Rhetorical Analysis; Professional Athletes Overpaid? James B. Hays worte in an article on teenink.com named “Professional Athletes are Overpaid for Their “Jobs”” about how athletes do not deserve the money they get paid because they do not actually work. Hays insults professional athletes which shows the bias nature towards these athletes and only reports what is actually seen out of these players by the public instead of what they do everyday off the camera. He does not include their practices, weights, and scouting. Hayes also contradicts himself many times throughout his article by saying they do not have actual jobs and they do not work all year round which diminishes all credibility that Hayes did not establish. James B. Hayes argument …show more content…
against why professional athletes are overpaid is subpar at best when he does not establish credibility, contradicts his words, and makes some claims about professional athletes without factual evidence . On Teen Inks website, from the article “Professional Athletes Are Overpaid For Their “Jobs”” James B.
Hays brings up many argumentative points to as why these athletes should not be paid as much as doctors or teachers. He makes several points on why athletes should be paid less. One of those points include that athletes only play a certain number of games each year. His argument is that they are not playing year round, yet they are getting paid to do so. Another one of his points include the fact that their contracts are short term, but they are getting paid incredible amounts of money. Hays also says the only reason that athletes get paid such a large amount of money is to entertain people. He believes if they reduce their salaries then it would benefit the audience, due to the fact that the ticket prices would be …show more content…
lower. Haye’s biggest mistake in and throughout his paper is not establishing credibility towards the topic.
The reader should not trust anything the author says if he is not knowledgeable in the area of professional sports or has no experience in the area . Nowhere in this article does Hayes establish his credibility on why he is qualified to talk about this topic. The author also diminishes any credibility he may have received in his opening paragraph by contradicting himself later on in his paper. Right off the bat Hayes criticizes professional athletes using quotations around jobs and saying that these people do not have actual “jobs”, but then goes on later in his article to say they just entertain and get paid. Someone that gets paid for doing a specific task is considered a job by definition. Another counter argument that Hayes makes is that athletes do not work all year round. He starts by addressing the other side of the argument stating“I realize that practicing for months, day-after-day, would definitely take a toll on one’s body” then later goes on to twist his words by concluding that professional athletes do not even work a full year “athletes don’t even work for half of the year so why should they be paid so much??”. These two contradicting statements leave the reader wondering what athletes actually do. Do they only work six months out of the year or are they constantly practicing day in and day out even in the off
season. Hayes also states how athletes are not being signed because of their skill anymore. “Athletes aren’t even being acquired because of their skill level any more; it’s all about popularity and how much money that person can bring to that team by attracting more fans, meaning more money.” (Hayes). Hayes makes this bold statement, but gives no evidence to back it up. Professional athletes are selected because they are the best of the best at the sport that they are playing. If they did not bring any athletic ability or contribution to the team with their skills then they would not be playing in the big leagues. This diminishes his argument as well because although he is stating his opinion he does not give factual evidence that this actually happens in the world of professional sports and he does not have the credibility to back up his claims. Due to the fact that Hayes contradicts his words and does not establish credibility, he discredits most of the claims in his paper. He does not establish credibility with his false claims that are previously mentioned. Hayes negligence to establish credibility is the main reason his argument carries no significant weight. If the reader cannot trust the information given from the author than the argument is not a reliable source of information.
