My name is Michael Berti, and I'm from Troy, Michigan. Troy is about 30 minutes north of Detroit. I transferred to BGSU two years ago after attending Oakland University for a couple years. I decided to come to Bowling Green because of the Sport Management program. In high school I played baseball and hockey. I still play hockey in the senior leagues at the BGSU ice arena, and would love to continue to play baseball but my summers are always too busy to join a league.
The female athlete I would like to see compete is Brittney Griner. She is so dominate at her sport and she is very tall. Female athletes like her only come along every so often. I haven't seen many women's basketball games in person, besides going to a couple BGSU games. It would be interesting to see someone of her size and talent play against people much shorter than she is.
The male athlete I want to see compete in person is Jonathan Quick. I love watching him play because of his goal-tending style. He is not a typical butterfly goalie, he is very athletic, improvises a lot and is very quick in net (no pun intended). The Kings are one of my favorite teams and once Martin Brodeur retires, then Quick will be my new favorite goalie. If the Kings play in Detroit this upcoming season (if there isn't a lockout) then I will for sure get tickets to the game.
As far as this class goes, I am interested to learn how perceptions of gender and sport has changed over the last 30+ years.
I agree with your interest in Jonathan Quick. As an ice hockey goalie myself, I think it is very interesting to see how the position has evolved not only over a longer period of time in the NHL, but just in the 16 years that I have played a position. The position has changed from one which goaltenders would look to take up space through the use of larger and more square equipment, to today's style of play that highlights athleticism and quickness. I think it is interesting that Brodeur and Quick are your favorite goalies, as comparing the two of them shows the big difference in the emerging goaltender style compared to that of the past. Brodeur is a goalie of the old NHL, where simply getting in the way and not relying on fundamental positioning became his speciality with his use of the now extinct pad-stack method. Quick on the other hand has been highlighted and really brought into the spotlight for his athleticism, which I think is going to be a growing trend with the quickness of the post-lockout NHL due to the change in obstruction penalties.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteI play in the Senior Leagues as well so maybe we will get to compete out there. Hope to see you on the ice.
Geoff Roberts
Hi Michael,
ReplyDeleteI can see from the response to your post that hockey will be a popular topic for us to discuss in class. I was not familiar with the term that you used to describe some hockey goalies (i.e., butterfly). Marc explained some of the distinctions that we see today. I have seen the BGSU goalie (Andrew Hammond) play some this past year and was quite impressed with how many saves he made. You also mentioned that you would be interested in seeing Brittney Griner and I wondered if you got a chance to see her when Baylor played at the Stroh? I took a picture of her dunking during the warm-up and will probably share it in class (or on a blog) sometime soon. It was very interesting to follow some of the discussion about Griner on social networking sites. I'm sure we'll talk about that in class too.
I look forward to reading more of your entries.
Dr. Spencer