The Ugly Side of the Hurt Business

The life of an elite professional athlete in America highlights the idea of hard work and dedication to the game will lead to success. Success in professional American sports equals more money for the athlete. Sport heavily focuses on winning and this increased pressure to win has had athletes follow the sport ethic of hard work, personal sacrifice, understanding risks, and playing through the pain (Coakley, 2013; Hughes & Coakley, 1991). Sadly not every professional athlete reaches or stays at the elite level long enough to sustain for the rest of their lives. Professional athletes will do what it takes in order to win and chase the dream of making big money.

Abiding by the sport ethic and deciding to sacrifice everything, including their own well being, brings up long and short term health issues when that final bell or whistle is blown. With an athlete retiring from their sport, the effects and consequences from playing through pain and sacrificing their body begin to come up (Eitzen, 2009). This affects the athlete’s mental and physical state, as well as their ability to provide for their family. In combative sports such as boxing, playing through the pain was often preached to boxers, either through their coach or the general stigma in the sport itself.  This is sadly the case with Gerald McClellan, also known as the G-Man, who is living this social injustice in that retired athletes are forgotten.

Gerald McClellan was a former middleweight champion who just began his height of his career in 1995, and was often was compared to as a smaller Mike Tyson (Para, 2001). McClellan was a powerful puncher who always came forward and had 29 knockouts out of his 31 wins (Donovan, 2014; Hoffer, 1996). Having cleaned out the middleweight division, he moved up in weight to fight against reigning super middleweight champion Nigel Benn. Tragically for McClellan this would be his last fight, even though he was the heavy 4-1 favorite and scored an impressive knock down in the first round that had Benn falling through the ropes and out of the ring (Donovan, 2014). As the fight continued, both Benn and McClellan exchanged blows until finally in the tenth round, McClellan was unable to continue (Mitchell, 2011). He later collapsed after being taken back to his corner and was  immediately rushed to the hospital where he stayed in a coma for two months (Kanew, 2002). The damage from the brain clot injury left McClellan eighty percent deaf, blind, and wheelchair-bound (Kanew, 2002). He continues to live under 24-hour care of his sisters, having no pension or savings (common among retired boxers) even after having expended his earnings despite a two-year title reign (Kanew, 2002). 

Common with retired athletes, once the music stops, the life becomes difficult for them to adjust. For McClellan, having forced to retire due to medical issues, left him unable to be physically mobile. This ultimately affected his ability to work as a boxer or perform regular activities of daily living in order support himself and to provide for his family. At the time of the injury, McClellan was on top of the boxing world in the middleweight class, yet the money earned in his two year peak was not enough to cover the medical expenses that he has occurred. With an industry that uses sport to generate money, athletes become expendable. Athletes that retire with long term injuries suffer the injustice of covering their own medical expenses. This was the case for McClellan who after being unable to perform inside the ring, prevented him from earning money.

The idea that organizations or individuals benefit with disregard to an athletes own well being is an issue. The long term physical effects of a sport makes athletes easily replaceable once retirement occurs. Some of the individuals who benefitted from the McClellan case were the ones who managed his career. Especially in the sport of boxing, McClellan’s promoter was the notorious Don King, who also exploited other famous boxers such as Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali (Christ, 2013; Hoffer, 1996). At the time, McClellan was under Don King promotions and was among many individuals under that banner. Another boxer in the same weight division under the same promotion, Bernard Hopkins, quickly became the focus for Don King (Christ, 2013). This is unsurprising going back to the issue of retired athletes who easily get exploited in professional sports. Athletes are simply objects to be used and abused to achieve the organizations goal. Yet who ultimately pays the price for their sacrifice? When they are broken, does their handler still take care of them during retirement? Should they be obligated or required to do so? 

