Preview

Abdul Jabbar's 'College Athletes Of The World, Unite'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1029 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Abdul Jabbar's 'College Athletes Of The World, Unite'
Rhetorical strategies that will be discussed in this text are logos and pathos which will help make the author’s argument credible. Basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabar in his text “College Athletes of the World, Unite,” argues that college athletes get exploited. He supports his argument by giving examples of his own experiences, providing numbers that make his argument credible, and by making some type of comparisons to explain his reasoning. Jabar’s purpose is to inform people the value of a college athlete in order for the athletes’ to “bring an end to the indentured servitude of college athletes and start paying them what they are worth.” He adopts an irritated/pitiful tone for his audience, the readers of Jacobin. In order to understand where Jabar’s point of view of exploitation is coming from, Jabar uses logos. He describes logic when he says that there is a huge amount of money made in sports for the colleges but strongly affirms that the athletes are ones that get the least, even though these players are risking their careers when they step on to the court. Jabar asserts that the NCAA(The National Collegiate Athletic Association) “earns at least $1 billion dollars from …show more content…
Based on the rhetorical strategies that I have analyzed, I found Jabbar’s logic precise because he explained a large amount of money that was being generated towards the college and not a lot towards the student athlete. The emotion he expressed was effective because I felt empathy, I felt despairing and anger emotions as he explained the example of the cambodian girls working long hours for low wages. As I discussed the effectiveness of logos and pathos in this passage, I conclude that reasoning as well as expressing emotion is essential in order to make the point of exploitation that Jabbar

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    “The college sports industry generates $11 billion in annual revenues. Fifty colleges report annual revenues that exceed $50 million. Meanwhile, five colleges report annual revenues that exceed $100 million,” (Mitchell & Edelman). The money collected by the NCAA, goes towards the sports and the programs, not the players themselves, however, the NCAA says that “Student-athletes are at the heart of the NCAA’s mission,” (NCAA). “Some athletes and their supporters believe that college athletes deserve some type of financial payment for their services and contributions to their institutions, an opinion that has lead to player-initiated lawsuits, court cases, and strikes,” (Garcia).…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    With March Madness dominating the headlines and airwaves, it’s difficult not to admire the passion and effort of these nineteen year old athletes. However, while the marketing of, and revenue from, the tournament continues to grow for the television networks, the NCAA, the participating universities and their coaches, the NCAA athletes participating in it are expressly prohibited from collecting any financial compensation at all whatsoever. There is the argument that NCAA student-athletes should not be paid because of an opportunity provided to pursue a free higher education not given to the general public; but the assertion has several flaws, not the least of which is the extensive time and energy demanded…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The ideals of amateurism and the capitalist benefits that the NCAA reels in annually do not mix and are in fact hypocritical. Television deals and sponsorships are only growing. The three weeks of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, known as “March Madness,” generate over $770 million in TV rights deals alone as reported by USA Today. College football moves to a playoff system for the 2014 season. ESPN is in the process of securing the playoff TV rights, and many expect the network will eventually have to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 million for them. So while the NCAA is signing multiyear, multimillion dollar deals it’s only giving out 1 year renewable scholarships to their athletes playing in these highly profitable games.” The rules have been set up in such way to avoid a public understanding that athletes are already paid. It’s just a matter of whether they are paid their value” said Staurowsky, who in 1998 co-authored the book” College athletes for hire: The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA’s Amateur Myth” with Allen L.…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Nca Pros And Cons

    • 2194 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The National Collegiate Athletic Association was formed in 1906 as non-profit organization with the purpose of protecting students and setting official guidelines for sports. Since the formation of the NCAA in 1906, there has always been controversy of whether sports should be associated with universities and colleges. There have been numerous arguments attacking the NCAA suggesting that student-athletes are merely moneymakers for the institutions, rather than students, by earning millions of dollars in revenue each year in this commercialized industry. Academic enthusiasts contribute to the argument by emphasizing the importance of more money being invested into the athletic department rather then other departments throughout the school. However, these cons of the NCAA are heavily out weighed by the pros, as it’s proven that once schools enter the big time sports of NCAA they rarely leave it. Coltfelther supports this theory as he states that of the top 100 schools playing football in 1920, only…

    • 2194 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cronk’s article offers his professional perspective on the unjust treatment and regulations by the NCAA and why they must compensate student-athletes for their work and image. Cronk’s article quotes many NCAA guidelines and principles in order to provide the audience with reasons why the NCAA can’t pay student-athletes. The main focus of Cronk’s article…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bokshan, Amanda. ”Viewpoint: Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid." USA TODAY College. N.p., 2 Nov. 2011. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. Bokshan argues that college athletes should not be paid because of where the money would come from. This article has ethos because it is written by a college student who is studying sports management. Because she is a sports management major, it shows she is knowledgeable when it comes to sports. This source will provide good information on why the athletes should not be paid. The information is coming from a sports fan who know a good amount of information from her studies as well. The author wrote this article for a campus newspaper, meaning she wrote it out of pleasure. I can incorporate this source because I can relate to the author.…

    • 1318 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 2014, the NCAA had a gross revenue of about one billion dollars, distributing 547.1 million dollars to D1 schools. The money that D1 schools rake in from athletics is about 79% of their total income per year and helps them improve their respective school in academics, extracurricular activities, research, clubs and societies, and a multitude of other areas. Unfortunately, the athletes that bring in all this money receive absolutely no revenue and are essentially treated like slaves so that the school can prosper. Even though many people would argue that athletes should play the sport for the love of the game, their commitment, sacrifice of education, and risk of injury or permanent damage suggest they should get some compensation for their performance.…

