Ethan Sebert
Inequality in Sport
Final Paper
12-18-09
During the course of this semester we have discussed many different topics and themes
regarding sports, sports coverage and how the two are intertwined with today’s society. This class
taught me to be more critical of not only how sports are covered in the media, but also of how sports
are talked about in daily life. This class also brought up many different ways sports are used in today’s
society like promoting nationalism and how politics incorporates sports to gain support. Finally, this
class has helped me to discover many clandestine themes prevalent in sports and sport media coverage.
These themes involve the structural disadvantages, barriers and inequalities that some athletes must
endure in order to participate, let alone become great, at their sport. After watching sports shows like
SportsCenter, Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn and even the local news, I noticed many of the
themes we talked about in class. These themes included inequities in the coverage of female sport,
hegemonic masculinity, stereotypes and over conforming to social norms in sport. In this paper I plan to
explore how these themes were present and relate them to the seven characteristics of modern sport
put together by Allen Guttmann.
I would like to begin with the seven characteristics of modern sport, because I found most of
these characteristics to be the most prevalent and visible themes coming through in the sport coverage,
especially with ESPN’s coverage. The seven characteristics of modern sport are secularism, equality,
specialization, rationalization, bureaucratization, quantification and records (Coakley, 2009, p 60). Some
of these characteristics have been around since the beginning of sport when the Greeks contested
physical activities. However, others are relatively new and all of them have been advanced and made
more prominent in today’s sporting world.
The secularism aspect of modern sports indicates that there is no longer a direct link to religious
beliefs or rituals in sporting contests. Instead sport now focuses on personal achievement and
entertainment factors (Coakley, 2009, p60). This was very obvious with all of ESPN’s coverage of sport
because the majority of their shows regarding sports are on the air as entertainment. It was also
obvious the way ESPN presents certain stats about great players, like how they always list Brett Favre’s
accomplishments before they talk about his team’s accomplishments. Even though many athletes like
to thank God for their performances, the only mention of religion that I remember hearing was when
Joe Schad told the viewers how Tim Tebow prayed with Mark Ingram before the Heisman ceremony.
However, I think the most interesting part of modern sport secularism is how sport has evolved into a
serious form of entertainment, evidence by all of the ESPN channels and programming they have
revolving around sports.
Equality is the second characteristic of modern sport. Equality involves how “participation in
sport is open to everyone regardless of family or social background” (Coakley, 2009, p 60). I have some
problems with the first part of this assumption in sport because not everyone has the same
opportunities to participate in sport. Many people face structural barriers preventing them from
participating (golf for example, some people cannot afford the green fees, clubs, etc). This is an often
overlooked part of modern sports. Many people see how the Williams sisters succeed in tennis or Tiger
Woods in golf and assume that every minority can succeed like them. In that way, the greatness of a
specific few essentially hides the structural barriers preventing many from participating in some sports.
I also think that the coverage of female sports is not equal compared to male sports, but I will discuss
that later in this paper.
I think that specialization is also very prevalent in today’s sporting world. A multisport athlete is
very rare these days in the professional ranks and it is becoming rare at the high school level. High
school athletes are beginning to focus on one sport in order to be fully prepared to get to the next level
of that sport. For example a high school football player may not go out for basketball because they
want to lift weights and get bigger for football during the winter. This is evident in the coverage of
sports because they continuously talk about how great LeBron James could be if he had focused on
football instead of choosing basketball.
The rationalization characteristic in modern sports refers to the rules that regulate how athletes
are supposed to train and compete (Coakley, 2009, p 60). This area has received increasing coverage
with all of the steroid scandals that have been going on in sports, especially in Major League Baseball.
When I was watching SportsCenter one of the headlines was that a Canadian doctor had been caught
with performance enhancing drugs. The story went on to discuss all of the athletes the doctor had
worked with in the past, not necessarily linking them with PED usage, but almost certainly implying that
it was a possibility.
The bureaucratization of sports has been an increasingly important topic. What this refers to is
the rules that regulate how players are supposed to act (Coakley, 2009, p 60). This has received
significant play in the sports media with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell fining athletes for their antics
on the field in an attempt to clean up the game. This also has to do with the NBA starting a dress code.
