United States Sports Academy - "America's Sports University"

CHAPTER
I

INTRODUCTION

Professional
sports provide a source of entertainment for millions of people.
Players and games are seen as diversions to everyday life.
Yet to athletes, and to those who work behind the scenes in
the front-offices, professional sports is a job. Running and
managing sports teams and leagues is big business. As such,
hiring practices of these institutions should be of societal
concern. Franchises impact the lives of not only those whom
they employ, but entire cities as well. From the construction
and operation of stadiums to the local merchants who take
care of the fans, sports teams greatly affect a city's economy.
A glance at the rosters can quickly show what the players'
demographics are, but a closer look is needed to see the racial
and gender make-up of these various teams and leagues.

"Olympia,"
arguably one of the greatest sports films ever produced, may
have also been an effective propaganda tool that promoted
National Socialism as a model form of government. A sports
documentary of the 1936 Summer Olympics, "Olympia"
was directed and produced by the renowned German motion picture
producer Leni Riefenstahl.

Introduction

The
developmental policy aims at achieving the balanced growth
in the different fields of development programs. Any retardation
in these programs will heavily influence the growth of the
other fields. Such balanced growth can be accomplished through
creating waves of private investments in a number of various
projects all at once so as to realize advancement in these
fields (16).

Introduction

As
we move steadily through the first few years of the twenty-first
century, it is only natural to reflect upon the most significant
events of the twentieth century, and look ahead at what awaits
us, particularly the next few years. Perhaps one of the largest
groups of people pondering the future is the business community.
Given all of the technological changes which occurred during
the twentieth century, corporations have had to endure almost
non-stop change to remain competitive in the global market.
Open any history book to see the political changes...the end
of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration
of the Soviet Union...or the social changes...the development
of the entertainment industry with things like the television,
VCR, compact discs, personal computers, and the Internet...and
the economic changes...the global economy, instant communication
for business purposes, planes, and even the beginning stages
of video-conferencing.

Eight
months ago, it seemed that the world rushed to embrace the
"new millennium", the dawn of a new era. This is
understandable when viewed in the global context of the previous
century. Two world wars, countless civil wars, the Cold War
and attendant social and political unrest overshadowed many
of the remarkable advances in science and technology. The
Olympic movement was not immune from the political and social
problems in the twentieth century and ultimately became a
microcosm of global politics. As the dawn of the new millennium
approached, many people reflected on past events and envisioned
a new world, dare I say a New World Order, where peace, progress,
character development and prosperity would become a reality
and not simply a dream. This vision was not a new one. Early
guardians of the modern Olympic Games such as Pierre de Coubertin,
William Sloane, Jules Simon, and Fredrick Le Play must have
shared this same optimism and hope for a renewal of moral
character and a lasting peace as they rang in 1900. How could
they have known that the twentieth century would be among
the most tumultuous and deadly periods in the history of the
human race? The turmoil of the early part of the last century
had a profound impact on Coubertin. He became a tireless crusader
for peace and social change. The question that begs asking
is to what extent will the new leadership of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) continue Coubertin's Crusade for peace
and social change via sport?

Ever
since hits and home runs increased significantly after a leading
aluminum bat manufacturer introduced the ABlack Magic@ bat
in 1985, a controversy has raged in the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA) concerning the use of aluminum
baseball bats. The first Abat summit@ with members of the
NCAA Baseball Rules Committee and executives of aluminum-bat
manufacturers was held in the summer of 1994. From this point
on it was evident that the ability of manufacturers to manipulate
the size and weight of baseball bats created an injury hazard
and a player-development problem for collegiate-level baseball
players. Although small steps have taken place to limit the
hazardous equipment, a final solution would be found in a
mandate by the NCAA for its member institutions to make a
permanent and exclusive switch from aluminum bats to wooden
bats. Specifically, this mandate should be directed to those
programs at the Division I level where the baseball players
are strong enough, fast enough, and skilled enough to injure
one another by their use of aluminum bats.

The
history of public relations is littered with confirmations
and allegations of unethical behavior
demonstrated by coaches and athletes. The latest firing of
Indiana University's notorious
Bobby Knight and the suspension of baseball's John Rocker
are two recent cases that involved
poor decision making on the part of Knight and Rocker. Professionals?
One often wonders
from what moral foundation do participants in the world of
sport chose to make their decisions
and subsequently act (1). Their ethical conduct was in question
and steps were taken to
remedy the situation.

I
would like to break this winning formula down into "easy
to chew" bite-sized chunks. In doing so, we will look
at four smaller nuggets of truth. The first nugget is: "THE
ROAD TO SUCCESS," the second is: "HARD WORK,"
the third: "DETERMINATION," and the fourth nugget
worthy of a closer look is: "PERSONAL SACRIFICE."
For our conclusion, I will ask, "Who will answer this
call?"

By
defining match days and football grounds as times and places
in which fighting could be engaged in and aggressive forms
of masculinity displayed, the media, especially the national
tabloid press, played a part of some moment in stimulating
and shaping the development of soccer hooliganism (p. 122).

Murphy et al., (1990), believe that the amount of publicity
given to the superhooligan groups and their leaders increased
the membership ranks with "hardcases and other socio-pathic
nutters" (Murphy et al., 1990, p. 168), who were not
previously involved with soccer hooliganism.

Introduction

This
article will address the topic of information technology for
sports management and will attempt to provide an overview
of how information technology (called IT) is changing the
nature of management practices in sport. The discussion of
IT applications in the profession can be done in a few broad
areas:

1st
How the tools of today's "technological revolution"
can be applied to the administration of sport.

2nd
How developments such as the Internet and world wide web help
in specific management functions such as training and marketing

3rd
How e-commerce can make participation in sports more available
through lower priced equipment and lastly,

4th
The digital divide: and underlying condition that keeps some
from participating fully in the benefits in the IT revolution.