Women's Basketball Fake Story

Just a brief return with an interesting link I found.  The below article came from the The Onion, a satirical news website.  It is basically making fun of the UConn Women's Basketball team and insinuating several things.  First, by having the UConn team complain about losing to another women's team, they are insinuating that the UConn women are actually men.  Second, by being disgusted about losing to a women's team, they are also making the statement that women's basketball is far below men's basketball.  And finally, the last statement says that the team found solace in the fact that the UConn Men's Basketball team would have lost to Notre Dame as well.  This statement is meant to convey that the men's team is so terrible that they could lose to a women's team.

http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/uconn-women-disgusted-they-lost-to-womens-basketba,19957/

Anthony's Blog Conclusion

Alright, I know that the end of the semester is not until the first week of May.  But I have maxed out on the number of blogs and comments I can make, so why sit around for a month waiting to put up my conclusion?  I would rather get it finished so I can focus on my Olympic Bid project with both eyes.  I will keep reading the articles and if one pops up that I can’t keep from commenting on, perhaps my blog will come out of retirement.  If two or three perk my interest, well, then it will be the Favre of blogs.

I really enjoyed keeping a blog of the readings this semester.  Probably unlike most, I prefer some structure in my assignments that keeps me focused on the tasks I need to accomplish.  It has definitely helped keep me up to date on the readings each week.  One of the other things I liked and that I learned from was viewing other’s blogs.  It gave me the perspective others held on the papers and topics and helped me shape my own opinion of how sport and society are reflections of each other.  While this may go all the way back to the beginning, I particularly liked reading everyone’s Introduction blog.  Some of the people in class I have known for a while and I still learned new things about them.  Others I had no idea who they were and it helped me get to know who they are and where they are coming from.  I am a big believe that our past experiences help shape who we are and how we view the world, so in a way it let me know the “audience” that is our Sport and Society class.

I don’t know that blogging actually forced me to think differently about certain topics.  I tried hard to be honest about what I felt in each of my posts.  I think too often we are afraid to say what we really feel and think, which severely limits an academic discussion.  So rather than changing how it forced me to think differently, I would say that it allowed me to express myself differently and honestly.  Speaking up in a class when your viewpoint is different or unique is sometime an intimidating prospect, especially from a generation more accustom to texting or “facebooking” someone.

My personal favorite article so far this semester have been the 1998 “A Twist of Race: Ben Johnson and the Canadian Crisis of Racial and National Identity” from Steven J. Jackson.  I think I am guilty as many Americans are of overlooking Canada.  It also highlighted the racial issues in another country that I think most would consider fairly progressive and liberal.  I have too often only examined racism from the American perspective and the history I have been presented of racism paints it as one that was created in America and not shown it as an issue with global implications.

I am not sure where I will end up in my career, but I do believe that I will be able to use the lessons in this class to ensure that I view my work and world with a more enlightened view of sociological issues.  Diversity will be a major part of the world for the foreseeable future, especially in America.  As globalization continues, we are increasingly interacting with those who we would label as “others” in a less enlightened light.  Rather than thinking of those outside of my imagined communities as “others”, I hope to use my knowledge to consider them all fellow human beings.

"Packaging the Games" Reading

Andrew C. Billings and James R. Angelini’s 2007 “Packaging the Games for Viewer Consumption: Gender, Ethnicity, and Nationality in NBC’s Coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics” is an interesting article that explains exactly what is in the title.  Billings and Angelini (2007) examines the presentation of the 2004 Athens Games through the lens of gender, ethnicity, and nationality.  The results are probably not really surprising to those of us who have had many discussions on gender, ethnicity, and nationality in sport.  White American males are those most covered during the Olympics, at least in the top 20 athletes mentioned and for the most part, all over the entire coverage (Billings & Angelini, 2007).

                While the overall results may not be surprising, one thing did catch my attention.  Men and women received roughly the same amount of coverage during the Games, yet the majority of the most mentioned athletes were male (Billings & Angelini, 2007).  I found this interesting because the gender coverage seems to be scripted to provide equality and fairness.  In fact, this is mostly confirmed in the article, when the authors state that “They also found that the host of the Olympics (predominantly Bob Costas) generally fared better than on-site reports in achieving gender fairness – perhaps a function of increased host scripting” (Billings & Angelini, 2007, p. 98).

