|
Реферат: Sports in the USA
Реферат: Sports in the USA
Introduction 1
Introduction 3
Introduction 3
A SPORTS-LOVING NATION_ 4
MEDIA COVERAGE_ 5
PRIVATE AND INSTITUTIONALIZED ACTIVITIES_ 5
AMERICAN SPORTS_ 6
VIOLENCE AND SPORTS_ 7
COMMERCIAL ASPECTS_ 7
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS_ 9
COLLEGE SPORTS_ 9
STUDENT ATHLETES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE_ 10
WINNING_ 11
Sports: Colleges and Universities 11
Kinds of sports: 13
BASEBALL_ 13
BASKETBALL_ 16
Sources 20
Introduction
Americans pay much attention to physical fitness. Many sports and sporting
activities are popular in the USA. People participate in swimming, skating,
squash and badminton, tennis, marathons, track-and-field, bowing, archery,
skiing, skating etc. But the five major American sports are hockey,
volleyball, baseball, football and basketball. Basketball and volleyball have
been invented in America.
There is a large choice of sports in America. This can be explained by the
size and variety of the country. Another reason of the popularity of sports
is the people’s love of competition of any kind. One more reason is that
Americans use sports activities for teaching socials values, such as teamwork
and sportsmanship. All this explains why Americans have traditionally done
well in many kinds of sports.
Every high school offers its students many sports, such as wrestling, rowing,
tennis and golf. There are no separate “universities” for sports in the USA.
Students of any higher educational establishment are trained in different
kinds of sports. Many colleges and universities are famous for their sports
clubs. There are sports facilities at every school.
Some americans like active games, and others like quite games. I think that
quite games, as golf and crocket, intend for rich elite people. Most popular
games in the USA is hockey, american football, baseball, basketball. Popular
among americans are NHL games. In NHL games play our compatriots: Feudorov,
Yashin, Bure brothers. They are ones of the best players in NHL.
American football is like a rugby with kicks. Every player can beat another
one. I think american football is one of the rudest games in the world.
Baseball is played with wooden bat and hard ball. It's called "typical"
american game.
Basketball is one of the most spectators game in the USA. It's my favourite
game too.
Some unusual kinds of sports originated in America. They are windsurfing,
skate-boarding and tradition. Triathlon includes swimming, bicycling racing
and long-distances-running. Now these are becoming more and more popular in
Europe.
Sports is a part of life of an average American.
A SPORTS-LOVING NATION
Whether they are fans or players, the millions of Americans who participate
in sports are usually passionate about their games. There is more to being a
baseball fan than buying season tickets to the home team's games. A real fan
not only can recite each player's batting average, but also competes with
other fans to prove who knows the answers to the most obscure and trivial
questions about the sport. That's dedication. Dedication short of madness is
also what inspired hundreds of thousands of football fans to fill Denver's
stadium in dangerously freezing temperatures, not to watch an exciting game
but just to demonstrate team support in a pre-Superbowl pep rally, days
before the actual contest. And it is with passion that Americans pursue the
latest fitness fad, convinced that staying fit requires much more than
regular exercise and balanced meals. For anyone who claims a real desire to
stay healthy, fitness has become a science of quantification, involving
weighing, measuring, moni-toring, graph charting, and computer printouts".
These are the tools for knowing all about pulse and heart rates, calorie
intake, fat cell per muscle cell ratios, and almost anything else that shows
the results of a" workout.
MEDIA COVERAGE
The immense popularity, of sports in America is indicated by the number of
pages and headlines the average daily newspaper devotes to local and national
sports. The emphasis on sports is evident in local evening news telecasts,
too Every evening fox five to seven minutes of the half-hour local newe show,
the station's sports analyst, whose territory is exclusively sports, reports
on local, regional, and national sports events.
Television has made sports available to all. For those who cannot afford
tickets or travel to expensive play-offs like baseball's World Series or
football's final Superbowl, a flick of the television dial provides close-up
viewing that beats front row seats. Although estimates vary, the major
networks average about 500 hours each of sports programming a year. Recently,
the emergence of several cable channels that specialize in sports gives
viewers even more options. The foremost of these channels, ESPN, runs sports
shows at least 22 hours a day and is now received by 37 million American
homes, or nearly half of the 86 million homes with television sets.
