Conclusion- Junho Song

I am an international student in here, and I am from South Korea. When I choose this class, I was worry about how can I adapt this class because I didn't understand that what do I have to study about Sport gender. However, when I came to first time in this class, I was ineretig about sport gender. Thus, I could learn about sport gender. In my county, I never studied about what is male and female's sports and we don't care about who's sports. However, I could understand why American students are learning about this class.

In conclusion, this class was very interesting to me, also my this classmates are all very friendly and funny. Thus, I could adapt this class well. I really happy to join this class with my classmates, professor Nancy E, Spncer, and assistant Kara. All of people helped to me a lot, and they are very kind to me. I had been never meet like as them.

Conclusion - Wes Gates

Overall, this was one of the most interesting sport management classes I have taken in my time here at BGSU.  I really liked how the class was structured around discussions rather than a lecture.  This made class very interesting to go to and was something completely different than the norm.  Adding the element of group work also made this class better.  This allowed for intimate group discussions and an easier way to share ideas.

Some of my favorite topics this semester were revolving around the disabilities in sport and transgender athletes.  I believe this was the topic for a few weeks and I found this entire topic extremely interesting. Talking about Caster Semenya to the Blade Runner, many interesting points were brought up and I learned things I never before knew.  Other topics I had prior knowledge about, but these were a new one to me.  My next favorite was the group presentations because this allowed for us to talk about things we were interested in.  The class was presented in a way that the students enjoyed it and it felt like a very laid back presentation.  All of the topics were very informative and brought up new ideas that were thought provoking.  With that said, there were no topics that I didn't find interesting.  I loved that they ranged from modern day sports to the pioneers and legends of sport.

In short, this class was excellent.  I really enjoyed the thought provoking articles and discussions that ensued.  It was a class that broadened my horizons for future knowledge and made me more aware of modern day issues within the field of sport.

Conclusion Nate Riley

Over the course of this semester, we have had the opportunity to talk about some very controversial topics that usually gets brushed under the rug. We have gotten to not only give our opinion on some topics, but also able to learn others views and open up to them with a new mindset. Coming from a small town in Michigan, I was never very open minded about certain situations, but now i have learned it was only because I wasn't knowledgable in those areas. I had never been exposed to these kinds of topics before so i had been very closed minded to a lot of them, and I truly believe this class helped change that.

The part of this class that I thought was most useful was the conversation within the class. Yes it was nice learning about Title IX and thins like that, but what I truly appreciated was the conversation. With everyone coming from all over the country and having different backgrounds, it was nice being able to see others opinions and hearing their thoughts on the topics. It not only helped me learn, but it also helped me see different sides to each argument.

During the course of the class, we talked about some very interesting things, but my hands down favorite was talking about sexuality in sports. This was a topic I had never been open to before and something that really opened my eyes. It made seeing advertisements on TV make so much more sense, but it also made me pay more attention to these kind of things. It was a pretty cool lesson that I feel like I was able to take a lot from.

Honestly, what I will take away from this class, is the understanding that there are no situations in this world that are cut and dry. Every situation or circumstances has a different background story and something that can be taken from  it. I truly believe this class has helped me grow up and be more open to the world. I hope I can take this newly found understanding, and be able to have it help me in my career in collegiate athletics in the future.

Thanks Dr. Spencer,
Nathan Riley

Conclusion-Kevin Meyers

This class was definitely one of the more interesting ones I have taken during my time here at BGSU. I learn a lot of different things that I hadn't really thought about before, including:

• How closely race is examined in terms of sport.
• Different disability sports.
• The controversy surrounding NBA players and "cool pose".
• The Jordan Effect
• Girls playing on boys' teams, and vice versa.

The readings on Michael Jordan were especially interesting to me. Growing up in Chicago as a Bulls fan, I knew how popular he was, but I did not even consider his economic reach and economic impact until I read about it and we talked about it in class.

I think blogging was certainly interesting, not just because I was writing, but because I was able to read other people's opinions and viewpoints. The blog gave me a forum to respond and have a conversation, which I really enjoyed.

The most interesting presentation was the one about differences in men's and women's ice hockey. This is because hockey is my favorite sport, and I am actively involved with the hockey team on campus, and someone going into detail about college hockey was certainly interesting.

