Sports in the UnitedStates

In 1911, the American writer A. Bierce defined Monday as "in christian countries, the day after the baseball game." Times have changed and countries, too. In the U. S, of today, football is the most popular spectator sport. Baseball is now in second place among the sports people most like to watch, except, that is, in Japan, where it has become the most popular sport.

What makes football in the U. S. so different from its Euro­pean cousins, rugby and soccer, is not just the size, speed, and strength of its players. Rather, it is the most "scientific" of all outdoor team sports. Specific rules state what each player in each position may and may not do, and when. There are hun­dreds of possible "plays" (or moves) for teams on offense and defense. Because of this, football has been called "an open-air chess game disguised as warfare." Those who do not understand the countless rules and the many possibilities for plays miss most of the game.

Baseball and football have the reputation of being "typically American" team sports. This is ironic because the two most popular participant sports in the world today are indeed Ameri­can in origin — basketball and volleyball. Today both basketball and volleyball are played everywhere by men and women of all ages. They are especially popular as school sports.I

There is an enormous amount of live broadcasting of all dif­ferent types of sports events, professional and amateur, at state, national, and international levels. Americans are used to having baseball and basketball, college and professional football games, golf, tennis, and autoracing, swimming meets and its Olympics carries live and at full length. In season, college football games are shown live all day Saturday. On Sundays, there are live television broadcasts of the professional teams. Usually one or two games are broadcast throughout the land, and many others only to regions where the teams have most of their fans.

Hockey (ice hockey that is, other kind is largely a women's sport in the U. S.) baseball, football, and basketball are the "four major sports." Their--seasons now often overlap. Some football games are still being played in January in the snow and ice. Pre­season baseball games start in warm, sunny regions like Florida and Arizona about the same time. In the fall of the year, all four come together. Some people think that having four very popular sports at the same time is "a bit much."

There are many other sports and sports activities in America which attract millions of active participants. Among them are golf, swimming, tennis, marathons, track and field, bowling, archery, skiing, skating, squash and badminton, rowing and sailing, weight- lifting, boxing and wrestling. Statistics reveal that swimming, bi­cycling, fishing, jogging, calisthenics or gymnastics, and bowling (in that order) are American's favorite participatory sports.

The question remains why so many sports are so popular in the U. S. One reason may be that the variety and size of America and the different climates found in it have provided Americans with a large choice of (summer and winter) sports. In addition, public sports facilities have always been available in great num­ber for participants, even in sports such as golf, tennis, or skat­ing. The fact that the average high school, too, offers its students a great variety of sports, often including rowing, tennis, wres­tling, and golf, may have contributes to the wide and varied interest and participation of Americans in sports. This, in turn, may explain why Americans have traditionally done well interna­tionally in many of these sports.

Another reason might be that Americans like competition, by teams or as individuals, of any type.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1105