Budget Allocation: Jay Clark, Brandon Focht, Anthony Cornwell, Ben Mathey

For our budget allocation project, we based the entire process on fairness and equity. We tried to be unbiased in our decision making and think we came up with a very balanced solution to this athletic department's issues. We started with $120,000 in the budget and and added the $20,000 donation to the total to give us $140,000. Then, we decided that for our fundraisers we would use the sports that had the most participating athletes to help us raise the maximum amount of money. This led us to choose football, swimming, men's track, and women's track. With these four sports doing a fundraiser, we were able to bring in an additional $15,300. This brought our total $155,300. We looked at the mandatory expenses and came up with $151,350. The money we had in the community fund ($155,300) covered all of the mandatory expenses and we still had $3,950 left over. We looked at the remainder of the expenses and decided that we did not need to resurface the basketball court because that can typically be done every other year. After cutting out that $15,000 expense, we came up with $64,900 in additional expenses. After allocating $2,400 to the men's and women's soccer teams for new jerseys, we were left with $45,950 in additional expenses. We chose to give the $2,400 to the soccer team because both programs were highly ranked in the conference and that is the one decision we made based on team rank. Finally, in order to come with the last $45,950, we decided to implement a 'pay-for-play' system for all of our athletic teams. We decided to charge each athlete $100 and with 469 athletes, we would be able to generate $46,900 which would cover all of our expenses and leave us with $950.

Budge Allocation- Brian Kochheiser & Corey Krupa

Going into this assignment, we made a promise that we would do everything possible to avoid cutting a sport. Athletics is one of the greatest learning experiences that students can have outside of the classroom, so it was important to keep them involved and active in the sport. We wanted to offer a world class experience that gave the students an opportunity to have the best equipment and the best time! The allocated budget of $120,000 was not nearly enough to cover the mandatory expenses ($151,350). Thankfully, due to the generous gift of $20,000, it was a little easier to work the budget out. On top of that gift, we decided to have a pay-to-play fee of $115. We feel that it is an affordable fee for families, and it allows them to have a little "skin in the game" when it comes to the department, so that brought in $52,785. With 459 athletes on 15 teams, that ended up being $52,785 added to the budget. Finally, we felt it was necessary for our 4 big teams to do fundraisers. Each player was able to raise $60, so the football team raised $4,500, the Men's/Women's Swimming team raised $3,600, the Women's Track and Field team raised $3,900, and the Men's Track and Field team raised $3,300. Once everything was added up, we had $208,085 to work with. We sort of adopted Bowling Green's "18 sports. 1 team." mentality by allocating all the money (gifts and fundraisers included) to all the teams. The entire department is striving for excellence, so we want to work as a team to achieve that. Budget Given: $120,000 Alumni Gift: $20,000 Fundraisers: $15,300 Pay to Play $52,785 Total Budget: $208,085 Mandatory Exp: $151,350 Left Over: $56,735 With $56,735 to play with, we wanted to provide our student athletes with more than just the bare minimum. The remainder of the budget was allocated to the following extra amenities: Football- New Helmets= $6,000 Men's Soccer- New Jerseys= $1,200 Women's Soccer- New Jerseys= $1,200 Baseball- Tournament in Florida= $10,000 Softball- Tournament in Florida= $10,000 Men's/Women's Swimming- New Suits= $1,800 Men's/Women's Downhill Skiing- Training in Colorado= $10,000 Women's Track and Field= New Field Equipment= $6,500 Men's Track and Field= $6,500 Hockey- Jerseys= $2,000 The extra expenses costed the department $56,400. That left us with a remaining balance of $327. Brian Kochheiser & Corey Krupa

