CONCEPT OF SPORT JOURNALISM
Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1980s[citation needed] when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the news business with newspapers having dedicated sports sections. The increased popularity of sports amongst the middle and lower class led to the more coverage of sports content in publications. The appetite for sports resulted in sports-only media such as Sports Illustrated and ESPN. There are many different forms of sports journalism, ranging from play-by-play and game recaps to analysis and investigative journalism on important developments in the sport. Technology and the internet age has massively changed the sports journalism space as it is struggling with the same problems that the broader category of print journalism is struggling with, mainly not being able to cover costs due to falling subscriptions. New forms of nternet blogging and tweeting in the current millennium have pushed the boundaries of sports journalism.
As such, sport is characterized by "conflict, excitement, variety, physicality/personalization, strategic and tactical actions by soloists and teams, simple rules, open and measurable outcome, seriality of competitions" (Stiehler 2003, p. 164, translated by the authors; Knobloch-Westerwick et al. 2009)-a mix that audiences were found to enjoy in their spare time and get emotional rewards from (Raney 2006). While sports journalism gathers great "economic capital" (English 2016) and has done so since the beginning of the mass media (Whannel 2009), insofar that it drives audience metrics and advertisement sales and is often prominently placed in print products and on media outlets' websites, sports journalists generally do not hold much prestige in the newsroom (Boyle 2006(Boyle , 2017English 2016;McEnnis 2020;Rowe 2007). The argument, especially made by journalists from other beats, is that sports is said to be trivial 'soft' journalism (Boyle 2017), with its journalists acting as uncritical 'fans' (Boyle 2006(Boyle , 2017.
While sports journalism gathers great "economic capital" (English 2016) and has done so since the beginning of the mass media (Whannel 2009), insofar that it drives audience metrics and advertisement sales and is often prominently placed in print products and on media outlets' websites, sports journalists generally do not hold much prestige in the newsroom (Boyle 2006(Boyle , 2017English 2016;McEnnis 2020;Rowe 2007). The argument, especially made by journalists from other beats, is that sports is said to be trivial 'soft' journalism (Boyle 2017), with its journalists acting as uncritical 'fans' (Boyle 2006(Boyle , 2017. Sports journalism has even been called "the world's best advertising agency" (Schultz Jørgensen 2005)-namely due to descriptive reporting of sports events, working with only few sources, and being more concerned with subjectivity than objectivity (Boyle 2006;McEnnis 2020;Schultz Jørgensen 2005).
The argument, especially made by journalists from other beats, is that sports is said to be trivial 'soft' journalism (Boyle 2017), with its journalists acting as uncritical 'fans' (Boyle 2006(Boyle , 2017. Sports journalism has even been called "the world's best advertising agency" (Schultz Jørgensen 2005)-namely due to descriptive reporting of sports events, working with only few sources, and being more concerned with subjectivity than objectivity (Boyle 2006;McEnnis 2020;Schultz Jørgensen 2005).
Sports journalists must also show a commitment to quality journalism via practice through critical and inquiring approaches (Boyle 2006). They are expected to adopt independent stances that enable them to draw attention to both corruption and abuse of power (Rowe 2017) and social justice issues (Weedon et al. 2018).
HISTORY AND ORIGIN OF SPORTS
The documented history of sports goes back at least 3,000 years. In the beginning, sports often involved the preparation for war or training as a hunter, which explains why so many early games involved the throwing of spears, stakes, and rocks, and sparring one-on-one with opponents.
With the first Olympic Games in 776 BC—which included events such as foot and chariot races, wrestling, jumping, and discus and javelin throwing—the Ancient Greeks introduced formal sports to the world. The following by no means exhaustive list takes a look at the beginnings and evolution of some of today's most popular sporting pastimes.
Below are some of the popular sport and their histories and origination:
Cricket: The game of cricket originated in south-east England sometime in the late 16th century. By the 18th century, it had become the national sport, making inroads globally in the 19th and 20th centuries. The prototype for the modern cricket bat featuring a willow blade and a cane handle layered with strips of rubber, and then tied with twine and covered with another layer of rubber to form a grip was invented around 1853. (The longest recorded game of cricket took place in 1939 and spanned a period of nine days.)
Baseball: Alexander Cartwright (1820-1892) of New York invented the baseball field as we know it in 1845. Cartwright and the members of his New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club devised the first rules and regulations that became the accepted standard for the modern game of baseball.
Softball: In 1887, George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, invented softball as a form of indoor baseball that was first played on a cold winter day inside the warm Farragut Boat Club.
Basketball: The first formal rules for basketball were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down a court of unspecified dimensions. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced in 1893. Another decade passed, however, before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored. The first shoes specifically designed for the game, Converse All Stars, were introduced in 1917 and were soon made famous by legendary player Chuck Taylor who became an early brand ambassador in the 1920s.
Soccer: According to the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), more than 240 million people around the world play soccer on a regular basis. The history of the game can be traced back more than 2,000 years to ancient China, where it all began with a bunch of players kicking an animal-hide ball around. While Greece, Rome, and areas of Central America claim to been seminal to the development of the game, soccer as we know it—or football as it’s called in most places other than the United States—came to the fore in England during the mid-19th Century, and it’s the English who can claim credit for codifying the first uniform rules for the sport—which made tripping opponents and touching the ball with the hands are forbidden. (The penalty kick was introduced in 1891.)
Boxing: The earliest evidence of boxing can be traced back to Egypt circa 3000 BC. Boxing as a sport was introduced to the ancient Olympic Games in the 7th century BC, at which time, boxers’ hands and forearms were bound with soft leather thongs for protection. Romans later traded in leather thongs for metal-studded gloves called cestus.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, boxing died out and did not make a comeback until the 17th century. The English officially organized amateur boxing in 1880, designating five weight classes: Bantam, not exceeding 54 kilos (119 pounds); Feather, not exceeding 57 kilos (126 pounds); Light, not exceeding 63.5 kilos (140 pounds); Middle, not exceeding 73 kilos (161 pounds); and Heavy, any weight.
When boxing made its Olympic debut at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, the USA was the only country entered, and as a result, took home all the medals. Since its initial admittance in the Olympic program, the sport has been included at all of the subsequent Games, with the exception of the 1912 Stockholm Games, since boxing was outlawed there. But Sweden wasn't the only place where fisticuffs were illegal. For a good deal the 19th century, boxing was not considered a legitimate sport in America. Bare-knuckle boxing was outlawed as a criminal activity and boxing matches were regularly raided by the police.
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