The Long Residuals of Basketball
The Long Residuals of Basketball
With 25,000 dollars, one could buy a luxury car or even put a down payment on a home. On Christmas Day though, that was the amount of money spent on a pair of courtside seats to watch the Los Angeles Lakers play the Miami Heat in the Staples Center (ticketmaster.com). From high school to the professional level, contemporary basketball maintains a distinct level of media attention and focus unlike any other sport. High-flying dunks and last second buzzer beaters go viral on the Internet within minutes and are broadcasted all over the world. Arenas, capable of holding tens of thousands of spectators, sell out to fans displaying their team spirit through jerseys, face paint, and team colors. All the while, premier professional basketball stars, a majority of whom are African American, are at the center of American popular culture and are closely observed on a daily basis. In this paper I will be addressing the impact that urbanization and class relations has had on the development of basketball through much of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In order to understand the emergence of the modern athlete and existing nature of the game, one must look into the continuities and discontinuities of societal practices and norms throughout history. Contemporary basketball, and the dominance of the African American athlete, has been largely shaped by the transition from the pre-industrialized era of regionalized vernacular and genteel sporting practices to the mass movement and growth of cities, in which the ideal body has been molded by various factors. As these social, economic and political factors panned out, the game of basketball, as we know it today, was formed. Beginning around 1820, the American public along with waves of immigrants flocked major US cities in search of jobs. The newly defined cities, once known for their unspecialized vacant lots and quiet streets, endured rapid change. The growth and development of these cities
With 25,000 dollars, one could buy a luxury car or even put a down payment on a home. On Christmas Day though, that was the amount of money spent on a pair of courtside seats to watch the Los Angeles Lakers play the Miami Heat in the Staples Center (ticketmaster.com). From high school to the professional level, contemporary basketball maintains a distinct level of media attention and focus unlike any other sport. High-flying dunks and last second buzzer beaters go viral on the Internet within minutes and are broadcasted all over the world. Arenas, capable of holding tens of thousands of spectators, sell out to fans displaying their team spirit through jerseys, face paint, and team colors. All the while, premier professional basketball stars, a majority of whom are African American, are at the center of American popular culture and are closely observed on a daily basis. In this paper I will be addressing the impact that urbanization and class relations has had on the development of basketball through much of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In order to understand the emergence of the modern athlete and existing nature of the game, one must look into the continuities and discontinuities of societal practices and norms throughout history. Contemporary basketball, and the dominance of the African American athlete, has been largely shaped by the transition from the pre-industrialized era of regionalized vernacular and genteel sporting practices to the mass movement and growth of cities, in which the ideal body has been molded by various factors. As these social, economic and political factors panned out, the game of basketball, as we know it today, was formed. Beginning around 1820, the American public along with waves of immigrants flocked major US cities in search of jobs. The newly defined cities, once known for their unspecialized vacant lots and quiet streets, endured rapid change. The growth and development of these cities