Looking back on this semester, I can say that Sport and Gender was an interesting class. I really wasn't sure what the class was going to consist of at first. I really liked how open all of the discussions were as well. It was a very comfortable atmosphere to speak freely. Dr. Spencer did a great job covering a lot of different issues throughout sports. She is truly a sports fanatic.

As far as the blogs, journals, and comments, I started out doing I think only one journal. After that I decided to comment on other people's blogs. I was very interested in seeing what other people had to say and then giving my opinion. There were a lot of blogs every week that were able to implement very unique aspects about the topics we were covering which made it fun to see them and then think about that topic in their point of view.

Overall, I think that this was a very interesting class that pointed out a lot of flaws in the sports world. I would definitely recommend this class to other people and think that it opened my eyes to a lot of different issues throughout the sports world.

Matt Pitzulo

Conclusion- Paxin Stern

When I first took this class, I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought it was all it was going to be about was the women and sports. But, as the semester got started, I learned that it was much more than that. It was comparing females to males, looking at disabilities in sport, looking at the racial aspect, the sexuality aspect of it. This class covered much more than I thought it would when I first came into it. My favorite part of the class was picking a group at the beginning and sticking with the group and being able to work together on the in class assignments as well as the outside. This helped be able to discuss the topics more in-depth and get others point of view on it, since not many people speak out in class discussions. Another part of the class that I enjoyed was the blog/comments every week. This also allowed you to be able to read what others were thinking, and it helped grasped concepts more. It was interesting to read each week what my peers thought about certain topics. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and the topics discussed. Coming into the class, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it because I wasn't sure what to expect. But, as time went on, this came to be my favorite class. The variety of topics were also rather interesting to me, and were always fun to learn and talk about.

Conclusion-Mike Frank

Coming into this class I expected it to be focused on women in sport and how they are constantly fighting an uphill battle. My first impression was that I was right with the way discussions started out but that changed as the semester went on.

            I learned a lot about the history of sport in this class. I did not know anything about hockey history of some of the Olympic history and I found that all to be very interesting. It was also to see the views of people outside the game of baseball compared to mine.

            

           The blogs gave me a chance to voice my opinion on topics that I wanted to. I mainly did comments all semester and this was because I had a hard time typing 250 words on a specific topic.

            I have not seen all of the presentations yet but I found the radio show presentation very interesting and creative. It was also very informative and well done. I really thought it was creative how they put the callers into their presentation.

            The most important thing I take from this class is the knowledge I have gained about the history of sport. It will help me when I encounter problems out in the field to know what has happened in the past. I will be able to better assess the situation and make a more educated decision. 

Conclusion - Tyler Clifton

Coming into this class this semester i also wasnt really sure what to expect or what i was getting into. After the first day when everyone said that they were sport management majors and then got to me and i said communication major i felt a little awkward. But after going through the class i realized that my major didnt really matter and i found this class to be very interesting and fun and i really am glad that i decided to take it this semester. For the class we were asked to do blogs, journals, or comments and i just thought that i would tell everyone what i did this semester. I started out doing journals for like the first 3 weeks of class and then i started to do comments every week which i found to be much easier than writing a journal. Just to comment on the blogs and stuff that we did this semester i thought that it was pretty cool to do that because you got to see a lot of the other classmates opinions and thoughts about the topics that we talked about in class.

As i said earlier i wasnt really sure what i was getting myself into when i registered to take this class. But after all the class discussion and articles that we had to read i am really glad that i did take the course. I thought that there was alot of good discussions for some of the articles that we had for the class. For me though i think my favorite topic in the class was the topic on Micheal Jordan just because growing up i watched him play the game of basketball on TV. Now granted i never played baksetball in high school or anything like that but when i would play with my buddies at school or at home i would try and do some of the moves that he would do and it never worked out as well for me as it did for him. I think that Micheal Jordan is the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball and i think that he has done alot for the game of basketball wether it is on the court or off the court.

To conclude my conclusion for the class this semester i really just want to thank Dr. Spencer and Kara for making this class really interesting and fun. You guys really made me feel good about the class even though i didnt have a sport management major and i really appreciate that very much. So to just conclude i just want to say Thank You!!! for a great semester.

