Schedule of Topics and Readings
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UNIT ONE — 2022 FIFA World Cup: Reflections, Issues, and Analysis
Week One (Jan 17 / 19): Introduction to the Course, WordPress, Zotero
- Read on Your Own >> Course Syllabus – WordPress – Zotero
- Complete this Exit-Ticket Survey
In-class Readings >> Sports History: Views from Historians
- Group A: Howard, Josh. “Clifton Forge and Back Again.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 34, no. 5–6 (2017): 340–45. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1383394.
- Group B: Anderson, Patricia. “On Searching for the Latin American Sportswoman and Finding an Argentine Sports Historian.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 34, no. 5–6 (2017): 315–19. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1342625.
- Group C: Moore, Louis. “When I Fell in Love with Sports History.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 34, no. 5–6 (2017): 405–8. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1372426.
- Group D: Dichter, Heather. “Animalympics, Or How I Became a Sport Scholar.” The International Journal of the History of Sport, 34:5-6 (2017): 335-339, doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1381088
Week Two (Jan 24 / 26): FIFA 2022 World Cup Unpacked
- Jan 24 – McIntyre, Doug. “Lionel Messi’s World Cup Pursuit Has Become the World’s Shared Dream.” FOX Sports, December 17, 2022. https://www.foxsports.com/stories/soccer/lionel-messis-world-cup-pursuit-has-become-the-worlds-shared-dream.
- Jan 26 – Nicas, Jack. “How Argentina Celebrated the 2022 World Cup Win – The New York Times.” New York Times, December 18, 2022, Digital edition, sec. Sports. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/18/sports/soccer/argentina-celebration-win.html.
Week Three (Jan 31 / Feb 2): South America’s Soccer Icons: Messi & Maradona (Argentina), Pelé & “Jogo Bonito” (Brazil)
- Jan 31 – [ALL] Grez, Matias. “Stepping Out of Maradona’s Shadow: How Lionel Messi Won Over the Hearts of All of Argentina.” CNN, December 18, 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/18/football/lionel-messi-argentina-legacy-world-cup-final-spt-intl/index.html.
- Jan 31 – Choose one of the following three…
- Long-form Journalism Article
- Phillips, Brian. “The Two Sides of Diego Maradona.” The Ringer, October 1, 2019. https://www.theringer.com/2019/10/1/20891805/diego-maradona-hand-of-god-argentina-world-cup.
- Podcasts
- Garsd, Jasmine, and Pablo Valdivia. “In Argentina, Achieving Soccer Stardom Isn’t Just a Dream — It’s Also an Escape.” La Última Copa/The Last Cup. Episode 2. Accessed January 5, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1134745315/lionel-messi-argentina-barcelona. [41-minute listen, or read transcript]
- ———. “Lionel Messi Has Been Living in a Soccer God’s Shadow. Will He Finally Surpass Him?” La Última Copa/The Last Cup. Episode 3. Accessed January 5, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1134746950/lionel-messi-world-cup-diego-maradona. [33-minute listen, or read transcript]
- Garsd, Jasmine, and Pablo Valdivia. “In Argentina, Achieving Soccer Stardom Isn’t Just a Dream — It’s Also an Escape.” La Última Copa/The Last Cup. Episode 2. Accessed January 5, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1134745315/lionel-messi-argentina-barcelona. [41-minute listen, or read transcript]
- Long-form Journalism Article
- Feb 2 – [ALL] Maurer, Pablo. “Pelé in the United States: Stories of his influence, kindness and humility from those who knew him.” The Athletic, January 2, 2023. https://theathletic.com/4051181/2023/01/02/pele-new-york-cosmos-america/ [The Athletic is accessible via your ASU Subscription to the New York Times – link account. Here is an ALT link]
- Feb 2 – Choose either of the two…
- Alencar, Mauricio. “‘Edson Is Gone, but Pelé Is Not’: How Brazil Mourned Its Most Famous Son.” The Athletic, December 31, 2022. https://theathletic.com/4046013/2022/12/31/pele-death-brazil-reaction/ [The Athletic is accessible via your ASU Subscription to the New York Times – link account. Here is an ALT link]
- … OR … Phillips, Brian. “Diamonds in the Rough: Pelé, Garrincha, and the Two Souls of Brazilian Soccer.” Grantland, June 10, 2014. https://grantland.com/features/2014-world-cup-pele-garrincha-brazil/.