Former NFL linebacker, Leon Searcy said, “Guys competed just as hard off the field as they did on the field.” Corben includes anecdotal evidence and expert opinions to strength the idea of more money more problems. The sports industry uses meritocracy, the payment method of how well you play is how well you get paid. A large portion of athletes don’t get paid in the millions but buy like they do. Because of this spending technique many live paycheck to paycheck which is an example of expert opinion. An example of Corben using anecdotal evidence is when he included the story of Mike Tyson, Mike had multiple tigers and got sued because a man got mauled. Corben included this evidence to prove to the audience having nice, expensive things don’t always have a nice outcome. A particular athlete wrote a check to a credit card company for $108,000 for one month. With big bucks, it becomes easy to swipe the card. This anecdote strengthens Corben’s argument by giving a personal
If there’s one thing we dread in the summer more than the heat, it’s the afflicting sentiment that surrounds oneself when one is inhibited from experiencing the thrills of football for six long and gruesome months. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football is a part of many Americans’ Saturdays, but to fewer does it mean their lives. Recently coming under debate, many sporting fans and college athletes believe that players should be paid more than just tuition, room, board, and books. Two articles on this issue that bring up valid points worth discussing are Paul Marx’ “Athlete’s New Day” and Warren Hartenstine’s “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid.” From these articles I have found on the basis of logical,
When looking into the history of our culture, there are many subtopics that fall under the word, “history.” Topics such as arts and literature, food, and media fall into place. Among these topics reside sports. Since the beginning of time, sports have persisted as an activity intertwined with the daily life of people. Whether it is a pick-up game of football in the backyard, or catching an evening game at the local stadium, sports have become the national pastime. According to Marcus Jansen of the Sign Post, more specifically, baseball is America’s national pastime, competing with other sports (Jansen 1). Providing the entertainment that Americans pay top dollar for, live the role models, superstars, and celebrities that put on a jersey as their job. As said in an article by Lucas Reilly, Americans spend close to $25.4 billion dollars on professional sports (Reilly 4). The people that many children want to be when they grow up are not the firefighters or astronauts told about in bed time stories. These dream jobs or fantasies have become swinging a bat or tossing a football in front of millions of screaming fans. When asked why so many dream of having such job, the majority will respond with a salary related answer. In today’s day and age, the average athlete is paid more than our own president. The cold hard facts show that in professional sports, the circulation of money is endless. Certain teams in professional baseball and football are worth over millions of dollars. Consequently, the teams who are worth more are able to spend more. The issue that arises with this philosophy is virtually how much more? League managers, team owners and other sports officials have sought out a solution to the surfacing problem. Is it fair to let...
These professors argue that student athletes, under common law and NLRB’s (National Labor Relations Board) employee criterion, do in fact fall under the classification of an employee (Cooper). Under common law, four tests determine if someone is an employee or not. Three of these rules are as follows: “(1) the right of others to control a person's activities; (2) whether that person is compensated; and (3) if that person is economically dependent on that compensation.” According to these guidelines the employer-employee relationship is plainly synonymous to that of coaches and student-athletes. For one, coaches have a significant amount of control over their student-athletes’ activities, two, athletic scholarship money is considered compensation, and third, student-athletes are highly dependent on these scholarships for their food, living, and education. Even after realizing that a student-athlete falls under what the law defines as an employee, we can agree that any D1 student-athlete who works upwards of 40 hours a week to perform at a high level of competition for the universities benefit is essentially working a full time job on top of school work
6) Clark, Liz. “Athletes Say They Deserve to Be Paid.” Charlotte Observer. (Charlotte, N.C.). April 3, 1994: pg. 4G. Sports. Eleanor Goldstein. Vol. 4. Boca Raton: SIRS, 1994. Art. 65.
Many people can easily picture this scene in their minds: the roaring crowds, the smell of easy- to-eat foods, and the thousands of people all dressed in the same colors. That’s a description of game day at a major college. College sports bring in a lot of money, yet their players don’t receive any money. Many people view this as something that needs to be changed while others believe that only professionals should be compensated. In the essays “Let Stars Get Paid” and “College Athletes Should Not Be Paid”, both authors give their opinions on whether or not college athletes should be paid. College athletes should not be paid because they already receive many benefits from being athletes.
Professional sports were beginning to be organized in the 1850s. At this point, their salaries, although they were still higher than the average person’s, were not too outrageous. In the 1880s and 90s, baseball players in particular were making on average about $1,750 annually. Even though this was three times the salary of an industrial worker of the time, they were not happy with this amount of money and felt they should be earning more (Baseball n.d.). In the 1970s, the worlds of professional sports took a drastic turn. According to an article by J.L. Carnagie, “Two words described sports in the 1970s: big business. Owners and athletes in major professional team sports knew there was money to be made in their games, and they went after it.” (Carnagie, n.d.) Athletes, especially, realized how competitive teams were becoming, and they were well aware that talent was in high demand. In the beginning of 1980s, the best athletes were demanding even more money; and the majority of the time, they got what they wanted. By end of the 1980s, many athletes were making over a million dollars (Carnagie, n.d.) These increasing salaries were very ironic because when professional sports began they were intended to be a showcase of players’ talent and athletic ability. Professional sports leagues were also supposed to be similar to the Olympics in that they would be free of politics and influence of society. However, by the 80s, they had become all about the star athletes and how much money they could make. By this point, professional sports had evolved into an industry that was focused on entertainment and money, rather than the sports actually being played (Carnagie, n.d.).
