On the 2019-20 season finale of The 252, Chris Moore and I reflected on what we learned from our first time teaching History and Politics of Sports at Bethel. Then Sam Mulberry joined us to talk about how different professional and college sports are planning to resume play — or already have done so. We talked about everything … More Thursday’s Podcast: The Return of Sports (?)
As we reach the last week of spring classes at Bethel, Chris and I devoted part of this week’s episode of The 252 to talking our students through their final exam. But the rest of you will want to listen in for what follows: a conversation about e-sports with our Bethel colleague Adrian Smithee, who has … More Thursday’s Podcast: E-Sports
Apart from debating the wisdom and likelihood of baseball returning by July, this week on The 252 we primarily talked about the two topics that students in History and Politics of Sports encountered in this second-to-last week of spring classes. 1. Chris talked about the history and (complicated!) politics of sports gambling, and how it’s being affected … More Thursday’s Podcast: The Future of Sports Media
On this week’s episode of The 252, Chris, Sam, and I kept talking about the Olympics: analyzing an assignment that had students draft a “fantasy team” of nations competing in the Olympics (and what medal counts do and don’t signify about countries); considering what effect the 2008 Olympics had on Chinese politics; and predicting what the … More Thursday’s Podcast: Fantasy Olympics
A bright spot in a pretty dismal week: having the chance to record a new episode of The 252 with Chris Moore and Sam Mulberry. This week we talked about student responses to our hypothetical scenario of Bethel leaving Division III for Division I of the NCAA, but most of our attention focused on the Olympic Games, … More Thursday’s Podcast: The History of the Olympics
Perhaps because we’re taking next week off, this week’s episode of The 252 is bursting at the seams with interesting conversation. • Chris Moore and I started by reporting on the results of a public policy simulation we just finished in our History and Politics of Sports class at Bethel: students played different roles in a fictional … More Thursday’s Podcast: Stadium Funding, the NCAA, and More
This week in our History and Politics of Sports class, we’ve been looking at African American history through the lens of sports. To wrap up the week, students submitted questions and ideas for Chris, Sam, and I to discuss on the newest episode of The 252. We started with some questions about race and sports in the present … More Thursday’s Podcast: Race and Sports
What does the spread of the coronavirus mean for sports? We started to talk through that big question on this week’s extended spring break episode of The 252. In our first segment, we briefly discussed the postponement of the Olympics, how the absence of sports changes our perception of the passage of time, and Paul … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Sports in the Age of COVID-19
Yesterday I started thinking out loud about my plans for converting my courses at Bethel University into online offerings. Part one summarized some basic principles I’m trying to follow, then explained my plans for a 100-level gen ed survey. Today: my two 200-level History courses… HIS/POS252L History and Politics of Sports Course description and students: … More How I’m Planning to Teach Online (part 2)
As usual, this week’s episode of The 252 touches several bases, including the impact of COVID-19 on college and professional sports and the historic rise and fall of boxing’s popularity. But this week we were most excited to talk to our special guest, Jason Jennings of Mortenson Construction. In our History and Politics of Sports class, students are starting … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Building Sports Stadiums
