Gambling

Football betting has been legalized recently. Although someone says legalizing football betting will benefit Hong Kong, there have been both arguments for and against this practice so I am going to discuss it.

Addiction to football gambling can cause a lot of problems. One of the examples is financial difficulties. Gambling needs money. If a person gambles in a long-term, he may lose a lot of money. Not every time you can win some money from it, you couldn’t earn a lot. It would spend your time and money. It may destroy your financial plan for retirement.

There would be problems on work or even unemployment. You use all the time for gambling, you don’t have energy and can’t concentrate on your work. You work badly and your boss will punish you. Therefore, you may think you have to carry more and more pressure. It makes you more emotional, worsen work will be more. At last, you may get fired from your boss.

Gambling will destroy your family relationship. They will leave you because you ignore them. There is an advertisement is talking about a father has gambling addiction on football. He puts all the money on gambling. He never knows what has happened in his family, even though his child leaves home secretly. At last, he thinks gambling is more important than family relationship, he and his wife divorces.

Football betting could cause emotion problems. Gambling addiction is a mental-health problem that is understood to be one of many kinds of impulse-control problems a person may suffer from. The person has broken the law in order to obtain gambling money or recover gambling losses. This may include acts of theft, embezzlement, fraud, or forgery. He would try to hide the extent of his or her gambling by lying to family, friends, or therapists.

Despite the disadvantages mentioned above, some people think legalization of football betting has benefits to Hong Kong.

Football gambling is supported because Hong Kong government can earn tax from the gambling. Government thinks that earning money from the public and use the money back to the public for the treatment and promotion is the best way.

There may be illegal organizations would be caught by police. They don’t need to hide secretly to do the gambling. People can publicly gamble for football and people who gambled can entertain themselves happier. Government established a charitable fund to finance gambling-related problems for the implementation of preventive and remedial measures, and selected Caritas and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals to run two counseling and treatment centers for providing services to problem and pathological gamblers.

When gambling is legalized, there will be a rise for employment rate. This is because there will be more demand of staff need to help gambler when gambling is legalized. If gambling is prohibited in law, resulting staff being fired.

After weighting both advantages and drawbacks of football betting, I think legalization of football betting may become a disaster in our society.

Many neighborhoods face serious community problems because of certain factors and they have a certain effect on the people living In the communities. I live around a community where there are a lot of car street races which happen on a regular basis and It creates major chaos over the weekends. Seems Like It Is not a major Issue, however, these street races cause major trouble to all the neighbors as It creates noise, causes accidents. Creates trouble for all the stores around, for people traveling at night and so on.

Every weekend, a specific parking lot in the town of Formidable is filled with Hot Rods, college students, high school students and even adults, not to mention, cops too. This is a huge parking lot outside a mall which has plenty of room for cars and is connected to a highway-route 110. It is the main attraction for guys and girls with hot rods. I heard a lot of stories about this location and about the races taking place there every weekend so I decided to take a look for myself before I could believe any of this.

One night, I made a trip to this famous parking lot! At first, when I got to the parking lot, all I saw was a few random cars parked with some guys standing around them and talking to each other In groups. I parked my car there and stopped to watch what happens. I was extremely curious because I had only heard of these kind of scenes in movies and never thought it would be the reality. A little after 1 1 pm, a group of cars came into the parking lot with extremely loud exhaust pipes and loud music.

As they revved up the engines my adrenaline started pumping. I could not believe what my eyes saw. A large number of cars drove n and parked there. There were people of all different age groups coming in from high school students, to college students and even elderly men around the age of forty who wanted to show off their hot rods. Soon after, some drivers including female drives took their cars out into the driveway and started drifting and performing rolling burnouts to get the crowd excited.

I stepped out of my car and stood there to watch. These people were enjoying themselves with loud music, alcohol, dancing with girls and screaming and shouting. I was shocked when a few gig school kids approached me to ask me about my car because these kids were 9th graders who had sneaked out of their houses at midnight with their parents cars for these races. After around half an hour, a group of cars revved up their engines and started moving towards route 110 so I decided to follow.

