Questioning Soccer's Exposure

If the sexiest sports bra and the most tantilizing male stature didn't do it for America, I don't know what will! One would think in a society so obsessed with looks that soccer would have more of a following in the US. Not the case for this reason and many others. Along the lines of why America Football is so popular we discussed in class why soccer hasn’t had the same successful following. The US hasn’t failed for lack of trying, but what they try just doesn’t seem to work for us for right now at least. Starting with the fact that soccer is not unique to America. The game originated in Europe and therefore American’s see it as foreign. Stephen Colbert even went so far to declare that soccer, “the sport for fourth graders that foreign people take seriously" (Nelson, 2009).


Something else that might take the attention away from soccer in America is that it is a long game, 90 minutes; 2 halves; with almost no break time until the first half is over. Also, it is very difficult to score. The field is long and wide and the ball is very small and has to over a lot of ground and get through a lot of the opposing players to make it to the goal area. Because of the difficulty in scoring it makes for a very low scoring game. It is not usually a continuous string of excitement if you are used to watching basketball where scoring happens almost every play. I think that for the people that don’t find the game exciting it is because they don’t understand it. Not every play is going to score a goal, but there are plays in the game that are exciting and not necessarily end up in the back of the net. Most of us grew up playing youth soccer so the fundamentals are understood, but for those who didn’t stick with it or care enough to learn more about the game, they write the game off as being unimportant and boring.

It is one thing for people who don’t understand the game to just not pay attention to it. It is another thing to bash the sport or bash people for playing the sport. Soccer is often seen as a sport for wussies and for people who aren’t good enough to play American football. To that us soccer enthusiast say, go take off all your protective pads, slip in some shin guards and we will meet you on the field. “People make fun of the sport the way people make fun of Canada—it's the easiest target imaginable. Until you go to Canada, that is” (Nelson, 2009).

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/american-football/Content?oid=1973424

"What's the use in worrying, what's the use in hurrying"

{Dave Matthews Band; Dancing Nancies}

What's So Great About Football...?

Awhile ago in class, we discussed why football has such a big following. There are many reasons, and as we discussed in class and in Chapter 6, football has the biggest following at the college level. Some of the topics that came up in class were that football has become a sort of tradition for families. For the most part, football games are placed once a week, so there would be a lot of build up for that week’s game. The games would be on a Saturday, which is the end of the week and people don’t have to worry about going to work the next day. Because of this people were able to tailgate.

Tailgating has become almost as big, if not bigger, than the actual playing of the game. It’s a way for friends, family, or members of the community to gather around a grill of food and a cooler of beer and talk about sports. There is actually a group called the American Tailgater Association that claims the first tailgating happened in 1869, at the first football game between Princeton and Rutgers.

According to Rader, football has also had a positive effect on the bonding of diverse people. In the late nineteenth century extra-curricular activities became the center of the college experience. School newspapers became a medium for getting the students involved in going to the games and advocating having school spirit. With the growth of importance of the game it became a great time for alumni to come back and get connected with the school and the community.

Some other things that add to the experience of a football game are the halftime performances and shows, the songs from the band, the cheerleaders and dancers, and the announcers. Football has really done a great job of encompassing all of the aspects of good entertainment, but do all the entertainment aspects overshadow the game?

I will be honest; I am not the biggest fan of football. I think that it is nice to watch every once and a while. I have been to a few OSU games and I really did feel part of a community. It was weird how accepting or pissed off people are just because of a jersey you wear… but overall I feel like football makes people feel that they are a part of something bigger than themselves; and that is why we all watch.

Signing off today with one of Chris Berman's nickname's; even though it is a play on words of baseball player Eddie Murray, it also is a play on words from lyrics from the Dave Matthews Band song Trippin' Billies:

Eddie "eat, drink and be" Murray

Age Issues For Gymnasts

This blog entry is a result of Amanda Pitcock's ethical issue presentation on Wednesday, September 23. Amanda talked about the controversy surrounding the past Olympic games where the ages of the Chinese team was under scrutiny. Amanda's case was based on the theory of Deontology or the rules of the Olympics. The rules state that each participant must be 16 years old to compete, so they would have to be born in 1992 or earlier. The controversy was brought into question because He Kexin's birth year surfaced as 01/01/1994, putting her at 14 years old and ineligible to compete. Once those records surfaced and this issue was gaining attention, for some reason the records and internet sites with information 'disappeared'.

Eventually, the country's that were pursuing the issue of her age dropped the investigation. There are rules in sports for a reason and in order for fair play, whether it is at a high school level or the Olympics, they need to upheld by all participants. I understand that the Chinese girls look a lot younger and I don't take that into consideration because by ethnic diversity the Chinese are generally shorter and smaller and look more youthful. But, it makes me question the Chinese authorities that took the information off the web; if they were not breaking any rules, then what were they trying to hid? I find that behavior to be a little unsettling.

A rebutting comment was brought up in class that all the girls competing on the Chinese Gymnastics' team were of the appropriate age to compete under Olympic rule. First, I like how Amanda stuck to her opinion and used the facts that she found to defend her points. Second, if I were up there I would have asked that person, then why remove those documents? If the girls in question were the appropriate age, there would not have been any issue in showing the documents supporting their ages.

It comes down to rules for the sport of Gymnastics, as it does for every other sport. The rules are there and whether you agree with them or not, everyone should uphold them.

And as always, "Life is Short, But Sweet for Certain." [Dave Matthews Band] Enjoy life, but live it right!