Baseball & Softball

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Spring is full of transformations and changes. Flowers blossom, the temperature rises, and those with allergies begin a long journey of pain and agony. The start of spring also brings with it the beginning of baseball and softball. By carefully analyzing two teams representative of each sport at the University of Arizona a sociological analysis based on the similarities and differences between the sports was conducted. Despite the relative similarities between the two sports a number of differences were also identified showing that both sports are interconnected with cultural aspects and elements that may not immediately be observed on the surface.
I’ve been a student-athlete at the University of Arizona for two years. In this short span I have attended many sporting events on campus. I often wear the red, white, and blue colors for nearly all the men’s sports that exist at Arizona, ranging from men’s basketball to men’s swimming. Yet, I have never attended a women’s softball game at the university. In fact it’s important to know that I have never attended any women’s softball games before. I had seen plenty of baseball games in my life, but never a softball game. This all changed on Friday April 4th. As soon as I finished football practice a few teammates and I headed over to the softball field. On this particular evening Arizona was up against the Cardinal of Stanford. When we arrived a Stanford player was at the plate and an Arizona pitcher was preparing to wind up for a throw. As I sat down and took in my surroundings something become blatantly oblivious to me. Unlike baseball the pitcher was not on a mound, rather the pitcher appeared to be in a flat circle. This was interesting and I pondered why there was no mound. Was it...

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...o have a bigger fan base. Yet, Arizona’s women’s softball team arguably has been more successful then the Arizona baseball team historically with 8 national championships over the baseball teams 4. So the reason for the difference in the number fans is still a question may be pondered for many years to come.
Truly, attending both events enabled me to assess and analyze the similarities and differences of two sports. Recognizing that the two sports are culturally different despite being very identical to each other was rather astounding. The social influence that the sports seem to have on the players and the fans also appears to have a positive outlook. It will be interesting to see how each sport progresses in the future in regards to the types of fans that come to the games, how the teams interact with the fans, and the overall atmosphere of the games as well.

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