Athletes carrying guns

Athletes carrying guns today is becoming a huge issue. Recently Flexico Burress an NFL player with the New York Giants shot himself in the leg, with his own gun. He was at a night club carrying an un-registered handgun while hanging out with a teammate. He then claimed that the gun accidentally fired, hitting him on the leg. There is no question that athletes are high profiled people, who make lots of money. More and more athletes today are being targeted, robbed, and sometimes killed. So it’s no surprise that we have been hearing a lot of Athletes carrying guns for protection. There have been numerous stories of athletes who have been involved in violent activities, especially in recent years. Richard Collier of the Jacksonville Jaguars was shot after exiting a club this year, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Then their was Darrent Williams of the Denver Broncos who was also murdered when he was leaving a night club in 2006. I Personally think it’s the environment that they put themselves in, that gets them in trouble. The one common theme in all three incident was the night club. They were all in a place, where you are likely to get targeted by criminals. Your asking for trouble if you’re a famous millionaire athlete hanging out in night club. I doubt these guys will stop going to clubs, so this is not the last athlete shooting we will hear about in the next few months.

Kevin Horton
kin 332I.S3200

Women in Sports(or the lack of)

I have been searching for different things that seem interesting enough to read and write about on the internet for quite some time. I decided that I wanted to know more about women's sports and what is going on with them at the moment, more specifically college women's basketball. Yet, oddly enough, I couldn't really find anything about any women's sports through the Yahoo Sports sections for college, which is rivals.com. There were pages dedicated to football, football recruiting, basketball, basketball recruiting, and baseball. I even found a link to high school sports on the opening rivals.com homepage. I eventually found a link to women's basketball on the link for Yahoo Sports which leads to rivals.com, but is not actually rivals.com yet. It was somewhat informative, however, it did not have nearly as much information as the men's web pages. I tried to find pages for other sports or anything about women in sports through rivals.com, but did not find anything with substance. I am very disappointed in the lack of regard the website shows for women' sports. This just goes to show that men's sports still seem more important then women's sports in many aspects. It also deals with how gender ideologies influence sports and the media because it only shows men's sports and pretty much demeans women's sports by showing no respect for them at all.

Sports and Children by Kalani Millsaps

My brother and sister are involved in just about every activity possible. My 8 year old sister has polynesian dance practice Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-6, AYSO soccer practice Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-5, club soccer practice Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-5, and softball practice from 4:30 to 5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Every Saturday there is usually at least one club soccer game, one AYSO soccer game and one softball game, in the event that there are no tournaments. She sometimes has polynesians shows that she is required to perform in also. My step-mom is involved in everything as much as she can be. For instance, she is on the Board of Directors for the AYSO soccer league and has meetings for that just about every week, she started the club soccer team and was coaching that for awhile, and also frequently coaches for the softball team. I feel that she is overly involved with the activities that my sister participates in and also that my sister is too involved with her numerous activites. She hardly has time to just be with her friends. Not too mention, my step-mom pushes her hard in everything she does. She does encourage her very often, however, she is also very condescending and nothing ever seems good enough. I speak with my dad about how I feel and tell him that my sister is involved in too many things, that my step-mom is too hard on my sister and pushes her too much, and that because the way my sister is treated I think she is missing out on her childhood in terms of just having fun versus competing for everything. She gets very sad if she does not win and gets very down on herself. In addition to all of this, my sister does not really get a chance to sit down and eat and just relax. She hardly ever watches television, which some may feel is a benefit to her hectic schedule. All of these things that I have noticed relate directly to what I have read in "Sports in Society". More specifically, I remember the textbook bringing up issues about how organized programs are emphasizing the performance ethic of young children and also how involved and concerned parents are becoming in regards to the success of their child in youth sports. I have always felt that my sister was being pushed too much even though she typically enjoys being in so many activities but at least now I know that there is something I can do about it.
Kalani Millsaps KIN 332 TTh1230

