“As a 15-year old”: Robin Finn, “Seles Stuns Graf,” New York Times, June 10, 1990.
“Everybody has a plan”: Mike Bernadino, “Mike Tyson Explains One of His Most Famous Quotes,” Sun Sentinel, November 9, 2012.
“Skillful coping”: Hubert L. Dreyfus, “A Phenomenology of Skill Acquisition as the Basis for a Merleau-Pontian Non-representationalist Cognitive Science,” 2002, 13, http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~hdreyfus/pdf/MerleauPontySkillCogSci.pdf.
“To move one’s body”: Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception (New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962), 139.
Berra gained his nickname: Laura Bradley, “The Relationship Between Yogi Berra and Yogi Bear, Explained,” Slate, September 23, 2015, http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/09/23/yogi_berra_and_yogi_bear_the_relationship_explained.html.
“My father says”: Andre Agassi, Open: An Autobiography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009), 28.
Leadbetter flattened it out: Dale Concannon, “David Leadbetter Interview,” Golf Today, 2000, http://www.golftoday.co.uk/news/yeartodate/news00/leadbetter.html.
Chuck Knoblauch is discussed by Dreyfus and his opponents in the collection Mind, Reason, and Being-in-the-World: The McDowell-Dreyfus Debate, edited by Joseph Schear (New York: Routledge, 2013). Dreyfus’s version of the Yoga theory is elaborated here as well, alongside sometimes dissenting views from other phenomenologically inclined philosophers.
Sian Beilock defends her theory of “paralysis by analysis” in Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To (New York: Free Press, 2010).
In addition to Barbara Montero (Thought in Action [New York: Oxford University Press, 2017]), other philosophers who emphasize the role of intellect in skilled action include Ellen Fridland (“Skill Learning and Conceptual Thought” in Philosophical Naturalism and Its Implications, edited by Bana Bashour and Hans Muller [New York: Routledge, 2013]), Jason Stanley (Know How [New York: Oxford University Press, 2011]), John Sutton (“Batting, Habit, and Memory: The Embodied Mind and the Nature of Skill,” Sport in Society 10, no. 5 [2007]): 763–786; and John Sutton et al. “Applying Intelligence to the Reflexes: Embodied Skills and Habits Between Dreyfus and Descartes,” Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology [2011]).
The distinction between skills and their components goes back to Arthur C. Danto’s work on basic actions in the 1960s; see “Basic Actions,” American Philosophical Quarterly 2, no. 2 (April 1965): 141–148.
In major league baseball: Davin Coburn, “Baseball Physics: Anatomy of a Home Run,” Popular Mechanics, December 17, 2009.
eyes will jump ahead: Michael Land and Peter McLeod, “From Eye Movements to Actions: How Batsmen Hit the Ball,” Nature Neuroscience 3 (2000): 1340–1345.
“I don’t believe a word”: Personal communication from John Sutton, who was present at the Cricket Australia talk.
a series of jerky movements: John Findlay and Robin Walker, “Human Saccadic Eye Movements,” Scholarpedia 7, no. 7 (2012): 5095, http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Human_saccadic_eye_movements.
two elite international cricketers: David Mann, Wayne Spratford, and Bruce Abernethy, “The Head Tracks and Gaze Predicts: How the World’s Best Batters Hit a Ball,” PLOS One 8, no. 3 (2013): e58289, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058289.
compared action photographs: Damien Lafont, “Gaze Control During the Hitting Phase in Tennis: A Preliminary Study,” International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport 8, no. 1 (February 2008): 85–100.
“Golf instruction books”: Peter Dobereiner, Dobereiner on Golf (London: Aurum Press, 1998).
“A recent study”: David Mann, Bruce Abernethy, and Damian Farrow, “The Resilience of Natural Interceptive Actions to Refractive Blur,” Human Movement Science 29, no. 3 (June 2010): 386–400.
surveys suggest that contemporary players: Daniel Laby et al., “The Visual Function of Professional Baseball Players,” American Journal of Ophthalmology 122, no. 4 (October 1996): 476–485.
In a typical such test: Sean Müller, Bruce Abernethy, and Damian Farrow, “How Do World-Class Cricket Batsmen Anticipate a Bowler’s Intention?” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 59, no. 12 (2006): 2161–2186.
There is as yet no single book devoted to the fascinating work done by sports vision scientists over the past couple of decades, but much useful material can be found in Joseph Baker and Damian Farrow, eds., The Routledge Handbook of Sports Expertise (New York: Routledge, 2015).
