Big Games, Little Voices: Patriarchy and Power at SEC Football Media Days

Black Males in Medicine: My View

This article examines different forms of inequality within men’s practices of intimacy in urban China. Focusing on the gloomy side of intimacy described by three husbands, it seeks to unravel what stands behind the language of complaints and dislikes. The data reveals that practices of intimacy do not always entail positive feelings, but can sometimes be experienced unpleasantly. It is argued that practices of intimacy are often implicated in practices of gender, class and culture. By whingeing about how their wives fail to perform proper femininities, these men reaffirm the traditional privileges of husbands and achieve a stronger sense of themselves as the authority figure in the family, as stressed in Confucian Chinese culture. While these men demonstrate varying levels of reflexive negotiations that leave space for more marital equality, their unequal practices of intimacy serve to reinforce the existing gender hierarchy and social structure in contemporary China.

Background: The anterior reach distance and symmetry of the Y-Balance Test (YBT) has been associated with increased injury risk in collegiate athletes. Examining the influence of dorsiflexion range of motion (DROM) and single-limb balance (SLB) on YBT performance may identify underlying factors associated with injury risk. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine if YBT anterior reach is related to DROM or SLB in collegiate varsity and club sport athletes. Methods: A convenience sample of 124 university varsity and club sport athletes (females: 99, age: 20.0 ± 1.6 years, height: 168.9 ± 12.5 kg, body mass: 68.8 ± 14.0 kg) completed the anterior direction of the YBT, weight-bearing DROM, and SLB components (firm and foam surface) of the Balance Error Scoring System on both limbs at one testing session. Relative symmetry was calculated by subtracting values of the left limb from the right limb. Results: For the left and right limb, normalized anterior reach distance was moderately correlated to DROM (R = .55, p < .001). Anterior reach distance and symmetry was weakly correlated to SLB and SLB symmetry (R = −.16 to −.03). Conclusion: There was a positive relationship between YBT anterior reach and weight-bearing DROM which was also observed in the between-limb symmetry. However, weak relationships were exhibited between YBT anterior reach and SLB. These findings may be useful for future injury prevention initiatives in athletic settings.

Woods (2016, p. 311) stated “For centuries, sports participated in assigning a limited role to women by excluding them from participation and resisting efforts to include them.” Women have had to struggle when it comes to sport leadership positions. Women are not usually found in higher level jobs in sport, but they tend to have positions in lower management or lower profile positions. This study is a compilation of research into how people within collegiate athletics in the United States feel about women’s employment status in the field. A pilot interview was created and administered to three women: an athletic director, an athlete, and a professor at Florida A &M University. A surveywas created and administered to 30 subjects that have careers in sport leadership positions. The questions were divided into five categories consisting of representation, coaching, equal pay, and team sports. The survey showed that there are mixed feelings in the profession. Two-thirds of the subjects thought that there was a lack of female leadership within team sports. A little over half of the subjects thought that men were more successful in the areas of leadership, coaching, equal pay, representation, and team sports. By identifying the issues that women are facing when heading into this profession, the researchers identified what actions need to take place in order to resolve the problems discovered. In turn, this would create more opportunities and more qualified female candidates for positions in sports administration and team sports leadership in the United States.

Much of organizational status research has been conducted at the micro level by examining the effect of individual status positions. To answer calls for more status research at the macro level, this study extends psychological research on assimilation and contrast effects to examine how status inequality as a distributional property influences product choices in markets. In the context of U.S. college bowls (a specific type of organization within U.S. collegiate athletics), this study analyzes how the status inequality among bowls influences bowls’ stadium attendance, which reflects the judgment of bowls by football fans as the key buyers. The analyses yield evidence consistent with assimilation and contrast effects. Below the middle level of status inequality, the relationship between status inequality and stadium attendance is positive for low-status bowls but negative for high-status bowls. Above the middle level of status inequality, the relationships are reversed. The effect of status inequality is also stronger for low-status bowls that are newer and thus more uncertain in product quality. These findings make significant contributions to understanding status hierarchies in markets by redirecting organizational status research with a macrolevel view, uncovering cognitive processes underlying buyers’ judgment of products based on organization status, and demonstrating the dynamics of status hierarchies and their consequences for organizations.

