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.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
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.
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.
-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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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