Longer term readers of The Almanac will recall that we used to have an Arts and Culture editor, Mr Craig Little, who would offer regular suggestions about stimulating articles from the sporting internet. He now trades under the “Litza” nom de plume, and has taken Rupert’s dollar to be the Tits, Tips and Trailer Trash editor for the relaunched Melbourne Truth.
The erudite Almanac reader is not seduced by Litza’s titillations. Here are some reading suggestions for stimulating the upper, rather than lower, regions of your anatomy.
Indigenous Teams on the World Stage – Almanacker Sean Gorman is featured on today’s The Conversation website discussing the history of Australian indigenous teams representing us overseas. With the indigenous AFL All-Stars touring Ireland, Sean offers important historical perspective and cultural context. Sean and I have reached a gentlemanly détente until the next AFL season. I only refer to “the tragic incident in the Melbourne park in late September.” He generously refers to my Eagles in 2013 as “the season that never was.” Sean is the author of “Brotherboys” about the Krakouer brothers and “Legends” about the indigenous team of the century. Read his fascinating piece here http://theconversation.com/all-indigenous-teams-should-be-seen-on-the-world-stage-18652?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+18+October+2013&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+18+October+2013+CID_e7c42e8a4c9289dbb7bc464be3f951bb&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=All-Indigenous%20teams%20should%20be%20seen%20on%20the%20world%20stage
Pafko at the Wall – Matt Watson’s brilliant thread on Best Sportswriting generated a deluge of responses from Almanackers. Mickey Randall suggested the prelude to Don DeLillo’s epic novel “Underworld” which uses the Dodgers/Giants famous 1951 playoff game – “The Shot Heard Round the World” to frame American society of the time. In 2011 the Grantland website celebrated the 60th anniversary of the game with an extract from the book and an interview with DeLillo. It’s baseball World Series time, so treat yourself to a sample of a great writer’s work at http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7032133/an-excerpt-don-delillo-underworld
Sadly Andy Pafko (the lonely outfielder watching the pennant disappear to a last innings 3-run homer) passed away two weeks ago at age 92. He played for the Chicago Cubs (including a World Series loss), Brooklyn Dodgers and finally won a World Series with the Milwaukee Braves in 1957. His NY Times obituary is here http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/sports/baseball/andy-pafko-all-star-outfielder-who-stood-helpless-as-the-dodgers-lost-the-pennant-dies-at-92.html
Brain Injury – Clubs, Coaches, Doctors and Players. This is West Kentucky college football coach Bobby Petrino who questioned medical decisions, and later fired the head trainer who made them. Why is he wearing red and black?? This article is based on an anonymous survey by the NCAA of head trainers and health professionals from the highest rung of American college football. It reveals that over half felt pressured by football coaches to return players faster than they thought was in the player’s best interests medically. Many with concussion. Non-compliant training staff are sacked. Who knew?? Lucky it could never happen in our noble code. The article from the Chronicle of Higher Education is here http://chronicle.com/article/Trainers-Butt-Heads-With/141333/
Trade Time Rumours – What do Gareth Bale and Xavier Ellis have in common? Apart from helping their new clubs to the title in the upcoming season. Professor Simon Chadwick from Coventry University is one of the world’s best analysts at getting to the real purpose behind the hype and spin of modern sport. Player managers wanting to bid up interest in their clients? Clubs wanting to quickly put a horror season behind them? Its time for a few sackings to CORF, or a new messiah signing to BIRG. Understand the serious business strategies behind the gossip at https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-football-transfer-rumours-16293. Any similarity to any current WA AFL club living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Politics and Sport – Newly elected Bundestag MP Matthias Ilgen (aka “the Baron of Ilgen”) meets Clive Palmer MP (aka “the Count of Coolum”) to discuss fiscal policy and flying mares. Look I told you there would be trailer trash in this piece. Don’t think I’m so high minded that I wouldn’t take Rupert’s dirty money in a heartbeat just like Litza. Actually the gentleman on the left is a serious German politician and also a professional wrestler. Not your “mad as hell” Governor Jesse Ventura type at all. Matthias is a new parliamentarian for the centre-left Social Democratic Party, and has set up a ‘Job Cafe’ to help the long term unemployed find work. Read his story from Der Spiegel at http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/professional-wrestler-ilgen-set-to-take-seat-in-the-bundestag-a-925360.html
Acknowledgements – the ‘New Books in Sport’ Facebook page and podcast was invaluable for finding many of these references. You will also find Phil Dimitriadis, John Harms and the Footy Almanac mentioned there, but most of it is excellent. The Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/newbooksinsports
Peter B.
Thank you for some very interesting offerings.
Your 2nd para.(where you contrast your recommendations with Litza’s off the reservation stuff), reminded me of a wonderful critique of the King’s Cross Whisper, which really made Truth look like an academic journal. I think it was the late Laurie Clancy, long a lecturer in English at LaTrobe Uni, who described the Whisper as appealing not so much to the “arctic regions of intellect, more to the sub-tropical areas south of the navel.”
Laurie produced a magazine in the 1960s “The Melbourne Partisan” (similar to the contemporary “The Monthly”, Morry Schwartz’s philathropic gift/vanity publication), which only lasted about three issues. In his inaugural edition Laurie ran an expose on Tom Dougherty and the AWU, and was threatened with bankruptcy as a consequence.
(I checked Google to make certain of the spelling of Laurie’s name, and found a bit of extra detail, but essentially confirmed what I’d written from memory.)
Enjoying your work PB. Thanks for the tips (more value in these than Litza’s horsey prognostications, if we are to judge by his current balance).
How could a Carlton man have been seduced by filthy lucre and infamy?
Splendid work, PB.
Oh, the prologue to Underworld is just about the best short piece about ANYTHING, not just sport. Ruined the rest of the novel, like Seinfeld ruined Friends, like Brian Wilson ruined the Beach Boys. Like Matt De Boer ruined Beau Waters.
And K Rudd ruined everything
Take out the infamy and filthy lucre and you wouldn’t be talking about Carlton, Crio. :)
Haha, very true, John! Great read. as always Peter!
PB- good stuff. Thanks for the update on Pafko- didn’t know he’d recently passed. Pleased to see the Red Sox are in the World Series, and not the Collingwood of MLB, the NY Yankees.
In Underworld DeLillo also includes invented excerpts from Lenny Bruce standup routines. They are captivating, funny and frightening, and show DeLillo as a writer in Brownlow form!
I had some time off when our first son was younger, and after multiple aborted attempts over about twenty years, read Ulysses. I’m pleased I did, although there were parts I understood better than others. The section on pubs and horse-racing come to mind.
I also had some time off work with our second son and read Underworld when he had his afternoon nap. It spoke to me in similar ways to Ulysses. Again, I didn’t grasp it all but enjoyed it. Falling Man, Cosmopolis (not the film) and White Noise are great too.
Peter B , hats off and congrats for the amount of work and time you would have had to do to write this article while all literature will have different meanings and apply in other ways to all of us a thought provoking piece
Thanks PB