Word: sport
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...there really are any absolutes in sport, they defy recognition-especially these days, when a 19-year-old college freshman has run a 3-min. 51.3-sec. mile, and a 6-ft. ¾in. high jumper has cleared a bar 17 in. above his own head. Sports records have always been perishable, but in the U.S. today the spoilage rate is enormous. Athletes have never been so skillful, competition has never been so tough, and the U.S. appetite for sport has never been so insatiable...
...bowling alley; one out of 20 plays tennis or golf. And when they are not playing, Americans are watching: last year attendance at major-league baseball was up 12% to 25,182,209, pro football was up 17% to 7,497,407, and horse racing-the most popular spectator sport of all-drew 68,495,454 fans...
Then there is TV. On a typical weekend last month, New York stations offered six baseball games, a soccer game, two horse races, a golf tournament, an auto race, and a surfing competition. As for the papers, on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times usually allots 48 columns to sport-compared with 14 to music, 13 to theater, eleven to movies, seven...
With that kind of exposure, sport has become big business. Today the payroll of an average pro football team is $1,000,000 a season-and of 24 teams in the two pro leagues, only two lost money last year. Americans spent $46.5 billion on leisure activity in 1966; $40 million went for bowling balls, $150 million bought golf equipment, $2.8 billion was accounted for by boats and operating costs...
...sport's biggest bills, television more often than not picks up the tab. And sports of all sorts bring out the best of TV-the imagination of its reporters, the skills of its engineers. Parabolic microphones pick up a quarterback's signal changes; they eavesdrop on conversations between a golfer and his caddy. Other gimmicks such as "instant replay," "stop action," and the split screen help to heighten drama and educate the fan in the intricacies of the game...