The Olympics have long been known as the greatest display of sports that the world has to offer. Hundreds of athletes for a variety of different countries come together to compete for their land.  However, the issue of doping in sports does not discriminate and affects it at all levels.  Including the Olympic Games.  One of the International Olympic Committees largest priorities is the fight against doping.  In order to contain it, they focus a lot of attention on protecting clean athletes, by keeping them clean.  The International Olympic Committee adopted a zero tolerance policy for those caught doping.  If an athletes is caught regardless of the situation, they will likely be automatically disqualified from competition.  The World Anti-Doping Agency is an international organization leading the fight against doping by focusing on the World Anti-Doping Code. It is responsible for enforcing this code to all international levels, thus creating little room for confusion by staying under one code. The World Anti-Doping Agency works closely with the International Olympic Committee in order to enforce this during the Olympic Games.  The International Olympic Committee states that the code is mandatory and must be enforce for the games, creating yet again no room for confusion.  It should also help in that most international leagues already abide by the World Anti-Doping Code, so it is not new to most participants.  This helps to enforce the zero tolerance policy, because the majority of athletes should have little room to argue with its methods. The International Olympic Committee oversees all the control and testing involving doping.  However, it has recently tried to make them independent.  Many may fear that it could make the rules less strictly enforce, while others could potentially argue that they will be easier to monitor if they are held independently by different governing bodies.

https://www.olympic.org/fight-against-doping

Is there a line that a fan can cross in which it becomes too far? The idea of being a diehard fan seems ideal, and respected in most situations. It shows how loyal and dedicated someone is to a particular team.  However, the problem is that, some fans are so loyal that they would commit violence and harm to others for what they consider is defending their team.  Violence in sports has been increasing over the recent years.  More than what people are comfortable with accepting.  Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, thus meaning they have a lot of fans who would in a sense probably die for their team. History tells an infamous story of more than one example in which fans have fought, sometimes by the hundreds.  The worst part, is that also on more than one occasion, fans have ended up losing their own lives due to violence from the game.  It has also been known for fans to carry dangerous items that can be or are considered weapons.  Because of these instances, international leagues as well as governments have had to step in to help control the situation. European Parliament even created a potential resolution to the issue. Other governments have now stepped in to help mend this crisis.  British Prime Minister became involved as well, creating a law that fans must have ID cards in order to access the stadiums. The Italian Sports Authorities used barbed wire in stadiums as a form of protective netting, as well as helicopters, and swarms of policemen.  Some governments have discussed the militarization of stadiums as well in order to contain this issue.  Regardless, violence does not discriminate, it happens in every country with a variety of different sports.  It is up to the governments and the leagues to work together in order to find a solution.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/101989802

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14Ur0U3HbCs

Sports is one of the biggest forms of entertainment for people across the globe.  It creates what most consider friendly competition.  No matter how angry or hostile the competition might get, at the end of the day it is still just a game.  When it is over, win or lose, everyone goes home.  Everyone goes home to their families, to their normal lives and move on. However, in certain instances in the past, people have not always gotten to move on.  One of the worst tragedies that can occur in today’s world normally comes from the act of terrorism.  Unfortunately, terrorism normally occurs in a public place, usually very populated, and usually very unexpected.  Sporting events are a perfect breeding ground for a heinous act like this to take place.  In the past, it has happened on more than one occasion.  In September 1972 eleven Olympic athletes and coaches were taking hostage and then killed at the 1972 Olympic Games.  During the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, a bomb went off killing 2 people and injuring over 100 more. In 2009, a Sri Lankan team Cricket bus was attacked while heading to a match. In 2013, one of the most noted instances, was the Boston Marathon Bombing killing 137 people. These acts of terrorism create panic and often cause fans and spectators to become very uneasy when attending games.  Security must be stepped up, and even still something could go wrong.  However, fans love sports, and love their teams.  So they will always attend the sporting events no matter the danger.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/seven-times-terrorism-has-marred-sporting-events-35617474.html

