*The most popular sportsin theUnited States of America

*Content

*Introduction

*Sport in the USA

*NFL

*MLB

*NBA

*NHL

*Russian players in American leagues

*Introduction*Sport is probably as old as the humanity itself. It has been developing with the developing and growth of the mankind. All over the world people of different ages are very fond of sports and games.

*Sport not only helps people to become strong and to develop physically but also makes them more organized and better disciplined in their daily activities. It makes for a healthy mind in a healthy body. Sports help people to keep in good health.

*Sport in the USA*Sports form an important part of the culture of the United

States. The four most popular team sports are ones that developed in North America: American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey. The major leagues of these sports, the National Football League (NFL), the Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL) enjoy massive media exposure and are considered the preeminent competitions in their respective sports in the world. Three of those leagues have teams that represent Canadian cities, and all four are among the most lucrative sports leagues in the world. Soccer (association football) is less popular as a spectator sport in the United States than it is in many other countries, though it has wide participation in amateur and semi-professional levels, particularly among youths and people of Latin American descent, which constitutes people from Mexico all the way down to South America. The top league, Major League Soccer, is starting to approach the level of the NBA and the NHL in terms of attendance, although it lags far behind in average salary and TV interest.

* *The National Football League (NFL) is the highest

level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing its name to the National Football League in 1922. The league currently consists of thirty-two teams from the United States. The league is divided evenly into two conferences – the American Football Conference (AFC) and National Football Conference(NFC), and each conference has four divisions that have four teams each, for a total of 16 teams in each conference. The NFL is an unincorporated association, a federal nonprofit designation, comprising its 32 teams. The NFL is the most attended domestic sports league in the world by average attendance per game, with 66,960 fans per game in 2010–11. Although not as frequently as the other major professional sports leagues in the United States, the NFL still is not immune to labor disputes, such as the players' strikes of 1982 and 1987, and more recently a lockout in 2011, though the latest did not result in the cancellation of any regular-season games.

*Major League Baseball (MLB) is the highest level of professional baseball in the world, consisting of teams that play in the American League and the National League. The two leagues merged in 2000 into a single MLB organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball, after 100 years as separate legal entities

*MLB constitutes one of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. It is composed of 30 teams — 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. With the International Baseball Federation, MLB also manages the World Baseball Classic. With an average attendance of 30,352 people per game, Major League Baseball has the fifth highest average attendance of any sports league behind the NFL, Bundesliga, AFL, and Premier League.

*The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada. It is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB),which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body (NGB) for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the 4 major North American professional sports leagues. NBA players are the world's best paid sportsmen, by average annual salary per player.

*The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball Association in 1949 after merging with the rival National Basketball League (NBL). The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey

*The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sport leagues of the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.

*The league was organized on November 26, 1917, in Montreal, Canada, during World War I after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909. It started with four teams and, through a series of expansions, contractions, and relocations, the league is now composed of 30 active franchises. After a labour dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, the league resumed play under a new collective bargaining agreement that included a salary cap. In 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, crowds and television audiences.

* Russian players in the American leagues

*Andrey Kirilenko On June 30, 1999, at age 18 years, 132 days, Kirilenko was the youngest European player at the time to be drafted in the National Basketball Association, when the Utah Jazz selected him with the 24th pick. Kirilenko was also the first Russian picked in the first round of an NBA Draft.

*Aleksandr Ovechkin Russian professional ice hockey left winger and captain of the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League

*Ilya Kovalchuk Russian professional ice hockey left winger who is an alternate captain of the New Jersey Devils of the NHL

*Timofey Mozgov is a Russian professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA

*Pavel Datsyuk is a professional ice hockey player from Russia and alternate captain for the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL

*We all need to exercise. Even if you don't plan to make a career in sport you still have to practice. Regular exercises give you more energy. That is why many people who suffer from general tiredness should take more exercise than more rest.

*Exercise makes you feel and look better.

*Thanks for your attention