In England sporting focus is usually on football, cricket and rugby. Tennis usually dominates the television once a year for Wimbledon but other than that it is usually down to the Olympics to make us Brits aware of other sports which are going on out there. In America the two main focuses are on American football which is much like our game of Rugby, the only difference is Americans wear more than adequate protection to keep them safe whilst jumping round the field, whereas in Britain it is a sport that is described as a real mans sport, meaning they can get hurt if in an aggressive scrum.

The other main focus in America is baseball, teams like the New York Yankee’s and the Boston Red Sox are well followed by fans and in major league baseball are two of the biggest teams on the baseball scene, they could be compared as in the same league as Chelsea and Manchester United. Baseball is featured as physical education in Schools throughout America, it is much the same of the game of rounders which is featured as part of physical education in England. Baseball like rounders, consists of two teams of nine players, there is a circle of four bases and each base has a marker stood at the side of it. The ball is then thrown and the batter then volleys the ball as hard as they can up the field, the fielders then run to get the ball and the object of the game is to throw the ball back to one of the far markers in order that the batter cannot get around the field and hopefully is caught out before getting the whole way round.

Where as baseball has took off in the states and is watched by many in stadiums all over America, rounders never had the same impact in Britain and is still confined to inside the school gates, although there are rounders teams out there that do travel the country, it is not a televised game. In America before major league baseball the kids are able to join Little League which is taken just as seriously by the parents. When baseball isn’t playing and not in season, then there is always merchandise available for people to purchase prior to the new season. Jackets and baseball caps are always a favourite.

With baseball being such a popular sport, there are many films which have featured the game over the years, Parenthood (starring Steve Martin), A league of their own (starring Madonna) and Field of Dreams (starring Kevin Costner) to name but a few. All of these are available on DVD rental (DVD Verleih). An easy way to rent DVDs now is through mailing DVDs (DVD Versand) on the internet, which means you can rent a DVD from the comfort of your own home.