Overview Of Sport & Gender

Post by: Nathan Wahle

This class ended up being more than just a requirement for me.  Not only did I learn a lot but this class was an experience.  This class provided me the opportunity to evaluate the world of sports as it really is and the subtle messages that sports convey.  Unfortunately, due to this class being based on the differences in gender in sport, it allowed us to really pick apart this specific subject matter and the items and ideas that were uncovered were not pretty.  Plus it was not just the gender side of sports that revealed an ugly truth but many of the main discriminatory areas in our society also appear in sport.

Here are a couple of the main subjects:

1) The overwhelming more coverage that men's sports receive over women's:

Strides were made this spring during the men's and women's NCAA tournament when ESPN really did a nice job of trying to equalize the coverage of each tournament.  Brittney Griner really helped the women's game because she was a story all by herself and ESPN fell in love with following hers and Baylor's run through the tournament.  However, outside of that, men's sports rule supreme in our media and an example of this has been the absolutely ridiculous amount of draft coverage the NFL is receiving right now and just a couple weeks ago the WNBA draft barely got a sniff from ESPN.  All the WNBA could muster up was 4 o'clock coverage on a weekday on ESPN2 for the live draft but no hype leading up to it or after it.

2) The stereotypes between white and black athletes:

The best example that was brought up in class for this was the Cam Newton and Tim Tebow one.  ESPN reported on how this past season that both Cam Newton and Tim Tebow were struggling with their respective playbooks.  However, the way they described the adjustments made by the teams, it fit the stereotypes that the media and society has taught us.  They said that the Broncos had to adjust the playbook for Tim Tebow but the Panthers had to dumb down the playbook for Cam Newton.  This is a major problem and needs to be fixed in our society the way we adhere to unfair stereotypes.


So, this class has taught me a lot and has been an eye opening experience which I plan on taking advantage of when I enter the sports world in a career.  Hopefully this class will be a reason for how I can make an impact in sports.

Maxwell Presentation: The Next Big Thing

Post by Brady Munger

In attending the Maxwell Project presentation, I learned a great amount from Mr. Goren. There was one that I learned from him that I really remembered after the presentation.  This was his outlook on how to be successful. He explained you always have to be looking for “the next big thing” to be successful in the sport media world. I have heard this advice plenty of times before he had said this, people have always told me if you have the next great idea you will be a millionaire. But when he said it, he supported it with so much and really went behind the words and what they actually meant. He explained how there is more to the next big thing, than just an idea. You have to look at the current trends, and what people are beginning to like and capitalize on it and create the next trend. He said if you can come up with the idea that revolutionizes the culture, and changes the way things are done on a regular basis then you know you have something. He supported this by giving us examples of what he has done, from the in studio field and playing surfaces, to the on screen score board. These are simple and basic ideas to us, but are things that completely revolutionized the way sport media is portrayed and changed the game completely. These are the type of things that he explained of being the “next best thing”. It was amazing to think just how simple ideas such as those, can completely change the culture of the industry. I realized the next big thing, might not be all that big after all. It is just the one thing that will change everything. I really took this piece of advice to heart, knowing that anything, no matter what it is can be the next game changer whether it big or small and can be the one thing to build you career around.

With learning this from Mr. Goren, I really thought about my future career and what I could do. I thought of all the possible small things, not only from a media sense, but to a sense of my true ambition in operations. It’s all about not feeling good enough with the way things are. I took a sense of never being satisfied, and always trying to find better ways to do things. Whether that is in simple things from day to day activities, or large scale things that could change the entire operation of the organization. Every next step and every next discovery is the next big thing. These are the things I will strive for in my career, and the things everyone should realize are the things they should be looking for. The sport industry is an ever changing. There is a never a statement of, we are here and satisfied, it is always what is next and what can we do now. To be looking for the next positive way to change it is how you will be successful in your professional career. 

Draft Coverage

Blog Post by: Nathan Wahle

We all know about the NFL draft because Todd McShay and Mel Kiper are on ESPN almost every day from the moment the NFL season ends all the way up to draft day. I do not know how others feel about this because I am sure everyone has their own opinions; however, I find the coverage of the draft repetitive and bothersome. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the NFL draft and I think it would be beneficial to have all this coverage leading up to the draft. I just think when it comes to sport coverage; football is gaining status of a monopoly. This is just referring to sports covered on ESPN and not even going specifically into men's sports versus women's sports.

