The Rock, the Curse, and the Hub: A Random History of Boston Sports - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674015045 ISBN 13: 9780674015043

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2005

Synopsis

When you hear the words "Boston sports," does your mind flash to a place or to a person? Do you think of a fly ball arching over the Green Monster, a Celtic breaking across the parquet at Boston Garden, rowers skimming along the Charles River in autumn, or runners tackling the grueling stretch of "Heartbreak Hill" during the Boston Marathon? Or do you conjure faces--a smiling Babe Ruth, a bearded Bill Russell, a determined Rocky Marciano, a boyish and nimble Bobby Orr, or a defiant Pedro Martinez? Most likely, it is impossible to separate the two, impossible to imagine Bob Cousy on any court other than the Garden or Ted Williams playing at any field other than Fenway. Certain people and places are as inseparable as heads and tails on a penny.

The Rock, the Curse, and the Hub is a collection of original essays about the people and places that live in the minds and memories of Bostonians and all Americans. From the Boston of the young Bambino and even younger Francis Ouimet to the glories and agonies of 1986 and the struggles to keep the Patriots in town, each chapter focuses on the games and the athletes, but also on which sports have defined Boston and Bostonians. In a city of deep ethnic and class divisions, sports have provided a common ground, an intense shared experience. Pursuing the legend and the lore, these essays celebrate the players, the games, and the arenas that are at the heart of the city of Boston.

About this title

About the Author

Randy Roberts is Professor of History at Purdue University.

Reviews

Though many will assume that the curse mentioned in this anthology's title is the World Series jinx that the Red Sox finally beat last fall, it actually refers to an article about Rocky Marciano, the one-time heavyweight champion from Boston who fell short of becoming a full-fledged hometown hero. The history in these 14 chapters is genuinely "random," but each author explores his subject with intensity, and the collection as a whole has a commendable depth. Most of the contributors—who are mainly book-writing professors and historians—make efforts to go beyond a simple recapping of events; a chapter on Babe Ruth's glory days with the Red Sox, for example, places his career in the context of WWI and local postwar labor strikes; chapters on the Boston Marathon and the '68 Harvard crew team play up social activism angles (involving feminism and black athletes). Roberts, a Purdue University historian, contributes an essay on the rivalry and racial relations between hoops stars Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, a chapter that demonstrates the book's commitment to treating even the obvious subjects as social history, not just sports stories.
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This is a surprisingly graceful collection of essays about sports in Boston: not just about the Red Sox but also the Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins. Although all the authors are academic, scholarly types, they nevertheless write sinewy, muscular prose, not the faux know-it-all stance adopted by too many Jimmy Breslin-wannabes. John Demos' essay on Ted Williams is as elegant as Teddy Ballgame in play; Elliott Gorn finds pathos in wrestler John L. Sullivan's life, as James Campbell does in golfer Francis Ouimet's. There is an essay on the Boston Marathon and another on the Harvard crew team's famed coach Harry Parker. "Beantown, 1986" reprises the Bill Buckner fiasco, and a brief "Coda" acknowledges the final magic of the 2004 world champions of baseball: "Joy washed over . . . Red Sox Nation like grace." GraceAnne DeCandido
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Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674015045
• ISBN 13: 9780674015043
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448
• Editor: Roberts Randy