Sports Poets Society

Mother Jones illustration; National Archives https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/08/nuclear-football-in-nagasaki/ The Atomic Bowl was a football game that was played in the ruins of Nagasaki on January 1, 1946. Politics August 4, 2025 Greg Mitchell Bio Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. On New Year’s Day, 1946, one of the most surreal and disturbing sporting events in US history was held in the Japanese city of Nagasaki, less than five months after an atomic bomb on August 9 destroyed half the city and killed at least 75,000 people. The all-star football game, staged by the occupying forces of the US military, received wide coverage in the American media at the time and was dubbed the Atomic Bowl. Then it became largely forgotten, almost lost to history. As we approach the 80th anniversary of this attack, this game remains an appropriate metaphor for the Nagasaki bomb, the second nuclear weapon dropped on a large Japanese city by the United ...

https://gregmitchphoto.com/atomicbowl/ “The Atomic Bowl,” PBS Film and Book, August 2025 “Explores the legacy and the continuing threat of nuclear war.”    — The Washington Post Now streaming via PBS.org and PBS apps and airing on local stations >>>”Atomic Bowl” book published, more here<<< Watch the film now via PBS.org or watch via Vimeo or on PBS stations, updated list at bottom of page Written and directed by Greg Mitchell. / Producer: Lyn Goldfarb Narrator: Peter Coyote. / Contact: epic1934@aol.com “A great movie–a hidden chapter in atomic history revealed.” — Jayne Loader, co-director of The Atomic Cafe “Today’s nuclear tensions make Mitchell’s storytelling more timely than ever.” — Will Bunch, The Philadelphia Inquirer “Fascinating. Poor Nagasaki got lost because it was the second bombing.”— Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize winner for The Making of the Atomic Bomb “A master storyteller and urgent reminder of the terrors of nuclear war. Nece...

The "Atomic Bowl." Photo courtesy Greg Mitchell. https://thebulletin.org/2025/07/a-new-documentary-highlights-one-of-the-most-surreal-events-of-world-war-ii-the-atomic-bowl/ A new documentary highlights one of the most surreal events of World War II: The “Atomic Bowl” By Erik English | July 14, 2025 On January 1st, 1946, the Isahaya Tigers, led by professional fullback Bill Osmanski, defeated the Nagasaki Bears, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Angelo Bertelli , in a little-remembered football game known as the “Atomic Bowl.” At the time, all college football bowl games took place on the same day, January 1st, and this game was no different. But this game was different in another remarkable aspect; it took place in Japan, in the ruins of perhaps one of the most tragic events in human history: the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan. As one witness recalls, the field where the game took place was “only a hundred yards from the remains of a Middle School—the shell stil...

Un gesto irrispettoso della distruzione circostante, le testimonianze, il pericolo nucleare tra passato e presente MATTEO BOSCAROL Il Manifesto - Martedì 19 agosto 2025 Pagina 14 Lo sport e la guerra hanno spesso intersecato i loro percorsi nel corso della storia dell’umanità e in numerose occasioni, la propaganda bellica ha contribuito a assimilare e distorcere gli ideali e gli obiettivi che dovrebbero guidare l'attività sportiva. Un episodio forse poco noto, anche perché fu soppresso per molti decenni dopo la fine del secondo conflitto mondiale, è quello che accadde nella città giapponese di Nagasaki il primo gennaio 1946 . Pochi mesi dopo che la seconda bomba atomica fu sganciata sull’arcipelago, le truppe americane di stanza nella cittadina in rovine decisero di organizzare una partita di football americano a pochi chilometri dall’epicentro . La partita, che fu chiamata inopinatamente Atomic Bowl e pubblicizzata con volantini e poster affissi sui ruderi della città, si giocò t...