Modern Athletics: Alcoholism and Gambling
Not too long ago in a Nation unrecognizable- athletics was an institution that promoted health, teamwork, and individual progression- yet as the times progress, athletics has regressively evolved- clenching for it’s own self preservation the two worst vices in American Society: Alcoholism and Gambling.
We have allowed corruptible, self indulgent generations to hold hostage this institution, reaffirming in their unwise self proclamation the normalization of alcoholism and gambling is acceptable in the culture of athletics- Are we to the point where the integrity of any sport may never be restored? We have allowed wealthy, designing men to promote to our youth that gambling is acceptable in athletics, deterring their much needed attention away from the anchors which impede their own Nation’s progression, while casting a shadow upon honorable men and their honest achievements that are more deserving of their time and recognition.
It would be naive of me to assert that this is new to our self governing Nation. In our History we have faced these vices once before, never doubting the consequential dangers they pose to ourselves, our children, and our Republic. Though we recognize this, we have given up on the efforts of deterrence and have actually gone to such a low level as a people to where we openly advertise, promote, and endorse them to our children.
I find in my own observations a truth which I can no longer deny. Every Bar and Pub you will find on the T.V.s various sports- every holidays- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve; you will find them strangled by the NFL. Considering the rise and fall of Rome, organized athletic events which captivated the minds and energies of the Roman People were pushed heavily towards the last remaining years of their empire. The connection between vices, organized athletic events, and the fall of Nations is evident and irrefutable.
As a student, I found that athletics was a foundational influence of such a magnitude that the school which I attended, terminated educators with Master Degrees in their respective fields, to increase the salary of the head football coach. The prioritization of athletics has placed education on the back burner. actively, schools are pushing athletics in such a contrived way as to purposefully abuse tax dollars at the expense of the Tax Payer’s children. In the higher educational institutions, Alcoholism and Athletics go hand in hand- and those of you which have and argument against this, only secures the point I made above, that you most likely attended a school where education and critical thought were not prioritized.
The point of this is not to attack the existence of athletics, it is to merely highlight the path which we as a people have gone astray. I ask to every concerned citizen to consider the points which I have laid out, and put on your own intellectual scale of importance these two competing questions:
Vice or Integrity? - Education or Athletics?