PROFESSIONAL SPORTS: THE FUTURE OF TOMORROW

Do you know what I do every weekend? On a cool Saturday or Sunday evening I spend my day on my soft leather couch in my oversized jeans and my metallic grey sweat shirt; gulping down a can of Pepsi, forcing a large chunk of hot dog into my mouth, and of course, watching professional athletes perform their jobs. Yes, watch them exercise! Exhilarating, isn’t it?

           

While I cheer and shout for a wrong call is made in basketball, or football, or soccer, or tennis, and possibly lose my voice; professional athletes get paid what I would earn in about 20 years of my life in one year or a couple of months. This is just fine with me; I believe this is the future. Take basketball for example, is one season completely different from the last one? The upsets, the star-packed squads, the highlights plays are what make up a season. Usually, in my work place I try to initiate a discussion about basketball.

            “Wow John,” I said, “did you see the alley-oop dunk yesterday?”

            “No, but I am sure it was spectacular!”

            “It was more than spectacular,” I exclaimed, “a man put a ball through the rim!”

            Again and again, and oh look he did it again! Usually this is what I do while I put on a few extra pounds from eating two big Macs or my favorite, deep fried apples wrapped in bacon, yumm!! I am sure everyone would like my new look.

            But apart from that, while I admire what people consider as an “art”, (I could go to a museum and see art; at least I would be getting some exercise) my intelligence quotient is greatly depreciating. And at the same time I am wasting a lot of money paying for the sports program and buying a beer or some greasy fries at a sports stadium while the professional athletes are getting paid in the millions

           

Doctors, have a job; they save other people lives. Business men, have a job; they help increase a country’s economical standing (although, that’s a bit skeptical for U.S.A.). Fire fighters and police men have a job; they save lives and keep a country safe yet they get paid a meager salary. Teachers, have a job; they instill knowledge into young individuals that will in turn help a country be successful. Soldiers, well, they die for a country. Professional athletes on the other hand, they keep in shape, partake in a recreational activity for a living while getting paid a ridiculous amount of money, and the best part, they go bankrupt 2 years after retirement. I think this is really beneficially and highly instrumental in our society. Don’t you think?

           

What do they really do? Provide inspiration for an overweight man to dunk a basketball? Or give motivation for a lanky, scrawny boy, who possesses nimble knees and is neatly wrapped in skin; to one day throw a touchdown pass for the New York Giants? Yeah, I do not think so. 

In all truth, the next time I decide to watch professional athletes of all kind perform their jobs, I would not think about the sufficient amount of salary that I am getting through providing knowledge for young children; or my brother who lives with me because he has no job; or the soldier in Afghanistan that just happens to step on a land mine. Rather, performing my job by providing Kobe Bryant some money for his shoe line would be pilot on my train of thoughts.

           

Abolishing the teenage girl stereotype

Is the stereotype of teenage girls precise and accurate? On May 10^th, 2001 an article called Inside the Dangerously Empty Lives of Teenage Girls, written by Dr. Leonard Sax, was published. Dr. Sax, a PhD psychologist and a medical doctor, who has published two previous books concerning the effects on gender differences on learning, lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter. The article’s primary focus is on the lives of teenage girls and the physical, emotional and aesthetical pressure they face throughout their lives.

            The crucial information pertaining to the exponential increase of teenage girls drinking habits is accurate which makes it very troubling. Dr. Sax compares  teenage boys, whose “use of alcohol has been pretty flat for decades”, to teenage girls drinking rate which  has been on the rise due anxiety. He argues that because girls are always worried about their physical attributes and obsessions over trivial ideas like sex, they use “alcohol [to relieve] anxiety”, at least while they are drinking. This is very true especially because of the expectation that has been set for girls in this age; females on magazine covers portray the perfect life, perfect skin, perfect hair and perfect body, and teenage girl nowadays are looking for a way to attain that particular physique. Constant thoughts by the teenage girls make them anxious and the best way to minimize that, at least for a temporary time, is to drink.

            In comparison, he analyzes the anxiety rate between teenage boys and girls. He disputes the fact that in relation to teenage girls, teenage boys are not extremely anxious. Dr. Sax shared his experiences with teenage girls who complain about “waking up at two in the morning upset about a pizza she ate for supper”, who (teenage girls) constantly believes in the notion that they are fat whereas they are not. He notes that in comparison to boys, who sleep in late, “eats a whole pizza for supper and doesn’t bat an eye….. and is perfectly content with his online games and pornography”, the anxiety rate of girls is much higher. Nowadays, girls are conscious about their weight and how they dress but the percentages of girls that actually have sleepless nights are low. In addition, teenage boys may possess the same problem that teenage girls have, but in a whole different context. They may wake up in the night because they are constantly bullied and ostracized or some be worried about being too fat.

            In contrast, he believed that about “36 percent “of girls “in the past year cut themselves with razors or burned themselves with matches”, because they being socially acceptable in school. He also said that successful girls, compared to successful boys do this “because they haven’t been living, they’ve been performing”. This is not entirely true because most girls that are successful are content with their lives and do not make an attempt to harm themselves. Girls who harm themselves choose to do that and are not forced to. In addition discussions on “what psychologist used to call middle childhood: eight to 12 years of age”, is discussed by Dr. Sax. Today, “there is no longer any distinction” between girls who are seventeen or girls who are twelve years of age. They all wear the same shirts saying “yes, but not with you” and the same skimpy shorts. This just shows that girls are losing their childhood and developing of sense of “whether they’re hot”.

            The article by Dr. Sax is a mixture of truths and personal beliefs and should not be entirely taken as a fact. But, some of his opinions regarding the rate of female alcoholics, pre-teen girls losing their childhood and the rise of anxiety in the female population, should be seriously taken in consideration. The article should undergo a review to establish a proper image pertaining to teenage girls.