The life of an olympic athlete

Sarah Robles / Otagenki.com

Olympic athletes have a rigorous training schedule and dedicate their lives to their sport, but what is not as immediately obvious are their financial struggles. Often, Olympic athletes depend solely on the funding of their sponsors to get through their training, leaving them to find another source of income to provide for their basic needs.

“Heading into the Sochi Games, some of the USA’s elite athletes live below the poverty line,” Kelly Whiteside wrote  in a 2013 USA TODAY Sports article.

Sarah Robles, an olympic weight lifter, is one of the many Olympic athletes that struggled economically through most of her Olympic training. Her priorities shifted from funding her Olympic journey to supporting her basic needs of food and shelter. The only way she was able to continue her training was through donations made by people close to her, and her motivation for success.

Olympic athletes are faced with the problem of their life after sport. An Olympic athlete dedicates many years of his/her life to training, leaving many without a plan of what to do next. After retiring from a sport, there is a major adjustment to make from practicing everyday, to pursuing a job and not being able to play their sport as much.

“For world-class athletes who have focused their lives on training, their next Olympian task has no direct path: Readjusting to a routine outside competitive sports and creating a new life that may or may not involve the limelight,” Raissa Ioussouf wrote in a 2012 article for the Huffington Post.

Olympians have to find something else to occupy their time with after they retire, since they do not exercise as much. Before their Olympic careers end, Olympians have very busy schedules. In preparation for big competitions such as the Olympics, Olympians commit most of their day to training and leading a healthy life. Aside from just playing their sport, Olympians have a lot of other training to do such as weightlifting and conditioning to stay fit for their season.

“I usually swim, bike and run every day and do strength and conditioning work two or three days a week.” Helen Jenkins, an Olympic triathlete, said in a 2012 Sport Wale article.

Part of what makes Olympians so valuable and admirable is that they do what is hard for many people by going beyond what is thought humans can do. Although what the Olympians achieve is apparent, what is less clear, is the amount of time they spend training for their success and the difficulty it takes to get there.

Written by Asimina Hamakiotes and Harry Smith

The growing Olympics

All the host cities of the Winter Olympics / Wikimedia Commons

The modern Olympic games have grown in scale exponentially since its beginning in 1896. More countries participate now and there is a greater sense of equality in both gender and race. The games are a much more accurate measure for who is the best of the world due to these changes.

The very first winter Olympics only permitted the participation of Scandinavian countries, such as Norway and Sweden. The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games allowed 84 different countries from six continents. A growth in the number of teams in the Olympics also increases the challenge to win as there are more athletes to compete against each other.

On top of a more varied pool of countries, the athletes of each country became more and more diverse. Since the first Olympics, all races could compete, but each country was responsible for deciding on athletes represent them. Countries with a history of racism hosted or entered the Olympics since it began. The racism in competing nations brought controversy to the games. There were even talks of boycotting the 1968 Olympics in Mexico from Martin Luther King Jr.

"We're not saying ‘burn it down,'" King Jr. said in The John Carlos Story. "We're just merely saying we don't care to participate and see how you feel without us as a part of the show."

Women also became a bigger part of the games. The first time that women were allowed to compete was the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris. Only 22 out of 997 athletes were females and they participated in five different sports including tennis and golf. In contrast, 44 percent of the athletes were women in the more recent 2012 Olympics in London.

“More and more women are chairing IOC commissions, such as the Coordination Commissions for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the 2nd Winter Youth Olympic Games in 2016 in Lillehammer, as well as the Women and Sport Commission and Athletes’ Commission,” International Olympic Committee reported in an October 2013 fact sheet.

The growth of the Olympics also appears in the increased money surrounding the games. In 1976, the Olympics cost about $1.6 billion. Host countries now more than ever view the Olympics as an opportunity to demonstrate their wealth and success. Almost four decades later, the 2014 games cost a whopping $51 billion.

“For President Putin [staging the Games] is a chance to show off Russia as a resurgent superpower,” Rick Broadbent and Ben Hoyle wrote in a Times of London article in 2014.

