Sex Sells Sex, Not Women's Sports - Dan Pesato

This article basically states exactly what the title means. Sex sells sex, it doesn't sell women's sports. There is an assumption that sexualizing female athletes is the most effective way to promote women's sports, but this is not true. When Sports Illustrated publishes its swimsuit issue males are very interested in buying the issue, but this doesn't mean that their interest in women's sport has increased. They are usually solely interested in the sexual aspect of the certain athlete. The true marketing campaigns for women's athletics emphasizes the nature of women's sports, highlighting the connection between fathers and daughters. The message is supposed to come as women's sports embrace traditional "family values." They did a survey on the "sex sells" approach, and found that the majority of women and older people found this approach to be very offensive. This survey also showed that the younger males would say that the sex sells approach is "hot", but it didn't increase their interest in women's sports, mainly when it came to actually attending a sporting event.

The key takeaway for me is that I am happy to see that people do not follow women's sports solely because they are "hot". There will always be judgment about women in sport when it comes to sexuality, but the survey did snow that sex sells sex, not women's sport.

Linsanity: The Rise of Jeremy Lin and why he is worth more than $25 million. -Zane Langdon

Jeremy Lin is the definition of a success story.  He started off in Palo Alto, California and received no scholarship for his athletic abilities, he went to play basketball at Harvard (where he also graduated with a degree in Economics).  After Lin went undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft, he looked to latch on to an NBA team.  If he did not succeed within a year he was going to forgo his basketball career and look to put his Harvard degree to use.  Lin then signed a contract with his hometown Golden State Warriors, and in Tebow-esque fashion the team held a press conference for their undrafted, highly doubted reserve point guard.  Also following the strange pattern, Lin got a contract from Nike and his jersey was available to buy at the team store, something that is usually reserved for the better players on the team.  Lin also activated for his first NBA game on Asian Heritage Night, when he went in with 2:32 in the game, he was met with a standing ovation (ESPN Article).  Later on that season, Lin also played in Toronto's Asian Heritage Night, which drew a large crowd of Chinese media members (ESPN).  After the NBA's lockout in which Lin worked to become a better player he was cut twice, once by the Warriors and then by the Rockets. Lin was then signed by the Knicks to help bolster their injury plagued backcourt.  Then Linsanity began on February 4th.  In a game against the Nets and their all-star point-guard Lin posted career highs in points, rebounds, and assists.  After the game, he gained support from Carmelo Anthony, the teams superstar. who told the the coach to play him more.  Lin's play in the following week earned him NBA Player of the Week, during this time span he averaged 27.3 points and 8.3 assists, becoming the first player in NBA history to get at least 20 and 7 in his first 4 NBA starts (NBA press release).  Lin's capping moment of that stretch is when he hit his game winning shot against the Raptors (which can be seen here).  In the off-season, Lin was a restricted free agent, giving the Knicks the chance to match any offer on him that any team made, someone in the organization made the comment they would pay him up to a billion dollars.  But then the Houston Rockets came in and made an offer that had a "poison pill" in it.  On Lin's contract, he would make 5 million, 5.225 million then the poison pill of 14.8 million in the third year (ESPN).  Lin's contract leads to the argument of why he is worth more than $25 million dollars to the Houston Rockets and the NBA. 

