I believe that America’s pastime has a major influence on a person’s character. Whether you are on the field, in the stands, or even on the couch, the game of baseball seems to always have an effect on you. Baseball and life can be synonymous, and I believe that the lessons learned by playing the game can play a huge part in the way you live your life.…
In this country, sports had powerful influences in the communities just like big corporations would. According to Bissinger, it is still easy for us to put on those rose-colored glasses. If we don’t stop “glorifying” the sports, we will completely destroy…
Shoeless Joe is a magical realist novel by W.P. Kinsella set in the 1970’s. At this time period, baseball was the main sport and was often time described as part of the American dream where you can achieve your aspiration. The novel demonstrates the early ideas about baseball because the author uses Ray Kinsella, a baseball fanatic, who allows his imagination of the game to follow his dreams. The aspect of the game is not what draws Ray or the other characters in the story to baseball it is the true meaning behind the game that embodies their love for baseball. Furthermore, I argue baseball symbolizes dreams in the novel Shoeless…
Since it’s creation in 1869, football has become a crucial piece to American society. On a typical Friday night in any small town, the sounds of the crowd, the band, and the cheerleaders can be heard from the dimly lit streets: this is the place where a town comes together as a community and becomes one through the hopes and dreams of the players on the field. During his “mid-life crisis,” author and reporter H.G. Bissinger abandoned his life in Pennsylvania and moved to the small on the map town of Odessa, Texas. During his time in the town, Bissinger was able to reveal “America’s small town values” (Denver Post), both good and bad. As he became more familiar with the town, Bissinger was able to develop a story from his introduction to Boobie Miles. Immersing himself into the town of Odessa during the 1988 Permian High School football season, H.G. Bissinger follows the development of Boobie Miles to encompass the moral of the Friday Night Lights in order to reveal the inner workings of the town, the team, and the dream and how Boobie is the essential piece to the development of those themes.…
Whiteside’s extensive sports knowledge coupled with a writing style that in informative yet compelling made for an amazingly fascinating read. Not only does he explain the sporting changes throughout Colorado’s history, but analyzes how these changes reflected larger social, economic, and cultural changes within the communities. The first chapter of the book is titled “Interacting with the Sacred: American Indian Sports in Colorado.” This chapter is FANTASTIC; growing up in a rural community on the Eastern Plains, I am so stranger to Indian cultures, but rarely have I been educated on their sporting and gaming traditions. Today, Americans view sports as a fun and recreational pastime. People from all walks of life become united on College Game Days, or when they hear that familiar NFL Sunday theme song. We love - no scratch that - we adore our teams, players, and coaches. Backtrack two hundred years ago and Native Americans viewed gaming though a different lens, one of religion and spirituality. Whiteside recounts this fact eloquently: “In traditional Indian societies, sport was an expression of life of the community-it’s values, myths, techniques of survival-as well as entertainment” (pg.6). Each game was laden with semiotics, and…
To be more specific Gunther Barth, author of Baseball and the Values of Industrial America, shares a story of baseball through the eyes of humorist Ring Larden’s Jack Keefe aka “The Busher,” appearing on the Saturday Evening Post. As described in the description of the paper, Ring Larden’s Jack Keefe “presents himself and his fellow players as a ‘childish and stupid and not a little mean-spirited’-but still lovable- collection of ordinary human beings.” He tells us that sports, when regulated, become socially acceptable outlet for emotions. Making the sport regular fostered interest, shaped to the spectator, and provided framework for events leading to a championship. Baseball conquered the United States in the decades between 1840-1870.…
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sports began to widely popularize America; the analysis of sports in the topics of gender, race, and Americanism reflect broader American society. Through the study of American sports during the historical era of the late 1800s to the early 1900s, one can gain insight on the difference in standards for men and women, the fight between white supremacy and equal rights for blacks, and the process of defining the American identity.…
