Gender and Sports

In class on April 12, the question was brought up on if we thought opportunities for girls and women in sport were equitable to the opportunities men get.  We learned that everything starts when a person is young.  The way a family raises a girl is much different than how they raise a boy.  Girls are given barbies, and easy bake ovens, and pink clothes and basically "girly" stuff.  On the other hand, boys are given masculine stuff such as trucks, balls, blue clothes, etc.  Also, school tends to steer girls and boys in different directions.  It reinforces differential expectations and gives boys certain masculine activities while giving girls feminine activities.  Also the media kind of sets expectations for how women and men should act and look like. Students watch 100,000 commercials by the time they graduate and probably a good bit of them show what roles men should have and what roles women should have. 

As you can see, girls are given a disadvantage right from the start.  They have to overcome the typical stereotypes of being a girl.  I have a few girls that I am really good friends with that can hold their own with any guy when it comes to sports.  I know growing up people were kind of shocked that they were so good at sports because people do not really expect that from women.  It is a little better now with Title IX however because it is supposed to give women more of an equal opportunity in sport.

http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femhist/sports.shtml

I really enjoyed this article because it gave a history of women and sport including what it is like today.  Many of the same women that were mentioned in class were also mentioned on this website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAIjdb18Uhc&feature=fvst

This is just a video of women participating in sport in the 1920s which I thought was really interesting.

Race in Sports

On April 5 in American Sport in the 21st Century, we discussed race in sports.  We were asked if we thought that African Americans were evenly represented in sports.  Most of the class thought that they were.  However, we learned that African Americans only participate in a small range of sports which is called stacking.  We learned that the majority of African Americans participate in basketball, football, and baseball. 

I believe that there should be a greater effort to get African Americans and other minorities for that matter to participate in sports other than "the big three."  There are some programs set up that deal with teaching young African American kids in the inner city to golf or play hockey but I believe that there should be more programs like this for it actually to be successful.

I believe that getting minorities involved in sports would also benefit media as well.  By getting minorities involved in more sports would mean that there would be a greater viewing audience which would make the media and the team more money.

I just think overall that getting more minorities involved in sports would be better off for everyone in this situation.
http://www.science.smith.edu/exer_sci/ESS200/Raceh/Raceh.htm

After looking at this link it makes many of the same points made in class such as how there are stereotypes towards different races, etc.

Drugs and Sports

On March 29, we discussed drugs and sports.  We learned that drug use in sport is getting to be really bad.  Way too many athletes are taking illegal substances for these reasons:
-recover from injury quicker
-mask pain
-desire to be the best
-winning=financial rewards
-make most of a short sporting life
-influenced by others to improve performance immorally
-will to win overrides moral conscience
-try to meet expectations
-willing to risk cheating for public acclaim
-natural ability not good enough
-better results means they will get better sponsorships and endorsements

I personally have no respect for any athlete that takes performance enhancing drugs.  It is cheating.  I think it is probably the worst thing that can be done in sports.  How can any of their stats or records be verified? Chances are those players would not have the same stats they did if they did not take performance enhancing drugs.  Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds were all players that I, as a baseball player, looked up to when I was younger.  When I found out about them taking steroids, and corking bats, etc, I was so upset.  I had a Sosa jersey and I burned it.  Finding out that my role models were cheaters was probably one of the things that upset me the most in sports in my life.

http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/

I was looking at this website and it has many of the things we discussed in class such as reasons why athletes do it, and the pros and cons of taking performance enhancing drugs.  I think this website would be really helpful for people looking for more information on the subject.

Deviance In Sports

In my American Sport in the 21st Century class, we discussed deviance in sports today. Deviance is an act/person that differs from the norm, especially behavior or attitudes that differ from acceptable social standards. The majority of the class thought that athletes had a higher delinquency rate than non-athletes and that delinquency rates were higher today than they were in the past.  However, we were wrong.  We learned that non-athletes have a higher delinquency rate than athletes and that there were much more delinquent acts in the past than there are now.  I know that there were some bad incidents in recent memory such as the fight between the Pacers and Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the fight between the Yankees and Red Sox where Pedro Martinez threw Don Zimmer to the ground, and the brawl between the Miami Hurricanes and Florida International football teams.  However, after recently watching the ESPN 30 for 30 on Reggie Miller, I realized that even in that time period things were much worse.  There was much more fighting and pushing and shoving in that time period than now.  Also, a lot more players got away with cheating and doing other illegal activities.  Now there are agencies and groups that test players and review incidents to try to prevent those things from happening.

