From the Los Angeles Times and Tampa Bay Times Review by Eric Stodd in SRM 334 (section 2) Lance Armstrong very well could have been one of the greatest athletes to ever live, and over the past few years his career has turned into a stream of lies and deceit. He won, a record, seven straight Tour de France titles while racing for the United States Postal Service Team, which was unheard of. In the sports world today, the mass audience will undoubtedly question anyone who completes a feat of this magnitude. The L.A. Times article we are focusing on quotes Armstrong’s perception of winning just his first title, “This is a new guy in the tour. It can’t be. He must be doped.” When it comes to a sport like cycling, we have now found out that almost half the competitors were doping up in some way, shape, or form.
This article pertains directly to this class in many ways, because the heart of this story is based around media relations. The media, teammates, and the USADA had all come after Armstrong and were searching for the truth. From the beginning, Lance kept with his “deny, deny, deny” way of handling things. This would lead him into the deepest hole I have ever seen an athlete delve into, and he probably will not climb out of it. Armstrong destroyed journalists’ and teammates’ careers by suing them for claiming he used PED’s. In the end, after the lawsuits and his realization of everyone knowing the truth he decided to finally stop lying. It is rather jaw dropping now that he would finally come out with the truth after he fought to destroy his accusers’ lives. Lance Armstrong’s career will surely become one of the most stained and diminished in sports history. --- Review by Cara Yaworske in SRM 334 (section 2) For this current event assignment, we decided to discuss the Lance Armstrong scandal.
As everyone knows, Armstrong won the Tour de France seven consecutive times after being diagnosed with cancer. With many athletes who have such success, there are doping allegations, which was definitely the case for Armstrong. Even though this story can be talked about for days, we are focusing on one aspect: his denial through the years.
One of the articles we used discusses all of Lance Armstrong’s public denials. There were many press conferences, interviews, and even books asking if he has doped. These accusations began in the 1990’s and he denied every single one, including in his “nonfiction” memoir. The second article is about every person Armstrong sued. He sued people such as book reviewers, his masseuse, and previous employees. He went to the extremes to ruin people’s jobs and lives to deny what is now known to be true.
The reason this is such a big deal is because Armstrong went more than ten years denying doping and then all of a sudden he decides to come out with a public apology on Oprah. Nobody really knows the reasoning behind his sudden admittance, but it has caused hatred towards him and the causes he supports. Do these people accept his apology? I know I am very curious to find out.
Doping is a very important topic in sports because it’s illegal and unfair, and yet so many athletes do it, and eventually, get caught. So what can be done to avoid this from happening? Drug testing clearly is not cutting it, because Armstrong still managed to pass every test. This story is related to our class in particular because it’s been in the media for years. First, the media accused him of possible doping, and now it is talking about his public admittance. Doping and how the media reacts to it is an issue that definitely needs to be fixed.
USA Today’s article titled, “Tattoos but a fraction of Colin Kaepernick’s story” explains his life from adoption all the way up until his time as an NFL starter on the way to the Super Bowl. The San Francisco 49ers quarterback is a player to admire. I absolutely believe that there are media sources in sports that are trying to tarnish Kaepernick’s image. This particular article written by USA Today portrays Kaepernick in a good light.
Kaepernick was adopted at five weeks old and grew up in Milwaukee, WI. He attended and played football for the Nevada Wolf Pack and became the only FBS player to throw for 10,000 yards and rush for 4,000 yards in a career. This ultimately led to the 49ers selecting Kaepernick 36th overall in the 2011 NFL draft. Kaepernick was also selected in the 43rd round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs as a right-handed pitcher.
The media has brought up personal information about Kaepernick including his family and tattoos. I personally believe this is not the place for sports media to get involved and believe that those things are to be left alone. This particular article allows fans to see how great of an athlete and person Colin Kaepernick is. The tattoos on his body and his family background should not hinder the perception of a fan because social media says it should. Sports media rules our society and it is refreshing to see an article promote a successful athlete and show his path to the Super Bowl. --- Review by Brad Burgess in SRM 334 (section 2) Colin Kaepernick is the current starting quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. A player picked in the 2011 NFL Draft 36th overall. After veteran quarterback Alex Smith suffered a concussion in week 10 Colin had an opening. The buzz around the 49ers was whether or not Smith would play in their next week’s game. When Monday came it was Kaepernick who got the start. He shocked the world and displayed his ability with a big win over the Bears 32-7. Kaepernick would be the new starter.
However, with Kaepernick’s rapid rise to fame came the media frenzy finding out who this guy was under the helmet. Reports started pumping out articles on this kid. He is a half white, half African American, who was adopted by the Kaepernick’s, a white family from Wisconsin. The only college to offer him a football scholarship was the University of Nevada. He went on to be the only FBS quarterback to throw for more than 10,000 yards and rush for more than 4,000. One of the biggest controversy’s that has been discussed in articles has been his tattoos. He is tatted up all over his upper body. In one article it was said that Kaepernick looks like a thug out of prison. Colin doesn’t listen to the media and says that he loves his tattoos, and he gets them because he wants to and no other reason.
The way this relates to this class is the question of how the media can shape a fans opinion on an athlete. Before Colin was the starter there was little talk about him. Now he is a household name and is taking his team to the Super Bowl. There are reports arguing his tattoos, talking about him being adopted, and asking him about how he got to this point. If you read some articles you end up loving Colin’s story and become a big fan. Other articles you perceive him as a thug with a lot of swagger. Without the media we would not know about this stud from the University of Nevada. The media controls athlete’s fame. They control the emotions of a fan. The media today has changed the way we look at players and their backgrounds.
From Athletic Business Review by Christine Steiner in KIN 332 The Athletic Business article titled “Schools Attempting to Control Athletes’ Use of Social Media” By Paul Steinbach published in November 2012 investigates the social media use of collegiate student athletes and whether or not their use of these websites should be monitored or regulated to protect the reputations of the individual players as well as their teams and schools. For example, Ohio State University third-string quarterback Cardale Jones recently tweeted “why should we have to go to class if we came here to play football, we ain't come to play school, classes are pointless." This statement caused an issue for the entire team when Jones’ name was Googled mere hours later and his statement turned up right on the first page of search results. His words not only display his individual ignorance, but also reflect on the intelligence of his fellow teammates and school as a whole. Because of this issue, more and more coaches are beginning to ban their players from using twitter, including Boise State's Chris Petersen, South Carolina's Steve Spurrier and Florida State's Jimbo Fisher. Some athletic departments are even employing the services of software by companies like Udiligence and Varsity Monitor. These programs allow coaches to flag specific words or phrases that could be embarrassing or detrimental to the reputation of their teams and send both the coach and the player and alert that their tweets are inappropriate and must be removed. The problems that arise with these social media restrictions include the possible violation of free speech of the players, as well as the issue of whether the standards of conduct for participation on a team should be able to include off-season actions of the players. In terms of the sports marketing implications of this issue, if no bans are implemented in this area, then a mere Google search of a school’s athletic teams may return results of student athletes’ inappropriate or disrespectful tweets, giving the searcher an immediate negative opinion of the school as a whole and potentially causing the school to have to drastically improve their marketing techniques to make up for these statements that are destructive to their reputation. It appears that more collegiate athletic departments are choosing to implement these restrictions for the purpose of protecting their reputations and preserving their current marketing campaigns.
