Sports Essays

002 Essays

Why Cricket is Better than Baseball

Cricket is a team sport having eleven players on each side. The game looks similar to baseball, but almost all the rules are different from it. Although cricket is not just a sport but a religion in India (my home country), most Americans do not have any clue about it. Having followed both the sports, I strongly feel that cricket is better than baseball in many ways. Cricket requires significantly more skill than baseball. Unlike baseball, where the batter usually tries to hit in front of him, in cricket a batsman can place the ball anywhere around a 360 degree arc, clearly showcasing more dexterity. In baseball, the batter receives the ball typically in a specified area, and then it is all about his strength and timing. As an observer, I feel it is more of a mechanical phenomenon. Batting in cricket is more about craftsmanship. In cricket the ball bounces off a pitch, which can be dusty, dead, fast, bouncy or a green top, so it becomes challenging for a batsman. Fast bowlers bowl at ninety miles an hour and make the leather ball swing in both ways. Bowlers often bowl onto its seam in order to produce deviations. Slow bowlers and spinners have the art of spinning the ball in more than one direction. This makes life difficult for a batsman who has to rely on hand and eye co-ordination and in the last fraction of a second decide which shot to play.

The game of cricket is physically more challenging. The ball used in cricket is half an ounce heavier and harder than the one used in baseball. In baseball all the players in the fielding team have gloves on to catch the ball. In cricket the wicket-keeper standing behind the stumps (similar to a catcher in baseball) is the only player of the fielding team who has gloves. Other fielders do not have protective gear, which makes catching the ball a tough skill to master. Also fielding is more tiring in cricket, as fielders need to move every time to stop the ball which comes at pace. Test cricket can go up to five days (each day has almost 6 hours of game time) so fielding can be exhausting at times. In baseball the pitchers simply throw the ball standing from one position. Bowlers in cricket run about fifty meters each time, rotating their arm completely, to deliver the ball. On an average a baseball player runs a quarter mile every game compared to cricketers who run over 4 miles.

Cricket is better because it requires a highly developed thinking process integrated with sports skills. Cricket is an outdoor sport but a lot of the game happens in the minds of the players. The battle between a batsman and a bowler involves lot of strategic planning. Bowlers try not to allow the batsman to settle. The batsman constantly tries to read the pitch and the mindset of the bowler. Sledging is also a part of the game and clever cricketers use it on several occasions. They try to perturb the batsman’s concentration, which can cost him his wicket. Imran Khan, ex-cricketer turned politician and one of the legends of the game, said, “Of all the sports I have followed, the captain plays the most crucial role in cricket.” Depending on situations, the captain of the side needs to switch roles. On occasions he has to patiently trust his players and get the best out of them. On the other hand, he has to be street smart and make unconventional moves.

Clearly, cricket is a better sport than baseball, and that’s what makes it more compelling. A cricketer has to be a blend of talent and genius. He has to be rugged and athletic, and possess good reflexes. His presence in the field is not just physical, but he has to constantly keep planning. The most watched baseball games have around 60 million viewers. In contrast, the 2011 Cricket World Cup semifinal between India and Pakistan attracted around 988 million viewers. (Abhishek)

Importance of Sports

Nowadays, over dependence on technology has declined the rate of sports activity among the young generation as well as the elder. That’s why various psychological along with physical problems are evolving so fast that it has become a major concern for the societies. To deal with this problem, sports (e.g. physical activity where competition among people is involved), may play a vital role to defend. There are various kinds of sports, like: Soccer, Football, Cricket etc. which are played among groups of people, whereas; some of the sports are played between two individuals, like: - fencing, judo etc. Nevertheless, some people think that sports is only intended for recreational purposes. In fact, it is very important for physical development as well as psychological nourishment too. Therefore, we need to acknowledge the multifarious significances of sports in our life.

In the modern day, too much obsession in the virtual world is one of the main causes for the reduction of sports activity among the new generation. On the contrary, this virtual world fascination is responsible for various ominous sides. For instance, many virtual games involve murder, which may have the negative impacts on morality. It may damage the mind of young children so that their capability of distinguishing between real and virtual world becomes vague. As they don’t live in the real world, they can commit various crimes. Besides, too much involvement in the virtual world may cause headaches, nausea etc. to these people. In addition, some parents think that sports hamper the studies and they don’t allow their children to play outside. However, these children are very unlucky because, medical analysis says that these children are more prone to anxiety, distress etc. In comparison to these children, the children who are raised having participated in sports on a daily basis, are more successful in their future life due to ability of handling the stress and anxiety. Those sport children are more likely smarter than others, as they can manage time efficiently and they learn with joy from playing various types of sports. As a matter of fact, sport serves recreational purpose along with psychological nourishment for not only the children but also to the elders.