I was shocked when I heard that athletes had a lower deviance rate than non-athletes.  I later learned that every time an athlete does something wrong, the media blows it up and makes it seem like a huge deal.  They do not do that for non-athletes.  I guess it just seems like more athletes get in trouble because their lives are under a microscope and everything they do is criticized.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bawa/deviance.htm

This link shows some of the links of why athletes may be deviant but also says it is much more likely that an athlete's background and the way they were brought up is the cause  of their deviant behavior.  Also, I personally think that the fame gets to some athletes' heads and they think they can get away with whatever they want so they do whatever they want.

Social Networks

Also on March 22, we discussed social network sites in class.  Social network sites are sites where users dictate the content and/or the popularity and visibility of that content.  Some of  the most popular social media sites are Facebook, and Twitter.  These sites allow teams or athletes to create a page for him/her self and give updates on themselves and interact with fans.  It also allows fans of the same team or athlete to interact with each other.

These social network sites can be accessed on a computer with the internet or on a smartphone or Iphone/Itouch.  I think social network sites are great for interacting with athletes and other fans that share the same passion that you do.  I also like how you can communicate directly with an athlete.  When an athlete that you look up to responds back to your message, it is a great feeling knowing that they appreciate that you support them.  These sites also help to update fans on events, promotions, or other activities that may be going on within a team.  Overall, social networking sites are very helpful and useful and have opened up doors that many fans in the past did not even dream of.

http://clubseatsports.com/?p=4522

I really enjoyed looking at this website because it gave other social networking sites specifically for sports that are very interesting.  I have already made a profile for a few of these sites.  These also help show the connection between athletes, fans, different media (such as CNN sports and SI), and information on different teams and players.

Sports and Media: Do they need each other?

In class on March 22, we discussed if sports and media could survive without each other.  Sports and Media are very closely related and are two of the most successful businesses in the United States.  They depend greatly on each other for many things.  Sports need the media to show the games, provide information on teams and players, and just make sport more visible in general.  The media uses sport because many people enjoy watching sporting events, therefore if a media station gets to air a sporting event they will make money because of all the viewers that will watch the game.

I personally think that sports need media more than the media needs sports.  The media has other things they can air such as movies, news, TV shows, etc. Sports, however, would suffer if the media didn't cover them.  I think the die-hard fans would still have great interest but the casual fans would lose interest because they would not be able to get their sports information easily off of ESPN, online, or any other source.


http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/561041/sports/253576/Mass-media-and-the-rise-of-professional-sports

This articles shows how media and sports relate to one another and emphasizes the information we learned in our American Sport in the 21st Century class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWnPIRjb-M

This link shows all of the big sporting events that have happened over the past few years and you can notice the announcing of games or coverage of athletes outside of sport have really made sport exciting for audiences to watch and none of this would be possible without media coverage.

Salary Caps

In class on March 17, we discussed salary caps.  A salary cap is a limit a team can spend on player salaries.  The salary cap is based on the Defined Gross Revenue of the league.  It is a way to keep the league balanced so that there are no teams that dominate year after year.  The salary cap has also been a major problem in negotiations between players and owners.  Currently, the NFL is looking at a lockout due to differences in opinions on how much players should be paid.  Also, the NBA is possibly going to lockout next year due to the same thing.  In the past, the NBA, MLB, and NHL have all locked out during the regular season because of disagreements over the salary cap and how much players should be paid.

In my opinion, every pro league should have a hard salary cap.  A hard salary cap is a set limit on how much a team can spend on player salaries.  They are not allowed to exceed this limit.  The NFL and NHL both use hard salary caps.  I do not like the soft cap, which is used by the NBA.  This is when a team can spend over the cap limit under certain circumstances such as the "Larry Bird Exemption" which allows a team to pay a player that has been with that team for 3 or more years what they are worth.  Meaning a team can spend  ridiculous amounts of money on a player.

The MLB on the other hand has no salary cap at all.  I believe that if they did have a salary cap interest in the league would rise greatly.  I know that many people are sick and tired of hearing about the Yankees (even though I love them) and the Red Sox but since they spend the most on players, they usually have the best teams.  Not having a salary cap hurts small market teams.  There is just no way small market teams can compete with big market teams spending over $200 million a year on players.


http://ezinearticles.com/?Salary-Caps-in-Pro-Sports---the-Cost-of-Players-vs-Owners&id=201992

After reading this article, I could clearly see that the views we discussed and mostly agreed on in class are shared by other people too.  This article confirms most of our beliefs that the MLB should install a salary cap like the NFL and NHL and that the NBA should switch to a hard cap.

Are Big Time Collegiate Programs Justified in Spending So Much Money?

Big-time college sports programs are increasingly spending more and more money each year. It has increased four times faster than academic budgets at those universities.  It also has no effect on the academic quality of the student-athletes.  Many of these schools spend to keep up with other universities.  They spend a lot of money on paying coaches (some coaches make more than the actual President of that university) and a huge amount of money is spent on building and maintaining state of the art facilities.  They spend money on those things because if they want to be competitive in their sport, they have to get great recruits, and having a good coach and good facilities greatly helps with recruiting. 

