Contest: Essays on Sports, Culture, and Politics

Contest is a riotous excursion through the contemporary sportscape. Gary Genosko uncovers the cultural and political qualities of the world of sports from its gaudiest moments-the professional spectacle of Super Sunday and Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition-to its obscure nooks and crannies, like figure-skating psychoanalyst Ernest Jones. The exploration ranges from hockey ("Disciplining Road Hockey," "Athletes as Pets") to sports' relationship with design ("Furniture and Sport"); from bodybuilding ("A Portrait of Jesus as a Young Schwarzenegger") to bike messengers; from gymnastics ("Olympian Cuteness") to memorabilia. Genosko's exhilarating approach employs an idiosyncratic mix of cultural studies, contemporary theory, and a lifetime of collecting sports cards as he celebrates the heroic amateurs and the radical losers who are the real stars of Contest.