The Finish Line

I can't believe we've been through an entire semester already! First, let me start by saying that I really enjoyed content presented in the class as well as the dynamics of the people in the class. I feel like the environment was comfortable, allowing for interesting discussion and personal stories/experiences.

I think what I learned most is the importance and value of the experiences of others and how those experiences can shape the individual. The epiphany assignment really facilitated the learning of this lesson for me. It is easy to listen to someone tell a story but reading their words and being able to feel their emotion is completely different. So I guess you can say the epiphany assignment was my favorite assignment. It helped me grow as a writer in a way I didn't think I ever would. While I'm still not the best writer, I definitely feel more confident in being able to show someone a story and not just tell them the facts.

The topics that resonated most with me were the issues related gender. I am very passionate about the advancement of female athletics, specifically when it comes to female athletes being considered lesser athletes to their male counterparts. I think sport is the perfect stage to celebrate accomplishments of both men and women, without having to compare which category is better.

While I have not been consistent with my blogging habits, I have gained an appreciation for the process. Voicing my opinions in such a public format was very intimidating to me at the beginning of the semester. I feel more comfortable now, so I do feel like this blog assignment has been successful for me. I also enjoyed reading the blogs of everyone else!

In the future, I hope to work with athletes to improve their psychological skills as well as help them with other issues that may require counseling. The lesson I learned on listening and understanding how experiences can affect someone will help me in my career.

"Athletic Fatness: Forgiving Corpulence in Elite Bodies" by Jamieson, Stringer, & Andrews

I found this article very interesting in that it isn't about the normal issues I associate with weight and sport. Most of the time when I think about weight issues and athletes, I think about body image issues and athletes trying to conform to the socially accepted view of fitness and thinness. However, John Daly and Laura Davies, the overweight athletes in this article show little remorse for their size and athletic ability (Jamieson, Stringer, & Andrews, 2008).

Something I found interesting about this article is was how Daly was able to capitalize from his weight issues through sponsorships from a fast food chain, Dunkin’ Donuts, and a weight loss program, TrimSpa. The authors of the article make a good point that weight programs depend on people like Daly to promote their product and healthy living, while simultaneously depending on fast food corporations to sustain their client base (Jamieson, Stringer, & Andrews, 2008). Davies did not see the same capital gain from her weight issues and larger than life personality but rather was considered to have “personality flaws” (Jamieson, Stringer, & Andrews, 2008, p. 158).

My thoughts about athletes who may be overweight are strictly related to the athletes overall physical health and psychological wellbeing. When it comes to performance, it is clear from this article and the two athletes discussed, you can be successful and overweight. What I think is most important is for the athlete to be healthy enough for competition and do not have any body image issues that could result in dangerous behavior, like eating disorders.

"The IOC Grapples with Olympic Sex Testing" by Meg Handley

Gender verification in the Olympics is a very interesting topic. The rationale behind gender verification is to level the playing field by seeking out competitors attempting to compete in the wrong classification, specifically males competing as females. The Stockholm Consensus, the IOC's policy towards transgender athletes competing, while flawed still promotes the inclusion of transgender athletes in the sport world. My problems with sex testing are that it is only done with women (I was not able to find any reports of a male being tested because they looked too much like a woman) and gender is almost impossible to classify as it can relate to psychological, physical, and genetic characteristics of an individual. Handley (2010) pointed out that several athletes only learn of genetic differences that are being classified as disorders of sex development and a medical condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome when they undergo sex testing. This can be devastating to an athlete who is being told they are not the gender they have grown up and lived as. If only some female athletes are going to be required to undergo sex testing because of their looks, let’s make it fair and test ALL athletes male and female, so we can make sure no one is being taken advantage of, not just us poor females.

The following link is to a documentary about Michelle Dumaresq, a male to female transgender professional mountain bike racer. What was most interesting to me about this film was how her relationships with her “friends” changed from when she wasn’t considered a professional and when she was granted professional status.

100% Woman - Michelle Dumaresq

"Think Again" by John Hoberman

After reading John Hoberman's (2008) article, I began to wish I hadn't. Hoberman identified several faults of the Olympics and IOC. These faults include political games that influence the decision of the host city, lack of protection and promotion of human rights, the financial depletion of the host city, and the overall corruption of the IOC (Hoberman, 2008). While I agree that it is important to raise awareness of the faults of such a huge stage for the sport world and world in general, I can't help but wish I was able to be naive. I feel like a kid finding out Santa isn't real but just a fun tale. However, the idea of Santa lives on because people choose to keep the tradition alive. So brining this back to the Olympics, instead of focusing on the negative and how messed up the games and IOC are, what are possible solutions? I will gladly do whatever it takes to be able to keep my childlike belief in the grandeur of the Olympics. The Olympics were designed with lofty goals in mind but giving up in the face of adversity goes against all Olympic values. I truly believe the games can be what they were intended for, an event of peace and athletic celebration; it just might take a while.