In the sport of boxing, it is the only professional sport that does not have any pension, work union, or retirement plan for the boxers (Silver, n.d.). Boxing organizations that benefit on their athletes need to be taking care of them. Just like the National Football League and their players association, retired athletes are able to live reasonably. Such plan should be adopted by boxing organizations, which can be a step towards socially justice for retired boxers.

Reference

Berkow, I. (1995). BOXING: A Boxer's Darkness; Damaged McClellan Has Poignant Bouts With Everyday Life. Retrieved 29th April, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/1995/11/12/sports/boxing-boxer-s-darkness-damaged-mcclellan-has-poignant-bouts-with-everyday-life.html.

Christ, S. (2013). Don King’s last stand: Once the ruler of boxing, aging promoter now barely hangs on in changing sport. SB Nation. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.badlefthook.com/2013/4/9/4205302/don-king-last-stand-once-ruler-boxing-aging-promoter-barely-hangs-on.

Coakley, J. (2013). The sport ethic – A definition. Academia. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.academia.edu/3289397/THE_SPORT_ETHIC_-_A_Definition. 

Donovan, J. (2014). The fallen warrior. Gerald McClellan. Retrieved 28^th April, 2014, from http://www.geraldmcclellan.com/biography.html.

Eitzen, S. (2009). Fair and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport (4th ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 

Gerbasi, T. (2012). Gerald McClellan: A champion’s fight continues. Boxing Scene. Retrieved 29^th April, 2014, from http://www.boxingscene.com/gerald-mcclellan-champions-fight-continues--53997.

Hoffer, R. (1996). Dark days. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 27^th April, 2014, from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1007808/1/index.htm.

Hughes, Robert & Jay Coakley. 1991. Positive deviance among athletes: The implications of over-conformity to the sport ethic. Sociology of Sport Journal, 8(27), 307-325.

Kanew, E. (2002). Darkness Visible: Boxer Gerald McClellan, blind and brain damaged, leaves home. Retrieved 28^th April, 2014, from http://www.sportsillustrated.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1025720/index.htm. 

Mitchell, K. (2001). Nigel Benn v Gerald McClellan – the tragic fight continues to haunt. Retrieved 28^th April, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2011/dec/02/nigel-benn-gerald-mcclellan-fight. 

Merrill, E. (2007). Boxer’s life caught up in ring of dogs, fighting. ESPN. Retrieved 29^th April, 2014. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2904695.

Para, M. (2001). Benn vs. McClellan, a tragic epic. Gerald McClellan. Retrieved 29^th April, 2014, from http://www.geraldmcclellan.com/muralipara.html.

Silver. (n.d.). ‘Boxers helping boxers’ – New York’s ring 8 lives up to its motto. SecondsOut.com. Retrieved 29^th April, 2014, from http://www.secondsout.com/ringside/boxing-mavens-corner/boxers-helping-boxersnew-yorks-ring-8-lives-up-to-its-motto.

Level Playing Field

This entry on the injustices of sport attempts to uncover how Performance Enhancing Practices (PEP) creates a problem in sport. Three different cases of PEP use will first be examined and hypocrisy of PEP use will be further analyzed.   

           

The Nike Oregon Project

            Just as the National Football League utilizes college football as their football factory, and Major League Baseball falls back on the minor leagues for uprising talent, essentially both have a farm. This farming system allows fresh talent to continue maintaining the game and allows a sport to survive at a professional level.

            The Nike Oregon Project embodies the same concept of a farming system towards long distance running and takes it a step further. After realizing that American distance running was not keeping up with against world competition in the late 90’s, the project began in 2001 under the leadership of famed marathon runner, Alberto Salazar (Oregon Project, 2014).  An abundance of funding paved way for state of the art training facilities that mimicked conditions that the American counterparts had naturally (Oregon Project, 2014). This was an argument that coach Salazar has stood behind, claiming athletes from Africa that live in a higher altitude environments, which increases their red blood cell count, thus increasing their ability to transport oxygen throughout their body (Track Town USA, 2014). The success of the Nike Oregon Project has paid off with athletes who had trained there finishing top two at the 2012 London Olympics (Oregon Project, 2014).

