Alto's Men Health Blog

In recent news, The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has officially allowed college athletes to accept endorsements deals in college to make money. The NCAA passed this after 3 of the nations top high school recruits decides to bypass college and go to National Basketball Association: G League. Whether to allow college athlete to accept pay in anyway has been a pretty big topic in todays collegiate world.

The Start Up:Ohio State, and Johnny “Football” Manziel

I’m sure the NCAA had more issues involving payment of players before the decades of 2000s but that’s where we shall start. According to The Associated Press, The Big Ten Champions Ohio State Buckeyes were stripped of their 12-1 season due to players selling their championship rings for money and tattoos, they also had a look into earlier season of players getting paid to much money for “summer work”. This caused the team to get suspended from bowl games and player suspension

Johnny Manziel, former Texas A&M quarterback, in 2013 charged fans to get him to sign his autograph. This at the time could’ve put his eligibility to the NFL at huge risk, however the NCAA could never prove that he was actually paid for the autographs but could prove that the autographs were sold so they suspended him for half of the season opener. However that year, USA Today released the schools revenue from sports in 2013, Texas A&M made 93.9 million that year, so your telling me a university is making millions of dollars year, really off Johnny because at the time he was the biggest in college football, and Johnny got suspended till halftime making a couple hundred dollars? Some of that money should’ve gone to him because of the revenue he brought to that school. Sports in the college world is a full time job, these players don’t have time to get a job and make money.

Fair Play Act and The Pros Speak Out

Tyler Lauletta was with Los Angles Lakers LeBron James after practice at a press meeting he talked about how if he went to the University of Ohio State that he would’ve been the face of everything and he would have got nothing out it, while him and his mother were poor. While also Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors says “the NCAA is a dictatorship.”

What is the Fair Pay to Play Act? the Fair Pay to Play Act was originally known as California Senate Bill 206, is a California statute that will allow collegiate athletes to acquire endorsements and sponsorships while still maintaining athletic eligibility. The bill would affect college athletes in California’s public universities and colleges says Wikipedia.

Now the bill would not go into affect until 2023 but could be later because this bill will face many legal actions. Many California schools and NCAA opposed it. In May of 2019, according to Jenna West of Sports Illustrated, she mention that the President of the NCAA sent California legislators letters that school could face the possibility of not going to the National Championship.

This at the time was a bad thing for the NCAA because if they didn’t pass letting these athlete get endorsement money, most of the top athletes wouldve been going to only schools in California complete shifting the sports world because big D1 schools likes UCLA, USC, Stanford, Cal would be allowing these kids to gain money off of their likeness and image. What 18 year old kid getting offered that and a scholarship to the best school in the nation wouldn’t want that. Its every sports kids dream.

NCAA Endorsement Policy

In recent months, one of nations top high school Jalen Green has decided to skip college and take part in the NBA G league for new elite players. These players will be making around The league initially indicated it would pay salaries of up to $125,000 to top prospects, but that figure has since increased, ESPN reported that top prospects who choose the G-League route could now be in line to make more than $500,000.

With this happening I believe the NCAA was afraid more athletes would do this and not go play in the NCAA so they officially allowed players to accept deals and gain money off themselves if needed.The three NCAA divisions that govern the levels of competition in college sports will allow this. The divisions are expected by January to adopt rules that would take effect at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year.

The NCAA has been under pressure to allow athletes to capitalize on the use of their unique abilities as universities have built sports programs into a billion-dollar programs without paying players. Students who don’t play sports like actors, musicians, and others can already make money if they have exceptional talents and not be confined to rules under an association.

The new NCAA plan would let athletes make deals as social media influencers, appear in commercials and hold paid autograph sessions, among other opportunities according to the New York Times.

Athletes could still pitch products in TV commercials or social media posts, or make money from developing and promoting their own clothing line. Schools in each of the NCAA’s divisions will have to decide whether to bar students from promoting shoe and apparel companies, or alcohol and tobacco products.

The people who believe they shouldn’t get paid

People believe these student athletes should not be paid because they already getting the dream of a life time: College for FREE! These kids get to go to world class schools that cost thousands of dollars for people to go to for free and get the best education they can for as long as they want too. That is real most people many argument who think they shouldn’t but I would have to ask them what happens to that kid who get hurt and never plays again? These kids lose their scholarship and end up with nothing, the school drops them hard on their face with nothing to fall back on? How would you feel if that was your kid.

Some may ask what is Media Culture? Well, according to 12.1 media culture is “not a bounded or spatially bordered culture but any way in which everyday practices of sense making hang together.” (p.159) I have a love for the sports world but mostly in the contact sport aspect like hockey, football etc. However, I never really understood why baseball was “Americas pass time” and what attracted so many people and such strong fan bases to me is such a slow sport. In this blog, I will explain how baseball has brought together many different ethic groups and so much more as we continue.

