Group A Week of 10/7
Most will agree that at the heart of American culture is competition, of which the most famous is sports. In "Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley," Foster Wallace offers the theory that sports are compelling to Americans because they embody the competition that we all love in an entertaining, exciting, and easy-to-quantify way. The easy-to-quantify characteristic of sports is attractive to Americans because quantifying many other job performances is much harder.
In "Federer Both Flesh and Not," Foster Wallace describes in great detail a service point between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi. The description was describing the play in very minute detail to show how good at tennis Federer is- superior to every other human. The fact that authors write about sports play in such detail and that sports play causes these excited emotions in Americans embodies how important sports are to American culture.
I thought a notable difference between tennis and other sports that the "Federer Both Flesh and Not" mentions is that the tennis-watching experience is similar on TV or in-person, unlike most other sports. I had not thought about this before but it is definitely true; the difference between watching tennis in person and on TV is much smaller than watching other sports, such as baseball and football, in person and on TV.
Many articles and books are written about sports, athletes, and athletic events. These people get books written about themselves because of the high status athletes have in American culture; they are seen as almost divine. Americans want to know as much as they can about the greatest athletes, in the hopes of one day replicating that athlete's performance.
Professional athletes play a unique role in many countries around the world; namely, the United States, Japan, and Russia, to name a few. The readings from today describe the reasons sports play such an important role in these countries and others, and I would be interested in the social dynamics in countries that don't hold athletes to such a high status symbol.
In "Federer Both Flesh and Not," Foster Wallace describes in great detail a service point between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi. The description was describing the play in very minute detail to show how good at tennis Federer is- superior to every other human. The fact that authors write about sports play in such detail and that sports play causes these excited emotions in Americans embodies how important sports are to American culture.
I thought a notable difference between tennis and other sports that the "Federer Both Flesh and Not" mentions is that the tennis-watching experience is similar on TV or in-person, unlike most other sports. I had not thought about this before but it is definitely true; the difference between watching tennis in person and on TV is much smaller than watching other sports, such as baseball and football, in person and on TV.
Many articles and books are written about sports, athletes, and athletic events. These people get books written about themselves because of the high status athletes have in American culture; they are seen as almost divine. Americans want to know as much as they can about the greatest athletes, in the hopes of one day replicating that athlete's performance.
Professional athletes play a unique role in many countries around the world; namely, the United States, Japan, and Russia, to name a few. The readings from today describe the reasons sports play such an important role in these countries and others, and I would be interested in the social dynamics in countries that don't hold athletes to such a high status symbol.
It is truly remarkable the praise profession athletes receive today. Professional athletics play a huge role in our society, both culturally and economically. I have a question for you though, when you say "the difference between watching tennis in person and on TV is much smaller than watching other sports" what do you mean by that? I recall from that reading that Foster Wallis writes that watching tennis on TV is much different than in person. That being said, what does it mean that watching tennis is 'smaller'?
ReplyDeleteYour point about Federer: Both Flesh and Not, is an interesting one, as society in the United States does maintain a disproportionally large focus on athletes. Due to this, they can obtain a larger than life image, such as the cultural impact that athletes such as Lebron James can have. Another way that this affect can be seen is in the debates that we have about athletes. Defending your opinion becomes more than entertainment, it feels more like defending your pride.
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