Causes Of Popularity Of Sports

When people analyze and evaluate the history of sports from a technological aspect, games have tremendously been influenced where gathering content is attainable expeditiously with the click of a mouse. The ability to gather information so rapidly in today’s sports market is something that was unheard of about 20-30 years ago. Furthermore, technology just doesn’t influence sports; it has an impact on everything in society. For example, music has been recorded for over centuries when technology was an afterthought. There were no computers, digital mixing systems or the latest technological equipment available to past musicians during the 1920’s or 1930’s.

Many players and coaching staffs have a mantra they use when facing adversity due to injury, “Next man up!”. It is hard to avoid hearing this motto from players and coaches, as it is a way of life in the sport for “casualties” of the game to occur. The parallels to war are endless in the football world. Many strategists look at the game with a war type approach. In 2012 the New Orleans Saints were handed severe punishments and penalties for what has been coined as “Bountygate”.

Sports embrace a major role in American culture in the United States today. Many people come together to cheer their team to victory and gather with family and friends to socialize. Even individuals who do not hold an interest in sports engage often during important games. Sports are very important in the United States, as the sports industry has made its presence known by becoming a billion dollar industry. Although the sports industry does not condone gambling, gambling has existed alongside the sports industry for many years.

Some of the main highlights seen from sporting events today – home runs, slam dunks, three pointers, 80-yard touchdown receptions – never occurred in the early days of sport. Sports evolved drastically from 1865-1920, going through numerous peaks and valleys. Sometimes sports issues developed into political or social issues. Throughout the valleys, major sports were able to persevere and obtain the prominence they now have in society. Of all the sports that evolved during the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, baseball and boxing benefited the most through rationalization.

Baseball. Most Americans know this word, most know what a bat and a mitt looks like, and chances are most have played or watched baseball. With the names Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter, Yogi Berra, it is likely that most have heard at least one of these famous former New York Yankee’s names and associate them with baseball. Baseball is a sport with unknown origins that is largely chalked up to be America’s “Nation Pastime”, but why is that? How did baseball turn into the household sport and children’s game that we know it as today?

Throughout the nineteenth century events played out time and time again in college football that would end up having a sweeping significance on American culture. Issues such as racism and women having a larger part in the sports world were dealt with. Business and the art of cheating through one’s sports team were seen as growing rapidly in the football world and obviously having a vast effect on how American business would end up carrying itself. College football and all of its antics would end up not only transforming the American culture then, but everything that was decided on then would set the tone for college football and how it operates now and American culture and the system is handled today.

Players are being paid more than ever and attendance totals are sky rocketing. With that being said, baseball is often thought of as America’s pastime; how could anything as historic as that collapse? Baseball is one of the most popular sports among young children. Ask practically any man and perhaps some females and they surely have played baseball at some point in their lives. Baseball is not only a popular American sport; it is also played all over the world.

The 1920’s was a grand time for the United States. Banks were failing, the Stock Market was crashing and the economy was falling apart, however sports were flourishing through these times. Football, track, tennis, boxing, and baseball were some of the most known sports in the 20s. During the 20s many sports had racially divided teams, for example baseball had a African American league called the Negro Leagues. Some sports were allowing integration of African American players with white players.

As Red Grange gained popularity throughout his football career, more and more people became enthralled in this sport. Grange and other superstars in college football were an important reason why Americans gained interest in college football. College football became a well known American sport through factors that mirrored the rise of baseball in America. The introduction of media by using the radio and the press, as well as the emergence of superstars helped spark America’s interest in college football.

The game has always been thought to be “Americas Pastime” but in modern society some people believe that may not be the case. Is baseball Americas Pastime? It is a huge debate that has been developing over the past ten to twenty years. Although baseball is thought to be Americas favorite sport, The World Series is the third most watched sporting event which trails behind both football and soccer. Baseball may not be the most watched sport but the sales in popular baseball movies in the past thirty years can also prove its popularity.

Baseball had a major impact on American society and it brought people together of all

America has always been known for its love of sports. While looking at high levels of competition in sports most Americans only look at professionals, disregarding National Collegiate Athletic Association or also known as (NCAA) athletes. Many Americans don’t know that America is the only country that has collegiate sports at this high of a level. The two biggest NCAA sports that are hugely watched and televised are football, and basketball. According to NCAA.org “there are 347 division 1 basketball teams, and 238 division 1 football teams.”

The Ever-Changing Growth of Sports The popularity of sports and activities played during the Renaissance influenced the evolution of modern sports and how they are now played. Sports played during the Elizabethan era evolved from the idea of “harmonious fusion of the mind and body” (Covington). From tennis to soccer, the popularity of sports grew and included people of all social classes, an occurrence which eventually influenced and eradicated status boundaries that restricted social mobility. Of the many sports played during the Renaissance, some became obsolete while others evolved into popular sports played today.

The white supremacy that flooded America in the 19th and early 20th century is no longer seen in the sporting world. This paper looked at sports through the lens of an individual athlete named Muhammad Ali (who definitively changed history for African-American people in the United States), as well as looked at sports as a whole throughout history. Through statistics and reports, proof has demonstrated that the sporting world has developed to give more of an opportunity for African-American athletes to compete than ever before. Athletics creates a platform that gives athletes an opportunity to be more than just an athlete. An opportunity to stand up for what they believe in and bring attention to some of the problems of the world.

This historical sporting occasion mirrored the Dysfunctional theory and ideologies in which those times were lived in, very few black athletes