Digital Commons Network^™

The Xfl: Raslin Come To Football - Drug Testing High School Athletes, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Just when you think you've had all the good news you can stand at any one time, Vince McMahon sees his shadow and promises at least six more weeks of football.

Super Bowl Vs. Virtual Super Bowl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is time for the mid-winter festival of commercial excess. It is time for the holiday commemorating Thorstein Veblen. It is the time of conspicuous consumption, conspicuous leisure, and conspicuous waste. It is a time without restraints and without limits. It is Super Bowl Weekend in America.

The Changing Geography Of Sport In America Since Wwii, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The heavy presence of the National Football League in Florida on Saturday, three Florida teams involved in two playoff games in the state, may or may not be a record. It is however an indication of how much the geography of sport has changed since the end of World War II. These changes are seen not just in Florida but all across the American landscape and are a reminder of how much sport has changed over the past half-century.

Losing Money Going To Bowl Games, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

With the barrage of bowl games these past several days one can only marvel at the willingness of sponsors and cities to pay out millions of dollars to universities to provide a few hours of entertainment during the holidays. Last year the University of Wisconsin took away $12.5M for the Big Ten from the Badger's Rose Bowl appearance. The participants at this year's Sugar Bowl, allegedly the national championship game, will take away between $11M and $13M each. Moving down the pecking order to near the bottom the payouts run to about a million dollars.

2000 January-April, Morehead State University. Office Of Athletics.

Morehead State Athletics Press Release Archives

Morehead State Athletics press releases from January to April of 2000.

Bowls Everywhere But None To Match The Poulan Weed Eater Bowl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

I entered a state of deep depression recently when I learned that the folks at Poulan are no longer sponsoring the Independence Bowl. The Poulan Weed Eater Bowl is no more. The irritating, loud and stupid relative of all the bowl games is gone. The Poulan Weed Eater Bowl has whacked its last weed.

John Rocker's Si Interview, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It wasn't all that long ago that John Rocker was complaining about being stereotyped by Met fans and New Yorkers. He said that New Yorkers seemed to think that everyone from Georgia had one tooth and married their cousin. The self-styled good old boy resented this sort of sweeping generalization about Georgians and Southerners.

Notre Dame On Probation: The Cost Of Selling Your Soul And The Ncaa As Judge, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Can we say that the final blow to the concept of intercollegiate athletic integrity has now been delivered? With the announcement Friday that Notre Dame has been placed on two years probation and lost two football scholarships, seemingly the last bastion of intercollegiate athletics has been tarnished. A sense of shame walks the campus beneath the Golden Dome.

Fay Vincent, Pete Rose, And Reinstatement, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Pete Rose just won't go away. He just doesn't seem to understand, and probably never will. His ban from baseball was not about his popularity, whatever that might have been, or is. His ban from baseball is the result of the Commissioner of Baseball concluding that there was sufficient evidence that he had been gambling on baseball. He did not contest the finding, but then he also refuses to acknowledge the finding.

Thanksgiving, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The History of Thanksgiving and of Football both go back into the Middle Ages, and so it may not be so strange that the two would become intertwined in modern America.

Ex-Athletes As Politicians, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In recent days and weeks there has been considerable discussion in the national press of Bill Bradley's presidential run and its relationship to his professional basketball career. Such questions as: Should he exploit his NBA fame for political purposes? Should he be using this fame to raise money as he did in the big fund-raiser in Madison Square Garden last week? Why after years of disconnecting himself from his basketball career does he now seek to reconnect? Does this negate his claims that he much more than a basketball player?

Sport And The Denial Of Death, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

References to death are frequent in the language of sport. "Sudden death," ends the overtime period. Winning teams often "kill," "wipe out," or "bury" their opponents. In baseball you are a "dead duck" when thrown out at the plate.

On Sport And Society 11-03-1999, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

There are several items to note in this potpourri of sports which has been delayed while I try to recover from the pain of watching the Atlanta Braves get turned every which way but loose by the New York Yankees. Realistically I did not think the Braves would beat the Yankees but I did expect to see a competitive six or seven game World Series.

1999 November-December, Morehead State University. Office Of Athletics.

Morehead State Athletics Press Release Archives

Morehead State Athletics press releases from November to December of 1999.

Pete Rose And Jim Gray Damage The All Century Team, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The release of "The Blair Witch Project" on video has once again brought the attention of the Orlando community and film fans everywhere to the blockbuster surprise of the summer. It has also focused local attention on the University of Central Florida film program where the filmmakers began their work.

