Final Thoughts

With this being my last blog post of the semester, I figured I should just discuss some thoughts I've had during the course of this class. To begin with, I had no idea how many ethical issues we have in sports today when I first started this class. We basically learned the following:

• America is fat.
• Athletes are still doping.
• Female athletes are starting to look like male athletes.
• Football might be getting too dangerous.

Of course we went into way more detail than just four bulleted points. But these were the main ideas. Watching Supersize Me showed us the horrible effects of an unhealthy lifestyle. Talking about performance enhancing drugs informed us that unethical behavior is starting to deviate from the norm so much as to athletes are forced to conform. Seeing pictures of Lenda Murphy versus Katie Stam showed us the extremely large range of acceptable physical appearances. And finally, hearing about CTE and the punch drunk syndrome informed us that football has been proven to be awful for one's health in the long run. It is amazing to see what the world of sports is struggling with these days. And we know there will be even more problems in the years to come. 

So the other night I was sitting on my couch, flipping back and forth between the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and college basketball games. Hello, epiphany. Despite all of these problems in sports today, there are a large number of us that aren't affected by any of it. I'm an athletic female college student who can live in a world where it is acceptable to watch a fashion show and a basketball game in one night. Of course I have opinions about ethical behavior in sports and how things should be done. But in the end, you have to be able to look at the positive sides. 

Sports at all levels today are very competitive, provide entertainment, and provide opportunities for all ages. We should be thankful for what it has given us to this day. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to take this class and learn about what we are dealing with. It will be very interesting to see how everything pans out in the next 50 years.

Cam for Heisman

Here's the super short story of Cam Newton.

Committed to the University of Florida---arrested for stealing and obstruction of justice--kicked out.

Transferred to Blinn JuCo---ranked number one quarterback in JuCo's.

Transferred to Auburn University---competing for an SEC championship.

This kid has come a long way. After facing all of these felony charges and now this eligibility controversy? He participated in unethical behavior early in his college career but soon learned that it is not acceptable. He has completely turned his life around. He realized that attending an elite academic school while also competing at a division I university for football is what is important to him. And you can clearly see his transformation in his stats for this year in college football. Ranked #2 in the BCS and playing for an SEC championship. Not to mention he's won plenty of individual awards over the past 3 years. He has single-handedly turned his life around and for that, I commend. So I end this post by saying:

Cam for Heisman

Bron Bron

Okay, so I have been waiting for this moment all season: when Lebron and the Heat play at Cleveland. To start off this post, I AM A HUGE LEBRON FAN. Say what you will, but the man is a legend and ultimately he made the best personal decision by moving to Miami.

So last night was the Cavs/Heat matchup. There has been story after story on ESPN all week about this. What will happen? Who will win? How are the Cleveland fans going to treat "the former King James"? I was watching Outside the Lines this week and they were discussing a fan page that was created by Cavs fans about what they planned to do during the game. They listed things such as burning his jersey, chanting, yelling profanities when he touched the ball, etc.

How is this considered ethical behavior? This is a topic that hits me hard because I honestly have no idea how this is accepted. Sure, Lebron maybe might have over-exaggerated his switch to Miami, but really? This is how you respond? This legend made his mark in Cleveland, was the reason people cheered for the Cavs. By the sales of just his jersey alone, he single-handedly improved the Cleveland economy. Y'all are just upset because your best player decided to do what was best for him and move to a team that he can actually play with and not just for.

And also, Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cavs. The letter he published to Cleveland fans after Lebron made the switch? Come on, man. This action was just plain classless. You should be focused on what the next step is instead of starting a riot against the best player in the NBA. It amazes me how so much unethical behavior can come out of a single situation, especially from people high up in the organization.

These people need to move on. Maybe if you would have drafted some players to actually help out Lebron at Cleveland, then he wouldn't have left. We all know that he is a great player but it is impossible for one player to win a championship alone. He needed to be somewhere that he could rely on some teammates to help him out. Lebron will ALWAYS be a King in my eyes.

Is football an option for our kids?

