Week 13 Nick Trujillo

Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound
By: Nick Trujillo
Nolan Ryan is analyzed through the media to reveal how hegemonic masculinity is reproduced in mediated sport. It explains five distinguishing features about Ryan.
Throughout his twenty five year career, Ryan has become a "prominent sports celebrity." It explains what HM(hegemonic masculinity) is which we have talked about before. Masculinity becomes hegemonic when it becomes widely accepted in a culture reinforcing the dominent gender ideology.
The five distinguishijg features of HM are: physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship, and heterosexuality. According to Connel the first feature means men have power, women are subordinate and the superiority of men becomes naturalized. Male body represents power, and power becomes masculinized. Secondly work itself can become defined along gender lines, men's work vs. Women's work. Third, males being dominant in the family and the extension of dominanceover women in society. Fourth, "frontier thesis" argues that the general US image is so defined. The cowboy is an archetypal image reproduced in media. And lastly, hegemonic male sexuality embodies personal characteristics which are manifested by males through social relationships with men and sexual relationships with women. With the ideathat you can't act like a sissy in appearance or behavior.
Mediated sport and HM
Sport has influenced the sense of masculinity over any other institution. Football in particular has extremely emphasized the male dominance and women as more cheerleaders and spectators. Mass media follows suit for fashioning hegemony. Mediated sports reaffirm mainstream values and HM in important ways. They represent these hegemonic values and ignore or condemn the alternative features of opposing gender ideologies. The media also personalizes HM when they make heroes out of the individuals who embody the masculine values and ignore those who don't.
Reproducing HM through Nolan Ryan
The media has reaffirmed Ryan's power of the male body. All throughout media Ryan is viewed and explained as a powerful pitcher which was widely celebrated. He was also viewed as a capitalist worker. "The construction of sport as work is even more powerful" in producing HM. The media makes sport to exactly relate capitalism and the protestant work ethic. They proved this through Nolan Ryan and represented him as a successful male worker in a capitalist society. Ryan continues to get praise for dominance. It seems like this writer hates everything about this.....
Disks, "men are cast into ceaseless work and action to prove their worth, masculinity becomes the definition of a superhuman so it becomes that which can never or rarely be achieved."
"Ryan has proved the system works-at least for hard working men."
Ryan was chosen as the "breadwinner" "protecting husband" and his wife portrayed as the attractive woman behind the man. Media reaffirmed the gender division of labor by making Nolan and Ruth the ideal couple. It also reaffirmed the hegemony of family patriarchy by glorifying Ryan's relationship with his sons and deemphasized the relationship with his daughter.
Ryan is also portrayed as a rural cowboy who symbolizes the frontiersman of American history. All throughout media he was portrayed this way with mentions of being back in town for a shootout and actually calling him John Wayne. In advertisments for Wrangled jeans and explaining that he was an actual real cowboy working on the ranch in the off-season.
Ryan was also reproduced as an acceptable image of male sexuality. Commented on of hisattractiveness. This was allowed because of Ryan's wholesome, monogamous, heterosexual and white being. According to a poster and some interpretation Ryan is the "hard phallus" offered only to one woman. He is the middle aged phallus with the power to still explode.
This article basically said media in sport needs to be challenged and critiqued because of the effects it has on society and all groups of people including men.
I wasn't sure really what Trujillo was getting at but it seemed like he hates that it is this way. But to be honest it won't really change. The media are going to latch on to the best players in the game and celebritize them accordingly. I don't seem any harm in that because that is what sells. At the end of the day this is a business and they are going to keep doing what makes money.

Mark Valeriano

Week 13 - Trujillo

Sports have almost always been about who is the strongest, the fastest, or the most skilled. However, sports have become much more than that. In fostering this type of environment, sports have (unintentionally) become a way of building up a masculinity mindset. As Nick Trujillo points out, sports coverage has built up this idea of “hegemonic masculinity,” portraying athletes as the ideal, uber-masculine male figures within our society.

