American sports

The United States is a sports-loving nation. Sports in America take a variety of forms: organized competitive struggles, which draw huge crowds to cheer their favorite team to victory, and hunting and fishing. Most sports are seasonal, so what is happening in sports depends upon the time of year. Some sports are called spectator(观众) sports, because the number of watchers is greatly more than the players in the game.

Baseball is the most popular sport in the US, it is played throughout the spring and summer, and professional baseball teams play well into the fall. Although no other game is exactly like baseball, perhaps the one that is most nearly like it is the English game of cricket(板球).

Football(橄榄球)is the most popular sport in the fall. The game started as a college sport more than 75 years ago. It is still played by almost every college and university in the country. And the football stadiums in some of the largest universities seat as many as 80,000 people. The game is not the same as European football or soccer. In American football, there are 11 players on each team, and they are dressed with helmets(头盔)because injuries are likely to occur in this game.

Basketball is the winter sport in American schools and colleges. Like football, basketball started in the US and is not popular in other countries. Many Americans prefer it to football because it is played indoors throughout the winter and because it is a faster game. It is a very popular game with high schools, and in more than 20 states, state-wide high school matches are held yearly..

Other spectator sports include wrestling, boxing, and horse racing. Although horses-racing fans call themselves sportsmen, the accuracy of the term is questionable, as only the jockeys(赛马师）who ride the horses in the races can be considered athletes. The so-called sportsmen are the spectators, who do not primarily(主要地)see the horses race, but to bet(打赌)upon the result of each race. Betting is the attraction of horse racing.
Football is the most popular game in summer in America.