Conclusion - Max Perry

This class allowed me to see new perspectives on gender and race issues in sport. Before this class I was unfamiliar and/or uniformed on many of the topics we covered in class like transgenders such as Renee Richards, or the issues women both who are straight and lesbian face in collegiate and professional sport. I had never heard of the racist incident at Indian Wells involving the William’s sisters and I can’t believe that something so blatantly racist could’ve occurred in a professional sporting event so recently. The Indian Wells incident is a prime example of the benefit of this class. Although major progress has been made over the last 50 years for gender and racial equality, clearly racism and sexism are still alive and present in society and the Indian Wells incident clearly exemplifies this. 

The blog entries were helpful to expound on thoughts and ideas discussed in class in addition to serving as refresher on the material and a compact place to find class concepts from throughout the entire semester. Overall, what I will take from this class is a more nuanced, and informed opinion on gender and racial issues. In my career in sports there will more than likely be situations and scenarios which call upon me to make a fair and informed decision and thanks to this class I feel as though I will be more than prepared to make the right decision. This class taught us to think critically about hard issues that may have no right answer and I believe that will be a valuable skill throughout life. 

Max Perry

Final Blog, Jay Clark

            When I first began this class I thought to myself, how deep can we really go with the topic of sport and gender?  After a few weeks in the class I found that I was mistaken.  Just yesterday I was explaining to my roommates the truths about people that are transgender and their differences in sexuality.  Before I took this class I was accepting of homosexuality and differences in peoples sexuality but I had a limited perspective on the topic all the same.  If I had a choice in the layout of our sport management classes I would consider breaking this class into two classes simply because the topic was an eye opener. 

            Aside from learning about sexual orientation I learned many other things from this class.  I was extremely interested in how our MLB teams recruit players from overseas and pay them less.  These are the kind of topics that make me happy I paid for the class.  I say this because this is interesting information that I will take with me rather than forget about by next semester.  That being said, MBL recruiting is not the only thing I will take from this class.  I enjoyed our discussions each class and was always surprised how active my fellow students were in relation to each topic.  Overall I took a great deal from this class and enjoyed my semester in Sport and Gender 4250.

Conclusion- Shaun Higgins

This Sport and Gender class has turned into my favorite class that I have taken. The discussion in this class has been not only engaging, but also very thought provoking. My viewpoint on so many issues has changed or at least been expanded due to the information provided.  As I stated at the end of our group presentation, I believe that the thing that will stick with me the most from this class is to not think in binary terms. Many of the topics that we discussed dealt with the multiple facets of the issues. I learned that everything is not just black and white (both figuratively and literally). Race, sexual orientation, gender and so many other topics can be categorized in many different ways. I loved the discussions that we had about race in sport. I think we had a class that was willing to speak up about the issues while still being respectful and thoughtful to the others in the class. Many of the topics are very controversial, yet I think our class handled them extremely well. My favorite article of the class was probably the one about the fall from grace that Tiger had. They way that his public image fell was just incredible. As I read the article though, I began to notice how private and almost robotic Tiger had become with the media and it makes it easier to understand how this could happen. Overall, I have really enjoyed this class. I will miss coming to it and having these great discussions each week.

Conclusion -Eddie Hodges

I felt that SM 4250 was one of my favorite classes to attend. Dr. Spencer always had the class engaged in a great conversation. It was a great opportunity for me to hear different opinions, about various subjects, from a class full of my peers. I will say I have taken a lot from this class. I have learned that there is a distinction between transgenders and transsexuals. I have also learned how different genders and races are portrayed by the media. The media has a big effect on a player's particular image and it can be tarnished or made better by media depictions. This was one of my favorite classes this semester and I will truly miss coming in class each day to learn and speak about different aspects of sports. Thank you Dr. Spencer for creating such a good class atmosphere and making it appealing to come to class each session.

