Sport & Society Digital Journals

Sports in Social Networks and Social Change

2011-12-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

I was on twitter a few weeks ago browsing my time line and came across a tweet posted by Landon Donovan. He is one of the top professional soccer players in the league who plays for the LA Galaxy. Donovan tweeted about his life changing experience when he helped children hear for the first time by giving them hearing aids. Galaxy played against the Philippine Azkals in the Philippines and brought doctors and physicians with them to do free medical treatments to help the poor. I thought it was very sweet hearing this side of Donovan and it only inspired me to continue helping the unfortunate. Professional athletes have so much power in this world because of the fan base they accumulate through their career. Professionals have the voice to tell people to get out there and do something life changing for the betterment of themselves. What better way to spread this word than to use social networks? Everyone today is connected online and uses the internet for communication. Professional basketball player, Paul Pierce, constantly tweets about health awareness and obesity among children. He makes posts for programs kids could join to participate in physical activities and charities that people could donate to help this epidemic. Many people admire athletes and some wish to be just like their favorites. If the professionals continue to promote helping communities through their volunteer work then it would likely influence their fans to do the same and make a change in society. Sports is powerful in the American culture and are constantly followed by people through social networks. As they share their stories about doing good things for other people, it will get others to do the same.

The NBA Is Back In Action!

2011-12-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

For many basketball fans, so anxiously waiting for the NBA lockout to come to an end, hearing the news that the NBA season was back was amazing. Being a Laker fan, I was so excited to hear the news and was counting down the days until Christmas, not only to spend time with family and open gifts, but to watch the opening game of Laker basketball. As much as this news was exciting, more news was soon to come that would leave Laker fans in utter disbelief and shock. Rumors were going around of different trades that were going to happen, players moving from team to team, and new faces wearing the jersey that every fan loves to wear. Talk of Chris Paul and Dwight Howard coming to L.A. to join the Lakers was spreading like wildfire on sports shows, in classes, and among friends. Everyone was thrilled to be a Laker fan, knowing that the addition of these two players would be a great way for the Lakers to make their comeback this season. But who was going to get traded for these two players? There was talk of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, and none other than the great Lamar Odom, When I heard that these were the players we were going to trade for Paul and Howard, I couldn't believe it. Lamar is one of my favorite players on the Lakers and the team seemed like not having Gasol would just be out of the ordinary. I was very upset by this announcement and felt a sense of resentment toward the Laker organization. However, the NBA had denied these trades to happen which led me to hold on tight to the hope that these 3 players would not be leaving L.A. Unfortunately, the trade of Lamar Odom did go through and he will now be playing for the Mavericks. I am really sad that he is leaving because he was such a good player and hearing interviews from him, you can tell he is very upset to be leaving L.A. Lamar recently married Khloe Kardashian and the two love birds have established a home in L.A. alongside both of their families. Lamar will have to leave the families behind to move to Dallas with his wife, which seemed very upsetting to him. On top of that, interviews with Kobe Bryant, the L.A. Laker's MVP, showed that Kobe was also really disheartened to learn that his teammate and one of his closest friends was going to be moving out of L.A. to play for the team that the Lakers lost to in the playoffs last season.
If the loss of Lamar wasn't enough, Chris Paul ended up signing to the L.A. Clippers and Dwight Howard has began to grow faint in talks of coming to L.A. Not only did the Lakers not get the two players that they wanted from the beginning, they have lost one of their players who has grown up in L.A. as originally a Clipper, but has played for the Lakers for many seasons.
With all of this sad news, I will still be supporting my Lakers this season as they battle back and show the other teams that they can still be one of the best teams around. I am going to a game in the middle of January and I am counting down the days until I will be sporting my fresh new Bryant jersey in the Staples Center among the many other Los Angeles Lakers fans!!!!

Stephanie Jarrett
Kin 332i
Tues/Thurs 12:30-1:45

My thoughts on Lifeguard competitions

2011-12-16T10:51:00.000-08:00

If you have yet to experience a lifeguard competition, you should do yourself the favor and see one this summer. There are many that occur during the summer but one of the more popular events is the Lifeguard Taplin that is done during the surf festival in the south bay. This event is essentially a relay race that has four swimmers, four paddlers, and then four dory (pretty much a rowboat that goes through the surf) teams.
In terms of excitement, the swim portion of the relay is admittedly a little bit dull because there is not much to see. The paddle leg of the race gets pretty interesting if there is big surf. Next is the dories. These 300 plus pound rowboats operated by two brave men or women must get through the surf to round a flag that is in the water, and then come back into the shore to tag the next dory team. The trick to this leg of the event, is to get through the surf without flipping or crashing into another dory. Because of the carnage that normally comes with this leg of the event, it has easily become the fan favorite.
Last summer, a friend and myself decided that we wanted to be in the dory portion of the relay, mostly because of how fun it looks. We tried out and were the fifth fasted boat, so we became the fast boat in our agency's "B" team. Our team finished in the middle of the pack, but our "A" team got first. We were proud to be a part of the competition, and decided that we will try out again next summer, but work out more to get that "A" team slot and hopefully be a part of the winning team next year and get our names on the Taplin Bell.

Kyle A. (KIN 332I S3200)

Women and Sports Illustrated

2011-12-15T23:42:00.000-08:00

So Sports Illustrated has decided to launch an initiative to let fans chose it's year end cover, which is taking place on Facebook. Out of the 15 covers you can vote for, only one has a woman on the cover. The only female cover depicts Abby Wambach from the US National Soccer Team celebrating her goal during the World Cup. This example upholds Sports Illustrated's tradition of having males dominate its cover. As the year comes to an end, Sports Illustrated released 80 issues for the year. Out of those 80 issues only 2 women were on the cover, soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo and some model for their Swimsuit Edition. And now since the NBA has started once again, I can only imagine males dominating the covers for next year. Media coverage for women is scarce as it is, and Sports Illustrated helps put a dagger to the wound. The only time we can see women being covered is if they are being depicted sexually or if they are half-naked. It seems as if this cycle is never ending, despite the progression females have made in the world of sports. So does Abby Wambach have a chance to make the cover? At this point having to compete against 14 male covers, makes her chances look slim. The only group I saw in support for her, was no shock the US Women's National Team. But it would be amazing to see her win and start the year off with the first female cover.

-Jessica Martinez
KIN 332I TU/TH 12:30

I Do Not Understand

2011-12-15T18:18:00.000-08:00

For those people who do not follow the NBA, Chris Paul, one of the top players in the league, decided he wanted to be traded from the New Orleans Hornets, whom he had been with for 6 years since he had been drafted. Initially the Los Angeles Lakers had constructed a three team deal between the Hornets and the Houston Rockets which would send Paul to LA; however, the deal was vetoed by the commissioner of the NBA, David Stern. Now the deal seemed to benefit all teams involved, but NBA owners and the commissioner decided that they did not want another All-Star to go to a large market team like the Lakers. Owners like Michael Jordan wanted these stars to go to smaller market teams to make them more competitive.

Now the problem that I have with this whole trade veto situation is that Chris Paul eventually went to Los Angeles, but instead of the Lakers, he was traded to the Clippers. Why exactly was he allowed to come to the Clippers, who are in a large market city, but not to the Lakers? And on top of that, the Hornets ended up getting, in my opinion, less talent than they would have with the initial trade with the Lakers and Rockets. The Hornets are currently owned by the NBA, and David Stern wants someone to buy the team. The problem is that now that Chris Paul is gone, it is going to be increasingly difficult to find a buyer. So why did Stern let this deal go through? The Hornets have less talent now than they did last year, and they have no marquee player to entice a potential buyer. I just do not understand.

Mike Sandoval
Kin 332I
Tu/Th 12:30-1:45pm

not just a game

2011-12-15T13:00:00.000-08:00

I found that the movie we watched on the last week of class has helped me see how our society and culture are developed. It got me to think about society back in the days where there are fewer individualists. Women and minority racial group push the boundary to improve their social status. People form groups to fight for what they believe in. Now our society is individualist they have no intention to fight for their beliefs now it’s all about themselves and maintaining their status as an individual. For example Michael Jordan, he use the American flag to cover up the Reebok symbol during the Olympic game. I feel that by living in an individualist society we will more like to iodize a certain individual and ourselves. There is less pride as a group. People have less pride for our country. In some way I have a theory that our society might fall apart because they’re no conformity.

006955661
KIN 332I
T/TH 12:30-1:45

Health Problems In America.

2011-12-15T01:05:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to deny that America lives an unhealthy life style. We are all stressed out, on the move and some parents don’t even have time for their kids any more. What is running this obsession with always being on the move? Many people say it’s the all mighty dollar. But is this really it? If we look at a place like Germany, there are many happy people there, who can still afford to drive BMWs and have a nice house. If you look deep into their towns they take 2 hour lunch breaks, randomly take days off and close up shop every day at 5. Germans even have a beer with lunch, which is taboo in our country because we don’t want to look like alcoholics. It seems like everything in America is run off image. We want to be busy so we can make the money, to buy the nice car, to buy the nice house and ultimately be “happy”. While I have never seen a sad person drive a sports car, is this really what happiness is? I think America should slow down, take a chill pill and relax. With all this running around we see no time for a meal, no family time and no personal time. All this stress and poor quick food choices is what is making this country fat. Germany also doesn’t look down on their fat people as weak. Big hairy men are seen as great beer drinkers and bigger women are seen as great cooks. If we had these view on our people this might curve our anorexia/bulimia epidemic.
Overall I think America should slow down. We need to focus on family and life more than the all mighty dollar. With this removed stress and curved views on heavier people I believe we can change the course of eating disorders and even tone down on our obesity rates.

Matt Lendvay
332I t/th

YES, THE NBA IS FINALLY BACK!!!

2011-12-13T18:46:00.000-08:00

Well its not a for sure but there is hope on the new tentative agreement that has been reached between the owners and players. The NBA and its players have reached a tentative agreement to end the 2011 lockout, which began on July 1 and did not produce a new collective bargaining agreement until 149 days later. The previous collective bargaining agreement, negotiated in 2005, expired after June 30. This was the third major work stoppage in NBA history, and the second one that resulted in the cancellation of regular-season games. Both parties were in differences because of money issues, owners wanted to take more of the yearly revenues to maintain their teams, however, players have countered that the league is setting records with TV and ticket revenue, and only a few teams are losing money. However, both sides came to an agreement to settle their differences, which is exciting for every basketball fan out there. Basketball is coming at a great time; it’s set to begin on the 25^th of December aka CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!! There is nothing better than knowing Kobe Bryant wont have his legacy tarnished or cut short because of one season that was lost at some point, I love the fact that Lebron James will have another season to prove that he isn’t clutch when it counts, I want to see Blake Griffin dunk all over people like he usually does in every game, and I want to see the Lakers beat the Celtics in the championship game once again lol. Above all the sense of relieve that all fans have knowing basketball has been saved. Like in our discussions we truly do see sports almost like a religion, this lockout showed how people experience the absence of basketball. We all go out of our ways to make time to see games, we make time to go out and imitate our favorite players while playing sports, and we want to be like them to some extent. It’s sad to know that money was an issue between the owners and players, college on the other hand you see how exciting the players can be. College players seem to show the sacrifice and willing to do anything to get to the next level. Every pro player comes from a college driven sport but once having reached the pro level all the goal setting, respect for the game, and dedication has been affected by the money that influences sports in general. Life is about making sacrifices for what you love to do, and both parties in the NBA lockout acted selfish. Many of us would give anything for 1 million dollars but they want millions on top of millions. Anyways, I’m just glad they reached an agreement they are bringing entertainment back into our lives, it brings back hopes, and far most it brings back the culture of basketball back to us.

Horacio Guerra

KIN 332i

T/TH 12:30-1:45

"Not just a Game" film

2011-12-13T00:36:00.000-08:00

“Not Just A Game” was a very interesting film. So many information and events were brought up. After watching this film I did reflect and realize that politics seems to be broadcasting more on sports and we are continuing to have them like the Army vs Navy football games. What I found most interesting was the football player who left his football career to serve his county and the media/ federal people had to lie the world and his parents about his death. I thought that was ridiculous and pointless. Pretty sad for the parents to hear one thing and then find out something else especially when their son was against the war and thought it was unreasonable for him to be there. Another part from the film that I found interesting was about the Owens winning first place in the 1936 Olympics. I didn’t know that the things, walking barefoot, beaded necklace, straight fist up in the air, had represented for poverty and civil rights. I didn’t know before what they all meant and I also didn’t know that they’re title of wining first and second place were banned. Sad to say America has freedom of speech but we’re still not allowed to use our rights. Our country discriminate race and gender when we claim that “All men kind are equal” and yet, today, many of us are still fighting for either equal pay, rights, etc. It is interesting that many of our athletes now don’t do that unless they’re representing for the country, people in the service, or any other name brand companies. This video was pretty good. It did wrapped up almost everything that was discuss in class.

ID #007325030

Tues/Thurs @12:30

Dave Zirin in Not Just a Game

2011-12-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

The last video we watched in class Not Just a Game with Dave Zirin was really eye opening. Overall, he seemed to address a little bit of everything when it comes to issues in sport that were brought up in class, and even those that were not. The film itself can teach anyone so much about sports and politics and how closely they are aligned. He addressed different aspects of sporting events that may have been overlooked and put meaning into them. That example of how the Olympic runners were basically stripped of their medals for merely showing respect for their culture and beliefs most likely would not have made as much sense if you had witnessed it on your own firsthand. The film was so informative and I think it basically sums up all issues with sport when it comes to competition, money, values, war, gender issues, and anything else I can’t think of at the moment. The main thing I thought after we finished watching it was how well of a job that film did in basically summing up our class and what an awesome way it was to end to semester. Dave Zirin seems to be a very well respected sports writer and definitely address issues from an outside perspective that allows any reader or listener to see things in a way that is more in depth and outside the box. He is very highly opinionated, but for most his opinions seem to be those that are valued which helps make him so captivating.

http://www.edgeofsports.com/index.html

Nylene Herrera
Kin 332I

Haters Be Hating

2011-12-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

Basketball is here again! The nuclear winter is finally over; the owners and the players finally ended the ugly 149 day lockout. The date was set, December 25th would be the day that the 66 game season would begin with match ups such as the Celtics vs the Knicks, the Heat vs the Mavericks, and the Lakers vs the Bulls. If the epic opening day schedule wasn't enough, the trade talks and free agency rumors put it over the top. Reports that both Chris Paul and Dwight Howard were on the trading blocks was crazy but what was more crazy was the idea that they could end up on the same team together. Let's take that one step further: they could be on the same team with Kobe Bryant!!! The Black Mamba himself teams up with CP3 and D12, moves like this only happens in video games and fantasy leagues not in the NBA. As a Lakers fan, I thought there was no possible way this could ever happen; the Lakers could get one or the other but not both. But then it happened, the Lakers landed one of the most coveted free agents in Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets. It was a three team trade which involved the Los Angeles Lakers, the New Orleans Hornets, and the Houston Rockets with the Lakers getting point guard Chris Paul while giving up power forward/center Pau Gasol to the Rockets and power forward Lamar Odom going to the Hornets. The Hornets also received All-stars Kevin Martin and Luis Scola from the Rockets in exchange for Pau Gasol. The trade was done, the impossible had happened. Facebook and Twitter was blowing up with updates, people were using their photoshop skills to see what was to come with Chris Paul wearing Lakers purple and gold. Even the odds makers in Vegas were making the Lakers the favorites to win the championship. Everything was perfect in LakerLand and in a blink of an eye it was gone.

The Chris Paul era in Los Angeles ended before it even began. No championship, no parades, nothing. The league came in and blocked to trade, no CP3 for the Lakers. It was as if nothing had ever happened. When asked why the trade had been blocked, commissioner David Stern and the league said the trade was blocked for "basketball reasons". What the hell does that mean. "Basketball reasons"?? I figured that meant that the trade was unfair for the Hornets but when I looked at it closer that wasn't the case. The Hornets received three legitimate starters while the Lakers got one player back. They also lost their starting power forward and their best bench player who would be a starter on any other team in the league. "Basketball reasons"...then it became all too clear when a report came out that a group of owners went to David Stern and demanded that the trade be denied. They claimed that it wasn't fair that the Lakers, a big market team, was getting one of the best players in the league again. They felt that the new CBA, collective bargaining agreement, made it so it was harder for the bigger market teams to form these super rosters and yet only days after the CBA was agreed upon, the Lakers were doing it again. David Stern showed yet again why he is inept at his job and why he should get the hell out of basketball. He showed how spineless he real was by folding under the pressure of the owners and blocking the trade.

Chris Paul was going to leave the Hornets after the season was over no matter what; he has a opt-out clause in is his contract making him a free agent. Paul had made it known that he had a desire to go to a big market team once he was done in New Orleans and the Hornets recognized this. By trading him, they would be able to get some players and draft picks in return for Paul instead of letting him go to free agency. As a Lakers fan, some say I may only feel this way because the Lakers finally didn't get their way of grabbing up all of the superstars but I would feel this way if this were the case with any other team. The question I would ask David Stern is what are you going to do once CP3 is a free agent and agrees to a contract with the Lakers? When it comes to free agency, the commissioner has no say. Are you going to tell the Lakers that they are not a team anymore? Under the salary cap portion of the CBA, teams are allowed to offer maximum contract offers to players of the same amount. So tell me how it isn't fair when he picks the Lakers over the Bobcats when the same amount of money is on the line. And now the league comes out with a different excuse to cover their asses!?! Maybe not having a basketball season would have been better; we wouldn't have had to put up with the league's crap. Don't worry, Kobe will make them pay...

Josh Butler

KIN 332I Tues/Thurs

Role models

2011-12-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

While watching David Zirin, he talks about players (specifically LeBrick James) having goals that include being a world-wide icon while being one of the most successful (money wise) athlete ever. Going into details, he makes a great point that those two do not really intertwine; its either you reach international fame through your influential yet controversial words or you keep your mouth shut and make billions. That begs the question: are athletes, or even coaches, truly fit to be role models? It appears as though athletes today are more like businessmen and play for the money. Although this was a long time ago, Charles Barkley's infamous quote, "I am not a role model" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8vh2MwXZ6o) would still fit in today's sports world. Despite the NBA advertising NBA cares and players hosting basketball camps for younger children, it still appears fake and forced. The only recent basketball player that I can think of that has made a difference in around the world is Dikembe Mutombo, a retired player and much-respected philanthropist. There are a lot of players willing to do community work and local charity but how many of them would risk their health, possibly reputation or endorsements to help those in need around the world? Once athletes retire, they seem to disappear to live a private life or do sports analysis on ESPN; only a few continue doing philanthropy or charity. Even coaches who so many revere and respect in sports, turn out to make horrible decisions. Just look at the recent Penn state or Syracuse controversy. For me, I just watch sports for the entertainment and I ignore anything irrelevant. I'm happy that the NBA cares program exists as it benefits a lot of people but how many players would contribute if it did not exist? To me, I don't expect many. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic about this or maybe I'm really uninformed and ignorant but that's just what I see.