                This states to me that the either for their own reasons or for gender equality, the Olympics is being scripted to be more fair in terms of gender coverage.  However, the reporters on the ground who are less scripted are still having a difficult time being fair in their coverage.  While I do not know the background of the reporters, I am going to guess that these sports are not always their forte.  They may not know the sports they are reporting on as well and rather than learning the obscure names of athletes they may never see again, they focus on the few that stand out.  This allows us to notice the gender inequality that still exists but is hidden and more difficult to get at.  It is likely the same for ethnicity and nationality, though I feel the nationality issue in the Olympics is much more open and blatantly obvious reasons.  While issues like sexism and racism are more difficult to easily see in a society that is becoming more successful at hiding them, they still exist and instances such as this article help us to notice what we may often overlook.

"Global Games" reading/rant

Alright, I am going to do it.  I am going to let my own values and opinions trump my common sense and spend my entire blog entry complaining about a single paragraph in John Nauright's "Global Games: Culture, Political Economy, and Sport in the Globalised World of the 21st Century".

So what paragraph am I going to complain about that I took personally?  If you read my introduction, you might be able to guess.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or a Mormon for those who prefer to shorten things up a little bit).  On page 1328 of his article, Nauright blasts the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics of 2002 for focusing on Mormons in their presentation of local culture, stating "The focus of broadcasters and image makers upon the Mormon history and identity of the city and the state of Utah was misrepresentative" (Nauright, 2004, p. 1328).

Nauright's complaint is that Salt Lake City and Utah are only partly made up of LDS members, that there are other cultures in Utah.  I have several issues with Nauright claim that focusing on LDS was a poor choice.  First, while Nauright says the focus was on the LDS church, he does not say that the entire presentation of Salt Lake City's culture was here.  I find it hard to believe that any presentation as large as the Olympics could focus on a single aspect of the culture of a city and land.  Certainly some of the focus must have been on the overall American culture.  However, I have not recently seen the presentation, so I can concede this argument.

So for the sake of things, let’s say that 75% of the presentation on local culture was focused on Mormons and the Church.  Is that a terrible thing?  Mormons make up 58% of Utah according to the February 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, a report produced by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.  Doesn't it make sense that the majority of the presentation on local culture would focus on the majority, specifically because it is so different from other locations throughout the world?  How much do most of you really know about Mormons?  And I am not talking about the common jokes about polygamy, which has been banned by the church since the 1890s, or that Mormons are sweet people who are brainwashed idiots (I'd like to consider myself evidence that this myth is false, though you may have a different opinion).  So isn't it an interesting topic and culture within America, something that would grab the attentions of Americans and the challenge the general stereotype of America itself?

And come on, Salt Lake City was founded by 148 people way back in 1847.  Guess how many of them were Mormons?  That’s right, 148.  They were looking for a place where they could practice their religion freely, escape from persecution like Missouri Executive Order 44.  This order signed in 1838 made Mormons the only religious group in American history to have a state issue the legal extermination of its members.

Isn't this an interesting history?  And it is only the bare surface of the story itself, one that is much more complex and surprising that it all happened here in our own country.

I have no doubt that there are many other interesting stories of the non-Mormons in Salt Lake City that should have been told and I doubt that all of them were ignored.  But what I think that Nauright is missing is that the Salt Lake City games gave an opportunity to present the real history and culture of Mormons to a large audience, one that has largely only been taught myths and lies.  Mormons only make up 2% of America in 2008 according to the Pew Forum's survey.  So if anything, the Salt Lake City games was focusing on a minority in America, giving opportunity to a culture's story that is so often ignored and misconstrued.

Athletes with Disabilities Discussion

I would like to think that my sport, fencing, is fairly progressive when it comes to athletes with disabilities.  While certain disabilities would not be practical in fencing, there is a wheelchair fencing division.

They hold national tournaments for wheelchair fencing as often as any other division.  There is a national championship, though I am not familiar with how it is run, or if it is run at all, on the international level.  Wheelchair fencing has been around since at least 1999, when I went to my first national tournament.

