In the world of sports, there is always something happening. With so many sports to choose from, fans certainly have a variety of events to watch each week.  For example, just look at the overlap in terms of some of America’s major sports leagues: Major League Baseball (today is Opening Day www.mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule), National Hockey League (the 2010 regular season ends on April 11th www.nhl.com/schedules/20092010) and the Professional Golf Association’s Masters Tournament begins April 8th (www.pgatour.com/r/schedule). Even in terms of the sports not currently in-season, the media keeps fans up-to-date on breaking news and events such as the National Football League’s 2010 Draft (which takes place in one month www.NFL.com/Draft). Of course one cannot overlook other sports, such as basketball, especially since games are taking place at both the professional and collegiate level (March Madness is certainly in full swing www.ncaa.com/champ/m-baskbl-d1-champ.html). 

With so many sports opportunities available it is no wonder that the sport industry must constantly strive to attract AND maintain fans, particularly in difficult economic times. Given all of this, I surprised myself when I realized how much I actually missed watching the 2010 Winter Olympics. I can’t believe the Olympic Games ended almost a month ago. No matter how you look at it, there is something different about watching the United States Hockey team as opposed to watching the same players on their regular NHL teams. 

For me, a large part of it boils down to the pride and importance athletes take in playing their sport for their country. In today’s world, with free-agents and the reality of “sports as a business” there can be something lacking in terms of player and fan loyalty. However, the pride of playing for a medal for a country transcends all of the other stuff. In a sense, the Olympics seem to have a sense of innocence or purity that doesn’t exist in professional sports or even college sports when athletes have an eye for turning professional down the road.

I know I can be a bit idealistic but I can’t help wondering if there is a way to bring some of the pride, dedication, sacrifice, work-ethic and honor that accompanies successful, individual, Olympic athletes to our young athletes in recreational sports to collegiate sports and eventually to professional sports as well. In fact, we could all use a little of those qualities in our everyday life, regardless of the profession in which we work.

 What do you think? How can society use professional sports in America as a vehicle to inspire others towards attaining excellence in ways OTHER than looking at the paychecks of professional athletes? How can we take some of the business out of sports and put the emphasis on the game? How about the character of the player? Or, maybe I’m just wrong and nothing should change. What do you think about professional sports versus Olympic sports?

I am a firm believer in the idea that it is okay to have differing opinions.  I try very hard to teach this to my students.  I also tell them that they need to be able to express their opinions in a thoughtful and articulate manner.  As individuals, we should be open to listening to other people’s opinions; if we disagree it is okay.  It doesn’t make someone right or wrong or good or bad.

 Over the last couple of days, I have been listening to the rhetoric being thrown around regarding Rush Limbaugh and his bid to buy a minority ownership stake in the St. Louis Rams.  In 2003, Rush was hired by ESPN for their NFL pre-game show. Let’s understand something before we go any further.  Rush Limbaugh was hired to give commentary, his opinion.  Everyone knew that he had controversial opinions.  When he made a comment about Donovan McNabb being an average quarterback, and the media propped him up because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed, people went nuts and started calling him a racist.  What Rush said had more to do with the media than with McNabb.  Whether you think McNabb is a great quarterback or not is a matter of opinion. Whether you believe what he said about the media is a matter of opinion.  What Rush did was what he was paid to do– give his opinion.  By all accounts that I am aware, nobody who knows Rush would label him a racist.  However, people who don’t know him but disagree with him and his political views are quick to throw that label at him.

 Rush Limbaugh would not be the most listened to radio talk show host in America if he was a racist. Nor would he garner the radio advertising dollars that he does if he was a racist. But you have geniuses such as Jim Irsay (who by the way has a laundry list of social problems) say he would not vote for Limbaugh to be an owner.  Remember that the Irsays left in the middle of the night from Baltimore to evade Maryland law to keep the Colts in Baltimore.  There are players who say they wouldn’t play for a team that Limbaugh was an owner for.  I am pretty sure if they were offered a contract better than they have now, they would sign it and be happy they had an ownership group that valued them that much. The NFL has rules to make sure that minorities are given a fair chance and yet they are still underrepresented and nothing is really said or done about it.