Sport can be an efficient tool for tackling obesity. Obesity was not a major issue in past days, as people were more likely to work outside which required physical involvement. But, this phenomenon has become a burning question for mankind in recent days. In fact, now obesity is treated as a disease by medical scientists. Therefore, lots of money is now currently being invested to get rid of this onerous disease. On the contrary, researchers have determined that the protection from this disease require both diet control and physical activity. Hence, sport is an excellent source of physical activity which necessitate movement of every part of the body with mental refreshment. It helps people to build up muscular growth as well as enhancement of daily chore activities. Additionally, it betters the heart, inhalation etc., which accelerates peoples’ daily activity. Not only does it assist people to control the cholesterol level, lipid level, glucose level etc., but also, sports help people to eliminate dizziness, weakness etc. It always charms people which is excellent for regular work. In this way, sport ensure sound and fit body with happiness and joy for the people.

Sports helps people to grow various qualities like: leadership, patience, personality etc. which are very important to learn for dwelling in the practical world. Statistics have shown that the people who love to take part in the sports, are more comfortable working in a team. That is because, sports not only bring competitiveness, but also it creates an excellent opportunity to endure with different peoples’ personality and mentality. Along with these qualities, good temperament also develops among sports people, as they need to work with a variety of peoples. They can adapt in a hostile environment which increases the endurance quality. Not only that, sport can teach them to tackle any problem in various aspects, as it enhances their points of view. Last but not least, good sports-person become generally good strategists, which assists them in dealing with the practical problems more efficiently.

In conclusion, we should respect the importance of sports in our daily lives as children and as parents too. Sports always ensure the physical development as well as the psychological aid. Hence, all of the institutions (e.g. personal, state etc.) should take the responsibility to persuade people of the significance of it. In accordance, government should encourage people by providing the ground facilities and the equipment required. As well, the medical representatives should make people aware by promoting the role of sports in our lives. In this way, we will be able to ensure a healthy and sound life. Written by: Minhaz

Essay

Sports in general are part of entertainment but as they become professional competition the story is little different. Focusing on sports which involve team effort are entertaining and generate higher revenue for the competitions organizers from tickets like soccer. In soccer competitions like Barclays Premier League and UEFA Champions League, there is a trend of selecting the best soccer player annually depending on their performance. Perks of being selected are huge apart from the award; players earn a lot of money prize and sponsorship deals. But I believe that soccer is a team game and I would like to provide few reasons to support why awards should be for the team effort rather than for individual effort.

Soccer is played by eleven players, so there is not a single player responsible for better performance but the whole team. Moreover, the individual awards focus on mostly who scored the most goals in a year. But I think it is unfair to the other team players who make a team effort to create a chance for the goal scorer to score. For example, a defender has to stay in his own half most of the time to defend, and his job focuses only on defense rather than scoring. But he has equal contribution as goal scorer, as he is the savior of the team. Same applies to the goal keeper who has to stay in the designated box in his own half, so he barely gets a chance to score a goal.

Individual awards send wrong message to the prospective youth players by motivating them for the positions only which get awarded. If they see only strikers getting praised or awarded they will get motivated to play only those positions. This can be detrimental to the youth team development in soccer, because they will have a shortage of players for equally important positions. This can lead to bad level of quality of gameplay in the future. Furthermore, some players are suited for specific positions, and if they are motivated for the positions they see getting praised, this can be harmful to their careers because they might not be as successful in those positions as compared to what they are suited to.

Individual awards also result in financial disparity between players. Statistically, players who play in striker positions get higher salary as compared to players who play for defensive positions. This is because the individual awards lead to an increase in fame of these players in the media which develops interest from a lot of clubs for these players. Due to higher demand of the striker position players, the bids are higher for them to be acquired. Subsequently strikers benefit with higher salaries as compared to the players in different positions. I feel this is unfair for one player to be paid a higher amount for doing the same amount of work.

Considering all these aspects in to account, Individual praise leads to disturbing the quality of the game, and demotivation among the fellow players about their playing positions. It develops a scarcity of youth trying for different positions and eventually can result in bad careers for them. Quality of game is hampered with players not playing the positions they are best suited with. I feel in team games the awards should be team focused rather than an individual focused to improve the quality and equality in the game. (Pradeep Vyawahare)

Why is American football not popular outside of US.?

