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Full-Text Articles in Cultural History

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.


Pac 12 Grand Canyon University, Richard C. Crepeau Aug 2013

Pac 12 Grand Canyon University, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

While waiting for the other shoe, or perhaps shoes, to drop in the anti-aging campaign by Major League Baseball, and noticing that Bud Selig is not getting any younger, it has suddenly hit me that college football is about to descend upon us with all the hypocrisy that it can muster. As a result crime reports in the sporting press will escalate, and there will be a new harvest of “Boys Gone Wild” videos as student-athletes begin their late summer season. One can only hope that “old school” football coaches do not retain “old school” training techniques that endanger the …


Our Military Heroes, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2013

Our Military Heroes, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the last few years, with the Vietnam War fading into history and the military draft a thing of the past, the relationship between the general population of the United States and the U.S. Military has changed considerably. A conscious effort is now being made to honor American military personnel for the sacrifices they make on behalf of their country. This has long been needed and is a welcome development.


Murray, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2013

Murray, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The words monumental, epic, unforgettable, and historic are thrown around with reckless abandon in our hyperbolic age that specializes in over-inflating the reality of mundane events. As a historian I am especially wary of the term “historic,” when describing a sports event. In the universe of high frequency television commentators, all of these words suffer from overuse.


Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2013

Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has been some time since I have watched an entire tennis match. In point of fact my interest has drifted away from the sport. Somehow Wimbledon calls me back. The setting and tradition play a role, as does the fact that it is the only grand slam tournament I have ever seen in person.


The Week That Was, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2013

The Week That Was, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Some may regard this as one of the strangest weeks ever in Sportsworld. Certainly the less than forthcoming appearance by Lance Armstrong with Oprah had some surrealistic qualities. After years, or even decades, of denial, Armstrong told America’s mother-confessor that, yes, he had indulged in all sorts of performance enhancement techniques to win his record seven Tour de France crowns. The fact that he had taken PED’s surprised no one, but the fact that he did a TV confessional- “bless me Oprah for I have sinned”- surprised a lot of people both in and out of the cycling community.


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.


Bowl Survey, Richard C. Crepeau Dec 2012

Bowl Survey, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the next two days and nights ten bowl games will be played across the expanse of our great nation. At the end of the bowl season, culminating with the BCS Championship Game on January 7, thirty-five bowl games will have been played. The first, the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, took place on December 15.


College Sport, Richard C. Crepeau Dec 2012

College Sport, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It’s been some time since I sat down and watched as much as a half of a college football game. Last fall I was in London, a city not infected by intercollegiate athletics, and this fall I simply never got enough time or interest to watch. Then a few weeks ago I did see several games. Florida and Florida State always draws my interest, and the Notre Dame run has been an interesting one.


Tags And Roger, Richard C. Crepeau Dec 2012

Tags And Roger, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Is there anyone out there who thought that Paul Tagliabue would overturn the player suspensions imposed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the New Orleans bounty case? Maybe someone somewhere had predicted this, but if they did they would be members of an extremely small club.


Thanksgiving, Richard C. Crepeau Nov 2012

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 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.


Scabs In Seattle, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2012

Scabs In Seattle, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It took all of three weeks but the excrement has finally hit the fan. It is not the end of the world, but it is the end of any further claims that the scabs impersonating NFL referees are competent. If they were competent they would already have been NFL referees and therefore would be locked out by the NFL.


Baseball Changes, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2012

Baseball Changes, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

At the end of this baseball season there will a fundamental shift in the organization of Major League Baseball. At the opening of the next season the Houston Astros will be an American League team. The change was forced by Baseball Commissioner “Bud” Selig who made it a prerequisite to the purchase of the Houston franchise.


Football In The Air, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2012

Football In The Air, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

September is here and that means football is back, both the NFL and the collegiate pros. The student-athletes of the NCAA opened play over this extended holiday weekend with more games than any human being could possibly ingest. There seemed to be excitement in the air on and off campuses across the country and across the Atlantic.


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.


Olympics, Richard C. Crepeau Aug 2012

Olympics, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

So it has ended. A bit over two weeks, a fortnight of intense athletic competition with spectacular performances, highs and lows, and way too much national naval gazing by the host nation and by NBC on behalf of the USA. That said, it was at the sporting level a wonderful two weeks of competition.


