Concluding Sport and Society

I learned so much as a result of this class. Before, I had minimal interest in watching or talking about sports other than college football. Watching the Olympics were something that I never did on my own, but rather only when other people took interest in a particular sport. I now have a greater appreciation for all that goes in to making the Olympics; the coverage, the bids, the scrutiny on the success of each athlete. I had no idea how much research and thought went into making a bid for a city to host the Olympics.

I really enjoyed any of the readings that dealt with body image. Beyond the Perfect Body was by far my favorite article to read. I find it amazing how much the media affects the views of women and their body image. In no way am I free of this distorted view of bodies, but as Robinson (2002) said in his article entitled Starving for the Gold said about Claire Hall-Patch “she was at least able to analyze the situation.” I may not have the eating disorder she had, but like her, I am able to read about why people have these distorted views and look at my own life without thinking that nothing is wrong.

Reading about homosexuality in sports has greatly increased my interest in the subject matter. It fascinates me to see the media and society react to athletes who out themselves. For a country that is for the most part accepting of homosexuality, I find it hard to believe that it is still taboo for an athlete that is in a ‘manly’ sport to come out.

Writing the blogs has helped me think about each topic in a different perspective. The article by John Hoberman (2008) entitled The Olympics has shed a new light on the behind the scenes of the IOC. It has definitely put a damper on my views of the Olympics, but I do not think it will hinder me from watching them next summer.

Applying this class to a Kinesiology major is not as easy as it is for a Sport Administration major. I think the things that I will take from this class are the body distortion articles, including the Athletic Fatness article. It is important to understand why people think the way they do about their bodies and where they get the ideas from. Each article that talks about body image is a window into understanding and being able to help people that have these body image issues. I have always wanted to help people. Body image is just a small part of my interest and reason for pursuing a degree in Kinesiology.

Starving for the Gold

I first want to start off by saying that my brother has accused me of being anorexic. Of course this was not true, but I became very defensive against this accusation. I can see how those that do actually have that eating disorder would become so upset with those who are close to them confront them. Nobody likes to think they have a problem. When I was accused of being anorexic, I took a look at my daily food habits to see if I did have an issue, but the more I thought about it, I ate just fine, if not too much and never slipped away after meals to get rid of it.

I could not imagine depriving myself of food or vital nutrients to help me succeed in a sport that I enjoyed competing in. I love food way too much. Anorexia athletica is a horrifying term to me. Not only are these individuals anorexic, but also athletes! Being an athlete burns more calories, therefore more calories are needed to be consumed in order maintain muscle mass and performance. If you take away those calories, the body finds other ways to ‘feed’ itself, which happens to be muscle. Take away muscle, and you hinder performance. The body may be thin, but at what cost? Kidney failure, heart issues, loss of muscle coordination.

When will it be enough for society to change its mind about how a body is supposed to look and instead just accept the bodies they were given.

Transsexual Bodies at the Olympics

I could not even imagine living your entire life as a female, and then be lucky enough to participate in the Olympics, only to be humiliated by having someone accuse you of being a man. Not to mention the entire investigation and testing… How horrified I would be! I am not sure if I would be outraged and potentially not comply with the testing, or just simply shy away from the media and allow the tests to be run. Obviously people only think of themselves and not the emotions or national pride of the person it is affecting.

But when does it cross the line from being rude to needing to be tested? I understand the rule of needing to be in the newly assigned gender for two years before they can participate in the Olympics. Women naturally have some testosterone in them as men have some estrogen. It is not uncommon to find trace amounts in each person. So what if a person has almost half of each? I would say that whatever they have identified themselves as, is what they should be allowed to participate in the Olympics as. Requiring reassignment surgery costs too much money and takes too much time. The athletes are ready to be an athlete NOW, not in two years. Requiring someone to have the surgery also takes away from who that person is. It has been a part of their life for that long, it defines who they are. One Olympic race should not make a person completely change who they are.

The only reason I could see someone needed to be tested was if their final time completely blew all the other competitors out of the water such as a female identifying person having an obscure time that most men could only hope to achieve.