Budget Allocation - Britney W, Jude, Stacie N, Taylor T

Knowing we only had a budget of $120,000 to work with plus the $20,000 from an alumn, we knew we had to raise more money to cover the mandatory expenses which ended up being $151,350. We had four teams have fundraisers, Football team, Men & Women's swimming team, women's track adn field and men's track and field. We chose these teams to have the fundraiser because they had the most players on their team. With 75 players, the football team raised $4,500, the swimming team raised $3,600 with 60 players, $3,900 with 65 players for the women's track and field and $3,300 with 55 players for the men's track and field team. So, total we ended up with $155,300 because we split the $20,000 from the alum equally. The total amount we had ($140,000) and what we raised ($15,300) subtracted by the mandatory needs/costs for the sport teams ($151,350) we ended up with $3,950 left over to spend. With the left over money we bought new jerseys for the men's soccer team ($1,200), new jerseys for the women's soccer team ($1,200), new jersey's for the volleyball team ($1,200) and new Discus for the women's track and field ($300). With all of that we only ended up with $50 left over. We ended up doing it this way so we did not have to cut any teams. Britney Wilczynski Stacie Nagy Jude Adjei-barimah Taylor Tanner

Battle of the Sexes- Eddie Hodges

Women's athletics have come a long way from the beginning of sports until present time. Women had never really gained any respect from the media, and also their male counterparts. Over time, women tried proving their abilities by competing in similar sports as males, but this did not help the case as males still looked inferior to women in athletics. Tennis became a popular sport for women to excel at and to possibly be better than men. In 1973, the famous Battle of the Sexes match between Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King was the main event that sparked interest in women's athletics. Billy Jean King end up beating Bobby Riggs in the tennis match. The significance of that is now we saw that women could actually keep up with the men and now just maybe they have a better chance for equal opportunity in sport. I believe from that moment right there is where we see a dramatic change in how people perceive women's athletics. Billy Jean King not only represented women's tennis but women's sports as a whole. All this is happening right after the United States had passed Title IX in which they were trying to get more female athletes participating in sports. This event open up the options even more for women. Although the Battle of the Sexes was a big deal to sports and media, there is still speculation even to this day that Bobby Riggs may have thrown the game and let Billy Jean King win. I believe that is blasphemous, and that even when a woman gets her chance to shine, people still doubt the legitimacy of the match. All in all this was a stepping stone for women's athletics to prove that women has a say in sports and can be the voice of sport rather than it just being men. Billy Jean King opened up the eyes of many young women aspiring to be great at sports and that is just what was needed in that time period to revolutionize sport for both genders.  


- Eddie Hodges

Battle of the Sex's- Tyler Crellin

In 1973, women's sports changed forever. The battle of the sex's, Billy Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs. That match changed everything for women's sports, because Billy Jean King won. She showed that a women could best a man in a competitive sport, but what if she had not of won the match? Would women sports be as big as they are now without Billy Jean King's victory? Her victory over Riggs was what accelerated women's sports to take that next step and develop into what women sports are today. Although, her victory to me seems not complete. The reason I think this is because she beat an out of shape 55 year old man. Yes Bobby Riggs was the best tennis player to play the game, but why not have someone as young as Billy play her? If Billy faces a male the same age and rank as her at that time would she of won that match? It is hard to say if she would or would not have won the match. Is it stereotypical to think that a women of the same age and in the same shape as a male can not compete on the same level? I think that stereotype is not valid anymore, because look at some of the women athletes we have now. Serena Williams, and Hope Solo are two examples of great female athletes in their respective sports. Could Serena beat a male tennis player in the game today, that is debatable. I think should would have a chance, and again it would depend on who she would play. If another battle of the sex's happened and the outcome would be the male athlete won, would that change things for women sports? Billy Jean King changed the perception of women not being as competitive and good at sports. There are still people who do not think women can compete with men, or that there sports are even worth watching. I think they are worth watching, and believe that women sports are going to keep growing and keep getting more attention, and it is because of Billy Jean King that women sports have become how they are today.

ESPN & The Battle of the Sexes - Shaun Higgins

              The Battle of the Sexes was a landmark event for the culture of female athletes. That single event changed the way we view females in the world of sports today. I, myself, have never questioned the legitimacy of the match itself, yet the media has recently reported that Bobby Riggs may have purposely lost the match. ESPN was the first to break this story on their show, “Outside the Lines”. The story was released as potential groundbreaking news, yet it failed to gain very much traction from viewers of the show or online. This raises two questions in my eyes. Are viewers shrugging this story off and accepting that Billie Jean King won the match fair and square? Or are people just not all that interested in the match that is now 40 years in the past? In hopes of seeing women’s sports build and grow into a legitimate competitor to male sports, I hope that the correct question is the former and not the latter.