The one thing to take from the class moving forward is just to respect other people's opinions and viewpoints. Though you may disagree, there is a right way and a wrong way to do so, and I certainly think this class helped in teaching me that.

-Kevin Meyers

Conclusion - Nate Dudzik

Over the course of this semester, I was able to learn much more about the relations of gender and other topics as related to sport. I think that it's important that everyone learns every aspect about what they want to do with their career, and this class helped out with one of those aspects. I enjoyed the fact that this class was different than other classes in the fact that there was a lot of discussion instead of just lecture. The one discussion that I liked the most was probably the Dream Team vs. this year's olympic team. Basketball is my favorite sport and the discussion back and forth was very interesting to hear. 

Blogging was something that I'd been familiar with in the past, with previous classes, so it made all the sense to do one for this class. There were a good number of blogs with great entries about certain topics that and to see what other people thought. There were times when one person's blog sparked a big number of comments and then there were other times that many blogs were created about a subject. It also shows what subject was interesting to the class and what ones weren't as interesting. 

The one blog that I did enjoy was the cool pose subject that we talked about in class. That's also the topic that I'm covering in the group project. Seeing the differences in the way people dressed and acted back in the 90s to where we are today is very interesting. Following a group like the Fab 5 and how they were able to become a cultural icon.

Overall this has been one of my favorite classes over this semester because of the differences it had with my other classes. Dr. Spencer fueled discussion and wanted to know what we thought on the subject, which is just as important as what she was teaching us. 

Conclussion- Kody Burlingame

Sport and gender was a class that I found interesting and informational. I learned a lot about the many situations that involve sport and gender. I enjoyed the class because it was different then any other class that I have had before in BG. I like how there was a lot of discussion instead of Dr. Spencer talking for the whole period. That made it so the students would participate and give their own opinion about the different topics for the day.

What really sparked my interest in the class was talking about the "cool pose". I enjoyed this topic because it involved my favorite basketball player of all time, Allen Iverson. I found it interesting that he was a major influence on the cool pose because of his style of play, his tattoos, cornrows, baggy pants, flat bill hats, and jewelry. To know that his style compared to everyone else's is unique and different is one of the reasons why I enjoyed watching him play.

I also enjoyed learning more about Michael Jordan and the impacts he has had on the sports world. It was interesting how we not only discussed what impacts he has had, but also how he is seen be others and that he always has to have a certain classiness to him. In my opinion Jordan is by far the best NBA player to ever play and I don't see anyone overcoming him. Having discussions about Michael Jordan is always fun to me and I like hearing what other people have to say about him.

This class is the first class that I have had to do blogs for. It made me really think about the topics and voice my opinion about them, which I have never really done before. I like how the blogs were opinionated and that I could write whatever was on my mind about the topics. I liked how I could comment on two blogs for points. I am not a fan on the journals and sometimes I do not know what to write about with blogs, so it was easier for me to comment on other peoples blogs. The class was energetic and talkative which made it fun. I enjoyed listening to how people felt about certain topics. I am more of a listener so I never really spoke out, but I am a listener so I enjoyed listening to other people talk. Overall, I think this class was interesting and fun, and I only hope that my other classes match up to this one.

Ryan Hetrick- Conclusion

During the Sport and Gender class I have learned so much more about different aspects of race, gender, equality, and persons with disabilities in sports. The best thing about this class was the freedom to speak and the amount of good discussion input given by everyone in the class. The most interesting discussion, to me, was the LeBron James discussion about the decision, because it is the topic I am most familiar with being a Cavs fans.

The blogging/journaling aspect of the class was also enjoyable to me. It gave students the freedom to continue discussions outside of class and on a more comfortable basis, where disagreements weren't fought over, but discussed. My favorite blog to write about was the typical body in athletics where I compared UFC fighters bodies to their skill levels.

The group project was a good project as well because the amount of freedom it gave us and I think everyone's presentations were very well done and seemed like everyone really knew their information.

I think this class has changed my judgments and has definitely caused me to think critically about issues in sports whenever they arise on ESPN. I would absolutely recommend this class and Dr. Spencer and Kara have both done a great job all semester.

