The Athletic Director's Dilemma: $$$ and Women's Sports

As we continue our reading on Title IX we come to a journal article titled, “The Athletic Director's Dilemma: $$$ and Women's Sports.” This article discusses different aspects of being a college athletic director and some issues athletic directors face. In this article Kennedy introduces the Kennedy Index; which is a formula used to measure the rankings of colleges and conferences in compliance with Title IX. It’s actually a very interesting process that produced some figures I did not expect.

Basically in a nutshell this article talks about how the big time schools with the big time revenue don’t really rank to high when it comes to compliance with Title IX; in fact the big time conferences like the SEC and the Big 12 rank in the bottom 10. The six BCS conferences are ranked extremely high in revenue among all collegiate conferences; most due to their basketball and football programs. Some BCS schools argue that the revenue from their big time basketball and football programs help them support other athletic teams; which can be a questionable statement because Ivy League schools have a greater number of male and female teams on average, with thirty per school (Kennedy, 2006). I consider those big time schools to be cash cows when it comes to their basketball and football programs. The amount of expense these conferences have makes it extremely difficult to comply with Title IX, when you have coaches making 30 to 40 million dollars (ex. Charlie Wies) its hard to but money back into other smaller sports programs.

I think that the BCS conferences should put forth more effort in attempting to be in compliance with Title IX, it is no reason Ivey League schools should have the highest number of female and male teams. As women sport progresses over the years hopefully the playing field between men and women will even out, until then women sport has to continue to make strides onward and upward.

Beating men opened doors for athletes

The article that I have chosen to discuss today is “Beating men opened doors for athletes.” The author, Tucker, discusses the evolution of women in sports and famous groundbreaking moments for women in sports.  The women’s athletic movement began in the 1970’s with Billie Jean King’s famous “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, and continues today with female athletes like Candace Parker,  Annika Sorenstam, and Danica Patrick. 

Women sports in America have come a long way in my short time on earth; I still remember the summer the WNBA was launched.  With that being said I don’t thing it is neither fair nor possible to compare women sports to their male counterparts.  Being an African American male in America, I can directly relate to women and their attempt to break through the coaching, managing, and team ownership barrier.  No matter how drastically sport has changed over the years the front office seems to stay the same, still dominated by white males.  Women and every other demographic group for that nature take a back seat to white males when it comes to collegiate head coaches and athletic directors.   As Tucker puts it, “leadership is not a gender issue; it is a reflection of education, experience and a propensity for the work” (Tucker, 2008).  I couldn’t agree more with this statement.  Athletic director’s work in the office, they don’t have to tackle, pass, block, dribble, or kick.  Their sole responsibility is to make sure the day-to-day operations of the University and its student-athletes goes according to plain.  In my eyes and probably a lot of other males; sports and males have always had a positive correlation which makes it difficult to let a women lead an aspect of our society that most notably associated with men. 

The great thing about this article is that women are making progress, the percentage of women AD’s is up to 21.3% (Tucker, 2008).  Each day sport as a whole evolves into something many never thought it would become.  I could invasions a future where WNBA players would be paid on par with their NBA counterparts, and maybe even a Co-ed all-star game between the two.  

Violence, Fighting, and Masculinity

Violence, Fighting, and Masculinity

Gruneau and Whistson’s article, “Hockey night in Canada” from the book, “Violence, fighting, and masculinity,” discusses a very controversial issue of violence in hockey.  The article touches on the theories behind violence in hockey and how the game permits violence and even encourages it.  The physical aspects of hockey within the rules of the games sort of promotes fighting and violence.  As stated in the article, “Fist fighting becomes a safety valve that helps to preclude more dangerous attacks with sticks” (Gruneau & Whitson, 1993) which have been a problem in the past.  The most thought provoking element of this article is the concept behind human aggression, which is the catharsis hypothesis.

The first thing that came to mind while reading this article was the incident between Chris Simon and Ryan Hollweg.   At 13:25 of the third period, Rangers forward Ryan Hollweg checked Simon, knocking him face first into the boards. Simon suffered a concussion; no penalties were assessed, and play continued. Simon then struck Hollweg in the face with a vicious blow from his hockey stick. Simon was suspended for 25 games and luckily for Hollweg the blow struck his shoulder pads before it actually hit him in the face to decrease the intensity of the blow.  This incident directly relates to this article and the catharsis hypothesis and what the catharsis hypothesis attempts to prevent. 

The catharsis hypothesis suggests that fighting in sports helps let out aggression in a controlled outlet that if not released can manifest itself in more serious forms of aggression.  I can personally relate to this as a former football player, even though I was never the type of guy that had built up animosity I’ve seen it in other players.  I’ve seen players that just look for an opposing player to hit even sometimes after the whistle.  In my eyes aggression can be looked like as an addictive drug, of course metaphorically, but nonetheless an addictive drug.   According to the catharsis hypothesis, “without this outlet, it is argued, frustration would build up until it erupted in even more violent and dangerous ways,” (Gruneau & Whitson, 1993) my thoughts on this statement are if hockey already allows violent acts within the rule book, why must the rules be broken to take out built up frustration?  At the same time I can understand how opposing players getting under a player’s skin combined with emotions and adrenaline can result in a fight.  The catharsis hypotheses view is that aggression will somehow find a way to express itself in more or less damaging ways, so it might as well express itself in a controlled manner. 

***Introduction***

My name is Nicholas Matthews, however I would prefer that you called me “Nick”.  I am senior majoring in Sports Management with a minor in General Business.  My career goal is to become an athletic director for a Division 1 school.  I plan on obtaining my master’s in Sports Adminstration here at BGSU.   On campus I am a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., National Pan-Hellenic Council, Sports Management Alliance, and Black Student Union. 

 

Sports have always played a major role in my life and my career decisions, especially since I grew up in a small town that worshiped basketball.  I grew up in a town that was sort of like the basketball version of the movie “Friday Night Lights”. My decision to attend BGSU was solely made of the merit of the award winning Sports Management program.  Of course I have the traditional story of wanting to play professional sports as young kid growing up, however I chose the educational path in life and here I am today.  Nonetheless, I was a respectable athlete I played basketball, football, baseball, and track in high school.  I excelled in football, and even had a few scholarship opportunities from a few small football programs in the mid-west area.  Why I turned those scholarships down remains a mystery till this day.

 

Growing up I never thought I would become the man that I am today, I never thought I would be a “Frat Guy”, I never thought I would stop playing sports, I never thought I would even go to college let alone attended BGSU.  It’s amazing how my life turned out and how my life could have turned out; I appreciate every opportunity I’ve obtained and the blessings that I’ve received along the way.   My most memorable sports moment was watching the 2007 NBA Draft.  On of my close friends was drafted by the New York Knicks in the first round with the 22^nd pick Wilson ChandlerThis was an amazing moment for me; I’ve met Zach Randolph, Nate Robinson, and Eddy Curry and been to multiple New York Knick games already.

 

I’m excited for this class and especially for this project, because I love to write and I enjoy sports.  This project is a great opportunity for me I always wanted to have my own blog.  If you are familiar with Gilbert Arenas’ blog on NBA.com he inspired me to pick this topic for my final project. I expect to learn a lot about gender and its reference to sport while achieving success in this class