Sports at The University of Louisville

The History of Sports at The University of Louisville

In The Beginning…

1798 – Land is purchased for a future university.

1813 – Jefferson Seminary is opened, offering classes for college and high school students.

1829 – Closed.

1837 – Louisville Medical Institute established.

1846 – Louisville Medical Institute is combined with Louisville Collegiate Institute and a newly created law school.

In the Middle…

1837 - Medicine

1846 – Law

1887 - Dentistry

1907 – Liberal Arts

1909 – Baseball

1911 – Basketball

1912 - Football

1915 – Graduate Studies

1925 – Engineering

1932 – Music

1936 – Social Work

In The Middle, II

1953 – Business

1968 – Education

1968 – Public Health & Information Services

1969 – Justice Administration

1975 – Women’s Basketball

1976 – Field Hockey

1979 – Nursing

1979 – Men’s Soccer

1983 - Urban & Public Affairs

In The Middle, III

1985 – Women’s Soccer

2000 - Softball

Foundations

1872 – Gardiner Hall

1874 – The Playhouse

1893 – Brigman Hall

1898 Gottschalk Hall

1956 – Schneider Hall (Cornerstone)

1974 – Studio Theatre/HPES Building (formally Neill-LaVielle Steel Warehouse)

Foundations - Sports

1980 – Cardinal Arena

1994 – Bass-Rudd Tennis Center

1998 – Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium

2000 – Cardinal Park, Soccer and Track Stadium, Trager Stadium, Ulmer Stadium

2001 – The Cardinal Club

2006 – University of Louisville Lacrosse Stadium

2005 – Jim Patterson Stadium, Ralph R. Wright Natatorium

2007 – Tom Musselman Golf Center, Yum! Center

2008 – Trager Field Hockey Complex, Marshall Center

2010 – KFC Yum! Center

2011 – G. Garvin Brown Rowing Center

Traditions

The Cardinal: The State bird

Songs: Fight! U of L, All Hail U of L

Old to New

Basketball Statistics

Football Statistics

Basketball Statistics, II

Bibliography

Owen, Tom, Dwayne Cox, and William Morrison. "University of Louisville Buildings Once Housed Homeless Children." Louisville.edu. University of Louisville. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. .Adapted from Owen, Tom: "Buildings Once Housed Homeless Children," Inside U of L, September 10, 1984 and Cox, Dwayne and William Morison, The University of Louisville (Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky: c2000), pp. 65-66.

Bibliography, II

Cox, Dwayne, and William Morrison. "University of Louisville School & College Founding Dates." Louisville.edu. University of Louisville. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. .Dwayne D. Cox and William J. Morison, The University of Louisville (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000).

Bibliography, III

"Neill LaVielle: ABOUT US." Neill LaVielle: HOME. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. .

"Athletic Facilities." University of Louisville Official Athletic Site. University of Louisville. Web. 11 Oct. 2011. .

Bibliography, IV

"2008-09 University of Louisville Men's Basketball Media Guide." Web. 11 Oct. 2011. .

Farrey, Tom. "NCAA Might Face Damages in Hundreds of Millions - College Sports - ESPN." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. 21 Feb. 2006. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. .

Bibliography, V

Schwartz, Peter J. "College Basketball's Most Valuable Teams - Forbes.com." Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com. 16 Mar. 2010. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. .Images provided by Getty Images.

Learning to do a good "Charles"

On Friday, 10/15/11, I conducted my first outside interview for the ELP projects. I interviewed Charles who works for the theatre dept. but is also an avid fan and regular player of volleyball. Interviewing was easier than I expected. They do all the talking for you. The hardest part is not treating the interaction as a conversation. It seems a bit sneaky that my part of the conversation, reproducing his part of the interview, comes later when he can’t respond. 

As I go through and transcribe and make decisions about what piece I am using for my everyday live performance piece, I am really trying to pick something that is far away from me. It’s reminding me of the Anna Deveare Smith ‘The character is the space between you and the subject.’ I want to pick something that I can’t immediately see what the character is. I also want to pick something that is heavy in terms of content. What is the essential element of this interview? How did this interview change my relationship to the project? 

