What we read
We have read "Sports Fans and Identity" (Bixby and Scanlon, 2013, p. 11), and done the exercises that checked our understanding of the ideas in it.
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Our responses
As you were reading, you might have been thinking to yourself things like:
- Yes, that's right.
- No way. I don't agree with that.
or - Really? Is that right?
This critical assessment of what we read is an important skill, and one that the following exercise practices.
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Bixby and Scanlon's questions
- Read each statement based on "Sports Fans and Identity". Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Or are you unsure about it?
Think of a comment or example to explain your agreement or disagreement.
a. When you are a fan of a particular team, at a game or event, you instantly feel that you have thousands of friends. (Agree? Disagree? Not sure?)
b. If a sports team is a very important part of a fan's identity, winning is extremely important. (Agree? Disagree? Not sure?)
c. Winning a championship changes the way fans feel about themselves for a while. (Agree? Disagree? Not sure?)
- Why do you think fans continue to support a team that does poorly year after year?
Writing tip
To help make your writing a unified piece of work for your readers, one that makes sense read by itself, imagine you are writing for people you do not know who have not seen the questions you might be responding to. That also means avoid the use of numbering such as 1, 2, a, b, c. Just write connected sentences and paragraphs that communicate your ideas.
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Reference
- Bixby, J. & Scanlon, J. (2013). Skillful Reading & Writing Student's Book 3. Oxford: Macmillan Education.
First, I partially agree with this statement because even we attend the same event and have same favorite thing. We cheer same team, we want our team to win but we still don’t know each other for real. We may have same purpose to cheer our team but we don’t even each other’s names. That’s essential thing to be friend.
ReplyDeleteSecond, It’s true that everyone want their team or team they love be the winner of something. However, winning is not the action that can always happen, every want to win, so the real important things for competition is sportsmanship. If we only care about to win, we already forgot to main reason of playing, it’s unity.
Third, I agree that it’s really important how fans feel when team win or lost because the team they cheer is the team they love. If their team lost, they will feel sad with players. If the win, they will be delighted with them. However, that feeling doesn’t last forever, so the team need to keep up the performance.
And last one, fans still support team that play poorly because they have relationship with their cherish team and have been cheering for long time. If we love someone, I don’t think we will breakup with someone. If he/she just not good at something.
I like Thee's idea that unity is the main reason for playing, which explains both why winning is not the most important thing, and perhaps also why fans support a team that always loses!
DeleteI had not thought of that, and my first idea when I read Thee's idea was to disagree a bit. I think that having fun, or just enjoying the competition, is more important, but then I thought of my own experiences playing cards and other games with my brohters, sisters and other relatives: we very competitive, we all wanted to win, but even if we lost badly, we still loved playing, and when I thought about it more, i think Thee's idea is right — playing the competitive games was great for our unity as a group.
Perhaps Thee and others can also relate the ideas here, and in the following comments, to their personal experience. Relating an idea to your own experience is powerful way to both support it and to deepen your understanding of the idea.
I agree with this idea, When you are a fan of a particular team, at a game or event, you instantly feel that you have thousands of friends. I think people will be able to get along with others with the same preferences a lot easier, so people who cheer the same team will feel that they are close together. For example, I like TSM(a e-sports team) and there is a important match: I feel like all TSM's fans is my friend because we hope for the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that winning is important to sports fans.As sport-addicted people, every match of their team is important, so to win those matches must be extremely important too. Sports fans want their team to be the best team of all, in order to be that way, it needs to beat every team.
In my opinion, I don't think that the feeling of sports fan toward themselves will change much because they always like this team whether their team wins or loses. Winning a championship just makes fans happy. On the other hand, I think their feeling toward other teams'fans will change. They may look down on others, for they are confident that their team is the best.
I think fans support a single team because they have a story or a good first impression about that team and feel close to it. For instance, I like TSM because I like the play styles and skills of a member named Bjersen, and the first match that I watched was really impressive, so I started to be a TSM's fan. No matter how poorly that team play, fans who once support will always support.
I have no idea what TSM is, but I like the way Pooh uses it as a concrete example to make his ideas clearer. Perhaps another sentence or two to explain what TSM is, and also e-sports, would help some readers, at least the older readers such as myself. I can guess what e-sports are and have seen the term in the titles of articles in the news for the past year or so, but it's still not something I'm familiar with.
DeleteKind of related to this, if you write: "I agree with this idea," it might not actually be clear to your reader exactly what this idea refers to.
Again, the author, Pooh in this case, gives us some good ideas to think about.
To begin with, I strongly agree that since you are a fan of a sport team , at a game or an event, you will automatically feel that you have thousands of friends. As at the stand cheer we all cheering for the same particular team and we enjoy doing this. Furthermore , people can become friends just when they like the same things . Indeed , in Thailand , some fans not just calling them a friend but call themselves a family.
ReplyDeleteWhile some people may think that winning is extremely important , I am convinced that it is not that much important. Undoubtedly, Everyone must want their favorite sport team to win in every match. On the contrary , I think that no body is perfect and the team can’t win every time . Also , the main part of the fan’s identity is to cheer and support for their team even they are win or lose and grow up strongly together.
Then, I agree that winning a championship could change the way fan feels for a time because championship is a big league and very important. Plus , some fans who really into the sport could stop doing things and pay attention to the game very much. For example , some people bring a speaker , banner ,team shirt , and paint a team logo on their face and body. Thus , when a particular team win, that day (or may be that week) will be the happiest day for them as if they have just won the first prize lottery.
For this reason , I think that winning doesn’t mean everything for me to become a sport fan . As the same way , Fans still support the sport team even though they does poorly year after year because these fans like the players playing style and what makes the team unique . Moreover, the fans continue to support their favorite team because they have a faith that someday their team will win.
