Trujillo

Troy Maychuk
Sport Journalism
Pat Gordon
11/20/13

In this article, Nick Trujillo discusses the gender differences in the present day sports world. Trujillo also focuses on the picture of Nolan Ryan that was painted by the media. Nolan Ryan was touted as the absolute model for a dominant male athlete. Ryan pitched in the MLB for 25 years and gained the title “power pitcher” as the media used him as a scale to measure the masculinity and performance of others. It is very easy to see this in mainstream media, for women I feel like even more so. Women judge themselves against what the media provides as the ideal shape and size of what a ‘good’ woman should look and act like. For men sports provide an enormous influence to youth especially.

Rich, powerful athletes in perfect shape has become the ideal masculine model, the standard by which all others are measured. Ryan was also famed a modern day ‘cowboy’ furthering his male prowess and solidifying him in the hearts of true blue Americans. Ryan was basically a ‘good old boy’ and became the absolute pinnacle of manliness. Hegemonic culture dominates sports media- perfect example that comes to mind is lingerie football where women dressed in scant underwear tackle each other and emulate a standard football game. The media portrays these events as more of a soft core porno than a legitimate game. The cycle perpetuates itself because of the dominant male figure that is IDOLIZED in modern day media.