I am surprised by the similarity between myself and Charles. The classic stereotype places theatre kids and jocks as distinct cliques. However we both have a lot of overlap. I find myself trying to hold my face in a way that it looks more like his face. 

As I watch other people perform I see a lot of personal ticks. It seems like as an actor you can gain more by limiting your personal quirks than by some attempts at imitating the subject. The distraction makes the distance between you and the character larger I wonder if watching the performance would find a combination a more complex character (the combination of the imitation and the personal ticks)? 

Nerds are so cool now.

On Thursday, 10/13/11, we finished looking at everyone’s research projects, which made me more excited to work on the whole piece. It was nice to take the feelings and reasoning of why we like sports and examine them with the rigor that we do other academic subjects. As much as I feel that Sports Fans is a more trivial subject than some of our other options, it is still a major industry, a major part of the history of academic institutional development, and a major part of individual’s daily existence. 

I had ignored the individual’s daily existence as justification for Sports as an important social topic. I like sports a lot. I know a lot of other people get really into sports. It has been popular lately to base movies and plays on really niche, nerdy activities; Murderball for wheelchair rugby, Kings of Pastry for the MOF competition in France, Akeela and the Bee, even Bring it On. The enthusiasm for a small group activity is in vogue. However sports-as-a-whole seems like too big a category for this art-house look into a community that has developed. I think the paring down will come from the community we occupy. We are in a smallish city, with a small group, talking to a relatively small group of sports enthusiasts. I guess I am concerned with the results of the play. Can I be doing the best work while I am worrying about that?

Thursday was the first time I’ve seen us use our man-power as a group of 7 to really get a more in-depth look at what we are doing. Knowledge that may be considered common sense to some, is explained and we all get onto the same page. It’s amazing to me that we still haven’t written anything yet. We are building the foundation from which to start actually making. I am all for building strong foundations, but I love theatre for the actual making.

The Arch Nemesis Concept

Okay, say you’re at a sporting event. You’re probably going to be hearing two very different types of cheers: Supportive of your own team (“Yeah! Gooooo team! Woohoo!”) and destructive of the other (“Boo! You suck!”). Depending on how the game is going and who you’re playing, that cheering can go up and down in intensity. Now, do you think there’s a way we can make that intensity go all the way up? Make it exceed the maximum? Well, there is. All we have to do is introduce a rivalry.

Think to high school, or college. Did you have a rivalry with another school in sports? If you’re a student at UofL, I’m sure you’re imagining a beefy Cardinal bird in mortal combat with a Wildcat. When I researched some of the bigger sports rivalries, I split my information up into two sections.

1. How rivalries get started
How do they get started? Well, it turns out there are a few different ways, depending on the circumstances. Let’s start with the main cause: winning/losing records. Let’s take a look at the rivalry between the University of Alabama and Auburn, from the beginning:


+Their first game against each other in football was in Birmingham in the year
1894. It was considered a home game for Alabama, but Auburn won 32-22. That was it, there was no big controversy involving the nearly 2000 people attending.
+In their next game, Auburn beat Alabama again 40-16, with 5000 attending
+After the last big win, most of the fans supported Auburn at the third meeting as
the clear victors, but they ended up losing 18-0. That angered Auburn fans, and gave the Alabama fans something to gloat about.
+New Auburn coach fought back with a 48-0 win in his first year, making Alabama have a 0-4 season.
+Another new Auburn coach had first their undefeated season, 4-0. In all four games, only one team managed to score any points against Auburn, and that team was Alabama, when they lost 53-5. This was after 5 years without them facing one another, and that only angered Alabama fans all over again as suddenly the Auburn supports had bragging rights.
+Next year, Auburn managed to beat Alabama again despite not having won a single earlier game that season, which stung Alabama’s pride.
Alabama started to come back with two consecutive wins over Auburn and the year after, with both teams having only one loss in the season, they reached the first tie of the history of the rivalry in 1907.