The athletes in wheelchair fencing have to have a qualifying disability for the national tournaments, though I have heard of local tournaments in which they allow anyone to participate in order to have a larger group. 

For fencing at least, I know that the problem at the national level is not the availability, but the lack of those with qualifying disabilities to participate in the tournaments.  One problem is likely the lack of coaches who know how to train for this, the lack of facilities at local levels for training, and other similar problems at the local level.

I don’t know of any famous fencers with disabilities, but then again, I am guessing few people know of any fencers period!  As far as my personal experiences, I can remember competing against a few guys who did not have an arm.  They competed in the normal competitions and the only accommodation was helping them get on the equipment and hook up to the scoring system.  I’ve never participated in wheelchair fencing, but I have watched it and it looks difficult.  It is much different from normal fencing, because footwork is such an important part of the fencing I have participated in and I can’t experience fencing without being able to move your feet.

If you watch the video I have linked, you can see that wheelchair fencing is far from stationary.  They rock back and forth in the wheelchairs, use their bodies to dodge and are very quick.  This video is probably one of the more boring matches I have seen to be honest.  The competitions I remember watching involved a lot more rocking in the wheelchairs and sparing back and forth.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn38yRYUE88

"Yo Yao!" Reading

David Leonard's "Yo Yao! What does the "Ming Dynasty" tell us about race and transnational diplomacy in the NBA?" (2003) is an article that really highlights sport from the viewpoint of multiple reality postmodernism.  As I read this article, I found myself torn back and forth between what exactly Yao Ming represents to the NBA.  Does he represent acceptance of Asians into American culture?  Do the ways in which he is promoted show that racism towards Asians is as real as ever?  Is he an example of the upcoming takeover of the NBA by hardworking foreign players?  Is he just a new tool of subtle racism from white America against black America?

What I really found interesting was that when I did my best to remove my own background and viewpoints from my viewing lens, I can see how the answer to all of these questions is, at the same time, yes.  Even as Leonard touches my nerve with his use of "white supremacy", I must admit that Yao fulfills all of these roles.  To say that there is not a more positive view of Asians in America today than 50 years ago would be idiotic, yet that does not erase the fact that Yao Ming is promoted in a racist manner and that racism towards Asians still exist.  Similarly, we cannot ignore the hard work and dedication that foreign players give to make it in the NBA.  However, we also cannot ignore the manner in which this is removing African-American players.

One thing that does bother is Leonard's use of "Ming Dynasty" in his title.  While I know that this term has been used many, many times before Leonard, I can't help but feel that he is using the same racist language to promote his article that he helps to expose within the article itself. 

"A Twist of Race" Reading

In his 1998 "A Twist of Race: Ben Johnson and the Canadian Crisis of Racial and National Identity", Steven J. Jackson brings up several interesting points.  Prior to reading this, I had not given any thought to how racist attitudes might exist in Canada.  As Jackson states, "...Canada is recognized as one of the most pluralistic nations in the world..." (Jackson, 1998, p. 25).  I am sure that there is some racial disharmony within Canada, as there exists in most, if not all, parts of the world.  However, I feel that Jackson may be reaching with his belief that the transformation of Johnson from Jamaican immigrant, to Jamaican-Canadian, to Canadian, and back to Jamaican immigrant is primarily based on racist attitudes.

It is very practical that cultures highlight those who bring positive light upon them and hide or disown those who bring negative light.  Looking into his background, I found that Johnson was around sixteen when he immigrated to Canada.  While I would be suspicious of calling him a Jamaican-Canadian rather than just a Canadian if he had immigrated as an infant or even prior to his teens, much of Johnson's identity was formed prior to his life in Canada.  To call him only Canadian during his short-lived Olympic victory would be an insult in my opinion to the part of his identity that is Jamaican, a country with a prestigious and well deserved record in Olympic Track & Field.

I believe that the proper labeling of Johnson's nationality should be whatever he describes himself as.  While I have no idea what that would be, I would think that he would prefer Jamaican-Canadian, though I could be very wrong.  As far as Canadian's owning and disowning him during his success and fall, what country/state/city has not done the same thing with many others regardless of race?  Didn't leaders in the American Muslim population quickly distance themselves from extremist who caused 9/11?  And rightfully so, because the vast majority of Muslims are not extremists and would never commit such terrible crimes.  Canadians rightfully wish to be thought of in a positive light, as we all do.  So when it was found that Johnson was doping, they rightfully distanced themselves from him. When I think of Ohio, I think of the Wright brothers, one of whom was born in Indiana.  However, I don't think of Charles Manson, who was born in Cincinnati.