Every year in September, when the season of American football begins, on Saturday, thousands of fans leaving their home, wearing the shirt of their home team, watch football either on TV or live. American football is deeply rooted in American culture and is the most popular sport in the US. However, outside of US, almost no country plays American football. American’s failure to sell its football to the world has reasons.

The first idea that comes to my mind is that it is very expensive to play American football. Players are prone to getting injured due to its fierce body confrontation. So high expenses spent on apparel, helmet and gloves are very necessary. This high investment limits its popularization to the rest of the world, especially to the people in undeveloped countries. In contrast, soccer is very cheap, because all you need is just a several-dollar ball, which makes it accessible to almost everyone.

Secondly, the rules of American football are very complicated. Even though I went to the scene to watch the game twice, and my friend tirelessly explained it to me, I still do not quite understand its rules. Gradually I lost my interest. People are impatient to sit down and spend hours to figure out all the rules; once they find it confusing, they will quickly lose interest. But the rules for soccer are pretty simple and straightforward; just kick the ball inside the net. So people find it easier to watch this game.

Thirdly, American football needs a high requirement of players’ physical quality. Players need to have good talent, like speed, quick response, power and feeling to catch the ball. Soccer, however, does not have this strict demand. You can be a soccer super star if you spend lots of time improving your skills, even if you are not that strong. For example, Messi, a top soccer player in the world, gets his name not because of his excellent physical quality (actually he is just about 170cm) but because of his amazing skills. Asians, compared to the White and Black people, do not have strong physical condition and will also say ‘no’ to American football.

In summary, if a game is to be popular all over the world, it has to be accessible to most people. American football, due to its expensive input of equipment, complicated rules and high demand of physical condition for players, shuts the door for most of people in the world. (Rui Liu)

Sports and Women in Iran

Although Iran is one of the oldest countries in the Middle East, with a long history in practicing sports, the role of women in sports has been trivial throughout history. Historic paintings render men wrestling and weightlifting, but women are not depicted in such paintings. Participation in sports and physical activities is mostly limited to men in Iran, meaning it is not necessitated or encouraged for women. The root of this limitation is mainly cultural and religious, and turns back to the thought of women as the part of society which should not be seen. As a result, educational system, sports policy and investment sources are shadowed by this strong ideology and women have a small role in the sports world in Iran.

Based on culture and religion, participating in activities related to sports is not encouraged for women; on the other hand, women, as the suppressed section of Iranian society, are aligned with the dominant thought, and are reluctant to participate in sports professionally. Limited participation in sports for women is supported by the government, since physical activities are not introduced well in the educational system for women and are not to be taken seriously in girl schools. While sports hour is not considered a real class in girl schools by school officials, girls too, don’t show any interest in taking it seriously. I remember that while I was in school we used to sit in class and do our homework in the hours that were specified for physical activity, and we had no problem doing so. There were a few girls who played soccer or volleyball in physical activity time, but those few were considered less feminine by the rest of the girls.

The influence of culture and religion on women’s sports, is far beyond indoctrinating girls in educational system. One other area, which has been deeply influenced by culture and religion, is sports policy against women. One of these policies, restricts presence of women in sport events associated with men. Soccer is the most popular sport in Iranian society, but women are not allowed to go to the stadiums to watch the games; so not only does women’s involvement in sports have a lot of shortcomings, but even their participation as viewers is hindered. Another law prevents woman from traveling outside of the country without the permission of husband or father. Because of this rule an Iranian athlete, the captain of the Iranian soccer team, could not go to an Asian soccer championship; her husband refused to sign her papers and her team left without her.

In addition to cultural and political obstacles which make practicing sports harder for women, there is a third factor, and that is insufficient investment for the women’s sport sector. There has always been discrimination in allocating funds for women’s activities section, but after heavy sanctions on Iran, even that little budget got diminished. For instance, there was no budget for the female players to take their coaches with them to the recent Asian championship games. Insufficient investment in women’s sport sector, has led to losing incentives among Iranian female athletes for getting better at what they do.

Women’s sport has been generally neglected and strictly been influenced by cultural, political and economic barriers. However in the past recent years, a new and growing trend has started, which will hopefully ameliorate women’s sport condition in Iran. This new trend has led to considerable growth in the number of gyms and recreational facilities for women. As an immediate result, there was a rise in the number of women sent to Olympics’ this year, and the first gold medal for women was also earned in these competitions. (Sahar)

Don’t Play Sports Without Partners

There are a lot of factors that are important in sports. In my opinion, partners are the most essential factor in sports. People need good partners or mentors to do well in sports for the following three reasons: fun, safety, and skill development.

