VOLUME 1
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ISSUE 5
Staff Autumn A. Arnett Founding Editor Ahmad Barber Creative Director R. Preston Clark Assistant Editor
IN THIS ISSUE: DEPARTMENTS: EDITOR’S NOTE SAY, WHAT?
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Fit Goal 5 DAYS A WEEK IN THE GYM...
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First And Tech A BIONIC ARM?
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Stat Sheet Cover Story SMART AND STRONG Features The Payout In THEIR OWN WORDS UP FROM THE MAT Last Word
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Rabb Muhammad Copy Editor Steven Gaither Social Media Manager Columnist Reggie Deselles First and Tech
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A.J. Dempsey Fit Goal
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Contributors:
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Robert A. Bennett III R. Preston Clark Darren Wesley Martin Tony Starks
Dear Reader, When rumors started circulating that Shaka Smart would succeed Rick Barnes as head coach of the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team, I became semi-obsessed with the idea that Texas would have a Black man coaching both of its revenue sports, football and men’s basketball. Full disclosure, I am a Longhorns basketball and football fan. But this had nothing to do with fanship. Texas is an interesting place and its flagship university, located in its capital city, has a complicated legacy on race. I’ve spent a lot of time in Texas, and at UT, lately trying to unpack some of this history. In this month’s cover feature, I peel back some of the layers of this history to tell the story through a sports lens. We go from Texas to Iowa State take a look at the triumphant journey of the recently-crowned NCAA wrestling champion. And in the return of the “Fit Goal” column this month, our in-house personal trainer and fitness coach examines how one could spend five days a week in the gym and still be of poor health. In keeping with the tradition of incorporating reader feedback, we took to the internet with #WhatIfMJHadTwitter to create a hypothetical Twitter stream for Michael Jordan in his prime. Even in retirement, the GOAT has chosen to steer clear of social media—except for a day at helm of the Charlotte Bobcats’ Twitter account. But the activity helped to illustrate R. Preston Clark’s feature on how social media creates access to players for fans and gives athletes a chance to paint their own public images—for better or worse. (Bonus: Anyone who emails me and correctly identifies the moment that prompted each tweet will receive an Out of Bounds t-shirt.)The OOB team is working hard to make sure each issue is better than the one that preceded it. As always, I welcome your ideas, questions, comments and general feedback via email (autumn@outofboundsmag.com) or Twitter @ A2Arnett. Thanks for reading,
Autumn A. Arnett Founding Editor
L:@outofboundsmag C: facebook.com/oobmagazine
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“Dear Rick Barnes, I never thought this day would come. I dreamed of a fairy tale ending. You put Texas Basketball on the Map. Love you.” “Well.. I’m glad that wasn’t a dream.” Jordan Spieth on Twitter April 13, the day after his historic Master’s win
“My colleagues & I bring in hundreds of millions in research $$ and earn 1/30th of what [University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach] Bo Ryan does. That’s real.” University of Wisconsin Professor Sara Goldrick-Rab on Twitter
“In some respects, it seems like there’s something unAmerican about the whole idea of all this money being generated and all the players and talent that’s on the floor not having a part of that [money],” Grant Hill
“Exploitation is completely American.” St. Louis University Law Professor Aaron Taylor via Twitter, in response to Hill’s comments
Former University of Texas point guard T.J. Ford after Barnes was fired as coach of the Longhorns
“When you see these stadiums sold out and 80-100,000 people, that’s because football, basketball, whatever that sport is, that is the sole focus of everybody in the school at that point and time...In Alabama, that’s the focus of the whole state.”
“In some respects, it seems like there’s something un-American about the whole idea of all this money being generated and all the players and talent that’s on the floor not having a part of that [money]” “Sh—. It doesn’t mean nothing. Good job. Hooray. I’m at home. Watching other teams play. Doesn’t mean nothing.” Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook on the significance of his winning the scoring title for the 20142015 season.
“The idea in a series is to race to 4 and not play to 7. Our preparation has to be clearest.”
Former University of Alabama and Winston Salem State University quarterback Phillip Sims
Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Mike Babcock on his mindset going into the playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“Yasiel Puig picked up the ball, hurled it across the diamond to third and simultaneously rendered Kennedy Space Center obsolete. Apparently, instead of all the engineering and literal rocket science that goes into NASA’s current space exploration operations, it can just have Puig throw its spacecraft into orbit.”
“I look for a quarterback who can run and not a running back who can throw. I want a quarterback who can beat you with his arm … We are not a Tim Tebow type of quarterback team. I am not going to run my quarterback 20 times on power runs.”
“The Bucks biggest problem is scoring points. That’s everybody’s problem when you play the Bulls. The Bulls are so much better offensively this year, but they’re still very good defensively, and as good as the Bucks are defensively, they’re not going to win scoring 86 or 87 points a game.” Hall of Fame Coach P.J. Carlesimo on the Milwaukee Bucks’ chances against the Chicago Bulls in round 1 of the NBA playoffs
Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly in a Grantland interview in 2011. This month, Kelly added Tebow to the Eagles’ quarterback roster.
