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Scandal in the Universities

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By Holden Hartle

Editor Hannah challenges bloggers to write on the topic of Conspiracy. Holden goes to the conspiracy in the news . . . the College Admissions Scandal!

As I’m sure most of you know, there has been a big scandal within some of the big name universities. Parents of high school seniors are bribing admissions officers in order to guarantee a spot for their child. In addition, there have been cases in which parents have bribed standardized test proctors to practically take the test for their children, ensuring that they get a higher score. There are even cases of parents bribing coaches of various universities in order for their child to get an admissions offer via fulfilling a team spot.  

Before I become too subjective, let’s begin with the facts. Fifty students from six different states were guaranteed a spot into a big-name university due to bribes from their parents. These aren’t cheap bribes. Most of them are hundreds of thousands of dollars allocated towards a single individual. Note: this money isn’t going to a school. These weren’t donations to the university. If they were donations, the money could go towards constructing a new building or hiring more professors. Rather, hundreds of thousands of dollars were sent to admissions officers, proctors, and coaches.

Some of the colleges involved in the scandal include Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, University of Southern California, University of California Los Angeles, University of San Diego, University of Texas, Wake Forest, and recently, University of California Irvine.  

And now, to get subjective. If you are planning on applying to these universities, still apply. Though this scandal does put a bad name on the university, not the whole university is at fault.  Rather, the bribed individuals should take the blame.

I interviewed Jake Mulé, who applied to UCLA, and asked him if this scandal was a big deal to him and if this scandal affected his perceptions of the school. He said that “it doesn’t deter me from the colleges I am looking at. The problem is within the system. It is hard to be what colleges want us to be. [Bribery] is how people are willing to get ahead.”

Most of the people I interviewed generally agree that the universities aren’t to blame. Asher Mai, who applied to UCLA, USC, and Stanford, said that “It’s not the university’s fault.” Amanda Laule agreed adding that “the universities should make sure their admissions officers aren’t accepting bribes.”

Personally, I agree with Jake that this scandal points out the obvious flaws in the college admissions system. I also agree that colleges should be more attentive to potential bribes that their admissions representatives and coaches may be receiving. But the whole conspiracy affects me on a more personal level. U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling, the prosecuting attorney, said that “for every student admitted through fraud, an honest and genuinely talented student was rejected.” From someone who has felt the pain of a rejection email, it is so difficult for me to watch these people have their path to college paid for by their parents, and at the same time, have to watch my talented friends get denied from their dream universities. And consider this: even though there are only fifty cases that have surfaced, this is something that has happened in years past, and something that doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon.

Conspiracy Editor: Hannah Hall

Don’t be a GAMER SHAMER

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By Luke Langlois

This post is the first to come out of AJ’s week of editing, where the theme for posts is video games. In the following week, you will see more posts coming out in this theme as well.

When you hear the word “gamer,” what does your imagination picture? If my prediction is correct, it probably is not a pretty picture. Perhaps this “gamer” is in a room with closed blinds, no lights, and a locked door. Perhaps this gamer has untold quantities of empty soda cans sprawled out on the floor, not a bottle of water in sight. Perhaps this gamer’s keyboard is more dust than keyboard. This dust is not the typical brand of dust. No, it’s worse: Dorito dust. Whatever the picture may be, I’m sure it’s not positive. When industries rise, so do their critics. The rise of the gaming industry has followed this historical trend.

The term “gamer” does not carry a positive connotation; it is actually quite the opposite. Many media outlets are quick to jump the gun and mount an opposition against the newest gaming phenomenons, like “Fortnite,” calling them addicting, brain-melting, too violent, and detrimental to the overall health of the world. Gaming is almost always connected to being lazy or chronically unhealthy. But gaming should be recognized as a valid hobby, just like any other pastime such as golfing, moviegoing, fishing, or even knitting. After all, gaming is a juggernaut industry, and a “gamer” is not just someone who locks themselves in a dark room playing video games.

What would you consider to be the larger industry: movies or video games? Judging by the sheer influence that movies have on our popular culture, you might be guessing MOVIES! Indeed, the film industry pulls in large chunks of change. Last year, the international film industry pulled in a whopping forty-one billion dollars. That’s an impressive number. I personally would enjoy having forty billion dollars in my bank account. But, I would also enjoy having a bit more than double that amount. Oh, maybe ninety billion would be better? The gaming industry pulled in a bit more than that, at ninety billion dollars. That number represents the international revenue pulled in by the gaming industry. Not convinced that gaming is for more than just the hermit crabs of the world? GameSpot estimates, China has more people who play video games than the entire population of the United States. That’s over three hundred million people in just one nation who play video games. China is not the only video game haven; the United States has an estimated 211 million gamers (Variety).

