ON THE COVER: Governor Bojie Dy

In the wake of the 1919 White Sox scandal and the suspension for life of eight players, baseball saw a precipitous decline in popularity, especially among America's youth. To combat this, a group of World War I veterans who were members of the newly formed American Legion created an organization to promote teenage interest in baseball. Led by John L. Griffith, who became the first commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, the Legion undertook the revival of baseball. In the 1920s and through the Great Depression and World War II, Legion baseball grew steadily. By 1950 it had become the principal training ground for major league players, boasting at its peak more than 16,000 teams across the country. Tracing the long history of this uniquely American institution, this work details each year's American Legion World Series and the ups and downs of participation over nearly a century.

Prepare to be inspired by the story of Delane Parnell, the unlikeliest of CEOs now leading a gaming empire at the center of the booming, multibillion-dollar esports industry. Delane Parnell is not your typical tech entrepreneur. He was raised in a gang-riddled neighborhood on Detroit’s west side, bouncing between homes as his mother tried to make ends meet. Many of his closest friends and family members ended up in jail or dead. This makes it even more incredible that Delane became the 25-year-old founder and CEO of PlayVS, a Los Angeles company that is forever changing the gaming landscape in America. In 2018, esports— team-based competitive video gaming—became an officially sanctioned high school sport, meaning student gamers can now earn varsity letters just like their basketball and volleyball player peers. Delane’s startup is making that happen, providing the infrastructure that hosts the competitions, compiles the statistics, organizes playoff tournaments, and streams state championships for tens of thousands of students across the country. Ahead of the Game is a deeply reported narrative that tells the story of Delane, the motley group of underdogs and hustlers that helped build his several-hundred-million-dollar startup, and the previously overlooked students now participating in America’s growing esports phenomenon. It’s a tale of perseverance, courage, loyalty, race, family, tragedy, and believing you can overcome the odds—no matter how severely they’re stacked against you. Readers will also: Learn how the growing Esports industry is changing the lives of students across the country who were previously not engaged in the high school experience. Get a glimpse into a successful entrepreneur path unlike any other by following the story of how Delane Parnell created PlayVs in spite of the greatest of challenges. Be inspired that there is hope and opportunity available to people who go against conventional paths to realize their dreams. With a foreword by Sean "Diddy" Combs

Knife in the Fast Lane charts the history of care for sportspeople from the expert view of a doctor and orthopaedic surgeon with over 40 years' experience. Bill Ribbans gives you the inside track on the life of a surgeon operating on some of sport's biggest names. From looking after world champions from eight different sports and Olympians with 27 medals between them, to having his actions scrutinised by millions at Twickenham, Bill's experiences are interwoven with fascinating, surprising and controversial subjects from the annals of sports medicine. The book explores the legal minefields and ethical dilemmas faced by medics in sport. It deals with current issues like concussion, depression, drug-taking and the dangers of sporting academies. It also asks whether the enormous resources poured into elite medical care have really reduced harm to athletes or made them so fit, fast and strong that it threatens their long-term health.

You can see them, but you don't know them. Ultras are football fans like no others. A hugely visible and controversial part of the global game, their credo and aesthetic replicated in almost every league everywhere on earth, a global movement of extreme fandom and politics is also one of the largest youth movements in the world. Yet they remain unknown: an anti-establishment force that is transforming both football and politics. In this book, James Montague goes underground to uncover the true face of this dissident force for the first time. 1312: Among the Ultras tells the story of how the movement began and how it grew to become the global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums from the Balkans and Buenos Aires. With unprecedented insider access, the book investigates how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement, embracing extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society – and against the attempts to control them by the authorities, who both covet and fear their power.

The study explores the underlying motives and processes why and how corporate sponsors and professional football clubs in Germany enter into an additional share deal given the contradictory nature of corporations (monetary driven) and football clubs (maximising sporting success while operating in economic equilibrium). This work aims to generate theory within the specific field of professional football and to provide recommendations for action.

In 1927 Cuban national Ignacio S. Molinet was recruited to play with the Frankford Yellow Jackets of the old NFL for a single season. Mexican national Jose Martinez-Zorrilla achieved 1932 All-American honors. These are the beginnings of the Latino experience in American Football, which continues amidst a remarkable and diversified setting of Hispanic nationalities and ethnic groups. This history of Latinos in American Football dispels the myths that baseball, boxing, and soccer are the chosen and competent sports for Spanish-surname athletes. The book documents their fascination for the sport that initially denied their participation but that could not discourage their determination to master the game.

