Homophobia in Professional Sports Intro

Hello all,

     My name is Andrew Novak, and in my portion of this sports blog, I will be discussing the effects that homophobia has on professional sports.  For as long as professional sports have been a part of our culture, there has been a stigma against gay men and women participating in them.  This is especially prevalent in team sports such as football or basketball.  Even though some of the greatest athletes of all time have been homosexuals, they have not chosen to "come out of the closet" until after they had retired from their respective games.  One such example is Magic Johnson, who was a major factor in the success of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team's success in the 80's and 90's until his retirement after contracting HIV.

     While I continue further along with this portion of the blog, I will continue to discuss and look into how homophobia has affected professional sports, and to see if there are any signs of change in this stigma that have restricted so many people from either playing the sports that they love or from or from being able to openly associate themselves with the lifestyle that they live.  I will continue to look at examples of athletes that consider themselves homosexuals, and why they had to wait until retirement to reveal themselves as gay or lesbians.

     I look forward to continuing my portion of the blog and discussing this topic further, for there is much interesting information on the topic available in this world.

Andrew Novak

The World of Sports (Group Intro)

The word sport has been part of the English language since around 1300, but it originally came from the French word desport which means leisure. This word has over 20 definitions in the dictionary, but the one that we are using will be "Sport-an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often involving the testing of physical capabilities and taking the form of a competitive game such as football, tennis, etc." Sports have become a major part of our lives, whether we take part in them or not, they are all around us. We constantly have some major sports event going on whether it is the super bowl, the world series or even the Olympics. The beginning of the sporting world involved activities that involved the strongest and fittest men. The following video shows the first modern Olympic games that took place in Athens and only involved the men.

Sports as we know them have come along way. In our world today we no longer focus on the strength and endurance of men. The Olympics is now a way for all the countries in the world to show their greatest athletes both men and women. There is more focus on the skill of the athletes and not on pure strength. Do to the Olympics the sporting world has also changed. There is more empowerment in the athletes and the support of their country is behind them. The next video shows the London Olympics in 2012. This video shows the major changes that have taken place in the sporting world. 

The changes that have been made throughout time have caused us to view sports in a whole new light. This new light has brought out the difference between men and women in sports. There are some sports that seem more masculine and others are more feminine. Regardless of whether the sports are seen as masculine or feminine there are athletes of both genders that participate in all of these sports.  This also brings up the issue of homosexuality in sports.  In the current era, homosexuality in sports is something that has been seen as taboo or unacceptable. While homosexuality has not made many strides to redeem itself in the eyes of sports, women have become icons; though not quite as big as the men. Male athletes are role models to people everywhere, women have become icons to little girls everywhere and can be seen through their eyes as a symbol of empowerment.  Regardless of gender or sexuality people look up to the athletes both Collegiate and Professional as role models. These athletes are always under the limelight and no matter what happens in their lives we will always find out about it somehow. 

In this blog the three of us will be talking about the differences that can be found in the sports world today. Andrew will be covering the aspect of Homophobia in Professional Sports. Lyndsey will be covering Men, Masculinity, and Sports. Finally, Elise will be covering Women, Femininity, and Sports. As a group we will be able to cover the impact sports has made on our world. There is also and impact of our society in the world of sports which brings out biases and standards in which we feel the athletes should follow.