In one of our discussion sections, we talked about how dangerous sports have become over the past years. It has gotten to the point where parents today are keeping their children from playing starting at early ages. Some students in class talked about how their high school sport injuries had kept them from competing at the next level. Too many concussions, blew out their knee, etc. So many horrible accidents are coming from an activity that we all love to do.

I had a similar experience. I played varsity soccer at Lake Travis High School, a 4A powerhouse that made it to the state finals my junior year. I also played simultaneously for Lonestar Soccer Club on the second team year-round. This is a lot of soccer and I loved every minute of it; however, it might have been a little too much. After suffering from a huge knee injury, I had to decide whether reconstructive surgery would be worth it. I very much had the potential to play in college but after seeing the dangers of any and all sports, I had to decide to just focus on my academics and play soccer on the side for fun. This was a heartbreaking decision for me. Soccer had been my life every since I was 4 years old. Although it might not have been something I was excited about giving up, it ended up being the right choice. I am currently super healthy and injury-free while still being able to play intramural soccer.

These types of situations are crucial to examine because they could make or break your future as well as your health.

Collegiate Sports - Week 11

In one of the last weeks of lecture, we discussed a topic that we could easily relate to: collegiate sports. As students at one of the most elite schools in the nation, we take our collegiate sports very seriously.

We take so much pride in the abilities of our sports teams here at the University of Texas. I actually talked about this same topic in my sport sociology class. Our professor asked us how our college experience would be different at UT if we didn't have sports. Most, if not all of us, responded "we wouldn't even be at this university if there were no varsity sports." Personally, I chose to come here because of our strong athletics program. Of course I also wanted a terrific education but our football team was a huge decision-making factor when deciding where I was going to go to college. 

Every athletic department has their own mission statement to inform student-athletes, the university community, and the citizens of the state of Texas what they value. As we progress into the future, we become more focused on graduating our athletes. This is a positive step in the right direction. It is understood that there will be athletes who are good enough to make it to the next level professionally and won't necessarily "need" to graduate; however, there are top universities everywhere that are encouraging these athletes to finish. This looks great for the graduation success rate and academic progress rate. 

Vince Young is a great example for this. He is a tremendous athlete that was more than capable of making his sport into a professional career. Although he took this route, somewhere along the path he realized that an education is a very important thing to have; therefore, he came back to UT and finished out his degree. 

Violence Sport - Week 10

Have sports become too violent today that we have been forced to question the ethics of the game? We've gotten to a point where we fight precious animals in order to win bets and become competitive. To me, this is completely ridiculous. How has this become acceptable and how is it appropriate in certain cultures:

Personally, I am a huge fan of Michael Vick (his athletics side, of course). I don't judge his personal actions when I'm cheering for him on Sundays; however, when I think about all of his unethical behavior, I can't help but become less of a fan. It is just ridiculous to me how people can deviate so far from cultural norms. By underconforming, Vick ignored the rules and therefore suffered the consequences.

Recent studies of collegiate football players showed an association between multiple concussions and reduced cognitive performance, prolonged recovery, and the increased likelihood of subsequent concussions. These blood sports and violent behavior violate the ethical principles of beneficence and justice. Sport becomes a form of war and forces you to objectify yourself. It will be interesting to see how much more (or less) violence in sport will become in the next 50 years.

Sports and the Cold War - Week 9

We had a guest lecturer this week, Dr. Hunt. He did a great job of informing us about the world of sports during the Cold War. The main point that caught my attention is whether or not we should focus on mass fitness or elite competitiveness. Physical inactivity had started to become a huge problem because there were many young Americans who failed to pass the military fitness test. Also, the Kraus-Weber tests portrayed how unhealthy America is. There were 60% of US children who failed this test whereas Europe only had 9% fail.

John F. Kennedy became very interested in this and decided to fix the problem. He chose to enforce the idea of mass fitness aka start from the bottom and work our way up. By encouraging everyone to do at least the minimum amount of physical activity, we would be able to work towards elite competitiveness. I completely agree with this theory. By implementing a simple exercise program, we can start with younger generations and hopefully increase the health and well-being of our future.