In Conclusion..

I thought that blogging in this class will help me in the future as I am trying to become a sports journalist and or reporter. After the experience in this class, I really want to get in to blogging more and focus on being a better writer. Blogging, especially on sports topics that we discussed is good experience for me as I will most likely be debating topics of this nature my whole life. Particular to this class, I enjoyed talking about the Jordan effect and just learning about the effect he had on the game economically. I view myself as a Michael Jordan fanatic and whenever I get a chance to talk about him its always exciting because how inspirational he was as a player. Similar to that, I loved the topics about Lebron and Kobe comparing them to Michael and enjoyed that Dr. Spencer referenced my comments in class.
In my opinion, we had many good discussions with a lot of different people with different views on subjects. Particularly, I would like to give cudos to Fred Sharp as I think he had some of the best comments and insight of everything given in class. But in general I enjoyed blogging and the overall diversity that surrounded this class. I will say thank you to Nancy Spencer as she is and will always be a great professor!



-Max Householder

That’s All Folks…

I really enjoyed blogging this semester, the topics we discussed were great to hear others opinion from the class.  By blogging, getting and giving feedback, I was opened up to other onions I would not consider by myself.  I most enjoyed discussing issues between common sports played between men and women (soccer, tennis, basketball, etc.).  It’s interesting that at least in my opinion female tennis is more popular than watching the men.  I know this is true for me, the only male tennis players I can watch are Andre Agassi (retired) and Rafa Nadal.   Soccer is a sport in America it mostly picks up on popularity when it’s the year of the world cup (every four years); however, I feel whether it’s the women’s or men’s world cup they are equally hyped at viewed.  In fact, I would say professional tennis and soccer are the most equally broadcasted and thought of in respects to how the fan sees the game.

Another positive about the blog is it kept me thinking about topics outside of class.  Also it helped make me more aware of rising issues within current news and events.  I really enjoyed the group presentation on RG3, I think they did a great job, it’s a timely topic, and they gave great insight.  In leaving this class I have gained a greater awareness of certain issue, and a greater respect for those women who were pioneers in the Title IX movement.  I have also increased an ability to listen to both sides, for example in allocating money and resources in college athletic budgets and such.

-By Tony Fritsch

NBA vs WNBA

My part of our presentation had to do with the overall general differences between the NBA and WNBA.  These differences are often more obvious than others.  The men’s ball is slightly larger then the women’s ball and the three point line in the men’s game extends three more feet out then in the WNBA.  The shot clock in the NBA is 24 seconds while being 30 seconds in the WNBA.  It still doesn’t make much sense to me that in the college game women have a shorter shot clock then the men do, then you jump up to the NBA and they lose 11 seconds, and the women just lose 5.  The NBA also still has the 10 second back court violation while within the last five years the WNBA and women’s college basketball has discontinued it. 

I also touched on current WNBA players and women’s basketball coaches and their opinions on women playing in the NBA:

"If you could put me in a machine that could make me 6-foot-5 and as strong as they were, I could play in the NBA," Taurasi said (Smith, 2011, paragraph 3).

"If they could, they would," said Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who coached some of the best players ever as the U.S. Olympic coach in 1996. "If it's all about physical strength, women simply do not have the muscle mass that men have. If we are talking about strength and speed and jumping ability ... that's not happening” (Smith, 2011, paragraph 8). 

"Never in my lifetime will a woman be able to compete in a men's sport -- nor should they want to -- where there is a physical comparison between the two," Auriemma said. "Anything where it's my strength versus your strength, I don't think it can happen“ (Smith, 2011, paragraph 10). 

Overall I thought it was interesting to learn some of the overall differences between the NBA and WNBA.

-Alyssa Robinson

NBA & WNBA Salaries

There are many differences between the NBA and WNBA; however, salaries are the one difference that the gap is very evident.

NBA: Team Salary Cap- $58 million

The average salary in the NBA is just over $3 million per year, but

totals vary depending on how many years they have been in the league. The minimum salary for a rookie in the 2010-11 season is $473,604. Elite players make $10 million to $15 million per year, with Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant having the highest salary in 2010-11.

WNBA: Team Salary Cap- $803,000

In the United States, professional women’s basketball players make significantly less than men’s players. The minimum salary for a WNBA player in 2011 is $35,880, with the maximum $103,500 for a six-year veteran who qualifies for a maximum contract. The average salary for a WNBA player is $69,690 for the 2011 season.

