An athlete is someone who uses their God-given physical talents to excel in a sport. They have to work hard and be dedicated to their game in order to succeed, and they are rewarded for their efforts with self satisfaction and bonds that are built with teammates.  If they are really good, they may even get a chance to play their game professionally.  But, the question is, should athletes receive special treatment based solely on their skills?

I’d say no. Just because you can kick a ball farther than me or swing a bat faster doesn’t mean that you’re a better or more superior person. Athletes at schools across the country (including UMass) seem to think differently sometimes. There is a very cliquey culture among athletes, who tend to stick together because of time they spend in their exclusive facilities. Athletes here have their own weight room, their own access to a training staff to help with injuries, and their own access to computers in a private study area in the Athletic Center. Why should athletes be allowed to have special treatment? Shouldn’t they be participating in their sport just for the love of the game? Why do they need all of these privileges?

Some athletes seem to believe that they deserve more privileges than average students. A great example of this is when I recently went to a Beacon Tailgate event at a hockey game on campus. The ad for the event advertised free burgers and hot dogs, but when I got there I found that the ladies in charge of giving out food, all of them student athletes, were only giving out one item per customer. They were strict, to the point of marking students’ hands with a sharpie so that they would not serve the same person twice.

The one-burger policy did not include their fellow athletes, however. Any baseball or basketball player who walked up to the counter got as much as he or she wanted. Players didn’t have to wait in line, they didn’t get their hands marked, and they took multiple hot dogs and burgers at one go, some of them multiple times over the course of the evening. 

So why are athletes literally allowed to eat more than us, the average students, the lifeblood of the university?  I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that’s fair. 3

That said, I want to let the athletes know that I have tons of respect for them, and not only for their superior physical abilities.  But, to those who may be reading this, please try to understand how well you have it, and try to make friends with average students. 

Athletes complain about how their games are not well attended.  You get a clue to this if you go to a Beacons home game, where you’ll find that nearly everyone in attendance is an athlete. Maybe if the athletes weren’t so introverted, they would draw a bigger crowd to their games, and create better relationships between themselves and the average student body.