Column Archive

The Coming Labor War in the NFL

The collective bargaining agreement is due to expire at the end of the 2010 season and all signs are that an era of labor/management partnership is not at hand. As Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King wrote this week, “It's going to get ugly. There's better than a 50-percent chance, I believe, of some work stoppage in 2011, as incredibly golden-goose-killing as that sounds.” (In the current print edition of the Nation.)

L.A. Stadium Story: No football team, No Problem

A few miles outside of Los Angeles, in a business-tax-free haven of strip malls and strip clubs called the City of Industry -- under 800 residents and fewer than 100 voters -- ground is ready to be broken for an $800-million football stadium. The team to play there is yet to be determined. But the hope is that a wayward owner longing for luxury boxes will want to call it home.

LeBron James: The Man Who Would Dunk on Dubya

It’s rare when athletes respond to a dreary, clichéd question with a stimulating answer. Thank you LeBron James. Maxim magazine wanted to know who basketball’s King would most like to dunk on. The reigning NBA MVP didn’t name the towering Yao Ming or the “Bird Man” Chris Anderson. Instead he said,  "If it doesn't have to be a basketball player, George W. Bush. I would dunk on his ass, break the rim, and shatter the glass.” Damn.

94 ‘Til Infinity : How SLAM helped change the basketball landscape forever

94 ‘Til Infinity : How SLAM helped change the basketball landscape forever. This is my tribute to the only basketball magazine that matters on its 15th anniversary. Big ups to Ben Osborne, Lang Whitaker, Susan Price, and everyone who makes SLAM Magazine matter.

Thanks to the Utne Reader for naming Dave Zirin one of the 2009 50 Visionaries who are Changing Your World

In the days of yore, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and other scribes wrote frequently about the heart and soul of athletic competition. Today, even the most artfully constructed sportswriting is dominated by scandal and bulging-vein bloviating. Thankfully, for those who could care less who drafted whom or who hates Brett Favre, there’s an antidote. Dave Zirin is the thinking fan’s sportswriter, using our various fields of battle as a sociological lens.

Rush Limbaugh: Why the NFL Just Said No

Over the last eight years, even though it often made me break out into hives, I've listened to a lot of Rush Limbaugh. I've heard him express the full gamut of his emotional range: from hateful to very hateful. But over all this time, I've never known him to be pathetic until yesterday.

Response to Rush Limbaugh's Rage

On Tuesday I was referred to on air as "scum " by Rush Limbaugh.   Limbaugh called me out by name on his radio show because I challenged Limbaugh's now failed efforts to own a NFL team, saying that his history of racial bombast should count against him.  

Why NFL Owners Must Flush Rush

National Football League owners could be on the verge of a catastrophic error in judgment. In a league that is 70 percent African-American, an unapologetic racist is in talks to buy a team. Yes, Rush Limbaugh, along with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts, is close to buying the St. Louis Rams.

“Why I Support the National Equality March”: NFL’s Scott Fujita Speaks Out for Gay Rights

Scott Fujita is a star linebacker for the unbeaten New Orleans Saints. He is also a 2001 graduate from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in political science.  In addition to playing for the Saints, he is also is someone proudly raising his family in post-Katrina New Orleans. In the following interview, Scott speaks out about why he is supporting the October 11th National Equality March for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights in Washington DC.

Can the NFL Tackle Homophobia?

In the recent past, LGBT issues were only part of the NFL landscape when players held press conferences to assure fans that despite the rumors, they are not gay (without even adding the requisite "not that there's anything wrong with that").But as a direct result of the movement for marriage equality, there are green shoots for social justice becoming visible in the locker room.