Research+Paper

Colby Casper Mrs. Trometer Honors English II 5 May 2010 Professional Sports are the American Dream “It’s often said that Little League is where the dream begins for millions of kids who aspire to wear a big league uniform” (Keener). Kids dream of becoming professional athletes as soon as they start any level of completion and professional athletes inspire and influence kids early on in life. When Dylan Casper was in T-ball he used to tell his parents to call him Derek Jeter when he went up to bat. Becoming a professional athlete has become the American dream and is shown through Mike Lupica’s novels. Mike Lupica is the author of many sports fiction books such as __Heat,__ __Million-Dollar Throw,__ __Travel Team,__ and more. He has been a TV anchor for ESPN. He has been involved with professional sports for many years and it has influenced his writing. In the books previously listed, every main character seeks to become exactly like some professional athlete in their sport. In __Million Dollar Throw,__ Nate is a kid who plays quarterback on his football team and is known for having a very good arm. His arm was so good that people started to call him Brady and now is aspiring to become like Tom Brady. Nate knew deep inside that there was a certain tingling feeling that evening because he saw an incredible football game. After that night, that exact buzz was with Nate whenever he saw Brady play (Lupica). Nate is a fictional character but he represents millions of other kids in the real world. I wondered just how many kids dream of becoming a professional athlete. I found out that Jackson News is a news program in Michigan and had one of their reporters named Jerry Sova conduct a survey of kids from seventh to twelfth grade to see what their top career choice was. “About 8 percent or 927 of 11,802 students in grades seven through 12 with online plans, chose professional athlete as their top pick” (Sova). This shows that sports are making an impact on the American Dream. In fact, a few of athletes defined their feelings as a “dream” (Sova). A “dream” is exactly what these kids are fighting for. The NFL draft was only a couple of weeks ago and many college athletes were not drafted but some of them still were able to chase their dream by signing free-agent contracts (Clark). One of them was Tyler Eastman. Tyler did everything he could possibly do to reach his dream. When his high school team was not one of the best, he still found ways to shine. He was noticed by the University of Maine and given a scholarship. Maine has a reputation of taking very talented players and preparing them for the pros. Tyler was willing to do anything to achieve his American Dream. Playing a professional sport has become the American Dream. Many books focus on sports and how kids look up to professional athletes, most kids dream is to reach the pros, and many are willing to do anything to reach their American Dream of playing sports professionally. I myself once dreamed to be a professional athlete but found out that the odds are stacked against me. Works Cited Clark, Ernie. “Eastman, Hyland live the dream.” //Bangor Daily News// [Bangor, Maine] 30 Apr. 2010: n. pag. //EBSCOhost// //Student Research Center//. Web. 5 May 2010. .// // Keener, Steve. Rev. of //Heat//, by Mike Lupica.// Mike Lupica’s Official Website//. Ed. Kim Ku. Kim Ku, 2008. Web. 4 May 2010. . This provides me with an author and some criticism on the book.// // Lupica, Mike. “Chapter 2.” //Million Dollar Throw//. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.// Mike Lupica’s Official Website//. Web. 5 May 2010. .// Jackson News//. N.p., 2009. Web. 5 May 2010. . Provides another example of my thesis Sova, Jerry. “Pro athlete top career choice.” Jackson News//. N.p., 2009. Web. 5 May 2010. . Provides another example of my thesis