http://www.naso.org/sportsmanship/badsports.html

Roger Bratcher, a father of a T-ball player was briefly jailed after an outburst against an umpire during a game involving 5- and 6-year-olds. The accused threatened to beat the umpire moments before walking onto the field and starting a fight with Eddie Smith, who was officiating the game, according to the criminal complaint. A girl who was playing in the game suffered a minor injury when she was struck in the face during the scuffle. (July 2003)

I find this to be quite funny, in t-ball there are heardly any rules and a guy of a 5 and 6 year old game gets up and starts a fight with a ump. Really that tells you that parents are really over zealous of the kids game, the main motto for baseball is to have fun and remember its just a game. While here the parents think that there child must do the best at all costs. I think the parent here was the type who was over competive and hated to lose, some people are like that, I could see this happen to a high school or college game but, at a 5 and 6 t-ball thing no way.

What happen next, what charges were made?

What was the real reason for the outcome?

Hazing/special treatment

http://espn.go.com/otl/hazing/list.html

"Four players pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of hazing for sodomizing a teammate with a bottle. The assailants were ordered to apologize and were sentenced to perform 80 hours of community service, serve one year of probation, and pay the victim's counseling fees up to $2,000."

This is one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard about hazing. What the hell are these boys thinking? I can almost be certain that this was not a "ritual" and if it was it is the worst thing I've ever heard. Eww.

Also, the special treatment. These boys got got community service, probation, and had to pay counseling fees? That's horrible. They sodomized a fellow teammate, they deserved some worse punishment.

If this happened in our school do you think these boys would have gotten off as easy as they did? And how much of a problem does hazing need to become before it is taken serious enough?

Northwestern Women's Soccer Team Suspended After Hazing

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/sports/soccer/16hazing.html?ex=1305432000&en=0cd2921c4726b822&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

Members of the women's soccer team at Northwestern posted photos depicting hazing incidents on a student file-sharing network. The photos...

"showed women's soccer players wearing only T-shirts and shorts or underwear. Many of the players were covered in marker, and some appeared to be drinking beer. Other photographs showed players giving lap dances for what the captions said were Northwestern men's soccer players. The captions said the dances were a punishment.
In some photographs, the players are in lines blindfolded, their hands bound behind their backs."

In response, the soccer players were suspended and banned from participating in athletic events.

I think the university's response was appropriate in this case. The junior members of the team were forced into sexually demeaning situations by the senior members...a particularly offensive form of hazing. Even when this stuff takes place off campus, the team still represents the university. The university I attended as an undergrad harshly punished hazing by Greek organizations...my sorority, for example, was prevented from allowing members to use the terms "Mom" and "Kid" because of the suggestion of authority or power over the new member. Athletic hazing should be taken just as seriously.

I wonder whether the women subjected to the hazing welcomed it as a traditional "rite of passage" for the team?

The American sit-com: gender roles

Blog your thoughts in response to the episodes we viewed in class and gender roles, relationships... you may address some of the discussion questions provided in class.

Invisible Children

Use this space to blog your reactions to Invisible Children.

Now that you've had time to process your thoughts and some of the thoughts shared by your peers in class, what do you think about the issues raised in the documentary?

Hotel manager asks workers to change names...

Follow the link below to an article about the hotel manager who recently asked some of his Latino workers to Anglicize their names. What do you think about the controversy that's ensued? Blog your reactions.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/26/national/main5422261.shtml

30 Days: Muslims and America

Use this space to discuss your reactions to the episode of 30 Days: "Muslims and America"...