Prohibition of College Sports Essay

â€Å"On October 16, 1905, shocked by the level of violence in college football, President Roosevelt summoned the Harvard, Yale and Princeton presidents and the football coaches to the White House. † College sports have turned out to be a problem since over the last hundred years and today, although sports have been major entertainment events for students and money-spinner, there are also a lot of problems associated with such events. Several governing bodies regulate the college athletic events including the NCAA, NAIA and the NCJAA. Many of the college sports have become popular on the local, regional and the national scale and they turn out to occupy important places in broadcasting and newspaper coverage. The origin of American college sports dates make to more the 165 years ago. Harvard University was one of the first to get involved in major college sporting activities. During that period college sporting activities was just a pastime, and did not have the associated money, media coverage and the huge sponsoring. Today, American college sports events are facing several problems with online and offline gambling and betting, sponsoring from liquor companies and the swearing and violence that occur at such sporting events. The college sports events actually do not promote education, but makes the students take up wrong paths. Due to these reasons, many people suggest that college sports events should in fact be banned (Mendelson, 2008, Epstein, 2002, Associated Press, 2008, Kancher, 2000, The Associated Press, 2007). Body Legislatures are currently very much concerned about the increasing number of online and offline betting and gambling going on in the realm of college sports. The scale of the racket is so much so that people are shifting from the legal gambling hubs of Nevada to the online betting web sites, which offer much more profit. These illegal web sites would in fact corrupt college sports and cause the students to choose illegal pathways with the gambling companies. McCain came up with a bill in 2000 to ban college sports betting, but his proposal was turned down. However, one of McCain aide’s said â€Å"He’ll continue to look at good opportunities,† meaning that McCain would try another strategy to reduce gambling. Many of the illegal betting companies are picking up deals with the coaches and the sports officials of the colleges. Another huge concern is the use of lottery company advertisements in college sporting events. More than $ 385, 000 has been spent by a lottery company every year on sporting events. Experts feel that permitting lottery company advertisements may in fact cause students to pick up gambling as a habit (Epstein, 2002, & The Associated Press, 2007). Alcohol companies are sponsoring the American college sports events on a large scale. They are turning out to be huge moneymakers as alcohol and beer sells well at college sporting events. Besides, it also encourages fantasy sports events that had often disastrous outcomes at college. Earlier an effort launched by the NCAA committee to ban alcohol ads during sporting events turned out to be disastrous. Today, nothing can be done about the alcohol advertisements that come up during college sporting events. The NCAA has permitted advertisements of liquors that contain less than 6 % of alcohol in them for sporting events. Many of the college sports coaches and officials have urged the NCAA to gradually ban the alcohol advertisements over the next few years. Many of the alcohol advertisements permitted during college sporting events were irresponsible. George Hacker head of CSPI says â€Å"College officials say they want to deter underage and binge drinking, and stop the riots that disrupt campus communities and blot schools’ reputations,†, which can only be possible if the number of advertisements during sports events were reduced. Fantasy games on the other hand would create another league, often damaging the name and reputation of college sport stars and sports teams (CSPI, 2003, & Rivals, 2008, During college sports events, the scenes are turning out to be very ugly due to the occurrences of swearing, passing racist or sexist remarks, physical violence, etc. Fans often taunt opposite team fans and insult opposing team players. In the past, university campus officials have tried to ban the use of remarks and adjectives by the fans, but this has gone unheard. Today obscenity is very common during college sports events. Games are not played in the right spirit. In the past banning college teams that have notorious groups of supporters have also not worked. Hence, an immediate ban on college sporting events has been called for. Boston University Dean feels that sporting events should be held in the right spirit and says â€Å"But standing and shouting obscenities does not have a place. I don’t equate school spirit with the yelling of obscenities. † (Cramer, 2006 & Associated Press, 2007). Conclusion There have also been several other problems facing American college sports. The manner in which the players, officials and the coaches are being treated seem to be a problem. Students being put into sport teams complain of several inconsistencies. The GW Hatchet reports â€Å"The NCAA is investigating an incident involving Bobby Knight, the head coach of Indiana University who allegedly choked a player in practice and showed his feces to players during a halftime speech. † Incidents like these can be very traumatizing and can often lead to unpleasant experiences that should not at all turn up during a college sport event. The very idea of having college sports events is lost. Hence, a total ban on college sports events is called for to ensure that students can ensure full concentration on academics (Kancher, 2000).