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What happens now?

This is the question thousands of student-athletes are left wondering once they have completed their athletic eligibility. What happens when they’ve played in their last game, finished their last set, and seen their last pitch? What happens after the last post-game handshake, the final speech from their coach, and their final team banquet? What happens after all of the hours of practice and the countless workouts are over, and there are no more games to play? What happens when there aren’t any more team road trips or team meals? What happens when there isn’t even a team anymore?

What happens now?

Given that less than five percent of collegiate athletes enter the professional ranks at the conclusion of their careers, most athletes face an abrupt end to their playing careers. Athletes react in a wide variety of ways when their careers conclude. Some are excited to conclude their careers, looking forward to more free time, less structure in their lives, and mo more practices. Other struggle with the supposed loss of their identity as an athlete, having been identified with their sport for the majority of their lives. The disparity continues into the professional ranks, as some ex-athletes join the coaching ranks of their sports, throwing themselves back into the daily cycles of a familiar life, while others go the opposite route, and separate themselves completely from their sports, having been burnt out from years with the sport.

Robert Atwood is just starting his life “after football.” A senior at Kalamazoo College, Atwood completed his senior season in the fall, and is still transitioning to the changes. Initially, the loss of his sport was a “fairly large blow.” Football was his life, his passion, his fun. When he lost it, he immediately noticed that he “lost interest in his academics,” and his grades suffered accordingly. He missed the game and initially thought of coaching in the fall. However, the further he became removed from the game, the more interests he found outside of sports. He finally had the free time to pursue interests that he “just didn’t have time for” with his normal football schedule. He put aside the coaching dream, saying “For a while there, football was all I knew. But, I realized that there are other things I’d like to explore.” It took a little longer than he would’ve liked, but Atwood finally was able to put the game aside for good.

Atwood’s story is one that Andrew Malone could relate to. Malone, a 2000 Kenyon College graduate and a member of the football and baseball teams, missed football for several years and recalls being very nostalgic watching his former teammates play. Once the fall weather turned cold, he immediately missed the game, the competitiveness, the camaraderie in the locker room. Soon, though, he too was able to move on from the game once he “found a new outlet.” Malone began training again, striving to “find a new challenge for myself.” He eventually found his new challenge in Gaelic Football, a game in which his competitiveness and skills on the football field easily translated. Though he has moved on, he remembers his playing years with nothing but fondness, as the lessons he learned balancing his school work and sports have aided his work through law school and into his current position. He laughs now, recalling a litigation case he worked on in which his football spirit took over, forcing the one-time safety to take his competition on as he had once taken on blockers.

Eric Soulier, meanwhile, never really left the game. The 2000 K College alumni sits in the same offices that in he himself attended football meetings during his playing days and laughs as he recalls the transition from the end of his career. He remembers a postseason surgery allowing him a great deal of time to reflect on his life after football. However, the more he thought, the more he realized that the game was destined to always be a part of his life. Just as his father before him, Soulier decided to join the coaching ranks, eventually ending up at his current position as assistant head coach at K. His own outlet and new challenge to take on was to continue the same work that his coaches had done for him. He now enjoys the satisfaction from teaching others and communicating with his own players. He calls winning as a coach “almost as gratifying as a win as a player,” though he adds “A win is a win.” Therefore, for Soulier, the more he tried to move on from the game, the more he found himself attached to it.

It was the camaraderie of the team environment that drove Fred Schultz, 1999 Toledo University graduate, back to the game of football. Even after his final game, he never seriously considered leaving the sport. It had been everything for him, the main constant in his life, the thing he remained most in control of. He recalls story after story with teammates and one realizes that he never could have left the friendships formed in the highs and lows of the sport behind. The game as a profession has taken him from Toledo to Colorado and currently back to Orchard Lake, Michigan, where he works as a coach and teacher. It remains easy to see that Schultz draws the passion in his work in sharing the same stories and good times with his own players as his past coaches and teammates shared with him.