There are so many traditions in baseball that bring its community of fans together like the ceremonial pitch, the food, the mascot races, and many more. Baseball has historic moments like when Jackie Robinson was the first African-American man to play for a team in Major League Baseball. Huge names like Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper etc.

A lot of these players in the MLB wouldn’t have a job or even have been looked at without the use of social media. J.P. Hoornstra a report for the LA Daily News says the LA Dodger coach looked more at social media for his drafting in 2017 and in 2018 than ever because he says there’s more to baseball than just hitting and pitching. Through media younger players can post videos of them with different drills and workouts and can give that kid who’s on the line of going drafted or doesn’t get drafted that second look.

Baseball to me for one is the realest example of culture media because baseball is a sport that is played worldwide by many different ethic groups and how it can bring a lot of different dominations around the world to play on one team. SB Nation writer Marc Normandin wrote “Baseball might have been invented in America, but it is no longer an American game.” At first, I did not agree with what he said in the statement he wrote but then I want to see the numbers in the time period this article was wrote and found out he’s kinda right. On Opening Day in 2016, 27.5 percent of players on big-league rosters were born in a country besides the United States, and that total was spread out among a record 18 countries and territories. That was eight more players, one more percentage point, and one more country than the year before. This pretty cool because it just showing how baseball is such a worldwide sport. Theres not many National League sports corporations that have that high a percentage of international players.

The Major League Baseball commissioner actually wants to expand into places like Mexico City and get more baseball back into Canada again as well. However, recently MLB has been on a decline in fan rating, maybe the MLB isn’t using the right media to attract their audience? According to Forbes, since 2015 the MLB has had 7% decline in fan attendances since 2015. MLB attendance was down 1.62% for 2019, following a 4% drop for the 2018 season. The league attributed much of the decline in 2018 to cold, wet weather.

The chart above shows the decline in baseball audiences, however, I sort of disagree with the wet weather aspect from my research, I feel as though baseball isn’t using media to attract fans the best way the can. Have they attracted worldwide attention yes, but on the other hand I feel as though they’re not focusing on the crowd at home as much and again those are the people that fill stadiums and the way the could utilize social media to help fill the stadiums.

Learning about this community was very interesting because again I’m not a baseball guy, I never knew how worldwide it really was and how many leagues and different fans around the world there are. To me baseball is really the definition of media culture.

The CBS Network Survivor has been on television for 20 years now, and with over 40 season (2 season a year), I wanted to see how legit the show is and how it relates to actual reality.

About the Show

Survivor is a reality game show hosted by Jeff Probst , were a group of strangers in an isolated island, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter for themselves. The contestants compete in challenges for rewards and losers go to elimination. The contestants are eliminated from the game as they are voted out by their fellow contestants, until only one remains and is given the title of “Sole Survivor” and is awarded the grand prize of one million dollars.

How accurate does this media show reality?

According to The Today Show, Survivor is pretty a real show causing it to connect with its audience probably a little more then others. Andy Dehnart ask if they get personal hygiene items and the response was yes and no they have access to a container with necessary supplies, such as feminine products, birth control, vital medications, etc. Otherwise, they’re pretty much on their own. They only do challenges once or twice a week and they also don’t get much food and water, they win them through rewards, however, they have to share with a lot of other people so they are not getting a lot of food.

Not getting a lot of food can result in fainting with happens a lot to the show and this where an emotional effect of real life reality can come into play as a viewer of the show. Below is a video of a contest during a challenge fainting coming down to the final days.

How truthful is this media? Are things left out?

As stated above Survivor on the living and emotional aspect of reality is pretty real, however some of the segments on the show are cut and things you don’t see for some reason that can be explained but others not so much. The Travel says that the Elimination ceremony usually last an hour long however they only show you what part had the most drama to heighten the elimination.

Also Jeff Probst supposedly arranges the votes before he reads them allowed again so it can heighten the shows drama. The show also pays there contestants money even if they lose the show. In a interview with TMZ Jonny Fairplay told how much contenders allegedly make: the first person eliminated can make $12,500, according to the infamous contestant, who noted jury members get $40,000.

Survivor on CBS, yes is a realistic but again on game shows like that how far can it really go? How far is to far from reality?

The merge that happened between Disney and Fox will not help the American People and will possibly hurt the entertainment business and could cause many layoffs. For Fox, the decision to sell was motivated mostly by fear of companies Netflix, Amazon and Apple that have enough money to spend on new shows with less episodes and more of a budget to play with in that case. The deal went down on Wednesday, March 20th, 2019 around 12 AM.

When Disney bought Fox it took over a lot of media industry, taking assets like the Fox film and TV studio, FX Networks, National Geographic and a 30% stake in Hulu move to Disney according to Deadline. For starts, in the notes from the lecture it explains TV company’s get a portion of the cable bill. The small companies will get sometimes change and bigger ones can earn up nine dollars from each person cable bill in America and all over the world. Furthermore, with the purchase Disney will be making a lot more money with adding 3 television station and also a film company tripling profits.