After that, even with the huge rivalry between the two universities, there was a 41 year hiatus where Auburn did not play against Alabama for 41 years. That sounds like the setup for a movie, right? Right after two fiercely competitive teams reach their first tie in history, they suddenly stop playing each other… Well, the most interesting thing is that between being beaten on home turf and the shutout wins, a huge, seething rivalry had formed between Alabama and Auburn. It was so strong that it survived that 41 year hiatus and was still just as strong the next time they played each other in 1948.

There is another way for a rivalry to begin, though. My former high school chemistry teacher, Melissa Payne, who had both attending my school as a student and now teaches there, helped shed some light on the subject:

“When I went to J-town I our biggest rival was Fern Creek. Mostly due to proximity, but when I went to school it was based on where you lived so when we were in middle school at Carrithers, half of the 8th graders ended up at J-town and the other half at Fern Creek. So rivalries stemmed from an "in your face" attitude about the others who ended up at Fern Creek based on their residence. I think as the student assignment plan changed and students have choice as to where they can go to school that type of rivalry has gone by the wayside.

We now have rivalries more based on winning. J-town never really had very good sports teams when I went to school. We were OK but not great. Over the years, though, our boys basketball team's success has made them a target for much rivalry.

When I was teaching at Eastern and then at J-town, the rivalry mostly stemmed from us meeting each other so many times in the 90's and 00's in the district finals and regional finals in basketball. It seemed like every year it came down to one of us (or Ballard) would be making the trip to the 7th regional tournament and state tournament.”

This introduction leads me into my second point,

2. How rivalries affect fans

Payne continues to explain some of these affects with the J-Town/Eastern rivalry. She explains how, after one of their players transferred to J-Town, Eastern fans chanted and held up signs reading, “Recruit me, Morrow,” the name of the coach of the boys’ basketball team. But things got worse and the signs got “more hateful.” One of them attacked an overweight cheerleader, as they screamed “Free Shamoo” at her until she ran out of the gym in tears.

Unfortunately, even the faculty can be drawn into the rivalry. For example, when Payne went to Eastern’s Assistant Principal to demand he do something about the signs calling J-town girls dirty sluts, he had her banned from Eastern’s campus and threatened to have her arrested, in addition to ignoring the horrible things his students were doing. “I believe there have been some fights after games,” Payne continues, “But nothing too bad. There is always more security when we play each other, and the games have been moved to Bellarmine to accommodate more people trying to attend.”




Works Cited

Fravel, Jonathan. “Alabama and Auburn: Why the Rivalry Exists.” bleacher report. N.p., 08 Mar
2011. Web. 28 Sep 2011. .

Payne, Melissa. E-mail Interview. 29 Sep 2011.

Anna Deavere Smith.

"Do you want to be an artist so the whole world would look at you, or do you want to be an artist because you want to use your ability to attract attention, to have the world see itself through you differently?"

The way Anna Deavere Smith is able to capture people and mimic them is wild to me. She does it so well! I got to thinking what was going through her head, and how she could do what she does. It’s like she has to be able to put her heart into their bodies, feel what they feel, and let it out the way they would let it all out. It’s confusing, but at the same time, genius!

The video we watched on Anna Deavere Smith really intrigued me, so I decided to find out a little more about her. The fact that she received her MFA in Acting is so awesome to me. It seems like the most famous actors these days have never taken a college course. It seems like they have all become famous by knowing someone, getting lucky, whatever the reason, it’s awesome to know someone so successful went through school and became a very skilled actor that already had amazing talent.

I also found out she was in some of my favorite movies as well, and I never even noticed. Those being, Rent, and Rachel Getting Married. I guess I’m going to have to go back and watch them again and find her. So, not only was she a super successful Broadway actor, playwright, and author, but she got into Hollywood movies too. That’s inspirational.

And the final thing about Anna that really stands out to me is that she is a teacher! It shows that she really loves what she does, and wants to share her wealth in knowledge with everyone. She has taught drama, and even at the NYU School of Law, that’s just incredible.

