This past week in class we discussed the “Cool Pose”. It is a very interesting topic as well as a
great reading. We learned about all the
money Michael Jordan has generated, not only for the Chicago Bulls, or for
himself, but as a whole, the economic impact Michael Jordan had on the
economy. We than began to discuss the “Cool
Pose” itself. I think we reached the point
in the class where we agreed that the Cool Pose is a type of “swagger” or style
carried by the player. Everyone knows
about how cocky Michael Jordan was, so we were then asked to name a few other
athletes that had that “swagger” and confidence. Immediately Allen Iverson was brought
up. We then spoke about The Miami
Hurricanes, Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Muhammad Ali and many others. All of these great athletes, or group of
athletes, exemplified “Cool Pose” and they all carried themselves with that
certain cocky/confidence and swagger.
What I am curious about is why was it so easy to think of all of the
male athletes that exemplify this characteristic but not a single person named
a female athlete? Is it because female
athletes are not confident in their ability so they do not make it blatantly
obvious with how good they are? I personally do not know the answer, even in
the Olympics, the United States clearly had the best women’s basketball team in
the world, and had every right to be cocky/confident heading in to every game,
yet you never really heard any of that.
Could female athletes just not be as arrogant as males? I am not quite sure, although I am positive there are females out there who are confident it their
ability, and are very cocky, there is certainly a much higher number of males
who are notoriously exemplifying the “Cool Pose”.
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ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a very interesting entry and something I had not considered. I think some of it could be to do with the fact that males are always trying to impress each other. It is always about being cool and masculine. They are always trying to be better than their colleagues while women don't necessarily feel the need to be "cooler" than their fellow athletes. I think there is a lot of pressure on males to be amazing and also have this "cool pose" because they have so many people watching them. I wonder if women would have this "cool pose" if they were watched as often as males.
ReplyDelete-Sam Melchor
Honestly, before this class I have never heard of the "cool pose." Yes I knew of athletes that carried themselves with a certain swagger that exemplified confidence and cockiness, but I never knew that was defined as the cool pose. In my opinion, certain women athletes do have this cool pose, it is just not talked about as much because the cool pose isn't talked about much and women sports in general isn't talked about as much as men's. For example, Serena Williams, Maya Moore, and Hope Solo all display the cool pose with great confidence. Maybe they aren't as cocky as most of the men that express this emotion are, but they still show it.
ReplyDelete-Michael Discipio
I agree with you, I feel like male athletes show more cockiness/arrogance than female players do. I don't know why that is either, but I think that most females just let their game show for themselves instead of having the "cool pose". I also agree with Mike (comment above me), Serena Williams and even Sanya Richards-Ross both show the cool pose, they just do it in different ways than a man does.
ReplyDelete-Turea Moore
Such a great point to shed light on. Even as a female athlete myself, I never really considered the lack of females who exude "cool pose" in pro sports during our class discussion. I don't think that there is a true lack in females who carry themselves in a similar fashion to a male's "cool pose" such as Michael Jordan, LeBron James, or Allen Iverson, but more of a lack of notoriety in women's sport. With drastically less coverage in women's sport, we don't see the high profile athletes like Serena Williams, Sanya Richards-Ross, Hope Solo, and Maya Moore who definitely give off a sense of confidence and self-worth, just not as blatantly or highly received as most male athletes. I can definitely remember in lower key women's sports through high school, those girls who knew they were dominant in their sport or respective position within the sport and liked to have a spotlight shown on their "swagger." I believe society also drowns out a lot of female athletes who maybe deserve the "cool pose limelight" simply because women's sports lack respect and a true, consistent audience.
ReplyDeleteStephanie Loomis
After reading the previous posts I completely agree and think the female athletes like Serena Williams, Hope Solo, and Maya Moore. Serena is the female that I think exemplifies "cool pose" the most because of her ferocity on the tennis court and her attitude that she is the best female tennis player that's ever played. Serena has expressed her bad girl attitude in a couple occasions at the U.S. open.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCvL0nONMcg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6hdc2PExMA
The first link is Serena at the 2009 U.S. open and she threatens to kill the line judge for calling a foot fault at an extremely crucial point in the match.
The second link is Serena at the 2011 U.S. open and she has a complete mental lapse and verbally destroys the chair umpire.
It is in these occasions that Serena expresses her bad girl vibe and this exemplifies a female "cool pose".
By Oliver Goss
This was a great question to raise - as to why we don't talk about "cool pose" in relationship to female athletes. Serena was actually the first female athlete who came to mind for me. But I can see where Hope Solo (not as familiar with Maya Moore) and maybe also Brittney Griner might fit the category.
ReplyDeleteDr. Spencer