Sports at NU

I was at lunch this morning with two other athletes and a non athlete and we were talking about our seasons and what we had to do in the spring to train for the fall. Then the girl that was with us who doesn't play sports asked why there wasn't any sort of announcements or a newspaper that lets the general population know about when there are games and matches other than football. We thought about it and because we all live with different sport athletes we just naturally know about games that are coming up but there is nothing to inform the rest of the student body about when we play. Then one of the athlete says "it's because they don't care" i think that is a HUGE part of why we don't have newspapers and flyers everywhere, the student body doesn't go to our games. A volleyball match may have 200 people in the stands on average, wrestling, half that. Football naturally has more but even then it's nothing compared to other schools.
Why is that?

Iron Cat

There are standardized tests that collegiate atheletes preform at the end of a conditioning period that test your over all athletic ability. You do not have to be good at the actual sport or any aspect of specific play, you just have to be an athelete. I may not be the best volleyball player in the nation but I consider myself extremely athletic. We had this debate in class about physical athletes looking better and being better at the sport than fundamental athletes. When we tested I proved that I was an athlete but that does not necessarily translate to me being a great volleyball player.
I don't think that it's fair to say that to be good at a sport you must be athletic. It may "look" asthetically more pleasing but may not get the job done.

losing and still having fun?

I don't know if I could play a sport and never win. We were having a little conversation on our end of the table and Demos says "Matt no one even knows what Rugby is" and Matt replied " I would rather play a sport that no one knows and win, than play a sport that everyone knows and watches but suck" and sadly I almost agree with Matt.
We didn't have the best season this year and the team became catty and snippy. It just wasn't fun and our season only lasted for 4 months, so I can't imagine going through years and years in a "slump" it takes the fun out of the game. Everyone likes to win

what is a sport and whats not

I personally would think it would be cool to analyze a sport that we've never played before to see how we see a sport from an "outsiders" point of view. I know that when we talk in class and people are talking about baseball and track and even rugby I can't relate or sometimes even feel the same way they do about a topic because I've never experienced some of the things they talk about. I think it's really hard to discuss how one "game" is more of a sport than another if it's never been tried. Something may seem easy but in reality it's REALLY not.
i.e. We're in our off season right now and all we do is condition and lift. We have this running "punishment" where you have to snake through the stair separating the bleachers there are 8 sets of stairs going up and all you have to do is run up one come down the next and so on then sprint to where you started and go again. It doesn't sound like it's that bad and we only do 4-6 but when you actually do them it is incredibly hard.

Hero

My hero is Oganna Nnanami. She is a volleyball player that played for Stanford for four years and is one of the best players that ever came through they're program. She's an amazing force on the court but she also makes you want to play your hardest for her. I believe that if you have a hero that you can see and you can talk to that it will make you work so much harder to make sure that you do not dissapoint them. Even though they may never be dissapointed in anything you do it's hard not to feel like you let them down. She really made me want to excel in volleyball and be as good as I could be to get the recognition that she has and had. That is what a hero means to me

Sports and Art

I think that there are people that would say sports and art are very similar. For many people they both can evoke strong emotion and thought. But I also think that it is a completely subjective. If you like art AND sport than it may be a lot easier for you to see the connections between the two more readily than someone that likes one or the other. I have seen art and thought "wow that's beautiful" and I have also seen plays made in sports and thought the same thing but I think that the two beauties are different and are comparing beauty rather than the fact that a sport is art or not.

We were kings

I thought that Ali was a great fighter. He had what it took to instill fear into his opponents. He would never show it but he was terrified to fight half the men he was put in the ring with. But by sheer egotisitical "slashing" as we've learned is the Austrailian term he was able to get into the heads of some of the greatest boxers in the nation.

What do men live by summary

What Do Men Live By?

