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Serious Games

Serious Games. Serious Games: Part 1. Objectives – content and pedagogy Hope to Balance Breadth and Depth Part One Topics Social Functions of the Past Old Spectacles and Modern Sport – does “modern” mean “better” Recreation and Reform – it’s the vision thing

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Serious Games

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  1. Serious Games

  2. Serious Games: Part 1 • Objectives – content and pedagogy • Hope to Balance Breadth and Depth • Part One Topics • Social Functions of the Past • Old Spectacles and Modern Sport – does “modern” mean “better” • Recreation and Reform – it’s the vision thing • School and College Athletics – a uniquely American mess • Olympics – the dream and the reality

  3. Social Functions of Sport History • Eric Hobsbawm, Social Functions of the Past • Social Functions in Shaugnessy • Objectives/Functions of: • Web sites, ESPN on Jackie Robinson

  4. Hobsbawm • What is his argument? • A sense of the past is one of the key influences in human decision-making • This is certainly true in sports • One Olympic example ---

  5. Using Past to Support Innovation • Coubertin wanted harmony, and he needed the amateur establishment • So he claimed that Greeks played for love of sport • Y.A. Tittle: “While I never won a title, it was the struggle that counted, just as it was with the Greeks.” • WRONG!!! • Greeks: win or you are a loser • Zanes (statues) to Zeus paid by those caught in bribes

  6. Baseball: The Fan’s Lament • “Somehow or other, they don’t play ball nowadays as they used to some eight or ten years ago… I mean that they don’t play with the same kinds of feelings or for the same objects they used to.” • When was this written?? • 1868

  7. What About Dan Shaugnessy? • What is the context of this column? • Groups: Pick one short passage that represents his basic thesis. Does he offer compelling evidence? • Groups: Which Social Function does Shaugnessy employ? • Groups: There is one key fact about WWII era baseball that proves that MLB did not have a very good “conscience.” What is it?

  8. Visions of Jackie Robinson • What Did You Think of the Materials • Hall of Fame?? • http://education.baseballhalloffame.org/experience/thematic_units/index.html • Library of Congress? • http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/jrhtml/jrhome.html • What about ESPN?

  9. Public Policy and the Past • Two things seem to drive public policy more than anything else • Simple, Descriptive Statistics • A Sense of the Past • Historians spend a great deal of time debunking such senses of the past, but it is a never-ending battle • All the more reason to teach students to question assumptions

  10. Looked at a variety Pedestrianism and track Boxing and gouging Horse racing Skating Baseball Early Spectacles Any Trends in: Social groups represented? Role of entrepreneurs and promoters? Symbolism and social functions?

  11. Borish • Agricultural fairs crucial to some sports, like horse racing. Still Popular Today • What are Borish’s key points? • Special efforts to attract women, but men still in control

  12. Early Organized Sport: Key Points • From the outset, organized sports were commercial and “professional.” There was no Golden Age of amateurism. • Athletes dominated by working classes who competed for stakes and prizes • Popularity of spectacles tied to their inclusiveness/exclusiveness, and their symbolism – ethnicity, class, section, city • Gambling was central as Kirsch and Borish show • Sports were gendered from the start • Spectacles emerged in an urban environment. Would they be a menace or would they be a positive force? • Health, Manliness, and Morality would be the key criteria

  13. Class Project: • Examine the history and meaning of local spectacles, such as a county fair, a winter carnival, an annual game.

  14. Modernization: Reform or Larceny? • Historians have written a great deal about the “modernization” of sport • What does Adelman say are the hallmarks of “Modern” Sport?

  15. Three Broadest Processes In "Modernization" Models Informal/Imprecise ---------> Formal/Precise/Rational Rules Venues Bureaucracy Roles Records Local Awareness ------------> National/International Accords Rules Publicity Records Communal Solidarity ---------------> Individual Meritocracy Eligibility Awards Motives Equality Of Conditions

  16. So What Changes Occur in Sports in these readings? AAU NTA NL

  17. Some conclusions • Amateur sports grew as a response to established commercial and professional spectacles. There was no “original” Garden of Eden of amateurism. • National League became the model bureaucracy for pro sports. The AAU the model for “amateur” sports. • The rise of modern sports may not have been positive for all groups. We will return to this when we look at college and high school sports and the Olympics.

