Tag Archives: Sports and sports journalism

Bring pay for play to campus

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By JOHN RIOUX

Shabazz Napier is at the top of the sports world right now. After being named All-American, NCAA tournament MVP and leading the University of Connecticut to a national championship, he is having celebrities such as LeBron James tweeting about his game. This, however, does not prevent him from going to bed “starving” some nights.

In an interview prior to the Monday night’s NCAA championship game, Napier was quoted saying “there are hungry nights that I go to bed and I’m starving”.

After the win, Napier will get a few free t-shirts and even his jersey retired, but not any money.

Connecticut Coach Kevin Ollie will almost certainly get a significant raise from his $1.2 million salary he earned this year, leaving the players as the only ones not profiting from this multi-million dollar event.

Many players agree with Napier’s sentiments about “when you see your jersey getting sold and things like that, you feel like you want something in return.”

The fact that college athletes do not make money is “obscene,” said Connecticut Rep. Matthew Lesser. Coaches, presidents and schools reap the benefits of these individuals’ talents, yet those who are actually producing on the court, field or track do not see any.

Recently Northwestern University’s football team has been discussing a union among its players similar to the NFL’s players union. This would allow them to be involved in discussions that have a direct affect on the team’s football decisions.

Coaches and presidents alike are urging the team against unionization, as it takes money out of their pockets. It has come to the point where enough is enough. NCAA student-athletes deserve fair treatment.

The media must continue to push the NCAA to usher changes in how they run their business.

Players do not always have the luxury of speaking out their opinion on this specific matter. Certain coaches monitor and discontinue social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook, ensuring their players do not speak against their university.

It is time to open your eyes, NCAA President Mark Emmert. Help the players who generate the income and, ultimately, your $1.7 million salary.

 

Over-sexualization of magazine covers

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By KELLY BRODY

The May issue of Golf Digest magazine is garnering some serious press attention, due to its unlikely cover star. Instead of featuring an actual golfer, it instead has Maxim model and Wayne Gretzky’s daughter, Paulina, on the cover. The model poses seductively with a golf club and is wearing curve-hugging white spandex pants and a sports bra.

Paulina Gretzky on the cover of Golf Digest (Source: huffingtonpost)

Paulina Gretzky on the cover of Golf Digest (Source: huffingtonpost)

Clearly, Golf Digest is banking on the advertising technique of “sex sells.” But the cover has LPGA golfers up in arms. LGPA pro Angela Stanford says, “Nobody can argue with [the fact that sex sells]. It’s just the way it is. But the LPGA has some attractive women and very fit women, so why not use them? I’m just baffled by it.” Stacy Lewis, a two-time LPGA Champion stated, “Obviously, Golf Digest is trying to sell magazines. But at the same time you’d like to see a little respect for the women’s game.”

The last time Golf Digest featured a LPGA player on their cover was in 2008. Since then, the only other women who have been featured on the cover have been Kate Upton and Holly Sonders, a Golf Channel anchor.

Many magazines and news outlets stray from their topic and use sex to sell. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue is a prime example of that. What do bikini clad women have to do with sports?

The use of using sex to sell is an element that relates to the greater issue of the over-sexualization of women. Putting a scantily clad female on a magazine cover versus one who is well-clothed will sell more issues, but is the feature story going to be as intriguing?

Which would sell more? An issue of Golf Digest with an overweight PGA player on its cover or a Maxim model? The editors at the magazine asked this question and clearly, came up with their answer. Yet, does an avid golfer, someone who would be reading and purchasing Golf Digest want to hear about how Paulina Gretzky missed the ball completely at her dad’s golf tournament or would they rather hear tips from an actual PGA pro?

Photographer CyCyr's mocking of Paulina's cover using men. source: huffingtonpost

Photographer CyCyr’s mocking of Paulina’s cover using men (Source: huffingtonpost).

While sex may sell covers, it certainly doesn’t garner respect for a publication.

A photographer named CyCyr even mocked the Golf Digest by posting a series of photos of men dressed in the same revealing outfit Gretzky wore on the cover. The results are a perfect commentary on the ridiculousness of over-sexualizing a woman on a men’s magazine cover.