Summary: This excerpt began with C.L.R James asking many of the questions that we ask ourselves on a rare but increasing basis; What men live by, what is it that they want and is what our ancestors wanted what we want now. Then a brief history follows of where sports came from. As we know sports became one of the notable achievements in Athens, Greece. Although sports was said to have disappeared for a number of years because of lack of interest, in the 1860s sports returned in almost full force. Although sport returned to the table so did many political struggles and democratic goals. “Trotsky had said that the workers were deflected from politics by sports.’. Once a general understanding of the era of the beginning or rebirthing of sports was established and explanation followed. Some of the ironies of sports in their early years were brought forth, political meetings were held during the Olympic Games in Athens, and only the rich were able to attend the games due to the high costs and inaccessibility stiff ling the stigma that it was the common folk that enjoyed the games. An interesting fact that was brought up is that the first recorded date in European history is 776 B.C., the date of the first Olympic Games, during times of war all battle ceased and a national truce was declared. Sports in themselves were a holy common ground. You did not bring feuds onto the playing field much like today, when a game is being played you may not like your neighbor and you may not like your teammate but none of that mattered when the games begin. Solon the symbol of wisdom in Greece address a group of barbarians that believed sport was a waste of time and a childish pursuit and stated:

‘By seeing what was going on you would be able to appreciate that we are quite justified in expending so much ardour on these spectacles. I cannot find words to give you an idea of the pleasure that you would have if you were seated in the middle of the anxious spectators, watching the courage of the athletes, the beauty of their bodies, their splendid poses, their extraordinary suppleness, their tireless energy, their audacity, their sense of competition, their unconquerable courage, their unceasing efforts to win a victory. I am sure that you would not cease to overwhelm them with praise, to shout again and again, to applaud.’

There is no way to truly appreciate sports unless you are able to witness them first hand. James however continues and draws Peisistratus, a tyrant in Athens who ‘looked around for means of binding the city masses more closely to his regime’. No one knows for sure why but Athenian tragic drama began to play for the Athenian citizens. The dramas were competitive, and the people that attended the plays were moved in ways much like the spectators watching a sporting event. There was a new sport in Athens, by the name of Greek drama.

Thesis: It has been said, even by C.L.R James that ‘when the common people were not at work, on thing they wanted was organized sports and games’, this has been a general idea for many years, men crave sports; the competitiveness, the excitement, and un predictability, however, it is not the sport that is craved it is all the effects that sport has upon us that we search for and it can be found in other places too.

Anti-Thesis: I believe the anti-thesis in this argument is that all people crave sports as a way to experience emotions that are not found in everyday life.

Tools: This author used many examples from history to prove his points. There were many that I had never heard of and that were confusing. At times unless I used the Encyclopedia to look up what he was talking about I was lost. By giving examples and reasons why sports were so large and why they failed or were less successful he was able to prove that people don’t necessarily need sports to feel accomplished or to feel a sense of freedom from daily tasks. These examples were actually the parts of the piece that I enjoyed the most the facts that he brought to the piece brought a sense of ah-ha and head scratching that may not have been there otherwise.

What do men live by?

I just read; What do men live by, my stroy to present tomorrow, and it posed some really interesting points. I had never thought about sports outside of just playing. Never analyzed why I played and what I hoped or thought I would get out of it. C.L.R James says that we play and watch sports for the emotions that they bring out of us, for example if we could get the same emotions out of watching opera or a play even a political debate, that is where our focus would be and not on the more physical aspects of sports. When i think about it I play sports because they are what I'm good at, much like a chess student may not know why he loves to play when he's great but that is the reason. We do what we're good at or think we're good at to make ourselves feel better. Whenever I play or run or lift or compete I feel like no one can touch me. Much like a very intellectual student may feel a small triumph when they receive perfect marks in school we as atheletes I believe have that same small self triumph built onto the triumphs of team mates to build an inexplicable feeling. I do agree with C.L.R that people don't necessarily need sports to feel release but just like when I receive perfect marks and don't feel the same as when my team crushes another, some people would rather cry at an opera than put on smelly gym shoes any day of the week.

In the beginning I thought it was a strange phrase because for me there is no reason for playing volleyball or running or working out other than the fact that its a rush to do well and it's a great way to release aggression. But those are reasons in themselves for why sports were created. Most people if not everyone has a competitive drive, whether it's in sports or academics or whatever the case may be. Everyone as a need to excel at something. And I think that's the reason sports began because those that did not have the yearning to excel in academics and felt a need to compete did it physically.