College sports have become more popular throughout the past few years and the NCAA is doing an immense amount of money. This increase in money has caused colleges to become involved in this global debate over whether college athletes should be paid or not. Many athletes believe they should be paid for all their hard work, time, and dedication to the organization. Other people like, Kristi Dosh, believe that college athletes shouldn’t be paid because there are too many questions that haven’t been answered for them to join the opposing side. A lot of questions come up with this debate, like which athletes are going to get paid? Kristi Dosh is an author and an ESPN sports business reporter. Dosh wrote the essay, “The Problems with Paying College Athletes”, on June 9, 2011. This essay was published in Forbes which is a business magazine about sports and money. Kristi Dosh makes a somewhat convincing argument by asking a lot of questions to get her audience to realize how difficult this change is, however; she doesn’t do a very good job giving any citations or statistics to back up her statements. Ultimately, I think Dosh is convincing to her audience, but the weaknesses outweigh the strengths.
Do athletes get overpaid? Is it fair that the average NFL player gets paid 1.9 million dollars a year while the average heart surgeon gets paid 533 thousand dollars annually? I think that professional athletes don’t get paid too much. There are multiple reasons that proves that their pay is not excessive. Their careers are short, they risk their body for our entertainment, and they motivate children.
Ms. Jennifer Fontaine does not support the idea that athletes are overpaid. Ms. Fontaine suggests that athletes who are superior in their skills and talents associated with their respective sport should be duly compensated. Ms. Fontaine also states that the money earned by these athletes is justified because professional athletes work harder than people in almost any other profession. Last, it is her premise that the money earned by these highly talented athletes help to cover the high costs of medical treatment for serious, if not life-long, injuries such as knee, back/spinal, and head injuries.
Do you think professional athletes are overpaid? You might think they earn more than what they are worth for playing half a year, but athletes have many things which contribute to their salary. Some of these things include their earnings from endorsements, ticket sales, performance, merchandise, their social contributions, and TV ratings. Although there are many factors that contribute to their salary, professional athletes may be overpaid because as a society, we contribute to their success. So, in the end, part of the athlete’s salary comes from the people who support the sports in the first place.
In closing, these athletes are making too much money in a society that traditionally bases salaries on the value of ones work. These athletes do not know what real work is or how hard it is to make a dollar. Although their job is difficult, they do not play a role in our economy like their salaries indicate. Therefore, they should receive less money.
Professional athletes play in front of an audience and get paid for it. Fans like seeing these athletes perform their best so much that they are willing to pay to watch. Professional athletes are performers or entertainers. They must perform well in each game or risk losing. If they don 't play well, they won 't last long. The work of professional athletes is hardworking and at times demanding. This is both physical and mental stress. They must be in the best possible shape. Athletes usually work out all year, both during the season and in the off season in order to be able to start for their team. They must be able to perform their jobs at the highest level at all times. Professional athletes also face the constant threat of injuries that could potentially end their careers. For these and other reasons, this kind of job can be quite stressful. During the season, athletes often practice more than 50 hours a week. They may have other duties related to the team as well for instance, going to meetings or watching films about the opposition. Athletes have to move to the place where their team is located. If the manager decides to trade them, they have to most likely to move again. Being a professional athletes they often have curfews and other restrictions on the things they do. They are not allowed to just leave the job at the office like workers in other jobs can. That’s why the athletes receive what they get, because of what they do when they need to
In today’s society many will argue whether or not professional athletes are overpaid. In the present time athletes are being paid phenomenally large amounts of money for their entertainment. It is my claim that all professional athletes are overpaid because they do not offer society an essential function that improves or enhances our world in comparison to other professionals such as medical doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Society does not value entertainment enough to warrant such high salaries such as those of many professional athletes. There is no reason that these athletes should demand these tremendous amounts of money. This is why you have to put into question their reasoning for demanding such high salaries.
The salaries of athletes are extremely high for the effort that they put through. For example, basketball, baseball, and hockey athletes only compete for about 6-8 months a year. Then they have...