2. SPORTS MEDIA
Media system -> PUBLIC conversations about values -> human
relationships
-Technologies -1. What we imagine
-Owned-infrastructures is possible for ourselves
through which we engage
with content -2. What the world brings
to our doorstep.
3. What is the role of sports in society?
Historically:
It teaches us who we are.
-What values and skills we should have
-Where we are from and
what group we belong to
It is fun; sports entertain us.
4. What is the role of sports in society?
Today:
- It still teaches us values, skills and who we belong to
- But today, sports are also global and corporate media spectacles
5. Do not forget: Sports are BIG BUSINESS today.
In 2013 a 30 second Superbowl ad will cost 4 million dollars.
6. Sport is a part of society as both an educational fixture
and an entertainment enterprise. Sport forms part of
human and social development; it can contribute to social
cohesion, tolerance and integration and is an effective
physical and socio-economic development. As a
channel for
universal language, sport can be a powerful medium for
social and economic change: it can be
utilized to bridge cultural gaps,
resolve conflict and educate people in
ways that very few activities can.
7. “Sport can educate people in ways that very few
activities can.”
If this is true, what do they teach us:
The Good:
-Teamwork -Loyalty/Nationalism
-Leadership
-Integrity
The Bad:
-Violence (How to go to war)
-Racism
-Sexism
10. Not only are we watching a lot of sports live (a macro-social
endeavor), increasingly, we are interacting more on an inter-
personal level as well.
14. We are learning from athletes through
inter-personal connections via
Twitter/Facebook
“They are golfers. It’s an individual sport and I feel like I know
them better than other athletes. Also, it doesn’t seem that
they’re just using it for propaganda or to make themselves
look better. They’re actually trying to connect with the people
watching them.”
15. “I follow these people solely because they are my
favorite athletes.”
“I also follow former athletes or sports analysts (Adam Schefter,
Desmond Howard). I follow all of the pro leagues, my favorite
teams, and SportsCenter which constantly retweet the best of
the athletes' tweets anyway.”
16.
17. Back to our starting point: What do sports teach us today?
The good:
Leadership
Teamwork
Integrity
Loyalty/Nationalism
21. The bad:
Violence, or how to go to war
“O’er the ramparts we
watched, were so
gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red
glare, the bombs
bursting in air”
24. "It's for us to be role models," said
Celtic FC goalkeeper Fraser Forster.
"There are millions of people
watching football worldwide, and it's
important that we get that point
across:
No matter your religion, nationality or
skin color, you all pull on the same
shirt with one common goal”
Thousands of fans at stadiums
throughout the continent and
millions of television viewers
watching from home were given the
message loud and clear.
Racism in soccer documentary:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2CX5633olM&feature=related
Monuments to Egyptian Pharaohsdating to around 2000 BC[15] indicate that a number of sports, including wrestling, weightlifting, long jump, swimming, rowing, shooting, fishing[14] and track, as well as various kinds of ball games, were well-developed and regulated in ancient Egypt. Other Egyptian sports included javelin throwing, high jump, and wrestling.[16] An earlier portrayal of figures wrestling was found in a tomb dating to around 2400 BC.Shrovetide ball games have been played in England since at least the 12th century. One of the most popular origin theories suggests the macabre notion that the 'ball' was originally a severed head tossed into the waiting crowd following an execution.[5] No evidence exists to support this improbable story. Here’s a poem from 1683 about the playing of “local derbys” in England:Two towns, that long that war had ragedBeing at football now engagedFor honour, as both sides pretend,Left the brave trial to be ended
16 billion dollars. If we were to take this number times 1000 (a relatively small number), we would have the amount of the US national debt: currently around 16 trillion dollars.
So, money is always infused in the process when we talk about sports and media. It can be somewhat overwhelming though, so I’m going to dig into some of the more social aspects and results of our engagement with sports.
These are just some things sports teach us. These are a few of the things we will be talking about today.
First though, this is a class on media, right? So how do media impact our experience of sports today?This, by the way, is a picture taken in Berlin during the most recent Euro cup. All of these people gathered to watch the German team play on these huge public screens.Sports are one of the only things we still watch live today. We have DVRs that allow us to timeshift now in ways we couldn’t before. 30 years ago, everyone watched everything at the same time. There were only a few channels and everyone watched shows when they aired. If you weren’t home or had plans, you missed the show. That was it. Today, that is not the case. We can watch things whenever we want. Sports, however, are not fun to watch after the fact. It’s increasingly difficult, today, to DVR a game and watch it later without finding out who won. NBC did not get this in their coverage of the olympics last summer. They tape-delayed much of the things people wanted to watch, so that they could be aired during American prime time but people mostly already knew the outcomes- whether michealphelps won gold or the women’s gymnasts medaled, etc. The experience of watching something live is made special by the fact that you know a great many other people are watching the same thing you are at the same time. There’s a community ,or social aspect about it that makes it different from consuming other kinds of media today. When we all watch together, maybe we think we are all learning the same things from sports??
