Comparison Opinion- Hunter Haas

One of the most difficult things to do in sport is to compare players, yet it has become a staple of sport journalism and exposure.  All of this talk about Michael Jordan and the countless players that get compared to him has only strengthened my frustration with the NBA. When looking at other sports, yes we may compare certain players. However, it has never been to the magnitude of the NBA. I understand the great impact that MJ had on the game and the sport industry, I can appreciate that. With that in mind, I see this constant debate being fueled by the egos and mindsets surrounding the NBA.  Comparing players, especially those that competed in different eras, is impossible. Also, I do not see the need to spark this debate week in and week out. If comparisons such as this are going to be made, they should be based on an entire career, once that career has ended.

Let’s look at baseball for example. When Mike Trout started stealing bases and making great catches analysts started mentioning he looks like a young Mickey Mantle. The difference between the two sports is that the MLB did not harp on this and make it a constant storyline. Comparisons are great and will always remain a part of the sport climate, however the need for industry “experts” to overwork the activity can be exhausting. In conclusion, why don’t we go ahead and let LeBron and Kobe finish their careers, then we can re-ignite this great debate. 

-Hunter Haas

The G.O.A.T.-Zane Langdon

When people always talk about the Greatest of All-Time (G.O.A.T.), Michael Jordan is the common answer.  We all know Jordan's accolades.  The 6 Championships, 5 MVP's, 14 All-Star games, and 3 time Defensive Player of the Year.  Based on those numbers, Jordan clearly is one of the greatest to ever play the game, especially considering he took a few years off to try a baseball career.  But, in my eyes, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (also known as Lew Alcindor), can also be considered the greatest of all time.  Abdul-Jabbar is often forgotten about with his accomplishments.  Abdul-Jabbar actually won as many Championships as MJ did but he also did much more than Jordan did statistically.  During his career, Abdul-Jabbar won 6 MVP awards, one more than Jordan did.  Abdul-Jabbar is actually the all-time leader in points scored, although Jordan has the highest average per game all-time.  What makes Abdul-Jabbar's feat more amazing is the fact that he hit 1 three-pointer in his career, while Jordan hit 581.  Also during his career, Abdul-Jabbar was selected to 19 All-Star games which is 5 more than Jordan ever went to.  Another thing that makes Abdul-Jabbar even more amazing is the fact he won 3 NCAA championships while playing at UCLA.  Finally, Abdul-Jabbar has his number retired by the two teams he played for, the LA Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks.  Interestingly enough Jordan has his number retired two times as well, only his jersey is retired by the Bulls, and the Heat, a team he never played for.  So based on the on the court criteria, with more factual data than just rings, Abdul-Jabbar has a strong case for the best player to ever play in the NBA.

LeBron or Kobe, who can become the next Michael?  

These two players have played under so much pressure to be the next Michael Jordan for most of their careers that they have never had an opportunity to settle into their own role as who they truly are.  Both LeBron and Kobe have had outstanding careers in the NBA, yet no matter what they do, they are just not Michael Jordan.  I personally am sick of the comparisons in trying to find out who the next Michael is.  Michael was Michael, Kobe is Kobe, and as LeBron put it on Twitter, "I'm LJ not MJ."  People often try to put the comparison on winning and teams.  If you examine Michael's notable teammates in his career, he actually played with some very good players.  Michael's most notable teammates were Scottie Pippen who is a Hall of Famer, Dennis Rodman, another Hall of Famer and Steve Kerr who was one of the best 3-point shooters of all time to name a few as well as Horace Grant, Toni Kukoc, BJ Armstrong, and Charles Oakley who were all extremely good.  Kobe on the other hand, got to play with the most dominant center in the modern era in Shaquille O'Neal and won 3 Championships with him.  Also, Bryant as always had a dominant big man with him in Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, or Dwight Howard.  Kobe's biggest struggle was that he couldn't seem to win without Shaq and until he won in 2009 he had that stigma attached to him.  Finally we have LeBron James' teammates.  When looking at his teammates, his years in Cleveland he had very little to work with.  LeBron's best teammate in Cleveland may have been Larry Hughes who was less than stellar in his time in Cleveland. Not until Miami did LeBron finally get to play with the high caliber players of D-Wade and Chris Bosh, as well as Ray Allen.  

