by Adam Park Jon Jones was arrested this Tuesday. Again. Jones was charged with “drag racing,” according to the Albuquerque Police Department, which was a violation of his probation conditions. Jones’ probation was of course due to his felonious hit-and-run incident in April of last year, whereupon the UFC also stripped him of his Light…
By Adam Park Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s 1858 article, “Saints and Their Bodies,” named a problem, a problem that gave voice to a bourgeoning American physical culture movement then, and for years to come. So articulated, the problem concerned nothing less than the spiritual and physical health of the Creator’s most precious creations. “By spiritual laws,”…
By Adam Park I recently tried to explain to a four-year-old why I whimpered in pain when she “honked” my nose. It was not easy. Boxing, I said. A friend punched me there several times because we were playing a game. She looked perplexed. But we weren’t fighting, I quickly qualified, we were just having…
by Adam Park If Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is to be reckoned among the greatest pugilists of all time, it is only because his predecessors did much of the learning for him. In other words, he’s good because others were good before him. But the sweet science has changed a great deal over the millennia. Though…
by Adam Park For far too long, lamented Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1858, “the saints have been ‘ashamed of their bodies.’”[1] For Higginson, Christians had failed to realize the interconnectedness between body and spirit. Christians needed something more physically robust. And as it so happened, America’s bourgeoning physical culture movement was ideal. Noting development…
by Adam Park You can tell a lot about a person by how they do their pull-ups these days. Indeed, the CrossFit pull-up is as divisive an issue as politics. But take it or leave it, CrossFit is everywhere. With a network of over 11,000 affiliated gyms, more than 100,000 accredited trainers, the CrossFit Games…
by Adam Park The Russo-Japanese War sparked American fascination with Japanese culture at the turn of the 20th century. “Japanese things are in fashion nowadays,” claimed one 1904 periodical, but “where does Japan get her muscle and pluck?”[1] They are “an intelligent, wholesome people; strong, clean and moral,” according to one representative source.[2] Indeed, Americans…
by Adam Park The smell of stale cigarette smoke hung low and dense as I walked through the heavily tented doors. The lighting was dim and poor. The sun stopped at the doorway. It took some effort for my eyes to adjust. Flashing neon. The unnatural greenish hue of florescent bulbs hanging overhead. Ostentatious carpets,…
by Adam Park In the timeless words of “Fight Pastor” Brandon Beals, “Jesus didn’t throw stones, but he had some.” And it may surprise some of you to hear that this is no religious idiosyncrasy. Others, apparently, agree. Indeed, the subjects of the new documentary, Fight Church, help spread such good news. Beals’ testicular testimony,…
There’s something curious about sports. Particularly, something curious about the way that the category of “sports” is used. It’s everywhere. It’s even in the opening quote of Andrew McGregor’s previous blog entry, which cited former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren claiming that he likes to read the sports page because it “records people’s…
Sport in American History 