Friday, April 25, 2014

Final Reflections

Final Reflections

Before entering this class I was very aware of the importance of US sport on all aspects of our culture whether that is politics, economics etc. Sports are a spectacle that Millions of Americans watch and obsess over 365 days a year. Sports in the United States are so influential in several aspects of society which I knew but not in such detail like I do now. My thoughts on sport has changed especially after learning about sporting bodies, gender in sports, disabilities in sports, and history of sports (origins). I did not know that sports affect male and female body image in our culture so directly. Females are supposed to be skilled but sexy, muscular but skinny etc. which are almost oxymorons. Also learning about the ever evolving spectrum of sports and disabilities opened my eyes to ways that handicapped and other disabled persons can participate in competitive sports. The discussion of paying NCAA athletes really opened my eyes to how harshly these athletes are being exploited at universities across the U.S. The paper I wrote on this topic allowed me to research several scholarly articles that provided facts and statistics that were shocking. The amount of money that is made off of college athletes (in particular basketball and football players).  there are so many beneficiaries gaining so much money solely from the skill and the performance of athletes, these include T.V. stations, apparel companies, the NCAA and other major corporations. Once I move on from this class I will definitely take a more in-depth look at the sports I pay attention too. Rather than just watching the game I can pick up on certain critical aspects of the United States sports culture from game to game. I think that a lot of what we learned in this class is tolerance and adapting the change. Both are skills that I hope to embody throughout my professional career. One of the main ideas of the class is the rapid change and evolution of our society which in turn affects sports, affects identities in sport, and also the way we talk about sport. Adapting to change like this is important for everybody. I definitely would recommend this class to a friend because it takes a look at sports in a way that many people do not often do. it goes deeper than that entertainment value of sports and takes an in-depth look at sports influence and affects on politicals, social structures, economics, education etc.

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