Ethnic Studies /asmagazine/ en Embracing all the joy in Mudville /asmagazine/2025/04/03/embracing-all-joy-mudville <span>Embracing all the joy in Mudville</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-04-03T11:16:36-06:00" title="Thursday, April 3, 2025 - 11:16">Thu, 04/03/2025 - 11:16</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-04/Rockies%20Opening%20Day.jpg?h=4dbbd914&amp;itok=Ue6_XGZ9" width="1200" height="800" alt="Coors Field on the Rockies' Opening Day"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/913" hreflang="en">Critical Sports Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1150" hreflang="en">views</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span lang="EN">Even though Major League Baseball faces an uncertain future entering its 150th season, Opening Day still holds a special place in the culture and fans’ hearts</span></em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">As Rockies fans make their way to </span><a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/mlb/rockies/2025/03/27/mlb-opening-day-2025-rays-colorado-rockies-roster-how-watch-home-opener/82665545007/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Denver for the team's 33rd home opener</span></a><span lang="EN"> Friday, we are reminded of the excitement and hope that accompanies every team starting the season and looking toward the World Series. </span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/baseball-history/opening-day#:~:text=Opening%20Day%20may%20be%20the,like%20a%20no%2Dhit%20game.&amp;text=Share%20this%20image%3A,faster%20beating%20of%20the%20heart.%22" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Why does opening day</span></a><span lang="EN"> mean so much to so many?</span></p><p><span lang="EN">For many, spring and summer are marked by the cracking of bats and the camaraderie of the tailgate as fan hope is renewed and the losses of seasons past are replaced by visions of the World Series. </span><a href="https://www.bu.edu/articles/2024/baseball-shake-up-the-game-or-risk-a-slow-death/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Even as baseball faces a less-than-certain future</span></a><span lang="EN">, with viewership down and ticket prices way, way up, Opening Day remains deeply rooted in our collective memories. Why?</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/jared_browsh_1.jpg?itok=aL4xTN06" width="1500" height="2187" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">This tradition has been nearly 150 years in the making, with the first National League Opening Day occurring on </span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/baseball-history/opening-day-the-baseball-holiday#:~:text=Spring%20fever%2C%20that%20is.,was%20on%20April%2022%2C%201876." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">April 22, 1876, in Philadelphia</span></a><span lang="EN">, with the Athletics defeating the Boston Red Caps. Since that first opener, the tradition and pageantry has only grown, with cities recognizing the day with parades and fans awakening from their winter hibernation to celebrate what has become an </span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/baseball-history/opening-day-the-baseball-holiday" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">unofficial holiday in many cities</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">One city where this tradition is strongly rooted is&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/reds/history/timeline" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Cincinnati</span></a><span lang="EN">, home of the first recognized all-professional team in baseball, the Red Stockings. Manager John Joyce, who organized the original team in 1866, updated the Cincinnati franchise in 1875, and the team then joined the newly established National League (NL) in 1876.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Though beer has become a baseball tradition, in </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/04/11/mlb-beer-prohibition-clark-griffith/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">1880 the Cincinnati Reds were kicked out of the NL</span></a><span lang="EN"> for selling beer and playing on Sundays. Previous to that, William Hulbert, who had overseen the organization of the league after the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NA) disbanded, took several of the financially successful teams from the NA and established the NL with a number of strict rules, including a ban on </span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/hulbert-william" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">alcohol sales and a ban on Sunday games</span></a><span lang="EN">, to address the negative reputation of baseball at the time—which included drinking, gambling and debauchery. The Cincinnati franchise ignored these rules, partly as an effort to attract German immigrants to the game, and was expelled, leading the team to go bankrupt and fold.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In spite of these challenges, professional baseball continued in Cincinnati, with Opening Day growing in prominence. The Reds have played almost every opening day at home since 1876, a tradition most likely rooted in their position as one of the southernmost charter members in the NL. The newly re-established Cincinnati Reds played in the American Association before joining the NL again in 1890 with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms (now Dodgers), expanding the NL to eight teams. Reds’ business manager</span><a href="https://www.findlaymarketparade.com/opening-day-history" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> Frank Bancroft began to intensely marke</span></a><span lang="EN">t Opening Day after he joined the team in 1892, establishing a tradition for not only the Queen City, but baseball as a whole, which just so happened to be the same year the NL allowed beer sales and games on Sunday.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Snow on Opening Day</strong></span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-04/Baseball%20Opening%20Day%20illustration.jpg?itok=rNBdbopA" width="1500" height="1034" alt="illustration of baseball Opening Day at "> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">An illustration of Opening Day <span>at New York's Polo Grounds on April 29, 1886. (Illustration: Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">The Opening Day tradition continued to grow after the turn of the 20th century, although weather, and sometimes even the fans, did not always cooperate. After the New York Giants went down 3-0 in their Opening Day game against the Philadelphia Phillies at the historic Polo Grounds in 1907, Giants fans threw snowballs on the field—including one that hit the home plate umpire, leading him to </span><a href="https://www.history.com/articles/baseball-opening-day-fun-facts" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">call the game in favor of the Phillies</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Attention on Opening Day increased when baseball fan </span><a href="https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2023/03/28/ceremonial-first-pitches/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">President William Howard Taft</span></a><span lang="EN"> threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Washington Senators in their home opener in 1910. Twelve presidents have thrown out the ceremonial first pitch of the season, and many franchises have invited team legends and celebrities to welcome in the new season.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 1920, the tradition of the </span><a href="https://www.findlaymarketparade.com/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Findlay Market Parade</span></a><span lang="EN"> began in Cincinnati to celebrate Opening Day after the team won the 1919 World Series in spite of rumors that the Chicago White Sox had fixed the series—rumors that were later confirmed. Other teams built their own Opening Day traditions over time, like the </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/cardinals-anheuser-busch-clydesdales-history" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Anheuser-Busch Clydesdale</span></a><span lang="EN"> circling the field in St. Louis.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Opening Day continued despite two world wars and the Great Depression, with a number of milestones being established by the unofficial holiday. In the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Opening Day game on April 15, 1947, </span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/robinson-signs-first-big-league-contract" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Jackie Robinson broke the color line in baseball</span></a><span lang="EN">, scoring the winning run against the Boston Braves. In 1974, while playing for the same Braves—who had relocated from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966—</span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/aaron-ties-ruth-on-opening-day-1974" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s home run record at 714</span></a><span lang="EN">. The following season, Frank Robinson debuted as the </span><a href="/asmagazine/2025/01/30/breaking-color-barrier-baseball-leadership" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">first African American manager in baseball history.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">Major League Baseball has maintained the tradition of Opening Day, </span><a href="https://www.sportslogos.net/logos/list_by_team/4819/MLB-Opening-Day-Logos/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">even creating a unique logo in 2001</span></a><span lang="EN">, in spite of changes in the schedule. ESPN began broadcasting “opening games” the night before the official Opening Day in 1994, further establishing the noteworthy aspects of the day. </span><a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2020/04/04/padres-history-april-4-rockies-steal-the-show-in-mexico/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">On Opening Day in 1999</span></a><span lang="EN">, the first regular-season game </span><a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2020/04/04/padres-history-april-4-rockies-steal-the-show-in-mexico/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">outside of the United States was played in Monterrey, Mexico</span></a><span lang="EN">, with the Rockies beating the San Diego Padres 8-2.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-04/Rockies%20Opening%20Day.jpg?itok=yHY3eHPU" width="1500" height="1123" alt="Coors Field on the Rockies' Opening Day"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">The Colorado Rockies will open their 2025 season Friday at Coors Field in Denver. (Photo: Visit Denver)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">The first regular season to open outside of North America occurred the next year in Tokyo; however, the games between </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/baseball-games-played-outside-the-us-c272441130" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs were scheduled the week before the official Opening Da</span></a><span lang="EN">y, establishing the precedent that these early season international opening games would not be considered Opening Day games. </span><a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44346498/mlb-celebrates-success-cubs-dodgers-tokyo-series" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">The 2025 Tokyo Series</span></a><span lang="EN"> took place between the Dodgers and Cubs on March 18 and 19, following several exhibition games in Japan—more than a week before the officially recognized Opening Day.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Opening Day traditionally took place on a Monday through the 2011 season, when MLB split the </span><a href="https://frontofficesports.com/why-mlb-opening-day-overlaps-with-sweet-16-and-likely-will-again/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Opening Days of its 30 teams across two days to the last Thursday and Friday of March</span></a><span lang="EN"> to avoid the World Series extending into November, as it had the previous two seasons. After returning to a Monday start in 2013, the league made the change to start the season on a Thursday permanent in 2018, with all 30 teams scheduled to play on Thursday, March 29.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">As Major League Baseball begins its 150th season, many questions remain regarding the future of the sport. </span><a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/44096180/mlb-2025-spring-training-oakland-athletics-tampa-bay-rays-minor-league-ballparks-sacramento" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Two teams are playing in minor league stadiums</span></a><span lang="EN"> due to the pending relocation of the Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays, and MLB and ESPN will end their media rights deal following the 2025 season, after the network tried to reduce its </span><a href="https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/rob-manfred-media-package-opt-out.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">rights payments from $550 million to $200 million</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">MLB continues to try to make games more attractive to younger fans by speeding up pace of play and by highlighting top stars like the L.A. Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and the Mets’ Juan Soto. In spite of this transitional period for the sport, however, one thing remains constant: the hope and excitement that Opening Day inspires.</span></p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Even though Major League Baseball faces an uncertain future entering its 150th season, Opening Day still holds a special place in the culture and fans’ hearts.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-04/Coors%20Field%20cropped.jpg?itok=QrUcnQIi" width="1500" height="524" alt="Colorado Rockies logo painted on grass of Coors Field in Denver"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 03 Apr 2025 17:16:36 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6096 at /asmagazine How March went mad … for basketball /asmagazine/2025/03/19/how-march-went-mad-basketball <span>How March went mad … for basketball</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-03-19T11:12:17-06:00" title="Wednesday, March 19, 2025 - 11:12">Wed, 03/19/2025 - 11:12</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-03/2024%20Clemson%20NCAA%20win%20trimmed.jpg?h=2ecc6746&amp;itok=XwUv1-7O" width="1200" height="800" alt="Elated Clemson players celebrate win over Arizona players"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/913" hreflang="en">Critical Sports Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1150" hreflang="en">views</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span lang="EN">The big business of the annual college basketball tournament, continuing with the second day of First Four games today, has been more than a century in the making</span></em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">Every year, as the seasons shift from winter to spring, college basketball fans throughout the country prepare to watch 136 men’s and women’s basketball teams battle for their respective national championships.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Although the tournament starts with the “</span><a href="https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/bracketiq/2025-01-23/first-four-ncaa-tournament-ultimate-guide" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">First Four”</span></a><span lang="EN"> games for the men’s and women’s tournaments, respectively, the first two rounds that are played during the first weekend of the tournament have become an unofficial holiday marked by billions of dollars in decreased productivity as fans watch the first 48 games played in each tournament—during which teams vie to extend their seasons another week into the “Sweet 16.”</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In the modern media age, this has become a tradition in our sports calendar, but it took several developments over the last half century for March to truly become mad.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/jared_browsh_1.jpg?itok=aL4xTN06" width="1500" height="2187" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Basketball’s roots grew out of the college game, with James Naismith inventing the game in December 1891 to keep young men at the YMCA International Training School, which is now Springfield College, fit and occupied in the winter months. The game was soon introduced to women at Smith College, and by 1893 colleges and universities began forming teams—first playing against local amateur clubs before intercollegiate games began in 1894.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">During this time, teams played under different rules, with some games featuring as many as nine players per side. By the turn of the 20th century, five-on-five became standard for men’s games, whereas women played six-on-six through most of the 1960s, with the last high school six-on-six tournament occurring in 1995 in Oklahoma.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.ncaa.org/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)</span></a><span lang="EN"> was formed in 1906 as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) before taking its current name in 1910. The NCAA was formed in response to the prevalence of injuries in college football; President Theodore Roosevelt called for two conferences comprising top college football programs to address the injuries and deaths occurring in the game. The establishment of the NCAA led to a decades-long power struggle with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) for control of intercollegiate sports.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">As the NCAA wrested control over football from the AAU, basketball continued to be loosely organized under the AAU, which organized the first tournament in 1898. Although the tournament did not happen annually until after World War I, the AAU did organize several tournaments for the 1904 Olympics, during which basketball debuted as a demonstration sport. There was an amateur tournament, a separate college tournament and several tournaments for high school and elementary school players.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>A battle for control</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">The battle for control between the AAU and NCAA continued through the early 1900s, although the latter’s commitment to basketball was questionable through the 1930s. However, the NCAA did begin organizing rules committees and established its first championship, in track and field, for the 1921 season.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The first annual college basketball tournaments were organized in successive years with the NAIA tournament, organized by Naismith, starting in 1937, the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1938 and the NCAA tournament in 1939. Coincidentally, the term “March Madness” was coined by </span><a href="https://www.hoophall.com/hall-of-famers/hv-porter/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Henry V. Porter</span></a><span lang="EN">, a noted coach and inventor of basketball equipment, in reference to the Illinois high school basketball tournament the same year as the first NCAA tournament. Sports commentator Brent Musburger first used the term in reference to the men’s tournament in 1982.