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Sociology Of North American Hockey
04-17-14 07:08 PM
zanderlex is Offline
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First of all, I have no idea where this should go. It has a ton of Sociology, a ton or sports, and some school in a way. About 2 weeks ago, for my Sports Sociology, we watched this video on the Olympic Hockey team that won the Gold Medal in the 1980 Olympics. I really liked the topic, and we took a multiple choice quiz on it to get ready for the final. I got a 97 on that quiz and I after I finished the Final, there was 2 hours left in the class block, so I decided to write up as much as I could about it. So after a couple hours of typing and editing, I came up with this. When it comes to society, culture, and lifestyle values in America, there are many factors of daily life that influences how we act as an individual and as a nation. One of the driving factors that alter these values of this nation, or of any nation for that matter, is sports. The film titled Do You Believe In Miracles had been a wonderful example of how sports affect these values and of what sports means to these citizens and societies, and how they affect daily life. The film shows how a group of young hockey players joined together to form the United States hockey team and how they fought for a victory for their country. The team was desperate for a victory because the United States was in the middle of a tense international situation. The victory for the American team had basically united everybody through their team, and offered a happy moment during such a terrible situation. The win offered a point in time where the American citizens were given an opportunity to get away from the troubles of war and poverty, and join others who cheer on the team. The series of events had begun in Madison Square Garden where the United States team had played against the Soviet team, a team who had rarely lost a game, if ever. The United States team had lost by a score of 10 to 3 and they ended up losing one of their best players due to injury. The team had then went on to compete in the 1980 Olympics, but the odds were against them, everybody expected the Soviet team to win yet another gold medal, as they had won gold five times in six Olympic appearances. The fact that they were guaranteed to fail did not cause them to quit, they fought on and gave it their best. The coach of the team, Herb Brooks, and the players of the United States team were determined and have dedicated themselves to taking down the Soviet team. They ended up fighting as best as they could with the hopes that they could bring home just their second gold medal in twenty years to make their country proud. The United States hockey team had just come off a terrible 1976 Olympic run in which they finished down in fifth place. That fifth place finish had been the third time during the last four Olympic meetings in which the team had finished in fifth place or worse, with a sixth place finish just three meetings prior. At the time, the United States Hockey team had been one of the worst of the American Olympic teams. When you compare the hockey team to the Basketball team, who had won the gold medal 8 times since 1936 and had not won the gold medal just once, the hockey team was a disgrace. If the Basketball team had been that dominant at the Olympics, then it would have been an obvious choice to have the United States count on them on them to bring the country out of their despair. So why didn’t they? Because the American Boycott caused the United States Basketball team, as well as teams of other nations to withdraw from the 1980 Olympics. Now everything was up to the weak hockey team. The United States team finished the first round without losing a match. They had ended up tied with Sweden for first place in their pool with a 5-0-1 record and both teams had advanced to the final round. The first match of the final round took place on February 22nd and this was the big match against the Soviet team in Lake Placid, New York. The 8500 fans in attendance saw the Soviet team take the lead near the start of the match, but they ended up watching the United States steal the lead and then the victory. That match had been noted as the most memorable of all the hockey matches to take place during the 1980 Olympics. That match had proved that the United States team was a team that could not be messed with and that they had one last trick to bring home the glory that the nation, players, and fans deserved. That match had had been won by a score of four to three and thw victory had brought them one step closer to obtaining this glory. Even then, fresh off their great win, the battle was far from over. Two days later, on February 24th, one of the happiest moments in United States sports history had taken place. On that day, the United States team had gone on to play Finland during an emotional match at what is now known as the Herb Brooks Arena. By the end of the day, against all odds, the United States team had gone on to beat Finland by a score of four to two, and because of this surprising achievement, the United States had finally won the gold medal they had been waiting for, and had given the country a few glorious moments of happiness. If you look closely at the way each of the teams have acted following the conclusion of the Olympics, you could tell that there had been an obvious difference between the way the United States and the Soviet On the other hand, you have the fans of the Soviet For days after the award ceremony, no paper would print the fact that the Soviet The reason, I believe, that America does not go to such extremes during their sporting events could be because of the fact that most of Americas sports are domestically played. Because of this, sports do not have such a large effect because no matter what team wins any championship, the entire population will not be affected. For instance, the many people who live in California, or any West Coast state for that matter, would not be as active during the World Series as those fans that live in Boston or St. Louis. This is because their teams did not end up going all the way to the top. The same can be said for any sport, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Americans are used to not having their teams win all the time, while when you have a country that mostly participates in international sports, such as the Soviet To Americans, fans probably see the Soviet fans who care about nothing but winning and will reject any of their players that come as close as second place. However, one could also side with the Soviet fans and say that they are dedicated and passionate about their team which never loses. This is because the fans are not accustomed to see their only team lose to another team that basically came from nowhere. One could probably compare these instances to the New York Yankees. Towards the end of the 20th Century, the team and their fans were used to winning all the time. Now, there is a lot of debate that the Yankees are beginning to decline and in some instances, a lot of rage has been aimed at the Yankees from their own fans. This proves that the society values between the United States and the Soviet I am not really a person who loves hockey, or even likes it for that matter. I have seen just a couple of games on TV, I read up on all the scores in the newspaper for New York Teams, and I even had the chance to meet all of the Islanders players two years ago. However, aside from all that, I do not really understand the game too much and I do not really get a chance to participate with anything that has to do with hockey. If I had an opportunity to participate more in the field of hockey, I am certain that I would become a fan of the sport, but as for now, I stick to every other sport. Even though I am not a fan, I still do understand the massive impact that this victory had on America. The