Wins, Losses, and Human Ties

Wins, Losses, and Human Ties presents an historical and ethical interpretation of the football playing relationship that links Moravian College, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Muhlenberg College, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Through his historical account of human ties, an account that is woven from game statistics, uniform styles, football schedules, and meteorological data, Daniel R. Gilbert Jr. presents a new way of thinking about accomplishments in intercollegiate athletic competition. Intercollegiate athletic competitors create layered relationships when they become opponents. These opponents must then defend and reaffirm these relationships. In time, they leave a relational legacy to their successors. By working together, these competitors create an ethical accomplishment: their human ties. Daniel R. Gilbert Jr.'s study of the Moravian-and-Muhlenberg football relationship reveals new layers of meaning hidden within intercollegiate athletic competition, layers that point to several important and oft-overlooked ethical components of such competition. Scholars and football enthusiasts alike will appreciate Gilbert's carefully researched analysis of a playing relationship that celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2008.