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The NIT, which took place at Madison Square Garden, was seen as the premiere tournament through the 1940s due to the national media presence in New York City. Temple University defeated the University of Colorado in the first NIT championship, with the Buffaloes returning to the championship and winning in 1940 over Duquesne University. Because the NIT occurred before the NCAA tournament, Colorado and Duquesne competed in both.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-03/2024%20Clemson%20NCAA%20win%20trimmed.jpg?itok=VxzRQ6QX" width="1500" height="1016" alt="Elated Clemson players celebrate win over Arizona players"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Clemson players celebrate a win over Arizona in the Sweet 16 round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. (Photo: TigerNet.com)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">The early 1950s featured two developments that further isolated each tournament, both involving the City College of New York (CCNY). CCNY became the first team to win both tournaments in the same year, with the championships of both tournaments occurring in Madison Square Garden in 1950. This double win led the NCAA to ban teams from competing in both tournaments in the same year.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Soon after, that CCNY team was implicated in a wide-ranging point shaving scandal, which involved bribery and match fixing. The school’s presence in New York provided bettors easier access to bookies and bookies greater access to players.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The NCAA held its finals in New York all but one year between 1943 and 1950, but after the scandal the championship never returned to Madison Square Garden, even as the NIT continued to call New York City home.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>A growing NCAA</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">The next big developments occurred in the late 1960s and 1970s as the NCAA further established its control over the basketball postseason. In 1968, UCLA and Houston played in the “Game of the Century” in front of more than 52,000 fans in the Houston Astrodome. This game was a follow-up to the previous year’s semifinal matchup between the two teams, which pitted star players Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), who was recovering from an eye injury, and Elvin Hayes. The game was nationally televised and accelerated college basketball’s transition from a regional to a national sport.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 1970, Marquette declined an invitation to the NCAA tournament after it was placed in the Midwest Region, where games were played in Fort Worth, Texas, rather than the Mideast Region, where games were played in Dayton, Ohio—significantly closer to Marquette’s campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1971, the NCAA declared that any team that is offered a bid to the NCAA tournament could not accept a bid to any other postseason tournament.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 1975, after several top-ranked teams missed out on bids due to not winning their conferences, the tournament expanded from 25 teams to 32 teams to accommodate at-large bids from conferences, establishing a selection process and the anxiety of the “bubble.”</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-03/Game%20of%20the%20Century.jpg?itok=VWmPFIFr" width="1500" height="1142" alt="Lew Alcindor grabs a rebound as Elvin Hayes leaps behind him in black and white photo"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>UCLA player Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), right, snags a rebound as Houston’s Elvin Hayes (44) makes a leaping rebound attempt in what was called the “Game of the Century.” (Photo: Associated Press)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Four years later, in 1979, the tournament expanded to 40 teams but conferences were still limited to two total teams in the tournament. The 1979 tournament championship pitted Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team and Larry Bird’s Indiana State team and is still the most-viewed championship in tournament history.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The tournament continued to grow in 1980, adding eight teams and removing the conference limits. At the time, the Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Pac-10 and Southeastern Conference (SEC) were college basketball’s power conferences, with teams in the Northeast and New England playing in the amorphous Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC), which operated four regional tournaments between 1975 and 1981.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Providence coach Dave Gavitt saw an opportunity to organize a new conference with teams connected to major media markets, leveraging the growth of television through cable and syndication to form the original Big East. As the Big East began play in the fall of 1979, a small Connecticut network—the fledgling ESPN—began broadcasting nationally; soon the conference and ESPN became partners in each other's growth. As ESPN sought programming, it also began airing the early rounds of the tournament, which previously aired only locally as national broadcasters refused to pre-empt their regular programming for the early-round games.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The Big East increased college basketball’s media visibility on cable television, particularly during the week in prime time, and aided in recruiting as it became one of the top conferences in college basketball. When the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, three of the Final Four teams were from the Big East, with the eighth-seeded Villanova University defeating defending champion Georgetown University in the championship game.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Expanding tournaments</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">The first NCAA-sponsored women’s tournament occurred in 1982, with 32 teams facing off. Previously, the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (CIAW) had established the first tournament in 1969, when women’s games were still under six-player rules. The last CIAW tournament featured five-on-five rules before the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) took control of the tournament in 1971. Title IX, passed in 1972, accelerated the growth of women’s college sports well before the NCAA finally recognized the profitability of women’s basketball—10 years after the educational amendment was passed.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-03/Kamilla%20Cardoso.jpg?itok=3lzfNen-" width="1500" height="2068" alt="Kamilla Cardoso shooting a basketball"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Kamilla Cardoso was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 2024 after helping lead South Carolina to an 87-75 victory over Iowa, clinching the championship title. (Photo: Erik Drost/Wikimedia Commons)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Throughout the rest of the 1980s and 1990s, the men’s tournament remained fairly static even as the NCAA continued to evolve. After the 1984 Supreme Court decision NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, which found that the NCAA’s television plans violated antitrust laws, the NCAA was no longer able to limit how often football teams could appear on television, ultimately allowing conferences to sign their own media contracts with broadcasters and leading to a massive conference realignment that continues today. This, in turn, led to the NCAA basketball tournament becoming the most valuable media property overseen by the association.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The women’s tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994, and the last men’s Final Four to take place in a basketball venue was played in 1996; subsequent events have taken place in domed football stadiums. The tournament expanded to 65 teams in 2001 to accommodate the Mountain West Conference receiving an automatic bid reintroducing play-in games to the tournament.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>A century of madness</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">As the tournament approached the new millennium, fans were offered new ways to watch it. In 1999, DirecTV offered a premium package allowing fans to watch all the games through the satellite service, a feature previously only available in sports bars. The same year, CBS broadcast the Final Four in high definition for the first time.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 2003, work productivity took another hit as CBS partnered with Yahoo! to stream tournament games for the first time through the latter’s </span><a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/yahoo-unveils-platinum-paid-service/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">platinum service</span></a><span lang="EN">. CBS launched its own March Madness OnDemand Service the following year, giving fans access to games outside of the CBS broadcast for $9.95.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Seven years later, in 2010, the NCAA announced it was exploring expanding the tournament, </span><a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2010/news/story?id=5047800" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">even announcing it wanted to expand to 96 teams</span></a><span lang="EN">. At the same time, the NCAA began negotiations with several media networks on a new media deal. The association settled on expanding to 68 teams, establishing the “First Four” games in which the four lowest-ranked teams that earned automatic bids and the four lowest at-large teams facing off in play-in games. This accompanied a new combined television deal in which CBS and Turner Sports agreed to broadcast all games on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 2021, after Texas Christian University center Sedona Prince, who at the time was playing for the University of Oregon, posted pictures on social media highlighting the disparity between the fitness facilities for the women’s tournament compared to the men’s, the NCAA conducted a gender equality review. This led to the women’s tournament expanding to 68 teams and the March Madness branding being extended to the women’s tournament. Many still feel the women’s tournament is undervalued, especially after the 2024 Women’s Championship earned higher ratings than its male counterpart.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">So, every March hope springs eternal for 136 teams, but for dedicated fans, the madness has been more than a century in the making.</span></p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>The big business of the annual college basketball tournament, continuing with the second day of First Four games today, has been more than a century in the making.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-03/March%20Madness%20basketball.jpg?itok=RB2_femr" width="1500" height="700" alt="two basketballs on silver basketball rack"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Wed, 19 Mar 2025 17:12:17 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6088 at /asmagazine Nationalism and diplomacy are inherent to international sporting events /asmagazine/2025/02/21/nationalism-and-diplomacy-are-inherent-international-sporting-events <span>Nationalism and diplomacy are inherent to international sporting events</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-02-21T10:48:23-07:00" title="Friday, February 21, 2025 - 10:48">Fri, 02/21/2025 - 10:48</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-02/ICC%20fans%20holding%20sign.jpg?h=06ac0d8c&amp;itok=COB1MHwi" width="1200" height="800" alt="Cricket fans holding a pro-Pakistan sign at a match in New Zealand"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/913" hreflang="en">Critical Sports Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1150" hreflang="en">views</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span lang="EN">The International Cricket Council Champions Tournament, beginning this week, highlights how national rivalries and geopolitical tensions can meet on playing fields</span></em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">Courses in the Critical Sports Studies program in the Department of Ethnic Studies often start with the</span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-great-sport-myth-GSM_fig1_276442193" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> Great Sports Myth</span></a><span lang="EN">, a term coined by Jay Coakley, professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. The myth is that sports are inherently good, and most experiences in sports are positive and do not need to be studied critically.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In combating this myth, we examine sporting nationalism with the playing field serving as a symbolic battleground between nations. As Pakistan prepares to co-host the </span><a href="https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments/champions-trophy-2025" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Tournament</span></a><span lang="EN"> beginning this week, the nation's nationalistic rivalry with India comes to the forefront and reminds us that the competition on the field is often reflective of political tensions off of it.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/jared_browsh_1.jpg?itok=aL4xTN06" width="1500" height="2187" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">India and Pakistan’s political tensions date back to the British partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, although ethnic and religious tensions predate the end of Britain’s colonization of the region. </span><a href="https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/members/associate/board-of-control-for-cricket-in-india" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">India has been a member&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">of the ICC since 1926, with </span><a href="https://www.icc-cricket.com/about/members/associate/pakistan-cricket-board" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Pakistan joining the ICC soon after independence in 1952</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Sporting relations between the nations have faced a number of stoppages, while other countries have canceled test matches because of threats and actual violence against cricket teams, </span><a href="https://www.business-standard.com/cricket/news/india-vs-pakistan-a-cricket-rivalry-shaped-by-politics-wars-and-diplomacy-124111200677_1.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">particularly in Pakistan</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The New Zealand cricket team canceled their remaining 2002 matches in Pakistan after a </span><a href="https://www.opindia.com/2021/09/pakistan-how-new-zealand-cricket-team-survived-a-bomb-attack-in-2002/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">suicide bomb outside of their Karachi hotel</span></a><span lang="EN">, while other countries like Australia refused to tour due to similar concerns. </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/50726039#:~:text=On%203%20March%202009%2C%20the,escorting%20match%20officials%20were%20killed." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">In 2009, the Sri Lankan cricket team’s bus was fired on</span></a><span lang="EN"> in Lahore during their test tour, which was scheduled after India pulled out of </span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna28298820" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Pakistan following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks</span></a><span lang="EN">. As a result, Pakistan lost the opportunity to </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/apr/18/pakistan-world-cup-2011-security-fears" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">co-host the 2011 ICC World Cup</span></a><span lang="EN">; the 2025 ICC Champions Tournament is the first international cricket tournament to be hosted by Pakistan since the 1996 ICC World Cup. </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/articles/c4gp5xqye20o#:~:text=Champions%20Trophy%202025%20%E2%80%93%20dates%2C%20schedule,a%20terrorist%20attack%20in%202009." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">India's refusal to play in Pakistan led to UAE</span></a><span lang="EN"> being named as a co-host for India’s matches in the tournament, exemplifying continued tensions between the nations.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Yet diplomacy has been fostered through sport as well, including the peace initiatives of former</span><a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/it-will-be-easier-to-win-elections-there-atal-bihari-vajpayee-joked-after-reviving-cricket-ties-with-pakistan-in-2004-5310492/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee</span></a><span lang="EN">, which led to the first matches between the nations in Pakistan in 15 years in 1999 and the Friendship Cups in Canada in the 1990s and 2000s.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Colonization and sporting tensions</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Colonization has been at the core of sporting tensions between dozens of nations, including Britain and members of the Commonwealth like Ireland and Australia. Ireland in particular has used international sporting events as a forum for protest against Britain—most famously at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece. After being denied the gold medal in what many felt was a biased ruling by a judge from the United States, which followed the decision to force Irish athletes to compete on behalf of the United Kingdom, track and field athlete Peter O’Connor scaled a flag pole and unfurled</span><a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/erin-go-bragh-a-short-history-of-irish-olympic-protest-1.4318739" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> an Erin Go Bragh flag</span></a><span lang="EN">, a symbol of the movement for Irish home rule.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The Olympics also have long been a nexus for sporting nationalism. One of the most distinct examples of this was at the </span><a href="https://library.olympics.com/network/doc/SYRACUSE/2954518/the-1936-berlin-olympics-race-power-and-sportswashing-jules-boykoff?_lg=en-GB" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">1936 Summer Games in Berlin</span></a><span lang="EN">. In spite of rising concerns over antisemitism under Hitler, the United States, led by </span><a href="https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/olympics/?content=favor_participation&amp;lang=en#:~:text=Avery%20Brundage%2C%20president%20of%20the,become%20involved%20in%20%22the%20present" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">USOC President Avery Brundage</span></a><span lang="EN">, and others agreed not to boycott the games in exchange for Nazi Germany suspending antisemitic messaging and the full enactment of the Nuremberg Laws until after the games.