Racism in Sports (Blog 6)

Hello everyone,
I have decided that this week's blog will be about racism shown in sports, through pro-teams to high schools. I'm sure most of you watch pro-sports, you may not necessarily follow them, but I'm sure you are familiar with some of their popular mascots shown on television, on merchandise, and in games. There are several big name teams that use Native American reference as their mascots such as the Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves, and the Cleveland Indians. All of these teams use some sort of Native American reference, but when they are being used, are they being used with respect? Most of these team portray the Indian as having a big cheesy smile, and abnormally red skin. At times this can been seen as a racist move. (Image to the right)

A few years ago, there was a baseball playoff game against New York and Cleveland, the New York Post found it appropriate at the time to headline the paper as "Take the Tribe and Scalp Em". This, in my opinion shows very little respect to Natives, and should have not been a public opinion. That is a racial slur, because in past times, scalpings did occur, but it's not like it happens anymore! To Natives, being a chief is the highest position you can obtain, and is a very respected position in a Native community. (more info) These teams are not showing the mascot with respect. Like I said earlier, they are showing them with huge noses, very red skin, and a huge buck-toothed smile. I myself come from a family with a native background, my grandfather is 100% Ojibwa, and my mother is half, and I know that Indians don't look like this. This portrayal is embarrasing to Natives. They are creating an image for the public, and the image is not positive. The image the public gets from the media is showing the indians as an unattractive race of people. (Image To Left)

They are stereotyping indians, as an uncivilized race of people. And, they basically are making fun of their cultures, and beliefs. There are some mascots dancing how they think indians dance, but they don't actually understand the meanings of their dances, and why they do them. (more info)

Now in high schools and colleges, groups are fighting to remove Native Americans as their mascots, because they don't want to disrespect the Native Americans. Indians are a race too, not just a race to be made fun of and turned into a ridiculous caricature for people's enjoyment.

It's ESPN's Rivalry Week!!! (week 5 blog)

Hello Everyone,
All of you sports fans, basketball fans in particular, would know that this week on ESPN is rivalry week! Some of the best college teams, with the biggest, most epic rivalries are shown on ESPN all week. It's a good time to sit down with your friends and make bets on the games and cheer on your favorite team right from the dorm.

The biggest game so far, in my opinion, was the North Carolina/Duke game. Which North Carolina, unfortunately ended up winning. Bummer. (See image to upper left) Both teams are successful and only several miles apart, causing one of the biggest rivalries in college basketball today. Both teams are equally as cocky, and arrogant. There are chants heard coming from the Duke fans "Go to hell Carolina, go to hell". One former player, Joseph Forte has been quoted as saying "They hate us, just like we hate them." (To See full article click here)

This game like many others is made public on ESPN, and ESPN bases their rivalry week off this big game. The game, is exciting and fun to watch, because it is such a great rivalry. But, in contrast, it could almost be a negative thing to see on television. Kids once again, are watching this game and look up to these college athletes/students. While I agree that games like these promote competition, rivalries, and that little bit of extra drive, could it also be negative? Young kids see these college students in the stands yelling obscenities, being obnoxious, and not treating their opponents with respect. Many kids will see this and see that it is accepted to be rude and obscene at games. When it really is not. Yes, I'm a college athlete and, I, just like every other college student get obnoxious, and rude at times, but it's not really the right behavior to display in public where there can be kids around. But, is that going to stop athletes from being the way they are? Probably not.

All in all rivalry week is a good display of unity of schools at the college level, a great rivalry, and one great experience if you get to go to one of the games. It's kind of like Valley City State Vs. Jamestown! haha epic! But, sometimes we take it a little overboard with our comments, although funny, they are influencing a younger crowd, and to show that on television, it could be harmful to youths attitudes in their own games.

Also other teams involved in rivalry week are:

• Duke vs. North Carolina
• West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh
• Missouri vs. Kansas
• Syracuse vs. Connecticut
• Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State
• Villanova vs. Saint Joseph's
• Kentucky vs. Florida

(click for more information)

Athlete's behaving badly in public eye

Hello all,
This week I have decided to write about the imperfections of athletes, and what is shown on television. And, as we all know, professional athletes are far from perfect, as recently proven by Michael Phelps. It always seems the pro's make headlines for the bad behavior and not the good that they do. Michael Phelps is not the only athlete to get in trouble, and be in the public eye for it, nor will he be the last. Phelps was caught by the form of picture proof, smoking marijuana, through a bong. He was stripped of his sponsorship through Kellogg's. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/lat-crazy_1_kent9tnc20090206151528,0,5354365.photo
Image to the right: http://www.starmagazine.com/media/MichaelPhelps_bong_230.jpg I think it's nice to finally see an athlete get punished for doing wrong. How many kids that look up to Phelps look at this situation now and see he got in trouble? They may look at this and see one of their idols got in trouble for something and will see he was severely penalized and decide that doing something of this nature is wrong. Where as if the situation was no penalization, they may see it as acceptable and go on and do it anyways, because their role model is doing it.

The same situation goes for steroid usage that is thrown into the public eye. Look at Barry Bonds, he was an idol to many young boys. Kids look at him and other athletes alike, watch them on tv and see how it makes them perform. They see it makes you play better, and there is a penalty for it but it's not so severe. They get suspended for a while, pay their fines, and then get back on with their lives. Kids see this and decide its an okay idea, and they see it as making them play better. http://media.www.thetriangle.org/media/storage/paper689/news/2005/01/07/SciTech/Athlete.Steroid.Use.Detracts.From.Professional.Sports-830954.shtml Athletes need to see that they are a huge part of the media,they are always on the TV, magazines, and in newspapers. Anything they do is publicized. I believe that if they do things like this more should be done to punish them. They are influencing a whole new generation of athletes. I don't think we need any of the new upcoming athlete's to be running around acting like this.

Super Bowl!

Hello everyone,
I'm sure you all know what day it is, Super Bowl Sunday! Today two teams are going to go head to head in the biggest, most televised, most advertised, football game of the year! http://www.touthouse.com/image/super-bowl-2009.gif(image to right). Today the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, will go head to head, and only one team will be able to call themselves the champion for the year.

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in sports all year. Super Bowl has come a long way since it began in 1967. http://www.super-bowl-history.us/superbowl-history.html Advertising on television has become a huge asset to the Super Bowl every year. On average about $2.5 Million dollars are spent on buying a 30 second spot for advertising a product! http://www.super-bowl-history.us/superbowl-history.html In my opinion this is a ridiculous amount of money to be spent on one advertisement, but yet it is a smart idea for companies to get their advertisements out on Super Bowl Sunday. A survey was taken last year before the Super Bowl and there was a total of 68% of American adults expected to be watching the game, 90 million viewers! Of that 68% there were a total of 19% of viewers watching just to see the commercials, and 38% were watching to see both the game and the commercials. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/580185/most_people_watched_the_super_bowl.html So as you can see, it is a good idea to advertise when a total of 57% of viewers were watching the game to see the advertisements. There are probably more people watching and then decide to buy those products. The advertisements are also entertaining and fun to watch.

Another huge part of the Super Bowl is the half-time show. The show gets bigger and better every year, often including big stars of that year. I also believe that many people also tune into the game just to watch the half-time show as well, to see their favorite stars sing. In my opinion the best half time show was the one Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake appeared in, in 2004. It was one of the most controversial appearances of the year, probably because there was some nudity, and it was live on television! This could also be one of the reasons kids and older people as well are less sensitive to nudity, profanity and other things because of how the media exposes everything! This wardrobe malfunction is just another example of what is exposed to the world by media. Whether it is appropriate or not.