Fear of the Gay Athlete- Gene Csakany

During most of last week we spoke about gay athletes, more specifically, gay professional athletes, or lack thereof.  This is even more evident in male sports, and that’s what’s most interesting because in female athletics today, it is not that big of a deal if a female comes out, but if a male comes out, all hell breaks loose.  This is mostly because of the degree of masculinity associated with male sports.  People want to be referred to as a, “beast”, “animal” or “warrior”, but no male in sports wants to be affiliated with the negative connotation associated with being gay.  Being gay in sports has been associated basically with a disease.  As terrible as that sounds, it is one hundred percent true, especially in the locker room setting.  All men who have been involved with athletics knows what is said and talked about in the male locker room, and to throw someone who is gay into that situation just would not work out.  This is why many athletes that are gay, come out after their playing careers.  They will be isolated to themselves, or quarantined as if gay was truly a disease.  Many popular athletes have said that they do not think it would be a big deal and they would not treat them differently if they came out.  That is what you are “suppose” to say, not many people really know exactly what they would do because it honestly has not happen, and if it has it has been covered up very well.  It goes to show that while race and gender in sports may be breaching the gap between being separated or causing a problem; but being gay still has not been understood and accepted in athletics, more specifically male athletics. 

Fear of the Gay Athlete- Gene Csakany

The Announcement- Jeff Hardin

On November 7th, 1991 the sports world would forever be changed by a future NBA legend, a press conference, and three words: HIV. Magic Johnson was the point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers and beloved by so many people around the country, he was a very popular figure in sports at the time and one of the top players in the NBA. He won five NBA titles, NBA Finals MVP three times, and league MVP three times. Magic Johnson had a successful career up until the 7th of November when his career would forever be changed, on the November 7th, 1991 Magic Johnson held a press conference and made an announcement that shocked many people, Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV positive and that he would be retiring from the NBA immediately. Many people were shocked and heart broken at the fact that one of the most popular athletes in the world had a disease that he would probably die from; a lot of people wanted to know where and how did he get it and later on after the press conference he said that he had slept with a lot of different women while on the road for basketball games and that he never used any protection. At the time HIV/AIDS was looked at as the gay man's disease that only gay people could get it, or people who shared needles could get it but people were wrong. Magic explained to many people that anybody can get this disease that it doesn't matter if you are gay or straight or whatever, there aren't any exceptions to this disease. Magic Johnson begin to promote aids awareness and speak to people about the disease and discuss ways to prevent you from catching the disease; Magic Johnson would not let this disease hold him back. During the time of NBA All-Star game Magic Johnson came back to play in which would be regarded as one of his greatest games and led the western conference to a victory and was the game's MVP. Soon afterwards he would become apart of which many consider to be the greatest basketball team in the history of the sport the "Dream Team" this Olympic basketball team consisted of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, and Clyde Drexler. With the unbelievable team they would dominate every team in the Olympics that year and take home gold medals. Magic Johnson came back to the NBA and played one last season and would retire for good in 1996. Magic Johnson had an amazing career filled with triumphs and tribulations and he was able to overcome the backlash he got from his announcement that he was HIV positive and have an amazing career and accomplish so much during his time in the NBA. He was one of the greatest players to ever play in the NBA but more importantly he was a role model to so many that showed that no matter what happens in your life or obstacles you may face you can overcome them and live your dreams just like he did his.

The Ideal Fighter

By: Ryan Hetrick

In the UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, to those who don't know, is an extremely physical and obviously combative sport. The interesting thing to me when talking about the UFC is the greatest fighters of all time and even champions in the UFC currently. The statement can be made for the UFC as being a "soft-muscled" sport. Although many fighters are in prime physical condition, it is not needed to be considered a great fighter. In the first picture below is Fedor Emelianenko. He is considered by most websites, fans, and even President of the UFC, Dana White, to be the greatest heavyweight fighter of all time. With a record of 34-4, going undefeated over the cross of ten years, a case can be made for Fedor as the greatest fighter to ever live. For most of his career he was in good physical condition, but he is obviously not an apparent muscular guy. 

In the next picture below is current Middleweight champion of the world, Anderson Silva. Anderson Silva is considered by most to be the greatest fighter in UFC history and many people would go farther than that and dub him as the greatest fighter ever to live. He does have some more tone than Fedor, but if you saw him at a beach, one would not think of him as one of the greatest fighters ever. 

Now below, is Brock Lesnar whom most people know from his pro wrestling career. He had a brief stint in the UFC but was cut down by injuries and his inabilities to recover from a punch. He is in the same weightclass as Fedor, but is not consider to be even a top five heavyweight ever.

Rousimar Palhares is my muscular example from the middleweight division. While he is known for his physical strength and bone crushing submissions, he has never been able to enter the top ten rankings of fighters in his weightclass. 

As you can as see, in the UFC, the muscular build of a fighter does not determine skill level. The UFC in my opinion, can very easily be considered as a soft muscled sport because of the lack of physically intimidating champions/legends of the sport. 

