Sports Gambling Never Stops

The Super Bowl of the sports gambling, it’s called March Madness. Where dreams are made and gambling addictions are born. Although it only boosts Vegas gambling commission from $80 million to $90 million, there’s an estimated $7 billion spent illegally by friends, family, workplace, online and anywhere else imaginable. Vegas doesn't complain though, the city is almost completely booked out with an average 97.7% occupancy rate during the last weeks of March Madness.

Even though the NCAA aggressively acts against the popular betting season, the gambling continues to grow.

“Sports wagering can be a serious crime that threatens the well-being of student-athletes and the integrity of the game.” -NCAA

It’s grown so much that is been debated as a gambling event even more than a sporting event! There are countless tips and tricks for gamblers to get the most out of the March Madness. Statistics are built up over decades, fan favorites are promoted to the fullest and some are simply trying to get lucky like everyone else.

As most of the gambling from March Madness is between friends, co-workers, or other similar situations, it tends to become an appealing social activity for others to join in. Some have even labeled March Madness gambling as a “gate-way” gambling problem.

For the love of the game, I sincerely pray that the forces of gambling does not interfere with the meaning of what makes sports so great. Especially for such young adults performing for millions of Americans, corrupting the game is ultimately, corrupting the players.

Always rooting for the Cinderella team.

Sports in Video Games

Video games have been growing tremendously in the past two decades. It’s estimated that 500 million people play video games every single day for at least an hour. As there are many different games to played, one genre always seems to be in the top 10 year, after year, after year.

A recent web-broadcasting network called “Twitch” has, perhaps, changed the game for sports video games forever. Twitch allows video gamers to watch other video gamers play any game available, so it becomes a more personalized film experience that’s different every single time for the viewer. Now you can watch the NBA playoffs, play the video game “NBA2K”, and watch other gamers NBA playoff tournaments that they are playing themselves.

It may sound like this is taking sports entertainment over the top with Twitch, but the public doesn’t think so. Twitch has already beat out Netflix and Hulu with online viewers, and Twitch is only a few years old. Video game spectator “sports” is growing and has already sold out the Staples Center multiple times.

As sports and video games become more intertwined, health studies on the topic have grown. The UnitedHealth Group has already launched a weight loss program for kids that are overweight or obese to lose weight in a fun and exciting way. The latest Xbox One platform with the Kinect attachment gets kids active by engaging them in a type of virtual reality. The Kinect has a camera that views the gamer as they physically have to kick, throw, punch, jump, or any other movement to play the game. The best part is, these kids lost more than 2 times the weight playing these simulation sport video games than their original weight loss program followers.

(Warning: Intense language in video)

Halting the Hazers

Hazing in sports has been a regular form of communication for years now. Physical, verbal, and even sexual abuse have all been requirements to become part of the “team”. High school sports (especially football) have been notorious for these horrible events and it wasn't long ago when these actions went along without consequences.

Light has been reaching the darkest shadows of hazing within the last decade. In 2011, a basketball team was punished for it’s horrible hazing game called “wet biscuit” that was enforced by the team leaders. Not much later a football team taped a player to the field goal post and kicked soccer balls at his head. Even kids on a soccer team were faced with rape charges after a sleepaway event at a cabin where the kids even signed an anti-hazing form before they arrived.

The National Hazing Prevention Week has been reaching to take consequences for hazing actions a step further. It’s not only the kids that might be held responsible, but parents, coaches, school directors or even the school as a whole if they knew these actions were going on and did nothing to stop it.

Leadership in sports is a critical role for success and team unity. The power that leadership gives to those few individuals at such a young age is, scary, to say the least. Maturity is huge, and being a teenager means that there’s not enough of it to go around. Schools and universities should continue making strict policies on hazing and abolish it all together. Sports was not created to scar young athletes for the rest of their lives. There are to many positive possibilities that sports can bring to kids lives than to let it be tainted by the actions of a few, immature hazers.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!

