"Final Reflections"

Sports have always been of interest to me. I grew up around sports, so sports have always been apart of my life. But before this place I never thought about them critically. This class really showed me how sports are portrayed within our society. It helped learning about the globalization of sports to sports culture, to how women are portrayed in sports to how sex and gender play a role within sports, and lastly how disabilities are integrated in sports. Yes I believe learning about all these topics has helped change my perception of  US sports culture. It changed in a good way into thinking critically about how sports plays a role within our society. One topic that stood out to me the most was the discussion we had about the paralympics. I never knew anything about this until we discussed it in class. I thought it was so cool how there are Olympics for people with disabilities. I thought it was great that these people were given an opportunity to demonstrate their skills to the rest of the world. I believe I will be able to use the critical thinking skills I have developed in this class. I think it will allow me to think more in-depth about particular situations I am faced with. Yes I would recommend this class. I think this class helps individuals understand how sports are viewed within our society, which I think is important to learn.

Why the 'Mans Mans' Game is an insult to Men'

I think that being openly gay has become more accepted in societies than in years past. It has become accepting in society but it has not reached that level within sports. In some of the articles we read, it discussed how athletes had a difficult time building the courage to reveal their sexuality. More often than not it wasn't that teammates would not be accepting but it was the fans that were usually the ones that did not accept someone coming out. I do not think sports have become a safe place for LGBT athletes. The reason being is that it has not reached that level where I believe athletes will be fully accepted. I believe over time that as more athletes come out that they will be more accepting. I do not think there are any particular solutions. I think the main thing is to give it time in order become more socially acceptable. In recent news a NCAA division 1 basketball player from UMASS just came out and admitted to being openly gay. Which I think is a step that will lead to more players maybe not just within NCAA basketball but all college sports, which would be a significant step toward becoming more acceptable.

"Darwin 's Athletes": Sports and Ethnicity

Sports among the African American Culture is big. Sports seem to bring African Americans together. It creates a hope within a young child growing up. Often time that hope if false. As the chances of becoming a professional athlete are very slim. Often times kids are mislead through the exposure of media. Which shows African American men flashing money, driving nice cars, and everything else. Which children become intrigued by and sports as a way to obtain that. Which is nothing more than giving the children a false sense of hope.

The documentary hoop dreams demonstrates the struggles of two African American teenagers. Who try to achieve their goal of making it to the NBA. The movie depicts the realism of race and the culture of high school in Chicago. Remember the Titans often times is a highly criticized movie. The reason is because it depicts realism. The realism of race and the integration of high school. It shows the struggle of two races bonding together in order to achieve one common goal of winning. Often times in Hollywood movies African Americans are portrayed as individuals lacking discipline and often times living in poverty. It is not until a coach or something drastic that causes both groups to come together. I do not think sport's are damaging the African American, but I believe that is continuing to preserve the myth of race.

"Interrogating inequalities in Sports Media: Espn Online(espn.go.com)

Looking at espn online it seems that the pictures you will see depends on the sport that is being played that day. But also sports that seem to be the headliner are the sports that are in season. Most of the headlines seem to include college basketball and the NBA. Now most of the pictures seem to show young African American males who are figures that dominate basketball. I think the headliners you will see depends on the sport that is going on during that particular time. Now I did not see any headliners about female sports. Which I can understand because female sports is not that big in today's sports. It doesn't receive the same amount of attention as male sports do. I think this shows that males sports continue to dominate female sports. The media finds it more entertaining and more profitable to cover male sports than female sports.


References: http://espn.go.com/

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

College Sports have become very popular. College sports have somewhat become the face of universities. According to the article "The Shame of College Sports" states that football teams such as Texas, Florida and others earn between $40 and $80 million dollars a year in profit. Often while still paying their coaches multimillion dollar contracts annually. While players receive zero of that profit. Often times it is said that student-athletes receiving a free education equates to what they would be getting paid. But also in the article it talks about how you can somewhat compare being an student athlete to being a slave. In regards that athletes commit so much of their time for the benefit of the school and receive nothing in return expect playing in front of thousands of fans on Saturdays. Yes this is something that I have considered since I am an athlete myself. I think we should get paid for the amount of time that we commit to our sport. We put our bodies through so much in order to provide entertainment to fans. The least we could receive is some compensation for that.

High School Sports

High school sports became an outlet for youth that provided a structured environment.  High school sports taught discipline and core values such as practice and teamwork. These values are believed to be important for student athletes to learn in order to be successful people in society. High school sports became an outlet which involved physical activity. The objective of high school sport is to ultimately win. But coaches also praise athletes who receive athletic scholarships. Coaches sometimes push the idea of practice and winning over academics. Which in the long run is detrimental to the student athlete. Although that athlete may receive a scholarship he/she may not succeed academically in college. This is the reason for colleges requiring their athletes to have a specific GPA and also meet a certain number of study hall hours per week Although we recognize this has a problem. We continue to praise student athletes and treat them like celebrities.

A solution I could think of is maybe we should raise the minimum GPA requirement to 2.5 instead of 2.0 That way we can insure that athletes are taking their academics more seriously and that they aren't just barely getting by.

"Once the cheering stops: The life of a retired pro-athlete"

The life of a retired athlete is hard. The transition of constantly being in the spotlight to being a nobody is hard. Some athletes struggle with just their daily routine. Football players were so used to having a set schedule everyday of the week. Now when they retire they have so much free time they have no idea what they want to do. Most retired athletes struggle financially. They are still spending money like they are still playing. Which leads to most athletes being broke. Most of them not only provide for themselves and their family, but they also help their extended family and their friends. They spend their money on unnecessary things, because they want to be in the spotlight and see everyone that they have all this money. I think athletes struggle with this transition because of most are so immature when they sign these big contracts and after they are done playing they do not know how to conserve their money. I think it is crazy how you can go broke after earning so much money. I know for a fact that I would not be spending my money carelessly.

