The entertainment industry is currently the fastest-growing industry. Tennis has always been popular among sports enthusiasts, from making headlines in newspapers to being televised in black and white. With modern technology, the internet, and social media, watching and accessing a tennis match is only a few clicks away. The entertainment sports industry is now at an all-time high, as it can be accessed anywhere. Many popular global sports, such as soccer and basketball, compete for “fans’ money and attention” (The Economist, 2019). Sports continuously change, adapt, and develop like other fields and professions. The future of sports seems to be heading in a positive direction for the fans, but what sports will be able to continue to captivate and keep engaged millions of loyal viewers and fans globally? A strong question regarding the ongoing competition between sports is: Can tennis keep up?

Currently, male athletes are “doing sport in style.” This social phenomenon has been a slow training coming, as the soil for this flower was fertilized back in the 2010s with former NFL quarterback Cam Newton making headlines for his ostentatious, yet meticulously stylish pre- and post-game outfits. Naturally, this begs the question: so, what’s the big deal about this anyway?

From its origin, PCS has remains committed to policing the eternal crisis towards creating a physical culture (and, indeed, society) that is more equitable and just.  This commitment is more critical than ever as Donald Trump takes office for the second time.  However, to be effective, we must also take a step back to better understand the conjuncture.

On Tuesday, the 5th of November 2024, the majority of constituents in the United States of America voted to elect Donald Trump as the 47th President to (re-)reign over the nation for the coming four years. The results came as a shock to many, but was evidently a celebration for far more, or 75,169,068 to be exact. We write this Corpus–as women within the PCS research group in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland–as an attempt to reflexively respond to the results that have left us stunned.

My Master’s Thesis, “America’s Sweethearts? A Feminist Discourse Analysis of ‘Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making The Team’,” was evidently far ahead of its time (defended May 2022). In late-June 2024, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders cracked Hollywood stardom with their hit Netflix docuseries, “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.” In this corpus, I share my critical reflections of the squad’s new show, having analyzed the cheerleaders and their old reality TV show for my thesis.

On May 15th, 2024, graduate students within the Physical Cultural Studies program at the University of Maryland served as volunteers for the Project Play Summit, hosted by the Aspen Institute Sports and Society Program in Baltimore, MD. We share our reflections on our venture beyond the books and into the “real world” of sport.

The Physical Cultural Studies research group at the University of Maryland was well-represented at this year’s annual meeting for the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) in Las Vegas, Nevada from November 9-11th. The theme of the conference this year was Raising the Stakes on Representation and current PCS students and faculty presented on topics ranging from anti-blackness in kinesiology to faux-empowerment in reality TV shows to DeLand’s assemblage theory.

On Friday, June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade (1973) ruling, no longer authorizing the constitutional right to abortion.

I got the news on Monday that George Floyd, another in a long line of Black men killed by police, had died from forceful tactics inflicted on him by a man who lacked an ounce of humanity.

As the coronavirus pandemic has seemingly disrupted all economic, political, and social routines, a debate has commenced over what the pandemic means for the fate of capitalism. Radical thinkers – especially those who are seeking to re-imagine and overturn structures rather than merely improve them – have been eager to believe that this represents the beginning of capitalism’s end.