Why the Inequality?

Did you know in each of the past 7 Super Bowls at least one of the two teams playing was led by an African American head coach or general manager? In 2002 the NFL implemented the Rooney Rule, a rule that requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate when they have a coaching vacancy. Since the rule was instituted, the amount of African American coaches went from a total of 2 head coaches and 0 general managers, to an all-time high of 8 head coaches and 5 general managers in 2011. However, despite the success of African American leaders in the past 7 seasons, progress has been halted. This past offseason saw a total of 15 openings combined between head coaches and general managers. All 15 jobs went to white candidates. The question is, what more can be done that will break the unconscious bias toward minority coaching candidates? How much more success is needed to get more minority candidates hired?

Aaron Wheeler

KIN 577 

LT 24

LGBT Acceptance - Personal Views Allowed?

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9315572/adrian-peterson-minnesota-vikings-says-gay-marriage

An article on ESPN.com came out today about Adrian Peterson, last season’s MVP of the NFL and his stance on gay marriage. Peterson was quoted saying, “that’s not something I believe in.” Peterson also went on to say he has gay relatives and he loves and supports them, he just personally does not believe in gay marriage. Some readers have come out strongly against him saying he contradicts himself and he can’t say he loves and supports his gay relatives and also say he doesn’t believe in gay marriage. The problem I have with some of the negative reactions is the idea that you cannot be accepting of people who may do controversial things while still maintaining your personal beliefs. Peterson never said that he doesn’t think gay marriage should be legalized, he just said it’s not something he believes in. I think it is entirely possible to love and support other people and support their freedom of choice without always agreeing with them. Not everyone who doesn’t personally believe in gay marriage is an opponent of gay rights.

Aaron Wheeler

Kin 577

LT 24 

Recently I researched the burnout phase in youth sports and noticed how much the children or young adults don't really have a voice on the matter. We don't reallly hear  the stories from the children until it is too late and they are injured to where they can not return to the sport or until years after their collegiate career is over and they are done with the sport. I know that in collegiate athletics athletes may go to athletic trainers or sport psychologist to discuss what they may be going through and to try and figure out ways to help them through their problems. collegiate athletes are not who I worry about in a situation like this, but I worry about those athletes at the high school level and lower. When parents at times are their coaches at this age or level and the school or club team do not have resources to have a team sport psychologist. who becomes their voice when they are going through the stress or the burnout phase and how do we make this available to high school teams and club teams?

Shanelle S.
KIN 577
LT 24

Student-Athletes compensation

Throughout the class I have done an extensive amount of research on whether student athletes should be paid to play.  Surprising enough I am still on the fence of this debate.  When you see student-athletes at schools like USC living the luxurious lifestyle and potentially getting additional benefits the norm student body wouldn’t receive all while playing a game they love. It’s hard to believe that they should be paid in addition to their scholarship.  I do believe student-athletes are amateurs and shouldn’t be compensated with a pay check.  These athletes aren’t being obligated to go to college and can get to the professional level through other avenues.  On the other hand, I believe the issue relies on the NCAA organization and finding a way to regulate earnings and disbursements.  College coaches should not be making the million dollar incomes they are and I believe if coaches and administrators weren’t being paid these outrageous salaries then that would sub-side some of the debate on whether athletes should be paid.

Ashley B.
Kin 577

Title IX

After reading the Title IX readings, I realized I didn’t understand the guidelines of Title IX.   It was astonishing to me that the NCAA doesn’t regulate compliance of Title IX or has any consequences when institutions don’t comply with the three part test of proportionality, continuing practice, and showing effectively accommodating.  I find it unbelievable how much football institutions spend on their football and basketball program, it is extremely unnecessary for the high profile status with hotel and food accommodations that these athletes are getting especially when men’s programs are being cut.  I don’t understand how the NCAA doesn’t see this as an obvious issue.  It’s hard not to think that the NCAA is a corrupt organization that is just looking to make money and since women’s sports don’t bring in the revenue then they turn their head to situations regarding Title IX but are all over improper student-athlete benefits.

Ashley B

Kin 577

Native American Mascots

I never really put much thought into the topic of Native American mascots. Recently we have seen this topic discussed a lot in the media. With the recent attacks towards the Washington Redskins, owner Daniel Snyder just announced this month,  "We'll never change the name. It's that simple. NEVER — you can use caps." It is sad how insensitive he is toward the use of this racist and derogatory team name. The fact is, people are being offended by these mascots. Just because not all Native Americans feel offended and some even “support” their use, does that make it okay to ignore the feelings of the percent that are hurt and find it an act of racism towards their people? We need to respect others by banning these derogatory names and stop celebrating in such a mocking and offensive way. There has been a decrease in the amount of teams using Native American mascots, but will we ever see the day when we will finally do away with this act of racism?

