Sochi Paper

Junior DeSouza

Sochi Olympics Paper

            The winter Olympics this year were held in Sochi Russia.  This was at first a very controversial place to hold the Olympics due to the speculations that the rest of the world had concerning the Russian government and diplomacy.  On the weeks leading up to the games, many people in Western countries such as the US greatly feared the possibility of a terrorist attack on the games due to Russia’s lack of intelligence sharing with the rest of the world.  Some of the athletes even advised some of their family and friends to rather stay back and watch the games in the US as opposed to coming to Russia and potentially putting their lives in danger.  Another element that added to the Western questioning of the safety of the event was that just a month prior to when athletes and competitors were scheduled to arrive in Sochi that there was a terrorist attack not too far from Sochi in which 34 people were killed by suicide bombers.

            In the end, the Sochi Olympics were conducted without the threat of any such terrorist attacks that could potentially harm the athletes, spectators, or families viewing the games.  This was able to happen due to the fact that the guards wee very well equipped with firearms in case something were to happen, there were metal detectors at every possible entrance, and that there were strict regulations on giving out visitor passes for people to enter the games.  Even with this strict code on getting into the games, personnel responsible for keeping a secure and strict presence were able to make a comfortable and joyful atmosphere for the viewers of the games.  All in all, Sochi was able to provide a safe atmosphere for the games, which came as a nice surprise foer all of the Western viewers of the games.

High School Sport (Counts as 2 Sport Pages)

The social conditions in which high school sport emerged were creating a social outlet for teenagers to create bonds with one another and foster a sense of belonging and community.  In addition to this, high school sports develop and can possibly instill the ideals of commitment and hard work to the growing teenagers within schools in our society.

The objective of high school sport is to not only bring players on the team closer together, but also to bring the entirety of the school body together as well. Take the football homecoming games for example.  There are pep rallies and parades and then the whole high school (and the rest of the surrounding community) are able to get involved in order to cheer the home team on.  This has been a tradition for many high schools across the country and its persistence shows that getting the school body and the community's involvement is a primary objective for high school sports. 

Possible problems with interscholastic sports can possibly be rivalries taken too far between different schools and also sports having TOO much of an importance in the lives of the student body and in the lives of the student athletes.  When rivalries are taken too far, people and property might be potentially put at risk because of the strong hatred that one school can have for another. Also, the sports weighing too on a student athlete can male them divert time that they could be using for their studies to just focusing on the sport that they play.  As far as a solution for the mass rivalries, this could be diminished by more harsh penalties against the school if they are to take it too far when their school plays another school in a given sport.

Once the cheering stops: The life of a retired pro-athlete

One of the major difficulties that retired athletes have to face is dealing and paying for medical treatment after their careers are over.  with football for example, it is a very violent sport and can leave players with long term impairments that require a lot of expensive treatments after their careers are over.  In addition to this, retired players are more susceptible to want to self medicate (by abusing drugs) in order to cope with the injuries that they have sustained throughout the many years of playing their given sport.
The transition from being a full time athlete to becoming a retired athlete is also very difficult.  Most of these players have to retire relatively early and when they do, most don't have a hard set plan as to what they are going to do with the rest of their lives.  They essentially go from making millions of dollars one day to potentially having to work minimum wage the next day depending on when their money runs out (and for a lot of them it is fairly quick because of the expensive taste that is acquired after making so much money during their careers).  The flashy lifestyle that athletes live nowadays is so ingrained in the culture that it sets them up for losing all of the money that they made during their career
Also, the way that sports are, you never know when your last day is going to be.  Whether it be an injury or your team decides to drop you, the way that sports are make it very unstable.

Sports Politics in the Olympics

The 1964 Olympics occurred in Tokyo, Japan and the events took place from October 10th to October the 24th.  By hosting the Olympics, Japan wanted to be seen in a more positive light after WW2 and they no longer wanted to be seen as war criminals.  Also, Japan wanted to show to the world that they were recovering from the aftermath of the war.  At the opening ceremony, they even had Yoshinori Sakai, a man born the day of the atomic bomb drop, carry the torch to symbolize Japan's recovery.  Also as a result of hosting the games, Japan was even further modernized to accommodate the games (such as transportation and building development).  Overall, the games were a success for Japan.  With these olympic events, sport was mainly being used as a vehicle for change.  Japan wasn't only just trying to rebuild and change its infrastructure, but also trying to change its image projected to the world and be seen more positively post WW2.  As far as the quote saying that "sport is devoid of political interference", I would have to disagree.  Most things that are within the socoil arena tie somehow, some way into politics (at least within our American society) sports included.  Take boxer Muhammed Ali for example.  Him refusing to enlist in the draft didn't only bring attention to his personal life, but it also impacted the boxing and sporting world.  It is impossible to have sports without politics in my opinion.

London Calling

The NFL is seeking to expand out of the USA for the main reason of expanding their market and eventually creating more revenue.  We have hosted several games in London and will continue to do so because of the great success that the British Premier League has world wide.  If we are able to broadcast globally such as the Premier League, the NFL's revenue would skyrocket exponentially.  London is also a prime place to host NFL games due to the fact that the Wembley Stadium that is suited for football games doesn't have many events going on during the time the NFL season is going on.  For the most part, the factors that will contribute to expansion will greatly rely on the location of the games played and if the fan base will be big enough to make this all worth it in the end.  Possible obstacles that can get in the way of running a European team would be the time it takes to get to and from London for the players and also just managing and coordinating a schedule from overseas.  The dark side that could revel itself could possibly be that we dump all of this money into moving a team over and it proves to not be worth it because we cannot generate enough interest in Europe among the fans.