Full Archive

LeBron James: The Man Who Would Dunk on Dubya

It’s rare when athletes respond to a dreary, clichéd question with a stimulating answer. Thank you LeBron James. Maxim magazine wanted to know who basketball’s King would most like to dunk on. The reigning NBA MVP didn’t name the towering Yao Ming or the “Bird Man” Chris Anderson. Instead he said,  "If it doesn't have to be a basketball player, George W. Bush. I would dunk on his ass, break the rim, and shatter the glass.” Damn.

94 ‘Til Infinity : How SLAM helped change the basketball landscape forever

94 ‘Til Infinity : How SLAM helped change the basketball landscape forever. This is my tribute to the only basketball magazine that matters on its 15th anniversary. Big ups to Ben Osborne, Lang Whitaker, Susan Price, and everyone who makes SLAM Magazine matter.

Thanks to the Utne Reader for naming Dave Zirin one of the 2009 50 Visionaries who are Changing Your World

In the days of yore, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and other scribes wrote frequently about the heart and soul of athletic competition. Today, even the most artfully constructed sportswriting is dominated by scandal and bulging-vein bloviating. Thankfully, for those who could care less who drafted whom or who hates Brett Favre, there’s an antidote. Dave Zirin is the thinking fan’s sportswriter, using our various fields of battle as a sociological lens.

Rush Limbaugh: Why the NFL Just Said No

Over the last eight years, even though it often made me break out into hives, I've listened to a lot of Rush Limbaugh. I've heard him express the full gamut of his emotional range: from hateful to very hateful. But over all this time, I've never known him to be pathetic until yesterday.

Response to Rush Limbaugh's Rage

On Tuesday I was referred to on air as "scum " by Rush Limbaugh.   Limbaugh called me out by name on his radio show because I challenged Limbaugh's now failed efforts to own a NFL team, saying that his history of racial bombast should count against him.  

Why NFL Owners Must Flush Rush

National Football League owners could be on the verge of a catastrophic error in judgment. In a league that is 70 percent African-American, an unapologetic racist is in talks to buy a team. Yes, Rush Limbaugh, along with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts, is close to buying the St. Louis Rams.

“Why I Support the National Equality March”: NFL’s Scott Fujita Speaks Out for Gay Rights

Scott Fujita is a star linebacker for the unbeaten New Orleans Saints. He is also a 2001 graduate from the University of California at Berkeley with a BA in political science.  In addition to playing for the Saints, he is also is someone proudly raising his family in post-Katrina New Orleans. In the following interview, Scott speaks out about why he is supporting the October 11th National Equality March for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights in Washington DC.

Can the NFL Tackle Homophobia?

In the recent past, LGBT issues were only part of the NFL landscape when players held press conferences to assure fans that despite the rumors, they are not gay (without even adding the requisite "not that there's anything wrong with that").But as a direct result of the movement for marriage equality, there are green shoots for social justice becoming visible in the locker room.

Victory/Agony: Chicago Loses the Olympics

I am absolutely reeling with shock that Chicago was knocked out in the first round and the 2016 Olympics are going to Rio de Janeiro. Some quick thoughts about Victoria Brasilia and the Chicago/Daley/Obama humiliation.

Obama's Olympic Error UPDATED

President Barack Obama is now en route to Copenhagen in an effort to sell Chicago as the site of the 2016 Summer Olympics. In the process, he may be selling Chicago down the river. Obama is joined arm-in-arm with his wife Michelle on one side and Mayor Richard Daley's Chicago political machine on the other.  Michelle Obama says, "My father was disabled, and I think what it would have meant for him to see someone in his shoes compete. Kids need to see that and that needs to be celebrated just as much, if not more." This seems more like an argument to support the Paralympics (a tremendous event) but that's beside the point. Michelle Obama should perhaps realize that if the Olympics had come to Chicago when she was a young girl on Chicago's working class south side, her home may have been torn down to make way for an Olympic facility. No word on how being out of house and home would have helped her disabled father.