This book launches a proposal: to fill some empirical and theoretical gaps that presently exists in populism studies by looking at the potential nexus between populist phenomena and popular culture. It provides a detailed account of the multiple mechanisms linking the production of pop music (as a form of popular culture) to the rise and reproduction of populism. The authors use a case study of Italy to interrogate these mechanisms because of its long-lasting populist phenomena and the contextual importance of pop music. The book’s mixed-methods strategy assesses three different aspects of the potential relationship between pop music and populist politics: the cultural opportunity structure generated and reproduced by the production of music, the strategies political actors use to exploit music for political purposes, and, crucially, the ways fans and ordinary citizens understand the relationship between pop music and politics, and subsequent debates and identities. Moving from the case study, the book in its last chapter offers a more general understanding of the associations between pop music and populism.

Increasingly over the past decade, fan credentials on the part of writers, directors, and producers have come to be seen as a guarantee of quality media making—the “fanboy auteur.” Figures like Joss Whedon are both one of “us” and one of “them.” This is a strategy of marketing and branding—it is a claim from the auteur himself or industry PR machines that the presence of an auteur who is also a fan means the product is worth consuming. Such claims that fan credentials guarantee quality are often contested, with fans and critics alike rejecting various auteur figures as the true leader of their respective franchises. That split, between assertions of fan and auteur status and acceptance (or not) of that status, is key to unravelling the fan auteur. In A Portrait of the Auteur as Fanboy: The Construction of Authorship in Transmedia Franchises, authors Anastasia Salter and Mel Stanfill examine this phenomenon through a series of case studies featuring fanboys. The volume discusses both popular fanboys, such as J. J. Abrams, Kevin Smith, and Joss Whedon, as well as fangirls like J. K. Rowling, E L James, and Patty Jenkins, and dissects how the fanboy-fangirl auteur dichotomy is constructed and defended by popular media and fans in online spaces, and how this discourse has played in maintaining the exclusionary status quo of geek culture. This book is particularly timely given current discourse, including such incidents as the controversy surrounding Joss Whedon’s so-called feminism, the publication of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and contestation over authorial voices in the DC cinematic universe, as well as broader conversations about toxic masculinity and sexual harassment in Hollywood.

International Sport Management is the first comprehensive textbook devoted to the organization, governance, business activities, and cross-cultural context of modern sport on an international level. As the sport industry continues its global expansion, this textbook serves as an invaluable guide for readers as they build careers that require an international understanding of the relationships, influences, and responsibilities in sport management. Through a systematic presentation of topics and issues in international sport, this textbook offers a long-overdue guide for students in this burgeoning subfield in sport management. Editors Li, MacIntosh, and Bravo have assembled contributors from all corners of the globe to present a truly international perspective on the topic. With attention to diversity and multiple viewpoints, each chapter is authored by distinguished academics and practitioners in the field. A foreword by esteemed sport management scholar Dr. Earle Zeigler emphasizes the importance of a dedicated study of the issues in international sport management. All chapters in the text use a global perspective to better showcase how international sport operates in various geopolitical environments and cultures. The text is arranged in five parts, each serving a unique purpose: •To outline the issues associated with international sport management •To examine sport using a unique perspective that emphasizes its status as a global industry •To introduce the structure of governance in international sport •To examine the management essentials in international sport •To apply these strategies in the business segments of sport marketing, sport media and information technology, sport facilities and design, sport event management, and sport tourism Written to engage students, International Sport Management contains an array of learning aids to assist with comprehension of the material. It includes case studies and sidebars that apply the concepts to real-world situations and demonstrate the varied issues, challenges, and opportunities affecting sport management worldwide. Chapter objectives, key terms, learning activities, summaries, and discussion questions guide learning in this wide-ranging subject area. In addition, extensive reference sections support the work of practitioners in the field. With International Sport Management, both practicing and future sport managers can develop an increased understanding of the range of intercultural competencies necessary for success in the field. Using a framework of strategic and total-quality management, the text allows readers to examine global issues from an ethical perspective and uncover solutions to complex challenges that sport managers face. With this approach, readers will learn how to combine business practices with knowledge in international sport to lead their current and future careers. International Sport Management offers readers a multifaceted view of the issues, challenges, and opportunities in international sport management as well as the major functional areas that govern international sport. The text provides students, academics, and practitioners with critical insights into the practice of business as it applies to international sport.