This brings up my main point which is the WNBA Draft. The WNBA Draft was held this past Monday and might have been the most quietly promoted and produced sporting event this week. The draft was apparently held on ESPN or ESPN2 during the mid to late afternoon hours this past Monday. So, to begin with the coverage was not even during primetime for television viewing and was during the work week. I know on a personal level I would still not have known that there was a draft if I was not watching Sportscenter Monday night where they took all of about fifteen seconds to go over the top five picks in the draft and then they moved on. Again, from a personal standpoint, I have text alerts come to my phone from ESPN whenever there is major news in sports and I did not receive a text for anything from the WNBA draft. Furthermore, that same day I received a text from ESPN saying that Indiana University offered an eighth grader a scholarship for basketball. Again, there was a special news conference held in a primetime spot (unlike what the WNBA Draft received) to announce that the Kentucky starting five were entering the NBA Draft.

It is incredible how we feel as though women's sports are receiving close to equal treatment as men because this week has been painfully obvious how untrue that is. I think this unequal treatment was temporarily forgotten due to ESPN doing a pretty decent job offering close to equal coverage of the NCAA Women's tournament as the Men's; however, that was fool's gold because coverage alone of the NFL Draft might equal the total amount of all combined women's sports coverage. I believe ESPN made a statement by the lack of their coverage and attention towards the WNBA Draft. They are making it clear that women's sports is nowhere close to being as important as men's sports and this is what will need to change if we ever want equality in men's sports versus women's sports.

Frozen Four Response

The 2012 Frozen Four From Tampa Bay FL.

Gender Differences in the Media and Team Relations

Brady Munger

Over the past week, I spent my time in Tampa Bay Florida working hand in hand with the NCAA for the entire Men’s Frozen Four (the hockey equivalent to the final four).  Over the week, I had an all access pass, in which I had access to any part of the rink, as well as access to talk to anyone in the media, teams, or organizing committees.  Over the duration of the week, I took great care in looking at the media and the teams present and noticing and taking not of gender differences among the different means of media from print reporters, to online columnists, to radio and television. As well as media I looked closely at the team operations and observing the role women played for some of the teams and how their role was compared to others.         

Media wise, I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of females that were present at the tournament. Seeing as hockey is a sport largely dominated by males, I suspected there to be a majority number of men in the press box from the media. But upon observing the numbers I was surprised to see a large quantity of females on hand. Upon my rough calculations, 40 percent of the reporters present from the news paper or online news sources were females.  This number was a surprising figure to me in that there were almost an equal number of males to females, my predictions were that there would be a large majority male and I was wrong to an extent.  For the higher media I was right on the target though. The television media and radio media were all dominated by males. There was not a single female either in radio or in television at the event. This did not come as a surprise; hockey being a masculine sport the two major form of live media radio and television were dominated by males. This comes from a consumer point of view, when you tune in to listen on the radio, or watch on TV you pair the masculine voice of a male with the sport, and it promotes the masculinity of the game as a whole and makes the audience portray the host to be more knowledgeable.

From a team perspective, I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of females working with the teams. 2 out of the 4 teams have a female worker representing their team. But after some investigation, finding the positions the women held made more sense to me and fit more of the “feminine” roll.  They both were assistant SID’s (sports information director), and their main duties were to coordinate with the press for meetings and talk to reporters to schedule interviews and open up for players during the interviews. I found this kind of typical, having a woman who is generally more welcoming and softer dealing with the camera’s and press putting on the smile at all times.  It was not surprising to see these roles filled by them, as it is sort of a stereotypical job for a female to hold.

The other large thing that I noticed for gender stereotyping was that of stereotyping the anticipated crowds. Upon visiting the apparel stands I was looking at the choice of clothing souvenirs. For men there were over 20 different shirts to choose from, short sleeve, long sleeve, hoodies, crew cuts; but there were only 2 things specifically marketed towards women. Both were t-shirts and one was pink and one was purple. I found this very surprising; upon walking through the crowds I noticed that there were a large number of females in attendance. This is an event where a lot of couples travel to together for years and years. Over the weekend I met a couple who had been going to frozen four’s since BGSU won it in 1984. I was surprised to see the limited number of female apparel available, and am still curious to wonder whether it was a guess that the crowd would be dominantly male and stereotyping the dominant masculine fan base, or if women would want the same t-shirts as men.

