my Duty
Mr. Dhalgren
Honors World Literature 10
17 January, 2018
The Tragedy of Joe Paterno The storied legacy of Joe Paterno is that of both triumph and turmoil, with the later half of his legacy being tarnished by his hand in forty-five counts of sexual abuse (Wagner). His legacy is filled with both successes in the realm of sports, with him being the the Penn State football coach for nearly fifty years, winning two national championships, and in helping the lives of people, with him helping many students rise to the ranks of the National Football League and indirectly helping other students by raising money the university of Penn State (Ceddes). However, his legacy later turns sinister when news comes out that his assistant coach, Jerry
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Furthermore, before the child molestation scandal with his assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, Paterno was a nationally renowned head football coach with over four-hundred wins and two national championships (Ceddes). Along with his football feats, he bolstered Penn State’s annual revenue from football to $48 million dollars, while also creating a storied tradition of football for the university (Ceddes). Through his previously mentioned successes, Paterno has made himself highly renowned throughout Pennsylvania and the United States. Consequently, him being renowned before his situation and what happens to him after the scandal factors into him being a tragic hero because Aristotle states that “The change of fortune should be not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad”(Aristotle) and “He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous”(Aristotle). This quote is further supported by him being torn down by the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Due to this scandal, Paterno was immediately fired from his coaching job and a year later, the statue of himself on the campus was torn down (Wagner). Along with this, Paterno had to give up his wins from 1998-2011 and heavy sanctions were placed on his once beloved football program (Wagner). Joe Paterno fits the definition of a tragic hero …show more content…
Furthermore, Aristotle makes this imperative for a tragic hero in the Poetics when he states that the character “ought to be so constructed that, even without the aid of the eye, he who hears the tale told will thrill with horror and melt to pity at what takes place”(Aristotle). This quote means that the fear and pity invoked due to the situation must be so great that it must be able to arose these feelings with just a verbal description of the situation. Paterno’s condition fits this part of the definition because it arouses fear when he ignores an exorbitant amount of child rape for decades and it arouse pity due to the legacy he built and all the players or fans he helped. Specifically it arouses fear because of shear magnitude of negligence from Joe Paterno In 1977, Sandusky established a foster house for little boys and in this house, he sexually abused these children, with Paterno knowing of this situation from the late 1970’s to 2011 when Sandusky was arrested (Ganim). These sexual assaults from Sandusky even spilled into the locker room of Paterno and this is evident when “a 10-year-old boy said Sandusky gave him a naked hug in a shower”(Ganim). This incident was in 2001 and Paterno let this go for the sake of winning, therefore arousing fear within whoever hears this tale of sexual deviancy (Ganim).
In “Crime and Punishment: The saga of Richie Parker” published in Sports Illustrated, Gary Smith helps to explain just how many people are affected by a single sexual assault case. He does this in a very unique style by giving 12 sections explaining the incident from different points of view and the effects of a single crime. One person affected was Jill Agostino, the sports copy editor for Newsday. Her unnamed colleague had given her a copy of an article he was writing on Richie Parker and called asking if she liked it. Little did he know, stories like his were keeping her up at night, reminding her of the time she was raped nine years earlier.
Joe Montana is one of the most influential quarterbacks of the late twentieth century. Joe Montana, or Joe Cool as some called him, won four superbowl rings. He received the nickname for always being calm under pressure. He was the king of fourth quarter comebacks, leading over thirty game winning drives in his career, including a famous one in the superbowl of 1989. On that drive, he spotted the actor John Candy in the stands and decided to point it out in the huddle, right before leading his team 92 yards and throwing the game winner with thirty four seconds left in the game.
If we were to look back, the leader or coach we respect most is the one who pushed us to be that greatest that we could be. Although we did not like being pushed at the time, being told we could give more is often what teams need in order to succeed. Herb Brooks pushed his players to believe that they had greatness within them. His players, including many other people did not believe at first. But his players later came to believe because their coach believed.
The influence of one person passed on to another is inevitable when it comes to life, but even more unavoidable when it extends to sports. College sports in fact have an impact on a mass majority of people, from spectators to players, these endeavors create hopes and dreams for any individual. Not only that, any heart strung story coming from sports gets plastered on media outlets so a greater population of people can also be influenced by a game, but I want to go further than that. Personally, I believe there is a greater meaning behind sports than for it just to be a pastime. There is a reason that the superior divisions of athletics are harder to reach than decades before because of the higher levels of knowledge that continue to be passed down from great coaches to greater players in a never ending cycle.
