalers an addition eight to ten million dollars in revenue each year and allow them to make a profit at the Civic Center until a new arena can be built in Hartford (Swift 1+). In additional, the Whalers will pay the state 9.25 million dollars which is twenty five million minus one-half of their loses, 31.5 million dollars, to complete the sale of the Whalers (Jacobs 1+).
The Hartford Civic Center has become obsolete to support an NHL franchise. Right now, no one is making money on the Civic Center except the city of Hartford, and even if the Whalers get the new lease agreement stated above, the state of Connecticut will lose money as a result of running the Civic Center. The Whalers need a new arena in Hartford that will allow the Whalers and a private corporation running the new arena to make money. Nineteen of twenty six NHL teams have first class arenas or will have one within the next two years. A first class arena is defined as one which has the following things: At least 17,000 seats for general seating, at least one hundred luxury boxes, club seating which seats at least five hundred people, concession stands at every given point around the arena, a food court, at least one fancy restaurant, and a huge parking garage. The Whalers need an arena that seats over 18,000 people plus all of the other things listed above. Most NHL teams receive seventy percent of the revenue created from the arena in addition to ticket sales so the Whalers should get the same thing in their new arena. For example, the Montreal Canadiens can receive up to 150 million dollars in revenue per year from just the luxury boxes in the new Molson Centre. This is enough money for five NHL teams' pay rolls. In addition, a new arena will have so many new revenue streams that both the Whalers and a private company running the arena will be able to make money. This is what has happened in other NHL cities when new arenas have been built (Swift & Arace 1+). In order to guarantee this new arena will have a main tenant, the Whalers will sign a lease to play their through the year 2020.
Saving the Whalers is extremely important for the state of Connecticut. The Whalers provide this state with an identity because they cause the name "Hartford" to be discussed by sports fans all across North America. How often are the cities of Quebec and Winnipeg mentioned on the news or discussed by sports fans now that they lost their NHL teams? Not often. If the Whalers move, Hartford will become a stop between New York and Boston without its own identity. The Whalers help Connecticut's economy directly and indirectly. The Whalers provide jobs for within their organization. According to their media guide, they have over forty people working in the Whalers offices. In addition, about half of the players live in Connecticut and they make a lot of money that they spend on houses, cars, and other stuff to help Connecticut's economy. When people go to Whalers games, they shop and eat in downtown stores and restaurants and this helps boost the economy of downtown Hartford. The effects of the Whalers leaving Connecticut were shown during the NHL lockout in 1994 and store owners lost a lot of revenue. In the past few years Hartford has been trying to get an NFL team. If the Whalers leave Connecticut, it will show the NFL that Connecticut cannot support a major league franchise so they will put not a team here. On the other hand, if the state saves the Whalers, it will show the NFL that this state can support a major league franchise (Arace 1+).
Most importantly, the Whalers are active in community service in this state. The Hartford Whalers Foundation supports charitable programs in Connecticut that help inner city youths, save children's lives, and improve the quality of life. The UConn Children's Cancer fund is the main charity the Whalers support. It helps kids with cancer and last year they raise over 4.5 million dollars for this fund. In addition, the players go to the hospital to visit these kids to try to cheer them up. The Student Athlete Leadership Program teaches high school athletes the importance of being good role models. In addition, this program prevents drug and alcohol abuse. At the Tip A Whaler dinner, the players serve food to anyone who comes and the tips they receive go to charity. The Enfield Junior Whalers is junior "B" hockey team and it develops the top hockey players in Southern New England under the age of twenty for Division I college hockey. Street Whalers Street Hockey Program teaches inner city kids how to play street hockey and provides them with equipment. For Kids Sake teaches inner city kids how to ice skate and it provides equipment. If Connecticut does not go all out to save the Whalers then we will lose all of this excellent community service (Hartford Whalers).
John Rowland, the governor of Connecticut, cannot continue the take it or leave it attitude toward the Whalers because pretty soon the Whalers just may leave it. The Whalers currently have the worst lease of any team in the NHL at the Civic Center plus this arena is the smallest in the NHL. The Whalers need to be treated like a major league franchise so they deserve the same treatment as any other NHL team, like the Montreal Canadiens. Revenue from the Civic Center is necessary for the Whalers to make a profit so they won't be gone in two years even though they get a lot of fan support. New arenas are popping up all over the NHL so the Whalers need one compete with these teams without bankrupting the state or themselves. If the Whalers leave the state will be losing a lot because we will no longer have our own major league team and we will probably never get another one. In addition, all of the community service the Whalers provide will be gone. It is now time to end political battles conservatives, liberals, and the Whalers and they should just team up to do what is right or else the Whalers will be gone in two years.
The Hartford Whalers are in a very tough situation at this time. When Peter Karmanos bought the team in May of 1994, he inherited the worst lease agreement at the smallest arena in the NHL. The Hartford Civic Center lease agreement creates profit for private companies; however, the lease causes the Whalers to lose money. The mall is owned and operated by Aetna; therefore it has nothing to do with the Whalers. The city of Hartford owns the coliseum, parking garage, and exhibition hall. The state of Connecticut pays a 1.6 million dollar annual leasing fee to take control of the coliseum, parking garage, and exhibition hall. The state hired Ogden Entertainment Services to run the coliseum, and Ogden receives all of the revenue from luxury boxes, the coliseum club, advertisements, rental fees and the exhibition hall. The state also hired Kinney Systems to run the parking garage and Service America Corporation to run the concessions. Both companies receive all revenue from the service they run. After all of this, there is no money left for the Hartford Whalers (Swift & Arace, 1+).
The reason why these three companies keep all of the revenue from the Civic Center can be blamed on Richard Gordon, the former owner of the Whalers who did not want the city of Hartford to run the Civic Center. In 1993, the state decided to negotiate a new lease with the Whalers. The state of Connecticut did not want to run the coliseum so they hired three private companies to take this job. These companies would only run the Civic Center if they could keep all of the revenue from the service they controlled. Richard Gordon accepted this lease because this agreement would repay him for an additional ten million dollars in loses and he sold the team a year later (Lang 53-69).
The Hartford Whalers is the only major league team in Connecticut and at the Civic Center. They currently have a bad lease which causes them to lose money. The Hartford Whalers play all exhibition, regular season, playoff games, the training camp, and some practice time rent free at the Civic Center. However, the Whalers get no revenue from concessions, luxury boxes, parking, and the coliseum club. The Whalers get sixty percent of the revenue from advertisements along the boards but no revenue from all other ads around the coliseum (Swift, 1+). The Whalers can leave Hartford after the 1997-98 season if they lose a cumulative thirty million dollars from 1994-95 through 1997-98. They must also pay a five million dollar penalty to leave Hartford. If the Whalers lose more than thirty million dollars and they choose to stay, they can subtract one-half of only thirty million dollars from the 25 million dollars they owe the state to complete the sale of the Whalers. This amount is 10 million dollars. If the Whalers do not lose thirty million dollars in this four year period, they must subtract one half of their loses from the 25 million they owe the state to complete the sale of the Whalers, and they are locked in Hartford through the year 2013 (Lang, 53-69). This lease makes it impossible for the Whalers to make money because even if they sell out the season, they will still lose seven million dollars a year. If the Whalers lose more than thirty million dollars in four year then the lease gives the Whalers an option of paying five million dollars to leave Hartford or paying ten million dollars to stay in Hartford. Which one do you think Peter Karmanos, the owner of the Whalers, will choose.
