From Tim McCormack
I wanted to give those willing yet another chance to begin a dialogue on the blog here about topics that matter to our courses. This is especially important as I review your midterm performance grade and quite frankly, many of you could use the points.
There have been two stories involving the NFL that have received a lot of attention lately. One of them is the story of how the NFL has a big safety issue and how their players are at risk for injury. However, the NFL also markets violent play as a positive thing. See the discussion of this issue in the NY Times by clicking on the link below or cutting and pasting this url into your browser search box.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/sports/football/22hits.html?scp=4&sq=NFL%20violence%20marketing&st=cse
And then there was this column on NFL cheerleaders. Click on this link or cut and paste it into your browser.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/sports/football/17rhoden.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=NFL%20cheerleaders&st=cse
I am especially interested in the ideas of sexism of cheerleading as sport, and the idea that the use of cheerleaders in the NFL and NBA undermines the athletic skill required. Do you think cheerleaders are athletes?
If the URL links do not work, just go to the NY TIMES and put NFL cheerleaders or NFL violence into the search box.
Looking forward to seeing you all comment here.
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I think that if the Nfl has problems with the whole helmet problem they should make better helmets for players to avoid concussions. Mainly this is a man's sport where it is all about how tough is that player and obviously when that particular football player walks to the football field he knows that he will get hurt and is willing to sacrfice his body just to get a victory
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that football is such an agressive sport is the reason for its popularity.If you eliminate that aspect of the game it will lose its popularity. The players smashing into eachother is entertainment for the viewers. ESPN will lose interest in doing coverage if their are no real highlights. But as far as the health of the players go i do agree that they do need better helmets to avoid concussion.
ReplyDeletei dont think cheerleading is a sport because its used to support other sports. Although it does fit the definition of a sport because it is organized and is competitive. I agree with the Mary Ellen Hanson when she says that " Equally recognized is the cheerleader as symbol of mindless enthusiasm, shallow boosterism, objectified sexuality, and promiscuous availability,” The outfits they wear doesnt help much either but i dont think they are trying to send a negative message. The uniforms probably were designed for comfortability, not necessarily promiscuity.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with Ikea when she says cheerleading isn't a sport. Cheerleading combines gymnastics and dancing. Gymnastics is considered a sport since it's featured in the Olympics. If cheerleaders were to be unattractive and wear baggy clothing, I think it would change the perception of the sport. The Laker and Dallas girls are just seen as eye candy. But no one sees the hard work that goes behind earning that title. It takes hours of rehearsal and choreographed stunts, just like football and basketball. All three take the same amount of effort, hard work and athletic skill. Last time I checked doing herkies,forward handsprings and basket tosses are all athletic. If the roles were switched and men were cheerleaders, most likely it would be considered a sport. At the end of the day sex sells. I think the main point why they are cheerleaders in the NFL and NBA is to make money. They know men love half naked women who fly in the air. It's a business. Is it right no, but at this rate I don't think it's going to change at all.
ReplyDelete--Jeanne
Cheerleading should be considered as a sport, but it isn't. Perhaps if there were more women in the industry of sports not just playing but also working behind the scenes of the action more would get done to resolve this issue. There's no question in my opinion that cheerleading isn't a sport, there are many little thing people do everyday that could be a sport, it's about what's most entertaining. Like Jeanne said, particularly in cheerleading sex does sell, is it really a representation of the people personally though? Mostly likely not, a cheerleader doesn't do cheerleading because she wants to end up in playboy, she probably does it because she has the talent and skills to become a "cheerleader" perform for an audience and still get paid (professionally). Now that's just it, the reason why cheerleading to some who don't see it as a sport, don't believe it's a sport. They see it as entertainment, something you watch and enjoy watching but few would say "ohhh man those cheerleaders i bet they get millions, i wanna be one when i grow up," maybe people do, but let's be real, cheerleading isn't something you'd find two random people, boy, girl, black, white, discussing over tea. The reason I think football is entertaining is because it takes the approach of knowing how to entertain and be inspirational, because people know they actually have a chance at a sport like that. Cheerleading is no game, it's just as hard as trying to do Yoga for some, but let's face it, it jsut doesn't call to people as say baseball and basketball. Going back to the "sex sells" well you just don't find too many other sports that would sell sex, I mean, imagine Kobe Bryant wearing his jersey slightly off his shoulder and eating chocolate covered strawberries, really? It would down the industry and he'd be strereotyped. In some way the women put themselves in that position of selling their sexual life, if they had such a problem with it then they wouldn't be so cool about wearing nothing and maybe cheerleading would actually be taken as serious.