I develop the idea that sports performance often depends on multi-track dispositional “programs” in “In the Zone,” in Philosophy and Sport, edited by Anthony O’Hear (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
rats, monkeys, crows: Nathaniel P. Daw and John P. O’Doherty, “Multiple Systems for Value Learning,” in Neuroeconomics, edited by Paul W. Glimcher and Ernest Fehr, 2nd ed. (San Diego: Elsevier/Academic Press, 2013).
a topic in psychology devoted to this issue: Mark McDaniel and Gilles Einstein, Prospective Memory (Sage, 2007).
“explicit self-monitoring”: Beilock, Choke, 192.
Ravi Bopara was dismissed: Paul Newman, “Bopara Misses Second Clash with South Africa,” Daily Mail, July 29, 2012.
Michael Bratman argues for the distinctive role of intentions in shaping human action in Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987).
Richard Holton builds interestingly on Bratman’s work in Willing, Wanting, Waiting (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), focusing on factors that undermine the execution of intentions.
Some of this chapter draws on my paper “Choking and the Yips,” which was published in 2015 in “Unreflective Action and the Choking Effect,” a special issue of Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. This issue contains nine other philosophical articles on the psychological barriers to sporting success.
anti-corruption investigators: Emmet Malone, “FAI’s €5m FIFA Payment Not Apparent in Published Accounts,” Irish Times, June 4, 2015.
The Kiwi prime minister: Andrew Alderson, “Thirty-Five Years Are Enough: Time to Get over the Underarm,” New Zealand Herald, January 31, 2016.
fair play across different sports: Simon Barnes, The Meaning of Sport (London: Short Books, 2006), 58.
When the saintly Northern Irishman: Patrick Kidd, “Willie John McBride: 1974 Lions Got Our Retaliation in First,” London Times, June 19, 2009.
Take the “Bountygate” scandal: Jesse Reed, “Reviewing the Complete Timeline of NFL, Saints Bountygate Scandal,” Bleacher Report, December 11, 2012, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1441646-reviewing-the-complete-timeline-of-nfl-saints-bountygate-scandal.
A not dissimilar episode: “RFU Extends Harlequins ‘Bloodgate’ Bans,” Independent, August 18, 2009.
As Thomas Hobbes observed: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651), ch. XIII.
The thesis that you can’t win a game by cheating is upheld by Bernard Suits in The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1978).
Fred D’Agostino goes some way towards recognizing how acceptable sporting practice can diverge from the formal rules in “The Ethos of Games,” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 8, no. 1 (1981): 7–18.
Michael Ridge offers a thorough analysis of what it takes to be playing a game in “Cheating and Trifling” (draft), 2015, https://www.humanities.utoronto.ca/uploaded_files/content/1630/file/Ridge_Cheating_and_Trifling_draft_2.pdf.
A good place to start on political obligation is with Richard Dagger and David Lefkowitz, “Political Obligation,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, April 17, 2007, substantively revised August 7, 2014, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/political-obligation/.
For one of the few attempts to separate the legitimacy of the state from an obligation to obey the law, see David Copp, “The Idea of a Legitimate State,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 28, no. 1 (January 1999): 3–45.
Joseph Raz’s The Authority of Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979) argues that there is no general moral obligation to obey the law because it is the law.
When the eminent Oxford philosopher: Philippa Foot, “Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives,” Philosophical Review 81, no. 3 (July 1972): 305–316; Judith Martin and Gunther S. Stent, “I Think; Therefore I Thank: A Philosophy of Etiquette,” The American Scholar 59, no. 2 (1990): 237–254.
the Portuguese defender Pepe: Graham Poll, “Pepe Was Rightly Shown Red Card but Müller Should’ve Been Booked,” Daily Mail, June 16, 2014.
a supreme practitioner of this art: Chris Haft, “Frame Job: Posey an Artist at Coaxing Strikes.” MLB.com, February 23, 2015, http://m.mlb.com/news/article/110191348/san-francisco-giants-catcher-buster-posey-skilled-at-framing-pitches.
when batsmen “walked”: David Mutton, “A Short History of Walking,” CricketWeb.net, July 30, 2013, http://www.cricketweb.net/a-short-history-of-walking/.