            The reporting of ESPN also brings their goals into question. We constantly see ESPN claiming to support and promote female athletics, yet all the while knowing that a story such as this one would cripple so much of the work put in by Billie Jean King and other female athletes. What is the end game for ESPN? Do they gain more viewers by releasing a story like this? The answer is no. Will they gain more credibility? Again, the answer is no. Therefore, I see no reason why ESPN should have released this story. The only effect that it could have had was a negative one on female sports. ESPN should realize that the growth of female athletics would be huge for them as an organization. Not only ESPN, but anyone in the sport field include current students, would greatly benefit from a growth in professional female sports. ESPN would have more to broadcast, more advertising money, and more endorsements with athletes. We, as future sport professionals, would see a new market to tap into. This field could become our future careers. While it is easy to see that women are making strides consistently, it is going to take a committed effort by many, including ESPN, to fully break women’s sports into a true competitor to the current male leagues. 

Battle of the Sexes- Corey Krupa

I always found the historic Battle of the Sexes match to be fascinating. I was shocked when I learned about the allegations about the classic tennis match being thrown by Bobby Riggs. I sincerely hope that these allegations are false because this event forever changed history for both women and men. Today, some women's sports are just as prominent as men's sports. Women's sports such as swimming and gymnastics were heavily covered in the last Olympics and just about everyone in the United States was heavily interested in these events. All of this was made possible because of the legendary Billie Jean King. She paved the way for the celebrity status that some female athletes have attained such as Danica Patrick, Venus and Serena Williams, Alex Morgan, and Hope Solo. The outcome of the Battle of the Sexes match was not even the thing that impressed me the most. The thing that I was most impressed with was that Billie Jean King fearlessly took the court against a sexist male competitor and did it in front of millions of people watching at home. She also took the court with the odds heavily stacked against her and she represented millions of women in this one match, in a time where women were still treated like second class citizens. At the end of the match, she helped women earn more respect worldwide because of her admirable actions. This one match is still being talked about 40 years later and this shows just how much of an impact she had on society. Because of her, the world is a different and fairer place for women in sports.   

-Corey Krupa 

Title IX- Brian Kochheiser

The Education Amendments of 1972 has a well-known portion of to it, Title IX. Title IX states that “No person in the United States, shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance…” This had a major impact on athletics of all age levels—from grade school all the way to the intercollegiate level.

Title IX has had a major impact and benefited many women in athletics. They have received an equal opportunity to compete and succeed in athletics. The popularity and participation in women’s athletics since 1972 has increased tremendously and led to the success of many female athletes. Athletes such as Venus and Serena Williams, Mia Hamm, Alex Morgan, and Billie Jean King have had the opportunity to succeed and showcase their talents because of this act.

While there have been many great success and advancements due to Title IX there have been some segments of the population that have seen some negative effects from the law. In intercollegiate athletics, male athletes participating on non-revenue sports have been forced to be cut in order to be compliant with Title IX. I don’t believe it is fair to cut programs strictly based on the number of female and male athletes. If there is a desire for the sport and the funding is available then it should not be cut just because of Title IX. It’s not fair to the athletes in these sports who work just as hard as anyone else.

At the end of the day, Title IX has been a big step for girls and women all across the country, and we wouldn't be where we are today without it. However, I believe that the law needs to be tinkered with, so that non-revenue male sports are not cut and left out in the rain. 

Brett Bardwell: Battle of the Sexes

I found a lot of things interesting in our discussion about the Battle of the Sexes in class on Thursday. Obviously, it was a huge moment for the progression of women's sports. This match was extremely helpful in gaining respect for the women's game. One thing that I do not think is fair and is kind of blown out of proportion in this case is the notion that because Billie Jean King won that women could compete with men. I am not saying that they cannot, but to draw that conclusion from a match between the number two women's player in the world against an out of shape 55 year old man is ridiculous to me. What is amazing, though, is how the outcome of the match changed the sports landscape for women. It is very interesting to think about where women's sports would be today if the outcome had gone in favor of Bobby Riggs, or if the match had gone longer. Would things be drastically different or not that much different at all? Would there not have been some other event that would have changed the views on women's sports if Billie Jean King had lost? Would women's sports have completely gone away? I personally feel that someone someday would have accomplished the same things Billie Jean did. One last thought is the effect on society. Would society still have graduated to a more progressive mindset over time or was it events like these that transformed the mindset to what it is today? I feel that this stuff is very interesting, and that is obviously why the event is so talked about to this day.

