Argument

I chose this theme because sport can be considered a way of life. Sport,
beside

the

fact

that

physical

activity

is

involved,

represent

ambition,

respect, tolerance, joy, agony, friendship, unity, grace, selflessness, soul and love, and playing
sports is a good thing for human body

US is a large country with a lot of talented athletes, and always had

tremendous results in the main tournament of the world like: Olympics,
Davis Cup, Wimbledon, European and World Champioships.

Sports in U.S.A.
Sports form an important part of the culture of the United States. The four most popular team
sports are on that developed in North America: American football,baseball, basketball and ice
hockey. The major leagues of these sports, the National Football League (NFL), the Major
League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey
League (NHL) enjoy massive media exposure and are considered the preeminent competitions
in their respective sports in the world. Three of those leagues have teams that represent
Canadian cities, and all four are among the most lucrative sports leagues in the
world. Soccer (association football) is less popular as a spectator sport in the United States
than it is in many other countries, though it has wide participation in amateur and semiprofessional levels, particularly among youths and people of Latin American descent, which
constitutes people from Mexico all the way down to South America. The top league, Major
League Soccer, is starting to approach the level of the NBA and the NHL in terms of
attendance, although it lags far behind in average salary and TV interest.

American footbal
The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby
football and association football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played
in Britain in the mid-19th century, in which a football is kicked at a goal and/or run over a
line.
American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby, most notably the
rule changes instituted by Walter Camp,
considered the "Father of American
Football".
changes

Among
were

the

these

important

introduction

of

the line of scrimmage and of down-anddistance rules

American football, known within the
country as simply football, has the most
participants of any sport at both high school and college levels.
The NFL is the preeminent professional football league in the United States. Through
expansion teams and the landmark merger with the American Football League in 1970, the
NFL has reached its current mark of 32 franchises divided into two conferences. After a 16game regular season, each conference sends six teams to the NFL Playoffs, which
Nonetheless, college football has a rich history in the United States, predating the NFL by
decades, and fans and alumni are generally very passionate about their teams.
Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest annual sporting event held in the United States. The
Super Bowl itself is always among the highest-rated programs annually in the Nielsen ratings.
Arena football, a form of football played in indoor arenas, has a professional league,

the Arena Football League. The original league was active from 1987 to 2008 and folded in
2009, but several teams from the AFL and its former minor league, af2, relaunched the league
in 2010. Several semi-professional leagues, mostly regional in nature, also exist.

Baseball

The World Series of Major League Baseball is the culmination of the sport's postseason
each October. It is played between the
winner of each of the two leagues,
the American League and the National
League, and the winner is determined
through a best-of-seven playoff.
Notable American baseball players in
history include Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Cy
Young, Walter

Johnson, Honus

Wagner, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Willie
Mays, Hank Aaron, Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Warren Spahn, Al
Kaline, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks, Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski, Steve
Carlton, Tom

Seaver, Jim

Palmer, Randy

Johnson, Curt

Schilling, Nolan

Ryan, Mike

Schmidt, George Brett, Cal Ripken, Roger Clemens, Rickey Henderson, Barry Bonds, Tony
Gwynn, and Jackie Robinson, who was instrumental in dissolving the color line and
allowing African-Americans into the major leagues. Today, some of the notable American
players includeDerek Jeter, Josh Hamilton, David Wright, Chase Utley, Joe Mauer, Roy
Halladay, Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Alex Rodriguez, Jered Weaver, Brian Wilson, Neftali
Feliz, Brian McCann and Tim Lincecum.
Baseball and the variant, softball, are also popular participatory sports in the U.S. However,
unlike American football, baseball is also popular in many other countries, notably Japan,

South

Korea, Taiwan,

and

Latin

American

countries

such

as

the Dominican

Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, andVenezuela. Among the Latin American stars who
became legends in major league baseball were Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal, Tony
Prez, Luis Aparicio and Fernando Valenzuela.

Ice hokey

Ice hockey is another popular sport in the United States. Originating from North America,
the sport is commonly referred to simply as "hockey." In the U.S. the game is most popular in
regions of the country with a cold winter climate, namely New England, the northern half of
the Mid-Atlantic and

the Midwest,

including

of Alaska, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, New

York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode

Island, Wisconsin, North

thestates
Jersey, New
Dakota, New

Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. However, since the 1990s hockey has become increasingly
popular in the Sun Belt due in large part to the expansion of the National Hockey League to
cities

like Anaheim,

California; Tampa,

Florida; Dallas,

Texas; Raleigh,

North

Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; andPhoenix, Arizona.

