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Full-Text Articles in Cultural History

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 …


The Water Torture Of Baseball's Steroid Leaks, Richard C. Crepeau Aug 2009

The Water Torture Of Baseball's Steroid Leaks, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

When I was a young boy I remember using the term "Chinese water torture" for any activity that seemed long, torturous, and pointless. I have been reminded of this repeatedly over the last few years as slowly, usually one by one, the names of those baseball players who tested positive for some sort of performance enhancing drugs have become public. Anonymous and confidential drug testing that was conducted for Major League baseball and the MLB Players Association in 2003 to determine the extent of a drug problem in baseball has turned out to be not so confidential.


An Amazing Open, And An Obscenity In Arlington, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2009

An Amazing Open, And An Obscenity In Arlington, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

If you watched The Open from Turnberry this weekend there were two surprises: Tiger Woods didn’t make the cut and Tom Watson nearly won the tournament. It became obvious that Tiger wasn’t playing his A-game when in the middle of his second round he played himself out of the tournament. Woods was one under par after seven holes and then went bogey, bogey, double bogey, par, bogey, double bogey. He was hitting shots that any weekend duffer could relate to as he topped the ball, mishit the ball several times, and explored all of the varieties of the rough. It …


Fabulous Finals At Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2009

Fabulous Finals At Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It’s been a week now since the finals were played at Wimbledon. On the women’s side the Williams sisters once again demonstrated to their opponents just how difficult it will be to win a tournament during which both of them are playing their normal game. On the men’s side Roger Federer entered the history books by winning his 15th Grand Slam event. As always Wimbledon offered a level of play that was memorable, and laid down new bench marks for high quality play and then reset the argumentative territory for the title “best Wimbledon match of all-time,” or at the …


More Corruption In College Sports, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2009

More Corruption In College Sports, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The story began with this line: The NCAA placed Alabama's football program and 15 other of the school's athletic teams on three years' probation for major violations due to misuse of free textbooks.


A Wild Weekend In Sports, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2009

A Wild Weekend In Sports, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was one of those weekends of sports gluttony, especially if you were fixated on a television set, intent on catching every bit of drama you could find. And indeed there was much to find. Hockey, basketball, tennis, golf, NASCAR, baseball, horse racing, and who knows how much else if you have access to the worldwide network of sports channels available from every corner of the universe. As for me, this weekend was extraordinarily full of sport as I was a bit under the weather and looking for escape from the realities of physical irritation.


The Death Of Nick Adenhart, Richard C. Crepeau Apr 2009

The Death Of Nick Adenhart, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For all us fans the opening of the baseball season is one of the first signs of spring. The teams have ended training in Arizona and Florida and are now ready for the long grind of the regular season. April is full of optimism and hope. It is the time of renewal, a time to begin again as an equal in the standings. Reality will set in eventually for all but the very best, hopes will fade, champions will be crowned, and then the following spring it will begin again.


Dick's Fantasy Sports: Ncaa, Yankee Stadium, And The Cubs, Richard C. Crepeau Apr 2009

Dick's Fantasy Sports: Ncaa, Yankee Stadium, And The Cubs, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past few weeks I have heard and read a lot of very interesting things coming out of SportsWorld.


Time For The Us To Get Serious In The Wbc, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2009

Time For The Us To Get Serious In The Wbc, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

In case you haven't heard, and apparently many in the United States have not, Japan is the World Champion of Baseball for the second time running. No, they did not win the World Series, they won the World Baseball Classic, and for the second time in as many tries the United States did not make it to the finals. If this were basketball the outcry in the United States would be deafening. In fact, there is no outcry.


Fsu And Bobby Bowden Are Mildly Slapped, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2009

Fsu And Bobby Bowden Are Mildly Slapped, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past several months Florida State University has been preparing to face the music in its latest athletic scandal. Now that the NCAA has made its ruling, FSU officials don't seem to appreciate the tune that the NCAA is playing. However, there is little doubt that many FSU athletes, with the proper academic counseling, could name that tune, although it might take more than three notes


The Commercialization Of College Sports, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2009

The Commercialization Of College Sports, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

At the 2009 NCAA Convention in January the president of the organization, Dr. Myles Brand, gave his State of the Association Address. The subject was the dangers of commercialism in intercollegiate athletics. Reading Dr. Brand's address on the brink of the annual epidemic of March Madness is, to the say the least, a mind-blowing exercise. It is either the product of unfettered chutzpah or incredible naïveté. The tone and content of the address offer considerable evidence of each.


A-Rod And Steroids, Richard C. Crepeau Feb 2009

A-Rod And Steroids, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Just when it seems that the drug issue in sports is about to slip out of the headlines, and just when it seems that the revelations about steroid use in baseball are coming to an end, something happens. This time an Olympic Gold Medal collector is photographed filling those massive swimming-developed lungs from a bong. Then the man who was going to remove Barry Bonds from the top of the home run charts and make any asterisks irrelevant is hung out to dry by another leak of confidential information from a sealed grand jury report.


Super Bowl Xliii, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

Super Bowl Xliii, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is time once again to enter the days of the Roman Numerals when excess becomes the norm, hyperbole is accepted as standard English, and the rich demonstrate in no uncertain terms that they are, and you are not. It is also the time when the middle class, those 85% of Americans who identify themselves as such, do their best to wallow in excess.


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.


