Aaron Barokas

Fishbowl 1
February 19th, 2023

Fishbowl

How does player performance determine their manhood?

When looking at player performance in sports, statistics are often the driving

factor of who gets paid, and who gets played. In the article “The Televised Sports

Manhood Formula”, it talks quite a bit about players' play and how it affects their

image and outlook.

These ideologies of men being the superhero figure in sports, unfortunately

deteriorates the persons image, and essentially lets down the viewers when they

can’t perform Superman tasks. In the article specifically, it talks about how

players are described as “hesitant” when they aren’t being aggressive and mean

like they are “supposed” to be. This is obviously very incorrect as there is no man

in society or sports who fits into the “perfect man” figure.

With our society and the power of social media, I think athletes are at a tough

spot. Everyone fan of a “superhero” player wants to see them making the biggest

hit or making the most noise on their playing field, but we often forget these

athletes are humans just like us and have feelings as well. They have bad days
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Fishbowl 1
February 19th, 2023
as well, and we can’t expect them to perform exactly the way we want every

time.

What are the pros and cons of the commodification of certain teams,

players, or spectacles?

In my mind, commodification is the act of turning something into an item that can

be bought and sold. This certainly comes with pros and cons. For me, I think pros

of commodifying athletes and their teams is the simple fact that fans can be

closer to their team or athletes they support.

With social media, we already have a pretty good insight on our favorite athletes

and what they like to do on and off the field. But being able to buy their jersey or

a team issued hoodie will always grow the love and representation of your

favorite team!

Oftentimes, people want the respect from their peers that they may have been a

fan of a team first, or they are more of a Superfan than others in their community.

Commodification helps these individuals as they can continue to support their

team on and off the field whether it’s purchasing tickets or merchandise. I think
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Fishbowl 1
February 19th, 2023
commodification can become dangerous for athletes as they cannot always live

up to the expectation that fans set out for them. As I said, in my previous

question, these athletes are all human and make mistakes just like everyone

else. Commodification can definitely take away the human aspect from a player

as they are a part of a bigger organization that they need to perform for.

How is the idea of a real man flawed?

Growing up in a society were boys are supposed to be tough, wear certain

colors, and act in certain way, we tend to believe and fall into these ideologies

from a young age. Unfortunately, we have been taught wrong the entire time. An

individual shouldn’t be held to a certain standard on how they should act, dress,

or live their life in society.

Although we love our favorite, sports teams, athletes, and organizations, a lot of

these aspects in our life have pushed standards that a certain man needs to live

up to if you want to have a chance. The concept of this is severely outdated and

needs to be changed! The box of a real man is a flawed system that doesn’t

allow for adaptation in societies and the world around us when in reality, it is

changing daily and it’s for the better.

Aaron Barokas
Fishbowl 1
February 19th, 2023
Can we become better as a society by accepting someone who isn’t a “real

man”?

This class has really opened my eyes to the misconceptions about what a real

man is and how flawed the system truly is. Being able to watch Don Mcpherson

talk about misconceptions even at the professional level was really fascinating.

One part of it that really stuck out to me was when he talked about the GM and

owner of the team pulling him in to their office to discuss him retiring. In their

eyes, he was letting them down as he wasn’t able to keep gutting out the

treacherous work his body was being crushed by. “We brought you in and paid

you to play a lot for us”. Don talked about how them saying that and not caring

about him as a human off the field was one of the reasons he began his journey

discussing issues like this with men my age.

Your gender doesn’t define how you need to act or how tough you need to be,

and fortunately I think our society is beginning to realize that. I’ve touched on it in

a prior question, but social media will be a huge driver to us breaking the real

man narrative.

Everyone wants to follow their favorite athletes and mold themselves like them,

but I think (and this may be controversial) until a superstar athlete who’s already

in the spotlight comes out and speaks against masculinity we won’t see much
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Fishbowl 1
February 19th, 2023
change. I think it’s so unfair for athletes to be drowned out of the picture because

they come out or become vulnerable online, so having an athlete with some

serious fame start discussing these issues on their highly populated platforms we

won’t see a ton of change in the near future.