University of Minnesota



History 3412Soccer: Around the World with the Beautiful GameFall 2015Instructor: Michael LowerT TH 1:00-2:15 p.m., Blegen Hall 255Office Hours: T TH 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon, and by appointment1220 Heller HallPhone: (612) 626 1796Email: mlower@umn.eduCourse DescriptionSoccer is called the beautiful game. It is also the world’s game. Over one billion people are estimated to have watched the 2014 World Cup Final on television, including some twenty-six million in the U.S. In this class, we will chart the sport’s unlikely rise to global prominence. How did a “kicking game” played in a few English public schools in the mid-nineteenth century go on to become the most popular organized pastime the world has ever known? Part of the answer is easy: kicking a ball around a field with friends is a lot of fun. But there has to be more to it than that – the passion soccer arouses, the delirious joy and the sickening violence it inspires, the allegiances and communities it builds and breaks, the fortunes it makes and unmakes – why have people all around the world come to care so much about this game? And what, in turn, does this obsessive concern tell us about how the relationship between sports and society, games and ethics, has developed in the modern world?Content Goalsto explore how soccer reflects and expresses culture, history, and identity around the world: “show me how you play and I will tell you who you are;”to explore what soccer, and sports in general, can teach us about the values we are taught as children and the ethical dilemmas we face as adults.Skill Goalscollaboration, or learning how to work productively in small groupscommunication, or expressing yourself clearly to otherslistening, or engaging meaningfully with what others have to say Required TextsThese books should be purchased immediately from the university bookstore or the online retailer of your choice.Alex Bellos, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life (New York: Bloomsbury, 2014).David Winner, Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football (London: Bloomsbury, 2000).Joe McGinniss, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy (New York: Broadway Books, 1999).Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski,?Soccernomics?(New York: Nation Books, 2014)Class FormatTeam Work: In this class you will belong to a team, which in turn will participate in a league. During most class sessions, your team will carry out an assigned task (“Team Work” in the syllabus), which will vary according to the topic we are covering that day. At the end of the class, your team will post the results of your teamwork on the course moodle site. Teammates will take turns recording and posting results. The leagues and teams are as follows:Brasileir?o: Flamengo, Fluminese, Corinthians, SantosLa Liga: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Athletic BilbaoSerie A: Juventus, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Roma Class ScheduleWeek One: (8-10 September)T (8 Sept) Course IntroductionTH (10 Sept) Team Work: Who are you? Introductions and instant research projects on your teams and leagues.Week Two (15-17 September)T (15 Sept) Birth of the Modern Game 1: Meet the AncestorsReading: Football Association, Laws of the Game (1863, moodle); David Winner, Those Feet: A Sensual History of English Soccer, 20-51, 268-279 (moodle).Team Work: 1. What did early football look like? (Serie A, La Liga) 2. Why did British schools begin to encourage participation in sports in the nineteenth century? (Brasileir?o). Moodle Posting Dry-Run: This teamwork will not be graded.TH (17 Sept) Birth of the Modern Game 2: History of Football: Origins (Film)Week Three (22-24 Sept)T (22 Sept) Birth of the Modern Game 3: The “Good Old Days.”Reading, Gary Imlach, My Father and Other Working-Class Football Heroes, 44-57; 148-159 (moodle).Team Work: 1. Report on the Maximum Wage and the Retain and Transfer System (Flamengo, Real Madrid, Juventus) 2. Report on the founding of the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) (Fluminese, Barcelona, AC Milan) 3. Report on the Bosman Ruling (Corinthians, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan) 4. Report on Third-Party Ownership (Santos, Athletic Bilbao, Roma). TH (24 Sept) Dutch Football Culture 1: Total FootballReading: Winner, Brilliant Orange, 1-84.Team Work: 1. 1960s cultural revolution and total football (Brasileir?o); 2. Dutch Space and Landscape and total football (Serie A); 3. Dutch democratic culture and total football (La Liga).Week Four (29 Sept-1 Oct)T (29 Sept) Dutch Football Culture 2: Ajax, the Dutch, the WarReading: Winner, Brilliant Orange, 85-115, 211-20.Team Work: 1. Why did the Dutch lose the 1974 World Cup Final? (Brasileir?o) 2. Why and in what way is Ajax Amsterdam a “Jewish” Club? (La Liga). 3. Why have the Dutch never won the World Cup? (Serie A).TH (1 Oct) Dutch Football Culture 3: Football as ArtReading: Winner, Brilliant Orange, 123-59, 188-210, 227-51.Team Work: Debates, in the style of Around the Horn, on the propositions: (1) “playing well is more important than winning” (Serie A, La Liga); (2) What matters more, the system or the players? (Brasileir?o).Week Five (6-8 October)T (6 Oct) The Two Escobars (Film), Part 1Reading: McGinniss, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, 3-106.TH (8 Oct) Calcio 1: Italian Football Culture and the Small Town TeamReading: McGinniss, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, 106-198.Team Work: 1. You are the Castel di Sangro manager, Jaconi. Write a letter to your wife describing your new neighbor, Joe McGinniss. (Serie A) 2. You are American journalist Joe McGinniss. Write a letter to your wife describing your new neighbor, Jaconi. (La Liga) 3. You are Signor Gravina: explain the Robert Raku Ponnick episode to your boss, Signor Rezza (Brasileir?o).Week Six (13-15 October)T (13 Oct) Calcio 2: Politics and Scandal!Reading, McGinniss, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, 199-294.Team Work: Instant research projects: 1.1934 and 1938 World Cups (Brasileir?o) 2. 