Elliot Turiel’s original research on the moral-conventional distinction is presented in his The Development of Social Knowledge: Morality and Convention (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983). For a survey of subsequent work in this tradition, see Judith Smetana, “Social Domain Theory: Consistencies and Variations in Children’s Moral and Social Judgements,” in Handbook of Moral Development, edited by Melanie Killen and Judith Smetana (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2006).
For moral particularism, see Jonathan Dancy, “Moral Particularism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, June 6, 2001, substantively revised August 15, 2013, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-particularism/.
Thus spoke the Australian: Mike Hytner, “Kokkinakis Banged Your Girlfriend,” Guardian, August 13, 2015.
The 1947 US Open: Snead’s and Worsham’s final putts can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OR0EpU_UJ50.
As Jack Bannister saw it: Mike Atherton, “The Mighty Craftsman,” Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack (2007), available at: http://www.mikeatherton.co.uk/2007/the-mighty-craftsman/.
“In those days I used to play”: Stephen Potter, The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship, or the Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1947), 11.
the 2015 Solheim Cup: Derek Lawrenson, “Water Hazard on the Course: Female Stars from Both Sides in Tears,” Daily Mail, September 20, 2015.
As Mel Reid: “Melissa Reid Critical of Suzann Pettersen’s Solheim Cup Decision,” SkySports, September 22, 2015, http://www.skysports.com/golf/news/12176/10000606/melissa-reid-feels-suzann-pettersen-did-the-wrong-thing.
the “C. Joad” whom Potter: “C. E. M. Joad,” Humanist Heritage, 2010, http://humanistheritage.org.uk/articles/c-e-m-joad/.
public humiliation and dismissal: “Dr. Joad Fined,” London Times, April 13, 1948.
“stamping their taste”: Zachary Leader, The Life of Kingsley Amis (New York: Pantheon, 2007), 697.
“It is a standing insult”: Iain Wilton, C. B. Fry: The King of Sport (New York: Metro Books, 2003), ch. 7.
a well-known story: D. J. Taylor, The Corinthian Spirit: The Decline of Amateur Values in Sport (London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2006), ch. 5.
introduced the “switch-hit”: Andy Bull, “The MCC Endorses Pietersen’s Switch-Hitting,” Guardian, June 17, 2008.
The joint statement: Royal and Ancient Club and US Golf Association, “Explanation of Decision to Adopt Rule 14-1B of the Rule of Golf,” May 21, 2013, http://www.randa.org/~/media/Files/Anchoring/AnchoringExplanation.ashx.
guardians of gridiron football: Ben Volin, “Patriot’s Receiver-Eligibility Tactic Could Catch On,” Boston Globe, January 13, 2015.
the women’s badminton doubles: Peter Walker and Haroon Siddique, “Eight Olympic Badminton Players Disqualified for ‘Throwing Games,’” Guardian, August 1, 2012.
“disgrace of Dijon”: Paul Doyle, “The Day in 1982 When the World Wept for Algeria,” Guardian, June 13, 2010.
1994 soccer Caribbean Cup: Guido, “Barbados vs. Grenada ’94: The Most Bizarre Match Ever” (with video), Bleacher Report, October 29, 2008, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/74831-barbados-vs-grenada-in-94-the-most-bizarre-match-ever.
The full title of Stephen Potter’s classic is The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship, or the Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1947).
Gamesmanship does not generally receive a good press from theorists of sport. For an interesting negative assessment, see Leslie A. Howe, “Gamesmanship,” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 31, no. 2 (2004): 212–225. A more sympathetic analysis can be found in Robert Simon, Cesar Torres, and Peter Hager, Fair Play: The Ethics of Sport (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2014) (the fourth edition of a book originally written by Simon alone and published by Westview in 1991 as Fair Play: Sports, Values and Society).
Imagine a woman: The plate-of-mud example is adapted from G. E. M. Anscombe, Intention (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1957), 70.
The Kansas City Royals: Billy Witz, “Royals Rally Past Mets for First World Series Title Since 1985,” New York Times, November 2, 2015.
Thomas Nagel’s The Possibility of Altruism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1970) is a classic treatment of the nature of value and the possibility of agent-relative values.
Bernard Williams’s Utilitarianism: For and Against, with J. J. C. Smart (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), emphasizes the importance of our projects for bringing meaning and value to our lives.