The financial impact of Jeremy Lin and Linsanity is something that is truly astounding.  When Yao Ming came into the NBA, that generated a lot of interest from the Asian markets as he was one of the first Chinese players to succeed in the NBA.  After a few attempts by other players, Sun Yue and Yi Jianlian, there was not much for the Asian fans to latch onto after Yao's career was shut down due to his injuries.  The initial success of Linsanity was mind boggling and unprecedented, even for Michael Jordan.  In a span of 5 days from the beginning of Linsanity in New York last year, the Madison Square Garden stock (who owns the Knicks) rose 9.2%, his impact on the television was incredible too, with a rise of viewership of his games increasing 70%.  In a week, the Knicks website was viewed at 550% more than it had been the previous week.  Finally, the jersey sales were through the roof.  Madison Square Gardens store saw an increase in traffic of 3,000% and the NBA store said that his jersey quickly moved to the 10th spot of the most popular (the article was published on 2/15/12, Lin started 2/4/12) (McCarthy and Yu, 2012).  All of those numbers just came within the first week of Lin's unprecedented success.   He was truly a transforming icon for the Asian community across the globe.  With Lin signing in Houston, it sets him up in a great position.  Prior to Lin, the Rockets had the afore mentioned Yao Ming.  With the Rockets success with Lin, they became a popular entity in Asia.  People were doing whatever was possible to get the Rockets game to watch Yao, buy his jersey, whatever they could do to watch their cultural icon play.  With this success, the Rockets became globally popular, which means they make more money.  With exclusive television deals and arena naming rights of the Toyota Center which was worth $100 million dollars.  While the deal came into place when Yao was playing for the Rockets, Lin's ability to keep the endorsement dollars flowing from Asian based companies will continue to benefit the Rockets greatly.  If they were to get another deal with an Asian based company like the one with Toyota, their investment in Lin is well worth it.  Lin has proven he has a huge potential market and is worth a lot of money, so the justification is there even if he does not perform to his contract standards.  The Asian people have proven that they will stand behind Lin, so the Rockets are smart to benefit from this and thus making him worth his money. 

Wesley Hall - Fallon Fox Fighting to Fight

Florida State Boxing Commission officials are reviewing the MMA license of Fallon Fox who is a 37 year old intersexed female MMA fighter who competed at a featherweight tournament. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding this issue among fellow MMA fighters and even Hulk Hogan who said he would fight her and beat her. In her most recent fight that I am aware of, she knocked out Ericka Newsome in 39 seconds with a kick to the chin. She had sexual reassignment surgery in 2006 but it was just recently brought to the public. Her Illinois driver's license states her as being female as well. Fox claimed to be licensed in California but her license but her application is still being reviewed (as far as I know from this article). Her next fight was supposed to be April 20th but that has been postponed due to this controversy. Some MMA fighter see her as a male who is just beating up on females and shouldn't be allowed to fight and others believe that since she is listed as female that she should be allowed to. What do you think? If anyone has any further details to this situation feel free to comment below.

McNeil, F., & Isaacson, M. (2013, March 06). Fsbc reviewing fox's mma license. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/9023730/transgender-fighter-fallon-fox-faces-review- mma-license

Linsane - Aaron Snyder

Last week in class we discussed Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin and the racial stereotypes in the NBA. The Saturday Night Live skit by the way was absolutely hilarious, and probably my second favorite sports skit behind the Tim Tebow one which is probably the greatest skit ever made by Saturday Night Live. On one of the slides it showed a picture of the ESPN cover where the headline read “Chink in the Armor.” The person that wrote the story was evidently fired for using the word “Chink” in the article title because evidently it is a negative word towards Asian people. Now I was kind of curious about this, so one of my good friends from back home in Fostoria, Ohio is Chinese. He and his whole family were born in China, and they moved to Fostoria I think at the end of our sophomore year in high school (2007). They own a Chinese restaurant in town and all of them speak fluent Chinese and English. I’m really good friends with the whole family and decided to ask what they thought of the word, surprisingly none of them said they was offended by the title of the article. I don’t know if it was just because I asked them because they know me well or because they really are not offended by the word. I don’t think the author meant to say the word in a derogatory way towards Asian people so I think his firing was a little unnecessary but I guess it is what it is.

What Brittney Griner says about us- Tyler Kieffer

An article that was recently published on ESPN was titles “What Brittney Griner says about us”. It goes on to state that casual basketball fans and their comments toward what Brittney Griner is doing on the basketball does little to talk about her, but talks more about us as a society. The article uses Shaq as an example of a double standard that we have built in response to Brittney Griner. When Shaq was in college, he was celebrated as someone that was “big, bold, different” (para. 11), but Brittney is someone who is being looked at as an outcast due to the way she is and genetically made. The next paragraph goes on to talk about that “female athletes need to fit into two categories: the first is cool, tough talking guy’s girl and the second is remarkable beauty.” (para. 12) Martina Navratilova was used in the article as a comparison that when she played, she was ridiculed for her weight, and later ridiculed for her muscles.