Now the Hartford Whalers are at a major crossroad in their twenty-five year history. This may be a bigger disaster than the Hartford Civic Center roof collapse because the Whalers may not be in Connecticut in two years. Peter Karmanos has only seen finical hardship since he bought the team in 1994 and he inherited a terrible lease agreement from Richard Gordon at the Civic Center. The Hartford Whalers lost twenty million dollars in the 1995-96 season and eleven and a half million dollars in the 1994-95 season for a total of 31.5 million dollars in only two years (Jacobs, 1). The Whalers have not made a profit since the 1990-91 season (Arace 1+). The Whalers current lease is so bad that even if the they sell out every game of the season, they will still lose seven million dollars a year. The Whalers had a season ticket drive last April to double their season ticket base and it only was partially successful. Many teams in the NHL have recently received new arenas that can generate a lot of revenue for their hockey team (Swift & Arace 1+). The state of Connecticut must go all out to save the Whalers, our only major league franchise, by giving them a very attractive lease at the Hartford Civic Center and the Whalers need a new arena for the 2002-03 season that can produce a lot of revenue.
The first step toward solving the Whalers' problems is changing the Civic Center lease. The state must no longer allow private companies to run the Civic Center. The private companies are taking all of the revenue away from the Whalers and they are not even making money so the state of Connecticut must run the Civic Center. Ogden Entertainment Services, Service America Corporation, and Kinney Systems will no longer be allowed to run the service that they run. The state will pay all of the salaries of the employees and the maintenance costs of the Coliseum. The state will only pay 500,000 dollars a year to lease the Civic Center from the city of Hartford. It will cost the state about twenty million dollars a year to run the Coliseum but the state will be able to keep all revenue form the Civic Center that does not go to the Whalers. Now that the private companies are out of the way, it will open up revenue streams for the Whalers and eliminate an endless cycle operating in the red (Swift 3).
The Whalers need a new lease at the Civic Center which is similar to a lease they would get if the Whalers moved to a different city and similar to other teams in the NHL. They will continue to get all ice for free. The Whalers will receive one hundred percent of the revenue generated during their games from concessions and parking. These revenue streams are created only because the Whalers play at the Civic Center so they deserve this money. The Whalers are the only hockey team that plays at the Civic Center so people only see the board and ice advertisements when the Whalers play, therefore they should receive all of the revenue from advertisements along the boards and in the ice (Jacobs 1+). Most other NHL teams receive seventy percent of all other ads around their coliseums so the Whalers will get the same treatment at the Civic Center. The Whalers should receive seventy percent of the revenue from luxury boxes and the coliseum club which is what most NHL teams receive. All of this will give the Whalers an addition eight to ten million dollars in revenue each year and allow them to make a profit at the Civic Center until a new arena can be built in Hartford (Swift 1+). In additional, the Whalers will pay the state 9.25 million dollars which is twenty five million minus one-half of their loses, 31.5 million dollars, to complete the sale of the Whalers (Jacobs 1+).
The Hartford Civic Center has become obsolete to support an NHL franchise. Right now, no one is making money on the Civic Center except the city of Hartford, and even if the Whalers get the new lease agreement stated above, the state of Connecticut will lose money as a result of running the Civic Center. The Whalers need a new arena in Hartford that will allow the Whalers and a private corporation running the new arena to make money. Nineteen of twenty six NHL teams have first class arenas or will have one within the next two years. A first class arena is defined as one which has the following things: At least 17,000 seats for general seating, at least one hundred luxury boxes, club seating which seats at least five hundred people, concession stands at every given point around the arena, a food court, at least one fancy restaurant, and a huge parking garage. The Whalers need an arena that seats over 18,000 people plus all of the other things listed above. Most NHL teams receive seventy percent of the revenue created from the arena in addition to ticket sales so the Whalers should get the same thing in their new arena. For example, the Montreal Canadiens can receive up to 150 million dollars in revenue per year from just the luxury boxes in the new Molson Centre. This is enough money for five NHL teams' pay rolls. In addition, a new arena will have so many new revenue streams that both the Whalers and a private company running the arena will be able to make money. This is what has happened in other NHL cities when new arenas have been built (Swift & Arace 1+). In order to guarantee this new arena will have a main tenant, the Whalers will sign a lease to play their through the year 2020.
Saving the Whalers is extremely important for the state of Connecticut. The Whalers provide this state with an identity because they cause the name "Hartford" to be discussed by sports fans all across North America. How often are the cities of Quebec and Winnipeg mentioned on the news or discussed by sports fans now that they lost their NHL teams? Not often. If the Whalers move, Hartford will become a stop between New York and Boston without its own identity. The Whalers help Connecticut's economy directly and indirectly. The Whalers provide jobs for within their organization. According to their media guide, they have over forty people working in the Whalers offices. In addition, about half of the players live in Connecticut and they make a lot of money that they spend on houses, cars, and other stuff to help Connecticut's economy. When people go to Whalers games, they shop and eat in downtown stores and restaurants and this helps boost the economy of downtown Hartford. The effects of the Whalers leaving Connecticut were shown during the NHL lockout in 1994 and store owners lost a lot of revenue. In the past few years Hartford has been trying to get an NFL team. If the Whalers leave Connecticut, it will show the NFL that Connecticut cannot support a major league franchise so they will put not a team here. On the other hand, if the state saves the Whalers, it will show the NFL that this state can support a major league franchise (Arace 1+).
Most importantly, the Whalers are active in community service in this state. The Hartford Whalers Foundation supports charitable programs in Connecticut that help inner city youths, save children's lives, and improve the quality of life. The UConn Children's Cancer fund is the main charity the Whalers support. It helps kids with cancer and last year they raise over 4.5 million dollars for this fund. In addition, the players go to the hospital to visit these kids to try to cheer them up. The Student Athlete Leadership Program teaches high school athletes the importance of being good role models. In addition, this program prevents drug and alcohol abuse. At the Tip A Whaler dinner, the players serve food to anyone who comes and the tips they receive go to charity. The Enfield Junior Whalers is junior "B" hockey team and it develops the top hockey players in Southern New England under the age of twenty for Division I college hockey. Street Whalers Street Hockey Program teaches inner city kids how to play street hockey and provides them with equipment. For Kids Sake teaches inner city kids how to ice skate and it provides equipment. If Connecticut does not go all out to save the Whalers then we will lose all of this excellent community service (Hartford Whalers).