Race And The Bucs, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2009

Race And The Bucs, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As the nation prepares for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States (I have not seen that referenced as Henry Aaron's number), I am struck by how much has been written about the changes in American society that have prepared the United States for this moment. There have been articles about how the music industry has transformed the way in which Americans think about African Americans. The New York Times today has a piece on how American film has contributed to the transformation of American society. There have been numerous comments on the significance …


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 …


World Series Recap, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2008

World Series Recap, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Now that the rain that lasted for forty hours and forty minutes has ended, a World Series winner has been determined, and Commissioner Selig has disembarked from his Ark, I want to say a few things about the series itself, as well as take a look at some of the “solutions” to the problems raised by the circumstances of Game Five.


Swingin' In The Rain, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2008

Swingin' In The Rain, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Everybody talks about the weather but no one ever does anything about it.


The Rays' Makeover, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2008

The Rays' Makeover, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The success of the Tampa Bay Rays may seem to be quite remarkable to the baseball world, but it can only be fully appreciated if you have some idea of how truly dreadful this team and this franchise has been over the past decade. Everything associated with or touched by it was a disaster on a scale that is difficult to wrap your mind around.


The Cubs' Postseason Exit, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2008

The Cubs' Postseason Exit, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has been a brutal week as Americans have watched helplessly as the stock market went into freefall. Those with 401K’s tried to joke about not retiring until they’re in their eighties. Pensions were drying up. Bailout and rescue plans were passed without any impact. No one really seemed to have any idea of how to stop the hemorrhaging. The entire country was beginning to resemble a deer caught in the headlights.


Baseball's September And Postseason, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2008

Baseball's September And Postseason, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is difficult to think of any sport that could provide more than baseball has delivered over the past six months. Sure fire winners have tanked. Big payroll teams have missed the playoffs. Small payroll teams have gone to the wire and beyond. Improbable scenarios driven by individual stars have developed over the last six weeks in Milwaukee and Los Angeles. A dismal team playing in a dismal ballpark has gone from last to first passing the two most powerful teams in the American League. Two ballparks with substantial histories in New York have closed as both of their occupants …


Silly Season Miscellany, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2008

Silly Season Miscellany, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Ohio State Football Inc. announced that Jim Tressel will be getting a raise of over $1M to $3.5M next year. That was before he went out and hammered the formidable Youngstown State Football Inc. on Saturday, 43-0. Certainly this drubbing will require another raise this week or next.


The Beijing Olympics, Richard C. Crepeau Aug 2008

The Beijing Olympics, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The Olympics in Beijing has been a great disappointment. No one has collapsed into a coughing fit from the air pollution. This seemed a certainty from all the reports leading up to the opening of what are so quaintly termed “the games.” The American cyclists who arrived in the Beijing Airport wearing face masks seemed to have made it through the opening ceremonies without contracting “black lung” or suffering a terminal case of “ring around the collar.” I feel I have been let down yet again by the press.


Uggla's Ugly Adventure: The All-Star Game, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2008

Uggla's Ugly Adventure: The All-Star Game, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Some will remember it as Uggla’s Ugly Adventure. Others will remember it for its record length in both innings and time. Some will remember it as nearly replicating the game of 2002 in Milwaukee when the managers ran out of players and someone (the Commissioner) had the good sense to stop the game. That was the infamous tie. Tuesday night it was beginning to look as though another tie, the third in All-Star History, was in the offing. In fact it was probably only an inning away.


The Cubs And The Rays, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2008

The Cubs And The Rays, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

We have arrived at that moment in mid-summer when baseball takes a break for the All-Star Game. I read the other day that Wednesday will be the only day of the year in which there is not a major professional sporting event taking place in the United States. That is a fact worth some thought and contemplation and may lead to some conclusions about overkill and saturation. Rather than that, I would like to make a few observations about the current baseball season which I have found to be strange and maybe even portentous.


Williams Vs. Williams, Federer Vs. Nadal, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2008

Williams Vs. Williams, Federer Vs. Nadal, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was a magnificent tennis match. Two evenly matched players, who admired each other’s game, competed as they had done many times before. It turned out to be the best tennis match that each had ever played against the other, and it was on the Centre Court of the All England Club for the Championship at Wimbledon.


The Death Of Jules Tygiel, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2008

The Death Of Jules Tygiel, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Yesterday the long and courageous struggle of Jules Tygiel ended. For the last several years Jules has been battling cancer with considerable success against high odds. In the past several weeks the options for treatment began to close down, and from his last health update two weeks ago it was clear that the battle was coming to its tragic conclusion.


Big Brown And The Troubled State Of Racing, Richard C. Crepeau May 2008

Big Brown And The Troubled State Of Racing, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Big Brown's victory at The Preakness yesterday has set the stage for a possible Triple Crown winner. At Belmont Park on June 7, and in the three weeks leading up to it, there will be much excitement and speculation in anticipation of Big Brown's big race. Ten horses have made it to this stage over the past three decades only to fall short at the Belmont Stakes. Nearly all of these ten, and now Big Brown, were felt to have an excellent chance to join the elite group of Triple Crown winners.


Annika Sorenstam And Justine Henin, Richard C. Crepeau May 2008

Annika Sorenstam And Justine Henin, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

I have been trying to remember a time when two players who dominated their sport retired within a day of one another. Two of the most significant people in sport have walked away well before time demanded. In the case of Justine Henin the fact that she is only 25 adds to the surprise, while even with Annika Sorenstam at age 37 it seems as if she is leaving early.


The Draft, New Bowls, Army, And Sportsmanship, Richard C. Crepeau May 2008

The Draft, New Bowls, Army, And Sportsmanship, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This is always a difficult time of year for me. I am never sure which leaves me with a greater numbness of the brain, the NFL Draft or grading final exams. This is a question that will have to be resolved by greater minds than mine, particularly in my current mental state.