Garrett Costlow

At the cheerleading gym that i work at we rent out the gym to a youth popwarner cheerelading team and after 0bserving their practice i notice that compared to my teams that are allstar teams that pay the money to get the proper coaching, the youth team has a lack of disapline and quality coaches. The coaches are just parents of the kids that "think" they know what they are adoing and talking about but they really dont. this Shows how parents try to get to involved with their kids sports that they even try coaching. It also shows hows the diffrence of the parents being able to pay for true coaching and quality coaching. The technique that the youth teams were using wasa very poor. They are just trying to throw their skill with out knowing really how to do it correctly. This is caused because the parent that is coaching them thinks they know what they are talking about but they really dont. Another thing i noticed was that the youth team though that they were the best team arouand when in fact if they were to compete in an allstar competition then they would most likely come in last place. I feel that these athletes need to move over into the allstar teams if they truly like the sport so that they may progress better and to know what they were doing.

Media in Women Sports

I saw on sportscenter last week that the WNBA's Houston Comets have been discontinued as a franchise. I was very surprised to see this. The Houston Comets were one of the eight original franchises in the WNBA and actually won the first four titles. Some of the greatest players have gone through their organization. Nonetheless, no one was willing to buy the organization as a result of the mediocre seasons they have had over the past two years. I thought it was interesting this story barely even made headlines. Even one of the guys on sportscenter joked, "hey you don't think this gets enough coverage?" Although he is joking it is true. This would be a huge story in the NBA. Imagine if a teams like the Lakers or Celtics all of a sudden were discontinued. Just because it is in the WNBA, no one payed to much attention to it. The whole segment about this took less than 30 seconds on sportscenter, yet the whole next hour was about how Plaxico Burress (receiver for the New York Giants) shot himself in the leg. This further demonstrates how under covered women's sports really are
Kory Hoertz
Kin 332i Sec 03

Race Ideologies in College Sports

Race has become a huge factor in profiling athletes as they transition from college to the professional level. Tim Teabow (Quarterback for the Florida Gators) and Tyler Hansborough (Basketball foward for the North Carolina Tarheels) were both national players of the year in their respective sports this past year. Tyler Hansborough won the award last year and came back for his senoir season. He has broken many records at UNC and is about to break the all-time scoring record at the university. He is presumed to break the all time scoring record for the ACC also. Though he has all these invidual records, Hansboroughs game symbolizes hardwork and teamwork.
Although he has proven himself, Hansborough is not expected to be drafted very high or be a great player in the NBA. He puts up the numbers, and his team (UNC) is always ranked at the top of the nation, but he is an American-born white player. The trend in the NBA is that most of the players are black, and the white players come from overseas. He has all the qualities that translate into a solid player, but simply the color of his skin will make general managers reluctant to draft him.
Tim Teabow was the youngest player ever to win the heisman trophy last year and could possibly repeat this year. He has done things as a quarterback that no other player has ever done. He runs for as many touchdowns as he passes and is a complete player. He is durable and plays as hard as anyone in college football. Once again though, he is white. Typically for quarterbacks, it does not hurt ones NFL dreams to be white. But the style he plays is not typical for white quarterbacks. Usually white quarterback stay in the pocket and try to win the game with their arm. Teabow is the anomoly and gets it done every way he can. Again, there is a very good chance he will not go high in the draft even though he has proven himself to be the top player in the country.
Kory Hoertz
2084_LBCMP_KIN_332I_SEC03

Sean Avery

On Tuesday, December 2nd NHL hockey star Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely. Not for rough play or unsportsmanlike conduct, but punished for rude remarks he made regarding an ex-girlfriend. In a personally instigated press conference, he made the statement that, "I'm just going to say one thing. I'm really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my (former girlfriends). I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight." In place of (former girlfriends) Avery actually stated, "sloppy seconds." When NHL commissioner Gary Bettmen heard about the comments, he immediately retaliated to keep the Dallas star from playing in Tuesday night's game. Actual length of his punishment was determined on another date and resulted in a six-game suspension. I think that it is really good that Bettmen acted so quickly and efficiently in order to establish that crude comments about women would not be tolerated within the organization. Issues of gender ideology and women being seen as sex objects were raised as Avery's deviant actions took place. Avery is known for his ability to talk "smack" to other players as a way to get inside their heads, but there is a difference between competitive banter and demeaning remarks about women.

-KatieS
KIN 332I S3200