Abusive Coaching

Startling news came out of Boston University's athletic department this weekend.  According to a recent report, the head women's basketball coach at Boston University, Kelly Greenberg, is under investigation for bullying her players.

Greenberg reportedly bullied four players to the point that they all abruptly quit the team this year. Greenberg reportedly called one player "selfish" for not playing through a concussion, and causing another player to be checked into a hospital for being suicidal.

This scenario sounds all too similar to what happened with the former Rutgers head coach Mike Rice last season.  Mike Rice was fired shortly after hours of practice videos were released showing Rice throwing balls at players, shoving them, and using very offensive language while yelling at his players.

I think these occurences are becoming more common because of the increased power that universities give their athletica departments, and because of how much control college sports teams have over their players.  For these girls, quitting the team results in a loss of their scholarship. So for the girls who have not left the school, they will now have to pay around $60,000 a year, which will be extremely difficult because they were most likely not accounting for paying for school in hteir finances because they were on scholarship.  This ends up making the student-athletes prafctically tied-down to playing for these teams, no matter how bad the sitaution is, because they need the scholarship money to pay for school.

Something needs to change in the world of college athletics.  Even though Mike Rice was fired, and it would appear that Kelly Greenberg will be fired, those players can't get the time back that they lost while being miserable attending school.  There needs to be some sort of student-athlete union that could investigate these issues and gain retributions for these players, such as possibly having Boston University keep the girls on scholarship if they remain at the school.  Sports should be an enriching part of a student's time at school, not something that makes them want to leave the school.

What do you think of these reoccurring instances?  How do you think we can change this culture in college sports?

I Pledge Allegiance to the Brand...

Apple electronics, Nike shoes; well, Nike for just about anything sports-related, Crest toothpaste, North Face winter clothing, and the list goes on and on.  These are the brands I repeatedly buy from over and over again.  But why?  I couldn't use any facts or statistics that make Nike shoes better than Adidas shoes, yet whenever I'm buying new shoes I wouldn't even consider leaving Nike.com.  Or when I'm at Walgreens I always grab the Crest toothpaste without hesitation.  Does it more effectively clean my teeth than what Colgate makes? I have no idea, I've just always used Crest.  Is there any significant difference between the toothpastes? Probably not, yet I'm always sure I'm grabbing the tube of Crest instead of all the others.

I think there are many things that factor into brand loyalty, with one reason being easiness.  There's no denying that buying products is much easier if you can narrow everything down to only looking at the products your specific brand produces, which ties into the apparent increase of a lazy culture in America. 

I believe that brands try to gain loyalty by creating a battle with their rival.  Nothing conjures up more polarized and strong opinions than a declared war.  I'm sure everyone remembers the old Mac vs PC ads, and it's hard to think of a more polarized brand battle than the hardcore Mac vs PC people.  I think the idea that someone gets to join a group of people while facing an opposing group makes the brand loyalty stronger for them because of the classic mob mentality.

What are some of your brand loyalties?  How did you develop them?  How do you think people develop their brand loyalties?  How do you think companies encourage brand loyalty?

"How to Completely Botch the Olympics" by Russia

I had heard maybe a month or two ago that Sochi was behind in schedule in the development of a lot of the hotels for the Olympics, but I didn't really think that the news was that serious.  I mean, they're clearly going to have to finish the buildings by the time the Games start, right?  Well, to my surprise this weekend I found out that I was very wrong.  I came across an article showing the horrors of the Sochi hotels via pictures posted on Twitter.

I couldn't believe what I was looking at.  It was as if the people in Sochi found out they were hosting the Olympics two weeks ago.  There were completely trashed rooms, unfinished rooms, piping hanging form the ceiling in hallways, missing walls, and many other atrocities.  Also, I couldn't believe how Russia could allow this happen.  The geographically largest country in the world and one of the proudest countries allowed themselves to screw up the most important event on the largest stage there is.  I would've thought that they would've taken the opportunity of hosting the Olympics as a way to flaunt how great Russia is, but they unfortunately fell way short of that.  This is not the only way Russia has embarrassed itself so far either.

What do you think of how unprepared Sochi was for the Olympics?  Did you ever expect something like this to come from a global power such as Russia?

Heroin Taking Heroes

The world was shocked and saddened yesterday to hear the news of the death of renowned actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.  He was reportedly found dead in his apartment with a needle in his arm, and many bags of heroin scattered throughout the apartment, indicating a drug overdose, even though an offical autopsy has not been completed.

Unfortunately, these instances of celebrity drug overdose are not uncommon, and seem to be increasing as of late.  This past July, Cory Monteith, an actor on the popular show "Glee", was found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver due to a drug and alcohol overdose.

These two incidents are just a microcosm of a growing problem of the increasing heroin use across the country.  According to The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number of Americans who had used heroin in the past year had risen from 373,000 in 2007 to 669,000 in 2012.  That means that in those five years, heroin use in the U.S. doubled.

The increase in numbers seems to be related to an increase of how easy it is to obtain the substance, the increased purity of heroin, the lowered price of it, and influence of a Mexican drug cartel pushing heroin into the United States.  Whatever the true causes are, I believe that this is a serious problem and that the United States needs to take a serious approach at trying to help reduce these numbers.  

What do you think are the reasons for these increases?  What measures would you take to solve the problem?