Conclusion - Joey Durant

Being part of this Sport and Gender class has made me aware of some aspects of sport that I never considered as an influential factor. The most eye-opening thing that sticks out to me from our class is the lack of homosexual athletes and support for them in different sports. Throughout our discussions in class we found it extremely difficult to identify many of these athletes, and most of the support was more of the "it doesn't matter" ideology rather than actual support for homosexual athletes. It is amazing that this hasn't seen much overwhelming support for change in any major sport industry. 

My favorite part of the class was being able to debate and discuss certain topics that I wouldn't normally get the chance to do. I don't get the chance to debate race or sex in sports with more than one or two people on a regular basis, so it was really interesting to get a wide range of views on these different topics. I also really liked learning about the influence Michael Jordan had on sport marketing because it is an area I would like to get in once I graduate. Jordan essentially created a new segment of sport management and created jobs by being the marketable face that he was.

Overall, this class was definitely enjoyable and I feel like a lot of the information that was taught will be useful to me in my pursuit for a job in sport marketing. I have a much better understand of the struggle that has happened for women and different ethnicities in sport, and can see how it will help me make changes in my views to create a better marketing environment in the future. Thanks for the great semester Professor Spencer and Kara!

Conclusion - Marc Horwitz

Our Sport & Gender course has really opened my eyes to the vast differences in sport when it comes to the divide between how men and women are perceived.  Not only did this course show me that the perception of the difference in skill is so vast, but we also covered concepts that I had never put any thought into such as individuals who are intersexed, who look to compete with the opposite gender, and who undergo extensive surgeries in order to alter their gender.  I think these topics, along with others such as covering the budgeting and equity in sport, were very important to all of us in the class.  As each of us in the class hope to someday obtain a position within the field of sport, I think it is important that we become acquainted with each of the topics that this course touched on, especially so that we can learn from how instances of gender differences were handled in the past so they can be improved upon in the future.

As I had stated during my portion of the presentation that my group had given last week, my favorite portion of the class was when we covered the Canadian Identity, and discussed the impact of hockey in the sport.  Being from the East Coast, I feel as though I may be even less familiar with Canadian culture than some individuals who are from this part of the country, being just an hour or so south of the border.  The discussion, along with having a member of the class being Canadian (thanks Ryan), really gave me a better appreciation for their culture in regards to sport, seeing as hockey has been my favorite sport for as long as I could imagine.  With this discussion, as well as the discussions regarding Lebron and Kobe in comparison to Jordan, I found it very interesting to look at players of the present and compare both their athletic talent as well as marketability to their Hall of Fame predecessors.  I also enjoyed how well the class interacted during these topics, as it seemed these discussions brought about some of the best classroom discussion that we had throughout the year.

While on the topic of discussion amongst classmates, I found the blogs to be equally as beneficial.  Being an individual who wrote a blog each week, I thought that these were a great way to put some of my ideas out there for the rest of the class to read since I am not one to necessarily speak up in the classroom.  Each week, I tried to post relevant blogs that went along with that week’s class discussion, and also looked to bring in outside sources such as videos or news articles that corresponded to what I was writing about. I hope that my blogs were interesting for my fellow classmates to read, as I know that I enjoyed looking through the postings of my classmates as well, especially those of my groupmates Aaron and Geoff, who always provided great information in their writings.  As mentioned in our presentation, I hope that blogs become a mandatory aspect of the class in future semesters, as I feel that they were very beneficial to become more acquainted with the given topic and found it very interesting to read about what my classmates thought.

As we conclude the course and give our final presentations, I feel as though each group that has presented thus far has brought something valuable to the classroom. I would have no problem pulling pieces of each presentation to highlight, as I thought every group that has gone did a great job. That being said, my favorite presentation so far was “Are Athletes Overpaid?”.  The group did a fantastic job breaking down salaries for each sport, and discussing why they believed that athletes are not overpaid. I agree with everything that this group brought up, and feel as though it is important that we do not overlook what these athletes go through to earn these salaries. The key thing to remember is that these salaries are earned. The top athletes in the league earn the highest revenue, rookies and lesser impact players work for league minimums; like any occupation, their salaries are earned and justified.

