Column Archive

Gambling Is an Addiction. So Why Was Pete Rose an Outcast?
Gambling Is an Addiction. So Why Was Pete Rose an Outcast?

October 1, 2024
The baseball legend was an example of not only the perils of gambling but also why the sports leagues’ embrace of the online-betting industry makes them predatory hypocrites.

Macklemore Is a Seattle Sports Superfan. Now, He Is Also a Target.
Macklemore Is a Seattle Sports Superfan. Now, He Is Also a Target.

September 25, 2024
The Seattle sports establishment loved the Grammy Award–winning rapper until he dared criticize the United States for funding Israeli war crimes.

NFL Head Injuries Are Part of the Product
NFL Head Injuries Are Part of the Product

September 20, 2024
The league creates spectacles that distract from the dangers—but that doesn’t mean they’re not there.

Police Violence, Tyreek Hill, and the NFL Owners Who Bankroll Brutality
Police Violence, Tyreek Hill, and the NFL Owners Who Bankroll Brutality

September 9, 2024
The NFL does not cross the police. The NFL partners with the police.

The Dark Side of the Democratic Party’s Embrace of Football
The Dark Side of the Democratic Party’s Embrace of Football

August 26, 2024
The hypermasculinity and violence of football connects to Kamala Harris’s bellicose convention speech. It could repel young voters.

What Was the Paris Olympics?
What Was the Paris Olympics?

August 15, 2024
The Olympic Games supercharge the problems that already exist in a host city. We saw that in Paris—but what will happen in LA?

The Man Using Sports to Fight Israeli War Crimes
The Man Using Sports to Fight Israeli War Crimes

August 13, 2024
Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestine Olympic Committee, says sports can be a nonviolent tool to resist occupation.

The Paris Olympics Has Launched a War on the Poor
The Paris Olympics Has Launched a War on the Poor

August 9, 2024
Paris will almost certainly be remembered as a successful Olympic site. Such recollections, however, will leave out those who suffered under its weight.

We Must Defend Imane Khelif
We Must Defend Imane Khelif

August 5, 2024
Transphobia also hurts cisgender women like the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif who don’t conform to a narrow, Eurocentric vision of womanhood.

Meet Fadi Deeb: Gaza’s Paralympian Is Showing the World That Palestine Still Lives
Meet Fadi Deeb: Gaza’s Paralympian Is Showing the World That Palestine Still Lives

August 2, 2024
The shot-putter is the only competitor in the Palestinian Olympic delegation from Gaza.