Steroids, blood-doping, and other performance enhancing drugs are all used in the pursuit of becoming the best an athlete can be. Regardless of the costs. Yet some pills are considered acceptable, some require a doctor’s prescription, others are allowed but only to a certain limit, and for completely outrageous drugs an athlete could be stripped of everything they have ever worked for. These consequences seem even more unfair than the initial problem. Athletes may have to rely on certain pills from the relief of pain, stress, or anxiety that may not be sport related. Although it’s not that hard to get a prescription from a doctor for many pills (such as Adderall) these days that are considered to give an unfair advantage. So where can the line really be drawn for an “unfair advantage” and to whom is it unfair for?

As America knows, Lance Armstrong was absolutely the best cyclist in the history of cycling. Then in 2012, Armstrong was banned from cycling and was torn from all seven Tour de France medals. An athlete’s competitive drive is what people want to see, and for many it doesn't matter what they do to increase that drive. The people want to see boundaries broken, records shattered and legends made in sports.

For decades, athletes have been trying to give just that to the people. Even with the constant rules and regulations, make one thing illegal and a work-around drug is ready to be used the following year. In the 50’s it was Benzedrine, then in the 60’s Dexedrine was ready, not much later Ritalin was ready for use and to top off all the mental buzz Valium was introduced to take the mind to bed. Apparently, it doesn't matter if it’s amphetamine or caffeine, athletes will do anything if it helps them fulfill their potential and organizations are still fighting it.

There is no perfect line for performance enhancing substances for athletes and athletes will continue to push their boundaries regardless of what a man in a suit says behind a desk. So why fight it? 

It's All About The Rage

The best part about attending your teams sporting event is that you get to loud, a little obnoxious, and throw some criticism at the opposing team and it’s all considered good fun. At what point though do you start to worry about spectators and athletes becoming so infuriated that violence is the answer? What is called, “sports rage”, among athletes and spectators can be seen at all levels, from little league to the professionals.

Two peewee teams were pulled from the playoffs when everyone apparently lost their minds. In the heat of the moment ,7 and 8 year olds were being verbally abused, leading to adults threatening each other and ultimately, a massive brawl. As we grow older one would think that, as an individual contributing to society, we would learn how to control ourselves at any event. However this doesn't stop violence at sporting events as we constantly hear about over enthusiastic fans helping out their team by any means necessary or athletes losing their composure like this guy (video below).  One of the most shocking sports stories inducing a hell like fury on the field happened in Brazil when a referee was dismembered and decapitated.

When these aggressive stories are compared to the most common reasons of attending a sporting event (socializing, entertainment, promotions, team spirit, etc) it’s surprising to find such destructive actions at first since the reasoning of this was to build a positive environment. Like all things in life, too much of a good thing can become something bad fairly quickly. Adrenaline rushing through an athlete’s veins during an emotional game, spectators protecting their own identity as well as their favorite teams, or the regular accounts of aggression escalating in many sports can take the blame for “sports rage”. 

Parents Ruining Youth Sports

The competitiveness in youth sports is growing to an insane level, and it’s rarely between the kids. The amount of screaming, verbal attacks, and offensive behavior from parents at youth sports events when I played is still burned into my memory.  My parent’s joke that what started off as CCG, a.k.a. Cal’s College Fund, slowly turned into Cal’s Counseling Fund from all the stress of youth sports and they still laugh about it today.

Naturally, every parent believes that their kid is the best on the field and they should be treated as so.  Looking back I can see how most of the parents read the statistics on how many kids go play D1 after high school and how much money parents pay to give their son or daughter a chance at the next level.

were trying to live their unfulfilled sports life through their kids. If they weren't living vicariously through the youth they were already certain that their precious child was going to be earning that big sports scholarship. Apparently these parents haven’t

They say championships are every athletes dream. However, I don’t find this applicable to the average nine year old running around on the soccer field. Children are there for the love of the game, and the game should return to the original purity that made each individual sport great to begin with. There are plenty of reason to not overrun children with sports from a young age.