Overall, this course has been one that I thoroughly enjoyed.  While many of these concepts may not be things that I can put to further use in my future occupation which will hopefully be in professional sport, there was also plenty that I can take out of this course and consider in future endeavors.  Sport & Gender was definitely one of the more interesting Sport Management courses that I have taken, and one which I have enjoyed considerably.

Conclusion Ryan Viselli

As the class comes to an end, I have thoroughly enjoyed the class and in class discussions that took place.  I’ve learned a lot about not only gender in sports but also the sociology in sports and how it affects our society.  There were many examples and visuals shown throughout the class that explained the topics we were learning during in each discussion.  I thought it was very helpful and help me engage in the class.

     Something that was new to me in a classroom was writing a blog.  I have never written a blog before and I thought it was an interesting method of communicating with one another.  There were many topics and discussions that translated to class discussions, which I though was great interaction between students and Dr. Spencer.  There were also many group assignments that allowed people to voice their opinions.  This class provided a lot of interaction, which made me, stay focus through each class.

     There were many different topics and discussions that I was interested in and learned a lot from.  The most interesting topic for me was the business side of sports and how athletes are involved with endorsing products.  Learning about how Michael Jordan not only became the biggest star in the NBA but also a marketing genius.  He opened the door for today’s athletes and has allowed them to market products and not only expand their brand but also their own.  It showed that athletes aren’t just athletes, they are versatile in society. We put so much focus on them because society puts so much importance on sports and athletes are the people society wants to see. 

    I am really happy I took this class and now can look at sports from a different perspective.  I can understand the differences between genders from a female perspective and how they feel.  I know that the knowledge I’ve learned from this course I will use in the future whether it’s my job or talking about sports to others.  It will help me have an unbiased opinion when discussing different topics and appreciate different opinions when talking about sports.      

Aaron Crouse - Conclusion

In Sport and Gender SM 4250 we covered topics such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and physical disabilities as they related to sport.  While progress has been made throughout the past century in providing equal opportunities for all individuals to be able to participate in sport, there is clearly still work to be done.  These issues exist at all levels of sport including youth, high school, college, and professionally.  As sport managers, it is our role to make sure that the opportunity to participate in sport is provided to all willing participants while at the same time making sure that there is a safe and competitive environment available for individuals that face unique challenges to play in.

The information in the class that I found most useful were the articles and examples discussing athletes playing with the opposite gender, especially in youth and high school.  The stories of athletes such as Keeling Pilaro (Field Hockey), Erin DiMeglio (Football), and even Sam Gordon (football) have really made me think about the issue of mixing sport and gender, especially considering that I will most likely be faced with many of these issues in the future.  While I believe it is easy to support and cheer on these athletics from a fan’s perspective, it is a much different viewpoint when looking at these situations from the shoes of an athletic director or administrator.  As we watched videos and went over the articles in class relating to these athletes, I constantly asked myself “What would I do in these situations?”.  I think hearing about these athletes, their stories, and arguments in favor of playing with the opposite gender have definitely helped me to face a similar situation in the future.  While there are obviously certain Title IX and MSHAA/OHSAA guidelines that must also be followed in high school athletics, these athletes make a great case to why mixing sport and gender can be acceptable.

The reading that was most interesting to me was The Athletic Director’s Dilemma: $$$ & Women’s Sports written by Charles Kennedy.  I found his team index ratings based upon participation, scholarship, operating expenses, recruitment budget, and coaching salaries to be quite intriguing as he discussed the amount of money that is wasted in collegiate athletics.  As I want to be a high school or college AD in the future, I enjoyed working on the high school budgeting activity and making sure I was able to not cut any sports while taking care of the basic needs and accommodations necessary for student athletes to participate in sport.  It was an assignment that I definitely took personal pride in and put in a good amount of time to complete.  While I feel as if many other students felt it would not be a huge deal to cut certain sports or only providing funding for more successful or notable teams, I truly believe that a high school athletic program should be about providing opportunities for students to engage in an extracurricular competitive environment.  All successful high school athletic programs are able to develop student athletes by promoting high standards of academic excellence, character, and citizenship and this should be taken into higher consideration than winning, team record, or profitability when preparing a budget.