Overall, in my opinion LeBron James is the best player out of the three, Kobe the fierciest, and Michael the most dominant.  I say that LeBron is the best player because of the fact that he averages almost a triple double making him the most well-rounded player the league may have ever seen.  Kobe just plays with a fire that is unparalleled by anyone other than Michael, which puts him in the position to become one of the greatest.  Michael was the most dominant because he did whatever it takes to get the win, didn't care who he stepped on and was as cut throat as anyone.  Michael is a winner and that is why he is one of the best.  I would take any one of the three, but personally I would go with LeBron because he could do more than less than the other two could.

Off of the court, I would say that LeBron has the best chance to rival Michael.  LeBron has really taken advantage of all of the marketing opportunities to really enhance his value in the world.  Kobe has somewhat, but not to the level that LeBron has.  Michael has created a huge company and a legacy that is worth so much money and is an amazing company.  LeBron has a chance to catch him in that regard, as long as he continues to work as a business man and seize every opportunity that comes to him and I believe that he can one day have a company such as Jordan.

**All statistical data collected from basketballreference.com 

Wesley Hall - His Airne$$

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player the world has ever seen. The reason why fans and ESPN love to compare Lebron or Kobe to him is because he is the standard to which greatness should be measured. He is greatness personified. So forget all of the stats. I like thinking about all the money he is making. He has also built one of the greatest brands ever which was shown in The Jordan Effect. That article tried to put a number on his impact on the economy and they come up with about $10 billion. That article is 15 years old so I am sure that number has grown. I just want to share some of the numbers and things I've seen around the web to put his finances in perspective.

Still today he makes about $40 million dollars a year from endorsements, which is about $178,100 a day. Let's say he gets 8 hours of sleep per night, that means he makes a little under $60,000 in his sleep. If he goes to see a movie (at a good theater, not the small) the ticket will cost him about $10-15 but he would make around $11,130 while watching. If I was given a penny for every $10 he made, I would be paid around $65,000 a year. Usain Bolt is the fastest man ever but Michael Jordan makes about $20 in the time it takes Usain to run the 100-meter dash. He makes about $7,412 per hour more than minimum wage. If MJ wanted to buy a Bugatti Veyron which is one of the most expensive cars in the world at $2.5 million. He would make his money back in 2 weeks. In the 30 minutes it took me to write this up, His Airne$$ has made $3,710. His impact on the game is astronomical but his branding and entrepreneur skills have paved the way for future million and perhaps even billion dollar athletes.

Aaron Snyder - Jordan/Russell and 92' vs 12'

Last week we talked about if Bill Russell should be considered the greatest of all time because he has more rings than anyone that has ever played professional basketball. I don’t agree with any of that and I fully believe MJ is the greatest the league has ever seen. Just because he has more rings doesn’t mean he’s better. I know it’s different but I think Peyton is greatest to ever play the quarterback position and he only has one ring. And that’s coming from a diehard Packers fan. Another thing we talked about was the 1992 dream team versus the 2012 dream team and who would win if they played each other. It would be such a crazy game as the 1992 roster was full of future hall of famers. They also had much better big men than the 2012 roster as they had two seven footers in Patrick Ewing and David Robinson. Laettner also may have seven foot but his presence wasn’t really needed on the 1992 dream team. But then on the 2012 dream team you have the most dominate player the league has seen since MJ in LeBron James. I would like to say the 2012 team would win because I have seen all these players for years and never got to see any of the 1992 roster play, but I fully believe the 1992 dream team would win, but in a very close game. Maybe if the 2012 roster had another big man like Dwight Howard, maybe the 2012 team would have had a better shot.

Comparing to Jordan-Tyler Kieffer

Why do we as a society always feel the need to compare one person to another in the sporting world? As a society we are always looking for the next big thing that is going to happen in sports. We do not appreciate what is happening in front of our eyes. Today in sports we always compare either Kobe or LeBron, and before that Vince Carter to what Michael did for the game of basketball and his impact on the world at large. These comparisons to Jordan can weigh on a player and make them crumble under that pressure. One player in particular was Harold Minor, who was nicknamed “Baby Jordan” and was unable to live up to the hype and fell to the wayside in the NBA.  Now there are some comparisons of Victor Oladipo, a forward from Indiana, to Michael Jordan.  

