Conclusion

Overall, I really enjoyed the class. Dr. Spencer is one of the best professors I had during my tenure at Bowling Green State University. She shows great passion in sport and she really take interest in you as a person/student. She had great stories about her tennis background and many other topics we discussed. The course itself took shape by it's self. The class always participated in discussion. There was never a dull moment especially with me in the class. Before I took this class I was a little skeptical about it but now after taking it I learned a great deal about sport and gender. I loved how you could express you opinion to the class and to Dr. Spencer and they all would take interest in what you were saying. The video clips Dr. Spencer showed in class were all interesting and they all grabbed my attention. My favorite one was the one about Nick Mangold's sister playing football for her high school team.

Although, the course is called Sport & Gender you learn a lot more than just that. We discussed AIDS, Homosexuality, Hip-Hop, and etc. My favorite class discussions were about women playing on men teams, the cool pose, caster semenya, and masculine and feminine. Each topic had heated discussions with many views and opinions. I just hope my opinion made people think and maybe view the topic differently.

This was my first blog ever. I have always been interested in blogging but never took the time to start one, so I was glad to be able to in this course. I think having a blog and not traditional homework was so much better because although it was homework it was very subjective. I liked reading the comments other blogger's left to see how they feel about what i wrote and do they agree or disagree. Blogging put many topics in perspective with me like my blog about Michael Jordan's arrogance. As I wrote the blog I started thinking differently and harder about Michael Jordan and because of the blog I will never look at MJ the same. The blog presentations were all good in my opinion. My favorite would have to be the group that set-up their presentation as a discussion group. I thought it was cleaver and it gave every group member a chance to voice their opinion.

From this course the most important thing I will be taking isn't any of the knowledge I learned from this class, but the way I will look at everything in life now. This class taught me how to think outside the box and to not limit my thoughts or ideas. I would recommend this course to every BGSU student because it opened my mind. Thanks Dr. Spencer, I owe you one!!!!!!

Men Coaches of Women Teams

Geno Auriemma is considered the best women's basketball coach. He coaches the UCONN Huskies and last year he lead his team to an National Championship. His teams are always one of the best in the country every year. He gets the best recruits around the country. Even though all of those accomplishments, do we really believe he could coach men basketball as good. Personally, I think it's possible but I can't really see it becoming a successful transition for him. Men and women are different. They way you would approach a woman is different than as you would a man. The strategies work different in men's basketball than women's. For example, zone defense is heavily used in women's basketball and is hardly used in men's basketball. Then the next problem would be the men players respecting him. Since he coached women's who are inferior to men in basketball, the players would think he was inferior too. I really want to see this happen though. Like do we think Pat Summit could succeed in Men's hoops??? I do not at all. The best coaches the best. Men are the best in basketball so after you reached the accomplishments Auriemma and Summit has then why continue to coach women and not men.

Females on Men Teams...NO

Over the course of the entire semester my SM425 class discussed frequently women playing on men teams. There were many mixed emotions. I say the opinions were about half and half. Personally, I don't think women should be allowed to play on men teams at all. Physically they can not compete with men at all. Recently, the NBA commissioner David Stern said he thinks there will be a woman in the NBA in the next 10 years. I think not. Just imagine Candace Parker who plays power forward/center tries to guard Dwight Howard who also plays center. There's a reason why the NBA is so much better than the WNBA. If women had equal talent as men in sports then I think women sports would be equally popular to men sports. If a woman played on a men's team how would she get dressed in the locker room. I heard many stories of women reporters being harassed and even assaulted by men in the locker rooms, so why even put her in that situation. Women can't run, jump, swim, hit, or throw better than men. I'm not being sexist, I'm being a realist!!!!!!

Serena and $82,000+

If you were in my SM425 class then you know about what Serena did to a line judge at the US Open. So the tennis association has fined her 82,00 dollars and put her on 2 years probation. That is the biggest fine in tennis history and one of the biggest I seen for what she did. I think the fine was too harsh of a punishment for some curse words. You have to understand that athletes are very emotional people. I have seen way worse than what she did in baseball, basketball, and football. In baseball, players and coaches every game get in the umpires face and yell and curse and they don't get fined. I think because she is a women she is held to an higher standard when it comes to her emotions. Society view women as weak/passive people while as men are viewed as strong and aggressive. I'm not saying what she did was right but c'mon she yelled for like 15 seconds and went back to her match. If the 17 year old new tennis sensation did that do you think she would have been fined so harsh? I think not. So lets be fair people. Gosh!