First, partners make sports fun. Some sports require partners to play with obviously. For example, for badminton, tennis, and table-tennis, a player needs another player to play with. For soccer and football, what is the fun if you are playing by yourself and nobody is trying to get the ball from you? Even in sports that don’t require partners, there is still an advantage. For example, for jogging, a partner might know some different running routes if you are tired of the same old ones.

Second, partners make you safer while doing sports. If you bike by yourself on a mountain, you might get lost or be attacked by black bears. However, biking together with other bikers, you could share food and water with each other, chat while resting, figure out the road together, or ask for help when in danger. Another good example would be skiing; it takes a long time to get up if you fall on the snow since you need to take off your skis, stand up, and put back on your skis. But you can stand up easily if there is someone helping you. Also, a beginner might hit a tree and get hurt or pass out. In this case, at least your partner can notice that you have disappeared, search for you and bring you to the medical center in the resort.

Third, partners bring out the best in you. Good partners learn from, compete with and teach each other. The Malaysia badminton player and triple silver medalist at the Olympic Games, Lee Chong Wei, said that he thinks of Lin Dan, who is a two-time Olympic champion from China, every day and practices very hard so that he is able to beat him one day. Lin Dan is the only person that can make Lee Chong Wei keep practicing and play better. These two players became lifelong friends and made each other live up to each’s fullest potential. They even exchanged their T-shirts after their last Olympic game. When I first started to play badminton, I could not hit one shuttlecock over the net. Several of us learned from our coach, who was on the national team of Vietnam. He taught us how to serve, get high birdies and low birdies, and cooperate with each other. He made us feed birdies to each other, help each other practice, and play with each other. We also participated in a badminton tournament and tried to beat each other. It was a lot of fun to have a good coach and hard-working peers. Now we still play together a lot even though the coach is not with us.

In summary, a good partner, who could be a teacher, a student, and a lifelong friend, helps you do sports better and enjoy sports a lot more. Some of you might ask, “How can we get good partners?” Some people are lucky enough to have good partners already. But if you are not one of these people, you can go ahead and join an athletic club. We have a lot of different sports clubs at Texas Tech University, and if you join one of the clubs, you can use equipment, practice, and make a lot of great friends who could possibly be your sport’s partner in the future. (Yu Hua)

Sports cheating

The Rio Olympics are over. It’s an interesting thing that we noticed a smaller group of Russia’s contingent of Olympians showing up in the Rio opening ceremony because of the ban of over 100 Russian athletes for drug cheating. This is my most worrying news about cheating in sports since Lance Armstrong, who was seven-time champion of Tour de France, lost his title after testing positive to drug use. Cheating in sports is prevalent across the world nowadays. On my part, three factors contribute to drug cheating in sports; gain, testing drawbacks and team effort.

Firstly, winning in sports can bring athletes fame and fortune. Incredible rewards including salary, bonus and endorsements would stimulate athletes to be top players. For example, a mid-class basketball player in the NBA earns around 5 million dollars annually, while the top player, take Kobe Bryant as the example, can make over 100 million per year! And hence, some athletes decided to use drugs to gamble for a prize. Besides, physical limits of human beings become an obstacle to success. If the return is so profitable and you cannot breakthrough Mother Nature on your own, why not cheat?

Secondly, drug testing is not always in time. On one hand, it takes time for stored urine samples to be detected as cheating. Some cheating winners already enjoyed the huge payoff before they were exposed as drug cheaters. On the other hand, it takes time for some medicine to show up on the official banned list. The result of a race competed between “cheater” and “tester” is dependent on the updates of testing technology. “Time lag” of drug testing induces those “up to no good” persons to take the risk of cheating in games.

Thirdly, cheating behavior can be prompted by management team. I can't image an athlete could get forbidden drugs without permission from support team. The management team, including coach, trainer and doctor, are the most familiar persons who monitor almost everything of an athlete. They would know the truth on the first time when a sportsman breaks rules and uses drugs. So, cheating in sports is not barely a personal responsibility, it’s a team effort.

Obviously, cheating in sports shames the spirit of sports as well as themselves. Fortunately, most cheaters we heard about in the sport field finally get paid for their behavior. High risk of lift-time suspensions and steep fines are waiting for cheating athletes. Some team managers have been banned and lost their reputation. The penalty of cheating symbolically alert every athlete, at least, to value the integrity of fair competition. (Tianyu)

Sports

In the American history, there are four popular sports which are baseball, basketball, football, and ice hockey. Among them, I prefer basketball to another sports. Before telling why I like basketball, I would like talking about the history of the basketball. Basketball was invented by Dr. James Naismith, who is physical education instructor. At that time, the weather was harsh in Massachusetts; students could not play outdoor sports. On the Christmas Eve, he came out this sports which is actually basketball today. After that, basketball becomes more and more popular over the world. People are crazy about watching games and playing basketball, and I am no exception. The following are three reasons why I like basketball.