PRIVATE AND INSTITUTIONALIZED ACTIVITIES
Opportunities for keeping fit and playing sports are numerous. Jogging is
extremely popular, perhaps because it is the cheapest and most accessible
sport. Aerobic exercise and training with weight-lifting machines are two
activities which more and more men and women are pursuing. Books, videos, and
fitness-conscious movie stars that play up the glamour of fitness have
heightened enthusiasm for these exercises and have promoted the muscular,
healthy body as the American beauty ideal. Most communities have recreational
parks with tennis and basketball courts, a football or soccer field, and
outdoor grills for picnics. These parks generally charge no fees for the use of
these facilities. Some large corporations, hospitals, and churches have indoor
gymnasiums and organize informal team sports. For those who can afford
membership fees, there is the exclusive country club and its more
modern version, the health and fitness center. Members of these clubs have
access to all kinds of indoor and outdoor sports; swimming, volleyball, golf,
racquetball, handball, tennis, and basketball; Most dubs also offer instruction
in various, sports and exercise methods.
Schools and colleges have institutionalized team sports for young people.
Teams and competitions are highly organized and competitive and generally
receive substantial local publicity. High schools and colleges commonly have
a school team for each of these sports: football, basketball, baseball,
tennis, wrestling, gymnastics, and track, and sometimes for soccer, swimming,
hockey, volleyball, fencing, and golf. Practices and games are generally held
on the school premises after classes are over. High schools and colleges
recognize outstanding athletic achievement with trophies, awards, and
scholarships, and student athletes receive strong community support.
AMERICAN SPORTS
Football, baseball, and basketball, the most popular sports in America,
originated in the United States and are largely unknown or only minor
pastimes outside North America. The football season starts in early autumn
and is followed by basketball, an indoor winter sport, and then baseball,
played in spring and slimmer. Besides these top three sports, ice hockey,
boxing, golf, car racing, horse racing, and tennis have been popular for
decades and attract large audiences.
VIOLENCE AND SPORTS
Although many spectator sports, particularly pro football, ice hockey, and
boxing, are aggressive and sometimes bloody, American spectators are notably
less violent than are sports crowds in other countries. Fighting, bottle
throwing, and rioting, common elsewhere, are not the rule among American
fans. Baseball and football games are family affairs, and cheerleaders
command the remarkably non-violent crowd to root in chorus for their teams.
COMMERCIAL ASPECTS
For many people, sports are big business. The major television networks
contract with professional sports leagues for the rights to broadcast their
games. The guaranteed mass viewing of major sports events means advertisers
will pay networks a lot of money to sponsor the program with announcements
for their products. Advertisers for beer, cars, and men's products are glad of
the opportunity to push their goods to the predominantly male audience of
the big professional sports. Commercial businesses enjoy the publicity which
brings in sales. The networks are glad to fill up program hours and attract
audiences who might perhaps become regular viewers of-other programs
produced by those networks, and the major sports leagues enjoy the millions
of dollars the networks pay for the broad-casting rights contracts. Many sports
get half of their revenues from the networks. National Football League (NFL)
teams, for example, get about 65 percent of their revenues from television. The
networks' 1986 contract with the NFL provided" each-of the 2g teams in the
league with an average of $14 million a year. -
"Just as in any business, investments are made and assets are exchanged. Team
owners usually sign up individual players for lucrative long-term contracts.
Star quarterback Joe Namalh was invited to play for the New York Jets, one of
the NFL teams, for $425,000 in 1965. Coveted baseball player Kirk Gibson
recently signed a three-year contract with the Detroit Tigers for $4.1
million. More often in the past than now, team owners traded players back and
forth as items for barter.
Any business' operator hopes to get a good deal. However, the network sports
industries have not been faring well lately. They have experienced financial
setbacks mainly caused by the oversaturation of sports programming on
networks and compering cable channels. Networks claim they are now losing
money on once-lucrative telecasts. Ironically, the slump in business is
occurring at a time when sports shows are drawing larger audiences than in
recent years. Part of the problem is that advertising costs got too high, and
the industries mat traditionally Duy ads beer ana car companies are not
paying the high prices. Networks, dependent on advertising for revenue, are
hoping that the market will change before they have to make drastic
reductions ir sports programming.
