By Michael T. Wood As 2015 comes to a close, we are entering the home stretch of the college football postseason. By the end of the day (or in the first moments of the New Year), thirty-one of the record forty bowl games will be completed, including the two semifinal games of the College Football…
By Leslie Heaphy Baseball is still America’s national pastime. You may not agree with me but there is much evidence to support this belief. Just look at the number of new books that came out in 2015 alone. Every day articles are written about the past, present and future of the game. Numerous sites exist…
Reck, Gregory G., and Bruce Allen Dick. American Soccer: History, Culture, Class. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2015. Pp. 229 + x. Bibliography and Notes. $29.95 paperback. Reviewed by Lindsay Parks Pieper On December 6, the Portland Timbers squared off against the Columbus Crew in the 2015 MLS Cup. Although the match was played…
By Andrew R.M. Smith PREFACE: To bowdlerize the intro of Dickens’ iconic A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, for this pedagogically-oriented, sport-centered riff on a seasonal classic: I endeavor in this blog about teaching sport history online, to raise the ghost of an idea, which shall not put my readers…
“Kareem: Minority of One” documentary, produced by Mike Tollin, Rick Bernstein, and Deborah Morales (HBO Sports, Mandalay Sports Media, 2015) Reviewed by Frank Andre Guridy My earliest basketball memory is of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shooting his patented “skyhook” shot over rival centers Darryl Dawkins and Caldwell Jones of the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1980 NBA Finals.…
Guiliano, Jennifer. Indian Spectacle: College Mascots and the Anxiety of Modern America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015. Pp. 194. Notes and Index. $80.00 cloth. $27.95 paper. Reviewed by Andrew McGregor Most Americans are familiar with the controversy surrounding American Indian mascots, best exemplified by the current pushback against the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Few,…
By Mercedes Townsend In the same way defenders utilizing a “full court press” strategy limit the progression of their opponents across the court, hegemonic gender norms and expectations have historically and continuously stifled the progress of women’s basketball. Despite the gains of storied programs such as the UConn Huskies and University of Tennessee Lady Vols,…
By Cat Ariail At the 1959 Pan-American Games in Chicago, Illinois, Carlota Gooden, a twenty-two year-old Panamanian sprinter descended from Barbadian canal workers, won two silver medals and a bronze. Her performances in the 100-meter sprint, 4×100-meter relay, and 60-meter dash entered her name in the official records of international track, a permanent inscription that…
Vogan, Travis. ESPN: The Making of a Sports Media Empire. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2015. Pp. 256. Notes and Index. $95.00 clothback, $19.95 paperback. Reviewed by Kyle R. King What if I told you that the widening gyre of sports media has a centripetal force? That even as sports media ventures proliferate, they…
Vogan, Travis. Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2014. Pp. ii + 238. Notes and Index. $90 hardback, $25 paperback. Reviewed by Stephen Townsend Travis Vogan has a reputation as a lucid and aggressive interrogator of sporting cultures. So, when I was asked to…
Sport in American History 