A detailed introduction to the philosophical literature on value theory, including the teleology versus deontology issue and agent-relative values, can be found in Mark Schroeder, “Value Theory,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, February 5, 2008, substantively revised July 28, 2016, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/value-theory/.
the journalists at Now! magazine: Geoffrey Wansell, Tycoon: The Life of James Goldsmith (New York: Atheneum, 1987). Wansell played for the Old Talbotians in the early years.
“The ancient Greeks started it”: The origin of the puzzle about Theseus’s ship is obscure. It first appears in writing in Plutarch’s Life of Theseus from c. 75 CE.
They can divide into two: Shaul Adar, “New Jerusalem,” When Saturday Comes, October 2007, http://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/103-Politics/406-new-jersualem.
the Brooklyn Dodgers: Joseph M. Sheehan, “They Took Our Hearts Too,” New York Times, May 28, 1957.
Three Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries cover the identity of people over time and the more general issue of the nature of persisting objects. See Andre Gallois, “Identity over Time,” March 18, 2005, substantively revised October 6, 2016, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-time/; Eric Olson, “Personal Identity,” August 20, 2002, substantively revised July 9, 2015, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/; and Katharine Hawley, “Temporal Parts,” February 1, 2004, substantively revised October 5, 2015, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/temporal-parts/.
Stephen Mumford discusses the identity of sporting teams in chapter 13 of his Watching Sport (New York: Routledge, 2011).
a group of four women: Brendan Gallagher, “Lizzie Armistead Claims Great Britain’s First Medal with Silver in Women’s Road Race,” Telegraph, July 29, 2012.
sprinters like Mark Cavendish: Brendan Gallagher, “Mark Cavendish Misses Out on Olympic Glory,” Telegraph, July 28, 2012.
“But suppose everyone”: Joseph Heller, Catch-22 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961), 409.
“the prisoner’s dilemma”: Steven Kuhn, “Prisoner’s Dilemma,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, September 4, 1997, substantively revised August 29, 2014, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/prisoner-dilemma/.
better model for small-scale: “The Stag Hunt and the PD,” section 8 in Kuhn, “Prisoner’s Dilemma.”
the first nature films: Henry Nicholls, “White Wilderness and the Truth About Norwegian Lemmings,” BBC, November 21, 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20141122-the-truth-about-lemmings.
too quick to rule out biological altruism: Samir Okasha, “Biological Altruism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, June 3, 2003, substantively revised July 21, 2013, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/altruism-biological/. See section 3.2 for a differentiation between weak and strong altruism.
Even at the lowest levels: “Road Racing Skills,” Start Bike Racing, http://www.startbikeracing.com/index.php/road-racing/strategy-skills/14-road-skills.
Elliott Sober and David Sloan Wilson’s Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Selfish Behavior (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999) is a classic treatment of both altruistic desires and altruistic genes.
Okasha’s “Biological Altruism” in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a good introduction to the natural selection of altruistic genes. The same author’s Evolution and the Levels of Selection (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) covers some of the same ground in more detail.
Tim Krabbé’s novel The Rider (London: Bloomsbury, 2002) offers many insights into the tactical issues that arise in a 140-kilometre cycle road race.
“no such thing as society”: Douglas Keay, “Interview with Margaret Thatcher,” Woman’s Own, October 31, 1987. A transcript of the interview with further comments is on the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website at: http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/106689.
made her bid for gold: Scott Hobro, “Armistead Takes Women’s Road Race Gold at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow,” British Cycling, August 3, 2014, https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/commonwealthgames/article/20140803-commonwealthgames-Glasgow-2014-Commonwealth-Games-cycling-road-race-0.
the “Footballers’ Problem”: The “Footballers’ Problem” is introduced in Michael Bacharach’s Beyond Individual Choice, edited by Natalie Gold and Robert Sugden (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 37.
Modern game theory was originally developed by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern in their Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1944). For a friendly contemporary introduction, see Ken Binmore, Game Theory: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), and for a more advanced treatment, see his Playing for Real (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
The idea of team reasoning as an alternative to individual game theory is due to the Oxford economist Michael Bacharach. His monograph Beyond Individual Choice was published posthumously.
when Lionel Messi was thirteen: Richard Fitzpatrick, “Capturing the Atomic Flea: Inside the Deal That Took Lionel Messi to Barcelona,” Bleacher Report, February 11, 2016, http://thelab.bleacherreport.com/capturing-the-atomic-flea/.
the European authorities’ attempts: “Protection of Young Players” (rules on “homegrown players”), UEFA, January 2, 2014, http://www.uefa.com/news/newsid=943393.html.
