Column Archive

How Sports Attacks Public Education

On Thursday, I was proud to take part in a student walkout at the University of Maryland in defense of public education. It was just one link in a National Day of Action that saw protests in more than 32 states across the country. I am not a student, and haven't been since those innocent days when Monica Lewinsky mattered, but I was asked to come speak at a post walkout teach-in about the way sports is used to attack public education. It might sound like a bizarre topic, but it's the world that students see every day.

Note to ESPN’s Bill Simmons: Tiger Woods is not Muhammad Ali

Can ESPN please declare a company-wide moratorium on comparing current athletes to Muhammad Ali? I thought it was unfortunate when columnist Jemele Hill wrote that anti-choice icon Tim Tebow was "as courageous" as Ali. But that comparison is inspired compared to recent comments by "ESPN's The Sports Guy" Bill Simmons.

Sportsmanship: The Great Olympic Fraud

For athletes, the costs of training for the Olympics means that losing are not an option. As a result, we have petulance. We have spectacle. And we have death. We also have something that is no longer the Olympics but reality television, where as many titillations take place off the field of play as on.

Nodar Kumaritashvili: Never Forget

The charter of the International Olympic Committee states that one of the Committee's primary objectives is to "encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sports." The circumstances surrounding the death of Georgian luge slider Nodar Kumaritashvili expose the charter as an absolute lie.

Tiger Woods: When you are brand before man

There are right now two kinds of people on earth: those who would die happy if they never hear the name of Tiger Woods again and those who want their pound of flesh. The people sick of the Tiger Woods drama could care less about his marriage, his personal life, and today’s awkward, script reading. Those who want their pound of flesh, are itching for Tiger to do the stations of the tabloid-cross: Oprah, tears, and "humility."

Fruits of the Backlash: The New All-White Basketball League

Many in the media are already apoplectic about the infamous launch of the All-American Basketball Alliance (AABA). For those untainted by the news, the AABA would be a league exclusively for native-born whites. But despite the moral posturing against this utterly idioticproposal, it has to be noted that the central obsessions and buzz words that define the mission of the AABA -have long been part of the very mainstream, and often very racist, discussions of the NBA.

Christopher Hitchens: Sporting Fool

Essayist Christopher Hitchens gives us his take on the wide world of sports. Let the carnage begin.

When Snow Melts: Vancouver’s Olympic Crackdown

News Flash: Winter Olympic officials in tropical Vancouver have been forced to import snow - on the public dime - to make sure that the 2010 games proceed as planned. This use of tax-dollars is just the icing on the cake for increasingly angry Vancouver residents. Officials are feeling the anger, and the independent media, frighteningly, is paying the price.

Who Dat? Dat's the Super Bowl Champs!

The New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl 44. I can’t believe I’m even typing the words. Five years ago this was the team considered most likely to be moved to Los Angeles. Four and a half years ago, after the levies broke, the concern was not whether there would be a Saints, but whether there would even be a New Orleans. I’m not sure whether it feels like a dream or positively preordained. If nothing else, it’s an emotional release from all the idiocy that surrounded the big game.  

Note to ESPN’s Jemele Hill: Tim Tebow is not Muhammad Ali

First let me put my cards on the table. I consider Jemele Hill, sports columnist for ESPN.com, to be as incisive and interesting as they come. She has been a frequent and fearless guest on my radio show and is always aces on the air. That's why I'm so gobsmacked by Jemele's latest column, subtly titled, Laud the Courage in Tim Tebow's Stand.