Sports in the United States have changed drastically from the initial purpose in antiquity to the present. Sport in America has evolved from an informal, recreational, and participatory activity into an organized, competitive, and commercial one. There are many factors that have influenced this evolution of sport. Probably the biggest factor involved was the urbanization of America during the late nineteenth century, combined with enormous population growth. “Other factors influencing this change are the shifting currents within the historical profession and/or by recent developments both on and off the playing field” (Radar, 1983). As a result of these changes sport has reached an all-time high in popularity in the United States.

In a sense, sport developed out of play. Play according to Huizinga (1979) is a “free activity” that involves rules, a desire to play, freedom, imagination,

Although sport has obviously changed over the years, most of these changes I have presented were physical changes. I don’t think that the true essence of sport has been lost through the years. Time after time when doing my research I would read the words competition, activity, performance, rivalry. It seems to me that these words are inseparable from the word sport. They kind of go hand-in-hand. As for my answer to the gambling question, I don’t necessarily think that an athlete should not be inducted into the hall of fame just for gambling. However, if the particular player is gambling on a game that he has control of winning or losing, I think their name should be banned from that sport completely. For example, if a basketball player bets that his team is going to lose a game and then goes out and misses all of his shots on purpose, he should be banned. There is absolutely no excuse for that type of behavior because it completely ruins the essence of sport.

In antiquity, athletes that competed in sport were examples of the Greek ideal, a combination of strength and beauty, gifts of Zeus. They competed in a festival known as the Olympia in which the winners of the games was set apart from other men in recognition of his divine superiority. However, all sports were placed under the patronage of the Gods and the victorious athletes felt they owed their success to them. Meanwhile, the middle ages consisted of sport “played ostensibly

Some topics in this essay:
Catholic Church, Sport America, North Americans, , Sports United, prevent professional player, gambling prevent professional, gambling prevent, hall fame, nineteenth century, professional player, prevent professional, initial purpose antiquity, essence sport, player considered, considered induction, induction hall, major factor, recreational participatory activity, considered induction hall,