Welcome to this biweekly newsletter, written by me, Corye Perez Beene, Ph.D. I am a United States History Professor and certified “sports nut.” I find the sports stories from the past to the present that celebrate the Awesomeness of American Sports.
Thank you for your support! I am so appreciative of YOU being here 😃
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Google gave the late Toni Stone her own doodle on February 9. She was the first woman to play regularly for a pro baseball team in the Negro Leagues. She played second basemen for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1953, replacing baseball legend Hank Aaron. The following season, she played for the Kansas City Monarchs. She was inducted into the Woman’s Sports Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Goodbye NFL - for a few months
*Congratulations to the Los Angeles Rams, champions of SuperBowl LVI.
Best storylines:
*Cooper Kupp was the SuperBowl MVP. He was not a top recruit out of high school, and he only had ONE offer to play college ball - at Eastern Washington University.
*OBJ wore some bling on his feet:
*My 2 favorite SuperBowl commercials:
You know, I DO teach US History! LOL!
*Funniest moment: Cincinnati Bengals kicker ditched his team’s halftime discussion to watch the Halftime show live!
*Honorary captains were 4 members of the California Riverside School for the Deaf that made it to their state’s championship game for the first time in school history and 6 female players. Billie Jean King did the coin toss, highlighting the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
Ratings for the Big Game:
*112.3 million people tuned in
*it was the most watched TV show of the last 5 years
*it was the most streamed NFL game ever (shown on Peacock)
*it was the largest Spanish-language game ever (shown on Telemundo)
*Andrew Whitworth of the LA Rams was selected as the Walter Payton Man of the Year. The award is given out to honor a player's charity work as well as excellence on the field. He and his wife have quite a list of charitable donations including helping raise $875,000 to fulfill the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses, and $400,000 to Louisiana children for scholarships and school supplies.
*Meir Kalmanson started a “Super SOUL party” in 2017 as a way to invite homeless people to watch the game. Since that first game, other cities have had similar parties, including free meals and haircuts for participants. Meir has a YouTube channel where he made this video:
*This year’s NFL Super Fan winner goes to Atlanta Falcons fan Henry Ison. He has been a season ticket holder for 51 years. When asked about the current team, his response was:
“They have got to fix that offensive line. I hear a lot of people talk about Matt Ryan, say they need to get rid of Matt Ryan. He is a good quarterback. They just need protection.”
The Winter Olympics
*My favorite moment of the Olympics has to be Nick Baumgartner’s story. The 40 year old was the oldest member of Team USA and was on his 4th Olympics. He had never medaled in any Olympics. Going into the men’s individual snowboard cross, he failed to medal again. It was heartbreaking to listen to his interview (it brought me to tears):
I don’t think people know how much we put into this. I put so much time and effort, and then one little mistake, and it’s gone. I’m 40 years old. I mean, I’m running out of chances.”
But here is the redemption part of the story! He got one more chance when he was paired up with Lindsey Jacobellis for the new event: mixed team snowboard cross. He didnt even know he would be able to compete in this event! And yes, the duo WON GOLD! Baumgartner competed his leg of the race first, and here he is cheering on teammate Jacobellis (who at 36 years of age was the oldest woman from the USA to win a Winter Olympics gold medal!)
*Erin Jackson became the first Black woman to win a medal in the sport of long-track speedskating. Her gold medal is the first one in the sport since Bonnie Blair did it in 1994.
*Jessie Diggins won bronze in the women's sprint freestyle, becoming the first U.S. woman to win an individual Olympic medal in cross-country skiing.
*Keeping it in the family: Ryan Cochran-Siegle won the silver medal in the super-G alpine event, 50 years after his Mom won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in Japan.
*Elana Myers Taylor is the most decorated African-American athlete in Winter Olympic history. She won her 5th Olympic medal, becoming one of only four bobsledders ever to compete in at least five Olympic races and medal in all of them. She has won 3 silvers and 2 bronze.
*Nathan Chen won gold in the men’s figure skating competition. He scored a world record 113.97 points. He did FOUR quadruple jumps in the long program!
*How do Nathan Chen and other figure skaters keep from puking or keep from getting so dizzy during their routines? According to a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, here is her answer:
"When you spin around, you're activating the semicircular canals, rotation sensors. They're filled with fluid and they're sensing your rotation. Over years of training, figure skaters' brains have adapted and learned to ignore this error.”
*How do those bobsledders and lugers go so fast without crashing every time? Read about the physics of their sport: HERE
Thank you for reading! Are you looking for a speaker for your next event or conference? I would love to share some sports history with your audience! Email me at historybeene@gmail.com