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On Sport and Society

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Jim Brown, Richard C. Crepeau May 2023

Jim Brown, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past few days, the sports media have been filled with commentary and tributes to Jim Brown, superstar running back of the Cleveland Browns and leader in the battle against racism in the NFL, in Sport, in the United States, and across the world. Brown died last week at 87 having set all sorts of records in the NFL and having played an important leadership role in the fight for Civil Rights.


Another Harassment Story, Richard C. Crepeau Nov 2021

Another Harassment Story, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

“The breakdown of authority is often cited as a primary cause of the disorders and maladies of society. The loss of respect for authority is seen as a major problem among the young. Many of the symbols of authority have lost their luster and seem no longer capable of evoking deference.


Super Madness, Richard C. Crepeau Apr 2021

Super Madness, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

A little over a month ago, the rocket scientists at the NCAA once again showed just how dense they can be. During the event known as March Madness, the NCAA, as it is prone to do, produced some madness of their own.


Sport In The Middle Of Crisis, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2020

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.


Jay-Z, Roger, And Kaepernick, Richard C. Crepeau Aug 2019

Jay-Z, Roger, And Kaepernick, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The National Football League is about to begin its 100th season of play. This will be celebrated ad nauseam and the 2020-2021 season will be celebrated as the 100th Anniversary season of the NFL. The marketing folks at the NFL no doubt spend weeks and months figuring out how to milk this milestone for as long as possible. This points to the self-evident proposition that the National Football League is all about marketing and only incidentally about actual football. One obstacle in the NFL marketing orbit is the persistent set of issues surrounding Colin Kaepernick and the National Anthem protests. …


Dysfunction At Usa Gymnastics, Richard C. Crepeau Nov 2018

Dysfunction At Usa Gymnastics, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Among all of the dysfunctional organizations in contemporary Sportsworld, USA Gymnastics (USAG) seems to be the leader. The Larry Nassar abuse case peeled back the veneer of success and revealed an ugliness unmatched in recent memory. Nassar’s offenses are now well-known and his conviction and sentencing produced high courtroom drama. More than 150 women offered testimony at Nassar’s trial, most of whom were speaking about this abuse for the first time. Nassar was employed by the USAG for twenty years.


The Nfl's New Rule, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2018

The Nfl's New Rule, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

I’ve been on the road over the past two weeks and have not been able to react to any of the many developments in the world of sport, including the latest from Goodell World. The NFL never fails to disappoint, particularly since the emergence of Roger Goodell as Commissioner. Once again the league has been able to create a policy that, on the one hand, pleases the Sunday nationalists, while, on the other, manages to alienate significant numbers of players, fans, and commentators.


Nfl Cheerleaders, Richard C. Crepeau May 2018

Nfl Cheerleaders, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The National Football League is one of those American entities that likes to think of itself as quintessentially American, embodying the very best of America. It has gone the extra mile to wrap itself in the flag and other markers of American “patriotism,” particularly those that cast a favorable light on the league and cost little or nothing in the way of effort and commitment. Image is the thing, substance is superfluous.


Denial, Richard C. Crepeau Feb 2017

Denial, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It seems that by now most everyone, except Patriot and Falcon fans, should have fully recovered from the Super Bowl. As someone who has seen all fifty-one of these championship games, this one certainly ranks among the most exciting, if not the best played game.


The National Anthem, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2016

The National Anthem, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has been over a week now since Colin Kaepernick sat during the playing of the National Anthem prior to an NFL Exhibition game. He was protesting discrimination against African Americans and police brutality in the United States. These issues have been in the forefront of public discussion since the shooting of Michael Brown just over two years ago. At various points and venues since the Brown shooting athletes have protested and offered various forms of support directly and indirectly to the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Kaepernick’s action joins a long list of protests, and as has often been the …


Goodell, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2015

Goodell, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The opening of the new NFL season also marks the fifth anniversary of the elevation of Roger Goodell to the position of NFL Commissioner. It also marks the resolution of the biggest issue that he has dealt with in his role of leadership of the most popular and successful sports league in the United States.


Pharoah And Roger, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2015

Pharoah And Roger, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In the world of sport or in the world generally, how often can you say that today there are two major pieces of good news? Yesterday was such a day.


Brady And Goodell, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2015

Brady And Goodell, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The success of the NFL derives in part from its mastery of the electronic media as the league is able to blanket that world at all times and places. There is no off-season for the NFL. On the rare occasion, there can be drawbacks to this dominance. The last seventy-two hours is not what the media mavens at the NFL would call “a good run.”


Selig Retires, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2015

Selig Retires, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

On Sunday, with no real NFL Football to clutter the world of sport, the man who I once referred to as the “Acting Commissioner for Life,” will retire. It turned out that the “Acting-Commissioner for Life” was very nearly Commissioner for Life. It is clear that over his long and rocky tenure as Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig left a massive legacy. The business and sport of major league baseball was impacted for good and for ill by the man who began his professional life selling used cars in Milwaukee. He will end his tenure as Commissioner by becoming the …


Bowling, Richard C. Crepeau Dec 2014

Bowling, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Every few years I like to take inventory of the Bowl Games. Each football season concludes with these loss leaders for intercollegiate football teams. Almost without exception teams who have been honored with an invitation to a bowl game will lose money with the cost of bowling exceeding the payouts for bowlers. The theory is that the exposure is worth more than real budgetary dollars.


Manhood And Football, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2014

Manhood And Football, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

ESPN, the Worldwide Breeder of ludicrous sports programming, reached a new low this week. The Network that brought you the biggest non-event on the annual sports calendar, the NFL draft, and then took it down another notch by televising the announcement of the NFL schedule, outdid itself once again by having a countdown to the unveiling of Mel Kiper’s mock draft. Did anyone care? Is Mel anything more than a parody of himself? Has ESPN totally lost its way? (The correct answers are no, no, and maybe.)


