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Following the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the success and celebrity of the Dream Team, the NBA became a global sensation. Around the same time, and despite ardent warnings from his parents, Arthur Griffiths purchased an NBA team that would become the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies. Who better to restore the Dream City, he thought, than the NBA? Expansion franchises went to Vancouver and Toronto—the Canadian cities of choice as the NBA grew its international brand. But while Toronto thrived under the rising star of Vince Carter, Vancouver floundered under serial mismanagement. Six seasons wasted, the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, where they clawed their way to victories both on the cour...
This edited collection conceptualizes professional basketball not just as a sport but as an historically, culturally, and economically embedded entity. The chapters analyse the fact that the sport of basketball contains alternative logics that can easily clash, and by treating professional basketball as the negotiation place of these multiple demands, ideas, and logics, the editors have identified three areas in which these clashes manifest: the realization of the game; the cultural impact of professional basketball and the global outreach of professional basketball. The book is explanatory and qualitative, offering new perspectives and touching on topics including gender, diversity, racism, and minority experiences within professional basketball. As such it will be of interest to sport sociologists, as well as those researching the history of sport, sports marketing and cultural studies.
Call of Duty is one of the most culturally significant video game franchises of the 21st century. Since the first game was released for PC in 2003, the first-person shooter has sold over 250 million copies across a range of platforms, along with merchandise ranging from toys and comic books to a special edition Jeep Wrangler. Top players can compete for millions in prize money in tournaments sanctioned by the Call of Duty World League. While the gaming community has reported on and debated each development, Call of Duty has received little scholarly attention. This collection of new essays examines the ideologically charged campaign mode of major franchise releases, with a special focus on militarism, realism and gender.
This book examines the life and career of Michael Jordan, one of the greatest athletes in the history of sports, asking how he transcended his sport to become a canonical myth in popular culture. Drawing on work in sport studies, cultural studies, sociology, history, business, and media, this book helps us to understand how myths are made in modern society and highlights the importance of myths in a ‘post‐truth’ world. It unpacks the underlying ‘monomythical’ structure of the Jordan myth, including the universality of the ‘hero’s journey’, and explores those features that are inherently American but that also carried Jordan to the status of a global superstar. This book trace...
This collection examines the nerd and/or geek stereotype in popular culture today. Utilizing the media—film, TV, YouTube, Twitter, fiction—that often defines daily lives, the contributors interrogate what it means to be labeled a “nerd” or “geek.” While the nerd/geek that is so easily recognized now is assuredly a twenty-first century construct, an examination of the terms’ history brings a greater understanding of their evolution. From sports to slasher films, Age of the Geek establishes a dialogue with texts as varied as the depictions of “nerd” or “geek” stereotypes.
A sense of impending doom surrounded the New Jersey Nets. No matter how well things were going for the perennial underdogs, something would go wrong sooner or later--injuries, bad trades, inner conflicts. But if the Nets were never a stable organization, it made following them as entertaining as it was painful. The team's 2012 move to Brooklyn was supposed to make a clean break with their past. That past was in fact rich and eventful, filled with heroes, often unfairly vilified or underappreciated. Shedding new light on the careers of such figures as Julius Erving, Buck Williams, Sam Bowie, Derrick Coleman, Stephon Marbury, Jason Kidd and Vince Carter, this book celebrates a team of strong-willed individuals whose best efforts always ended in heartbreak.
From March 26, 1985, until April 4, 2003, Jerry Krause was responsible for shaping the Chicago Bulls' roster as vice president of basketball operations. He called the shots and yet, even after six championships, could never shake off the status of the underdog. He conducted 37 trades to win the first championship for the Bulls, was constantly evaluating talent and throughout his tenure remained who he was at heart--a scout. Krause's fate was closely tied to his surroundings, the people he employed and the ones he ignored for certain positions. This book examines Jerry Krause as a basketball scout and executive. Rather than redirecting hate, casting blame or clearing anybody's name, it shows the other side of the Bulls dynasty-- with a sharp focus on roster construction--and the interactions between the team, the staff and the front office. This is a story about making hard decisions and learning how to live with them.
While the starting lineup of an NBA team consists of five players, there are at least 12 on each roster. Allocating time on court to keep each of them satisfied is challenging. Theoretically the worst position on the roster is the sixth man--so close to being the starter yet seeming to be the odd man out. This book aims at dispelling that notion, presenting many important players who through the years came off the bench for NBA teams, proving that despite not starting, they were worthy of playing in the best basketball league in the world.
The three-point shot has been an NBA institution for more than 40 years, with the first long-distance bombs fired on October 12, 1979. The game has since changed dramatically. Critics today contend that three-pointers have gotten out of hand. Attempts rose from 2.8 per game in the 1979-1980 season to 18.4 in 2011-2012 to 32 in 2018-2019. Charting this development, this volume focuses on examples of 12 performances by 12 exceptional shooters--with mention of many more. Starting with Chris Ford and ending with Steph Curry, the author shows how these athletes have changed the NBA one shot at a time.
The 2018 Netflix series Altered Carbon is a vital contribution to the cyberpunk renaissance, among such titles as Snowpiercer or Blade Runner 2049. This collection of new essays answers the question: is this increasing popularity of cyberpunk a sign of recognition of the genre's transgressive aspects, such as a stark critique of capitalism, or is it the opposite--a sign of the genre's failure to successfully criticize modernity? The contributors consider the series as taking on current issues, from a critique of neoliberalism, through the ethical aspects of biotechnology, up to thanatology. They provoke questions about what it means to be human in a world in which death does not exist. Essays evaluate the surging popularity of the series and cyberpunk at large from a variety of critical perspectives, shedding new light on a challenging and inventive series.