Full Archive

Shut Up and Play? Patriotism, Jock Culture and the Limits of Free Speech

In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s assassination, the sports world embraced the public eruption of patriotism. Yet some athletes dared to buck the trend, and in the process have learned a tough lesson about the limits of free speech in the jockocracy.

Sports, bin Laden, and the New Normal

Howard Cosell said that "rule number one of the sports jockocracy" was that sports and politics didn't mix. And yet last night, at the ballpark in Philadelphia, we received another reminder that some political expression is deemed not just acceptable but glorious.

Taking Back the Dodgers

On Friday, I wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Times that put forward a common sense solution to the current ownership disaster that is the Dodgers franchise: public ownership. Last week, Major League Baseball (MLB) and its Commissioner Bud Selig took the unprecedented step of seizing the team from Frank McCourt, its bankrupt chief executive. Don't look now, Selig, but it may be picking up some steam.

Baseball's Blues: It's Not Just the Dodgers

The league takeover of the Los Angeles Dodgers is more than just a comment on owner Frank McCourt's financial problems or the McCourt divorce drama. It's more than a black eye for the onetime franchise of Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax and Fernando Valenzuela. It's more than a comment on a club that from 1973 to 1986 led the major leagues in attendance every year except one. It is a commentary on the rotten economic state of Major League Baseball.

Stern-Cold: Losing the N.B.A.

For thirty years, Stern has been arguably the most successful commissioner in all of sports. Having Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan in his league certainly helped, but Stern has taken the N.B.A. from a second-tier attraction to a global phenomenon. In recent years, however, we have seen the birth of Bizarro Stern.

The Great American Witch-hunt

This wasn’t supposed to happen in Barack Obama’s America. We were told that these sorts of prosecutions wouldn’t be the priority of an Eric Holder Justice Department. But just as Guantanamo Bay detention centers and military tribunals have remained in place, the perjury witch-hunt trial of Major League Baseball’s home run king, Barry Lamar Bonds, continued unabated and has now reached a predictably ugly conclusion.

The Crackdown on Bahrain's Jocks for Justice

More than 200 athletes have been arrested or detained in Bahrain for attending "anti-government" protests. The US hasn't said a word. Will the sports community?

Is NCAA President Mark Emmert 'Justice-Curious'?

Last week, NCAA President Mark Emmert crossed a stunning ideological bridge away from the antediluvian. Emmert said in an interview with USA Today that at April's NCAA board meeting he "will make clear...that I want [paying players] to be a subject we explore." Is NCAA President Mark Emmert 'Justice-Curious'?

This Year’s Final Four: Beyond “Cinderella vs. Sinners”

Before the media becomes too engorged on this Cinderella vs. Sinners narrative, it's worth noting that while superficially true, it's also fraudulent, moralistic hooey.

Skipping Class: The Blind Side of the Duke-Michigan 'Uncle Tom' Debate

As college basketball's March Madness overwhelms the sports landscape, a war of words has escalated between the early 1990s alums of Michigan and Duke. But are we missing the underlying tension?