Once we got onto route 110 they start driving like crazy people over speeding and cutting lanes and eventually turned onto a street off route 110. This lane was completely isolated and there were barely any cars parked there so they lined up their cars there and made a roadblock t the two ends of the lane and started having drag races which made a lot of sound and obviously called In for cops. This is where the major problems from these races start. Once the cops come In, chaos occurs.

These guys get Into their cars and started racing off from these race sites In all different directions to avoid getting caught. They go onto the main roads and over speed causing accidents not only for themselves but all the noise they create. They get into accidents, get caught and pay fines, cause trouble to other drivers on the road and so on. This is a major community problem as it attracts a lot of students in the community from not only colleges but also high schools.

These kids have illegal modifications on their cars which adds to money in the black market. It also encourages many others to Join this racing league which leads to accidents and deaths. There is a lot of illegal betting and gambling, underage drinking, over speeding and many such laws broken which cause serious community problems every weekend and according to me this should be checked and stopped as soon as possible!

The 2016 NFL regular season kicked off recently and in true sports fashion the bars are packed again on Sunday, Fan Duel commercials are playing every 15 minutes, and one analytics firm is using data to predict the outcome of NFL matchups with 80 per cent accuracy.

Fans across the country put their obligations aside and took in Sunday’s festivities in what was the first of many football Sundays for the remainder of the calendar year. In addition to the fans welcoming back their favorite teams, Fantasy Sports commercials, and handicappers, bar goers, and sports fans were also welcoming back the most heavily wagered on American sport.

Similar to March Madness, there’s a plethora of contests and office pools to join. With the West gate the world’s largest football prediction contest touts, fans, statisticians,and the like test their handicapping skills against the best in the world for the biggest parlay style pick’em contest.

Out of all the contests, only the Westgate Las Vegas SUPERBOOK SuperContest. With over 1800 entries this year, is labeled the most highly sought-after. With a top prize this year the prize pool that pays out almost 1 million dollars to the winner this year.

The payouts for the top 7 places are as follows:

1^st Place $906,675

2^nd Place $362,670

3^rd Place $181,335

4^th to 6^th Place $116,572.50

7^th Place %90,667.50

The top 50 contestants will all get paid but everybody is vying for the top spot of $906,675.

How Does the SuperContest Work?

The premise of the contest is that each entry picks 5 games against the spread each week, and the person with the best record at the end of the season wins the grand prize. Given the popularity of the contests and that many of the biggest names in all of sports handicapping have been known to participate over recent years, it attracts some of the best prediction modelers in the world. This year a sports analytics firm named Sports Info Traders led by Jon Price who has been interviewed by Forbes multiple times to discuss sports betting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Price started off with a perfect 5-0 record after Week 1 of the NFL Season and is currently at 80% by using a custom but algorithm that determines something called “Delta” that determines what a line is supposed to be in a matchup and using that data against the opening odds of the WestGate and then picking the 5 games that are most favorable to his predicted outcome.

Price who is also a nationally syndicated radio personality says that using a combination of his proprietary data points combined with his natural gut instinct using years of experience has proven to be a success and he’s proud to show the entire world in the SuperContest that he is the best living sports bettor in the world thanks to mathematics.

How hard is it to get 5-0 in week 1?

Week 1 is the hardest week of the entire season to pick considering that many teams play guarded and watered-down versions of their playbook during the preseason and don’t tip their hand at all to what they’re capable of in the coming season. With many rookies in the mix and other unforeseen intangibles, week 1 is extremely unpredictable even for the professionals, except for Sports Information Traders.

Jon Price and his team at Sports Information Traders are fast out of the gate once again this year getting out to a 5-0 start in the pick ’em contest for week 1 and 3-2 against the spread in week 2. They’re 1 of only 28 entries that started out undefeated out of 1849 total entries. Jon Price and his team attribute their early success to their preparation and connections throughout the league.

While there’s not much to be learned about a team by watching their preseason games where their main concern is to evaluate talent, Jon Price is connected with some of the industries biggest insiders who scout teams regularly and provide data points that Price puts into play in order to make informed betting decisions.

Who is Jon Price?