First of all, basketball can be played indoor or outdoor that is really convenient. Among all four sports I mention earlier, only basketball can complete this task. For example, baseball and football court are not possible being built indoor because of the space. Since ice hockey game should be held on the ice, it is obvious that we cannot move court from indoor to the outdoor because of the weather. Basketball can be played anywhere if there is a basketball stands.

Besides, sports games always make people feel excited; however, the problem of some ball games is that the game is too long to make people’s enthusiasm lasts for the whole game. I had gone to basketball, baseball, football game and according to my experience, basketball can be finished around 2.5 hours which is acceptable to me. If the ball game lasts for a long time, I may feel asleep.

Lastly, basketball fulfils my need even though I am just alone. In my free time, I would ask my friends to play basketball together. If they are busy, I still can play by myself or with strangers in the court. On the contrary, this cannot be said of other sports. For instance, if you just want to play throwing and catch the baseball or football, you would at least need two people and needless to say a game. Ice hockey court is necessary for playing that sport and also need many players.

In conclusion, basketball court is not difficult to find, basketball can be played by one person or many people, as well as the duration of the basketball game can allow fans to feel excited for the whole game. These are the main reasons I am into basketball. Because of so many positive points, I would suggest everyone try this sport at least. (Cheng Ta)

How Basketball Influences My Happiness

It is quite obvious that happiness is influenced by many different factors. Many people consider sport an important factor, especially basketball. It is well-known to us that the sport of basketball is a fun pastime for any person young or old. As for me, basketball is a great way to exercise and a great way to have fun with friends and possibly make some new ones. From my perspective, basketball and happiness, two different things in definition, have combined together and created more and more happiness in my life.

Watching an exciting basketball game will undoubtedly encourage my passion and make me happy. I firmly believe that basketball is fun to watch, because when I watch it I can add the moves I see the professionals perform to my style of play. I have learned many moves from professional basketball players. During games, players play a variety of tricks, which makes the games much more exciting and amazing. My favorite player to watch is Steve Nash. He is a famous athlete although he is currently retired. Nash can do anything and he knows how to play well in shooting and passing the ball. Therefore, Nash makes the basketball game much more enjoyable and exciting to watch because of his acrobatic shots. I want to play like him, and I continue to learn many play tricks from Nash.

Taking part in a basketball game and getting success are elixirs to my diseases. During my postgraduate period, our school held a basketball competition. Our class had entered into the semi-final and I was the main attack point because I was the tallest player on my team. On the day of semi-final, the players of our team, besides me, went to the field. But as soon as I saw the members of the other team, I knew that it would be a hard match, because two of the players on their team were members of college basketball team. The match started. To my disappointment, I wasn’t playing well, and I was followed by one of the college basketball members on their team at every pace. Every shout, I couldn’t get the point. I was anxious and worried. Unfortunately, we were ten points behind when we came to a stop. But just at that time, I just told myself that I should focus on match and keep shouting no matter how many points we were behind. When the match started again, my passion was burning, and I kept shooting, defending, and getting the rebound. At the last minute, we were still two points behind. I shot a three point ball decisively. I didn’t know the reason why I decided to shoot a three point ball, because I was not good at three point ball. However, I just did it. Goal! What an amazing shot. We won this game. Although we were tired and exhausted, we held each other in excitement.

Throughout my basketball career, I believe that basketball makes me happy and make my life better than before, because I have gained benefits and advantages through playing basketball. First of all, basketball contributes to my body health and helps me to have a pleasant mood. It can alleviate the pressure when I study and work at the same time. Furthermore, basketball is a team sport, which can not only help me to improve the ability of coordination and make me conscious of teamwork, but also let us know what responsibility is. I believe it is very important in work. Besides, I can make some new friends during the games. That makes me feel very good, because interpersonal relationships are really important nowadays. Finally, the most important reason is that it helps me to keep healthy. It is well-known that good health is the guarantee for the job. I can’t do anything, if I am unhealthy. It is the premise of a bright future.

Based on the reason mentioned above, I firmly believe that basketball is a great method to express myself. It is a sport that can encourage my passion. It is a sport that I can enjoy a good time with. It is a sport that can make me addictive. It is a sport that keeps happiness. (Yiting Dong)