Each one of these examples represents a different way for student-athletes to move on after they playing days are completed. Each athlete moves on from their sport in their own way, and in their own time. Some find their way back to the game, for a variety of reason. Others find themselves better off after moving beyond sports, finding new avenues to challenge themselves in. All of them eventually find what happens next for themselves.

Profile Update

I'm still kinda struggling with which way I want to take my profile piece. From the suggestions of my workshop group, it seems like I need to focus more on my subject or provide a lot more information about the city of Flint and how it ended up in its current state. I'm beginning to lean more towards focusing more on the city for a few reasons, though. First, I can do a lot more outside research on the city than I can on Mr. Herm. I could interview any number of people to get a wide variety of opinions or read newspapers or magazine articles. Second, I can provide a much better description of the city than I can of Mr. Herman. Third, it also seemed that even the people who wanted me to focus more on my subject still wanted more information on the city.

So, I may end up rolling with that choice, but we'll see. I've written a bunch of papers on Flint before, and I was looking forward to focusing more on my subject for this paper. It should be interesting to see which way I end up going with.

"I'm With The Steelers"

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2860426&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2

I thought that this story was just strange. I pretty much found myself laughing at the women being affected by the Steelers impersonator. On one hand, the women were definitely taken advantage of and were lied to by Jackson. They were led to believe something about someone and suffered emotional damage from the entire incident.

However, on the other hand, a large part of the fault from the entire story lies with the women. For one thing, it seems that the majority of the damage suffered was emotional and financial and not physical. Other than the one woman who became uncomfortable when he tried to kiss her, it does not seem like he was trying to take advantage of the women in a sexual manner.

Therefore, how exactly could they possibly be that naive to be taken advantage of? To meet a person in a bar or restaurant claiming to be a professional football player is one thing. It is an entirely different thing to agree to see that person again or to go out with him. Just because some guy is kind of big and says he plays football does not mean he's telling the truth. First, once these women met someone claiming to be a Steeler, they probably should have take the twenty seconds it would have take to look on Steeler.com or ESPN.com player profile page. It really would not be that hard to see that the man that they met was not who he was claiming to be. For one thing, Pittsburgh is one of those cities that worships its football team, similar to Green Bay or Dallas. Are you telling me that there is not one male in these women's lives that they could've gone to and asked if Jackson was a real professional football player?? I mean, really? No one? Not a relative, friend, co-worker, no one? Take the twenty seconds and do your research, lady!!!

(And for another thing, it's one thing for Jackson to claim he is Jerame Tuman, a bum third string tight end from a crappy football school known as the University of Michigan, or Brian St. Pierre, a backup quarterback who has thrown exactly 1 pass in his career, but how exactly did Jackson think that he was going to convince people that he was Ben Roethlisberger, who, among other things, has been a first round pick, won numerous awards, been the winning quarterback on a Super Bowl champion, been all over the news for injuries, been on the cover of Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine, and has his face plastered all over the city of Pittsburgh for local advertisements??? If he really wanted to be a starter, maybe he shouldn't have chosen the most famous player on the team. Just be a punter or holder or something. No one knows what they look like. Or say you're the third-down back. Call me crazy, but people know who their starting quarterback is)

Second, how exactly do you lend someone money if you have no idea who they are??? When you start talking about loaning a friend thousands of dollars, you better know that person like the back of your hand. I mean, I've got friends that I have known since I was 8, and I get mad about loaning them a twenty bucks. Call me cheap, but if we start talking about thousands of dollars, I better be holding something of theirs in case they don't pay me back. So, this lady has this guy that she met in a bar and who constantly acts shady and isn't reliable at all, but she trusts him with a thousand dollars?!?!?! I mean, come on. Give me her number - I'm broke as a joke. I'll tell her I'm Michael Vick. Maybe, she'll believe me.

Third, there are so many cases where women try to get close to professional athletes to try to mooch money off of them for clothes and cars, it's nice to finally see these gold-diggers get what they had coming to them....OK, not really, but you have to admit that these women saw this "professional football player" as their opportunity to get rich and to tell their friends they were dating someone famous. They saw his car and his supposed g-l-a-m-o-r-o-u-s life and thought they could get a piece of the action. I guarantee that the woman who loaned Jackson 4 G's was doing it just so that she could her own share when he finally got a big contract (Though I am not sure how large of a contract a fat, slow tight end from U-M would get).