Anthony Cornwell, Jr. Title IX

Title IX can be defined as no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. I believe that Title IX really has impacted collegiate athletics, professional athletics, and the Olympics. Without Title IX women wouldn’t have the same opportunities as men. More importantly we the people would have missed out on a bunch of history in our country. We wouldn’t have been able to witness the 1999 United States Women's Soccer team, the WNBA, Serena Williams, and my favorite of all, the Connecticut Huskies Women’s Basketball team.

What that team did in the years of 2009 – 2011 will have changed my perspective of Women’s Basketball forever. Now when women’s basketball is on I don’t change the channel. If there is a female basketball game going on here at the university, there is a better chance that I am going to watch their game than the men’s game. I believe that their basket ball team (Connecticut Huskies Women’s Basketball team) has opened up the eyes of others across the world as well. Watching that team, made me broaden my horizon throughout all types of women’s sports. Now I can watch the Olympics all day long. It’s funny that a movement that happened years ago, whom some people thought would have no impact, has had an impact on the lives of women who are actually involved with the sport; and then someone like me who was born 20 years after. Title IX has impacted us all in a way and will only continue to grow and impact the lives of others.

Blog Post #3 - Billy Nowak

Growing up I did not come across to many instances of gendered moments when I was younger. I do remember playing on sports team with girls and can remember that my coaches did their best, or at least seemed to do their best, to make sure everyone was treated equal. I know that some people did not enjoy playing on sports teams when they were younger but I did not mind.

When asked if I was born female and what sports would I have played kind of caught me off guard. I had never really thought of this possibility. However, if I was born a female I would have had a wide range to choose from. Coming from a family with only one female in three generations (on my dad’s side), I could of chose any sport I wanted. However, I feel that I would have been pushed toward volleyball. My one female cousin, on my dad’s side, was very devoted to the game when in high school. She played four years in high school. So, I have a feeling that if I was a female I would of spend most of my time with her learning and practicing the game of volleyball. Also, I think I would have also focused more on the game of golf if I was born a female. With my family, golf is a sport that we play to spend a day together. Even though some of us are better than others we still play golf. So I feel if I was born a female I would be more into golf than I am as a male.

These questions really made me think in a way I never had done before. It made me look at my gender and the sports I play in a different view.

-Billy Nowak

Blog Post #3 Corey Krupa

As a child, I never played competitive organized sports with females. This was until middle school when I was on the same baseball team with a girl for the first time in my life. At first I was a little confused but then after seeing how good she was I really did not care. She was a great pitcher and was basically our ace. It was always fun seeing boys on other teams quietly laugh at her in the dugout and then quickly finding out how good she really was. I can only imagine how difficult it was for her to be the only girl in a baseball league. If I was born as a girl I honestly do not know if I would have played sports. It seems like girls are limited to only a few sports because of the norms we have in our society. However, if I was born a girl and I did play sports, I would probably play volleyball or softball. These sports have always interested me however; many fast pitch softball leagues are exclusively for girls. Volleyball has always interested me as well unfortunately I felt like I was always too short to play it. If I was born a girl I would probably have never played baseball. It is so rare for a girl to play baseball that I probably would have just settled for playing softball if I did have the desire to play sports as a girl. Playing baseball in a league filled with only boys is difficult and I know this from my recollection of my middle school team. It takes a special kind of person to be able to handle people openly laughing at you for being different. I feel like many people think that we have youth sports leagues that are only for girls or only for boys but do not realize that some of them are actually open to both sexes. There is that stereotype that some sports are only open to boys such as baseball. This is not the case at all; at least back in my hometown youth baseball leagues are open to both sexes. 

-Corey Krupa

Anthony Cornwell, Jr. Blog 3: Masculine or Feminine?

