Martin
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PARADOX Joby in SPORT
MISPERCEPTIONS IN A MYTHMAKING MEDIA
JOBY MARTIN 3/5/05
Joby Martin
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PARADOX in SPORT
and MISPERCEPTIONS in a MYTHMAKING MEDIA
I. Introduction: Sport in Society a. The role of sport in society i. Sport mirrors society 1. Kenny Moore quote ii. Sport mirrors the human existence 1. Frank Deford quote iii. Ubiquitous nature of sports 1. i.e.- Super Bowl a. Super Bowl statistics b. The paradoxical nature of sport in society i. Definition of paradox ii. ,,Just a game of football... 1. or a billion dollar industry? a. Super Bowl revenue statistics b. TV deal statistics iii. ,,Just a game of football... 1. or the ultra hype of media selling a product? a. Rise of ,,sports information industry b. 24/7 sports coverage; access and excess iv. "Sport deserves a more critical examination" II. The Paradox of Gender in Sport a. Commonly held belief i. Allen Guttman quote ii. Idealism obstructing reality b. The Reality i. Sexism in the Media 1. Women in the Sports Media a. Statistic b. Lisa Guerrero and Julianne Barberie c. The effect of a sexist sports media 2. Sexist Language a. "Men" vs. "Girls", use of word "girl"
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b. "National Championship" vs. "Womens National Championship" c. "NBA" vs. "WNBA", "PGA vs. LPGA" 3. Sexist Imagery a. Anna Kournikova vs. Lindsay Davenport ii. Sexist symbols 1. The important of symbols a. Janet Lever quote b. Team identity c. marketing 2. Feminine Suffixes a. Dukes vs. Duchesses 3. Use of the Word "Lady" a. Gators vs. Lady Gators 4. Masculine names for Women teams a. Rams 5. Direct Gender Confusion and Oxymorons a. Lady Hokies b. Lady Friars iii. Effects of media sexism on female sports as a whole 1. Statistics a. Athletic scholarships b. Recruitment c. Average salaries for female prof. athletes
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The Paradox of Race in Sport a. Commonly held belief i. Idealism ii. From Jackie Robinson and Kenny Washington... iii. ...To Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali b. The reality i. Native Americans 1. "Indians", "Braves", "Redskins" a. TBS broadcasts racism b. Mocking sacred Indian tradition 2. Susan Harjo and the American Indian Movement a. Indian Country Today survey b. Sports Illustrated survey i. Fallacies in SIs research
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ii. African Americans 1. Uncle Reb and whistling Dixie a. Ole Miss use of confederate flag, symbols 2. Language in the Super Bowl a. The "black quarterback" b. The "Natural Athlete" c. Refuting the "Natural Athlete" concept 3. Evidence of the "Natural Athlete" Myth a. "Stacking" and statistics b. Lack of black head coaches, team officials i. Brian Cox testimonial IV. Conclusion a. Medias responsibility i. Created by the media? Or... ii. Created by the people b. Goal of the media i. Please the audience? Or... ii. Be objective c. Inability to acieve objectivity through prejudice
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Sport has become an institution in society- not just in American society, but the entire world. At one point or another, every human life is affected by the existence of sport, either directly or indirectly. That is partly because in many ways sport is a manifestation of some of humanitys most basic instincts and desires. Sport inspires emotions, all genuine, that each participant has experienced to some degree in their lives.
"To celebrate sport is... to celebrate sheer abandon, to savor moments when athletes surrender themselves to effort and are genuinely transformed. This is when sport takes loneliness, fear, hate, and ego and transmutes them into achievement, records, art, and powerful example" Olympic gold-medalist Kenny Moore, Sports Illustrated, "Uplifted, Gently, by Sport", November 15, 1989.
Sport acts as a common bond between people of infinite numbers of cultures, regions, races, and genders. It can bring a society together- if only through spectatorship, if only for the sixty regulation minutes of a football game. Frank Deford has become one of the most widely respected and iconic figures in sports media in his almost forty years at Sports Illustrated. As he so eloquently writes in his December 29, 1999 article, the central aspects and experiences of sport are virtually the same as the central aspects of human life:
"Sport elaborates in its rituals what it means to be human: the play, the risk, the trials, the collective impulse to games, the thrill of physicality, the necessity of strategy,; defeat, victory, defeat again, pain, transcendence, and, most of all, the certainty that nothing is certain- that everything can change and be changed."