I just have trouble having sympathy for these women when no physical damage was done to them and when they basically set themselves up to get hurt. I agree with the Pittsburgh natives who think that the entire story is funny and that women look pretty naive and stupid to me. I enjoyed reading this article because it helped me realize how dumb some people truly are ha.

Profile - Rough, rough, rough, rough draft

The scene found in downtown Flint on a typical April day, while typical of any downtown area, represents a great deal of progress for the city. Businessmen walking into their offices while on cell phones show how companies have begun moving branches from the suburbs to downtown. The students of local UM-Flint and Mott Community College relaxing outside before class represent the importance of the local colleges to the city. The families carrying shopping bags back to their cars are a group who had long avoided the downtown area in previous times. Road repair and the huge cranes of work crews mark the completion of much-needed construction work.

One of the men most responsible for the progress of the downtown area is local businessmen Tim Herman. A lifelong Flint resident, Herman has been involved in Flint’s finances for the last fifteen years. On top of his private finance work for the Flint branch of Merrill Lynch and his association with a local law firm, Herman previously served as the city finance director and the city commissioner of finance.

His greatest challenge, however, began in 2000, when he formed Uptown Reinvestment Corporation with seven other developers. Disappointed with the deterioration of Flint’s downtown caused by its failing economy and growing crime rates, Herman designed the group as a non-profit rebuilding organization for the downtown area. Uptown has proved to be a tremendous success in only seven years, through both its rebuilding projects and in successfully recruiting other area investors to become involved with the work needed.

As President of Uptown and as President/CEO of the newly formed Genesee Area Focus Council, Herman has spearheaded Uptown’s mission to purchase many of the unoccupied buildings and boarded-up businesses found in downtown, working to renovate and redesign the structures. Herman then combines the newly refurbished facilities with valuable business incentives, such as decreased tax rates and financing, to attract outside investors.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Uptown is its makeup as a non-profit organization. Its funds are almost entirely composed of private money from local investors, with the remainder coming from contributions from either local foundations, or from state-supplied grants. Herman and the other investors gain no profit from their work, as all gains are then invested back into the general fund.

Many around Flint, though, are skeptical about Uptown and for Herman’s involvement. Some believe that the group secretly takes a profit, while others wonder about Herman’s political aspirations. Others such as Randy Huber, a 56 year old Flint resident and GM employee, wonder about the monopoly Uptown is seemingly forming in downtown. “They (Uptown) are the ones who are buying all those buildings there (downtown),” Huber stated. “Who knows what will happen once they own it all?”

For his part, Herman understands such criticism. “Our (non-profit) work has been completely different from the other groups that have tried to renovate downtown. It’s only natural for the people to question why we would do it without the profit,” Herman stated. Recent research completed by the Flint Journal backs the groups’ claims about profits, and Herman doubts whether political office is in his future, citing the obvious conflict of interests.

Herman views his involvement as a way to give back to his community. At the time when Flint’s infrastructure was crumbling, Herman decided to stay and continue working in the city, a decision many of his peers failed to comprehend. “I had friends, co-workers who left Flint and went to the suburbs or went to Detroit or out of the state, who thought I was crazy for staying around. They saw the city failing and went for the greener pastures.”

Meanwhile, Herman never moved from the city and feels his current work allows to him to pay the city back for all that they have done for him and his family. He still feels the importance of working and living in the heart of the city. He has sent his children to Flint schools, and has remained very involved in his community.

Herman feels that his dreams for Flint are realistic. Instead of falsely promising a quick and easy overhaul, he realizes that Uptown’s must rebuild a small step at a time. Paramount to the development will be ability of investors to attract citizens to move into downtown. Herman sees the newly completed loft apartments as a key to the downtown rebuilding. He believes that outside businesses will be hesitant to invest in the area without a significant increase in the area’s population.