Contributed by: Sean Santiago, Velid Mulic

Celebrating the Rangers' 20th Anniversary of their 1994 Stanley Cup victory

"The Wait is Over" / sportspubbooks.com

For New Yorkers, the Rangers are a big part of their sports world with a following that spans multiple generations. With the Stanley Cup playoffs still in progress, they are glad to see that the New York Rangers have made it so far. The last time the Rangers won the Stanley Cup was in 1994, making this year the 20th anniversary of their title. That championship ended a 54 year championship drought.

John Kreiser’s book, "The Wait is Over," tells the tale of the Rangers team that battled all season long to ultimately win the championship in 1994. Prior to that year, the Rangers suffered a disappointing season in 1992-1993 by not making the playoffs. What made it even worse was the fact that their 1991-1992 season was successful. They placed first in the Patrick division holding 50 wins and 25 losses. It was devastating to go from a top tier team, to a team that could not even qualify to play for the Stanley Cup.

John Krieser opens with those contrasting seasons and then moves on to the rebuilding process after the 1992-1993 season. The Rangers had a lot question marks and wondered who would be their key pieces on the team. They knew that they had to qualify for the playoffs this season. These questions resulted in answers in the form of future Hall of Famers like Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, and Steve Larmer. Mike Keenan became the head coach and the team looked ready to make a playoff run.

With the team built, Kreiser shifted the focus to the regular season. With a good mix of storytelling and dialogue from the players, people can relive the entire 1993-1994 year starting from the Ranger's Mustard Cup run in London, to the dramatic weeks before the trade deadline, and the race for the President’s Trophy. Every highlight of every game is mentioned and it feels like reading the game recap on the actual National Hockey League (NHL) website; however, this may be a negative for casual fans or readers. People may be looking for the highlights of the season rather than every single game played by the Rangers.

The Stanley Cup playoffs is a better part of the book. John Kreiser gave breakdowns of the statistics of the teams that the Rangers faced. He answered questions like, “Why will this team make this series easy or hard?”, and “Which player or players should the Rangers look out for?”, while describing every game of each series in high detail similar to the regular season games. Since it was the playoffs for the championship, reading the recap of the games was not as tedious as reading the regular season games.

A positive aspect about Kreiser’s writing in this book is that he portrays the emotions of the players during and after each game. The dialogue by the former players that are incorporated into the book depicts the intensity of each game, the players' determination to win, and happiness that came with winning. It helps put life to the games and players.

"The Wait is Over" provides great insight on the minds, effort, and management of the Rangers team that won the Stanley Cup in 1993-1994. Kreiser delves deep into the regular season and some readers may probably only want the highlights of what happened during each month rather than every game. Dialogue from the players on the Rangers brings life to this work. The playoff run for the Stanley Cup is probably the best part of the book. Neil Smith believes that this work brings back old memories for fans and helps younger generations of fans envision themselves as being there to watch the game. "The Wait is Over" is a worthy pick up for anybody who is a fan of the Rangers or wants to read about a championship in New York.

Should performance enhancing drugs be legalized?

Performance Enhancing Drugs / Wordonfire.org

Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are very prevalent in sports, but only a small majority of players are caught using them. PEDs are considered to be unsportsmanlike in their use because of the unfair advantage that they offer. In addition, there are many risks in taking them, like psychological issues and permanent nerve damage. Knowing the risks, multiple players still use these drugs to gain an upper hand.

With so many players getting caught using PEDs, some have come to the conclusion that PEDs should be allowed in professional sports. In Major League Baseball alone, 31 athletes have been caught doping and in the National Football League over 20 athletes have also been caught doping. On a global scale, the Olympics and the Tour de France potentially face a great doping problem.

“Eighty percent of the Tour de France medalists between 1996 and 2010 have been similarly tainted by doping',” according to a 2013 USADA report on Lance Armstrong.

By legalizing PEDs and allowing all players to use them, the drugs could be monitored and regulated. This would allow players to take the drugs in safer and more knowledgeable conditions, leveling the playing field for all players. By doping, players could hit harder, run and react faster, putting the game on a higher level.

