Sunday, September 11, 2011

Blogger Profile: Kenneth Hartline


            Blogs have been violated. When it comes to blogs on the topic of sports psychology, nearly every one is an attempt to sell you a self-help book or set of videos. What happened to blogs being an expression of self, of opinion, an area of the Internet untainted by the sleaze that is profitability? Alas, Kenneth Hartline has come to the rescue. His blog, “The Athlete’s Psychology,” is the lifeboat that keeps interested readers from letting go of their curiosity.

            The Athlete’s Psychology is a blog that asks the questions, “Why did Michael Jordan appear unfazed in every pressure situation? How does Tiger Woods appear to be so calm standing over a putt worth $1 million?” Kenneth Hartline is a Doctor of Psychology candidate at Pepperdine University who graduated from the University of Oregon with concurrent Bachelor's degrees in both psychology and journalism with minors in Communications and Human Physiology. Although he has started a company that seeks to help athletes and coaches utilize sports psychology, he rarely mentions the business and continually seeks to inform his readers. He understands that athletes are as human as everyone else, and utilizes his education in psychology to analyze the performance of modern athletes. Unfortunately, posts that used to occur on a monthly basis in 2010 have since slowed; only one post (June 23rd, 2011) has been made since August 22nd of 2010. The site is no longer popular, as indicated by the fact that neither Alexis, nor Technorati, had any information on the site. Nonetheless, his posts are still relevant and unbiased, informative for both a psychology such as myself, or just an interested sports enthusiast.

Young crushing the hearts of my fellow Trojans (photo cred)
            In his post, “How Vince Young's rise and fall illustrate a growing problem inprofessional sports,” Hartline considers the effect of the off-field stress that accompanies star athletes. He profiles Vince Young, the quarterback who single-handedly willed the Texas Longhorns over our Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl and became a marquee name in the sport. When Young took a day off from work and failed to contact the team or his family, the media jumped on the news and pronounced him suicidal. What Mr. Hartline suggests was merely a case of “adjustment disorder” – a stress-related mental illness, was perceived to be a suicidal tendency. Hartline diagnoses the problem between psychology and sports, “Ahletes simply aren’t allowed to struggle with mental illness and are stigmatized negatively by the public if they dare take any time off for something intangible that the fans can’t see.” This post exemplifies Hartline’s perception of the business of sports and its affect on the psychology of its athletes.  
           

            The post, “Landon Donovan's Exclamation Point,” explains the psychological effect of being the underdog. He profiles the US World Cup victory over Algeria, a game that the US had dominated but failed to capitalize until a 93rd minute goal by Landon Donovan,  to show the effect of playing to win, as opposed to playing not to lose. He states,  “it is a normal human reaction to be much more terrified of the criticism that comes from underperforming than from seeking the praise that results from achievement” – highlighting the fact that fear is the strongest human emotion. I found this post illuminating because even though it doesn’t use any psychological jargon, it stills highlights a natural tendency in the human psyche.

 

            This blog relates well to my work because I want to do exactly what Mr. Hartline does, analyze the performance of athletes, both on and off the field, from the perspective of a psychologist. I want to explain a player or team’s performance using the information that I have learned through my studies in psychology. This blog, despite its casual tone, is still scholarly in that it utilizes many psychological terms and refers to many leading professors of psychiatry. This blog will feed my work in that I can utilize many of its examples and come to my own conclusions.  I can link to, and critique, many of the points that it makes and offer a contrasting opinion. Although the blog lacks the voice that I hope to portray to my readers, it succeeds in making its content accessible to both psychology students and sports enthusiasts alike.

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