Studying Anna and watching the scenes from her ELPs is definitely helping me with my own ELP, and without seeing what she can do, I have no idea where I would have even started! Anyways, I just thought she was an incredible actor, with an amazing eye, and amazing views. Now, after learning more about her, I also found that she is a beautiful being as well. Very, very interesting!

ELP

The purpose of the ELP exercises is to gain a deeper understanding of the subject’s movements. After attempting this a few times, I am gaining not only a better understanding of my subject, but also a deeper understanding in the art of idiosyncratic movement. This is a comment not on the movements of the subject, but on the inability of the studier to fully realize the subject. It is quite easy to mimic the vocal patterns, for one hears voices in almost every part of one’s life. However, an individual has certain ticks which accompany certain actions like recalling, articulating, extrapolating, and a whole host of other actions dealing with thought. For example, a common movement when recalling is to look either to the left, or the right. Sometimes one even looks up, down, or any other direction in the attempt to call the bit of information to the fore. The reason why this might be so difficult in noticing in the first or even second attempt is that one most likely does not even realize one’s own idiosyncratic ticks. While Some ticks are quite obvious, for example, when the person to whom one is speaking gestures their hands to add further articulation to the story. Other ticks are more elusive. I say elusive, not in the sense that the person is attempting to hide them, but in the sense that we do not recognize them as ticks. For example, the number of items on one’s hand, the deep breath of air before an explanation, or even a particular way in which one pronounces a word. I begin this study full in the knowledge that I will never be able to complete it. One cannot fully realize the subject, for one is not the subject. The pronunciations, idioms, axioms, physical ticks, verbal ticks, posture, and a plethora of emotions which through which one roves during any course of one’s day at which can only be hinted or inferred by the studier. There will always be a part of one which seeps into the portrayal of the subject, but maybe that in and of itself is not wholly bad for one’s view of another will always be biased: One sees through one’s own eyes only. One’s performance is a proclamation of one’s view of the subject, and therefore, will always be different from one studier, to the next. Personally, I’m enjoying working on this ELP exercise. I liken it to studying a script, yet instead on the written word, it is the living person.

Sports and Economics Outline:

 Goals of U of L’s Athletic Association:
1. To strive to maintain the highest level of ethics in the University’s athletic program to ensure the integrity of the program is not compromised.
2. To continue to support our Compliance Office and maintain our exemplary record in this area.
3. To continue to support our Academic Counseling office as we work toward constant improvement, excellence in the classroom.
4. To provide quality intercollegiate athletic programs for student-athletes, students, alumni, faculty-staff and the public.
5. To continue to support a comprehensive gender equity plan to assure the University’s ongoing compliance with Title IX. to meet annually with our Title IX consultant to assure compliance.
6. To continue marketing the Hickman Camp Fund as the Athletic Association’s source of endowment for funding future athletic scholarships.
7. To continue a funding model that allows all programs the opportunity to be successful in the Big East and NCAA.
8. To implement/monitor the agreement with the Louisville Arena Authority that allows University of Louisville to provide a new facility for its Men’s and Women’s basketball programs with priority dates and new revenue opportunities.
9. To finalize the marketing of the Arena and Stadium Expansion in preparing for openings in 2010.
10. To continue fundraising efforts for construction on: (a) the expansion of Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium and (b) a boathouse for the Rowing team on the riverfront.
11. To maintain a financial plan with balanced annual budgets, expenditures sufficient to support athletic programs at the national level, and to continue to pursue new sources of revenue.
12. To continue to grow the Merchandising and Licensing Program to become much more visible, both nationally and internationally.
13. To continue to work with the University’s Administration to assure the Athletic Department is an integral and vital part of the University. Staff will continue to participate on University-wide committees and participate in joint efforts when requested.

