"Once the cheering stops: The life of a retired pro-athlete".

In my opinion, this has been the most interesting blog articles to read. I have never truly thought about the difficulties retired athletes go. At least, I didn't think it was this extreme. The ESPN article started out very mundane and I thought to myself, "hey, watching tv shows on netflix in a Manhattan apartment sounds pretty good to me". However, this was not the case. Being so fixated on sports and sports only for so long makes this sudden and dramatic change very difficult. This quote "You can retire from football but you can't retire from living" has a huge impact on the article. Retirement at such a young age puts these athletes in a huge identity crisis. Football is their living and once football is taken out of the equation, living is not so easy.

These players are told what to do all the time. Having a schedule is important to the human routine to create stability but when there is nothing on the agenda, it is not surprising that these athletes go into an identity crisis. In the NY times article, Mr. Lee says about this issues  "I was witnessing my own social funeral". Going from being a star, having lots of support and fans, then having no one know who you are or even care is heartbreaking. Their worth, not only in a financial sense but in personal sense, is lost. I could not believe that 78% of athletes go bankrupt, among multiple health issues and emotional trauma.
Although these numbers astounded me greatly, I can understand why they are. They grew up focusing on just football. Not knowing how to handle their money is a typical thing for athletes. They spend constantly during the season and don't realize how much their money will be gone once its all over. There is a lot  that goes into retirement and trying to discover your self aside from being an athlete is like starting over completely from scratch. Trying to learn basic skills that most people at their age have already developed.

This is an aspect of sports that is not drawn on upon in the media. There needs to be some sort of program for athletes post-retirement in order to prepare them for the real world. Sports is highly valued in the United States. Being apart of this "value" is a huge ego boost. Once their ego is gone however, its no surprise that depression kicks in. I have never considered the true perils of life after sports because I think people think that it is the sports career in general that would be more difficult and dangerous. Greater awareness and support should be implemented and contracts should be reassessed.

"A kiss is not just a kiss: Sports, Politics, and the Sochi Olympics"

The issue illustrated in all of these articles are ones associated with sports and politics. Similar to the separation of Church and State, sports and politics are no different. Although we say that these two things are not in accord with one another, they most certainly are. The political issues surrounding these articles are ones related to sexual orientation. In the "Open Letter to David Cameron and the IOC" article by Stephen Fry, it becomes clear that this sports-politics relationship has happened many times in the past. Fry brings up the incident in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, when Jews were "banned from academic tenure or public office" causing the police to avoid any acts of violence towards this minority group. The Olympic movement also "paid no attention" to this discrimination and is again doing the same thing now with LGBT Russians.

The Olympics being used to frame this political debate can be seen in the Washington Post article, when Inouye states that the U.S. delegation "represents the diversity that is the United States". The "Accomplishments" he talks about later are directly correlated to "civic activism, and sports". This statement, parallels with the issues of gay rights in 2014 Olympics in Russia because it is being used to explain why President Obama is not attending the Olympics. While this may not be the entire the reason, it does appear from the article to be something that is a factor in the Presidents decision.

Standing up for these issues is a big deal. In terms of what should be done, I think this recognition and discussion about the issue should continue to remain open to the public eye. However, this could bring the "established" binary between politics and sports closure together. Awareness should be at the forefront because laws always have loop holes and/or are avoided.