Top Ten Most Popular Posts – Korea, Baseball, Beowulf, Soccer, DC and MORE!

Click on the post title to read it.

1. Korea–a really brief look at how we got here

Surprisingly, my most popular post by over 4000 hits!!  This post is a brief summary of the events that brought us to the point last fall when Korea fired its missiles.

2. Opening Day thoughts about baseball and history

A short post written during the Opening Day week of the current MLB season, this has been a surprisingly popular post, for what is essentially a missive supporting the inclusion of sports–specifically baseball–in our understanding of history.  It is also a panegyric for baseball’s history, the only American sport with such old roots.

3. Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon experience

One of my favorite posts!  In this post, I explored the Anglo-Saxon experience through literature, both modern and Anglo-Saxon.  By following the link, down the page, to the Norton Anthology you can listen to Seanus Heaney read excerpts from his edition of Beowulf; before you start the recording, cue up the video of the fire to recreate the Anglo-Saxon experience.

4. Cover the Earth — Early Modern Red!

Another of my favorite posts, this was written up as a review of a Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.  It is literally a history of the color red and it’s development in the days when one paid extra for dye–sometimes quite a bit extra!  The history hinges on the discovery of a South American species of insect that produces the color scarlet red.  It is fascinating!

5. Soccer and World History?

In reading The Ball is Round, A global history of Soccer, I stopped to ask whether the author’s claim that soccer, or football, belonged on the modern world history stage was really a necessity.  In the end, while I found different points in his argument compelling, I am not sure that it is quite the requisite he claims it to be.  Still, demonstrating a point by using real events in sports can often make it more memorable and accessible to students.  I think it certainly bears consideration and one should at least take the investigation under advisement and explore the argument and its evidence.

6.  I. Introduction: Spaces and Places | Washington DC, the Place and Space, Series

This was the opening post in a series I wrote up about Washington DC based on the Washington Historical Society’s 2010 conference.  The workshops I attended set up a nice program considering some different themes surrounding the capital city.  In this first post, I introduce that program for the week of blogs that follow, including Washington DC’s spaces and places.

7.  Lessons for History Teachers: How to tell a story through photos

I was stimulated to write by an article for photojournalists and others who establish article and photo-editing.  (Good advice for a blogger, too.)  It spurned me to think of a number of ideas about how to adopt pictures into a more coherent and deliberate teaching strategy.  This post is the result.

8.  It’s Constitution Day!!!

A timely post that picks up traffic in an anticipation of the Robert C. Byrd-created day of Constitution-learning.  It is mandatory that educators spend time on the Constitution every September.

9.  Visualizing Early Washington: A Digital Reconstruction of the Capital ca. 1814

This post really took off in one day when it was StumbledUpon.  Highlighting a brilliant enterprise of collaboration: IT geniuses came together to recreated a historical 3-D representation of Washington DC throughout its eras.  Watch the flick and read about the creation process.

10.  IV. The Capital’s Space | Washington DC, the Place and Space Series

The fourth piece in this series featured a look at the National Mall.  This is a short piece, but popular because of the provided images.

1987 NFL replacement players – a generation of fans doesn’t know about them, but to the players, it doesn’t matter. They’re part of history. – ESPN

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6642330&ex_cid=MyESPNToday_TopStory

As we reflect on the arbitration and whether or not we’ll have an NFL season, an NBA season or an NHL season, ESPN invites us to reflect on the lucky few, the scabs, the would-be pros who filled in for the likes of Dan Marino (so he could wear a really awful shirt).

It is an interesting reflection, like the USFL, on the players who don’t make it pro and what life they lead.

Another really interesting refection on this side of sports–the side and the players that history forgets–is the film, Pelada.  A reflection on the world’s soccer players who didn’t play pro.

And for the World Cup . . . QATAR???

And, in 2022, the winner is Qatar!

A World Cup to make HISTORY!!

