This article was originally published on May 17th, 2019.
Here is this week's dose of “5-Point Friday”. A weekly round-up of the sports news and stories that I find most interesting and enjoyable.
Soccer advertisement I have been enjoying -
Germany's women's national soccer team decided to call out every stereotype they've had to put within sports. Team sponsor Commerzbank debuted its new ad campaign with the team ahead of this summer's Women's World Cup. In the spot, the players call out their own nation for not knowing their names or how many times they've won the European Championship.
The ad also explores prejudices female athletes have to deal with, including people thinking they play like amateurs or should just have babies. However, none of these stereotypes stop the team from playing confidently and going after what they want. "We don't have balls. But we know how to use them!" the ad says. "We're the ones with makeup on our faces. We like to wear high heels and knee socks. We like to dance...When it comes to role models, we just have to look in the mirror. "Don't worry, you don't need to know who we are. You just need to know what we want."
Article I have been reading -
Baseball stars are getting paid less than they were 10 years ago by Wes Schlagenhauf (@wesschlagenhauf). This interesting article explains that Billy Bean's Moneyball approach to baseball has changed how teams and players approach MLB contracts.
Sports marketing failure I have been learning about -
San Diego Padres decided to commit to mothers day by changing their name to San Diego Madres. They would also choose to change their '@Padres' twitter handle to '@Madres'. However, someone decided to grab the now available '@Padres' twitter handle.
Athletics story I have been learning about -
Olympic runner Alysia Montaño (@AlysiaMontano) called out the sports industry and sponsors, like Nike, for allegedly discriminating against pregnant athletes and not marrying advertising to reality, as she referenced Nike's "dream with us" campaign. Stating that Nike penalized her when she was pregnant, which forced her to run a race while eight months pregnant.
What I've been watching -
Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton by Rory Kennedy (@roryekennedy), is a documentary focused on the big-wave surfer, regarded as one of the greatest. The film highlights Hamilton as an innovator, showing how he pioneered using Jet Skis to tow surfers to unreachable peaks and how he still experiments with retrofitting boards. The imagery, especially the aerial shots, are captivating and offers new insights into the world of big wave surfing.
Have a wonderful weekend, all!
Jonathan