Soccer is a unique sport to talk about when considering the immense popularity the sport carries throughout the globe. When talking about the spectator popularity of the sport in the United States it's about the third of fourth most popular spectator sport, but when talking about majorly around the world it would be easily the number one spectator sport. So why is that the United States put the sport so low on the Tatum pole?
I myself find soccer to be one of the lesser action packed sports to watch on tv which may be one factor of why I do not choose to be a spectator of the sport. One theory to why Americans have a low tolerance for soccer as I do may be because the nature of the game is to build up the suspense in between the goals that are scored in the game. Many games are low scoring and fans have to be patient to see scoring in the game. I feel as though many Americans do not have to patience for this because we love action packed sports such as football and basketball which are constant scoring. Even our national past time sport of baseball is falling down the list of most popular sports in our country maybe because of the slow pace of the game.
The world cup however is a great spectator event to watch because of the high profile status of the event and many countries participate. The event is a great way for each country to rally behind their team and show their national identity. I remember watching the 1999 Women's World Cup final when the Unites States took on China which ended up be a thrilling game. It is great for the game when countries that aren't high profile soccer programs such as the United States makes it deep in the tournament to provide some light on the countries program in order to gain some growth for the sport.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Glocalization: South Korea
Last week in class we had a guest speaker who is actually a professor here at the university which is Dr. Cho. The main thesis about his presentation is how sports effect other cultures and how globalization of sports effects the world. He gave a lot of great back round history of sports in South Korea which is where he is from. The main sports he discussed were baseball and soccer in Korea and how the two sports impact the country as a whole.
The main emphasis that I took from Dr. Cho's speech is that of how sports in his country has such a great impact between the various countries in Asia. He pointed out that even though all the different countries have similar aspects due to their close proximity to each other but the countries have many differences between South Korea, North Korea, China, and also Japan. The video of the soccer game when South Korea was playing shows the support the country gets for its sports. The entire downtown area was filled with spectators watching the game and most likely a large number of those people were not interested in the game of soccer however they were there to support their country as they play for a win but also for their countries pride. Dr. Cho mentioned how South Korea has high moral for their country and when their country plays nearby neighbors such as Chine it's a big rivalry and the whole country watches the event.
What I believe is a main difference between countries such as South Korea and the United States are things like these that are little individual citizen differences that make up the complexity of a country. Here in the U.S. if a mens soccer game was on tv the only viewers that would be watching are one's that actual follow the game of soccer. However as mentioned South Korea the majority of people would be supporting their country. That's just how I feel about how Americans differ than what other countries have for their national pride.
The main emphasis that I took from Dr. Cho's speech is that of how sports in his country has such a great impact between the various countries in Asia. He pointed out that even though all the different countries have similar aspects due to their close proximity to each other but the countries have many differences between South Korea, North Korea, China, and also Japan. The video of the soccer game when South Korea was playing shows the support the country gets for its sports. The entire downtown area was filled with spectators watching the game and most likely a large number of those people were not interested in the game of soccer however they were there to support their country as they play for a win but also for their countries pride. Dr. Cho mentioned how South Korea has high moral for their country and when their country plays nearby neighbors such as Chine it's a big rivalry and the whole country watches the event.
What I believe is a main difference between countries such as South Korea and the United States are things like these that are little individual citizen differences that make up the complexity of a country. Here in the U.S. if a mens soccer game was on tv the only viewers that would be watching are one's that actual follow the game of soccer. However as mentioned South Korea the majority of people would be supporting their country. That's just how I feel about how Americans differ than what other countries have for their national pride.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Globalizing Sport: The World Baseball Classic
For the three questions we talked about in class Thursday, I discussed the three questions with Wiebe.
1. In the Klein article when they talk about "growing the game" the meaning behind it would be along the lines of a way to be able to measure the global consumption of a popular sport and its various accommodations to local concepts. Growing the game is the result from any positive exposure to new areas that benefit the game of the sport.
When talking about the contribution that the WBC has done for the game of baseball it has done a great job at combining various cultures into one single tournament which had never been accomplished before the creation of the World Baseball Classic. Different cultures of the game all come together to compete and show other countries their style of play which is great for the game to show how diversified baseball really is.
The WBC's contribution to the growth on baseball is similar to the effectiveness that the organization of FIFA has had on the growth on the game of soccer. FIFA how ever has had more of an impact on the game of soccer than what the WBC has done so far. However the World Baseball Classic has only played two tournaments that were recently in the past decade so future events will provide more insight on what is has to offer the growth of baseball.
2. The idea of having global competition in baseball would be a fantastic opportunity the competition in the sport of baseball. Although the difficulty of doing such would be high because of the conflict of scheduling all the teams to play each other. One simplistic way might to have leagues that are divided by geography that have leagues of teams that are on the same continent. Then implement a playoff system where the winner of each division play in the playoffs.
If a system were possible to let every team play global competition there would be many pros and cons. The side of the pros would be the level of competition would rise because you could see the global competition and players could move to any team around the world. Cons on the other hand would be high expenses such as travel and also the time commitment that would put wear and tear on the bodies of the athletes.
