Who is Sam Gordon?!

Who is Sam Gordon?!? …Well, Sam Gordon is a nine year old football sensation. Sam is different from your normal peewee football player for the fact that Sam is actually short for Samantha. Gordon gained and attracted many fans and the eyes of high profile NFL individuals for the fact that she was dominating her Salt Lake City youth league consisting of all boys. Her speed and agility was at a completely different level than that of her male peers. She was made a huge sensation from a reel of her being put on Youtube.   Below is a clip of her highlight tape on Youtube.

As she began to gain mass popularity, Sam Gordon was granted the opportunity to become the first female football player to grace the cover of the Wheaties cereal box. NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell actually invited Sam to attend the Super Bowl with him. Her favorite sport is soccer and she hopes to someday play in the World Cup and represent the U.S. to the fullest. Gordon has gained mass notoriety and fame from the youtube clips. She has appeared on Goodmorning America as well as ESPN’s Sportscenter. 

 Sam Gordon’s story is a prime example showcasing the fact that women CAN compete with males in athletics. She has been doing more than just competing, she has been destroying her competition on the field and has extended her talent way further than her teammates and peers. Given the fact that as she gets older, her male counterparts will grow bigger and stronger, she is still not to be taken lightly. There is no telling if her male counterparts will still be able to keep up with her speed.

Sam is a great example for females and is setting a new standard. She is a great inspiration to all girls and women. Girls can play any sport that they want no matter the physicality and should not at all be held back from doing so. I, myself played basketball my whole life and was better than many guys that I played against. I was also faster and a better long jumper than the guys at my school. Being a girl should not be a determining factor in your athletic ability. 

 Excluding girls from certain sports is a form of discrimination and should not be tolerated at all; furthermore, I will not tolerate it myself. Girls can do any sport that a guy can do, and in some cases do them better!
Written by: Janelle Campbell

Football

By: Matt Goryance

As I was reading the article titled, “Football” by Fields it started off briefly describing the history of the game. Stuff like how it is very important in the United States because we believe to have invented it ourselves, and the fierce rivalries that used to take place between ivy league schools in the first contests of football. We discussed all these things in great detail in History and Philosophy of sport. The article then went on to describe Title IX and the Equal Rights Amendment but what I read that really got me thinking was when it said people who wanted to exclude girls from this sport, and most likely others too, took one of three stances on the issue; “the girls would be hurt, girls’ athletic programs would be hurt, and the game of football would be hurt” (Fields, 2005, p. 37).

I started to think of our discussion in class about how it could possibly hurt girls’ athletic programs because I had never thought of that before but it makes sense. If girls all wanted to play with the boys because they saw it as more of a challenge they wouldn’t want to play in the WNBA they would be striving to be the one or two girls that were able to compete in the NBA and it could potentially hurt their programs. But when it comes to a sport like football where they really don’t have their own program I’m not sure it could hurt, but then that got me thinking if there would ever be enough interest from girls, and even if there was enough interest, if people would ever make a girls football team in high schools and what not. Since things like the LFL are on TV now and they are thinking of changing the name to make it more serious, and other contact sports like women’s boxing was even in the Olympics this year, I was wondering if anyone thought that someday girls would have their own football teams in junior highs or high schools and if they should.

Should Women be allowed to play Football?

By: Taylor Cook

This was a topic that we covered in class that I felt I could really relate to. While I was playing midget, Jr. High and High School football I always had at least one girl who participated on the team. I was always taught when playing to treat the girls who were on the team like everyone else, but not to get to aggressive with them because they are girls. I never quite understood this until I got to high school and saw how much stronger and more physical guys were compared to girls. I have always been a firm believer that if a girl wants to play football and accepts the risks of the game just like everyone else then more power to them. Now that being said, it is important to understand that if a girl takes the risk and decides to play she is responsible for anything that might happen on the field and if she gets injured that it is just apart of the game.