I also don't know if I buy Jackson's evidence of the term "Jamaican" being equivalent with "black" in Canada.  If anything, I think that most people would picture a person of African descent when an individual is described as Jamaican.  As more than 90% of Jamaicans are of African descent, this would usually be correct.  If someone were described as a Swedish-Canadian, I would automatically think their skin was white as over 90% of Swedes are of European descent.

While I am sure that there were racist undertones from the media and Canadians within Johnson's fall from grace, I disagree with Jackson's belief that titling Johnson a Jamaican immigrant stemmed from racial disharmony.  However, perhaps I am wrong.  While I disagree with Jackson, it is quite possible that Johnson's labeling as Jamaican was due to racism within Canada.  One of the difficult parts of racism in a country like Canada is its hidden nature, or "racism with a smile".  It could be that the less overt form of racism has sufficiently pulled the sheep's wool over my eyes so that I cannot discern it.

Advertisements in Flex Activity

I realized while commenting on classmate's blogs today that I have never posted the results of our in-class activity looking at the advertisements in men's exercise magazines.  I analyzed the January 2001 Muscle and Fitness magazine using the techniques of White and Gillett's "Reading the Muscular Body: A Critical Decoding of Advertisements in Flex Magazine" (1994).

When looking at the ads in Muscle and Fitness, I found several interesting differences from the results of White and Gillett's 1994 study.  While the categories of ads in the magazine and the percentage of ads in each catergory were similar, I had a few significant differences.  I had a much higher number of "Knowledge systems" ads and a much lower number of "Bodybuilding equipment" ads than White and Gillett's 1994 study.  I also found a seventh category to include, which tied for the 3rd most frequent type of ad.  This would be the self titled "Other" category.

While this may seem to lump many items into one, this was a category for advertisements that have nothing to do with bodybuilding.  This includes Tide detergent and many other products you might not expect in a bodybuilding magazine, making up over seven percent of the advertisements I counted.  I believe this is a significant change in the 7 years from the publishing of this volume of Muscle and Fitness and the publishing of Whie and Gillett's 1994 study.  This could indicate that Muscle and Fitness has gone more mainstream and is appealing to a broader, or at least larger, audience than before.  Depending upon your opinion of this magazine, this could be a positive or negative thing.

One thing that did not change were the themes of the majority of ads.  From a man lifting a cow over his head, to the traditional 28 days later pictures, to a woman on her knees begging a buff man for Hydroxycut, Muscle and Fitness, as well as similar magazines, continues to have advertisements that attempt to position readers as inferior, promise transformation, and promote hegemonic masculinity (White & Gillett, 1994).

"Sister Act VI" Reading

I found the concept of “commodity racism” in Nancy E. Spencer’s 2004 article, “Sister Act VI: Venus and Serena Williams at Indian Wells: “Sincere fictions” and white racism” to be very interesting.  The idea of consuming race in culture, especially in sport, is a significant one.  As I read this article and pondered, I realized that the vast majority of athletes that I am aware of are African-American, especially from sports that are traditionally played by white athletes.  This may be due to my lower consumption of sports than the majority of other students in this class, but when I think of tennis, my first thought is the Williams sisters because I have seen them marketed so much.  When I think about basketball, I think Shaq, Jordan, and Kobe.  When I think baseball, I think Bonds.  When I think golf, I think Tiger Woods, through his African-American heritage is only one aspect of the race he considers himself to be a part of.  However, it is especially telling that although he has a broad racial heritage, I consider him to be African-American first.  I don’t know if this is my own bias or something beaten in to me from sports talk and advertisements, though now that I do think about it I feel ashamed that if asked to name Woods’ race, I would likely only say African-American prior to last week.