Brett Creamer Conclusion

While taking this Sport and Gender class I was able to learn about the similarities and differences between gender and sports.  In this class I was able to participate in class and always able to talk whenever I wanted to. In past classes I didn’t talk as much, but since this class was so open I was able to talk whenever I wanted to, which was nice. I would rank this class in my top five for my college career, and I would say that comes from the open discussions, the articles, and writing weekly blogs and comments. The online blogs brought a new mindset to the class, because it enabled me to take what I learned in class and make me think and form my own opinion into my own words and what I personally felt.

I really enjoyed our class discussions about equality, because that was something I was born into and firmly believe. When talking about this in class, I felt it was important to mention to say, “treat others how you would want to be treated”, and realize that everyone is the same. I felt like by commenting on transsexual blogs, and people that come from a different background blog that I was able to still portray this message and still get the point across. Although in class discussions could get somewhat heated when people disagree I think that it’s important to remain level headed and respect the other persons point of view, and remember that where they came from is different then how you were raised. The research presentation was another reason why I enjoyed this class, I got to research about a sport I love (basketball) and compare the two professional leagues (WNBA, NBA) and see the differences between the two, and try and find input on how I think they could both improve. All in all I really enjoyed this class, because we could find a sense of humor in a tough conversation. I think I remained open minded, and also helped people around me and in the class remain open minded and respect others and their point of view.

Brett Creamer 

Conclusion - Ollie Goss

I thought this class was very interesting and educational compared to any other classes I've taken at BG. This class was made enjoyable because of the discussions that were debated in class such as if we still hated LeBron or was Serena's "crip" walk offensive. During this semester, I learned all the benefits for women that Title IX produced and how that law has boosted women's sports in the U.S. to the best in the world. We learned this when we talked about the olympics and how the women won the United States the medal count and most golds.
I also learned that Billy Jean King was one of the most important figures in advancing the equality of women's sports in America. I had never heard of her match with Bobby Riggs and didn't know the massive impact her victory in that match had on the sporting world. I also learned about how difficult of a time transgender athletes have had attempting to compete in sports.
I found the entire sections on Title IX and budgeting useful because I would like to become an athletic director upon graduation of college and being knowledgable of the budgeting processes and dilemmas will help me in the future. I thought the athletic budgeting we completed in our groups was a great simulation of how hard it is to be a collegiate athletic director.
A few of the articles I found interesting were the ones on "cool pose", athletes the pros would pay to see, and sister act VI. I thought the "cool pose" article was interesting because it showed how the NBA gained culture from the hip hop environment and a sense of swagger to NBA superstars. The prime example of cool pose was Allen Iverson and how he dressed like rap artists. Another article I thought was interesting was "Who the pros would pay to see". The article was a little outdated but I still thought it was interesting how the female athlete everyone wanted to see was Serena Williams, but not for her amazing tennis game, but because of her sex appeal. It was also interesting to see how many athletes would pay to be Tiger Woods' caddy. I also thought the Sister Act VI article was interesting because I had never heard of the incident that occurred at Indian Wells and was shocked that tennis fans would do that. I could see fans from Philadelphia or New York do that, but tennis fans who are supposed to be proper and more courteous yelling racial slurs is unheard of.
Keeping a blog helped me write about discussions in class as well as provide more information on current events that dealt with the controversial issues debated in class. The blogs provided a way to expand on some of the discussions talked about in class and really functioned as an educational tool.
Presentations about figures in tennis or basketball were more interesting to me than our presentation about hockey because I'm not really a hockey fan. I am a pretty big tennis and basketball fans and watch the sports whenever they're on tv. I rarely watch hockey and when I do, I watch during the playoffs so I wasn't too interested in the presentation on Sydney Crosby.
As I previously stated, some of the activities that I will take from this class was the budgeting activity during the athletic director simulation as well as the unit of Title IX. Being in compliance with Title IX is a necessity the school I work at.