The women’s college game is struggling and what fans want is to see someone dunk and have said if they dunk they will come to watch. As of right now Brittney has 14 career dunks, and the response has been: “anyone 6-foot-8 should easily be able to rock the rim” (para. 20). So this basically has set a double standard because fans want to see athletic women play above the rim, but for them to do that some of the beauty needs to be lost and muscle needs to be gained to play the game at that level the fans want. Another double standard that is present in the game is that men are allowed to be more physical and get into scraps on the court while the women are condemned for any acts like that. The example used by the article is when Griner punched an opposing player and was portrayed as a freak of nature and someone that should be feared for what she looks like.

The article finishes with that Griner’s collegiate career is coming to an end here in the next few weeks. We need to appreciate what we are seeing and should get used to seeing here in the next few years with her going to the WNBA and at the Olympics for the US. It talks about Griner becoming a pitchwoman in the next years but I feel that is very doubtful due to the way that society views her. But she could become a pioneer for women sports but her effects will not be felt until the next few generations down the line.

Link to article

Dominican Academies-Hunter Haas

Last week in class we had great discussion regarding Latin American athletes, specifically the talk about baseball academies in these countries. As we weighed the circumstances and debated the benefits on each side of the ball, I developed an interest to look into this further. A major part of this discussion was regarding the money and talent that these MLB teams were gaining by signing Latin players for small amounts of money. Some of the class made a point that this at least gives them a chance that they would not have been given otherwise. With that thought in mind I looked into the background of these academies and the overall situation for these prospective players. To give you a good sense of the educational climate in the Dominican Republic I will provide some background notes. First, on average, citizens of the DR will only make it to the sixth grade. Also, baseball is the best shot for these people to make decent money and survive. Keep in mind that only 4 or 5 out of every 100 players from this country make a major league roster in their lifetime.

What truly surprised me was the effort that MLB teams are making to not only develop better players, but better people. This is what ultimately swayed my opinion to thinking that this is an acceptable practice. Currently, it is estimated that $84 Million enters the DR annually from signing bonuses or financial contributions given by current MLB players from the country (Sanchez). This money plays a key part in the development and sustainability of the country. Also, the majority of these academies are run by Dominican natives who have an interest in bettering the country. In terms of education, it is required that every academy provides an English class, as well as an American culture adaptation course (Sanchez). These courses help to make the transition easier on the athletes and give them a better chance of succeeding in the country. Along with this, multiple organizations have provided a partnership with a charter school to provide high school degrees, and educate these athletes to hopefully make them more successful in life. After looking at the facts and the underlying situation that faces these people every day, I see the academies as an acceptable practice and believe that many players have been given a better life because of the MLB involvement. Although it may not be ideal, it is a better alternative to a life in poverty, and is at least a glimmer of hope in the lives of the Dominican people. 

Link to the article

Linsanity - Jeff Kravetz

Jeremy Lin was one of the most talked about athletes during last year’s shortened NBA season. This was a good sign in sports media because it ignored the topic of if the Heat will win a championship or not for a while.  Lin was lighting up the headlines during shows like SportsCenter, Around the Horn, First Take, and the comical show Saturday Night Live. Lin’s impact on the game of basketball caught the attention and hearts of fans from across the nation, but more importantly the world. It was truly an underdog story that featured a Harvard graduate in-and-out of the D-League to sitting the bench in the NBA while seeing little to none playing time. It was when Lin got his chance and shined during a game he played for the New York Knicks, a large city and even larger market for fans in America to keep up with the team and their success, or in this case, lack-there-of. Since the Knicks were struggling winning games due to injuries and bad play, the Knicks coach, Mike D’Antoni, gave Lin his moment. It was the start of that game that according to Sean Gregory’s article, “Linsanity!” he said, “ So all Lin did was go out and score more points in his first five starts—136—than any other player since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976 (Par. 3).” Truly an accomplishment that not even today’s best players in the NBA have done in the past. 

