Sports Nation | Correr Es Mi Destino

Sports Nation (3/10)

29 November 2008By Zhu 14 Comments

Amer·i·ca·na
Pronunciation: \ə-ˌmer-ə-ˈkä-nə, -ˌmər-, -ˌme-rə-, -ˈka-nə\
Function: noun plural
Date: 1841

1: Materials concerning or characteristic of America, its civilization, or its culture ; broadly : things typical of America
2: American culture

In this series, I’d like to explore various aspect of life in North America. Each topic will be illustrated by a black and white picture.

Baseball Teeshirts In NY State

Sports. Think of it as a religion. Or at the very least, a national pastime.

Followers speak a weird language: home run, end zone, touchdown, powerplay, and mostly “scooooooore”. Their Gods? MLB (Major League Baseball), NFL (National Football League), NBA (National Baseball Association) and NHL (National Hockey League). Big days of worship include Superbowl Sunday, March Madness, the Stanley Cup or the World Series. Drink beer, eats hot dogs and cheer, cheer and sing along. You are in for a “unique moment in sport history” as ESPN would say.

Americans are unique when it comes to sport. They love it passionately and the country can stop to watch a game. Some worldwide popular sports are almost unknown in the U.S.A (think soccer) while on the other side, the world ignores, let’s say, American Football.

Sports is part of the popular culture. Many English idioms are derived from sport terms: “cover all the bases” ; “hit or miss”; “caught off base”; … “It ain’t over till it’s over!” Kids collect sports cards, families gather to watch a game, many register for fantasy baseball/ hockey/ football online…

Sports can also be a medium through which issues are addressed: gender equity, efforts to combat discrimination… Some athletes used their celebrity to shed light on society’s ills and to promote goodwill among the various communities in the country.

It’s also all about the money: with television network paying millions of dollars for the rights to broadcast sporting events; with players signing huge contracts, with extravagantly expensive commercials, big bucks play the game as well. Sports is also a big source of revenue for schools and university because college sports are followed with a fervor equaling that felt for professional sports!

Nevertheless, sports remains a great unity factor in North America. And after all… it’s fun to watch!

Picture: Teeshirts for sale at Alexandria Bay (NY), 2008

14 Comments »

Art said:

Hey if you go into the southern US, you’ll see what a religion college football really is. In certain areas, it makes pro sports fanatics look mild by comparison.

# 2 December 2008 at 3:28 pm

Annie said:

I understand what you are coming from. I stayed in Europe for 1year so can easily make out difference

Yeah yeah I was working in Belgium for 1 year and so got chance to go to France (I know you would like it to hear that name first so here you go), Netherlands, Germany, Swiss, Luxemburg, every corner of Belgium……….

I do not know but I feel more attached to Europe than here……Lets see I guess this is the side effect of initial settlement But to tell you about sports; I follow it where so ever I am………………I just love it!

# 2 December 2008 at 11:33 am

Zhu (author) said:

@Monique – Wow, I checked out your blog and I admire you. I’m not that athletic

@Tulsa Gentleman – I find futbol in the background on the TV very annoying for this exact same reason – th constant cheering!

I know Thanksgiving is a big day for American football… College, right?

@Agnes – Oh, same here! I can barely do yoga, let alone understand team sports’ rules!

We are leaving on the 9th, in a week

@Baoru – Maybe because that’s how I feel : left out

@Bluefish – I like hockey too, it’s prob. my favorite sports team come to think of it.

@Sidney – Same here… unless I go to a hockey game, cause it’s fun. I could never attend a baseball game… too long.

@Scarlet – I actually remember the movie very well. Oh, sorry Scarlet, I bet it can be a pain sometimes! But hey, you have time to go out and blog while he is watching, right?

@Annie – Wow, you’re already a NY native I see! It took me a while to appreciate sports to be honest. Too many hooligans in Europe and I hated football (soccer).

@Seraphine – Same, can’t watch on TV. I like intermission discussions about players’ weird injuries though. I’m sadistic.

@mogLi – Hmmm… never thought of that. Nah, I find a baseball game takes longer than scoring a girl

@Bluefish – Alright!

# 2 December 2008 at 12:19 am