Sports and Entertainment

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Chapter 12

• Sports and Entertainment

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• Summer 2000
• Texas suffers drought severe water shortage
• Leads to 600 million in losses on farms
• On evening news, trucks were shown bringing water
  in for high school football fields
• ESPN, Fox Sports, Sports Illustrated all
  illustrate the role sports play in American
  society
• What are our biggest sports/events?
• Are other cultures equally focused on sports?

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What is Sport?

• Sport a game, contest or pastime requiring
  skill physical exercise
• The idea of playing was defined by Johan
  Huizinga in 1938. (3 conditions necessary for
  play)
• It must be voluntary
• It occurs at certain times and in certain places
• Participants freely accept the rules expect to
  enjoy it and for the feelings they get from it
• There are many approaches to describing what
  makes an activity a sport
• Games of chance (poker) or games like chess are
  competitions, but do not require physical activity

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What is Sport?
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Sports Timeline

• 2697 BC Chinese invent a form of soccer
• 1500 BC Minoans engage in bull dancing
• 776 BC 1st Olympic games in Greece (only 1
  event foot race)
• 1st cent AD Romans joined guilds men and
  women regularly lifted weights did gymnastics
• 1200s French played a game similar to hockey
• 1400s Tennis popular in England
• 1510 golf becomes popular in Scotland
• 1829 first intercollegiate competition in
  England
• 1845 Baseball commonly played in US
• 1869 1st college f-ball game (Princeton vs.
  Rutgers)
• 1891 Basketball invented in Springfield, Mass.
• 1896 Olympic games revived

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Sports In the United States

• Sports Cultural Values
• Reflection Thesis sport reflects values
  stratification of a society
• Emphasis on competition emphasis on winning
  in US reflects the role of competition in the
  economic rise to power of the country
• Reinforcement Thesis sport reinforces the
  values social stratification
• Employers emphasize teamwork
• Consultants coach employees
• People write winning proposals, reach a goal,
  or comes up with a game plan
• Someone scores when they reach a personal goal
• School sports reinforce the value of competition
  for young people

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• Resistance Thesis Sport resists the values
  social models of society
• This view emphasizes the ways sports are at odds
  w/ society
• Contract disputes between players ownership
  express discontent w/ the power structure
• Sports has also provided an arena for the protest
  of gender and race inequality
• Title IX
• Racial integration of sports
• Push for non-white coaches/ownership
• More pay for players

8
Sports in Society

• In 1993, Charles Barkley appeared in and wrote
  his own lines for his I am not a role model.
  Nike commercial
• I get paid to wreak havoc on the basketball
  court.
• Called for parents teachers to be role models
  themselves
• Said thousands of guys can dunk a basketball in
  prison, should those guys be role models?
• 1991 accidentally spit on a little girl in
  New Jersey during a game
• 1996 got into a bar fight in Cleveland
• 1997 another bar fight, threw a guy though a
  window
• 2003 admitted to losing around 10 million
  gambling
• He was wrong. He was a role model, just not a
  positive one.

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• Athletes as Role Models
• Society idolizes athletes for their ability, not
  behavior
• Its up to authority figures to discuss
  situations, when athletes are involved in
  questionable behavior
• Reinforces social norms
• Sports Social Class
• In the original Olympic games, sports connected
  to wealth
• Only the rich had time resources to play
• Sports are still like this to an extent, yachting
  polo are considered for the elite
• Class distinctions maintained among spectators
• Cost of attending college pro games increase
  yearly
• Major universities profit from sporting events,
  athletes prevented from receiving money for
  playing
• Provides false hope for disadvantaged, skilled
  athletes to play professionally (.03 boys, .02
  girls B-Ball, gt1 HS football)

10
Sports the Economy

• In the U.S. alone, sports generated 50 billion
  in the late 1980s.
• Because of their social appeal, athletes became
  more marketable at this time
• 1998 - Michael Jordan earned 45 million in
  endorsements
• He only earned 34 million as a salary
• Tiger Woods earned 28 million in endorsements as
  well
• Also many different industries businesses
  benefit from sports
• Tourism
• Construction
• Health clubs
• Collectables
• Fast Food/Concessions

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Sports Politics

• Local State governments have become much more
  active in the business of sport.
• Lots of money to be made
• Cities subsidize the building of facilities
• Offer lower taxes to the organization
• Tax money used to build an arena sometimes pay
  an expansion teams admission into a league
• In many cases, most tax-payers that finance such
  projects cant afford to attend the games

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Arguments For Against HS Sports

