athletics

The Perception of Violence, Racism, and the Bombastic Personality of Conor McGregor

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Kung-Fu, kickboxing, karate, boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, judo, and jiu-jitsu. All of these incredibly diverse and unique fighting styles can be referred to under the wide umbrella term of combat sports. Many see these niche forms of exercise as ‘violent catharsis’ that turn people into ‘bullies’, however this could not be further than the truth. An underlying message across all of these differing combat sports is the fundamental rule of respect. Whatever hate or anger someone …

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National Football League Anthem Protests

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Today I want to speak about the National Football League, and the issues occurring in regards to the National Athem protests. This has been an ongoing event for the past few years, especially after the “leader” of this protest, Colin Kaepernick decided to start it. As a result, over the past couple of years, the players have been closely studied, and criticize for every movement they made during and before the National Anthem of an …

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Aren’t Sports Supposed to be Fun?

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Earlier this year an Ohio basketball team was banished from their recreational league for wearing racist jerseys during a game. The members of both basketball teams were high school students from West Clermont High School and Kings High, but they were not affiliated with the school districts other than renting the space hand having players that were students. The members of one of the basketball teams showed up for the game wearing jerseys that read …

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Take a Knee

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Coming from a family with a military background and a brother currently serving in the United States Navy, the NFL protest of the flag has been very important to both my family and myself. Many NFL players, specifically Colin Kaepernick, decided to use their platforms to raise awareness about social issues that people of color face, such as police brutality, by not standing for the national anthem and instead taking a knee. Originally, I was …

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Protests and Patriotism

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Beginning in August of 2016, Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, began a national anthem protest. Over the next 13 months, players from various teams in the NFL began sitting, kneeling and speaking out in acts joining Kaepernick. On August 26, 2016, Kaepernick exclaimed, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this …

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Do Expectations Affect Athletes’ Performance?

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Someone who plays a sport and his constantly toted as the star player on their team always tends to perform at a higher level than the other players on the team.  This is probably largely due to talent, but I feel as though being told “we’re counting on you” and “you are our best player” can create a self – fulfilling prophecy with that person, helping them perform better.  If that player were to go …

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An Attack on Richard Sherman

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I enjoy watching football every once in a while, especially when my favorite team – the Giants – is not sucking.  Even though they weren’t playing the Super Bowl this year, I watched a little bit of the game and saw when the Seahawks won.  I missed the very short interview that Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman had with Erin Andrews (a Fox News sports reporter), though, which was also apparently very news-worthy.  Although the clip …

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On Being a Black Olympian

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The Washington Post came out with a tongue-and-cheek article this past week on the complete and utter lack of racial diversity at the Olympics. The article tells the story of a black Olympic intern who was greeted in Sochi by a group of police officers who wanted to take their picture with him based on a fascination with seeing a black person in the flesh. Something else I learned from this article was that the …

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Richard Sherman Interview

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  I had brought this issue up in my journal entry and thought that it would be a topic that maybe some would like to discuss.  Some of you may be familiar with Richard Sherman’s interview with Erin Andrews after a NFL playoff game a few weeks ago.  Sherman came off as very egotistical and arrogant to the public because of the words and tone that he chose to use.  All forms of the media …

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The Impact of “Positive” Stereotyping on White Social Identity Motivation

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As you watch this video, notice that every player featured in this top ten dunks of all time video is black.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOViQaWZ69E

(Now, before I make anymore statements I have to disclaim that this is in no way, shape, or form, anything close to a “reverse racism” blog.) In fact, according to the 2005 census, the National Basketball Association and the National Football League, the professional representations of the two more athletically focused of the “big three” American sports (the third being baseball), were made up of 76% black players and 67% black players respectively.

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