Latinos, -as and Sport: Fields of Broken Dreams-Tierica Williams

Study guide question

1. The Boatload mentality" in MLB is teams signing a boatload of Latinos for little pay/income and still come out on top and ahead. Yes practices identified by Breton reveal exploitation because
instead of signing four American guys at $25,000 each, the team signs 20 [Dominican] guys for $5,000 each. The justification for this “boatload mentality” used by baseball people is this, Latino players are fortunate that MLB gives them an opportunity to escape the third world poverty they grew up in. Baseball gives them a way out and a chance to get paid.

2. Roberto Clemente faced discrimination due to the fact that he couldn't speak English. He faced language barriers He was not understood in the world of Baseball and the league/teams didn't hire interpreters for the player who spoke non English so he was often time discriminated for not knowing how to speak English.

 
  

Sex in Sports E.C.: Kia Tyus

One of the presentations in class was the idea of sex in sports. I feel like sex in sports is okay if it doesn’t out do the actual sport itself.

I feel like the naked campaign was kind of awkward but I understand the purpose of it, athletes being comfortable with their body. I myself would never pose naked for a photo shoot. At least the pictures hade sporting objects in them.

The naked pictures were kind of done tastefully because the poses were simple. I feel when athletes over due the poses and begin to look trashy it takes away from the sport they are trying to promote.

Having athletes pose outside of their sporting uniforms gives fans a look at how the athlete’s body really is. For example, if you see LeBron James or Serena Williams on the cover of a magazine in street clothes, the first thing I think is we are going to read into their personal life. Learn a little about their hobbies off the court, their fashion choices, and their family life.

I do think there is a double standard between male and female athletes posing sexing. I think with males many people think it is sexy and shows off their muscles. With females, if the female is pretty she is looked at as a sex symbol and not an athlete. If the female is not attractive then it may not draw the attention of the people.

Overall, using sex in sports is not a bad thing if it is done in a tasteful matter.

Conclusion--Haoyan Gu

After this semester, I have learned a lot that despite the passage of Title IX and other gender equality campaigns, we still have a long way to go to achieve gender equality in sports. Before taking this class, I only knew about women being in positions in sports where they were discriminated against and treated unfairly. I learned that gender inequality not only exists in women’s sports, but also in men’s sports. For example, Keeling Pilaro, a boy who was playing on a field hockey team, was banned from playing because he was “too good” to play with girls. This raised a controversy. If women can play with men to achieve gender equality, does it achieve gender equality to let men play with women?

Writing blogs and comments are new to me because I have never done these before. However, writing blog entries and comments has helped me to see various opinions from other students and they absolutely have affected my thinking on gender. After reading other’s blogs, I could also see agreements on the topics and disagreements. There are no right or wrong answers, therefore, each comment itself is valuable to see and think deeply about.

Overall, this class is useful for my career because sports are the most popular way to spread words to the public, and gender is always a hot topic to discuss. Gender inequality is a serious problem like racial discrimination. In my future career, I will deal with both males and females. In order to help achieve gender equality in sports and not make mistakes on this issue, studying this subject will definitely be helpful in my future career.

Conclusion (Kaleb Kuzma)

Looking back on this class, I learned that even after Title IX and many movements there is still a divide between male and female sports. Female sports are still not quite comparable to men’s sports in respects to popularity. Throughout the whole class, most of the male athletes were very well known but the same cannot be said for the female athletes that we discussed. I also learned a lot of new information regarding sexuality and sport. I had never even heard of some of the transgender or transsexual cases that we read about and discussed in class so that was sort of an eye opener for me.

I think the class blog was one of the most useful parts of class for me. I found the class blog to be very helpful for me because it was a different way to analyze articles rather than just reading them and taking quizzes or something. The blog entries also helped to understand other people’s viewpoints and maybe look at other sides of a particular story.

I enjoyed the readings about the “Jordan Effect” the most. I knew that Michael Jordan had obviously had a huge impact on the sports world but I wasn’t completely aware of the impact he had on the city of Chicago and his respective sponsorships.

Overall, I think the most valuable thing that I will take from this class that will be useful in my career is that there is always another viewpoint behind a story. It is very important to read and understand the situation before joining one side or another.

Kia Tyus: Conclusion

In class I learned a lot about sports and the effect that sports has on media. I realized, that as much as women sports have come, there is such a long way to go. Coming into class, I would have thought that women’s sports were on the come up at a fast pace. I realized that there are still only a few known female athletes that have a high “Q” level. An example would be Serena Williams. I also realized that even though there are a lot of talented female athletes, they are still portrayed in a sexual way instead of looked at for their skill level.

I also learned that the media helped Michael Jordan cover is child which he helped conceive out of marriage. This shocked me because it is hard to believe that the media helped an athlete out. I feel as though the media in today’s society is always on a hunt for a good scandal.

I found most useful the difference between male and female sports: the popularity, the media attention, the talent, and the profit. Male sports are dominating especially the four top sports, those being: basketball, football, hockey, and baseball. The only well known female sports is basketball and tennis in my opinion.

I enjoyed the Michael Jordan and Serena Williams readings the most. I enjoyed this because they are both two of my all time favorite athletes. So any time I get to talk about them I enjoy it.

Writing blogs helped me focus on the class more. It forced me to read the articles, which helped me, have a better understanding on each topic that was discussed in class.

I think the Billie Jean King presentation was most informative because she really broke barriers when she won the Battle of the Exes and she really paved the way not only for tennis players but also for women sports in general.

In my career I think this class is just great knowledge to know for your career. Anybody working in the sports field should have an understanding of conflicts and great history of both male and female sports.

Kia Tyus: Transsexuals in Sports

When it comes to transsexuals playing in sports I disagree with it. For the simple fact, it won’t be fair to competitors all the way around. Renee Richards changed into a girl and continued to still play tennis. Many on her competitors would forfeit competition because they were either uncomfortable with it or they felt like it was an unfair advantage. 

When it is a male changing to a female they would already have the muscle power and speed to be an immediate game changer. So, from that stand point, females who have been training their whole life will be at an unfair advantage even if someone such as Richards waited two years to compete. Now, granted Richards did lose competitions late in her career, but I feel as though that is mostly because of old age more than it being an even level playing field.

When it is a female changing to a male, I feel they wouldn’t have a disadvantage to the competitors and wouldn’t help their team as much. As a student previously said in class, men have been training their whole life building muscle and speed, plus they naturally grow into stronger individuals. I feel the female changing into a male and playing on a male team would more gain media attention for the wrong reasons, than for what the team is trying to accomplish in their respected sports.

Overall, I don’t see how a transsexual playing on a sport team would end up being a fair to the team or individual.