International basketball players are becoming more well known in the NBA league. There is one common star in the NBA who goes by the name of Giannas Antetokounmpo who currently plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. He is one of the top mvp candidates this season. The Bucks have the best record this year and one of the main causes of this situation is Giannas play on the court with his fellow teammates. How could I forget Joel Embiid the best big man in the game right now. It seems like he keeps getting better and better each year. It was mentioned that one-third of the league teams has foreign born players who would classify as its best or at least its most important. As you go back to the year of 1999-2000 there were only two foreign players who averaged more than fifteen points and they were Dirk Nowitzki who is currently still in the nba after all those previous seasons and Tim Duncan who were both national champions at one point. I believe bringing international players to the NBA, will only make the NBA a better franchise and create a better market. Many individuals around the world would tune in more in the NBA. Its around 150 international players in the league right or more and this creates more excitement to the game. My favorite international basketball player of all time is Yao Ming and he was super tall while being athletic so that was his major advantage. International players pursuing their career in the NBA is going to make the game fun and have more competition. Many international players have made an impact in the NBA league. Dirk mentioned that there were six guys with twelve or more rebounds, five of them born outside of the US. Six guys with seven or more assist, while all of them were born outside of the US. And there were four or more guys with three or more blocks, while of them being born outside of the US. I would say that is impressive and from my eyes I see in today games many international basketball players making a huge success in the national basketball league. I hope in the future their happens to be more international basketball players making an appearance to the NBA league.

https://www.thenationalherald.com/225375/international-stars-antetokounmpo-leaving-mark-on-nba/

The Tour De France is one of the more iconic and storied events that takes place in international sport. It has lasted for almost a century, and had some very iconic athletes and stories to go along with it.  In the more recent years of the past century, it has been mixed up with some very negative events.  They all revolve around those cyclists who dope in order to gain an edge for the event.  This article questions of how big of an issue doping really has become in the Tour De France.  Lance Armstrong is likely the first individual that comes to mind when thinking of the Tour De France and its connections to doping.  He was arguably the greatest ever to compete in the race.  That is before he became exposed to doping being stripped of several of his titles. While Armstrong may be the most famous Tour De France champion to succumb to doping, he is definitely not the only one. Sports Intelligence published findings that from 1998 to 2013, 12 stage winners were doping during their victories.  While also from 1998 to 2013, 65 percent of those who finished in the top 10 of the Tour De France were doping at the time.  Some of these cyclists, like Armstrong, pleaded their innocence only to be caught later through drug testing.  While others actually admitted to doping during the race.  So when being asked how big of a problem is doping in the Tour De France, it sounds like a large one.  It becomes controversial however, where if everyone is doing it, like many of those who participate claim, how much of an advantage does it really give you?

https://fansided.com/2018/07/07/tour-de-france-2018-big-problem-doping-cycling/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3l3ZI1qnfs

Everyone always wants the upper hand in sports.  Some individuals will just go further than others will to get the upper hand.  Some athletes have a moral line drawn to how far they will go.  Whether this be out of respect for themselves, or the sport, they choose to not break the rules and to compete fairly.  This could be because of morals, or because they trust their own talents enough that they do not believe they need it.  Other athletes however, truly believe that winning means absolutely everything.  They have absolutely no boundaries and will use anything they can get their hands on to develop an advantage.  Often times, this results in what is referred to as doping.  The use of performance enhancing drugs to make athletes physically better at what they do.  There are different forms of this, sometimes it can be to make an individual stronger, sometimes it can help with recovering, with stamina, etc. There are numerous ways that this can be done, but all of which are illegal in almost every level of sport. With the help of the International Olympic Committee, international sports leagues have attempted to cut down on doping for decades.  The original plan was that with drug tests, educational instruction, advancements in medical treatment that those who used PED’s would decrease.  However, this has not been the case.  In fact, because of the new advancements in detection of PED’s, newer ways to use them are becoming prevalent.  Many of these ways make it very difficult to detect allowing many athletes to get away with them.  Athletes who make it to a professional level at their particular sport have likely worked their entire life to make it that far.  It could be assumed that because of this, athletes will use whatever it takes to give them a step up, even if it harms them. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2219897/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmqXcQW2BEI

There was a breaking news which Ex- Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho on settle tax fraud case. He accepted a one-year prison sentence for over tax fraud but he insisted on just paying the fine. Mourinho was one of the most successful coaches in modern European soccer, winning league titles with Chelsea, Inter Mila, Real Madrid and Potro. Also he won the Champions League in 2004 with Porto and in 2010 Inter Milan. The 56 year old has been fined 1.9 Euros, equivalent to 60 percent of the amount defrauded as well as 121,764 euros in interest. In my opinion I feel as their should be more time in jail on prison on the account of tax fraud. I think just because he was a boss he got the easy way out. Tax fraud will ruin the business of the sport. Mourinho is a good coach but what separates him from being a great coach is the tax fraud which is illegal. Mourinho and his defense team had agreed with the tax ministry to exchange the twelve month prison sentence with a fine of 250 euros for twenty four months. This was the best decision for Mourinho after the investigation but he still has to take responsibility for his actions. He would definitely but looked at differently because of this incident. I understand that the sport league is a business and being sacked by Manchester United after premier league club endured their worst start to a season for twenty eight years under his leadership. The settling for tax fraud case seems to be mostly the issue and doing so, would only result in jail time or paying the fine. In my opinion this issue should be looked more upon in internationally leagues because it is destroying the image of bosses, owners, and the future league.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/la-liga/ex-manchester-united-boss-jose-mourinho-settles-tax-fraud-case/ar-BBTctGL