Lastly, was the use of the promotional schemes at intermissions and extended breaks. The tournament had what was called the “capital one girls” (capital one being the main sponsor), that would do different activities and games on ice during the intermissions and time outs. What it boiled down to be was a perfect example of the NCAA trying to use sex appeal to sell its product to their consumers. It had nothing to do with hockey, and they would center the girls on the megatron and on the camera and having them interact with the audience, and only once over the entire weekend did I see them involve a girl. I was surprised to see this at play at an NCAA event, but then again whatever helps sell people will use these days.

Overall it was an interesting thing looking at the gender differences and comparisons at the event among the teams and Medias. The one thing I did not touch on was the organizing committees. I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of NCAA staff members being female. The majority actually from the NCAA were female works which was a surprising fact to me. At such an important event you would automatically by gender stereotypes assume it would be male dominated authority roles, but the majority of the NCAA authority positions were females, which I thought to be very interesting and surprising.

Anthony Davis and Brittney Griner

Blog post by Mark Chipperfield

This blog post looks deeper into the comparison that can be made between the player of the year in men’s basketball (Anthony Davis from Kentucky) and the player of the year in women’s basketball (Brittney Griner from Baylor). Personally as an intense follower of the game of basketball I find this comparison to be fascinating. There are many similarities between the two in terms of physical stature, how they play the game and how they are viewed by the general public.

 Based on the slide we saw in class there is an obvious comparison between the two in terms of physical stature. Anthony Davis is listed as 6’10’’ tall and weighs 220 pounds while Brittney Griner is listed as 6’8’’ tall and weighs 208 pounds. They also have comparable wingspans while wearing the same size 17 shoe. It is interesting to me that in a time when guard and wing play are dominating both the NBA and WNBA that two big post players are simultaneously dominating the game at a collegiate level.

Probably the place where these two are most similar is actually in their playing styles. Statistically these two are very, very similar. Both are shooting very similar field goal percentages with Davis shooting 62.3% and Griner shooting 60.7%. Both of these are very high as a result of both players putting up the majority of their shots in the paint. They also use their length in order to get their shot over smaller defenders. It is interesting as well that both are in the process of developing a consistent jump shot. They both shoot relatively well from the free throw line (Davis at 71% and Griner at 80%) so it is likely that they will have the capability of expanding their games by extending their range. The place where these two impact the game the most of course is on the defensive end. With both setting NCAA single season records with the number of blocks they tallied up this past season. Griner was able to average 5.2 blocks a game while Davis ended up with 4.7 blocks a game. Obviously having anchors like this to protect the paint is important to team success as both lead their teams to national championships over the past couple of days.

A final way that these two athletes are comparable is through the negative way some members of the general public look at them. When watching Kentucky play with a group of people it is close to impossible to watch a full game without others making jokes about Anthony Davis’ unibrow. With Brittany Griner I have heard many people say thoughtless comments like “she has to be a man”. It is sort of strange to me that these two legends of college basketball can be viewed negatively by some. But in the twitter age when everyone is trying to make the funniest remark in 140 characters or less maybe this is just the time we live in.

Sports Talk Radio

This blog post is meant to touch on the subject of sports talk radio as we did in class and how it is an influential source of information.  Sports, in general, have become a huge part of our society today and are only continuing to grow.  Although sports talk radio is not the only or even the most popular source of sports media, it still plays a big role in the sports world.  I sort of view sports talk radio as politics because there are many different radio hosts out there and it seems as though a particular person who follows sports tends to favor one radio host much more than all the others.  Sports talk radio hosts take the latest news and they implant their opinions into the matter.  Nothing that the radio hosts say have any influence on what news they are talking about; however, they all tend to have a certain way of connecting to specific audiences who feel the same way as the host does.  Much like political parties, people tend to agree on the views and beliefs of one particular radio host than any other.  An example we talked about in class of this was the "clones", who are extreme followers of Jim Rome.  These people are heavily influenced by the views and stances that Jim takes on any particular subject matter and as a result adopt those same views and beliefs as their own.  To further my point, in class this past Monday, Dr. Spencer asked the class if they had a specific sports talk radio host they preferred most and pretty much every student had one.  Not only did we as students talk about what we liked about our favorite radio host, but we also expressed our dislike for competing radio hosts.

