Certain songs remind me of times that I used to play in competitive sports. On the way to games, I would listen to the same 3 or 4 songs over an over again to get me hyped up for the game. I would change up the songs about once a month. When I hear that song on the radio, it takes me back to a team, or even a specific game that I played in. In high school sports, I had my own walk up songs, so I vividly remember walking up to the plate in each game. Stronger, Headstrong, Faint, and Till I'm Gone, were all walk up songs that I had in high school. When I hear them on the radio, I can connect to a time in my life. Not just in sports, but on a personal level as well. It is cool how songs can trigger both sports memories and times of your life.

   My first sports memories are triggered by smell and sight more than listening to a song. The smell of the dugouts was not a good one, but a distinct smell that could take me back to a time when I played ball. Sight is a big thing that triggers my early memories as well. I still remember the very first baseball field that I played on. It is close to my house, so I see it often. If I see a field that I do not play on often, I will usually remember the game that was played or have a fond memory of something that happened. Whenever I passed by my high school baseball field in the summer, I looked back on the season. I remembered the good and the bad, while feeling weird that I won't be playing there anymore.

      The Rodney poem showed how serious one can take sports. Whether it be a football player like the one in the story, or a junior varsity golf player, sports can make or break someon's day. For me, baseball was extremely important to me. However, I did not take it as seriously as the people in this poem. I think that you should seperate sports and your personal life. It can be hard to to at times, but when they mix, it is not good. The football player from this poem obviously loved football and related it to many things that happened around the town.

      In regards to the the Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs story, I found the questions toward the end to be really funny. The Celtic-Laker rivalry is a huge part of NBA history. It's funny how rival fans can go at one another and fight with each other, but many still hold a mutual respect in the back of their minds. I think this respect comes from knowing that the opposing fan shares the same love of the game that the othere does. I enjoyed playing in rivalry gamesin high school and look foward to playing in more, whether it be IM's or anything else.

Dear Miami Dolphins management,

     Let's be honest. This season is already screwed. Chad Johnson got arrested, David Garrard is out for the year, our offensive line couldn't stop a 5 year old girl, we're starting a rookie quarterback, our defense sucks, and hard knocks was just a bad idea. Since we all know that playoffs are out of the question, can we please lose enough games to get the no. 1 pick in the draft. We always suck just enough to miss the playoffs, and get a shitty draft pick. We could have had Andrew Luck or RG3 last year, but no, we won the most meaningless games of the season.

    This year, we have a legitimate shot to be the worst team in dolphins history. I doubt that there will be more than 3 games won the whole season. So, why not lose on purpose? I mean, by the looks of last season, I think you were already doing it pretty well. Celebrity owners and rich management clearly have no idea how to run a football franchise. The last decent quarterback we had was Dan Marino. Suck it up this season, so we can get a real quarterback, and possibly be relevant in the NFL again.

Participants versus Spectators

      The Participants versus Spectators work showed that there is a fine line between emulating you're favorite athletes, and actually becoming them. There are participation athletes and high-performance athletes. The difference usually comes at the D1 college or professional level. Many participation athletes try to imitate their idols in recreational or local leagues. As you climb the ladder in sports, the competition gets higher and people start to become professional. Then, it gets to the point where the players actually get media attention and get paid. By doing this, they make the transition from spectator to paid proffesional.

     Class, gender, race, and age tend to be factors in what sports spectators watch. For example, the upper class enjoy sports like tennis and golf, while the working class loves boxing. Many white fans like nascar, while many black fans watch basketball. Now, there are still many different races of spectators in all sports. However, there are definately trends as to who tends to watch what. Even in advertisments, companies will target a specific type of person to watch their sport. It is interesting that many sports, such as baseball, have lost popularity in the lower class because of the lack of funds.