John Rowland, the governor of Connecticut, cannot continue the take it or leave it attitude toward the Whalers because pretty soon the Whalers just may leave it. The Whalers currently have the worst lease of any team in the NHL at the Civic Center plus this arena is the smallest in the NHL. The Whalers need to be treated like a major league franchise so they deserve the same treatment as any other NHL team, like the Montreal Canadiens. Revenue from the Civic Center is necessary for the Whalers to make a profit so they won't be gone in two years even though they get a lot of fan support. New arenas are popping up all over the NHL so the Whalers need one compete with these teams without bankrupting the state or themselves. If the Whalers leave the state will be losing a lot because we will no longer have our own major league team and we will probably never get another one. In addition, all of the community service the Whalers provide will be gone. It is now time to end political battles conservatives, liberals, and the Whalers and they should just team up to do what is right or else the Whalers will be gone in two years.
The Effect Sports Psychology has on a Young Athlete
1
To fully understand sport psychology, we must ask ourselves two very important
questions, first, what is sport psychology and second, who is it for? Put in the most sim-
ple way, sport psychology can be an example of psychological knowledge, principles, or
methods applied to the world of sport. "Two psychologists, Bunker and Maguire, say
sport psychology is not for psychologists, but is for sport and its participants." (Murphy &
White, 1978:2) However, it can be argued that sport psychology, can be for psycho-
logy, just as it can be for sports scientists, managers, teachers, administrators, coaches and
last but by no means least, the athletes themselves.
It is sport psychology that has stood apart from the discipline of psychology as a
whole. "Its history is different, its concerns are often different, its centres of learning and
teaching are often different, and its professional training is different." (Garfield, 1984:34)
Yet despite this, sport psychology remains permanently bonded to psychology through its
common interest in the fundamental principles of psychology, human behavior, and
experience.
No one can deny the significant role which sport and recreation plays in every cul-
ture and society across the globe. In the western and eastern worlds alike, sport and lei-
sure continue to support huge industries and take up massive amounts of individual time,
effort, money, energy, and emotion. Within the media, competitive sport has gotten enor-
mous attention and despite this, the public's appetite for more sport never is stated. "It has
been estimated that around two thirds of all newspaper readers in Great Britain first turn
to the sports pages when they pick up their daily paper." (Butt, 1987:65) When one con-
siders the number of people who actually engage in sport or even take regular exercise,
then the significance of sport to all our lives cannot be denied.
A common problem with sport psychology research lies in its somewhat myopic or
short-sighted appreciation of present day accumulated psychological knowledge. As we
look into sport psychology, we are confronted by a landscape of knowledge which rises
2
and falls often suddenly and dramatically. "At certain times, massive peaks of understand-
ing rise up before out eyes yet at other times, huge tracts of psychology remain untouched
to the horizon." (Garfield, 1984:6)
Around the 1960's, scientific traditions, institutions, and publications which pros-
per to this day first came into being, and it was this era which truly marked the structural
genesis of modern day sport psychology. However, there are many untouched aspects
of sport psychology today. In order for us to determine whether psychology plays a signi-
ficant role in the mind of a young athlete, we must look at the uses and techniques of sport
psychology.
Sport psychologists over the years have maintained a keen interest in psychological
profiling and have been naturally drawn to the quantification of personality variables. As
sport itself revolves aroung the measurement and reward of individual differences in per-
formances, it is no surprise that scientists quantify psychological differences rather than
sporting differences. "The research is often looked at in terms of three primary areas, the
search for the winning profile, a comparison between athletes and non-athletes, and differ-
ences in the personalities of athletes either competing in different sports or playing in
different positions." (Butt, 1987:97)
Any discussion of personality traits in sports could not ignore one particular trait
which has occupied more time than any other, competitive anxiety. Helping athletes deal
with pressure has become the bread and butter of many sport psychologists. "The prob-
lem of anxiety is dealt with with two areas of research: test anxiety and achievement moti-
vation." (Hackfort & Spielberger, 1989:247) Presently, the test scale which enjoys the
greatest popularity is the second version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory or
CSAI-2. It is this test that psychologists measure the level of anxiety of an athlete. It
consists of questions in which each have four levels of severity with four being the highest
3
level. The CSAI-2 has been the basis for many other modern day anxiety questionaires.
"There remain so many fundamental questions which have yet to be resolved that attempts
to quantify concepts such as anxiety, when we are still not sure just what this term actually
means, can seem rather premature at times, but the development of research instruments
has nevertheless proceeded rapidly." (Wolff, 1993:22)
Achievement motivation, competitiveness, and self-confidence together with
competition anxiety seem to form the cluster of core psychological constructs which
would seem to be most relevent to our understanding of sport performance. With regard
to achievement motivation and competitiveness, recent advances have been predicated
upon the interest originally stimulated by the Atkinson model of achievement motivation.
"Atkinson's nAch or the need to achieve was taken to be a composite of two independent
factors, the motive to achieve success (M ) and the motive to avoid failure (M ), mediated
by the probability of success (P ) and the incentive value of success (1-P )." (Hackfort &
Spielberger, 1989:251) This relationship is represented by the following formula.
nAch = (M - M ) x (P x [ 1- P ] )
Without exploring the subtleties of this model in any depth, the single most impor-
tant message to come through is that high achievers will be drawn towards competition
and difficult yet realizable challenges. Low achievers will try to avoid personal challenges
or set unattainable goals where failure is a high probability. "In terms of applied sport psy-
chology, this motivational model can often be very revealing of problems, particularly
those afflicting young athletes." (Hackfort & Spielberger, 1989:252)
There are some methods of sport psychology that deal with cognitive psychology.
Traditional behavior modification techniques seek to change behavior by amending the en-
vironment in systematic ways. However, there have been claims that it is not the environ-
mental events themselves which are of primary importance in behavior change but the
4
individual's perception of those events. "Cognitive coping strategies may be amended by
conventional behaviour modification but involvement of the individual in expressing his or
her own thoughts and feelings has been held to increase the efficacy of treatment." (Mar-
tens, 1981:57) Meichenbaum's Stress-Inoculation Training (SIT) is one of a range of
stress management packages advocated as useful to coaches and athletes for reducing
stress and enhancing performance. Other popular programs include Smith's Cognitive-
Affective Stress Management or SMT and Suinn's program of Anxiety Management
Training or AMT. "SIT and SMT have been adapted or developed specifically for use in
sport and both outline essentially the same four stage process." (Smith, 1983:139)
The first stage of the SIT or SMT is the educational phase during which athletes
explore the stress reaction itself, including antecedents of stress, nature of stressors, and
own reactions and consequences of action. The next stage is an introduction to coping
skills for handling stress which include relaxation training and the use of cognitive skills to
prepare for stress. The next phase is the practice phase. "SIT encourages supervised
practice in coping in increasingly stressful situations, e.g., practice, game-like practice, and
games and SMT introduces an induced affect as a major factor: the athlete imagines dis-
tressing situations which generate high levels of emotional arousal and use coping skills."
(Smith, 1983:141) The final stage is an evaluation component which is included to assess
the effectiveness of the program in meeting individual needs.
