For most of the twentieth century mass-entertainment spectator sports have been big business. American sporting contests have been commercialized to varying degrees since their inception, contrary to claims of some critics who yearn for a time when...
Sports in the 1970s was very big business. Television had reshaped the sports industry in the decade before, and now the businessmen went to work to exploit their market. Football, baseball, basketball, boxing, auto racing, golf, and tennis were where...
World War II shaped sports in the 1940s, as it did all of American culture. The sports world did its best to maintain business as usual, but all organized games and contests were disrupted after 7 December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor,...
Vince Lombardi's motto "Winning is not everything; it is the only thing" defines fans' and players' attitudes toward sports during the 1960s. It was the decade when American cynicism infected athletic competition. The ideal of amateurism, in...
A look at baseball and performance-enhancing drugs: May 7, 1992 Trainer Curtis Wenzlaff is arrested for steroids distribution. Wenzlaff later publicly admits helping Jose Canseco and 20 to 30 other major leaguers obtain steroids, but refuses to discuss another former client, Mark McGwire....
1927 Radio days: The World Series between the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates is the first sporting event to be broadcast on a nationwide radio hookup. It draws an audience of roughly 35 million. 1936 Jessie Owens vs. Adolph Hitler:...
