Social Media and Sports

Article: ESPN's Snapchat

On Tuesday, March 24, 2015 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we discussed sports and the media. These are two of the most successful businesses in the United States. Media as changed and advanced overtime and this has impacted the media coverage of sports. The characteristics of the media have changed from old media to new media. Old media involves print media which is words and images printed on paper such as: newspapers, magazines, books, catalogues, event programs, and trading cards. New media involves electronic/visual media which is words, commentary, and images we receive through audio and/or video devices such as: radio, television, film, video games, the internet, and cell phones. Since the 20th Century, when sport became apart of the entertainment industry it has done nothing but continued to grow. The increase in sport popularity is a direct result of media coverage. 
Media has four roles:

                        1. Inform

                        2. Entertain

                        3. Educate

                        4. Advertise
Social media is a group of internet applications that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content. Most fans and community members now go to social media for sports information, 96% of businesses use social media for marketing. On Tuesday, March 24, 2015 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we were faced with the question: Could sports and the media survive without each other? Throughout discussion we came to the conclusion that sports could not survive without the media but the media could survive without sports. Sports have made some changes as a result of the media: schedule and starting times, length of halftimes, television timeouts, and expansion and formation of leagues. All of these changes that sport has made for media gives both sport and the media the opportunity to make revenue. 
The Sports Business Journal article discusses the benefits and downfalls of a social media application called Snapchat. Snapchat allows users to take photographs, record videos, add text and drawings, select a time from 1 second to 10 seconds, and then select who the information gets sent to. The recipient of the information will only be allowed to see it for the amount of time that the sender selected, after time runs out the picture or video disappears. Snapchat has recently added a new feature called Discover, watch the following youtube video to learn what this feature offers: Snapchat Discover 
The challenges that Snapchat face are the same challenges that other new medias such as: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Groupon, and Social Living are facing. Social media is predominantly used by millennials, which creates barriers. As sport teams begin to use social media more frequently for things such as advertising and give aways the more other generations gain interest. Social media gives sport fans something that nothing else can, direct contact with the teams and the athletes. Many athletes have embraced the opportunities that social media presents them to connect directly with fans. An example of a professional team being interactive with their fans is the Pittsburgh Pirates twitter page:  Pittsburgh Pirates

Sports and Socialization - Athletes as Role Models?

Article: Athletes as Role Models
On Tuesday, February 10, 2015 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we discussed sport and socialization. It is clear that sport plays a big role in the society, especially with kids. Socialization is an active process of learning the culture of a society and it occurs when you interact with others. Socialization involves the information of ideas about who we are and what is important in our lives. At the beginning of the 20th Century athletes viewed being a role model as part of their job. Is it part of their job? It is their responsibility to be a role model for kids? Many kids look up to professional athletes because in their eyes, they have it all. They get paid to do what they love, they're rich, they get to travel, and they're famous. The imaginations kids have are so big that they do not realize that becoming a professional athlete is unrealistic. Does that mean looking up to athletes as role models is a bad thing? Socialization and being a role model go hand in hand because socialization provide agents for sport organizations, these agents are: family, peer group, school, community, and mass media.

Derek Jeter

What characteristics does a role model need to possess?

• Honesty 
• Commitment
• Fairness
• Determination
• Good sportsmanship
• Sense of humor
• Good self image
• High moral values 

The reason why viewing athletes as role models is such a uncertain thing is because you never know what an athlete is going to do or how they are going to act. There have been many athletes who were great role models such as Ray Rice and Lance Armstrong who turned out to be bad role models based of certain actions. There have also been great athlete role models who have remained great role models such as Derek Jeter and Dwight Howard.

