Marc, David. Leveling the Playing Field: The Story of the Syracuse 8. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2015. 344 pages, 25 illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth $39.95. Reviewed by Matt Follett Leveling the Playing Field: The Story of the Syracuse 8 tells the story of how African American football players at Syracuse University protested discrimination in the…
By Matt Follett In Hoover, Alabama, from July 13-16, SEC players and coaches fielded questions concerning Xs and Os, records and predictions, and even fashion during the SEC Media days. Due to the Charleston, South Carolina, killings and subsequent Confederate flag debate, reporters at the SEC Media days also broached the relationship between the flag…
The killings of nine Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church members in Charleston, South Carolina, have ignited a cultural clash over the symbolic nature of the Confederate Flag, of which shooter Dylann Roof proudly raised in pictures taken before the murders. Scores of written, aural, and visual news stories subsequently have been produced to identify the…
Newspapers, magazines, and talking-head television shows have lauded the Southeastern Conference (SEC) as the best collegiate football league, even alleging the SEC West division was the most dominant in the history of the game.[1] The media’s ubiquitous coverage and accolades have been warranted, however, as SEC teams have won seven of the last eight national…
There are football tailgates; there are college football tailgates; there are Southeastern Conference (SEC) college football tailgates; and then there are SEC college football tailgates at the University of Mississippi, or Ole Miss to non-academics, in The Grove, where oak trees are planted throughout the ten acres of green grass located in the heart of…
Sport in American History 