Extreme records could be achieved and this is shown through top athletes who have taken PEDs, like seven consecutive winner of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong. Even though legalizing these drugs seem like it would make the game better, it wouldn't fix all of the issues that already exist. In addition, it would bring forth new problems.

If PEDs become regulated, they are still dangerous and can injure players. After seeing their heroes take drugs, it may influence children to take drugs as well. There are many side effects to taking drugs like heart and circulatory problems. Knowing these severe risks, it is hard to justify the legalization of these drugs

Allowing PEDs to be available to all athletes may not even level the playing field, since some players have a moral code against using drugs or are scared of the risks it presents. Sports are considered to be so sacred because they showcase the pinnacle of human skill. By taking drugs, it would no longer be about how far a human can push himself, but on well we can create them.

“We want humans to do superhuman things -- but only in a very human way. Yes, you can try to make steroids legal. That doesn't mean they will ever seem OK,” Michael Rosenberg wrote in a 2010 Sports Illustrated article.

Written by Justin Wu and Kofi Odame 

Technological development in sports

In sports there is always room for improvement. A lot of that improvement is from the skill of the athletes, but a major factor contributing to the advancement of sports is the advancement of technology. Although many technological developments have contributed to sports throughout the years, the two most significant were the progression of football helmets and the evolution of basketball shoes.

Throughout the history of football, there has undoubtedly been vast amounts of research and development regarding helmets. Since the 1930s when the first plastic helmet was developed, helmets have provided a physical shell to protect the player from taking the brunt of a hit. The question remains, how effective are helmets at protecting players from head injuries?

Helmets don’t soften the hit and they don’t make the wearer’s head stronger. The reason that helmets reduce the risk of injury is because they increase the amount of time that it takes for the force to transfer from one player to another. Since the impulse (or change in momentum) stays the same, the increase of time reduces the force that is transferred to the head.

In order to determine the effectiveness of modern helmets, one must understand that there are two major types of head injuries: skull fractures and concussions. As helmets have evolved, there is no doubt that they better protect against hard impacts that would cause something like a skull fracture. Brain damage, on the other hand, occurs because of rapid movements of the brain inside the head. Since helmets do not actually hold the brain in place, they are only minimally effective in protecting against brain damage.

A study was conducted by researchers from Cleveland Clinic's Spine Research Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University to compare the protection leather and plastic helmets have against concussions. The researchers tested different types of hits on the helmets and found that the modern helmets did not perform as they expected.

“To the researchers surprise, the old and new helmets performed equally in the tests,” Susan Perry said in a 2011 MinnPost article about the study. “In fact, for many of the impacts — particularly frontal hits — the leather helmets performed better.”

The researchers at CCSRL and CWRU also found that even the helmets that performed the best in the tests only reduced the risk of brain damage by 20-30%. In another study done, a researcher at Virginia Tech, Stefan Duma, found that some of the most popular helmets, including the Riddell VSR4 and the Adams A2000 Pro Elite, had marginal to no protection against concussions.

Most modern helmets do provide protection against all types of head injury, and wearing a helmet is definitely recommended when playing football. The technology is available to make helmets more effective. Combining the aspects of leather helmets that outperformed plastic helmets is just one improvement that could be made. While the development of helmets continues to make football safer, basketball shoes are the most important aspect of the safety of basketball players.

Basketball sneakers are highly coveted across the globe, sought after not only for their trendy designs, but the prevention from injury that they provide. In 1917, the first basketball shoe was made by Converse, the All-Star. The All-Star was made up of just a rubber sole and a canvas top. For the next four decades, they were the shoe of choice among basketball players everywhere.

Nike Air Jordan 1 / Kevin from Yardley, Pennsylvania

Then in the 1970s the shoes basketball players preferred started to change. This happened because shoes such as the Nike Blazer started using innovative leather materials. This made players choose the Blazers over the Converse shoes because the shoes made of leather provided more ankle support. Several years later Nike produced the Air Force one which had Nike Air technology.

Nike Air is the technology that brought a new era of shoes to basketball. Nike Air was compressed air that nike would put in the soles of their shoes. The system improved shock absorption and cushioning, and this helps take stress off muscles and tendons when running. This technology was first used in the Air Force ones in the early 1980s and then shortly after that the Air Jordan 1.

