The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single Scull), by Thomas Eakins, 1871. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment Fund and George D. Pratt Gift, 1934.

Sports & Games

Volume III, Number 3 | summer 2010

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Field of Dreams

By Lewis H. Lapham

Play is the making of civilization—how one plays the game more to the point than whether the game is won or lost.

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The Best of It

By Beth Raymer

The key to winning money is knowing a good line when you see one.

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Map

Playing Grounds

On the track, in the ring, around the table, and at the target.

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29 BC | Japan

Namesake

The origins of sumo.More

c. 100 | Alexandria

The Drug of Folly

Sports’ culture of intoxication.More

c. 109 | Rome

Team Colors

Pliny the Younger cannot understand why fans root for clothes.More

Charts & Graphs

And the Crowd Goes Wild

Incidents of sports-induced violence.

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American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Image from Codex Manesse depicting a tournament of knights.

Photograph of William Faulkner sitting in a chair.

I do love cricket—it’s so very English.

—Sarah Bernhardt, c. 1908

Missing contributor image silhouette

Dutch historian Johan Huizinga.

Bacchylides & Johan Huizinga

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