Sports Biblio Digest, 3.22.20: The Timeless Joys of Retro Sports

News, Views and Reviews About Sports Books, History and Culture
I’ve been so busy tracking Coronavirus developments in my community that I haven’t had any time to do what many sports fans are taking up these days, in the absence of live games.

ESPN’s been showing classic games from March Madness with the NCAA basketball tournament called off, and has re-aired its popular film “Basketball: A Love Story.”

Ken Burns has made his “Baseball” film free for streaming on PBS; and many sports publications are digging into their archives to dust off classic pieces on sports history.

To that I say: Fantastic! I wish I could join the party soon.

All kinds of full-game video archives of sporting events are popping up in all kinds of places, although I really have no desire to watch Game 7 of the 1991 World Series ever again.
This was smart by the Baseball Hall of Fame, to compile its many digital and online materials in a “Safe at Home” package that ought to delight especially those hibernating under draconian shelter-in-place orders by their governors and elected officials.
At The Guardian in U.K., Barney Ronay put some comforting words together on the collective therapy that live sports give those who love them, and how much more noticeable the noise becomes once it’s gone:

“There is something distinct even in the most sullen and ruminative of crowds, or in one of those seething, griping, Wembley England crowds, where you hear individual sighs and shrieks, the sound of someone unwrapping another wine gum, thinking about the tube, worrying about work. There is an extraordinary effect in any crowd, one you miss most when it’s not there, a kind of self-awareness.”

For his sake and all of ours, I hope the silence doesn’t last too much longer.

Given our all-virtual consumption these days, Sports Illustrated diasporan Jack McCallum’s dusted off a 40-year-old piece he wrote about the electronic football tabletop games that were a hit in the American consumer market as the NFL rose to prominence.

I was never enamored with them for the same reason I never took to video games or rotisserie sports: They’re no substitute for the real thing.
But we’re searching these days for any kind of sports fix, and this is at least a real-time simulation, with some some semblance of control. Or remote control.
For a generation of (mostly) boys coming behind me, these endeavors were a substantial part of their sports childhoods.
McCallum understood that too, writing as the likes of Pac Man were soon to consume the fervid sporting imaginations of the young in a far less tactile way:

“Computer football, it seems, has taken over. But I'll take the oldtime Electric Football over some newfangled computer game every time. There's something vaguely sinister about using computers to play football, whereas with Electric Football you just have good ol' cheapo technology breaking down.”

With no baseball in April (and perhaps not until the middle of summer), Tom Hoffarth is bringing out his annual 30 Baseball Books in 30 Days review series he usually saves for the start of the season.

Here are his the first three reviews of new books, which began on Monday; and he’s updating the rest of the series at his Farther Off the Wall blog.

Others are having some feisty online arguments about the best baseball movies of all-time, and here’s Will Leitch’s list.

To be clear, this public health crisis is real, and it’s crippling more and more of our economies and faith in our leaders in so many countries; and it’s also certain to take a toll on an already-fragile sports media industry.
The financial, as well as the emotional pain of lost games will last for a long time.

And to be sure, the sports “presentists” still had plenty to pick over this week, with NFL free agency featuring Tom Brady’s signing with Tampa Bay and Twitter denizens arguing over a speculative bracketology that will never be played out.
They’re the trivial pursuits that make sports enjoyable (obsessive, even) for so many.
But I find the retro pursuit heartening, since I and many of you reading this newsletter wade into these reviving waters on a regular basis.
While many are antsy with the respite, I’ll be rolling out essays here in the coming weeks on Bill Veeck, Bob Cousy and Bill Russell and the 1972 Olympic basketball finals, as well as round up new baseball books, regardless when the season gets underway.
These are timeless passions that many more sidelined fans are coming to appreciate even more these days.
The rich history of sports, and the cultural reflections they convey, are year-round rewards that won’t fade away once it’s time to play ball again.

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The Sports Biblio Digest is an e-mail newsletter delivered on Sunday. You can subscribe here and search the archives. This is Digest issue No. 198, published March 22, 2020.

I’d love to hear what you think about the Digest, and Sports Biblio. Send feedback, suggestions, book recommendations, review copies, newsletter items and interview requests to Wendy Parker at sportsbiblio@gmail.com.