WELCOME!!!

Welcome, welcome, welcome! Glad to have you here (imagine that’s being said by Harry Caray). Perhaps you came here on purpose or perhaps by complete accident, but now that you’re here I hope you’ll enjoy what you find.

What I hope to do with this blog is create a place where sports enthusiasts can talk, laugh and argue about sports. But as opposed to concentrating on the day’s headlines and discussing standings, strategy and Jason Giambi’s mustache—the AP already takes care of that—I plan on going in a somewhat different direction.

If you travel back to mid-19th century America, sport as we know it today did not exist. Ideas of competition and physical exercise as a way to improve the body did not mesh with the social fabric of the Victorian mode that held the country. By the turn of the century that had changed. With the Industrial Revolution came new values that complemented those of sport. As a result, sport began to grow in popularity and became largely a 20th century phenomenon. Many events, such as the rise of the leisure class to vast advancements in technology, have abetted sport’s continual growth throughout the past 100 years.

With this blog, I hope to explore how sport has become more and more intertwined with American society. In many ways, one cannot be talked about without the other. Sport was the backdrop to the growing conflict with Germany in the late 1930s when Joe Louis felled Max Schmeling in 1938. And sport was present during the Civil Rights Era when Jackie Robinson integrated baseball. Even today, the controversy of steroids in sports has meaning and implication far beyond the playing field. This blog will examine current events and, while noting and paying respect to the past, flesh out an understanding of an age-old question: does society lead sport or, with its captivating grip over many of us, does sport lead society?

With its increasingly strong grip, sport has grown into a $250 billion per year industry in the US alone. In hopes of answering our central question I will also be posting on topics relevant to sports business—from corporate marketing to player imaging and branding. This does not mean that I won’t be noting my favorite sports quotes (Shaq and Bobby Knight supply finer material than an Italian silk weaver) or that I won’t post hilarious sports videos (wait until you see Sir Charles Barkley swing a golf club!). However, it does mean that I hope to bring something new to the table, something that has been racking my brain for quite some time. I hope you will join me in discussing some of these issues. Most of all, I hope you enjoy what’s here! Welcome!