The game of Cricket

Before our class on the topic of Cricket I had only been exposed to the sport from videos I had seen on YouTube and highlights I had viewed on ESPN. I had zero understanding of the game and how it was played. After watching the game we viewed in class I would say that I would be interested in trying to play the game sometime but I feel as thought I would not be addicted to the game or purse the game with a passion because of the fact that there are not alot of organizations or leagues in the United States that partake in this sport.

I wish that the U.S. wasn't so obsessed with just a few sports and that people would be more inclined to try and set up new teams or leagues of different teams or sports from other countries. It would be interesting to attend a game and see what it would be like to actually attend a game and experience the atmosphere. From what I saw on the video, the momentum of the game can change at any moment and to me that's very exciting. I also think it would be more fun to attend a game where it was one country vs. another country compared to just a local game between to local area clubs. I hope that one day I will get the chance to experience a cricket game for myself so that I can decide if it is something that I would be interesting in seeing again.

The world series. Is baseball dying?

With the NFL being so successful in America over the last 25 years, people have begun to dub it as the new "Americas Past time" The success of the NFL and NBA in America has challenged major league baseball to its core. With the steroid area and all of the allegations and evidence of players taking performance enhancing drugs to improve their play, left many fans feeling betrayed and disgusted with baseball.

Now baseball is on the verge of coming out of that era and in my opinion it is catching on again as it once did back in its prime. This years world series involves the Texas Rangers vs. the St. Louis Cardinals. The story line of this series has been epic comebacks and the fact that st. Louis is historically the better team than the rangers. This is because the Cardinals have won the world series in the double digits while the Rangers have yet to win a world series. Lat year the Rangers went to the world series and were unsuccessful so this year I'm hoping they can pull off the win and finally become crowned champions.

While baseball may not have the popularity it once did among the American people, I believe the MLB is taking the right steps to reforming what baseball means to Americans. With the world series currently underway, the world will be watching to see what will happen.

Rugby in South Africa

In my personal opinion, sports are one of the great ways to heal and help forget about the realities that people face every day around them. During class when we discussed the movie Invictus, I could see how powerful sports really were when the South African people looked to a group of men playing rugby to help them take their minds off of the civil unrest of apartheid that was currently going on. The love and passion for a sport can bring a whole entire nation together to cheer for something and too me, that's very powerful and tells me how important sports are to the world on a global level.

It can even influence world leaders as well. As we saw in the movie and know from real life accounts, Nelson Mandela was an advocate for the South African rugby team because he saw the power of sport and tried to use it to his own and his countries advantage. It was very successful because the South African team won the world cup and for a moment in time provided an escape from the harsh realities of apartheid within the streets of South Africa. It showed that a simple game of rugby could unite a whole nation and bring worldwide recognition to a country that needed it at this time in history.

Racism in soccer

Last Thursday's class was an eyeopening experience to what seems in a word, problematic at football clubs all across Europe. An associate of Dr. Spencer's came in to discuss hooliganism and the effects it has on the players, cities and people following their favorite football clubs. The professor was from England and was a former soccer player who has grown up witnessing the effects of hooliganism first hand. I couldn't believe some of the stories he told us about when he experienced this type of behavior first hand. We also watched a video on the different ways fans in Europe display racism. It is very open and very shocking to see fans throwing bananas and chanting like monkeys when black athletes touch the futbol.

It was really crazy to hear about some of the players personal accounts of times he had been affected by the tauts and harsh reality of racism. In the soccer game fifa sold on all console worldwide, there are billboards in plain view while you are playing the game that say "say no to racism." Before I wondered why they would have all those signs because in the United States, open racism on the soccer field/stadium like that is unheard of. So to see that it is such a big problem overseas really opened my eyes.

Dr. Cho's Presentation

When Dr. Cho came into class to speak about his experiences of sport on a global level, i had little idea of what he was going to say. I have had Dr. Cho as a professor before for Sport Law class and knew a little bit about his background and how he had come to America. I listened closely as he told the class of all of his experiences growing up as a child in South Korea and how sports influenced his life and led him to become a United States citizen. Professor Cho told us that he had even played on an organized football team over there growing up which i thought was surprising. I didn't think that American football was something of interest when it came to choices of sport for the South Korean people.

Another thing that Dr. Cho discussed was the experience of Korea in the world cup. I was astonished at the size of the crowd that showed up in the streets of Seoul South Korea to cheer their nation on. It reminded me of how much bigger of a sport worldwide soccer is than American football or basketball. Seeing the passion those people had for their country made me want to support mine someday and go to a world cup event.
Overall, Dr. Cho's presentation was very insightful on the impact sports have globally and I learned more than I could have asked for.