2006 World Cup and “Calciopoli” scandal (La Liga) 3. Silvio Berlusconi as owner of AC Milan and as politician (Serie A).TH (15 Oct) Calcio 3: Winning at All CostsReading: McGinniss, The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, 295-404.Group Work: 1. You are a Castel di Sangro player: how would you deal with the Gigi and Vanessa situation? (La Liga) 2. You are a Castel di Sangro player: how would you deal with the Bari match? (Brasileir?o, Serie A).Week Seven (20-22 October)T (20 Oct) Work on Collaborative Research Projects TH (22 Oct) Brazil 1: The Beautiful GameReading, Bellos, Futebol, 1-43, 95-145.Team Work: 1. What is the cultural significance of the “malandro”? (Brasileir?o) 2. Why is Garrincha the “Joy of the People” (La Liga)? 3. Why is Pele “the king” (Serie A)? Week Eight (27-29 October)T (27 Oct) Brazil 2: Behind the Beautiful GameReading, Bellos, Futebol, 155-83, 287--353.Team Work: 1. How do Brazilians express their love for futebol? (La Liga) 2. Who are the “top hats” and how do they control Brazilian soccer? (Serie A) 3. Why is the domestic game suffering in Brazil and what has the Brazilian government done to address the crisis? (Brasileir?o) TH (29 Oct) Brazil 3: World Cup 1950 and World Cup 2014Reading, Bellos, Futebol, 43-76, 375-389, newspaper coverage of 2014 World Cup.Team Work: 1. Why was the 1950 World Cup Brazil’s “Hiroshima”? (Brasileir?o) 2. How did such a powerful protest movement against hosting the World Cup emerge in Brazil over 2013 and 2014 (La Liga)? 3. Why did Brazil lose 7-1 to Germany in the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup? (Serie A) Week Nine (3-5 November) T (3 Nov) Women’s Soccer 1Reading: Grainey, Beyond Bend It Like Beckham, 3-34 (moodle).Team Work: 1. How did Title IX change American sports? (La Liga) 2. What are the most important factors in the rise of the women’s game in the U.S.? (Brasileir?o) 3. Why did the U.S. win the World Cup this past summer? (Serie A) TH (5 Nov) Women’s Soccer 2Reading: Grainey, Beyond Bend It Like Beckham, 241-253.Team Work: 1. What impact has soccer had on girlhood and American youth sports in general? (La Liga) 2. How are elite women soccer players trained? (Serie A) 3. What are the prospects for the women’s professional game in the U.S. and abroad? (Brasileir?o) Week Ten (10-12 November)T (10 Nov) The Dark Side 1: Hooligans, Stadium DisastersReading: Buford, Among the Thugs. (moodle)Team Work: 1. If you had gone to Turin on the trip Bill Buford describes, what would you have done? (Brasileir?o) 2. What caused the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster? (La Liga) 3. How did British authorities respond to Hillsborough? (Serie A)TH (12 Nov) The Dark Side 2: FIFA! Reading: Selected articles from World Soccer and The Guardian Team Work: You are a candidate in the special election for FIFA president on 26 February 2016: what is your campaign platform? Week Eleven (17-19 November) T (17 Nov) Soccernomics 1: Clubs and StatsReading: Soccernomics, 1-7, 47-97, 113-131.Team Work: 1. How can Money-ball principles be applied to soccer? (La Liga) 2. Should soccer clubs be profitable and why are they usually not? (Serie A) 3. You are taking a penalty kick to decide the World Cup: What is your plan? (Brasileir?o)TH (19 Nov) Soccernomics 2: FansReading: Soccernomics, 203-252.Team Work: 1. Do soccer fans support one club for life? (Serie A) 2. Are soccer fans different than fans of other sports? (La Liga) 3. Does hosting a World Cup make economic sense? (Brasileir?o).Week Twelve (24-26 November)T (24 Nov) Film: The Two Escobars, Part 2 TH (26 Nov) No Class – ThanksgivingWeek Thirteen (1-3 December)T (1 Dec) Soccernomics 3: The Global Game Reading: Soccernomics, 157-178, 255-273, 291-306.Team Work: 1. EPL vs. NFL: who will win? (Brasileir?o) 2. What economic conditions produce the best soccer players? (La Liga) 3. Which countries will dominate soccer over the next twenty years? (Serie A).TH (3 Dec) Work on Collaborative Research ProjectsWeek Fourteen (8-10 December)T (8 December) Collaborative Research PresentationsTH (10 Dec) Collaborative Research PresentationsWeek Fifteen (15 December)T (15 Dec) Collaborative Research PresentationsCourse Requirements and AssignmentsTeam Work: During most class sessions, your team will carry out an assigned task (“Team Work” in the syllabus), which will vary according to the topic we are covering that day. At the end of the class, your team will post the results of your teamwork on the course moodle site.Journal: You will keep a journal recording:your reading notesyour answers to discussion questions generated during teamworkthe notes you take as you listen to answers and information provided by other teams during league meetingsThe journal may be kept electronically or as a physical journal, but must be submitted electronically for evaluation in the middle of the semester and again at the end.Collaborative Research Project: The major assignment will be a collaborative research project, which will be carried out by the teams and presented in multi-media format at the end of the semester. Topics will be developed in consultation with the instructor. Presentations will take place in class during the last two weeks of the semester.Annotated Bibliography: Your team will compile an annotated bibliography that documents your research for the collaborative research project. It is due on the day that your team presents the collaborative research project.The GradeTeam Work30%Journal30%Research Project25%Annotated