Conclusion

When it was time to take Sport and Gender I had a lot of opinions and thoughts of what the class was going to be about and what was going to be discussed. The title of the class doesn't do justice to all the different topics and discussions brought up in our weekly class discussions and blackboard posts. I believe I learned a lot from the various articles assigned in class and the thoughts of students through topics such as, race, gender, sexuality, and disabilities. The articles were very insightful which keeps you interested and make you want to go deeper into the topic than just the article itself. That's where I think the blogs the groups kept was so beneficial. It meant that weekly a student takes what he or she has read and heard on a topic and give their own twist or added bonus to the subject which was useful. I think the best part of the blogs was the connection between classmates. The comments are important because of the idea of starting a good debate or good comments to use in class to go further into that debate which gets the whole class involved.

The end of the year presentations are something I see as another important characteristic of this class because it doesn't take much to just post a blog and these presentations allow the groups to go in depth on a topic they used for a blog post during the course of the year. Overall, I will take a lot away from this class from the standpoint of looking at a given controversial topic and not just form an opinion from the onset. This class has demonstrated to me that you need to read and research on topics such as, race, gender and sexuality and make sure you form an opinion on facts rather than personal opinion. This will go far into any sport career path I choose because I'll be working with many kinds of different people and they might have gone through issues on topics we have discussed in class so it's important to respect individuals for who they are and not like them because of their gender, race or sexuality.

Captain of NYU’s Volleyball team comes out

When researching the coming out of gay and lesbian athletes in today’s society I discovered one interesting news article printed one day ago. Jay Hayes, the captain of NYU’s volleyball team, directed and starred in an “It Gets Better” video in which the athletic department was featured in. The athletic department decided to stand by Hayes and help him make a video that informs the public that gay slurs are all too common during games, in locker rooms and practices and that there needs to be a change.

The video depicts the support of NYU’s athletic department and their athletes. NYU is showing that they are open to athletes of the LGBT community and shows coaches who are out as well as athletes and their allies. The school wanted to show that athletics can be a safe environment for potential athletes and they will not tolerate any hatred or bigotry from society. Hayes wanted to make the video after coming out to his teammates. Friends and family back home knew Hayes was gay, but he kept his teammates in the dark because he knew athletics was portrayed as “straight environment” and he feared he would be shunned. When he came out to his team it didn’t change the dynamic of the team, it made them closer. The video, at first, was to feature just Hayes, but he was uncomfortable being the only one in the video. With the help of the whole athletic department at NYU, Hayes made the video to show that it is okay to be gay in athletics. NYU’s athletic department became the second major university to make an It Gets Better video; the only other university is Northwestern.

NYU and Northwestern have made great strides in showing support of the LGBT community and many believe these are the first steps that need to be taken for gays to be accepted in athletics. Many believe if more colleges and universities show their support of their own LGBT athletes and coaches, then we will have a major professional athlete come out sooner rather than later. Mark Cuban has been quoted saying that he believes there will be an openly gay NBA player within the next 3 to 5 years. There have also been numerous male soccer players in Europe and Canada that have come out. One is Sweden’s own Anton Hysen and there are talks of him joining an MLS team in the future. This would make him one of the only gay male athletes playing in the US for a professional team. I believe that if more colleges, universities, leagues and players showed support of gay athletes then a professional athlete will come forward before retirement and announce they are gay. My question is how long will this take? Many say three to five years, while others think it will never happen. I believe someone will come out in three to five years and we will have the face and someone to address this issue head on, but it is just a matter of finding someone who can handle the scrutiny. 

NYU Volleyball Captain Comes Out

Mark Cuban Comments

Soccer Players Coming Out

Media Coverage

When it comes to media coverage of sporting events, men's games are the dominate focus on all major networks year around. Women's collegiate sports are covered on television way more than any of the women's professional sports which only included the WNBA for the most part. In the article by Kian (2008), it examined media coverage for a few of the larger newspapers and online sports publications. The study focused on men's and women's college basketball and the results were very one-sided. "More than three-quarters (76.4%) of the articles focused on men’s basketball, whereas 23% pertained to women’s basketball. A total of three articles, or less than 1% of the overall population of articles, focused on both men and women. A little more than half (51%) of the articles were published in the two newspapers, whereas 49% were posted on the two Internet sites" (p.227), this shows that a very high percentage is focused more on men's college basketball than women's but this shouldn't come to any surprise for people. 

