Column Archive

The Northwestern University Football Union and the NCAA’s Death Spiral

The experts said that the efforts of the Northwestern University football team to form a union would crash and burn. The experts scoffed that these naïve jocks would lose their case before the National Labor Relations Board. The experts were proven wrong on Wednesday and the established order in the sports world has been shaken to its foundations.

It’s the Racism, Stupid: Meet the Press’s Epic NCAA Fail

David Gregory's Meet the Press NCAA roundtable was just north of a disaster.

Disrespect in Dodgers Blue: Why Number 11 Should Be Worn Only by Manny Mota

There is a 23-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers rookie of great promise named Erisbel Arruebarrena, walking around spring training wearing number 11, and this bothers the holy hell out of me. There is only one number 11 for the Dodgers, and that is Manny Mota. The 76-year-old Dodger legend, who is not a Dodgers coach for the first time in more than three decades, is also present at spring training still wearing his own number 11. He has responded to Arruebarrena being given his number with nothing but class. Maybe I am just less classy.

My Years of Magical Thinking: Thoughts on the 1980s Showtime Lakers

Jeff Pearlman's new book, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, is a reminder of just how emotionally connected I was to those Laker teams. 

Major League Soccer to Start Season With Scab Refs

The role of the referee in professional sports is not just making sure play is monitored, penalties get called and the game has a sense of flow. It is to protect the integrity of the product and the safety of the participants. The NFL demonstrated starkly when it started the first four games of the 2012 season with scab—or in the parlance of our neoliberal times “replacement”—referees, that the game was simply not the game when you had untrained eyes in charge of the action. For reasons that beggar belief, Major League Soccer has decided to follow in the tragic trajectory of the NFL and start the season with scabs on the pitch.

After Darren Sharper, the NFL Must Address Violence Against Women

There is a blaring question that engulfs the NFL: At what point does Commissioner Roger Goodell confront the constant, haunting league-wide presence of violence against women? 

At Long Last, Jason Collins Is the First

Finally, more than fifty games into the 2013-2014 season, Jason Collins is on an NBA team. Finally, ten months after Collins told the world that he is gay, the 35-year-old center took the court for the Brooklyn Nets against the Los Angeles Lakers. Finally, at long last, we have reached the day when an openly gay man played for one of the “big four” US sports.

After the Press Conference: Michael Sam and "The Man Box"

Michael Sam seems to be both savvy as hell and acutely aware that there is no need to stoke the embers of this publicity inferno. It will rage regardless and the best thing he can do is make the best possible impression on his profoundly risk-averse future employers in the NFL. The sportswriters in attendance certainly swooned at his every word. 

The Miami Dolphins, Richie Incognito, and the Rot in the National Football League

The long-awaited report from investigator Ted Wells, regarding his investigation in the Richie Incognito’s alleged racist and homophobic verbal assault against Jonathan Martin in the Miami Dolphins locker room is officially out. It is almost 150 pages, and after reading it, several points now are certain. We can safely remove the word “alleged” from the accusations against Incognito, and we can add “physical assault” to the list of offenses.

Michael Sam Owns His Truth. Will NFL Owners Join Him?

For years, NFL owners have operated on a system of benign neglect when it comes to their league’s homophobia, no matter the effect on their own loved ones. The greater good has always been the image of "The Shield" and the revenue streams for which it stands. Now they are being pushed by one brave college All-American to stand for something more profound than themselves: the idea that the league is truly for everyone and merit matters more than prejudice. We will find out on draft day.