Conclusion

This class taught me a lot more than I originally anticipated. The main reason that I took this class was because i like to learn about sports and the different impacts they have on the world. We learned about a wide variety of sports and the nations and cultures that they developed in. The most interesting to me was when we learned about rugby. I already knew most of the information that we learned but the fact that I was able to help other people in the class understand and learn about rugby is really what I wanted to do. Our school has a great rugby team and we are always trying to get more fans and players and this was a good way to do that. 

The majority of the topics that we covered were very interesting. I think this is a really good class to be offered because it helps to open peoples minds to the different sports that are played around the world. Global sports are going to have a major impact on the world one day and having young students learn about those sports is a great thing. 

I had some troubles keeping up with my blogs but I do think that keeping a blog is a good way to stay on top of current events and to really get a deeper understanding of sports and the effect they have on the global market. 

Asian Athletes

More and more Asian athletes are coming to America to play professional sports. The most noticeable Asian athlete that was in America was Yao Ming. Yao came over in early 2000 and was drafted by the Houston Rockets in the first round. There are not many Asian basketball players in the NBA, but Yao made sure to give them a good name. He wasn't just all hyped up because he was Asian, but because he actually had skill. Some players didn't take him seriously like Shaq but nobody really cares what he thinks because he's not very good anyways.

There are more Asian athletes in the MLB than any other professional sport in America, besides golf. Most of the Asian athletes that come to play baseball like to go to the Seattle Mariners or the the New York Yankees. There isn't a definite reason that the players like to go there, but thats where the majority of them seem to go.

Asian athletes are making a name for themselves and are going to have more of an impact on the world than most people think. Not many Asians play in the NBA because as most people know, they aren't the biggest group of people in the world. But their determination and skill is going to show the rest of the world that just because their smaller, doesn't mean anything.

Olympics

Talking about the Paralympics in class was very interesting to me. It was amazing to hear about stories of people that have overcome so much adversity and still pursued their dream of being an olympic athlete. The one sport that I found most interesting was the women's sitting volleyball team. I had never heard of this before and it really sparked my interest. I didn't know that even if a woman could stand she is still able to play on the team.

Another Paralympics athlete that i found amazing is Scott Hollenbeck. Scott went to the University of Illinois and competed in the wheel chair games. The University of Illinois has a good disabled program and through that, Scott was able to compete for years in wheel chair games.

One thing that I never thought I would hear about is doping in the Paralympic games. In the 2000 Paralympic games, some athletes were charged with using steroids. However, this case is arguable because some of the athletes need the steroids because of their existing medical condition. I think that if an athlete is charged with doping but can prove that they are using the drugs for an existing medical condition, then nothing should come of it. But if the athlete can not prove that they are using the drugs for medical conditions, then they should be disqualified from the games.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is an excellent golfer but I do not consider him an athlete. I don't think that a golfer is an athlete because besides hitting a ball, it doesn't take much effort to play the game. What he did will probably stand by him for the remainder of his career. Golf is a sport of classy men and when one of the most renowned golfers in the world has a public mishap like Tiger did, the sport is not going to look highly upon him.

Since Tiger did this, his game has gone down the drain. I think that if his father was still alive then he would be able to come out of his slump sooner. But since his father died and he was the one person that Tiger could always fall back too, it seems that Tiger has no one else left to turn too and therefore wont be able to come out of this slump.

Wayne Gretzky

I think that Wayne Gretzky moving from the Oilers to the Kings was one of the largest and most influential things that happen to the NHL. Moving a normal player from Canada to America wasn't that big of a deal, but when you move the greatest hockey player of all time to an American team, things are going to explode. Even when Gretzky was moved to America, neither his efforts nor his skills went down at all. The first year that Gretzky was playing with the Kings, they made it to the playoffs. It just so happened that the team they were facing were the Oilers, Gretzky's old team.

This was hard for Gretzky to handle but no matter the task, Wayne came through with flying colors. The NHL was trying to grow their sport and moving an icon such as Gretzky was a great way to spread the love of hockey.

Unlike when Beckham came to the US, there was not so much an explosion like there was with Gretzky. The difference between the two players is that Gretzky was the best player in the NHL and had amazing skills. Beckham had amazing skills but not in being a stand alone superstar, but by being a good team player. Soccer in the US will continue to grow and I think if a few more superstars from Europe came to the states, soccer would expand faster.

Rugby

Rugby is an up and coming sport that is soon going to  be a very popular sport all over the world. Rugby is not a big hit in America because it was never publicized as much as football, and because football has always been the sport to watch. I think that having USA Sevens sponsor the collegiate tournament on NBC two summers ago (which BG played in) was a great start to getting rugby more popular in the states. Then later in that same summer there was an actual USA Sevens tournament showing the skills of all of the big rugby nations such as New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. These three countries are called the Tri-Nations in their own league.

I also think that having rugby in the 2012 summer olympics is going to have a large impact on the popularity of the sport. Rugby used to be in the olympics but it was played as full 15's rugby, but in the 2012 olympics it is going to be 7's rugby. Right now, the Rugby World Cup is going on in New Zealand. It is hard for the games to be broadcast here in the states because of the time difference. When the games are on in New Zealand, it is usually around two or three a.m. here. My hope is that rugby will continue to grow and become popular in the states because it is a great game that i think many people will enjoy watching.

Women's World Cup

When the women's world cup was held in America in 1999 there was a lot of hype going on. I wasn't really into the whole soccer scene but I still remember how big of a deal it was that the women's soccer team made it to the championship game. I don't remember watching the game but I do remember the big ordeal when Brandi Chastain scored the final PK shot and took her shirt off. No one had ever seen a woman do such a thing during a sporting event. Her doing this led to many controversies, but overall I think it had a positive impact.

Women's sports had never really been a big deal in America until this point. Title IX was passed in the 70's but even then it wasn't really enforced. However, after the US team won the women's world cup in 1999, women's sports in America started to rise. When Chastain took her shirt off on the field, it sent a message saying that they are no different from men, it showed women to be proud of who they are and not to allow anyone to keep them down anymore.

Chastain and many other female athletes began to pose naked, but cover up the important parts, for magazines to show that they are strong women. They didn't think of it as showing that they were vulnerable, but that they were strong and proud of who they are. The women that were posing had such good bodies because of the sports they play and just want to show that. I do not have an issue with them posing like this. Also, the sex appeal that they are giving off is going to attract more people to watch their sports. So much of America and sports today is on sex appeal that it should not be a problem to those ladies to pose naked.