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