The Olympics

Not being an avid Olympic watcher, how I was astounded by how much criticism the IOC takes and that the Olympics are not all hugs and roses, but more importantly, not about the athletic abilities of all the participants. How money driven is our world anymore! I knew that companies paid a lot of money to have their name associated with the Olympics, but it seems like it’s a battle with how much someone is willing to out pay the other companies.

Where did the pride of nationality go? Why do countries feel the need to “clean” up their dirty little secrets or things they are not proud of just to impress those that travel great distances, when they do not do this for the rest of the time with the possibility of tourists out of Olympic “season”.

Everything is political. There is no denying or getting around it. What disgusts me even more is the fact that they IOC pride themselves on NOT being political. Even if they IOC weren’t political, they would still have to work around the politics of the country where the Olympics were going to be held.

Sometimes I still think ignorance is bliss. With me being so oblivious to this dark side of the Olympics, I still enjoyed casually watching events here and there, but with this new insight, I feel like during the next Olympics, this is all I am going to be looking for and worrying about. I probably will not even be able enjoy watching the opening ceremony without thinking of all the money that was paid to make it possible from the various companies wanting their name associated with the Olympics.

Athletic Fatness: Forgiving Corpulence in Elite Bodies

I am going to be honest; it took me a few pages of reading this article before I realized that Daly and Davies were not trim and fit. I had never heard of these athletes, let alone seen pictures of them. Let’s just say that I have been known to have blonde moments now and then.

“You can be pint-sized, ponsified, or, like Laura Davies, resemble a linebacker in drag” (Harris, 2004, para 3).

“Some exceptions exist—Tim Herron and John Daly seem intent on landing Twinkie endorsements” (Sheeley, 1999, para 2).

I have a bone to pick with the two authors of these quotes. I understand they were trying to make a point that it does not matter what your body shape is, that you can still be an athlete. That is all just fine and dandy, but did they really need to go to that extent of talking so grotesquely about their physique? No, there really was no need for that. I can only imagine how Davies and Daly might feel after reading something like that about themselves.

I have people in my family that are considered overweight. I know they would be appalled knowing that someone said that about their weight and body image. With the plastering of skinny models everywhere with the media, who wouldn’t be somewhat self-conscious of what they look like?

If there are athletes that do not fit the norm of a certain physique, but yet are good at what they do, all the more power to them!! Daly said it best the article by Marshallsea: “I’m made to be fat, so there’s no sense worrying about it” (1998, para 17).

Accept the bodies you were given, and instead, use your talents to the best of your ability.

The Inclusion of the Paralympics in the Olympic and Amateur Sports Act

“Sport for people with disabilities is often an overlooked segment of the sport industry” (Hums, Moorman, & Wolff, para. 1).

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, I have a cousin and an uncle who have disabilities. Neither of them is very active, but do enjoy various low intensity activities. My uncle likes walking and fishing when it is warm out and my cousin enjoys participating in the Special Olympics Bowling Team. I have never had the chance to see her play, and I am not sure if she even still participates, but I know that when she did play, she was a good athlete. I believe she did the singles bowling and went as far as competing at the state level down in Columbus. I remember two years in a row of her telling, or rather bragging, to the family how well she did in the finals, though she should have placed first and not second.

It is so wonderful to know that even those with disabilities can still be included with participating in Olympic sports. I do not think that those with disabilities should be categorized by the sport. If a blind person were to play against someone in a wheelchair, there are disadvantages to both sides. I think that it should be categorized by the disability. It would keep the playing field level and the handicap equal. I can see how even within the disability itself, there can be disadvantages. I am going to reference a movie that is quite offensive, but can be applied to this particular matter: The Ringer. Johnny Knoxville pretends to have a disability, though it really is questionable, in order to rig the Special Olympics. So my example of disability inequality is this: each of the Special Olympics participants had a different athletic level. I can see how the question could arise as to whether to categorize the Special Olympics by sport or by disability.

Homosexuality in Sport

I am not sure if I even want to write this blog, or even remotely bring religion into it, but I am going to do it anyways.

