You know that feeling you get when you hear someone mention your favorite team and you start to get excited? That's my trigger, especially for college football. Don't get me wrong, I do like watching other sports but this one always gets me pumped. Whenever I hear someone say something about Florida State, I just want to jump in the conversation. If it's something bad, I want to defend them with passion. If it's something good, I want to celebrate the fact that they're great with other people. The mention of them makes me think about the love for them, and that comes from the first time I called myself a true fan. I've grown up watching Florida State football without much of a choice because it was be an FSU fan or nothing. I've always liked watching the games (win or lose) because that's my team, that's how any real fan feels. When I went to my first FSU, it was against UM in Miami a few years ago. I had only ever watched the games on t.v. so when my dad told me he got tickets for that game, I could not tell you how hyped up I was that I would actually get to see a game for myself. It was a great game, but nothing like my first game at Doak Campbell stadium. I always heard my dad and other people tell me stories about what they do before the game and I thought "hey, that sounds pretty cool." You can never know how it feels until you see it for yourself. Listening to the marching chiefs and seeing Osceola and Renegade, you get this feeling like "so this is what they were talking about." But when Osceola throws the flaming spear into the field, you know it just got real. That's how you know it's game time. I got chills just watching that because it was one of those things that you finally get to witness after having heard so much about it.
It's kind of similar to the feeling I get whenever I went to a Miami Heat game. granted these two sports are completely different, but that doesn't change the feeling I get. To me, these are the two most exciting games to watch. And it's always the same deal when watching both: cheer for the fantastic plays and scream when they mess something up. The only difference is that I understand basketball more. So it's like with football, if I see something happen and I'm not exactly sure about how to react, I look at other people. whereas in basketball, I already know the rules and what's going on so I can cheer or rant without anyone else.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
End of Practice & 33.
In the Rodney Jones poem "The End of Practice", he talks about the setting and the feelings of the guys by the time they finish with their practice. Jones tells us of the routine things that happen at the end of a football practice, from the coach whistling them to prayer to them running their final sprints in a race to see who will win. The winner is lucky because he gets to go back to the locker room and take his shower, while everyone else has to run again and again. Rodney explains the appearance of everyone running, where the fat boys run like buffalo and the tall ones awkward. A strategy that the boys use is making it seem like they can't run that well for the first seven races then on the eight one, giving it their all. If they don't practice to rise above the competition, they'll get metaphorically swallowed. So their practices are like preparation for battle, which I take as the actual game.
In Chuck Klosterman's essay "33", he makes a reference that the Lakers-Celtics rivalry around 20 some odd years ago is representative of not only racial conflict but also every other issue that would create a conflict. On the race side of it, the Celtics had 3 white guys starting and the Lakers didn't really have an important white guy. Klosterman tell us (the readers) about the time he was at the North Dakota State University basketball camp as a high school sophomore watching the Lakers-Celtics game and he says that he was the only one at the camp who wanted the Celtics to win, with the exception of the camp coaches. At this point, he realized the political aspect of this rivalry. Chuck states that the Celtics are like the Republicans in the sense that they pretty much coached themselves and did what they felt was best for themselves, whereas the Lakers were like Democrats from the late 60's because they seemed liberal but it was all controlled by one person. Apparently, with sports, to be obsessed with something, like a team, gives people a sense of identity and purpose. Klosterman tells us about his method for handling situations in life based off of the rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics. In essence, this essay relays that sport isn't just a game, it's everything else.
When the subject of sport being part of a culture for us come up, it's especially easy to tell from Klosterman's essay. He says that picking a side is picking an identity. Whatever the team you side with represents is almost like defining who you are, you share those same ideas. This is where you can see a split in cultures, sort of like each team is its own culture. Personally, if I had to pick either the Laker culture or the Celtic culture, I would be one of those people that are "living without a soul", as Klosterman puts it because I dislike both teams. But anyone can see how greatly the two worlds of sports and culture intertwine with each other. It's almost like they can't be separated.
