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Good vs. Evil / Sports vs. The Changing America

Sports and war both have ancient traditions, and at times the line between sports and war becomes blurred. Often sports are considered and alternative to war. In addition, war is often compared with sports because both feed on courage, require physical fitness, demand sacrificial effort, obedience to authority, triumph with honor, and manliness. Moreover, Sports and war both involve teamwork.

The three examples of teamwork in war can be expressed by sports examples such as: one, in bowling, each team member does the best he or she can and the scores are dded up; two, In a track or swimming relay team, each person must do the task correctly before the next person can start; and three, in a football or basketball team, everyone depends upon everyone else in the team. Writer David Zang uses unique stories from the Vietnam time period to explore the changing American ideals in sports SUMMARY- “Sports Wars: Athletes in the Age of Aquarius” is a nonfiction book written by David Zang and published in 2001.

In the opening chapter, Zang grounds out the clash of sports and Rock ‘n’ Roll in the ’60s. The chapter begins as Jose Feliciano, a blind rock singer, sings the ational anthem at the Game Five of the World Series. Only to the audience this performance was not respected. Feliciano sang the Star-Spangled Banner with a rock ‘n’ roll flare, which at the time was highly regarded as disgusting and dishonorable. Everyone was displeased that the rock-and-roll version to the anthem was shameful. Later came the Beatles in 1964.

Some saw them as “homosexual retards,” “uncivilized,” “filthy,” and “the truly nonsensical work of fanatical screwballs” (Zang p. 12). Yet, they were notability the most influential rock group during the ’60s. Their airstyles began to start a problem for athletes. Coaches believe that all players should be clean cut. After all, looks were apart of manliness and character building. Sports and rock ‘n’ roll were on totally different ends of the spectrum. Sports were manly and organized. Rock ‘n’ roll was perceived as disruptive, vulgar, and manipulative.

This is what petrified coaches and authority figures. Now that rock ‘n’ roll has put its foot in the door the long hair, changing styles, different work ethics, and rejection of old tradition values the sports world became threatened. The “anything- goes attitude” of he decade was widespread in society. Rules were being passed to regulate hair length. Eventually a man’s appearance became is identity politically and socially. In chapter two “Toil and Trouble: A Parable of Hard Work and Fun” Zang tells the story of wrestlers Dan Gable and Rick Sanders.

Gable was all work no play and had good physical status. Gable was highly respected by society, gaining the gold both socially and literally in the 1973 Olympics. On the other hand, Sanders was all play and little work and his physical status transformed into the long hair, funky dress, and beaded ecklace style of the “hippies. ” Even though he still worked to win a silver medal, his new appearance and personal life earned him a slim “honorable mention. ” Another factor in sports that was thought to hold the society together was character.

Zang in chapter five CAPSULE- Many of the stories and events that are discussed throughout the seven chapter long book are during the Vietnam period, focusing mainly around 1946 through 1970. As each story develops the issues and tensions in sports of America and the changes brought about the war most often aroused ecause of the conflicting gap between old traditions and new possibilities, “good vs. evil”. On the “good” side, Robert Lipsyte dubbed “‘SportsWorld,’ a place he described in 1975 as ‘a sweaty Oz you’ll never find in a geography book,… nd ultimate sanctuary, a university for the body, a community for the spirit, a place to hid that glows with that time of innocence when we believed that rules and boundaries were honored, that good triumphed over evil'” (Zang p. xii).

The goal for profits, media attention, television spots, and advertising money along with the rising articipation of black and female athletes were all internal factors in sports that intruded on the old sports philosophy. External factors, which were brought on by the “Baby Boomers,” “counterculture,” or better known in the 60s as “hippies. These so called “hippies” are what many believed sparked the revolution against old tradition and strode more toward sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, revolts against authority, and the over all cross over from “good” to “evil” among America’s youth. This book focuses on the tension and issues, which were beyond the Vietnam Era as well; those issues merge around such character- building principles as sacrificial effort, compliance to authority, restricted physical supremacy, triumph with honor, and manliness.

Told through the lives and careers of great American athletes and important authority figures during the Vietnam period, Muhammad Ali once known as Cassius Clay, Rick Sanders, Dan Gable, and Coach Bob Ward, Jeremiah Ford II, and more, all placed their footprints in the battlefield of sports. Each adding their own unique ideas, work ethics, disciplines, lifestyles, and honor of sports to which they lived and died or have paved the paths for future athletes to come. CRITIQUE- I think “Sports Wars: Athletes in the Age of Aquarius” written by David Zang is very well written.

The facts are strong and well represented throughout the stories. My favorite chapter is “A Star-Spangled Collision: Sports and Rock ‘n’ Roll in the ’60s. ” I had no idea that music had that much influence on sports and the change in America. The Vietnam was definitely an era of lots of changes in America, but I had no idea that there were so many underlying causes until after I read this book. Another oint that Zang drove home was the change in authority, appearance, work ethic, and revolution in the overall attitudes and lifestyles of America.

In addition, I thought that one of the best qualities about the book was that Zang didn’t write about all the famous stories you hear over and over. He picked stories that were not as glamorous, yet, really expressed the revolution that was taking place in sports during the Vietnam era. For example, the chapter about the movie “The Bad News Bears”. It was not a big time movie, but for the time it went against all usual story lines of ports movies. It focused more on issues that sports did not like to tolerate.

Such as black and woman athletes, poor character traits, and poor athlete skills. I thought it was good that Zang wrote about the “Bad News Bears,” but I thought he went to into depth; I lost interest and strayed away from the main ideas of the chapter. Overall I thought the book was full of a lot of great stories and information. The only downfall is that it was a very complex and wordy style of writing. I thought much of word usage was to elaborate and made the book harder to read.

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