MDST 3670

Sports, Media, and Society

Professor Siva Vaidhyanathan

sivav@virginia.edu

Office: 209 Wilson Hall

Office hours Mondays 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and by appointment

Course Description

This course will explore the role that sports have played in the development of media and

society, both in the United States and globally. It will consider such issues as

amateurism, labor, performance-enhancing drugs, race, gender, sexuality, body image, nationalism, and

the role of sports within global society. The main points of entry will be coverage of the Olympics and global soccer.

 

Course Objectives:

 

A student who successfully completes this course will be able to critically discuss, describe, or demonstrate mastery of the following phenomenon: 

 

• The social and cultural roles that athletic media events play in both American and global society. including their role in the construction, maintenance, and destruction of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class distinctions.

 

• The role that sports media play in the construction and maintenance of nationalism, patriotism, and cosmopolitanism.

 

• The purposes and practices of American sports journalism.

 

• The ethical discussions and debates concerning performance-enhancing drugs.

 

• The global political economy of sports media, including the importance of media ownership, regulation, and intellectual property

 

All assignments will be geared to drive students toward achieving these objectives. 

 

 

Required Readings:

All books are available for purchase at the University of Virginia Bookstore.

 

Edmundson, Mark. Why Football Matters: My Education in the Game, 2014.

Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Hogshead-Makar, Nancy, and Andrew S Zimbalist. Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2007.

 

Hunt, Thomas M, and John M Hoberman. Drug Games: The International Olympic Committee and the Politics of Doping, 1960-2008. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2011. [AVAILABLE VIA EBRARY ON UVA LIBRARY SITE: http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.its.virginia.edu/lib/uvalib/detail.action?docID=10439456 ]

Stille, Alexander. The Sack of Rome: How a Beautiful European Country with a Fabled History and a Storied Culture Was Taken over by a Man Named Silvio Berlusconi. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.

Zirin, Dave. Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy. Haymarket Books, 2014.

 

Readings followed by an asterisk (*) are available via the course’s Collab site.

 

Course Requirements and Grading:

 

This course uses an unusual grading system. It's based on "contract grading" or "specifications grading" models that have been used with great success at other universities. A student can decide how many of the course objectives she wishes to master, and thus how many assignments she wishes to complete successfully.

 

Each assignment will be graded on a pass/fail basis. A "pass" will signify that the assignment conforms to the guidelines given and that the student demonstrates that she has completed and understands the assigned readings, the content of classroom discussion, and the relationships among the ideas expressed in both. 

 

All assignments (except quizzes) will be posted on Collab and should be submitted to Collab.

 

1) Quizzes: There will be 14 quizzes given during class meetings. There will be no more than one quiz per week. But students will not know which day of the week the quiz will occur. The quiz questions will be based on the assigned readings for that week. If there has been no quiz on Monday or Wednesday, one can assume that there will be a quiz on Friday of that week. Quiz questions will appear on the screen at the front of the classroom. Answers should be written out on index cards that I will provide. 

 

2) Sports Media Criticism Assignment: Each student is required to view a televised sports media production (not necessarily a game or a match) and analyze it based on the terms and issues we have discussed in this class. Students will write a 1000- to 2000-word critical assessment that invokes one of the course objectives listed above. I have placed two seasons of ESPN 30-for-30 documentaries on reserve in Clemons library. I will place several other important sports films and videos on reserve. Students may choose to review one of these items, one they find themselves, or a televised sports event.

 

 

3) Journalism Project: Each student is required to attend a live sporting event, interview at least one

participant, and submit a journalistic article detailing the event itself, the venue in which it was held, the

audience, and how the event might be interesting or instructive, as well as any other insights gleaned. These articles should be 750 to 1500 words long.

 

4) Essay on the Globalization of Sports: Students will respond to an essay question that I will distribute and compose an essay that will be no shorter than 1,000 and no longer than 2,000 words. The essay should cite all the relevant assigned reading and may cite sources beyond the assigned reading. 