Magazines should stick to their target readers versus using quick, “easy” tactics to sell issues. That’s the way publications earn respect. Vogue, for example, is the most respected fashion magazine in the world. But then again, they did just put Kim Kardashain on the cover.

March Madness ratings grow

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By LONELLE LEWIS

The second round of the NCAA tournament showed higher ratings than last year’s coveted March Madness tournament. It is off to the best ratings in 23 years.

According to Nielsen ratings group, Turner and CBS Sports saw a three percent growth from last year to 6.0 nationwide household ratings this year.

Coverage of the first full day of games made NCAA tournament history as there wereNCAA-March-Madness-Live-iPad-app four overtime games. One game that took place during the day was No.11 seed Dayton’s upsetting No. 6 seed Ohio State.

This was a game where many predicted Ohio State would win by a considerable amount. Viewers, who might not have watched the entire game, may have tuned in during overtime. Games between noon to 4:45 pm saw a 12 percent increase from last year.

The NCAA has made games more accessible via the web and mobile devices which may have boosted the ratings. The overall tournament average rating is up eight percent from last year.

Going pro: A personal choice

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By JOHN RIOUX

As March Madness continues on its second weekend of play, numerous players have life changing decisions to make in the upcoming weeks.

Declaring for the NBA draft and forfeiting the rest of your NCAA athletic eligibility is a personal decision that should be left up to the players themselves to make.

The news media make declarations that certain players should stay due to their physical maturation and skill, but often fail to recognize these athletes have earned the right to make the decision on their own.

Formulating an opinion for a player you know very little personal information about is a sensitive subject. You do not know their family’s financial situation or the player’s personal aspirations.

Urging someone to forfeit the guarantee of millions of dollars is not a decision that you should try and sway either way. If a player feels he needs time to develop before he makes the jump to the NBA, he and his family will come to that conclusion.

Those who earn the league minimum still make $490,180. Many professional athletes come from broken homes that are relying on them for support.

Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim was quoted saying, “you gotta be in the top seven eight, 10 picks to make sure you’re going to be playing in the NBA,” which is subjectively wrong.

The NBA develops players faster than the NCAA, as basketball becomes your full-time job.

While it is easy to write an article saying somebody should stay in college, put yourself in their shoes. If you were guaranteed to achieve a personal goal of playing in the NBA and get paid hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, would you say no?

March Madness and perfection

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By RYAN HENSELER

Today, the first real slate of games in the 2014 NCAA Tournament kicked off. As usual, the day was filled with upsets, overtime games, and plenty of the game’s patented “madness.”

Of course, one main reason for the mania surrounding March Madness can be described in a single word: brackets. Around the country,  millions of people compete against their friends, co-workers or family members for money and bragging rights.

This year alone, more than 11 million people entered ESPN’s “Tournament Challenge,” which grants $10,000 to the top one percent of brackets submitted. However, that prize is dwarfed by Warren Buffett’s now famous “Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge”, which as the name suggests, promises $1 billion for a perfect bracket. As expected with such a large payout, the news and sports media have relentlessly covered this possibility of perfection.

For Buffett, this is an extremely low-risk, high-reward situation. He has managed to create a huge media buzz, while there is an almost miniscule chance that he will have to actually dish out the billion. For each individual bracket, the chances of predicting all 63 games correctly is close to 1 in 9.2 quintillion. The chances of anybody in the U.S. winning are under 1 in a billion.

This is a great example of Buffett’s business savvy that made him a billionaire in the first place. He was able to use the media to his advantage, get his name back into the public eye, and will almost certainly not have to deal with the monetary consequences of a perfect bracket.

Whether your bracket is perfect, or far from it, March Madness is here. You may not use bracketology to win a billion dollars, but the tournament is already shaping up to be one of the most exciting in years. We might as well enjoy it.

 

The Blade Runner’s fall from grace

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By RYAN HENSELER

In the 2012 London Olympics, one man touched the hearts and inspired the minds of millions around the globe, no matter the country.

That man was Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. The Blade Runner. He was the man who became an Olympic athlete despite losing both of his legs and was able to run with the help of prosthetics. His story seemed too perfect even for Hollywood, but one night last summer, everything came crashing down.

Today, Pistorius sits in a South African court, on trial for the cold-blooded murder of his girlfriend. Although he pleaded not guilty, the evidence seems to be piling up for  conviction.

