The SportsThink Review #108
August 23, 2024
Welcome new readers! The SportsThink Review highlights my favorite sport-related reading and related content. Most things I share are recently published, but some are not; the only rule is that I’ve read or encountered them recently. Some are relevant to my day job as a professor teaching courses on the business, history, and philosophy of sports. Others are just plain interesting, relevant to my lifelong obsession with the games we play. I also occasionally share articles and assorted musings on Twitter. The newsletter is free, but comes with two requests. 1. I’m always open to suggestions, so send me the good stuff that you read! 2. If you enjoy the newsletter, please share it with other folks who might enjoy it as well. Finally, I try to focus on non-paywalled writing, but if you find yourself unable to access anything, just hit reply to the email and I’ll do my best to get you a copy. Thanks for reading!
Howdy folks, happy Friday. Shorter newsletter this week, but two longer pieces that are well worth a read. Hitting the opposite ends of the sporting tradition spectrum with baseball and video games. But in terms of communities and engagement, there’s definitely some overlaps. Rumor has it that Beyonce will be performing later in the newsletter. Let’s get reading.
How to Start a Professional Sports Team, Win Games, and Save the Town (Dan Moore, The Ringer)
No one is really asking me, but if you’re curious: I don’t think starting a minor league professional sports team is a sound business idea. Thankfully for baseball fans in Oakland, Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel did not seek my advice before starting the Oakland Ballers, their new team in the Pioneer Baseball League. The Pioneer Leauge sits pretty low in the American baseball infrastructure, one of four MLB “partner” independent leagues (the article explains this designation well). With the impending departure of the Oakland A’s, Freedman and Carmel set out to bring joy and baseball back to their hometown. Early returns have been positive, but the jury is still out on whether they’ll save the town. Well told by Moore and an interesting look in all it takes to launch even a lowly professional team and the greater function of sports in our communities.
In The Flesh: Esports as Spectacle (Matt Turner, MUBI)
Things change. I teach a class on the philosophy of sport (yes, that’s a real thing) and an early semester exercise asks students to define sports and then check that definition against various activities. I probably did this for the first time ~12 years ago. At that point in time, there would be one person (always a guy) in a class of 35 people defending video games as sports. Most others disagreed and some got really worked up over the suggestion that video games were “REAL” sports. (The term “esport” existed then, but no one really used it.) These days, there are still some eye rolls, but most of the students concede that this is at least a type of sport, and no one really gets in a lather any more. (If you have a take on this, put it in the comments and I’ll share mine as well.). Whether or not you accept Esports as “real sports,” Turner’s article is a good and interesting read. A bit of history, a bit of analysis of the current state of affairs, and some time spent pondering the nature of the whole endeavor. Pretty cool piece.
As always, thanks for reading. Share the newsletter far and wide! And send me the good things that you come across.
See you soon,
Tolga
I'd love to hear your take on esports as sport! I've never really considered it before, but I make a stronger distinction personally between sport and games/leisure activities than I think even the mainstream — anything primarily mental/fine-motor (video games, chess, billiards, etc.) my brain classifies as "game," even if it's competitive, elite or professional. "Sports" are gross motor joints to me. I recognize the irony of a "strength" "athlete" saying what is and isn't a sport ...