Conclusion

After keeping and writing in my very first blog for the entire semester I found it very useful. I enjoyed writing in the blog on a weekly basis. It was helpful to reflect on the different topics we discussed. It made me realize what I actually learned and what it meant to me. It was interesting how I could relate a lot of the topics to my life. When I learn in other classes I don't really think about how it can apply to my life experiences. Most teachers want to apply the material to the classroom. I think it made different topics stick longer which actually made them easier to learn.

I really enjoyed the topics we covered. We were able to discuss athletes and topics from all over the world. This gave me a different perspective on the sporting world and the impact one athlete/sport/topic can have on the global level. My favorite topics we covered were about athletes and debatable topics. I liked discussing and learning more about Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, David Beckham, and Michael Jordan. These athletes are global icons and talking about how they had an impact on the whole world is fascinating. I liked topics such as woman coaches, athletes with disabilities, and Olympic bidding because it led to great group discussions in the classroom.

My favorite part of the class was easily the guest speakers. We had three come into class and talk about a different aspect of sport globalization. They both had great knowledge on different sports and parts of the world. Dr. Cho had great stories from Korea. The fact that he lived there so long and got an education before he came to America made him have a great insight on sport globally. Dr. Meek had a very good European take on global sports. He's seen different sports all over the world. He also had great stories.

The thing I liked least about class was covering topics on different sports. I already knew about rugby and cricket. While these are very popular sports around the world not very many people care about them in the United States. I know this sounds narrowminded but I believe there could have been better topics covered than these. I would have liked to see more guest speakers.

Is there a place for Transgender in sports?

Transgender is a very controversial topic. Some people don't even like to discuss the "touchy" subject, but it is something that needs to be handled in the sports world. As we discussed in class there are guidelines a transgender must follow in order to participate legally. They must go through two years of hormonal injections and have the sex surgery.

As in the case with Richard Raskind he played professional woman's tennis after  previously being a man. He was the age of 41 and did very well. He did so well that people started to question him. I believe he had an unfair advantage. By todays bylaws he would not be able to compete. I found it interesting that he agreed later in his life that when he played, he had an advantage. He was very humble and did not want to take credit for being a pioneer. He had a really good third person view on his life and what he went through

Kye Allums is a transgender man who plays woman basketball. She does not take any different hormones or anything radical like that. She just believes she should be a man. She doesn't have any advantage or disadvantage in her sport. I do not think her press conference to come out was necessary though. Simply coming out for her friends, family, and coaches would have been enough. I'm not telling her to hide it from the media or if people ask, but to put it out there like she did was too much.

Women Coaches

I don't think a woman could ever succeed as a head coach for a contact sport. I don't think a woman could relate to a brutal sport such as football or rugby. They have not been through the two a-days, hitting drills, and all of the mental pain football bring. There is too much physical contact and pain that I don't believe a man would respect a female enough to listen to her. I don't think the girl (Holly) could even  be a successful coach. She wasn't good at all. If I were on her team I don't know if I could respect her. She wasn't in shape which to me means that she doesn't care how well she does. Just because she loves football doesn't mean she loves to play it. She could just pass out water or something on the sideline.When I wrestled in high school there was a girl who wanted to be on the team my Junior year. She didn't try at all and said everything was too hard.She complained a lot and didn't take it serious. It really made me mad. When we would live wrestle I would go really hard to show her how it really is during a match. It wasn't just rolling around on mats like she thought it was. She ended up quitting after a few weeks.

I think the only way that a woman could ever ever coach a full contact sport is if she was really successful at a high level, such as college. She would have to be an all-American and then she could probably coach high school and maybe a D-II -III college. I don't see any large universities taking a chance on a woman anytime soon.

With this being said, I have been coached by a woman. She was our head coach for the guys and girls cross country team. She was a Division I college runner and was also the head coach for the track team. Everyone respected her as a coach and it wasn't an issue that she was a woman. I think that it didn't matter that she was a woman because it was a non physical sport. She could relate to running and everything that goes along with the training and races, because she went through it.

Athletes with disabilities

Oscar Pistorius is South African sprint track runner. His nick name is "blade runner" and he is the fastest man with no legs. Pistorius has raced against able-bodied athletes on the international level and beat them. The IAAF ruled that Pistorius had an unfair advantage by using prosthetic legs and could not compete in sanctioned events. This was later over-turned based that the IAAF didn't have sufficient proof. Oscar did not qualify for the Olympics in 2008 but won 3 gold medals in the Paralympics.  