Pistorius has admitted to shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, but he claims that he thought that she was an intruder. Personally, that seems like a thin excuse, at best, and a ridiculous one at worst.

Seriously, how do you not recognize your own girlfriend? Why would you blindly shoot at someone without clarifying who it is? If his story were true, all that Reeva would have had to do to prevent tragedy is say, “Hey Oscar, it’s me.” Hopefully, the judge will use reason to lock Pistorius up and throw away the proverbial key.

It’s sad to see that a man that people all over the world once respected and admired is actually a monster. This situation reminds me of once-beloved Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace, except that Armstrong never killed anyone.

It is also disappointing in many ways that because of Pistorius’ celebrity, all of the media coverage surrounding this trial is focused on him, rather than Steenkamp. While it is because of who Pistorius is that this trial is such big international news, the memory of his victim should certainly not be forgotten.

The NBA’s ‘tanking’ problem

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By JOHN RIOUX

If you’re not first, you’re last. That’s how many NBA owners and general managers feel.

In the NBA, the concept of “tanking,” or purposely-losing games, is a strategy that has become popular in recent years.

Those in the management circle of franchises know the worst place to be in the NBA is stuck in the middle. Teams that consistently make the playoffs, but lose in the first round, have very few methods to get better.

Larger market teams such as the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers do not deal with such problems, as their cities help them lure free agents to their teams.

Nevertheless, smaller markets do not possess the glitz and glamour lifestyle to help them lure top-tier talent.

The NBA has a procedure that essentially rewards teams for losing games. By losing the most games, you have the highest chance of obtaining the No. 1 draft pick.

This system begs teams to lose games, making the product on the court worse.

Owners care about fans for one reason and one reason only, money. They will put them through endless seasons of losing basketball as long as their profits continue to increase.

It is necessary for Commissioner Adam Silver to change the lottery system the draft is run on. Fans are being robbed by paying absurd ticket prices only to see a team not give its full effort.

If the NBA is going to continue preaching progression, it is time for them to fix the draft.

UM women’s tennis under media radar

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By LONELLE LEWIS

With five Top 10 finishes in the last six seasons and nine straight Top 15 finishes, the UM women’s tennis team is overlooked and deserves more news media attention.

People might not know this, but the Miami’s women’s tennis team is actually the most consistent athletic programs at UM.

UM womens tennisHaving covered its matches for two weeks, I actually had the chance to analyze the team closely.

Even though the team does not receive the media attention that it should, the women go out and support each other with minimal crowds in attendance.

Players are seen rooting each other on during the match to give their team a boost. The passion that these female athletes put into their sport is amazing.

It definitely is a fun environment to be around, and I would encourage members of the UM community to come out to matches.

Coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews is an elite recruiter who is the all-time winningest women’s tennis coach in UM history. She is a superb motivator and teacher. Back when she played college tennis at UCLA, she made it to a #1 ranking in doubles and #13 ranking in singles, both in 1996.

When people think UM coaches, the first names that come to mind are Al Golden and Jim Larranaga. But if people would actually look at the women’s side, you have successful women coaches like UM basketball coach Katie Meier and Coach Tews.

Some people might find tennis boring, but if you actually go to a UM match, it is quite exciting. The goal is to one day get the stands filled with fans. The Neil Schiff Tennis Center is comfortable and capable of holding approximately 1,200 spectators.

Last weekend, the UM women’s tennis team held a kids clinic that brought out the largest crowd of the year, somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 people. It felt good to see this great tennis program receive this type of fan support. Not only was there a kids clinic, but there was free food.

President Donna Shalala was in attendance. She spoke about Coach Tews and the women’s tennis program.

“Coach Paige is amazing! The quality of the program shows. This demonstrates two things, first class athletics as well as academics,” Shalala said.

The team has to do whatever it takes moving forward to get fans to attend the matches. Maybe the marketing department can post flyers around campus and advertise through social media sites mainly for students to attend games. People just do not know how good this team really is.

Another way to get fans to the matches is by giving away free shirts and coupons to other events that they attend on campus. Maybe give students or fans who attend the games a free milkshake coupon for a baseball game. I guarantee some people will come to the matches just because the milkshakes are good.