Marshal Truong

007975290

Kin 332I

The Bigger Picture

2011-12-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

Finally, we have ourselves an NBA season! Yep, thats right the holidays have just been gifted with a little more sporting fun! I really wasn't sure what I was going to do without the NBA and my favorite team the Lakers. Although we aren't getting any younger as a team, I trust the tactically observant Mitch Cupcheck will find a winning recipe one way or another. While I'm not gauranteeing us an NBA championship, I do think I can safely predict a return to the playoffs. I mean things would be labeled as a disaster without that right? The other thing that has really been inescapable is the silent giant that we have growing across town. I'm talking about the Clippers led by Blake Griffin. Not only is this guy a ferocious player and a witty actor, but this guy knows how to make things happen. His rookie season had him painting the town red, literally. He made watching Clipper games just as good as watching Laker ones. This year his whole teams roster is under the age of 30, which will be valuable as hell in a shortened up season that has, at times, teams playing three nights in a row. Mo Williams, Eric Gordon and even hints of other big names showing interest in the Clips could make for some damn exciting crosstown rivalry games. I can't hop on the Clipper bandwagon. That would be just wrong for a guy like me, someone who grew up falling asleep on a Friday night to the likes of Nick Vaneksel and Eddie Jones. I used to pride myself for being named Spencer because there were steaks named Spencer steak and Kobe steak. I know, pretty pathetic right? While i just won't allow myself to flip flop on teams, there is one thing I will do. I'll show my support for the Clips. Root for them against anyone else. An if the day comes where Blake Griffen dunks over Kobe in a game, I'll quietely smile inside.
Spencer Pirdy
Kin332I Tues/Thur

2011-12-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

The scandel involving coach paterno is overwhelming. I am not writting this blog to justify coach paterno's actions, but I will say that all coaches who were involved should be treated equally. Coach paterno was at the very end of his hall of fame career. He did not whitness the "Child Abuse"fisrt hand. A coach who seen what was going on came to him and told him (he went to a higher figure). When coach paterno hears about the news her then took it up to a higher figure. Yes he should have called the cops. But the coach who whitnessed the scandel first hand still remained on staff. College sports is a buisness as much as it is an educational institution. These programs will do anything that will help them win. Even if that means taking a short cut and firing those who stand against them. Not to say paterno was standing against pen state, but in the sense that the college knew he was going to retire. Why fire a young coach who will aid the program for years to come for doing something wrong, when you can just fire the man who is in his last years. The university made a buisness move in this scandel. This man who is still on staff whitnessed young boys being malested and did not go to athorities. While another man, heard of this took the same actions, and had his reputation and entire career ruined. Again I am not defending anyone ivolved in these disgusting actions. I believe that every one involved should be fired and banned from working with any children or athletes. yet, the university still employs the the coach who witnessed it first hand!! He is going to coach at Pen State for years to come. This just goes to show how much winning is valued in the NCAA. they do not care about right or wrong, they care about what brings the money in. Winning brings the money in.
Alex Gonzalez 332I 0767 t/th 12:30

2011-12-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

Watching a boxing match for the first time in several years this weekend reminded me of how gruesome it can be and why I never really liked it much.. In my kinesiology 338i class we discussed the boxing match between Katie Dallam and Sumya Anani. Seeing this match between Margarito and Cotto is much different from the female match. These two women went into the match not knowing the real dangers of boxing. They possibly thought that with the boxing gloves on they wouldn’t be at much risk and they kept being reassured that their opponent knew very little about boxing. On the other hand the male boxers were fully aware of their opponent’s abilities. In fact Cotto took that to his advantage and attacked Margarito’s weak spot, his eye. Also the woman’s match had a lot of blood in it, and no one made an attempt to stop it. Unlike the men’s fight that ended early because one of the doctors believed that Margarito was at risk for losing his eye even though the boxer himself would’ve preferred to put his health at risk to win a match? If Dallam would’ve had that same opportunity Margarito did, her life would be much different now. Unfortunately, she lost the fight and lost certain abilities. Dallam is now a disabled woman who has lost the ability to remain focused, drive and interact a lot without losing focus. The spectators took the woman’s match to be pure entertainment and didn’t worry for their helath. These women were not taken seriously, in a man’s match the same incidence Dallam experienced would never occur. Women continue to be thought as weaker individuals when compared to men, even with the passage of title 9 which is suppose to create equality with each other.

Kin 332I

007467458

T/Th at 12

Pay the Athletes?

2011-12-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

Football and basketball, the two biggest moneymaking sports in the NCAA. The debate goes on about whether or not the players should be paid for playing on these college teams because of all the money and prestige they are bringing in for their schools. All sorts of money is being made from the televised games to the jerseys you can buy at a store like Footlocker and the players get none of it.

These players who do get exploited this way should get some of the money they bring in but if they did it would have some downside effects. Football and basketball bring in a lot of money where other Division I sports like swimming, tennis, or rowing or other sports do not. The money brought in by these sports helps fund the traveling and competition of the other sports. If more money was put toward football and basketball and their players it would affect the funding for other Division I sports like these. Many sports like crew, and rugby have become club sports because the schools could not afford for them to be varsity sports. To give more money towards football and basketball would be an issue for the other Division I sports.

So if the NCAA football and basketball players deserve to get paid or some sort of compensation for playing, but we do not want to put the other Division sports at risk of losing funding, what else is there to do? Sports Illustrated published an article called “The Free Market Plan” where players would be aloud to accept endorsement deals. The schools would not be giving them money, but they’d be making money from sponsorships. To make sure no schools gain a competitive edge, the schools can monitor how much players get, similar to how salary-cap rules work.

With the Free Market Plan players can earn money on their own apart from the schools. Those players who are seen as the star athletes of the college league will get a chance to make money, and schools would not have to pay them, and other sports would continue to get funding.

Silent Saturdays

2011-12-04T19:13:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine playing a game when no one off the field is saying a word? All you can hear is the referees and your teammates. Your coach can only speak quietly to the athletes off the field and the parents and spectators can not cheer, give advice or even talk. Well, for some AYSO leagues throughout the country this is known as Silent Saturday. Leagues designate specific saturdays where the fans are not allowed to cheer or say a word. Their motto is "Just Let The Kids Play!" The idea of these silent days came from when kids used to play in alleys and sandlots and had no one telling them what to do, it goes back to the good ol' days of recreational sports. This whole phenomenon started back in 2000 and has been growing like crazy in the past few years and I think it would be great to see it implemented in other sports, not just AYSO leagues. In my own experience, I loved playing hockey because there were boards and glass that separated me from obnoxious parents. But some sports like basketball, soccer, football and baseball have no boards or glass separating the players from the parents, so all of the comments are easily heard by the players. I brought this topic up because I recently coached flag football for third graders and as I listened to how the coaches were talking to their players and how parents would get in fights, it really opened my eyes and told me that we have a serious problem here. I heard one coach say, "If that kid hits him again, I am going to bust him!" Now, this coach was from a different city but I was completely appalled when I heard him say that. I thought, there's no way you should be allowed to work with kids. Another time, I had two parents yell across the fields at each other and the referees had to intervene. How embarrassing must that be for the poor kid? I just think that parents get way too involved at times and forget what youth recreation sports are all about. It's about letting the kids play and have fun. Furthermore, by having one Silent Saturday a month or a season, this could really open the eyes of the parents and show them how loud they can get at times. Not only will it make the parents more aware, but it will be much more enjoyable for the participants and it will let the kids do what they want as opposed to being directed by their coaches and parents off of the field. In conclusion, Silent Saturdays have been very sucessful in AYSO leagues and I think that other sports and leagues should at least try and incorporate one Silent Saturday to see how it goes.

Travis Benson

Kin 332I - 03

http://aysowiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=Silent+Saturday

Obesity

2011-12-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

Why has obesity become such a huge issue in our society? Maybe it has to do with the fact that there is a McDonald's around ever corner. Or maybe it is perceived lack of time to fit in a 20 minute work out once a day. It also may be the fact that americans are constantly looking for that quick fix. The problem of obesity is continuously increasing. Why aren't more people more concerned with their physical well-being? There are many factors that contribute to this particular issue. In my opinion the biggest contribution to the growing obesity rate is the fitness industry. I know what you're thinking, isn't the fitness industry the only hope in curing this soon to be epidemic? Sure, but it is big gyms like 24 hour fitness, La fitness, and Bally's Total fitness whose main goal is to increase the overall income for their gym. They do not care about self worth, physical well-being, or even psychological well-being. They sell yearly memberships to countless suckers who are attempting to make a difference in their life. While the overall population is looking to improve their lifestyle, big name gyms are searching for their next target. The worst thing that could happen for La fitness or 24 hour fitness would be if every person who owned a membership would actually show up. These corporate gyms' sole focus is to make money, not to promote health. They market unrealistic goals which can become demotivating to many people. When the overall emphasis is that fitness will improve appearance, and not their health, they are extrinsically motivating people. Many of the people who are looking to work out to improve their life style can be vulnerable and need to be intrinsically motivated. These health clubs, and gyms are important for our society but it is discouraging to see money as their top motive.

kin 332I

Jenny Soza

Thinspiration a Good Thing?

2011-12-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

In a study where they measured “thinspiration and the fear of fat indirectly” it became “a matter of approach and avoidance.” In this study they took multiple female college students and showed them pictures of different models of all different sizes. They found that “the participants' reaction times during the SRC [Stimulus Response Compatibility] task provided an index of the automatic affective and motivational valence of the models” thus showing their response to be much more apt to the thinner models and resistant to the plus size. This evidence shows that our response to people of different sizes is a subconscious judgment. As a society our associations with beauty and health have become linked to a thin physicality which induces a very unfair and warped perception. It is for this reason that so many people are dealing with eating disorders and the anxiety and stress to stay thin. We have people who do live a healthy lifestyle but are not considered fit under societal standards. Just because some people are a little more voluptuous does not mean they are lazy or unhealthy. In fact studies have shown that people who are a little heavier statistically live longer than those who comply with societal standards of being thin. I cannot deny the fact that we as Americans have a huge issue with weight problems due to over eating and lack of exercise. But I think we have to ask ourselves if subjecting oneself to throwing up after every meal or going without food all together should be any more acceptable. This is all related to perception and this constant pressure to stay thin and look “fit” is causing more discouragement and distress than truly inducing healthy and satisfying life styles.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21182883

Abuse in sports

2011-12-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

Going off an article posted on Twitter http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/lapchick-111130/the-public-underwhelming-reaction-athletes-assault-women, there is an overwhelming repsonse to abuse in sports....sometimes. Recently, we were shocked by the disgusting acts of Sandusky and his abuse of young children. In the past, we've seen athletes like Michael Vick's abuse of animals, the OJ Simpson's murder trial, or the Kobe Bryant rape allegations. And while all get major media attention, and a public outburst and demand for justice, it is either short-lived or garnering attention for the wrong reasons. Many cases of domestic abuse against women go almost unrecognized year after year. Time after time charged get dropped or lessened because a high-profile male athlete is involved. Bryant's rape victim chose to drop charges as she faced relentless media attention and death threats. Tony Woods, a center on Wake Forest's basketball team, was charged with assualting his girlfriend in 2010, allegedly fracturing her spine; he received a 60-day prison sentence. Eric Devendorf, a guard for Syracuse hit a female student and was initially suspened for the rest of the year....before that punishment was reduced to 40 hours of community service, allowing him to play the rest of the season. There are countless examples to give, and even disregarding the male athlete's guilt or innocence, it is easier to see that few cases are taken with the severity of others (child abuse with Sandusky, or animal abuse with Vick), or followed through with the quest for justice. Why are people not as outraged, or quick to act in situations like this? Women are human beings too, and they get abused too. We can speak up for children and seek justice for them, and we can do the same for women. The question is why, as a society, are we not? Why do we seek to defend the athlete, even though we know they are morally wrong? Why must we shame all alleged victims in to hiding and silence? Athletes are not above the law, and must be held acountable if we expect to live in a society where sports don't rule all. Sports cannot control our moral compass, and determine who gets away with abusing another human being.

Danae Delfin
008248628
TTh 1230-145

Obesity Epidemic or scam?

2011-12-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

After last weeks lecture of fat phobia and the claimed obesity epidemic that the United States is suffering with, made me think of many things. The most shocking piece of information that I got out of the lecture was that more people are dying from eating disorders, malnutrition, and being underweight than obesity; yet obesity is getting more attention. Why is this the case? Of course I am not trying to state that obesity is not important enough to be getting this attention, but should not such a thing as underweight, which is killing more, be considered the epidemic that needs the same if not more attention.

I delve into eating disorders a little more and extracted that 8 million Americans are suffering with eating disorders. Of those suffering, 5-10% will die in 10 years, 18-20% will die after 20 years, and only 40% fully recover. That calculates to 4,800,000 people in America who are suffering this year with an eating disorder will die or struggle with the number one mental disease killer for the rest of their lives.

How does this tie into sport and society. I believe those two very thing are the cause

and masterminds behind the epidemic idea of obesity. A major contributor to motivation is

money. Sport in particular can gain a tremendous amount with people who fall under the obesity

scale. Those people need to shed pounds and sports is the way to do it. Sports bring a large

amount of money to begin with but if the promotion of entering youths into expensive

sport programs or organizations will increase profit. Other benefactors within sport...gyms, personal

trainers, and eventually n the long run intercollegiate sports, and professional sports. The culture

is another to blame. It is needless to say that the U.S. surrounds their culture on

the perfect body, and being fat in this society will not cut it. It shames me to say that the culture and media suggest, but it is okay to

be too skinny than too fat. Massive representations of the body in the media is adding to this notion.

The U.S. is suffering with both obesity and eating disorders, which clearly indicates that the epidemic at

hand is body image.

Alejandra Fregoso

Kin 332I Sect. 03

Fat Phobia vs. Eating dissorders

2011-11-29T22:04:00.001-08:00

After discussing the topic and the problem America has on fat phobia, I realize how we have two major issues with body image and creating stereotypes depending on the situation. For those who are considered overweight and show it with their physical appearance we tend to think of them as lazy, slow, careless, dirty individuals. We often ask ourselves questions like; do they not care about their health or physical looks? Is all they do eat? Do they not think about their needs to participate in activities that can improve their health? These questions are genuinely stereotypical because little do we actually know their medical health records. They might be perfectly healthy. But because they are fat, we as a society fear becoming overweight. On the other hand studies show that people with eating disorders who suffer from anorexia and bulimia are at a far higher risk of death and deaths in life, and those who are heavier actually live on average longer than those in normal weight class. My theory behind this is that people who are overweight are the ones who are looking for help while the ones who suffer from eating disorders are in a far deeper level of depression and neglect looking for help which is probably why we don’t hear too much about these issues but we do when it comes to those who are overweight.

College vs. NBA

2011-11-29T19:59:00.001-08:00

Call me what you will but I firmly believe that college basketball is more interesting than the NBA. Before you call the cops on me hear me out. I've heard arguments that the NBA has the best players and that the level of play is far above the college levels. I'm not going to dispute that the NBA players are the best and they could beat a team of college players. I do understand they play on a different level which is why if you refer to my initial statement I said "more interesting". I find that college basketball requires more investment in following and has a far larger pay off. For the NBA there is always the regular season then playoffs and for college there is the regular season and the tournament. The NBA season is around eighty games (exception going to seasons where the season doesn't start off on time for various reasons like a lockout for example) and for a good majority of those games teams that are playing aren't interesting match ups. Watching a team like the Lakers beat up on a team like the Knicks isn't a big deal and for Knicks fans when they do upset the Lakers its not like their entire season has become a success. In college basketball it is a very likely possibility that a team beating a single ranked opponent can make their entire season. If Duke were to lose to our very own Long Beach State team, it would be the talk of the rest of the season. For the students playing in college basketball there is so much more on the line, it isn't their profession , they aren't getting paid to play and they put in close to the same amount of work as a professional player would. So while the skill level may be entirely different the player's effort will be completely different. In college basketball the players are changing with a frequency seldom seen in the NBA, having to constantly recruit and build up new players makes the coaches at the college level that much more impressive. Watching Coach K or Tom Izzo go out there and compete successfully year after year even though they may have lost three starters and a solid couple bench players means so much more than watching Phil Jackson coach legends like Micheal Jordan and Kobe Bryant. In the NBA players prove themselves and stick around, in college they have a few years to show everyone what they are made of before they leave. Down the stretch NBA playoffs have just as much intensity as the clinching games for the tournament. Watching the NBA finals is just as fun as watching some early match games of the NCAA tournament but watching a story like Georgetown unfold is an unmatched phenomenon that any sport can compete with.

Ryan Plunkett Kin 332I

College vs. NBA

2011-11-29T19:58:00.001-08:00

NBA Lockout Resolved

2011-11-29T12:43:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, the NBA came to an agreement over the lockout. While I am very excited to see the Laker's play on Christmas day, I am disgusted by the reason for this entire lockout. The NBA players are greedy and don't deserve to be payed as much as they do. Yes, I do feel like they should get a decent wage but I do not think they should get paid more than a surgeon who saves people's lives. The way this world is run seems corrupt to me. While the NBA provides much of society's entertainment and brings in a large sum of money, I do not feel they should get paid the amount they do. If the player's were smart, they would realize how much money they lost in the month of games they have let go. Not only have they lost revenue, but they have also lost the respect of fans and spectators. This lockout just goes to show how unfair the world is run. A surgeon who spent years in school is making less than an NBA player who maybe did not even get a college degree. This type of thinking makes no sense to me. Maybe the entire season should have been cancelled to show the player's a harsh reality.

Kristin Taylor 007293453

Distant assignment

2011-11-27T11:36:00.000-08:00

The media focused on the students rioting and the disappointment that their coaches and faculty were being fired. It brought little attention at first to the seriousness of the crimes Sandusky had committed. It also didn’t make it very clear why the head coach Paterno and other faculty were being fired. It also neglected the feelings of the victims. The PSU scandal has been portrayed by media as a series of immoral choices that went about to protect their prestigious community.

Sandusky has a large amount of power because he has a prestigious organization behind him and is working with underprivileged children who have less support from trustworthy adults. The social media spreads a dissenting viewpoint by expressing various outlooks such as the students outrage at the loss of their coach and the disappointment that Sandusky was able to get away with child abuse for so long. This is a good example of how power can allow deviance to happen while their power structure was trying to be kept intact. When sports become more powerful than its value these situations are bound to happen.

