(JBC) Chapter 6: Sports/Race

Sports have been a major concept among Americans and have grown to be an enterprise all of their own. Granted, each different sport hold certain popularity but they all have come to impact people all over the world in many different ways. Sports have a way of unifying people and serve as a certain symbol. Many people connect to their teams emotionally and their connection may differ for everyone. They identify with their teams and hold their teams wins and losses close to them as if they were in their positions. Sports have grown into a very influential aspect in many people lives. For example, there have been creations of fan clubs and groups of people that commune because of their shared interests. Fans are also dragged into the capital gain sports have acquired over the years. Various forms of merchandise and partnering have been created to make speculators spend their money on the benefit for the sport companies. The concept of capital gain is evident to many of the famous sports players in various teams that they take their fame as a boost to sell their own merchandise and make profit off their fame. However, the attention sports have gotten over the decades has changed the social structure in how many people live their lives around. Parents now put their children in sports at an early age because of the benefits if provides for them. But, in earlier years, dedicating your life to playing sports would be looked at as ridiculous and a waste of time. Because sports have grown into a huge corporation in itself, many people now follow the examples of many famous players now. Not to mention the origins in where sports came, has greatly influenced how sports were adapted to this day. Looking back when sports were on the rise, they were exclusively reserved for the white man. But now, to benefit the outcomes and increase wins, each sport has come to use a race as their stereotype of the ideal player. It is almost as if players have been bred for success and mounted on a pedestal for people to look up to. The growth of sports has become what is socially wanted because of what has been portrayed as fame and excellence.