American Sport in the 21st Century - Is the Sport Media Biased?

Way back to October 27 and November 3 our American Sport in the 21st Century talked about sport within the media.  We talked about roles of the media, linkages between sport and the mass media, and the different types of media which sport could be presented.

Roles of the media:

- Inform

- Entertain

- Educate

- Advertise

Linkages between sport and the mass media:

- Professional sport is a media commodity driven by market forces

- Reliance on television for revenues

- Changes to the schedules, length of halftime periods, television timeouts have been a result of the media

Characteristics of the media:

-Print media, words and images printed on paper

Electron/visual media, words, commentary, and images we receive through multiple platforms

Sports have to do with a lot about what is going on in society.  The media is what shapes that and they are the ones who can sway people.  They determine what we see for commercials during breaks from the games, and it really all comes down to, is money.  

After this past election, it was pretty easy to see what side the media was favoring.  It didn't really matter who you were going to vote for, it is just easy to notice.  With ESPN being one of, if not the largest platform of watching sport, they can't afford to be biased in any way.  With the popularity of Fox Sports 1, NBC Sports, and others they can't afford to lose any viewership because that means they are losing money.  

If you want to check out the article talking more about this the link will be below:

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2016/11/28/Media/ESPN-politics.aspx

Here is a youtube clip of Stephen A Smith on the show First Take with some political comments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM38Phpz_UE

American Sport in the 21st Century - The Lost Art of Fighting

On November 3 and November 8, we talked about deviance in sports.  We see multiple variations of deviance in sports today.  Mostly today it is performance enhancing drugs or just drug use.  We see some fights every now and then too.  A good example of that would be the fight O'Dell Beckham and Josh Norman got into last year.  There's other examples too like; illegal drugs, violent crimes, and stealing, fighting, bounty hunting, academic cheating, performance enhancing drugs, gambling, and illegal recruiting practices.

The purpose of this was to talk about fighting in hockey.  It is the one sport that isn't based around fighting to let the athletes fight.  Of course there's a penalty, but that is all.  Now-a-days we don't really see much fighting anymore.  There used to be a fighter role on each team, but with the game adapting to the times a fighter is ineffective.

Another argument is with player safety, should it even be in the game?  It is a dangerous part of the game and there is a pretty high chance for injury, but there's certain aspects it brings.  Fighting allows for the players to police themselves on the ice, hold each other responsible.  It is apart of those unwritten rules each sport has.  There are ways to police it which is good to see, but to see the sport change from the original way is tough to see.

Check out these links to go into more detail about hockey fights:
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=6367
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/280060-should-fighting-stay-in-the-nhl

American Sport in the 21st Century - Seth Jones' unusual path to the NHL

During class on November 10 and 15, American Sport class had a discussion about race and ethnicity in sports.  Sports were mostly played by white males before the 1950s, as the United States were at the start of the Civil Rights movement.  That meant if African Americans or Latinos wanted to play in sports, they had to form their own leagues.  That meant U.S. history, African American history, and the history of sport in our country are very intertwined.

As the class conversation kept going, I remember my professor Dr. Higgs had asked us if we could name ten African Americans that play in the National Hockey League (NHL).  I, being the hockey player I am thought I could do it, but when it came down to it I could only name three.  Dr. Higgs used this as a lead into how African American men and women are under represented in most sports.  This got me thinking because of a player I forgot to mention when Dr. Higgs asked us how many African Americans are in the NHL.  This player is Seth Jones.

He is one of the more interesting players in the NHL apart from being African American.  He was drafted 4th overall in the 2013 draft by the Nashville Predators.  Right there makes him a pretty impactful player.  After being traded, he just signed a big contract worth $5.4 million a year at only 21 years of age.  Yet, the most interesting characteristic about him is that his father played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).  It is very uncommon for this to happen.  One, hockey and basketball are played during the same season, two his father was a fairly successful basketball player and seeing his success might drive him to be the same, and third making it to the NHL as an African American is not normally what you would see.

Here's an article with more information: https://www.nhl.com/news/former-nba-player-jones-helps-groom-son-for-nhl/c-642855

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVYJGFU84kQ