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University of Central Florida

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Articles 151 - 180 of 918

Full-Text Articles in Cultural History

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.


Tennis, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2015

Tennis, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Nearly every year the U.S. Open Tennis Championships seem to offer some remarkable match, a stunning upset, or tennis at an extremely high level. This year it showcased all three.


Missouri, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2015

Missouri, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

On Monday the protests on the campus of the University of Missouri came to their climax with the resignation of Tim Wolfe the president of the Missouri system, and Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin of the Columbia campus. For the past several months students have been protesting a range of arbitrary and unpopular actions initiated by President Wolfe. African American students contributed the charge of “racial insensitivity’ to the growing list of complaints about President Wolfe.


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.”


Hall Of Fame Denial, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2015

Hall Of Fame Denial, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

This past Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department announced that it was dropping the obstruction of justice case against Barry Bonds. He had been charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007 for testifying to a grand jury that he had never knowingly used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, Bonds’ testimony was given to the grand jury in 2003 as part of a federal investigation into steroid use by athletes popularly known as the BALCO case. Estimates of the cost of this failed pursuit of Bonds run upwards of $100M.


Women's World Cup, Richard C. Crepeau Jul 2015

Women's World Cup, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was a remarkable performance. Two goals in five minutes, four goals in sixteen minutes. Five overall in a 5-2 World Cup Victory in front of over 53,000 fans in Vancouver. According to NPR early reports put the peak U.S. television audience at nearly 23 million viewers. It is the highest rating and largest audience for any U.S. World Cup match in U.S. television history. The overnight rating approached the ratings of the recently concluded NBA Finals. The game had such excitement that even FOX’s commentators and announcing team could not put a damper on the event.


A-Rod, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2015

A-Rod, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The past few weeks have been full of riveting sport. The Stanley Cup Final proved to be one of the most exciting in several years as no team enjoyed more than a one goal lead until the last few minutes of the final game. The NBA finals were marked by expected and unexpected star performances. The College World Series went down to the final game in the best of three series with Virginia besting Vanderbilt. And continuing this week is the Women’s World Cup which has offered both newcomers and established teams a chance to shine in this world class …


Happy Valley, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2015

Happy Valley, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Documentary film can be one of the most effective forms of journalism when done right. “Happy Valley” directed by Amir Bar-Lev is an impressive, haunting, and powerful example of documentary at its very best. The subject on its surface is the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal at Penn State University. Bar-Lev follows the story from the first revelations of November 2011 through the cascading fallout over the next year.


Triple Crown, Richard C. Crepeau Jun 2015

Triple Crown, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was a just a year ago that I wrote about the last attempt at a Triple Crown. This year we are at that point again where a race of approximately two minutes and twenty seconds will either end a remarkable era of Triple Crown futility or extend it for yet another year. And so with a few changes of the cast I submit again these observations on this marvelous weekend in horse racing history.


Deflategate, Richard C. Crepeau May 2015

Deflategate, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As I mentioned previously it seems as if there are always some bizarre or hilarious developments in the world of sport while I am out of touch. A few days ago I reported on my experiences watching hockey in Russia. Now I want to revisit what many of you will consider old news.


Catching Up, Richard C. Crepeau May 2015

Catching Up, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As I mentioned previously it seems as if there are always some bizarre or hilarious developments in the world of sport while I am out of touch. A few days ago I reported on my experiences watching hockey in Russia. Now I want to revisit what many of you will consider old news.


Hockey In Russia, Richard C. Crepeau May 2015

Hockey In Russia, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It may be my imagination but it seems as though every time I leave the country for a few weeks the world of sport goes through some sort of convulsion or some extraordinary developments take place. This past couple of weeks seems to have been no exception and I will come back to those later.


Ruth's First, Richard C. Crepeau May 2015

Ruth's First, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

A hundred years ago, Babe Ruth strode to the plate and cracked his first major league home run on May 5, 1915. Twenty years later he would hit No. 714, a milestone that would stand for generations. 712, 713, and 714 came in Pittsburgh a few weeks before his retirement, and 714 was the first ball ever hit over the roof of Forbes Field in right, and it came to rest in a small park across the street. It was the longest home run, some would say, of his career.


Geography Lessons, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2015

Geography Lessons, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As most sports fans and others who have become collateral damage know, the NCAA basketball tourneys are underway. The men’s version started on Thursday, unless you count Tuesday, and the women began play on Friday. Aside from several exciting finishes in this first flurry of games, several other things are worth noting. Or, as they say on TV after a particularly exciting play or game, “This is what college basketball is all about.”


