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.