The Meaning of "Man Up"

Last month after being accused of pummeling his father in law Carlos Pena, major league baseball player Francisco Rodriguez of the New York Mets also known as K-Rod was arrested and charged with third degree assault charges. While he was placed on the restricted list for two games, he later rejoined the team after issuing a public apology. After continuing to play Rodriguez later reported pain in his thumb which happened to be the result of a torn ligament. Considering the reasons behind Rodriquez's injury and his previous record of explosive behavior the Mets decided to make his contract for the year 2012 non-guranteed while also not playing him for the remainder of the season while his thumb was in recovery.
So what does all this have to do with the phrase 'man up'? Some say the Mets lost K-Rod to a season ending surgery but others say they lost him to this phrase 'man up' which is said to be the sprak in the altercation between K-Rod and Carlos Pena. While 'man up" may have served as the spark to a fight this phrase has taken on many meanings throughout American culture today. The media is spreading the manly message to young male consumers. Things like the web site for 'The No Fear Energy Drink' smacks 'Man Up' right across the screen while other advertisements such as the commercial for Miller Lite features a voice over saying, 'Man up, beacuse if you're drinking a light beer without great pilsner taste, you're missing the point of drinking beer'. It is said that light beer ads such as Miller Lite often amp up the masculinity possibly to compensate for their watered down product.
While 'Man Up' may be used as a means of advertisements is also comes with that spectrum of meaning as I stated before. It could mean 'Don't be a sissy, toughen up' or 'Do the right thing, be a man'. While these may be considered negative ways of using the phrase they aren't all negative. The Man Up Campaign for example, is a new global initiative that engages youth to stop gender based violence. Their mission statement reads, "Our call to action challenges each of us to 'Man Up' and declare that violence against women and girls must end".
Brian Zimmer, the author of this article states that long ago 'man up' was simply an alternative to the verb 'man' meaning to supply with adequate manpower. He also talks of how the phrase rooted from sports to begin with. In football 'man up' simply meant man to man defense or in rodeo terms it just meant get tough. All in all 'man up' was the idea of resilience in the face of adversity. Have we taken the phrase 'man up' to far? Do you think this phrase has had more of a positive or negative impact on our society if any impact at all? Why?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/magazine/05FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=1&ref=francisco_rodriguez

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/francisco_rodriguez/index.html?scp=10&sq=masculinity&st=cse