Battle of the Sexes

CONTRIBUTORS:  Julian Enghauser & Sydnee Little

“Being a sports franchise secretary for over 25 years I’ve made a $2 an hour raise but my male counterparts that have been on the job for 5 months have already received a dollar raise and it pisses me off. When will the inequality stop? Unfortunately, I don’t see it happening anytime soon.”

– Rachael Q from Macomb County

Gender inequality in sports has been a long talked about topic due to unequal wage, viewership, opportunities, and behavioral standards. Who suffers the most under these circumstances? Women.

Women have been given the short end of the stick whether it’s in professional or college sports. Sexism and mismatched media coverage, just to name a few are some contributing factors for gender pay gaps.

With men obtaining the majority of top sports jobs, women are still underpaid, undervalued, and expected to uphold a certain behavioral standard. According to The Huffington Post, women are still trying to detach themselves from the values of “femininity.”

Based on reports from Witi, the three major professional sports known to pay gaps between gender is basketball, tennis, and soccer.

Professional

Basketball
In the 2018 season, WNBA (Women National Basketball Association) players will earn on average a salary around $79,000 with a maximum of $115,000 compared to NBA (National Basketball Association) players that start at $500,000. Based on reports by Newsweek , the NBA’s minimum salary is $525,000 whereas the WNBA’s is $38,000. Although a season for the WNBA only has 34 games and the NBA has 82, the WNBA barely breaks even with earnings from sponsorship’s and media coverage. In 2014, 52 NBA players earned more money individually than players of the WNBA combined.

For example, A’ja Wilson will earn a little more than $50,000 compared to DeAndre Ayton who will earn a little over $5 million.

Figure 1. A’ja Wilson (Photo/Twitter).

Tennis 
Tennis is one of the leading sports organizations that have gender equality in regards to pay. When it comes to the four Grand Slam tournaments and or other high-profile events, there are no pay gaps among men and women. For example, after the 2017 U.S. Open Roger Federer and Serena Williams were both paid $4 million and named Australian Open Champions.

Figure 2. Serena Williams (Photo/Pinterest).

However, The New York Times reported that there is a general pay gap as also seen in other workplaces with a difference of $120,624. This means female tennis players only earn about 80 cents for each dollar male tennis players earn.

Soccer
Women soccer players receive $72,000 in salary more than male soccer players but according to The Atlantic, they receive less in everything else. Male Players are awarded bonuses for things like just showing up to a game but women only receive bonuses after they’ve played in 20 friendlies.

Even though women receive higher salaries than men, two of the world’s highest paid stars are male; Cristiano Ronaldo ($108 million) and Lionel Messi ($111 million).

Figure 3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Photo/Forbes).

Figure 4. Lionel Messi (Photo/Forbes).

College
When it comes to college sports/athletes, there is no compensation. Due to there being no compensation for their skills, there are still a few inequalities between men and women coaches and players. At Oakland University the male sports include basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming/diving, and track & field. The female sports include all of the above (except baseball) as well as tennis, volleyball, and dance.

One of the most talked about sports at Oakland University as a whole is basketball. One of the gaps between male and female games is the coverage and attendance. Typically, at female basketball games, the attendance is not even half of the male games.

Kossie McCaskell, a senior at Oakland University, does not play basketball for the school but has grown up playing with friends most of his life. Wanting to know his opinion on gender inequality from a non-professional level, McCaskell says, “there is a lot of inequality between men and women but I don’t see it changing anytime soon.”

Listen Here.

Figure 5. Kossie McCaskell (Photo/Instagram).

Detroit’s WXYZ reporter, Matthew Smith, summarizes that a woman’s hardship within the world of athletic pay is crippled primarily because of her lack of mainstream attention and respect. He believes that having such talents are undermined because their popularity would not earn someone or something as much revenue as males which is very unfair.

Smith states, “it stems from a sexist stigma of the past.” This stigma, however, has carried over to today’s reality, resulting in coaches and the media flocking to men’s talents without really noticing it. Smith adds that there should more ambiguity with the possibility of co-ed teaming on both a college and professional level stating, “it doesn’t have to be co-ed everywhere, but I think the idea of co-ed at least in some divisions and sports, could help burn a bad bridge or two.” There is a noticeable gap between the sexes, and that raising even just awareness, is a bigger leap in a much greater direction.

