Being an athlete in high school I never even thought of being paid to be one, but why not? After reading these articles I realized that high school sports are amounting far greater than they used to. They are now broadcasted more in the media. Instead of just reading about them from local towns they are getting time on the television. Like Hardin and Corrigan state, “parents, students, boosters, and college fans are eager to learn about potential recruits are now more demanding of coverage” (90). For instance, there are websites that scouts, and just people who want to know information about high school athletics, can go to for up to date feed about high school star athletes such as http://www.rivals.com/ or http://www.flavarsity.com/ where you need to pay a membership fee to get the stats. This is fine, except for the fact that the athletes featured on this website make no money from this, even though they are the stars of the website. Yeah, the owner of the website needs to find the information to post it, but at least a small percentage should be given to the athlete him or herself. However, it is argued that this is because in high school athletes play for the love of the game, and that should be suffice. Therefore those getting paid would seem ridiculous. Should high school athletes get paid for their image being marketed? If so, do you even think they would spend the money wisely? Or would this become a worse problem, where their parents would get involved and would begin to exploit their children more and more so that they could cash in for their children’s earnings?
In both of our readings the authors talk about newspaper articles and how baseball has been turned from being glorified to being hated because of the steroid scandal. But keep in mind it’s also been argued that by trying to pay the athletes they may resort to trying to become bigger and better at the fastest rate possible to become the front page. And do this by resorting to the usage of steroids. Which as we saw from Haigh’s article, caused major disruption to the fan base in believing that the major league baseball players were only doing so well, because they were taking drugs? When Haigh mentions how Rick Morrissey noticed the alarming rate of records being broken and “asked if it was fair to let players who were ‘juiced’ have credit for something that the would not achieve without the help of steroids”(3). The image of “purity” needs to be kept within the realm of high school athletics or they will begin to lose their fan base due to the fact that the one thing that kept them different from college and major league athletics would be gone.
People will continue to look at the coverage of high school athletics because of their image of “purity.” Meaning that, something that makes a high school student, a better, more rounded individual, is being an athlete. People love this because it tends to build the community stronger as a whole. As Hardin and Corrigan describe, “it erased class, race, gender and generational lines and coalescing neighbors around a single goal: beating the cross-town rival” (90). I can completely agree with this essay because it struck home. I went to a very diverse school in Florida, were there were always the hallway fights. But, when those Friday night lights turned on, it was like the fighting and hating stopped within the school but was used to scream at our rivals. We didn’t have hockey, lacrosse, field hockey etc. Yeah my basketball team was okay but, football was the big deal. “Perhaps it is not a stretch to argue that the relationship between high school sports, media and the culture urgently needs much closer scrutiny than it has received” (92).
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In no way shape of form should high school athletes be paid. The whole idea about being a high school athlete is being able to represent your school and your community. Yes, the coverage of high school sports has grown drastically over the years, but that does not mean that it is time to pay the athletes.
ReplyDeleteHardin and Corrigan discussed the “purity” of high school sports, and if the athletes started to be paid, there is no question that the love of high school sports would dramatically dwindle. I believe that the reason for the boom in coverage of high school athletics is because the communities appreciate the athletes competing simply for their love of the game. Most all athletes aspire to play their particular sport at the highest level that they can, but no matter the athlete, they all appreciate and play for what it says on the front of their jersey. Have you ever seen a player’s name on the front of their jersey? I sure haven’t, and that is because the team, the school, and the community are far bigger than the individual athlete. Additionally, the love of high school sports is because people appreciate athletes simply competing because of their passion for their sport. Soon enough, those former standout athletes will become part of the community that supports the high school team.
Yes the team, school, and community are far bigger than the individual athlete, but that is not to say that big time athletes do not impact the amount of coverage of a given sport. On a national scene, we saw this in 2002 when Lebron James was known as the best high school basketball player in the country. James attended St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, and although he was the one going into the NBA Draft the following year, it was his high school that was playing a game, which was being aired on ESPN (Hardin and Corrigan). There is no denying that James was the reason that his school was playing on ESPN; however, it was still another game on their schedule and shared the same importance as any other competition.
Okay, so let’s assume for argument sake that Lebron James was paid during high school for being a part of photo shoots, giving interviews, and holding autograph sessions because everyone knows he will be a stud in the NBA. Sure, positive coverage is good coverage, but what would happen if James was found taking steroids and found guilty of vandalizing various things around the Akron community. Then what? Well, one thing’s for sure, that the beloved high school superstar Lebron James will have more individual media coverage than ever. Now, instead of having positive and influential coverage of Lebron James and St. Vincent-St.Mary’s High School, there is now a dark cloud over both athlete and school. The amount of pressure that comes with being a paid athlete is astronomical and far too great for a teenager to handle.
