Support of High School Sports

High School sports are a great way to teach lessons and responsibilities that can be used for the rest of your life. Certain situations where u need to get a hit, make a clutch basket or score a goal are all big moments where you are under a lot of pressure but need to get the job done, and those can help you down the road. High school sports are viewed as unnecessary in some eyes but I disagree, in some towns all they have are high school athletics to cheer for, and the sports really bring the town together. Cinnaminson rallies around their high school and town sports, supporting teams on playoff runs and regular football and basketball games on Friday nights.

Players taking a Stand for their Rights

Greg Hardy Allegations

Greg Hardy has been suspected of domestic abuse towards women and for that got suspended by the NFL and released by the Panthers last season. This season Hardy got a fresh start with the Cowboys but his bad reputation followed him, new evidence and pictures have surfaced which paint a bad picture for the NFL but their hands are tied they cannot do anything about it. The NFL has already suspended him once for this and he served his time. In his comments you can tell he has not learned a thing from his suspension and the punishment for him relies on the Cowboys. Jerry Jones has stated “He has a commitment to do the right thing. We expect him to do the right thing. He has a commitment to his teammates and our team. The way it’s set up in the NFL, relative to behavior, and in fact we wanted to give Greg a second chance." But he hasn't, he shows no remorse for his actions and will probably do it again given the chance, he hasn't shown any signs of change and has learned nothing from his actions. If you look at Ray Rice he did wrong and rightfully apologized and his wife forgave him for what he did, in Hardy's case he isn't sorry for what he did and still hasn't learned his lesson. The funny thing is Hardy is in the NFL still and Ray Rice is not.

Older Players Allow Youth Teams to Soar

We have all encountered a 6 ft. 200 lb. 11 year old playing a youth sport and we tell ourselves no way he's 11, sometimes that kid is just naturally big but other times not so much. This is exemplified in the story of Danny Almonte a kid from the Dominican Republic that moved to the states and started to play baseball. He was a star he had a 76 mph fastball which from a major league mound would come in at a modest 103 mph . Danny lead his Bronx team all the way to the Little League World Series in 2001. People questioned Danny's age but for he was born in the Dominican Republic the birth certificate was lost in transition. After their 3rd place finish at the LLWS the allegations came out that Danny was in fact 14 not the 12 year old everyone thought he was. This tainted the teams accomplishment and striped them of their titles. Just goes to show the end never justifies the means, using an illegal player is an advantage for sure but people have ways of finding out and when people do the whole town or team you play for is embarrassed at the expense of having an illegal player to gain a slight edge. To play the game fair and win fair is how it is suppose to be done but people will always try to gain an edge its in our nature. For Danny's team the dream ending never came but they did get one title for the rest of their lives, cheaters.

Gambling in Youth Sports

Youth sports are suppose to be a way for kids in the community to make friends and compete in sports they like. And in many places this is how it is, a good competition among other kids from the surrounding areas. But in some areas like South Florida people use these kids as money makers in gambling schemes. These kids begin to play and all around them people watch intently while money is being distributed between the parents and "fans" of the teams. "Groups of men in their 20s and 30s fill the stands and sidelines, to the point that passers-by must jostle for space as they walk along fences separating the bleachers from the field. And then something else becomes obvious: Wads of bills start switching hands; cheers and fist pumps are followed by exchanges of money; and men debate how much to put down next time. Marijuana smoke is often in the air, and adults walk around with cups of alcohol seemingly without concern." Explains Paula Lavigne from ESPN. Activity that you probably don't see outside of closed doors is now being brought to pee wee football games, just let that sink in. These men are betting on 5 to 15 year old boys who haven't developed into true athletes yet and are using their athletic potential to make money. Places like this show that youth sports isn't all fair game and good competition, people have large sums of money invested in their kids to do good and that's too much pressure for a 15 year old let alone a 5 year old. Of course 5 year old's don't truly grasp the concept but when they grow the expectations for them will grow and there could be repercussions later on in their playing careers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZvp28IkXWE This is the ESPN Outside the Lines investigation on youth sports betting in South Florida, really paints a dark picture on youth sports in that part of the country.