The start of Linsanity not only launched his basketball career, but also in the market by fans.  According to Gregory, “His No. 17 jersey is now the top online seller in the NBA (Par. 6).”  This could be due to the increase in the global fan base reaching out to Eastern countries like China and Taiwan.  Lin’s impact was so great, that “The NBA’s television partners in China, Taiwan and the Philippines rushed to add Knicks games (Par. 6).”  Lin’s stage was the perfect start playing for a big market team in New York that during his moment of dominance of Linsanity gave the NBA its biggest fan increase in countries like China and Asian-Americans everywhere.

Indian Hills Incident- Hunter Haas

As we talked last week in class and groups, I started out thinking the Williams sisters should return to Indian Hills. I felt that they were hurting their world rankings and integrity as professional competitors. Somewhere between then and now my mind was changed and I feel that their participation would actually hurt their integrity. Venus and Serena spent countless hours in perfecting their trade and all along carried values that they felt were important to live by. When you become famous you will be presented with many situations and scenarios that may call your values into question. If you abandon the values and ethical guidelines that you have followed all along, what else do you have to work for?

By making the statement that they will not tolerate that sort of behavior, the sisters are setting a precedent for future athletes presented with this decision. This also is viewed by other tournaments and host events, showing them that if this sort of action is displayed, athletes will not respond well. By boycotting the tournament they are making so the best players in the world are not in attendance, hurting the credibility of the event. Also, it helps provide exposure to the issue since those who do not know will research why the best in the world are not attending the event. When these people are aware of the situation they are more likely to be exposed to the underlying issue of race and racism in American culture.

I fully support their decision with this event and after watching the women’s final this weekend, I feel the event could have benefited from the involvement of the Williams sisters.

-HH

Serena and Venus - Aaron Snyder

Last week we talked if Serena and Venus Williams and if they should return to the tennis tournament Indian Wells, and it’s such a hard choice to say if they should, or shouldn’t.  Although they ultimately said they would never return to the tournament and have kept their word since after the incident at Indian Wells, I think they should return. I’ve flipped flopped whether they should or shouldn’t but I think it’s time to return and dominate the tournament. If I was Serena and I just got the first ranking in the world back, I would of definitely went back as I would have wanted to keep my number one ranking. I would never do anything to jeopardize that and even though it would mean going back to Indian Wells, I would have gone and did everything to dominate the field. I would definitely still be a little salty about the incident that happened back in 2001 but that was a dozen years ago and the chances of anything like that happening again would be very slim I feel. Like what someone said in class with LeBron, I’m sure he heard his fair share of taunts in his return to Cleveland after he took his talents to South Beach but he has to go back. I know it’s a little bit different as tennis is an individual one on one sport and basketball is a team sport but I just feel as if they should return, well Serena at least

Brittney Griner, could she play against men?-Zane Langdon

When I first heard about Griner, I was in high school and had to look and see what all of the buzz was about.  What I saw was a lean 6-8 women, with Chris Bosh-esque dreads, and someone who was dunking the ball with ease.  The first thing that came out of my mouth was, "she has to be a man."  Now my opinion on her has obviously changed some as I don't call her a man, but my thoughts are could she play with the men, and succeed.  If you look at Griner, she dominates because she is a full 4 inches taller than anyone else, and knows how to use her size and has developed nice complimentary skills to go along with her body, but I don't think she could translate that into the mens game.  If you look at the majority of 6-8 players playing Division-I basketball or higher, they are all built a lot bigger than she is so for starters, we know that she does not have the strength to play in the post at that level because she would get pushed around too much.  Then you have to look at her skill set as a player.  While she is good against the girls, its because she can play the Center position and be fine.  If she were to play against the men, based off of height, she would need to slide up to the Power Forward (4) or the Small Forward (3) position.  Griner's ball handling abilities are hardly refined enough to play either of these positions, so she would not be able to succeed there as well.  Now that isn't saying she couldn't play in Division-III or Division-II because I think she could at some level and contribute, but not the same way someone like Candace Parker could against men at a higher level.  