Another method of cognitive sport psychology is imagery and visualization. Many
self-help manuals for coaches and athletes currently advocate the use of imagery for a
wide variety of purposes including skill acquisition, skill maintenance, competition prepar-
ation, and arousal control. "Empirical investigations of imagery have tended to focus on
the role of mental practice in skill acquisition, the role of imagery as a pre-competition
cognitive psyching-up strategy and comparisons in the use of imagery by successful and
5
unsuccessful athletes." (Murphy & White, 1978:14) A number of these studies also ex-
plore the various variables thought to mediate imagery effects. Studies have shown that
more successful athletes have used imagery than unsuccessful athletes. However, despite
these apparently supportive findings, the recent research has not been without criticism.
In particular much of the work conducted within sport psychology as been accused of be-
ing methodologically flawed and lacking a coherent theoretical framework to explain
imagery effects. Although suggestions for improvement in both these areas have been
made, research efforts ironically have tended to lag behind actual practice of interventions
and practical guidelines for imagery use in sport.
Another popular approach to improving sporting performance which appears to be
above all else psychological is that of the Inner Game. "Inner Game was an expression
coined by Gallwey in the 1970's, and has been the basis for a considerable number of pop-
ular sport psychology books by Gallwey focusing on games including golf, skiing, and ten-
nis." (Butt, 1987:78) Gallwey claimed that the most formidable opponent a performer
in sports must face is inside his or her own head. Inner Game is essentially a conflict be-
tween two selves, self 1 and self 2. They are said to have quite different characteristics.
Self 1 is conscious, self-conscious, and linguistic. It is the thinking self which evaluates,
analyzes and criticizes performance and it may be responsible for inappropriate responses
or it may motivate the athlete towards counterproductive actions. Self 2, on the other
hand, is described as unconscious and computer like, and deals most effectively with visual
and spatial information. "The self analysis and self-criticism of an athlete during perfor-
mance is a function of self 1 and is symptomatic of the conflict between the two selves."
(Butt, 1987:79) Self 1 can express itself linguistically and, therefore, usually gains this
control inappropriately. According to Gallwey, it is not necessary to analyze why doubts
and fears are away from the more relevant visual and spatial elements of the task. The
6
Inner Game is directed toward allocating the resources of the two selves to the functions
in which each is more competent so that they can operate in harmony and therefore pro-
duce optimal performance.
Some methods of sport psychology deal with clinical psychology. Relaxation tech-
niques are a good example. "Self directed relaxation aims to release tension in each of the
body's major muscle groups while emphasizing slow, easy breathing, and encouraging vi-
sualization of stress flowing away from the body." (Murphy & White, 1978:13) While
initially it may take ten minutes to work through instructions, with some practice, greater
and greater relaxation should be achieved in less and less time.
Progressive Relaxation Training (PRT) was originally pioneered by Edmund
Jacobson, an American physician working in the 1920's and 1930's, but has been modi-
fied over the years. "PRT is learning to feel tension in the muscles and then learning to let
go of this tension." (Murphy & White, 1978:14) The PRT procedure involves three steps.
The athlete must be on a mat with subdued lighting. The athlete is then asked to tense the
first 16 muscle groups between 5 and 7 seconds. The tension is then released and the
athlete relaxes for 30 to 45 seconds. The same routine is followed for each muscle set for
15 to 20 minutes, twice daily, gradually learning to combine muscle groups until only four
are used. Eventually the athlete will be able to relax just by recalling the sensa-
tion and experience, even during competition itself.
Another method that is similar to PRT is autogenic training. "While PRT concen-
trates on relaxation alone, autogenic training brings in other sensations associated with the
state of relaxation, and calls for some type of self-hypnosis on the part of the athlete"
(Butt, 1987:189) This type of training was developed in the early 1900's by the German
psychiatrist, J.H. Schultz. Athletes are tutored in self-relaxation, based on self-
suggestions and imagery. This is designed to create feelings of warmth, heaviness and
7
control in different body parts and finally reach a state of mental equilibrium.
Imagery relaxation, like imagery itself, works well for some people but is difficult
for others. "Imagery relaxation involves imagining yourself in some environment or place
where you have experienced feelings of relaxation and comfort." (Hackfort & Spielberger,
1989:146) This could be a place at home or somewhere special that you remember from
holidays or childhood such as a warm beach with a cool sea breeze, a grassy mountainside,
or just wherever you feel good. The better able the individual is to put him/herself in the
place through imagery, the more relaxed she/he is to be. With regular practice in imagi-
ning this place without guidance will allow the athlete to feel relaxed much more quickly.
Other methods of sport psychology deal with motor behavior. Practice is an
essential element in acquiring any motor skill. However, many individuals may not be
aware of the fact that the distribution of practice conditions may have varying effects on
how much is learned or how well a skill is learned. "Distribution of practice refers to the
spacing between different practice sessions." (Martens, 1981:103) A coach could advise a
young gymnast to spend one hour of a two hour practice session trying to improve a
handspring vault, whereas another coach might favor having gymnasts practice the vault
during three 15-minute blocks combined with other practice activities. Studies showed
that the hour of the practice session was a better method.
Another issue which is of considerable importance to teachers and coaches alike
concerns the best method of practicing the skills being learned. "Should skills be present-
ed and practiced in their entirety (the whole method) or should they be broken down into
smaller component parts ( the part method)." (Butt, 1987:165) The general conclusion
that was reached was that whole methods of training were better and even today most
coaches use whole methods of training.
A common problem facing teachers and coaches of motor skills is how to teach
8
several essential skills within a given practice session. The teacher is faced with two
choices. She/he can require the learner to spend a specified number of practice trials on
one task, correcting it before the next task (blocked practice). Alternatively, the learner
could be required to rotate around the various tasks, never practicing the same skill on
two consecutive trials (random practice). "This issue of blocked vs random practice has
generated a good deal of research interest since the late 1970's. " (Garfield, 1984:199)
Subjects practicing under random conditions tended to perform worse than subjects prac-
ticing under blocked conditions during acquisition trials. However, when all subjects were
given a retention test to evaluate learning 10 days after the experiment, it was the random
practice group that proved itself more effective. These findings suggest that more learning
takes place when random practice is used.
The belief that mental rehearsal will enhance performance has become popular
among most coaches today. However, the effectiveness of mental practice in relation to
motor learning is also given consideration here. "Mental practice refers to a situation in
which the learner thinks about or imagines performing the task rather than physically prac-
ticing it." (Wolff, 1993:193) After reviewing over 60 studies of mental training, Feltz and
Landers concluded that performance can be improved by mental practice. However, men-
tal practice was better than no practice, but physical practice was found to be better.
"Tasks with a large cognitive component seem to benefit more from mental practice than
tasks requiring large amounts of strength." (Butt, 1987:191) This would affect gymnas-
tics, ice skating, or any team sport where the performer is attempting to learn a new game
play or strategy. Given these findings, it is unwise to replace physical practice with mental
practice.
Other parts of sport psychology deal with social psychology. "It is generally true
that the presence of others leads to enhanced performance on certain tasks, and specifi-
9
cally tasks which call for well learnt, dominant responses." (Smith, 1983:4) If you can do
something well, the presence of others will improve performance. On the other hand, if
you are incompetent, learning a skill or attempting something for the first time, then you
may perform worse in company than alone. This deals with social facilitation. We feel we
are being evaluated by spectators and this has led psychologists to believe evaluation
apprehension is the key to social facilitation.
