AMH 3613 SPORT IN AMERICA SINCE 1945

6:00 p.m to 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, Comm 114

Dr. Crepeau, CH 544

Office Hours: 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. MW

Required Readings:

Ben Rader, American Sports

David Zang, SportsWars

Welch Suggs, A Place on the Team: The Triumph and Tragedy of Title IX

David Halberstam, The Amateurs

Michael MacCambridge, America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football

Captured a Nation

In addition to the books listed above there is a considerable amount of material on-line from a variety of sources that you will be asked to read and report on during the term. The Virtual Library of the Amateur Athletic Association of Los Angeles is a treasure chest of academic materials for research and reading providing access to several academic journals on-line. The materials of the Institute for the Study of Sport and Society at the University of Central Florida dealing with race, gender, violence and other important topics will be used. All of my commentaries on sport and social issues since 1996 are available on-line and will be referred to on occasion. Indeed the amount of material available in terms of articles and databases of all sorts is nearly overwhelming and you will be asked to make your way through some of that maze.

There will be two exams, both essay, a mid-term and final. The mid-term will take place near the mid-point of the term, and the final exam will take place during final exam week at the time assigned by the University Calendar Guru. In addition there will be several written assignments to be completed outside of class and based upon the reading materials for the class. These assignments will be made periodically through the term. These exams and assignments will count more or less equally in determining the final grade for the course. In addition class participation and attendance could be a factor. There will be student projects and papers.

Over the course of the term I would hope to use a number of videos, supplemental materials of various kinds, and conduct this class with considerable amount of classroom discussion.

Sometime in the first week of class (preferably today) send me an e-mail at crepeau@ucf.edu and NOT crepeau@mail.ucf.edu. I will create a list for the class and I will use the list to send materials and assignments to you. It is important that you are on this list as writing assignments will also be communicated to you in this fashion. Changes in the Syllabus could also be announced here. If you are using yahoo there is an excellent chance you will never see an e-mail from me, so I would advise some other e-mail system.

Dr. Crepeau has been doing written commentary and some radio commentary on sport for over a decade. These commentaries will be sent directly to you and are not required for the course. They are sent as a matter of interest and may be used as starting points for classroom discussion of contemporary issues in sport. They are used in this fashion in classrooms around the world.

Course Outline:

Week One-- January 9

Halberstam, The Amateurs. Read it all.

Introduction-What is Sport?

Sport and the legacy of World War II

Week Two- January 16

Rader, Chapter 14;

MacCambridge, Prologue, Chapters 1-3

Halberstam, Read it all, AGAIN.

Postwar Sport and the Postwar World

Week Three- January 23

Guest Speaker, James Deitz, fresh out of The Amateurs.

Mr. Deitz will take questions on the book, crew in general, the Olympics, and Title IX issues. He is the women's crew coach at U. Mass.

Rader, Chapter 13.

Week Four, January 30

Rader, Chapter 18, pp. 315-321

MacCambridge, Chapters 4-8

The Desegregation Process: Baseball, Football and others

Week Four- February 6

MacCambridge, Chapters 9-12

Rader, Chapter 15 to p.271, Chapter 16 to p.291

The Fifties-A New World for Sport-Baseball, Intercollegiate Sport, and Professional Football.

The Coming of Television

Week Five- February 13

MacCambridge, Chapters, 13-16

The Rise of the NFL-Fall of Baseball?

Sports Unions

Week Six- February 20

Suggs, A Place on the Team, Chapters 1-6

Rader, Chapter 19, pp. 330-334.

The Coming of Title IX

Week Seven-February 27

Zang, SportsWars

The New Athlete and The New Age

Week Eight- March 5

Zang, Sports Wars

Rader, Chapter 18, pp.321-329

The New Black Athlete-Ali

Sport and the Civil Rights Movement

Sport and the Vietnam War

Sport and the Counter Culture

Week Nine-

Spring Break-March 10-14

Week Ten- March 19

Rader, Chapters 15 and 16. MacCambridge, Chapters 16-19

The Second Television Revolution-Cable, Talk Radio, the Internet

Week Eleven-March 26

MacCambridge, Chapters 20-23

Sport in the Television Age

The New Hero and His Evil Twin

Week Twelve-April 2

MacCambridge, Chapters 23-24

The Impact and Future of Title IX

Suggs, A Place on the Team, Chapters 7-12

Rader, Chapter 19, 335-343

Week Thirteen-April 9

The Redefinition of Sport and The New Body Awareness

Rader, Chapter 17 and 20

Week Fourteen-April 16

Rader, Chapter 21

Money, Money, Money

The Mitchell Report

Roids, Records, and Taking the Needle

Congress and Sport

Week Fifteen-April 23

Final Exam - 7 p.m.