 The injury prevention that Nike Air provides is just one of the reasons why basketball sneakers are coveted around the world. The continuing development of shoes, like Nike Air, and football helmets such as the Riddell 360, are just some of the advancements in sports technology. These advancements make sports more competitive and safer for future players.

The world of sports endorsements

Athletic endorsements have an allure that other industries don’t have; fans feel connected to players and their successes through their endorsed products. This makes the field extremely lucrative, raking in millions of dollars for athletes and even more for endorsing companies.

Lebron James / Serenity Forbes / Flikr.com

Adding an athlete's name to a product instantly draws fans to buy it. Fans look up to these athletes in one way or another, so these products make them feel connected to their heroes. Consider the popularity of Lebron James’ basketball shoes; not only is he a great player on the court, but he’s also a role model to many aspiring athletes. In 2012 Lebron's shoes earned Nike $300 million which was a 50% increase from 2011.

“There’s an emotional connection that fans make when they see their sport heroes endorsing a line of shoes,” Robert Passikoff said in a 2013 Forbes article. “It’s something that they both physically and emotionally identify with. Maybe they even think in their heart of hearts that the equipment will help them play a bit better.”

Both the brand and athlete benefit from these endorsements. When professional athletes are endorsed they increase the brand equity, or how well known the brand is. Popular athletes can expand the prestige of a brand because of how idolized and highly valued they are, in return athletes get to remain in the center of attention on and off the court.

Not only can athletes increase the brand’s equity, but they also get endorsed when their public image aligns with the values of a company. When athletes mess up their public image, they often lose lucrative endorsement deals. One example is Michael Phelps losing Kellogg’s endorsement. They cut ties with him after he was caught smoking an illegal substance.

"We decided to send a strong message to Michael because he disappointed so many people, particularly the hundreds of thousands of USA Swimming member kids who look up to him as a role model and hero," the Kellogg's organization said in a 2009 NYTimes.com article.  

 Brands ride on the skill and image of popular players to make millions. It seems that this trend will continue due to the ever present reverence for athletes; however, some think with the influx of social media, athletes will become even more popular. In the future, athletic endorsements may increase dramatically because of greater fan to player connectivity.

By: Daniella Smith & Austin Carvey

Fired & Ice

Mike Woodson/ Chris J Nelson - Wikimedia

Who calls the Grim Reaper for the coaches at the end of the season? There has been six coaching changes in the NBA since the 2014 regular season has ended. They have been fired for either a poor record or the team does not like the coach.

The president of the New York Knicks, Phil Jackson, decided to fire Mike Woodson at the end the 2013 - 2014 season for their losing record. This season marked the first time that the Knicks did not make the playoffs since 2010. It was also the first time that Carmelo Anthony did not play in postseason.

“The move had been expected since Jackson's arrival, with the notion of a long and unexpected playoff run likely Woodson's only hope for being retained,” Sam Amick said in a 2014 USA TODAY article. 

Although a coach may do exceedingly well record wise, there still may be dysfunction among upper management or the other coaching staff. Coach Mark Jackson of the Golden State Warriors, was fired after the Warriors made it to the second round of the playoffs. Jackson brought the team to the playoffs the second time in a row since 1990.

“While Jackson was the Warriors' most successful coach since Don Nelson, tension between him and the front office slowly percolated over the last year,” Tyler Conway said in a 2014 Bleacher Report article.

The disunity caused the team to have a very powerful defense, but not the most coordinated offense. Management blamed Jackson for not finding a way to utilize All-Stars Steph Curry and Andre Iguodala’s skills to lead them further. They finished 51-31 in the Western Conference and yet Jackson was not able to salvage his job.

“When management and a coaching staff aren't on the same page, it's bound to end badly,” Conway said. “There is shared blame here, but it's much harder to fire an owner than a coach.”

NBA coaches were playing basketball before some of the players were even born, and yet, the players still get to call the shots. A coach can get the boot if the veteran players such as Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol don’t like the style of coaching. Mike D’Antoni, coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, was pressured to resign after the Lakers worst season in its history ending in only 27 wins. Gasol and Bryant both openly voiced opposition to the D’Antoni system, causing tension among the team and staff.

