Syllabus

AMH 4612-0660
Sport and American Culture/ Spring 2015
M, W, F: 4 (10:40-11:30) Flint 119
Professor Jack E. Davis Ofc. Keene-Flint 235
davisjac@ufl.edu 273-3398
Ofc. Hrs.: T, 11:30-12:30 M, W, F

This course explores the place of sport in American society and culture from the time of European settlement to the present. It uses sport, in its institutional and recreational forms, to illuminate broader historical themes: urban and community life, economic development, social relationships, social mobility, and popular and cultural processes.

Course Objectives:

• Expanding ones knowledge of the history of sport and its place in the larger American experience.
• Introducing the student to scholarship in sport history.
• Promoting critical thinking about the dynamics of race, gender, and class in American society.
• Advancing the students experience in the reading, researching, and writing tasks of the historian.
• Improving the students cognitive and communication skills.

Course Requirements:

• Class participation 10%
• Research paper (including Writing-Mechanics exercise) 30%
• Mid-term paper 30%
• Final paper 30%

Course Grading Scale (see UF grading scale at end of syllabus):

• A+ =100
• A =95
• A- =90
• B+ =88
• B =85
• B- =80
• C+ =77
• C =75
• C- =70
• D =65

Assignments not completed earn a 0

Plagiarized assignment (see plagiarism section below) earn a 0

Assignments not turned in before or by stated due date will not be accepted. All assignments must be made available in hard copy. Emailed assignments cannot be accepted.

Class participation is based on attendance and discussion participation. You are allowed two unexcused absences without penalty. Each additional absence will result in .5% deduction from the 10% class-participation requirement. Religious holidays, UF athletic travel conflicts, and written explanations from a certified health professional are eligible for an excused absence when cleared with the professor. See UF attendance policy at https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/attendance.aspx.

Course Texts (required):

• H. G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, and a Dream (Da Capo Press, 2000)
• Darcy Frey, The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Games (Mariner Books, 2004)
• Elliot J. Gorn and Warren Goldstein, A Brief History of American Sports (University of Illinois Press, 2004)
• Mary Lou LeCompte, Cowgirls of the Rodeo: Pioneer Professional Athletes (University of Illinois Press, 1999)
• Steven A. Riess, City Games: The Evolution of American Urban Society and the Rise of Sports (University of Illinois Press, 1991)
• Murray Sperber, Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports is Crippling Undergraduate Education (Owl Books, 2001)
• Jules Tygiel, Baseballs Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (OUP, 1997)

Week I (Jan 7, 9): Course introduction

• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, chapter 1

Week II (Jan 12, 14, 16): Early American Sports

• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, chapter 1, cont. (begin reading Reiss)

Week III (Jan 19 (MLK Day), 21, 23): City Sports and the Rise of Urban Society

• Reading: Riess, 1-168

Week IV (Jan 26, 28, 30): Religion and Physical Culture in Victorian Society

• WRITING-MECHANICS EXERCISE DUE (download from my web site)
• Film: Chariots of Fire
• Reading: Riess, 171-228; Gorn and Goldstein, chapter 2

Week V (Feb 2, 4, 6): The American Way: The Development of Youth Sports, Intercollegiate Sports, and Organized Sports

• Reading: continued from last week

Week VI (Feb 9, 11, 13): The American Tough

• Film: On the Water Front
• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, 98-113, 138-49.

Week VII (Feb 16, 18, 20): The Last Blood Sport

• Film: Raging Bull
• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, 114-28.

Week VIII (Feb 23, 25, 27): The Idea of the American Sports Hero and Heroine

• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, 183-96

Week IX: (March 2, 4, 6 (Spring Break))

Week X (March 9, 11, 13): Americas Game: The Early Years of Baseball

• Film: Baseball (excerpts)
• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, 209-220; begin reading Tygiel

Week XI (March16, 18, 20): Americas Game and the American Dilemma

• Reading: Tygiel, all; Jack E. Davis, Baseballs Reluctant Challenge: Desegregating Major League Spring Training Sites, 1961-1964, Journal of Sport History 19 (Summer 1992): 144-162 (access at http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1992/JSH1902/jsh1902e.pdf).
• Mid-Term Paper Due

Week XII (March 23, 25, 27): Women and American Sports

• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, 197-208; LeCompte, all; Dave Zirin, Danicas Overexposure, The Progressive (July 2008): 20 (access at Dave Zirins blog <http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/15367>.