So while Sportscenter and sports news on television or sports news in the newspaper or on the internet is most likely a more popular media form to obtain the current news in sports, sports talk radio appeals to the sports fans who like to go more in-depth on the matter.  Sports talk radio appeals to those who have a strong passion for sports and have certain views and beliefs that they want discussed.  I almost view sports talk radio as a form of psychology or like we said in class therapy, where people turn to their personal radio host they connect to best in order to deal with a certain event that is going on in the sports world.  Ultimately, sports talk radio brings personality and a connection with the fans to the world of sports.


Blog post by Nathan Wahle

The RUIMUS Accident

The RUIMUS Accident

Author: Brady Munger

On April 4th, 2007 Don Imus stirred up one of the largest race related and gender related controversies in recent history.  During his radio show, Imus made multiple remarks about the Rutgers University women's basketball team that shocked the nation.  The show full of "A list" politicians and all white crew as the article by  Gill explained, made some racy and gender fueled remarks that insulted the Rutgers women's basketball team, as well as women athletes all over (Gill pg. 119, 2011).  Between Imus, and Buddy McGuirk the executive producer, there were multiple different remarks made directed towards the players.  They included the players being called "Nappy headed ho's", "Jigaboos" and "some hard core ho's" (pg. 119).  When these were said on the air to a national audience it created a huge controversy, that included both social and civil activists, as well as many other groups.  Their was an outcry and a back lash directly from what he said, which led to many people demanding many things from the incident.  As a result of this, Imus was fired and was held out of his job for 8 months before being rehired.  

There were multiple things in this incident that I found sickening.  Other than the obvious things like the comments he made, there were other things that bothered me very much.  The first thing was how it was handled as a whole.  Although Imus was initially fired, he now has his job back and is back on the air which I feel should never have been allowed.  Secondly, when he was let go he got a very large settlement of money, while the lady's on the basketball team that had to go through the incident received nothing. I find this awful, Imus was able to say these terrible things, and then walk away with money because he was let go. It should have happened much differently.  Imus should have been fired with no settlement, and never allowed back on the air again.  Those are the ignorant things that happen in society that need to be taken care of and stopped immediately before they spread.

A large discussion point in class about this incident was what do we determine as wrong in today's society.  Someone brought up the point of the Chappelle show, and how they use certain terms such as this routinely. But with these two things, I believe there is a huge difference.  The first, is that the show is a complete form of entertainment.  It is not an attack on real life things, and is solely made to entertain people.  With the RUIMUS incident, it was not a form of entertainment, but an attack on something real in life.  He attacked the AMATEUR basketball players, and embarrassed them and shamed them in front of the entire nation.  Second, with the Chappelle show, it rarely attacks specific individuals.  But with the RUIMUS case, Imus attacked specific individual people in the Rutgers Team.  He called out the team, and slandered them with racial and gender slurs that were very offending and not meant in any way "entertaining" or joking.  Overall, I found this incident very offending and hurtful.  It regressed all of the progress society had made on gender and racial equality in one quick segment.  It shows how disrespectful some people truly can be, and shows that there still is a sense of racism and gender inequality in this nation and that it still exists. 

Indianapolis Grand Prix Experience

Written by Mark Chipperfield

           

            In the year 2005 I had the unfortunate experience of seeing an event unfold similar to the one that happened at Indian Wells in 2001. I was attending the United States Grand Prix with my father and older brother for the third consecutive year. My dad had always been a huge fan of Formula one racing and he instilled that passion into us. We would and still do watch every race of the formula one season even though the majority require being up at odd hours in the morning. So when the series starting having a race in the United States we jumped at the chance to attend. It also helped that the race usually took place during the summer.

