Travis VoganKeepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media

May 16, 2014

Last weekend was the NFL Draft, the annual event when teams select college players who have shown the talent to advance to the professional ranks.  Staged at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, broadcast live on two cable networks, and surrounded by ceaseless media attention and analysis, the Draft is the spring anchor-point of the […]

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Lucia TrimburCome Out Swinging: The Changing World of Boxing in Gleason’s Gym

April 25, 2014

Imagine a boxing gym. What probably comes to mind is a large, run-down room on the upper floor of an old brick building, somewhere in a trash-strewn, depressed neighborhood. The room echoes with the thud of the heavy bag, the rat-tat-tat of the speed bag, the quick whisks of the jump rope. The men training […]

Interview with Lucia Trimbur [ 49:01 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download
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Lincoln HarveyA Brief Theology of Sport

April 4, 2014

Does God care who wins the game? According to a recent survey, plenty of American fans think so.  The Public Religion Research Institute found that a quarter of fans said that they had prayed to God for a favorable outcome to a game.  Add in those who practice some personal ritual in the hope that […]

Interview with Lincoln Harvey [ 48:22 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download
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Brett Hutchins & David RoweSport Beyond Television: The Internet, Digital Media and the Rise of Networked Media Sport

March 20, 2014

Twenty years ago, when I was studying abroad in Europe, the only way to keep track of my teams back in the US was to sneak looks in The International Herald Tribune at the newspaper kiosk (the price of the paper was beyond my meager budget).  Twelve years after that, when I returned to Europe […]

Interview with Brett Hutchins and David Rowe [ 52:42 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download
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N. Jeremi DuruAdvancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL

March 6, 2014

Each year, following the end of the NFL season, there is a blizzard of activity as teams with disappointing records fire their head coaches and look for the new leader who will turn things around.  This year, seven teams fired their coaches and spent the next weeks searching for a replacement among the pool of […]

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Jules BoykoffCelebration Capitalism and the Olympic Games

February 7, 2014

The 22nd Winter Olympics are underway.  It's safe to say that the lead-up has not gone smoothly.  Of course, there have been the obligatory cost overruns, crony contracts, displacement of locals, and environmental despoliation–all the problems we've seen with past Olympics.  But this year's games have come with new wrinkles.  It's possible, though, that the various […]

Interview with Jules Boykoff [ 51:01 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download
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John Matthew SmithThe Sons of Westwood: John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty That Changed College Basketball

January 29, 2014

One of the great dynasties of American sports are the UCLA men’s basketball teams of the 1960s-70s.  In a twelve-year span, the Bruins won ten national collegiate championships.  They had four undefeated seasons, and in one stretch, from 1971-1974, the teams won 88 straight games.  UCLA’s teams featured some of basketball’s all-time greats: guards Walt […]

Interview with Johnny Smith [ 48:37 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download
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Susan WareGame, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women’s Sports

January 18, 2014

[Cross-posted from New Books in History] If you’re younger than 45 or so, you probably don’t remember the “Battle of the Sexes.”  This tennis match, between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King, is one of the iconic moments in American history of the 1970s. It represented a breakthrough moment for women in sports, a symbol of […]

Interview with Susan Ware [ 52:17 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download
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The 2013 Year-End Episode

December 22, 2013

It’s that time of year when the panels of experts on sports call-in shows shout opinions on the best and worst of the past twelve months.  To finish the year, New Books in Sports offers its own panels of experts.  But rather than arguing over the biggest matches and plays of the year, they’ll share […]

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Kevin KerraneDollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting

December 14, 2013

[Cross-posted from New Books in Pop Culture] Kevin Kerrane's Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting (CreateSpace, 2013) represents the first major study of the history and practice of professional baseball scouting.  Based on Kerrane's ethnographic research with the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1981 season, the book provides an inside look at one of sports' least understood professions […]

Interview with Kevin Kerrane [ 57:28 ] Play Now| Play in Popup | Download
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