Before March Madness: The Wars for the Soul of College Basketball by Kurt Edward Kemper (review)

Abstract

86 Volume 49, Number 1 the tradition of racial liberalism, while the other, embodied by Kaepernick, is connected to a tradition of racial radicalism. He finds that these strands of liberalism and radicalism, though different, ultimately intersect and help shape each other. The third section shifts to sexual abuse and homophobia and their connection to sports and politics. Kathleen Bachynski writes on the Larry Nasser sexual-abuse case and its role in the larger #Metoo movement. One of her notable findings is that reporting on sexual abuse in the twenty-first century has moved away from just focusing on the individual perpetrators to the larger role that institutions play in fostering such environments and condoning them. Nasser’s case showed the ways that larger political/social/cultural changes have created an environment where more victims feel comfortable coming forward. This, in turn, has forced some institutions to rethink policies surrounding sexual assault. And yet, she soberly concludes, the saga over Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination has shown there are limits to the #Metoo movement. Lastly, Francesco Collura writes on homophobia in sports and how heteronormative masculinity has constructed a culture that remains challenging for LGBTQ+ athletes. Some attempts have been made, like in hockey, to create more welcoming and tolerant environments, but the author sees more needing to be done because “the NHL’s heteronormative patriarchal environment has a hegemonic masculine hold on athletes from identifying or exhibiting ‘un-masculine’ behaviors that could harm the NHL’s hyper-masculine reputation as an aggressive league” (167). The collection of essays spans a lot of topics and time periods, and as such, the volume as a whole lacks the kind of coherence to recommend it for, say, a sports history course. That said, all the essays are well researched and written. They cover a range of interesting and important topics and certainly succeed in showing how sports and politics have and will probably always remain deeply intertwined. This is in no small part because of the important role that capitalism and commodification play in sporting developments. —Aaron L. Haberman University of Northern Colorado