‘Where Cassius Clay Ends,Muhammad Ali Begins’: Sportspeople,Political Activism,and Methodology

Abstract

Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted into the United States Army in June 1967 led to a conviction for draft evasion, exile from boxing, and a complex response from the newspaper press. Although press reactions to Ali’s draft resistance were overwhelmingly negative, his refusal to fight in Vietnam sowed the seeds for journalists to celebrate him as a hero upon his return to the ring four years later. Press reactions to Ali’s two names (Cassius Clay and Muhammad Ali) act as a lens for scrutinizing this attitudinal shift. This investigation involved macro and micro analyses of 12 United States newspapers. First, distant reading techniques were used to reveal distinct temporal patterns in the usage of both names. In September 1967, journalists from these publications began to use Ali’s two names far more interchangeably than they previously had. By March 1971, they had fully embraced Ali’s Muslim name over his birth name. Close reading then revealed how and why these patterns developed: changes to Ali’s persona, as well as broader cultural and political forces, prompted newspaper journalists to accept his chosen name and identity in early 1971.     

运动记忆策略和记忆监控与动作记忆成绩的相关分析

运用问卷调查法、情景记忆法和自我报告法,研究运动记忆策略和记忆监控与动作记忆成绩的关系。结果表明,运动记忆策略知识与动作记忆成绩相关不显著,动作记忆监控与动作记忆成绩有显著的相关关系。     

Complexity,Critique, and Close Reading: Sport History and Literary Studies

This paper identifies where sport history’s treatment of literature intersects with established literary critical perspectives and briefly highlights discipline-specific methodologies that can open up new lines of inquiry for historians interested in literature and sport.     

Ethnic identity over national identity: an alternative approach to measure the effect of the World Cup on social cohesion

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a mega sport event has the potential to bring the nation together by increasing the importance of national identity and decreasing the importance of ethnic identity on the outcome of social cohesion. Instead of replicating prior work that has performed mean score comparisons of national identity, ethnic identity, and social cohesion before and after a particular event, the authors compared the variance explained (pre vs. post event) to show the aggregate influence of the two identities on social cohesion. By focusing on this reporting method, the subsequent discussion rests entirely on the practical influence of the perceptual changes that resulted from event hosting. Data for this trend analysis were collected from South African residents, pre (N?=?1749), and post (N?=?2020) the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Results indicated that while the importance of national identity on social cohesion did not increase, the importance of ethnic identity did decrease strongly, indicating that these mega sports events might cause individuals to forget about their ethnic differences as a result of these events.     

The influence of social identity on self-worth,commitment, and effort in school-based youth sport

???The current study examined the influence of social identity for individual perceptions of self-worth, commitment, and effort in school-based youth athletes. Using a prospective research design, 303 athletes (M_age = 14.89, SD = 1.77; 133 female) from 27 sport teams completed questionnaires at 2 time points (T1 – demographics, social identity; T2 – self-worth, commitment, effort) during an athletic season. Multilevel analyses indicated that at the individual level, the social identity dimension of in-group ties (IGT) predicted commitment (b = 0.12, P = .006) and perceived effort (b = 0.14, P = .008), whereas in-group affect (IGA) predicted commitment (b = 0.25, P = .001) and self-worth (b = 2.62, P = .006). At the team level, means for IGT predicted commitment (b = 0.31, P < .001) and self-worth (b = 4.76, P = .024). Overall, social identity accounted for variance at both levels, ranging from 4% (self-worth) to 15% (commitment). Identifying with a group to a greater extent was found to predict athlete perceptions of self-worth, commitment, and effort. More specifically, at the individual level, IGT predicted commitment and effort, and IGA predicted commitment and self-worth. At the team level, IGT predicted commitment and self-worth.     

National identity,social legacy and Qatar 2022: the cultural ramifications of FIFA’s first Arab World Cup

ABSTRACT

This article argues that the decision to award Qatar the World Cup in 2022 will have a lasting impact on the Gulf state. I suggest that hosting the 2022 World Cup is a central part of Qatar’s strategy to announce itself as a legitimate actor on the world stage, one unique amongst other Muslim and Arab nations. I contend that the World Cup is a vital part of this process because it allows Qatar a space that permits the emirate to address specific issues within its society in a manner which coexists with, rather than surrendering to, external values and norms. The article concludes by arguing that if Qatar 2022 is to justify FIFA’s decision to cross one of the last civilizational bridges left in global sport, it will have to demonstrate that the image and reform it presents to the rest of the world are genuine and lasting.     

Tim Henman,British tennis and the social construction of English identity in the 1990s and 2000s

Tim Henman was inarguably the best English player, and the most popular and socially significant British player, since Fred Perry. Throughout his career, media constructions of him fluctuated from being heralded as a potential Wimbledon champion, to a weak, underachieving perennial loser. Throughout his career, and despite the constant transition of dominant narratives, Henman’s quintessential ‘Englishness’ remained a key component, expressed through his image, appearance, ostensible personality/character and playing style. His ‘Englishness’ was especially apparent against the backdrop of the Wimbledon Championships, which used Henman’s success in its marketing of ‘tennis in an English garden’. This paper assesses the shifting meanings behind, and values of, Henman’s sustained image, and examines how changes in the narratives of Henman as a player reflected broader shifts in English identity. It is argued that Henman played a significant role in how Englishness was constructed, both in Britain and abroad, during the 1990s and 2000s.     

