Race, Gender and Sport

We have spent the last couple of weeks talking about performances of femininity and masculinity and their relation to race. So what are the ways in which different forms of masculinity or femininity complicate how we see race? We talked about black femininity, Asian masculinity but what about identities we haven't talked about. Are certain forms of black masculinity more acceptable than others? What about Asian femininity or women who practice Islam? How do these performances influence our perceptions of others? How do we see examples in sport?

America's Sport

Does America have a true national sport like Canada? If I had to pick one sport in the United States that I would say is the equivalent of what hockey is to Canada I would pick football without a doubt. I would say football because I feel that over the last 10-20 years it has separated itself from baseball and basketball. A perfect example of this would be this years Super Bowl. There were approximately 111 million who watched Super Bowl 45, which made it the most watched telecast of all time.
I feel that a lot of people would make the argument that baseball is the sport that best describes America because it is our nation's pasttime, but I would argue that baseball has been passed up by at least football and maybe basketball too. I feel one of the main reasons that baseball isn't the face of American sports anymore is because we are not the best in the world at it. The United States did not even win the World Baseball Classic in 2009 and a large percentage of players in the major leagues aren't even from the United States. Many of the current players in the major leagues are from countries like the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Japan. This is something you never see in football. Football is the most American sport because it is only played in the U.S. and it is not getting any of its participants from other countries. These are just a couple reasons why I believe football is the sport that best represents America.

Binding America with Sport

When it comes to America, it is hard to pick just one sport that brings us together. It is always easy to say that of course baseball is America's pasttime and brings us together because it always has been. I still believe that baseball is a sport that brings Americans together and represents our nation. It is a nice, clean game that is entertaining to watch and go to the games. Even if people don't have a favorite baseball team, most are okay with sitting down and watching a game and just picking out a team to root for. If not in a regular season game, the playoffs and World Series for sure. Baseball goes way back, as well. When I think of the athletes that represent our nation in baseball, I tend to think of the older players like Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson. I think we still have players like that, I always tend to think of Derek Jeter, but maybe this is because I'm a die hard Yankee's fan. When it comes to baseball, I'd like to think it represents America, not only in the way the game is played and in how baseball players carry themselves, but also how many different nationalities there are in the MLB. It's not just white people and black people, but there are white, black, Latinos and a lot of other ethnicities, just like we have in America.

But that isn't always the case and I think our nation might be a little more rough around the edges and a sport that definitely brings Americans together is football. Whether it is college or professional, everyone loves to watch it and support their team. I have a friend that just moved to North Carolina and even though she isn't here to celebrate and watch the Iowa football team with the rest of us, she still finds a way to watch or listen to the games. Living in Iowa City, I definitely think that football is what brings us together and I believe that it is the same for a lot of other college towns and if we had a professional team, I'm sure we would be the same crazy fans for that team as well. And just like in baseball, if your favorite team didn't make it to the Superbowl, you still watch it and pick a team to root for no matter who is playing. I think the players that represent us in football are the players like Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre and Tom Brady. Tom Brady might be a long shot but I'm sure those people in the New England area love him and if any of these athletes did something, I'm sure that the people from wherever he is from would feel a little disappointed and hurt because all of these people are someone to look up to.

Again, it is hard to pick just one sport to represent America and it could very well be that it just depends on what season we're in. When it is football season, everyone loves football, but as soon as baseball comes around we all love baseball and worry about our favorite baseball team. But no mattter what, I think that sport, in general, is what brings our country together.

The American Sport

The first sport that comes to my mind is American football. Both the college and professional level teams have entire cultures built around them. Around the country whether they win or lose, these cultures stay loyal by wearing team colors/logos and by watching/attending games. In the larger American culture having a favorite football team is often expected, if you own a business in Iowa City you will do much better to put up a “Go Hawks” sign in front of your office. If you meet someone new it isn’t out of the ordinary to ask them if the have a favorite team in the game this weekend, or whether or not they saw the touchdown pass by Michael Vick. Having a favorite team becomes part of a regional and personal identity that can be related to others on a national level.

With that in mind, it’s hard to pick only a few names to be a “national representation” but superstar players, such as Rothesberger, Favre, Rogers, etc, represent their regions. For example, if Aaron Rogers was to act inappropriately, legally or otherwise, Green Bay citizens would have a right to feel hurt.

We talked a few weeks ago about hockey and Canadian nationalism. We discussed how this is their national game and how this particular sport is meant to bring all Canadians together. Yet, through the commercials we were able to trouble this by pointing out the mostly white males that were featured in this commercial. All in all it is a game meant to bring everyone together but this picture was told through a limited scope. For this week I want to know what you think is the sport or sports that bring America together? How do you know this? What are the athletes in the United States that represent the nation? How does this contribute to our understandings of what America is?

White Athletes

 Now we have been discussing the white athlete for about a week now.  And the series of  "Rocky" has been brought up a few times.  What I would like to know is if one of the main points to this series was that the white athlete in the boxing world was on the downfall, so in order to get the white American public to become more interested in the sport again was to create a movie about the white social family in a run down area, the Italian area of Philly, and put them against the dominant black athlete.  Was it really trying to show that the one thing the white athlete has that the more dominate black athlete is the heart, the will to win?  Or was it that someone from a inner city area has more drive than someone who already has everything?

Commonality in Sports

Sports in general sort of bridge a gap in racial relations that give our society a more commonality between the demographic. We all know that the relationship between blacks and whites was terrible in our society dating before the beginning of Colonial America to the late 1980's. This bridge has become very small in most recent years, now I'm not saying this society is even close to where we morally could be, but as of the progress we are making is a great step in the write direction.  One thing that sports do for our society is give us a sense of unity.  The other day I was walking through the mall and a white male in front of me was wearing a Chicago Bulls shirt and this African American woman shouted out "Go Bulls"!  Even though these people more than likely haven't ever crossed paths before they share a feeling of  commonality.  Another thing our society does that just seems to be accepted is to forgive winners, no matter how morally wrong an individual is if they're a winner we just pat them on the back and say get back out there.  Prime example of this are Tiger, Kobe and Big Ben.  The key to them is they win.  And as far as the media is concerned is that Tiger is the worst of them, but the funny thing about it is he was the only one that wasn't accused of an illegal act.  So am I suppose to believe that Tiger should of had better morals ?  Why?  Because he plays a gentleman's game, or because he's suppose to be an ambassador of the world.  If he would have went out and won a major or two not one person in the media questions his mental toughness, but that's not what happened he came out first season and laid an egg.  I don't think Tiger likes being the bad guy trying to play good guy.  He wants to be the good guy attempting to be bad.  What I'm really trying to get at here is that racism and prejudice is still everywhere, but that people are becoming more aware of individuals moral values than just the color of their skin.