from MLB.com’s “Cut 4” column 03/29
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A.J. DEMPSEY
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s a personal trainer, it is my job to help people every day on their health and wellness journeys. That process looks very different for each individual person. Some clients just need someone to show them how to navigate a gym floor because they have never stepped foot in one. Others know their way around a gym, but lack the motivation to get there or follow through with their workouts. Some clients literally just do not feel like going on their journey alone. With all of the different reasons people have for beginning a healthier lifestyle, I have found that one barrier that is almost universal is a lack of understanding of proper nutrition. Many people make the commitment to show up in the gym five days a week, and they will even begin to live a more active lifestyle in general, but they still will not see the changes they set out to see in their bodies. Few things are more difficult than trying to get rid of that last layer of fat that covers the abs, and more than a few people give up before ever truly seeing their full potential reached. They fail to realize that while working out is both healthy and necessary in one’s journey to better health, what you
MAKING SIMPLE SUBSTITUTIONS CAN GO A LONG WAY TO CURB NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES eat is in my opinion far more important. No matter how much a person works out, one cannot out train a poor diet. Even if a man has the body of an Adonis, chiseled everywhere, underlying serious health issues can arise as a result of a poor diet. Earlier this month, Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson announced that he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This announcement was a surprise to many, and led to questions like, “How could an elite NFL athlete at 6’1, 219 lbs. with little-to-no body fat on him be diabetic?” To answer that question, we must understand more about diabetes mellitus. Diabetes is considered a disorder of the metabolism. Our body’s metabolism is responsible for breaking down food to compounds used for energy and growth throughout the human body. Most of the food we eat is converted into glucose that our body uses as its primary energy source. In order for our bodies to use glucose, we have to produce the hormone insulin, which is used to carry glucose into the cells that need energy. Insulin is produced in the body shortly after we eat by the pancreas so the glucose we produce can be carried to the cells. When this
occurs, blood glucose levels return to normal. While it is true that elite athletes typically metabolize food more efficiently than the average person due to increased physical output, when they eat too much of the wrong foods, even an elite athlete’s body can break down. How could Patrick Peterson have developed diabetes? It may be as simple as Peterson ate too many sugary and processed foods repeatedly spiking his blood sugar levels to the point his pancreas could no longer produce enough of the insulin necessary to use glucose in the blood. In his initial statement announcing his recent diagnosis, Peterson stated that one of the things he has done to control his diabetes and reverse the symptoms of the condition was to follow a meal plan given to him by his physicians. So what do you and Patrick Peterson have in common? You both need to eat a healthy diet if you want to be the healthiest versions of yourselves. Whether your goal is to have six pack abs, play longer with your kids, or cover NFL wide receivers like Pat Peterson, what you eat matters. Eat what is right for your body, and watch your quality of life skyrocket.
INSTEAD OF
White Flour
TRY THIS
100% Wheat Flour, Coconut Flour or Almond Flour.
INSTEAD OF
Sugar
TRY THIS
Sucanat or Coconut Sugar
INSTEAD OF
Corn Syrup
TRY THIS
Raw Honey, Raw Maple Syrup
INSTEAD OF
Canola/Vegetable Oil
TRY THIS
Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Avacado Oil or Palm Oil
INSTEAD OF
Ground Turkey/Chicken
TRY THIS
Ground Beef
INSTEAD OF
Traditional Pasta
TRY THIS
100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat Pasta, Spaghetti Squash
INSTEAD OF
White rice
TRY THIS
Brown Rice or Long Grain Wild Rice
INSTEAD OF
Potatoes
TRY THIS
Sweet Potatoes, Mashed Cauliflower (mashed potatoes)
INSTEAD OF
Milk
TRY THIS
Almond or Coconut Milk
INSTEAD OF
Mayonnaise/Sour Cream
TRY THIS
Greek Yogurt
INSTEAD OF
Salad Dressing
TRY THIS
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Vinegar, Citrus Juice, Mustard, Herbs
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REGGIE DESELLES
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B
aseball season is back. Spring is in full bloom and fans are ready to get back into the pitch and swing of things. During the offseason, major league baseball officials took a strong interest in biomechanical technology testing of their pitchers. There had been an unsubstantiated correlation between injuries in young pitchers and the number of innings pitched. In research from 2002 to 2007, young pitchers that were studied showed that there was no correlation between the number of innings pitched and likelihood of future injury. But Motus Global, a world-leader in advanced biomechanical analysis in all levels of sport performance, stepped up to the plate to examine the issue more closely. In the fall of 2014, Motus introduced mThrow, which combines new and innovative wearable technology with groundbreaking 3D movement and performance analysis software. The technology may change the game. Enter mThrow--a wearable compression sleeve
equipped with a Motusdeveloped 3D motion sensor wearable device. Some are calling it the sleeve that might save baseball. The device communicates directly to the mThrow iOS app to provide metrics on a player’s mechanics and collective workloads throughout the season indicating injury risk. The sleeve can measure such things as arm slot, torque and velocity. If a pitcher tires and his arm slot starts to drop, the pitching coach and manager could see it happening via the app in real time--even if only a few inches and not easily visible with the naked eye, which is why the app is an improvement and, I would say, a necessity in ensuring that your favorite pitcher isn’t on the verge of the dreaded Tommy Johns surgery. T he data updates instantly with each motion. Preliminary findings have shown that long tosses -- throws of over 180 feet -- place more stress on the elbow than in-game pitches. The data also found equivalent stress levels in dry work/drills along with short-distance bullpen sessions, showing that every throw counts towards cumulative stress being
placed on the arm. As such, pitch counts are not nearly as significant as total throws in a day, including pickoff throws and in-between inning warm-ups. The Motus app tracks all of this. The app has a simple user interface, designed to categorize throwing workloads in pitches and positional players. Even some batters have used it to correct and adjust their swing. There is a tagging feature in the app that allows the user to differentiate between throw types. Cloud-enabled storage of all data and text/ SMS/email alert settings to automatically notify users when workloads are becoming difficult to manage. As of now, 25 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams are incorporating the mThrow into their training. The mThrow’s application is not limited to baseball. It is available to athletes of any level and most sports, and I am personally interested in seeing how individuals and teams incorporated this new technology into their systems. Will there be a decline in the amount of pitchers inflicted with the Tommy Johns injury? Only time will tell.
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Earlier this month, the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders presented a $1.7 billion concept for a new stadium in Los Angeles.
