Final Reflection

I have always had an interest in sports because I grew up with participating in them and watching them, but I never critically thought about them. This class really showed all the different aspects of sports and what all goes into them in US society. From learning about the sport ethic, sports culture and how it varies; to the history of sports and globalization of sports; to how the media portrays sports depending on male and female athletes'; to disability sports and sex and gender in sports. All these topics that we talked about play a huge role in sports that I had not realized or though about before taking this class. So, in other words yes, my perception and understanding changed about sport. It change in a good way in that these are things to think about when it comes to sports and the certain situations that go on in them. I learned a lot more about sports that I didn't  know beforehand.  For instance, I didn't know some women athletes were okay with be exploited for their bodies if it made them more money, or that for the Olympics, women had to go through sex testing to makes sure they were indeed females that were competing. There are numerous new aspects of sport that I learned from this class. By learning these aspects will help me to look at sports more in-depth and  think about them more critically. I do think that I will be able to use what I have learned from this class in my career in Psychology because it will help to understand certain situations regarding sports especially in regards to the sport ethic, social norms, and culture and society. I found this class really interesting, and fun to learn about. I would definitely recommend this class to my friends.  

Why the 'Mans Mans' Game is an insult to Men'

I believe in our society today being openly gay is more accepted and not looked down upon as much as it has in earlier years. However, in sports it has not reached a point yet where athletes can have the confidence to come out about being gay at anytime. Being gay, and being a current professional athlete still has its issues with society. In the articles, it explained numerous times that even if the teammates are accepting and supporting, it is the fans that are usually not. Which is why I do not think sport is a safe place for LGBT athletes. I think sport has made progress with slowly becoming more accepting to LGBT athletes, but I do not think it has fully become a safe and accepting place for them. Like Robbie Roger's expressed about how he waited to announce he was gay until he was no longer playing futbal any longer because he knew at that moment futbal as a sport was not going to accept it right away, but had faith that it was going to change overtime.
 Sports are so cultural that it takes time just like racism did for culture to change and be accepting. This is why I think with more and more athletes coming out, and standing up not being discriminated against ( like in Training Rules) more of society will become acceptable to athletes being gay.

"Darwin's Athletes": Sports & Ethnicity

In African American culture sport is highly looked upon. Many people in this culture look at sport as a way out of the "projects", and as a great opportunity to achieve higher education along with their goals and dreams. Sport has a positive impact on the African American culture. Sport for them can keep them out of trouble, and give them class mobility. Sport plays a big role in their culture, and gives their future generations more hope and more opportunities. 
 
However, in Hollywood films this culture tends to support more of the stereotype of African Americans athletes. Hollywood usually portrays these athletes as the under dogs who reach salvation,  they tend to come from  the rough part of town, and when they become successful they become flashy, and spend all their money. This all may have some truth to some situations, but it surely is not the case for all. In Hoop Dreams it does portray some of these aspects. William and Arthur did come from rough parts of towns, and had to over come difficult situations. However, both boys reached some part of their goal, and they ended up achieving a high education because of their sport. 

The Hollywood film, Coach Carter, is some what similar to Hoop Dreams in the aspect of education, and over coming adversity. The basketball team at Richmond High School  was coached by Kent Carter. These boys were from a rough part of town, and struggled just to stay in school. The coach turned this group of boys around with the game of basketball. He showed them how to work hard, and to come together as a team to be successful. This coach also, pushed them to do well in school if they wanted to reach that next level of basketball; which William and Arthur had to do as well. The ending of this movie resulted in them losing the championship game. However, multiple players received scholarships to play in college, just  like William and Arther had. Both movies are true stories ; the Hollywood film in just more dramatic and not in the form of a documentary.

 I do not think that sport is damaging the African American race. I think the race it is portrayed  poorly as any race is at times depending on the situation,but overall I think sport is bringing a lot of opportunity to them. Like I stated before I believe sport has a positive impact on this culture. 

