Hello class! My name
is Mike Harrington, I am a second year grad student in the Sport Admin
program. I am from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and did my undergrad here at BGSU. I
have been passionate about sports for as long as I could remember. When I was little I participated in baseball
but I quit in little league because I slid into third but I didn’t slide far
enough. I also played basketball for a
few years. I started playing hockey at
age 12 and instantly fell in love with the sport. I stuck with hockey all the way until last
year. I played for BG’s division two
club hockey team for the last five years.
I would
say that my concept of society is the social norms, the way we as a group of
people act, and live our lives. Society
is just a collection of individuals that harbor similar ideals and goals as a
whole. I think it is important to study
the relationship between sport and society because the sport industry is such a
huge part of our everyday lives. The “Jordan
effect” is a great example of how big sports can be. It’s interesting to see how big of an impact
and effect LeBron has on every team he plays for and what he can bring for his
sport, city, and society.
I am most
passionate about hockey and mostly youth hockey athletes. I have already coached some teams and I know
I would like to eventually coach again, I still teach hockey clinics at the
BGSU Ice arena today. It is very
rewarding teaching young players’ skills and techniques that are vital to them
progressing to the next level. It
relates to my graduate studies because I will be focusing on goal orientation
in youth hockey players.
One
sporting figure who has had an impact on my life is Mario Lemieux. It really spoke to his character for what he
did for the city of Pittsburgh when he became an owner of the team when they
were about to be relocated. He got the
city to approve a new stadium for them, and even came out of retirement to play
for the team. It was a very unique story
and I was glad that it worked out the way it did.
My goals
for this class are to learn some new and interesting comments about how sport
relates to society. I am also looking
forward to some good discussions with different issues that society has with
sports, or sports have with society. I
also would like to see if I can take and use anything from this class and use
it for my major project.
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteI found your introduction post interesting, particularly because I am also from Pittsburgh. I do not enjoy Pittsburgh professional sports teams personally (I know, I’m a bad Pittsburgher), although I do appreciate the camaraderie it brings about in the city. Something I have always found fascinating about Pittsburgh is that the Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins are fundamental aspects of the city that create strong social bonds between Pittsburghers—Pittsburgh sport fandoms define (and run) the city. Perhaps these fandoms are evident in other cities and their professional sports teams, but I feel as if the city of Pittsburgh is incredibly allegiant to their professional sports teams. In Pittsburgh, I feel as though I can’t walk down the street without seeing a Steelers flag in a yard or someone in a Penguins jersey. Do you feel the same way? Further, large numbers of fans flock each summer to Saint Vincent College (my undergraduate alma mater) for the Steelers training camp. I was always on campus when the Steelers were there for the four years I attended Saint Vincent College and got a sense of the fans’ loyalty and enthusiasm each year (many fans would try to sneak on the blocked-off parts of campus in order to get an autograph or photo with their favorite player). I can see why there is such reverence for certain professional Pittsburgh sports players given the way that sports figures give back to their cities, such as Mario Lemieux did for Pittsburgh.
--Bri
Briana,
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my post, I am glad that a fellow Pittsburgher is in the class, but it saddens me that you do not necessarily “bleed black and gold”. It’s okay though, because I had a few friends also go to Saint Vincent College. It is very fascinating not only in Pittsburgh, but also here in Ohio and all over the country that you can find Steeler fans. I’ve come across Penguin fans as far as California. I know a lot of hockey fans do not necessarily like Sidney Crosby, but he is the face of the NHL and Pittsburgh gets a lot of attention from that, and he is a great role model for kids. Maybe that’s how he got so many fans in Los Angeles. I would completely agree with your statement about how a Pittsburgh sports fan is allegiant to their teams. I feel the same way about seeing flags, banners, all over yards, cars, and mailboxes. I would have to say that Pittsburgh fans are definitely loyal, but some Pittsburghers jump off the bandwagon just as quickly as they jump on. I know this from experience when the Steelers and Penguins have had great and horrible seasons. Another example is that I haven’t seen so many Pirate fans in my life, and it seems like it is only because they made the playoffs last year for the first time in my life. I can remember when the Pirates were so bad they had tickets selling for $1, the promotion was called “Buc Night”. I would consider myself a diehard Penguins fan, so for me even though I enjoyed the Penguins becoming more and more popular, I had some angst towards people who just started liking them when they got good. All in all though, a lot of Pittsburgh sports stars give back to the city. Mario Lemieux with the ownership of the team, Jerome Bettis has a few restaurants in the city too. It is a good sports town and it is interesting to see the whole city come together when the Steelers were winning Super Bowls and the Penguins win the Stanley Cup.
-Mike
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the dialog you and Briana had about what it means to be a "Pittsburgher" (good or bad). As a long-time Cleveland fan, and part-time Cowboys' fan, the Steelers were always a team that I did not care for - until Cleveland lost its team. It seemed that Steelers' fans really felt for Browns' fans and missed that rivalry. I must admit that when they played this past Sunday, I tuned out after halftime and apparently missed the best part of the game (for a Cleveland fan:-) I am intrigued by the recent success of the Pirates, although it does tend to bring out "bandwagon" fans. That happened with the Indians in 1995. We will probably do an article on Sydney Crosby now that you mentioned him, so I will be interested to hear your take on his contributions and why he seems to be so polarizing.
I look forward to reading more of your entries.
Dr. Spencer