Listen Here.

Figure 6. Matthew Smith first day back (Facebook/Matthew Smith).

Bryce Meyer, a football assigner in the Ohio Valley area, spoke of the percentages and figured there are only about 1 of 100 officials that are females or alone one percent. However, Meyer stated, “I feel as though recently there are more females that are interested in officiating football.”

Hockey is the sport that he did not believe any females officiate in the National Hockey League, but he did say females officiate women’s hockey in the Olympics. In regards to pay, he stated that everyone starts out equally but the longer you stay in the league, the more you make. It is unlike athletes playing the sport, where males make a lot more than females do. The bottom line is being an official, no matter your gender, you have the opportunity to make an equal amount of money.

Listen Here.

Figure 7. Bryce Meyer

100 people were interviewed from different areas, asking their opinion on if men and women are treated equally in regards to pay. It was concluded that 33 out of 50 men agreed that men and women are treated equally in regards to pay, while only 21 out of 50 women agreed. Only 17 out of 50 men felt men and women are not treated equally in regards to pay, while 29 out of 50 women agreed. With this data, it shows that the majority of men feel as though they are treated equally in pay because they are making the most money. If they disagreed, there would be a possibility of change that could result in equal pay or less money for them.

Figure 8. Results from 100 people regarding equal pay between men and women in sports.

She Has To Write and Plan!

Ariel loves writing in her planner and you cannot blame her.  It is very useful and convenient to keep tract of anything and everything.

Check out this short article to see why having a planner is important everyday.  I am not one that carries a planner on me at all, but from talking with Ariel and reading the article, this is defiantly something I want to start doing because I am forgetful and feel a planner would help me stay more organized.

A Great City, but An Average Website

Sterling Heights is a great city that all can enjoy, with a lot to do.

There is little doubt the city of Sterling Heights is one of the nicest cities in Michigan.  There are beautiful buildings, parks and schools.  There are a lot of job opportunities as well.  The only real issue someone might have is trying to navigate their way through the site.  For starters there are 11 ‘main pictures’ when you go to the site.  11 different people will get 11 different pictures when they see the home page.  2 pictures that were extremely dull and unexciting were a simple picture of a firetruck as well as a picture of a bridge.  I find that to be boring and, in a sense, pointless.

It was hard to find a picture of City Hall, the library, court and even the police station.  I am sure many people are not specially looking for these places, however, I know some people are, so I would be frustrated if I could not find them easily.  There was a picture of the city being around for 50 years, so I enjoyed that, but other then that picture the 10 other ones did not do a lot for me.  There were a few photos of people in them, but they really were not doing a whole lot other than taking up space.  I found the homepage to be simple, but I love simple.  There are links at the top of the page in bigger writing, so it would be easy to navigate your way.  It seems about anyone could find their way around, so I find that to be important.

The links are also broad, which some people might enjoy, and I am one of those people.  If you have your clicker above the links it then has a lot of different choices, you can choose from.  I find this to be easier than one long list and trying to go from there.  On the right-hand side of the homepage it shows the social media platforms.  This is in a green box, which is also helpful.  For the most part the rest of the site is in blue and white, so seeing that green really sticks out.

In my opinion, I would have no more then 3 photos that you could scroll through.  3 is a good and simple number.  There isn’t too much information that it is overwhelming, but there is enough to get a good idea as to what is happening.  I would have 1 photo of a line of children smiling.  Who doesn’t like to look at smiling children?  If the city has a tie dying class, for example, you could have the kids line up with their shirts on.  It promotes the city and makes the city look good by showing these classes.

I would also have the City Hall building, with the address, so it is easy to find, and you do not have to go looking for it.  The last picture does not really matter what it is.  You could put your most beautiful scenic view of the city or if you want to put an ad promoting an event you could do that as well.  With just a few small changes a great city will also have a great website.

A waterfall sprinkles down into a pond in Sterling Heights on Sep. 29, 2018.  A picture like this on the cities homepage is a great idea as it’s appealing to the eye.