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
The commercial aspects of American professional sports can make or break an
athlete's career. Young, talented athletes make it to the top because they
are exceptionally talented, but not in every case because they are the best.
In women's tennis, for example, an aspiring young tennis star must not only
possess a winning serve and backhand, she must also get corporate agents on
her side. Without agents who line up sponsors and publicity, a player has a
very difficult time moving from amateur to professional sports. To get the
endorsement of corporate advertising sponsors, a talented young tennis player
has a much better chance for success if she is also attractive. Sales-
conscious tennis sportswear companies pay large sums of money to tennis pros
who promote their products. Many top players earn more money a year in
product-endorsement fees than in prize money. Competition and success in
sports, then, is not only a matter of game skill, but marketability as well.
COLLEGE SPORTS
College sports lost its amateurism years ago. Teams and events are
institutionalized and contribute to college publicity and revenue. Sports
bring in money to colleges from ticket sales and television rights, so
colleges like having winning teams. The better the team, the greater the
ticket sales and television coverage, and the more money the college can
channel back into athletics and other programs. Football and basketball are
the most lucrative college sports because they attract the most fans. Other
college sports, particularly women's sports, are often neglected and ignored
by spectators, the news media, and athletic directors who often disregard-
women's sports budgets and funnel money for equipment and facilities into the
sports that pay. On the other hand, top college teams get a lot of attention.
In 1986, the Division 1 college football programs had a budget of nearly $1
billion, while entertaining millions of spectators and television viewers.
STUDENT ATHLETES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
To recruit student athletes for a winning team, many colleges are willing to
go to great lengths, providing full academic scholarships, to athletes, and
sometimes putting the college's academic reputatiori at risk. The tacit
understanding shared by college admissions directors as well as the potential
sports stars they admit is that athletes do not enroll in college to learn,
but to play sports and perhaps use intercollegiate sports as a springboard
for a professional career. The situation often embarrasses college
administrators, who are caught between educational ideals and commercial
realities, and infuriates other students, who resent the preferential
treatment given to athletes. Of late, some universities, such as the
University of Michigan, have initiated support programs to improve academic
performance and graduation rates of athletes.
WINNING
Increasing commercialization of college sports is part of a larger trend.
American sports are becoming more competitive and more profit-oriented. As a
result, playing to win is emphasized more than playing for fun. This is true
from the professional level all the way down to the level of children's
Little League sports" teams, where young players are encourag'ed by such
"slogans as "A quitter never wins; a winner never quits," and "never be
willing to be second best." The obsession with winning causes some people to
wonder whether sports in America should be such serious business.
Sports: Colleges and Universities
The athletic programs of American
colleges and universities have come
in for a great deal of criticism
but there does not seem to be
a chance to alter the system.
James A. Michener gives background
information and comments on the problems.
First, the United States is the only nation in the world, so far as I know,
which demands that its schools like Harvard, Ohio State and Claremont assume
responsibility for providing the public with sports entertainment. Ours is a
unique system which has no historical sanction or application elsewhere. It
would be unthinkable for the University of Bologna, a most ancient and
honorable school, to provide scholarships to illiterate soccer players so
that they could entertain the other cities of northern Italy, and it would be
equally preposterous for either the Sorbonne or Oxford to do so in their
countries. Our system is an American phenomenon, a historical accident which
developed from the exciting football games played by Yale and Harvard and to
a lesser extent Princeton and certain other schools during the closing years
of the nineteenth century. If we had had at that time professional teams
which provided public football entertainment, we might not have placed the
burden on our schools. But we had no professional teams, so our schools were
handed the job.
Second, if an ideal American educational system were being launched afresh,
few would want to saddle it with the responsibility for public sports
entertainment. I certainly would not. But since, by a quirk of history, it is
so saddled, the tradition has become ingrained and I see not the remotest
chance of altering it. I therefore approve of continuing it, so long as
certain safeguards are installed. Categorically, I believe that our schools
must continue to offer sports entertainment, even though comparable
institutions throughout the rest of the world are excused from doing so.