Gaming is one of the premier hobbies of the world, and it should be recognized as such. There’s no reason to feel ashamed for really diving into a game, whether it be on your mobile device or your Xbox. Conversely, if you don’t play some type of video game, there’s no reason to spite those who do. After all, the non-gaming may soon be a global minority, if they aren’t already. Gaming is for everyone, and the numbers show it. So, don’t be a gamer shamer because gaming is not just a niche hobby anymore.

Fortnite may look goofy, but maybe it’s not so bad.

Editor: AJ Patencio

Sources

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2018/08/25/worlds-top-5-video-game-markets-generate-98-b-revenue-2018/37544189//
U.S. Film Industry Topped $43 Billion In Revenue Last Year, Study Finds, But It’s Not All Good News
https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/how-many-people-play-games-in-the-u-s-1202936332/
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-number-of-chinese-gamers-surpasses-the-number-of-american-citizens/1100-6419166/

Holden Rants About a Topic That Isn’t Really Relevant But Still Kinda Interesting Part 4

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Here at thebirdonfire.org, we’re trying something new. Rather than chasing down any “sophisticated schoolyard shenanigan” (our site’s tagline), we’ve embued our Student Editor of the Week with the power to NAME A THEME. Junior Luke Langlois is up first as Student Editor. He claims as his theme Aquatic. So, our student bloggers submit to you subjects and posts that fall under this week’s theme: Aquatic. Holden answers with . . . Sharks.

Sharks Deserve More Love

By Holden Hartle

Since the release of Jaws in 1975, sharks have become one of the top fears among Americans. The thought of a Great White clamping down on a leg is a terrifying thought. In 2017, Chapman University conducted a survey that showed that about 25% of people are afraid of sharks. More people are afraid of sharks than of hurricanes, public speaking, and everyday crimes like a mugging. The fear of sharks is even more prevalent than the existential fear of dying.

But, consider this, in 2018, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History, there were a total of 130 shark attacks worldwide. Of those 130, 66 were unprovoked and 34 were provoked. The other 30 attacks were due to things like boat attacks or attacks that happened post-mortem. With all of this in mind, there are predictions that somewhere around 70 million people went to a beach in 2018. Some quick division will tell you that you have a 0.000185714% chance of being a victim of a shark attack. This number drops by almost 20% if you don’t provoke the shark.

Let’s look at things from the shark’s perspective. Out of the 375 different species of sharks, only about 10 have been known to eat humans. Because sharks have not lived around humans for most of their lineage, sharks have not evolved in a way that allows them to digest human flesh. Sharks eating humans is similar to a lactose intolerant person eating ice cream. It’s possible, but sharks choose to ignore humans for their own good. Sperm and Killer Whales are much more capable of eating a human than a shark is.

If you look at the behavior of sharks, most sharks approach a human out of sheer curiosity. This curiosity leads to a terrified human, which leads to a terrified shark, which leads to a shark attack. A shark most often will bite a human out of self-defense, not because it is hungry for a human thigh. And, occasionally, a shark mistakes a human for a sea turtle or a seal.

We shouldn’t be scared of sharks; we should be helping them. The shark population has dropped dramatically in the past few years, and this isn’t just bad for the sharks; this affects the whole ecosystem. With the sharks gone, the whole aquatic ecosystem is thrown off. There are no sharks to eat the mesopredators, which are next in the food chain. And, because there is an increase in mesopredators (for example, stingrays), the amount of smaller fish decrease. If we were to stop fearing sharks and stop fishing them for their meats and their fins, the ecosystem would be balanced.

Editor: Luke Langlois

Dead By Daylight Game Review–A Legion of Glitches

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By Dayton Kennard

If you’ve been playing Dead by Daylight recently, you’ve definitely been hearing about the new Darkness Among Us downloadable content (DLC) and all of its problems, and if you actually bought it, you’ve been experiencing those problems firsthand. The sad part is you don’t have to download the DLC to experience the problems. Note: it should be taken with a grain of salt– not all of these problems are actually glitches. Through this post, I’ll cover four problems that have been reported by the community and problems that I’ve experienced firsthand. Just a heads up, if you haven’t heard of this game before, it’s basically a multiplayer game where four survivors try to fix five generators in order to escape before a killer finds them and–you guessed it–kills them.