Some sport sociologists have argued that sport is a male‐dominated institution and sexist culture in which female athletes experience various forms of discrimination, including sexual victimization from coaches and male athletes. Previous research does indicate that female athletes suffer higher rates of sexual victimization from authority figures in sport than their non‐athletic counterparts in education and the workplace, although many studies fail to differentiate adequately between sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual assault, and other descriptions that imply variations in the severity of victimization. Researchers have also speculated that athletic participation can protect female athletes from sexual victimization through a variety of social‐psychological mechanisms such as team membership, physical strength, and self‐confidence. This paper reports on the first descriptive analysis to test the “sport protection hypothesis” among both female and male athletes, using cross‐tabulation secondary analyses of data from the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey, conducted in 1995 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (N = 4,814). United States college students of traditional undergraduate age (18–24) were included in the sample (N = 2,903). Limited support for the protection hypothesis was found. Student athletes were significantly less likely to report sexual victimization during their late high school and early college years than their non‐athletic counterparts. A gender gap in the pattern of reported sexual victimization also appeared between males and females across all student age groups, with females reporting more sexual victimization than males. However, no significant gender gap was found among athletes. The results are discussed in relation to student gender, athletic status, and concomitant health benefits and also to debates about agency and resilience among athletes

In October 2019, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced it would be making a major change to its rules: student-athletes would soon be permitted to receive compensation for the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). The announcement came in response to an increasing volume of state legislation allowing for student-athlete NIL compensation. On July 1, 2021, student-athletes finally had the opportunity to receive NIL benefits as the NCAA’s interim NIL policy went into effect. This change represents a nail in the coffin for traditional notions of amateurism. For decades, the NCAA defended its rules from antitrust challenges with the procompetitive justification of preserving amateurism. As permissible compensation for student-athletes has expanded, the NCAA has continuously adjusted its definition of amateurism to fit its needs. Now, with the availability of NIL compensation, it has become clear that no coherent concept of amateurism exists in college sports. Yet, the death of amateurism does not have to lead to the death of the NCAA. This Note concludes that in future antitrust challenges, the NCAA will need to point to a procompetitive justification other than amateurism to defend its remaining rules. An antitrust defense based on the unique culture of college sports, rather than amateurism, will align with the realities of student-athlete compensation without sacrificing the NCAA’s ability to enforce eligibility rules. Part I of this Note provides background for the relevant antitrust law and its historical application to the NCAA. Part II discusses how the concept of amateurism in collegiate athletics is unraveling and argues that amateurism will no longer be an effective defense in antitrust challenges to NCAA rules. Part III proposes a solution to the problems addressed in Part II that will allow the NCAA to maintain its distinct product of collegiate athletics without depending on the dying concept of amateurism.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) clearly states there are many favorable qualities derived from participation that benefit those “who go pro in something other than sports.” However, the ability of collegiate athletics to deliver on the promise of attributable long-term vocational value is rarely questioned. Instead, student-athletes are encouraged to think of their participation as a personal investment with enduring rewards for the investor. In this study involving former NCAA Division I student-athletes, the authors examined whether participation can be regarded as an investment and how student-athletes perceive the returns thus derived. Extending Becker’s (1962) theory of human capital investment to sport participation, the authors probed participants’ experiences for evidence of investment thinking and lasting benefits in corporeal, economic, social, and cultural varieties. The findings support the notion that participation in collegiate athletics can be broadly defined as an investment, but not in accordance with the long-term utility maximizing rationale described by neoclassical economists. Furthermore, the high cost of participation, inherent uncertainty, and unreliable information confound the athlete’s decision-making and blur the distinction between consumption in the present and investing for the future.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took a toll on collegiate athletics, as all in-person sport activity was shut down temporarily, and competition schedules were heavily altered. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop an understanding of how Division I collegiate athletes experienced the pause in college sports that resulted from the COVID-19 crisis, during the first seven to nine months of the pandemic (depending on the time of interview). Between October and December 2020, eleven participants (six females, five males) engaged in individual, semi-structured interviews in which they were asked to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their lives relative to their sport participation. A three-member research team conducted a thematic analysis of the interview data to identify primary themes and subthemes. Three primary themes were identified that captured the pandemic’s impact on the athletes: (a) Typical Structure: Gone, (b) Athletic Identity: Decentralized, and (c) New Choices: More Decisions. The findings align with athletes’ reported experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in previous qualitative studies, while also adding novelty by focusing on collegiate athletes and capturing their unique experiences during the pandemic. Athletes’ experiences are discussed in relation to motivational theories, athletic identity, and retirement from sport. The author also presents several practical implications for athletes, coaches, support staff, and leaders within Division I college athletics.