$1.7 BILLION By comparison, the highly controversial and extremely over-cost F-35 weapon system the United States Air Force commissioned is currently sitting at $1.3 billion. A round trip to the moon would cost you $750 million. The A.C. Milan soccer franchise is valued at $950 million. The Los Angeles Clippers franchise is valued at around $1.7 billion. The Brooklyn Nets could go for $1.5 billion. According to Forbes, the Chargers franchise is valued at around $955 million and the Raiders are worth $970 million. In honor of the astronomical price tag on the proposed new stadium, we took a look at some of the most expensive stadiums around the world.
$775 MILION LONDON OLYMPIC STADIUM HOME OF THE 2012 SUMMER OLYMPICS, LONDON 10
$1.6 BILLION $1.5 BILLION METLIFE STADIUM HOME OF THE NEW YORK GIANTS AND NEW YORK JETS, EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.
YANKEE STADIUM HOME OF THE NEW YORK YANKEES, BRONX, N.Y.
$1.3 BILLION $1.25 BILLION AT&T STADIUM HOME OF THE DALLAS COWBOYS, ARLINGTON, TEXAS
WEMBLEY STADIUM HOME OF ENGLAND’S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM, LONDON
$1 BILLION $922 MILLION BARCLAYS CENTER HOME OF THE BROOKLYN NETS, BROOKLYN, N.Y.
CITI FIELD HOME OF THE NEW YORK METS, QUEENS, N.Y.
$914 MILION $900 MILLION ROGERS CENTRE HOME OF THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS, TORONTO
ESTÁDIO NACIONAL MANÉ GARRINCHA HOME OF THE FIFA WORLD CUP AND THE HOME TO THE SOCCER MATCHES DURING THE 2016 SUMMER OLYMPICS, BRAZIL
$750 MILION $735 MILION EMIRATES STADIUM HOME OF THE ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB, LONDON
LUCAS OIL STADIUM HOME OF THE INDIANAPOLIS COLTS, INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
FEATURES
Texas Duo Showcase University’s Complicated History with Race AUTUMN A. ARNETT
A little more than a year after hiring Charlie Strong to guide its football program, the University of Texas introduced Shaka Smart as its new basketball coach April 3. The pair are both the first African-Americans to achieve their positions at the school, and their presence on campus is the culmination of a complicated legacy of race relations—both on campus and in UT athletics. 11
Syracuse player John Brown (in white jersey) in fight over alleged racial insult from Texas player Larry Stephens during 1960 Cotton Bowl. Robert W. Kelley—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
“It wasn’t that we didn’t have school spirit, ... but when things don’t include you, when you are excluded for reasons as ridiculous as your skin color, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.”
- Fred Alexander, a 1974 graduate of the University of Texas, on why he and his friends didn’t always cheer for the Longhorns against other teams.
From 1875-1915, UT doctor/trainer Henry Reeves was “generally the most significant figure in early UT football.” Still, he wasn’t allowed to eat or room with the team.
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exas didn’t accept its first Black student until 1950, when Heman Marion Sweatt sued his way into law school at UT. Despite begrudgingly admitting Blacks as early as the ’50s, they remained on the fringes of the school, and didn’t feel welcome to participate in extracurricular activities. For the early Black students at UT, even something as simple as cheering for their school’s football team was complicated. Fred Alexander, who arrived on campus in 1960, just four years after the first Black undergraduate students were admitted on campus, said that even though Black students were finally allowed on campus, they were still not really included in the school’s culture or really welcome at its social or sporting events. “OU weekend,” as he referred to what has grown to be known as the Red River Rivalry—the annual match-up against in-conference rival Oklahoma University—was not really for Black students. So consequently, he said, he and his friends often cheered for Oklahoma in the big rivalry, as they did with many opposing schools on game day. “It wasn’t that we didn’t have school spirit,” Alexander said, noting that they’d all chosen to attend UT willingly. “But when things don’t include you, when you are excluded for reasons as ridiculous as your skin color, it leaves a sour taste in your mouth.” There was an informal litmus test for which team they’d cheer for on game day, he said: If Texas was playing a school that was even worse on race relations, like Alabama or Ole Miss, he said, “we were ‘Hook ’em Horns’ all over the place.”
In the beginning Before UT admitted its first Black student, a Black man, Henry Reeves, served as the team’s doctor, trainer
and manager from 1875-1915. School documents refer to him as “generally the most significant figure in early UT football.” Still, he wasn’t allowed to eat or room with the team. There was an unspoken rule in the Southwest Conference in the 1950s that kept Black players off of teams and out of games. Famed head football coach Darrell Royal certainly did his part to maintain his obligation to the rule. When he arrived at the University of Texas in 1957, Black students were starting to show up on campus, but they were still not allowed on the football team. And Royal liked it that way. In 1959, says Dr. Edmund Gordon, chair of UT’s African and African Diaspora Studies department, Royal declared the ‘Horns wouldn’t play in the Cotton Bowl for the season’s national championship trophy if opponent Syracuse University “was going to bring its Negro players.” Texas did eventually show up, but the game was a dirty, racially-tinged, bitter brawl. LIFE magazine reported: “As the game moved back and forth on the field and the normal tensions of the players were increased by the body-crunching fury of the play, an ugly undercurrent of racial bitterness began to spread — with shocking results.” “At first in the game, the Syracuse players outdid themselves in showing what good sports they were, helping blocked Texans off the ground and slapping their rumps for friendly good measure. But this was short-lived. “Texas was really dirty,” said one Syracuse player afterward. “We’ve never met a bunch like that before.” What enraged them most was that much of Texas’ dirty play seemed to be directed toward Syracuse’s Negro players. Once when he was plowing through
the line, said Negro fullback Art Baker, “one of them spit right in my face.”
all of these were factors,” Kelly said. “You didn’t want to rock the boat too much and lose support.”