Another factor of social psychology is aggression in sport. "Aggression can be ex-
pressed in socially acceptable or unacceptable ways." (Murphy & White, 1978:125) Ag-
gression can be instrumental or rule governed or angry/hostile aggression. Rule governed
aggression is socially acceptable in which an athlete is just displaying intensity in a sport.
Angry/hostile aggression is socially unacceptable in which an athlete causes physical harm
to the opposition. Psychologists still have much work to do in reducing an athlete's ag-
gression. Aggression is something that cannot be fixed overnight. "Whenever there is
sports, there is going to be aggression, but with some positive reinforcement, psycholo-
gists can maintain positive aggression." (Murphy & White, 1978:126)
Occupational Psychology is a branch of psychology that relates to sport psycho-
logy. One aspect of this is sports coaches. Many applied psychologists have come to
acknowledge that the most effective way to get their message across is not by working
directly with athletes but by working with the coaches. A psychologist can come and go,
but it is the coach that maintains the most contact with an athlete. "If the coach can learn
how to convey messages which have a sound foundation in psychological knowledge, and
thus can act as the agent or mouthpiece for sport psychology, then the messages are likely
to have that much more impact." (Smith, 1983:166) More and more coaches are begin-
ning to take sport psychology courses and sport psychology guides have become more
available for coaches to buy. This will help athletes tremendously.
10
Alongside work on coaching, goal setting represents one of two primary areas
where occupational psychologists have made a direct and considerable impact on the
world of sports, in both a theoretical and a practical sense. "While the use of goal setting
within sport is widespread, the adoption of formal goal setting principles has not been
without controversy and it is interesting that a recent review article actually refers to goal
setting not as the blue-eyed boy of sport psychology but as its Jekyll and Hyde." (Garfield,
1984:63) Within psychology as a whole, the idea of goal setting to guide or direct our
behavior has a well established history. However, the recent use of goal setting as a per-
formance enhancement technique can be traced directly back to Edwin Locke's goal set-
ting theory. His theory is the notion that behavior is regulated by values and goals, with a
goal defined as a conscious intention or what the person is setting out to accomplish.
"According to Locke, goals affect performance by way of four mechanisms; first, goal
setting focuses attention, second, it mobilizes effort in proportion to the demands of the
tasks, third, it enhances persistence, and finally, they encourage the individual to develop
strategies for achieving their goals." (Wolff, 1993:146)
Another goal setting procedure is the widespread use of the acronym SCAMP as a
way of teaching athletes simple goal setting procedures. Specify exactly how much you
want to improve and how you can measure it. Set goals that are challenging but have pos-
sibility. Set goals that are attainable. Set multiple goals to increase probability of attain-
ment. Set goals that relate to you, ones that are personal.
Over recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the development of
11
theories and models dealing with participation motivation in sports. "The work deliberate-
ly focuses on young athletes and highlights the significance of intrinsic motivators in maxi-
mizing an individual's long term commitment to sport." (Butt, 1987:215) At the same
time, the dangers associated with either parents or coaches emphasizing extrinsic rewards
are openly acknowledged. In brief, the history of research on work motivation has shown
a gradual shift from traditional content models of work motivation which strived to list or
classify motivators, and towards an appreciation of the complexities of the process of mo-
tivation. "The complexities of the process of motivation are exemplified by the various
expectancy-value models which describe personal and environmental variables play their
part in determining the relationship between effort, performance, rewards, and satisfac-
tion." (Garfield, 1984:34)
The argument advanced by Porter and Lawler is that motivation is related to per-
formance, to reward and to satisfaction in a definable way. "Three principle components
are taken to determine motivation, namely expectancy, instrumentality, and valence."
(Butt, 1987:86) Our motivation will depend first, upon our belief that we are capable of
influencing our performance through increasing effort. Second, our knowledge that an
increase in performance will result in more awards. Finally, it will depend on the value
which we place on the reward that we expect to receive. This is represented in the model
below.
12
One important feature of this model is the emphasis it places on feedback. "Ac-
cordingly in the context of coaching the model has considerable practical utility for identi-
fying and dealing with management problems effectively." (Butt, 1987: 87) The model
also has great learning value for considering the interaction between a number of cognitive
and environmental factors in determining satisfaction and future effort. However, the
complexity of the model also means that it is difficult to develop a research project which
is able to look at each component systematically or to take into account all other possible
intervening factors, for example, attributional style. "Once more, occupational psychology
may present genuine opportunities for understanding and there is a need to ensure that an
awareness of the many faces of sport, both amateur and professional, voluntary and com-
pulsory, are kept very much to the fore in any further discussion of sport motivation."
(Garfield, 1984:38)
Using a very basic expectancy-value model to frame discussion, a preliminary
study by Kremer and Robinson (1992) considered the attitudes and motivations of
professional apprentice soccer players that were from Northern Ireland who had travelled
to join English and Scottish teams, often to return to Ireland after being rejected there.
"Contrary to predictions based on intrinsic motivation models, these platers did not return
disenchanted and lost to the game, but almost invariably they slotted comfortably into life
in the Irish League, often older and wiser as to their potential but still continuing to take a
very active part in the game which they continued to enjoy." (Butt, 1987:88) Clearly the
reward structure which motivated these young professional athletes was very different
from that which is described in relation to participation rates and drop-outs amongst
young, amateur athletes. Once more, occupational psychology may present genuine
opportunities for understanding and there is a need to ensure that a knowledge and aware-
ness of the many faces of sport, both amateur and professional, voluntary and compulsory,
13
are kept very much to the front in any future discussion of sport motivation.
From this research that has been done over some four years, one can understand
that psychology does play a significant part in sport and in the minds of athletes, especially
at a young age. Sport psychology ranges from judging an athlete's personality all the way
to his/her coach. We see the many methods and techniques used by psychologists to keep
an athlete in the right frame of mind to participate in sports.
We have seen methods dealing with the cognitive side of sport psychology such as
imagery and visualization to handle stress in sports. We have seen methods of clinical psy-
chology such as relaxation techniques to release pre-game tensions and anxiety. We have
seen methods of social psychology dealing with harmful aggression of athletes. We also
have seen methods of occupational psychology in which the coaches of athletes get in-
volved in psychology and motivation models come into play for coaches to use in order to
motivate their athletes.
We can see that psychologists have not ignored psychology in the world of sport,
something that cannot be ignored with the growing number in athletic participation by
young people. "With each new year comes an increase in new developments dealing with
sport psychology." (Murphy & White, 1978:9) However, there is still much work to be
done in sport psychology. There are still many unresolved questions and even some new
questions and even some new questions that have arisen over the years dealing with sport
psychology. Take anxiety for instance. Psychologists have found ways to reduce anxiety
but not eliminate it. Maybe there is no way to eliminate it since everyone has it. Another
example is aggression. Wherever there are sports, there is aggression. Psychologists have
stated that sports are a way for people to release their aggression. However, they still have
not been able to fully eliminate the violence in sports. Psychologists are also working on
new methods for motivating athletes because some athletes are harder to motivate that
14
others. Even though there are these unresolved issues in sport psychology, the future of
psychology in sports, especially youth sports, looks to be on a very progressive track with
many new discoveries.
