It’s game on in uncovering the many sports-inspired terms, expressions, sayings and images that populate our everyday language! That’s the challenge that this book takes on, using a playbook for each sport. It kicks off with an opening run through the game of football, then it’s out of the gate with wire-to-wire coverage of horse racing. After going for the fences and covering all the bases in the sport of baseball, the ball is kept rolling, despite many a sticky wicket, through the long-running game of cricket. A blow-by-blow account of the sweet science of boxing is followed by play-by-play accounts of 35 more sports that have been added to the roster. At the finish line, the top three sports, are scored on their relative contributions to everyday language, and declared win, place and show. The discussion is enlivened by lots of sports humour and anecdotes along with quotations from sports personalities some of which may sound quite familiar, much like déjà vu all over again.

A Journey inside the World of Sports Talk Radio Their voices explode over the airwaves -- with names like Mike and the Mad Dog, the Stinkin' Genius, Hacksaw, and JT the Brick. They broadcast in drive time and downtime, from rush hour to the dead of night. And yet, millions of fans tune in around the clock to hear their favorite larger-than-life radio personalities rant, rave, critique, predict, and mix it up with callers -- the dedicated fans of sports talk radio. Never before has this cloistered world opened its doors to a no-holds-barred, behind-the-scenes, full-access look at itself. Noted journalist (and fan) Alan Eisenstock embarks on a journey through the American sports radio landscape and gives readers a front-row seat -- from breakfast at the kitchen table of Eddie Andelman, Boston's godfather of sports radio, to the WFAN commissary with Mike and the Mad Dog in New York; from the plush home game room of Chicago's hot dog-vendor-turned-#1 DJ Mike North to the empty 3 AM studio parking garage with nationally syndicated JT the Brick. Eisenstock goes into the studios, homes, and lives of these and many other of America's hottest and most-listened-to sports talk hosts. Filled with hilarious and entertaining tales of what makes these hosts tick -- as well as the unbelievable stories of how they got where they are today -- Sports Talk paints a picture the fans never see. Eisenstock shows us the blood, sweat, and tears of program directors with their reputations on the line; hosts searching for career security; and station managers who are always eyeing the bottom line. And, of course, there are stories of the rabid, obsessed, and off-the-wall fans. Whether you're a sports fan or a sports talk junkie, you'll be hooked from the first page.

Sports-Talk Radio in America looks at major-, medium-, and small-market stations across the United States that feature an all-sports format, with a focus on the unique personalities and programming strategies that make each station successful. Broadcasters, journalists, and academics provide insight on how and why this media phenomenon has become an important influence of American culture, examining the guy talk broadcasting approach, the traditional sports-emphasis approach, HSOs (hot sports opinions), localism in broadcasting, how sports talk radio builds communities of listeners, and how reckless, on-air comments can actually build ratings.

An inside look at the hosts, hot spots, and history of sports-talk radio Sports-Talk Radio in America looks at major-, medium-, and small-market stations across the United States that feature an all-sports format, with a focus on the unique personalities and programming strategies that make each station successful. Broadcasters, journalists, and academics provide insight on how and why this media phenomenon has become an important influence of American culture, examining the “guy talk” broadcasting approach, the traditional sports-emphasis approach, “HSOs” (hot sports opinions), localism in broadcasting, how sports talk radio builds “communities” of listeners, and how reckless, on-air comments can actually build ratings. For better of worse, millions of (mostly) male listeners indulge their obsession with sports to the exclusion of virtually everything else available on the radio dial-music, news, and political talk. This unique book examines how this “niche of the niche” has formed a bond between its hosts and their rabid, passionate, and loyal audiences, spinning the dial from the largest, best-known stations in big-league markets to smaller stations in Collegetown, USA, including Philadelphia’s WIP, “The Ticket,” KTCK in Dallas, WEEI in Boston, “The Team,” WQTM in Orlando, KJR in Seattle, KOZN “The Zone” Omaha, Nebraska, WGR and WNSA in Buffalo, Kansas City’s WHB, and “The Fan,” WFAN in New York, the first all-sports radio station and the blueprint for the format. Sports-Talk Radio in America puts you in the studio with Mike and the Mad Dog, Angelo Cataldi, Howard Eskin, “The Musers” (“Junior” Miller and George Dunham), Norm Hitges, John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, Dan Sileo, Howard Simon, and Art Wander. Sports-Talk Radio in America examines: how stations create an environment in which listeners become part of a social group (social-identity and self-categorization theories) personality-driven programming the station’s commitment to local teams and their fans how exploring controversial topics beyond sports broadens station’s appeal and attracts upscale, affluent audience how an abundance of live, play-by-play broadcasting, creating plenty of available content college sports in a town without a major professional sports team how local sports is framed by hosts and callers the conflicted relationship between sports-talk radio and the print media and much more! Sports-Talk Radio in America is a must-read for academics and professionals working in radio-television and popular culture.