Internal Budgets

 
(See slide)

Top 20 Most Profitable Programs in NCAA:

(See slide)

NCAA
 Published Contracts -
  10.8 Billion for March Madness (CBS)
  500 Million yearly for Bowl Championship Series (Football, ESPN)

(See slide)

Expenditures:

(See slide)

NCAA Team Ranking in Value:
Notre Dame - $97 Million (independent of NCAA Conference)
University of Texas - $88 Million
University of Georgia - $84 Million
University of Michigan - $81 Million
University of Florida - $76 Million
NFL - Stats:
• Average NFL player salary: $1.9 million
• Median NFL player salary: $770,000
• Average NFL career length: 3.5 years
• Number of players on injured reserve in 2010: 352
• Average NFL player age: 27
Average Team Value - $898 million
Tom Brady - $18 Million

NBA - Stats
Average Player Salary - $5.854 Million
Average Head Coach Salary - $3.4 Million
Kobe Bryant - $25 Million
Average Career Length - 3.7 Years
Average Player Age - 24



Bibliography:
 http://video.pbs.org/video/1862042772

Dosh, Kristi. “Miss SportsBiz on Univ. of Louisville.” Feb 10, 2011 from http://businessofcollegesports.com/

http://www.aea.org/

http://www.sag.org/

Uncredited, “The Average NFL Player.” Retrieved Oct 4, 2011 from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_06/b4214058615722.htm

http://nbasalaries.org/

http://louisville.edu/finance/budget/opbuds/1011/1011opbud.pdf

http://louisville.edu/president/boards/athleticassocation/minutes/FBJun02.html

Crawford, Eric. “Report: U of L nation’s fastest growing athletic budget.” Aug 30, 2011 from http://blogs.courier-journal.com/ericcrawford/2011/08/30/report-u-of-l-nations-fastest-growing-athletic-budget/

Serendipity

The creation of a scene can originate from almost any genesis. Real life experiences, wonderful imaginations, or amalgams of other works have created some of the most exciting stories in the world. Recently, we had an assignment in which we were split into two groups and given parameters to construct a scene. Our group, Lauren, Jake, and myself, decided to split three of these necessities: One for each of us. Jake chose the written dialogue, Lauren chose the picture, and I chose the music. At this point in any creative process, Serendipity descends and takes control of the outcome. Our selected items however, turned out to not only compliment but also were able to work of off the other rather well. The picture detailed a man helping his lover escape from an asylum. The quote the Jake chose described a sentiment entailing that the bond of friendship goes beyond words. The song that I chose, “St. James Infirmary” by Louis Armstrong depicts a man whose lover has died. All three of these pieces of media include two people, more specifically, two lovers, or two people of a certain level of intimacy. Upon our revealing to the others our selected items, I found it rather odd that they fit so well with the others. How could it be that three seemingly random pieces were able to come together so neatly? I chose the song simply because I had been listening to a lot of blues over those few days, and “St. James Infirmary” is one of my favorite songs. Maybe it’s a comment upon that ability of actors to feed of each other, even before creation has begun. The development continued until we arrived at the conclusion that the scene should be done in a Film noir style. Before that, we decided that the topic of “Is capital punishment justice?” would encompass the three selected items quite nicely. We then went on to format the scene into three smaller vignettes, with the outcome changing for each one. The first outcome, Lauren, playing the one in trouble, dies, put to death by Jake and myself, those executing justice. The second outcome, I was killed, in a betrayal by Jake to save his lover, Lauren. The third outcome, the betrayal of #2 takes place, but Lauren ends up killing Jake too.

Sports and Social Class- Research Presentation

Outline

I. History of Sports associated with Social Classes

A. The beginning of organized sports began in the US in the 1840s. It began with an organization called the New York Knickerbockers which was a group of upper class professionals consisting of doctors, lawyers, and businessmen. It was a very exclusive group based on class. The first organized sport to develop out of this group was baseball. It wasn’t until winning took precedence over exclusive club membership, that the Knickerbockers began allowing members of different social classes to join the organization with free membership (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

B. Organized sports then continued their development in the university environment. Since only the privileged could afford to attend college in the 1840s-1850s, the development of organized sports remained in the hands of the upper class. Also, since mainly only white males were allowed attendance to universities at this time, different ethnicities and females were excluded from the development and engagement of organized sports (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

C. Most ethnicities were denied access to sports as well as working class white members of society. The wealthier members of society who organized sports met to discuss, play, and watch sports during weekday afternoons. Since working class members had to work at that time they were denied participation in sports. It wasn’t until the 1920s when the 8 hour workday was upheld, that working-class citizens largely became involved in sports (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

D. Basketball was developed as an American sport in 1892. It was dominated by white males and played at universities across the US. However, post-Civil War brought about the playing of basketball in the slums and ghettos of the US and became a vital form of expression for members of the inner-city.

