Downey SPMT Blog

This week, we discussed the practices of ableism in a sporting context. Per the textbook, ableism is "an ideology that assumes the world should be tailored to those without disabilities." We then also discussed the case of Casey Martin v. PGA Tour, which was an example of a professional sports league discriminating against someone with a disability. Casey Martin had a serious medical condition that caused major difficulty for him to walk. Martin requested to use a golf cart as a reasonable accommodation, but the PGA Tour had a rule that players must walk. Long story short, Martin won his court case, which forced the PGA Tour to allow him to use a golf cart. As someone who went through childhood with a chronic illness, the notion that sports, or the world, should be tailored to those without disabilities is something I strongly disagree with. I also feel that the criteria to be considered "able-bodied" can be argued as well. In Martin's case, I would argue that h...

This week, we discussed the relationship between sport and politics. As we discussed, there is a prevailing belief amongst some that sport and politics "do not mix." That could not be further from the truth. Sports and politics mix all the time in various ways. In Chapter 8 of the textbook, sportswriter Dave Zirin is quoted as saying, "However you slice and dice it, politics are an enduring, constant, and historic presence in sports." A recent example of sport and politics intertwining was a few years ago with Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem. This causes a national uproar, and while Kaepernick's methods are still argued to this day, he certainly sparked meaningful conversation in the NFL community. People have the right to argue whether kneeling during the anthem is appropriate or not, but the point is that players can use their platform to ignite conversation. There will always be purists who want politics to stay far away from sports, but ...

 After reading Chapter 7, Race and Ethnicity in Sport, I watched the NFL Combine with keen interest. In the text, the concept of "stacking" is discussed. Stacking is "the placement of people in roles that closely fit social expectations of identity groups." In NFL contexts, stacking has led to a disproportionate number of black defensive backs and white kickers and punters. In the past, this also led to a disproportionate number of white quarterbacks. Quarterbacks were seen as leaders, hard workers, cerebral types, qualities more attributed to "white" players than black players at the time. Fortunately, things have changed for the better, with the increase in minority quarterbacks and seeing white defensive backs such as Cooper Dejean, Riley Moss, and Reed Blankenship finding NFL success. It was always odd in the past how white players were referred to as blue collar, sneakily fast, first one in/last one out, cerebral, and players with moxie. White receive...