John Brown, a Negro lineman, played nose to nose against 235-pound Texas tackle Larry Stephens. To goad him off balance, Brown claimed, Stephens kept calling him “a big Black dirty nigger.” Finally, Brown warned him not to call him that again. When Stephens did, Brown swung.
Desegregation of the basketball team wouldn’t occur until 1968, when basketball coach Leon Black brought in Sam Bradley, who played on the freshman basketball team that year, and in 1970 became the first Black varsity player. It wouldn’t be until 1970 that UT allowed its first Black football player, Julius Whittier.
Afterward Stephens apologized to Brown. But Brown had already forgiven him. “That Texas boy was just excited,” he said. “Let’s forget it.”
In a 2005 New York Times article, Whittier said the weight of being the first Black football player really didn’t hit him at the time. “I had no real time or hard-drive space in my brain to step back and worry over how potentially ominous it was to become a Black member of the University of Texas football team and all of the horrifying things that, from a historical perspective, could happen to Black people who dare to accept a role in opening up historically white institutions,” he said at the time.
In May of 1961, students and faculty garnered 7,000 signatures on a petition to force “the immediate integration of all housing and athletic programs.” But it would not be until 1963 that the Board of Regents would call for the desegregation of UT athletics—with one disclaimer: Darrell Royal, who was at the time serving as both athletic director and head football coach, would be given the authority to decide whether a Black student would be admitted to the team. That year, James Means would become the first Black athlete at the University of Texas when he joined the school’s track team. But for the revenue sports, the process was slow. Dr. Darren Kelly, assistant director of the African American Male Research Initiative, did his master’s thesis on the integration of Texas football, and in a 2014 piece by the university on the changing landscape of UT athletics, Kelly talked about why integration was such a long time coming at the university. “Whether it was hesitation because of fear of losing money from boosters or lack of being able to get great white recruits who didn’t want to play with African-Americans, or fear from other fans or parents and players who didn’t agree with integration
Déjà Vu Nearly 44 years later when Charlie Strong signed on as UT’s first Black football coach, he expressed hauntingly similar sentiments. “There is always going to be a first somewhere, so this had to be the first,” Strong said at the press conference introducing him as the Longhorns’ new coach January 6, 2014. “Whenever there is a first, we’re going to make it good. We’re going to do what we have to do, and we’re going to work to make it better. I don’t ever want to look at it as being the first. I want to look at it as I’m a coach and that’s the way I want to be treated.” With Strong’s hiring came questions about whether he’d be able to recruit. Whether he had what it took to be a head coach of the team (despite the fact that he joined the Longhorns staff from the Univer-
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sity of Louisville, where he served as head football coach). Boosters were distraught. How dare Texas bring this Black man in to head their beloved football program? All of the same questions from the ‘60s resurfaced over 50 years later and they were made real when billionaire Booster Red McCombs blasted Strong’s hiring. “I think the whole thing is a bit sideways,” McCombs said last January. “I don’t have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator. But I don’t believe [he belongs at] what should be one of the three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don’t think it adds up.” “I think it is a kick in the face,” McCombs continued. “I’m a team player, but I think they went about it wrong and made the selection wrong.” McCombs has donated over $100 million to the institution and has a statue inside of Darrell K. Royal Stadium, where Strong’s team plays its home games. The business school bears his name. Shaka Smart and Charlie Strong may have a different approach when it comes to tackling race conversations. Smart, who serves with legendary Coach Tubby Smith as head of the newly-formed National Association for Coaching Equity and Development, the successor to the Black Coaches Association, seems to be looking to address issues of race head-on. Fifty-five years after he first set foot on campus as a student in 1960, Fred Alexander said Smart’s hiring brought him “a small measure of pride … but it probably would have meant more if it had been a couple of decades ago.” “Now it no longer seems groundbreaking,” he said. “It’s about having programs that are capable of winning championships. The hires are good if they mean it’s about finding the best talent available, not tokens.” Alexander added, “I like Coach Strong’s attitude about the football program. He wants good character, not players who have to be bailed out of the Austin jail periodically. But if he can’t win the Big 12 and contend for a BCS title, then it won’t matter because he won’t be there. That seems to be the state of Div. 1 athletics today.” Nearly 65 years after Sweatt was en-
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rolled in UT law school, African-Americans make up just four percent of all UT students, despite making up nearly 12 percent of the state’s population. Meanwhile, 10 of 16 members of the 2014-15 Longhorn hoop squad were African-American and a large majority of the football players were as well. “Although we view racial integration in sports as having an impact on the racial progress we’ve made in America, that impact is only symbolic, and there is still plenty of work necessary in the struggle for racial equality today in an Obama-led United States,” said Kelly last year. “For example, after the slow moving racial integration of the Texas football team in the late 1960s and early 1970s, African-Americans now make up the majority of the scholarship student-athletes on the football team,” he said. “However, of the 51,000 students on campus, less than 3 percent are African-American males and the university continues to struggle to recruit and retain talented African-American male students at the undergraduate and graduate levels an issue also prevalent at other research universities across the country.” As great as having two Black coaches in cash-cow sports at Texas is, its far from evidence that equality has been won, as some would have you believe. After all, as Gordon points out on his Black history tours of campus, the national flag of the Confederacy—not the one we all associate with Old Dixie, but the lesser known version that represented the Southern states in secession—still hangs alongside the United States and Texas flags, flying high over the stadium on game days and every other day. Gordon says the flag has been able to remain because no one recognizes it to know he should take offense. But maybe, if the old Texan saying “as goes Texas, so goes the nation” is to be believed, maybe the Smart, Strong duo will open the doors for increased access to coaching and administrators of color across the rest of the country. But first, in the words of famed Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, both Smart and Strong have to prove they can just win, baby. Steven J. Gaither contributed to this article.
James Means was UT’s first Black athlete in 1960.