Jon Price runs the consulting firm Sports Information Traders. He’s been featured in Forbes, as well as countless other national publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and many nationally syndicated radio shows throughout the country. Often compared to other elite sports gamblers such as Billy Walters and Kenny White, Jon Price prefers to shy away from the spotlight and let his picks do the talking for the most part.

How to get Sports Information Traders’ picks?

More information about Sports Information Traders can be found on their website at SportsInformationTraders.com, along with a copy of their perfect 5-0 betting receipt and the 3-2 in week 2 to land them at 80 per cent winning percentage. Their specific picks for the perfect week were Minnesota Vikings -1.5, New York Jets +2.5, Houston Texans -6, Jacksonville Jaguars +5.5, and the Detroit Lions +3.5. Jon Price of Sports Information Traders gives out free picks each and every week on his nationally syndicated radio programs throughout the country if you’re able to listen in and learn how the brilliant mind thinks.

Otherwise, him and his team do offer their football picks to clients as an investment option with the potential of higher margins than that of the stock market and judging by the 80% winning rate it is in due course to far exceed the best hedge funds performance for this year but the risk and ride is sure to be more tumultuous as anything can and does go with sports betting.

We’ll continue to monitor Jon Price and Sports Information Traders in the coming weeks to see if they can keep the pace and push their winning streak something the mathematician says you can bet on.

Gambling addiction is a term applied to excessive pleasure-seeking behavior while performing the act of any form of gambling. The roots of gambling addiction can be traced to an individual’s wish to win the game and avoid any emotional torment. Gambling addiction may be called a “hidden illness” because there are no visible physical signs but may affect the major area of an individual’s psychological and social life (Eadington, 2002). Compulsive gambling is considered a mental health disorder. The impulse to do the act of gambling is a common phenomenon for both men and women.

For the reason that many gamblers consider gambling as their scapegoat from pain and misery, this behavior leads to many cases of gambling-related suicide, addiction and alcoholism. A more disturbing picture of individuals suffering from gambling addiction is when their families, jobs, finances and self-worth are affected negatively. It is like living in their own personal hell that even the one affected doesn’t understand either. The video “Problem Gambling” by Dr. Nancy Petry asserts that gambling problems can be eliminated little by little.

This video serves as an inspiration for both gamblers and their families as they defeat this problem that can destroy not only the personal identity of the person but the whole society as well. This video is indeed a great aid for people who are hooked to gambling but were not aware on how to totally get rid of it. The video is fukll of juicy information on how cognitive-behavioral approach can be use to treat gambling clients. The said therapy includes the traditional discussion with handouts that contains step by step guidelines towards full recovery.

In addition to this the video also contains motivational and inspirational messages from Dr. Petry that emphasizes the self awareness of the gambler for him/her to strive towards change in lifestyle. According to the video, the overwhelming feeling of shame, failure and hopelessness related to gambling addiction seems difficult to bear. One example of gambling is pathological gambling which is considered to be a psychiatric disorder that passes half of the ten criteria cited by Dr. Petry. These criteria includes lying, making higher bets, mind preoccupied by gambling, alcoholism and committing suicide due to failure.

An individual afflicted with pathological gambling may think that the best solution is to commit suicide. There are instances where problems related to gambling addiction may not be detected as the reason for committing suicide due to non-existence of suicide notes or people do not have knowledge of a suicide victim’s pathological gambling. Some families may withhold pertinent information in relation to the suicide victim’s gambling-related reason to avoid shame and guilt. The story of Brian in the video can be seen as one good example of this.

He is the clear manifestation of a young gambler that can be saved before the scenario gets worst. I was able to relate to the story of Brian because I am also a young and carefree person who is curious on doing activities I have not encountered. Upon watching the video I was enlightened by the fact that gambling can make or break my personality if I will not choose the right decision. Good thing Dr. petry clearly indicated in the video that there are cognitive- behavioral given put to gamblers who are willing to change for the better.

Gambling addiction has three phases of progressive cycle such as winning phase, losing phase and the desperation phase (Volberg, 2000, pp. 17-27). The pattern of gambling addictive behavior is a progressive and downward cycle that may lead to depression and other worst cases (Volberg, 2000, pp. 17-27). The winning phase is the time that gamblers experience a series of wins and became optimistic that the streak will continue (Volberg, 2000, pp. 17-27). The feeling of great excitement will lead the gambler to increase the amount of his bets.

