Collective Bargaining For Student Athletes: Yes or No

Recently here in Illinois a local university (Northwestern) lost a court case concerning whether or not student athletes should be considered employees of the school. And the student athletes won! I was very surprised at some of the reactions I received from  people that I know. The majority of the people I talked to disagree with the outcome.

I am not in that group.

I think they should be considered employees and I think they should get paid! Let me enlighten the unenlightened, the following is a article I found concerning the agreement, to me it says it all:

........Northwestern's scholarship football players should be eligible to form a union based on a number of factors, including the time they devote to football (as many as 50 hours some weeks), the control exerted by coaches and their scholarships, which Mr. Ohr deemed a contract for compensation.

"It cannot be said that the employer's scholarship players are "primarily students,'" the decision said.

the ruling comes at a time when the NCAA and its largest conferences are generating billions of dollars, primarily from football and men's basketball.  The television contract for the new college football playoff system is worth $7.3 billion over 10 years, and the current deal to broadcast the men's basketball tournament is worth $10.8 billion over 14 years.

If you want to read more the following is the link to the entire aticle:
                                                       

College Players Granted Right to Form Union In-Depth-New York Times-Mar 26, 2014

To me it's ridiculous how schools have the nerve to want to make this public. They should just be quiet about it and do what's right. I guess I am a little biased by this, having been a former student athlete.

 I'm not even going to put my argument in this post about why I agree with the decision made in favor of the student athlete, because if I did I would never end this post. Schools and coaches have been making money off of student athletes for a very long time. 

I will mention one argument that was presented to me. It was "the athletes are getting a free education". I mentioned Dexter Manley a former NFL football player who could not read yet he went to Oklahoma State University. How did he even get in the school and couldn't read, I'll tell you why because most of the schools out here want revenue, money, it's called greed and they don't want to share it with the athletes who are getting it for them. 

So don't give me that crap of getting a free education, there are probably more student athletes that got pushed through and given a pass than the ones who actually went to class and busted their rear ends to get out. 

So now the schools are appealing the decision. I hope they lose and I hope that this will set off a domino effect for all the student athletes to come together and say to these big time universities...PAY UP!!!

Raising Kids: What's Next!!??

I just received a call from the 8th grade principal of my sons school. He started off saying it was a delicate matter and that another parent called him and was very upset. The rumor going around the school was that a 8th grade girl performed fellatio on an 8th grade boy.

The rumor started by the 8th grade boy telling my son this happened at a basketball game. My son then went and told one of his friends and then the rumor spiraled out of control until it reached the 8th grade girls mom. Needless to say the mom of the 8th grade girl was livid. The principle called me and told me he was trying to get to the bottom of this as far as trying to find out who started this whole "mess".

He questioned the 8th grade boy who told him he did not tell my son the girl was going to perform fellatio on him. He said he told my son the girl was going to give him a kiss. The principal then questioned my son who told him "that was different" as far as the answer the 8th grade boy gave the principal. My son then went on and told the principal the 8th grade boy sent him a text message saying the fellatio part. My son also told him he didn't know if he had deleted the message from his phone. The principal wanted my permission to see if he could retrieve the message from my sons phone.

It all ended well (at least for me and my son) because the 8th grade boy did finally confess and say he did tell my son that about the 8th grade girl. The most surprising thing about this to me was how, at such a young age, kids can distort and spread rumors. I am angry with my son  for telling anyone something like that.

I am curious about one thing. The principal asked my son which parent he wanted him to call his mom or his dad. He chose me (his dad) I am writing this while at work and I have not had a chance to talk with him about this yet, and he most assuredly knows he will get a good talking to when I get home. Now I'm curious about what else my  winged angel, halo wearing son is doing once he leaves the comfort of his home. WHAT'S NEXT!!!!

The Search

It seems that there is a lot of turmoil and disasters happening everyday. There is a financial crisis worldwide, everyone is (or should be) trying to find a way to make things better for their families as well as themselves. Everyone seems to be trying to find answers. Where do you search to find solutions for the many questions we face in life? Where do you go to find peace? Searching within yourself will give you all the answers you are looking for. There is a light in all of us we are born with it, there is an undeniable spirit in us all. Soul searching is what we all do at one time in our lives. Truth abounds in us all, it's facing that truth that sometimes leaves us confused. The worst thing any of us can do is lie to ourselves, self evaluation is probably one of the toughest things we have to face in our lives. It will sadden us or make us happy. Being a nurturing parent I tell my kids to never lie to themselves. If you are totally honest to yourself I believe life becomes simpler. Always search yourself with honesty and humility and a peace will come upon you that you never thought could happen. A warmthness will occur that will surprise you. With all the seemingly impossible obstacles around us that we face in our lives the search within ourselves will always bring a solution to whatever turmoils and troubles we face. We just have to remember that when we do need a solution all we have to do is the search.

My Son Asked What Is Patriotism?

My son is 13 yrs. old and he had a school assignment, his assignment was to write a paper about what patriotism meant to him. He told me about his paper and I asked him, "what does it mean to you?" (I was thinking to myself he doesn't even know what the word means) He actually told me he didn't know what the word meant. I asked him, "how can you write about it if you don't know what it means?" He thought about it for a long time and the following is his paper:

When this assignment was given concerning patriotism I didn't know what patriotism meant. I told my dad I had to write a paper on patriotism and he asked me if I knew the definition of the word patriotism. I told him no. He said that my paper would better if I knew what the word meant. I went to the dictionary and I looked up the word and the definition was, "Love that people feel for their country." I thought to myself do I feel that way.  I love my mom, I love my dad, I love my brother, I love my grandparents. and I love video games. I wondered do I feel the same way about my country. I really thought about this and that made me start asking questions about patriotism to my family and friends. I asked them what was patriotism. I didn't quite understand all of the answers, but the answer that got my attention the most I will share.

Patriotism to most of the people I asked did represent the country except they talked about it in terms of the earth. They told me when you feel something in your heart  you would be willing to make sacrifices for it. It's something you are proud of and that you would never want to be without it.

 I thought about this for a long time before I started writing this paper. I though what do I feel passionately about in my heart? What do I feel proud of and what would I be willing to sacrifice for? When I thought about it the answer was so clear to me. I feel all of that for God. When I told my dad he said that made sense because every country on earth belongs to God and who better to be patriotic to. I'm not old enough to really understand what love of country is, but I have known for a long time the love I have for the Lord. If this is how patriotism is suppose to feel I know when I am old enough to understand it I will welcome it with all my heart.