Is any of this for real, or just a fantasy?

                Fantasy football is the reason I am so into football today, and know more about it than I do any other sport.  I played just about every other sport in schools besides football, but thanks to fantasy football I follow it the most.  Now I want to pursue a career in sports analyzing and get my own show on NFL Network or ESPN to state my opinions on all the current things going on in the NFL.  I bring up my history with fantasy football because the motives mentioned to participate in fantasy sports in chapter fourteen of Sports and Communication are the exact motived that got me started and drove me to the part of my life I’m at today.  The first concept is camaraderie, which is joining into something because people at some sort of social place (work, school, etc.) are partaking in the fantasy sports and the participant wants to be part of the group.  My soccer team all got together to play fantasy football, and invited me.  I agreed to it, although I had no idea of anything about football then.  Fantasy football is also the reason I’m a huge fan of Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson.  We still get together to play fantasy football every year.  The next motive is called enhanced enjoyment.  I felt a connection to my team and it motivated me to watch football every Sunday.  Enhanced enjoyment is giving meaning to watching the particular sport your fantasy player is in.  It gives you more to root for than just your favorite team.  The third motive describes me perfectly.  It is called autonomy.  This is the fantasy player’s false sense that he could run his/her favorite team better than the current coach or management.  However, I am 99.9% sure that nobody is going to tell me I couldn’t run the Lions better than Jim Schwarts.  The last motive is called addiction. This is pretty self-explanatory, but it means the person feels a need to play his/her fantasy sports every year.  I personally partake in more than one fantasy football league every year, because I feel the season would not be as entertaining without doing it, and I like winning every week.

                Fantasy sports have not only affected me and the fans, but it also affected the sports/media complex in a major way.  It’s rare to be able to watch a full sport without the stats coming across the screen with not only the players’ main stats, but how many points they scored in a default league game in their fantasy sport.  ESPN has a show every Sunday before the regular season that starts two hours before the first kickoff, then reports injuries, favorable matchups, and who’s on hot and cold streaks to help fantasy sport players set their final lineup before the games start.  There is a lot of Synergy between sports and fantasy sports to put it simply.  Some analysts would say that fantasy sports just exist as a form of accumulation, however.   It would appear as there are many more jobs collecting money because of fantasy sports, but fantasy sports just seem to be a form of a spectacle if I can put in my own opinion.  It almost seems as if, as explained in chapter 14, that it is more of a ritual for fans to set up a fantasy sports team then watch shows that would help them with their lineups because it has become more of a norm. 

                I feel as time goes on fantasy sports will become more and more popular and almost every sports fan will be participating in them.  They appear to becoming more and more of the norm.  Fantasy sports don’t only make their own special shows more popular, but I believe they bring more popularity to things such as NFL Redzone, because fans can instantly know when their players score.  I mostly follow football which is why I focus on it the most, but I’m sure the same goes for every other sport, as well.

The Pledge

 

            Performance enhancing drugs, drunk driving, sexual harassment, murder, and dog fighting, all are things that the person I am about to discuss the apology of did not do.  All Tim Tebow did was simply be part of a team that was upset by Ole Miss in a college football game.  Yet, this has led to one of the most heartfelt apology that may have been publically announced by any athlete in history.  All Tebow wanted to was have an undefeated season, because the Florida Gators have never done this before in history.  Tebow’s apology speech is known as one of the top ten apologies by any athlete, and it happened during a press conference after the loss.

            Tebow has used two main strategies in this apology, and he didn’t even really think them through.  His apology was a spur of the moment apology that was announce through emotion.  The first strategy that I believe he used was mortification.  He was embarrassed that the Florida Gators couldn’t beat Ole Miss.  He said at one point he didn’t have complete faith in his teammates or himself to get the job done, and that he was embarrassed by it.  His voice was weak during this part of the speech and his eyes were bloodshot, as if trying to hold back tears.  It was obvious that he clearly did feel sorry about this loss.  He felt that he let the Florida Gator fan base down, which leads to the next strategy in the apology.

            The next strategy that was used by Tebow was the corrective action strategy.  Tebow said he could promise a lot of good would come out of that loss.  ”I promise you one thing, a lot of good will come out of this.”  He was promising to make things right.  He promised that the fans would never see anyone work harder than he would ever again.  He would push the team harder than anyone else will push their teams in the future.  Tebow kept this promise, as he finished the rest of the season without a loss and wins a national championship.  Tebow finishes his college career with a record of 23-1.

            What I am trying to show is that the issue doesn’t always have to be serious for an athlete to come out and apologize for.  Tebow’s apology became one of the most famous and has been written on a plague at Florida University and is now known as “The Pledge.”  It has been hung as inspiration to every future athlete at Florida University to be the best they can be, and to always have faith.   

I wouldn't want hit by these ladies... Or would I?

I will be writing about a league of females who are trying to take the next step of being serious competitors, while at the same time being sexy athletes.  The league is known as the Legends Football League (LFL), formerly known as the Lingerie Football league.  For those of you who want to know the full history of the LFL, here is the Wikipedia link to how it was formed and how it is played.  I feel like it could be considered a serious sport if taken off MTV, and (even though it’s a real bummer) make the ladies compete in more than just their lingerie like they intend on doing. 