To give the team more media access, UMTV could cover women’s tennis more or maybe The Miami Herald can write stories on the team or cover the matches. It seems like women sports are not promoted as much as men’s sports, which is unfair to these athletes. These girls are actually really good and deserve to be supported.

Right now 40th ranked Kelsey Laurente is playing consistently and climbing up the rankings in singles competition. She plays with so much energy and brings excitement to the court. If I could write a scouting note on her, I would say she has an amazing backhand and attacks the ball with powerful hits on every play.

Coach Tews talked about Kelsey’s play as of late.

“Kelsey is stepping up and taking a leadership role on this team.”

On another note, the doubles team of Clementina Riobueno and Monique Albuquerque are ranked 24th in the nation. They are 8-1 this season and could end the season in the top 10 rankings.

The 20th-ranked Canes host 56th-ranked Boston College tomorrow at noon. Hopefully fans will come out to support the most consistent athletic program at UM.

Be sure to follow UM women’s tennis @HurricaneTennis for the latest news on the team.

Awaiting the March madness

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By RYAN HENSELER

The long month of February following the Super Bowl is often considered the worst time of the year to be a sports fan in America. Right now, SportsCenter has hardly any highlights to show and instead subjugates viewers to discussing Lebron James’ mask and Johnny Manziel’s height at the NFL Draft Combine.

But fear not, because as the calendar will soon flip to March, we are right on the precipice of arguably one of the best sporting events of the year: March Madness. The NCAA basketball tournament is a weeks long extravaganza of basketball and gambling across the nation.

What American among us doesn’t fill out multiple brackets in hopes of winning their office pool? Or just a bet with buddies? Who doesn’t love the first weekend of games, when anything is possible? When the clock hasn’t yet hit midnight for Cinderella and hopes remain to pull off a seemingly impossible upset?

Florida Gulf Coast University took the nation by storm in the 2013 big dance, becoming the first 15 seed to ever reach the Sweet 16 and earning the nickname “Dunk City” in the process. Years earlier, 11 seed George Mason stunningly advanced to the Final Four, beating powerhouse UConn to earn its trip.

Every single year, unbelievable endings are all but guaranteed and many unexpected heroes emerge. Their ranks include Steph Curry of Davidson, to Gordon Hayward of Butler, to TJ Sorrentine of Vermont. Rivalries have begun in the tournament, including the greatest individual rivalry in basketball history, Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson.

Quite simply, March Madness is a magical time of year for basketball fans, a couple weeks where basketball seems pure and exactly how it’s meant to be.

Can you tell that I’m excited?

Limiting racial slurs in the NFL?

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By JOHN RIOUX

In recent years, professional sports have instituted new policies to clean up the bad images they previously portrayed. For example, the NBA initiated a rule in which players had to dress professionally to attend their own games.

Now the NFL has proposed restrictions on offensive language use. I understand the NFL’s proposed rule. The league wants to rid an offensive word that is a racial slur from the field and locker rooms due to its disrespectful meaning.

This, however, is a middle ground in which the NFL improves its image without dealing with many other significant issues about race in society.

In recent years, there has been discussion of changing the Washington Redskins team name, yet no progress has been made. The NFL is worried about protecting its image, but apparently not at the expense of losing money.

The league sells Redskins’ merchandise, making millions of dollars a year without second thought.

I also wonder, if the NFL is serious about cleaning up the language used among players and coaches, why is the N-word the only one getting its own rule? There are many other offensive words that have racial undertones and are getting no attention from the league.

In today’s NFL culture, the N-word is common language amongst players. Will a referee throw a flag, if the word is used as a friendly gesture — or just as an insult?

I see the benefits this proposed NFL rule would have on the league. There are people who do not understand the harmful nature of this word. They do not understand its racial significance, and the removal of the word would bring these issues to the forefront of the news.

Even so, the NFL should step down. If the league only protects the N-word, it will make it seem other racially derogatory terms are not as important. Take more time and propose a rule that would rid of all demeaning words.

Collins’ appearance in game is historic

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By NICK CARRA

Jason Collins became the first openly gay men’s athlete to compete in a game of one of the four major sports last night. He played 11 minutes with two rebounds and a steal in the game against the Lakers.