Race is such a difficult and sensitive subject.  When the subject was brought up in class last week, I was not surprised that it took a while before anyone was willing to talk and in the end, only several people did discuss their opinions.  As a white, middle-class, straight American male I rarely enjoy discussing any of these categories.  I think my distaste for these subjects is due to the overwhelming blame that is put on a person with my background.  How can someone who is white, when confronted with white superiority and racism, not feel guilty?  When hit with arguments of the oppression of women, homosexuals, non-Americans and other groups who have been oppressed and continue to face challenges, how can one not feel crushed by the weight of that guilt into silence?  How can one not feel put off when it is always stated that they are advantaged, that in some way they are getting a free ride through life?

"Tiger in the Rough" Reading

Buzz Bissinger's story on Tiger Woods, entitled "Tiger in the Rough" (2010) deals with the issue of Tiger Woods' fall from grace.  I have to admit that I have very conflicting feelings about the Tiger Woods scandal and I don't know exactly where I stand on it.  What I find more interesting is the level of access the public feels it should have to his sexual life.

This is a question that has probably been beaten to death, but when it comes to this scandal, what question hasn’t?  On one had you have the fact that Tiger Woods’ sexual history is a personal issue.  He plays golf; he endorses products due to his popularity and success with golf; so where in there does it say that the public should know the intimate details of his life?  As Bissinger’s (2010) article described, he is one of, if not the most, aloof sports star in that he does not share his emotions about his sport, much less his life outside of golf.  He doesn’t even share his life with his fellow golfers.  This man obviously values his privacy and isn’t the complete lack of privacy in the 21^st century starting to pinch a nerve?

On the other hand, he was not paid nearly a billion dollars of endorsement money just to put his face and name on a brand due to his golf.  He was also paid that money because of how squeaky clean his image was.  If there is a case for Tiger Woods’ life being on display before the world, it would be the fact that his fortune was built on a false image.  In terms of fraud, this would be on par with the Enron scandal.  If he owes anyone an explanation and apology, it is his wife, children, and the companies that paid him millions for the false product of his image.

I don’t know if Woods owed his fans an explanation, apology, or even the truth.  In the end, everyone presents a carefully crafted image to the world while going about their lives and doing less then reputable things.  Sure, we don’t spend tens of thousands of dollars on prostitutes and sleep with dozens of women behind our wives’ back, but then again none of us have the celebrity status or millions of dollars to achieve vice at this level.  There is a reason we worry so much about things like the security of our Facebook pages today; it’s because we don’t want our employer, clients, or many others to know what we really do when we are acting as “ourselves”.  So in the end, as horrible as Tiger Woods’ life has been shown to be, I feel a bit of sympathy for the guy who obviously let his abnormal life spiral out of control.  And control is something he obviously has an obsession with.

"Whither the NBA, Whither America?" Reading

David L. Andrews' article "Whither the NBA, Whither America?" (1999) was an interesting piece describing the growth and success of the NBA from a smalltime league that was in danger of demise to the giant that it is today.  As I am not a large basketball fan, I had never thought about how the NBA evolved to become the sport and entertainment behemoth of the 21^st century.  The marketing plan of the NBA overseas is of particular interest.  The fact that the NBA was only generating $30 million annually from television rights to 105 different companies is amazingly low when you compare it to the amount a single commercial during the Super Bowl costs (Andrews, 1999).   I would be interested to learn what the NBA is charging for television rights in 2011, 12 years later, with the brand firmly embedded in international culture.

I was also slightly confused by Andrews’ (1999) article as it seems to be about two completely separate topics.  The first half of the article focuses on the ways in which the NBA changed the nature of sports leagues by focusing more on entertainment and how they grabbed a larger chunk of the marketplace by first improving their domestic market and then reaching for the international market.  Andrews’ (1999) then uses the movement of the NBA into the international market to talk about the role the NBA plays in the ethnic culture of Britain.  While the two are slightly connected, I believe that Andrews has two separate articles that would both be very interesting to explore, but when combined leave the reader slightly confused as to his overall point. 

