Bissinger concludes his argument by depicting the harsh realities of life beyond high school football, demonstrating the idea that high school sports create a make believe world, leaving the players unprepared for life after they graduate. Football in high school is filled with excitement and glory. In high school the players are the kings who rule their towns. Upon leaving high school they are faced with a rude awakening to reality. In the words of former “Golden Boy” Joe Bizzell, “it had been victory after victory...the world seemed only to consist of cheers and praise and glory and rules that had no meaning”(282). At Permian, the players were treated like heroes and were left completely unaware of what was to come. After leaving high school …show more content…
Without the sport and the feelings that once dominated their lives, former players often do not know what to do with themselves and their lives. Bissinger presents this perspective through former player Daniel Justus who does not see football “as being a savior for [the] kids” but instead as the “kiss of death”(284). Justus demonstrates that high school football will inevitably cause a downfall in the future of the players. By referring to the sport as a “kiss of death,” Justus dramatizes his view, expressing his true feelings on the failure of football to be beneficial on the lives of the players and fans. High school sports are temporary and, like life into death, the end is imminent. Football “creates this make-believe world where normal rules don’t apply...when it’s over and the harsh reality sets in, that’s the real joke [it plays] on people”(Preface). Because it is temporary, when it is over players are unable to make the transition into real world. They are left helpless to deal with their problems without the solution being presented directly to them. Bissinger depicts this as a major flaw in the football system, where instead of player’s learning how to deal with life, they are taught that they are invincible and stand above others. His audience can understand the situation players encounter when stepping out of their perfect bubble into the harshness of society. He appeals to the personal stories of all readers who at some point were forced to learn the realities of the world and who had to step out of their comfort zones. The situation the players face is similar, but on a greater scale, to the difficulties faced by his audience which motivates them to agree with the view that Bissinger presents. Because they have experienced similar difficulties, they are inspired to recognise the solution Bissinger presents and therefore
When a physical, demanding sport collides with a brutal, poverty-stricken town, true character is revealed, and the devastating realities of high school kids are shown to those who live in a sugar-coated world. The Manassas High School football team is full of new talents that are apparently worthless when a different players is shot, imprisoned, or drops out of school on an almost weekly basis. That is just a glimpse inside the misfortune that the kids of this film are enduring day in and day out. Some parentless and some virtually homeless, it seems as if the only way out of a constant state of need is a miracle, or death. Released in 2011, Undefeated has much more to offer than the typical football documentary.
Growing up can essentially be defined as the process of enduring the obstacles and challenges faced throughout one’s lifetime. By overcoming them, one becomes stronger as the valor needed to withstand anything builds character. Both Donald M. Murray’s “What Football Taught Me” and Lisa Keiski’s “Suicide’s Forgotten Victims” demonstrate how to persist and overcome life challenges. Despite experiencing different forms of hardships that enable them to survive through their pain, Murray and Keiski transmit life lessons about individual growth. They emphasize survival through society, authority figures, and themselves.
In this community lately, there has been discussion lately on sports possibly being removed from the high schools. Although, they get the most recognition that does not mean that just because one little thing it gets removed and completely forgotten about. In fact, so many people do high school sports in the text “Are High School Sports Good For Kids” it explicitly states “Here in Michigan almost 300,000 young people take part in high school sports every year.” This scene particularly shows that many youth athletes participate in high school sports in only one state alone.
In “Do Sports Build Character or Damage it?” Mark Edmundson explains the pros and cons of children who grow up playing football. Firstly, he believes the perseverance it takes to show up for hard practices is useful later in life. Especially when they get frustrated with something and don’t notice the little bits of progress they are making.
The era of Football in America is slowly coming to a close. Football has been known as America’s sport next to baseball for many years now. The general physicality of every play isn’t(B3) matched by any other sport on the planet, and that is why football causes more injuries than any other sport on the professional, and youth levels. Parents are pulling their kids from their teams, even in the middle of the season because of the information that has been released over the past decade illuminating a big problem for the game.
Football is a very popular sport not only in American high schools and colleges, but also in the entire country of the United States. Is playing high school football worth the risk and harm inflicted to high school football players? This is the main question raised by the author, Raymond Schroth, in the article “Abolish High School Football.” In this article, Schroth talked about the disadvantages and harms of playing high school football to the players. Schroth argued that high school football should be abolished because it had contributed more harmful effects than benefits to football players.