II. Gender’s role in Sports and Social Classes

A. “In the mid-nineteenth century, sports outside the collegiate world for upper-class girls and women consisted primarily of proper activities, such as croquet, archery, and tennis. Women’s sports were acceptable to society only if they were considered social affairs, promoted health, were noncompetitive, and were not strenuous enough to require a special costume” (Beginning of Organized Sports in America). Women began to break free from these restrictions with the bicycle. The bicycle required women to break from their strict dress code of dresses or skirts and allowed women the freedom to travel alone without a male escort. The bicycle prompted women not needing an escort and prompted a more flexible dress code needed for other sports (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

B. Collegiate sports grew in the 1920s and 1930s for women. However, there still remained sports which society did not believe women should participate in. Track and field, basketball, and softball were seen as too masculine for females and only women belonging to the working-class participated in these sports. Therefore, these sports became associated with the working-class. And women belonging to the upper class were restricted to safer and more feminine sports such as golf and tennis. And golf and tennis were then associated with members of upper class society (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

III. Race’s role in Sports and Social Classes

A. African Americans were largely excluded form sports due to racism and discrimination.

B. Jim Crow laws restricted sports teams that consisted of white and black players, so African Americans began forming their own teams in the 1880s (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

C. It wasn’t until 1976 that professional sports teams began to integrate, starting with baseball (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

D. Basketball became an integral part of black culture and to members of the inner-city. Today, “sixty-one percent of NCAA Division I college basketball players are black. Eighty percent of NBA players are black. Basketball, especially in these areas, teaches social skills, rights of passage, creativity and cultural identity” (Basketball: The Black Game).

IV. Education and Sports

A. Football was the biggest collegiate sport during the rise of organized sports. Colleges opposed the development of professional football teams due to the threat it posed against college teams. Baseball and boxing were considered lower class sports since members of those sports were not required to attend college. However, before professional football leagues were created, if you wanted to play football, you had to attend college, and therefore the sports was considered higher on the social ladder than baseball and boxing. Colleges feared with the creation of the professional football league, less talented players would attend college, and the sport would gain a bad reputation (Beginning of Organized Sports in America).

V. An International Perspective of Sports and Social Class

A. Soccer began as a sport that was played for the elite at elite universities in England. It began to spread to lower class universities and then the church adopted it to help evangelize and build their congregation. Many of these teams that began in the church still exist today. Players and fans of football spanned across many social classes in the 20^th century (Keyes).

B. There was a rise in violence in the football stadiums in the late 20^th century and many associated hooliganism with working-class males (Keyes). Wikipedia states that “Hooliganism” refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. At the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, 400 people were injured and 96 died due to being crushed inside pens when violence and hooliganism broke out (Smith). The violence at the games gave football a bad reputation in England and many of the middle and upper class fans stopped attending games. Therefore, hooliganism had a large effect on football having the stigma of a lower class sport. The attendance of the upper class did not return until around 1992. Football in England is climbing back up the social ladder since the ticket prices are becoming much more expensive and only the working class and wealthy can afford the high ticket prices (Keyes).

C. Soccer in the US began as an immigrant sport. It was played in the slums of New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. Universities refused to add soccer to their curriculum due to its association to immigrants and the poor (Smith).

VI. The Continued Stigma of Sports and Social Classes

A. Golf still remains a sport for the upper class due to country club dues, expensive equipment, and the high rates to play on golf courses. Tennis also is still seen as a sport for the upper class due to its country club membership dues.