We need to stop comparing players today to a possible counterpart that played in the NBA years ago. We should appreciate what these guys are doing right now for the game of basketball, and when they retire that is when we can begin these arguments. Why compare someone that has years left in the league to make an impact to someone that has already made an impact in the league and has been retired. In my opinon, there will never be another Michael Jordan. You cannot replicate the perfect storm of events and opportunities that came around during his time playing. So I believe that these arguments don’t need to happen because you cannot surpass Jordan.  There are those that want to stir the pot and make these arguments, and I’m fine with that. But the arguments should take place after they are retired so we can truly look back on their careers at the same time.

But hey, we’ve got to give a job to Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless right?

Budget Allocation Assignment - Dorian Delaney Jeemy Shay Logan Walker Greg Gant

The method we chose to follow was having the larger sized teams hold fundraising events. This way it is a maximum amount of funds for multiple sports. As well we focused directly on the needs. Although we have 3,950 dollars left we decided to make this into an emergency fund for all sports. Lastly we did not charge pay-to-pay only because there is no fair system unless we charge all athletes a certain fee. But because our budget did not go over there was no reason to charge anyways.

Sport	Rank	#Players	Need	Total
Men Bball	9	12	5,800
Women’s Bball	6	12	5,800
Football	11	75	32,000
Men Soccer	3	20	6,500
Women’s Soccer	3	20	5,500
Baseball	5	20	5,500
Softball	1	20	7,500
Swimming	8	60	13,000
Downhill Skiing	1	24	15,500
W Track + Field	2	65	10,000
M Track+Field	4	55	10,000
Hockey	7	25	19,000
Volleyball	5	15	4,000
Field Hockey	9	20	4,500
Cheerleading		16	6,750
				$151,300

Fundraisers

Team	Players	60	Total
Swimming	60	60	3,600
Football	75	60	4,500
W. Trak+Field	65	60	3,900
M Track+Field	55	60	3,300
			15,300

Total Budget

Total Costs	-151,300
Fundraisers	+15,300
Budget	+140,000
Donation	+20,000
	$3,950

Budget- Alex Solis, Tyler Jester, Dan Pesato

We are the athletic director, assistant athletic director, and principal of a high school. Our current athletic budget is $120,000 for every athletic team in the program. The following breakdown is an allocation of the budget and the rationale behind it. Please keep in mind that the needs of our program are greater than $120,000.

For reference, the budget rules are below:

• ·      Only four teams are allowed to do a fundraiser to supplement the budget. The fundraisers will raise $60/person.
• ·      An alumnus of the high school (a former football player) has donated $20,000 to the athletic department, which is can be allocated to any program(s) we choose.
• ·      Certain financial needs in bold must be met.
• ·      You must use the entire budget.
• ·      Coaches’ salaries are not included in the $120,000 budget.
• ·      Consider if a teams rank in their conference matters.
• ·      Consider the number of athletics on the team matter.
• ·      Consider if certain teams should have a pay-to-pay status.

Budget:

Teams:	Mandatory Needs/Cost
Men’s Basketball:	New Balls: $1,000 Misc.: $4,800
Women’s Basketball:	New Balls: $1,000 Misc.: $4,800
Football:	Tackling Dummies: $20,000 Misc.: $12,000
Men’s Soccer:	New Balls: $1,000 Misc.: $5,500
Women’s Soccer:	Misc.: $5,500
Baseball:	Misc.: $5,500
Softball:	New Bats: $2,000 Misc.: $5,500
Men’s/Women’s Swimming	Pool Rental: $5,000 Misc.: $8,000
Men’s/Women’s Downhill Skiing	Season Lift Tickets: $1,000 Racing Gates: $4,500 Misc.: $10,000
Women’s Track & Field:	Misc.: $10,000
Men’s Track & Field:	Misc.: $10,000
Hockey:	Ice Time: $10,000 Misc.: $9,000
Volleyball:	Misc.: $4,000
Field Hockey:	New Sticks: $3,000 Misc.: $1,500
Cheerleading:	New Pom Poms: $750 Championships: $5,000 Misc.: $1,000
Total:	$151,350

