The Rutgers Women's Basketball and Don Imus Controversy (RUIMUS): Kia Tyus

The things that Don Imus said was forgivable for not forgettable. This reminds me a lot of the Donald Sterling case; although the cases are different. I feel like the punishment the right punishment in firing him, but another radio station picked him up an allowed him to continue work. Racism of any kind is not acceptable.

I feel just as Sterling can no longer own a NBA team or attend games, Imus should not be allowed to continue his radio career. Imus comments were so inconsiderate and it’s kind of embarrassing that sponsors will still support him.

My question is, does it say more that the sponsors have a forgiving heart? Or, does it say that the sponsors will support anybody regardless on if they are racist.

I feel like it makes sponsors look bad if they support someone who was not only wrong but also tried to justify his actions instead of just simply apologizing.

Do you think another radio station should give Imus another chance? If so, should sponsors; sponsor the radio station Imus is on?

The Rutgers Women's Basketball & Don Imus Controversy

By Ellen Chlumecky

The Rutgers Women's Basketball & Don Imus Controversy (RUIMUS): White Privilege, New Racism, and the Implications for College Sport Management

In Gill's (2011) article, he provides "the summary of the Rutgers Women's Basketball while relating it to White privilege, new racism, sexism, and their intersection operating during the lifespan of the RUIMUS controversy" (para. 1). Don Imus and his co-hosts called the Rutgers Women's Basketball team "rough girls," "hard-core hos," "nappy-headed hos," and compared them to the "Jigaboos" in "Do the Right Thing." 

White privilege is when an individual makes another group feel alienated, denies alienating others, and knowing the person in charge will be of the same race and being protected. Don Imus made the Rutgers women feel alienated which is a key component of White privilege. Don Imus also denied what he did was wrong, which is the second element of White privilege. The last element indicated is how Don Imus was protected financially and criminally. 

New racism is the belief that racism no longer exists and civil rights legislation created an equal playing field. The three elements of new racism are racial ambiguity, blaming Blacks for their problems, and the use of the media to facilitate racism. Don Imus responded by blaming the rap industry for its degradation of Black females. Imus and his co-hosts used the media to relay the comments.

Sexism is the belief or attitude that women are inferior to men. Imus masculanized the Rutgers women and physically compared them to women. Black females are in double jeopardy including leadership, post-secondary education, the workplace, and sports. The Rutgers women were compared with animals, made them visible through an international controversy, and didn't receive corrective or social justice. 

I don't understand how someone could look at a group of strong women and feel a need to make such a degrading comment. It's inappropriate and unethical. I don't know how anyone could consider themselves moral after making that comment. The fact that the women were receiving hate mail because of this incident makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me lose hope that people know the difference between right and wrong anymore.

Kia Tyus LeBron James: One Nation Under a Hoop

LeBron James: One Nation Under a Hoop

LeBron James was the number one male athlete coming out of high school. He was widely recruited by colleges as well as NBA teams. It was pretty clear he would choose the ladder route. My question is, did the media hype James up to much?

I feel like the media hyped James up to much as a young child. When James was a junior, he was on the front cover of Sports Illustrated. It was very clear that he would not be going to college and would enter the NBA Draft.

Before James even entered the NBA, whatever team drafted him felt like James would automatically bring them a championship; in this case, the Cleveland Cavilers drafted James. Now, I am not the biggest James fan but I do feel like there was way to much pressure put on James.

People fail to realize that it takes more than one person to bring a championship to a city. I feel like the General Manager of the Cavilers did a poor job with surrounding quality players around James. This resulted in James having to do most of the work, which is something that he didn’t want.

I also felt that James fed into the media attention as well. As a young man who knew he was going to be a millionaire and was dubbed the "Chosen One", one can only image the amount of pressure James put on himself to perform.

Granted, the way James left Cleveland was very unprofessional. He knows as well as everyone else that the situation could have been handled better. But, I feel like James had the right to leave Cleveland and put himself in a better position to win championships. The owners and general managers of the Cavilers should have did a better job with surrounding James with quality players and maybe he would have stayed in Cleveland.

"The Jordan Effect:" Ellen Chlumecky

By Ellen Chlumecky

This article discusses the tremendous impact Michael Jordan has had on not only the sports field but the world as a whole. He’s not only one of the greatest basketball players ever; he is also one of the greatest brands ever known. There is very little debate on whether or not he’s the best basketball player who ever lived, it’s ultimately accepted.

He wasn’t just an athlete. He was a businessman, and a good one at that. He took an active role in all of his sponsorships. He didn’t want to just be a face with no voice in his endeavors. He wanted to have a voice in his sponsorships. People took him seriously and saw him as professional and indestructible. He made a strong impact on and off the court.

The article combined all of the Jordan-influenced businesses. These businesses included: videos, books, cologne, Hanes underwear, and what he contributed to the NBA. All together they discovered that all together his brand is worth $10 billion and counting. This is a tremendous feat that is unmatched by any player in the NBA today.

I believe that Jordan will always be considered the best basketball player because he had an effect on Chicago unlike any other player in the league. No one threw out or burned his jersey when he retired or left for baseball. Fans respected his talent and who he was as an athlete and as a person. You couldn’t live in Chicago without having a love for Jordan. He will always be the king of Chicago because of everything he put into his brand.