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/1936%20Olympics%20torch%20relay.jpg?itok=mmdS3eSe" width="1500" height="1057" alt="1936 Summer Olympics torch relay in Germany"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span lang="EN">Adolf Hitler saw the 1936 Summer Olympic Games as a forum to display Aryan supremacy through victory and spectacle, which included introducing the torch relay. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)&nbsp;</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Hitler saw the games as a forum to display Aryan supremacy through victory and spectacle. Television was introduced at the games along with the torch relay and the </span><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/boys36-openingceremony/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">opening ceremony as an ostentatious show</span></a><span lang="EN">. The entire games were a primary example of “sportwashing,” which uses sport to improve public opinion of a nation or group.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Much like the India-Pakistan rivalry, a number of other geopolitical tensions have played out on various sporting fields and courts around the world. George Orwell published </span><a href="https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/the-sporting-spirit/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“The Sporting Spirit”</span></a><span lang="EN"> in December 1945, a few months after the end of World War II, warning of the use of sport to encourage hyper-nationalism. Orwell was particularly critical of the Stalin regime’s use of sport to exhibit the Soviet Union and communism’s “superiority” over capitalism after the soccer team FC Dynamo Moscow toured Britain.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 1952, the Soviet Union participated in its first Summer Olympic Games, setting off decades of displays of Cold War sporting nationalism on both sides of the Iron Curtain, but particularly exemplified by the competition between the U</span><a href="https://direct.mit.edu/jcws/article-abstract/25/4/127/118951/The-Olympics-and-the-Cold-War-A-Historiography?redirectedFrom=fulltext" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">SSR and the United States</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The Olympics became the largest stage for nationalistic competition. Every four years, the Cold War rivalries played out on the global stage of the Summer and Winter Olympics. Some of the most famous moments in Olympic history include the controversial end of the </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/09/sports/olympics/usa-soviet-union-olympics-basketball.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">1972 Olympic basketball</span></a><span lang="EN"> final, during which the Soviet Union beat the U.S. team by one point under questionable rule interpretations, and the </span><a href="https://www.ushockeyhalloffame.com/page/show/831562-the-1980-u-s-olympic-team" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">1980 Miracle on Ice</span></a><span lang="EN"> in the semifinal of the ice hockey tournament, when amateur U.S. players defeated the Soviet Union.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Both events exemplified the rivalry between these superpowers. The 1972 Olympics also included the </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/12/13/nx-s1-5126526/munich-1972-massacre-olympics-september-5" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">tragic terrorist attack by Black September</span></a><span lang="EN"> militants, leading to the murder of 11 Israeli athletes—an example of how ethnic-nationalism, sport and violence can intersect.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Boycott and protest</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Boycotting sporting events and protest actions during competition have also been responses to various forms of nationalism and political tensions. The pending boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow by the United States intensified the attention on the competition between the USSR and the United States in Lake Placid during the Winter Games that year.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Recently, hockey reemerged as a forum for nationalism as the United States and Canada faced off twice in the </span><a href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/02/21/politics-intersect-with-4-nations-face-off-around-finale/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">National Hockey League (NHL)-run 4 Nations Face-Off</span></a><span lang="EN">. The tournament was limited to NHL players, so the teams were not technically the national teams of the countries included in the tournament. It did feature four of the five countries with the largest representation in the NHL (Russia was excluded due to the invasion of Ukraine), with the league leveraging nationalistic feelings between Finland and Sweden and United States and Canada. The heightened tension between the North American teams was due, in part, to comments by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the annexation our northern neighbors. This may serve as a preview of the heightened nationalism around the 2026 Olympic men’s and women’s ice hockey tournaments, especially if Russian athletes are permitted to compete.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/1968%20Olympics%20raised%20fists.jpg?itok=vmkagnXC" width="1500" height="1229" alt="Olympic sprinters raising fists in protest at 1968 Summer Olympics medal ceremony"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith (first place) and John Carlos (third place) raised their fists to protest U.S. segregation and racism during the medical ceremony for the 200-meter sprint at the 1968 Summer Olympics; Australian sprinter Peter Norman (second place) wore a badge for the Olympic Project for Human Rights. (Photo: Angelo Cozzi/Mondadori Publishers)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">The Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries in turn boycotted the </span><a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-announce-boycott-of-1984-olympics" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles</span></a><span lang="EN">. The </span><a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/qfp/104481.htm#:~:text=In%201980%2C%20the%20United%20States,countries%20sent%20athletes%20to%20compete." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">1980 boycott was triggered by the Soviet Union’s</span></a><span lang="EN"> invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">White nationalism and racial discrimination have also been a frequent motivator for protest and boycotts. </span><a href="https://globalsportmatters.com/1968-mexico-city-olympics/2018/10/08/olympic-project-for-human-rights-lit-fire-for-1968-protests/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">The Olympic Project for Human Rights</span></a><span lang="EN"> promoted a boycott of the 1968 games in Mexico City, with several athletes—including </span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kareem-abdul-jabbar-social-critic-on-substack/#:~:text=He&amp;apos;d%20meet%20the%20moment,made%20his%20by%20staying%20home.&amp;text=He%20chose%20not%20to%20play,of%20America%2C%22%20he%20said." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Kareem Abdul Jabbar</span></a><span lang="EN">—deciding not to go based on continuing discrimination of Blacks in the United States, lack of African American representation on the coaching staffs of Olympic teams, Muhammad Ali’s loss of his heavyweight championship due to his refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam War and apartheid policies in South Africa and Rhodesia.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Track and field athletes </span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20231011-in-history-how-tommie-smith-and-john-carloss-protest-at-the-1968-mexico-city-olympics-shook-the-world" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Tommie Smith and John Carlos</span></a><span lang="EN"> did decide to compete but famously raised their fists in protest after winning gold and bronze respectively in the 200 meters.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Apartheid policies also led to the South African Olympic Committee being </span><a href="https://www.olympics.com/en/news/why-south-africa-barred-from-the-olympics-apartheid" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">expelled from the IOC in 1970</span></a><span lang="EN">. Prior to South Africa’s expulsion, several other organizations had banned the nation from hosting events as far back as 1934 due to their policies forbidding non-white participants to compete. After the New Zealand rugby team toured South Africa in 1976, 29 mostly African nations boycotted the Montreal Games that same year after the IOC refused to ban New Zealand.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">This put pressure on Commonwealth countries to adopt the </span><a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/news/archive-gleneagles-agreement-sport" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Gleneagles Agreement&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">to expand the sporting boycott of South Africa. Taiwan also boycotted the 1976 games the day before the Opening Ceremony after the Canadian government’s refusal to </span><a href="https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/diplomatic-controversies" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">recognize their nation as the Republic of China.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">Sports like cricket and football are important cultural experiences in countries like Pakistan and India, but their presence is evidence of those countries’ colonial past and of </span><a href="https://newhistories.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/volumes/2010-11/volume-2/issue-4-sport-and-leisure/not-quite-cricket-crickets-relationship-with-british-colonialism" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">nationalism emanating from the British Empire</span></a><span lang="EN">. Most British colonies around the world adopted the sport soon after occupation, serving as historical examples of cultural imperialism.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Since international competition started in the 19th century, sports like cricket and events like the World Cup can simultaneously bring people together and promote community while also inflaming nationalistic tensions. For over 70 years, </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/12/india/india-pakistan-cricket-world-cup-intl-hnk-dst-spt/index.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">the intense cricket rivalry between India and Pakistan&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">has done both.</span></p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>The International Cricket Council Champions Tournament, beginning this week, highlights how national rivalries and geopolitical tensions can meet on playing fields.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/National%20Bank%20Stadium%20in%20Karachi.jpg?itok=_KOx9VtD" width="1500" height="880" alt="National Bank Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>National Bank Stadium in Karachi, Pakistan (Photo: Baseer Piracha/Wikimedia Commons)</div> Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:48:23 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6074 at /asmagazine Black History Month celebration emphasizes building the ‘beloved community’ /asmagazine/2025/02/03/black-history-month-celebration-emphasizes-building-beloved-community <span>Black History Month celebration emphasizes building the ‘beloved community’</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-02-03T15:07:13-07:00" title="Monday, February 3, 2025 - 15:07">Mon, 02/03/2025 - 15:07</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-02/dancers%204.jpg?h=1ec17ab7&amp;itok=crWzA8L1" width="1200" height="800" alt="three dancers onstage with trumpet player"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1097" hreflang="en">Black History</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1065" hreflang="en">Center for African &amp; African American Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1053" hreflang="en">community</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/rachel-sauer">Rachel Sauer</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>While speakers acknowledged the change and uncertainty of the moment, they encouraged hope and the importance of continuing to work toward justice</em></p><hr><p>The afternoon began with a <em>karibu</em>, the Swahili word for “welcome”—not just to the Glenn Miller Ballroom or the 91 campus, but to the beloved community “where everybody is included and nobody is excluded,” said <a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/reiland-rabaka" rel="nofollow">Reiland Rabaka</a>, founder and director of the <a href="/center/caaas/" rel="nofollow">Center for African and African American Studies</a> (CAAAS), in opening the CAAAS Day Black History Month celebration Saturday afternoon.</p><p>The celebration came, as several of the speakers acknowledged, during a time of great change, when many are feeling the anxiety that often accompanies uncertainty.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/Saliman%20and%20Rabaka.jpg?itok=FIzsFaBO" width="1500" height="1116" alt="Todd Saliman and Reiland Rabaka"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">CU President Todd Saliman (left) and Reiland Rabaka, Center for African and African American Studies founder and director, emphasized the importance of compassion in the present moment.</p> </span> </div></div><p>“I have spent many decades watching progress and regress,” said 91 Chancellor <a href="/chancellor/about" rel="nofollow">Justin Schwartz</a>. “We seem to step forward and then back and then forward again.”</p><p>In emphasizing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s observation that, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” Schwartz noted that the arc “is not smooth like a rainbow,” but rough and jagged. “The arc does not bend on its own, people bend the arc. Collectively, we bend the arc toward justice.”</p><p><a href="https://president.cu.edu/bio" rel="nofollow">Todd Saliman</a>, president of the University of Colorado, told those in attendance that “we are not changing anything until we are required to do so by a lawful order. We’ll keep our eye on the ball and continue to do our work. At this point, there’s very little we’ve been required to do lawfully.”</p><p>Saliman added that the University of Colorado remains committed to all of Colorado and encouraged people to “approach each other with compassion right now.”</p><p>CU Regent <a href="https://regents.cu.edu/meet-the-regents/wanda-james" rel="nofollow">Wanda James</a>, the second Black woman and third Black regent in the history of CU, was forceful in pointing out the lack of Black leadership within the CU system, while <a href="/lead/annett-james" rel="nofollow">Annett James</a>, president of the NAACP of 91 County, emphasized the importance of accurately told history during Black History Month.</p><p>“History must be approached as a discipline rooted in fact,” James said, “not interpreted by those who wrote it.”</p><p>91 Mayor Aaron Brockett, while acknowledging the “struggle, setback and oppression” in 91’s history, said that “in the days and years to come, we will continue to build the beloved community here in 91.”</p><p><span>Carrying the theme of building the beloved community, Rabaka emphasized that “we are going to keep doing this and we shall not be moved.”</span></p><div class="row ucb-column-container"><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/Shegun%20and%20Nandi%20Pointer.jpg?itok=TqplFYE9" width="1500" height="1148" alt="Shegun and Nandi Pointer"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Nandi Pointer (right), a PhD student in the College of Media, Communication and Information, performs with her brother, Shegun Pointer.</p> </span> </div><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/Wanda%20James%20in%20group.jpg?itok=GP4CVJ_Z" width="1500" height="1160" alt="Wanda James talking to a group of people"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">CU Regent Wanda James (center, black baseball cap) observed that "this is a deep Black History Month for us for a lot of reasons."</p> </span> </div></div><div class="row ucb-column-container"><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/Justin%20Schwartz%20vert.jpg?itok=Qq2iMHNH" width="1500" height="1886" alt="Justin Schwartz at podium"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">91 Chancellor Justin Schwartz emphasized that the "arc (of the moral universe) does not bend on its own, people bend the arc."</p> </span> </div><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/Enmanuel%20Alexander%20playing%20guitar.jpg?itok=DoaBpnAp" width="1500" height="2349" alt="Enmanuel Alexander"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Denver musician Enmanuel Alexander performs at the CAAAS Day Black History Month celebration.</p> </span> </div><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/Reiland%20Rabaka%20at%20podium.jpg?itok=3IyscG-Q" width="1500" height="2274" alt="Reiland Rabaka at podium"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Reiland Rabaka, a 91 professor of ethnic studies, said that in the work of building the beloved community, "<span>we are going to keep doing this and we shall not be moved.”</span></p> </span> </div></div><div class="row ucb-column-container"><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/dancers%201.jpg?itok=gnuF5F9x" width="1500" height="1142" alt="dancers onstage"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Angel Anderson (left) and Tyreis Hunt (white shirt), both MFA students in the 91 Department of Theatre and Dance, and Constance Harris, an MFA graduate from the department, perform with Parris Fleming (on trumpet).</p> </span> </div><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/dancers%207.jpg?itok=gOs9FoI1" width="1500" height="1045" alt="three dancers onstage with trumpet player"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Denver musician Parris Fleming (left, on trumpet) performed with (left to right) Tyreis Hunt, Constance Harris and Angel Anderson; Hunt and Anderson are MFA students in the 91 Department of Theatre and Dance, and Harris is an MFA graduate from the department.</p> </span> </div></div><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>While speakers acknowledged the change and uncertainty of the moment, they encouraged hope and the importance of continuing to work toward justice.