Bibliography15%Grading PolicyA – achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to meet course requirements.B – achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meet course requirements.C – achievement that meets the course requirements in every respect.D – achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements.S – achievement that is satisfactory, which is equivalent to a C- or better.I – (Incomplete) Assigned at the discretion of the instructor when, due to extraordinary circumstances, e.g. hospitalization, a student is prevented from completing the work of the course on time. Requires a written agreement between instructor and student.Course PoliciesStudents must bring reading to class on the day it is assigned.University of Minnesota Policies? The two major grading systems used are the A-F and S-N. Departmental majors must take major courses on the A-F system; non-majors may use either system. The instructor will specify criteria and achievement levels required for each grade. All students, regardless of the system used, will be expected to do all work assigned in the course, or its equivalent as determined by the instructor. Any changes you wish to make in the grading base must be done in the first two weeks of the semester. ? The instructor will specify the conditions, if any, under which an "Incomplete" will be assigned instead of a grade. The instructor may set dates and conditions for makeup work, if it is to be allowed. "I" grades will automatically lapse to "F"s at the end of the next semester of a student's registration, unless an instructor agrees to submit a change of grade for a student during a subsequent semester to maintain the grade as an "I". ? Students are responsible for all information disseminated in class and all course requirements, including deadlines and examinations. The instructor will specify whether class attendance is required or counted in the grade for a class. ? A student is not permitted to submit extra work in an attempt to raise his or her grade, unless the instructor has specified at the outset of the class such opportunities will be afforded to all students. ? Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as "any act that violates the right of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work. Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work." Inappropriate collaboration is another form of scholastic misconduct that is not allowed in this class.? Students with disabilities that affect their ability to participate fully in class or to meet all course requirements are encouraged to bring this to the attention of the instructor so that appropriate accommodations can be arranged. Further information is available from Disabilities Services (230 McNamara). ? University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the December 1998 policy statement, available at the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Questions or concerns about sexual harassment should be directed to this office, located in 419 Morrill Hall. Liberal Education Requirements: Historical Perspectives CoreThis course meets the Historical Perspectives Core by:examining the human past and studying beliefs, practices and relationships that human experiences over time (the rise of soccer since the mid-19th century)focusing on change over time and giving attention to specific historical contexts (the development of “football cultures” in the Netherlands, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, along with many other countries)introducing and critically assessing methods employed in producing historical knowledge (especially how to work with the documents, movies and videos that allow to see how soccer has developed around the world)allowing you to work with primary sources (including the original rules of association football, South American poetry, and historic films about soccer from as far back as the 1930s)encouraging you to evaluate the uses and limitations of certain kinds of evidence (in debates, informal writing exercises, and in class presentations)encouraging you to consider how the questions we ask and the sources available to us shape our knowledge of the past and our understanding of its significance (by comparing multiple accounts of stadium disasters, for example, or by thinking about who gets left out of certain accounts of events)Liberal Education Requirements: Civic Life and Ethics ThemeThis course meets the Civic Life and Ethics theme by:presenting and defining ethics and the role of ethics in civic life (by stressing the central role of sports in general and soccer in particular in informing our ethical sensibilities as children)exploring how the ethical principles of a society or societies have been derived and developed through group processes and debates (particularly by tracing the history of the ethic of “fair play” and “good sportsmanship” and understanding how these values are acted on around the world)encouraging you to develop, defend, or challenge your personal values (in debates about why we care about sports, particularly soccer(!), why we play sports (to win or to perform to the best of our abilities?)presenting you with concrete opportunities to apply your knowledge of ethics (in informal writing exercises, in-class presentations, and a collaborative research exercise).Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)This class is designed to meet the following SLO: “can locate and critically evaluate information.” This skill is assessed through informal writing assignments, class presentations, and a collaborative research project. The class also fulfills the “can communicate effectively” requirement through several class presentations and a final presentation of a major research project. ................
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