Conclusion- Jeff Hardin

For my final blog for this semester I'm going to take the time to reflect on the class and what my overall thoughts about the class were. From day 1 this has been my favorite class this semester I have enjoyed everything we have done in this class all of the assignments and readings we have done for this class has been interesting to me. Dr. Spencer is a great professor and I have enjoyed being in this class this semester; the one thing I would say I have really enjoyed is the class discussions. All of the discussions we had about cool pose, NBA and the WNBA, Michael Jordan, Lebron, and countless other things we discussed in class. My favorite two favorite discussions we had were about Michael Jordan and about Magic Johnson's announcement that he had HIV; the discusssion we had about Magic Johnson really touched me and it affected me because we are living in a day and age where HIV/AIDS is killing alot people and almost everyday somebody is being diagnosed with the deadly disease or it is affecting someone we know. Also I enjoyed working the group work we had as well, I think the group work brought more discussion to the class and we were able to reflect on what we had done in the groups to the whole class. Overall this has been my favorite class this semester if this class had another class that went with it I would definitely take it and if Dr. Spencer taught another class I would take it as well, I would recommend this class to anybody not just in Sport Management but in any major. I had alot of fun in this class this semester and it was a pleasure being in this class.

Conclusion- Jacob Beverly

I enjoyed taking this class and learning about all the different aspects of sport and gender. This was one of the best classes I have taken regarding interesting topics and class discussion. Every day seemed like a great class discussion and it was cool to hear everyone's opinion on our topics. It made coming to class entertaining to say the least. Some things I've learned in the class is how society tries to put a title to everything and judges everyone, especially when it comes to gender and how people are perceived in sport. It has been very interesting and eye opening to see the deeper aspects of sport and gender that we have discussed throughout the semester.

I think keeping a blog helped me express my opinions on certain topics and allowed me to see everyone else's opinions as well. I think it made for additional great discussion that extended from our class discussions. Keeping the blog made me think of how I really stood on certain subjects, sometimes I find myself just listening and not really thinking of where I stand, but when I have to write about it, it makes me think of how I feel and what my views are.

I will take the views of society and the deeper definitions of sport and gender throughout my life and I think it will help me in a journalism career. It will allow me to write better stories and let the audience know the real details that they would not normally realize or think about.

Conclusion

            Sport and gender was a lot more interesting than I expected it to be, I credit Dr. Spencer for this. Whether it be her biased tennis opinions or her lack of knowledge on new trends she always knew how to get the class to laugh, which we did quite often. We talked about many things throughout the semester and a few of them stick out to be the most interesting to me.

I really enjoyed talking about Michael Jordan because I had no idea there was so many things that surrounded him. I knew he was the greatest basketball player to play the game but all the other small things that he had to constantly deal with like the media, sponsors and endorsers. I really had not known much about Jordan coming into the class so it was really interesting to see how well he was able to cope and grow as person as well as an athlete. I probably would have never went and watched the 30 for 30 without discussing it in the class.

Another topic that I enjoyed learning about was the transgender athletes. I really had no idea that there were athletes that actually were transgendered, I just figured there were only a few who were. It was good for me to learn that it is more common than I realized and that way I will be educated on the subject if I ever come across it in life. With cases like Renee and Kye I was able to understand their mindset and see how I could act to make them feel more comfortable wherever they may be.

The argument that I enjoyed debating was the discussion of women athletes with higher level of testosterone. Since it is a tough topic to decide what is ethically and morally the right decision, it made for good opinions from the rest of the classmates. It is incredible to see the body shapes and muscle tone affiliated with the higher testosterone levels and the tolls that it takes on the women athletes. Even though they may be able to dominate the competition, their social lives are a cost for that success.

This is also the first class that I have had to do a blog for and I have to say I liked it. Not only does it help the class further learn and research about the topics that are mentioned in class it helps remember them as well. It is fun to debate with the classmates and see how strongly they feel on subjects. I like the point system where you are able to comment or blog that way the blogs actually get some discussion on them. The class itself was one of the most talkative ones I have been in which made it really fun. There was always at least one topic each class that would get the class talking. Also I would like to mention it was nice having Kara that actually talked and gave input to class, none of the previous TA’s I’ve had did that. This was one of the best classes I have taken at BGSU because it taught me things that I won’t forget once we get back from break.

By: RJ Hefflinger

Conclusion

I thought this class was one of the most interesting class I have taken.  The class environment made the class be more aware and open to discussions. We as a class always had discussion, no matter what the topic was that day, and I personally enjoyed coming to class just to see what the class would "fight" over.  I learned out in this class that I would of not have thought about happening in today's society. I had a few topics that I thought were my favorites throughout the semester.  Girls playing in boy's sports and boys playing in girl's sport was one of them because I have never heard a successful attempt to play in a gender oriented sport before. I give them credit for loving the sport enough to endure what comes along with playing in an opposite gender sport like football or field hockey.  Every topic we covered allowed me personally, to think about how I would handle a situation like this if I had to. The class gave me the opportunity to open my opinions on certain topic and issues that I would say I was one sided on.

