Research Questions

How did cheer start to get so competitive? Has it always been like that? Who was the founder of Varisty sport and why did he start it? Was cheer leading always "not a sport"? Did cheer leading only us to be for just girls? Why are the rules for stunting getting less strict if it's making it less safe? What is the salary of a judge at worlds?

Billion Dollar Ball 1 of 3

Billion Dollar Ball by Gil Gaul examines the economics and culture about the NCAA, discussing how in the last decade sports programs have overtaken universities, where sports are more important than education. He describes in depth the extraordinary financial model that supports college football and the effect it has had not only on other athletic programs but on academic ones as well. What are the consequences when college football coaches are the highest paid public employees in over half the states in an economically troubled country, or when football players at some schools receive ten times the amount of scholarship awards that academically gifted students do? Gil Gaul will be attending my school May 5th. Some questions I'd like to ask him are: 

What made you get intrigued into this topic?

Was it difficult to get all the facts?

Did you play a college sport?

How do positive reviews make you feel?

How do negative reviews make you feel?

What is your motive of what you want people to get after reading the book?

Would you change anything about the book now if you could?

How long did it take you to write it?

Did you think it was going to get as noticed as it did?

Sole Man

Recently my class watched a movie called Sole Man. Its based on how John Paul Vaccaro, also known as Sonny rose from humble Pennsylvania roots to become the most valuable marketing asset in the $13 billion athletic shoe industry. He signed Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, and launched Nike's "Air Jordan" empire in the 1980s. Sonny brought the sneaker industry and basketball together. The basketball-sneaker business has grown into a $3 billion industry. Not only did he do that but helped Ed O'Bannon and his lawsuit against the NCAA, which they ended up winning. "It became a running joke among our production team that Sonny is the real-life "Forrest Gump" of basketball." The producer stated that in one of his articles. After watching the film I was a little shocked I've never seen Sonny's name come up on any social media.

North Carolina Tar Heels beat Syracuse Orange and Villanova Wildcats beat Oklahoma Sooners for the final four this Saturday. North Carolina Tar Heels will play Villanova Wildcats tonight. There are many people saying UNC and Syracuse have been cheating. "The shock that goes hand-in-hand with the UNC story is attached to the length of time and the number of people affected, not the fact that star athletes were being given grades they didn't earn. These types of stories are nothing new, especially when it comes to college basketball. In the past two decades, Florida State, Minnesota, Georgia and Purdue have all seen their hoops programs hit with significant penalties after findings of academic misconduct." Says Mike Rutherford. Should these teams be playing at stadiums like the ones that they are is there is going to controversy over the way they play. They'll be playing at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Tickets are being sold for a little over 10,000 on some websites. Also, other basketball teams have had this type of controversy as well and could not participate because of it but other teams don't end up getting mistreated.  Is it fair that teams have allegations going on about them yet they still get the experience to play at places like this?

Mission Statement

If I was in charge of a youth cheer leading team my goal would be to make sure every child is having fun. The last thing I would want to do is ruin the sport for them. I have seen that happen and it's even happened to me before when the coach ruins it all for the athlete. With the whole losing and winning, I would not scream and act crazy if they lost. Competitions for youth cheer leading can tend to have a lot of tears to begin with, so I would not want to make them worse. The fundamental of the the team would be for the girls to learn how to "catch" one an other. In cheer leading the big central importance is for no one to hit the ground, so by a coach saying "catch" each other the girls could also use that in other ways. Like making sure you have each others backs.
For my rules with coaches I would have to find coaches that have the same mindset as me. Also no one wants a creepy coach for youth sports so I would have them fill out paper work and have to have an interview with them. As for the kids, it would have to be an all girls team. Boys can cheer but I think it would be to much to handle because in cheer leading, the bigger the team is, the better. If I ended up having a big group of girls that's already enough to handle. I would also have to set a certain list of requirements for tumbling, flying, and previous experience in cheer leading for the girls. And as for the parents, the louder the parents cheer with us the better. Usually in other sports parents get in trouble for being too loud, but not in cheer. At competitions if parents cheer with the team the judges enjoy that. Just obviously no negative comments.

Female Journalism

Erin Andrews has a $55 million in her civil lawsuit over the secret recording and release of a video showing her naked in her hotel room. Michael David Barrett is the stalker who used a hacksaw to create a peephole into Andrew's room and recorded the video and photos in 2008. West End Hotel Partners, which owns and operates that Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University, was found to be 49 percent at fault and asked to pay out more than $26 million.
"Sports media as we know has not always existed. Modern-day sports journalism evolved with American social trends and profit-hungry business people that changed the shape of news in general." (Malone) Around the 1850s upper class people viewed sports as a vulgar hobby. Obviously that has evolved. Baseball was the first sport to rise around 1885.
Female journalist are not treated how they should be. In class yesterday we would type in a female sports journalists name on google and the second or third search would be things like "hot" "body" "legs" It was very strange and isn't right. If I knew someone was searching up my legs or body I would feel very uncomfortable.
Sports journalist make a huge help in finding our news about sports, but for the future of them I think female sports journalist will decrease. Seeing the way they get treated by athletes and even just regular people, like Erin Andrews, its not right and they should not have to deal with it.

Curt Shilling and Yuri Wright

Today, March 7th CHS had a presentation. The presenter mentioned Curt Shilling and Yuri Wright. Curt Shilling's daughter, Gabby Shilling, began receiving vulgar attacks on Twitter. The things that were said were very unnecessary and uncalled for. So as any good father would do, he reported the men. Curt says, "Not one of these gutless clowns would even think of saying a word of ANY of this in person." in his post on this situation, https://38pitches.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/the-world-we-live-in-man-has-it-changed/ As for Yuri Wright he had full ride to Michigan Sate University for football and ruined by tweeting stupid remarks. Just a stupid mistake like that can ruin someones life, as it did to him.