Collins was welcomed with a standing applause from the Los Angeles Staples Center when he entered the game.

The news struck yesterday, when Collins signed a 10-day deal with the Brooklyn Nets, who have been making recent moves to improve their roster since the team lost star center Brook Lopez to foot injury. The Nets also traded big man Reggie Evans to the Kings and missed out on signing Glen Davis, who is now with the Clippers.

In the 11 minutes he played, he was able to force a turnover, get two rebounds and force a foul on a defender, but did not score.

Collins stated in a press conference that he was there to play basketball and was more focused on learning plays and defenses than making history.

“Right now, I’m focused on trying to learn the plays, trying to learn the coverage’s, game plan, assignments … I don’t have time to focus on history right now, I just have time to focus on my job tonight.” Collins said.

Last night he wore number 46, but next game he will revert to 98 as he has throughout his career, to represent and honor Matthew Shephard, a gay student from University of Wyoming who was beaten to death in 1998.

The Nets need a lot of help with their interior defense now that they are lacking big men.  Signing Collins to a 10-day deal is like a tryout. If he plays well, we may see him in the Nets’ black and white more often.

Collins has great support from his teammates. In the game, multiple teammates can be seen rushing to help him up after he hits the floor after a hard foul on a rebound.

Will Collins pave a path for other homosexual athletes? What effect will this have on openly gay NFL-recruit Michael Sam? Only time can tell.

Media view Sharper as rapist before trial

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By LONELLE LEWIS

Former All-Pro NFL safety Darren Sharper pleaded not guilty to a pair of rape charges in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday. He is being accused of seven rapes in five different states.

While the California case became aired over several media outlets nationally some of these outlets have portrayed Sharper as a rapist before a verdict has even been reached. This media coverage has given a woman claiming to be raped in Miami Beach an opportunity to bring forth charges after accusing Sharper of an alleged rape that took place in 2012.

Miami Beach police are investigating the incident. The police gave a statement on why the woman came forward about the rape charges.

“She wanted to clear her conscience.”

This anonymous woman also does not even remember the date that it took place. She says that it could have happened on Sept. 27 or Oct. 4, 2012, at Mokai Nightclub in South Beach. Why doesn’t she know the exact date? Sorry, but to me this sounds like a girl who parties too much and is unsure of her own activities.

This is a lesson for females: Do not take any drinks from a man. You should buy your own drink instead of giving the man a chance to drug your drink. I am not saying, by any means, that Sharper was right for allegedly spiking drinks, but these incidents could be prevented if these women did not accept the drinks.

Advice for Sharper, knowing that you are a former NFL player, why put yourself in that situation as well. You already have millions of dollars and a broadcasting career with the NFL Network. Why is he chasing females from nightclubs when he should go after a woman who is not thinking about a weekly outing at a nightclub with her friends.

The funny thing is that once an athlete is accused of raping one female, then that’s when several females come out and say they have gotten raped. One side of me feels that this is an effort to get money from an NFL player. The other side of me feels like maybe he did drug them to eventually get what he wanted, sex. If that is the case, then he is less of a man. But who are we as U.S. citizens to judge one’s character before hearing the evidence? We should let the legal process take its course.

Look at the Jameis Winston rape case. A Florida State female student said she was raped by Winston as he was the known frontrunner to win the 2013 Heisman trophy. The news media, especially sports programs, bashed Winston constantly. At one point, a female reporter for ESPN, Heather Cox, asked four straight questions related to the rape case during an interview to take sides with females on the matter. Winston was later acquitted of the alleged rape charge.

This is why a person is always presumed innocent in any court of law before a verdict is reached. If a woman gets raped they should report it immediately and not wait two years to press charges when another woman is accusing him of the same thing.

It was interesting to see that Sharper connected to seven rapes in Las Vegas, Tempe, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Miami Beach.

Before looking at evidence you might say the man is guilty. But you have to know the facts before reporting that someone has committed a crime.

In all of the cases, each woman claimed to have a drink spiked with some sort of drug that eventually knocked them out. Los Angeles prosecutors are saying that the drugs of choice were a zolpidem, generic of Ambien, and morphine.

If convicted, the former two-time Super Bowl winning champ who has played for the Packers, Saints and Vikings could face up to 30 years in prison.