In 2018, the World Cup will not be held in Spain/Portugal, nor England, nor Netherlands/Belgium.  It will be held in Russia–there we will see, no doubt, all sorts of inspiring video-anecdotes about the country and its people–but, maybe not its government.  (Wonder what they’re thinking in Georgia . . .)

In 2022, the World Cup will not be held in Australia, nor Japan, nor Korea, nor the USA.  It will be held in Qatar (pronounced “cutter”).  Qatar is a US ally, sorta.  Troops go on leave there when they are deployed and get laid-over there during their transports to and from theater.  Most of us don’t know much more other than it’s rolling in oil, so it is a wealthy place, but that’s about it.

So, let me provide you with some random fast-facts about the country that beat the US out for a second go at hosting the World Cup.

Location, location, location!

Qatar–Saudi Arabia’s shoe lace

If you are looking for Qatar, first pull up a map of the Middle East.  Find the “boot” of the Arabian peninsula and look for the shoe lace that’s sticking up into the Persian Gulf in the direction of Iran.  Qatar, all 11,586 sq km–so, for those of you who speak miles, slightly smaller than CONNECTICUT–is the first Middle Eastern country to ever host the World Cup.  According to the “Soccerphile” website, FIFA has ranked Qatar the no. 1 soccer country in the Persian Gulf!  Apparently, they are soccer-crazy and have been playing longer than they have had their independence (from Britain, Sept. 3, 1971).  The national team has succeeded in winning both the Gulf Cup and the Asian Games.  The Asian Games were especially interesting–they hosted and beat Iran in the semi-finals and Iraq in the championship match.  Of course, that very fact highlights some of the unique realities that come with holding a major international tournament in a hot region of the globe, both literally and figuratively.  It raises some interesting questions.  Personally, the one I want to see answered the most is what happens if Iran goes fully nuclear by then?  (The U.S. gets the World Cup if Qatar fails to muster . . . now, where is that Magic 8 Ball hiding these days . . .)

Climate Control

The other major issue with Qatar’s location is the climate in that region.  If the World Cup was played in the winter, Qatar would be your go-to destination, but it is not.  When it is not winter, according to the CIA Factbook, Qatar has “very hot, humid summers”.  The Weather Channel website suffered a brain melt-down the moment I submitted Qatar to its search engine, however, according to the Weather Underground website  (wunderground.com), summer highs average over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  Not to worry, though, because they are crazy rich and have a great plan to beat the summer heat!  Air conditioned stadiums!!!  I have no idea how!!  But, it is an impressive plan to build the stadiums as carbon-free, solar-powered entities–guess we don’t have those in the US.  They are some pretty sweet looking stadiums…

Kill’em with Kindness

One of the really intriguing features of the Qatari bid was that their stadiums will be built in such a way that they can take down portions and use them somewhere else–specifically targeting developing countries.  So, in this one bid we have (1) the first Middle East country ever to host, and (2) a host country that is looking to share its wealth and further expand the game–a longtime commitment of Mr. Sepp Blatter’s otherwise controversial reign as the head ref at FIFA.

Plus, they want to make it a green party!  How this carbon output is effected by the new public transportation and infrastructure that is going to be added for the event, has yet to be assessed.  I do know you cannot deliver all of the world’s soccer hooligans to stadiums by water taxi.  Speaking of hooligans, Qatar assured the world that there will be places to drink alcohol somewhere in the country–the one that’s the size of Connecticut.  Travel, at least, will be reduced from stadium to stadium–unlike, say in Russia!

Roiling Controversy

 

OMG!! RUSSIA AND QATAR!?!?!

