On The Super Bowl Halftime Show
Let us take a moment to celebrate something about last week’s Super Bowl halftime show. In some small way, I took it as a confirmation of some meaningful cultural progress. At the end of the 1980s, as hip-hop entered mainstream consciousness, adults (especially white adults) across the country were in a state of moral panic:…
Some Comments on Figure Skating and Russian Doping
Before last night, if you had told me that a figure skater in an Olympic final was going to perform to “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by the Stooges, I wouldn’t have believed you. (More on the song choice below.) If you had further told me that that same figure skater would win silver and…
No Exception for “Princess of China”: China’s Silencing of Peng Shuai
Editor’s note: I am proud to share this excellent piece, on the global fallout and sport-governance implications of tennis star Peng Shuai’s accusations against China’s former Vice Premier, Zhang Gaoli. The author who wishes to remain anonymous. I can vouch 100% for the author’s expertise on the subject.–Tolga *Habitually for Chinese names, the family…
Subscribe to The SportsThink Newsletter!
If you don’t already, I’d love it if you would consider reading and subscribing to the SportsThink Newsletter. While I’m sad to say that I haven’t the time to regularly update the blog, the newsletter goes out (almost) every week and features my favorite content from around the sports internet (and beyond!). I send two…
Do reporters need to be in the locker room?
There’s some consternation over the NFL’s recent decision to keep journalists out of the locker room for a second straight year. Ostensibly a pandemic safety measure, critics argue that the move hurts objective coverage of the league and grants the league and teams greater control of media narratives via official channels. There is fear that…
New Article Published on Innovation in 20th Century Fitness
Well, this was a long time coming. My article, “Critical Mass: Oral History, Innovation Theory, and the Fitness Legacy of the Muscle Beach Scene,” was just published by the International Journal of the History of Sport. This paper began its life as part of my dissertation, which was submitted in 2014. I’d wager the initial…
Playing the Long Game Symposium: April 12-15
We’ve got a big event next week, folks! I have spent the last six months co-organizing Playing the Long Game with Jim Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Rooney Consulting. Presented by Rooney Consulting, the Sport Management program at UT, and the HJ Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, Playing the Long Game…
Sport and Geopolitics Roundup
Some recent items of note. North Korea is out of the Olympics. As the article notes, there’s a twofold explanation: covid-exposure fears and a rebuke of the opportunity for diplomatic conversations, sending a message to both Seoul and DC. This is decidedly a step backwards after the seeming progress at the previous winter games and…
We Can Dance If We Want To
A note from the editor: I’m tremendously excited to share this guest post by Scott Jedlicka, a dear friend and sport management professor at Washington State University. I find it challenging and thought-provoking in all the right ways. And it’s timely, coming not just when most of us surely thought the pandemic would be a…
One More Women’s NCAA Observation: Learning from Rosters
A not-too-scientific, but potentially interesting addendum to Tuesday’s NCAA post. When I watch college sports, I like to pull up the team rosters to see where everyone hails from, learn interesting trivia, etc. As I’ve been doing this during the basketball tournaments, I started noticing some things on women’s rosters that I think are positive…
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