Posted on 02/02/2014 5:37:21 AM PST by cambyses
The other day I got an email from a liberal friend of mine asking to sign up a petition to end the NFL's "charity" tax break. In the same day watching TV, - I believe was MCNBC- the commentator, interviewed some old famous football players, tray to convince the audience how danger is the American football. And to support his "concept", he kept quoting several times pres Obama :If a have a son I would not let him play pro football". Is that an attack of the liberals on the American football or I am too sensitive?
Two of mine asked to play soccer; it is big in the area (our town of 40K had three starters on the US team when we hosted the World Cup in ‘94) and many of their classmates play. I played a lot of street hockey when I was younger, but hockey seems to have diminished in popularity as demograhics change. Even when the NJ Devils won their first Stanley Cup, their “parade” was in the parking lot of the arena in the Meadowlands (where the Super Bowl is being played today); contrast this to the Rangers’ parade in NYC. I’d be much more open to them playing hockey, though it is an expensive sport (even for kids).
I agree that football will end because of all those litigations.
The Northwestern college players are trying to unionize and asking to be paid. It may end college football as we know it as well.
If we asked any player if he would stop playing football, even with those debilitating injuries, if he considered the injuries vs the millions of dollars they get paid, they would probably chose pay.
Yes - kids can get hurt with baseball bats playing baseball, knee injuries are more common in basketball than any sport, football players who don’t wear properly fitted equipment or maintain a good standard of fitness are more prone than otherwise to injuries, we’ve heard it all
and the nation, through the media has heard all these overblown hypes about teens in sports, which actual statistics do not support as “epidemics”,
but no matter, boys, with a lot of coaching from “modern” parents, and the media, and participating in all team sports in increasingly declining numbers, becoming a generation of couch-potatoe video game junkies in increasing numbers, failing in the character traits of pushing one’s self to accomplish what you are capable of, dedication to working with others to accomplish goals, understanding what it means when others are depending on you, achieving a sense of accomplishment and other attributes that team sports help build
it is a recipe that says team sports are “bad” because G-d forbid that boys develop the characters that have been expected of men
the actual average GPA of boys participating in team sports is higher than those who do not
and guess what, along with the media and modern parent disincentives toward boys participating in team sports, boys are not seeing their way forward to a career choice after highschool and enter college less frequently than girls
the entire education structure has mounted an attack against boys becoming the kind of men that boys are intended to become, it has become feminized and the results show it
we need to revisit the whole matter of what a “tax exempt non-profit” organiztion should be limited to
Labor unions don’t pay any taxes, and they spend their money on getting Democrats elected and raising everybody else’s taxes. I don’t hear the outrage over that.
I think the more important question is why do professional athletes have to pay an additional state tax [some more hefty than others i.e. liberal states NY/NJ/CA] prorated for every sporting event they participate in out of state?
Everyday the states get more and more greedy and power hungry just like the feds. We need some devolution ~ return power to the people and governance at the local level.
Too bad hardly any elected or appointed official nowadays gives any real thought to their sworn allegiance to the constitution.
“If we asked any player if he would stop playing football, even with those debilitating injuries, if he considered the injuries vs the millions of dollars they get paid, they would probably chose pay.”
Probably; considering the alternatives, who would blame them? Retiring before you reach middle age, with a lot of money?
“the actual average GPA of boys participating in team sports is higher than those who do not”
The grades can be suspect due to coaches’ influence; we oldest pulled my oldest son from soccer because his grades were suffering (not to where he would be ineligible, but we aim higher than that). A lot of time required to play HS soccer (every weekday, and Saturdays - he’d come home exhausted).
Boys’ sports are as popular as ever in my town; there is little liberalism, just hard-working middle-class (mostly intact) families. Any attack on them isn’t taking root here...
yes if a kid’s grades suffer because they cannot (or will not) do team sports (or some other “extra-curricular” activity) AND put enough into their academics, they should have to give up the activity.
that said, there is a lot of good that an awful lot of kids get out of team sports, I can even say there are some kids that are “missing out” and being under served by their lack of participation (or even join the “cheer leaders” or the band if their not into sports - get into any hardworking “team” activity with their peers in school)
I agree; I think sports in general are even more important today than in the past for kids because of their notorious inactivity and electronic interaction. I was on the rifle team in high school, but it took a lot less time than other sports (I worked part-time as well, with rifle practices as night and matches on weekends).
There is no remainder of the money. Even if the NFL lost tax exemption it wouldn’t pay taxes because it makes no money. The structure is that the teams each kick in money to run the league office, just enough to pay the expenses. Any kind of revenue the league “gets” is actually team revenue divied up through various ratios. And the other sports follow a similar model.
Very possible..doubt they will remove affiliation with the schools...but the players may become paid professionals.
Northwestern...I can hear the cheer...Get the team in the Teamsters!
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