In our American Sport in the 21st Century class, we discussed reasons why all of this big spending by major college sport programs is justified.

Justification of Big Spending
-college sport is part of the college experience
-athletics are a valuable part to any university
-many people would disagree with cutting sports programs

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2010-01-13-ncaa-athletics-subsidies_N.htm
In this article in the USA Today, it discusses if big-time athletics are worth the cost of maintaining those programs.  About 82% of major programs operate at a loss.  Is losing money worth winning? Many people say yes but there are solid arguments against it also.

Are There Problems In Youth Sports?

In American Sport in the 21st Century, we discussed some of the problems in youth sport.  Some of the problems that we discussed was that there is an over-emphasis on winning, there are pressures by significant others to achieve success, it instills unrealistic goals of being a star or being a pro, overuse injuries, over-training, and burnout.  All of these are major problems for some children that participate in sports.  It is not fair for kids to have to be put through these tough situations that young.

One thing that really bothers me about young kids playing sports is that the coaches are too hard on them sometimes.  They cannot really expect a young athlete to be fully developed and completely understand the game.  Then, those kids are punished for not knowing stuff that they should not be expected to know.  I think some youth sport coaches definitely take it way too far.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/93625-problems-youth-sports/
I found this article on Lance Armstrong's Livestrong website.  It explains how sports can be an amazing experience for a young kid but at the same time can be horrible do to certain situations and scenarios.

Should Athletes Be Considered Role Models?

Although maybe some athletes should not be, many athletes are looked at as role models.  Athletes impact many peoples' lives around the world and since they impact lives shouldn't they try to be good role models? In my American Sport in the 21st Century class, we discussed some good qualities would be in a role model.

Qualities In A Role Model
-Good decision making
-Leadership qualities
-Discipline
-Honesty
-Committment
-Good Sportsmanship
-A sense of humor
-Good self-image
-High moral values

We also discussed some of the best and worst role models in sport today.  Some of the best were Peyton Manning, Sidney Crosby, Tim Tebow, and Kevin Durant. Much of the class agreed that these players are some of the best role models because they all possess a lot of the qualities listed above.

Some of the worst role models were Tiger Woods, Mike Vick, O.J. Simpson, and Barry Bonds.  The class felt that these players all committed huge wrongs and therefore are terrible role models.

I think that whether players want to be or not, they are role models.  Since that is the case, I think that all professional athletes should at least try to carry themselves in an appropriate manner and act classy.  When a young kid sees his or her favorite players getting arrested for rape and gun possession, what does that say to the kid? Does it say that because their favorite athlete is doing those things that they are ok? NO! Athletes should be more aware that many people, especially kids, look up to them and should try to be good role models.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-UCwYfXqak
This video shows the Brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills between the Pistons and Pacers. An example of how athletes can be bad role models.

http://sportslaw.uslegal.com/2010/04/24/should-athletes-be-role-models-for-young-people/. 
This article also gives its own point of view on whether athletes should or should not be role models.

Do Sports Teach Values?

One thing that was taught to us in my American Sport in the 21st Century class was that sports teach people values.  We were taught that sport builds character, leadership skills, patience, helps with working on a team, builds integrity, honesty, responsibility, and maturity.  Also, it is a fact that competition is everywhere.  Sports are competition. Therefore, playing sports help people learn how to compete and want to be the best they can be.  Sports also promote health and fitness. Playing sports is a fun, easy way to get exercise and stay fit. 

I personally agree with the thought that playing sports teaches a person a lot of values and builds character.  I played competitive sports all of my life and I think that there are many valuable things that I have learned by playing sport that I would not have learned if i had not.  First of all, I learned how to compete at a very young age.  My dad and grandfather would never let me win at any sport when I was little.  They told me I would never be good if they just let me win.  So I worked hard and practiced and when I finally beat them, it was that much more satisfying.  Also, I learned how to handle loss.  I have seen many people freak out over losing and it is embarrassing.  If you are going to lose, do so with class.  Those are just a few of the many values that playing sports has taught me.

I also found an article online that also supports the notion that sports help teach people many important things in life.  The website is http://ezinearticles.com/?What-Sports-Can-Teach-You&id=1577257. After I read this article, it only further proved to me that sports help teach many valuable traits to people that they will use for the rest of their lives.

Introduction

Hi, my name is Anthony Lamendola.  I am a Sport Management major at Slippery Rock University.  In my American Sport in the 21st Century class, we discuss many important topics relating to sports today.  There are often two sides to these topics.  In my blog, I will be talking about these topics and would like to get some more input from different people on some of these topics.  Thank you and I hope everyone enjoys reading this blog!