As Individuals Become Rich, Sport Becomes Impoverished
As Individuals Become Rich, Sport Becomes Impoverished
Over the years, many people involved in sport have been gaining popularity, achieving success and most importantly-earning money. With the growing amount of money into their bank accounts, they seem to care less about the purity of sport. In my opinion, the ones to suffer are the fans and sport itself.
We all know that professional athletes are paid a lot of money. But a very small number of us know how much exactly that is. For the year 2006 the famous golf player Tiger Woods made 87 million dollars, which is 34800 times what George Bush, the president of the USA, makes a year. Unbelievable but true. As a matter of fact many successful sportsmen choose the events they will attend by how much they are paid for that. The question that occurs is: ‘Aren’t these athletes becoming avaricious?’
Another thing that impoverishes sport is the influence of the media on sport tournaments and athletes. Sport channels are literally scheduling when and where an event should take place in order to be watched by a maximum number of spectators. Furthermore, the renowned sportsmen have now gained a celebrity status. We see them on commercials, billboards, magazines – pretty much everywhere except for the field. This clearly proves that sport is used as a means of getting rich and famous.
Last but not least, the usage of illegal substances as steroids is a burning issue to what we call sport today. The desire of winning a prize and being on the first place is the most common reason why athletes cheat. And why do they so desperately want to be on first place? To feel accomplished? I believe the answer to this question is more mercantile than spiritual.
In closing, I think that this what we call sport today, has nothing to do with the basic meaning of the word. Sport has now become one of the most wining businesses ever, where overboosted athletes are competing endlessly in search of
Over the years, many people involved in sport have been gaining popularity, achieving success and most importantly-earning money. With the growing amount of money into their bank accounts, they seem to care less about the purity of sport. In my opinion, the ones to suffer are the fans and sport itself.
We all know that professional athletes are paid a lot of money. But a very small number of us know how much exactly that is. For the year 2006 the famous golf player Tiger Woods made 87 million dollars, which is 34800 times what George Bush, the president of the USA, makes a year. Unbelievable but true. As a matter of fact many successful sportsmen choose the events they will attend by how much they are paid for that. The question that occurs is: ‘Aren’t these athletes becoming avaricious?’
Another thing that impoverishes sport is the influence of the media on sport tournaments and athletes. Sport channels are literally scheduling when and where an event should take place in order to be watched by a maximum number of spectators. Furthermore, the renowned sportsmen have now gained a celebrity status. We see them on commercials, billboards, magazines – pretty much everywhere except for the field. This clearly proves that sport is used as a means of getting rich and famous.
Last but not least, the usage of illegal substances as steroids is a burning issue to what we call sport today. The desire of winning a prize and being on the first place is the most common reason why athletes cheat. And why do they so desperately want to be on first place? To feel accomplished? I believe the answer to this question is more mercantile than spiritual.
In closing, I think that this what we call sport today, has nothing to do with the basic meaning of the word. Sport has now become one of the most wining businesses ever, where overboosted athletes are competing endlessly in search of