Female Athletes trading sides to promote their demise from equality

What I have found interesting now that I have taken the women in sport class is how most women want to be equal to men in every aspect except for the dominate role – which is odd to me. To me it is a complete oxymoron because there is no way for women to become equal to men if women themselves accept and look for the dominant male figure in their personal relationships or elsewhere. That mode of thinking and subsequent actions confirms that mode of thinking does nothing positive for women at all. In fact it reinforces the social construction of the submissive, helpless woman, which is exactly what feminists like me are fighting against.
Also how top female athletes who are powerful, independent, dominant, highly educated, and considered to be intellectuals are selling out their entire sex to please the needs of their own pockets and perverted men. By women posing as sex objects for the sole purpose of male eye candy – pleasing the needs of perverted men – only to diminish their athletic ability in the eyes of society and promotes their primal instincts. By promoting their primal instincts, it depicts these women as wild animals who cannot control their sexual desires because they don’t have the mental capacity that can think past an orgasm. We all know sex sells and makes big bucks, but how long will money satisfy their soul knowing that the only thing that they promote for women all over the world, including themselves, is that women are worth noting more than male personal pleasure. I’m just wondering when female athletes are going to wake up and stand up for themselves and stand for a cause that is invaluable to any monetary denomination. If equality is what they want then female athletes need to stop degrading their entire sex for personal gain, because that is what fuels the patriarchal thought process of society to hold women beneath men. Most men fear dominant women and they will do whatever is needed to keep their superiority over women, and with the help of female athletes who traded sides to aid in male desires and their own pockets, male domination will continue to prosper forever. Media is what molds the minds of the uneducated world to the point of what they see must be true. So if the world sees naked top female athletes posing in provocative positions all the time in the media, and not depicting their ability, performance, and or accomplishments then what is the world to think of women in general????

Jason Montgomery
005032363
KIN 338I
Section: 0771/0768
2:00-3:15 T/R

Rene Portland's Controverseal Rule

For just under 30 years, Rene Portland was the head coach of the women's basketball team at Penn State University. She has brough the program much success with over 20 NCAA tourniment appearances, a Final Four appearance, multiple conference championships, and two conference tournament titles. She is among a short list of women basketball coaches to reach over 600 wins at one school, giving an overall record of 606-236 at Penn State. Although she was praised for making and keeping Penn State women's basketball a winning program, she was the centerpiece of a huge controversy.
She had only three rules for her players to abide by as she was head coach; no drinking, no drugs....and no lesbians. She forbid her players from associating with any lesbians even if they were straight women. As we saw in the film Training Rules, Jennifer Harris accused Rene Portland of kicking her off of the team because Rene believed her to be lesbian. Harris reported that her coach was threatening, intimidating, and hostile toward her just because of this assumption. Rene Portland was fined $10,000 along with other consequences, and was eventually forced to resign from her position at Penn State University. Aslo, in the film Training Rules, there were many other victims to Portland's demeaning attitute toward lesbians. There were a few other girls who suffered discrimination from Rene, or who were threated by her knowing that she had the power to kick them off the team, make transferring hard, and make playing anywhere else nearly impossible. Some girls were so afraid that they hid their sexual orientation and lied that they had boyfriends back home. I'm sure that there has been many other cases on the women's basketball team at Penn State under the reign of Rene Portland that have suffered this unfair behavior. One of the twins that we saw in the film state that Rene Portland stripped all of her love for the game away from her and that she had no desire to play anymore and she thanked Rene 100% for that. It just makes you wonder how many other girls she had threatened or discriminated against or even kicked off the team because of their sexual orientation. Jennifer Harris got kicked off the team because she was just accused of being a lesbian. Jennifer Harris is straight. How many other straight girls did Rene Portland kick off the team because she believed them to be lesbian, or because they were just simply associated with someone who was a lesbian? I appreciate Jennifer Harris being brave enough to stand up to Rene Portland and file a lawsuit. This new must have helped so many of her former victims when they heard the news. If I was one of them I would feel just. It is unreal that Rene Portland got away with doing this to so many girls, ruining their hopes and dreams just because of sexual orientation. And not knowing how many other girls hopes and dreams she sent down the drain makes it ten times worse when you think about the possibilities that may have happened.
Danielle Coffman
KIN 338i Section 06

Syracuse Allegations

Following all the news in the Sandusky-Penn State case, this last week a new sexual molestation accusation emerged in sports. Two former ball boys of the Syracuse Orange basketball team accused current Associate Head Coach Bernie Fine of sexually molesting them over their course working with the team. Two things stuck out at me with this. First, the timing. Why now? Nearly 20 years later before any report or anything. Seems odd that the ball boys are just coming out now after the Penn State scandal. But maybe because of that, they were more comfortable coming out to the public and saying what happened to them. Only they know. The second, was that during the ball boys interview (now a grown middle aged man), he seemed kind of off to me. He was very hesitant with his answers, and maybe he was legitimately nervous and distraught, but he just didn’t seem right to me and seemed to be thinking about his answers way too hard. Overall I am questioning these claims, but will not formulate an opinion until all of the facts are out. On a side note, I do respect Coach Jim Boeheim for standing by his comrade, stating that these allegations are the first he has heard of them and until he sees more evidence he will not abandon his long time friend and co-worker. We will see what he does if and when more facts backing up the ball boys surface.

-Dan Lewis, KIN 577

Proud to be a 49er

I realize that it's late in our class time together, but this is as good a time as any to share this story with the class. As many of you already know, our women's soccer team is in some uncharted territory as they have won not only their first NCAA Tournament match this season, but now have won three in a row to make the Elite Eight. This season has been amazing to watch as a fan, and a sportswriter. I've had fun covering this team since their first game at USC, and things have only gotten better from that opening win.