Julius Whittier (67) became UT’s first Black football player in 1970. Right: Whittier addressing the football team in 2010.
Billionaire Booster Red McCombs stands in front of his bronze likeness inside of Darrell K. Royal stadium.
Statues of Texas football greats Earl Campbell (left, dedicated in 2006) and Ricky WIlliams (right, dedicated in 2012) have been added to the stadium grounds. As with many other places on UT’s campus, efforts have been made to broaden the depictions of great figures on campus to reflect more diversity.
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FEATURES
MLB’s High Paying Salaries Mean Business DARREN MARTIN
Following a historic deal signed in 2012 by Fox Sports, TBS and ESPN, Major League Baseball is now feeling the first of many money waves coming its way. The estimated $12.4 billion profit through the year 2021 is finally paying off as 2014 has displayed an increase in payouts to teams, coaches and players alike. However, while MLB’s historic deal creates a huge advantage for the company and its inhabitants, it slightly tips the scale of quality-vs-quantity in comparison to its other major league counterparts. 16
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n 2013, USA Today’s sports subsidiary, For the Win, compared the estimated salaries of all major league sports organizations. Behind the NBA, whose estimated average yearly salary was $5.15 million in 2014, the second largest average yearly salary went to Major League Baseball, who pays its players an average of $3.2 million a year. MLB out pays the NHL by $600,000 and the NFL by $1.3 million and also out performs all major league sports in average career earnings—excluding the NBA—by, at least, $4.7 million. 2014’s average salaries still placed MLB as having the second highest average salary as the brand increased its average salary by $600,000. In contrast, the NFL’s 2014 average salary (currently the last on the list) is expected to be a little above 2 million, according to Forbes. Interestingly, as the historic uptick in MLB salaries was expected years ago, the reality of the deal raises large questions for both the consumer and business: “are we getting to see the products we want (consumer)”? or “Are we getting the consumers we need (business)?” In July 2014 CBS reported that a recent poll found that “35 percent of fans responded
that football was their favorite sport. Major-league baseball finished second, albeit distantly at 14-percent.” Independent research pulled by 2014 attendance data seems to point to this paradigm shift in viewership. For example, out of approximately 81 games played by all MLB teams, the total attendance was 73.7 million in comparison to NFL, whose teams racked up 17 million attendees with only 8 games in the season. The frequency of game ratio suggests that the NFL is not only as popular, but also if both leagues played the same amount of games—maintaining their current attendance numbers—the NFL would dominate by 100 million viewers. That’s just attendance. In television ratings, NFL has always dominated using an “event” strategy to draw in large crowds. Mike Cardillo, writer at The Big Lead for USA Today, argues that this strategy is more of a nuisance to the consumer than a blessing for the NFL. “As it stands the NFL (and college football) are the only regular season sports programming in America that still feels like an event, the type of stuff you plan the rest of your day around in order to be home in time for kickoff.” Cardillo says, “If you miss a baseball game? So be it, there’s another one tomorrow
of
tota l atte n d a n c e wa s a p p roximate d at
in
only
tota l atte n d a n c e wa s a p p roximate d at
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and the day after that and so on.” What Cardillo failed to understand is now, more than ever, numbers matter. While the conversation on Football vs Baseball can seem jaded to some, there’s a larger lesson to learn in engagement, data and salary disparities between these two leagues. It’s what they love, it’s the new American pastime. It’s what they love, it’s the new pastime. If the players’ job is to entertain with their athletic skill, they are doing just that. That’s what they should be paid for—entertaining, and how well they do it. What comes as a disservice to both the player and consumer is when large bureaucratic deals threaten to force engagement and reach for a mutual financial gain. The television companies who signed on to this extended contracted with MLB would never sign on to a multi-billion dollar deal if they weren’t poised to get a large piece of the pie with advertising dollars. However, these type of deals—and their subsequent increased payouts—present a problem for the competitive arena and the state of television sports. Oversaturation of the market may increase viewership—as MLB is had one of its best TV rating seasons yet in 2014—it begs to question: is the consumer watching for leisure or by choice? This question then fuels the discussion behind the MLB’s legitimacy in climbing the ratings ladder. And more importantly, at the center of all this confusion, is the player—the one whose compensation is not based on the seats he fills or the eyes he glues to the screen, but the ability for his league to ink the best deals in the backroom while he’s at practice. At best, this discussion highlights the true power of TV on ratings, brands and even wallets (as MLB profits are scheduled to raise above $9 billion, according to CBS). At worst, this discussion illuminates the dark history of leagues and their intentions—the payout, not the athlete. While it is clear that business is business, a performing employee at a business deserves a performing salary. Though, the blame shouldn’t solely be placed on the MLB or its players. If the NFL wants to remain competitive in the landscape of multichannel entertainment, the NFL has to do a better job in its payouts to its players or its own weird TV deals. If not, the MLB or NHL or NBA will be coming in with their own deals—ready to eat away viewership and players’ salaries alike.
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FEATURES
Social Media Brings Fans More Access to Their Favorite Athletes, For Better or Worse R. PRESTON CLARK
They feel so close now. Fingertips apart. One hundred and forty characters from contact. One friend request away from the inner circle. Fans never enjoyed the access to their favorite athletes that they do now. Social media changed that forever. For better, or worse. 19
For better…
Prior to social media, mainstream news outlets controlled the conversation. If a player was known as a good guy, it was because the media portrayed him as such. If a player was known as a jerk, it was because the media portrayed him as such. Fans that kept up with their favorite sports had to trust the word of journalists without knowing the underlying factors as to why that particular journalist chose those words in describing a player or scenario surrounding a player.We just didn’t know. Now, players can diffuse situations on their own with a quick tweet. A quick Instagram video can dispel any suspicion that a player was not working hard towards returning to the field or court after an injury. Social media gives athletes a say in the narrative. That was not always the case. Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan was rumored to be a ruthless tyrant behind closed doors during his illustrious playing career with the Chicago Bulls. But nobody viewed him like that off the court. All his ruthlessness was simply an on-court product and off the court, everyone wanted to be like Mike. He crafted a particular image with the media that would allow him to get away with a lot of negative behavior by only letting outsiders see what he wanted them to see. If Jordan was playing today, he would be seen in the same polarizing light as Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant. Jordan played the only voices allowed into the
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collective sports lexicon like a fiddle. Even if Kobe had a fiddle, he would not be able to play the wave of media outlets and fans with social media capabilities with the same thorough destruction as Jordan in the 80s and 90s.
