Sports Archives - Public Seminar

Feminism

Rita Bullwinkel’s Headshot

Girlhood and spectacle in a gutsy debut novel

October 8, 2024 • by Madeleine Adams

In her debut novel, Rita Bullwinkel portrays girlhood as a full-throttle battle, fought out over the course of a high school girls’ boxing tournament. Duking out their identities in the male-dominated space of the boxing ring, the protagonists of Headshot (Viking, 2024) both enact and undermine the familiar spectacle of ...

East Asia & Pacific

“Village NBA” in China

When sports fandom meets rural governance

September 9, 2024 • by Gil Hizi

The driver of bus number 25 knew where I was heading the moment I stepped inside. Although he met few foreigners during his three years on this line (as he later told me), he assumed that I could only be heading to the “NBA village” of Taipan in the Guizhou ...

Sports

Bear Fight in Chicago

We all need to remember that we may love our sports teams but they don’t love us back

October 8, 2021 • by Pat Garofalo

Football season is well and truly underway, and so, apparently, is football stadium subsidy season. First it was the Buffalo Bills, and now it’s the Chicago Bears, whose owners started the process of purchasing land that would allow the team to move from its current home at Soldier Field in ...

Sports

Don’t Feel Guilty for Loving Football

Just be honest about it

October 6, 2021 • by Stephen T. Casper

It was a punishing number of hits every game, but the guy was tough. As author Louie Robinson described him in a December 1968 Ebony Magazine profile, O.J. Simpson was six feet, two inches tall, weighed 207 pounds and could run 100 yards in 9.4 seconds. A transfer to the University of ...

Podcast

Naomi Osaka, Athletes, and Mental Health

Past Present Podcast, Episode 283

June 8, 2021 • by Nicole Hemmer, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: Citing mental health concerns, tennis champion Naomi Osaka decided not to participate in post-match press conferences at the French Open. Natalia referred to this history at Forbesof how the press conference supplanted locker room interviews. Neil drew on this three-part ...

Race

The Negro Leagues and Baseball Memory

Washington D.C.’s first championship team

November 10, 2019 • by Robert Greene II

The erasure of the Grays should not be surprising. It has become easy for most fans of the National Pastime to ignore or overlook the contributions of the Negro Leagues. Often, the Negro Leagues are mentioned as a piece of baseball history, both a reminder of Major League Baseball’s shameful ...

Feature

Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Donald Trump and the politics of football

June 27, 2018 • by Jesse Berrett

Last fall, Donald Trump called protesting NFL players “sons of bitches” and demanded that they be kicked off the field and fired “right now.” Weeks ago, he disinvited the Super-Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles from the customary visit to the White House because “they disagree with our president” about proper observance of the national ...

Feature

The Israeli Embassy, Tom Wolfe, and Sports Gambling

Past Present Episode 131

May 23, 2018 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: President Trump officially moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and violence in Gaza ensued. Neil wrote about Trump’s stance in his Huffington Post column this week. Natalia recommended this Tablet article breaking down the context for the violence in Gaza. “New Journalism” pioneer Tom Wolfe ...

The Israeli Embassy, Tom Wolfe, and Sports Gambling

Feature

Sean Hannity, Gayborhoods, and Running Tutus

Past Present Episode 128

May 2, 2018 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki debate the Sean Hannity phenomenon, battles over the “gayborhood,” and the popularity of running tutus.

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Sean Hannity, Gayborhoods, and Running Tutus

Feature

Black Panther, Adam Rippon, and Plastics

Past Present Episode 120

March 11, 2018 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Niki, Neil, and Natalia debate the blockbuster film Black Panther, the ascendancy of Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon, and the preponderance of plastics in contemporary life.

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Black Panther, Adam Rippon, and Plastics

Feature

Tonya Harding, Prison Book Bans, and the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal

Past Present Episode 115

January 28, 2018 • by Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Nicole Hemmer and Neil J. Young

In this episode, Neil, Natalia, and Niki debate Tonya Harding’s comeback, book bans in prison, and the 20th anniversary of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal.

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