Heroes

Every four years the Olympics are held in a different country.  This year they are being held in the home country of China. It is important to chnge the venue of the Olympics in order to better familiarize each person with the different cultures of the hosting country.  Even though China has a communist influenced government which greatly diiffers from ours, we as a country and our beliefs acan be put aside in order to play simple games. 

Out on the basketball court we are all the same people playing the same game.  We can all come together as humans and have fun while being competitive at the same time.   A game is not bias to any particular country when being played.  Different countries may play the game differently with a different strategy to the game  however.  For example, when we had the World Baseball challenge a few years ago for the first time ever in history of world competition in one single event.  Japan plays “small ball” baseball strategy. This theory of baseball is simply to move the runner from baseball to base anyway possible.  Instead of stacking their team with massive hitters to provide the long ball to their game, they build their team around fast, defensive minded players.  Japan frequently bunts the ball in order to move a running into scoring postion, or in other words, sacrfacing their at bats by giving up an out just to get the runner to advance to the next base.  Our culture and our fans love to see homeruns and a lot of runs being scored.  Our idea of a lot of runs and provides more excitement to the game in  the minds of the fans coming to see the game.  A slow game with methodical scoring and having low scoring games wouldn’t draw the fans attracted to the games in our culture.  I personally  like all types of ways the game of baseball is played because i am an advocate for the game.  Whether the game may turn out to be a pitching and defensive grueling game, or if both teams are crushing the ball and a lot of runs are scored it doesn’t matter to me.  Every baseball is beautiful to me if the players conduct themselves like professionals and play the game within the rules of the game.  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bench clearing brawl in person!  That would be a sight to remember.  Baseball is just one sport that brings our various cultures together, but there many other aspects to playing different countries in sports.

By having China host  the 2008 Olympics, many news stories arise providing us with an insight of how the Chinese live their culture.  The television can take the viewers form other countries in the daily livelihood of them.  We frequently see how the Chinese people travel during the day.  With a population of over a billion people and having a huge land area in China, walking and riding regional transit is very common in their daily lives.  Over in America, we regional transportation such as buses and light rail stations but over in China, the sonar rail that runs by the pull of giant electrical magnets on the opposite ends of the station.  We are currently trying to construct one here in the United States.  By getting an image of what another culture does to stimulate their economy can benefit others countries that want to adapt that particular method.  Bringing cultures  together by sports is very beneficial because the experience is all positive, even if a country is not particularly strong at sports.  Alot can be learned by joining together through sports.

Tensions between countries can cease to exist for the time being during the olympics.  Even though countries may be at each others throats and diplomatic discussions may be at a stand still, sporting events can still go on.  The different colors of every country are great to be seen together out on the green grass, track and field or swimming pool. 

Sports are good for every culture and need to always be present in our lives and played amongst various countries.  A lot can be learned from the way atheletes conduct themselves and the respect they show each other during and after the game.  We are all human and we can all be able to come together no matter religion or government is established in different countries.  Ifwe can all come together like the World Cup in 2006, we can all be able to get along in this world.

When watching the 2006 World Cup, the stands were jam packed with anxious spectators waiting to watch one othe world’s most common sporting events.  The stage was set in France, and many of the world’s greatest soccer players took the same field.  I was particularly happy that Italy had won because my ancestors came to America In 1902, and I have always had love for my Italian culture.  I got a to see a glimpse of the Italian soccer preparation and saw many videos of my homeland.  I have never been to Italy, but by seeing videos of the beautiful country, I felt I learned a little bit more about Italy.  Sports and the combining of cultures is all positive energy in my opinion, and I always have something to look forward to when the Olympics come every two years