Keeping a blog helped me to provide my own opinion on the concepts discussed in class.  In writing blogs, I was able to review the articles that were talked about in class and also find additional resources that either shared the same opinion or provided a counter argument to what we had gone over.  I think there was a definite advantage to writing blogs in that I was able to receive feedback and comments from my classmates while also being able to see what they had to write about.  Obviously, there are a wide number of opinions on issues as many of us come from different athletic backgrounds and parts of the country.  Personally, I really enjoyed hearing the different sides to every argument and I would suggest that blogs become mandatory going forward rather than having a journal option available.

My favorite presentation was the topic focused around the question: “Are Athletes Overpaid?”.  As fans, I think it is very easy for us to complain about a professional athlete who is making millions of dollars for playing a game that we may have in our youth, high school, or college days.  However, when you look deeper into the situation and analyze sports as a business, the injury risks, time spend in training, and time athletes must spend away from their families the massive salaries suddenly appear more justified.  After analyzing the sacrifices that these athletes make, I have actually changed my viewpoint and now believe that most salaries, provided that the athlete performs, are justified.  As the presentation stated, as long as we (as fans) continue to purchase tickets, team apparel, and provide television ratings then we cannot complain about how much money goes into professional sports leagues.

As previously stated, the information from this class that I will be especially useful in my career are the guidelines and cases that have been made in support of and against mixing gender in sport.  Having discussed Title IX litigation along with the high school state rulings from around the country (Michigan, Ohio, New York, Florida) I know more about the legal aspects of having boy and girls play together on the same field at the high school level.  Almost more importantly, we have viewed the specific individual stories based upon these issues and have I have heard how the governing rules have had impacts on individuals, teams, and families. I am sure that at some point in my future I will be forced to handle a similar situation and I now have a better idea of how I am going to handle it as a result of taking this class.

Conclusion-Chelsea VanAssche

Coming into this class I really had no idea what to expect! I honestly cannot pinpoint just one thing I learned from this class. I swear every week I was learning new information about the concentrated topic we were discussing in class. I found several tools useful in learning the information in class. First, I enjoyed the blog/comments we were able to participate in every week. Unfortunately, I would love to see more participation of my peers in the blog/comments. I found it interesting from those who did decide to do a blog or comments, their opinions on certain topics we were discussing in class or applying what we have learned to sport news happening currently. I also found useful was being able to work in a group throughout the semester, by putting our heads together it gave myself a better comprehension of the material and allowed myself to see their opinion on a topic that maybe I did see before. Some topics that were interesting to me were sport, gender, and disabilities. I found this topic interesting because in the sports world I have only been introduced to those with disabilities participating in the Special Olympics. But based off the articles and class discussion, it opened my eyes to what those with disabilities can do and I never realized how much of a role gender played in sports for these individuals. The next topic I really found interesting was the dynamics of homophobia in men's sports. Generally, I find this topic really interesting because out of all the male athletes that participate in professional sports it crazy to comprehend that male athletes say in the closet during their career. In our society, as time has gone on it has been more acceptable to be gay, so why is it any different for gay males in sports? I hope to see progression for athletes in professional sports and I will continue to follow this topic as time goes on. By doing blog/comments, it opened my eyes to how others felt about topics and from their experiences were able to relate to our class discussion. In class, I would jot down ideas I could blog about and what I found most interesting from week to week which influenced my writing. I often found myself researching topics and information that I wanted to learn more about based off of reading someone else's blog entry which expanded my knowledge beyond our class discussions/lectures. I felt all the presentations in class were interesting because I felt in every class I was engaged in the material from class discussion, group discussion to group activities. But I found the most interesting that caught my attention every time with the topics were the videos that correlated with the information. For example, when our class discussed Kobe and his sexual assault allegations I was able to see firsthand the press conference in class understanding his emotions we talked about prior to seeing the video. I found the information I learned in class to stick with me throughout the semester if I had we had an in class video. The information I found useful in this class that I plan to take into my career is understanding that differences of gender face in sport. For example, my dream job is to work for the Detroit Tigers as Director of Community Relations, when planning any events I will take account equal opportunities for boys and girls. I want to work hard to provide equal opportunities to those such as athletes with disabilities or of the LBGT community to connect with sports through my career. This class has opened my eyes to information and individuals in the sports world I never knew existed, my keeping an open mindset like I did throughout my class will not only benefit myself but the organization, sports fans, and athletes I work with. This has been my favorite sport management class I have taken thus far because I was constantly engaged in the class and continually made me aware of topics/issues in the sports world I never knew existed. Thank you Dr. Spencer for a great class and semester! (Kara too!) :)

