09-10-2012, 06:43 PM
Some very interesting comments so far! My initial reactions:
1. I may have overlooked the value of team building, and the virtues which can come from the practice of true "sportsmanship".
2. As with many things, there seems to be a more pronounced "STS" influence on sports in the US as compared to other countries around the world. Just basing that on some of the comments from people I know are not in the US.
Looking back to my childhood, I know that I had some aversion to sports that was a subset of an aversion to physicality. I was scared of getting hurt. But I sort of grew out of that by middle school years, and often enjoyed playing sports with my friends non-competitively.
But it was also around that time- middle to late eighties- I remember that a lot changed in and around American sports. For example, growing up I had collected baseball cards, but in a very short time all of these "Ultra Premium" brands came out and card collecting was no longer affordable as a kid.
Also- there was a lot more licensed apparel that people were wearing to school. I especially remember "Air Jordans" because we had some friends down the street who somehow cajoled their parents into buying them a new pair every time the style changed. The whole superstardom of Michael Jordan seems to be a good temporal marker for when attitudes started shifting.
1. I may have overlooked the value of team building, and the virtues which can come from the practice of true "sportsmanship".
2. As with many things, there seems to be a more pronounced "STS" influence on sports in the US as compared to other countries around the world. Just basing that on some of the comments from people I know are not in the US.
Looking back to my childhood, I know that I had some aversion to sports that was a subset of an aversion to physicality. I was scared of getting hurt. But I sort of grew out of that by middle school years, and often enjoyed playing sports with my friends non-competitively.
But it was also around that time- middle to late eighties- I remember that a lot changed in and around American sports. For example, growing up I had collected baseball cards, but in a very short time all of these "Ultra Premium" brands came out and card collecting was no longer affordable as a kid.
Also- there was a lot more licensed apparel that people were wearing to school. I especially remember "Air Jordans" because we had some friends down the street who somehow cajoled their parents into buying them a new pair every time the style changed. The whole superstardom of Michael Jordan seems to be a good temporal marker for when attitudes started shifting.
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