Sports are great way to form friendship bonds
Blog Post 1 – Vardhin Manoj
https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll/sports/cc-sp-brown-column-102917-story.html
This article goes in depth on the friendships and animosities that people build with one another through the involvement of sports. The author, Robert Brown, goes on to talk about how competing with one another in a stressful situation can more likely than not build a bond that is very strong and close knit. Players and staff spend countless hours with one another traveling, practicing, and competing which allows them to see the similar qualities they have with one another. Brown relates this strong relationship not only to the players, but also the parents that come to watch games on a weekly basis. These family members spend so much time together as well, they end up celebrating holidays and even special occasions as well. However, With the level of competition sky rocketing in sports, there tend to be a lot of animosities that form within the team as well. Brown talks about certain instances where teammates that do what’s best for themselves rather than the good of the whole team can lead to conflict. This creates tension between the players which ultimately alters the strength of the tie between teammates. Robert Brown also goes on to mention the potential cuts that coaches, and staff have to make if a certain member of the program isn’t doing their role correctly. These cuts can cause teammates to lose contact with certain members because they no longer see each other on a consistent basis
This article relates to what we have learned in class in a number of different ways. The main focus of the information that Robert Brown is giving us regards to the strong and weak ties that people develop through sports. Teammates spend a lot of time together on a daily basis and are all working towards a similar goal. Brown recalls the times where him and his teammates would attend practices, go on long trips, and even hang out at the hotel pool which helped them build the strong ties and friendships that they keep even to this day. With tensions flaring in sports, there are times where weak ties can be formed as well. Brown had exemplified instance where relationships were strained mainly because a teammate would do something that was not in the best interest of the team. These strong and weak ties can also be incorporated to the Strong Triadic Closure Property. Usually teammates will have strong ties with each other except for a couple weak ties with individuals who did something to hurt the group as a whole. Another instance of this article relating to the STCP is through when coaches cut certain players. When a player is cut, the tie with that team gets cut along with it. When that tie gets cut, it’s almost as if there are no “edges” between certain individuals. These strong ties, weak ties, and no edges, can fulfill and not fulfill multiple STCP’s throughout a team.