The losing phase is the period that a gambler experiences losses and the time that he will reminisce his past wins and will start gambling alone, think more on gambling and start borrowing money even with high interest to continue his gambling (Volberg, 2000, pp. 17-27). The impact of gambling addiction to individuals and society will place a hardship on economy due to employment loss, unemployment, bankruptcy and debts, forced home sales, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, crime, arrest, poor physical and mental condition and consequently suicide.

The video also connotes that gambling problems produces other physical and psychological defects. The families of addictive gamblers greatly suffer from physical and psychological abuse, verbal harassment from creditors and bill collectors, intense stress from neglect and divorce and financial burden (Volberg, H. 2000). Children suffer most from the negative effects especially if their parents are addicted to gambling. The video also relates gambling to other medical conditions.

Petry together with her team found out that gambling can lead to one’s downfall when it comes to physical aspects. There are higher risks of hypertension, liver problems and cirrhosis for gamblers. The video hypothetically discusses this one by one. The exposure to other gamblers who smoke eve if you are a non smoker will also lead you to accumulating lung diseases. The video also suggest that professionals of the health and medical field often missed to ask patients who have health problems if they have gambling history.

The eight session discussed in the video gave viewers sufficient information to comprehend on the different approach towards treatment of gamblers. There were two kinds of motivation given where gamblers can either choose to be internally or externally be motivated and assessed in terms of their gambling behavior. There are propositions given as to whether the gambler opts to undergo psychological or physiological therapy. My educational experience was widened by this video since I am now more aware of the consequence of my action.

Gambling may not be considered as a crime but it would be better to avoid it that being totally hooked and be messed up for life.

References:

Eadington, W. (2002). Gambling Studies. Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, University of Nevada, 44-49. Petry, N. M. (n. d. ). Problem Gambling. American Psychological Association. Volberg, H. (2000). Leisure Behavior on the Edge: Controlled and uncontrolled gambling practices. National

Kennedy was not in office for very long, his actions in and out of the Whitehouse are legendary. When President Kennedy took the oath of office in 1960 he wasted no time in cleaning up America. Several bills were enacted in President Kennedy”s tenor. A lot of the major ones had to do with crime control. A lot of President Kennedy”s bills were targeted at organized crime. Bill S1653 was signed into action on September 13, 1961. This was an interstate travel bill.

The bill made it a crime to travel or use any facilities in interstate commerce with intent to conduct violent crimes to further illegal gambling, liquor, narcotics, or prostitution business. This bill had a major effect shutting down a lot of “speakeasies”s” which took care of gambling and betting. Customs got a lot tighter which had a great impact on the running of liquor to foreign countries such as Canada and Mexico. A lot of drug pushers were arrested and many Bordellos” were also shut down. The Senate passed Bill S1653 on July 28 and House on Aug 21. This was one of many anti-crime Bills that President Kennedy would enact throughout his term. A lot of his primary goals were oriented towards organized crime.

Another one of President Kennedy”s crime Bills to be passed in 1961 having to do with crime was Bill S1656. This bill made it a crime for anyone in the betting business to knowingly use a wire communication facility to transmit in interstate commerce any bets or wager information. Also, it made it a crime to be caught with any betting paraphernalia such as parley sheets or wager stubs. This authorized a lot of wiretapping and surveillance. Bill S1656 was passed by the Senate on July 28 and by the house on August 21 and was signed on September 13.

One other bill passed in 1961 by President Kennedy was the Fugitive felon act. This act made it a federal crime to cross boarders to avoid being prosecuted or remanded into custody after committing a violent crime or avoid giving testimony on a crime. This act was strongly enforced by local law enforcement agencies.

The Federal firearms act of 1961 was a major bill passed for President Kennedy in 1961. This act prohibited the shipment of firearms in interstate and foreign lands to people under inditment for certain crimes.

