Tag Archives: football

February 2, 2018

Authors on Issues: The Political Football

Posted by michael
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 In this latest installment in our Authors on Issues series, Thomas P. Oates, author of Football and Manliness: An Unauthorized Feminist Account of the NFL, writes about the political and cultural force of the NFL.    The Political Football By Thomas … Continue reading →

October 18, 2016

200 Years of Illinois: Grange’s Ghost Story

Posted by rkcunningham
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On October 18, 1924, a streak of fire and breath of flame named Harold “Red” Grange had a game for the ages, scoring six touchdowns against a University of Michigan defense thought to be among the best in the nation. The … Continue reading →

September 8, 2016

Throwbacklist Thursday: Ready for some football

Posted by rkcunningham
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Tonight, the National Football League and the betting on same return to thrill America. Sure, you know the quarterback rating of all the miserable underperformers who have gone under center for your team since the Kennedy administration. Why not add some … Continue reading →

December 14, 2015

Sports games and you

Posted by rkcunningham
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Consider the NCAA the only pure athletic sphere in our cash-on-the-barrel head culture? Or do you prefer to think of the NCAA as a cesspool built on a tripod of corruption, hypocrisy, and exploitation? The great thing about the fantastic new … Continue reading →

May 7, 2015

Cheat feat

Posted by rkcunningham
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This morning our scandal-addled zeitgeist turns its attention to professional football, where the New England Patriots stand accused, and more or less convicted, of deflating balls for a playoff game versus the arch-rival Indianapolis Colts. Why deflate a football? It makes … Continue reading →

November 26, 2014

Best of Illinois: Very sporting

Posted by rkcunningham
in biography, Chicago, forthcoming books, new books, sports history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Best of Illinois: Very sporting

Metrics used to refer to a baffling system of weights and measures that Americans refused to adopt. These days, however, sports fans quote a different kind of metrics that measure everything from K/BB ratio to Kobe’s plus-minus. We live in an age … Continue reading →

September 5, 2014

Pigskin Primer, 2014

Posted by rkcunningham
in backlist classics, communication, new books, sports history | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Pigskin Primer, 2014

The casual viewer might not ponder a university press and the manly art of football at the same time. Assuming a scholarly publisher covered sports at all, wouldn’t it devote its energy to obscure ball games played by ancient Mayans, or maybe … Continue reading →