The Evolution of Sports From the 1950's to Today

 

Leisure in America prior to WWII was exclusively for the upper class. However due to the economic boom and a subsequent increase in consumption, credit schemes and pressures from advertisement firms, leisure activities became available to the working class. One example of the change of leisure brought forth by the end of WWII is sports. Previous to the war the major sporting event was Baseball. Reasons for going to a game included: "to get away from home," "to enjoy the game" and "to get the sunshine." It allowed many people to get away from a hectic and uncertain world to a place where they could peacefully enjoy the game. After WWII, because of a change in the American attitude, many people began to participate rather than watch sports during their leisure time.

Gregory Stone (1957) states that sports are the "linkage of play and work..." This linkage was primarily influenced by the growing industrialism during the 1950's. For many years athletes have been paid to play sports. For them, playing the game is a form of work. This contrasts with those who, since the 1950's, have played sports during their leisure time. Professional baseball players have contracts as well as obligations to fulfill, and so what they are doing should be considered work, even though many consider playing baseball to be a leisure activity. An amateur might engage in baseball, but with no contracts or a desire for their talents to be displayed for the public to enjoy, they are not working, rather they are partaking in leisure.

After the war people were not only attending games, but were participating in them as well. While many adolescents are still involved with organized sports, many more are partaking in individual risk taking sports such as mountain climbing, bungee jumping, skydiving, deep sea diving and many others. These new sports are an alternative to simply watching, giving people the opportunity to challenge themselves. Instead of people using their leisure time to relax and watch others play a sport, people are now choosing to use leisure as a way to challenge themselves. One of the main reasons for this change in sports is the change in the work force.

Previous to WWII the work force was mainly hard labor. Workers (usually men) put in 16-20 hour per day on the jobs, jobs that required every ounce of their energy. With such intense labor expected from them at work, it is no surprise that their time off from work was spent relaxing, watching a game or listening to the radio. Baseball games provided a perfect environment to relax and be entertained. The fans were not questioned about what to do, or how to do. Fans were not asked to fix the field or run bases. They simply had to show up and enjoy themselves. The baseball game was the polar opposite of many work places; it was an escape to a world where non-engagement was acceptable.

During the 1950's America began to mechanize the work force. Humans no longer ran factories; instead machines and computers ran them because it was cheaper and more effecient. Tasks were simplified and work was routine. When asked about the transfer of control, one Boeing worker replied, " I felt so stifled, my brain wasn't needed anymore. You just sit there like a dummy and stare at the damn thing. I'm used to being in control, doing my own planning. Now I feel like someone else has made all the decisions for me"(183). According to Harry Braverman, "The worker was rendered powerless to exercise independent judgment either on the factory floor or in the office, and had little or not control over outcomes" (182). Whereas before WWII, work was intense (because of the lack of technology) and leisure was not, after WW II with increased de-skilling labor,work became very mundane and in a sense relaxing because it did not offer enough stimulation. Therefore the intensity that Americans were longing for was found in their leisure time. More specifically it was found in extreme sports.

Extreme sports include skiing, snowboarding, skydiving, mountain biking, skateboarding, motor cross, surfing, mountain and rock climbing and many others. However for our purposes we have chosen to focus on skydiving. Skydiving first began with Leonardo da Vinci. He created the design of a parachute. His design was tested when a countryman jumped off the Tower of Piza in 1617. Eventually in the 18th Century another man by the name of Andre Garnerin jumped out of a balloon over Paris, which marks the first "skydive." In the early 20th Century people, usually referred to as " barnstormers", began attempting aviation stunts, which included jumping out of an airplane with a parachute.

Skydiving was used extensively following World War II with the use of airborne delivery of troops to the battlefield. A few civilians proved that skydiving was not limited to military tactics (in which a static line attached to the departure aircraft automatically opened the parachute), instead the civilians found it possible to control their parachute through the air for over a minute and then open their parachute and land safely.

Now people all over the world go skydiving, and in fact there are several hot spots currently that have become famous for their extreme sports. For many, the adrenalin rush felt when jumping out of a plane or hurling themselves off a cliff is a replacement for the stimulation and excitement that they are not getting from their jobs. Sports have gone from the laid back watching, to intense participation in the last 50 years, however, it is apparent by the full stadiums and extensive TV coverage of professional sports, that the adrenalin rush provided by extreme sports is merely an addition rather than a replacement.