The question that comes up plenty of times through our discussion in class are to discuss when exactly we knew that we were masculine or feminine. From my experiences and the way that I grew up, there was never a question about it. As discussed in our group, there were certain ages in our lives when our parents would automatically go and sign us up for little league sports. I know in my household when we were 6 we got signed up for little league football and YMCA basketball. While we got signed up for football and basketball, my sister would always get signed up for cheerleading. So there was no question about our masculine and feminine sides because we went with what we knew since day one.

We also talked about recess. When we went out to recess, the boys always went to play football and do back flips and the girls went to do whatever girls did at that time. So when the question comes up when I knew I was masculine or feminine, it goes back to as far as I could remember.

Brandon Focht: Blog #3

I remember a few gender moments participating in youth sports. I know that when I was in Kindergarten through second grade there was co-ed baseball through the grade school that I went to. There was also co-ed baseball locally in Springfield Township. I remember playing with my cousin who is a year younger than me in the Springfield Township league. Some boys on our team would pick on her because she was one of two girls on our team. She was my cousin so I stuck up for her since she was my family. I also remember watching my sister play youth sports as well and I would practice with her teams and guys on her co-ed soccer teams would say that I was better than her and I know that made her feel uncomfortable. I felt bad for her but I just wanted to be able to be involved in what she was doing as well. I think that my youth sport experience would have been different if I was the opposite sex. I think I would have always wanted to play with the boys when I was younger, especially if I was at the same skill level as males because I would want to be challenged. I know I would have gotten picked on, but if I was beating them they would not have been able to say much and I would have put my focus on beating them.

            I know I could have played volleyball as a male, but there aren’t really any opportunities in the area to do so. If I were a female I would have loved to play volleyball. I remember playing in gym class, and I really enjoyed playing in gym. I know men’s volleyball is more of a west coast sport for men, but it would be nice to see it make its way to the mid-west and east coast. I know that Springfield High School won a boy’s state volleyball championship in 1990, but the team soon could not be funded anymore and was cut from the high school. I do not think I would have wanted to play softball if I was the opposite sex. I think that softball would have been very difficult, and everything is so close I feel like it is very dangerous as well. 

Brett Bardwell: Blog #3

When I played recreation league sports when I was a kid I remember my soccer league as being a co-ed league from around age four to around age eight. Since there were not as many kids playing in total the boys and girls were paired together in their respective age groups. Since soccer was one of the only sports I could play at that time we played outdoor soccer in both the spring and fall, and then played indoor in the winter. We had separate teams in our outdoor league and then took a "all-star" team into the indoor league. As I said earlier, there were multiple girls in the outdoor league, but there was always three or four girls who made our all-star team. In fact, one of the girls was one of our best players. Also, in the indoor league we played in, there was an all girl team that played. It was cool to have things mixed together at that age and I think it gave me a different perspective on sport and gender.

I think that I would have liked to play volleyball had I been female. I had enjoyed watching the sport through high school and played quite a bit of recreational volleyball. I think what I like about the sport is the athleticism and teamwork. You have to be athletic to play the sport because you are constantly moving and jumping, and also have to rotate to play a variety of positions. Teamwork certainly comes into play when setting the ball in hopes of getting a point. There has to be a lot of trust and chemistry as well because sometimes you have to know where somebody will be without seeing them.

Blog or Journal Entry #3

Hi Everyone,

I mentioned that I would post some ideas for you to write about in this week's blog or Journal entries. Each week, you may elaborate on something related to the past week's assigned readings which are available on E-Res. Or you may wish to follow up on something that we discussed in class. Here are some specific ideas for Tuesday's entry:

1) What were some of the gendered moments you remember from participating in youth sport (or more recently)? Perhaps you discussed some of these things in your groups but did not get to talk about them in class. Did you ever think about how your experiences in youth sport might have been different if you had been born into the body of the opposite sex? Are there sports you wish you could have played if you were born as the opposite sex? Are there sports you played but would not have wanted to play if you were born as the opposite sex? Give examples to illustrate.

2) Were there other ways besides through sport that you received messages about what it means to be masculine or feminine? Looking back do you consider those messages to be constraining (i.e., did they limit you from doing things or participating in activities that you would have liked to do)? How did the readings and/or discussion make you think differently about your socialization as a male or female?