 

5) Essay on race, ethnicity, class, gender, or sexuality issues in sports and media: Students will respond to an essay question that I will distribute and compose an essay that will be no shorter than 1,000 and no longer than 2,000 words. The essay should cite all the relevant assigned reading and may cite sources beyond the assigned reading. 

 

6) Essay on the Ethics of and Debates about Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Students will respond to an essay question that I will distribute and compose an essay that will be no shorter than 1,000 and no longer than 2,000 words. The essay should cite all the relevant assigned reading and may cite sources beyond the assigned reading. 

 

7) Essay on Policy and/or Political Economy: Students will respond to an essay question that I will distribute and compose an essay that will be no shorter than 1,000 and no longer than 2,000 words. The essay should cite all the relevant assigned reading and may cite sources beyond the assigned reading.  

 

 

Optional Video Project: If students wish to raise their grade by a half-step (a B to a B+, for instance), they may form a group of four students and divide up duties to produce a five-to-ten-minute digital video about some issue concerning sports, media, and society. The video should be carefully edited, should have a title, include credits, and should not violate the privacy or dignity of anyone featured in it. Consult with me by the end of September if you wish to create such a video. Labor and duties should be divided equally and should include a person in charge of camera work, another in charge of editing, another in charge of lighting and sound, and another in charge of the overall production (scheduling, assignments, communicating with me, etc.).

 

 

Class Participation/Attendance Policy: I will not take formal attendance. But the pop quizzes will serve as incentive and enforcement of attendance. Even without the quizzes, please understand that it will be almost impossible to successfully produce the assignments without almost perfect attendance and full attention. I will call on students by name to spark discussion. So please be prepared to contribute with ideas and questions from the reading. Fridays are generally class discussion days, when I will lead a discussion about a particularly question. Please consider your vocal participation in class discussion to be an ethical mandate. You owe it to your fellow students to help produce an enriching and interesting experience.

 

 

Important Considerations: 

 

This class will blend lecture and discussion, but the emphasis will be on discussion; students

are required to engage fully and participate actively and regularly by expressing their

informed opinions and raising provocative questions about the course materials. In turn,

students are expected to be respectful of and open to others’ opinions and questions.

Student success in this course depends largely on attendance and active participation. Your

ability to read and communicate thoughtfully about what you read will significantly

determine your final grade.

 

 

Grading Policy:  

 

 

• To earn a D in the course: Complete four of six written assignments and pass six of 14 quizzes.

 

 

• To earn a C in the course: Complete five of six written assignments and pass seven of 14 quizzes.

 

 

• To earn a B in the course: ​Complete five of six written assignments and pass nine of 14 quizzes.

 

 

• To earn an A in the course: Complete six of six written assignments and pass 10 of 14 quizzes.

 

 

• To earn a + on top of the course grade you earned: Complete the optional video group assignment described above.

 

 

 

 

 

Writing Assignment Standards: To complete or pass a writing assignment, the document must be posted on your electronic portfolio page by the due date. I will only grant extensions in exceptional circumstances. In general, failure to post the assignment by the due date shall be considered an expression of a decision to accept a lower course grade, according to the standards outlined above. The essay must conform to the precise specifications outlined in the question prompt I will distribute. Word count parameters must be obeyed. Spelling, grammar, and usage must be reasonably good. The essay must be well organized, with a thesis statement, an element of evidence in each paragraph, appropriate citations to work that yielded the evidence (MLA style with a "works cited" list at the end of the document), and a clear conclusion. WARNING: If the essay does not clearly demonstrate that the student read and understood the relevant assigned reading then it will not qualify as complete. 

 

For the journalism project, the work should mimic standard newspaper sports reporting styles. The lead or second paragraph should contain the basic facts about the event. The lead might deploy a narrative hook to draw readers into the article. Quotes must be exact and the speaker must know that he or she is speaking with a student reporter. In addition to posting the article on the electronic portfolio page, a student may submit the article for publication. 

