Clippers for Justice; Owners for Power

Last year, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, was put in the spotlight after a phone call between he and his girlfriend was released by TMZ Sports. He called her and made a few remarks about a recent post she had on Instagram of her with Magic Johnson. He insisted that she not publicize that she associates with black people, as it appeared to make him uncomfortably angry.

His comments were undoubtedly racist and aptly he drew an incredible amount of criticism for the phone call. Sterling was banned from the NBA for life. The way the Clippers’ players and some others around the league reacted relates to the piece we read by Kelly Candaele and Peter Dreier, “Where Are The Jocks For Justice?”.

Mr. Football Is No Burkean

Johnny Manziel, the used-to-be-the-biggest-deal quarterback, encompasses everything that would terrify Edmund Burke and inspire praise from John Stuart Mill.

In an excerpt from the Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke discussed his opposition to the French Revolution, and in doing so Burke illustrated the conservative ideals. Burke highlighted the importance of tradition as the most reliable source for information. Through a seemingly opposite perspective, John Stuart Mill presented his thoughts on the significance of variety, originality, and freedom in “Of Individuality, as One of the Elements of Well-Being” from his work On Liberty. Johnny Manziel, the former Texas A&M and current Cleveland Browns quarterback, has risen to fame largely because he has represented many of the concepts that Mill speaks highly of, therefore putting conservatism out of the picture.

Club Vs. Varsity – What They Stand For

I recently attended two different sporting events here at Michigan: a varsity hockey game and a club rugby game. The hockey team was up against the University of New Hampshire, and ended up losing a tough battle, 5-1. The rugby team was playing good ol’ little brother, Michigan State, who they ended up dominating 34-7. Not to my surprise, both games brought different crowds. The two events had similarities and differences, all of which kept me thinking about the roles of these two sports, and on a broader level, their respective levels’ (club and varsity) roles to the University.

I found a plethora of connections to Eric Dunning’s The Dynamics Of Modern Sport. Dunning discusses the roles of the sports for many different participants: spectators, populations, and the athletes themselves. All of these are relevant here, we have student-athletes, plenty of fans go to games, and the population in this case would be the University as a whole. Dunning discussed the “interdependant polarities” of sports, mainly between spectators and athletes, and what the intentions and purpose of sports are.

Disabilities In Youth Sports

After reading the chapter, “Being a Woman and Other Disabilities”, from Professor LaVaque-Manty’s book, I found a plethora of relations to youth sports in the United States. Stemming from my own experiences with the sports I played growing up, and the knowledge I have of other sports, I find that opportunity and equality do not seem to coincide for youth athletics. The biggest, and rightly most important, factor for youth athletics is the necessity of safety. That’s great and all, but this commitment to safety actually hinders young players from reaching the aspirations they may have for themselves internally. The rules of youth sports don’t present children with equal opportunities to grow as athletes.

The Burnout Effect: When Play Becomes Work

Some people say athletes are crazy; I’m not going to disagree.

There is a certain mindset of dedicated athletes that makes the role of sports to them different than that of the common person. What may seem like play to many, seems like work to them. It is a requirement, in a sense.

Usain Bolt has trained for years, and still continues to push himself to improve. Like many renowned athletes, the burnout effect has not gotten to him.

In his work, Take Time For Paradise, A. Bartlett Giamatti says that for spectators sports are like “a drug to keep people docile or at least diverted from real problems.” I think this same belief holds true for the people who actually play the sports. For athletes, sports provide a means to remove themselves mentally from reality. However, when we spend so much time committed to one sport or activity, the “real problems” become the individual moments of the sports. The sport itself is a challenge with real problems to face.

Questions of Justice In College Sports, Penn State Scandal

A few weeks ago, the NCAA announced that they were removing the ban placed upon Penn State two years before scheduled. The early removal raises questions of how fair the ban truly was. I looked more into it and found that I wasn’t in total agreement with the punishment itself. Like the Athenians in the Melian Dialogue, the NCAA has their own ways of justifying their actions, ways that I personally don’t agree with.