What does it mean to be a homosexual? According to Dictionary.com, there are several different meanings ranging from “pertaining to the same sex” (definition 2) to the medical definition of “involving sexual intercourse between individuals of the same sex” (definition 2). I also remember reading a comment in a forum which started out about the 26 men who were participating in a gay marriage in Dubai. To leave the author more anonymous, I will choose not to directly quote the person. This particular author stated that they thought being gay was only about the sex. This may be true for some people, but I know people who choose to be open about their sexual orientation and do not live with or participate in sexual practices with their partner. It is more of an intellectual relationship. This brings me to my next topic that is not a favorite thing to talk about. Religion.

I have been wrestling with this lately and it has been weighing heavy on my heart. There are scriptures in the Bible that say a man and a woman lay together, not a man and a man or vice versa. I get it, being gay is ‘wrong’ according to the Bible. My next beef is with the statement “only God can judge me”. If only God can judge, then why in the world are we condemning those who choose to live an out of the ordinary lifestyle? There are so many rules that we twist to make it fit how we think it should.

With all of this being said, who are we to judge those that choose to out their sexuality, even though they made huge contributions to their sport. If they did not “hit” on their heterosexual teammates or push their sexual orientation on them, why should it matter?

Constructing Diverse Opportunities for People With Disabilities

“…sports opportunities for people with disabilities should focus on how to construct opportunities that emphasize the sports ability of participants rather than their disability” (Nixon, p. 417).

This statement really hits home for me. As most of you should already know by now, I do not relate well to topics about sports nor do I watch them. So leave it to me to take a paper that is sports related and twist it so that it is not…

Anyways, this quote hits home because I have two relatives who have a disability; a cousin and an uncle. As my dad would say, “when I was a young lad” I did not notice being different from them until I got older. By then I had become so accustomed to who they were and how they reacted in different situations. At family gatherings, my cousin would always want to lead the prayer before eating and then would serenade us with a strange rendition of Phantom of the Opera. My uncle is very much into reading and would ask us if we remembered the story of the “Battle of Little Big Horn” or “Tecumseh”. Of course I am not a history buff either, but he would then go on to tell us parts that he read from a book, even if it was over a year ago.

Now when it comes to constructing opportunities to emphasize their ability, I have several examples. My cousin, who lives with my aunt, is very good at hearing a song once, and being able to repeat the words. Now see that I said repeat the words and not sing the song. My aunt loves going to plays and musicals, so she takes any chance she gets to take my cousin with her. My uncle lives with my grandmother. My uncle loves to read and learn about history; my grandmother loves to travel, so she takes him to various places with a rich history so he can actually see the places he reads about.

Dubai Olympic Bid: Sexual Orientation

I have had a very hard time looking for scholarly articles that talk about the view of Dubai and sexual orientation, let alone anything with that country and the specific topic. It has mostly been newspaper articles from other countries about the hate crimes that go on when situations of sexual orientation arise. When I read that the United Arab Emirates government stones those that were involved in a gay marriage, it is hard to find the good in the country for accepting others. I did find that there are few in the country that are somewhat proud of who they are and participate in the Gay Games, which is an Olympic event for those who may be LBGT. It was refreshing to read that there were a few participants from the UAE, however, the articles did state that some of the participants from other countries took on an alias name during the event as to not be persecuted once they returned home. I would assume that those who participated from the UAE had an alias name, but none of the articles stated the exact countries.

When looking at the marriage rules, Dubai is very strict with who you can marry. First off, the Dubai Government Website clearly states that marriage is between a woman and a man. Second, the site gives different scenarios of a marriage arrangement such as a Muslim man marrying a Christian woman are very much different than a Muslim woman marrying a Christian man.

I hope to find more encouraging articles than these for the country I am trying to win an Olympic bid for…

The Roots of the Modern Olympic Games

How is it that we have strayed so far from the original Olympics? Starting originally with eight games involving less than 200 participants with one overall winner, has now increased to almost 300 games and thousands of participants with individual game winners. There are two things that come to mind when I think about how much the Olympic Games have changed.