3) Considering some of the cases we discussed about transgendered and/or transsexual athletes (including the post by Casey on Fallon Fox), how should such cases of "variant-gendered individuals" be handled by sports' governing bodies? You may want to do research on your sport to see if there have been similar cases in the sport(s) that you played and/or follow.

These are a few ideas. The deadline for submitting blog or journal entries is class time on Tuesday. Remember that if you would prefer to write comments on someone else's post, the deadline for doing so is class time on Thursday.

Let me know if you have any questions (nspencr@bgsu.edu)

Thanks,

Dr. Spencer

Sport Fandom by Jude Adjei-barimah

When we think about sport and gender in this country I think what is happening in sport reflect our society and the mentality of society. The reason why most people feel that men sports are favored over women sports is only a reflection of real life. In the real world we still view women as inferior when it comes to the things that men can do. This mentality is them carried into the athletic arena which makes it difficult for women sports be taken as serious as men sports. In class Dr Spencer made a statement about the fact "sex sells sex" and I feel like that's where women sports are going wrong. As dominant as Serena Williams is in tennis most of her publicity comes from her physical appearance and sex appeal. Until women sports figure out a way to sell the quality of the game and sport over the sex they won't be taken as serious as men sports. What is unfortunate is the fact that sport fandom reflect the mindset of society, which means until sex appeal stops becoming a factor in life in general things won't change in sports

Jude Adjei-barimah

Fallon Fox

Hi Everyone,

I found the case of Fallon Fox extremely interesting and wanted to further research her life as a male, previous to her transformation surgery, because I was interested in if she fought as an MMA fighter, which could trigger a type of skill advantage over her female competitors, as she is now transformed, due to the perceived higher level of competition in men's sports.  Men are stereotypically believed to be bigger, better, faster, and stronger athletes than females.  If Fallon had participated in fighting in MMA as a male, she would not only have the perceived advantage because she was once a man and obtained those physical male qualities and hormones, but she was able to gain that experience with competing against males who are, as previously stated, perceived to be better athletes.  

Here's some background information regarding Fallon Fox...

Fallon Fox was born as Boyd Burton who is from Toledo, Ohio. She was from a very religious background and originally thought that she was a homosexual male.  Fox did, however, marry her girlfriend at the age of 19 where they had a child and Fox decided to join the Navy in order to support her family after attending, and unfortunately dropping out of, The University of Toledo because of psychological stress due to her unresolved gender issues.  The interview/short documentary have more information on Fox along with where I originally found this information on http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mma/news/20130307/fallon-fox-profile/.

This is a short interview on Fallon Fox by CNN that I found very interesting because it discussed how she did not start MMA training until two years after the male-to-female sexual transformation. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_1TkD7eEHc

Also, here is a short documentary that I found very interesting as well.  This documentary include Kye Allums after hormonal therapy; however, I do not know if he underwent a sex-change operation.  This documentary, in my opinion, is very powerful and even features her daughter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8cgJ0qyurI

I would like to know some of your reactions to the videos I have posted and if you found them as interesting as I did.  Also, did you find it interesting in seeing Kye Allums after (at least to my knowledge only hormonal) transformation?

Casey Daulbaugh

Gender and Sporting Events - Jay Clark

Jay Clark

When reading the article about gender roles in early childhood I began to recollect many similar memories of my own that prove the same points.  I remember as far back as preschool their being a clear line drawn between boys and girls in sport.  Still, I do not think I fully understood why until I began to play organized sports in grade school.  I think the line is drawn so easily by kids because the “boys vs. girls” idea has been implemented into us from the beginning, whether it is from cartoons, TV shows, or even our elders.  When you are young it is not so much about the talent level between boys and girls but the fact that boys and girls are two clearly different sexes.  Young boys may see girls as the enemy simply because they are girls.  I also feel that gender roles are pretty well set in stone and would take a great deal of time to change.  Still many circumstances, especially in our current day, push for a more defined ruling on these gender roles and how they should be implemented. 

In my opinion gender roles should be respected and upheld.  The prospective on a genders role in sports however needs some revising.  A man or women should not be limited in their opportunities to express their talent due to a problem in defining their gender.  There needs to be a universal rule answering these questions on gender in sport, to provide stability in the world of sports as we move into a more socially liberal society.