From Abbas Ibn Firnas to Assassin’s Creed: The legacy of Medieval intellectualism The dream of flying has a long premodern history. Think of the myth of Daedalus, the ancient Greek invent...
What everyone needs to know about 2021 thus far The year 2020 posed myriad challenges for everyone and now that we have reached the mid-way point of 2021, it is clear that, although the cri...
https://blog.oup.com/2021/07/what-everyone-needs-to-know-about-2021-thus-far/
The rise and fall of the European Super League: when the American challenge backfires In the long history of America’s influence on the politics of innovation in Europe, the case of the p...
Bruce Lee and the invention of martial arts Had he lived, Bruce Lee would have been 80 on 27 November 2020. This anniversary will be marked by countless people and innumerable institutions ...
https://blog.oup.com/2020/11/bruce-lee-and-the-invention-of-martial-arts/
John Dewey’s aesthetic philosophy John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist, and social reformer who developed theories that changed philosophical perspectives and contributed ...
https://blog.oup.com/2020/06/john-deweys-aesthetic-philosophy/
How Title IX changed American ballet It has been nearly 50 years since Title IX of the Education Amendments was passed in 1972, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex by federally f...
https://blog.oup.com/2020/03/how-title-ix-changed-american-ballet/
How well do you know early video game history? From their genesis in the development of computers after World War II to the ubiquity of mobile phones today, video games have had an extensiv...
Could your glasses pay for themselves? Could your glasses pay for themselves? In a manner of speaking, the World Surf League (WSL) and Visa would say yes. As part of the credit card company...
https://blog.oup.com/2017/04/glasses-contactless-payment-wsl/
Super Bowl madness Every year we worship at the altar of the Super Bowl. It’s the Big Game with the Big Halftime Show and the Big-Name Advertisers. That we do this, explains why Donald Tr...
https://blog.oup.com/2017/02/super-bowl-madness-advertising/
Why is it legal to bet on the stock market but not the Super Bowl? The upcoming Super Bowl will be the most wagered-on event of the year in the United States, just like it is every year. In...
https://blog.oup.com/2017/02/legal-bet-stockmarket-superbowl/
The continued relevance of sport diplomacy As Heather Dichter pointed out in her 2014 H-Diplo essay, a conundrum of sport diplomacy, perhaps its signal paradox, is the extent to which natio...
Artificial turf and cancer risk Amy Griffin, associate head coach of women’s soccer at the University of Washington in Seattle, first began to wonder about artificial turf and cancer in 2...
Protests, pigskin, and patriotism: Colin Kaepernick and America’s civil religions When civil religion meets football, you get… Colin Kaepernick. Just in case the rock you live under doe...
https://blog.oup.com/2016/09/patriotism-kaepernick-america-religions/
Ten facts about the Paralympic Games The Rio Summer Paralympics Games begin on 7 September, 2016. These games offer audiences a chance to be awed by the athletic elitism of international at...
Ryan Lochte’s “over-exaggerating” If there were an Olympics for making an apology, swimmer Ryan Lochte wouldn’t qualify. After being outed for his fake claim that he was robbed by m...
Alcohol and tailgating at football games Tailgating is a very popular activity associated with American college football games. Tailgating typically involves food and alcoholic beverages se...
https://blog.oup.com/2016/08/alcohol-tailgating-football-games/
Olympic swimmers meet Latin America’s vast gray area of private security During the closing week of the Rio games, the biggest story was not about the pool, the mat, or the track but rath...
https://blog.oup.com/2016/08/olympic-swimmers-private-security/
Five crimes being committed by Pokémon Go players Record-breaking mobile app Pokémon Go has been downloaded over 75 million times worldwide, a number set only to increase as the game is r...
Measuring athletic greatness As Michael Phelps pulled away from the field in the 200 IM to win his thirteenth individual Olympic Gold Medal, he set the standard by which athletic greatness ...
https://blog.oup.com/2016/08/measuring-athletic-greatness-olympics/
How much do you know about the origins of the Olympics? Since the very beginning of the games at Olympia, the event has served to strengthen unity, bring peace, and celebrate individuals f...
Bloody Olympics: Rio, 2016, and the history of illegal blood doping Sport has long had a fascination with blood. The blood of the Roman gladiators, mopped by a sponge from the arena, fed a ...
Olympian pressure Recent years have brought recognition that sportsmen and women may have mental health needs that are just as important as their ‘physical’ health – and that may need...
https://blog.oup.com/2016/08/olympian-pressure-mental-health/
Facing the Führer: Jesse Owens and the history of the modern Olympic games Enjoying Rio 2016? This extract from Sport: A Very Short Introduction by Mike Cronin gives a history of the moder...
https://blog.oup.com/2016/08/olympics-games-sport-jesse-owens/
Let’s tank tanking “Tanking,” or deliberately trying to lose an athletic contest to gain a future competitive advantage, such as earning higher draft pick of prospective players, beca...
Should we watch the Olympics? We used to have to take time off from work --or at least leave work early-- to watch the Olympics on TV. Now we can thank the engineering marvels of DVR and we...