  18. Class Project • History of local minor league teams or local “amateur” leagues, such as the New England Hockey League. • Local Historical Societies may have materials. • Interviews • League outlines may be found in stat books like “Total Baseball.” • Holt Archives at UNH

  19. Recreation and Reform

  20. Groups: • What were the key questions and visions that Bostonians developed around amusements and recreation, including parks and playgrounds? • Who were the opposing camps? Give examples from the readings? • Whose vision prevailed? What evidence supports your answer?

  21. What were the key questions and visions about amusements and recreation? • What is the middle ground between base amusements and lofty recreation? • How tightly should recreation and leisure be controlled? • Should the state fund recreation? • Where to place public recreation? • Who is qualified to make these decisions? • Similar Today????:

  22. Who were the opposing camps? • Entreprenuers like George Wright and Saloon owners • Muscular Christians like Channing, Hale, Higginson • Professional reformers like Robert A Woods and F L Olmsted • Local politicians like John F Fitzgerald and Martin Lomasney • Citizen groups like the Redballers • Similar Today??

  23. Whose Vision Prevailed??

  24. Possible Project: the Sports “Place” • The history of local space for sport and recreation may be one of the best topics for your students to pursue. Parks, gyms, swimming pools • A place like Coney Island: http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/coneyisland/index.html • Or a ski area: http://www.nelsap.org/ • Or a lake (e.g. use of jet skis) • How was space developed? • What were the competing groups and visions? • How has the use of space changed over time? • These are lessons in capitalism and democracy

  25. School and College Sports:A Bargain With the Devil? • American System is Unique • What are its roots? • Does this system strengthen or weaken education in general? • Does history suggest any hope for reform?

  26. The Boston Case: 1850-1915 • What were the Alternative Systems of Exercise and Sports?

  27. Alternatives

  28. Boston Schools • Why did Sports Emerge as the System of Choice? • What Were the Problems of Student-Run Sports? • Which Group of Experts Were Positioned to Control Sports In the 20-th Century?

  29. Contradiction and Dilemma in College Sport: An Old Story • What do you find in the readings? • Camp on sportsmanship • Davis on Thanksgiving Ritual • Needham on “professionalization” • Smith on amateurism • Lester on Chicago

  30. Does the history of school and college athletics suggest hope for reform? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjj_FAjQfjc

  31. Class Project: • Look into how your school or local college has handled the tensions of publicity, winning, and commercialization versus education and ethics. • Look at governance system (NHIAA) • Clashes between administration, faculty, parents, boosters, players • We will look at women’s alternatives at meeting #2

  32. The Olympics • Vision • Building a Network of Control • Political Realities • Berlin 1936 • Cold war 1946-60 • Has the Vision Held Up?

  33. The Olympic Ethos: Do You Believe In Miracles?

  34. Baron De Coubertin’s Vision “harmony and goodwill…universal peace…not simply world championships, they are the quadrennial festival of universal youth.” • But this wasn’t enough in 1894-96, so where did the Baron link his dream?

  35. But could he build the games without resort to nationalism? What is the structure of the Olympics? What Five Units?

  36. The Nationalist Web of Control

  37. Berlin 1936 • Were the Berlin Games a triumph of Olympic Spirit or a sad expose on Olympic hypocrisy? • Riefenstahl film clip

  38. Cold War • Were Avery Brundage and the IOC skillful navigators or sell-outs? • Did they negotiate the Cold War as well as any other national or transnational entity? • Would the world be better off with an Olympic Truce, as Brundage suggested in 1956

  39. Possible Class Project • Recreate debates about boycotts of 1936, 1968, 1980 • Use the web site of the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles http://www.aafla.org/

  40. Summary • No Golden Age of Amateur Purity in Any Segment of Sport • Always Tensions between Ideal Visions and Realities • Tensions Reflect Struggles Among Various Interest Groups • Typically There Are Winners and Losers • Case Studies (Like the Olympic Boycotts) Illuminate the Relationship of Sport to Wider Context of Culture and Society • The Question for Next Week: Does Sport Simply Reflect Society or Can Sport Transform Society?

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