Week Four (Feb 7 / 9): Dual Nationals – Mexico, USA, and Central America / Looking Ahead: 2026 World Cup and SB LVII
- Feb 7 – [ALL] Carlisle, Jeff, and Eric Gómez. “USMNT-Mexico Rivalry Intensified by Recruiting Dual-National Talent.” ESPN.com, November 10, 2021. https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states-usa/story/4517152/usmnt-mexico-rivalry-intensified-by-recruiting-dual-national-talent.
- Feb 7 – Read your group’s selection …
- Group A: Echegaray, Luis Miguel. “Jonathan Gonzalez on U.S. Soccer and the Importance of Showing Up.” Sports Illustrated (September 27, 2018). Online. https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/09/27/jonathan-gonzalez-mexico-usa-us-soccer-alianza-futbol
- Group B: Teitelbaum, Ben and Priya Desai. “A Dream Re-Routed: Deported Maryland Brothers Seek Options, Play on After Being Banished.” Sports Illustrated (February 27, 2018). Online. https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/02/27/lizandro-claros-saravia-deportation-ice-daca-trump-usa-nicaragua-el-salvador
- Group C: Fader, Mirin. “Yunus Musah Is From Many Places, but Just Found His Home.” The Ringer, November 16, 2022. https://www.theringer.com/soccer/2022/11/16/23460722/yunus-musah-united-states-world-cup-2022.
- Group D: Kamrani, Christopher. “The Great Hope: Ricardo Pepi Shows the Promise of an Untapped USMNT Talent Pool as Europe Takes Notice.” The Athletic, January 3, 2022. https://theathletic.com/2866607/2022/01/03/this-is-ricardo-pepi-the-usmnts-dynamic-mexican-american-teen-forward-turning-heads-worldwide/. [The Athletic is accessible via your ASU Subscription to the New York Times – link account. Here is an ALT link]
- Feb 9 – [ALL] Dyreson, Mark. “The Super Bowl as a Television Spectacle: Global Designs, Glocal Niches, and Parochial Patterns.” The International Journal of the History of Sport, 34:1-2 (2017). Pgs. 139-156 doi: 10.1080/09523367.2017.1349115
- Feb 9 – Group A & Group B: Baxter, Kevin. “What Lessons Can the 2026 World Cup in North America Learn from 2022?” Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2022, Digital edition, sec. Sports (Soccer). https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/story/2022-12-19/lessons-2026-world-cup-north-america-2022-qatar-argentina-messi.
- Feb 9 – Group C & Group D: Nurse, Howard. “What to Expect from Next World Cup in 2026.” BBC, December 20, 2022, Online edition, sec. Sport (Football). https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64032538.
UNIT TWO: Early History of American Sports

Week Five (Feb 14 / 16): “Old Boys’ Schools,” Muscular Christianity & the British/US Missionaries of Sport
- Feb 14 – Choose either of the two…
Miller, Patrick. “The Manly, the Moral, and the Proficient: College Sport in the New South.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 1] — moved to in-class reading- Mangan, J. A. “The Early Evolution of Modern Sport in Latin America: A Mainly English Middle-Class Inspiration?” The International Journal of the History of Sport 18, no. 3 (2001): 9–42. doi.org/10.1080/714001585.
- Feb 16 – Choose either of the two…
- Guedes, Claudia. “‘Changing the Cultural Landscape’: English Engineers, American Missionaries, and the YMCA Bring Sports to Brazil – the 1870s to the 1930s.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 28, no. 17 (2011): 2594–2608. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2011.627200.