Alain Baxter

             Scottish skier, Alain Baxter, became a finished third in slaloms at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games becoming Britain’s first winter Olympic medalist in bronze (Thompson, 2014). Baxter was unfortunately stripped of his bronze medal after a drug test discovered a banned substance levomethamphetamine (Thompson, 2014). The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found that the substance, used by Baxter in form of a Vick’s inhaler, was not enough to provide a significant performance advantage, which cleared Baxter from any ban from the sport (Thompson, 2014). CAS stuck with the International Olympic Committee’s ruling on the athlete’s responsibility of ingesting products, which prevented Baxter from receiving any award for finishing third (Thompson, 2014).

Andreea Raducan

            During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Andreea Raducan was stripped of her all-around gold medal after drug tests confirmed of a banned substance (Taken Away, 2000; Zanca, 2000). Raducan was given Nurofen Cold and Flu by a team doctor, which was a common over-the-counter medicine since she complained of a fever. The drug contained a banned stimulant, pseudo-ephedrine, which was a substance commonly found in cold medicine (Taken Away, 2000). The physician was later banned from the Olympics for the following four years and Raducan became the first gymnast to be striped of a medal for drug violations (Taken Away, 2000). Maintaining the rules of the IOC for their drug policy, Raducan was stripped of her medal after being drug tested additional times even though the amount of pseudo-ephedrine was not enough to provide a significant performance advantage (Taken Away, 2000).

            Within the power relations in this case, the governing bodies sets themselves as one of the privileged groups in the figuration since they are the ones determining the rules of what PEP is allowed and what are not. Among the three characters that are discussed, the Nike Oregon Project is the only one that is the least criticized while the two others that are related to the Olympics are ostracized. In the Nike Oregon Project, Nike is among the privileged because of their heavy influence in sports as a supplier for sports apparel. Nike’s strong brand equity allows the organization to continue using the Oregon Project as a facility to enhance the performance of long distance running athletes.

            In comparison between the Oregon Project and the two other athletes, the difference was the use of a banned substance. Although Baxter and Raducan, did not use have significant levels to have a performance advantage, the IOC’s ruling that athletes consumed an illegal drug during competition was the difference. The pure consumption of a banned substance during the competition reinforced the idea of a level playing field. Subsequently, the ban on pseudo-ephedrine was lifted after the medals were taken away from Raducan (Deusen, 2000).

The Oregon Project was viewed as acceptable behavior since the reasons for the enhancement included providing athletes increased technology in their training routines and housing environments, which promoted altering the physiology of the athletes (Oregon Project, 2014). The Oregon Project looked to level the playing field with the competition through “natural” means by providing proper nutrition, close monitoring of blood values, and oxygen reduced training facilities to mimick high altitude environment (Oregon Project, 2014; Ferstle, 2008).

Understanding the differences between the two athletes and a corporate company like Nike, questions arise if the “natural” state provided by Nike is an equal PEP compared to the situation that Baxter and Raducan faced. This is where it becomes hypocritical due to the impact of wealth, and how Nike can continue to supply “natural” forms of PEP. Are athletes under the Nike Oregon Project using the same substances used byBaxter and Raducan, in their own training camp, and subsequently stop using weeks prior to competition? Does Nike’s wealth contribute to the ability to mask substances that are banned in their athletes? Although the Nike Oregon Project has shifted away from oxygen deprivation to create high altitude training environments, the projects emphasizes running technique and increased sport psychology (Track Town USA, 2014).

Sport reinforces the concept of able bodied and those who cannot perform. Among the able bodied, sport highlights “normal” human and the elite “super” human athletes. Through the use of PEP’s, “normal” humans have the ability to reach a high state of “super” human. Sadly the practices involved in PEP do not create a level playing field and only creates a bigger divide.

