Bren:Alumni

6 Responses to “RSVP Now for UCI’s 2008 Homecoming Celebration”

1. on 27 Jan 2008 at 12:40 pm1 Frank Hale '81

   O.K. I tried twice earlier today and it did not take.

   I’ve never gone to a college sport event,
   from the time I started college in 1974,
   until now when I’m close to retirement from UC.
   But in high school I was in the band and went
   to events every weekend–but ignored the sports,
   actually.

   Does anyone think that America is too sport-centric?
   There are now pre-school sport teams, and by the time
   a student reaches graduate school, soooo much time
   and energy has been spent playing sports,
   talking about sports, thinking about sports,
   watching sports, dreaming about sports.
   Who would rather do calculus than play baseball?
   Or study physics instead of play basketball?
   Or watch Shakespeare instead of football?

   Have any other alumni seen the new documentary
   “Two Million Minutes” which compares high school life
   in India, China and the US? Guess which countires
   plan to be dominant in the 21st century?
   Guess which ones have high schoolers doing
   hard academic work, and less sports?

2. on 28 Jan 2008 at 8:32 pm2 Jesse Hsia

   I haven’t seen the documentary, but looks pretty interesting.

   My opinion in regards to the states being too sports centric…I always thought schools nowadays want a more “balanced” candidate, basically not single dimension students who are just good academically.

   Anyone going to homecoming?

3. on 02 Feb 2008 at 6:43 am3 Lawrence

   I think it’s quite a shame that you have never attended a sporting event at UCI Frank. Although I am vastly generalizing, since I don’t have time to look up statistics, but I do know for some sports like basketball (particularly the NBA), tons of votes come from China, more than from the United States.

   But wait, China has over a billion people, and the US doesn’t. I agree, but not everyone has access to the internet, television, etc.

   How about a stronger argument? War and the Olympics.

   There is only one single event that can stop wars, create friendships, and be used as a truly global statement and that event is the Olympic games. We’ve seen war-torn nations come together through the teamwork of their representatives.

   Science creates bombs, business influences government, and investment bankers capitalize on information asymmetry by using people’s pension funds.

   Sports could be a problem, or maybe it could be a solution.

4. on 02 Feb 2008 at 6:21 pm4 Frank Hale '81

   Thank you, Lawrence, for your thoughts on this topic.
   Have you ever tried to Google the word pair
   sports violence

   Here are some recent research results:

   From Penn State on January 23, 2008:
   —
   University Park, Pa. – The sports culture surrounding football and wrestling may be fueling aggressive and violent behavior not only among teen male players but also among their male friends and peers on and off the field, according to a Penn State study.

   “Sports such as football, basketball, and baseball provide players with a certain status in society,” said Derek Kreager, assistant professor of sociology in the Crime, Law, and Justice program. “But football and wrestling are associated with violent behavior because both sports involve some physical domination of the opponent, which is rewarded by the fans, coaches and other players.”

   Using a national database of 6397 male students from across 120 schools, Kreager analyzed the effects of team sports – football, basketball, and baseball – and individual sports – wrestling and tennis – on male interpersonal violence. The study looked at factors such as self-esteem, reports of prior fights, and popularity of the various sports.

   The researcher found that, compared with non-athletes, football players and wrestlers face higher risks of getting into a serious fight by over 40 per cent. High-contact sports that are associated with aggression and masculinity increase the risk of violence, he concluded.

   “Players are encouraged to be violent outside the sport because they are rewarded for being violent inside it,” Kreager said.

   However, the violent behavior is not restricted to players alone. The Penn State researcher also found that the risk of getting involved in fights increases with the proportion of friends who play football.
   …
   —

   There is far too much violence within the “games,”
   and also among spectators.
   Recently there was a murder of a parent outside a
   high school basketball game in San Francisco.
   There are brutal assaults between parents and coaches
   at sporting events in many cities, sometimes as far
   as murder.

   In November 2007, the European Commission began
   to address the very serious problems of violence
   and racism among football (a.k.a. soccer) players
   and fans.

   What might have once been a healthy physical
   activity and recreation has become, in our culture
   of sports stars payed 50 times what university professors
   earn, and where “winning is everything…number 2 is
   nothing,” a very common source of violence.

   Aside from the “brain drain” that it causes among young men.

5. on 08 Mar 2008 at 10:31 am5 Lawrence

   On the surface, there seems to be an obvious correlation between violent people and football (and the other sports you mention). And I agree, you tend to see many more athletes in football or basketball in jail or in the news for doing bad things. In no way do I dispute this impression/fact.

   However, it’s important to note that it’s possible (and most likely, as I have not done a study on this) these sports happen to attract dangerous or violent people.

   It is an easy assumption to say that because football involves tackling and other high contact activities, it definitely means that football and sports such as football cause violence. But, this would be an extremely shallow view. Perhaps the Penn State researcher had taken this into his study, but I have to think it’s impossible to actually do a true study on this subject.

   You’d have to create an alternate world without high contact sports and see if violence runs as prevalent as it does in our world… Actually, we can kind of see this phenomenon in 2nd Life.

   I don’t know much about this virtual, but I do know when the first branded store on 2nd life came out, people camped outside this store and when people came in and out, the campers would shoot and kill whoever came in and out of the store.

   I’m going to make a huge assumption and say that those shooting people were not football players or wrestlers.

   —–

   On your last note about pro athletes who are paid 50x more than professors, I have no sympathy for this fact. Academic life is a privileged life, and in some cases a pompous life. Do I think Michael Jordan deserves to get paid more than an average teacher? YES!

   Michael Jordan was the best (potentially of all time) at something. When you are the best, you deserve to make the best money. It’s a combination of determination, hard work, luck, and risk that Jordan and other sports stars place strategic bets on their athleticism at one super lottery ticket.

   Same thing when it comes to science and academics. Bill Gates is a pretty smart guy. He got into Harvard and say he went all the way, he probably could have been a professor. But instead of using his natural raw talent, super good fortune, hard work, determination, etc. he decided to take a huge risk by leaving school and starting Microsoft. He too is paid much more than a professor. Yet, I have a feeling you’d respect him.

   There are lots of Fortune 500 CEO’s with a similar story as Gates. Many used education to leverage their abilities into great careers. I don’t see a huge difference when it comes to athletes. They just really are that much better than me or you at football, basketball, and their respective sports.

6. on 17 Mar 2008 at 9:09 am6 Frank Hale '81

   Lawrence, I just wanted to let you know that I did read your comment.

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