"Real Women Watch Football" Reading

In John S. Clark, Artemisia Apostolopoulou, and James M. Gladden’s “Real Women Watch Football: Gender Differences in the Consumption of the NFL Super Bowl Broadcast”, I found myself surprised by several of the statistics about women as consumers of both sport and general spending.  The statistics presented demonstrate that women exert more influence on discretionary spending then men, an important consideration when advertising sports.  I was also surprised that in the sample used in this article, 44% of the viewers of Super Bowl XL in 2006 were female (Clark, Apostolopoulou, & Gladden, 2009)!  I think this helps to demonstrate how much of a social event the Super Bowl has become and it is really more than just a football game.

Throughout this article, a common theme was women’s consumption of sport for social reasons (Clark, Apostolopoulou, & Gladden, 2009).  I feel like it is this way for many men as well.  While I enjoy participating in sports, I have never particularly enjoyed sitting and watching sporting events.  Growing up, my family never watched sports.  My wife is a big Ohio State Football fan and when we got married, one of the requirements for visiting my family during football season is that we have the game on.  Now I enjoy watching college football.  While I certainly enjoy the sport itself and the excitement of the game, the social aspect of the activity is also a major draw.

"Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves" reading

I truly enjoyed reading Margaret Carlisle Duncan’s 1998 article entitled “Stories We Tell Ourselves About Ourselves”.  It was a wonderful combination of stories filled with thick description and explanations of the important elements of these stories.  I found the method of Duncan’s (1998) writing particularly effective, as it captured my attention and spread the analytical and narrative throughout the paper.

There were two things within Duncan’s (1998) paper that struck me personally.  The first was her story about Steven.  Steven was a new student in her class, joining in the middle of her sixth grade fall term.  He was short, skinny, had brown eyes and hair, and looked very average (Duncan, 1998, p. 95).  What struck me so much about this story was the fact that, in some ways, I was Steven.  I too was a new student in the middle of my sixth grade fall semester.  I too was short, skinny, had brown eyes and hair, and looked very average.  While I did not have a particular problem with dodge ball performance, I did have a slight accent and dress funny.  I was moving from rural Missouri to sub-urban Ohio.  Ohio kids listened to rock and rap, while I listened to country music.  I wore a belt and tucked in my shirt, a point that was particularly the focus of ridicule until I finally caved to the pressure and changed.

Her description of the cafeteria line and lunchroom particularly disturbed me.  While, thankfully, no one was grabbing at my crotch, I was tortured for being new and different.  I ate lunch alone for my first several weeks.  One particularly viscous group of children would throw food at me and ask me vulgar questions those first months.  While Duncan was on the outside looking in, I believe she captured Steven’s experience and created a true story (Duncan, 1998).

I also found Duncan’s (1998) approach of a hierarchy of voices to be an interesting technique.  I have never considered the importance of taking the role of the “Other” in a narrative (Duncan, 1998).  It emphasizes that most important ability, empathy.  Without the ability to share the feelings of others, it is difficult or impossible to move to a higher level of thought.  It reminds me of the important developmental step of children, when they realize that their actions have consequences on other feelings. 

"The Flight of the Millennials in Higher Education" Reading

Michele Monaco and Malissa Martin's 2009 article, "The Flight of the Millennials in Higher Education", is an interesting interpretation on the impact of the parent’s generation on Millennial’s college experience.  The main discussion focuses on the differences between Millennials whose parents are from the Boomer generation or from Generation X.  While Boomer parents are involved in their child’s education, Generation X parents have taken it to the next step.  Monaco and Martin (2009) state that “They want immediate access to all the data to ensure that the institution is a sound investment of time and money.” (p. 25).  I disagree with the level of involvement that Generation X has in their child’s college education.  For many young adults, this is their first step into independence.  It is important for them to learn to achieve on their own and to make their own decision without parental influence. 

Personally I did not agree with the choices for societal influence for the Millennial generation.  I have never seen Prince William as a popular icon.  I don’t even know the movie “Three Men and a Baby” (Monaco and Martin, 2009).  Personally, the entire classification of an entire generation into a single neat category has always bothered me.  While each generation does share certain experiences, I see very little that is productive about labeling everyone born from 1981 – 2000 with the same characteristics.  As a Millennial, I feel that we have started to move past the need to stereotype.  While it is important to realize that there are an increasing number of parents who demand access to their young adult’s personal records, I believe that the educational experience should continue to focus on meeting the needs of the students rather than the demands of the parents.

