The Boys of Summer

Each August as I turn on my television to the only station that really matters, ESPN, something comes on that is different than the usual showing of the best athletes from around the world. Something appears in front of me that is bigger than just a sports broadcast, something that brings me back to memories I will never forget, memories that shaped my life. As I sit there with my eyes glued to my television set watching eleven and twelve year old children playing there hearts out each and every pitch, making mistakes, not being perfect at each movement they perform, I begin to drift away from the couch for a moment and remember how the life I now live today began.

The Little League World Series is the mecca of youth sports today. With games shown around the world, it is every kid's dream who plays the sport of baseball to make it to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the home of the Little League World Series. It gathers teams from 8 different regions around the United States as well as 8 teams from international regions, all aiming for the one common goal of winning the world series. Each year as I watch these kids in front of me, it brings me back to where i began playing the sport I love, baseball. I picture myself in the dirty old, probably hand-me-down gear, and try to imagine what it would be like reliving the best years of my life. Then a commercial appears, I wake up in a sense and look around me and see all my trophies, my favorite major league team's banner flying high upon my wall, and all I can do is smile. Whether I am smiling for myself or for the kids I have just witnessed is beyond me, but the feeling is indescribable.

Blog Post #5

The two articles "33" by Klosterman, and "The End of Practice" by Rodney Jones, both recognize how sport and community can create and hold a culture. In the poem, Jones is pretty much summarizing that for this football team the kids are in there glory days and loving every moment of running up and down the field and take that on with them for the rest of there life. Then the next generation comes through and it is the same thing, with the previous generation of players still telling the stories. It is like a never ending cycle for the community in which this team plays in. For the Klosterman article, he talks about the rivalry in the 80's between the Celtics and Lakers. He provides examples on how back then, the team you went made you more than just a fan, it described the type of person you were, dealing with issues such as race, religion, politics, and more.

I think that the combination of sport and community can definitely create a culture. Coming from a community where sports have played such a role I have gotten a chance to see it first hand. Where i come from sports don't just define how we think of ourselves and how we carry ourselves in public, but it is also clear for others to define us based on our connection with sports in the community. Growing up with a certain sports culture around you all your life it grows into something that you learn to accept and carry on throughout your life with you, probably to be passed down to the next generation continuing the cycle.

A Letter to the New York Yankees

Dear the New York Yankees organization,

I think you all are a bunch of over paid, self-centered idiots. It doesn't make you any cooler that you're wearing pin stripes and making tons of more money than the team across the diamond from you. You think that you can carry yourselves different and play the game with a different "swagger" just because you're a "Bronx Bomber". Well I have some news for you all... the team you're playing against is most likely going to play harder, longer, more passionate, and probably going to have a better run in the playoffs than you. Not to mention spend a lot less money and actually have a team, not just a bunch of superstars.

In my opinion you guys are the farthest thing away from a team. Any spectator of the game of baseball can tell, a Yankee fan or not. The way you guys all carry yourself and interact with each other just gives off the impression that none of you care for each other, and sometimes it looks like you guys don't even care about yourselves. Part of being a team is bonding with each other and having each others back. When you guys are on the field, I don't see any of you say a word to each other, try to pick each other up, NOTHING!

Sure you guys can have the most world series titles than any other organization in the MLB and I am sure will have plenty more to come, but before you can be considered a championship team, by me at least, you need to start acting like a team. One of these days you guys should stop thinking about all the money and try to remember the pure joy of the game you guys all grew up having.

Sincerely,
Austin Holt

Blog Post #3 Participants vs Spectators

Although it is clearly evident that participating in sports is much different than observing sports, they are both often put together and talked about on the same spectrum. It sometimes can get confusing on what one may be saying about a sport because you can not distinguish whether it is from a spectator or a participant point of view. They are strongly connected still however. Many participants of a sport however got introduced and taught there very sport through the spectator point of view. For me, this will be one of the points i will use this very strongly in the first paper i write.

When i started playing baseball at 4 years, i already had my mind made up that baseball was my favorite sport and the one i wanted to play. This is strongly connected to the point the textbook made on how participant connection through a sport often begins with a spectator connection. For me, every time i sat down to watch television with my dad, a baseball game was on. He would always tell me stories and give me information on the game daily. Without this I don't think I would have the same love or even be interested in sports in the first place.

Blog Post #2

The two pieces written by Klosterman and Wright relate to two similar, yet very different memories in sports that impacted ways of life. In both pieces, there is a culture that the sports represent. For the United Tribes, the tournament game in which they won was everything that they had going for them at the time. It was more than just a game, they were representing a whole group of people, a group much larger than just themselves. The same can be said about the poem written by Wright. Wright is explaining how the start of high school football season in a town effects not just the kids playing, but as well as the different types of citizens residing in the town. As both sports memories represent communities, to me it defines culture more than anything. Events in sports can extend beyond a community, beyond ones life time, and really have no limits of stopping at any point. It can create a way of life that people can share with others to be passed down and told as time goes on. Such stories like these can change one's outlook on society and in all reality there ways of living. Therefor to me, re-tellings of such stories define culture more than anything. Sports memories such as these exist all over the world, in many different cultures. Memory plays a huge role in sports in our society today. Without memories such as these, stories would not be told and sports could not define a culture, a community, or anything in that matter. As a whole, without memory of events, sports would not have nearly as much of a meaning in our society today.