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/dancers%203%20cropped.jpg?itok=xKwFznBi" width="1500" height="560" alt="three dancers onstage with trumpet player, guitar player and DJ"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 03 Feb 2025 22:07:13 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6064 at /asmagazine Breaking the color barrier in baseball leadership /asmagazine/2025/01/30/breaking-color-barrier-baseball-leadership <span>Breaking the color barrier in baseball leadership</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-01-30T12:01:20-07:00" title="Thursday, January 30, 2025 - 12:01">Thu, 01/30/2025 - 12:01</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-01/Frank%20Robinson%20Nationals.jpg?h=bf16e58d&amp;itok=0FNuQPP-" width="1200" height="800" alt="Frank Robinson on field at Nationals Park"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1097" hreflang="en">Black History</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/913" hreflang="en">Critical Sports Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span lang="EN">Fifty years after Frank Robinson became the first Black manager in Major League Baseball, the league is struggling with a significant decline in Black players and leaders</span></em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">As Black History Month begins Feb. 1 and Major League Baseball celebrates the </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/orioles/fans/frank-robinson" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">50th anniversary of Frank Robinson&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">making his debut as the first Black manager, the sport is at a point of introspection with the lowest number of African Americans players in </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2023/04/14/mlb-percentage-black-players-baseball-jackie-robinson-day/11657961002/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Major League Baseball since the 1950s.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">The milestone is both a reminder of how far baseball came since segregation and how delicate inclusion efforts are in baseball and other institutions in the United States.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/jared_browsh_1.jpg?itok=aL4xTN06" width="1500" height="2187" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">As the United States emerged from World War II, </span><a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/plessy-v-ferguson" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Plessy v. Ferguson</span></a><span lang="EN"> and </span><a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws/#:~:text=The%20laws%20affected%20almost%20every,of%20the%20enforced%20racial%20order." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Jim Crow laws</span></a><span lang="EN"> continued to keep the country largely segregated. The war, however, was also a turning point for African Americans, who demonstrated that their service was of equal value to others who fought in the war.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">One such soldier was Jackie Robinson, the first athlete to letter in </span><a href="https://100.ucla.edu/timeline/barriers-broken" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">four sports at UCLA</span></a><span lang="EN">. His teammates </span><a href="https://nflpa.com/posts/meet-the-four-men-who-broke-the-nfl-s-color-line" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Kenny Washington and Woody Strode</span></a><span lang="EN"> broke the color barrier in the NFL in 1946, while </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/phillies/community/educational-programs/uya-negro-league/road-to-baseball-integration" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">he did the same in baseball the following year</span></a><span lang="EN">—seven years before </span><a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/brown-v-board-of-education" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Brown v. Board of Education</span></a><span lang="EN"> determined that “separate but equal” thresholds for segregation were unconstitutional. Jackie Robinson’s last season as a player was 1956, the same season a young Frank Robinson debuted with the Cincinnati Reds.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 1972, the Reds played the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. By that point, Frank Robinson had been traded twice and spent the season playing for Jackie Robinson’s former team, the Dodgers.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">During Game 2 of the series in Cincinnati, </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/3702849/2022/10/21/jackie-robinson-world-series-1972/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Jackie Robinson was honored 25 years after breaking the color barrier in baseball</span></a><span lang="EN">. During his speech accepting the honor, </span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover/breaking-baseball-barriers-from-one-robinson-to-another#:~:text=It%20was%20only%20a%20few,a%20Major%20League%20Baseball%20team." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">he appealed to MLB leaders to hire the first Black manager</span></a><span lang="EN">, an opportunity he never got despite his expressed desire to manage a team. Jackie Robinson died nine days after his speech—Oct. 24, 1972—never seeing Frank Robinson hired as the first Black player-manager two years later.</span></p><p><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover/inside-pitch/robinson-breaks-ground-for-big-league-managers" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Robinson was traded to Cleveland</span></a><span lang="EN"> during the 1974 season after openly campaigning for the manager position with the Dodgers. Cleveland was the first American League team to sign a </span><a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&amp;dat=19741003&amp;id=EdtGAAAAIBAJ&amp;sjid=P_gMAAAAIBAJ&amp;pg=1209,526759" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Black player in 1947, Larry Roby</span></a><span lang="EN">, and broke ground again 28 years later by hiring Robinson. He was the first player to win MVP in both the National and American League, but had a rocky tenure with the team, often being pushed to play when he wanted to focus on managing and </span><a href="https://baseballhall.org/discover/frank-robinson-made-history-as-manager" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">butting heads with the star player, Gaylord Perry</span></a><span lang="EN">. He did lead the team to its first winning record in eight years in 1976, the last season he played, before being fired during the following season.</span></p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title"><a href="/recreation/home/inclusive-sports-summit" rel="nofollow"><strong>Inclusive Sports Summit</strong></a></div><div class="ucb-box-content"><h2 class="text-align-center"><a href="/recreation/home/inclusive-sports-summit" rel="nofollow">Inclusive Sports Summit</a></h2><p class="text-align-center lead"><em><strong>We change the game: Embracing the value of inclusive sports and recreation</strong></em></p><p><strong>When: </strong>9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> <span>Dal Ward Athletic Center and Main Student Recreation Center</span></p><p><strong>During this summit participants will</strong></p><ul><li>Identify challenges, opportunities and best practices for advancing diversity, equity and inclusion work as practitioners and supporters.</li><li>Learn tangible takeaways to build bridges and build unity across similarities and differences.</li><li>Build skills and practice techniques for addressing inequities to help increase student retention, engagement and success.</li><li>Connect with departments and programs across campus that are available to support students, staff and faculty.</li></ul><p><strong>The Inclusive Sports Summit is free and open to faculty, staff, students and community members.</strong></p><p><a class="ucb-link-button ucb-link-button-gold ucb-link-button-default ucb-link-button-regular" href="https://cuboulder.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bww1zS6kKkdvQAm" rel="nofollow"><span class="ucb-link-button-contents">Register for the Inclusive Sports Summit</span></a></p></div></div></div><p><span lang="EN">Robinson went on to manage the San Francisco Giants and his former team, the Baltimore Orioles, winning manager of the year in 1989. He was fired from the Orioles during the 1991 season—the year Major League Baseball had the highest percentage of African American players in the league, 18% of all players. The following season, </span><a href="https://www.milb.com/news/cito-gaston" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Cito Gaston became the first African American manager</span></a><span lang="EN"> to win a World Series.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Robinson continued to work in the league office after his time with the Orioles, returning to the dugout after being tapped by </span><a href="https://andscape.com/features/how-frank-robinsons-baseball-contributions-went-from-underrated-to-historic/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">MLB to manage the Montreal Expos</span></a><span lang="EN">, which the league owned at the time. The team moved to Washington D.C. in 2005 and his final season as manager was the first season for the newly founded Washington Nationals.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Declining youth participation</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">The dearth of opportunities for African Americans to coach and assume leadership positions in sports is not new; however, baseball has seen the most precipitous drop in participation, </span><a href="https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2024/12/26/african-americans-in-mlb-continued-to-decline-in-2024/#:~:text=Opening%20Day%20in%202024%20saw,point%20from%207.2%25%20in%202022." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">down to 6% during the 2024 season</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Contributing to this drop is the lack of African Americans in leadership positions, with only two African American managers, </span><a href="https://ouresquina.com/2024/reggie-jackson-baseball-still-behind/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Ron Washington (Angels) and Dave Roberts (Dodgers)</span></a><span lang="EN">, and one </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/astros/team/front-office/dana-brown" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">general manager, Dana Brown (Astros</span></a><span lang="EN">). In spite of these paltry numbers, three of the last five World Series winners have been </span><a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/dodgers/news/dodgers-rumors-dave-roberts-ranked-as-second-best-manager-in-mlb-cn2002" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">led by African American managers.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">The numbers are even worse in college baseball, with </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/06/27/nx-s1-5015698/why-the-dearth-of-black-college-baseball-coaches-is-a-problem" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">only 5% of players and 3% of managers in Division I identifying as African American in 2024</span></a><span lang="EN">; of these 26 managers, 17 were from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The lack of visible leadership affects scouting, mentorship and even participation when players cannot see a career in the sport they love if they do not make it to the major leagues.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The low numbers of African American athletes in the college pipeline to the major leagues is only one of the reasons for the continued decline of African Americans in professional baseball. Like many sports, the privatization of youth sports is forcing many lower- and even middle-income families to reconsider their </span><a href="https://www.dailynews.com/2024/04/14/why-does-major-league-baseball-have-so-few-black-players/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">children’s participation in baseball</span></a><span lang="EN">. Local governments and schools have slashed recreation and athletic budgets, leading to more expensive sports like baseball to be cut, which in turn leads to a higher reliance on private leagues.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-01/Frank%20Robinson%20dugout.jpg?itok=KBjBzyP_" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Frank Robinson in Cleveland Indians dugout in 1975"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>In 1975, Frank Robinson became Major League Baseball's first Black manager, assuming the role with the Cleveland Indians. (Photo: Jeff Robbins/Associated Press)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Many families ultimately balk at the cost of playing baseball, steering their children into more accessible sports as&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2022/05/19/catholic-youth-sports-little-league-club-baseball-243016" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">youth and high school baseball is increasingly privatized</span></a><span lang="EN">. The relatively low number of Division I&nbsp;</span><a href="https://gmtm.com/articles/how-many-scholarships-each-collegiate-sport-offers" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">baseball scholarships (11.7 maximum per team) and programs (300) compared to basketball (</span></a><span lang="EN">13 maximum scholarships across </span><a href="https://gmtm.com/articles/how-many-scholarships-each-collegiate-sport-offers" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">352 schools) and especially football with 133 teams at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, 128 teams at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level and with 85 maximum scholarships per team in FBS and 63 per team maximum in FCS.&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">This also leads some families to encourage their children to focus on other sports to earn a college scholarship.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Even if amateur baseball players get drafted and signed, minor league salaries are so low that the same issues can arise that exist in youth baseball: players who cannot afford to remain in the sport. Minimum salaries are between just under </span><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisdeubert/2024/03/13/minor-league-baseball-players-say-no-thanks-to-minimum-wage-laws/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">$20,000 and $40,000 depending on the level, which is a significant increase from 2022</span></a><span lang="EN">, when minor league players unionized and negotiated a raise from a minimum salary between $4,800 and $17,500.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Salary expectations have led many scouts to focus on international players, particularly from Latin America, where teams will make verbal agreements with children as </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/06/16/mlb-international-free-agents-deals-underage-prospects/5334172002/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">young as 12</span></a><span lang="EN"> in spite of the fact that teams </span><a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26711751/13-years-old-mlb-deal-why-some-ready-change" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">technically cannot sign players until they are 16</span></a><span lang="EN">. MLB turns a blind eye to these agreements that often push children as young as 10 from countries like the Dominican Republic to leave school to pursue baseball. These players may be given performance-enhancing drugs to make them look more mature and artificially improve their athleticism. These players are ripe for exploitation, including lower salaries since they are beholden to Major League clubs with which they make these “handshake” deals—while their families take out&nbsp; loans based on future earnings, </span><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/fcre.12682?saml_referrer" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">which may never appear</span></a><span lang="EN">.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Hope for long-term results</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Economics and leadership are not the only factors in the decline of African Americans in professional baseball. The sport has declined as “America’s pastime” for decades, and for many is considered less “cool” than sports due to its slower pace—as well as kids’ alternative activities in the summer months—leading to a drop in viewership, </span><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/27/sport/baseball-world-series-viewership-problem-spt-intl/index.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">especially among young viewers</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">African Americans have also been historically discouraged from playing certain positions, particularly the on-field leadership positions of catcher and pitcher, the latter of which is the most visible position in the sport. </span><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289712663_Occupational_Segregation_on_the_Playing_Field_The_Case_of_Major_League_Baseball" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">This position “stacking”</span></a><span lang="EN"> has historically impacted all sports, including basketball (</span><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16138171.2015.11730364" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">point guard)</span></a><span lang="EN"> and football </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/sep/20/black-quarterbacks-history-stereotypes" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">(quarterback)</span></a><span lang="EN"> due to discriminatory and false assumptions that African American players were not intelligent enough to play those positions. Basketball and football have seen dramatic shifts at these positions while baseball still sees limitations for </span><a href="https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2024/12/26/african-americans-in-mlb-continued-to-decline-in-2024/#:~:text=Opening%20Day%20in%202024%20saw,point%20from%207.2%25%20in%202022." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">African Americans at certain positions.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">As with viewership, some of the issues pushing African Americans from baseball are emblematic of the decline in baseball’s overall popularity. However, there are some glimmers of hope for the future of African Americans in the sport. The House v. NCAA settlement will allow schools to increase the number of student athlete scholarships up to the roster limit, which is 34 in Division I—</span><a href="https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/how-college-baseball-scholarship-expansion-hurts-mid-major-programs-chances-at-college-world-series-success/#:~:text=For%20most%20schools%2C%20the%20jump,an%20equivalent%20sport%20for%20women." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">nearly triple the current limit.