Third, I see nothing wrong in having a college or a university provide
training for the young man or woman who wants to devote his adult life to
sports. My reasoning is twofold: 1) American society has ordained that sports
shall be a major aspect of our
national life, with major attention, major financial support and major
coverage in the media. How possibly can a major aspect of life be ignored by
our schools? 2) If it is permissible to train young musicians and actors in
our universities, and endow munificent departments to do so, why is it not
equally legitimate to train young athletes, and endow them with a stadium?
Fourth, because our schools have volunteered to serve as unpaid training
grounds for future professionals, and because some of the lucky schools with
good sports reputations can earn a good deal of money from the semi-
professional football and basketball teams they operate, the temptation to
recruit young men skilled at games but totally unfitted for academic work is
overpowering. We must seriously ask if such behavior is legitimate for an
academic institution. There are honorable answers, and I know some of them,
but if we do not face this matter forthrightly, we are going to run into
troubla.
Kinds of sports:
BASEBALL
Baseball is a nine-a-side game played with bat, ball, and glove, mainly in
the U.S.A. Teams consist of a pitcher and catcher, called the battery, first,
second, and third basemen, and shortstop, called the infield, and right,
centre, and left fielders, called the outfield. Substitute players may enter
the game at any time, but once a player is removed he cannot return.
The standard ball has a cork-and-rubber centre wound with woollen yarn and
covered with horse-hide. It weighs from 5 to 5 1/4 oz. (148 g.) and is from 9
to 9 1/2 in. (approx. 23 cm.) in circumference. ... The bat is a smooth,
round, tapered piece of hard wood not more than 2 3/4 in. (approx. 7 cm.) in
diameter at its thickest part and no more than 42 in. (1.07 m.) long.
Originally, fielders played barehanded, but gloves have been developed over
the years. First basemen wear a special large mitt, and catchers use a large,
heavily-padded mitt as well as a chest protector, shin guards, and a metal
mask. Catchers
were at first unprotected. Consequently,- they stood back at a distance from
home plate and caught pitched balls on the bounce, but the introduction of
the large, round, well-padded mitt or "pillow glove" and the face mask
enabled them to move up close behind the plate and catch pitched balls on the
fly. Players wear shoes with steel cleats and, while batting and running the
bases, they use protective plastic helmets.
The game is played on a field containing four bases placed at the angles of a
90-ft (27.4 m.) square (often called a diamond): home plate and, in counter-
clockwise order, first, second, and third base. Two foul lines form the
boundaries of fair territory. Starting at home, these lines extend past first
and third base the entire length of the field, which is often enclosed by a
fence at its farthest limits.
The object of each team is to score more runs than the other. A run is scored
whenever a player circles all the bases and reaches home without being put
out The game is divided into innings, in
each of which the teams alternate at bat and in the field. A team is allowed
three outs in each halfinning at bat, and must then take up defensive
positions in the field while the other team has its turn to try to score.
Ordinarily, a game consists of nine innings; in the event of a tie, extra
innings are played until one team outscores the other in the same number of
innings.
The players take turns batting from home plate in regular rotation. The
opposing pitcher throws the ball to his catcher from a slab (called the
"rubber") on the pitcher's mound, a slightly raised area of the field
directly between home and second base. ... Bases are canvas bags fastened to
metal pegs set in the ground.
The batter tries to reach base safely after hitting the pitched ball into
fair territory. A hit that enables him to reach first base is called a
"single," a two-base hit is a "double," a three-base hit a "triple," and a
four-base hit a "home-run." A fair ball hit over an outfield fence is
automatically a home run. A batter is also awarded his base if the pitcher
delivers four pitches which, in the umpire's judgement, do not pass through
the "strike zone" - that is, over home plate between the batter's armpits and
knees; or if he is hit by a pitched ball; or if the opposing catcher
interferes when he swings the bat. To prevent the batter from hitting safely,
baseball pitchers deliver the ball with great speed and accuracy and vary its
speed and trajectory. Success in batting, therefore, requires courage and a
high degree of skill.
After a player reaches base safely, his progress towards home depends largely
on his team mates' hitting the ball in such a way that he can advance. ...