"It's more of a finesse game,” Bryant said in a 2014 ESPN article. "It's more small ball, which, personally, I don't really care much for."

Mark Jackson (l.) / Matthew Addie - Flickr

Many general managers say that it is time to move the team in a different direction in regards to firing a coach. This is the case with the ex-coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Mike Brown. In 2005, Brown started a five season saga with the Cavs, went to the Lakers for a year, and then back to Cleveland. The GMs have the power to treat these coaches like baseball cards. They can be used, traded or dismissed. The GMs and president will not give an actual reason to why the coach was fired.

“Although, there was some progress from our finish over the few prior seasons, we believe we need to head in a different direction,” Dan Gilbert said in a team release. “We wish Mike and his family nothing but the best.”

At the end of the 2013 regular season, 11 coaches were fired. Most of them were because of a lack of wins, but some coaches have been doing it right.

“The San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich and Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra are two of the league's three longest-tenured coaches” Amick said in a 2013 USA TODAY article.

These two veteran coaches are able to find an effective strategy utilizing their many all stars. Popovich and Spoelstra currently control two of the best teams in the NBA and they will continue to do so. They know how to run their offense and defense to the best of the abilities of their players.

With coaches getting let go left and right, there is a lot of speculation on what makes a good coach besides producing wins. This trend of a third of the leagues teams’ looking to pick up a new coach after a mediocre season will likely happen for several years to come.

By Willy Herman & Shawn Watts

Misconceptions of Tommy John Surgery

Tommy John / Roger Dewitt / Wikimedia

In the past decade there has been a recent spike in the amount of players having Tommy John surgery. Last year 19 MLB pitchers alone had this surgery. As the demand for faster pitchers increase, the amount of surgeries have increased as well. 

MLB teams expect fast hard speeds consistently from their pitchers. As the pitchers throw harder the bigger possibility of their UCL tearing. To repair this doctors remove a ligament from either a hamstring or forearm and replace the torn UCL.

The human arm is not designed to throw a ball overhead at 90 mph. This stress is equivalent to holding a 12-pound bowling ball. Even at amateur level players are expected to pitch faster and harder because thats what professional leagues expect.

“That means more young pitchers must throw more, trainer harder, and test the limits of their own health more often,” former MLB pitcher Dirk Hayhurst wrote in a 2014 SportsonEarth article.

These limits that are being pushed by these young athletes are the root causes of this surgery. Preventing this surgery could be as easy as limiting their pitching. Coaches are pushing their players to throw countless pitches for consecutive games which prevents the ligament from rest and growth. Dr James Andrews, the man who developed this surgery, is giving advice to these young athletes to help prevent injury.

“One coach will pitch a kid for five innings one night and then the next day the same kid will go throw five more innings for a different coach in a different game," Andrews said in a 2012 ESPN highschool article. “These pitchers should not be playing in more than one league at once. You have to rest to prevent these injuries.”

This surgery is thought to increase the speed of a pitcher’s throw. In reality players just return to their normal pitching speeds. This misconception has influenced parents wanting to have their kids obtain the surgery prior to any injury. There hasn’t been any evidence that this surgery increases the skill of any pitcher.

"It doesn't make someone faster or, well, anything," Cincinnati Reds surgeon Dr. Tim Kremchek said in a 2014 BleacherReport article. 

It is not certain that the surgery will be successful, in many cases players were forced to get a second surgery because they had injured themselves during the rehabilitation process. There is an 80-85% chance that the surgery will be successful, meanwhile if their ligament tears again the chances are as low as 40%.

This surgery has been very controversial over the past three decades. Many pitchers have been able to continue their careers from getting this surgery. They get it in hopes that their performance may increase on the field. Young athletes looking at this demand for the surgery on the pro level, influences them to want to get the surgery. These young athletes are trying to achieve what their role models achieve. In reality this surgery is more of a necessity than a privilege.

By Adib Islam and Nicholas Bohan

Least vs. West

“The NBA's Eastern Conference stinks,” proclaimed USA Today writer Jeff Zillgitt.