Consider Adnan Januzaj: Matt Lawton and Nick Fagge, “Inside Adnan Januzaj’s World,” MailOnline, October 16, 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2463191/Adnan-Januzaj-special-report—background-Manchester-United-star.html.
“The only people”: Dominic Fifield, “Jack Wilshere Enters the Januzaj Debate,” Guardian, October 8, 2013.
eleven special constituencies: For a map of French overseas constituencies, go to: http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/IMG/pdf/Les_11_circonscriptions_electorales_pour_l_election_des_deputes_representant_les_Francais_etablis_hors_de_France.pdf?.
British politician Norman Tebbit: Dan Fisher, “Split Between Britain, US” (interview in which Norman Tebbit originally mooted his cricket test), Los Angeles Times, April 19, 1990.
cricketing memoir: Ed Cowan, In the Firing Line: Diary of a Season (Kensington: University of New South Wales Press, 2011), diary entry for November 20, 2010.
Nowadays any British player: Nick Hoult, “ECB Extends Qualification Period for Foreign-Born English Players,” Telegraph, April 30, 2012.
FIFA got fed up: FIFA tightened its national eligibility regulations in 2008; see FIFA, “Eligibility to Play for Representative Teams: Articles 15–18 of the Regulations Governing the Application of the FIFA,” June 18, 2008, Statutes, http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/administration/81/10/29/circularno.1147-eligibilitytoplayforrepresentativeteams_55197.pdf.
When the chief executive: David Conn, “Sympathetic Richard Scudamore Verdict Brings Game into Disrepute,” Guardian, May 19, 2014.
Farah responded instantly: Laura Williamson, “Mr Motivator! British to His Core, Farah Can Join List of Greats with 5,000m Victory,” MailOnline, August 8, 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2185573/London-2012-Olympics-Mo-Farah-interview.html.
For an introduction to the philosophical issues surrounding citizenship, see Dominique Leydet, “Citizenship,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, October 13, 2006, substantively revised August 1, 2011, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/citizenship/.
Recent work on the relationship between citizenship and immigration is surveyed by my London colleague Sarah Fine in “The Ethics of Immigration: Self-determination and the Right to Exclude,” Philosophy Compass 8, no. 3 (March 2013): 254–268.
a special dispensation: David Caute, Under the Skin: The Death of White Rhodesia (New York: Penguin Books, 1983), 437.
“I always looked at it”: Sybil Ruscoe, “England’s Welshmen Call for Name Change,” Telegraph, September 14, 2004.
Athletic Bilbao requires: Sam Borden, “Using Only Local Talent, Athletic Bilbao Goes a Long Way,” New York Times, November 5, 2015.
“Cricket was taken too solemnly”: Edgar Mittelholzer, A Morning at the Office (London: Hogarth Press, 1950), 197.
Bleacher Report: Ross Lipschultz, “50 Biggest Moments in International Sports Moments in US History,” Bleacher Report, July 25, 2011, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/776351–50-biggest-international-sports-moments-in-us-history.
“No, we properly”: Lawrence Donegan, “Interview with Paul Casey,” Guardian, April 4, 2005.
Sam Snead for one: David Davies, “Obituary: Sam Snead,” Guardian, May 25, 2002.
The relation between culturally defined nations and political states is explored by Nenad Miscevic, “Nationalism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, November 29, 2001, substantively revised December 15, 2014, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nationalism/.
George Orwell wrote negatively about the connection between nationalism and sport in “The Sporting Spirit,” reprinted in Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays (London: Secker and Warburg, 1950). For a collection of contemporary essays, see Dilwyn Porter and Adrian Smith, eds., Sport and National Identity in the Post-War World (New York: Routledge, 2004).
Simon Lister’s Fire in Babylon (London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2015) describes the rise of the 1980s West Indian cricket team and its cultural significance.
West Indies cricket selectors: Andy Bull, “The Forgotten Story of White West Indian Cricketers,” Guardian, February 2, 2009.
“The darkies overran”: Jason Cowley, The Last Game: Love, Death, and Football (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), 106.
“It’s not much to be grateful for”: Nick Hornby, Fever Pitch: A Fan’s Life (London: Gollancz, 1992), 159.
The UK Census in 2011: To see the 2011 UK census form, go to: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/how-our-census-works/how-we-took-the-2011-census/how-we-collected-the-information/questionnaires--delivery--completion-and-return/index.html.