Sports are the biggest form of entertainment that exists on this planet.  They are fun, exciting, and wondrous in many different ways. However, they also teach us life lessons along the way.  Sports can teach sportsmanship, teamwork, and competitiveness.  They can teach individuals social skills, as well as how to push oneself to the absolute limits.  On occasion, you may see emotion take over for the less desired out come during the match.  Athletes may result to fighting, or other forms of violence due to the competitiveness and emotion they are experiencing during the game.  While this is undesirable, it is controlled well in most instances.  Even if it occurs, players will almost always be held accountable for their actions.  The issue occurs when spectators become so emotionally invested into the game that they result to violence in some manner.  Oftentimes, this can be with other fans who are also spectating the event. Fans who result to violence are harder to control.  For starters, most of them have less to lose than the athletes do, which could result to them making decisions assuming the consequences do not matter. Fans also can result to violence where they are not always the center of attention, which makes it harder to regulate.  This article discusses the Council of Europe and its endeavors against the negative aspects of sport, like spectator fighting. The Council of Europe first began making precautions in 1983 for violence occurring in sport.  They have since been working over the years to continue to make it less common and less severe.  There have been instances where tragedy has taken place, and at times it does still occur on horrendous levels.  However, the council of Europe has been striving for years to control this battle with violence.

https://www.coe.int/en/web/sport/spectators-violence

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8MonIeEFsI

The NFL has long been attempting to expand its market beyond the United States.  For the main reason that they have mostly created as big of a market that they could feasibly make in the United States.  It is one of the most popular sports, and has long been a fan favorite.  The past few seasons the have made efforts to introduce American Football to other parts of the world.  They realize that it is very difficult for fans located in different countries to make it to see games or experience American Football.  So the NFL has created an alternative, they are bringing the NFL overseas.  This upcoming season will host 5 international games, 4 of which will be held in London.  They are expanding the amount of games every year, and have received overwhelming support.  So the question has to be asked, when will the NFL create a franchise in London?  According to Mark Waller, NFL executive vice president, London could see its own franchise as early as 2022.  According to Waller, the current collective bargaining agreement as well as the current media deals expire in 2020 and 2022.  This would allow a new franchise to be created in terms of a business perspective.  He also points out that almost all of the current NFL teams have now played a game in London.  So most franchises have been exposed to the atmosphere, as well as the fans being exposed to the teams. In terms of the travel situation, the London franchise would likely play its games in groups.  Several home games in a row, followed by several away games in a row would ease the organization of having to do so much traveling throughout the year.  It seems that all signs point to an NFL franchise being located out of America sooner than later at this point.  Could the NFL be working to become the only American Football league while reaching around the entire globe?

https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/close-london-nfl-franchise/story?id=58849499

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNR0hukKNdY

The National Football League has become one of the most popular American sports over the years. Its problem is that its market is almost capped out in the United States. It is close to as popular as it can potentially grow to be, and it surely cannot grow more substantially.  So they have devised a marketing strategy over the past few years to expand that market.  American Football is almost untapped throughout the rest of the world.  Fans not from the United States cannot easily access the National Football League, let alone attend games, or get to know much about them.  Thus, the NFL has decided to bring the game to these fans across the world.  By doing this they may expand their market globally.  The NFL knows that its product is entertaining, they just face a rare problem of allowing others to experience it and come into contact with it throughout the world.  This upcoming NFL season, there will be 5 games played internationally.  Some of them are rather big time games to contribute to the excitement.  3 of which will be divisional games, and 4 of the 5 contain NFL teams that were in the playoffs last season. They have expanded the amount of games being played in different countries little by little each year, while having experienced success in developing their new market.  The fans in these separate countries seem to be thrilled by the experience and are always willing to participate.  It has proven to be somewhat controversial for certain players, however, due to the distance that has to be traveled. Flying to London requires the players less practice time in the week, and less recovery time after games.  This has caused some players to be hesitant about their support for the expansion of games.  Others, however, rejoice by being able to bring the game to fans across the globe.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001012397/article/nfl-announces-2019-london-games

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EALQ_aAadbQ

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