I had two girls participate on my high school football team and they made it through all four years without the slightest complaint. I had a tremendous amount of respect for both of them because they continually showed up for practice and wanted the all of the guys to treat them like they were a regular player. I will never forget the day that one of the girls screamed at us in the huddle and told us to "hit her like we hit everyone else." I will tell you what, everyone listened to her and from that day on we persisted to blow her up like she was any other player.

The only problem that ever came up with the two girls playing on my team was the locker room situation. It always seemed like they were never able to partake in the locker room "hoopla" because there was always someone with their shirt off, or getting into the shower, etc. It really wasn't fair to the girls on the team the more that I think about it, but they were very content with their role on the team and were just happy to be apart of it. I think that it is very important for future teams with girls participating that they make proper locker room arrangements for the girls on the team so that they do not miss out on some of the best moments that high school football has to offer.

No matter what your viewpoint is on girls being able to play football at any level, just know that no one is the same and some girls may like more physical sports just because thats what they want to do. I know I will never forget when one of our girls caught a pass in the varsity game and the entire team went nuts because we knew how hard she worked all year long. That was the moment that I knew even if she was a girl she was just as much a football player as anybody else on the team.

Title IX in a Nutshell

By: Matt Goryance

While reading the article “Title IX in a Nutshell” I found it kind of interesting that they said the regulations of the law were not specific about its requirements in sport. Title IX was more about education programs than athletics, which I thought was interesting because the only time I can recall discussing Title IX was in sport classes. The definition of Title IX at the top of the article basically just says that no one can be excluded on the basis of sex from participation in education programs or any other activity that receives Federal financial assistance. So I assume that the reason we discuss Title IX the most in sport classes are because most people probably didn’t put up a fight with women participating in school or other education programs but when they wanted to participate in activities like sports that received Federal funding it probably upset some people. Therefore I think we hear the most about Title IX when it comes to sports because it was a great law for women who wanted to participate in sports but there were still court cases and some controversy that dealt with it. 

One court case that had to do with Title IX was described at the bottom of the article, Jackson v Birmingham in 2005. This case dealt with a high school coach of a girl’s team, Jackson, who was fired for discussing potential Title IX violations with his superiors. He of course won the case and was rehired because Title IX also includes a prohibition against retaliation that his superiors did in firing him. They also say, “if decided differently it would have had a significant negative impact on the Title IX enforcement” (Carpenter & Acosta, 2008). This was wild to think about for me too because 2005 is not that long ago and I couldn’t believe that they would fire someone simply for talking about Title IX. It’s a good thing he won because otherwise that would have been a big set back and then no one would have been allowed to discuss Title IX as he did in fear of being fired. The law is a very tricky thing, I am trying to understand it in a Sport Law class this semester too and it is tough because most laws aren’t so straight forward, just like this one they thought it was about women participating but it has all sorts of other elements such as the prohibition of retaliation. I think it’s good I had a chance to read this and understand Title IX a little more and read some of the cases as examples at the bottom of the article. We’ve come a long way and have implemented some very good laws. 

The Cream Team

One could say that the NBA is primarily dominated by players of African-American descent. Basketball has become known as a Black man’s sport. The majority of the players within the NBA are African-American. It wasn’t always like this but for the most of the life of the NBA it has been like this. There are still several big time/dominating white players as well as European players, but they don’t come close to decorating the league like Black players do. It seems as though some individuals might have a bit of a problem with this being the reality. The Minnesota Timberwolves have been a team that has attempted to recreate the image of the NBA. Of the fifteen players on the Timberwolves roster, only five of the players are Black. In their article “Timberwolves: Pale in comparison to the rest of the NBA” Jerry Zgoda and Dennis Brackin explain that “American-born black players constituted 78 percent of roster spots last season and have been at least 75 percent since 1991-92.” Some individuals believe that the mostly White team is a strategy by the organization to sell tickets since the majority of the Timberwolves fans are White.                                                                                                         

 The Minnesota Timberwolves have been nicknamed the “Cream Team” due to the fair skin color of the majority of their team. I disagree with this strategy and do not believe that any professional sports team should try and make their team mostly one race. It should all be about who the best players are. Trying to make your team full of one race is segregation against other players. The fact that there is not an African-American in the front office of the organization is also very odd. Anyways, it goes without saying that the Timberwolves haven’t been as good as they once were with Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury (both Black players) in a long time.

