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Positive effects of role models
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Positive effects of a role model
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The Philanthropy of Magic Johnson
In a year were so many great athletes are no longer with us, Payne Stewart, Wilt Chamberlain, Joe DiMaggio, Walter Payton, the man we thought would have passed away first is still among us, Magic Johnson. Rick Reilly does a remarkable job on this praising article on Magic. Reilly talks about how fit magic is. "He can bench 325 pounds. Weighing 245, he's about 20 pounds heavier than he was in his prime, but now he's ripped." He is still playing basketball in different celebrity appearances, and plays quite well in them although he is way older than everyone there. What really impressed me the most about Magic is influence as a black businessman. Reilly showed me, as well as America, a different side of Magic that is not seen on Sports Center. "He owns five Starbucks and has plans to open 10 more, nearly all of them in black neighborhoods, including one in Crenshaw and one in Harlem." Magic is willing to put money into the ghettos when other white investors are not. He owns many different businesses, from a TV company to a bank. What is truly amazing is he hires all black people to build and work his businesses. "Magic feels like many black athletes forget where they came from, I try not to." When I read this I was really stunned. He made a fortune taking risks that many other people won't try. He is living his life to the fullest and using his HIV experience to educate great number of people.
It really is truly marvelous to see a man as rich as magic do so much for other people. Yes, he is still making money, but you get the feeling that it's not all about the Benjamin's. The article suggests that Michael (and we know which Michael) would be this involved that they could really make even more of a difference and help give back to where they came from. What also gets me is that Magic could easily just sit around and do nothing, because of his HIV, and we (society) would think nothing of it. But he didn't he's out there making a different to "his people" and not getting a lot of attention. At least I haven't heard any thing besides this Rick Reilly article, and I think of myself as a man who keeps up with what's going on in sports and it's supporting cast.
Walter LeFeber's book serves as a cornerstone of reference for its content as it relates to race, black business and the expansion of global capitalism since the late 20th century. With regard to race, it shows how race effected middle-class Michael Jordan at a young age and how he grew in the star he became, yet still could not es...
Michael Jordan can say he has had an amazing career and accomplished many things in his life. From his childhood to adulthood, he has done remarkable things. Most people hope to have a life and career like
The issue of race in sport is somewhat baffling in that many people would rather not address at all even though sport has been intricately intertwined with racial issues throughout the Twentieth century. Those who would have us omit the topic altogether argue that analyses typically single out the black athlete, and then attempt to explain his/her inordinate success in ways different than we do with other groups. Critics contend that this is racist, since it perpetuates the idea that blacks are different, and often inferior. Edwards (1972) asserts that a typical theme resulting from such analysis is that blacks are physically superior, but intellectually inferior, to whites. Hoberman (1997) has further made the case that physical prowess, especially in such sports as basketball, has become a defining characteristic of the African-American community, and that beliefs about physical superiority are closely related to an anti-intellectualism that permeates black male culture. Essentially, Hoberman’s argument is that inordinate attention and idolization of prominent black athletes such as Michael Jordan has focused attention away from more realistic and important role models, and this, in turn has stunted intellectual, and social economic development in black communities.
Phil Jackson is a well-known man in the basketball world, as a championship coach and leader. Not only for his knowledge of basketball was he considered great, it was also for his use of alternative spiritual methods to assist his coaching. Through his Naturalist and Pantheist worldview he left a legacy of a role model. Phil Jackson’s views about the nature of God, career, and family are ultimately shaped by his worldview of Naturalism and Pantheism. Comparing my worldview of Christianity to Phil Jackson’s nature of God, career, and family, we will determine whether the role model status is relevant to how I perceived a role model.
This article proposes the idea of what would happen if Black people really embraced the sports world and made that their priority instead of education, “He provides the example of percentages of Black males competing in the NBA (77%), NFL (65%), MLB (15%), and MLS (16%) in comparison to the fact that fewer than 2% of doctors, lawyers, architects, college professors, or business executives are Black males,”. Dr. Robinson brings up the sta…..
In “Delusions of Grandeur” by Henry Gates Jr., Gates tries to persuade the black youth to derail from just being athletes and entertainers. The only way that message or concept will be spread is through the black athletes. The black athletes have the power to change the mindset of the black communities and make things right in the eyes of the children. They have the influence to impute a different meaning to life. They have the power to impute that life is not all about having the fanciest cars, clothes, and girls and is about giving back to the community and doing what makes you happy. It’s hard for them spreading that message when they constantly have to deal with
“African Americans have just as amount of chance of becoming a professional athlete as he or she winning the lottery”. This so called goal of theirs is unrealistic and is highly impossible. There are so many sports athletes but majority of them are of a different c...
