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Pro-Con Directions

This paper is due February 21.

Write a pro-con paper about a debatable topic or about a major decision facing you. Do not pick a topic that relies on research in secondary sources. Do not repeat any papers you have written for me earlier. You may later choose to re-write this paper as your argument assignment.

1. The title should probably be a question.

Is it better to watch a sports event live than on TV?

The Opening Paragraph should explain the controversy and end with the pro-con question.
Pro (live pros)
Begin with a topic sentence (“Being in the stadium makes a sports event special..”)
List supporting details.
Con (live cons)
Begin with a topic sentence (“Of course being in the stadium also can have problems.”)
List supporting details
Con (TV pros)
Begin with a topic sentence (“Watching the game on TV requires only as much effort as one wants to give.”)
List supporting details
Pro (TV cons)
Begin with topic sentence (“Television does tend to trivialize a sporting event.”)
List supporting details
Closing
End by explaining that the answer is difficult (Otherwise it would not be debatable.) Perhaps you can hint at a tentative choice. The two-question ending in the sample paper that follows is short, specific, and effective, but you should not steal it for your paper. Find your own closing device.
The middle paragraphs can be arranged in any of six patterns:

pro, con, con, pro (as in the example “Home or Away” below)
pro, pro, con, con
pro, con, pro, con
con, con, pro, pro
con, pro, con, pro
con, pro, pro, con
The paper must be typed and double-spaced.

Here is a sample pro-con paper.

Home or Away?

“Come on out and show your support for the Dolphins at Joe Robbie this Sunday! Come early, avoid the traffic, and enjoy your own pre‑game tailgate party in the parking lot.” This offer attracts 45,000 to 60,000 fans for eight home games a year. However the Dolphins sold out only one home game in 1992, even though they made the playoffs. TV stations bought the unsold seats to lift the blackout for two other games, at which time hundreds of fans who bought tickets didn’t bother to go. Obviously opinion is divided about the value of seeing a sports event live versus watching it on television.

Being in the stadium makes a sports event special. Some fans love to wear team shirts and caps, or paint their faces with team colors, or wear hog masks or Steelers hard hats or cheeseheads. Fans can watch much more than the game: the cheerleaders, a guy in a gorilla suit doing the Charleston, the babe in a sun dress, or the hunk with his shirt tied around his waist, the vender tossing a bag of peanuts behind his back to a guy who spills half his beer trying to catch it. Fans can hear the bat meeting the ball, shoulder pads crashing into hip pads, the skates ripping into the ice. And fans can make the noise, shouting, “air ball” or yelling to drown out the visiting quarterback’s check-offs. Most of all, the fans can see LeBron James or Peyton Manning perform live instead of watching tiny electronic pixels lighting up a screen. If fans want to see it again, the TV replays at the stadium appear on a screen that is bigger than life.

Fans In the stadium pay a lot of money to put up with many annoying factors. The average cost of an NFL game in 2004 for a family of four was $300 including tickets, parking, and hotdogs and drinks. And what about, the long drive through slow traffic, the three to four hours sitting on hard bleachers, and the long lines at refreshment counters and rest rooms? Rain, snow, or fog can dim the delight of a game. Obnoxious fans fight, swear, and throw things and spill drinks on other fans. The home team may play badly. The game could be a clunker, in which case the fan either walks away from his investment of time and money or he takes out his anger by booing.

Watching the game on TV requires only as much effort as one wants to give. A fan can sit alone, munching pretzels and sipping drinks from the fridge, or fans can organize a party to capture the excitement of being in the crowd and cheering a successful play. If the game is a bust, the fans can switch to another sports channel or turn off the tube and give full attention to partying. Sports bars show four events at the same time. At big games television cameras focus on different players and offer three or four views of one play. Some fans tape the games, which allows them to control replays and to fast forward through time outs and commercials.

Aside from the television commercials, the big problem with watching an event on TV is that TV does tend to trivialize a sporting event. The fan tends to switch channels and view two events at once. Family members, telephone calls, and walking the dog can easily disrupt attention from the drama of a crucial play or series. Sometimes the fan looks back to the TV to discover the ball has changed hands. Did the home team score or turn the ball over? The fan missed it. Also, how many times a season can a fan stand to hear a TV analyst explain that passes will have to be to the sidelines because the team is out of time outs?

Who has the better seat? The fan on the couch or the fan in the bleachers?

Simplify your work by avoiding a comparison. Here is a complex pro-con comparison question. Should I spend my income tax refund on a bass fishing boat or on a swamp buggy?

Notice that a comparison pro-con paper involves four elements:

Pros of bass fishing boat

Cons of bass fishing boat

Pros of swamp buggy

Cons of swamp buggy

Why do all that work when you can just as well choose this pro con question? Should I spend my income tax refund on a bass fishing boat? Now you have only two elements:

Pros of buying and owning a bass fishing boat

Cons of buying and owning a bass fishing boat

Last updated 02/06/2007