Mike Milford
Biographic Data
| ID | 6484749 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mike Milford |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mike |
| FAMILY NAME | Milford |
| SIGNATURE | MILFORD M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Auburn University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1262-5687 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Wushu, the Evolution of Sports Mythology, and the Rhetorical Management of Losing
Mythic rhetoric is a mainstay in sports communication. Stories of athletes achieving greatness through struggle provides a foundation for communities to build, manage, and share collective identities and ideologies. One of the unexplored weaknesses of sports myths lies in how rhetors respond to losses. Sports myths are a powerful resource used to shore up mutual identity, but they are tethered to real-world outcomes that run counter to mythic the…
Parent Attitudes Toward Sport Coach Communication and Knowledge: Exploring Priorities, Goals, and Expectations in the Fee-Based Youth Sports Ecosystem
Parents must make decisions to guide children’s sport participation, development, and enjoyment, with particular importance toward communication characteristics of their coach. The current study examines parent attitudes toward youth sport coach communication characteristics, provides a ranking of parents stated desires, and examines how parent desires for youth sport coaches have adapted to changes in the youth sports ecosystem. A representative…
Xu Versus Wushu: Synecdoche and Apologia in Nationalized Sports Losses
Nationalized sports are powerful rhetorical tools for collective identity and ideology. Nations often hold up athletes, teams, and contests as emblematic of core values. However, the competitive nature of sports means that those representatives, or synecdoche in rhetorical terms, may come up short. In such cases, nations must address the embarrassment the losses incur. Nations use apologia and image-repair strategies to mitigate the damage that s…
Williams Racing and Dorilton Capital: Epideictic Blandness in Organizational Change
In 2020 the third-oldest racing team in Formula 1, Williams Racing, sold to Dorilton Capital, a global investment group. The change was a dramatic shift in the organization’s identity, from four decades of family ownership to a faceless global fund with no ties to racing. Drastic turns such as these are challenging for organizations. Shifts in identity generate uncertainty with stakeholders, a particular problem for sports organizations where ide…
Liberty as a Cloak for Vice: Orientation and Order in the Southern Baptist Convention Sexual Abuse Scandal
In 2019 a series of articles detailing decades of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches. Reports revealed that the convention and its congregants downplayed rather than confront the abuses by relying on two doctrinal components, congregational autonomy and scriptural inerrancy, to excuse inaction and silence survivors. Kenneth Burke argues that orientations such as the Southern Baptist Convention is governed by a moral order that is establish…
The Alphafly Outcry: Distance Running, Technological Doping, and the Rhetoric of Stigma
Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon in 2019 generated both wide-ranging celebration and stern denigration from members of the running community. The latter, motivated by an unexpectedly superior result, turned to stigma rhetoric to protect what they saw as a danger to their sport: the Nike Alphafly. Stigma is an othering strategy that brands its objects as undesirable and threatening to the ideological center of a community. In Kipchoge’s case…
The biggest losers: Legacy, exigence, and apologia in presidential farewell addresses
Campbell and Jamieson and Medhurst's foundational works on presidential farewell addresses assert that the form creates a sense of continuity, progressive perfection, and pedagogical affirmation and adapts to personal and situational exigencies to define a personal and administrative legacy for the outgoing president, as evidenced by the oft‐celebrated addresses of Washington and Eisenhower. However, at times these constraints are difficult to ma…
Fans not Customers! Kategoria in the Rise and Demise of the European Super League
In 2021, the twelve largest soccer clubs in the world created a new league that promised high-level competition between the sports’ elites. Three days later, the Euro Super League was no more. Much of the credit for its demise is attributable to the various groups who spoke out strongly against the organization. The collective rhetoric took on the qualities of kategoria, a speech of accusation that proceeds apologia. While there is a wealth of re…
Bannister in parliament: Sport, synecdoche , and national identity
In 1954, Parliament was divided over Roger Bannister’s appearance on an American television programme and how it would portray the nation to the world. This moment, and others like it across the decades, show Bannister to be a significant figure in the collective British identity, and as such, one in need of careful examination. The following work examines statements from both Houses positioning Bannister as synecdoche, a rhetorical device in whi…
Full Contact: Sexual Assault, Combat Sports, and the Myth of Self-Defense
The essay considers the unique rhetorical dimensions of sexual assault in the combat sports setting, centering on three central arguments. The first is that traditional recommendations for self-defense that advocate combat sports as a means of protection are rooted in a Burkean victimage ritual that places the obligation for the assault on the survivor. The second examines the role that hegemonic masculinity and hierarchy play in perpetuating thi…
