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Sports and Self in Modern America

Sports and Self in Modern America. American Obsession with Sports and Fitness. I. Sports: A New American God. The death of Jim Fixx -- “ The Complete Book of Running” Fixx’s pre-death physical condition Rebuilding community through sports and defining happiness through fitness

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Sports and Self in Modern America

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  1. Sports and Self in Modern America American Obsession with Sports and Fitness

  2. I. Sports: A New American God • The death of Jim Fixx -- “The Complete Book of Running” • Fixx’s pre-death physical condition • Rebuilding community through sports and defining happiness through fitness • Sports as a powerful expression of identity • Expansion of Organized Youth Sports • Sports as a symbol of localism and community loyalty

  3. I. Sports: A New American God (cont) • The resurrection of American nationalism at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games • Cultural currency crossing ethnic and socio-economic boundaries • Sports as a means of cultural assimilation --Fernando Valenzuela

  4. II. Feminism and Sports • The older ideal of women’s sports • Suzanne Lenglen: The improper pursuit of victory • Helen Wills: The proper pursuit of victory • Billy Jean King: The emancipated female athlete --Virginia Slims Women’s Tennis Circuit (1971) --Defeats Bobby Riggs in 1973 • Significance of Title IX (1972)

  5. III. The Cult of Fitness • Fitness as a means to individual happiness • President John Kennedy as the symbol of fitness • Kennedy obsession with sports • Fifty-mile hike as a symbol of fitness • Infatuation with the Mercury Astronauts --John Glenn • Kenneth Cooper: The Scientific Father of Running

  6. III. The Cult of Fitness (cont) • Cooper quantified fitness -- “twelve minutes test” • Ready for Cooper’s Message: “Baby Boomers” getting older • A New Word: “Aerobics” • The expansion of the cult of fitness in the 1970’s and 1980’s --1970 NYC marathon (first): 125 runners --1986 marathon: 20,000 runners • Popularity of the Triathlon

  7. IV. Obsession with Youth and Body Image • The 19th Century Body Image Ideal • The Importance of Thinness in the 20th Century • Advertisers use youth and thinness to sell products • The mixed message of “consume” and “diet” • The symbolism of dieting • Dieting and Religion

  8. IV. Youth and Body Image (cont) • Huge Profits for Fitness and Sporting Goods Industries . . . • . . . And for Weight Loss Industry --Weight Watchers (1962) • Plastic Surgery Binge in the 1980’s • Preference for healthy choices in 1970’s and 1980’s • Impact of these choices

  9. IV. Youth and Body Image (cont) • Darker Side of this Body Image Obsession --Kathy Love Ormsby • Obsessive Perfectionism --anorexia nervosa --Karen Carpenter --bulimia --ultra-distance running --Stu Mittleman

  10. V. Drugs and Sports • 19th Century Drug Use by Athletes • Drugs and Cycling • Discovery of Testosterone • Soviet use of testosterone at the 1952 Olympics • Dr. John Ziegler and anabolic steroids • Dianabol • Growing use of steroids in various sports

  11. V. Drugs and Sports (cont) • Popularity of Human Growth Hormone • Risks involved in taking steroids and testosterone • Steroids expanded in the 1980’s into the realm of college and high school athletics • Steroid use in the subculture of Body Building • The “lie” of healthfulness in the sport of Body Building

  12. VI. The “Other World” of Body Builders • Body Builders as the ultimate image of the guy who gets the girl • Body Builders and homosexual “hustling” • Sports as the secular religion of America --Alberto Salazar • Sports as a secular salvation or escape?

  13. VII. American Weightlifting, 1945-1960 • The Golden Age of American Weightlifting, 1945-1960 • The leadership of Bob Hoffman • Hoffman’s formula for success --Recruitment --Wholesome American values --Ethnic Diversity --Team Spirit • Patronage of the York Barbell Company • Little publicity and lots of misunderstanding • Hoffman brings 1947 World Championships to Philadelphia

  14. VII. Weightlifting, 1945-1960 (cont) • Olympic Victory in 1948 and 1952 • The influence of the Cold War • Hoffman’s “Hi-Proteen” • Olympic Victory at Melbourne in 1956 • American weightlifting finally receiving recognition • Hoffman out of step with growing focus on physique competition • Hoffman and the isometric craze • Ultimate Russian domination of the sport following 1960 and the end of Hoffman’s “fatherly” leadership

  15. York, Pennsylvania: “Muscle Town” USA

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