Comments for Kids

This organization Comments for Kids gives us an opportunity as writers to get professional opinions on our writing, giving insight on how they like a writing style or tips for the future. This is a great way to get exposure of our writing and help us become better writers. A simple comment on a post can make a kids day knowing that someone other then his peers or his teacher actually enjoyed the post. A positive comment shows that you genuinely care and like what they have written and for a kid that is really cool to see that someone appreciates their writing. I believe if executed right the comments can be very helpful to kids, as a professional with the right opinions or just a nice comment to give them confidence to keep writing is what Comments for Kids is all about.

Big Profits from the Pink Movement

As many know the NFL "paints the town pink" in October in support of breast cancer. While it is out of respect for those who have fought the disease and those still fighting it, it is a big money maker for the NFL. Using a symbol like the breast cancer ribbon or the color pink in general can make companies lots of money. The NFL sells all sorts of pink products guaranteeing a donation to cancer research but as you look closer the amount they actually donate does not even compare to their profits of these pink items. Karuna Jagger the leader of Think Before You Pink campaign which monitors breast cancer programs states that the NFL does not even announce what percentage of their product goes to research and says that if they donate anything it is not even enough to make an impact. So while you think the pink product you are buying is helping the cause it may just be lining the NFL's pockets. By the time you are done buying your pink Eagles hat with the pink Nike towel and the pink receiver gloves the players wear you have spent probably close to $150. As far as we know the NFL keeps all profits and uses breast cancer awareness month as a big money maker. I always thought that the NFL gave at least some of their profits to research but never realized how dismal their donations were. The NFL has the money to really fund a big movement to fight and stop this horrible cancer but like most they're just in it for the money.

The Good Side of the Pink Movement

The pink movement in the month of October for breast cancer awareness month gives us a good way to show our support for awareness. In the NFL in October everything is accented with pink to show awareness to the illness. NFL players wear anything from pink towels, pink cleats, pink gloves all in support of breast cancer. The color pink is warming and symbolizes safety in a nasty disease where everyone affected is shaken by treatments and seeing the support of the NFL during this month gives people fighting hope and survivors the respect they deserve for fighting breast cancer. The spirit of wearing pink in fighting breast cancer is a good step but if you dive deeper into the movement you see not everything is how it seems. The month of October is a time of remembrance and time of hope for people fighting breast cancer but unfortunately it is also used for profit by big companies and the NFL is one of them.

Chase Utley's Controversial Slide

In the seventh inning of the second game of NLDS Chase Utley slides into Ruben Tejada to break up the double play. What is a common occurrence in the MLB today can be viewed by many as wrong and bad for the sport. Utley did not even go near the bag he was going directly for Tejada and that's targeting, and the result of the slide was Tejada breaking his leg. So now the Mets are down their starting shortstop the rest of the postseason in result to a dirty play. Utley is suspended for 2 games and is appealing it as if he did nothing wrong, as a baseball player sliding at someone is common and fair but when the shortstop isn't near the bag at all sliding towards them is cheap. Most people would view this as ethnically wrong to try and take out another human for the sake of saving an out, and especially in a situation were the injury risk is very high. But professional baseball players see Chase Utley's slide as getting the job done and the Dodgers rallied and won the game. Instead of a 2-0 going home to New York the Mets are tied up at one game a piece in big thanks to Chase Utley.

How ESPN and CBS should handle DFS

ESPN and CBS known sports news sources with a tie to daily fantasy sports. When you watch or go on either ones website you can't go a few seconds without noticing an ad for either site. With the recent allegations against the daily fantasy sites for insider trading and the debate whether it is gambling or not. For all we know daily fantasy sports could be hit hard with penalties and could be considered gambling and it will soon be a thing of the past. But the nature of this new style of fantasy sports may be too beastly to stop. More and more people are getting fed up with dealing with a full year team because injuries are so prevalent so people turn to daily sports. No injuries to worry about, small buy ins and big pay outs are great ways to attract fans to play. Despite all the controversy of insider trading daily fantasy sports had their biggest week ever coming in week 5 of the NFL season. Though only a few win just a dollar or two to play every week has fans coming back and that trend will continue. These ads make ESPN and CBS money and more and more people are joining these leagues weekly the ads will help their companies as well.

Daily Fantasy Scandal

Daily fantasy sports are an exciting new way to watch sports but one thing is becoming more and more difficult and that is winning any money. There is such a hierarchy in daily fantasy sports where the top guys always come home with the money. A recent Draft Kings employee used his insider information in a FanDuel  league and won $350,000. Many people view this as insider trading, using prior knowledge to pick the perfect players so you can win. This shows me that the companies hold all the power and know how to win at their sites while most people do not. The real winners are the pockets of the big guns at these daily fantasy sites but their outlook isn't as clear as it used to be. The government is tracking down to see if this is a game of chance or a game of skill and if the insiders already know and win all the money it isn't gambling its fixed. They make it so simple to pick your team and enter leagues but the number of people that actually make money is minimal except for the few "pros" and those who get insider information.