Essentially these league leaders (usually white) are trying to control their players and get them to do
things the way they want them to be done. Many argue that the leagues have gone too far in this
respect and are infringing upon the player’s rights. I personally like how Chad Ochocinco has reacted to
the fines by matching his fines and giving it to charity. I also think that some of his stunts bring more of
an entertainment factor to the game and that he is setting himself up for a career outside of football.
The sixth characteristic, quantification, is closely related with the seventh characteristic, records.
The quantification aspect is the precision used to measure the records, which has come a long way in
terms of technology. Now, more than ever, it seems sport focuses on records and achievements. As I
mentioned earlier, I noticed anytime ESPN was talking about a star player they would bring up their
career stats. Also they gave a lot of information about the two undefeated NFL teams, as both of them
were on the brink of setting records. Similarly, anytime an athlete does something great they are always
compared to former greats in the sport. For example, Kobe Bryant recently scored a buzzer beating,
game winning shot. Many of the sports topics and conversations the next day revolved around
comparing Bryant’s game winning shot abilities to Michael Jordan’s knack for hitting the game winning
shots.
Besides the seven characteristics of modern sport, I also noticed that the media coverage of
sport was incredibly lacking in the area of female sports coverage. Out of all the sport coverage that I
watched (all of the ESPN programming and the local news) I only saw one actual story about female
sports, and it was an athlete who had misbehaved. The one story about female sports was about Venus
William’s fine that she received for threatening a ball girl. Sadly, there has been more in the sport media
lately about Tiger Wood’s wife, than any female athletes. This is very disappointing, especially when you
consider that participation in women’s athletics is near an all-time high, and every year more and more
females are participating in organized sports at all levels. Ronald Bishop may have said it best when he
said, “Many scholars argue, however, that news media coverage of women’s sports does not reflect this
success—that despite some truly significant, well-publicized accomplishments, women’s sports have not
yet secured a permanent spot on the public’s agenda,” (Bishop, 2003, p 184).
I think it is important to note that Bishop wrote that in 2003 and over half a decade later
women’s sport has still not secured a spot in the sporting media’s agenda. It seems that the only time
female athletes do get press is when they misbehave, as is the case with Serena Williams and the female
soccer player from New Mexico who was caught pulling her opponents hair, among other things. This is
truly unfortunate because during this same time the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament was going
on which features a Penn State team that should garner far more attention. The Penn State team is on
the verge of winning their third straight national championship, and in the midst of a 102 match win
streak, yet they receive no media attention. In his article Bishop mentioned that there are more
publications and websites about female athletics, but the mainstream media (newspapers, television)
still lacks in coverage of women’s sports (Bishop, 2003, p 184).
Bishop also mentioned that when the media does cover female athletes they are often said to
be sexist, focusing on their appearance instead of their athletic performances, saying that the coverage
is, “laced with diminutives and talk of emotional fragility instead of physical strength” (Bishop, 2003, p
185). In the media coverage that I observed for this assignment I did not see the sexism involved, but I
have seen it involved in the coverage of women’s sport in the past. Generally women are held to a
higher standard than men in terms of how they act. Men seem to be able to get away with a lot more
than women can on the field of play, and it seems to be cast off as boys being boys. However, when a
female athlete commits acts of serious aggression it raises brings plenty of discussion. One
commentator on Pardon the Interruption even wondered if Serena’s fine was because it had such a
shock value because she is a woman. This aspect of sports coverage is very sad because it seems the
only time females are shown in the mainstream media is when they commit these acts, which draw the
focus away from their actual play. In that way, the gender ideology of women not being on the same
level as men in terms of sport plays a significant role in today’s sporting world.
