Ren Da Sports Lecture

Mr. Mark Erikson Sports: The American Way of Life

About Myself Ohio

About Myself
Age: 25
University Degree: Computer Programming
Family: John Hope Beth Kristen

Interests
Computer programming and computer games
Reading
Talking with students
Politics, news, and current events
Sports! Oh, and I almost forgot…

Sports and Me
The Big List Of Sports I’ve Played:
Soccer (age 5 – 5 th grade)
Defense

Sports and Me
The Big List Of Sports I’ve Played:
Defense
Baseball (3 rd grade – 5 th grade)
Outfield

Sports and Me
The Big List Of Sports I’ve Played Officially:
Defense
Baseball (3 rd grade – 5 th grade)
Outfield
Tennis (6 th grade – 9 th grade)
Soccer (10 th grade – 12 th grade)
Defense
Track (10 th grade – 12 th grade)
800 meters

Sports and Me
The Big List Of Other Sports I’ve Played:
Golf (age 2 - present)

Sports and Me
Golf (age 2 – present, every summer)
Bowling (8 th grade – present, various times)

Sports and Me
Ultimate Frisbee (whenever I can)
Not me Also not me Me!

Sports and Me
Ultimate Frisbee (10 th grade – present, whenever I can)
Volleyball (on random occasions)
Soccer (Beijing IFFC league, weekly)

Sports and Me
American Football (any time I can, but not nearly often enough!)
Me Also Me

Sports and Me
Not Me Trying to catch me

Sports and Me
Nice guys… who want to be just like me when they grow up:)

Popular Sports
Sports in America can be divided into several categories:
Major team spectator sports (American football, baseball, basketball, hockey)
Individual sports (golf, wrestling, boxing, tennis, track)
Racing (NASCAR, Indy car racing)
Other team sports (soccer, lacrosse)
Other activities (surfing, hiking, martial arts, cheerleading, shooting)

Sports
Most popular spectator sports in America (roughly ranked):
American Football (12-16 games / year)
NFL attendance: 17 million (65,000 / game)
College attendance: 32 million (45,000 / game)
Baseball
Attendance: 75 million (31,000 / game)
Basketball
Hockey

Popular Sports
Most popular spectator sports in America (roughly ranked):
NASCAR auto racing
Attendance: 15 million (170,000 / race)
Golf
Attendance: 10 million (250,000 / tournament)
Poll of most popular spectator sports:
NFL football (33%)
Baseball (14%)
College football (13%)
Auto racing (11%)

Popular Sports
In addition to watching sports, people love to play sports as well. Last year, out of a total US population of 300 million people:
Over 7 million high school students played sports for their school
2.6 million kids played Little League baseball
4 million kids were in soccer leagues
27 million Americans played golf
20 million Americans played tennis

School Sports: High School
Sports are a huge part of American high school life. Every school has official teams for several different sports, such as:
American football
Soccer
Basketball
Baseball / softball
Volleyball
Track and field
Each school has a team nickname, such as the Fairfield Indians, the Lakota Thunderhawks, the Middletown Eagles, etc

School Sports: High School
"School spirit" is an important part of school life. Schools will often have "pep weeks" before big games, trying to get students excited. Rivalries with other schools are very big, and students usually think about "us versus them".
Games are important social events. Many students go to them not just to watch the game, but to spend time with friends.
Most schools have cheerleaders to cheer for football, and sometimes for basketball. There's often also a "marching band" that plays at football games.
The best players are often asked to go to different colleges to play sports there.

School Sports: College
College sports are big business. Many big schools get millions of dollars from tickets and TV money
College football and basketball are incredibly popular in the US, and most big games are shown on TV.
College football bowl season: Last two weeks of December, New Year's Day, January 2 and 3
"March Madness": the 64-team college basketball tournament
Most universities have "intramural" sports that let students at a school play against each other for fun

Sports Fans
Fans is short for fanatics (people who are too excited about something). American sports fans can be a little strange:

Sports Fans
Things we do at sports games:
Baseball chatter ("Hey batter batter, hey batter batter, SWING batter batter"; "Good eye")
Yelling at referees and umpires
Waving things to distract players during important moments

Sports Fans
The Wave
Stadium songs
"YMCA"
"We Will Rock You"
"We Are the Champions"
"Rock and Roll Part 2 (the Hey Song)"