            The weekend started like any other with teams having multiple practice sessions on Friday and Saturday leading up to the race on Sunday. However there were a couple cars that kept spinning out on the last corner of the racetrack that led to the cars slamming into the wall at a very high speed. It was noticeable to me as one of the cars that this repeatedly happened to belonged to my favorite driver at the time. But it wasn’t really viewed as anything out of the ordinary in the media and things were going normally as they would on any race weekend. The day of the race came and there was excitement in the air due to the possibility of Formula one becoming more popular in the United States with an exciting race. Then things took a dramatic turn for the worse. After the cars were finished taking their warm up lap the vast majority of them pulled into the pits and did not lineup on the starting grid like the usually did. And all the cars that pulled into the pits drove straight into their respective garages and the drivers climbed out of their cars. It was a sure sign that they were not going to be participating in the race. Amid all the confusion the remaining six cars started the race as if nothing happened and the crowd started to get upset. The following video is the beginning of the US broadcast of the race and some of the shock expressed by the analysts’ sort of captures it all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhgnc6VruQs . This experience does differ from the Indian Wells event because it the dislike wasn’t really expressed towards individual people as it was against the Williams Sisters.

Reflection on "The Jordan Effect"

Post By: Nathan Wahle

In Monday's class I can honestly say that it felt like I was traveling back to my childhood days.  Michael Jordan meant everything to me when I was a kid and in a way still does to this day.  Basketball is definitely my favorite sport so it helped having such an icon to look up to while growing up.  Back when he played I followed the NBA religiously and every regular season loss was painful but I really took it hard on losses within a series during the playoffs, especially if it was against archrival Reggie Miller and the Pacers.  If I had to listen to a game on the radio I would, if a game of his was on television I would watch, if the game wasn't on either of those two types of media then I would watch the bottom line on ESPN and follow the score that way.  Meanwhile I had a miniature basketball court in my basement where I was pretending to be Michael Jordan and hoping one day I could reach his level.  It was more fun than any video games or computer games because in my mind I was actually him.

I say to this day Michael Jordan still means everything because ever since he left the NBA, I do not follow the season anywhere close to how I did when I was younger.  I do follow the NBA playoffs very close because I do think it is the best basketball and I tend to watch for great individual performances kind of like seeking that thrill and satisfaction of witnessing MJ's performances.  Plus, to this day I still have a fit anytime somebody makes a claim to a player in today's game being the next "Michael Jordan".  I get upset because I view Michael as mine just like thousands if not millions of others do as well.

After watching the video in class on Michael Jordan, it just proves how everyone took Michael as their own because the media protected him and nobody ever wanted to hear anything bad about him and if they did they would just deny it.  It is crazy because I don't think we as a society would do that for any other athlete especially in today's sports.  Michael Jordan reflected perfection in everything he did for whites and blacks, sports fans and non-sports fans, men and women it did not matter.  Not only that but he had a magic about him that had people downplay the flaws he did have more than they would for anybody else.  Not only will Michael go down as one of the best sports athletes of all time, but he might very well also go down as the greatest icon and hero of all time.

Post Four: Should Girls be Allowed to Play Football on Boys Teams

Author: Brady Munger

The question of whether girl's should be allowed to play football on boy's team's is a very large question that has been a large controversy for some time.  There is a large number of people that believe the answer to this question is yes, while there is also a large following of people that think the answer to this question should be no.  There are many reasons for each side of the argument.  Some people want to see even opportunities for both girl's and boy's which means letting them both play together and letting girl's on guy's teams.  Then there are other's that feel that their should be even opportunities, but this does not mean to them having both play on the same teams but having leagues available for girl's to play in.  In our in class assignment, our group created two lists one pro's and one con's of girls playing on boy's football teams.

Pro's
-Increase in diversity
-Equality for boy's and girl's
-Different perspectives of the game coming together
-Bigger target market to advertise game

Con's
-Locker room issues
-Physical contact differences (threat of injury)
-Different motives for playing
-Team relationships between girl and guy player's
-Question of player's playing or not playing (lack of skill or gender the cause)

Overall the pro's list had some great points in it.  The diversity of the sport would be a huge benefit, it would directly increase females interest in the sport, which would then increase the target market which was also on the list.  Also, the issue of equality for both boy's and girl's would be a issue being resolved being both boys and girls were being offered the same opportunities.  On the con's list, there were a few issues that really made you think.  One of the biggest themes were the issue of having two genders on the team. It would bring up a issue of team bonding between to gender's, the locker room issue of having two gender's. or the physical difference between the two genders.  Also, the question of playing time would be huge.  You could never tell whether it would be a reason of skill why a certain player was playing or not playing or a matter of gender.

