All in for USA sports

This sports section touches its end, having covered a wide range of different sports. The main character has been this one, sport in general. The aim was not to focus only on soccer, but to get to know better sports such as basketball, swimming, football, hockey... However, soccer has also been present due to the fact that the author considered people needed to take into consideration unknown facts.

The experience has been fulfilling, because it has enabled me to be aware of the main sports sources and also information sources in general, related to the US media. It's always interesting to be familiar with this kind of platforms, who knows if they will need a journalist in a recent future,

Furthermore, this activity helps us to enrich ourselves and be able to work about stuff that we're not experts about. On the whole, you learn, you expose what you alredy knew and you acquire the habit of refreshing a blog, with a weekly publication.

There has been 6 posts in 6 weeks all of them limitated to a single topic. We started with the personal connection with the topic ("Jumping to fame"), I focused on Michael Jordan and my previous experience with sports. Moreover, the second post was titled "The achilles heel of Pelé", a relevant case study. You might think, why soccer? you have Jordan, Phelps, Armstrong, Muhammad Ali... But, did anybody know that Pelé played in USA?

With "11 platforms not to be missed" we learnt about the different sources we were talking before, probably the most tough post to write due to the thorough research it is needed. I chose Phelps, "The Baltimore shark" for the prominent character, taking into account that he is probably the best sportsman in USA's history. Besides, I wanted to put the spotlight on a different sport; swimming.

"Sports Big Four" treated about the social media, highly related to the online sources I have mentioned before. Eventually, "Sports brushtrokes in 2014" was a summary of all the main events that have taken place within 2014.

To sum up, I hope you have enjoyed not only this section but also the others. A huge effort has turned into the blog we see today. We're always open to suggestions and critics. Thanks for reading!

Tomás Orihuela

Journalism

Sports brushstrokes in 2014

2014, a year of joy and pain for the United States of America, in relation to sport. During this year, a wide range of events have taken place. It's not over yet, but the moments lived have been unforgettable, for better and for worse.

First of all, the main soccer event, apart from the MLS annual championship, has been the World Cup in Brazil. It's widely known that, wether USA National Team is the best in generations, they can't compete with the first-level selections, such as Spain, Germany, Brazil... But the truth is that an american hero has emerged; Tim Howard.

Howard in the World Cup. Source: Creative Commons Search

The soccer team was kind of a roost, due to the fact that Landon Donovan, the best american player in history, wasn't selected in the 23 players that were going to Brazil. In the first knockout serie, against Belgium, they were quite inferior. USA managed to eliminate the Portugal of Cristiano Ronaldo, but they weren't able to defeat the sensation of the tournament.
Even though they lost, their goalkeeper, Tim Howard, had an incredible performance, with 16 saves, setting the record of the World Cup.

Changing ball, in basketball USA has smiled this year. The three main events were: the NBA Finals, the World Cup in Spain, and the women's World Cup. The american teams of basketball managed to win both tournaments, without almost no problems. However, the expected final against Spain couldn't be carried out because of our prompt elimination.

Khawi Leonard during the NBA Finals. Source: Creative Commons Search

In the national tournament, the NBA, San Antonio Spurs won against Miami Heat comfortably. It wasn't Lebron James, Tim Duncan or Tony Parker but Khawi Leonard won the MVP of the Finals with three incredible performances that gave the Spurs another ring.

Last but not least, as every year, the most important event was the Superbowl. New Jersey was the scenery of the XLVIII edition of the NFL final, that faced the Broncos of Denver and the Seattle Seahawks. The team of Seattle won, achieving their first Superbowl in their history.

NFL Superbowl. Source: Creative Commons Search

The duel against Russel Wilson and Peyton Manning was decided, with the win of the hawks player. However, the hawks quarterback wasn't the MVP, delivered to Malcolmm Smith for his decisive touchdown.

