The Power Of Sports

A provocative, must-read investigation that both appreciates the importance of—and punctures the hype around—big-time contemporary American athletics In an increasingly secular, fragmented, and distracted culture, nothing brings Americans together quite like sports. On Sundays in September, more families worship at the altar of the NFL than at any church. This appeal, which cuts across all demographic and ideological lines, makes sports perhaps the last unifying mass ritual of our era, with huge numbers of people all focused on the same thing at the same moment. That timeless, live quality—impervious to DVR, evoking ancient religious rites—makes sports very powerful, and very lucrative. And the media spectacle around them is only getting bigger, brighter, and noisier—from hot take journalism formats to the creeping infestation of advertising to social media celebrity schemes. More importantly, sports are sold as an oasis of community to a nation deeply divided: They are escapist, apolitical, the only tie that binds. In fact, precisely because they appear allegedly “above politics,” sports are able to smuggle potent messages about inequality, patriotism, labor, and race to massive audiences. And as the wider culture works through shifting gender roles and masculine power, those anxieties are also found in the experiences of female sports journalists, athletes, and fans, and through the coverage of violence by and against male bodies. Sports, rather than being the one thing everyone can agree on, perfectly encapsulate the roiling tensions of modern American life. Michael Serazio maps and critiques the cultural production of today’s lucrative, ubiquitous sports landscape. Through dozens of in-depth interviews with leaders in sports media and journalism, as well as in the business and marketing of sports, The Power of Sports goes behind the scenes and tells a story of technological disruption, commercial greed, economic disparity, military hawkishness, and ideals of manhood. In the end, despite what our myths of escapism suggest, Serazio holds up a mirror to sports and reveals the lived realities of the nation staring back at us.

Discover how the explosions in data analytics, AI, and digital communication are benefiting sports and sports fans around the world In Sports and Technology Have The Power To Change The World: Driving Positive Change Through The Use of Data and AI, the Director of Microsoft Sports, Jon Flynn, delivers an insightful new take on the transformative power of sport and its ability to unite people, break down barriers, and generate positive change. The author explains the critical role that technology has played in growing the impact of sporting events and enabling social change while fostering community improvement. In the book, you’ll explore many of the ways in which sports, enabled by new tech, have made significant contributions to society and promoted individual development, health, and wellbeing. You’ll also find: Discussions of green technologies and climate and sustainability initiatives linked to sport, with a case study about the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics Explorations of the impact of advanced data analytics, with a case study focusing on the 2013 NBA Final matchup between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs How sport scientists are optimizing player performance Perfect for anyone interested in the intersection of sport, society, and technology, Sports and Technology Have The Power To Change The World is an easy to read and endlessly fascinating look at how the unique combination of athletics and tech makes the world a better place.

A look at power relations in sports along the axes of gender, race, class, and sexuality.

"The study of strength and power is one of the major components of sports science, since the relationship between nerve, muscle and supporting skeleton is central to athletic performance." "This broadly-based book examines all the basic and applied aspects of strength and power in sport from the neurophysiology of the basic motor unit to training for specific activities. Authorship is international and includes leading physiologists, biomechanists and clinicians." "The information presented will be of interest to a wide range of disciplines including sports scientists, sports medicine doctors, medical doctors in family practice, physical therapists, athletic trainers and coaches, and graduate students in the sports sciences and health-related professions."--Jacket.

A collection of texts providing a useful resource for students in the field of sports studies. Subject headings include approaches to the study of sport, the development and structure of modern sport, sport and power relations, and major issues in contemporary sport.

Based on interviews with a diverse group of former high school, college, and professional athletes, Power at Play examines the important role sports play in defining masculinity for American men.

This detailed resource explains how athletes can place themselves within a revolutionary speed-strength-power continuum, which will guide their efforts in reaching the ideal mix of strength- and speed-based power required of their sports.

“Highlights the mental strategies elite athletes employ to get an edge on their competition.”—The New York Times With an all-new foreword: competition-tested cognitive strategies to help triumph over any obstacle If you ask research psychologist Noel Brick and bestselling fitness writer Scott Douglas, the “dumb jock” stereotype is way out of bounds. No world-class athlete succeeds without a strong mental game, including unique ways of analyzing situations, self-motivating, and even thinking about time. Cutting-edge discoveries (some by Dr. Brick himself) reveal how champions do it—and how we can, too. Brick and Douglas pair groundbreaking science with instructive moments across the sports realm to show how legendary athletes like marathoner Meb Keflezighi, World Cup champion soccer player Megan Rapinoe, and Olympian Michael Phelps stay on top of their game. Whether it’s sticking the landing at a job interview or racing your thesis to the finish line, Strong Minds is a slam-dunk approach for accomplishing anything. Publisher’s note: Strong Minds was previously published in hardcover as The Genius of Athletes.