USA Sports And Recreation

For Americans, professional sports are inseparable from commercialism and regional allegiances. Dressed in colorful jerseys and bloated with cheap beer, Americans fill stadiums or lounge at home to cheer on their local teams. The best athletes come from all over the world to compete in America’s biggest sports, providing for intense competition and thrilling entertainment.

Baseball. The slow-paced, tension-inducing game of baseball captures the hearts of dreaming Little League children and earns its place as America’s national pastime. Baseball in the US centers on the Major League Baseball (MLB) season, which lasts from spring training in early March until October. Every fall, the World Series garners national attention by matching the league’s top two teams.

(American) Football. Not for the weak, football combines the toughness of boxing with the athleticism of basketball. Nowhere is the commercialism of American sports more spectacularly displayed than at the annual Super Bowl. Every January, the National Football League (NFL) season ends with a championship featuring the league’s two best teams and million-dollar commercial campaigns.

Basketball. The professional basketball teams making up the National Basketball Association (NBA) hail from almost every major city. NBA players have come a long way since the first teams, who played with peach baskets and Converse All-Star sneakers. Today, professional basketball games are fast-paced, aerial shows. Women have gotten into the game with the WNBA, a young but exciting league.

Ice Hockey. The National Hockey League (NHL), comprised of both American and Canadian teams, features great ice hockey and some of the best fights in professional sports. Recent rule changes encouraging higher scoring and implementing shoot-outs replacing ties have improved the game. As NHL teams vie for the Stanley Cup, the tension of competition often results in crowd-pleasing team brawls.

Soccer. Major League Soccer (MLS) is an up-and-coming sport that is beginning to acquire foreign talent (including David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy) in an attempt to gain respect from abroad and to bolster talent. As professional American talent continues to sign with European teams, the U.S.’s status as a sleeping giant in global soccer is indisputable. Following a disappointing 2006 World Cup, the US national team seeks to improve its standing at the 2010 cup.

College Sports. Sticking with their school allegiances, many Americans live and die by their college’s sporting endeavors. College teams compete within regional conferences, creating fierce rivalries fueled by hordes of fanatical student and alumni supporters. Football draws the biggest crowds, and each January the National Champion is decided on a rotating basis at either the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, or Sugar Bowl. Enthusiasm for college hoops often surpasses that for the pros, and women’s college basketball has become increasingly popular in recent years. Every spring, hoops fan-demonium reaches fever pitch during the NCAA tournament, fondly referred to as March Madness. While more and more high-school players are skipping college to play professionally, the college courts are still a great place to see the NBA superstars of tomorrow.

Other Sports. Other sports claim smaller niches of the American spectatorship. Both golf and tennis have internationally publicized tournaments known as the US Open. Now America’s largest spectator sport, NASCAR auto racing draws droves of fans with the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. Gamblers and boozers alike enjoy the coveted Triple Crown of horse racing, which is composed of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes.