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.