When World War One came to a close, individuals were in demand for excitement and entertainment. This singular and special era was known as the “Golden Age of Sports.” The main reason it was known as the Golden Age was because of numerous superstar athletes were rising in stardom in a variety of sports. Even Though the sport of baseball was the center of attention, other sports such as tennis, swimming, boxing, and football were also great sports that got the attention of a significant number of Americans across the nation. The sport of baseball itself, and many individuals gave in to these movements and made a huge impact in U.S.…
Sports play an integral part in the lives of many Americans. Even the spectators can enjoy sports in this day and age with all sports from golf, baseball, tennis, football and countless others being shown on Television or being able to be broadcast from a cell…
For well over a century, baseball has been hailed as America’s National Past Time. Baseball is uniquely American. In the 1989 baseball film, Field of Dreams, one of the main characters remarks on the importance of baseball for America. “Baseball,” he says, is “the one constant through all the years.” Baseball connects Americans to their past. “This field, this game,” he continues, “reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again.” This week, the tradition of Opening Day ushered in the 2015 baseball season—the 146th season of professional baseball in America.…
Baseball is an integral part of American pop culture. Many Americans grow up with baseball, playing it before they can even count all the bases. It is glorified, taught, and fed to us. When we play baseball, we find a respect for the game. The respect we gain from playing it has turned the game into a tradition of American culture. It has formed itself into the business of professional baseball, namely major league baseball. Professional players have become recognized all over the world. They are sought out and admired by fans. Because of their popularity, these players have written books, endorsed commercial products, and found successful and rewarding careers by playing a game. According to Wallup, author of Baseball: An Informal History, baseball has been apart of our culture since the mid to late nineteenth century(Wallup, p16). Our great grandparents, grandparents, and parents have been brought up with it and our parents teach the sport to us.…
It has been tradition in American sports that baseball is accepted as the nation’s favorite pastime. Recent historical trends now point to football as the new favorite of American sports fans. Comparing each sport as represented at the professional level, the National Football League (NFL) has grown in popularity over Major League Baseball (MLB). This notion can be supported with the analysis and comparison of three relevant statistical categories being fan popularity, television ratings, and generated income revenue. The results of the statistical facts now point to football as the most favorite pastime of American sports fans.…
Baseball is what many people call, “America’s Sport.” Many enjoy setting in front of their television, with a bag of chips and a cold drink while they watch their favorite professional team. People become fans for different reasons; some enjoy being outside, hanging out with friends or eating a stadium hot dog. There is a group of people that find baseball to be more than that. For them it brings them back to a time of playing with their “buddies,” going to get ice cream after the big win or maybe it’s memory of playing baseball when they were young, because after all little league baseball, is first and foremost meant to be fun.…
Bibliography: Wilfred Sheed wrote an essay, “Why Sports Matter,” that concentrates on how sports have changed over the past 150 years. Sheed also explains that sports can play an important role in the lives of people by helping them discover who they are and here they want to be. Sports go beyond what goes on in practice or in the game. They help build character and prepare you for many obstacles in life.…
In the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, the U.S. defeated China five to four on penalty kicks at the Rose Bowl in California (“FIFA Women's World Cup - USA 1999”). One week later, a news article named “Soccer is Football of the World” in the Atlanta Daily World reported forty million Americans observed the U.S. Women’s Team make history on television for the first time as they won another world cup (Lamar). This statistic surprised the nation, but not the author. Hal Lamar elaborated in a sincere tone that he’s “not surprised over how Americans are going ape over the fact of the popularity of soccer,” (Lamar). He creates the analogy that soccer has sat “back seat” to american football, baseball and basketball prior to this tournament. Although the United States was never a hotspot for soccer culture, Lamar believes that this World Cup was a major milestone for the United States by focusing on the world’s greatest sport. Lamar’s observation on how Americans quickly embraced soccer when realizing its popularity displays the materialistic culture that Americans possess. He described this as the “bandwagon effect” (Lamar). Americans realized the popularity of soccer internationally and became interested so they could view soccer one of their own…