Reference

Deusen, A. (2000). 2000: Andreea Raducan stripped of Olympic gold. Retrieved 18^th April, 2014, from http://gymnastics.about.com/od/olympicgymnastics/ig/Gymnastics-Controversies/Andreea-Raducan-Photo.htm.

Ferstle, J. (2008). The system: How the Nike Oregon project has rejuventated the Gouchers’ running. Runners World. Retrieved 17th April, 2014, from

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/system-how-nike-oregon-project-has-rejuvenated-gouchers-running?page=1.

Oregon Project (2014). Oregon Project: Project. Retrieved 17th April, 2014, from http://nikeoregonproject.com/

Taken Away. (2000). Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 19^th April, 2014, from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2000/gymnastics/news/2000/09/25/raducan_decision_ap/.

Track Town USA. (2014). Nike Oregon Project. Retrieved 18th April, 2014, from http://www.tracktownusa.com/track.item.5/the-oregon-project.html.

Thompson, A. (2014). Sochi 2014: Alain Baxter on winning & losing Olympic bronze. Retrieved 18th April, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/winter-olympics/26156603.

Zanca, S. (2000). Romanian Gymnast Loses Gold Medal. Retrieved 18th April, 2014, from http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=100424.

Injured Bodies - Pain

            As a future career in sports management, my role is to manage the business aspect of an organization related to sports, such as sporting teams, collegiate recreation, fitness centers, or corporate sponsors. With elite professional athletes, the role for sports managers is to consider the longevity of the sport organization and the welfare of the athlete (Fullerton, 2007; Mullin et al., 2007). Sports and injuries are synonymous, and within the sporting complex, injuries are factors that can greatly affect the well being of sports organization.

As sports managers, the success of a professional organization is beneficial on the performance of an athlete. Within the social figuration, sport managers embrace “play through the pain” or a “shake it off” mentality (Malcom, 2006). Professional or recreational players, pushes themselves to in order to continue playing through the pain, and are typically viewed as a prestigious or courageous action (Ly, 2013). Hughes and Coakley (1991) recognize that the sport ethic is the norm that causes athletes to play through the pain even though it may cause lifelong injuries (Coakley, 2013). As sports managers, athletes are used for the success of an organization and if an injury conflicts with the organization’s mission (win games = profit), that athlete becomes useless for the organization (Killick et al.,  

Frequent reference about the sport ethic is commonly found in locker room conversations, pep talk from coaches, and media depictions about the idea of playing through pain and injury (Coakly, 2013). Although the participation in sport greatly enhances health and quality of life, research has shown that intense sport participation may contribute to increased rates of morbidity and mortality (Houlihan, B. 2008). People who engage in sports for recreation and leisure follow the same viewpoint on pain and injury as according to the sport ethic. It is this “sacrifice for the game” that causes many to continue prolonging potential or existing injuries from occurring.

On August 28, 2011, division III football player Derek Sheely of Frostburg State University, died after suffering injuries from football. After performing a tackling drill in which one coach encouraged players to lead with their helmets, Sheely began bleeding from his forehead (Melliner, 2013). Sheely was bandaged and evaluated by athletic trainers four times without a concussion test, even though Sheely reported to coaches that he “didn’t feel right” and had a headache (Mellinger, 2013). Ignoring his initial remarks, Coach Jamie Schumacher screamed to “stop your bitching and moaning and quit acting like a pussy and get back out Sheely!” (Mellinger, 2013). Sheely later collapsed, never regained consciousness, and died six days later from “brain herniation, an acute subdural hematoma, and massive vascular engorgement” at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore (Fenno, 2013).