Not all of President Kennedy”s bills were directed towards the Mob and other such crime syndicates. President Kennedy also lobbied for the 1961 juvenile delinquency and youth offenses control act. This act provided programs of federal assistance to state and local agencies to control delinquencies. It also authorized sections of health, education, and welfare to make grants for projects to improve methods of control, treatment, and prevention of delinquency and to establish personal training programs. This bill was mainly focused on gang members, drug addicts, and first-time offenders under the age of eighteen.

In 1962 President Kennedy continued his onslaught on organized crime. One of his first acts was to enact an anti-crime bill that put a stop to interstate travel of gambling machines. Bill S1658 broadened the 1951 ban on interstate travel of gambling machines to include shipments to points in the U.S. through foreign commerce and any machines including roulette wheels. Roulette wheels were included simply for the fact that they are a machine that is wagered upon where the course of action can result in the transfer of currency and or property. This bill was ironically called the Gambling Devices act of 1962. The Senate passed this bill by voice vote on July 27, 1961, and by the House on June 29. This bill was then signed into law on October 18, 1962.

Another bill that was going through congress was the eighth in a package of anti-crime bills proposed in 1962. Only two of the bills actually got anywhere. They were bills S1658 (the gambling machine bill) and bill S1655. This bill allowed the granting of court immunity to certain witnesses in labor-management racketeering cases. The Senate passed this in 1961.

After President Kennedy was assassinated on November twenty-second, 1963, Vice-president Johnson was sworn into office at 2:38 PM later that day. President Johnson picked up where his predecessor left off. This led to the creation of a presidential committee on youth crime and juvenile delinquency with major stress on major cities such as New York, New Haven, San Francisco, and Cleveland. Other provisions to this act that differed from the first are setting up detoxification centers for drug abusers.

One of his major acts was appealing to Congress for drug laws and punishment. In 1964 a bill went through congress stating that there were no “adequate means for detecting illegal diversions (of psychotropic drugs) from legitimate channels. The reason for this bill was to make the non-legit licensed drug pushing a federal crime. One of the problems was that for the bill to be effective the regulation of such drugs had to cover intrastate as well as interstate commerce. The reason congress had to do this was that the drugs themselves do not come with labels stating their origins, and because of the manner that the drugs are held and or consumed a placing of their origin could be very taxing. For example, because of foreign commerce certain drugs from for example, Columbia might be treated more or less over say Peru.

On August fifteenth, 1964 congress passed bill number S 2628 by voice vote. There was no objection to the bill. The narcotics bill passed through congress and was eventually signed by President Johnson.

On a related note, the previous bill was the only directly involved narcotics bill in 1964. Around the same time that the narcotics bill was going through congress, the Senate Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee filed a report on August 31. The report basically stated that the Narcotics Control Act of 1956 was not working. The committee stated that “it failed in its initial determent purpose.” To help solve the problem the subcommittee recommended the passage of several legislative measures. One of the bills was S 2628 this bill stated that instead of sentencing addicts, the way to handle them was to set up hospitals and detoxification centers. This was the new way to handle drug abusers.

In 1965 President Johnson began to take a look at an increase in Mafia action that has been on a steady incline since 1961. In 1965 several bills were formed to combat organized crime. Senator”s John L McClellan (DArk) and Senator Frank J Lausche (D Ohio) submitted four bills in a package on June 24.

The bills were as follows:

• 2187: Made it illegal to be involved in Mafia or any “secret society” that made their living by committing criminal activity.
• 2188: Made it a crime to obstruct federal procedures or investigations by attempting to bribe officials involved or witnesses.
• 2189: Legalized certain wire-tapping by federal agents for violation of federal law.
• 2190: Permitted witnesses in federal grand jury investigation to be compelled to testify and provide that they could be granted immunity from prosecution based on their compelled testimony.

In early August of 1965, President Johnson urged for the enactment of the Law Enforcement Assistance Act of 1965 to supplement federal law training to local law enforcement officers as the FBI had conducted in the past. The purpose of the act was to provide training programs and demonstration projects in police work to update and improve the standards of local law enforcement personnel.

The house passed on August 2, bill HR 8207 which authorized an appropriation of ten million dollars to implement the act in fiscal 1966.

In 1967 the Omnibus District of Columbia Crime bill was passed which provided for warrantless arrests for minor misdemeanors and issuance of summons.