Narratives in Dialogue: Remembering,Experiencing, and Appropriating Changes in the Culture of Australian Rules Football

Abstract

In 1990, the Victorian Football League (VFL) became the Australian Football League (AFL) in a symbolic gesture to mark its continuing, although fragmented, national expansion. This commercially strategic move solidified the League’s enduring transition from a parochial competition of Melbourne and its suburbia to a clinically managed franchise business with a nationwide reach and an under-surface global ambition. In this paper, the continual yet not strictly linear development of the League is positioned as an interaction and, at times, a tension between locality and globality, from which to reflect on the stories of Billy and Steph – two AFL followers separated by a generation and differing life experiences. The paper chronologizes neither the VFL/AFL transition nor the two narratives but instead juxtaposes memories and present-day football encounters of the two fans, illuminating creative personal engagements with the League’s perpetually in-flux structures and offering insights into intimate meanings and utilities of community, belonging, and commodity within the AFL spectatorship culture.     

运动影响学习与记忆能力动物实验的研究进展

生理心理学的主要研究途径和方法是通过建立相关动物模型,施加一定的影响因素,运用特殊的测量方法和指标,对实验动物的整体水平或局部器官和组织进行研究。动物实验可以克服人体实验诸多的局限,达到理想的效果。伴随着运动生物科学的不断发展,运动与学习记忆动物模型的制作、指标的测定会不断的改进,将在阿尔茨海默病及脑健康相关问题的防治过程中发挥重要的作用。     

Communities of practice,social learning and networks: exploiting the social side of coach development

Large-scale coach education programmes have been developed in many countries, and are presented as playing a key role in the development of coaches and the promotion of high standards. Unfortunately, however, coaches often perceive that the current system of formal coach education fails to meet their needs. Perhaps as a result, the majority of their development is personally perceived to take place via informal and non-formal means. Appropriately, therefore, there has been an increasing focus within the coaching literature on the social aspects of learning, with social constructivist perspectives receiving particular attention. Reflecting this appropriate focus, this article explores some of the potential opportunities and threats that social learning methods, such as Communities of Practice (CoP), present for coach developers. In tandem, we outline how all coaches are influenced by a set of pre-existing beliefs, attitudes and dispositions, which are largely tempered by their experiences and interactions both with and within their social ‘milieu’. We argue that, at the very least, we need to begin to understand these constructs and, if we do, the potential for coach developers to manipulate and exploit them is obvious. In conclusion, it is highlighted that whilst offering inherent challenges, CoPs and other social learning methods provide coach developers with a great opportunity and legitimate tool to change coach behaviour and raise coaching standards. Perhaps paradoxically, we also propose that formal coach education may still have a vital role to play in this process.     

实施记忆策略提高初级剑术教学效果的实验研究

以普通女大学生为对象，结合初级剑术进行了教学实验。结果表明，实施记忆策略不仅有助于学生尽快记忆动作名称顺序，掌握所学技术动作，而且对提高整体教学效果也有良好的影响，同时也为武术教学提供可以借鉴的理论依据。     

Propaganda and Censorship for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games: The Internal Politics of Ceausescu

The aim of this paper is to present an overview of the USSR boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games and Nicolae Ceausescu’s decision to send the Romanian Olympic team to Los Angeles, from an internal politics perspective. All the existing analyses study the situation from the perspective of international relations but the aim of this paper is to analyze the ways that Ceausescu incorporates this decision into his own ideology and how the Romanian people were informed. The sports news was published in the newspaper Sportul and some in Scanteia (‘The Official Newspaper of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Parti’). We will analyze all the relevant material from January until the end of August 1984 and will focus on the characteristics of propaganda and censorship used to convince the population about Ceausescu’s reasons to participate at the Olympic Games despite the situation. Dominated by the idea of a ‘multilateral developed society’, Ceausescu incorporated sport as part of this ideology and in the case of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, he manipulated the population through the media in a particular manner, centred on his ‘cult of personality’.     

Exploring the impact of social networking sites on running involvement,running behavior,and social life satisfaction

Social networking sites (SNS) are often shown to be influential in developing activity engagement as well as psychological well-being, but empirical evidence is scarce as to their effectiveness in a sport context. The current study examined the potential for SNS use to mediate the effects of physical activity involvement on (1) the level of regular exercise behavior, and (2) social life satisfaction. Results of an online survey (n = 3476) indicated that the influence of running involvement on both running behavior and social life satisfaction are partially mediated by use of running-related SNS. This general finding is reflective of the effects of social media in a specific sport context. Thus, this study demonstrates the theoretical potential for running-related social media to serve as an engagement platform that can augment the influence of involvement on the physical and mental benefits of participation in running.     