Tomás Orihuela
Journalism

Sports Big Four

We've already learnt that sports in USA are a way of life. Of course, life is developing, and social media are know an important resource to get to know sports news better. In this post, we've chosen the four social media that cover the most important sports in the States: basketball, football, hockey and soccer. We'll focus on Youtube channels and Instagram accounts, having taken into consideration that Twitter offical accounts were dealt in previous posts (11 sport's platforms not to be missed).

First of all, we'll start with basketball. NBA is the most known basketball brand, not only in America but in the whole world. They're currently updating in their youtube channel, they have more than 5.8 million subscribers due to their daily uploads. They post every summary, top 10 of the week, advertisements... One of them is in the frontal page nowadays.

Everybody up: Roll call. Source: Creative Commons Search

Also, they're active in Instragram. @nba, with more than 3.7 million followers. Not only do they post photos, but also videos of NBA teams training, they also cover the national basketball team,

In terms of football, NFL doesn't have a fluent youtube channel, CBS Sports channel are in charge of the full coverage of this national sport. They count with 30,000 subscribers and 8,500 followers in Instagram (@cbssports). However, @nfl counts with more than 2 million followers, so they should consider opening a youtube channel.

Soccer is mainly held in MLS (Major League Soccer), with a youtube branch with no more than 180,000 suscribers and 118,00 followers on @mls. We can see in this statistics the difference between NBA and MLS. However, they advertise themselves quite accurately. 

"MLS is here". Sourse: Creative Commons Search

Last but not least, hockey is represented in the National Hockey League, NHL, with almost half a million suscribers in their channel and 611,000 followers on their Instagram account @nhl. Surely, it's the best way to be updated in terms of hockey.

Tomás Orihuela

Journalism

The Baltimore Shark

Michael Fred Phelps and gold are synonyms. The most successful athlete of all times, for a lot of years he has been King Midas; everything he touched turned into gold. Not in vain he owns the record of more Olympic medals, and more gold medals in one tournament. He defeated the record of Mark Spitz, another northamerican swimmer that won 7 gold medals in Munich '72. He was the sensation in Beijing 2008 and Phelps set the record in 8 gold awards.

Michael Phelps celebrates one of his golden medals. Source: natacion.com

He was born in Baltimore in 1985, and he didn't learn to swim until the age of 7. As he confesses in his biography, he was afraid of water. Once he learnt, he never stopped. Bowman was a fulcrum for him. He was like a father to him and made him aim to professional swimming. Phelps has been a premature star, at the age of 10 he broke a national record and when he was 15 he participated in his first Olympics; Sidney 2000. The genius of the water was 5th and won a diploma.

Four years later, he jumped to fame in Athens, 8 medals; 6 golds and 2 bronzes. The Baltimore Shark was born, and worlwide known. He targeted Mark Spitz for the following Olympics and he did the most impressing performance ever: 8 consecutive gols medals. It's not that he hadn't good rivals, Ryan Lochte, László Cseh, Ian Thorphe... But he was unbeatable.

Eventually, in London 2012 he won 4 golds and 2 silvers. Troughout his career, he has broken 34 world records and has won 22 Olympic medals. Not only that, Phelps has achieved the awards World Swimmer of the Year 6 times and the American Swimmer of the Year in 8 consecutive ocassions. Of course, he's been champions in the Swimming World Cup and in countless national tournaments.

The most successful athlete of all times swimming in Beijing. Source: Aldia

Strangely, the american swimmer was told when he was a child that he would never succeed in any sport, because of his inhability to concentrate; he has TDAH. Later on, he became the best swimmer of all times, and he hobnobs with Michael Jordan, Schumacher, Maradona and a wide range of athletes to be the best ever. 

Phelps was superior to the rest of his opponents, because of his incredible scale (up to 2m), and his ability called the dolphin's kick; a way to be faster in water by kicking the water and optimize his armfuls. No other secret is needed, he didn't wear the famous Speedo swimsuit that contained 1 litre of air and makes swimmers lighter, he based his work in effort and diet, 

This sportsman is also famous because of his crazy diet, it contained 12,000 calories. and comprised pasta, pizza, eggs in industrial proportions. Is that the secret? Unfortunately, these days ended, and now he's making headlines because of different but not good issues. However, he keeps running his foundation for children.

