In conclusion....

Looking back through this class, I feel I have expanded my knowledge on topics brought up upon in Sport and Gender. Some of the topics that I learned further on were such things as the case on Caster Semenya, and the whole issues on intersex. Another topic that I really enjoyed learning about was the topic on people in sport with disabilities. I feel while learning on athletes such as the young boy who was able to play baseball with only one legs, as well as the man who was able to play football with no legs was very moving to me, and it showed that people that are highly goal oriented can do whatever they want to do.
As I stated in my blog presentation, my favorite articles were the ones that dealt with Serena and Venus Williams at Indian Wells. I can say that this was one of my favorite topics because it showed how not only do the Williams sisters have to over come the fact that they potentially can play each other in a match and the racism they encountered at Indian Wells, but they are still sisters that stick together and share compassion about the sport of tennis with each other.
I feel as if blogging for this class not only helped me get all of the thoughts that I had bottled up in my head out to my classmates, but it was also more of a way to help me review what we have talked about in class. Blogs to me were very beneficial to this class because, in class we always ended up in discussions but we were on a time limit, and with these blogs it helped students go home and take this discussion even further.
Overall, I really enjoyed this class and learning on many of the topics revolving around sport and gender. Before this class I knew little about many of the topics and issues we went over in class, and after taking this class I can take the knowledge that I have learned and possibly discuss these issues with future colleagues and friends.

Blog Group Presentation

I feel as if out blog group presentation we gave was not only informative to the class but it was also beneficial for the members of our group to do. I say this because by presenting our information to the class, it gave the people who did papers or journals to see what we had to say in our blogs and why we did blogs. The reason why I feel as if the blog group presentations were beneficial to the members of my group is because when we got together to discuss what we wanted to talk about in our presentation, it gave forth a better understanding of each of our favorite articles. For instance when C.J presented the video on the boys playing on a girls field hockey team, I felt as if this gave me more reasons why boys should be able to play on girls teams as well as girls playing on boys teams. Looking at this issue more in depth you can see that some athletes want to stay in shape and keep their skills at the top of their game. For instance, I could definitely see a boy that plays ice hockey want to play field hockey. The reason is that those two sports are in different seasons, and if there is no boys' field hockey team I do not a problem in him wanting to play on the girls team to keep in shape and keep his stick handling skills. The same goes with girls playing in boys sports. By looking at what another blog group discussed during class on girls playing football such as Holly Mangold, I feel as if they are capable to keep up with the boys then why stop them. Looking back on these presentations, I also think that these presentation were almost like a review session for the exam. The reason I say this is because most groups covered information that we saw on the exam, and these presentations should be kept in future classes to come.

Women athletes can be sexy too

Well, as we have many discussions in class about the topic on women showing off their bodies, I will be giving my opinion on female athletes wanting to model themselves off. First off, as we all know but hate to admit sex does sell, when it comes to marketing off apparel or selling such things as we saw in the Anna Kournikova ad of "Only the ball should bounce" many companies try to incorporate sex into their ads. But other than marketing some women athletes just want to show off their body that people don't usually get to see because they are used to only seeing them in their athletic gear. Take a look for example Danica Patrick, as most of you Danica is a Formula 1 race car driver, not to mention her good looks and racing skills, she is always seen with a helmet and a racing suit on. Well in the last year or so, she has decided to take off here suit and helmet and show off what she actually has under it. She has been recently seen in the infamous "Go Daddy" television commercials trying to act all sexy and getting her feministic appeal up. As well as doing those commercials she has been in many photo shoots showing off her body. I feel that this should not be looked upon as something degrading to women. If a woman athlete wants to show off her body and be sexy I feel like they should.

Doing the unthinkable

Ever since I was eight years old I have played in the Findlay Area Golf Association, otherwise known as FAGA. Throughout my years playing in this league I was always used to just going out and playing 18 holes with my good friends, until my eighth grade year. It was this time when the director of the tournaments, a good family friend of mine came up to me before the pairings were picked and told me there was a young man that was from Brazil playing in his first tournament that day. The director asked me if I would be willing to sacrifice playing with my friends and play with the young man from Brazil. I said "sure, why not". When we got up to the first tee, everyone introduced themselves, and the last person I introduced myself was to Hector, the kid from Brazil. Looking at Hector, you would think he was just a normal kid, just out to play some golf and meet new friends. Everyone hit their first drive, and once we started walking I noticed that Hector walked with somewhat of a limp it appeared as. As I got closed I noticed that both of Hectors legs were prosthetic. After, the round I asked the director what happened and apparently when he was a child, both of his legs were burned so severely in a house fire that they had to be removed. When I heard this I was in shock that he was able to come out and WALK 18 holes with us without any problems or complaints. I feel like athletes with disabilities are amazing people. Not, only are they driven to play sports but they can do it with a disability. Their stories are just breath taking to some, and it shows that with a goal driven mind set people can do anything.

Shaq taking it too far?

Although we watched this is class, here is a quick clip of what I will be talking about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZjr82PgD7w.

After watching that some people may take these comments Shaq made in different ways. People may laugh at that and say it was a funny joke, but some may say that these were very racist comments made towards Yao Ming. Personally, when I saw this I started laughing hysterically. To many Shaq is looked at as being a funny man and has previously made humorous jokes for instance take a look at this press conference where he came back to a joke a reporter made to him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpfIHV7xA-s&feature=related. After watching that you can see that Shaq probably wasn't trying to mean or racist in his comments about Yao Ming. I think people that look at it in a racist way need to loosen up a bit and learn to take a joke. Yeah it may have "crossed the line" but seriously some people just need to take a joke. I mean look at it this way, athletes talk smack all the time to each other and to me that's exactly what Shaq was doing, he was trying to get in the head of Yao, and I'm sure he did a good job of doing it. If they want to settle it, they should settle it on the court.

A magician never reveals his secret...

Until the day of November 7, 1991 no magician would reveal their secret, but then Magic Johnson ended this by revealing his secret of him contracting the HIV virus. For many people this was a shock, because to their knowledge it seemed as if only gay males and drug users were the majority of people to have this deadly virus. But when Magic came out and said that he had contracted the disease not cause he was gay or from drugs but from his sexual contact with many women, this opened the eyes of many. To some Magic is a hero for coming out and revealing his secret because it is not easy for some people to openly come out and say that they have the disease.

I feel like Magic Johnson has a lot of courage to come out and say he has the HIV virus publicly. The reason I feel like he had a lot of courage for doing so, is because when other NBA players had found this out some said they wouldn't want to play against him because they were afraid that by playing with him they could possibly contract the disease from him. Although after he came out with his statement he did retired but in my opinion I feel that those players that say they wouldn't play with him are very ignorant. The reason is that although he has the disease, the only way that he could pass it on to another person is from blood to blood contact, which would be very hard I feel. I would like to say that Magic Johnson is a very inspirational person because to live with this disease is very hard, and he still is a icon to the game of basketball.