</span></a></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-01/Frank%20Robinson%20in%20stadium.jpg?itok=Hk3oVnIU" width="1500" height="1003" alt="Frank Robinson at Orioles Stadium"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Frank Robinson had a distinguished career as a player before becoming a manager. (Photo: Bettmann Archives/Getty Images)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">The opportunity to earn compensation directly from schools may also support continued involvement in the sport. Much like </span><a href="https://www.si.com/fannation/name-image-likeness/news/unequal-nil-funding-in-baseball-highlights-college-sports-concerns-noah9" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">name, image and likeness opportunities</span></a><span lang="EN">, however, revenue sharing will disproportionately go to the top-earning sports: </span><a href="https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/as-college-athletics-prepares-for-revenue-sharing-fallout-leaders-wonder-is-a-breakaway-from-the-ncaa-next/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">reports from school point to about 75% of revenue sharing going to football and 15% going to basketball with other sports sharing the rest</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Outside of the college ranks, MLB has been actively involved in a number of initiatives to try to increase participation among young players, including </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/rbi" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI)</span></a><span lang="EN"> that was started in 1989 and is now sponsored by Nike. Players like Jimmy Rollins and recent Hall of Fame inductee C.C. Sabathia are both alumni of the program, but results have been less impactful in recent years with fewer alumni from the United States advancing to professional baseball. </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/dream-series" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">MLB also runs the Dream Series in Arizona</span></a><span lang="EN">, a training academy focused on African American pitchers and catchers, in conjunction with USA Baseball during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/youth-baseball-softball/andre-dawson-classic" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">The Andre Dawson Classic</span></a><span lang="EN">, named for the Hall of Fame player, is a round-robin tournament for HBCU baseball programs that runs every year at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Florida.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">There is hope these efforts will yield long-term results and reverse the decline of African American players in baseball. The sport still needs to address its </span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/07/sport/mlb-opening-day-baseball-popularity-spt-intl/index.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">diminishing cachet among young sports fans</span></a><span lang="EN"> in the United States and the lack of African American mentors and leaders in the sport, but some of the structures are there to encourage a renaissance of great Black baseball figures 50 years after Frank Robinson broke the managerial glass ceiling.</span></p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Fifty years after Frank Robinson became the first Black manager in Major League Baseball, the league is struggling with a significant decline in Black players and leaders.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-01/Frank%20Robinson%20Nationals%20cropped.jpg?itok=_kUNwnRW" width="1500" height="522" alt="Frank Robinson on field at Nationals Park"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Frank Robinson at Nationals Park. (Photo: Nick Wass/Associated Press)</div> Thu, 30 Jan 2025 19:01:20 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6063 at /asmagazine Who lives in a pineapple and announces football games? /asmagazine/2025/01/10/who-lives-pineapple-and-announces-football-games <span>Who lives in a pineapple and announces football games?</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-01-10T08:30:05-07:00" title="Friday, January 10, 2025 - 08:30">Fri, 01/10/2025 - 08:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-01/SpongeBob%20and%20Patrick%20screen%20grab.jpg?h=3a689c57&amp;itok=8L5KDVTV" width="1200" height="800" alt="SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star wearing football announcer headphones"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/913" hreflang="en">Critical Sports Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1235" hreflang="en">popular culture</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p><em><span lang="EN">The success of simulcasts means that fans can expect to see more creative takes on traditional sports, including SpongeBob SquarePants calling Saturday’s NFL Wild Card game</span></em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">As the final seconds of Super Bowl LVIII ticked off, according to social media, the biggest star was not MVP Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce or even Taylor Swift; it was a sea sponge and his starfish best friend. </span><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/how-nickelodeon-brought-spongebob-to-super-bowl-1234967974/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">The Nickelodeon alternate broadcast of the Super Bow</span></a><span lang="EN">l starring SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star as commentators was a huge hit, with on-field graphics and animations featuring Nickelodeon stars and, of course, slime.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">This was not the first time a media conglomerate aired or streamed a simulcast as a companion to its main broadcast to attract more fans. ESPN’s first basic simulcast was in 1987 after the network gained partial rights to the NFL—the first cable network to air the NFL—agreeing to simulcast the game on </span><a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/03/16/nfl-finally-opens-the-door-to-cable/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">local networks of the competing teams</span></a><span lang="EN">. When ESPN2 launched in October 1993, it offered a second ESPN network to sports fans and within a year ran its first alternative broadcast, bringing in-car views to </span><a href="https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2022/05/visual-history-dating-back-decades-traces-espns-leadership-in-alternative-productions-megacasts/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">IndyCar fans as a companion to the main broadcast on ESPN</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/jared_browsh_1.jpg?itok=aL4xTN06" width="1500" height="2187" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p> </span> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p></div></div><p><span lang="EN">In 2006, the network created </span><a href="https://www.espn.com/college-sports/news/story?id=2347040" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“ESPN Full Circle,”</span></a><span lang="EN"> later renamed the Megacast, leveraging the popular basketball rivalry between Duke University and the University of North Carolina to offer local broadcasts and alternative camera views for the game. The previous year, ESPN had launched its college-focused ESPNU and ESPN360, its broadband broadcast service, and used these newer platforms along with its </span><a href="https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2022/05/visual-history-dating-back-decades-traces-espns-leadership-in-alternative-productions-megacasts/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">existing networks to offer eight different ways to watch the game</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">ESPN offered statistics and other data on its high-definition networks, which were still separate from the standard-definition networks, and even offered polling through ESPN mobile before social media exploded.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">These simulcasts and “Megacasts” aimed to give dedicated fans a more in-depth look at the game or event that was being broadcast. At the same time, leagues and sports broadcasters were looking for different ways to attract young and casual fans who enjoyed sports but were not the obsessive fans at which these Megacasts were targeted.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Courting younger fans</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">For a long time, leagues took young fans for granted, </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/10/24/141649929/how-we-become-sports-fans-the-tyranny-of-fathers" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">relying on parental, peer and geographic influence to produce new fans.</span></a><span lang="EN"> In today's expanding media environment, young and casual fans have infinite options for entertainment, so leagues and their broadcasting partners have had to strategize new ways to attract new audiences.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">One of these efforts debuted in 1973: Peter Puck, an anthropomorphic hockey puck created by NBC executive Donald Carswell and animated by Hanna Barbera. NBC had just obtained the rights to the NHL, which was struggling to grow its audience in the United States. Carswell thought Peter would be a great way to teach U.S. audiences the rules of professional hockey through three-minute shorts between periods. Although NBC stopped airing the NHL in 1975,</span><a href="https://thehockeynews.com/news/peter-puck-returns-on-his-50th-anniversary-to-promote-safe-fun-hockey#google_vignette" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> Peter’s legacy lives on more than 50 years later.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">The 1980s brought a sea change for sports as cable and improved marketing began to create the enormous sports media environment we experience today. As networks competed for viewers, sports became a reliable form of entertainment to attract audiences who had more choices than ever. As football continued to dominate the sports landscape, buffered by the 1984 Supreme Court decision to allow college football broadcasting to </span><a href="https://theconversation.com/40-years-ago-the-supreme-court-broke-the-ncaas-lock-on-tv-revenue-reshaping-college-sports-to-this-day-222672" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">expand beyond the control of the NCAA</span></a><span lang="EN">, other leagues strategized to draw fans to television, stadiums and arenas.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Throughout the 1970s, teams had built larger stadiums and debuted mascots like the </span><a href="https://www.mlb.com/phillies/fans/phillie-phanatic" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Phillie Phanatic</span></a><span lang="EN"> to entertain fans. The following decade, as the NBA struggled to find a broadcaster to air its championship games live, David Stern—who took over the league as commissioner in 1984—</span><a href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2020/01/06/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Stern-Disney.aspx" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Disneyfied”</span></a><span lang="EN"> the NBA experience, making attending games more family friendly with more timeout and halftime entertainment.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">It just so happened that same year that the most marketable athlete of all time came into the league. Michael Jordan was not only a boon for adult basketball fans, but also kids who wanted to </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AGiq9j_Ak" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Be like Mike.”</span></a><span lang="EN"> In 1992, Jordan co-starred with Bugs Bunny in the Nike advertising campaign </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QeG-noRMPs" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Hare Jordan.”</span></a><span lang="EN"> He retired the next year to play baseball before returning to the NBA in March 1995. The following summer, Bugs and Jordan reunited to film </span><a href="https://ew.com/article/2016/11/15/space-jam-20th-anniversary-joe-pytka/" rel="nofollow"><em><span lang="EN">Space Jam</span></em><span lang="EN">,&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">which grossed more than a quarter of a billion dollars after it premiered early into the NBA season in November 1996.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-01/SpongeBob%20broadcast.jpg?itok=2e2zFyF_" width="1500" height="843" alt="Noah Eagle, Nate Burleson, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star announcing Super Bowl LVIII"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Announcers Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson with SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star announcing Super Bowl LVIII. (Screenshot: <span>Nickelodeon/YouTube)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">As a part of this effort to draw new fans, leagues also produced shows aimed at younger fans like </span><a href="https://www.si.com/mlb/2016/06/29/baseball-bunch-oral-history-johnny-bench" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“The Baseball Bunch,”&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">which debuted in 1980 and featured MLB players and managers teaching baseball fundamentals. Ten years later, “</span><a href="https://www.nba.com/watch/video/hall-of-fame-class-of-2024-curt-gowdy-media-award-nba-inside-stuff-ahmad-rashad-speech" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">NBA Inside Stuff”&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">premiered on NBC’s Saturday morning schedule, joining a growing sports media industry aimed at kids that included publications like </span><em><span lang="EN">Sports Illustrated for Kids</span></em><span lang="EN"> and video games like the Madden, FIFA and NBA 2k series, among the most popular video game series of all time.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Primetime slimetime</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">The consolidation of the U.S. media system throughout the 1980s and 1990s led to massive media conglomerates. Unsurprisingly, NBC held the network broadcast rights for the NBA when “NBA Inside Stuff” aired. As broadcast and cable networks came under the same corporate umbrella as film and animation studios, new opportunities for cross promotion emerged. Disney bought ESPN and opened the </span><a href="https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/destinations/wide-world-of-sports/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex</span></a><span lang="EN">, named after the anthology series that aired under one of their other subsidiaries, ABC, from 1961 until 1997&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;. Disney also founded an NHL team, </span><a href="https://www.nhl.com/ducks/news/ducks-disneyland-resort-to-host-anaheim-ducks-day-at-disneyland-california-adventure-park" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim</span></a><span lang="EN">, in 1993—named after the popular 1992 kids hockey movie—and in 1996 debuted “</span><a href="https://www.saturdaymorningsforever.com/2015/03/the-mighty-ducks-animated-series.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series”</span></a><span lang="EN"> on ABC, which featured anthropomorphic hockey playing superhero ducks.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The success of </span><em><span lang="EN">Space Jam</span></em><span lang="EN"> and the continued media conglomeration strengthened the relationship between animation and sports. NASCAR rights holder FOX debuted </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0236915/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“NASCAR Racers,”</span></a><span lang="EN"> an animated action series featuring NASCAR branding, a day before the 1999 race season finale. Cartoon Network aired the marathon </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDztggvDOs8" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“NBA All-Star Slam”</span></a><span lang="EN"> in 2003, featuring interstitial interviews with NBA players in the lead-up to the All-Star Game, which aired the evening of the game on TNT (both networks were owned by Warner subsidiary Turner).</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 2016,</span><a href="https://screenrant.com/teen-titans-go-show-lebron-james-episode/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">&nbsp;LeBron James</span></a><span lang="EN"> appeared on the Cartoon Network series </span><a href="https://www.cartoonnetwork.co.uk/show/teen-titans-go" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Teen Titans Go!”&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">the same night as a TNT basketball doubleheader and a few days before the All-Star Game. Later, the </span><a href="https://press.wbd.com/ca/media-release/cartoon-network-9/teen-titans-go-3/teen-titans-go-takes-court-cartoon-network-special-edition-nba-all-star-slam-dunk" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Teen Titans offered commentary</span></a><span lang="EN"> of the 2023 NBA Slam Dunk Contest in the lead-up to the NBA&nbsp;All-Star Game airing on TNT.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Although these series and specials expanded the visibility of league branding and special events, the engagement with actual games was limited. When Viacom and CBS merged again in 2019, after splitting 14 years earlier, they began strengthening the relationship between former Viacom network </span><a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/nfls-nickelodeon-play-is-a-messy-savvy-strategy-with-one-key-goal-in-mind-202533619.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Nickelodeon and broadcast network CBS</span></a><span lang="EN">. They began featuring Nickelodeon content on CBS All-Access, now Paramount+, and in 2021 Nickelodeon aired an</span><a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nickelodeon-renews-partnership-with-nfl-for-2021-season-will-broadcast-2022-wild-card-round-again/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> NFL simulcast of the Wild Card playoff game</span></a><span lang="EN"> between the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints featuring Nickelodeon live-action and animated stars joining the real-time NFL broadcast with alternate announcers Nate Burleson and Noah Eagle. Current Denver Broncos coach </span><a href="https://www.nfl.com/news/sean-payton-slimed-by-nickelodeon-following-saints-wild-card-win" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Sean Payton, then the coach of the Saints, volunteered to be slimed</span></a><span lang="EN">, similar to the traditional Gatorade shower.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-01/Sean%20Payton%20slimed.jpg?itok=cgeqkkjv" width="1500" height="893" alt="Sean Payton sitting on floor and doused in green slime."> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span lang="EN">Current Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton, then the coach of the New Orleans Saints, gets "slimed" after a 2020 Wild Card win against the Chicago Bears. (Screenshot: Nickelodeon/YouTube)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">The following season, </span><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15409276/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“NFL Slimetime”</span></a><span lang="EN"> premiered on Nickelodeon, a highlight show hosted by Burleson that strengthened the relationship between the NFL and Nickelodeon. This relationship exploded during last years’ Super Bowl as the Nickelodeon simulcast on the cable network and Paramount+ was credited for a growth in game viewership, especially among younger and casual fans who appreciated the</span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/nfl-super-bowl-nickelodeon-8ceff4f753d8e3e58e5f818aa0ac1a79" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> irreverent approach to the game.