My initial response to the 2011 case of Derek Sheely is a reminder of the detrimental effect of players following the sport ethic of playing through the pain and sacrificing for the greater good. I was not surprised when hearing that the coaching staff showed no concern for Sheely’s health and only wanted him to continue playing. This sport ethic is heavily reinforced by the coaching staff, which creates a social norm to not show any signs of pain and continue play (Coakley, 2013). I have experienced similar situations before during my high school football days. It was ‘normal’ for the coaching staff to berate players if they expressed any signs of pain or discomfort.

Although the Sheely case highlights head injuries, particularly concussions, it does not take into account of the effect the sport ethic preaches. The rhetoric of continuing playing through pain or injury and to sacrifice all for the game, becomes damaging and even fatal when athletes choose to closely follow it. The sport ethic and media depictions of elite athletes playing through pain or injury sends a wrong message to players who engage in sport for recreation or leisure purposes. The 2004 story of Curt Schilling’s “bloody sock” is an example of that in which after completing the game, his actions were deemed as courageous and heroic (Ly, 2013). The videos that I have attached highlights that message that pain is temporary. What are the long term harmful effects of that? What message does it say for young athletes? 

As a future sports management practitioner and with my experiences playing sport, this class has made me further understand how the sport ethic is deeply engrained in American sports. With winning as the ultimate goal, it is imperative to protect the success of the organization. In the professional industry, when athletes are injured, I would make considerations for their well-being. It makes no sense to use and abuse your investment that generates revenue for the organization. I would get the athletes the best possible care in order to get that athlete healthy again. In the recreational sense, telling weekend warriors to slow down or to take it easy when playing a sport that they love is difficult. I will encourage weekend warriors to question whether or not it’s worth the risk and understand their body when it hurts.

Reference

Coakley, J. (2013). The sport ethic – A definition. Academia. Retrieved April 12, 2014, from http://www.academia.edu/3289397/THE_SPORT_ETHIC_-_A_Definition. 

Fenno, N. (2013). The Washington Times. Retrieved April 11, 2014 from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/aug/22/death-frostburg-state-player-derek-sheely-due-egre/?page=all.

Fullerton, S. (2007). Sports Marketing. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Hughes, Robert & Jay Coakley. 1991. Positive deviance among athletes: The implications of over-conformity to the sport ethic. Sociology of Sport Journal, 8(27), 307-325.

Killick, L., Davenport, T., & Baker, J. (2012). Pain and Injury in Sporting Cultures of Risk. Managing Sport: Social and Cultural Perspectives, 128.

Ly, L. (2013). Curt Schilling’s bloody sock sells for $92,613. CNN. Retrieved April 11, 2014 from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/25/sport/bloody-sock-auction/index.html.

Malcolm, N. (2006). “Shaking it off” and “toughing it out”: Socialization to pain and injury in girls’ softball. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(5), 495-525.

Mellinger, S. (2013). Death of Derek Sheely show football’s concussion problems extend beyond NFL. The Kansa City Star. Retrieved April 12, 2014 from http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/31/4450304/death-of-derek-sheely-shows-why.html.

Mullin, B., Hardy, S., Sutton, W. (2007). Sport marketing. Champagne, IL: Human Kinetics.

Houlihan, B. (2008). Sport and society: A student introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: AGE Publications Ltd

Micro-Aggression & Homophobia

Prior to taking this class, I was not aware of the term heteronormative oppression and how it is problematic with homophobic oppression. When I reflect on my time playing football throughout high school and the times spent in a boxing gym, there have been numerous times where heteronormative privilege/oppression and the use of microaggressions have taken place. Yet throughout my entire life related to sports, I have been oblivious to recognizing that I am part of the problem by allowing these things to continue. Thinking about everything that was discussed in class and in the article that was given, football and even the more machismo sport of boxing has instances where homophobic behavior occurs. In football, when a player is injured, players kneel, hold hands, and pray together.  In boxing, after a tough fight, the two boxers will embrace and even give a kiss on the cheek. Yet phrases like “punch like a girl” or “hit me faggot” has been thrown around multiple times in the gym, locker room, or on the field. When either of those terms were used, I have never questioned the person saying it, nor did any of my teammates or coaches. Even the person on the receiving end of the terms took it in stride and either quickly fired with a comeback or kept quiet. It is the ones who remained silent that bother me. I never thought about how destructive using those terms can be, even in the joking sense, so I contributed to all of the banter with no regard.

