At the beginning of the semester we were asked what is a sport. We looked at different "sports" then decided which one of them is a sport and what is not a sport. One thing that was not discussed but someone did bring up was NASCAR. The conversation about it ended right there. We also looked at John Loy's elements of sport. The elements include physical prowess, circumscribed space, competition, time constraints, rules, chance, skill, institutionalized. Looking these elements I believe that NASCAR should be considered a sport.
I have been a NASCAR fan for a very long time, so I am bias when it comes to this topic. The problem that I have with people that say that NASCAR is not a sport have never sat down and watched a race. There so much more to NASCAR than just making left turn as many people think that all it is.
Looking at the elements of what is a sport that John Loy came up with, NASCAR should be considered a sport. The easy ones to point out is the circumscribed space (the track), competition (43 drivers on the track), time constraint (laps), rules, and it is institutionalized. When it comes to physical prowess the amount of conditioning the drivers have to go through during the season and off-season is intense. Depending on their physical condition a driver can lose up to 15 pounds in one race. When there is 36 races in one season a driver has to be in very good physical condition. Another one of the elements is outcome determined by chance, skill or combination. In NASCAR, it takes a lot of skill to drive a NASCAR. There is so many different things that go into driving a one of those cars. It is hard to understand what actually goes on in a NASCAR race until you sit down and watch it.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Gay Men in Sports
Today in class we talked about how whether or not gay men would be accepted if they came out during their playing careers. No professional male athlete has ever come out during their career. We talked about the study that asked each of the major sports whether or not a player would be accepted by his team mates and the fans. It also asked them to estimate the number of people they thought was gay in their league.
In my opinion, I believe that players will not be accepted if they do come out during their career. In our society people that come out that do not play sports are not even accepted, so how is a guy that plays sports with other men going to be accepted? The main reason that they will not be accepted is because of the reason that we talked about in class and that is if guys know that someone in that locker room is gay that will not feel comfortable. That will cause tension in the locker room and it could hurt the team. Even thought this is not right, this is the way our society is. It would take one of the top athletes in any of the major sports to come out before it would be acceptable to be gay and play a professional sport.
We talked about how it was said that a athlete who beat his wife or got caught with drugs is not as bad as being called gay. I agree with that statement because of what we have seen in recent years with some players. Ray Lewis was accused of murder and most people do not even remember that he was. One of people in the class named Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez who used steroids. There are many more athletes that have been accused of serious crimes but as long as they are helping their team win they will be accepted by fans and teammates.
Maybe someday a person that is gay can come out and be accepted by society.
In my opinion, I believe that players will not be accepted if they do come out during their career. In our society people that come out that do not play sports are not even accepted, so how is a guy that plays sports with other men going to be accepted? The main reason that they will not be accepted is because of the reason that we talked about in class and that is if guys know that someone in that locker room is gay that will not feel comfortable. That will cause tension in the locker room and it could hurt the team. Even thought this is not right, this is the way our society is. It would take one of the top athletes in any of the major sports to come out before it would be acceptable to be gay and play a professional sport.
We talked about how it was said that a athlete who beat his wife or got caught with drugs is not as bad as being called gay. I agree with that statement because of what we have seen in recent years with some players. Ray Lewis was accused of murder and most people do not even remember that he was. One of people in the class named Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez who used steroids. There are many more athletes that have been accused of serious crimes but as long as they are helping their team win they will be accepted by fans and teammates.
Maybe someday a person that is gay can come out and be accepted by society.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Race
Today in class we talked about race and we watched the video about the blue eye/brown eye experiment. The test was done back in 1970 on a group of third graders. One of the questions that was brought up was would we be able to do this experiment today. We also talked about whether race was still an issue.
Thinking of the question of whether we would be able to do this experiment today, I came up with a reasons on why it would not be able to work. One of the reasons was that it a different time than it was in 1970. What I mean by that is that there is a lot more media coverage of different events than there was back in the 1970. Kids today watch a lot more television than kids then. There not as much lack of understanding of the other races. They have more of their own opinion than what their parents have. In the 1970s the kids probably only knew about the other races from what their parents have told them. The other reason that this experiment could not be done today is because of the reason we talked about in class and that is because of the new laws. The kids would need their parents consent to be part of the experiment, and some parents would not let their kids participate in the experiment.
Thinking of the question of whether we would be able to do this experiment today, I came up with a reasons on why it would not be able to work. One of the reasons was that it a different time than it was in 1970. What I mean by that is that there is a lot more media coverage of different events than there was back in the 1970. Kids today watch a lot more television than kids then. There not as much lack of understanding of the other races. They have more of their own opinion than what their parents have. In the 1970s the kids probably only knew about the other races from what their parents have told them. The other reason that this experiment could not be done today is because of the reason we talked about in class and that is because of the new laws. The kids would need their parents consent to be part of the experiment, and some parents would not let their kids participate in the experiment.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Playing with Disabilities
In class on Thursday we talked about people who play sports with disabilities. We had to come up with players that we know that played sports with a disability, the only one that I thought of was the track star that tried to qualify for the Olympics. People believe that he had an advantage over everyone else because his "leg" gave him spring in his step. The only other person that I had heard of was Jim Abbott.
The other part of the discussion was how would your sports experience differ if you were a person with a disability. My answer would have been that I do not know if I would have been strong enough to go out there and compete. It is hard to say that I would not have been strong enough to do it but being able to go out there and having to work twice as hard just to have a chance to compete is probably very hard to do. After every defeat, it would be continue because you know you probably work twice as hard as the person you just faced and to lose has to be heartbreaking. It takes a very strong person to do that. The other part of that question was would there be a difference if you were male or female. I believe that there should be know difference because it still going to be hard no matter what gender you are to go out there and play.