ReplyDelete-Aleea<3
If we asked an older guy who's been around the world for a while, he would probably tell us that violence is the tree and football is just a root. Violence is is an act of anger. Anger is a feeling. Last i checked its pretty hard to promote a feeling, successfully. Football is just a way to release anger, without the hard feelings at the end of it. In some way I guess you could say it's the "men's" way of yoga.
ReplyDelete-Aleea<3
^^^ what they all said besides ikea. My best friends been cheerleading her whole life and ive done it in the past, personally it takes a lot from you. you have to be beyond physically fit in order to do things on point. Think about it you are throwing someone who might weight more or even less then you at least ten feet in the air and having to sustain them in air is worse. I believe they should be recognized as a sport simply for their dedication to the activity. They have gone by the books and made it a social event that has certain foundations to consider it a sport. I know we all seen bring it on 1 2 3 etc and so fourth, all that is true and well in the original version you saw all the dedication and hard work they went through to prepare themselves for nationals. They have to compete against other teams like other sports, maybe its not on physical contact and literally having to bring another team down this is all about internal strength within the group and honestly that itself i think is much harder then having to tackle someone else down. so yes i think cheerleading should be considered a sport.
ReplyDelete- jasmine p
I agree that cheerleading should be considered a sport because its not as easy as it looks. It takes a lot of time, practice and strength just like any other sport. The reason that most people don't consider it a sport because of the way its being portrayed to others. The N.F.L. uses cheerleaders as "eye-candy" and this gets a lot of viewers to see the sports teams play. They even use cheerleaders to sell their own products by using sexual themes, making cheerleaders wear brief uniforms and making them dance in a provocative way. Cheerleaders are being used as objects for viewing pleasure and that might be the reason why people don't take cheerleading seriously and think that its not capable of being a sport.
ReplyDelete“I think our bus crashed and we’re in heaven” was the response of one of the male main characters in the movie “Fired Up”. After they got off the bus and look around, all of the girl cheerleaders in the tournament start stretching to the music. “Hey ladies rock it down/Just want to see you touch the ground/Don’t be shy girl go bananza/Shake your body like a belly dancer” are some of the song’s lyrics. While the song is playing the cheerleaders are getting comfortable and all you hear is laughing. Some of the cheerleaders take off their sweaters. As the camera rotates as the eyes of the male characters, they view the cheerleaders jumping on each other and hugging each other. The camera angles focus on certain sexual stretches between two or more girls. At the end of the scene the camera returns to the male “cheerleaders” who decided to skip their football training camp to help out the school’s cheerleaders in a tournament. Their astonished faces exemplify their excitement and the other male main character responds “No, we would’ve heard we are crashing we we are crashing”.
ReplyDeleteMy example above portrays how I and most males see cheerleading, but I do believe cheerleading can be seen as a sport because of the physical activity put into each one of their routines. Cheerleading includes the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, and cheers. As seen in the movie, cheerleading is definitely a worldwide competition. In today’s society I believe cheerleading is seen as a spectacle. Cheerleading is entertainment for the fans while the sport team is not on the field. Below I listed two links. One is the Knicks City Dancers cheering during half time, entertaining viewers. I believe people don’t see cheerleading as a sport because of what they wear (outfits that expose a woman’s body and outer beauty) and because all of the cheerleaders are (appealing, attractive woman). Looking up cheerleading on Google I ran into an interesting link that a Federal judge ruled that cheerleading is NOT a sport. It is very interesting, if you have time read it and tell me what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HepmxqvuLE0
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/29/cheerleading-a-sport/
-Jose Arcos
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