1: I know that as the times change and the technology increases, how is it that we have deviated so much from the original games? History is such an important part for the future, why wouldn’t we want to preserve it in some way?

2: It is better that we have more than one medalist for each of the 300 events instead of one overall winner. I fear that if we had one overall winner, this might cause a war between countries (as if we don’t have enough with the threat of power, weapons, and diversity issues).

I think it would be kind of cool for Egypt to host an old fashioned Olympic meet with the original eight events, a small number of participants, and one overall winner. I think it would help people understand better how the Modern Olympic Games came about. This of course would not be during an Olympic year, nor would it involve any of the normal Olympic athletes. I suppose if an athlete would like to participate, event managers would not be able to deny them participation. Each country would have only one representative. Of course not all of the countries would have to participate either.

This is just me rambling, and perhaps they have already done an event such as this, or maybe it is an idea that is in the works, but I really think it would be interesting to watch an all-around world champion in something other than professional weight lifting…

Changing the Way Sport Reporters Examine Gay Athletes

This article proves to be very controversial, even two years later after it was written. Not just of sexual orientation in sports, mainly masculine sports, but in the general public. I think about the small population here at BGSU. There are hordes of people vying for LGTB rights, recognition, and appreciation. Growing up in a world where coming out is becoming a commonly acceptable way of living; it is not the same for the views of my parents. The 2007 Gallup poll shows just how different the generations are: “Among 18-34 year olds surveyed, just 23% disapproved of gay lifestyles, compared to a 51% disapproval rate amongst U.S. citizens aged 55 and older” (para 15). This quote is obviously geared towards the feelings of those who watch sports, but I feel is a pretty fair representation of the general public.

Now moving on to the actual sport’s teams which is the highlight of this article. The media plays a very large role in influencing the way people feel and think. Look back at the “Beyond the Perfect Body” and “Reading the Muscular Body” articles and how the views of people and their body types are very much influenced just by magazines. I know it is the job of the media to report various happenings and events, but I do not feel that they need to publicly announce their take on the issue, or lack there of. If a team knows or has a feeling that one of their teammates has a different sexual orientation, but it does not make a difference to how the team plays with each other, then the media should not be twisting the straightforward information.  The article states that “many professional athletes already know gay teammates anyhow, and that this awareness had no negative effect on team morale” (para 28). Why is there such an issue if the team does not see one? I think the article should also do this study on the teammates of Amaechi to see how they feel after his outing and if they even knew beforehand.

The Asianization of America

I did not want to write anything before I knew what we were going to be talking about in class and how it was going to be presented. I also do not wish to offend Yu and her country, so if I do, I am very sorry.

With that being said, I would like to talk about the “Asianization of America” article. I never realized how much of an influence the Asian culture had on America. From the article, it talked about all of the food, decoration, religion, and movie influence there is from the many Chinese restaurants to feng shui decorating a room.

“These days, it's not hard to imagine someone, freshly wakened from his futon and clad in a T-shirt emblazoned with Chinese calligraphy, ducking into Starbucks for a cup of chai before popping over to Blockbuster for Jet Li on DVD” (para. 4).

While I do not own a T-shirt emblazoned with Chinese calligraphy, nor do I rent Jet Li movies, this is a common scene for me. I do sleep on a futon bed and I do love a good Chai Tea in the morning to help wake me up.

I knew there was a lot of influence in the United States, but I never stopped to look at my own life. I vaguely remember wanting to redecorate my room many years ago. I had three completely different styles and colors in mind: black bedspread and black walls splattered with neon colors: Hawaiian/beach theme; and a red, black, and white room with an oriental influence. Of course my parents would not let me have the black emo room, and I ended up with the Hawaiian/beach theme, but I really like the oriental theme. It just seemed so sophisticated. There are many other instances where Asian influence is in my life without going into detail about materials and objects being made in China.

