History Commons^™

Baseball And Pearl Harbor, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This piece on Pearl Harbor and Baseball was the fifteenth of this series of essays on Sport and Society. It dates from December of 1991 the 50th Anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and was written as a radio commentary for WUCF-FM an NPR affiliate in Orlando. It aired on December 6, 1991.This seemed like a good time to retrieve it from an HD floppy disc and air it out one more time.

College Basketball Returns, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As the college football season comes to an unsatisfactory conclusion and four teams from the Power Five Conferences are chosen for the big payout in the national championship lottery, several other deserving teams not in the Power Five will be left to lick their wounds and take lesser excessive payouts for bowl games. If this is not something you care about, then you will be delighted that this past weekend marked the beginning of the college basketball season. This is where the money meets the road and sixty plus teams pick up some small change or big dollars from March …

Late Night At The World Series, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Here we are in early November and the World Series is over already. You probably missed much of the World Series if you live in the Eastern Time Zone and your bedtime is before 11 p.m. This would not be a problem if there were no baseball fans living east of Indiana. Given the location of major league franchises that is not likely.

Three Weeks Of Madness, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has been nearly three weeks now since I wandered off for a vacation and away from this column. In one of the oddities of the universe, these absences seem to bring about an avalanche of crazy and significant events in the world of sport. Any one of these developments would have launched a “Sport and Society” essay out of my computer, but when on hiatus, I strictly forbid myself from reacting to any of these developments.

The Battle Of The Sexes, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

I am a bit mystified by the amount of attention that is given to the Billie Jean King defeat of Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes.” I remember it well, and it seemed to me to be some sort of fraud being perpetrated on the American public by a fifty-five-year-old con man in tennis shorts. Bobby Riggs was a hustler, and the “Battle of the Sexes” may have been the biggest hustle he ever pulled.

Concussions And Football, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is a story that won’t go away. No matter how much many people would like it to, it will not. For several decades now the issue of concussions has been discussed, debated, lied about, and studied. The scientific studies, except those paid for by the National Football League and done by NFL employees, have shown some correlation and/or connection between head trauma, various symptoms of brain dysfunction, and football.

The Open And The Coach, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Golf is a sport in which the major opponent is the self. It is, to borrow from Yogi Berra, ninety percent mental and the other half is physical. The very early career of Jordan Spieth offers considerable evidence of the significance of the mental aspect of the game. At The Open, the premier Grand Slam event, Jordon Spieth did battle on Sunday with himself, and won.

Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The Wimbledon fortnight is my favorite fortnight of them all. The tennis is generally of high quality, the venue is steeped in beauty, and the singular notion of playing on grass, all combine to the make this grand slam event the holy grail of tennis. Am I overdoing it? Well yes, but then, for me it is all of these things and more.

Pulse - A Consultation, Barry J. Mauer

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. We may never know or understand what was in Mateen’s mind, but we can situate his attack within the history of eliminationism in America. Islamist terrorism is just part of a larger phenomenon: right wing eliminationism. But despite centuries of right wing eliminationist words and deeds in the U.S., there is little or no mainstream recognition of the phenomenon. Instead, we are treated to more denial, more distraction, more obfuscation. Until we look this problem squarely in the face, it will …

Racism And Sport Yet Again, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Last week, Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles reported that he had been racially harassed by Boston Red Sox fans in Fenway Park, who, among other things, threw peanuts and shouted racial slurs at him. Jones was upset and demanded that the Red Sox tighten their stadium security and enforce a ban on racial harassment. The reaction across baseball was to condemn the fans for what was described as unacceptable behavior.

Espn And The Nfl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For several decades the revenue streams in sport have been overflowing their banks. Rights fees have skyrocketed, new sources of revenue seem at times to fall from the sky like manna from the electronic heavens, and just when you think the ceiling has been reached something new appears. It seems that it will never end, but of course at some point it must. Perhaps.

The Oakland Nomads, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The announcement last week that the Oakland Raiders would, for the second time in its history, leave the city of Oakland came as a shock to no one. The synergistic relationship between the greed of the National Football League and the greed of the principal owner of the Raiders, made such a move an inevitability on the wheel of time. Such “loyalty” to the city of Oakland and its rabid football fans will not go unrewarded. Indeed, both the Raiders owner and the NFL will make out like bandits once again.

The Week In Woman's Sport, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

While much of the country was caught up in the final weekend of March Madness in Phoenix, the biggest stories were taking place in Women’s sport, both on and off the field of play.

Wbc, Nba, And Nhl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Now that the World Baseball Classic has ended and the United States has finally notched a WBC championship, it is time to reflect on the event. For me, it was a great success not because the U.S. won, although that was important, but rather for a number of other reasons.

Great Fun At Wbc In Miami, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

My fellow Americans, today I want to report to you that although I have been going to baseball games for over a half-century, I have never been to a baseball game like the one I went to in Miami last Saturday night.

Ed Garvey’S Legacy, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Ed Garvey died this week at age 76. For many younger NFL fans his name will mean little. Once called “The Karl Marx of the Shower Stall,” Garvey was one of the most significant figures in the history of the National Football League in the 1970s and early ‘80s. Garvey was appointed legal counsel to the National Football League Players Association in 1970 and became Executive Director in 1971, a position he held until 1983. Along with John Mackey and others he led the players in there decades long struggle with the Commissioner and the owners. Although he did not …

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 Subject Librarian Newsletter, History, Spring 2017, Richard Harrison

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Nfl's Alternative Facts, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

One of the new buzz phrases spreading across the nation out of Washington is “alternative facts.” For those of us who have lived through several administrations and any number of sporting scenes, “alternative facts” are quite a familiar commodity.