For worse…
In September of 2014, Indiana Pacers forward Paul George attempted to come to the aid of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice at the height of Rice’s domestic violence scandal. George’s ill-advised twitter rant was the first negative strike against one of the NBA’s most likeable young stars. His tweet read: “I don’t condone hittin women or think it’s coo BUT if SHE ain’t trippin then I ain’t trippin. Lets keep it movin lol let that man play”.He continued with: “If you in a relationship and a woman hit you first and attacking YOU. Then you obviously ain’t beatin HER. Homie made A bad choice #StayUp.” The vitriol was quick and swift. George backpedaled and apologized following a swarm of negative press and public outrage, but the damage had been done. Those two tweets caused an uproar. He had no one to blame but himself. This was not a reporter misconstruing his words. This was not a case of a misquote out of context. This was his own words on his own Twitter page. It was bad.
For better…
In January 2015, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant tweeted a string of
tweets that encapsulates a lot of what twitter is both to the everyday tweeter as well as stars the caliber of Durant. He started by saying, “Why do you post on Twitter?” then followed with his own set of answers. “You want a voice? You wanna be more popular?” “You want to show people how funny you are because you’re too insecure to do it in person? I know that’s why [I] posted in the past” “You say it’s ‘just Twitter’ but is it really ‘just Twitter’” “Oh well just thinking out loud” Kevin Durant. Arguably one of the top three basketball players in the world, sharing his very human thoughts with the world without a journalistic tunnel to send his words through. He could let us know exactly what he wanted us to know, when he wanted us to know it and how he wanted us to receive it. Fans felt closer to him thanks to his vulnerability in the moment. He became more real. More of a human being and less a mythical creature we read about and see on TV. Before social media, his thoughts would have been just private thoughts.
For worse…
Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas routinely sent out misogynistic tweets framed as jokes. Like, “good mornin twitter fam..i need me a slave to make me breakfast in the mornings..i guess yall might call them girlfriends…im hungry” or “#youknowyouugly if ur a SINGLE MOTHER… lmaoooooooo sorry but
thats funny…Single mothers out there its a joke…I wanted to be the one with the best line” Some athletes should just refrain from speaking in public. Arenas’ on-court persona at the peak of his career was of a cutthroat assassin with a chip on his shoulder after continually being looked over throughout his career. But then he got a Twitter account. And now, not even his on-court exploits can take away from the fact that he is pretty much a douchebag. And it is his fault for telling us. Social media at its finest.
For better…
Everything Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald does and says on Twitter. Like his good-hearted responses to hecklers and his dedication to charity and community events in the off-season.
For worse…
Everything boxer Adrien Broner does and says, particularly in reference to telling Jay-Z to ‘s**k his d**k’ and saying ‘f**k Rihanna’ after turning down what he deemed as a below market value deal from Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports. For better, or worse, social media can alter the legacy of an athlete depending on how he or she chooses to use the available outlets. They can be like San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan and not have any social media pages at all, or they can be like Houston Rockets guard James Harden and his 12,500 tweets and 2.6 million followers. Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron
James used social media to rehabilitate a shattered public image after “The Decision.” Soccer superstar Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite tweets primarily in Portuguese to millions of fans worldwide. Imagine the twitter sparring between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in their heyday. Watching the rise and fall of Mike Tyson through his own cryptic, terrifying words. The OJ Simpson trial. The Miracle on Ice. Mid-1990s Dennis Rodman. Barry Bonds’ attempts to refute his steroid usage in the midst of chasing Hank Aaron’s career home run record. So many sports moments would have reached a new social plateau had social media been around as a microphone for the singular figures of those moments. Fans have never felt so secure in their fandom. Players have never felt so insecure in their livelihood. One bad tweet and your reputation sits on the bottom shelf. One bad gesture in public and you’re viral in five minutes. It’s a blessing and a curse. Players are under a greater microscope than they’ve ever been. Bloggers and sports sites swarm the media landscape. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have turned being a fan into a platform for intimacy. We feel like we know these players. We feel closer to them. We know what makes them tick, and we didn’t have to ask a journalist from a major news outlet for the information. It was already at our fingertips. Our favorite athletes told us so.