Coming from a constructionist framework I would blame the way the power structure was set up. Because no one sought to go outside this power structure and call the police. This is based on over conformity. In this case people ignored innate reactions to such immoral behavior and followed rules of their interior power structure.

I personally think this scandal could of easily been avoided if someone stepped up from any position who was aware of Sandusky’s wrong actions and called law enforcement. I believe there is no excuse to ignore his wrong behaviors and people should be punished for their actions and not be excused for their position in power.

Brittany Hayden

kin 3321, sec. 310767

Athletes and Positive Self Talk

2011-11-25T15:09:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest barriers for athletes to overcome are the negative thoughts that go through their minds when facing adversity. Athletes tend to use negative self-talk that often prevent them from staying optimistic during demanding situations. The use of positive self-talk are daily ongoing conversations that individuals use to keep themselves motivated, these affirmations assist them in consistently keeping a confident and hopeful outlook. Athletes must encompass and instill in themselves a positive mental mind-set. They are accountable for guiding themselves and developing a better sense of positive self-talk. Many athletes may lack this important technique and will never fully develop an understanding of positive self-talk without consistent practice. Someone who is thinking positively is capable of staying regularly focused and determined to handle different situations. Positive self-talk is a great technique that allows athletes to change their state of mind to persevere through the hardships and improve their performance. Athletes who practice positive self-talk is an individual who carries great confidence and has no doubt in his or her abilities to achieve there desired goals. The athlete who sees things positively will tend to look for the good in every situation and allow them to succeed.

http://www.performance-media.com/thoughts.php

distance learning assignment

2011-11-18T02:44:00.000-08:00

Sandusky is sick in the head. I dislike the fact that he is not admitting that he is a pedophile when questioned during an interview. One of the key things about pedophiles I learned from my Abnormal Psychology class is that they are in denial and they have a strong belief that what they are doing is not wrong. Sandusky admits to horsing around in the showers with the boys, but does not see anything wrong with his actions. At this point, I don't think he's trying to save Penn State's reputation or even his own, he seriously has some sort of abnormal psychological disorder. Social media is interpreting this scandal as it should be. It's showing us that Sandusky, along with the others involved, were morally wrong and should be punished. Although media is doing the right thing by exposing this scandal, it also gives the actual sport, school and faculty a bad reputation. It gets me a little worried about other colleges and the kinds of sketchy things that could be possibly happening. It even gets me thinking about our own school! YIKES! You never know! This scandal is raising many suspicions and paranoia amongst the college sport community and are slowly losing trust from the people. I'm sure Paterno and others did not take the correct actions to stop Sandusky because they knew it would have ruined the football team and all their power would diminish, which is what's happening right now. The sport deviance in this case is not normal and should not be tolerated. These faculty members of the football team that knew about Sandusky's horsing around enjoyed the power and money they received. They got lost in the greed from the benefits they were getting and only thought about themselves instead of the poor boys going through these incidents. Of course they are not going to snitch out Sandusky because they did not want to lose what they were receiving through their work with the sport. It is not okay with what happened to these young boys and it's sad they have to live with this their whole lives. Everyone involved in and knew about this scandal should not have the privilege to keep their position with the school and should be punished.

Distance Learning Assignment PSU Sandusky Scandal

2011-11-17T23:53:00.000-08:00

Everytime I learn new information about the Sandusky case it somehow tops my previous 'shocking' reaction to the previous news. The information that continues to come up regarding the case becomes more and more shocking and disgusting at the same time. The people involved, the rioting Penn State students, Sandusky's attorney, just everything. When I heard the interviews of both Sandusky and his attorney I couldn't believe the answers to the questions they had. To me that way the interviews went seems like evidence enough to clearly show that Sandusky is guilty. The media presents the information to the public taking sides with the victims (thankfully) and in my opinion it would help when it comes to making sure the outcome is what it should be. I think It's really important for the victims to speak and for them to understand that it's okay for them to do so just to make sure justice is served. It would be really hard for the victims, but I think it would provide really evidence for the case. Kerrie brought it up in class about how the NCAA has not said anything of the issue which seems odd because they are a very important factor when it comes to power in college athletics. It seems as though the media are in control when it comes to power in this story, and for once they actually seem to be portraying the most morally correct viewpoint, which I think is odd for our society since the news always seems to drift off into topics that are not necessarily important. I hope since the media are the major focus that they continue to provide this viewpoint that Sandusky is guilty.

Nylene H. Kin332I Sec03

2011-11-17T23:51:00.001-08:00

THE PSU CONTROVERSY

So what do you say to a legacy that literally went down the drain? Joe Paterno can be assumed to be the greatest and most wins by a coach in Division 1 college football. His 409 victories stand alone and his 46 years as a coach at PSU, there is no coach to stand to the greatness of what this man provided for his football teams. However, Paterno will no longer be initially thought for his greatness but what he didn’t do in the Sandusky controversy of raping kids. The whole PSU football program knew of thee acts but yet not one word was said until years later, it’s unfortunate that such a thing had to occur but thankfully at least someone spoke out now. These men deserve to be held accountable for these embarrassing acts that are plain disgusting. As coaches of the program holding or keeping secrets just like Paterno was not the smartest choice but the dumbest, they know in their right mind what happened in that situation was suppose to be brought up immediately to the law enforcement. The media has been on this case for a few weeks now, why? Well the history, prestige, the greatness of its team, and the man, the icon Joe Paterno. The school itself is well known and its team is always on the top rankings, however I believe this case gets more attention because Joe Paterno. To find out that Joe actually knew of this selfish act by one of his assistants and not take action it really confuses me and then you see PSU students protesting on the behalf of Joe Paterno to save his job it’s just crazy to me. The media throughout the years depicted this man as the face of the program, he was someone meaningful, and he was an iconic coach that provided a sense of motivation and leadership. But what his actions tell us is that the fame got to his ego, he was more worried about how this situation can influence his success by literally ending his career. What’s crazy is that as this story is revealing day in and day out and as bad as the raping of kids is I myself find it hard to believe that the media made this situation about Paterno. The media has turned it to the importance of Joe Paterno more so than the importance of bringing people to justice. These acts done by professional coaches are just disgusting, they preach honesty, compliance, good ethics and for this to happen is just astonishing. However, I think about one thing. What if someone of a low minority racial background were the coaches involved in such a case? Would the media give some type of attention or would it give far more attention?

Kin 332I

Horacio Guerra (M/W: 12:30-1:45)

Paterno Sucks University

2011-11-17T23:51:00.000-08:00

I am glad this scandal is all over the media. These older men should be embarrassed for what they did and put to shame. I never knew who Sandusky was before this but now that I know how he looks like, If I see him on the street I will make sure my kids are right next to me (especially if and when I have baby boys). This scandal is all over the media right now. It is a huge deal especially because Paterno has been a coach at PSU for over 46 years because if it was the University of Ohio coach or some "sucky unknown" team it would not of been as big as a deal as it is. The people in power are so funny because before it became a scandal they had Paterno and his coaching staff's back, but now that it is all over the media they easily turn their backs on them and fired him over the phone. PSU should of had a backbone and fired Paterno along time ago instead of Paterno being their backbone! Paterno, Sandusky, and everybody else that knew what happen should be in jail. 1st Sandusky should be in jail for what he did, 2nd Paterno and the others should go to jail for not reporting the incident for not doing their duty as a citizen to report illegal actions. Paterno was a symbolic-interaction framework for being the face of PSU where as anything he does should turn to gold. Paterno is no god because God is perfect and Paterno is human so that makes him not perfect. The scandal sucks but the fact that it went on air worldwide was great so everyone in the world could see what happens behind the doors before Saturday. Just to show that these coaches are human and no one to worship! I am disgusted with this incident when Sandusky said "It was a mistake to shower with the kids!" EWWWW WHAT A SICKO! Also I am glad that now parent will be aware and might want to know more about their kid's coaches and not leave them with them by themselves. Just remember, you will eventually get caught or it will come back to hunt you, so be careful what you do! God Bless you all!

2011-11-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

The media has placed a lot of attention to the Pen State scandal. One of the reasons why it does is because of the relationship Sandusky has. He has a relationship with Patorno, who is the head football coach at Pen State. Patorno is an iconic symbol of success within the college football world. When Mcquiry saw Sandusky in the locker room with the young boy, he did what he believed to be the correct thing. Although somewhere in between,, someone overlooked Sandusky’s actions because of his foundation to help the children who are less privileged. The amount of power he has is tiny compared to Patorno, if Patorno would’ve attempted to stop these actions Sandusky was performing, there is a higher likelihood that someone of power would’ve paid more attention and possibly stopped them several years ago. These men of authority who have power, behaved deviantly and focused their attention on football instead. Through the functionalist framework would Sandusky’s actions be justified, if you can call them that. Sandusky ignored the fact that he was hurting young boys psychologically and emotionally. Instead he focused on the idea that he was helping these boys out, by having his foundation to help those children who didn’t have the economic sources to play football. His targets were young boys, who were on the lower end of the economic spectrum and were in broken families. Sandusky believed that he could help these boys by providing them gifts, and the opportunity to play football. Through football they would learn skills that could be applied to life. I believe that this whole scandal is a tragedy. It is sad, to see what other Americans have made football as their priority and ignore the lives of young boys who are now scarred for life. If someone would’ve committed for the safety of these boys when speculation first arose many years ago, then the number of victims would’ve decreased. Unfortunately, the parents of these children believed that this camp was something good for their kids, no one expects their kids to be harmed in a safe environment like Pen State’s campus.

Maritza L.

Kin 332 i

Sodomy is now okay in society!

2011-11-17T23:28:00.000-08:00

Well at least apparently it had been at Penn State for the last decade or so with Sandusky.

Media has built up Joe Paterno as this magnificent angelic god in Pennsylvania. People around that area worship him so. It's probably a huge reason why nothing was ever reported about this huge scandal. People wanted to protect football and this giant legacy that Penn State and Paterno had just built. The people in power wanted to maintain that so they silenced anybody who tried to speak up or some chose to not speak up. This culture of power and respect for the football legend built up to the point where going against it was considered deviant. It was now acceptable to cover up for the football great, nobody what the cost was.

One could look at this entire scandal from the view of the Functionalist perspective. Everything that has happened over there in Pennsylvania just happens to uphold all of what society values. We value football. We value sports. We value legends. We value entertainment, money, and power. We value children. Maybe not so much on that last one. The scandal just shows us that many people value such things much more than they do the safety of children. Scary thought.

I'm really shocked that people are actually holding a vigil at Paterno's house as if he was some kind of martyr. He put his own legacy over the children. These children will be permanently hurt psychologically and traumatized forever. Yet people worry more about their football season then they do about the lack of Paterno's actions to protect the children. I look at this scandal and I'm like, "Wow, we really do value sports more than children." Then those crazy fans just feed into that scary thought.

Paterno and all those involved need spend some time in jail for what they have done or haven't done. They had moral obligations but they let petty things come before the safety of children. Speaks so much about the world we live in...

Bryant Pham

Kin 332i TuTh 1230

PSU

2011-11-17T23:14:00.001-08:00

Social media has shaped the PSU scandal to focus more on the reactions of those around as opposed to what is actually happening. It feels that there is more emotions involved in the firing of Joe Paterno than there was regarding the raping of the children themselves. The media has shifted its focus from the case itself to everything surrounding the case.

Penn State had the power to cover up the deviant behavior from the media. They intersect at the point where those with power are able to make the media turn a blind eye to their wrong doings. As long as they have so much power they are able to turn the media away.

The crime was committed because of a flaw in the system. This whole situation was able to get out of hand because of the power that the school has. If it weren't for this idea that the football coaches are invincible and untouchable the number of rapes would have stopped at one. The continued deviance was supported by the organization. The college was able to cover up the scandal and thus allow it to continue to fester. It is not the fault of the person for being corrupted but rather the whole system that allows behavior like this to exist without cracking down on it.

My reaction is one of disgust. The whole situation sucks. Everything from those involved to the reaction of those closest to the situation. Sandusky deserves to be behind bars for the rest of his life were he won't be with children and the only raping that will be going on is most likely not going to be in his favor. Paterno ruined his reputation by allowing something like this to go unattended to, if it weren't for his sterling record I'm sure that he would be either pursued by the courts or ran out of town as he deserves to be. Penn State managed to not only screw up in allowing this to happen and actually helping facilitate further actions by giving him access to everything he needed to continue but then it also failed to save its reputation due mainly to its student population. I understand it is not all the students who are making asses out of themselves but the loud majority have managed to ruin it. Any chance of Penn State salvaging their reputation for the foreseeable future has been lost. The fact that the main concern and focus point for much coverage surrounds Joe Paterno is an abhorrent. Right now there are victims who are dealing with very real concerns that will last for the rest of their lives and yet we are talking about football and what's going to happen to Paterno. Its ridiculous how out of touch with reality these people are. Society in general is just messed up if this is allowed to happen and when it is brought into light we are still able to argue about it. There should not be two sides to this debate, there is clearly obvious evidence that cannot be denied that Sandusky raped children (not fooled around as he claims). It was rape simple as that and yet people are still outraged at the fallout that occurred. All in all I'm just sick of hearing about it, I'm fed up with the whining and arguing, and lastly I'm pissed off that this has to get so out of hand it is even invading into my classes at school. It should have been swiftly dealt with or better yet prevented. Its a bleak day indeed when football is able to overshadow the real life concern of rape involving children. There are more important things going on like Occupy Wall Street and the continually increasing tuition that should be the main concern and talk of college students. Change should be coming from other places that can be built upon. Yet here we are, discussing something that never should have been able to happen distracting us from more important matters. I have absolutely nothing more to say about this topic.

Ryan Plunkett Kin 338/332

PSU Paterno Sandusky

2011-11-17T22:59:00.000-08:00

The PSU scandal has blown up many media outlets including twitter, television, other social networks and of course through word of mouth. The main picture that the media displays is that the Paterno is completely at fault and deserves the punishment he is going to get. There are others that believe that he is not really at fault and deserves to still coach but these are mostly avid fans of the team. The issues of power, media and deviance are all obviously intertwined in this big scandal. The power of a greatly praised coach like Paterno being overpowered by this Sandusky scandal and being shared with the world through media. I can see how Paterno would see cover this up. This scandal would have ruined the team if it surfaced earlier. It would have ruined the reputation that Paterno built up over the years. I personally think it is right that Paterno is being punished along with Sandusky. Anyone else who was involved or knew about this and didn't do anything against it should be punished.

Philip Samia

kin 332i

PSU Scandal

2011-11-17T22:50:00.000-08:00

Wow wow... I didn't even know about this scandal at Penn State until I walked in class and we started talking about it. But then it was hard for me to follow because don't follow college football and I didn't know any of the people who where being mention in the discussion. I got confused between Sandusky and Paterno I didn't know who did what. However I did some research on my own and I got some understanding of the scandal at Penn State.

The media had made the scandal be known to public. At the same time they have experts analysis the situation and explained with reason that Sandusky is guilty. Sandusky including some of the school official who didn't do anything about it are to blame for sexually abuse on young children to occur.

The functionalist theory would help explain for this occurrence. Since football is the sport that is being perpetually shown on tv and it become a highly value sport. They don't want to ruin the reputation of football so this it got cover up.

Kin 332I
006955661

PSU Scandal

2011-11-17T22:20:00.001-08:00

The scandal that occurred at Penn State is a difficult subject matter because like many other political and social issues, there will never be a majority on either side. The most horrific part of this issue is that it brings to light a very sensitive topic that happens all the time, but this particular situation is so hyped up because of the players involved. Most people find themselves leaning to one side or the other, where some people are just absolutely mortified at the thought of a man that everyone trusted to do something so disgusting that he would mentally screw with the lives of young boys for the rest of their lives, or on the other side where a football coach and his legacy after 60+ years would be forever tainted. It's terrible that these issues are just coming to light, along with the scandals occurring at Syracuse. I can only imagine that more and more problems of the past will be coming out in the media soon enough. As horrible as it is that these issues are just coming out, at least they are coming out and giving others the courage to step forward and tell their stories, so we can stop future occurrences from happening. The first recruit for the 2012 Penn State team has officially declined his offer and I know that this is the beginning of a decline of this ultimate football legacy.

- Clara Cho

KIN 338i S.6

Distance Learning- PSU Scandal

2011-11-17T21:44:00.001-08:00

Its been on every sports channel. The PSU scandal has become a daily piece of our lives over night. What was once considered one of the crown jewels of college football, a bright light in a dark world of constant investigations, is now just like everyone else. A highly revered head coach, someone everyone could relate their grandfather to, is now a criminal. The media has played a big role in the way society has viewed the scandal. The day the scandal came out to the public you could not turn on ESPN without someone talking about it. But not only was it the media in general but the social media which seemed to add fuel to the fire. People were expressing their thoughts and feelings at a tremendous rate. It seemed that the only way to get the latest news on the situation was through twitter feeds and facebook updates. The social media has taken the PSU scandal and made it relevant through out the nation if not the world. People who do watch sports or even care about sports are reading feeds and posts about the terrible crimes committed on the Penn. State campus and are voicing their opinions.

As I watched the riots and protests on television, I got the impression that the all the Penn. State students were irate over the firing of Joe Paterno and wanted justice. I saw television vans being turned over and windows being smashed. As I watched the mayhem unfold, I began to side with the students and Paterno. I then realized how much power the media has over society when deviant behavior is being committed. The media took "all" of the Penn. State students and painted them to be enraged and their actions to be justified, when really many students happened to agree with the actions taken by the school. The media was able to take a story and turn it into something completely different. What really was criminal behavior committed by irrational students was turned into righteous cries of injustice. When I look at the scandal as a whole, I view it in an absolutist point of view. I believe that Sandusky has no morals or ethics at all; he is completely morally bankrupt. I believe that Mike McQueary is a spineless man. He knew that this disgusting act was going on for YEARS and he did nothing! He allegedly saw Sandusky committing one of these unspeakable acts and all he did was tell Joe Paterno. I don't care who you are, if you have any self-respect or dignity as a human being and saw what that man was doing to those children, you would do anything and everything in your power to stop it and make sure that it never happens again. For Joe Paterno, I believe that he is as guilty as all of them for his lack of actions. He did NOTHING! After he told the President of PSU what was going on and nothing happened, one would think he would take it to the next level but no.He knew of this crime for years and just swept it under the rug, pathetic. He did not have the courage to go to the police. I believe Paterno did not do anything because he did not want it to hurt him. He did not want to hurt his legacy as one of the best coaches in college football history so he did nothing. This whole ordeal is sickening. No one is above the law. Yes YOU Joe Paterno, you are not above the law. I hope all of you in this scandal gets the maximum punishment and the victims of this crime can get some relief to know that justice is not dead. Penn. State used to be a light in the fog of uncertainty. Now who do we look to?

