Wenner discuses the portrayal and perception of athletes as heroes in our society. He explains that our cultures perception of heroes embodies athletes. The historical hero is classified as someone who is viewed as a role model through public values and ideals. Mediated heroes “possess attributes of far less stature than did mythological heroes of ancient time.” So why have the qualifications of a hero changed over time? I truly believe that the media has an outstanding affect on how people view athletes. The media creates the hero, and brings out the qualities that the media knows the public can relate to. If you take the time to think about some of the athletic “heroes” that children look up to today you will notice that some lack the exceptional morality, social responsibility, and intellectual capabilities that the historical heroes contained. Are heroes representative of social values of their time; does heroic characteristics of the “culturally ideal” change with time? Suggested in the reading that “the individual athletes themselves are substantially less important than are the paths to achievement which athletes generically represent.” Are modern heroic athletes necessarily the best? Or are they recognized for their idealistic qualities seen because their athletic skills put them in the spotlight? If an athlete is lacking these idealistic qualities how does one determine if they are a hero or not? According to Smith “some antiheroes are rebels with causes, while others are dropouts convinced that society and human relationships are worthless.” “In some cases, an athlete may be regarded as a hero by some and an anti hero by others.” The last question I pose is do you think there is a difference between a sports hero, sports icon, and a sports celebrity? To me athletes are athletes, its what the media does with them, that makes the public form their heroic opinions.
Posted on behalf of Colleen Donovan
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The qualifications of a hero have changed over time because the world we live in have changed. Culture is now different, and people want that tangible real-life hero versus myth or legend. In terms of athletes, the media plays such a huge role in determining the likeability of an athlete. Sports are such a big part of society that they receive a lot of media attention, and the media can make or break an athlete’s reputation. Certain players such as Barry Bonds and Terrell Owens are hated amongst fans because of their relations with the media. In the case of athletes as heroes, these players need to have both a good reputation with the media and longstanding career. Certain players that come to mind are Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods (both mentioned in the text), and recently retired Brett Favre.
Heroes change over time, because society changes over time. What the average fan wants changes over time; the skill level of athletes changes, and they all change the perception of a hero. Heroes of old turn into legends, and pave the way for new heroes. One example of this is the Accenture match-play golf tournament. Each bracket is named after heroes of old like Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan, players who have paved the way for Tiger Woods.
Gary Smith stated in the text, “It’s a communal craving, a public aching for a superstar free of anger and arrogance and obsession with self.” In this day and age sports stars come with baggage, and that’s just the time we live in, with the media everywhere, its impossible to be squeaky clean.
Athletes as heroes are not the best role models when compared to fire-fighters, but because they are constantly in the media and the spotlight younger generation emulate them. There is a fine line between hero and celebrity. “the hero was a big man; the celebrity is a big name” quote from the text covers the line between the two. Basically Hero’s are people (athletes that last the test of time) where as celebrities are a name in the moment, and go away when a career is over. Hero’s are Muhammed Ali and Babe Ruth. Celebrities are Allen Iverson and Dennis Rodman.
I agree that heroes and their qualities have definitely changed over time. I believe that there are two things that I believe have changed this. First off, our ideals have changed, and we see heroes as different people. Secondly, I think that the media has played a huge part in this as well.
In our society we strive to be like celebrities, whether they are actors, authors or athletes. We all have someone who we look up to and strive to be like. In our society today, it is a lot easier for us to look up to people who actually exist than a mythical character. Athletes are the ones who actually exist. They are the ones who pervade our society today. Ask a 10 year old boy who his hero is, he's going to respond with someone like Tom Brady, Arnold Palmer or Babe Ruth. He's not going to come straight out and say that his hero is the mythical creature Zeus.
Athletes from this century are obviously not mythial, but even posthmously, they pervade our lives through cinema, books, television and the news. Granted there is a difference between heroes and celebrities, and there needs to be a place to draw a line. Our society will ultimately determine what dictates that line.
The media is another aspect that has changed our ideas of heroes over the years. In my mind, heroes that are athletes first and foremost must be talented at what they do. However closely behind that, I believe that they need to be good-standing the media. Many players have good relationships with the media, and to me they are much more heroic in their sports and the world of athletics than an athlete who has a bad relationship with the media, or has been covered negatively in the media. There is middle ground however. Roger Clemens in the past was a very heroic player. He excelled beyond belief on the baseball field. He never had any major issues until recently when he became the center of a scandal that was one of the most publicized stories through all sorts of media. Is he still a hero? That's something for his fans to decide.
The media changes our perception of everything. I agree with Colleen that an athlete is an athlete. They obviously got to where they are because of their skill. How the media chooses to portray them is how we perceive them. This is a scarey thought to me because we don't personally know all of our favorite athletes, so we rely on the media to get to know all about them. As explained by Wenner in Chapter 9, "as a general rule, members of a society are separated from their heroes by time, space, and social class and therefore know their heroes only through stories, images, and other forms of information."
He also says, "Without communication, there would be no hero." Think about it, if there was no type of media at all, how would we know who our sports heros are other than phsycially going to see a game. This just proves the role and huge impact that media plays in the sports world. Even by going to see a game live, other than being a fan at the game and admiring all of the team members who made spectacular plays, that is all you would know about them. You would not know any personal information, like overcoming a serious illness or any of the charity work they are involved in. Athletes are marketed in a very different way these days than a long time ago. They really are made into "mini celebrities" by the media.
Also in the chapter in Wenner, they talk about Michael Jordan and describe him as being a commodity. It says that "MJ is the most popular marketing commodity in the world; he is the sports figure most able to persuade consumers to buy products." There is no doubt that this absolutely has some truth to it. Everyone knows who Michael Jordan is. Even poeple who know nothing about basketball or sports in general know who Michael Jordan is. That fact alone makes him so easy to market to consumers. I believe that this is because the media over the years have portrayed him as a sort of "basketball god." Because of this I think that he set the trend for athletes playing a strong role in the marketing for many companies.
The word hero takes on many meanings. It depends on what the interpreter perceives the word to define. Some people view a hero as someone who has died for a great cause, others view the term hero to mean someone who has done something outstanding.
I personally do not think that the word hero should be used when describing an athletes achievement ON the field. Jackie Robinson was a hero in the sense that he paved the way for Black baseball players. I feel he is a hero in that sense as the first black baseball player. If someone wants to state how amazing a player is and his ability to play the sport at a level that few have played at, then judge them by how many awards (gold gloves, hall of fame, cy young) they have received.
They are born with the gift of being able to be among the best athletes in the world. This is not a hero. I hero is someone, who in my mind, has giving up something for the greater good of the people. An athlete certainly does not give up much, if anything they gain a tremendous amount more.
A sports hero to me, seems wrong, I would use the word "legend" since that is a term that, to me, defines someone that will never be forgotten. This word doesn't mean that he gave up something for someone else. This term represents his ability as an athlete.
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