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AmericanSport–Introduction
Sportisanextremelyvastandcolorfulphenomenonwhichpervades
thelivesofalmostallpeopleonourplanet.Althoughthetermsports
canbedefinedas“anyactivityorexperiencethatgiveenjoymentor
recreation”1andisalso“referredtoaspastimesordiversions”2,it
wouldbeaconsiderablesimplificationtocallitsomekindofordi-
naryentertainment,asitinflamesgreatpassions,excitesandthrills
people;inmanycasesunifiestheminspiteofvariousclassbarriers
andscholardivisionsandletsthemexperiencesomethingspecial.
Sportisafascinatingfieldofstudiesforwidelyunderstoodhuman-
istics.Beingforalongtimeaneglectedscience,itisnowthesubject
ofextensiveresearchcarriedoutbyhistorians,sociologists,culture
studiesscholars,andalsolinguists.Sportanditsimmemorialvalues
havebeenreflectedinmiscellaneousrealmsofculture–art,film,
theater,alsothelanguage.Sportisthusoneoftheelementsofcultur-
alheritagewithlonghistory,andalsodependentonvariouscultural
trends.
Moreover,sportisaveryimportantfactorintheprocessofthe
makingofnationsandcommunities.Itbuildscollectiveidentities,
enhancesthesenseofnationalorlocalpatriotism.Asitcanbeob-
servedmostlyinthecaseoffootball(soccer),stadiumsplaytherole
ofquasi-templeswhereasignificantsecularritual,fullofdiferent
meaningsandsymbols,iscarriedout,where–astheAmericanso-
ciologistHarryEdwardsputsit–“millionscongregatetobearwit-
nesstothemanifestationoftheirfaith”3.Tisritualdramahasamag-
neticpowertodrawhugecrowdsofspectatorsallovertheworld.
Teparticipants–thefans–constitutegroupswhichcreateexciting
1
C.DeVito,TeUltimateDictionaryofSportsQuotations,CheckmarkBooks,New
2
York2001,p.xi.
Ibidem.
3
H.Edwards,SociologyofSport,TeDorseyPress,Homewood,Illinois1973,p.262.
