Kobe: An Apologia To Remember

What happened on the night of July 1, 2003 at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera hotel in Eagle, Colorado changed the life and spot light that NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was seen under. Bryant had been accused by a 19- year old woman that he had raped her in his hotel room the night before he was due for surgery. The woman, Katelyn Faber was the accuser whom was a employee of the hotel. Bryant immediately notified the media that it was consensual as she continually claimed her opinion that she had been raped. Eventually these charges were dropped after Faber was unwilling to testify on her behalf. In order for her to drop the charges, however, her side arranged Bryant to issue and apology. Throughout Bryant's apology he used two strategies that are popular among those used during an apologia in a time of crisis. These strategies were used to help protect his image and his future. He used the strategies of Denial and Bolstering. With both of these strategies and his long loathing apology, it may very well seem that Bryant had saved his image.

Throughout Bryant's apology, he is seen to deny the fact or give any hint that he may have been guilty of rape. When an athlete uses denial they use it as a chance to change the act or connotation of the act they had committed to be questioned. He continuously apologizes to the people who were affected by this incident and showed that he was only guilty of breaking the fidelity of his marriage. The guiltiness he displays in his apology towards his marriage being ruined creates a sense of denial to the situation that he had not raped Faber. He also states that his encounter with Faber, was completely consensual but states his apology for the misconstrued opinion that she had.

The strategy of bolstering which describes an attempt by Bryant to shine light on the situation by presenting something positive. During his apology, Bryant's wife sat beside him as he made his public apologia. This gave the image that his wife was standing strong beside him even though he had broken the conduct and fidelity of marriage. This was also still seen throughout the rest of the conflict. His wife remained beside him and this only created a positive impact to the situation for outsiders looking in because he was able to keep his marriage in tact and take away negativity from the situation. Bryant used bolstering to his advantage even though it was not a main stage to his apology.

Even though Bryant was not charged, he was still consistently watched by the media following the incident with Faber. Unlike sports like football where so many athletes put a black eye on the sport or their team for their offences, it may be seen that Bryant had done a good job keeping distance between his personal situation and the Lakers and most importantly the NBA. If Kobe Bryant is looked at today his past does not haunt him, and few comments are made towards the situation that took place on July 1, 2003. He still is considered to be a legend in the NBA and as it has been seen, his apologia following the incident had worked. Bryant was able to fix his image through denial and bolstering which led to him regaining his endorsement deals and signing a large 7- year $136 million contract with the Lakers  a year after the incident. This will always be one of the biggest apologias to remember in the world of sports, not because he is a mainstream athlete, but based on the strategies he used to gain his personal image back with minor harm to his image compared to many other major mainstream athletes.

Breaking the Gender Barrier: Hayley Wickenheiser

Hayley Wickenhieser has been the face and name highly spoken of when women's hockey is talked about around the world. A member and long time captain of Canada's national women's hockey team, Wickenheiser has always been a strong advocate for the sport and a women whom is not afraid to break the gender barrier of women playing with men. In a culture that is dominated by mens pro sports, she attempted to break the barrier by playing professional mens hockey after spending over a decade on the Canadian women's national team. Her ability to dominate the women's game after winning consistent olympic gold medals gave her the opportunity to go to Finland and play in the country's professional men's league. This created a massive uproar of media attention, speculating her to be more masculine and question her sexuality. Critics whom live in our culture of sport and media target elite women athletes like herself due to their innate abilities of succeeding beyond expectations of average women athletes. 

Even though it has been undoubtedly known that she is a very gifted athlete that always is looking to challenge herself, she has been perceived as a very masculine and many have challenged her as being a lesbian. The culture we live in has given her the title as "butch", in which many outstanding female athletes are given throughout the world of athletics and sport. The challenge of gender norms my be true in these instances, but for Wickenheiser this has been seen untrue. She is married and has a 12 year old son. Therefore, she breaks these gender norms and stereotypes as being a heterosexual mother. This is very typical in a sport like women's hockey to target and label these women as masculine or lesbian due to the nature of hockey being a very masculine sport. But for Wickenheiser, she has turned her image into a feminine view to avoid and remove the typical gender norms we see. She has been seen numerous times on covers of women's magazines and speaks at women's conference as an advocate for women's athletics and sport. 

It has been seen that gender and gender performance in sports is fluid, dynamic, and constantly changing. Wickenheiser is a prime example of proof that gender performance is constantly changing with advancements in women's abilities and skills to raise themselves to a level that some men may never reach. Even though this is very rare, women like Wickenheiser try to improve others and pass on their knowledge in hopes of developing the game for women. But still, sexuality is still seen at stand still, in hopes of changing stereotypes in women sport. Even though many elite female athletes make their mark known of their straight sexuality in masculine dominated sports. Women like Wickenheiser are proof of female athletes who use their voices and elite status to make others aware of the gender differences of male and female sport. 