In addition, President Johnson also established a Federal Judiciary center to improve the operation of the federal judiciary and for protecting witnesses and informants from such enemy”s like the mob or other syndicated crime organizations.

The Safe Streets and Crime Control Act were passed to provide money for research and education for many ordinary street crimes. This set up the pathway for local organizations such as neighborhood watch. An Addition to that act was to focus again on juvenile crime. Thus the Juvenile Bill of 1967 was adopted. This bill also provided more money to develop and improve existing facilities regarding juvenile crimes.

The money that was given went to:

• A. Appoint the Commission on crime and delinquency to do research on crime in the U.S.
• B. Appoint the Commission on law enforcement and administration of justice.

A major contribution to the growing violence in America was guns. President Kennedy did”t touch much on gun control. Neither did President Johnson until 1968. In 1968 President Johnson signed the gun control act. This act stated that better control of interstate traffic in firearms was needed. This bill enabled support to federal, state, and local law enforcement officials in their fight against violence and crime.

President Johnson wasn’t only interested in fighting injustices on earth. Also in 1968, he signed an agreement between the U.S. and USSR banning nuclear weapons in outerspace.

In conclusion President Kennedy and President Johnson both did a lot for crime control. A lot of the bills and acts in which they personally oversaw are still in use today. Both had a lot to say and put their words into action. A lot of attention may have been swayed during the Johnson administration due to Vietnam. But President Johnson did not allow this to focus here at home as well. A lot has been done to prevent crime. A lot still needs to be done. With a little faith, our presidents will continue to sign bills that will keep our streets safe and take care of crime in America.

It isn’t very easy to get a bill to become a law. Most proposed bills never leave the floor before they are thrown out. Only the bills that have strong effects and are truly needed become laws in America.

When someone says the name Michael Jordan, the first thing that might come to mind is basketball, Nike shoes, or Wheaties. Through the years Michael Jordan has proved time and time again that he is the greatest basketball player ever and by doing that he has gained tremendous popularity throughout the world. People of all ages and from all nationalities have gathered to watch him play. “Even your Aunt Matilda, who might not know anything about basketball, liked watching him play,” said Daniel. He has become more than just an entertainer, he is a hero and a role model. It has been said “He”s the most famous American in the World” (Daniel.)

After winning his sixth National Basketball Association Championship, Michael Jordan has decided to walk away from the world of basketball for the second time in his life. Why would the greatest player to ever play the game leave at the highest point of his career? He claims the sport is no longer a challenge to him. After his many awards, trophies and titles this is not hard to comprehend. At this time in his life, Jordan wants to devote all of his time to his friends and family. Now that he has left the world of basketball a great void has been left. Many questions have rose as to what is going to happen now that he”s gone. What will happen with the NBA? What will happen to the Chicago Bulls dynasty? Who will be the next Michael Jordan? Could there ever be another Michael Jordan?

The first thing any sane person would ask is how could Jordan leave basketball and walk away from all of that money? Last year he was the highest paid basketball player in NBA history. But in dollar terms, Jordan was even more successful as a corporate spokesman, which earned him $45 million in 1998, than he was on the basketball court in which he earned $35 million. (Peyser.) Jordan currently does endorsements for thirteen companies. Out of all the companies, Nike pays the most for his endorsements at $16 million per year.

Jordan is by far the best endorser out there in the market. Many of the can”t compare to Jordan. “He”s handsome, articulate, classy. He had purity to his performance on court and off. It”s hard to find the perfect celebrity these days,” said Peyser. With such slogans as “Be Like Mike” and “It”s gotta be the shoes,” companies have attempted to make consumers believe that if they buy their products they too can be as great as Michael Jordan.

Now that Jordan has left the NBA, many are speculating on how well his endorsements will do. Experts say that a retired athlete – even Jordan – can”t compete with a guy who”s still winning championships. With the sports-marketing business already in a slump, there may be no heirs to “Air Jordan” (Peyser.) Even though Jordan has left the basketball court, he”s not going to leave Hollywood anytime soon. There are plans being made to have Jordan star in at least two films but this time he will be acting with a real cast as apposed to the cartoon cast he starred with in Space Jam. “He should play a character like James Bond,” suggests movie critic Gene Siskel, a rabid Bulls fan. “I”d pay to see him before Pierce Brosnan any day, wouldn”t you?”

