Sports have become the most overrated, ego stroking, machine that simply regularly churns out big-headed, God-like people that believe they are the greatest gift to this world. Sorry to tell you, but you're not the greatest gift to the world, and I refuse to further accept this overinflated fallacy.

Let's start at the top: the professional level of sports. This is one of the main things that annoy me about the whole concept of sports. First a disclaimer: Yes, I occasionally watch games on TV. Yes, I have favorite teams. That still doesn't mean I agree with their attitudes and absolutely everything about them. Most of these athletes are cocky, arrogant tools that believe that what they do is the best thing since sliced bread. They become famous because of the fact that they can swing a bat, throw a ball, or run slightly faster than a normal person. Congratulations, do you want a cookie? No, you don't, because what you want in return is millions of dollars and people to bow down and kiss your feet. It's absolutely ridiculous at how much these clowns are paid. What gives them the right to think that they deserve to get paid 10 times as much as a doctor? A military member? They're nothing but mindless, trained monkey's playing glorified childhood games, while the real big boys (and girls) are putting their lives on the line and saving people's lives, and yet they're paid a fraction of what athletes are. I admit, there are a few athletes who donate a lot of money to good causes, because they actually WANT to give their money to others that need it and can use it. With that, there are also a lot of others that only do it as a PR stunt that their agent set up in order to make them look good. These donations, however, don't make up for the numerous players that act like ignorant children whenever they "get in trouble" during a game, or they don't catch enough balls during a game. It's absolutely insane that people idealize these overpaid clowns that couldn't care any less about you. They care that you buy their overpriced jersey's, their bobbleheads, their specially branded shoes, because a portion of that goes to them and their team, which in turn leads to them being able to be paid more. At the end of the day, these people couldn't care less about this article or what I have to say, because to them it'll just make them happy that they're being talked about.

Now let's take a step down and talk about college sports: The worst of the worst. What's worst than an overpaid clown? A bunch of wannabe overpaid clowns trying to get noticed by the person with the largest bank account. The majority of the college athletes were recruited to play for a specific team, because they were skilled at whatever it is they did. The school doesn't care what type of person they are, all they care about is the fact that they can take orders and run. Really great standards, awesome. So the results are the fact that you get these athletes that couldn't care about classes, other people, or anything other than their sport that they care about. Most college athletes are rude, ignorant, selfish beings that have no respect for anyone else that's around them. Grant it yes, you do have some good eggs scattered about, but they don't make up for the others. Why are they like this? Because all they want is to focus on the SLIGHT possibility that they'll be able to be a pro and get paid an obnoxious amount of money. They know that they are what people love to watch, because sports are a great past time that people love to watch, regardless of who's playing. The college's themselves don't make it any better, because the college faculty and administration reinforce their God-like status. They get special treatment, don't have to adhere to an attendance policy (if the school enforces one) because they can easily get everything excused. They get treated differently in classes, because some of the teacher's will go easier on them because they know that they have "a lot on their plate." College sports shouldn't be considered as a priority to the school, especially over academics, but they are and the others get to suffer and feel outcasted. You shouldn't be able to come to school simply because you can play a sport, because they are the ones that bring everything/everyone else down that came to school for their academics, to their level.

Lastly, high school and lower. These are the foundation of the ignorance building that all of these athletes live in. This is because of one simple reason: sports are said to be more important that any other activity in school. I've heard stories that some schools will make it mandatory to go to a sporting event, but not make it mandatory to go to an orchestra/band/choir concert. The school is already reinforcing the mindset of all the athletes that they are better then everyone one else, which isn't true in the slightest. There is absolutely no reason as to why a sport would ever be more important than a preforming art. This just goes to show that the way sports are viewed, even at the basic level is flawed. Nothing is being done to "fix" the attitudes of the younger athletes, because all they're being told is "If you play better and practice harder/more, then maybe you'll get a full ride to a D1 school and get to play for them." This isn't what we need to being telling these kids. We need to be telling them to focus on their academics, because if they get injured, or just simply not recruited/drafted, then what will they have? Nothing but a skill that isn't useful in any other life situation.

This isn't meant to try to sway your opinion on sport. I'm not trying to make you boycott sports and athletes. It's just simply to draw your attention to the fact that we are giving too much attention to people that don't deserve it any more than a non-athlete.