The US Census of 2010: To see the 2010 US census form, go to: https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/2010questionnaire.pdf.
twenty-one-year-old Tiger Woods: Michael Fletcher, “Tiger Woods Says He’s Not Just Black,” Seattle Times, April 23, 1997.
Charlie Chaplin was often said: Bernard Josephs, “Charlie Chaplin a ‘Secret Jew’ Claim in FBI and MI6 Files,” Jewish Chronicle Online, February 7, 2012, http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/63659/charlie-chaplin-a-secret-jew-claim-fbi-and-mi6-files.
In 2015, Rachel Dolezal: Richard Perez-Pena, “White or Black? Woman’s Story Stirs Up a Furor,” New York Times, June 12, 2015.
Sections 2 and 3 of Michael James’s “Race” entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (May 28, 2008; substantively revised February 17, 2016, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/race/) cover the contemporary debate about the concept of race and its relation to ethnicity.
The arguments of this chapter are much influenced by Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections,” in Kwame Anthony Appiah and Amy Gutmann, Colour Conscious: The Political Morality of Race (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998). For a defence of the biological reality of human races, see Robin O. Andreasen, “A New Perspective on the Race Debate,” British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 49, no. 2 (June 1998): 199–225.
Griffiths points out: Paul Griffiths, “What Is Innateness?” The Monist 85, no. 1 (2002): 70–85.
notion of “genetic heritability”: Stephen Downes, “Heritability,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, July 15, 2004, substantively revised April 2, 2015, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heredity/.
My own alma mater: “History of Cricket” Durban High School, 2015, http://www.durbanhighschool.co.za/?page_id=2393.
Epstein estimates on this basis: David Epstein, The Sports Gene: Talent, Practice, and the Truth About Success (New York: Penguin, 2013), 131–132.
“relative age effect”: Jochen Musch and Simon Grondin, “Unequal Competition as an Impediment to Personal Development: A Review of the Relative Age Effect in Sport,” Developmental Review 21, no. 2 (2001): 147–167.
Plenty of studies: Richard Bailey, “Physical Education and Sport in Schools: A Review of Benefits and Outcomes,” Journal of School Health 76, no. 8 (October 2006): 397–401.
The sporting cases for nurture and nature, respectively, are made in Matthew Syed’s Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice (New York: HarperCollins, 2010) and David Epstein’s The Sports Gene: Talent, Practice, and the Truth About Success (New York: Penguin, 2013).
Neven Sesardić analyses genetic heritability and associated controversies in Making Sense of Heritability (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Francis Galton’s misguided classic is Hereditary Genius: An Enquiry into Its Laws and Consequences (London: Macmillan, 1869).
In 1920 the American rower: “Kelly’s Entry for Henley Rejected,” New York Times, June 5, 1920.
“shall be considered an amateur”: Eric Halladay, Rowing in England (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1990), 81.
Who remembers Alf Tupper: Alf Tupper, The Tough of the Track, http://www.toughofthetrack.net/.
great Native American athlete: Sally Jenkins, “Why Are Jim Thorpe’s Records Still Not Recognized?” Smithsonian, July 2012, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-are-jim-thorpes-olympic-records-still-not-recognized-130986336/.
treadmill of one-night exhibitions: Robyn Norwood, “The Circuit Circus,” Los Angeles Times, July 24, 1997.
models of rugby by union probity: Sam Wheeler, “Cotton Still Trading in Rugby Sense and Hard Truths,” Yorkshire Post, March 21, 2003.
Then there was “IDB”: Mungo Suggot, “Making a Killing: Conflict Diamonds Are Forever,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, November 8, 2002, https://www.icij.org/project/making-killing/conflict-diamonds-are-forever.
National Collegiate Athletic Association: Taylor Branch, The Cartel: Inside the Rise and Imminent Fall of the NCAA (San Francisco: Byliner, 2011), ch. 5.
colleges are now free to offer: Thomas Bright, “NCAA Institutes Multi-Year Scholarships,” De Paul Journal of Sports Law and Contemporary Problems 8, no. 2 (Spring 2012).
D. J. Taylor, The Corinthian Spirit: The Decline of Amateur Values in Sport (London: Yellow Jersey Press, 2006) offers a spirited defence of amateur values.
The current arrangements in American college sports are criticized in Taylor Branch, The Cartel: Inside the Rise and Imminent Fall of the NCAA (San Francisco: Byliner, 2011).