Lynch Syndrome: Form, Function, Proteins, and Basketball

BackgroundThe existing research on the association between concussion and mental health outcomes is largely limited to former professional athletes. This cross-sectional study estimated the association between recurrent concussion and depression, impulsivity, and aggression in former collegiate athletes.MethodsFormer collegiate athletes who played between 1987–2012 at a Division I university completed an online questionnaire. The main exposure, total number of self-recalled concussions (sport-related and non-sport-related), were categorized as: zero (referent), one, two, or three or more concussions. The main outcomes were the depression module of The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Short Form of the Barratt Impulsiveness scale (BIS15); and the 12-item Short Form of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ-SF). Depression was categorized into a binomial severity classification that differentiated between no or mild depression (PHQ-9 scores <10) and moderate to severe depression (PHQ-9 scores ≥10). Impulsivity and aggression were kept as continuous outcomes. Binomial regression estimated adjusted prevalence ratios (PR). Linear regression estimated adjusted mean differences (MD).ResultsOf the 797 respondents with complete data (21.9% completion rate), 38.8% reported at least one concussion. Controlling for alcohol dependence and family history of depression, the prevalence of moderate to severe depression among former collegiate athletes reporting three or more concussions in total was 2.4 times that of those reporting zero concussions [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.0, 5.7]. Controlling for alcohol dependence, family history of anxiety, relationship status, obtaining a post-graduate degree, and playing primary college sport professionally, former collegiate athletes reporting two or more concussions in total had higher mean scores for impulsivity, compared to those reporting no concussions (2 concussions MD = 2.7; 95% CI: 1.2, 4.1; 3+ concussions MD = 1.9; 95% CI: 0.6, 3.2). Controlling for alcohol dependence, sex, and relationship status, former collegiate athletes reporting three or more concussions in total had a higher mean score for aggression, compared to those reporting no concussions (MD = 3.0; 95% CI: 1.4, 4.7).ConclusionsOur study found an association between former concussion and greater risk of severe depression and higher levels of impulsivity and aggression among former collegiate athletes. Additional prospective studies better addressing causality and ascertaining valid lifetime concussion histories and medical histories are needed.

Reviewed by: The Supreme Court and the NCAA: The Case for Less Commercialism and More Due Process in College Sports by Brian L. Porto Joy Blanchard Brian L. Porto. The Supreme Court and the NCAA: The Case for Less Commercialism and More Due Process in College Sports. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2012. 264 pp. Hardcover: $50.00. ISBN-13: 978-0472118045. The NCAA was founded in 1906 as a result of the rampant violence, injuries, and deaths occurring in intercollegiate athletics, particularly football. Today the NCAA must regulate vice of a different kind: hypercommercialization, rules infractions, and an overall culture that values winning above all else. In The Supreme Court and the NCAA: The Case for Less Commercialism and More Due Process in College Sports, Brian Porto, an attorney, an associate professor of law at Vermont Law School, and a former collegiate athlete, examines two U.S. Supreme Court cases that paved the way for college sports to become the unwieldy—and, at times, seemingly unmanageable—enterprise that it is today. Recognizing that the amateur values of college sports have been seriously eroded in favor of commercialization and television contracts, [End Page 406] Porto frames his argument for an “educational exemption” to antitrust laws around the landmark decisions in NCAA v. Board of Regents (1984) and NCAA v. Tarkanian (1988). He provides an incredibly rich and thorough analysis of the cases, from the climate in college sports that precipitated such litigation to judicial procedural history and court testimony. Although the connections are not always clear and at times tenuous, Porto attempts to link the antitrust case in Regents to the due process issue in Tarkanian. His intention is to argue that the desire to win at all costs (precipitated by the huge revenues now available after Regents) has increased academic fraud and lowered graduation rates among athletes and has made NCAA enforcement difficult and sometimes unfair—as institutions are quick to sacrifice athletes and employees (as in Tarkanian) in order to avoid stiffer sanctions. Before Regents, the NCAA controlled how many times—and for how much money—college football teams could appear on television. Antitrust laws were enacted to protect consumers; the NCAA plan restricted the number of games fans could enjoy and failed to allow top-tier programs to benefit in the marketplace from their notoriety. The NCAA was fearful that too many televised games would dilute the “product” and reduce ticket sales, when actually, the proliferation of the game on television inevitably increased institutions’ fan base and ticket sales skyrocketed. Today, college football continues to be a huge vehicle by which universities can increase their donor base through their fan base (Toma, 2004). Porto pinpoints the decision in Regents as the start of an “arms race” in terms of salaries, recruits, and conference realignments. More than 40 institutions changed conference affiliations in the 10 years following Regents. That problem continues today. In recent seasons, once-steady conferences such as the Big XII have been diluted by the lure for mega television contracts. While the NCAA had tried to keep exposure and revenue at parity among its member teams, Porto noted that Regents began a clear bifurcation of athletic conferences as “haves” and “have nots.” In his dissent, Justice Byron (“Whizzer”) White, himself a famed college and professional football player, predicted: “Permitting a small number of colleges, even popular ones, to have unlimited television appearances, would inevitably give them an insuperable advantage over all others and in the end defeat any efforts to maintain a system of athletic competition among amateurs who measure up to college scholastic requirements” (p. 81). As a result of Regents, the professional and financial stakes are higher for coaches and players. Today 25 coaches earn more than $2 million, and student-athletes’ value in the professional ranks is often decided by their success and exposure in the college game. Because of this intensification, Porto then examines the decision in Tarkanian, in which the NCAA ordered UNLV to fire its then-head basketball coach or face stiffer sanctions for NCAA rules infractions. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the NCAA is a private association and not a “state actor” under...