The ubiquitous nature of sport in society can be seen by taking a look at an event like the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl, despite being a unique American creation, is watched by over 80 million Americans, and is broadcasted in over 188 countries
Joby Martin worldwide (Associated Press). In weeks leading up to the game, television, newspapers, and even conversation often become dominated with anticipation. The Super Bowl is also one of many great examples to illustrate how modern
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sport, assisted by the rapidly developing sports information media, has developed several deeply imbedded and subtle paradoxes, most of which are unknown to your average sports fan. First, lets define the term ,,paradox as it appears in Merriam Websters Dictionary1:
1. a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true 2. a self-contradictory statement that at first seems true 3. an argument that apparently derives self-contradictory conclusions by valid deduction from acceptable premises
Modern sport is, in many ways, entirely paradoxical in and of itself. Sport is a game; throughout history, sport has been defined by the natural pursuit of the intrinsic purpose of recreation. Sport is leisure, it is meant to serve only as a diversion from the reality of everyday life (Coakley 1998). But sport has become much more than that. A closer look at the aforementioned Super Bowl proves that this simply is not ,,just a game of football. On one hand, it is, by definition, a recreational game of football. But the Super Bowl is not merely a game; it is a multi-million enterprise whose participants are not only players, but also billion-dollar corporations Athletes participating in the ,,game are paid millions of dollars annually. The symbols they wear with pride are not merely logos or jerseys, they are marketing tools:
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Taken from online version, www.m-w.com
Joby Martin the NFL sells over $100 million worth of merchandise during Super Bowl week alone.
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The teams they play for have become businesses, not teams, some of which are valued at over $500 million for a single franchise. Fox, the television network which broadcasts the Super Bowl, pays the NFL $712 million annually for the right to broadcast its games. In turn, Fox then sells 30-second spots of advertising time during the Super Bowl at the rate of $2.4 million2. All of this hoopla over one single football ,,game. Another creation of modern sport has been the sports information media. Since its humble beginnings during the turn of the century, the sports media has also become a billion-dollar industry. The most popular section in most American newspapers is the sports page. ESPN is a household name; what started as a cable station providing coverage of ,,games is now a multi-media conglomerate, featuring five television stations, a magazine, movie production, and an immensely popular website. The media, through the use of self serving ,,ultra-hype, often portrays sports as being the ,,be all, end all in the life of a sports fan, directly related to mood, mind state, and the conditions of a persons reality. An entire city, Philadelphia for example, can carry the stigma of being a ,,loser, merely because a sports team representing the city lost a single game. That stigma can become ingrained in a persons identity, to some extent. While the medias use of hype to heighten the importance of sporting events can be justified somewhat by the constant pursuit to please the audience, it still is entirely contradictory to the true nature of sport This is not the only paradox which exists in sports, and is perpetuated by the
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Super Bowl statistics taken from "Super Bowl Ratings Down 4 Percent", Associated Press, February 7, 2005, as well as "NFL Agrees to 6-Year Extension with CBS, Fox", ESPN.com, November 9, 2004.