Week XIII (March 30, April 1, 3): Gridiron Culture and Local Values

• Reading: Bissinger, all

Week XIV (April 6, 8, 10): Sports Dreams and College Business

• Reading: Sperber, part I, and chapters 16-21

Week XV (April 13, 15, 17): Round Ball, Magic Ball

• Research Paper Due
• Film: Hoop Dreams (1st half)
• Reading: Gorn and Goldstein, 222-249; Frey, all.

Week XVI (April 20, 22): The Last Hurrah

• Film: Hoop Dreams (second half)
• (Final Essay Due.)

Course Requirements Descriptions:

All written work for the course must be typed or computer generated and in 12-point double-spaced print. Your work must also be presented in third-person language. All assignments must be turned in on the due date to receive full-credit consideration.

Course Attendance is required. A missed class will result in a deduction from your class participation grade. An absence is considered excused if there is an acceptable reason according to UF policy (http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationattendance.html). Examples of acceptable reasons are medical illness, religious holidays, military obligation, and the twelve-day rule. It is the students responsibility to notify the instructor of an excused absence and to provide documentation of an acceptable reason. Otherwise, the absence will be considered unexcused and will result in a quiz grade of zero if a quiz is administered when the student is absent. Whenever possible, the instructor should be notified prior to the absence. When this is not possible (e.g., due to unexpected emergency or illness), the instructor should be notified as soon as possible.

Writing-Mechanics Exercise should be downloaded from my web. Circle the correct answer and bring to class on due date.

Mid-term and Final Papers will represent responses to a list of essay questions provided on my web site at least one week prior to the due date of the assignment. The questions will be drawn from the assigned readings and the course lectures, and you will be expected to use the course readings and your class notes as sources to answer the questions. Each answer must be presented in essay format, using formal, academic language and style (i.e., complete sentences, tightly constructed paragraphs, no colloquialisms). Do not, in other words, provide answers in lists or bullets. Those exams that address each question in a rigorous and organized manner are more likely to earn a decent grade. These grades will be dependent in part on your compliance with the rules in the “Writing Mechanics” exercise.

Write a three-page, double-spaced paper, following the writing-mechanics rules, summarizing that person’s life and highlighting the points above: how that person had an impact on his or her sport and larger American society, or how American society or social changes in American life shaped that person’s experiences in American sports.

Research Paper represents a work of original work that draws on both secondary- and primary-source materials and deals with a subject in American sport history. The work should include end notes or foot notes and a bibliography and should follow the Chicago Manual of Style required for the history discipline. The paper should be no less than and not many more than 10 pages in length. Those papers that deal with broader issues of the American experience beyond just sport will be graded more favorably. In other words, a paper that concentrates solely on sports trivia or a great player or team without addressing the larger historical context will be regarded as less suitable.

Other Business:

Plagiarism/Honesty:

Keep in mind that your written assignments must represent original work. You cannot copy the words, phrases, arguments, ideas, and conclusions of someone else or of another source (including Internet sources) without giving proper credit to the person or source by using quotation marks and a foot note. Do not cobble together paragraphs or passages of separate texts and then try to claim that you have done original and legitimate work. You must write with your own ideas and in your own words. If you copy the words of someone else without putting those words in quotation marks, REGARDLESS OF CITING THE SOURCE, you are plagiarizing. Plagiarism is theft, and it is academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is grounds for an automatic failing grade in the course, a grade that is final and that cannot be made up. If you have any questions about how you are citing or using sources, come to me for the answers. Please also review the universitys honesty policy at: {http://www.dso.ufl.edu/judicial/academic.htm}. {http://

Classroom Assistance:

Please do not hesitate to contact the instructor during the semester if you have any individual concerns or issues that need to be discussed. Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office { http://www.dso.ufl.edu/drp/}. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide that documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodation.

For general counseling and mental health services provided by the university: 392-1575, http://

www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc/Default.aspx

UF Grading Scale

Please note UFs new grading scale with the addition of minuses. https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/grades.aspx

• A = 4.0
• A- = 3.67
• B+ = 3.33
• B = 3.0
• B- = 2.67
• C+ = 2.33
• C = 2.0
• C- = 1.67
• D+ = 1.33
• D = 1.0
• D- = 0.67
• E = 0.0
• E1 = 0.0 Stopped attending or participating prior to end of class
• I (incomplete) = 0.0

Note: A grade of C− is not a qualifying grade for major, minor, Gen Ed, or College Basic distribution credit. For further information on UF’s Grading Policy, see:

http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/catalog/policies/regulationgrades.html

http://www.isis.ufl.edu/minusgrades.html

Course Evaluation:

Students are expected to provide feedback on the quality of instruction in this course. These evaluations are conducted online at https://evaluations.ufl.edu. Evaluations are typically open during the last two or three weeks of the semester, but students will be given specific times when they are open. Summary results of these assessments are available to students at https://evaluations.ufl.edu/results.

