Rhetorical Analysis - Sports in America
James Michener author of Sports in America argues that each sport is subject to specific criteria to explain his arguments and criticisms with the commercial direction it is heading. James Michener was an avid sports participant while young and feels that it helped to strengthen his character. He was also in the Navy during World War II where he knew various leaders both with and without the experience playing various sports. He also traveled the world observing many cultures, both present and historical, where the spotlight had been placed over sporting events. Along with his personal knowledge and research, he brings up and gives a brief summary of nine different materials written by other authors. These pieces shine a negative spotlight on the preconceptions about sports and help to lend weight from other perspectives. James Michener does an excellent job using the three different appeals to argue his criticisms against sports commercial direction.
James Michener uses various ethical appeals to show his credibility with the reader. He starts by stating in the fourth paragraph, “I am by nature a participant rather than a spectator, and my whole sympathy lies with the sandlot where boys are playing rather than the stadium where professionals are offering an exhibition.” This helps to show that his perspective on sports comes from having been a participant, which matches my own personal view. To avoid being prejudiced against foreign spectator sports and to further his knowledge of them, he traveled abroad studying various cultures and societies. He found that spectator sports play a huge part throughout history and stated that “[t]he more I learned, the more apparent it became that all societies in all periods of history have needed some kind of public entertainment, and it has usually been provided by sports.” He continues from his personal experiences while serving in the Navy during World War II. During this time he knew various commanders and officers both with and without time spent playing sports. He uses this experience to support his arguments against the public perspective of sports building leadership. These appeals are used throughout the book to provide support and perspective for his arguments.
Along with the ethical appeals he uses a considerable amount of logical appeals to show public perspective of sports. He starts with a quote from the Duke of Wellington as having said, “[t]he [B]attle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” This quote had long supported the idea that participating in sports automatically builds character; but he continues in the next paragraph that, “[t]he present Duke of Wellington has disclosed that within his family it has long been known that the famous duke never made his statement about the playing field of Eton.” This quote was not seen until 41 years later in a book written by “a Frenchman known for his ability to turn a neat phrase.” He continued on to his experience while serving in the Navy, he says that,
“whenever an admiral had played on the football team at Annapolis, a great deal was made of the fact, and there were numerous stories to the effect that he had acquired his capacity for leadership and military strategy from playing football. The same was true, to an even greater degree, of generals who had played at West Point, and this impressed the public, as it did me.”
Everything seemed to point at sports building great leaders, but continues that as he began to research, he discovered that, “many of the finest admirals and generals had never stepped on a football field, or a baseball field either. Some of the greatest had been primarily scholars, who paid commendable attention to their bodies.” This went on to show that although the public assumed that the best leaders had played sports, more had not; and, “[c]apacity for leadership came principally from the fact that they were well-disciplined, intelligent men to begin with, and those who had happened to play football played it well, as now they fought well.” Where these last statements would lead a reader to believe that he thought playing sports would reveal a person’s character, he instead was,
“very doubtful that big-time sports, whether high school, college, university or professional, do much to alter or enhance the character of the young men who participate. Those who enter the system with strong characters formed at home and who fall under the guidance of a good coach emerge strengthened in their convictions… But if the boy already has a weak character, and if he falls into the hands of an irresponsible coach, the effect of sports can be disastrous, and he may well wind up a weaker person than when he began.”
This was just one example regarding the negative effects that sports can have on a person, especially when exposed to a negligent coach, and is a view that is well explained considering his personal experience. Also throughout paragraphs 15 through 24, Michener brings short summaries from many additional books about the negative effects of sports; that although tend to be prejudiced, they raise difficult questions one could not ignore. For example, the first book he covered was Rip Off the Big Game: The Exploitation of Sports by the Power Elite by Paul Hoch. In this book Paul Hoch attacks every belief about the effect of American sports, and as Michener wrote, “[a]lways infuriating, sometimes unfair, grotesquely anti-capitalist, it is nevertheless a good book to read if you want the cobwebs blasted from your eyes.” This was one of many, and perhaps the harshest, of his examples against sports in America. Although Michener’s logical appeals offer compelling evidence regarding the effect of sports on a person, his emotional appeals attempt to provide solutions for some of these problems. Such as the way sports have been heading and how the entire program in the country will have to be subjected to most careful scrutiny. He then states many of the accusations being held against sports, such as, “Children are being introduced into highly organized sports too young. [and] Adults conducting children’s programs place too much stress on winning.” These two highlight the emphasis society has made on an unhealthy mindset that gets taught to our youth, and is an accusation I share after considering effects this has had. He also points out that, “[g]irls and women are unjustly deprived of an adequate share of the sports budget [throughout schools and universities.]” This lack of an equal share of a school’s sports budget I had never noticed before, but now, looking back, I realized that women were almost completely lacking from big budget sports; this inequality could be brought more to focus if more people were to bring this up as Michener has here. He also points out that, “[t]hroughout our sports programs there is an undue emphasis on violence.” This is easy to see after this last year in the NFL where a team, penalized for a bounty program, brought to light the extensive nature of violence in the sport and the effect it has on the players. Being such a highly broadcasted sport, this effect trickles down all the way to the children who begin to think that this violence is an accepted pracitice. Finally he finishes off with this statement that, “[o]ur present program for sports has deplorably evaded its responsibility for improving the health of individuals and of the general society.” As I read through this introduction by James Michener, I realized that he makes many great points about sports in America. He uses the three appeals well all throughout and I believe his arguments work well. Right away Michener points out to the reader his experience as sports participant and his experience with others during his service. This showed his original beliefs about sports and helps lend weight to his arguments as he learned otherwise during his research. He then followed with his evidence supporting those arguments which worked well to show the reader how sports can have as much a negative effect as positive. Then, finishing off with accusations and solutions, he makes the reader take an emotional look into the current affairs of American sports which one cannot help but realize the effect this has on the American populace. After reading through this introduction to Sports in America by James Michener, I believe he makes great points and did well to convince me of their validity.