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Why do billions of people around the world love sports? This informative book attempts to find out why--by examining sports in all its facets, providing an overview of the history of sports, with a constant focus upon the social conditions through which sport arises.
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SPORTS: WHY PEOPLE LOVE THEM! TIM DELANEY AND TIM MADIGAN Sports: Why People Love Them! Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan UNIVERSITY PRESS OF AMERICA,® INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Copyright © 2009 by University Press of America,® Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard Suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 UPA Acquisitions Department (301) 459-3366 Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America British Library Cataloging in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Control Number: 2009922989 ISBN: 978-0-7618-4496-9 (clothbound : alk. paper) ISBN: 978-0-7618-4489-1 (paperback : alk. paper) eISBN: 978-0-7618-4490-7 Back cover photo: Tim Delaney and Tim Madigan outside of Dodger Stadium. Courtesy of William “Bear” Konopka. ⬁ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48—1984 Dedicated to the memory of Martin (Uncle “Marty”) Delaney, who had the greatest childhood impact on Tim Delaney and his love of sports, especially for the Dodgers; and to the memory of Peter Hare, who demonstrated to Tim Madigan what true sportsmanship is all about. Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments ix 1 What is Sport? 1 2 Our Love Affair with Sports throughout History 25 3 Sports as a Cultural Phenomenon 49 4 Sport Socialization through Popular Culture 78 5 Youth Sports: Growing Up with Sports 101 6 High School and College Sports: The Passion Continues 122 7 Sports Fans 154 8 Sportsmanship 182 9 Why We Love Sports 208 Bibliography 233 About the Authors 243 v Preface In August of 2008, while this book was being completed, much of the world was riveted by the incredible record-breaking phenomenon of Michael Phelps at the Summer Olympics in Beijing. The sheer joy of watching him, time and again, go for the gold in various swimming contests, brought millions of people together, giving thrills of excitement to countless individuals and bonding together total strangers, most of whom had never even heard of Phelps before the Olympic Games began. There’s something about the breaking of athletic records that excites even the most tepid follower of sports. But why exactly is it that so many people all across the globe, and throughout recorded time, have devoted so many of their waking hours to participating in and/or avidly following various sporting contests? In Sports: Why People Love Them! we will attempt to answer these questions through an examination of sport in all its facets, from sorting out various types of sporting activities to giving an overview of the history of sport from the earliest days to the present-time, with a constant focus upon the social conditions through which sport arises and by which it continues to thrive. It is not an exaggeration to say that billions of people around the world love sports. While we all are aware of troubling aspects related to sports—such as violence, cheating, and overemphasis on winning—we also realize that such problems occur with all social institutions. They should not be underestimated, but no