Of course I want the Cubs to win the World Series. This year, 2008, would be great—exactly one hundred years after their last World Championship. But secretly, in my heart-of-hearts, […]
Category: sports history
Getting to know Champaign-Urbana, Part 5
Champaign’s Assembly Hall is a most endangered historic place, reports the Chicago Tribune. I drive past this building every day on my way home from work and have enjoyed many […]
maxboxing.com reviews “Sweet William”
Though quibbling a bit with Andrew O’Toole’s portrayal of the Joe Louis-Billy Conn rematch (was it fixed?), maxboxing.com recommends Sweet William: The Life of Billy Conn. “O’Toole recounts Conn’s rise […]
Golf and the water supply
The February 2008 issue of National Geographic magazine includes a piece titled Drying of the West, about water resource issues in the American West. A caption that accompanies one of […]
More Pittsburgh attention for “Sweet William”
On January 6th the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published Roy McHugh’s review of Sweet William: The Life of Billy Conn. “Other than Ali, there was never a fighter as handsome. Warner Brothers asked […]
“Sweet William” featured in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review featured Sweet William, Andrew O’Toole’s biography of hometown boxing legend Billy Conn, in its December 30th edition. “Before Roberto Clemente, Terry Bradshaw or Mario Lemieux became household names, […]
The Chicago Marathon Water Controversy by Andrew Suozzo
Andrew Suozzo is a professor of Modern Languages at DePaul University and the author of The Chicago Marathon (University of Illinois Press, 2006). Suozzo is currently teaching a course on […]
“Why Billy Conn?” by Andrew O’Toole
Andrew O’Toole is a freelance writer and the author of several books on sports, including Smiling Irish Eyes: Art Rooney and the Pittsburgh Steelers. His new book Sweet William: The […]