(855) 4-ESSAYS

Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Sports Taboo

            
             The story I choose was the Sports Taboo by Malcom Gladwell. The word sports in the title caught my eye while I was flipping through the pages. I found the story very interesting and controversial. The essay begins with the subject why blacks are better than whites in sports. An example he gives is the track field. Before the sprinting and fast races belonged to the blacks and the long distance belonged to the whites but now both short and distancing running belong to the blacks. Gladwell tries to explain this reason. He goes as far as body structure. Blacks have more an advantage because they have stronger calves and better bone structure he says. The reason for there dominant in sports is because they lack opportunities elsewhere. Gladwell explains how blacks may dominate the sports field but when they are matched next to the whites in academic ability they fail miserably. His reasons are that blacks grow up in a worst environment then the whites. He does give examples such as S.A.T. scores.
             I do come in agreement with Gladwell and statements about how blacks are better athletes than whites. When I was in high school and I was on the track team. I saw that all our sprinters were black and we had a few black long distance runners and that went the same for the other schools. In my school though whites were not smarter than blacks. That's because our neighborhoods are not that bad and most people live in a good environment whether you were poor or black. If you took statistics from larger cities you would find the whites to be smarter because the blacks grow in a worst environment and are largely poorer than the whites. .
             Gladwell did pick a controversial topic to discuss. Some people might consider him racist for saying this kind of stuff. But the reality it is true and nobody wants to discuss it because it is a hot topic.
            


Essays Related to Sports Taboo

1. The Concept of Taboo

... using foul language in public? What prevents us, for example, from discussing masturbation? In every society, there is a concept known as "taboo." A taboo is something looked down upon by society because of social custom. Incest and indecent exposure are both examples of taboos that hold a legal statute ... else walks in the room, the conversation quickly changes to sports. Why? Maybe they are embarrassed to say that they masturbate. Most probably though, they are embarrassed because our society has made masturbation into such a taboo term that it is just not something that people talk ...

  • Word Count: 871
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Child Abuse in Sport

... be done with the same focus - child abuse. There had previously been little research done on child abuse and it was one of the taboo subjects that were raised by many feminists during the 1970s (Brackenridge, Dobash & Dobash, 1979). "Britain and Ireland have been through a decade ... justifiable male privilege over females That in the main, sport organisations are apolitical and should remain so That sexual matters in sport are taboo (Brackenridge, 2001) It could be argued that these beliefs about sport have repressed responses to the issues of child abuse by organisers ... in sport b...

  • Word Count: 3857
  • Approx Pages: 15
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Reproduction and genetics

... makes us want sex is apearance, traits, intelligence, and status as opposed to automatic signals. Because of this humans link almost everything to sex, or symbolizing of sex. Cars, clothes, sports, not these physical things but the use of them will enhance anothers sexual attractiveness. Many species carry several similiar aspects of sex, for example, a chimpanzee, or even more a bonobo. They ... we know. Each species has a certain male and female bond, but the physical, social, and emotional aspects are not like that of humans. The second cultural universal is the incest taboo. A taboo...

  • Word Count: 1558
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

4. NFL and the NCAA - Performance Enhancing Drugs

The growth and use of performance enhancing drugs make them no longer a taboo subject among professional athletes and is starting to become in fact rampant among athletes. There appears to be no end in sight ... is that costs for testing for steroids can range from $100 to $200, while tests for most street drugs may only cost $25. (The Associated Press). Sports like baseball have had a long history of rampant steroid use and have taken effective action since they first discovered the problem. However, because of their ineffective testing ... NCAA football unlike most sports, has not yet disc...

  • Word Count: 1464
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. Violence

... is not uncommon to have an all black basketball squad or an all black football team except for the quarterback. In an article, "The Sports Taboo", Gladwell states "It's alright to say that blacks dominate sports because they lack opportunities elsewhere" (Gladwell 302). In track and field African Americans recorded fifteen out of the twenty fastest times last year in the men's ten ... his reign will eventually be ended by a black athlete. These kinds of stereotypes can lead to more serious problems later in life. Many young black athletes focus so hard on sports that sometimes they lose...

  • Word Count: 773
  • Approx Pages: 3

6. Catcher in the Rye - Book Critique

... Holden's rebellious personality because of how ridiculous it looks. "It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddam foils. " (pg 17) It exemplifies how Holden is rebellious and doesn't conform to social rules ... . " (pg 120) This is very representative of the time that this book is set in. During that time it was very casual to smoke and it wasn't that big of a taboo to smoke in public places. In addition to this Holden isn't even 18, but during ...

  • Word Count: 1367
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

7. Homosexual and Heterosexual Males

... at some of the other similar traits these men have in common. Both the homosexual male and the heterosexual male enjoy sports. It is a common myth that the homosexual man does not know anything about or would be interested in sports, but in light of recent events flooding the news rooms of this country regarding professional athletes "coming out" that ... wired together to form better reasoning and decision making skills similar to a female's brain. Socially speaking, gay men are not accepted. Up until recently it was seemed to be very taboo to be a gay man and homosexuality was frowned...

  • Word Count: 675
  • Approx Pages: 3

8. History

... the law to gain access to alcohol beverages. City streets became the scene of violent shoot-outs between rival bootleggers; by 1929, Chicago had witnessed over five hundred gang lands. Sports became a national mania in the 1920s as people found more leisure time. Golf boomed, with some two million men and women playing on nearly five thousand courses across the country ... . Spectator sports attracted even more attention. Boxing drew huge crowds Baseball attendance soared. More than 20 million fans attended games in 1927, the year Babe Ruth became a national idol by hitting 60 ... befor...

  • Word Count: 2034
  • Approx Pages: 8

9. Society and Gender Roles

... ladies, acting polite and dressing in a certain way. The boys are outdoors with their father getting their hands dirty in the yard or doing maintenance on the home, or playing sports. As boys become young men, they have been introduced into what is expected from a man in society. A man's position in this world is to fit the role of a husband and ... background, where culture and religion play a major role in gender. I was just a young woman out of high school when I decided to join the U.S. military, and to my family this was taboo. Our Hispanic traditions for the female gender are very...

  • Word Count: 907
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Grade Level: High School

Got a writing question? Ask our professional writer!
Submit My Question