Hmmm...

Betsy brought up some interesting questions and I'm not quite sure how I feel about all of it but I have a few thoughts. At one time, weren't Jewish people believed to be better at sports than other people? I think I remember learning about that before. So now there has been a shift to African Americans being more athletic. Why the change? I have no clue but it will most likely change again. The idea that they were once bred to be bigger is an interesting idea and I never thought about that before. But not all athletes of color are slave descendants. Plus, if they are better athletes from breeding, why don't more black people become athletes. In my experiences, I have met as many African-American non-athletes as African-American Athletes. So I think that if that was the only reason...well I don't know how to end that sentence but I think I made the point.

In response to Aaron's question. I don't really think that my thoughts about student athletes have changed. The dumb jock stereotypes for me have mainly been aimed at football and basketball. Since we didn't really work with those athletes it is hard to say the ones we did work with changed my perspective. Even though it is ignorant and as a somewhat educated person I should be able to look beyond the preconceptions, I am unable too.

I do disagree with one thing that Aaron brought up though. I don't feel that female athletes are generally seen as being leaders for participating in sports. It seems like a lot of female athletes are stereotyped as being masculine and/or a lesbian. Especially in the media, if a woman plays she's always trying to compete with the boys. That's what I see anyway.