Oscar is the athlete with a disability that I have heard of most over the last five years. There were many stories on ESPN about him not being eligible for the Olympics. I think he does have a slight edge though. He doesn't have lower legs which means no fatigue and his blade legs are more resilient and absorb a lot of pressure.

When I was in high school I wrestled a kid with one leg two or three times. He had a really big upper body and his arms were larger than anyone else in our weight class. When we wrestled he crawled on his knee and hands. He was actually pretty quick and with the strength he had made him a decent wrestler. I had to adapt to wrestle him and learn how to beat him the way he wrestled.

Olympic Bidding

The process to bring the Olympics to a specific country is a huge process that can mean billions of dollars being poured into your economy. It can take years to put together a bid that is worth enough to be put in contention with other countries. Governments spend a lot of money developing a plan to even get a nomination.
We spent class time trying to develop a plan for our chosen country to get the chance to host the Olympics. There were so many factors and different aspects of our country to highlight, it was difficult to put together a representation good enough in that time. The binders Dr. Spencer let us use showed projects from former graduate students. I feel like this would be a fun project to actually do. I'm sure they had a month to work on it though.
The Olympics are my favorite sporting activity to watch. I love seeing the best athletes in the world compete against each other. There are so many different events that are not mainstream that are broad casted during the Olympics. My first memory of the Olympics was watching Apolo Anton Ohno in the 2002 games held in Salt Lake City.

Tiger Woods

I enjoy discussing current topics like Tiger Woods. He just finished up playing in the Presidents Cup held in Australia. He played well all week and actually clinched the cup for the Americans. While he is still not back to his form he was three years ago, this is a big step forward for the struggling Tiger.

Tiger has not been the same player, or viewed as the same person since the scandal that happened two years ago. He hasn't won a tournement since. Tiger has been through a lot and everyone is expecting him to still be the same golfer he was then. I don't think someone can go through everything he did and even be the same person after, let alone the same golfer. Golf is such a mental sport and it takes a while to get your head straight after something so life changing.

I'm rooting for Tiger to come back. It may take longer than everyone expects, but eventually I believe he will dominate again. I saw him golf over the  summer at the Firestone Inviational in Akron. He did not play well, but he still had the biggest following. It's always interesting to see an athelete with as much auroa as Tiger Woods.

Globalizing American Sports with International Stars

America has always had global athletes in our biggest sports. The best athletes in the world normally have always came to America to play baseball, football, and basketball. Soccer stars are exported from America to Europe where the best clubs and players are, and once Canada finds something worth value, they try to hold on to it forever. The latter two are the starting point of why David Beckham and Wayne Gretzky coming to the U.S. to compete had a huge impact on culture and their respective sport.

Wayne Gretzky was traded to the L.A. kings at the height of his popularity. He was a multiple Stanley Cup champion and was already one of the best hockey players ever. This was a shock to everyone in the hockey world. He was going from the best team, to one of the worst. His fans in Edmonton felt like their whole team was traded to L.A. Canada felt like they lost a member of royalty and the whole city of L.A. had hockey fever when he came over. Gretzky put the spot light on professional hockey in America in a huge way. Youth numbers rose, attendance rose, and sheer interest in the sport rose.

I can relate to Gretzky leaving Canada from when the Browns left and went to Baltimore. Cleveland was a football city and their prized posession was taken away from them. Even though the Browns weren't as good as Gretsky, it still meant a lot to the fans.

David Beckham took advatage of his celebrity stature and came to America. He was past his prime in his soccer carrer. He came to L.A. to bring attention to soccer. His attempt wasn't a failure, but it didn't take off like it could have. I think if Beckham wasn't injured, and in his prime, soccer would have taken off like crazy. When Beckham traveled, more people did go out to see him. However, he was injured a lot and didn't get as many touches as fans wanted to see. He wasn't the great striker that he once was. On his new team, he wasn' even the best player. I never got to see him play, but would have loved to when he was at the top of his game.

Michael Jeffery Jordan

Michael Jeffery Jordan is regarded by many to be the best basketball player ever. I agree with this statement. Not only was he at the top of the NBA, he was at the top of the world during the 1990's. He won six NBA championships, an Olympic gold medal, and was the top endorsed athlete. Everyone around the world knew his name and recognized his face. He was one of the most famous people in the world.
Like all successful people, there are "haters" for them. I don't know how people can hate on MJ. His numbers, success, and work ethic all prove how great he really was. Not only did Michael dominate basketball, but he changed it globally forever.
I can remember being a kid and watching Michael Jordan play basketball. My family wasn't Bulls fans but my dad always told me that we won't ever see another player like MJ. I think that statement holds true today. Kobe, Lebron, and Wade are not the player that Jordan was. They are great in their own way, but if you combine all three of their talents, I think then they'll be MJ.