When studies are done with results comparing men's verse women's sports coverage I always develop a scenario in my head in which women's sports would be close to even with men's sports concerning both television and print media. It's hard to find that perfect situation when an even number of college basketball games are being televised for both men and women. College sports is the only place where females will get an even amount of media coverage and the sports would go down to women's basketball and softball. So, what event if any will have such an effect on the media where there will be more regular season women's game on TV? Will a network like ESPN ever spend an equal amount of highlights on women's sports as they do men?

How Women View Athletes

Today in class we discussed Tiger Woods and his most recent win. The discussion focused on if this was the beginning of a comeback and if people have forgotten about his scandal. This then led to a discussion about whether women look more into the personal life of an athlete or if they are interested in the athlete and the game they play. This got me to think more about the subject and I wanted to find more insight from the class.

When the Tiger Woods scandal broke, I was saddened to see someone I considered a hero tell the whole world the truth about his life. I became a Tiger Woods fan when I was eight years old and did a book report on him. Everything about the way he grew up to how he found success was inspiring to me and I began to watch golf more regularly. He grew up from a young bachelor to a married family man and built this impeccable public image. In a matter of 24 hours that image was crushed and he not only lost a family and many sponsors, but also many fans. He also lost a lot of respect from the media and fans. Over the past three years he has worked to make himself a better man and a better golfer. I would say that the talk about Tiger’s private life stopped when his divorce was finalized and everything between he and Elin had been settled. The media also seemed to care less about his private life when it was discovered that Elin had moved on and began a new life for herself. With Tiger’s recent win everyone seemed to forget about the past and wanted to focus on the present and future.

As a woman, I am happy to see Tiger is back to winning and I hope that his career continues on the positive path. While it is hard to forget about his past, I can focus on his game and I am still a Tiger fan. For me an athlete’s personal life is different from the game. I am also a Josh Hamilton fan and even though he had a recent relapse with his sobriety I will still root for him this coming MLB season. My question is do you think women look more into an athlete’s personal life rather than his career? I was kind of offended when some suggested that a woman is not as focused on the game as a man is because I believe that to be a myth. I am focused on an athlete’s game and believe that anybody can make a comeback.

The Ideal Athletic Body

When we had the online class about the fat athlete and the ideal athletic body, the first player that came to mind was one of my favorite players. Alshon Jeffery, wide receiver from the University of South Carolina.

Let me start off by saying that Jeffery is a big guy. In his college playing days he was 6’4 and 230 pounds. When I first saw him play in high school, I couldn’t believe he was a receiver. He looked more like a linebacker or defensive end. Jeffery has never been a blazing fast receiver, but he is faster than your average receiver. He uses his big frame and leaping abilities against defenders to win the ball. Jeffery is simply a dominant receiver. When you add his above average speed and his leaping abilities to his 6’4 230 pound frame, you are going to have a stud.

In his sophomore season, Jeffery was arguably the best receiver in college football. After shattering SEC records, Jeffery was seen as possibly the next Calvin Johnson. Had he been draft eligible that season, many NFL scouts had him pegged as a top 10 pick and a better prospect than Julio Jones who went 6^th overall.

Jeffery was on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the 2011 college football preview. However, he appeared to be carrying some extra weight and had a gut. This instantly had the entire football community questioning his work ethic. Jeffery was the punch-line to many ‘fat’ jokes as a result. Jeffery lost the extra weight before the season started, but the damage was already done. He was already given the fat and lazy athlete tag. Despite having a great junior season, his draft stock was still shaky and his weight and work ethic was a major concern to scouts. He was told by scouts that an average receiver didn’t weigh 230 pounds, and he would have to lose at least 15 pounds before the NFL combine. Jeffery showed up to the combine at 215 pounds, losing the “required” 15 pounds. He didn’t participate in any workouts though. It was rumored that he was simply unable to perform any workouts because he was completely zapped of energy as a result of his weight loss strategies. Jeffery has said that he is highly motivated to keep the weight off and will perform some workouts at his South Carolina pro day. 