I enjoyed doing the blogs throughout the semester. The blogs gave the class the opportunity to express their opinions on topics we discussed and allowed the class to interact outside the classroom. I thought the ability to comment and discuss through the blogs was great way to see how others in the class thought about a certain topic; since some did not talk in discuss while in the classroom. I would have to say I would take this class again based solely on discussions we had in class.

--Jenny Kelley

Conclusion

I never really had an idea of how important of a role gender has in sports until I took this class. I thought we were mostly going to cover the differences in male and female sports, but we went way deeper than that. We discussed how male and female athletes play differently, are treated differently, and are looked at differently. We also did a lot of comparison between the sexes, and we discussed gender role and masculinity/femininity. Along with these topics, we had discussion about things that weren't as directly related to sport and gender, but still appropriate for the class. The thing I found most useful in this class was the freedom to speak. Coming from a community college, I never had a class that relied that heavily on class discussion, and I absolutely loved it. I also loved the blog/journal assignment. I thought this was a great way to keep the class connected throughout the week, and it opened my eyes to see how not one student thinks alike. Reading all the different viewpoints will definitely help me in the future. Although the majority of topics were very interesting, my favorite had to be Michael Jordan. Growing up in Chicago I was certain to be a fan, but I never knew he had that much of an impact on the game and everything surrounding it. My respect and like for him went to a new level after learning that. Again seeing how people think differently will definitely help me in the future, but so will learning about all the differences/similarities between male and female athletes.   

-Michael Discipio

Conclusion- Derek Zyski

Like most of the others have said, this has been my favorite class of the semester as well; if not my favorite that I’ve taken throughout my time in college.  Coming to class didn’t feel like a chore like most classes that I have taken; mainly because the discussions usually lead to some good points or good one liner jokes.  It was a nice change of pace to be in a class that actually had discussion and wasn’t just a bunch of students biting their tongues because they were afraid of speaking up.  Discussion also led to learning something new about the subject that we would be talking about on that given day that the article or the slides may not have included.  With all of us in the class being from different areas of the country, it gave a more wide variety of views on different topics and was cool to hear.

The blogging aspect of the class was also something that was enjoyable.  It’s something that I have never had to do for any other class and is a good tool to let people voice their opinions on a topic that may not have got enough coverage during class time.  Even if someone didn’t write a blog post each week, it was still good to be able to voice an opinion via comments.

As far as favorite part of the class; I can’t pick just one article or topic, so I will just say that the atmosphere in the class room is the best part.  We all seem to have a good time, and as I said earlier in the blog we can crack jokes and enjoy ourselves. (Holley Mangold would be one case, Thanks for that Josiah) 

So after all of that; it has been a good time, and I have honestly enjoyed class with all of you.

-Derek Zyski

Conclusion- Jenn Zoellick

As a whole, I really enjoyed this class. This class had some of the best group discussions that i've ever had in a class. I think it really helps make the class more interesting. I also think the discussions helped me get more out of the class. I learned a lot more than I would have just staring at a powerpoint for an hour. I think the group work was good because it brought several thoughts and opinions to the assignment and helped give it more depth. I liked my group and we all got along and we all did great with the group blog entries. I liked all of the in class discussions but some of my favorites were the Serena Williams crip walk, and boys in girls sports and girls in boy sports. I learned a lot about inequality in coverage for Women's sports and the struggles that transgender and intersex athletes face, both topics that I knew very little about prior to this class. Overall I learned a lot from this class and I really enjoyed the topics and discussions.

I liked doing the blog because it allowed class discussions to continue outside of the classroom. It was nice to read everyone else's opinion and offer my own for discussion as well. I liked that we received points for commenting, because it encouraged more people to comment and allowed for more discussion throughout the blog. I think the blog is a great idea and a simple way to earn points.

