The 1990s Sports History

I walked off the floor with sweat dripping from my hair. So many thoughts flew through my head that I couldn’t focus on anything. My junior year of basketball felt like it ended as quickly as a blink. It was as if in seconds we went from the stars of the state tournament to the embarrassments of it. I tried to forget the disappointment of it but it still will not leave. My desire and love to win games comes from the more apparent hatred of losing them. Junior year we had a chance to win a state championship, but we lost that chance. That was when I realized that I had one chance left to win. Senior year our basketball success would only be as rewarding as we would make it. The pressure placed on ourselves was substantial, and we faced trials on the road to success. In the end, we stood alone, crowned as the champions, not letting our chance slip away.

Whether it’s Michael Jordan shooting the game winning shot, Jim Kelly leading the buffalo bills to the super bowl, or the braves winning the world series of 1995, americans have always had a fascination with sports. Some people say that sports in the 1990’s was the best decade ever. Sports have provided many things for fans that watch them. Sports have allowed communities to grow stronger and provide great athletes to look up to. Sports in the 90’s has created unbreakable bonds between men women and children as they watch and participate in them.

In the 1960’s most sports hit a really big growth spurt. If it weren’t for the 1960’s baseball, football, and boxing would not be the same as they are today. These sports caught almost everyone's attention on game days. People tried to be like the players and be as good as them, that pushed people to do better at athletic things that made them healthier. Sports like baseball, football, and boxing all provided role models that changed people’s lives in the 1960’s.

There are many high school basketball phenoms that are scouted by pro teams even when they are in high school. A select few in the past have gone straight to the NBA out of high school and had a lot of success, while some players go to college all four years to develop their skills at the next level. However, there are athletes that will waste one year at the college level just so they could get to the NBA. Why would you waste one year of your life when you could have already been in the NBA a year earlier? Basketball players should either go to college all four years and enhance their skills and get a solid education. If not, skip college and go straight to the NBA, rather than wasting a year of your life, and possibly a classroom seat for a person who wanted to get an education.

We can all agree that basketball is almost becoming popular around the world. So many people play this sport but do people know how basketball started and how it evolute throughout the years since basketball was borned? So like every other sports and creations, there has to be a inventor and in basketball there was a man by the name of Dr. James Naismith. “Created in 1891 in a Springfield, Massachusetts YMCA gymnasium has grown into a game played worldwide by more than 300 million people”(historybits.com). So this game has been out for a very long period of time with many changing of the rules in basketball throughout the history. When it was first played in the late 1800s, there were different rules and even different looking basketball. As for the rules, originally there would be 10 people on the court but it first started with 18 people on the court which after couple of years it changed to only 10 people. Substitution was also different and the rule for this was at first no one can enter until the next game. “The rule was changed in 1920 to allow a player to re-enter the game one time. In 1934, the rule was expanded to allow players to re-enter the game twice, and, in 1945 the rule was finally changed to permit players to return to the game an unlimited number of times”(hooptactics.com). The first basketball looked very alike a football but round. The backboards were made out of straight wood and the baskets were made out of peach baskets or square boxes. There was only

The way that America influenced Australian sport accelerated due to the new communications that became available such as pay TV and the internet. This enabled more widespread and frequent up to date broadcasts of American sport in Australian homes. There are many scholars that say in secondary sources that because new communications enabled more widespread broadcasting and the amount of money that went into the broadcasting different sports in Australian culture, it was the television stations that began to dictate the time of day that games were played. For example, football matches were traditionally played on Saturday afternoons. In the 1990s, however, rugby league and AFL matches were scheduled on Friday nights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and sometimes even on Monday nights. This is what maximised the potential television audience and allowed more games to be broadcast. The media coverage in these influencing countries also led to increased rates of interest in the sports that were shown, such as basketball which had then led to it becoming the fastest growing sport in Australia. Broadcasting on television soon became a major source of income for most sports played here in Australia as television stations had paid large amounts of money to get the rights to broadcast a particular sport on their station. This also led to overseas merchandising and advertising, which meant that companies from around the world could pay to have their products displayed as advertising during a sporting match. Surveys that were conducted later into the decade showed that teen boys recognised famous sports person Michael Jordan over any other sports person. Along with this, when America had started to add cheerleaders, mascots, other ‘Americanised’ glitz and glamour and merchandise to their sporting