B. Soccer remains seen as a lower class sport with its limited equipment and space to play. Also, it is still seen as a sport that is widely played in slums.

C. Football, basketball, and baseball fall in the middle of the social ladder due to the organizers of these sports being members of the upper-class, the sports players themselves being paid the big bucks, and its fans ranging from the lower to upper classes.

D. Since the development of organized sports in the 1840s, sports have crossed both race and gender borders.

Works Cited

Basketball: The Black Game. The University of Virginia. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~class/am483_97/projects/walters/mjbball.html.

Beginning of Organized Sports in America. Texas State University. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

http://www.hhp.txstate.edu/hper/faculty/pankey/1310/ch17Bread.htm.

“Hooliganism.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 22 July 2004.

Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

Keyes, David. Shifts in the Class Identity of English Soccer. Culture of Soccer. 28 Oct. 2007. Web.

3 Oct. 2011. http://cultureofsoccer.com/2007/10/28/shifts-in-the-class-identity-of-english-soccer/.

Smith, Brandon J. History of Soccer/ Association Football. The People History. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/soccerhistory.html.

Mascots - Research Presentation

Mascot -n. A person, animal or thing considered to bring good luck.

Etymology - 1881 - from provincial French 'mascotte': "sorcerer's charm, 'faerie friend,' good luck piece," from Prov. 'mascoto': "sorcery, fetish."

History-
The use of mascots goes back to antiquity but they were not always called mascot. The word "mascot" itself suggests a connection with the occult. How the word entered the English language is a story in itself. At the turn of the century, a French composer, Edmond Audran (1842-1901) wrote a series of operettas. One of the most popular was called "La Mascotte" (1880), a light-hearted plot about a farm girl who brought good luck to whoever possessed her, provided that she remained wholesome. This ran for over 1,000 performances between 1800 and 1882. Its popularity was so great that it was translated into English and staged in England (Comedy Theatre, London, October 15, 1881), and staged in the United States (Gaiety Theatre, Boston, April 11, 1882). The translated title became "The Mascot" and the concept of a mascot as a person, animal, or thing bringing luck was thus established.

Man has always admired the wild beasts he used to hunt, the grace and power of the big cats, the speed and persistence of the wolf, the intelligence of the fox and the sheer power of the bear. All of these animals made fearsome opponents and early humans must have had a fair amount of guts to tackle them without today's weapons. It was this awe and respect that probably led to

the adoption of these animals as tribal symbols or totems and the belief that by communing with these animals, some of these powers will magically transfer to the their tribe. They used likenesses of these animals in their ceremonies, both in primitive costume form and as models and statues to bring good fortune in battle, a bountiful harvest, protection against misfortune, to heal the sick and to bring misfortune on their enemies. Some of their gods were, in fact, mascots. The earliest example of mascots in graphical and model form has to be the cave paintings in various parts of the world and the tribal statues and totem poles in existence even today

Performance -
Entrance - Set your mark. Whether it's a football game or a store opening, with a big entrance.
Exaggeration - You need to double or even triple the actions you would normal do so your costume doesn't hide what you're doing. Use your whole body.
Emotion - Think about how emotional sporting events can get. Shivering, slow motion, trudging feet, tantrums, kowtowing, jumping up and down, skipping, and elation are great actions to try. And remembering that the costume will hide a lot of your gestures, make sure you exaggerate.

Hall of Fame -
The mission of the Mascot Hall of Fame is to honor great mascot performers, performance, and programs that have inspired tradition and positively affected their communities. Each year, mascots and mascot performers will be elected to the Mascot Hall of Fame and inducted celebrating their achievement.

Characters are as much a part of the game as the players themselves. They are even by many standards the true face of the team. Players come and go but the mascot is there to stay. They entertain fans time after time developing deep rooted relationships with their community.

Pro Characters -
Professional characters are those characters that represent professional sports franchises and are the team's official mascot. This includes all sports at every professional level. Professional level is determined by the fact that the athletes that are participating in the sport are being paid a salary.

Collegiate Characters -
Collegiate Characters are those mascots that are the official costume character representing the college or university. This includes all institutions of higher learning above high school.