Josh Butler

Kin 332I

Distance Learning Assignment

2011-11-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

This whole Penn State Scandal is a strong example of how Functionalists fall short. I don’t see how any sane individual would be understanding of Sandusky’s disgusting acts; however, a functionalist might be more understanding about Joe Paterno’s, and others involved, actions, or better yet, lack there of. They might see the importance of protecting the football program’s reputation and as a means to avoid conflict might try and keep the whole issue hush hush. Now that the story’s out, the media, especially twitter, has done a good job at providing a lot of inside story to the general public that I believe is necessary for people to see. I find it absolutely ridiculous that students were protesting for Joe Paterno’s job. Despite how revered he may be as a coach the fact of the matter is that children were being raped, he knew this was going on, and he chose not to make the necessary actions to protect future victims. To put ones reputation and football before the lives of innocent children portrays how dreadfully warped the minds of people in power can become. Although I do believe the media has given a lot of coverage on the whole scandal, they have put way too much emphasis on how the events have effected Joe Paterno’s life and career rather than emphasizing those of the children. Personally, I feel enraged and scared that this whole thing happened and was kept under wraps for so long. I am enraged for obvious reasons but this news also frightens me because to hear that people who were so loved and respected could be involved in such a hateful and deceitful crime is terrorizing to me. Perhaps it was ignorance or denial and perhaps the people involved are feeling regret, not only for their ruined reputation, but because they truly recognize how hideous and wrong Sandusky’s actions were. However, this being said, it frightens me to think that people can be so wrapped up in their own world that they fail to recognize something as alarmingly unforgivable as rape.

Kin332I

Abby Puente

Scandalous

2011-11-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

Social media has provided people with information, exciting and entertaining news, and also a certain interpretation. Although, the Penn state scandal is awful and disgusting the media seems to only show the drama and consequences with the coaches. They do not seem to make known the schools efforts to help the victims. One of the tweets I found interesting and re-tweeted was the Penn state Altoona students raising $300,000 dollars to aid child abuse victims. This is a huge importance to our society because this group of students is attempting to move forward and stop sexual abuse. Why hasn't the media intensified the good samaritans of the school? They seem to be solely focused on the protesters, and vandalism. Power, media, and deviance intersect by the saying "absolute power corrupts absolutely". The more power a person has the more influential that person becomes; therefore, the media follows that person more closely. That person also has little room for error. When someone high in power does something in-humane they become the main definition of deviance. Their deviance is made known through the media for society to criticize. From a critical theorists perspective, the crime and cover up can be understood by saying that we use sport as an opiate. Sport numbs and dulls us from our own body and society. We can escape the conflicts of societal issues through sport. People in power, especially in power of sport, think they can escape conflicts through loopholes. The coaches knew they were doing something wrong, but somehow thought they could get away with it. Perhaps, because they were in a position of power. After the scandal came out to the public, the game of football has become more important than the victims that were abused. One of the other tweets that I re-tweeted was about penn state football players not playing until the school comes forward on all sexual rapes. No athlete would ever have the guts to put their collegiate career on hold for the better of the society. Sports have blinded us from the harsh realities of our social world. Personally, I find the entire situation disheartening. Sports are supposed to be a way for people to escape from the harsh realities of society. The PSU coaches have combined the sport world and real world. College, let alone college athletics, is supposed to be a safe heaven for people who are suffering from social injustices. Its upsetting that there is beginning to be no hope.

Kin 332I

Jenny Soza

PSU Scandal

2011-11-17T20:17:00.001-08:00

It is sad to say that I didn't even know about this scandal before I came to class. But now that I have been keeping up with is and have discussed it further in class, this situation discuss me. The media has shaped this scandal into a big publicity stun that most likely boost revenue. But I am all for it, people who molest kids needs to be put out there that what they are doing is not good. They should suffer the consequence from the illegal actions that he has done. The issues of power, media, and deviance intersect smoothly because people in power feel as if they have the power to do whatever they want. Those in power can perform deviant acts and manipulate what society sees on TV because they control what they want us to interpret. This is further supported in our textbook by Coakley. This situation falls perfectly under structural theorist because they emphasize concepts such as status, roles, authority, power, social class, and social inequalities to explain that the constraints and opportunities that exist in social worlds affect people differently, depending their social positions and relationships with others. This is supported by those that feel that he is getting what he deserves compared to those that feel that he shouldn't have gotten fired. There was no covering up what was done, it should be common sense to report the issue right away, and in turns this issue escalated higher than it should have. All in all, I fully support Penn State for firing Paterno. He needed to be humiliated in the media because what he did was not right. I feel that those who commit the crime should serve the time and this is justice for the young children that were involved in this scandal. This scandal will definitely be remembered and be in future history books, as well as Paternos bibliography :)

Stacy

KIN332I
　

Distance Learning Assignment

2011-11-17T19:57:00.001-08:00

This has been one of the biggest scandal's in NCAA history. It is the fall of great coach, football team, and university. It has been reported from Coast to Coast. If you haven' heard about this scandal then you must be livving under a rock. It has been pretty much everywhere. Its been more than a week and it is still headline news. There are constant updates in the scandal.
It is a horrific story. Kids have been hurt and probably dramatized for life because of a monster. Sandusky is the monster who has confessed that he has showered with the kids of his football program. Its not just that either because once the higher authority of Penn state heard about it they didn't take any action. It just sickinning to hear that these people turned their heads away from these kids and let Sandusky continue his camp.
Reading up on this scandal on twitter made me think about a question. I wonder is this scandal would be as big as it is if a women was touching little girls? I believe they wouldve tooken the same action, but I dont think the media would of had picked it up. It would of probably gone under the radar. Not because it was women, but because it didnt involve a big time head coach like Joe Paterno. I also think the media probably wouldnt make a big fuzz about it if it was a small college instead of Penn State. What do you think? Do you think if the scandal was women on girl at a small college it would be all over the news like the one at Penn State?

ERIK ROCHA
KIN332I.S3200

DLA-Penn State Scandal

2011-11-17T19:57:00.000-08:00

While this scandal has been all over the news, it took a breakdown from my 332I class to understand exactly what was going on and exactly who was involved; and
now it seems this is all anybody ca talk about. First of all it was a set of
horrible crimes that were committed against young children, but it was followed
but a second, also disturbing act of cover up by members of the Athletic
Department at Penn State. I find this scandal disgusting because these men were
put in positions of power and they abused it against the most innocent members
of our society. Now only Sandusky committed rape and molestation but the other
people involved failed to act and protect the children involved. Social media
has played a huge part in the delivering of news to people, especially via sites
like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etcetera. People all over the web have added
their opinions. However, the social media is focusing on things like the Penn
State students being upset and petitioning, and honestly, who cares? I bet not
one of those students petitioning was ever molested by Sandusky. The thing that
social media needs to be focusing on is justice, and standing up for the rights
of these children, because if this were any other group of men, aside from the
athletic department from Penn State, everyone would be outraged. Again, these
men were in positions of power and abused that power (as a form of deviance)
because they did not want to bring a scandal on to the Penn State University,
even though now its the biggest scandal of the decade thus far. As a way of
overconforming, people did not report to the authorities but did the minimum as
far as what they thought was right. Media has now come inand blown this
scandal was up. I think from a interactionist framework one might look at this
scandal and say that it is not that these individuals lack a moral code, but we
need to look at the biggest picture and understand that they may have been
overconforming to protect the institution. Now, this is not to say that this is
right, or any one of these men are not to blame, but it is saying that all the
blame does not fall on these individual's moral compasses. Instead, it is the
dynamics and structure of the organization they have at Penn State, and the fact
that that entire organization failed. As for Sandusky, he abused the power he
had, and abused the relationships he had developed with these children. He has
tainted their self-image, and probably ruined the meaning they had put in to
sports.

Danae Delfin
Kin 332I
008248628

**sorry this is duplicate, forgot to put my name on the first one

Distance Learning Assignment

2011-11-17T19:38:00.000-08:00

When I walked into class last Thursday, I did not expect to hear about such a horrible story as the PSU controversy. I didn't listen to sports radio in the morning like I usually do so it was news to me and I didn't understand what to make of it at first. This is no small matter so the moment the news was leaked, the media took a hold and doesn't seem to want to let go. The first thing I thought to myself was: "Why in the world would a football coach, someone that everyone would deem as masculine and strong, want to molest boys? Let alone an older man at such high prestige?" Then I thought, "WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD PEOPLE COVER THIS UP? THOSE ARE CHILDREN!" Clearly, the people involved did not want to lose their jobs and risk the school having a bad reputation but their selfish acts have caused many victims years of distress and pain. The media puts so much emphasis on college football that society literally worship it, and they do everything to prevent anything that ruins the sport's image and prestige. So much that there are educated people protesting and protecting a criminal for negligence.

From an absolutist approach, Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno, and colleagues have only themselves to blame. They lack moral values and they acted the way they did to protect themselves only. Not only did they resist reporting to proper authority, they continue to make excuses and to evade questions. They don't understand the magnitude of their crimes and how they affect so many people. No matter what they have done in the past, I firmly believe Penn State should immediately strip all associations with Paterno and Sandusky from their school and try to rebuild their image.

Marshal Truong KIN 332I

DLA-Penn State Scandal

2011-11-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

While this scandal has been all over the news, it took a breakdown from my 332I class to understand exactly what was going on and exactly who was involved; and now it seems this is all anybody ca talk about. First of all it was a set of horrible crimes that were committed against young children, but it was followed but a second, also disturbing act of cover up by members of the Athletic Department at Penn State. I find this scandal disgusting because these men were put in positions of power and they abused it against the most innocent members of our society. Now only Sandusky committed rape and molestation but the other people involved failed to act and protect the children involved. Social media has played a huge part in the delivering of news to people, especially via sites like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etcetera. People all over the web have added their opinions. However, the social media is focusing on things like the Penn State students being upset and petitioning, and honestly, who cares? I bet not one of those students petitioning was ever molested by Sandusky. The thing that social media needs to be focusing on is justice, and standing up for the rights of these children, because if this were any other group of men, aside from the athletic department from Penn State, everyone would be outraged. Again, these men were in positions of power and abused that power (as a form of deviance) because they did not want to bring a scandal on to the Penn State University, even though now its the biggest scandal of the decade thus far. As a way of overconforming, people did not report to the authorities but did the minimum as far as what they thought was right. Media has now come in
and blown this scandal was up. I think from a interactionist framework one might look at this scandal and say that it is not that these individuals lack a moral code, but we need to look at the biggest picture and understand that they may have been overconforming to protect the institution. Now, this is not to say that this is right, or any one of these men are not to blame, but it is saying that all the blame does not fall on these individual's moral compasses. Instead, it is the dynamics and structure of the organization they have at Penn State, and the fact that that entire organization failed. As for Sandusky, he abused the power he had, and abused the relationships he had developed with these children. He has tainted their self-image, and probably ruined the meaning they had put in to sports.

Distance Learning Assignment

2011-11-17T19:09:00.000-08:00

Social media has assisted in making the PSU scandal bigger. When news of the scandal came out the case began to build, revealing who was involved, and who the victims were. There are even more victim's coming out saying they were molested by Sandusky. It was believed that the molestations were happening as early as 1990, but the new accusations reveal that it may have been happening as early as 1970, around the beginning of Sandusky's career at PSU. As the scandal unfolds the more coverage it gets. The coverage made it easier for more accusations to come out, people become more comfortable adding to the story or creating new ones. Right after this story came out a new accusation against a basketball coach from Syracuse molested the ball boy for 12 years.
Power, media, and deviance intersect because of how long this scandal has been hidden. For this tragedy to go on for 21 years, but now possibly 41 years is ridiculous. Those who witnessed Sandusky molest those boys, those who knew he was doing it and let it happen, and those who assisted and made it possible for him to continue kept it under wraps because they knew it would jeopardize their careers. They did not want to put their positions of power at risk by not revealing Sandusky, and they only dug themselves a deeper hole the longer they kept it a secret.
There is no excuse for the actions committed by Sandusky and for those who kept it a secret. A job is not an excuse to cover up for someone who commits a crime as serious as molestation. If people like Paterno were worried about their job or the money, or reputation, they could have saved face by turning in Sandusky when it was first learned that he was molesting boys. They could have avoided all that is happening now, but hind sight is 20/20. There is no defending any of the men associated with this case.

Distance Learning Assignment

2011-11-17T18:52:00.000-08:00

This Penn State scandal has really been uncovered as bigger than any of us could have imagined. The more investigation goes on the more people have been revealed to be involved in the scandal. I believe 13 men and 1 female have been indicted so far. This has irreparably tarnished Penn State's reputation not only their football program but their whole school. It's really shocking to see that some students could even protest and riot because of Joe Paterno being fired. It's quite an eye-opener to see what and how people rank their values. Media and society has put sports at such a high pedestal that people forget that it's only a game. How has football been ingrained into their heads to supersede not only basic human rights but a child's rights at that? This ties back into hegemony where the corporations, or the football institution in this case, can place mental outposts so that it's harder to see and associate with the negative aspects. It's almost to the point of brainwashing, it's a crying shame really. The very root of our foundations are being uprooted yet some people are so stubborn to accept that fact.

If we looked took an absolutist approach of deviance, we could say Joe Paterno and all those involved in this sick scandal can only blame themselves. They have no moral values and are completely sick to have allowed this to happen to the children. One thing that we don't see often are the effects of sexually abused children as they grow into adults and even beyond that. Their lives will be forever scarred and I don't think they'll ever be 100%. What I noticed while following all the #PSU, #Joe Paterno is apparently there is a NEW scandal involving an assistant basketball coach at Syracuse has apparently molested a child many years ago. I don't know what it is about these sport coaches and taking advantage of innocent children but it's certainly sick and I can't find the words to describe it all. Sports as a whole is being turned upside on the very core of its foundation.

Phirum Eng KIN 332I

Distance Learning Penn State Scandal

2011-11-17T18:04:00.000-08:00

As I was sitting at home watching the news with my roommates the announcement came on about Joe Paterno getting fired. I had no idea what for and didn't really pay that much attention to it. The next day in two of my classes, this was the main topic of discussion which is what got me to do more research on the subject on my own. I think that what has happened at Penn State is a very awful and sad thing and I feel terrible for all of the victims. The social media has had a huge role in getting this story out to the public and has made room for many people to express their concerns and opinions about the scandal. For the most part, I think that what the social media is doing is a good thing because you can hear what others think and can have interactions with others who feel the same way you do but on the flip side I think that not everyone takes it seriously and will post things that are not true or relevant to the topic.

Issues of power, media, and deviance can be seen intersecting in our society almost all of the time. People who are in positions of power tend to think that because of their status they can get away with deviant acts and that the punishments for their actions will be less severe than someone who gets in trouble for the same things on the street. I think that as a society we let them believe this to be true because we see it happening all the time. Celebrities get away with crimes all the time and often only serve sentences for a few hours if they even see jail time at all. The way media gets involved with these things is because as soon as the media gets a hold of these stories it blows up, the stories are all over the place.

I think that from a functionalist's perspective this situation would serve as a perfect example of how as a society we have to work together to maintain the overall good. It was Paterno's job to report what he heard to the authorities to ensure the safety of the children. He did not do this which is why there is so much controversy and chaos. Overall, I think that the actions of Penn State to fire Paterno was the morally correct thing to do. He should not get away with his actions because he is the head coach at a university. I know the die hard fans would not agree, but there is more to life than college football. The safety of children should be the main focus of this scandal not the university losing a coach. Paterno built up his legacy at Penn State, but I think because of the choices he made, he will be forever remembered for this horrible scandal and not the wins or loses of his football teams.

Stephanie Jarrett

Kin 332i

Distance Learning Assignment

2011-11-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

At first I had no idea that this shocking, ridiculous scandal with the whole Pen State University thing was going on. I actually heard about it in my 332i class once the professor mentioned it. Even then all I heard were random hard to pronounce names. Then I overheard my supervisor talking about it at work, so I did a bit of research. I was surprised I didn’t hear about this earlier. The scandal was everywhere. The media apparently plays a big role on spreading out the information to the public and although information is information it is not always true. What was done is obviously awful and immensely wrong, yet was portrayed in ways that could have been much more accurate. The media mentioned how all the students are protesting against those who are faulting Joe Paterno for what he had committed, which is not necessarily true since there are a handful of students who clearly go against Paterno at Pen State. This means that the media has created the alumni at PSU to portray a sense of negligence to the school and has made them look bad.
Deviance as well as power and media all closely connect to society by often times making it seem that laws can be broken without serious consequences. Joe Paterno and the others who were involved in this cunning incident are not being fully punished for what they committed. But if the ones who had committed this were normal everyday blue and white color workers then we would get the worst of it. They get leeway simply because of the reputation they have created with their professions and privilege. I would say that deviance, power and media go hand in hand when it comes to unjust acts, which is why I see this whole debate from a cultural theoretical perspective.
Sandusky has no moral values, no ethics, and no principles! I feel that every member in this scandal is just as guilty as the next. Paterno knew that nothing had been said to high authorities and refused to go out of his way to do something morally correct. Why didn’t he? Because he was too preoccupied with losing all he had attained in his profession, his legacy and the football program at PSU. Even thought the law is the law and many times people seem to surpass it, it shouldn’t matter who you are, your age, especially your race what is wrong is wrong and you should get punished just as everyone else according to your proceedings.

Distance Learning Assignment: PSU scandal

2011-11-17T17:20:00.000-08:00

social media has had an enormous influence on the PSU scandal. when you enter the sports section of internet websites, newspapers, or even just turn on the news, the PSU scandal is the headlining news story. social media was fast to update on new developments of the scandal so people all over the country and the world were up to date. it was on the news so much that i wanted to watch something else or hear about what else is going on in this world. This is a horrible scandal that could have easily been avoided with a phone call to the authorities so i feel the decisions in firing paterno and the arrests of others involved were appropriate.

I felt like these accusations were kept under wraps for so long because Penn State wanted to avoid a scandal that would potentially hurt their school financially. PSU is a well-renowned university in the US and a lot of it is because of Paterno's contributions and achievements. Issues of power, media and deviance intersect within this scandal because we saw that even people of power within a University cannot be trusted and choose not to perform a simple task of protecting children. they saw these kids as collateral damage so they can protect the reputation of their institution. Thankfully justice was served, but it will never make up for the damage that has already been done to the victims.

From an Absolutist approach towards deviance, Jerry Sandusky is morally bankrupt for the accusations of child molestations. he is at fault. The others who knew what was going on are also morally bankrupt because they failed to report to the authorities of the behavior going on.

I understand how PSU students can be upset over the firing of the influential Paterno but they must look at this scandal from the bigger picture. He made a costly mistake and paid for it and could possibly receive larger punishment. the saying "you are only as good as your last game" in reference to sports can be a metaphor to Paterno's lack of taking action. he made milestone achievements but failed to report thus resulting in him getting fired.