Conclusion- Evan Sechler

Upon signing up for this class I was not really sure what to expect. I just knew that it was another required class. That being said, Sport and Gender turned out to be much more interesting and enjoyable than I originally expected. Every day I looked forward to going to class, and I cannot say the same about a lot of my classes. The main reason I enjoyed the class so much is because we covered a lot of topics that are rarely talked about in other classes, and it was nice being able to hear several people’s opinions and their experiences in relation to those topics. Also, I was previously unaware of many of the issues surrounding race, gender, and religion that were discussed in class. As a future sport manager, I not only realize that these issues do exist, but that they are also very significant and, in some ways, completely changing the world of sport. Also, although I absolutely despise presenting, our final group project was actually very interesting. It was nice being able to go out, gather our own information, and formulate our own opinions on a subject that we had not yet touched on in class.

Conclusion- Brian Kochheiser

Sport and gender was a much more interesting and informative class than I had anticipated it to be at the beginning of the semester. Growing up, I was taught the importance of diversity and inclusion because of the fairly diverse area that I lived in. I thought that my experiences and education in high school and college thus far had given me great knowledge about sport and gender topics. While that is true, this class dove even deeper into the issues that society is still facing and how it impacts sports. I thought that all of the sections were interesting, but because I am interested in working in collegiate athletics and ultimately becoming the AD at a University, I found Title IX to be the most useful. The budgeting assignment was a lot of fun and it forced be to think outside of the box which will be useful in my future career. I'm glad that we were able to research topics further in depth at the end of the semester because diversity in the NHL was interest of mine. I played hockey all throughout my youth, so I was interested to learn more about the diversity in the NHL and the steps that it has taken in recent years. At first, I was skeptical about the blogs because I'm not always confident in expressing my thoughts to the public, but this semester has proved to me that I have valid thoughts and opinions and the blogs have given me confidence to share those more in other settings. Overall, this was a fantastic class that always made me think in other perspectives and I definitely learned a lot because of it. This class had great conversations throughout the semester and was one of the more fun class environments that I have been in at BGSU.  

Homosexuality in Sport - Britney, Stacy, Taylor, Jude

Throughout the semester, in class, we talked a lot about how homosexuality is viewed and portrayed in sport. As a group, we all found this topic and the conversations we had in class to be very interesting so we chose it for our group presentation. We decided to break up homosexuality in sport into different parts. They include; management and homosexuality - how should management handle homosexuality in their organization? Female vs. Male - why is it more acceptable for females to come out than males in sport? Endorsements and Financial risks - is it worth the financial risk to come out if you are in professional sport and getting paid to do what you do and be in the media? Locker room culture - how is the atmosphere affected in the locker room if there is a gay or lesbian on the team? Homosexuality in different sports and age groups - is it more acceptable for an athlete to come out if they are in a team sport or individual sport? Or is it more acceptable for them to come out as a college athlete compared to a professional athlete? A tolerance rule - should there be a no tolerance rule in sport for homosexuals? And finally, with a negative connotation in sport, what should be done to change the view point many have of gays in sport? In our presentation we will be talking about many different viewpoints of each question asked. We will talk about people who agree, disagree and who are neutral with every part that is talked about.

Men & Women's NCAA Basketball Tournament - Billy Nowak, Shaun Higgins, Travis Kash & Nicole Zawislan

            Our group was very intrigued throughout the semester about the comparisons between male and female sports, so for our presentation we decided to compare the differences between the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournaments, more commonly known as March Madness. The reason there is an ability to compare the two tournaments as different can be found in just this simple year comparison: The first Men’s March Madness Tournament was held in 1939 and the first Women’s Tournament was held in 1972. 1972 was also considered an important year for women’s sports in general because of Title IX becoming official.

            Before Title IX, only two percent of total athletic budgets went to female college athletes. The other 98 percent went towards basic athletic upkeep and male athletes. That number is astonishing when you look at how much that has changed in just 40 years. Title IX has helped to make the number closer a 50/50 split. Women’s Basketball has benefited from Title IX immensely, however there are still many areas that lack when comparing to Men’s NCAA Basketball.

            An interesting statistic that can really explain the difference in media coverage for both tournaments is that ESPN’s SportsCenter spent roughly over 3 hours of segments discussing different aspects of the Men’s Tournament. The same program then spent a little over 6 minutes worth of discussion on the Women’s Tournament.  That statistic is shocking, but also shows how much media coverage has an effect on the popularity of the March Madness Tournaments. If the media were to focus on getting those air times closer to a 50/50 split like other areas of the tournaments have, we believe that people who watch the Tournament would be interested in more than just the tournament of one gender.

