Athletes creating “sites to behold”: new technologies, gender disparities

I came across an interesting blog post by Marie Hardin from Sports, Media and Society last week. In this post, Marie points to an article in the San Diego Tribune which discusses how athletes are using the Internet to take control over their brands.

In this article, the author (Tod Leonard) excellently wrote about how high-profile athletes have embraced the Web as a way to connect with fans and raise their profiles.

Key takeaways: It’s up to the athletes themselves to 1) make the investment and 2) decide how they want to be branded. Subversively, it’s evident that men and women are portrayed differently.

Leonard said,

“In this age when millions of facts are literally available in the palm of our hands, when baseball games can be followed pitch-by-pitch on a computer and football highlights are enjoyed on your phone, top-level athletes and coaches are only beginning to scratch the surface of the Internet’s potential for their career and their lives.”

He’s completely and totally right. As long as that comment is kept to male sports.

Unfortunately, there’s a discrepancy on how male and female athletes are portrayed on the Web, and this article by Leonard is proof that it’s happening.

In the up-front of this article, Leonard mentioned how Tiger Woods – upon learning he had to undergo knee surgery – decided to break the news on his Web site, where bloggers (not surprisingly) picked upon the information and began spreading it faster than the speed of light.

He mentioned his love for Adrian Gonzalez (who blogs regularly) and golfer Pat Perez (whose site “rocks”), and criticized stars like quarterback Philip Rivers for “being quiet” and golfer Phil Mickelson, whose site “just lays there.”

Leonard said there are athletes “who get it” and athletes “who don’t.”

But where it really gets interesting – and credit needs to go to Marie Hardin for pointing this out – is the difference between the sites of male and female athletes. Unfortunately, the sites of females are tending to reinforce some traditional stereotypes about women.

Women’s sites are emphasizing a certain superfluous material and sex appeal – two items that are absent on sites of men (shocker).

In an age where digital communication is on the brink of taking over print media, the athletic industries need to decide how to brand female athletes so that they’re taken seriously.

And at a time when the athletes themselves have control over how their branded, it is their responsibility to demand to be taken seriously.

Women who are leading this movement – individuals like Maria Sharapova and Danica Patrick – are taking the opposite approach, and it’s not leading to a good online presence.

Here’s what Leonard said about race car driver Danica Patrick’s site:

“Take a look at the opening page of the site of IRL driver Danica Patrick (danicapatrick.com), and the racing helmet on her hip is barely noticeable because she’s wearing a sexy, light blue dress with a plunging neckline. There’s a reason for that.”

“The new site is based more on fashion and real life,” said Patrick’s father, T.J., who runs her business affairs. “People know about her racing now. They need to see her as a fashion person. She’s very up on fashion, and we like to promote the regular Danica. Eventually, she won’t be racing and we still have to keep going.”

But why does she need to see her as a fashion person? Is that really the only way they can draw fans? Doesn’t that emphasis demean her achievements as an athlete who has broken gender barriers in a masculine sport?

I mean, yes, she’s beautiful, and she knows how to dress well, but that’s not why she’s famous. She’s famous because she kicks ass at race car driving.

Right now, Patrick’s site gets 1 million visits per year and features the music of up-and-coming female artists and as many red-carpet glamour shots as racing photos.

I think she can do much, much better.

Another example is that of Michellie Jones, “a personable Aussie triathlete” who is “all about the whimsy of the blog.” Leonard mentions that she compulsively takes photos from her iPhone and posts them on her site (gomichellie.com), “no matter how wacky.”

“If I giggle at them, maybe other people will too,” Jones said.

The blogs read like letters to her dearest friends, complete with run-on sentences and bad punctuation.

“Blogs have made it more personal,” Jones said. “People feel like they can connect with you. Some of my blogs are better than others, but if it makes somebody laugh, and if they can relate to you in some way, then you’ve reached the purpose the site was intended for.”

Now, take a look at how the two female athletes were portrayed in this article and then compare it to how Tiger Woods and others were discussed.

Female athletes = sex objects who are superficial and not serious.

Male athletes = cutting edge sports stars who “get it” when it comes to technological advances.

It’s important that this is addressed early in the game before it’s too late.

Her Sports Rounds: The Best of Women’s Sports

Below is my weekly rounds of what’s being discussed in the blogosphere of women’s sports:

16-year-old girl (with a mean knuckleball) is playing professional Japanese baseball. Check it out at Girls Dig Sports (b5 media). Also cross-posted at Girls Can’t What! and Pretty Tough. (I will likely be blogging about this later, too).

Sue Favor surveys foreign players on US college teams – covered at the Women’s Hoops blog.

Mara Yamauchi, a British long distance runner who holds the record for the second fastest time in a marathon amongst British women, is discussed at Right Fielders.

Jennifer discusses her frustration with playing on mixed-gender rec teams on From a Left Wing. (I have to say – I have to agree with her points).

Women Who Serve posted a link to a 2009 guide for the Women’s Tennis Association.

Keri Mikulski discussed her recent trip to Texas to meet professional softball players, including USA Softball gold and silver medalist and the best shortstop in the world, Natasha Watley.

Pat Griffin discussed Jeff Sheng’s Fearless Campus Tour, a traveling photo exhibit of GLBT high school and collegiate athletes, on her LGBT Sports blog.

Over at Sports, Media and Society, Marie Hardin discussed a new book about women’s basketball by by Marie Hardin, titled, “Why She Plays” . The book features interviews with top figures in women’s basketball — including Val Ackerman, Tamika Catchings, Donna Lopiano, and Diana Taurasi.

At the Stanford Women’s Basketball blog, Judy Richter discussed how Stanford’s forward Jillian Harmon is looking to lead the team this year.

At The Final Sprint, editor Adam Jacobs featured post-run interview videos with elite runners Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher.

Apryl Delancey from Women Like Sports, featured a video from the Seattle Majestics, an IWFL team in her area.

Hope you enjoyed! Please be sure to send your links over to me at bciplayedsports@gmail.com to be considered for inclusion the next rounds.

Mary Garber, Thank you

This morning, I read on Marie Hardin’s Sports, Media and Society blog that sports writer Mary Garber died over the weekend at the age of 92.

As far as can be determined, she was the first full-time woman sportswriter at a daily newspaper in the country, and she certainly had the longest career.

Mary Garber is  well-known for saying that her idea of heaven would be “football season.”

Her story should we well-remembered. Her name appears all over the country, including the National Sportscasters and Sportwriters Hall of Fame.

Her footsteps will certainly be followed upon, and her love for sport will never die.

Check out this story on the Winston-Salem Journal.

Just as a side note, what’s sad to me is that this story barely made headlines. If it were the first male sportswriter, it’d be plastered across televisions everywhere.