Of half-bloods and street dogs,Arnold Clavio vs. the Azkals: discourses and definitions of national identity

Football might not be as popular as basketball in the Philippines, but it has a loyal following. In 2012, broadcaster Arnold Clavio claimed that members of the Men’s National Team, the Azkals, were not true Filipinos. Most of the Azkals are children of Filipinos and foreign nationals, and spent their childhood abroad. Clavio’s statement prompted an online writing storm, which the researcher analyzed to examine how Filipinos constructed their identity. Analysis showed that Azkals supporters constructed the Filipino as a ‘citizen of the world’, with a dynamic identity defined by individual emotions. Clavio supporters tended to construct the Filipino as a ‘citizen of the country only’, with an identity fixed by location and acted out in culture. The debate centred on whether Filipino identity could be inherited but changed, or was fixed and immutable. These struggles raise interesting questions on national identity and unity, whether or not football is involved.     

Moments of social inclusion: asylum seekers,football and solidarity

Abstract

Established in 2012, ‘the Seekers’ are a football club in Melbourne, Australia. Initially set up to provide social recreation for various refugees and asylum seekers, the Seekers have more recently entered a team in the mainstream league competition. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this paper considers how football facilitates forms of social inclusion for team members, both in relation to the action of the sport and the political and social context of Australian society more broadly. In many ways the field of sport is highly contested as players engage with the mainstream; however the solidarity forged through playing creates the possibility for moments of social inclusion in other ways. The capacity of sporting interactions to facilitate social inclusion for male team members is vexed, though there is evidence to suggest that, in the correct conditions, sport can contribute to an individual’s capacity to access employment and educational opportunities.     

自愿转轮运动对抑郁模型大鼠学习记忆及基底外侧杏仁核c-fos表达的影响

探讨4周自愿转轮运动对慢性不可预知性应激致抑郁大鼠旷场行为及空间学习记忆能力、血清皮质醇和基底外侧杏仁核c-fos 表达的影响。将40只大鼠随机分为4组,即对照组、运动组、应激模型组及应激运动组,每组10只。应激模型组及应激运动组大鼠每日进行慢性不可预知性应激1次,连续28 d,同时运动组及应激运动组大鼠进行4周自愿转轮运动。自愿转轮运动结束后检测大鼠血清皮质醇水平;运用旷场实验测试大鼠自主活动能力及探索行为;八臂迷宫实验检测大鼠空间学习记忆能力;采用免疫组织化学结合图像半定量方法对基底外侧杏仁核 c-fos神经元的数量、面积及灰度进行测量和分析。结果发现：1)与应激模型组比较,应激运动组大鼠穿越格数、直立次数及修饰次数显著增多(P<0.01、P<0.05),粪便颗粒显著减少(P<0.05);2)与应激模型组比较,应激运动组大鼠血清皮质醇水平显著下降(P<0.05),完成八臂迷宫时间显著缩短(P<0.01),WME、RME显著减少(P<0.05),总错误次数(TE)远远低于应激模型组(P<0.01);3)与应激模型组比较,应激运动组基底外侧杏仁核 c-fos 免疫阳性细胞数量和阳性产物面积表达均增加(P<0.05),阳性细胞灰度值虽降低,但没有显著差异性(P>0.05)。以上结果说明,自愿转轮运动可提高抑郁大鼠的学习记忆能力,机理可能与长期自愿转轮运动降低抑郁大鼠的血清皮质醇水平及增强大脑基底外侧杏仁核c-fos 的表达有关。     

Speaking Irish with hurley sticks: Gaelic sports,the Irish language and national identity in revival Ireland

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ban on foreign games, implemented nationally in 1905, affected not only GAA members but Gaelic League members also. The shared Gaelic heritage of both organisations led to their marriage in the Irish Ireland movement and the aims and ideals of both organisations were promoted alongside one another. GAA members were expected to promote and use Irish while Gaelic League members were to play only Gaelic sports. The commitment of GAA members to the language was to prove controversial throughout the Irish revival period, however, where lip service, symbolism and general lack of interest in the language led to the diminishing of GAA language policies. Nevertheless, GAA members enjoyed the status of being uniquely Gaelic. The same leniency was not afforded to Gaelic Leaguers with regard to vigilance in games. By tying itself to the GAA and the ban, the Gaelic League compromised its own ideals as regards the language forming the basis of Irish nationality and the importance of the games as part of Gaelic identity greatly increased. This corresponds with Timothy G. McMahon’s argument that the secondary aims of the Gaelic League came to obtain greater prominence in the Gaelic Revival than the language itself.     

体育和媒体结合的社会文化审视——解读电视体育

以解读电视体育为主要研究目的,分析了体育与电视联姻并建立起共生关系的特质属性;探讨了电视如何按其自身准则在电视二维平面上重新构架体育,再现给受众的过程;从强调胜者世界、突出个性化、强化代理满足以及媒体文化奇观等方面解读了具有媒体文本意义的电视体育.