The ‘reel’ Jesse Owens: Visual rhetoric and the Berlin Olympics
The story of Jesse Owens has become one of the dominant sports narratives of the twentieth century. The compelling visual record of his performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics has been used to argue for a number of political and social causes. What is particularly fascinating about the images of Owens’s win is the ways in which it functioned for diametrically opposing ideological viewpoints. The story behind the footage reveals an interesting con…
Veiled Intervention: Anti-Semitism, Allegory, and Captain America
Conventional wisdom states that leftover frustrations from World War I necessitated an incremental rhetorical strategy for interventionists in the buildup to World War II. However, such considerations often miss another factor that bolstered American isolationism: anti-Semitism. In the interwar period, America saw a sharp uptick in anti-Semitic organizations that preached a vehement isolationist message. Because of this environment, interventioni…
One Knows That This Condition Exists’: An Analysis of Tennis Champion Bill Tilden's Apology for His Homosexuality
The authors examine tennis champion Bill Tilden and his discussion of his sexual orientation in his 1948 autobiography My Story. The investigation uses two strategies. Media coverage of Tilden is compared for 1924, at the height of his fame, and 1947–9, when he was arrested twice for morals charges involving young men. Then, Tilden's explanation of his sexual orientation is studied from a rhetorical perspective. Two conclusions are drawn: that ne…
The Olympics, Jesse Owens, Burke, and the Implications of Media Framing in Symbolic Boasting
One of the most enduring figures of the Olympics is Jesse Owens, the track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Games in Berlin. Although Owens's athletic achievements were impressive, he is more remembered for being the athlete who singled-handedly brought down the Nazi's theories of Aryan supremacy. This aspect of Owens's identity owes less to his performance and more to the Olympic media's ideological framing. Over time Owens…
The Olympics, Jesse Owens, Burke, and the Implications of Media Framing in Symbolic Boasting
One of the most enduring figures of the Olympics is Jesse Owens, the track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Games in Berlin. Although Owens's athletic achievements were impressive, he is more remembered for being the athlete who singled-handedly brought down the Nazi's theories of Aryan supremacy. This aspect of Owens's identity owes less to his performance and more to the Olympic media's ideological framing. Over time Owens…
Full Contact: Sexual Assault, Combat Sports, and the Myth of Self-Defense
The essay considers the unique rhetorical dimensions of sexual assault in the combat sports setting, centering on three central arguments. The first is that traditional recommendations for self-defense that advocate combat sports as a means of protection are rooted in a Burkean victimage ritual that places the obligation for the assault on the survivor. The second examines the role that hegemonic masculinity and hierarchy play in perpetuating thi…
The Olympics, Jesse Owens, Burke, and the Implications of Media Framing in Symbolic Boasting
One of the most enduring figures of the Olympics is Jesse Owens, the track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Games in Berlin. Although Owens's athletic achievements were impressive, he is more remembered for being the athlete who singled-handedly brought down the Nazi's theories of Aryan supremacy. This aspect of Owens's identity owes less to his performance and more to the Olympic media's ideological framing. Over time Owens…
One Knows That This Condition Exists’: An Analysis of Tennis Champion Bill Tilden's Apology for His Homosexuality
The authors examine tennis champion Bill Tilden and his discussion of his sexual orientation in his 1948 autobiography My Story. The investigation uses two strategies. Media coverage of Tilden is compared for 1924, at the height of his fame, and 1947–9, when he was arrested twice for morals charges involving young men. Then, Tilden's explanation of his sexual orientation is studied from a rhetorical perspective. Two conclusions are drawn: that ne…
Veiled Intervention: Anti-Semitism, Allegory, and Captain America
Conventional wisdom states that leftover frustrations from World War I necessitated an incremental rhetorical strategy for interventionists in the buildup to World War II. However, such considerations often miss another factor that bolstered American isolationism: anti-Semitism. In the interwar period, America saw a sharp uptick in anti-Semitic organizations that preached a vehement isolationist message. Because of this environment, interventioni…
The ‘reel’ Jesse Owens: Visual rhetoric and the Berlin Olympics
The story of Jesse Owens has become one of the dominant sports narratives of the twentieth century. The compelling visual record of his performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics has been used to argue for a number of political and social causes. What is particularly fascinating about the images of Owens’s win is the ways in which it functioned for diametrically opposing ideological viewpoints. The story behind the footage reveals an interesting con…
Full Contact: Sexual Assault, Combat Sports, and the Myth of Self-Defense
