Other Publications
Below you will find descriptions and links to some of my other publications. For a complete list, see my vita.
“Juking the stats: why the nba finals won’t be a godsend for the economies of denver and miami”
I wrote for Counterpunch‘s online magazine (June 9, 2023) on the widespread, yet mostly unfounded, claims the the 2023 NBA Finals will prove an economic boon to Denver and Miami. While they fail to properly inform, stories trumpeting such arguments provide cover to publicly subsidized sports teams. If for no other reason, check it out for the incontinence joke!
Click here to read the article.
“The history that explains why a democratic socialist may be Buffalo's next mayor”
Derek Seidman and I co-authored a piece for the Washington Post (Nov. 21, 2021) on the history that explains why democratic socialist India Walton is on the cusp of becoming the next mayor of Buffalo. We argue that Walton has tapped into the mounting discontent in America's cities, especially residents’ frustration with over half a century of urban revitalization initiatives have failed to combat the social and economic consequences of deindustrialization.
Click here to read the article.
“beginning with the braves: milwaukee and stadium development in the postwar american city”
Reviews in American History. Vol. 48 no. 2 (June 2020): 305-310.
Patrick Steele’s Home of the Braves chronicles the relocation of Major League Baseball’s Braves from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, the team’s brief tenure in the Brew City, and its subsequent move to Atlanta in the 1966. This review examines how Steele’s book adds to our understanding of the evolution of the sports business after World War II.
Click here to read the review.
“Digging Deeper into the dodgers”
Journal of Urban History. Published “Online First” June 2020.
This review essay examines a quartet of recently published books offering new insights into the history of the L.A. Dodgers’ migration from Brooklyn to Southern California, as well as the urban history of Chavez Ravine and Dodger Stadium.
Click here to read the essay.
“Sport and blue-collar mythology in neoliberal chicago”
Co-authored with Chris Lamberti in Neoliberal Chicago. Edited by Larry Bennett, Roberta Garner, and Euan Hague. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2017. Pages 119-138.
In recent years, sportswriters in Rustbelt cities like Chicago have increasingly used the label “blue-collar” to describe millionaire athletes. This chapter argues that this trend exemplifies the growing investment of mainstream media in definitions of “class” that emphasize style over income, wealth, and job category; and by extension distract from growing inequality in the U.S.
“The Attrition of the Common Fan: Class, Spectatorship, and Major League Stadiums in Postwar America”
Social Science History. Vol. 40. No. 2. Summer 2016. Pages 339-365.
This article uses an original data set tracking changes in major-league stadium size and seating arrangements since WWII to demonstrate the recent trend toward extreme stadium gentrification. Basically, it is an academic version of the Jacobin piece referenced below.
Click here to access the original data set and Stata files and here to read the article.
“fanfare without the fans”
Jacobin Magazine (“Paint the Town Red” issue). Fall 2014.
This article describes how major-league sports teams have, in recent decades, made their venues less and less accessible for working- and middle-class fans in order to maximize profits. Trends such as dramatic expansion of luxury suite and “club” sections at the expense of affordable seating are evident across leagues and cities.
Click here to read the online version.
Film Review of ted woods’ white wash
Journal of Sport History 39, no. 3 (Fall 2012): 532 — 534.
This review examines the 2011 documentary film White Wash, in which director Ted Woods delves into the history and sociology of African American surfing.
To see the film trailer, click here.
To read the review, click here.
“Padres on mount olympus: Los Angeles and the production of the 1932 Olympic mega-event”
Journal of Sport History 32, no. 2 (2005): 137-65. (Also reprinted in the collections Sport in America, Volume II and The Making of Olympic cities.)
Most historians argue that the Olympics became a bona fide international spectacle in Berlin in 1936. This article contends, however, that the Nazi Olympics drew heavily on commercial and artistic strategies pioneered by organizers and boosters in Los Angeles in 1932.
To read the article, click here.
To read a review of the article in Olympika, click here.