Ncaa Geography, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2015

Ncaa Geography, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As most sports fans and others who have become collateral damage know, the NCAA basketball tourneys are underway. The men’s version started on Thursday, unless you count Tuesday, and the women began play on Friday. Aside from several exciting finishes in this first flurry of games, several other things are worth noting. Or as they say on TV after a particularly exciting play or game, “this is what college basketball is all about.”


March Madness, Richard C. Crepeau Mar 2015

March Madness, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is March Madness time. This usually means it is time for the NCAA to take those to court who are violating their copyright of that phrase.


Alison Gordon, Richard C. Crepeau Feb 2015

Alison Gordon, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past ten days there has been an avalanche of deaths of major sports figures. The obituary writers have been kept busy and tributes have been coming from all directions in sportsworld. The death of Dean Smith attracted the attention of sports writers and social commentators across the country. A few days later tributes came for Jerry Tarkanian another legendary college basketball coach. The passing of Charlie Sifford, golf’s Jackie Robinson led to reflections on the central place race has played in the world of sport. So too with the death of Ernie Banks came a reminder of the …


Super Bowl Xlix, Richard C. Crepeau Jan 2015

Super Bowl Xlix, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It is a 153 page document made public by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that begins with these awkward sentences: The day of the Super Bowl game (the “Game” or the “Super Bowl”) is America’s unofficial holiday, a day when the attention of an entire nation is focused on the Game in one region between the championship teams of the American and the National Football Conferences. The most highly anticipated annual sports event in North American sports is also a time for festive celebration and civic pride.”


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 …


The Year, Richard C. Crepeau Dec 2014

The Year, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As years go 2014 was an interesting one in sportsworld. Some might characterize it as depressing while others may look back on it as exhilarating. Whatever the case may be we know that at some point in the future we will look back on the year 2014 with nostalgia and/or perhaps a year of pivotal change. Maybe even historic, whatever that means.


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.


Fearsome Foursome, Richard C. Crepeau Dec 2014

Fearsome Foursome, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The much anticipated day of revelation has arrived. No, not the second coming of Bear Bryant, but rather the announcement from the Committee of Justice that yesterday revealed the top four teams in college football. In case you were being held in solitary confinement and missed it, let me reveal to you, in order of quality, the four chosen ones: Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, and Ohio State, sorry, The Ohio State University.


Rice Decision, Richard C. Crepeau Nov 2014

Rice Decision, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

How surprising was it when the arbitrator in the Ray Rice case ruled that Roger Goodell had acted “arbitrary in his discretion,” and had punished Rice twice for the same offense? In addition when Goodell claimed that Ray Rice misled him about the severity of the incident, the arbitrator found otherwise. Goodell was fully apprised by Rice as to the severity of the incident.


Thanksgiving, Richard C. Crepeau Nov 2014

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.


Football And Police, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2014

Football And Police, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past few weeks college sport has once again taken over the lead in ink and air time; not actually games, of course, but stories that illustrate the corruption of higher education in America by the presence of intercollegiate athletics on campus, or more precisely football on campus.


Baseball, Richard C. Crepeau Oct 2014

Baseball, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

There are many terrific and zany baseball quotations that make there way across the nation at this time of year. Between Dizzy Dean, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto almost all aspects of the game were covered. Broadcasters too have added to the diamond lexicon. My favorite, however, comes from the former pitcher for the Houston Astros and St. Louis Cardinals, the incomparable Joaquin Andujar whose most memorable line covers nearly all of the possibilities of the game.


Goodell's Press Conference, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2014

Goodell's Press Conference, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

After last week’s debacles in the NFL and Goodell’s retreat into a cave somewhere, I read a number of references to Goodell as a Nixonian figure. These were amusing and vaguely resonant. Then came Friday’s Follies as Goodell surfaced publicly and assured us that he would not resign, that he would get it right, and that the NFL remained a moral leader that America could count on.


Goodell's Quagmire, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2014

Goodell's Quagmire, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The continuing saga of the NFL and Ray Rice has now become basically the Roger Goodell story. The Commissioner has not managed to stay ahead of the news cycle and has failed to cut his losses. Rather than to accept responsibility for his mistakes and missteps he has continued to deal in what now seems to be his only task as Commissioner, to Protect the Shield. And it’s not going well.


Women In Sportsworld, Richard C. Crepeau Sep 2014

Women In Sportsworld, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Roger Goodell is the Commissioner of the most popular professional sports league in the United States. This week he demonstrated just how much he learned at the feet of his predecessors, Paul Tagliabue and especially Pete Rozelle.