"Wie Love Michelle"

Wie wins her first victory! November 15, 2009 Wie had her first LPGA championship victory beating Paula Creamer and Lorena Ochoa by two shots. The win was necessary for the success of her career and the desperate attempt to get the LPGA back into the spotlight. The tour has lost a lot of American spectators and public attention. There are no more American Sweetharts winning the championships as they are now being dominated by Asian players. Also, Carolyn Bivens, the old commissioner was asked to step down from her position for a number of reasons. She was not alleviating the financial pressures that the American tournaments experiencing during these economic times, in fact she was raising tournament fees to an inoperable rate, which in turn made several tournaments in the US drop from the tour this year ; raising sponsorship prices by as much as $200,000, declining the media attention of the tour, as well as supporting and raising more tournaments overseas to earn an extra penny. Since her leave the LPGA has a lot to clean up as well as gaining their respected fan base back in the US. Since Wie’s win the LPGA website has a viewing jump of 84%. This could be a beginning of a time that everyone was waiting for. If Wie continues to win tournaments, she will be bringing attention back to the LPGA like Tiger brought to the PGA. Wie had a long absence due to her ambition trying to compete in the PGA. It was not until this year that she became a full member the of the LPGA. Personally I have seen her play at the Jamie Farr, her game is amazing to watch, but she beats herself. Her game diminishes as she gets discouraged and it’s very easy to pick up that emotion. I think with this win it will encourage her to try harder and to practice harder, she is finally coming around and meeting the expectations that everyone was waiting for since she was 14. That is a lot to carry on ones shoulders at such a young age, so I can understand her since of displacement with not reaching the goals society had placed for her. But now she has evidence of her achievements that are supposedly, “long overdue”, and I think if she continues to win, the LPGA will bounce back very quickly due to her fame, likeability, and sponsorship deals. America will have their sweetheart back.

The Jordan Empire

Michael Jordan is probably one of the most well known human beings on this planet. We discussed in class all of the memories we had of Jordan that we had when we were younger. All of the sponsorships like his Nike shoes and Gatorade. Also the publicity, memorabilia, and staring in movies, it’s hard to forget the face and the name. He is like a demigod, people to this day idolize him. My most fond childhood memory of him was the Space Jam movie he was in. I never watched basketball, but I loved that movie and I knew of him, and I think that because I had a lot of friends who loved him, it made the movie for favorable for me. It’s funny ever since we discussed his fame and his impact on sport, its like I see Jordan everywhere. It’s probably because I am more aware of him from the class discussion. I now notice his Hayne’s commercials which probably play just as much in the past as I notice them now. I also see clips of him when he attends basketball games. Last week When the Cav’s played the Miami Heat Jordan was in attendance and it seemed about every five minutes the camera would flash back to show viewers his reaction. Lastly, I ran across a fairly new documentary about Michael Jordan. I can not recall the specific station but it was not aired on a sport channel. In the documentary they discussed a lot of the topics that we had in class; his fame, worth, impact on economics and sport, endorsements, experiments with golf and baseball, and the scandal associated with his father’s death. I found my attention to his publicity today amusing. Although he has been out of sport for some time, he still has a huge impact within our culture and media today. It’s strange that I have never notice the media attention that he still gets until recently but I really enjoy it because I cant help but relate it to class discussions.

Female Sport and Sexuality

Last week in class we discussed whether or not it was ok for women athletes to pose for magazines baring a little more skin that is commonly acceptable and if their photos were really promoting their sports. I think that there are a couple underlying reasons why women expressing their sexuality is a controversial topic. The first one is that women’s sport is not nearly as popular and does not generate as much money as men’s sport. Some women have posed for photos in promotion of their sport and promotion of their athleticism. But what about the female athletes that pose more provocatively? Is it ok for them to sell sex in order to create more attention for their sport? My question is why has sport made it acceptable for women to bare all? You do not see female lawyers posing in bikini’s to promote their firms. I think that part of the reason why is that it generates money and media attention, and the media attention in most cases is positive or creates a buzz. I think that most people can agree that in world of fitness and health athletes have gorgeous bodies. Maybe promoting their bodies is a way to create fans, people who strive to achieve the fitness that the athletes have, and if you can look good while working out all the better. I still do not know if it is good for essentially promoting the sport. There is a difference in showing that your fit and a difference in sex appeal. Take David Beckham for example, he is famous for Soccer, his looks, and being married to Victoria so when I see him in underwear ads I do not think of him of promoting soccer, however, soccer does cross my mind because he has such a big face in US soccer. So in conclusion even though he is not directly promoting soccer, soccer is in association with him, and his name. Is it ok for him to pose provocatively when he represents a family sport entertainment? Yet, you do not hear about him being criticized for being in underwear ads, is it because soccer is really popular and his actions do not affect the representation of soccer as much? Or is the general public more strict with women? Does the public criticize women for going against lady like behavior, whether its for promoting their sport or not eyebrows will be raised. What I think it comes down to for most cases is that this is really some of the only media exposure that particular women sports get, some use it to increase their celebrity, however, this will be a circulating issue because I do not see a decrease in a correlation of female athletes and sex appeal in the near future.