Problem 1: Random Legion Chase Music

Some people have described that while they’re playing as a survivor against the Legion (one of the killers you can play as), they’ll randomly hear the Legion’s chase music (something that occurs when you are about to be attacked) for a few seconds before it suddenly disappears with no explanation. This has even happened to me! However, this is not a glitch. While playing as the Legion, a killer can bring in an add-on to their unique power that causes all survivors to temporarily hear chase music when the killer successfully lands an attack on a survivor.

Problem 2: Red Highlights After Chase Ends

When the Legion successfully lands an attack on a survivor while in their Feral Frenzy mode (their unique power that makes them faster for a short period of time), they will see nearby survivors highlighted in red temporarily so that they can easily attack them as well, but this highlight ends once the Feral Frenzy times out. Or at least, it’s supposed to. Sometimes the red highlight will persist if you continue to chase a survivor after Feral Frenzy times out, only going away if you either down the survivor or your chase with the survivor ends. This is most certainly a glitch, as nothing like this is mentioned in Feral Frenzy’s official description or any of the Legion’s add-ons.

Problem 3: Loss of Previously Purchased Characters

When players first load up the game after purchasing and installing the Darkness Among Us DLC, they may see that some of the characters they had previously purchased are now missing, and even be told that they have to purchase these characters again. This may be alarming to hear, and even more alarming to see, but it seems to only happen with characters purchased using Auric Cells (an in-game currency) rather than characters purchased with real money. This is a known glitch that’s already being worked on, and it’s easily fixed by closing and re-opening the game.

Problem 4: Two Killers vs. Three Survivors

This may seem impossible given the game’s unchangeable format of one killer versus four survivors, but it’s actually something that can happen. While this is a legitimate glitch, it is quite rare to see on accident, and it’s more likely someone causing this glitch on purpose. This is because the game will sometimes attribute the wrong character ID to a character that you are playing. So, while you joined a game as a survivor, you will load in as whatever character that ID truly belongs to, allowing you to join the game as a second killer rather than a survivor. Being that this problem only happens when a character ID is swapped, it’s fairly easy to replicate this glitch by editing the game files, which is usually what’s happening if you do see two killers in a match.

Editor: Holden Hartle

Seniors Who Lunch

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By Harlow Berny

Hello! I’d like to share one of Palm Valley School’s older traditions with you, the Senior Lunch! This is a tradition that started six years ago under the (benevolent rule of the Overlord) administration of the former Head of Upper School, Ms. Susie Zachik. Six years ago, the tradition of Senior Lunch was actually Senior Breakfast. It was created to encourage Seniors, who didn’t have a first period class, to come to school on Friday mornings and attend the Friday assembly. It was only four years ago that the tradition became Wednesday Senior Lunch, as Seniors no longer had a free period/study hall for their first period classes.

Throughout this, the Senior families have provided the breakfasts/lunches for the Seniors. Sometimes school administrators, such as Ms. Zachik, Ms. Steinman (current Head of Upper School), and Ms. Rice (current Head of School) would bring food for the first and/or last Senior Lunch. After this, it would be one Senior’s duty to bring lunch for all of the Seniors on one Wednesday of the school year, and this would continue until all of the Seniors have brought a Senior Lunch. In addition to this, the Seniors control the student lounge during a Senior Lunch. While Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshman can come in to get their lunch and heat it up in the microwaves, they are encouraged to eat at the courtyard tables so that Seniors may eat with their fellow Seniors. This is a tradition that should be respected in order to preserve the experience for future Senior classes. Let’s be honest here, it is nice to hang out with your Senior class with the little time you have left before you all go off to different colleges.

Editor: Luke Langlois

The Three Best Villains in Anime

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By James Zheng, Blog Anime Correspondent

Most anime reviewers or watchers hardly ever talk about villains. Speaking of villains, the majority of us are under the impression that they deserve the audience’s hatred all the time. But, we never get to know them deeply or even analyze them from several aspects. You might ask the question, “Why do we need to know these villains?” Well, to make a great heroic figure or a whole anime that earns popularity, a villain actually plays an indispensable role.

No.1 “Akatsuki (Dawn)” from Naruto: The ten dreams of human beings

Akatsuki is not a single character. It’s one of the most powerful organizations in Naruto. Each member in Akatsuki represents a dream of humanity (peace, friendship, love, power, etc.). However, the Akatsuki didn’t start out representing peace, friendship, love, etc. In the beginning of the anime, every single character had a goal to destroy every independent country. There were so many fans that hated them at the beginning because fans bought into the concept that any villain would be the “bad guy” forever. When the Naruto Company dedicated episodes to introducing the Akatsuki background, the Akatsuki gradually gained sympathy and popularity from the audience. However, plenty of fans said that “their Naruto” had finished after the antagonistic Akatsuki was gone. Undoubtedly, those characters had a huge impact on the storyline. Villains are as important as heroes, especially if they’re well “shaped.”


