Cultural History Commons^™

Negro Leagues And College Football Playoff, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Last week, the Commissioner of Baseball announced that from this point on the Negro Leagues that were operating between 1920 and 1948 would be “elevated” to “Major League status” by Major League Baseball. He added that “MLB is proud to highlight the contributions of the pioneers who played from 1920-1948.” The action was presented as a culmination of the centennial celebration of the founding of the Negro Leagues in 1920. The statistics from those leagues now become a part of the official records.

Covid-19 Covers Against The Nfl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For the NFL, the push to the playoffs begins in December as the contenders are separated from the pretenders. The Super Bowl is still eleven weeks or so away, but those who hope to be there are fine-tuning their game to make the run to Super Bowl LV in Tampa.

Covid-19 Is Number One, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Heading into December, the college football season has reached that point when teams are trying to position themselves for conference playoffs and championships, and for the elite the CFP National Championship Game. Lesser teams are trolling for bowl games, great and small. In addition, men’s and women’s college basketball and hockey are underway. College basketball opened on Wednesday with a bundle of cancellations.

Thanksgiving, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As with all American traditions, if it happened once or twice it is one. Therefore I present my traditional Thanksgiving piece.

The Sports Tsunami, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was March 11 when the NBA cancelled the regular season game between the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder after Jazz players Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell tested positive for Covid-19. The next day the NBA suspended its regular season. This decision rolled across the world of sport and soon most other sports in the United States followed the NBA lead.

Anti-Semitism, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

I am not a social media person, and, so at times, things slip by me that I should know about. In the past few weeks, I found myself playing catch-up on the uproar set off by DeSean Jackson’s tweets. Jackson mistakenly thought he was quoting Hitler in his anti-Semitic blast. Steven Jackson, no relation to DeSean, supported DeSean with his own splash of anti-Semitic material. Both men followed up with tributes to the wisdom of Louis Farrakhan, regarded by many as the current leader of anti-Semitism in the world.

Sport In The Middle Of Crisis, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has been two weeks since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, an event that has thrown American society into a state of shock and mourning, followed by protest, marches, and rioting. It has been over fifty years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the city of Memphis. That event also sent the country into a state of shock and mourning, with protest, marches, and rioting.

Intercollegiate Athletics Part Ii, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Perhaps the biggest news in intercollegiate athletics concerns the changing NCAA policy on player commercial endorsement. At the end of April, the NCAA Board of Governors approved recommendations allowing athletes to be paid for endorsements. These will now go to the NCAA annual meeting in January, and, if approved by the full membership, the new policy will go into effect for the 2021-22 academic year. (Placing this in terms of “academic year” is the NCAA’s subtle way of promoting the pretense of the “student athlete.”)

College Sports In The Covid19 World (Part I), Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Even though College Sports are no longer being played, the NCAA and colleges continue to make news. Some of the news is an expected part of the norm, while other news concerns the new world of Covid19 and the future of intercollegiate athletics or, more to the point, football and basketball.

There is growing discussion over the coming football season in the world of Covid19. When will it start? What will it look like? Will it take place at all? The discussions around these questions spin in many directions and, at times, crisscross one another. Are there any guidelines that …

What We Miss, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has been several weeks since the world changed. The regular patterns of life have been disrupted, and keeping track of what day it is has required some effort. Sport with its familiar patterns and rhythms is gone. March Madness took on a very different meaning; the NHL and the NBA shut down; spring training in Arizona and Florida ended abruptly; the Olympics have been postponed for a year; and across the world, sports at all levels have been cancelled or postponed.

Michael Jordan In Orlando For Baseball, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

ESPN has now aired the first four episodes of “The Last Dance.” There will be ten in all. This documentary is being marketed as a new and candid look at Michael Jordan and the 1997-1998 Chicago Bulls. It is receiving rave reviews and, so far as I have seen, this is a good piece of documentary film making. As many of you know Jordan left basketball in mid-career to pursue baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization. During the 1994 baseball season, Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons of the Southern League. In early May of that year he came …

Kobe Bryant, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The first reaction was disbelief, then shock, then sorrow. Kobe Bryant and his 13 year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash. Then more news tumbles out and it gets worse. Later, when the photos of Kobe and his daughter appeared in the media it is heartbreaking.

The Astros Et.Al., Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In studying World War I, the American historian Bruce Catton identified a simple and ironclad rule concerning technology: What you can do, you must do. I was thinking about the current uproar over the Houston Astros’ use of technology to steal signs and I thought about Catton’s observation and how it might offer some understanding of what happened in this latest of baseball scandals.

The Nfl And Volleyball, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The day following the end of the NFL regular season has come to be known as “Black Monday” as it is the day that head coaches of poorly performing teams are fired. I would suggest that some consideration be given to changing the term to “White Monday” because the firing of coaches has resulted primarily in the opening of head coaching positions to white coaches. On another coaching front, a similar story, but this one based on gender was highlight recently by The New York Times. Since the passage of Title IX, women’s sport has experienced considerable growth. At the …