3D Printing: More Than a Toy

While checking on the news for one of the stocks I hold in my Consumer Seminar's stock market game, I came across breaking news that 3D Systems (the company I hold imaginary stock in), is partnering with Hershey's to make a chocolate printer.  Yes, you read that correctly.  A machine that will print chocolate.

For those of you that don't know what 3D printers are, here is the basic idea.  They are the latest in printer technology, and they are the same as regular printers in that they're hooked up to a computer.  But instead of printing paper, these printers print three-dimensional objects.  So theoretically, you could design a toy on your computer and have it printed right in front of you.

This new technology also has major commercial applications.  Imagine buying those pair shoes you want so bad online, and instead of having to wait for it to be shipped to you, it is printed right in front of your eyes.  This completely eliminates the factory and any shipping that takes place.  If this technology theoretically became as prevalent as regular printers, the world's economy would see an incredibly drastic shift with the elimination of shipping companies and assembly factories.  Obviously this scenario is extreme, unlikely, and very far away if it would happen, but it illustrates just how big of an impact these printers could have.

Do you think these printers will become as popular as 3D printers?  What problems do you see in the future for 3D printers?  Would you buy a 3D Printer?

No More "FaceTime"

Over the holiday break, I was able to spend a lot more time than usual with my family, especially because I have an older brother in college.  While the increased family time was great, I noticed how much my siblings and cousins were on phones or iPads almost all day, even using phones at dinner.  I couldn't help but think of how relevant this was in the grand scheme of things, so I decided to do some research to find out how experts thought this behavior was affecting our society.

In this article, many great points are brought up about how cell phones are killing social interaction; even in 2007.  And I think it's safe to say that cell phone and other mobile device use has skyrocketed since 2007.  Think about how frequently you pull out your phone whenever there's a free moment in your day, or how you're always buried in your phone whenever you're sitting somewhere alone.  Cell phones kill any chance of you actually experiencing something useful during this time.

For instance, last week I was having a conversation with a teammate of mine on the basketball team I said to him, "Could you imagine how much more productive people would be with schoolwork if everyone had your phone instead of an iPhone?"  He responded quickly by saying, "Or just more productive in life in general and basic human interaction."  What he said could not have been more true, and I had never really thought about it that much until then.  Whenever I am with friends, or really anyone for that matter, a few minutes never go by without someone checking their phone.  For whatever reason, people seem to feel the need to always be connected to something or someone bigger; such as texting people who they're not with, or checking out what's going on in social media at the moment.

Nowadays, no one seems to ever be content just sitting alone thinking, or sitting alone in public.  While alone, people should at least spend a little time in self-thought and reflect on their day.  People are so worried about what's happening on Facebook or Instagram, that they never really get to think about what's going on in their own lives.  Also, I feel like meeting new people for recreation is an art this is being diminished by cell phones and mobile devices.  While I am also guilty of having my head buried in my cell phone at most times when I'm in public alone, it is almost always well worth the effort of striking up a conversation with someone you don't know.

While I don't think this trend will slow down at all, I think it is important for people to think about how much they are on their phones throughout the day, and how much they could be missing.  Because there's an entire world outside of that three inch screen in front of your face; if you're willing to just leave it in your pocket.

What do you think of the increased use of mobile devices?  Do you notice these same trends in today's society?  Are you guilty of always being on a cell phone?

Have We Actually Moved On From Black and White TV?

After hearing the topic discussed briefly during an American Studies class, I began to pay attention more to how race is displayed in modern television, and specifically how segregated television is.  After watching any major TV network for 30 minutes, it becomes increasingly clear that our televisions are really still black and white.

While first examining commercials, I naturally wanted to look at the the most significant and most viewed commercials in America.  So what better commercials to analyze than the those that played during the most recent Super Bowl, the most watched event in the world.  I conveniently found all of these commercials on one website.  The first video I watched was one that the NFL itself aired.  It consisted of NFL players appearing in giant boxes to thank NFL fans for being there for them.  Throughout the entire commercial, not one African-American fan was "thanked", and the only African-Americans in the commercial were a few of the NFL players.  

After watching more commercials I came across another interesting example, but this one did have an African-American person in it - but just one.  This Budweiser commercial was set in some upscale restaurant or club, and shows several close-ups of people in expensive clothes having a good time.  The end of the commercial cuts to an aerial view of a table with about thirty people.  Only then do I see the one and only African-American in the whole commercial.  And to me, it almost seems like someone in at Budweiser made the director put in one African-American man in order to avoid accusations of excluding African-Americans.

Then, I began to think about television shows today.  It took me about 15 minutes to finally think of even one show in which the main character or characters are African-American.  I thought of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", and that show isn't even on anymore.  And after more thought I began to wonder if in this instance the underlying joke of the whole show was that there could even be an African-American family with that much money. The creator of the show is Andy Borowitz, a white man, which made my theory even more plausible. Also, the main character in the show is Will, who has not outgrown his roots in urban Philadelphia.  This ostracizes him from the rest of his family in many ways because he is the only member of the family who acts like the stereotypical African-American teenager. 

I do not understand the lack of other races being shown on television when we call this country a "cultural melting pot".  Why do you think TV is so predominantly white?  Do you think it matters that there is not an equal representation of races on TV?