The NHL is the major professional hockey league in North America, with 23 U.S.-based
teams and 7 Canadian-based teams competing for the Stanley Cup. Other professional leagues
in the U.S. include the American Hockey League and the ECHL. Additionally, nine U.S.based teams compete in the three member leagues of the Canadian Hockey League.

Although hockey does not enjoy the same popularity as football, baseball and basketball in
the U.S., one of the nation's greatest ever sporting moments came during the 1980 Winter
Olympics when the U.S. hockey team beat the Soviet Union 43 in the first game of the

medal round before going on to beat Finland to claim the gold medal. The game has since
been called the "Miracle on Ice".

Historically, the vast majority of NHL players had come

from Canada, with a small handful of Americans (mostly out of the Minnesota, Michigan and
New England areas); only one European-trained player made his NHL debut during the 1942
67 Original Six era. After the NHL doubled in size in 1967, this began to change.

Basketball

Basketball was invented in 1891 by Canadian-born physical education teacher James

Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts. Of those Americans citing their favorite sport,
basketball is ranked second (counting amateur levels) behind football. However, in regards to
professional sports, basketball, or the NBA, is ranked third.

The National Basketball

Association,

more

popularly

known as the NBA, is the

world's

premier

men's

professional basketball league

and

one

of

the

major

professional sports leagues of

North America. It contains 30
teams (29 teams in the U.S. and
1 in Canada) that play an 82-game season from October to June. After the regular season,
eight teams from each conference compete in the playoffs for the Larry O'Brien
Championship Trophy. The American Basketball Association, active from 1967 until 1976,
when it merged with the NBA, was the last major competitor of the NBA.
In the past decade, an increasing number of players born outside the United States have
signed with NBA teams, sparking league interest in different parts of the world. Among the
notable foreign-born players in the NBA today are two-time MVP Steve Nash (a South
Africa-born
2007 Finals

Canadian), (Italy), ydrnas

MVP Tony

Parker (France),

Ilgauskas (Lithuania), Yao

Gasol

Ming (China),

brothers Pau and Marc (Spain), Manu

Ginbili (Argentina), and Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), who was the first European player to
win the NBA Most Valuable Player Award.
Since the 1992 Summer Olympics, NBA players have represented the United States in
international competition and won several important tournaments. The Dream Team was the
unofficial nickname of the United States men's basketball team that won the gold medal at the
1992 Olympics.
More Americans play basketball than any other team sport, according to the National
Sporting Goods Association.

Soccer

Soccer, commonly known as "football" in other countries (see names for association
football), is not as popular as the four sports traditionally considered major in the United
States, although it has gained an increasing following in recent years, and is extremely
popular as a children's sport, although it has not yet reached the international popularity of the
sport. The United States men's and women's senior national teams, as well as a number of
age-grade teams for both sexes, represent the United States in international soccer
competitions and are controlled by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer).
Major League Soccer is the premier soccer league in the United States. As of 2012, MLS
fields 19 clubs (16 from the US, 3 from Canada), with plans to add at least one more for the
2013 season. The 34-game schedule runs from mid-March to late October, with the playoffs
and championship in November. Other professional soccer leagues
in the U.S. include a new incarnation of the North American Soccer
League; the United Soccer Leagues' new USL Pro and alreadyexisting Premier Development League; the currently-suspended
WPS (Women's Professional Soccer); and an indoor soccer league,
MISL (Major Indoor Soccer League).
Many notable international soccer players have played in American
leagues,

including

past

greats Pel, Giorgio

Chinaglia, Eusbio, Hristo Stoichkov, Roberto Donadoni, George

Best, Carlos Valderrama, Johan Cruyff, Lothar Matthus, and Franz Beckenbauer and current
stars David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Robbie Keane and Freddie Ljungberg. Notable
American players of the past and the present include Clint Dempsey, Bert Patenaude, Eric
Wynalda, Brad Friedel, Brian McBride.

Cricket

Cricket, another common sport in Commonwealth countries, is not a popular sport in the
U.S. Many amateur cricket leagues have been formed by Indian, Pakistani, Australian, South
African, English and Caribbean (more specifically West Indian (Jamaican)) immigrants, and
as a result, the sport has made limited inroads into the mainstream sports community because
of a large influx of migrants from cricketing countries who make up almost 16 million of the
American population. Cricket used to be the most popular sport in America during the 18th
century, 19th century and early 20th century, when it suffered a rapid decline. In fact the first
intercollegiate tournament in America was a cricket tournament. The first annual Canada vs.
USA cricket match, played since the 1840s, was attended by 10,000 spectators at
Bloomingdale Park in New York. The USA vs. Canada cricket match is the oldest
international sporting event in the modern world, predating even today's Olympic Games by
nearly 50 years. USA participated in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy where they were
comprehensively beaten in matches against Australia and New Zealand. United States of
America Cricket Association governs the professional Cricket in the country and are an
associate member of International Cricket Council.