Diversity in the NHL: Brett Bardwell, Corey Krupa, and Brian Kochheiser

For our group presentation we took a look at how far black players in the NHL have come and what some of the steps these players took to get there. Right off the bat, we noticed that there was a theme of old players saying it was hard for them to get into the game because there was no role model for them to look up to when they were kids.

We tried to look at some other factors too, such as the fact that there is a high concentration of the black community located in big cities. We found that there is a program, Hockey is for Everyone, that is trying to promote the game of hockey and its awareness to these areas. This program provides kids with equipment and guidance for no charge to their families. The goal of the program is to further expand the game of hockey to all people.

To sum up our presentation, we wanted to look at some key players from each era and sort of compare those players to the players of today. It starts out with Willie O'Ree, the first black player in the NHL, who played in 1958. One would have thought that this would pave the way for other players to come into the NHL, but there was 15 years before the next black players surfaced. Mike Marson and Bill Riley were the first black hockey players to be drafted and they played together for the Washington Capitals during the 1974-75 season.

As the years go on, more prominent black players began to surface. In the 80s there was Grant Fuhr, one of the better goalies of his era and 4-time Stanley Cup Champion as a member of the Edmonton Oilers. He teamed up with legends Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier during these years and won a Vezina Trophy in 1987.

The 90s is when the road for dominant scorers began to be paved, thanks in large part to Jarome Iginla. Iginla is most certainly the best black hockey player ever and it is a huge credit to him that we are beginning to see more black players in the NHL today. Without Jarome Iginla I do not think that there would be budding stars like Evander Kane, P.K. Subban, or Dustin Byfuglien. Just this year there was a black defensemen, Seth Jones, who was a possibility to be the number one overall pick of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He ended up going fourth to the Nashville Predators and is having a great year playing on the top defensive line. With so many future stars in the league now I think it is only a matter of time before we see even more black players in the NHL.

Fallon Fox and Class Conclusion: Michelle Bowles, Whitney Pellham, Even Sechler

Our group felt there were a lot of strong opinions mixed with little knowledge in the class when discussing the topic of transsexual and transgender athletes in sport. This led us to further exploring the background of Fallon Fox, a male-turned-female MMA fighter, and discussing the ethics, science, and opinions surrounding the situation.

Throughout the course of preparing this presentation, we learned a lot about the medical side of sex reassignment surgery, particularly what happens to a male’s body when he transitions into a female. Although there are a lot of things we are still having a hard time understanding, we feel even a basic knowledge has led us to being more accepting of male-to-female athletes in competition.

In the course in general, we found the most useful portion of class centered on discussions. Almost every day we were exposed to new ideas and had to assess our own viewpoints. The fact that classmates were not afraid to voice opposing opinions was encouraging, because it opened difficult topics up to conversation.

One of the readings we all found to be interesting was the Messner article on children and gender. Being more aware of how gender is pushed on children even before they are born opened our eyes to the different ways society shapes us as individuals.

All of the topics we felt were covered a decent amount in class. While all of the topics were interesting and provoked meaningful conversations, to cover all of the material in the class we felt we covered enough to get a general idea before moving on to the next topic.

Writing the journals was a great way to further explain your point without worry of judgment based on your stance, but blog entries forced you to analyze the perspectives of others and also your own. Often times the few dominant voices in class shared a viewpoint, but then the blog would be full of people taking the other side.

Overall, we will take from class that everyone has an opinion, whether it is a strong or weak opinion, and that everyone has different ways to communicate those opinions. In our careers we will make sure to get feedback through multiple channels so everyone feels they can best express themselves.