Nba Logo / Michael Tipton / Flickr.com

The achievement gap between the Eastern and Western Conference is huge. Since 2000 there has been nine years where a team from the West won the NBA championship. During the 2013-2014 season the top eight teams in the West had a combined 436 wins compared to the East whose top eight teams only had 375.

Does it even matter who the top 16 teams are in the regular season? It was obvious early in the season who would be in contention for a title in both conferences and who would not.

“Thirteen of the West's 15 teams have records good enough for one of the top eight spots in the East,” said Zillgitt.

During the regular season the Indiana Pacers, who were considered the best regular season team in the East, were winless against the Phoenix Suns who were the ninth seed in the West at the end of the season.

Some may argue that the East isn't really awful because they have the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers. The teams that were predicted to fight for the third seed were struggling during most of the year.

"The biggest problem is the Knicks, Nets and Bulls," TNT analyst and former Phoenix Suns general manager Steve Kerr said. "Those were teams who were supposed to be pretty good. In fact, I thought Miami was going to be challenged in every round of the playoffs coming in because of the Nets, Knicks, Pacers and Bulls.”

The notion that the two conferences are even has been inadvertently changed. Since the 1999-2000 season there has been only two seasons where the East had more overall top five seeded teams than the West. Throughout the NBA’s history there has been almost an even amount of seasons where one conference dominated the other. Historically it is suggested that the East will regain control over the West, but it is questionable whether or not this equilibrium will be returned in the near future.

By Yoni Pechter and Sadeon Martin

Do fans take it too far?

Dani Alves eating a banana thrown by a fan | LaRed.com

Modern sports fans are getting involved with players beyond the usual boos and jeers, some going to the point of physical abuse. Fans feel as if it is their right to do what they want at major sporting event by virtue of purchasing a ticket, and athletes feel insecure about their safety as well as their families’ well-being.

Some of the most popular cases of player harassment have been reported worldwide. In 1994, Nancy Kerrigan, skating star and Olympic medalist, had just finished a practice routine when she was struck on the knee by an assailant, bruising it. A member of the audience threw a banana at FC Barcelona soccer player Dani Alves in 2014. It seems as if there is no way to protect athletes from such scenarios, as fans are still able to harm them.

“Athletes perform in huge ballparks and arenas,” Mark Hyman said in a 1994 BaltimoreSun.com article. “They travel through airports and are as recognizable as any Hollywood movie star. Is there any way to protect them from obsessed fans determined to reach and maybe hurt them?”

One might ask, why do fans boo athletes? Although not many answers have been given to this question, some possible theories are to teach their team a lesson for playing poorly, or to show the other team how much they are hated. One fan believes that booing and harassing players is their right, since they paid to see them, and will only support athletes when they perform well.

“Why do we do it?” Hunter Davies said in a 2013 NewStatesman.com article. “It’s our right, innit? We have paid our money, we can do what we like. We want them to do good things, then we’ll cheer. We love the club dearly, always hoping for better things, so feel personally let down when they play rubbish.”

Some fans have even gone so far as to invade athletes’ social media. From personal insults to death threats, fans see no boundaries to the hateful comments and tweets.

“SANCHEZ BETTER HAVE ARMED SECURITY WEDNESDAY AT PRACTICE!!” Twitter user @BraveGrancru said to New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez in 2012. “YOU THINK IMMA SIT HERE & WATCH THIS [expletive]?? TUHHH!”

With all the threats received from fans, players cannot help but worry about their families’ security. If an athlete’s primary concern during a game is the safety of his relatives in the stands, he/she will not be able to focus on the match.

“The last thing a player wants to be concerned with while playing in a game is the safety of his family inside the stadium,” Akbar Gbajabiamila said in a 2012 NFL.com article. “As players, we are all too aware of the security threat that fans of the opposing team pose to our families.”

Policymakers are stumped as to how they can reduce the threat posed by fans, and as to what means they can use to prevent situations of fan abuse in the future. Despite increased security implementations, fans have continued to find ways to get up close and personal to players.

Written by Muhammad Abid Hasan & Ismail Elomri