We are the Norman Einsteins.
Norman Einstein's is a monthly online magazine focusing on sports and culture and the culture of sports. The idea is simple. Take some great writers from around the web and give them the freedom to stretch out on longer pieces centered on sports.
If there's anything that the internet serves as, it is a blank canvas. We aim to fill in our part of the canvas with fun and inspired pieces.
Despite any lukewarm personal feelings about college sports powerhouse Penn State, I've always admired Penn State's "We Are... Penn State" cheer where the student body and alumni perform a call and response over the simple declarative statement. Tim Aydin of the wonderful Penn State blog Happy Hour Valley traces the genesis of the cheer to 1948 when Penn State was slated to play in the Cotton Bowl.
"There was apparently an NCAA rule at the time which stated that a school with black players facing a southern school, which were all-white back then, had to sit its black players," Tim says. "This applied to the Cotton Bowl as well. When PSU got the invite that year and were deciding whether or not to go, one of the players or coaches said something along the lines of 'We're Penn State' implying that either everybody... would play or nobody would play."
While we aren't tackling any barriers as nearly monumental or important as racial inequality, we're big fans of tearing down barriers in general.
For this first issue, in addition to a long form of my own, Norman Einstein's Magazine is very lucky to have contributions from two extremely skilled writers. Joey Litman from Straight Bangin' runs down the perfect soundtrack to an NBA playoff game while Jake Lemkowitz of Bread City Basketball finds inspiration in the Orlando Magic's Conference Finals victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Please absorb their pieces and then check out their sites where they regularly drop this depth of knowledge.
We publish our issue on the first weekday of every month. Check out this issue. Then if you dig it, join our list, an email update, once a month, when our latest issue hits the webs.
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