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.
No comments:
Post a Comment