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This is my lead section,

Sports in Venezuela

Baseball

History

On October 22, 1941 the Venezuelan baseball team defeated the Cuban baseball team in the World Amateur Baseball tournament. Since the victory was unexpected because Cuba was heavily favored, it sent the country into a craze. A week later when the team returned to Venezuela over one hundred thousand people lined up along a twenty-mile road from La Guaria to the capital to welcome them back. At the time that was more than a third of the country's population. Another fact to show the magnitude of the celebration is that government offices, businesses, and schools closed down to celebrate. The players were even greeted by President Gen at the Isaías Medina Angrita and many other high power people. The defeat of Cuba was recognized as a Hazaña at the time, which means a heroic feat. Later in the year 2000, the country’s association sports writers established the defeat as the countries most important sporting event of the twentieth century.. Since that “heroic” moment, the major spark of the sport of baseball escalated itself to be Venezuela’s dominant sport.

Football

Football (soccer) in Venezuela has slowly become very popular and a mainstream sport with baseball, but baseball is still known as the countries sport. This is believed because of how mainstream baseball is played and the success of Venezuelan players in the MLB (Major League Baseball). Also, it’s believed that the failure to become as popular as baseball in the country is because the national team has not done so well at the national level. Venezuela is the only team to not have qualified for a World Cup. Even though they have never won the World Cup, they do play in one of the hardest brackets with some of the top soccer countries in the world, such as Brazil and Argentina.

Venezuela football player, Alexander Gonalez

History

Venezuela football has had a rough history throughout the years, especially with its national team. The team is known as the La Vinotinto (The Red Wine) due to their dark burgundy jerseys showcasing the same dark color as red wine. The Vinotinto have struggled ever since the beginning of the national team competing for The World Cup in England in 1966. From then to the 1994, attempting to qualify for The World Cup series in America, the team was known as the "whipping boys," for how badly they lost to other teams. Within this time span they competed in seven qualifying campaigns, playing a total of sixty five matches consisting a record of seven wins, seven draws, and fifty-one losses.. Along with a poor a record, their goal difference was negative ninety-nine, meaning that they were scored on ninety-nine more times than they scored on opponents. Two years later, 1998, a new rule changed to the format of the qualifying process gave a little hope for the Venezuela team to compete for a World Cup because it was now easier for them to qualify. It was made easier for the team to qualify because of the new point system and matches against weaker teams. The expectations of Venezuela to have a chance to qualify were quickly shot down after the team actually started to play worse. The team play better in their previous campaigns with the harder qualifying rules than with the new.

The next season, a new head coach was chosen by the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF). The new coach was Richard Páez, he was a former Venezuelan football player. He coached the Vinotinto until the beginning of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers where he unexpectedly resigned. In his time as head coach he revolutionized the team with the help of a younger and newer players, helping them become a winning team instead of being known as the "whipping boys." He lead the team to its first ever victory over Uruguay, who then fired their head coach for the loss. After the famous 3-0 win, Páez said that "as a country, we have earned the right to savor this triumph after thirty six years of humiliation". In 2007 the Copa América tournament was held in Venezuela where the Vinotinto won its second ever match in the tournament. They went on to be undefeated, winning their bracket, until losing the quarter finals to Uruguay 4-1. The tournament was a huge success in bringing the country closer to the National Team. It is said for, a brief moment, football the nations favorite sport. This new enthusiasm towards the team also brought higher expectations of the team as well. When coach Páez resigned, he was replaced with César Farías where he continued Páez's revolution of the National team. He currently is coaching the team and has also helped the youth of Venezuela football players increasing the intensity of play at each level which produces better players for the Vinotinto. The 2014 World Cup Series will be the best and closest chance to becoming a qualifier for the Vinotinto.

19th Century Bullfighting Festival

Bullfighting

Corrida de toros, or Bullfighting, in Venezuela is thought to be the least popular out of the five Latin American countries. Also, bullfighting is considered to be more of an art form that the Spanish colonist brought with them, but is still a sport. The modern sport started in 19th century with the Spaniards arrival. The industry started from the city of San Cristóbal. The first bullrings were built of wood and didn't have many seats, but they eventually grew to the modern "large bullring," such as the Nuevo de Caracas that was built in 1968. The industry now has 55 bullrings, more than twenty-five breeding farms for bullfighting bulls, and two schools to teach how to fight the bulls. Festivals were normally held in honor of the patron saint or Virgin. Two of the most important festivals held are the Feria de San Cristóbal and The Feria de Sol (Festival of the Sun). These festivals have one week where each night there is an event with about four or five matadors, the "bullfighters," and an equal number of bulls. Even though these are two big events, bullfighting happens in these two places all year long. The quality of a bullfight, and how exciting the event is, is based upon the strength and power of the bull plus the skill of the matador.Bullfighting is legal in Venezuela because there is no national or state animal protection legislation that prevents animal cruelty.

Coleo

Baseball and football are the top two sports in Venezuela but the sport of Coleo has been a favorite past time for many years. The sport is most popular in the eastern and southern regions of the country. The sport is similar to that of American Rodeo where llaneros, or cowboys, will chase cattle but most commonly a bull. There are about three to five llaneros on horseback that will compete against each other and the bull. The objective of the sport is to chase a bull around an enclosed area, about the length of an american football field (100 yards), and pull the animal down to the ground by grabbing its tail. Once a llanero takes down the bull, they must let bull back up so it can continue to run around the arena. They do this by "twisting the bulls tail." Which ever llanero can get the bull down to the ground the most times out of the all the riders, will win. The chase lasts about five minutes . The sport can be very dangerous, just like rodeo, because the riders can fall of their horses and be trampled by the bull. Sometimes the bull can break a leg or become injured, and if this happens the bull is taken immediately to the slaughterhouse, the manga.

References

clemson

Wikipedia course page Fall 2012.

Course Page to Eng 103 Fall 2011