I have a few questions regarding this situation.

• Jeffery was 230 pounds in both his sophomore and junior seasons, so why was his weight a concern to scouts in his junior season, but not his sophomore?
• As I previously stated, Jeffery lost the gut he sported on SI before his junior season even started. So if he had not been on the cover of SI, would anyone have brought his work ethic and weight into question?
• Many would argue that what makes Jeffery such a good receiver is that he knows how to use his big frame to his advantage. Is it fair for them to tell him that he needs to lose 15 pounds to be a great NFL receiver? How will the weight loss affect his play?
• What makes NFL scouts think that a player cannot do well in the NFL based on their weight? Is there any truth to it, or are they just looking for the ideal athletic body? 

What is Sexism?

What is sexism? By definition, sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on sex or behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex (Merriam-Webster, 2011). The Don Imus incident with the Rutgers women's basketball  is one story that showcases sexism first hand with what was said and how the girls on the basketball team were viewed and treated from that point on. Imus is known for his rants and raves of controversy but none were bigger when he verbally abused and embarrassed the girls on that team. Sexism is a very touchy subject when sport is involved because public perception is women are inferior to men when it comes to sports. Men should be the ones playing it and women should do the more "feminine" work such as, reporting. In an article about the sexual allegations involving then Jets quarterback, Brett Favre, and his incident with Jets reporter, Jenn Sterger, it talks about how this is sexism and how the NFL should be aware of more cases like this one (Whitlock, 2010). In this case, Favre was alleged to have sent Sterger e-mails, picture messages, and voice mails on numerous occasions. Incidents like this one I feel is sexism that's right in front of everybody to see. There are more issues of sexism in sport but are not brought up in my opinion.

This raises questions about how sports such as football and basketball need to address certain issues involving sexism. As you know, women football coaches are very uncommon if any at all, would this be considered sexism? I feel, yes, this is a form of sexism which needs to be addressed in all major sports because there's going to come a time when a female wants to be a successful coach at some professional level which isn't common for a women to be in that spot.

What is it about Danica?

NASCAR is back, and I couldn't be happier. I've been looking forward to this year's season after the exciting finish to last year's. I watched the beginning of Speed Weeks by watching the Coors Shootout two weeks ago. The race itself was fantastic, perhaps the best Shootout I've ever watched. However, there was one thing that almost ruined it for me. Danica Mania. I knew that Danica Mania was going to hit NASCAR this season with her jumping to the Sprint Cup Series, but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad. Danica Patrick was not even competing in the Shootout, but she was still the hot topic for the night. FOX even brought her into the broadcast booth to commentate half the race!

I was beginning to get annoyed that she was the constant talk of the night. Then Darrell Waltrip brought up an interesting point about how Danica would be the first women since Shawna Robinson in 2002 to compete in the Daytona 500. That made me think...why wasn't Shawn Robinson a big deal when she was competing in the Winston Cup Series? I remember watching that 2002 Daytona 500, and Shawna Robinson's name was rarely brought up during the race, if ever. Then I recalled other female drivers that have competed in NASCAR. Shawna Robinson, Patty Moise, Erin Crocker, Tammy Jo Kirk, and Jennifer Jo Cobb, just to name a few, all competed in either the Grand National or the Cup Series, but none of them get nearly as much attention as Danica Patrick. Danica first started racing in the IRL, and she completely overshadowed fellow female driver Sarah Fisher. Danica has never won a points race in any level of professional racing. One could argue that her performance in the IRL was on par with Sarah Fisher, who is unknown to the general public. Her performance in the NASCAR Nationwide series has been below average with a career average finish of 28th. It is obvious it is not her on-track results that are making her so popular. So what is it?