 The NFL is a private business.  They can keep Limbaugh out if they want to, and I am fine with that.  What I take issue with is the idea that an individual who has expressed a thoughtful and articulate argument has been cast as something he is not because people did not like what he had to say. On this subject, one of my Twitter friends said, “Not fond of restricting his ability to own a company, but someone w/ his track record in control of an NFL team makes me nervous.” Why does it make you nervous? What is he going to do? It’s not like he is a government official running the country into the ground!  What is his track record, being a successful business man?

 A large segment of our society has become so intolerant that if someone says something we don’t agree with, we label them as racists, or bad terrible people.  Whatever happened to the idea of a society where freedom of thought and speech was cherished and actually caused dialogue and progress?  Or does that only happen when we agree with what is said? Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer who gets paid to say provocative things, like him or don’t like him I don’t care, and that isn’t the point of this piece.  Agree or disagree with him, I don’t care.  If you agree you should be able to thoughtfully express why.  If you disagree, you should be able to thoughtfully express why on the merits of what he says and does, not just through words such as racist and divisive.  Go back and listen to what he said and form your own thoughts.  Remember, it is okay to disagree, but do it on the merits, form your own opinions, and express them in a thoughtful manner.  His political views should not be the issue concerning whether or not he becomes an owner of an NFL franchise.

This week’s post is courtesy of Jennifer Pinsky-Newman.  Here are some of her thoughts on networking and the start of the football season.

Growing up I thought some of my grandmother’s sayings were based on a strange sense of logic. You know the sage advice like, “make sure you wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident.” I always found the notion of thinking about clean underwear on the way to the hospital a bit nonsensical. One of her favorite sayings was, “Always look your best because you never know who you’ll run into.” Of course, this one usually implied I needed to change my clothes or put on make-up in case I met my future husband—even if I was only twelve at the time.

Ironically enough, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to appreciate some of the nuances behind what always appeared to be random comments. In today’s networking age it has become more and more important to keep in the back of your mind that you never know who you are going to meet, who will turn into a life-changing contact or where you will be when you stumble upon a person that has the ability to influence your life in dramatic ways.

I’m pretty sure that my youngest daughter never anticipated that a two-year old girl would lead her to an internship enabling her to assist in the production of a weekly sports podcast! Or that her babysitting over the summer would result in York College Sport Management students hearing great advice from Craig Lehmen, a guest speaker on the strategies behind successfully participating in a Fantasy Football league. However, that’s exactly what happened and I am amazed, yet again, by how things work out in life. Suffice it to say that my grandmother is probably saying, “I told you so!”

It is also amazing to me the degree to which the world has changed in such a short period of time. In my grandmother’s day no woman, let alone a teenage girl, would have the chance to work on a sports show. Females would never be seriously involved in sports, be it a Fantasy Football League or a Sport Management major in college. However, things have changed and here we are!

I’ve learned, once again that if you are open to new ideas and opportunities you never know where they will lead you. In this case, our entire family is learning more about sports, networking and social media on a daily basis. Although I know almost nothing about Fantasy Football, I am learning each and every day.

With the NFL season about to start and talk about Fantasy Football Leagues increasing everywhere, I thought I’d take a minute to say that it certainly is a fun way to learn about ALL aspects of the game of football, the thrill of competition (even if you are not an athlete), and even the business aspects associated with National Football League. Whether you are a football aficionado or someone just looking to participate in the 2009 season, I encourage you to explore the world of Fantasy Football. Searches on the internet will certainly reveal countless sources of information. So will your trip to the local grocery store…even they sell magazines devoted to Fantasy Football information and leagues.

For those of you who enjoy the personal touch or an easy way to understand an intricate concept, I invite you to Talk Trash with the Sports Idiots (that’s the original name of the Baltimore based talk show) by checking out TalkLiveSports.com (a link to a great Eliminator Football League) and listening to BlogTalkRadio’s TTSI shows. More information will be available this week but feel free to contact Craig Lehmen and the Sports Idiots via email at TalkLiveSports@gmail.com and join in the frenzy of Fantasy Football. 