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FEATURES
NCAA’s Top Wrestler Charts a Path to Self-Fulfillment ROBERT A. BENNETT III
During the 1990s, many kids had sports dreams of playing in college football championships or playing in NCAA’s March Madness tournament. Not Kyven Gadson; at the age of six, he wrote about his aspirations of winning a national title in college wrestling and becoming an Olympic champion. 22
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he youngest child to Dr. Augusta and Willie Gadson, Kyven Ross Gadson grew up in a household where his parents and siblings played an instrumental role in his development. “My parents both set great examples for myself and my siblings, of how to overcome struggles and adversity and still set and reach goals. Without [them] I would not be where I am today,” he says. While he identifies his mother as the strongest person he knows who “always set an example of what hard work, determination and resilience looks like,” his father Willie set the stage for him as a wrestler. Willie Gadson, a native of Allendale, S.C., was a two-time All-American at Iowa State University where he also won two Big Eight championships. But in his time at ISU, he never won a national championship. After graduating, he served as an assistant coach for his alma mater before taking the head coaching job at Eastern Michigan University in 1992. In an effort to be closer to his family in Iowa, he left Eastern Michigan to become the wrestling coach at Iowa City High School. There he coached his oldest son Jared, who later attended the University of Iowa. In 2005, the Gadson family moved to Waterloo, Iowa. It was there that Willie coached his youngest son Kyven at Waterloo East High School, where Kyven flourished. He went undefeated during his junior and senior years winning back-to-back state titles, despite wrestling with a torn labrum in his left shoulder. With a successful wrestling career in high school, Kyven realized he wanted to continue to wrestle at the collegiate level and chose to follow in his father’s footsteps and attend ISU. “I wanted to continue the Gadson legacy,” he says. Head coach Kevin Jackson also played a factor. For Kyven, “It made sense. He and my dad had similar coaching styles and I could relate to him.” During his first year at Iowa State, Kyven was red-shirted for the 20102011 season. He was permitted to compete in matches independent of the university but could not wear the
school uniform. Soon after Kyven defeated the sixth-ranked wrestler in the nation, ISU’s coaching staff debated about whether to pull his redshirt. Before the coaches could come to a decision, Kyven tore the labrum of his right shoulder and was on medical leave for the remainder of the season. He had to look forward to the 2011-2012 year. In his first match of the new season, Kyven lost and suffered another torn labrum in his left shoulder, the same injury he had his senior year of high school. Another season gone. Soon the internal debate had begun with Kyven, as it does with most athletes who suffer injuries. He hit rock bottom. Suffering three shoulder injuries in three years caused him to re-assess his ability to wrestle. “People begin to question if you are durable, and you question it yourself,” he says. “You say, ‘One injury you are fine, two is ok, but with three, you think ‘what’s going on?’ You begin to question everything.” The doubt began to sink in as he convinced himself that he could not wrestle anymore. Kyven says he struggled with trying to figure out “Who am I without wrestling? I have identified as a wrestler for so long.” For the Iowa native, his entire identity was caught up in being an athlete and the realization that he might not be able to wrestle at the collegiate level consumed him.
1.
2.
“My confidence waned,” he says, “because I was not competing at a high level. Watching teammates lose, and I am unable to help them.” To cope with these circumstances, he started partying heavily. His diet was poor, and he weighed as much as 250 pounds, up from the 197-pound class at which he wrestled. This led to low academic performance and bouts with depression. “I was in a pretty bad place,” he admits. “These things impacted my wrestling career in [a] major way, because it challenged me to understand who I was and my purpose as well as understanding myself.” In April 2012, Kyven learned his father was battling cancer. At that moment he realized he had to make
1. Kyven’s dad, Willie Gadson, was a two-time All-American at Iowa State. 2. Bottom left is Kyven and his mom.
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changes. “After talking to my coach and dad,” he says, “I realized I had to get it together. So I locked in and stopped partying.” It was then that he began to focus on his goals. His father’s sickness fueled him and everything he did the following year would be for his dad. For the 2012-2013 season, he changed his wrestling style to one that put less wear on his body and would afford some longevity, as he had already suffered two seasonending injuries. At the same time Kyven was turning a corner in his athletic career, his father’s health began to worsen. Willie Gadson and his wife kept his fledgling health away from their son. They wanted him to focus on wrestling so he could compete at a high level, and Kyven was able to do so. However, it had come at the cost of not seeing his family for nearly a year. Then, one day, he saw a Facebook post. Willie, who usually weighed 235 pounds was shown at 135 pounds. Kyven was in shock. He called home and told his mom, “I don’t care how this affects my wrestling. I need to know.” So a week before the Big 12 championship, he quietly traveled the hour and a half home to Waterloo. His father’s health was bad. Willie told his son, “It’s over. My organs are failing. My liver is not working.” Despite the news, Willie encouraged Kyven to compete and not worry about him. Kyven did, but after winning his first match, the state of his father’s health weighed heavily on him. He thought about quitting the team to go home to be with his dad. Kyven called home and he talked to
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his mom about coming to visit so he could be with father. His mom asked him, “Would he want you to win the Big 12 medal or come home?” Realizing his father would have him do the former, Kyven stayed and continued to compete. The next day, Willie Gadson succumbed to his battle with stage-four lung and bone cancer. Distraught, Kyven knew his father would not be able to see him win the national championship. That fact became his driving force. Kyven won the Big 12 championship that year and finished sixth in the country, coming up short of his national championship goal, and finished with a 30-5 record. That year he and teammate Michael Moreno were named All-Americans and joined their fathers as the first father-son All-Americans at Iowa State. Going into the 2013-2014 season, he was ranked as the top wrestler in the nation. Kyven felt he would finally win it all and be done with wrestling. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go as planned. “I was burnt out,” he says. “I was not having fun wrestling.” Much of it had to do with why he was participating. “I was putting too much pressure [on myself] to compete for my dad, and not just wrestling because I was having fun.” He placed fourth in the national championship, and finished with an overall record of 30-4. However, the consolation of a second consecutive All-American award, second consecutive Big 12 championship, and the Academic All-Big 12 First-Team selection was not enough. For Kyven, his father being sick had
been the extra motivator, the driving force for him to succeed, but the loss of father left him without the desire to compete. He recognized he was missing the love of the sport, which is what kept him going when he first got into wrestling. Throughout his junior year, people would tell him, “Win for your dad.” He admits, “It makes you feel good, it makes other people feel good.” Yet failing to win with that motive took a great deal out of him. He completed his bachelor’s degree in August of 2014, but with one year of remaining eligiblity, Kyven decided to return to the mat for a final shot at a national championship. If Kyven Gadson wanted to win it all, it would have to happen in his last year at ISU. For his senior season, his last year of eligibility, many encouraged him with the same sentiment of winning to honor his father. Kyven would quickly correct them with saying, “No, I’m not.”, he said. “When you are doing something for yourself, it feels better because you are locked into why you are doing it.” The 2014-2015 season was Kyven’s most successful during his time at ISU. He achieved 43 straight victories, earning All-American honors again for the third-straight year, as well as the claiming his third Big 12 championship.