Cricket

This week in class we discussed the sport of Cricket. While Cricket is not played too much or mainstream in the United States, it is one of the most popular sports in the world. Cricket is highly popularized in Australia, India, Pakistan, Great Britain, and Sri Lanka, just to name a few. The sport even has a world cup which was last won by Sri Lanka in 2011.
I've known a few facts about cricket such as how many players are on each team (11) and how to score. Dr. Spencer passed out a sheet of cricket rules/facts that taught me a lot. The terms were very helpful for knowing information on cricket. Wickets and creases are terms needed to know in order to understand the sport.  I'm always amazed by how long a game can last. There have been games that last days. We watched a few video clips of great cricket play. The game looked as though it can get exciting and I think it could be fun to play. I've never had the chance to play before.
We then talked about the early history of baseball in America. Americans developed baseball so they could have their own sport that was theirs.

Homecoming Symposium

Friday I attended the Homecoming Symposium where I listened to a lecture by Nate Janoso. First I would just like to say that the Homecoming Symposium is a great event put on by BGSU that not only is very beneficial to Sport Management students but also many other majors. Students can benefit greatly by attending.

Nate's lecture was titled Capitalizing on Opportunities. He works for the Cleveland Indians where he is the coordinator of charity events. He talked about the different sides to working in the sports industry, specifically baseball at the Cleveland Indians. There are two different sides to working there, the business side and of course baseball operations. The business side is much more broad and has many more departments.

Nate told us what most guess speakers tell us about the sports industry. He touched on the long hours, low starting pay, competitive, and paying your dues at the beginning. But he also put together something he calls S.P.O.R.T. This stands for Skills, Preparation, Opportunities, Relentlessness, and Traits. He said this is what we all need in order to be successful in the sports industry.

Rugby

I have always been intrigued by the conflict in South Africa and especially the heroism of Nelson Mandela. When I was much younger, I learned about the par tide that had happened in South Africa. To me, this did not make sense. I had learned that blacks were from Africa so I couldn't understand why they were made the lower class and abused by racism. After asking my teachers about it, they explained to me what had happened to the Africans. I thought it was really unfair and hated that that had happened so long. But then I learned of the great Nelson Mandela. He had fought racism his whole life and was even sentenced to prison on an island for 27 years. But then, finally when he got out of prison he went on to lead the same country that had thrown him in prision. He changed the whole country for the better.

The movie Invictious is about the story about how Mendela united the country the Rugby. I had never watched this movie but I really enjoyed the clips we watched. The clip of the Haka was a good one. I've seen the Haka in realy live performed by a New Zealander and seeing it in person is way better than on a screen. In person it is really intense and loud.

I also believe that sport should be used to make a politcal stand. Countries have been doing this for decades and it's not going to stop. It proves a point and captures peoples attention to the issue at hand. Some things might go unnoticed if it wasn't for a protest through sports.

Dr. Meek Comes to Class

Once again I was very interested by our guest speaker.  The two that have come to class have great insight on the globalization of sport. Dr. Meek had fascinating stories of soccer and hooliganism in England.

The thing I found most interesting was that the kids he taught would miss two days of school every time their club had a match because they were in jail. I don't believe Dr. Meek mentioned the age of his students but I would like to know what they're parents thought and if the school itself did anything to get the kids back in school or punished them for missing so much. This also got me wondering how young children in England start to participate in hooliganism. In the United States parents dress their kids in their teams colors starting as a baby. I wonder if they do that in England.

Dr. Meek said that hooliganism is now banned from the stadium and they have moved it to fields and have meetings for fights. It makes sense to me that they finally banned them from the stadiums but I find it kind of funny that the leaders of the firms text each other to set up a fight. It seems like the most civilized things hooligans do. The security Dr. Meek talked about at the train station did not surprise me at all. I actually think it's a good idea that they check a lot of people. Not necessarily to stop hooliganism but also terrorism. England has had a lot of issues with terrorists and it's good they are tightening up security.

