VocabularyDirections: Scan the following passage and find the words which have roughly the same meanings as those given below. The number in the brackets after each word definition refers to the number of paragraph in which the target word is. Of all the sports that America has to offer, baseball is considered the pastime of this country. Americans did not always regard baseball and other sports in such a benign manner. Rather, sports during the early colonial times were seen as pagan and devilish things to do. Many elite and wealthy gentry who embodied the Victorian ideals regarded any type of games or sports as ill vices. It was the common people who directly related sports to their religion. On days of religious celebration, early Americans joined together to play games. These folk games were unstructured and unruly; however, the unity that these games brought, created a need for professional sporting games. Folk games provided the foundation of sports. They created a sense of companionship and unison among individuals. These unorganized folk games created the threshold for organized sports and led to the transformation of the players' roles and the role of the audience. Amateurs became professional athletes, and the game an organized business. The game of baseball evolved from the English game of cricket and rounders. It was not until the time of the Civil War that baseball began to be played frequently. However with the transformation of the nation, society and technology, folk games too began to evolve into spectator sports. After the Civil War, baseball became a popular sport and no longer an archaic folk game. Structure and organization were introduced gradually into the game and increased public participation. The sport at first excluded the public, but as economic interests infiltrated the game, the need for audiences and spectators arose. The audience of baseball was instrumental in the transformation of baseball. The battling leagues and team rivalries created a sector for the American public to participate in baseball. Baseball emerged after the end of Civil War as a popular game.The popularity of rivalries fueled the attraction of the game and caused it to become the national pastime. The sport transformed from being a game of amateurs into a sport played by professionals. With that transformation, the innocence of baseball has been lost. The game of baseball went through many transformations. Once the owners took control, baseball had its ups and downs. The sport experienced a dead ball era in which pitching was well below the standard of today. Also, with new technological advances in the game, the sport reached its pinnacle. With improved balls, bats, and gloves the sport took off and the dead ball era came to a close. The live ball era increased the role of the audience.