A sports history magazine? · 8.10.11

Go to your favourite magazine shop or news-stand, and on the racks will likely be at least a dozen glossy magazines devoted to history and aimed at a mainstream readership. There’s this one, that one, and t’other one, and more besides. There are even more magazines that specialize in a certain subject of history, such as archaeology, military history, the (American) Civil War, aviation history, Ireland, the "Old West", Napoleon, Bible studies, and genealogy — and so on.

My point is: Why is there no magazine dedicated to sports history?

Well, yes, there is this. But this is an academic journal, rather than a mainstream or popular interest magazine. One issue included an article entitled “The Equestrian Standing Race and Its Ancient Antecedents”. Roman riding is one of the most exciting horse riding stunts that you will ever see. The article, however, introduces the subject thusly: “But is this event actually one which can be documented in ancient Roman times? Perhaps it developed as an erroneous interpretation of the Latin desultores or from a misreading of images on Roman coins by equestrian showmen of the eighteenth century and popularized by the promoters of Wild West shows at the end of the nineteenth century”.

I could hear you yawning from here.

I don’t mean to belittle the efforts of the editors of The Journal of Sports History or its contributors. I’m sure they are doing important work and presenting their research in an academically sound manner. But let me put it another way: I’m looking for a magazine to read on the bus or on my lunch break — not something that makes me feel like I should be taking notes to prepare for a mid-term.

Why my interest in not just horse racing history, but sports history in general? A few years ago I read William Nack’s anthology My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life. Obviously I originally bought it for the racing stories — but it is his historical articles that make the entire collection memorable. For example, I am not and never have been a fan of baseball — but after reading Nack’s history of the old Philadelphia A’s, I almost wish I was.

So, again: Why not a mainstream sports history magazine?

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What do you think?

  1. The young crowd has no need for history (they espouse anyway) and you can tell by the repeatedly poor decisions they make. History gives us perspective and the knowledge of what others
    did in the same circumstances.

    Too bad history has lost
    its gloss.

    — humphrey · Oct 9, 08:50 AM · #

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