Trujillo begins by defining what he means by the “hegemonic masculinity.” He cites other definitions of the term, which defines it as “the culturally idealized form of masculine character.” After going into further detail about this definition, Trujillo points out that there are several factors in which this mindset is conveyed through sports coverage. These features include: (1) physical force and control, (2) occupational achievement, (3) familial patriarchy, (4) frontiersmanship, and (5) heterosexuality.

Trujillo then goes on to talk about media coverage surrounding former MLB pitcher Nolan Ryan. Trujillo argues that media portrayal of Ryan best exemplifies the idea of hegemonic masculinity and these five features. He then goes on to describe in detail how media portrayal of Ryan buys into this masculinity mindset, even if it is on an unconscious level.

He first describes how Ryan is seen as a specimen of physical force. He points out that all of the coverage surrounding Ryan is all about his ability to throw the fastest fastball, which in the sport of baseball, represents strength and dominance. Coverage also glorifies his body, retelling how publications have said that his arm – not necessarily the player himself – belongs in the Hall of Fame. Coverage surrounding Ryan also exemplifies the occupational achievement feature, as his dominance in baseball is a form of his achievement. Many articles talk about his record-setting amount of no-hitters, which is the ultimate accomplishment for a pitcher in the game of baseball.

Along with these, Ryan is portrayed as someone who is a father figure not only to his family, but to his teammates. Media portrays Ryan as a loving father with the beautiful trophy wife, playing into the stereotypical gender roles. But this portrayal extends further than his family. Ryan is portrayed as a father figure to his teammates, as articles reference his father-like presence on the team and how multiple teammates have named children after him. Ryan also exemplifies the frontiersmanship feature, as he is depicted as the “Texas cowboy” dominating the West. Clearly this is an exaggeration, as there are many pitchers in the league who were also successful, but Ryan’s depiction was similar to John Wayne or any other “manly men.”

Finally, media’s depiction of Ryan played into his heterosexuality. As mentioned before, articles played into the stereotypical gender roles of the husband and wife, but his depiction was more than that. Ryan worked with several companies as a spokesman, acting as a pseudo-sex symbol in many of them. Several sportswriters even talked about how handsome Ryan was, further playing into this role.

While Trujillo used Ryan as an example in this particular case, the same could be said for many athletes in the world of sports. There are plenty of athletes that get similar coverage, which further plays into this idea of a hegemonic masculinity. Until the media changes these depictions, sports and athletes will – willingly or unwillingly – continue to build up masculinity as the only acceptable role in sports.

Hegemonic Trujillo

As long as egos are around, the phrase “male domination” will be.  Throughout society, males have been taught to act “manly.”  But what exactly does “manly” mean and why is society wrapped around the pure domination that seeps through males?  How has this competition level not hit females, nor ever been associated with females?

Nick Trujillo analyzes this idea of overall hegemonic masculinity by studying baseball superstar, Nolan Ryan.  The crowd pleases him and while he carries many nicknames like “the living legend” and “miracle man”, one name stands out: “the real hero.”  Since Ryan had dominated the game of baseball in the early 1990’s, he had been labeled the dominant person (male) throughout the baseball world.  Trujillo plays with this phrase and breaks down how he feels the “hegemonic” man comes to be.  He must obtain a great physical force, achieve grave achievement in a capitalist industry, show dominance over the opposing gender, perceive himself as the “outdoorsman”, and thus show heterosexism.

            Trujillo believes that masculinity is the epitome of sports.  He sees how the media plays on the “power” and “force” behind Ryan playing baseball.  This is ultimately playing on his overall male dominance and his “physical force.”  When the media reviewed Ryan, they noticed in the beginning of his career that his control was distant.  Immediately the media played on this; ultimately questioning if he was this full hegemonic player.  Ryan worked hard to change his perception and soon enough people were comparing his playing to the most ridiculous images of speed.