Written By: Janelle Campbell

Say hello to Women's MMA

By Anthony Alford

This past week in class, we have discussed the importance of Title IX. Title IX has changed college women’s sports. But throughout all the celebration of this law, what’s lost is that women’s sports are still not taken seriously today (there are few notable exceptions). What is also lost is that unless one is a superstar like Serena Williams, female athletes don’t sell tickets.

But perhaps on February 23, a new superstar will emerge in the UFC when female fighter Ronda Rousey steps into the octagon for the UFC and competes in the main event the UFC 157 pay-per-view against Liz Carmouche. This is the one of the most historic fights in UFC history because this will be the first female fight in company history.

UFC President Dana White has been on record in saying that women would never compete in the UFC. However, during the All Access: Ronda Rousey documentary on Showtime, White said “"in the next 10 years, if there's a woman in the octagon, it's probably going to be Ronda Rousey." Also during that documentary, White when discussing female MMA said the current class of female fighters made him take a “different mindset” when it comes to them fighting in the UFC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf-eNVAeC0U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTPqL4bM_J4

There is an impressive list of female fighters in the UFC especially with the merger of rival MMA promotion Strikeforce. But make no mistake; the main drawing power that White is putting his marbles into is Rousey. She is the current UFC 135lb Women’s Champion (her current UFC record is 0-0). She is dominant, a trash talking queen, and is attractive. She is the new Hulk Hogan of female MMA. On February 23, she must destroy Carmouche in order to justify White’s decision to put Rousey in the main event of a pay-per-view and more importantly justify women belonging in the UFC. If Rousey loses, than women’s MMA fails because the UFC can just move without missing a beat. But if she wins, women’s MMA takes the first step of being taken seriously by fans and society.

But until then, the main reason why the young male dominant UFC audience would ever watch women is MMA is because of sex appeal. According to Dana White, “it doesn't hurt when they're beautiful too."

Title IX and Billie Jean King

By David Shelmon

On June 23, 1972, Title IX officially became a law in the United States. It basically states that no one, regardless of sex, shall be discriminated against in educational institutions receiving financial aid from the federal government. Although not specifically stated in the law itself, Title IX became significant for opening the doors for women to have more opportunities to play sports. Just a little over a year later, on September 20, 1973, female tennis star Billie Jean King defeated male opponent Bobby Riggs in a historic matchup commonly known as the “Battle of the Sexes.” King’s impressive victory invoked pride and confidence in women all over the nation. Both of these events, the introduction of Title IX and King’s victory over Riggs, were essential to the advancement of women during the second wave of the feminist movement.

The timing in which these two events came into play could not have been more perfect. As stated above, Title IX did not actually mention its inclusion of athletic programs in its regulations. However, the “Battle of the Sexes” helped to bring attention to the discrimination that women often dealt with when it came to competing in sports. The match was seen by about 48 million national viewers. Prior to King and Riggs stepping onto the court that evening, the match had been heavily promoted and greatly hyped. It had been turned into a show that pitted not just King against Riggs but all women in general against all men in general. King came out while being carried on a throne by muscular men. Riggs came out with a following of half-naked women with him. Never before had the tensions between men and women competing against each other in sports been displayed so blatantly to so large an audience. King realized the significance of this match. She was not only playing for her own pride, but for the pride of all women in America. It is no coincidence that, after King’s victory over Riggs, there were over two million girls involved in athletics at their high schools. This number was only about 300,000 before the match took place. Without Billie Jean King, Title IX’s ability to increase women’s involvement in athletics would have been just an afterthought. Also, without Title IX, Billie Jean King’s triumph may have only been looked at as just an isolated, rare victory for women against men in the world of sports. Both of these events must be looked at together to understand their true impact on the feminist movement.