Real Women

This Avis commercial with Gabby Reece is promoting Avis, the rental car system. The commercial starts off with her being viewed as a "professional" working woman. This shows the gender message that both men and women are capable of having  professional careers. This commercial does a great job showing a woman athlete as a strong independent woman, that still looks feminine. The Avis commercial seems to go against the gender roles because Gabby Reece is seen as doing what a man would be doing. She is not participating in stereotypical women gender roles such as, being in the kitchen, or dealing with children. This commercial strictly shows her being a professional women with a career. Also, the gender relations this commercial contains is that men and women are similar in the work force. In the commercial she is dressed professionally, and drives a masculine car (Chevrolet Suburban). However, all this is contradicted at the end of the commercial. It shows Gabby arriving at the beach to teach yoga, and as she gets out she talks about how large the car is that she could change into a "tight little number"in it . This now puts the gender message back to females representing sex symbols to sell something, or to get men interested by using their sex appeal. This could send the wrong message to young girls by showing them that to be successful you have to use your sex appeal. Women can be powerful, and just as successful as men. However,  in order to do so they must be attractive, and use their sex appeal. I don't think society is ever going to allow this to change.

References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEgkgdQmug8

"Interrogating inequalities in Sports Media: Examining gender/race representation in Sports Illustrated"

There seems to be a pattern of the covers in Sports Illustrated during the year of 2013. Over the year there was 102 magazine covers done, and with that their was no covers featured with an Asian female or male athletes. There were numerous covers done of white and African- American male athletes, but then again no females. The only covers that featured women were the swimsuit edition, and one with Kate Upton with two baseball players from the Braves.

However, in 2003 Yao Ming was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The real question is why has it been 11 years since an Asian athlete has been featured on the cover? Some studies showed that for a long time there were not many Asian children involved in sports. Nevertheless, in 2001in larger cities such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago, were where there was evidence that more Asian children participated in sports. More Asian children started participating in sports later on because they finally saw adults on Sports Center that looked like them.

 So, is it just that there is not a significant amount of professional Asian athletes that participate in the "big 3 sports" , meaning baseball, basketball, or football that Sports Illustrated can feature in their cover? If this is the case, why can't Sports Illustrated widen  their horizons on sports. Why can't they feature lacrosse, water polo, or even ice skating? If they featured ice skating they could definitely feature a  professional Asian, male ice skater, but more then likely they won't because it doesn't fit the masculine appearance of the male athletes they feature in their magazine.

I think in order for Sports Illustrated to eliminate discrimination between races there needs to be an equal number of covers of each race. No matter the variation of sports at which the different races partake in they should be recognized to eliminate the favoritism of  one race over the other.  If they do not do this the Asian professional athletes will never get the same recognition as the other professional athletes do.


References:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/photos/1305/si-covers-2013/3/
http://www.asian-nation.org/sports.shtml

Reflecting on the Shame of College Sports: Should NCAA Div 1 Basketball & Football players get paid?

The argument for whether Division one basketball and football players should get paid could go either way. Both of these sports popularity have grown larger throughout the years. They bring in millions of dollars a year through ticket sales, booster donations, and cable deals as one of the articles stated (NYT Sports Economy 3). These universities also pay millions of dollars for the best coach. For example Ohio State pays their football coach $4million a year (4). So the question is if these universities are making large amounts of money, and can afford to pay their coaches millions of dollars, why not pay the athletes? The athletes are the ones that cause the wins, and sacrifice their bodies to play. However, the counter argument for this is that college athletes are at the university to get an education as well, but most player's don't tend to think this way. Studies have shown the better the team is doing the more the student athlete's study less, they consume more alcohol, and party more. They are not focused on their academics, and by paying them could just cause this to worsen. I think that people tend to forget the real reason athletes go to college and play is to get an education, so that way if they don't make it to the pros they have something to fall back on. However, at the same time college sports brings school spirit amongst the students, and becomes a big part of college. So maybe the athletes should get rewarded by all that they do for the university. Like I said the argument can go either way; there are pros and cons on both sides. 

High School Sport

High School sports have become a big part of school and society. They originally emerged in the 1900's , and was modeled on the English Public School System. High School sports have great objectives for the athletes that are participating in them; these objectives are perseverance, team work, determination, and responsibility. However, these athletes are not meeting all these objectives. Responsibility, is the main objective that is not being met with school work. High Schools have tried to solve the issue of the  student athletes lack of successful grades in classes by the eligibility rule. However, if these athletes are top athletes, and their teams are dong well that season teachers have the tendency to overlook their lack of effort and pass them, or give them the grade they need to be eligibly to compete. 