Just to give you an idea of how many people are tuning in at the same time, here are ratings from a few recent mainstream sporting events.
Participating in fantasy sports puts us in the center of the sporting experience, instead of the athletes who train and master their profession- risking their bodies and suffering injuries, putting in long hours, etc.
The top two stats are from 2009.
So, at least for me, this raises a few new ethical concerns. From a pretty young age [I mean put yourselves in the shoes of these athletes] we are looking to athletes to teach us life lessons. Perhaps, we’re asking them to do too much?“They are golfers. It’s an individual sport and I feel like I know them better than other athletes. Also, it doesn’t seem that they’re just using it for propaganda or to make themselves look better. They’re actually trying to connect with the people watching them.” The athletes my friends pointed me to seem to be pretty upstanding people. They talk about God, christianity, being a father and philanthropy along with their sport.
Beth
All of these people, seem like pretty lovely people. What happens though when these athletes make mistakes? Lance Armstrong – tweeted a recent picture of himself in his championship Tour de France jerseys after his titles have been revoked due to doping. LoLo Jones, an American track athlete makes a mistake and challenges a paraplegic to a foot race.VoulaPapachristou was kicked off the Greek olympic team for making a racist “joke.”And in 2009, I’m not sure this went viral due to Twitter, we all remember the photo of the most decorated olympic athlete of all time – Michael Phelps-- taking a hit off of a bong.
Ask: what was the controversy here? There was a debate about whether Guillen was fired after only one year because he had respect for Fidel Castro (he was suspended for 5 games because of these comments) or whether is was the lack of wins that resulted in his firing.
NYC marathon runners: another situation where our collective values are discussed and established. What is more important running a race or helping people who need help?
Depending on your political views, you may, of course, think it is important for us to be able to train people emotionally to be able to go into battle and fight in international conflicts on the part of our government. And certainly, it has been the case in the past that, veterans have fought for and died in their fights for very important causes. Sports, especially youth sports, help train people to sacrifice their bodies in order to accomplish a common goal. Have you ever wondered why the national anthem is played before and after sporting events? http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-06-07/sports/30082666_1_goshen-college-instrumental-version-mennonite-church
Johnny carlos & tommy jones- sports has, in some cases, sparked social change. In terms of racism, sports have helped people cross the color barrier.
In many ways, we have learned how to break down racism through sports:1936 Olympics. Jesse Owens won the long jump. A german guy got second and is saluting hitler. "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American baseball player who became the first blackMajor League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era.[1] Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Serena and Venus williams
If we look from a cynical point of view, we can say that expanding opportunities for minorities in sports opens the potential reach of the sport into new markets. In short, it’s a good business move for sports leagues to combat racism.
However, this might not be the case for combating issues of sexism in sports. Before displaying pic: Here’s a little trivia question to illustrate my point. How many of you know who the last professional indiana team was to win a national championship?
Sometimes it is the case that women’s sports are judged not on their athletic ability but on sex appeal.In 2009 Patrick finished 3rd in the Indy 500. Since then, she has not had much success. She even got out of the sport, moving to NASCAR, where she also has not had much success. She is, however a favorite news item for sports media because of her temper and good looks. Despite her relatively humble athletic accomplishments, she is able to make a lot of money for the sport and herself.Anna kournikova has 0 career titles. She’s a reality tv star- retired from tennis and is men’s health top 100 hotest women of all time -- #29.
"There's a double-standard for men and women in sports because men are encouraged to be strong and competitive, but if a woman expresses any interest in sports, she's labeled as butch," said Sudeith, a member of UCLA's club women's water polo team. "There is a homophobic backlash against straight female athletes, and I find it to be pretty ridiculous." Sudeith, like many female athletes, has felt pressure from men to conform to traditional stereotypes and stop playing sports. It's a predicament that some female athletes have encountered both at UCLA and other schools, especially on teams like softball, basketball and water polo, which are commonly associated with lesbians. "There are two types of female student-athletes: those who are lesbian but don't want anyone to know, and those who are straight and feel like they have to prove they aren't homosexual," said RonniSanlo, director of UCLA's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center. "The perception is that they are all lesbian." Last month, the IOC initiated a review process to test for endogenous testosterone levels in women in the wake of South African runner Caster Semenya’s explosive gold-medal performance in the 800-metre race at the 2009 world championships. Semenya’s victory led to widespread accusations she wasn’t female, as critics attacked her unusually muscular body and deep voice. Stanford University anthropologist Katrina Karkazis said the policy would attempt to regulate how female bodies are supposed to look in athletics, a problem that already manifests itself in women’s sports through dress and codes of conduct. “We’re worried (the policy) is going to create gender witch hunts,” Karkazis said. “It feeds into the problematic idea that some women are too masculine and shouldn’t be competing.”The International Association of Athletics Federations, track and field’s governing body, implemented similar tests in May 2011.
