New Books in Sports
This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field.
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376
Jules Boykoff, “Activism and the Olympics: Diss...
A new chapter in the history of the Olympic Games appears to be opening. As one city after another has dropped out of the bidding for the 2022 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee has been faced with the prospect that no one might be willi...
44 min
377
Bruce Babington, “The Sports Film: Games People...
One of the most enduring film genres is the sports movie. From the earliest attempts at narrative motion pictures to the present day, movies devoted to athletic competition are both popular and lasting. In The Sports Film: Games People Play (Wallflower...
58 min
378
Eric Allen Hall, “Arthur Ashe: Tennis and Justi...
When he died from AIDS in 1993, Arthur Ashe was universally hailed as a man of principle, grace, and wisdom–a world-class athlete who had transcended his game. But a closer look at Ashe’s life reveals a more complex picture. Certainly,
46 min
379
Matthew Algeo, “Pedestrianism: When Watching Pe...
48 min
380
Stefan Rinke and Kay Schiller (editors), “The F...
The history of globalization is found in more than international political organizations and multinational corporations, free-trade agreements and foreign direct investments, satellite communications and special export zones.
56 min
381
J.C. Herz, “Learning to Breath Fire: The Rise o...
In industrial parks, converted warehouses, and pole barns across the country, a fitness revolution is taking place. It’s a revolution, according to J.C. Herz, that’s leading us not so much forward as back, into what she calls “the primal future of fitn...
55 min
382
Roger Kittleson, “The Country of Football: Socc...
Passion. Flair. Instinct. Improvisation. As the World Cup advances to the knockout stage, you’ll hear these terms associated with the football styles of Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico rather than those of Belgium and Germany.
52 min
383
Travis Vogan, “Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films ...
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,
49 min
384
Lucia Trimbur, “Come Out Swinging: The Changing...
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,
49 min
385
Lincoln Harvey, “A Brief Theology of Sport” (SC...
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.
48 min
386
Brett Hutchins and David Rowe, “Sport Beyond Te...
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).
52 min
387
N. Jeremi Duru, “Advancing the Ball: Race, Refo...
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,
49 min
388
Jules Boykoff, “Celebration Capitalism and the ...
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...
51 min
389
Sam Miller and Jason Wojciechowski, “Baseball P...
This week’s episode features Sam Miller and Jason Wojciechowski, editors of the Baseball Prospectus’ 2014 (Wiley, 2014), a yearbook that both previews the upcoming baseball season and provides readers a look into the state of the art in baseball analys...
43 min
390
John Matthew Smith, “The Sons of Westwood: John...
48 min
391
Susan Ware, “Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King...
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.
51 min
392
The 2013 Year-End Episode
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.
121 min
393
Kevin Kerrane, “Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The ...
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 Philadelphi...
57 min
394
Peter Westwick and Peter Neushul, “The World in...
The Atlantic magazine recently asked its readers to name the greatest athlete of all time. The usual suspects were present among the nominees: Jesse Owens, Pele, Wayne Gretzky, Don Bradman. Given that these were readers of The Atlantic,
49 min
395
Lindsay Krasnoff, “The Making of Les Bleus: Spo...
In 1967, an official of the French basketball federation lamented the team’s poor finish at that year’s European Championships in Finland. The French team finished sixth in their group of eight, and then lost in the first game of the knockout stage.
43 min
396
The NBS Fall Seminar: Sports Memoirs
One of the most crowded sections of the sports library is the one devoted to autobiographies and memoirs. The shelves here are constantly adding new titles, by both legends and bit players. For instance, the past week has brought the release of new mem...
118 min
397
David Little, “The Sports Show: Athletics as Im...
Many fans store a vast collection of sports images in their brains. With just a moment’s glance at a picture, even a slice of the picture, they can recognize the athletes, the season, the game, the particular play that the photographer captured.
49 min
398
Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann (editors), “Afri...
In 2010, for the first time, an African nation hosted the FIFA World Cup. The advertisements surrounding the tournament used graphics and sounds intended to conjure the image of a vibrant, exotic land. In fact, though,
46 min
399
Tony Collins, “Sport in Capitalist Society: A S...
Throughout the centuries, in cultures around the world, people have played games. But it has only been in the modern age, in the last 250 years or so, that people have competed in and watched sports. Modern sports are distinct in practice and purpose f...
44 min
400
Chris Anderson and David Sally, “The Numbers Ga...
Two guys are watching Premier League highlights, when onto the TV screen comes Rory Delap, then with Stoke City, doing one of his renowned throw-ins from the touchline directly into the box. One guy, a native of the American Midwest who’d been raised o...
48 min