The American society does not help this issue; in fact if worsens it. These athletes are pressured to be the best and perform at high levels constantly that is forces them to prioritize their sport first instead of education. When in reality, if something were to happen and their sports career ended they need their education to fall back on. There are many more problems the pressure of high school sports  causes such as the use of performance- enhancing drugs, and social identity of a " student athlete". Although there is an imbalance in priorities, along with the other problems the pressure of the high school sports cause there is not one solution to solve these problems. In order for high school sports and the pressure involved with them it is the society that has got to change because the society expects the best. Which is why student athletes struggle with balancing their sport and education; they conform to the social identity of high school sports. 

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

The ESPN film about retired NFL players was interesting and very shocking. The fact that majority of NFL players go bankrupt after only a few years of starting their retirement is astonishing. The film talked about how these players become millionaires when they are in their early 20's. As a 20 year old, and not finishing college, it is no wonder they go through their money in the first couple of years of being a pro athlete. People that young, let alone young pro-athletes do not know how to spend wisely,and save money; or make investments for that matter. Realistically, going to the NFL at that young of age is a huge accomplishment, and who wouldn't want to spend their money how they wanted to, and purchasing everything they have ever wanted (which is exactly what they do). However, this is what really hurts them in the long run. Meanwhile, this is not the only thing that makes them go bankrupt later.

In the film, it also talked about how these pro-athlete's agents, and investment deals scam them just for agents to get more money out of them. Also, due to being famous, people know your salary, and  they know how much your endorsements are. This has caused people to break into player's homes; thinking they store all their money there( how ignorant). Not only do players, lose money from agents, investments, or people trying to steal it they also, spend it carelessly. One player in the film he dropped $500,000 on jewelry for his friends and family. Not only do they buy gifts for family and friends but the players all like to keep up with one another when it comes to money. Another, big spending problem was gambling. Another player in the film stated he lost $10 million dollars in gambling.

 These players have become introduced to this luxury life, but what they didn't understand was that the "more money they had, the more problems it created". The NFL players had huge taxes, they had periods on the off-season where they didn't get paid which caused them to live pay check to paycheck. Almost majority of the players financially supported multiple families and friends because they felt like they owed them for becoming so successful; a lot of them also had very high child supports to pay due to how many kids they had. In other words, they had a lot bills and expenses, and the careless spending only made them reach bankruptcy faster.

Numerous financial adviser, and coaches stated there that there was no way any of these athletes should have gone bankrupt. They all needed financial advisers. The athletes lived in the moment, and did not think of what could go wrong or what they had to pay for. Such expenses included divorces ( which were extremely) expensive, medical bills from all their injuries, and just life in general after not playing in the NFL anymore.

It was also, interesting to learn that the NFL is not considered a career because the players can get released at anytime. It is also shocking to find out this professional sport that has the lowest salaries, but has the most injuries. For how many injuries, and sacrifices the NFL players make you would think they would make more.

Hopefully, after seeing what these former NFL players have gone through, and seeing how after bankruptcy they had to start all over will help the current players make better decisions. Planning for retirement, saving for incidents that could occur, and sticking to a decent budget should help NFL players from have to claim bankruptcy.

Sport, Politics, & The Olympics

Prior to the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico, the people of the country were not content with what was going on in regards to the Olympics. They witnessed their government spending millions of dollars preparing for the Olympics, but left the people in suppression of independent labor unions, farmers, and economy. Students in Mexico City formed the Student Movement. The Student Movement was created to get students (high school and college) to stand up for their people, and to try show their government they wanted democracy. These living condition were not acceptable to the them, and they wanted a change. On October 2, (10 days before the Olympics), 10,000 students accumulated in the Plaza de las Tres Cultura in Tlatelolco for a "peaceful rally". They all started chanting " We don't want the Olympics, we want revolution". The government saw this as a threat, and ordered 5,000 soldiers, and 200 tankettes down to the plaza to break it up. This is when shots broke out, and 42 people were killed. After, this had happened the media and government stated that the "peaceful rally" was a riot, and that one of the rioter's started shooting first. Low and behold, later on the investigation relieved that the shooter was ordered by the government to go down to the plaza to start shooting the students. Numerous students witnessed a helicopter give a sign for the soldiers to start shooting as well. By the government, lying about what had happened just showed they wanted to cover it up, and show that the people were being chaotic. The massacre was the people's fault, and the government was just trying to keep the "problem under control" in the government's eyes. They also, didn't want this to have an effect on the Olympic Games.