            Not only was the media playing on his masculinity, his mother made a comment to a sports magazine about how she thought something was wrong with her son when “he didn’t cry enough.”  Obviously crying is related to being in touch with your feelings or being a “sissy”; therefore, his mom was showing examples of his exuberant showing of futuristic masculinity.

            Besides his “treetrunk legs” and overall physical appearance, the media often spoke about how many records he had broken and how the audience might be witnessing one of the best to have ever played the game.  Over and over again, they were boosting the idea of achievement and how Ryan beat out any who tried to compete.  Ryan held records in the important categories in baseball, thus exaggerating on how he was a leader over all in a difficult sport.

            Since one of the goals of journalism is to create a connection with the audience, the media had to show some backstory before Ryan became a legend.  They showed how he worked so hard to try to support his family since it was his role.  Although he was being portrayed negatively, he was still noted as being the head of the household.  As time got better, his role began to change and suddenly he became this “symbolic” father.  He was aiding the young and supplying for his wife.  It was this image that showed he played a leadership role on and off the field.

            In the final two points, Ryan was displayed as a manly man.  He was compared to a cowboy or anything that showed a dominant, yet comfortable figure.  It seemed he was not sure whether he wanted to be in that image, but the sport had made him into that image.  Even in today’s sports, we see athletes longing to put force over other athletes.  For example, LeBron James self-proclaimed himself “King James.”  Many teams desire that championship ring so they can prove their dominance.  Trujillo does not see this as a bad thing though.  He sees that sports will always have that dominance statute and that it will continue to be played upon.  He suggests that there is must to learn from it.  I agree.  Sure males are pushed into a role which makes them crazy; however, without the competitiveness, where would the world of sports be?

Week 13 -- Trujillo

“Hegemonic Masculinity on the Mound: Media Representations of Nolan Ryan and American Sports Culture”

            In Nick Trujillo’s article, he discusses the media representations of Nolan Ryan, a baseball pitcher, focusing specifically on the mediums of print and television. Trujillo first explains the idea of hegemonic masculinity within the American sports culture. Hegemonic masculinity is stated as the “the culturally idealized form of masculine character, which emphasizes the connecting of masculinity to toughness and competitiveness as well as the subordination of women and the marginalization of gay men.” This idea has become widely accepted among today’s society and American culture as many people are reinforcing the “dominant gender ideology.” Trujillo explains key features that have been representative of hegemonic masculinity within American society including physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship, and heterosexuality. Sport has been characterized as an institution that has influenced and perpetuated the idea of hegemonic masculinity the most. Trujillo discusses that American football has, especially, perpetuated this masculinity as it “emphasizes sanctioned aggression, (para) militarism, the technology of violence, and other patriarchal values.” As the author points out in the article, mass media has played a significant role in presenting sports in this way as well. It is presented to represent and uphold dominant values and ideas among other things. Trujillo is clear when he states that by the media presenting sports as “symbolic representations of a particular kind of social order,” they also “reproduce and reaffirm the features of hegemonic masculinity.” Within the article, the author focuses on the media’s presentation of Nolan Ryan related to the representation of hegemonic masculinity.  According to Trujillo’s research, the media “reaffirmed the power of the male body” through their coverage and representations of pitcher, Nolan Ryan. In his article, Trujillo quotes another athlete in baseball, Reggie Jackson—“He’s faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive.” This quote as well as the portrayal of Ryan’s athleticism was a focal point in the news media, which continued to perpetuate the idea of masculinity being associated with sports. Some articles focused on his pitching arm as a “weapon,” which represented the association of violence with masculinity. During Ryan’s later years, media continued to emphasize masculinity, such as The Dallas Morning News article, “Pitching with pain not new to Ryan.” This article focused on the idea that masculinity was associated with dealing with pain easily and overcoming it. Trujillo also pointed out the media representing Ryan as the capitalist worker, “a successful male worker in an industrial capitalist society.” The media also presented Ryan as family patriarch or breadwinner.  Lastly, Ryan was seen as “baseball cowboy,” symbolizing the “frontiersmen of American history” as well as a heterosexual human being. Some articles throughout his career touched on Ryan’s attractiveness, emphasizing the heterosexual male stereotypes of muscles, hardness, action, body pose, clothes, etc. 