Tables and Figures Introduction Economics of College Sports: An Overview by John Fizel and Rodney Fort Structure College Sports and the University Mission The 1997 Restructuring of the NCAA: A Transactions Cost Explanation by Joel Maxcy The Impact on Higher Education of Corruption in Big-Time College Sports by Paul Staudohar and Barry Zepel Motivating College Athletics by Evan Osborne Financial Returns to College Sports Effects of University Athletics on the University: A Review and Extension of Empirical Assessment by Brian Goff Why do U.S. Colleges have Sports Programs? by Robert Sandy and Peter Sloane An Economic Slam Dunk or March Madness? Assessing the Economic Impact of the NCAA Basketball Tournament by Robert A. Baade and Victor A. Matheson Labor Issues in College Sports College Football and Title IX by Michael A. Leeds, Yelena Suris, and Jennifer Durkin Measufing Marginal Revenue Product in College Athletics: Updated Estimates by Robert W. Brown and R. Todd Jewel Participation in Collegiate Athletics and Academic Performance by John Fizel and Timothy Smaby Managerial Efficiency, Managerial Succession, and Organizational Performance by John L. Fizel and Michael P. D'Itri Competitive Balance in College Sports Institutional Change in the NCAA and Competitive Balance in Intercollegiate Football by Craig A. Depken,II and Dennis P Wilson Is There a Short Supply of Tall People in the College Game? by David J. Berri The Impact of Cartel Enforcement in Divisiion I-A Football by Craig A. Depken,II and Dennis P. Wilson Index About the Contributors

Characterising realism by contrasting it with moralism leaves open several questions to do with realism’s practical import. If political judgment is not to be derived — exclusively or at all — from pre-political moral commitments, what scope is there for genuinely normative political thinking? And even if there is some scope for political normativity, does realism’s reliance on interpretations of political practices condemn it to some form of status quo bias? In this paper I address those questions. My main aim is to assuage some worries about realism’s alleged conservative tendencies. I argue that there is an important sense in which realists can support radical and even unachievable political change — one can be realistic and demand the impossible, as the soixante- huitard slogan goes. To see how that may be the case one needs to characterise realism by contrasting it with both non-ideal theory and utopianism. In a nutshell, realism differs from non- ideal theory because it need not be concerned with feasibility constraints, and it differs from utopianism because it eschews detailed blueprints of the perfect polity.

and MARIA O’BEIRNE* This paper discusses the value of a multi-method approach for studying violence against professionals. It is based on a project currently conducted by the authors on the extent and impact of violence against three professions working in the community (General Practitioners, Probation Officers and Anglican Clergy). The paper starts by making some general points about the nature of our chosen occupations’ professional discourses on violence and then discusses how quantitative and qualitative methods can be used to establish the extent to which the definitions of violence embedded in these discourses are meaningful for individual professionals. It is argued that both kinds of method are necessary to understand fully individual professionals’ experiences of violence against them. The study reported here is an ongoing investigation of violence by members of the British public against three types of professional workers based in community rather than large institutional settings: National Health Service (NHS) general practitioners, probation officers and Anglican clergy. The research aims to assess the extent and impact of violence (and fear of violence) on these professionals, and the response of professional agencies and organizations to violence and risk of violence in general and to specific incidents. Within both the professional press for each group and the mass media in general, there are many claims that violence against members of these groups is increasing. Mass media reports are, of course, likely to focus on the sensational, the rare and hence newsworthy incidents, such as the murder of the Reverend Christopher Gray in August 1996. It is possible that apparently mundane and unnewsworthy incidents of harassment and verbal abuse are much more frequent and have a much more insidious impact on members of our three occupations. These three occupations might all be broadly characterized as professions. They all require a specialist training in a body of knowledge and craft skills. Members of these occupations have some autonomy in the organization of their work and all have some claim to be authority figures within the community or with respect to their clients. The decision to undertake a comparative study stemmed from our interest in the relationship between occupational cultures and organization and the experience of violence: behaviours that are regarded as ‘normal risks’ in one work setting may be perceived as exceptionally threatening in another occupational context. The focus on those who do ‘front-line work’ in the community, including clients’ homes, reflected our interest in the experience of those who work outside the environment of a large institution. Those who work in the community typically do so alone, at least during much of their face-toface contact with users of their services, and are faced with recurrent tensions between accessibility to clients and security.