Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago and being a sports fan resulted in one and only true outcome; I am the Chicago Cubs’ biggest fan. True, I am not the only person in the greater Chicagoland area who will claim the title, but I stick to my guns and refuse to relinquish the self-appointed title. Every time I go home, I join the thousands of other self appointed “biggest fans” in the usual afternoon at Wrigley Field. There is nothing quite like a day at a Cubs game. For me, it’s a fun filled day of drinking watered down beer and eating cheap hot dogs and nachos with the guys. Yes, it may sound rather crude to many but to us, its bliss.
The day usually starts early in the morning, an eight o’clock train into Chicago, with the throbbing pain of a hangover after being out too late the night before catching the game at the local sports bar. After the mochas and lattes have crested over the appropriate sets of lips the whole group perks up with anticipation over the days events. Players’ statistics are discussed, along with the usual hopeful, “Maybe Derek Lee will hit a grand slam today!” and, as always, Nate and Mike get into it at least once over whether Kerry Wood or Richard Prior is a better starting pitcher. Friendly jabs are exchanged in all directions, and by the time everyone agrees to disagree the train is pulling into Union Station and we’re one step closer to the game.
After catching a taxi, the short ride to the ballpark takes far longer then it should due to the hundreds of cars that are assaulting the Wrigley Field parking lots and attacking the local traffic cops. As the taxi creeps impatiently up the street, edging closer and closer to the unmoving vehicle in front of it, Wrigley Field slowly climbs out of the Chicago skyline. A beautiful thing occurs every time this happens…silence! Mike, Nate, Nick, Andrew, and James have all stopped their usual “guy talk” to take in the glory of our team’s home field. The striking red brick of the building, with bold green ivy lazily climbing it’s walls, and the “WRIGLEY FIELD, Home of the CHICAGO CUBS” sign screaming out from the front, all receive the deserved moment of silence and respect they demand from all who walk within their walls.
The current trend in baseball park construction is a retro design, reminiscent of the early years, combined with modern technology. This trend, dubbed “The Construction Era” by Frank Deford of Sports Illustrated, is prominent in three new American League parks: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Jacobs Field, and The Ballpark at Arlington. The current idea for ballpark construction is to locate the retro style parks in the heart of urban areas. The whole movement was initiated by the construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and it’s radical new design concept.
These social connections and sense of community created by the team for the fans, is a key factor in fan experience (Fairley & Tyler, 2012). The final solution addressed in this paper is one that will aim to create both a sense of community and social environment outside of the ballpark. Marketing executives of the Braves should consider setting up off-site locations so non-game attendees
At the time, I was not impressed with the “American” sport, but now that I have read Stephen Jay Gould’s essay, “The Creation Myths of Cooperstown,” I will have something to say when the subject arises. Don’t get me wrong: I didn’t like America’s baseball then and I don’t like it now. I do, however, enjoy thinking critically and so I, too, am drawn to that great wad of spit we call baseball because the heterosexual ego and rabid patriotism hiding behind its dirty, sweaty disposition have appeared on my radar screen. Thanks to Gould, I now have the ability to let go of my hostility toward an innocent sport and see the hostility for what it really is: anger towards the males who use baseball as an excuse to unleash their violent hormonal urges.
When the notion of baseball comes to mind, a feeling of nostalgia and tradition come to me. Many of my feelings and memories originate from my childhood. I remember a beautiful summer day. My dad and I arrived at the baseball stadium to watch the game. We walked up the concrete walkway inside the stadium. The concrete walls and floors made my surroundings drab and grey. Finally, we made it to entrance into the stadium. I came out of the dark tunnels into the bright sunlight. The first thing to catch my eye was the vivid rush of color. Underneath the fluffy white clouds and their deep blue canvas, I could look down and see players in vibrant red and blue uniforms warming up for the game. The well-watered grass on the field was a brighter green than any other grass I had seen. The outfield seemed to be so perfect. It appeared that each blade had been cut by hand. The edge of the infield, where the dark, watered-down dirt met the intensely green grass was a precise and well-defined contrast. We sat down and I took in my surroundings. There were men walking up and down the stairs selling various concessions. They had peanuts, beer, soda, ice cream, popcorn, and many other tempting treats. The players soon finished their warm-ups and the crowd became frenzied with excitement. The game was about to start.
Sport fans, sometimes also called sport devotees, followers, or supporters, are persons who are enthusiastically devoted to a particular athlete, team or sport. They may show their enthusiasm by often attending sporting events or watch on television, being members of a fan club, follow sport news through newspapers, online websites, and creating fanzines. Their disposition is often such that they will experience a game or event by living through their favored players or teams. These behaviors manifest itself in different ways. To enable better understanding of these behavioral patterns, we have to classify these sports fans into groups based on their devotion to teams: fair-weather fans, bandwagon and the super-fans.
In the heart of downtown Los Angeles nestled within the valley of Chavez Ravine lies Dodger Stadium. Overlooking green valleys and rolling hills with the skyscrapers of the city behind it, Dodger Stadium appears as the epitome of peace in bustling Los Angeles. Few would fathom that beneath this sanctum of the Los Angeles Dodgers resides a village of Mexican Americans. Critics ranging from muralist Judy Baca, to academic writers Tara Yosso and David García, to the people displaced themselves argue that the creation of Dodger Stadium can never be justified because it destroyed a village. The construction of Dodger Stadium served the common good according to the definition given in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. The demolition of Palo Verde, La Loma, and Bishop was the fault of the City Housing Authority (CHA), not owner Walter O’Malley who capitalized on Chavez Ravine at the right moment. O’Malley was primarily a businessman who was in charge of the team to make money in order to satisfy thousands of customers while supporting the club’s workers. Finally, the majority of people living in Los Angeles supported the addition of a baseball team which would in turn benefit the city itself.
