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?

Soldiers continue to play sports despite their disabilities

Over the past week, in class we have discussed sports that are catered to athletes with disabilities as well as athletes who overcome their numerous obstacles to still play sports. One of the first things we talked about was our involvement with sports for those with disabilities, including watching or keeping track of the sports and athletes. Many, including myself, admitted to not paying as much attention. Many of us were aware of athletes who have disabilities, but many of them play sports with those who aren’t disabled. This attracted much media attention, which catches our eyes and we become aware. One of the subjects I wanted to look into was the increase of sports and tournaments that help keep athletes active when they have a disability. One of the fastest growing sport organizations are those that focus on keeping our soldiers active after they suffer a disability fighting for our freedom.

When researching this topic I have found that many of our military branches have started to create programs for soldiers and veterans to come together and compete against each other in various sports. One program created by the United States Marine Corps grabbed my attention; their Warrior Athlete Reconditioning (WAR) program helps create organized sporting tournaments with other military branches. The goal of the WAR program is to keep soldiers active and accomplish physical fitness goals while competing with peers going through the same situation. Those participating within the program are required to compete in one sport for a 12-week period, which includes wheelchair basketball, sitting volleyball, running/track and field and other sports. Once a soldier has completed their 12-week period and has achieved their goals they are able choose from a large variety of sports, such as surfing, martial arts, scuba diving, tennis, skiing and many more.

This past November a wheelchair basketball tournament was held for wounded warriors in the Marine Corps and Navy. The goal of the tournament was to remind everyone that a wound or injury doesn’t slow down anyone who is wounded. The focus of the tournament was for wounded warriors to show that they wanted to move on with their “new normal” and not dwell on their past life without a disability.

Reading these articles made me think about how much courage it takes to face your disability like these servicemen have. If I was faced with a disability that altered the way I play sports, I think it would be really difficult to face and I might not even play sports again. It also made me think about the lack of sports programs we have for those that focus on athletes with disabilities and how they are not promoted enough. The military knows that camaraderie is the key for a soldier to adjust to their new life, and by creating organized sports for those with disabilities the adjustments are not as scary or challenging. However, how many programs are there for everyday civilians who are faced with a disability? This is a problem with society and we only focus on such events every four years because the Paralympics follow the Olympics. This past weeks class has brought to my attention that we need to start focusing on all athletes and give them an opportunity to play.

Warrior Athlete Reconditioning program

Wounded Warrior wheelchair basketball

Oscar Pistorius: "The fastest man on no legs"

An athlete with a disability is a topic we have discussed in the recent class and I wanted to find a story about an athlete who breaks the mold and competes with able-bodied athletes. Oscar Pistorius is one of those athletes where if you don't see him perform then you won't believe the story. Pistorius is an Olympic sprinter for South Africa and holds records for a double amputee in the 100, 200, and 400 meter events. He has also participated in able-bodied events such as the 2011 IAAF World Championships which is an event potentially to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He wants to be the first disabled athlete to qualify for the Olympics. There was dispute on whether or not he had an advantage over able-bodied sprinters and Pistorius was put through a series of scientific tests to see if he did indeed have an advantage.

After hearing about how he was put through these tests because of how well he was performing against athletes with both legs, it brought many questions I have about how people view athlete's with disabilities. For the most part people see athletes with disabilities as individual's who need to compete with other athletes with disabilities because they'd be at a disadvantage if performing against able-bodied athletes. But when an athlete with a disability is good enough to perform better than some able-bodied athletes people jump to the conclusion that there is some type of advantage this athlete is getting because of the prosthetic limbs. There's been other stories like this where athletes compete at a level in which people seem to think it's impossible and want to find out answers through science. 

When coming back to the Olympics and how he wants be the first disabled athlete to qualify ever, it raises discussion. If Pistorius was to qualify for the Olympics in a sprint event, how would the media cover this story? Also, do you think it was right for people to raise questions on whether he had an advantage against able-bodied sprinters?

New York Times Article


Oscar Pistorius Official Website

Why do women collegiate athletes take a back seat to men?

Why do women collegiate athletes take a back seat to the men athletes? This question can easily relate to the blog Alli posted last week. However, this involves attendance at sporting events rather than television coverage. I was curious to see what peoples thoughts were on the trend of women's collegiate athletic events not being as popular among fans and students as the men's sporting events. One of the first things that popped into my mind was the UConn women's basketball team. The team recently went two consecutive seasons undefeated and won two consecutive National Championships, but I recall hearing some controversy during their historic winning streak on the lack of support and attendance at their games. 


In 2010, Grace Malloy wrote an article in UConn's The Daily Campus about this very issue surrounding its women's basketball team. The article was titled "Women's Basketball Team Under Appreciated." In her article, she says "The women's team puts in an enormous amount of time, effort and focus to be the best. They deserve a strong, faithful following of UConn students for their work. Unfortunately, not enough has materialized" (Malloy, 2010). When talking about the the support for the men's team, Malloy goes on to say "At every game, the stands are packed. Students arrive at Gampel hours early to get good seats. It's important that the men's team receive this support, but why is there so much more support for them, especially when the women have been doing significantly better?" This question is a fair one to ask. At the time of this article, UConn had the by far the best women's team in college basketball, and an average men's team. It is commonly known that fans are more likely to go to games when the team is winning. Why is that no the case for the women's team? History was being made by the women's team, and it was still taking a back seat to the less successful men's team. Malloy wanted to find the answer to this, so she asked around campus. She said her results ended up like this: "The reason I've heard from countless guys is that the women's team isn't actually better than the men's. They say that the women play easier teams compared to the teams that the men play, and that's why the women have won two consecutive national championships. But really, is this arguement valid? The fact remains that the women have won the past 78 games straight, most of them by huge margins. It is the longest winning streak in women's college basketball history" (Malloy, 2010). Malloy then went on to question why women fans were attending more men's games than women's games. She has this to say: "The fact that so many girls passionately cheer on the players of the men's team, while largely ignoring the success of their fellow women, is insulting. Why don't more girls at UConn recognize the need to support the women's team with the same fervor? One would think that, as women, they'd understand the frustration of being under appreciated and that they'd admire the success of the women's team" (Malloy, 2010).