Throwing at Hitters

An unethical part of baseball is throwing at batters. When a pitcher feels that a batter is showing him up or previously did something to bother him the pitcher may come high and in to him a few times til he hits him. This is unethical because it causes harm to the player but at the same time it is a prevalent part of baseball today, if you don't play the game the right way then you could be beamed. For these actions pitchers can get ejected from the game, fined for their actions and even suspended. In last nights Wild Card game the Pirates vs. Cubs, the Cubs had a 4-0 lead in the 7th when Arrieta stepped up to the plate. First pitch Watson hits Arriteta with a pitch on the arm. The one thing that fires up a team is hitting their pitcher, benches cleared and Arrieta answered by throwing a complete game shutout to advance his Cubs to the next round. Arrieta did nothing wrong he was just really good at frustrating the Pirate hitters and was hit to try and fire up the Pirates because they had been shut down all night.

1919 White Sox Scandal

The most notorious gambling scandal in baseball history has to be the 1919 World Series. Where eight players on the Chicago White Sox including their best hitter "Shoeless" Joe Jackson threw the games and allowed the Reds to win the series.This action by the players screwed up betting for all those who chose the highly favored White Sox. They were not happy with their owner Charles Comisky who underpaid and mistreated them so they decided to express that on the field. Those players were paid by gamblers who would use the Sox's losing strategy to bet on the Reds. There is never such thing as a guaranteed bet, but if the outcome is fixed then it is a surefire money maker. The Sox's star pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams lost all their games with Cicotte earning $10,000 and Williams earning $5,000 (close to double his salary). The gamblers and the members of the teams got their money but the price was heavy. All players involved were banned for life from the sport. Joe Jackson is controversial in this because he played his best he batted .375 in the series but he took the money therefore was banned from baseball, and thus still to this day he is not in the Hall of Fame because of the incident.

Daily Fantasy in Baseball

Daily fantasy sports are a great way to play fantasy sports without the long season commitment. You play your lineup for one day and then it is gone, which for some people it gives them hope that the next day will be better but more times then not it is the same. These leagues allow you to forget about drafting and worrying about injury and more focus on daily match ups for hitters and pitchers. While Kershaw against the Phillies is usually a safe bet you never know what will happen. This is the fine line between it being a skill game and betting because even if the player has the best match up you still cannot determine the outcome therefore you are taking a chance and it isn't a skill game its gambling. The attraction to these daily leagues is defiantly the big payouts, where you could play for just $20 and win $20,000. While it is shown that 98% of players lose money and a consistent 2% of players have won and continue to win all the big leagues.

Daily sports affects baseball because old fashioned season long fantasy baseball is getting boring. The fantasy baseball season starts in April and runs almost all the way to October. That is six full months of checking your lineup everyday in hope that you win your league prize. It is just too long of a season to check your lineup everyday and that's why daily fantasy sports are more appealing. The big money pulls people in and the appeal is only having to worry about one day is exciting and gives people hope." With the daily leagues, you’re committed for a day. Play when you want, if you want. With season-long leagues, you’re in it for the entire season. Grinding every day to keep in competition whether you feel like playing or not." This seems to be the new way to play fantasy sports, with only a day's commitment and not 6 months it keeps the games fresh and exciting each and every day.

Challenges that face the MLB

The greatest challenge facing baseball today is the length of games. The average MLB game takes just under 3 hours to complete and for some fans that is too long. While the MLB has put in place things to speed up the game and the average game time has gone down the slow paced game is losing fans. With the addition of replay and the drawn out process that it has become going to the ballpark is getting boring for some, especially with the Phillies in their mediocre state. Kids are losing interest in baseball and focusing more on action sports like football and lacrosse and those sports could challenge baseball for viewers, baseball needs to change its ways soon to make the game more exciting.

Blog Introduction

Welcome to Mahoney's Hot Corner, I've been a baseball player and a Phillies fan for my whole life. I will be posting about all the major headlines in the baseball world as the regular season winds down into the playoffs. I am hoping to publish a popular blog with daily updates in baseball news.