- Sotomayor, Antonio. “The Triangle of Empire: Sport, Religion, and Imperialism in Puerto Rico’s YMCA, 1898–1926.” The Americas 74, no. 4 (2017): 481–512. doi.org/10.1017/tam.2017.86
In-Class Reading >>>
- Miller, Patrick. “The Manly, the Moral, and the Proficient: College Sport in the New South.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 1]
- Dishon, Gideon. “Games of Character: Team Sports, Games, and Character Development in Victorian Public Schools, 1850–1900.” Paedagogica Historica 53, no. 4 (2017): 364–80. doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2016.1270339.
Week Six (Feb 21 / 23): Early Football (Soccer) & Baseball History
- Feb 21 – Read your group’s selection …
- Group A & Group C (all three):
- Allaway, Roger. “A Stumbling Start for U.S. Pro Soccer.” Society for American Soccer History (December 2, 2015). Online. http://www.ussoccerhistory.org/a-stumbling-start-for-u-s-pro-soccer
- Farnsworth, Ed. “USA vs. Mexico and the ‘Little Truck’.” Society for American Soccer History (October 8, 2015). Online. http://www.ussoccerhistory.org/1934-usa-mexico-and-the-little-truck/
- Kay, Stanley. “Pastor Keeps History of Storied U.S. Club Bethlehem Steel Alive.” Sports Illustrated (August 3, 2017). Online. https://www.si.com/soccer/2017/08/03/bethlehem-steel-pastor-dan-morrison-us-soccer
- Group B: Logan, Gabe. “C’mon, You Reds: The U.S. Communist Party’s Workers’ Soccer Association, 1927–35.” Journal of Sport History 44, no. 3 (2017): 384-398. muse.jhu.edu/article/674872.
- Group D: Kittelson, Roger. The Country of Football: Soccer and the Making of Modern Brazil. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014, Introduction & Chapter 2.
- GOOGLE SLIDES WEEK 06
- Group A & Group C (all three):
- Feb 23 – Read your group’s selection …
- Group A: González Echevarría, Roberto. The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999—Pages 75-111. [Chapter 4]
- Group B & Group D: Park, Roberta J. “From La Bomba to Béisbol: Sport and the Americanisation of Puerto Rico, 1898–1950.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 28, no. 17 (2011): 2575–2593. doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2011.627199
- Group C: Gumstead, Robert. “Baseball, the Lost Cause, and the New South in Richmond, Virginia.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 2]
Week Seven Discussion (Feb 28 / Mar 2): Choose Your Story – Wrestling, NASCAR, Softball, Basketball, Football, or Boxing / Book Club Pt. 1 (Asynchronous Work)
- Feb 28 – Choose your story (one of the following) and be prepared to lead a mini-presentation:
- Wrestling: Kyriakoudes, Louis M. and Peter A. Coclanis. “‘The Tennessee Test of Manhood’: Professional Wrestling and Southern Cultural Stereotypes.” The Sporting World of the Modern South. [Chapter 11]
- Wrestling: Levi, Heather. The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008. [Chapter 3]
- NASCAR: Rybacki, Karyn Charles and Donald Jay Ribacki. “The King, the Young Prince, and the Last Confederate Soldier: NASCAR on the Cusp.” The Sporting World of the Modern South. [Chapter 12]
- Softball: Westly, Erica. Fastpitch: The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game. New York: Touchstone, 2016. [Chapters 2-4]
- Basketball: Galindo, David Christopher. “Spurs Fandom in San Antonio: The Baseline Bums and HemisFair Arena, 1973–1993.” Journal of Sport History 49, no. 1 (2022): 37-52. muse.jhu.edu/article/867327.