Joby Martin sports media. "Sport deserves a more critical examination," writes sociologist Jay Coakley, "we need to ask more probing questions about sport." (Coakley 1988: 589) There is a general feeling among sports fans that a level playing field exists: that
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anyone, anywhere, can become a great athlete, regardless of any particular characteristic. This notion is effectively summarized by noted sports historian Allen Guttman:
"A characteristic of modern sports is equality in two senses of that complex concept: (1) that everyone should, theoretically, have an opportunity to compete; (2) the conditions of competition should be the same for all contestants." (Coakley 1988: 592)
But if we do, as Coakley suggests, take a more critical approach to sports and the sports media, it is evident that Guttmans assertion is overly idealistic, if not altogether false. The sports medias coverage of womens sports is a clear example of how this ideology is rose-colored, at best. There is an underlying sexism throughout sports, which is compounded and conveyed through the sports media. At times it is subtle, and at times it is blatant and unapologetic. Overall, women are seen as outsiders, inferior (or at least different than) their male counterparts. This sexism goes unchecked by the mass majority largely because it has penetrated the media itself as a sovereign entity. Radio and television announcing positions are dominated by males, with women holding only 3% of those positions in the NFL, 2% in the NBA, and 1% in the NHL (Lapchick and Matthews 2001: 58-59). Those who are able to break these barriers often are able to do so only because of physical appeal, as opposed to talent or mental capability. Broadcast ,,journalists, such as Lisa
Joby Martin Guerrero and Julian Barberie of Fox Sports, are two examples of women in the sports media whose good looks enable viewers to overlook lack of experience and/or talent. Part of the reason that individuals who control the sports media, almost exclusively men, do this is because, according to sociologist Mary Jo Kane:
"Sport is one of the most powerful institutions in this culture, because of its status and economic and political clout. Theres a great deal at stake in sports participation, and the group that has monopolized sport [men] doesnt want to give that up. They know that the best way to maintain control is
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to trivialize or marginalize their accomplishments... After all, if females are great athletes, then its harder to say as a society that they shouldnt get press coverage, money, scholarships. But if they portrayed in the media as people who do sports in their spare time, or as merely pretty girls, its much easier to deny them access and to maintain the status quo" (Kane 2000: 57)
The way the sports media is able to, as Kane says, "trivialize and marginalize" the achievements of women in sports, is most subtly done through the use of sexist language. There are countless instances of sexist language used by the media, most so subtle that they remain unknown even to female athletes and fans. The first way is the use of the term "girl." Female collegiate athletes, and even professional athletes in some cases, are repeatedly referred to as "girls", as opposed to "women." Conversely, it is extremely uncommon for a male athlete to be referred to as a "boy." (Eitzen and Zinn 1989: 362-370) The accomplishments of women are set apart, and sometimes devalued, simply because the participants are women. For example, men who play college basketball compete for what is commonly referred to in the media as ,,the national championship. Meanwhile, their female counterparts cannot win the national championship, only what is referred to as ,,the womens national championship. (Eitzen and Zinn 1989: 362-370)
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This is just one example of how subtle sexist language conveys that a difference exists between genders, if not a certain inferiority. The mens professional basketball league is called the National Basketball Association, while the womens professional league is called the Womens National Basketball Association. In essence, this is stating that men are ,,professionals while women are merely ,,women professionals. Similarly, the male professional golf tour is called the Professional Golf Association, while the female version is called the Ladies Professional Golf Association. Two examples of sexist language exist here: the denotation of women participants (known as gender marking), and the use of the word ,,ladies. Lady is a very feminine term, and carries an extremely unathletic connotation. (Eitzen and Zinn 1989: 362-370)
But the medias use of sexist language is not the most prevalent example of sexism in the sports media. Female athletes who succeed do not receive the same amount of media exposure as those who are physically attractive. Female athletes are often celebrated for their appearance, not their achievements. The most obvious example comes from professional tennis. Tennis is one of the only cases where the womens version is as popular, if not more, than the mens game. Yet Anna Kournikova is the most popular, most recognized, and most famous tennis player in the world. However, the most talented and most decorated tennis player is Lindsay Davenport. Kournikova has achieved superstar status as a direct result of her sex appeal. She has appeared in numerous fashion magazines, music videos, tabloids, and is regarded bonafide celebrity. However, she has never won a single event. In fact, she has never
Joby Martin even finished in the top ten of any one particular major event. Kournikova is currently ranked #308 in the World Tennis Association rankings, and has not played professional tennis since 2003.
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Meanwhile, Davenport has proved herself to be, beyond any doubt, significantly more talented than Kournikova. She has won 45 singles titles in her career to Kournikovas zero. She is ranked #1 by the World Tennis Association, and has been ranked lower than #5 only once since 19973. Yet, the most famous tennis player in the world is the pretty Kournikova, as opposed to the talented Davenport. A Google search of the words "Anna Kournikova" yielded 1.1 million returns. A Google search of the words "Lindsay Davenport" yielded only 464,000 returns- 40% less than Kournikova4. Sex sells, as this illustrates. The media bows to the demands of a largely male audience, and engages in the sexist practice of overexposing sex symbols and giving subpar coverage to legitimate female athletes.
