This week marks the end of the first season of The 252, the podcast on the history and politics of sports that I’ve been hosting with my Bethel colleagues Chris Moore and Sam Mulberry. In our opening segment, we talked about the etymology of badminton, the history of the NFL draft, and the results of our … More Wednesday’s Podcast: What Have We Learned?
Last week it was horse racing and Indy Car. This week we again invited two guests to The 252 to help us understand a sport that isn’t quite in our wheelhouse: ice hockey. Thanks to Bethel seniors Logan Olson (History/Political Science) and Andrew Zwart (History/Biokinetics) for talking about their years playing hockey and what appeals to … More Wednesday’s Podcast: The State of Hockey
To varying degrees, I’m a fan of the most prominent team sports in America: baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer. But I’m less familiar with two other kinds of athletic competition that have deep histories, distinctive cultures, and significant fanbases: horse racing and auto racing. So this week on The 252, we asked Sam to tell … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Making the Case for Indy Car and Horse Racing
This week on The 252, we talked with two Bethel colleagues about the life and work of coaches in college athletics. Gretchen Hunt (previously a guest on season 1 of The Pietist Schoolman Podcast) is head volleyball coach and associate athletic director at Bethel University; Alisha Hvistendahl is our men’s basketball assistant coach, after previously serving as head athletic … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Coaching College Sports
I’m not sure why early April seemed like a good moment to devote part of a 252 episode to film… but I’m glad we did! This week Chris, Sam, and I each nominated three films for a hypothetical Mount Rushmore of sports movies. Vote below for your top four choices! More importantly, we talked about the mythic … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sports Movies
As recent episodes of our new sports history podcast have touched on the history of the NCAA, debates over amateurism, and the role of sports in college admissions, we’ve talked a lot about student-athletes. So it seemed like it was high time we talked to a couple of actual student-athletes. This week on The 252 we’re joined by Bethel University students Jana … More Wednesday’s Podcast: The Student-Athlete
This week The 252 welcomes sports historian Paul Putz of Messiah College. We asked Paul about the history of “Sportianity” — Frank Deford’s term for the fusion of sports with evangelical piety, plus the role of faith in recent protests by African American NFL players, Paul’s experience teaching undergraduate courses like the one our podcast previews, and … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sportianity
It’s March, and that means it’s time for The 252 to devote most of an episode to college basketball! With the help of guest philosopher/Indiana booster Sara Shady, we nominated eight players and coaches for a college hoops Mount Rushmore. You can vote for your four favorites in the poll below. Before we wrapped up that segment, … More Wednesday’s Podcast: College Basketball
This week on The 252 we welcomed Bethel journalism professor Scott Winter and Bethel Clarion sports editor Jared Martinson to our studio. Mostly, they were there to talk about the practice of sports journalism, including the impact of ESPN and digitization, the similarities and differences between reporting and broadcasting, and the economics of covering sports. But since Chris … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sports and Journalism
When better to focus on America’s National Pastime than the day that Minnesota shatters its February record for snowfall? Yes, it’s our spring training episode of The 252! • Chris Moore suggested some ways that baseball is both shaped by politics and helps us to think about politics. • Then we discussed who belongs on … More Wednesday’s Podcast: The Mount Rushmore of Baseball History