To fully understand sport psychology, we must ask ourselves two very important
questions, first, what is sport psychology and second, who is it for? Put in the most sim-
ple way, sport psychology can be an example of psychological knowledge, principles, or
methods applied to the world of sport. "Two psychologists, Bunker and Maguire, say
sport psychology is not for psychologists, but is for sport and its participants." (Murphy &
White, 1978:2) However, it can be argued that sport psychology, can be for psycho-
logy, just as it can be for sports scientists, managers, teachers, administrators, coaches and
last but by no means least, the athletes themselves.
It is sport psychology that has stood apart from the discipline of psychology as a
whole. "Its history is different, its concerns are often different, its centres of learning and
teaching are often different, and its professional training is different." (Garfield, 1984:34)
Yet despite this, sport psychology remains permanently bonded to psychology through its
common interest in the fundamental principles of psychology, human behavior, and
experience.
No one can deny the significant role which sport and recreation plays in every cul-
ture and society across the globe. In the western and eastern worlds alike, sport and lei-
sure continue to support huge industries and take up massive amounts of individual time,
effort, money, energy, and emotion. Within the media, competitive sport has gotten enor-
mous attention and despite this, the public's appetite for more sport never is stated. "It has
been estimated that around two thirds of all newspaper readers in Great Britain first turn
to the sports pages when they pick up their daily paper." (Butt, 1987:65) When one con-
siders the number of people who actually engage in sport or even take regular exercise,
then the significance of sport to all our lives cannot be denied.
A common problem with sport psychology research lies in its somewhat myopic or
short-sighted appreciation of present day accumulated psychological knowledge. As we
look into sport psychology, we are confronted by a landscape of knowledge which rises
2
and falls often suddenly and dramatically. "At certain times, massive peaks of understand-
ing rise up before out eyes yet at other times, huge tracts of psychology remain untouched
to the horizon." (Garfield, 1984:6)
Around the 1960's, scientific traditions, institutions, and publications which pros-
per to this day first came into being, and it was this era which truly marked the structural
genesis of modern day sport psychology. However, there are many untouched aspects
of sport psychology today. In order for us to determine whether psychology plays a signi-
ficant role in the mind of a young athlete, we must look at the uses and techniques of sport
psychology.
Sport psychologists over the years have maintained a keen interest in psychological
profiling and have been naturally drawn to the quantification of personality variables. As
sport itself revolves aroung the measurement and reward of individual differences in per-
formances, it is no surprise that scientists quantify psychological differences rather than
sporting differences. "The research is often looked at in terms of three primary areas, the
search for the winning profile, a comparison between athletes and non-athletes, and differ-
ences in the personalities of athletes either competing in different sports or playing in
different positions." (Butt, 1987:97)
Any discussion of personality traits in sports could not ignore one particular trait
which has occupied more time than any other, competitive anxiety. Helping athletes deal
with pressure has become the bread and butter of many sport psychologists. "The prob-
lem of anxiety is dealt with with two areas of research: test anxiety and achievement moti-
vation." (Hackfort & Spielberger, 1989:247) Presently, the test scale which enjoys the
greatest popularity is the second version of the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory or
CSAI-2. It is this test that psychologists measure the level of anxiety of an athlete. It
consists of questions in which each have four levels of severity with four being the highest
3
level. The CSAI-2 has been the basis for many other modern day anxiety questionaires.
"There remain so many fundamental questions which have yet to be resolved that attempts
to quantify concepts such as anxiety, when we are still not sure just what this term actually
means, can seem rather premature at times, but the development of research instruments
has nevertheless proceeded rapidly." (Wolff, 1993:22)
Achievement motivation, competitiveness, and self-confidence together with
competition anxiety seem to form the cluster of core psychological constructs which
would seem to be most relevent to our understanding of sport performance. With regard
to achievement motivation and competitiveness, recent advances have been predicated
upon the interest originally stimulated by the Atkinson model of achievement motivation.
"Atkinson's nAch or the need to achieve was taken to be a composite of two independent
factors, the motive to achieve success (M ) and the motive to avoid failure (M ), mediated
by the probability of success (P ) and the incentive value of success (1-P )." (Hackfort &
Spielberger, 1989:251) This relationship is represented by the following formula.
nAch = (M - M ) x (P x [ 1- P ] )
Without exploring the subtleties of this model in any depth, the single most impor-
tant message to come through is that high achievers will be drawn towards competition
and difficult yet realizable challenges. Low achievers will try to avoid personal challenges
or set unattainable goals where failure is a high probability. "In terms of applied sport psy-
chology, this motivational model can often be very revealing of problems, particularly
those afflicting young athletes." (Hackfort & Spielberger, 1989:252)
There are some methods of sport psychology that deal with cognitive psychology.
Traditional behavior modification techniques seek to change behavior by amending the en-
vironment in systematic ways. However, there have been claims that it is not the environ-
mental events themselves which are of primary importance in behavior change but the
4
individual's perception of those events. "Cognitive coping strategies may be amended by
conventional behaviour modification but involvement of the individual in expressing his or
her own thoughts and feelings has been held to increase the efficacy of treatment." (Mar-
tens, 1981:57) Meichenbaum's Stress-Inoculation Training (SIT) is one of a range of
stress management packages advocated as useful to coaches and athletes for reducing
stress and enhancing performance. Other popular programs include Smith's Cognitive-
Affective Stress Management or SMT and Suinn's program of Anxiety Management
Training or AMT. "SIT and SMT have been adapted or developed specifically for use in
sport and both outline essentially the same four stage process." (Smith, 1983:139)
The first stage of the SIT or SMT is the educational phase during which athletes
explore the stress reaction itself, including antecedents of stress, nature of stressors, and
own reactions and consequences of action. The next stage is an introduction to coping
skills for handling stress which include relaxation training and the use of cognitive skills to
prepare for stress. The next phase is the practice phase. "SIT encourages supervised
practice in coping in increasingly stressful situations, e.g., practice, game-like practice, and
games and SMT introduces an induced affect as a major factor: the athlete imagines dis-
tressing situations which generate high levels of emotional arousal and use coping skills."
(Smith, 1983:141) The final stage is an evaluation component which is included to assess
the effectiveness of the program in meeting individual needs.
Another method of cognitive sport psychology is imagery and visualization. Many
self-help manuals for coaches and athletes currently advocate the use of imagery for a
wide variety of purposes including skill acquisition, skill maintenance, competition prepar-
ation, and arousal control. "Empirical investigations of imagery have tended to focus on
the role of mental practice in skill acquisition, the role of imagery as a pre-competition
cognitive psyching-up strategy and comparisons in the use of imagery by successful and
5
unsuccessful athletes." (Murphy & White, 1978:14) A number of these studies also ex-
plore the various variables thought to mediate imagery effects. Studies have shown that
more successful athletes have used imagery than unsuccessful athletes. However, despite
these apparently supportive findings, the recent research has not been without criticism.