That being said, who is at fault? Is it the media for not covering women’s sports? Or is it the
general public for simply not caring about female athletics? The answer depends on whether or not you
believe in the media’s power of agenda setting or if you think the media is giving their consumers what
they want. Personally, I think that the mainstream sporting media can do a better job of incorporating
women’s sports in their coverage, without annoying their audience. The Penn State volleyball team is
an excellent example. I think that story would be very interesting to the average sports media
consumer, yet it does not receive any play. Granted female sports may never receive the same coverage
as the major sports in the United States, but they should receive at least some coverage.
That brings me to the next theme I found, hegemonic masculinity. Nick Trujillo described
American hegemonic masculinity as having five main features; physical force and control, occupational
achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship and heterosexuality (Trujillo, 1991, p 291). Many of
these features still apply and were prevalent during the sports programming that I observed. However,
some of the features were much more prevalent in the commercials that showed during the
programming. Trujillo categorized physical force and control as “physical strength, force, speed, control,
toughness and domination” (Trujillo, 1991, p 291). All of these were easily distinguishable as just about
every highlight in SportsCenter involved these characteristics. A basketball highlight where LeBron
James steals the ball, sprints to the other end of the court and slam dunks it over top of another player
comes to mind here.
The occupational achievement aspect involves the records, money, awards, etc. that players and
coaches achieve while playing the game. These were also highlighted in the sports programming by
either showing the stats on a graphic or by the way the commentators on Around the Horn talked about
how much money LeBron James could make in free agency next year. They also brought up how Texas
head coach Mack Brown received a five million dollar bonus for taking his team to the national
championship. They brought home the fact that better players make more money and how important
making that money is. Another example of this is how Michael Crabtree did not play at the beginning of
the season because he did not think the team who drafted him (the San Francisco 49ers) was paying him
the money that he deserved.
The third feature Trujillo discussed was familial patriarchy. What this was referring to was how
it is typical for the male in the family to be the “breadwinners” and support the family. It is also their
job to protect the family as well as be “strong father figures” (Trujillo, 1991, p 291). This was more
prevalent in the commercials shown during the sports programming. An example of this could be the
Brett Favre Wrangler jeans commercial in which Favre is playing football with a bunch of younger men
and he is (naturally) in the leadership role of quarterback. This commercial also represented the fourth
feature Trujillo discusses, frontiersmanship. This regards today’s male as being a romantic and rugged
outdoorsman (Trujillo, 1991, p292). The commercial had Favre and his team full of young men playing
outside in the mud in jeans and flannels while talking about how tough the Wrangler jeans are. This is
the perfect example of how advertisers try to call use hegemonic masculinity to sell their products.
Finally Trujillo discussed the idea of heterosexuality in hegemonic masculinity. I did not see any
overt signs of heterosexuality in the sports programming, but it was all over in the commercials. In a
commercial for jewelry, Hooters and an Old Spice commercial that tells you how a “man” is supposed to
smell and then shows that “man” kissing an attractive woman. All of these features discussed by Trujillo
play a role in telling society what a man is supposed to be like, aiding to the widely accepted view of
hegemonic masculinity. Similarly, sport’s strong connection with masculinity provides an excellent
market for these advertising campaigns and products.
Hegemonic masculinity was also a topic that Michael Messner brought up in his article, The
Televised Sports Manhood Formula. In the article Messner identifies some themes present in today’s
sports and sports coverage that tell young boys what it is to be a man. Messner argued that televised
sports “presents boys with narrow and stereotypical messages about race, gender, and violence”
(Messner, 2000, p 281). In the sports programming that I observed I found all of the stereotypical
messages Messner referred to in some form or another.
An example of a stereotypical message about race came from Around the Horn, when journalist
Kevin Blackistone was talking about Stanford running back Toby Gerhart. Blackistone was discussing
Gerhart’s effectiveness in the NFL and said that people may be afraid to draft him high because he
doesn’t fit the stereotypical NFL running back (because he is white). Another example of a stereotypical
message involving race came from an ESPN commercial about a documentary they were showing called
The U. The commercial was essentially a highlight reel of African Americans celebrating after scoring
touchdowns, offset with one of the players saying, “If you don’t like us dancing, don’t let us in the end
zone.” The commercial also had a voice over from former University of Miami head coach Jimmy
Johnson saying something to the effect that his players were cocky, confident and talented. These
images could present a problem for youngsters watching them if they have no other experiences with
African American males. This is problematic because they could associate that type of behavior with
being African American and think that is how all African Americans act. It also plays on the stereotype
that African Americans get by on their talents alone and do not have to work hard to achieve athletic
success.
