The purposes of the investigation were to determine if status of professional sports and professional athletes increases as male participation increases, if perceived status of 'athlete' increases with participation in sports that contain 'male' attributes, and if gender differences are related to status indicators. Sixty-eight students were administered a status-determinants questionnaire. A one-way ANOVA (gender) and a 2 x 12 ANOVA (gender x sport) were employed to determine status ratings of sports. A 3 x 2 (increase/decrease/no change x gender) Chi square was employed to determine status of sports, perceived masculinity of males/femininity of females, and status of the athlete related to gender attributes of sports.

This study suggests that tragedy sees human action as synonymous with language and that it uses a method similar to that of a hermeneutic phenomenology to portray man as experiencing spirituality in a confrontation with expression. This confrontation takes the form of a pattern that leads to a revelation that all human action springs from the spirit. Word as action is thus placed into a spiritual context, containing in itself the key to the divine significance of the human experience. As a cultural manifestation, this pattern exists not only in literary tragedy, but also in the Hebrew Scriptures as narratives and poetry. This study examines this tragic pattern in Genesis, the Book of Job, Oedipus, and King Lear.