Chapter 1 in Sports Law text written by Patrick K. Thornton. This is the 1st presentation where I had to save the audio on powerpoint...some glitches on there, please download the file. It works there.
Good morning. How is everyone doing? My name is Jonathan Luszcz and today I would like to talk about how Sports in Society has impacted our culture not only in your home but around the world.
Sports has has a strong hold on world culture for over a century. Ranging from amateur athletes to the idols we watch today, and the legends that we remember, these men and women have produced many exciting moments for fans.
The legends and greats have existed in every field of society whether it is politics, war, business, etc.
Ranging from amateur athletes to the idols we watch today, and the legends that we remember, these men and women have produced many exciting moments for fans.
“It is unquestioned that sports have a substantial influence on the American landscape…
They have influenced our culture, politics, and moral outlook over the last 200 years.”
Examples of this are athletes like Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier in baseball.
As well as Jesse Owens ending Aryan Supremacy in front of Adolf Hitler and a line of Nazi soldiers.
Many of our athletes before and present have had to face some sort of ethical dilemma. Ethics is something that is changing constantly and often debated.
Whether it is Major League Baseball career hits leader Pete Rose gambling on his Cincinnati Reds which led to the baseball star to be banned from the baseball hall of fame.
Or running up the score during a youth basketball game. We as a society question what is right, what is wrong, and what should be further discussed.
While ethics has become an important point in sports, unfortunately violence has become a major point as well. Ranging from players throwing punches at other players.
To fans and players getting into altercations. The violence that is present in our society comes in many different ways. Whether it is physical or verbal, or by some sort of gesture, it has become part of sports today.
Even in amateur youth sports we see violence. It may not be as blown up as the “Brawl at the Palace” in the previous picture but it still has severely impacted our youth in how they perceive sport.
The color of someone’s skin and derogatory comments has been debated in sports. Bill Russell experienced much racism during his career with the Boston Celtics. Although he was extremely successful, he used his fame to be a spokesman about anti-racism.
Rush Limbaugh, a former employee of ESPN framed Donovan McNabb, quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles being a ‘black’ quarterback. I have the segment in which Rush Limbaugh talked about McNabb.
And Ozzie Guillen, manager of the Chicago White Sox often has a colorful personality which but in one occurrence he called out Jay Mariotti, a Chicago Sun-Times writer a derogatory term for an article Mariotti wrote about how Guillen has a temper.
And now organizations debate whether sport teams should use Native American tribes as teams as mascots.
Sports have modeled, shaped, and influenced our society to what it is today. Even though organized sports have only been around since the 1896 Olympics, there is much more to learn on how sport can better society as fans, athletes, ethics, safety, and discrimination.