Sexist symbols are also extremely prevalent in female sports, particularly on the collegiate level. The majority of female college teams have either team names, mascots, or logos that are, in some way, sexist or separatist. Subsequently, a part of the teams identity is based upon sexist symbols. These symbols- logos, names, and mascots- represent how the team is perceived to the fans. It is the term they are referred to in the media; the logo is the image which is marketed to the public. In some ways, these symbols are even more important than the athletes
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Statistics for both Kournikova and Davenport taken from www.wtatour.com. Google.com search conducted by author.
Joby Martin themselves. Janet Lever, a sociologist and professor at Yale University, explains the importance of symbols:
"Team worship makes all participants intensely aware of their own group membership. By accepting that a particular team represents them symbolically, people enjoy a ritual kinship based on a common bond. Their emblem, be it an insignia, or a lapel pin, or a scarf with team colors, distinguishes fellow fans from both strangers and enemies." (Lever 1983, 12)
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D. Stanley Eitzen and Maxine Baca Zinn have performed exhaustive studies of symbolism in female collegiate sports, and have identified numerous ways in which female teams are represented in a sexist manor. Gender marking is conveyed in a variety of ways. The first is feminine suffixes, denoting a difference between the male and female teams. At Duquesne University, the mens team is the Dukes, while the female team is the Duchesses. Another tendency noted in Eitzen and Zinns studies is the use of the word ,,lady. ,,Lady is clearly effeminate and, as mentioned in the previous example of the LPGA, a distinctly un-athletic connotation. At the University of Florida, for example, the mens team is the Gators while the womens team is the Lady Gators. Eitzen and Zinn also observed the use of masculine names for the female teams. For example, at Colorado State, both teams are called the Rams, despite the inexistence and impossibility of a female ram. Furthermore, some teams have a direct gender conflict in their names as well as instances of gender marking. At Providence University, the mens teams are the Friars, while the womens teams are the Lady Friars. At Virginia Tech, the men are the Hokies and the females are the Lady Hokies- a "hokie" is a regional term for a castrated turkey. (Eitzen and Zinn 1993: 34-41).
Joby Martin While these examples of sexism in the sports may media seem trivial to some,
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they are directly contributing to a sexist atmosphere in all of sports. To continue with the example of collegiate athletics, women receive on 41% of athletic scholarships, despite being 53% of the student body. Spending for recruitment was skewed 70% to 30% in favor of males. It is not uncommon for a school with a big-time football program to spend almost twice as much on its football team as it has spent on all womens sports. This blatant sexism is not confined to the college ranks. The average salary in the WNBA is $55,000, while the average salary in the NBA is more than five times that, at $3,170,000. In 2000 the total prize money for the PGA was $157 million, while the total prize money for the LPGA was $36.2 million. (Lapchick and Matthews 2001: 58-59). The media, and the coverage it gives to female athletes and leagues, in a large contributor to the differences in revenue.
Another paradox exists in sport, largely perpetuated by the sports media, which transcends gender. Both men and women of color are discriminated against, despite the widespread belief that racism in sport, as well as in society, had been conquered long ago. In many ways, racism has been banished in sport- at least in its most of its more blatant forms. Sport has come a long way since the days of Jackie Robinson and Kenny Washington. Our culture has embraced and even celebrated successful black athletes, the most famous examples being Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali. And, to their credit, the media played a huge role in both Jordan and Ali achieving the iconic status in which they are regarded.
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But the perception that racism is nonexistent in sport is false. Racism, much like sexism, has taken on a more subtle form, expressed through the media by racist language and the maintaining of long held, misguided racial stereotypes. But that is not to say that blatant instances of racism do not persist. Take, for example, the 1995 World Series, which was played between Cleveland and Atlanta. That is, the Cleveland Indians and the Atlanta Braves. Fans of both teams donned imitation headdresses, painted their faces with fake war paint, and chanted faux war chants. Millions of dollars worth of Cleveland merchandise was sold; each jersey, hat, and t-shirt featured ,,Chief Wahoo, the "red-faced, big-nosed, grinning, drywalltoothed moron who graces the peak of every Cleveland Indians cap. 5" The Braves mascot, Chief Nok-a-homa (get it? Knock a homer...), waltzes out of a teepee every time a home run is hit and does a ceremonial dance. It should be noted that every single Braves game, racist symbolism and all, is broadcast on either TBS or TNT, Atlanta-based national cable channels now owned by AOL Time Warner. "Indians", "Redskins", and "Chiefs", are all listed among the top ten most popular American team names from the professional level to high school ("Braves" is ranked 14th). Every other name in the top ten- Lions, Tigers, Bears (oh my!), Wildcats, Hawks, Eagles, Falcons- is a predatory animal (Franks 1982). But, as Susan Harjo explains, it is not necessarily the moniker that is offensive and detrimental to Native Americans. It is the mockery that is made of their sacred traditions. Harjo is the founder of Morning Star Institute, a program dedicated to helping
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Taken from "These Nicknames Should Offend All Americans", Chicago Sun-Times, October 20,
1995.