- Boxing: Sheinin, David. “Boxing in the Making of a Costeño” Sports Culture in Latin American History. [Chapter 7]
- Football (and Exercise): Swanson, Ryan. The Strenuous Life: Theodore Roosevelt and the Making of the American Athlete. New York: Diversion Books, 2019. [Chapters 1 & 2]
- Mar 2 – BOOK CLUB Pt. 1
- Powell, Robert Andrew. This Love Is Not For Cowards: Salvation and Soccer in Ciudad Juárez. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2012. [Introduction, Chapters 1-3]
- Elsey, Brenda and Joshua Nadel. Fútbolera: A History of Women and Sports in Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. [Introduction, Chapter 1]
- Ruck, Rob. Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game. Boston: Beacon Press, 2011. [Introduction, Chapters 1-2]
- Today is an asynchronous class, which means classwork is 100% remote. By the end of today, March 2, post a 300-450 word reaction piece to the Introduction and first chapter(s) of your assigned course textbook on the course blog. Give your post a unique name tied to your reflective analysis. Choose “Book Club” as the category before publishing.

UNIT THREE: Bodies as Contested Spaces
Week Eight Discussion (Mar 7 / 9): Sport, Race, & Ethnicity
- Mar 7 – Read your group’s selection …
- Group A: Rein, Raanan. “People of the Book or People of the (Foot)Ball?: On the Pitch with the Fans of Atlanta in Buenos Aires.” Sports Culture in Latin American History. [Chapter 5]
- Group B: Nelson, Emalee. “Cuban Babe (Ruth): The Story of Seven Cubana Women in Professional Baseball.” Sport in American History (2016): Online. https://ussporthistory.com/2016/10/17/cuban-babe-ruth-the-story-of-seven-cubana-women-in-professional-baseball
- Mar 9 – Read your group’s selection …
- Group C: Richey, Jeffrey. “The Macaquitos Affair: Soccer, Blackness, and Brazil as Argentina’s Racial Other, 1919-1929.” Radical History Review no. 125 (2016): 116-136. ISSN 0163-6545
- Group D: Scott, Jermaine. “”A Black School Is Not Supposed to Win”: Black Teamwork at Howard University, 1970–74.” Journal of Sport History 46, no. 3 (2019): 347-362. muse.jhu.edu/article/738515.
Week Nine Discussion (Mar 21 / 23): Masculinity & Femininity
- Mar 21 – Read your group’s selection …
- Group B: Donoghue, Michael. “Roberto Durán, Omar Torrijos, and the Rise of Isthmian Machismo.” Sports Culture in Latin American History. [Chapter 1]
- Group D: Owenby, Ted. “Manhood, Memory, and White Men’s Sports in the American South.” The Sporting World of the Modern South. [Chapter 13]
- Mar 23 – Read your group’s selection …
- Group C: Gils, Bieke. “Flying, Flirting, and Flexing: Charmion’s Trapeze Act, Sexuality, and Physical Culture at the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” Journal of Sport History 41, no. 2 (2014): 251-268. muse.jhu.edu/article/557776.
- Group A: Liberti, Rita. “‘We Were Ladies, We Just Played Like Boys’: African American Women and Competitive Basketball at Bennett College, 1928-42.” The Sporting World of the Modern South, edited by Patrick Miller. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. [Chapter 6]
In-Class Reading >>> Taylor, Katie. “‘Here’s the Football Heroine’: Female American Football Players, 1890–1912.” Sport in History (2020). DOI: 10.1080/17460263.2020.1814399
Week Ten Discussion (Mar 28 / 30): Feminine Struggles / Book Club Discussion: Futbolera
- Mar 28 – Group A & Group B: Lehman, Ken. “Fighting on the Edge: Cholitas Luchadoras in Bolivia’s Cholo” Sports Culture in Latin American History. [Chapter 2]
- Mar 28 – Group C & Group D: Cerón-Anaya, Hugo. Privilege at Play: Class, Race, Gender, and Golf in Mexico. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. [Chapter 6]
- Mar 28 In-Class Reading: Linehan, Meg. “USWNT, NWSL Players Associations: The Athletic’s U.S. Women’s Soccer Persons of the Year.” The Athletic. Accessed January 9, 2023. [15 min-discussion] https://theathletic.com/4000113/2022/12/15/uswnt-nwsl-players-associations-sportspersons/.
