Blog 5

In the society that we live in today, sports is what most Americans live, eat and breaths. It's almost as if they can't survive without it. In my opinion it defines our culture as a whole. 

In the essay "Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs" it is evident that sports divides our society by the color of our skin, white v. black. Basketball has in ways turned people against one another because our culture has gotten so involved in the basketball career. Now they falsely install in their minds that the division of race is right and this continues on to the younger generations. Furthermore, this essay elaborates on how the pro basketball teams should try to show important politic throughout the games, because its a essential way to teach the people. Instead of doing insignificant things, that people shouldn't be so concerned about like "Michael Jordan coming back" as stated by the author. 

People are so concerned about the image of our athletes that they forget about the valuable information. The hype of the Boston Celtics versus the LA Lakers has in the past dragged our society against one another. Our culture has allowed it to represent almost everything in their lives. In the author’s opinion, if you aren’t with a basketball team, you don’t have a purpose in life.

In the poem “Winning” by Rodney Jones he talks about how his sister wins all the prizes, and the only thing he won against her was a H-4 club sack race.  Which he could have cheated on to win against her? In the other poem “The end of practice” Jones talks the experience a football team had at the end of their practice. They had to run and do drills. He describes the procedures the players had to do during their practice, including them going to the locker room.

Furthermore, both pieces of work relate to one another because they represent the competitiveness of our society. Nobody wants to be a failure, so they will do whatever it takes to win. The combination of sports and a culture defines us because people allow it to. People get so involved with the images of our athletes and the victory of a win or disappointment of a lost that is determines their mindset. Now, it is accepted by our culture and we don’t even realize that we are doing it at times. It is apart of us. We live, breath and eat sports.