Sports Pages #15-Final Reflections

I've always been a big fan of sports, but I never really considered the broader societal and social impacts that they have. In this class, I learned how to analyze the sporting culture in provocative ways, and I now have a better understanding of what sports truly represent in our society. I now realize that factors such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status have a huge impact on sports, and that as much as we like to believe that sport represents equality, the truth is that we have a long way to go to get there. I think that this is the biggest fact that I will take away from this class, in that sports truly are a microcosm of society in many ways, and many of the same issues that plague our society off of the field/court unfortunately affect athletes as well. Issues in society such as the masculine glorification of violence affect the landscape of contact sports, but at the same time, more positive values such as courage, teamwork, and perseverance also apply within sport as well. Overall, this class was definitely my favorite one of the semester, and I definitely will apply the things I learned when I watch sports in the future, and also will have a more educated perspective on how sports and society intersect.