SPORTS AS A UNIFYING FACTOR 1

Sports and How They are Used as a Unifying Factor After Tragic Events
Nicholas E. Pawloski
Global Connections
Instructor: Gregory Falls
December 8th, 2017
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Abstract

In the time of need sports have been one of the first groups to offer help. They are a key factor in

binding a community together once it is torn apart. It also helps people find other people with

common interests. This can especially help little kids that are just trying to make friends in a

game that they like. Sports teams have contributed with many different relief efforts, such as,

Hurricane Harvey relief and Hurricane Irma relief. They not only help by donating money, but

they also help by donating their time and their physical abilities to help. Sports are a big part of

their community and when their community is damaged or attacked they feel a need or urge to

help the people of their community get back on their feet.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract 2

Table of Contents 3

Introduction 4

Limitation 5

Literature Review 5

Discussion 8

Baseballs response 8

Basketballs response 10

Soccers response 11

Conclusion 12

References 14
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Introduction

Sports are a type of entertainment that people can enjoy almost anywhere. Countries

nowadays have a large variety of sports that compete internationally against other nations.

People usually like teams based on where they are from or where they live. A lot of people share

the same favorite sports team because there are not many professional sports teams in this world.

When you go to a professional sports game such as, a New York Yankees game, you can see that

most people cheer for the Yankees because they are located in New York. While in that stadium

you can feel as if you are all one when everyone starts to stand up and cheer. You can feel a

sense of unity. When you look around the stadium you can see a wide variety of cultures all in

one place. Everyone there is different and has come from a different background, but they are all

just there to watch a peaceful Sporting event. Sports can bring us together especially when you

share the same favorite team or you just go to the same school, when game time comes you put

your differences aside and cheer together.

Limitation of Studies

Location: The Author of this research paper, ran into some limitations while writing this paper.

One limitation that he has made is to stay within countries that have major sports, such as United

States (Soccer, Baseball, and Basketball), Europe (Soccer), and etc. This limitation will keep his

research within three different sports, such as, Soccer, Baseball, and Basketball. He will conduct

research on these different sports within the countries he has chosen.

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Bias: Along with the limitation of sports and where they are located, the author also has a bias

limitation because he has played a sport for almost all of his life and he has watch a lot of

different sports games. The author knows what it is like to be mixed with people from all over

the community, with different backgrounds.

Literature Review

Sources that the author has found have been used and studied to formulate this paper.

When people look at sports they think of it as a game, people do not realize the impact that sports

can have on a person or even a whole community. Most of the references agree that sports do

have an impact of people coming together as one. As the author looked further into the resources

he found a common theme of how sports can make a group feel like one unit especially after a

tragic event.

ABC news writers, Anthony Castellano and Michael Rothman talk about the terrorist

attacks that happened on September 11, 2001 in New York City. People were told to get back to

their everyday life and to focus on moving on. This was prime time for postseason baseball and

the World Series was taking place in Arizona and New York, between the Diamondbacks and the

Yankees. The World Series took place just 49 days after the attacks, with game 3 of a 7 game

Series that would take place in New York. Since the terrorist attacks major events at various

venues have added a lot of security, especially at Yankees stadium and other major buildings in

New York. Billy Crystal said, “I have to go through two metal detectors and be frisked to go to a

baseball game now. Alright, if that’s what it takes I’m going to my game.” People filled the

stadium even knowing that another attack might happen as a follow up from the attack on the

towers, but knowing that did not stop them from wanting to cheer on their favorite team. Before

every game they have a ceremonial first pitch thrown out and for this game President George W.
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Bush came out and threw a perfect strike right to the catcher. This sparked the crowd to scream

and cheer.

Another tragic event that happened was the Orlando Pulse gay nightclub massacre.

When this happened it tore the city apart, but this did not stop the Orlando Magic basketball team

from lending a helping hand. The Orlando Magic honored the victims of the massacre in several

different ways. The Orlando Magic dedicated their season opener game against the Miami Heat

to the 49 that passed. During pregame they revealed a banner they had made and the team

showed a video, in tribute to the families of the fallen, with singer, Brandon Parsons. The song

they had made was named “Forty-Nine Times,” and it included this line, “Takes more than just a

gun, more than you to tear us down, so let your colors fly free.” Basketball helped this city heal

after a tragic event by showing them that they are all in this together until the end and no one is

left out, just by playing a game in honor of the people that lost their life.

