Source: Donald 1xbet online games login , 785-532-0377, 1xbet online games login @k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Calin Cooney, 785-532-1546, media@k-state.edu

Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010

FOOTBALL FINDS PLACE IN 1xbet online games login CELEBRATIONS, PROFESSOR SAYS

MANHATTAN -- The 1xbet online games login holiday in the U.S. means plenty of turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie -- and football.

American football has become a staple in the 1xbet online games login celebration of feast and family, according to a Kansas State University expert on the history of sport. The day typically includes nationally televised college and pro games.

However, Donald 1xbet online games login , professor of history at K-State, says it's more than the sport of football that holds our interest on Thanksgiving: it's the camaraderie that accompanies it.

&1xbet online games login ;There's a concept that historian Eric Hobsbawm came up with years ago called 'invented tradition,'&1xbet online games login ; Mrozek said. &1xbet online games login ;This is when people deliberately invent traditions because they crave a sense of place and belonging.&1xbet online games login ;

The particular invented tradition of Thanksgiving Day football really developed during football's correlated growth with American culture in the 20th century, even though the sport of football started about a half-century before, 1xbet online games login .

&1xbet online games login ;What most people don’t grasp is that a great deal of what we think of as long-standing American traditions weren't created until the 20th century,&1xbet online games login ; Mrozek said. &1xbet online games login ;For example, America didn't even have a national anthem until the 20th century.&1xbet online games login ;

Football's accelerated growth as a great American tradition, and its association with the Thanksgiving holiday, only supports the claim that it's now become a long-standing American tradition, 1xbet online games login .

&1xbet online games login ;We look for ways of Americanizing things. This way we can claim that they are special American institutions, whether or not it's accurate to describe them that way,&1xbet online games login ; he said.