I was shocked by the racism that black soccer players receive in Europe. I had no clue that race was such an issue on the soccer pitch. I didn't even know that Europe as a whole was so racist. I always hear how open minded Europe is, but I guess that's not as true as they portray. It's a shame that this is still happening in the world, and on such a large scale in public. I feel like the soccer stadiums could do so much more to prevent this. I think even banning bananas from the stadium would help a lot and mean a lot to the black players.

Dr. Cho comes to class

I enjoyed Dr. Cho coming to class very much. I like to listen and learn from others experiences. He came from a very different country and culture than what I am use to. He had a great insight on how sport has become globalized.

I found it interesting how Dr. Cho found his career path. He got to watch professional football on television as a kid and ended up idolizing the athletes. I found it fascinating that he got to watch the military channel without commercials. I wish I didn't have to watch commercials. When he got to pick his major he chose physical education which was the closest thing he had to a type of sports management. I can relate to Dr. Cho in this aspect because at first I didn't exactly know what type of career I wanted but I knew I wanted to be involved in the sports industry.

Another thing that I did not know happened was street cheering. This was really cool. I've never seen so many people crowd the streets like that and come together to support one thing. He said it was about three times larger than Times Square on New Years Eve. People in the United States don't come together for one thing like that ever. Not even for our national teams. If something like that were to happen I would love to be apart of it.

The globalization of the WBC

These questions were answered by Kelsey Meridieth and I.

1. We determined Klein meant that "growing the game" means trying to develop the sport in Nations where it is weak. The WBC gives every nation an equal opportuinty to play and get involved in baseball on a huge international stage. It also gives exposure to countries that host the event and raises their economy during the event. FIFA is a few steps above the WBC still and has had so much sucess while it has been around much longer. FIFA has an outstanding reputation and is known has the best league in the world.

2.Some of the Pros of the WBC are traveling to other countries during the offseason and bringing exposure to those countries. Also showing different talented players that aren't in the MLB.  It could bring tourists to places that they wouldn't normally go.  A con would be the MLB season is so long that many of the best players wouldn't want to compete in the WBC.

3.Based upon other sports efforts in globalization we would suggest that baseball stars go into countries and promote youth baseball.

Super Memories

I can remember having Super Bowl memories from as far back as ten years old. Growing up I would always watch the game with my brother at my grandmothers. My parents would go out to parties and have fun without kids. The game I remember most was the 1999 game when the Titans took on the Rams. Eddie George was from Ohio State so my family wanted the Titans to win and they ended up coming one yard short at the very end of the game. When I was about 16 I started watching the game with my friends. My freshman year in college was a very memorable game because of who I watched it with and we had really great party in the dorms. I can usually remember the commercials for about a month after the Super Bowl but then the memory fades away, even the really good ones. I feel like the commercials are only a big deal because the media makes them that way.

I also have memories of watching international soccer. I mostly like to watch the World Cup and The Olympics. My fondest memory of soccer is the 2006 World Cup final between Italy and France. I was with a group of friends and we went to Frickers to watch it. We had worked for our friends parents that morning so they said they would pick up the bill. It ended up being over $250 and we didn't even drink alcohol back then, so we thought it was a lot. It ended up being an amazing game and the team I wanted to win(Italy) had in overtime.

Introduction

My name is Derek Flores and I am writing this blog for my Sport and Globalization class at Bowling Green  State University taught by Dr. Spencer. I'm a junior from Fremont, Ohio. I enjoy Cleveland sports. The Cavs, Indians, and Browns are my favorite teams along with all of The Ohio State Buckeye programs. I'm a season ticket holder for the Browns. You can find me tailgating and in the upper Dawg Pound at the home games.

If I could attend one world event that has happened I would choose the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin, Germany. Although this was during the Hitler era and a lot of controversy surrounded the games, I would love to go watch Jesse Owens win four gold medals. Growing up in history classes we would always learn about how Hitler wanted his Aryan race to be supreme and a great American came and ruined the games for him. Once I found out Jesse Owens went to The Ohio State University, he became one of my favorite athletes. It would be amazing to see him shock the world the way that he did with his greatness.

I attended Fremont Ross High School where I was a four year letter winner in cross country and wrestling. I started out running distance for track in middle school with my older brother. I loved it so much I joined cross country the next year and never went back to track. Once winter came around it was wrestling season. Wrestling was my favorite sport to participate in. It got you in awesome shape and mentally prepared you for life. I became captain of both sports my senior year and loved being on a team.