Most people associate the beginning of true sports in Ancient Greece. The main sporting events used to be track and field events. Much like today, the sports played then were extremely competitive. In addition, players or participants popularity among his peers hinged on their performance.

But there is major difference between the two eras of sports.

Pride- 1. the state or quality of being proud; self-respect; self esteem 2. a feeling of gratification arising from association with something good or laudable: civic pride

Greed- 1. excessive or rapacious desire, esp. for wealth or possessions.

These two words define two very different eras of sports.

In no way am I trying to degrade modern day sports. I am merely stating the changes in sports as it has been revolutionized into a new phase. I myself love and cherish sports and all that they bring to the common man. This short transcript just states my pro, con, and moderate views on the issue.

A New Era of Sports
Since the beginning of its existence, sports have symbolized pride and glory through which athletes achieve goals unimaginable by the common man. But recently, a growing number of individuals have diminished that image and have created a new and not so pleasing one. Many young college basketball athletes drift from their academics and leave school early to join the National Basketball Association (NBA), and unproven and non-deserving athletes are getting paid astronomical amounts of cash for doing next to nothing. Plus, now the concept of team and fan loyalty has been lost. And most importantly, some young and immature athletes are setting a bad example for the youth of America and the world. Whether we like it or not, sports have changed-some say for the better but there are parts that have definitely changed for the worse.
One clearly disturbing factor in modern day sports is that young athletes are foregoing remaining years of college to play for professional teams. This factor can be called the root of problems with sports. Everything branches off of immaturity and inexperience. When kids leave college early to play professionally they don't get time to mature as a person and a player. A drop in talent in some sports can be credited to the fact the kids don't have time to improve their skills. Some kids even skip college completely and join the professionals right after high school. For example, NBA superstars Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett went directly to the NBA after their senior year. Though these two players are very successful, it is doubtful that many people can do this. What is happening to the NBA is that the league is getting flooded with young, arrogant, and inexperienced players that can not bring to the game what NBA greats such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird did. But everyone knows why this is all happening. It's all about the money. Never has any sport before seen athletes get paid such high mind-boggling salaries. The minimum wage of a NBA player is larger than the salary of the President of the United States. More shocking is that unproved athletes are getting paid highly. In contrast, in the 1997-98 NBA season Michael Jordan earned about $35,000,000. This is perfectly fine because he himself made for the Chicago Bulls, the NBA, and the United States economy greatly exceeds the amount he makes. Therefore, for other athletes whom this holds true then their salaries are perfectly okay. The problem is there are many players who get paid more then they deserve. This is the disturbing part.
A new phase of sports has developed over the last ten years: advertisements. Advertisements have brought a great deal of fame and money to various athletes. From Nike to Gatorade to McDonalds, companies and players are cashing in. Athletes such as Michael Jordan made more money off advertisements than playing sports last year. Many people have been influenced to buy a product solely because of the fact that their favorite player uses the product. Athlete endorsements in the NBA have helped the game to soar to one of the most popular leagues in the world. Advertisements help people become more familiar with those who play the game. However, there have been parts of advertisements that have hurt sports. Some players are distracted with photo or commercial shoots and don't practice as much as they should. Most players, however, are reasonable enough to handle this. Advertisements have changed sports, both for the better and the worse.
One part of the sporting world that has changed in recent years is the lack of team and fan loyalty. Never before has there been such pandemonium about free-agency, trades, and signings of players. No longer is the goal of a player to build a team into a champion but to just go to an already great team and just win a championship. This was not the case just about ten to twenty years back. Players like Michael Jordan, Mario Lemuix, and John Elway built their teams from non-competitive teams to world champions. Sometimes even the opposite goes. Players won't look at the quality and potential of a team as a free agent but they will look at how much money each team is offering them. One of the best examples were the 1997 Florida Marlins Major League Baseball team. The Marlins used large sums of cash to lure big time free agents. At the end of the signings, Florida had built up a star-studded cast of players. They did well through the season and went to the playoffs. The Marlins went on to be crowned champions in the World Series and became, in many people's opinion, one of the most pathetic champs in baseball history. The team did no more then merely buy the World Series. The next season a majority of the players fled to other teams since the Marlins were low on money after the large spending the year before. Now the Marlins are one of the worst teams in baseball. The thought of team loyalty has left the mind of many athletes.
Another one of the unpleasant changes in sports is the total lack of fan loyalty. Fans no longer cheer for their hometown or stick with a team they like. Many fans just want to be a fan of the best team in that sport. Some fan loyalty is shown in the city of Chicago. The Chicago Bulls hold the record for most consecutive home sellouts in sports. They have sold-out now for about six hundred straight games. Some people thought this was because the Bulls were arguably the greatest dynasty in sports. But that proved to be false after the dynasty fell apart with the retirement of Michael Jordan. In the 1999 season, with the Bulls being on of the worst teams, fans continue to pack the United Center in Chicago. This is also true for the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cubs. But, a majority of people choose to only be a fan of the best team. Kids nowadays own twenty different sports jerseys all of different teams. It seems for kids that "its not cool to be a fan of a losing team so why not be a fan of the best." In this era of sports the amount of fan loyalty shown has hit an all-time low.
Possibly the worst change in sports is that some athletes now stand as a horrible role model for kids. Players now don't seem to realize that they can be responsible for some kids' negative actions. It is an immense responsibility that some athletes are obviously not able to handle. There are many examples of this type of unacceptable behavior. One could be the Dallas Cowboys NFL organization. On many occasions players on the Cowboys have been caught with drugs or have been doing inappropriate things. Also in the 1997-98 basketball season, Latrell Sprewell choked his coach P.J. Carlisimo after they exchanged explicit words in a practice session. Spreewell was suspended from the NBA for one year. Yet another example is former boxing champion Mike Tyson. Tyson has been arrested numerous times for a wide variety of charges. Once again Tyson has again been sentenced to jail after beating up two men when involved in road rage. Finally, there was the controversial issue about Mark McGuire's use of creatine. Creatine is a performance-enhancing drug. In the 1998 season Mark McGwire captured the record for most home runs in a season with seventy. However he did it with the help of creatine. Creatine was banned in the NBA, NFL, and NHL but it was kept legal to use in the MLB. Whether it was right or wrong, McGwire sent an indirect message to kids: It is okay to use a questionable drug if it helps improve your athletic performance. Athletes today need to be more careful about what they say and do because there are plenty of children who look up to them.
No matter what people think, sports have changed. First, many youngsters are coming out of college to play professionally, mostly for the money. Also advertisements have changed how people endorse sports. Plus, team and fan loyalty is no longer very present in modern sports. Lastly, many athletes now no longer set good examples for young kids. Sports have changed for the better and for the worse but one thing about sports is that they will never be the same again.