SPORTS EVOLUTION TIMELINE

700 B.C. —-HOMER WRITES ABOUT WRESTLING AND THE DISCUS IN HIS EPIC WORKS

–THERE IS LITTLE ABOUT SPORTS THROUGHOUT THE DARK AGES FOR A SIMPLE REASON: FAMINE, PESTILENCE, WARS, THE BLACK DEATH. SOCIETIES FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES DO NOT HAVE LEISURE TIME.

–SPORTS CAME ALIVE AROUND 1610 IN ENGLAND WHEN KING JAMES WRITES “THE BOOKE OF SPORTS,” DEFINING SPORT AS DANCING, ARCHERY, LEAPING AND VAULTING. WHY ENGLAND? THEY RULED THE WORLD. LEISURE TIME. AN AFFLUENT SOCIETY.

–1600s—NATIVE AMERICANS ENGAGE IN LACROSSE, WRESTLING, AND EVEN A PRIMITIVE FORM OF FOOTBALL

–1700s—AMERICAN COLONIES BEGIN ENGAGING IN SPORT—WRESTLING AND BOXING IN PARTICULAR—AS A WAY OF DISTINGUISHING THEMSELVES FROM MOTHER ENGLAND, WHICH ENGAGED IN MORE “GENTLEMANLY SPORTS.”

–1770s—SPORTS CUT BACK DUE TO DEDICATION OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR CAUSE. AGAIN, SPORT DOES NOT THRIVE IN TIMES OF WAR

–1860s, 1870s–POST CIVIL WAR—HORSE RACING, COCKFIGHTING, BARE-KNUCKLED BOXING. THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL JOCKEYS IN AMERICA WERE AFRICAN-AMERICANS, WHO RODE HORSES ON PLANTATIONS.

–1880s—BASEBALL COMES INTO ITS OWN AND FORMS THE AMERICAN SPORT CHARACTER.

–BASEBALL IS WHAT REALLY CHANGED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIETY AND SPORTS. IT SEEMED TO FIT THE AMERICAN CHARACTER—LEISURELY, AGRARIAN THOUGH IT CERTAINLY HAD A SEAMIER SIDE.

–1880s—FOR THE FIRST TIME, AMERICAN PAPERS CREATE REGULAR SPORTS SECTIONS, LARGELY TO COVER BASEBALL

–POST WORLD WAR I, 1920’S—NEWSPAPERS START TO BECOME EXTREMELY RELEVANT IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. THERE IS A GROWING LITERACY RATE AND A GROWING ECONOMY AND THEREFORE LEISURE TIME AND THIRST TO DISCOVER WHAT’S GOING ON BEYOND YOUR OWN LITTLE WORLD.

–1920S—THE SO-CALLED GOLDEN AGE OF SPORT IN AMERICA—BABE RUTH, JACK DEMPSEY, BOBBY JONES, RED GRANGE, LARGER-THAN-LIFE HEROES. THE SPORTS WRITING REFLECTED THAT

–1940s—THE AUTOMOBILE STARTS TO BECOME INCREASINGLY PREVELANT IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. MORE AND MORE CONSUMERS CAN GET THEMSELVES TO SPORTING EVENTS, SO LIVE EVENTS STARTED TO BECOME RELEVANT.

–1950s—COMING OF TELEVISION STARTS TO CHANGE THE WAY SPORTS IS COVERED. THE NFL WAS NOT BIG UNTIL 1958, A YEAR WHEN THE NFL CHAMPIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BALTIMORE COTLS AND THE NEW YORK GIANTS WAS CARRIED LIVE. IT HAPPENED TO BE AN IMMORTAL GAME. OVERTIME, SUDDEN DEATH. THE COLTS BEATING THE GIANTS 23-17. ALMOST OVERNIGHT, THE NFL BECAME RELEVANT. AND IT HAS REALLY NEVER STOPPED GROWING.

–1980s—ESPN, 24-HOUR TALK RADIO INCREASE FOCUS ON SPORTS

–2000s—INTERNET CONTINUES FOCUS ON SPORTS BUT ALSO INCREASES ALIENTATION BETWEEN PRESS AND ATHLETES

–2000s—INTERNET ALSO GIVES ATHLETES, SPORTS FRANCHISES AND COLLEGES THE PLATFORM TO PRESENT THEIR OWN TAKE ON SPORTS

–2011—ATHLETES TWEET DURING GAMES, IN EFFECT PROVIDING THEIR OWN PLAY-BY-PLAY COVERAGE

–2016—DEREK JETER BEGINS THE PLAYERS TRIBUNE