Masculinity and Sports

In this week’s reading, Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture by Nick Trujillo, we examine the close relationship of sports and masculinity. As long as there have been athletics, the idea of dominance and victory have been idealized, and the vision of male hegemony has long been associated with sports and sports culture. Trujillo shows us that the media plays into this stereotype by advancing this notion through macho/manly portrayals of sports figures, in this case Nolan Ryan.

Nolan Ryan had a remarkable baseball career. I saw him pitch in 1993, nearly 25 years after he began his big league career. His longevity and pitching prowess made him a luminary in the baseball world. He was probably never considered “the best” pitcher of any one era, but his sustained excellence and his aforementioned longevity allowed him to stay relevant for much longer than the average baseball career. He played for long enough to establish quite a few prominent pitching records, including some of the most hallowed: career strikeouts and career no-hitters. When he threw his seventh and final no hitter in 1991, he was 44 years old: most pitchers careers are long finished at 44, and here is Nolan Ryan pitching his seventh no hitter! He also set the all-time strikeout record a few years earlier. Ryan has capitalized on his big league success by staying involved in the Texas Rangers organization, where he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer.

            The media had a love affair with Nolan Ryan towards the end of his career. His elder statesman and tough guy reputations were highlighted by a series of commercials in his careers’ twilight that painted him as a “man’s man.” Playing though pain and strife to achieve great things. It is strikingly similar to the media’s love affair with Brett Favre about a decade-and- a-half later. The media’s portrayal of Ryan and Favre later helped to advance the already entrenched hegemony of sports masculinity. 

Napier Week 13

The article “Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound” by Nick Trujillo illustrates and talks about how masculinity has grown to be the dominate hegemony within sports today, and gives Nolan Ryan as the perfect, all-star athletic example.

Trujillo talks about media critics and scholars narrowing hegemonic masculinity down to five features within American culture: Physical force and control, Occupational achievement, Family patriarch, Frontiersmanship, and Heterosexuality. In journalist idolizing Ryan, it implied to the view that they should strive to be more like him. This is similar to the days of Babe Ruth where he was idolized and made into a hero who should be admired, when in actuality it was a façade.

In looking at many different authors and philosophers in my studies here at Temple, there is always an oppressed group. For example, it can be argued that in America, like in this article, masculinity is the dominate force over femininity; femininity being mostly attributed to females instead of males thus perpetuating this idea. The same can be said about black and white, rich and poor, the working –class vs. white collar.

Since the majority of news rooms have always been men, these masculine traits will not be pushed out easily. Only through diversification in the newsroom, of both female and minority journalists, can we begin to break apart these norms. 

Carlin Week 13

Our reading this week focused on hegemonic masculinity in sports and focused on the portrayal of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan by the media. Hegemonic masculinity, the author writes, is the connecting of masculinity to toughness and competitiveness, the subordination of women and the marginalization of gay men. The author writes that there are five features of hegemonic masculinity: physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship and heterosexuality. The reading states that arguably no other institution has influenced our perception of masculinity than sports.

The first examination of Ryan by the author is that Ryan's status as a power pitcher was "embellished" by the media. As time went on, Ryan was portrayed by the media as a power pitcher who pitched through pain, furthering the emphasis on masculinity. This referred to the first feature of hegemonic masculinity: physical force and control.

The author also writes that an emphasis on his workout routine over time showed that the media reaffirmed the Protestant work ethic. This referred to the the second feature, occupational achievement, and portrayed him as a hard worker. The media at times published and featured his entire workout routine in order to show his work ethic.

Ryan was also portrayed as a family patriarch, the third feature of hegemonic masculinity in the media. Particularly, the author writes, the media portrayed Ryan as the breadwinner, reaffirming male-female relationships and roles. This was shown through stories early in his career where he talks about his struggle to feed his family.

Ryan was also represented as a "cowboy" and frontiersman during his career. His hometown is in rural Texas, which gave the media fuel to portray him as a Western cowboy on the frontier. For example, the author cites a story where one of his games was described as a "Shootout at the O.K. Corral."

Finally, Ryan was presented throughout his career as an "acceptable image" of male sexuality. The author writes that Ryan's physique was commented on often by sportswriters, showing that the media thought Ryan served as an acceptable sexual image on a man.

Week 13 Blog

In this weeks reading by Nick Trujillo, the main focus surrounds masculinity in sports and how Nolan Ryan is the perfect example. Not only is Ryan considered the perfect male athelte, Trujillo expresses how the media considerds the former all-star as a perfect male in general. The basis of the story surrounds one term; Hegemonic Masculinity. The term as to Nick Trujillo can be considered as a connector of masculinity to toughness and competetivness, the subordination of women, and the marginalization of gay men. Nolan Ryan is arguably the best pitcher in major league history and with no “off the field” issues, all writers made him a hero; what could be considered the final time writers portrayed an athelte as a hero in stead of searching for dirt.

