Throwbacks: A Newsletter About Sports History and Culture
Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Notes
Chat
Archive
Leaderboard
About
The Undefeated Team College Basketball Doesn't Want
Fifty years after Indiana went undefeated, does winning still matter more than metrics?
Feb 27
•
Michael Weinreb
16
2
1
The Five: Even They Couldn't Ruin These Olympics
Mikaela Shiffrin, George Orwell, and why patriotism is not nationalism.
Feb 25
•
Michael Weinreb
11
3
3
Oakland's Alysa Liu: A Brief Coda
This is Throwbacks, a newsletter by me, Michael Weinreb, about sports, history, culture, and politics—and how they all bleed together.
Feb 21
•
Michael Weinreb
25
6
3
Mark Cuban Wants the NBA to Embrace Tanking. That's a Terrible Idea.
The former Mavericks owner thinks fans don't care about competition or the collective good of the league. The NFL's century of dominance would seem to…
Feb 20
•
Michael Weinreb
19
5
2
Olympic Fame Used To Be Optional. Now It's an Obligation (1980)
Eric Heiden won five gold medals and chose anonymity. Today's Olympians are performing under a weight that didn't exist then.
Feb 18
•
Michael Weinreb
9
2
Most Popular
View all
"You dust yourself off and you go again" (1964)
Apr 15, 2025
•
Michael Weinreb
13
1
1
Pat Summerall, Joe Buck, and the Lost Art of Shutting Up (1979)
Nov 19, 2025
•
Michael Weinreb
22
5
3
Justin Herbert Doesn't Want To Perform
Dec 10, 2025
•
Michael Weinreb
19
4
3
The Artist and The Scoreboard
Jan 21
•
Michael Weinreb
19
4
2
Latest
Top
Discussions
The Beautiful Face of Socialism (1988)
Katarina Witt had to perform loyalty for East Germany or lose her freedom. Is America still the counterbalance?
Feb 13
•
Michael Weinreb
9
2
1
Special Edition: Throwbacks Goes To the Super Bowl
I watched the least interesting Super Bowl in years from inside a fishbowl. Then Bad Bunny happened.
Feb 10
•
Michael Weinreb
17
2
3
Does Football Need Violence to be Football?
The rest of the world is co-opting our most essential sport...and leaving behind the one thing that might destroy it.
Feb 6
•
Michael Weinreb
12
4
2
The Super Bowl Is Too Big To Escape Reality (1989)
The Miami riots, Bad Bunny, and how America’s biggest sporting event encompasses everything everywhere all at once.
Feb 4
•
Michael Weinreb
12
3
Worst. Super Bowl Uniforms. Ever?
How NFL uniforms got objectively worse, and why no one will admit it.
Jan 30
•
Michael Weinreb
38
14
2
The Orangeburg Massacre and the Fight Against Forgetting (1968)
Fifty-eight years before Minneapolis, a group of Black students, led by the football team, were gunned down in cold blood while protesting segregation…
Jan 28
•
Michael Weinreb
10
2
2
The Loneliness of the Backup Quarterback
On Earl Morrall, Jarrett Stidham, and the lost art of patience.
Jan 23
•
Michael Weinreb
19
5
1
The Artist and The Scoreboard
Caleb Williams made the throw of the year. His team lost. How much does it matter?
Jan 21
•
Michael Weinreb
19
4
2
A Throwbacks Conversation: Chuck Klosterman on the Cotton Bowl...and Many Other Football Things...
...including defunct rock festivals, Roger Staubach, his oddly conservative video-game strategy, and football's future (or lack thereof).
Jan 16
•
Michael Weinreb
17
4
1
See all
Throwbacks: A Newsletter About Sports History and Culture
An Off the Beaten Path Exploration of Sports History, Culture, and Politics (and Assorted Minutiae)
Subscribe
Recommendations
View all 18
Football Archaeology
Football Archaeology
Neil’s Substack
Neil Paine
The Morning Line
Paul Daugherty
Hall of Football
Frank Cooney
Letters from an American
Heather Cox Richardson
Throwbacks: A Newsletter About Sports History and Culture
Subscribe
About
Archive
Recommendations
Sitemap
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts