Class Reflection

This class has broadened my view on the Sports Culture that we have in America by the analyzing and depicting the all aspects of Sport. Before this class I viewed sports at a very face-value level. I never thought to question why sports are what they are... they just are! But through this class I have learned to interrogate the lessons and ideals that are presented to Americans through sports and how it overlaps into other aspects of culture. I've learned that Sport is not easy to separate from here in America and that that is a very direct outcome of the intentions of the people involved in the higher levels of sports, especially the Big Four. I would highly recommend this class my friends because I think it gives a unique perspective of the analytical process. As an English major I've only been asked to analyze text and this was a great new experience.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger

In the documentary, steroids are looked at in the beginning as an enhancement to the human body that is unnatural, unsafe, and should be regarded as illegal. As the documentary continues, the reality of the changes that the bodies go through with certain substances or changes to the body internally, without substances, is more critiqued and made to not seem so bad. Which, in my opinion, is what reflects the reality of sports and "enhancements."
The men in the documentary are taking and have taken steroids to be better at what they do in a faster manner, with stronger muscles to increase their performance. This is prompted by the role models that they grew up with and perpetuated by American society to be better more quickly. Hulk Hogan is quoted as saying that people need to be "Real Americans" which exemplifies this theory that "Real Americans" are the biggest, baddest, people and that everyone should aspire to be them. Well if every American did just that, we would see the masses using steroids on a daily basis and there would be no concern. It's okay for Hulk Hogan to promote that, while using steroids, but not okay for people to strive for that goal in the same way he reached it?
Bell's research presents the best argument, that all things need moderation, and that there really is no safe drug. Everything has both positive and negative factors and this is shown by the example of the reading off of the side effects of Vitamin C in the documentary. While steroids may have a negative connotation, they also can give some life saving side effects, like to people suffering from AIDS.
This article and the documentary didn't change my view on steroids, I've never thought of them in a negative light because I've had asthma since I was 2 which means that I used to use an inhaler all the time, in-taking steroids just to breath.

Crime and Punishment

They Ray Rice incident is just one of many examples of NFL and sports-world tragedies where a player in an abuser is a relationship. Unfortunately, the actions of athletes that are shown in media are dependent on the race of the accused, and Ry Rice was used as an example to America of what an abuser looks like. With the point being made in the article by Dave Zirin on Kurt Busch that white athletes accused of domestic violence are not portrayed in media as the monsters that they too are. They too meaning in addition to their black counterparts also being accused of domestic violence, but the black athletes are being publicly scrutinized while the white athletes are getting little to no public repercussion. Even in the case of domestic violence leading to death, nothing was said about domestic violence against women, discussed in Zirin's article about questioning the NFL as a force against domestic violence.

The three most popular forms of crime most prevalent in US Sport do not surprise me. Sexual assault probably is a"Blurred Lines" attitude from players towards women who want the attention of the players, but not the sexual tendencies that they probably insinuate. Also, even if a person does not want sex at all, the player probably has a mentality that they are better than that, that they cannot be told no, and they won't take no for an answer. As far as substance and illegal weapons abuse, I think it's probably a mentality that they have enough money not to get caught in their illegal activities. That doesn't make it okay, but what would you do if you thought you'd never caught doing anything that you knew you weren't supposed to?

Zirin, Dave. "Kurt Busch, Ray Rice and How Sports Disseminates the Burdens of Racism." Kurt Busch, Ray Rice and How Sports Disseminates the Burdens of Racism. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Zirin, Dave. "Yes, I 'Question the NFL's Commitment' to Being a Force Against Domestic Violence." Yes, I 'Question the NFL's Commitment' to Being a Force Against Domestic Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.

Is Sport a safe space for LGBT athletes?

I think that in its entirety, Sport is not a safe place for LGBT athletes because athletes are either hyper masculine or hyper feminine, but as Collins points out, "Pro basketball is a family," and with the 'Three Degrees of Jason Collins' rule, then everyone knows him on some level. If everyone that had met him personally spread to the rest of the organization that he was a good person regardless of his sexual preference, then I think that it could vary as a safe space between some sports, but that depends on the players involved. So as microcosms, yes I think it's safe.
Careers could drastically change if LGBT athletes 'came out' during their playing careers. Collins points out that he's glad he waited but also that life is short and not to wait too long. If players were to come out during their careers, especially mid season, other players would question the wrong things (like the integrity of the player) and immediately jump to negative conclusions about the player's intent without being given time between games to think those questions through and realize that nothing about the player has actually changed. When given some breathing room, people can think more logically and clearly and not make harsh comments based on immediate decisions.
If we lived in a perfect world, the microcosms of sport would be inclusive of everyone playing that sport, be they male, female, both, anywhere in between, and regardless of sexual preferences. If each smaller group of specific sports could do that, then as a whole, Sport would be a more open space for athletes to identify the current injustices that they face for feeling outside "the norm" of what an athlete is "supposed" to be.


Collins, Jason. "Why NBA Center Jason Collins Is Coming out Now." SI.com. Sports Illustrated, 29 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.

Hoop Dreams: Is sport a viable passport out of poverty?

