Season Finale

Well the end of the semester is almost here so its time for my final blog. Its been a fun semester both in the classroom and here on the blog pages. First I want to say that I was surprised at how much this History and Philosophy of Sport class had to offer. Initially I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought the majority of the class would be dedicated to studying the origins of sports like football and basketball, clearly I was way off. The course work went much deeper than I ever thought it could, and I was amazed to see how much sport has had to with shaping the history of our country. This class taught me just how influential the world of sports has been throughout our countries history. Whether it be a political influence like the Olympic boycotts, or people like Jesse Owens or Jackie Robinson changing the way people look at race. This class has really shown me a lot.

I wanted to take the time and go back to one subject that I really enjoyed this semester, and that subject was the early years of baseball. Baseball has always been my favorite sport but I never took the time to learn about its history. I thought it was very interesting to examine the origins of baseball and to examine the way that the game has changed over the years. I also enjoyed studying the old school players that really helped to shape the game. The thing that I found the most interesting about this subject were the "hero" roles that the athletes took on for the public. Its strange to see how differently players behaved than compared to now, and it almost disappoints me a little bit to see how poorly current players behave, especially off the field.

Switching gears back to the classroom for a second. I just want to say that I really enjoyed attending this class. I think that the in class discussion that we had, as well as the ethical issue presentations, really helped me to enjoy it. I knew that no matter what the topic, we would probably have a really good class discussion about it. I liked being able to share my opinions in the classroom, and on my blog, and I think thats what made the class really fun. I also really enjoyed the ethical issue presentations. I think they're are a really good learning tool for this class and they were fun to watch. I'm sure a lot of people didn't want to give a 5-10 minute speech but I was looking forward to it. I enjoy the extra attention. But seriously, the ethical issue presentations were very enjoyable and they really sparked some good discussion and I think thats why I liked them so much. I would definitely encourage Dr. Spencer to keep assigning the ethical issue presentations in the future.

Finally I just want to talk about this blog. The whole idea of a blog was very new to me, at least writing one was. I was familiar with blogs and sometimes even followed some sports writers and occasionally an athlete, but I had never been on the publishing side of a blog. I've really enjoyed blogging this semester, its been a great experience and I think that I'm going to be able to use this new blogging skill in the future. What I liked best about it was being able to respond to other peoples opinions. Sometimes issue come up out of class that we don't get to discuss as a group and the blogs allowed everyone the opportunity to share their ideas with one another. I loved getting feedback from my class mates and it really was a lot of fun hearing what other people had to say. Blogging is easily the most fun and creative assignment that I've ever had to do.

I would highly recommend this class to anyone. Its really not your traditional History class and its a great experience for anyone, even people who aren't SM majors.

Its been a fun semester and good luck to everyone on finals and future classes. Thanks for reading.