The United States is a nation that is known for its freedom and equality that it provides to its citizens, but yet our sports world doesn’t always reflect our own goals as a nation. Equality and freedom have come a long way in the United States but there are still some issues that are reflected in our sports culture. As a society we predetermine an athletes potential because of factors such as money, race and ethnicity. These factors impacts what sport an athlete has the chance to play and it also determines why they play it. Not every athlete is given an equal opportunity to succeed in our sports culture. Many of these circumstances cannot be fixed because of the way our society looks at sports. Sports are considered not just a form of entertainment
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In the story “From the Downtown at the Buzzer” the issue of race is brought up because Effinger discussed why blacks have dominated the basketball stage. Normally African Americans grew up with less money and basketball courts were easy to find in their neighborhoods. They didn’t have the same opportunities as wealthier white men to play other sports like hockey or golf. As much as our nation tries to make life equal for all races and classes it obviously isn’t perfect. We are able to see the flaws in our country through sports. The stereotype of Hispanics, Blacks, and other races are not always true, but it all depends how and where they grow up. An African American that grew up without much money would normally stick to sports like basketball and track since they are lower cost sports. Not everyone has the equal chance to play a sport to his or her fullest potential. Athletes with more money are at an advantage because they have the coaches and facilities to use to help them improve. This reveals that there may be athletes out their that didn’t make it to the professional level that have more potential then the athletes at the highest level. There is a chance that we aren’t seeing the best athletes playing at sporting
In the story “From the Downtown at the Buzzer” the issue of race is brought up because Effinger discussed why blacks have dominated the basketball stage. Normally African Americans grew up with less money and basketball courts were easy to find in their neighborhoods. They didn’t have the same opportunities as wealthier white men to play other sports like hockey or golf. As much as our nation tries to make life equal for all races and classes it obviously isn’t perfect. We are able to see the flaws in our country through sports. The stereotype of Hispanics, Blacks, and other races are not always true, but it all depends how and where they grow up. An African American that grew up without much money would normally stick to sports like basketball and track since they are lower cost sports. Not everyone has the equal chance to play a sport to his or her fullest potential. Athletes with more money are at an advantage because they have the coaches and facilities to use to help them improve. This reveals that there may be athletes out their that didn’t make it to the professional level that have more potential then the athletes at the highest level. There is a chance that we aren’t seeing the best athletes playing at sporting