MANHATTANVILLE COLLEGE

IDS 1005 Sec. 5                                                                                      Fall, 2007

    Preceptorial                                                                                            Mr. Bowling

   Sport, Play, & the Good Life                                                                   A. Palomba
 

Course Objectives

   A foundational level of competence in college-level critical thinking, reading skills
and oral expression appropriate to a liberal arts education;

College level competence in critical-analytical writing;

Formulation and understanding of the connections between academic disciplines
represented in the preceptorial theme, which in turn models the
interrelatedness of all humanistic study.

Books to be Purchased

Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens (Boston, 1971 [1938] ).

Michael B. Poliakoff, Combat Sports in the Ancient World;
Competition, Violence, and Culture
(New Haven, 1995).

Thomas Vennum, Lacrosse Legends of the First Americans
(Baltimore, 2007).

Lewis A. Erenberg, The Greatest Fight of Our Generation; Louis vs. Schmeling
(New York, 2005).

Mike Shropshire, Runnin’ with the Big Dogs;
The Long, Twisted History of the Texas-OU Rivalry
(New York, 2007).

 David Halberstam, October 1964
(New York, 1995).

Franklin Foer, How Soccer Explains the World; An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
(New York, 2004).

Jere Longman, The Girls of Summer/ The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team
& How it Changed the World
(New York, 2000).

Adrian Wojnarowski, The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season
with Bob Hurley & Basketball’s Improbably Dynasty
(New York, 2005).

Other Material

DVDs:  Palestra; Cathedral of Basketball (2007); Golden; The Hobey Baker Story (2004);
Rites of Autumn, vol. 2, Passion & Pageantry (2002)

Clifford Geertz, Deep Play; Notes on the Balinese Cockfight (online)

William James, The Moral Equivalent of War (online)

Texas/Oklahoma Game:  October 6^th, Texas State Fair, Dallas

Guest Speakers: Patrick Scanlon ’03, MVILLE Head Men’s Basketball Coach;
Michael Tedone ’08.

Requirements

Attendance
Participation
Readings
Papers
Examinations

Schedule

Introduction (Aaron relics, handout readings)

Huinziga:  Thinking seriously about sport & play

Poliakoff:  Classical Civilization, sport, and war

Geertz:  Cockfighting in Bali: multidimensional meanings

Vennum and James:  North America’s Original Game—“the moral equivalent of war”

Erenberg:  The Joe Louis Story—“a credit to his race”
[Patrick Scanlon ’03, MVILLE Head Men’s Basketball Coach]

Shropsire:  Texas vs. Oklahoma, The Red River Shootout:  “more than a game”
[Rites of Autumn DVD]

Who was Hobey Baker?
[Michael Tedone ’08, “Golden” DVD]

Halberstam:  The Old Yankees, the New Cardinals

Foer and Longman:  The World’s Most Popular Game, the “Woman Question” in Sports

Wojnarowski:  Sports, Education, Values
[Patrick Scanlon ’03, MVILLE Head Men’s Basketball Coach]

“Our House” [“Palestra” DVD]