Jerome de Leon

Kin 332I t/th

Sandusky Scandal

2011-11-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

With regards to the Jerry Sandusky scandal the social media has done their job of getting the information out to the people and helping to unravel this very tragic event. The media has helped to shape this story by covering all aspects of the scandal from who was involved, who helped to cover it up, the mixed views of the public and students of Penn State and staying current and up to date with their reports. That being said I do feel that a lot of the reports seem to be more focused on the effects this has on Penn State foodball and Joe Paterno that the actual children who should be the main focus of the stories. In regards to issues concerning the intersection of power, media and deviance from what we know many people knew that Jerry Sandusky had been caught molesting children and yet no one took the appropriate measures to stop him. You can see here how his prestige in the football world and at Penn State allowed for people to ignore or turn their back the allegations about him. Why was his behavior allowed or overlooked? Was it to protect the reputations of the people, Penn State and football? Even the students could see past the power that these men held causing them to protest. Where did we go wrong when we not only accept a cover up of this magnitude but we protest some of its out comes. One sociological framework that might make sense of these crimes and cover ups could be through a functional theorists eyes. A functionalist might believe that the crimes Jerry Sandusky was committing would damage the sport of football and the reputations of many looked up to individuals and the best way to keep the sport of football untainted would be to sweep this big mess under a carpet somewhere and forget about it. My reaction to all this is really just discuss. Fist of all how could anyone in their right mind let someone else rape children? Second is how can people be so blinded that winning football games or keeping your coach supersedes covering up child molestation. This just goes to show how selfish, self centered, wicked, and ignorant people can become.

Jason Trapschuh
Kin332I t/r

Distance Learning - PSU Scandal

2011-11-17T14:55:00.000-08:00

Prior to this scandal, I believe media has desensitized the general population to the seriousness of certain crimes. It's unbelievable to me that anyone can look past the fact that this is a child sex abuse case, and still be worried about football. When reading one of the statements made by Joe Paterno on pennlive.com, he briefly (emphasizing briefly) stated his "feeling sorry for" the victims and quickly moved on to state his loyalty to his players, the students, and the university for the rest of his life. His last words were for the Penn State students to not let this scandal effect how they view themselves or how they carry themselves. All I could think is "Who cares how the Penn State students feel?! This isn't about feeling sorry for them! This is a child sex abuse scandal!" I feel a great number of people are failing to see the magnitude of this situation and are more worried about how their football program is going to carry on.

According to what we have been learning, athletes and coaches can develop their identity through sport, finding the meaning of the life and their goals to be intertwined with being an athlete. While I do not condone the cover-up of these crimes at all and do not under any circumstance think it was okay for those involved to brush off these allegations, it is likely their reason was for fear of ruining their own personal image and identity. Though Joe Paterno is not the one who committed the major crime here, he committed a major crime of his own in not reporting it. (As did the others involved). Though at first Paterno was not the bad guy, maybe he knew he would be the bad guy no matter what when it came out; "guilty by association". I feel had he reported these allegations to the police, he could have severed his "association" and gone on coaching and being a positive influence to those around him. Instead, he proved to be morally bankrupt and care more about himself and football than to do the right thing.

Those who are in power unfortunately have more power (just because) and are able to cover-up their tracks, allowing crimes like this to slip through the cracks for so long. It is often stated that power changes people. People who were once nice and trustworthy become money hungry monsters, narcissistic, and immoral. (Not all obviously, but the ones we most often hear about). Had Joe Paterno not been in such a position of power and so iconified, maybe it would not have been so threatening to his career and his self image for him to be able to report these crimes. I would like to believe all people are innately good, but when situations like these arise, it makes you wonder.

The social media has blown up this scandal. I'm not sure yet if it is blowing it up in a good or bad way. If these men are made examples of and cover-ups by men in power and crimes like this can be stopped, then this attention will benefit our society. But if the media makes this case a circus, like it does many others, this could turn out to be another example of how many Americans, and people in general, have lost sight of what is truly important in life. Deviance like this, crimes like this, and immorality like this should not be allowed to happen, let alone go unreported when something could have been done to stop it.

-Katie C.

KIN 332I

006329399

Distance Learning assignment

2011-11-17T14:52:00.000-08:00

The social media has shaped Penn state scandal as the
horrific scandal of the century. With
all the news covering the Penn State scandal everyone in the world is being
exposed to it. The media has given the
people the possibility to speak out about the scandal through twitter and other
networking sites.
This horrific case that happen in Penn State shows how
people in some form of power, use their power by taking advantage of people
that are in lesser power (in this case young kids with a low social class).
Finally, the media has so much power to make the public have a certain reaction
to horrible events. The media can easily
ruin someone’s reputation or clear their name.
It is clear that Sandusky is a pedophile and has to be
locked up for life for his crimes that he has committed. However, Paternos involvement is a sad
representation of humanity. It’s awful when one would rather protect their
carrier rather than doing the right thing.
This is clearly one of the most disturbing scandals that came
out in our time. However, it is not the
only horrific event that has ever happen about kids being raped. Kids all over the world are always being
abused by others. We as a humane society
have to take action when anything of this matter is presented in our lives. So this is for everyone, anyone that
encounters a rape in any form do something about it, do the right thing and
drop kick the SOB.

Rodrigo Uribe

Kin 338I Sec 06

Distant Learning - PSU Scandal

2011-11-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

For a few days I was completely oblivious to the whole scandal. I didn't know what was going on, all heard for a for a few days after it all came out was "Joe Paterno this, Jerry Sandusky that..." So once I started to do a little research and just listen to all the stories on the news, the radio and the Internet, I started to piece it all together. The media obviously plays a huge role in getting the public the information, sometimes it accurate other times it's not. This is a horrible story and everything that has happened has been portrayed in a really dark way, obviously because there's nothing good about this story. Often times, the media has portrayed "all" of the students as rioting and standing up for Joe Paterno, but in reality that is not necessarily true, so in a way the media has made some of the PSU students look really bad. Deviance, power and media closely intersect in society because often times criminals that break the law, have some type of power and then they think they're above the law so they will participate in some type of deviant behavior, but the media will always end up finding out and they eventually get caught. So, these three things all go hand-in-hand, when it comes to criminal acts. The way that I view this entire scandal can be seen from an absolutist approach. I believe
Sandusky has no ethics and that he is morally bankrupt. He has no morals and no sense of right and wrong and this can be looked at as deviant undercomformity. At the same time, I feel Joe Paterno is guilty just as much as the next guy because he didn't tell the proper authorities and even if he did, common sense would tell you, if nothing is being done about it after a while, maybe you should do something about it again. But he cared too much about his legacy and the PSU football program to do the right thing. Once again, we can see Paterno's actions from a absolutists approach, because he cared too much about his legacy to do the right thing and inform the proper authorities. Overall, I beleive that no one is above the law, no matter what, it doesn't matter how old you are, or what your name is, or what your legacy is, no one is above the law and these guys were in the wrong for what they did (Sandusky) and what they failed to do (Paterno) .

Travis Benson
kin 332I

2011-11-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

We have all heard about the PSU controversy. If u haven't by now, get out from that rock you've been under and turn on the TV. The social media has shaped this whole scandal in of course a bad light. But how else can you talk about this? Well according to South Park you can crack jokes about it. Sexual abuse is not a funny subject by no means. On the PSU scandal, a main influence on this is media. It was breaking news everywhere when Paterno got fired. Power is also a major factor in this scandal. These coaches had power and influence over these athletes and these abused that power by abusing those boys. And it was also power that kept this abuse going on for years. When I learned about the scandal it was heartbreaking. The relationship an athlete has to a coach is a special kind of relationship. Speaking from experience, I trusted my coach and confided in my coach. To hear and read that these coaches violated that trust and that bond is infuriating. Who cares how many years they've coached at PSU, titles they've won for PSU, every single person who knew and didn't say anything, try to save these boys or who participated in this abuse (except the victims) should be prosecuted to the full extinct. No deals to be made, no leniency, just jail time, maximum jail time.

Chelsea Richardson

KIN 332I

Distance Learning- What have we become??

2011-11-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

First of all, when I refer to "we" in this post I include myself. At the initial outburst of this scandal nearly two weeks ago I was in shock and awe over the allegations that were being thrown at coach Jerry Sandusky and Penn State University. I have long been a fan of college football and, although I root for no specific team, I have always known of the intense heritage and tradition that the football team and Joe Paterno embody at Penn State. Although I have no firsthand knowledge of what a game is like in person or what the atmosphere of the town is, I knew that any attempts at pointing the finger at all of this being Paterno's fault would bring outrage among most of Pennsylvania. At the onset I even believed that it was better for Paterno to finish out the season and retire. I believed that he had done all that he could have when his graduate assistant reported the incident to him. He went to his superiors. That's what you're supposed to do right? WRONG! Not when you're Joe Paterno. Not when you're a living legend. Not when you have a shrine of yourself on the campus that lives and breathes everything that you as a person represent. When your superiors are men that you have coached, you should feel even safer about notifying the police before them. Whatever the case somewhere before, after, in between, or all 3, you go to the police! You shouldn't even really need to go to your superiors. Damnit Joe you have grandchildren and children of your own!

So as I sat on my couch on a Wednesday night and watched as mobs of Paterno loving college students stormed the campus, turned over media trucks and held candle light vigils in honor of Joe Paterno I began to think of the victims that were watching this. Who knows where they were at that moment but without a doubt they knew of the rioting in Penn State. The amount of undeserved fear, blame and shame that must have been put on these victims shoulders at that moment is immense. So for that moment I was as embarrassed as I've been in quite a long time. These were college students acting in barbaric ways. I am a college student. I even felt that Paterno should have been given certitude to finish out the season. Am I like these barbarians?! One thing is for sure, we all were to quick to think about Football and tradition, rather than the thought of the victims. For me, it took a couple of days to realize the gravity of this situation, others it was right away and some of the students at Penn State it could have been when they woke up hungover and ashamed in their dorms that following Thursday morning. The bottom line is this, in this instance traditional values and sports have taken precedence over the lives of human beings. This, to me, no matter how much you love Saturday football and ESPN is absolute bullshit. The ultimate irony for me came when I saw highlights of the Nebraska/ Penn State football game that took place last Saturday. At the beginning of the game there were prayers for the victims and a moment of silence. Even in the moment of silence, dedicated to the victims, you can hear idiotic fans yelling "we love you Joe Pa!". Penn State lost the game to Nebraska that day and maybe it was fitting, because in my eyes many of the fans just didn't deserve to win.

Spencer Pirdy KIN 332I

Distance Learning- Penn State Scandal

2011-11-17T12:02:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw on the news they were comparing Jerry Sandusky interview to Michael Jackson previous interview when he was charge for sexually harassing young boys. Both of these interviews were relatively the same. They both stated that they wouldn’t do anything without any sexual content but they both admit that they have touch little boys before. After reading an article on the scandal, its very shameful that no one who witness and knew about Sandusky acts didn’t report to the authorities. It could have stop and prevented the other victims from getting hurt. It sucks to know that this has been going on for a few years and it is till now that the issue is being confronted to everyone. The social media is now wanting every information they can possible find from Sandusky, the victims, from the football players and Penn State athletic program. Everyone who took part of this scandal, besides the victims, are being charge for not reporting the incident. Therefore, they allowed him to continue his action and destroy other young boys’ life. There’s issue that I’m recognize that Sandusky has power that he has gain for being a football coach and the students at Penn State still wanting him to coach after the media is exposing his faults across the country. This crime should have been brought up years again but they waited and many young boys face a difficult life and other who witness could re-image the incident. I’m shock that this was not mention before and now there’s 8 victims would have to seek a psychologist. The athletic program should have fired Sandusky right when this scandal began publicizing in the media. The students shouldn’t support Sandusky even if he is a football coach for their school.

Michelle Gamboa Kin332I

Distance Learning

2011-11-17T07:24:00.000-08:00

The social media has shaped the PSU scandal in so many ways. With so many different types of media outlets such as internet,newspaper,magazines and television the scandal is being broadcasted on every single level and from many different viewpoints. Depending on the media source the scandal has been shaped many different ways. Each source has the capability of putting their own spin or opinion on the story. Which in turn directly affects the society's reactions to the scandal and how they proceed on dealing with it. The students of PSU had their own separate reaction, they were extremely upset at the loss of their beloved coach, going so far as to push over a media truck. What may have caused them to react this cruelly, the answer must have been some sort of media where they were obtaining their information from. They obviously were not thinking of the abused children in this case, but rather focusing on something else. With power, media and deviance intersecting it very interesting how Paterno and the school as a whole is dealing with the scandal. PSU as well as Paterno are so convinced that they have so much power over this community that they do not seem to be addressing the scandal appropriately. Because PSU and Paterno are nationally well known it seems that the crime is being scanned over lightly. The media has put so much more attention onto the future of their football team. When news of the scandal first broke out it was all over media especially ESPN, you could not watch this channel for more then 10 minutes without hearing something about the scandal. But this was in regards to the football team, not the abused children. There was absolutely no emphasis on the children's psychological or physical health. It seems the only reason that PSU and Paterno were ensuing a cover up was simply to keep a good reputation for the school. They were so focused on the image of their athletic program and academics that it was worth keeping such a disturbing scandal a secret for so long. Personally, I find that the scandal is draining and revolting. So much time is being placed on what the outcome of the sports team and the coaching staff will be. Nonstop media has the complete wrong point of view in my opinion. I have not heard of anything that is being done to help the victims. These children need to be focused on so much more then PSU's programs. Media has definitely shown where it's priorities are and will always be, and that is with those who financially more superior. But what about the kids?

Distance Learning Assignment: Penn State Scandal

2011-11-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

The social media has shaped the Penn State scandal into something a lot more controversial and disturbing. Jerry Sandusky and other Penn State faculty members are being ripped apart by the media by letting everyone across the country and world know about what actually happend over the past years. The social media has shaped the situtation by getting all of the details pertaining to the scandal. This would include; who was involved, how many years was this going on for, and why this was never solved earlier. The media is the primary source for the rest of the country because they get to cover all sides of the stories. I feel that in every incident that occurs, someone is always going to change their story or flat out lie to the media about what happend. Issues of power, media, and deviance intersect in this scandal because of our socities values. Penn State was and is still is an excellent university for academics and sports. Many people that don't even follow sports too often probably have still heard of Penn State football. Since their program is so large and well-known, a lot of power is going to be given to the coaches, players, etc. Specifically Joe Paterno was treated by the players, students, and staff as their own "God." Our society values sports and sports figures so much it's kind of scary in a way. This created an enormous problem since the scandal broke the news because all that power Joe Paterno, the team, and school has had just flew out the window. You would think that somebody with so much power and influence on millions of people nation wide would have the respect and moral values to stop this scandal. I feel that the media can either lift individuals to the top and into the spotlight in a positive way and also tear them apart. That's exactly what happend after news broke out. Joe Paterno's "legacy" is now ruined forever. Deviance plays a huge part of this because they acted like nothing was going on and everything was fine. These coaches and staff members and whoever else knew about what was going act like they're above the law or something and don't have to abide by the same rules as "regular" citizens do. Our society has put so much love and passion into these "icons" or role models, that they think they're unstoppable. Using an interactionist theory, I feel that he has morally and publicly embarrassed himself. To understand an individual and to see how they react within society was just torturing these kids. After they've experienced these situations, they probably won't be the same for the rest of their lives. Everyone has different attitudes, beliefs, and values, but I feel Jerry Sandusky lost his soul and dignity over a spand of time. My personal reactions to the scandal were frankly shocked and amazed. I was shocked because no one would expect of all people, Joe Paterno to be involved in such a horrific incident. No matter how much society values you, you can always fall to the lowest point by making bad decisions throughout your lifetime. I was amazed when I first heard the story because I sometimes forget how easy these things can occur in schools. I think a lot of parent's believe that when their child goes of to school that they are sending them to a secure and safe environment. I know people that go to school just to get away from dangers that surround them in their lives out of school. School should be a place students want to go not to avoid. I feel that unfortunately after this event, parent's are going to think more about their child's safety, even at their local school.

Sean H. Whitesitt
KIN 332I
009636326

Distance Learning Assignment: PSU Scandal

2011-11-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

The media is helping many of the smaller details surface in the PENN State case. One huge concern amongst the media is the safety of children in this society. The media is showing how absurd it is that this incident took place and went unsaid for as long as it did. Although it has been stated that one of the boys parents did tell someone of higher authority that just goes to show how much the people in power failed. This doesn't set a very good example for others in positions of high power. Sometimes people are given too much power and use it to their advantage. I feel like this is what happened in this situation. Instead of dealing with this issue years ago, the people in power continued to kick it under the carpet in hope of nobody finding out. As an interactionist, I see this situation as a problem amongst Sandusky and the people in which he interacted. Especially the school president who was told years ago about the situation. These people are morally wrong and deserve the punishments they got. No innocent and defenseless child deserves to be treated like this. When I saw the tweet about Sandusky saying that he showered with the boys because he was an athlete and that's what athletes do I was shocked. First, no 45 year old man belongs in the shower with a 10 year old boy no matter what the situation is. This is no excuse for the wrong that Sandusky has taken part in.

Kristin Taylor 007293453

Distance Learning Assignment (PSU SCANDAL)

2011-11-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

The social media has taken the PSU scandal and has directed its attention on how morally wrong the situation is. From what I have been reading and watching it is evident that the media is interpreting the issue of child abuse as a major concern that needs to be addressed. I am relieved that they are not taking the sides of Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno by trying to defend their actions or lack thereof. I believe the media wants to provide the complete story of the situation so that the spectators and audience will be better informed about this terrible incident. The issues of power, media, and deviance intersect throughout this situation. PSU’s position of power has shown unashamedly that their concern with football is more important than the safety of our children. Paterno knew of the terrible things Sandusky was doing but decided not to take action because it would have jeopardized the reputation of the football program. The media is trying to expose the people in position of power because they want to show that as a society we need to figure out the issues that are more important. PSU and those that knew about the children being abused portray deviance in this dilemma. If they weren’t linked to a well-known football University then they probably would have spoken out about the issue. The matter of doing what is right and wrong plays a big role in explaining deviance in sport. What we consider acceptable and not acceptable in our society should be the same in sport but those involved in the scandal do not seem to think that abusing children is wrong. I believe that the framework that can best explain this situation would be the critical theory. The issue of child abuse is a prime example of identifying problems, injustices, and exploitation in sports so that we can prevent them from occurring in the future. The issue with Joe Paterno, Jerry Sandusky, and all that were involved gives us new knowledge and has engaged many people in debate about the social issues in sport. This entire situation can be explained through the critical approach because it allows us to understand and address issues in sport and develop way to eliminate them. My personal reaction to the scandal is that I am disgusted with our society. To think that a University and sport is more important than human beings is very wrong. It makes me wonder how much emphasis and importance we put into sports and how it can blind our society to the more important issues. What does it say about our society and culture? Where we put the needs of a football program and University in front of the needs and safety of several abused children. I personally think that it is embarrassing and shameful for those associated with this way of thinking.

