This is SportsCenter: The Predictable Gender Trend

On today’s SportsCenter, ESPN closed out showing their “This is SportsCenter” commercials. As described on ESPN’s official YouTube, "This is SportsCenter" channel:

This is SportsCenter is the name of a series of comical television commercials run by ESPN to promote their SportsCenter sports news show. The ads are presented in a deadpan mockumentary style, lampooning various aspects of sports, and sports broadcasting. The commercials debuted in 1994.

As of tonight (December 24, 2010), ESPN’s YouTube channel profiles 77 of these short videos. Not every "This is SportsCenter" commercial is profiled, but I'm just going with what is up on this page now as the sample data set. I generally enjoy these commercials. Many of them are witty, and they are all short (around 30 seconds). Here are a few examples:

















As can be seen, the commercials typically profile a famous athlete and/or a SportsCenter anchor, and on occasion a non-sports-related celebrity (e.g., Richard Simmons). In examining what athletes the commercials profile on ESPN's YouTube page, a highly predictable trend emerges. Here are the individual athletes the commercials profile (note: when no athletes are profiled and only anchors, gender of anchors profiled noted instead):

1. Dwight Freeney (football; male)


2. Derek Jeeter (baseball; male)


3. Floyd Mayweather (boxing; male)


4. Tim Lincecum (baseball; male)


5. Wayne Gretzky (hockey; male)


6. Dwight Howard (basketball; male)


7. David St. Hubbins (musician; male)


8. Arnold Palmer (golf; male)


9. Oregon Duck (football; gender neutral)


10. Usain Bolt (track & field; male)


11. Larry Fitzgerald (football; male)


12. Matt Ryan (football; male)


13. Brett Favre (football; male)


14. Adrian Peterson (football; male)


15. Joe Mauer (baseball; male)


16. Adrian Peterson (football; male)


17. Manny Ramierz (baseball; male)


18. Josh Hamilton (baseball; male)


19. SportsCenter Anchors (all male)


20. Jimmie Johnson (car racing; male)


21. SportsCenter Anchors (all male)


22. Manny Ramirez (baseball; male)


23. David Ortiz & Jorge Posada (baseball; male)


24. David Wright (baseball; male)


25. Chad Ochocinco (football; male)


26. Chad Ochocinco (football; male)


27. Ladanian Tomlinson (football; male)


28. Chad Ochocinco (football; male)


29. Tony Romo (football; male)


30. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, & Ray Allen (basketball; male)


31. Michael Phelps (swimming; male)


32. Ladanian Tomlinson (football; male)


33. Jim Kelly (football; male)


34. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (car racing; male)


35. Chad Ochocinco (football; male)


36. Stephen King (writer; male)


37. Michael Phelps (swimming; male)


38. Jimmy Rollins (baseball; male)


39. Richard Simmons (fitness pro; male)


40. Maria Sharapova (tennis; female)


41. Steve Smith (football; male)


42. Jose Reyes (baseball; male)


43. Pat Summit (basketball; female)


44. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (car racing; male)


45. Carmelo Anthony (basketball; male)


46. Chris Paul (basketball; male)


47. Keyshawn Johnson (football; male) & Kobe Bryant (basketball; male)


48. "Moving the Franchise" (all male anchors)


49. "Yahtzee" (male anchors)


50. Kerri Strug (gymnastics; female)


51. "Talent Search" (male anchors)


52. Globetrotters (basketball; male)


53. Dan O'Brien (track & field; male)


54. "Journalistic Integrity" (male anchors)


55. "Sportscaster Celebrities" (male anchors)


56. "Live on the Set" (predominantly male anchors; female anchor at end)


57. Michael Andretti (car racing; male)


58. Gordie Howe (hockey; male)


59. "Reading Lips" (all male anchors)


60. "Makeup Buddies" (all male anchors)


61. "Athletes Bribing" (multiple male athletes from different sports)


62. George Mikan (basketball; male)


63. Mary Lou Retton (gymnastics; female)


64. "Tour" (all male anchors)


65. "One Track Mind" (predominanty male anchors; female anchor at start)


66. "Shoot" (female anchor)


67. "Paws" (all male anchors)


68. "Serious Journalism" (all male anchors)


69. "Write Your Own Stuff" (all male anchors)


70. "Sweet Science" (predominantly male anchor; short appearances by a female anchor)