In Chuck Klosterman's essay "33", he makes a reference that the Lakers-Celtics rivalry around 20 some odd years ago is representative of not only racial conflict but also every other issue that would create a conflict. On the race side of it, the Celtics had 3 white guys starting and the Lakers didn't really have an important white guy. Klosterman tell us (the readers) about the time he was at the North Dakota State University basketball camp as a high school sophomore watching the Lakers-Celtics game and he says that he was the only one at the camp who wanted the Celtics to win, with the exception of the camp coaches. At this point, he realized the political aspect of this rivalry. Chuck states that the Celtics are like the Republicans in the sense that they pretty much coached themselves and did what they felt was best for themselves, whereas the Lakers were like Democrats from the late 60's because they seemed liberal but it was all controlled by one person. Apparently, with sports, to be obsessed with something, like a team, gives people a sense of identity and purpose. Klosterman tells us about his method for handling situations in life based off of the rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics. In essence, this essay relays that sport isn't just a game, it's everything else.
When the subject of sport being part of a culture for us come up, it's especially easy to tell from Klosterman's essay. He says that picking a side is picking an identity. Whatever the team you side with represents is almost like defining who you are, you share those same ideas. This is where you can see a split in cultures, sort of like each team is its own culture. Personally, if I had to pick either the Laker culture or the Celtic culture, I would be one of those people that are "living without a soul", as Klosterman puts it because I dislike both teams. But anyone can see how greatly the two worlds of sports and culture intertwine with each other. It's almost like they can't be separated.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Letter to a Favorite Sports Team/Person.
Dear Miami Heat,
I've been a Heat fan for about maybe 10 or 11 years, back when Alonzo Mourning was on the team. Going to the games wasn't too much of an intense thing for me because I was so young but as I got older and understood the sport more and went to more games, i fell in love with the sport. But with this team, I could always feel a sense of true teamwork watching everyone play and seeing the chemistry between everyone always made it an interesting and fun game to watch. As I got older and the players changed too, nothing changed except that I enjoyed taking every trip I was able to to Miami more just to watch you play.
It wasn't until about 2003, when Dwyane Wade was drafted to the Heat, that I started to watch this sport seriously. He was and still is my favorite player on the Heat. Just watching his skill as he played and how he interacted with his teammates gave off the vibe that he's just a generally good person. I always knew the Heat were really good, but in 2006, making it to the NBA finals was incredible to me. I watched every single game of that series but that last game was intense and crazy. I couldn't contain my excitement as i watched the game with my dad, cheering at the good plays and the screaming at the bad ones. But when we won that game, my dad and I went crazy. I was so happy that that night, it took me a while to go to sleep.
Out of all the seasons that I watched, my absolute favorite was this past season. We already had LeBron for one season and since he didn't get his ring, we knew he was going to come back with a vengeance and this would be one season that no one would want to miss. When watching the team play together, you could easily tell that they all were working their hardest to make it to the finals. I went to a lot of games this past season and every game was the same for me, absolute perfection. When we made it to the playoffs, I watched every single game to see the outcome. I actually went to Game 5 against the Knicks, and it was crazy. Winning that game meant being one step closer to the finals. All of the series leading up to the finals were intense, especially the one against the Boston Celtics. There were so many close calls where I was unsure if we would win, but never doubted it. I watched the finals and every game I watched closely and intently. The last game though, in Miami, was the best. Counting down the final seconds of the game with the feeling that we won and were the champions. It made me really proud to call myself Heat fan and a true Heat fan at that. I don't think there's a better feeling than seeing your team win and seeing them be ecstatic that they achieved their goals.
I've been a Heat fan for about maybe 10 or 11 years, back when Alonzo Mourning was on the team. Going to the games wasn't too much of an intense thing for me because I was so young but as I got older and understood the sport more and went to more games, i fell in love with the sport. But with this team, I could always feel a sense of true teamwork watching everyone play and seeing the chemistry between everyone always made it an interesting and fun game to watch. As I got older and the players changed too, nothing changed except that I enjoyed taking every trip I was able to to Miami more just to watch you play.