            The ladies compete in multiple football pads, along with a hockey like helmet with a clear visor to protect their face, then their bra and panties.  Now, upon watching highlights of this league I can say that these ladies do not take it easy on each other.  When I read “Lingerie Football” I instantly thought this was a pillow fight between a bunch of really hot girls (which is not the reason why I chose this topic).  These girls might actually hit harder than NFL players. I was shocked when I clicked on the highlights video and saw the girls actually tackling each other and playing real football.  The way I felt about the highlights says something, me being “shocked.”  Whenever people hear about “lingerie football” they aren’t going to take it serious.  It isn’t going to be looked at as a competitive sport.  It’s questionable as to whether viewers are diehard football fans are lonely men who just want to see a bunch of girls tackle each other in their underwear hoping for a wardrobe malfunction. 

            I think by changing to the Legends Football League and making the players actually wear uniforms will make the audience realize that this is a serious competitive sport.  The thing is that it plays on Sundays at the same time the NFL plays.  Now the lonely men won’t be as interested and the real football fans might just watch NFL because they don’t get that lingerie bonus.  I personally hope the league continues to work and encourages more girls to get into football and possibly play.  Maybe one day it’ll make it to a TV channel that isn’t MTV.

 

 

RGIII "The Future is Unlimited"

RGIII: “The future is Unlimited”

            Robert Griffin III (RGIII) is the quarterback of the Washington Redskins.  He could be the most athletically gifted quarterback that the NFL has seen up to date, but what is really impressive about this kid is his work ethic.  RGIII has been playing multiple sports by the age of 7, including football.  His father, Robert Griffin II, had preached to him to do well in school as well as all sports. 

            RGIII was born on a military base in Japan, as he comes from a military family.  He left from Japan around the age of three, and at age seven him and his family settled in Texas.  That was where he started playing and focusing mostly on football.  Griffin III also did track and field as a sport on the side, but his main love was football.  In 2003, when the US invaded Iraq, his father was sent to the Middle-East.  RGIII was told about this on his thirteenth birthday at four in the morning.  His father told him he had to be the man of the house.  This had a huge effect on him as he tried harder at both sports and school.  His father came back six months later, fortunately.  The hard work in high school paid off for RGIII, as he not only finished seventh overall in GPA for his grade, but he also had multiple scholarship offers in colleges, including Stanford. 

            RGIII obviously didn’t go to Stafford as he had a highly respectable career at Baylor. When asked about why he didn’t choose Stanford he replied, “Talent respects Talent.” He knew Andrew Luck was already a commit there and felt that it wouldn’t have benefited either of them to battle out for the starter position.  His decision ended up being a great one as he started his freshmen year at Baylor.  Sophomore year he had a setback though.  He completely tore his ACL and was not able to play all year.  His rehab was intense, even before he could walk.  His father would take him onto the field and have him sit down to throw to him.  Hard work and dedication got him back out on the field to be the duel threat quarterback that he is.  All the Hard work paid off too as RGIII won the Heisman trophy after his senior year.  After winning, RGIII did not party; he went to the gym with his fiancé, as he continued his hard work and dedication all the way up to the draft. 

            All the way up to the draft it was well known that the Redskins had made a huge trade in order to acquire RGIII.  On the way up to the draft, scouts had plenty of negative things to say about RGIII.  He kept a clear head and let the people around him fix that for him.  When the draft came, he was drafted second overall to the Redskins. 

            I feel that RGIII is a great Mythical fit to the American Dream.   He may have been born in Japan, but he came to America with the will to play football.  He could have gone to the Olympics for the hurdles but decided to go to college for football.  His mind and heart were set, and his hard work and dedication got him there.  RGIII has a Superbowl in his future in my opinion.  Hope he has a speedy recovery from him second ACL tear. 

When dem Saints come Marching in

                The Saints were party of a scandal known as Bountygate in the NFL a couple years after they won their first Superbowl.  Saints fans have been crazy in the Superdome, especially after the town was wrecked by the hurricane. They are super loyal to their team, and it shows especially after what they have gone through the past couple of years.  Saints coach, Sean Payton, was suspended from his team, as well as the team losing two second round draft picks after being discovered that they were placing bounties on players in the NFL.  Defensive Coordinator was offering extra bonuses if the defensive players could injure certain players on the offense.  “Victims” of the bounties include players such as Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, and even Cam Newton. 

            Most fans were in disbelief that their team would ever do such a thing.  Even if the defensive coordinator was placing bounties, why should Sean Payton be punished?  Joe Vitt, the assistant coach, was to be suspended six games, Sean Payton was to be suspended for two seasons, and Linebacker Jonathon Vilma was to be suspended for a whole season.  Vilma, however, appealed the suspension in court and won his suspension.  The fans were ecstatic to have their best defensive player on the field but still very upset about the unfair suspensions and draft picks being taken away.

The Superbowl is to be played in the Superdome this year, and New Orleans fans blame NFL commissioner, Rodger Goodell, for the Saints having an “off season.”  These fans are not happy about the fact that he will probably be coming to town February third, and some fans are taking extreme actions against him.  Even though he is letting Payton come back a year early, he still won’t have them get their second round draft pick back, and the fans are quite unforgiving.  Some of these fans own bars, and the bars they own absolutely refuse to serve Goodell if he decides to “stumble into one of these bars.”  According to ProFootballTalk, these bars have a picture in the back in the kitchen with pictures of Goodell, captioned “Do not serve this man!” 

I suppose to sum up what I am saying; Fans are loyal to one team, and not the whole sport, or the commissioner of the sport.  If someone messes with a team, they’re messing with the team’s fans, and they will not forgive you for it.