 

For the media criticism assignment, "works cited" are not necessary. Simply cite and link within the text as one would read in a published, journalistic work of media criticism, like the sort that Slate or Grantland might publish. Students may submit this work for publication as well as posting it on the electronic portfolio page.

 

 

 

 

Students with Disabilities: Students who require special accommodations need to acquire

a letter that documents the disability from the Learning Needs and Evaluation Center (see

http://college.artsandsciences.virginia.edu/disability-accommodation, email

LNEC@virginia.edu, or call 434.243.5189 – TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing).

This letter should be presented to the instructor in each course at the beginning of the

semester and accommodations needed should be discussed at that time.

 

 

 

Week 1

 

8/26  Course introductions

 

8/28  Group discussion: Why do we care so much about sports?

 

Week 2

 

8/31 Read: Sage, Globalizing Sport, Ch. 1 and Ch. 5.*

 

 

9/2 Read: Rowe, “Introduction: Mapping the Media Sports Cultural Complex”*

Andrews, "Speaking the Universal Language of Entertainment." *

 

 

9/4 Group discussion: What would sports be like without television? What would television be like without sports?

 

 

Week 3

 

 

9/7 Read: Anderson, "Imagined Communities."*

Nussbaum, "Patriotism and Cosmopolitanism."*

 

 

9/9 Read: Foer, How Soccer Explains the World, Prologue through Ch. 2.

 

 

 

9/11 Group discussion: Would you die for your team? 

 

 

Week 4

 

9/14 Read: Foer, Chs. 3 through 7.

 

 

 

9/16 Read: Foer, Chs. 8 through Afterword.

 

 

 

9/18 Group discussion: Why does soccer matter?

 

 

Week 5

 

9/21 Read: Bass, “What Is This ‘Black’ in Black Athlete?”*

Bass, “Tribulations & Trials: Black Consciousness and the Collective Body”*

Dinerstein, "Backfield in Motion: The Transformation of NFL Football by Black Culture"*

Hughey, "A Level Playing Field? Media Constructions of Athletics, Genetics, and Race"*

 

 

 

9/23 Read: Arthur and Scanlon, "Reading and Rereading the Game: Reflections on West Indian Cricket."*

Vaidhyanathan, "Learning Cricket and Trying to Pass as Indian"*

 

 

9/25 Group discussion: How should we discuss identities in sports?

 

Week 6

 

9/28 Read: Zolov, "The Harmonizing Nation: Mexico and the 1968 Olympics"*

Bass, "Objectivity be Damned."*

 

 

9/30 Bass, "Are Black Armbands too Political?"*

Beam, "Beijing Winter Olympics"*

Carpenter, "The Olympics are Dead"*

 

 

10/2 Class discussion: What makes sports journalism special? 

** Critical Essay Assignment Due***

 

Week 7

 

10/5 NO CLASS: Reading days

 

10/7 Read: Zirin, Brazil's Dance with the Devil.

 

10/9 Class discussion: Should the United States pursue another Olympic Games?

*** Globalization essay question posted***
 

 

 

Week 8

 

10/12 Read: Hunt, Drug Games, Forward through Ch. 6.

 

10/14 Read Hunt, Drug Games, Chs. 7 through Conclusion.

 

10/16 Class discussion: How are PED's ethically different from contact lenses, corrective eye surgery, weight training, pads, or prosthetics?

 

 

Week 9

 

10/19 Read Rosenfield, "Why we ignore women's sports"*

Messner, et. al, "Separating the Men from the Girls"*

 

10/21 Read: 

Hainey, "The Woman Who Paved the Way for Men to Become Women"*

Weinreb, "Renée Richards Wants to be Left Alone"*

 

10/23 NO CLASS 

 

 

 

 

Week 10

 

10/26 Hogshead-Makar, Equal Play, Introduction through Part I

 

10/28 NO CLASS 

 

10/30 Class discussion: What is the purpose of Title IX?

