USA Today sports columnist, best-selling author to lecture on religion, sports March 20

USA Today sports columnist, best-selling author to lecture on religion, sports March 20March 16, 2007Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

USA Today sports columnist, best-selling author and television sports analyst Christine Brennan will give two lectures at Syracuse University on Tuesday, March 20. Brennan will discuss “Religion and Sports” in associate professor of religion Philip Arnold’s class at 11 a.m. in Room 202 of the Hall of Languages. She will later speak on “Observations on Professional Sports – Religion, American Culture and the News Media” at 3:30 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons in E.S. Bird Library as part of a course taught by Gustav Niebuhr, associate professor in religion and the media.

Her appearance is sponsored by the Department of Religion and the Religion and Society Program in The College of Arts and Sciences. Both lectures are free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots. Brennan was originally scheduled to speak at SU on Feb. 15; her visit was canceled due to inclement weather.

An award-winning journalist, Brennan is a USA Today sports columnist, author and commentator for ABC News, ESPN, NPR and Fox Sports Radio. She is a leading voice on the Olympics and women’s sports issues, having covered 12 consecutive Olympics beginning with the 1984 games in Los Angeles. The author of six books, Brennan has won the Women’s Sports Foundation’s Journalism Award four times. Her new book, “Best Seat in the House: A Father, A Daughter, A Journey Through Sports” (Scribner, 2006), is the first father/daughter sports memoir written by a sports writer.

For more information, contact graduate assistant Tiffany Ann Galvin at (315) 395-4929 or tagalvin@syr.edu.