Arry Bird Once Said, “When I Was Young, I Never Wanted to Leave the Court Until I Got Things Exactly Correct.” Sadly, Not All Athletes Would Say the Same the Only Reason They Play Is for the Average Six Million Dollars

arry Bird once said, “When I was young, I never wanted to leave the court until I got things exactly correct.” Sadly, not all athletes would say the same the only reason they play is for the average six million dollars a year salary (for NBA players). Whatever happened to playing for the love of the game? The sports game has changed because athletes are never prosecuted, they are easily persuaded, and they are always smothered.

With athletes never being prosecuted, the sports game has changed. Multiple players throughout the NBA have had DUI charges where they either are not charged or they are suspended for a few games and fined. This causes children and some adults to think that driving under the influence is acceptable because they have seen professional athletes get away with it. NFL quarterback Michael Vick was charged in his notorious dog fighting which landed him right about two years in jail (while the average sentence is around five years). This again is setting a bad example to the children that look up to him. Another NBA player, Ruben Patterson, was charged with third degree rape and was sentenced to one year in jail while he only served fifteen days. He also was convicted with an assault and was sentence to six months in jail. As you can see Professional athletes get much less Jail time and often come back to the sport, like Michael Vick and Ruben Patterson making them bad examples for the young. Athletes are able to get away with such heinous crimes; there for, changing the sports game as we know it.

When athletes are easily persuaded it changes the sports game. One way they are persuaded is with money; an example is Amare Stoudimire leaving his long-term career with the Phoenix Suns to go with the New York Nicks. This changing of teams for nothing other than money takes the drive out of the player to make himself and his team better to just making themselves a better player. Athletes doing this makes the game seem more like a one man team.... [continues]

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