"Final Reflections"

Before taking Introduction to Critical Sport Studies I always just viewed sports as entertainment and a way to stay in shape. I played sports all through high school but once I arrived at college, they just became entertainment, nothing else. Sitting around with friends watching football all Sunday and eating pizza pretty much sums up sports for me. This class interested me because I wanted to learn the sociological components found within sport culture. Now that class is about to come to an end, I would definitely agree that my understanding of US sport culture has changed through taking class. I learned about so many topics that impact sports such as gender, race, disabilities, violence, LGBTQs, the sport ethic, paying college athletes, and more. Paying college athletes stood out to me the most because it was something I used to be completely against but after doing research, a class debate, and writing a paper on the topic, my opinions changed and this does not happen to me very often. I will definitely start asking more critical questions about the US sports world. I also would highly recommend this class to any of my friends because it provides very interesting and useful information about sports.  

Why The "Man's Game" is an Insult to Men

Currently, sports are not a safe space for LGBT athletes. They never have been and hopefully they will be in the future. The documentary "Training Rules" is a great example of this because it examines how women college sports are controlled and influenced by homophobic practices and how many talented athletes lives are destroyed due to their sexuality. Rene Portland, the old women basketball coach for Penn State made 3 rules, no drinking, no drugs, no lesbians. Portland would make it her goal to destroy any athlete who was gay and therefore many of her athletes could not come out. However this is not the only instance of homophobic behaviors in sport. Athletes are constantly afraid of coming out because they fear what their teammates would say, what other teams would say, and what fans would say. Robbie Rogers expresses that the only way he could come out was by leaving football. He also said that many of his friends and teammates support him but he is terrified about how is fans will act. Often times people will say something negative towards you but you can shrug it off because they don't know you personally. Well expressing your sexuality is something very personal and it is hard to deal with if someone attacks it. There are constant stories about athletes who want to come out but cannot because they are afraid of this. Yeah we could implement classes and educate athletes but not everyone is going to agree with LGBTQs, that is just our society currently. In my opinion it will just take time. Our current generation has progressed so much so far and I truly believe that it will only continue to progress, it will just take awhile.

"Darwin's Athletes"

African Americans have always had the stereotype of being amazing athletes or also called "Darwin's Athletes" which is the idea of survival of the fittest. It is true that sports play a very significant role in the African American culture. However, American society has developed a belief that African Americans are the best athletes out there and it is the best way for them to rise up out of the lower class status to the upper class. Often times, Hollywood supports and emphasizes this belief with all of their films about African Americans who achieve this. There are countless films such as The Blind Side, Above the Rim, For Love and Basketball, White Men Can't Jump, and hundreds more.  The Blind Side is probably one of the best films that actually portrays the idea of an African American as a "Darwin Athlete." However, is this the actual reality that many African Americans face? In the Blind Side, a large (for his age) African American boy is adopted into a white, upper class family and is encouraged to play football. In short, he goes from barely having a family and living in a terrible neighborhood to becoming one of the best linemen of all time in football. He even makes it to the NFL and plays for the the Ravens.

Even though this is a true story, it is not always the reality. For example, in the documentary Hoop Dreams, the director follows two African Americans who grow up in similar neighborhoods as Michael Oher and try to make it to the NBA. These young athletes face many obstacles such as school, injuries, and family troubles, just like Michael Oher. However, they do not end up making it to the NBA and in fact, they barely make it into college. Unfortunately, sport is damaging African American culture and supports the myth of race.

Real Women

There was an ad made on September 11, 2012 for the Lingerie Football League. Overall Shaw TV Saskatoon created this ad to promote this sport, activity, or anything else you would like to call it. Throughout the video many women describe their past and talk about their college experiences and their athleticism.  Their coach discusses the complexity of the plays that they run. And some of the women even discuss their uniforms and claim to not have a problem with them. At one point a woman from the team stated that the uniforms get them more attention and it allows them to get fans.
Unfortunately, lingerie football league is probably the largest sport that degrades women. They play with barely any pads and are practically naked. "It's pigskin without pads...or clothing for the most part." In my opinion this ad is ridiculous because it is trying to show us that lingerie football is not degrading women but instead promoting their athleticism. Pretend a family is watching a lingerie football game just like they would watch the Broncos play the Packers on a Sunday. What are the messages that are sent to the children? Girls will start believing that you need to lose cloths in order to get attention and boys will begin to support this behavior and demand it as they grow up. When one of the athletes in the video tries to argue that they enjoy not wearing cloths and playing football, this might be true, however she is just supporting these negative gendered identities that women currently have when it comes to athletics. Overall, this commercial is trying to promote lingerie football and defend what it actually is. Yes some of the women might enjoy it and some of them might argue that it is okay, however in the end they are just supporting negative gender relations.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfkKjATCu4E 

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

Throughout the year of 2013, sports illustrated came out with 102 issues of their magazines, which also means 102 cover photos for these magazines. Out of these 102 covers, only three of them had a woman on the cover. The first one was November 11, 2013 and it was a female police officer from Boston with three other males. The second cover with a female was on October 7, 2013 with swim suit model Kate Upton. In the photo she is dressed up as a braves baseball player and is sitting with two other braves players. The third and last cover with a female took place on February 12, 2013. This was also with Kate Upton and she is in bikini bottoms with no bikini top while wearing a winter coat that is open. 