The Beauty And Appeal Of Baseball Shines Again In Playoffs, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

If you have been watching baseball the last few weeks, and you didn't get it before, you should now fully understand the beauty and appeal of this intricate and always surprising game.

Shoplifting And Shop Forgetting In Tallahassee: Fsu One More Time, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It may be something in the air or perhaps the water but whatever the cause illegal shopping for wearing apparel seems endemic to Tallahassee, Florida. Or perhaps it is just the fact that two of the more corrupt institutions of our time are located there: government and a major college football program.

Bud Lite's Bloodless Coup - No Nfl In La, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Two sparsely reported and remarkable events from Sportsworld in the past week caught my eye and have gotten me thinking that we may be witnessing some fundamental shifts in the two sports that claim to be our national game. As one would expect these developments did not take place on the playing fields, but rather in the boardrooms. In baseball the positions of League President have been abolished, and in football it seems likely that the NFL will remain shut out of the Los Angeles market.

Serena And Venus Williams, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Every now and then the Sport of the Seventies can still rear up and produce intense excitement. At the U.S. Open this past weekend several of those moments jumped off the TV screen and into our living rooms.

Espn's 20th Anniversary, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

"Anniversary of everything these days. Enough to give a guy the creeps." This line from Robert Coover's brilliant baseball novel "The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop." speaks to our excessive penchant for celebrations of milestones and anniversaries.

Killing The Umpires Union, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Kill the Umpire! Kill the Umpire! It's one of the oldest cliches in American sport. And in the early days of baseball sometimes they tried, and on the rare occasion they succeeded.

1999 September-October, Morehead State University. Office Of Athletics.

Morehead State Athletics Press Release Archives

Morehead State Athletics press releases from September to October of 1999.

Raising Standards And Beating The System: Forget Reform, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The beauty of intercollegiate athletics and the NCAA attempt to control them is that whatever is done, something else follows that will corrupt the solution. In a perfect world it would also produce new and more elaborate levels of corruption. The current case in point revolves around the attempt by the NCAA to mandate minimum SAT and ACT scores and thus guarantee some modicum of brain wave activity in the recruited student athlete.

Pee Wee Reese And Stefi Graf And Us, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

One of those inevitabilities of human existence struck twice over the past few days in the world of sport, reminding us that the ultimate failure of the human body remains the fate of us all. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why we put such a high value on sport, representing as it does the transcendence of the body over reality, often driven by the mind and heart.

Sport And Education In Osceola County: A Question Of Priorities, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Tip O'Neill is generally credited with having said, "All politics are local." There is a certain truth to that not just in politics but on all the stages of human activity. In Central Florida over the past two weeks a number of things have happened to reinforce that notion in sport and other venues. At the confluence of local sport and education the last few weeks have been rich in both the ludicrous and the ironic.

Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Every now and again there are sports weekends during which one can see the very best qualities of sport on display in multiple venues. When this happens it is a clear reminder why we still watch the games despite all the other nonsense surrounding sport these days.

Stanley Cup Playoffs, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In the recently concluded Stanley Cup playoffs the point was made repeatedly that the road to the Cup is a war of attrition. Unlike other sports leagues, the National Hockey League does not require their teams to reveal injuries, and in fact disguising and hiding injuries has become a major art form in the NHL, while trainers and team doctors have come to rival coaches in their significance. Various drugs have become the key elements to victory.

Professional Sports Teams And Fan Relations: A Public Relations Case Study Of The 1998-99 Philadelphia Eagles Football Team, Laura Elizabeth Litrenta

Theses and Dissertations

In professional sports, the field of public relations helps organizations foster positive relationships with their fans. But, when teams suffer losing seasons, recording more losses than wins, these relationships become strained.

The purpose of this study was to reveal how losing seasons affect the bond between professional sports teams and their fans. The results encourage sports relations practitioners to recognize fan needs and develop techniques that can help organizations maintain a more positive relationship with their fans during a losing season.

To examine the relationship between a professional sports team and its fans, this researcher traced the performance of the …

Father's Day, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Today on Father's Day I want to talk about the man who taught me a love of sport, and especially a love of baseball, and who taught me much about life.

Michelle Akers And American Women's Soccer, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

I remember quite vividly the first time I met Michelle Akers. It was a few months after she led the United States Women's Soccer team to their first World Championship. Akers came to my Sport History class to talk about this victory and her position as the greatest female soccer player in the World.