The LPGA

In class a couple weeks ago, there was a discussion about a rule in the LPGA requiring all athletes to be able to speak English. The rule was said to be the result of a lack of communication between several tour players, a considerable amount who are Asian, and sponsors. The discussion within class made me think about other possible reasons the LPGA would create such a rule, and something that stuck out to me was the use of this rule as a scare tactic. By requiring those athletes who cannot speak English to learn or suffer the consequences, which originally were talked as being fines or suspensions, successful athletes had more to worry about than their English speaking counterparts. After looking up more information on this topic from the LPGA website, http://www.lpga.com/, I was able to find information on the KOLON-LPGA Cross-Cultural Professional Development Program. This program was developed to "offer educational and cross-cultural training for all members" (LPGA). There are topics such as learning a new language and cross-cultural interactions discussed on the webpage. This program seems to be a better alternative because it encourages all tour members to learn about the different cultures that make up this international organization. However, it seems the LPGA needs to take more care with how it responds to diversity. Another example would be the recent controversy regarding the rule stating to be a member of the LPGA tour you must be born female. Although overturned in 2010, it was not until a lawsuit was filed and a threat of losing the ability to play tournaments in the state of California, did the LPGA begin to address the rule. While it appears the LPGA is moving in the direction of creating a more diverse and culturally friendly environment, these changes should be made because it's the right thing to do and not because of a lawsuit.

"Tiger In The Rough" by Buzz Bissinger

As a sport fan and golfer, I can agree with the feeling of disappointment conveyed in Bissinger's (Feb. 2010) article about the short comings of Tiger Woods. Although I feel like my direct feelings towards Tiger are more of sadness and compassion, unlike the remarks made within the article. Tiger Woods is more than an athlete, he is human. As humans, we make mistakes and it is a well known fact that no one is perfect. However, when in the public eye, athletes transcend the normal expectations and become role models. It would be nice to expect all athletes to be perfect role models but is that a reasonable expectation to have? Tiger Woods truly seemed to be a 'perfect' role model until recent events proved otherwise. Now, fans and the sport world have shunned and judged him for his acts. Feelings of disapproval for Tiger's actions I can agree with but the harsh judgment of another human being for their problems and short comings, I cannot support.
One line that caught my attention "...it is hard not to conclude that the only reason he got married was to burnish that precious image even more, family man..." (paragraph 25), really took me by surprise. With his remark, Bissinger is challenging the feelings Tiger has for his family in a completely unacceptable way by implying that Tiger's family was a sham to boost his image. Mr. Bissinger's statement is not only targeting Tiger but also his ex-wife and two young children. What can be gained from a statement such as this except emotional damage for a family already in shambles? It seems to me this article by Buzz Bissinger is a childish outrage with no purpose other than taking the opportunity to scrutinize and judge another human being because that is what Tiger Woods is, human.

"The Asianization of America" by Olivia Barker

What I like about this article is that it addresses both areas of improvement in the recognition and acceptance of the Asian culture but also recognizes the need for improvement. This need for improvement to me stood out the most in the author's description of how Asian culture may be more 'romanticized' in American than actually authentically represented. Personally I feel like America has a history of ‘romanticizing’ cultures into what we want. There is no doubt in my mind that Americans are trendy. We enjoy being a 'cool' and 'in-style' society; however, it is essential that efforts be made to not trivialize the culture our trends may stem from. Reading articles like this really makes me think about my own actions and how I need to be aware of how they are perceived. The article discussed the movie industry and that although Eastern films are being shown more frequently in America, there is still this overarching theme of Americanizing these films. Also described in the article, was the need for Asian-American actors to be able to perform martial arts and speak with an Asian accent if they wanted to be able to be greatly successful in the movie industry. I feel like the most important message to take away from this article is that the blending of cultures and style is perfectly acceptable, as long as the ‘blending’ is emphasized. The point at which the blended product becomes equivalent to authenticity, is when a serious revision of thought processes needs to begin.