Lindsay Gibbs talks about the terrorist attacks in Paris during November of 2015. The

attacks happened outside of the Stade de France (soccer stadium) during a match between France

and Germany. As the game was going on the crowd could just hear explosions happening

outside the stadium but the game continued as planned. Officials decided to play through the

fear and show the terrorists that they are strong when they are together as one. Shortly after,

England and France played at Wembley stadium, in their regularly scheduled game, but this

game was different than most. Most games have hostile fans cheering for their team and causing

tension but during this game there was none anywhere in the stadium. The fans showed their

support by waving French flags or by face painting and some even made signs. For the national

anthem both teams stood together, intertwined. This showed the strength of these two teams and

how they shared a deep connection for the ones who lost their lives. In France and most
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European countries, soccer, is a big thing and is very popular to everyone. It helps people

connect with others from different countries especially since they are so close to geographically

to each other.

Sports nowadays have been recognized a unifying tool for peace. Any country in the

world can have a chance to compete in any sport. “No other social activity brings people

together in such great numbers, and with so much passion and enjoyment,” said Wilfred Lemke.

Anyone, no matter their age, gender, or ethnicity, can play in a sport, it is a freedom for anyone

willing to take on the game. You can have a community of children from around the world that

speak different languages, play a sport and it will bring them closer to children they never

thought they would meet before.

The pope held the Global Summit on sport at the service to Humanity, in October 2016,

which drew in over 100 sports activists, and they strategized for the future (Richard 2017).

Stephane Jaquemet said, "displaced persons need support in addressing three fundamental needs:

to belong, to connect and to develop a [new] sense of personal and social identity. Sport can

assist displaced people as they address all three of these needs. It creates a familiar environment

in which individuals feel that they belong; it allows connections to those with whom and against

whom we play; and it helps to develop a strong sense of self-identity with this growing social

cohesion.” Sports help people that have nothing, or have lost everything, gain an identity and it

helps them gain a sense of belonging. “Sports fill a void, build self-esteem and restore some

sense of normalcy.”(Richard 2017).

Discussion
Sports as a Unifying Factor
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Sports have the power to bring any cultures together in any situation. The people of the

world are diverse in many different ways, for example; a kid in America might play football,

while a person in Zimbabwe may have never of heard of that sport. When it comes to sports

everyone has an equal opportunity to play and make new friends, or even experience a different

culture. "Sport is truly the only area of human existence which has achieved universal law,"

according to International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach. "We are all the same and

respect the same rules."(Deutsche Welle).

Baseball Response

Baseball has become a primary unifying factor in the United states, especially after tragic

events. Baseball is played all over the United States, and is played for almost half a year.

Players come from all around the world, such as, most are from central america, but some are

also from japan, china, or canada. The sport is a great example of how people from different

cultures can cooperate with people they have never met before. Even though baseball can bring

teammates together, it can also bring communities together especially when everything seems so

dreary. The sport itself is an event where people can put aside their differences and come

together to cheer on the team.

One event, in which, baseball was a key force in reunifying a city was the attacks that

happened on September 11, 2001. “Just imagine Manhattan with no cars. Just people walking the

streets. It was like it was a movie set,” said Derek Jeter (Rothman). The people were told to get

back to their everyday life no matter how hard it was to move on, but it took a little while. The

yankees helped the people of New York, by giving them something to cheer about. The attacks

happened at the end of the regular season of baseball, which was prime time for postseason

baseball. The Yankees moved on with their season real quick playing great baseball for the rest
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of September and all the way through October, and into November. They ended up making it to

the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but since the attacks in New York

happened the the league officials were reluctant to play in New York because of the fear of more

attacks. Once game 1 and 2 were done in arizona, it was time to go to New York for game 3 of a

7 game world series. This game 3 is one of the most memorable of any World Series games,

president George W. Bush threw out the first pitch and he threw a perfect strike (Rothman). “It

was a signal to the country that healing could begin after the 9/11 attacks.” (Rothman). The

Yankees went on to lose, but they did not totally lose, they helped the city of New York get back

on their feet and continue life just like before the attacks.

Earlier this year Hurricane Harvey destroyed countries and some states in the United

States, leaving some places without power, food, or water. The hurricane also impacted the

houston Astros, putting most of the city under water and flooding their field. They did not let that

stop them as they continued on with their season and played 3 home games against the Texas

Rangers in Florida. They donated 5,000 tickets for their games in florida to first responders that

helped after the hurricane (Stevenson 2017). Along with the tickets they were also giving away

10,000 Carlos Correa jerseys to the evacuees at the George R. Brown Convention Center, but

they were not the only team that was willing to help, the Rangers organization pledged a 1

million dollar donation for relief efforts (Stevenson 2017). “We feel that the Astros playing this

weekend will provide a much-needed boost to our city,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner

(Stevenson 2017). Individuals on the team also decided to help on their own, such as their ace

pitcher Justin Verlander. He donated 100,000 dollars of his own money to assist veterans and

military families that were impacted by the storm (Griggs 2017).

