The Gay Athlete

I personally did not know of any openly gay athletes at my high school or athletes that I competed against. I would like to hope that an athlete who chooses to come out would get support from his or her team at the very least. The reason that I do not think high school would be the right time for an athlete to come out is, because teens at that age are closed minded and are only comfortable with people that are similar to them. Which is why I believe that a high school athlete that is openly gay will be ridiculed everyday until he or she leaves for college. Gay males on college teams would change the atmosphere of the locker room. A men's locker room has a lot jokes that degard using gay slurs. On team sports, that athlete would be seen as the scape goat for when things go bad for the team. If everything goes well for the time that athlete is enrolled then I feel as though there will not be as big a problem as some people will make it out to be. In individual sports the athlete will be judged on performance too. This time if the athlete does not perform well people will point that it is, because the athlete is gay. I guess the point I am getting at is that there would be a larger support group for athletes in team sports and a smaller support group in individual sports.

With the results to the gear magazine poll, I think that every team in the three sports would have responses to each question. While their answers may not be what happens they will say what they would like to see happen. From a video clip shown in class one of the athletes went back for a reunion with his teammates and was greated with a warm welcome. To me that sounds like society says it is better to be an average person who is gay rather than an athlete who is gay. I feel as though today more people would be more ok with an openly gay athlete, because of the times. More people are opened minded today than 20-30 years ago. The younger generation accept being a something that takes part in society, where as the older generations have lived with the belief that you should not be openly gay no matter who are in the world. With the younger generation beginning to take leadership roles throughout society more organizations will begin to not let someone being gay put a damper on work based performance by that person.

Unsportsman Like Conduct

If you take a look at men's and women's sports you will see a clear difference between the two. Even the expectations for are different for each gender. Women's sports are suppose to be competitive without have much physicality, where as men's sports are suppose to be very physical. A clear example of this difference is Elizabeth Lambert (left) who plays soccer for the University of New Mexico. There is a video of her using dirty tactics against players from the BYU soccer team. She is seen hitting them in the back, kicking the ball into other players faces when they are on the ground and throwing girls to the ground. During the game she received only one yellow card. The next day the NCAA suspended Lambert indefinitely for her actions in the game. On the other hand, men's sports is seen in a different light. The saturday before the Lambert incident, Brandon Spikes a football player at the University of Florida had an incident of his own. During Florida's game that weekend Brandon Spikes was seen trying to reach through the facemask of a Georgia player. His attempt was to reach his finger to the eye of the opposing player. After the tape was reviewed Spikes received only have half-game suspension. Brandon Spikes came out and took responsibility for his actions and took himself out of the second half of the next game. So, a girl who hurts the opposing players with elbows and take downs gets an indefinite suspension. Where as, a guy who tries to blind the opposing player formally gets a half-game, but it turned out to be a 1 game after a self imposed suspension. Personally I see a huge problem with this situation. Someone trying to commit long term damage to someone else gets a lesser penalty then someone just being more physical then need be. Do I think gender had a part in the decision? I cannot say for certain, but the conspiracy theorist in me wants to say that Brandon Spikes did not get a heavy penalty, because everyone that has authority in the matter wants Florida to win. That should not be what is bases for handing down penalties, it should the nature of the incident.

Role of the Black Athlete

Why do people always want the top black athlete to take a stand when it comes to society? When the top athletes are black they are expected to take a role in society. They are suppose to stand up and be a key figure when it comes to social issues. Why? You never hear about people wanting white athletes to come out and give their opinion about social issues. The white athlete is expected to play the game and if they want to get involved with issues off the court that is fine. When it comes to the black though, they are expected to play the game as well as give their input about issues off the court. I feel that every athlete should just play the game and if they feel strongly on issues off the court they will give their input. If people are pressured into talking about issues they do not know anything about, then they might not have all the facts and choose a side that in reality does not go with their beliefs. So just let the athletes play, if they wnat to get involved with social issues off the court so be it that is their right. As it is also their right to not get invovled too.

Girls competing with Boys

Should women be allowed to compete on the field/court as men in high physicality sports? I personally do not think women should. Yes women play the games with the same skills and strategies, that does not change the fact that the overall size of men on average is larger than women in the same sport. I am not trying to say women are inferior in sports, it would be like myself (5'9") trying to guard someone over 6 feet tall they can just shot over me or trying to tackle some twice my size it is most likely not going to happen any time soon. While there are some sports that I would be ok to see women and men compete together, those would be golf, tennis, track and field. Sports that take great skill to compete, but does not have the contact portion of a sport. Now if a woman wants has the size to try and compete with men in a contact sport why should people stop her. This person is just trying to improve by playing against people that she is at the same skill level with.