After committing to the financial obligations that must be met, our athletic program is $31,350 in the red of the $120,000 budget. Gratefully taking the $20,000 donation for the alumnus who was a past football play, still has the program operating in the red at $11,350 over budget. Turning to fundraising to help subsidize the budget, we made an executive decision to have the four biggest teams in the program fundraise, this allows for the most revenue to be brought in. The four teams are: football (75), women’s track and field (65), men’s/women’s swimming (60), and men’s track and field (55). Having a total of 255 athletics fundraise at $60 a person allows for an extra $15,300 in profit. We would then have fundraising dollars balance of budget, which leaves $3,950 in the black. We all agreed that though specific teams took of the task of fundraising, this one year does not reflect the financial history and we should not favor the any team. As the leadership of this program, we believe in equality and the extra $3,950 was divided equally among the 15 teams at $263.33 per team. The rank of the team’s in conference play, the number of athletes on a team, and the pay-to-play status was not an option for this program. We balanced the budget while making high school athletics more fair and affordable. Now let’s look forward to next year. 

Budget - Aaron Snyder, David Higham, Nick Smith

$120,000 Budget
  $20,000 Donation from an alum
  $15,300 Fundraiser from Football, Men's/Women's Swimming, Men's/Women's Track and Field
$155,300 Total Budget

After spending all the necessities for every sport, we had a budget of $44,450.

Non-necessities that we decided to get were:

New Helmets for the football team - $6,000
New Jerseys for Men's Soccer - $1,200
New Jerseys for Women's Soccer - $1,200
Baseball Tournament in Florida - $10,000
Softball Tournament in Florida - $10,000
New Jerseys for Hockey - $2,000
All new field equipment for Women's Track and Field - $6,500
All new field equipment for Men's Track and Field - $6,500

After all the expenses we still had $1,050 left over to spend.

Budget Allocation- Erin Scott, Liz Herbst, Lindsey Landversicht, Josh Kovacs

The first thing we did when planning the budget was add up the necessary costs and the total spending budget. We decided to have the four largest teams fundraise so we could maximize our budget. Below is our our total budget.

$120,000 - Budget
    20,000 - Donation

      4,500 - Football Fundraiser

      3,600 - Men's/Women's Swimming

      3,900 - Women's Track and Field

      3,300 - Men's Track and Field

 $155,300-Total Budget

After paying for the necessities, we were left with $12,950 left to spend. We decided to purchase new jerseys, suits, and some equipment. Below is our discretionary purchases.

$1,200 - Men's Soccer new jerseys

  1,200 - Women's Soccer new jerseys

  1,800 - Men's/Women's Swimming new suits

  2,000 - Hockey Jerseys

  1,200 - Volleyball Jerseys

     200 - W Track Shot Puts

     300 - W Track Discus

     200 - M Track Shot Puts

     300 - M Track Discus

$8,400

After those purchases, we were left with $4,550 in the budget. We decided to charge football a small fee and purchase them new helmets.

$6,000 - New Helmets

 (4,550) - Remaining Budget

$1,450 Needed 

$1450/ 75(Players)= $19.33 Fee Per Player

We justified having the football players pay a small fee because they were the most expensive team and we felt that new helmets would be a good purchase to ensure the safety of the players. We believed that purchasing all the jerseys, helmets, and some equipment for track was pretty fair. All the teams that needed new jerseys received them all at the same time so that there was not favoritism towards one sport. With the next year's budget, we planned on resurfacing the court for one or possibly both basketball teams depending on the budget. We did not really consider the team's rank or number of athletes while splitting the budget. We did use number of athletes to decide who would fundraise. This maximized the budget and helped those teams as well as the athletic program as a whole.

Wesley Hall - Disabled Female Athletes

       After reading the article about disabled female athlletes, I tried to empathize and understand where they were coming from as much as I could. Basically, disabled athletes get little attention and female disabled athletes get even less attention. They just want to be treated as normal athletes and not as inspirational super humans.
I do have a few concerns though. So they all play wheelchair basketball but it said that the researcher was able-bodied and there were two women interviewed that taught classes in things like aerobics and jogging. This is confusing or I just read it incorrectly. Either they are able bodied and playing wheelchair basketball (which is wrong in my opinion) or they are disbaled in some way that was not specified. They should have been more clear on that.
They said that even disability magazines cover women in a negative way. I think that they should portray them in more of a positive light but not superhuman. They are all upset about the small amount of exposure that disability sports get. However, they said that they knew some of the athletes in the magazines personally. This sounds harsh but since they want to be treated normally, the market is very small, why would ESPN or SI even bother covering it?