So, the next question on the minds of many for this World Cup bid-showdown is simple: did money exchange hands?  Does this stink of a gas for football scandal?  The world is shocked!  Russia beat England–with David Beckham!!  Ask yourself this: Are you drawn by Beckham or Putin?  Stable democracy and economy or mob-run state?  Just a few things I wonder about.  As far as selecting Qatar over the US (or Australia, for that matter–a country that has hosted several international sporting events, not least the Olympics, has an enviable climate, great infrastructure and was represented by Nicole Kidman!), the climate, the region and the unbuilt infrastructure–although, again, it’s not like their Russian-size–are all major questions that the US did not have to worry about in its bid.  (Oh, and we had Morgan Freeman representing us!)

The Week took a quick look at the controversy, providing a glance at three opinions–two crying foul, one concluding that there was no offsides on the play.  Below, are a couple more opinionated reports or blogs regarding FIFA’s 2012 decision.

• Was this about money or soccer?  Patrick Rishe answers at Forbes.
• Was there a moral imperative in picking from two regions never before visited?  Philip Hersh answers at the Chicago Tribune.
• Reaction from ESPN: http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/5874550/qatar-russia-host-world-cups-us-shut-out

While the FIFA bids are on the long side–and, not always in English–they also have shorter ads and summaries of each bid’s main points.  If you would like to see them follow this link: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/bidders/live/index.html.

THE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Soccer and World History?

 

Ancient Athenian playing a soccer-like game. (National Museum of Archaeology, Athens, Greece)

 

In preparation for my sports history class next semester at the Community College of Baltimore County, I have been preparing a unit on soccer–the game the world plays . . . even if the U.S. does not.  It is also the sport over which the most ink has been spent.  Because of its penetration into the societies that really play it, it is something that has garnered the attention of political scientists, economists and sociologists, but not so much by historians.

 

The Ball is Round, A Global History of Soccer by David Goldblatt

 

It is with that in mind that I have started to develop the reading list, both my preparatory list and my students’, and have started reading David Goldblatt’s 974-page tome, The Ball is Round, A global history of Soccer.  Goldblatt’s argument is simply that soccer must be part of modern historical writing, “Whether the historians like it or not, football [soccer] cannot be taken out of the history of the modern world and the history of the modern world is unevenly, erratically but indisputably etched into the history of football,” (xvii, Goldblatt).  I have argued that sports and other hobbies and interests open windows onto exquisite views of our human past, but I cannot think of a single modern history that has included soccer.  In my mind, sports potentially provides a spark of interest for people who may not know why they should care about history.  Goldblatt argues that it should be considered not as a gimmick to get attention, but as a genuine contributor to history.  I have thought its value is the connection to the culture.  Goldblatt agrees, but thinks it is still more than that, contributing to the culture’s history.

 

A recent tribute to Kurt Landauer, club president of FC Bayern Munchen until the Nazi regime forced the club to expel its Jewish members--the only club not to do so voluntarily before such laws.

 

I wonder if Goldblatt is to be taken seriously.  Certainly, his latter point about history etching itself on the sport has to be accurate, but on considering whether it is the case that soccer can be included versus must be included . . . I am not yet sure.  I will say this: the Cold War should not be covered without a look at the international competitions as a way to demonstrate the apparent success of two conflicting ways of life–regardless of how accurate that presentation actually was.

 

The Miracle on Ice: The US is victorious over the USSR at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games in New York--incredible win considering the state of the nation and the Cold War

 

Come to think of it,  is it is not easy to think of the Nazi regime’s insistence on the physical prowess of the mythical Aryan race without thinking about the Olympics preceding World War II.  For that matter, I can seldom think of baseball without thinking of Cuban refugees and a certain Venezuelan dictator’s failed attempt to make the Big Leagues (poor Hugo Chavez).  Perhaps Goldblatt really has it right and I have undersold my own attempt to bridge sports and history.  Maybe we as historians do ourselves and our scholarship a real injustice by ignoring sports in the final analysis of [modern] world history.

 

A stamp for the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany--an affair that violated virtually all of the idealistic purposes of the Olympic Games, but also frustrated Hitler with the success of American Jesse Owens.

 

Music, Sports, Games, Food — The things people like . . .