Femininity in the WNBA by Max Perry, Eddie Hodges, Clay Leser and Tyler Crellin

For our presentation we decided to look at the issue of femininity in the WNBA. We first examine what femininity is and how it is formed as a socially constructed gender role for females to try and emulate. We then look at how femininity is perceived in the WNBA by examining how the WNBA markets itself, the WNBA’s practices and lastly how WNBA superstars present themselves. We’ll be looking at Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie and discussing the pressure they feel to look and act more feminine while still dominating their craft. Tina Thompson is another large figure in the WNBA and we’ll be talking about her decision to wear lipstick and whether or not that would be a good idea for more players in the WNBA. We’ll also be discussing Brittney Griner and her choice of presenting herself in a non-traditional no- feminine way. In addition to her appearance, we will delve into the repression of her sexual identity in college, and why her coming out wasn’t a larger deal when she did graduate and go pro. How in 2013 are athletes, and superstar ones at that, still being forced to repress aspects of their lives? Clearly this is a problem not just symptomatic of female sports, there are currently no gay male athletes active in any of the four major sports, but it is something to still discuss and examine. Could a player of her status withstood the backlash at a private university that doesn’t support lesbians like Baylor? Has her decision to come out now affected her professional career in any way? We will also talk about other out female athletes like Sheryl Swoopes, Martina Navratilova and Megan Rapinoe and how coming out can be different for active and retired athletes and also for athletes in individual sports as compared to athletes in team sports. Overall, we hope to examine the issues that females encounter while trying to compete in sports just like the opposite gender. Hopefully through this presentation we will expand on the ideas we discussed in class while encouraging new thoughts and ideas related to femininity in professional sport. A combination of new examples and rehashing of old ones should allow for the rest of the class to gain a new perspective on female athletes that they didn’t have before our presentation and before this class. 

The Pressures of Being a High Profile Male Collegiate Athlete - Brandon Focht, Anthony Cornwell, Ben Matheny, and Jay Clark

Our presentation looks at the struggle of being a high profile college athlete, with our main focus on two current high profile athletes in college football, Jadeveon Clowney and Johny Manziel. Through the current events of Jedeveon Clowney and Johny Manziel we review Title IX, the roles of sexuality and gender, and the impact that high profile players can have on a program/school’s economics. We used many different topics and articles in this presentation but we found ourselves most interested in the article on black masculinity and the article about Tigers mishaps with women. We began our focus on Jedeveon Clowney and his situations relation to Richard Major’s article Cool Pose: Black Masculinity and Sports. Richard Major talks about the limitations on opportunities for black men in relation to education and economic stability. He goes on to say that from these limitations, black people struggle with more frustrations down the road in attempting to earn such respected masculinities. In other words Richards expresses how the African American culture feels more of a need to prove their masculinity because they have little opportunities to begin with. Jedeveon Clowney grew up in a single parent home and went through many of the struggles Major’s article covers. The main focus being football was Clowney's main opportunity for masculinity. We also looked into the discussion of Clowney’s recent absence in games this year. Was Clowney really struggling from a rib injury as Coach Spurrier said or is Clowney looking ahead to his NFL career already? Or was Clowney told not to dress because Spurrier thought he was no longer bought into South Carolinas program? Our second high profile player was Texas A&M’s quarter back Johnny Manziel. In relation to the article Tiger in the Rough we relate Manziels actions towards his super star status to Tigers sex addictions from success in golf. Although Johnny’s actions since stardom are much less morally wrong than Tigers, the attention attracted from the general public has been quite similar. Fans were concerned about their superstars’ actions. In Manzeil’s defense we attempt to look at the situation in his eyes. We need to understand that Manzeil, unlike Tiger, is still a young man growing up in college. Being watched by the media and your fans everyday can make a high profile athlete act out differently then they normally would.

Magic Johnson: The Announcement -Eddie Hodges

Magic Johnson is considered one of the best NBA players of all-time. He changed basketball forever, he was one of the pioneers for the way basketball is played today, with flash and excitement. Although his basketball resume was through the roof, he still had some personal issues brewing towards the end of his career. He later came out to the press that he was HIV positive. This was a big shock to many people. HIV was not as known in the early nineties than it is today. Many fans and fellow players were thrown for a loop and were shock. Some players came out saying they did not what Magic to play, or they did not want to get in contact with Magic. For Magic, this was a big adjustment because now he has to take treatment and temporarily retired from the game of basketball. This new disease was taking a toll on his career. I believe that because Magic got HIV was big because such a big figure like Magic at the time was struck with HIV. Now that someone of that caliber contracted HIV now he is able to make more people aware of the disease. That is why I believe that Magic Johnson's announcement had much bigger effects on society than much people fail to realize. Now you have an advocate to speak for HIV and help people stay clean and prevent such diseases.