Overall, I do believe this is an issue that need's to be looked at much more closely.  In my personal opinion there is no right answer to the question.  I believe the best solution would be to have both girls and guys football team's, but the amount of participants usually would not allow for it.  I think that before setting the issue aside it needs to be looked at very closely, and the best solution needs to be found.

Post Number Three: Budget Allocation Assignment

Post Number Three: Budget Allocation Assignment

Written by Mark Chipperfield

 

              The premise of this assignment was that the high school whose budget we were in charge of had an athletic budget of $120,000. However the needs of the teams and athletes were greater than the $120,000 budget that was available to us. We were allowed to have four fundraiser’s that would gain $60 per participant in that sport along with a $20,000 donation from an alum of the school to help buffer the expenses. So the major decisions that we needed to make was what teams we were going to have fund-raise and then what teams were going to get their extra expenses paid for with the leftover money.

            

            The first thing our group did when presented with this assignment was to add up all the necessary expenses. Overall we found that the necessary expenses of the athletic department were $148,350 meaning we were over budget by a fair amount. The next step was to figure out what teams we were going to force to take part in fundraisers. We decided to go with a realistic mixture of teams with a large number of participants as well as successful teams that would generate excitement if they actually had a fundraiser. The four teams we chose were the football team (largest number of participants), the softball team (1^st in conference), the downhill skiing team (1^st in conference) and the women’s track and field team (2^nd largest number of participants). After doing all the math we found out that all that fundraising would raise $11,040 for the athletic program. So we added that $11,040 with the $20,000 donation and the current $120,000 budget to figure out the total money we could spend on athletics. The sum of those three ended up being $151,040. Next we subtracted the $148,350 needed for necessary expenses from $151,040 and found that we had only $2,690 dollars to spend on extra expenses for the sports teams. The three things that we decided to spend that excess money on were new jerseys for the men’s and women’s soccer teams (both are successfully 3^rd in the conference) as well as new shot puts for the women’s track and field team. The reason why the women’s track and field team got new shot puts is because they participated in a fundraiser while finishing second in their conference.

Post Number Two: Reflective Response to Title IX and Sports

The facts and statements about Title IX seem to be repetitive especially in the realm of sports.

-Established in 1972
-Equal opportunity for women as men
-AIAW vs. NCAA
-etc.

But what does it all mean?

Ok sure the basic theme of Title IX (in reference to sport) means that an equal amount of women are able to participate in sports as men.  However, this statement only brushes the surface on the full impact of Title IX.  Sport has grown so much in our society that it comes close to being the only thing that will have an adult paint his body for a game or cause one to cry after a loss.  The power of sports is increasing dramatically.  So, limiting participation due to gender in an area of our society with such impact is just as civilly wrong as saying a person cannot vote based on their gender.  One thing to keep in mind is that one of the biggest arguments against Title IX is that women athletics do not bring in the type of revenue that men's athletics do.  This is true, but it is not about the money but rather giving both men and women the same opportunity to pursue their dreams.  Title IX extends much further than just the sports world.  Let's say a female who comes from a low income background cannot afford college.  However, due to her great athletic ability she receives an athletic scholarship in a particular sport.  This opportunity gave her a chance to go to college, and assuming she took advantage of it, developed into her potential and was not limited by gender.  So, when looking at the grand scheme of things, sure men's athletics may consistently bring in more money than women's right now, but it is about so much more than that.  It is about living up to country's nickname of "Land of Opportunity". 

