June 29, 2007
FOUR FOR FRIDAY - THE SPORTS EDITION
Editor's Note: My apologies for the delay in creating and posting this week's Four For Friday. I've been under the weather for most of the week, and today I chose to spend the day catching up on office work, not blogging. Carry on :-)
Q1 ñ Little League: Citing concerns that orthopedists have been seeing more and more aspiring little league baseball pitchers coming into their offices complaining of arm and shoulder pain, Little League International says it's time to give young arms a rest. These days, when you send a little league pitcher to the pitcher's mound, it's 75 pitches, no more. Good thinking or an overreaching (no pun intended) rule?
Q2 ñ Goiní Pro: If you could turn pro (right now) in any sport and compete with the best of the best in that sport, what sport would you choose?
Q3 ñ Fanís Rights: A Federal appeals recently court paved the way for pat-down searches to resume at Tampa Bay Buccaneers home football games, rejecting a fan's contention that they violate his constitutional protection against unreasonable searches. High school teacher Gordon Johnston successfully challenged the frisking of fans entering Raymond James Stadium in three lower courts, but a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned those rulings, saying Johnston forfeited his right to challenge the constitutionality of the pat-downs when he consented to them. The court also said Johnston doesn't have a constitutional right to watch a football game, that he was aware of the search policy before entering the stadium, and that the football team can revoke game tickets for any reason. "Being a government teacher and knowing the Constitution," says Johnson, "I think it's the wrong decision." What do you think?
Q1 ñ Pay for Play: Do you think college athletes should be compensated above and beyond their scholarships to attend college?
Posted by Mikal at June 29, 2007 7:32 PM
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My answers are (finally) up. Hope you're feeling better at this point! :-)
I have to admit, I was a little freaked out when I saw the FFF wasn't up Friday morning. Good to (word that means "look" and starts with an "s" and ends with an "e" and has an "e" in the middle) it made it in time though. (sorry... spam filter caught the word "see" followed by "it" for some reason)
1. Little League: Good call. Coaches and parents tend to push kids too hard, not realizing their bodies are still growing and susceptible to injuries in ways that adult bodies are not.
2. Goin' Pro: Well, basketball had been my favorite sport growing up, and it pays a lot better than my second choice of motorcycle racing.
3. Fan's Rights: I agree with the court in this case. Like the court says, there is no constitutional right to patronize a particular business (football teams are businesses). However, the law does allow a business to refuse service for any reason (short of the usual race, religion, and yada). If a business wants to refuse you service because you won't submit to a pat down, then that's their right. But feel free to use your right to yack about it publicly.
4. Pay for Play: No way. I'm not a big fan of college sports to begin with. Good, smart people everywhere are struggling to get admitted to college so they can better themselves.
Meanwhile, some guy that happens to be good at throwing the pigskin around has his drug abuse and other questionable criminal activities overlooked. Then he/she gets a private tutor for every subject and any other assistance that is needed to ensure that they don't get dropped from the team for grades.
I understand that it's a money thing for colleges and a bit of a necessity to get great athletes to attend their school. But in a better world, we would leave college for the people who actually want to attend, rather than bribing them to go here or there -- or at all -- just because they are good at a particular sport.
Disclaimer: To any college athletes out there, the above example of a druggie, not-to-bright college athlete is not meant to represent the whole of college athletes... thanks for not flaming me ;)
3. Fan's Rights: I agree with the teacher. This country is so out of control under this administration that we are on the brink of a totalitarian police state.
1. I think its a good step... the major leaguers are only throwing maybe 90 pitches before they sit down, and they only pitch about once a week. Considering all the conditioning they've had, it doesn't make sense to have kids throwing more than the pros.
2. I'd have to say basketball, just for the love of the game. If it was all about longevity or pay scale, I'd probably switch to golf, as there are guys on the tour who have been playing for decades... no other sport can be played that long with so low a chance of catastrophic injury.
3. Sad as it is, the team is within its rights; they make it clear what security measures they enforce and you agree to abide by them if you want your ticket to be any good. Its too bad its come to this in our country, but you know that if someone wasn't searched, brought in a weapon and hurt someone, then that someone or his/her friends/family would sue the team for millions. Chalk up another victory for the lawyers, 'cause the rest of us all lose.
4. I think the pretense should be dropped, and college sports should become semi-pro. The college can use that 'scholarship' money as payment, and then let the boosters pay the athlete's whatever they want. You just have to stop calling them student athletes. That way the schools can still get the sports revenues, but we don't have to cross our fingers every time we say the guys are there to learn or improve their skills. We all know the best athletes are already getting kickbacks, the NCAA is just kidding themselves about the system at this point.
Good point on #3 Greg. I recently read a story about a man who sued Nissan because he ran over and killed his daughter after backing over her in his new Infiniti SUV.
He blamed Nissan for not including a rear view camera as a standard feature. It's almost not worth it to be in any kind of business due to the liability involved.
Despite the risk inherent in going to a ball game with thousands of other people, if somebody gets hurt they always look for someone else to blame. Companies have been successfully sued in the past for providing "insufficient security" at public events.
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