HIV/AIDS in sport

After Magic Johnson announced that he had the virus. The world put the disease in a real perspective and now it's one of the leading causes of death for African-Americans each year. See what many people don't know is that the virus doesn't kill you it kills your immune system. So when you have the flu or something similar you don't have the anti-bodies in your system to fight it off and you die. I think HIV is the reason the NBA stops play when a player has a cut and makes him stop the bleeding and cover it up before he can resume. However the NFL doesn't do this and I think it's odd. I know in the NBA you have more of your body exposed than the NFL but shouldn't it be a concern. NFL players can be bleeding and they are still allowed to continue play. I wonder does boxing make the boxers get tested before each bout because its always someone bleeding badly in boxing. I respect Magic for coming out and starting serious awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Be a murderer or be gay?

In today's society being gay is scrutinized greatly and especially in sport. Men in general are very homophobic so this is why it's a major issue in sport. Male athletes do not want gay males on their team or in the locker room with them because of the fear of getting hit on. News flash: not all gay men want you. Lets get serious, would we really as a society disown LeBron James if he was gay. I think not. Being a gay female athlete is a lot easier because society accepts their lesbianism more. I think when a female athlete looks manly and non-feminine then the assumption is that she is gay. When I made that statement in my SM425 class many people didn't understand or didn't like what I said but hey its reality. Gay is now looked at similar to being black was looked at 70 years ago. People don't like people who are not the same as them. So they discriminate against them.

Tiger is truely a great player

Recently, we have all heard about the car crash involved with Tiger Woods and his alleged affairs with up to 11 women. The Tiger who we all grew to love as a golfer, is now being hated as a person. This story has become a circus and the ringleader is mainstream media. The CNN's, ABC's, NBC's, ESPN's, and etc. are painting an ugly picture of Tiger Woods for the entire world to see. Did Tiger make a mistake? Absolutely. Did he commit adultery? Yes. Does he have things in his personal life to work on? You bet he does, but don't we all? It was an domino effect. One alleged girl came out with her story about Tiger then everybody started coming out. Everyone wants to be center of attention.

Now that Tiger has come out and took a step away from golf, what happens next? The media tried to destroy him didn't work. I hate to use race, but I feel since Tiger really doesn't embrace the black community, nobody will stand up for him in his defense. If you notice nobody really publicly has spoken out. When Kobe went through a similar situation, the black community had his back. The world still doesn't like interracial relationships and this makes them have a real reason to now.

His big endorsement deals are still there and he only has been dropped from one company as there endorser. Although, Gatorade has taken his drink off of shelves and a lot of companies have stop airing their ads with Tiger in them. Well media you have done it again. You have successfully brought someone to their lowest point. I hope your happy with your ratings.

Questions on Class Readings

In class recently, my professor had posted two questions up on the projection screen:

1. Study on "Gender of Audience Building" based on 1993 study. What might be findings if it were done today?


2. Based on articles by Messner et al (1996) & Werthelm (Ladies Day), how could audiences be constructed to relect growth of girls & women?

My Response to the first question: I think it would be the same as it was back then because the interest in women sports is still the same as it was back in 1993. The interest level is minimal, and men sports still dominate over 95% of the time.

My Response to the second question: Audiences could be constructed to reflect growth of girls & women through market women sports to both genders, sell sex appeal and not sex, think globally and act locally, and show patience. If all these aspects are done then you will see the growth in girls and women sports.

WNBA...Enough Said

I will be the first to tell that I do not like the WNBA. It's a very sad league and I think they

will fold completely unless there is a super women athlete to save it (MJ type of player). I thought about the reasons the WNBA is no good and I came to one conclusion. The league is filled with mediocre players and the level of competition is low. The best WNBA player can not compete in the NBA at all. If the WNBA was similar to the NBA in competition level, skills, talent, and ability then I believe it would be very successful. Lets take Candace Parker, she is considered the best female basketball player, then lets take Kobe Bryant, who is considered to be the best player in the world. If they played one on one, Kobe would destroy her. In my opinion, females would never be able to compete. There to small and to physically weak to compete with men.

Other sports like tennis, volleyball, and golf women can compete and be comparable to men because its not a physically sport. Serena Williams, in my opinion could compete with the best male tennis player because her lack of physicality would not matter. Michelle Wie has played with the thought of playing on the PGA Tour for the same exact reasons I stated for Serena Williams. Men physically are to much for women, but if the sport is non contact between opponents then women can compete.

I wonder if the WNBA had a Micheal Jordan type of dominate player would the NBA be interested of letting her in the league.

Playing with a disability

At times I find myself taking my health and wellness for granted. I think we all as humans do; its a natural occurrence to not appreciate the little things you have in life. I complain when I have your basic of common colds, while there's people living with no limbs. In class recently, we watched a touching story about a teenage high school student who was on his school's varsity wrestling team. He was born with no legs or arms, but he never let that stop him. His grandmother pushed him and taught him how to live with his condition. He overcame his condition and won over 30 wrestling matches his senior year and advanced to the state wrestling tournament. Although, he didn't win he inspired to appreciate what I have and never take it for granted.
After watching this I thought to myself how would it be to play a sport with a disability and how would people I associate with think of it. My favorite sport is basketball. I just love how its a physical but skillful sport. I played it all my life. I couldn't even imagine what would it be like to play with one arm or have a mental disability. That's why when I heard about the J.Mac story it amazed me because, not only did he play with autism but he scored like 22 points in a short time span. He not only over came his condition and never gave up but he excelled despite the odds.
I wrote this blog just to express my appreciation of life and to tell everyone cherish the moments life offers because things could always be a million times worse.