Research has identified that hegemonic masculinity is the norm in sporting culture (Calhoun & LaVoi, 2011; Hardin et al., 2009). Homosexuality has been used as the term to identify and represent men who abandon masculinity (Butterworth, 2006). Plummer (2009) recognizes that the language of masculinity includes terms such as “queer”, “gay,” and “faggot,” used by boys as they assimilate into masculine culture. Throughout my sporting experience, the terms are used blatantly among players and especially the coaches. The coaching staff would also use micro-aggressive slander in their methods such as “stop being a pussy” or “quit being homo”. With a person with authority such as my coaches, I never questioned against their use of those words for fear of not being able to participate. The use of these terms in these settings creates habitus and continues to marginalize a group for being different.

For this past week, I have encountered several gender micro-aggressions, and will discuss two that had the most impact. The first was with my weight training class that I instruct. One of the girls in my class was having a conversation with her friend. I do not remember what the topic was about and one of her remarks at the end of it was “that’s so gay”. I stopped for a second, trying to recall what I learned in the class the day before. I addressed the issue of using that term and how a simple word can be hurtful. She claimed she was only joking and snickered off before I could have driven the topic home. Instead of chasing her down and basically interrogate her, I left it as is in order to maintain relationships with the people in my class (basically don’t be a hard ass).

The second micro-aggression that happened was over the weekend at my friends wedding. The groom decided to have a last minute bachelor party, Hangover style, to Las Vegas the day before the wedding. Having been nicely dressed up for the night, one of the groomsmen said, “Dude, no homo, if I was gay, I would.” At the time I did not question who said it. With a roomful of alpha males, three who are active in law enforcement (one is a retired Marine), there was plenty of bravado in the room, which prevented me from calling out his actions. At the club, one of the groomsmen pointed out a same sex couple (men) dancing on the floor, and the marine friend said, “Look at these two faggots right here!” More slurs were mentioned among the group. Wanting to fit in and keep the party going, I did not bring up the subject. Also alcohol was involved and trying to have a serious conversation on the topic could have had negative consequences.

For the first situation, I feel that I made little impact on that student. The opportunity to ‘step up’ was there and I feel that I came up short. I think part of it was not being a ‘tough’ instructor or using my position of power as a tool. I have always despised authoritative figures like law enforcement or government, and strive for the opposite in a hedonistic lifestyle. Keeping everyone happy in the group was my intention so instead of stopping the student, and further discussing the issue of her use of the word, I simply let it getaway.  My second situation was even harder to address. At least with the first situation, an opportunity came up. The bachelor party is the epitome of masculinity and the six of us all grew up in a heteronormative space. I found it difficult to challenge and call out anyone from this group for fear of defending homophobia. Clearly more understanding for myself and for everyone on this topic is needed. From there, people can be better in how to engage individuals on the topic.

Reference

Butterworth, M. L. (2006). Pitchers and catchers: Mike Piazza and the discourse of gay identity in the national pastime. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 30, 138–157.

Calhoun, A. & LaVoi, N. (2011). Framing with family: Examining online coaches’ biographies for heteronormative and heterosexist narratives. International Journal of Sport Communications, 4, 300-316.

Hardin, M., Kuehn, K., Jones, H., Genovese, J., & Balaji, M. (2009). ‘Have you got game?’ Hegemonic masculinity and neo-homophobia in U.S. newspaper sports columns. Communications, Culture, & Critique, 2(2), 182-200.

Plummer, D. (2006). Sportophobia: Why do some men avoid sport? Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 30, 122–137.