Column Archive

Invoking Dr. King, Charles Barkley Stands Strongly for LGBT Rights

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"I'm a Negro who speak up”: Remembering Football Great Cookie Gilchrist

With the passage of time, there are two establishment responses to the great political rebels in sports. You either see them commodified and defanged – think Muhammad Ali – or they are simply erased from history. Count Carlton Chester “Cookie” Gilchrist is among the erased. Gilchrist, a former Buffalo Bills running back, died of cancer on January 10th at the age of 75. His legacy as both a player and athletic rebel are well worth restoring.

Roger Goodell’s Message to NFL Players and Fans: Drop Dead

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued an ill-timed letter laying out the state of negotiations with the NFL Players Association. Both sides are striving to secure a new collective bargaining agreement and avoid labor armageddon, but based on Goodell's letter, that's where the similarities end.

On Dimples and Dog Whistles: Why Tucker Carlson Dehumanizes Michael Vick

Michael Vick, whether he wants to or it, is humanizing the struggle to find redemption after serving time in a maximum security prison. After all, if a star quarterback doing hours of community surface can't regain a foothold in society, who could? Tucker Carlson's efforts to dehumanize Vick and paint him as a disposable, killable individual, cuts in a way that transcends the idiocy of Murdoch's 50 state southern strategy of dimples and dog whistles.

The Top Seven 'Edge of Sports' Moments of 2010

Here we have what are indubitably and without argument, the top seven collisions of sports and politics in 2010 that didn’t involve an elbow and Barack Obama’s mouth. Why seven and not ten? Deflation!

When Domes Collapse

The spectacular collapse of the Metrodome's roof on Sunday bolsters every reason why the Twin Cities do NOT need a publicly funded stadium. But the "conventional wisdom" seems to be moving in the other direction.

Cam Newton and College Football’s “Neo-plantation”

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The NCAA Should Shut Down Notre Dame's Football Program

It’s past time that the storied Notre Dame football squad had its program suspended. In a season of heartbreak and horror under new coach Brian Kelly, the Fighting Irish have more than earned what's known as the NCAA's dreaded "death penalty." Historically, teams have received the "death penalty" for illegal recruiting or paying players under the table. The cynics—or perhaps the realists—will point out that most of the programs on the college football map are dirtier than a Vegas city council meeting. Why single out Notre Dame? Simply put, those running the football program in South Bend are guilty of something worse than the payoffs and kickbacks that pepper many of the top so-called amateur teams.

“It's bigger than professional football:" Talking with NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith

This past week, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross showed why many owners choose to let National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell do their talking for them. 

Kye Allums: What's Next After Making History

So what happens next? George Washington's Kye Allums made history last weekend by becoming the first openly transgender player in NCAA hoops history to suit up in a game when the Colonials played a pair of games in a tournament in Minnesota. So what happens next?