Fair, John D. Mr. America: The Tragic History of a Bodybuilding Icon. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2015. Pp. xiii+457. Notes, index, bibliography, and appendices. $35.00 clothback. Reviewed by Hunter M. Hampton I just defended my dissertation, and I am still a little mentally frazzled. This also means that my analytical reading is cranked up…
Tonight, the University of Alabama meets Clemson University in the college football playoff championship. It’s a rematch of last year’s game, and the third year of the playoff format. As you prepare for the game, our resident college football historians — Hunter Hampton, Andrew McGregor, and Michael T. Wood — reflect on the legacy and impact of…
By Hunter Hampton College football is the most powerful sport in America. I am serious. College football holds more power than the NFL, NBA, PGA, etc. It is not that it owns a day of the week, or its TV revenue, or its number of teams. I’m confident in this argument because college football holds…
Alpert, Rebecca T. Religion and Sports: An Introduction and Case Studies. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2015. Pp. x+209. Illustrations, notes, and index. $28.00 paperback. Reviewed by Hunter M. Hampton It is fellowship application season, and that means that over the past couple of weeks I have written a lot of syllabi. Some are easy to…
Walker, James R. Crack of the Bat: A History of Baseball on the Radio. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015. Pp. xiv+305. Notes, index, and appendices. $28.95 clothback. Reviewed by Hunter M. Hampton I began writing this review on the Monday after my Texas Rangers won the American League West. In case you missed it,…
A week ago many Americans made a pledge to exercise more. Some of you may be sore from the grueling workouts you suffered through the last seven days. Others may feel convicted that you already gave up. Personally, I can barely walk because my legs are so sore. Thankfully, I sit at a desk and…
During my two years of coursework at Mizzou, I earned a reputation for using sports metaphors in class. While other grad students referenced – and acted like they understood or had even read – Foucault, Marx, or the like, I referenced sports. For example, in one class I asked if Nathan Hatch’s Democratization of American…
Ladies and gentlemen, Timothy Richard Tebow is back!! Those of you with a high enough cable TV package can welcome him back into your living room on the SEC Network. The last time Tebow made a media splash was when he ran shirtless through the rain at the New York Jets training camp. Truth be told,…
Since this is my first post, I’ll introduce myself and how I found my topic. My name is Hunter Hampton, and I am a Ph.D. candidate in history at Mizzou. I am working on a dissertation on muscular Christianity in 20th century America. Unlike some of my colleagues that popped out of the womb with…
Sport in American History 