Think about it, if professional athletes, specifically baseball players, find it difficult to handle the pressure of always performing at the highest level, then one can imagine how an immature teenager would cope with it. Michael Haigh discusses the steroid era in Major League Baseball in his article, “‘The Cream,’ The ‘Clear,’ BALCO and Baseball” and Haigh discussed the congressional hearings that involved Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Jose Canseco. Palmerio was in the spotlight as one of the best statistical players to play the game, and even he could not handle the pressure. He even took it to the limit of lying under oath to Congress saying that he never used performing-enhancing drugs. If that is how a so-called “true” professional acts, you can only imagine how a young kid would do with that pressure (Haigh,2).
Fine, if high school athletes should be paid, pay them by congratulating them on a terrific performance or pay them getting as many fans as possible at their games. Show the athletes appreciation as they walk through the hallways at school but please do not have high school athletes and money included in the same thought.
Posted on behalf of Will Cavallo:
ReplyDeleteThere is now way that a high school athlete should be paid. I agree with Brett, saying that athlete’s should be congratulated by their community and by having pride for their school. Yes it is true that high school sports have grown tremendously over the years, but is that enough to say that we should be paying them. As Hardin and Corrigan say, “Regional cable networks can rely on local interest in high school match-ups. National outlets, most notably ESPN, use media-generated rankings of teams and athletes to market games.”(90)
Is this how we plan on paying the athletes, just with the money from the media? There are too many questions surrounding this topic to make it viable, I think. How much would an athlete make? Would different sports get different money? What about non-athletes, how would they feel?
High school athletes and college athletes are armatures, that is why they don’t make any money, and that is why the professionals are called professionals. Professionals have one job and it is to play their sport to the best of their ability. Student athletes still have the term student before athlete, I think that stand for something. You go to high school to get an education, not to get paid for playing a sport.
Purity is a word associated with high school sports. Supposedly no high school athletes enhance their athletic abilities with performance enhancers. It is now inevitable for high school athletes to take the path of professional and college athletes. I feel though if we were to pay high school athletes it would no longer be seen as pure. Some athletes would feel the pressure of being paid, and try to get the most out of their bodies unnaturally.
In the article “‘The Cream,’ The ‘Clear,’ BALCO and Baseball” Haigh says, “MLB had to repair its image after the congressional hearing about baseball and steroids drew more spectators and camera crews than the impeachment hearing of President Bill Clinton.” (Price 2006)(2). Would high school sports like to have to repair their image if one of the top stars did something he/she wasn’t supposed to do? Most high school athletes don’t have the maturity level to be paid and handle it well. In fact some professional athletes have a tough time staying out of the spotlight. Plaxico Burress is a perfect example of an athlete not being intelligent. He shoots himself and now will be spending 2 years behind bars. Im not saying that’s what high school athletes are doing, but I think most people don’t want it coming down to that.
A high school sport is not a business like the NFL or any other professional sport. High school spots should remain armature, and having nothing to do with money, just pride and the community.
I do not think that it would be wise to ever pay a high school athlete because they are an athletic star. From personal experience, as a junior and senior in high school, I tended to let my abilities to go to my head. I played soccer all four years of high school-not always varsity-but i was involved none the less. As far as athletes being payed because their stats and profiles are available to the public, i dont think it should even be up for debate.
ReplyDeleteHardin and Corrigan mention in their essay, "Media and the Business of High School Sports", that reporters tend to handle high school athletes with "kid gloves" (91). This makes sense because in high school, everyone is still a kid. They are living at home with their parents, still living the same life style they lived in fourth grade.
Many of the athletes would probably not spend their money wisely at all. Unfortunatly, more and more high school students, even as young as 9th grade are begginning to drink and try drugs. For example, according to The Eagle County's Colorado Healthy Kids Survey 2007-08, 29% of kids start drinking before age 13. Thats crazy to consider mostly because I have a 13 year old brother whose favorite hobby is to build forts in our woods.
High School athletes should focus on their love for the game, and not just do it for the paycheck. The point of being a kid is to solely enjoy life, and as kids grow and go to college, then they can consider ways to make money.
I do believe that more parents than not would exploit their kids in order to make money for themselves. When money gets involved, the game changes for everyone involved. For instance, young athletes would be more inclined to take steroids, to better their game, and make money for their parents. They see it on tv and in the MLB so why shouldn't they take steroids to give them an advantage? According to Haigh's article "BALCO and Baseball", Jose Canseco mentioned numerous names of steroid users throughout the MLB (1). Many of these were big time names that kids throughout the country looked up to.
I strongly feel that high school athletes should play for the love of the game, and not to make money. Money corrupts people, it never fails. Why try to drag corruption into the purest version of sport we have left.