Ryan Kloiber

9/16/16
Let Them Go Where They Want
Its counter to basic human rights (Tracy). The discriminatory law passed by North Carolina
has faced a plethora of criticism. With all the progress that the United States is making in terms of gay
rights, it is shocking that something so oppressing would be put in place. Now, major organizations are
taking their stand on the issue by removing events from North Carolina. In their piece "N.C.A.A. Moves
Championship Events From North Carolina, Citing Anti-Gay-Rights Law, Marc Tracy and Alan Blinder
report the NCAAs decision to move all championship games out of North Carolina. By referencing the
NCAA and many other well-known people and organizations, the authors not only report the story, but
persuade people that the law needs to be removed.
In March of 2016, North Carolina passed a law in March requiring people to use the bathroom of
their gender in public facilities. The large number of people who are against this law believe that it
infringes on the basic rights of the LGBTQ community. Although there has already been a long
conversation before this article was written, the article does address something that can have an impact in
the debate: a major organization removing an event from the state of North Carolina because of the law.
This is crucial for those who are against the law because it may force the hand of the North Carolina
government, who loses a lot of money due to the removal of championship games. This article brings to
light the major effect that this will have on the issue: Mondays decision is sure to have real economic
ramifications, and it could presage further activism by sports leagues against state or local laws they see
as antithetical to their principles or disagreeable to their national fan bases (Tracy). The NCAAs
decision could spark the further removal of games in other sporting leagues, making it a significant action
to add to the ongoing conversation of the North Carolina laws.
Due to the major political impact of the reported event, the authors purpose is more extensive
than just breaking the news to the public. While that is always a purpose for a sports article, this one is
about much more than sports. The main purpose of the article is to convince people that the laws needs to

be removed. With the NCAAs decision as the exigency, the one event that inspired the writing of the
article, the authors are able to voice their opinion on this issue, and use evidence from the NCAA and
other organizations to back them up.
Not only do they address the NCAA, but also the NBAs removal of the 2017 All-Star Game from
Charlotte, and the Atlantic Coast Conference, who is considering removing its championship game from
Charlotte as well (Tracy). Furthermore, the authors quote influential people on their opinions on the issue.
From A.C.C. commissioner John Swofford, On a personal note, its time for this bill to be repealed
(Tracy). By using actions from major organizations and quotes from important people, the authors are
using ethos. Readers will see the big names of the NCAA, NBA, and the ACC, and be more easily
convinced that the laws are discriminatory because some of the biggest sporting leagues in the world
believe so. The authors also use quotes from the opposing viewpoint, in an attempt to ridicule the other
side. The Republican governor of North Carolina did not immediately respond to a request for comment
(Tracy). When a spokeswoman for the Republican Party made a statement, she deflected this issue by
bringing up the Baylor rape case (Tracy). While that is certainly a horrible case, she used it to dodge the
current issue. By quoting her in the article, the authors are looking for readers to ridicule the opposing
side, further proving their point that the laws need to go.
Because Tracy and Blinder are looking to affect political change, the audience of this piece is not
just sports fans, even though the article pertains to sports. Readers would definitely need to have a general
knowledge of what the NCAA is. If readers did not know of the NCAA, this article would have little
purpose to them. So, while a basic understanding of sports is needed for the audience, one does not have
to be big fan of college sports. The audience is anyone who currently has a concurring or neutral opinion
in this argument. If readers agree that the law should be removed, then this article offers more evidence to
support their belief. If readers care about the issue but have not but do not yet have an opinion, this article
could sway their belief. Furthermore, this audience is looking for an opinionated piece on this conflict to
support their existing viewpoint or persuade them to Tracy and Blinders side of the issue. Because this is
a very prominent political issue, many people fit this description of the audience.

Since the audience is not solely sports fan, this is not simply a sports article. Of course, the
exigency of the article was an event in sports. But, the article is also political, as it addresses the ongoing
issue of the North Carolina law. So, the genre is both sports and political, and the authors really did not
have much of a choice on the genre, because they were reporting a sports story that had political
ramifications.
Even though others will view this article as well, a significant percentage of the readers will be
sports fans because the article is based upon sporting news. Because of this, the authors included a design
choice that helps reel in the sport fans to the article. Right after the title, before a word of the article is
displayed, there is a picture of Marcus Paige of the University of North Carolina taking a shot in a 2016
March Madness game that was held in North Carolina:

By doing this, the authors grab the attention of any college basketball fans. This picture most likely
convinced them to continue reading if they were unsure after reading the title. There were other design
choices used to grab readers attention and improve the chances that they read the whole article. First, the
title is in a large font size, bolded, and italicized. This certainly draws a readers eyes right to it, and thus
immediately shows the exigency. As for the text itself, the fonts used is serif, making it easier to follow

along with the large chunks of text. The most interesting design choice is the paragraph length. This is a
very long article, so lengthy paragraphs may get dry and cause the audience to stop reading. However, the
authors keep the paragraph lengths very short, making their point in a very little amount of words. This
causes readers to not get bored throughout the article, and makes it seem that it is not as long as it actually
is.
The authors also make many stylistic choices to make the work very professional. It is written
entirely in third person, that is, they do not once use I or you. Moreover, the punctuation is of a very
professional style; the authors do not use any exclamation points or question marks, rather, they only use
periods to end a sentence. The word choice is also very formal. With the use of words such as
contentious, ramifications, and embroiled, the authors use a very formal diction level, avoiding the
use of informal and slang words (Tracy). And although the paragraphs are short, the length of the
sentences are rather long. This increases the professional style of the piece, as there are very few uses of
short, choppy sentences that would make a text sound informal. Even though this is an opinionated piece,
it is presented very formally. Since the main purpose of the article is to convince people that the laws need
to be removed, this prevents it from being dismissed for being too informal or unprofessional. This article
addresses a very serious issue, so these stylistic choices ensure that this article will appear very
professionally.
The debate over the North Carolina law has been going on for months. And it will most likely go
on for many more months. This article is a miniscule piece of the ongoing argument. However, it gives
those against the law a very strong leg to stand on. With the NCAA showing its disapproval of the law,
those against the law now have a major organization on their side. Tracy and Blinder further support the
NCAAs decision by backing it up with influential quotes and analysis. This work by Tracy and Blinder
can have a real impact in this political conflict, and help those fighting against this law to make a change.

Works Cited:
Tracy, Marc, and Alan Blinder. "N.C.A.A. Moves Championship Events From North Carolina, Citing
Anti-Gay-Rights Law." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Sept. 2016. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.