Danielle Hamilton

KIN 577

LT 24

Should College Athletes be Paid?

After listening to all the debates I found myself thinking about this topic in particular. Is the treatment of these athletes fair? Should the rules be changed to help these athletes receive money they “deserve” for their hard work? Being a student-athlete is a full time job. These athletes are attending school, completing homework assignments, committing hours to practice, traveling for games, and are expected to be happy receiving a scholarship, that is if they even receive one. With their school load and responsibilities to their team, can we expect athletes to have time to work to receive an income to support them? These athletes bring in money to their schools yet see none of the profit. NCAA makes a profit from these athletes. An example is they use the images of these athletes in video games yet give 0% to them from the huge amount of money they generate. Can we really claim that the treatment of these athletes is fair? Should they at least receive a stipend as an athlete?

Danielle Hamilton

KIN 577

LT 24

Tim Wise and White Privilege

The Tim Wise segments we viewed, entitled “White Privilege,” sparked quite of bit of internal reflection.  I majored in United States history, with an emphasis on African American history.  While I am more than aware of the inequalities of our past, I found the film highly thought provoking.  As a member of the generation in which progress, political correctness, and social activism are valued far more than previous generations, I was faced to examine Wise’s theories of white privilege. 

While I’m not naïve to the fact that racism and prejudice are alive and well in American culture, I find Wise’s allegations to be slightly inflated and magnified.  Obviously prejudice exists.  Wise creates important links for Caucasians to consider regarding sensitivity and empathy.  It is critical to make connections of our internal prejudices in efforts to evolve as individuals.  The foundation of a healthy society is dependent on this acknowledgement.  Nonetheless, I found Wise’s lecture to be pessimistic.  The constant highlighting of specific negative incidents provided an extremely skewed perspective on an issue that has made great strides.  While true racial equality is still a long way away, I personally found Wise’s preacher-style sermon extremely biased and negative, albeit highly entertaining and engaging. Wise is a excellent lecturer, although also a bit of an inciter.

Tanya Moran

Kin 577

LT 24

Title IX

At one time I was a student athlete and it is kind of sad that I did not quite understand all of the issues that come along with Title XI.  Being female athlete I always thought there could be nothing wrong with Title XI and when they cut men's sports I just assumed there was a valid reason for doing so.  

It is unbelievable that many schools cut their men's teams due to the costs of the schools football team.  It is so unnecessary and unfair for those schools to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on their football teams when other teams are being cut.  It crazy how much they spend to stay in hotels on home games and if they would just eliminate that all teams could stay.  These schools and athletic directors need to realize that they are not just eliminating a sport they are messing with these athletes lives.  They worked their whole life to play in college and they take that away just so that there football team can stay in a fancy hotel for home games.  Something really needs to be implemented by NCAA to fix this.

Alisha Rosen

LT 24

Native American Mascots

Honestly, I had never heard of the controversy around the use of Native American Mascots until the topic was assigned to my group for the debate. At first I was like “okay this is going to be a stupid topic”, but the more I researched, I the more I realized that people had been seriously offended and lives had been changed by the use of these mascots. I don’t know why they don’t just eliminate them since, as an opposing argument states, they are the last ethnic minority allowed to be made fun of in public. If the exception is not socially acceptable for any other minority, how are Native Americans any different? One reason could be because they are really not considered a real ethnic group for some reason. There are hundreds of thousands in our society, I’m not quite sure why they aren’t taken seriously. Some arguments for the use of American Mascots claim that they are honoring their history and tradition. This is complete bull because if you read anything about their history it is full of oppression, demobilization and murder. So, the solution is simple!! Stop using Native American mascots, and everyone will be happy!!!!!! This should not be an issue!

Lyndsay Eden

Kin 577

LT 24

College Athlete Compensation

I have admittedly been on the fence regarding the issue regarding the payment of college athletes. College football and basketball athletes arguably bring in a good deal of money for the school, yet a majority of athletic programs still operate at a loss because of other non-revenue sports such as wrestling, cross country, and track and field. You cannot really justify paying certain athletes and not the rest of them, and there is simply no money in already slim athletic budgets to compensate all athletes at a particular school. 

A potential option would be to have student athletes compensated by the NCAA itself, but there is still the issue of how much to pay athletes. It would be difficult to explain equal pay between a football player at USC who is responsible for a good deal of money for their university and a track athlete at California State University, Long Beach who may not be responsible for any revenue. 