In particular much of the work conducted within sport psychology as been accused of be-
ing methodologically flawed and lacking a coherent theoretical framework to explain
imagery effects. Although suggestions for improvement in both these areas have been
made, research efforts ironically have tended to lag behind actual practice of interventions
and practical guidelines for imagery use in sport.
Another popular approach to improving sporting performance which appears to be
above all else psychological is that of the Inner Game. "Inner Game was an expression
coined by Gallwey in the 1970's, and has been the basis for a considerable number of pop-
ular sport psychology books by Gallwey focusing on games including golf, skiing, and ten-
nis." (Butt, 1987:78) Gallwey claimed that the most formidable opponent a performer
in sports must face is inside his or her own head. Inner Game is essentially a conflict be-
tween two selves, self 1 and self 2. They are said to have quite different characteristics.
Self 1 is conscious, self-conscious, and linguistic. It is the thinking self which evaluates,
analyzes and criticizes performance and it may be responsible for inappropriate responses
or it may motivate the athlete towards counterproductive actions. Self 2, on the other
hand, is described as unconscious and computer like, and deals most effectively with visual
and spatial information. "The self analysis and self-criticism of an athlete during perfor-
mance is a function of self 1 and is symptomatic of the conflict between the two selves."
(Butt, 1987:79) Self 1 can express itself linguistically and, therefore, usually gains this
control inappropriately. According to Gallwey, it is not necessary to analyze why doubts
and fears are away from the more relevant visual and spatial elements of the task. The
6
Inner Game is directed toward allocating the resources of the two selves to the functions
in which each is more competent so that they can operate in harmony and therefore pro-
duce optimal performance.
Some methods of sport psychology deal with clinical psychology. Relaxation tech-
niques are a good example. "Self directed relaxation aims to release tension in each of the
body's major muscle groups while emphasizing slow, easy breathing, and encouraging vi-
sualization of stress flowing away from the body." (Murphy & White, 1978:13) While
initially it may take ten minutes to work through instructions, with some practice, greater
and greater relaxation should be achieved in less and less time.
Progressive Relaxation Training (PRT) was originally pioneered by Edmund
Jacobson, an American physician working in the 1920's and 1930's, but has been modi-
fied over the years. "PRT is learning to feel tension in the muscles and then learning to let
go of this tension." (Murphy & White, 1978:14) The PRT procedure involves three steps.
The athlete must be on a mat with subdued lighting. The athlete is then asked to tense the
first 16 muscle groups between 5 and 7 seconds. The tension is then released and the
athlete relaxes for 30 to 45 seconds. The same routine is followed for each muscle set for
15 to 20 minutes, twice daily, gradually learning to combine muscle groups until only four
are used. Eventually the athlete will be able to relax just by recalling the sensa-
tion and experience, even during competition itself.
Another method that is similar to PRT is autogenic training. "While PRT concen-
trates on relaxation alone, autogenic training brings in other sensations associated with the
state of relaxation, and calls for some type of self-hypnosis on the part of the athlete"
(Butt, 1987:189) This type of training was developed in the early 1900's by the German
psychiatrist, J.H. Schultz. Athletes are tutored in self-relaxation, based on self-
suggestions and imagery. This is designed to create feelings of warmth, heaviness and
7
control in different body parts and finally reach a state of mental equilibrium.
Imagery relaxation, like imagery itself, works well for some people but is difficult
for others. "Imagery relaxation involves imagining yourself in some environment or place
where you have experienced feelings of relaxation and comfort." (Hackfort & Spielberger,
1989:146) This could be a place at home or somewhere special that you remember from
holidays or childhood such as a warm beach with a cool sea breeze, a grassy mountainside,
or just wherever you feel good. The better able the individual is to put him/herself in the
place through imagery, the more relaxed she/he is to be. With regular practice in imagi-
ning this place without guidance will allow the athlete to feel relaxed much more quickly.
Other methods of sport psychology deal with motor behavior. Practice is an
essential element in acquiring any motor skill. However, many individuals may not be
aware of the fact that the distribution of practice conditions may have varying effects on
how much is learned or how well a skill is learned. "Distribution of practice refers to the
spacing between different practice sessions." (Martens, 1981:103) A coach could advise a
young gymnast to spend one hour of a two hour practice session trying to improve a
handspring vault, whereas another coach might favor having gymnasts practice the vault
during three 15-minute blocks combined with other practice activities. Studies showed
that the hour of the practice session was a better method.
Another issue which is of considerable importance to teachers and coaches alike
concerns the best method of practicing the skills being learned. "Should skills be present-
ed and practiced in their entirety (the whole method) or should they be broken down into
smaller component parts ( the part method)." (Butt, 1987:165) The general conclusion
that was reached was that whole methods of training were better and even today most
coaches use whole methods of training.
A common problem facing teachers and coaches of motor skills is how to teach
8
several essential skills within a given practice session. The teacher is faced with two
choices. She/he can require the learner to spend a specified number of practice trials on
one task, correcting it before the next task (blocked practice). Alternatively, the learner
could be required to rotate around the various tasks, never practicing the same skill on
two consecutive trials (random practice). "This issue of blocked vs random practice has
generated a good deal of research interest since the late 1970's. " (Garfield, 1984:199)
Subjects practicing under random conditions tended to perform worse than subjects prac-
ticing under blocked conditions during acquisition trials. However, when all subjects were
given a retention test to evaluate learning 10 days after the experiment, it was the random
practice group that proved itself more effective. These findings suggest that more learning
takes place when random practice is used.
The belief that mental rehearsal will enhance performance has become popular
among most coaches today. However, the effectiveness of mental practice in relation to
motor learning is also given consideration here. "Mental practice refers to a situation in
which the learner thinks about or imagines performing the task rather than physically prac-
ticing it." (Wolff, 1993:193) After reviewing over 60 studies of mental training, Feltz and
Landers concluded that performance can be improved by mental practice. However, men-
tal practice was better than no practice, but physical practice was found to be better.
"Tasks with a large cognitive component seem to benefit more from mental practice than
tasks requiring large amounts of strength." (Butt, 1987:191) This would affect gymnas-
tics, ice skating, or any team sport where the performer is attempting to learn a new game
play or strategy. Given these findings, it is unwise to replace physical practice with mental
practice.
Other parts of sport psychology deal with social psychology. "It is generally true
that the presence of others leads to enhanced performance on certain tasks, and specifi-
9
cally tasks which call for well learnt, dominant responses." (Smith, 1983:4) If you can do
something well, the presence of others will improve performance. On the other hand, if
you are incompetent, learning a skill or attempting something for the first time, then you
may perform worse in company than alone. This deals with social facilitation. We feel we
are being evaluated by spectators and this has led psychologists to believe evaluation
apprehension is the key to social facilitation.
