The field of sports writing includes a wide variety of topics. Some sportswriting styles have been around for years, while others are relatively new, such as soft news and celebrity sports gossip. Sports writers have also become increasingly interested in exposing scandals in sports. These scandals have included off-field violence, performance-enhancing drugs, and official corruption.
While the aesthetic element of sports has survived, the focus of modern sports has shifted from aesthetic enjoyment to the pursuit of quantitative achievement. The transition from Renaissance sports to modern sports can be seen in the shift in the meaning of the word measure. Originally, the word measure connoted balance and proportion, but gradually came to denote numerical measurements.
In the 19th century, the relationship between sports and mass media changed dramatically. The growth of mass media and the development of new technologies made sports more accessible to a wider audience. As a result, sports attracted a growing base of paying spectators. Commercial mass media saw sports coverage as cheap, accessible content that would capture the attention of advertisers. At the same time, state and public media recognized the importance of sport coverage to reinforce national culture and patriotism.
Emotional processes are a vital part of the sports experience. Athletes’ emotional responses reflect how they evaluate their own performance as well as how others evaluate their performance. These feelings occur before, during, and after performance. Emotional processes are often guided by the subculture of the sport and its rules, such as appropriate behaviour during national anthems and post-game victory celebrations.