The other part of the discussion was how would your sports experience differ if you were a person with a disability. My answer would have been that I do not know if I would have been strong enough to go out there and compete. It is hard to say that I would not have been strong enough to do it but being able to go out there and having to work twice as hard just to have a chance to compete is probably very hard to do. After every defeat, it would be continue because you know you probably work twice as hard as the person you just faced and to lose has to be heartbreaking. It takes a very strong person to do that. The other part of that question was would there be a difference if you were male or female. I believe that there should be know difference because it still going to be hard no matter what gender you are to go out there and play.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Women in Men's Sports
In last weeks class we talked about whether women should be allowed to play in contact sports with men. We watched the video about the girl in Michigan that qualified for the state tournament in wrestling. Since she was a good wrestler she wanted to compete with the men to have some competition. Then in today's class we talked about a men trying to play women's sports. The reason that the male was playing the women's sport is because there was no men's field hockey team and he wanted to stay in shape for hockey season.
In my opinion I do not believe that this is a problem at all. If women believe they can compete against the men then they should be allowed to. People say that there is too much of a risk for her to get injuried. If a women wants to compete she should already know the risk and if she still wants to play let her. Since there is no women's football in high school, a women should be able to play football with the men. That should be the same with men if they want to play a women's sport. The male in the video wanted to play field hockey and since there is no men's team he should be able to compete on the women's team. I liked the comment in class that someone had about the parents. They said that they would not be mad if that was their kid (one of the female players) playing a men's sport and taking a starting spot from them. I think there are too many double standards when it comes to sports and this is one of them. Just because this guy is taking a starting spot from one of their daughters they are mad. The only way that would change is if they created a men's field hockey team.
(Sorry that this is late to be posted, I forgot to post it after writing it)
In my opinion I do not believe that this is a problem at all. If women believe they can compete against the men then they should be allowed to. People say that there is too much of a risk for her to get injuried. If a women wants to compete she should already know the risk and if she still wants to play let her. Since there is no women's football in high school, a women should be able to play football with the men. That should be the same with men if they want to play a women's sport. The male in the video wanted to play field hockey and since there is no men's team he should be able to compete on the women's team. I liked the comment in class that someone had about the parents. They said that they would not be mad if that was their kid (one of the female players) playing a men's sport and taking a starting spot from them. I think there are too many double standards when it comes to sports and this is one of them. Just because this guy is taking a starting spot from one of their daughters they are mad. The only way that would change is if they created a men's field hockey team.
(Sorry that this is late to be posted, I forgot to post it after writing it)
Monday, September 21, 2009
Wrestling: why people watch it
While I was growing up one of the most watched thing was the WWF (now the WWE). In class, we talked about if you watched wrestling as a kid or still watch, why do you watch it. Some people said that it was because of the excitement when watching it in person and another person said it was because of they wanted to know what happened week to week.
After thinking about why I watched it as a kid, I came up with a few reasons. I think the main reason that I watched wrestling was because of the entertainment. During that time, there were people like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Degeneration X. The main thing that they were on wrestling for was to bring entertainment to the show. Every week you wanted to watch just to see what they would do that week. Thats probably the main reason that people watch wrestling. Even though the whole thing is completely scripted, it was still funny. It became like watching a comedy sitcom than anything else. Another reason that I watched wrestling was because my dad watched it all the time.
After thinking about why I watched it as a kid, I came up with a few reasons. I think the main reason that I watched wrestling was because of the entertainment. During that time, there were people like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Degeneration X. The main thing that they were on wrestling for was to bring entertainment to the show. Every week you wanted to watch just to see what they would do that week. Thats probably the main reason that people watch wrestling. Even though the whole thing is completely scripted, it was still funny. It became like watching a comedy sitcom than anything else. Another reason that I watched wrestling was because my dad watched it all the time.
Jordan right or wrong
One of the topics that we discussed in class was about the speech that Michael Jordan made at his Hall of Fame induction. Some of the things that was discussed was that people did not believe that Jordan did not do anything wrong. We talked about how Jordan was probably told what to say during his press conferences during his career. I really like the comment someone made in class about how during his career Jordan would not have made this speech because it cost have hurt the sales of his shoes.
Thinking about what Jordan said, I am more surprised about what Jordan said. In class, I talked about how Jordan a few days before talked with Chris Berman and said that he believes that he is not the greatest player to ever play the game. I have not seen the whole speech, but someone said that Jordan also said this in his Hall of Fame speech. From what I have heard of the speech, I do not believe it was wrong, it just surprised me. The main thing that surprised me was the timing of the speech. This kind of took away from the other players and coaches that got inducted into the Hall of Fame. Nobody will remember who was elected in the Hall other than Jordan because of this speech. The other people that were elected were welling deserving of making the Hall of Fame and probably would be the center of the induction ceremony had Jordan not been elected in the same year.
Thinking about what Jordan said, I am more surprised about what Jordan said. In class, I talked about how Jordan a few days before talked with Chris Berman and said that he believes that he is not the greatest player to ever play the game. I have not seen the whole speech, but someone said that Jordan also said this in his Hall of Fame speech. From what I have heard of the speech, I do not believe it was wrong, it just surprised me. The main thing that surprised me was the timing of the speech. This kind of took away from the other players and coaches that got inducted into the Hall of Fame. Nobody will remember who was elected in the Hall other than Jordan because of this speech. The other people that were elected were welling deserving of making the Hall of Fame and probably would be the center of the induction ceremony had Jordan not been elected in the same year.
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