- Mar 30 – BOOK CLUB: Elsey & Nadel’s Futbolera – only those students reading this book attend today’s class; all others work on their own on their research/digital project
Week Eleven Discussion (Apr 4 / 6): Book Club Discussion: Soccer in Ciudad Juárez Pt. 2 & USWNT (2023 FIFA World Cup) + Lab Day
- Apr 4 – BOOK CLUB: Powell’s Soccer in Ciudad Juárez. [Chapters 8-11] – only those students reading this book attend today’s class; all others work on their own on their research/digital project
- Apr 6 – BOOK CLUB: Ruck’s Raceball – only those students reading this book attend today’s class; all others work on their own on their research/digital project
UNIT FOUR: Sports & International Relations

Week Twelve Discussion (Apr 11 / 13): Sports & the State
- April 11: Thompson, Wright. “While the World Watched.” ESPN (June 9, 2014)
- April 13: Read your group’s selection …
- Group A: & Group D: Wood, Michael T. “Defenders of National Honor: Club Atlético de Cuba Tigres in Prerevolutionary Cuban Gridiron Football.” Journal of Sport History 47, no. 1 (2020): 40-58. doi:10.1353/sph.2020.0002.
- Group B: & Group C: Andrade Franco, Roberto José. “Sparring in the White House: Theodore Roosevelt, Race, and Boxing.” Sport in American History (November 2016). Online. https://ussporthistory.com/2016/11/21/sparring-in-the-white-house-theodore-roosevelt-race-and-boxing
Week Thirteen Discussion (Apr 18 / 20): Class Presentations
- Apr 18 – None
- Apr 20 – None
Week Fourteen Discussion (Apr 25 / 27): The Two Escobars: an ESPN 30 for 30 film (Watch & Critical Analysis)
- None
Week Fifteen Discussion (May 2): Course Wrap-Up / Digital Project Presentations 2.0 (Final)
- May 2 – [ALL] Wood, Jesse. “App State’s Rich Soccer Tradition…Was the Golden Era Pushed to the Wayside?” High Country Magazine 11, no. 2 (October/November 2015), pp. 8, 18-32.
- HIS 3310 Google Form Survey
- Anne Belk Hall 240 Google Form Survey

BONUS READINGS
Choose one of the following to read. Post your reflections on the course website as a blog post with the category “Extra Time”
Racing – Challenging Gendered Norms
- Wallace, Amy. “Lady Leadfoot.” Sports Illustrated (October 29, 2018). Online. https://www.si.com/racing/2018/10/29/denise-mccluggage-racing-driver-journalist
Weightlifting – Sport As International Politics
- Schelfhout, Sam, and John Fair. “Lifting ‘Round the World’: The Goodwill Weightlifting Tours of 1955.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 35, no. 10 (2018): 1008–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2019.1576637.
Canada
- Bourgon, Lyndsie. “Rezball Revival.” Roads & Kingdoms (2014).
- Mothe, Peter. “All-Native Soccer Team Gets Ready to Represent Canada at World’s First Indigenous Games.” The Georgia Straight (May 19, 2015). Online. https://www.straight.com/news/453271/all-native-soccer-team-gets-ready-represent-canada-worlds-first-indigenous-games
Soccer (Uruguay)
- Thompson, Wright. “Portrait of a Serial Winner: A Journey in Pursuit of Luis Suárez, Who – When He-s Not Biting Opponents – Is the Most Beautiful Player in the Game.” ESPN[dot]com (May 27, 2014).