Tweets about the reporting life in Sochi

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By KERRIE HECKEL

Olympians’ performances aren’t the only things making news in Sochi.

A significant number of journalists have taken to Twitter to share with the problems they have run into while in Russia.

Perhaps it all started with the fifth Olympic ring not opening during opening ceremonies, but the Twitter handle @sochiproblems has collected a number of negative reports, mostly about hotel rooms, that can actually be quite comical.

Dallas Robinson, USA bobsledder, tweeted a picture of a door made out of cardboard which his teammate had torn apart and climbed through after being locked in the bathroom.

Steph Stricklen, news anchor for KGW in Portland, tweeted pictures of mirrored bathroom ceilings in Shayba Arena that reflected inside of the stalls to the neighboring areas. She captioned her photo, “because who doesn’t want to use a public restroom with completely mirrored ceilings? thanks shayba arena!” Sporting a grimacing look on her face in the reflection of the ceiling.

My personal favorite tweet was by author, screenwriter and sports columnist Dan Wetzle from inside his hotel room. The tweet is a picture of three light bulbs that reads, “To anyone in Sochi: I am now in possession of three light bulbs. Will trade for a door handle. This offer is real.” Maybe he could help out ESPN reporter Marc Connolly who tweeted a picture of a lamp with two missing light bulbs saying “Only one light bulb per lamp apparently”.

Still, while many reporters seem to be looking at problems in Sochi light-heartedly some issues they have run into is no laughing matter.

One of those issues has to do with the quality of water. Stacy St. Clair, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, reported that employees at her hotel told her not to put the water on her face as it had something very dangerous in it. The water she pictured on Twitter was a yellow-brown color that I cannot imagine she wanted to put on her face anyway

St. Clair later tweeted, “Also on the bright side: I just washed my face with Evian, like I’m a Kardashian or something.”

Other reporters tweeted pictures of open electrical units and light fixtures falling from the ceiling.

The brutally honest tweets continue to roll in but if you’re putting a group of journalists in hotels with less than stellar accommodations what else can you expect?

What I’ve gotten out of these tweets @sochiproblems, other than some good laughs, is that good journalists report stories when they see them, not just when they are assigned. Sure these reporters were there for the Olympics; but they saw something noteworthy of sharing and they did. Although it might be simple these reporter show that being a journalist isn’t your typical 9-5 job, it’s a lifestyle that continues even when you’re off the clock in your relaxing hotel room.

Women’s basketball loses Betty Jaynes

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By ADRIENNE MOTLEY

On Feb. 21, 2014, the women’s basketball community lost one of the greatest pioneers of all time, Betty Jaynes. Jaynes was the first executive director of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame honored her with its John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. She was also inducted in the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

While we seldom heard of her work through the sports news media, she helped women’s basketball evolve by developing an organization in which women were able to compete in collegiate sports, just like men.

I believe that if it weren’t for Jaynes, women wouldn’t be allowed to compete in college like men. She is the reason that female coaches are allowed to get the salary they can get now.

She made a big impact in not just college but professional sports, by creating opportunities for women to be successful.

Team USA unites a nation

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By RYAN HENSELER

At high noon tomorrow in Sochi, Team USA will battle Canada in men’s hockey with a spot in the gold medal game on the line. The game is a rematch of the final of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, which Canada won in overtime.

The U.S. is riding high following an epic win against Russia in the group stage, in which TJ Oshie became a cult hero by scoring four shootout goals to propel the Americans to a 3-2 victory. The win has been widely considered the greatest U.S. hockey win since the 1980 Miracle on Ice.

The Olympics are famous for promoting national unity and no Winter Olympics event accomplishes this goal better than hockey. Since the Olympics have begun, shirts bearing the USA emblem have been a common sight across campus.

The Twitterverse also exploded following the victory against Russia, with hashtags like #Oshie trending throughout the day. Viral videos also surfaced of raucous celebrations of the game-winning goal from bars around the country, mostly attributed to the popular blog Bartsoolsports.com.

The excitement leading up to the face-off versus Canada has been almost tangible among sports fans across the country. In a way, that is the true magic of the Olympics. Once every two years, everyone in the U.S., though fans of many different sports teams, can unite under one common goal.