As joked about earlier, the psychological effects on children from the drama and hype of sports at a young age is a real game changer.  Many kids end up being crushed from the pressure never to return, others feel like sports becomes a job except they don’t have the option of quitting. Negative physical effects are also a dangerous partof youth sports. It’s common for talented but young athletes have to leave the game due to injuries from overuse before high school. It’s even more common for kids that make it to college or professional arenas to have serious health problems only in their 20’s.

Instead of pressuring children to perform to our expectations, maybe it’s time we sit back and watch what we all originally loved about the game to begin with.  

Blood-Spattered Cash Machines

Sports are known for their lucrative money based operations. After all, they’re not in the business for “the love of the game” anymore. Superstar athletes are being paid millions and millions of dollars for what they do best. Floyd Mayweather made at least $32 million for a single fight in 2013. Football star Tom Brady will make upwards of $55 million for his upcoming seasons. Then of course we can’t forget out about the LA Angels, Albert Pujols, that will make $240 million over his 10 year contract! This is only taking into consideration the athletes, there are outstanding numbers behind the net worth of the NFL, NBA, and other professional sport leagues.

Although, no one seems to know how much UFC fighters are making or how well the UFC organization is doing in general. The answer is, the UFC is doing incredibly well, and they’re only getting better with age. UFC has strangely guarded their finance numbers compared to other professional sport leagues, but after a little digging there’s some surprising facts.

In 2001 the UFC was hardly worth $2 million when the Fertittas bought the organization. Fast forward a single decade later and you’re looking at one of the fasting growing poHERE. From a certain standpoint, it’s hard to place a price tag on someone that’s entering the “lion’s den” for a living. Certainly even harder when the possibility of a knee or elbow could leave you in a wheelchair, a coma, or even dead on the mats. Several studies have estimated that lower tier UFC athletes could only be making as little as $70,000 a year for their efforts.

werhouses in the entire sports industry, and a heads up, the brake line seems to be broken.  Today the UFC is valued well over the billion dollar mark and is estimated to make up of 90% of the total MMA industry. Superstars in the UFC are enjoying the growth as well. Fighter George St-Pierre makes an estimated $5-6 million every time he steps into the octagon. However, this does not mean that every UFC athlete feels like they’re being paid fairly as you can see

The UFC does business a little differently than other sport organizations. Unlike other professional organization that have laws that protect their athletes, the UFC has laws that support no such thing. Managers, trainers and the athletes have no say in what minimums or extremes in the MMA financial world. This bloody business doesn’t permanently bond itself to other companies to ensure financial security either. Most of their revenue is made from pay-per-view events drawing millions and millions of dollars to the company while other TV promoters like SPIKE and The Ultimate Fighter also engage in the pay-per-view events.

More UFC statistics can be found HERE and HERE. 

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Sports

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Theory, also known as the Pygmalion Effect, has been recognized as one of the most performance boosting theories in all sports. If an individual believes they’re going to lose the game before the event, chances are, they are right. If that same individual believes that they’re going to succeed and can taste victory before the bell rings, then chances are we have a completely different story. Research has proven that the prophecies we hold to ourselves are more important than the actual practice of the event. More than enough research has shown the effects of this theory on education and children, college coaches and athletes, job opportunities or careers and many others that prove to be more than enough motivation to start applying to one’s everyday life.

 In the world of Martial Arts, Bruce Lee is known as the creator. Gathering the best techniques from a variety of systems and meshing it all together into one unstoppable force. Lee has changed the world of Martial Arts forever. The UFC is arguably only here because of what Lee has managed to do in his lifetime. The focus and application of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in this one individual is unmatched from any other athlete.

“You just wait. I’m going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.” – Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee isn’t the only athlete that believes in this mindset. Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, LeBron James, and Tiger Woods have all shared similar experiences of how they “imagine” themselves executing their sport perfectly before they perform. Other inspirational stories are based off the amount of faith an individual has in themselves, often times overcoming the impossible. One of the first great stories about the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Theory is the Heather Stepp Story which you can read more about it here.

The power of this theory alone I believe is capable of changing any athletes outcome. I believe the best way to sum up such a theory is best told by the master himself.

“As you think, so shall you become.” – Bruce Lee