Column Archive

The Soccer Star and the President

If there were a Mount Rushmore of international soccer, Diego Maradona

Sheryl Swoopes - Out of the Closet And Onto The Court

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How Major League Baseball Strip-mines the Dominican Republic

This piece is in the November 14, 2005 issue of the Nation magazine with the title 'Say It Ain't So, Big Leagues.'

When Fists are Frozen: The Statue of Tommie Smith and John Carlos

Trepidation should be our first impulse when we hear that radical heroes are to be immortalized in fixed poses of bloodless nostalgia.

The Meeting That Never Was: Pat Tillman and Noam

Barry Bonds Laughs Last

Etan Thomas Electrifies Anti-War Washington

Every generation the wide world of corporate sports produces an athlete with the iron resolve and moral urgency to step off their pedestal and join the fight for social justice. A century ago, it was boxer Jack Johnson, flaunting, as WEB DuBois put it,

Redeeming the Olympic Martyrs of 1968

Opening Graph: On October 2, 1968, right before the start of the games, Mexican Security police murdered as many as 400 students and workers at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City. Today we remember that violent echo of 1968. We remember those put down like dogs for the crime of peaceful assembly. We can remember at long last, without tears, because of news Monday that a measure of closure may finally be coming for the families that have waged a 37-year quest for truth, justice, and a pound of flesh.

Etan Thomas Rises to the Occasion

Sports stars are generally known more for their narcissism than their compassion, but in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, athletes have expressed a tremendous amount of altruism and anguish over the amount of human suffering the storm has caused. That's not surprising, when you consider that more than 100 professional athletes come from the Gulf Coast, an area whose deep poverty, institutionalized racism and year-round sunshine combine to offer the requisite conditions for athletic success.

The Superdome: Monument to a Rotten System

There is nothing