The Australian Open, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Each year the Australian Open seems to produce some excellent tennis in the form of a dramatic match, a surprising winner, or some other wonder. It is the first of the Grand Slam events of the year and as such has a significance for anyone even slightly interested in tennis.

A New Year, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is a new year in the world of sport and in just two weeks there have been a number of notable events and achievements. Yesterday there were two remarkable NFL playoff games that once again remind us of the unpredictability of sport and the excitement that is generated by it. Both games ended in dramatic fashion.

Hippieland: Bohemian Space And Countercultural Place In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury Neighborhood, Kevin Mercer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the birth of the late 1960s counterculture in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. Surveying the area through a lens of geographic place and space, this research will look at the historical factors that led to the rise of a counterculture here. To contextualize this development, it is necessary to examine the development of a cosmopolitan neighborhood after World War II that was multicultural and bohemian into something culturally unique. It was within this space that a wellspring of drop-out culture evolved from a combination of psychedelic drugs, experimental lifestyles, and anarchistic thought. The contention of countercultural place was …

For The Good That We Can Do: African Presses, Christian Rhetoric, And White Minority Rule In South Africa, 1899-1924, Ian Marsh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines Christian rhetoric as a source of resistance to white minority rule in South Africa within African newspapers in the first two decades of the twentieth-century. Many of the African editors and writers for these papers were educated by evangelical protestant missionaries that arrived in South Africa during the nineteenth century. Most prior research on these presses has examined the importance of Christianity, but has not taken into account the evolution of its use over the entirety of the period. Without this emphasis on evolving utilization, the current scholarship lacks a complete understanding of African newspapers and their …

Medieval Ingenuity In Fourteenth Century English Milling In Middlesex, Norfolk, And Northumberland Counties, Brett Pelham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the effect of population losses from outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague on capital investment for labor saving technology in England. The cities in Middlesex and Norfolk advance the economy in their surrounding areas. Northumberland's access to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne did not house as much wealth for Coquetdale and Glendale. However, Edward I's constant investment in the recently acquired Scottish territory provided the area with income from the crown. While the decrease in population was catastrophic and presented social turmoil, the surviving population continued to make economic adjustments. The economic adaptations provided relief to a strained population. Trade should have …

Creating A Digital Exhibit On The Colonial Fur Trade In Florida: A Public History / Digital History Project, Benjamin Dibiase

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project incorporates podcasts and high resolution digital imagery visualizations into a single online exhibit to democratize archival material on the web. It employs contemporary new museology and digital history methodological frameworks, and utilizes the burgeoning medium of podcasting to increase public understanding and interaction with an historical period. For this project I have partnered with the Florida Historical Society and have utilized original materials from their collection relating to the colonial fur trade in Florida. The study of the North American fur trade has recently expanded to include more information about the indigenous societies engaged in the trade …

Rhetoric Of Imagery: Gendering And Consumption Throughout Interwar American Advertisment, Natalie Delgado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interwar American advertising rose alongside new levels of hygiene, personal appearance, and technology in order to sell their products to target audiences. Despite the abundance of scholarship on media and gender, few studies have examined the gendered techniques through which interwar advertisers communicated with consumers in response to changing social norms and economic stability. The question this thesis explores is how these changes and communication shifted in response to consumer culture and how advertisers utilized early market research and persuasion techniques to target their audiences. Building on the studies of gender, consumption, and identity, this thesis examines the relationship between …

Communism's Futures: Intelligentsia Imaginations In The Writings Of The Strugatsky Brothers, Elizabeth Tammaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky were the most popular science fiction writing duo in Soviet Russia from the 1960s through the 1980s. Examining their imaginative fictional worlds against the background of wider changes in the Soviet Union allows scholars to gain insights in the world of the Soviet intelligentsia, the educated bearers of culture. As members of this group, the Strugatskys expressed the hopes, frustrations and fears, of their peers, vindicating their intellectual and emotional life. I support the argument that the Brothers occupied a middle ground between conformity and dissident, dubbed the "lost" intelligentsia by Lloyd Churchward. I demonstrate this …

A Place In The Sunshine State : Community, Preservation, And The Parliament House, Erin Montgomery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A Place in the Sunshine State, is a thesis project focused on the Parliament House Motor Inn in Orlando, Florida. This project nominated the Parliament House Motor Inn for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. This nomination was completed using both oral histories and more traditional historical source material. The Parliament House Motor Inn was evaluated using National Register Bulletins and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Preservation. This nomination was presented to give voice to a long-underrepresented community within the national narrative of the United States, along with giving the Parliament House the recognition it deserves …

The Evolving Emancipator: An Analysis Of Abraham Lincoln And The Progression And Development Of His Emancipationist Impulse, Sharon N. Rodriguez

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research looks at the narrative of Abraham Lincoln as the Great Emancipator versus the Evolving Emancipator. The goal of this thesis is to contribute to the narrative of the Evolving Emancipator and show an imperfect man who achieved this action after trials and tribulations.This has been achieved by examining letters and other primary sources to fully understand the scope of Lincoln’s sentiments regarding slavery. My research shows a man who acknowledged slavery because it was sanctioned by the law. He recognized the rights of slave owners, both to retain their slaves and to have fugitive slaves returned, as they …

Florida's Workers Compensation Law: The Pendulum Swings, Ursula Hirsch

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this paper is to discuss how the recent court rulings on the current workers compensation statutes will impact the rules to Florida’s workers compensation laws.

Workers Compensation system is a social justice system that protects both the employer and employee. Employees that are injured while in the course and scope of their employment give up the right to sue, making workers compensation an exclusive remedy. In exchange for giving up that right, the injured worker receives statutory benefits in a no-fault system.

This paper covers the legislative changes over the years that have impacted the constitutionality of …