Olympics

The Olympic Games are something I personally look forward to watching every two years whether it be the summer games or winter games. I am happy I am going to be able to say when I’m 80 years old that I watched every single Michael Phelps swimming competition in the 2008 Beijing games or when Apollo Ohno raced into speed track history in Vancouver. The Olympics are an event that unites over 120 countries for a very brief, but peaceful amount of time. Back in 2000, the North and South Koreans set their differences aside and walked together under one united flag as one nation. These two countries have been on the brink of war for years and to see them forget about their personal problems and work together to have fun and compete at the highest level in the world at something they all loved was awesome. Although there are many great things that happen in the Olympics, there are just as many controversies or problems in the games. We talked about several different cases dating back to the 1916 games that never occurred because of World War One. We talked about the Atlanta bombings in 1996, the boycotts in 1980 and 1984, but one we never mentioned was probably one of the biggest crimes, in my opinion, in the history of the modern games. Jim Thorpe is considered to be the greatest all around athlete that ever lived. Jim was born in 1888 and lived in Oklahoma. He was a part Native American who dominated every sport he tried. He played college football for Carlisle but also enjoyed Lacrosse, Baseball, and Ball Room Dancing. He led Carlisle to a National Championship against future president Dwight Eisenhower and Army. Eisenhower injured his knee trying to tackle Thorpe and later said, "Here and there, there are some people who are supremely endowed. My memory goes back to Jim Thorpe. He never practiced in his life, and he could do anything better than any other football player I ever saw."

He was a terrific athlete and played professional Football, Baseball, and Basketball in his life. He participated in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden where he won both the Decathlon and the Pentathlon. After he won he was awarded the gold medals in his events but later got taken away because it was discovered that he was playing professional baseball and football for money at the same time. They thought that he was only playing for money, not for passion and pride for his nation. Jim was just trying to make an honest living the best way he knew how and that was playing sports. In today’s society you only focus on one major sport. Sometimes athletes can play two professional sports but never at the same time like Jim could. I always thought they took his medals in spite of him, because they were jealous of him. Whatever the reason, I feel this is one of the biggest crimes in the modern Olympics. This guy worked hard and competed at his best to win gold and he deserved it. There was petitioning to get Jim’s medals given back over the years but nothing ever happened. In 1982 the Jim Thorpe Foundation was formed and to help Jim's cause and the US Congress showed support in the foundation. In January of 1983, there was a ceremony that was held for Jim Thorpe as his medals were given back him with his children there to receive in honor of his father’s greatest. Although his gold medals were once again his, they IOC declared him co-champion with another athlete. This to me was the final slap in the face to Jim even though both competitors back then declared Jim the true champion.

If you are unfamiliar with Jim, look him up! He was truly the greatest athlete who ever walked the Earth and deserves to be known.

Here are some articles with some great information about Jim.

http://www.sportsrant.com/top-10-most-controversial-olympic-moments-a3541.html

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/07/09/jim.thorpe/

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/08/08/bc.olympics.athletics.thorpe/

Youth Sports in America

How many of you played a sport when you were younger? I played a few including T-ball, soccer, and basketball. For me they were all a great learning experience. It taught me what sport I was good at and what ones I should never try again. When you are involved in a youth sport, there aren't many rules, no officials, no penalties or anything like that; it’s all for fun! Even though I was never on a winning team as a child, I still had more fun than I ever had playing varsity football or community run baseball teams in high school. I wish all sports could be that way but as you get older, the whole competitive nature kicks in and you no longer play for fun, but to better yourself as an individual and most importantly, win. As sport continues to grow and more kids become involved at younger ages, things start to get out of hand. Parents are getting too involved and winning is starting to become the primary focus with these young kids. When you think of youth sports you got to remember that we are talking about little kids around the age of 5-12 depending on where you are or what you consider youth. I like to consider youth sports in that age because of my involvement with youth sport throughout my life. At these ages, the game should be played for the fun of it, the learning experience, and the socialization between kids their own age. The interaction is great for young children because it helps with many of the cognitive and social skills they develop in theses growing years. What the real problem is with the youth sport in America is how seriously parents are taking the games. To them it isn't about the team effort, it's about the individual performance of their own child. Now I understand that every parent wants the best for their children and wants to see them succeed. It's very understandable to get a little upset when your child doesn't perform up to the level of expectation but they shouldn't be running onto the field attacking each other, coaches, or officials over something they didn't agree with. When I was about 8 or 9, I played soccer for my local community and parents started to get really out of hand. As a result, they passed about lollypops to every spectator in honor of the "keep your mouth shut day." I also umpire youth baseball ages 9-14 and they had a similar problem with the same solution. The community was trying everything possible to make sure there wasn't confrontation because of a recent on field fight between a coach and a parent. This is truly childish behavior by people who are supposed to be mature adults! The kids on the field have better behavior than their own parents who are 30 years older than them! "The adults are spoiling the fun! The first Youth Sports National Report Card, prepared by a group called Citizenship Through Sports Alliance, issued low grades for parents' behavior and a win-at-all-cost mentality fostered by the grown-ups who oversee kids' sports." It seems like every parent has dreams of professional sports for their child when they grow up and by yelling and screaming during competition, the kids get a negative outlook on the sport. When they think of baseball they remember when dad ran on the field and speared the umpire into the ground for calling their child out at 3rd base. For the rest of that kid’s life he is going to look down on the sport and remember how his father not only embarrassed his child, but himself and his entire family. There’s not much you can do to combat these crazy and savage parents of today, but all we can hope is the children are getting some kind of a positive experience out of all that they see at such a young age. Let me know what you think about this post and fill me in with some negative experiences of youth sport when you were younger!