Beyond the Perfect Body

             Of all the articles that I have read, I took the most interest in this article. I find it fascinating how the media plays such a huge role of how women view their bodies. It is sad that even self-help magazines such as Shape have articles that tell women how to tone their bodies and to not be ashamed of how they naturally look, but then the “trainers” are skinny and healthy looking. I can see how frustrating this would be to a woman who is self-conscious about her body. How can a magazine that promotes healthy thinking about body images be so contradictive with the images it portrays in other articles about famous, skinny models?

            Reading this article reminded me of a research paper that I did on Barbie and why they changed the structure of the doll. Makers of Barbie thought that the skinny shape of the doll affected the way young girls viewed their bodies. The previous Barbie’s measurements on a full sized person would have been extreme and very unproportional. The new Barbie doll has more realistic measurements for a normal sized woman.

            As a child growing up, I was never insecure about my body because of the way Barbie looked. I admit, I thought she was gorgeous, but never did it make me want to change the way I looked. If the public had such an issue with Barbie and there was a change made, why hasn’t the media changed the way that models look? There are too many women and adolescent girls who have some sort of an eating disorder because of how society portrays how a woman should look with extremely skinny models. How many eating disorders will be enough to make society stop showing skinny young models?

The Promise of Sociology

“The first fruit of this imagination—and the first lesson of the social science that embodies it—is the idea that the individual can understand his own experience and gauge his own fate only by locating himself within his period, that he can know his own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances. In many ways it is a terrible lesson; in many ways it is a magnificent one.” (para 9)

            This large quote is a very bold statement and hopefully true of the select few Ohio State Football players that decided to trade their hard earned medallions for various services. To me, doing this kind of act shows that they have no respect for not only their team, but also what Ohio State stands for. Ohio State is a well known school with high standards for admission as well as for athletics.

I can remember watching Terrelle Pryor play in the Navy Game and giving both Michigan and Ohio State fans a fit with him switching back and forth between both teams. He was so proud that day that he finally got to reveal his team of choice. What happened to that pride? How could such a talented athlete lose sight of what he worked so hard for to represent?

Pryor is not the only athlete on the team that made this mistake. It is unfortunate that he is the one that is getting most of the heat from the media, though he represents a huge part of the program at Ohio State. I am sure that this group of boys is not the first group to have done such an unthinkable thing, but as a whole, I hope that they are learning from their mistakes and that something like this does not happen again in the future. That other may learn from their mistakes so history does not repeat itself.

“In many ways it is a terrible lesson; in many ways it is a magnificent one.” How true this statement is. It is a terrible lesson to learn for the boys in question, but a magnificent one because Ohio State football is such a widely known program, that it is getting a great deal of media attention so that other athletes do not do this in the future.

Who I Am

My name is Kallie Hitchings. I am a graduate student majoring in Kinesiology in the school of HMSLS. I completed my undergraduate degree here in Exercise Science.

As you can see from the picture, this is my brother. He obviously loves me so much... We are twins and he has recently moved to North Carolina for a job opportunity in Criminal Justice. He also has an undergraduate degree from Bowling Green.

I really enjoy watching college football games with Bowling Green and Ohio State being my favorite teams, in that order. I feel that the Ohio State team has a classy program, all though there is much to be desired with the issues now. I also love BG football not only because I am a student here, but also because my cousin has played on the team. Other than college football, I am not up to date with other sports. My hope is that this Sport and Society class will update my knowledge of sports and give me more of a drive to keep up with historical sporting events such as the Olympics and the World Cup.

My ultimate goal is to work with childhood obesity. Ever since I was in grade school, I began to notice the choices of food that kids made at lunch and also how big those kids were. From this statement, it seems like I would be a Dietetics major, but I have found that I enjoy human movement more than studying foods. I would really like to focus my research in this are, though I am not sure if I would like to do a project or a thesis. I am leaning more towards a thesis so I can still have the opportunity to get my PhD in the future.

As I stated in class, I am not very competent in sports. I have not played many, nor do I understand the rules. The biggest concern I have for taking this class is that I will not understand what others are talking about in class. My hope is that taking this class will help me take interest in watching and learning about sports. Being able to understand sports more might help me with a potential thesis with children, or using sports to keep children, as well as adults, exercising without them realizing it.