Last week in class I read the article, "The Pros the Pros would pay to see" by Sports Illustrated (2004). Sports Illustrated asked 600 athletes in baseball, basketball, and football which athlete they would pay to see. The top 5 were Tiger Woods, Barry Bonds, Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Vick, and Serena Williams. It is amazing to me how much different that list would probably be today. Tiger Woods and Serena would most likely still be in the top 5, but I don't know about the other 3. Barry Bonds broke Hank Aarons home run record, but he is accused of lying to a federal jury and using steroids. Michael Vick served two years in federal prison for dog fighting. He was released by the Falcons and lost over one hundred million dollars. Both of those athletes images are severely hurt right now. Finally I don't think Shaq would be on the list because so many other NBA players have surpassed him like Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and DyWayne Wade. I don't even think he's the best center anymore. I would take Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudamire, or Yao Ming.
There were a couple intersting quotes in the article. In one quote Donovan McNabb talks about Michael Vick. Donovan says, "He's got so much ability; he can throw, he can run, but I don't do it as he does. Everybody talks about stats--passing yards, rushing yards--and how he's an exciting player, but the thing about Mike is, he's a winner. Forget the numbers and just look at his record [23-11-1 career]. He doesn't get enough credit for the fact that he's a winner (McCallum, 2004, p. 3). I think it is interesting because now Vick just recently signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and is Donovan McNabb's backup.
Finally there were a few quotes from athletes about Serena Williams. Gerald Wallace says, "I'll pick Serena Williams, but only if she has on that tight little outfit she usually wears (McCallum, 2004, p. 3). Mike McKenzie says, I wouldn't mind paying too see Serena... if she has the leopard suit on (McCallum, 2004, p.3). I agree with all of the athletes about Serena.
There certainly is an irony about the comments made by Donovan McNabb about Michael Vick, especially since Vick has recently been picked up by the Eagles. Your comments about Serena were interesting as well. I recently read that Serena is the leading box office draw in tennis (more than another other woman OR man). That means she is a bigger draw than Andy Roddick!
ReplyDeleteI found the comment about Serena interesting, because I get the feel that they did not interview too many women for this poll. And the men has similar views of wanting to watch a man for skill and wanting to watch a women for her looks. I guess thats the way our society displays our female and male athletes. I can only think of two male athletes who got publicity for the way they looked and that was dennis rodman and john daily. There are a lot of famous male athletes who use sex appeal to attract the public, but I think in more cases than none, the media uses sex appeal through female athletes to gain attention.
ReplyDelete