Hassiba Boulmerka (Religion and Sport)

In 1992, Hassiba Boulmerka became the first Arab woman (and African) to win a gold medal in Olympic history in Barcelona, Spain in the 1,500 meter. After her victory in the Olympics, Boulmerka could no longer train in her home country of Algeria. She was constantly harassed by fundamental Muslim groups and was even sent death threats, because she had dared to show her legs during the race. She was forced to move to Europe so she could safely continue her training. Boulmerka still considers herself a good Muslim. She equates Islam with peace and tolerance, and was determined to not let fundamentalists stop her from pursuing her dreams. In 1993, she earned a bronze medal in the 1,500 meter competition in Stuttgart, Germany. Two years later, she competed in Gothenburg, Sweden, and won a second gold medal in the event. Boulmerka retired in 1997 but she has remained outspoken in her opposition to any form of oppression of women. She publically condemns Islamist extremism and especially restrictions placed upon women, particularly in athletics. She captured international attention in 1999 by specifically accusing Mexico and Pakistan (and other Muslim countries) of discriminating against women athletes. She appealed to the International Olympic Commission (IOC) to campaign to stop what she called terrorism against women. Later that year, she was among the first Olympians directly elected to the Athletes’ Commission of the IOC.

L. Kinnaman KIN 332I.S2 T&TH 9:30am

Marion Jones medals to be reallocated

In an article that I read, the International Olympic Committee is ready to reallocate the gold medals that Marion Jones won that were taken away from her after a doping scandal. She had originally won five medals, but the IOC has decided to reissue two of them. The two that will be reissued are the ones she won at the Sydney, Australia Olympics in 2000 for long jump and the 200 meters. The gold medal for the long jump will go to Heike Drechsler from Germany and the gold medal for the 200 meters will go to Pauline Davis-Thompson from the Bahamas. Jones was linked to the company called Blanco who was associated with athletes that tested positive for steroids. That occurred in 2003 and it was not until 2007 that Jones admitted to lying to federal agents about using performance enhancing drugs. This caused her to go to jail for six months. She is now out of jail and would like to pursue a career in basketball. I feel as though nothing good comes out of using steroids. It is another form of cheating that should receive punishment just like Jones did.

C. Barragan kin 332I.S2

Has-been new UFC Ultimate Fighter Coaches

It was announced this weekend on a free UFC event that the new coaches of the next season of The Ultimate Fighter will be Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell. Tito Ortiz hasn't won a MMA fight in about 4 years. Although many people around this area love Tito, because he is the "Huntington Beach Badboy", he is no longer a competator in the MMA world. The other coach, Chuck Liddell, hasnt won a fight in about 2 years and has been retired. Both of these coaches have already had there big shot and made their money in the sport of MMA. Even though they will probably be good coaches, no one really wants to watch them fight at the end of the season. These coaching opportunities should be given to new up and coming fighters.

T. Knox Kin 332i - 9:30am - 008041642

Impostor MJ causes drama

An NBA Development team, Utah Flash had to refund tickets to their fans after a big "hoax" went wrong in the city of Orem, Utah. The Utah Flash GM,Brandt Andersen, attempted to coordinate a highly anticipated match up of 21 between two of basketball's greatest Michael Jordan and Byron Russell. This match was supposed to happen during the halftime of one of their games. Andersen heard word of a look a like Michael Jordan, and brought him to Utah for the stint. This however went all wrong once the fans figured out that he was an impostor. More than half booed at half time and left shortly after. The commissioner of the Development League, Dan Reed, went on to say this on the matter, "for a Utah Flash promotion that never should have happened." Since then Andersen has deeply apologized and refunded the spectators of their tickets. This type of situation was used to bring more fans to the arena and to boost popularity of the team. However it only backfired and brought a negative reaction to the franchise. It was supposed to be for popular business, as our book explains it in Chapter 4, Business of Sport.

Here is the link for additional info:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/sports/12/09/09/nba-d-league-apologizes-jordan-vs-russell-hoax

Julien Cromer SEC 2 KIN 332I

Currency Rise Helps Canadian N.H.L. Teams

The Canadian teams in the NHL used to be the "poor cousins" to the American teams. Now, the decline in the American dollar has created a trade imbalance in Canada. Because of the stronger currency, it's now cheaper for the six Canadian teams (Maple Leaves, Canucks, Oilers etc.) to pay their players in United States dollars and to reduce debts. N.H.L. Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke of Canada’s renewed economic strength when he said the league was interested in expansion to Winnipeg and Quebec City, cities that lost N.H.L. teams in the 1990s. The league initiated the Canadian Assistance Program at the start of the 1995-96 season to help small-market Canadian teams stay afloat. The program ended when a salary-cap and revenue-sharing model was adopted by the league before 2005-2006, during the lockout that wiped out the previous season. Today, several Canadian teams are net contributors to revenue sharing, helping to keep weaker American franchises alive.

M.L. KIN 332I

From High School Eating Disorder to Big West Champion

http://www.northbay.com/running/09xcsumpter.html

Sarah Sumpter, a freshman at UC Davis recently won the Big West Conference cross country championship. She was only the second freshmen to win in history. What people might not know before reading this article is that Sumpter suffered heavily from anorexia and over-exercising throughout high school at Healdsburg High, and when she arrived at UC Davis. Sumpter admitted: “She was anorexic and that she needed to change her lifestyle. Her weight had dropped to 92 pounds, down 20 pounds from her preferred weight. She felt sick most of the time.” She had over-exercised so much that she ended up injured her freshmen year and had to redshirt. While at UC Davis, Sumpter met with the school’s sport psychologist twice a week. Now Sumpter is as healthy as she’s ever been and the fastest she has ever been as well. This article ties to our deviance in sports chapter and sheds light on a rather dark subject in the sports world that is often overlooked. Matt T. KIN 332I

KIN 332I Kauer Final Blog

Think back over their semester in this course. Considering what you have and haven't learned, how you have and haven't grown and changed in your thinking about the topics of the course, what has been disappointing, what has been enlivening-and present those reflections to the class, and also on this blog. The format is wide open-except that no traditional essays or written responses are allowed." You can post an image and reflect upon it. You may do a brief video. Write prose or poetry.