By Brandon R. Byrd “Sylvio Cator from Haiti to see you.” On August 27, 1932, those seven words brought work at the United Press to a halt. At once, the sports reporters at the New York-based news agency strained their ears, listening for “the sinister booming of tom toms.” There were none. No matter, though.…
On Tuesday, the US women’s gymnastics squad captured the Olympic team title. The “Final Five” outscored second place Russia by an impressive 8.209 points. This margin was historic and astonishing. It was the greatest difference between a first and second place team in fifty six years. On air, NBC commentator Tim Daggett likened the spread…
Sotomayor, Antonio. The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 330. 14 photographs, 2 illustrations, 2 maps, 2 tables, index. $60.00 hardcover. Reviewed by Wesley R. Bishop The world of sports and the world of politics are never far apart. Following each other…
By Betsy Schlabach In my “Race, Sexuality, and United States Sports History” course my students are required to analyze a sports’ history film. Numerous papers arrive on Jackie Robinson, the Miracle on Ice, All American Girls Professional Baseball League, Michigan’s Fab Five, the Black Sox Scandal, or Notre Dame Football. While drafting these papers, I…
Davis, David. Waterman: The Life and Times of Duke Kahanamoku. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015. 34 Photographs, Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Pp. 256. $26.95 hardback. Reviewed by Lindsay Parks Pieper Along the Waikiki beachfront in Honolulu stands a statue of local hero Duke Kahanamoku. The bare-chested, swim-trunk clad, bronze figure is positioned in front…
By Colleen English In the IAAF World Championships, the Olympic Games, and a host of other international, national, and local track and field meets, women compete in a wide variety of events, including middle- and long-distance races, like the 1500-meter, 10,000-meter, and the marathon. However, the inclusion of women in these races has a long…
By Kyle D. James, Guest Contributor On July 31st, 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide whether Almaty, Kazakhstan, or Beijing/Zhangjiakou, China, will become the host of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. The Boston 2024 Olympic Committee, along with the European cities that have also announced their candidacies, will be watching closely, as this…
Over the past two months, the momentum of the opposition to Boston hosting the Olympic Games spurred me while the narratives coming out about Rio sparked Matt Holder to write pieces about the Olympics for this blog. Matt summarized his article on media narratives with the statement: “…we see that media narratives care less about…
The cycle of national group bids to host the Olympic Games usually has not generated the type of openly negative discussion that occurred this year in the United States. From newspaper articles to blogs, to “Olbermann” on ESPN, Boston’s winning bid to represent the U.S. as a potential Summer Olympic site generated a firestorm of…
This week marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most magical moments in Olympics history. Billy Mills became the first American to win the 10,000m in 1964, and he did so in dramatic fashion. The story is so incredible even Hollywood couldn’t have dreamed it up. But, perhaps, more significant and more important than…
Sport in American History 