Review of Dyed in Crimson

Dyed in Crimson: Football, Faith, and Remaking Harvard’s America. University of Illinois Press, 2023. Pp. 290. Acknowledgments, bibliography, conclusion, index, introduction, notes. $28 paperback. Reviewed by Bob D’Angelo Anti-Semitism in the United States is not new, but it has been bubbling to the surface again with alarming frequency. According to FBI statistics, American Jews account…

Review of The World Through Soccer

Bar-On, Tamir. The World Through Soccer: The Cultural Impact of a Global Sport. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. xxiii+307. Appendix, notes, bibliography, and index. $92.00 hardback, $89.99 electronic book. Reviewed by Zachary R. Bigalke Anyone who has watched soccer in recent years has seen a dizzying array of different formations and tactics being…

Review of Sport and Religion in the Twenty-First Century

Reviewed by Alex Parrish Schultz, Brad, and Mary Lou Sheffer, eds. Sport and Religion in the Twenty-First Century. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016. Pp. xi+260. Bibliography, index, and contributor biographies. $95 hardback. Spend any time in the South during the fall, and you will likely hear the old cliché, “football is religion down here.” This…

Review of Christy Mathewson, The Christian Gentleman

Gaines, Bob. Christy Mathewson, The Christian Gentleman: How One Man’s Faith and Fastball Forever Changed Baseball. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. Pp. x+218. Illustrations, notes, appendices, works cited, and index. $38.00 hardback. Reviewed by Paul Putz Renowned for his pinpoint accuracy and his “fadeaway” pitch, Christy Mathewson’s baseball exploits are well known. He ended…

Review of Dolph Schayes and the Rise of Professional Basketball

Grundman, Dolph. Dolph Schayes and the Rise of Professional Basketball. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2014. Pp. xix+163. Illustrations, notes, works cited, and index. $24.95 clothback. Reviewed by Paul Putz When Dolph Schayes passed away last December, the New York Times devoted two stories to the legacy of the basketball Hall-of-Famer. One described Schayes, who…

Sport and Religion at “Jerry Falwell U”

I only recently attended my first Liberty University (LU) athletic event. Although I have lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, for over two years, I typically avoid the ever-expanding school on the “other side of town.” On the one hand, the traffic surrounding Liberty is always a pain. LU’s campus is encircled by bypasses, strip malls, and…

Tebow is Back!!

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,…