Sport and money Discussion Match these sportsmen and sportswomen to their sports: a.athletics b.tenms c. Formula One d. football |. Michael Schumacher 2. liger Woods 3. David Beckham 4. Venus Williams 5. Marion Jones All of these professionals are mul endorsements. * Who do you think is paid the most? Why? Who's paid the least? Why? + Are they paid too much, ‘n your opinion? + How much do the top sportsmen and women get paid in your country? * Who is one of the highest paid? Do you think (s)he deserves that salary Reading Read this father's view and de general? IMMORAL EARNINGS? What in the world is happening to professional sport? When | was a kid, it cost $5 to get a decent seat at the stadium, and my dad would duy me a hot dog and himselt a beer which would bring the :otal cost to about $10. ast Saturday | took my litle boy to see the Giants play. After the parking, tickets, relreshments and souvenirs, | walked out of there with $75 less in my pocket, Just ask me how soon I'll be going back! But it got me thinking: why am | paying so much to watch a group of men throw a ball around? And then I realised: Iwas paying Look back at the article and answer these questions with a partner: ‘millionaires as a result of salaries, prize money, sponsorship and le which sport he is talking about. Can his criticism apply to sports in golt Billy Slater's salary: $350,000 a year, And Matt jerroid's safary: $500,000 a year. Oh, and how could | forget Sal Ibarra’s new contract - $3 million over the next three years. Where is the perspective here? What are our priorities as a society? There are 35,000, homeless in this city who don’t have a roof over their heads, clothes :0 keep them warm or food to fill their stomachs. And we are paying these men 6- and 7-figure salaries to Xeep ourselves entertained! something's gone wrong, 1, Whar things did the man have to pay for at the baseball game? 2. Why does he say “Just ask me how soon I'll de going back”? 3, Whar does he mean when he says that he’s paying the players’ salaries? Do you agree? 4. Why does he start talking about homeless people? Discussion |. Do you hasically agree with she man or does he have an old-fashioned, nostalgic view of sport? 2, Do you go to live sport events? What is the most expensive sports event you have heen to? Was it worth it? 3. Have you ever paid to watch a big sports event on pay-TV? If so, how much did you pay? 35 Sport and money Taboos and IssuesLanguage Read this text and underline all the expressions with ‘worth’: A UK FOOTBALL MATCH Going to see my football team is not cheap ~ the sheapest seat 's £20 ~ but | think 1's worth t. Usually you get your money's worth ~ specially with our new centre forward, Rivaldo, Apparently, he’s on £4 million a year, but he’s such a brifliant player, { think ‘e's worth every penny. Recently, I took my whole family to see a game. ‘There are some guys who sell ti illegally outside the stadium ~ they’ ticket touts ~ and you can get into trouble if you buy from them. Normally, [ would have said that it’s more trouble than it’s worth, but Now complete the expressions with one word: i ee it’s worth it. 2. You get your worth. 3. He's worth every 4. It’s nore than t's worth, Discussion The average professional footballer £7,600 a week. He trains, on average, for thr since I'd brought my whole family, which was going to be very expensive, [ thought it was worth a try. So, [ went up to one of these guys and negotiated four fantastic seats for £80 ~ quite a dargain for such an important game and such great seats. [hey were actually worth around £120. When we tried to get into the stadium, we were told that our tickets were forgeries! £80 down the drain! You can imagine how we tel So, we went back 1ome to watch the game on TV, My advice is never buy from a ticket tout. 1s not worth the risk 5.1 thought it was worth a . 5. They were actually worth... 7.[5 not worth the How do you say these in your language? What do you think ‘£80 down the drain’ means? £120, the Premier League in England earns £400,000 a year — around hours a day and plays one or two games a week for 10 months of the year. This means he earns around £520 per hour. So, after one training session, he is £1500 richer. For the very top olayers, multiply all these figures by 6 or 7. People argue that the following reasons justify the salaries. Which do you think are good reasons? |. fe’s a shore career ~ [8 years maximum - then you're finished as far as playing is concerned Yop players can’t go out partying and eating and drinking whatever they want. They have to [ook after themselves and be highly disciplined. they have a severely restricted social life for maybe 20 years. 3. Your career could end at any time through injury. More issues 4. Ie equires a very high level of skill, which only a very few people aossess. They should be rewarded for that. 5. Julia Roberts gets $4 million to make a film, so why shouldn't top footballers get similar pay? They are just ‘ke film stars. 6. Top players are high protile superstars who can't leave home without the media following them. The money they get 1s ensation for aving no private life. com 41. The men’s Wimbledon tennis champion wins £477,500. The women’s champion gets £430,000. What is the reason for this? Women nearly always get less than men in sport. Why is this? 2. Some people think that money has ruined sport. People used to play for the glory of winning. Now they are open to bribery and corruption. What would you do about it? Taboos and Issues Sport and money 35Vanity Discussion In your experience, are the following statements true or not? |. Men are more interested in their appearance than women. 2. Women talk co their friends about how. they look. Men don’t, 3. Women ike to go shopping with other women. 4. Men preter to 30 clothes shopping alone. They are afraid to ask a woman to help them, 9. Men spend more an cosmetics tha Reading Read the first part of the article and underline all the different things that men do to make themselves beautiful’ Compare what you underlined with a partner. » 10 years ago. MEN’S BEAUTY IS BIG BUSINESS If you think the world of race creams, beautiful fingernails and silky-smooth legs is 2xclusively female, think again. As sales of men’s health and tashion magazines continue to grow at a huge rate, more and more men are queueing up at health spas and gyms for complete make-overs. “Lots of men are ao longer embarrassed to use products or services that make them fook and feel setter.” said one enthusiastic beauty consultant, Body hair semoval, manicures, pedicures, teeth whitening and liposuction, to name just a few, are all 10w in high demand. Modern man is even olucking his 2yebrows to complete the well-groomed experience So, what is the explanation for this? Why are men spending more on pampering their bodies than on CD ¢ DVDs? lfections and Do you know what all those things are? What is your explanation for men’s growing interest in their appearance? Now read the second part of the article to see if it gives the same explanation: 36 Accor ng tO some, the explanation is quite simple. Iwenty years ago, the only beautiful role models in the media were women. Now, magazine covers displaying half-dressed male nodels with six-pack tans and perfect hair, have persuaded men they are missing out on something. In other words. it's just clever advertising Others offer a more profound explanation, As traditional rofes between men and Women at home and at work become less distinct, men are looking for new ways to express either their masculinity 9r their Vanity new-found feminine side. The masculine expression leads to joining 4 gym and building muscle, the feminine expression feads to moisturising creams and beautiful nails. These days it seems to be a combination of Soth. You could argue that the moder man ‘s quite simply ~ confused! So, are men just victims of the advert industry, or are they trying to -e-invent themselves? Or 's it just that women have been right all along ~ nen are vainer? Now they rave the proof. What do you think? Taboos and Issues meer RRM Eh