College Athletics No Longer a Privilege, but a Job?

It is hard for me to read the article "Colter Takes Northwestern Player Union Case to Capitol Hill" without laughing. Not because it is poorly written or because it is actually intended to be funny, but because of the idea of a collegiate players union. The article speaks about a group of athletes trying to form a union for college athletes everywhere. Led by Kain Colter, Northwestern's former quarterback, the players are trying to argue that they are "employees" of the university. As "employees" they believe they deserve to, "form a union and bargain collectively."Some of the benefits these "employees" would like include health and safety benefits, health care after graduation, and a share in the millions of dollars the NCAA brings in. The article goes on to say that the idea of passing Congress seems unlikely, but if it does it will change college athletics, which is unfortunate because college athletics is what I like more than any other level of sports.
One of the reasons I like college sports better than professional sports is because college athletes are competing the whole game for the love of the game while I'd be lucky to find half of the professional athletes doing the same. The reason is money. Professional athletes get paid regardless of whether they win or lose so they are not always giving everything they have. If college athletes start getting paid, they may not give their 100% as well. This brings me to my next point, college athletics is a privilege, not a job. Scholarshipstats.com says that 7.6% of all male high school athletes are lucky enough to play college sports. If a scholarship athlete still thinks they have it rough, then I am sure the other 92.4% would love to have their spot. Apparently going to school for free while representing your school is not enough. Tuition at Northwestern is a little over
$45,000 a year. If you happen to be a four year athlete who does not leave early to go pro then you will have received a free tuition that costs regular students $180,000. Tell me again why we should pay athletes more than they are already receiving in free education? Thousands of students would love to be able to afford to go to school at Northwestern. To think that the athletes that go there for free want more benefits and rewards is sickening and selfish. Paying players destroys competition. The day that college athletes are paid is the day I stop watching college athletics.

The Over-Ambitious Alex Rodriguez

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/11/us/alex-rodriguez-suspended/

     If you have not already heard, Alex Rodriguez, one of the great baseball players of our time has been suspended for the entire 2014 season. Several things have led to his 211 game suspension, the biggest being his use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. However, what led Alex Rodriguez to using these drugs was his ambitions, such as wanting to be the highest paid major league baseball player ever, making it into the Hall of Fame, and wanting to be remembered as one of baseball's top five best players. As "A-Rod" aged, his game slowly deteriorated even though he was not ready to give up the spotlight and break out numbers. This lead him to banned substances which he thought would help him achieve his ambitions.

     While ambitions are good and needed for success, too much ambition can have opposite negative affects. It does not matter if it means taking performance enhancing drugs to stay in your prime or in Macbeth's case, killing off men to ensure the throne. Being over ambitious can lead us to use stained  ways of achieving our ambitions and cheating ourselves. Monitoring our ambitions is the most important part of reaching success.

First Post on Glogster

My glog on the most important scene in Grendel! http://tomschembari.edu.glogster.com/turning-point-in-grende

The Inside Look at the Life of Tom Schembari

My name is Tom Schembari and I am currently a 10^th grader at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska. Am I the second oldest of four boys and I am a proud alum of St. Wenceslaus Catholic School. My oldest brother, Mark, graduated from Creighton Prep last year and is currently a freshman at Boston College while my younger brothers, Matt (8^th grade) and Jack (5^th grade), attend St. Wenceslaus. My mother, Missi, is a nurse practitioner at Village Pointe Pediatrics while my father, John, is a lawyer at Kutak Rock. To help you get to know me a little better, I will tell you about my typical schedule, or a day in the life of Tom Schembari. When I am not reading for leisure I am usually playing basketball. While all sports are great I have always liked basketball best and play basketball at Prep. With practices every day and games almost every weekend, I rarely have too much free time. It gets even harder to find free time being a Creighton basketball enthusiast and season ticket holder. In fact, my family and I are going to New York over Spring Break for the Big East Tournament to watch Creighton play. When I finish my homework and I’m done with basketball you can usually find me relaxing in front of the TV watching college basketball or Arrested Development. I also enjoy hanging out with friends and now that I am driving it is easier to get from place to place without the help of my parents. My favorite course at school would probably have to be English or Physical Education. My favorite color is blue and my favorite food is steak or popcorn. Now that you know all of this about me I would love it if you could follow my blog for updates on important news in the life of Tom Schembari and other equally exciting topics.