Like Robinson, these men paved the way for today’s players and are the reason that the best athletes in the world now play in the NBA.” (Dave Howell, NBA.com, Six Who Paved The Way, Page 1). African-Americans in basketball, more specifically the first 5 players, began to make people realize that African Americans were not foreign creatures, they were actual people. People also began to realize that African Americans make equally as significant contributions to the society and community as anyone else
December 21, 1891- The birth of basketball. It has been changed from simply shooting a soccer ball into a peach basket to dunking a seven pound, leather ball into an iron rim. In the early years of the game, basketball was not as popular as other sports. In the 1985 NBA draft all this would change with the emergence of a 6'6" basketball phenomenon from Wilmington, North Carolina. Although going third in the draft, he recreated the game and is known as the best player to ever touch a basketball; he is Michael Jordan.
“We are more visible, but not more valuable”. This famous quote was said by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the most famous black basketball players, symbolized what many black athletes were pursuing when they first got into sports. In today’s world not only are black athletes a part of our sports venue, they are dominating the landscape of some sports such as the NBA which consists of a whopping 80% black athletes. Black athletes continue to revitalize sports in America as some athletes became the face of their sports such as Muhammad Ali in boxing, Jackie Robinson in baseball and Michael Jordan in basketball. Sports came as a form of entertainment for many Americans, but for black athletes it came as a pathway to express who they were and what they believed in. The more they became involved in sports, the more media they were able to attract which enabled them to talk about topics other than sports such as racism, their religions and equality through the civil rights movement. These views and statements made in their interviews and press conferences were the ones that became publicized and more popular amongst the typical white men in America and it played a huge role in changing the way blacks were viewed in American society.
First, Bill Russell, the first African American National Basketball Association player to attain superstar standing, encountered a serious amount of discrimination from people battling the fact that he was an extraordinary basketball player. Born into a racist community in West Monroe, Louisiana, Russell was lived his entire childhood strictly segregated, causing him to become sensitive to the all racial prejudice which ...
Usain Bolt is known as the “fastest man alive.” Usain Bolt was just a normal Jamaican kid, but he wanted more. He pushed himself the be the very best. Now no competitor can even get close to accomplishments, determinations, sacrifice, and pure talent (“Usain Bolt”). He won nine gold medals as a predominant champion at the 2008, 2012, and the 2016 Summer Games. LeBron is one of the most popular basketball player known in the United States of America. Most people do not know Lebron James’s story. LeBron James basically grew up without a father. His father was arrested several times for drug problems. His mother struggled with finding a job and battled with money to provide for her family as a single mother. Going to bed hungry was not uncommon for LeBron James and his siblings. LeBron wanted to make a difference in his life and his families’ life (“LeBron James’s life story”). Our culture today classify the athletes as “insanity,” but each of these individuals were completely lively.
Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954. Her home has been at Santa Barbra, California. She lives there with her partner, Stedman Graham. Oprah is a renowned talk show host, actress, American media proprietor, producer and philanthropist. The Oprah Winfrey show, multi-award winning talk show is what this great philanthropist is best known for. This show was the highest ranked show of its kind, being syndicated nationally in the period 1986-2011 (Winfrey 3). She is currently the CEO and owner of Oprah Winfrey Network. During her early life as an actress she was in the movie “The Color Purple” and the “Beloved”. In 2013, she starred in the movie, “The Butler” as Gloria Gaines. She has done documentaries and movies for HBO. She was also the voice for Gussie the Goose in “Charlotte’s Web” and also the voice Judge Bumbleden in the “Bee Movie”. This is just a few of the movies she was in.
Michael Jordan, portrayed by Jim Naughton in the biography Taking To The Air: The Rise of Michael Jordan, is well regarded as not only the greatest basketball player of all time but also the face of a generation. During the mid to late 1980s NBA basketball was simply treading water. As a result of the lack of a marketable superstar, the NBA was losing popularity to the National Football League and Major League Baseball. Following Jordan’s emergence, the NBA’s attendance rose dramatically and it’s worldwide popularity skyrocketed. Michael Jordan returned basketball to its past popularity in the United States and revolutionized the way the world viewed the game of basketball. (Harriman) Michael Jordan’s life is succinctly depicted in Taking to The Air: The Rise of Michael Jordan. Jim Naughton focuses on Jordan’s influence on worldwide sports and culture as one of the most publicized and marketed athletes of all time. Naughton explains the circumstances in Jordan’s upbringing that gave him the ability to be a humungous star. This biography is examined by Kirkus Reviews. They describe Naughton’s biography: “Besides offering a solid chronological biography and record of Michael Jordan’s basketball career, here Naughton also gives an astute assessment of this superstar’s impact on society.” (“Taking to the Air”) The article in the Kirkus Review explains that this biography investigates Jordan’s impact on marketing while telling the story of his life. Like Kirkus Reviews, I too believe that Naughton’s work goes into great description about Jordan’s upbringing and later career while also examining his cultural impact. Throughout his life, Michael Jordan has topped the sports and entertainment worlds by becoming the greatest basketball pl...
Whitaker, Matthew C.. African American icons of sport: triumph, courage, and excellence. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.