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 

Competitive Balance

Throughout the history of sports, there have been numerous athletes that earned the title of being controversial. Some athletes create controversy because of their attitude, while other athletes seem to never stay out of trouble with the law. In class Tuesday, we talked about Richard Raskind who is now known as Renee Richards. I never heard of Renee Richards before learning about her in class and I really thought that she was a unique person to talk about. She is the first person that I know in sports to do a sex change. I know alot of tolerant people may consider Raskind to be a cheat just because she is actually a male playing a woman’s sport. I believe that if a man chooses to have gender reassignment surgery, that's his own decision, but I believe they ought to then forfeit the right to compete in women's sports. I mean if a male chooses to become a woman and they feel as though they should have the right to play in a women’s sport, I think that is unfair. I have nothing against people who wish to do a sex change, but when it comes to then playing in sports, I disagree. I don’t know why or how people could get upset about that. Being male gives distinct physical advantages (size, muscle build, and ability to gain muscle mass) that are an unfair advantage against actual females, so of course most males would be dominate in a women’s sport unless the women is like a BEAST (which is always cool for a woman to beat a man J). But then I think to myself, what if a female did a sex change to become a male. Should they be denied to play a male’s sport? Then as I was reading in the PowerPoint slides from class, "that at the time she fought for the right to play women's tennis, she suggested that due to loss of strength (from taking hormones) , she was more like a woman" (N. Spencer, Personal Communication, November 20, 2012). Should that be taken into consideration? I believe to keep everything fair, men who were born men should play in male sports and the same goes for women and if they wish to pursue sports after having a sex change that they should forfeit.

Alicia Jefferson

Notre Dame Back on Top - Pat McFall

As many of you probably know, I can be seen sporting a Notre Dame pullover along with a Notre Dame hat almost every day in class. With their recent success this season, they have secured the #1 spot in the BCS rankings and will most likely play in the National Championship. While I am most happy for them because I am a die-hard fan, I also think this is one of the best things to happen to college football in a while. There are two kinds of people. People who love Notre Dame, and people who hate them. I'll be honest and say that Notre Dame really hasn't been relative since the 80's, winning their last National Championship in 1988 against West Virginia. There was a spurt between 04'-06' where we were on the right path, but took a wrong turn somewhere and got smacked by Ohio State. We have had some close games this year against Michigan, Stanford, Pittsburgh, and BYU. However, we are the only team that can be ranked in the BCS ( Ohio State ) to have played a full schedule and remain undefeated. This is good for college football because Notre Dame has one of the biggest fan bases in the country. The National Championship will get so many people watching the game because of our storied tradition. It also seems like the powerhouses of college football are returning to glory. These teams being Notre Dame, Alabama, Ohio State, etc. I just wanted to throw this out there, and see what everyone else had to say about this situation. I know it might seem like we can't stack up against the SEC in Alabama or Georgia, but stranger things have happened. No one expected Ohio State to beat Miami in 2002, Alabama to lose to Texas A&M, or Ohio State to go undefeated this year. Hopefully when the game is all set and done, Manti Te'o is holding the crystal ball.

There is also a pretty good article I found that will explain how the T.V. ratings for this game will be the highest in some time.

http://sports.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981776940

Patrick McFall

Aaron Crouse - Turkey Trouble

The Thanksgiving holiday can largely be summed up into the three F’s: Family, Food, and Football.  At my typical family Thanksgiving, we usually attempt to time it so the turkey is finished cooking right when halftime of the Detroit Lions game is set to take place so we can miss as little of the game as possible.  The NFL has scheduled its Thanksgiving games to include games being played by the Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, and a third primetime flex game that features different teams on a rotating basis.  These games have become traditions in many households across the country and events that families build their holiday around.  While the NFL has made a conscious effort to preserve these traditional games, the same cannot be said for the NCAA.  Much to my disappointment, this year marked the first time in a while that Texas and Texas A&M did not face off on Thanksgiving night.  Even though the “Lone Star Showdown” was one of the oldest and fiercest rivalries in the country, money has gotten in the way of providing this matchup.

            In 2010, the University of Texas signed a 20-year, $300 million deal with ESPN in order to produce the Longhorn Network.  This deal (in my opinion) was the first step that lead to the NCAA seeing conference realignment explode out of control.  Much like the Notre Dame situation with NBC, members of the Big 12 Conference were extremely upset at the idea of the Longhorn Network, especially considering its advantages in media coverage and as a recruiting tool.  As a result, we have seen massive movements of teams throughout the country.  Texas A&M (who still would like to have Texas on its schedule) along with Missouri moved to the SEC, TCU (who Texas played this Thanksgiving) and West Virginia take their sports, the WAC, Conference USA, and Mountain West losing many of their top teams (Boise St, San Diego St, UCF) to the Big East, and most recently Maryland and Rutgers joining the Big 10.  There is no longer a geographical sense to college football conferences.  The whole landscape of college football has become all about who can land the largest TV deals, highest ticket prices, and automatic bowl bids and less about maintaining rivalries, being feasible for fans to attend games, and making travel for athletes realistic.  As I turned on Texas vs. TCU for a brief moment on Thanksgiving night, I could not but help being disappointed in thinking that I could have been watching Heisman favorite Johnny Manziel and #9 Texas A&M battling it out against their arch rivals in a game that could have had huge BCS implications.  Instead, I am left to hope that the NCAA bowl committee may matchup up these two teams in the Cotton Bowl so that their storied tradition can be continued.  What is going on right now in college football is just not right.  As much as I loved watching the sport, it is getting frustrating to see money and greed getting in the way of putting the best product on the football field.