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Archives for March, 2008

The sports leagues are all headed and managed by professionals in the sports concerned and the players are very well protected within the individual league’s The whole concept of sports leagues has added new value and meaning to the games. Some of the professional sports leagues are listed below. Information on each is available in detail online, 24×7.

Automobile racing:

A1 Grand Prix

NASCAR or the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing

British Touring Car Championship

Formula One – Grand Prix racing

Indy car Series

Baseball:

MLB or Major League Baseball

Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League

Arizona League

ApL or Appalachian League

CalL or California League

Basketball:

A1 Liga

ACB or Association de Clubs de Baloncesto

ABA or American Basketball Association

BBL British Basketball League

BBL or Basketball Bundes Liga – Germany

Football:

Albania Association Football

Kategoria Superiore Association Football

Primera Division Argentina Association Football

Hyundai A League Association Football

Armenia Association Football

regulations.

Sports and the media

Sports of all types and played at all levels are covered by large television and radio audiences who are commonly attracted to the telecast, not because of being far away from the place where the event is taking place, but for the love of sport. Today, the media plays a big role in the world of sport and rival broadcasters now bid large amounts of money for the exclusive ‘rights’ not only to broadcast a game, but also to show certain edited fixtures and phases of the game. The FIFA World Cup is a classic example. Association football attracts a global radio and television audience, whose number literally runs into hundreds of millions.

Records reveal that the finals of the FIFA World Cup in 2006 attracted an estimated worldwide audience of more than 700 million! The Super Bowl championship game of the NFL in the United States of America has gone on record as ‘one of the most watched television broadcasts of the year’!

Spectator sports

Spectator sports refer to any sport being played before an audience. Though technology has now changed this concept and many chess and other indoor sport competitions are being conducted online, with spectators at their computer screens! Most sports are a form of recreation for the participants. They are played in front of a live audience.

In the case of most professional sports, they are played in a ‘theatre’ like arena like a stadium or race track. Sports are also played at golf courses, arenas, on open roads, with of course the provision for public convenience. Most sports are spectator sports. Whether the audience witnesses the game live, at the stadium or arena, or is a passive one, watching the relay on television or online, all sports have spectators. This aspect of sports adds to the quality and competitive spirit of sports, with the spectators being just as involved in the game plan as the players themselves !

Sports Terminology

Sports terminology hasn’t changed much, but continues to retain its importance on and off the field. Advancing technology has created new opportunities for the implementation of new sport terminology and research in sports. Specific terminology is used to analyze aspects of sports, capture an athlete’s movement, or for advanced computer simulations to model physical scenarios. In British English, sporting activities are commonly called ‘sport’, while in American English, the word ‘sports’ is used, in plural. In all the English dialects, “sports” refers to more than one sport.

Terminology also differs region-wise, like it is different in North and South America and in England and North America. Ideally, around the world, the term “sport” is extended to encompass all competitive activities. It is not dominated by level of physical activity involved. The many of the characteristics of physical sports include skill and sportsmanship. Irrespective of the adopted terminology, at the highest levels, professional sponsorship is associated with physical sports and influenced by regional preferences.