“People ask how I spend my off-season from the WNBA,” says Chastity Melvin, a forward for the Cleveland Rockers who is playing in Gdinya, Poland. “In some ways, the WNBA is the off-season. The fall and winter is when most of us make our real money.”

Professional women basketball players also have the option of playing oversees in European leagues.  There players can make double what they make in the WNBA ($150,000) and the season is much longer as well (6 months).  Players like Maya Moore (pictured above) play in both leagues.

More Salary Details

-Tony Fritsch

My Experience By: Alyssa Robinson

Playing college basketball for two years has really made me more aware of the fact that although someone’s sexual orientation might be different then mine, they are people and deserve respect.  I’m from a small town where no one to my knowledge was openly homosexual and if they were I can almost be positive they would’ve been looked at because of their orientation and not the person they are or their achievements.  It’s just how conservative my community is.

At first it was really different being around openly lesbian girls, playing on a team with them, and hanging out around them.  At first I’ll admit that it was awkward for me.  But I got to know them and realized that they were there to play basketball just like me.  I guess I feel like people that aren’t around homosexuals or give them a chance have a negative view point and I was the same way.  Just like people that are straight, homosexuals aren’t attracted to everyone of the gender they prefer, they have certain things they like in a person just like straight people.  It disgusts me when people feel awkward around homosexuals, but then again I guess I was pretty much the same way at one point but I’ve come a long way.

I think coming to college and having a couple good friends that are lesbians (even my roommate), has given me the opportunity to see them as any other person.  And I can’t even imagine how hard it is for them to deal with the hatred that they receive on a daily bases for just being true to themselves. 

Homophobia in Sports By: Timothy McLellan

The amount of homophobic athletes in the major sports in the USA is very disappointing to me.  It seems to be a major deal in all of the leagues too because no male athlete has openly come out of the closet during his playing career.  It is most likely due to people like Tim Hardaway who exclaim how they hate gay people and how he would distance himself away from homosexuals on the team.  This reminds me a lot of all of the extreme discrimination that sports had on African American athletes and I cannot believe that African American athletes to this day want to be separated from other athletes because of their sexuality.  I also believe that sexuality is not a choice and it is in people’s DNA, which makes it crazier to have such a drastic amount of separation and discrimination.  I have known of one male athlete that was gay that has been on one of my teams before.  He was a freshman on the soccer team when I was a junior.  No one on the team said anything mean to his face but there were a lot of comments made behind his back that some athletes participating in.  A select few of the upperclassmen and I took it as our job to look out for this kid and to give him a chance.  We made sure to include him in many of the off-field team activities.  Once he was hanging around our team often enough off the field, many of the players on our team warmed up to him and ended up liking him.  That is why I think it is so important for everyone to deserve a chance to be a part of the team before being ostracized immediately because of a person’s sexuality.

Championship Contenders

With the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Basketball Championship games being played this past Monday and Tuesday nights it left a great opportunity to compare and contrast.

Monday night featured Kentucky versus Kansas for the Men’s championship.  The game was played in Louisiana’s Superdome, home of the NFL’s Saints, because it was played in a football stadium seating capacity was much greater shown on the seating chart.

While the Men’s tournament was played on a much bigger stage, the Women’s played in Denver’s Pepsi Center, home to the NBA’s Nuggets.  Seating capacity for the Baylor versus Notre Dame game was much smaller at just under 20,000.

Viewers aside both games were competitive at times but resulted in lopsided victories for Baylor and Kentucky.  As we discussed in class with both teams featuring a tall and dominate post player, both of which won their respected Player of the Year awards, both games focused on those players.  Comments about those athletes were for the most part positive and it seemed as if they could do no wrong.  It took up until the second half for 6’10” Anthony Davis scored but the entire game they praised him instead of giving much of any credit to Kansas’ defense.

I felt in the Baylor game they did a better job focusing on both Brittney Griner and the matchup between Baylor’s guard Odyssey Sims and Notre Dame’s guard Skylar Diggins.

Another interesting point I noticed it seemed like with the women athletes they were focusing more on their off the court personalities rather with the men was more about their game.  I enjoyed the Women’s pregame “meet the team” and wish the Men’s would put more of a focus on that aspect as well, they are student-athletes!

Aside from the commentators I thought both games were well done from the broadcast phase, they both seemed fair.  I thought it was a little detracting how much they showed Robert Griffin III at the game, but I can see both sides to doing so.

Wrapping up the coverage it was unfortunate that the Women’s game had to end on a low point with Notre Dame’s Coach McGraw making comments on Griner’s game in what can be seen in a negative light.

-Tony Fritsch