Ray Camba
KIN 332I Sec 03 (10767)

TRX

2011-11-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

The TRX is a suspension trainer. It consists of two adjustable straps that are used in your workout in the place of weights. It can be used practically anywhere. I recently got certified and bought one of my own. So far I have used it in the house and outside on the garage with the TRX door hanger. It can also be hung from trees, poles, balconies or anything above 6 feet. It is awesome for all ages and fitness levels. You can choose how difficult you want the workout to be by how far you stand away from the hanging point. Or by which vector you choose to create. The TRX is also very popular in the military because it can be an intense workout that can be used anywhere. This suspension trainer focuses on functional training that is done in all planes of motion. The TRX is also shown used by professional surfer Bethany Hamilton, the shark attack survivor, in the movie Soul Surfer.

Brittany Hayden

KIN 332I Sec 03 10767

parents & youth sports

2011-10-21T00:36:00.000-07:00

My nephew started playing football when he was six years old and he is currently playing for the San Clemente Tritons on a pop warner league. Ever since he started playing, my brothers have been really tough on the kid. They’re the typical sports guys whom don’t like losing and always want to win. It’s heart breaking to see my nephew get scolded over the little mistakes he made in a game and not praised for trying his best. I’ve seen him at his all time low when he wasn’t having fun anymore and wanted to quit. But my brothers didn’t give up on him and he has improved tremendously over the past few years. I thought of my nephew when we had discussions in class about parents who become too prideful in the sport rather than letting their kid play and have fun. I have been to a few of his games where the adults become outraged over a small dispute and trash talk to each other across the field. It makes the game awkward and ruins the fun for both the kids and the audience.
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with my brother about this trend seen in organized youth sports. From his observations, he noticed that teams in beach cities were not as good as the teams farther from beach cities. He concluded that families whom live in beach cities are those that have relaxed personalities and are more laid back with the children. He feels like these parents are not as tough on their kids on the field compared to the ones that are from the busy city. Teams from inland cities currently have better score records and are rougher on the field. Perhaps these are the children of parents in the working class that have built up anger from stressful jobs and live in a low income community. They release their anger in the sport and take it seriously for their gateway to be on top. These kids learn the behaviors from their parents and have no other choice than to make their them happy. Or my brother could just be bitter that his team isn’t having a good season and wants to find an excuse to blame it on something, hence he doesn't like losing. But he did bring up something interesting that caught my attention which involved the social trend in youth sports.

calmeroKIN332I

Opportunity for women

2011-10-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

The ESPN body issue magazine that recently came out definitely seemed to turn some heads, especially mine. Seeing every muscle protrude through athlete's bodies struck me the most. However, women seemed to reveal a more seductive side than the male athletes. Some men were captured as playful and fun, and others were posing in an athletic stance that is familiar to them. Many of their poses had to do with the particular sport they played. A male speed skater was crouched over with one leg extended as if he were blowing past someone on a turn. On the flip side many women did not pose with relation to their sport. Hope Solo has become the newest "sex symbol" in the sport world and she posed holding a hose in her hand watering the grass. If many people were not familiar with women's soccer how would they know she is one of the best goalkeepers in the world? It seems female athletes are still struggling to be taken seriously. Sport has clearly been established as male dominant; however, when did society make it okay to not give equal prestige to male and female athletes?

Jenny Soza kin 332I

40 million dollar slaves

2011-10-20T23:31:00.001-07:00

I have yet to finish reading "40 Million Dollar Slaves" by William C. Rhoden book I heard about a couple years ago. This book goes back to compare the playing field-team (Owner)-athlete to plantation-master-slave and the obvious difference is that athletes are paid big. These athletes are paid big to perform, but the moment they do not perform good, get hurt, get in trouble, or get old they are let go without giving the athlete any chance to adjust. I see the point Mr. Rhoden shares in his book, for instance, all athletes are under contract by the owner which means that these athletes are controlled by the owner. Athletes are restricted to do some of the things they want to do after or before playing because their contracts say so. Where is the "freedom" in an athlete? Also, these athletes are not taught how to invest their millions of dollars. Most of these athletes come from low income families. As soon as they start getting paid, they are spending their money on expensive cars, a certain percentage to their agents, alcohol, partying, fast women, expensive homes, and then give some money for their friends and families. Allen Iverson is a good example that was just let go and went from fame to shame. Now he has lost his house, plays in China, and has not money. Jamarcus Russell drafted number 1 by the Raiders a couple of years ago signed a big bonus that was guaranteed, showed up to camp overweight, complained, was lazy, and did not take his job serious. Now he has no job, just lost his house, and has been caught using illegal drugs.

Owners of all sports are billionaires and does not hurt their pocket to pay these athletes millions of dollars. They get about 10 times more than what they pay their athletes. You hardly see the owner at any of their games, they hardly deal with media, are not athletic, but are great businessmen/women. They use these athletes to get paid for their team, kind of how the masters used their slaves to work for them on their plantations. It is sad to see how media makes it seem that being an athlete is the best job to have when they sacrifice their bodies for these owners as these athletes are making the owner more wealthy.

Expansion of Footbal Conferences in College

2011-10-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

Those of you who are fanatics in College Football (NCAAF) should probably be familiar with the change in different conferences. Many of the “big time” or “”well known” conferences are expanding by adding different amount of teams from the less competitive conferences in college football. Why has this trend been so popular over the past couple of years? It’s easy, college schools do it for the chance to be more recognized and influence their opportunity of having the chance to play for the “BCS title” at the end of the season. A school being involved in a highly competitive and skilled conference like maybe the Big 10 or Pac-10 (now Pac-12) have a better fan base and if the team is performing at a high level then that means their schools football ranking goes higher, which in return increases the chance of them to play in the title game. See, the problem with college football it’s their way of determining or their ranking of the top teams. College football doesn’t consist of a playoff bracket like many professional sports due. What does this cause? Any one team that has been consistently good through out the year but for some reason at some point lose just at least one game can really affect their chances of reaching the title and for that matter it ruins their chances of even being ranked in the top 25. JUST ONE GAME! Just imagine that, only one game can end a season of hope. Professional sports keep it more even and consist of playoff brackets that can give any team with a respectable record the chance to compete for the championship. Many people criticize the disadvantages that the way college football is set up because it doesn’t allow great teams to even be recognized even if they have an undefeated record, the matter that if a team comes from subpar conference with no recognition immediately influences their chances of competing against the top dogs. I myself I would love to see the change to a playoff bracket I think its more respectable and enjoyable, any one team has the same chance of winning and fight for the same reason. In other words teams have no other choice if they don’t see any change, if by switching to a better conference means being taken into consideration then switching conference is what they will do.

No media for Paralympics/Special Olympics

2011-10-20T22:28:00.001-07:00

In our society, athletes that play basketball, baseball and football are always show on television but we hardly or never hear about athletes that compete in the Paralympics or the Special Olympics. They compete, work hard, love the sport but we never get any information from these athletes on television, newspaper, etc. Are these athletes being discriminated from our own country? I would wonder why runners from the Paralympics don’t have the opportunity to make Nike commercials or advertise their adaptive equipment. They are no different from any other person. In the

U.S.

, television programs, such as ESPN, don’t provide live coverage of the Paralympic games nor on the Special Olympics but they are capable to having full footage of basketball games and Extreme Sports competition. I believe ESPN should show another perspective on sports and to inform people that sports like basketball could be played differently. There are many people in our society that has some form of disability and these individually have overcome many challenges in their lives. Those are the individuals that I believe should be role models for many young kids.

Michelle Gamboa Kin 332I

In A Small Town

2011-10-20T22:28:00.000-07:00

A crowd full of people cheering for the one school and town that means the most to them. This team is not a professional team or a college team, this is small town high school team. It is not until you move out of this town and come back that you realize how awesome it is to grow up in a small town. Being apart of a small town is one of the best feelings in the world. Somewhere you can call your friend’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, and siblings by name. Now some would think that knowing everyone would be a bad thing but when you come back and people shout out your name and say hello when you walk in the gym, is one of the best feelings around. My little sister goes to Tehachapi High School and plays on the “Warrior” varsity volleyball team, playing with the same number jersey that I once wore when I was in high school. I did not realize the intensity of a small town crowd until I was part of the crowd as we all watched our high school take on our rival high school. Rivalries exist between many teams be it high school, college, or professional, but I believe that the best rivalries exist between a small town high school and their rival school. It feels as if every person from the town comes out to support the team and they all scream and cheer as if they were still in high school. I was completely blown away by the amount of pride that alumni and people from the town have towards their alma mater. Everyone in the crowd was on their feet cheering on the team the entire time which I think lead the team to their victory. In my small town they say, “Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior!” and going back to watch my old team play definitely proved this old saying to be true.

Stephanie J.

Kin 332i Sec 0767

alex gonzalez 332I

2011-10-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

Sport is a male dominated organization. For many years women’s professional sports have been somewhat unsuccessful. For example no women sport organization makes the same or any where near the same amount of money that their male counterparts make. A new women’s football league has been named the fastest growing professional sport at this time. This current season is the third season of the new league. This league is the perfect example of two concepts we have covered in class. This league demonstrates how women are constantly undermined by the society as athletes. These women have to look a certain way in order to be in the league. Any woman too fat will not be allowed to participate. Although the athletes that play in the LFL (Lingerie Football League) perform at a very high level, and have their games aired on television nationwide. The money they make is no more than equal to a minimum wage job. Male athletes make millions of dollars playing the very same sport as the women, and they don’t even have to worry about their appearance. If our society was not so sexist the women would be viewed as athletes regardless of their appearance. These women train very hard to play and compete in their leagues just like the men do, and they should be viewed only as athletes.

Alex Gonzalez 332I t/th 1230-145

Women and sports

2011-10-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

After reading for several weeks about the possible cancellation of the NBA season, I wanted to learn a little more about the history of basketball. My research began with learning that basketball was invented by James Naismith as an adaptation to be able to play a sport indoor during the winter season. As I continued reading, I realized I didn't know much history of women who played basketball. I had now became interested in learning a little more about the history of women playing basketball. Considering that I played basketball many years, I never realized how little I knew. In the 1890's the game of basketball was adapted by Senda Barenson. The game had been adapted by breaking it up into 3 sections and having 6 women play on the court at a time. The modification of rules for the game of basketball were made as an attempt to make the game for easier for women to play. Women had been stereotyped because of their gender. Men didn't want women to participate in sports. They believed women to weak, playing sports would damage their reproductive organs and would be classified to have manly features if they excelled in the sport. I think it's interesting to see how closed minded the men were, to find excuses to not allow women to participate in sports. The men only looked for excuses to keep their wives/daughters at home safe from harming themselves. Even though women may excel in sports today, we face the similar stereotypes. We now know that participating in sports will not hurt our reproductive organs but we can be labeled as a man because of our high level of skill. Society wants to keep women inferior to men by finding ways to limiting their level of achievement. Also as an attempt to insult men, others may tell men that they throw, kick, swing like a girl. This statement undermines the abilities of females to perform well in sports. Overall even though times have changed some ideologies remain the same.

Maritza L.
Kin 332i

Fighting In Hockey

2011-10-20T21:15:00.000-07:00

The NHL has come a long way since the first Stanley cup in 1927. Hockey has had its highs, lows, stars and controversies just like any other sport. Recently hockey has come under-fire for too many fights. There are some people who think the fights in hockey are too violent. Some think that these fights are a bad influence on youth hockey players. And most of the rest think that it is an important aspect of the game. Without fights many of the older hockey players believe that the NHL would fail. Bobby Clarke, who was a legend on the Philadelphia Flyers, was asked how hockey would be without fighting. His response was "Could you imagine vodka without alcohol?”. Bobby Clarke comes from a time when hockey was struggling in his city. To get the crowds to come they had to fight. They fought enough the team was known as soon enough they became known as the “Broad Street Bullies”. A more recent story, well more of a rumor, was that the Anaheim Ducks were not allowed to fight. The reason behind this is because they were owned by Disney. Disney wanted the hockey games to be family-orientated and appropriate for all ages. The Ducks never won the Stanley Cup while being owned by Disney. A couple years after Disney sold the team however, The Ducks won the Stanley Cup.

The overall point these two examples bring up is that fighting is necessary for hockey. Hockey without fights would lose around half its fans. Many people watch hockey just for the fights, hits and violence which baseball and basketball horribly lack. Fighting is also a strategy for hockey, many teams hire “goons” to do nothing but fight and change the overall emotion of the game. Fighting will always be a part of hockey and the NHL will just hurt their organization if they ban fighting for good. As the old saying goes, “I went to a boxing match and a hockey game broke out”

Water Polo Gaining Popularity?

2011-10-20T21:11:00.001-07:00

The United States men's water polo team is going to compete in the 2012 Pan Am games on October 23-29th in Guadalajara, Mexico. The tournament will be used as the qualifying match for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The North and South American countries will be competing in the tournament but aren't exactly seen as powerful competitors at the sport. In Europe the sport is much more popular and have powerhouse teams such as Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia. The Pan Am games should make it a little bit easier for the U.S. to qualify for the Olympics rather than competing against those European teams.
Before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing the U.S. team did not medal in water polo since 1988. Going into the 2008 Olympics the United States weren't expected to go far in water polo and were ranked pretty low, but the U.S. turned it around and pulled a major upset winning the silver medal in the final round against Hungary, one of the most dominant teams in the history of water polo.
Water polo has not been a very popular sport in the U.S. and isn't considered a mainstream sport, but with the U.S.'s success on the international level it will help. Kyle Rapoza says, "Water polo fans and players all want to see America accept water polo as a more mainstream sport but without television coverage it will be difficult for the sport to become increasingly popular." And I agree with Kyle. As we discussed in class sports can survive without the media, and water polo has. The game started in the late 1800’s and was known as aquatic football and it has definitely grown as a sport, and there are teams participating all over the world. Water polo is even the national sport in Hungary. But in America it wouldn’t gain the same popularity without the support of the media. Sports like football, basketball, baseball, and hockey are very popular with a lot of help from being televised, and headline coverage in newspapers and the internet. Even sports like mixed martial arts has become increasingly popular because of paperview fights and television shows about the next top fighter. Soccer has always been a huge sport and is the biggest sport around the world, but as it has been even more televised, its popularity has definitely increased. Water polo even has the qualities that Americans love to see, it is a very rough and aggressive contact sport and also carries that sense of masculinity as seen in today’s mainstream sports. Water polo could also gain great popularity through the media and its success internationally.

Joshua Beltran
KIN 332I T/TH 12:30-1:45

2011-10-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

If you're familiar with Ameteur Baseball (High School or College)you have heard about the recent switch from BESR bats to BBCOR bats. BESR bats measure the speed of the ball after its been hit. The ball is not meant to surpass the speed of 97 MPH. When they are brand new they don't exceed that speed. Once these bats are broken in. They can go to speeds up to 120 MPH, which they are not suppose to, especially the composite barrel bats. In the beginning of the 2011 school year the NCAA and NFHS will ban all the composite bats. The rule for bats is that now all non wood bats will have to meet the Batted Coefficient of Restitution(BBCOR)standard. According to the NFHS, “the new standard ensures that performances by non-wood bats are more comparable to those of wood bats. It’s also expected to minimize risk, improve play and increase teaching opportunities”. With a lower speed after contact there will be fewer homeruns and high scoring games. Pretty much the composite bats were like bats on steroids. Like the Major Leagues who have banned steroids. They have seen their HR per season numbers drop. Instead of seeing the usual 60 plus HR's from Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds. You now see the 40 plus Hr's from Bautista. This new BBCOR rule will have the same effect in High School and College baseball. You're number 3, 4, & 5 hitters will see their production numbers go down. This will make the game a little less instresting unless you're a pitcher.

Erik Rocha
KIN332I.S3200

Thoughts on the LFL

2011-10-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

The first time I heard about the Lingerie Football League (LFL) I thought it was just another gimmick to entertain men and boost program ratings. Not being a big sports fan, and never seeing a game, I just brushed it off as very feminine women prancing around the field with little skills in football. Again not being a big sports fan I paid no further notice until the subject came up in one of our classes and I happened to come across an article on Pulse, from Deadspin.com titled, The Lingerie Football League Hopes Michael Jackson’s Daughter Will Help Develop “Future LFL athletes”. My first reaction was, “Oh God, another publicity stunt”, but it suddenly sparked a curiosity in me to find out what was really going on here. So I did some research on the LFL and was surprised at what I found. First off it was obvious the women were good looking and very athletic, but some of my initial assumptions of the LFL were wrong. Not only were these girls mostly former athletes, but I was pleasantly surprised they were very tough and good at football. Now I know this may sound sexist but let me explain. I have never seen women play football before and I was never aware that there was such a desire to do so, so it was cool to see them play well. To speak on how tough these women were, well they wear fewer pads than the men do, and are hitting and taking each other down ferociously. I found the games entertaining, I’m not going to lie I’m a man and the women were beautiful, but more for the way they played football with such enjoyment and enthusiasm as serious athletes. They were picking fights and taunting each other, I got just as pumped up as I would watching the NFL. You could tell they were having a blast out there on the field just as anyone else would playing the sport they love. I do feel that this is still typical of our society and how it objectifies women. It was interesting to hear what some of the LFL players had to say though. Krystal Gray from the New York Majesty said, “We play because we really love football and this uniform just comes with the territory”, she also goes on to say, “We don’t think about the uniform...It’s such a fast game you don’t have time to think about what your wearing”. Marie Nicole also from the New York Majesty said, “We have been doing things for years that men say we can’t do, this is just the next thing”. What I gathered from this is that these women have a true passion to play football and that they are willing to look past or dismiss being objectified if it means they get to play the sport they love.
I truly don’t know how I feel about the LFL. I give the women credit that they are doing what they have to do to play football. Do they truly look past the uniform, or is it a matter of limited opportunity? There are several other leagues like the NWFA, IWFL and the WFA where women wear the standard football gear and uniform. I’m not sure what is more beneficial or provides the most opportunities. I hope the reason the women of the LFL play is because it’s their choice and not because it’s the better choice. It would be nice to eventually see a unified professional league of women’s football come together so that they can have all play with the same opportunities.
Jason Trapschuh Kin 332I sec. 3

Turning Point in Men's Basketball

2011-10-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

The 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament is one of the most important turning points in Men's Basketball history. The significance of this particular tournament is not apparent until the Championship game, where the 3rd seeded Texas Western team faces the top ranked Kentucky team, led by one of the most successful college basketball coaches ever, Adolph Rupp. Don Haskins, the coach of Texas Western, decided to start 5 African American players for the championship game against the 5 white players of Kentucky. This had never been done before in a regular basketball game, moreless the National Championship game. This event appears to have set the gears in motion to begin desegregation in college basketball, and eventually the desegregation of all types of athletics. It took 65 years since the creation of the game before African Americans were considered equal on the court with white people. Unfortunately, society is not like the sporting world and it is going to take a great deal more time before we see events such as the 1966 Men’s Basketball Tournament take place in society and evoke changes just as this event did, but I think this was a good start.