A picture of City Hall in downtown Sterling Heights on Sep. 26, 2018.  Another great option for the homepage because it is a close view and you can see the address.

A Man and a Fighter

Uncle Greg was a family man, who loved his 5 children.  He was a terrific father, husband, son, brother, uncle and friend.  Uncle Greg was a terrific person and all around great guy.

What I thought was something great to say:

Football players, UFC fighters, boxers and Greg Guitar.  What do these 4 different kind of people all have in common?  They are all strong and powerful people.  They fight to the end and never give up until the clock hits double 0.  Greg Guitar fought and fought and then fought some more.  He fought until his clock hit double 0.  He left a great legacy behind.  5 outstanding children, the oldest being 12 and the youngest just 4 years old.  Beaumont hospital just hearing the soft voices of loved ones, “It’s O.K. Greg, you can go.  Feel better.  We love you.  We will watch your kids.  We love you, Greg.”  That pit in your stomach never goes away.

What turned out to be something great:

The thoughts I had going through my head were very emotional.

I was able to learn a lot from doing my note card story.  I was interested to find out that I had emotion in my voice when I was able to speak.  I was reading what I wrote from my paper and it sounded monotone, but after I was comfortable simply saying what I wanted to say it sounded so much better and a lot more heart felt.

I noticed I had some pauses without any sound, so I was able to delete some of that.  I wanted to keep some of it because I believe that added emotion to my story and I believe emotion is key to telling a story, especially a story you want your audience to feel.  I think I was able to convey that emotion to anyone who decides to listen.

Using language that everyone can understand and not stumbling through your words like I did the first time I recorded myself was also important.  The way you speak can make or break the way your audio is heard.  The background noise is also important.  No noise or noise that flows with the audio is ideal.

All in all, audio is very key to a great story and if used correctly can really enhance your thoughts and feelings.

Too Long?

The Wheels on the Car go Round and Round.  Then the plane goes up and down.

On Tuesday September 25, students from Oakland University were asked questions about commuting to and from school.  These students wanted to know the opinion of other students, and the reason behind why they commute to school.

Check out this 2016 map that shows most public college students enroll in an university within 50 miles from their house.

A range of 7 questions were asked:

1. What’s your name and major?
2. What’s your class standing?
3. Do you live on or off the campus?
4. Do you live at home or rent locally?
5. Where do you commute from (city)?
6. How long is your commute?
7. Why did you decide to live off campus?

The number of students who answered the questions were 67 in total, were 1 freshman, 9 sophomores, 14 juniors, 32 seniors, and 10 senior +.  Majors ranged from communication, business, nursing, engineering and more, which gave us a better pool of students. There was a large spectrum of commuters.  There were some students on campus, but many lived off campus.  The closest off campus were Rochester, Auburn Hills, and Pontiac which is 10-15 minutes away.  The farthest were Romeo, Armada, and Heartland which range from 40-60 minutes away.

It was much cheaper, and I wanted more privacy than the dorms,” Senior Liz Starnes said. “I would have lived in the on-campus apartments, but the age cut off is so early I wouldn’t have been able to live there until my senior year.  Also, the food options were very difficult for me as someone who was trying to get healthy.”

Here is an article of pros and cons when living at a college dorm.

On November 4, 2018 I was able to ask groups of students from Notre Dame College, Ursuline College, Lakeland Community College and Lake Erie College in Ohio, how far they commute to school every day.  There was no where near as many students that were asked in Ohio, but it was interesting to see if there were differences or if it was like the students at OU.  I was comparing if there are major or minor differences in a different part of the country or if there was no difference at all.

The number of students who answered the questions were 20 in total, 3 freshman, 7 sophomores, 4 juniors and 6 seniors.  There was a big number of commuters.  There were some students that decided to live on campus, but the majority lived off campus.  The closest cities off campus were Mayfield Heights, Kirtland, and Painesville which is only 5 minutes away.  The farthest were Youngstown, Pittsburgh, and there was even 1 from Los Angeles.  Youngstown and Pittsburgh are upwards of an hour or 2.  LA is a 4-and-a-half-hour plane ride.

