Thinking About Sports, pt. 1

I’m not a fan of (professionalized) sports, but it is still important to understand sports in society. Sports' crowning moments can lift one's spirit and many fans spend inordinate amounts of time/energy/money supporting their teams. This is more a look at issues of concern to the sporting world and sport’s cultural role/s. Of course in such a devotional cultural role, sports stars also serve as behavioral models and must deal with the repercussions of scandals. Many sports stars or teams (even at the high school and college levels) also become symbols for communities, ethnicities, political issues, cities and, even, nations. For a small minority the rewards are huge, while the majority labor in obscurity (as they say "for the love of the game" or the sheer intensity of competition). Lest we forget, while many sports are the games of our youth, professionalized sports are the serious business of the adult world, often extorting adoring urban citizens for bigger stadiums and sweat property deals.

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Z-Boys (Website of an infamous skateboarding community in Venice Beach)