To connect this event prior to the 1968 Olympics, with Sage and Eitzen's five political uses of sport would be with demonstration and violence. All these students wanted was to establish a democracy before the government spent a great deal of time preparing for the Olympics. The people and students were frustrated that the Olympic Games were more important than their needs as a country.These students and people were standing up for what they thought was right. They wanted a change, so they decided to do something about it. It is depressing to know that from everything in history leading up till now, people who want change, and stand up for what they believe in will always suffer for it.

In regards to the statement "Sport is pure and devoid of political interference" I strongly disagree. There is always going to be politics in sport whether we like it or not. What happens in the world is always going to have an impact on sports, and someone is always going to have a say about it. It is sad to say, but it seems it is something we are going to have to get used to and deal with.

London Calling: The Globalization of the NFL

Overall, the globalization of the NFL in London would be cool. However, it is not realistic. The NFL is succeeding  in the US without it having to go to London. The organization makes more than enough revenue here due, to how popular it has become over the years.

However, the NFL is so keen on expanding its organization solely on the hope of gaining more revenue. The organization chose London because it is an "internationally renowned city", and the fact that Wembley Stadium  is easily accessible only would help bring in that much more revenue. This way people from all over Europe can attend the games. Although, this would attract all different Europeans, the likelihood of the stadium filling up like they would in the US is unlikely. The factors that are facilitating
the expansion of the NFL tends to lean towards the fact that some NFL team owner's also own a percentage of the English Premier Leagues. For example, as stated in an article by The New York Times, "Randy Lerner of the Cleveland Browns has bought into Aston Villa, and Stan Kroenke of the St. Louis Rams also owns 12 per cent of Arsenal, the North London team" (New York Times). Even though, these guys think this is the gateway into expanding the NFL in London the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of expansion. For instance, the travel time to go overseas not only takes a toll on the athletes physically, it also takes a significant amount of time out of their schedules for a single game. Not to mention, the living costs are more expensive, so the athletes salaries would have to be higher, the schedules would have to completely change just so that playing in the US/London would be possible. This is when the idea of building a facility in the US for the London team came up. Even though, that would be helpful, and logical the only place this would be remotely possible would be Orlando, Florida, but then again it  still takes away from other NFL teams.

Also, this expansions could come with serious consequences, and the consequences could really hurt the athletes. With the no guarantee of a resign of players contracts after a year could make the move and playing for the team not even worth it at all. In my opinion, no athlete in their right mind is going to risk everything for a team that might not even resign them especially with all the other disadvantages. Organizations tend to talk players into contracts that are focused on benefiting their interests more than the players. Due to, all the disadvantages of the NFL expanding into London, it is unrealistic, however the proponents will continue their campaign for the expansion.


Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/sports/football/26vecsey.html?_r=0

Sociogenesis of Baseball

It is well known that baseball is known as the "All- American" sport. However, according to Wikipedia it is traced back to the 18th century, in England where they believe it was derived from a British game called Rounders. Although, this maybe true, Albert Spalding, the baseball executive in America did not agree. He believed that baseball was created in America, and that it was the "American sport". Baseball was then  founded in New York by a man named Abner Doubleday. The first team was the New York, Knickerbockers.

Baseball, in the early years was known to be played by the middle to upper class white males. For years, whites did not let the African Americas participate until the year 1947. The game consisted of nine players, nine innings, and the bases 90 feet apart. Over the years, they changed the rule from being able to throw the ball at the runner to get them out (like they do in kickball) to having to touch the base, or tag the runner. At this time, the only equipment used was a baseball, glove, wooden bats, soft bases, and a pitching mound. In the present day, baseball is still played with the same fundamentals as it did back in the day; nine players, nine innings( in the MLB), and bases 90 feet apart. However, the equipment is more updated with metal or wooden bats, plastic bases, smaller pitching mound, helmets, and more high quality leather gloves. As in any sport baseball has injuries as well; sore arms, torn tendons/ligaments, bruises from getting it by the ball, or even concussions.

In 1857 the National Association of Baseball Players was established. It was the first organization of baseball, and it was the first organization to come up with the World Series. Also, the Civil War is when baseball started to get really popular because the soldiers would play, and it just continued to expanding from there. In 1869, is when baseball became a professional sport. The first pro team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings. However, this was only the minor leagues; the major leagues did not start till 1871.

