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The death of Joe Paterno prompted a national moment of silence, a treatment usually reserved for dignitaries. This paper argues that this level of national mourning says less about his importance as a football coach or even a man, but more about the meaning JoPa icon, especially in light of his firing from Penn State. It says as much about us and fears about a lost white masculinity than Paterno. Signifying the end of an "era" and a perceived community under attack, on the heals of Jerry Sandusky's arrest, his death was reframed as a sad affair because of the cloud hanging over head at death's door. Yet, as argued here, it was that cloud and the level of nostalgia that led to heightened media coverage and national sadness.

AbstractIt is well established that even in countries that have poor governance and weak public sectors, exceptional well‐functioning government and government‐supported agencies do exist. What has not been established is where and why these 'pockets of effectiveness' are able to emerge. Some attribute their existence to exceptional leadership and good management. Others, while not doubting the importance of these internal factors, believe that these 'pockets' are generated by their place in the country's political economy. The literature on this subject is dominated by case studies and the consequence is that a very large number of hypotheses have been generated about what the political processes at work might be. This article inventories the array of available hypotheses and condenses them into five sets of meta‐hypotheses. It also discusses how social scientists and practitioners ought to think about something whose occurrence is idiosyncratic. The future of development administration will be enhanced by more informed choice of strategic opportunities—avoiding both political determinism and a naïve faith that all is equally possible to those who will it. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Examining the specific reaction and context of meaning for Shawn Green's yearly internal battle between religious/personal commitments and job/team, and the historic context of Hank Greenberg's similar battles, this paper reflects on the complex and sometimes contradictory place of Jewishness within both the realms of popular and sporting cultures. In looking at the ways Shawn Green, the Los Angeles Dodgers, sports commentators, and fans have reacted to his Jewishness, and specifically his decision to skip games because of his religious cultural identity, this paper equally gives voice to the signifiers/discourse of Jewish (white) intrusion into the sports world. In exploring this discourse, this paper explores the meaning of Jewish celebrity within contemporary sports, analyzing the meaning and signifiers of Jewishness, whiteness, and celebrity within this popular cultural space.

As the national media descended on Durham, North Carolina, in wake of public accusations of rape against three Duke Lacrosse student athletes, much of the discourse remained mired in its own shock and awe. Ignoring, if not erasing, histories of sexual violence involving White men and Black women while focusing on the problems plaguing college athletics, the media, and the numerous online defenders of the players used this instance to rearticulate tropes of White power, imagining the case as yet another assault on White masculinity. Beyond examining these deployed fictions and the denials of the possibility of guilt, given the player's Whiteness, sport of choice, educational institution, and class status, this article explores the ways in which their student athlete identities were seen as either meaningless or evidence of innocence, especially in juxtaposition to the discursive articulation of the criminalized Black male student athlete.

Amid a backlash against the influence of hip-hop within professional basketball, exacerbated by the 2004 brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, NBA executives, media pundits, and fans have denounced the influx of Black high school players. This article argues that the establishment of a policy preventing high school players from the NBA is neither a pure business decision nor a hypocritical move by a league that has long profited off the contributions of young Black males and the popularity of hip-hop. Instead, it links this discourse to the larger societal moves to police and put Black male bodies under surveillance. It specifically examines the ways in which calls for an age restriction within the NBA and those efforts to send young men and women of color into America's expanding prison system reflect the same White supremacist logic that necessitates the control, regulation, and punishment of Black and brown bodies.