| Level: | Topic: | Speakers: | Length: |
| difficult | baseball | man | 01:03 |
Pre-Listening Exercise
Baseball is a popular sport in many countries. Before listening to this sports broadcast, think of common baseball vocabulary and sample sentences that might come up in such a program (e.g., run as in “The team needs four runs to tie the game.”).
Idioms
“have what it takes” = have the skills
“Greg has what it takes to be a great basketball player.”
“burn yourself out” = become physically or emotionally tired of something
“There is always a chance that athletes will burn themselves out unless they take time off away from the sport.”
Listening Exercise
A. Listen to the recording and answer the questions.
How many players are on base when Mark Sosa comes to bat?
The bases are loaded.
Mark's batting record for the game is ____.
Sosa has gone 0-for-3 this game with two strike outs and a walk.
It has been ____ games since he hit his last home run.
I'm sure Mark has felt the pressure trying to rebound from his five-game-home-run drought.
His batting average for the _______ has been 279.
Mark is up to the plate. Here's the pitch. Oh, an inside fastball. Strike one. Mark has been batting 279 this month.
What was the probable final score of the game based on the information given?
The Cardinals are now down by 3 runs entering the bottom of the ninth inning with Mark Sosa up to the plate. The bases are loaded. (If they are behind three runs, and he hits a home run, then his team wins the game by one run.)
B. Listen to the conversation again as you read the Quiz Script.
Post-Listening Exercise
Talk about sports that are unique to your culture (e.g., sumo wrestling in Japan). What is the objective of the sport, and how do you play it? What are the specific rules? Is any specific equipment or clothing required? What do you personally like or dislike about the sport?
Online Investigation
Baseball is a popular sport in many parts of the world, but there are other sporting activities that are equally or more significant to the local culture and people. Use the Internet to find out specific information on one or more of these activities:
- an ancient Maya sport of Mexico
- Japanese sumo
- rock paper scissors
- sepak takraw
- cup stacking
- elephant polo
- hot dog eating
- ultimate Frisbee
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