Of all the sports that America has tooffer, baseball is considered the pastime of this country. Americans did notalways regard baseball and other sports in such a benign manner. Rather, sportsduring the early colonial times were seen as pagan and devilish things to do.Many elite and wealthy gentry who embodied the Victorian ideals regarded anytype of games or sports as ill vices. It was the common people who directlyrelated sports to their religion. On days of religious celebration, earlyAmericans joined together to play games. These folk games were unstructured andunruly; however, the unity that these games brought, created a need forprofessional sporting games. Folk games provided the foundation of sports. Theycreated a sense of companionship and unison among individuals. Theseunorganized folk games created the threshold for organized sports and led tothe transformation of the players' roles and the role of the audience. Amateursbecame professional athletes, and the game an organized business. The game ofbaseball evolved from the English game of cricket and rounders. It was notuntil the time of the Civil War that baseball began to be played frequently.
However with the transformation of thenation, society and technology, folk games too began to evolve into spectatorsports. After the Civil War,baseball became a popular sport and no longer anarchaic folk game. Structure and organization were introduced gradually into thegame and increased public participation. The sport at first excluded thepublic, but as economic interests infiltrated the game, the need for audiencesand spectators arose. The audience of baseball was instrumental in thetransformation of baseball. The battling leagues and team rivalries created asector for the American public to participate in baseball.
Baseball emerged after the end of CivilWar as a popular game.The popularity of rivalries fueled the attraction of thegame and caused it to become the national pastime. The sport transformed frombeing a game of amateurs into a sport played by professionals. With thattransformation, the innocence of baseball has been lost. The game of baseballwent through many transformations. Once the owners took control, baseball hadits ups and downs. The sport experienced a dead ball era in which pitching waswell below the standard of today. Also, with new technological advances in thegame the sport reached its pinnacle. With improved balls, bats, and gloves thesport took off and the dead ball era came to a close. The live ball eraincreased the role of the audience.
competitions(Para. 2)
【正确答案】：rivalries