U.S. in Women's World Cup

I watched some of the women’s World Cup games this year. It was mostly because the U.S. team was so good. I remember the games leading up to the finals were exciting, but the final itself was really dramatic. I myself, along with many others probably, felt that the U.S. women’s team should have won that game. They played really well and had great opportunities, but just couldn’t capitalize, giving Japan just a big enough window of opportunity to sneak out the victory. I really enjoyed watching the game even though the U.S. team lost. Before the tournament I had never even heard of any of the players, and now everyone knows who Hope Solo and Abby Wambach are. It really is nice and somewhat refreshing to see other athletes getting some of the spotlight and recognition (especially female athletes) as opposed to the ones who are talked about every day.

I remember watching the 1999 Women’s World Cup final with The U.S. and China. I remember that it was such a big deal because the U.S. team was really good and the game was held in the U.S. so there were a lot of fans cheering for them. I remembered that it came down to penalty kicks just like this year’s final game and I thought that it was oddly coincidental, but still very exciting. From the outcome of that game everyone knows who Brandi Chastain is. I couldn’t say the victory was a reflection of Title IX or if it signaled that “women’s sports teams had arrived”, but it did help the popularity of the sport especially for girls.

Dr. Cho

When Dr. Cho came to speak to our class about sport globalization and glocalization, it was very interesting what he had to say. I thought the most interesting thing was that Dr. Cho himself was basically a product of Sport Globalization. He talked about how he grew up in Korea playing sports and wanted to go into the sport field as a career. When he had to make the decision of what to study, he decided to do physical education. Dr. Cho eventually came to the United States to pursue his further interest in sports and a higher level of education by earning his law degree from Arizona State University and his Ph.D. in sport management from the University of Connecticut. I thought Dr. Cho’s speech was very inspirational. He is living proof that with hard work and aspiring goals, you can go anywhere.

I thought the video clip Dr. Cho showed us of Korea’s team in the World Cup was very eye-opening. I couldn’t believe how many fans were packed all in one place showing their support for their team. The people were all over the streets and watching the big screen from inside the buildings, rooting for and celebrating with their team. The video clip showed how much sport is globalized, especially soccer. It showed how much sports are embraced by everyone across the world and that they really have the ability to bring a nation together. The mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games promote globalization and are driven by it.

Growing the game: WBC answers

1.      Growing the game means making baseball more globally popular, especially in nations where it is very unpopular. WBC’s effectiveness was good because of the fact that Team USA didn’t even reach the semifinal round, the rest of the world saw that baseball is a global game. There really is no comparison between the effectiveness of the WBC and FIFA’s growth of soccer. Soccer has been successfully globalized for a long time and baseball is still far from that.

2.      The countries that are developed baseball nations could help market the sport to other countries that need further development. Some pros of implementing international play would be more infusion of international talent into the MLB, and of course more money. More revenue would come from the new fans. There would be more opportunities for coaching and youth playing. The main con would probably be tension between rival nations.

3.      Based upon other sports’ efforts at globalization, to help baseball grow in the global marketplace, I would suggest start at the youth level. Have stars from their own countries promote and teach the game.

Globalizing Sport: Assessing the World Baseball Classic

I like baseball, but I don’t really follow it that much. This article by Alan Klein was very interesting to me, because I didn’t know very much about the World Baseball Classic (WBC). It is pretty arrogant how Major League Baseball (MLB) can call it the “World Series” when it only involves North America. When the World Baseball Classic started in 2006, it was an opportunity to observe how baseball has globalized to other countries. It was interesting to learn how the other countries had reacted toward the MLB’s structuring of the tournament. I can understand why the Japanese and the South Koreans felt angry, because they assumed that the event would be planned by all of the represented nations. Like everyone else, I would have assumed that since MLB came up with the event, the American team, with their All-Star roster, would win the tournament. I was surprised to find out that the American team lost not once, but twice, to Canada and Mexico. Neither Canada nor Mexico won the tournament. Shockingly, it was Japan ousting Cuba for the Championship. I think the outcome of this tournament was a success. Klein (2008) says the other nations in the tournament “showed Americans that the game was not only played abroad, but also produced foreign players whose consummate skills recalled how baseball used to be played in the USA before commercialized era of bloated egos and contracts” (p.161). I agree with the article in that Major League Baseball is far from being as popular as football (soccer) and basketball. As Klein (2008) says “MLB needs to foster the creation of top-flight leagues and franchises in areas of the world that have been thus far ignored” (p.166).

Introduction

Hi, my name is Kyle Leedy. This is the first blog I have ever made and the first blog post I have ever done. I am from Toledo, Ohio and I am a senior in Sport Management at BGSU. I went to Start High School and was on the wrestling team all four years. I was involved in many different sports when I was younger such as soccer and cross country, but decided to just focus on wrestling in high school. I have never participated internationally, but I have participated in national events such as the Junior Olympics. Even though I don’t wrestle anymore, I would still say that wrestling is my favorite sport. Besides wrestling, I like to watch and participate in many other sports such as basketball, football and soccer.

This blog is for my Sport Management 3950/Sport and Globalization class. I hope to be able to comprehend more about what it means to live sport in a world that is increasingly globalizing. I want to learn about all of the positive benefits and negative effects of the globalization of sport. I want to learn how sport is practiced and understood in different global cultures. I want to learn about the beginning of sport’s globalization and what the future of globalization holds for sport.

If I could attend one global sporting event it would probably be the Olympics or the World Cup. Those are the main global sporting events that I follow. I would choose an event like that because so many people all over the world are watching all at the same time. To be at such an event would be amazing, with so many excited spectators and fans gathered together. As for what global sport icon I would want to see, I would say Usain Bolt. He is one of the most recognized athletes in the world and he is just superior at what he does. I would also like to see MMA fighter/UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva fight. I like to watch UFC because it is similar to wrestling, and Anderson Silva is definitely one of the best.