Interrogating inequalities in Sports Media: Examining gender representation at The University of Colorado

Sports do not provide an 'even' playing field for all athletes. Certain races, genders, and social groups have been privileged regarding sport throughout history -- namely, white males. White males hold hold a certain status in the eye of the viewer, leaving them with substantially less obstacles to overcome in sports than say an African American woman, or women in general. Additionally, even if different races or gender are successful in their sport, they are often underrepresented. In this blog post I will be examining the underrepresentation of women in sports media at the University of Colorado within the past two weeks.

When looking at the University of Colorado Athletics website it is clear that is is absolutely DOMINATED by men and men's sports. The first three pictures on the website were the following:

Men's basketball, men in a position of power, and even a crowd consisting of predominantely male students. There was also an advertisment on the left with a picture of a male basketball player to buy tickets to a men's basketball game, and an advertisement to buy Colorado athletic gear from the book store and the ad pictured only men's clothing. The only trace of women or women's sport on the entire homepage was a small link to an article about women's lacrosse. I see the men's basketball team has games against ASU and Arizona coming up, but what about the women's team? They are no where to be found on this main page and aren't they ranked higher than the men? 

I then took to Twitter and checked out the Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs). It is also evident that a majority of the tweets in the past two weeks are about mens sports, however, there were a lot of tweets about the women's lacrosse team who had their first game EVER last week. That was a big deal and did get a lot of attention both from the account and from the University, but outside of that the account is dominated by men's sports. There were several recent retweets from the Colorado Football twitter, a sport that is not even in season, but still none recently from any women's teams. 

It is obvious the men's sports reign supreme at the University of Colorado, and this is a reflection of greater society as a whole. However, you can't blame media outlets for covering more men's sports than women's when that is what the people they are trying to appeal to want to see. Maybe covering them more would help gain interest, but I still think people would be more interested in men's sports. Rather, there needs to be a shift in thinking or some kind of movement that can generate more interest around women's sports. 

Reflecting on the Shame of College Sports: Should NCAA Div 1 Basketball and Football players get paid?

According to Fair and Foul, Big time college sports are a contradiction because they severely compromise academic integrity. Schools spend more money on scholarships for athletes than they do for financial aid for scholars. Education of inadequately prepared athletes is a daunting task as athletes in big time sports programs are more than 200 points behind the average student on SATs. The higher ranked the school, the lower the grades and academic standards for athletes. 30-40% of athletes are allowed to be let in at a lower academic standard. Different admission standards for students vs. student-athletes. The Alabama Coach even admits that these young men are 'athlete-students' as opposed to 'student-athletes.' The overarching contradiction is that we have organized a commercial entertainment activity within an educational environment, and in the process we have compromised educational goals. 

However, some would argue that compromising these educational goals for a small percentage of students is worth it since these students in turn, benefit the university tremendously in other ways. College football and basketball are a big business and if universities want to stay relevant they must rise to the occasion and compete. Since they cannot do this without their athletes, I believe that athletes are one of, if not THE biggest asset a Division I university has. For that reason, I believe that college athletes should be paid.

The Time Article - Is itTime to Pay College Athletes?  asks why a player worth so much to his school, town, and college football brand shouldn't be able to sell his autograph for money just like any other celebrity? -- regarding Johnny Manziel. Adrien Peterson also added a comment where he said he cant believe college athletes still can’t sell their autographs for money, or make any money for their performance in college football. NFL rules prohibit players like Manziel from going to the NFL, so instead these players continue to make more money for the university, and none for themselves.  If college football operated under the same business model as the NFL, college football players could make up to $225,000 each per year. However, the only money they make is that of their scholarship -- which is revokable if they don’t perform well on the field. The money instead goes to the university or college town. Football season brings in $86 million/ year and Texas A&M. 

We have this socially constructed notion that college athletes shouldn't be paid, but why? Because that's how it's always been? I challenge that. 

I agree with Taylor Branch in the article The Shame of College Sports that players are exploited and treated as if they are apart of a slave system in a league filled with scandal. Players with immense talent drive millions of dollars into college towns and their respective universities and do not get paid simply because college presidents, athletic directors, and the NCAA decided they would rather keep the money for themselves. I believe that the athlete is the most valuable asset a college has. There are countless instances of an increase in applications after a school has a good football or basketball season. Athletics have the ability to endlessly better an institution in a positive way. 

As the Alabama coach said, athletes are 'athlete-students' who have reported spending twice as much time on athletics than school. We need to stop kidding ourselves that these athletes are at universities to focus mainly on school. I think it's great that athletes have the opportunity to get an education while attending these universities -- except this is not the reason they got into the school, and it's not the main thing they are looking to get out of the school. Not all college athletes will make it to the NFL or NBA, and for those who don't an education is certainly useful. But for the four years they are representing the university, driving in money, sacrificing their body, and passing up other opportunities to compete in sports, I believe they should be paid. A scholarship that can be revoked is simply not enough. 

Sport, Politics and the Olympics

1936 Berlin, Germany -- The Nazi Games

The 1936 Summer Olympic Games held in Berlin, Germany were an event that perpetuated Adolf Hitler's political, racist, and antisemitic agenda, adding to tensions causing World War II and the Holocaust. Germany poured tons of money into facilities and operations to ensure this was a successful event. They also started to use technology at the games, broadcasting on television and radio networks in over 40 different countries. Some of the events of these games included rowing, dressage, track, water polo, swimming and football.

Sage and Eitzen identify five political uses of sport. These include excessive nationalism, use of Olympics as a site of political demonstration and violence, denying some nations the right to partake, nations boycott the games for political reasons, and political organization of the games. All five of these themes were prevalent in the 1936 Summer Olympic Games.

This sense of excessive nationalism is evident in Hitler's political agenda for the game. His political agenda was promoted in subtle ways. He tried to hide violence and racist signs so journalists would report of a peaceful Germany. Instead of swasticas, the country was full of flags and colorful posters and magazines. Most people were unaware that these racist signs were removed. Hitler made sure to show his country in a positive light, and did so by introducing technology to the games and broadcasting this agenda across the world. This allowed him to continue to promote his political agenda without suspicion. It was all a cover up. He wanted everyone to think that Germany was the best country in the world.

Denying some nations the right to partake is seen when Hitler tried to enforce a rule that African Americans and Jewish people (or really, all 'non-aryans) could not compete in the games. This caused individuals and nations such as the United States, France, and Sweden among others to boycott the games for political reasons.

People and entire teams threatened not to come to Hitler's Olympic Games that summer, so Hitler was eventually pressured to relent and let African American and Jewish people compete in the Olympics.

Germany won the games that year with 33 Gold Medals trumping the United States 24 Gold medals and Hungary's 10 Gold Medals. Through these Olympic Games, Germany was able to assert itself as a powerful nation.

This website has a lot of good information about the Nazi Games. 

I disagree with the statement "Sport is pure and devoid of political interference." I would attest to the opposite -- Sport is far from pure and actually full of political interference not only in the 1936 Olympic Games but still today. Sport is corrupt and reflective of society as a whole -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. In the

Just as people used the 1936 Games to promote political ideas, it is still being done today. There is much fear in attending the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia -- it is the most feared Olympic Games to date. According to this article terrorists have planned attacks in the past during the Olympics, including in 1972 Munich when Palestinian terrorists broke into the Olympic village and kidnapped and killed members of the Israeli team. This games could be worse, it argues, as there is threats for a mass attack.

So, to ignore these things and say that sports are pure is false. Those Palestinian attacks were done to show political interference; a way for people, countries, religions, groups to push their own interests and assert dominance whether it be peacefully or through fear.