For once, Yankees and Red Sox, Celtics and Lakers, Duke and North Carolina’s fans can all cheer for the same team. Go USA!

Recruiting athletes in modern media age

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By JOHN RIOUX

Every year, as the college football season comes to an end, fans switch their focus from bowl games to high school recruits. Seventeen and 18 year olds’ lives become open to public scrutiny. Every tweet, Facebook message and Instagram is analyzed.

Although many look at these young men as unfairly examined, the news and sports media are readying them for what the future holds.

We can no longer bring up young athletes at the slow pace that occurred in the past. Having back-to-back freshman Heisman Trophy winners, we salivate at what the recruits our favorite teams bring in can do.

Maturing and learning how to make independent decisions is one of the greatest tasks college students face the first time they walk onto campus. The attention these athletes are receiving is something they are going to have to continue to deal with for the rest of their lives.

With things such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, there is no longer an off-season in sports. While games may end, fans are looking for another outlet to get their sports fix.

As athletes progress in their careers, they will continue to see their tweets become more heavily debated. It is important for them to learn to monitor what they say through social media outlets at a young age.

By limiting the attention these young men get, we are only setting them up for greater social stress in the future.

Sochi problems continue to get attention

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By TAYLOR HOFF

Controversy is arising over the conditions at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. After seven years of preparing the city for the Olympics- seven years filled with corruption, debt, worker-rights controversy, etc.- is it fair that the misfortunes in Sochi are becoming a punch line?

“#SochiProblems” is a newly consuming hash tag on social media. It’s mainly pursued by journalist’s living in hotels with unfinished lobbies, toxic water, shortages of pillows and sheets, and other less than positive conditions of the hotels in Sochi.

The tweets and articles written by journalists living under these circumstances have catapulted to full on media frenzy. Crazy pictures and witty tweets have led the unpreparedness of Sochi to become the punch line of the Games.

However, this humorous and overwhelming new trend may be harming legitimate news coverage. The twitter handle “Sochi Problems” currently as more than 100,000 more followers than that of the official twitter of the Olympics.

Controversy has arisen due to complaints that this seems more like making fun of a poor classmate, than genuine, necessary reporting. After Russia took seven years to prepare for these games and sacrificed so much, is it fair to poke fun at their shortcomings?

The other side expresses their belief that Russia did in fact take seven years to prepare. Is it uncalled to poke fun after seven years of preparations, and hotel lobbies are still missing?

Either way, the main problem lays in the media attention. It is not right that the poor conditions in which the journalists are living are taking precedent in the news over actual newsworthy stories about the Games. The journalists’ need to refocus- they didn’t go to Sochi for a five star vacation, but to keep the world informed on the Games.

NFL ready for openly gay player?

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By ADRIENNE MOTLEY

Recently Michael Sam, a former defensive end for the University of Missouri has admitted to being gay. This year, Sam was named SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year, first team all-SEC selection and a first team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Analysts noted that if he were to get signed by a NFL team, he would be the first NFL player to be openly gay.

The question is, is the NFL ready for an openly gay football player. Are players and coaches going to treat him the same and with the same respect as they do “straight” players?

Sam admits that his teammates knew of his sexuality in August, and neither of them have said anything. I think this shows a great respect to his teammates, that they had enough respect for him not only as a teammate, but a brother not to say anything.

Of course, there is no way around it. He will, in fact, be treated differently. But I think during this day and age that anybody should be able to play a sport and have their own sexuality without it being a problem.

Coke’s ad: Controversial or strategic?

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By VIVIAN BRAGA

The 2014 Super Bowl achieved a record of 111.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched event in the whole of the USA history.

During the event, Coca-Cola, just like any other company who has millions of dollars to spend in commercials that will last seconds, aired an ad with “America the Beautiful” sung in Spanish, Tagalog, Mandarin, Hindi, Hebrew, Keres, French and Arabic.

If you are an open-minded, well-cultured person, you must be asking yourself: “Why is this so controversial, what is the big deal?”

But if you are heartless and emotionless, you must be infuriated at the fact that it was sung in every language but English.

Indeed, there are many things not like about Coke, but their idea that the United States is a multi-cultured nation should definitely not be of them.

