Blog Post #3 P3

             For project 3, I am going to continue my focus on college athletics, and the issue of college athletes not being compensated for the millions of dollars they make their universities. This involves both of my main interests, college, and athletics. Sports have been a major part of my life since I can remember. I started playing tee ball very young, and ever since it’s been the only thing that has captured my interest. Football especially, I’ve played since the age of 7. I love the competition, and the intensity brought along with sports. They are a major stress reliever, and help me forget all of my problems for the time period that I’m playing. For P3 I am staying within the Ethics in Higher Education. This is because the issue of college athletes being paid is very appealing to me and I would love to learn more.

            For my research question, I have two main questions to decide between, which are “Should college athletes be paid?” or “Should college athletes at Alabama be paid?” I’m not completely sure if I want to try to focus my research down to a specific university or keep it broad.  I’m worried that if I specify my research to a specific university, that I won’t be able to find as much research on the topic as I would if it was a general question. To arrive at these two questions, I used the graphic organizers and the inquiry question homework sheet. It really helped me narrow down my curiosity. The overall theme of my question is if college athletes should be paid for what they do for their respective college.

Some of the stakeholders that would apply to my topic is the NCAA, and possibly a university if I narrow it down, and even certain players if I narrow it down to a certain sport. The stakeholder that appeals to me the most is the NCAA, due to the fact that they are the governing body of all college sports, and would be the ultimate decision on if the athletes could be paid or not. Due to prior research, I found out that there is a rule called ‘Amateurism.” This rule is what outlaws the college athletes being paid in an sort, which also includes sponsorships or outside supporters. The only way my issue could be put into effect is if the NCAA was willing to change this rule.

Some concerns I have for P3 is the length, and researching. For the length, I’ve never written anything as long as part 2, so my concern is falling short of the word count, and then not having enough information to expand upon to reach that limit. For the researching aspect, I’m worried there aren’t enough scholarly articles on my topic. In previous papers, I have exclusively used the EHE, and am not positive how much research is actually out there for my use. Some things we could do in class to prepare for P3 is what we are already doing, analyzing sources for credibility, and maybe the structure of what P3 should look like.