Tomás Orihuela
Journalism

11 sport's platforms not to be missed

There's a wide range of different sources and references related to sports in the States. Their online platforms are one of the ways they use to spread information. Here there are comprised only official websites that are a must to be updated in every single sport. There is an online representation of newspapers, radio programmes, USA's most important leagues...

CBS Sports is one of the most seen programs in the country. They obviously have a official website, and they expanded in 2008 within Twitter (@CBSSsports). They're an important source due to the fact that they have specialists in a variety of areas of main interest. As its slogan says: "Connecting you to the sports content you crave".

ABC Sports is the online website that is concerned about the sports news in USA. With equall importance to almost every practised sport, they also have political, economical and social news. They're also on Twitter since 2012 (@ABCSports), they are described as a Television network in their profile.

ESPN ins't just viral in the US but also in South America. The main difference with the rest of platforms is that this one is just focused on sports. In the other hand, the other examples are the sport's branch of a bigger news setting. ESPN not only talks about USA, but also about european football. They're the main channel that broadcast matches in all the continent. Since 2007 they're also on Twitter "talking about sports, sports and well... sports" (@ESPN).

NBC Sports is assembled to CBS or ABC, because NBC is a massive mean that converges in NBC Sports, NBC News, NBC Nightly news... The trending topic it's usually football, not soccer, but one of the most practised sports in the USA. They joined Twitter in 2008 under the name @NBCSports. Since they're one of the largest networks, they had to be here.

NPR Sports is the online website for a radio programme which is the most listened in the States. It's the Nation Public Radio and his reputation is worlwide known. They're currently updating in social networks such as Twitter (@nprsports).

Fox Sports is a TV channel that is engaged to several sports. They only focus on sports, having accounts not only for sports in general, but for them in particular, or live matches. The main one is @FOXSports, as they say: "We spike footballs, swing bats, scream, wave and spin towels at the same time".

Other than that, they're 4 websites dedicated not only to a single sport, but to a championship in particular. USA TODAY englobes them all, most accurately USA TODAY Sports. It is also known because of the news they have, sports isn't the central topic, but they have specialists like in every other network. They sports section is also in Twitter (@USATODAYsports) since 2008.

NBA is a championship with its own website dedicated fully to basketball. Indeed, the acronyms mean National Basketball Association. They cover all the news dedicated to the championship and the Playoffs. It's the most important basketball tournament in the world. Tons of the best players of the world have played there: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Chamberlain, Larry Bird... The other basketball tournaments don't overshadow at all NBA. In Twitter since 2009 (@NBA), they update daily.

NFL (National Football League) limitates to football, and covers the latest news on the most important football tournament in the world. They count with the best players, and it's widely played all over the world. It's the perfect source to get to know this sport better. It's also a good source their Twitter account (@nfl) available since 2009. 

MLS (Major League Soccer) it's the official soccer championship. They cover the information related to soccer in the States, they don't focus on any other tournament. It's worlwide known because of the european players that go to there to finish their careers. @MLS also covers the USA National Soccer Team. It's a must to be in tone with what's going on about soccer in that country.

NHL (National Hockey League) shares importance with Canada, they're the two places were they play this sport. This website is the best reference possible due to the fact that they just talk about hockey. @NHL is always tweeting the latest news and the important matches.

So, this is it, 11 sources you have to know by heart to deep into USA's sports and most importantly, USA's culture.

Tomás Orihuela

Journalism

The achilles heel of Pelé

Everybody knows that when it comes to sports, USA has a lot of individual cases to be showed as an example. From Michael Jordan in the Chicago Bulls to the most successful swimmer of all times; Michael Phelps not forgetting Muhammad Ali and his amazing boxing skills. On the other side of the coin, there are athletes that didn't succeed. It's the case of Lance Armstrong due to his doping issues, the same as Justin Gatling. However, all theses cases, good ones and not so good one, are widely known by everyone.

