Blog #4

Kennedy, K. (2004). Before Every Game I .. Sports Illustrated, 101(23), 40-41. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Before Every Game I ...

Blog #4

Hello again,

I am very excited about the next article I am about to summarize and analyze. It deals with “before every game I.” It is a fun based research that is less technical and more fun. It was written in sports illustrated.

“This article looks at 4 different NFL players who talk about what they do before each game. It is a great way to see what its really like before a game in the NFL. I feel like this could be very beneficial to my research because there is a lot of variety when it comes to pregame ritualistic tendencies. Ahman Green talks about watching a walter payton highlight tape before the game. He says it helps get him ready and focused for what he has to accomplish on the field. Sammari Role wears the same florida state tshirt every night before a game. He hasn’t washed it and it reminds him of a feeling he wishes to maintain. Tommie harris writes scriptures of psalm on his nose to protect him and help with the game. Shaun Alexander calls his brother 3 hours before every game to go through rules that they have came up with.

All of these rituals are fun and exciting. I feel like by looking at this article I have a sense of how to professionally write about rituals and sport. I want to imply what the author did within the material and his writing style.

Travis

Blog #3

Light, R. (2000). From the Profane to the Sacred: Pre-Game Ritual in Japanese High School Rugby. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 35(4), 451. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Blog #3

Hey everyone, its me again. My research is going extremely well and I feel like my research project is going to be very insightful and interesting. Using different sports and information will help me get the feel of what I want to complete within my research.

“This article analyzes a different sport within my research, Japanese Rugby. Just coming back from England, I have grown to love rugby and what it represents as a sport. It is very physical and has a lot to offer. This case study does a great job of getting behind the scenes and taking a long look at Japanese pre-game rituals. The rituals were performed in a Japanese way but the researcher claims that they seem to be quite similar as to western sports players “suggesting that they also express and confirm dominant local values and mark rugby as a discrete cultural practice.” This was a great and interesting research topic that chose to go outside the boundaries of Japanese rugby but stay close to home.”

I feel that the researcher did a great job relating pregame rituals to western places. It really made me feel like the Japanese are quite similar to everyone else. This is something that I hope to be able to complete in my report. To demonstrate either a closeness or distance of english basketball players compared to American. I feel like this really keeps the audience involved because you are talking about them.

Travis

Blog #2

Brevers, D., Dan, B., NoeL, X., & Nils, F. (2011). Sport Superstition: Mediation of Psychological Tension on Non-Professional Sportsmen's Superstitious Rituals. Journal of Sport Behavior, 34(1), 3-24. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Blog #2

Hi Bloggers,

It has been a while for me and I have recently switched topics. My project now deals with pregame rituals within an english basketball team.

Sport Superstition: Mediation of Psychological Tension on Non-Professional Sportsmen's Superstitious Rituals.

“This study does a great job reasearching the different genders and aspects of superstitious rituals within sport. The number and kind of rituals were studied within the people participating. The results showed that superstitions were linked with the person’s identity and that a constant use of the ritual seemed apart of them. By doing the ritual, athletes before a match seemed to feel better about themselves and help ease the psychological tension that sports have on many of us. It was also apparent within the results that the Ritual was more important when a big game or difficult match was coming up. It was concluded that people were using rituals as a psychological placebo.”

I am excited to use this information within my research. I am interested to see if I gather the same results and feelings that other subjects have experienced.

Introverts, Extroverts and Achievement in a Distance Learning Environment

Offir, Baruch, Rachel Bezalel, and Ingrid Barth. “Introverts, Extroverts, and Achievement in a Distance Learning Environment.” American Journal of Distance Education 21, no. 1 (2007): 3-19. http://web.ebschohost.com.ezproxy.mnsu.edu/ehost/detail (accessed Mar. 15, 2011).

The purpose of this study was to help educators learn to identify in advance those students who may require additional instructional support. The one-size-fits-all approach is not appropriate since there are many variables that play into how a student learns. The researchers seeks to find out how student characteristics affect the way they learn in a D2L environment.

Overcoming Student Retention Issues in Higher Education Online Programs

Heyman, Errin. “Overcoming Student Retention Issues In Higher Education Online Program.” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration 14, no. 1 (2011): http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla (accessed Mar. 15, 2011).

This article compares outcomes in online versus face-to-face courses. It cover topics such as student self-discipline, instructor engagement and response time in courses. After conducting a Delphi study (which takes place in rounds), the three themes that stood out for researchers were: 1) student support and connection with the institution 2) quality of interaction between faculty and students 3) student self-discipline.