United States Cricket team currently plays in World Cricket League Division IVto work
their way up to 2013 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in order to enter 2015 Cricket World Cup.
In 2011, they played Americas Region Twenty20 Division One tournament and qualified for
the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. United States Cricket team also plays in the ICC
Americas Championship and were qualified for ICC Intercontinental Cup in the past. United
States Youth Cricket Association formed in 2010 to develop the interest in sport among the
young kids. Women's cricket is one of the plans of USACA but it is a long road to build the
infra-structure. Cricket is one of the most watched pay per view sports in the USA and
multiple channels are provided by DirecTv, Dish Network and Comcast TV services. Starting
2012, ESPN will broadcast Cricket on ESPN3 and on it's regular channels.[14] The only
professional

Rugby Union

Rugby union, common in other English-speaking nations, is not as well known in the United
States. Rugby is played recreationally, professionally and in colleges, though it is not
governed by the NCAA (see College rugby). There are more than 80,000 registered
players,with more than a quarter being women. The semi-professional Rugby Super League is
the premier domestic competition. More recently thenational side has been competing at
the Rugby World Cup, and the country's national team in the sevens variation of the sport has
been elevated to one of the 12 "core teams" in the annual IRB Sevens World Series.
Rugby participation in the US has grown significantly in recent years, growing by 350%
between 2004 and 2011. A 2010 survey by the National Sporting Goods Manufacturers
Association ranked rugby as the fastest growing sport in the US. Rugby's profile in the US has
received a tremendous boost from the IOC's announcement in 2009 that rugby would return to
the Olympics in 2016. USA Rugby has formally become a member of the US Olympic
Committee, allowing rugby players and programs access to Olympic resources.

Volleyball
Volleyball is also a notable sport in the United States, especially at the college and
university levels. Unlike most Olympic sports which are sponsored widely at the collegiate
level for both sexes, the support for college volleyball is dramatically skewed in favor of the
women's game. Over 300 schools in NCAA Division I alone (the highest of three NCAA tiers)
sponsor women's volleyball at the varsity level, while only 82 schools in all three NCAA
divisions combined sponsor varsity men's volleyball, with only 22 of them in Division

Curling
Curling is popular in northern states, possibly because of climate, proximity to Canada, or
Scandinavian heritage. The national popularity of curling is growing after significant media
coverage of the sport in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics.

Water Polo
Water Polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one
goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores the most goals by getting the ball

past the opposing team's goalkeeper into the net. Gameplay involves swimming, players
passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a net
defended by a goalie. Water polo, therefore, has strong similarities to the land-based game of
team handball. The frequency of 'man-up' (or 'power play') situations also draws comparisons
with Ice hockey.

Ultimate (Frisbee)
Ultimate (originally Ultimate Frisbee) was initially popular with high school and college
students, and many now continue to play in adult recreational leagues. Two teams of seven try
to toss the Frisbee to their teammates in their endzones.

Roller derby
Roller derby is a fast-growing contact sport played on roller skates. As of September 2009,
there were 350 women's, men's, and junior leagues in the U.S.A. The sport is also played in
Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. The sport's national
governing body is USA Roller Sports, with the Women's Flat Track Derby Association being
the largest association of U.S./Canadian leagues. There are roller derby leagues in most
metropolitan areas in the U.S. The vast majority of these are flat track roller derby leagues,
with a handful of banked track derby leagues as well. Women's leagues make up the lion's
share of them, there were 28 men's and co-ed leagues and 16 junior leagues as of September
2009

