Rooting for the Home Team PDF Download

Author: Daniel A. Nathan
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252094859
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Rooting for the Home Team examines how various American communities create and maintain a sense of collective identity through sports. Looking at large cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles as well as small rural towns, suburbs, and college towns, the contributors consider the idea that rooting for local athletes and home teams often symbolizes a community's preferred understanding of itself, and that doing so is an expression of connectedness, public pride and pleasure, and personal identity. Some of the wide-ranging essays point out that financial interests also play a significant role in encouraging fan bases, and modern media have made every seasonal sport into yearlong obsessions. Celebrities show up for big games, politicians throw out first pitches, and taxpayers pay plenty for new stadiums and arenas. The essays in Rooting for the Home Team cover a range of professional and amateur athletics, including teams in basketball, football, baseball, and even the phenomenon of no-glove softball. Contributors are Amy Bass, Susan Cahn, Mark Dyreson, Michael Ezra, Elliott J. Gorn, Christopher Lamberti, Allison Lauterbach, Catherine M. Lewis, Shelley Lucas, Daniel A. Nathan, Michael Oriard, Carlo Rotella, Jaime Schultz, Mike Tanier, David K. Wiggins, and David W. Zang.

Author: Zachary Chastain
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1422296849
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
America's love of sports goes back a long way. Baseball, basketball, and football all came of age in America of the 1800s. While men like Abner Doubleday may not have invented these sports, they did much to popularize them as rules were officially standardized and national-level organizations were founded. Amateur (and, later, professional) teams sprang up in towns, factories, and schools across America and "rooting for the home team" built strong community bonds and stimulated (usually) friendly rivalries. From horse racing to boxing to competitive target shooting, Americans would watch, cheer for, and bet on just about any contest of strength and skill. The growing class of Americans with leisure and money to spare discovered tennis and golf and polo, and women for the first time participated in competitive sports. Long before the World Series and the Super Bowl, Americans were idolizing their favorite athletes, while they played and watched sports with enthusiasm.

Author: Michael N. Danielson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691231125
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Most books that study professional sports concentrate on teams and leagues. In contrast, Home Team studies the connections between professional team sports in North America and the places where teams play. It examines the relationships between the four major professional team sports--baseball, basketball, football, and hockey--and the cities that attach their names, their hearts, and their increasing amount of tax dollars to big league teams. From the names on their uniforms to the loyalties of their fans, teams are tied to the places in which they play. Nonetheless, teams, like other urban businesses, are affected by changes in their environments--like the flight of their customers to suburbs and changes in local political climates. In Home Team, professional sports are scrutinized in the larger context of the metropolitan areas that surround and support them. Michael Danielson is particularly interested in the political aspects of the connections between professional sports teams and cities. He points out that local and state governments are now major players in the competition for franchises, providing increasingly lavish publicly funded facilities for what are, in fact, private business ventures. As a result, professional sports enterprises, which have insisted that private leagues rather than public laws be the proper means of regulating games, have become powerful political players, seeking additional benefits from government, often playing off one city against another. The wide variety of governmental responses reflects the enormous diversity of urban and state politics in the United States and in the Canadian cities and provinces that host professional teams. Home Team collects a vast amount of data, much of it difficult to find elsewhere, including information on the relocation of franchises, expansion teams, new leagues, stadium development, and the political influence of the rich cast of characters involved in the ongoing contests over where teams will play and who will pay. Everyone who is interested in the present condition and future prospects of professional sports will be captivated by this informative and provocative new book.

Author: Tim Hagerty
Publisher: Cider Mill Press
ISBN: 9781604332094
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Delve deep into to the grass roots of baseballs—the Minor League—and you’ll find Cannibals, Shoemakers, and Zephyrs! From the Coal Sox Nation to the Texarkana Casketmakers, Root for the Home Team brings you the most oddly original team names and the stories behind them. Root for the Home Team includes profiles of more than 150 teams and lists of hundreds more—plus fun facts, action shots, and team logos. Impress your baseball buddies with your depth of knowledge! Did you know? - The Altoona Curve were dubbed without ever throwing a breaking ball, thanks to local railroad history. - The Wichita Izzies had a fan so fanatical they named the team after him. - The Mudville Nine were named after the fictitious team in the poem “Casey at the Bat.” Root for the Home Team is a unique book any baseball fan will love.

Author: Andrew J. Bacevich
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0805096035
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
A blistering critique of the gulf between America's soldiers and the society that sends them off to war, from the bestselling author of The Limits of Power and Washington Rules The United States has been "at war" in Iraq and Afghanistan for more than a decade. Yet as war has become normalized, a yawning gap has opened between America's soldiers and veterans and the society in whose name they fight. For ordinary citizens, as former secretary of defense Robert Gates has acknowledged, armed conflict has become an "abstraction" and military service "something for other people to do." In Breach of Trust, bestselling author Andrew J. Bacevich takes stock of the separation between Americans and their military, tracing its origins to the Vietnam era and exploring its pernicious implications: a nation with an abiding appetite for war waged at enormous expense by a standing army demonstrably unable to achieve victory. Among the collateral casualties are values once considered central to democratic practice, including the principle that responsibility for defending the country should rest with its citizens. Citing figures as diverse as the martyr-theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the marine-turned-anti-warrior Smedley Butler, Breach of Trust summons Americans to restore that principle. Rather than something for "other people" to do, national defense should become the business of "we the people." Should Americans refuse to shoulder this responsibility, Bacevich warns, the prospect of endless war, waged by a "foreign legion" of professionals and contractor-mercenaries, beckons. So too does bankruptcy—moral as well as fiscal.