An example of a stereotypical message about gender came through out the programming when
virtually no female sports were involved. This may make young boys think that girls simply don’t play
sports, which simply isn’t true. It was much more difficult to find stereotypical messages about violence
but an example I recently saw was showing offensive lineman Richie Incognito head butt an opposing
player while he was with the Rams. Incognito was let go by the Rams for that act, as well as other acts,
but he was almost immediately picked up by the Buffalo Bills, showing kids that that type of violence is
acceptable. This was very similar to Albert Haynesworth when he stomped on an opposing players head
during a game. A few years later it seems like everyone has forgotten that about Haynesworth and
focuses on his game changing ability instead.
Messner also brought up the idea that athletes who play with pain or give up their bodies for
their teams were considered to be heroes (Messner, 2000, p 387). This was extremely prevalent in the
sports programming that I observed. Every program (besides the local news) had at least one segment
on an athlete that was playing through pain in order to help his team. It even seemed like a recurring
theme on SportsCenter, where they discussed how impressive the feats stars like Kobe Bryant and Tom
Brady were accomplishing while being injured. This speaks to a rising trend in athletes to over conform
to the norms of sport and play while they are injured. This is a serious problem and can lead to an even
worse injury. This is important because kids who see this may try to do the same thing during their
games and end up seriously hurt. However, it also brings up the idea that playing while you’re hurt is a
part of being a man and to not do so would be considered weak.
One other thing I noticed about the media coverage of the sports programming was that the
announcers and commentators seemed to be diverse in terms of gender and race. This is a good thing
because it gives the consumers different perspectives about each topic being discussed. One thing that I
did find interesting involved the SportsCenter I watched. I watched the 11:00 am show, where the
anchors were Sage Steele and Dari Knowkhah, two minority anchors. Then for the next SportsCenter,
the showing at noon, the anchors were Chris McKendry and John Buccigross, two white anchors. I don’t
know if this was done at random and was an ironic occurrence or if there was more involved, but I found
it interesting.
I also found it interesting that of all the sports programming that I observed there was only one
clip about international sports. That clip was a short highlight of a goalie coming out of the box to score
a header in a match in Europe I believe. I think this speaks to the power of American sports and to the
almost arrogance that we have about our sports, as well as the lack of interest we have in what is going
on outside of America in sports.
Overall I would say that many of the things that we discussed in class are very relevant and
present in today’s sporting world. That is why it is so important to bring up these topics and look at
sports critically. Before taking this class I, like most sports fans, was very oblivious to these themes.
Now I can see that many of them still exist, when I thought that they were eradicated long ago. I think
that society has made great strides in equality in terms of race involved in sports and even sports
coverage, due to diversity in the commentators and anchors. Although there is still some stereotyping
of races and racial remarks that goes on in sports, it has greatly diminished, however we should take
steps to eradicate it from sports completely. I think the most pressing issue regarding equality in sport is
the lack of women’s sport that receives media coverage. There seems to be some equality with gender
in terms of announcers and commentators, but there is no equality in the coverage. However, I doubt
this will change until the consumer of sports media desires equitable coverage of male and female sport,
allowing the media to not have to worry about losing ratings while showing women’s sports.
References:
Bishop, Ronald. (2003). Missing in Action: Feature Coverage of Women’s Sports in Sports in Sports
Illustrated. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Volume #27 (Issue #2), p 184-194.
Coakley, Jay. (2009). Sports and Society: Issues and Controversies. New York. McGraw-Hill Companies
Incorporated.
Messner, Michael., Dunbar, Michelle., Hunt, Darnell., (200). The Televised Sports Manhood Formula.
Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Volume #24 (Issue #4), p380-394.
Trujillo, Nick. (1991). Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and
American Sports Culture. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Volume 8, p 290-308.