It wasn't until about 2003, when Dwyane Wade was drafted to the Heat, that I started to watch this sport seriously. He was and still is my favorite player on the Heat. Just watching his skill as he played and how he interacted with his teammates gave off the vibe that he's just a generally good person. I always knew the Heat were really good, but in 2006, making it to the NBA finals was incredible to me. I watched every single game of that series but that last game was intense and crazy. I couldn't contain my excitement as i watched the game with my dad, cheering at the good plays and the screaming at the bad ones. But when we won that game, my dad and I went crazy. I was so happy that that night, it took me a while to go to sleep.
Out of all the seasons that I watched, my absolute favorite was this past season. We already had LeBron for one season and since he didn't get his ring, we knew he was going to come back with a vengeance and this would be one season that no one would want to miss. When watching the team play together, you could easily tell that they all were working their hardest to make it to the finals. I went to a lot of games this past season and every game was the same for me, absolute perfection. When we made it to the playoffs, I watched every single game to see the outcome. I actually went to Game 5 against the Knicks, and it was crazy. Winning that game meant being one step closer to the finals. All of the series leading up to the finals were intense, especially the one against the Boston Celtics. There were so many close calls where I was unsure if we would win, but never doubted it. I watched the finals and every game I watched closely and intently. The last game though, in Miami, was the best. Counting down the final seconds of the game with the feeling that we won and were the champions. It made me really proud to call myself Heat fan and a true Heat fan at that. I don't think there's a better feeling than seeing your team win and seeing them be ecstatic that they achieved their goals.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Analyzing of Textbook Readings.
When talking about the relationship between watching a sport and actually playing a sport, the two seem interrelated. People who play a certain sport are most likely followers of that sport. This makes sense because how else are you going to fully understand the rules, regulations, or right way to play the game. At the same time, the popularity of a sport is broken up into two categories: how many people are watching it and how many people are playing it. Take football in the U.S. for example. It's normal for someone to think that it's so popular in the U.S. because it seems to be the most watched sport. The popularity of a sport among spectators accounts for this, while the popularity among people who want to play comes primarily from high school boys. A common factor in the difference between spectating and participating is age. More young people are more likely to want to be active in a sport because they want to be like their role models, i.e. famous athletes (Harris 2004). On the other side of this, older people are more likely to watch the game rather than play because they fully understand it after following it for so long (Kretchmar 1994).
When it comes to participating in a sport, there are many different drives for wanting to play. Some athletes want to be the absolute best at their sport so that they can get something material out of it such as fame or money, while others play just for the fun of the sport or to have a healthy lifestyle. The reasons for wanting to participate advance and change as you get older. When you're younger, your parents may put you in a sport to expose you to it and to get you to make friends. By high school, participation is driven by the possibility of getting an athletic scholarship or to make the varsity team. In college, it gets more intense because it's like the absolute best players on a college team and many people feel like they can't compete at that level so they join intramural sports teams on the campus. Professional athletes train to be their best at their sport for the reward of money, but because it's such a high contact sport and there are physical changes due to age, most players are forced to retire at about their late 30's. People that are too old to play pro, just play to try to beat their personal records, as well as some who are in their 50's or 60's are just trying to stay in good shape and do it for health. The amount and kind of people that play a sport varies greatly based on the location, the gender of who's playing, age and even social class.
Spectators of certain sports vary depending on their location and social level. In America, football is like the number one sport to watch, both college and professional, followed by baseball and then basketball. With social classes, those who are of a wealthier class watch sports like polo, yachting or horse racing. People in the middle class like to watch tennis or golf. The working class people watch sports like wrestling, bowling and boxing. These are just generalizations though and not always true. People who watch sports are split into two categories based on how they watched it: those who listened or watched via media and those who saw it live. Marketing is big in sports and companies take advantage of the fact that there are a lot of people watching a sport so they advertise knowing that many people will see it. All in all, a lot of people watch sports, whether they play it or they just follow it. And the great thing about these sports is that one sport can be and is watched by people of different areas, social levels, genders and ages and they all just watch it to have a good time.