Another factor of social psychology is aggression in sport. "Aggression can be ex-
pressed in socially acceptable or unacceptable ways." (Murphy & White, 1978:125) Ag-
gression can be instrumental or rule governed or angry/hostile aggression. Rule governed
aggression is socially acceptable in which an athlete is just displaying intensity in a sport.
Angry/hostile aggression is socially unacceptable in which an athlete causes physical harm
to the opposition. Psychologists still have much work to do in reducing an athlete's ag-
gression. Aggression is something that cannot be fixed overnight. "Whenever there is
sports, there is going to be aggression, but with some positive reinforcement, psycholo-
gists can maintain positive aggression." (Murphy & White, 1978:126)
Occupational Psychology is a branch of psychology that relates to sport psycho-
logy. One aspect of this is sports coaches. Many applied psychologists have come to
acknowledge that the most effective way to get their message across is not by working
directly with athletes but by working with the coaches. A psychologist can come and go,
but it is the coach that maintains the most contact with an athlete. "If the coach can learn
how to convey messages which have a sound foundation in psychological knowledge, and
thus can act as the agent or mouthpiece for sport psychology, then the messages are likely
to have that much more impact." (Smith, 1983:166) More and more coaches are begin-
ning to take sport psychology courses and sport psychology guides have become more
available for coaches to buy. This will help athletes tremendously.
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Alongside work on coaching, goal setting represents one of two primary areas
where occupational psychologists have made a direct and considerable impact on the
world of sports, in both a theoretical and a practical sense. "While the use of goal setting
within sport is widespread, the adoption of formal goal setting principles has not been
without controversy and it is interesting that a recent review article actually refers to goal
setting not as the blue-eyed boy of sport psychology but as its Jekyll and Hyde." (Garfield,
1984:63) Within psychology as a whole, the idea of goal setting to guide or direct our
behavior has a well established history. However, the recent use of goal setting as a per-
formance enhancement technique can be traced directly back to Edwin Locke's goal set-
ting theory. His theory is the notion that behavior is regulated by values and goals, with a
goal defined as a conscious intention or what the person is setting out to accomplish.
"According to Locke, goals affect performance by way of four mechanisms; first, goal
setting focuses attention, second, it mobilizes effort in proportion to the demands of the
tasks, third, it enhances persistence, and finally, they encourage the individual to develop
strategies for achieving their goals." (Wolff, 1993:146)
Another goal setting procedure is the widespread use of the acronym SCAMP as a
way of teaching athletes simple goal setting procedures. Specify exactly how much you
want to improve and how you can measure it. Set goals that are challenging but have pos-
sibility. Set goals that are attainable. Set multiple goals to increase probability of attain-
ment. Set goals that relate to you, ones that are personal.
Over recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the development of
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theories and models dealing with participation motivation in sports. "The work deliberate-
ly focuses on young athletes and highlights the significance of intrinsic motivators in maxi-
mizing an individual's long term commitment to sport." (Butt, 1987:215) At the same
time, the dangers associated with either parents or coaches emphasizing extrinsic rewards
are openly acknowledged. In brief, the history of research on work motivation has shown
a gradual shift from traditional content models of work motivation which strived to list or
classify motivators, and towards an appreciation of the complexities of the process of mo-
tivation. "The complexities of the process of motivation are exemplified by the various
expectancy-value models which describe personal and environmental variables play their
part in determining the relationship between effort, performance, rewards, and satisfac-
tion." (Garfield, 1984:34)
The argument advanced by Porter and Lawler is that motivation is related to per-
formance, to reward and to satisfaction in a definable way. "Three principle components
are taken to determine motivation, namely expectancy, instrumentality, and valence."
(Butt, 1987:86) Our motivation will depend first, upon our belief that we are capable of
influencing our performance through increasing effort. Second, our knowledge that an
increase in performance will result in more awards. Finally, it will depend on the value
which we place on the reward that we expect to receive. This is represented in the model
below.
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One important feature of this model is the emphasis it places on feedback. "Ac-
cordingly in the context of coaching the model has considerable practical utility for identi-
fying and dealing with management problems effectively." (Butt, 1987: 87) The model
also has great learning value for considering the interaction between a number of cognitive
and environmental factors in determining satisfaction and future effort. However, the
complexity of the model also means that it is difficult to develop a research project which
is able to look at each component systematically or to take into account all other possible
intervening factors, for example, attributional style. "Once more, occupational psychology
may present genuine opportunities for understanding and there is a need to ensure that an
awareness of the many faces of sport, both amateur and professional, voluntary and com-
pulsory, are kept very much to the fore in any further discussion of sport motivation."
(Garfield, 1984:38)
Using a very basic expectancy-value model to frame discussion, a preliminary
study by Kremer and Robinson (1992) considered the attitudes and motivations of
professional apprentice soccer players that were from Northern Ireland who had travelled
to join English and Scottish teams, often to return to Ireland after being rejected there.
"Contrary to predictions based on intrinsic motivation models, these platers did not return
disenchanted and lost to the game, but almost invariably they slotted comfortably into life
in the Irish League, often older and wiser as to their potential but still continuing to take a
very active part in the game which they continued to enjoy." (Butt, 1987:88) Clearly the
reward structure which motivated these young professional athletes was very different
from that which is described in relation to participation rates and drop-outs amongst
young, amateur athletes. Once more, occupational psychology may present genuine
opportunities for understanding and there is a need to ensure that a knowledge and aware-
ness of the many faces of sport, both amateur and professional, voluntary and compulsory,
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are kept very much to the front in any future discussion of sport motivation.
From this research that has been done over some four years, one can understand
that psychology does play a significant part in sport and in the minds of athletes, especially
at a young age. Sport psychology ranges from judging an athlete's personality all the way
to his/her coach. We see the many methods and techniques used by psychologists to keep
an athlete in the right frame of mind to participate in sports.
We have seen methods dealing with the cognitive side of sport psychology such as
imagery and visualization to handle stress in sports. We have seen methods of clinical psy-
chology such as relaxation techniques to release pre-game tensions and anxiety. We have
seen methods of social psychology dealing with harmful aggression of athletes. We also
have seen methods of occupational psychology in which the coaches of athletes get in-
volved in psychology and motivation models come into play for coaches to use in order to
motivate their athletes.
We can see that psychologists have not ignored psychology in the world of sport,
something that cannot be ignored with the growing number in athletic participation by
young people. "With each new year comes an increase in new developments dealing with
sport psychology." (Murphy & White, 1978:9) However, there is still much work to be
done in sport psychology. There are still many unresolved questions and even some new
questions and even some new questions that have arisen over the years dealing with sport
psychology. Take anxiety for instance. Psychologists have found ways to reduce anxiety
but not eliminate it. Maybe there is no way to eliminate it since everyone has it. Another
example is aggression. Wherever there are sports, there is aggression. Psychologists have
stated that sports are a way for people to release their aggression. However, they still have
not been able to fully eliminate the violence in sports. Psychologists are also working on
new methods for motivating athletes because some athletes are harder to motivate that
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others. Even though there are these unresolved issues in sport psychology, the future of
psychology in sports, especially youth sports, looks to be on a very progressive track with
many new discoveries.
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