Controversy -

According to the National Coalition on Race and Sports Media, which is part of the American Indian Movement (AIM), there are more than 3,000 racists or offensive mascots/nicknames used in high school, college, or professional sports teams. They use Native American symbols such as braves, warriors, chiefs, or Indians. These nicknames and mascots are false portrayals that encourage biases and prejudices that have a negative effect on contemporary Indian people.

In the controversy, the nickname "redskins" is particularly offensive. Historically, the term was used to refer to the scalps of dead Native Americans that were exchanged for money as bounties. When it became too difficult to bring in the bodies of dead Indians to get the money (usually under one dollar per person), bounty hunters exchanged bloody scalps or "redskins" as evidence of the dead Indian.

Resources:

Emert, Phyllis R., and Barbara Sheehan. “Respect: A Newsletter About Law and Diversity.” The New Jersey State Bar Foundation. 2 (2 Nov. 2003): 1; 4-5. Digital.

"Mascot - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus –Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. .

"Mascothalloffame.com: History of Mascots." Mascothalloffame.com: Home. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. .

"Mascothalloffame.com: Our Mission." Mascothalloffame.com: Home. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. .

"Promascot.com: What's New?" Promascot.com: Home. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. .

Welcome to MascotNet! Web. 06 Oct. 2011. .

"What Is a Mascot? About Face Mascots Ltd." Home About Face Mascots Ltd. Web. 06 Oct. 2011. .

Split Down the Middle

Our class recently had a discussion about Anna Deavere Smith. I had never heard of her before we were assigned to read her introduction to Fires in the Mirror. After reading that, then seeing a video of an interview she gave on 60 Minutes, raised a lot of questions about racial communities in my mind. Though learning about Anna Deavere Smith did really focus my thoughts, it was a friend in one of my classes who really inspired most of my questions.

My main question is: Why have I never heard any biracial person describe themselves as “half-white?” I’ve only ever heard them say that they are “Half-something else.”

Case in point, my friend Sarah told me recently that she was half-Vietnamese, her father is white. I didn’t even think about it until she mentioned later that she’d traveled to Vietnam with her mother. That got me thinking… In Vietnam, when meeting new people, did she describe herself as half-white? Or did she say something like, “I’m only half-Vietnamese?” Here in America, which is supposed to be one of the most racially and culturally diverse nations on the planet, why in “white” automatically the default? Why does our terminology make it sound like any other ethnicity added to “white” depreciates it? Why does “white” take precedence?

Is it different in other countries, I wonder, or in other languages? If Sarah’s white father had lived in Vietnam with her mother, would she grow up considering herself half-white? It sounds logical… Surely in China or India, “white” isn’t considered the default or natural skin color. What about in other countries where a majority of the population is white, life France or Sweden? Is America the only country that still seems to place “white” above all other races?

And, in America, why does the “half-white” community seem so much larger than anything else, such as the “half-Vietnamese” category? At least, it does to me, if we place more emphasis on being half-white, is just feels like there would be more people than if we selected another half-ethnicity.

But why do I feel that way? Is it American culture? The fact that I’m white? I want to understand!!

It’s something interesting to think about, right? It also moves my train of thought onto other “half” communities. Well, “mixtures of communities” would be more accurate.

Like, for the purposes of this class, a mixture of sports communities and theatre communities. I wonder how many crazy obsessed sports fans are also adamant theatre-goers. Or what about athletes? How large is the “theatre jock” community?

What about other unlikely mixtures?

For example, I’m not a huge sports fan, but until I came to college, my philosophy had always been: “I live in Louisville and I live in Kentucky. So, whether UofL or UK wins, I can celebrate either way.” That’s kind of a lackadaisical point of view though… What if there are people who are huge fans of both the Cards and the Cats? What do they do during the UofL/UK game?

What about conservatives with many liberal values? Liberals with some conservative values? Are there men who enjoy wearing both boxers and briefs? Who knows?

What about you? Can you think of any communities you are a part of that are a little contradictory? Are you a mixture?