Individual sports:
1.Motorsports
Motor sports are also
widely popular in the United
States,

but

generally

Americans

ignore

international

series,

major
such

asFormula One and MotoGP,

in

favor

of

home-grown

racing series. Americans, like the rest of the world, initially began using public streets as a
host of automobile races. As time progressed it was soon discovered that these venues were
often unsafe to the public as they offered relatively little crowd control. Promoters and drivers
in the United States discovered that horse racing tracks could provide better conditions for
drivers and spectators than public streets. The result has been long standing popularity
for oval track racing while road racing has waned; however, an extensive illegal street racing
culture persists.
Historically, open wheel racing was the most popular nationwide, with the Indianapolis
500 being the most widely followed race. However, an acrimonious split in 1994 between the
primary series, CART (later known as Champ Car), and theIndianapolis Motor Speedway (the
site of the Indy 500) led to the formation of the Indy Racing League, which launched the
rivalIndyCar Series in 1996.
The CART-IRL feud coincided with an enormous expansion of stock car racing, governed
by NASCAR, from its past as a mostly regional circuit mainly followed in the Southern
U.S. to a truly national sport. NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series generally harnesses an 8 million
person audience on television, as well as sold-out crowds at many tracks.

Another one of the most popular forms of motorsports in the United States is the indigenous
sport of drag racing. The largest drag racing organization, the National Hot Rod Association,
boasts 80,000 members, more than 35,000 licensed competitors and nationwide television
coverage.
Although the world's most popular form of motorsport, Formula One, is not as popular in
the U.S., a F1 race will be hosted in Austin, Texas in November of 2012. It is to be held at a
new venue (which will later host MotoGP) named Circuit of the Americas. It will be the
first United States Grand Prix held since 2007

2.Tennis
The US Open Championship, formally
the United States Open Tennis Championships,
is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the
modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis
championships in the world, the U.S. National
Championship, which for men's singles was first
contested in 1881. Since 1987, the US Open has
been chronologically the fourth and final tennis major comprising the Grand Slam each year;
the other three are theAustralian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. It is held annually in
August and September over a two-week period (the weeks before and after Labor
Day weekend). The main tournament consists of five different event championships: men's
and women's singles, men's and women's doubles, and mixed doubles, with additional
tournaments for senior, junior, and wheelchair players. Since 1978, the tournament has been
played on acrylic hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing
Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, New York City.
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by
the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from
competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge
between Britain and theUnited States. By 2007, 137 nations entered teams into the

competition
USA are the most successful nation in Davis Cup history, having been crowned champion
on 32 occasions. The Americans hold the record for consecutive wins, having notched 17
victories without defeat between 1968 and 1973. USA won the inaugural Davis Cup back in
1900.

The first match, between the United States and Britain (which competed under the

name "British Isles"), was held at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston, Massachusetts
in 1900.

3.Box
19th Century
British boxers looking for matches brought the sport to America. By the latter part of the
1800s,

boxing

"Muscular

became

Christianity"

emphasized

physical

linked

with

movement,

and

moral

the

which
strength.

Heavyweight John L. Sullivan, the last bare

knuckles champion, later won the championship
with gloves on under the 1865 Queensbury
rules, and became the first sports celebrity in
America.
The last golden age of boxing was ushered
in by Cassius Clay, who changed his name to Muhammad Ali and danced and fought his way
to worldwide popularity. A magician in the ring and a poet outside of it, Ali fought memorable
battles against George Foreman and Joe Frazier. Criticism of Ali when he went to jail rather
than fight in Vietnam gave way to respect for his courage and idealism, and Ali became a
worldwide ambassador for peace and religious tolerance.
21st Century
Boxing fell on hard times late in the 20th century and early in the 21st. Newer sports such as
auto racing and mixed martial arts elbowed boxing from the limelight in America. An Oscarwinning movie about a female boxer, "Million Dollar Baby," drew more attention than
anything in the ring, and few American hopefuls emerged in the heavyweight division. But as

the first decade of the 21st century drew to a close, Manny Pacquiao emerged as perhaps the
best pound-for-pound fighter in the history of the sport. Fighting mostly in America,
Pacquiao, a legislator in the Philippines and a concert singer, won championships in eight
weight classes, dominating bigger opponents and capping it off with an easy victory over
Antonio Margarito late in 2010 before some 40,000 people in Texas Stadium. Boxing,
described as a "brutal art" and a "sweet science," was still alive and kicking.

Grupul Scolar ,, Alexandru Odobescu

Cls a-XII-a A Matematica Informatica Intensiv Engleza

Lucrare de atestat

Sports in USA

Elev: Voicu Alexandru Ionut

Profesor Coordonator: Giuglan Roxana

-Mai 2012-

Table of contents
1. Argument
2. American football
3. Baseball
4. Ice hokey
5. Baskettball
6. Soccer
7. Cricket
8. Rugby Union, Curling, Volleyball, Water polo

9. Ultimate frisby, Roller Derby

10. Individual sports: Motorsports, Tennis, Box.