The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Opinion
6 — Wednesday, June 29, 2022
BRANDON COWIT
Managing Editor
Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@michigandaily.com
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.
VANESSA KIEFER
Editor in Chief
Think about a time when you’ve
heard a comment about college
athletes not going to school “for
school.”
Maybe,
instead,
you
know someone who has been
disincentivized from continuing
athletics in college because they
“need to grow up” and “be realistic”
about their future. All these phrases
and countless others are unfairly
thrown at hopeful athletes working
hard to turn their dreams into
reality. That’s because for decades
athletes were split into two camps:
those with professional prospects
and those without them. Today,
however, the realm of amateur
athletics and sports business is
bustling with opportunity, even
for those who lack the skill and
athleticism to be a professional
athlete. Job openings for regional
sports agents, sports economists,
sports lawyers and the numerous
other opportunities created in this
particularly volatile time for the
NCAA provide sprawling pathways
of career potential for ex-athletes,
non-athletes
and,
especially,
student athletes.
In last year’s LSA Student
Government election, hundreds
of students voted in support of
creating a sports management
minor, with 75 of those students
saying
they
would
enroll
in
the offering outright. This is
significant because students who
are not even enrolled in the School
of Kinesiology, which has a sports
management major and would be
the potential minor’s parent school,
are willing to sign up in droves. This
trend seems destined to continue.
A series of rulings in name, image
and likeness (NIL) court cases
provided a watershed moment
in 2021, where athletes became
able to use their own names for
business partnerships. From local
car dealerships to cryptocurrency
auctions, NIL has opened the
floodgates for both the financial
prospects of college athletes and
an explosion of labor demand for
those facilitating this new fixture
of collegiate athletics.
The University of Michigan,
as a true microcosm of the new
NCAA landscape, has recently
made many sports management
classes available to students. These
classes often focus both on projects
specifically designed for navigating
NIL’s effects on marketing and on
incentivizing boundless creativity
in maximizing NIL benefits to
all stakeholders. Even alumni are
swiftly organizing NIL offerings
for athletes.
Interest in the sports industry
has
even
spilled
into
LSA
undergraduate programs through
Sports and Economics, a new
upper-level
economics
elective.
With more national media coverage
dedicated to NIL deals, additional
course offerings outside of the
School of Kinesiology will be
essential to the subject’s complete
study.
It is not all sunshine and roses
yet, as the University clearly has
a shortage of course offerings
compared to the immense student
demand for sports-related study.
However, our School of Kinesiology
was still rated the second-best
college for sports management in
the country — despite not offering
a sports management minor at all.
It’s even easy to show a path for
how a sports management minor
could easily be organized. The
minor could begin with SM 203, an
introductory course already offered
by the School of Kinesiology, and
could continue with any number
of the 200-level, 300-level or
400-level
courses
available
to
sports management majors. This
supplemental
program
offering
would be immensely valuable to
anyone, including student athletes,
seeking to tailor their studies to
their occupational aspirations.
The good news is that the
University seems to be making an
effort for both its student athletes
and sports management-related
studies as a whole. Athletic Director
Warde Manuel has professed a
focus not only on navigating NIL’s
effects but also on the need for an
inextricably linked advancement
of education for student athletes.
What is better for helping equip
student athletes with professional
skills
tailored
for
the
sports
industry than expanding the course
offerings and degree programs
available to them? Additionally,
with greater investment in sports
management studies, non-athletes
studying disciplines adjacent to the
sports industry (such as economics
or business) could increasingly
study the effects of NIL, helping the
University truly become the face
of sports management education
around the globe. The University
has both the resources and an
interested
student
population
sufficient enough to make a sports
management minor and ascend
beyond to new academic frontiers.
Student athletes who dedicate
themselves to their craft can have
a future in sports beyond being
an athlete. Using their time as
students, or even returning to a
familiar campus, can mold passion
into a tangible set of skills with
which to build a lifelong career in
the familiar realm of sports.
