Sportsmanship: A Concept of the Past

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

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

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