This reflective stance sort of wraps up what Carpenter and Acosta's article "Title IX in Social and Legislative Context" addresses.  They go on to explain the struggle for the NCAA to accept women athletics and how the AIAW was a monumental organization to get the ball rolling for women athletics.  If it was not for the AIAW, the NCAA might have gotten away with their attempt to exclude athletics from Title IX.  I believe as a society, I am guilty of this sometimes as well, we need to stop looking at everything from a money standpoint.  First, women's athletics are relatively new anyway so they have a major gap to catch up with and I think we need to be patient and not so critical sometimes.  I think if I had one criticism of women athletics right now it would be that in a large number of sports, women play with slightly different rules and regulations.  I would like to see this changed just so that women are able to practice and train under the same rules and conditions so that maybe one day they will catch up to men.  So not only will we have equal men and women sports, but possibly we will unify sports by combining men and women.


Nathan Wahle

Post Number One: Response to "Whats the Problem"

Author: Brady Munger
The article "Whats the Problem?" by McDonugh and Pappano is one that speaks directly on the issue and topic of Masculinity in sport and in general.  In society today, there is no arguing how important a role sport plays in society.  For almost everyone, there is at least one sport that has played a part in their life whether it be playing it as a kid, or being a fan of it into their older age.  As the article quotes; "some sociologists argue that sports have replaced religion as a dominant force in the lives of many Americans" (McDonugh, Pappano, 2008 pg 2).  This quote in among it self is a testament to how large sports have grown.  With the large place that sports hold in society though, it obviously attracts problems and issues along with it.  One of the large issues that comes with sport, one that already has existed in society is the issue of gender and its place in sport.  Largely in sports history, females have been neglected and biased against.  Men have been playing most of the sports, and have been the main participants.  But as time has gone by, and society has changed so has that old ideal.  In today's society men and women are largely equal in sport, with the passing of title 9 and the fight of feminists to be equal, the bias in sport has greatly decreased.  But even with all of the work done to eliminate it, there is still issues regarding women in sport.  Men are often looked upon as the superior athlete, and more athletic than the female.  They are perceived to have more ability, skill, as well as they demand more respect from the spectators of sports.  This is one problem that has not gone away yet. There is also still an issue of sex segregation in sport.  Many sports available to men are not as readily available to women, as well as sports having different rules and perceptions.  The article explains what it calls the "three I's" of sex segregation in sport, these are immorality, inferiority, and injury (McDonugh Pappano, 2008 pg 7).  These are the three words the authors use to describe the sex segregation in sport.  Immorality refers to the idea that people feel it is immoral to have females and males competing directly and shouldn't be done. Inferiority refers the ideal that women are inferior to men in athletic prowess and that men are naturally better.  Finally injury refers to the fear of women being injured if playing against men head to head (McDonugh Pappano, 2008 pg 7).  The article explains that these three I's are huge barriers to the advancement of women's sport, especially to those who want to see men and women faced against each other.  The idea of these three I's has been developed throughout the history of man, and for them to be overcome it will take a lot of work and effort on everyone.  The feminist movement still has a lot of strength and they will keep going until complete equality is achieved. Sport does hold a huge place in society, but still has a lot of growing up to do. The issue of gender segregation is large, and will continue to be fought and worked out in the future until it is resolved.

Wahle's Intro

My name is Nathan Wahle and I am a junior in the Sport Management program here at Bowling Green.  I am from Kettering, OH which is a suburb just outside of Dayton.  Since I am from southern Ohio I am a Cincinnati Reds and Bengals fan.  My favorite team I root for, though, is the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball.  Basketball has always been my favorite sport and Kentucky has always been my favorite team ever since I can remember.

Because basketball is my favorite sport, the past two years I have worked as a basketball manager for the Bowling Green men's basketball team here.  I followed that up by completing my practicum with the men's basketball office and have really enjoyed every moment and relationship I have had a privelege of creating.  Currently I am the Varsity Assistant boys' basketball coach for Maumee High School.  It has been an incredible experience and I love every moment of spending time teaching, coaching, and building relationships with the kids I work with.

