The SportsThink Review #116
October 18, 2024
The SportsThink Review highlights my favorite sport-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. Many thanks to everyone who made it out for my talk on UT’s Olympic history yesterday, it was a fun topic to dig into and I’ve already got some ideas for more projects that will build on the research. Peak Sports Fall rolls on. I’ll be out of town for a massive weekend here in Austin, with College Gameday, Horns-Bulldogs, and Formula 1. Sad to miss the energy, but not that sad about avoiding the traffic. (Obligatory Hook ‘Em, and we’ll include a Go Dodgers as well.). Good pair of reads for you this week. Let’s get to it.
Inside the WNBA’s Big, Bold, Record-Breaking Year (Rachel Bachman and Sydney Rose Thomas, Wall Street Journal Magazine)
First off, I hope you saw this Ionescu game-winner on Wednesday:
I’ve used some of the rhetoric myself over the years, but I don’t always love the way we talk about the “rise” or “arrival” of women’s sports, as if they just came out of nowhere. As if female athletes weren’t always doing great things. It’s more that we’ve finally started paying attention en masse, especially as the financial and structural support has gotten better over the years. A nice, in-depth piece on the subject from Bachman and Thomas, the cover of November’s WSJ Magazine hardcopy, featuring the WNBA as the lead in the annual innovation issue. A good look at the stars in the modern women’s game, but also the underlying factors driving the impressive numbers for the W across the board. Some great photography and bonus video content in the online version here too.
A Sports Star Was Born! How Kris Kristofferson First Found National Exposure As a Rugby Player (Bill Williams, Playing Pasts)
We’ve had a spate celebrity passings recently, in sports and beyond. RIP Maggie Smith, Pete Rose, Dikembe Mutombo. And RIP Kris Kristofferson, the singer, actor, Rhodes scholar, Army vet, and…athlete. Williams piece is a nice tribute, detailing Kristofferson’s lesser known exploits as an athlete, including an early appearance in Sports Illustrated as a rugby player at Pomona College. And while we’re here, there’s never a bad time to share this:
I’m off to DC today, so one last plug for these events next week. Please come say hi if you’re in the area!
Washington, DC, October 21-22
As always, thanks for reading. Please keep sharing good stories with me and sharing the newsletter far and wide!
See you soon,
Tolga