Category: Sports

Women's basketball at Bethel College, 1966-1967

Following Up: Should Colleges Drop Competitive Sports?

May 2, 2013

Another not-quite rerun: this week I’m following up on topics that I’ve blogged about before and recently received new attention from other media or blogs. Original Post: “A Grand Experiment: Why Sports Belong in Higher Education” Follow Up: “Room for Debate: Dropping the Ball” (nytimes.com, April 22) Last summer the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) … More Following Up: Should Colleges Drop Competitive Sports?

Amish children playing baseball

Behold, I Make All Things Old: Hope, Simplicity, and Amish Baseball

April 1, 2013

I’m a Christian, a baseball fan, and someone who absolutely loathes practical jokes. Which makes this April 1 about two-thirds of the way to being a sensational day. Setting aside the fooling that I’ll hope to avoid, today’s combination of Easter Monday with major league baseball’s opening day underscores what E.J. Dionne (quoting from a … More Behold, I Make All Things Old: Hope, Simplicity, and Amish Baseball

Best Christian Book bracket

March Madness: The Best Christian Book of All Time?

March 22, 2013

When Marquette pulled out a last-second win over Davidson and Butler turned back a late Bucknell rally, I lost two of the upsets I’d predicted in my NCAA men’s basketball bracket. (And I clearly should have had more faith in my graduate alma mater’s conference!) Adding more evidence to counter the notion that human beings … More March Madness: The Best Christian Book of All Time?

The NFL Logo

Replacing the NFL: A Thought Experiment (with Chris Moore and Sam Mulberry)

September 27, 2012

By almost any measure, the National Football League is the most popular and profitable professional sports league in the United States, and likely in the world. Popular? In 2011 all but two of the top 25 most watched telecasts in this country were NFL games, and a Harris poll earlier this year found that 36% … More Replacing the NFL: A Thought Experiment (with Chris Moore and Sam Mulberry)

Pete Alexander

Which One Game in Baseball History Would You Go Back in Time to See?

September 7, 2012

That was the terrific question posed yesterday on ESPN.com and answered by a host of current players and broadcasters. (Click here for the photo gallery showing popular choices.) There’s Lou Gehrig’s farewell, or Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Or for those of us who hate the Yankees… Bill Mazeroski’s and Joe … More Which One Game in Baseball History Would You Go Back in Time to See?

Memorial Stadium, 1924

Commemorating WWI in Minnesota: The Brickhouse

September 6, 2012

The largest memorial to those Minnesotans who died in World War I no longer exists, except for a preserved fragment and an impressive website that thoroughly documents its nearly ninety-year history. Opened in 1924, the University of Minnesota’s Memorial Stadium hosted six national championship-winning football teams before the Gophers  moved off-campus to the Metrodome in … More Commemorating WWI in Minnesota: The Brickhouse

Best of The Pietist Schoolman: “God Made the Country”

August 31, 2012

With some deadlines looming between now and September 10, I’m going to take a day off here and there and rerun some of my favorite posts. First, one from about this time last year… Last month I felt like I was living a John Denver song: country roads taking me to a colleague’s farm near … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: “God Made the Country”

Table Tennis at the 2012 Olympics

Which Country (and Continent) Dominates Each Olympic Sport?

August 6, 2012

8/5/16: If you came to this post, you might want to see this morning’s update, which folds in the results from 2012 London and corrects a couple of spreadsheet errors. It’s a good thing the Olympics are wrapping up this week. If they continued much longer, I wouldn’t get any pre-semester work done! Not just because I’m watching … More Which Country (and Continent) Dominates Each Olympic Sport?