Sports Fans
Throwing octopi at Detroit Redwings games
Signs (especially with TV network names)

Sports Movies
Hollywood has produced dozens of sports movies. Most of them use the idea of an underdog as the hero.
Chariots of Fire : A runner wins in the Olympics
Field of Dreams: A man builds a baseball field in his backyard
Hoosiers : A small Indiana basketball team wins the state championship
Pride of the Yankees : The story of baseball player Lou Gehrig
Remember the Titans : Black and white students in a 1960s school are forced to play on the same football team
Rocky : A boxer is given a chance to fight the champion

Sports Idioms and Clichés
Idiom : An expression or phrase that might not be understandable just by reading the words
Cliché: An expression or phrase that has been overused waaayyyyy too many times
English has a huge number of idioms and clichés, and many of them come from sports

Idioms
"A whole new ballgame" (general): things are very different
"A ballpark figure" (baseball): an estimated number
"Thrown a curve" (baseball): something surprising or unexpected
"Off base" (baseball): unrealistic, wrong, not accurate
"Slam dunk" (basketball): definite, certain; a huge success
"Throw in the towel" (boxing): quitting
"Pulling your punches" (boxing): not trying 100%;
"Huddle" (football): getting together to talk
"The home stretch" (racing): the last part left

Idioms
"Fumble" (football): making a mistake
"Home run" (baseball): a great success
"Three strikes and you're out" (baseball): made too many mistakes, and can't try again
"Not playing with a full deck" (cards): not thinking right
"The deal" (general): a contract, agreement, or the current situation
"The swing of things" (general): fully understanding what's happening
"Time out": stopping things to think
"Step up to the plate" (baseball): prepare to do something

Clichés
"Give 110%"
"Take it one game at a time"
"They have to put their pants on one leg at a time, same as we do"
"He's got his game face on"
"He's on fire!"
"There's no 'I' in 'team' "
" Kiss that one goodbye -- it's outta here! "
" Stick a fork in him -- he's done."
"We didn't bring our A-game today"

Influence on American Culture
Most Americans see sports as an important part of growing up, and want their kids to be "well rounded" (able to do many different things)
Sports like football, basketball, and baseball are sometimes seen as a way to teach teamwork
Sports are often a major topic of discussion (just ask the American teachers!), and a large portion of American media is devoted to giving information about sports teams
Sports contribute at least $15 billion dollars every year to the American economy

Sports
Baseball
Often referred to as the "National Pastime"
Has many traditions, and is one of the oldest sports in America. Also popular in Central America, Japan, and South Korea
Each team plays 162 games in a season, with an average of 30,000 people attending each game

Baseball

National Anthem
"The Star Spangled Banner"
Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
Oh say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave

Sports
Baseball
The game is played on a diamond-shaped playing field, the four corners of the diamond being formed by home plate, first base, second base and third base. In the middle of the infield is the pitcher's mound, where the pitcher stands to pitch the ball to the batter. The area beyond the infield, bordered by the first and third baselines, is called the outfield.

Sports
Baseball
Each team has nine players playing at a time.
The game is divided into nine periods called "innings", each divided into two halves. In the top half of the inning, the players of one team come to bat and attempt to score runs, while the other team plays in the field and attempts to stop the offensive team from scoring. In the bottom half, the teams change places.
To score a run, a player must run around the three "bases" and reach "home plate"
The team with more runs at the end of nine innings is the winner of the game.

Sports
Baseball

Sports
Baseball
During an inning, the pitcher of the defensive team throws the ball towards the member of the offensive team currently in the batting position at home plate. The batter tries to hit the ball. If he can, he tries to run around the bases. If he is able to run around the bases and return to home plate, he scores a run. But if the ball is caught, or can be thrown to first base before he arrives at the base, then the batter is out. A batter is also out if he swings and misses the ball three times (a "strike out"). The offensive team's time at bat is over when it gets three outs. Also, if a player can hit the ball over the fence at the back of the field, it is a "home run", and each player on base can run home to score.