Soccer (USA)
- Harris, Daniel. “Remembering U.S. Soccer’s Greatest, Most Improbable Triumph.” The Ringer (January 14, 2019). Online. https://www.theringer.com/soccer/2019/1/14/18178829/usa-england-1950-world-cup
- Rodriguez, Alicia. “Borderball with Club Tijuana.” Roads & Kingdoms (2014).
Football
- Lukas, Paul. “3 Days That Rocked the World of Native American Sports Imagery.” UniWatch. Accessed July 6, 2020. https://uni-watch.com/2020/07/06/3-days-that-rocked-the-world-of-native-american-sports-imagery/.
Basketball
- Ariail, Cat. “Steph Curry…The “Male Machine Gun Molly”?: Gender and Styles of Play in Modern Basketball.” Sport in American History (May 12, 2016)
- Parrish, Alex. “God’s Work: Hakeem Olajuwon, Islam, and the Role of Religion in American Athletics.” Sport in American History (November 19, 2015)
Baseball
- Caspian King, Jay. “The Unbearable Whiteness of Baseball.” The New York Times (April 6, 2016). Online. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/magazine/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-baseball.html?_r=0
- Barry, Michael T. “Time to Cancel 2020 Baseball Season: A Lesson for Colleges and Universities.” Sport in American History (blog), August 2, 2020. https://ussporthistory.com/2020/08/02/time-to-cancel-2020-baseball-season-a-lesson-for-colleges-and-universities/.
Business of Sports
- Belson, Ken. “Building a Stadium, Rebuilding a Neighborhood (Arthur Blank & the Atlanta Falcons)” The New York Times, January 12, 2017.
- Yoesting, Travis. “Why MLS Expansion Fees Are So Damn High But Also Kind Of A Great Deal.” The18, December 17, 2019. https://the18.com/soccer-news/why-mls-expansion-fees-are-so-high-charlotte.
North Carolina
- Cuadros, Paul. “We Play Too: Latina Integration through Soccer in the ‘New South.’” Southeastern Geographer 51, no. 2 (June 17, 2011): 227–41. https://doi.org/10.1353/sgo.2011.0021.
- Lourim, Jake. “Appalachian State Isn’t Just That Small School That Beat Michigan Anymore.” FiveThirtyEight (blog), October 31, 2019. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/appalachian-state-isnt-just-that-small-school-that-beat-michigan-anymore/.
Tennis
- Rankine, Claudia. “The Meaning of Serena Williams.” The New York Times (Aug 25, 2015). Online. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/magazine/the-meaning-of-serena-williams.html
- Titman, Nathan. “Taking Punishment Gladly: Bill Tilden’s Performances of the Unruly Male Body.” Journal of Sport History 41 no. 3 (Fall 2014), 447-466. https://www-jstor-org.proxy006.nclive.org/stable/10.5406/jsporthistory.41.3.447
Sex & Abuses of Power in Sports
- Grigoriadis, Vanessa. ““This Is Bigger Than Myself”: How the Women of the U.S. Gymnastics Team Found Their Voice.” Hive – Vanity Fair (May 29, 2018). Online. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/05/how-the-women-of-the-us-gymnastics-team-found-their-voice
- McNear, Claire. “Don’t Dismiss the Washington Football Report as Just Another Problem With the Franchise.” The Ringer, July 17, 2020. https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2020/7/17/21329064/washington-football-report-sexual-harassment.
Violence & Fandom
- Phillips, Brian. “Boca Juniors, River Plate, and the Allure of Violence in Sports.” The Ringer (November 28, 2018). Online. https://www.theringer.com/soccer/2018/11/28/18115215/boca-juniors-river-plate-copa-libertadores-postponement-violence
- Bonesteel, Matt. “Red Sox Acknowledge Racism at Fenway Park ‘Is Real,’ Promise Action.” Washington Post. Accessed July 30, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/06/11/red-sox-acknowledge-racism-fenway-park-is-real-promise-action/.
Reading Day: May 4
Final Exam Day: May 11, 8am-10:30am