Friday, October 28, 2011

CFA: Sport Studies Symposium

Call for Abstracts
1st Annual Rockford College Sports Studies Symposium:
An interdisciplinary conference on the study of Sport.
Date: April 28, 2012
Rockford College
5050 E. State. St.
Rockford, IL 61108

Whether one is a participant, a casual spectator, a die-hard fan, or a critic, sport, in all its varieties and forms, play a significant role in the lives of most people through out the world. Sports and competitions have long been a part of human civilization and raise a wide range of important philosophical and ethical issues.
This symposium will bring together a panel of scholars to discuss philosophical themes or issues arising in the study of Sport. The focus of the panel will depend, in part, on the submitted abstracts. Each presenter on a panel will have 20 minutes for their presentation. This will be followed by 10-15 minutes for panelists to respond to each other and then 15 minutes or more for audience Q&A. There will also be a panel on the Rhetoric of Sport.

Abstract Submission:
Submissions are welcome on any philosophical theme or issue arising in the study of Sport. Abstract should be 300-500 words. Send via email (as PDF) to sklein_at_rockford_dot_edu.
Deadline: January 6th, 2012
Notification of Acceptance: February 1st, 2012

If you have any questions, please contact Shawn Klein (Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department) at 815-226-4115 or sklein_at_rockford_dot_edu or Michael Perry (Assistant Professor, English Department) at 815-226-4098 or mperry_at_rockford_dot_edu.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Death to the scoreboard.

"Death to the scoreboard."
Dean Hood, Eastern football's head coach, spoke that phrase to his players earlier this week in practice.
It's an odd phrase when it first rolls off the tongue.
But when taken into context the way Hood preached it to his team, those four words make perfect sense.
And maybe, just maybe, Hood is on to something.
"I told the guys if I had one wish, it would be to put that scoreboard to death," Hood said in an Ohio Valley Conference teleconference Tuesday. "Because that really shouldn't be the standard. The standard should be excellence. I think it's a much better thing to live by than the scoreboard because that will help them more in life, as a dad, as a husband, as an employee and as a neighbor."
What?

For more, see this link: http://www.easternprogress.com/sports/real-life-lessons-from-the-gridiron-1.2644728#.TqW0uHIbUaA