Week 11: Randle & Nyland

Similar to last week’s readings, Randle and Nyland focused their attention on fantasy sports and user participation. Randle and Nyland paid particular attention to how fantasy sports players consume different forms of media, not just television. Their ultimate goal was to look at the relationship fantasy sports players had with sports mass media as a whole and how fantasy sports might be a factor in this relationship.

The article first establishes the demographic of fantasy sports. Although the article states that many people considers themselves to be sports fans, fantasy sports typically caters to an audience of males between the ages of 18-34 year olds. Like last week’s readings point out, the fantasy sports world is a huge market, bringing in well over $1 billion in advertising and subscription fees alone. This large market gave Randle and Nyland a reason to examine the relationship between fantasy sports and mass media consumption, as the demand for fantasy sports and news relating to fantasy sports is incredibly high in today’s market.

In their study, Randle and Nyland examine the relationship between fantasy sports and media consumption in a few different ways. They ultimately settle on five different relationships: (1) fantasy sports participation and watching highlights, (2) checking fantasy sports scores and watching highlights, (3) fantasy sports participation and sports media consumption other than the internet, (4) actual sports participation and fantasy sports participation, and (5) time on internet and fantasy sports participation.

In examining these relationships, Randle and Nyland were able to support most of their hypotheses. There was a correlation between all relationships except for one: sports participation and fantasy sports participation. Although all other hypotheses supported a relationship between fantasy sports and their respective variables, actual sports participation was shown to not be an indicator of participation in fantasy sports.

The implications of this study were an interesting conversation. The article stated that fantasy sports seemed to act as a “catalyst to increase interest in and likelihood of attending real life games, reading sports material, memorizing sports trivia and statistics, and being caught up (to the exclusion of other activities) in the world of sports.” While this may seem like an obvious conclusion, it goes to show just how impactful fantasy sports are – and can be – in today’s market. Not only do fantasy sports currently bring in a huge market, but they create a ripple effect on other aspects of sports, including creating unique content specific to fantasy sports, increased viewership on games, increased viewership on highlights, and many more opportunities in sports media.

Week 11 Articles Randle

"Fantasy Sports Leagues and Mass Media Use"
By: Quint Randle and Rob Nyland

There has been a huge increase in the number of fantasy sports participants and the ability to connect to the league wherever they go. According to studies it is attractive most to the audience eighteen-thirty-four year old men. Some fifteen to eighteen million Americans participate in fantasy sports bringing in an average $1.5 Billion in advertising and subscription fees. It has turned from a "Hobby to big business."
If media outlets can develop good relationships with fantasy sports fans they have the potential to gain a devoted segment of the media viewing market.
The purpose of the study was to find out if participation in fantasy sports is related to an increase in sports media, mainly T.V. but other mediums as well.
Literature Review: Participation and viewing varies between males and females. There are eight common motives for sports participation and viewing: Eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic, aesthetic, group affiliation and family. Males are more motivated by eustress and entertainment than females. Males make up largest demographic of sports viewing and participation. Not a big difference in percentage of males and females liking sports but the difference comes in how they demonstrate their interest. Men spend more time watching sports on T.V., have a greater knowledge of sports, different motivations for watching and significantly greater interest in sports than women. Females motivation is different. For women, being a sports fan means attending, watching and cheering at sporting events. For males, it means playing sports and acquiring sports information.
Background of Fantasy Sports Leagues: The first fantasy players had to crunch their own numbers and statistics and now the computer does all of that. Fantasy football is most popular with eighty-five percent of the participants. Users can win money but more dramatically owners can lure in advertisers changing up to seven-figures for advertising space on their sites.
Role Playing Theory: Useful in examining the relationship between fantasy sports league participants and consumption of sports news and information. Different meanings for the word but studies have looked at it as an essential part of creating an online experience. The online experience should take the user out of their everyday role, and involving them as if they were producing the media text. The greater the role-taking the greater involvement and positive experiences within those environment.
Five hypothesis were created all having to do with sports, fantasy sports and the consumption of sports media.
Methods: Two principle variables, (1) Independent variable which was the participation in fantasy sports leagues and (2) Dependent variable which was the amount of time spent viewing sports on T.V. The majority of respondents were males and over eighty percent were single, eighteen percent were married. Most were dedicated sports fans.
Findings: Out of the five hypothesis created, four of them were supported with the data and only one was not.
Discussion: Results indicate that participation of fantasy sports is related to media use across the board: watching sports news, listening to sports radio, reading sports articles and watching sporting events on T.V. and in person. Participants often visit their fantasy league site which means that playing host to fantasy sports leagues would be beneficial to an organizations website because it will bring an increase in traffic and loyalty to the brand. It would be another means to self promotion. There was no significance in actual participation in team sports and participation in fantasy sports. Any media-or content-based website can attract and build ongoing relationships with heavy media users by creating and hosting fantasy leagues.