Male Athletes and Homosexuality

Today in class we discussed about the perplexities about male athletes coming out to their professional teams when they are homosexual. In recent history most males have only come out after their professional careers were over to avoid being ostracized with their fans and even within their own team. Even with the strides we have made in recent years for gay rights and the acceptance of gays within the community, male athletes who are gay may have it a little harder than the majority. Their profession revolves around masculinity, and it doesn’t help their case that there is a connotation that gay men tend to be more feminine. I think because of the nature of their job and the negative reputation of the homosexuality, the atmosphere of and a gay male athlete and his counterparts are intensified. If a professional athlete were to come out that he was gay, I think he will have a support system, however, I also think that he will have a hard time maintaining expectance from the rest of his teams and his fans. I totally understand that for wanting to wait to come out until their career is over. Until there has been a substantial number of athletes that come out later in life, people will finally start to break down their pre conceptions and expectations of athletes and heterosexuality. And until that happens I think it will be unlikely that we will hear about gay male athletes that come out while in the duration of their career.

Women with MUSCLE

In class we got into a discussion on how much muscle is too much muscle that is acceptable for a woman. I found this interesting, because I myself have my preferences about how much muscle I like on a man or how much muscle I think is attractive on a woman, however, I never considered an amount of muscle mass being inappropriate or not right. Working within the fitness culture I have found that those who work to compete in fitness and body building competitions are apart of this close knit subculture. Even, a lot of muscle on a man in class was considered to be unattractive, however, I do not think men will ever be ostracized by society such as some women may be who are apart of the body building subculture. To those who compete in body building view large muscles as beautiful and a healthy way of living, and I do not think that they should be judged on their appearance for that. It is not as if they are making their appearance offensive to others or that their looks would be deemed inappropriate in certain social settings such as a conservative atmosphere. I just feel that its sexist that women who have taken apart of the body building lifestyle are deemed inappropriate as apposed to men who, were not thought of as inappropriate, just not attractive to those who do not like the body building type. It just may take time before women may reach the same type of criticisms as men, however, you can not deny that there are different standards and expectations for men and women and that maybe women are criticized more for joining the body building world because it has never been accepted that women posses a masculine trait. However, I do believe that times are changing and people are being more open because we already see more women playing football, but who knows if women will ever truly be equal to men in terms of masculinity.

Indian Wells and the William Sisters

I never really understood the Indian Wells incident until we discussed it in class, and I completely side with the Williams sisters with their decision in not returning to play in future tournaments. I understand that it is not so much the crowds reaction and their inappropriate display of resentment towards the Williams family, its the fact that the tournament staff did not do anything to fix their mistakes and prevent future outrage with the fans. First of all, I agree that Indian Wells should have confessed to their ticket holders that they were late in informing them that Serena could not participate in her match. Because they did not do that one simple action it was the cause of a whole set of events that are much harder to control, such as a mass crowed of angry tennis fans. I do believe that they could have done other actions to protect their players, such as security warning their rude and intolerable fans to watch their language and if they didn't they would be escorted out of the venue and be given a refund. Or even the tournament director making an announcement to kindly ask people to keep their etiquette during the match or even confessing their mistake. The tournament director has control to do what he wants, it is his tournament, it would not be hard to get a microphone and address the crowd. There were many opportunities to help resolve the problem or even to cut some of the tension. However, because they did not, they disrespected the Williams family and let the situation get so out of control that they had a upset stadium that would be nearly impossible to settle down. Since this is the one tournament that a lot of the Williams family and friends could easily attend, I highly doubt that racial slurs would prevent them from returning. Again, it was how the was run, who would want to play in a tournament that doesn't take care of their athletes and does not have control of their own operations. Maybe one day when there is a new director and the tournament is under different management the sisters will return to play.

Equality within Sport

Recently we have been discussing equality, Title IX, and should females be able to participate in male athletics. The general consensus was mixed. I personally felt that if a females should be able to participate in a sport that is not available to them, and vise versa. There is a lot of controversy about how title IX in sports was mainly meant to help advance female equality in athletics, however, I think people tend to forget that’s its a new day and a new age. Yes, title IX was created only a few decades ago, but I believe that alterations need to be kept up with the times. Title IX wasn’t even meant to have a huge impact on sports when it was first created, so I do not think we can discriminate on a policy because it was, "supposed" or "meant" to advance women in sport. When rules and regulations were made within individual athletic programs, women wanting to compete in men’s sports and men wanting to compete in female sport most, likely was never considered to be an option. Well again, times have changed, and we must keep up. If there is not an opportunity for a male to play field hockey then he should have the chance to play on the women’s team if he qualifies in skill. I understand where is coach was coming from. Her job is to create a team that will win games, if a male can bring a contribution to the team then he should be able to compete. Also with a male wanting to play field hockey, it will probably spring interest from others, and eventually could develop the sport and grow it’s popularity. Coaching lacrosse, it was important not only to win games but to develop an interest and a love for the game that will allow current athletes to give back to the sport the following years, growing the sport. Who knows that one male athlete that played on the women’s field hockey team may give back to the sport weather he is a coach or a huge donator to their national association, allowing more teams to be created, who knows, he may spring enough publicity that male teams will spring up across the country. The parents that were salty were probably parents of children who’s playing time was cut because another athlete had more skill. Trust me, as a head varsity coach if someone’s child is not fed with a silver spoon, they will find anything to find someone who is responsible for their, “star” child not getting as much playing time. Again, we are continually advancing in equal rights and rules and regulations need to be altered in order to keep up and further advancement.