Sports Studies Commons^™

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

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, …

Ua52/1 Snowball Express Memories, Wku Archives

WKU Administration Documents

Memories regarding the Snowball Express train which was stranded in the snow solicited by WKU Archives.

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.

Guide To The Mary Jo Moriarty Collection, 1915-1998, Caitlin Gette-King, Orson Kingsley

Archives & Special Collections Finding Aids

Brief Biographical Sketch

Mary Jo Moriarty was born in Boston and received her bachelor’s degree in history from Villa Maria College and her master’s and doctoral degrees from the Boston University School of Education. Moriarty worked as a health and physical education teacher at Hyannis State Teachers College from 1937 until the school’s closing in 1944. She moved with the college’s health and physical education program to Bridgewater State Teachers College when the two merged. She taught as a professor in the Physical Education Department, and later served as chairwoman of the Physical Education Major and the Department of Health …

Ua68/8/2 Potter College Of Arts & Letters History Oral History Committee, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by the Oral History Committee. Series includes oral history interview tapes and transcriptions.

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.

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.

The Olympics In East Asia: Nationalism, Regionalism, And Globalism On The Center Stage Of World Sports, William W. Kelly, Susan Brownell

CEAS Occasional Publication Series

Yale CEAS Occasional Publication Series - Volume 3

Organizational Centralization As Figurational Dynamics: Movements And Counter-Movements In The Gaelic Athletic Association, John Connolly, Paddy Dolan

Articles

In this paper we develop aspects of Elias’s figurational approach within organisational studies by using some of the core theoretical constructs as a model to explain organi­sational change through an empirical investigation of the dynamics of centralisation–decentralisation processes in an Irish sports organisation. Based on historical analysis, the paper documents the expanding interdependencies, figurational dynamics and shifting power balances which led to a gradual, non-linear movement towards greater integration and centralisation within the organisation.

Hank Stram, John A. Drobnicki

Publications and Research

Hank Stram was a football coach and broadcaster whose Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl IV.

100 Years Of Men's Basketball, Iwu Athletics, Illinois Wesleyan University

History

This slideshow was presented during an event celebrating this milestone.

Excesses Of The Super Bowl, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

From its modest beginnings in 1966 at the AFL-NFL Championship Game in Los Angeles down to Super Bowl XLIV, it has become increasingly apparent that Super Sunday has grown exponentially and in the process has become a bloated monster. Over the past quarter century or more Super Sunday has illustrated the ability of a sporting event to offer a distorted and exaggerated version of social reality and social values in America and the Super Bowl has done this on a grand, glorious, and obscene scale.

Athletes In Confessional Mode, Richard C. Crepeau

On Sport and Society

What is it about the media, and by implication, the public, that we seem to require a public confessional from our fallen heroes and icons? As I watched some of the Mark McGwire interview with Bob Costas I wondered if it had started with McGwire looking at the floor and saying, "Forgive me Bobby, for I have sinned." I trust it did not, even though it might have added to the ambiance.

Ua19/12 Tennis, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by tennis coaches regarding schedules.

Ua94/6/5 Student / Alumni Personal Papers Wku Edgar Stansbury, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about Edgar Stansbury.

Ua19/10 Softball, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the softball coaches.

Ua1c11/21 Edgar Stansbury Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photograph collection compiled by Edgar Stansbury during his time as a student, assistant coach and his military career.

Ua19/5 Women's Basketball, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by women's basketball coaches regarding the team, schedules and awards.

Ua19/11 Golf, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by golf coaches regarding schedules.