Sport Like a Mixed Form of Communication Understanding of mass communication without attention to sport coverage is practically impossible. Through the mass media, millions and even billions of viewers, listeners and readers are brought into the experience of a great sports performance. The emotional power of sports performance enchanted by slow-motion video and musical sound track, can take you to breath away or bring tears to you eyes. There are a lot of massive spectacles like the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA play-offs, the Olympic Games, College Football Games. Each of these sports activities takes in many millions of dollars from television revenues and dominates national sports news for days or weeks. Cultural ImportanceMedia sports provide dominant myths in modern culture. Rituals are the repeated activities that act out myths. There are a lot of important rituals for people who found of sports activities. One of the such rituals come to dominate for a few hours or days or weeks the life of traditional village, so the televised football, baseball, basketball, hockey, or other major game takes on central importance for whole communities and regions during specific periods. Fans schedule their lives on certain days, especially Saturdays or Sundays, around televised sports. The economic impact of media sports illustrates the central importance to our culture. For example: Statistics shows that Americans spend more than 60 billion of dollars annually on sports (it is between 1% or 2% of Gross National Product). Being a star in media sports in America means receiving a temporary income in 6 or 7 figures. Personal Identification and HeroesSports fans often identify themselves with teams, players, and regions so that outcome takes on personal significance to them. Social psychology has pointed out how personal identification with a group occurs when the self-identity of a person takes on the frame of reference of the larger ...