Jenn Zoellick

Conclusion - Derek Brewer

This class was very interesting throughout the semester. It generated a lot of discussion on a wide range of topics. I enjoyed the discussion for a couple of reasons. First, the discussions kept class entertaining. In a lot of classes here at Bowling Green the professor just lectures during the whole class, and when they often try to get a discussion going it fails. In this class the issues that were discussed were somewhat controversial, which led to many varying opinions on the topics. Second, students were encouraged to share their opinions, and no ones opinion was ever attacked. It was good to see that everyone's opinions were respected because in the real world that is often not the case. My favorite article was the favorite athlete article. It was very interesting to see how much professional athletes would pay to see other professional athletes. It was also interesting because you could kind of infer that just because an athlete plays a certain sport, does not mean that it is their favorite sport. Growing up my favorite sport was baseball, and it was also the sport I was the best at.

I think the blog was a great tool used in the class. It generated discussion on some things not covered much in class, and it also allowed students to expand on issues discussed in class. I often wrote comments instead of blogs because I could see someone's opinion and their thought process behind it. Then I could give my opinion related to the topic and how it compared to the person who wrote the initial blog. The grading for the blogs could have been kept up with better, but overall the blogs were a great tool to use in this course.

-Derek Brewer

Conclusion - Turea Moore

This class was honestly my favorite one this whole semester, I actually enjoyed coming to class and I felt like I learned something new every class that we had.  This was a class that I had to take for a Sport Management requirement at first, but honestly, I would take this class over again if I just needed some extra courses to add.  One of my favorite discussions during class was about LeBron James, but that is no surprise, I love when he is being talked about! Outside of that, my favorite topic/subject that was discussed was the Holly Mangold story as well.  That had to be one of the most motivating stories I have ever heard because in today's society, people who are her weight, they aren't happy about it or with themselves, and more than likely they aren't active in sports either.  I just loved how Holly was so optimistic about everything and how she loved herself for who she was, she embraces her weight, and its not an issue to her, there has to be more people in today's society who thinks like that.

Lastly, something that I had actually learned that I knew nothing about before this class was the Athletic Arms Race between schools.  I never knew there was an actually name for wanting to compete with other schools to see who has the best arenas, fields, recruiting and more.  It was also interesting to find out that BG was doing a good job with that within our conference as well.

I'm glad that I had the opportunity to take this class.

Conclusion

This class is now the third I have taken with Dr. Spencer, and the reason I keep coming back is to be engaged in learning. Not just out of a book, article, or lecture- but mainly from the sharing of ideas, information, and debating about all of the things brought forth. This type of course is great to partake in because of the things you learn from your classmates and things you may have not known about yourself.

I especially enjoyed discussing the ideals about male and female athletes when it comes to looks and personality. Hollie Mangold is such an inspiration for her outspoken, and larger than life personality. She is such a great role model and deserves a lot of credit for her positive influence on young female athletes, and also all athletes in general.

Again, I really appreciate the opportunity to step outside of the normal college classroom and voice my opinion openly and hear others do the same. The topics we covered kept it interesting and engaging. Blogging and journaling is another to voice an opinion and thought. Some work on keep better schedule and track of posts and comments would definitely help.

Stephanie Loomis

Conclusion-Gene Csakany

Honestly, I had some of the most fun I’ve had in a class at college so far, in this very class. I love debating topics, mostly because I’m very opinionated, so the fact that the forum on every subject is always wide open, it makes for a great discussion.  I would not say I “learned” anything new in the sense of facts and figures, but more so, I was opened up too much deeper discussion of tons of new topics.  I loved how everyone was able to voice their different opinions and just keep discussions going.  Most of the time this type of debate has people more a less attacking each other’s opinion, but in this case everyone just stood their ground on their point of view and let it be known, but then moved on.  Many of the reading were very interesting to me so it is hard to pinpoint just one.  I feel as though most, if not all, of the readings sparked great debate and that was really what I enjoyed the most as I said. 

 Keeping a blog was very interesting.  I feel as though we should have had free reign on any topics we wanted to blog about in relation to anything we covered it the class, but we needed to follow what we talked about or what we related to things from the last set of classes.  Also, the freedom of the final presentations was also fun.  I feel as though it may have helped to have a type of template, but all in all, the last presentation was very interesting to research and present to the class as a new topic.  I think the power of debate and opening your mind is what I will take from this class for my professional career.  I think that is what will be most useful to my life, opening my mind and being able to listen to what others have to say and not just forcing your opinion on them. 