The ad became so controversial, hash tags saying #fuckcoke trending on Twitter for hours.

According to the media coverage post, these were the tweets considered to be “normal responses” from the average American.

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But, what if it was all a marketing strategy?

Using a weighted average of total views, subscriber growth, likeability and velocity, Touchstorm has actually worked out that the Coca-Cola ad was the most effective ad of the whole Super Bowl event.

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And until today, according to E-consultancy, the Coca- Cola ad has been No. 1 for a whole consecutive week.

Whilst other brands released “sneak peaks” of their Super Bowl ad a day before its a release, Coca Cola chose not to do it.

Maybe because management feared an early revolt against it or maybe because they were just waiting for the big day. But #Americaisbeautiful ended achieving more views on its initial upload than any other ad.

So maybe the advert is not as controversial as it seems. Whilst media coverage has constantly repeating about people’s constant revolt against the ad, numbers show the message has been received more positively than what the extreme conservative politics and media has made us believe.

Risk gene tied to Olympic athletes?

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By CLARA BENDAYAN

With the Olympic Winter Games well under way, it seems fitting to draw comparisons with its counterpart: the Olympic Summer Games.

While the summer games boast more athletes and a greater variety of events, the winter games exhibit an uncanny amount of risk-taking.

We watch 15-year-olds being thrown feet off the ice and perform pirouettes in the air, all while placing their safety in their partners hands.

Our jaws drop as we watch 17-year-olds ski 90 miles an hour down a steep hill that spans more than four football fields in length.

Our knuckles clench and turn white as we anxiously grip the edges of our seats while watching 26-year-olds rocket down icy sheets with their faces just mere inches from the solid surface.

While watching, most people are thinking something along the lines of “Are these people crazy?” Or “I would never be able to do that.”

The risks these athletes take on a daily basis are monumental and can be fatal in many cases.

Is this need for speed inherent? Former alpine ski racer, Todd Brooker seems to think so. He thinks “it’s just part of your life. It’s something you’re born with.”

In fact, he may actually be onto something.

For the past two decades, scientists have known of the existence of a risk gene, and they say that one in five of us possess the genetic marker.

Steve Perino, the ski reporter for NBC at the Sochi games, mentioned speed addiction in his coverage. Science supports this phenomenon by claiming that it is based on the chemical reaction that this type of risk taking behavior produces in the brain.

It would seem to make sense that something ingrained in our biological makeup would be the force behind some people’s complete lack of fear when it comes to performing tasks that most humans wouldn’t dare try.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman, a physician who covers health and medicine for NBC, said, “There’s a reason why some of us are spectators and others are Formula One drivers.”

How else can it be explained that some people perform death-defying acrobatics on a sharply inclined snowy hill that’s more than 30 stories tall, while others can’t even jump off a diving board that’s four feet off the ground?

In my opinion, it seems to make sense that there is a scientific reason as to why many of us are spectators, while a select few of us are in Sochi right now skiing down steep hills at over 80 mph. However, it also makes me think about how it will affect the games in an ethical way if people begin to get tested for such a gene.

The brilliance of the Olympics is watching teenagers and adults alike performing acts that many of us will never come close to executing. It’s seeing how they grew up miles or continents away from us and one day decided to pick up a snowboard when they were toddlers.

There’s an outpouring of heartfelt stories where we see athletes as two-year-olds diving into a pool for the first time, realizing they had a love for the water and then watching them stand on the podium with a gold medal in hand years later — proud of themselves, their determination, their hard work, and most importantly confident in their choice of pursuing these sports.

If people are able to test themselves for the gene, what’s going to happen if the only Olympians we see are those who tested positively and use that fact as their sole motivation? Will we still admire their courageousness and passion?

While very interesting, I believe that this gene may rid the Olympic Games of its very essence — becoming an athlete based on passion, love and dedication to the sport. Because you believe that you are capable of defying odds and taking risks. Not because some machine confirmed that you’re genetically made for something greater.

So what’s the final verdict? Can this extraordinary defiance of fear be founded upon science? Are Olympians destined to become risk-takers from birth? Is there a concrete, scientific reason that explains why we don’t all become Olympians? And most importantly, what will happen to the Olympics if people begin to test themselves for the risk gene?