3. One particular effort that could help the growth of baseball would be a similar move to what the NFL does for the efforts to expand the game of football which would be to host a live game over on international soil that the game of baseball could be played in order to give exposure in a new market.
1. In the Klein article when they talk about "growing the game" the meaning behind it would be along the lines of a way to be able to measure the global consumption of a popular sport and its various accommodations to local concepts. Growing the game is the result from any positive exposure to new areas that benefit the game of the sport.
When talking about the contribution that the WBC has done for the game of baseball it has done a great job at combining various cultures into one single tournament which had never been accomplished before the creation of the World Baseball Classic. Different cultures of the game all come together to compete and show other countries their style of play which is great for the game to show how diversified baseball really is.
The WBC's contribution to the growth on baseball is similar to the effectiveness that the organization of FIFA has had on the growth on the game of soccer. FIFA how ever has had more of an impact on the game of soccer than what the WBC has done so far. However the World Baseball Classic has only played two tournaments that were recently in the past decade so future events will provide more insight on what is has to offer the growth of baseball.
2. The idea of having global competition in baseball would be a fantastic opportunity the competition in the sport of baseball. Although the difficulty of doing such would be high because of the conflict of scheduling all the teams to play each other. One simplistic way might to have leagues that are divided by geography that have leagues of teams that are on the same continent. Then implement a playoff system where the winner of each division play in the playoffs.
If a system were possible to let every team play global competition there would be many pros and cons. The side of the pros would be the level of competition would rise because you could see the global competition and players could move to any team around the world. Cons on the other hand would be high expenses such as travel and also the time commitment that would put wear and tear on the bodies of the athletes.
3. One particular effort that could help the growth of baseball would be a similar move to what the NFL does for the efforts to expand the game of football which would be to host a live game over on international soil that the game of baseball could be played in order to give exposure in a new market.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Introduction
Hi my name is Brent. I am a Sport Management major at BGSU. I am currently a junior and when I get my degree I want to start a career in one of the two main stream sports of either professional football or basketball.
A little back round on my sporting history is that I am from Tiffin, Ohio which makes me a fan of all Ohio sports except for the Cleveland Browns because when I first started watching the N.F.L. as a kid the Browns did not have a team when I was growing up and therefore I jumped on the dynasty bandwagon of the Dallas Cowboys and remained a fan from there. In high school I played baseball for Tiffin Columbian and my position for most of my high school career was left field. Although I played baseball for my sport of choice my favorite sports spectator whys would be football first and basketball second. My favorite sport season is the fall when football season starts off because I am a die hard football fan for thee Ohio State Buckeyes. When the Buckeyes lose a game on Saturdays my whole weekend is ruined. I am also a big fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers and I'm glad the LeBron James is gone and that this past season we had two of the first four picks and get a chance to rebuild the team.
I am an enormous sports fanatic that can't get enough of sports. I wake up and watch ESPN and even when I go to work I am surrounded by athletics. I currently work at the Forrest Creason Golf Course which is the golf course that is located on campus. Golf has never been one of my favorite sports but as I have worked out at the course I have learned an appreciation for the game.
If I could choose a global event event to attend I would probably go to a World Cup soccer game. The reason I would want to attend would be because the excitement and energy at the event over the game would most likely be incomparable to any other sporting event due to the massive world popularity to the game of soccer.
I look forward to future class discussions and discussing global topics. Feel free to leave comments and I would enjoy commenting back to strive for discussions.
A little back round on my sporting history is that I am from Tiffin, Ohio which makes me a fan of all Ohio sports except for the Cleveland Browns because when I first started watching the N.F.L. as a kid the Browns did not have a team when I was growing up and therefore I jumped on the dynasty bandwagon of the Dallas Cowboys and remained a fan from there. In high school I played baseball for Tiffin Columbian and my position for most of my high school career was left field. Although I played baseball for my sport of choice my favorite sports spectator whys would be football first and basketball second. My favorite sport season is the fall when football season starts off because I am a die hard football fan for thee Ohio State Buckeyes. When the Buckeyes lose a game on Saturdays my whole weekend is ruined. I am also a big fan of the Cleveland Cavaliers and I'm glad the LeBron James is gone and that this past season we had two of the first four picks and get a chance to rebuild the team.
I am an enormous sports fanatic that can't get enough of sports. I wake up and watch ESPN and even when I go to work I am surrounded by athletics. I currently work at the Forrest Creason Golf Course which is the golf course that is located on campus. Golf has never been one of my favorite sports but as I have worked out at the course I have learned an appreciation for the game.
If I could choose a global event event to attend I would probably go to a World Cup soccer game. The reason I would want to attend would be because the excitement and energy at the event over the game would most likely be incomparable to any other sporting event due to the massive world popularity to the game of soccer.
I look forward to future class discussions and discussing global topics. Feel free to leave comments and I would enjoy commenting back to strive for discussions.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)