Group Review: Advertisements in Men vs. Women's fitness magazines

Terrance, Tim, Turea, Sparkle & Stephanie

In comparing muscle to fitness magazines, there were some similarities but a large amount of differences between the advertising in men's and women's magazines. With separate target markets, ads appeal to their associated male or female user, specifically with categorized schemes.

In the Men's Fitness magazine we found that most advertisements were aimed at meeting the needs of body technologies, and only a few found adornments of the body advertised. Within the Shape, women's magazine the number of ads in total were much higher to the men's magazine and conversely targeted adornment of the body and also other marketing ploys not found in men's magazine advertising.

Multiple specific schemes found in the Men's Fitness magazine included a campaign placing the reader as inferior, marketing a supplement for success. The camera angles up towards the model, making the reader see him as an authority figure. With a look of intensity on his face he exudes aggression and dominance (relative to the use of the marketed product). An opposing marketing strategy was typical of the women's magazine by placing the reader on a more even camera angle as the models, yet still somewhat inferior and with more of a promise toward "sexy" transformation. Seeking a desired look, and finding it through programs, products, or lifestyles was an eager advertising ploy in the women's magazine.

One aspect that was found in the men's magazine and not seen at all in the women's was the ideal of hegemonic masculinity. This works with a different type of marketing tool, by emphasizing masculinity and dominance. The ad we found showed a product that is a "must use" to look good, be fit, and attract the opposite sex. The man displayed in the ad stood with confidence and his physique lead consumers to believe the product increased his social stature as well.

We also noted that some ads in the women's magazines had little or no merit when it came to fitness or health. Such as travel destinations, car ads, or even advertised airlines. These lend us belief that feminine and masculine traditional roles are still seen in advertisement, even when it doesn't necessarily relate to the context of the overall magazine.

Comparing Two Teams - Wes Gates

Last week in class we talked about the difference between men's and women's ice hockey and events that went along with each sport.  First off let me say that the Summit Series of 1978 was more important to hockey than the USA winning a gold medal in 1980.  The summit series featured the Soviet national team against team Canada.  This was important because the two countries both claimed to have the best hockey in the world and essentially the series settled it.  Though there was a lot of controversy involved, team Canada won and probably shaped hockey into how it is today.

The discussion was also brought up about the Canadian women's national team winning a gold medal and being shunned for celebrating on the ice in an empty arena.  I personally believe this is mostly about gender and not the events that occurred.  In 2011 Russia won the World Junior Championship, arguably one of the biggest hockey events annually.  The event took place in the United States and Russia emerged victorious over Canada.  Scheduled to depart for home the next day, the entire team was booted from their airplane for unruly behavior.  The team had been out all night prior celebrating and were still under the influence.  The following link goes into more detail about the events occured.  Players had to be carried into the airport, honking the bus horn, struggling to get out of the bus, among other things.  The coaches and trainers went onto the ice an hour and a half after the game to drink crown royal and pose for pictures.  The team went to a local bar after the game and was also drinking there.  It is pretty crazy they also decided to wear their jerseys.  Someone at the bar snapped some footage.

The kicker about this incident is that no player on the team was over the age of 20.  It sounds errily similar to the Canadian women's national team celebrating but the Russian story barely hit the news.  If this instance isn't an example of gender playing a major role in today's society, I don't know what is.  I strongly suggest you check out the article as it is entertaining and even jaw-dropping at times.  The event was so similar to what we discussed in class but chances are many of you haven't heard about it.  Do you think gender played a role in this story being less popular than the Canadian women's?

Maintaining Feminity For Female Athletes -Gene Csakany

I thought our discussions in last Tuesday and Thursday’s classes were very interesting.  We briefly started to talk about hockey and the “Lebron James” of the NHL, in Sidney Crosby.  We touched on the fact that like Lebron, Crosby is regarded as the best player in his sport, but many people do not like him and attach many negative characteristics with him personally as well as his playing ability.  But this still was not the most interesting part of the discussion when we talked about hockey.  The Canadian Women’s hockey team won gold at the 2010 Olympics and celebrated in a very interesting way.  They proceeded to drink beer and smoke cigars on the ice, and it was said it was a big deal only because of the fact that supposedly an underage team member was seen drinking alcohol.  That clearly was not the problem.  In our society women are basically required to maintain a certain level of femininity to be seen as a female athlete.  If the men’s team won gold and celebrated like this, it most likely would not be a big deal because men are typically stereotyped with drinking beer and smoking cigars.  Women are “suppose” to be classy and not partake in that type of celebration even though their team victory was clearly something to celebrate.  We then went into further detail on Thursday’s class and while in groups we concluded that many females feel the need to wear “skimpy” clothing in magazines or show more skin in general in order to maintain that feminine persona and not be given a negative connotation for being a female athlete.  Unless it is illegal, not many people give male athletes the same negative connotations for anything they do on or off the playing field.  Men are supposed to play sports in our society and be “manly” and tough.  But it is interesting that when women play, they have to fight obstacles of femininity just because of outsider perception.