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Native Americans in need. It was she, along with several other Native American activists, who first sued the Washington Redskins in an attempt to force them to change their name. In an interview with Bob Kravitz of the Rocky Mountain News, January 21, 1992, she elaborated on the effects of racist symbolism in sports:
"If you look up the word "redskin" in both the Websters and Random House Dictionaries, youll find the word is defined as being offensive, like most racial slurs. Can you imagine if they called them the Washington Jews, and the team mascot was a rabbi leading them in Hava Negila, and the fans wore yarmulkes and waved little sponge torahs?"
"The word Indian isnt offensive; Brave isnt offensive, but its the behavior that accompanies all
of this thats offensive. The rubber tomahawks, the chicken feather hairdresses. People wearing war paint and making these ridiculous war whoops with a tomahawk in one hand and a beer in the other. All of these things have significant meaning for us. And the psychological impact it has, especially on our youth, is devastating"
Harjo won her lawsuit initially, but then lost the appeal. She has appealed the overturning of the verdict, despite the fact that her legal fight has already lasted over thirteen years. In the appeals case, the judge overturned the verdict because he felt Harjo failed to prove that the term was offensive to a large number of Native Americans. However, Indian Country Today conducted a survey of over five-thousand Native Americans, August 8, 2001, which concluded that "81% of respondents ,,indicated use of American Indian names, symbols, and mascots are predominantly offensive and deeply disparaging to Native Americans." But Sports Illustrated, widely regarded as the pinnacle of sports journalism, later presented another survey, March 4, 2002, that was in direct conflict to a survey
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conducted by Indian Country Today. The SI survey found that "83% of Native Ameicans shouldnt have to stop using Indian nicknames, mascots, or symbols."6 How is it possible that two identical surveys find polar opposite conclusions? Upon further investigation, the difference is clear. The participants in the Indian Country Today survey were Native Americans who were registered with the United States and living on reservations. The participants in the Sports Illustrated survey consisted of anyone who claimed to be of Native American heritage to any degree. Sports Illustrated used what many would consider to be unethical, or at least irresponsible, methodology to refute the claim of an oppressed people. "Chief Wahoo" and "Chief Nok-a-Homa" are not isolated examples of racist symbols and mascots. There is also "Uncle Reb", the cartoonish, plantation-owning, slave master mascot of the University of Mississippi (a.k.a ,,Ole Miss). Uncle Reb wears the uniform of the Confederate Army, while students attending games sing Dixie as their fight song while waving Confederate flags. Meanwhile, the athletes they are cheering for, the athletes represented by these racist symbols and mascot, are overwhelmingly black. Of the 54 student athletes who appeared in an Ole Miss football game last year, 43 of them are black- almost 80%7. People of minority face racism on the field as well, despite Guttmans claim that "conditions of competition should be the same for all contestants." People of minority have limited access to some sports, such as hockey, swimming, and golf, mostly for socio-economical reasons. But even when participating in the sports at which they excel, their mode of participation is usually different than that of white athletes.