Michael Jordan has made a huge impact on the NBA. “He has won six NBA championships in the last eight years, ten scoring titles, enough Most Valuable Player awards to stock his own wing at the Hall of Fame,” said Tresniowski. He is by far the greatest player to ever play the game. Many believe the NBA would not be where it is without him and now that he”s gone many can”t imagine basketball without him. Everyone is wondering, if there ever be another Michael Jordan. The chance of someone accomplishing the same great feats as Jordan is nearly impossible in today”s NBA. But that doesn”t mean it won”t happen. When Julius Erving left the league many people were asking the same questions. Will there ever be another Dr. J.? Jordan came along, and the rest is history.

Ever since the baseball strike the NBA has tremendously gained in popularity, at one time many Americans where questioning, should basketball be the nation”s new past time? Lately, this attitude towards baseball has changed. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa have brought the life back to baseball with the breaking of the home run record. With the NBA labor lockout that has canceled most of this season and now that Jordan has left the future of the NBA is yet to be determined. The outlook doesn”t look good. With fear of a season cancellation due to bickering over money, many fans have turned away from NBA basketball in disgust. The NBA”s image has become tarnished.

Today”s NBA is nothing like how it was when Jordan came into the league. There is a new breed of players out there. Instead of the rising stars , they are making the jump from high school straight to the NBA. Kobe Bryant is a prime example of this. The major difference between the stars of today and the superstars of yesterday is that many of today”s stars don”t even earn the right to be called stars. Glenn Robinson, now of the Milwaukee Bucks, was asking for a $100 million contract when he came out of Purdue, yet today he is barely worth $1 million. “You don”t ever want to say ‘never”,” Starr says, “but I don”t think the NBA will ever again attain the glory it did with Michael.”

Even though Jordan was great, we cannot forget about his supporting cast. Without the team to back him up, Jordan would not have been able to accomplish half of what he has done. The Chicago Bulls have been labeled the Team of the 90″s. No other team since the Boston Celtics has been able to win more than three championships in a row, but the Bulls have done it twice in the past eight years. They probably could have been champions for at least two more years if the team would have stayed healthy and intact.

By far, the Chicago Bulls have been hit the hardest with Jordan”s Retirement. The cause of the breakup of possibly the greatest team ever was rumored to be caused by clashes between the players and Bulls management. The breakup started when management wouldn”t pay Phil Jackson what he deserved after bringing six NBA championships to the Bulls. Rather than coach another team, Jackson decided to retire to practice Zen Buddhism fulltime. When Jackson left, Jordan said he wouldn”t play for a new coach. After Jordan left, basketball great, Scottie Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets. Only four players of last year”s team still remain on the Chicago Bulls roster for this season. Many have made the prediction that the Bulls will lose more games in this shortened season than they did all last year (Stein.)

Rebuilding the Chicago Bulls may turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes ever made by the Bulls organization. There will no longer be sell-out crowds every night, sales from Chicago Bulls merchandise will take a nose dive, and all the Fair Weather Fans” will move on to another team. It could take years and millions of dollars before the Bulls will even be able to compete for another title.

Many wonder if Jordan will come back to the NBA, after all he did come back before. In 1993, after winning his first three championships, Jordan announced his retirement. He felt he had nothing left to prove and he wanted to try his luck in major league baseball. When his short-lived career in the minor leagues didn”t work out he decided to return to the NBA, (Greene.)

While, competition is what Jordan thrives on. It has had both a positive and a negative effect on his life. Jordan being the very competitive person that he is, got in trouble when he was rumored to have a . Many feared that he might have been gambling on NBA games. However, all allegations of illegally betting on NBA games were false and with time Jordan”s image was rebuilt, (Greene.)

The chances of Jordan coming back to the NBA are very good. However, if he comes back it won”t be as a player, his new role would be coach. This time he doesn”t have a team to come back to. He is certainly not going to come back to the Bulls and wait for them to rebuild.