71. "Potty Talk" (male anchor)


72. "Memories" (all male anchors)


73. Keshawn Johnson (football; male) & Kobe Bryant (basketball; male)


74. Glenn Robinson (basketball; male)


75. Barry Melrose (hockey; male)


76. Landon Donovan (soccer; male)


77. Jimmie Johnson (car racing; male)

When going through the data set, we find that out of the 77 commercials, women only appear 8 times (10.4%), in some cases in relatively peripheral roles. When looking specifically at athletes, only 3 female athletes are profiled, all 3 of whom represent historically "acceptibly feminine" sports: Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug (both gymnasts) and Maria Sharapova (tennis). One commercial profiles Pat Summit, the famous women's basketball coach from the University of Tennessee. All other commercials featuring athletes have males.

Examining the content of the commercials is also important. For instance, the commercial with Sharapova clearly relies on Sharapova's status as a femininized beauty figure in athletics. And while all the commercials are "presented in deadpan mockumentary style," the humor clearly calls upon dominant notions of heterosexual masculinity -- take for example the commercials that mock femininity among males, such as those in which the male anchors share makeup and mock Richard Simmons as a conditioning coach.

The trends shown here are highly predictable. It is hardly surprising that males are over-represented numerically in the commercials, both as athletes and anchors. Likewise, it is unsurprising that the humor utilized in these commercials so often mocks femininity among males in the sporting world or uses female athletes as sexualized figures.

What we see here in ESPN's "This is SportsCenter" commercials is the typical way that gender is constructed in sport -- patriarchy is reified within an institution historically reserved for heterosexual males.

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Reality Television and Hegemonic Masculinity: Bridalplasty

Seriously, someone should create a sociology blog dedicated entirely to critiquing reality television. I suppose you'd have to be kind of a reality TV-nut, but the content would be limitless. I caught a little bit of a reality TV show called "Bridalplasty" today and couldn't watch much, so correct me if I'm wrong in the show's premise.

From what I could tell, the show revolves around engaged women competing for two things: (1) a paid celebrity-esque dream wedding; and (2) paid plastic surgery to "improve" the way they look for the dream wedding. As with most reality shows, the contestants go through a series of competitions that provoke conflict and drama as winners of competitions move on and losers are dropped.

The show exemplifies hegemonic masculinity working at its best:

• The female contestants seem to truly believe that in order to improve themselves, they must engage in behaviors that actually extend male privilege (e.g., manipulating their physical appearance), an excellent example of false consciousness.


• Symbolically, the leader/host of the show is also female, who represents "ideal" beauty from a traditional western standard (I wonder if the producers are male).


• Rather than challenging these gender roles that obviously value women for their physical appearance, the women are forced to challenge each other (divide and conquer).


• Males make minimal appearances on the show (or at least in the promos), but when they do, they are seen as doctors (high status plastic surgeons) or in clips as future husbands (the men these female contestants are trying to please).


• Heterosexuality is normalized.

Another way of putting it, the show is among the most extreme examples of emphasized femininity -- women heighten the focus they place on physical appearance, are willing to risk their own health in doing so, and further value themesleves through a dream wedding that will last a day. All this in the name of being attractive for their male fiancees.

Enjoy a few YouTube videos advertising the show:













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More Gendered Mobile Phones

I've written a few other entries on the ways that gender is constructed in mobile phone commercials (see here and here). And here is another commercial, clearly relying on gender-role expectations for Net10:



Pretty self-explanatory...


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More Football Violence

Sometimes it's difficult for me to reconclie being a football fan. As you can see in the video, he got up and walked away on his own.



Made me think neckrolls might be appropriate for the NFL.

Sport, Sex, and Cinema: ESPN the Magazine

ESPN The Magazine has a "Movie Spectacular" edition that was released Nov. 29. The edition features a number of stories related to sports films, including pictures of contemporary pro athletes re-enacting iconic images from famous movies.

Some of the pictures include race car driver, Danica Patrick in the movie, "Anchorman," Baron Davis and Terry Kennedy in "Back to the Future," and Tank Johnson, Dhani Jones, and Chad Ochocinco in "The Hangover" (see, below).

Not surprisingly, however, ski racer and Olympic gold medalist, Lindsey Vonn, made the magazine's cover, as she portrayed Sharon Stone's highly sexualized character from "Basic Instinct" back in the early 1990s.