This merge could also cost massive layoffs for many Americans in both Disney and Fox. Expect thousands of positions to be eliminated due to overlaps in distribution, marketing and job overlap. Many people who are in a higher position who have been with the company along time could also get fired, do to high pay and long term contracts.

https://www.thewrap.com/disney-fox-film-hit-with-layoffs-again/

This will also effect the media market because smaller channels and production companies are going to have a harder time trying to build a brand and a name for themselves when Disney owes half of the market now. Movie theaters like Phoenix Theatre decided not to screen Star Wars: The Last Jedi because of Disney’s strict conditions of requiring the theater to run the film four weeks straight and play it four times a day Elkader Cinema in opted out the movie for the same reason, with owner Lee Akin stating that “I can’t get the entire town in my auditorium in one week’s time let alone four.” (Wiki)

The merging of Disney and FOX is not and will not be good for the future of the entrainment industry in future years to come because of their pretty much take over of the industry. Disney could soon own most of/ all of TV and film industry to come in the couple of years.

Over the past couple of days I realized something, its time to start getting away from the internet and tv and start becoming more social. Over 3 days, I logged almost every time I went on social media. Down below is the log chart.

Media Log: February 10th, 11th, and 12th

• Feb 10th (Text messages (1 hr 3 m all day))
  • 9 am: Social Media ( 10 min. )
  • 10 am: Laptop ( 50 min. Class)
  • 1 pm: Xbox (Madden 45 min.)
  • 2 pm: Laptop ( 50 min class)
  • 3:30 pm: Xbox ( 25 min)
  • 4:30 pm: Laptop ( hour and 15 min Class)
  • 5:45 pm: Social Media ( SnapChat 40m)
  • 7 pm: TV (NBA basketball and college 3 hours)
  • 11 pm: Social Media ( 10 min.)

• Feb 11th (Text Message 1 hr 24m)
  • 8:30 am: Instagram and snapchat ( 20 min)
  • 11 am: Laptop for Class (Hour and 15)
  • 12:15 pm: Phone Call with my Mom (15 min)
  • 1 pm: Xbox, playing COD ( hour)
  • 3:30 pm: School Computer for class ( hour and 15)
  • 4:45 pm: Phone call with my dad (10 min)
  • 5:20 pm: Homework for Mass Comm (2 hours)
  • 7 pm: Netflix “The Irish Man” (3 hour movie)
  • 9 pm : Checking my snap while watching a movie (5 min)

• Feb 12th (Text Message 1 hr 20 min.)
  • 10 am: Class, Laptop (50 min.)
  • 11 am: Phone Interview with employer (35 min)
  • 12 pm: First check on social media, snapchat (20 min)
  • 2 pm: Laptop Class (50 min)
  • 3 pm: library for homework on social media at points (snapchat 30 min)
  • 4:30 pm: Laptop ( hour and 15 min Class)
  • 6 pm: Phone call with my parents (15 min)
  • 7 pm: Netflix: Peaky Blinders (2 hours)
  • 9 pm: Snapchat (hour on and off)

After conducting this 3 day experience I was honestly very surprised how much media affects my life. I knew I used my phone and laptop a lot, however I didn’t think it was this much time taken from life really if you think about it like that. I want start picking up my head more and get it out of my phone and xbox 24/7.

Just like figure 6.1 life cycle patterns in the lecture video, you see the way media has changed over time, and in my life seeing that is cool, my generation got see a lot of new cool things however we didn’t know it would consume us like it does now because today even now little boys and girl know how to work apps and smart phones like programmed machined and I can already see it my little cousins moving away from being outside and spending more inside on the phone and Xbox. Thats pretty sad to me and as stated in the Patterns of Development, Innovation is always happening people are constantly looking to set the bar higher all the time, “Standards aren’t set yet.”

However, in the bullet points above you can see that I am a big snapchat guy, I choose that over most media apps like Instagram and Facebook because its just a one on one conversation and you get send pictures back and forth to each other where ever you are, and to me that’s a pretty cool concept to have. I also enjoy snap because sometimes you don’t want other people to see things your saying and only wanna show that person so the have a time clock for the picture you send.

According to the chart I might spend a lot of time on phone, laptop, xbox, tv etc., but I don’t feel media influences my life heavily. Granted, I do enjoy my time on those electronic, but I like to be with my friends, rather then sit on my phone and text. People can sit for hours and binge watch episodes and sometimes season worth of shows for hours like Friends or Game of Thrones, to me its just not my thing, I don’t enjoy sitting in front of a TV screen. My phone could be a different story though. The cell phones have taken over the world, communication have turned into texting and unfortunately, everyone including myself falls into the trap sometimes.

With this three day challenge, it definitely changed my way of time management with media and being on my phone as much as I am, and definitely gonna cut back on the usage.