A solution that I found particularly interesting was the one raised in class that allows athletes to benefit from marketing themselves to outside agencies. In this scenario, big-time athletes are able to capitalize more because of their status in relation to an athlete that is lesser known. This also eliminates the need for schools to dish out money that they already do not have and instead puts the responsibility on the athlete. 

This is a very interesting point to watch as big-time college sports eventually get bigger and bigger. I predict that something will have to give sooner rather than later. 

Ashton Stine

LT 24

KIN 577

Female Athletes Nude in the Media

The passage of Title IX has led to the incredible rise of female participation in sports over the last 40 years. This is important for many reasons. One of which is the ability sports has to empower and instill confidence in the male and female athletes who participate in them.  

Females who don’t participate in sports have less of a chance of receiving this empowerment and confidence. This is interesting when looking at research from the unplanned pregnancy rate between the two groups. The research clearly shows that females who participate in sports have a much lower rate of unplanned pregnancy than those who do not. Why is this important?

Females who don’t participate in sports search to empower themselves and gain confidence in other ways. Sadly, many find their validity through the use of their sex appeal and is the reason many end up pregnant. This is why we see the difference between the two groups unplanned pregnancy rates.

In the recent past, and currently, we see many of the top female athletes in the world posing nude in different types of media. What message is being sent to young female athletes through this media portrayal of high achieving female athletes. It’s that even after Title IX’s passing, over 40 years ago, with all the empowerment and confidence it has brought to females, their power still lies in their sex appeal. 

Have we really come that far with Title IX if this practice continues?

Brandon Urry

KIN 577
LT 24

The “Winning at all costs mentality”

One of the chapters in our readings that I found interesting was chapter 16 when Stanley Eitzen talks about the darker side of sports and some of the ethical dilemmas coaches and players face on a daily basis in college and professional sports.  It made me think about some of the aspects of sport and that not everything in sports encourages positive behavior.  Although I believe that competition and winning is at or near the top of the list in terms of why most people enjoy sports, this article gave me a better view about the mentality of why some players and coaches will take shortcuts or gain unfair advantages to achieve this goal of being the best.  I liked the quote by former NFL coach and Super Bowl Champion Vince Lombardi where he said that “Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing.”   The quote exemplifies sport’s heavy emphasis on winning and how many college and professional athletes/coaches are so cutthroat about this bottom line that they are willing to stretch their moral boundaries to great lengths in order to reach the top of the mountain and stay there.   

Nick Matsumoto

KIN 577

LT 24

Racism in Soccer

Racism and Soccer has been a huge issue in Europe as of late.  This is a world wide issue and there needs to be a stop to judging someone because of the color of the skin.  I know this occurred internationally, but I am going to talk about it in this Sport and U.S. Culture blog because it still affects us here in the states. 

Footballer Mario Balotelli was a victim of racist chants in a match against Roma at their place earlier this month.  The match was temporarily suspended due to monkey chants coming from the stands.  The discrimination toward this individual is shameful especially in the 21st century.  As his coach stated, there needs to be more done in this case than just "temporarily" suspend the game for the integrity of sports and to stop racism.

FIFA stepped up to the plate and introduced bans for future occurrences.  They followed England's racism stand and implemented similar rules.  There will be a 5-game suspension for players guilty for racism and point deductions for the team who's fans are "serial offenders."  This is a huge step because FIFA is the governing body for 209 countries in which these rules will be implemented.  I tip my hat to FIFA, but these grown clowns need to grow up and stop acting like animals themselves.

Juan Covarrubias 

Kin 577

LT 24

Performance Enhancing Drugs

I never really considered or wanted to consider how many professional athletes are using performance enhancing drugs.  I do not think there is one good thing about implemting them into our sports, even if they are strictly regulated.  It does not really matter how regulated they are athletes will still find ways to push the limits and continue to give themselves the amount that they want to see the results they wish to see.  I feel that performance enhancing drugs have really tainted the sanctity of sports and what it is meant to represent.  Sports are suppose to be about teamwork and competition and learning how to particpate and what it means to be dedicated; when you throw something like performance enhancing drugs into the mix it takes all of that away.

PEDs not only hurt the person using them they hurt the people around them.  The negative side effects associated with PEDs effect their families and younger athletes who look up to those professional athletes as role models.   It sends a message to the younger athletes, telling them in order to get where you wanna go you need to use a form of PED.

Alisha Rosen
LT 24