"Sport, Politics and the Olympics"

During the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City there were two main events known as the student massacre and racial protest. The student protest took place at the Tlateloco Plaza. The students protested the incarceration of members of the National Student Strike Committee. The students were then murdered in cold blood by army platoons. There wasn't an exact count of the number of dead students but there was an estimate of 337 students.

In regards to Sage and Eitzen's idea of Vehicle of Change in Society seems to relate to the 1968 Olympics. The reason being is that Mexico wanted to show others that they were emerging and did not need to be associated with the title "third world" anymore. But then this caused the students to protest because they believed that their were other issues that they should of dealt with before they considered hosting the Olympic games.

I would say that politics is involved in sports. An example we can see is the 1968 games. Since students felt that there were political issues that should of been discussed or that should have been dealt with before the games. Since this did not happen this was one of the main reasons for the student massacre.

"London Calling: The Globalization of the NFL"

Globalization of the NFL would be cool in London. But it seems that it would be a realistic idea. The reason being is it hard to expand a sport all the way across the world. The reason that this would even be an idea is that the NFL would be looking to receive more revenue then what it is already getting.
London would be an ideal spot is because although the English premier league is big over there has been a pretty good turnout for the NFL games that have taken place. Although the stadium would not fill like it would in the US the NFL believes it would generate more revenue by expanding. One of the facilitators of this is that NFL owners have stakes owned in English Premier League teams. One of the disadvantages of expanding that comes to mind is traveling. The amount of time that it would take to travel overseas to play a game every week would be ridiculous. That would not be beneficial for the opposing team to have to travel that far. Athletes would not be willing to travel that far to play a single every year maybe even twice a year if they have to go there during the playoffs. I like the idea of playing a game there once a year but, I do not agree with trying to have an expansion team over in London.

"Sociogenesis of Boxing"

Boxing first originated when a person first lifted their fist against another in play. Ancient Greeks believed boxing or "fist fighting" was a sport played by the gods on Olympus. This was the reason that it became apart of the Olympic Games in 688 BC. During the Roman period boxers wore leather bands around their fists and sometimes metal-filled leather hand covering called "cesti". This would sometimes result in bloody, duel-to-death fights. Early on boxing resembled street fights. It wasn't until 1743 that modern rules were established such as eliminating hitting below the belt line. Rounds were limited to 3-minute rounds and the use of gloves were mandatory. The increasing popularity of boxing has lead to weight classes being developed. Boxing has become a controversial topic. The reason it has become a issue is because of its violent nature and its identification with betting. Even though it has become an issue boxing still remains internationally popular.



Early Boxing




Modern Boxing

"Sport in Ancient World"

The Olympic games of ancient Greece was considered the "ultimate athletic event". They fought naked because their bodies were considered to be glorified and perfect. Religion was considered a big part of the Olympics. Those who earned the championship title were considered to be favored by gods. The Olympics were a form of entertainment for all the citizens. Some of the events were boxing, wrestling, sprinting etc.

In Rome Gladiators fought until death. I kind of knew this based on watching the movie gladiator. They would participate in these games in order to regain their freedom that was once taken away from them. These games were a form of entertainment which audiences admired.

"Sport, Society & Me"

Sports have always been a big part of my family. From my dad to my brother and sisters down to me. Sports is a connection and similar interest we all share. Football is a big part of my life. I did not start playing till my junior year in high school but ever since then I have fallen in love with the sport. Football has blessed me with the opportunity to attend this school to get a great education as well as do what I love to do. Football came about one day when I was talking to some of my friends and they convinced me to try out one day and everything just seemed to fall in place after that.

I believe that sports plays a positive role in US society. I think it creates traits such as teamwork, friendships, hard work, self discipline and many other things. It brings people of all ethnicity together. I've come to this conclusion because as an athlete myself I can tell that  I have developed some of these traits. Athletes are thought of as highly in society. I think they are looked to as role models among younger individuals. I think that they are respected but some people believe that athletes are spoiled and that they get paid way too much to play a game.

Sports Ethic

According to Hughes and Coakley sports ethic refers to defining what it means to be a real athlete. There are four dimensions of this concept:

1. Making sacrifices for the game
2. Striving for distinction
3. Accepting risks and playing through pain
4. Not accepting any limits in pursuit of possibilities

Hughes and Coakley talk about how athletes conform to these dimensions and these dimensions begin to become a norm and become a distraction or a disruption to the everything in their lives. Their personal lives such as family, relationships, even their own health suffer from these norms. The reason this happens is because athletes love their sport, for some it is their life. Some athletes are so attached because they have been playing the sport at such a young age. I have experienced one of the four dimensions, I've experienced making sacrifices for the game. During the year I only get to spend about a month and a half at home the reason being is because I am at school training getting ready for the up-coming season. I do it because I love and care to much about my sport.

Sport(S) in the US

There are a lot of sports that go on within the US. But there are a few popular sports that most of us watch. Those sports are football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. All these sports share similar characteristics. They all involve competition where athletes go against one another. They all involve training where athletes push their bodies to the limit in order to be physically prepared for their upcoming season. I am a division 1 athlete and game day to me is a unique experience. Usually there are tons of fans tailgating before the game. Both teams are represented on game day. Before the game commentators are previewing key match ups that they believe will help dictate the outcome of the game. Success in sports in measured on how much someone wins. By that I mean how many championships he/she wins or how many individual accolades someone wins. A trait I would associate a successful athlete is commitment. I believe you have to be committed to yourself first. That means that you do the necessary things in order to give yourself the best opportunity to be successful. I think it is important to entertain your viewers and keep them interested in viewing the sport.