The number and percentage of students that drive less then 1 hour, 1-2 hours and more then 2 hours to school everyday on Nov. 4, 2018.  Clearly, most students want to stay as close to home as possible.

“As much as I wanted to live on campus, I know it made sense financially for me to commute and stay at home,” according to Jane Katz a sophomore from Youngstown, Ohio.

“I knew I wanted to leave the big city and try to move into a smaller college town, which is why I moved from LA to attend college in Ohio,” senior Nick Poole said.

“Staying home and going to college was my plan all along and that never changed from my sophomore year of high school.  I wanted to save money for a house or apartment after I graduated from college.  I am a senior and a little over a semester away and in the process of searching for homes, so I could not be happier,” per Michelle Yang.

From a parents point of view they might be able to see differences from their children living at home or in a college dorm.

 

Go and Vote!

Vote.  Your voice matters.

On Oct. 30, 2018 I attended a seminar regarding Proposal 2 and Proposal 3 for the upcoming election on Nov. 6, 2018.  I am not one that is very much into politics because I believe fights start before people shake hands.  There is nothing wrong by wanting to talk about politics, but I prefer to stay away from the topic.  This blog post will be from a neutralist point of view and will strictly be about what I learned from the seminar and not suggesting whether I agree with the proposals or not.

Proposal 2 is all about gerrymandering.  According to the speaker, Arnold Berry, gerrymandering is “politicians manipulate election maps to pick their voters to help them get re-elected.”  This seminar was all about voting yes on Proposal 2.  Some of the points they made included taking power away from politicians and lobbyists and gives it back to the people.  The speaker put a quote from the Michigan Constitution- Article 1, Section 1, that read, “All political power is inherent in the people.”

Proposal 3 is about giving people more time to register to vote, per Mickey Booth, who gave an amazing lecture.  Everyone who is a United States citizen is entitled to vote on Tuesday with 1 major exception.  That exception being you must be registered to vote 30 days prior to the election.  Proposal 3 would allow people up to the day and even including the day to be registered to vote.  If you renew your license or have to go to the Secretary of State for any reason you would be automatically registered to vote unless you decline the option.

The next 4 facts that I learned were astonishing and it was truly hard for me to believe.  To start, roughly 92 million eligible Americans did not vote in the 2016 presidential election.  Next, over 2.8 million Michiganders of voting age did not vote in the 2016 presidential election.  Third, Michigan’s restrictive voting system creates barriers to voter participation.  The last fact I learned was that Michigan was once an innovator in voting, but today we lag behind in voting access and election security.

To some it matters if you are a Democrat or a Republican, to others not so much.  Regardless, we should be informed what Proposals 2 and 3 are before we go and cast our vote.  It is up to us, as Americans, to go into the polls and cast your vote for whatever you prefer, and I promise I will not judge.

Even though you may have missed this election to vote register here for the elections in the future to have your voice heard.

Football Insiders

Everyone who has ever played fantasy sports knows the feeling of coming away with a big W at the end of the week.

I am a very big sport fan, so I listened to The Fantasy Footballers Podcast from Spotify for two weeks.  This is a podcast from ESPN.  I was not sure what to expect when listening to a podcast since this was my first one.  I figured it would be like watching TV, but without the picture.  To my surprise, that is exactly what it was like.  What I liked about the podcast was I felt I could do something else while listening to it.  I am sure this would not be the case for every podcast because I believe there would be some that are much more serious, and you would need your full attention to get the most out of it.

In my case, you could be half paying attention and still get a lot out of the podcast.  The reason I chose this specific podcast was because I am big into fantasy football, so I figured it was worth my time to check it out.  If I was asked the question about listening to this again more than likely I would say no.  I feel I can figure the stuff out that the podcast had on my own.

I know I can figure it out in a lot less time then an hour, which was how long the podcast lasted.  I would like to listen to a different podcast about sports because I know sports would be able to peak my interest and I would go into the podcast with an open mind.  If you do not know about a topic, listening to a podcast can really inform you about that topic.

Check out this link to learn more about fantasy football.

