You Win Some You Lose Some

When was the last time you watched or heard an advertisement for a sporting event? It could have been while listening to the radio in the car or while watching the evening news. The point is that sports have become an integral part of our society for the better or worse. Some may view this as a nuisance while others are dedicated to their favorite sporting events. Sports have been around for over 3,000 years and in that time they have evolved as many things do.

It is in this evolution that sports have begun to change their functions upon which they were built. These functions are the core of what every sport represents and with these changes that have been made it begins to diminish the true meaning of the sport. Everyone gets an award now, therefore, it’s just not as special as it used to be. As a result, sports have become more commercialized, even to the point of gambling and excess which is causing problems for many in our modern society.

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While sports are meant to be a driving force in team building skills, they have inherently adopted heavy commercialization, mass marketing and the downfall of the true function of sports.

In continuance, the true meaning of the word sport is to amuse oneself. It is meant to be an outdoor for recreation and not hard work. Many have lost sight of that, however. The function of all sports should be to get you to the next level.

The future success of yourself depends on these sports as they will make you a better person. Performing in these sporting events refreshes the body, removing all of those bad toxins and enlightening the mind. This exercise gained from your actions will make you fresh, vigorous, and always ready for the next challenge. This is the true meaning of sports, the sense of determination and achievement you seek in life. At the core of every sport, there is the gathering of strangers to compete in a game of skill and strategy. Nobody knew this better than the Greeks, whose motto was even, “a sound mind in a sound body”. The Greeks were a people that only wanted the best of the best. They even carried out this plan for all aspects of daily life. This was a cause for the long existence of Greece and for its luxuriant literary culture. The model upon which the Greeks used in daily life could be used the same way in modern times should we put forth the effort to succeed in this world. Unfortunately many have lost their way in modern times and don't have this sense of motivation.

Sports are a great way upon which you can become a part of something bigger. They are a driving force in both team building skills and it's a great way to make relationships with people that will be there with you for the rest of your life. The true meaning of sports isn’t the sport itself, but the family and experiences you gain from playing the sport that you will remember for a lifetime. However, the function of these sports is beginning to lose its way. With all the marketing, politics, and negative views put upon them it is hard to keep their function from changing. This expansion of sports has led to many issues, especially when involving sports with politics. Mixing politics with sports has led to events such as the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany; whereupon the event was attacked by terrorists who were against the politics involved. Sports put under the light of mass media is causing many issues that even extend to personal beliefs. Many athletes within the National Football League have been kneeling at the singing of the National Anthem and disrespecting the American Flag. This has led to many controversies and many questioning the right of the athletes to perform such an act. It also led many people to quit watching Football and some Football Athletes were penalized or fired for their acts. It is things like this that show how the mass marketing of sports is having a negative effect on the viewers. There is some good in it however as sports have brought many people from different backgrounds together to be united as a whole. The concept of the sports themselves is fantastic and it is great that they are popular however problems arise with the mass marketing and commercialization of these events.

In procession, all of this can be traced back through the history of sports. When sports first became popularized with gladiator-style events they were seen as a form of showing off masculinity and who the best man was. This was the time of the time of the 1st Olympic Games, held in 776 B.C. These champions didn't even receive any compensation for winning. Sports would take on an integral role in people's lives with the Roman Empire which lasted from 105 B.C. to 404 C.E. This is when the gladiators and coliseums were highly popularized. After the fall of the Roman Empire sports once again became a more personalized and community gathering event. Then when the sport of baseball was invented in 1845, sports began to take on a more team-based approach. It was after this that many of the modern sporting events began to come about such as basketball, football, and so on. Sports began to take on a different form as they became more popular which lead to a transition into them becoming a part of our daily lives. Sports went from being a thing of competition and entertainment to now being an industry that rivals all others. Everywhere you see advertisements for sporting goods being endorsed by these celebrities and people are being paid millions of dollars every year just to play sports. It is such a mainstream event now that they have lost a lot of what made them so special in the first place. Sports used to be an event for people to bond and compete in a game of wits. Now a lot of people just play sports for the glory or the money. These professional athletes make more money than The President of the United States and all they do is play a sport. The leader of the country upon which we currently live makes less money than people who just play sports for a living. That just simply blows my mind. They are playing to try and be like these athletes that they see as their hero's, therefore these players hearts are not in the right place when playing these sports. Sports are starting to become less focused as a result.

In conclusion, sports have changed so much over the years that they are barely recognizable from how they were even just one hundred years ago. With the commercialization of sports has come a generation looking up to these athletes as idols and wanting to be just like them from style to personality. It is having a negative effect on these kids who play sports. It is taking away from the function upon which represents what sports truly are. A character building exercise where you meet people that you will learn to bond with and form a family. It is admirable and beautiful when a team comes together, but with these modern times sports have begun to lose sight of what they are. Many people are beginning to only care about the money behind the sport and not the sport itself. Sports used to truly mean something to people, it was a fascination and miracle in their lives. They were used to bond communities, but now they are beginning to turn people against one another and for the wrong reasons. Reasons including the mass marketing of gambling within sports and the heavy commercialization of all sports in general. The concept of sports is one upon which you gain physical fortitude while gaining a sense of being and truly coming into your own. How sporting events are being handled these days is beginning to diminish the function of these sports. Time will tell however as to whether or not a change will come, but the truth of the matter is that these sporting events simply make too much money for these companies to change their ways. To end, sports have evolved to such a high degree that they are barely recognizable from just 100 or even 50 years ago, so I ask you have they changed for the better or the worse?