If you have ever met me, or know me, you would know that I love sports, and you would know my favorite sport of all time is baseball, and that my favorite sports team is Boston Red Sox. I am what you call a die-hard Red Sox fan; you can compare me as Red Sox fan to actor Jimmy Fallon’s character in the movie, Fever Pitch. My strong love for the Red Sox comes from my step-dad Phil. Phil has always been like a second father to me since he and my mom got together, back in early 2000s. Phil is always trying to teach and help me learn from my mistakes, and I have made my share of them. Nevertheless, I also cherish the moments I spend with him at Red Sox games. The experiences I have at Red Sox games are moments in my life, I will never forget, that I will always remember, One game in particular I most remember is my first Red Sox game at Fenway Park.
The Chicago Cubs are an interesting part of Illinois history, even if they are not always successful. The history of Wrigley Field, the famous players, and the stories behind every game are why Chicago loves the Cubs. It is the atmosphere of the friendly confines when you walk in through those gates. It is jumping out of your seat when the ball is being hit out of the park. It is things as little as singing the 7th inning stretch with all the other Cub fans around you. Rooting for the underdog is special, and that is why Cub fans are so loyal. The history, players, and stories of Chicago Cubs Baseball are the reasons why it is an important part of Illinois history.
As Josselson (2012) argues, it is simpler for the people to fix multicultural or multiracial individuals into a single cultural or racial identity, although realistically, most people find it difficult to categorize oneself in a single-margin. This is apparent in the reading White Teeth and Tar Baby, where the character’s identity is influenced by a socially embedded habitus of values, expectations and self-understanding, or lack there-of. In order to understand the challenges of racial and cultural identity in these novels, I will first look at characters Son and Jadine from Tar Baby and Samad and his twin sons, Millat and Magid from White Teeth.
Sports and their associated rivalries are one of America’s favorite pastime and involve passion and emotion. Think about baseball and automatically the rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees comes to mind. Their hostilities make the Hatfield and McCoy feud look like Jack and Jill at Sunday school (O'Connor, 2004). It is one of the oldest, most famous, and definitely one of the fiercest in all of American sports. This is a rivalry that is never boring, and played out over and over again with every series making the rivalry stronger. The rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees is the ultimate rivalry, the history of this rivalry goes back to the early 1900’s,proud and confident are the New York Yankees with acquisitions and curses, restless and frustrated are the Boston Red Sox and their fans.
In Nathan McCall’s “Makes Me Wanna Holler,” he describes the difficulties he must face as a young black boy experiencing the slow, never-ending process of the integration of blacks and whites. Through this process, his autobiography serves as an excellent example of my theory on the formation and definition of racial identity; a theory which is based upon a combination of the claims which Stuart Hall and George Lipsitz present in their essays regarding racial identity. Therefore the definition I have concocted is one in which racial identity consists of an unstable historical process through which one comes to know themselves in relation to an outside group. In this paper I will present Hall and Lipsitz’s arguments, describing how they confirm and support one another, leading to my theory concerning racial identity. I will then show how this theory is clearly exemplified in the story of McCall’s childhood.
America, and the world love sport; there are hundreds of types, but the one thing that links them all together is the emotion. For players and fans alike, the emotional involvement with the game is what draws them to it; and for Americans, there is one sport in particular that ignites their passion – baseball. Baseball has been called “America’s pastime” for a reason; the suspense, drama, and pride wrapped up in this game have captivated generations. The poem, “Casey at the Bat” effectively captures the emotion tied into the sport of baseball. “Casey at the Bat” is a poem about the last inning of a Mudville baseball game. The team is down two points, and the first two of their batters had already been sent back to the dugout. However, luck seemed to be on their side, the next two batters reached base, and the best hitter on the team was up to bat; Casey. The confident-cocky Casey let the first two balls go by; both were strikes. Then the last pitch came, the crowed held their breath as Casey took a swing; and to quote the poem, “but there is no joy in Mudville -- mighty Casey has struck out.” There are two distinct psychological personalities present in this poem; these emotional beings are the audience and Casey. The actions and words of both shed light on each others personality and mental state during that final, historical inning.
Finally, baseball fans are insanely loyal to the team of their choice. Should the home team's players lose eight in a row, their fans may begin to call them "bums." They may even suggest that the slumping cleanup hitter be sent to the minors or the manager fired. However, such reactions only hide their broken hearts. They still check the sports pages and tune in to get the score. Furthermore, this intense loyalty can make fans dangerous, for anyone who dares to say to a loyal fan that some other team has sharper fielding or a better attitude could risk permanent, physical harm.
Cyber loafing is using personal internet during working hours (Liberman, Seidman, Mckenna & Buffardi 2011, pp. 2192). Cyber loafing is one of the issues that employees need to deal with at work. Websen (cited in Vitak et.al 2011, p. 1751) claims that there is a huge loses in work productivity in the US that cost the companies milli...
Who am I? Wrestling with identity— our history, our culture, our language— is central to being human, and there’s no better way to come to grips with questions of identity than through the crossing of borders. The transcendence of borders reveals the fluid nature of identity, it challenges absurd notions of rigid nationalities, and highlights our common humanity. It is no coincidence, then, that my experience as an immigrant has shaped my academic journey and pushed me to pursue graduate studies.