Column Archive

Peyton Manning: A Dreadful, Uninspired Choice as Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year

What a remarkable sports year this has been. What an utterly uninspiring choice Peyton Manning was for Sports Illustrated to make: as dry and flavorless a selection as one of those damn Papa John’s pizzas he never stops shilling. If anything, his selection represents the gap that exists between the mainstream sports journalism and the narratives bubbling beneath their noses. Especially in advance of Brazil's World Cup in 2014, Sports Illustrated needs to step down from the press box and smell what is really going on. Either the magazine needs to reevaluate its mission, or we can just dispense with the drama and give next years prize to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. By their metric, he seems to be due.

Mandela’s Uses of Sports: Resistance, Reconciliation and Rebranding

The sports world's tributes to Nelson Mandela just tell the tale of the great conciliator, the man with the beatific smile who went to prison for twenty-seven years and emerged believing that “people learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.” There was another Mandela whose political relationship to the sports world was far more controversial and confrontational.

Ten Takeaways from The Winston Case: In This World, You Want To Be Jameis Winston, Not Trayvon Martin

Ten Takeaways from news that Florida State’s star quarterback, and shoe-in Heisman Trophy winner, Jameis Winston will not be charged with rape after a year long investigation.

Redskins Owner Dan Snyder Says ‘Some of My Best Friends Are Navajo Code Talkers!’

Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins and under fire for profiting off a dictionary-defined racist name, used the national television cameras of ESPN to honor the Navajo Code Talkers. These were Navajo soldiers during World War II who used their language to create coded messages to be used over radio that could not be cracked by the Axis Powers. Their presence last night allowed Mike Tirico to bring up the entire “name controversy” on a terrain that made Dan Snyder look like he was honoring their heritage.

Racist Attack at San Jose State, the Holy Ground of the Black Athlete’s Revolt

The shock and rage come from hearing about an African-American student violently tormented by his three white housemates at San Jose State University. The shock and rage becomes sadness, however, because this is not just any old university. This is San Jose State, also known as Speed City, also known as the place where John Carlos and Tommie Smith won NCAA national championships, learned the skills to set Olympic sprint records, and learned the politics to compel them to raise their fists at the 1968 Olympics.

Les Miserables of Alex Rodriguez

The official word from A-Rod and his small army of lawyers was that he was enraged that league commissioner Bud Selig would be neither present at his hearing nor required to testify. Whether this was in fact a case of spontaneous combustion or ham-handed choreography, it was mere dinner theater compared to what happened next. A-Rod then journeyed to the last locale in New York City where his word is sacred and his character is above reproach: the radio studio of Sports Radio WFAN’s Mike Francesa.

Egyptian Athletes Take a Stand and Pay a Price

The New York Yankees of Egyptian soccer, Al Ahly, have officially expelled one of its top players, striker Ahmed Abdel Zaher. Did this extraordinary act take place in the aftermath of a heartbreaking loss? No, the team had actually just triumphed 2-0 and Zaher had even scored a goal. Was there an off-field scandal? Did Zaher find himself caught with steroids, or bullying teammates or running a dog-fighting ring? None of that. He was, by all accounts, a model citizen. Zaher’s crime was choosing to remember the massacred victims of Egypt’s dictatorship on the field of play, and in the Egypt of 2013, such an act will not go unpunished.

NFL Players Confronted With the Question ‘What Makes a Man’?

What “makes a man”? The Richie Incognito/Jonathan Martin “bullying” saga is forcing NFL players to ask themselves that very question. The traditional “man code” in the NFL is that your manhood is defined by your ability to inflict violence on others and deny the presence of pain—particularly mental or psychological pain—in yourself. It is also of course loudly, proudly and aggressively heterosexual, with women existing only as extensions of desires for either sex or violence. This “man code” is not only organically tied to the violence of the sport itself but also has a tremendous influence on the broader society.

The Miami Dolphins Practice Bully Solidarity

It is more than understandable why someone would look at this carnival of reaction and be sickened. But people should be cautious about directing their outrage solely at only those in the Dolphins organization who wear shoulder pads. 

The NFL’s Bully Problem

The problem is that football has become as interwoven with bullying as corruption on Capitol Hill. As much as we may be repulsed by Richie Incognito and the way he treated teammate Jonathan Martin;  the easiest thing in the world would be to look at this the way the NFL wants us to look at it: as if we are witnessing the story of one player who just took the good, clean fun of rookie hazing too darn far.