Football is a very popular sport not only in American high schools and colleges, but also in the entire country of the United States. Is playing high school football worth the risk and harm inflicted to high school football players? This is the main question raised by the author, Raymond Schroth, in the article “Abolish High School Football.” In this article, Schroth talked about the disadvantages and harms of playing high school football to the players. Schroth argued that high school football should be abolished because it had contributed more harmful effects than benefits to football players.
Discovery Famous football coach, Tony Dungy, is consistently a man of honor and strength throughout his book “Quiet Strength”. His book is a memoir of his life which captures his discovery of what it means to be a Godly leader and how to live it out both on and off the field. With his son 's tragic suicide, and media fiascos with players, Tony discovers that listening to God and who he has put in our lives will give him peace and wisdom. Tonys upbringing set him up for a lifetime of possibilities which allowed him to go farther than most. I connected most with how Tony handled his son’s suicide, he handled it in a manner I wish i could and would have.
For many years has football has been considered the utmost dangerous sport in high school, but recently many new studies have been made to prove the exact opposite. High school football gives money to the school and improves the school. In high school sports when a team wins the championship the school gets money that can be used towards hiring new teachers, providing scholarships for students, buying new books, and overall improving the school itself. When a high school football team wins the championship the team's school gets $400,000 that can be spent on the school in many different forms.
The Education of Dasmine Cathey “The Education of Dasmine Cathey,” by Brad Wolverton is an informative and compelling story about a student athlete who struggles with making educated choices that he is not familiar with in life, college, and football. There are so many reasons young college athletes succeed in sports, but fail in education. This story is a tragic tale of educational shortfalls that caused Mr. Cathey a football player to fall through the cracks of a flawed school system and became exploited by his family, friends and the college football program. These challenges during these times, created unwanted side effects in every aspect of his life. This is a great story because the author allowed the reader to feel every emotion
American football has many different aspects that helped change America today. Football has earned millions of fans to the game every year. The sport has changed and helped various people strive through life. At the same time, football has caused many downsides that have changed people’s lives forever. Through the beginning to now, football has been filled with many impacts and injuries that have changed the game.
Did you know Tom brady is one of the best quarterbacks ever with the most super bowl starts ever? Tom Brady has had a super interesting life and a very interesting career playing football. Tom Brady has a very fun and eventful career. Also Tom brady has a pretty well rounded family. Another thing about Tom is that he had a good time at college.
Bissinger emphasizes this point to persuade the readers to understand how detrimental pouring large amounts of money and energy towards the high school football team severely impact the future of all the students in Permian High. The small pond these children are living in disrupts their academic success, and the adults fail to recognize this notion. A teacher of thirty-one years, Jane Franks explains that they are now “deadened to themselves and to the world around them” because of their constant lack of effort in class (133). Bissinger includes her views on the effects of the obsession with football, and how the football players are encouraged to only focus on the sport. Franks describes them as ‘deadened’ to the outside world, further examining how unprepared these young adults are for the real world.
However, even with these unproven accusations, he would have obtained multiple achievements regardless. The alleged scandals, would also not take away from his abundance of honorable characteristics. Let 's get down to the facts. Tom Brady is an NFL dominating Quarter Back, with a completion percentage of 63.5. He also has a passing rate of 96.4, one of the best ever.
It had rocked the public’s confidence in the well-known idolized sports players. Now in professional baseball, no players are allowed to speak of the scandal, and if they know information about the scandal, they are not allowed to share that information with any of their team members. Joe was very talented. His skilled abilities are what helped sky-rocket his career as a professional baseball player at such a young age. His story has inspired many kids across the United States, that at a young age, everyone has a special talent, and anyone can achieve anything if they put their heart and soul into it and they give it their absolute best.
We see people getting hate mail, getting it told to their faces, and behind closed doors. When the coach found out his family was getting death threats and hate male he could have easily just been like I can't take this and bench the black kids but it took courage to keep the black kids playing. Also, the kids get yelled at and beaten they could have gone home and went back to work but what good would that have done. As you can see this team and people related to this team went to hell and back cause they had a minority of white boys. They had to have courage from the very first game to the national championship game.
The movie “Coach Carter” was based off of a true story. It was written by Samuel L. Jackson directed by Thomas Carter. A California high school basketball coach puts school grades above sports. His purpose is because he went against that success for young adults is achieved through the world of sports than the classroom. Being successful was to be a good role model and that is what the movie “Coach Carter” is all about.