There is not a whole lot to say here, other than this is yet another example of the pathway female athletes can follow if they want to "out-stage" their male counterparts -- by promoting a heightened sexuality. While the other famous athletes do get exposure within the magazine's pages, Vonn graces the cover by showing skin and re-creating a film scene that exudes sexual aggression.

In this constructed combination of sport, sex, and cinema, we see how ESPN -- a media giant in the sporting industry -- markets its magazine to what is likely a predominantly male, heterosexual audience.

Photos via Huffington Post, NYMag.com, and Slashfilm.com.

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ESPN's "Outside the Lines"

Part of our discussion from earilier today - ESPN's "Outside the Lines" (hopefully this video will be available for a week or so).


See also link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaqDKVbstHY

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Permissible Violence: Kobe Bryant, Jimmy Kimmel, and Call of Duty: Black Ops

In 1997, Hutchins and Phillips published an important article in the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, titled "Selling Permissible Violence." The article utilizes Australian rugby to illustrate that standards of violence fluctuate in society. These fluctuating standards of violence are contingent upon the market's commodification of violence, evolving technology and media, and political ideology. And while Hutchins and Phillips's article centers on sporting violence, the concept of permissible violence can be extended to other forms of popular culture, as well as war.

To this end, recently, National Basketball Association (NBA) icon, Kobe Bryant, and television late show host, Jimmy Kimmel, were featured in an XBOX 360 advertisement for the recently released game, "Call of Duty: Black Ops," re-enacting combat in war. Here's the commercial:



Link to commercial here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yzeCsv-qrM

It is important to note a few other dimensions of the commercial. First, it makes a concerted effort to include a very diverse array of additional characters -- men, women, younger people, older people, those from different ethnic and occupational/class groups. This diversity tactic then leads to an ending slogan: "THERE'S A SOLDIER IN ALL OF US." In other words, all of us (supposedly) have the innate capacity and desire to partake in war (or at least buy the video game).

The commercial has generated a small degree of controversy. On ESPN, sports pundits discuss whether or not Bryant's participation in the commercial warrants a response from NBA Commissioner, David Stern:



Bomani Jones hits the nail on the head. With approximately 1 minute left in the video, Jones points out that if Bryant was re-enacting what's portrayed in the video game, Grand Theft Auto (e.g., murder, assaults, prostitution), he would be reprimanded by Commissioner Stern. However, because Bryant, Kimmel and the other actors are re-enacting war against each other, and presumably against American enemies in the game, the portrayed violence is at the very least permissible, and more likely glorified as a kind of American patriotism.

And this is the problem with America's blind fascination with war -- the general public only sees what our media wants us to see. We see the most extreme violence (death) glamorized and commodified in "benign" video games, leaving the public completely misdirected from the realities of war.

Bryant and Kimmel's participation in the commercial, and in turn support of this war-based game, speak nothing to the physical and mental health concerns soldiers (including American soldiers) experience because of war (listen to Terry Gross's fantastic interview for a discussion on soldiers' mental health concerns: Psychologist Craig Bryan: Treating Vets For PTSD).

Likewise, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" speaks nothing to the alleged war crimes that American soldiers have been accused of committing in Iraq and Afghanistan (Leaked U.S. Video Shows Deaths In Baghdad; A Murder Controversy in Afghanistan).

What we see in this commercial, is that war is not just permissible. It is cool. If Kobe Bryant and Jimmy Kimmel can have fun re-enacting war games and show "they have a soldier in them," video gamers should likewise view war-based video games that bring death upon others in fiction uncritically. But in real life, these media blitzes simultaneously and covertly also support American military efforts, without problematizing the tragic outcomes of war on all sides of the battlefield.

Should society be glamorizing war to make money, and turning to celebrities to peddle these products? I wonder, how many of the marketers for "Call of Duty: Black Ops" have been in combat, lost a limb, dealt with severe war-related mental health problems, killed someone, or had a loved one killed?

Photo via ESPN; more from The Orlando Sentinel: ESPN shot down by Call of Duty Black Ops creators over Kobe Bryant ad, Examiner.com: Activision denies ESPN use of COD: Black Ops commercial with Kobe Bryant, 'Call of Duty: Black Ops' video game commercial controversy, Media Bistro: Activision Shoots Down ESPN’s Request To Air Kobe Bryant Commercial.


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