By the time Andrew Luck: Ian Shoesmith, “NFL Draft 2012: Why Andrew Luck Is the Best Prospect for 30 Years,” BBC Sport: American Football, April 26, 2012, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/american-football/17779646.
Australian Rules Football authorities: Greg Buckle, “Australian Football League Overhauls Draft Priority Pick System,” Roar, February 22, 2012, http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/02/22/afl-overhauls-draft-priority-pick-system/.
the “Coase Theorem”: Timothy Lee, “The Coase Theorem Is Widely Cited in Economics,” Washington Post, September 4, 2013.
insight first developed: Simon Rottenberg, “The Baseball Players’ Labor Market,” Journal of Political Economy 64, no. 3 (June 1956): 242–258.
Chargers were expected to choose: John McClain, “Manning Threatens to Sit Out if Drafted by Chargers,” Houston Chronicle, April 23, 2004.
rich men’s playthings: Kurd Badenhausen, “The World’s Richest Sports Team Owners 2016,” Forbes, March 1, 2016.
a capitalist’s capitalist: “H. Wayne Huizenga: The Billionaire Garbageman,” Entrepreneur, October 10, 2008, https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197648.
The Green Bay Packers: Richard Sandomir, “America’s Small-Town Team; Packers Play for Touchdown Not for Profits,” New York Times, January 13, 1996.
The essays in The Coase Theorem, edited by Richard Posner and Francesco Parisi (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2013), explore the significance of the theorem for politics and law.
Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski (New York: HarperSport, 2009) covers a range of topics in the economics of soccer.
John Vrooman has written extensively on the economics of American sports. A number of the issues raised in this chapter are addressed in his “Theory of the Perfect Game: Competitive Balance in Monopoly Sports Leagues,” Review of Industrial Organization 34, no. 1 (February 2009): 5–44.
published collection of letters: Paul Auster and J. M. Coetzee, Here and Now: Letters 2008–2011 (New York: Penguin, 2014), 65.
The Rabbitohs’ victory: Brad Walter, “South Sydney Rabbitohs Won’t Have to Wait Another 43 Years for Next Premiership,” Sydney Morning Herald, October 5, 2014.
their own “Boston rules”: Richard Paisner, “The History of Harvard Sports,” Harvard Crimson, March 13, 1968.
“The day that sees the youth”: B. J. T. Bosanquet, “Anti-Golf” letter to the editor, London Times, June 4, 1914.
“He says he would rather”: Charles Carlos Clarke, “Nauseous and Unbearable” letter to the editor, London Times, June 5, 1914.
As late as 1908: Raf Noboa y Rivera, “How Philadelphia Became the Unlikely Epicenter of American Cricket,” Guardian, March 28, 2015.
The Oxford Companion to Sports and Games, edited by John Arlott (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975), has provided me with an invaluable guide to the origins and history of different sporting codes.
A number of the essays in the classic collection The Invention of Tradition, edited by Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), discuss sports along with other traditions that originated in the nineteenth century.
“much more important than that”: “Shankly: The Story of a Soccer Legend,” YouTube (quote at 1:22:05), uploaded April 25, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAEpGPA3oE&index=2&list=PLxCPdngYnPL0skXnn82bwRoOauhHVXd34.
“area which has no meaning”: Noam Chomsky, “Part I: Interview,” in The Chomsky Reader, edited by James Peck (New York: Pantheon, 1987), 33.
thereby refuting: Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations Basil Blackwell 1953 sections 66–71
other way with speed-eating: Tamer El-Ghobashy, “Takeru Kobayashi Sets New Hot Dog Eating Record,” New York Daily, July 5, 2001.
a capacity crowd of 20,000: David Segal, “Behind League of Legends,” New York Times, October 10, 2014.
“You are doing more physical”: Caroline Davies, “High Court Ruling Paves Way for Courts to Decide Whether Bridge Is a Sport,” Guardian, April 27, 2015.
In this hybrid sport: Greg Bishop, “In this Sport, Beware of Left Hooks, Jabs, and Castling,” New York Times, June 7, 2013.
Despite my reservations about some of its arguments, I recommend Suits’s The Grasshopper: Games, Life, and Utopia (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1978) as a wonderful, eccentric exploration of the variety and nature of games.
The nature of sport is debated by Thomas Hurka and John Tasioulas in “Games and the Good,” Aristotelian Society: Supplementary Volume 80, no. 1 (June 2006): 237–264.