Prohibiting Soda Consumption to those Under 18yrs Old

All ye teens, before you shake your fists in angst against me, have you actually met a middle aged adult that wouldn’t like to drop a few more pounds?  Soda consumption rates are a crisis in the USA.  Diabetes is an epidemic, even among the youth, unlike any previous generation has ever known.  It is my opinion that consumption of soda is probably worse for a body in the long term than consumption of alcohol, or marijuana, which is not to advocate for binge drinking, or smoking pot.  Therefore, it would be prudent to prohibit the age for soda consumption to be 18yrs old and above.

For some, I imagine this will be unpopular, especially those looking for his or her first chance to throw a riot in some city while taunting police officers.

There has been a long history of humans restricting stuff, especially for young adults, but even for adults.  There once was a time when there was no drinking age for alcohol.  Later, that age rose from 18yrs old to 21yrs old.  Thus, for young adults the restricted list has come to include lottery tickets, cigarettes, and booze among others.  Even adults are restricted when it comes to the consumption of prescription drugs.

Although I stand for it, I don’t claim that my argument is not without some problems.  I know some of the rebuttals.  The most important is the importance of learning responsibility.  That sounds good, as some may be able to link the raising of the drinking age from 18 to 21 as delaying young adults from reaching maturity, such that they are less responsible when they get to age 21 in college through lack of exposure.

Another argument is that any of those that are pro-legalization of substances use both the Bible and freedom as stepping stones to argue against this idea.  I have to laugh at those who say the right smoke is freedom.  IMHO, as a former smoker, there is no freedom in smoking because for the vast majority of smokers, their addiction would better be likened to slavery than freedom.

Collegiate Sports Majors Instead of Traditional Majors Where One Also Plays Sports

I understand that some people prefer to play sports in addition to their major, and I am not knocking that.  What I am seeking is for universities to recognize collegiate level sports as a major, such that graduation from such a program results in say a Bachelors Degree in Baseball.

Let’s face it, African Americans often find school difficult, but it seems to everyone that there are other ways of measuring intelligence other than IQ, and even the various standard assessments that I am aware of today.  For example, one person might be calculating the mathematical way to hit a 3 pointer in a basket ball game, while someone else might be entirely able to put the ball in the bucket and get the job done.  In that way, including sports as majors will no doubt help the Africa American community.

My radical suggestion would be to make collegiate sports to be a major.  For example, majoring in sports would mean that someone could choose basketball or baseball or even football as a major.  This is as opposed to traditional majors, such as biology, French, and engineering.

There are several reasons for this, but one of the greatest is my hope to inspire young athletes at the grade school to pursue health and wellness for a lifetime.  The problem is that America is getting fat, and that much needs to change or else there will be consequences to our poor eating habits.

The evidence is out there that putting sports on the television does not help folks, but I would beg to disagree.  Those polled were probably adults.  When I was in elementary school, nearly every kid playing squirts wanted to be a professional ball player.  And, though while we should not have delusions of grandeur that we are better than we really are, I believe that professional sports inspires youngsters to exercise.  That much is good for our bodies, and I believe that will translate into a strong America.

One of the major faults of America is that we need to focus more on sports more at the minor league level.  Our minor leaguers should be an inspiration for our youth.  I am lucky to live on Cape Cod where we have the Cape Cod Baseball League, CCBL, which is really at about the AA level.  When our local kids watch these players, many of which are headed for the big league, I indeed feel that it is inspirational to the youth, especially since so many kids can’t afford to attend major league sports.  The minor leagues are very affordable for almost anyone.  Likewise, I feel that broadening the scope of professional sports to include enough teams such that it would make sense for a student to attend College primarily for the aspect of achieving a degree in sports is beneficial to America.