Women's Media Coverage

Media coverage for Women is not very good. We do not hear much about their sports on ESPN and such. The WNBA is hardly ever on television at all. But, when it comes to the NCAA tournament they get a lot of air time. All the games are on ESPN family of networks. Sure that is unfair to someone who does not have cable, but through out the season the Men have the same issues. During the season and during the week games for men are on the ESPN family of networks. There just is not that want or need to put women’s college basketball on CBS or ABC on a Saturday afternoon. Who will watch? No one. If a men’s game was on ESPN the same time as a women’s game was on CBS… The men’s game would win out 9 out of 10 times no question.

Men get the greatest opportunity because they produce, they produce money. Money is what keeps the sponsors and networks coming back. The other reason for so much media coverage during the NCAA tournament is due to the fact of upsets. Upsets happen every year and causes so much Madness. In the women’s game there is only that handful of teams who will win it all and there are usually never any upsets. It sets up for a pretty boring NCAA tournament. The men’s game has that Cinderella story, while in the women’s game we have barely have a good game.

LPGA and English?

For the most part I am going to have to agree with Jan Stephenson’s comments about Koreans and how English should be learned. Her quote about “Asians are killing our tour” (Shin and Nam, 2004, P. 224). I disagree with 100%. In fact they are running the tour from top to bottom. Sure there is Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Kristie Kerr and many other Americans. But the Koreans are winning week in and week out. Where I agree with Jan is with this quote “Their lack of emotion, their refusal to speak English when they can speak English. They rarely speak. We have two-day Pro Ams were people are paying a lot of money to play with us and they say hello and good bye” (Shin and Nam, 2004, P. 224).

I have seen this happen on a first hand account several of times. The past five summers I have caddied in the Jamie Farr Pro-Ams and also for a pro golfer two summers ago. I have been in groups where the Korean golfer rarely talked to the group at all. The golfers paying the big bucks had to approach the golfer first with questions. On the other hand I have seen Korean golfers be the first to approach the golfers. With that being said I also have caddied in groups where it was been an American golfer and they are so kind and full of joy. It is so much fun to caddie in a group like this. When I caddied for a pro two summers ago she was Korean and spoke okay English.

Williams Sisters and Racism..

I believe Venus Williams and her father drew the attention to themselves. They both knew after she (Venus) dropped out of the match people were very upset. But they still walked down the 20 or so steps to their seats on court level. There had to have been a different way to get to their seats, but they picked the way that would cause a scene. By doing this they flustered Serena Williams for the first two sets of her match. Yeah she came back and won, but she was trying too hard at first to try and quit the crowd. I also do not think it was necessary for the Williams father to put up the “black power” sign. He was trying to egg on the haters. I do feel the Williams sisters should go back to Indian Wells to compete. You have to be the bigger person and show you are bigger than the situation.

Moving on to something that Dr. Spencer talked about just before class ended last Thursday about the N Word and there being a speaker saying it should be eliminated. I would agree with that, the N Word should not only be used by whites but not by the blacks. I do not understand why all of a sudden it is okay to say this in the black community. When ever I am near or around two or three blacks talking the N word is dropped about three or four times. I do not understand. Also whites are discriminated against as well. Racism works both ways.

Athletes asked of too much

Being an athlete draws a lot of attention to yourself. Especially if you are Michael Jordan or LeBron James. When someone like Michael Jordan becomes famous they expect them to do things they are not educated in. For example many were upset when MJ would not support a candidate for Senate from North Carolina. Why? Why should he have to pick to endorse someone? I thought his job was to play basketball not to speak politics. If Michael Jordan wanted to be involved in politics then he would have gone to school for it. Getting someone involved in something they are not educated in can be hurtful because they may not have a clue on what they should say. If giving money to various charities is not enough than people have high standards and expect WAY tooooo much from athletes. What about going to speak to sick children or help co host an event? Athletes do their fair share of those activities. It only makes sense to have someone involved in something they are educated in. It seems that politicians or organizations are maybe trying to use athletes; “If Michael Jordan is supporting me than so should you” type thing. I do believe sometimes athletes are asked of too much sometimes. And it is always the famous athletes who are getting criticized. They are human too, they have families and life’s to live outside of their sport. There is only so much that someone can do. There are bigger things in life to worry about people.