“In order to write about life, first you must live it.”

This statement by Ernest Hemingway rings true and is especially applicable to health and wellness writing.

This beat requires a special kind of ethics. I would even argue that it requires a higher standard of ethics than standard journalism.

Competition helps breed greatness. This is hard to dispute. iron-sharpening-iron transforms complacency into innovation, weaknesses into strengths and mediocrity into greatness. However, there is a darker side to competition that has received a lot of attention from the sports media lately.

This dark side of competition is a black cloud that can consume an athlete who is looking for a quicker way to become bigger, faster or stronger. I’m talking about performance-enhancing drugs, and I am sad to say that, after watching the Texas Tech game, I believe some on the field are using these banned substances.

The college basketball season is one of the most exciting times of the year. Fans watch their teams battle to get into the NCAA Tournament, which is filled with Cinderella stories and buzzer-beating 3-pointers. But since the NBA’s 2005 collective bargaining agreement, college basketball has been robbed of its true quality.

In 2005, the NBA changed its rules regarding player eligibility. Commonly referred to as the “one-and-done rule,” all players must meet certain criteria before playing in the NBA. The NCAA usually takes the brunt of the criticism for this, but it is an NBA rule that the NCAA has no control over.

I must first start off by saying that this column is not for everyone. So before you waste your time reading something that does not enhance your quality of life, observe the following rules to weed out those of you to whom my advice does not apply:

If you wake up every morning with clear skin and smooth lips, know your summer itinerary includes a trip to Europe, an internship in New York/LA and a lot of poolside lounging, have the body of a Victoria’s Secret model and Angelina Jolie’s face and get asked out constantly, then stop reading now. To all who meet the above requirements — no hard feelings. We love you. We are happy for you. Keep doing your thing. Cheers.

When the student body president for Northwest Christian University came out, he sent shockwaves throughout his campus and Christian community. He did not come out as a homosexual, but as an atheist.

In a column published by the Beacon Bolt, the student newspaper for NCU, senior Eric Fromm announced to the student body that he was an atheist while calling out the judgmental peers that shunned, or worse, attacked him verbally.

Competitive athletes have been confronted with an impossible task of playing it hard and playing it safe, and professionals and spectators need to realize what makes football so entertaining is the threat of injury.