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>A pineapple under the arena</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">As media conglomerates continue to leverage sports rights to attract audiences and increase subscriptions to their streaming services, they have also leaned into the popularity—and meme-making possibilities—of these simulcasts. Several months after the Nickelodeon simulcast of the Wild Card Playoff, Disney leveraged its Marvel Cinematic Universe to produce a simulcast, </span><a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/espn-makes-deal-genius-sport-133904295.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Marvel Arena of Heroes,”</span></a><span lang="EN"> on ESPN2 and its streaming service, which was similar to the Wild Card game on Nickelodeon and featured special graphics and superhero-themed content related to the real-time NBA games between the Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans. </span><a href="https://www.geniussports.com/newsroom/espn-amplifying-its-data-driven-storytelling-and-broadcasts-through-new-agreement-with-genius-sports/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">ESPN and Genius Sports,</span></a><span lang="EN"> the company behind augmented games like the Arena of Heroes simulcast, extended their contract in the summer of 2024.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In 2023, Disney aired its own fully animated simulcasts with the </span><a href="https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-big-city-greens-classic-adds-new-dimension-to-rangers-capitals-gam-342182936" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Big City Greens Classic”&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">NHL broadcast in March and the </span><a href="https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/an-animated-behind-the-scenes-look-at-espns-toy-story-funday-football/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Sunday Funday”</span></a><span lang="EN"> Toy Story-themed NFL game in September. Both regular-season games included a rendering of the real-time broadcasts featuring stars from its animated franchises. Disney followed this up in December 2024 with another </span><a href="https://www.nfl.com/schedules/simpsons-funday-football" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Sunday Funday”&nbsp;</span></a><span lang="EN">featuring “The Simpsons” and the Christmas Day </span><a href="https://www.nba.com/news/spurs-knicks-dunk-the-halls-animated-christmas-game-disney" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">“Dunk the Halls”</span></a><span lang="EN"> animated simulcast featuring classic characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. In between these two games, NBC’s Peacock service offered an alternate stream of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans featuring graphics from the </span><a href="https://apnews.com/article/nbc-peacock-madden-chiefs-texans-c3d9a9eed0ed707b601f9798f1deeaf7" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">popular video game series Madden.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">As SpongeBob and Patrick prepare to announce the Nickelodeon simulcast of the 2025 NFL Wild Card game between the Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers Saturday, fans should be prepared for more of these simulcasts as networks and streaming services try to market these games to young and casual fans, boosted by social media memes like &nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2022/12/26/23526373/patrick-star-nickelodeon-russell-wilson-interception-denver-broncos" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Patrick roasting the starting quarterback</span></a><span lang="EN"> and </span><a href="https://www.wvxu.org/media/2024-12-10/simpsons-won-monday-night-football-bengals-cowboys-tvkiese" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Lisa Simpsons scoring a touchdown against Homer</span></a><span lang="EN">.</span></p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>The success of simulcasts means that fans can expect to see more creative takes on traditional sports, including SpongeBob SquarePants calling Saturday’s NFL Wild Card game.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-01/SpongeBob%20simulcast%20cropped.jpg?itok=3LbyuAeY" width="1500" height="522" alt="Noah Eagle, Nate Burleson, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star in football announcer booth"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Fri, 10 Jan 2025 15:30:05 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6049 at /asmagazine Exploring the ‘musical audacity’ of funk /asmagazine/2024/12/09/exploring-musical-audacity-funk <span>Exploring the ‘musical audacity’ of funk</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-12-09T08:30:16-07:00" title="Monday, December 9, 2024 - 08:30">Mon, 12/09/2024 - 08:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2024-12/Rabaka%20funk%20header.jpg?h=89691553&amp;itok=GKsCeMdJ" width="1200" height="800" alt="Cover of The Funk Movement book and portrait of Reiland Rabaka"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/346"> Books </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/58" hreflang="en">Books</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1065" hreflang="en">Center for African &amp; African American Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/rachel-sauer">Rachel Sauer</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>In a newly published book, 91 Professor Reiland Rabaka delves into the culture and sound of music’s ‘best-kept secret’</em></p><hr><p>Barely two months into the ‘70s, Funkadelic—led by George Clinton, Jr.—released something of a musical manifesto with the song “Good Old Music”:</p><p><em>Everybody’s gettin’ funky</em></p><p><em>In the days when the funk was gone</em></p><p><em>I recall not long ago</em></p><p><em>When the funk it was goin’ strong.</em></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-12/Reiland%20Rabaka%20and%20funk%20book%20cover.jpg?itok=gG6pa485" width="1500" height="1052" alt="Portrait of Reiland Rabaka and The Funk Movement book cover"> </div> <p>91 Professor Reiland Rabaka (left) recently published <em>The Funk Movement: Music, Culture, and Politics</em>.</p></div></div><p>In hindsight, the lyrics hint not only at funk’s musical and cultural impact, but at the forgotten shadows in which funk has often lived.</p><p>“One of the many reasons funk frequently is not understood to be funk has to do with its ghettoization within the music industry and White music critics’ tendency to lazily lump most post-1945 Black popular music under the ‘rhythm &amp; blues’ moniker,” writes musicologist <a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/reiland-rabaka" rel="nofollow">Reiland Rabaka</a>.</p><p>“In other words, because White music critics often serve as musical gatekeepers for White music fans, telling them what is ‘hip’ and ‘hot’ and what is not, most White folks never developed an ear for, or serious appreciation of, classic funk in the ways they did for pre-funk Black popular music such as blues, jazz, rhythm &amp; blues or even soul music.”</p><p>Rabaka, a 91 professor in the Department of <a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Ethnic Studies</a> and director of the <a href="/center/caaas/" rel="nofollow">Center for African and African American Studies,</a> aims a scholar’s eye at funk in his newly published book <em>The Funk Movement: Music, Culture, and Politics.</em> Originally scheduled for 2025 release, a deluge of pre-orders prompted publisher Routledge to release it in late October.</p><p>“(Funk is) this musical gumbo, where you’ve got all these different kinds of music and not just distinctly Black music,” Rabaka explains. “African American culture is a hybrid heritage—we’re talking about an incredibly creolized culture, and as Black folk in America, we’re not searching for some sort of purity. Music reflects our multiple traditions and heritages and also allows us to live out loud. The musical audacity in funk, even if it’s just for three minutes and 30 seconds, when Parliament Funkaldelic says dance without constrictions, we’re dancing without constrictions.”</p><p><strong>No rap without funk</strong></p><p><em>The Funk Movement</em> joins <em>Black Power Music! Protest Songs, Message Music, and the Black Power Movement</em>, released in 2022, and <em>Black Women's Liberation Movement Music: Soul Sisters, Black Feminist Funksters, and Afro-Disco Divas</em>, released in 2023, in Rabaka’s ongoing exploration of the confluences of music, culture, identity, politics, place and people.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-12/James-Brown_1973.jpg?itok=uUXH_azL" width="1500" height="1002" alt="James Brown performing onstage in 1973"> </div> <p>"It’s not a coincidence that James Brown comes out and says, ‘Say it out loud, I’m Black and I’m proud’ after Martin Luther King was assassinated,” says Reiland Rabaka. (Photo: James Brown <span>performing in the Musikhalle in Hamburg, Germany, February 1973. Heinrich Klaffs/WikiCommons)</span></p></div></div><p>He comes to this work not only as a scholar, but as a musician: “I was the kid from the projects who got bussed to these incredible creative arts schools,” he says. “From there, I was able to get a truckload of music scholarships, which is how I became the first person in my family to go to college.</p><p>“I really feel like my musicology is coming full circle, coming back to where I started. I was a performing jazz musician and have a performing arts degree, so in a way I’m what social scientists call a participant researcher—I’m deeply involved in a lot of the music I write about. It lends my work a kind of insider’s knowledge, a kind of intimacy with my subject. I’m not just somebody writing to achieve tenure; these are passion projects to me.”</p><p>Rabaka came to funk not only loving the music but fascinated by its place at the nexus of the women’s liberation movement, the sexual revolution, the Black power movement, the evolving civil rights and gay rights movements and all the other political and social upheavals of the 1970s. However, he acknowledges in his book that funk—both the music and the culture—is often subsumed into musical movements that are more broadly familiar to non-Black audiences.</p><p>“Most funk, both as a genre of music and a cultural movement, has not resonated with non-Black fans of Black popular music the way a lot of pre-funk Black popular music has,” Rabaka writes. “It is like funk is one of the best kept secrets of Black popular music, even though it, more than any other post-war Black popular music genre, laid the foundation for the mercurial rise of rap music and hip-hop culture in the 1980s and 1990s.”</p><p>In other words, Rabaka says, “there’s no rap, no hip-hop, without funk.”</p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-left ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">Award winner</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p>Reiland Rabaka’s book<em> Black Women's Liberation Movement Music: Soul Sisters, Black Feminist Funksters, and Afro-Disco Divas</em> was recently named Best History in the category Best Historical Research in Recorded Blues, R&amp;B, Gospel, Hip Hop or Soul Music in the 2024 <a href="https://arsc-audio.org/2024-excellence-awards-winners" rel="nofollow">Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Awards for Excellence.</a></p><p>The goal of the ARSC Awards Program, according to the organization, “is to recognize and draw attention to the finest work now being published in the field of recorded sound research.”</p><p>In the book, Rabaka, a professor in the University of Colorado Department of Ethnic Studies, critically explores the ways the soundtracks of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement often overlapped with those of other 1960s and 1970s social, political and cultural movements, such as the Black Power Movement, Women’s Liberation Movement and sexual revolution. His research reveals that “much of the soul, funk and disco performed by Black women was most often the very popular music of a very unpopular and unsung movement: The Black Women’s Liberation Movement.”</p><p><span>Rabaka and his fellow award winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony during ARSC’s annual conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in May.</span></p></div></div></div><p><strong>Say it out loud</strong></p><p>However, funk—like the broader umbrella of “art” under which it lives—can be difficult to define; listeners know it when they hear it. And it’s more than music: “It’s the sound and the aesthetics of Black bohemia,” Rabaka says.</p><p>In his book, Rabaka approaches the funk movement as it encapsulates both the music and the culture of funk, focusing on the golden age of funk that’s generally categorized between 1965 and 1979. He notes that while funk is often dismissed as simple party music, it addressed and embodied the upheaval and frustrations of the times in which it was born.</p><p>“To adequately interpret funk, one needs to understand key moments in African American history and culture, especially the struggle to end racial segregation that culminated in the 1960s and the beginning (and unfulfilled promises) of the era of racial integration in the 1970s,” Rabaka writes.</p><p>“Funk can be interpreted as ‘a discourse of social protest’ and ‘the critical voice of a post-Civil Rights Movement counterculture’ that challenged mainstream histories that attempt to nicely and neatly paint the 1960s as the decade of racial segregation and the 1970s as the decade of racial integration, ‘equal opportunity,’ and ‘ubiquitous optimism.’”</p><p>When Marvin Gaye asked “What’s Going On,” Rabaka says, Sly Stone answered several months later with “There’s a Riot Goin’ On.”</p><p>“In the book I say it’s not a coincidence that James Brown comes out and says, ‘Say it out loud, I’m Black and I’m proud’ after Martin Luther King was assassinated,” Rabaka says. “There was mass disillusionment, mass depression, so funk is also a deeper and darker sound, a grittier sound. It exists in a lot of levels, where it can be good-time music, sure, but sometimes there are a lot of heavier topics and themes that go on in funk.”</p><p>Rabaka is particularly fascinated with the women of funk and is already working on a book that brings them out of the shadows.</p><p>“Funk, I argue, was a Black popular music response to the hippie movement, to the women’s movement, to Stonewall even,” Rabaka says. “Black America has a way of refracting things that are going on in mainstream America, saying, ‘How does that speak to us?’”</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about ethnic studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://giving.cu.edu/fund/ethnic-studies-general-gift-fund" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>In a newly published book, 91 Professor Reiland Rabaka delves into the culture and sound of music’s ‘best-kept secret.'</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-12/Earth%2C%20Wind%20%26%20Fire.jpg?itok=xmugoll6" width="1500" height="475" alt="Earth, Wind &amp; Fire onstage in 1982"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Top image: Earth, Wind &amp; Fire perform in 1982 (Photo: Chris Hakkens/WikiCommons)</div> Mon, 09 Dec 2024 15:30:16 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6031 at /asmagazine That red nose still guides us to Christmas /asmagazine/2024/12/05/red-nose-still-guides-us-christmas <span>That red nose still guides us to Christmas</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-12-05T10:43:58-07:00" title="Thursday, December 5, 2024 - 10:43">Thu, 12/05/2024 - 10:43</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2024-12/Rudolph%20stop-motion.jpg?h=1fa2f1fb&amp;itok=rqbInjWy" width="1200" height="800" alt="Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer from 1964 stop-motion film"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1235" hreflang="en">popular culture</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Sixty years after the debut of the </em>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer <em>stop-motion animated classic, the yearly flood of holiday films can thank the small reindeer for their success</em></p><hr><p>As we spend the Christmas season binging on <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/holiday-tv-christmas-special-timeline.html" rel="nofollow"><span>Hallmark movies and holiday specials</span></a>, one diminutive reindeer has been part of Christmas media longer than any other figure.</p><p><em>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</em> was created as a coloring book in 1939 by Robert L. May for Montgomery Ward when the retailer decided to produce its own coloring books after distributing books from other publishers for years. May faced pushback on the story, since red noses were associated with drinking at the time, but ultimately Montgomery Ward distributed more than 2 million copies of the story that <a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/12/25/461005670/the-history-of-rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer" rel="nofollow"><span>celebrates individuality and courage</span></a>.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/jared_browsh_1.jpg?itok=aL4xTN06" width="1500" height="2187" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p> </span> <p><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p></div></div><p>The first Rudolph cartoon debuted in 1948, directed by <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2023600384/" rel="nofollow"><span>Max Fleischer and sponsored by Montgomery Ward</span></a>. The next year, the famous song written by May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks debuted behind the vocals of Gene Autry, hitting number one—the first top song of 1950 that was added to Fleischer’s cartoon when it was reissued in 1951.</p><p>Autry’s beloved version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” sold more 1.75 million copies in 1949 alone, and altogether Autrey’s and every other version of the song have <a href="https://time.com/5479322/rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-history-origins/" rel="nofollow"><span>sold more than 150 million copies,&nbsp;</span></a>behind only Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” in total Christmas song sales. It is also the only No. 1 song to fall completely off the charts the week after it peaks.</p><p><a href="https://americansongwriter.com/the-song-credit-debacle-and-mystery-writer-behind-chuck-berrys-1958-holiday-hit-run-rudolph-run/" rel="nofollow"><span>In 1958, Chuck Berry recorded "Run Rudolph Run,” with Marks</span></a> receiving a writing credit after suing for trademark infringement. Autry also wrote and sang <a href="https://kool1079.com/gene-autry-singing-here-comes-peter-cottontail-will-take-you-back-to-your-childhood/" rel="nofollow"><span>"Here Comes Santa Claus."</span></a></p><p>The growth of the recording industry after World War II was part of a larger post-war economic boom in the United States that supported the increased commercialization of Christmas, which had started a century earlier with depictions of Santa in the 1840s and his first in-store appearance at the <a href="https://yorktownsentry.com/11944/about/staff/2022-23/a-brief-history-of-christmas-and-its-commercialization/" rel="nofollow"><span>New York City Macy’s in 1862.