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Cultural History Commons

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2017

On Sport and Society

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Full-Text Articles in Cultural History

Baseball And Pearl Harbor, Richard C. Crepeau Dec 2017

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 Nov 2017

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 Nov 2017

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 Oct 2017

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 Sep 2017

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 Aug 2017

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 Jul 2017

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 Jul 2017

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.


Racism And Sport Yet Again, Richard C. Crepeau May 2017

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 May 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Apr 2017

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 Mar 2017

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 Mar 2017

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 Feb 2017

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 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 Nfl's Alternative Facts, Richard C. Crepeau Feb 2017

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 Jan 2017

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 Jan 2017

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.