Still to this day baseball is a very popular sport in America. Athletes from all over the world come to America to play in the MLB. It is the famous "American Past Time". It is very likely that everyone has been to a major league baseball game before. In 2012, the MLB had the highest attendance of any sport of over 75 million spectators. Baseball might not always be the most interesting sport to watch, but it will always be the famous "American Past Time".

Sports in the Ancient World

Throughout Guttman's chapters he talks about all the different countries "sports", and what they were originally created for. He had stated that "primitive societies frequently incorporated running, jumping, throwing, wrestling, and even ball playing in their religion rituals and ceremonies" (Guttman). It is interesting to read that sports originated and were used for from religious rituals, or  for pleasing the Gods; as did the Greeks. It is also interesting to read how different cultures had different sports. For instance, the Olympics originated from Greece. The Greek men participated in the Olympics to please the Gods, and if they were successful in the games, they would receive a prize from Zeus (the most powerful God). Another example, would be the Italian gladiators that went into battle for pure entertainment for the Roman people, but would show the Emperor honor by winning. It just shows how different sports in culture are, and what they represent. It also is cool to look at how much sports have evolved especially in the Olympics. However, not much as changed from sports being played predominately by men.

Sport, Society, Me

Sports for me have just been a way of life. Since, I was little my parents always had me in sports, and everyone is my entire family has played, or still play sports. I couldn't imagine life without them.  I played softball all through high school, and absolutely loved it. Being on a team, and practicing for league, play-offs, or State is rewarding. You build bonds, and make memories that stay with you forever, and come on there is no better feeling then "game day". Playing a sport in my opinion is thrilling; its a rush. Not only is playing a sport thrilling, but  it teaches you discipline; it builds character; it teaches you to overcome adversity, and it teaches you how to work together as a team. There is a lot a person can learn from sports.

 Even if you don't play sports anymore or never did it is always fun to go to the games, and be apart of that atmosphere.Sports are entertaining and exciting. That is why most people love them.

Even though sports can be positive on society majority of the time, there are negative aspects to them as well. For instance, the fights that break out (even though they are always entertaining), the trouble the athletes get themselves into, the performance enhancing drugs, and the argument of how much money the professional athletes should make. All the negative aspects of sports in society only takes away from the sport and in my eyes ruins it.

Sports Ethics

In the article about sports ethic by Hughes and Coakley, describes sport ethic as being a criteria defining what real athletes are (Coakley). This criteria consists of four elements. These elements are:
"1. Being an athlete involves making sacrifices for the Game
2. Being an athlete involves striving for distinction
3. Being an athlete involves accepting risks and playing through pain
4. Being an athlete involves refusing to accept limits in the pursuit of possibilities" (Coakley).
It makes complete sense that these are the elements that real athletes have. Anyone that has played a sport understands what it takes, and that you do need all four elements to succeed. Real athletes are determined, and do these things because they strive to be the best, whether it is individually or as a team. In college and in professional sports, the fans really promote their success, and  the teams and athletes don't want to let the fans down. In a way, fans help them with their success as they do in any profession in entertainment, and look up to them.

Sports In The US.

There are a lot of popular sports in the US, but it is proven that the most popular is football. However, I think the argument could be made that both baseball and football are the most popular sports in the US. Maybe, baseball is not as popular in Colorado, but places like for the LA Dodgers, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, etc. have those crazy passionate fans just like the NFL teams do. People get just as pumped for baseball games, as they do football games. However, in US there are more sports than just these two. There is hockey, basketball, soccer, tennis, college softball, and many more; these ones just aren't as popular.

A typical game day for a sport consists of tailgating, and the town decking out in the team's colors, flags, most bars have drink specials, people wear the team's jerseys or colors, people get together to watch the games, and much more. For instance, when the Broncos play, in downtown Denver,  Market St. hangs banners of the teams colors to show some team spirit. People live for "typical game" days.

In the US we measure a teams success on how well they do in their season, and if they make it to the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, or the NBA Finals etc. We also measure team success by their tough wins, how their leaders do ( like Payton Manning for an example), and what records they break. Success for players are similar. We measure their success, by how well they preform, medals they will, awards they receive, and if they get into the hall of fame or not.