Biogenesis, Richard C. Crepeau Aug 2013

Biogenesis, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is likely that Marvin Miller is spinning in his grave. Bud Selig may have achieved something that baseball owners have long wanted in their battle with the Major League Baseball Players Association. And that something would be a victory, or at least something resembling a victory, over the players.


Baseball Hall Of Fame, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2013

Baseball Hall Of Fame, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The biggest problem and greatest injustice with the voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame was not revealed yesterday. It is a problem and injustice that goes back several years and multiple votes by various groups of voters.


Hockey, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2013

Hockey, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In my Florida neighborhood it was a quiet Saturday morning. In fact it was probably much the same across much of the United States. No one was in the streets celebrating. No one made comparisons to 1980 when the United States won the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, a city of million or so in Central Russia.


Armstrong, Richard C. Crepeau Aug 2012

Armstrong, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

How does it end for Lance Armstrong? “Not with a bang but a whimper.” Although T.S. Eliot did not know Lance Armstrong, it is an interesting coincidence that Eliot’s 1925 poem, from which this line is taken, is titled “The Hollow Men.” If you were someone who idolized Armstrong and believe now that he is guilty and there is a blot on his entire career, then he will indeed seem as one of those Hollow Men.


Summitt, Richard C. Crepeau Apr 2012

Summitt, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

From across the nation, from the world of basketball and the world of sport, the reaction to Pat Summitt relinquishing her position as head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee has been overwhelming in praise, admiration, and volume. Those who played for Summitt talked of the tremendous impact that she had on their lives, praising her as a coach and human being, often referring to her as a mother-figure. Those who knew her in other capacities talked about her strength in the face of adversity. This quality distinguished Pat Summitt throughout her career and not just in the past …


Nfl, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2011

Nfl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Today was Day 129 of America Held Hostage. No, the Ayatollah Komenhi and his band of fanatical hostage takers have not returned. This is not the ABC television news mantra that was featured during the Iranian Hostage crisis and spawned “Nightline” and made a celebrity out of Ted Koppel. This was something far more significant.


End The Nfl Blackout!, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2009

End The Nfl Blackout!, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past week there has been some comment on the NFL television blackout policy that prohibits the televising of home games in the home market unless there has been a sellout 72 hours in advance of kickoff. Some, including Richard Sandomir of the New York Times, have suggested that in this time of economic crisis, when it appears that the number of sellouts of NFL games will be dropping, that Commissioner Goodell should end or suspend the blackout policy. This is a reasonable sentiment, although one might question if offering more blood and circuses offers a viable solution to …


Objectification Of Children, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

Objectification Of Children, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

To say that sport is a central institution in American life would be a gross understatement. The obsessive hold that sport has on Americans is obvious to anyone who spends more than five minutes examining the culture. As we approach the mid-winter festival of the Super Bowl such an obsession seems self-evident.


The Bc$; Football's (Non) Diversity, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

The Bc$; Football's (Non) Diversity, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

There is something so right about college football this year. On January 2, nearly a week before the so-called BC$ National Championship game, there is a legitimate national champion already in place. On the 2nd of January in some bowl game somewhere Utah stomped all over Alabama. You will remember the Crimson Tide from earlier this season when they were ranked by several experts, computers, and their fans as Number One in the nation. We know that Utah is the national champion, not because they rolled all over the Tide, 31-17, but because they are the only undefeated team in …


Don Imus, Isiah Thomas, And The Nba, Richard C. Crepeau Nov 2007

Don Imus, Isiah Thomas, And The Nba, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

My, how time flies. It was seven months ago that Don Imus made his remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team and found himself on the receiving end of a considerable amount of heat from a wide range of critics. In less than a month Don Imus will return to the airwaves, not nationally, but in New York City, and his show will not be simulcast on Cable television. So after being away for eight months, being the subject of considerable criticism, and collecting $20M for his troubles, the I-Man will return. I am already feeling the Christmas spirit.


Bowie Kuhn, Richard C. Crepeau May 2007

Bowie Kuhn, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Bowie Kuhn once said that he wanted to be remembered as the Baseball Commissioner who presided over a time of tremendous growth in the popularity of the game, and a time when no one questioned the integrity of the game. I read these words over and over again a few weeks ago in many of the obituaries published at the time of the former Commissioner's death. I cannot say that this is how I will remember him, and I do not know how history will remember him.


New Year's Roundup, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2007

New Year's Roundup, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is difficult to know where to begin after being away from this column for the past few weeks as there are so many bizarre and interesting things that have happened that seem worthy of comment.


Baseball's New Cba, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2006

Baseball's New Cba, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As the World Series came to an end on Friday with Tony LaRussa receiving his latest anointing from the fans of Cardinal Nation (prepare yourselves for another book), others were left to wonder at the fantastic turnaround by the Tigers, who went from juggernaut to gift-givers in less than a week. The baseball story that was of greater significance was the announcement that a new contract agreement had been reached between the Players Association and the baseball owners. Collective bargaining, it seems, has worked once again, establishing a two time winning streak for the players, the owners, and the fans.


Sport Drugs And Semantics, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2006

Sport Drugs And Semantics, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

If you picked up your newspaper one morning or tuned into SportsCenter and you were greeted by the headline, "Tiger Tests Positive," how would you react? Would it be total disbelief? Would you simply dismiss the announcement from the World Anti-Doping Agency as some mistake, or the result of fanatical WADA leadership seeking to make headlines? Would any of you immediately presume Tiger was guilty, and rejoice that he had finally been caught?