 

Week 11

 

11/2 Read: Hogshead-Makar, Equal Play, Part IV

***Journalism Assignment Due***

 

 

11/4 Read: Hogshead-Makar, Equal Play, Part V

 

 

11/6 Class discussion: What are the biggest gender and sexuality issues in sports today?

*** Identity essay question posted***

 

 

 

Week 12

 

11/9 Read: Edmundson, Why Football Matters, Introduction through Ch. 6.

***Globalization essay due and must be posted to Collab***

 

 

11/11 Read: Edmundson, Why Football Matters, Ch. 7 through conclusion

 

 

11/13 Class discussion: Should we boycott football?

 

 

 

Week 13

 

11/16 Read: Stille, The Sack of Rome, Preface through Ch. 3

 

 

11/18 Read: Stille, The Sack of Rome, Chs. 4 through 5 

 

 

11/20 Class discussion: Why does media ownership matter?

 

*** Identity essay must be turned in to Collab ***

*** PED essay question posted***

 

 

Week 14

 

11/23 Read: Branch, "The Shame of College Sports"*

Nixon, "Escaping the Athletic Trap"*

Ross, "Don't Pay College Athletes"*

Schwarz, "Let the Market Solve the College Sports Problem."

 

 

11/25: NO CLASS

 

 

11/27 NO CLASS

 

 

 

Weeks 15

 

 

11/30 Read: Chronicle, "The $110 Billion Sports Tab"

Walker, "Let's treat the philosophy department like the football team."*

 

 

 

12/2 Read:  Dennie, "An Analysis of O'Bannon v. NCAA"*

Tracy and Strauss, "Court Strikes Down Payments to College Athletes"*

Nocera, "O'Bannon's Hollow Victory over the NCAA"*

 

 

12/4 Class discussion: Why does intellectual property matter? 

***PED essay due and must be posted to Collab***

 

*** Political economy essay question posted***

 

 

 

12/16  ***  Political economy essays must be posted to Collab***

 

 

MDST 3670

Sports, Media, and Society

Professor Siva Vaidhyanathan

Course Description

This course will explore the role that sports have played in the development of media and

society, both in the United States and globally. It will consider such issues as

amateurism, labor, performance-enhancing drugs, race, gender, sexuality, body image, nationalism, and

the role of sports within global society. The main points of entry will be coverage of the Olympics and global soccer.

 

Course Objectives:

 

A student who successfully completes this course will be able to critically discuss, describe, or demonstrate mastery of the following phenomenon: 

 

• The social and cultural roles that athletic media events play in both American and global society. including their role in the construction, maintenance, and destruction of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, and class distinctions.

 

• The role that sports media play in the construction and maintenance of nationalism, patriotism, and cosmopolitanism.

 

• The purposes and practices of American sports journalism.

 

• The ethical discussions and debates concerning performance-enhancing drugs.

 

• The global political economy of sports media, including the importance of media ownership, regulation, and intellectual property

 

All assignments will be geared to drive students toward achieving these objectives. 

 

 

Required Readings:

All books are available for purchase at the University of Virginia Bookstore.

 

Edmundson, Mark. Why Football Matters: My Education in the Game, 2014.

Foer, Franklin. How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization. New York: HarperCollins, 2004.

Hogshead-Makar, Nancy, and Andrew S Zimbalist. Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2007.

 

Hunt, Thomas M, and John M Hoberman. Drug Games: The International Olympic Committee and the Politics of Doping, 1960-2008. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2011. [AVAILABLE VIA EBRARY ON UVA LIBRARY SITE: http://site.ebrary.com.proxy.its.virginia.edu/lib/uvalib/detail.action?docID=10439456 ]

Stille, Alexander. The Sack of Rome: How a Beautiful European Country with a Fabled History and a Storied Culture Was Taken over by a Man Named Silvio Berlusconi. New York: Penguin Press, 2006.

Zirin, Dave. Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, the Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy. Haymarket Books, 2014.