Punishment, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2012

Punishment, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

After the Freeh Report was issued there was an outcry demanding that the NCAA do something to punish Penn State University. Many called for the death penalty. Others complained about the failure of the NCAA to act immediately. Then on Monday morning when the NCAA President, Mark Emmert, announced the judgment and punishment of Penn State the outcry was that the NCAA acted too quickly. It was a rush to judgment by Emmert and his colleagues. What happened to due process?


Psu Report, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2012

Psu Report, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

After reading the summaries and commentaries on the Freeh Report detailing the elements of scandal at Penn State University, I am surprised that I am surprised by what has been revealed. My cynicism after nearly a half century of involvement with administrators at institutions of higher education and bloated athletic programs should have left me immune to both the surprise and disgust that this affair had evoked in me. What has not surprised me is the deviousness of the principal players in this scandal, the cynicism with which they approached the issues, and the continuing reaction to it all.


Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2012

Wimbledon, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The term “historic” is often used in describing any number of sporting events. It is sometimes used to exaggerate the significance of an event, often in order to promote it. There are times, though, when the term is not only appropriate, but indeed, required. The Gentleman’s Final at Wimbledon today was historic in a number of ways.


Baseball Verdicts, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2012

Baseball Verdicts, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It ended last week with the jury foreman announcing to the court that the jury had found Roger Clemens “not guilty.”


Title Ix, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2012

Title Ix, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This weekend marks the fortieth anniversary of the passage of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972 whose section, Title IX, transformed sport in America. After forty years the achievements of Title IX are impressive, while some controversy persists and some misinformation continues to persist. In the past decade the conservative political attack has subsided and Title IX seems to have been removed from those still fighting the culture wars particularly on the issue of feminism.


Father's Day, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2012

Father's Day, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This was first written in 1992 for Father's Day shortly after my father's death which is now 23 years ago. It was originally a radio commentary for WUCF-FM in Orlando. I send it out each year as a tribute to my father and as a tribute to all fathers on Father's Day.


Triple Crown, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2012

Triple Crown, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It has become one of the rarest of rarities in American sport. This Saturday for the twelfth time in the past thirty-four years a horse will come to the Belmont with an opportunity to become the twelfth horse in the history of the Triple Crown to achieve this elusive fete. The last time it was done was in 1978 by Affirmed.


Metta, Richard C. Crepeau May 2012

Metta, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Maybe I missed the memo. Perhaps I wasn’t paying close enough attention. Or somehow it wasn’t big enough news in London. Whatever the case may be, I was a startled when I read recently that someone named Metta World Peace was playing basketball in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers. I remember World B. Free of the NBA and He Hate Me of the XFL, but Metta World Peace was a new one.


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 …


Marchmad, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2012

Marchmad, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

For the past six weeks if you were around anything even vaguely connected with college sport, you were subjected to repeated references to “March Madness.” The only phrase that even remotely approaches “March Madness” in frequency of use is “student athlete.” If you prefer hyperbole over hypocrisy then, no doubt, you prefer “March Madness” over “student athlete.”


Bounties, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2012

Bounties, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The shocking news out of the NFL this past week was that football is a violent game and that violence is encouraged by coaches. I suspect most American boys learned this basic truth about football when they were six or seven years old.


Braun, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2012

Braun, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

From the time the story was leaked in early December, I had a feeling that Ryan Braun was going to be the first player to successfully appeal a positive drug test. I based this on two notions. First, someone sometime was going to be the victim of a false positive or some breach in the security of the urine sample. Second, I had a difficult time believing that someone of Braun’s obvious talent and public image, who did not exhibit a huge jump in his offensive numbers, was taking performance enhancing drugs. In most of the power categories (doubles, triples, …


Bcs, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2012

Bcs, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The Alabama Crimson Tide football team is now officially the BCS National Field Goal Champion. This was achieved despite the fact that the Tide did score a touchdown in the waning moments of the game and then watched their kicker miss the extra point. The Alabama coach, Nick Saban, must have been quite proud of this achievement, as it obliterated the loss to LSU in the Field Goal contest of November to determine which team was number one in the nation at that point in the season.