</span></a> His appearance in the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924 was thought to kick off the holiday shopping season, with his modern image confirmed by <a href="https://jagwire.augusta.edu/is-christmas-too-commercial-well-thats-the-reason-it-became-popular/" rel="nofollow"><span>Coca-Cola advertisements in 1931.</span></a><span> A decade later, Rudolph joined Santa on his sleigh as a Christmas icon.</span></p><p><strong>Stop-motion animation</strong></p><p>In the first 25 years after May created Rudolph, the reindeer with the light-up nose became a multimedia legend, inspiring comic and children’s books in addition to the original coloring book and 1948 cartoon. But the small animation studio Rankin/Bass—founded as Videocraft and going by that name until 1974, when it rebranded as Rankin/Bass—<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/magical-animation-rudolph-red-nosed-reindeer-180973841/" rel="nofollow"><span>helped Rudolph reach generations of kids</span></a> and produced the longest continuously running Christmas special in United States television history.</p><p>The unique stop-motion animation style Rankin/Bass used was called <a href="https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-japanese-studios-of-rankinbass/" rel="nofollow"><span>“Animagic,” crafted by Japanese artist Tadahito Mochinaga</span></a> and his MOM Production Studio. The process debuted in the United States in 1961 in a syndicated series called <em>The New Adventures of Pinocchio</em>, but the <a href="https://www.uphe.com/movies/the-complete-rankinbass-christmas-collection#:~:text=The%20Complete%20Rankin%2FBass%20Christmas%20Collection%20celebrates%20the%20works%20of,Night%20Before%20Christmas%20and%20more." rel="nofollow"><span>Rankin/Bass 18 Christmas specials</span></a> helped the stop-motion animation approach become legendary. Rankin/Bass was one of the earliest studios to outsource its animation to Japan, which became common practice in <a href="https://www.cbr.com/toei-animation-topcraft-studio-ghibli-rankin-bass-christmas-special/" rel="nofollow"><span>later animated productions</span></a>.</p><p>Since its debut in 1964, the Rudolph special has gone <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058536/alternateversions/" rel="nofollow"><span>through a number of edits.</span></a> In 1965, the song “Fame and Fortune” was added, to the chagrin of fans of the original; the song and the scene were removed and Santa’s visit to the Island of Misfit Toys was added in 1966.&nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-12/Santa%20and%20Rudolph.jpg?itok=mXjl8yjQ" width="1500" height="844" alt="Santa and Rudolph in animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"> </div> <p>Since its debut Dec. 6, 1964, <em>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</em> has gone <span>through a number of edits. (Image: Rankin/Bass)</span></p></div></div><p>Yukon Cornelius’ visit to the peppermint mine was also edited out of the original and would not return until 2019, when the network Freeform obtained the rights to this and several other Rankin/Bass specials as a part of its <a href="https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64927084/" rel="nofollow"><span>25 Days of Christmas</span></a>.</p><p><em>Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</em> aired on NBC, its original network, until 1971, when <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer-nbc.html" rel="nofollow"><span>CBS purchased the broadcasting rights</span></a>, which it held until 2023. For the film’s 60th anniversary this year, NBC will air the full film in a 75-minute broadcast on Dec. 6, the same date the original debuted in 1964. Unlike other Christmas specials, the film is not available as a part of any streaming service and must be purchased to view it outside the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2023/11/26/where-to-watch-rudolph-red-nosed-reindeer/71691469007/" rel="nofollow"><span>NBC or Freeform telecasts.</span></a></p><p>The stop-motion Rudolph film not only became an instant classic, but also led to a wave of classic Christmas visual media in television and film. <em>A Charlie Brown Christmas</em> debuted in 1965, followed in 1966 by the animated <em>How the Grinch Stole Christmas!</em>, which was adapted from the 1957 Dr. Seuss book. Rankin/Bass would continue to produce holiday specials, including traditionally animated specials based on the Charles Dickens Christmas novella <em>The Cricket on the Hearth</em> (1967) and <em>The Mouse on the Mayflower</em> (1968), a Thanksgiving special.</p><p>The studio’s greatest successes, however, were its specials based on popular holiday songs and traditional stories. Later in 1968, <em>The Little Drummer Boy</em> debuted, a stop-motion special based on the song written in <a href="https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/little-drummer-boy-carol-wartime-history/" rel="nofollow"><span>1941 by Katherine Kennicott Davis and first recorded by the Trapp family in 1951</span></a>. The song became a holiday standard in the United States through the later version by The Harry Simeone Chorale, who also recorded the popular version of “<a href="https://www.franciscanmedia.org/st-anthony-messenger/december-2017/do-you-hear-what-i-hear-the-story-behind-the-song/" rel="nofollow"><span>Do You Hear What I Hear?” as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis</span></a><span>.</span> “The Little Drummer Boy” was also covered by Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby with David Bowie.</p><p>The film <em>The Little Drummer Boy</em> is fairly dark for an animated special of the time, featuring the drummer boy Aaron’s family being murdered before he is kidnapped, forced to perform and escaped to join the <a href="https://screenrant.com/why-the-little-drummer-boy-1968-isnt-on-tv/" rel="nofollow"><span>Magi and ultimately performing in Bethlehem</span></a>.</p><p><strong>A holiday deluge</strong></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-12/frosty%20the%20snowman.jpg?itok=OceFj2vH" width="1500" height="1149" alt="Scene of Frosty marching with children from animated Frosty the Snowman"> </div> <p>Rankin/Bass studio produced <em>Frosty the Snowman</em> in 1969, which was drawn to look like a Christmas card. (Image: Rankin/Bass)</p></div></div><p>In subsequent years, Rankin/Bass continued to produce specials that became staples of various holidays, including the traditionally animated <a href="https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/8279/frosty-the-snowman-rankin-bass-movies-history/" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Frosty the Snowman</span></em><span> (1969), which studio artists wanted to look like a Christmas card.</span></a> The studio also produced a number of other stop-motion specials, including <a href="https://archive.org/details/santa-claus-is-coming-to-town-1970_202203" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Santa Claus is Coming to Town</span></em><span> (1970)</span></a> and <a href="https://archive.org/details/here_comes_peter_cottontail_1971" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Here Comes Peter Cottontail</span></em><span> (1971)</span></a>. The partnership between Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass resulted in more than two dozen holiday specials and numerous other films and series, including the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088631/" rel="nofollow"><span>original </span><em><span>ThunderCats</span></em><span> series</span></a>.</p><p>What used to be special, sprinkled throughout late November and December, has become a massive media industry leading to most regularly scheduled series taking a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/mar/31/midseason-break" rel="nofollow"><span>midseason break</span></a> as a torrent of holiday specials and sporting events dominate television from Thanksgiving through the college football bowl season in January. The holiday season is now overrun by a collection of animated specials, holiday episodes and cheesy rom-coms. The latter of these were popularized by Hallmark, which has been sponsoring specials for broadcast since 1951, making what is now known as the <a href="https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-hall-of-fame/about" rel="nofollow"><span>Hallmark Hall of Fame</span></a> the longest-running anthology series on television.</p><p>Hallmark’s low-budget holiday specials have been a staple of the holidays since 2000 and dramatically increased when <a href="https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/odyssey-network-becomes-hallmark-channel-47861/" rel="nofollow"><span>Odyssey Network was rebranded the Hallmark Channel in 200</span>1</a>. Since then, the channel, which has grown in popularity over the last two decades, has produced more than 300 holiday specials created around formulaic narratives largely focused on family-appropriate romance. Other media outlets, including Lifetime Network and Netflix, have also joined this trend, leading to a deluge of specials of varying quality dominating the holiday season.</p><p>However, many of these specials rooted in nostalgia and familiar formulas can thank Santa’s ninth reindeer for using his shining nose to lead the way in establishing our holiday watching habits.</p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Sixty years after the debut of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer stop-motion animated classic, the yearly flood of holiday films can thank the small reindeer for their success.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-12/elf%20and%20Rudolph%20cropped.jpg?itok=Gs4mFAlm" width="1500" height="602" alt="scene of elf and Rudolph from animated film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 05 Dec 2024 17:43:58 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6030 at /asmagazine Floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee /asmagazine/2024/11/11/floating-butterfly-stinging-bee <span>Floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-11-11T10:30:13-07:00" title="Monday, November 11, 2024 - 10:30">Mon, 11/11/2024 - 10:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2024-11/Rumble%20in%20the%20Jungle.jpg?h=bc3c37d2&amp;itok=W296WbWv" width="1200" height="800" alt="Muhammad Ali and George Foreman boxing in the former Zaire"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/913" hreflang="en">Critical Sports Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>Fifty years after the famed ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ Muhammad Ali is remembered not only as the heavyweight champ, but as a champion of civil rights</span></em></p><hr><p><span>It is hard to imagine, but coming off of his more than three-year exile from boxing, Muhammad Ali spent four years regaining his position as the top heavyweight in boxing. He lost everything by&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/-muhammad-ali-convicted-refusing-vietnam-draft" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">taking his stance against being drafted into the Vietnam War</span></a><span>—not just his boxing career and his promotional business, but also derailing his budding advertising and media career.</span></p><p><span>Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky, winning the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://olympics.com/en/athletes/muhammad-ali-2" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">light heavyweight gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics</span></a><span> before turning professional as a heavyweight. A myth emerged that he threw his gold medal into the Ohio River after returning to his home city as&nbsp;</span><a href="https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/2005/august.htm" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Olympic champion and was still denied service in a restaurant</span></a><span>.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/jared_browsh_1.jpg?itok=aL4xTN06" width="1500" height="2187" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p> </span> <p><span>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a><span>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;</span><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a><span>.</span></p></div></div><p><span>His experiences negotiating racism and segregation as an Olympic hero would inform his outspoken approach to civil rights and make him a hero to millions across generations.</span></p><p><span>Ali won his first 20 professional matches—and became heavyweight champion—at age 22, defending the championship across nine challenges before he was stripped of his championship and exiled from the sport in 1966. He appealed his draft reclassification, which happened in spite of his dyslexia and his position as a conscientious objector. Other athletes who were draft-eligible were placed with National Guard units or protected by their teams,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://slate.com/culture/2018/05/how-the-nfl-helped-players-dodge-the-draft-during-the-vietnam-war.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">as in the NFL</span></a><span>, so it was particularly curious that the most popular athlete in the country was reclassified and drafted.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Conscientious objector</strong></span></p><p><a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/clay-knocks-out-liston" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">After winning the heavyweight championship against Sonny Liston in 1964</span></a><span>, the boxer then known as Cassius Clay changed his name first to Cassius X and then to Muhammad Ali. He had&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.biography.com/activists/muhammad-ali-malcolm-x-relationship" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">befriended Malcolm X and joined the Nation of Islam</span></a><span>, but did not reveal his conversion until he was secure in his boxing career after winning the championship. He fell out with Malcolm X after the civil rights leader left the Nation following revelation that leader Elijah Muhammad had children out of wedlock; Malcolm assumed Ali would support him,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/02/25/467247668/muhammad-ali-and-malcolm-x-a-broken-friendship-an-enduring-legacy" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">but Ali remained loyal to the Nation.</span></a></p><p><span>In 1966,</span><a href="https://library.louisville.edu/ali/boxing_excellence" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US"> Ali founded Main Bout Inc.</span></a><span> to promote his fights and oversee the closed-circuit broadcasting of his fights. The Nation of Islam held many of the shares in Main Bout Inc., including through Ali’s manager, Jabir Herbert Muhammad, third son of the Nation’s leader; other shareholders included football legend Jim Brown. To help forge relationships, boxing promoter Bob Arum was included and after the company folded due to Ali’s arrest,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.toprank.com/about-us/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Arum and Muhammad went on to found Top Rank Boxing.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">Ali’s religious conversion and his perspective that America should not be involved in the Vietnam War led to his refusal to be inducted. He was arrested and convicted of breaking Selective Service laws, and he continued to protest the war as he appealed. His conviction was </span><a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/-muhammad-ali-convicted-refusing-vietnam-draft" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">overturned in June 1971</span></a><span lang="EN">, although he returned to boxing in late 1970 as sentiment against him softened and boxing commissions granted Ali licenses to fight again. He fought three matches before the Supreme Court ruled in his favor,</span><a href="https://www.wbaboxing.com/boxing-news/ali-vs-frazier-i-more-than-just-a-fight" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN"> including the first loss of his career against Joe Frazier.</span></a></p><p><span lang="EN">As Frazier and Ali worked toward a rematch, a young boxer rose up the ranks after winning the heavyweight gold medal at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. George Foreman entered the fight against Joe Frazier at 37-0, </span><a href="https://andscape.com/features/foreman-frazier-at-50-revisiting-the-shocking-iconic-heavyweight-title-fight/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">emerging as champion and disrupting the planned rematch between Frazier and Ali</span></a><span lang="EN">. Ali also lost his second match, this time against Ken Norton, but after Foreman beat Norton, </span><a href="https://www.history.com/news/rumble-in-the-jungle-muhammad-ali-george-foreman" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Don King signed contracts with both Ali and Foreman for a superfight promising each boxer a $5 million purse.</span></a></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-11/Foreman%20going%20down.jpg?itok=ErP5wQw1" width="1500" height="1011" alt="George Foreman goes down in boxing match while Muhammad Ali looks on"> </div> <p>Defending world champion George Foreman goes down in the eighth round during his Oct. 30, 1974, bout against Muhammad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire. (Photo: Richard Drew/Associated Press)</p></div></div><p><span>King did not have the money on hand, and the huge monetary promise to both boxers led other promoters to avoid working with King to organize the event. King, who had been released from jail in 1972 after being convicted of second-degree murder, forged a relationship with Ali after promoting a charity fight, but was unable to come to agreement with any venue in the United States to stage the fight. As a result, he looked at other countries to stage it. Fred Weymar, who was an advisor to Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, convinced&nbsp;</span><a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/rumble-jungle/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Seko that funding and staging the fight would help garner</span></a><span> support for his regime,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.humanrights.unsw.edu.au/students/blogs/what-is-sportswashing" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">an effort known today as sportwashing</span></a><span>. King also pulled in funding from&nbsp;</span><a href="https://fightnews.com/the-colonel-remembers-the-rumble-in-the-jungle/143011#google_vignette" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Risnelia Investment, the Hemdale Film Corp. and Video Techniques Inc.</span></a><span>, with Hemdale and Video Techniques Inc. as official co-promoters. Color commentators included Brown, Frazier and journalist David Frost.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Rumble in the Jungle</strong></span></p><p><span>Promoted as the Rumble in the Jungle, the fight was an incredible spectacle, even by today’s sporting standards. Originally scheduled for Sept. 25, 1974 (it would have been broadcast Sept. 24 in the United States due to the time difference), it was pushed back to Oct. 30 due to a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://time.com/4637842/muhammed-ali-george-foreman/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">cut Foreman got while sparring</span></a><span>. A three-day music festival called&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/06/14/532636128/before-the-rumble-in-the-jungle-music-rang-out-at-zaire-74" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Zaire 74 took place between Sept. 22-24</span></a><span>, originally scheduled to precede the match, which included James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, The Spinners and Celia Cruz alongside more than a dozen African artists.