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Sportsprint--A Primer for the Reading Blahs

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Sportsprint--A Primer for the Reading Blahs Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts Volume 18 Issue 2 January 1978 Article 6 1-1-1978 Sportsprint--A Primer for the Reading Blahs Harvey Frommer New York City Community College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Frommer, H. (1978). Sportsprint--A Primer for the Reading Blahs. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 18 (2). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol18/iss2/ 6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Education and Literacy Studies at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact wmu- [email protected]. SPORTSPRINT—ASPORTSPRINT-A PRIMERPRIMER FORFOR THETHE READINGREADING BLAHSBLAHS HarveyHarvey FrommerFrommer NEWNEW YORKYORK CITYCITY COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY COLLEGE,COLLEGE, NEWNEW YORK,YORK, NEWNEW YORKYORK NewspapersNewspapers decrydecry lowlow readingreading scores.scores. ParentsParents battlebattle withwith childrenchildren urgingurging themthem toto readread more.more. EducatorsEducators bemoanbemoan readingreading readiness,readiness, readingreading curiosity,curiosity, readingreading skillsskills onon thethe partpart ofof theirtheir students.students. SomeSome segmentssegments oftheof the societysociety blameblame thethe electronicelectronic mediamedia andand limplylimply rationalizerationalize thatthat nothingnothing cancan be done aboutabout aa deplorable situation.situation. NBC opts toto spendspend nearly one hundred million dollars on the 1980 Olympics. Sports IllustratedIllustrated has a very successful book club specializing inin lengthylengthy tractstracts focusedfocused on the sporting life.life. Virtually one outofout of every threethree Americans each year isis entranced by the Super Bowl on television. And millions of Americans in reading newspapers and magazines turn first and fondly to the sections dealing with sports. There is, or there should be, a connection between the world of reading and sportsprint. For instead of attacking the American obsession with sports, educators should capitalize on it and use it for the priming of reading skills. Just as many non-achieving students look forward to atat­ tending educational institutions b'ecausebecause of the opportunity to engage in athletics, so would non-achieving readers look forwardforwar? to immersing themselves in reading activities where they have a built-in 'interestinterest --the—the reading world of sportsprint. What is isbeing being proposed herehereisnota is not a nation nationof of sportsprint zealots, but at least a maximum effort to cull from the magazines, newspapers, books that write about sports in an intelligent manner-manner starting points for reading skills for non-enthusiastic and inefficientinefficient readers. The world of sports isis a world of records.records. The performances of athletes and teams are noted daily, s-ynthesized,synthesized, analyzed, computerized and preserved inin print media all alloverthe over the United States. InIn the the season season of baseball, baseball, for for example, example, a a box box score score reveals reveals how how many timestimes aa batter batter came came up up to to hit, hit, howhow manymany hits hits that that batter batter recorded,recorded, thethe numbernumber ofof runs runs he he scored, scored, his his runs runs battedbatted inin and and equally equally (in)significant(in)significant info.info. PitchersPitchers havehave preservedpreserved forfor posterityposterity inin the the box box scoresscores thethe hits hitsand and the the runsruns andand thethe strikeoutsstrikeouts andand thethe ballsballs andand thethe earnedearned runsruns theythey werewere responsibleresponsible for for on on any any given given day. day. BasketballBasketball box box scores scores likewiselikewise provideprovide a a healthy healthy statistical statistical yield. yield. The The numbernumber ofof shots shots taken, taken, the the amountamount ofof minutes minutes played, played, the the fouls fouls given given and and thethe rebounds rebounds accomplishedaccomplished - allall of of these these are are there there for for the the discoverydiscovery andand the the enlightenmentenlightenment ofof the the readingreading sportssports fan. fan. AA student student who who givesgives upup half-wayhalf-way throughthrough a a slightly slightly difficult difficult reading reading passage,passage, frustratedfrustrated in in hishis searchsearch for for comprehensioncomprehension andand meaning,meaning, willwill expendexpend ten ten timestimes thethe amount amountof of time time and and energyenergy studyingstudying thethe box box scoresscores forfor rh-115rh-\\b insightsinsights into into the the exploits exploitsof of his his favorite favorite athletes. athletes. Why Why not not capitalize capitalize on on this this built-inbuilt-in obsessionobsession withwith the the worldworld ofof the the sporting sporting record?record? WhyWhy not not assignassign somesome work. work, some some projects projects aimed aimed at at following following and and plottingplotting thethe successessuccesses andand failures.failures, thethe ebbsebbs andand thethe flowsflows ofof athletesathletes andand teams?teams? ReadingReading for for detail. detail, for for application, application, for for conclusions.conclusions, developmentdevelopment of of skillsskills inin skimming,skimming, pre-reading,pre-reading, allall of of these these could could veryvery easilyeasily bebe developeddeveloped throughthrough contact contact ~ith with the the world of sportsprint.sportsprint. And this would be just one facetfacet of the the sportsprint sportsprint functioning functioning as as a a primer for for the the reading reading blahs. blahs. Once the recordsrecords and the statis.ticsstatistics of sports have primed the reading pump - the next logicallogical area of activity could be the accounts of the games and the close-ups of athletes athletesin in the pages pagesof of newspapers and magazines. Tone, style, main thoughts, use of supporting details, units on con­ con trasting the writing of the newspapers versus the magazine or one columnist in one newspaper as opposed to that of another could also be introduced. A third major area and perhaps the sector of sportsprint most ap­ ap plicableplicablefor for reading development is the world of sports literature. This is the area where readers can really be taught to use their intellect, to feel new emotions.emotions, to garner a new awareness into the nuances of reading, of life. Readers could be led to understand and appreciate the bittersweet friendshipfriendshipof of the baseball battery in the Mark Harris novel, BangBangthe the Drum Slowly. They could share the rageandrage and driveanddrive and frustration ofJackJohnsonof Jack Johnson in Howard Sachler's Great White Hope. The symbolism ofJackof Jack London's aging boxer pitted against brash youth in "A Piece of Steak" and the protagonist's romantic musing about the nobility of lions in Africa andJoeand Joe DiMaggioatDiMaggio at Yankee Stadium in Hemingway's OldManandOld Man and the Sea --these-these too could be the benefits of sportsprint. The list of emotions, of reading skills, ofsubjectmatterof subject matter is endless. Just a brief sampling of what a sportsprint literary bibliography might look like includes: Asinof. Elliot,Elliot. Man on Spikes; Brosnan, Jim, The Pennant Race, The Long Season; Faulkner, William, The Big Woods, The Hamlet; Harris, Mark. Bang the Drum Slowly; Hemingway, Ernest, The Old Man and the Sea;Sea: Malamud,Malamud. Bernard, The Natural; Williams, Tennesee, One Arm; Wolfe,Wolfe. Thomas, You Can't GoHomeAgain;Go Home Again; additionally most of the works of Grantland Rice. Ring Lardner,Lardner. Arthur Daley could alsoalso findfind theirtheir way intointo thethe sportsprintsportsprint literaryliterary bibliography.bibliography. The lure isis inin thethe subjectsubject matter. The material of sportssports isis being read. WeWe asas educatorseducators havehave toto simplysimply provideprovide thethe guidanceguidance andand thethe focusfocus andand thethe directiondirection forfor thethe materialmaterial toto bebe readread inin suchsuch aa wayway thatthat SPORTSPRINTSPORTSPRINT becomesbecomes AA PRIMERPRIMER FORFOR THETHE READINGREADING BLAHS.BLAHS. .
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