Sports

Parents Weekend Author Talk Coming Up

To some, Parents’ Weekend is a drag… back to that restricted “my-parents-are-watching” mentality. To others, it’s a relief to have some quality family time again, to take away some of the homesickness. Regardless of if you’re happy about it or not, parents are coming in force this weekend and Northeastern has set up some awesome events, like Howie Mandel, to keep you entertained. If your folks can’t make it, you are in luck because you can still enjoy everything Northeastern has to offer this weekend! Snell Library will continue a Parents’ Weekend tradition on Saturday at 11am with another talk from our Meet The Author series. Northeastern Professor Roger Abrams talks about his book Sports Justice and how the law interacts with the business of professional sports. I for sure will not be missing this one, it should be a pretty active discussion. Check out the Facebook page for more info. You can check the full schedule of Parents’ Weekend events in PDF format here.

Sept. 27, 2010: On This Day in History

On September 27th, 1998 a record was set that we would have never thought could be done, and one we never thought would be repeated. Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs in the last game of the season to beat out Sammy Sosa in the Home Run race. At that time, the use of steroids wasn’t even a consideration. Years later, when the record was impossibly broken by Barry Bonds*, there were countless questions, accusations, and investigations to his sudden power surge. This resulted in the largest exposure of a drug scandal to hit professional sports ever, and has spurred on completely new areas of study about sports, regulation, and the standards by owners that lead to drug abuse. New to the University Libraries are some books written on the subject in the current year, past much of the controversy and accusations. These books are able to reflect and give a fresh perspective now that most athletes involved have been named and regulations imposed. The effect is far from over however, as we see stricter testing and more importance being put on the public image of individuals as well as entire teams and sports organizations. Here are some sample titles in Snell Library’s collections: Doping in Sports Athletes who Indulge Their Dark Side Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love and more!

IRis Highlight: Sport in Society

In addition to its academic departments, Northeastern University hosts multiple interdisciplinary research centers and institutes. These centers are the source of a great deal of original research. Many of them have chosen to place their publications and presentations in IRis, the Libraries’ digital archive that collects, manages, preserves, and shares the intellectual output and historical record of Northeastern University. One such center is Sport in Society, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. This center conducts research and offers programming and outreach with a mission of using the power and appeal of sport to foster diversity, prevent violence, and improve the health of local and global communities. Sport in Society has submitted an extensive set of reports, presentations, and research articles to IRis. You can read about athletes with disabilities and their legal rights to participate in recreational and sporting opportunities, or about violence linked to teams or universities with Native American mascots, among many other topics. Browse in IRis and you can find out about the fascinating array of subjects being studied by Sport in Society and many of Northeastern’s other research centers.

2008 Olympics

Has anyone been watching the Olympics?  Which sports do you like best?  I’ve been enjoying watching these Olympic games.  I really liked the opening ceremonies, but I’ve always been an easy mark for big pageantry and production numbers.  I like watching basketball, swimming and gymnastics, and I’m looking forward to seeing more tennis and soccer.  I also hope to get a chance to see some of the less-broadcast sports like equestrian events, badminton, archery and the pentathlon.  On the IOC’s website I also learned about Olympic sports of the past, including polo, rugby and tug-of-war, which I would have liked to watch!  As any broadcast is also jam-packed with advertising, my favorite Olympic commercial so far, has been this one.  And I’d say my favorite Olympic film is the classic Chariots of Fire, which is available at Snell.