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S.L. Price, "Indian Wars", Sports Illustrated, March 4, 2002, p. 64-72 See Ole Miss 2004 roster @ olemisssports.com
Joby Martin The Super Bowl, once again, provides a perfect example. The two teams who participated in this years Super Bowl (the Philadelphia Eagles and the New England
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Patriots) featured two of the games most successful quarterbacks- Donovan McNabb of the Eagles and Tom Brady of the Patriots. McNabb is black, Brady is white. On countless occasions, the Fox commentary crew, as well as numerous other media outlets, felt the need to acknowledge the fact that McNabb was "a black quarterback." They also felt the need to acknowledge that McNabb was only the third "black quarterback" to play in a Super Bowl. But the most misguided example of racist misperception was expressed in the number of times McNabb was referred to as being a ,,natural athlete. The consensus among members of the media, self proclaimed ,,experts, was that McNabb relied on his natural physical ability as opposed to any knowledge of the game or its strategery. Conversely, Brady was repeatedly referred to as "smart", an athlete who may not have the most physical talent, but succeeds because of intelligence. Words like "studious", "master", and "gritty" were often used- Brady was the guy who overcame lack of athletic ability with mental acuteness. The notion that blacks are somehow biologically and anatomically superior to whites, while supported by the subtle racist language of the media, is entirely false. The concept of the "natural athlete" is a social construct, and "a product of nineteenth-century thinking," according to C. Shelton, a science professor at Smith College.
"To appreciate human variation, it is much more productive to examine an individuals culture, ancestral migratory patterns, and environmental adaptation than to target a minor factor like skin color as a racial determinant." (Shelton and Steigel 2001)
Joby Martin But racism in the media is not the only cause of the "natural athlete" myth. For decades, there has been a belief among scouts and general managers that blacks did not possess the mental acuity to be placed in "smart positions."
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"Racial Minorities are underrepresented in central leadership and thinking playing positions, and are overrepresented in physical, reactive positions. This form of discrimination, known as ,,stacking, is one of the best-documented forms of discrimination in both U.S. college sports and professional ranks" (Eitzen and Sage: 13)
Statistics confirm this assertion. In the 2002, the breakdown of positions by race in the NFL showed these undeniably racist trends. Positions that rely mainly on physical ability were dominated by blacks: 93% of cornerbacks, 90% of wide receivers, 86% of running backs. And despite representing less than a third of the leagues players, white athletes dominated the ,,thinking positions: 78% of quarterbacks, 70% of centers. (Lapchick and Matthews 2001: 58-59) This is not unique to football. In Major League baseball, 4% of pitchers are black, while 40% of outfielders are black (Lapchick and Matthews 2001: 58-59). Racism in regards to participation in sport is evident off the field, in the front offices of the vast majority of sports franchises. Minority athletes face a ,,glass ceiling similar to the one faced by women in the professional world. Out of the 108 Division 1 college football programs, only three are black. Sylvester Croom, hired as head coach at Mississippi State in 2003, was the first black coach in the 70 year history of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), one of the oldest and most dominant conferences in college athletics.
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Of the 32 NFL franchises, not a single one has a black owner. Of the hundreds of front office positions available in the league, only 2% are black 8. Among NFL athletes of minority, this is widely acknowledged and, sadly, seen as an unfortunate aspect of the reality in the NFL. Bryan Cox, a linebacker who played on five different teams during a 12-year career that spanned from 1991-2002, gave Barry Wilner of the Associated Press a first hand account on January 30, 2002:
"I want to be a personnel manager or a coach, but I am not playing on a level field. The chances are not even 90-10 for me to become a general manager or a personnel director or a head coach. It just doesnt match the number of minorities. Just two out of every 100 top front office jobs go to minorities, while 70% of the players in the league are black- and thats not a very good percentage. They are not putting us on an equal plane with the other candidates"
Clearly, the picture of sports painted by the media is quite different than the reality that females and minorities face in professional athletics. The sports media, which itself is in many ways paradoxical in nature, gives exposure to examples of racism, sexism, without acknowledging the existence of these forms of bigotry. Furthermore, by using of language that is subtly both sexist and racist, by using language that subtly distinguishes a difference between black and white, male and female, the media contributes to these beliefs. By promoting symbols- logos, mascots, etc- that are inherently racist, they are contributing to this bigotry. But perhaps Deford was right when he said that "sport elaborates in its rituals what it means to be human". Sport is similar to the human experience, even when considering the sexism and racism that exists in the world. Sport does mirror society; the
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Statistics of minorities in head coaching and front office positions taken from Ian OConnor, "Front Office Inequities as Clear as Black and White", USAToday, February 4, 2005. (Tyrone Willingham was hired as the University of Washington head coach).
Joby Martin sexism and racism that exist in sport and the sports media are just a reflection of the narrow-minded prejudice that exists in our society.
