Column Archive

A Police Story Unravels: How Did the NYPD Break an NBA Player’s Leg?

At the risk of stating the utterly obvious, most black men and women who suffer physical violence at the hands of the police aren’t millionaires. They don’t have lawyers on speed dial and lack the resources of a well-funded union leaping to their defense. But most black men and women aren’t NBA players. In other words, they aren’t Thabo Sefolosha.

Cornel West Is Not Mike Tyson

As a sportswriter I am very sensitive to the use and misuse of boxing metaphors. Few analogies are either more powerful or more universally understood than comparing a public figure to an iconic fighter. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, in a panoramic, painfully personal, deeply researched 10,000-word excoriation of Dr. Cornel West, published in The New Republic, has compared the 61-year-old professor to Mike Tyson.

So... the NYPD Just Broke an NBA Player’s Leg

Let’s not “bury the lead” here. At a moment when people across the country are reckoning with the deadly reality of police violence and the terror it imposes on black communities, the New York Police Department fractured the leg of a player in the National Basketball Association. The NYPD had an interaction with Thabo Sefolosha of the Atlanta Hawks, and they broke his damn leg.

The Wisconsin Badgers Deserve Better Than Scott Walker

It was agonizingly close. The Wisconsin Badgers in all their public university glory almost beat big, bad Duke for the NCAA basketball championship. As an East Coaster, I’ll say that there has been a shimmer around Wisconsin sports teams that pulls me into their corner time and again. Whether it’s the “Greek-Freak” Bucks, Pack or Badgers, the last several years of pro sports (and yes, the NCAA should be seen as a pro sport with godawful salaries) has made me say time and again that there is just something about Wisconsin. There is also just something about their sports teams that for some reason compels the state’s Governor Scott Walker to truly reveal just how ignorant he believes the electorate of the United States to be.

Duke University Coach Mike Krzyzewski Is a Profile in Cowardice

“I’m only going to talk about my team and basketball and the Final Four. Just like when we get to Indiana, I’m not going to talk about social issues or poverty or anything else. I’m just going to talk about this Duke basketball team.”The above words were said this morning by Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski answering the question about whether he would have anything to say on Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which in a post-Hobby Lobby Era, is already granting businesses the “freedom” to discriminate against the LGBT community. Coach K’s curt comment could probably best be described as a profile in cowardice.

Why the NCAA Should Move the Final Four Out of Indiana

As the world now knows, Indiana has become synonymous with the kinds of backward looking bigotry best remaindered in history’s trashcan. The state’s Governor Mike Pence has signed legislation under the guise of “religious freedom” that gives businesses the right to not serve someone if they believe them to be part of the LGBT community. The looseness of this law is frightening.

Moving the Final Four Out of Indiana Would Be One Hell of a Political Statement

Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act has ignited a firestorm of controversy for its vague language that critics say will allow businesses to deny service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. The Nation’s sports editor Dave Zirin joined MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts yesterday to discuss why he and other pundits think the NCAA should move the Final Four out of Indianapolis to protest the egregious nature of the law.

Chris Borland and the Revenge of History

At age 24, promising San Francisco 49er linebacker Chris Borland walked away from millions of dollars, unconditional adulation, and a shot at NFL stardom because he chose to value his future over the present. This might be because he knows something about the past. Borland earned a history degree at the University of Wisconsin and, to the shock of the football world, as well as the discomfort of the NFL brass, he chose to apply this knowledge and walk away from the game. If history is the greatest predictor of the future, then the path in front of Borland must have seemed horrifying.

Ashley Judd's noble fight to confront social media sexism: After trolls batter the Kentucky superfan on Twitter, she fights back

One of the best, not to mention courageous, sportswriters I know is ESPN’s Kate Fagan. After the Dallas Cowboys signed convicted abuser of women Greg Hardy to a contract — showing again that no act of gender violence is problematic for NFL teams if you can still play — Fagan tweeted the following:“*composes Tweet re: Greg Hardy* *imagines responses* *feels fatigued* *sighs heavily* *backspaces Tweet* *stays silent* -How System Works”

‘You’re Not a Commodity, You’re a Person.’ How Chris Borland Has Reframed the Football Debate

The news that budding football star Chris Borland left the NFL on basic health and safety grounds is still reverberating, and not just in the sports world. On Sunday, Borland appearedon CBS’s Face the Nation and said that he will be returning most of his original signing bonus to the 49ers. He also responded to the league office’s reaction to his decision, which was that “the game has never been safer.” Borland said, “I think football is inherently dangerous and that’ll never change so long as we have football. Talking about the culture of safety is really irrelevant.”