[人文社科]美国文化American_sports.ppt

Sports in the United States are an important part of the United States culture. However, the sporting culture of the U.S. is different from that of many other countries. Compared to any other nation, Americans prefer a unique set of sports. For example, soccer, the most popular sport in the world, is not as popular in the U.S. compared to the four most popular team sports — namely football, basketball, baseball, and ice hocky. Baseball Baseball------the national pastime Began as early as 1790 and became the official sport in America by the 1850’s Played by all ages in both the US, Cuba, and Japan It is a game between two teams of 9 people. One team trying to gain points by hitting a ball and running around the field, the other tries to stop them by catching the ball and throwing it. Baseball There are two leagues, in Major League Baseball (professional baseball), the American League and the National League Each league has teams in many cities across America The teams play each other in each league The winners from each league play each other in the World Series at the end of each year (sometime in October) How the Game Is Played Baseball is one of the few team sports that is not controlled by a clock; the location of the ball determines the play of the game. The pitcher of the defensive team throws the ball towards the home plate at a speed often over 150 km/hr. A single player of the offensive team, the team at bat, attempts to hit the baseball somewhere in fair territory outlined by the lines running to the right over first base and to the left over third base. Scoring occurs when a batter travels around all the bases and returns to home plate. How the Game Is Played The visiting team is at bat first. When the batting team registers three outs, the two teams switch positions. Home runs are always exciting, especially when there are additional players on the bases. There are other rules and regulations for the game of baseball. Baseball is a game of strategy w