Sports

Sports
Baseball traditions
Throwing out the first pitch
Baseball cards

Sports
Baseball traditions
The "7 th -inning stretch"
"Take Me Out To The Ballgame"
Take me out to the ballgame
Take me out to the crowd
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks
I don't care if I never get back
For it's root, root, root for the home team
If they don't win it's a shame
For it's one, two three strikes you're out
At the old ball game

Sports
Baseball traditions
Fenway Park (Boston)

Sports
Baseball traditions
Wrigley Field (Chicago

Sports
Baseball video
2004 Chicago White Sox championship season

Sports
NASCAR
"National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing "
Cars race around a track (usually an oval)
Especially popular in Southern states

Sports
American Football
Both professional and college football are extremely popular
NFL teams play 16 games in a season, plus playoffs
The Super Bowl is watched by over 135 million people each year (and is the only TV show where some people watch just for the commercials!)

American Football

Sports
American Football
Played on a field that is 100 yards (91m) long, with an extra 10 yards at each end (the "end zones")
There is also a set of posts behind each end zone
Four 15-minute quarters, although it takes much longer than 60 minutes to play a game

Sports
American Football

Sports
American Football
6 points for a "touchdown": running into the end zone with the ball, or for catching the ball in the end zone (plus 1 point for kicking the ball through the goal posts afterwards – the "extra point")
3 points for a "field goal": kicking the ball through the goal posts at any other time
Each team has four chances, or "downs", to move the ball forward a total of 10 yards. If they can, they get four more downs. Usually, if they can't get 10 yards in three downs, they usually kick the ball to the other team, so the other team needs to go farther to score.

Sports
American Football
Players can be given the ball, or have the ball thrown to them
Players keep running with the ball until they go out of bounds or touch the ground. The defense tries to "tackle" them to the ground
After a player is down, the teams pause for about 25-30 seconds, move players in and out, and plan their next play
The teams line up, the ball is moved, and the play starts.
If the ball is thrown and no one catches it, the clock stops until the next play begins.

Sports
American Football
Teams create plays, where each player has an assigned job

Sports
American Football
"Script Ohio"
Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Doug Flutie's "Hail Mary"
"Hail Mary": comes from the name of a certain prayer. The idea is that you throw the ball in the air, then pray that your team catches the ball.

Sports
The "Music City Miracle"
Nashville, Tennessee is called the "Music City", because it has lots of music companies. It's also the home of the Tennessee Titans NFL team.
In 2001, the Titans were playing the Buffalo Bills in the first round of the playoffs. With 16 seconds left, the Bills kicked a field goal to go ahead 16-15. However, they still had to kick the ball back to the Titans…

Sports
The "Stanford Band" play
In 1982, the University of California was playing against Stanford. With 56 seconds left, California was winning 19-17. Stanford had the ball, but still needed to go 87 yards down the field. But, in 45 seconds, Stanford moved the ball 63 yards, and prepared to kick a field goal to win the game…

Sports Mark Harmon, 35 yard kick will win it.... Listen to the crowd. Here's the snap; here's the kick; it is long and up, and it's GOOD!! Stanford hits it with 4 seconds to go! And takes the lead 20-19! The Bears have only one time-out left. They pretty well have to run it back... to save the game and boy, talk about a heartbreaking way to lose. All right, here we go with the kickoff. Harmon will probably try to squib it and he does. Ball comes loose and the Bears have to get out of bounds.

Sports Rodgers along the sideline, another one...they're still in deep trouble at midfield, they tried to do a couple of....the ball is still loose as they get it to Rodgers. They get it back to the 30, they're down to the 20... Oh, the band is out on the field!! He's gonna go into the endzone!!! He got into the endzone!! Will it count? The Bears have scored but the bands are out on the field. There were flags all over the place. Wait and see what happens; we don't know who won the game. There are flags on the field. We have to see whether or not the flags are against Stanford or Cal. The Bears may have made some illegal laterals.

Sports It could be that it won't count. The Bears, believe it or not, took it all the way into the endzone. If the penalty is against Stanford, California would win the game. If it is not, the game is over and Stanford has won. We've heard no decision yet. Everybody is milling around on the field!!! AND THE BEARS!!! THE BEARS HAVE WON!!! THE BEARS HAVE WON!!! Oh my God, the most amazing, sensational, traumatic, heart-rending... exciting thrilling finish in the history of college football! California has won... the Big Game...over Stanford. Oh excuse me for my voice, but I have never, never seen anything like it in the history of I have ever seen any game in my life! The Bears have won it! There will be no extra point!

Questions
So… any questions? :)

Ren Da Sports Lecture

by acemarke on Nov 22, 2006

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