No.2 “Yagami Light” from Death Note: How supremacy could change an ordinary person

Some of the people may not recognize Yagami Light as a villain because he is the hero in the entire story of “Death Note,” but I personally think that he played both hero and villain. In the story, the Death Note gives any kind of person the power to execute anyone; you just need to write down their name to do so. Light, who considers that his life is too boring, accidentally obtains this dreaded notebook. Then he starts to use this notebook to execute the criminals to achieve his “justice.” But, soon, he was obsessed with this power, with the result that he had the ambition to be the God of the world. This path is like an abyss to him; the Death Note entirely changed him. Everything he regards as obstacles he eliminates, including his family and friends and investigative authorities.

No.3 “Aizen Sosuke” from Bleach: The fanatic pursuit of perfection

Aizen is the biggest boss in the world of Bleach ever. His behavior and thoughts interpret the extreme concept of “perfection.” Because he believes that he is too successful as a scientist, there is nearly nothing that could satisfy him except for the innovation that has never been done before, except for creating something that has never been created before. So, he starts to engage in projects which are essentially inhumane.

Editor: Holden Hartle

Rhetorical Fallacies That YOU Should be Aware of: Part II

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By Luke Langlois

This is the second of my two-part post explaining rhetorical fallacies. For the first eight fallacies, check out my last post. For the uninitiated, rhetorical fallacies (as defined by the University of Texas at Austin Undergraduate Writing Center) are rhetorical strategies commonly used in arguments that “do not allow for the open, two-way exchange of ideas upon which meaningful conversations depend. . . . [T]hey distract the reader with various appeals instead of using sound reasoning.” Now, let us get right back into these fallacies.

9. Begging the Question: This is probably the toughest fallacy to understand, and explaining it in words does not really do it justice. It’s best to think of this fallacy as “improper circular reasoning.” For example, if you get in some trouble at school and have your friend vouch for you, your teacher is naturally going to ask, “How am I supposed to trust your friend?” It would be “begging the question” if you responded with “Well, I vouch for my friend, and my friend vouches for me!” It’s circular, and it doesn’t work. Begging the question assumes the truth of a conclusion, rather than supporting a conclusion.

10. Straw Man Argument: A straw man argument misdirects and oversimplifies the argument. For example, if I wanted to change the face of the person on the $2 bill, someone making a straw man argument might accuse me of hating the United States and its history because I want to change the person on the $2 bill.

11. Sentimental Appeal: A sentimental appeal argument attempts to appeal to the emotions, the sentiments of the reader, so that they are not actually using their logic to dissect the idea. “Please, give us donations, or these puppies will continue to freeze and suffer.” It does not matter if the organization asking for donations is shady, we must save the puppies!

12. Red Herring: A red herring is an attempt to shift attention away from the argued issue by throwing in a whole new issue that does not logically connect to the initial issue. If a world leader is making a speech about having to go to war and then starts talking about their nationalistic pride, they are attempting to distract listeners from the fact of the war with the fact of their nationalistic pride.

13. Scare Tactics: This is probably another one of the most commonly used fallacies. The speaker tries to frighten the audience into agreeing with the speaker. “If we do not invade and conquer Canada, they will steal our children, our land, and our lives!” Whoever the speaker is wants to convince the audience that Canada should be invaded by making the audience fear for their children, land, and lives.

14. Bandwagon Appeals: A speaker using a bandwagon appeal tries to “use the masses” to convince the listener of a certain point. Children often try to use this fallacy to convince their parents to buy them something.” All of my friends have it, so I should too!” Parents often counter this fallacy by asking their children if they would jump off of a cliff if their friends were doing it.

15. Dogmatism: This fallacy occurs when the speaker assumes that their logic is beyond any sort of refute or question. “I am the leader of the milk enthusiast group; milk is the only acceptable beverage on this planet, and there is no question about it!” The speaker basically presents their idea as perfection, and does not open themselves up to discuss their idea. Clearly, this speaker is not going to be listening to any nonsense about almond milk beverage.

