The Meaning of Sports: Why Americans Watch Baseball, Football, and Basketball and What They See When They Do (Hardcover)

by Michael Mandelbaum (Author) "Baseball, football, and basketball loom large in American life..." (more)
Key Phrases: three team sports, two team sports, playground style, New York, United States, Babe Ruth (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Of all the sporting contests in the world, baseball, basketball and football are by far the most popular in America: millions of diehard fans dedicate countless hours to following these games on TV, in print and in person. But perhaps few fans know why they are drawn to one sport more than another, or why they feel such a strong affiliation to their favorite. In his ninth book, Mandelbaum applies the same tactical research skills that made him a leading authority on American foreign policy to chronicling the history of the big-three American sports, of the superstars who became household names and of the evolution of the rules of each game. Baseball, which experienced its great rise during America’s agrarian stage when the majority of the nation’s people lived in rural areas, plays to our longing for the pure, the outdoors, he says. When the country entered its industrial period, and many people worked in factories with extremely specialized jobs, football, a sport in which each player is assigned carefully specialized roles, began to evolve in American schools. Basketball, unlike the other more organic sports, was invented during the post-industrial age. Like the "knowledge workers" of that era-the economists, psychologists and designers-basketball required that athletes bring little equipment to the court. The author parallels each sport’s history with the history of our nation, explaining in textbook-like prose why each became popular and endured where other sports did not.
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Review
"A scholarly yet readable study of why Americans watch so much baseball, football, and basketball." -- USA Today

"If Alexis de Tocqueville were to . . . write a book about U.S. sport, this would be the book." -- The Financial Times

"Michael Mandelbaum has turned his fine eye and keen intellect toward sports -- and shown us why they matter." -- Michael Shapiro, author of The Last Good Season: Brooklyn, the Dodgers and Their Final Pennant Race Together

"So that's why we sports fans are so devoted. Thank you, Michael Mandelbaum, for your dazzling and witty insight." -- Lynn Sherr, ABC News 20/20, author of America the Beautiful: The Stirring True Story Behind Our Nation's Favorite Song

"Some insightful explanations for why we care so much about sweaty men (and women) playing games." -- Sportsillustrated.com

"Sports fans will find this fascinating; others...will find a deeper appreciation and understanding of the dynamics of sports." -- Dallas Morning News August 8, 2004

"This is a great account of how and why sports have become so popular and important in America." -- Robert Kraft, owner of The New England Patriots, Super Bowl XXXVI and XXXVIII Champions

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 332 pages
• Publisher: PublicAffairs (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586482521
• ISBN-13: 978-1586482527
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #846,859 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More valuable for it's historical v. social analysis., June 9, 2004

By	David J. Gannon (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Michael Mandelbaum is not a sports writer. He's part of the Washington foreign policy establishment and a professor of International studies at Johns Hopkins University. So, while he is an academic he's neither an anthropologist nor a social historian. He is, obviously, an ardent sports fan. Knowing these facts helps to understand both why this book works and why it fails.

The book works superbly as an historical analysis. Even dedicated sports fans of the Big Three (football, baseball and basketball) will learn quite a bit about the development of their favorite sports as well as about the titans of the games that whose accomplishments fueled their growth. He also provides some interesting and unique insights as to turning points in the history of each sport and how the vortex of those turning points was so similar. For example, Ruth in baseball, Rockne in football and Hank Lusetti in basketball all provided an elevation point for their respective sports both by providing dramatic, interesting, charismatic personalities but also through feats that made the ball easy to see in dramatic fashion (Ruth with the towering home run, Rockne by popularizing the forward pass, Lusetti in inventing the jump shot).

The book is far less successful as a vehicle of social analysis. Mandelbaum uses allusion a lot as a means for evoking the social meaning of sport. I'm not aware that allusion is a key too of either social science in general or anthropology in particular. A comparative analysis that juxtaposes baseball with agrarian values, football with industrial and martial values and basketball with spectacularly ill defined "post industrial" values may have some illustrative value but fails as an analytical tool. This discussion is often interesting but it fails to address two basic issues, to wit (1) the meaning of sports in general and (2) the enigma that the most popular US sports are of little significance to the rest of humanity.

On the whole this is a lively and informative book, and I very much enjoyed reading it. However, it doesn't even come close to its stated goal of explaining the meaning of sports, and in the end that is a major disappointment.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a terrific read--and not just for sports fans, June 30, 2004

By A Customer

Michael Mandelbaum, who happens to be one of the country's leading experts on international politics, offers here a beautiful written, engaging account of the history of America's three major sports: baseball, football, and basketball. Sports enthusiasts will love this book, but so will those--like me--who have only a passing interest in sports, or none at all, for Mandelbaum not only tells us about the colorful personalities and defining moments of American sports; he shows us how sports shaped who we are as a people. There is an abundance of wit, wisdom, and insight in this book, and the prose is so elegant and effortless that the pages turn (all too) rapidly. Buy this book. You'll be swept away. Great for summer reading and likely to become a classic.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding - A great book for Sports Fans & Thinkers Alike, July 10, 2004

By A Customer

What a wonderful and unique addition to the world of sports publishing. Not only are there facts galore that educate even a highly knowledgeable sports fan, the insights and analysis are unparrelled. I could not put it down.

This amazing book by Professore Mandelbaum can be read on many levels (far more than I can probably grasp) and yet it appears approachable by anyone; be they sports fan, someone who questions why sports are important in our society, and even those looking for lessons on how to lead people or manage a business.

The contrasting of baseball, football and basketball provides a fascinating window on why we Americans are who we are today and how we got here. The interlacing of history with observations about how people operate in our society and within organizations is really amazing.

We love our football in Texas and Mandelbaum is right on in his analysis about football in every sense. He hits the mark on baseball and basketball as well. This book really makes you think, but gives so much in return that you come away feeling as though you just had a wonderful meal for your mind. I now enjoy watching sports more than I did before reading The Meaning of Sports.

I am going to read it again.