Coverdale, Miles Jr. The 1960s in Sports: A Decade of Change. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020. Pp. 371. Black and white photos, index, bibliography, and notes. $75 hardcover. Reviewed by Richard A. Macales “During the turmoil of the 1960s, the world of sports provided a positive distraction for the American people.” – Author Miles…
By Kate Aguilar It was a Sunday evening soccer program promoted as foundational for anyone wanting to play travel soccer in Southern Minnesota. We were new to the state and signed our middle child up immediately. We thought it would be a great way for her and us to build community. Between 50 to 75…
Steidinger, Joan. Stand Up and Shout Out. Women’s Fight for Equal Pay, Equal Rights, and Equal Opportunities in Sports.Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2020. Pp. 232. $24.95 hardback and ebook. Reviewed by Łukasz Muniowski Judging by pure numbers, women’s participation in organized sports is at an all-time high. This was made possible due to Title IX,…
Woods, Paul. Year of the Rocket: John Candy, Wayne Gretzky, a Crooked Tycoon, and the Craziest Season in Football History. Toronto: Sutherland House, 2021. Pp. 325. $19.95. Reviewed by Łukasz Muniowski Judging by the number of championships, the Toronto Argonauts are, arguably, the best team in the history of the Canadian Football League (CFL), with a…
Bunk, Brian B. From Football to Soccer: The Early History of the Beautiful Game in the United States. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2021. Pp. 296. 33 illustrations. $24.95 paper and ebook. Dure, Beau. Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup: A Historical and Cultural Reality Check. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2017. Pp. 246. $29…
By Russ Crawford The International Women’s Flag Football Association (IWFFA) held their 15th annual P-Town Classic in Provincetown, Massachusetts over the long weekend of 17-20 September. Unfortunately, due to the climate surrounding the pandemic, only four of the eight teams that planned to compete made the trip. Despite the uncertainty of holding events during these…
Friedman, Lester D. Sports Movies (Quick Takes: Movies and Popular Culture). New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2020. Pp. 210. $ 17.95 paperback and ebook. Reviewed by Łukasz Muniowski Almost all of us consume professional sports indirectly, as a certain form of mediation is always involved when it comes to watching any type of athletic competition. It is…
Harris, Cecil. Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020. Pp. 243. 15 illustrations. $29.95 hardcover and ebook. Reviewed by Łukasz Muniowski The story of Serena and Venus Williams is as unprecedented as it is unlikely. Two Black sisters, coming from humble beginnings, have dominated a predominantly white sport,…
By Russ Crawford The WFA held their championships on July 23rd and 24th at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The stadium, located just across the street from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, also hosts the annual NFL Hall of Fame game, and so the women were playing on a big…
Bike, William S. The Forgotten 1970 Chicago Cubs: Go and Glow. The History Press, 2021. Pp. 144. Acknowledgments, bibliography, epilogue, end notes, index, photographs, preface, prologue, $21.99 paperback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo It still stings 52 years later. The Chicago Cubs won a World Series title in 2016 to snap a 108-year drought, but 1969 will always…
By Russ Crawford The Women’s Football Alliance (WFA), the largest and longest running professional women’s tackle football league in the United States will be holding their national championships at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio the weekend of July 23-24. Since women’s professional football arguably started in Ohio in the 1930s, it…
Gitlin, Martin. Kyrie Irving: Uncle Drew, Little Mountain and Enigmatic NBA Superstar. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2019. Pp. 224. 16 illustrations. $26.95 hardcover and ebook. Reviewed by Łukasz Muniowski During a fall 2018 fan event at the TD Garden, the home of the Boston Celtics, former Celtics player Brian Scalabrine asked the best player on the team,…
Peter C. Bjarkman. Fidel Castro and Baseball: The Untold Story. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019. 364 pp. Reviewed by Michael T. Wood Peter C. Bjarkman was a giant in the field of sport history. Over the course of his prodigious career, Bjarkman authored over 40 books and contributed chapters and articles to edited collections. The Society…
Approximately one year after ‘The Last Dance’ captivated sports’ fans across the globe, guest contributor Łukasz Muniowski revisits the docuseries and deconstructs its mythologies. By Łukasz Muniowski Much has already been written about The Last Dance, the award-winning ESPN/Netflix documentary miniseries by Jason Hehir. As such, there is hopefully no need to explain in detail multiple…
Douglas, Andra. Black and Blue: Love, Sports, and the Art of Empowerment. New York: BookBaby, 2019. Pp. 310. $18 USD paperback. Reviewed by Russ Crawford Andra Douglas owned the New York Sharks, a women’s semi-professional football team, from 1999 to 2018. The Sharks began as a flag football team and won a national championship in that…