Day two of the CSRI Scholarly Conference on College Sport has come and gone.  Today’s sessions were mostly academic research presentations, and I will get to them.  There were two keynote speakers, though.  The first was Dr. John Gerdy (Ohio University), and the Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics Luncheon speaker was Dr. Bernie Mullin (The Aspire Group).  Both were informative and took two different approaches.
Dr. Gerdy started the day off talking about how the intercollegiate model of sport has taken on the professional sport model with regards to football and men’s basketball.  He stated the reform in intercollegiate athletics should remain at the Division I level with football and basketball.  Dr. Gerdy also gave some alarming statistics regarding retired NFL players.  He said that two years after retiring from the NFL, 78% of the retirees file for bankruptcy or are under financial stress due to joblessness or divorce.  He went on to say that five years after retirement, 60% of the retirees are broke.  He attributes this to the lack of direction, planning and purpose while the players are in college.  Dr. Gerdy suggests the only way to reform the professional model is to eliminate the scholarship in exchange for a need-based financial aid agreement that is administered outside of the athletic department.
Dr. Mullin compared and contrasted the NBA and college basketball.  He said that that reform is needed in intercollegiate athletics and from the basketball side, a lot could be fixed if the students were forced to stay in college longer, giving them a longer period to grow as basketball players and as adults.  He noted that the players that only stay one year are neither physically or emotionally ready for the NBA.  Dr. Gerdy asked Bernie if it was the NBA’s fault that 60% of NBA retirees are bankrupt after two years.  Dr. Mullin not only said no, but he outlined what the NBA does to prevent it, and went on to say that if they stayed in college longer they would be more mature and learn the skills needed to prepare them for life after college.
I also saw two other interesting presentations. The first was Intercollegiate Athletic Participation and Undergraduate Student Engagement by Dr. Tammy Crawford (Washington State University).   It was an interesting study in terms of not only the types and levels of engagement student athletes had, but some of the statistics were alarming and need more investigation.  The statistic that was most eye-opening to me was this one:

The amount of effort put into the following activity:

Practice

95%

Attending class

73%

Spectator for another sport

47%

Preparing for class

41%

 
It is alarming to see that the student-athletes surveyed put more effort into being a spectator at a sport than preparing for class, but on the other hand they are putting forth a fair amount of effort to attend class.
Dr. Steve Dittmore (University of Arkansas) and Mr. Craig Crow (East Stroudsburg University) did a wonderful job presenting the topic Competitive Balance in the Founding BCS Conferences: Regular and Post Season Implications.  The premise behind the study was to see how competitive balance has changed since the BCS was founded in 1998.  There were two results that stood out to me.  The first was that all six original BCS conferences had an increase in competitive balance since the inception of the BCS in terms of the within-season results.  The second was that the recent conference alignment has positively affected competitive balance in the two most impacted original BCS conferences which are the ACC and the Big East.
The poster session with the YCP students went well as did their case study.  I will find out later if they will advance to the finals later this evening.  Overall, it was a good day.  I will update you tomorrow on the final day of the conference.

Winter break has come to an end. As most of you know, I should be in Kuala Lumpur right now. But, I am actually in McKay 209! It is a fact of life that things happen that are out of our control, and we have to adjust our plans; such is the case for me this week.

Instead of traveling to Malaysia, I was able to see our women’s basketball team advance to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 for the first time. This week, I will have the opportunity to travel to Jupiter, Florida, to visit a student doing her work experience, see an alumnus, go to Daytona International Speedway and Redskins Park, as well as see my brother.

When things happen that are out of our control, how we react says a lot about who we are as people. This concept is of particular interest for those taking Public/Media Relations in Sport. When I return, crisis situations will start.

You know what my plans are for the coming week. I know what some of you did on break, such as Habitat for Humanity, work, vacation to Cancun, etc… I am interested to hear from the rest of you what you did on break and how that prepared you for the next month of class.

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