major fashion.” He did just that on Saturday, March 21, 2015. Gadson defeated Kyle Snyder of Ohio State University for the 2015 NCAA national championship at the 197-pound weight class. In a post-match interview, a reporter asked Gadson what the national championship meant to him and his family. Adrenaline rushing, Kyven responded with an intense “I just want some ice cream man, I just want some ice cream.” He walked off and the interview was over. In retrospect, Gadson mentions the reporter was “trying to pull some emotion out of me that I did not want pulled out at that point, therefore I wanted to think about happy thoughts. Ice cream is happy.” Kyven’s success reached beyond the wrestling mat. He earned Academic All-Big 12 First Team honors for the second consecutive season. Gadson currently serves as co-president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at Iowa State and chair of the Big 12 Conference SAAC. While Kyven is enjoying the fruit of his labor as a national champion, he is finishing work on a master’s degree in leadership and learning.
Kyven’s final season was not only about winning the national championship, but doing so with flair.
“I have been fortunate enough to have used wrestling as a vehicle to get an education and open up doors that otherwise would not have been there,” he says. “Now I want to take some time off, recollect myself and rebuild myself outside of wrestling.”
“I not only wanted to win the championship,” he says. “I wanted to get a pin in the finals. You have to do it in
Kyven wants to pursue a career in business. He may even open an ice cream shop, he says.
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eter Alliss is one of the most respected commentators in European Golf; all of golf for that matter. During a successful playing career from 1941-69, he amassed 21 wins and played in eight Ryder Cups – the biennial matches where a team of the top U.S. golfers compete against the finest Europe has to offer. After shelving his clubs, Alliss launched his distinguished career as a golf commenter on the BBC – earning a living off voicing his opinion and delivering colorful analysis of golf-course ongoings. After witnessing Tiger Woods shoot an 81 at the 2002 Open Championship, Alliss quipped: “It’s like turning up to hear Pavarotti sing and finding out he has laryngitis.” Recently Alliss offered his analysis of gender equality in the game of golf, claiming that it’s driving women away from the game instead of bringing them to it. His reasoning: “I’m told the Ladies Golf Union (LGU) has lost 150,000 members since equality for women came in,” Alliss said in the The Telegraph. “Hundreds of women have left golf clubs because they’ve gone from paying half fare to full fare. It’s caused mayhem.” The LGU has criticized Alliss’ remarks. “We had 189,000 members in 2010 and we’ve gone down to 159,000 in 2014. We’ve lost 30,000 members, which isn’t good. I know where he’s coming from but personally I don’t think that’s the reason,” LGU finance director Sam Burton told The Telegraph. “I think he’s speaking for a very small minority, probably the older lady golfer. The clubs he’s referring to where the wife just got to play because her husband was a member – I don’t know any such clubs. People who are serious about their golf wouldn’t really see that as acceptable.”
GOLF’S SLOW WALK TO DIVERSITY TONY STARKS
Personally, I can’t speak to the pricing structure of English golf clubs and whether or not female golfing members actually have paid lesser fees in the past. But I have spent my fair share of time in the private club setting in the States, both out on the course and behind the counter. In my experience, a round of golf has always cost the same price, regardless of gender. Junior golfers were the only demographic to receive a price break. There were, however, some hikes in cost. But that was only for non-golf members, such as sporting members or tennis members who decided they wanted to play a round at the club. Is there merit to this claim by Alliss? As it relates to the U.S., I can confidently say that gender equality efforts that result in raised membership rates for women are non-existent. Do problems persist still? Of course. It’s disappointing to the think that prior to 2010, Augusta National Golf Club – which just hosted a record-setting 2015 Masters tournament – didn’t have a single female member. The club’s history dates back to the 1930s, and it stands as one of golf’s hallowed shrines. It forever will. More recently four clubs that hold the (British) Open Championship didn’t have female members. While Troon and Muirfield continue to review their rules, Royal St. George and The Royal & Ancient Club of St. Andrews (known as the Home of Golf) did vote to admit female members for the first time.
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These clubs are beacon for where the golf industry stands. Historically and by its nature, golf is an exclusionary practice – private clubs, dress codes and gated communities. All things designed to keep people out. Augusta National and the British courses reflected that for more than a century in some cases. Now they stand as a reflection of how the industry has changed – albeit extremely slow change. Like polar ice caps melting slow. Like continental drift slow. But undeniably, the game of golf is shifting direction. It’s opening doors that have been closed for as long as many can remember. It’s changing. However, it’s an establishment that’s taken hundreds of years to build. You can’t redecorate a house that big in one day.
Eventual-champion Jordan Spieth with four-time Master’s champion Tiger Woods at this year’s tournament.
Each one of golf’s governing bodies has made strides in this regard. The PGA of America has committed to incorporating diversity and inclusion into its long-term Strategic Plan. Augusta National has three female members and has hosted the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship for the past two years and will for the foreseeable future (similar to the NFL’s Punt, Pass and Kick initiative, Drive, Chip and Putt is a competition for junior golfers that culminates in a trip to Augusta National to the compete in the finals the week of the Masters). The United States Golf Association continues to provide support for the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf Program. Purses on the LPGA Tour grow year after year. And St. Andrews, the Home of Golf, has female members. These steps, while they seem small, are giant when you consider the history of the game. There’s a long way to go in terms of growing the women’s game, but paying the same greens fee is the least of the concerns.
Dallas’ Maulana Dotch, one of only two African-American women in the country to carry a Class A Professional Golf Association membership. 26
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