Team USA , NCAA scandals & Stoneman Douglas
Places listening Uganda, Ukraine, Poland and Brunei Darussalam
Unofficial Sponsor of the week - Meat & Potatoes in downtown pittsburgh. but the whale at the distrikt hotel - no ham for eggs benny and no bloody mary mix — for brunch
WINTER OLYMPICS: Seems like 10 years ago, Curling wasn’t on the radar. It below up on TV during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Kept it’s momentum in Sochi inn 2014, and then we had a Gold Medal winning USA team in 2018 in Peyongchang
Of course the United States has embraced and risen to the top in an “activity sport”. Americans love activities / we don’t as a overall rule like exercising in the snow
We got Norway a tiny Nordic country winning all types of gold medals, especially in sports that are physically taxing (Nordic Skiing) and scary as scary gets (Ski Jumping)
Other “activity” sports that Americans would likely dominate in - Bean Bag Toss (already have seen it on like ESPN News).
Beer Pong aka Beirut. Dartmouth Pong for sure - because it uses ping pong paddles and balls already - and table tennis is a sport already
Darts would be dominated by europeans but darts = why not ? Make it an olympic sport.
But Congrats to USA Men’s Curling - that’s an awesome Surprise Gold Medal, and huge congrats to Team USA Women’s Hockey for winning the golf medal over Canada. It’s their first Gold Medal since the 1998 Olympics, and stopped Canada’s gold medal steak at 4.
NCAA scandal - coaches getting caught on FBI wiretaps discussing bribery and payoffs to steer recruits to potential destinations.
The answer to all of this could be as simple as capitalism.
Currently, athletes get their scholarship, and a small stipend some times, and that’s it. They aren’t able to make money via their likeness.
And that’s the opportunity to get the dirty money out of paying these players.
Let them become endorsers for local business in the university’s area.
Let them become endorsers for university sponsors.
Let them appear in ad’s for the local pizza shop, or if they are they great of a player, for a national pizza hut ad campaign.
It’s third party money, paying for the endorsement of a product, or for hosting a party, or for signing their autograph. This would make Paying the players “above board”. That takes many of the “shady business men” and hangers on away from the very best (i.e. most marketable players).
Instead of players having to hide getting paid, or running payments through their uncle’s neighbor’s sister’s cousin to cover their tracks, the NCAA could spend to money they currently waste on chasing these kids, on providing them with vetted money managers.
Universities could let these elite athletes, do independent studies for course credit and submit thesis on their business plan for their brand, their development plan for their brand, etc.
Would it be perfect? No. Will it clean up everything entirely? That’s impossible to promise.
But, can we surround the best people with good, honest people, and allow them to earn honest revenue? Yes.
Can schools help these young people learn how to build their brand and manage their money, and give them course credit towards graduation? Most likely. And that just seems a lot more in the spirit of helping people develop and thrive as young adults. What’s going on now, is shortsighted, dishonest, and unfair.
Over simplified reason that Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting aftermath seems to be going very differently for the NRA.
#1 The NRA has been running the same playbook over and over again following these tragic events.
But this time, instead of fighting back with the ‘faceless NRA’ the students from Stoneman Douglas are going after the elected members who accept the NRA's money.
This has forced politicians like Marco Rubio into a tough position. And Marco Rubio is lacking in charisma, especially in debate settings and town hall typed forums.
Emma Gonzalez is on the other hand, incredibly charismatic and articulate - and equally as important, she’s armed with the truth.
But most importantly, Emma Gonzalez and her classmates are handling the aftermath of being mass shooting survivors, differently than folks in past shootings.
They aren’t sitting on the sidelines. They aren’t letting 3rd party players (on both sides fo the issue) do their typical idealogical back and forth. They are instead saying, we’re speaking from first hand experience, you can’t change our narrative, we’re not letting our classmates who perished go in vain.