A fun, common sense approach to sports from the perspective of someone who LOVES it and wants it to be BETTER than it already is for everyone young and old. Written in hopes of bringing people together to discuss sports topics past, present, fun and serious. If you decide to read it, I can assure you that it will make you think whether you agree or disagree with what is written. I hope that you find a chapter or two in which you DON'T agree with me or the book wasn't worth writing. Most important, I hope you have fun reading this book, learn something from it and come away with thoughts of your own which I would like to hear. Enjoy.

The Sociology of Sports-Talk Radio is the latest sports-media scholarship from the author of How Postmodernism Explains Football and Football Explains Postmodernism, winner of the 2017 Outstanding Book Award from the National Communication Association ’s Communication and Sport Division. The book provides a descriptive analysis of the social interaction transpiring in what the author has conceptualized as the “the hyper-mediated marketplace of sports narratives.” It examines the social structures and processes that make sports-talk radio such a vibrant societal milieu, and seeks to identify the essential sociological dynamics that make all that endless chatter so vital to listeners. A qualitative, descriptive analytical focus on this remarkable platform—where people come together to interact insistently, colorfully, and often with stunning ferocity—highlights key processes by which human communicators construct meaning.

"This undergraduate textbook provides students with the information and skills needed to be a well-rounded sports television or radio broadcaster. Students will learn how to write for broadcast, shoot and edit video, and prepare for all the additional tasks needed along the way"--

Sexual Sports Rhetoric: Historical and Media Contexts of Violence deals with controversies surrounding the notion of sport violence added to the equation of gender and language. Topics discussed range from hooliganism, spousal abuse, and racial and/or gender orientation issues to literary, televised, filmic and photographic (pornographic?) images of sports violence. The sports represented include ice hockey, stock car racing, football, body building, baseball, boxing, rugby, wrestling, and pool.

Front office executives have become high-profile commentators, movie and video game protagonists, and role models for a generation raised in the data-driven, financialized world of contemporary sports. Branden Buehler examines the media transformation of these once obscure management figures into esteemed experts and sporting idols. Moving from Moneyball and Football Manager to coverage of analytics gurus like Daryl Morey, Buehler shows how a fixation on managerial moves has taken hold across the entire sports media landscape. Buehler’s chapter-by-chapter look at specific media forms illustrates different facets of the managerial craze while analyzing the related effects on what fans see, hear, and play. Throughout, Buehler explores the unsettling implications of exalting the management class and its logics, in the process arguing that sports media’s managerial lionization serves as one of the clearest reflections of major material and ideological changes taking place across culture and society. Insightful and timely, Front Office Fantasies reveals how sports media moved the action from the field to the executive suite.

This distinctive Handbook covers the breadth of sports and media scholarship, one of the up-and-coming topics bridging media entertainment, sports management, and popular culture. Organized into historical, institutional, spectator, and critical studies perspectives, this volume brings together the work of many researchers into one quintessential volume, defining the full scope of the subject area. Editors Arthur Raney and Jennings Bryant have recruited contributors from around the world to identify and synthesize the research representing numerous facets of the sports-media relationship. As a unique collection on a very timely topic, the volume offers chapters examining the development of sports media; production, coverage, and economics of sports media; sports media audiences; sports promotion; and race and gender issues in sports and media. Unique in its orientation and breadth, the Handbook of Sports and Media is destined to play a major role in the future development of this fast-growing area of study. It is a must-have work for scholars, researchers, and graduate students working in media entertainment, media psychology, mass media/mass communication, sports marketing and management, popular communication, popular culture, and cultural studies.