The male athlete that I would pay to watch play is Larry Bird.  His nickname "Larry Legend" pretty much explains it all for why he would be an athlete worth paying to see.  From the games I have seen of him on ESPN Classic, I think he played the game to its purest form.  His jumpshot was so smooth and consistent, his passing was always crisp and right on the mark, his basketball IQ kept him a step ahead of his opponent, and his hustle provided inspiration for what hard work can provide.  This all helped to contribute to Larry Bird winning three MVP awards and being a part of three NBA Championships with the Boston Celtics.  His career is probably most highlighted by his rivalry (friendly) with Erving "Magic" Johnson.  The rivalry began in college and then spilled over into the NBA where they met each other for quite a few NBA Championship matchups.  These performances always provided fireworks and both players typically played up to their best ability.  Larry Bird and Magic Johnson together helped revolutionized the game of basketball and that is why I would pay to see Bird play.

The female athlete I would pay to see is Mia Hamm.  I feel as though she might be the best female athletes in all sports and she went a long way in setting the standard for women sports and showing that women can be dominant and exciting to watch and competitive as well.  Mia Hamm's athleticism and skill electrified the sport of soccer as a whole not just from a women's side but overall.  She was such competitor and she along with the US Women's World Cup team represented America so well and gave America something to really be proud of.  Mia Hamm was the catalyst of that team and she was so exciting to watch because you felt like at any time she could bust out an incredible goal.  She was reaching her prime right around when Michael Jordan was in his prime and at that time both of them were the leading sport role models for each gender.  So for as exciting as Mia Hamm was to watch on television I can only imagine how exciting she would be to watch in person.

When I graduate from college I would like to go into coaching for the early part of my career and maybe become a high school athletic director.  However, as I grow older I would like to get into a front office position and ideally a General Manager position for any professional sport organiztion.

Introduction Mark Chipperfield

           

My name is Mark Chipperfield and I am a junior Sport Management major here at Bowling Green State University. I was born in Vancouver, Washington and from six years until I went to college I lived in a suburb of Portland, Oregon.

            I am currently in my second year of working as a student manager for the Men’s Basketball team here at Bowling Green State University. I was able to complete my practicum working in the basketball offices last semester and enjoy the job immensely.

            The male athlete that I said I would pay to see in person would be Bill Walton in the prime of his career, preferable during the 1976-1977 season when he was playing for the Portland Trailblazers. Before he started having injury problems he was an incredible post player who was a very talented passer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players who has ever worn a Blazer uniform and since I grew up a Blazer fan it would be a great time to have the opportunity to see him play in person.

            The female athlete that I said I would pay to see in person would be Lisa Leslie. I said this because Lisa Leslie was one of the first pioneers of the WNBA. She was one of the first female players to dunk and was a dominate player in her time. She also was widely known as a great member of the Los Angeles Community and is a solid role model for America’s youth.

            My favorite sports are basketball, tennis and soccer. I grew up playing basketball and tennis which I continued through high school. My love for watching soccer is mostly a result of growing up with two English parents.

            During this semester I hope to learn about a variety of different gender related issues that are present in the sports world. I hope to learn about how to ways to promote equality with gender in sports.

Brady's Introduction

Brady Munger
January 17, 2012
Introduction Blog


For my introduction to our blog, I will start off with telling a little about myself and my interests, and then divulge into the athletes that I picked for our in class assignment and why.  Starting off, me personally I am a very active and outgoing person.  I am not shy in the least bit, and am very active in my learning and in my life.  I am currently a junior at BGSU, age wise I am a sophomore but I finished a year of college in high school so I am a whole year ahead of the game. Sports wise, I have many different interests.  My favorite sport is hockey.  I am currently the student manager of the BGSU hockey team, and love what I do with the team.  It is my dream to work in the professional hockey scene, especially with my favorite team the Detroit Redwings.  My dream job would be holding the position of general manager for the Wings.  My other sports interests include football, and Lacrosse.  In high school I played football and currently am a member of the club lacrosse team here at BGSU.  I love sports all around and it is for sure my number one interest in life.

For the athletes that I picked for our class room exercises, I picked Gordie Howe and Mia Moore.  The reason I picked Howe is because of the historical significance that he holds not only in my favorite sport, but for my favorite team.  He is one of the greatest players in history, and has set many records and done many great things for the game of hockey and the NHL.  The reason I picked Mia Moore is because of the influence she holds.  She is such a young athlete, coming from the University of Connecticut but she has the poise and leadership of a veteran.  She is so influential in her sport, and for the advancement of professional women's sport that I hold a high opinion of her, and would love to see her skills on the court.