Journalism Studies Commons^™

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

American Propaganda, Popular Media, And The Fall Of Jacobo Arbenz, Zachary Carl Fisher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In June 1954, President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman of Guatemala resigned in the face of a coup led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. While the United States publicly denied involvement, the coup was in fact the culmination of a plan called PBSUCCESS (CIA codeword), led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Although PBSUCCESS lived up to its namesake, it was aided (both intentionally and unintentionally) by various U.S. media outlets. For the duration of Arbenz Guzman's regime, he and his country had been the subject of U.S. suspicions of undue Communist and Soviet influence. A general anti-Communist attitude permeated virtually all …

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

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

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

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

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.

Ua64/25/5/3 College Of Education & Behavioral Sciences Military Science Student Organizations 321st Detachment, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Publications created by and about the 321st Detachment of Army Air Force cadets.

Utah And The Civil War Press, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

A discussion of how Mormons were treated in the national press during the American Civil War with an emphasis on polygamy, statehood requests, loyalty, and Brigham Young.

This chapter was originally published (and reprinted in "Civil War Saints" with permission):

Kenneth L. Alford, “Utah and the Civil War Press.” Utah Historical Quarterly 80, no. 1 (Winter 2012): 75–92.

Reflection, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As I prepare to leave England and return to Florida and as the end of the year approaches, I have thought about writing an end of the year summary piece. Thinking about that I decided that what I only would reflect upon the last six or seven weeks of this year, weeks that have turned out to be most remarkable in content and emblematic of the past year.

Ua12/2/1 Deck The Hill, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

Special holiday edition of the College Heights Herald.

• Wade, Katherine. A Very Gary Ransdell Christmas
• Holiday Calendar
• Anderson, Anna. Students Provide Thanksgiving Dinner to Families in Need - Kentucky Public Health Association
• Anderson, Anna. Students & Families Miss Relatives Serving Oversees - Soldiers, Zachary Daugherty, Jacob Baldwin
• Walters, Rachael. Floral Design Center Offers Ready-made Decorations
• Harrison, Taylor. Unique Gift Ideas for WKU Students
• Justice, Maciena. Event to Benefit 22 Charities - Holiday Bash

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.

Al Davis, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Over the past weekend news came of the death of Al Davis at the age of 82. It did not make the nightly news in France or the newspapers that I saw. It was not until returning to England on Monday that I, really by chance, stumbled across the news of Davis’ death. I can say I was surprised and somewhat taken aback by the possibility that I might have missed the death of such an important figure in the history of sport in America, particularly the history of the National Football League.

Baseball's Night, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

It was approximately 12:45 a.m. in London when Mark Teixeira’s bases loaded blast reached the seats in The Can, and the Yankees added four runs to the one they were gifted in the first inning. It was 5-0. David Price had very little, and I turned off my computer and went to bed. At the time the Braves were 1-1 with Philadelphia, the Red Sox and O’s were scoreless and that seemed not to matter at that point. The Cardinals and Astros had not yet begun.

Penn State, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

The world of intercollegiate athletics, particularly the world of elite football and basketball programs, is a world unto itself. It has a connection to reality analogous to that of Disney World, and is shrouded in a veil of secrecy rivaling that of the CIA. Those who run these programs live in a paranoid environment that sustains a bunker mentality, while at the same time is invested with a sense that the rules, of any world beyond their offices, do not apply to them. They are vigilant in maintaining their splendid isolation in a vacuum of privilege.

College Football, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Staged events are seldom convincing and often offensive. About two weeks ago the President of THE Ohio State University, Gordon Gee decided to stage a public apology for his comments several weeks earlier in which he used the Little Sisters of the Poor as a punch line for criticism of scheduling by lesser football teams than his group of tainted national champions.

London, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

As some of you know I am now in London where I will spend the fall semester teaching at the Florida State University London Centre. I am not certain how this will affect my general view of the American sports scene, but I can tell you that the riots of this week have affected my ability to concentrate on sport and the issues that have arisen over the past two weeks.

Nfl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Today was Day 129 of America Held Hostage. No, the Ayatollah Komenhi and his band of fanatical hostage takers have not returned. This is not the ABC television news mantra that was featured during the Iranian Hostage crisis and spawned “Nightline” and made a celebrity out of Ted Koppel. This was something far more significant.

World Cup, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

Do you believe in miracles? Since it was first used by Al Michaels on the ABC telecast during the final seconds of the U.S.–Soviet Hockey game at the 1980 Olympics, this line has been quoted countless times by American sports fans. Watching the totally unexpected play or the remarkable outcome to some game, fans have often turned to this phrase to express their wonder.

Ua68/8 History Alumni Newsletter, Wku History

WKU Administration Documents

WKU History Department alumni newsletter reporting activities of the department, faculty, staff and students.

Changes In Newspaper Portrayals Of Women, 1900-1960, Laurel Wilson

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This thesis will show how mainstream newspapers depicted women in the first half of the twentieth century, and how these portrayals changed alongside society’s view of women during this time. In addition, it will look at how coverage of women and the transformations occurring during these fifty years may have influenced and affected each other, as well as how media treatment of women contributed to the beginnings of the second wave of feminism that started in the second half of the century.

A Community Of Modern Nations: The Mexican Herald At The Height Of The Porfiriato 1895-1910., Joshua Salyers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Mexican Herald, an English language newspaper in Mexico City during the authoritative rule of Porfirio Díaz (1895-1910), sought to introduce a vision of Mexico's development that would influence how Mexicans conceived of their country's political and cultural place within a community that transcended national boundaries. As Mexicans experienced rapid modernization led partially by foreign investors, the Herald represented the imaginings of its editors and their efforts to influence how Mexicans conceptualized their national identity and place in the world. The newspaper's editors idealized a Mexico that would follow the international model of the United States and embrace Pan-Americanism. …

Full Court Press: How Mississippi Newspapers Helped Keep State College Basketball Segregated, 1955-1973, Jason Ashley Peterson

Dissertations

During the civil rights era, Mississippi was cloaked in the hateful embrace of the Closed Society, historian James Silver’s description of the white caste systems that used State’s Rights to enforce segregation and promote the subservient treatment of blacks. Surprisingly, challenges from Mississippi’s college basketball courts brought into question the validity of the Closed Society and its unwritten law, a gentleman’s agreement that prevented college teams in the Magnolia State from playing against integrated foes. Led by Mississippi State University’s (MSU) basketball team, which won four Southeastern Conference championships in a five-year span, the newspapers in Mississippi often debated the …