How Did Sports And Leisure Changed America

In Jeffrey Schranks’ short story, “Sport and the American Dream”, he is trying to show us that the sport America watches and plays, portrays America’s character as a nation. Since America goes from baseball to football we it shows us that we are becoming more violent. his comparisons of sports and war is says best how America changes as a country over the years. Back when baseball was Americas’ pastime to being a totally football country. When we were a baseball country, Americans were happier, not many cared about wars or violence just the enjoyment they got from watching the games with friends or family at the ballpark. It didn’t matter that the sport wasn’t moving at a fast pace or so competitive. Football is the

A pastime is a hobby that is performed in someone’s spare time. The term America’s pastime is something that the entire nation enjoys and participates in. Since its creation, baseball has taken the top spot as the nation’s favorite recreation. For generations it filled the homes of Americans whether it be via television, conversation, or participation. Families would travel together to their local baseball stadium and root for the home team. Kids would organize games at their local baseball field and play until dark. Stars like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio were idols to fans, both young and old. It was evident that baseball was in the peoples hearts and truly was America’s pastime. However, today there is a debate whether baseball is still The United States number one choice of hobby. It is unclear whether it actually is America’s pastime or if that term is just associated with the game. Although the game has deep roots, due to the rise in popularity of other professional sports, a drop in baseball game viewings and a decrease in the number of young fans, baseball should no longer be considered America’s pastime.

As we moved on history, depending on the period of time that we find ourselves in, a particular sport would be important as people relate their lives into it. Mandelbaum focus on three different sports and three different time periods, to show us their relationship. He states that, sports come to play an important role in our lives as we are able relate and find a significance that represent and fits our lives. This is the explanation Mandelbaum reaches when we tries to explain why Americans had become ardent fans of sports. The three major American sports that Mandelbaum focus on are baseball, football and basketball. This sports had been chosen for America because they embody three major stages in American culture. Baseball represents the agrarian period, football the industrial revolution and basketball the new innovative and modern society.

Because the United States started to prosper during this time, people had a lot of extra spending money. This meant they could work less, and had much more free time. They had to fill this free time with something, so they started to have some fun. Baseball became a huge leisure activity that many participated in. There were many advertisements that got baseball to be big. (Doc 1) People loved watching and playing baseball because they would have so much fun and could spend time with their family and friends. Some people became very angry that others were having fun because they started to work less and become more in love with the materialistic things. They started overspending and stopped attending museums and art galleries, but instead went to movies and bars. They often called these people the

Before dealing with the sports portion of this time it is important to know what is happening in the United States of America during this time. So what exactly is the Gilded Age and Progressive Era? From the end of the nineteenth century and into the first twenty or so years into the twentieth century there was a big change in the United States of America. It was a time of enormous social change, a change that increased the value of life and the way Americans lived. Not only was it a social change, bit it also brought great economic growth to the United States.

During the Gilded age many social class, racial walls and gender bias developed lines walls and boundaries for people. The funny thing about that is as new boundaries, walls and limitations were being built sports and the development of it broke them down or found new ways for the different genders and races to find ways to use sports as an outlet. Women were constantly fighting for their right to be involved in sports and pushing the limits as to what social norm deemed acceptable for them to be allowed to play. Working class women started to compete professionally in rowing competitions; they played crocket and played lawn tennis. The American pastime of baseball was well on its way and all though baseball had a huge racial division as to who could play mainly African Americans not being accepted, but they developed their own league and contrary to the belief that Jackie Robinson was the first pro ball player there was another before him by the name of Moses Fleetwood Walker. Moses was the product of a inter racial relations with a black dad and white mom he also attended college at University of Michigan and was the first African American Pro Baseball player. After that he would venture into entrepreneurism, be a newspaper editor, author as well as an inventor. He was quite the Renaissance man living the "American Dream" despite social and racial ideologies. Collegiate level sporting really started to take off during this time and the development of another

The 1920s were full of tremendous athletes and sports that captivated the nation. People who had never been interested in sports now found themselves participating in recreational sports or following professional athletics. Sports continued to rapidly grow after the 1920s, eventually leading to present time, where many people of all ages and backgrounds have been impacted by sports somehow in their lives. However, none of this would have been possible without the arrival of the golden age of

The article “America’s Pastime” by Robert S. Fay and Tom Pfannoch, teaches readers about the history of baseball. The first unofficial baseball games were played in the early 1800’s, these games otherwise known as “town ball”. One of the earliest organizations to influence modernized baseball was the knickerbockers, the knickerbockers put together a set of rules and gave the game structure which helped standardize how the game is played today. Soon after, the game spread throughout the country and gained popularity among players and spectators as well, which led to the professional sport of baseball. Following the professionalization of the sport many leagues were formed, the present day MLB (Major League Baseball) has been considered America’s

In the 1920’s, workers began to have more leisure time in industrialized towns and cities which led to organized sports. The most popular sports were boxing, baseball, basketball, and football. Baseball was considered as the ‘national pastime’. Sports were racially segregated ion North Carolina. Women had limited opportunities to play sports.

Ray Chapman is known as the only MLB player to die from an injury. He was hit by a pitch and eventually died in the club house (“One pitch” par. 1). Today, all MLB athletes are required to wear helmets when batting, to protect them from severe injuries. Sports in the 1920s were the start of a new concept. It was a new idea to people that changed a lot in society and their views on sports.

On October 29th of 1929 the stock market crashed, resulting in a widespread economic crisis throughout the United States. During this large crisis, Americans struggled living through the Great Depression. Baseball, America’s pastime was affected by this very badly. Attendance was at an all time low through this crisis, with the loss of jobs and opportunities to make money. With this situation luxuries of going to baseball games was not a realistic thing at this time for the average person.

The topic that I chose for this ethnographic interview was sports in American culture. Sports are popular in America, and are a big part of the culture in America. I would say most people in America have played sports, whether they played as kids, in high school, at the collegiate level, or even professional. A great deal of people also enjoy watching sporting events. The following were the questions asked during the interview. How have sports affected your life? Why do you think sports are so popular in America’s culture? How are sports a part of the culture in America? What do you think about the amount of money spent on spectator sports?

What is the social role of sport? To what extent does social structure influence the practice and experience of sport? Discuss in relation to two of the following: gender, class, ethnicity or Aboriginality, or region. Illustrate your answer with at least three examples from sporting contexts (local or international).

Throughout this vast country we as Americans are entertained by many different things, including movies, music, and sports. Although, there are many ways for me to be entertained, I prefer the enjoyment of sports. As a youngster I enjoyed playing backyard games. We rounded up neighborhood kids and played for fun. We played either football or basketball every weekend. These two sports are the favorites of those who play them around the world. While these sports are alike in many ways, they are very different in other aspects.

“Sports are for fun, but they also offer benefits and lessons that carry over into all aspects of life”. This well-known anonymous quotation conveys the message that sport is the game which has some rules and custom. It is not only for fun and entertainment, but there are also some benefits of playing sports and which gives some important lessons for life. Every kind of physical sports is healthy because it involves running, jumping, stretching, mind skills and much more. There are so many sports available in the world nowadays, but we can categorize them by the numbers of players, the three main categories are individual sport, dual sport and team sport.