“Who believes they can become a professional footballer”, my lifetime mentor and coach always asked. As a naïve, buoyant young boy stepping into his first pair of freshly polished cleats, it was easy for me to dream of my future as a footballer on the big screen. " Cross bars and posts, the echo of distant bells, The cool and friendly scent of whispering turf"; these words from John Alexander Ross McKellar's 1946 poem 'Football Field: Evening', evokes a memory encapsulated by a significant time period in my earlier days, a time when my passion for football was seemingly indestructible. McKellar clearly exemplifies the realisation of his idealistic dreams as he too was once a young sportsman, a value that I can now strongly come to terms with as I approach the conclusion of my schooling years.
I’m a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I’d have think long and hard before I let him play football,” says President Obama (Fox News). The debate of whether or not football should be banned started with this speech given by President Obama. Recently, studies have shown that a large number of hits may cause more brain damage than a handful of concussions. Although people think banning football will decrease the amount of teen deaths and concussions; football should not be banned because it is just as dangerous as any other high school sports, many people would lose their job if it was banned, and football and sports help keep kids off the street. Football should not be banned because it is just as dangerous as any other
A Rhetorical Analysis of “The Education of Dasmine Cathey” Writer, Brad Wolverton, in his article “The Education of Dasmine Cathey” first appearing in The Chronicle of Higher Education, conveys the journey of a former University of Memphis football player who was poorly educated and how he struggled to be academically eligible. Wolverton’s purpose is to illustrate the widespread of educational shortcomings of NCAA athletes and the complicated ways athletes struggles gets brushed under the proverbial carpet. (Wolverton) In this article Wolverton utilizes a straightforward tone by using pathos to appeal to the readers with Mr. Cathey’s difficult situation also utilizing logos and ethos etc. to help make a presentable argument to which I will be analyzing.
Theodore Roosevelt in his letter to his son, The Proper Place For Sports(1919), proposes to his son that football in college is dangerous and he should think before he play. He supports his claim by first bringing up the subject, then telling his son of he should make the decision, then telling his son to not let sports get in the way of school, in closing he states general things going on to change the subject. Roosevelt’s purpose is to beget the problems of football in order to make his son realize the consequences of playing and make him rethink. He adopts a sincere tone for his athletic son.
If American Football is an art, then its athletes paint with blood. This should surprise no one; the gridiron plays host to modernity’s most violent sport. In this unforgiving environment, it is all to common for former stars to flare out with career-ending injuries. As I kicked off my research on the National Football League (NFL), I intended to report on these injuries. With a premise on my mind and a paper in my sights, I headed to JumboSearch to begin my investigation.
The Education of Dasmine Cathey “The Education of Dasmine Cathey,” by Brad Wolverton is an informative and compelling story about a student athlete who struggles with making educated choices that he is not familiar with in life, college, and football. There are so many reasons young college athletes succeed in sports, but fail in education. This story is a tragic tale of educational shortfalls that caused Mr. Cathey a football player to fall through the cracks of a flawed school system and became exploited by his family, friends and the college football program. These challenges during these times, created unwanted side effects in every aspect of his life. This is a great story because the author allowed the reader to feel every emotion
American football has many different aspects that helped change America today. Football has earned millions of fans to the game every year. The sport has changed and helped various people strive through life. At the same time, football has caused many downsides that have changed people’s lives forever. Through the beginning to now, football has been filled with many impacts and injuries that have changed the game.
Bissinger emphasizes this point to persuade the readers to understand how detrimental pouring large amounts of money and energy towards the high school football team severely impact the future of all the students in Permian High. The small pond these children are living in disrupts their academic success, and the adults fail to recognize this notion. A teacher of thirty-one years, Jane Franks explains that they are now “deadened to themselves and to the world around them” because of their constant lack of effort in class (133). Bissinger includes her views on the effects of the obsession with football, and how the football players are encouraged to only focus on the sport. Franks describes them as ‘deadened’ to the outside world, further examining how unprepared these young adults are for the real world.
In Texas, football is a way of life; people eat, sleep and breathe it. Specifically for the people of Odessa, Texas this is very true. The book Friday Night Lights follows the 1988 Permian High School football team as they made their run for the State Championship. This type of culture that puts football and, everyone involved in it, on a pedestal creates no room for anything besides football to succeed in a town like Odessa. In 1988, when this took place, gender, class and race all mattered a great deal.