Jim McMahon Dementia

The Chicago Bears have won only one Super Bowl in 1985. The 85 Bears were the grittiest, meanest team in the league, and they were led by quarterback Jim McMahon. He was known for his crazy and rock star attitude on and off the field, but the biggest problem for him now is dementia. When I was watching a ESPN special on McMahon it focused on the importance of player safety. Back in the 80’s and 90’s if you could walk you could play, and that is the mentality McMahon played with. During one game against the Lions McMahon was slammed on his head and the Bears trainer at the time told the Chicago Tribune, “He had a concussion, but it cleared by halftime.”  Although much more careful now the NFL and many other leagues did not take concussions seriously. Because of all the head trauma that McMahon faced while playing in the league he has a bad case of dementia. His short term memory is awful, when friends call him and leave messages he deletes them thinking he will call them back, but after 10 minutes he forgets they even called. A teammate of McMahons David Duerson was found dead February 17, 2011. Duerson had killed himself because he was suffering from CTE otherwise known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. He was hit in the head so many times that he was getting constant headaches, couldn’t remember anything, and the most dangerous symptom was aggression. Duerson got so angry from the head trauma that he took his own life. The fact is that concussions are more serious than people think they are and we need to keep developing are research on it.   

Sports Help In The Classroom And In Life

For high school students the pressure of school is usually enough to drive them crazy. Adding sports on top of school work and family usually is a bad thing right? This is wrong actually according to a study by North Carolina University high school and college student athletes had nearly a full point higher GPA then non student athletes. On top of that study Birmingham Young University had a survey in 2007 and they determined that females who played a sport in high school were 41 percent more likely to graduate from college than those who did not play sports in high school. Sports are teaching kids responsibility and to play sports you need a certain GPA. Although more time consuming then not playing sports coaches, parents and teammates hold student athletes to a higher expectation to manage their time. Coaches seem to get better and better as time goes on and teach you great lessons. Many coaches treat their players like sons or daughters and teach them lessons about not only their sport but life. An example of this is the famous Coach Ken Carter. The move “Coach Carter” was based off of his coaching career at Richmond High School in Richmond, Virginia, which at the time was a very underprivileged school. He taught a bunch of close to high school drop outs about more than just basketball he inspired them in the class room and kept them out of trouble. Below is a link that shows the real coach carter on a documentary and how he changed an entire school through basketball. Also below is the link of the school statistics showing that student athletes are doing better in the classroom then non student athletes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8beCoP9lc8

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2011/09/02/high-school-sports-participation-increases-for-22nd-straight-year

On top of putting school first sports teach kids responsibility. I can speak from personal experience that sports have helped shape me into a young man that I am today and many kids before me. This is why I chose this topic I feel I owe a lot to all my coaches and teammates that have helped me grow as a person. I have many close friends that I have made from playing sports. Sports taught me how to be personable and has helped my social life I am more outgoing because of sports. I have also been taught leadership and I believe this will help me with my future plans. Leadership is an asset that helps anyone no matter what their profession is. Along any sports journey you get taught things that can be used for life, weather it is time management, leadership, heart, etc. it helps you become a better person. I’m not saying you are less of an intellectual for not playing sports, but sports are a good way of expanding your possibilities.

Making Something Out of Nothing

For many people the only way for success or the only way out of an underprivileged area is sports. The sad truth is that many people don’t have the school intelligence or the financial support to go to college or to make money in the real world. Sports are a way for people to make something more of their lives. Many athletes blessed enough to play professional sport give back to the community they grew up in. A prime example of an athlete making it from nothing is the best basketball player in the world Lebron James. James is from Akron, Ohio where he lived in a single parent household with his mom. With no father figure and his mom working jobs from morning to night James found comfort in basketball. While keeping his grades up and working hard on the court James was able to make it to the NBA where he won a NBA title, and on top of that he has won two Olympic Gold medals. Sports are a way for people to make something more of their lives, and give back to the kids that will come after them. James said in an interview at his old high school, "I would not be where I am today without basketball." James took the most of an opportunity and without basketball he would not have been as successful.

Lebron James current house, he grew up in a two bed one bathroom house before making it to the NBA.

The whole point of my topic is to demonstrate that sports are more than just a game, more than just an hour our two of fun. Sports have a huge impact on society, sports have impacted history and change people’s lives. James is just one prime example of someone that was able to get out of a bad situation using his talent. According to ESPN analyst Peter Keating 48% of NBA players come from underprivileged areas. On top of that, 38% of NBA and NFL players come from a one parent household. This does not mean that people from underprivileged areas are better athletes, but rather they work harder for success because they understand the difficulty of making it out of a poor area.  Below I attached an article that I found on ESPN about the impact of underprivileged players and the direction sports are going in.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/6777581/importance-athlete-background-making-nba

Athletes Changing Society

On December 16, 1899 the color barrier was broke in sports by a man by the name of Marshall Taylor. Although often over looked Taylor was the first African American in sports, and the first Black athlete to win a title. Taylor was an African American cyclist from a small rural town in Indiana. At the age of 12, Taylor received his first bicycle and began performing tricks. By the age of 16, Taylor began competing in races. By 21, Taylor had won the World Championship in cycling and received the nickname "Black Cyclone." Along this journey Taylor received many racial letters and during his events objects were thrown at him, but this never slowed him down. When being taught about the civil rights many people hear the names Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. Often over looked and not given enough credit are the black athletes that either broke the color barrier or the ones that took the challenge and went beyond expectations. Years after Marshall Taylor we were introduced to a man by the name of Roosevelt Robinson, also known as Jackie. Jackie attended UCLA a predominately white school, where he not only played baseball but also football and basketball. After he graduated, Robinson signed to a minor league team the Montreal Royals. After one year, the Dodgers called Robinson up to the majors. Although Robinson was constantly heckled his rookie year, he went on to win the MLB Rookie of the Year trophy in 1947 and then the National League MVP in 1949. What made Robinson such a great person to break the color barrier in “Americas sport” was not his athleticism but rather he feared nobody. He said what he wanted and did what he thought was right. In the book Opening Day Jackie said, “Many people resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect” (126). A man looking for respect rather than acceptance was what the country needed to get past racism. On top of being a great athlete Jackie was a man of great words. Jackie understood that everything he said or did was being looked at not only by the people of his race but every American, in the book Opening Day when Jackie was very successful he was asked about his life impact on the game and he responded, “A life is not important, except in the impact it has on other lives.” He understood his performance was more important than just another baseball player, because he was more than that he was a leader of an entire race.

On the link below you can see all of the great African American athletes in a timeline. It took hundreds of years for it to be considered acceptable for Blacks to play professional sports. Many people overlook the importance of black athletes in society and I believe, schools and people should look at the importance of their roles in the civil rights and modern day.

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/african-americans-in-sport--3