• For Participation
• Involve students in school activities
• Increase interest in academic activity
• Built responsibility
• Build teamwork skills
• Teaches goal orientation
• Encourages physical fitness
• Promotes community support of the program
  school
• Generates unity school spirit

• Against Participation
• Distracts students from academics
• Encourages physical prowess over mental strength
• Focuses on macho outdated qualities, no longer
  valued by society
• Too many injuries
• Deprives educational programs of money
• Applies inappropriate pressure to student athletes

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• Violence in Sports
• Sociologists point out that while sports provide
  an outlet for aggressive behavior, it can
  undermine the social norms for controlling
  aggression
• A 300 lb person running over someone is
  equivalent to being hit by a car going 20 mph. In
  football, its a block.
• Sitting on someones chest beating them
  unconscious is assault. In sports its called
  UFC, MMA, or Pride Fighting.
• Sports the Media
• TV has influenced sports to make it more
  salable.
• Baseball used to be played in the afternoon, now
  played in the evenings nights so ratings will
  be higher for telecasts
• Basketball added the 3-point shot, 10-second
  rule, shot clock to increase scoring speed up
  the game
• Football has increased the of time outs to
  allow for more commercials

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Entertainment Society

• Entertainment something that amuses, pleases or
  diverts
• Mass media forms of mass communication
• Movie, television, music, printed materials
• Historical Background
• Other than sports, the mass media outlets are the
  most influential on society
• Communication began w/ development of speech
  language
• 2400 BC written communication
• 1450 printing press
• 1830s first regular newspapers
• Early 1900s radios motion pictures introduced
• 1927 first talking movie
• 1950s earliest computers created

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Who Controls the Airwaves?

• In Canada Great Britain, government stations
  were created to prevent commercialization
  influence programming
• In the U.S. almost all T.V. radio stations are
  commercial ventures
• PBS, KET, NPR are all funded by donations not
  commercials
• In the 1950s, society was just enthralled by
  television. Each network had a set program
  schedule closed at a specific time each
  evening.
• Now, there are channels for specific interests,
  and most broadcast 24 hrs/day

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• Since 1950, TV viewing has risen from 4.2 hrs/day
  to just under 7 hrs/day
• Weekly movie attendance rose sharply from 1920
  1945 from 1.5 weekly viewers/household to 2.5.
• As TV became more available, movies quickly fell
  out of favor
• By 1990, .1 viewers/week
• Media Ownership
• 1983 25,000 media outlets
• 80 of those outlets owned by 50 corporations
• 1997 10 companies controlled most information
  entertainment received by US residents
• Each of those 10 companies owned stock in 1 or
  more competitors
• Its reaching a point of near monopoly with
  companies that own major TV stations, satellites,
  newspapers, publishing companies, movie studios
  ISPs.

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Media and Politics

• A balding, toothless man
• 64, 165 lb man who looks like he fell from the
  summit of Mt. Ugly
• 511, 340 lbs
• 58, sickly, dressed funny odd-looking facial
  hair
• A middle-aged man with a large nose, who stammers
  and sweats profusely
• A distinguished-looking older gentleman, confined
  to a wheelchair
• 56, pudgy, an overdeveloped sense of
  confidence
• An elderly man, looks like your grandfather who
  would offer you candy when you visit, seems to
  relate to anyone but is tough on the bad guys
  
• Do any of these describe physical characteristics
  you would look for in a world leader?

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• Since the 1960 Presidential Election, decisions
  have been based as much on physical appearance as
  the issues.
• The immediacy of media coverage should make
  voters more informed, but most political events
  are carefully staged shows
• Now what we see hear are sound bites and as
  soon as a candidate says something, experts are
  telling us what they are actually saying.
• Often we see more of the experts/analysts than
  we do the candidates
• Does media exposure dictate a candidates success?

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Violence In the Media

• Violence in TV, movies, music, video games
• Does it affect the youth of America?
• Does listening to violent music make you a
  violent person?
• Desensitization react to a stimulus
  unemotionally
• Childrens cartoons depict 32 acts of
  violence/hour
• By 6th grade, children have seen 8,000 killings
  100,000 acts of violence on TV
• By age 18, he/she has seen 40,000 killings
  200,000 acts of violence
• Adults can be just as susceptible as younger
  people

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Social Concerns

• Five Concerns For Media Influence on Society
• Shift in focus from written word to imagery,
  reduces depth of thought needed to process
  information
• Americans are bombarded with trivia and sound
  bites.
• Our image of society (problems strengths) comes
  from the people who select our media.
• TV is not designed to inform us.
• Media-produced excitement is excessive.