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There are several popular things that I really enjoy: music, food, sports, games.

These also happen to be things that most students really enjoy.  And, they are things that are often particularly unique to the cultures that create or adopt them.  Looking at any one of these features opens a window into another culture and, thus, into what makes it strange or familiar.  Later this winter I would like to run I a week devoted to each of these fine and wonderful contributions to society.  For now, however, I would like to make a case for making greater use of these cultural institutions in teaching.

Feasting!

Arguably something we don’t do enough these days, feasting has had an important function in pretty much every culture.  It is also something that can be duplicated with a certain amount of ease.  A feast is a fantastic way to bring together students, families and the greater school community at large.  What’s more, it is also applicable for virtually any unit in your social studies and history classes.

It doesn’t have to be an exhibition on the glamor of exotic or foreign culinary delights, though.  Sometimes what is most powerful is the sense of deprivation.  Thanksgiving on the western frontier is a very different experience from Thanksgiving in Boston.  The food culture of a region depends on resources, climate, environment and access.  Within that culture there are often variations that exist based on wealth.  All of these are teaching points and all of these are often accessible in primary sources.  Food traditions also often represent points of fusion and connection with other cultures and regions, making a certain emphasis on food a great way to experience cultural change through contact.

Sporting!

Spectator and participatory sporting activities have a long history in our human story.  On the one hand, this is something that is easily recognizable and offers a familiar face to a foreign culture.  On the other hand, the purpose these served for ancient cultures is often rather alien.  Most students would be able to grasp the technical similarities that exist between the ball game of Central America with soccer, but most students will not immediately take hold of the idea that losers will be sacrificed on an altar and have their hearts removed.  By starting with the ball game, you lead to other avenues, such as religion, ritual and beliefs.

Even with more recent sports, social issues, such as eminent domain and segregation, are put into a particularly accessible format for students.  Certain international realities are also made plain when looking at international competitions such as World Cup and the Olympics.  ESPN’s 30 for 30 film series is based to an extant on this notion.

Gaming!

There are a combination of factors that contribute to the relevance of games.  Chess, backgammon, cards, dice . . these are games with a lot of history and there is the opportunity to put a student in the same shoes as a child, soldier, king from centuries beforehand and tell him this is the same way they past their time.

Some games are ones of strategy and others are of chance.  Strategy itself has a history as chess enthusiasts will tell you.  But, apart from that, there is also the appearance of games that are adapted to new cultures, such as with chess and its introduction of feudal symbols into the game.  This can quite frankly be brought into the present when you consider modern video games and their increasing ability to create online communities around the games.

Singing!

Music is often difficult to reproduce the further back you go and yet musical historians have made hypothetical reproductions of ancient music and instruments.  The study of particular pieces and styles of music is extremely telling about a culture.  Monks chanting the daily antiphon to each other morning, day and night speaks of the round the clock prayer that accompanied monastic life.  Listening to the Blues speaks of the economic hardship in Jim Crow America.  The triumphant tonal qualities of western national anthems speaks to the nationalistic fervor of the 19th century.  The melding and blending of musical qualities in today’s modern music speaks to increasing contact and interaction through the internet, travel and trade.

Music is also something that can be [re-]produced by students who may be more in their element with singing and their instruments than with history–a point that is valid for all of the above categories as well, though maybe music and sports most.

Below is Stile Antico performing a 16th century piece.  The piece is in Latin, religious and written to be sung by many voices.

Below is Benny More; largely considered to be one of the greatest Cuban singers, he fronted Cuba’s leading big band and was known to be gifted at both the fast rhythms and the slower ones.

Finally, Dylan.  Well, ok, not Dylan–it’s a Dylan cover, because that’s what people do with Dylan songs.  This is gratuitous, perhaps, but as such I need provide little introduction.  In this case, I will only say that the cover is by Ani DiFranco, who is someone akin to Dylan in a post-sixties way.