When it comes to participating in a sport, there are many different drives for wanting to play. Some athletes want to be the absolute best at their sport so that they can get something material out of it such as fame or money, while others play just for the fun of the sport or to have a healthy lifestyle. The reasons for wanting to participate advance and change as you get older. When you're younger, your parents may put you in a sport to expose you to it and to get you to make friends. By high school, participation is driven by the possibility of getting an athletic scholarship or to make the varsity team. In college, it gets more intense because it's like the absolute best players on a college team and many people feel like they can't compete at that level so they join intramural sports teams on the campus. Professional athletes train to be their best at their sport for the reward of money, but because it's such a high contact sport and there are physical changes due to age, most players are forced to retire at about their late 30's. People that are too old to play pro, just play to try to beat their personal records, as well as some who are in their 50's or 60's are just trying to stay in good shape and do it for health. The amount and kind of people that play a sport varies greatly based on the location, the gender of who's playing, age and even social class.
Spectators of certain sports vary depending on their location and social level. In America, football is like the number one sport to watch, both college and professional, followed by baseball and then basketball. With social classes, those who are of a wealthier class watch sports like polo, yachting or horse racing. People in the middle class like to watch tennis or golf. The working class people watch sports like wrestling, bowling and boxing. These are just generalizations though and not always true. People who watch sports are split into two categories based on how they watched it: those who listened or watched via media and those who saw it live. Marketing is big in sports and companies take advantage of the fact that there are a lot of people watching a sport so they advertise knowing that many people will see it. All in all, a lot of people watch sports, whether they play it or they just follow it. And the great thing about these sports is that one sport can be and is watched by people of different areas, social levels, genders and ages and they all just watch it to have a good time.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Klosterman Article & Wright Poem.
The article by Klosterman tells the story of the greatest game he ever saw. This basketball game was said to be unbelievable because only so many people actually watched it because it was not televised and around 500 people saw it. It was North Dakota versus United Tribes, and the game ended up seeming to be played by three players to five. United Tribes, the team with the three players, ended up beating North Dakota, despite being thought of as the "underdog". Klosterman says that when he was speaking to Gilliss, Gilliss said that "it didn't really matter that about ten people were upset that we lost."
The poem "Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio" by James Wright depicts the setting of the first football game of the season. He tells of the crowd's appearance and demeanor in regards to the feeling they have right before kickoff. The fathers of the football players don't want to go home and this causes their wives to feel unloved, and then the excitement starts when they start playing and everyone in a sense comes together to watch the game.
The universality of these two games isn't just that they are sports; it's that these two stories end with a disappointment on some end. North Dakota's loss was disappointing to the people of their town and the football fathers being too ashamed to go home. There is this shame in losing, but at the same time if the game is a close or good game or has an alternate purpose other than for entertainment, it doesn't matter if you win or lose.
These two articles place importance on memory because they either recall a past event or re-tell a recurring event. The Klosterman article really defines the importance of basketball or sports in general to a community because the fact that the people of North Dakota were upset that they lost. The Wright poem tells that football specifically brings people of different cultures together. So a similarity to the two stories is that sports comes before many other things and it has a real importance between either cultures or communities.
The poem "Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio" by James Wright depicts the setting of the first football game of the season. He tells of the crowd's appearance and demeanor in regards to the feeling they have right before kickoff. The fathers of the football players don't want to go home and this causes their wives to feel unloved, and then the excitement starts when they start playing and everyone in a sense comes together to watch the game.
The universality of these two games isn't just that they are sports; it's that these two stories end with a disappointment on some end. North Dakota's loss was disappointing to the people of their town and the football fathers being too ashamed to go home. There is this shame in losing, but at the same time if the game is a close or good game or has an alternate purpose other than for entertainment, it doesn't matter if you win or lose.
These two articles place importance on memory because they either recall a past event or re-tell a recurring event. The Klosterman article really defines the importance of basketball or sports in general to a community because the fact that the people of North Dakota were upset that they lost. The Wright poem tells that football specifically brings people of different cultures together. So a similarity to the two stories is that sports comes before many other things and it has a real importance between either cultures or communities.
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