Throughout American history, sports has always been a big topic. Many Americans view sports as a part of their culture and an influence in their lives. There are many opportunities to play sports such as basketball, football, golf, baseball, ect. However, not everybody had equal opportunities to play sports before there were major changes in sports history. One of these major changes included other ethnicity groups and skin colored people to be allowed to play sports. African American athletes were one of the main groups of people that changed this view. They were not allowed or qualified to play sports because of their skin color and background. Since the 1800’s, African Americans the views of the people in the United States of blacks in sports

The central idea of “Why sports history is American history,” by Mark Naison, is that sports are an important part of American history. I know that it is the central idea because Mark Naison writes that, “following sports was a way to become more fully American.” Many people followed sports because they felt “more American” that way. Lots of people who followed sports were immigrants. The author also writes in the section, “Professional Athletes Provided Inspiration,” that, “black baseball superstars like Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella…” Black baseball superstars set an idea in the world that everyone can play sports. They don’t have to be fully American. Also, Naison writes, “Women and girls were given few opportunities to develop their

Football is America’s Greatest Sport because of the different positions,wide variety of skills,and players come from different backgrounds.

On August 12, 1994 professional baseball players went on strike for the eighth time in the sports’ history. Since 1972, negotiations between the union and owners over contract terms has led to major economic problems and the absence of a World Series in 1994.

In the 1970s the NBA was a parity it had all players to be treated equally. The 70s had a mixture of great players that were striving to be one of the best and they did accomplish that by becoming great in their respected teams. All decades past and present have their teams. The 1950s had the Minneapolis Lakers dominating most of that decade. The 1960s had been dominated by the Boston Celtics led by the great Bill Russell winning eleven championships with the Celtics. The 80s was dominated by two dynasties the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics with the Lakers coming up top on most of them. The 1990s the Bulls dominated most of it. It was led by the G.O.A.T himself Michael Jordan. In the present time the NBA is being dominated by the Golden State Warriors led by a group with Steph, Klay, Kevin, and Draymond. The 1970s didn’t really have any team to dominate that decade it was very well balanced their were 8 teams that came out victorious in that decade. There was no Back-to-Back champions that decade and it was most by any decade.

The 1920’s was an era of role models and great heroes. This period was known as “The Golden Age” of sports. This was a time where Americans wanted to put the memory of the World War I in the past and appreciate life. It began with the Black Sox scandal of 1919 continuing with historic record breaking athletes. The introduction of radio made is easier for fans to follow their favorite teams. The economy of the United States was strong for most of the time. New and bigger stadiums were built and for the first time Americans began to pay money to watch such high level of competition. This is a decade to be remembered.

1990s Sports The buzzer goes off the whole gym is silent then the hear everyone yelling Michael Jordan made the winning basket . Michael Jordan was one the best players in the NBA who played for the Bulls in the 1990’s. Another great player at this time was Magic Johnson who played for the Lakers. Tiger woods was a well known golfer in the 1990’s.

I believe the advantages of looking at sport history through a perspective that isn’t the traditional historical method of the postmodern would be understanding the narrative through a first person point of view. Douglas Booth stated that “sport history can be resuscitated by building intellectual relationships with physical education as well as sport science, and by instilling students with belief in their part ‘as actors in the processes of intellectual and social change.” (Phillips, 2001, p.329). For the individuals who participated during the event of sport history can tell their story as the author as opposed to someone who didn’t participate in sports, but are the spectator watching the games and reading every piece of news associated

The period of 1865 to 1950 was critical to the formation of “Modern” sport that is recognized today. In an article by Allen Guttmann titled From Ritual to Record: the nature of modern sport, Guttmann outlines seven characteristics that played a central role in the development of sports. These concepts were created as a sociological history of sports and took into place both American and European competitions. Guttmann’s notions of secularism, rationalization, bureaucracy and quantification, among others, all advanced the culture of sports; yet the most important of the stated characteristics is equality.