</span></p><p><span>Although Ali arrived in Zaire as a 4-1 betting underdog, he was the overwhelming favorite of the Zairean/Congolese people.&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/boxing/2014/10/29/muhammad-ali-george-foreman-rumble-in-the-jungle-40th-anniversary/18097587/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Foreman arrived in Zaire with his German shepherd</span></a><span>, which was the dog breed used by the Belgian occupying forces against the Congolese people, further cementing his status as the villain. Foreman and Ali were polar opposites, with Ali seen by many as unpatriotic in America, but a hero in Africa. Foreman, on the other hand, represented Cold War nationalism after beating Soviet Jonas Čepulis in the 1968 Olympic gold medal match, leading to the famous image of the very large&nbsp;</span><a href="https://olympics.com/en/athletes/george-foreman" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Foreman waving a tiny American flag after his victory in Mexico.</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2024/10/29/ali-foreman-rumble-jungle-boxing-anniversary-congo/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Fans chanted "Ali boma ye," or “Ali kill him,” throughout his visit and the fight</span></a><span>. Although the event itself did not go as planned—King assumed hundreds of high-profile boxing fans would travel to Zaire, but only a few dozen ended up making trip—the fight is seen as one of the greatest. The match&nbsp;</span><a href="https://screenrant.com/did-george-foreman-beat-muhammad-ali-rumble-in-the-jungle/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">earned more than $100 million</span></a><span> from closed-circuit broadcasts in U.S. theaters and other broadcasts rights globally, leading to an estimated audience of more than 500 million people worldwide.</span></p><p><span>The legendary status of the fight was cemented by Ali’s upset win against the younger and stronger Foreman. Ali and his trainers understood that he would be unable to outpunch Foreman, so they relied on Ali’s skill and speed. By the second, round Ali was leaning against the ropes, avoiding and absorbing blows with his arms and body, which did not earn Foreman points with the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sportingnews.com/us/boxing/news/what-rope-dope-how-muhammad-ali-kod-george-foreman/b8acd746335122d85c61f558" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">judges since they were not clear blows against Ali</span></a><span>. Eventually, Foreman exhausted himself and Ali took advantage, knocking out the future grill entrepreneur in the eighth round.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-11/Ali%20and%20Liston_0.jpg?itok=Q1pE-FG4" width="1500" height="1098" alt="Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston"> </div> <p>In one of the most famous photos of Muhammad Ali ever taken, the boxer stands over Sonny Liston during a May 1965 bout in Lewiston, Maine. (Photo: John Rooney/Associated Press)</p></div></div><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Approaching retirement</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">In his next bout, Ali fought Chuck Wepner and was knocked down in the ninth round, at least partially due to a light training schedule. Ali still won, and the fight would inspire Sylvester Stallone to write </span><em><span lang="EN">Rocky</span></em><span lang="EN">, </span><a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/apollo-creed-from-rocky-based-on-real-boxer/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20it%20was%20widely,image%2C%20reflect%20Ali&amp;apos;s%20public%20image." rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">with the character Apollo Creed based on Muhammad Ali.</span></a></p><p><span>Ali retained the heavyweight title for more than three years,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ringtv.com/424457-from-the-ring-magazine-14-rounds-of-pure-hell/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">a run that included the Thrilla in Manila</span></a><span>, the third match in the trilogy between Ali and Frazier that saw the champion employ the “rope-a-dope” again, as both fighters struggled in the heat of Quezon City, near the Philippine capital of Manila. Ali lost to Leon Spinks in February 1978 on a split decision, before beating&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/2022/09/14/look-back-at-the-legendary-1978-muhammad-ali-vs-leon-spinks-ii-fight/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Spinks in their rematch seven months later.</span></a></p><p><span>Ali sent his letter of retirement to the World Boxing Association before returning to the ring to face his former sparring partner Larry Holmes for the vacant World Boxing Commission title, reportedly taking the fight&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.ringtv.com/610941-larry-holmes-remembers-muhammad-ali-40-years-on-from-the-last-hurrah/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">partially due to money issues</span></a><span>. Before the fight, he was ordered to undergo examination at the Mayo Clinic because there was a concern as to whether he was fit to return to the ring—he had begun to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-8798739/Muhammad-Alis-battering-hands-Larry-Holmes-torturous-memory-40-years-on.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">display symptoms of what would be diagnosed as Parkinson's syndrome in 1984</span></a><span>.</span></p><p><span>The fight was so one-sided that&nbsp;</span><a href="https://athletesquarterly.com/athletes/king-of-the-ring/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">Holmes reportedly voiced concern to the referee, who refused to stop the match.&nbsp;</span></a><span>Holmes went on to win after Ali’s long-time trainer finally stepped in to stop the fight. Stallone attended the fight in Las Vegas and compared it to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2007/jan/07/boxing.features" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN-US">“an autopsy on a man who's still alive.”</span></a><span> Ali fought one more time before ultimately retiring.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">As time went on, Ali struggled with the impact that Parkinson’s had on his health—a condition related to taking an </span><a href="https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2017/10/28/a-new-biography-of-muhammad-ali" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">estimated 200,000 hits over his amateur and professional boxing career</span></a><span lang="EN">. He continued to make public appearances, including his inspiring lighting of the Olympic torch in the 1996 Atlanta Games. He continues to be a </span><a href="https://www.biography.com/athletes/muhammad-ali" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">revered sports and civil rights legend</span></a><span lang="EN">, considered the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time.</span></p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Fifty years after the famed ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ Muhammad Ali is remembered not only as the heavyweight champ, but as a champion of civil rights.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-11/Rumble%20in%20the%20Jungle%20cropped.jpg?itok=Q8Eal-VK" width="1500" height="650" alt="Muhammad Ali and George Foreman boxing in the former Zaire"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p><span>In a bout called "Rumble in the Jungle," Muhammad Ali, left, and George Foreman, right, fight on Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)</span></p> </span> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>In a bout called Rumble in the Jungle, Muhammad Ali, left, and George Foreman, right, fight on Oct. 30, 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)</div> Mon, 11 Nov 2024 17:30:13 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6011 at /asmagazine Remembering the player behind ‘Fernandomania’ /asmagazine/2024/10/24/remembering-player-behind-fernandomania <span>Remembering the player behind ‘Fernandomania’</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-10-24T12:44:00-06:00" title="Thursday, October 24, 2024 - 12:44">Thu, 10/24/2024 - 12:44</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/fernando_valenzuela_pitching.jpg?h=4997dc06&amp;itok=2VNVvyBJ" width="1200" height="800" alt="Fernando Valenzuela pitching"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/889"> Views </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/913" hreflang="en">Critical Sports Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/484" hreflang="en">Ethnic Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1053" hreflang="en">community</a> </div> <span>Jared Bahir Browsh</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Fernando Valenzuela, who died Tuesday, was more than just the first Mexican superstar in Major League Baseball; he helped soothe longstanding resentments in a displaced community</em></p><hr><p><a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41952316/dodgers-legendary-pitcher-fernando-valenzuela-dies-63" rel="nofollow">The Los Angeles Dodgers announced</a> Wednesday that Fernando Valenzuela passed away&nbsp;late Tuesday night at the age of 63. The legendary pitcher debuted late in the 1980 season as a 19-year-old, but it would not be until his first full season when the rookie would initiate “<a href="https://www.mlb.com/news/fernando-valenzuela-dies" rel="nofollow">Fernandomania</a>,” fascinating not only Dodgers and baseball fans, but people throughout the United States and Latin America.</p><p>Valenzuela helped the <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/what-1981-dodgers-vs-yankees-world-series-matchup-was-like-according-to-fans/3541918/" rel="nofollow">Dodgers beat the Yankees to win the World Series in 1981</a>, the last time the two teams met. At a time when the Dodgers struggled to soothe their relationship with Mexican American fans, Valenzuela was not only the balm, but also initiated a wave of players from Mexico that continues today.</p><p>The Dodgers’ relationship with the large Chicanx community in Los Angeles had long been fraught after the building of Dodger Stadium. Following passage of the Federal Housing Act in 1949, then-Mayor Norris Poulson chose Chavez Ravine, a shallow canyon in Los Angeles, as the location to build 10,000 housing units, promising the Mexican American community living there that they would have their first choice of housing.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/jared_browsh_6.jpg?itok=GtPzgPAl" width="750" height="1093" alt="Jared Bahir Browsh"> </div> <p>Jared Bahir Browsh is the&nbsp;<a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow">Critical Sports Studies</a>&nbsp;program director in the 91&nbsp;<a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow">Department of Ethnic Studies</a>.</p></div></div></div><p>Yet after most of the neighborhood was razed, the project was delayed, and when the Dodgers decided to move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, <a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/chavez-ravine-evictions/" rel="nofollow">the area was chosen to build the new Dodger Stadium</a>. The broken promises led to decades of resentment between the team and the Mexican American community in the city, as the remaining residents were forced out of the neighborhood.</p><p><strong>Selling out stadiums</strong></p><p>Valenzuela was scouted by several teams, but when legendary Cuban-American scout <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/09/sports/baseball/mike-brito-dead.html" rel="nofollow">Mike Brito went to evaluate him </a>in <a href="https://ladodgertalk.com/2022/10/13/the-importance-of-a-mexican-star/" rel="nofollow">Silao, Mexico</a>, he convinced the Dodgers to buy out Valenzuela’s contract in the summer of 1979, just beating out the Yankees. He worked his way up from the minor leagues, debuting with the Dodgers in September 1980 after learning what became his signature pitch, the screwball, which breaks the opposite direction of a curveball or slider.</p><p>He spent the final month of the season as a reliever, helping the team contend for the <a href="https://www.walteromalley.com/dodger-history/team-histories/1980/" rel="nofollow">West Division before they lost to the Houston Astros in a one-game playoff</a>.</p><p>The following season, the 20-year-old Valenzuela was tapped to be the Dodgers’ opening-day starter after pitcher Jerry Reuss was injured the day before the game. This set off <a href="https://laist.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/thank-you-fernando-how-a-dodgers-legend-captured-my-childhood-heart" rel="nofollow">Fernandomania</a>, as he went 8-0 with five shutouts and an earned run average of 0.50. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/03/15/1981-mlb-season-coronavirus-delay-baseball/5054780002/" rel="nofollow">The 1981 season was cut short due to a strike </a>in June, but when the season resumed in August, Valenzuela helped the team win the World Series, becoming the first pitcher to win both the National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards in the same season.</p><p>Valenzuela sold out stadiums both at home and away, becoming a phenomenon only a few years after first signing to the Mexican league from his small, rural hometown in Sonora. An international Horatio Alger story, Valenzuela’s rise is one of the most unbelievable in modern sports history.</p><p>Valenzuela spoke very little English and struggled to communicate with many of his teammates; however, team manager Tommy Lasorda spent time in the Caribbean winter leagues and helped Valenzuela’s transition to the major leagues, while Mike Scioscia learned enough Spanish to become the young pitcher’s personal catcher. Valenzuela would go on to make six straight All-Star games before <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1993/03/13/fernando-looking-up-at-32-sees-the-legend-of-20/d506e961-cb18-4825-b769-2176786dd690/" rel="nofollow">shoulder issues related to overuse and the strain of throwing the screwball </a>derailed his career. He ultimately played 17 seasons and threw a no-hitter for the Dodgers in 1990, but his legacy goes far beyond his phenomenal rise.</p><p><strong>The first Mexican superstar</strong></p><p>Walter O’Malley had owned at least a minority stake in the Dodgers since 1944, accumulating a larger stake in the team and eventually becoming its president in 1950. He was part of the ownership group that signed <a href="https://news.law.fordham.edu/blog/2024/08/08/historic-archive-of-dodgers-owner-walter-omalley-donated-to-national-baseball-hall-of-fame-and-museum/#:~:text=O&amp;apos;Malley%20was%20the%20Dodgers,to%20Los%20Angeles%20as%20president." rel="nofollow">Jackie Robinson and led the move to Los Angeles in 1958.</a> O’Malley was tired of the Brooklyn Dodgers living in the Yankees’ shadow—their Ebbets Field had less than half the capacity of Yankee Stadium (32,000 vs. 67,000) and the Dodgers lost six of the seven World Series matchups with the Yankees in the 1940s and 1950s. O’Malley saw a business opportunity in moving to the West Coast and building his own stadium in spite of the displacement of the Mexican American community there.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/fernando_valenzuela_wining_up_for_pitch.jpg?itok=9EsGUmwG" width="750" height="500" alt="Fernando Valenzuela wining up for a pitch"> </div> <p>Fernando Valenzuela, known for his signature 'screwball' pitch, winds up during the Dodgers' April 8, 1986, home opener. (Photo: Tony Barnard/Los Angeles Times)</p></div></div></div><p>Much like Robinson brought Black fans to the Dodgers, and baseball more generally, O’Malley <a href="https://www.walteromalley.com/biographies/walter-omalley-reference-biography/the-last-inning/" rel="nofollow">sought a Mexican player to draw Latine fans</a> who refused to watch the Dodgers not only because of resentment over the displacement, but also because the Dodgers were seen as a team for the white community in Los Angeles. Walter O’Malley died a month after the organization signed Valenzuela, so he never saw the impact of the first Mexican superstar in baseball.</p><p>Though famous, Valenzuela still faced many of the same issues other Mexican immigrants faced coming to America. The language barrier led to isolation early in his career, and after his historic rookie season, he was threatened with deportation as he held out for a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/05/sports/sports-people-us-eyes-valenzuela.html" rel="nofollow">new contract in 1982, since he was in the United States on a work visa.</a> It was said that <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/nfhkikii9eq-123" rel="nofollow">Ronald Reagan pushed for immigration reform</a> partly due to meeting Valenzuela in 1981.</p><p>Despite the disappointment of being cut by the Dodgers during 1991 spring training, Valenzuela maintained his legendary status with the team, becoming their color commentator in 2003 and having his number, 34, retired in 2023.</p><p>His jersey is still one of the most popular, with Valenzuela jerseys seen throughout Dodgers stadium <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2024/10/23/fernando-valenzuela-remembrance-los-angeles-dodgers/75803450007/" rel="nofollow">34 years after he threw his last pitch for the team.</a> In spite of his status as the greatest player from Mexico to play in the Major Leagues, he has not been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, although many artifacts from Fernandomania sit in the museum in Cooperstown.</p><p><a href="/ethnicstudies/people/core-faculty/jared-bahir-browsh" rel="nofollow"><em>Jared Bahir Browsh</em></a><em>&nbsp;is an assistant teaching professor of&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/undergraduate-programs-and-resources/critical-sport-studies" rel="nofollow"><em>critical sports studies</em></a><em>&nbsp;in the 91&nbsp;</em><a href="/ethnicstudies/" rel="nofollow"><em>Department of Ethnic Studies</em></a><em>.</em></p><p><em>Top image:&nbsp;Fernando Valenzuela pitches a two-hit, 4-0 victory over the Montreal Expos at Dodger Stadium May 21, 1986. (Photo:&nbsp;Marsha Traeger/Los Angeles Times)</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about critical sports studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/50245/donations/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Fernando Valenzuela, who died Tuesday, was more than just the first Mexican superstar in Major League Baseball; he helped soothe longstanding resentments in a displaced community.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/feature-title-image/fernando_valenzuela_pitching.jpg?itok=-yXVPJsp" width="1500" height="998" alt> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 24 Oct 2024 18:44:00 +0000 Anonymous 6002 at /asmagazine