Herman feels that the local colleges will be another important component of the downtown renewal. Both have large campuses in the downtown area, and both desire to expand their enrollments and campuses in the next five years. He hopes to attract students to use the loft apartments as off-campus housing, eventually hoping for an Ann Arbor-style development of college-related businesses to the downtown.

Another focus of Uptown has been on roads and the environment. Uptown recently completed a $2.5 million renovation project, repairing the cobbled streets of downtown, restoring the arches of Saginaw Street (once a trademark of the city), adding new trees and cleaning the Flint River. Lighting in the downtown was increased, encouraging more people to walk around the downtown at night.

With new housing and students living in the downtown area, Herman hopes to cause a domino effect. First, he hopes to attract entertainment venues in the downtown area. A current $3.8 million project overhaul of three buildings includes tentative plans for a Brazilian steakhouse and a nightclub. An oft-delayed renovation of the Capitol Theatre, a historic theatre closed for over twenty-five years, has recently been green-lit. Herman also recently announced a successful Flint restaurant will open a chain in the downtown area.

Herman stated that several different kinds of businesses are still needed downtown to attract citizens to move to the area. A grocery store is desperately needed, as is a pharmacy and gas station. “We’ll run into trouble convincing people to move if they have to drive to the other side of town just to buy a gallon of milk,” Herman worried.

One of the final keys, however, will be the development of small specialty stores and other locally-owned stores. He believes that small clothing shops, bakeries, and arts and crafts shops will help bring people into the downtown area. “The final piece,” Herman believes, “won’t be a McDonald’s or a Walgreen’s or branch of a large corporation. It will be when we attract local small-business owners to open their shops in the area.”

Still, though, it can appear difficult to follow Herman’s plan. The streets are paved, the arches restored and new construction completed, but the renovation of downtown is not a cure-all to Flint’s troubles. The unemployment rate still remains incredibly high, the public school system is in shambles, the crime and murder rates still place Flint near the top of the country. Loft apartments and small businesses may attract the citizens of Flint back to the area, but, with its falling population and failing economy, it’s unclear how many people will remain in Flint to enjoy the fruits of Uptown’s labor.

However, even with remaining concern’s many other problems unsolved, the efforts of Tim Herman and his group have been a complete success. Herman has already completed a great deal of renovating projects, and his efforts have already begun attracting new investors. Herman’s work has allowed for the organization of other investors to focus on a single project at a time, allowing for increased cooperation between groups with similar aims. It will only be through the efforts of people like Herman that Flint will finally repair itself.

Profile Topic

For my profile, I have decided to stick with my original idea. During my freshmen Seminar class, I interviewed the father of two of my friends who is responsible for essentially rebuilding downtown Flint. The interview was very interesting and allowed me to see a different side of the rebuilding effort than I had read in the local newspapers. I enjoyed doing the interview and I have been following along on the project's progress for the last few years. However, a large number of new issues have risen lately, and I was actually thinking of giving my friends' dad a call before I graduated to see what he thought of it all.

Therefore, this paper will allow me to get an update on the progress made and to see what he thinks of the recent changes. Since the assignment is more of a profile on an interesting person, I also decided to focus more on his own story and motivations than on the actual business plan. I'm most interested to hear his reasons for staying around Flint (when he could have left and possible been more successful elsewhere) and for his current interest in helping the downtown area be rebuilt, when so many other efforts have failed in the past. Should be interesting!

The Day I Met My Niece Final Draft

“Go ahead and hold her,” my sister Deirdre told me. I responded by giving her a look somehow encompassing shock, fear, and confusion into a single facial expression. My mind was spinning, my arms tightened, and I felt as if I couldn’t move. Here I was, a junior in high school with a great deal of experience being nervous, having given speeches in front on my entire school, played in overtime football games, shot free throws to win a game in front of a packed gym, but nothing compared to my feeling of sheer terror at being handed my screaming niece.