16. Equivocation: Equivocation is when the speaker partly tells the truth, and deliberately hides the whole truth. For example, if the speaker said, “I will never drive into anyone with my car!” and then proceeded to hit someone with a stolen car, that would be equivocation. The speaker said that they wouldn’t drive into anyone with their car, but then went on to hit someone with a stolen car. The speaker partly told the truth.

17. Faulty Analogy: As the name might suggest, this fallacy occurs when the speaker tries to convey the idea using an analogy, but the analogy does not live up to the original idea. “Of course we should ditch school! If someone was holding you hostage, wouldn’t you want to escape?” While millions of children around the world would see no problem with this analogy, escaping a hostage situation is not comparable to ditching school. Analogies can be a great way to try to explain an idea, but the analogy should properly match up with the idea.

These have been the rhetorical fallacies as listed by The Princeton Review! Calling them “fallacies” is not to say that they are not effective persuasive strategies. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that you had a couple of mass-media examples in mind as you read those fallacies. However, if you are trying to legitimately convince someone of the merits and value of your idea, it’s probably best to steer clear of these fallacies. If you want to know more, check out my first post (if you haven’t already) to read about the first eight rhetorical fallacies.

Editor: Leo Milmet

My Musical Interests at the Moment

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By Music Critic and Blogger Holden Hartle

I’ve recently noticed that I listen to a lot of music that maybe other people haven’t heard of. When I find out that someone knows a band that I like, I become ecstatic, as if we are the only two people on Earth that know the artist. Of course, this isn’t the case. These bands and artists have millions of fans, but I still feel they deserve more recognition.

Grandson: When people ask about him, I always say that he is like a modern version of Rage Against the Machine. He combines hard rock moshiness with a trap drum beat, and his lyrics often revolve around political problems. He is releasing new music sometime in January and is going on his No Apologies tour shortly after.

Hobo Johnson and the Lovemakers: The frontman’s story is very humbling. Frank Lopez was kicked out of his house as a teenager and was forced to live in his car, and so he named himself Hobo Johnson. His music is very spoken-word-esque and explores his emotions as life just keeps on throwing obstacles at him. He has a European tour coming this winter, and he has announced that new music is coming soon.

This is the cover for Highly Suspect’s The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Highly Suspect: There are only three people in this band, but these three people make a lot of noise. They give a more hard rock feel to the alternative genre. They received a lot of success with their last album The Boy Who Cried Wolf (2016) but have since been quiet. I hope to see new music in the future.

SWMRS: They give off more of an old school punk feel. They gained a lot of traction with their debut album Drive North (2016), and have pre-released their album Berkeley’s On Fire. The album is set to release on February 15th, and they have a European/North American tour scheduled after its official release and will last until May. I highly suggest you take a listen.

The Blue Stones: The Blue Stones sound like if The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys collaborated. They have only released one album entitled Black Hole (2015), and it’s a bop with a wide range of sounds, ranging from hard rock to a bluesy tone. They are opening for Grandson on his upcoming tour.

Dominic Fike: He is my newest musical obsession. He mixes R&B style vocals with a more alternative approach to the instrumentals. His guitar chops and drum patterns add a nice rhythm to each of his songs. He only has one EP out called Don’t Forget About Me, Demos (2018), and I really enjoy it. The entire EP only takes fifteen minutes to listen through, so if you need something to enjoy on your drive home, I highly suggest some Dominic Fike.

Editor: Makena Behnke

The Avengers–High School Conspiracy

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By Charles Schnell, Who Does Not Actively Follow or Care About the Marvel Movies

Before you scroll down or click away, hear me out. I know this may sound ridiculous, but I think the masterminds over at Marvel entertainment have outlined the four Avengers movies in a way that represents each grade in high school. At least, this is what my experience has led me to theorize.

Let’s go over the series and compare, shall we?

Avengers: Ah, the original. This is freshman year of high school. Think about it. There’s a new team of sheriffs in town. Some are smarter; some are stronger; some are more attractive.  These freshies are here to team up for the first time and save the world. Now, take the average freshman class. Some are smarter; some are stronger; some are more attractive. However, they have all assembled at school for the first time to save each other, and the school as a whole, from bullies. Who are these bullies? Well, that would be the upperclassmen, society, the government, etc. Coincidence? I think not. Avengers is freshman year!

