Introduction 1 Introduction 3 Introduction 3 A SPORTS-LOVING NATION 4 MEDIA COVERAGE 5 PRIVATE AND INSTITUTIONALIZED ACTIVITIES 5 AMERICAN SPORTS 6 VIOLENCE AND SPORTS 7 COMMERCIAL ASPECTS 7 PROFESSIONAL SPORTS 9 COLLEGE SPORTS 9 STUDENT ATHLETES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE 10 WINNING 11 Sports: Colleges and Universities 11 Kinds of sports: 13 BASEBALL 13 BASKETBALL 16 Sources 20 Introduction
    Americans pay much attention to physical fitness. Many sports and sporting activities are popular in the USA. People participate in swimming, skating, squash and badminton, tennis, marathons, track-and-field, bowing, archery, skiing, skating etc. But the five major American sports are hockey, volleyball, baseball, football and basketball. Basketball and volleyball have been invented in America. There is a large choice of sports in America. This can be explained by the size and variety of the country. Another reason of the popularity of sports is the people's love of competition of any kind. One more reason is that Americans use sports activities for teaching socials values, such as teamwork and sportsmanship. All this explains why Americans have traditionally done well in many kinds of sports. Every high school offers its students many sports, such as wrestling, rowing, tennis and golf. There are no separate "universities" for sports in the USA. Students of any higher educational establishment are trained in different kinds of sports. Many colleges and universities are famous for their sports clubs. There are sports facilities at every school. Some americans like active games, and others like quite games. I think that quite games, as golf and crocket, intend for rich elite people. Most popular games in the USA is hockey, american football, baseball, basketball. Popular among americans are NHL games. In NHL games play our compatriots: Feudorov, Yashin, Bure brothers. They are ones of the best players in NHL. American football is like a rugby with kicks. Every player can beat another one. I think american football is one of the rudest games in the world. Baseball is played with wooden bat and hard ball. It's called "typical" american game. Basketball is one of the most spectators game in the USA. It's my favourite game too. Some unusual kinds of sports originated in America. They are windsurfing, skate-boarding and tradition. Triathlon includes swimming, bicycling racing and long-distances-running. Now these are becoming more and more popular in Europe. Sports is a part of life of an average American. A SPORTS-LOVING NATION Whether they are fans or players, the millions of Americans who participate in sports are usually passionate about their games. There is more to being a baseball fan than buying season tickets to the home team's games. A real fan not only can recite each player's batting average, but also competes with other fans to prove who knows the answers to the most obscure and trivial questions about the sport. That's dedication. Dedication short of madness is also what inspired hundreds of thousands of football fans to fill Denver's stadium in dangerously freezing temperatures, not to watch an exciting game but just to demonstrate team support in a pre-Superbowl pep rally, days before the actual contest. And it is with passion that Americans pursue the latest fitness fad, convinced that staying fit requires much more than regular exercise and balanced meals. For anyone who claims a real desire to stay healthy, fitness has become a science of quantification, involving weighing, measuring, moni-toring, graph charting, and computer printouts". These are the tools for knowing all about pulse and heart rates, calorie intake, fat cell per muscle cell ratios, and almost anything else that shows the results of a" workout. MEDIA COVERAGE The immense popularity, of sports in America is indicated by the number of pages and headlines the average daily newspaper devotes to local and national sports. The emphasis on sports is evident in local evening news telecasts, too Every evening fox five to seven minutes of the half-hour local newe show, the station's sports analyst, whose territory is exclusively sports, reports on local, regional, and national sports events. Television has made sports available to all. For those who cannot afford tickets or travel to expensive play-offs like baseball's World Series or football's final Superbowl, a flick of the television dial provides close-up viewing that beats front row seats. Although estimates vary, the major networks average about 500 hours each of sports programming a year. Recently, the emergence of several cable channels that specialize in sports gives viewers even more options. The foremost of these channels, ESPN, runs sports shows at least 22 hours a day and is now received by 37 million American homes, or nearly half of the 86 million homes with television sets. PRIVATE AND INSTITUTIONALIZED ACTIVITIES Opportunities for keeping fit and playing sports are numerous. Jogging is extremely popular, perhaps because it is the cheapest and most accessible sport. Aerobic exercise and training with weight-lifting machines are two activities which more and more men and women are pursuing. Books, videos, and fitness-conscious movie stars that play up the glamour of fitness have heightened enthusiasm for these exercises and have promoted the muscular, healthy body as the American beauty ideal. Most communities have recreational parks with tennis and basketball courts, a football or soccer field, and outdoor grills for picnics. These parks generally charge no fees for the use of these facilities. Some large corporations, hospitals, and churches have indoor gymnasiums and organize informal team sports. For those who can afford membership fees, there is the exclusive country club and its more modern version, the health and fitness center. Members of these clubs have access to all kinds of indoor and outdoor sports; swimming, volleyball, golf, racquetball, handball, tennis, and basketball; Most dubs also offer instruction in various, sports and exercise methods. Schools and colleges have institutionalized team sports for young people. ............