By Andrew McGregor Two weeks into the new year, many of us are trying to stick to our resolutions. Getting in shape, working out more, and focusing on our health are often among the things we resolve to change or improve. As we embark on these challenges in 2017, I caught up with Natalia Mehlman Petrzela to…
Gerald R. Gems, Boxing: A Concise History of the Sweet Science. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Pp. 343, notes, bibliography, and index, black and white photographs.$40.00 hardback. Reviewed by Mac Ross In Boxing: A Concise History of the Sweet Science, Gerald R. Gems provides one of the most robust and ambitious history of the…
By Emalee Nelson This fall, a pioneering television show emerged on FOX’s primetime lineup. Pitch tells the fictitious, yet inspirational, story of Ginny Baker, the first woman to play Major League Baseball for the San Diego Padres. The series tackles a variety of issues one can imagine a woman would face competing in a league…
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Sparks will travel to Minnesota to take on the Lynx in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. After defeating the Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky, respectively, each team goes into the finals looking to add another championship trophy to its team’s history. The Lynx are seeking their fourth championship since 2011,…
By Cat Ariail After returning from the 1948 Olympic Games in London, the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) sought feedback from athletes, presumably to use such information to improve logistics for future international competitions. Frances Kaszubski, a shot putter and discus thrower, took full advantage of this opportunity. She composed a ten-page letter, detailing the indignities…
This week we’re offering our thoughts and reflections on the recently completed Rio Olympics. Today is part two of our roundtable. It features a Q&A with four of our contributors — Cat Ariail, Josh Howard, Andrew McGregor, and Lindsay Parks Pieper — about their views on the Rio Olympics and its legacy as both scholars and sports fans. Feel…
Last night NBC aired the Closing Ceremony of the Rio Olympics, officially ending the Games of the XXXI Olympiad. The contributors to Sport in American History watched many of the 306 athletic events over the past 19 days with enthusiasm and interest. This week on the blog we offer our thoughts and reflections as both scholars…
This post is a part of the series, “Sport History Rewind.” In this series, contributors revisit and reevaluate important texts to determine the degree to which their analyses, arguments, research, and influence resonate in the field today. Of particular concern is how well the works fit into historiographical debates and compare with more recent sport-related…
By Cat Ariail At the upcoming summer Olympics in Rio, Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce will attempt to win her third consecutive gold medal in the 100 meters. Her countryman Usain Bolt also will have the opportunity to accomplish the feat in both the 100 and 200 meters. If they three-peat in the 100, Fraser-Pryce and Bolt…
As part of ESPN’s 30 for 30, O.J.: Made in America examines O.J. Simpson’s movement through the American cultural, political, and social landscape of the past five decades. The five-segment documentary explores the significances of race, gender, celebrity, and violence in Simpson’s football career and later criminal trial. The Sport in American History blog will…
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