Mark Valeriano

Randle Fantasy Drives

      Fantasy is a sport that accepts all genders.

      Until you play it and realize it’s strictly drafting male players.

       According to Randle, the entrance of fantasy changed the addiction of football.   First he considered the role of fantasy football.  Suddenly people craved watching every game and knowing every statistic.   He introduces the connection between fantasy and mass media.  Although he only spends a page on the topic, he provides the idea that fantasy has boosted the drive for mass media.                Suddenly we have created experts on fantasy and writers analyzing the best players to pick up. 

 Fantasy is a booming phenomenon which boosted the appeal for sports.  One such crazy change was the sudden advertising for fantasy sports.  Direct TV began playing commercials for fantasy football and then advertising where people should look for information.  This drives the economy because people are putting money in and are looking up professional information so they can win their league.  So how this craze of fantasy playing begin and why did it work out so well?

        To understand, he broke down these thoughts by looking at the main audience of fantasy.  It seems the relatively younger crowd seemed much more intrigued by the thought of running their own team.  In a surprising twist, he also shared the breakdown of gender in fantasy.  Before playing fantasy, he provided statistics of the overall interest in sports.  It seems that early teens are very into playing and watching sports.  The gendered interests were similar which was surprising.  Most girls genuinely wanted to participate in sports.  So how did we lose this audience in transition to fantasy?  Only 1/3 of “owners” are female today, thus losing the drive to watch and participate with fantasy sports.  Kinder states that although the numbers look promising as an equal audience, males drive more to learn numbers and compete; thus stating females are still the ultimate minority.  While Randle does not provide evidence as to why we lose the female audience, he does provide the different reasoning as to why the genders play.

        He determines there are a few reasons as to why people enjoy fantasy football.  He states that being a sports fan for males involved knowing the numbers and analyzing each game watched.  The definition of a sports fan for females is cheering and attending the games.  Girls may not want to play fantasy because it is more about knowing the numbers.

        To understand the new craze with fantasy, Randle made a couple of hypothesis as to the overall connection between watching sports and enjoying fantasy.  After comparing viewer numbers, the three out of five that were completely supported were: fantasy sports participation and watching sports, more participation came from hours engaged and the constant checking of scores meant more watch time.        These appear obvious because in order to have a successful team, one must understand the variables leading into the player.  

        One of the unsupported hypothesis was the connection of playing sports and playing fantasy.  This would show evidence that although many females play sports, it does not mean females desire to play fantasy. 

        The overall realization is there is an increased connection between playing fantasy and watching sports; however, we are still unsure what the true effect fantasy plays on all levels of sport appeals.