This sport emerged sometime in the 1800’s; the exact location and time is still unknown. Some say that it first originated from “Coopers Hill,” a fort in the ancient Roman empire. It was said that had an affinity for sending objects hurling down a hill — how that turned into Cheese-Wheeling, that is also unknown.…
This Week in Sports History: Super Bowl XXIX
Victory in sports is never guaranteed, much less in a high-risk, high-intensity game like American football. No sport is as war-like and, just as in a real battle, the outcome can never be predicted. In the same way, though, the superiority of one all but guarantees a defeat for the other. Super Bowl XXIX, on…
Unusual Sports: Competitive shin-kicking — over 400 years old and still kicking!
The Cotswold Olympic Games take place in Chipping Cadem, England. Some games previously included racing and tug of war, but in 1612, the new sport — competitive shin-kicking — was introduced. What is competitive shin-kicking? Basically, two people face off, and their objective is to kick their opponent as hard as they can…
This Week in Sports History: MLK’s legacy magnifies race relations in the NBA
This week saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day come and go on Jan. 19, but the impact of his legacy, and especially his assassination, proved that racial ideology (and conflict) affected every facet of life even then. The NBA, being one of the first mostly-Black American leagues, was undoubtedly the most outspoken about the…
Last Week’s Sports: Divisional winners and losers
Round two of the NFL concluded Sunday evening with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by superstar quarterback Tom Brady, defeating their division rival, the New Orleans Saints, 30-20. With that, the playoff pool was whittled down from eight teams to four: two teams from the American Football Conference (AFC) and two from the National Football…
How the NFL’s presentation gives way to discourse, socially or otherwise
Last weekend, Nickelodeon hosted an NFL Playoff game between the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints. This idea would seem strange from the outside looking in, as the capitalistic concept of competition dictates that there should be one sole channel with the broadcasting rights to any one game. That would be correct according to…
Unusual Sports: How “wife-carrying” has its contestants piggy-backing to victory
In today’s world, dominated by technology, we rely heavily on sports for entertainment; classic national sports like football, baseball, and so on dominate in attention and revenue. But what about the sports that aren’t always showcased on a Sunday afternoon? Sports derive from different cultures trying to showcase pride and glory for one’s country, and…
A Champion’s Will: How Alabama’s historical effort took home its seventh trophy
Monday saw the final chapter of the 2020-21 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football season, with the Alabama Crimson Tide (13-0) defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes (7-1) in the College Football National Championship by a score of 52-24. Alabama, who entered the game the consensus top team in the nation, played a near-flawless game in…
This Week in Sports History: The birth of Cubs’ legend Sammy Sosa
Chicago Cubs’ legend Sammy Sosa. Photo by Jerry Coli This column seeks to profile important events in the history of sports. As baseball fans are painfully aware, the Chicago Cubs do not have too many seasons in their long history to be proud of. Their World Series win in 2016 was their first since 1907…
Sports in this Day and Age: Number one goes down, no longer unbeaten and invincible
This column seeks to cover significant current events in the sporting world as it navigates the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. College football provided plenty of memorable games and even more memorable upsets this past week, while several streaks came to a close. Most notable of these, of course, was top-ranked Clemson (7-1) falling to fourth-ranked Notre…