Get a job

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

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

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

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

Will The Summit Rise Again

When news broke out on the situation of Pat Summitt, the legendary head basketball coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers; who was recently diagnosed with early-onset dementia; many thoughts came to people's mind. What will happen to her in the future? Will her career in coaching soon be non-existent? Will the legacy of the most winning-est coach in women's college basketball, just become a mirage at what's soon to be ahead? I got a question, what if she's the one that becomes the positive statement to this despicable disease? 4-5 million Americans suffer through some type of the dementia disease across the United States. But have we ever seen the individual to use his/her fame to make a statement for this disease and fight it head on in the public eye? You got the Michael J. Fox for Parkinson's; you got the Magic Johnson for H.I.V. and we all root for them to not only fight it head on, but to make a solitary effort to achieve a great message to the world that's blinded by those diseases. Why not have the queen herself make this her greatest challenge and coach not only herself but us as well with what Dementia can bring. Are the odds against; statistic shows that it does....But me; I always root for the underdog cause it makes the fight that much more encouraging that miracles can always happen.

Giancarlo P. Kin. 332I