    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    The notion of paying college athletes has been an ongoing and controversial debate for student-athletes, coaches, schools, media and most certainly the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Many would argue that playing major college sports is more like a job versus an extracurricular activity. As with the majority of many student athletes, some attend college with the aspiration of becoming professional players thereby college is seen as a means to end. Although student-athletes already receive compensation via full and partial scholarships to participate at the college level, passionate conversations will continue to be a topic of debate because of the enormous revenue generated by college sports.…

    • 3400 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    College football and men’s basketball generate revenues of more than $6 billion dollars every year. Yet these college athletes, who make this possible, don’t even get a little piece of that money. It only makes sense that since they contribute to the NCAA making all this profit, that they should get a reward for making these sports possible. Many of these athletes do get scholarships, but these scholarships usually do not even cover their tuition. Some of these athletes may have financial problems, and with a little help from the NCAA, they can pay for their tuition and not have to worry about money and focus on their school and athletics (Birkenes).…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In recent years, colleges throughout the nation have come across plenty of controversy concerning the idea of whether or not athletes should be paid to play sports in college. To this day the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) deems this a violation of their rules, and that is no matter what the amateur status of the players who make college athletics a billion-dollar business is not going to change (“Associated Press”, 2013). Even though the issue is constantly being debated and to some the answer remains "up in the air" still to this day (Dabad, n.d.), I think the answer is quite simple on why college athletes shouldn’t be paid.…

    • 1020 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Texas universities like Texas State are recognized through their sport rankings and their star athletes’ performance on the field. The role athletes play in the production of profit from merchandise, ticket sales, and advertising has created the question: Should athletes get paid? Based out of “Student athletes deserve payment in multimillion-dollar industry”, published in the University Star, as the main text describes the reasons why athletes should be paid. The editorial staff argues about the profit the NCAA makes, how athletic scholarships work, and how some athletes come from low income families with the hopes of building better lives for themselves and their families. Readers can use “Student athletes deserve a piece of the pie, too”…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Are college athlete’s players or employees? The idea of paying a college athlete appears to be outrageous to some. The thought of giving someone money for something they have chosen to do may not appear to be fair. The greatest concern is where to draw the line. Should the decision be based on the amount of money and fame the program generates? Why should athletes be treated special and receive compensation for their contribution to the school? One major factor is that athletes make numerous sacrifices beyond that of a nonathletic student. Many athletes can’t seek employment to help offset the expenses of college because they are on the field or court for the majority of their day. Their time and effort is devoted to that of the school, thus potentially sacrificing their education. In many cases, athletes don’t receive funding for college, which means that not only are they paying financially, but physically to compete. The school takes in money from ticket sales, television contracts, and sport-related merchandise, just to name a few. If the athletes are fortunate enough to receive a scholarship, usually that is the only benefit. This in turn leads to taking out loans and having to look for other scholarships or sources of compensation, but this doesn’t stop them from being involved in the teams’ activities. The real question is why shouldn’t an athlete in college be paid to play? College athletes are the real moneymakers for the school, and they should be paid to play.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Should Athletes Be Paid

    • 4235 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Corruption, scandals, suspensions, firings and a systems that is systematically flawed all the while the fact of the matter is that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a organization that is bringing in billions of dollars each year yet the labor force generating the money gets a scholarship that many athletes believe doesn’t pay enough for everything that is needed on campus so this leads the author to have to take a look at if athletes need to be paid. I will outline numerous problems that are going on in college athletics and possible solutions to problems. I will take a look at the scholarship itself to determine if that is sufficient enough for campus life. The bottom line is from the outside looking in is that there is a lot money going into the hands of administrators and coach’s with none going into the people shedding the blood sweat and tears. It would seem that the system in place at times, wants to make the student athlete stand around with their hands out accepting all and any money that they can find from an outside source, which is in violation of NCAA bylaws concerning amateur sports.…

    • 4235 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    It’s easy to say that college athletes are the reason why the NCAA makes its money but they need to be coached and not all talent is “God-given.” College football and basketball games boost the ratings of many T.V. stations as well as bring a lot of money to the NCAA through ticket sales, sponsorships and television contracts. A total of $330,560,000 in total revenue was brought into the NCAA in the 2000-2001 season with 78.7% of that being from television companies. CBS signed an 11-year contract to cover the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship and other events. The money coming from CBS is for the competition of the tournament every year not for specific athletes because almost every year there is a new starting five in there.…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Playing a college sport is like a full time job, except the lack of financial benefits. College football and men’s basketball generate revenue of more than $6 billion every year, yet no money goes toward paying the people that make the sports possible (Bagaria). College sports would be non-existent without the devoted athletes who work hard and spend countless hours each and every day. Whether practicing, training, or playing in games, these athletes are involved in their sport all seven days of the week. College athletes put in almost the same amount of work as professional players do, but instead of making millions, rather they are receiving no financial benefits (Bagaria). College athletes deserve to be paid because they sacrifice so much for their team and deserve compensation. Secondly, college athletes not only deserve money because of their devotion, they also need it for their everyday life. During their athletic season, they do not receive any sort of payment for their efforts which would aide them financially and in everyday life (Bagaria). Most scholarships cover cost of housing and textbooks, but leave out basics such as food. Logically athletes need food, but their time and energy is spent on a “job” as an athlete…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays