Football picture not too shocking.

When the Carroll High School football team took their team picture in late August, no one could predict the controversy that was to follow.

The picture set off an uproar after three of the football players made an obscene hand gesture in the picture. The three players made the shocker gesture, a sign considered derogatory towards women because of its obscene sexual nature.

The photo was to appear in the local Daily Times Herald newspaper. Instead of retaking the picture or not publishing it at all, the paper decided to blur out those players.

The editor's reasoning was that they did not want to waste the team's time or the newspaper's time or resources. Ann Wilson, who owns the newspaper said they would do the same for any type of gesture, even a "thumbs up" sign.

The administration suspended the boys from one game and required them to write an apology to the newspaper and the photographers. When the players' parents learned that the game they'd be sitting out was against cross-town rival Kuemper Catholic High School, they complained that the punishment was too harsh.

As reported in the Daily Times Herald article, "School board reduces players' suspensions", parents of the punished players spoke out against the administration's decision.

Dan Stevens said that they didn't mean for it to be disrespectful. He claimed they were imitading a gesture done by other athletes. Duke basketball star JJ Redick has been known to make the gesture.

Mike Bach said that the symbol could have been interpreted several ways, as a "W" for win, as the number 7, or even as a symbol of love.

However, when the head football coach was asked if he thought the boys knew what the sign meant, he said yes.

Ultimately, the school board voted to reduce the boys' punishment to only a half-game suspension.

The boys' claim that they did not mean for the gesture to be rude shouldn't matter. The fact that they made a gesture that could have had a derogatory meaning should be cause enough for punishment.

This ordeal ties into our discussion of discourse and ideology. According to O'Shaughnessey and Stadler an ideology is "a set of social values, ideas, beliefs, feelings and representations, by which poeple collectively make sense of the world they live in."

First of all, the image of a football player has always been a tough, powerful, strong male. I think to a point a disrespect for women also goes along with the whole football player persona. It shouldn't, but there are often stories of star athletes who sleep with different women everywhere they play. Over the years, this idea has been molded.

One of the boys involved claimed that they had been using the gesture for so long that they never even thought about it. It seems it had become like second nature, which often happens with ideologies.

So, the highschool football players were most likely just trying to look tough. Essentially, they wanted to fit the ideology of a football player. It's the same reason athletes don't smile in their pictures. They aren't supposed to necessarily be happy, they're supposed to be intimidating.

Women have always been in this battle to gain respect as a gender. An ideology is not consciously thought out. People don't think twice when they see an athlete like JJ Redick make a shocker sign. He is an allstar, that's what allstars do.

If there is a negative ideology such as this, I think it is important to discourage it early. Those football players were punished, and the whole situation was surrounded in controversy. Now, everyone involved might think twice before using the shocker or any other derogatory symbol.

However, I think the fact that the boys had their punishment lessened is part of the ideology too. Athletes have been making those gestures for so long that most people don't even think twice about it. If the newspaper hadn't blurred out their images, it's possible that noone would have said anything.

This ideology was found in the representation of the shocker symbol. As it is a derogatory sign towards women, I believe that the boys deserved a harsher punishment than they received. However, I think that the ideologies of "boys will be boys", and the tough-guy image seem to override the idea of respect towards women.