Zen, do you support any particular team? I remember when I was growing up in Australia that I was a bit odd because of my indifference to sports, but I did get excited about chess, although Australia was never in the running to win any international chess competitions. And of course these days, computers are better at most (every?) game that humans compete in. I know that my devices can all beat me at chess and any other game. But occasionally I still play them. Maybe humans are just programmed by the algorithms that our genes create our brains to run to enjoy playing games and competing, even when we aren't very good. Or perhaps it's the thrill we get from doing something that takes effort and skill, even if we don't succeed, which is perhaps also why we think at least some failures are worth celebrating. In fact, one of Australia's most important national holidays celebrates a loss: ANZAC Day is when Australia celebrates the memory of the brave men and women who died fighting for our nation and its democratic values in wars, but the initial celebration was the loss in our first battle in World War I at Gallipoli in Turkey.
DeleteI also think that being a fan of a particular team can make people feel they have many friends. Although I don’t often watch sports and I don’t support any sports teams, I’m a big fan of Justin Bieber, called Beliebers. I’ve never been alone when I’m in this community. Moreover, I’ve got a lot of new peers, not only in Thailand but also from all around the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this idea. Victory is like a motive to make fans be into a team more because when their team wins, they may feel confident and proud to be a part of the team. So, winning is very important to a fan’s identity.
I’m not sure to answer this question because I’m not a sports fans but I guess they feel more self-esteem. For some people, this feeling might last for a long time since winning a championship is like an important event in their team history that they will never forget. On the other hand, some may have this feeling for only a little while depends on how long they support this team and how much they love it.
Even though a team does poorly, I believe fans still support a team and look forward to seeing a year that their team wins. One reason is because they like this team and I don’t think people change their mind easily from what they love for a long time but they might feel disappointed for a few moments. Also, no one never makes mistakes so fans should be right by their side and give them a chance to develop the team.
I like the way that Gift substituted being a sport's fan with being a music fan. I don't think I've ever listened to a song by Justin Bieber, but I have been a fan of other groups and singers for many years, and Gift's idea seems to me a good one to explore here. For example, why do some people continue to support groups that are not very popular? Indeed, why do some groups or entire styles of music get strong support from their fans?
DeleteI thought that the most interesting question Bixby and Scanlon ask is why do fans continue to support a team that does badly year after year. The other statements all seem reasonable to me. I've never been a sports fan, but have been a member of organizations where the other members were all strongly committed to a purpose, and although I didn't feel that they were all friends, the shared commitment to purpose did give me a strong feeling that I belonged there with everyone else. One example that comes to mind is when I was active in gay group in Sydney in the late 1970s and early 80s. Gay sex was still illegal under the malignant influence of Christianity and other morally corrupt religions, so although I did not know most of my fellow gay activists, we had a strong sense of unity against the social majority of the time, and that gave me something like a sense of having many friends that I think might be similar to a sports fan in a stadium of thousands. Taking part in the early Gay Mardi Gras in Sydney, while they were more political events than the party events they have since become, did put me in a group of many thousands with shared hopes and activities.
ReplyDeleteGetting back to why fans continue to support a poorly performing team, I think that while we all like our chosen groups to win, we also have other reasons for choosing to be a member of a group. In my personal experience with gay groups, it was to reform society forward from the bad old ways of bad traditions dictated by bad people to morally better ways that respected persons because they were equally persons. Even though we often lost, we continued to support each other and keep fighting the good fight, and eventually the wins started coming. Perhaps fans support losing teams because they are the team of their area, or the team their family has connections with, or for some other personally powerful reason.
Your idea is very comprehensive example why people still on the team that done something poorly for a period. I also have one more example. Try to think that the particular group or community we talk about is our family. Even though our family member such as father did poorly at his job and almost fired. Instead of aggravating at him by berating , we salve and cheer him up to fight with hindrance again. Because of relationship we created together for a long time, it maybe the mysterious thing that cause us to feel Supportive for someone.
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ReplyDeleteWell, I agree with this suggestion because I believe that when people interested in the same issue or game, they will have the same purpose or a similar reason to support. It can bring people together, and people can get along easier than normal people who don't know each other at all which makes people feel that they have lots of friends when they have the same team, game or event.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am not sure that a sports team is a very important part of a fan's identity as well as winning is extremely important. In my opinion, Winning's teams are not the most important thing for some people to become their fans, but valuable of teams is the best thing which people should truly see them such as sportsmanship and teamwork.
As well as, my answer is unsure that winning a championship can change the way fans feel about themselves for a while because it depends on how they think about win or lose. Some people may think that they will be happy with losing because no matter what happens they will be fine and accept the result contrary to people who obsessed with winning their favorite team.
Eventually, I think fans will still continuing to support a team because of love and wait until their winning become. Because when we love something from the bottom of our hearts, it so hard to change their minds though it will be disappointed for sometimes from poor playing in the past. But no matter what will happen, fans still support their teams.
A couple of comments:
ReplyDelete1. most people's responses would make sense to a reader who has not seen the question, and this is useful for readers.
2. it is helpful to relate the ideas to your own experience, as some of your responses do. This not only checks your own understanding, but clarifies and strengthen's your ideas for readers. More concrete examples, telling us the exact people, even their names, along with times and other specific details are usually more effective than less specific examples.
3. It's OK to use singular they / them / their. I've already commented on this in a couple of private comments on your work, and it might be worth making a general note here. There are alternatives commonly used in academic writing, such as varying the sexes of people in examples, but it is increasingly common to see even formal writing use the "singular they." The grammar section of Oxford Dictionaries has an informative account of this.