Column Archive

Brett Favre Beware: The NFL Is Thinking Pink

You may have noticed an abundance of pink on the fields of the National Football League this month. Between the pink sneakers, pink mouth guards and pink wristbands, one would be excused for wondering how the machismo-drenched league became so fabulous overnight. Welcome to the NFL’s celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month]. But there are reasons beyond the altruistic for the league’s sudden concern with women’s health. In September the league launched a $10 million public relations effort to woo female fans, which included the marketing of NFL jeans, sandals and yoga mats. The thirty-three men that run the NFL have determined that this explosion of pink is just another way to say, “We care about our female fans—from their yoga to their tumors.”

The Randy Moss Trade in All Its Idiocy

The Patriots trade of superstar wide receiver Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings for a third-round draft pick represents everything I despise about NFL "conventional wisdom," the New England Patriots organization and their dyspeptic toad of a head coach, Bill Belichick.

Lebron James and the Perils of Walking the Fence

The uproar around NBA star Lebron James's recent comments about race and racism highlight the fact that you don't raise such concerns without paying a price.

Linda McMahon's Body Count

Linda McMahon says she is running for the US Senate from Connecticut because she wants to "put people first." Those people clearly don't include the people who made her a billionaire; the wrestlers of World Wrestling Entertainment.

The Collapsing of the Commonwealth Games

Injury. Death. Destruction. Despair. Deficits. None of these things have stopped the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. But risk to the health of the athletes? Strike up the concern.

World Cup Hangover Hits South Africa

The 2010 World Cup was without question a major sporting success for South Africa. The gleaming fields opened on schedule, new airports welcomed scores of visitors and disparate groups of South Africans who usually self-segregate exalted together in public. But the party's over. The country was recently hit with massive strikes involving 1.3 million public sector workers, including the teachers, civil service workers and health workers. The public sector strike contained a series of particularly shocking moments for South Africans and international observers. This included scenes of striking workers marching through a police line while sounding the World Cup’s iconic vuvuzela, only to be shot by the police officers' rubber bullets.

NFL Opener Becomes Site of Solidarity

The opening of the NFL season witnessed perhaps the most public display of solidarity in US history. Seriously.

The Summer of Our Sporting Discontent

By any measure this country is in an ugly mood. Double-digit unemployment and a growing sense that the environment, economy, and empire are heading south, has Americans walking with a stoop and a scowl. We have seen this mood become a temper-tantrum in the world of sports.

Bud Selig: A Civil Rights Icon for Our Times… just like Beck

A group of Milwaukee activists asked Bud Selig why the 2011 All-Star Game was going to be played in Arizona. The answer issued by his public relations firm needs to be read to be believed.

Don’t do it Albert! A Plea for Albert Pujols to not attend Glenn Beck’s Rally on the Mall

As a person who believes strongly that athletes shouldn’t just “shut up and play,” and have a responsibility to speak out on political issues, I’ve been asked if it’s hypocritical to ask Pujols not to attend Beck's rally. Hardly. Pujols is more than just the finest Major League hitter of his generation, and the third youngest man to ever hit 400 home runs. He also emerged recently as the most prominent voice in Major League Baseball against Arizona’s anti-immigrant racial profiling law SB 1070.