Alpata: A Journal of History

Keep in mind that the undergraduate- and graduate-student members of Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society at the University of Florida publish an academic journal each spring. In the fall, the journal editors will be sending out a call for submissions (articles and book reviews) to the journal.

Mid-Term Essay

In essay form, answer number 2 and any one of the remaining three questions. Draw information from only the assigned reading materials, class lectures, and films. Do not consult other sources. Use 12-point, double-spaced type only. Keep the length to no more and no less than 5 pages. Ensure you follow the writing-mechanics guide. Points will be deducted for violations. Good luck!

1. Imagine yourself as a reporter traveling through the American colonies. You’re on assignment for a London newspaper to write an article on sports in the American colonies. You’ve been asked to address in your article the following:
   1. How do attitudes toward sports compare and contrast between the four main regions of the colonies?
   2. What sports would you find in each region and who are the likely participants of those sports?
   3. In what ways do sports define the differences between the regions? (Think about who lived in these regions and from where they came.)
2. (REQUIRED) You’re a social scientist living in New York City in the late 19th century working on a study of sports in the urban environment and you’re interested in the social, economic, and cultural influences in sports. You focus on various ethnic/immigrant groups, social classes, race, and spatial conditions (location of neighborhoods, transportation possibilities, sporting venues).
   1. What would you find to be the sports that predominate among the working class? What conditions would influence their sporting choices? (Ensure you talk about ethnicity, race, and other variables that influenced sporting choices.)
   2. Addressing the same questions, discuss the middle and upper classes and how their choices of sports might reflect their desire to be distinguished from others.
3. You’re an exercise instructor at the YMCA in 1880s America and you subscribe to the principle of Muscular Christianity.
   1. What are your views about the benefits of sports? Whom will sports benefit most?
   2. What kind of sports might you discourage?
   3. Who in your day and age might reject sports altogether and why?
   4. Who other than Muscular Christians might also support wholesome sporting activities and why? What would they see as the benefits of sports to society and the individual?
4. You are a part of the fancy of prize fighting, an aficionado or devotee, in other words, and you witness the transition from the bare-knuckle era to gloved boxing and its growing popularity.
   1. Bare-knuckle prize-fighting reflected the sport of certain social groups and not others? Why? Who were the groups that accepted and opposed bare-knuckle fighting?
   2. What events and developments stimulated increasing public interest in prize fighting and ultimately prompted changes in boxing?
   3. What were those changes, including the rules?
   4. How did the changes in boxing reflect changes in larger society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries?
   5. Focusing on and comparing Jack Johnson and Muhammad Ali, discuss the broader politics that surrounded black fighters who rose to the top of their sport.

Final Essay

Answer each question individually in separate essays following the number of the question. Do so in no more than 5 pages for the three questions combined, using default settings for double space, 12-point font, and margin space. Follow the writing-mechanics requirements. Consult no other sources than the course books and your class notes. If you quote from a book, put the author’s last name and page number in parenthesis at the end of the sentence. A bibliography is not required. Good luck.

1. Discuss the history of women in the rodeo based on what you learned from reading Mary Lou LeCompte’s Cowgirls of the Rodeo.
   1. How did women’s participation in rodeo change over time?
   2. What difference did regional (West and East) influences make in the rodeo related to women’s participation?
   3. How did their opportunities in rodeo compare with those in other sports?
2. Discuss the following points in Murray Sperber’s book.
   1. Briefly describe each of the four subcultures he identifies on college campuses, and elaborate on the one most closely connected with college sports.
   2. Discuss four myths associated with big-time college sports, including the recruitment of students, their contribution to the academic mission of the university, and the liquidity of athletic departments and their monetary contribution to the educational institution.
   3. What are problems Sperber identifies with the NCAA.
3. Discuss the principal themes in Darcy Frey’s book The Last Shot.
   1. Describe the false reality that, according to Frey, comes with inner-city basketball. Who is responsible for that false reality?
   2. Describe the pressures that Corey, Tchaka, and Russell face as high school basketball athletes in Coney Island. (Be sure to discuss as well, but not only, the essential triangle that Frey mentions.)
   3. What are the criticisms Frey has for the qualifying rules of the NCAA? What is the contradiction he identifies in the Nike basketball camp?