ABSTRACT
Arguably the oldest of academic disciplines, rhetoric’s origins date back to the 6th century bce (Ricouer, 1997). It truly came of age in ancient Greece and was later institutionalized as part of the original three liberal arts, along with grammar and dialectic, known together as the trivium (Booth, 2004). In the 21st century, rhetoric maintains a strong disciplinary identity in both communication studies, featuring a tradition grounded in public address, and English, featuring a tradition grounded in composition. Yet, despite this rich history and continued currency, rhetorical scholars have only very recently begun to take sport seriously as a site of inquiry.