As they prepare to travel to Duke for their national quarterfinal match, I wanted to share this story with you that one of my editors wrote last year about a current 49er player, Nadia Link. She's not just any 49er player, but the leading scorer on the team, who has tied the school's single-season scoring record with 16 goals this year, and worked out with the US Soccer Women's U23 team a few weeks ago.

http://www.gazettes.com/sports/article_1a9a29de-b5a2-11df-abd9-001cc4c03286.html#.TsrzF2B8ujU

I know it's a bit of self-promotion to share a link (no pun intended) from a place that I've been working for, but I think it's a tremendous story of resiliency, belief, and determination. It reflects some of the themes that we've talked about in class, and it has happened at the school we are all proud to attend. It should hopefully give everyone a bigger reason to root for her and the rest of our 49ers as they play for a trip to the Final Four this Friday.

If you haven't seen her play, there are plenty of highlight videos out there (thanks to GazettesSports.com #shamelessplug) that showcase her skill. I think that she is a great example of an athlete that men can root for and women can relate with on a much different level. Her story is very unique, but it involves something that can only happen in women's athletics, and it sets a certain precedent as far as sticking with people through their hardships.

The best news of all is that our season isn't over yet, and Link will return to Long Beach next year as she is only a junior. I hope you have found this to be an interesting look at one of the best athletes in Long Beach. Good luck to our 49ers! Go Beach!

Tyler Hendrickson

KIN 577

The Sandusky Case

The whole Jerry Sandusky case is becoming increasingly interesting, yet unfortunate. Since news broke that over 10 men have stepped forward claiming that Sandusky sexually molested and raped them when they were young boys, Sandusky has responded. In an interview with Bob Costas, Sandusky stated he was innocent, yet did shower with a few boys and “horse playing” while in there. To say the least, the interview was bizarre, and whoever is representing Sandusky needs to check themselves. Another rumor circulating the internet is that in addition to the sexual acts being accused of Sandusky, is that he was “pimping” out young boys to big time Penn State boosters. If this were true, this would be unbelievably disgusting. But, there has been no facts supporting this, so I will not jump to conclusions. Another piece of information that has surfaced this past week, is that Sandusky’s backyard oversees an elementary school playground. Whether this is coincidence or planned, this adds to the bizarreness of this case. If it were planned, then this man is truly sick and needs help. Another thing to think about is whether or not the creation of the Second Mile Charity was to sustain Sandusky’s sick lust for young boys. Hopefully the creation of the charity started off with good intentions of helping young under privileged boys, and not bad intentions of taking advantage of these young boys. Regardless of what is true and what is not, I am sure much more information will surface over the next couple of weeks.

-Dan Lewis, KIN 577

Human Trafficking vs. Fundraising

I think we all can agree that the act of human trafficking is an awful crime, and in most cases these days goes hand in hand with with sexual deviance (in such cases as prostitution, more specifically the Russian mail order bride business). So when I came across an article in Athletic Business, I was surprised to see an article titled "Fundraising Hoops Coach Accused of Human Trafficking". With a front line like that, I assumed a coach was pimping out children for sexual favors to raise money for the team. I was also pretty surprised that I hadn't yet heard about this on the news, ESPN, or even Yahoo.

Then I read the article... "A police report indicates [Theodore] Berry, 46, repeatedly threatened 16-year Cesar Landin because the boy refused to sell gourmet popcorn for that team." Really? Popcorn? I read further and learned that the boy was from Mexico, and his parents were paying Berry $300 a month for Landin to live with him, attend high school in suburban Dallas and play basketball for the coach's club team. They also told the coach specifically that they did not want their child involved in fundraising, even though they knew that this was an integral part of the club basketball team. So, after 18 days of being forced to sell gourmet popcorn under threats of violence to help raise money for the team, Landin called his parents.

This doesn't seem like a crime worthy of the charge of something as serious as human trafficking (which is a second degree felony and carries a prison sentence of 2-20 years). Assuming the rest of the team also had to sell gourmet popcorn, which the article failed to mention, I don't understand how this falls under the category of trafficking. The purpose of the popcorn sales was to be able to pay for uniforms and travel expenses, none of which go into the coach's pocket. This is unfair to the other players too. If one player doesn't have to raise funds for the team (unless his parents front the money, which the article also doesn't mention), he is using the money the other players had worked for. This just doesn't add up. A youth should never be forced to do something against his will while being threatened with violence, but it's only popcorn...and the effects of this could destroy a man's life.

Our Future!

Over the last week I been thinking about what our future holds in these bleak economic times. The first thing that came to my mind was everyone's favorite book....Outliers. I know everyone has probably heard enough about this book to last them a lifetime but let me touch upon it one last time for old times' sack. So in Outliers the author, Malcolm Gladwwell, stresses that it is not the smartest people who are the most influential, but rather the people who have prepared themselves and are ready for when the next big thing comes along.

Now the world and the job situation is not looking good for the general public, the baby boomers refuse to stop working, Generation X has been waiting for their opportunity to shine the last 20+ years, and Generation Y knows they can do it best and should be able to just enter the job market as directors so they can fix all the problems. The only problem is this it not possible, there are not enough jobs for all these people. Now what should we do as master's candidates preparing to enter into the job market within the next year. I believe we are doing everything right, putting in long tedious hours gaining experience where ever we can in order to prepare ourselves for our opportunity to shine.

Think of this as my words of encouragement to you all, times are tough and it might not be easy working for free, but keep grinding it will all pay out in the end once you get that full-time job because you worked so hard working for free. LT21 we will make our impact just be ready when its your turn!

Michael Hudak

KIN 577