As these writers also portrayed Nolan Ryan as the best man in sports, they highlighted the role of women; the roles they highlighted were of ill-nature. Described as houswives, sexual objects, and care takers of chldren, it is obvious that the majority of the news rooms were men. With the mindset that women’s role in sports surrounded cheerleading, spectating and being advertising images, men were heavily favored by sports writers in every newsroom. What these men did were outrageous and did whatever they could to express the role of male dominence as a whole.

With Nolan Ryan’s prominence throughout the United States, and his “perfect hegemonic masculinity”, sports writers forced it upon readers to become more like him. This came at a time where homosexuality continued to be considered wrong, and of course, women were considered the “other” part of the population. Throughout the years we have all seen change, however the role of masculinity in the newsroom is still shown in spurts. It may not be to the extent as it were with Nolan Ryan, but the newsroom is still run by a majority of white male writers (keep in mind, Nolan Ryan was a white American).

Tansits Week 13 - Masculinity in Sports

Over the past thirteen weeks, this class has discussed the many cultural “norms” associated with media and its coverage of sports – both good and bad. This week we delved into how masculinity has grown into the dominant face of sports and sports media. Author Nick Trujillo wrote in his piece, Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture, about how the career of Nolan Ryan and the media coverage surrounding it essentially made Ryan into a hero.

Trujillo begins his writing by setting out the five features of hegemonic masculinity in American culture, which are: physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship, and heterosexuality. The piece goes on to makes it clear that because sports are presented in the media the hegemonic masculinity is in effect presented by the media, and naturalizes the ideal to make it seem acceptable. This is a key role played by the media that through simply presenting the sports culture, it’s promoting a much larger psychological message whether it is intentional or not. Nonetheless the message is made clear and eventually picked up by advertisers and other outlets to make the masculine hegemony a cultural “norm”.

In this article, Trujillo basically takes the five features of hegemonic masculinity in American culture and shows examples of how coverage of Ryan’s career exemplifies each and everyone. Through reading the clips and bits that Trujillo pulled from major newspapers at the time they were published, an embellished picture begin to be created not so unlike that created of Babe Ruth. Writers seemed to drive this ideal that Ryan was literally “the man” of all men, in every essence of masculinity. Personally it seemed not far off from what reporters did to build up Ruth’s persona, but it was in a different more personal way invading the private life of Ryan. Overall Trujillo’s point is clear that there is a distinct hegemonic masculinity surrounding sports and that the media was the key player in building that in the case of Ryan.

Napier Week 11

"Participation in Internet Fantasy Sports Leagues and Mass Media Use," by Quint Randle and Ron Nyland looks at, as the abstract suggests, the relationship between fans that engage in fantasy sports and the media they use. Basically, those that keep uo with fantasy sports will also be looking to watching news sports, reading sports articles, and watching sporting events on television. This is made up by 15 to 18 million Americans who bring in about 1.5 billion in advertising and subscription fees.

Role-playing theory basically talks about how people place themselves into a varied collection of activities in which the participant can participate, learn, and experience sports. This is a way of challenging the individual engaged in the fantasy sports as if it was a real life event similar to playing the sport itself.

I once heard fantasy sports explained as Dungeons and Dragons for the jocks, and being a fan of fantasy and role-playing games I can personally relate to how engaged I can become in something both real and unreal.

As stated by Randle and Nyland, “fantasy sports leagues are also monster sport media users.” People begin devoting hours to watching the media to check on their stats. The more invested they are in fantasy sports, the more likely they will be to engage in media sources pertaining to the game.

-Shawn Napier

Salciunas week 11

After last weeks readings and discussions, I am still amazed as to how much revenue fantasy sports take in each year. What also blows my mind, is the fact that it continues to expand every year for every sport. With an estimate of 15 to 18 BILLION participants in fantasy sports today, "Fantasy sports has gone from hobby to big business."

There are so many areas in which fantasy sports has affected the world for journalists today; all of which are good. With shows like "The Fantasy Show", a new outlet of sports media has grown into a favorite source of news. People continue to tune in to the different shows relating the predictions of their players, and along with television, subscriptions to magazines are made just for the fantasy editions. I myself am a member of Temple Talks Philly on WHIP radio Temple's student run radio station, and I seem to make some sort of a fantasy reference every time I am on the show; and I hear it all the time and know that I am not the only one who does it. It truly is taking over, but in a good way.

Once again, a study was done to see whether or not fantasy sports has increased ratings for games to be watched especially throughout the NFL. What I never noticed before these readings is, I have succumb to the same theory that fantasy sports increases the interest in games outside of your favorite teams. "Participation in fantasy sports leagues acts as a catalyst to increase interest in and likelihood of attending real life games, reading sports material, memorizing sports trivia, and being caught up (to the exclusion of other activities) in the world of sports." I have always been an avid sports fan, but to be honest, since I began participating in fantasy sports, my level of interest increased.