A Trip to Barnes & Noble

When I first walk into the store I would probably just walk around and see if anything catches my eye. I think the most popular books would probably be on display or out in the open so I would look at those. Then I would try and find a sports section for books and biographies. This would probably be my number one genre of books. Next I would look at the horror books because I like scary novels like Stephen King. By then I should find a book that I like at Barnes & Noble.

Why isn't Mike Vanderjagt Still Kicking In the NFL?

http://www.thepostgame.com/features/201101/why-isnt-mike-vanderjagt-still-kicking-nfl

I read an article about recently retired NFL kicker Mike Vanderjagt. Mike currently lives down in Florida and works in a pizza place with his brothers. The pizza place is at the very tip of Florida, almost hiding from the world. Mike retired from the NFL in 2008. He has the best field goal percentage of all time. He made 86.5 percent of all of his kicks, missing only 36 field goals in his entire career. Vanderjagt was considered a jerk and very cocky by fans and even players. Mike seemed to walk around as if he was a skilled player and even gave attitude. He is know for giving negative comments about the Colts team saying he didn't see them going anywhere. Peyton Manning, the quarterback of the team, responded harshly to these comments. He called Vanderjagt and drunk and an idiot for saying those things. Although Peyton and Mike have moved on, it ruined Mikes career. Mike has papers proving that he wasn't drunk, and never has been an alcoholic. He hasn't shared the papers with anyone, he just wants the world to know what Peyton said was false. But fans still think beer or drunk when they hear his name. This gave Mike a very bad image. But what a lot of people don't know is how hard he worked to get to where he is. He was cut from multiple colleges and ended up playing football in Canada in the 90's. Colts recruited him, and he ended up leading the team in scoring in 1999. He says even though he walked around with confidence, he always went out on the field thinking if he missed the field goal, he would be cut. Eventually Mike quite after he went from amazing to mediocore, and that wasn't good enough for him. But it seems his comments and Peyton's reaction never left him his whole career. This can be compared to current players such as Michael Vick who was involved with dog fights. Also, Big Ben who has been convicted of multiple sexual assault cases.

Lets Start Paying College Athletes

I read an article called " Lets Start Paying College Athletes", by Joe Nocera. Nocera describes how college basketball and football are huge money making business, yet the college athletes get paid nothing. Together the two college sports generate more than six billion dollars in annual revenue. The coaches of the sports are making hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. Recently signed Ohio State coach, Urban Meyer, signed a $24 million dollar contract. The biggest revenue making element of college sports is march madness. It costs billions of dollars for a TV company to get the rights to broadcast it. CBS just paid $10.8 billion to have the rights to televise march madness. Nocera believes that college athletes, especially football and basketball players, should be paid and he came up with a plan to do it. His plan involves 5 elements. First is that they take a free market approach when recruiting players. They will offer actual contracts to players and let the player decide which college and contract is most appealing. Second is a salary cap and minimum salary per player. He wants $3 million to be available for football team salaries and $650,000 for basketball. The minimum salary per player would be $25,000 dollars. Fourth each college player with receive lifetime health insurance. Fifth a union will be formed for both current and former college athletes.
Two economists named Andy Schwarz and Dan Rascher helped Nocera come up with his idea. They don't agree with the N.C.A.A.'s argument that college sports are amateur and that if it wasn't then it would lose the college brand and lose peoples interest. I agree with the idea of paying college players. I think they are putting way too much time and effort into the sports, to not get money out of it. Also many players could play without the intention to go pro, but the sports can interfere with their other classes and internships that would offer them job opportunities after college. The players getting paid would help with this. Also it could stop the ridiculous strict rules that don't let the players receive any present what soever. I'm not sure how I feel specifically about his 5 rules, but I agree with the general idea of paying the student athletes.