Introduction

Hello world, my name is Joshua Smith and I hope you enjoy my blogs for the semester. Im in my 3rd year of college (I would have said junior but I need like 3 more credits), and I'm a sport management major. I plan to attain my undergraduate and graduate degrees at Bowling Green State University, then go to law school because my goal is to become a sport agent. I really just wanna have clients in football and basketball, but I'm thinking about the large contracts in baseball and that is very tempting (lol).

The reason for me wanting to become a sport agent was becasue I lost my passion for playing sports, but I never lost my passion for sports so I looked into careers within sport and believed that I have what it takes to become an agent (show me the money ---Jerry McGuire). I know several up and coming collegiate athletes that one day I would love to have as a client --Thaddeus Gipson, starting DE for Ohio State; Chris Fields, freshman WR for Ohio State; Jessica Beard, sprinter for Texas A&M and 4x400 relay world champion.

The male and female athlete I would pay to see are Kobe Bryant/Adrian Peterson and Serena Williams. I just think all three athletes are the best player of there sport and also my favorite. I am a huge, die-hard Lakers fan and not just a Lakers fan when we win, but I been a fan since 98' and even after Shaq was traded and missed the playoffs. Now that we have Ron Artest, the world better watch out because we are better than ever and ready to repeat as world champions. My two favorite teams are the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Lakers, which weirdly have the same exact color scheme: purple and gold. I guess you can say I bleed purple and cry gold.

Well I'm just excited about this class, I love the class discussions. It keeps the class fun and worth going to. Dr.Spencer is a awesome professor (No I'm not kissing ass I just call it like I see it). I want to obtain as much knowledge as I can from this course and be able to apply it to the real world of sport.

Im ready for a great semester and go Vikings and Lakers!!!!!!!!

To Be or Not To Be Like Mike???

Going into the hall of fame should be a glorious, proud moment, but for Michael Jordan it was anything but. It was amazing how somebody who will always be know as the best basketball player ever (unless my man Kobe Bryant wins 2 more rings), act so arrogant and grateful. He has forgotten that basketball is a sport and playing in the NBA was a privilege. Some may take his comments as Jordan being Jordan and he just has that competitive attitude about him, but I think it's deeper than that. The way he talked about Bryan Russell (who will ever been known for the defender who tried to defend Jordan on his last shot as a Chicago Bull) was very disrespectful. I mean c'mon he already posterized him for eternity why not just show good sportsmanship and act like he is the best player ever and not somebody who still has something to prove. I already didn't respect him for not really stepping up for minority's and dealing with social issues around the country and world, but now I look at him and feel bad for him. A man that has it all ---money,fame,glory, still isn't happy. This is another reason why athletes should not be role models to children because even an athlete as big as Michael Jordan can't do the right thing.

I'm going to end this blog by saying I'm a big Lakers and the season is nearing. I hope the world is ready for a repeat. Kobe gaining his 5th ring!!!!!

Thursday, August 27th

Today in my S&G class (that's sport and gender) we had to read two articles and have a class discussion about them. One was titled "Just Do It? Nah, Just Study It!" and the other was titled "The Pros the Pros Would Pay To See". In my opinion, both articles lacked in aspect of entertainment, but they both made up with it with there content; I guess! In the "Just Do It" article I found out many interesting things about my university (BGSU) that I never knew. For example, who knew that in the sport management department we had sport psychology, business, sociologists, and kinesiologists professors amongst our staff. When I heard that I was like cool, now all is needed is a McDonald's in the department and then we would have it all! Another thing I took from this article was how sport is define differently everywhere and how no one really has a correct definition. I feel it is impossible to set a standard definition for sport because it's too many aspects that very from sport to sport to have a standard definition.

I decided to break it up into paragraphs just so you can read it easier and it doesn't look like a word fight on your screen (yes, I do write my own comic material). Now, I found the second article a much easier read ("The Pros the Pros Would Pay To See"). From this article I want to touch on the arrogance of Denver Nuggets Forward Carmelo Anthony. He said and I quote, "I wouldn't pay one thousand dollars to see nobody". I found very disrespectful because thousands of fans each year supports him and pays that type of cash to see him perform on a nightly basis, when many of the fans don't have millions stashed away like him. It's absolutely crazy to me for an superstar athlete says that.

Well, I'm done for the day catch you later blogheads.