Paper Example on Mega Event Planning: Book Review

The Boy in the Boat is a book by Daniel James Brown that celebrates the United States men's Olympic eight-oar rowing team, where nine boys in the working class got involved in the sport and caught the attention of a large percentage of Americans. The book majors on the time when the United States was affected by the Great Depression. Many people in the country were unemployed, and the agriculture and industry sectors were in ruins. During this time, rowing was a major sport in the country, and it had the popularity that basketball and football have in the 21st century. A young, naïve student called Joe Rantz joined the University of Washington in the 1930s, and due to his harsh life in the past, he joined the crew team that was coached by AI Ulbrickson, who believed that rowers had to excel in every life aspect.

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Plot

The central idea of the book is that Joe benefited from Tom Bolle's coaching styles and the rowing boats that were designed by George Yeoman Pocock. Bolles, Ulbrickson, and Pocock played a major role in helping the University of Washington to make a name for itself and proceed to the national stage (Hamilton, 2016). The biggest rival for the West Coast was the crew at U.C. Berkely that was coached by Ky Ebright. Joe and other newcomers competed against the freshmen team that came from Cal and won, which made them improve their careers for the next three years.

The team of Joe and his fellow freshmen competed in other games such as the Hudson Regatta, where they won against the East Coast teams. Hitler’s reign in power changed the Olympics and affected most of the games that were ongoing in various parts of the world (Hamilton, 2016). The theme of the book is to mobilize people the importance of sports in any country and to show readers the importance of being strong despite the challenges they face in their early lives as they grow.

The Mega Event

The Mega Event in the book is the Olympics and the rowing games that Joe and his college friends participate in since their freshman years. The book shows the importance of teamwork and a style of connecting with various people around them. Rowing was a sport that was the most cooperative at that time (Kelleher, 2015). The eight oarsmen had to row in perfect unison, showing that good crew teams had to possess a feeling of total unity.

The Boy in the Boat is a book about rowers as well as the political role of the athletes in various communities. Rowing was one of the most famous sports in the United States, and in the Olympics, teams from various parts of the world traveled to compete in the sports (Kelleher, 2015). Tens of thousands of fans watched from the stadium while millions of others listened through the radio. The best form of entertainment in the games was cheering for each crew team because it acted as a way of people celebrating their states, towns, and countries.

Adolf Hitler affected the Olympic Games as he decided to build an Olympic stadium and host all the games in his country. The Boys in the Boat is a representation of the way that the Nazis used sports to make sure that their country got an undeserved reputation intolerance and enlightenment, especially in Berlin (Parini, 2013). The Olympics is Berlin placed Germany on the bright side of the map because it reminded the universe how Germany experienced athletic excellence and the importance of athletics in various communities around the world. The crew led by Joe fought hard in its quest for the Olympic gold medal leading to a transformation to sports while grabbing the attention of millions of people around the United States.

Director’s Response

Daniel James Brown’s response to the Olympic Games is that everything is possible as the boys defeated their rivals who were elite, especially in the Eastern and British Universities. Brown described the emotional story of Joe Rantz as he struggled to regain his shattered dreams in finding a place that he could call home ((Parini, 2013). The director used the story as an extraordinary journey that described how Joe and eight other boys exchanged their dust and sweat in 1930s America. Brown understood the rowing dynamics and was surprised by the drama that happened in the boats as well as how watching the crews' race from a distance was always an exciting activity for all people who attended and watched from various parts of the world.

My prior ideas of rowing changed after reading this book. Rowing is a challenging game that required a lot of intelligence and strength, and it attracted millions of people who came to cheer the rowers as a way to honor them when most people felt that the communities they lived in were crumbling to the ground (von Bothmer, 2010). The Boys in the Boat is a representation of how sports can act as a way to celebrate each community while attracting attention and respect to the countries. The success of the crew teams attracted many tourists and made Seattle City famous in times when Americans had not heard of it.

Conclusion

I feel that the book resonated with the locals so that it could help readers realize the way that Seattle City reacted when the team was unable to afford its trip to the Olympics grounds. Trying out at the crew would be an exhausting process that would take a year, and by the time that Joe was ending his freshman year, he had already made it as part of the team mainly because he had endured many difficulties and pain and was used to working hard.

References

Hamilton, H. (2016). Daniel James Brown and The Boys in the Boat - 425 Magazine. 425 Magazine. https://425magazine.com/daniel-james-brown-and-the-boys-in-the-boat/.

Kelleher, A. (2015). Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat. Historylink.org. https://historylink.org/File/11145.

Parini, J. (2013). The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown – review. the Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/13/boys-boat-daniel-james-brown-review.

von Bothmer, B. (2010). Review of Daniel James Brown's "The Boys in the Boat" | History News Network. Hnn.org. http://www.hnn.org/article/158244.