The essay considers the unique rhetorical dimensions of sexual assault in the combat sports setting, centering on three central arguments. The first is that traditional recommendations for self-defense that advocate combat sports as a means of protection are rooted in a Burkean victimage ritual that places the obligation for the assault on the survivor. The second examines the role that hegemonic masculinity and hierarchy play in perpetuating thi…
Fans not Customers! Kategoria in the Rise and Demise of the European Super League
In 2021, the twelve largest soccer clubs in the world created a new league that promised high-level competition between the sports’ elites. Three days later, the Euro Super League was no more. Much of the credit for its demise is attributable to the various groups who spoke out strongly against the organization. The collective rhetoric took on the qualities of kategoria, a speech of accusation that proceeds apologia. While there is a wealth of re…
Bannister in parliament: Sport, synecdoche , and national identity
In 1954, Parliament was divided over Roger Bannister’s appearance on an American television programme and how it would portray the nation to the world. This moment, and others like it across the decades, show Bannister to be a significant figure in the collective British identity, and as such, one in need of careful examination. The following work examines statements from both Houses positioning Bannister as synecdoche, a rhetorical device in whi…
Liberty as a Cloak for Vice: Orientation and Order in the Southern Baptist Convention Sexual Abuse Scandal
In 2019 a series of articles detailing decades of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches. Reports revealed that the convention and its congregants downplayed rather than confront the abuses by relying on two doctrinal components, congregational autonomy and scriptural inerrancy, to excuse inaction and silence survivors. Kenneth Burke argues that orientations such as the Southern Baptist Convention is governed by a moral order that is establish…
The Alphafly Outcry: Distance Running, Technological Doping, and the Rhetoric of Stigma
Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-two-hour marathon in 2019 generated both wide-ranging celebration and stern denigration from members of the running community. The latter, motivated by an unexpectedly superior result, turned to stigma rhetoric to protect what they saw as a danger to their sport: the Nike Alphafly. Stigma is an othering strategy that brands its objects as undesirable and threatening to the ideological center of a community. In Kipchoge’s case…
The biggest losers: Legacy, exigence, and apologia in presidential farewell addresses
Campbell and Jamieson and Medhurst's foundational works on presidential farewell addresses assert that the form creates a sense of continuity, progressive perfection, and pedagogical affirmation and adapts to personal and situational exigencies to define a personal and administrative legacy for the outgoing president, as evidenced by the oft‐celebrated addresses of Washington and Eisenhower. However, at times these constraints are difficult to ma…
Williams Racing and Dorilton Capital: Epideictic Blandness in Organizational Change
In 2020 the third-oldest racing team in Formula 1, Williams Racing, sold to Dorilton Capital, a global investment group. The change was a dramatic shift in the organization’s identity, from four decades of family ownership to a faceless global fund with no ties to racing. Drastic turns such as these are challenging for organizations. Shifts in identity generate uncertainty with stakeholders, a particular problem for sports organizations where ide…
Xu Versus Wushu: Synecdoche and Apologia in Nationalized Sports Losses
Nationalized sports are powerful rhetorical tools for collective identity and ideology. Nations often hold up athletes, teams, and contests as emblematic of core values. However, the competitive nature of sports means that those representatives, or synecdoche in rhetorical terms, may come up short. In such cases, nations must address the embarrassment the losses incur. Nations use apologia and image-repair strategies to mitigate the damage that s…
Wushu, the Evolution of Sports Mythology, and the Rhetorical Management of Losing
Mythic rhetoric is a mainstay in sports communication. Stories of athletes achieving greatness through struggle provides a foundation for communities to build, manage, and share collective identities and ideologies. One of the unexplored weaknesses of sports myths lies in how rhetors respond to losses. Sports myths are a powerful resource used to shore up mutual identity, but they are tethered to real-world outcomes that run counter to mythic the…
Parent Attitudes Toward Sport Coach Communication and Knowledge: Exploring Priorities, Goals, and Expectations in the Fee-Based Youth Sports Ecosystem
Parents must make decisions to guide children’s sport participation, development, and enjoyment, with particular importance toward communication characteristics of their coach. The current study examines parent attitudes toward youth sport coach communication characteristics, provides a ranking of parents stated desires, and examines how parent desires for youth sport coaches have adapted to changes in the youth sports ecosystem. A representative…
Political science (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Sports, Gender, and Society (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Rhetorical question (7 works) · Aesthetics (5 works) · Literature (5 works)