Just as a side note, there is a movie about this particular event called “Glory Road” which does a good job as showing the struggles of African American basketball players in the 1966 society.)

Mike Sandoval
KIN 332I Section 3

Could this year's NBA season be cancelled?

2011-10-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard already, the NBA is currently in a lockout because the owners and players can't reach an agreement. What that really boils down to is they can't agree on money. As we've seen in the NCAA and the NFL, the teams are predominately owned by the mega-rich white males while the players who represent the team are mostly colored. The players who the fans associate with the team are the ones who really earn the money for the owners and they would like a fairer share of the money pie. Take Delonte West for example, he played with the Cavaliers and now with the Boston Celtics. He lived an extravagant lifestyle with his superstar teammates and never would have thought that dream come to a screeching halt. He picked up a job at a local furniture store moving and shipping furniture. It's not only the players who are on the losing end of the lockout, but the fans too. The longer the lockout lasts, the more NBA fans who will turn away from all the nonsense. So the only ones who can withstand the lockout are the team owners since they have such an absurd amount of money at reserve. What happened to just playing the game and enjoying basketball for the sport it is? I know basketball season has always been one of my favorite things to look forward to all year but the way it looks right now, the whole season may be cancelled. Sports today are longer about the game itself but how it can be sold. You can't attend a sports game without being constantly reminded of all the corporations that have money invested into the sport. We may not know what exactly goes on in the negociatations but we do know anytime you're dealing with millions of dollars, the solutions are anything but easy. Like the late Notorious B.I.G. said, "Mo money, mo problems."

Phirum Eng
KIN332I TuTh 12:30pm

murderball

2011-10-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

After watching murderball I started to realize how luck I’m to still have a limb. At the same time, it was an eye opener for me. The idea of handicap male playing sport had never come to my mind until the video was presented in class. Although, I find it’s pretty interesting that there was not a time in the video when handicap women participation in sport was presented. I feel that women are underrepresented in the video. This video mainly focuses on men. Which, I feel our society is primary male dominate. Not only that in murderball most of the handicap men are able to get the opposite sex to be interested in them. I don’t know if it would be the same for handicap women. Murderball definitely have gender bias. It seems that it’s not just in regular sport that women are being underrepresented but also in the paralympic .

006955661
kin 332I. Section 3

Great news for my old swim team

2011-10-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

There is a new high school being built in my neighborhood, and aside from the general inconveniences that come with construction, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. In March, the pool will be complete (so long as everything goes to plan) and will be open year round. This is great news because this would literally be the only public pool that is within walking distance in my neighborhood. I work with one of the swim coaches for the school, and the coach told me that they are looking forward to finally practice on campus and not having to travel to the local YMCA every day for workouts. Along with this perk, the students will be able to take basic swim courses for PE (something that I believe everybody should do at least once). Because the high school will have its own pool, the team will be able to have home swim meats and the athletes parents will be able to come and watch their kids swim without the need to travel to other schools. With its own pool, the school will also have the option of starting a men’s and women’s water polo team, something the school has been lacking for decades. All in all, I must admit that I am jealous that I will not be attending this school, but I am also excited to see what this new facility can bring to the community.

Kyle Atkins
Kin 332I Sec 3

Unlikely World Series

2011-10-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

With the final out of Spring Training recorded in late March, 30 teams set their eyes on the season ahead. They all envisioned playing in October and winning the World Series. While all 30 teams believed that they were in fact going to win it all, we all sat back and made our own predictions on who was going to end up on top. The Red Sox looked to be the favorites coming out of the American League after adding Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford in the off season. The Phillies looked scary in the National League as well with a pitching staff comprised of four potential aces which was rounded out by having one of the greatest pitchers in the game in Roy Halladay as the number one starter.
But if I were to tell you that in March that the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers were going to play each other in the World Series, you would think I was crazy. Not even I saw these two teams playing; I had the Tigers and Brewers which just goes to show what I know. These two teams have shown both baseball and the world that money alone will not buy a championship. In relationship to the other 28 teams in the league, the Cardinals have the 11th highest payroll at $105,433,572 and the Rangers at the 13th spot at $92,299,265 and yet they made it to the World Series. These two teams develop players well and do not overpay for high priced names in free agency. Most people can name about 6 or 7 Yankees but fail to name 3 or 4 Cardinals or Rangers. Teams need to look at this and realize that it is not about having the big name free agents taking up half of your payroll every year, but its about having a team made up of homegrown talent that works well together.
List of 2011 Opening Day Payrolls (bold teams made playoffs this year)

N.Y. Yankees 201,689,030
Philadelphia 172,976,381
Boston 161,407,476
Los Angeles Angels 138,998,524
Chicago White Sox 129,285,539
Chicago Cubs 125,480,664
New York Mets 120,147,310
San Francisco 118,216,333
Minnesota 112,737,000
Detroit 105,705,232
St. Louis 105,433,572
Los Angeles Dodgers 103,788,990
Texas 92,299,265
Colorado 87,998,071
Atlanta 87,003,192
Seattle 86,424,600
Milwaukee 85,497,333
Baltimore 85,304,038
Cincinnati 76,181,365
Houston 70,694,000
Oakland 66,536,500
Washington 63,681,929
Toronto 62,517,800
Florida 56,944,000
Arizona 53,639,833
Cleveland 49,188,867
Pittsburgh 46,047,000
San Diego 45,869,140
Tampa Bay 41,932,171
Kansas City 36,126,400

Josh Butler KIN 332I Sec 3

Steve Bartman

2011-10-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

Although I've tweeted about him a few times, I still wanted to shine more light on the tragic story of Chicago Cubs fan Steven Bartman. (You can read the background story on wikipedia below). I stumbled across this story on 710 ESPN Radio. As usual, I was hoping for some NBA lockout good news on the traffic ride home but instead, I came across this baseball story (something I'd usually skip). My first thought was "holy crap, this fits in perfectly with what we just discussed and takes it to a whole-nother level!" First of all, there were several hands trying to catch the ball; Steve was just unlucky enough to put his hands on it. Secondly, the blame for the ball club's lack of success was put solely on his shoulders over some ridiculous superstitions. Thirdly, the governor publicly states that Chicago will not pardon him.. Are you freaking serious? Fourthly, he had to join a witness protection program and has been hiding ever since, declining every single public sponsorship and interview (even the ones that pay). One day, he's just your average, ordinary baseball fan and the next, he's already Chicago's second most hated person. I can understand the dissatisfaction of being a fan of a franchise that's constantly losing but that is just too much. You have to draw the line between being a loyal, die-hard fan and being a human with morals. He's not the reason the Cubs gave up 8 (yeah, EIGHT) runs in the next inning to lose the game 8-3,and evenually lose their 3-2 playoff lead. That's all them. Being a fan of the Chicago Cubs after so many losing seasons and missed chances must be hard, but shouldering the entire blame for your team's lack of success? That's unimaginable. Some say that people today don't care enough, I think they only care about the stupid things.

- Marshal Truong Kin 332I Sec 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bartman_incident

Appreciate Your Limbs!

2011-10-20T16:32:00.001-07:00

When the movie Murderball was shown in class, the only person that popped into my head was my uncle. I know I spoke a little about this in class, but this movie really reveal so much about how paraplegic and quadriplegic aren’t any different from those with functional limbs. During my uncles early 20s, he was involved in a car accident that injured his spleen that led to the removal of his spleen. For those that do not know the functions of a spleen, “it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood while also recycling iron. It metabolizes hemoglobin removed from senescent erythrocytes. It synthesizes antibodies and removes antibody-coated bacteria along with antibody-coated blood cells by way of blood and lymph node circulation” (Wikipedia). In other words, by removing his spleen, he was exposed to a “modest increase in circulating white blood cells and platelets, diminished responsiveness to some vaccines, and increased susceptibility to infection by bacteria and protozoa”(Wikipedia). Later in his early 30s, he was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for about 2 month with the doctors not knowing why his limbs were losing circulation and turning a dark purple color. Once they realized that his limbs were not viable, my uncle had to make a decision to remove all four of his limbs. It was not easy for him to make that decision; my grandmother had to beg him to proceed with the procedure because if he didn’t, he would have died. In his perspective, he did not want to live life being cared for by others. He was depressed for about 4 years until he realized that there was not anything that can be done to change what had happened. My family and I would try to do things for him such as feed him, dress him, etc. He did not like that because it killed his pride as a man. He then was determined to do things for himself and finally committed to physical therapy. About a year later, he was fully capable of taking care of himself. Now when I visit, it sometimes catches me off guard on how he is able to do everything that I can do if not more. For instance, I am terrible and swimming; whereas my uncle, he is awesome at swimming. The movie really explained everything that was reality for my uncle as well as my family. I am glad that this movie was shown because seeing the surprised reactions in others in my class was a good eye opener. If only a movie like this is released in theatres, then the whole world can be exposed to things we as fully functional limbs take for granted.

S.Antonio Kin 332I Section 3

Team USA under Klinsmann

2011-10-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

The US men's national soccer team has been buzzing for the last few months. On July 29th 2011 Jurgen Kilinsmann was named the new coach of the US mens team relieving previous coach Bob Bradley. Klinsmann previously led his native country of Germany to the semifinals of the 2006 world cup eventually taking third place in the tournament. He is a highly respected figure in the world of soccer or football. He won the world cup as a player for West Germany in 1990 and played for several top clubs in europe throughout the 90's. now as a coach he is tagged as the 'savior' of the US men's national team. his resume is pretty impressive but i feel like the media is blowing this thing up too soon. after playing 5 friendlies for the US team, klinsmann has 1 win, 1 tie, and 3 losses. These high expectations put alot of pressure on Klinsmann and can be problematic especially if positive results do not show. The only positives that have shown since the coaching change is a new style of play that has been seen during these international friendlies. They have shown flashes of brilliance and creativity when it comes to possession and creating chances but the problem has been the lack of capitalizing on those chances and scoring goals. throughout 5 games Klinsmann's squad has only produced 2 goals. the losses have all been 1 - 0 defeats so at least the americans are not blown out during these friendlies. On the other hand these games are friendlies so results are not the most important thing. with only 1 win, 1 draw, and 3 losses things are not looking as bright as many had hoped for but people must be patient and wait for the results from games that really count. World cup qualifying is Klinsmanns first big test so hopefully the media and fans don't criticize him until after those games are through.

Jerome de Leon
KIN332I TuTh 12:30pm

Remember the NBA?

2011-10-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

Every time I walk into the REC center at Cal State Long Beach and see people shooting hoops on the basketball courts I can’t help but think back to the end of last year’s basketball season. There were some highs and some lows. My beloved Lakers crumbled in the Western Conference semifinals and, in the process, a few of the players made fools of themselves….*cough* Andrew and Lamar. After my tears dried though, I witnessed something that, at the time was much sweeter than another Lakers championship. This was the fall of the ever cocky, overly hyped and self-proclaimed King, Lebron James. Ah Yes, it was wonderful to see him fail when it came down to crunch time. His blank stare as the seconds ticked down at the end of game 6. He was probably thinking back to that little stunt he pulled with the other big 2 at the beginning of the season in Miami where they flaunted themselves in front of cameras and crowds to predict 8 championships in 8 years. Nope Nope. It was a team that everyone doubted that took it home last year. No player on the Mav’s had ever won an NBA title, and sure enough, led by that big James Bond villain of a look-a-like in Dirk they took down the Miami Heat. It saved Jason Terry's decision of getting the NBA trophy tattooed to his arm, and allowed for Mark Cuban to puff out his chest even more.
So now that we have no NBA season this year we can still use last year’s season as a point of reference. One that shows that hard work pays off and that you can’t believe all the hype. At the same time we can reflect on how selfish and egotistical some of these athletes have become. They feel privileged and even if the NBA teams are suffering they feel that they should still be paid astronomically high salaries. Finally, I have a quote that I’d like to see Lebron and a few others in the NBA apply to their routines if we ever do have an NBA season again. “Speak softly, and carry a big stick, you will go far.”- Theodore Roosevelt

Spencer Pirdy KIN 332IS

Cycling: The anti-American sport?

2011-10-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

I'm somewhat of a cycling addict. I ride both mountain and road bikes and have done numerous centuries as well as participated in AIDS LifeCycle, 7-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles and is In all, I find that the cycling culture promotes a festive atmosphere in contrast to what is experienced around America’s sports sweethearts—football, basketball, and baseball—where “winning is the only thing” and the prevalent overtone is one of aggression, domination, and obliteration. An article in the October 2011 issue of Peloton magazine went so far to say that there is a . I tend to believe this.
I’ve been to a number of football and basketball games as well as cycling events such as the Tour de France and Tour of California, where I’ve encountered these opposing nuances first hand, and the energy of our famed. Where there is loathing for the opposing team and their fans in our beloved popular sports, appreciation and recognition of the effort put forth by individual riders and each team is valued and applauded by all at cycling venues. I, of course, supported Lance Armstrong in his quest to winning a 7th straight Tour de France; however, I rooted for whomever came in first during each stage. The effort of each cyclists is highly appreciated and recognized and, in turn, creates an atmosphere of collective camaraderie which one cannot help but rejoice in. This is beautiful, and the reason why I tend to avoid the violence associated with America’s sports sweethearts.

Kluane Robbins, KIN332I TTH 1230-145

Rewarding College Athletes

2011-10-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

The issue of whether college athletes should be paid has been a continuous and never ending debate. Interested in this whole controversy, I researched both sides of this issue. People for this claim that since the players are the ones bringing in the revenue and the ones at risk of injury, they should be the ones getting paid. Coaches salaries increase year after year, yet the players are still the only party not to benefit financially. Also athletes from poor backgrounds cannot rely on families for money, so because of the demands of collegiate sports, there is no time for jobs. Paying athletes could also help steam the tide of players going pro early, and prevent the abuse of players taking money from boosters, and agents. A current example of abuse would be booster Nevin Shapiro from the U of Miami, giving in estimates in the millions benefits to athletes, including cash, prostitutes, trips, jewelry, etc. On the other hand people against this issue believe that only paying men's football and basketball (which would probably be the case) would be challenged in the court. Title IX suits would be filled because female athletes wouldn’t get similar funds. More money for female sports would consequently make other male sports suffer. Another big issue is where would the money come from? Only 14 programs at the big time schools (U of Texas, Ohio State, Norte Dame, etc) enjoy a revenue. So schools with more money would have a huge advantage for recruitment over smaller schools. Also deciding which athletes would be paid, or how much you would pay them are big questions that would have to be answered. Personally I believe that college athletes should not be paid. It is not fair to the millions of other students who go to school. Universities are institutions that will pave the way for us to get jobs. If athletes are paid in college, what motivation do they have to graduate? I agree that athletes spend lots of time practicing to represent their school, but they already receive a scholarship with a free education. Paying athletes would not stop the corrupt activity going on, because that will always exist regardless of the situation. If this issue was ever to become possible it would probably be the big football and basketball stars being the only ones paid. It's these superstars who more than likely are the ones being drafted professionally, where they would be paid in millions. Being paid will only open the gate for professionals in college, instead of working hard to become a professional. However this is only my opinion, and in the end will become the decision of the NCAA.

-Jessica Martinez KIN 332I TU/TH 12:30-1:45

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/06/09/the-problems-with-paying-college-athletes/2/
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904060604576572752351110850.html

Swim, bike, run

2011-10-18T20:15:00.001-07:00

Triathlons are a great sport for everyone. They include swimming, cycling and running. There are several types of triathlons thats what make them so great. For example there are sprint triathlons, olympic triathlons, iron mans, and even reverse triathlons. The swim can be done in any body of water even pools. Triathlons can happen at any time in the year depending on the location.
Triathlons are also a great reason to take a vacation because they happen in many great places all over the country. My favorite race so far is the June Lake triathlon. This is an Olympic size triathlon which means it is a 1.5 kilometer swim, 40 kilometer bike ride, 10 kilometer run. This triathlon is small in number of participants, but I believe it is growing every year so register early! Another fun race is the Hermosa Beach Triathlon called Day at the Beach. This is a sprint triathlon that is known to be great for beginners. The swim is a quarter mile, the bike is 10 miles and the run is 3 miles. If those races sound to easy. You can work your way to a half iron man or full iron man.
Participating in triathlons is great because the sport itself represents three separate sports. This cause diversity in your training and will lead you away from overuse injuries. Swimming is an awesome exercise because it give your body a rest from the weight of the world. The downfall to having zero compression is the same as going up to space. You bones get used to the having no compression on them and become weaker. So good thing we are not swimming all the time. Your bones become stronger from bike riding and running.
The price of bikes can be considered a downfall of the sport. High end triathlon bikes can get very pricey ranging typically from $2000 to $ 8000. But do not worry, you can find many used bikes in great shape or bikes on sale. You also do not have to use a road or triathlon bike for races. You can use any type there is even a division for mountain bikes in many races. Running is great activity and cheap. The running portion of the race can even been completed with a jog or walk.
There are also many triathlon teams. They gladly accept new members. The teams can train together and do races with each other. Is it a great place for new triathletes to get questioned answered and make new friends. While training for long distance triathlons such as olympic distance, half iron mans and full iron mans. It is great to have a team to encourage you to complete long bike rides. Having a group to ocean swim with is very beneficial. It will help you feel more comfortable in the ocean and it is also safer if something detrimental to your health. If the team thing is not for you there is no shame in flying solo.

Brittany Hayden
Kin 332i sec 3

Men & Women in sport media

2011-10-18T18:36:00.000-07:00

In regards to our discussion about the media of sport today in class, and how the majority of the time men are primarily the ones who not only are broadly mentioned but also seen in magazines, newspaper, television etc. rather than women. There has been a few incidents where I hear about young kids who have been scouted by schools, professional teams and even major club sports overseas. For example USC picked up a young boy who I believe is around the age of 13-15 who they are already beginning to train and work on his athletic skill to become a quarterback for the big football team, even offering him a full scholarship in order for him to stay. I also heard about a young boy who has been picked up by the one of the biggest Spanish soccer teams in Europe (FC Barcelona). He is about 11-13 years old and they claim that he has good skill. Of course this is amazing and in a way good for these young athletes but what I do not hear about are the women and little girls in these situations. For example the youngest player on the U.S national women’s soccer team is 22 years old and you don’t hear about young girls being scouted to play and train with these big teams.