"The Promise of Sociology" Reading

The article “The Promise of Sociology” by C. Wright Mills (1959) is filled with insight on how sociology can explain the experiences of both the individual and the organization.  I believe that his article can best be summed up with his statement that “Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both” (Mills, 1959, p. 1).  Prior to reading this, I don’t believe I have considered how my life has been affected by the history of my society, seeing nearly everything in terms of ‘troubles’ rather than ‘issues’.  Mills’ (1959) example of war as being both a ‘trouble’ and an ‘issue’ is particularly relevant to my life.  Were it not for the Iraq War, my life would be drastically different.   I may have not met my wife, joined the military, had the financial means to make many of the decisions that I have, or even had the same values that my experiences have instilled in me.

Perhaps Mills (1959) most disturbing statement is that “’Man’s chief danger’ today lies in the unruly forces of contemporary society itself, with its alienating methods of production, its enveloping techniques of political domination, its international anarchy – in a word, its pervasive transformations of the very ‘nature’ of man and the conditions and aims of his life.” (p. 8).  It can be overwhelming to think of the ways in which the uncontrollable force of the organization can assert itself on the individual.  It seems to me that the organization pushes success, achievement, production and consumption above those things which are truly important, such as morality.  I think you can also see the push of contemporary society in the actions within sports today.  From the prevalence of illegal performance enhancers, the lack of loyalty in college football coaches, and NFL sideline tripping, sport seems to mirror our society with the approval of success at any cost that is, in light words, disappointing.

Introduction - Welcome to Anthony's Sport and Society Blog!

Hello and welcome to Anthony's Sport and Society Blog!  This blog was created for the Sport and Society course that I am currently participating in.  Before I share my opinions and reflections on the various articles we will be discussing throughout the course, I would like to introduce myself and give a bit of my background so that you, the reader, can better understand my viewpoint.

My name is Anthony.  The title of this blog has probably given that away.  I am a kinesiology student in my first year of graduate school.  I am currently running head first through my program and will finish at the end of the summer.  Due to the fast pace I have set for my Master's program, I plan on doing a project rather than a thesis.  My specialization within kinesiology is motor development and my current project subject is the change in Fitts' law due to aging, though I am just in the planning phase of my project.

While my academic life has been very demanding, there are many things that define me as a person and have a great impact on how I see the world around me.  I have been married to my wife for 2 1/2 years and we now have a beautiful 4 1/2 month old daughter.  While many people today do not agree with marrying at a young age, it was definitely the right decision for me and my family is my life.  I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and work with the young men in the youth program at our church, as well as serving as their Scoutmaster in their Scouting program.

I also have a 20 hour graduate assistantship doing administrative, teaching, and research work.  I work part-time at the library on campus as a graduate supervisor of the circulation desk.  I've worked at least part-time since I was fifteen and can't imagine not being busy all the time.  I joined the Army Reserves when I was a senior in high school, spent a year in Iraq, and am currently a Sergeant with my unit.

While I do love sports, they have taken a backseat to my busy life.  While in middle and high school I was a competitive fencer.  For those that do not know, fencing is a form of sport sword fighting.  My weapon was the foil, which requires both extreme speed and accuracy.  I was nationally competitive in my sport and competed in over a dozen North American Cups and multiple National Championships.  I traveled to California, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, and many other states to compete.  While many people think that only rich people fence, that was not my case.  In return for the fees for my instruction, flights, and registration, I helped to clean and maintain the club I fenced at.  The costs that were not covered by this were paid using the money I made working part-time at a pizza joint.  Fencing was a way for me to escape from the pressure of school and I miss not only the thrill of competition, but also the friendships that I made.

To be perfectly honest, I am not sure how this course will related to my research interests.  My research interests in motor development are more related to the ergonomic side, as well as the fringe of the sports world.  The research that I have considered that involve sport are related to the less popular sporting events such as fencing and crew.  While I do not think that this course will directly help me in my research, I believe that the main benefits I will receive in this course are in the realm of improving my academic reading skills, academic writing skills, and analyzing society through sport and other means.  I enjoy looking at life through many different lenses and if this course helps me to see issues from another's perspective and to realize how sport is a reflection of the greater issues in society, it will achieve my goals.