Sports Comm Blog #2

Sports themselves have been known to tell the tails of many sports heroes, and the myths and rituals that are performed by these individuals. These individuals may be some of the quirkiest, yet most talented and gifted athletes in their sport. In the game of hockey, superstitions, and rituals have been a major part of the game. Many have found that these rituals be outrageous and out of control. It has been said hockey can fit the ranks for superstitions among the levels of baseball. To prove the fact, it has gone without notice that during an NHL postseason, players grow their beards out believing that it will give them good luck. This may be may be followed in other sports as well, but no other sport quite follows the rituals of the "playoff beard" like NHL players do.

The "playoff beard" in hockey is a sacred ritual that has been created through years and years of myths being told by players, that if they do not shave it will boost the chance of reaching the Holy Grail itself, the Stanley Cup. Many of these rituals tend to come out in the post season, and are noticed when something drastic is done to change or turn away from conforming to "sport ritual" as a whole. That is, whenever you win any type of trophy, you touch it and hold it above your head and celebrate. But that is not the case in the NHL. As Jim Roope says, "...winners of the Eastern and Western conferences do not touch the conference trophy for fear of jinxing the championship." This superstition itself breaks the standards of conforming to normal myths and ritual in sport, but creates hockey's own unique path of creating their own myths inside of the sport. It is now very rare to see a team touch the conference trophy after winning it due to the fact it upsets fans and entices the media to comment whenever it is. This superstition has created a mindset for not only players that they will be jinxed if they touch it, but the teams fans and media have also been placed into this mindset as well.

The unique conformity that has been created by players, fans, and media to not touch these conference trophies in hope of the Stanley Cup falling into their hands the next round, has given this ritual a sense of normality to the hockey world. Fans create uproars and lose faith when the conference trophy is touched. But maybe this myth of waiting to raise the Stanley Cup is true? Well as history has shown since the ritual has started, a team that has touched their respective conferences trophy, has never won the Stanley Cup in the following round of the post season. This only feeds the fuel to the fire, and helps builds up the mythological narrative to its strongest level to help guide them through the present and future of the sport. 

Sports Comm Blog #1

In the world of professional sports, there are only a select few franchises with rich histories and die hard fan bases. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been one of the most storied franchises in the NHL with the strongest fan base in the game. Through the years of success, it has found a faithful fan base that is comparable to teams that constantly make the playoffs in other pro sports like the: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the LA Lakers. The spin off is that the Maple Leafs may have won many Stanley Cups, but in recent years they have yet to make the playoffs in 7 years and still have the faithful that sells out and supports the blue and white night after night. In many sport markets, many fan faithful would have lost respect and found a new team to follow and cheer for that may be successful during the present time.

In Canada, "Leafs Nation", is notorious throughout the country. In the article "Inside the Mind of a Leafs Fan", by Bob Duff shows the emotional investment and monetary investment that any die hard Leaf fan makes. Duff talks about a sports journalist from Ontario named Peter Robinson: "A veteran junior hockey journalist from Barrie, Robinson has been unable to shake his inner passion for the Maple Leafs, a love affair he estimates has cost him more than $12,000 in tickets and other game-related expenses during the club’s current seven-season non-playoff skid, the NHL’s longest active run of post-season absences". The investments that he has made towards supporting the Maple Leafs have proven the continuous love and commitment any die hard fan would make towards their sports team.

Growing up in a strict Canadian hockey culture and a fan of the Calgary Flames, I have seen the market and fan base in Calgary drop during years of consistent misses of the post-season. This has been proven in many other Canadian cities unlike Toronto. It is almost mesmerizing how in a city that demands winning, the fans are able to dish money into the Leafs and sell out the Air Canada Centre every night after consecutive years of missing the post- season. The Maple Leafs continue to lead the NHL in the highest grossing income in tickets sales and apparel sales. This can only be attributed to the fans of Toronto, and their willingness to constantly dish out cash from their pockets in hope of one day seeing their team win. As a whole, there are very few storied franchises that are able to keep a fan base so committed. This is possible due to the pride and belief that these fans are part of a special group of dedicated fans with high expectations that stick through thick and thin. Emotionally man of these fans have seen many great players come and leave Toronto under questionable management, but still stand by decisions that are made by the front office. There is a feeling within these fans that their are addicted to their team and it keeps bringing them back for more every season. In a hockey market that is constantly scrutinized by the media, the fans immediately expect the most out of and treat their players like royalty despite the fact of loss for so many years.