A Change for Sports (essay #2)

The blog that I looked is by Charles Deemer, called The Writing Life II. His post that I looked at is named College Sports and is at http://cdeemer2007.blogspot.com/2007/01/college-sports.html. He talks in his blog about how college sports, in his mind, are a mess. He says he’s a fan of sports all together, but thinks that college sports need to be cleaned up in many areas. I am also a fan of sports all around and there may be some things are a little messed up, but I think that if you change them now, it will change for the worse.

The first point he makes is to ban all scholarships in all college sports. He doesn’t want to pay anyone anything to come to college to play a game. The next point he makes is to redefine league play locally, the way high schools do it. Deemer doesn’t want teams traveling 3000 miles in order to play a game. He also says they should make an equal plane for all sports, support each team as much as the other. He states that coaches should not be paid no more than you pay other “professors” who teach a subject. The author also talks about how colleges have a free farm system for the NFL and NBA and that professional baseball teams have to develop their talent through a farm system of minor leagues that they pay for. He believes that football and basketball should change to be that way.

When I read this blog post I was a bit confused. I understand what he is trying to say, but I don’t agree with it at all. To ban all scholarships in sports would be the worst thing for a college athlete. He thinks by doing this it will focus on higher education. But if you think about how that will effect athletes, it will be pushing some away from an education. For some people their only chance of getting to college and getting an education is through sports. By getting a scholarship, they are awarded an opportunity that they may not have had if it wasn’t for a sport. Some students can’t afford college and scholarships are their only shot at it. I understand that he thinks that some athletes are only there to go pro and not for an education, which is true in some cases. However, I feel that banning scholarships will turn away students from getting an education. I don’t agree with him at all on this. I think it would be a huge mistake.

The author also talks about redefining league play locally, the way high schools do it. He doesn’t think that you should travel large numbers of miles to play someone and that you should have some cross-town rivalries. Yes, I think that sometimes teams travel a large number of miles to get to a game, but then I think about it and disagree that they travel for a reason Having OSU play someone like Findley in football, I think, would be bad. OSU is a number one school in football for a reason. At some point there would be no competition for the teams. Even if you try to change the leagues, there is going to be schools that are going to be bigger and better than the small ones. The whole point of leagues is to have the same playing field and have that competition.

Deemer thinks that you should pay coaches no more than you pay other “professors” who teach a subject. I think that some coaches are getting paid a lot more then they should be, but then I think that they also work hard for what they make. The author says “Teaching football is not more valuable than teaching history or literature or mathematics or home economics or engineering or water coloring or marketing.” I think that coaches work for what they make. I don’t think that their pay should go down, I think that teachers should go up because having three of them in my family, I know what it takes to teach and they don’t get enough for it. I do agree that teachers and coaches should have closer payments, but I don’t think that you can compare it together because they are two different things when it comes down to it.

I do agree with his next point about making an equal plane for all sports. I think that everyone should support other teams just as much as the big teams like football and basketball. It is hard though to be able to do that for all the sports in a college, especially like OSU because they offer so many different sports. I think that students should try to get out and support all the teams that their school offers and have the same pride that they do for the big teams.

Deemer states that he also thinks that athletes shouldn’t be able to get into the NBA or NFL after a year or so. He thinks that playing a college sport should be for the college and not just to go pro faster. I agree that college sports should be for college but the whole reason for college sports is for one day to be able to go pro. I think that it would be ideal for a student to stay and play all four years, but then if the time is right to leave, then they should go. They should have them stay at least two years so they can get the practice and advice they need.

I believe that if you change any of these things in college sports right now, the viewers and the players would decline. Some of these rules would drive people away. The point of college sports is to have that great competition and get ready to go to the pros if that is what they want to do. I believe that it is in the best interest of everyone to just keep it the same. If it works right now, why change it.