In 2013 there was not one female athlete on the cover of sports illustrated. One cover was dedicated to Boston Police but the other two had the same swim suit model on the cover and the only job she had was to look attractive. Clearly there is a challenge existing on gender in sports media and unfortunately sports illustrated is doing nothing to fix this problem. Instead, they are even objectifying women to look attractive for men. 

In my personal opinion, women should play more of a serious role in athletic magazines. They should not be viewed only as objects but rather athletes just like men are. I would say the only serious picture taken of a female in 2013 was the police officer picture but she was surrounded by three other men. Sports Illustrated needs to change the way they present women on the cover of their magazines. Hopefully this changes more in 2014.

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

The topic on paying college athletes has been a serious debate for a significantly long time now. So should we pay college athletes or not? Well ultimately it is your decision on whether or not we should pay them.  There are strong arguments on both sides. So what if we pay them, what's the big deal? Well the NCAA mostly does not want to pay college athletes because of the concept of amateurism. According to the NCAA, amateurism is one of the main reasons why college sports are so popular with fans. Not only that, but many schools will argue that they do not have the extra money to spend $2000 on each athlete for spending money. Also, many sports such as lacrosse, do not generate nearly as much money as football and it would be hard to provide these athletes with money. If colleges were allowed to pay their athletes, colleges would get their recruits based on how much money they were going to give. There is also the argument that many of these athletes have not matured yet mentally and would just spend the money immediately and not save it. They are young athletes and the school already pays for their education, housing, food, and other supplies. We do not need to give them extra money if the school is already providing them with everything.
However, there are also many arguments supporting the idea of paying college athletes.  Colleges generate hundreds of millions of dollars from college sports such as football and basketball. Some people ask why aren't athletes receiving a piece of this profit? They are the ones putting their bodies on the line and risking their health so the school can profit. Not only that, but when people say that athletes are given enough with a free education, others will argue they need money for basic things like gas, cloths, food, and etc. Athletes do not have time to get a job like other students because the sport they participate in takes up so much time already. If an athlete is hurt, often times they are left with nothing. No education and no money but instead a huge pile of medical bills. There is so much corruption in college sports at the moment and most of these problems would go away if colleges were allowed to pay their athletes.
In my personal opinion I think college athletes should be paid but there has to be a lot of restrictions. I do not like the idea of giving an athlete more money after his or her education, housing, food on campus, and anything else on campus is completely paid for. Just like what Hilgenberg says while getting interviewed by Jerry Carino for the USA today article, "Athletes, administrators debate scholarship stipends," however not everyone will live on campus and therefore will not be eating campus food and will most likely have a car that needs gas. I support the idea of providing these athletes with money so they can provide for themselves. I do not agree with giving them "a piece of the pie" because the college itself is making so much money. These athletes are there for school and their sport. Which ever one they put first is up to them, but they are not there to get paid for playing football. Just like every other college student, they do not get paid for going to school. You go to college to receive an education and to increase your chances at being successful in the future. Some college athletes will perform so they have a chance to go to the pros.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2013/09/28/athletes-administrators-debate-ncaa-scholarship-stipends/2890117/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/lets-start-paying-college-athletes.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Sport, Politics and the Olympics

In 1956, the Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. Interestingly enough, during this time there was extreme tension between Hungarians and Russians. In fact, there was an attempt to overthrow the Soviet regime and as a result, around 200,000 Russian troops invaded Hungary and left over 5,000 dead. As a result of these unfortunate events, there was a lot of tension between the Hungarian and Russian water polo teams. During the match there were several fights and the athletes were overly aggressive with one another. Some of them put others in choke holds and others threw punches. The match was ended early when a Hungarian player, Ervin Zador, was punched in the face by a Russian player. The referees did not want a riot to start so they ended the match. The Hungarians went on to win the gold metal and this story has been known as "Blood in the Water" at the 1956 Olympics ever since. This would definitely be an example of sport as an Opiate of the Masses because even though Hungary was being invaded and thousands of Hungarians died, they still were able to defeat the Russians in the Olympics and it gave Hungary some pride. This is a perfect example where sports can be impacted by politics and I disagree with the statement "Sport is pure and devoid of political interference." Eitzen and Sage write a chapter on sports and politics and argues that there are five political uses of sport. These five include sport as a propaganda vehicle, sport and nationalism, sport as an opiate of the masses, the exploitation of sport by politicians, and sport as a vehicle of change in society.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/blood-in-the-water-at-the-1956-olympics-1616787/