Baseball as a Piece of American Culture

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Baseball as a Piece of American Culture American culture is in my opinion a mixture of all cultures in the world. In some states, minorities have become majorities because of the huge masses that have immigrated there. Those groups have integrated their own customs to Americans and at the same time, have made American customs part of their lives. In that enormous alloy called Americans, you can meet diverse kinds of persons, languages, foods and words. At the same time, specific traits make this culture as any other unique. The British writer Lesley Hazleton describes in the essay The First Game her experience when she attended a baseball game for the first time in her life. It was her first time visiting America as well and the way the scene is described shows in some way her perception of what Americans are. Among their several qualities, she distinguished the idolization of achievers and their lives based on a theocentric society. In the essay The First Game the writer mentioned that the particular day she attended the baseball game, had been declared Catfish Hunter day, in honor to the famous New York baseball player who was retiring that day. Everybody was cheering and seemed happy because of all that he had accomplished in the baseball field. Perchance, that description displays Americans as people who praise others. They glorify their heroes and citizens who have achieved important things like movie stars, athletes, politicians, scientists and astronauts. Almost anyone who accomplish something magnificent can become famous in America. There are awards for actors, writers, beauty contestants, scientists and many others in all professional and entertainment fields. Although many people are honored because of their tasks, ... ... middle of paper ... ...ericans can be something, but it does not mean that all Americans are constituent of that same description. It is not fair to generalize when talking about a culture because even if it is not the intention, we can be prejudging a whole country by the actions of few. Anyhow, I do believe that Americans, in the most, show characteristics like their beliefs in a greater being and the praise of others, which make them unique and different. As in any other culture, some people do not care about religion or spirituality and do not even know who are the people that receive honors. In the same way that we cannot talk simplistic, we cannot refer either to a culture too specifically. Anywise, I have described what I think was the perception of the author when she went to a baseball game and had contact with American culture in American ground for the first time in her life.

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