What Brings Me Back

Teams riding in school buses going to or coming from games, players wearing clothing or accessories that represent their team or sport, or even pictures on Facebook or Instagram of my friends at team bonding dinners or activities are all part of what brings me back to fond memories of playing on sports teams.  It's not just the idea of simply playing the sport that makes me happy, but it's the idea of being a part of a team with organized practices and other rituals.

When I reminisce to the days when I played on organized and competitive teams, what I miss the most isn't playing the sport but instead the hype on game days, the team bonding and meals we had after school while waiting for the evening games, the dress code we had to wear on certain days, the practices and conditioning that the whole team would dread together, the morning announcements or articles in the newspapers talking about our victories or performance, and even our team huddles before, during, and after games.  With all these things that I miss, I can essentially say that I don't exactly miss the sport itself but I miss more of being a part of a competitive team.  There are many chances for me to play the sports such as pick up games or intramurals, but playing the sports in these ways isn't the same as it was when I played for a club, middle school, high school, or city team.  When I play pick up games there's no hype or team activities, just a bunch of people who feel like playing the sport.  

My reminiscence on the things outside of actually playing the sport does not mean that I don't enjoy simply playing the sport.  I love playing soccer, volleyball, or softball but it's not the same if I am not part of an organized team.

My love for sports is way more than just playing the sport or game.  I love sports because of every aspect that is involved in the sport.  Some people may not like practices, team bonding, or even dressing up on game days, but to me this is what makes up the sport.  Whether I ended up winning or losing the game I was a part of a team that still worked together and ultimately strives for success.
My trigger definitely may be different from many others.  My friend Sara, who I played soccer with for five years, always said that the things she hated the most about soccer were the practices, the stupid team bonding activities that they had to do, and having to formally dress up to school on game days.  For her, she simply enjoyed playing the sport alone and would have a ball in pick up games even though they weren't competitive and serious.  She would say that her trigger is simply seeing someone play with a soccer ball.  Although we may have different triggers we both still end up loving soccer whether we just simply love the sport or all the other things involved in the sport. 

Sport and Culture

Rodney Jones' poem "End of Practice" talks about athletes working towards their goals or dreams.  These goals or dreams may or may not be achieved but they are still there and they still can be worked towards.  Everyone strives toward the goal in their own way, as expressed with the different types of runners.  In "End of Practice" we see that not everyone strives towards the same dream in the same way.  This could lead to the consideration that maybe these dreams can be dependent upon ones culture or even a part of ones culture.
Klosterman's "33" talks about sports and how they can relate to aspects of life.  These aspects can range from politics, ideas, controversies, and much more.  Klosterman relates The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers to aspects of life such as music, relationships, interests and more.  We can see that "33" relates to many aspects of culture.
It can be said that sports can create a culture or simply be a part of culture because it depends on the way in which you make sports a part of your life.  If your someone who simply doesn't care about sports then you may not be a part of this culture that sports creates.  Although if you are someone who has some sort of interest in sports you can say that it both creates culture or is a part of your culture.  Depending on who you are sports can either be applied to life or can just be a part of life.

Dear World Boxing Association,

The last fight that I watched (Pacquiao vs. Bradley) taught me a very important lesson.  I will never ever give money to pay-per-view ever again to watch a boxing match.  First you guys make us pay money to even get the match up on our tv screens, then you come up with results that make no sense at all.  There was no way that Bradley deserved that win.  Pacquiao clearly dominated in the majority of the rounds.  For most of the fight Bradley felt like cuddling for some reason and decided to hug Pacquiao whenever Pacquiao had punches on him.  To make things even worse, the ref seemed to like Bradley's cuddling and hardly broke it apart.

In the end of it all, the decision of Bradley winning the fight was extremely shocking to me.  As a side note, this shock nothing to do with me being a big Pacquiao fan.  As we saw the decision being made, everyone could even see that people in the audience whether they were Bradley or Pacquiao fans were mind blown.  To finish off this letter I just want to say that I will assure you that you lost many World Boxing Association viewers after the Pacquiao vs. Bradley match.

Have A Bad Day :) ,

Gabby Duray

Participants Versus Spectators

The reading that addressed Participants Versus Spectators explains how sports essentially involve all types of people.  It involves people who were brought into sports by other influences and who chose to be a part of sports on their own.  These two groups of people differ in the way they were introduced to sports, but they can also be categorized into other groups of people.  For instance some of these people are spectators, participants, or even both.  The reading basically explained that everyone's experience with sports is different.  Some people simply like watching sports because they aren't good at playing the actual sports or simply because they enjoy watching rather than participating.  Some people love playing sports but can't stand simply watching other people playing sports.  In addition to all this, the reading also addressed the trend that some sports are popular to people depending on their geographic location, social class, or even gender.  When people talk of participants and spectators of sports, these people can't essentially be grouped together and considered the same because everyone has different experiences.  Although something that can relate to all participants and spectators of sports is that their numbers have grown.  Due to advances in technology, or the availability of resources more and more people are surrounded by the world of sports no matter what type of person you are.

Sports as a Part of Life

"Three-Man Weave" by Chuck Klosterman expresses the memory of a certain game that is largely forgotten.  Although there are few who remember this game, most of these people were first account witnesses or participants.  To the rest of the world, it is as if the game doesn't even exist.  "Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio" by James Wright expresses sports, particularly high school football, being a part of many people's lives.  No matter who you are, sports can have some sort of effect on your life.  This effect can vary whether it's something your interested in watching, a way to relieve yourself, or anything else.  "Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio" particularly expresses that high school football can effect the "Polacks," "Negroes," workers, and even fathers who eventually have to go home to their wives and families.  This range of people that high school football can effect can relate to sports being universal.  Now when people think about sports, many memories are associated with this thinking.  These memories can already be in existence or can be that which one strives for.  When I speak of that which one strives for, I am talking about someone longing to make a memory.  Memories can serve as a way to reminisce on sports or to strive to succeed in sports.  In my experience with sports, memories served both as a reminiscence and as a goal.  When I played softball in high school, I recall a district tournament game where my coaches and everyone who was supporting us tried to fire us up by saying that it was our time to shock the world.  Our school's softball team had not won a district game in somewhere close to 9 years.  Even though we were looked down upon, we used our doubters as motivation to succeed and ended up creating a memory and winning our first round of districts in years.  This particular experience and even experiences when I first began to play sports relate to "Three-Man Weave" and how UT rose up from being the underdog.