country was in a time of despair, and needed a national event to allow the country to unite with each other in a time of happiness. About 2 weeks ago, for my Sports Sociology, we watched this video on the Olympic Hockey team that won the Gold Medal in the 1980 Olympics. I really liked the topic, and we took a multiple choice quiz on it to get ready for the final. I got a 97 on that quiz and I after I finished the Final, there was 2 hours left in the class block, so I decided to write up as much as I could about it. So after a couple hours of typing and editing, I came up with this. When it comes to society, culture, and lifestyle values in America, there are many factors of daily life that influences how we act as an individual and as a nation. One of the driving factors that alter these values of this nation, or of any nation for that matter, is sports. The film titled Do You Believe In Miracles had been a wonderful example of how sports affect these values and of what sports means to these citizens and societies, and how they affect daily life. The film shows how a group of young hockey players joined together to form the United States hockey team and how they fought for a victory for their country. The team was desperate for a victory because the United States was in the middle of a tense international situation. The victory for the American team had basically united everybody through their team, and offered a happy moment during such a terrible situation. The win offered a point in time where the American citizens were given an opportunity to get away from the troubles of war and poverty, and join others who cheer on the team. The series of events had begun in Madison Square Garden where the United States team had played against the Soviet team, a team who had rarely lost a game, if ever. The United States team had lost by a score of 10 to 3 and they ended up losing one of their best players due to injury. The team had then went on to compete in the 1980 Olympics, but the odds were against them, everybody expected the Soviet team to win yet another gold medal, as they had won gold five times in six Olympic appearances. The fact that they were guaranteed to fail did not cause them to quit, they fought on and gave it their best. The coach of the team, Herb Brooks, and the players of the United States team were determined and have dedicated themselves to taking down the Soviet team. They ended up fighting as best as they could with the hopes that they could bring home just their second gold medal in twenty years to make their country proud. The United States hockey team had just come off a terrible 1976 Olympic run in which they finished down in fifth place. That fifth place finish had been the third time during the last four Olympic meetings in which the team had finished in fifth place or worse, with a sixth place finish just three meetings prior. At the time, the United States Hockey team had been one of the worst of the American Olympic teams. When you compare the hockey team to the Basketball team, who had won the gold medal 8 times since 1936 and had not won the gold medal just once, the hockey team was a disgrace. If the Basketball team had been that dominant at the Olympics, then it would have been an obvious choice to have the United States count on them on them to bring the country out of their despair. So why didn’t they? Because the American Boycott caused the United States Basketball team, as well as teams of other nations to withdraw from the 1980 Olympics. Now everything was up to the weak hockey team. The United States team finished the first round without losing a match. They had ended up tied with Sweden for first place in their pool with a 5-0-1 record and both teams had advanced to the final round. The first match of the final round took place on February 22nd and this was the big match against the Soviet team in Lake Placid, New York. The 8500 fans in attendance saw the Soviet team take the lead near the start of the match, but they ended up watching the United States steal the lead and then the victory. That match had been noted as the most memorable of all the hockey matches to take place during the 1980 Olympics. That match had proved that the United States team was a team that could not be messed with and that they had one last trick to bring home the glory that the nation, players, and fans deserved. That match had had been won by a score of four to three and thw victory had brought them one step closer to obtaining this glory. Even then, fresh off their great win, the battle was far from over. Two days later, on February 24th, one of the happiest moments in United States sports history had taken place. On that day, the United States team had gone on to play Finland during an emotional match at what is now known as the Herb Brooks Arena. By the end of the day, against all odds, the United States team had gone on to beat Finland by a score of four to two, and because of this surprising achievement, the United States had finally won the gold medal they had been waiting for, and had given the country a few glorious moments of happiness. If you look closely at the way each of the teams have acted following the conclusion of the Olympics, you could tell that there had been an obvious difference between the way the United States and the Soviet On the other hand, you have the fans of the Soviet For days after the award ceremony, no paper would print the fact that the Soviet The reason, I believe, that America does not go to such extremes during their sporting events could be because of the fact that most of Americas sports are domestically played. Because of this, sports do not have such a large effect because no matter what team wins any championship, the entire population will not be affected. For instance, the many people who live in California, or any West Coast state for that matter, would not be as active during the World Series as those fans that live in Boston or St. Louis. This is because their teams did not end up going all the way to the top. The same can be said for any sport, Basketball, Football, Hockey, Americans are used to not having their teams win all the time, while when you have a country that mostly participates in international sports, such as the Soviet To Americans, fans probably see the Soviet fans who care about nothing but winning and will reject any of their players that come as close as second place. However, one could also side with the Soviet fans and say that they are dedicated and passionate about their team which never loses. This is because the fans are not accustomed to see their only team lose to another team that basically came from nowhere. One could probably compare these instances to the New York Yankees. Towards the end of the 20th Century, the team and their fans were used to winning all the time. Now, there is a lot of debate that the Yankees are beginning to decline and in some instances, a lot of rage has been aimed at the Yankees from their own fans. This proves that the society values between the United States and the Soviet I am not really a person who loves hockey, or even likes it for that matter. I have seen just a couple of games on TV, I read up on all the scores in the newspaper for New York Teams, and I even had the chance to meet all of the Islanders players two years ago. However, aside from all that, I do not really understand the game too much and I do not really get a chance to participate with anything that has to do with hockey. If I had an opportunity to participate more in the field of hockey, I am certain that I would become a fan of the sport, but as for now, I stick to every other sport. Even though I am not a fan, I still do understand the massive impact that this victory had on America. The country was in a time of despair, and needed a national event to allow the country to unite with each other in a time of happiness. |
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