The Newsday article "Athletes are not automatic role models" highlights the bold statement Charles Barkley made in 1993 in a Nike commercial, he stated that he is not a role model and that parents need to be role models. Is he right with that statement? Yes, parents should be role models but what about the kids who don't have parents? Who are they suppose to look up to? Watch the entire commercial on you youtube here: Charles Barkley Nike Air Commercial

Parents often lead kids to think that athletes are good role models. If a kid is beginning to play a sport they sit down with their parents to watch a game. Often times kids hear: "you see how they follow through on their shot?" "do you see how their stance is?" "do you see the hustle that they have?" by teaching the kids the proper form from a professional player naturally leads them to look up to them and want to be as good as them.  

Another reason why athletes have become such big role models to many kids is because of the mass media. Athletes are always in the light, nothing about their lives is private. Their life on and off the court or field is in the headlines. Since the athletes are always in the headlines, they are always being scrutinized by the public. They are held to a higher standard because they are professionals, more is expected of them because of what they do. Isn't the only thing that they are suppose to do is play? Charles Barkley stated that it is not his job but many athletes feel like it is apart of their job. 
Does thinking that you need to be a role model make you a good role model? 

What is Sport and Why Study it?

Article: CBS $50M for 30 Seconds
On Thursday, January 22, 2015 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we discussed what sport is and why it should be studied. Before discussing why sport should be studied we must define exactly what sport is. Sport is defined as: physical, competitive, institutionalized, and motivated by a combination of personal enjoyment and external rewards. There is a difference between play, games, and sport. If one was to place these activities on a continuum in order from less complex to more complex it would look like this: 

<---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> play                                                        games                                                         sport

How does one identify which activity they are participating in? There are distinct characteristics that determine if an activity is play, a game, or a sport. The following characteristics are some of the many characteristics that belong to these three activities:

Play	Games	Sport
Free	Win / Lose Motive	Highly Competitive
No boundaries	Boundaries	Formalized Rules
Uncertain	Rules and Authority	Governing Bodies
Make believe	Investment	High degree of organization

The focus of my American Sport in the 21st Century is sport. Sport is a highly important factor worldwide. Sport are social phenomenas because it provides a window into society and cultures and it mirrors the two. How do we know that sport is so important worldwide? The facts say it all. On Thursday, January 22, 2015 we were given these facts about sport, which proves that it is important to study sport.

• Millions of people are interested in sport
• Constitute much of our conversation, reading and leisure ($73B) many people wake up and read or watch sport 
• 1/10 of the world almanac is devoted to sports 
• 15% of major network time is devoted to sports 
• Sport accounts for 49.7% of Twitter chatter
• USA Today devotes 1/4 of its space to sports 
• 8/10 people (adults) are considered sport fans
• Sport constitutes as the 4th largest industry in the U.S. and the 11th in the world
• Gross estimates of $48B in revenue 
• Sport wagering is a huge business ($2.3B legally; $380B illegally) 

Major sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the Baseball World Classic, and the Rugby World Cup are all examples of what sport does worldwide. The Sport Business Journal article supports the facts that were stated above. Super Bowl 49 drew 112.2 million viewers, which sets a new record for the most watch show in U.S. television history. Due to the amount of attention the Super Bowl receives CBS is going to sell the ad rates at $5.0 million per 30-second spot for Super Bowl 50. How is it possible for a major network like CBS to charge $5M for only 30 seconds?

This is possible because of the attention that sport gets and what sport does for our society, 80% of adults consider themselves sport fans - that gives sport a lot of power. Super Bowl 50 is going to take place on Sunday, February 7, 2016 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The game is eleven months away and a good amount of the units have already been filled. On Thursday, January 22, 2015 we were given the fact that as of 2013, the NFL is the number one favorite sport among U.S. sport fans. This is another reason why CBS is able to charge such an astronomical amount for a 30-second ad. Many of the companies that purchase ad time buy an entire minute. Also, each year there are companies that are expected to have commercials such as: Budweiser, Doritos, and Mountain Dew. The commercials are such a big part of the Super Bowl that each year after the Super Bowl is over a list of the best commercials is released. The best commercial from Super Bowl 49 was Budweiser's "Lost Dog" commercial. The following link will allow you to watch the number one commercial from Super Bowl 49: Lost Dog