Avengers: Age of Ultron: This is sophomore year, most definitely. No doubt about it. In this one, the overall plot line is not tied up. Thanos is out and about, but not the main focus. This is more of a subplot movie if anything. Now, think about sophomore year of high school. Why does one go to high school? Well, at least if we are talking college-prep schools such as Palm Valley, one goes to get into college. That is the overall, main plot: getting into college. However, sophomores usually are not thinking too heavily about college. And, if they are, imagine how much worrying they’ll be doing junior and senior years, when college—Thanos—has finally arrived. In junior and senior year, all our GPAs start plummeting, and it’s one hard battle after another, and college is sitting right in front of you, taunting, laughing, smiling into the sunset. In sophomore year, that’s not the case. You aren’t focused on getting into college, the main plot. You usually have something else to worry about, the subplot. You’ve got your first (and perhaps your last) AP, your last year where the PSAT does not matter, and your 16th birthday—a classic American milestone. Sophomore year is the Age of Ultron.

Avengers: Infinity War: Time to put on your big kid pants. “Thanos” has arrived, and he is taking no prisoners. All who oppose him will be crushed, and in this “movie,” no “Avenger” is safe. Now, look again at those sentences, but replace “Thanos” with “college,” “movie” with “year,” and “Avenger” with “junior,” and you have a perfect summary of junior year. In years prior, the academic workload usually starts off slow. Everything is okay in the beginning of freshman and sophomore years, and then it all goes down the drain usually once December hits. But, those challenges have been manageable, and you have not let them conquer you. Junior year is much different. Thanos is unlike any other enemy. The junior grind does not allow for any meager distractions. Once junior year starts, it’s “GO GO GO” from the very first day. No time for breaks, no time for opposition. “GO GO GO.” APs! SATs! ACTs! PSATs! Look at colleges! HARVARD! This pain train’s got no breaks; it just hopes its passengers can hold on. Junior year is a war that seems endless, but it eventually ends…. Unfortunately, it might end in a way that you may not want it to. Junior year is the Infinity War.

Avengers: Endgame: “We’re in the endgame now.” I’m not a senior, but if I had to guess, every senior has probably said something akin to this during senior year. It’s the end. Half or so of the senior class was mentally destroyed during junior year. It’s up to the remaining seniors to help motivate their friends back to life, save their GPAs, and finally finish the main plot, the story that has been developing for 18 years; it’s time for the seniors to get into college and enter the next phase of their life. Need I say more? Senior year, the final year of high school, childhood, and—dare I say—innocence, is the Endgame. And yet, at the same time, it is much more than an end. It’s a beginning, a beginning to the next phase of your life.

There you have it. High school is the Avengers. The Avengers is high school. This is my argument, and I have laid it out plainly for you. Now, all that’s left is your opinion. Do you agree with, disagree with, or—best of all—ignore my post, and move on to more important matters?

Editor: Luke Langlois

Should Sports Players be Paid Less?

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By Sports Enthusiast and Blogger Holden Hartle

In short, no. People like to say, “How can athletes get paid millions of dollars just to play a game? It’s unfair to the rest of the working class who actually has to work for their next paycheck.” I understand this hypothetical person’s argument. In its simplest, these athletes are getting paid ridiculous amounts of money to play a child’s game. But, I do have some problems with this hypothetical person’s argument.

Consider this. The NBA earns a total of $7.37 billion per year. How the NBA determines the salary cap (it’s actually very complicated so this is the “For Dummies” version) is they take the total NBA revenue, halve it, then divide it by thirty because there are thirty teams in the NBA. After the other math that goes into it, you get just over $100 million per team. The salary cap is how much money a team is allowed to spend on players’ contracts. So, as the NBA earns more revenue, the teams can spend more money on contracts. But imagine if teams were given less of a percentage of the NBA’s revenue. That means that players would get paid less but that money has to go somewhere. Instead, it would go to people like Adam Silver, who is currently commissioner of the NBA. It seems fairer that the players are getting 50% of the NBA’s revenue, rather than Adam Silver have all of it to himself.

Furthermore, consider the fact that each NBA player has some amount of influence. Sure someone like Antonio Blakeney will have less influence than LeBron James, but there are still people that will look to Blakeney as a role model. And though maybe this influence isn’t worth millions of dollars, it is at least worth something.

Personally, I don’t think that NBA players should be paid less. I think that they are paid a fair percentage of the NBA’s revenue and that it would be unfair if they were paid a lesser percentage. Though, yes, in its simplest, they are playing a child’s game, but consider the fact that they are playing it at the highest level in the entire world, and the fact that each NBA player has some influence over some group of people.

This has been Part 2 of Holden Rants About a Topic That Isn’t Really Relevant But is Still Kind of Interesting.

Editor: A.J. Patencio