Comments on: Golfing, an Evil Sport? http://prisonnotebooks.com/2009/06/19/golfing-an-evil-sport/ Tue, 08 May 2012 23:35:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Derek http://prisonnotebooks.com/2009/06/19/golfing-an-evil-sport/comment-page-1/#comment-9127 Derek Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:55:17 +0000 http://prisonnotebooks.com/?p=258#comment-9127 There are definitely some sports in the US that have a white and elitist tradition. I'd say the two most prominent are golf and tennis. Golf is pretty obvious when you consider its noble-class roots and the fact that playing it requires paying for the upkeep of 100's of acres of land that can't be used for anything else. Tennis doesn't really require a lot of expensive real estate or gear like golf does, but it does have noble-class roots and still has a bit of a stigma as being a sport for rich white people. That's why big stars like Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters were such big phenomenons, because they broke both class and race barriers in their sports (the Williams sisters perhaps more so than Woods, since Woods had more of a solid middle-class upbringing and doesn't really identify himself with the black community, while the Williams sisters initially grew up in a very neighborhood of LA). As for how they're portrayed in TV shows, golf is very similar to how it's showed in Japan. Usually there will be politicians, company executives, and wealthy doctors that keep light hours in the office and skip out early to play on the golf course. As for tennis, I can't think of any examples off hand. There are definitely some sports in the US that have a white and elitist tradition. I’d say the two most prominent are golf and tennis. Golf is pretty obvious when you consider its noble-class roots and the fact that playing it requires paying for the upkeep of 100′s of acres of land that can’t be used for anything else. Tennis doesn’t really require a lot of expensive real estate or gear like golf does, but it does have noble-class roots and still has a bit of a stigma as being a sport for rich white people. That’s why big stars like Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters were such big phenomenons, because they broke both class and race barriers in their sports (the Williams sisters perhaps more so than Woods, since Woods had more of a solid middle-class upbringing and doesn’t really identify himself with the black community, while the Williams sisters initially grew up in a very neighborhood of LA).

As for how they’re portrayed in TV shows, golf is very similar to how it’s showed in Japan. Usually there will be politicians, company executives, and wealthy doctors that keep light hours in the office and skip out early to play on the golf course. As for tennis, I can’t think of any examples off hand.

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