Aisling was born very premature, so tiny that she had been able to fit in her Christmas stocking, and during the seven hour flight to London over my Christmas break, I had sufficiently convinced myself that I was going to be unable to handle her and would drop her within seconds.
I was one the youngest of five siblings and had no real experience with babies. My brothers and sisters had always told me about the fun they had with me when I was a child and about the enjoyment they experienced in watching me grow. They told me that I would soon experience the same with Aisling. Still, I was expecting to be eased into this whole “uncle thing” one small step at a time. Maybe get accustomed to my surroundings for a little while, grab something to eat, do my taxes, read a book; anything but having to step into all-out uncle mode. I was 100% confident in my inability to be able to hold my niece. However, my sister had other ideas. For some strange reason, within minutes of my arrival, thought that the perfect time for easing me into this unknown territory would be to hand her hungry, tired, and crying daughter to me.

Now, here is where I would like to describe how she immediately calmed down when I held her and how she never cried when I held her from that day on, but that isn’t what happened. She took me one look at me and her crying reached record levels. However, I calmed down and felt my anxieties disappear immediately. Luckily, I didn’t drop her and I soon became comfortable with my duties as uncle (even if I refused to change diapers).

Our first meeting, though, was only the first chapter in the many great experiences I have had since my niece and nephew (born two years after Aisling) were born. She is now five (five and a half, as she would be quick to point out), and I have already had some of the best times of my life with her. We have had family vacations in Ireland and England, been together for graduations, baptisms, and trips to the beach, and even a surprise visit on Christmas.

I never could have imagined how much fun being an uncle could be. Once I put aside my nerves, I was able to sit back and watch my niece grow and learn. Six years ago, I never would have guessed the amount of hours spent playing hide-and-seek, re-enacting entire scenes from Christmas plays, or being chased around the house during an intense game of “dragons.” I now can’t picture my life without voicemail messages on my phone with a tiny, British voice on the other end or the many drawings sent on birthdays and holidays.

However, it took another moment for me to realize how much my family and I have changed since Aisling was born. We were at my parent’s home in Michigan, and I was in the middle of playing “Rocket ship” with Aisling, a game that my older brothers and siblings had played with me for hours when I was younger. One of my earliest memories is playing the game with my siblings as they threw me high in the air before always being there to catch me. I was in our living room playing with Aisling when my sister Deirdre, Aisling’s mother, walked into the room and froze in terror. I realized that the look on her face when she saw her twenty-one year old brother throwing her five year old daughter high into the air was the exact look my parents had given her fifteen years ago when she was playing with me.

My sister and I immediately laughed at the irony, but it was in that moment that I realized how we had all changed since my niece was born. We had all gotten older and taken on different roles. My sister had become the responsible mother, able to watch her child grow, but still horrified that someone was throwing her child in the air, though she had done the same years ago. For my part, I was getting to experience the same joy and feelings that my siblings had as they watched me grow. They were the ones who played with me, who I drew pictures for, and who I chased around the house for hours, and now I was getting to do the same for my niece and nephew. Aisling, meanwhile, seemed little concerned in recalling her mother and uncle’s memories and was only anxious to be thrown back up in the air. I laughed, took one look at my sister and then threw my niece high in the air, knowing that I would be there to catch her, just as my sister had been there for me.

Don Imus Reaction

One reason that I picked this Imus article instead of others that were written in the last few weeks is that I felt that this was much more well-rounded. I felt that it presented the entire scope of the story, from his history to the comments to the move to get Imus fired. Many of the columns and other stories out now seem to be too one-sided. They can't put aside their bias to present the entire story.

As I previously said, I thought that he did deserve to be fired. If this had been his first mistake or his first racial comment, then I could possibly see him getting by with a suspension. However, one of the other columns that I read (which was actually written by the Washington Wizard's Etan Thomas for SLAM Magazine) listed some of his previous slip ups. Imus called Barack Obama "that colored fellow," called New York Times sportswriter William Rhoden a "quote hire," and called an award-winning journalist Gwen Ifill "a cleaning lady."

