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Hailey Chambers
Critical Thinking
Professor Blancho
15 September 2014
Student Athletes Unionizing
In the article, the author’s main argument is that the university makes a lot of money on their
student athletes and only offer athletes a few scholarships. Now, some athletes are fighting back and
want something more for their hard work on the field. Now that they are doing this, the author says it’s
“anyone’s ballgame on who wins in the end.” The NCAA called the players “amateurs” and started giving
them scholarships. Then, they start counting the money. The source, "A Rim-rattling Ruling in College
Sports; Athletes Aren't Blind to the Billions They Earn for the NCAA. Change Is Coming...” was published
in Newsday by Michael Dobie, who is a member of the editorial board for Newsday. My overall
evaluation on this article is the fact that it’s an opinion piece means that it’s not cold hard facts. On
August 8, 2014, Ed O’Bannon sued the NCAA, claiming that college athletes should be compensated
when their likenesses are used to make money by the NCAA. The ruling in the case said that the NCAA’s
rules and bylaws “operate as an unreasonable restraint of trade, violation of antitrust law.” So, Ed
O’Bannon won the lawsuit.
In my second source by Klein, Gary, and Chris Foster, "Athletes Watching Unionization Case; USC
Could Be Affected by Northwestern Players' Vote, Which Is Scheduled for Today," it says that
Northwestern is thinking about unionizing, so they decided to put it to a vote. In the article, it says that
athletes living on campus get room and board paid for, which equals out to $12,902. Athletes who
decide to live off campus get nine monthly payments of $1,529. Some players, however, get full ride
scholarships. USC coach Steve Starkisian said that he believes they shouldn’t be unionized because it
causes loss of integrity of the sports. UCLA coach Jim Mora said that it should be “left up to the smart
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people.” The article was posted in the sport’s section of The Los Angeles Times. Gary Klein is a research
psychologist and Chris Foster is a regular sports writer for the Los Angeles Times. The source had direct
quotes from people involved in the situation. It was very informative and helpful. It spoke to the
audience and helped us to understand the situation more. The authors seemed to really know what they
were talking about. I thought it was good that they had a psychologists and a sports writer both work on
the article. I think it gave both an intelligent insight into the situation from someone who’s not focused
around sports, and an insider’s opinion who is heavily involved in the world of sports.
My third source, "PAYING ATHLETES: A MOVEMENT GROWS; UNIONS, STIPENDS, SCHOLARSHIP
CHANGES ALL UP FOR DISCUSSION; NCAA UNDER PRESSURE,” is about how the NCAA let Northwestern
unionize. Now everyone in the article is stating their opinion about the unionizing of sports. A lot of
people are saying that it was a good thing to do. Others question why the athletes don’t just earn money
the way other college students do, like getting a part time job. This comment caused some people in the
article to say that Division I sports are a full time job, and that the athletes have no free time after they
do the sports. The ending talks about how changes are coming. The article was written by Paul Doyle.
Paul is an Irish sportswriter. My overall evaluation is that the article was on the main page, so it was
considered important by the paper. It’s mostly people’s opinion the topic about student athletes
unionizing. The source is credible because it gives the audience many different opinions on one subject.
The opinions come from people like coaches, professors, and people that played sports in college. It
gives some very good insight. It was very helpful to get to read a lot of different people’s opinion on the
topic.
My fourth source, "College Union Talk Goes to Congress; Committee Quick to Criticize Schools,"
talks about the consequences of unionizing college athletes and the concerns that come with the
situation. They have five witnesses that either agree or disagree with it. They are saying things like that
the school might not opt to compete at the level they are in if athletes unionize. Some think it is a very
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good thing they are unionizing. The article was written by Steven Berkowitz, who is a projects and
database reporter that writes articles on sports enterprise and investigations at USA Today. I think the
article was very helpful even though it was mostly opinions due to the fact that it was more than one
opinion, and they all had a different view and thought different than one another. I think it was a
helpful resource for a paper, and really did its job. The author knew what he was talking about.
My fifth source, "John E. Hoover: Bobby Bowden Says Unionizing College Athletes Would
Undermine College Sports," is about Bobby Bowden, a former coach who openly admits that he doesn’t
miss his job. He was a head coach for forty seven years and an assistant coach for nine years. He tries to
talk to the nation several times a week about the situation. He doesn’t think unionizing will ever happen
because it undermines college sports. He thinks if it does ever happen, it will throw the university and
college systems every which way. He doesn’t see the athletes as employees. He also doesn’t believe that
unionizing them it will make anything better. He believes the FCA is meant to promote an organization
that continues to produce positive role models for children and their families to look up to. The article
was written by John E. Hoover, who is a world sports columnist. The article was more or less an
interview with Bobby Bowden with a small input on the student athlete unionizing. The fact that’s an
interview from someone who was involved in the situation for over fifty years makes this a credible
source.
Facts build credibility. You have to research your topic in depth. Sometimes, you even need to
research the stuff they mention in the paper or page you’re trying to get your facts from to make sure
it’s truthful and reliable. Research builds credibility. You have to research the topic on several different
sites and in several different books to get all the facts you need. Lies spread misinformation. Wikipedia
spreads a lot of misinformation because it’s a site where the user basically operates everything. There
isn’t much monitoring in place on the pages, so anyone visiting that site can edit anything on any of the
pages anytime they want without having to provide sources or credibility to prove that their information
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is accurate. You have to make sure the author knows what they are talking about. Basically, you have to
research your author as well as their sources. You wouldn’t want a sports writer to be debating on
politics in an article. However, you may not know that this author is writing on something outside their
field unless you do your research. Research is the most important thing you can do when trying to
determine whether or not a source is credible.
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Works Cited
Berkowitz, Steve. "College Union Talk Goes to Congress; Committee Quick to Criticize Schools." USA
Today 9 May 2014: n. pag. Print.
Dobie, Michael. ""A Rim-rattling Ruling in College Sports; Athletes Aren't Blind to the Billions They Earn
for the NCAA. Change Is Coming..."" Newsday 30 Mar. 2014: n. pag. Print.
Doyle, Paul. "PAYING ATHLETES: A MOVEMENT GROWS; UNIONS, STIPENDS, SCHOLARSHIP CHANGES
ALL UP FOR DISCUSSION; NCAA UNDER PRESSURE." Hartford Courant (Connecticut) 1 June 2014:
n. pag. Print.
Hoover, John E. "John E. Hoover: Bobby Bowden Says Unionizing College Athletes Would Undermine
College Sports." Tulsa World (Oklahoma) 16 Apr. 2014: n. pag. Print.
Klein, Gary, and Chris Foster. "Athletes Watching Unionization Case; USC Could Be Affected by
Northwestern Players' Vote, Which Is Scheduled for Today." Los Angeles Times 25 Apr. 2014: n.
pag. Print.