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So is it the medias responsibility to discourage the sexism and racism that exist in sport when presenting sport to the masses? Isnt the goal of the media to reflect, and in turn, serve its audience? If both the audience of the sports media, American society that is, and its subject, professional sport, are sexist and racist, should that not lead to sexism and racism in the sports media? No. The goal of the media is not simply to please its audience. The goal of the media, particularly journalists, is objectivity. It is impossible to be objective using racist and sexist language. It is impossible to be objective while denoting that a difference exists between a male athlete and a female athlete; it is impossible to be objective while denoting that a difference exists between a white athlete and a black athlete. And therein lies the final paradox of sport and media: the sports medias pursuit of objectivity through the use of prejudice.
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SOURCES
Acosta, R. Vivian and Linda J. Carpenter, 2002. "Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal Study- Twenty-Five Year Update." West Brookfield, Mass: Carpenter/Acosta.
Coakley, Jay J. 1988. Beyond the Obvious: A Critical Look at Sport in the U.S. The World and I 2: 589.
Duncan, Margaret Carlisle. 1991. Representation and the Gun that Points Backwards. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 17: 42-26.
Eitzen, D. Stanley and Maxine Baca Zinn. 1989. The Deathletization of Women: Naming and Gender Marking of Collegiate Sports Teams. Sociology of Sport Journal 6: 362-370.
Eitzen, D. Stanley and Maxine Baca Zinn. 1993. The Sexist Naming of Athletic Teams and Resistance to Change. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 17: 34-41.
Eitzen, D. Stanley and George H. Sage. 2002. Sociology of North American Sport, 7th Ed. New York: chapter 13.
Joby Martin Franks, Ray. 1982. Whats in a Nickname? Exploring the Jungle of College Athletic Mascots. Amarillo, TX: Ray Franks.
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Fuller, John R. and Elisabeth Anne Manning. 1987. Violence and Sexism in College Mascots and Symbols: A Typology. Free Inquiry in Creative Society 15: 61-64.
Kane, Mary Jo. 2000. Can Women Save Sports? Utne Reader 97: p. 57.
King, C. Richard and Charles Fruehling Springwood. 2000. Fighting Spirits: Racial Politics of Sports Mascots. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 24: 282-304.
Lever, Janet. 1983. Soccer Madness. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lapchick, Richard E. and Kevin J. Matthews. 2001. 2001 Racial and Gender Report Card. Boston: Center for the Study of Sport in Society, Northeastern University: p. 58-59.
Miller, Casey and Kate Swift. 1980. The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing. New York: Lippincott and Crowell.
Miller, Casey and Kate Swift. 1977. Words and Women: New Language in New Times. Garden City, NY: Doubleday-Anchor.
Joby Martin Nixon II, Howard L. and James H. Frey. 1996. A Sociology of Sport. Belmost, CA: Wadsworth.
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Shelton, C. and D. Seigel. 2001. Race and Sports [online]. Smith College, [cited 9 March 2005]. www.science.smith.edu/exer_sci/ESS200/Raceh/Raceh.htm.
Spender, Dale. 1980. Man Made Language. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980.
Suggs, Welch. 2001. Female Athletes Thrive, But Budget Pressures Loom. Chronicle of Higher Education: p A45-A48.
Thomas, Lois. 1997. Whats in a Name? In these Times: p.11.
Weisman, Larry. 2001. NFL Player Salaries [online]. http://www.sportsfansofamerica.com/FansInAction/Football/NFLSalaries.htm
MORE SOURCES
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News sources, magazine articles, and websites I didnt know how to site I wasnt sure if they should have been included at all, according to: http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/chicagogd.html (online Chicago Manual Style guide). So, this is just in case.
Kravitz, Bob. "Aim of Native Americans Protest is True," Rocky Mountain News, January 21, 1992.
Moore, Kenny. "Uplifted, Gently, by Sport". Sports Illustrated, November 15, 1989.
"NFL Agrees to 6-Year Extension with CBS, Fox", ESPN.com, http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1918761
Price, S.L., "The Indian Wars," Sports Illustrated , March 4, 2002.
Telander, Rick. "These nicknames should offend all Americans", Chicago Sun-Times, October 20, 1995.
Wilner, Barry. "Cox Questions Opportunities in NFL for Minorities," Associated Press, January 30, 2002.
"WTA Singles Rankings", World Tennis Association, http://www.wtatour.com/rankings/singles_numeric.asp?page=1