athletics

The Perception of Violence, Racism, and the Bombastic Personality of Conor McGregor

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Kung-Fu, kickboxing, karate, boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, judo, and jiu-jitsu. All of these incredibly diverse and unique fighting styles can be referred to under the wide umbrella term of combat sports. Many see these niche forms of exercise as ‘violent catharsis’ that turn people into ‘bullies’, however this could not be further than the truth. An underlying message across all of these differing combat sports is the fundamental rule of respect. Whatever hate or anger someone has when entering into these …

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National Football League Anthem Protests

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Today I want to speak about the National Football League, and the issues occurring in regards to the National Athem protests. This has been an ongoing event for the past few years, especially after the “leader” of this protest, Colin Kaepernick decided to start it. As a result, over the past couple of years, the players have been closely studied, and criticize for every movement they made during and before the National Anthem of an NFL game. This initially started …

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Aren’t Sports Supposed to be Fun?

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Earlier this year an Ohio basketball team was banished from their recreational league for wearing racist jerseys during a game. The members of both basketball teams were high school students from West Clermont High School and Kings High, but they were not affiliated with the school districts other than renting the space hand having players that were students. The members of one of the basketball teams showed up for the game wearing jerseys that read “Wet Dream Team” on the …

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Take a Knee

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Coming from a family with a military background and a brother currently serving in the United States Navy, the NFL protest of the flag has been very important to both my family and myself. Many NFL players, specifically Colin Kaepernick, decided to use their platforms to raise awareness about social issues that people of color face, such as police brutality, by not standing for the national anthem and instead taking a knee. Originally, I was extremely upset about this protest …

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Protests and Patriotism

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Beginning in August of 2016, Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, began a national anthem protest. Over the next 13 months, players from various teams in the NFL began sitting, kneeling and speaking out in acts joining Kaepernick. On August 26, 2016, Kaepernick exclaimed, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and …

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Do Expectations Affect Athletes’ Performance?

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Someone who plays a sport and his constantly toted as the star player on their team always tends to perform at a higher level than the other players on the team.  This is probably largely due to talent, but I feel as though being told “we’re counting on you” and “you are our best player” can create a self – fulfilling prophecy with that person, helping them perform better.  If that player were to go play on a different team …

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An Attack on Richard Sherman

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I enjoy watching football every once in a while, especially when my favorite team – the Giants – is not sucking.  Even though they weren’t playing the Super Bowl this year, I watched a little bit of the game and saw when the Seahawks won.  I missed the very short interview that Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman had with Erin Andrews (a Fox News sports reporter), though, which was also apparently very news-worthy.  Although the clip was extremely short, a frenzy …

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