For that reason, we're going to analyze a relevant case that not so much people have ever been informed about. That case has a huge name: Pelé. For the last years of his successful career, he decided to play for New York Cosmos, in order to get soccer a more powerful sport in the States.

Pelé making a flip in the air while he kicks the ball (september1968). Source: Creative Commons Search

The expectations placed in the 3 times World Cup winner with Brazil were high. He thought of retiring. Therefore, Clive Toye; manager of the New York Cosmos, had other plans for him. After several years of attempting to sign him, he achieve itin 1975. Toye had Pelé as the perfect missionary of soccer to the country. Although he was the most known player all over the world, there he was a stranger, people didn't even know how to pronounce his name accurately. That was the main objective: to get soccer to be 'trending topic'.

It was a tremendous step for the brazilian player, not only in his career ambitions but in his life outside the pitch. He didn't knew the language, he had to take his children away from their schools and their roots to go to a different country. A completely start over. Nevertheless, O' Rei remained positive about it, finally he could walk in the street without being recognized. Unfortunately, he also had to deal with his whole country treating him as a national traitor.

Pelé playing for New York Cosmos. Source: Creative Commons Search

When he signed, he wasn't in good shape, that's why his yield was poor. He predicted 15 goals, and unbelievably he only scored 5. From the 1225 goals he scored in his entire career, only 5 were for New York Cosmos in the League Games. In fact, he didn't play too much games for that team, because of his injuries. It's widely know that he has a physically gifted athlete. However, surprisingly, in his years in USA he had injuries and he wasn't in a good shape. Probably because soccer wasn't the most important thing is his life, as it was when we played for Santos in Brazil.

Although he managed to fill stadiums with his performances, he never could compete with basketball, football, hockey, baseball... The truth is that he failed. Nowadays, the most important soccer championship is The Major League Soccer (MLS), which doesn't overshadow other ones such as NBA, NFL or NHL. It's not a competitive league, indeed players who aren't in their best time anymore or those who are aging go to play there. David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Frank Lampard or Rafa Márquez are a few example of that. The challenge is still unachieved, the question is: will somebody be able to put soccer in the USA's spotlight? Doubtless, Pelé is still one of the best players in history, but this challenge overcame him.

Tomás Orihuela

Journalism

Jumping to fame

USA isn't Spain. Football, soccer wrongly called, isn't the daily bread. In the States, not even Pelé; one of the best football players in history, was able to make this country focus away from basketball, baseball and 'their football'. Sport is above all, and englobles them all. Someone defined it as the most important thing of the less important things in life. Impossible to be more accurate.

The truth is that sports in the US are organized in such a proper way that it isn't a surprise the fact that every four years they are fighting against China and Russia in the Olympics for medals. Wide range of different modalities, more of the same of americans posing for photos kissing medals. They actually are an example worth to follow. Good management, better athletes: Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Joe Montana, Tiger Woods, Zack Greinke, Landon Donovan, Tyson Gay... 

  

Michael Jordan and his famous dunk which earned him the nickname of 'Air Jordan'. Source: Creative Commons Search


But, why sports? First of all, because I'm passionate about it and I'm fond of sports: I love practicing, I enjoy watching it in TV, listening to it in the radio, reading about it in the papers; everything. I've been attached to them since I learnt to speak. It all starts with football, then you get interested by other sport, later on you practice another one, and finally you end up watching Eurosport weekly. The second reason is that I'm curious about it, I reckon that it's required to be curious not only to one, but to sports in general. If you really like something, you should be willing to keep learning more and more, it's never enough. The more the merrier.
I started playing all sort of games at the age of 5, and it was a matter of time that I wrote about them. So asking the question, my connection to this topic is that I'm keen on writing about it, and give my personal view over different aspects. Furthermore, I have some experience in this, proof of that are the blogs I've been trying to get updated in order to learn and to tell people stuff I consider remarkable.


Tomás Orihuela.
Journalism