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 (?)
This week I wrote a commencement address for the Class of 2020 and recorded the final episode of our Pandemics and the Liberal Arts podcast. Elsewhere: • There’s been a lot of attention paid to the success Asian countries like Taiwan and South Korea have had in responding to COVID-19. But what about two African countries … More That Was The Week That Was
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
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
This week I wrote about the effects of the 1918 influenza pandemic on American churches. I thought it might be well-timed, but I couldn’t have anticipated what would follow, during a week unlike many others in recent memory. (For that matter, I can hardly remember recording a podcast on Wednesday, in which we innocently wondered … More That Was The Week That Was
Congratulations to the Bethel University Royals, winners of the 2019-2020 women’s basketball championship in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. We were there this afternoon at a packed Robertson Center, where Bethel eked out the victory over the Augsburg University Auggies, 72-70. Bethel gets the MIAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament. Since Chris … More Saturday’s Podcast: Live from a Basketball Championship Game!
On this month’s episode of The 252, our two main segments found Chris, Sam, and me discussing two vastly different topics from the world of sports: 1. Watching the NHL and NBA play around with the format of their all-star games got us thinking about the significance of rules changes in sports — and how they … More Wednesday’s Podcast: Rules Changes and Sports Entertainment
If you’re a sports fan, I hope you can join us for our next Pietist Schoolman Travel tour: Sports in American History / June 28-July 5, 2020. For $2,400, you get the following • Tickets to baseball games at Fenway Park and Wrigley Field • Admission to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, National Baseball Hall … More The Ultimate Sports History Tour
After day dreaming about this for months, today I’m happy to announce our next tour with Pietist Schoolman Travel! Sports in American History — June 28-July 5, 2020 Download the brochure to read all the details, including what’s included in the trip cost of $2,400, and then fill in your application. But for a taste, … More Announcing Our “Sports in American History” Trip — June 28-July 5, 2020
On today’s new episode of The 252, Chris Moore and I talked through some of the books and articles we’ll be assigning next spring in our History and Politics of Sports course at Bethel University. Our basic text will be Richard Davies’ Sports in American Life, but Chris also suggested adopting Victor Cha’s analysis of the politics of … More Wednesday’s Podcast: A Sports Reading List
