Response Paper #3

1.)

Wolff, Alexander. "An Honest Wage." 80.21 (1994): 98. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.csus.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=fa7720d0-b71f-465c-a6a0-18bfeb6cd01b%40sessionmgr115&hid=127&bdata=#db=aph&AN=9405317633>.

            In this Sports Illustrated article author Wolff breaks down the frustration within talented college athletes that generate high amounts of revenue, but regulations prevent them getting cash in hand. The author gets the opinions and thoughts of the college athletes and presents their issue through the eyes of the athletes. An argument that is proposed because of the contrasting opinions is that college athletes bring in millions of dollars to the institutions they represent and compete for; however, in the end the sole beneficiaries are the ones not playing. The athletes feel they should receive a portion of the revenue they themselves attract because of their athletic talents, but rules and representatives disagree and feel that their scholarships are sufficient enough. In my eyes the author is targeted the fans schools that have a heavy reliance of revenue that originates from athletics. Wolff concludes that while money is the motive for many of the talented athletes, in the end they will seek what they were initially supposed to be there for, an education. Some limitations of this text were the fact that for an article it was rather short and brief without too much specifics and details.

            The article is highly relevant to support mine group and I’s stance on whether or not college athletes should get paid, but the publication is moderately outdated despite the article being relevant and almost identical in today’s scenarios. I agree with the athletes that if their talents attract fan and money than they should be able to enjoy the benefits just like the representatives from the school and conferences do.

2.)                                                                                                                                

Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/>.

            In Branch Taylor’s, “The Shame of College Sports,” he takes an in depth analysis of NCAA teams’ revenue and who receives the money produced from the teams. Taylor realizes where the bulk of the revenue comes from and how much is actually made. The argument in this article is that because colleges in the US are the only institutions in the world to make profit on such a grand scale through sports through sports then the athletes that contribute heavily to this revenue should get a fraction of the money. The audience intended to see this article is most likely going to be the savvy college fans that watch these teams on national television or the individuals that purchase any college athletic merchandise. The text seems reliable because to many college sports fans the material in Taylor’s article is commonly known but he does a superb job at bringing all of this material together to make sense of it and persuade readers to understand and accept college athletes to get paid. Strength in the text was the difference of how much the college representatives made from sports which was in the millions compared to the athletes’ zero dollars of profit.

            This article is extremely relevant to my group’s research because it has given a new perspective of how athletes in college should be treated. We can model our mentality like the author’s when doing this research and the forming our own opinion. For example, the author went into his research open minded and unbiased, and came out with a new mentality. After reading this text I feel that college athletes should be paid and if not then amendments should be made on where the revenue is distributed to.