A Family Man: Xavier Hershovitz

Everything is not be easy, but talking to Xavier you would never know that.

Xavier Hershovitz is a family guy.  He lost his father at a young age, but that doesn’t mean he has forgotten him.  He remembers sitting in his living room laughing at the dumbest stuff, but that stuff is something he will never forget.

To contact Xavier please visit his personal website.

Here is the recent conversation I shared with Xavier.

The New OC

Now OU students have a comfortable place to sit and relax, while doing some homework.  They also have various food options to choose.

Recently Oakland University has undergone major construction in the Oakland Center.  The construction started April 6, 2017.  I went in and took photos of the new place to eat, study, talk with friends and just about everything else the new OC has to offer.  There are rooms to study in as well as banquet and meeting rooms for the general public.  I asked different students what they thought of the new place and there were mixed reactions.  Most said they really liked it, but others said it was no big deal.

Max Silk fiercely looks over his homework before class on Oct. 23, 2018 in the Oakland Center.  He is able to enjoy a table to himself in the new OC.

Andrew L said, “I think it is really cool how modern it looks now.  I have been a student here at Oakland for 4 years now and to see the changes are pretty awesome.”

Another student, Mike T stated, “I like how there are more places to sit because there used to not be many and it would be a challenge to find one.  I also enjoy the new food choices there are now.”

A look from the back of the OC on Oct. 18, 2018 as some students walk in and others walk out.  The official ceremony is set for Friday, Oct. 26 at 11:00 am.

“Sure it looks good and it is an improvement, but that has got to be the really my tuition has gone up every semester I have been here.  After I graduate I will not have to look at or be in the OC ever again, so this really does not do me any good.  I have tickets at the new Little Caesars Arena and I compare it to the new OC.  LCA and the OC are very alike.  They are both new and modern, but they are expensive and they are not worth what I am paying,”  Dan Y said.

Stephanie Petree smiles while doing homework in the new and improved OC Friday, Oct. 18.  Petree is a senior at OU with a major in communication and a minor in digital media production.

It is split and everyone has very valid and important points.  For freshman and sophomores it makes sense for them to be happy with all the improvements.  For juniors and seniors it makes sense for them to be a little upset that their tuition has increased for this.  It did not increase by only $10, but closer to $25 or $30.

The new OC is set for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, October 26 at 11:00 am.  To RSVP:

Click Here

 

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

Twitter: For Both the young and the old.  No matter your age anyone and everyone can use those thumbs to tweet.

I decided to choose Twitter for my social media network because I thought it would be the easiest to navigate my way through.  Not having any social media, it was hard to choose which one to try.  To be honest I am not positive how I chose my account name.  I just so happened to look at the icon and it had my name @guitar_storm.  I wasn’t sure how to set it all up, but I am happy I was able to have a name that makes sense.  My profile picture is something that just says, ‘guitar hero’ and I like it because it is very neutral and says a little bit about me.  The content of my posts was meant to be very calm, but with a very powerful message.

We need to voice our opinions and say how important it is for our roads to be safe and reliable because some of the roads in Michigan are not.  Probably because I am new to social media I do not have any followers, so unfortunately there hasn’t been any interaction with anyone on Twitter.  I look at it to see if there have been any retweets, but sadly that hasn’t happened yet.  I learned that to interact with more people I need to be a little aggressive in the fact of going out of my way to try and reach people.  Making conversation with people about a topic you are not familiar with will help expand your knowledge and maybe even expand your network as well.

A great foundation you can learn more about.  There is an endless amount of information you can learn if you look for the right material.

To do something differently I would put myself out there and say what do I have to lose.  Right away I would ask around and do some research to find out who the best people are to talk to about this important topic.  You could also do this with other important issues the world is facing.  I know other journalists and news organizations would compare much better than I do because for some this is their life work and they put everything they have into this.  They also have a lot of experience with this platform whereas I have none.  As I have said, I think what is most valuable is someone’s time.  People do not always have a lot of free time, so if you can make the most out of that time, it is very important to capitalize on it.

 

This Twitter logo from Oct. 9, 2018 has been around for years and does the company justice.  People know what it is when they see it.

This photo was taken from seeklogo.com