Conclusion - Josiah Blevins

Overall I found this class to be very enjoyable.  My favorite part about the class was the discussion, in some classes no one talks so the discussion lacks.  But in this class I learned a lot on many different topics because of the discussion.  Two of the main things I will take away is everything on multi gender athletes.  Before the class I knew some information on the topic but this class has shown that things are not as easy as black and white.  Another thing that was interesting was the cool pose and the effect it had on sports.  One of the favorite topics we discussed in class was LeBron James and The Decision.  Not being from Ohio it shed some light on the whole subject matter.  It did not change my opinion on him or anything but it was nice to see different viewpoints.  The Special Olympics was another topic I liked.  The presentations at the end gave me more information on these remarkable athletes.  Presentations as a whole were neat because it gave more information on certain topics we did not discuss in great detail in the class.  To see how much attention the regular Olympics gets compared to the Special Olympics is mind blowing. 

The article on which athlete you would pay to see was my favorite article.  It was intriguing to see what athletes other athletes would pay to see.  It also showed how certain athletes wished they could have been good at another sport.  Doing a blog it made me more aware of certain issues or viewpoints.  I did not want to offend anyone so you had to pick your words very carefully sometimes.  The blog I believed was a good choose for me because it let me see many different viewpoints from the class other than just mine.  The job I want to have after I graduate is becoming a high school athlete director.  This course will help if I come into certain situations with budgeting because we had a homework assignment that dealt with that.  It will also help with handling different issues like females in sports or disabilities in sport.  In the end I found this class very enjoyable and learned a lot.

Josiah Blevins

The Conclusion -Tim Love

This class has been very exciting to say the least.  I have learned so much in this class and a lot from other people.  We probably had the most in depth discussions that I've ever been apart of. At least once a week we would get sidetracked by our class discussions and they would take up the whole period.  I found this to be my favorite part of the class.  I liked how we all could relate things to other things.  I also liked that we got to give Dr.Spencer more knowledge on how some things are today.  I felt like we got to teach her as she taught us.

One of the most interesting topics we talked about in class was homosexuality in sport.  I found this topic very interesting, especially when we talked about the two homosexual football players.  In all, I still believe that you won't see many pro athletes coming out and tell people that they're homosexual while their still playing the sport.  It would cause so much controversy and other things that at the end of the day may affect their play.  So I think that the ones that do come out, will do so after their careers are over.

In conclusion, this was one of my favorite classes of the semester, and since I've been here.  The discussions that we had drove the class and made everyone feel engaged.  I have gained a better understanding of gender in sport through this class, and hope others have as well.

The "Other" Olympics- Gene Csakany

I’m going to write my blog entry on one of the presentations we heard in class last week.  Both of them were very informative and interesting, but the one about the handicapped Olympics really stood out.  We spoke about sports and athletic “fairness” and how it relates to males and females.  We also briefly did touch on handicapped athletes this semester, but we rarely spoke on how unfair what they go through is.  When thinking about women’s or men's professional sports there is obviously a disparity in viewership, publicity, marketing and revenue.  But that gap is widened when speaking about any sport that has a handicapped athlete, especially the Olympics.  When speaking on the Olympics, there are obviously some sports that get more publicity than others, but that is just mostly based on popularity of the sport itself, rarely just based on gender.  When the Olympics come around, people more or less have a sense of national pride and watch most of the events at least once regardless of gender.  For example, the women’s swimming team and soccer team were just as popular, if not more popular in this past summer Olympics than their male counterparts.  Once we talk about any events in the handicapped Olympics, it basically becomes irrelevant to us.  But when asked the question do we support it, or do we think it’s truly amazing that handicapped individuals are given the chance to compete, we all say yes.  Clearly that is not the case because how many of us could really say we knew about the “other” Olympics occurring this summer?  How many could say they would have shown the national pride, and support those competing for America?  The revenue, ticket sale, sponsorships and publicity are simply not readily present in the Handicapped Olympics; so when talking about the disparity amongst race, or gender, I think we need to think about how difficult it is simply to try to compete while being handicapped.