The numbers are clear regarding
sports
management.
With
the
financial prospects in the sports
industry
increasing,
especially
with the advent of NIL at the
college level, it’s no wonder why
the interest in its study is growing
abundantly; the onus is now on the
University to give the people what
they want.
QUIN ZAPOLI
Editorial Page Editor
Do personality tests really
know us?
The rise of sports management in the
age of NIL
I
f you were to ask me what
kind of dessert I am, I would
probably say a chocolate chip
cookie. When it comes to seasons, I
am obviously autumn. I also belong
in a quaint ranch-style home, am
destined to marry a Taurus and
should definitely eat steak for dinner
tonight. These facts have been
determined by my various choices
on the entertaining black hole that is
Buzzfeed Quizzes. From my choices
on what food I would like to have at
each meal to my dream vacation, this
website can seemingly figure out all
aspects of my destiny.
My love for these mindless
quizzes
has
evolved
into
an
obsession with more psychologically
sound examinations. My favorite test
has become the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator, or “MBTI,” a 90-or-so-
question online assessment that
makes judgments about one’s values,
social skills and overall personality.
A proud “ENTJ,” I take this test to
heart and attribute almost all of my
interactions and traits to this simple
combination of letters. I tend to
immediately make judgments about
people I meet, usually immediately
thinking someone is an “I,” as
in introvert, or are a close toss-
up between a person focused on
“thought” or “feeling” when it comes
to decision-making.
There are reasons as to why
personality tests, both silly and more
professional, mean so much to us.
Whether it be the results from the
MBTI test, our Zodiac signs or our
status as a “morning person,” we
like to be told who we are by other
people or, in some cases, computer
algorithms. Psychologists say that,
as humans, we are often dependent
on the perspectives that others have
of our qualities. We desire validation
for who we believe ourselves to be
in our minds. We take what these
quiz results say seriously because
we feel empowered by the results;
we like to know who we are, and we
want others to know us as well. It
feels good to be placed into a distinct
“type” of person. It lets us know that
we belong somewhere — that we
are like others out there — and that
our habits and personality fit into a
group.
Understanding
ourselves
is
a central reason why we take
personality tests, but another reason
is to understand others.
Read more at michigandaily.com
J
ulia Child’s kitchen is full of
light. The preeminent cooking
instructor
and
celebrity
chef of the 20th century, Child
is credited with introducing the
American public to international
fine dining. On her PBS television
show “In Julia’s Kitchen with
Master
Chefs,”
a
charismatic
chef sports colorful silk blouses,
decorates her countertop with
fresh flowers and delights guests
with her inviting disposition.
Child passed away in 2004,
but
clicking
through
cooking
channels shows that her legacy of
elegant food and bright, tasteful
presentation remains. On Food
Network, Italian-American chef
Giada De Laurentiis sprinkles
salt over pesto crostini in her
immaculate
white
kitchen.
Meanwhile,
on
the
Cooking
Channel’s “Real Girl’s Kitchen,”
actress Haylie Duff beams over a
cornucopia of mini muffins for her
Christmas brunch.
The world of celebrity chefs
displayed across American channel
guides is narrowly defined. On
Food Network, producers create a
utopian atmosphere for their female
celebrity chefs. Women never
break a sweat while drizzling olive
oil or carrying large salads out to
their perfectly manicured gardens.
The channels are aiming to sell
products, so, of course, televised
kitchens are aspirationally flooded
with sunlight. Our favorite chefs
don spotless aprons when using
their sponsored KitchenAid mixers
and never lose their megawatt
smile. The aim of these shows is to
sell a heavenly world to American
women.
Read more at michigandaily.com
Cooking in heaven, living in hell:
an exploration of #MeToo on
cooking television
LINDSEY SPENCER
Opinion Columnist
TYLER FIORITTO
LSA Senior
AVERY CRYSTAL
Opinion Columnist