Tiger's Reputation Takes Hit Kia Tyus

Tiger Wood’s Image Takes a Turn for the Worst

Tiger Woods is arguably the best golfer to ever play the game. He worked hard to keep his morals and remain humble throughout his rapid rise to fame. Woods often looked to his father for advise when things got tough.

My question is, is it right to put pressure on celebrities to maintain a perfect image? Do we have the right to judge anybody on his or her wrong doings?

Woods was caught in a cheating scandal when his wife broke his car windows with a golf club, which some says resulted in Woods getting into a minor accident. Soon after many women came forward to say that Woods did indeed participate in sexual acts with them. Woods entered a rehab for sex addicts. Can you really be addicted to sex? Did Woods do this because he really had a problem? Or, did Woods do this because his image was now damaged for the first time in his career?

Personally, I feel like we but pressure on celebrities to be perfect, when God is the only perfect person. I don’t agree with what Woods did but he can’t get away from it. Now every time he plays poorly or is seen with his new girlfriend Lindsey Vonn, his poor behavior in his past is brought up.

How is he supposed to move on when it consistently gets brought up? If you made a mistake, how would you feel if people around you consistently brought up your mistake? I feel like the world is kind of hypocritical when comes to celebrities and what they consider right and wrong. What do you think?

"Tiger in the Rough": Ellen Chlumecky

By Ellen Chlumecky

This article is about the steady downfall of Tiger Woods’ life and popularity. The incidents in which he was involved in were something that was incredibly hard to cover up. He crashed his car, put up a façade of having a loving marriage, slept with numerous women, and was linked to a controversial sports doctor. You could say his life was going nowhere faster than he crashed his car. “It is the greatest single fall in popularity on a non-politician in the history of public opinion surveys: a drop in approval from 87% in 2005 to 33%.” (Bissinger, 2010, para. 4).

One of the main reasons fans were so appalled was due to the fact that he was a mysterious entity. No one knew anything about his personal life. He never took a stance on topics and never wanted to ruffle feathers. There was an air of mystery about him that no one could ever penetrate.

When he was 21 years old in an interview with Charles Pierce who was writing for GQ, he was inappropriate and made some perverted jokes. Bissinger stated that was the most open and honest the world had ever seen Tiger (2010). After that interview, we never saw that side of Tiger again. His entourage never let him make that kind of mistake again.

While I don’t condone what Tiger did, or cheating in general, I think that he was under a vast amount of pressure. Again, nothing is ever an excuse for what he did but he was under the public eye for so long and was pressured immensely to be someone who he wasn’t. I think that anyone would crack under that kind of pressure.

Budgeting Assignment (submitted on time via Turnitin)

Nik Santoro

Marcus Cade

Tierca Williams

Budgeting Assignment

For the budgeting assignment we chose to do a pay to play along with the donation and the fundraiser to make more money. The four teams we chose to do the fundraiser are football, softball, and men’s and women’s track and field. The pay to play that we established was 150 $ per person for a sport, which gave us an extra $68,850. The total for the bolded expenses was $155,850. After paying the bolded expenses we were left with $ 68,300.

With the remaining money we decided to resurface both basketball courts. We also decided to get the football team new helmets since a former football player donated $20,000. Both men’s soccer and women’s soccer both got New jerseys because they are ranked 3rd. Softball being ranked 1st got its tournament in Florida paid for. The men and women’s swim tam got new suits and the men’s and women’s downhill skiing got their training in Colorado since they were also 1st. The track and field teams were both ranked in top 5 so they got new landing mats, and hockey got new jerseys even though they were ranked 7th. After all the bolded expenses and the expenses we saw fit to pay were paid we were left with $100 that we didn’t have a way to spend. Another thing that came into play was how much money each team we picked for the fundraiser raised as far as them getting their expenses taken care of.

Women Getting Covered on their Respective Sport

By Kia Tyus

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTYW2GTJhZg

In class we discuss how when are rarely viewed for their respective sport. When they get interviewed or photographed, everything is usually sexier when photographed and with a significant other. The only videos I found of women talking about their respective sport are before or after a game or practice. In the video above, WNBA super star Cappie Pondexter, talks about her move to New York and why exactly she choose to move there.

The video goes back and forth on multiple reasons for moving. First, she moved for basketball reasons, but mainly she moved to further her fashion career after basketball. I didn’t like how the video mostly focused on her fashion career. The interviewer didn’t really ask basketball related questions, like: what was your relationship with the coach, how do you feel about the fan base.

I feel like when female athletes get interviewed, it’s hard to make the public care about what they have to say. So, many of their interviews have to do little with their sport and a lot to do with everything else.

Even in the video above, the interviewer asked Pondexter what team she feels has the best uniforms. To me, that was a bonehead question that NBA players would never get asked.

Females need to demand the same respect that male athletes have. A suggestion would be to refuse to answer question about their personal life unless quality question about their sport are also asked.

I understand that personal life often trumps the professional life. But, if females want to educated and encourage people to watch and attend their sporting event. They need to talk about it in depth and not about their hobbies outside of the sport.