Summary Of Winning Is The Only

Sports in America have evolved from a simple diversion enjoyed by a community, to the single driving force behind a nationwide entertainment industry. In their book, Winning Is the Only , Randy Roberts and James Olson chronicle the effects of American culture on the sports industry since 1945. Roberts and Olson take the reader on a twisting journey through racial integration, the ruinous greed of big business, a perpetual battle with the gambling racket, and the transformative effects of television entertainment. Winning Is the Only follows American sports from amateurism, into the recent past, exposing exploitation and scandal.
Randy Roberts and James Olson have co-authored multiple books, including Winning Is the Only . Randy Roberts holds

Between Roberts’ extensive sports background and Olson’s experiences with American history, Winning Is the Only provides a solid look into sports in America.
In Winning Is the Only , Roberts and Olson illustrate how American culture is played out on the sports’ fields. One instance of American popular culture making it’s way into sports culture was the struggle for racial integration. As the authors explain, into the 1950s, many coaches refused to play any black athletes on their teams. Further still, coaches on teams that did have black players often incensed them with taunts and name-calling. This animosity toward African American players, indicative of leadership in the sports industry, was mostly in contrast with an increasingly curious fan base. The fans packed the stadium to see skilled African American athletes play. By the 1960s, in order to keep public interest, almost every team had to have some level of integration. As the sports industry grew in popularity, an imbalance in the distribution of wealth grew with it. Roberts and Olson show that even through the 1950s, the sports industry still. Major players were held to reserve clauses in their contracts, binding them to one team and pinning their

To put this information into context, Roberts and Olson utilize a mixed style of organization. Each chapter addresses a particular topic, but each topic and the book as a whole follows a loose timeline. This structure makes the reading feel somewhat sporadic. Alongside intermittent storylines, Roberts and Olson present an analytical review of sports in American history. The authors use this analytical approach to appeal to a scholarly audience, specifically those who would be familiar with some American history. The authors use dialectal nicknames and phrases, common to the time periods and geographic locations being discussed, thrusting the reader into the midst of the sports world. Roberts and Olson cite numerous sources in their bibliographic essay. Most of the content referenced is secondary in nature: biographies, journal articles, and historical studies. Roberts, himself, has published a rich collection of sports biographies. Even with the extensive list of resources used in this publication, the authors still manage to omit almost any mention of female sports in America. Robert’s historical focus on male sports’ icons may have led to the omission of the influence of females on sports and the surrounding culture. While brimming with facts and endless stories of influential male figureheads, Winning Is the Only still leaves any historical significance of women’s sports for the reader to determine with