Conclusion - Geoff Roberts

This semester has been a whirlwind for me personally.  There has been a ton going on and I am thankful that it is near the end.  On top of classes, my participation in athletics broadcasting was increased more than ever.  I was the main play-by-play for volleyball, did a few football games, basketball games, and have served as one of the main color commentators for hockey so far.  This class was one of the more interesting classes that I had this semester. 

One of the most interesting portions of the class has been blogging.  It is interesting to see what people think about the topics in class.  It seems that people are much more open with opinions in the blog as opposed to in class.  This is definitely understandable though.  It is harder to voice a thought on the spot verbally than it is to take some time and write a blog.  I want to thank my group members Marc Horwitz and Aaron Crouse for providing a lot of really good discussion.

The most interesting topics to me were Latin/Asian Identity in Sport, Males in Female Sports like Field Hockey, and Canadian Identity.  I liked Canadian Identity the most probably because I love Ice Hockey and I grew up across the border from Canada.  My hometown of Port Huron, Michigan is the place where Lake Huron flows into the St. Clair River and Sarnia, Ontario is right across the river.  Because of the location, I grew up with CBC and have experienced a lot of Canadian Media on that channel.  Canada always fascinates me with their devotion to sports like hockey and their general goodwill.  I certainly would not mind living and working in that country someday.  The exploration of Canadian Identity helped to supplement the understanding of Canadians that I gained from the somewhat extensive amounts of time I spent in places like Sarnia, Toronto, London, Niagara Falls, and Windsor growing up (all in Ontario). 

I think doing a blog helped me really break down the information and content and apply it to a real-life situation.  It also helped to force me to look more into the issues presented in class.  In future uses, this will be vital.  As we all move up in our chosen careers in sport, it will become increasingly more important to take issues like the ones discussed in class into consideration.  The world is certainly changing.  People are more open with who they are and rightfully demand the opportunity to enjoy and succeed in sport.  It will be our job as future sport managers to use what we learned in class to ensure a level playing field for all.  I, for one, am excited to get to it. 

Conclusion

The semester is almost over! Boy did time fly by! My overall impression of the class was good. I really learned a lot in the class. I believe that a lot of the different topics that we covered in class can really help me out in my career, especially since I want to do Sport Psychology. I was able to look at the different aspects of sports when it came to gender and the relationships among gender, sexuality and sport and I really think that this is something that I can take and apply it into my career. I really enjoyed doing the blogs, because I was able to see everyone’s opinions on certain topics. I wish there was more people that did blogs, because it did get kind of boring after a while, seeing the same people post blogs. I can say that Aaron Crouse and Marc Horwitz were a few of the best bloggers! I really enjoyed reading their blogs, especially the one that Aaron wrote about Magic Johnson and South Park. I would have never thought to do something like that, so good job to him. What I found most useful was the PowerPoints, in class discussions and also the blogs. It helped me understand things better when I didn't understand something first off in class. The reading that I found most interesting was the Williams Sisters one that we read at the beginning of the semester or during the middles of the semester. Still to this day, I find it very shocking how fans reacted and I don’t blame the sisters for ever going back either. Keeping a blog really helped me express my opinions on things that I wasn't able to in class, because I know that I can be pretty shy and not talk during class. I really enjoyed the class because we were able to do in class discussions, so class didn't get boring. I would definitely recommend all my peers to take this class with Dr. Spencer! (: 

Alicia Jefferson