I'm not trying to take anything away from Griner in all of this at all either.  I think she is a great athlete at what she does.  I hope she does not try to come to the mens game but for reasons other than what I have stated, or think that women do not belong.  I want her to stay in the women's game because I believe that she could help push the WNBA into bigger and better things.  The majority of people know who she is, and she could help draw a crowd to come watch.  So if she were to stay in the WNBA setting, she could succeed there and help change the women's game, for better. 

Wesley Hall- The Lauren Silberman Publicity Stunt

       So as you may have heard, over break Lauren Silberman became the first female to tryout for an NFL team. I would just like to start by saying that I am all for women playing in the NFL if they have the talent. However, this Lauren Silberman situation looks like a publicity stunt that backfired on the NFL. I watched the videos of her kicks on youtube and also watched the special that Good Morning America did on her. The GMA coverage said that Lauren is 28 years old and played club soccer for a small college which is good but there are a couple of problems. First, I know she was trying out to be a kicker but 28 is still kind of old to start an NFL career. Second, she played club soccer in college which was would have been around six years ago for her. Six years without a high level of competition is a long time. Also, she said she learned football through video games. This may be good for learning the rules and maybe even some of the strategy but I do not believe that playing Maddden with your thumbs helps one kick a field goal in real life.
       I do applaud her for having the courage to tryout and for taking on the media coverage. I wish she would have done better and I do respect her ability. It's not like I am trying out for any NFL teams anytime soon. I just think this whole thing would have gone over a lot better had she hit a few field goals. A pedestrian 19 yard kickoff does not help her cause or the cause for women in the future to tryout for the NFL. This was defintiely not the precedent the NFL wanted to set for female athletes. If you would like to watch the Good Morning America story you can find it right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yRWLH3OsmQ

First Ever Female at NFL Regional Combine - Jeff Kravetz

While on spring break, I came across a very interesting article relating to recent class topics about girls playing male dominated sports like football.  The article’s author, Dennis Waszak Jr. titled it, “Female Kicker’s NFL Tryout Lasts All of 2 Kicks.” Kind of a harsh statement and a little on the negative side if you ask me.  The article featured Lauren Silberman, a 28 year-old who played club soccer at Wisconsin, who was trying out with the 36 other kickers, who were all male.  “Lauren Silberman lined up for a kick at NFL history, took a deep breath and booted the football” (par. 1). “It barely went anywhere, traveling 19 yards, and she grabbed at her right leg” (par. 2).  Since her tryout only lasted two kicks before heading to the trainer, news media and E! Entertainment surrounded her and was intrigued by her in the New York Jets practice facility. 

At first when reading the article I thought how great it was that a female was able to qualify for a regional combine because of how good she was.  Reading on, Waszak, as well as the media covering the story, thought of it to be more of a publicity stunt.  Waszak states, “Silberman paid a registration fee – about $275 – and just needed to show up Sunday and take her best shot at impressing scouts” (par. 17). Of course people on Twitter will have all sorts of opinions, it seemed they all agreed as well.  Although the article states she paid a fee and got to try out, Stephen Austin, the NFL’s director of regional combines say, ”We want young, athlete people who have played a sport, typically in college or military or small schools” (par. 15). Although not ever competing in a competitive football game in the past, Silberman spoke of disappointment that her health was a factor in impressing the scouts.  She hopes that scouts will notice her technique rather than the 19 and 13-yard kicks.

To me, the article seems to suggest that the NFL wanted to make some noise by letting the first female try out for the NFL.  What is the most interesting part is that it is for place kicker, which most females in the past have played the position.  What about Holly Mangold? She played competitively and shined as a football player that saw the field regularly.  Would NFL scouts give Mangold a shot by the position she played and potentially could of made it to the next stage?

Read the article for yourself: http://www.bigstory.ap.org/article/female-kickers-nfl-tryout-lasts-all-2-kicks