Author: Frank Hoffmann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113640483X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
Examine the big-league benefits of minor league baseball! The Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports examines the role played by minor league baseball in hundreds of cities and towns across the United States. Written from the unique perspective of a sociologist who also happens to be an avid baseball fan, the book looks at the contributions minor league teams make to the quality of life in their communities, creating focal points for spirit and cohesiveness while providing opportunities for interaction and entertainment. The book links theory and experience to present a “sociology of baseball” that explains the symbiotic relationship which brings people together for a common purpose—to root, root, root for the home team. From the author: Minor league baseball is played across the country in more than 100 very different communities. These communities seem to share a special bond with their teams. As with all sports teams, there is a symbiotic relationship between the team and the city or town that it represents. In the case of major league professional sports, the relationship is often fueled by economic outcomes. On the minor league level, the relationship appears to go beyond mere money and prestige. Minor league teams occupy a special place in our hearts. We are more forgiving when they lose, and extremely proud of them when they win. Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports is a detailed look at the connection between town and team, including: economic benefits (development strategies, community growth) intangible benefits (ballpark camaraderie, hometown pride) fan attachment and attendance (demographic variables, stadium accessibility, “home court advantage”) case studies of two Maryland minor-league franchises--the Class AA Bowie Baysox and the Class A Hagerstown Suns Minor League Baseball: Community Building Through Hometown Sports also includes an introduction to the organizational structure of the minor leagues, a history of each current league, and charts and tables on attendance figures and franchise relocations. This book is essential reading for sociologists, sport sociologists/historians, academics and/or practitioners in the fields of community sociology and psychology, and of course, baseball fans.

Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0345532031
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • High school all-American Neely Crenshaw was probably the best quarterback ever to play for the legendary Messina Spartans. Fifteen years have gone by since those glory days, and Neely has come home to Messina to bury Coach Eddie Rake, the man who molded the Spartans into an unbeatable football dynasty. Now, as Coach Rake’s “boys” sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old games, relive the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake – or hate him. For Neely Crenshaw, a man who must finally forgive his coach – and himself – before he can get on with his life, the stakes are especially high. Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

Author: Jean Damien Lesay
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 0789331101
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Revised Edition, Updated 2019 The most in-depth guide to soccer clubs around the world, featuring 1,000 illustrations and more than 1,000 teams from 100 countries. This superbly illustrated volume is the fan’s most comprehensive insight into 1,000 football clubs (a.k.a., soccer teams), both professional and collegiate, from every continent, illustrating each club’s history and what it means to support their team. Included are key details from both men’s and women’s leagues, such as team colors, shirt designs, coats of arms, mottos, club songs, stadium details, legendary players, impactful coaches, the most memorable victories (and defeats)—in short, this is the ultimate trivia guide for any fan passionate about the "Beautiful Game." For the die-hard supporter, a football club goes beyond just rooting for the home team. Each football club is a culture unto itself with fans comprising an extended family of shared memory, glorious victories, and camaraderie. Full of engaging stories behind team traditions and statistics detailing important achievements, players, and events, 1000 Football Clubs is a must-read for any football fan and a most useful survey for anyone who needs to understand the sport considered the world’s favorite and whose popularity continues to grow exponentially in North America.

Author: Albie Landwehr
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1490813586
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Do you remember the sheer joy of playing catch in the yard or have fond memories involving baseball? Was baseball, like church, once a subject of intense discussion shared with family, friends, or total strangers transcending generations, gender, race, and economic status? Has it become far less important in your life? Have you ever wondered what issues drove a wedge between you and such joy and passion? Paul is such a person whose once deep passion for the Game of baseball has eroded over the years by changes sidetracking its pure essence. The excitement of league pennant races has been replaced with wild card chases. Focus on key hitting and pitching stats has given way to PED usage and contract details. Can managing a youth league baseball team enable him to overcome these negative changes to the game and rediscover his love for the Game, or will his interest completely fall away? Having a team consisting of well-known biblical figures and a special player named Chris just might help. Commingling laughs with a message that can be enjoyed by youngsters and adults alike, whether believers or non-believers, this novel blends biblical events, references, and characters humorously into the context of youth baseball as Paul attempts to reconnect.

Author: Josh Chetwynd
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
ISBN: 1607748126
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
A gift-worthy playbook of common and unexpected words and idioms that have their roots in sports and games. There are many metaphors we can quickly identify from the realm of sports: covering all the bases (baseball), game plan (football), and par for the course (golf). But the English language is also peppered with the not-so-obvious influence of sports and games, such as go-to guy (basketball) and dead ringer (horse racing). Filled with pithy entries on each idiom, plus quotes showing how big talkers from President Obama to rapper Ice-T use them, this quirky little handbook from former minor league ballplayer and award-winning journalist Josh Chetwynd is sure to be a conversation starter at tailgates, cocktail parties, and in the boardroom.