Malloy also left us with some more questions concerning this topic. What would it take for the women's team to get more recognition? Is the under-appreciation simply a result of the women's team not having as much talent as the men's team, or is it a result of something more complex? Is is possible that the success of the women's team poises a threat to the men's team? 


Women's Basketball Team Under Appreciated

Does Title IX cover all aspects of gender equality?

Does Title IX cover all aspects of gender equality? Many who hear this question would answer yes because it has been proven that Title IX has greatly enhanced equal opportunity for men and women in school and sports. However, looking at recent news articles there is one aspect, which Title IX does not help enhance gender equality. It has been 40 years since Title IX was first implemented, and there has been a large growth of women participating in sport. However, at the recent 2012 Sports and Entertainment Law Conference held at the University of Oregon, it was found that gender equality has not reached the television market.

Allan Brettman, a journalist for The Oregonian newspaper, covered the Conference and wrote an article based on the conference’s main discussion. Peg Brand, an academic professor at the university asked the question, “What percentage of TV sports coverage is devoted to women’s athletics?” (Brettman, 2012). No one in the audience stated the correct answer. In 1989 the answer was 5% and rose as high as 8.7% in 1999, but in 2009 the number dropped to 1.6%.  Brand stated that the fall of TV coverage could have happened because ESPN executives are “too old school” to start broadcasting women’s sports more often. However, Brand believes that the numbers are low because woman’s sports do not generate as much revenue as men’s sports. She found this to be true even if a women’s program is more popular than the men’s, for example the University of Portland women’s soccer team won the NCAA Championship in 2002 and 2005 and has generated more revenue than the men’s program. Another speaker as the audience if they watched this summer’s Women’s World Cup of soccer and nearly every hand was raised in the building.

There are many questions that this article brings to light on the subject; does Title IX cover all aspects of gender equality? One questions is, why has the percentage of women’s TV coverage in sports decreased drastically over the past 10 years? Another questions to ask is would viewers begin to watch more women’s sports if coverage was increased? The last question that could be asked is, if the Women’s World Cup was one of the largest events viewed over the past year, is women’s TV coverage on the rise again? 

The Oregonian

Can women play men's sports?

Can women play men’s sports? This is the question people should bring up when we hear of stories about girls wanting to play boys sports because can girls physically maintain playing contact men’s sports. I would agree women should be separate from men’s sports such as, football, basketball and soccer, which men seem to be faster and stronger than females. But when women want to play sports such as baseball, tennis, and golf, women should have the right to attempt to play on the same field with men because the gap between talent and gender isn’t far off, at least on the high school level.

In 2009, the New York Times wrote a story about a female athlete who growing up played baseball rather than softball and played at a level for her dad to decide to give her a chance at a high school where they would allow girls to play baseball (Hyman, 2009). This story is one example of how if a female is brought up in a boys sport they do have a chance to compete against the boys. There comes a price for these girls who want to play in a sport like baseball instead of softball. These girls will likely not have any way of challenging for a college athletic scholarship because most likely University baseball teams will not even look the way of the girl playing baseball whether she has the ability to play or not because the upside of a male player will be higher than that of a female player.

Some questions or scenarios to consider when commenting on this blog are; if you were a coach of a college baseball team would you consider giving her a scholarship? Another thought to think about is looking down the road in sports is it possible to think about more and more women participating in boys sports such as baseball, tennis and golf. 

New York Times Article

Introduction

This is the first introduction blog. The group members for this Blog are: Dane Windisch, Allison Schiffer, and Trevor Selby.

My sport background consisted of only a couple organized sports in high school and those were football and basketball. Growing up in middle school and junior high I had a passion for soccer but when it came to junior high my home school didn't have a soccer team so I had to switch to football. I have a wide variety of interests when it comes to sports, I tend to watch any sports when they're on television and I'm athletic enough to play a wide range of sports.

The male and female athletes I chose to watch were primarily based on the excitement factor they have when they are performing their respective sport. The male athlete I chose was professional boxer Floyd Mayweather. I'm a fan of boxing but more than that I'm a fan of how boxing is promoted and there's no better promoter of fights then Floyd Mayweather. He hypes up the fights he's in so much it's hard not to want to watch him perform the night of his fight and when he is fighting he shows he'll go down as one of the best boxers of all time. The female athlete I decided to pick was tough because I don't watch a lot of women's sports on TV. But whenever professional tennis player Serena Williams is on I usually watch and am interested in how she does so for that reason I picked her. Williams is also one of the top women's tennis players of all-time so it's always an added bonus when she's on TV.

I believe this course will be challenging but easy enough to learn the material. When I first learned about taking this course I felt that there will be plenty of discussions and debates about different gender issues in the media especially. There isn't that many concerns I have about taking this course is the possibility of a heated debate with an individual or another gender about an issue that is split between the class which could result in people clashing.