Sports Hero: Wilma Rudolph

2011-10-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

I found today's discussion in class pretty interesting and wanted to follow it up a bit more. As a class, we spoke about what kind of pictures were displayed in the magazines (or other media) we brought. We then discussed how the media wants us to portray it. Many of the magazines we looked at in our group were related to Sports Illustrated or Men's Health. In those magazines, men were clearly shown as the dominant gender and women played a small (if any role.) I never really thought about how much the media in sports favors male athletes until actually taking this class. It seems to me that not too many people really think twice about what is displayed everyday through media. Women need to be recognized a lot more for their success. It's sad to say that we live in a society that is so merely focused on male athletes. I found an article about a young African-American woman named Wilma Rudolph. This young woman was born with the disease of Polio and also suffered from Pneumonia. This led to a bad leg which she couldn't even walk on as a child. After a long process of seeking physical therapy and a ton of support from her large family, she somehow was able to walk without her brace at the age of 11. I found this extremely amazing because it was during the 1940's and this kind of care was by far more difficult comparing to today with technology and etc. A few years later she started getting involved in many different sports including track and field. Wilma, a young girl not healthy enough to even walk, turned into a strong Olypmic champion. She went on to set world records in multiple events and also brought home a few gold medals. I feel this is just one example of a female athlete that isn't really recognized for her achievements in and out of sports. Getting to walk again and to be healthy was her ultimate dream. With all the support she needed, talent, and a determined mindset as well as coach, she accomplished the impossible and never looked back. Women in sport should be acknowledged a lot more than they currently are. Instead of having women pose in a bathing suit in a sports or health magazine, why don't they "actually" show women training or competing in a sport as the men are shown. Wilma Rudolph faught her way through the hadships of disability and turned her life into a success story.

Sean H. Whitesitt
Kin. 332I

http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=wilmaRudolph

Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicapped

2011-10-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

The film Murderball from class really made me aware of how great the human potential is to overcome adversity. If you were born with an impairment that's one thing because it's all you've ever known; but if you go from being an able-bodied individual to a paraplegic or quadraplegic then you have to overcome not only the physical challenges, but also the mental and emotional ones as well. In society today, I think we can be a bit ignornant to the abilities that those with disabilities have. And I know that sounds confusing, but I do not think we realize or give enough credit to those with disabilities, because they are able to do so much for themselves. Especially in sports. It is clear that the Paralympic Games do not receive as much broadcasting or advertisment as the Olympic Games, but why shouldn't they? Overcoming adversity is something we celebrate highly in our sports today. And while we value our Olympic athletes like Michael Phelps, Mia Hamm, Lindsey Vonn or Shaun White, sadly I don't think but one person out of ten could name a Paralympic athlete. If we had more people exposed to and educated about those impairments or disabilities I do not think we would have the prevalence of ignorance we have today as made evident by the film when one person thought the Paralympic Games were the same as the Special Olympics. Being in the class has also brought to my attention the levels of heirarchy we have in society, and how many people might look down on disabled individuals as incapable or inferior, when in fact while they may not be able-bodied it doesn't mean they are not able. There may be a point in time, perhaps in our near future, when those individuals with prosthetic limbs or man-made body parts far exceed even our best athletes. Will we recognize these athletes then? Will we give them the respect they deserve? Living without a limb or use of the legs, something that you or I cannot imagine, can only make an individual stronger, faster, better. I respect the disabled community and disabled athletes for the accomplishments that they have acheived. And this is not to say the fact that they can do stuff with a disability, it is to say that they, no doubt, far exceeded what I am capable of doing. So my question is, when will society accept and treat as equals, those with an impairment and/or disability, and stop treating these individuals as handicapped (inferior or "unable" due to disability)? Again, overcoming adversity, being tough (mentally, emotionally and physically), hardwork, perseverance, and an uplifting story, are all things that we value in our (able-bodied) athletes of today. Why can we not feel the same way towards those with a disability? Just because we can say we have more functional body parts than they do, does not make us better, and does not mean that we can look down on others, for the disabled persons community has the power to show us a true underdog story.
Danae Delfin
Kin 332i Sec 03

Race in Sport

2011-10-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

Race in sports is a topic that I feel is overlooked in America. When you look at the history of sports in America you will more than likely see Caucasian or African American athletes excelling in sports. I believe that it is the cultural norm in our society to expect genetically gifted Caucasian or African American athletes to participate in sport because that’s the way it has always been. Being a Filipino-American and living in a society where you aren’t expected to stand out or do extremely well in sports is a harsh reality to deal with. I believe that athletes of different ethnic backgrounds are overlooked in professional sports. American culture is so used to witnessing these predominantly Caucasian and African-American athletes compete in sports. It has become the cultural norm in America to accept that Caucasian and African-American athletes are the cream of the crop when it comes to level of athleticism. It is almost as if they are expected to be natural born athletes that were made specifically to participate in sports. However, Manny Pacquiao, a Filipino boxer who is the only boxer in the world to have achieved eight world titles in eight different weight classes is an anomaly in our society. Here we have an athlete that traveled thousands of miles from the islands of the Philippines and through hard work and dedication has cemented his place in boxing history. Throughout his career he was never expected to be one of the pound for pound greatest boxers to ever live. The large population of Latino and African-American boxers that ruled the sport overshadowed him. But because of his recent success and fame many people are insinuating that he is taking performance enhancing drugs. When I hear accusations that discredit his achievements it makes me think about the cultural norm in America. If Manny Pacquiao were Caucasian or African-American would people be questioning his success? I honestly think that he would be celebrated as a national hero with no questions asked. The people that insinuate that he is on performance enhancing drugs aren’t used to seeing a small Filipino reach a level of greatness in American boxing. I bring this subject to surface because of the long anticipated fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Additional drug testing outside of the Nevada State Commission has been requested because Mayweather feels that Pacquiao is taking steroids. I believe that this perspective from Mayweather reveals an issue of race in sport and I believe that America’s perspective needs to change.

Ray Camba (KIN 332I Sec 10767)

http://fightfan.com/2011/09/enhanced-performance-the-natural-progression-of-manny-pacquiao-from-light-flyweight-to-welterweight/

NBA Lockout

2011-10-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

We've all heard about the terrible terrible news about the first two week of the NBA season being cancelled. The lockout was already the worst news ever for NBA fans everywhere, but we never thought there would be cancellation of season games. As bad as the two weeks getting cancelled is, the NBA and its players are not out of the woods yet. There is talk about the season (in a best case scenario) being cut down to 50 games or, dare I say it, no 2011-2012 season at all. NBA commissioner David Stern reported, "We remain very, very apart on virtually all issues." Meaning that the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), lead by LA Laker Derek Fisher, and the NBA cannot reach an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. This lockout doesn't not affect just the players and the league, but it also has a great impact on fans, employees, and venues that host these games. Fans turn to these games as a way to release stress, meet new friends or a fellow fan, host parties, or to just sit back and enjoy the game with family. Not having a full NBA season, or no season at all will greatly affect the league, players, and most importantly the fans.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/228601/20111010/nba-lockout-2011-news-season-canceled-labor-talks-david-stern-lebron-james-dwayne-wade-carmelo-antho.htm

Chelsea Richardson

KIN 332I, Sec 03

Unfortunate Circumstances

2011-10-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

After winning the MEA tournament, the Ugandan little league team was the first African team to advance to the world series taking place in the United States. The 12 to 13 year old boys who had dedicated their life to the game, displayed innate talent and promise to not only be a successful team, but to also affect change in Uganda. Because of this, Richard Stanley, the main instigator involved in introducing the sport to Uganda in 2003, spent thousands and thousands of dollars to provide appropriate gear, facilities, and travel for tournaments. Needless to say the boys, coaches and their many supporters were devastated after the state department announced they would not be able to travel. Due to discrepancies involving their travel Visas, the boys would be denied of this opportunity of a life time. Jay Shapiro, who had been filming a documentary of the team for the past two years, mentions that “Their country isn’t ready for this. The schools aren’t ready. The parents aren’t ready. The only thing that’s ready are the kids and their talent.” The article further describes how a lot of kids don’t even know how old they are or when their birthday is let alone have a birth certificate.

Despite the heartbreaking nature of the situation, their story has sparked the attention of people all over the world. Uganda and other third world countries alike don’t need us to feel sorry for them being underprivileged, they need us to help them bring hope. By teaching them how to handle documentation and about the importance of education and order, we can help them maneuver through adversity, and eventually prosper. We are so lucky to have so many resources that allow us to be involved in sports, travel, acquire gear, and compete at high levels.

Baseball In Uganda

ESPN

http://youtu.be/AuZB1c6K1-0

College Football Expenses

2011-10-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

We are about half way through the semester and this class has already opened my eyes to so many interesting topics. Maybe the most interesting discussion that we had in class stemmed from a Title IX conversation. Professor Kauer gave the class some statistics about Division I college football and the amount of money universities spend just to field a team. One stat I remember was that out of 120 bowl eligible teams, only 14 of them actually generate enough revenue to make a profit. This is a mind blower considering that many of these schools have cut other men's sports teams just to field a football team. I also found it rediculous that they put the football team in a hotel every night before a game. After calculating the costs of putting 85 football players in a hotel for about 13 games, the university would almost be able to fund a different sport. It seems that when it comes to college football, everything comes second.

Opportunities Wasted

2011-10-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

“Over-privileged” is a word that Tim Wise said does not exist in our English language but under-privileged is. Why is this? Coming from a predominately white community where only a hand full of colored people attended my high school, I can clearly see what Mr. Wise is saying. Although most kids in my town go to college and take advantage of their parent’s wealth, there is always the percentage of kids who waste everything that is put in front of them. They are ungrateful for the material items they have and are blind to the infinite amount of opportunities given to them. Instead of being productive with the money that magically appears in their bank account every week, they chose to go down the wrong path of addiction and substance abuse. It is sad to see things like this develop because I realize that there are people in our country that would kill to be raised in a society similar to the one I was raised in. Because under-privileged people must work harder for opportunities even close to the ones I was presented, I have a new found respect for them. Hopefully we can spread of the amount of opportunities to inner cities or ones who are unable to get the same treatment as the “over-privileged”

Chad Schug
Kin 338I Sec 06 10771

Get a job

2011-10-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

After reading "All My Hopes and Dreams," I finally felt that I was not alone. There are other families just like mine. I am the first generation of my family to be born in the United States. Even though my family has been here for over 40 years, none of my elders even bothered to gain higher education. They basically only came to this country to work, not knowing that to be successful in the U.S. economy one has to pursue higher education. Just like in the article, my family never encouraged me to think about college, they did encourage me to get a a job though. Luckily while I was in high school, I had a lot of friends that encouraged me to get a higher education because they were going to known universities and they did not want me to be left behind. Instead of having an athletic scholarship such as in the article, I had friends to encourage to pursue a higher education. So when I graduated high school I enrolled in a Junior College a got a part time job to make my parents happy. This article slapped me on the face with reality, and I had an epiphany that most minorities are not encouraged to pursue a higher education. Therefore from now on, I am going to encourage all my family members to think about their futures and make college seem like a possible outcome.

Jose T.
KIN 338I Sec 06 10771

Title IX and Football

2011-10-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

I always thought Title IX was the main reason as to why we did not have a football team. Everything we have discussed in class made so much more sense in terms of the actual reasons behind not having a team. The money required for football teams is outrageous. I have 3 friends who play college ball, 1 is at Whittier College which is a private college here in CA and the other two are out of state in Minnesota. It seems like a lot of public schools in comparison to private schools are the ones that don't have a football team. I wonder if one of the reasons is because there are more women at in attendance at our school and many other public universities vs. at private schools. My friends who attend school in Minnesota are always talking about how small the school is and the way they put it half of the students seem to be on an athletic team there, girls and guys. Since there are a number of factors that play into Title IX, I’m sure there’s more to it than what my friends observe on their campuses.
The other school that Prof. Kauer gave as an example (I can’t remember the name) of a school that cut 11 men’s teams just to have a football team. I think that’s completely unfair for those men’s teams, that’s basically saying to them their sports are unimportant and less than football. That’s not a message that should be given to athletes anywhere. Sure people have their own opinion as to what sports are better than others, but by making such a drastic move as cutting 11 men’s teams is a pretty blatant disrespect to those sports. I’m not sure of the actions they took prior to making that decision, or if they even considered surveying students in attendance or taking the other students at the school into consideration. Yes I can agree that football is a great sport but I just don’t think other sports aren’t just as great.
Nylene Herrera
Kin 332I Sec 03

Mothers in Sport

2011-10-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Dara Torres, a 12 time Olympic medalist in swimming, has again qualified for the upcoming Olympic London games. If you are unaware Dara Torres was the oldest female swimmer to compete in the 2008 games, at the age of 41. At these games she won three silver medals. She was probably one of the most represented female athletes in media because of her age and also because she was a mother. This got me thinking about how professional athletes that are fathers and mothers are portrayed in the media. When I went to Google’s search bar to find some famous women in sport who were also mothers, nothing that correlated to what I searched came up; the closest thing was a “stage mom.” On the contrary when I typed in fathers in professional sport, there was a large variety of links on the topic, and then some even branching from father son duo in sports. To be a mother competing in a professional sport seems to be unheard of. But for men this is not something that would stop them from continuing on their athletic path.
Dara Torres has written a memoir about staying fit, aging gracefully, and pursuing your dreams. I think she tells her story of things she had to overcome to compete again on such an elite level wonderfully. These are more of the stories that should be read by all women. I believe there is no reason motherhood should stop you from competing. Your body may have changed but with the right attitude and training anyone should be able to get back into the best shape they were in. The media should also begin to change its perspective on mothers in sport and begin publishing more stories like Dara Torres to inspire and encourage other women.

Natalie Bell

Kin 338I Sec. 1

Sportsmanship: A Concept of the Past

2011-09-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

As part of being an alumni of a high school with a strong football team, I enjoy keeping up to date with high school football news. Today I came across an article: Sheriff's office, FSHAA, look into post game football brawl. Reading this article triggered a connection between the sociological aspect of sport and this occurrence. It seems as if the concept of sportsmanship is becoming a concept of the past. Athlete's seem to be so focused on their team, their playing, and their winning record. This type of thinking leads the individual to forget about those around them. Society, specifically high school sports, are entirely too focused on winning above anything else. Whether it means a hard fought, deserved win or a dirty win. High school athlete's generally range from ages 16-20. At this stage of life, athletes tend to be high self-centered. They don't care about how the other team did or if they injure the star player of the other team. They care about their performance and winning even if it means they have to cheat to get there. This football game took place in Florida. The game ended with a score of 17-14 and a fight while the teams were shaking hands at the end of the game. This kind of behavior is completely uncalled for. I attended a private high school and this incident would result in expulsion from the team and possibly the school depending on the ramifications. Sportsmanship was honored at my school regardless of the sport. Being a character of good sport teaches the individual to respect their opponent and refrain from being a sore loser. A well rounded and highly respected athlete will have both of these characteristics. Unfortunately, coaches at the high school level many not necessarily have the proper qualifications to be a coach. I think this is a big reason why teams often lack good sportsmanship. A huge part of being a coach is being able to practice good sportsmanship. Then a coach will be able to enforce that rule upon their team.

Kristin Taylor KIN 332I Sec 10767

http://www.highschoolsports.net/sports/preps/football/story/2011-09-26/Football-brawl-Leon-County-Middleburg/50559520/1

Women Can Now Play in the Virtual NHL

2011-09-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the persistency of a 14 year old girl named Lexi Peters, gamers can now create a custom female hockey player in the new NHL 12 game. In the past, gamers could create a male hockey player and customize it to look like them, but they never had the option to make a female character. Lexi played her brother all the time on NHL 11 but she eventually got frustrated because she had to play as a boy. She finally had enough and decided to write a letter to EA Sports COO Peter Moore, saying that the exclusion of women was, “Unfair to women and girl hockey players around the world.” Moore eventually brought this up with the executive producer David Littman. Both of them agreed that Peters was right and they quickly decided to incorporate female customizable players. Due to Peters’ persistency she not only brought women into the game, but EA Sports decided to use her face as the default female hockey player.
This may seem like a minute story on the scale of society, but it’s actually pretty significant because this is one of the first sport video games to incorporate women. Yes, there are no women in the NHL (but there have been one or two to play in pre-season games) but why shouldn’t they be incorporated into a video game? Or at least given the option to create a female athlete? After all, if boys are given the chance to feel like they’re playing hockey against NHL superstars, why shouldn’t women be given the same opportunity? This just goes to show that gender roles are starting to shift in society and women are still fighting for social equality whether it be in sports or video games.
This could open the doors for other popular game titles to incorporate female athletes. Among the mainstream sports like, basketball, baseball, hockey and football, I think NHL 12 is the only EA Sports video game to incorporate a female option when creating a character. This is probably due to the absence of female athletes in the MLB, NHL, NBA and NFL but young girls should have the option to create a character that looks like them and be able to play against their sport heroes. With the large population of female basketball players, it’s a surprise that there’s no WNBA video game. I’m sure young girl basketball players would like to play in the virtual NBA against their favorite stars too, hopefully one day this will be a reality. Thanks to Lexi Peters, female hockey players can now play in the virtual NHL and hopefully we’ll see this transfer over into other sport video game titles.

Travis Benson
Kin 332I sec 03 - 10767

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/How-a-14-year-old-girl-made-NHL-video-game-histo?urn=nhl-wp12363

It's That Time of Year Again

2011-09-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

As the College Football season gets under way it is that time of year to ponder the question "should college football athletes be paid by the schools they play for?" It is a question that inevitably comes up year after year. This year it was the Big Ten proposing a system for the schools in the Big Ten to be able to pay their players. Not much has come of it and it most likely won't be passed any time soon. If one set of schools started paying their players then every other school would instantly be put at a disadvantage and forced to follow suit and pay their players as well. But for a moment lets actually consider the question. These players are making a pretty good sized revenue for their respective institutions. Through ticket sales, television channel deals, and various other souvenir sales a player draws in more than the cost of his tuition and other school expenses. These players are putting their bodies on the line and many of them won't be playing beyond the college level leaving many without necessary relevant experiences needed to land a job beyond college. On the other side of the argument though these players are being given the opportunity to get a degree from some of the most prestigious schools in the nation and its their fault if they aren't taking advantage of their position. Many of the athletes wouldn't be attending the same schools they reside at now if it were not for the sports scholarships and admissions they receive. There are many more factors that come into effect when discussing whether college athletes should be paid to play, I have merely brought up some of the more obvious ones. There is a lot to consider before this rule will ever change. But if it did, would it really be for the better? Should they be paid and why?

Ryan Plunkett Kin 332I sec 0767