Jordan will probably always be remembered as the greatest. It will be a long time before anyone can accomplish half of what he has done. As far as the current NBA cast, the experts can”t see anyone replacing him for a long time. Not only does it take the skills but it also requires a certain set of values to become a role model. Many stars of the NBA lack both of these qualities. But somewhere out there is a young child with dreams of becoming the next Michael Jordan. He is on every playground all around the world. He has the endless desire to make something out of himself. Basketball could be his only chance out of the current situation that he is in, and it is only a matter of time before he will have his big break, (Starr.)

Some might think it”s hard to imagine the effects that one man can have on the game of basketball, but when you look at our society and how much we tend to focus on athletes in the sports world it”s really not that hard at all. Michael Jordan played more than the role of a basketball player. He was a hero, a product endorser, and a corner stone in a major corporation, and to the teams that he beat night after night, an enemy. Now that he is gone from the game no one really knows what will happen all anyone can do is speculate. Even though he has left the basketball court, chances are he won”t be leaving your TV quite that soon.

The people that will miss him the most are his former teammates and the die-hard fans that loved to watch him night after night. The Chicago Bulls may never reach the greatness that they once achieved but they will always have the memories. It”s hard to tell who will take Jordan”s place, it could be safe to say that no one will ever be able to, but that doesn”t mean there won”t be anyone better than Jordan. Only time will tell.

The die-hard Chicago Bulls fans will always hold in their heart for Michael Jordan. They will tell their sons and daughters about him, they will get out the old VHS tapes of games that they have recorded and they will pass along the Basketball cards that will be worth hundreds of dollars. Those of us who have seen him play will always remember him and what he has done for the game of basketball. For those who haven”t, you will have to settle for the endless highlight reels and Nike commercials to keep his memory alive.

Gambling is one of the many things that people do. A lot of people see no problem in gambling and others may see different. Gambling has many different cause and effects on certain people and different phases of getting there. Some people may get the better effects, and some may get the not so good effects from it. Gambling doesn’t always just affect the person doing it, but may affect the people around them. There are many pros but more cons to gambling. People may just go gamble just for a night out, others do it on a regular basis.

The ones that may do it on regular basis, build their own life around it. Getting into gambling may be caused from stress, greed, and mental health problems. Depression is a big one. When depressed gambling can lift up someone’s mood, especially if he or she is winning all the time. When winning all the time a person becomes greedier with their money than before. Some just don’t know when to stop. Some people waste their winnings on trying to win more when they should’ve just walked away. Other people use gambling when he or she is stressed out about money.

They think they win one time there going to win many more, and money problems will disappear. From many stories shared around most likely that won’t be the case more problems just start to occur. The effects from gambling can be something little to something big. There are many harmful effects such as, debt, family issues, pathway to other crimes, endangering ones job, and most likely a high increase in alcohol and drug use. In a study conducted by the United States, 2. 5 million adults suffer from gambling addiction, where 15 million people are under the risk of getting this addiction.

Many people who have this addiction go out and gamble their life savings, risking that they might lose it all. Bill money gets spent, and that when one starts to get in debt. Gambling also increase the issues in a household. Increase of child abuse, and neglect often occur. He or she might lose a 5,000 dollar bet and take the anger out on the children at home. Many gamblers stop caring about everyone around them, and only think about themselves. There are different stages to having the gambling addiction. The beginning s ones “winning” stage. One occasionally gambles, gets a big win, and then starts making higher bets. Next the “losing” phase hits. Some may lose time from work, start borrowing money from others, and start becoming in debt, because of that winning streak. Next the “desperation” phase. When one is in a panic from all the money lost, and the beginning of doing illegal crimes to get money will begin. Finally, the “hopelessness” phase hits. Now there is nothing left and suicidal thoughts run threw some people head.

The debt is too much to handle and they feel nothing they can do will get them in a stable environment. This is also when in a marriage a divorce might happen, and everyone that was once there, may not be there anymore. Gambling is a horrible addiction. This addiction may be treatable, as long as the person wants to be treated. Gambling effects a lot more than just one person. It affects everyone around. A winning streak may just be a fluke, taking way too far and ruin one’s life and many more. There can be many pros and cons to gambling, but in the end the cons takes over.