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The Astros managed to make it into the postseason and then they made it to the World

Series against the Dodgers. During the World Series T-mobile created a hashtag, #HR4HR,

which they had people tweet and for every tweet they would donate 1 dollar (Maring 2017).

They would also donate 10,000 dollars for every home run hit during the postseason to help

speed up the recovery process (Maring 2017). “Puerto Rico, Texas, and Florida are home to

some of the biggest baseball fans in the world, and they need our help. So we are stepping up.

Plus, throughout the MLB Postseason, we are turning the biggest moments of the game into

moments that really matter with every home run worth $10,000 – and every fan's tweet with

#HR4HR adding to the relief effort,” said T-Mobile’s CEO and President, John Legere (Maring

2017).

Basketball Response

Basketball is a sport played all around the world, with people from different backgrounds

and cultures. In the united states Basketball is a major sport played by a lot of people. A tragic

event in which Basketball decided to help was the Orlando Pulse gay nightclub massacre. This

Event happened in Orlando Florida, which is home of the Orlando Magic Basketball team. This

event tore the city apart, but the events did not stop the basketball team from wanting to help.

The event happened before basketball season so the team decided to honor the people that were

in the tragic event on their season opener. They unveiled a banner with the number 49 on it and

the team showed a video, that showed tribute to the families of the deceased. “We felt the

recognition needed to be significant,” Magic president Alex Martins said. “We think part of the

healing process for our community is making sure we don’t forget. And we felt it was most

appropriate that we do it on opening night, so it receives the proper recognition and exposure -

but also gave the greatest number of our fans the opportunity to recognize and remember.” (CBS
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News). Not only did they dedicate their opening game to the 49, but OneOrlando Fund has now

collected 29.5 million dollars and is being distributed between 299 people (CBS News). The

Orlando magic showed the people that they are there for them in time of need and that no one is

left out, just by playing a basketball game in their honor.

The Houston Rockets also helped out their hometown after the Hurricane that destroyed

most of their city. The team owner Leslie Alexander said he would donate 10 million dollars to

Hurricane Harvey relief (CBS NBA). Along with the team's owner, their starting guard Chris

Paul pledged 50,000 dollars of his own money to another supporters fundraiser, JJ Watt’s

(Chavez 2017). When help is needed Sports teams are usually the first ones to offer a helping

hand especially if that is their hometown or they have any ties to the city.

Soccer Response

Soccer is a sport that has been around for a long time and is played in almost every

country. It is a sport in which you can play with people that speak different languages and still

win. Sometimes being apart of a soccer team is all you need especially if you want to make

friends. This has happened at Bellaire High School, were their soccer coach helped to start a ESL

for the kids in school that did not know english as their first language, have an activity that does

not require a common language (Gomez 2017).

While most donations are in the form of money, sometimes the people really only need a

helping hand instead of money. This is exactly what a high school soccer team did after

Hurricane Harvey, they helped people clean out their flooded homes and move what stuff

survived and they also helped deliver supplies. The kids would come volunteeringly everyday for

more than a week because they felt it was their duty as an American citizen, as most of them

were immigrants. They helped people they had never seen or met before clean up, which showed
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that they really do care about their community. At the end of everyday the kids would not say

“Bye.”, but they would say “See you tomorrow.” (Gomez 2017).

In 2015 in Paris, France, ISIS started bombing all over the city. One placed they bombed

near and try to bomb in was the Stade de France, which is where the French and German soccer

teams were playing at. As they attacks were happening outside the two teams inside the stadium

continued to play even with they fear that they might be the next target. “In many ways, sports

are a place for social inclusion, a universal language that facilitates and promotes progressive

social values,” said Lars Rensmann (Gibbs 2015). They continued to play even with fear in their

mind because they were not going to let the terrorists feel like they won, they showed their pride

for each other and their country

Conclusion

Sports can be used to bring cultures together in the time of need, whether it is just playing

a game for the people, or by donating money so people can get some help, or by even just

lending a helping hand. Sports can be used as a common language when things seem to be at the

absolute worst. It is a common language that almost anyone can understand since it is played all

over the world. When times of need come sport are usually the first ones to respond. Sports are

not just a game for people to watch, there is more to it than just entertainment, it is an event in

which people of all different backgrounds can come together to cheer on their favorite team with

people they have never met before.

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