Spring Break
'Why sports matter': John Bacon speaks from experience
Vic Brotzman
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Campus
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According to visiting instructor John Bacon, the face of not just America, but the entire world, would be very different were it not for the influence of organized sports.
"Sports build character in ways that the classroom cannot," Bacon said in his address, "Why Sports Matter," Thursday night in the Art Building.
After writing five books and spending 20 years as a sportswriter, Bacon touched on two fields he feels are not entirely respected by today's society: history and sports.
He said that while one is important to the academic world and not the general public (history), the other is just the opposite (sports). He joked that it was for this reason he combined his interests in both and became a sports historian.
He argued that singular events in the sports world have had lasting effects on society that might otherwise have taken years to develop, if at all. He said that women and African Americans especially benefited from athletes such as Billie Jean King and Jackie Robinson, both of whom broke traditional conceptions in the sports world.
"One woman, one moment seized, and the world is a different place," he said in reference to King's victory in a 1973 tennis match against Bobby Riggs.
Bacon spoke enthusiastically, often including anecdotes about his own time as a hockey player and coach at his high school in Ann Arbor, Mich.
He tried to explain the importance of recognizing pivotal moments in history when they happen, and taking advantage of them to shape the future as many sports figures did.
"From now on those moments are going to be your moments, and you will be the individuals and you will be the ones who change forever. Truly the future is yours," he said in closing.
While Bacon normally teaches at his alma mater of the University of Michigan, he and Richard Campbell, dean of the Journalism Program, are old acquaintances. Campbell said he was pleased to invite Bacon to come to Miami to lecture about his favorite topic.
"I know he's a very good teacher, very popular at Michigan," Campbell said. "He has strong feelings about where sports fit into universities."
Bacon currently teaches two courses at Miami: JRN 180 and JRN 350. JRN 180 is an honors level history of sportswriting, while JRN 350 is a more involved exercise in sportswriting. Campbell said that the course will continue to feature sportswriting every two years, and it might soon be offered on an annual basis.
Tyler McComas, a sophomore international studies major, said he attended the lecture primarily because a friend of his also went, and that he isn't really much of a sports fan. However, he still felt that the lecture was interesting,Sophomore Kate Pratt and senior Lauren Henry, both members of Miami's club lacrosse team, felt that the lecture was entertaining.
"He was really good," Henry said. "He really captured the audience."
Bacon's lecture was presented as the Donald C. Faber Scholar-in-Residence Lecture and hosted by the Honors and Scholars and Journalism programs.
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