Players may be put out in various ways. A batter is out when the pitcher gets
three 'strikes' on him. A strike is a pitch that crosses the plate in the
strike zone, or any pitch that is struck at and missed or is hit into foul
territory. After two strikes, however, foul balls do not count except when a
batter bunts - lets the ball meet the bat instead of swinging at it - and the
ball rolls foul. A batter is also out if he hits the ball in the air anywhere
in fair or foul territory and it is caught by an opponent before it touches
the ground. He is out if he hits the ball on the ground and a fielder catches
and throws it to a player at first base, or catches it and touches that base,
before the batter (now become a base runner) gets there.
A base runner may be put out if, while off base, he is tagged by an opposing
player with the hand or glove holding the ball, or if he is forced to leave
his base to make room for another runner and fails to reach the next base
before an opposing player tags him or the base; or if he is hit by a team
mate's batted ball before it has touched or passed a fielder.
An umpire-in-chief "calls" balls and strikes from his position directly
behind the catcher at home plate, and one or more base umpires determine
whether runners are safe or out at the other three bases.
BASKETBALL
The History of basketball, a game that started with 18 men in a YMCA
gymnasium in Springfield, Mass., has grown into a game that more than 300
million people play worldwide. The man who created this instantly successful
sport was Dr. James Naismith.
Under orders from Dr. Luther Gulick, head of Physical Education at the School
for Christian Workers. Naismith had 14 days to create an indoor game that
would provide an "athletic distraction" for a rowdy class through the brutal
New England winter.
Naismith's invention didn't come easily. Getting close to the deadline, he
struggled to keep the class' faith. His first intention was to bring outdoor
games indoors, i.e., soccer and lacrosse. These games proved too physical and
cumbersome.
At his wits' end, Naismith recalled a childhood game that required players to
use finesse and accuracy to become successful. After brainstorming this new
idea, Naismith developed basketball's original 13 rules and consequently, the
game of basketball.
As basketball's popularity grew, Naismith neither sought publicity nor
engaged in self-promotion. He was first and foremost a physical educator who
embraced recreational sport but shied away from the glory of competitive
athletics.
Naismith was an intense student, collecting four degrees in the diverse
fields of Philosophy, Religion, Physical Education and Medicine. Although he
never had the opportunity to see the game become the astonishing spectacle it
is today, Naismith's biggest thrill came when he was sponsored by the
National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) to witness basketball
become an Olympic sport at the 1936 Games held in Berlin.
Naismith became famous for creating the game of basketball, a stroke of
genius that never brought him fame or fortune during his lifetime, but
enormous recognition following his passing in 1939.
For his historic invention, Naismith's name adorns the world's only
Basketball Hall of Fame, a tribute that forever makes James Naismith
synonymous with basketball.
Abner Doubleday, who didn't invent baseball, is probably a more widely
recognized name than Naismith, who did invent basketball. And even those who
know about him continue to learn more about the man who invented a sport
designed for offseason physical exercise, which began with his own 13 basic
rules, but which has grown to become a game not for a specific culture or
nation or ethnic group, but for an entire planet to share and enjoy.
Naismith is the only coach in University of Kansas men's basketball history
to own a losing record. Naismith was 55-60 from 1898 to 1907, which mattered
little to him only in that one of his most famous quotes was that basketball
was never meant to be coached, anyway, only to be played.
The new game was explained by 13 basic rules and was played with a soccer
ball, peach baskets and nine to a side. There have been major changes to the
game since that first contest, which is believed to have been played Dec. 21,
1891.
But perhaps what is most amazing about Naismith's creation, other than the
fact that few sports that are purposely invented actually stand the test of
time, is that the essence of basketball-throwing a ball into an elevated
goal-has remained the focus from day one.
Today, Naismith would be universally recognized as a genius, a Bill Gates of
sport. And in all likelihood, the opportunity would exist for him to become a
multi-millionaire.
But if Naismith was The Basketball Man, he was not The Money Man, and life in
1891 was far different than in 1991 or 2001.
But if Naismith's invention did not lead to profit, it did lead to huge
popularity for basketball. Even in the final years of the 19th century, with
communication and transportation that was primitive by today's standards, the
game's growth was palpable, immediate and widespread.
James Naismith had changed the face of sport, not so much for the 19th
century, but the 20th, and it is now clear, the 21st. All in an effort to
keep unruly students at bay.
Sources
America in Close up
http://www.students.ru
http://www.yahoo.com
|
|
|