I just can't stand any of the "shock" radio DJ's. For one thing, I can't stand listening to talk radio. I listen to radio "only if I need to know the sports or the weather," just like Andre said (haha). Any time, I heard talk radio, I get annoyed. On top of that, they all just try to get attention for their show by taking outlandish opinions. It could be a ridiculous take on an issue, but they take a stand merely so that they get attention.

(It is the same problem that I have with ESPN's talk shows, like Cold Pizza, PTI, Around the Horn, Rome is Burning. ESPN runs all four of these shows throughout the day. All four shows argue about the same ten to twenty sports stories of the day. In order to keep the watchers entertained, and their ratings up, they have the reporters on these shows take ridiculous stands on issues and have their counterparts argue with them. On top of the fact that there is no reason to have four of these shows, they have morons like Skip Bayless, Woody Paige, or Michael Smith on the show every day. I am 100% convinced that I know more about sports than those three. They bring nothing to the show and get a paycheck for doing it. Interview me and I'll do it for free.)

A final problem that I have will the entire Imus affair is that hip-hop is not basically under fire from the media. Many people took up the cause of blaming hip-hop after Imus was fired and they were left with a deadline and nothing to write about. Now, I can absolutely understand why some people want to point the finger at some rappers for the language they use on their albums. I can buy the argument that since rappers have been using certain words they have become much more prevalent in society. I can even understand why some people want to hold hip-hop to a higher degree of accountability for their words.

However, I have three main faults with the current assault of the media on hip-hop for three main reasons. First, though they blame the music, the media appears to be actually taking on "hip-hop culture," rather than the actual music. Hip-hop has become so big and prevalent in society that it can be found everywhere now, from advertising to movies to TV shows. Hip-hop has become an important part of the media culture in the U.S. However, whenever controversial issues come up, such as the Imus affair or the NBA All-Star game controversy, the genre of music gets the blame, but the media actually focuses on how hip-hop has affected the culture. If you want to take on the music, then blame the music. Quote 2 Live Crew and Too Short; don't blame Allen Iverson.

Second, if you are going to blame hip-hop for the prevalence of violence or bad language, then movie makers and Hollywood need to share the blame. I feel that this is a strong double standard. The violence and language in movies is much, much worse than in hip-hop. How can you blame rappers and other musicians when there are increases in violence among young people and not include Hollywood? If the media claims that seeing G-Unit with guns on the cover of the "Beg For Mercy" album or Dr. Dre on the cover of the Source with a gun to his head (like he did back when he left Death Row) makes young people numb to the use of the guns, then where are the people protesting Marty Scorsese, Quintin Tarrintino, or Francis Ford Coppola movies? Many rappers are simply acting a role in order to sell records, the majority of the "hardcore rappers" today included. They see the public being gangster albums, and they market themselves accordingly. They are showing fictional stories about violence, just as in movies and TV. (And, on a somewhat related note, why was "Get Rich Or Die Trying" protested for advertising with 50 Cent holding a gun, when at the exact same time, "Casino Royale" was advertising with Daniel Craig holding a gun as James Bond and "Mission Impossible: III" with Tom Cruise holding a gun? Double standard, again)

My third, and main, problem I have with the current media attack on hip-hop is that they are taking the music as a single entity, attempting to blame the entire genre. I have read many of the columns in the last few weeks about the hip-hop/Imus situation, and I have yet to read a single one where there is mention of non-"gangster" rappers. Hip-hop is not a single type of music, just as there is no one type of rock, jazz, or classical. There are many different types of hip-hop. A single type of hip-hop is the so-called "gangster" (I know I'm spelling it gangster and not gangsta. I don't really know why) rap, and, yes, many of these acts do deserve some blame. But the entire genre is not like this. I would love for a single one of these critics to go listen to acts like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, etc. and then say that there is no positivity in hip-hop. I also don't mean to say that I'm some backpack hip hop fan that only listens to these groups, but if people would just listen to a broader example of the music, then they could finally learn to appreciate it.

I do not really know how I ended up talking about Kweli and Lupe from a column about Don Imus, but I guess that's what happens. This whole thing has really been annoying me and I could for days on it.