A main difference between West Garfield  (WG) and St. Joseph’s (ST’s) is that the socioeconomic status is highly contrasted, with West Garfield being a predominantly black school and SJ’s being a school of mixed race, with a lot of white kids there. The WG neighborhood had a heavy influence of poorer people that couldn’t afford much and focused their time on buying or selling drugs, while SJ’s had people that were not only able to pay for the private school they went to, but have nice things as well. While it was great that both William and Arthur had the opportunity to attend SJ’s, they did not end up with similar outcomes from being given the opportunity. William went farther than he would have at WG, at the expense of his athletic health after injuring his knee repetitively and only after the owner of Encyclopedia Britannica paid for his tuition; Arthur was looked at as expendable. Because he couldn’t make the money for his schooling, Arthur was sent back to the other school in the less fortunate area while living with a fatherless family in a sometimes electricity-free house because his mom had lost her disability and they could no longer afford the extras that most people look at as having a right to and not as a privilege. 

While basketball was each of the boys’ entire lives and that was a good motivation for each of them, they were looked at as tokens for their family and almost set up to only be basketball players. Grades were an important factor in the beginning but with the divide in surrounding socioeconomic status, Arthur was looked at solely for basketball (especially by his father) and William was struggling with juggling being a father, an injured basketball player, and a student.

I don’t think that my view of the idea of sports being a “passport to poverty” has changed. While it’s a great concept, it seldom works out for multiple people in one area. It isn’t always a good thing to those that come across the fortune either, especially when people start coming out of the woodworks. So the people that don’t encounter it can actually be just as unfortunate or more fortunate than those that do make it big playing a skilled sport from a young age as far as relationships go.

Interrogating the Presentation of Gender in Sports Advertising

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xktClf_d188&spfreload=10

This Carl's Junior Super Bowl commercial features Terrell Owens (TO), a former 15 season wide receiver of the NFL, being handed a burger from a woman who represents love. Not only is the color scheme alternating (dark being hatred in Philadelphia and light and bright being represented in what I'm assuming is California) but the women in each of these roles is drastically different as well. The more than half naked, blonde, large busted woman represents the love of his former professional career while the dark side happens to have fully clothed women, and TO doesn't directly interact with either of them. The love is a woman bringing him food and wiping off his mouth as he's eating, typical woman fawning over a man, she's his mistress. While on the side of being hated, he doesn't have any interaction with people other than a young boy (who looks to be African-American) telling him that he sucks. This commercial exemplifies that (stereo typically "hot") women belong to men as objects of their attention. It also divides race lines even further. While there is a darker complected woman next to TO in the commercial she is not clearly any one race and also does not have a speaking role. This is very much showing the example that it is rare for people of color to "make it big," and in another way stating that there's little chance for women to be seen as beautiful unless they are portrayed in a certain light.

"Terrell Owens Official Website- Six Time Pro Bowl Wide Receiver and Philanthropist." NexGEN Gallery RSS. Web. October 23, 2014.

Exploring the Hegemonic Gendering Process

  

In our dominant US society, “Real Women” are categorized as sexy, demure, appealing, appeasing, maternal, eccentric, and slender but with a thick form in certain parts of the body, creative, artistic creatures. If you notice, some of those words are contradictory.  This is because women are supposed to be the right amount of public beauty with the right amount of bedroom fun for their husbands or male lover. Because they have to be married, which speaks to the fact that they have to have children as well, and if not yet married they should show interest in men and be actively seeking their male mate. All these “have-tos” and “do’s and don’ts” are part of the unrealistic characteristics that make a “perfect” woman. Showing emotion is expected, but annoying and generally unwanted in conversations with a man, but is also looked down on or seen as inferior when it’s “girl-talk.”

This first song demonstrates and makes fun of the "norms" that have dominated country music recently. 

The second song, while I personally like it, feeds in to the aforementioned stereotypes. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MOavH-Eivw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl1uv6gB4hE

 

I think a “Real Woman” is someone who follows her passions in life. Whether she wants to join the Army, or be an Air Force wife, or even be a man. I think that people in general should take responsibility for their actions. This includes but is not limited to: raising children that you birth or making sure that they are taken care of elsewhere, speaking your mind and loving whoever you so choose and not keeping quiet for fear that you’ll be rejected by society. As far as challenging the status quo, I think the show Orange is The New Black is perfect because it shows so many variations of women. Between their passions, backgrounds, lifestyles, and past and present experiences, the writer’s of this show made a point of including every type of “Real Woman” that they could with all different choices and directions in life. In my life, the women that I think of as “Real Women” vary incredibly. My 10^th grade Humanities teacher that came to America when she was 5-years-old, joined the Air Force and then got married and had two kids, my best friend who moved out of her hometown of Lodi to Monterey with 5 dollars and is now living with her boyfriend and expecting her first child and is financially independent from even her roommate-boyfriend, my Great-Aunt who was in Hells Angels with her husband of forty years and never had kids, my sister who is a lesbian and lives with her girlfriend, and my mother who raised me being both the dad and the mom in our household.

This song is also a country song that I think perfectly explains being yourself that I agree with when I think of a "Real Woman."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ8xqyoZXCc